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SUSSEX SMUGGLERS. 215 |
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work's sake. Which natural instruction of undepraved reason we also find among the positive precepts of revealed religion ; for by the same authority that forbids us to speak evil of the rulers of the people, we are enjoined likewise to give honor to whom honor is due. This common and easy tribute then, which all men are capable of paying, they have a natural and just right to demand of all; a right founded upon the principles of reason, and ratified by religion: and therefore to defraud them of any part of so approved a claim is to transgress the bounds both of decency and duty.
There is nothing in the world is more generally agreed in than the necessity of government to obtain the ends of society. It was the desire of mutual preservation and defence, of protection against wrong and robbery, and the secure possession of their private properties, that was the first inducement to mankind to unite themselves together in distinct societies; that they might sit every man in quietness under their own vine, and enjoy safely the fruits of their own labour. But these, as all other blessings and benefits, are the gifts of God; and governors are the ministers appointed by Him, through whom He derives those blessings and benefits to the world ; so that the peace and prosperity of nations is owing principally, under God, to the wise care and conduct of their rulers, and the prudent administration of government therein. Without this, all those intolerable mischiefs must ensue, which men's unrestrained appetites and passions would produce, and which unavoidably break the bands, and are the sure destruction of all societies.
It is not to be expected that all the individuals of any community should universally agree as to the exact bounds and extent of civil power, any more than |
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