First.--_The nature and character of the King_. God is the King. In him exists all legal authority. He alone has the right of originating a system of government on the earth. He claims this right by virtue of his having made man and the earth he inhabits. Man, therefore, is indebted to God for his own formation and for the formation of the planet on which he dwells. He also claims the right of establishing his government among men, by virtue of his superior wisdom and power. If God had sufficient wisdom and power to construct such a beautiful world as this, with all the infinite varieties of vegetables and animals appended to it; if he could form such an intricate and complicated piece of machinery as the human tabernacle as a dwelling-place for the human spirit, then we must admit that his wisdom and power are immeasurably greater than that of man, and hence he is qualified to reign as king. An order of government, established by such an all-wise, powerful being, must be good and perfect, and must be calculated to promote the permanent peace, happiness, and well-being of all his subjects. The Great King is a very amiable being, full of benevolence and goodness, and never turns any person away empty, that comes requesting a favor which he sees would be for his benefit. The King occasionally visited his subjects in ancient times, and once tarried with them for several years; but he received such cruel abuse from many of the people that he left them, and went to some other part of his dominions. Where the King is gone the people cannot tell. They have not heard one word from him for upwards of seventeen hundred years. He has been absent so long, that some of the people have doubted even his existence. They have argued that if he did exist, that some one would very likely have heard something from him in the course of so many centuries. Many millions however have some idea that he exists, and are constantly sending all kinds of petitions to him; but for some reason he sends no word back. No messengers are dispatched to the petitioners to give them any counsel upon any subject. It has become a very popular thing to send daily petitions to the King, and to appropriate one day out of seven for the especial purpose of sending in their petitions. The same petitions are frequently sent a great number of times. It is very unpopular however for any one to expect the King to make any reply to any petitions sent in. Any one pretending to have received a reply would be counted a base impostor; for, say they, the King has spoken to no one for the last seventeen hundred years; no one has heard from him since he conversed with his servant John on the Isle of Patmos. The King conversed very freely with his subjects in the early and middle ages; and some think it very strange that he has been silent so long. They have expended millions in building many costly and magnificent churches in honor of his name; but yet he has not deigned