Page:St. Paul's behaviour towards the civil magistrate.pdf/22

 of wholesome laws; and know how to scorn all the homage or respect of men but what results from an unbiased and uninterrupted administration of justice.

And now, if St Paul shewed so great a respect to the written laws of that state under which he lived; if he thought it worth his while (whose grand affair was to propagate a new religion, and the belief of a future state) to concern himself so much with this world as to insist upon his rights and privileges, as he was a subject, and to shew no ordinary regard to them; if he thought it the happiness of a kingdom to have such privileges as are fit for subjects settled by law, and a happiness not to be shaken at the will of the executive power; if he thought that subjects might judge concerning the invasion of these privileges, and were not brought into being to submit to every thing imposed upon them; let us learn from so great an example to value our own happiness in that legal establishment under which we live, and live so as to enjoy life. His example bids us plainly stand fast in our liberty supported by laws. Let this move us more than the fallacious disputations of those who are continually declaiming against this happiness, and endeavouring to persuade us to change it for another sort of government; arguing the benefit of this to ourselves, and the right