Проповеди и лекции

andci^ taken t^^ f^orfi^tjc oz' v-^r rdL:x zr^il i^saiats^ ia oricf i^^'Nf lor^i. jl'^: *-*r»y i'ter* i";*;f "nbie; A* I ri*j:i: y vu *:re<r :iff x-rzxc in^. the wksri; Sii:x% s^w :Lp la. :3:s gac, ever againsa Ae ^^ttu G>^. til onMTtodrvv ^mcc ' \m ■mih«iiif III.] god's CONTAOVKKSr WITH THE LABfD. 936 tboflc in power and ^vcrnmcnt. waa the voice and autboriij of the people, which, during the two centuries after the Rcfor [nation, hat) receivod such culuvRtioQ, and aci|tiired »uch iruth and decision by th<^ preaching of the word, that it overawed the most august and ancient strongholds of iniqutty^ and became the most powerful agent in the repression of evil, and the promulgation of good. ThoRe Divine causes which find co-operated to beget such worthiness in tlie voice and feeling of the people, having, as usual, cunningly removed out of sight, he persuaded many that it held an iDtrinsic and indcfeasibb authority in itself; which was the parent of every other, and itself begotten of none; and that in the long run it was the court of dernier resort, and the eartlily organ of infalli- bility. In which his masterful artiticc he hath suc- ceeded to such an extent, that 1 have no doubt in my owu nuud, the Pope's infallibility is not near- ly in so much considcratton, in popish countries, as the infallibility of public opinion is in this Pro- testant and Rcfornii^d land : nor thai all the ido- latry which is offered to bim in one year, by the most abject and submissive of his kingdoms, doth equal the idolatry which in one week is offered in tliis kingdom by the daily press, and other organs of our present system, at the shrine of public opinion. Now, it is not to be conceived, that BO much idolatry should tiavc been present for BO long a timo, ever sinct? the Revolution, and in such various ways, without producing a substantial and remarkable eflect in that body whereto it hath bei^n offered. For it is not the vulgar sense, but the statesmanship, the policy, the philosophy, the pbilanthrophy, and almost all the periodical literature of the time, em 936 UOD'a COMTSOVERST VITH the tATTD, [. vhich foster this Bame btal dehisioa thai ibe pl« are the origin of all pover^ that all magistrati and office-bearers are the Mrrants of A<s peopi and tiiat the judgmeat of the people is the pi of law, and the only crrterion oi ngbteousi T\m wide-spread DOtioQ, this darling opinii this uuiverfial priociple, hath taken ■mcU a hoi of raen's minds, as to work in ihem the ^ame ei with respect to obedieiice ia the su