The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

SERMONS. 107eyes" even " of the wife." To mifapply the revenueimpoveriilies the nation j it alfo difappoints the peopleof their juft expectations, and brings difgrace uponthe kingdom. In the firil Dutch vi^ar, equally unrighteousand impolitical, Charles II. demanded andobtained very great fublidies from parliament, promifingthat he vt^ould equip a ftrong fleet, and performfome adiion of wonderful prowefs againft theDutch 5 but he diffipated all he had got ; I need notfay how •, it was in the manner that that thoughtlefsand fauntering monarch was in ufe to fpend his treafure; his fhips of war were laid up ; he made fomediftant propofals of peace to the enemy ; meantimede Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, came up the riverMedway, and, by the help of a ftrong eaft wind,broke the boom, the crofs chain, which, inftead of apowerful fleet, was all the defence provided for Britainand the (liips in the harbour ; he proceeded toChatham, burnt three or four fhips, and carried others'ofl^ with him. Thus, by the embezzlement and mifapplicationof the public money, the Britifh fhorewas, in a time of war, left defencelefs, the capital ofthe empire was alarmed, and, in the judgment of nativesand of foreigners,contempt and difgrace.the kingdom was expofed toThat to purloin or embezzle,the public money impoverifhes and difgraces a nation,might be fliown at large from hiftory and fadl. Inproof of this point, I have mentioned but one inftance,and that at the diftance of a hundred years backward.I will mention no more, left I ftiould feem to cometoo near to what may have been done in our own days.I remark,4. That when any part of the public revenue hathbeen purloined or mifapplied, or when unexpecteddifgraces in v/ar have happened, it becomes the uncorruptedpart of the legillative body to ftrive that theguilty may be deteCted.If the morals of a nation are yet tolerably pure, an