to cry out, "Let us maintain the common liberty of our respective tribes; we have freed ourselves from the slavery imposed upon us by the Egyptians, and shall we suffer ourselves to be made slaves by Moses? If we must have a master, it were better to return to Pharaoh, who at least fed us with bread and onions, than to serve this new tyrant, who, by his operations, has brought us into danger of famine." Then they called in question the reality of his conference with God, and objected to the privacy of the meetings, and the preventing any of the people from being present at the colloquies, or even approaching the place, as grounds of great suspicion. They ac cused Moses also of peculation, as embezzling part of the golden spoons and the silver chargers, that the princes had offered at the dedication of the altar,* and the offerings of gold by the common people,t as well as most of the poll tax;‡ and Aaron they accused of pocketing much of the gold of which he pretended to have made a molten calf. Besides peculation, they charged Moses with ambition; to` gratify which passion he had, they said, deceived the people, by promising to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey; instead of doing which, he had brought them from such a land; and that he thought light of all this mischief, provided he could make himself an absolute prince :§ that, to support * Numbers, chap. vii.

† Exodus, chap. xxxv. ver. 22.

Numbers, chap. iii. and Exodus, chap. xxx.

§ Numbers, chap. xvi. ver. 13. "Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey,

the new dignity with splendour in his family, the partial poll tax, already levied, and given to Aaron,* was to be followed by a general one, which would probably be augmented from time to time, if he were suffered to go on promulgating new laws, on pretence of new occasional revelations of the divine will, till their whole fortunes were devoured by that aristocracy.

Moses denied the charge of peculation, and his accusers were destitute of proofs to support it; though facts, if real, are in their nature capable of proof. "1 have not," said he (with holy confidence in the presence of God), "I have not taken from this people the value of an ass, nor done them any other injury." But his enemies had made the charge, and with some success, among the populace; for no kind of accusation is so readily made, or easily believed by knaves, as the accusation of knavery.

In fine, no less than two hundred and fifty of the principal men, "famous in the congregation, men of renown," heading and exciting the mob, worked them up to such a pitch of phrenzy, that they called out, "Stone them, stone them, and thereby secure our liberties; and let us choose other captains, that may lead us back into Egypt, in case we do not succeed in reducing the Canaanites."

to kill us in this wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?"

* Numbers, chap. iii.

† Exodus, chap. xxx.

Numbers, chap. xvi.

On the whole, it appears that the Israelites were a people jealous of their newly acquired liberty; which jealousy was in itself no fault; but that, when they suffered it to be worked upon by artful men, pretending public good, with nothing really in view but private interest, they were led to oppose the establishment of the new constitution, whereby they brought upon themselves much inconvenience and misfortune. It farther appears, from the same inestimable history, that when, after many ages the constitution had become old and much abused, and an amendment of it was proposed, the populace, as they had accused Moses of the ambition of making himself a prince, and cried out, "Stone him, stone him;" so, excited by their high-priests and scribes, they exclaimed against the Messiah, that he aimed at becoming king of the Jews; and cried, "Crucify him, crucify him." From all which we may gather, that popolar opposition to a public measure is no proof of its impropriety, even though the opposition be excited and headed by men of distinction.

To conclude, I beg I may not be understood, to infer, that our general convention was divinely in spired when it formed the new federal constitution, merely because that constitution has been unreasonably and vehemently opposed: yet, I must own, I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence, that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance to the welfare of millions now existing, and to exist in the posterity of a great nation, should be suffered

to pass, without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have their being.

THE RETORT COURTEOUS.

"JOHN Oxly, pawnbroker, of Bethnal Green, was indicted for assaulting Jonathan Boldsworth on the highway, putting him in fear, and taking from him one silver watch, value 51. 5s. The prisoner pleaded, that having sold the watch to the prosecutor, and being immediately after informed by a person who knew him, that he was not likely to pay for the same, he had only followed him, and taken the watch back again. But it appearing on the trial, that, presuming he had not been known when he committed the robbery; he had afterwards sued the prosecutor for the debt, on his note of hand; he was found guilty, death."

Old Bailey Sessions Paper, 1747.

I choose the above extract from the proceedings of the Old Bailey in the trial of criminals, as a motto or text, on which to amplify in my ensuing discourse. But on second thoughts, having given it forth, I shall, after the example of some other preachers, quit it for the present, aud leave to my readers, if I should happen to have any, the task of discovering what relations there may possibly be between my text and my sermon.

Daring some years past, the British newspapers have been filled with reflections on the inhabitants of America, for not paying their old debts to English merchants. And from these papers the same reflections have been translated into foreign prints, and circulated throughout Europe; whereby the American character respecting honour, probity, and justice in commercial transactions, is made to suffer in the opinion of strangers, which may be attended with pernicious consequences.

At length we are told that the British court has taken up the complaint, and seriously offered it as a reason for refusing to evacuate the frontier posts according to treaty. This gives a kind of authority to the charge, and makes it now more necessary to examine the matter thoroughly; to inquire impartially into the cond uct of both nations; take blame to ourselves where we have merited it; and, where it may be fairly done, mitigate the severity of the censures that are so liberally bestowed upon us.

We may begin by observing, that before the war our mercantile character was good. In proof of this (and a stronger proof can hardly be desired) the votes of the house of commons in 1774-5, have recorded a petition signed by the body of the merchants of London trading to North America, in which they expressly set forth, not only that the trade was profitable to the kingdom, but that the remittances and payments were as punctually and faithfully made as in any other branch of commerce whatever. These gentlemen were certainly com