their own rebellion was written; and of the manner of obtaining the king's pardon, together with a variety of directions for their conduct in time to come; and in this book, it was particularly mentioned, that, after having lived a certain number of years in a part of the same king's country, and under his eye and jurisdiction, there should be a Grand Trial, when every one was to be publicly tried for his past behavior, and after this trial was over, certain heavy punishments were to be inflicted on those who should have still persisted in their rebellion, and certain high premiums were to be bestowed, as a gracious reward, upon the obedient.

It may be proper here to notice, that this king's court differed in some respects from our courts of justice, being, indeed, a sort of court of appeal, to which questions were carried after they had been imperfectly decided in the common courts. And, although with us all criminals are tried (and very properly, in my opinion) by a jury of their equals, yet in this king's country, the mode was very different; for, since, every one of the people had been in a certain sense, criminals, the king did not think it fair to make them judges also. It would, indeed, have been impossible to follow, in all respects, the customs which prevail with us, for the crimes with which men are charged in our courts, are mere "overt acts," as the lawyers call them, that is, acts which regard the outward behavior; such as the acts of striking, maiming, stealing, and so forth. But in the king's court it was not merely outward sins, but sins of the heart also, which were to be punished. Many a crime, therefore, which was never heard of in our common courts, was here to be brought to light, and was reserved for this great day. Among these were pride, and

oppression, and envy, and malice, and revenge, and covetousness, and secret vanity of mind, and evil thoughts of all sorts, and all evil wishes and desires. When covetousness, indeed, put men on committing robbery, or when malice drove them to an act of murder, then the common courts immediately judged the criminal, without waiting for this Great Trial; nevertheless, since even a thief and murderer would, now and then, escape in the common courts, for want of evidence, or through some fault or other of the judge or jury, the escape was of little moment to the poor criminal, for he was sure to be tried again by this great king; and even though the man should have been punished in some sense before, yet he had now a farther punishment to bear, unless, indeed, he was one of those who had obtained, by the means I before spoke of, this great king's pardon. The sins of the heart, however, were by far the most numerous sort of sins, which were to come before this great tribunal; and these were to be judged by this great king in person, and by none but himself; because he possessed a certain power of getting at all secrets.

I once heard of a certain king of Sicily, who built a whispering gallery in the form of an ear, through which he could hear every word that his rebellious subjects uttered, though spoken ever so low. But this secret of the king of Sicily, was nothing to what this great king possessed; for he had the power of knowing every thought which was conceived in the mind, though it never broke out into words, or proceeded to actions.

Now you may be ready to think, perhaps, that these people were worse off than any others, because they were to be examined so closely, and

judged so strictly. Far from it: the king was too just to expect bricks without giving them straw; he gave them, therefore, every help that they needed. He gave them a book of directions, as I before observed; and, because they were naturally shortsighted, he supplied them with a glass for reading it, and thus the most dim-sighted might see, if they did not wilfully shut their eyes; but, though the king invited them to open their eyes, he did not compel them; and many remained blind all their lives with the book in their hand, because they would not use the glass, nor take the proper means for reading and understanding all that was written for them. The humble and sincere, learned in time to see even that part of the book, which was least plainly written; and it was observed that the ability to understand it, depended more on the heart than the head; an evil disposition blinded the sight, while humble docility made every thing clear.

Now, it happened, that those who had been so lucky as to escape the punishment of the lower courts, took it into their heads, that they were all a very good sort of people, and of course very safe from any danger at this Great Trial. This grand intended trial, indeed, had been talked of so much, and put off so long, (for it had seemed long at least to these short-sighted people), that many persuaded themselves that it would never take place at all; and far the greater part were living away, therefore, without ever thinking about it; they went on just as if nothing at all had been done for their benefit; and as if they had no king to please, no king's son to be thankful to, no book to guide themselves by, and as if the Trial were never to come about.

But, with this king a thousand years were as one day, for he was not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness. So, at length, the solemn period approached. Still, however, the people did not prepare for the solemnity, or rather, they prepared for it much as some of the people in our towns are apt to prepare for Court; I mean by balls and feastings, and they saw their own trial come on, with as little concern as is felt by the people in our streets, when they see the judge's procession enter the town, who, indeed, comfort themselves that it is only those in the prisons who are guilty.

But when at last, the day came, and every man found that he was to be judged for himself, and that some how or other, all his secrets were brought out, and that there was now no escape, things began to take a more serious turn. Some of the worst of the criminals were got together debating in an outer court of the Grand Hall, and there they passed their time, not in compunction, with tears, not in comparing their lives with what was required in that book which had been given them, but in comparing themselves with such as had been still more notorious offenders.

One who had grown wealthy by rapine and oppression, but had contrived to keep within the letter of the law, insulted a poor fellow as a thief, because he had stolen a loaf of bread. "You were far wickeder than I was," said a citizen to his apprentice, "for you drank and swore at the tavern every Sunday night." "Yes," said the poor fellow, "but it was your fault that I did so, for you took no care of my soul, but spent all your Sabbaths in jaunting abroad, or in rioting at home; I might have learned, but there was no one to teach me; I night have followed a

good example, but I saw only bad ones. I sinned against less light than you did." A drunken journeyman, who had spent all his wages on gin, took comfort that he had not spent a great estate in bribery at elections, as the lord of his manor had done, while a perjured elector boasted that he was no drunkard, like the journeyman.

I have not room to describe the awful pomp of the court, nor the terrible sounding of the trumpet which attended the judge's entrance, nor the sitting of the judge, nor the opening of the books, nor the crowding of the millions, who stood before him. I shall pass over the multitudes who were tried and condemned to dungeons, and chains, and to perpetual banishment from the presence of the king, which always seemed to be the saddest part of the sentence. I shall only notice further, a few who brought some plea of merit, and claimed a right to be rewarded by the king, and even deceived themselves so far as to think that his own book of laws would be their justification.

A thoughtless spendthrift advanced without any contrition, and said, "that he had lived handsomely, and had hated the covetous whom God abhorreth, and that he trusted in that passage of the book which said, that covetousness was idolatry; and that he therefore hoped for a favorable sentence." Now it proved that this man had not only avoided covetousness, but that he had even left his wife and children in want through his excessive prodigality. The judge, therefore, immediately pointed to that place in the book where it is written, he that provideth not for his household is worse than an Infidel. He that liveth in pleasure, is dead while he liveth; thou, said he, in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and now thou must be tormented.