of God, to
which even of itself it does not aspire? What right has an unscriptural
civil power, any more than a corrupt ecclesiastical constitution,--what
right has the British Constitution, any more than the Church of Rome, to
claim for itself in things civil, the title, such as that usurps in
things ecclesiastical, of an ordinance of God? Nay, the very fact of a
government in gospel times supporting Popery, must cut it off from the
title of a power delegated from above. It is simply because bad civil
governments have great influence, that they lead men to pay them a
deference which they would not yield to other systems charged with their
evils. Why is an evil government at one period viewed as the ordinance
of God, and at another as worthy of being overthrown? Does the character
of such change by the accumulation or the long pressure of the very
same--not new, evils? In the former case, the people who approve,
misapprehend its true character, while they are able to endure; in the
latter, they see it clearly, oppression having opened their eyes. Such
were the governments of Charles II. and James VII. Though some approved
of them as the ordinance of God, yet, at the Revolution, the nation
declared that they were not. And consequently they should never have
been acknowledged as such. Men acknowledge the British Constitution at
present as a power ordained of God. If Puseyism go on till the
Protestantism of the empire be swamped in an inundation of Popery, the
nation will form right views of the subject. May they soon entertain
such views, lest such an event arrive!

The friends of truth under the present government should say to it in
such a manner as not to be misunderstood,--We will obey your good laws,
because they are good; but by oaths or otherwise we will not recognise
your authority as of God.--We will co-operate with you in doing what is
good; but so long as you continue to support evil, we cannot swear
allegiance to you. Abolish all oaths of allegiance, and we will act
along with you in every right matter.--Were all those who hold the truth
in the united kingdom to do so, would not the request extort regard? And
might not rulers see the propriety of yielding? Were such oaths to the
present government abolished, then those who love the truth might enter
parliament, and act without being responsible for the evils of the civil
constitution and of the administration, and at the same time lead to
essential political r