God's providence the punishment is more or less connected with the sin, and bears some analogy to it. If Eli is guilty of honouring his sons above God; both his sons must be cut off in the flower of their age, and his house accursed for ever. If David has slain Uriah with the sword, and taken his wife for himself; his wives too must be taken from him by another, and the sword must never depart from his house. And what is our national punishment, the great evil under which our nation labours? It is that hundreds of thousands of Englishmen are growing up without any instruction in their duties, without any one to sound in their ears the solemn words, "Righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come;" without any knowledge of Him who came to save His people from their sins; without hope, and without God in the world. And this evil we are told cannot be remedied, for want of funds. Our sin then has found us out. Where are the tithes dedicated to God for ever, for His glory and the salvation of men? why not apply them to meet this evil? They are impropriated: they are dissipated long ago. Already has our sin brought forth for us misery. "Unto us belong shame and confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against the
revenues of the poor vicars, the impropriations, the loss of which has impoverished them, are actually applied by the same parliament as part of the national revenue.
