Duty of Subjects.—We ought not only to look at the queen’s duty, but recollect also what is our own; for the prosperity of a nation consists, not only in having a religious governor, but also an obedient people. The events which have passed before our eyes during the few last years, may serve, I think, to convince us of the truth of such an inference. Can we look back on the loss of human lives, the almost paralyzing alarm excited by the threats of an infuriated populace, and the absolute destruction of property which took place during the riots in the city of Bristol, and not see that all those calamities sprung out of a want of obedience to the existing authorities? Nor was that the only occurrence of the kind which has taken place. What repeated acts of incendiarism have we as a nation suffered from, as well as from the still more recent riots which have arisen in our south-western and other counties? and may we not ask, whence have those scenes of strife, discontent, and tumult, sprang, but from the cause I have already referred to?—want of subjection and obedience to the government of our kingdom. What were the scenes of misery and horror which broke out from time to time, when internal wars and insurrections so greatly depopulated our land? Cast your eye up and down our country, and view the still remaining barrows—those unsculptured, unlettered monuments, which cover the slain of our people—and ask, are these Britons slain in their own land, a Christian land, a land where (to remind you of the present privileges of her constitution) we have a national established church, of sound scriptural and protestant faith, and a preached gospel?[AB]
FOOTNOTE:
[AB] From “The Liturgy of the Church of England, Catechetically explained, for the use of children, by Mrs. S. Maddock. 3 vols. London: Houlston and Co.” These volumes seem well adapted to explain to those for whose use they have been published—the liturgy of our church. The catechetical form in which the subject is treated, rather, however, detracts from their value, and should the authoress be called on for a new edition, we should advise her to publish in a different form.
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Transcriber's Note
The masthead in the original referred to Vol. IX., although this issue is in fact part of Vol. X. of this publication. This has been corrected.
A table of contents has been added for the convenience of the reader.
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Please note that Orinoco is spelled variously as Oronooco and Oronooko.