nations since the creation, so far as we have any account of it; and the dealings of the Most High with a guilty world; and, besides all these, what is yet more important, the offer of the constant assistance of the holy spirit to those that seek it aright; would avail, we might be supposed to have laws that the holy angels might look down on with complacency. But how sadly in opposition to any thing so glorious the matter truly is, every thing about us too mournfully evinces. Thus, for instance, we have been nearly eight hundred years and have not settled the great question in the politics of a nation, the diffusion of the political right. How many more ages it may, therefore, be asked, will be required rightly to determine all other questions? If things continue as they now do, we fear the settlement will not take place by the time the mighty angel mentioned in the Revelation, shall declare that there shall be time no longer.' 234. And as to the land, we hesitate not in the most unqualified manner to assert, that the whole of that of the British Isles is held by laws made in contravention of the divine will. challenge every one of the lawyers in them to produce in writing a title in accordance with the law of God, to any single square inch. We will evince beyond all confutation that it is not worth the paper on which it is written !—(ix. 100.) We 235. Referring to the words of Blackstone, "Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws-that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these:" it is obvious, if what is here asserted cannot be successfully impugned, it should have been the great business of the lives of all our legislators, of both houses of parliament; from the hereditary legislators under William the Conqueror down to both the hereditary and elected of the present generation, each as far as lay in him; thoroughly to examine our constitution and code with the standard laid down by Blackstone, and note all the discrepancies, if any, between them; in order to their speediest possible removal, that our constitution and code might have been made rigorously to conform to the divine law. So far, however, as any record is preserved, we believe we may venture to affirm, that of all the past and present generations of our legislators; there is no single instance whatever of such a thing having been even attempted! And that our constitution and code, and their foundation and maintenance in all things, ever have accorded, or do now accord, with the divine law, no one will, we believe, assert. If, then, these positions are incontrovertible, whether the following will not too truly apply to all our present members of both houses of parliament may be left to the determination of their own consciences, and those of the world at large: If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!' When they know God, they glorify him not as God, neither are thankful; but are become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart is darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they are become fools in the sight of Heaven. And whether what was once said by the Divine Being to the Hebrews unhappily refers to all our legislators, may be left to the same determination. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, what have I done? Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;' but these people know not the judgment of the Lord.' And they may thus be asked, How do ye requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee? Hath not he made thee and established thee?' 236. Our Saxon ancestors called their parliament wittenagemote, or assembly of the wise. If, then, this term is applied to ours, may it not be said of the members of both houses, that their wisdom descendeth not from above? And may it not be asked, in reference to all of them, 'Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?' And it is obvious, if these sayings apply to any, they do to all; consequently, not only to the inferior luminaries, but to the stars of the first magnitude in our political hemisphere; necessarily including all those also of past generations, or the eloquent orators and profound statesmen of the present and seven preceding centuries, which have been and are so much applauded,—such as were and are honoured in their generations, and were and are the glory of their times! 237. The truly wise and good man is he who with all possible earnestness endeavours to discover what is the will of God, and who is ready to forsake all that he hath, even life itself, that he may do this will. If, then, it were possible for the writer of these pages to know that, as soon as he had finished this paragraph, he would have to pass into eternity, and that his everlasting doom would instantly be determined; he solemnly affirms, and calls men and angels to witness the declaration; that of the following classes of persons, he is unable to comprehend how there can be amongst them a single truly wise and virtuous man, -namely, the members of the Guelph family! House of Lords! House of Commons! and The Judges! He arrives at this conclusion from a single circumstance,-namely, the total absence of even the slightest attempt to evince in print the legality of the British constitution in the sight of Heaven! Assuredly, for those who lord it over their fellows, and in a less or greater degree control every thing that is dear to them-even their very lives-the least that can be expected is that they should evince, (we repeat in print,) in the clearest manner, that so to do they have a RIGHT! In neglecting this it seems difficult to decide whom they most insult, their fellows or the Most High! If every one of them were professed atheists, they could not as to this matter act worse. It is assuredly difficult to speak in terms sufficiently condemnatory of the conduct of every one of them. If it were possible to communicate with some holy spiritual being, who had never heard of our world; and he were informed of the constitution of human nature, and told what great things Heaven had done for man; and yet that in one of the nations of the earth, its political constitution had been maintained for nearly eight hundred years; and of all the generations that had existed during this long period, no one individual had ever thought it necessary properly and fully to evince the legality of such constitution; the state of things is so utterly incredible, that our supposed spiritual being could certainly never be expected to give it credence! We, therefore, hope this abomination will soon cease to exist, and that a printed account will appear, plain to be understood, that the constitution is lawful in the sight of Heaven-that the king is really the person who has a right to his office-the lords to their officesand the constituents of the commons to theirs. We have never yet been able to find any one who could give us any better reason why the king, lords, and constituents of the commons should rule this country, than why they should rule the Chinese. 238. In contemplation of the possibility of a most wretched state of things arising among the Americans, a monumental inscription was lately proposed for them. A column referring to every one of our hereditary and elected legislators that have arisen since the Norman subjugation, seems very suitable for this country. On it the following may be inscribed: THERE HAS BEEN, AND THERE NOW IS, NONE TO GUIDE HER AMONG ALL THE SONS WHOM SHE HATH BROUGHT FORTH; THAT TAKETH HER BY THE HAND, THAT SHE HATH BROUGHT UP!' (Isa. li. 18.) |