Page:Essay on the First Principles of Government 2nd Ed.djvu/262

 a reformation of the abuse; and it would be manifestly contrary to the principles of justice and honour, to be an unconcerned spectator of so great a misfortune to it. I cannot help comparing the author of the Confessional to a man who would endeavour to stop a leak he perceived in the vessel in which he was embarked, and Dr. Balguy to a man who would run the risque of its sinking all at once, rather than insinuate that there was any thing amiss with it.

Strange as this author's declamation against the friends of the Confessional is, it follows directly from his avowed principle, that authority once established must be obeyed. Speaking of "the founders of our holy religion," he says, p. 18. "They established a form of church government; for the church must be governed in some form, or there could be no government. But their directions to us are, for the most part, very general. Even their example must be cautiously urged, in different times, and under different circumstances. In