Categories: Historical Documents

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This election sermon was preached by Rev. Dan Huntington on May 12, 1814.

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THE LOVE OF JERUSALEM, THE PROSPERITY OF
A PEOPLE

A

SERMON,

PREACHED AT THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

HARTFORD,

MAY 12, 1814.

BY DAN HUNTINGTON,
PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN MIDDLETOWN.

HARTFORD:
PRINTED BY HUDSON AND GOODWIN
1814.

 

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford in said State, on the second Thursday of May, A. D. 1814.
ORDERED, That the Hon. Asher Miller, and Elijah Hubbard, Esq. return the thanks of this Assembly to the Reverend DAN HUNTINGTON, for his Sermon preached before this Assembly on the 12th day of May instant; and request a copy thereof that it may be printed.

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

ELECTION SERMON.

PSALM cxxii. 6.
They shall prosper that love thee.

THE object placed before us in this promise is prosperity. The affection connected with, and leading to it, is love. The context shows us that it is the love of Jerusalem. “They shall prosper that love thee.”

The Psalm which contains these words was written by David, to be publicly sung by his countrymen assembled in that capital, to celebrate some public festival. “Our feet” they said, “shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord; to the testimony of Israel; to give thanks unto the name of the Lord: for there are set thrones of judgment; the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee.”

WHAT IS INTENDED BY PROSPERITY? And

WHY MAY IT BE EXPECTED IN THE WAY HERE MENTIONED?—These are the two leading inquiries which will now direct our meditations.

By prosperity, we commonly understand success in our exertions, or the attainment of our wishes. If favoured in our enterprises, be they what they may, we think ourselves prosperous. In this general sense, the term is often used in the scriptures; and is there applied to the enemies of God, as well as his friends. The wicked are there represented, in many instances, as gratified to the extent of their most sanguine hopes. “They have more than heart could wish. They increase in riches. Their eyes stand out with fatness. Their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.”

Affluence, popularity, talents, health, long life, and an easy death, are often granted to the very basest of men. The unprincipled libertine, the sordid worldling, the wretch who would rise to influence upon the ruin of his country, the unbelieving and abominable of every description,–“who set their mouth against the heavens, and say—how doth God know, and is there knowledge with the Most High?—Behold these are the ungodly that prosper in the world.” They, as often as others, perhaps, have the attainment of their wishes and exertions, in whatever they set their hearts upon for happiness. Such prosperity, however, is undesirable. It is “the prosperity of fools,” which “shall destroy them.” “I was envious at the foolish,” says the Psalmist, “when I saw the prosperity of the wicked: until I went into the sanctuary of God: “Then understood I their end.”—When they have done the work, for which they were raised up; accomplished the period of their trial; and their characters are sufficiently developed, “they are brought into desolation in a moment;” and the advantages, with which they have been favoured, but have abused, all turn against them.

On the other hand, desirable prosperity is the attainment of our wishes, in whatever is conducive to real, permanent happiness. This is the prosperity, promised in the text; and is applicable, both to individuals and communities. The promise, you notice, is without limitation. It is as much as to say, all shall prosper, in whatever connexion, or under whatever circumstances, we contemplate them, who have the qualification mentioned.

As applied to individuals, it imports, that their souls shall be in health: it applies, peace of mind: reputation: property, so far as it is a blessing:–all, in short, that contributes to substantial enjoyment in life; consolation in death; and blessedness in immortality. Strictly speaking, it implies advancement in all these things: or the means of happiness, in a progressive state. This prosperity, being peculiar to the friends of God, is what we find spoken of in his word, as enjoyed by his servants, eminent for piety. Thus, it is said of Joseph, that “the Lord was with him, “and he was a prosperous man.” So it is said of Solomon, that “he prospered:” of Hezekiah, also: of Daniel: and of others.

As applied to communities, everything is included in the promise, which is conducive to national glory and happiness. That people may be said to prosper, who, elevated as to their national character, and happily exempted from national judgments, are, under the divine smiles, making improvement in their laudable pursuits; and who, aiming to regulate themselves by the great and leading principles of revealed religion, feel, in every grade and department of life, the benign influence of those principles.

Unmingled happiness, indeed, derived from these sources, to people have ever yet found, nor may ever expect to find in a world of sin. The promise of the text includes as large a portion of happiness, both private and social; political and religious; as may be expected to fall to the lot of mortals, in the present state. And who does not desire such prosperity? Who, that has the feelings of a man, does not wish it, for himself? Who, that justly claims the character of a patriot, does not wish it for his country? How readily are they, that have been the instruments of procuring it for us, whether in public, or in private stations, requited with our gratitude, our esteem, and our confidence!—And not without reason: for prosperity, we see, in the best sense of it, is increasing happiness. Our next enquiry is,

WHY MAY IT BE EXPECTED IN THE WAY MENTIONED IN THE TEXT?

But what is that way? Whence are we encouraged to hope for this prosperity? Is it a thing of chance? Is it to be derived from human means? Is it the effect of good calculations merely? May it be expected, from common endowments and efforts? Shall we look for it, from armies, and from navies? Shall we look for it, from splendid achievements in the field, or from brilliant talents in the cabinet? Good is the word of the Lord, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Put not your trust in princes, nor “in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” The promise is to none of these. It is, as has been observed, to those, that love Jerusalem.

The literal Jerusalem, it will be remembered, was redeemed by David, the captain of the hosts of Israel, out of the hands of the Jebusites, to be God’s city; the holy place of his rest; where he would dwell forever. It was the place of the royal residence, and the city of the Jewish solemnities. There was the throne of the house of David. There was the temple. There the Most High established his worship. Thither the tribes resorted. There was statedly heard the voice of praise and thanksgiving. It was a place, for the protection of which, God repeatedly, and in a wonderful manner, interposed by his providence. The extraordinary regard, which he was pleased to testify toward it, ennobled this metropolis, above all other cities, however populous or magnificent. It was a city which, however contemptible, at times, it might appear, in the eyes of the world, was favoured with the special presence of her God. Here, by pouring out his soul a sacrifice, the beloved Saviour made atonement for the sins of the world. Here, was first heard the glad news of reconciliation with God, for penitent sinners in the name of Jesus. It was the city, which God had appointed to be the place for the first gathering of the converts to Christianity, after the ascension of the Saviour: the place of that remarkable effusion of the Holy Spirit, on the Apostles and primitive Christians, which took place, on the day of Pentecost: the place, also, whence the Gospel was to sound forth, into all the world. What it was, however, is but of little importance to us, since it has lain, now, for many centuries, in ruins, excepting that it was a lively emblem of the Spiritual Jerusalem. It was, doubtless, in all these respects, the most eminent type of the Christian Church, with which the people of God were formerly favoured. Accordingly, when speaking of the Church of God, how often do the sacred writers call it by the names Jerusalem; and “the city of the living God!” Unclothed of metaphor, then, the promise is to those, who have at heart the great interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom. That people will be truly prosperous, where the Gospel, and its institutions, are suitably regarded; and where the religion of Christ, in its several branches, is treated, as being what it is, “The one thing needful.” These, as will be more fully seen, in other parts of the discourse, are the things included in that love of Jerusalem, which is the condition of the promise.

It is evident, then, whence we are to look for prosperity. The enquiry now returns with force—Why are we to look for it, in the way here mentioned? Principally, I think for two reasons. Because it is the way, in which it always has been obtained: and because in the temper of heart, implied in the affection here specified, and in that tenour of life, which is the natural fruit of it, are found the only ingredients of true prosperity. It is the way, in which it always has been obtained.

That communities, as well as individuals, have ever enjoyed prosperity, in proportion to their attachment to the cause of God, in the world, and to their zeal in promoting its interests, is a fact which, from investigation, will be found incontrovertible. The experience of all past ages, in concurrence with the declarations and promises of Jehovah, evinces it. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” equally to nations, as to individuals. “Them that honour me” saith the Most High, “I will honour.” “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land,” is a promise, by no means limited to Israel. Look the history, however, is more replete with instruction upon this point, than that of the Jews. Contrast their condition, then, with that of the nations around them, and you see the subject strikingly illustrated. “To them, pertained the adoption; and the glory; and the covenants; and the giving of the law; and the promises.” They were exalted to heaven, by their privileges, which they, often, shamefully abused. They, sometimes, fell into unbelief and idolatry. But as a people their attachment to Jerusalem was habitually ardent; and their prosperity, in conformity to the promises of God, was answerable to their piety.They, sometimes, fell into unbelief and idolatry. But as a people their attachment to Jerusalem was habitually ardent; and their prosperity, in conformity to the promises of God, was answerable to their piety.

The promises made them, were such as the following: “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments and do them; then will I give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit: and your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight. And I will walk among you; and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” These, and promises similar to them, were renewed, and often repeated to this people. What can be more explicit? But so exactly were they accomplished, that what is contained in them may be considered a king of prophetical abstract of their future history. So apparent was it, that the Lord was with them, to protect and bless them, that surrounding nations stood in awe of them. The remarkable prosperity, that attended them, in everything, convinced those, who beheld it, that they were under the immediate care of the God, whom they worshipped, and whose covenant people they professed to be.

We find an illustration of the same fact, from comparing particular periods, in the history of this people, when religion pervaded the different ranks in society, with other periods, when religion was generally neglected. What prosperity attended them, for instance when they came up, a handful comparatively, but came up in the strength of the God of armies, to take possession of Canaan! “The hearts of their enemies,” whither they went, “the kings of the Amorites, and the kings of the Canaanites, even melted,” when they heard what the Lord had done, and was doing for them. “The very stars, in their courses, fought for them,” till having completed their victories, and overcome innumerable difficulties and dangers, they obtained quiet possession of the goodly land, an inheritance for themselves, and their children. Their pious leader at the close of life, having assembled the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers, is careful to remind them of the covenant faithfulness of God, in all this, and to impress it upon them, that their future prosperity would depend upon the continuance of their obedience. “Behold,” says Joshua, “this day, I am going the way of all the earth, and ye know, in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things, which the Lord your God spake concerning you: all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Be ye therefore very courageous, to keep, and to do, all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom, to the right hand, or to the left. But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done, unto this day.” As their success, in every laudable undertaking, had hitherto been according to their reverence for God, and his institutions, so should it be, in all future periods. And so it proved. How exactly was it, according to the word of the Lord, by his prophet! “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him: and if ye seek him, he will be found of you, while ye be with him: and “if ye seek him, he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” While they manifested a holy zeal for God, and for the honour of his house, they were, eminently, that happy people, whose God is the Lord.” When they sought him, he was found of them, and delighted to own, to bless, and to build them up. On the other hand, when they generally violated their covenant obligations, became unmindful of the God of their mercies, and forsook him, then did he forsake them. Forsaken have they now seen, for ages, and, in their different dispersions, stand as an awful beacon, to warn men everywhere of the danger of disobedience and unbelief.

From what has taken place, since the Messiah’s advent, we gain still further proof of the point in question. Why have nations, professedly Christian, been preserved, like God’s chosen people of old, through a series of ages; and though comparatively feeble, and unprotected by any human arm, been highly elevated; while the great pagan empires of the East, by an influence unseen, have been successively crumbling into atoms? Any why, in civilization, in refinement, in liberty, in religion, and in everything, that stamps dignity upon the character of a people, and renders existence a blessing, have the reformed nations of Europe been distinguished from those, that have been led away, by the delusions of Mohammed and the abominations of Antichrist? Are we at loss for an answer? We have it, in the text. “They shall prosper that love Jerusalem.”

The nations, that have enjoyed this prosperity, were the lovers of the Lord, and of his interest. They were careful to maintain a reverence for divine institutions. “The Sabbath was their delight, and the holy of the Lord, honorable.” Their children were brought up in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Unwearied pains were taken, to render them pious. Seminaries were extensively established, and liberally patronized to educate them for the service of the church. Faithful ministers, devoted to the business of their calling, and honourably supported in it, proclaimed the gospel message, with success. The love of Jerusalem warmed the hearts of the Legislators and Magistrates, and animated their exertions, in everything, that was laudable. Indeed, we need not go abroad, for illustration of the fact. We see its truth, in our own country. So obvious, and so striking is it, that the traveler, as he passes, can almost mark with his eye those districts, where the institutions of religion have been for any length of time regularly observed: and those, where the degraded inhabitants, in a Christian land have chosen to live like heathen. Thus, events, as they have hitherto taken place, in the world, are so many monuments, erected by the hand of heaven, for the benefit of succeeding ages. They lay open and help us profitably to explore the sources, both of prosperity and adversity. They solemnly admonish us, to avail ourselves of the means by which the latter may be avoided, and the former secured.

I am aware, that it will be said by some, prosperity is by no means confined to nations, enjoying the blessings, and regulating themselves by the principles of revealed religion. Others have enjoyed it. What others? Is it true, of the great pagan empires of antiquity? The last, and most flourishing of these, was the Roman. This was an extensive, and a wealthy dominion. The people were far advanced in many of the arts of civilized life. But were they, what is denominated by the Spirit of God, prosperous? Were they happy? Could that people be happy where lust and cruelty were not only practiced, but licensed; where human sacrifices loaded their altars; where deformed children were murdered; and where the shows of gladiators cost them more lives, than the most bloody wars? These, and the like enormities, in that day, were common.

Among modern nations, as examples of prosperity, without Christianity, China and India, are sometimes mentioned. They, also, are great, I allow. They are powerful and politic. They are ingenious. Their soil is fruitful, and they are favoured with the commerce of all civilized nations. They have been, particularly the former of these empires has been happily exempt from bloody wars. It has existed for ages, unsubdued. After all, what is the condition of China? As to moral and social character, they are, as a people, singularly debased. With respect to many of their customs, decency must blush, and humanity shudder to behold them. Nor is the eye relieved, at all, by being turned to the neighbouring country, that has been mentioned; where delusion holds, if possible, a more extensive sway; where infanticide is common; where a family of children, when by the providence of God, they have lost one parent, are left doubly orphans, deprived by a barbarous superstition of the other: where to avoid the scorn and resentment of nearest relatives, tens of thousands, of wretched females, are yearly compelled to ascend the funeral pile of their husbands, there to be burned alive, their own children kindling the fire, whilst their agonizing shrieks are drowned by the noise of drums, and the savage shouts of surrounding multitudes. ¹

But we need not examine, too closely, the dark shades of the picture; we need not go far, into “the chambers of their imagery,” to understand the state of society, among this people. Their delusions, their horrid rites and ceremonies, are familiar to our ears. With all the advantages indulged them, prosperity is not theirs. When these examples are mentioned, to invalidate the doctrine contended for, it seems to be forgotten, that the happiness of nations depends more upon their moral habits, than upon any natural endowments, or political greatness.

From what we have yet seen, then, of the dealings of God with communities, in times past, we resume the ground that was taken, under this head of argument, and say, that he will continue to prosper those, that love Jerusalem, and in direct proportion to their love, because he always has done it. That he will do this, we may believe, also, Because in the temper of heart, implied in the affection, here specified, and in that tenour of life, which is the natural fruit of it, are found the only ingredients of true prosperity. THEY SHALL PROSPER THAT LOVE THEE. The affection here specified is LOVE. In this affection abstractly considered, is implied every quality, that assimilates the creature to the Creator, who, when described, in the whole assemblage of his perfections by a single term, is called LOVE. It is an affection, which, as it “is the fulfilling of the law,” embraces all the essential principles and duties of real religion. It imports a sound faith, and a life of obedience: purity of heart, and unspotted manners: godliness and honesty: the bridling of the tongue, and the government of the passions: a sincere profession of religion, in short, and a correspondent practice. Inspired with this affection, the glory of God, the honour of the Redeemer, and the good of souls, rise superior to every other consideration. Beholding the transcendent beauty, reflected from such objects, they who are thus favoured, look down with disgust, upon the pursuits of sin. Captivated with the scenes, continually unfolding themselves, and with the objects passing in review before them, under the government of the Most High God, they not only rest satisfied that all things are in good hands, but their hearts are lifted up in joy, admiration, gratitude, and praise. “They rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Animated by the “hope, which entereth into that within the vail,” they set a just estimate upon the world and the things of it. Having in them, “the same mind that was also in Christ Jesus,” their ardent desire, above everything, is to be found faithful to their Master by doing good to all men, as they have opportunity. Feeling, in their own souls, the blessings of the great salvation, they long to have all men, partaking with them. Their hearts burn, with the most ardent desires; their fervent prayers are poured forth; their hands are opened to contribute; their services are offered; that the Redeemer’s name, and salvation through him, may be known as far as the earth is inhabited. Under the impulse of such a principle of action, they cannot fail to be useful. If called to fill stations of power and trust, their influence is “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.” “How beautiful, upon the mountains, are the feet of him so,” cloathed with such a spirit, “bringeth good tidings of good,” to the perishing; “that publisheth peace and salvation; that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth!” And in every condition, whether humble or exalted, “Whatsoever things are hones; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are pure; whatsoever things are lovely; whatsoever things are of good report,” they all grow, as natural fruit, from this spirit of Love. We need not enquire, therefore, why communities, made up of such characters, and where such an affection predominates, are prosperous. All the necessary ingredients are inherent in the very constitution of such bodies, which can promote prosperity. To such communities, as well as to such characters, the Apostle Paul says, “All things are yours.” “The righteous Lord loveth righteousness,” and will never fail to be “the rewarder of them, that diligently seek him.” Where “pure and undefiled religion” is maintained among a people; where the true God is known and adored; where his law is acknowledged as the proper standard of morality; where guilty mortals, feeling themselves condemned by it, fly to the gospel of his Son, as “a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation;” where the ordinances of the gospel are generally observed, with implicit faith in their adorable Author; and where, as the natural effect of the gospel spirit, thus prevalent, the rising generation are trained up for God; where human laws are good, and faithfully executed; where qualifications for office are properly attended to; and the duties of office are properly discharged; that people are the secure of all that can rationally be desired.

The argument gains strength, too, I think, from considering, a little more minutely, the precise object, to which the affection here specified is to be directed. It is Jerusalem; by which, as we have seen, is intended the church of God. To his redeemed church, and covenant people, the ever blessed God has always sustained a peculiar relation. It is a relation, which will never be dissolved. Accordingly, we uniformly find him expressing the most tender regard for them. “They shall prosper,” therefore, “that love Jerusalem,” because, in loving her, they love what God loves. Their affections meet and centre in the same object. Jerusalem, the church of God, is, emphatically, the beloved city. The plan of it was in the divine mind, from eternity. All that is passing before us, in the kingdoms of nature, of providence, and of grace, are but parts, included in this plan. Before the world was, God determined to make a display of his rich grace, in Christ Jesus, by erecting and completing such a city. It was in view in creation; it was, all along, in view, in the great work of redemption; and all events have hitherto rolled on, with reference to it, in the government of the world. It is, not only altogether the most important of the works of God, other things are important, only as they bear relation to it, and help it forward. The materials for it, gathered from the ruins of the fall, God has been preparing, and bringing together, in different ages, with reference to the final consummation, which shall be, “to the praise of the glory of his grace.” “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,” but determined that his own glory should not, on this account, be the less conspicuous. His purposes must be accomplished. “From Zion was to go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” that the ravages of sin might be counteracted; that those lusts and passions, which would otherwise, keep the world in confusion, might be restrained; that many sons and daughters might be brought home to glory; that finally the world might be regenerated; and thus the machinations of the Devil be defeated; and that, thus, also, “unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, unto angels, as well as unto men,” might be known by the church “the manifold wisdom of God.”

This city is peculiarly the residence of the living God: and hence, in answer to her supplications, he makes all the most glorious displays of himself, that are ever made, in the world. It is a city which, in answer to the prayer of faith, has been “enlarging the place of her tent,” and “stretching forth the curtains of her habitations,” in defiance of all opposition. “The kings of the earth have set themselves, and the rulers have taken counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” The cry of the pagan idolater of the unbelieving Jew, of the beast, and of the false prophet, concerning this feeble, and apparently contemptible city, has been “raze it; raze it; even to the foundations thereof:” but always, hitherto, have they found themselves disappointed. “Having, for its foundation, the apostles and prophets;” having “Jesus Christ, as the chief head and corner stone;” it still lives, and rises into “an holy temple of the Lord:” a temple, in which every believer is a “lively stone;” a temple which grows, with every revival of religion; and with the conversion of every redeemed soul; and which finally, embracing every child of God, of every age and nation, will become, in a peculiar sense, “an habitation of God through the Spirit,” where he will be worshipped, in a pure and perfect manner forever. Never will he forsake the city of his love. Never will he abandon those, who have an attachment to her. Never will he forsake the dear people, for whom the Redeemer bled, and on whose behalf, the Holy Ghost was sent down. As God is faithful to his promises, “They shall prosper.” “Behold! Saith the Lord,” to Jerusalem, “I have graven thee, upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.” “No weapon, that is formed against thee, shall prosper, and every tongue, that shall rise against thee, in judgment, thou shalt condemn.” “Glorious are the things, spoken of thee, O thou city of God!” Happy are all they who, enrolled as thy citizens, have for their friend and father, the God who is in the midst of thee! With Balaam, therefore, may we not take up our parable and say, “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel! How shall we curse, whom God hath not cursed; or how shall we defy, whom God hath not defied? Behold! We have received commandment to bless: He hath blessed and we cannot reverse it.”

A direct inference from the whole is, that Where there is not a love for Jerusalem, that people cannot prosper. If there be a God, and if not, “let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die”—if there be a God, “who loveth righteousness, and who hateth iniquity,” they cannot prosper. As his declarations are true, they cannot. As the promise, in the text, together with others, that speak the same language, have any meaning in them, they cannot. They cannot prosper in the nature of things. Communities, made up of irreligious characters, “who regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands,” contain within themselves all the materials of wretchedness and dissolution. For wise reasons, they may be permitted to exist, and for a time to flourish, as we often see, but they cannot prosper. They cannot be happy. Nothing gives permanent peace, real happiness, or that which deserves the name of prosperity to a state, but the influence, derived from the purposes of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ, extensively diffused and felt, through its different departments.

By the mere politician, whose views are limited to the present condition of man; who sees, in the great events, that are taking place, in the world, only the workings of human passions; and who looks for the destinies of Empires, no higher, than to the fellow-worm, who fills the chair of state, such a sentiment, I know will be spurned, as weak and visionary. I do not, however, retract the suggestion. Let the luke-warm professor start at it, and let infidel sneer, if he will; but let them know from God, that accursed is everything, which is not in subserviency to the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom. That “sin is a reproach to any people”; that obedience to the divine institutes shall e rewarded; and that disobedience shall be punished; is the general tenor of the word of God. “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good.” “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem, with a great jealousy.” He is jealous for her honour, as he is for that of his own name. He watches over her continually. He notices what is done, both for and against her. His love, and endeared relation to her, will not permit him to overlook any circumstance, either of injury or neglect. Under his government, therefore, communities, where the interests of his church are, for the most part, excluded; where her sacred institutions, to say the least, are treated with cold indifference by the multitude; where his very being is not acknowledged; where his perpetual and universal providence is not regarded; where his authority is not felt; and where, as the natural effect of all this, gross immorality is rampant, cannot long flourish. They may have the appearance of prosperity, for a time, but “Their root is as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up, as the dust, because “they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

The covenant with Israel was, indeed, in some respects, peculiar, and no other people is governed, exactly, according to the same rule. God, however, deals with nations everywhere, as collective bodies: and to all who believe in his existence, and are favoured with his revealed will, as their guide, he says, as to his people of old, “If thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to do all his commandments, and his statutes, which I command thee, this day; cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shalt thou be, when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be, when thou goest out.” Individuals will exist, and be judged, and be recompensed, in a future state: but collective bodies, having no future existence, will, therefore, be recompensed in this world. And as a tender regard to the cause of God, in the world, ensures national prosperity; so impiety, especially, where churches are established, and the ordinances of the gospel are enjoyed, will inevitably end, in the ruin of a people. In that government, which is to stand, and for any length of time to be happy, in the enjoyment of the divine smiles, there must be “pure religion”; there must be a careful attention to the soul; there must be a love for Jerusalem; and a sincere attachment to her interests, interwoven in its very contexture.

The world stands, as a theatre, on which the mighty work of redemption is carried on, until that work shall be accomplished. Civil government is an ordinance of God, instituted with express reference to this kingdom, and is to be administered, in subserviency to its interests. If it be not administered for Jehovah, it is against him, and will certainly incur his malediction. The potentates of the earth, be they good or bad men, wise or foolish, are raised up, with reference to this kingdom, and are employed in carrying on the dispensations of the Most High, towards his people, either of mercy, or of judgment, as their obedience, from time to time, pleads for the one, or their transgressions call for the other.

Two grand and leading interests divide the whole order of intelligent creatures, that of Him, “who hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”; and that of him who is styled “The God of this world: the prince of the power of the air, who worketh in the children of disobedience.” The former, with all that appertains to it, will endure when this earth and these heavens are no more; it will flourish, in immortal youth and beauty. The latter, and everything leagued with it, shall be utterly consumed.

We, therefore, further learn from our subject, the importance of having for rulers, men who are decidedly religious. And, here, I am happy to avail myself of an observation of the pious and learned Scott; who says, “Magistracy is an ordinance of God; they therefore, who are employed, even in the most subordinate offices of government, should be chosen persons, able men, of clear heads, and sound judgments; such as fear God, and from a principle of genuine piety, are steadily men of truth, of integrity and fidelity; and have learned to hate covetousness; that they may shake their hands, from holding of bribes, and administer justice impartially. What then,” he enquires, “ought law-givers, and supreme magistrates, to be? Happy, indeed, are the people, that are blessed with such rulers, yea blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God.” ²

In a free government, the example of rulers must necessarily be commanding and influential. If they have not a love for Jerusalem, it can hardly be expected that this affection will very extensively diffuse itself in society. To have the streams salubrious, the fountain must be pure. Thus, then, as it respects the prosperity of a state, the character of those, to whom the management of its public concerns is entrusted, is a thing of vast importance. Their influence, in fixing the standard of public sentiment, upon all political and religious concerns, renders it desirable, that they should have the qualifications, pointed out by unerring wisdom. How desirable, that they should have personal piety! That virtue is necessary, all allow. All the changes of her praises have been repeatedly rung in our ears, ‘till the desired effect is lost.

Men and brethren, bear with me, while I freely plead before you, the cause of vital godliness.—I am always ready, to testify my regard to what is commonly called morality. It is entitled to commendation. It has its reward. But, there is not a single consideration, in favour of morality, as a qualification for office, which is not as much more in favour of undissembled piety, as the motives for action, drawn from eternity, outweigh those of time. Indeed, nothing but piety gives proper security for morality.

“Talk they of morals? O thou bleeding Love,
The grand morality, is love of thee.”Nothing but piety in rulers gives proper security, for fidelity to the interests of human society; much less to those of the church. It is an observation which has been often repeated, but repeated from the best authority, and which from repetition can never lose its force, that, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” It is an observation, abundantly verified, by the experience of many generations. When Israel was favoured with rulers, that were righteous, how was their influence felt, through the body of the nation! How prosperous their circumstances under Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel! When, under the former dispensation, was the church ever more flourishing; when were the lovers of the Lord, and of his Jerusalem, more numerous; when were divine ordinances better attended; and religion, as to all its dearest interests, more suitably regarded, than in the days of David, and of Solomon, and of Asa, and of Jehosaphat, and of Hezekiah, and of Josiah, and when did the nation ever enjoy equal prosperity?

On the other hand, when men were exalted to places of distinction, who manifested no proper regard to the authority of God, like a deadly plague, the infection ran through the vitals of the body politic, polluting the whole frame. The same is visible, in a degree, in every other nation. How desirable, then, to see men in office, decidedly religious. Those, therefore, entrusted with the right of suffrage, cannot be too careful in exercising it. Be it impressed upon the people, that in exercising that right, it is unsafe to place the concerns of civil society, in the hands of men destitute of religion.

An awful responsibility, also, methinks, rests upon those who accept the trust reposed in them, of “ruling over men.” They are the “Ministers of God,” and how amazing the consequences, both to themselves and to society, if they be not found “Ministers of God, for good!” How amazing the consequences, if found unfaithful to the interests of that cause, for which they were raised up, and brought forward to the places, which they fill! “He that ruleth over men”—with what solemnity and force, does the sacred penman preface the precept! “Now these be the last words of David: David the son of Jesse said: and the man, “who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel, said: the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and the word was in my tongue; the God of Israel said; the rock of Israel spake to me.”—What? What is it thus ushered into special notice? “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” He must be just. Now justice demands that we render to all their due; not only “to Cesar the things that are Cesar’s, but to God, also, the things that are God’s.” To be just toward God, is to render him his due: it is to render him the honour and glory, which are his due, by listening to his instructions; by walking in his statutes; and by obeying his commandments. It is nothing less, than by a voluntary act of self-dedication, to acknowledge ourselves as his, in the New Covenant. It is to be truly religious. He that ruleth over men, then, to be what he ought to be, must have an attachment to the Redeemer’s kingdom, with “the love, that is strong as death, which many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown it.”

It is not morality, which the inspired writers speak of, as the leading qualification in rulers. Laying the axe at the root of the tree, they, everywhere, insist upon Justice: The fear of the Lord; Righteousness; which imply real piety. How, as is required of them, can they be “nursing fathers and nursing mothers” to the church, if they have not a real, sincere friendship to her interests? What, in short, have they to do, with the kingdom of the Redeemer, who belong to another kingdom?

Let us enquire then, are we, as a community, enjoying the prosperity, promised in the text? Are we seeking it, in the way here mentioned? If not, how may we expect to find it? We profess to reverence our forefathers. We speak of them, as wise, religious and happy. But are we walking in their footsteps? How did they seek and find prosperity? They did not forget Jerusalem. The interests of the church lay near their hearts. To enjoy civil and religious liberty unmolested, they sacrificed the endearments of life, in their native country. For these, they encountered innumerable dangers and difficulties, on the land, and on the ocean. Under the divine smiles, they planted the fair vine, which we now behold: under the shadow of which we so comfortably repose ourselves, and the fruits of which we so richly enjoy. But in what they did, let us remember, they kept the ark of God before them. The Bible was their guide. Their trust was in Zion’s God. In all their ways, they acknowledged him. Religion was incorporated, in their civil code. Our historian remarks, “all government was in the church. They early resolved, as a fundamental principle,” he further observes, “that the scriptures hold forth a perfect rule, for the direction and government of all men, in all the duties, which they perform to God and man; in families, in the commonwealth, and in the church; ³

That the work of the ministry might not be left undone, every religious society supported a pastor and a teacher. Magistrates and ministers of the gospel, like Moses and Aaron, and like Zerubbabel and Joshua, went hand in hand together, in building up the interests both of the church and the state. The religious instruction of the rising generation was provided for, and particular attention paid to establish them, in the great truths of the Bible. The happy effect was, that they grew up, favourably impressed with their importance, and were zealous to communicate the same blessings to their offspring. Thus was transmitted to us the fair inheritance, which we now behold. And shall ICHABOD be written upon it, under our guardianship? We felicitate ourselves, upon belonging to a section of the country, that has enjoyed almost unexampled prosperity. But are we secure of its continuance? Stands our mountain so strong, that it cannot be moved? Far otherwise. Have we not, already, reason to tremble at our departure, from the great principles, which regulated our illustrious forefathers? Does not our love for Jerusalem sensibly wax cold? What irreverence for God and his institutions, is there, in many places! What disregard to the Sabbath! What coldness in the things of religion! “How do the ways of Zion mourn, because so few come to her solemn feasts!” In how small a proportion of the families of Connecticut, is there the morning and evening sacrifice! What an inordinate attachment to property is there observable, as if it were the chief good! What a rage for speculations in trade, without regard to means or consequences; and as naturally connected with it, what a spirit of extravagance and dissipation is creeping in! How many silent laws, and how many inefficient magistrates! What an unnecessary multiplication of oaths administered, seemingly, but to be trifled with, and egregiously violated! Yes, Brethren, “Because of swearing the land mourneth.”

Permit me to add, as what I believe to be, at present, one of the darkest traits, in our public character, that in promoting men to places of distinction, and in filling those places, so little regard is shown to the great Head of the church; to his just and reasonable claims upon us; and to the general interests of his kingdom. Swerving from the simplicity and purity of the pilgrims of New-England, are there not those, brought forward to minister for God, in his temples of justice, and in the respective departments of our government, who scarcely believe in a Holy Ghost, who are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel;” who are “strangers from the covenants of promise,” and who, in accepting the sacred trust committed to them, have regard to little else, than the honours, or the emoluments of office? “Because of these things, cometh the wrath of “God upon the children of disobedience.” Things being thus with us, to expect the continuance of prosperity, that prosperity, which is derived from the approbation and smiles of our God, is preposterous. “And knowing the time, is it not now high time to awake out of sleep?”

In speaking of the happiness of our forefathers, in comparison with our own, and the causes of it, I pretend not that “the former days were better than these,” in all respects. It would be attributing to them something more than human, to say that they had left no ground for improvement, to those who should come after them; and it would be, but justifiable self-respect, to say that this ground has been, in some measure, occupied. At the same time, be we careful to remember, that wherein we depart from “the faith” and practice “once delivered to “the saints,” we make no improvement. If the system pursued by our ancestors was not entirely unexceptionable; if it would not, in all its forms, adapt itself to the present state of society, where I ask, do we find one which, for so great a length of time, has secured to any people so large a portion of happiness?

I am, by no means, an advocate for laws which shall favour any one description of men to the injury of another. I have no desire to see, an empty profession of religion, the test for office. The unnatural and meretricious connexion of church and state, such as we observe in some of the corrupt governments of the east, are the abhorrence of my soul. What is desirable, is to see the minds of the people raised to a proper standard on the subject; aiming at the glory of God, and the honour of his Son; to see those who enjoy the elective franchise, voluntarily promoting men to places of power and trust, who are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” If we have men who, by “a walk of faith,” “patience of hope,” and “labour of love,” give evidence of piety, by all means, other things being equal, let them have the preference.

Shall we here be met with the objections, that such sentiments, put in practice, are calculated to make hypocrites: that real characters of men cannot be known: and the like? But “who art thou, that judgest another man’s servant? Why dost thou judge, and why dost thou set at nought thy brother? To his own master, he standeth or falleth.” To denominate this or that man a hypocrite, is not our province, any further than we are evidently authorized by the rules of our Saviour. When we feel ourselves thus authorized; when we see men, in practice, deviating from their profession, it is easy, at any time, in a free government, like ours, to rank them with the openly immoral and irreligious. And though men cannot be known by their professions; yet our Lord has told us, how they may be known. “By their fruits,” says he, “shall ye know them.” And one of the first fruits of the Spirit of God, dwelling in the heart by faith, is obedience. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Where love and obedience are visible in the characters of men, they may be sufficiently known to be trusted.

Although, as has been publicly said, “it is not by profession, only, that men become the disciples of Christ;” although it is to be lamented, that the most detestable characters are sometimes found in the visible family of the Redeemer; although profession is nothing, without the Christian spirit, yet with the Christian spirit, is is a duty of an imperious character. It is what our master Jesus enjoins upon those that love him. No sincere follower of Christ will think lightly of it. Either Christ is our prince and lawgiver, or he is not. If not let us be consistent, and renounce the Christian name. If he be, let us obey him, in all his requirements.

Real religion so raises the disciple above the fear of men, and the shame of the cross; that he is not unwilling to stand forward, and own himself the friend of that Emmanuel, on whose atoning merits, he reposes himself for the salvation of his soul.

Like a good, and faithful, and obedient soldier, he wishes to be seen fighting under the banner of his Captain. “The child of Abraham,” who is “an heir according to promise,” esteems it an honour to “subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and to sirname himself by the name of Israel.” The citizen of the spiritual Jerusalem will be careful to have his name enrolled as a citizen, and will feel his obligations to do duty accordingly. He will not be deterred from what he believes to be his duty, through fear of incurring the odious appellation of hypocrite; nor from popular motives; nor by any selfish consideration.

The objections, therefore, to the “old way” of our fathers, and of the God of our fathers, are groundless. A departure from the “good paths,” in which they have walked, “and found rest to their souls,” I must think an ill-boding omen. So wide a departure as we witness at present, is peculiarly alarming. Unrepented of, what have we to expect, but that a holy God, “jealous for the honour of his name” and “jealous for his Jerusalem,” will leave us as his revolted heritage? What remains, then, but in “this our day to know the things that belong to our peace.”

The subject claims the special attention of the constituted authorities of the state, here present; and of the servants of Christ in the work of the gospel ministry. It has been, till of late, equally the honor and the happiness of this state, that from its first settlement, our principal offices have been filled by men, not backward to acknowledge themselves the friends of the great Redeemer. I mention it with peculiar pleasure, that to the present time, the chair of state has been filled, almost without exception, by men, not merely professors of religion, but men, whose characters have adorned their profession. The natural effect has been that religion and its institutions have ever been held in reverence, by the great body of the people. And where, on the whole, have we known greater prosperity? Our eyes, then, upon this occasion, are turned toward our civil fathers, while with some anxiety we ask, What are our prospects for the future?

You have now assembled, gentlemen, professedly to consult for the prosperity of the community, in which we live. You have seen, whence it is derived. You have seen, that as we have enjoyed, so we may expect prosperity, in proportion to our love for Jerusalem. For an example in this, as in every other thing which is laudable, we are looking to those who have, from their station, a leading influence. Have you then, sirs, that generous affection of heart; are you governed by that love, which is the condition of the blessing? Sustaining the relation which you do, to the community in which you live, you in justice owe to them the prosperity with which you are, in a sense, entrusted on their behalf. You owe to the present, and to future generations, the making of them virtuous and happy. It is with you to say, under the great Head of the church, whether the wise institutions of our venerable ancestors, which have secured to us so many blessings, shall be cherished; whether the gospel shall be preached to dying sinners; whether faithful men shall be supported in devoting themselves to the good work; whether the rising generation shall have the advantages which they need, to qualify them for the learned professions; whether seminaries of learning shall be well endowed, where they may be trained up for extensive usefulness in church and state; whether good and wholesome laws shall be enacted, and steadily enforced, and in these ways God be glorified, and the desolate, waste places of our Jerusalem be built up; or whether, by relaxing yet more and more, we shall become a prey to the destroyer. “If the Lord” THEN “BE God, follow him.” “Follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.” Taking the word of God as your guide, be directed by it implicitly; and let it be seen, that the religion which it inculcates has a decision of character that is unwavering.

However the sentiments advanced in this discourse may be now received, the period cannot be far distant, when the Redeemer’s kingdom will rise to view, in its importance and glory.

“Six thousand years of sorrow have well-nigh
“Fulfill’d their tardy and disastrous course,
“Over a sinful world.”
“Behold the measure of the promise fill’d!
“See Salem built the labour of a God?
“Bright as a Sun, the sacred city shines;
“All kingdoms, and all princes of the earth,
“Flock into her; unbounded is her joy,
“And endless her increase.”A prosperity will then be realized, which the nations have never yet seen. The love of Jerusalem will pervade all hearts. Vital religion will take possession of palaces and thrones. “The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” The world will then be looked upon as God’s world. The kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, will be considered as his. Christ the Lord, will be regarded as the head of all principality and power, “the Prince of the kings of the earth.” The attainments of the scholar, the honours of the statesman, and the trappings of the warrior, will be laid at his feet. Civil government will then be administered with reference to his interests. Rulers will use their delegated authority for him; and employing their influence, their riches, and their power for the glory of his church, their motto will be, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

Whether we may see this day, in its brightness, or not, we may, if we will, begin to enjoy many of the blessings of it, as individuals, and as a people. From the commanding stations, which they hold, we are looking, with the mingled emotions of hope and fear, to those, who have the management of our public affairs to learn our destiny. “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you” fathers, “the spirit of wisdom, that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of his calling; and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints; and what is the exceeding greatness of his power, toward those who believe: according to the working of his mighty power; which he wrought in Christ Jesus, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places; far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name, that is named, not only in this world, but, also, in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”

The subject, also, claims the special attention of the servants of the Lord, in the work of the gospel ministry. As “watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem,” brethren, we hold a station, under the great Head of the church, both honourable and useful. As “watchmen,” our duty may be comprised, perhaps, in vigilance and fidelity: vigilance to descry danger, and faithfulness, in time of danger, to give the alarm. “Son of man,” said the Spirit of God, to his servant of old “I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word, at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” The words are applicable to every minister of Christ. Let us remember, brethren, if we fail to give warning to the wicked, and they die in their iniquity, their blood will God require at our hand. But if they have the warning, and turn not from their wickedness, though they perish, we have delivered our souls. Awakened by all the animating motives, thus presenting themselves, in view of the station, which we hold, and the account we must give, at last, let us think of nothing but perseverance. Let each say with God’s servant of old, “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.” Our work is the noblest ever committed to mortals. If there are trials in it, they are the allotments of our Master. Whatever they may be, may we endure them with fortitude, and see to it, that we be found faithful to the interests of the beloved city. It is but a little time, in which we have either to do, or to suffer. Our fathers, where are they? Our brethren, also, where are they? In quick succession, they are passing away from the earth, and following each other to the retributions of eternity.

When last together, upon a similar occasion, the removal of eight ministers was mentioned, as “an unusual and awful mortality.” We have not to mourn the loss, of the same number, ⁴ who have left us, since the last anniversary election, some of whom were then our fellow-worshippers. Very soon, and we shall all be with them in the world of spirits. Let us so live and labour, that, through grace, our works may follow us to a blessed reward.

And who of this assembly can be named, that does not feel an interest in the truths, now suggested? Who, among us, does not wish prosperity to our common country? Who does not wish for private happiness? Behold them, here made over, and secured by promise, to all who love Jerusalem! How little, has either national or individual prosperity hitherto been sought, by an implicit reliance upon the divine promise! And shall the lively oracles of God, the only guide to happiness, lie by us thus neglected? Is there an object before us, so interesting, of such amazing magnitude—a city of which the blessed Redeemer is the head and law giver; which is the place of his peculiar residence; which he has principally regarded in all the administrations of his providence and grace; to the interests of which, all events are subservient; a city, which he never will forsake; holy in its character; immeasurable in its extent; and in its duration everlasting; all the inhabitants of which, he will make happy for time and eternity, and shall it not attract and ravish all hearts? Are we invited to become partakers together, in its immunities and shall acceptance be, with any, a thing of indifference? No longer, I beseech you, despise your mercies. We live in a day, in which, we peculiarly stand in need of these privileges. In such a day, precious to the believer are the promises of God’s word. Though “Heaven and earth pass,” yet what is here recorded will be remembered. When called to behold on the earth, “distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear,” how comfortable to know that Zion’s God reigns, and that the Head of the church has mercifully provided for those that love him. “Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof: There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God; the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.”

Whatever calamities there may be in the world, or persecutions in the church, before the end come, we are sure it shall be well with them, that love Jerusalem. They shall not only be preserved, they shall prosper. “All things shall work together, for good to them that love God.” Inconsiderable, and even contemptible, as this city may now appear to the eye of unbelief, yet Christ the Lord is in the midst of her in his glory, and she shall one day “become a praise in the earth.” That day cannot be far distant. We have striking, and constantly increasing evidence, of its near approach, in precious revivals of religion; in a mighty spirit stirred up, in many parts of Christendom, to make the name of Emmanuel known and glorified in the earth; in the removal of those barriers, which have hitherto obstructed the blessed work; and in the general fulfillment of prophecy. “The signs of the times” cannot be mistaken. The period in which we live forms an era, for Christian enterprise. Great projects, and great achievements, are daily coming into notice in the church, such as, from the days of the apostles, have been unknown. He who hath said, “Surely I come quickly,” is evidently on his way. Many “wise men have seen his star in” the east, and, attracted by his love, have “already presented unto him their gifts.” The holy scriptures, that testify of him, are now translated into almost every language. Millions, emerging from horrible darkness, begin to read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. The princes and potentates of the earth are seen subscribing with their hands to the Lord, and lending their aid for the diffusion of his truth. Indeed, the train seems to be laid for an explosion, which will soon lay in ruins the infidelity and paganism of the old world. ⁵ The plot thickens, as the scene is drawing to a close. “The Sun of righteousness” is breaking from the cloud, that has long vailed his glory. There is a general movement of the church of God, upon earth. The servants of the Lord begin to “speak comfortably to Jerusalem,” and to cry to her, that her warfare is “well-nigh accomplished.” In a little time, and “the mystery of iniquity” will cease to work; neither the literal nor the mystical Jerusalem shall be longer “trodden down of the Gentiles,” but both Jews and Gentiles shall be “turned to the Lord.” “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Look, then, at the great events which are passing before you in the light of divine truth. Amidst the commotions and distractions, that agitate the world, keep your eye upon that kingdom, which cannot be moved. Let every revolution be contemplated, as connected with, and subservient to the Messiah’s reign upon earth. Enter into his views. Cast in your lot, with his people. Bind yourselves to the interests of his cause. Be obedient; be humble; be prayerful; be watchful. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates, into the city—the NEW JERUSALEM”—whose foundations are upon the holy and everlasting hills, which cannot be removed but standeth fast forever….AMEN.

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Endnotes

1 See the splendid speech of Mr. Wilberforce, found in the parliamentary discussions on Christianity, in India.

2 Scott’s Family Bible—Practical observations on the xviii Chapter of Exodus.

3 Doct. Trumbull’s History of Connecticut. Chapters vi and xiii.

4 Reverend Joshua Belden, Wethersfield. Ozias Eells, Barkhamsted. John Foot, Cheshire. William Graves, Woodstock. Ammi R. Robbins, Norfolk. Lucas Hart, Wolcott. Simon Waterman, Plymouth. Samuel Mills, Chester.

5 As vouchers for the facts here stated, see the letter from Prince Galitzin, President of the Petersburgh Bible Society, to Lord Teignmouth, also that from Josiah Roberts, Esq. London, to Robert Ralston, Esq. of Philadelphia; also a very interesting communication from Dr. Naudi, relative to the spreading of Christianity, in the East, found in most of the religious magazines of the day.

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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.

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

A

SERMON,

PREACHED ON THE DAY OF THE

GENERAL ELECTION,

AT

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. 

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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.

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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.

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A

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.”

 

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Endnotes

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

2. Hon. James Otis, Esq.

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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.

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A

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.

 

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Endnotes

1. Tudor’s Life of J. Otis.

2. Priestly’s Lectures on History.