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SUSSEX SMUGGLERS. |
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to endeavour, in compliance with the will of God, and the design of their own appointment, to render the situation of all persons as secure and comfortable as possible; that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own industry, and " lead peaceable and quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty ". This is the original end of government itself, and therefore ought to be the principal aim of those who are any way concerned in the administration of it. Whatever share they possess of the public authority was given them to employ for the public good. And when they thus fulfil the duties of their station, by an impartial and wise discharge of the high trust that is reposed in them ; when with holy Job they can truly say, " I have put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment is as a robe and a diadem "; then are they in the best and noblest sense the " ministers of God, and children of the Most High "; they do honor to their character, and are a public blessing to the community whereunto they belong.
This was the second thing I proposed to consider; and it is a thing that ought frequently and seriously to be considered, though it is so evident that it needs not to be proved. It ought, I say, as evident as it is, frequently to be considered, and sometimes to be inculcated upon us; because the blessings that are constant and familiar, and those which therefore we enjoy the most, such is our ingratitude, we are apt to think of and value least. And of this kind is the blessing of a well-established government; we who have the happiness of being under it, and reap the fruits of a regular administration of wisely enacted laws, can but with difficulty conceive how miserable the condition of mankind would be, were there no such laws to keep them within bounds, and are therefore generally less |
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