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Sermon – Perjury – 1813

Noah Porter (1781-1866) graduated from Yale in 1803. He was pastor of the Congregational Church in his native town, Farmington, CT (1803-1866). The following sermon was preached by Porter in 1813 on perjury.

PERJURY PREVALENT AND DANGEROUS

SERMON,

DELIVERED IN FARMINGTON,

AT THE

FREEMEN’S MEETING,

SEPTEMBER, 1813.

BY NOAH PORTER, A.M.
PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN FARMINGTON.

A SERMON.

EXODUS XX. 7.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain.

Innumerable are the ways in which sinful men take the name of the Lord their God in vain; but in no way can they do this more heinously, than by committing the sin of perjury, or swearing by that name falsely.

Assembled, as we are at this time, to perform an important duty, under the obligation of the oath; and liable to be called, on other occasions, to act under this obligation; it is important that we consider its nature, and the guilt and danger of violating it:—the more especially important, because its influence is moral, and depends on its being understood and felt.

Introductory to what will be suggested concerning the sin of perjury, a few observations will be made concerning the oath; particularly concerning the necessity, the lawfulness, and the import of the oath.

In civil society the oath is necessary. The necessity of it results from the selfishness and deceitfulness of man. Mutual dependence is indispensable. Reputation, property, and life itself, must often be suspended on the veracity of a witness in court. The peace, security, and liberties of a nation, necessarily depend much on the fidelity of men in public office; and, in a free government, on the purity of elections. Obliged thus to commit our dearest earthly interests into the hands of men, and conscious that men are selfish and depraved, we reasonably demand of them every security which the nature of the case allows. Hence we require the most sacred bond that can be laid on a dependent and accountable being, an appeal to the Omniscient and Ever-living GOD, by solemn oath. Such being the necessity of the oath, it has been common to all ages and nations.

The use of the oath in such cases is lawful. Under the ancient dispensation, it would seem that God not only permitted, but required, his people, on important and needful occasions, to adopt it. “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,” was his direction by Moses, “and shalt serve him, and shalt swear by his name.” Swearing by the name of Jehovah appears to have been an instituted mode of worshipping him; one of the methods in which his people were to acknowledge him as their God, in distinction from the gods of the heathen.

Nothing appears as a reason why the oath should not be thus regarded still. Not only is the ancient use of it not prohibited in the New Testament, but it is directly warranted there. Our Great Example, when adjured by the living God to declare whether he were the Christ or not, answered the high-priest, without making any objection to the oath. The Apostle Paul, on several important occasions, “called God to witness,” and “for a record on his soul,” to confirm his declarations. And the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the custom of swearing, not only with no mark of disapprobation, but with mention of God himself as condescending to confirm the truth of his promise in the same manner. “For men,” he says, “verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.”

As to the prohibition of our Saviour, “Swear not at all,” which has occasioned the scruples of some religious sects about the lawfulness of the oath, it is evident from the whole tenor of his discourse, and especially from the words which both introduce and follow the prohibition, that it was designed, not to abrogate the law of Moses, which, to say the least, permitted the use of the civil oath, but to remove the corrupt glosses on that law, which were introduced by the Jewish teachers, and were sanctioned by their traditions: in other words, that it has no respect to the civil oath, but only to profane swearing in ordinary conversation. No other instance throughout the discourse is ever adduced, in which it is pretended that the Divine teacher discountenances any thing required or permitted in the law of Moses. His direction on this subject, as on others, he contrasts not with that law, but with what had been “said by them of old time”; and our whole duty, in this particular, he sums up in the words “Let your communication, your ordinary conversation, by yea, yea; nay, nay;—a simple affirmation or denial, or at most, a repetition of the one or the other.

The oath has commonly been accompanied with some significant bodily action, expressive of its solemnity. The most ancient, and among the Jews at least, the prevalent custom seems to have been the same as we have adopted—lifting up the right hand towards heaven. Thus Abraham said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.” Thus also David speaks of those, “whose mouth spake falsely” and “whose right hand was a right hand of falsehood.” And in the New Testament, the angel whom John saw in vision, “lifted up his hand, to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever that the time should not be yet.”

But whatever custom in this respect be adopted, the import of the oath is always the same; and that import, well deserves the consideration of all who thus take the name of the Lord their God, lest they take it in vain. As a moralist observes, “it is invoking Him as a witness of what we say, and it is imprecating his vengeance on ourselves, or which is the same thing, it is renouncing his aid if we are not true in what we affirm, and sincere in what we engage.” This is the meaning of the concluding sentence in our common form, “So help me God.” So, that is, on condition of my speaking the truth or performing what I engage, and not otherwise, may God help me.”

It might be supposed that no rational creature could be found so hardened in impiety, so lost to all sense of obligation and of fear, as deliberately to renounce help from that Almighty Being in whose hand his breath is, by swearing falsely; but in this enormous guilt, our country in common with every other country where God is known, is deeply involved. Perjury, is not an uncommon crime; but, in some forms, is so common, that it excites little public sensibility. In our courts of justice, indeed, while we cannot but see that even here the oath is very commonly treated with but a small measure of the reverence it demands, we are yet glad to acknowledge, that if a man be known to have willfully testified a falsehood in evidence, his crime is regarded with general abhorrence. This, however, we must ascribe in great measure to the penalties ordained in such cases by the laws, and to the conviction which every reflecting person must feel of his own exposure, were the crime to meet with public toleration. For if we view the same crime in forms, where self-interest is less directly concerned, and where punishment from men is not to be expected, we find it frequent beyond calculation, and notorious without disgrace.

What little credit is due to custom-house oaths, and how slightly a isolation of them is generally regarded, is proverbial. That multitudes habitually defraud the public of a part or the whole of the revenue required of them by the laws, and of the penalties which become due in certain cases by transgression, and then cover that fraud with perjury, is not to be questioned. Especially when a law, whether from real or merely pretended injustice or inexpedience, is unpopular, it soon becomes, a matter of system and dark intrigue with many to evade it; and if needful in order to the success of the evasion, to cover it with perjury. All this is done by multitudes with as little apparent compunction, as though no sin were committed;—as though rebellion against the delegated authority of God were nothing; systematized deceit in such a cause, hallowed; and false-swearing an unmeaning sound.

Nor is this the full extent of the crime. Oaths of office are multiplied;—and when we look at the manner in which they are generally regarded, we fear that the violation of them, is even more common than any other form of perjury. Clear it is that when a person swears that he will perform certain specified duties, which, at the time of the oath, he does not fully intend to perform in the manner required, or which afterwards he voluntarily neglects, he is false to his oath.—And when we consider the terms of the oath taken by the freemen of the State, and then look at the spirit and the conduct of partisans in it, or the apparent inconsideration of multitudes in the use of their elective franchise, how can the most enlarged charity repress the apprehension, that many, both when they swear by the name of the Ever-living GOD, and when they enter on the transactions to which their oath has respect, are, in the sight of Him who looketh on the heart, guilty of this shocking crime. Or, if we look at our laws for the preservation of good morals, and at the oaths taken by the various informing and executive officers in the State, and then see how openly, constantly, and fearlessly many of those laws are violated; how can we avoid the most painful reflection, that not a small number in the community, who are honoured with its confidence, as guardians of its vital interests, do themselves lie before God, under the guilt of habitual perjury. To say that those laws are obsolete; that it would not be prudent or salutary to execute them, or that, in this day of declension, the juror must not be understood according to the letter of the oath, will satisfy no enlightened conscience. Will it be seriously maintained, that we have no laws prohibiting gross Sabbath-breaking, profaneness, drunkenness, gaming, lewdness, with other breaches of the essential principles of morality? Or that it has ever been found, by experiment, imprudent or hurtful for the constituted guardians of the public peace, according to their oaths, to subject offenders to the penalties ordained? Or, that their oaths are to be interpreted according to their secret reservations, or discretionary views?—Nothing can be more manifest, than that oaths are binding according to the terms of them—and that the freeman, or he officer who voluntarily neglects the duties, which he is sworn to perform, violates his oath, no less than the witness, who willfully misstates or withholds facts which he is sworn truly and fully to declare. The perjury, in the former case, is not usually capable of being as certainly proved, is not as dishonourable among men; and does not aim so direct a blow at the foundations of individual security, as in the latter: but it is as really perjury; it strikes at the essential interests of society; and it is commonly more deliberately committed, is longer persisted in, and is more habitually contracted, in this, than any other manner.

But in whatever manner perjury be committed, it is one of the most aggravated crimes that can be named. Lying and profane swearing are justly considered, as expressions of a heart nearly assimilated to the prince of darkness. But perjury, excepting only some cases of official perjury, involves both these; nay, without an exception, it violates a greater confidence than a simple lie, and is more deliberately committed than common profaneness. It generally involves the guilt of calling on the High and Holy One to witness a falsehood—of making his glorious and fearful name a sanctuary for crimes—of tempting Him to attest and to countenance deceit by withholding that vengeance which the perjurer imprecates; and always proceeds, either from an atheistical disbelief, or an impious contempt of the divine majesty, holiness, justice and truth. It is an affront, which, were it offered only to a pure created mind, could not fail to awaken extreme abhorrence. When offered to the Eternal Uncreated Mind, before whom the seraphim bow with the most profound reverence and awe, it must excite the severest indignation. In terrible instances has he already shown that he will be sanctified of them that come before him, and in the sight of all the people will be glorified; and in the day of future recompence he will assert his Majesty and glory, and will fully clear himself from the stain which would otherwise appear to rest on his character and administration, as an abettor of deceit, by executing on the impenitent perjurer, the vengeance he had imprecated.

Again; perjury tends, more directly than almost any thing else to dissolve the bonds of civil society. The oath is a principal pledge of that confidence which is indispensable to moral union. Remove this, or which is the same thing, make it nugatory, as every person who openly violates it, does, so far as his influence goes, and you have nothing left for the security of any interest below the sun. That such is the destructive tendency of perjury in legal adjudications is generally felt and acknowledged. Every one, sensible that his property, character, liberty and life may be at issue on trial, and be suspended on testimony, feels that perjury, in this form, strikes directly at the security of every thing dear on earth. And if the liberty, order, security, and general prosperity, of every people under a free government, depend on the purity of elections, and on the fidelity of men in public trust, it is not less manifest that official perjury strikes at the welfare of the State. How pure, how peaceful, how happy, I had almost said how heavenly would be society, protected by the wise and salutary laws under which we live were they properly executed!…and executed they would be, were the oaths of office by which they are guarded, sacredly fulfilled. It is justly remarked by a writer on this subject, that, “if our country is corrupted and destroyed, to the neglect of official duties must the guilt be charged.” If in official duties, we include those which are incumbent on us as freemen, we trace the evil to its real source. And these duties cannot be neglected, without incurring the guilt of perjury. Whether therefore, we consider the nature of perjury as it respects God, or as it respects society, it is one of the most heinous sins that can possibly be committed, and cannot fail to expose the author of it, to an aggravated punishment at the hand of the righteous Judge of all.

The occasion, I am sensible, requires me to be brief; but I shall presume on your patience while I subjoin a few reflections:

First. Profane swearing and cursing, besides the contempt they cast on God, are mischievous to society. They make that a common and insignificant thing, which God has ordained, and the public good requires, should be held sacred. They remove the fear of an oath, and thus strike at the last resort of human confidence. The man who makes Jehovah’s name a common expletive, and is every day invoking the wrath of heaven on himself and his neighbours, will make little, of profaning that name and exposing himself to that wrath, by perjury—will be likely to treat the civil oath as a mere ceremony, without meaning or obligation.—He is too unbelieving and too hardened to be powerfully influenced by that bond; and he removes himself and all over whom his example has influence, every day, farther and farther from a sensibility to its obligation. In vain then, does he pretend that he injures no man’s person, property or character. He removes from his own mind, and the minds of others, that fear of an oath which is often the only security to every temporal interest.

Secondly. We infer from our subject that gross impieties and immoralities, are proper subjects of legislative prohibition. If profane swearing, Sabbath-breaking, and intemperance, with other breaches of the first principles of religion and morality, tend to extinguish the fear of God in the heart, and blunt the moral sense; if in this way they dissolve the bonds of social union in general, and, “the adamantine chain of civil liberty,” the fear of an oath, in particular, it is most obviously the province and the duty of the civil state, for its own preservation, to watch them with a vigilant eye, and suppress them with a strong hand. In this, every real friend of his country, not to say every faithful servant of God, will lend a cheerful concurrence.

Thirdly. No atheist, deist, or universalist, who denies a future punishment should be permitted to take the oath. For, what avails the oath of such a man? He denies what is most essential to its efficacy. The oath is designed as a restraint on the selfish propensities of men….a barrier against the violence of human corruption….a security for the faithful conduct of those, in the inflexibility of whose integrity of heart, amidst strong temptations we cannot place implicit confidence. It has this efficacy chiefly by appealing in the most solemn manner to their dread of forfeiting the favour and incurring the wrath of Almighty God. But those who renounce the doctrine of future punishment, in proportion to their sincerity, are strangers to this dread. The oath in their lips, is therefore nugatory. They can regard it only as an insignificant ceremony, or a superstitious device. They have emancipated themselves from this bond of civil society, by denying the punitive justice of God. It should therefore, never be laid upon them. And if, as the practice of all nations in all ages suggests, it is indispensable in places of high public trust, they ought not to be elected to those places. It is manifestly unsafe to admit them to places, where it would be unsafe to admit men without the oath, for the oath in their lips is nugatory. They ought, therefore, to be excluded, on the same principle as minors and persons destitute of estate, are excluded; that is, on the principle that, as a general thing it is unsafe for the community to admit them. Nor does this principle infringe any right in its application to them, more than to others. Let them think for themselves; let them enjoy the protection of the laws, except when they forfeit that protection by disturbing the peace of society; but, let them neither be admitted to the oath, which if sincere, they cannot conscientiously take, nor expect the favor of public confidence to which they have no claim.

Fourthly. Those persons should not be re-elected to office, who have given satisfactory evidence that they have voluntarily and habitually neglected the official duties which they were sworn to perform. If a perjured witness ought not gain to be admitted to give his testimony in court, why should the public officer, who lives in the manifest and habitual violation of his oath, be again entrusted with the public confidence; at least, till he gives satisfactory proof of repentance? Beside the plain inconsistency of this, does it not tend to multiply instances of perjury? Does it not give a public sanction to the crime? Does not a community as such, by these means become chargeable with the high offence? Can a community in any other way provoke God more fearfully, or break down the laws, and encourage licentiousness more effectually?

Here it may not be impertinent to notice the common sentiment, that no conscientious man can take the oaths required of our informing officers…that a faithful discharge of the duties imposed on them by the laws, is impracticable….that in attempting to do it, they would be overwhelmed with a tide of popular resentment.

It cannot indeed be too much lamented, that good men, lovers of good government, have been so generally unwilling to appear in open support of its constituted guardians. Too many of them are lukewarm and timid, while the supporters of vice are zealous and daring. But we as a people reduced to such a state of moral degradation, that a man, clothed with the authority of office, when he appears in the performance of a bounden duty, in obedience to his solemn oath, and to execute laws which long and uniform experience has proved to be essential to social happiness, would be overwhelmed with a tide of popular resentment? Are we, my brethren and friends, for ourselves, willing to bear such an imputation? Are not the majority of the people in this, and almost every other town in the State, desirous of seeing every vice that is forbidden by the laws suppressed, and prepared to thank and revere the officer who faithfully engages in so self-denying a duty? Do not transgressors themselves, in many instances, after perhaps a momentary impulse of resentment, venerate him in their hearts? If at any time a cry is raised against him, is it not commonly begun and supported exclusively by a few noisy opposers whose esteem it would be no honour to possess? And have not informing and executive officers been themselves too generally the cause of the evil of which they complain? Have they not been too unmindful of the dignity of office, when properly supported, and of the timidity of vice, when boldly and prudently assailed? Have they not, without real necessity, shrunk from the high ground they might maintain in the authority of the laws, and in the conscience of every sober citizen? If there be doubts on the subject, how easy is it for you, brethren and friends, at once to remove them! How easy as it respects this town, to make it as necessary to public confidence and esteem, that your officers be faithful to their oaths, as any have ever conceived it to be necessary to these, that they be compliant and neglectful! Whatever may have been the scruples of some conscientious persons on this subject, allow me to hope that the time is not far distant, when they will be done away; that the friends of religion and good order, in our favoured section of the country, are awaking to a sense of the destructive tendency of our growing licentiousness, and are beginning to use the influence they possess, to remove the evils which they have long been fruitlessly lamenting.

We are now assembled for he discharge of a most important duty, and at a most interesting period. We no longer meet under the smiles of national peace, but amidst the calamities and dangers of war; of a war, which, viewed as under the superintending Providence of God, must be considered as a visitation for our crimes; a visitation, as righteous as it is tremendous; and which, at the same time, by reason of our hardness of heart, is an occasion of multiplying our crimes beyond measure. The God we worship has the destinies of this, and every other nation in his hand, and though, “to him belongeth mercy,” yet manifestly he is not an indifferent spectator of our sins; but, “has come out of his place to punish us for our iniquity.” Surely, then, if we claim a place among his worshippers and servants, it behoves us, like Phinehas, each in his proper station, to exert our influence to remove the causes of his displeasure, and turn away the fierceness of his anger. The influence we possess as freemen, is great. Under Him from whom all power is originally derived, we in connection with our fellow free-men, are the fountain of authority and power in the State. On the manner in which we use this influence our own dearest earthly interests, and those of our children, depend. It may be so used as to afford a confident hope of our transmitting to posterity, the fairest inheritance on which the sun has ever shone; or, it may be perverted to our speedy and irretrievable ruin. Let our minds be deeply impressed with a sense of the sacred obligation, under which we act in every view, and especially, in regard to the oath of God. Let us bear it in mind, not only at this time, but, whenever we give in our vote, touching any matter in which the welfare of the State is concerned;….in the appointment of executive, as well as legislative rulers;….and of those who are to act in subordinate, as well as the higher stations.—Let us remember that the man who gives in his suffrage, with a view to excite a smile in the assembly, when it shall be declared, as we have sometimes been shocked to perceive, or from any selfish or party view, contrary to his sober judgment of the best interests of the State, as we have reason to fear is more common, purchases that poor gratification at the hazard of losing the favour, and incurring the vengeance of Almighty God. Let it not be overlooked that the terms of the oath like the law of the most Holy God, respect our secret judgment and motives, as well as our visible actions; nor be forgotten that He to whom we have lifted our hands, is a witness of our hearts, and “will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.” In expectation of that all-decisive trial, “let us think on our ways:” and if by inconsideration or of deliberate purpose, any of us have sworn falsely by the Lord, or in other methods, have taken his name in vain, let us make haste to clear ourselves of the guilt, by penitential and believing application to the blood of atonement, and to prove the sincerity of our application by renouncing the wages of iniquity, and walking before God in holiness and obedience all the days of our lives. “God is not mocked.” That solemn invocation, “So help me God,” is not an insignificant word. However heedlessly it may be uttered or assented to, it will be found to have entered into the ear of the Lord of Hosts, and to be frought with an important meaning. If we renounce his favour and do not repent, it will be to us as we shall have said. Unless the sin be washed away in the Redeemer’s blood, through faith in his name, it will seal to all eternity, our miserable doom. “For the Lord our God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

The Sermon on the Mount Carl Bloch, 1890

Sermon – Election – 1813, Connecticut

Chauncey Lee (1763-1842) graduated from Yale in 1784. He was pastor of a church in Sunderland, VT; Colebrook, NY; and Marlborough, CT (1790-1835). This election sermon was preached by Lee in Hartford, CT on May 13, 1813.

THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD THE TRUE SOURCE AND
STANDARD OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT

SERMON,

PREACHED ON THE DAY OF THE

GENERAL ELECTION,

HARTFORD,

IN THE

STATE OF CONNECTICUT,

MAY 13TH, 1813.

BY CHAUNCEY LEE,
PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN COLEBROOK.

See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
JEHOVAH.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, in said State, on the second Thursday of May, A. D. 1813.

ORDERED, That the Hon. Aaron Austin, and Samuel Mills, Esq. present the thanks of this Assembly to the Rev. CHAUNCEY LEE, for his Sermon delivered at the anniversary Election, and request a copy thereof that it may be printed.

A true copy of record,
Examined by
THOMAS DAY, Secretary.

ELECTION SERMON.

MATTHEW vi. 13.

For thine the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

These words are the conclusion of that short and memorable form of prayer, which our Saviour taught his disciples. They are also the ground of all the preceding petitions, and the weighty argument, by which they are jointly and severally enforced. These, from lisping infancy, we have been accustomed to repeat. They have been the language of devotion in the nursery, in the closet, in the family, and in the sanctuary, through every age of the gospel church; and to the true worshipper will ever be the most expressive words of prayer and praise. They are the common centre, source and argument of all his requests; for, with him, the glory of God is the supreme object of desire. To the saints on earth, and in heaven, they are the standing medium of divine communion. While they expand the heart with love and devotion, they pour the richest instruction upon the mind, present the sublimest objects of faith and hope, and lead up the soul, in holy rapture, to the Father of mercies, the infinite fountain of good.

The character of God being the foundation of all religion, the spirit of devotion is also that of obedience; and for the same reason, why we should love and worship God, we are bound to acknowledge and serve him, in all the various duties and relations of human life.

The text, therefore, not only presents the important objects of faith, but has an immediate respect to moral practice. It opens the source of all religious knowledge. It evidences truth, and enforces duty. It is the foundation of the good man’s hope and joy, and the sword of avenging justice to alarm and punish the wicked. It is interesting to every individual, and applies to all human occasions. Let us, then, with reverence attend to it; and may the Spirit of God assist and bless our inquiries.

The great subject before us, is this discourse, is the GOVERNMENT of God. No subject is more interesting. In none other, is presented such an engaging and extensive field for devout contemplation, and religious improvement. The theme, indeed, is boundless and inexhaustible. To glance at a few of its most prominent parts, is all that we can or dare assume. But where reason faints and nature fails, faith may flourish, and devotion say, “O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” ¹

In this exalted view, is the subject presented in the text. Every word is emphatical—in orderly succession, regularly advancing, enlarging, rising, and brightening at every step; till we are conducted, in the vast field of God’s holy purposes, from the commencement of created existence, to the grand consummation of all things, in the highest happiness and glory of his eternal kingdom.

1. The first point of instruction held up in the text shews the government of God to be original and supreme. “Thine is the kingdom,” expresses a high and incommunicable attribute—a peculiar and distinguishing glory of the King Eternal, totally inapplicable to any created potentate. It is thine in the most absolute sense—thine emphatically and exclusively.

As God is the creator, he is the proprietor and Lord of all things. The kingdom is his, by right of creation. He singly fills the throne of underived and supreme dominion. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things.” ² Who, then, shall dare dispute God’s property in the works of his hands—his right to govern the creatures he hath made—to establish the ordinances of earth and heaven—to give laws to universal nature; and to decree and effect the various conditions of angels and men? Having an absolute property in all his works, he hath good right to do what he will with his own. This is a dictate of human reason, no less than of divine revelation. Men themselves assert this prerogative. In the fruits of our own labour and skill, we claim, in relation to our fellow-men, an absolute and exclusive property. The principle applies with infinite force to the government of God. Because he is the maker, he is the Lord of all things.

This truth is uniformly taught in the sacred volume. It is there celebrated as the ground of the divine authority and government—of the rightful and supreme dominion of Jehovah. There his character is displayed, as the great author of existence, and clothed in all the majesty and glory of creating power. “The Lord hath made all things for himself.” ³ And the church triumphant sing, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” ⁴

2. The government of God is unlimited in extent. “Thine is the kingdom,” teaches us not only that the kingdom is the Lord’s by right of creation, and that as proprietor and Lord, he possesses supreme dominion, but that his government is universal. There is no other kingdom but his. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. ⁵ He is above all, and through all, and in all. ⁶

The Most High is not like the false gods of the heathen, a local and tutelary deity; limited to a particular place—presiding over the interests of a certain people, or country, and confining his attention to some favourite objects of human concern. Nor are there, according to the Magian heresy, two independent, co-existing and co-eternal beings, as the originating cause, and separate authors, the one of good, and the other of evil. No. There is ONE Lord; and his kingdom is neither limited, nor divided. He alone is the great first cause of all things, declaring, in the solemn majesty of his word, “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things.” ⁷

God is an infinite spirit, and pervades all space. His government respects all creatures, and directs all events. His providential agency is universal. The hairs of our heads are all numbered, and, without him, not even a sparrow falls to the ground. Every object or occurrence forms a part of this one immeasurable whole, and is a little stream issuing from this infinite fountain. This truth gives importance to the smallest things; and, without it, the greatest would lose their magnitude. Inexpressive of order, beauty or design, the moral world would be involved in chaotic darkness and confusion.

Vain, my brethren, is that religion which ascribes to casualty the direction of events; or, arrogating to creatures the rightful honours of the Creator, yields not to Jehovah the absolute possession of his throne, and the universal influence of his power. Absurd is that philosophy, opposition of science falsely so called, which, by ascribing any independent efficacy to means and second causes, opposes the sovereign and universal agency of God—shuts out the immediate presence and action of the divine Maker from any part of his system; and denies to the King Eternal, that dominion, which he exercises over all the works of his hands.

3. The government of God is absolutely perfect. “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.” A very interesting advance is here made in the text. By this it appears, that the Most High God not only exercises a rightful, supreme and universal dominion, but that he is perfectly well qualified to reign. He possesses, in the fullest manner, all the requisite qualifications to ensure the highest and most important end of government, the greatest possible good and happiness of his subjects. Thine is the power and the glory; that is, all power, and all glory are thine.

The glory of God, as defined in his word, and especially as declared in his name published to Moses, is, essentially, his goodness. God is glorious in all his works; all his works praise him, because they manifest his infinite benevolence. They conspire to the full and final accomplishment of the purposes of infinite goodness—that high and important end for which he made, and for which he governs the world. In this, his wisdom is necessarily implied. It is immediately and inseparably connected. Therefore, by glory in the text, the wisdom and goodness of God are primarily and specially intended.

Here, then, are presented, in a collective view, the three great requisites of a perfect government—goodness, wisdom and power. Goodness to act with a benevolent regard to the happiness of the subject—wisdom to devise and adopt the best means, for effecting the best ends; and power sufficient to put in execution the plans thus devised.—Can a doubt be entertained, whether these requisites of supreme magistracy belong to that great and infinite being, whose is the kingdom, and the power and the glory? That God is able to do whatever he pleases, is a first principle in natural religion. All power is his. “With God all things are possible.” His wisdom is unsearchable. “He is the only wise God.” His goodness is his glory. “There is none good but one, and that is God.” ⁸

4. The government of God is everlasting. “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.” The government of God is not only rightful in its origin—supreme in its authority—universal in extent; and administered with infinite perfection; but it is unlimited in duration. There never can be any revolution, nor changes in Jehovah’s empire. No insurrections among his subjects, the most numerous or mighty, and with the utmost malice, power and subtlety combined, can shake the stable pillars of his throne; or, for a moment interrupt, divert, retard, or weaken the steady advancement of his high and holy purpose. God lives and reigns forever. He is “the King immortal, invisible and eternal. His dominion endureth throughout all generations, and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.” ⁹

After the whole race of mortals, in their successive generations, shall have trodden and passed off the stage—after the empires of men shall have all sunk in oblivion—this scene of human butchery, bloodshed and tears, be closed, and the bustling energies of this rolling ball, be over and gone forever;–after all the systems of the natural world shall be dissolved, time be lost in eternity, and ages of ages have rolled away, the GOVERNMENT of God will still remain—his wisdom, power and goodness be still shining, with increased and increasing effulgence; and the glory and happiness of his kingdom will still be advancing, rising, and brightening forever, without the least approximation to their utmost height.

But in these sublime elevations of faith, we have not yet reached the crowning excellency of the subject, nor laid our hand upon the key stone of the glorious arch. Under the reign of the great Messiah, the God of heaven hath set up in our ruined world a KINGDOM of GRACE, as the only vestibule connected with, and leading to the kingdom of glory. The God-man, Christ Jesus, is the anointed king of Zion, and sways the scepter of universal empire. Great, without controversy, is the mystery of godliness—God manifest in the flesh—suffering the death of the cross—rising and ascending to heaven—living and reigning forever, the head of all authority, and of all vital influences to his redeemed church.

Abstracted from the mediatorial economy, and the hope set before us in the gospel, of what advantage or avail could it be to the sinful children of men—what source of happiness, or of hope, to know that a God of infinite perfection governs the world, and will reign forever; a God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who will, by no means, clear the guilty? With the devils, we might believe and tremble, but never could have any warrant to hope and rejoice. What has a rebel, under the best government, to expect from the hand of his offended sovereign, whose goodness, no less than his justice, seals his condemnation, but the certain execution of the penalty of the law? And what, to the unpardoned sinner, is his prospect of immortality? An interminable scene of darkness, suffering and horror, as dreadful as eternity and the wrath of God can make it. But, blessed be God for Jesus Christ, and that pardon, salvation and eternal life, which he hath purchased with his blood, and freely bestows on all who the God of heaven hath set up in our ruined world a KINGDOM of GRACE, as only vestibule connected with, and leading to the kingdom of glory. The God-man, Christ Jesus, is the anointed king of Zion, and sways the scepter of universal empire. Great, without controversy, is the mystery of godliness—God manifest in the flesh—suffering the death of the cross—rising and ascending to heaven—living and reigning forever, the head of all authority, and of all vital influences to his redeemed church.

Abstracted from the mediatorial economy, and the hope set before us in the gospel, of what advantage or avail could it be to the sinful children of men—what source of happiness, or of hope, to know that a God of infinite perfection governs the world, and will reign forever; a God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who will, by no means, clear the guilty? With the devils, we might believe and tremble, but never could have any warrant to hope and rejoice. What has a rebel, under the best government, to expect from the hand of his offended sovereign, whose goodness, no less than his justice, seals his condemnation, but the certain execution of the penalty of the law? And what, to the unpardoned sinner, is his prospect of immortality? An interminable scene of darkness, suffering and horror, as dreadful as eternity and the wrath of God can make it. But, blessed be God for Jesus Christ, and that pardon, salvation and eternal life, which he hath purchased with his blood, and freely bestows on all who believe in his name.—Here is the foundation of christians’ hope and joy; here, of the faith and patience of the saints; here, with heart and voice, and uplifted hands, they cry, “thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever;” and unitedly shout their joyful Amen.

Let us now attend to some useful reflections on this subject, in the way of application and improvement.

1. It is evidently the great design of God’s government to display his character. This is the language of his word and providence, and the important instruction of his wisdom, in all his administrations. He gives us no misrepresentations of himself. His judgments are ever according to truth. He “is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” ¹⁰ —The various circumstances of men, the many and constant changes taking place in the world, which human sagacity can neither foresee, nor prevent, display the sovereign, all-disposing hand of Him, who doth according to his will, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹

The government of God is as benevolent as his nature, unchangeable as his being, and unlimited as his works. It is the united display of all his perfections, in the production of their proper fruits. It is that sensible medium, by which the divine character is diffused and acted out. In a word, it is the visible portraiture of the invisible God, drawn by his own hand, and corresponding in all its parts with the most perfect exactness, to its infinite original.

Of the mysteries of divine providence, in the prosecution of the great, eternal plan of God, in which every creature, of every character, angels, saints, wicked men and devils have all some part to act, and as instruments, are accomplishing his purposes; of these, we have but a very imperfect view. It is “a wheel within a wheel.” Infinite regularity, order and design, in apparent disorder and confusion. We see but a small part of the great whole—but here and here a link in the infinitely extended chain. Yet surely we see enough to believe the rest. We see wisdom, order and design in the works of creation; and shall we hastily conclude that his agency and divine skill are less concerned in his kingdom of providence—his oral government of the world? Certainly not. Our views of this subject are narrowed by ignorance, and darkened by pride. These blind our mental sight to the wisdom and beauty of the divine government.

Present to the eye of an ignorant man the mere outlines of a piece of portrait, or landscape painting, before the finer touches of the pencil have given them any expression or likeness—he will see only lines and sketches—he cannot enter into the spirit of the artist; and he recognizes neither beauty, order, nor design in the plan. It is thus, though in a much higher degree, with men, short sighted creatures, in judging of the government of God. The scale is so large, the objects so numerous and multiform, and the plan so complicate, diffuse and wonderful; and alas! such is there disinclination of heart, such their stupid inattention to the works and ways of God, that though they have eyes, they see not; though they have understandings, they perceive not the glorious perfection of his government. Not discerning the connection, design and tendency of its parts, they question its wisdom. They look at the shades in the painting, and call them blemishes. But take away the shades, and the beauty is gone. Remove these blemishes, and the plan itself is destroyed.

It is moral beauty, however, which forms the distinguishing excellency of the divine government. This must, in some measure, be seen, loved and imitated by us, or we have no true knowledge of God. This constitutes the happiness of his children. This fills all heaven with joy, and calls forth the adoring hallelujahs of saints and angels above; who cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ¹²

2. Redemption is the end of all God’s other works both of creation and providence. To this great object, as their central point, all the mighty displays of divine wisdom, power and goodness are directed. The eternal Father hath invested his Son, our God-Man Mediator, with supreme and universal dominion, in fulfillment of his eternal covenant promise; and in reward of Christ’s obedience unto death. He is given to be head over all things to the church; and must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. God hath set his king upon his holy hill of Zion, and glorious things are spoken of the city of our God, ¹³ respecting the enlargement, peace and prosperity of the Redeemer’s kingdom in the latter day. The benign influence of Christianity shall pervade and actuate every heart, and the glory of the Lord overspread and fill the earth.—Here is the consummation of God’s precious promises to his militant church—the blessed fruits of her hard struggles and conflicts, through all preceding ages—her glorious victory, obtained by a warfare of six thousand years.

The promises of God to his church are interesting, they are animating, they are glorious. Listen to the voice of prophecy, beyond conception, elegant, sublime and heavenly. Oh, it is sweet as the music of an angel’s lyre—transporting as the songs of the New Jerusalem. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” ¹⁴

Of all subjects, this is the nearest to the heart of the Christian. It must enkindle the flame of devotion and zeal, in every friend of Zion. It has supported the hopes, excited the longing desires, and called forth the fervent prayers of God’s afflicted people, in all ages of the world. At the same time, the success of the gospel has ever been confronted, by the most determined opposition of its enemies. This has employed their tongues, their pens, and their words. It has called into action all the subtlety and false philosophy of the human heart. It has enkindled and pointed the thunderbolts of war—caused the convulsion and distress of nations, and immolated millions upon its altar.

But they are waging a desperate war. They are setting themselves as briars and thorns, in battle array against the devouring flame. By all their rage and malice, God is fulfilling his purposes; and amidst all the confusion and distress of the nations, he is strengthening and rearing the walls of Zion. And the glorious work of grace he will carry on and accomplish; for the kingdom, power and glory are his forever. His truth and faithfulness are pledged that he “will make Jerusalem a praise in the earth;” and that “the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” ¹⁵

3. This subject should inspire us with adoring views of God’s glorious majesty, and a fixed trust in his wise and perfect government.

How is the greatness and glorious supremacy of God exalted in this view! How absolutely independent! What wisdom in all his moral government! How infinitely exalted above all creatures! He makes his enemies fulfill his purposes, even in their acts of rebellion; and everything conduce to the greatest possible good of his system.

Do we reverence the majesty of princes, and court the favour of those raised but a little above us in wealth or power? Do we fear the frowns of the great—admire the wisdom of the learned—applaud the deeds of the mighty; and contemplate, with wonder, the history of powerful nations, or the achievements of worthy and renowned men? But what are all these? Nothing, and less than nothing. In the light of divine perfection, all created excellency utterly vanishes.

What a privilege is it, my brethren, to live under the government of such a great and good being, whose is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever! We but quarrel with our own happiness in not choosing to be wholly and always dependent upon him, and cheerfully submissive to his will, in all the duties and sufferings he appoints us. A clearer view of the great plan of infinite wisdom would overwhelm us with shame, for having ever exercised the least opposition to his government, or indulged the slightest murmur under any of his dealings. “Man was not made to censure, but adore.” Humility, submission and obedience are the great points of human wisdom. To fear God and keep his commandments, is the whole duty of man. ¹⁶ Let us then be humble and believing; and amidst all our national alarms and fears, let us still rejoice in the security of the church. This is a great comfort to the pious mind. Let us, then, resign ourselves, unreservedly, to a power so munificently employed; and trust, with implicit confidence, in a wisdom and goodness so watchful, so active, so unwearied in our behalf.

4. By this subject, we are taught the true spirit of government—its foundation, principle and end. These, in all legitimate governments, are uniform, through all the grades of moral beings; from human authorities, up to the throne of uncreated majesty. “Be ye perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect,” ¹⁷ is the authoritative language of Emmanuel. The character of God being the standard of moral virtue, and of human perfection, his government, the medium by which it is displayed, is therefore the perfect pattern, and unerring standard of all HUMAN GOVERNMENTS. Though subordinate and limited in their powers, yet, in relation to the proper objects of their institution, they must be the same in kind with the great original, from which they emanate. They must move and act by the same benevolent principle, and be directed to the same ultimate end.

For the preservation of order, peace and happiness in human society, God, in his great goodness, hath instituted civil government, and seen fit to depute a small portion of his authority to civil rulers; empowering them, by the force of salutary laws, to protect and avenge the innocent—to enforce commutative justice—to defend the weak—to restrain the licentious, and to punish crimes against the interests of society. Human governments, hen, form so many several parts of the divine government. They are distinguished from it, but as they are administered through the instrumentality of men. ALL IS THE GOERNMENT OF GOD—for the kingdom, power and glory are his forever. By him kings reign, and princes decree justice. ¹⁸

With what reason or propriety, then, is the principle professed, and even by some contended for, that between religion and government there exists no connection?—yea, that they are severally contaminated by a mutual touch; and the influence of each is hostile and baneful to the interests of the other? Can a man believe his Bible, and subscribe to a doctrine so absurd? The reverse of it is truth, and the deeper our researches in this subject, the deeper will be our conviction. It is separating what God hath joined together, and bidding defiance to reason and experience, as well as to scripture. It is separating man from his Maker—dismembering the government of God, and exalting the “little, brief authority” of an aspiring worm, paramount to the throne of the King Eternal.

In the holy scriptures, we find princes and civil magistrates actually called gods; ¹⁹ and it is for this reason, because human authority is a shadow of the divine; and civil rulers are the vicegerents of God, commissioned to rule for him, and execute his will. With this argument, Paul enforces the duty of obedience to civil magistrates; on the ground, that human government is a divine ordinance, and earthly rulers are commissioned and empowered by the King of heaven. The instruction of inspired truth upon this subject is very express. Thus runs the charter of human governments—establishing their high authority—defining their legitimate powers—pointing out the true policy of their administration, and declaring the benevolent end of their institution:–

THE POWERS THAT BE ARE ORDAINED OF GOD. RULERS ARE NOT A TERROR TO GOOD WORKS, BUT TO THE EVIL. HE IS THE MINISTER OF GOD TO THEE FOR GOOD. HE BEARETH NOT THE SWORD IN VAIN, FOR HE IS THE MINISTER OF GOD, A REVENGER TO EXECUTE WRATH UPON HIM THAT DOETH EVIL. ²⁰

Three important points are here established. First, That civil rulers are commissioned of God, and act by an authority delegated from him. Secondly, That impartial justice, truth and equity must form the spirit of their laws, and the policy of their administration. Thirdly, that the highest good of community, the general happiness, peace and prosperity of the state or nation, must be the great object and end of all human governments.

In perfect accordance with these principles was the solemn charge, which Moses, and after him Jehoshaphat, gave to the constituted authorities of Israel: “Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment—ye shall hear the small as well as the great—ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.” Deut. i. 15. 16. “And he said to the judges, take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.” 2 Chron. xix. 6.

Wisdom, power and goodness, the great principles of perfect sovereignty, so transcendently displayed in the government of Him who ruleth over all, are absolutely necessary to the perfection and proper ends of human governments, in all their constitutional forms, and in all their varied modes of administration. It is only through the deficiency of one, or some, or all of these, that any government ever fails of answering the highest and best end—the promotion and security of the general good.

If wisdom be wanting, the measures of government, however well intended, and however faithfully executed, yet being laid in ignorance and folly, must prove abortive, and fail of their end.—If goodness were wanting, wisdom would be but craft and cunning, and power degenerate into furious and arbitrary might. If wisdom and goodness both were extinct, government would be dreadful in proportion to its power. It would be the most frightful despotism; and directed to no other end than the misery and ruin of its subjects.

Without power, government would be but a name. The best laws would be unexecuted. Wisdom and goodness would be exercised in vain, and operate to no end. In the absence of them all, government has no existence. But these three united constitute the perfection of government, and exclude the possibility of tyranny and oppression.

The object of the divine government, as we have seen, is the greatest general good. This must be the object of human governments. Real philanthropy, enlarged, disinterested, diffusive benevolence, is the only genuine patriotism. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, is the true spirit of all free and happy governments among men; whether administered by one, by few, or by many;–by an hereditary monarch—by a diet of nobles—by a representative assembly chosen by the people; or, by a mixed government of either two or all of these combined. Wisdom, public spirit, uprightness and integrity are the indispensible qualifications of civil rulers. This we know from the highest authority. It is not a dictate of human philosophy only, but the injunction of divine revelation: “Take ye wise men and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.” Deut. i. 13. “Moreover, thou shalt provide, out of all the people, able men, such as fear God; men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” Exodus xviii. 21.

These plain passages, to every believer in divine revelation, must place the matter out of all doubt; and set the following points of political wisdom in the clearest light:

First, That legislators, rulers and civil magistrates must be men of sound heads and clear understandings—of known characters as men of talents, political wisdom and integrity: known among your tribes; thou shalt provide able men,” &c. Let them be native, free born citizens, nursed in the lap of their parent country—bred in the principles, habits and feelings of freemen, and well able to distinguish liberty from licentiousness, and the government of laws from the reign of tyranny and terror.—Again, “Take ye wise men, and understanding—provide out of all the people able men,”&c.; men well versed in the science of government, and understanding the true interests of the publick; not upstart pretenders, visionary theorists and projectors, strutting upon the stilts of philosophy, and swelling with the wisdom of Solon, while ignorant of the alphabet of legislation and government.

Secondly. From the same authority we learn, that civil rulers must be men who fear God—men who are the servants of the Most High—obedient subjects of the divine government, and devoted to the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.

The fear of God is the principle of religion in the heart; and “he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” ²¹ Civil rulers, therefore, no less than the people over whom they rule, must feel themselves subjects of the universal government of God. They must recognize their allegiance and accountability to Him, under whom they hold their commissions, and take all their directions in duty from his word. In fine, they must be men of pure morals—men of virtuous character—men of real religion. Such only are qualified, in the several offices of civil authority, to co-operate with the infinite benevolence of their Creator, to the great and important ends of his government. Such only are fit instruments to be the ministers of God for good to his people. They who fear not God will not regard man. They will hold the divine authority and human happiness in equal contempt: and as vainly may we expect, from such rulers, the fruits of benevolence in the publick good, as to gather figs from thistles, or grapes from the noxious bramble. Human experience has ever verified that maxim of divine wisdom, “When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn.” ²²

Thirdly. Civil rulers must be “men of truth.” They must not only walk humbly with God, but deal justly with men. They must possess that noble elevation of sentiment, that incorruptible integrity of soul, which is incapable of descending to the vile electioneering arts of intrigue and slander, misrepresentation and falsehood, to effect the objects of their own or others’ ambition. Let them be no fawning Absaloms—no cringing, time-serving office seekers, nor brawling professors of their exclusive love for the people.

Truth is the basis of every real excellence. It is the criterion of all moral and political worth. Civil rulers, therefore, must be sincere, and not pretended patriots—honest men, and not deceivers of the public; disguising their real views and motives, veiling their weak or wicked measures under false and specious pretexts—thus prostituting their talents, and sacrificing their integrity, their conscience and their country at the shrine of popularity. The administrators of government should never fear the truth—never fear to avow, in a plain and open manner, the real objects of their legislation and administration; but manfully meet their full share of responsibility; and not, by evading arts, meanly seek to cast off the odium of their own errors upon men more righteous than themselves.

Fourthly. Civil rulers must be men “hating covetousness.” Though the character is here delineated indirectly, and as it were, in a negative form; yet it is expressive of distinguishing and positive traits; and men of enlarged views, liberal sentiments and publick spirit, may be seen sitting for the picture.

The cupidity of hungry demagogues, scrambling for the loaves and fishes of office, is in nothing more distinctively marked, than in their flattering or censuring the conduct of men in power, according as they may apprehend the one or the other the more favourable to their views. Selfishness, not patriotism, is the concealed spirit which moves them;–their own honour and emolument are the real and sole objects of their aim. But those, possessing the qualifications of good rulers, are of a more excellent spirit. They are men of a disinterested character—men hating covetousness—men who will subordinate their own personal honour, wealth and aggrandizement to the publick good, and point, with undeviating aim, all their counsels, exertions and official duties to this one great end.

We have now delineated, by a comparison of opposites, the scriptural character of good civil rulers, who fill their office with duty and usefulness, and are publick blessings to their people. The character is drawn by divine wisdom, in the shortest terms, and yet it is full and complete. They must be provided or selected out of all the people—men of known wisdom and understanding—such as fear God—men of truth, and hating covetousness. These are the essential characteristics of good civil rulers. These, blessed be God, we and our fathers, the favoured sons of Connecticut, have known and realized by the happy experience of almost two centuries. To the divine goodness our warmest thanks are due. God hath never given us babes to be our princes, nor children, nor wicked men to rule over us; but hath ever given us our “judges, as at the first, and our counselors, as at the beginning;” ²³ men, who have been his ministers for good to the people. This, from the infancy of our highly favoured republic, has been the distinguished character of our political fathers, who have successively filled, adorned and dignified the chair of state. They have been the chariots of our Israel, and the horsemen thereof. In this venerable catalogue, those men of God, the fathers and founders of our Commonwealth, Haynes, Winthrop and Saltonstal, and in later days, our illustrious Trumbulls, hold an eminent rank, and will ever occupy distinguished pages in the history of our country.

To the list of our departed worthies, we have now to subjoin the name of our late excellent and much lamented chief magistrate, Roger Griswold. The incurable malady, which, at our last anniversary, deprived us of his presence, and the legislature of his aid, has since, alas! terminated his useful life, and he now sleeps with his fathers.

After the striking testimony of respect to his memory, already borne by this honourable legislature, ²⁴ and his correct and able funeral eulogium, now in the hands of the publick, it becomes me, I am sensible, on this subject, to be concise. Yet duty forbids me to be wholly silent. Justice to my own feelings—to the feelings of a bereaved publick, and to the memory of distinguished merit, demands, at least, the tribute of a—tear. The career of his publick services will furnish an interesting theme to future biographers, and to them it is left. His general character, however, by which he justly stood so highly respected and endeared, may be briefly drawn, in a few well known and distinctive traits.

In private life he was the accomplished gentleman, the man of science, the amiable friend, the kind and courteous neighbour, the affectionate parent, the tender husband, and the agreeable companion in every relation. In his publick walks, he was the thorough investigator of truth, the able statesman, the luminous speaker, the patriotic legislator, the discerning and upright judge, and the faithful, firm and independent magistrate.

While, with sentiments of affection and gratitude, we weep over his grave, and the tears for our beloved Trumbull, scarcely dried, are now caused to flow afresh for his worthy successor—let us bow, in humble submission, to the holy will of the supreme disposer, whose awful hand, in the short period of three years, ²⁵ hath twice bereaved us of our chief magistrate. Let us penitently acknowledge his righteous chastisement, and bless him for his goodness, in raising up and qualifying, with such eminent talents for public usefulness, this distinguished fellow citizen, the faithful and able defender of our constitutional rights. With a peculiar sensibility, let us recognize his firm and distinguished conduct, in a late crisis of our national affairs, the most trying, interesting and eventful. ²⁶ Thanks to heaven, that, at the first bursting of the storm, a Griswold stood at the helm; and undaunted at the shock which tried men’s souls, calmly guided, with his dying hands, our little bark, steady, straight and safe from all rocks and shallows, in its true constitutional course. His talents and firmness were tried and found equal to the emergence. Thus, like the clear, unclouded sun, he shone the brightest in his setting rays; and by the last act of his public life, he crowned the lofty climax of his well earned fame.

May the mantle of our departed Griswold, and his illustrious predecessors, descend to their successors; and their spirit be transmitted down to the latest posterity, through the venerable legislators, judges, and ruling fathers of our state.

5. Our subject leads us to reflect, that a good civil government is one of the greatest earthly blessings. It is to be enjoyed, with thankfulness to the great giver; and carefully preserved and transmitted, as the richest bequest to posterity.

The government, under which a people live, is so interwoven with their happiness, that it is inconceivable, how they can be prosperous, or happy, if this be evil. It would, therefore, be an unpardonable breach of duty, on this day, not to recognize so great a blessing.

Our form of national government originated from men of tried integrity and experience; having a full knowledge of the situation and peculiar wants of every portion of the country; and all the various forms of civil government on earth, with their evils and benefits, excellencies and defects; together with the experience of all preceding ages, fully before them. Possessing these advantages, they were enabled to construct an exceedingly wise and happy form of civil government. And no nation, it may be affirmed, ever experienced greater prosperity, than what we have enjoyed, under its operation and influence.

But this blessing is to be guarded with assiduous care, and preserved by every requisite means. Experience enforces this duty upon us. Public, as well as private, blessings are liable to be taken from us, and lost. The best human governments are imperfect. They are subject to abuse. They are formed, and they are administered, by frail, selfish and fallible agents. Under the wisest form of government, we have suffered various and grievous oppressions. In the obstinate pursuit of a strange and infatuated policy, our country has, for years, groaned under a series of privations and distresses; till, at length, we are plunged into an offensive war, with one of the most powerful nations of Europe, and under circumstances, in which national ruin is staring us in the face. We have, therefore, abundant reason to be alarmed with our danger—to be active in applying the means of safety; and to mingle fervent supplications of thanksgiving and praise.

6. We have, all of us, my fellow citizens, individually, and as a people, a special interest in this subject. It points its instruction to everyone, and speaks in loud and commanding accents. Let us hear the voice of wisdom, and attend to the things of our peace.

Is religion so necessary to the character of good civil rulers?—such a high and important qualification, for men in public authority, and called to administer the government of the state? Is it less so, to those who are the subjects of civil government, and in the walks of private life? No—but, if possible, the more necessary and important; as it is the proximate cause, and the necessary means of the other. For, in a free and elective government, where the people are the source of power, and have, either directly or indirectly, all the gifts o civil office, in their hands, the character of rulers will ever be formed by that of their constituents. They will be of the same moral stamp,–the very “image and superscription” of the people by whom they are elected. Unless, therefore, we are a religious people, it is vain to hope for the blessing of religious rulers. A corrupt spring will never send forth sweet waters; nor can the stream rise higher than its source. Let the great body of the people, or the majority of them, become wicked and unprincipled, and “the post of honour is”, at once, “a private station.” The excellent of the earth, if such may be found, men who fear God, and hate covetousness, will not be the public favourites, nor even candidates for office. They will be thrust into the background, and wholly overlooked. From the mutual relation between rulers and subjects, this truth results, as an invariable maxim, that a government will be wise and prosperous, according to the purity of the fountain from which it emanates. The connection is indissoluble, between a united and virtuous people, and the government of wise and faithful rulers. Both are great public blessings, but they cannot exist apart. The former is a necessary means of the other. The character of an elective government will ever be derived from that of its constituents; and its operation and success will be accordingly. Indeed, it is not within the reach of the wisest laws—it is utterly beyond the power and skill of the best civil rulers, to make a wicked people, a happy people; or to do them good, any further, than they may have influence to change the public character: for they are morally incapable of the blessings of any government, either human or divine. In the same proportion, therefore, in which, as a people, we relax in virtue, and the public character becomes vicious, is our government endangered.

The diffusion of general knowledge—the improvement of those means calculated to promote religious order and peace—the encouragement of schools, the due observation of the Sabbath, the support of the gospel ministry, and the public worship of God: and the counteracting of those corrupt principles, which weaken the sense of moral obligation, break the dearest ties of human life, and destroy the faith of an eternal retribution: these must be considered as things the most interesting to the public welfare. They essentially affect the main spring of our government. These are at the root. They form the character of the people, on whose shoulders the government rests.

While on this branch of the subject, I must beg the indulgence of a more particular attention to a certain moral duty of incalculable moment; I mean, the strict and religious observance of the day of holy rest. The idea has already been suggested, but I know not how to pass it with only a cursory hint; though a volume would scarce suffice to set forth its connection with the best interests of society; and trace all its important bearings upon the temporal and eternal welfare of men. No command in the Decalogue is enforced with more alluring, or more awful sanctions: there is not a duty inscribed upon the pages of inspiration, to which the promise of national blessings, and the threatening of national evils are so frequently, and so solemnly annexed, as to that divine precept, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Among the multiplied proofs of this truth, I would only point you to that memorable passage, in the 17th chapter of Jeremiah’s prophecy: “Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein, then shall there enter into the gates of this city, kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots, and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall remain forever.” That is, the court, the city, and the country shall flourish; enjoying all the rich and valuable blessings of national peace and prosperity. “But, if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem, on the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” A threatening which was literally fulfilled, and which this very prophet lived to see and lament.

Observe, therefore, how necessary it is to sanctify the Sabbath, if we desire the favour of God, and the prosperity of our country. This duty is equally required of all classes of men. No burdens are to be borne, no common work to be done, no laboring, travelling, carrying out, or fetching in, except, in case of absolute necessity. We see what stress God lays upon this duty. He charges the neglect of it, as a crime which will bring ruin upon the state.—The religious observation of the Sabbath will support all the other branches of religion. It will strengthen and invigorate the principle of holy obedience. It will water every moral, and every Christian virtue at the root, and render them flourishing and fruitful. Indeed, there can be neither religion, nor morality without it. Therefore, let us take heed to ourselves. Great caution is needful, in a degenerate day, amidst so many bad examples, and when actually suffering, by war and pestilence, the awful judgments of heaven for this very sin. They, who merely to save time, on working days, contrive to take journeys, to visit their friends, or follow their business, on the Sabbath; and by so doing, deprive themselves of religious advantages; do, at least (however their thoughts may be employed) set a bad example to others and encourage them to profane the Sabbath. All, who indulge in such practices, should seriously attend to this awful admonition of heaven. And how they can imagine such a conduct consistent with the divine authority and law, with the design of the Sabbath—the solemnity of a Christian profession, or even with seeking the true interests of their country, is very astonishing. How they can vindicate it, before him, who will give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings, they would do well to consider.

When we reflect on the degenerated state of our national morals, and consider the fickle and fluctuating disposition of people, with regard to the necessary means of public strength and happiness, the long continued existence of our government is rather an object of trembling hope, than of confident expectation. We have, indeed, the means of perpetuating the government of our choice; but the danger is in our abusing these means—in our losing sight of that virtue and religion, the influence of which is absolutely necessary to the long, or real existence of any free government.

Besides, a government like ours, more than many others not so free and good, opens a wider door for the exercise of unprincipled ambition, and for the rage of party animosities. By the frequent elections ²⁷ to the great national offices, rivalries will be excited, and party spirit, once in action, has no sufficient time to die. The flame is increased, and the difference of opinion widened. It is diffused through every vein, and effects every limb and joint of the great body politick. This has been our great political disease; and too true it is, that the most proper, and only efficacious remedy has been overlooked and unapplied. A spirit of conciliation, of mutual charity and condescension has been greatly wanting, among even the honest and well meaning of both parties. “Man is man;”—a composition of ignorance, weakness and vanity. Human conduct is ever marked with imperfection and error; and the best cause is often injured by improper motives, means and management.—These things, in their nature and tendency, are great evils. In their progress, they threaten, and in their issue, will destroy a republican government.

Every person, acquainted with the history of nations, knows that factions have always been the bane of free governments. And when we consider the unhappy divisions in our country, and the unyielding spirit which accompanies them, what is the ground of our hope? What, the pleasing prospect of transmitting the blessings of freedom and good government to our children?—Alas! all earthly enjoyments are empoisoned with sin. All human affairs are mutable and transitory. The constitution of bodies politic, no less than that of the human frame, is liable to infirmity, disease and death. Kingdoms and States embosom the seeds of dissolution, implanted in the moral nature of man. They rise and fall, in succession, like day and night. They have their morning, their rise, their meridian, their decline, and their setting sun. But, the GOVERNMENT OF GOD shall stand. The kingdom, power and glory are his forever, and all his blessed purposes shall be accomplished. Here is the only stable ground of hope, of comfort, and of confidence, in all the darksome scenes and prospects of human woe. This is the key note in the gospel harmony; this, the chord which ever vibrates in unison with good man’s heart.

Public virtue, then, I resume, is the foundation, and the very corner stone of every free government. It cannot exist without it. Let the religious principle become extinct, in the minds of the commonalty; so that the influence of public good, and the restraints of conscience shall cease to operate; and the republican institution is sapped at the foundation; the best laws will be totally inefficient, republican government will be but a name, and that too, of short continuance. As a natural consequence, it will tumble, like a rock from the precipice; and with it drag down, in one common ruin, the last remains of liberty, and every privilege and comfort, which render life a blessing. It will, it must end in despotism. In such a state, or nation, nothing but a system of terror, propelled by the strong arm of physical power, can impose the necessary restraints, and keep the heavy, iron bound wheels of government in motion. These, grating harsh thunder, as they roll, like those of the horrid car of Juggernaut, ²⁸ will be smeared with the blood of wretched victims, crushed beneath their ponderous pressure. Injustice, oppression and cruelty are the mild, kindred virtues associated in the throne of despotic power. These are the garlands which deck the grisly brow of the Moloch of Tyranny.

Let it, then, be received, as an axiom in politics; let it be engraven upon our hearts, as with the point of a diamond; that Religion is the only sure foundation of a free and happy government. It is the great palladium of all our natural and social rights. Indeed, the connection between time and eternity is not more near and certain, than that between a wicked, demoralized state of community, and the government of tyranny.

With this truth blazing before us, can we pause, and reflect for a moment, without the mingled emotions of wonder and regret; that that public instrument, which guarantees our political rights of freedom and independence—our Constitution of national government, framed by such an august, learned and able body of men; formally adopted by the solemn resolution of each state; and justly admired and celebrated for its consummate political wisdom; has not the impress of religion upon it, not the smallest recognition of the government, or the being of God, or of the dependence and accountability of man. Be astonished, O earth!—Nothing, by which a foreigner might with certainty decide, whether we believe in the one true God, or in any God; whether we are a nation of Christians, or—But, I forbear. The subject is too delicate, to say more; and it is too interesting, to have said less. I leave it, with this single reflection, whether, if God be not in the camp, we have not reason to tremble for the ark?

I return from the digression, and repeat the sentiment, Religion is the only sure foundation of human government. Religious people are the good members of society. They who, in heart and life, acknowledge their allegiance to the King of heaven, are the best subjects, and the best supporters of civil authority; and they only are qualified to enjoy the permanent blessings of a free and equal government. Benevolence is the bond of social union, and the source of public peace and happiness. This holy principle cements all the natural and social relations. It makes good men, and good citizens. It strengthens, endears and sweetens all the tender charities of life. It unites the man to his neighbour, the Christian to his brother, and the creature to his God. Where there is this unity of sentiment and affection, there is ever unity of sentiment and affection, there is ever unity of interest and enjoyment. But a house divided against itself cannot stand. A building, composed of jarring and heterogeneous materials, like the visionary image of Nebuchadnezzar, tends to dissolution. The iron and the clay will never cement—never form a solid and lasting union; but, sooner or later, will tumble into ruin. That member of society, who is void of social and benevolent affection, is both a troublesome and disgraceful member. Like a round stone, in the composition of a great building, he can fit no place, in the whole wall. He touches his neighbours, but at points, and every touch is a wound. He mars the beauty, destroys the uniformity, and weakens the strength of the whole building. In a society, in a state, or nation, composed of such member, adieu to order, to friendship, and to peace.

Be cautioned then, my fellow citizens against the demon of party spirit; that spirit which casts the publick good into the background; and without any regard to the national interest, seeks, exclusively, the interests and the triumphs of a party. This is destructive to all free governments. It is the spirit of disunion, and tends to all evil. It violates the social compact, beats down the restraints of vice and immorality, tramples upon the most sacred obligations, sports with the dearest rights of society; and is rebellion against all governments, human and divine. Alas! The bright morning of our national glory, so calm, cool, peaceful and prosperous; while our GREAT AND GOOD FATHER lived, to protect and bless his country; this evil spirit has, thus quickly, overcast with clouds of darkness, greeted with the thunder of war, and encrimsoned with a deluge of blood.

The necessity of union cannot be too frequently impressed, nor its importance too highly appreciated. Bankruptcies incurred have often been retrieved;–ships lost can be replaced; Moscow, burnt to ashes may be rebuilt; but “union lost is seldom regained; and freedom once flown is gone forever.”

Our present situation imperiously requires unanimity, wisdom, firmness and energy among the people. In this day of darkness, distress and danger, in which our liberty, our independence, our national existence, our everything dear and valuable, on this side heaven, are at stake—there should be but one public sentiment—but one pulse should beat—one voice be heard; and one soul animate and inspire the whole body politic. If united and firm, we may still hope. If divided, we shall fall by our own hands, and incur the guilt of national suicide.

Pardon my warmth on this subject—it is impossible for me to be cold. It is the language of my heart, and I cannot suppress it. It is, however, by no means, intended to give offence to anyone; unless the truth shall offend; and the short lived and honourable reproach of such offences, I am willing to bear. They, whose views, either of religion, or government, do not exactly coincide with my own, will do me the justice to believe, that I mean not to wound their feelings, and that I am as honest in maintaining my opinions, as they can be in theirs; and that a sense of duty only, in the public station I hold under God, impels me, on this occasion, thus freely to declare them. I do declare myself feelingly alive to the public danger. I tremble in every nerve for the honour and safety of my country; and the awful fate which awaits our divided situation and our weak and distracted counsels. The title of United States, applied to a disunited people, is a burlesque and reproach. It is high time for the rage of political controversy to cease, or soon—I shudder at the thought—the sword may be drawn, which will be sheathed in brother’s bosoms. Let union at home and peace with the world, be the countersign with every class of citizens; the rallying watch-word among all the sons of freedom, the friends of their country and of mankind. Away, then, with all spirit of party dissension; its paltry objects and pernicious views; and away with that tame, temporizing spirit of dastardly union, which yields, and yields, and yields to be trodden and crushed to death, under the proud foot, which is elevated but to destroy. Let our union, like the wisdom from above, be first PURE, then PEACEABLE, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ²⁹ Our interests, fellow-citizens, are one, and why should not our hearts and our exertions be united? Let us join hands in the common cause, to promote the interests and achieve the salvation of our dear and suffering country.

Respected Legislators. In these principles and duties, you will readily recognize your own immediate and individual concernment. To you, they are especially interesting. Called by the suffrages of your country, to the high duties of legislation, under God, the administrators of our free and happy government; to you, we look up, as the guardians and protectors of our dearest rights. The duties of your station, ever the most important to the public, the present unhappy situation of our country renders the most difficult and arduous to yourselves. To “stem the torrent of a downward age”—to preserve the invaluable institutions of our pious ancestors—to ward off the threatening evils of a misguided policy, and to renew the happy scene of national peace and prosperity, which once we enjoyed, require the combined exertion of all your talents, wisdom, prudence and patriotism. On those halcyon days, we now look back with regret, and sighing exclaim. Oh, that we were s in months past, as in the days when God preserved us, when his candle shined upon our head; as we were in the days of our youth, when the Almighty was yet with us. ³⁰

At no time, has our sovereignty, as a state, been more endangered, nor appeared more interesting to our own and our country’s happiness. You are called, therefore, fellow-citizens, to act your part, in a trying and difficult day. Our lot is cast in a perilous period. We have indeed fallen upon the worst of times, and therefore need the best of men at the helm; for without skillful and faithful pilots, on such a stormy sea, our national shipwreck is near and certain. But amidst all the existing evils and impending dangers, which assail our present peace, and darken our national prospects, faint not, nor be discouraged; be firm and undaunted, and never despair of the commonwealth. Truth is powerful and will prevail. The scales of imposition are falling from the eyes of ignorance. The light is beginning to penetrate the dark recesses of obstinate blindness and error—and after our long and dreary night, the rising sun will again appear, and pour the reviving beams of prosperity and peace. Remember that the Lord reigns, and the Most High is the governor among the nations. ³¹ The kingdom, power and glory are his forever. Be strong in the Lord, and trust in the God of your fathers. His counsel shall stand. His government is his own, it is perfect, it is supreme, it is universal, it is everlasting. Look to that as the grand source and perfect standard of all human authority. Thence derive all your directions in duty, all your wisdom and fortitude, all your support and encouragement. Then shall you be the ministers of God, for good to his people; and generations, yet unborn, shall arise and call you blessed.

Reverend Fathers and Brethren. May our hearts be warmed with renewed zeal, in the great duties of the holy ministry, and our motto be, that of our divine Master, “I must work while it is day.” The time is short—our departure is at hand. Soon will the night of death overtake us, and close our working season for ever. Soon must we be individually called, to give an account of our stewardship, and to meet our people at the bar of God. Let us be fired with a noble emulation to finish well this short life of labour and trial. Let nothing weaken our resolutions, nor paralyze our exertions; neither let us count our lives dear to ourselves, so that we may finish our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Since the last anniversary election, no less than eight ³² of our dear brethren, our respected fathers and fellow labourers, in this state, have closed their earthly course, and given their final account. An unusual and awful mortality! Great is the publick loss in the removal of so many faithful ministers of Jesus. Our Zion mourns. Her watchmen weep. They vent their grief and their consolation too, in the feeling language of the Psalmist,

“Spare us, O Lord, aloud we pray,
Nor let our sun go down at noon;
Thy years are one eternal day,
And must thy children die so soon?

Yet, in the midst of death and grief,
This thought our sorrow shall assuage;
Our Father and our Saviour live,
Christ is the same in every age.”

For the kingdom, and the power and the glory are his forever. Under the influence of such and so many solemn warnings, Oh, let us be faithful to the interests of souls—faithful to the church of the Redeemer, which he hath bought with his blood—faithful to our country and to our God.

Men, brethren and fathers, rulers and citizens, ministers and people of every class, let me beseech you to reflect seriously upon this interesting subject—to divest yourselves of all party feelings and prejudices; and candidly inquire into the real situation, and the true interests of our country.

Our present happy form of government may survive these decaying limbs of ours; for we must soon sleep with our fathers: yet, the most of us have children whom we love, to leave behind us; and who is there, in all this numerous assembly, so base, as to be willing to leave them exposed to the dreadful effects of party rage and oppression? Who is there, sunk so far below the insensibility of a savage, as to feel indifferent towards the fate of posterity; and not earnestly wish to leave, to them, the same blessings, of civil and religious liberty, which, through the mercy of God, we have received from our ancestors, as the fruit of their patriotism, their piety, their prayers, and their blood?

Remember that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people;”—that it is equally the duty of rulers and citizens, to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. This is the sum of all religion. This is the true spirit of a free government. This is a duty incumbent on every citizen. If, therefore, we desire the prosperity of our country; if the salvation of our immortal souls, we must live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

Under a deep impression of this solemn truth, of our dependence on God, our awful accountability, and our high and immortal destination—let us unitedly pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, of thine infinite mercy, through Jesus Christ, vouchsafe to us and our dear posterity, all the blessings of life, liberty, peace, religion and government; the comforts of time and the happiness of eternity; for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Endnotes

1. Rom. xi. 33.

2. Rom. xi. 34, 35.

3. Prov. xvi. 4.

4. Rev. iv. 11.

5. Psalm ciii. 19.

6. Eph. iv. 6.

7. Isaiah xlv. 7.

8. Matthew xix. 26., 1 Tim. i. 17. Matthew xix. 17.

9. Psalm cxlv. 13.

10. Isaiah xxviii. 29.

11. Daniel iv. 35.

12. Isaiah vi. 3.

13. Psalms ii. 6. And lxxxvii. 3.

14. Isaiah lx. 1, 3.

15. Dan. vii. 27.

16. Eccl.

17. Matthew v. 48.

18. Prov. viii. 15.

19. Exodus xxii. 28., Psalms lxxxii 1. 6. And cxxxviii. 1., John x. 34.

20. Rom. 13.

21. 2 Samuel xxiii. 3.

22. Prov. xxix. 2.

23. Isaiah i. 25.

24. Governor Griswold died at Norwich, while the legislature were in session at New-Haven. Upon the news of his death, a committee of both houses was appointed, to attend his interment. A solemn funeral service was also attended by the General Assembly, in which, by their appointment, the Hon. David Daggett, Esq. pronounced an eulogium upon his character. The assembly also resolved to wear badges of mourning for thirty days.

25. Governor Trumbull died August 7th, 1809—and Gov. Griswold October 25th, 1812.

26. See the printed documents of the legislature, published at their special session in New-Haven, in August last; detailing the correspondence of our state executive with Gen. Dearborn, and the Secretary of War, relating to the subject of calling into actual service, in the present war, at the command of the President of the Union, a certain portion of the militia of this state.

27. What precise term of civil office is the most wise and beneficial, is a desideratum in politics, and a point in which the most enlightened republican statesmen are far from being agreed. Witness the great diversity of practice adopted by the constitutions of the several state governments, respecting the period of their elections. Frequent elections are unquestionably6, most congenial with the republican spirit, and most favourable to the liberties of the people: and yet it must be acknowledged, that there are mischiefs connected with either extreme. In the above observations, therefore, I pretend not to act the part of a Censor, nor even to hazard an opinion; but simply to state facts, and trace effects to their true cause. Perhaps, the evil complained of, party spirit, is an unavoidable appendage of a free government: arising from the weakness and imperfection of human nature: and may always be expected to exist, and be, more or less operative, under every republican institution; until the religious principle has a more general, and powerful influence; or, in other words, until men are more disposed to conduct like rational creatures, and become fitter subjects for the enjoyment of rational liberty.

28. See Dr. Buchanan’s Christian researches in Asia.

29. James iii. 17.

30. Job xxix. 2, 3, 4, 5.

31. Psalm xxii. 28.

32. Rev. Messrs. Timothy Pitkin, of Farmington; George Colton, Bolton; Benjamin Wildman, Southbury; James Dana, D. D., New-Haven; Joseph W. Crossman, Salisbury; Asahel Hooker, Norwich; Noah Benedict, Woodbury; Samuel Camp, Ridgefield.

Sermon – State Prison – 1812

SERMON,

PREACHED AT THE

STATE PRISON,

MASSACHUSETTS,

November 29th, 1812.

BY CHARLES LOWELL,
Minister of the West Church in Boston

This Sermon was necessarily composed in much haste. In committing it to the press, the author has yielded to the wishes of friends, whose judgment he respects, and who thought the publication of it might be useful. The intelligent reader, recollecting the occasion and circumstances, will not be surprised at its plainness and simplicity.

SERMON.

Romans, ii. 4.
The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

In addressing an audience like the one which is now before me, it may, at first view, appear extraordinary that, of all the attributes of God, I should select his goodness for the theme of my discourse. Deprived of that liberty, which is usually considered as the most precious birthright of man; prohibited, in a great measure, that social intercourse, to which the instincts of our nature forcibly impel us; and destitute of those domestic enjoyments which, next to religion, give the sweetest relish to human life, it may seem as if you, my friends, have but little reason to meditate on the goodness of God. His justice, indeed, has appeared to overtake you, and, in exhorting you to repentance, you might think it proper for me to dwell on the further infliction of that justice, if you continue impenitent. But where have been the proofs of his goodness, and what motives can be drawn from thence for penitential sorrow?

Listen to me, my hearers, with serious attention, and I will endeavour, in plain and simple language, to shew you that God has indeed been good to you, and that the recollection of this goodness ought to lead you to repentance.

In common with those of your fellow creatures whose situation is apparently more favourable than yours, you have received the gift of life. Life is in itself a blessing, and if rightly improved, is a source of much happiness. If you have not improved the blessing as you ought, if you have rendered life a source of unhappiness and misery, it is your own fault, and not the fault of God. It was good in him to bestow life, and in bestowing it, it was his design to confer happiness.

In common with others of your fellow creatures, you have received the gift of reason. This raised you above the brutes of the field, rendered you capable of acquiring knowledge and virtue, of holding intercourse with your fellow creatures, and of enjoying felicity both here and hereafter. If you have abused and perverted this gift, it is your own fault, and not the fault of God. It was good in him to bestow reason, and in bestowing it, it was his design to promote your happiness.

In common with other, you have received the gift of conscience, to deter you from sin, or to admonish you of guilt. If this faithful monitor has been disregarded, and its reproaches stifled, it is your own fault, and not the fault of God. It was good in him to bestow this gift, and it was his design that it should prompt you to virtue and happiness.

In common with others of your fellow creatures, you have been possessed of parents and friends. Your parents watched over you, and, under God, provided a supply for your wants, when you were unable to take care of yourselves; and many other of the friends whom God had given, have probably added to your comfort and enjoyment. Some of you have undoubtedly had parents and friends, who were anxious to bring you up in the fear of God, and thus to make you a blessing to yourselves and to society. If you have not been sensible of the value of these blessings, or heeded the advice or admonition you may have received, it is your own fault, and not the fault of God. It was good in him to bestow these blessings, and it was his design that they should promote your benefit and increase your happiness.

In common with some of your fellow creatures, you have been offered the gift of religion, of that religion which points out to you the path of duty and happiness here, and which promises you, if you accept of it, through the merits and mediation of Christ, the possession of perfect and everlasting enjoyment hereafter. If you have despised and rejected this gift, if you have turned a deaf ear to the voice of those who urged you to accept of the terms of salvation, it is your own fault, and not the fault of God. He was good, infinitely good, in offering you so great a blessing; and it was his design, that you should accept of it and be happy.

In thus enumerating the instances of God’s goodness towards you, my friends, I have necessarily confined myself to a general view of it. The particular circumstances of your past lives are best known to yourselves. You can, each of you, call up to mind numerous and essential benefits with which you have been favoured. The enjoyment of health, relief in seasons of distress, escape in times of danger, the favourable opportunities you may have possessed, however misimproved, for gaining knowledge and piety, or for success in the world by honest industry. All these things, and many more of which each of you must be conscious, are proofs, strong and affecting proofs, of the goodness of God.

And now let me ask you, let each one ask himself, what return he has made to God for so much goodness? Alas, my friends! The situation in which you are now placed, is a most sad and impressive reply. But, even here, even in your present circumstances, confined within the walls of this prison, you have reason to acknowledge and adore the goodness of God. Why were you not arrested in your career of iniquity by the hand of death, and hurried, with all your sins unrepented of, into the presence of an offended God? It was, because he would give you a longer space for repentance, not willing that you should perish, but that you should turn unto him and live.

Reflect, for a moment, how dreadful, how unspeakably dreadful would have been your condition, if, at the instant you were perpetrating the crime for which you were condemned to this place, you had been called, not to an earthly tribunal, but to the tribunal of the Almighty; of that Being who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look upon iniquity, but with the utmost abhorrence; of that Being, who is not only able to destroy the body, but can destroy both body and soul in hell.

Why, I may further ask, are you placed in a situation comparatively so comfortable, where you have the means of religious instruction and improvement, and where those who superintend the institution, are so anxious to lessen the evils of your lot, instead of being secluded in a dark and gloomy cell, or confined to a place where you would be destitute of the advantages you here enjoy? It is, because God is good to you.

Let me ask you again, what return have you made for all this goodness?

God gave you life, that you might glorify him, and promote your own welfare, and that of others. How unmindful have you been of the important ends for which life was bestowed upon you! Instead of devoting it to the service of God, have you not devoted it to the service of the enemy of God and man? Instead of promoting your own welfare, and that of others, have you not been pursuing a course destructive of your own welfare, and highly injurious to the welfare of your neighbor? Instead of a blessing, have you not been a pest to society?

God gave you reason, that you might know and love and adore him, that you might fulfill your duty in this world, and make preparation for a better world. How much have you abused and perverted this precious gift! It raised you above the level of the brute creation; have not many of you, by drowning it in intemperance and debauchery, often sunk yourselves far below their level? Instead of seeking to acquire a knowledge of God, have you not shewn by your conduct that you desired not the knowledge of his ways? Instead of glorifying God with the speech which he had given you, have you not often blasphemed his holy name and imprecated his vengeance upon yourselves and others? Instead of fulfilling your duty in the world, and devoting your powers and faculties to an useful purpose, have you not neglected your duty, and employed your powers and faculties in devising and executing plans of mischief and wickedness? Instead of preparing for heaven, have you not been pursuing the broad way that leadeth to destruction?

God gave you conscience to deter you from sin, or to excite you to repentance for it. Instead of heeding this faithful monitor, have you not stifled its reproaches, and some of you even seared it “as with a hot iron?”

God gave you parents to take care of you when you were unable to take care of yourselves, and friends to promote your comfort and happiness in life. How dreadfully have you requited those parents for their care of you, and how poorly have you fulfilled the claims of friendship!

Perhaps some of you have even abused the parents who gave you birth, have reviled them, have lifted up your unhallowed hands against them, or by your misconduct have brought down their heads in sorrow to the grave. This may have been the case with some of you whose parents not only gave you birth, and took care of your infancy and childhood, but endeavoured to teach you your duty to your God and your neighbor, that you might be respectable, useful and happy; who wept and prayed and labored for you. Oh, unfeeling, ungrateful men! Where was the vengeance of the Almighty that it did not forever silence the tongue that was uttering reproachful words of a father or a mother, that it did not wither the hand that was raised to smite a parent, that it did not at once arrest the guilty wretch in his mad career, and consign him to endless woe? How long-suffering, how compassionate is God!

Perhaps some of you have wronged the friends who trusted to your friendship and confided in your honour; or have corrupted and ruined them.

God offered you the gift of religion. He provided a way of salvation for you by Jesus Christ. He sent his son into the world to die that you might live; the just for the unjust that he might bring sinners to God. Have you not despised the gift? Have you not been unmindful of the sufferings and death of Christ on your behalf? Have you not turned a deaf ear to the invitations and warnings and threatening’s of God’s word? Have you not neglected the means and opportunities of religious instruction? Have you not followed the devices and desires of your own evil hearts, and been careless about the one thing needful, even the salvation of your immortal souls?

God has spared your lives, and given you a space for repentance in this place. How well you have requited this great and unmerited goodness, I cannot tell. But in the review of the goodness of God, and of your own ingratitude, disobedience and guilt, let me exhort you, let me earnestly exhort you, to deep and sincere repentance. I would fain hope that there are many of you who can be touched with a sense of the goodness of God, and with sorrow for having sinned against so much light, and so much love. This is the foundation on which repentance should be built. This is the repentance that will be most acceptable to God.

But if any of you are so hardened as to be unmoved by the recollection of the goodness of God, perhaps you may be affected by the view of his justice, which will assuredly be exercised upon you to the utmost, if you do not repent. An awful judgment day is at hand; it may come upon you unawares, and dreadful indeed will it be, if it find you unprepared for its arrival. Your portion will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Be persuaded then, be excited to repentance and prayer, to seek earnestly for the forgiveness of your sins, for an interest in your Saviour, for peace with God. Let the sincerity of your repentance be manifested by a meek and quiet spirit, by respectful obedience to those who have the rule over you, by an obliging and affectionate conduct towards each other, and by a diligent performance of the work assigned you.

Many of you are here but for a limited period, and some of you are perhaps soon to return again to that world, which was the scene of your temptations and your guilt. Let me beseech you to endeavour to carry with you such principles and habits, as will enable you to redeem the time you have lost, and to compensate to society the injury you have done it. Perhaps you have parents still living, prepare to be a comfort to them in their old age, to sustain their feeble hands, to support their faltering footsteps, and to smooth their passage to the grave. Perhaps you have a wife, tender and affectionate, prepare to make her happy by a life of sobriety and virtue. Perhaps you have children, whom by your example, if not by your precepts, you may have been training up to vice and misery. Prepare to be yet a blessing to them, and to teach them by your future conduct, that having tasted the fruits of sin, you have found them indeed bitter. Thus you will be respectable and happy. You will regain the affection and esteem you may have forfeited, and retrieve the character you have lost.

Let those of you who are destined to finish their earthly course within these walls, endeavour to acquiesce in their lot, as the appointment of a wise and righteous Providence. Be thankful, my friends, that you have so many comforts, and especially, that you have the means of spiritual improvement. Use these means with diligence, I entreat you. Be earnest in your prayers, and sincere in your repentance, and you may then hope, through divine mercy, when the term of your probation is ended, to exchange a state of bondage and imprisonment, for the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

The most painful and arduous task I have yet to fulfill, in addressing you, my unhappy brethren, who by the sentence of the law are condemned to die. ¹

How awful, how exceedingly awful is the situation in which you are placed. But a few short days will pass away, before you, who are now in health and in the vigour of life, will suffer an ignominious death, and appear at the judgment seat of God. How shall I address you? What words shall I use to impress you with a true sense of your condition, and of the importance of devoting the few remaining days of your life to diligent, to unwearied preparation for eternity?

You have heard me discourse of the goodness of God, and you have a witness in yourselves, that he has been good to you; that you are allowed this space for repentance, and that the officer, ² to whose charge you have been committed, is so attentive to your spiritual, as well as temporal welfare, is a strong, but unmerited, proof of divine goodness. Do not, I conjure you, do not cast away from you the privileges you now enjoy!

How great, how aggravated have been your offences, against the clearest light; against the dictates of your reason; against the admonitions of your consciences; against the warnings of your parents; against the laws of society of which you could not be ignorant; against the suggestions of the Spirit, and the invitations and threatening’s of the word of God; against love unparalleled, mercy unbounded;

Let the goodness of God lead you to repentance. You have a little space left to you; fill it up with duty. Does any thing burden your consciences? Relieve yourselves from the burden. Can you repair any injury you have done to a fellow-creature by confession and acknowledgment? Do it. You are bound by all your hopes of happiness hereafter to do it. Have you kept back anything, that you have been exhorted to reveal? Do so no longer; you cannot deceive God, and in his presence you will soon appear.

My friends, this is the last time that I shall address you in this public manner. Soon, very soon, the curtain of eternity will hide you from my view; and the execution of the awful sentence of the law will deprive you, forever, of the means of instruction, will place you beyond the reach of any warning voice. I feel the solemn, the unspeakable importance of my situation. Oh, that I could be instrumental in exciting or encouraging repentance! Oh, that I could be instrumental in bringing you to your Saviour and your God! Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope! The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Pray, earnestly pray, that you may be cleansed in that blood, and that you may secure an inheritance above, before it is forever too late. Let me again and again, entreat you, by the goodness of God, by the tender mercies of your Saviour, by the convictions of your own consciences, and by the prospect of a judgment to come, to seize this moment, which is given you for repentance.

Farewell—a long farewell.—Go to your cells again, and in that solemn retirement, where God only is present with you, meditate on what has now been said.

May God of his infinite mercy, carry it home to your hearts, and to the hearts of each one of us. And at last, when our course of duty and of discipline on earth is ended, may we all meet again in heaven, to celebrate, forever, the goodness of God, and the wonders of redeeming love!—Amen.

Endnotes

1 Samuel Tulley an American, and John Dalton an Englishman, then under sentence of death for piracy. They were convicted at the Circuit Court in Boston, October twenty-first.

2 The Marshal of the Massachusetts District, who has been unwearied in his humane attentions to these miserable men, and anxious that they should have, to the utmost, the benefit of religious instruction.

Sermon – Property Tax – 1816

This sermon was preached by George Glover in 1816.

THOUGHTS

ON THE

CHARACTER AND TENDENCY

OF THE

PROPERTY TAX,

AS ADAPTED TO A

PERMANENT SYSTEM OF TAXATION.

BY THE

REV. GEORGE GLOVER, A.M.
RECTOR OF SOUTHREPPS, VICAR OF CROMER, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

THOUGHTS
ON THE
PROPERTY TAX.There is no feature of a Free Government more strikingly valuable and important, both to those who govern, and to those who are governed, than that it not only allows, but encourages, in every individual, however humble, the liberty of discussing its measures, and publicly declaring his opinion upon the character and tendency of the laws it promulgates, and the line of policy it pursues, provided he exercise this privilege in a way free from factious and seditious objects. It is under this impression, and with a clear conviction of the purity and innocence of my motives, that I now presume to avail myself of the birth-right of an Englishman, and to state my sentiments upon a measure of domestic policy, in which I conceive both the future liberty and prosperity of my country deeply involved. I allude to the establishment of a Property Tax as a permanent system of taxation.

But before I enter directly into the line or argument I purpose to pursue, let me be distinctly understood as viewing this question perfectly apart from the justice or injustice, the policy or impolicy, of those public measures which have swelled to so enormous an amount the national expenditure, and ended in the accumulation of an unparalleled load of public debt. No opinions on the past need at all influence in this point any man’s opinions of the future, and he who has most zealously supported every part of our persevering contest with its public enemies abroad, may yet join with perfect consistency in an endeavour to save that country which he loves, from measures hostile to its freedom and prosperity at home. Nay, he can have no claims to unsullied loyalty, and genuine patriotism, if he refuse to do so. All men, of every party, equally admit the difficulties in which we are involved to be great and palpable; that the debt which has been contracted must be paid, that the faith, the land, and the industry of the country are all pledged for its redemption; and the only subject of enquiry now is, whether these difficulties may not yet be met without violating the Constitution itself; whether, notwithstanding the dreadful impression made upon its outworks, the citadel itself may not yet be saved from ruin.

Again, if it on one hand be demanded that extraordinary emergencies may arise, which may fully justify a Government in deviating from the ordinary course of legislation; in which speculations in political science must be tried, like speculations in trade and commerce, and in which, as in flights of poetic fancy, “something must be ventured, or nothing can be won,” we may readily concede it. And we may likewise concede further, that on the part of the subject also, it may in every such crisis be perfectly consistent with the greatest love of freedom, and the purest patriotism, willingly to sacrifice a large portion of his rights, his liberties, or his property, as the price of securing the remainder. But then on the other hand, it must equally be conceded, that all such occasions are strictly limited to the duration of the circumstances from which they arise, and that the expediency of all measures emanating from them entirely ceases with the danger they were intended to meet and to repel. If in times of great public calamity and alarm, when the very existence of the state was endangered, Rome wisely had recourse to a dictator, and more than once owed her safety or her victories to a measure which necessity dictated, we never can forget also that not only were all the benefits, which heretofore resulted from such a measure, lost and forfeited, but exchanged for the heaviest calamities and oppressions, from the very moment that the delegation of this high and despotic authority ceased to be carefully measured in continuance by the same necessity that prescribed it. If the temporary power of Cincinnatus ensured the safety and added to the glories of his country, the perpetual exercise of the same authority by Sylla and by Caesar, mark the very period of the commencement of the decline and fall of the greatest empire of the ancient world.

It is unfortunately the natural inclination of all power and authority, however acquired, to endeavour to perpetuate themselves. Their universal maxims are to advance whenever they can, to recede only when the post can no longer be maintained; to consider even a momentary acquiescence as a tacit admission of their claim, and the uninterrupted possession of a somewhat longer period, as directly confirming their title, and sanctioning even the principle itself upon which they are established. To this invariable propensity it is owing that the wisest and purest institutions become gradually corrupted and undermined, and abuses, like evil habits, gathering strength by connivance, or fattened by indulgence, grow till they either entirely destroy the fabric, or render some desperate measures needful to correct and restore them to their original character and use. It is in this sense that states and empires have been justly compared to bodies, as equally distinguished by youth, by manhood, and by old age. It is on this ground that in politics, as well as in morals, the ancient axiom of “Principiis obsta” is for ever applicable and useful; an axiom peculiarly recognized in the British Constitution, and upon the strict observance of which its very existence must depend. To check innovation by a mutual watchfulness over the proceedings of each other, and to sound the alarm on every attempt at encroachment upon each other’s hallowed ground, and thus to preserve unimpaired that nice balance of power which forms the very essence of the Constitution itself, is the express scope and object for which the several estates of the realm are invested with the trusts and privileges they hold.

Whichever therefore, whether it be King, or Lords, or Commons, either remits or relaxes this vigilance, that branch of the Constitution not only forfeits and abandons its own rights and privileges, but betrays the sacred duty it is pledged to perform, and is guilty of a direct injury against the community at large. There is this further reason also for guarding against political innovations, particularly such as I now allude to, that they commonly produce many effects besides those that are directly seen or intended by them. Paley ¹ has justly observed, that “the direct consequence is often the least important; that it is from the silent and unobserved operation, from the obscure progress of causes set at work for different purposes, that the greatest revolutions take their rise;” and has illustrated by several striking instances, drawn from our own history, the truth of his remark. De Lolme ² has also, with no less accuracy, told us, that “governments are often found to have adopted unawares measures entirely calculated to change the very character of their constitution, and to go on without perceiving their error till it be too late to correct it.”

That the measure to which I mean these prefatory observations to apply, is of that insidious tendency above described, is, alas! too obvious, from the present attempt to impose it on us as a permanent burthen, when compared with the arguments and professions held out at its original enactment; and that it partakes also very strongly of the nature of those measures alluded to by Paley and De Lolme will, I fear, be likewise too clearly proved when we come to consider it in that point of view.

But let me previously crave the indulgence of a few words only on its rise and origin. The circumstances attending it are indeed too notorious to need much illustration, but yet it seems necessary just to advert to them in order to clear and make good my way as I go on, and to establish the point of its being not only a novel and extraordinary system of finance, but to have arisen from a very extraordinary crisis of public affairs; to have been originally proposed as a temporary measure of unqualified necessity, and on these grounds alone submitted to by the country. We all remember how the ministry of that day, as well as a great majority of Parliament, impressed with the most violent apprehensions of the spread of that revolutionary frenzy which had deluged France with the blood of her subjects, which had led her monarch to the block, and overturned or profaned her altars, had judged that the only means of safety and honour to this country was to be found in an appeal to arms. Even those who had hailed the first heavings of this great volcano as symptoms of regenerating health, and greeted them as the struggles of an oppressed people in the sacred cause of freedom and of independence, as the auspicious pangs of liberty just dawning upon a land of darkness, spiritual as well as civil, now terrified at the magnitude of the explosion, joined in the general forebodings of an universal wreck and desolation, unless every effort was exerted to ward off the impending storm, and the sword and the purse, and the pulpit and the press, were all summoned to answer what was termed the calls of religious and social order. A small but resolute phalanx did indeed still remain unawed by the fears which staggered others, and widely differing as to the best means of stilling the impetuous impulse; who still clung to pacific measures, still viewed the thunder that rolled and the lightning that flashed around us as the natural attendants of a hurricane which might yet settle into a tranquil calm, and perhaps even purify and improve the atmosphere in which it had spent its rage; who still thought that other nations should be left to their own discretion as to what form of government they might judge it expedient to adopt, and that policy, no less than justice, demanded from us to forbear interfering with the internal affairs of France. But the warnings and admonitions of these men were unheeded in the general panic, or unheard in the general outcry; and the war-whoop of government was re-echoed from an immense majority. An immediate and determined course of hostilities was agreed on; the ocean was soon covered with our fleets and transports, and our blood and our treasures were equally lavished with unsparing energy. The powers of the continent were pressed into the hallowed cause, and entreated to accept the aid and subsidies of Britain in defraying the expenses of the contest. Coalitions were formed and crumbled away, fresh ones again tried and proved faithless to their object, and our bleeding country still persevered undaunted or uninstructed by the lessons she received.

The enemy, instead of being prostrate at our feet, as had been so confidently anticipated, seemed only to gather fresh vigour from every attack, to imbibe fresh means of resistance from every blow, and to acquire union and consistency, and strength and wisdom, from the very means of experience we afforded her. She even threatened in her turn to become the invader. “Delenda est Carthago,” was her motto. The sacking of London was held out as the recompense of their toils and dangers to her exasperated soldiery, and her chieftains threatened that the waters of the Thames should be reddened with British blood. It was at such a crisis, after six years of unparalleled exhaustion of blood and treasure, when voluntary contributions had been dried up; when the old taxes on luxury and consumption had been doubled and trebled in vain; when new ones had been imposed and proved ineffectual; when the monied interest had been drained of its funds, and loans were hardly made, even at the most exorbitant rate of interest; it was at such a crisis, I say, that the measure of the Income Tax was pressed upon the adoption of the British Parliament, and submitted to by the British people.

In the discussions which took place concerning it, it was never attempted to be argued but upon the ground of extreme necessity alone, nor do I believe that either Pitt himself, to the latest moment of his life, or those who acted with him, ever entertained a thought of saddling such a burthen as a permanent load upon the country, nor that even in the zenith of his popularity, he would have ventured to propose it. When the Lord Chancellor supported it in the House of Lords, he was glad, in the scantiness of better matter, to avail himself of this anecdote, as the best illustration of his subject. “A noble person, a friend of mine,” said his lordship, “had a conversation with a tradesman on the subject of this bill, who said his income might amount to about L300 a year, and declared that he thought it hard to pay L30 out of it for this tax. The tradesman, however, was a barber, and on a little reflection said, ‘But perhaps if I did not pay the L30, so many of my customers would not long have their heads upon their shoulders to be dressed and shaved.’ And this,” added his lordship, “is the true and proper defence of a bill like this.” And further also, when Lord Sidmouth, at the head of an administration composed of those very men, who are now endeavouring to perpetuate this despotic and intolerable measure, brought down to Parliament the treaty of the peace of Amiens, he embraced also the same opportunity of instantly moving the repeal of the Income Tax, and emphatically declared that he wished to record his sentiments upon it, “that he had ever viewed it as a measure which extreme necessity alone could justify, and as totally inapplicable to a state of peace.” Surely, then, a measure thus introduced, thus supported by its ablest advocates, and thus described by ministers themselves, bore in its very character, independent of the terms of the act itself, the pledge of its being discontinued the very moment the crisis passed away which had called for its enactment, and surely the people who have so long patiently submitted to its operation under such circumstances, have now an unquestionable right to look for its repeal.

If any man be disposed to think such arguments of but little weight, and the principle for which I am contending of but little value, I would beg him to reflect only upon the paramount consequences they involve, and to examine with me, by a short reference to the history of taxation in this country, how they were estimated by our ancestors, how firmly, how constantly, how successfully, (except in one solitary instance, which I shall shortly notice, viz. land-tax,) they were acted on by those illustrious men to whom we owe every political blessing and pre-eminence we enjoy; to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, which can only be discharged by faithfully transmitting to posterity, unsullied and unimpaired, the legacy they bequeathed to us.

The revenue of the crown is divided into two great branches, namely, the ordinary and extraordinary. By the former is meant the real actual property of which it is possessed, and a few sources of income which do not come under the denomination of contributions levied on the people. These were in the early periods of our history so large as almost, if not entirely, to meet the ordinary expenses of the state, and might, by the laws of forfeiture and escheat, have been augmented to an extent truly formidable. But, fortunately for the liberty of the subject, this hereditary landed revenue has been, by the extravagance or neglect of the crown itself, dilapidated and sunk almost to nothing, and the casual profits, arising from the other branches of the census regalis, have been almost all of them alienated likewise. These deficiencies as they gradually occurred, were necessarily to be supplied by those who had succeeded to these new sources of wealth, or by those who, being protected by the government and constitution, were bound both by duty and interest to contribute to its support and maintenance. The first contributions demanded and paid were those of personal military service at their proper charge, and sometimes small temporary aids of money or merchandize, for the equipment of ships, or defraying the extraordinary expenses attendant on particular expeditious.—Henry the Second availed himself of the fashionable zeal of the times for crusades, to induce the people to submit to a new species of taxation, denominated Tenths and Fifteenths, but these were never levied except for extraordinary emergencies, and though the basis of a regular assessment was afterwards laid in the eighth year of Edward III. yet it still both originated from a war, till that period, unmatched either in exertions or expence, and, what is more to our present purpose, was never acted on but in times of necessary and absolute emergence. In short, in whatever shape, or under whatever denomination, whether of tenths, scutages [Medieval tax paid to avoid military service], talliages [Medieval tax paid by peasants to the manor lord], or subsidies, supplies were levied on the people, this principle was up to the period of the Revolution never violated, that a tax imposed upon an emergency ceased with it; it was never suffered to become a permanent engine of supply, and Blackstone is in this important point inaccurate when he asserts that those ancient levies were in the nature of a modern land-tax. Rude as we are apt to consider the notions of political economy in those times, and limited as were the advances of civil liberty, yet our fathers were not so rude, and, fortunately for us, neither so profligate nor abject as to go the strongest constitutional check a subject can possess against the encroachments of despotic power. And it is obvious to remark, that whilst to their determined courage and perseverance in maintaining it, we owe all the freedom and political advantages we enjoy, to a deviation from it, in later times, we owe the numerous evils and corruptions with which we are now weighed down, the purity of our Constitution sullied, and its beauty tarnished and impaired.

The period of the Revolution is often looked back to as an era glorious to the cause of freedom civil and religious, as an immortal triumph of rational liberty over oppression and arbitrary power. In very many instances it really was so. But human blessings seldom come unalloyed; and if it was distinguished by acts calculated to promote the happiness, and exalt the dignity of our nature, it was instantly followed by acts as unfriendly to them both, and as directly subversive of the character of the Constitution it had contributed to form. Amidst the violent collision of parties alternately in power, and each consenting to purchase that power by a servile compliance with the unconstitutional demands of the crown; amidst the shameless scenes of bribery and corruption, and consequent prostitution of public principle which pervaded the national Councils and polluted the morals of the whole kingdom, aided by the opportunities for giving them full exercise, which arose from the unsettled state of the times, and the obstinate wars which were waged in order to support the change that had been effected, and in which the people were assured, not only that every right and privilege they had just established, but also the very lives and fortunes of all who had shared in contending for them were at stake: in short, in times not very dissimilar in some points to those we have lately witnessed, was laid the ground work of almost all those great political errors which have since been committed and pursued amongst us. It was then that the first sanction was given to a standing army; it was then began the prevalence of those foreign connections which involve us in every quarrel of every Power of Europe; it was then sprung up the pernicious practice of borrowing upon remote funds, and leaving to posterity to pay the amount of our extravagance and folly: it was then was laid the foundation of our national debt, and, to crown all, it was then that first appeared that great prototype of the odious measure we are now discussing, the establishment of an Income Tax a measure from which the struggle of 120 years has not been able to redeem us. For though the tax on personal property, on trade, and on individuals was soon found too oppressive to be borne, yet the Lane Tax, which formed a part of it, was not only most unjustly and inequitably continued, but established as a perpetual charge, its produce mortgaged as a freehold estate vested in the crown for ever, and like a freehold we have seen it held up to sale, and become a fit object of purchase to whoever maybe inclined to buy it.

With such a precedent as this before him, standing like the warning beacon on the hill, and distinctly pointing out the shoals and eddies with which it is surrounded, that man must be infatuated indeed who will not use his utmost effort to avoid them. For such in all human probability is the destined progress of the present Income Tax, if allowed to proceed one step further than the point at which it has now arrived. ³ As a war tax its duration is now expired. As a part of a system for the peace establishment, it assumes a character new and formidable in the extreme, and I trust no man can be so blind as not to be sensible, that, in submitting to it longer, he is not only giving up for ever for himself, his heirs, and successors, under every possible situation of public affairs, 1/10th or 1/5th, or whatever may be the ratio at which it is now proposed to continue it, but that he is giving his sanction to the principle itself upon which this tax is founded; namely, that the Government of this country is entitled to demand a certain part, absolutely unlimited, of the income of every individual, and is also entitled to enforce that compulsive requisition by the strictest and harshest regulations; a principle fitted perhaps for the meridian of Constantinople, but surely unfitted for the tempered atmosphere of Britain.

I have thus far argued the question upon the general abstract principles of legislation, and confined myself to simply illustrating those principles by a few opposite examples, drawn from our own or other countries. Let us now proceed to a more distinct and minute examination of this financial monster, and see whether there be not enough even in its peculiar features and character to induce us to reject it with abhorrence and disdain.

All taxes which can be imposed in a country like this, without tending to destroy the character of the Constitution under which we live, must necessarily have these three essential properties:–

1. They must not infringe that nice balance between the revenue of the state, and the wealth of the individuals who compose it, without which neither national liberty nor prosperity can exist.

2. They must not tend to obstruct that salutary control over the raising or the expenditure of the public money which belongs to the Legislative, over the Executive, Branches of the State.

3. They must, in common justice, bear, as far as possible, with an equal and impartial weight upon the various classes of the community. By these plain rules, of which the most zealous supporters of administration can neither question the propriety nor the truth, let us try the tax in question.

First—As it affects the balance between the revenue of the state, and the individuals who compose it.

Montesquieu lays it down as an established maxim, that “the public revenues are not to be measured by what the people are able, but by what they ought to pay;” ⁴ and the reason is plain and obvious. Because, unless the demands of the state have some definite limit or control, they may proceed to swallow up the whole wealth and property of the country. The revenue may thus fatten upon the poverty of those who supply it; and the state may outwardly make a brilliant and imposing figure, while it is inwardly groaning under the pressure of the heaviest misery and want: and we accordingly find this to be more or less the case in every despotic state, in which the principle I have mentioned is usually but little regarded.—Whether our own country has not of late years been fast approximating to such a situation, may perhaps be questioned or denied; but it must at all events be admitted, that no measure, which human ingenuity could devise, can be more calculated to produce such an effect, than that which we are now discussing. So long as our taxes were imposed on articles of luxury or consumption, they found their natural limit, and their progressive or diminished amount could always supply to the government that invaluable criterion of the country’s ability or wealth, without which every speculation in finance becomes vain and arbitrary, and even the most able and patriotic minister can no more justly regulate his expenditure by his means, than the mariner can steer his prescribed course through the trackless ocean, without either compass or star to guide him.

Whilst, therefore, on one hand, a timid and cautious administration might be led by an ignorant and groundless apprehension of the magnitude of our resources, to compromise the national interests or honor, a lavish and ambitious government might be led, with equal ignorance of what they were about, to plunge headlong into the wildest and most extravagant schemes, and to persevere till they ended in irremediable ruin. For there is in fact no other safe rule whatsoever, of what a people ought to pay, and consequently of what a free government has a right to expect or to demand, than what it is willing to pay. The general habits of a whole country are never so marked by parsimony and self-denial as not fairly and fully to spend as much as their means and situations of life will justify; the danger is, lest they should run into the contrary extreme. And though, perhaps, a few individuals should be found whose love of accumulating wealth was carried to an improper length, and whose circumscribed way of life led them to avoid many contributions in which they might justly be expected to share; yet these solitary instances can never affect a great general rule, and still less when we observe these niggard propensities hardly ever to extend beyond a single generation, and that accumulation itself always eventually turns out to the direct advantage of the state. The above mentioned great authority has therefore, with his accustomed penetration and truth, observed, that “if some subjects do not pay enough, the mischief is not great, but if any individual whatsoever pay too much, his ruin must redound to the public detriment.” Whenever, then, a country finds the ordinary course of indirect taxation ineffectual, and is driven to the extremity of a tax on Property and Income, it may rest assured it is passing the limit of regular supply; that it is deducting the full amount of whatever is raised in that way, from the actual wealth and capital of its subjects; that it is withdrawing just so much from the useful and profitable employment of agriculture, trade, or commerce; that it is cutting up by the roots the very means and sources of future prosperity, both public and private, and, like the man in the fable, killing the goose to arrive at the golden egg.

Let any man but apply the same process to the management of his affairs in domestic life, and the consequence is too direct and inevitable to require even to be stated. Remember that nations are but private families on an extended scale. If even as a temporary measure then such be its operation and effect, how can it ever be suited to become any part of a permanent system?

And whilst considering it in this point of view, reflect upon the complete extinguisher it applies to every spark of patriotism and of public spirit. Is it possible that the subjects of any government can feel a proper degree of attachment to it, or support with any feelings of national interest the measures of policy it pursues, when they find not only that portion of income exacted from them which they can really and prudently afford to pay or to expend, but their very capital itself systematically encroached upon, without any regard whatever paid either to the exigencies of their situation, their family, or their means? Must they not necessarily have constantly before their eyes both national and individual bankruptcy, and who can then wish to support the national honor, or even to defend a country when it has been bereft of everything in it worth defending? No—the natural progress of human feeling will be this: industry, no more encouraged and rewarded, will sink into apathy and disgust; indolence and indifference will usurp their place, and the only resources left will be despair and exile, or perhaps a burst of manly indignation, or a paroxysm of revolutionary frenzy.

If this picture be suspected of being overcharged, show me but in what point my premises are wrong and I will readily acknowledge the error of my conclusions. Let me not, however, be told, as the country often has been, that the Income Tax has gone on for years gradually increasing wealth and property of the country. Let me not be told that numbers of individuals may be found whose capital has gone on increasing under its operation, and that this also is a proof that it is not incompatible with private prosperity any more than with public welfare. Alas! the former of these effects may unhappily be traced to a very different source and origin; to the augmented energies of tax gatherers and inspectors, excited like officers of police by extravagant premiums allowed them upon the detection of frauds, to a more exact and rigorous assessment, to the exemptions originally conceded being gradually withdrawn, to the deductions at first allowed being narrowed or excluded, and, above all, to the rapid and accelerated depreciation of the circulating medium. Whoever will but minutely examine these several heads, will not only find a direct and easy clue to the solution of such a financial problem, but he will arrive, as I have done, at a directly opposite conclusion: he will find from these operative causes, when combined together, an aggregate infinitely greater than will be met by the increased produce of the tax in question, and instead of being led away by an argument so specious and so plausible, he will find himself irresistibly compelled to admit that the progress of compulsive taxation can never be established as a safe criterion of the progress of public wealth, and that in the point in question it is directly the reverse. He will find a balance which nothing but the diminished wealth and prosperity of the country can be made to account for. Until this position therefore be controverted, it is almost needless to go into any refutal of the other; it is nonsense to talk of public prosperity which is purchased at the price of private misery and oppression. Nor can the instance of a few individuals, who have even grown rich under its operation, be ever correctly pleaded against the sweeping general effect unquestionably produced by it; an effect, the force of which has never until now been left to its natural impulse, but has been fenced off by the increasing and exorbitant price of corn and provisions, which has enabled both the land owner and occupier to struggle with its burthens, and by a thousand other causes connected with a state of war, which will suggest themselves without enumeration. But these stimulants act but for a season, and any permanent system, attempted to be bolstered up by such expedients, carries with it the seeds of speedy dissolution.

But there is another point connected with its influence on capital, which seems entirely to have escaped those who can rest satisfied with arguments such as I have been just now combating. They forget that exactly as an estate loaded with a private mortgage is diminished in value to the proprietor by the full amount of the encumbrance, just so does every shilling added to the public debt lessen the capital pledged for its redemption, and every direct tax levied to defray the interest, or raised to discharge the principal, constitute an outgoing, detracting in its full proportion from the worth of every acre of land in the country; and if any one should require to have this fact still more fully illustrated, let him but ask himself whether a property, producing a clear rental of one thousand pounds a year be not of more actual value than one subject to a deduction of one hundred.

2. We will not proceed to examine it as affecting that control over the levying and expenditure of the public money, which is so wisely entrusted to the legislative, over the executive, branches of the state.

When the historian of the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” is enumerating the measures adopted by Augustus, to destroy the liberties of his country, he reckons these as the most prominent and effectual: “The establishment of the customs was followed by the establishment of an excise, and the artful scheme of taxation was completed by an assessment upon the real and personal property of every individual.” Alas! how little did Gibbon think, at the time he penned this sentence, that not thirty years would have revolved before his own native country would furnish an exact parallel, as to its finances, of the melancholy picture which he drew. It is from the warnings of history that the statesman should imbibe instruction; for he is there neither exposed to the bias of prejudice, nor left to the perilous hazard of probabilities and conjecture; he has before him the sure test of experience for his guidance, and as Lucian beautifully observes, is “οντι ώδε η τωδε δοξει λογιζομενος, αλλα τι πεπρακται λεγων.” De Hist. Scribend. To the strength and power of this political engine, in extorting money from the people, which can be extorted in no other way, we are undoubtedly to attribute the fondness with which it is adhered to as a measure of finance; added to the clear prospect it affords to any government, if once firmly established, of setting at defiance all defalcations of revenue which might arise from the extraordinary pressure of other taxes, or from the unpopularity of its own conduct. Nay, give but to an unprincipled and profligate administration, such an instrument as this, and it never can want the means of securing a majority to uphold its measures; and let us but remember the high authority which has told us, “whenever that day shall arrive, that the legislative branches of the state shall be more corrupt than the executive, the death warrant of the British constitution will be signed and sealed for ever.” Again, the facility which it affords, by its unlimited character, of raising the most exorbitant supplies, will for ever operate as a direct incentive to extravagance at home, and a temptation to wars and all their attendant train of evils abroad. The best security of peace has ever been found to consist in the difficulty of supporting war. The friend of humanity and religion surely then will pause before he gives his sanction to such a source of bloodshed and of crimes, to the establishment of a system which no good government should ever wish for, and with which no bad one should ever e entrusted.

Let me but again and again implore the attention of my country to the few topics I have suggested on this head. They are pregnant with matter and reflections, upon which I could write whole volumes.

3. The third criterion by which I proposed to try how far the Income Tax was consistent with the character of our constitution, was its pretensions to equality and justice.

That every individual, possessed of an income beyond a very limited amount, should indiscriminately contribute to the state the same percentage upon the income he so enjoys, may appear, at first sight, a fair and equitable allotment of the public burthen. But this illusion soon vanishes, and fresh proofs of inequality and oppression strike us in every possible view in which it can be contemplated. In the first place, the difference between a real and personal estate, between the positive value of one hundred pounds a-year arising from land, and the same sum derived from the interest of a mortgage, or the funds, is too palpable to be disputed. In most instances, the one is nearly double, and in many treble the value of the other. Now as a tax can only be considered as a price paid for the protection and security enjoyed, it is clear that any equitable principle would demand, that the amount of the insurance, if I may so term it, should be proportioned to the amount of the property insured.—The Income Tax, however, not only acknowledges no such distinction, in the instance now before us, but it is perfectly notorious, that whilst the tax upon personal property is rigorously and exactly levied, the assessment on real property is, in nine instances out of ten, very considerably below the actual income derived from it. On the other hand, in cases where no evasion is practiced by the landowner, the pressure falls upon him with an excessive and disproportioned weight. It is true that as landlord, he is demanded to pay but his ten per cent; but it is perfectly clear, that whatever is levied upon his tenant, must be ultimately borne by him; and that in every contract made for his land, the amount of Income tax will, and must, form as necessary and regular an item in calculating the amount of outgoings, as compared with the amount of produce, as either his rent, his poor’s rate, or his tithes; and thus the nominal assessment of ten per cent is in fact seventeen and a half. And to this again may fairly be added also, the amount he pays for land tax, where it has not been redeemed, (and in that case his exemption has been dearly purchased) for the land tax I have already shown to be neither more nor less than the remnant of an old income tax, established soon after the revolution, and which is the only part that most inequitably has not been repealed; thus making aggregate of thirty-seven and a half direct taxation.

Again also, with respect to land, how does this apply to those who occupy their own? They are subjected to its operation in the double capacity of landlord and of tenant; and in any depression of agriculture, are called on to pay a tax upon that occupation, which is not only productive of no profit or income whatsoever, but of direct loss. This melancholy fact needs no illustration from supposed circumstances, nor any ingenuity of argument to support it. A simple appeal to the present situation of things in this country, will speak with more energy than any powers of language—A situation which has driven even ministers themselves, either impressed with the manifest hardships and oppression of such a demand, or with the total impracticability of enforcing it, to burst through one of the strongest barriers of the constitution, and without any sanction of an assembled Parliament, to remit a portion of its claims. Will any man then pretend to imagine, that a system of taxation, liable to such circumstances, and to such fluctuations, can be a fit permanent system of supply, in a free country, and under a government which is intended to afford an equal and effectual protection to all those who live under it?

But if these instances of inequality be sufficient to render it objectionable, what shall we say of its boasted impartiality and equity when applied to the poor annuitant, whose income, already burthened by a variety of other taxes, is again rigorously and sternly decimated by its operation, by an assessment which acknowledges no distinction between a precarious supply, constituting in thousands of cases, all the present means of subsistence for a numerous family, and the savings from which are the only hope to which they cling for a provision in the future? Could those who enacted, and still more those who are yet inclined to support such a measure of taxation, but place themselves in the situation of the humble individual who is now penning these remarks, they could not fail to be actuated by his feelings.—Every notion of party spirit, every distinctive sensation of Whig and Tory, as well as all those false ideas of national splendor by which mankind are so apt to be dazzled and led away, would be at once absorbed in the more tender, and I will add, more amiable sensations of a husband’s or a father’s duty. They would feel that the private scenes of life demand attention as well as the public; and that it is too much to require from human nature, to witness calmly the wide waste of a lavish expenditure, in maintaining standing armies abroad, in providing sinecures or in building palaces at home, and to feel at the same time the total inability of either supporting the charities demanded from one’s situation, or laying up a single sixpence for future exigencies, or even of fighting against the imperious demands of the present moment; and still more to submit with silent resignation to have such a scheme of finance established as a perpetual burthen; and to be told at the same time; that it is pursued because it is fair in principle and equitable in operation and effect.

Again, the varied situations and professions of life render the unavoidable expenses attending them equally varied; and whilst one man may be enabled to fulfill the duties, and support the decencies of his station, upon 500l a year, another is necessarily exposed to the demands of at least 1000l. No direct tax whatsoever can meet these varied exigencies, and much less the tax in question, which passes over the whole, and leaves them unnoticed or unknown; which sweeps, with indiscriminating severity, its equal demands from all, and contemplates a numerous family, or an expensive profession, as not less subject to its claims than the unexpensive bachelor or the retired maiden. I am not begging for charity; I am not urging my own case, as one of peculiar hardship, but I feel it necessary to give it in defence of the argument I maintain. I have a wife and seven children looking up to me for protection and support: my means of affording these are chiefly derived from the tithes of not an extensive parish; the income tax upon those tithes has been exacted and paid, and yet one half of the income at which they are so assessed neither has yet been discharged, nor is likely to be soon, if ever recovered; some of it unquestionably lost. Thus much for its mild and equitable operation, as applied to annuitants and life interests.

When I go on to consider the income tax as applied to trade, I am totally at a loss which I should most wonder at, the boldness of him who proposed it, or the patience of those who have so long submitted to this oppressive burden. Credit and mutual confidence are the great bases of commercial intercourse. Secrecy both as to gains and losses, is always deemed not less essential to its prosperity. But with unceremonious intrusion, the income tax violates and invades every one of these stamina, and while it tempts on one hand the ruined bankrupt to make a show of profits and of income which he does not possess, and affords him a friendly screen for his frauds and his imposture, it pries with inquisitorial eye into the concerns of the honest and substantial trader, and exposes the channels of his trade; and if the commissioners, vested with an authority greater than the dictators of ancient Rome, happen only to suspect him of making too limited a return, an oath is immediately demanded, in direct violation of that sacred maxim of British jurisprudence, which compels no man to criminate himself.

We have hitherto supported the character of a great commercial nation, and, like Tyre and Carthage of old, have made the whole world our tributaries, and induced them to pour, with a lavish hand, their wealth into our lap. Arts and sciences have felt the inestimable value of such an extended intercourse; and even the great truths of divine revelation have been illustrated and confirmed by its means. When that distinguished author, Mr. Roscoe, portrays to us, in the family of the Medici, the characters of a few Florentine merchants, becoming at once the patrons of whatever of science and of literature then existed, and the restorers of whatever could be redeemed from the wrecks of time, the lesson, which such examples hold out to us, rises in value and importance every step we advance in its perusal, and we cannot help feeling a pride and exultation in reflecting that we have ourselves gone far to emulate their virtues; that characters not to be surpassed in any age or any country may be found in the annals of British commerce. But Florence was a free republic, and I remember no traces of an income tax like ours, being there established. We also have a constitution virtually and essentially free: a splendid monument of the accumulated wisdom of past ages. Let us endeavour to keep it, if possible, from being tarnished. Let us not give such a death-blow as this to commercial integrity and independence. It has been thus far borne up against by the fond and constant expectation of soon seeing it at an end; but, if it is now to be continued, farewell hope, and farewell commerce!!!

There is one point more which I feel myself peculiarly bound, as a minister of religion, as well as a subject of my king and country, not to pass by unnoticed, which is the dreadful influence upon public morals which has already been produced by it, and will continue to spread with accelerated progress, so long as this odious tax shall continue to be saddled upon us. The best ground of national prosperity has always been admitted to consist in national virtue. But the income tax, by placing men’s interests in a regular and systematic opposition to their duties, holds out so direct a premium to fraud and perjury, that no man who has attended to the duties of a commissioner, can have failed to remark the bare-faced prostitution of principle, the gradual and increasing disregard of the solemn obligation of an oath, and the various temptations to subterfuge and deceit, which are perpetually held out and yielded to, under its wicked and abominable operation. For instance, the capitals employed in trade and in agriculture have been ascertained to be very nearly equal, and there can need no further illustration of the sum of fraud and evasion which have been practiced under this tax, than the simple fact, that out of the fourteen millions a year to which it has been pushed, two millions and a half is the very greatest sum that could ever be extorted from trade. In fact, even the commissioners themselves have shrunk back from the scenes of iniquity arising out of it, and acquiesced in correcting or softening the hardships of the legislature by admitting a mitigated claim. If, then, no other argument can influence, at least let this have some weight with us. If we are careless and indifferent to encroachments on public freedom, let us at least not add to that havoc the devastation of public morals. We have no superfluity of virtue, whether public or private, to be idly sported with. It is a stake which should never be hazarded, and especially when the odds are so fearfully against us.

I have now done with my reflections on the character and tendency of the income tax, and have, I trust, distinctly shown it to be inconsistent with all our best notions of those principles of legislation which are applicable to a country like this, and deficient in every essential property of a tax suited to a free government; that it is arbitrary and unlimited in principle, partial and unjust in operation, destructive of agriculture, and ruinous to commerce; that it saps the foundation of public virtue, and commits the most horrible havoc upon public morals.

To the principle of this tax, I would finally most earnestly implore the attention of my country; because by keeping our eye steadily fixed upon it, we shall be best put upon our guard against being lulled by pretended modifications and flattering amendments. No, the principle itself is so wrong, so hostile to the character of our constitution, so directly opposed to our future welfare and prosperity, that nothing can make it right. You might as well reconcile truth with falsehood or light with darkness. However sweetened or seasoned to make it palatable, it will still be a sop of deadly poison; however covered and concealed, it will still contain a hook within it, which will not fail to fasten upon the vitals of the constitution of this country, if the people should ever be unfortunately prevailed upon to gorge it.

I am aware that the general and sweeping objection to all I have here urged will be this: “You have admitted the difficulties of the state, and you have admitted that they must be met; but whilst you have confined yourself to exposing the tendency, the character, the errors, and the defects of one system, you have scrupulously abstained from suggesting any other. It is easy to find fault, but he that presumes to do this, should be prepared to show a remedy.”

I must, however, totally disclaim the correctness of such a conclusion, and I must distinctly maintain that the onus of extricating us from our dilemma rests entirely with those who brought us into it. The country has a right to demand from those, in whom it reposes its confidence, that they shall, in the first place, adopt no measures calculated to infringe the liberties, or obstruct the happiness and prosperity of its subjects; and if, unfortunately, any emergency should arise, which may call for extraordinary means to meet it, that they shall take care that the means so adopted shall not be more than commensurate with the exigence; and that they affect as little as possible the public interests; and the very moment the exigence has past away, they are answerable for restoring us to our former state.

Still, I will not avail myself of such an apology, but shall proceed with unfeigned diffidence though without reserve, to state what I conceive to be the best and shortest path out of the miserable labyrinth in which we are involved. ⁵

There appear to be three ways of effecting this desirable object.

The first is that of continuing the Property Tax as a permanent burthen. This, I think, I have fairly proved ought not, cannot for one single moment be entertained by any one that knows what the constitution of his country is, and would willingly preserve it.

The next is by laying our hands upon the Sinking Fund, and appropriating a considerable part of its produce to the present wants of the country, a scheme but very little less objectionable than the former, because, instead of being calculated to remove, it must directly operate towards rendering the public burthen permanent. You can never get rid of debt by cutting up the means of discharging it. The Sinking Fund has always been looked to as our great palladium and shield by all parties; and when Fox pronounced his funeral oration over his deceased rival, he said, “widely as I have differed from him through life, in public measures in general, I will not withhold my praise from one, viz. the Sinking Fund; a measure which will go down to posterity as a monument of his talents as a financier, and if honestly maintained and adhered to, may one day save the country from ruin.” The too rapid extinction of the National Debt, and the prevailing dread of its influence upon the money market, are bugbears which I should be very glad to see assuming a more distinct and substantial form. At present they are but barely visible, even with a powerful microscope. If, however, we must believe such dangers to exist, they are at least so remote as not to press for any immediate attention, and abundant expedients are always at hand to anticipate or draw off a superfluity of wealth.

The third, and only remaining expedient, then is a plain and manly avowal of our insolvency, and a composition with the public creditor; a measure which appears to me to be infinitely the best, and, in fact, the sole means of future prosperity. I have before observed that nations are but private families on an extended scale, and, after every effort of political casuistry, must at last be contented to be guided by the same rules. You have accumulated an amount of debt more than the sum of what the whole fee simple of the real property of the country would fetch at public auction, if put up to sale to-morrow. You have tried in vain every method of legitimate taxation, every means, vested in your power by the constitution, to discharge its interest. The only alternative then remaining is, either to violate the constitution, in order to keep your faith, or to compromise your faith, and preserve the constitution. There can be no scruple in such a choice, no hesitation in asserting that the latter is infinitely less criminal, and incalculably more politic and wise. And with respect to the question of public faith, it involves not one atom more of violation than has already been committed by the establishment of the tax we are now discussing; and will again be committed by making it a part of your permanent supply. A clear ten per cent has been annually withheld from the payment of the interest originally promised, and though it has been disguised under another name, yet it has been, in effect, a bona fide diminution of interest, and, if now perpetuated, will amount to the very same thing in principle with the measure I propose. Again, also, the public faith has not been less violated by your interference with the Sinking Fund, which stood directly pledged to the public creditor, as security for his debt.

The mode in which I conceive this compromise might be made, is nearly similar to that which was acted on by Mr. Pelham, in the year 1749, with a degree of success which astonished Europe, and the plan of which, when submitted to parliament, appeared so necessary and so eligible at that time, that it was carried through both Houses without a single division; not a shilling was withdrawn from the public debt, and the funds suffered not the slightest depression whatsoever. It will easily be remembered that the measure was simply a reduction of one per cent upon the whole National Debt, with the option of being paid off at par if required; and that it was adopted at a period not unlike the present, except that the exigency that led to it was infinitely less urgent, and that the interest which may now be made by money vested in the funds is almost doubled. ⁶

The difference in the value of stock is indeed very important, but then the different rate at which that stock must have been originally purchased is sufficient to meet the inequality. Out of the eleven hundred millions, now constituting our public debt, eight hundred millions have been borrowed since 1795, and probably three-fourths of the remainder bought and sold; during which period, I believe, the average price of the three per cents will be found to be considerably below 60, and of course the other kinds of stock in the same proportion. What then I should now propose would be to offer to the fund-holder, either to pay off the principal at the present market price, which is peculiarly favorable to both parties, or that he should submit to a reduction of ½ per cent interest; which I trust would be found a relief fully adequate to the public wants of the state. I am aware that, as the description of funded property is various, the same per centage cannot be equitably applied to the whole eleven hundred millions of which it is composed, but the modification is so obvious and easy, that I feel it unnecessary to go into details.

The reduction above alleged I should suppose would, when modified and equalized, still produce four millions, and the relief from the Income Tax would be naturally succeeded by an increased productiveness in other departments of taxation. Windows would again be opened that are now closed; the tax-cart without a cushion would then aspire to an accommodation so valuable and important; and that which already had one, would probably be still improved by the elastic motion of a spring; and the great aphorism of finance be exemplified, that the Treasury was rich because the taxation was not oppressive.

Nor with respect to the fund-holder, can I see how such a measure need be attended with alarm, nor complained of as one of peculiar hardship. He has chosen to advance his money, with his eyes perfectly open to the kind of security given him in return; he knows and feels that every means has been exhausted of paying the whole of his demand, which is at all compatible with the character of that constitution, under the protection indeed of which his property is vested, but yet amenable to its laws; and that, by insisting further on his claims, he is himself contributing to throw down an edifice, which it is an incalculably greater objet for him to preserve, than any consideration he can lose by the sacrifice required.

I have already shown that the present price at which he might resume his principal, is probably more than it originally cost him, and that his capital is therefore unimpaired. And if, on the other hand, he chose to allow it to remain, his security is improved by the improving solvency of the state, and the value of his principal increased by the certain prospect of increased prosperity to the country. In the reduction of the public burthens he will further find an additional compensation, which he will share in full proportion with the community at large; and if he receive less from government, he will have less to pay to it. He will free himself, his heirs, and successors, I hope, for ever, from a direct outgoing absolutely unlimited, and which, though now assessed at no more than ten or perhaps but five per cent nothing forbids hereafter to be augmented even to fifty. Again also by turning his view only to the depressed state of agriculture, and the depreciated value of land, together with the almost unprecedented stagnation of commerce and of trade, he will feel satisfied that he is, even then, in a much better relative situation than any other class of the community, and that he still hardly bears an equitable portion of the common suffering. All jealousy on that score will soon be dissipated; and in short, if he impartially reflects upon the limited sacrifices required, he will not fail readily to acquiesce in a measure which the public welfare seem so imperiously to call for.

On the part of government, again, I should conceive but little uneasiness need be apprehended. The superior confidence reposed in our stability over that of any other country, and on which the present measure can make but little impression; the situation of public affairs, the prospect of a long peace, and consequently that enormous loans are not to be contemplated, but, on the contrary, that the monied market will be more and more abundantly supplied, together with many other minor circumstances that might be mentioned, all most powerfully contribute to recommend it. But even supposing all these hopes to be salacious, and that some few individuals did conspire to obstruct its peaceful operation, or were really alarmed at such a step, what forbids the government to meet such a difficulty by a corresponding loan? Or, by some other of those financial arrangements which have often been applied to measures much less justifying their adoption? Perhaps even a gradual reduction would be found sufficiently effectual. In fact the variation of its interest, which has already been so repeatedly acted on, of late, in the case of its Exchequer Bills, must have gradually habituated the public mind to see such expedients resorted to; and when we add to this the impossibility of finding a better channel of employment for the capital withdrawn, and the conviction, that by shaking the ability of government they would be endangering whatever stake they themselves have in it, I cannot see any cause whatever for looking on such a scheme with serious alarm. I cannot help viewing it as infinitely preferable to any other, as less detrimental to the public welfare, and ultimately but little, if at all, injurious to the public creditor; as calculated to restore us to something like our former state, to rid us of unconstitutional, as well as oppressive, burthens, and by so doing, to promote commerce, to favor agriculture, to aid the extinction of our debt, and in short, to give us back Old England. With these impressions I cannot help clinging to such a scheme with fondness, until I am convinced of greater difficulties and dangers attending it than any with which I am yet acquainted. Let me now, however, be understood as speaking slightly of its character, or as insensible to the dangers of acting upon such precedents as these. I contemplate it as a measure of most dire but yet salutary necessity. As a choice of evils between the continuance of a tax, of which I have already shown the character and tendency to be destructive of the constitution itself, and the adoption of a scheme which involves, I readily admit, a violation of faith; but such a violation as has already been committed, and must again be committed, by the very adoption of the measure proposed in order to avoid it.

Lastly, let me not be censured, if unskilled in the intricacies of finance, I have rashly presumed to tread so dangerous a ground. Nor let me be thought inclined, by disposition or habit, to dabble in political discussions. This is the first upon which I ever ventured, and will probably be the last. But though merged in the depths of obscurity and retirement, and employed in duties still more solemn and important, yet I could not rest an unconcerned spectator of the passing scene; I could not, in a crisis such as this, forget that wise and salutary law of Athens, which decreed that man infamous and dishonoured, who remained neuter and indifferent when the liberties of his country were endangered.

Endnotes

1 Moral and Political Philosophy.

2 On the British Constitution.

3 This prophecy has already, since the first publication of these remarks, received, as far as relates to the intention of his majesty’s present ministers, its exact fulfillment. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has distinctly avowed his purpose of continuing the tax on its present footing at 5 per. Cent, for two or three years, and then to leave it to parliament to decide what part of it shall be made permanent.

4 Esprit des Lois.

5 I beg leave here to obviate an error which might possibly occur, viz. that I admitted a substitute for the Property Tax to be absolutely needful. Nothing is farther from my intention than to encourage such an idea. Supposing the net permanent revenue to be only adequate to discharge the interest of our public debt, yet the war taxes alone amount to 24 millions, and upon no principle of equity or justice, or policy, or prudence, can the peace establishment be admitted to require more than 10 millions. You might then have the whole military and naval establishment which Mr. Pitt thought needful in 1792, a period of infinitely greater external danger than the present; and besides this, you might have also the whole civil establishment as it now stands. The former branches then cost but four millions and a half, including ordnance, and cannot now, with the increase of pay and pensions added to it, demand more than six millions, and the latter, by the last returns, was but four millions more. You have, therefore, a relief of 14 remaining millions, the whole amount of the Property Tax, which the people of this country have an unquestionable right to look for and demand. But when I considered the depressed and suffering state of agriculture, and when I further considered how deeply every part of the laboring classes of the community were interested in the relief it would afford, I ventured to suggest the following scheme of reducing the interest of the debt, in the hope of its enabling us to dispense with the war-duty upon malt, upon horses used in husbandry, and some few other of those taxes which press most heavily upon us.

6 Mr. Malthus, in considering the comparative ratio of wealth, has justly remarked, that the fund-holder who vests his property so as to produce five per cent when corn is 100 shillings a quarter, receives an equivalent to 7, 8, or 9 per cent whenever the price of corn shall fall to 50 shillings. That day has now arrived.

Sermon – Election – 1824, Massachusetts

Daniel Sharp (1783-1853) immigrated from England to America in 1805. He was a pastor of a Baptist Church in Newark, NJ (1809-1812) and a Baptist Church in Boston (1812-1853). Sharp was also a Brown University fellow (1828-1853). The following election sermon was preached by Sharp in Massachusetts on May 26, 1824.

DISCOURSE,

PRONOUNCED BEFORE HIS

EXCELLENCY WILLIAM EUSTIS, ESQ.

GOVERNOR,

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL,

AND

THE TWO HOUSES, COMPOSING

THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

MAY 26, 1824.

BEING THE ANNIVERSARY ELECTION.

BY DANIEL SHARP,
PASTOR OF THE THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH IN BOSTON.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHURSETTS.House of Representatives, May 27th, 1824.

Ordered, That Messrs. Thurber of Mendon, Train of Framingham, and Bassett of Boston, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Daniel Sharp, and to return him the thanks of this House for his Excellent Discourse delivered yesterday before the Governor and Council and both Branches of the Legislature, and to request of him a Copy for the Press.

DISCOURSE.JEREMIAH……CHAP 30, VERSES XIX, XX, XXI.

And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their Congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their Nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them.

In this chapter the Prophet foretells the deliverance of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, and the blessings connected with their return to the land of their fathers. When we recollect the deep-toned anguish with which he elsewhere records the sufferings of his countrymen, it is easy to conceive, that he should announce the termination of their calamities, and the commencement of a happy era in their history, with all the glow of patriotic delight.

And as a man of piety, his delight must have been greatly increased, when he foresaw, that in the enjoyment of profusion of blessings, the author of them would not be forgotten. He was told, that the voice of joy and thanksgiving should be heard, and that the people would have such a conviction of the kindness of their deliverer, as to engage their hearts to approach unto Him.

There can be nothing more pleasing to God, or more in unison with a spirit of enlightened piety, than a devout and grateful acknowledgment of his benefits. This is a duty which we all owe to our Maker. But if we would perform this duty acceptably, and make it a reasonable service, we must meditate on our personal and relative condition; we must ponder on the nature, extent, and variety of our blessings; and not only review the history of the past, but look forward to the cheering prospects of the future. When our thoughts are thus employed, whatever may be our situation, whether we dwell in the shades of private life, or are elevated by the suffrages of our fellow citizens to public and honorable station, we shall feel innumerable reasons for thanksgiving to Almighty God.

As the Civil Authorities of the Commonwealth are assembled in this house, to render homage to the Governor of the World, and to pray that he would guide their Counsels and bless their measures for the public good, it will not perhaps be deemed unsuitable to the occasion, should I remind them, and my fellow citizens who are present, that the past kindness of Providence to our Country, and the excellent nature of our Civil Institutions, have special claims on our gratitude.

It would be impossible in one discourse, to enumerate all the blessings of our social and political condition. I shall therefore confine myself to such topics as are suggested by the prediction in our test. In doing this you will not fail to observe, a remarkable coincidence between the blessings that were promised to the Jews, and those for which our nation is so highly distinguished.

1st. it was predicted, that their population should greatly increase. “I will multiply them and they shall not be few.” In the sacred writings, nothing is more common, than to describe the prosperity of a nation by the number of its inhabitants. The promise made to Abram, that his seed should be as the stars of Heaven for multitude, was an assurance that they would become a mighty and prosperous people. When Moses was about to resign the cares of office, he expressed his desires for the prosperity of the Israelites in the following prayer; “The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you.” It was also mentioned by another prophet as a special token of divine favor, that a little one should become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.

There may indeed, be such a state of society, and such arrangements concerning the distribution of property, that an increase of population may be viewed with dread. Even men of enlarged and philosophical minds, may only consider it, as the introduction of so many human beings to swell the tide of misery and vice which already flows through the poorer classes of the community.

But there is nothing in our political Institutions, or the possible limitation of our means of subsistence, which can make an increase of population, a subject of gloomy foreboding to us. So far from this, when we read the history of our country, and learn from how small a beginning we have already become a numerous people, we are sensible that we have great cause for gratitude.

When the pious but feeble band of Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and asked as a boon, that they might be permitted to dwell among savages; who among them could have thought, that their posterity would have extended over so many States? Had any of the number been endowed with the gift of prophecy, and like the bards of old described, what would be the condition and increase of their descendants after the lapse of two hundred years, he would have been to them as one that dreamed. They could not have believed him for joy. But God has multiplied us, so that we are not few. There are at this time more than a million and a half of inhabitants in New-England; and it has been stated by respectable authority, ¹ “that there are now more than a million of people, descendants of New-England ancestry, living free and happy, in regions which sixty years ago, were tracts of unpenetrated forest.” And what is still more gratifying, these people have carried with them from the home of their Fathers, the love of literature and religion; and those habits of industry virtue and economy, for which New-England has been so justly celebrated.

When from the sons of the Pilgrims, we direct our attention to the present number of inhabitants in the United States, we shall find, that the population of no other modern nation has advanced with equal rapidity. At the commencement of the war of the Revolution, there were about three millions of people, and now there are nine millions enjoying the blessings of rational freedom; and having the means of support within their power. There are also physical and moral causes peculiar to this country, now in operation, which render it certain, that in the ordinary course of Providence, its inhabitants, will become exceedingly numerous.

Now as a great population must bring within our reach more of the necessaries and comforts of life; and by facilitating to a greater extent the distribution of labour, must also make us less dependent on other nations, and less liable to insult and wrongs; we cannot do otherwise, than view it as a great blessing, that God has multiplied us and we are not few.

I need not tell you, my respected hearers, that the real glory and prosperity of a nation does not consist in the hereditary rank, or titled privileges of a very small class in the community; in the great wealth of the few, and the great poverty of the many; in the splendid palaces of nobles and the wretched huts of a numerous and half-famished peasantry. No! such a state of things may give pleasure to proud, ambitious, and selfish minds, but there is nothing here on which the eye of a patriot can rest with unmingled satisfaction. In his deliberate judgment;

“Ill fares the land, to hast’ning ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry their country’s pride,
When once destroy’d, can never be supplied.

It is an intelligent, virtuous, free and extensive population, able by their talents and industry to obtain a competent support, which constitutes the strength and prosperity of a nation.

2d. One of the advantages arising to a community possessing the character I have just described, is, the impression made on other nations of their greatness and power.

Here we perceive a very distinct resemblance between the promise made to Israel, and the commanding attitude in which the United States stand forth to the view of the kingdoms of the earth. The Lord said, concerning his ancient people; “I will also glorify them and they shall not be small.” That is, he would make them appear great and formidable in the eyes of surrounding nations. The same promise in substance had been made to their ancestors, just before they entered Canaan. “This day, said the Almighty, will I begin to put the dread of thee, and the fear of thee, upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee.” You can easily suppose, that this must have operated as a powerful check on the unjust and ambitious designs of neighbouring princes, and thus have contributed much to the peace of the nation. In the same manner God has glorified the American people. And the fruits of this blessing are seen in the quiet repose they enjoy at home, and he unrivalled prosperity of their commerce abroad.

Events have taken place in the history of our country, which have indelibly impressed every European Government with the conviction of our power. It was remarked, by one of your most eminent statesmen, more than half a century ago, when referring to the difficulties which finally terminated in the Independence of his country; “Our Fathers were a good people, we have been a free people, and if you will not let us remain so any longer, we shall be a great people.” ² Whether these words were written in the spirit of prophecy or not, they have literally been fulfilled. God has exalted us in the sight of the nations. They have had the most indubitable proofs of the wisdom and sagacity of our statesmen; they have seen the skill and valor of our warriors; they have acknowledged the prowess of our navy; they have been convinced of the universal patriotism of our citizens; they have heard of the enterprise of our merchants; the ingenuity of our artisans; the industry and happiness of our husbandmen; and the respectability of our men of literature and science.

Now the estimation in which we are held by foreign powers, lays us under special obligations of gratitude to God. To this cause, we may in a great measure ascribe our peace and prosperity; the preservation of our fellow citizens from the toils and dangers of war; and the undisturbed endearments of domestic life. It is because God has glorified us, that our rights are not infringed; and that no wicked design of subjugating us or of dictating to us; under what kind of government we shall live, has been attempted. I have made these statements, not to excite within you a spirit of national pride, but the feelings of joy and humble gratitude to the author of all good.

3d. The permanency of their Civil Institutions is enumerated among the causes why the people of Israel would be thankful. “Their children also, shall be as aforetime, and their Congregation shall be established before me.” They shall be restored to the blessings which their Ancestors enjoyed. The people at large shall be established. The compact which binds them together, shall be indissoluble. And is there I ask, a people under Heaven, who in this respect have equal cause of thankfulness with ourselves? We have a government founded in reason, and the fitness of things. It emanates from the will of the Sovereign People. It is adapted as all Governments should be, to promote the greatest good of the whole. And while it wisely provides for the honour and dignity of the Officers of State, yet it also provides, that all their power and authority shall be derived from, and dependent upon the people.

When our social compact was first formed, the enemies of freedom predicted its speedy destruction. They asserted, that it was too weak to hold the distant and diversified parts of the union together; and denounced it as an experiment of doubtful tendency, and were fearful that it could not be permanently established. But not one of these gloomy predictions have been verified. The Demon of Anarchy has not desolated our land. Our social compact has held the different parts of the Union together. It is firmly established. And it proves to be a wise and beautifully organized system; diffusing its salutary influence from the north to the south, and from the east to the west. It blesses alike the rich and the poor, and has this distinctive excellence, that it neither favours nor oppresses any particular denomination of professing Christians. While it is perpetually conferring the most substantial benefits upon us at home; it is viewed from abroad, by the Philosopher and Philanthropist of every other Country with wonder and delight.

What cause have we my hearers for thankfulness. While the political Institutions of other countries are tottering under the infirmities of age; ours just in their prime, are receiving firmness and solidity by the addition of years. While wise men in other nations are hoping, and yet fearing a change; while they are expecting, and yet dreading alterations in the social edifice; we are dwelling in ours with security. Relying on the continued kindness of Providence, we are neither agitated by the fear of storms from without, or strife from within.

Our satisfaction would indeed be greatly diminished, could we perceive anything in the character or condition of the community, that portends the probability of a change in our rational form of Government. But we are confident that our political Institutions will be permanent. Scarcely any of those causes exist in our Country, which have been so unfavourable to the attainment or preservation of Civil Liberty in other nations.

We have no great Military power to awe us into submission to unjust and arbitrary measures; or to put on us chains of bondage, and make us wear them. The means on which we chiefly rely for national defense consists in a Militia, whose interests and happiness are identified with those of the people, and who in fact are the people. There can therefore be no danger, that an organized body of men, who are habitually engaged in the peaceful and profitable avocations of life, should ever use their arms for the insane purpose of destroying their own sacred rights and dear bought liberties.

It is also a circumstance peculiarly favourable to the permanency of our free Institutions, that we have no established Priesthood. It is a melancholy fact, that wherever a union between Church and State has been the last in granting a particle of liberty to the people; and always the first in aiding to take it from them. This has not happened because they were worse than other men, but from the very nature of their connection with the State. They have felt, that it was only dutiful and grateful to strengthen the hand that fed them. And they have known, that it was in vain to aspire at clerical dignity, or the smiles of Court favour, unless they were strenuous supporters of the prerogatives of Princes. Hence both interest and inclination have made them the unblushing advocates of the divine right of Kings and of the Doctrine of non-resistance and passive obedience.

We sincerely bless God, that the ministers of every denomination in this Country, are shut out from all hope of ever being connected with the State; and that they are under no temptation to degrade Religion by employing it as an instrument of secular power. We hope few have the disposition, and we are glad that none have the ability either to control the consciences, or abridge the liberties of their fellow men on account of their religious opinions. It is the glory of our social compact that it leaves truth and error, equally unshackled, to contend against each other; and that it knows nothing of that monstrous system which inflicts fines, imprisonment and tortures on the body under the hypocritical pretence of doing good to the soul. An entire separation of the Church from the State, is then, a subject of congratulation, because this circumstance is favourable to the permanency of the freedom of our Government.

Neither is there with us, that utter destitution of knowledge in the poorer classes of the community, which, were it exists, renders them incapable of self-government, and of discerning the nature and proper boundaries of Civil Liberty. Notwithstanding all that has been written on the semi-barbarous state of Society in this Country, there is not a nation on the Globe, with perhaps, the exception of Scotland, where the means of Education are so free and extensive, and where the people so generally avail themselves of them, as in the United States.

“By the Constitution of the United States, says Mr. Ingersoll, it is the duty of government to promote the progress of science, and the useful arts. Not one of the eleven new States has been admitted into the Union without provision in its Constitution for Schools, Academies, Colleges, and Universities. In most of the original States large sums in money are appropriated to Education, and they claim a share in the great landed investments, which are mortgaged to it in the new States. Reckoning all those contributions, federal and local, it may be asserted, that nearly as much as the whole national expenditure of the United States, is set apart by laws to enlighten the people. Besides more than half a million of pupils at public Schools; there are considerably more than three thousand under graduates matriculated at the various Colleges and Universities, authorized to grant academical degrees; not less than twelve hundred at the Medical Schools; several hundred at the Theological Seminaries; and at least a thousand Students of law,” with a population thus informed, and who feel all the lofty consciousness of being freemen; we may well be confident that “their children shall be as aforetime; and their congregation shall be established.”

Nor ought we to omit a consideration of the fact, that as a people, we are strangers to that extreme poverty which, by creating a sense of dependence is unfriendly to the liberty of the citizen. When a large population, however virtuous and industrious they may be, find it difficult to obtain the necessaries of life, they must have cares which claim their attention much more effectually than the consideration of government and laws. Hence to procure a bare subsistence, they are frequently obliged to give their suffrages in support of measures which are subversive of the dearest rights of man. But where the state of property is different; where the great body of the people are possessors of the soil; and feel that they have a personal interest in all the enactments of the State which affect the liberty or property of the individual; they will be careful that the blessings they enjoy shall be transmitted to their posterity unimpaired.

And I may add that the infrequency of elections which has operated against the rights and liberties of the subject in other countries, is an evil which does not exist here. The frequency of elections produces a sense of responsibility in those who are appointed to office; it prevents in a great degree that abuse of power and inattention to the interests of their constituents which has frequently marked the conduct of Legislators when they have held their office for a long term of years, or for life; and it also gives the people an opportunity of expressing in a silent but forcible manner, their views of the public measures which have been pursued. From this general, but rapid view which we have taken of our situation, we may anticipate with pleasure the permanency of our political Institutions. We cannot perceive in them any elements of decay; nor anything in the condition or future prospects of the Republic, that should lead us to expect they will be changed.

4th. It was stated by the Prophet, that his people would be joyful, because their Nobles should be of themselves, and their Governor should proceed from the midst of them.

Such a change in their political condition, must have appeared to them an invaluable blessing. They had been long under a foreign yoke. The nobles who had governed them, were regardless of their welfare. They took their young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. They also added insult to injury. For they that carried them away captive, required of them a song; and they that wasted them required of them mirth. It was therefore impossible for them to be restored to liberty and independence, and to have rulers from among themselves, without sensations of unutterable joy.

Nor can the possession of similar blessings be overlooked by us without incurring the guilt of ingratitude. There was a time which some off you are not too old to remember, when your nobles came from abroad, and strangers exercised authority over you. Men whose feelings, habits, and pretensions were dissimilar to your own, held the highest offices in the State. Many of them no doubt, were persons of much private worth and general excellence of character. But the source from whence they derived their dignity and power, and the conditions on which they retained them, forbade their taking that earnest and undivided interest in the welfare of the Commonwealth, which may always be expected from men of principle, when chosen by the people.

The right to choose our Governors from the midst of us, when wisely exercised, is attended with many and great advantages.

It gives the people an opportunity of placing in the Chair of State, men of talents, integrity and patriotism. Nor can any good reason be assigned, why our civil rulers should not always be persons, of clear and comprehensive views, capable of discerning the complicated interests of the community, and determined impartially to promote them. If we are just to ourselves, our social condition must be superior to that of any nation whose Chief comes to the possession of supreme authority by natural descent. In this case it is altogether uncertain, whether he who is to reign will be wise or foolish; devoted to his pleasures or the welfare of his country. Notwithstanding the general joy that is manifested at his birth, no one can tell whether he will be a blessing, or a scourge; a benefactor, or a tyrant. It is then a right, not to be valued lightly, that we can select the ablest and best citizens amongst us to direct the affairs of the Commonwealth.

There is another advantage in the election of our Civil Rulers from the midst of us, perhaps as great as the one I have just mentioned. They must feel a greater interest in the welfare of the people, and exercise a deeper sympathy in their situation, than could be expected under any other form of government. In other nations, Rulers are not from the midst of the people. In their own estimation at least, they form a distinct and higher order of beings. They pride themselves in their birth and blood; and look upon all others as an inferior race of mortals. Hence they do not consider themselves as occupying important stations for the good of the people. They consider them as a vulgar herd, made to minister to their pride and pleasure. They view their own interests not only as separate, but at variance, with the interests of the common people. Under the influence of these views and feelings the most powerful Monarchs on the Continent of Europe, have entered into what we believe to be a base and unholy alliance against the rights and liberties of all their subjects. When the Empress Catharine of Russia wrote a letter of advice and sympathy, to the unfortunate Queen of France just before the Revolution; she expressed it as her opinion that, “Kings ought to proceed in their career, undisturbed by the cries of the people, as the moon pursues her course unimpeded by the howling of dogs.” While the feelings of horror come over us at a recollection of the atrocious cruelties of the French Revolution, yet we cannot but detest the cold hearted selfishness that could dictate such counsel as this. And yet, what is it, but the proud, unfeeling, and despotic spirit of Catharine, which governs the Cabinets of continental Europe?—Whatever may be the oppression and sufferings of the people there, they must stifle their groans and endure all with patience. For should they seek a redress of their grievances, this misnamed Holy Alliance has determined, that for every such presumptuous attempt, their chains shall be doubly riveted. While we devoutly pray, that He who sitteth in the heavens, would break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” let us also be thankful, that our Governors proceed from the midst of us, and not from a rank of men, who because they are elevated by the artificial distinctions of society, are gazing down on the multitude with the aspect and feelings of utter contempt. Instead of this, they feel that they belong to the people; that they have with them a common interest; and that whatever measures will affect the rights, liberties and happiness of their fellow citizens will also affect their own. They also expect in the course of events to resign the cares and honors of office, and again appear as private citizens. Now all these considerations combined, will have such an influence on their feelings, that they will labor to promote the best interests of the Commonwealth. Proceeding from the midst of us, notwithstanding the honorable station which they hold, and the respect that is justly shewn them, yet they cannot forget their accountability to the people who have chosen them. This supplies them with motives to diligence and fidelity, which owing to the imperfection of our nature the very best of men sometimes need.

And although last mentioned, yet perhaps, it is not the least advantage of a popular government, that it brings into operation a greater amount of talent than any other. It is acknowledged by everyone, that the occurrence of great events, awakens the dormant energies of the human mind, and calls forth the most splendid and powerful abilities. It was the momentous question whether your country should be free and independent, and the declaration that it was so, which gave to you, Orators, Statesmen and Generals, whose names all future ages will delight to honor. The characters of men are generally moulded by the circumstances in which they are placed.—They seldom put forth all their strength without some powerfully exciting motives. But what motives can those have to qualify themselves for stations from which they are forever excluded on account of Plebeian extraction? How can those be expected to prepare themselves for the service of their country when they know, that their services would be rejected, because unfortunately, they dissent from the established religion, and have honesty to avow it? But in a country like ours, where the most obscure individuals in society, may by their talents, virtues, and public services, rise to the most honorable distinctions, and attain to the highest offices which the people can give, the most effectual inducements are presented. It is indeed true, that only a few who run in the race for political honor can obtain the prize. But although many come short, yet the exertions and progress which they make are not lost either on themselves or society. The suitableness of their characters and talents for some other important station may have been perceived; at least the cultivation of their minds, and the effort to acquire an honorable reputation may render them active and useful members of the community. These are some of the benefits peculiar to a popular government. Benefits which we have long enjoyed. And if we form any just estimate of their value, from us will “proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry.”

His Excellency will permit us on this occasion to offer him our respectful salutations. During a long life spent in the public service of his Country, he must have witnessed her increasing prosperity at home, her fame abroad, and he permanency of her free institutions with inexpressible satisfaction. It must be gratifying to his Excellency, that he is not indebted for his present elevation to noble birth, but to the suffrages of a free and enlightened people.

Republics have been charged with ingratitude.—And if to erect magnificent palaces, and make large grants of money, be necessary expressions of national gratitude, then, we have been ungrateful. But such as the people have had, they have freely bestowed on the distinguished Patriots and Heroes of their country. All the Presidents, and nearly all the Vice Presidents of the United States, have been persons who either by their wisdom or valor, assisted in achieving our Independence. And who, possessing any greatness of soul would not prefer to be like Washington, “first in the hearts of his countrymen;” or like the venerable sage of Quincy, happy in the unfeigned respect and gratitude of nine millions of freemen, rather than receive a price for his services, which should release his country from more honorable obligations?

It is only necessary to look over the list of governors in our own State, to be convinced that gratitude for public services has not been an inactive principle here. Our last Chief Magistrate for whose private and public character men of all parties feel a sincere and profound respect, was a soldier of the revolution. Nor has it been forgotten by the people that his Excellency held an important station in the army during the whole of that eventful period. Besides other considerations which I need not name; gratitude has had its influence in assigning to his Excellency the distinguished office which he now occupies.

The resignation of his honor the Lieut. Governor, would have been a source of regret to his fellow citizens, had they not known, that his services for the State are not withdrawn. Having acceptably discharged Legislative and Executive duties, he is now clothed with Judiciary power. We doubt not that his Honor will fill the seat of justice, with high reputation to himself, and add another name to the eminent men in that department. Should he need any incitement in the performance of new and arduous duties, he will call to recollection his learned, able and upright predecessor.

The honourable Council, the Senate the House of Representatives, will please to receive our congratulations. Proceeding from the midst of the people, and appointed for the express purpose of superintending the public interests, the objects of your labors are clearly defined. But how to attain these objects in the most effectual and satisfactory manner will frequently be a subject of painful solicitude. In cases which are brought before you, where there are interfering claims, you will find it of great advantage to divest yourselves as much as possible of local and sectional prejudices, and to act under the impression, that you represent the whole, and not merely a part of the Commonwealth. There is one statute of our common Lawgiver, which if sacredly regarded, will often do more in giving a right direction to your measures than the most able and eloquent arguments. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

It has been a part of the system of despotic governments to keep the people in a state of gross ignorance. But a polity like ours can exist to no valuable purpose unless knowledge be generally diffused. Our Legislators have always perceived this; and to their honor it should be recorded, that they have made liberal provision for our Schools and Colleges. As our wealth and population have increased, Literary Institutions have arisen in different parts of the State; nor have they been left to wither and die from an apprehension, that they would impede the growth of those already planted.

Believing that knowledge and virtue, are the pillars which support our political Fabric, we indulge the hope that our Civil Rulers will continue to bestow, impartial, and liberal aid to Seminaries of learning. The multiplication of these, is an indication that the people are rising in the scale of intellectual improvement, and one of the best pledges that we shall remain virtuous and free. And it may be expected that each College in exciting an honorable rivalry, will be ambitious to enlarge its foundation, and provide more ample means for the instructions of its Students. But these considerations, have no doubt, already occurred to you and will have their due weight in your deliberations.

With the congratulations of this day, the Governor and Council, and the two branches of the Legislature will allow me to suggest that they need the blessing of God. Whatever experience and talents, you may bring to the Councils of State, your best efforts will be fruitless without the favor of the Almighty. “Except the Lord build he house: they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the City, the watchmen waketh but in vain.” It was a conviction of his entire dependence on God for prosperity, which caused a Chief Magistrate of Judah to pray; “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”

Influenced by the same views, are we not ready with one consent, to offer the supplication; “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”

Endnotes

1. Vide Hon. Daniel Webster’s discourse at Plymouth.

2. Hon. James Otis, Esq.

Sermon – Election – 1823, Massachusetts

Nathaniel Thayer (1769-1840) graduated from Harvard in 1789. He was a pastor in Wilkeshare, PA and in Lancaster, MA (1795-1840). The following election sermon was preached by Thayer in Massachusetts on May 28, 1823.

DISCOURSE,

PRONOUNCED BEFORE

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, ESQ.

GOVERNOR,

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL,

AND THE TWO HOUSES, COMPOSING THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

MAY 28, 1823.

By Nathaniel Thayer, D. D.
MINISTER OF LANCASTER.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.IN SENATE, MAY 29, 1823.

Ordered, That the Hon. Messrs. Adams, Gardner, and Tufts, be a Committee to wait upon the Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, D. D. and in the name of the Senate, to thank him for the Sermon, by him delivered before His Excellency the Governor, His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Council, and both branches of the Legislature; and to request a copy thereof for the press.

Attest,
PAUL WILLARD, Clerk.

DISCOURSE.DEUTERONOMY…CHAP. XXVI., VERSE XIX.
And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in the name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

It is appropriate duty of an assembly of Christian patriots, to meditate the condition and destiny of their country. They will anxiously inquire after the means, which will extend and perpetuate its honor, peace, prosperity, and happiness. From a variety of sources they may derive aid in this review. They will weigh the probable result of the form of civil government, which is adopted. They will consider the natural tendency of the degree of encouragement given to learning. Their hope will be measured by the evidence which exists of the faithful application of a correct system of morals and religion. They will be assisted in forming a judgment by the veneration which is paid to Christian ordinances. They will take into the account the character of the rulers, the course of their policy, the manners of the great, the general taste and habits of society. They will not overlook the estimate which is declared of the sacrifices and services of the founders, friends, and defenders of their nation. They will survey the history of other countries and kingdoms, and from the causes which led to their rise or decline, prosperity or adversity, will learn the reasonable grounds of expectation. They will especially consult the sacred records. From the principles there published, the conditions of national glory or debasement there revealed, they may come to a safe conclusion.

Every community may collect lessons of instruction, encouragement, and warning from the divine communications to ancient Israel. It will be found without variation, that when a purpose is affirmed, promise made, or threatening pronounced, the accomplishment is to depend on an important condition. This condition is at the direction and control of the individuals or people, who are addressed. The instance before us is an illustration. If the Israelites should “perform their solemn vows on the day, that they avouched the Lord to be their God, should walk in his ways, keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and should hearken unto his voice,” which would be in the most comprehensive sense to gain and support the character of a holy people, they might then rely on the promise, that they should be “high above all nations, in praise, and in the name, and in honor.”

Many causes combine to raise the hope, that America is destined by providence to distinction. One of the first efforts of patriotism will be, to ascertain and urge the adoption of a course, which will lead to the highest national honor and happiness.

The attention of this respected auditory is invited to a reference to facts in the situation and prospects of our country, which encourage the expectation, that it may hold a pre-eminent rank amongst civilized and Christian nations; and to a rehearsal of the means, which in the nature of things and by the appointment of heaven, are essential to the attainment of it.

In the history of communities is found a reason for the opinion, that the character and prospects of a people depend in a degree on climate and local situation. The salubrity [fitness] and uniformity of a temperate zone have proved favorable to physical strength and intellectual vigour. Inhabitants of countries, thus located, are happily formed to endure labor; engage in enterprise; secure a reputable subsistence; and perform the responsible duties of social and civil life. When surveying our scenery, our attention is arrested by a wonderful exhibition of river, lakes, and mountains. At these, the partiality of the native citizen leads him to gaze as designed by Him, “who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, meted out heaven with the span, comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” as indications of the uncommon grandeur of his country. He will also find much to raise his attachment to it in its remoteness from powerful nations, who, if they have the desire, can with difficulty exert the means for retarding its elevation. There is also some merciful provision, if it be duly regarded, against the rise of envying, jealousies, and evil surmisings in the inhabitants of this favored land. Each section of the territory has some distinguishing excellence. It has either an atmosphere, which is a pledge of general health; a soil, suited to the luxuriant growth of some valuable articles of subsistence, convenience, or comfort; special advantages for the amassing of wealth by agriculture, manufactures, or commerce; liberal provision for extending to the members of every class the benefits of knowledge; or circumstances, which have excited ardour in the investigation of Christian truth and support of religious institutions. We may without reservation and with patriotic pride, adopt the sentiment of a writer, who has with elegance recorded the scenes most interesting to this nation. It is a wonderful fact, that a people inhabiting such an extent of territory, of such a diversity of views and principles in politics and religion, combining so many separate and apparently discordant and jarring interests; and at the same time exhibiting “fewer diversities of character, language, habits, and interests than any empire of similar extent in the world; all this accumulation of happiness and strength would have seemed only a splendid vision, beyond the conception of prophecy.

The natural equality of this people is a source of their most sure and rapid advancement. It is not the design, nor would it be for the growth and prosperity of our republic, to present any insuperable obstacle to the existence of outward, intellectual, or moral distinctions. The great value of these is, that they are not hereditary; that they proceed from the assiduous application of talents, and that in their acquirement are developed all the energies of the human character. So long as the political principles, by which we are professedly guided, remain uncorrupt and in active force, merit and service will form the only title to exaltation and honor. We shall look upon the badge of office as a splendid phantom, if it be gained by hollow professions, a morbid state of the public feeling, and the abandonment of principles, which the experience of ages has proved the only adequate source of individual or general prosperity.

A vast variety of causes operates to the introduction of inequalities in condition and character. Natural talents, education, associations, examples, seasons for exertion, motives to excellence do each conspire to form the difference. Let it be the desire and aim of every lover of his country, to disseminate and preserve in entire activity and influence the principle, that civil distinction shall in no case be the purchase of caprice, honorable descent, party views, local considerations, sinister or ambitious designs. Let it be an avowed maxim, coextensive with our limits and existence as a people, and boldly propagated wherever a correct term of promotion or claim to public confidence may with propriety be urged, that “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, shall only be exalted to any office of emolument, honor, or trust.”

Territorial extent, and the opportunity it gives for all talents to be put in successful requisition, is another fact promising distinction to this nation. Enterprise is often checked, and talents are paralyzed by the intimation and belief, that the field for exertion is limited, that the professions and various employments are so crowded with labourers, that such as are now in preparation for service have little prospect of success. Centuries will probably elapse, before this may be urged to excuse the suspension of a spirit of adventure, or extinguish the hope of finding a field for honorable activity. Let it not be said, because that speck of the country with which we are conversant is occupied, that there is no remaining scene for diligence and usefulness. Shall the Divine cherish the narrow belief, that he cannot to spiritual advantage scatter the incorruptible seed; the Physician, that he will have no opportunity for skillfully arresting the progress of disease; the Lawyer, that he cannot aid in the distributions of law and justice; the Mechanic, that he is unable to subsist by his handiwork; the Citizen, that he can accomplish no object of personal or public utility, but in the centre of a thickly inhabited village, or amidst the refinements and luxuries of a populous city? May the patriotic sentiment find many advocates, that it is greater evidence of original and strong powers, to subdue the untrodden forest, than to till the cultivated field. May the Christian belief be diffused, that he is a fairer candidate for the honors of this world, and the glories of immortality, who shall be a humble instrument of causing the moral wilderness to blossom, than he, who shall contentedly remain an inefficient and dronish incumbent on cultivated society. May it in no instance operate as a hindrance to the growth of this nation, that parental weakness and partiality, or local attachments and prejudices have stifled in our young men a spirit of emigration. May they go, and evince the benefits of their early education, by establishing for the basis of domestic happiness and civil prosperity the principles and institutions, which have hitherto been the honor and security of this people.

All the remaining facts in the situation and prospects of this nation, which are necessary to confirm the hope of pre-eminence, may be comprised in some remarks on the peculiar character of our civil and religious institutions.

The former had their origin under more favorable auspices than those of any other country. There have been governments called free besides our own. Too often were they the fruits of usurpation and conquest, and in them liberty existed only in name. Of no other may it with equal justice be said, that the government is the result of the cool, deliberative wisdom of the native inhabitants, uncontrolled by foreign influence, and oppression at home. In men of superficial judgment, or constitutional despondency, the gloomy and extravagant predictions of the frailty of our political fabric, and the short life of our republic, may be reconciled with the purest patriotism. ON the page of history they have read an unbroken narrative of the premature birth, ephemeral and monstrous growth, convulsive throes, anticipated and awful dissolution of ancient republics. Hence they have hastily concluded, that in no state of things, or period of the world could a collection of moral beings be found, capable of a protracted enjoyment of liberty. They have slightly surveyed and misjudged the broad foundation on which our government rests. The thought has escaped them, that the two massive pillars, learning and religion, which are equal to the support of a civil structure of any dimensions, were raised and consecrated on the first possession of the soil. They have forgotten too, that the original architects were not under the control of inordinate ambition, selfish and mercenary views; not the builders of an edifice, which should simply provide a shelter for themselves and the men of their own generation, but which should be a safe and commodious habitation for their successors of the most distant times. Hurried in forming a judgment by ill-boding apprehensions, they have likewise overlooked, that these were men religiously educated, resolved to jeopardize everything else, that they might remain in quiet possession of liberty of conscience.

No period can be set to the durability of this confederated republic, if the design of the original projection be not perverted. In the establishment of schools and seminaries of learning, and in the erection of temples, the most effectual means were devised for attaching permanency to our civil privileges. While these fountains of knowledge are liberally supplied, these temples saved from destruction, and furnished with a learned and faithful ministry, we have little to fear from the encroachments of despotism. A well informed and religious people are in no danger of losing their liberties.

Still more may be said of our religious institutions, should they retain their primeval character. It is an unprecedented and singular fact in the history of nations, that the first settlers of this had for a paramount motive of their adventure, in search after a resting place, the enjoyment of religious liberty. When about to form a community, they justly believed that a nation without religion could have only a limited existence, and must be in degradation and disgrace. But little inferior to this degradation did they consider the state of the inhabitants of a country, who professed and supported religion, but had in operation means to keep the understanding and conscience in fetters. In accordance with the enthusiasm for religious freedom shown by our ancestors, their descendants, when framing constitutions of government, rested the responsibility of interpreting scripture, and of electing forms of worship, with the subjects.

No enlightened and upright statesman has dared to defend the licentious opinion, that the body politic would be in a healthful and vigorous state, if the right of choosing a mode of worship were treated with general indifference. We do not plead for anything resembling a national religious establishment. Forms of worship and systems of faith, supported and embraced by us, cannot be of a truly Christian character, or accord with the liberty of inquiry and choice, supposed and ensured by the Great Teacher from heaven, but when they are the result of a candid and independent investigation of revealed truth, and are adopted with the deliberate and settled conviction, that they correspond to the general spirit of his Gospel.

We can with difficulty make an exaggerated representation of the value of religious institutions, in their effect on the state and character of communities. Let it be tested by a small corporation. The habitual attendance on the duties of the Sabbath, has a benign influence on the domestic state, social intercourse, ordinary transactions, general manners. It tends to allay the turbulence of passion, liberalize the feelings and sentiments, restrain corrupt propensities, give a regular and moral direction to the whole conduct.

Imagine Christian ordinances to have universal patronage, and you will find a diminution of crimes, a gradual but incessant elevation of the moral taste, an industrious and upright use of all the means of outward prosperity. Should this nation be thus distinguished, you may expect that it will be high above all nations in praise, and in name, and in honor.

The things, to which we have referred, all tend to national dignity. From them has come the unexampled rise, the present standing, and whatever is admirable or exhilarating in the prospects of this community. Apart from the public opinion and course, they have not in themselves the power of preservation and progress. There are means, which are essential evidence of the nurturing care of the possessors of these advantages, and without a continual application of them we shall not advance, but be retrograde. In their moral state, neither individuals nor nations can remain stationary.

What are these means?

1. A correct and ardent love of country.

The sentiment is collected from reason, receives an affecting illustration in the example of the Redeemer, and is involved in the obligation to universal benevolence, which is an irreversible law of his religion, that this love of country is an essential principle of virtue, and is connected with all which is elevating and ennobling in the human character. It needs much to chasten, guide, and carry it to perfection. Patriotism, which is wild, boisterous, regardless of means to express itself, undirected by a knowledge of the tendency and history of nations and men, unsanctified by piety, is always suspicious, and frequently the source of mischievous operation. It subordinates concern for country to the accomplishment of purposes of ambition. It exhausts itself in high sounding protestations. It patronizes the pernicious theory, that a man may attain to eminence as a patriot, who has no liberality of feeling, no disposition to sacrifice personal convenience, interest, or happiness for the common good, and no veneration for religion, which shall prompt to vigorous and unwearied exertions for its support. This can with no shadow of reason be called Christian patriotism.

Is it to propose a visionary project, and which is unworthy the attention of a free people, that there be added to our means of education more systematic and pointed instructions relating to this virtue? Could ordinary teachers, or instructors of any class, be more usefully employed, than by exciting in the young a fervid attachment to the land of their fathers’ sepulchers; instilling as some of the first and best lessons, that the origin, growth, institutions, interests, character, and prospects of their country should often be contemplated, and never but with profound veneration? Might we not without giving rise to a dangerous pride, and without encouraging a supercilious contempt of the people of any nation, or age, frequently refer to the facilities at our command for obtaining a livelihood; attaining to distinction; accumulating wealth; acquiring knowledge; and laying up in store a good foundation for the generations, who shall live when we are sleeping in the dust? Might we not in special give birth to a glowing, inextinguishable, operative attachment to their country, should we dilate upon the Christian opportunities here enjoyed; the love of truth which is promoted; the spirit of free inquiry which has gone forth; the universal toleration of opinions and worship, which form a precious part of our liberties? If some of the first lessons which are given be of this character, it cannot be delusive expectation that a spark of patriotism will be enkindled in the youthful breast, which “no waters can quench, or floods drown.” It must then be, that the children, who are yet to be born, will have for their guides and protectors a race of men, who have the enlarged and philanthropic views, which give the surest promise of a steady advancement of their country toward perfection.

2. Liberal care and solicitude for the education and employment of the rising generation.

The opinion is not novel, but as ancient as the existence of civil government, and of republicanism in particular, that families are nurseries of the Commonwealth; children and youths the future pillars and guardians; that the dispositions, views, and habits which are cherished in the domestic circle from the husband and parent; mark the magistrate; characterize the civil ruler; shape the citizen. Nor has any sure expedient been yet devised, as a substitute for the first rudiments of learning, or the more advanced lessons. The most romantic and licentious have not found any plausible qualification for an actor on the public stage; nothing which could make him a safe depository of the great interests of society; nothing which could render him a faithful protector of its liberties, or an impartial and wise dispenser of justice, short of early, scientific, and moral instruction. Take knowledge from a republic, and you remove the corner stone. Cease to dispense and instill moral and Christian maxims into the youthful mind, and you leave the state without the prospect of trusty guides, and the certain and easy prey of every wanton assailant. It would be no miracle, but according to the course of things, and it would be a natural addition to the swoln catalogue of fallen states, if America, stripped of the means of learning and moral improvement, should furnish a triumph to some daring usurper, or a throne to some relentless despot. Keep alive the spirit of literary emulation, which pervades our land, and place your children in the way of knowing their relation to a moral Governor and Judge, and we may in vain attempt to set bounds to the rising glory and happiness of our country.

Every parent or guardian of a liberal mind will be as solicitous to form in his children a habit of industry, and to train them to some reputable employment, as that they should be scholars. Would it not establish free states upon a more firm and immovable basis, if the Athenian regulation should be rigidly enforced? It was there a standing law, that the son was exonerated from the support of his father, if he had neglected to initiate him into some regular and lucrative trade. Look upon him as a dangerous member of society, who shall advance the sentiment, that virtuous industry is at any time degrading. Let the youths who are coming upon the stage, and have not in view a learned profession, aim to be well skilled in some mechanic art, or devoted to a gainful and laborious enterprise. If by personal diligence or a prosperous event, they are raised above the necessity of manual labor, they need not fear, that their capacity for usefulness in any condition, will be reviewed by them with regret or mortification. No. They have the most solid cause of self respect, because they have done something to make industry reputable, and to gain for this people, on account of their skill and diligence, a name and a praise amongst all nations.

3. A vigilant and faithful regard to civil rights.

It is not difficult to know what these rights are, the value to be set on them, and the extent to which they are to be defended, if we form correct ideas of republican liberty. It is a liberty to pursue any course of thought, judgment, action, whether relating to our persons, property, performance of relative or civil duties, which is approved by nature and reason, and can be reconciled with the regulations and laws, which as a people we have voluntarily adopted for our guidance and restraint. We cannot but notice and admire the correspondence of a liberty of this character to that by which Christ hath made us free. He has guaranteed to all moral beings the liberty to think, judge, and act in the view of motives, within the limits prescribed by the law of nature and reason, and which by his gospel, containing a perfect republication of that law, is sanctioned.

There are civil rights, which are by all admitted. Such are the right of coming to a decision in our mind, and decorously expressing this, on the reasonableness and constitutionality of laws, the character and measures of rulers. We have also a right lawfully to resist assaults of our person, encroachments upon our property, an unauthorized invasion of any of our liberties, whether this come from persons in elevated stations, or in retirement. We have moreover the right of electing rulers. An awful responsibility rests upon subjects duly to exercise and guard these civil rights. IN the former cases they are at all hazards to maintain their liberty within the bounds of righteousness and law. In the choice of rulers they are to exercise judgment, unbiased by sinister, party, or local considerations, with a sacred regard to the qualifications and claims of the candidates for promotion, to the general good, and in strict submission to the scriptural character given of those, who are worthy of being clothed with authority. Neglect these things, undervalue these civil rights, and you may consider this state of torpor, this predisposition to moral blindness, as the sure precursor of your own disgrace, and the downfall of your country. Respect those rights. Use with caution but intrepidity this liberty. Guard against licentiousness. After a full investigation of the talents, the moral qualities, the political knowledge, the evidences of public spirit, and religion, in such as are offered for your suffrages, aid only in the appointment of the faithful of the land. Do thus, and you will be the nursing fathers of this nation. You may consider as certain its continued progress toward the perfection of civil glory.

4. Acting from concern for posterity.

Each age has an influence upon the external state, literary improvements, moral and religious character of such as shall succeed. A habit of imitation, a reverence for what is customary and ancient, and the idea that a principle, a mode of life, a regulation, an institution are transmitted under sanction of the attachment and value of a venerated progenitor will make them precious in the eyes of the descendant. He will cling to each and all of them as to the image of a much loved, respected, and departed friend.

In a qualified sense both virtue and vice continue in the world by descent. “The iniquities of the fathers will be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;” will from one of the causes above recited or their joint operation have a control over their state and moral standing. Without any limitations of the number of generations, or the period of their existence, will the descendants of those, who have been and done good, derive essential benefits from the liberality and intrinsic excellence of a worthy ancestry.

The present age may not, with the profusion of means, have done all, which was practicable for their own good, and for the improvement and well being of after generations. To their honor be it publicly proclaimed, they have done much. Charities have been wisely applied to relieve the sufferer, reanimate the apparently dead, restore the insane, ameliorate the state of the indigent, and extend the advantages of science. These will be perpetual monuments of the liberality and Christian proficiency of our times. Nor will it cease to be remembered in commendation of this generation, that it has given birth to the mighty enterprise of terminating wars, spreading far and wide the blessings of the gospel, and sending “the word of life” without mutilation, or “words which man’s wisdom teacheth,” to those, who are perishing for lack of knowledge. Show yourselves worthy of being the children or cotemporaries of such men, by a solicitude to cherish and disseminate this heaven-born spirit, to patronize and recommend these measures. You are scattering seed, which will yield a rich harvest in distant ages. You are at work for the reputation and happiness of those, who shall then live. Your magnanimity and disinterestedness will inspirit the generations, which are yet to be born, to go, think, and do likewise. You may indulge a prophetic spirit, and announce to a listening world, that yours will be the land, which God hath chosen, and in which he will condescend to dwell.

Finally. A practical dependence on moral and religious principles, as they are enforced y Christianity.

We cannot but indulge the hope, that the idea, that nations can exist without the active prevalence of correct views of morality and religion, is exploded. We do hope for the honor of the present and of coming periods, that the individuals or people will not again be known, so bereft of reason and judgment, devoid of decency, regardless of character, blunted in moral sense, unworthy of life or its blessings, as to defend the preposterous idea, that any community can exist in dignity, prosperity, or safety without a sense of God, his government, and providence.

Is it to be licentious in charity to believe, that this address is made to an assembly, who, without exception, are ready to admit, that in the Gospel of Jesus alone is embodied such a system of morals and religion, as accords with the best wishes of man, approves itself to the enlightened understanding and judgment, is suited to exalt and make happy individuals and nations? If any have the boldness to deny this, let them be told, that they are indulging an opinion, and uttering language, which are rejected by common sense, are in open resistance to nature and reason, contradicted by the experience of the vile and unbelieving, subversive of all which is great and good in the world, and full of danger to themselves in every stage of their existence. Go then to the work, to which Christianity calls you. Abandon every corrupt propensity and sin. Independently oppose all excess and luxury. Be the friends of charity, truth, and rectitude. Exemplify “whatsoever things are true, honest, pure, lovely, praiseworthy, and of good report.” Have the faith in the Son of God, which is the surest principle of purity, and which shall incite you to the observance of all his ordinances and laws. Be examples of habitual piety. You may then believe, that whatever you have imagined or been taught of the future greatness, glory, prosperity, or blessedness of your country, will be accomplished. You or your children will be the witnesses of a fulfillment of the purposes and promise of God, in that he hath made you high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and this because you are a holy people unto the Lord your God, as he hath spoken.

Americans! This is the renown, to which your country by natural and adventitious advantages seems to be destined, and these are the means of attainment and security. A deliberate observer cannot reflect upon the course of his nation from comparative insignificance to distinction; from poverty to wealth; from weakness to power; from oppression to liberty; without holding in high veneration the honored instruments of these changes. Men of every succeeding age will celebrate the adventurous spirit, fortitude, wisdom, disinterestedness, and piety of our ancestors. None will have the hardihood to deny, that the latest generations will reap the benefit of their patriotic feelings, liberal provisions, and prospective aims.

We review the revolutionary struggle as an eventful epoch in our national history. The actors in that scene and their achievements cannot fail to be prominent articles in the annals of America. We should commit an act of the grossest injustice, and be unworthy of our blessings, did we not identify with the history of Washington, and his military and civil associates, much which is excellent and stable in our government; useful and permanent in our institutions; animating and estimable in our prospects.

The associations of the present hour awaken in our mind the days and scenes, with which our destinies as a people are intimately united. Called to take a respectful leave of our Chief Magistrate, he will permit us to remind him of the privilege of having lived in the most perilous times, shared the affection and confidence of the political deliverer of this nation, and aided him and other worthies, in founding, rearing in full proportions, and embellishing the Temple of Liberty. We ascribe praise to the giver of all good dispositions, that His Excellency, on retiring from public life, can bear testimony in honor of his countrymen, that ingratitude, which is the common legacy of Republics, forms no part of his reward. He may feel assured, that “our tongue will cleave to the roof of our mouth,” before we shall cease to recount his sacrifices and efforts for the common good, and the solicitude he has evinced for the ark of God. It is with joy and gratitude that we express our belief, that this administration will have a conspicuous place on the page of history. It will be held up as a model for the rulers of all free people, for success in allaying the rancor of party; for the principle which has been in exercise, to reward merit without regard to political distinctions, and for the lustre it has shed upon our Commonwealth. We offer a devout prayer, that His Excellency may live, to witness the continued purity and prosperity of our institutions, and to support them by his example. On the day, which God hath appointed, may the Lord, the righteous Judge, bestow upon him a crown of righteousness.

It will be gratefully remembered, that His Honor the Lieutenant Governor cheerfully obeyed the call of patriotism, and devoted the most valuable years of his life to the public interest. It is to us a cause of consolation, that in retiring from political life he has not separated himself from duties and objects, essentially important to the welfare and happiness of the world. Now that the repose of nations is again disturbed, and the people, who delight in war, ostentatiously boast of their preparations for the work of human destruction, we felicitate ourselves, and the cause of peace, and Christianity, on finding him at the head of a band of Peacemakers. We congratulate them on the unexampled diffusion of their principles. It is a favorable symptom of the moral state of the world, that nations signalized by ambition and martial prowess, esteem it honorable to learn of them the art of causing wars to cease from the ends of the earth. May they have good success in the prosecution of their work. We supplicate for their President, and all who co-operate with him, the highest of blessings and titles, even that they may be called “the Children of God.”

The Honorable Council, the Senate, and the House of Representatives will accept our congratulations on the tranquil and prosperous state of our country. They will appreciate the privilege and honor of being raised to office at a period, in which our humane, scientific, and civil establishments are in the height of their growth and vigour. Their duty chiefly consists in protecting, and carrying to perfection schemes of elevation and affluence, projected by their distinguished predecessors. The rulers of a free government cannot be unapprised of their moral and religious obligations. The state of order, and the general virtue, which it is expected will be produced under the reign of despotism, by compulsion and force, they may hope will be effected in a greater degree by instruction and their own example.

As many of the enterprising in this community are investing their property in manufacturing interests, as the most probable means of accumulation, and they are receiving the highest patronage, one request may be preferred to our Civil Fathers. If it be possible by early legislative provision, or by other means, which your wisdom shall suggest, we offer an earnest petition, that the class of labourers may be saved from the degradation of mind and character, which we deplore in those who are thus occupied in the elder world.

Imperishable fame redounds to the memory of preceding Legislators for their assiduity and vigilance in the promotion of useful knowledge. We commit to the keeping of their successors our Schools and Seminaries of learning, in the hope that they have an unshaken faith in the doctrine, that knowledge and virtue are the only safeguards of republicanism. We have a full persuasion, that while the seats in our halls of legislation are retained by the lovers of learning, and religious liberty, and by those, who venerate an Institution, which under God is a great source of our respectability and happiness, the University in this vicinity will be the object of their watchful and paternal care.

May we also from political as well as Christian motives bespeak your sympathy as citizens, and disciples of Jesus, in behalf of our Corporations, which by reason of indigence or divisions are without stated religious instruction and the ordinances. This appeal is made with the greater assurance, as the station you occupy is proof of the general confidence in your rectitude and public spirit. It is likewise believed, that much good might be produced by your example. Use your influence then in securing for your destitute brethren the means of religious knowledge. Keep them from being witnesses of a spirit of proselytism in any of its excesses. Provide for them such plain, reasonable, practical instructions as were dispensed by the Saviour, and his immediate disciples. Seed, which is thus sown, with the blessing of heaven, will spring up and bear fruit, “some thirty fold, some sixty fold, some an hundred fold.” You may hope to convert what are known to be abodes of anarchy, vice, and impiety, into scenes of Christian purity and order. You may hope in the best possible way to add strength and stability to our Republic; to convert those, who are now the servants of corruption, to the regularity and usefulness of good citizens; to “the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus, and to the liberty of the Sons of God.”

With a reference to the retributions of eternity may you execute your labours for the suppression of vice, encouragement of virtue, preservation of order, and security of the common welfare. May you attain to the dignity and reward of good and faithful servants.

Christian Ministers! The enlightened and patriotic have been ready to acknowledge your agency in advancing the civil interests, independence, and moral distinction of this community. They rely on the religion you preach, with its momentous sanctions, and the ordinances you administer, to multiply the refinements of domestic and social life; impose restraints on the inclination to libertinism and excess; strengthen the arm of the magistrate; establish in the ordinary intercourse of men a love of charity, truth, justice, and right; eradicate all in their speculations or practice, which savours of superstition; give fervency and elevation to piety; minister consolation in affliction, sickness, and death; and to keep alive a sense of accountability at the tribunal of heaven.

An order of men, whose personal influence is owned, whose office is respected, whose work is admitted to involve the best interests of time and immortality, will suffer the word of exhortation, that they in nothing fail to sustain their appropriate character. Brethren! Ye are called unto liberty. It is your privilege to live where there are no hierarchal establishments. It is your happiness to have fallen upon times, too enlightened, to tolerate or fear the general triumph of a lust of spiritual domination. Let it be your great solicitude to give no just occasion for a prejudice against your profession. How can we better fulfill our commission, than by repressing in ourselves, and aiming to overcome in others, everything which is allied to religious indifference, illiberality, or censoriousness, and by showing that we have “put on the meekness and gentleness of Christ?” How can we reflect higher honor on our office and religion, than by bending all our energies to the discovery of truth; and by uniting in an earnest and well directed effort to advance the kingdom, which consisteth in righteousness, peace, and joy? How can we do more to make our nation high above all nations in praise, and in name, and in honor, than by dispensing such lessons, as shall persuade our fellow Christians to “deny all ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world?” How may we give more full effect to the Gospel, than by displaying the evidence of integrity and charity in our temper, preaching, and life, which must and will result from a cordial belief, that “one is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren?”

Each inhabitant of this land has a reputation and interest, which must rise or sink with the character, condition, and prospects of his country. To none but the stranger to genuine patriotism will it be a matter of indifference, whether the scene of his nativity shall be in honor or disgrace. Let it therefore be admitted by every citizen as an obligation, which he cannot alienate, to stand as a sentinel to guard the public welfare. Whatever may be his rank or station, he may by his principles and habits contribute to establish, or sully his country’s fame. Who does not admire to gaze in imagination on the glory and grandeur to which his nation may attain! Who is not prepared to give wings to his fancy, that he may survey the millions of people in distant times, who shall ascribe the existence of their privileges, and the sum of their safety and joy, to the liberality and foresight of the present and preceding ages!

Be as virtuous and pious as the land you inhabit is excellent, and you may hope to transmit this inestimable inheritance for the possession and enjoyment of future generations. They will rise up and call you blessed, who aided in forming and giving permanency to their institutions, and in devising so many of the means of their improvement and happiness.

Endnotes

1. Tudor’s Life of J. Otis.

2. Priestly’s Lectures on History.

Sermon – Election – 1823, Connecticut

Nathaniel Taylor (1786-1858) graduated from Yale in 1807. He was pastor of the First Congregational church of New Haven from 1812 until 1822, when he was appointed Professor of Didactic Theology at Yale. This election sermon was preached by Rev. Taylor in Hartford, CT on May 7, 1823.

SERMON,

ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURE

OF THE STATE OF

CONNECTICUT,

AT THE

ANNUAL ELECTION

HARTFORD,

MAY 7, 1823.

BY NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR,
PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
ATTACHED TO YALE COLLEGE.

HARTFORD:
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE.
Charles Babcock, Printer.

1823.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, in said State, on the first Wednesday of May, A. D. 1823.

RESOLVED BY THIS ASSEMBLY, That the Hon. William Moseley and Cornelius Tuthill, Esq. be a Committee to present the thanks of this Assembly to the Rev. NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR, for the Sermon delivered by him before the Assembly, at the opening of the Session, and to request a copy thereof, that it may be printed.

A true Copy of Record,
Examined by
THOMAS DAY, Secretary.

SERMON.ISAIAH LIX. 14.

“And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for
Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”

WITH the exception of a few political visionaries, the world has concurred in the opinion, that mankind must be governed. Man finds so many opportunities and inducements to injure others for his own benefit, he is so destitute of any principle within him to rise up for their defence, that if there were no influence from without, to overawe him into a respect for their rights, like a beast of prey, he would be ever ready to destroy.

Conspicuous as are the wisdom and goodness of God in upholding human society, without the prevalence of the benevolent affections, even his mercy has provided no relief from the ravages of overt injustice. The moment that mutual injury begins, the moment that mutual animosity controls the social intercourse of a community, all its bands are broken. Even a company of highwaymen must abstain from robbing and murdering one another, or abandon their association. Justice then, as opposed to overt acts of injustice, is the main pillar of human society. Take this away and the whole edifice crumbles into ruins.

Hence the grand object for which civil government is required, and at which it aims, is to enforce the observance of justice.

The text refers us to a period in the history of Israel, when this great design of civil government was wholly defeated. A total disregard of the rights of men, distrust and violence prevailed in their most appalling forms, and were felt in their most dreadful results. Of these calamities the text also assigns the cause: “For truth is fallen in the street—and equity cannot enter.” Truth, as it unfolds the rules and motives of moral action, was contemned and disregarded throughout the community. The sense of an ever-present Ruler and Judge, the restraints of laws enforced by sanctions drawn from eternity, had lost their power on the consciences and conduct of men. Of such a prostration of the standard of public morals, the consequence was natural. There was a disruption of social ties, and a lawless spirit, that let loose human selfishness to invade human peace and happiness, without check and without relief.

The text then will lead me to shew, that a corrupt public opinion, on the subject of morals, destroys the efficacy of civil government.

This will appear, if we consider

1. The inherent weakness of civil government—The efficacy of civil government, to secure the observance of its laws, must consist wholly in its rightful authority, and in its penal sanctions.

All authority in civil government must be founded in the right of the Ruler to claim the obedience of subjects; and all the influence of such authority must result from an acknowledged obligation on the part of the subject to submit to its demands. But a corrupt public opinion disclaims such obligation; and of course the validity of every claim for obedience on the ground of rightful authority. Shall the subject be told that protection and obedience are reciprocal duties? Shall he be told that he has entered into the social compact, and by virtual stipulation relinquished his natural right into the hands of the ruling power? Shall he be told of the public good and of the anarchy and the woes which result from trampling on the laws of the land? But what are duties, compacts, the public good, or the public ruin, to the man who disclaims all moral obligation? Civil laws, in such a case, are mere appeals to human selfishness in one form, to repress human selfishness in another, leaving man accountable simply to himself. The rightful authority of the Ruler, as “a minister of God for good,” being disclaimed, every man’s inclination is his law, his tribunal, and his judge.

Nor is the fact changed by the influence of penal sanctions. To man, viewed simply in relation to laws enforced by civil penalties, this world is the only place of retribution; and every question of obedience or disobedience is with him merely an arithmetical problem respecting the amount of his present personal advantage. Aside then from the success which attends the active invention and unwearied artifices of those who devise and pursue their own interest in defiance of human laws; aside from the confidence with which crime relies on concealment or escape; there is often an energy in human passion, which penalties, threatened by human power, cannot restrain. Bodily suffering is of light estimation, compared with the restlessness or anguish of ungratified desire. The death-song of the savage, which he sings when expiring under the hands of his tormentors, shows how the spirit within can sustain the pressure from without. But the spirit, tortured by its own fires, awakes to desperation. Obstruct the path of excited avarice or excited ambition, by toil, by suffering or even by torment, and the influence to check its career is as stubble before the spreading flame. Let then a corrupt public opinion detach from civil government its moral obligation, and leave it only the influence of penal sanctions, and let the prospect of wealth or fame open bright to their appropriate passions, and the deeds of the pirate and the hero tell us what men would do. How would terror and consternation seize every heart in a moment, did we know that there was nothing but the feeble arm of magistracy to protect us from the daggers of assassins.

2. The truth of our position is apparent from the direct influence of public opinion on civil government. Public opinion, in fact, governs the world. Its influence in elective governments, where all authority returns back into the hands of the people at frequent intervals, is absolutely paramount to every other.—That which forms the laws, is the opinion of the people, expressed by the voice of the people. It is through this influence that governments, and their specific regulations, are modified or wholly abandoned by revolution and change. That, on which the administration of a government depends, is the opinion of the people, expressed by the voice of the people. So much so, that any exceptions, to the decisive control of this authority, is a sure preliminary to changes that shall restore its supremacy. That, which determines the execution of the laws, is the opinion of the people expressed by the voice of the people; so much so, that a law which carries not with it the sanction of its own popularity, becomes extinct by repeal, or obsolete by desuetude. What then is civil government, with its laws and their sanctions, before the controlling power of public opinion? What are legislators, what are judges, what are executive officers? The mere vehicles of expressing public opinion; the instruments of the will of the people; the v0x populi forming its edicts and its laws, and carrying them into execution. Nor is this any perversion of republican institutions. It shows, however, the controlling principle of the whole machinery, the presiding genius of our whole political system. This, I say, is public opinion, and it should be so; it is essential to the very existence of that form of government which, under God, has so long blessed us. Still it is a fact, and a fact which may serve to show us where our strength lies, and whence, if at all, weakness and ruin will overtake us. Let public opinion, with all this omnipotence of control, become deeply corrupt, and still government, its laws, their framers, their executors, are all subservient to its dictates. What do laws against murder avail, under the frown of public opinion? Let the laws against dueling, in many parts of our own country, answer. What are laws against bodily torture, when the practice of it is countenanced by public opinion? Barbarities, which are enough to make our blood curdle, inflicted on many unhappy victims of slavery, furnish the answer. What are laws against drunkenness, when the popular voice forbids their execution? The woes and the groans of the land bring the reply to every ear. Now let public opinion advance in degeneracy, till it shall decree into its public enactments, the maxims of infidelity and atheism; let the living God be voted out of existence, and death, the door of eternal retribution, be transformed into the unbroken sleep of the grave; let evil be called good and good evil, darkness be put for light and light for darkness; and what would be your legislators, your judges, your witnesses, your executive officers? The mere panders and patrons of crime. What would be your subjects?—The mere perpetrators of crime. And how long before a tide of woes would overwhelm all that is fair and happy in the land? How long before an impatience under miseries, which humanity could not endure, would madden and convulse the nation, till every foundation of order, peace and happiness, would be subverted as by the shock of an earthquake.

3. A corrupt public opinion destroys all that subsidiary influence, on which the efficacy of civil laws chiefly depends. It is a fact, which admits of no denial, that not the love of God, not the disinterested love of our species, but selfishness, is the governing principle of the great bulk of mankind.

When we reflect on this fact, on the countless temptations to selfish gratification, and the facilities of attaining it by deceit and violence, and when at the same time, we look over the face of society, and witness the security with which man counts on his enjoyments, it is truly a cause of astonishment to see on what all this security depends. Human laws do indeed put their restraints on many crimes; they do promote many of the practical moralities of life; and thus exert an influence, without which, every vestige of social good would be swept away. But then how entirely dependent are these laws for their results on an influence not their own? How innumerable are the actions of men, over which they can exert no more influence, than we can extend to the elements of future storms when preparing for their desolations?

It is precisely in these circumstances that a sound public opinion holds a check on human selfishness, for which we might look in vain to the combined strength of nations. This it does, through the medium of custom and fashion, of a regard to moral character, and of conscience and the fear of God.

There is perhaps no kind of moral action to which custom and fashion cannot reconcile man, or which they cannot render even agreeable. Their power to divest bestiality itself of its offensiveness, and crime of its enormity, may be learned in the politest city of Europe. It is this influence which, even in this country, tolerates slavery with its tortures and its murders, among those who in other respects are humane and liberal. It is this which sustains in vogue, the honorable way of killing by single combat, and which often gives sanction and currency to practices in one age, which it interdicts with the deepest frown of abhorrence in another. In short, what custom and fashion require or justify is the way of the world; and they will retain the great mass of a community in the path which they prescribe, though it be the path of death.—In vain then is the voice of legislation lifted against the voice of fashion. What the latter demands or patronizes will infallibly compel legislative submission or legislative connivance.

Now it is public opinion which imparts this high and commanding supremacy to custom and fashion, and thus creates and sustains a standard of moral action which sets legislative power at defiance. Let then public opinion, through this medium, I do not say sanction the violation of civil statutes, but give currency merely to those vices, and proscribe merely those moralities which no human laws can reach; let all that strictness of morals, that regularity of conduct, and those proprieties and decencies of deportment, which prevail in a well ordered family, neighborhood, or larger community, become repulsively unfashionable; and how soon would distrust and suspicion sunder every tie of social life, and human selfishness awake in the forms of malice, revenge and cruelty, and be witnessed in all the horrors of its fierce and relentless struggles!

Another influence of public opinion, indispensable to the efficacy of civil laws, is a regard to moral character. Pride of character is the master passion of an unsanctified world. No man can endure the misery of being despised by all around him, with the consciousness that he deserves it. When he can no longer look society in the face, and when he feels himself to be case out of affection and fellowship with all, he retires to a solitude of still deeper wretchedness. There he feels those inward pangs from which no secrecy can protect, under which no hardihood of soul can sustain him; and which, like avenging furies, haunt his guilty spirit and drive him to desperation or distraction.

Here then is a mighty influence of counteraction on human selfishness; an influence to which, in this world, society owes most of its tranquility and enjoyment; an influence so powerful on the one hand, that were the standard of moral character to be raised so high, and to become so imperious in a community, s to banish every enemy of its peace into an exile of self-contempt, a solitude where he should be greeted neither by human sympathy, nor human affection, civil laws would be superseded, or required only as rules of counsel and direction; an influence so powerful on the other hand, that obedience to civil statutes which should involve in disgrace and infamy, no weight of penalty could enforce, for torment and death would be more welcome than the retribution of such obedience.

Now this regard to reputation, with all its power of control, is not so much the desire of meriting, as of actually obtaining public approbation. It makes all wish to be accounted fit for society; in none does it awaken the purpose of being really fit. It therefore secures simply that degree of moral virtue, and of exemption from crime, which constitute such fitness in the judgment of those who arbitrate the question. Of course in man, as a member of civil society, it is a desire and an aim exactly graduated by the standard of moral character which public opinion erects. Beyond the limit which public opinion prescribes as honorable, human selfishness will not go, in obedience to legislative requirement; within this limit it will advance to its object, regardless of legislative prohibition though its way be tracked with blood.

In vain then do we look to human laws, deriving no support from public opinion, to curb the fury of human passions. Let this single influence be unfelt, let public opinion cease to attach infamy to crime, and award only shame and contempt to the sanctity of virtue, let there be none anxious to maintain nor willing to make a single sacrifice to maintain an average moral character, and how common would licentious and barbarous deeds become? How would the quiet of mutual confidence be displaced by the excesses and alarms of unbridled ferocity? Human selfishness would become its own lawless avenger in the retaliation of wrongs, in violence and in massacre; and we should go into an assemblage of men as we should enter a den of lions.

Public opinion acts no less powerfully in securing to human laws their efficacy, through the medium of conscience and the fear of God. He who formed and protects us has provided, within our own bosoms, a check for that injustice which is beyond the restraining power of man. There is a voice within which gives to moral sanctions an efficacy more powerful than that of a thousand gibbets. In the presence of conscience, man is in the presence of God; and the same voice speaks to him, which speaks to angels and to arch-angels from the throne of the eternal. Through the same medium, rewards and punishments adjudged by omnipotence and operating at tall times and in all circumstances, bring their palpable and pressing power to bear on moral action. I need not say how entirely all this influence on the great mass of the community depends on the soundness of public opinion. It is public opinion, as it upholds the standard of duty and obligation, which gives to conscience all its power. Thus it exhibits the moral turpitude of crime to steady inspection, and by anticipation constrains the criminal to read in every eye that meets him, the reproach that echoes in his own heart. Were the light of moral truth, then, to be extinguished from the public mind; were a corrupt public opinion to dispense with the moral and religious instruction of children, with the institution of the Sabbath, with the revelation which God has made of himself, of his law, and of human destiny, with all the appointed vehicles of conveying moral truth to the mind; conscience would become extinct in the soul of man. And what, then, would be the power of human edicts? Let there be none sensible to the high and commanding authority of moral excellence; none who revolt at the turpitude of crime; let conscience, at no point on the descending scale of profligacy, utter an admonition or forebode approaching wrath; let the being of a God be excluded from human belief, and the mind robbed of all idea of his perfections and majesty; let every element of that character which exalts him on the riches of the universe, as its beneficent Parent, and gives him the throne as its Almighty Sovereign and Judge, be done away from human thought, and then measure the efficacy of civil statutes on the conduct of men. Follow that child, who grows up without these restraints, through his profanity and strifes, and pilfering and thefts; his forgeries, robberies and murders, till he terminates his career on the gallows, despising alike the hand of his executioner and the wrath of his God; and you have no overdrawn picture of what every member of the community would be, under a similar exemption. What, then, would be the fact, were these restraints not merely removed, but every child, from early infancy, initiated into all the arts and excesses of vice, and every step of his progress animated by the counsel and the example of ruffians, old in crime, till he should become as much a child of hell as themselves! Oh, what scenes of wretchedness and horror would spread every field of observation! How should we see human selfishness in all that malignity and death which give to hell itself its moral aspect and its eternal woes!

4. We appeal to facts. Did time permit, we might trace the truth before us in a comparison of one Christian country with another; we might refer to different parts of our own country; and to that period of its history when infidelity and its practical licentiousness threatened “to subvert foundations.” We might recur to the history of England in the different eras of its moral light and moral influence. We might recur to the state of the pagan nations of antiquity, and show that, false and corrupt as their moral systems were they inspired an elevation of feeling and character which gave to society all its value. Though such appeals might furnish a convicting, they would not furnish the fullest illustration of the point we aim to establish. If we would justly estimate the evil of a corrupt public opinion, we must recur, not to examples of its partial corruption; not to examples where the subversion of Christianity has been followed by the morals of enlightened heathenism, but by the desecration of all that is pure, and exalted, and holy in Christianity itself, without any substitute; where it leaves too much light for the superstitions of heathenism to restrain man, and where by way of reprisal for its past odious authority, it is put down under all the ignominy and hatred of detected imposture. Passing by, then, the sufferings which so long distressed the nations, when popery took away from men the word of life, and substituted the commandments of men for the commandments of God; and the scenes of horror and of woe that desolated the nations under the reign of Mahomedanism, we have a memorable example, never to be forgotten, witnessed in our own age. In one country, and that the seat of arts, of science and of refinement, the revelation of God underwent a total eclipse. On that theatre of darkness, infidelity and atheism performed their horrid tragedy. Convulsion succeeded convulsion; every mound of authority was thrown down, and the voice of law, and the pleas of anguish, were alike drowned in the fury of the tempest. It was not a war of common atrocity; not a war for liberty or conquest; but a war of extermination of all that blesses man in time, and brightens his prospects for eternity. Men stuck the dagger of their enmity not only into the bosoms, but into the souls of men, nor did they deem their triumph complete till they had demolished every altar where human guilt had wept, and human misery been comforted; yea, till God and his Son were exiled from human thought. Law, order, civilization, were overwhelmed, as by the sweep of a tornado. The fires of hell kindled on the devoted land; and while the smoke of its torment ascended up to Heaven, Europe with its thrones trembled to its centre. And when we remember how the dark cloud rose over us, and how it looked like the preparation for the final storm, it becomes us to be instructed.

The subject leads us to the following remarks:

1. There is no form of government better than our own for a virtuous community; and none worse for a vicious community. In a monarchy and an aristocracy, where subjects are held in awe by the terror of military establishments, there is an independent sovereignty, which can augment its power, and enforce submission. But in a republic, rulers are governed while they govern; and in a virtuous republic, the people govern themselves by the ennobling influence of moral principle. Does liberty then consist in exemption from the grasp of despotism, and in doing our own will in accordance with enlightened duty and moral obligation? If this be liberty, where can it be found in perfection, except in a virtuous republic? And what is social happiness? What but the operation and effects of moral principle, of the fear and the love of God, and of the love of man, producing the whole train of social virtues, with their benign results? A moral influence, as it operates only on the reason and the conscience, is of mighty efficacy; operating on the heart, it gives perfection to human character and human happiness. This is not a dream. There is a world where this influence pervades every heart, animates every action, and reigns in the diffusion of universal blessedness. The same influence would bless earth, as well as heaven. And so long as sense and reason are left us, we shall look to this influence to bless this state; and so long as it shall here be felt, earth shall furnish no spot to rival this goodly land in the moral character and social happiness of its inhabitants.

But what is a republic without this influence? The people have no monarch to fear but themselves; no lords to whom they are vassals; their lords are dependent on them. Unlike a monarchy, or an aristocracy, a republic has no power of coercion by which it can reach degradation of principle and character, and compel visible loyalty from a spirit of rebellion. The government is the will of the people, and where that will becomes corrupt, as the prostration of moral sentiment will make it, everything is left to the fury of human passions, unchecked by power, or by principle. At the moment of such deficiency, human selfishness is lawless, and, from its woes, despotism is a welcome refuge. So sure then as a general corruption of moral sentiment shall pervade this republic, those principles of human nature which, unchecked, will invade human peace and happiness, will be found in the full play of their deadliest energies, in these fields, and streets, and dwellings, where all is now peace and joy. Then, highly as we prize our political institutions, grateful as we ought to be to heaven for the blessings they impart, should welcome monarchy, aristocracy, despotism, anything but a corrupt republic.

2. The subject suggests several reasons why we have to expect the continued efficacy of our civil institutions. Probably no state or nation has existed, in which there has been a combination of circumstances so favorable to the moral character of its inhabitants, as in this state, and of course none so favorable to the efficacy of political institutions. Here none are compelled to crime by the desperate state of their circumstances. Their employment, as an agricultural people, while it gives dignity to character, precludes, by a powerful tendency, a taste for the pleasures of sensuality and the vices of idleness. The husbandman, by his very occupation, is every placed amid the wonders of an omnipresent God, and summoned to praise him as the Great Parent of existence, and of all that blesses it. We are placed at a distance, also, from the wars and revolutions and crimes of older countries. What a mighty drama has been acting on the theatre of Europe, for the last age, while we have stood as on a safe and lofty eminence, to survey its horrors and learn wisdom from its follies and its crimes! Our political institutions have also secured, in no common degree, the great ends of social union. We have had, indeed, our political conflicts with their sins and calamities, but they have been without blood. There is a moral sentiment pervading the community, which demands the execution of many of our wholesome laws. There is a dark frown of popular opinion to meet open crime, and awe the gross daring of licentiousness and impiety. The sanctuary of justice has not been violated by the approach of bribery and oppression; nor has atheism been heard in the hall of legislation, to decree, amid the plaudits of an infuriated populace, the fool’s wish, “no God,” into a civil enactment. Religious liberty is not yet in chains. We are all born to feel, that no power on earth has a right to interpose between our conscience and our God, and that the prerogative of forming religious opinions, with its solemn responsibilities, is our own; a prerogative highly auspicious to the cause of truth and virtue. With the conviction that ignorance will make the place of its dominion “the region and valley of the shadow of death,” we look with joy to the institution of our common schools, by which provision is made to carry the light of useful knowledge, like the light of heaven, into every dwelling; and with still more bland emotion we look to our seminary of science, as the sun of the whole system, from which emanates a most benign influence on every department of social life, while it extends the light of salvation, and carries on the high enterprise of redeeming grace, in this state, in the neighboring states, and throughout the nation.

The Christian ministry in this state is distinguished by purity of doctrine, and the success of its labors. Without allusion to sectarian peculiarities, for I can easily overlook these distinctions in the present estimate, the clergy of our country, generally, are unrivalled in those qualifications which give to Christianity its effects on the conscience and the hearts of men. It is here that a laborious ministry brings the religion of the gospel home to the bosoms and business of the people, and makes them feel that they have a personal concern with it. It is here, if anywhere, that the sacred page of God’s revelation is opened, to show man his character and his destiny; that Christianity makes known her laws and her precepts, and reveals the bright visions of her promises, and the deep terrors of her denunciations. It is here, that she gives all her solace to human sorrow, and all her joys to human hope; and it is in this land that we seem to hear the exclamation—“Behold how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.”

With that series of religious revivals which has blessed our country, in its power and extent, there is nothing to be compared, in any other portion of Christendom. While we can trace these footsteps of the Great Deliverer from sin; while his life-giving spirit departs not from us, this shall be the glory of all lands, and ours the privilege to blend the confidence of hope with the fervor of our petition—“Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done here as it is in heaven.”

Such are some of the principal causes of moral influence in this state, whose perpetuated operation will ensure the stability and the efficacy of our political institutions. So long as they exist, in their present state, the vital principle of our political existence will not be destroyed; it will still beat strong at the seat of life, for the requisite causes will exist to sustain a vigorous pulsation. We may indeed be agitated by political or religious commotions; ambition may project and execute and convulse; party conflicts may be even more violent than ever; error may spread its pestilential clouds and vapors; persecution may light its fires; foreign invasion may approach; the ark of God may be cast upon the floods; and the tempest may thicken and sweep around us—but Connecticut will be remembered by the Ruler of the storm, and in the hour of his mercy he will say to the winds, “cease,” and to the waves, “be still.”

3. Our subject suggests some of the principal sources of danger to our political prosperity. It is not believed that we have reached that prostration of moral sentiment, which resists the efficacy of all wholesome laws. The danger is that we shall reach it; and it is well to advert to the causes which may hurry us down this fearful declivity.

One principal source of danger is our party competitions. In this country we have, for many years, gone largely into the experiment of party conflicts. And who can assign limits to the ravages they had long since made, had a sound public opinion by shame and infamy, and moral sanctions, put no restraint on their feuds and their violence? Who has not seen their tendency, not only to proceed to every excess, which public sentiment would patronize or justify, but to corrupt that sentiment, and thus to remove every barrier to their own most baleful progress and calamities? Who has not seen enough to satisfy him, how easily the integrity of rulers, the majesty of law, and the sanctions of morality may be trodden in the dust before the march of party spirit?

Now we know that in a republic there are peculiar causes to augment the violence of contending parties. There are always enough to lead on the most desperate enterprises of ambition. There is a dependence of rulers on the people, which puts into the hand of the demagogue the most powerful engine of revolution, and which inspires a party with the consciousness of its own strength, and prompts its revenge and its excesses. There is in rulers a spirit of servile accommodation, which impairs the prerogative of government, and instead of maintaining the strait onward course of independent integrity, fearless of popularity or place, gives to “the voice of the constitutents,” the devotedness of an oracular annunciation; as if legislators had no further use, for either sense of honesty, than to ascertain and conform to the pleasure of those who give them their office. The extension, perhaps I ought to say the unavoidable extension, of the elective franchise, with the increasing unequal distribution of property, in this county with fearful probability, will one day operate in the violence and rage of party contests. A finer field is never opened for the career of unprincipled ambition, than when it can enlist its associates, and draw around it its dependants, and raise the outcries of faction, to redress the oppressions of the rich and the great. At the same time, no rights are dearer to most men than rights of property; there are none, the invasion of which is more sure to provoke resistance and conflict, or to awaken the most desperate struggles for their protection. Let then the state be convulsed, let party collisions become as violent and revengeful and excessive, as there are causes enough to make them, and how soon would every mound, reared by a sound public opinion on morals, be overflowed by the waves of popular fury! The men, on whom God should most visibly frown, would stand highest in popular estimation. From the hall of legislation, and the sanctuary of justice, would be heard the decrees of popular licentiousness. Crimes would be legalized by dignified example, by legislative license, and by judicial protection; and all the security, with which we now look at the joys of our pilgrimage, would be broken up, by the barbarities of anarchy, or the oppressions of despotism.

Another source of danger to our political welfare, is the declining estimate of the value of religious institutions. Long before the formation of our present Constitution, an increasingly low estimate of religious institutions was visible, in a considerable part of our population. Of this, a former law of the state, not the abolition of it, was, it is believed, a principal occasion. With the hostility which the law excited, was associated, to some extent, hostility to the object which it aimed to support. To this hostility, the repeal of the law, by gross perversion indeed, secured a triumph, and was considered, by many, not only as a release from the obligation to support religious institutions, but as a public sanction of the sentiment, that these institutions are unworthy of support. It thus gave to avarice the power, and to enmity to the gospel the gratification, of being avenged of their old enemies; and in many instances they have turned their backs on this only guardian of our political and social welfare. Neither the necessity of the change adverted to, nor the wisdom and the integrity of many who were active in producing it, is called in question. There were dangers and evils without the change, it is believed, greater than exist with it. All that is asserted is, that these perils have not wholly ceased. The danger is that future excesses will be the greater, as the consequence of former restraints; that this particular corruption of public opinion will increase, will withdraw patronage and support from religious institutions; reduce the “hire” of the laborers in God’s vineyard, and hold up the ministry of reconciliation as an object of suspicion and obloquy, till the message it brings from heaven will be despised and unheard; that custom and fashion will soon exempt a man from the disgrace which he merits for refusing pecuniary patronage to the institutions of divine mercy; that an indifference to the gospel, and an aversion to its grand peculiarities, will prevail, which will exchange it for damnable heresy; that those inadequate views of its benign efficacy upon the social state of man will obtain, which will consent to go without its weekly ministrations, and to leave posterity to grow up untouched and unblessed by its power; and that such contempt of the gospel, under the retributive providence of God, will exile that gospel from the land, bring on the community all the woes which mark its departure, in time, and lead away future generations from its great salvation, to the tribulation and the wrath of a ruined eternity.

Another source of danger is the difference of religious faith, and the sectarian zeal it awakens among different denominations of Christians. Contests, dictated simply by passion, are comparatively of feeble influence and of short duration. But those which are fortified, by the convictions of the judgment, are usually calamitous and lasting. Hence, religious differences are capable of exciting the passions of men, and perpetuating their animosities beyond any other cause. This has been well understood by the leaders in revolution, in every country. Never have they counted, with stronger confidence, on the adherence of their followers, than when they could enlist them through the medium of their religious partialities and zeal. It is in such contests, that animosities become the fiercest and the most relentless. Then, passion is sustained, in its utmost height, by the imagined rectitude of its cause, and from it, as the supposed cause of millions, even ferocity derives a steady impulse, to invigorate and sanctify all its movements. Then it is that the cause of truth and righteousness, which ought to be dearer to its professed votaries than every other, is abandoned for the cause of a sect; and the standard of moral action, the whole influence of religion in a community, is exposed to an effectual prostration. Then it is that infidelity and sectarian zeal, Herod and Pilate-like, find a common interest, and embark in a common cause; and the polluting union issues in death, to what is most beloved of God, and most desirable to man. In this country, the separation of Christians into distinct detachments, by its familiarity, loses much of its alarming aspect. We fondly hope that no apprehensions of evil, from this source, will be realized, but we cannot esteem them wholly groundless. While this separation exists to create uncharitable and exclusive spirit, while it converts every attempt to adjust external differences, into the occasion of exasperated feeling, and more distant alienation, the danger is, that the breach will continue to widen, that the cause of God will be relinquished for the cause of a sect, that professed love to God will be found in friendly concert and active co-operation, with infidelity and atheism; that a corruption of moral sentiment will pervade the community, to sanctify the excesses of passion in a cause deemed so holy; that jealousy of power on the one hand, and pretensions to it on the other; that superstition, in all its bigotry and impiety, in all its fury, will apply their combined energies to civil disunion, and civil conflict. Nor are there more fearful ingredients which an avenging God mingles in the cup of his indignation, when he would root up and destroy. Nor should it be forgotten that these very causes, which exist only in an incipient state with us, have, from similar beginnings, proceeded to these foreboded results; and that, by their help, even in this land, some future Cromwell may be seen.

“To wade through slaughter to a throne.”The only other source of danger to our political and social welfare, which I shall mention, consists in the prevalence of open vice. As the population and wealth of a country increase, the means and the opportunities of vicious indulgence are greatly multiplied. The relative influence of the righteous and the wicked though the proportion in numbers remains the same, greatly changes. In a dense population, there is enough of the latter to retire from the influence of the former, into a separate association for mutual countenance and support. The effects of these and other causes are visible in the sensualities of luxury and the extravagances of pride, in the more frequent occurrence of the more desperate crimes of robbery, assassination, and plunder, in violations of the Sabbath, by business, amusement, and a diminished attendance on its worship, in falsehood and fraud, and pre-eminently in the crime of drunkenness. These sins subvert foundations. They not only indicate but form the standard of public morals, and this by a most powerful tendency to corrupt public sentiment. Familiarity with crimes impairs the sense of their enormity; reputation and character cease to operate as restraining motives, for disgrace and infamy lose their influence by division among the multitude; the public conscience is rendered callous by the impunity and prevalence of vice, and by the fond conceit, that what the world approve, God will. These tendencies are all visible among us in actual results. There is a toleration of vice, an unsuspecting freedom and openness in the commission of many crimes, which in other days were unknown, and which indicate a great change in the public sentiment and moral character of this community. Through the prevalence of vice, and the countenance given to it, our habits are changing, and we are in fact becoming another people. I shall not attempt exactly to measure the depth and force of this stream of moral corruption. Fearful as its progress is, it may perhaps now be arrested. But let it roll on unchecked another generation, and who shall say that its accumulated tide can be stayed from the most fearful desolations? Profanity, Sabbath breaking and drunkenness do not indeed directly invade the rights of men, but they bring in their train every crime that will do it. Let public sentiment be corrupt enough to tolerate these crimes, and it will soon detach from every other crime its infamy and its turpitude, and banish the fear of God from the human mind. The single sin of drunkenness may obtain a prevalence in a community, that will prostrate all moral influence, and paralyze all moral sensibility. It is the unfailing cause of moral debasement. It is this crime which, in the infinitude of its guilt and its woes, comprises every element of ruin, and provokes the deepest frown of Heaven’s vengeance. And to say nothing of other crimes, if we have already reached that prostration of moral sentiment and moral influence, which compels the sword of magistracy to sleep over this, if the men whose profession is to make drunkards, and to people Hell with the victims of their art, are kept, in countenance by public opinion, if the products of our fields, the very bread of human sustenance is reputably converted, almost without a metaphor, into “the fire and brimstone” of the pit, who will say that there is no cause for alarm?

Such are some of the dangers to which our political and social blessings are exposed. Some of the causes are inseparable from the nature of our government: all of them are in actual existence, and in actual operation. We may, indeed, flatter ourselves into security, with the dream, that something, we know not what; some redeeming spirit; some tutelary Genius, will protect and save us. No, my hearers, nothing but the spirit and genius of Christianity can save us. If we cannot uphold a moral influence, through the medium of moral sentiment, which shall be adequate to counteract these causes of ruin, then, as the ordinances of heaven go on to their appointed results, so will this republic descend, through convulsion and anarchy, to the vast cemetery of nations. All our dreams to the contrary will only hasten our descent to that fearful abyss.

4. Our subject calls on every friend of his country, to fulfill his part in upholding and augmenting a sound public opinion on the subject of morals. Among the most prominent and effectual means of this end, are the following:

In the character of subjects, the most important duties devolve upon us. The authority of God enjoins, that we “lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and honesty;”—that “every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” Whatever may be thought of the unqualified import of these injunctions, whatever may be said of the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, undeniably there are rights and privileges of freemen; undeniably, it may be their duty to bring their influence to affect the issue of party competitions; and to redress injustice and oppression on the part of government. But it is maintained, that in this state, with a government and a people like ours, no good, but immense evil, must result from perpetuated party conflicts. In such circumstances, a thousand fold more injury is done by one party campaign of a few years, than any administration of our government will go right. On the contrary, if anything can make that administration go wrong, it is the influence of party zeal. If anything tends to corruption among the people, and oppression on the part of rulers, it is party zeal. Whatever party, then, be dominant, and whatever be the means by which it acquired the ascendency, yet when it has acquired it, our highest security, in regard to the wisdom and the rectitude of its measures, lies in an enlightened sound popular opinion. To secure this influence, and to prevent the ravages of party spirit, it is indispensable that the contest be abandoned; and, instead of committing our interests to the heat, and revenge, and maddening zeal of party commotions, we must place our reliance on the steady, unimpassioned energy of enlightened virtue in the people. Let the one cease, and the other pervade the community, and we shall exchange the darkness and fury of the tempest, for the clear shining of the sun, and the mildness of the zephyr.

Laying aside, then, our party contests, together with their jealousies and suspicions, let our hearts unite in a common interest. Let us remember that submission to the powers that be, which are ordained of God, is a duty which can scarcely need qualification, in this community. Let it be remembered, that injustice and oppression, on the part of government, are seldom prevented, but often provoked, by party contests. Let the political oracle, who is loud in the cry for improvement and change, be counted as he is, a political maniac; and the party zealot be eyed and scorned as the enemy of his country.

In the character of Christians, we have solemn duties to perform, in regard to the peace and welfare of the state. We have already adverted to the dangers and the evils, in this respect, of sectarian zeal and sectarian conflicts, when connected with political contests. Such dangers and evils are not fictitious; and they summon Christians, of every denomination, under solemn responsibilities, to union.

Every denomination of Christians should depend, simply, for the maintenance of its numbers, and its influence, on the purity of its doctrines, the sanctity of its morals, and the zeal and labors of its ministry. It always has been, and it always will be, an ultimate curse, to any religious denomination, to strengthen and build up itself by political patronage. If Christians are to be less concerned, for the cause of God and of souls, than for the success of their religious party; if sect is to clash with sect; if to augment their secular influence, and to pervert it to build up their cause, they are to become political factions; and if the community are to witness only their mutual hostility and contests, the most fearful results may be foretold with the certainty of prophecy.—Nothing, nothing can atone for “the broken unity, the blighted peace, the tarnished beauty, the prostrate energy, and the humbled honor of the church of God.” Every barrier, between the church and the world, would be swept away; ignorance of God and of duty would thicken apace, and the broadest sunshine of the gospel be eclipsed by the spreading darkness. Moral influence, the only safeguard of social order and social happiness, would cease from the community; and when God should come to make inquisition for blood, the death of whole generations would be found at the door of this disgraceful, guilty strife among brethren.

Let Christians, then, bury in oblivion their sectarian contests, with all those animosities, jealousies, and suspicions, which mar their intercourse. Without a pretence of differing on essential truths, or that each sect has not every desirable means of promoting the cause of God, what can justify alienation, and mutual competitions? When, by union and concert, we might do so much to uphold and extend that influence which the wisdom of God has appointed to bless men, in time and eternity, what can justify us in wasting our strength in the work of proselytism, and for this purpose merging the Christian in the sectarian, and the sectarian in a political partisan? Ah! Brethren, we want more of the sacred fire that glowed in the breasts of the early Christians; more of the spirit of heaven; more fellowship with angels, with God and his Son, in the work of bringing men to repentance and to salvation. God calls his people to other service than mutual contention. While the enemy, rushing in like a flood on the one side, calls us to defend a common Christianity, the field, whitening to the harvest on the other, invites to its toils and its rewards. “The New Jerusalem is descending from God out of Heaven,” and we seem to hear “voices in heaven,” voices of acclaiming gladness, saying, “the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” Let us, then, open our hearts to higher and nobler inspirations. Let us strike our hands in a covenant of love; let our hearts accord with the designs, and our efforts keep pace with the movement of God’s beneficence. Then shall the church of God be one, and secure, from the most profane, the acknowledgment of her divinity in the blessings she bestows on our land. Then, in firm encounter, her sons shall meet the legions of error and of death, and go on to new triumphs, till earth shall hear and welcome the salvation of God.

As members of the community, and especially as those who have authority and influence, we are called to counteract vice, and to uphold the institutions of religion. What might not be done by men of talents, and wealth and influence, to change the moral aspect of a whole State; and to cause it to assume, as it were, the face of another Eden? And why do they not do it? Because they want the heart.—I know that every plan of moral improvement is met by the paralyzing prediction, that nothing can be done. I know too, that there is a point of moral degeneracy from which a people will not choose to rise, and from which God will not choose to raise them. But heaven forbid that we should have reached this place of despair and woe. Nor do we believe, that there are no existing laws which can be executed, and especially that no laws can be formed, which can be executed, for the suppression of Sabbath breaking and drunkenness. Which is the town in this state, a majority of whose freemen, would not approve and support decisive measures for such a purpose? There is yet left a correctness of moral sentiment, which would uphold any legislature, who should strenuously bring the power of its provisions to bear on these evils. Nay, there are friends of good order and good government enough to create a sound public opinion, that shall secure an active co-operation with legislative efforts, which neither the sectarian, nor political partisan can withstand. Criminals, and the abettors of crime, are cowards. Conscience and God are both against them. And let the civil statute, and public opinion, be arrayed against them, and their defeat is certain. At any rate, let the experiment be tried; and let us have the appalling decision that nothing can be done, if at all, as the result of thorough experiment. Look at the ravages of the single crime of drunkenness, in families, in neighbourhoods—go to your poor-houses and prisons, and see the prostration of moral principle, what desolations of domestic peace, what crimes, and woes, and death, it spreads through the land! What a tax every sober and industrious member of the community has to pay for the support of this soul-destroying sin. More than nine tenths of the poor-tax of our country result from this single cause. Think of nearly fifty millions of dollars of annual expenditure in this nation, for strong drink. See how this crime associates with it every crime and every woe;-sabbath breaking, profanity, idleness, lying, fraud, the extinction of natural affection, theft and murder, and sorrows, griefs and broken hearts, ruined parents, and a ruined offspring. It is no exaggeration. Look, and you shall see the raging of a pestilence, before which the bloom of paradise would wither. And must we only sit still to contemplate its desolations? Shall sectarian and party zeal, to secure the auspicious patronage and support of drunkards, consent to defeat this cause of humanity? And every heart be cold, and every hand idle, as if panic struck by the fear of popular odium? Then, a few generations passed, and we are a ruined people. Liberty and religion will here mingle their tears of despair over all that man holds dear and God counts holy.—Oh, for some spirit of emancipation—that some Howard, or Clarkeson, or Wilberforce might rise up to set us free from this bondage, or to alleviate its horrors; embarking all his talents in the enterprise, and persevering in it, in defiance of every obstacle. Never was there a finer field for benevolence and philanthropy to shed abroad their blessings; never a cause, which might better draw around it adherents from the friends of humanity, and secure the active concert of every virtuous member of society. Would it not be well if any of the wretched victims of this vice could be reclaimed? Would it not be well if our sons and our daughters could be saved from entering the same path of woe? Would it not be well if every virtuous member of the community, every legislator, and every executive officer, and every parent, and every friend and brother could be enlisted in the cause, and if an influence of counsel, and warning, and example, of shame and infamy, and legislative provision, and of a sound public opinion could be made to reach every member of the rising generation, that should check the career of so many thousands whose steps take hold on hell? And would not the man, who should commence the work, and prosecute it with any measure of success, call forth the warmest tribute of gratitude from his country, and stand high in the approbation of his God?

Not less imperious is the duty of upholding the institutions of religion. Our argument, on this point, is not now drawn from the interests of eternity. It is simply an appeal to patriotism. If men had no souls; were there no judgment day; no preparation requisite for the immortal state; the well-being of society, in time, demands the support of Christian institutions. These are the institutions which divine wisdom and mercy have appointed to bless man on earth. Without them, the laws of civil government, salutary and indispensable as they may be, are but a cobweb provision. The great ends of government must fail in every nation, without national morality. This is well understood by the friends of revolution, in every Christian country. When they would corrupt, and overturn, and destroy, their first and most sanguinary measures have been directed against Christian ministers and Christian institutions. Change, innovation, revolution in a community, where religious institutions exert their proper influence, are hopeless.—These must first be brought into contempt, and when this is done, the work of ruin is complete. Even the wiser heathen knew this, and defended their religious rites with a spirit and a wisdom which disgrace many in this enlightened country. Let then the friends of their country, and of social happiness, be as wise as their enemies. Why should they not understand where their strength lies, and be as solicitous to preserve it, as the invaders of national happiness and prosperity are to destroy it? Why should not legislators, judges, magistrates of every description, with every friend of his country, uphold those institutions which are its strength and its glory? May not institutions, which the wisdom and goodness of God have appointed to bless man in time as well as in eternity, be upheld without intolerance and persecution? Are we thus prepared to libel their Author, and, for the sake of liberality and charity to men, are we to have no charity for the living God; and, to show that we have none, by laying aside his ordinances as useless? Shall clamors, about the rights of conscience, induce us to throw away Heaven’s richest legacy to earth? Shall the murderer plead the rights of conscience, for the privilege to kill, and the incendiary for the privilege to burn? Has any man rights of conscience which interfere with a nation’s happiness? Or is it yet to be made a question, whether Christianity be not a wretched imposture; whether it have a salutary influence on civil society? Have we, in this land, to hold this point as yet in debate? Can we decide that theft, and robbery, and murder are evils, and yet not decide whether the influence of the gospel of God be to bless or to curse those who feel it? Is it right to punish crimes which invade social peace? Does the public welfare demand it? And yet is it persecution so to bring the light and influence of moral truth to bear on the mind of man, as to prevent these crimes? But you will make men Christians. And what if we do? The sin is not unpardonable. Besides, is it not as truly an act of kindness to make men Christians, by the exhibition of duty and its sanctions, in the light of God’s truth, as it is to make men infidels and atheists, by means of falsehood and sin? But you’ll make sectarians. God forbid. We plead for no such influence. We only ask for those provisions of law, and that patronage from every member of the community, in behalf of a common Christianity, which are its due, as a nation’s strength and a nation’s glory. In this country, and pre-eminently in this state, the unity of our councils, the vigor of our government, our laws, our habits, have resulted from the moral influence of Christianity. Annihilate this influence, and you bid he soul depart, and prepare a grave for our liberties, our religion, our morals, and our happiness. And who would put his hand to this work? Who are the men that would empty our sanctuaries, and our pulpits; break down the Sabbath, and all the institutions of Christianity; and exclude its influence from their own minds, and the minds of their fellow beings? They are men who would extinguish the idea of Jehovah in the mind of man, as if that were the most painful to human contemplation, and the most destructive to human happiness! Great God! What deeds of horror have these men to perpetrate, that makes them thus dread thine inspection? Unhappy, wretched men! The presence that enraptures Heaven is their chiefest torture; nor can they find relief but in the persuasion that the world is forsaken of its God!—Are these men to be listened to! No—brethren, they are the enemies of God and man, and so ought they to be accounted.

Let us then remember that the safety and welfare of nations is not to be chiefly sought either in arts or in arms—and that the utmost barbarity may be united with the highest refinement. We may dream of a philosophical millennium, and banish the fear of God and dependence on his mercy; but he who ruleth among the nations has fixed the laws of national prosperity. By his resistless decree, no vigor of the body politic can long survive the decay of religious institutions. No wisdom or policy, that despises the power of his Gospel, can withstand that wrath of the Almighty by which he avenges his abused goodness. Let then every friend to his country do what he can to secure to Christian institutions their place and influence in that system of means which God has appointed to bless humanity in time. Let the being of God, as the ever present Ruler and final Judge of men, be recognized. Let the Saviour’s name be adored and trusted. Let “the teaching Priest” be heard in the sanctuary—Let the Sabbath be consecrated as the day of salvation. Let the family and the school be the nursery of youthful piety. Let the magistracy of our land, by a faithful execution of the laws, become a terror to evil doers, and the praise of them that do well. In a word, let all those institutions be upheld, by which God would bless, and we shall be blessed. Angels or embassies of love will still visit our land, and minister to the heirs of salvation. The spirit of grace will still breathe on the dry bones of the valley and quicken to immortal life. The Saviour will be satisfied with the trophies of his mercy. The sun of our nation’s prosperity will rapidly rise to its meridian, and the voice of a reigning God, command it to stand still in fullest splendors.

The application of our subject, to the civil authorities of our State now assembled, is obvious.

Respected Rulers, while the pulpit is not the place to discuss measures of state policy, nor to offer the incense of flattery to any one administration, or to regale the passions of any political party, I am happy in the conviction that I need not hesitate to employ it in speaking of some of your duties to “the blessed and only Potentate.” “The powers that be are ordained of God.” To you, then, under God, we look, in no small degree, for the perpetuity of our civil rights and social blessings; not only by the wisdom of your laws; not only by acts, to encourage the industry and commerce of our state; but by giving your countenance and patronage, your private example, your public influence, to uphold that standard of public morals which is the only pillar of society, the only safeguard of nations. High responsibilities pertain to your station. You live not, you act not, merely for yourselves. Your influence will outlive you; your virtues will survive these tabernacles of clay; your errors and vices will not go down with you to the tomb. They will alike reach future generations, and be felt in other worlds. On the one hand, by disregarding the means of national morality, by indifference or hostility to God’s appointed means of national happiness. You may become accessory to the profanation of the name and of the Sabbath of God; you may silence the embassy of his grace, and extinguish the light of salvation; you may even direct the midnight robber to his neighbor’s dwelling, and put the dagger into the assassin’s hand. On the contrary, by the contribution which your countenance and example as men; your acts and measures as rulers of the people, may tend to sustain Christian institutions, and to uphold a correct standard of morals; you may exert an influence that will descend to save and to bless, till the latter day of glory. Virtue and piety have a peculiar lustre to awe and to attract, when adorned with the rays of honor and authority. While, then, it is the desire of some to shine, and of some to govern, and of some to accumulate, be it yours to execute the high prerogative of ministers of God for good! The time is short–one ¹ whose presence has often honored this anniversary, and who occupied a distinguished place in your councils, is no more. We lament the death of the able jurist, the upright counselor, and the wise and honorable magistrate. We revere his virtues, and would embalm his memory as a faithful servant of his God, and of his country. You, his associates in public life, and public responsibility, must soon follow him to his last account. And when the distinctions of earth shall pass away; when death shall take from rank its pageantry, and from royalty its crowns; what will then cheer the retrospect of time, and gladden the anticipations of eternity? Not to have heard the plaudits, and drawn the gaze of men; not to have been breathed on by the applauses of your fellow worms; but to have been actuated by that ennobling principle, which reason ratifies, and conscience approves; which God enjoins, and his spirit inspires—that of being and doing good. And then, too, how endeared will a seat in glory be, whence you shall look down on earth and see, as the effects of your instrumentality, the joys of social life, and preparation for eternal glories, perpetuated through future generations; how will it swell the joy of that world, to meet from this, through the ages to come, your brethren and kinsmen, according to the flesh, bringing their crowns of immortality, and laying them at your feet as an acknowledgment of your influence in imparting to them the bliss of such an inheritance!

¹ Lieut. Governor Ingersoll.

Sermon – Election – 1822, Massachusetts

Daniel Huntington (1788-1858) graduated from Yale in 1807. He was pastor of a church in North Bridgewater, MA (1812-1832, 1841-1858). The following election sermon was preached by Huntington in Massachusetts on May 29, 1822.

An intolerant Spirit, hostile to the interests of Society.

SERMON,

DELIVERED BEFORE

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, ESQ.

GOVERNOR,

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL,

AND THE TWO HOUSES COMPOSING THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

MAY 29, 1822.

BY REV. D. HUNTINGTON.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.In House of Representatives, May 29, 1822,

ORDERED, That Messrs. Keyes, of Concord, Billings, of Boston, and Phelps, of Hadley, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Dan Huntington, and return him the thanks of this House, for the Discourse delivered by him, before them, this day; and request a copy for the press.

Attest,
P. W. WARREN, Clerk.

SERMON.ACTS….CHAPTER XVIII….VERSES XIV AND XV.
“If it were a matter of wrong, or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews! Reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words, and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.”

THESE are the words of Gallio, the deputy of Achaia, one of the old Grecian States, then a province of the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul was now before him, in Corinth, the capital of the province, under an accusation brought against him by the Jews. He was charged with worshipping God contrary to the law. The charge was in connection with his having recently become a convert to the faith of the Gospel. From having been a proud persecuting Pharisee, he becomes an enlightened Christian. Commissioned from on high, he goes forth into the world, a preacher of righteousness. In the cities which he visits, to carry the glad tidings of the Gospel, he occasionally meets with the Jews, his “brethren and kinsmen, according to the flesh.” His conversion to Christianity, does not make him a stranger to them. He does not avoid their society, neither does he conceal his sentiments. Very frankly he expresses to them his convictions and his hopes. He appeals to his conduct, as the test of his sincerity. So far as they are disposed to accord to him the civilities of life, he accepts them. He takes up his residence with them: he labors with them, in his occupation: he goes with them “to the house of God in company,” occasionally addressing their assemblies, on the weighty subjects “pertaining to life and godliness.”

While he avails himself of their hospitality and their fellowship, however, he does not forfeit his independence as a man, nor does he forget his message as an Apostle. The theme of his preaching is “Jesus and the resurrection:” Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the hope of the sinner; in whom, as he often repeats, “we have redemption through his blood,” and the animating hope of “life everlasting.” His instructions “distil as the dew,” and drop as “the small rain upon the tender herb.” The desired effect is produced. Many of the Corinthians, both Jews and Greeks hearing, believe and are baptized. It is noticed by his former friends with a jealous alarm. Soon does he perceive among them, the consequences that too commonly follow disappointed ambition and wounded pride. Their indignation at length bursts forth, in acts of open violence. The banners of a religious warfare are unfurled. The usual engines of persecution are brought into operation. The Apostle is denounced. His name is cast out as evil. The doors of their synagogues are closed against him. The harshest epithets are applied. He is “a babler;” “a setter forth of strange God;” “a fellow that persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.” Wherever he goes, he is met by the Jews, “stirring up the people against him.”

Not having been convinced, however, by their arguments, nor duped by their flatteries, he is not now to be awed by their menaces. Alluding to their conduct, afterwards, in his epistle, to the inhabitants of this very city, he says, “Wherein soever any is bold, I am bold also. Hare they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am more.” He ventures still to think for himself, and to teach as he believes.

Such being the nature of his crime, he is arraigned before the Proconsul of the province.

Gladly would he have availed himself of such an opportunity, at once for attesting to his innocence of the charge brought against him; and for exhibiting to those around him, as he had before done, in similar instances, the consolations of the religion of Christ.

But when now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong, or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: but if it be a question of words, and of names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat.”

The story is instructive, showing us that there is a disposition in men, to control the opinions of their fellow men:

The means used to accomplish the object:

And that such a disposition, wherever it exists, is not only hateful in itself, but hostile to the interests of social happiness.

It deserves attention, as one of the opening acts of a scene, in which, for ages, the human character has been unfolding, in events disastrous to society beyond description, and which, we trust in God, is now drawing to a close. Happy shall I think myself, if anything may be said on this occasion, to hasten a consummation so desirable.

The subject shows us,

I. That there is a disposition among men, to control the opinions of their fellow men; especially their religious opinions.

The disposition often originates in a restless desire for power. To be able to dictate without contradiction, gives an ascendancy, always congenial to the feelings of the aspiring partisan.

The origin of this disposition, however, need not always be resolved into depravity of character. We often perceive its commencement, in some of the best feelings of our nature. Honestly believing our own opinions, on important subjects, to be right, the wish that others may embrace them, is not only innocent, it is kind, and commendable. Regarding our principles, as the rule of conduct, and the basis of character, we cannot be too much in earnest, to have them established in our own minds, and in endeavoring by fair means, so to recommend them to those within the circle of our influence, as to persuade them to see, and feel, and act with us.

But how few, comparatively, have appeared to be satisfied with this! How many, not content with being right themselves; and with the best arguments they can use to influence others; making their own speculations the standard of truth and duty—are too ready to insist, that all around shall conform to it! A want of conformity, is in their estimation, a proof of their error. If the question in agitation, be of a religious nature, they are fatally wrong. Religion, from its native importance, heightening as it does, every passion on which it acts; and rendering every contest into which it enters, uncommonly ardent—their principles, their motives, and their characters, are condemned by those who differ from them, with unfeeling severity.

Being thus deep rooted, in the very principle of our natures, we must expect to find the development of this spirit, in every period of the world. And do we not find it, in fact, coeval with the history of man? For nearly six thousand years, has it not been producing its baleful effects among the nations?

Confining our attention, however, to what has taken place, since the introduction of Christianity, how has its mischievous power here displayed itself in all its atrocity! It was visible, even in the family of our Saviour. It was one of his own disciples who said, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us.” More than once, had our Lord occasion to reprove this spirit, in those around him.

Constantly, were both he and his disciples, harassed by the Scribes and Pharisees, on account of the doctrines which they taught. Of him the complaint was “He deceiveth the people.” And with respect to the disciples, the imposing interrogatory was, “Why do they transgress the tradition of the elders.”

And what was the result? Said our Saviour, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” This is now history. He himself soon fell a victim to their intolerance; and his disciples, in every succeeding period of the church, have, in a greater or less degree, been drinking the same bitter cup.

Innumerable, almost, are the examples of this spirit, both in the conduct of Jews and Pagans toward the primitive Christians; in the conduct of Christians among themselves; and in their conduct toward the heathen, whom by violence, they undertook to proselyte to Christianity. Under its infatuating influence, the persecuted, for conscience sake, have become persecutors; and these, in their turn, have suffered the evils they had inflicted on others.

The subject leads us

II. To consider the means which have been used by those who have undertaken thus to control the opinions of others. The means employed on this occasion, were violence and fraud. We have already seen the Apostle before the Roman governor, both falsely accused, and grossly insulted—and had the clamors of his persecutors prevailed, probably the loss of life, would have been the immediate consequence of an adherence to his opinions. Where the state of society has favored it, something similar to this, has been the usual process for making free inquiry hazardous.

The first step has been, to produce an impression of infallibility, in the person, or the body, assuming the controlling power. They must be resorted to, as the unerring oracle. Claiming the keys of the kingdom, the door to its immunities must be opened or closed by them; and their decisions must be received with the most unwavering confidence.

Implicit faith, on the part of those to be controlled, is no less necessary, in establishing the desired ascendency, than infallibility in those who assume the power of controlling. The common people, as if incapable of understanding the word of God, must resign themselves to their teachers. As if blind, they must be led. When led, they must not hesitate to follow. Their reason, their judgment, their conscience, their moral agency; their interests for time and eternity, are no longer at their own disposal. And to have it known that they are not, frequent experiments must be made upon their credulity and good nature. If they hear it inculcated with uncommon ardor, that a few speculative points in theology, are the essentials of religion, no doubts may be entertained. If taught that “all error is fatal,” they must believe it. They must often, be made to understand, that all the remaining piety on the earth, has taken up its last abode with the people of their denomination; and that to them it belongs exclusively, to preserve and perpetuate sound doctrine and a pure church. It has been found, at some periods, and among some classes of Christians, not too great a stretch of credulity, for the proper exercise of implicit faith, to believe that dishonesty, falsehood, calumny, cruelty oppression, and wickedness of almost any description is venial, if in practicing it, what is called a good object may be promoted.

Other notions, similar to this in their spirit and tendency, such as that the correctness of opinions, is to be estimated according to their antiquity and prevalence; and that it is reproachful for a person to change his opinions—have been equally current. Where these expedients have failed of producing their desired effect, others have not been wanting.

The last resort of the persecuting bigot has been, to compel men to believe right. Aided by mystery, creeds, canons, decrees and councils, with all their appropriate appendages of terror, he commences the dreadful work. If they are few in number, who dissent from the common faith, he avails himself of the vantage-ground afforded him from this circumstance, for exciting, if possible, a general prejudice against them. This is done, by identifying them with everything odious; by indiscriminate censure; by vague and unfounded charges often repeated; by ungenerous allusions; unjust insinuations; unfair reasonings; and terrific denunciations. To these have succeeded, vexations ecclesiastical processes, beginning in making men offenders for a word, and issuing in the highest acts of discipline. Where the times have been favorable, in how many instances has death, in all its dreadful forms, been the consequence of a conscientious adherence to truth!

The object under the

III. General head of this discourse, is to show that the disposition manifested in these efforts to prevent free inquiry, is not only hateful in itself, but hostile in its effects, to the interests of social happiness.

Its effect, at Corinth, was an insurrection. The disturbance arose, as we have seen, from the exclusive spirit of the Jews, in their attempts to silence the Apostle.

The most violent dissentions, and the most bloody wars have arisen among men, in attempting by authority to regulate each others opinions.

Much has been said on the subject of heresy, and much has been done to suppress it. But it is worthy of remark, that all the mischief in society, has arisen rather from opposition to heresy, than from heresy itself.

The Apostle was now successfully preaching the gospel; and both he and his converts were walking worthy their vocation as Christians. But the Jews and others were continually dissatisfied. Their craft was in danger. Their pride of opinion, their prejudices, their interests were affected by his success. He had his adherents, and they had theirs. Hence the tumult.

Like causes, producing like effects, we must always expect the exclusive and controlling spirit, to produce disorder.

It is a gross insult offered to the understandings of men. The language of it is, either you have not the necessary faculties to comprehend what you are taught from the sacred oracles, or you have not integrity to avow what you really believe. A charge, founded upon either alternative, is touching a man of common feelings, where his sensibility cannot fail to be excited; and brings into action those passions, which are always unfavourable to social intercourse.

It is also a violation of right: and whenever the rights of men, and especially their religious rights, are invaded, there will be a reaction. The peace of society will be disturbed.

Let none infer, fr5om what may be said in contending for freedom of inquiry, that it is supposed to be of no importance, what a man believes. Our sentiments are our principles of action. Good sentiments, legitimately derived from the word of God, are unquestionably the foundation of religion. But in determining what these are, every man must judge for himself.—“Why even of yourselves,” saith our Lord, “judge ye not what is right.” “Not for that we have dominion over your faith,” saith our Apostle. And again, “Who art thou, that judgest another man’s servant.” Every man must judge for himself, and any attempt to subject him to any inconvenience on this account, is usurpation. It is an invasion of an unalienable right. Any man, or body of men, attempting to deprive me of that right encroaches upon Christian liberty, and is to be resisted. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do.” The first principles of religious freedom being invaded, what security have we, for anything valuable.

Of the evils of persecution, nothing need be added. Its name is legion. Wherever the persecuting spirit has had power, it has been destructive beyond description. In resisting its impious claims, what torrents of blood have flowed; what privations and pains; what afflictions, in a thousand forms, have been endured!

It may, however, and often does exist, where the civil arm is wanting. There is a persecuting heart, and a persecuting tongue, as well as a persecuting sword. Hard names, uncharitable censures, rash dealings, are the very essence of it. Public slander, bitter reviling, “babblings,” “wounds without cause,” are as inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel, as to banish, imprison, and destroy men for their religion. With such a spirit walking about like “a roaring lion, seeking whom it may devour,” what have society before them but contention and woe?

The demoralizing effects of certain popular sentiments, which have sometimes obtained currency, must be evident to all.

That the end sanctifies the means, though too gross to be avowed, it cannot be denied, has had a secret and most pernicious influence.

Nor is it less evident, that the reproach so often cast upon men, for changing their opinions, is unfriendly to the progress of truth, and of course to human happiness.

To be “carried about by every wind of doctrine;” to change our opinions from mere whim and caprice, is certainly a disgrace and a sin.

But it is not less degrading and sinful, for a man, from the same motives, to defend opinions contrary to his convictions.

Implicitly to receive for truth, the speculations of those who have gone before us, is indeed, an effectual bar to all improvement. Said the venerable Robinson, in his well known parting advice, to that part of his flock who have been styled the pilgrims of New England, “I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go, at present, no further than the instruments of their reformation.”

The notion, also, that the correctness of opinions is to be estimated according to their prevalence, is equally calculated to mislead mankind.

There was a time, during the Jewish monarchy, when a popular leader seduced the affections of the body of the people, placed himself at the head of ten tribes, and drew them off from the worship of the true God, to the idols, set up in Bethel and Dan.

Was it the duty of the two remaining tribes, to follow the example of the ten? Had they done it, and had they left upon record for it, that they thought it not justifiable to oppose the majority, would it have been evidence that they were a wise and virtuous people?

When there were only seven thousand in Israel, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, among the hundreds of thousands, who had, did they wisely, or did they not, in opposing the multitude?

When the darkness of superstition and idolatry overspread the face of the Christian Church, what would have become of pure religion, had not the Albigenses, and the Waldenses, and a few others, retired to the mountains of Italy, that they might there enjoy, unmolested, the blessed truths of an uncorrupted gospel.

If Wickliffe, Luther, Melanethon, and a few others, the fathers of the reformation, had not dared to make themselves singular in contending for Christian liberty, we might still have been groping in the darkness, and groaning under the burden of a most blind and cruel superstition.

We are never at liberty to “follow a multitude to do evil.” To be singular in a good cause, is proof of superior virtue. And to all who have their rials on this subject, it is said, “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;” while of those, who by their numbers, are embolden to harden themselves in transgression, it is said, “though hand join in hand,” they “shall not be unpunished.”

We have now attended to several thoughts suggested by the subject. We have seen from it, that the disposition in men, to control, by authority, the opinions of their fellow men, which has always been a dominant passion in the human breast, has been productive of an immense mischief to society. And it is because of its deleterious influence upon society and social happiness, that it has been made a topic for the present occasion. To this view of the subject, I have endeavoured, and shall still endeavour to confine myself.

It only remains to inquire, is it applicable to us?—and if so, how shall the evil complained of be remedied?

Does the subject then admit of an application to our own community?

Let the intelligent look at what is passing in many of our Congregations and Churches; in Ecclesiastical Associations and Councils, and answer for themselves. Let them listen to the voice of clamor and contumely, of terror and exclusion, issuing from the pulpit and the press, and echoing from one extremity of our limits to another, impeaching the purest motives, maligning the fairest characters, and enkindling unjust suspicions among the uninformed.—Let them observe the movements of those who set themselves in opposition to every gentle and tolerating measure; let them notice the projects that are put in operation for enlisting partisans, and for augmenting their resources. To gain the control of funds, see them, not only fawning upon the widow, and those who are so unhappy as to be destitute of near relatives, but watching around the dying pillow of the opulent, crying like the horse leach, “give, give;” encouraging the belief, that every cent committed to their disposal, shall be a gem in that crown of glory finally to be bestowed as a reward to the fidelity of their votaries.

Who that has read the history of Ignatius Loyola, and his followers; of their objects; of the peculiarities of their policy and government; of the progress of their power and influence, and of the pernicious effect of this order on civil society, that does not sometimes feel the mingled emotions of grief and indignation, at what he still sees passing before him?

Guarded, however, as the cause of religious liberty, at the present day is, by Genius, Literature and Religion, under the government of a holy God, she has nothing to fear. It ought to be mentioned with gratitude, to the great Author of all good, that we live in a day, when the principles of civil and religious liberty are so well understood. Many are disposed to open their eyes to the light of truth, and are roused to act. The reign of terror is past. The Inquisition is no longer in force. The thunders of the Vatican have ceased to roar. The dogmas of the school-men are no longer in vogue. The Gibbet is not now to be seen planted before our doors. The fires of persecution no longer blaze around our dwellings. Our sanctuaries of justice are unpolluted. Our rulers are enlightened, and the people are free.

It daily becomes more and more evident, that an imposing spirit, as it is not suited to the genius of a free people, cannot long be sustained by them. In very respectable portions of the community, it has been tried, and is well understood, that men will not be controlled in their opinions.

But still “the yoke of every oppressor” is not broken. There are burdens and impositions, which are still felt. If the power is taken away, the disposition to prevent free inquiry by authority is not wanting. It is not to be disguised, that in some sections of this enlightened Christian community, there is too much evidence of a disposition for spiritual domination, which is producing in society a perpetual mischief. There are bodies of men, still claiming a jurisdiction as absolute, if not as extensive, as was ever claimed by the most imposing Pontiffs of the dark ages.

It is what some constantly see, and hear, and feel. We are daily conversant with those, the language of whose conduct is, “Stand by thyself, I am holier than thou:” and who, considering themselves “to have attained,” in every necessary qualification, gratuitously assume the prerogative, of dictating to their fellow Christians, on disputed points, what they shall believe. With no superior claims to the necessary means of enlightening their fellow men; having had no more than common advantages for information: having no credentials of any special illumination: from their lives appearing to be, certainly, as much uninspired men as others: and differing as much from one another, as from those, whom they unite in condemning – they seem to be constantly saying to those around then, “The secret of the Lord is with us,” “hear his word at our mouths.” And if any, after this, in exercising the right of private judgment, fall into “the way that some call heresy,” the harshest epithets are applied. They are denounced, as introducing “another Gospel”; as “Apostates”; as “Deists in disguise.” If moral, they are accused of making a merit of their morality. If pious, it is hypocrisy.

In all these means, which are used for controlling the right of private judgment, do we not perceive the shattered remnants of the machinery of a once formidable and most mischievous hierarchy? And shall we see our fellow men collecting and arranging these remnants; and endeavoring again to bring them into action, without letting them know, that we are not insensible to their operations, and the evils of them.

Can we reflect that the subject admits of a direct and unequivocal application to ourselves; that the evils complained of do exist; and sink down under it, into a state of total unconcernedness? Realizing that the blessings of Independence are our birthright: being inhabitants of the Commonwealth, whose Constitution was the first to acknowledge the great principles of civil and religious liberty: living as we do, where those principles have ever been well understood and firmly maintained: occupying the ground where those struggles commenced, which issued in the freedom of our country: surrounded as we still are, by those who bore a conspicuous part in those struggles: in view, too, of those blood-stained heights, where the friends of freedom first met the shock of battle, and where now repose the ashes of the virtuous brave: surrounding, also, these altars, where, in the days of our fathers, the prayers of many a wrestling Jacob, in favor of the same cause, have ascended to the throne of God, and have prevailed; offering our devotions, as we do, at the present hour, among a people, who have not only prayed, but have lived like Christians; where the ministers of religion and the people of their respective charges, have, for the most part, like the primitive disciples maintained a delightful and harmonious intercourse;–can we contemplate with cold indifference, a spirit, which is at work, not only to dissolve this harmony where it exists, but which is calculated, also, to exert a most destructive influence throughout all our Towns and Churches?

Apprized of the evil, we inquire, How may it be remedied? As we would be a happy people, every encroachment upon Christian liberty, must be resisted. The resistance, where there is occasion for it, should be mild, courteous and dignified; at the same time, it should be frank and determined. It should be made, under a deep and solemn impression, that all other privileges are comparatively trifling, unless we can, unbiased and unembarrassed, continue to open our eyes upon the light of divine truth as it is communicated to us.

But why do I speak of resistance? Rather let all endeavor that any occasion for it may be unnecessary.

In order to this, be it understood, that the great questions, which, at the present day, agitate the public mind, are not to be decided by the force of authority. Men must be left, undisturbed, to enjoy the fruits of their own inquiries, and to decide for themselves. In forming our opinions, there must be mutual condescension. What we claim for ourselves, we must willingly concede to others. This must be done with good feelings; in the exercise of kind affections; in the spirit of humility; remembering that those who differ from us, no less than ourselves, have interests of infinite moment at stake.

Let it be understood, also, that with the same upright motives, in their investigations, men will arrive at extremely different results; that the members of the body of Christ, of all denominations, do “drink into the same spirit.” Guided by the word of God, and endeavoring to regulate their lives by its rules, they are aiming at the same thing. The honor of God; the peace and prosperity of society; their own salvation, and the salvation of those around them, is what they are all seeking. Let every man have the credit of good intentions, so far as it is supported by fair and honorable conduct. In addition to this, let the means of information continue to be generally diffused, and be made easy of access.

A principal artifice of the superstition of former ages, has been to keep the common people in ignorance: and in the true spirit of such a procedure, we still hear them advised, with the appearance of great seriousness, “not to read the writings, nor be present at the instructions,” of those, who in giving their own opinions of revealed truth, dissent from the common faith.

But is there any other way of dealing honestly with a rational being, at liberty to inquire for the truth, than to give him the advantages for knowing it, and leave him to judge for himself. The influence of such a course, has been tested: its good effects are visible: let it be still pursued, and we may hope, that error will vanish like the mist of the morning, before the rising sun.

If any with whom we are conversant, appear to be mistaken in their views of religion, let us endeavor to instruct them; if ignorant, let us enlighten them; if censorious, insolent, and dogmatical, in the spirit of meekness and love, let us rebuke them; but by no means, let us take upon ourselves the awfully hazardous responsibility of determining their future destiny. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

Would we see unhappy divisions multiplied: friendly intercourse interrupted: and the charities of life destroyed, then let us indulge an exclusive spirit: go on to draw dividing lines: to erect separate interests: to form parties and combinations to hunt down and devour one another.

On the other hand, would we enjoy true happiness, so far as it can be enjoyed in the present state; then in addition to our other innumerable blessings, “Let us seek the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” Believing as we are taught, that he who is not against Christ, is on his part, let us aspire to an elevation of sentiment, and a generosity of soul, which will enable us to look beyond all petty distinctions of party and system; and which will lead us in making our estimate of men, to look principally at their life and conversation. “By their fruits shall ye know them.”

All have an interest in the subject. It has been selected for the occasion, under the impression, perhaps a mistaken one, that it calls for public notice. It has been freely discussed, with the conviction, that the great principles of the Reformation, from which society has derived such a rich harvest of blessings, should ever be cherished in grateful remembrance: that every encroachment upon them should be regarded with a jealous eye: and that open opposition should with a jealous eye: and that open opposition should, if possible, be awed into silence. So important a cause, hitherto so happily maintained, we trust will never be abandoned.

We cannot but felicitate ourselves and the public, in view of the progress of Christian light and liberty, not only in our own State; but in our common country, and through the civilized world. Of this there are evident tokens. We rejoice to believe, that the time is advancing, when Christianity, unencumbered with those errors and corruptions which have been heaped upon it for ages, and no longer haunted by the demon of persecution, will everywhere prevail, and will be found in all the relations of life, to have its peculiar effects.

The subject, we trust, will be suitably noticed by our political fathers, to whom we look with confidence, in all our concerns, connected with the public peace and prosperity. To them we look, on this occasion, not for legislative interference, but for their influence as men and as Christians, who always have at heart the high interests of the State.

To determine “questions of words and names,” and ceremonies, which have been too much the subject of angry dispute and bloody contest, the enlightened Christian Magistrate will not consider a duty of his office.

In questions of conscience merely, though he may have an opinion of his own, he will not feel himself at liberty to decide for others.

And above all, will he be on his guard against lending his aid to persecutors. The conduct of the Roman Governor, in this respect, will meet the approbation of every judicious man. So far did he well, in caring for none of those things—So far, is his example worthy of imitation.

In other respects, however, his conduct is altogether the reverse of what we should expect in a wise and virtuous Magistrate. With the credentials, which the Apostle offered, Gallio was inexcusable, for not hearing him with respectful attention, and for not listening to his defense. Clothed in the pride of office, he seems not only to have been regardless of the interests of religion, but seems not to have cared, whether the accused suffered justly or unjustly.

His conduct was unbecoming a good ruler, in refusing protection, at the same time, to Sorsthenes, and, and in neglecting to quell the tumult which arose on his account.

The members of every well regulated society, have a decided interest in its welfare. The man of generous feelings, will never stand the unconcerned spectator of suffering innocence; and if clothed with authority, as he will not see the rights of conscience invaded without rebuke, so will he not suffer disorder and excess to go unpunished. In every situation, as the bold reprove of vice, he will be “a terror to evil doers, and for the praise of them, that do well.” “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” He will not forget, but with Gallio will remember, that “matters of wrong and wicked lewdness”—injustice and licentiousness, vice and immorality, are the subjects which peculiarly belong to his province; and that to restrain and suppress them, is the great object for which he is elevated to power. In dispelling the clouds that may have been gathered by ignorance, and prejudice and sin, his influence will be “as the light of the morning when the sun ariseth: even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”

He will cultivate that peace in his own breast, which in some measure composes the turbulent passions. In private life, he will be an example of the virtues of the Gospel. His public administrations will be marked with that true dignity of character, in which, honor, integrity, wisdom, disinterestedness, benevolence, and genuine patriotism, are harmoniously blended.

We look to him as the guardian of our rights, civil and religious. In every situation, in short, we expect to find in him, and exemplification of “the wisdom, which is from above; which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

With such rulers, have the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, been richly blessed, for successive generations.

Assembled on this joyful anniversary, we offer them the congratulations of the occasion. We tender them the homage of our respects. We hail them as the friends of our liberties, and of social order. We implore, in their behalf, the choicest benediction, of the Supreme Ruler.

In their deliberations and decisions, may they have the divine guidance—And in the great day of final decision may it appear, that in our respective stations, we have so discharged all relative and social duties, that in the abundant mercy of God, manifested through our Lord Jesus Christ, our works may follow us to a blessed reward.

Sermon – Election – 1822, Connecticut

Thomas Church Brownell (1779-1865) graduated from Union College in 1804. He was ordained in 1816. In 1819, he was consecrated a bishop in the Connecticut Episcopal diocese. He served as the first President of Trinity College (1824-1831). This election sermon was preached by Bishop Brownell in New Haven, CT on May 1, 1822.

SERMON,

ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURE

OF THE STATE OF

CONNECTICUT

AT THE

ANNUAL ELECTION

NEW-HAVEN,

MAY 1ST, 1822.

BY THOMAS CHURCH BROWNELL, D.D. LL.D
Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Connecticut

NEW-HAVEN:
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE.
J. Barber, printer.
1822.

SERMON.PSALM 97TH, Verse 1st.

“THE LORD REIGNETH; LET THE EARTH REJOICE.”

The Providence and government of God extend to all the affairs of men. All his dispensations are administered with unerring wisdom and justice, and dictated by unbounded goodness. These ideas should be impressed upon the minds of all men; and both nations and individuals should embrace them as the grounds of their dependence and their trust.

Our religious ancestors cultivated a deep sense of the superintending Providence of God; and were accustomed to recognize it in all the great transactions of state, not less than in the private concerns of life. It is in pursuance of a pious custom derived from them, that the supreme Magistrate, and the Legislators of this Commonwealth, have now assembled to solemnize their election to office, and to seek the direction and blessing of God, in the exercise of their high responsibilities.

It will accord, then, with the occasion on which we have met, not less than with the import of the text I have chosen, that we should devote our thoughts to that directing and controlling Providence which the Supreme Being exercises in the affairs of the world; and establish our hearts by meditating on the perfect righteousness, wisdom, and goodness, with which its dispensations are administered.—“The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.”

I. Man, in the pride and presumption of his heart, is fond of accounting for everything through the agency of second causes. Limiting his views to these, he disregards the unseen Ruler of the Universe, who gives to these causes their impulse and direction. Speculating upon national wars, he traces their origin to the ambition of princes, and the intrigues of politicians. Civil commotions, where the citizen is armed against the citizen, and where the brother’s hand is raised against the brother;–these he regards as arising from the machinations of demagogues, working on the passions of the turbulent, and on the ignorance and prejudices of the weak. Dearth and famine, he attributes to unpropitious seasons; and the “pestilence, which walketh in darkness,” he ascribes to noxious vapours, and a tainted atmosphere. These he beholds as regular effects, constantly flowing from the same causes, and he looks no further. He imagines himself prepared to explain and to decide, with perfect confidence and self complacency. He sees not, nor recognizes Him who regulates the course of nature, by laws established in infinite wisdom, and who over-rules the passions and the counsels of men to his own purposes: Him, who, “when he giveth quietness, none can make trouble:” Him, who can “make the heaven that is over our head brass, and the earth that is under our feet iron:” Who can send forth the “pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day:” Who can turn “a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”

But let not the daring atheist think in his heart, which says there is no God, that these events are fortuitous. Let not the presumptuous speculatist ascribe them merely to the disorders of the elements, and the conflicts of human passions, in opposition to the plain dictates of revelation. Reason itself, no less than revelation, declares that amidst all these disorders of nature, and the confusion of nations, there is still a presiding and controlling Intelligence, secretly bringing light from the darkness: a Divine Spirit which moves over the troubled “face of the waters,” and harmonizes the chaos of the moral world, as it did originally that of nature.

If the order and beauty, the contrivance and design, which we observe in the works of nature, evince that the world was at first created by a wise, powerful, and benevolent Being; the continuance and preservation of the course of nature, demonstrate that it is upheld, directed, and governed by the same omnipotent wisdom and counsel. The celestial bodies are still kept and guided in their appointed orbits, and no planet dashes headlong from its course, spreading desolation through the system. All the elements of which the world is composed, however repugnant to each other they may be, are preserved in their original equilibrium. The fire consumes not the air; and the water which the atmosphere elaborates from the ocean, it returns again to the same great depository. The sun still comes daily “forth from his chamber, rejoicing as a giant to run his course.” Day and night; summer and winter; seed-time and harvest, are preserved in their regular vicissitudes; and the whole course of nature, upheld and directed by the hand that created it, still moves on without pause or decay. These facts demonstrate that there is a superintending and unerring Providence, “great in counsel, and mighty in work,” that guides the motions of the heavens, and bears up the pillars of the earth;” that recruits the decays of nature, and preserves the fabric ever the same.

Nor is the Providence of God less manifest in the affairs of men, than it is in the operations of nature. He who tempered the elements of the world, and moulded the minds of men as he willed, will sway them according to his pleasure. The great revolutions which decide the fate of nations, and change the face of the world, are moved and directed by his almighty influence. “Sitting upon the circle of the earth,” he wields and guides these moral phenomena, as he directs the comet’s path through the physical system; renovating the principles of life and growth, and by ways unknown but to himself, conducting all events to the great ends for which he first designed them.

“It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,” independent of the divine concurrence. The deepest designs of the greatest politicians are often made to terminate in folly. Their counsels are distracted, their measures broken, and their plans defeated. The unjust oppressor is often ruined by the unjust oppressor, in his turn; and they who have spoiled the widow and the orphan, often leave their own widows and orphans a prey to other spoilers. In these events we cannot fail to trace the secret hand of Providence; that undiscernible hand, always wielded in righteousness, yet full of mercy and goodness; which governs and directs all the affairs of the world with unerring justice and inscrutable wisdom: which is so often opened to feed the hungry that cry for food; which is extended to relieve those who are oppressed, and to succor those who are in adversity or affliction; which “restrains the wrath of man,” checks the tide of iniquity, even when its current seems most uncontrollable, and rescues the world from confusion and distraction, by ways which no human wisdom could contrive, or force effect.

It is not merely to the great events of the world that the superintending Providence of God is confined. All things and all events are subject to his direction. As nothing is too great for the control of the Almighty, so nothing is too small for his notice. And the same providential care which preserves the balance of the universe, guides the planets in their courses, and directs the destinies of nations, suffers not a sparrow to fall to the ground unheeded, and even “numbers the very hairs of our heads.”

In the material world, the Providence of God is absolute, and independent of any concurrence or co-operation. The springs of nature are in his hand, and he moves them as he pleases. When her wheels roll on silently and harmoniously; when the rains from heaven moisten and refresh the earth, and the breezes fan the air with health, we seldom look beyond these second causes. It is when the waters descend in a deluge upon the land, and when the hurricane sweeps it with desolation, that we recognize the hand of Providence. And it is especially when we read in the sacred records of the course of nature suspended, or subverted; when we read of the sun arrested in the midst of his career, or of a dry pathway made through the midst of the sea, the waters forming a wall upon the right hand and upon the left, that we are compelled to acknowledge the existence and control of a power above nature, whose fiat everything in heaven and in earth must obey.

Towards his intelligent creatures, the Providence of God is exercised in concurrence with their own free-agency, and in consistency with their accountability. Having endowed them with the understanding to discern, and the will to choose, he does not subvert their rational powers; but his administration over them is exercised in a way which, however incomprehensible it may be to us, is still conformable to the capacities he has given them. We cannot, indeed, perceive the divine influence on our minds. We have no sense to convey to us an impression of it. It is not cognizable by our consciousness; and our knowledge of the nature and intercourse of spirits, is too imperfect to enable us to comprehend the manner, or the degree, in which it is exerted. We cannot understand the connexion between our mental faculties and our bodily organs, nor discover in what manner the volitions of our souls produce the corresponding movements of our bodies. How then shall we trace the connexion between the sovereign government of God, and the free-agency of man; or illustrate that obscure region, where they meet and blend together? “Such knowledge is too excellent for us; we cannot attain unto it.” Of this, however, we may be assured, that “though the heart of man deviseth his ways, yet the Lord directeth his steps;” and that having made man a rational and accountable creature, he governs and directs him in some way conformable to his nature, and compatible with the free exercise of his moral powers. The divine influence must, therefore, coalesce with our own free-agency. Its operations must combine with the voluntary operations of our own minds, though we are unable to distinguish or to separate them, or even to comprehend the manner in which they are exerted.

But perhaps we may properly make a distinction between God’s government of men, when considered as moral agents, and in their relation to himself, and in his government over them in their relations to society, and as the instruments of his providence, in the general government of the world.

As a moral being, it seems to be the province of the divine government, to give laws to man for the regulation of his conduct; to annex to them the proper rewards of obedience, and the punishments of disobedience; and to bestow upon him such inward supplies of grace, as may counterbalance the weakness and corruption of his fallen nature: and thus, leaving him to his freedom, to reward or punish him as he shall deserve.

But when we consider men as members of society, the consequences of their actions extend beyond themselves, and affect the condition of others. Under such circumstances, it should seem that the Providence of God must be concerned so to control and direct their actions, as may best serve the purposes of his government in the world, and conform to the deserts of those who may be affected by their conduct.

It cannot comport with the economy of divine Providence to make an individual good or bad; virtuous, or vicious, by irresistible force. But it may well accord with its dispensations, to induce men, by an unfelt influence, to do the good which they otherwise would not, and to abstain from the evil which they might be inclined to do. There will thus be a difference between the dispensation of Grace and that of Providence. The dispensation of Grace, looking chiefly to a future existence, will have for its object to ameliorate the nature of man, and make him virtuous and good, that he may be happy in another world. It can therefore admit of no greater force than is consistent with the free exercise of his moral powers. But there are general dispensations of Providence, which relate to the temporal condition of men and of nations; to the happiness or misery which may be awarded to them in the present world, for their own discipline and improvement, and to manifest the divine retributions. For such purposes, since it does not affect their future accountability, God may make individuals or nations, the mere instruments of his Providence, and the agents by which he will accomplish the wise counsels of his judgment or mercy to mankind.

In whatever unknown ways, then, the Providence of God may be exercised, in these truths we may rest: It will not destroy the freedom or accountability of his intelligent creatures: It will be administered in righteousness and mercy; and it will surely effect the great ends of his government in the world. The moral as well as the physical agent is in his hands, and he knows how to make both subservient to his gracious purposes, although both may be alike unconscious of the wonderful ministration in which they are employed.

Such seem to be the reflections suggested by the first proposition of our text—“The Lord reigneth.” The text also contains another proposition, which may be considered as a consequence of the first—“let the earth rejoice.”

II. The earth may rejoice in the government of God, because it is exercised in righteousness and mercy. Let us then proceed to a more minute consideration of the rules by which the Providence and government of God are administered.

It is a general rule, with respect to individuals, that the Providence of God is manifested in rewarding the right exercise of their moral faculties, and in punishing the abuse of them; and that men are made happy or miserable, according as they are virtuous or vicious. For the transgression of our first parents, pain, and disease, and death, were inflicted on the whole human race; as a standing monument of God’s displeasure against sin, and as a perpetual memento to mankind, of its awful consequences. If we look round upon society, we shall perceive that almost all the evils which it suffers, are the direct consequences of disobedience to the divine commands. Were each individual to “do to others as he would have other do to him,” the most perfect equity would become universal, and it would be impossible that anyone should suffer wrong. And were every man to “love his neighbour as himself,” the most perfect benevolence would prevail throughout the world. Instead of those malignant passions which destroy the harmony of social intercourse, every heart would be inspired with peace and love: and instead of those bitter contentions which self-interest and ambition create, the only emulation among men would be, who should contribute most to the diffusion of an universal charity. Thus the obedience and virtue of individuals, would ensure their own happiness and that of the community.

But since men will not obey the salutary laws of God, and since the present world is a state of discipline and probation, the economy of Providence has ordained pain and misery as the consequences of guilt; in order to check the devices of the wicked, and to deter the good man from transgression. Yet while it is the general dispensation of Providence, that happiness shall be the concomitant of a life of righteousness, while misery is attendant on guilt, the rule is not so universal as to destroy human liberty. It does not always make a man’s virtue and piety the exact measure of his temporal happiness—much less that of his worldly prosperity. The ungodly sometimes “prosper in the world, and increase in riches,” while the righteous man appears to have “cleansed his heart in vain.” Yet we need not distrust the righteous Providence of God. We need not become “envious at the foolish,” nor “stumble at the prosperity of the wicked.” When we take a more enlarged view of the divine government, and come to “understand their end,” we shall find that they ever “stand on slippery places,” and that they are often “brought to sudden desolation.” And even in these deviations from the general law of Providence, we shall discern the traces of that more perfect dispensation which will take place in another world. We shall read in them the intimations of that great day of final retribution, appointed by the Judge of “quick and dead,” when “for the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find, according to his ways.”

It is, therefore, by connecting the dispensation of both worlds together, that we learn rightly to estimate the awards of Providence. Thus we shall learn, that though wickedness may for a time triumph, while goodness lies prostrate, and is trampled upon, yet there is, in the end, an indissoluble connexion between virtue and happiness—between vice and misery; and that justice is ever the great rule of the divine government.

The Providence of God with respect to nations, differs in one important particular, from the measure of its dispensations with regard to individuals. Its rewards and punishments extend not beyond the present state. In their national capacity they must receive the award of their deserts. They cannot await the retribution of the general judgment.

Human laws punish the individual, to preserve the peace of society. A nation stands in the same relation to the aggregate of mankind, that an individual does to the community; and if it violate the laws which the Supreme Being has imposed to secure the peace and happiness of the world, the good of the great society of nations requires that it should receive the penalties of its guilt. For national transgressions, therefore, God inflicts national punishments. He chastises sinful nations with the scourge of war. He sends upon them the blight, and the mildew; famine and pestilence; and he takes from them the blessings which they have abused or despised. “Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen!” Why? “Because their tongue and their doings were against the Lord.”—“Her staff and her stay is taken away from her, and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, and the honourable men, and the counselor—for she cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

But though there be this difference in the dispensation of Providence to individuals, and towards nations, yet the rule of the divine government is ever the same, and the same great law is extended to both:–The practice of virtue and religion is rewarded with the blessings of Heaven, while wickedness and impiety as surely bring down the divine punishments upon the guilty.

So manifest has been the economy of Providence, in this respect, that it has not escaped the observation even of the Heathen. Such nations have always esteemed it necessary to be just and good, not merely from a sense of present advantage, but from a firm conviction that it was required of them by the gods. And if we trace the history of these nations, we shall find the brightest periods of their glory, to have been when this sentiment was the most deeply impressed on the public mind, and when the bonds of civil life were sanctified by a feeling of their dependence upon Heaven. The illustrious nation, which of all others most interests the youthful imagination;–of this nation it has been well remarked, that “if in many things the Romans were inferior to others, in piety to the gods they were superior to all.” Whether contending for their national safety, or warring for victory and conquest, it was the first care both of their senate and the people, to propitiate the deities, who were supposed to be the protectors of Rome: and nothing could inspire confidence in their generals, or their armies, if any of the prescribed rites had been neglected. When their eagles were sent forth to battle, they were first consecrated to the gods. And if disaster or defeat attended them, these were supposed to be the consequence of some neglected rite, or of the prevalence of national vice and impiety. These superstitions, however absurd or extravagant they may appear, seem yet to be the result of some impression of the retributive justice of Heaven, derived from an observation of the course of human affairs, or stamped originally on the creature man, by the Creator himself:–A sentiment, however, which causes the most ignorant tribes to strive to propitiate the favour of their deities, and deprecate their displeasure, through a thousand erring ways.

But if the natural powers of reason and observation, or the remains of some original light, still shedding its feeble ray over the moral world, enabled the very heathen nations to perceive (though “through a glass darkly”) that there must be some Superior Power which presided over the world;–a power on which they were dependent, and to which they were accountable;–which rewarded their virtue and their piety with blessings, and sent down its punishments for their vice and irreligion; how manifest must all these truths appear under the clear light of revelation?

In the pages of the Holy Scriptures, we are everywhere instructed in the great truth that “righteousness exalteth a nation,” but that “sin is a reproach to any people.” This lesson is inculcated by direct precept, and by historical instruction; and above all, by the dispensations of Providence towards that distinguished nation—so long the “peculiar people” of God. By his servant Moses, he “set before them blessing and cursing;”—the rewards of righteousness, and the penalties of sin. By his prophets, he expostulated with them for their disobedience, and warned them of his impending judgments. When they kept his laws, and sought the Lord in righteousness, he enlarged their borders, and blessed them with prosperity. When they rebelled, and worshipped other gods, he chastised them with famine and with pestilence, with the sword and with captivity. And notwithstanding all their perverseness, and incorrigible wickedness, it was not till they had filled up the measure of their guilt, by the rejection and crucifixion of his beloved Son, that the arm of divine justice fell upon their land, annihilated their national existence, and scattered the remnant of the inhabitants among all people that dwell upon the face of the earth.

If we except the Jewish nation, we shall find no portion of the world where the hand of divine Providence has been so clearly discernible, or where its dispensations have been marked with such distinguished mercies, as in our own happy country. When we look back upon the history of two short centuries, and trace the progress of the little bands of pilgrims which first landed on our shores;–when we see them rapidly converting the savage wilderness into fertile fields; while the tide of population spreads along the coasts, and swells beyond the western mountains;–when we see this people successfully sustaining the arduous struggle of the war of Independence, and advancing in the path of national greatness, till they become a mighty Republic of freemen, with the noblest literary and religious institutions, and with the most perfect government under heaven, we cannot fail to perceive, that if ever a nation experienced the peculiar favour of providence, we are that people. And adopting the language of the Legislator of Israel, we may say, “What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is, in all that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous?”

Let these distinguished national blessings, excite in us a corresponding national gratitude; and let us cherish the consideration, that the destinies of our country are still in the hands of the same superintending Providence. And while we thus discharge the first of duties which religion enjoins, we shall also be laying the foundation of the most exalted patriotism. We shall learn to love our country, not merely on account of the selfish interests which bind us to it, but because it is the favoured place appointed by the Almighty for the development of our physical and intellectual faculties, and for the range of our moral affections; and because we can find no worthier resting-place for these affections, except in that better country, reserved for the righteous, in the heavens. Such a patriotism connects in one view, both the present and the future world, and combines its influence with that of religion, to induce us to act our parts well here, with a reference to the rewards of eternity.

According to the principles which have now been advanced, and if the divine government be administered in conformity to the rules which have been stated, it follows, that whether we consider ourselves as individuals, as members of the community, or as Legislators, we have all of us important duties to perform.—If the superintending Providence of God, be exercised in a way compatible with our freedom and accountability, it becomes our duty to concur and co-operate with its gracious designs, and to act in conformity to the righteous laws of its administration.

As individuals, it becomes our duty to live “soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present world;” to render a faithful and willing obedience to all the divine commands, and cordially to embrace that way of salvation, through the righteousness and atonement of a crucified Redeemer, which is revealed in the Gospel;–and then, submissively and confidingly, to await the issue of the divine counsels. Such a life, if it do not bring to us all that temporal happiness which the general economy of Providence allows us to hope for, will still be attended with the richest consolations; and in that future world, where the righteous dispensations of Providence shall be consummated, it will insure to us everlasting felicity.

As members of the community, and as Legislators, it becomes our duty to promote the principles of equity and justice, to cherish the public morals, and to cultivate a fervent and enlightened national piety; as forming, according to the order of Providence, the only sure basis of national prosperity.

The first principles of our private and our public duties are, therefore, the same. They coincide in their elements, and are alike connected with the cultivation of morality and religion. And if the blessedness of individuals is the reward of a life of righteousness, so also the liberty, the prosperity, and the stability of nations, are founded on the moral and religious character of the individuals who compose them.—If our country is now free, prosperous, and happy, it is the award of Providence for the piety and the virtues of our forefathers. The blessings can only be preserved and perpetuated by the virtues and the piety of their descendants.

In revolving the history of past times, we perceive that the most distinguished nations have had their periods of prosperity and decline. Many of the greatest empires which have excited the admiration of the world, are now annihilated, and nothing remains of them but their name. Some have fallen the victims of civil dissensions; others have been swept away by the tide of conquest: and some have dwindled into insignificance, by the natural progress of luxury and effeminacy. In the same pages which relate the decline and dissolution of these nations, we read of the general corruption of public morals, and the degeneracy of national character, which preceded their fall. It is the order of Providence, that in the moral, as well as in the natural world, the same causes shall produce the same effects. So long as the principles of a pure morality, and an enlightened religion, are cherished by individuals, and diffused throughout a nation, that nation will remain free, prosperous and happy. But whenever the people become dissolute and licentious; when the sanctuaries of legislation and of justice shall become venal and corrupt, and the temples of religion shall be neglected, or polluted by infidelity, the degradation and final overthrow of such a people, will be sure to mark the impartial justice of the divine administration.

While Heaven protects and blesses our country, then, let us bear it impressed on our minds, that the rewards of righteousness, will not be continued to the ungrateful, the vicious, or the profane. Let us carefully practice ourselves, and strive to diffuse throughout the community, the principles of a sound morality; let us cherish in our hearts, and profess before the altars of our God, the doctrines of his pure and undefiled religion; and let us appropriate to ourselves, and conscientiously observe, the exhortation of Jehovah to the leader of his ancient people;–“Only observe to do according to all the law which I command thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left;–so shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and so shalt thou have good success.”

Sermon – House of Representatives – 1822

Jared Sparks (1789-1866) did not receive much formal education. He worked as a carpenter and school teacher at age 18 and began studying math and Latin at age 20. Sparks attended Phillips Exeter Academy for about a year but had to leave the school because of financial reasons. He attended the Harvard Divinity School (1817-1819) while also working as a tutor. He was witness to a bombardment of the British during the War of 1812 and later wrote an account of it. Sparks was also a chaplain for the U.S. Congress for a year. He resigned from the ministry profession in 1823 and began working as a newspaper editor and became well-known as a historian.

SERMON,

PREACHED IN THE
Hall of the House of Representatives
IN CONGRESS,

WASHINGTON CITY, MARCH 3, 1822;
OCCASIONED BY THE
DEATH OF THE HON. WM. PINKNEY,
LATE A MEMBER OF THE SENATE OF THE
UNITED STATES.

BY JARED SPARKS, A. M.
Minister of the First Independent Church of Baltimore; and Chaplain to the House
Of Representatives in Congress.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

WASHINGTON CITY:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DAVIS AND FORCE,
FRANKLIN’S HEAD, PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE.
1822.

IT is proper to premise, that the following Sermon was not intended as a funeral discourse, nor written with a view to publication. The death of so distinguished a man as Mr. PINKNEY, made a strong impression on the public mind, and it was thought a suitable occasion on the Sabbath following to dwell on some of the topics, and impress some of the truths, which were in harmony with the feelings so recently excited by this melancholy event. The Author hopes, that the reflections into which he was led, may not be unacceptable nor unprofitable even to some, who took no part in the temporary excitement of the occasion. Yet he has no disposition to obtrude them on unwilling hearers; and if any apology be necessary, it must be found in the partiality of his friends, at whose solicitation he suffers this discourse to go before the public.

SERMON.
Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Job. Xvi. 10.
There are few events, either in the course of nature or of society, which may not contribute to our instruction and improvement. All the works of God are teaching as us useful lessons, unfolding some new treasures of wisdom and affording kindly aids to the best efforts of men to strengthen the intellect, refine the feelings, amend the heart. Such are the ways of Providence, the wise, the inscrutable disposition of things. Every vicissitude in the divine government presents a lesson for our benefit. We learn wisdom by experience; trials improve our tempers; sufferings subdue our passions; disappointments moderate our desires. All the incidents of life teach us to live better and happier; and especially such incidents, as are calculated to enlist the feelings, stir up the affections, as are calculated to enlist the feelings, stir up the affections, and rouse us from the slumbers of a false security.

No object is so insignificant, no event so trivial, as not to carry with it a moral and religious influence. The trees that spring out of the earth are moralists. They are emblems of the life of man. They grow up; they put on the garments of freshness and beauty. Yet these continue but for a time, decay seizes upon the root and the trunk and they gradually go back to their original elements. The blossoms that open to the rising sun, but are closed at night, never to open again are moralists. The seasons are moralists, teaching the lessons of wisdom, manifesting the wonders of the Creator, and calling on man to reflect on his condition and destiny. History is a perpetual moralist, disclosing the annals of past ages, showing the impotency of pride and greatness, the weakness of human power, the folly of human wisdom. The daily occurrences in society are moralists. The success or failure of enterprise, the prosperity of the bad, the adversity of the good, the disappointed hopes of the sanguine and active, the sufferings of the virtuous, the caprices of fortune in every condition of life; all these are fraught with moral instructions, and if properly applied, will fix the power of religion in the heart.

But there is a greater moralist still; and that is, Death. Here is a teacher, who speaks in a voice, which none can mistake; who comes with a power, which none can resist. Since we last assembled in this place, as the humble and united worshippers of God, this stern messenger, this mysterious agent of Omnipotence, has come among our numbers, and laid his withering hand one, whom we have been taught to honor and respect, whose fame was a nation’s boast, whose genius was a brilliant spark from the ethereal fire, whose attainments were equaled only by the grasp of his intellect, the profoundness of his judgment, the exuberance of his fancy, the magic of his eloquence.

It is not my present purpose to ask your attention to any picture drawn in the studied phrase of eulogy. I aim not to describe the commanding powers and the eminent qualities, which conducted the deceased to the superiority he held, and which were at once the admiration and the pride of his countrymen. I shall not attempt to analyze his capacious mind, nor to set forth the richness and variety of its treasures. The trophies of his genius are a sufficient testimony of these, and constitute a monument to his memory, which will stand firm and conspicuous amidst the faded recollections of future ages.

The present is not the time to recount the sources or the memorials of his greatness. He is gone. The noblest of heaven’s gifts could not shield even him from the arrows of the destroyer. And this behest of the Most High is a warning summons to us all. When death comes into our doors, we ought to feel that he is near. When his irreversible sentence falls on the great and the renowned, when he severs the strongest bonds, which can bind mortals to earth, we ought to feel that our own hold on life is slight, that the thread of existence is slender, that we walk amidst perils, where the next wave in the agitated sea of life may baffle all our struggles, and carry us back into the dark bosom of the deep.

Let us employ the present season in a few reflections on the solemn event to which we have alluded. Let us dwell for a few moments on some of the sentiments and feelings, which it ought to revive. We cannot bring the dead back to life. We can do nothing for them. They are beyond the reach of mortal power. But we may do something for ourselves. What has happened to them must happen to us; and their departure, if we will not be too deaf to hear, sounds to us, and loudly sounds, the solemn note of preparation. What effect, then, should this breach, which has been made in our numbers, have upon us, who still remain?

I. In the first place, it should impress us with the vanity of human things, and show us the folly of limiting our thoughts, and chaining or affections to this world.

When we look at the monuments of human greatness, and the powers of human intellect, all that genius has invented, or skill executed, or wisdom matured, or industry achieved, or labor accomplished; when we trace these through the successive gradations of human advancement, what are they? On these are founded the pride, glory, dignity of man. And what are they? Compared with the most insignificant work of God they are nothing, less than nothing. The mightiest works of man are daily and hourly becoming extinct. The boasted theories of religion, morals, government, which took the wisdom, the ingenuity of ages to invent, have been proved to be shadowy theories only. Genius has wasted itself in vain. The visions it raised have vanished at the touch of truth. Nothing is left but the melancholy certainty that all things human are imperfect, and must fail and decay. And man himself, whose works are so fragile, where is he? The history of his works is the history of himself. He existed; he is gone.

The nature of human life cannot be more forcibly described, than in the beautiful language of eastern poetry, which immediately precedes the test. “Man, that is born of woman, is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down; he flees also as a shadow and continues not. There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man wastes away; yea, man gives up the ghost, and where is he?” Such are the striking emblems of human life. Such is the end of all that is mortal in man. And what a question is here for us all to reflect upon! “Man gives up the ghost, and where is he?”

Yes, when we see the flower of life fade on its stalk, and all its comeliness depart, and all its freshness wither; when we see the bright eye grow dim, and the rose on the cheek lose its hue; when we hear the voice faltering its last accents, and see the energies of nature paralyzed; when we perceive the beams of intelligence growing fainter and fainter on the countenance, and the last gleam of life extinguished; when we deposit all that is mortal of a fellow being in the dark cold chamber of the grave, and drop a pitying tear at a spectacle so humiliating so mournful; then let us put the solemn question to our own souls, Where is he? His body is concealed in the earth, but where is the spirit?

Where is the intellect that could look through the works of God, and catch inspiration from the divinity, which animates and pervades the whole? Where the powers that could command, the attractions that could charm; where the boast of humanity, wisdom, learning, wit, eloquence, the pride of skill, the mystery of art, the creations of fancy, the brilliancy of thought; where the virtues that could win, and the gentleness that could soothe; where the mildness of temper, the generous affections, the benevolent feelings, all that is great and good, all that is noble, and lovely, and pure in the human character, – where are these? They are gone. We can see nothing. The eye of faith only can dimly penetrate the region to which they have fled. Lift the eye of fait; follow the light of the Gospel; and let your delighted vision be lost in the glories of the immortal world. Behold, there, the spirits of the righteous dead rising up into newness of life, gathering brightness and strength, unencumbered by the weight of mortal clay, and mortal sorrows, enjoying a happy existence, and performing the holy service of their Maker.

But let not the visions of faith deceive us away from the reality. What we shall be hereafter we cannot know. To die the death of the righteous is our only security. To be prepared for this death is our chief concern.

II. Again, the instance of mortality, which we have witnessed, should cause us to reflect on the certainty of death.

If we were as thoughtful as we ought to be, we should need no admonition of a truth so obvious and trite as this. The undeviating ways of God in his providence, bear testimony to the declaration, that it is “appointed unto all men once to die.” But we are not thoughtful. We suffer the interests of the world to absorb every other. Although none of us has so far lost his reason, as ever to flatter himself, that he shall not die; yet how do we live? Like Job, we all know, that God “will bring us to death, and to the house appointed for all living;” but what influence does a truth so awful and impressive have on our thoughts, feelings, characters? We are apt to talk and think of death, as if it were a thing with which we have no intimate concern; an evil, which befalls others and to be lamented, but which is not likely to overtake us, nor to interrupt our worldly schemes. We treat death as a stranger, an unwelcome intruder, on whom we have no time to bestow attention, and whom we desire to shun.

But why this backwardness, this aversion to become familiar with an idea, which we know must be realized? We charge ourselves with folly and imprudence, if we undertake any enterprise without thought and preparation. We are thoughtful of our most trivial gratifications; we are provident of all the means of enjoyment and pleasure; we deliberate with the utmost caution on everything, which is likely to affect our earthly condition. But when we come to the great change, which is to make us beings of another world, to fix our eternal destiny, and to bring us trembling criminals before the throne of a holy and perfect God, we are then supine, indifferent, careless, blind. How strange is the inconsistency, the infatuation of man! How little does he know himself, and yet what a wretched use does he make of this knowledge, imperfect as it is! Let us be more wise; and when we see those who stand by our sides, sinking around us almost without a warning, and taking their flight to the land of spirits, never to return, may we heed the admonition, and feel that the way is preparing for us, in which we must soon follow.

III. Death should be allowed to awaken the sympathy, and put in exercise the pious affections, and tender feelings of the living. In other words, it is right that we should mourn for the dead. Nature teaches us this lesson. The Gospel and the example of Christ, confirm it.

There has been from early times, it is true, a rude and ungracious philosophy in the world, which is at war with this consoling dictate of nature. But this is nothing more, than the pride of selfishness contending against the purest and most elevated principles of the mind. If there be philosophers, who desire no support but the lofty resolutions and stern stoicism of their own minds, they are not to be envied. If there be others, who never yield to the tide of misfortune, whose hearts are too hard to be pierced with the darts of sorrow, they are not to be envied. We do not believe happiness consists in a struggle to get the mastery of our most refined affections. This is not human nature. It is he unnatural growth of passions tutored to pervert their office, and sink the tone and character of the mind below its native standard.

There is no fortitude, no magnanimity, in the hardness of heart, which refuses the tear of sympathy and mournful remembrance to flow, when a fellow-being is called from life; when our fondest attachments are severed, and the ties of our dearest friendships are torn in sunder; when a gloom is thrown over the bright visions of hope, and the whole world seems a wilderness, a boundless waste, without one green spot to revive our drooping spirits. When we look around us, and see the trophies of death, and behold among them all that we most highly valued and cherished, it is not in human nature to resist these calls on the sensibility of the soul. God expects no such testimonies of our fortitude, as will destroy the holiest sympathies of our nature.

Let no one call that weakness, which stirs up the fountains of sorrow, sinks deeply into the heart, and causes a tear to fall on the grave of the lamented dead. Let no one call that weakness, unless he would blot out the light of heavenly peace, and mar the image of God within him; unless he would take from the mind its divine graces, and from the heart its most amiable virtues and liveliest joys; unless he would destroy the most refined pleasures and the sweetest charities of life, and extinguish the principles, which contribute to humanize our natures, and to fit us for heaven.

IV. Death is a monitor, which should make us reflect on the excellence and value of our religion, as revealed in the Gospel.

It is here, and here only, that life and immortality are brought to light. It is here, that we are taught the certainty of a future life. In the Gospel we learn, that the spirit, which constitutes our present existence, will live throughout all future ages. How infinitely is our condition improved, in this respect, by the religion of the Savior! We know, that we are living for eternity. The God of all truth has told us so. How full of consolation is this assurance, when our friends depart from us, and the places, which have known them in this world, shall know them no more. How could our sinking spirits be supported in many of the trials, which a Christian is called to endure, if we had no hope beyond the grave?

The promises of the Gospel will never fail. The truths, which have been revealed from heaven, published by divine wisdom, and established by the miracles of Christ, will stand as firm as the pillars of the universe, or the throne of Omnipotence. Such truths inspire a confidence, which no vicissitude of time can destroy. The pious mind will make it the anchor of safety, and render thanksgiving to God for the manifestations of his love, in disclosing the prospects of a future world, where all cares shall cease to trouble, where the righteous shall dwell in peace and happiness; and where all voices shall join in songs of praise and adoration to the High and Holy One, whose presence fills the Heavens.

To prepare men for death is the object of the religion, which God commissioned his Son to publish and preach. For the accomplishment of this important purpose, Jesus taught, and suffered, and died; for this, was he empowered from heaven to prove the truth and divinity of his doctrines; for this did he submit to a life of privation, want and pain, endure the reproaches of a scornful world, the tortures of wicked men, the pangs of expiring nature on the cross; for this was he raised from the dead, and taken in glorious triumph to the heavens; and for this does he still continue to be our mediator and intercessor with the Father of all mercies. For this were the Apostles, according to his promise, endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and enabled to teach with power and conviction the truths, which they had learned from their divine master. In Christ, “the grace of God, which brings salvation, hath appeared unto all men.” He came to “redeem us from iniquity,” to restore us to the favor and holy service of God. All the glorious displays of divine wisdom and power, which were manifested in his life and doctrines, were designed as means to remove the stains of sin, to take away the debasement of moral depravity, to disarm death of its terrors, and to fit the soul for that untried state of being, which must be experienced in the ages yet to come.

Shall we not turn our minds to heaven in humble adoration and joyful praise to the Almighty, for his great goodness and mercy, in providing these means of our future safety and well being? Shall we not lift up our thoughts with unfeigned reverence, love, and gratitude to the Savior of men, for what he has done and suffered to execute the high commission of his Father, to redeem our souls from guilt, reconcile us to God, and make plain the way of salvation to a sinful world? And above all, shall we not show the reality of our faith, the sincerity of our professions, and our deep sense of obligation, by adhering to the precepts, and obeying the sacred commands of Jesus, by following, with all humility, zeal, and piety, his purifying example, by imbibing his spirit, and cultivating his temper? It is a declaration equally reasonable, solemn, and certain, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” The religion of the Redeemer, if we will embrace it in its truth, and accept its conditions, will make us holy, and qualify us to see the Lord, and dwell forever in the presence of his glory.

Let our reflections on death have a weighty and immediate influence on our own minds and characters. We cannot be too soon, nor too entirely prepared to render the account, which we must all render to our Maker and Judge. All things earthly must fail us. The riches, power, possessions, and gifts of the world will vanish from our sight; friends and relatives will be left behind; our present support will be taken away; our strength will become weakness; and the earth itself, and all its pomps, and honors, and attractions, will disappear. Why have we been spared even till this time? We know not why, nor yet can we say that a moment is our own. The summons for our departure may now be recorded in the book of heaven. The angel may now be on his way to execute his solemn commission. Death may already have marked us for his victims. But whether sooner or later, the event will be equally awful, and demand the same preparation.

One, only, will then be our rock and our safety. The kind Parent, who has upheld us all our days, will remain our unfailing support. With him is no change. He is unmoved from age to age; his mercy, as well as his being, endures forever; and if we rely on him, and live in obedience to his laws, all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, and all sorrow banished from our hearts. If we are rebels to his cause, slaves to vice, and followers of evil, we must expect the displeasure of a Holy God, the just punishment of our folly and wickedness; for a righteous retribution will be awarded to the evil as well as the good.

Let it be the highest, the holiest, the unceasing concern of each one of us to live the life, that we may be prepared to die the death of the righteous; that when they, who come after us, shall ask, Where is he? – unnumbered voices shall be raised to testify, that, although his mortal remains are mouldering in the cold earth, his memory is embalmed in the cherished recollections of many a friend, who knew and loved him; and all shall say, with tokens of joy and confident belief, – If God be just, and piety be rewarded, his pure spirit is now at rest in the regions of the blessed.

END.

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