their actions. In such a wretched and hopeless state of things, it could not have been wondered if men had patiently submitted to the iron rod of a protector,- much less that they rejoiced in the mild and gentle sway (for such they hoped to have found it) of a legal monarch.

This then was the first benefit expected from the return of the king,- the Restoration of PEACE. Another advantage proposed

was,

2. The restoration of Law and JUSTICE. I am not ignorant that, after the subversion of regal government, our courts of law were kept open; and there seems reason to believe that questions of private property were, for the most part, examined carefully, and decided honestly. But these decisions reached no further than to disputes between fellow-subjects; — for where was the man that durst dispute with his governors? unless indeed he had an army at hand, ready to support his cause! Accordingly, we find that the extortions of money were both frequent and great; the ways of collecting it arbitrary

and oppressive; and the whole administration of public justice not only defective, but partial. How indeed should it be otherwise? for the flames of war, though sometimes stifled, had never been extinguished; and therefore the magistrate was of necessity to conduct himself as in an enemy's country; and every suspected person was liable, of course, to forfeit life or goods at the discretion of the conqueror.

3. A third advantage was the restoration of MONARCHY, i. e. of a settled form of government, in opposition of those ever-shifting scenes of anarchy and confusion which left men in perpetual doubt and dread, and deprived them of all reasonable assurance what course they might steer with safety. - It was not the recall of the exiled family that produced such transports of joy; a family who had little pretensions here either to esteem or gratitude; but it was the recall of monarchy itself. Even this perhaps is saying too much. It was not the recovery of a particular form of government; but the recovery of government itself; which could not have been brought to a permanent establishment

on any other plan. Monarchy was the ancient, the legal form of our government; and might be expected to take root in its native soil, both more easily and more firmly than any other political institution which could be substituted in its place. Indeed, all things considered, there seems to have been no choice left; the nation must have done what they did, or have continued to suffer.

Not

4. To these civil advantages we must add one more of a religious kind, which I shall beg leave to consider more particularly; I mean the restoration of the CHURCH. because it is the purest church in Christendom; not because it is formed on the model of primitive antiquity; not because its governors derive their authority by an uninterrupted succession from the apostles,—but because it set men free from the nonsense of Calvinism, the madness of enthusiasm, the terrors of persecution; because it has given birth to a religion founded on reason, a religion which teaches that a life of virtue is the most acceptable tribute we can pay to the Deity, and the most necessary condition of our eternal happiness..

I pretend not that these things were brought about in an instant: there wanted another revolution to complete the work. Still we may affirm That a good beginning was made by the Restoration of the Established Church.

Whoever attends to the various modes of faith which subsisted in the times of confusion, will find scarce one sect, among the numerous spawn of Puritanism, which was not deeply tinctured with the religion of CALVIN a religion which seems to have rested on this execrable foundation, that God is a Tyrant. Why else did its teachers delight to represent him as governing by will only, not by wisdom? Why else did their followers hope to obtain his favour by neglecting the business, or renouncing the pleasures of life, and waste that time in a scrupulous and painful attendance on lectures, and sermons, and catechisms, and all the drudgery of mistaken piety, which ought to have been given to works of charity and justice? As if our Creator had placed us here only to give us incessant mortification; to make us austere and sullen, and averse from

all the endearments of society! True religion, on the contrary, looking up to God as the benevolent Father of the universe, is in no fear of provoking his displeasure, either by the improvement of his gifts or the enjoyment of them; fears only to provoke him by doing nothing, or by doing mischief; by a life wasted in indolence and inaction, or devoted to the gratification of private interest and passions, in opposition to the general welfare.

Another leading principle in the religion of the times was Enthusiasm, and to these two principles, acting with united force, we may impute the ruin both of church and king. If the minds of the people had not been heated by religious zeal, they would have yielded up their civil liberties after a short and a faint struggle; Charles might have established himself in arbitrary power, and the Starchamber have rivalled the Inquisition. But when once men are convinced that they are fighting the cause of God, and acting under the immediate, influence of his holy Spirit, from that moment they become irresistible. Without question, Enthusiasm is a most ad

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