to provide for us there as well as he may; to call us together around the bright hearth and the smoking board; to appoint us a pillow of comfortable rest; to watch at our side with faithful vigils, tender care, and skilful nursing when we are sick, and wipe away our tears when we are sad. We all like to call God, "Father." He appears in such an amiable, smiling aspect when this relation alone is recognized, that we dismiss our fears, and have only grateful sensations as he presents himself thus before us. It is very agreeable to be so cared for and So far, we have, none of us,

cherished and blessed.

any quarrel with God. Let him pour his blessed sunshine upon us all the day. Let him soften our fields with his spring showers, and fill our wells with his autumn rains. Let him refresh the arid places of earth with nightly dews. Let him give us the round of the changeful and fruitful seasons. Let him gladden our daily walks with the companionship of kindred and friends, and make our tabernacle musical with household talk. A good father, a kind benefactor. There is not a heart on earth that objects to such a conception of God, or to any such function of his superintending providence. Nay, he may even advise, in a fatherly way, as to the temper we ought to cherish and the conduct we ought to exhibit, and chide us gently, if we miss the mark, and seek to persuade us to better purposes and more filial returns.

Our eyes are open a little wider now. that such an administration will not do.

We see clearly

It is not strong

enough. It lacks enforcing and coercive power. It is

cruelly weak.

In a sense, it tempts to rebellion and defiance. God must be a Governor, as well as a Father. He must enact laws, publish ordinances, set simply with a father's

up institutes; come before us not love, but with a ruler's authority. We want to see firmness, as well as kindness, on his face. We want to feel that there is a steadfast will, as truly as a paternal pity; that his throne stands as fast as his promises; and that his control of us and our fellow-men, and of all things around us affecting our interests, is as wide, searching, and absolute as his exploration of our wants, and the generosity with which all need is met. We shall agree in saying, "If God be good, let him give us a government, not shadowy, remote, and ineffective, but near, positive, peremptory, that may be felt, relied upon, and ascertained to be real and solid." The fatherhood of God is a very affecting truth, but it does not of itself go far enough for our confidence and our comfort. Not till we read on his vesture and his thigh, that other title, "King of kings and Lord of lords," are our souls at peace. Here we plant our feet upon a rock.

Again, if God ask, Shall this government be maintained? our answer is equally prompt and hearty. We have not two opinions about it. We want a strong, steady, abiding government. We desire to know how it is bulwarked; what forces wait upon its behests; what executive vigor it possesses. Is omniscience its counsellor? Is omnipotence ready to march at its bidding? Does its control sweep the area of its territory, ubiquitous in every part? Is it prepared for all exigencies? Is

it a fair-weather government, on deck in pleasant latitudes, handling the sails, steering the ship, ordering the crew while the winds and currents favor? and does it abdicate if there be gales or lee shores or mutiny? or is it a government for stormy weather overhead and conspiracies on board? What will it do if defied? On that question our chief solicitude hangs. Let God put that question to us. What shall my government do if it encounter combinations and conspiracies against its perpetuity? Shall it give way, retract its edicts, back down, let whoso will renounce allegiance, and throw off the character of subjects, or shall it be maintained? We are ready with our answer. How easy it is to-day to answer! No hesitation! Our response is brief, but emphatic. It repeats the last word of the question with a downright cadence, "maintained!"

Suppose, again, the Great Governor asks us how far he shall go in the maintenance of his government. We reply again, without taking time for debate, and without any qualification, As far as is necessary for the object. Shall he proffer, then, the oath of allegiance to every subject? Yes, to every.subject. And if this oath be declined, or, having been taken, be broken by falsehood and perjury, shall he insist upon the supremacy of the government there? Yes, he must insist. But if he commit himself to such a demand, how far must he be prepared to back it up? If need be, with the whole power of the government. But it may call for the

waters of a universal deluge.

Then let the deluge fall.

It may necessitate the ten plagues of his wrathful right

arm.

Then inflict them. It may make our earthly Niles run red with blood. No matter, they must run through loyal dominions. It may call for the extermination of the Amalekites. Then exterminate them. It may compel the administration to keep a standing army of famines, fevers, pestilences, and storms, and an immense police of aches and pains and crosses and disappointments. Very well, then the administration must do it. It may oblige the government to make a terrible example of rebels and traitors, to hold up their tragic end as an awful warning, to show them to all the States of God's empire gibbeted in eternal anguish and infamy, — the shame and condemnation of their great parricide clinging to them forever and ever. Well, if this be needful, it is right. It is therefore good. It is benevolent. The government has no choice. It must be maintained. the hearts or upon the necks of those who oppose it, its supremacy must be asserted. If it take cycles of probationary centuries, if it cost myriads of subject lives, if it necessitate the laying waste of ten thousand worlds, fortresses of secession and nests of sedition, if it part brother from brother, cut off unnumbered children of God's loins from their Father's house, cast down from the firmament a third part of the stars set therein by God's hand, the infinite good of an established government demands and justifies the prodigious outlay. For, government sacrificed, all is lost; no good remains. Better lose a part. The loss is partial and temporary. It can be replaced. The good of a sustained administration is universal and eternal. How clearly we see that

In

now! How easy it is to answer these questions here and to-day! The principles of government are one, on earth and in that august court. How fully God vindicates himself in our instinctive and accordant judgments! How absolutely we pronounce, The cost of maintaining government must not be regarded! That is sanction enough for any and all of God's procedures.

Again, suppose the divine lips reiterate the question, What shall be done with rebels? Possibly we should suggest, especially to a government undeniably strong enough to deal with them, a course of forbearance for a while; time given them for soberer thoughts; attempts to remove their prejudices, to convince them of the benevolent intentions and spirit of the government, to awaken them to penitence and shame, to lead them back, if possible, to their allegiance; but when the question returns, They are obdurate; they will not have God to reign over them; they have set up for themselves; they are determined upon independence of the rightful authority; they are going on under their own flag; what shall be done with them? our answer again is prompt and decisive; the government must proceed against them. It cannot allow their triumph. That dishonors the administration before all worlds, and must disaffect the loyal everywhere and forever. No knee, on earth or in heaven, will continue to pay homage to such a government, which is no government. It must deal with these rebels, if it would not have defection and rebellion general. It must put them down. If need be, it must cut them down, it must mow them down, it must utterly exterminate them, if it