he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace ?" Thus may we ask, in reference to the text. If the infraction of human laws, when substantiated by sufficient evidence, be ever punished with the loss of life, how much more shall a neglect and contempt of Christ meet with due recompence from an holy and omniscient God ?
The text being thus explained, we may proceed to deduce from it some important observations.
The solemnity of the present occasion' requires us to take some notice of human judicatures: we shall not however restrict our observations to them : there is a future judgment to which we must look forward ; nor should we satisfy your expectations any more than our own conscience, if we did not principally advert to that. The text affords us a proper oppor- tunity for discharging our duty in both respects.
We observe then, I. That the dispe?ismg of Justice by j)ersons duly qua- lified and authorized, is an unspeakable blessing to a nation.
The institution of judges is a necessary part of every well-ordered government. When God called his people Israel, and formed them into a distinct nation by his servant Moses, he gave this command ; "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout all thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment." When Jehoshaphat set himself to restore the political and religious welfare of his king- dom, he paid immediate attention to this point : " he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city; and said to the judges. Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in judgment '." After the Babylonish captivity also, when the Persian monarch gave commandment respecting the re-establishment of the Jews in their own land, he particularly enjoined Ezra to be mindful of this matter: " Thou, Ezra,
' An Assize Sermon at Cambridge.
'-^ Deut. xvi. 18. i 2 Cliron. vii. 25, 26.