Categories: Historical Documents

The Reverend Daniel Foster was born in 1750. He was ordained in 1788 (his father, the Rev. Isaac Foster, preached his ordination), and pastored a church in New Braintree, Massachusetts for many years. Daniel Foster had numerous sermons published, of which copies of five are know to be extant. In this election sermon, preached before Governor John Hancock, Lieutenant-Governor Samuel Adams, and both houses of the Massachusetts legislature, Rev. Foster provides an exemplary model of a pastor illuminating God’s governmental principles for the political leaders of his State. He lists the duties of magistrates as well as the duties of the people in a Christian country, and details God’s design for civil government.

Reverend Foster ends his sermon by directly addressing on a personal and individual level John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the legislators. Foster’s sermon is loaded with Biblical wisdom; and he is an excellent example of a minister whose “lips keep knowledge [that] the people should seek the law from his mouth” (Malachi 2:7).

A
Sermon
Preached Before
His Excellency John Hancock, Esq.
Governor;
His Honor Samuel Adams, Esq.
Lieutenant-Governor;
The Honorable the
Council, Senate, and House of Representatives,
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
May 26, 1790.
Being the day of
General Election

By Daniel Foster, A.M. Pastor of the Church in New Braintree.

Proverbs 8:16. By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth

In compliance with the laudable example of our pious Ancestors, on such joyful anniversary occasions as this day presents us with we have assembled in the House of God, to offer our devout praises to him for what he has done for them, and for us, their children; to seek his direction and blessing upon our Political Fathers here present, in the discharge of the important trust reposed in them, and his smiles on this confederate rising Republic.

And as it has fallen to one of the least of the Ambassadors of Christ, to perform so essential a part of the exercise of the day, it will not be expected that he turn Statesman in this sacred place, or wander into all the affairs of government: But, in compliance with his character as a Minister, make such observations from the sacred text, as may be profitable for direction and encouragement, that the men of God here present, may be furnished to every good work.

This book was penned by King Solomon a man famed for wisdom and understanding throughout all the East.

That being who has an easy access to the human mind, appeared to him in Gibeon, in a vision of the night; and God said, ask what I shall give thee? And his request, “give therefore thy servant an understanding heart,” was so acceptable, that God gave him wisdom above all that were before him in Jerusalem; for the people soon perceived “that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.”

In these Proverbs of the wise man, we have the comprehensive duties we owe to God, and the world, made plain and easy, and enforced with the most powerful motives. By folly, the Preacher would be understood to mean vice and wickedness and by wisdom, grace and Christ.

In the text, the person speaking is doubtless Jesus Christ, who by the Apostle, is called “the wisdom of God, and the power of God.” “By me Princes rule, and Nobles, even all the Judges of the earth:” That is, by my Providence and appointment, they are advanced to rule and govern; and their government is merciful and righteous, happy and prosperous, by my council and assistance.

Ever since the apostasy; the blessed God, has pursued an uniform plan of grace, and government with the church, and the world. The merciful design of which, is to reduce to order, peace and happiness, his intelligent offspring. To prosecute this design, he has sent into the world the “PRINCE Of PEACE,” and given him a commission for acts of ministry and grace, magistracy and government.

The intervention of the new covenant, and the advent of Jesus its Mediator, gave birth to order and subordination in Heaven, and upon Earth.

In Heaven there are thrones, dominions, principalities and powers, angels and arch-angels; and upon earth, princes, nobles, and judges – and Christ is Head over them all.

The text leads us to speak of civil government, as ordained of God, in the hands of the mediator; of civil rulers, as holding their commission and authority under Christ; of their duty and dignity as his Ministers, and of the duty and privilege of the people under their administration.

I. That civil government is ordained of God in the hands of the Mediator, the Absolute necessity of order and government, for the existence and happiness of society, pleads its divine original: For without it, the affairs of mankind would fall into the utmost confusion and disorder.

The nature of man, as a sociable creature, would no doubt, have led him to some sort of government had sin never entered the world. But since sin has debased the noble nature of man, and spread itself through the whole world, both reason and revelation plead for government.

It is not a matter of human prudence only, but of necessity and moral obligation: And being enjoined by him who rules in the kingdoms of mortal men, it is an important mean of delivering us from the evils of the apostasy; and designed to prepare us for the more encouraging restraints the gospel enjoins.

Civil government, then, is a branch of the tree of life, and founded in, and built upon that covenant, sealed in Heaven by the oath of God, and upon earth by the blood of Christ.

He being commissioned by the Father to manage the great affairs of Empire, as well as of Zion.

“Yet have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion.” “The government shall be upon his shoulders.”

The kingdom of Christ, where he rules by his word and spirit, is his Church, a spiritual kingdom. But his commission extends to the Utmost ends of the earth.

“For the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, is to break in pieces all other kingdoms, and fill the earth.”

His kingdom will outlive all other kingdoms, and swallow them up; for he must reign till he hath “put down all rule and all authority and power.”

This implies that rule and authority among men, or which is the same thing, civil government, is a divine appointment, and that it is put into the hands of the Mediator to rule and govern the world. For when the great and important ends for which he received his mediatorial kingdom, shall be accomplished, he will put down both ministry and magistracy.

II. That civil rulers hold their commission and authority under Christ.

Not that Christ has pointed out the form of government, or the persons to rule and govern; in this sense his “kingdom is not of this world” But Christianity enforces the law of nature; and has confirmed the several constitutions of states and kingdoms, and called our obedience to the higher powers, as the gospel finds them.

The mode of government, and persons to govern, are submitted to the wisdom of men, in pursuance of a divine ordinance, that second causes might operate. It being the method of God to carry on the designs of his government in this world, by the instrumentality of subordinate Agents. When therefore, a people unite in a form of government, and choose persons to rule and govern them and pledge their faith to be obedient to, and support the government, “though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereunto.”

The Magistrate then, called to office by the voice of the people, and solemnly sworn, becomes an ordinance of God, and receives his authority from him, “by whom Princes rule, and Nobles, even all the Judges of the earth.”

And the apostle, when he enjoins obedience to civil rulers, “because the powers that be, are ordained of God,” means to include in his idea, the methods by which they become possessed of their power, and likewise the use and improvement they make of it: If they rule for God, and for good to the people, they are to be subjected to, otherwise, “we ought to obey God, rather than men.”

III. We come to speak of the duty and dignity of civil rulers, as the ministers of Christ.

1st. It is their duty to uphold the kingdom of Christ, which consists in “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

Religion is, and ever has been, considered the glory of a people; as it insures the favor and protection of Heaven.

Under the former dispensation, the Ark of God, which contained his laws, was a token of his presence and defense. Governor Eli, whose heart trembled for it, sustained the tidings of the of the death of his two Sons with fortitude; but when it was told him that the Ark of God was taken, he fell and died, and his Daughter refused to be comforted, though a Son was born; because the glory was departed from Israel, and the Ark of God was taken.

Under this dispensation, the gospel and its ordinances, are our glory and defense. And as magistrates are honored by Christ, and act under his banner, they should be careful to be his glory, and support his religion in the world.

All men should be possessed of a principle of piety and virtue; but none stand in greater need of it than those who are called to rule and govern.

Religion dignifies and enables the mind “refines and purifies the heart” fits men to act worthily their part on the stage of life, and shines with a peculiar luster in the Christian magistrate. This will procure for them honor in the sight of all men; “for those that honor me, I will honor.”

Saul was destitute of this principle; but desirous of its fruits and effects. Therefore he pressed the man of God, and laid hold on the skirt of his mantle, and it rent; saying “honor me now I pray thee, before the Elders of my people.”

This is the way to have the presence, and blessing of God with them, and upon their administration.

The seat of the magistrate is called the throne of God; “and he was caught up unto God, and into his throne.” As they have the image of God upon them as his Ministers, and act by his authority, it should be their care to have the image of God within them as men.

It is an honorable account we have of Judah, in a time of general revolt, the ten tribes went after Jeroboam; but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

If religion is not honored and supported by men in places of public trust, the glory of the Lord will soon depart, and the fire of God be scattered over the city.

Rulers are called “the shields of the earth;” they are to protect the people from injuries among men, and likewise from the judgments of God. When God’s wrath was kindled against Israel, for their idolatry at the foot of the mount, we find Moses, that pious ruler, pleading the cause of the people, and he sounds his plea upon God’s covenant, and reminds him of his oath. And David, that man after God’s own heart, when he saw the Angel that smote the people, said, but these sheep, what have they done? “And the Lord said unto the Angel, it is enough, stay now thine hand.”

The attention Christian rulers pay to religion in their hearts, and in their government, will be their support when they are called to lay down their commission, and their lives; it will brighten the scene before them, and embalm their memories when they are dead.

2d. It is the duty of Christian rulers, to preserve and secure to the people, their liberties and properties.

The end and design of civil government is to secure the happiness of the whole community. For this, rulers are appointed; “he is the Minister of God to thee for good.”

The liberties of mankind have ever been held dear, for they are given are by God and nature. “With a great sum, obtained I this freedom,” says the chief Captain to Paul, who relied, “but I was born free.”

This has been and still is the voice of Americans; and our attention to the voice, which is from Heaven, has brought us into possession of the liberties and privileges, we this day enjoy.

An infringement on these, has ever awakened the fears, and kindled the resentment of an enlightened people! It has overturned empires and kingdoms, caused the stars to fall from Heaven, and princes to walk, as at this day, like servants on the earth!

In order to secure the liberties and privileges of the people, righteous and equitable laws should be made, and preserved. “That which is altogether just shall ye follow,” is an injunction from the First Magistrate in the universe.

We plead for a government of laws, not of men. The law is a rule to try all causes between man and man by; and it is a rule between the magistrate and subject it teaches the one how to rule, and the other how to obey.

They are the pillars on which the Commonwealth stands; to them we appeal for a redress of grievances, and into their hands we are willing to fall; but not into the hands of men. They are in scripture, called the foundations of the earth; and said to be out of course, when the magistrate is either ignorant of them, or neglects to support his authority in their execution.

3d. The Christian ruler will hear the complaints, and redress the grievances of the people he governs.

He will not with Rehoboam, reject the voice of the old men whose years have taught them wisdom, and apply to young men for counsel; answer the people with grievous words, and cause them to say in the bitterness of their souls, “what portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse.” But he will enlighten the ignorant; and those that are out of the way, he will reduce to order and obedience, with the cords of law and love. He will follow the example of him by whom he rules, whose work and glory it is, to make peace and bind up the wounds of the people.

Christian rulers will consider the infancy of the people, and the burdens laid upon them, and be careful lest they over-drive, and so destroy the flock of God.

They will lessen the charges of government, and lighten every burden, as much as is consistent with the honor and well-being of government.

The cause of the widow, the fatherless, the orphan; the soldier, and him that has loaned hi money for the help of government, will come with peculiar grace before Christian rulers; who will hold themselves Heaven’s clients to vindicate their righteous claims; and plead their cause.

The credit of the Commonwealth, at home and abroad, is a matter that requires particular attention: In many instances its faith has been pledged. But Christian rulers will remember, that our father Abraham, was not justified by faith only; and add energy to our faith, that we may as a people, be justified in the sight of God, and the world.

4th. We come as proposed, to speak of the duty and privilege of the people under the administration of Christian rulers. And

1st. It is their duty to pray for them.

Government is an important trust, and though it be limited by righteous and equitable laws; yet such is the condition of human nature in this world, that the greatest and best of men are liable to err, and are insufficient to manage the great affairs of state, without direction and influence from Heaven.

God is the blessed and only potentate, his essential perfections are his blessedness, and enable him to manage an universal Empire! He stands in no need of his creatures’ wealth to maintain his crown, their power to effect his designs, or their wisdom to direct his counsels. But it is far otherwise with his vicegerents here on earth; though they are called gods, and clothed with authority from Christ and the people yet they are but men.

The affairs of government are often intricate and perplexing, and dangers eminent and threatening, so that rulers find occasion to adopt the language of the pious king of Judah, “neither know we what to do.”

We are divinely bound to pray “for all in authority,” that government might be equal and righteous, and that we might “lead a peaceable and quiet life, in all Godliness and honesty.”

It is the blessing of God, that makes government steady and effectual, and gives peace and quietness to the Commonwealth; and God will be sought unto, for such an inestimable blessing.

When we pray for them, we pray for the advancement of peace, and Godliness, this being the end for which government is instituted.

2d. It is the duty of the people, to support their rulers. That authority by which they govern, enjoins obedience from the people to all their righteous laws.

And as they have a painful preeminence above their fellow mortals, and an arduous and important trust committed to them by God, and the people; they should be freed from cares and troubles about the affairs of the world. “For this cause, pay you tribute also; for they are God’s Ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.” The advantages we enjoy tinder a righteous administration, entitle those who govern to large returns. Our persons and properties are secured, and we set under our own vine and fig-tree; being protected, by a government merciful and righteous.

When taxes are made for the support of government, there is a moral obligation on the people, to discharge them; for government which is an ordinance of God, could not subsist without such support.

Our blessed Lord set us an example worthy of imitation, when he sent Peter to the mouth of the fish, that he might receive money to pay their tribute. And enjoined upon us to “render to Caesar, the things that be Caesar’s.” A support, honor, love and obedience, are enjoined through the whole book of God, upon the people, as a just tribute due to those who govern.

It is the privilege of the people granted them by God and nature, to choose their own rulers.

Kingly government was never of divine appointment; but added, as the law was, “by reason of transgression.”

The government, early established in the world among the ancient Hebrews, was a free republic like ours, the sovereignty resided in the body of the people.

They were to choose able men; and they were called to give their assent to the laws given from Heaven, before they were put into execution.

When government is thus founded, according to the divine mind, and rulers chosen, they become representatives of the power and majesty of God; and important instruments employed by his providence and grace, in the administration of affairs in this lower world.

They are entrusted with the lives, liberties and properties of the people, For them prayer should be continually made, and to them obedience given, as God’s vicegerents, when they rule for him, and for good to the people.

People should be careful of censuring them, and increasing their burden and concern, lest they be reproved by him, who has forbid our “reviling the gods, or speaking evil of the rulers of the people.”

But when rulers neglect the great affairs of government “when they break not every yoke” plead not the cause of the injured and innocent, the widow and fatherless, the poor and needy, when they do not support religion, liberty, the arts and literature; the pillars of government will fall, and society throw off its pleasing apparel: “The sword shall be upon the arm, and upon the right eye of the magistrate” he shall lose his discernment in public measures, and his authority shall be taken away.

On the other hand when those in authority, move with dignity in their proper sphere, are God’s ministers for good; and people are subject for conscience sake, what a pleasing appearance does the Commonwealth put on! Such as once induced the prophet to exclaim “how goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles 0 Israel!”

From what has been said we may infer.

1st. That God in the scheme of grace by Christ, provided for the happiness of mankind in this world, as well as for their immortality and glory in the next. And foreseeing to what endless confusion and irregularity the world would tumble, without order and subordination: has with one stroke wrote himself, religion and government on the mind of man. – And has sent his son from Heaven to explain, and enforce, what, at first, he wrote on the mind of man, and to reign and govern in righteousness.

Civil government is designed to sub-serve the grace of the gospel; and the happiness it defuses through society in this world, should call forth our gratitude and praise to God, its author.

It smoothes the rugged road of life, gives the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of every blessing, and raises in the mind, the most exalted conceptions of that blessed Being, whose benevolent design, is to raise the virtuous among mankind, by small gradations, to happiness and perfection with himself.

Government is a link in the chain of everlasting mercy; and those who are obedient “for the Lord’s sake” who has appointed it, may expect that their path will shine more and more unto the perfect day.

2d. We infer. “That days of greater peace and happiness, then have ever dawned upon the church and world and before us in America” this we argue from the ability of Christ’s person, the extent of his commission, his going forth of old with our fathers; and the deliverance he hath wrought for this generation.

The kingdom of providence, and the kingdom of grace are his; and he manages the affairs of the one in subserviency to the other.

It has been the method of God from the beginning, to reveal the designs of his grace and mercy to the world by degrees.

He promised one, mighty to save, and able to govern soon after the apostasy in the garden; but four thousand years were numbered, before the desire of all nations came.

Since he appeared on the theater of life, the church and world have pressed on for ages, through, the fire of perfection: Deluges of blood, oppression and slaughter, but little benefited, to appearance, by his coming and death.

Till the Angel of the Lord pointed our forefathers to this Western World; a land where he determined to unfold the plan of redemption and government. Here they found a safe retreat from persecution and cruelty. Savage beasts and men vanished before them, like the dew before the rising sun.

Here the church was founded upon the doctrines of Christ, and the Apostles, which put forth her branches like the palm-tree, and bid fair to eclipse the glory of the world.

This awakened the fears of the country from whence they came, who were grieved at our greatness and envious at our rising glory, and attempted to take from us, our liberty, and this land God gave to our fathers; prepared chains to bind us to passive obedience, and drag us to perdition. The great charter was violated, and the laws that were to protect this infant world, infringed upon. “The foundations were all destroyed, and what could the righteous do?”

In that day of our distress, we appealed to the strength of Jehovah, and the justice of our cause: And God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, he stood and measured the earth, and drove asunder the nations, and confirmed us in the possession of this goodly land.

Under the direction, and by the assistance of Him, who administers on Heaven’s eternal plan, we are delivered from the horrors of war, and enjoy both civil and religious liberty!

We have been led to frame and adopt a constitution of government that is the wonder of the world; resembling that which God of old, gave the Israelites, the seed of Abraham his friend.

We shouted with heartfelt joy, when the political ark was brought to its place. Sing O Heavens for the Lord hath redeemed New England, and glorified himself in America!

When we look over these great events, we are constrained to cry out with the Patriarch, “surely the Lord is in this place, and we know it not.”

We are respected abroad among the nations of the earth, and united at home. God has put this honor upon us, and spoke peace to our borders.

The system of national government we have settled, we hope, will secure to us, and hand down to the generations to come, the liberties and privileges we have procured by our toil, treasures, and the blood of many of our virtuous sons.

The choicest blessings, religion, liberty and peace, were reserved in the counsels of God, for thee, O America!

And what God has done for our fathers, and for us of this generation, are but intimations of our future happiness and glory; that he will have a light before him in this Jerusalem, ’till the second coming of Him, who is the “light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.” Here the empire of Jesus is founded, and these are the halcyon days disclosed to the pious Prophet, in a vision of the night.

“And behold! one like the Son of Man came to the ancient of days, and there was given him dominion, glory and a kingdom; and his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom, that, which shall not be destroyed.”

From the rise and present exaltation of America, we conclude she is to be the theater, where the latter day glory shall be displayed; and the medium through which religion, liberty and learning, shall be handed round creation.

3d. We infer: That Christ will vindicate the sacred rights of his government, in the utter destruction of all that oppose his reign.

It becomes rulers, ministers and people, to be willing subjects of this kingdom, that they may be the glory of Christ its King.

The impious and ungodly will be ensnared in their own plots and devises; and the Heavens will reveal their iniquity one day. “Kiss the Son, less he be angry, and ye perish from the way.”

True it is, God has done great things for us; he has delivered us from war, and invited us by the dawn of peace, to lay aside the dread artillery of death; he has given us a land that flows with milk and honey, and settled both church and state in peace.

But what is this to the sinners of my people, who live in intemperance, debauchery, pride and luxury, fraud and deceit; who violate God’s holy laws, neglect the duties of the gospel covenant, cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God.

Jesus, who is exalted at the head of the universal polity of Angels and men, when his wrath is kindled but a little, will dash such characters to pieces like a potter’s earthen vessel.

From the evil returns we have made to Heaven for past mercies, we have reason to fear the divine rebukes: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.

God brought his people of old to the borders of the promised land; but they murmured against Moses and Aaron, and were for making a Captain and returning into Egypt. This provoked Him who had done great things for them, to say “your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness, and ye shall know my breach of promise: But your little ones, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” So it will be with the wicked of this generation; with Balaam we behold the glory of America, but not nigh; we shall meet the grave, and the horrors of eternity; and our “sons will come to honor, and we know it not.”

We have solemn tidings this day from the mount of God: “The children of New England have forsaken my covenant: Do ye thus requite the Lord?” O foolish people and unwise!

Hear with what irresistible eloquence the prophet Isaiah pleads against the impenitent of this age and country; “Hear O Heavens, and give ear O Earth, for I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”

O that we may as a people, know in this our day, the things of our peace, repent, and do our first works; that God may heal us, and bestow those blessings, he has encouraged us to hope for, from past mercies. Then shall we find the grave in peace, and leave this inheritance to our children’s children; who will read the history of our day, with amazement and veneration, and call us blessed, when we are sleeping in the dust!

But it is time that I close the subject with particular attention to the important political characters that compose so great a part of this respectable assembly.

And His Excellency the Governor and Commander in Chief of this Commonwealth, claims our first attention.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY,

We rejoice to find, venerable sir, that you are again, by the suffrages of a free and independent State, called to fill the first seat of government. You are the man on whom the eyes of this Israel are set, that you should rule over us.

Your former services for these States, in the day of small things, and your administration government in this Commonwealth, are engraven on our hearts, as with the point of a diamond.

It was under your presidency and direction, that an ancient prophesy was literally accomplished, “a nation born in a day.” America declared free, sovereign and independent!

Your ardent love to your country, your indefatigable labor on her behalf, and your alms which have been distributed to the poor and needy, render you dear to this, and will, to the generations to come.

Time shall stop her course, and expire in eternity, before you will be forgotten. While religion, liberty, justice and benevolence, are counted valuable upon earth, your Excellency will have a name and praise in it.

An holy God has deprived you, of a promising son to bear up your name, when you become weak like other men, and are called to sleep with your fathers, and by him, who for so many years, was your worthy and pious contemporary in office: But he has left you a name better than that of many sons; one that will live in the breasts of virtuous Republicans, ’till our father Adam shall salute the arrival of his youngest son to the abodes of bliss.

We have not only a grateful remembrance of your past services for America, and this Commonwealth in particular, but we confide in your good disposition, and uncommon abilities, to fill with dignity, the seat of government, where Divine Providence has placed you.

Your Excellency will please to remember, that your authority comes from Christ, though by the mediation of the people; whose religion you will imbibe in your heart, and support in your government, that the people may take knowledge of you, that you have been with Him, by whom you rule.

The ministers of Christ, who are commissioned by the same authority that invests you, will meet your countenance and protection, though they act in another apartment in the house of Christ.

The University, that has given birth to so many important characters, both in church and state, leans forward, as it were, and whispers to you her son, to administer to her necessities.

We wish you the presence and blessing of Heaven, to enable you to act in your whole administration, under the influence of a principle of justice and mercy: This will entitle you to the love and esteem of a people you have made happy. This will yield you calmness of mind, under the bodily infirmities, God is pleased to inflict you with, and the cares and troubles of government, this will brighten the gloom of death, and give you boldness in the day of Christ.

May you long live to serve your God and generation; and when you are called to put off this mortal form, may your soul wing her way to yonder bright and intellectual world; where, from the mouth of your Divine Master, may you hear that blessed euge, “well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, claims our next respects, to whom the discourse is now addressed:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR,

It has pleased God to spare your important life, to see the fruit of your labor and anxiety, in years past, and to awaken the attention of the people to call upon you, to exert your talents and abilities for the good of this Commonwealth, At a time when the voice of men, whose years have taught them, is needed.

Your integrity, patriotism and devotedness to the cause of your country, has given you favor, and kindled in the minds of the people esteem and veneration, that time will not obliterate.

The Recording Angle will not silently pass by your labor and attention, when we came over Jordan with our staff.

The laws of justice and gratitude, which are the laws of God, require that we accept it with thankfulness to you; and more especially to that God, who has made you so instrumental in delivering us from tyranny and oppressive power.

We have a recent remembrance of the critical day, when His Excellency and your Honor, were excluded a pardon of God and America, for their insults and cruelty.

You have lived to see your desires accomplished; the Temple of Liberty raised and the glory of America, founded through the world by the trump of Fame! Now your eyes behold this, you are ready to adopt the words of Simeon, when he clasped the infant Savior in his arms, “now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for I have seen thy salvation.”

We look to you, honored sir, and expect that you conspire with your best endeavors, to make easy and happy, this great people: And may a grateful people, by their returns of honor and justice, equal your past, and their expectations of your future services.

May God have you in his holy keeping; make the remainder of your days comfortable and happy, and when he shall see fit to discharge you from further services below, may you shine forth with resplendent glory in the kingdom of the Redeemer above.

And may the Honorable Council, so necessary and important a Branch in government, be counseled and directed of God; and in all matters that come before them, act with stability and firmness, being influenced by that wisdom which is from above.

May your piety and virtue, gentlemen, recommend you to the favor and protection of Heaven; and your integrity and uprightness of conduct, render you more and more objects of the love and confidence of your brethren. But if your labor and fidelity, should not meet the approbation of the world, as it is often the case, you will have within you, conscious worth before you, an animating prospect of the acceptance of God, and a reward in the world to come.

The Honorable the Senate, and the Honorable the House of Representatives, claim the attention of the Preacher, and to whom he would now turn his discourse.

You are this day, respectable gentleman, constituted the ordinance of God, for good; and, having received authority from Christ, and the people, you have before you a very weighty concern, to promote the best interest of the people, and see that the Commonwealth receive no detriment.

The multitude of your brethren have put confidence in you, and made you the keepers of their vineyard. You will regard, gentlemen, the sacred enclosure of Christ, and be nursing fathers to his church, and people. We look to you for equal and righteous laws, and a pattern of every virtue.

You will remember, that government came into the world, on the same benevolent errand its Divine Author did, not to perplex and destroy men’s lives, but to enlighten, reform, and save them: And if there are any laws too sanguine in the case of life and death, you will adopt some other punishment than that of sending souls unprepared, to the tribunal of God.

Be not unmindful, sirs, that the eyes of God are upon you in your public capacity: He observes what attention you pay to the concerns of the public, to the widow and fatherless, the poor and needy, and the cause of virtue and religion. To him you are accountable, and before his awful tribunal you must soon stand, with the meanest of your brethren.

You are called Gods, let your compassion to the poor, resemble that of the Father of Mercies.

Guard against pride, covetousness, and a disposition to bind heavy burdens on the people.

Lay aside party considerations and private designs, and do that which you can answer to God, and the people. Then you will be blessed and the blessings of many, ready to perish, will come upon you. And in the last grand revolution, when all distinctions, but those of a religious nature will be forever done away, you will meet the approbation of HIM, by whom you rule, and your reward will be great. We wish you divine direction, and a blessing, this day, out of the house of God.

Let this great and attentive Assembly, call to mind the duties they owe to God, and the world, and the obligations they are under to the faithful discharge of them.

Of infinite importance is it to us, Christian friend’s, that we are possessed of that faith in, and faithfulness to Christ, which the gospel constitution makes necessary, in order for us to obtain eternal life. If we are the subjects of divine grace, and act worthily our part on the stage of life, we may meet adversity with fortitude, and death with comfort – for it will reach us to a world, where God will be the sun, in which he will run through our souls with a torrent of delight. On this pleasing hope and joyful expectation, I will dismiss you, until that day, in which may the Preacher find mercy, and meet you all amongst the redeemed of the LORD – and the glory shall be given to HIM, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the LAMB, forever and ever; and let all the people say AMEN

Nathan Strong (1748-1816) graduated from Yale in 1769, was ordained in 1774, and became pastor of 1st church in Hartford. He served as chaplain in the Revolutionary Army, ran the “Connecticut Evangelical Magazine” from 1800 to 1815, and was one of the founders of the Connecticut Missionary Society.

At a General Assembly of the State Of Connecticut, in America, holden at Hartford, on the Second Thursday of May, A. D. 1790.
ORDERED, That Colonel Thomas Seymour and Captain Jonathan Bull, return the Thanks of this Assembly to the Reverend Nathan Strong, of Hartford, for his Sermon delivered at the General Election, on the 13^th Day of May 1790, and request a Copy thereof that it may be printed.

A true Copy of Record,
Examined by
George Wyllys, Sec.

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute, to whom tribute is due; custom, to whom custom; fear, to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

This passage, which is a summary of the laws of Religion, may also be considered as a summary of those political and social duties, by which a nation is made happy.  The chapter in connection is the best political dissertation that was ever penned.  Without entering into a comparison of the several kinds of government, which men have erected, the writer confines himself to general truths and duties, which are necessary in all of them, are founded in the nature of society, and approved by reason and experience.

He begins the chapter with asserting the divine origin of civil government.  The powers that be are ordained of God, whoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God.  Infinite wisdom suffers us to chuse our own form of government, and designate the instruments by whom it shall be executed; but the ordinance is still the Lord’s, and to refuse obedience is sinning against heaven.—Nor hath any man a right to complaint, as the institution was designed for human good, and there is an easy way of reconciling our own interest with all the powers of a well regulated government.  For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  Dost thou desire it to be a blessing and not an evil to thee?  Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same.  For he is the minister of God to thee for good.  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath but conscience sake.

After asserting the divine origin and the necessity of civil government, in some of the kinds practiced by men; the Apostle recapitulates, in our text, the principal duties by which society is united, protected and made happy, and sums up his description in these words, And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.—If there be any political duty, not otherwise expressly commanded, we may find it in the great law of Christian love; this law directs rulers and subjects in every possible connection, and will make them faithful in their respective places.  On reviewing the connection of the chapter, it appears that the Apostle designed our text, as a collection of political maxims, by which society may be preserved, and the great end of government be promoted under whatever form or constitution it subsists: and on further attending to the same maxims, we find they are the essential laws of religion, which were early given to men as a rule of duty, and of their present and future well being. I think this is a clear proof, that religion and a well regulated civil government are subjects which cannot be separated.  A good ruler or a good subject will not suffer these laws to go out of his view.  Happiness is the great end designed by all social institutions; for this, the laws and duties of religion are enjoined on creatures by the wisdom of their maker; for the same end men have organized government, and defined its powers and duties; both have relation to the social capacities and enjoyments of connected minds, and aiming at the same end, must in a considerable degree procure it by the same means.  So far as religion and government deviate from each other, one or the other of them deviates from the nature of men, and the effects of their social relation.

Happiness cannot subsist without love and justice, between those who are brought into connection by the supreme providence.  The blessedness of a perfect world, and the perfection of divine government, are represented to us by the abundance of these virtues.  We have no reason to suppose that systems of virtue or law, essentially different, are necessary for the good government of the heavenly and earthly societies; as they both aim at the same thing, the happiness of rational minds in union with each other.  There is not an idea, in the world, more dangerous to society, or more debasing to civil government, that this, that it stands on a basis of human wisdom and will, apart from those great religious obligations, which direct the manner and duties of intercourse in all worlds.

Religion, or love, holiness and righteousness, the names by which it is commonly called in the sacred oracles, is the constitution and law of the supreme government, by which the Almighty is glorified, and his creatures connected in blessedness; and the nature of intelligent beings admits not a safe introduction of other principles; depart from these and we act no longer like reasonable men or like Christians.

Our apprehensions of a perfect and glorious society must be defective, as we have not the aid of experience; but in accounting to ourselves for the blessedness and stability of its orders, we always conceive the perfect exercise of religion, as a cause sufficient for the effect.  If the laws of religion are sufficient to render the divine government most glorious and happy; and if the practice of religion will give a future perfection to the heavenly life, why are not the same principles and practice, the strength and safety of men’s government in this world.  The Lord our God governs according to the nature of things, and his administration always ends well; and are not men, when they act for him in the temporary authorities of the world, most like to succeed, to support their own dignity, and be a blessing to others, when they adopt in their administration and act from the same principle.

A ruler needs religion much more than his unofficered brethren, to support his mind under trials, and to guard him against temptations.  When the respectable citizen rises from private into public life, he must expect to exchange quietness for trouble; honor, though alluring, has its bitterness and its dangers; enemies before unknown, will rise up; the jealous will sift all his actions, and what man can be so guarded as to have all his behavior escape censure?  The ambitious, thinking him in the way of their own progress, will be his enemies.  To support the mind under these evils, and lead it into the exercise of prudence and patience, religion is necessary.

To hold great power and places of confidential trust is a state of temptation, which every man cannot resist, and those who are wise will not accept a call to public service, until by examination, they find in their hearts fixed principles of fidelity.  A bad man may seek elevation, but it is only a good man who can bear it; many shine in adversity, which cools the appetites and unsocial passions; but to shine in prosperity; to be humane and just in the circle of a court; to be true and honorable in the treatment of all mankind; to be righteous and honest when power gives opportunity for oppressing, the assistance of fixed religious principles are certainly necessary.  If religion be necessary to assist us in the common duties of life, it is more necessary where duties are multiplied and enlarged.

Political elevation is generally esteemed honorable, but it is not always attended with honor, for this depends not on the elevation itself, but on the principles and conduct of the person who is raised.  What is true honor but the esteem and love of mankind on virtuous reasons?  He who renders to all their dues—who preserves himself from a transgression of God’s laws, by injuring the purity, interest or reputation of others, and performs the political and brotherly duties enjoined in the command—thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; he hath an honor which enemies cannot long stain, nor time wipe away.  But a profusion of knowledge, and the glare of great abilities, without fixed principles of love to God and men, are like a song, the sounds die away and the pleasing surprise of the mind departs.

Having made these general remarks on the usefulness of religion in civil society, and in the character of one who rules men; that we may see its efficacy in the clearest manner, let us more accurately trace its nature and effects in the mind.

We are now to consider the formation of a character, which will be uniformly supported thro life, and where a steady practice evidences some habitual dispositions, that cannot be subverted by every slight temptation.

The great end of political associations is best answered where there is the most perfect union, and those principles are most essential to government, which have the greatest tendency to produce union.  The interests of individuals, are by the emergencies of time thrown into many situations.  We live with many others whose passions are complicated, various and pointed to their own personal ends.  Every lesser district, very family, and individual in the family, hath interests of its own.  If these private interests have a supreme influence the utmost evils will ensue.  It is the business of government to hold the balance between them, to check the overbearing and point them to a common good, and for this it needs the assistance of some pervading social bond, and this bond can be no other than religion.

But few minds are so enlightened in the institution of nature and the supreme wisdom which formed it, as to see that a pursuit of the general good will be an eventual advancement of each man’s private good; and where there is this enlarged understanding if the heart be corrupt, the passions will rebel.

In all rational society there needs some cementing principle of the heart, by which the minds who compose it may be united, have one interest, one common good, and one happiness.

Many philosophers, and politicians of renown in their times, have enquired for this bond of union without success, and seduced by their own reasoning, have substituted art, corruption or power.

Christian love in its comprehension of virtues, is the supreme tie of social connexion.  This is the same as the Apostle means, when he says –owe no man anything, but to love one another—and if there be any other command, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.—He that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law; he will exercise all the varieties of love as they are modified in the actions of justice, truth, integrity and beneficence; he will render to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor; he will reverence the property, peace and reputation of all mankind; and by his divine love he will be made happy in doing good to others.—Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, are the two greatest laws of an enlightened policy, in every community of reasonable creatures; this is religion in the heart, and the visible practice of it is that religion in life, by which a man becomes a good ruler, or a good subject, according as God is pleased to place him.  These first laws of religion are as excellent for earth as for Heaven; and as good a directory in civil administration, as in Christian living.

I would not be understood that the holy scriptures are a code of civil law, nor that they superceed its necessity, nor that the religion of Christ determines the most proper constitution of nations.  The divine law and gospel have in view a more comprehensive object, the government, the glory and happiness of the creation; still they embrace those moral and religious principles, in all their varieties, on which the happiness and stability of lesser societies must depend.—Public peace is the fruit of union—union is the result of Christian love and religion.  When every man regards the welfare of his brother and of the whole, the political body is strong, full of energy and happiness.

These are the most permanent and safe principles on which society can be organized, and all others are liable to an easy dissolution.  Power may constrain a kind of order in the state, but its very appearance is gloomy, and it is destitute of happiness.  Fear which awes cannot sweeten the heart and feelings of mankind; the subject compelled to quietness by a dread of severity, at the same moment wishes revolt, and the pleasant amities of living are all denied.—The selfish passions may be variously addressed, and a system of human art constructed; but to how many casualties it is subject and how often annihilated in a moment, the history of empires is full of witness.  Justice, truth, righteousness and mercy are the solid basis of empire, and these are but branches of religion or Christian love.  To these permanent principles of society nothing may be opposed, and the necessity which men sometimes urge is but a delusion.  All the virtues of a pious and good life, ought to be the object of national encouragement.  These reconcile the heart of the subject to the welfare of the whole and of his brethren.  They make a ruler the friend and father of his country; and might the heart of every citizen be inspired with these principles, the art and exercise of government would become extremely simple, and each one would be influenced by his feelings, to act in the sphere of his duty.  Coercion or an artful address to the passions of different orders of men would fall into disuse, for it is only thro human degeneracy, that these subsidiary aids can produce any benefit.

I am sensible that human nature must be taken by the civil governor as he finds it, and that there is not in the world a sufficiency of true religion to effect so happy a state as is described; but still he ought not to let these great principles of society go out of view, and if he doth, will certainly injure the public.

It is not uncommon for some, on observing men’s corruption, to embrace dangerous opinions on this subject.  Aiming at a wise and deep policy, they substitute collusion, intrigue, and an artful address to the passions and interests of parties, in the place of love, justice and truth.  They insinuate that religion and its institutions have nothing to do with government and civil policy, and that the moral obligations which may be a fit subject for the exhortation of a clergyman, cannot be very strictly consulted by those who manage the civil interests of mankind.  When any collection of people are so corrupt, that they will not bear reproof and the corrective restraint of government, that people ought to be disbanded and feel the correction of their own vices; and that which ought to be done the natural operation of things will speedily effect.  Such representations as I just mentioned, may sometimes proceed wholly from corruption of heart; an ambitious man, who knows himself destitute of religious principles, must be unwilling to have their usefulness in society generally acknowledged; but very often I believe they proceed from an ignorance of human nature, and the nature of society.  Tho the arts of corruption may succeed with a man for a few times, a loss of public confidence will put it out of his power to repeat them often.  Let him that ruleth over men be just; ruling in the fear of the Lord, is a law of perpetual usefulness, and derives its fitness from the nature of society; indeed religion is the best bond of society, and being such is the best support of government.

Tho a distinction is made in the state, between the civil and Ecclesiastical departments, neither of them is independent of the other.  Civility and the good order of political regulations are a great advantage to religion; religion and its institutions are the best aid of government, by strengthening the ruler’s hand, and making the subject faithful in his place, and obedient to the general laws.

Tho the author of our holy religion assumed no temporal authority, and gave no opinion on the several kinds of government, or the temporal jurisdictions of men; yet he established as first principles in his church, those laws which are essential to the peace of every state; on which every kind of authority must stand, which can be a blessing to the people; or which nerve the hand of government and protect the liberties of mankind.  Hence we find that wherever a just understanding of Christianity hath obtained, and its duties been practiced, they have had a benign influence on the liberty of nations:  And where a contrary effect hath been aided by what men called religion, as was the case in the Papal Hierarchy, it was owing to a subversion of the true principles of Christianity.  A spurious superstructure was raised by the corruption of men, falsely called by the name of religion, and not calculated to refine either the affections or practice of the people, but to aid a secular power by terrifying men, while those who were first in church and state shared their spoils.

The religion of Jesus, with no weapons in its hand but those of truth and love, silently subverts oppression; makes the people regular in discharging their duties, and rulers upright and humane in their administration; and there needs no other means to subvert the tyrannies of the world, than the universal spread and practice of this religion.

When as subjects, we find that religion assists us in doing all enjoined duties, and reconciles us to the interest of the public and our neighbours, we must suppose, that it will give equal assistance to those whom God appointeth to be in authority over us; and that their manners ought to be adorned by obedience to the divine law.  We feel sure that religion will guard them against temptations—lead them to a sound policy—to liberal feelings—to a paternal regard of the people, and an undaunted support of justice.

If there be not a mistake in these leading propositions, the following important conclusion must be received; that without religion no society whatever can long subsist in peace, or those who are members of it have reason to rejoice in the connexion.

The supreme will commands religion, for its usefulness to his connected creatures.  He saw that by this, the minds he created would become happy, and be joined in a communion, that makes the advantage of each one, matter of joy to the whole, and the dignity and perfection of the whole, an object of delight to each individual.  He saw that thus the intelligent kingdom would have one spirit, one interest and one happiness.  On what other foundation can rational and useful union subsist in this world?  In both cases the subjects are the same and have the same powers, faculties and capacities.  Do not those persons therefore act unnaturally, and against the laws of existence, who attempt the establishment of any society on other principles beside those of religion?  Are not their expectations of its permanency without reason?  Have we not always found the spirit of religion our best assistance in the duties and connexions of life?  Have we not found our families happy, in the same proportion, as its spirit and orders reigned in them?  Or looking back on the civil state, can we recollect a single instance of public injustice, or the semblance of it, or the extraordinary prevalence of any immorality, which was not followed with great evils?  The law of God and nature can never be repealed.

The conclusion extends itself still further; First, that it is the right; and Secondly, that it is the duty of civil rulers to protect religion.

First, it is their right.  It is a plain maxim of reason, that the civil state is vested with all necessary powers of self-preservation.  If it be lawful for mankind to combine in a political union, they have right to perpetuate the establishment; and as the passions of men are, there can be no comfortable living without such establishments.  To deny civil government the right of protecting religion, and suppressing irreligion, is denying it the most essential means of self-preservation.  All kinds of vice militate against the state, and religion in the modification of its virtues are its safe-guard.  To organize the civil state, and appoint a number of the people to be rulers; to commit the public to their charge and make them responsible for its well-being; and then to deny them the means and power of protecting and encouraging religion, is a severe requirement.  If any man accepts the charge, under this restriction he promises beyond human performance.

Secondly, It is the duty of rulers to protect and encourage religion, and of the people to assist them in doing it.  The public weal is the most sacred of all earthly betrustments.  Every man when called to office, hath an opportunity to refuse this care, if he thinks himself incapable, or finds that his heart is not honest enough to do it with fidelity; but when the trust is accepted, the obligations to a faithful performance are most sacred.  No light causes will excuse either the civil, or religious minister of the public, for unfaithfulness in the duties of his office.  The happiness of an individual is dear, and the forfeit of it more bitter than can be described; how much more dear the aggregate happiness of the public body?  Entering into society, we deposit our property, lives, friends and happiness, in the hand of the public; the public recommit this trust to the care of rulers, and give them a right and power to see it inviolably preserved.  If religion and its institutions be the most certain means to preserve, is it not their duty to protect and encourage virtue and piety?  Or can any man be called faithful in his appointment, who hath neglected to give this encouragement, both officially and in the private example of his life?  He hath had the visible dignity, but with a consciousness of unfaithfulness, can he feel honorable to himself, or be so vain as to suppose that he is respected in the hearts of the people?  Under a conviction of the truth I have urged, can he look back upon himself with a peaceful conscience?  The parent who hath been a fearer of the Lord, and a faithful subject and citizen, when he sees his family corrupted by such irreligion as the state ought to suppress, hath reason to complain, that his expense and allegiance have not been repayed by that guardian care, which he had a right to expect from the civil power, which alone can stop the sources and punish the instruments of corruption.

May I be suffered to suggest another serious truth.  The government is the Lords; men are the instruments of providence in arranging its powers and duties, and appointing proper persons to execute them; the government is still the Lord’s.  He commits his creatures to such of their brethren, as are supposed to have most wisdom and discreetness.  The whole earthly state, is designed as a school of instruction, and correction to mature such virtues, as will make men perfectly happy in another life.  This is one end of government, for we cannot disconnect time and eternity.  This great people are placed in the hands of their rulers, by Almighty God their tender Father and Saviour.  He sits supreme King and expects fidelity from all; every care and exertion that such religion be encouraged, as will secure present and eternal happiness.  Could we keep alive a sense of divine things, and the connexion between this and another world, these truths would make a deep impression on all our hearts.

By commending religion to the protection of the state, and the practice of its leading characters, I do not mean to urge an intolerant and persecuting spirit, which is very different from a tender care of piety.  Many differences of opinion in a land of Christian light, are concerning the non-essentials and the ritual of religion.  Several of these matters, the great head of the Church when he was on earth, did not think proper to determine.  Their propriety often depends on local or temporary circumstances, or on the particular construction and feelings of different minds.  Such differences when conscientiously maintained, have not a dangerous effect either on the essentials of religion, or good order of the state; and government may tolerate them with safety.  If we look thro the Christian sectaries, who differ in ceremonies and words, candor will perceive, that the greatest number of them unite, in the weighty matters of faith, piety, religion and justice, towards God and towards men.  A diffusion of knowledge is now advancing a liberal spirit.  May the Great Head of the Church hasten the period, when those who think alike, concerning a divine love, justice, faith and truth, may join their hands and hail a future meeting in Heaven, where ceremonies and modes of expression will not separate brethren.  Experience hath taught, that tolerancy in these things is the most powerful means of union; and a conscientious government will find little difficulty in determining when to encourage and when coerce.

But while we speak of a liberal spirit, let not immorality and irreligion think they have a right to our tenderness.  Liberality is a divine affection of the heart, a love of the truth and of men, and cannot be pleased with vice.  True liberality is Christian love, and delights in God and in all the virtues he commandeth, and is most mistaken by such persons, as triumph in vice over the social obligations:  If there be who speak with lightness of a most perfect and glorious providence; if there be, who think they may treat the religion of their brethren with lightness; if there be a few, either so odd or weak in their way of thinking, as not to see in our sacred books, truths most favorable to society, and a most glorious description of Almighty, his justice and goodness; if there be, who live wicked and immoral lives, they ought not to think it consistent either with the dignity or safety of the state to protect their sins.  A delirious man is to be pitied, but for his sake a nation cannot change its institutions:  An immoral man is a subject of our forgiveness and prayer as Christians, and of our neighbourly offices as citizens; but must not expect, that the venerable public, will suffer him to sport with the principles of their existence.

Our subject admits a variety of practical inferences, on which I may not enlarge.  It instructs us all how to be good citizens:  Every man is a member in the political body; and every member hath a place in which it may be useful.  If any are not useful, it is their fault; for divine wisdom hath so organized the body, there is a place, a business and a duty for all.  The man who doth his duty, be his service what it may, deserves well of the state.  No order, profession or employment, may say to another, there is no need of thee.  All will do well if they respect the great principles of religion, if their hearts possess divine love, and their practice be in obedience to the law of God; and without these a man’s character will be defective, whether he move in a high sphere, or hath a humble place in the state.  Religion will make us contented with such place and employment as providence appointeth, and authorize us to think of ourselves we are not useless.  The want of religion, if it doth not make a person entirely useless, yet in a great measure destroys him to mankind; and our rising admiration of his useful accomplishments, dissolves in tears of sorrow for degenerate human nature.

Our subject reproves all those vices injurious to society, and none is more so than party spirit.  Partial affection for local districts and their interests, must breed opposition, and the general good will be forgotten in interested altercation.  But of all party intrigue, that is the most open insult on the dignity of a free state, and most threatening to its happiness, when offices are bartered for emolument, and dignities divided by private influence.  Such things religion forbids, and decency with a sigh turns her face from the scene.

Religion forbids, and when it prevails among a people will prevent, the cruel practice of privately slandering the reputation of elevated characters.  To wound in the dark is an easy thing, and a small capacity influenced by a bad heart can do it effectually.  Unfounded jealousies, are as dangerous to the public as to those who suffer them, and by being often repeated, shake the foundation of government, and place the worthy and unworthy, on the same level of confidence in the minds of the people.

Religion is the best friend of men’s liberties and properties.  Under his influence, government will be just to all its engagements, and the interest of every citizen stand secure, on the basis of equity and justice.  Where the spirit and practice of religion reigns, the sigh of oppression will cease, and men no longer groan under the power of their brethren. A great part of the happiness of the world, must be attributed to the humane influence of the religion of Jesus, and the remainder of oppression is a witness how imperfectly his doctrines are understood, and how little there is of his spirit, even in the countries which are called Christian.  On the ground of prophetic assurance we expect a day, in which this religion shall fill the earth, and when it happens, there will be no traffick in the bodies and souls of men; oppression and slavery will cease and the image of the Creator in reason and understanding, will be allowed as evidence of a right to the privileges of his family.

Our subject recommends to the rulers of the state, an encouragement of all those institutions, by which religion and science are diffused among the people.  It is the manner of divine wisdom, to work by means regularly established.  When the institutions of religion fall into disrepute, we have no right to expect, that the spirit of piety will prevail among the people.  The visible orders of religion are an enclosure, which holds its friends together; and under an idea of tolerancy many have run into an opposite extreme of opinion, that in all cases where men pretend conscience, they ought to be exempted from the direction of law.  To argue much on these matters may not be salutary, but I think a little attention will determine the point; for when we look on those districts within the United States, in which all legal protection hath been denied to the institutions of religion, we can easily trace the political evils, jealousies and confusion which have ensued.

Science is friendly to religion and good order, and on this ground claims protection from government.  The expences of education are the most economical deposit which can be made for the liberties of our offspring.  Men of information will neither forfeit, nor quietly submit to the loss of their civil rights; but the ignorant are ensnared by their brethren.  Much therefore is due to the minds of our youth, who will fill the first offices in the state and in the church and be the only pillars of order, when a few years have laid this honorable and pious Assembly in the dust.

If religion and science are the strength of the state, and the preservation of public liberty, we ought to reflect with gratitude on the goodness of God, in furnishing so many characters eminent in both.  When we look on this collection, it calls to our remembrance many of our fathers, who, by their piety and wisdom, were pillars in our Israel; and who now receive a more permanent reward than men can give.  It is but a small return, which even a grateful people can make to the fidelity of their rulers; but tho we cannot reward, an acknowledgement of the obligation is beautiful, and must encourage their hearts in doing us good.  The chief officers of the state, who are gathered before the Lord on this occasion, to bless his name and ask his presence, have a right to our dutiful address.

The God of our fathers who hath all power and dominion, hath been pleased to put an important trust into your hands, and select you as the instrument of exercising his government, and dispensing his favor to this people.  Tho an elevated station among men, cannot divest you of the weaknesses of humanity; tho we make no doubt, but in the presence of a higher ruler you feel in yourself all the imperfections of a creature; yet you will indulge us in returning our thanks, for many benefits you have rendered to the state, and especially for the undeviating testimony you have borne in favor of religion, both by your precept and example.  Much is in the power of your excellency; tho the Gods of the people must die like men, and be soon reduced to a level with their brethren, yet they have a weighty influence on public opinion and practice, and the happiness of many, perhaps even for another world, stands or falls with them.  Impressed with this truth, we look to our first Magistrate to do more than any other man can do.  You stand in the place of the Lord to this people—they consider you cloathed with an authority from Heaven—they have confidence in your singular art of presiding with united firmness and moderation—well as an inclination men have to imitate the great, they will be strongly impelled by your example.  While subordinate orders of men in the state have their sphere of duty and influence, we look to you, Sir, to be the most decided and powerful friend of that religion and righteousness, which is the true wisdom of government, and will establish our prosperity on a permanent basis.  To our rulers, and chiefly to your care, we have committed everything that is dear to us on earth; our lives, properties, liberties and happiness, hoping that by a mild administration, you may be able to preserve the betrustment; but if severity be at any time necessary, to restrain the invasions of vice, we shall pray without ceasing, that the God of Heaven will give you wisdom to use the sword he hath put into your hand.  The honor of being first among many is great; but much greater is the honor of being faithful to God who hath given this appointment, and of exercising it like a good man; and while we gratefully acknowledge the dignity of your station, we beseech the most high to make you a Christian indeed, and fill your heart with the comforts of undefiled religion.  The reward which we cannot give, your Excellency will find in living near to God, in feeling your dependence on his grace thro the Redeemer, and in adoring his holiness.  When wearied with the cares of State, in the retirement of devotion you will feel and say, it is good to be here.  And when Almighty God takes you from this people and the honorable trusts he hath given you on earth, may you dwell forever in his love.

May I likewise be permitted to express the public regard and expectations, to the Honorable Lieutenant-Governor, the Council, and House of Assembly.

This annual presentment before God, of the Rulers and chief Estates of the land, is an event which must interest the feelings of a pious mind.  It cannot fail to enkindle in us a reverent devotion, when we behold the princes, the heads of families and representatives of the people, addressing our heavenly King for his blessing and direction.  This anniversary of worship is a solemn engagement before God, that the government shall be according to his will; that a respect for his institutions shall be maintained, and religion encouraged.  If you, who are the honorable of the land, countenance virtue and justice; if piety is conspicuous in your lives; if industry, temperance, justice and a fear of God, are patronized by the laws you enact; if you appoint persons of wisdom and discreet goodness to execute the laws of the State; good order will prevail and vice be ashamed:  But without this aid from you, Honorable Gentlemen, there is reason to expect that licentiousness will break over every barrier, dishonor God who hath so often protected this people and their fathers, and induce a general wretchedness.  The experience of all people witnesses the sacred truth, that righteousness exalteth a nation; and it is also a truth as certainly known, that the manners of a people, do in a great measure take their complexion from public measures.  When we consider how much your respectable body can do for God, and the eternal interest of men, we must earnestly solicit your care, to preserve the purity of the people, to encourage good living, and reward by your confidence in them, such men as fear the Lord and obey his law.

The local situation of your honorable body, in every part of the State; your opportunity for personal observation of the manners in every district;–the force of your example, united with legislative authority, will essentially aid you in doing what is requested.  The harmony of the people and peace of the land follows the harmony and union of their Rulers; and when the citizens see that every kind of vice is discountenanced by those in dignified stations, it will be a powerful guard of their principles and manners.  To stand the guardians of public happiness is a solemn situation, and one in which every man needs to be divinely assisted.—Honorable Gentlemen, may the God of wisdom make you skillful to govern and wise unto eternal peace.

The sons of Aaron are also before the Lord.  The sanctity of their profession, and its near connection with my subject, naturally calls my address to them:

The duty incumbent on all Christian citizens, piety towards God, and righteousness and love to men, is doubly incumbent on us.  We are consecrated to the service of religion, and under the most solemn vows.  There is every reason, that we use a greater diligence than other men, in promoting a divine knowledge of God and his Son, love, faith, vital piety, experimental religion and a good practice.  If those who act in the civil department, are judged guilty for spiritual negligence; how much greater is the criminality of a gospel minister, who is expressly set apart as a watchman for the souls of men.  From the advantage to be derived in this life, we have the same inducement as other men, to urge the power and practice of godliness; national prosperity is a motive which will animate the heart of every good man.  Tho not cloathed with civil power, we are connected with the state.  Wise men of every profession, know the salutary influence of an enlightened and pious clergy, on the civil system, and therefore much is expected from us; and much may be done to advance justice and peace, encourage obedience to the laws, and strengthen the hand of government.  But more weighty considerations are drawn from another world.  The souls of this people are to be happy or wretched forever, and of this happiness or misery we are the messengers.  To describe the perfections and will of God; to assert his government, and declare his wrath against sin; to publish the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and explain its peculiar doctrines, which are full of holiness and love; to urge a Christian faith and practice; to encourage men by the glory promised to godliness, and awaken them by the terrors of the Lord prepared to avenge iniquity; to be an example to the church in humility, sobriety and every grace, are our peculiar duties; and we cannot excel in them without much labour and prayer.  For the right performance of these duties, there is a peculiar necessity that we take much care of our own hearts, and be personally warmed with love to God and men.  Whatever assists us to love religion, will furnish us with ministerial accomplishments, especially to abound in prayer, will comfort, enlighten and assist us in every duty, and give us a happy preparation, thro divine mercy, for that immortality which we preach to others.  Let us be united in a fervent charity, and in supplication for an out-powering of the spirit, on us and on our churches, and when our Lord cometh he will make us perfect unto eternal peace.

My Brethren of every character, let us resolve here before the Lord that we will serve him.  Blessed are the righteous; but one sinner destroyeth much good, and disturbeth his land.  This honorable legislature are the anointed ones of the Lord; it is our duty to pray that they may be endowed with wisdom, to give them reverence, and to honor all the Judges and ministers of justice in the land.  Our political happiness in a great degree depends on our own conduct, for a vicious people cannot be a happy one.

Especially let us endeavour by faith and patience, by charity and good works, to obtain the promises, and secure to ourselves a habitation not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  How precious are these moments of time, and who can describe how much depends on a right improvement of them?  The soul which remains in sin shall die; but for the pure in heart, there is reserved an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.  Amen.

Josiah Bridge (1739-1801) graduated from Harvard in 1758. He was pastor of a church in Sudbury (1761-1801). The following election sermon was preached by Bridge in Massachusetts on May 27, 1789.

SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE

His Excellency JOHN HANCOCK, Esq.

GOVERNOUR;

His Honor BENJAMIN LINCOLN, Esq.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOUR;

The Honourable The

COUNCIL, SENATE AND HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES,

OF THE

COMMONWEALTH OF

MASSACHUSETTS

MAY 27, 1789.

BEING THE DAY OF

GENERAL ELECTION.

By JOSIAH BRIDGE, A. M.
Pastor of the church in East-Sudbury.

Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS.
In SENATE, May 27, 1789.

ORDERED, That Ebenezer Bridge, Cotton Tufts, and Benjamin Austin, jun. Esq’rs. Be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Josiah Bridge, and thank him in the name of the Senate, for the SERMON delivered by him this day, before his Excellency the Governour, the Council, and the two Branches of the General Court; and also to request of him a copy thereof for the Press.

Attest.
SAMUEL COOPER, Clerk.

Election SERMON.

PSALM LXXXII. VERSE I.

GOD STANDETH IN THE Congregation of the Mighty: He judgeth among the Gods.

This passage of inspired scripture may well possess the minds of this numerous and respectable audience, with reverence and a sacred awe, before him, who is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints; and who will be sanctified in all them that come nigh him: It is particularly adapted to arrest the most serious attention of our honoured Rulers; at whose invitation we are assembled in the House of God on this auspicious anniversary,–to supplicate the Divine Presence with them, and his smiles and blessing upon the special business of the day; and their administration of government the ensuing year; and to enquire of him from his word, agreeable to the laudable practice of our pious Progenitors, from the first settlement of the country, to the present period.

Our text has a primary reference to the Rulers of God’s ancient covenant people. But as this passage of scripture is of no private interpretation, it will as fitly apply to our civil fathers now before God, as to the Jewish Sanhedrim of old.

The words before us, will naturally lead us—‘To make some brief and general observations on government.’—The propriety and usefulness of an assembly, for conducting the important affairs of it.—The sublime characters rulers sustain.—The Supreme Ruler present with them, as an observer, and judge; ready for their assistance and support, when acting up to their character; and carefully noticing whenever they lose sight of the great end of their appointment: And the powerful influence, the consideration of his presence and inspection must have, to engage them in a conscientious discharge of the duties of their exalted stations. May I be indulged your serious and candid attention, while I attempt to dilate a little, upon these several particulars; all obviously contained in, or easily deducible from our text. GOD standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty: He judgeth among the Gods.

That our text applies to the supreme government of a community, and involves the various departments of it, is readily seen by looking into the Psalm before us; where we find this congregation of the mighty, reproved for the improper use of their power, and a different mode of conduct enjoined upon them. “How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and needy: Deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked.”

Civil government is both a dictate of nature, and revelation; and is accordingly indifferently denominated, the ordinance of God, and the ordinance of man. Man was originally formed for society, and furnished with faculties adapted thereto: Faculties for the improvement of which social intercourse is indispensably necessary. Some of the most important duties, and refined delights of human life are of the social kind.

In order to obtain the benefits of society, civil rule is essentially requisite. Those lusts of men, from whence come wars and fightings, are so prevalent in this apostate world, that they are obliged to form compacts and combinations, for mutual assistance and support. And there is perhaps no people no earth, however uncultivated and barbarous, but who have adopted some kind of civil polity.

The light and law of nature, which uniformly urges to this mode of procedure, may well be accepted, as an expression of the divine will: For God addresses the human mind in divers manners; and he does it by the voice of reason, as well as revelation.

The providence of God is particularly concerned, in elevating man to post of honour and dignity; and giving them a seat among the congregation of the mighty. “For4 a promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south: But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and sitteth up another.” “By me (says wisdom, or that glorious Being who is the wisdom of God) by me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.” And in the New-Testament, we have the same idea held up, in terms equally express. “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; for there is no power, but of God. The powers that be, are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the King, as supreme, or unto Governors, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God.”

These declarations apply to civil government in general, which is indispensably necessary to social felicity and safety. But they are by no means to be extended to every mode of government that has obtained among mankind. Not certainly to a despotic and lawless domination. This is not the ordinance of God. Nor indeed any other government, but such as protects the subjects in the peaceable possession of their just rights, properties and privileges.

The particular form of government and mode of administration, that shall obtain among the various nations of the world, heaven has not seen fit to prescribe. This seems to be referred to the wisdom of each community to determine for themselves. And a great variety has in this respect, actually taken place; in consequence of the different genius, sentiments and situation, of different people, in different ages and climes.

In some constitutions, the supreme authority hath been vested in one man. In others, a few are selected for the purpose. Others still have submitted it to many. The particular mode of government that has obtained the preference with the people of this land, directs our attention to the latter of these three. And so does our text. The congregation of the mighty.

There seems an evident propriety in committing the management of the interesting and important affairs of government, to a number selected from the whole.

Power is of an intoxicating quality; and for a single individual to be vested with foreign rule, is subjecting him to a temptation too strong for human virtue. A desire of pre-eminence is natural passion, and when properly restrained, may prove highly beneficial to society. But when it has a full free course, and attains the summit of its wish, and feels itself without control; the subject of this undue elevation, is apt to be puffed up with pride, to become intolerably supercilious and tyrannical; and to trample upon those rights of the community, and individuals, which it is the prime design of government to protect.

Wherever the will of a despot is the supreme law, the great end of government is usually perverted. This is sufficiently attested by facts: And it is no other than what might justly be expected from the nature of man.

There are, it is true, advantages arising from vesting the administration in the hands of one man, or a few; when they are well furnished with wisdom and fidelity; advantages from the decision and dispatch, with which affairs of State may be transacted; and which in particular emergencies, may be peculiarly beneficial. But they are so counterbalanced by the ills that result from arbitrary rule, on the one hand, and the safety that arises from good advice on the other, that there seems a manifest propriety that a number should be selected for the business.

“Where no council is (says the wise Solomon) the people fall: But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” So limited is the human mind in all its perceptions and operations, and so diffuse, difficult, and many times perplexed are human affairs, especially the important ones of government, that they elude the comprehension of an individual; and demand the combined wisdom of a number, to conduct them with propriety. In free and judicious debates, there is frequently much light reflected upon intricate subjects. What escapes the observation, or recollection of one, may occur to another; and the minds of all be ripened for a result, by means of the light mutually reflected in their consultations. Affairs of State, thus carefully canvassed, may doubtless be conducted with greater propriety, by an assembly of the wisest and best men in a community, than by a single individual, however improved and judicious he might be.

Such further is the immense weight of government, that it is too heavy for the shoulders of an individual: A congregation of the mighty, will find the burden equal to their united strength. Thoughtless and inconsiderate people, may fondly conceive, that the business of a Ruler is as easy as the character is honourable. But those who know the circle of their duty, and the various difficulties that attend it, are fully sensible, that it is an office, laborious, extensive, and greatly exercising to all the powers of the body and mind.

Whatever refers to the public safety and happiness, demands their attention. The good and wholesome laws, that are in being, are faithfully to be executed; and proper persons sought out to carry them into effect. Laws unexecuted, however good in themselves, and beneficial in their tendency, answer no valuable purpose; and may really prove injurious, by lowering the general influence of authority. If men may violate one law without any animadversion; why not another? There is nothing inspires the public mind with so general a veneration of government, as an undoubted expectation, that every penalty incurred, shall be inflicted. New laws are from time to time to be framed, accommodated to the temper, genius and circumstances of a people, and the exigencies of state: And to be so framed that it may not be easy to elude their meaning, or evade their force. Justice, distributive, penal, and commutative, must have a free uninterrupted course in a community: This seems to be the very corner stone of its happy existence. Useful literature is to be encouraged, that youth may be trained up in knowledge and virtue, and fitted to serve God, and their generation, according to his will. Religion pure and undefiled, before God and the Father, so indispensably necessary to secure the favour and blessing of heaven, is particularly to be patronized. They must guard with a vigilant eye, against the numerous evils which threaten the body politic, whether from external violence, or internal convulsions; and attend to whatever serves to promote public prosperity. The commerce, agriculture, and manufactures of a people should particularly be put under the most judicious regulations; to encourage honesty industry, and banish idleness: The former as beneficial, as the latter is baneful. The one, continually prompting to vice and sedition; the other engaging to a quiet and peaceable life.

Great and arduous is the labor requisite for so extensive a sphere of action as this; some outlines of which, we have but hinted at. And the difficulties of it are sometimes greatly enhanced, by the peculiar embarrassments in which a people are involved. The cumbrance of a great community is hard to be borne; but their strifes render the burden still more grievous.

When Jethro, that wise Prince, and priest of Midian, observed Moses attending this duty from morning to evening, he makes this just remark.—“The thing that thou doest is not good: Thou wilt surely wear away: This thing is too heavy for thee: Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.” And the excessive labour and fatigue, and various vexations of the service, effectually convinced Moses of the propriety of his observation. Though he was eminently furnished with every qualification requisite for a good ruler, and successful administration;–such as learning, wisdom, meekness, patience, and the most perfect patriotism; yet worn down with painful services, and ready to sink under the burden, we find him pouring out his complaint to God, in these expressive terms,–“Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shoudst say unto me,–carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father carrieth the sucking child.—I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.”

Upon this earnest application to heaven, God was pleased to alter their form of government. Moses is directed to select out of all the people, seventy men of their first characters: Men known and noted as such, to be joined with him in the administration. These composed the great Sanhedrin, and are that Congregation of the Mighty,–those earthly Gods, to whom our text most probably hath a primary reference.

It is a divinely glorious character they sustain. The mighty, and according to the Hebrew dialect, Gods. These terms express their dignity, and point out the necessity of suitable qualifications for the discharge of the duties of their station.

The dignity of rulers, has by some been improved, as a subject of flattery; and their minds have been immoderately puffed up, by the high strained compliments of fawning sycophants; till they have conceived themselves something above human. But they bear the image of God’s authority, and are illustrious by the rays of his majesty, for a very different purpose:–That they might imitate the justice and beneficence of that glorious Being they represent; and exercise the authority with which they are vested in providence, to the great and good ends, for which they are raised above their brethren. When the public good engrosses their attention, and engages their unwearied exertions: When they lay themselves out for the encouragement of whatever is virtuous, commendable and praise worthy, and for the suppression of everything of a contrary nature and tendency: When they improve all the powers of their minds, and all the advantages of their preferment to these ends:–Then do they act up to their honourable character; they fill with dignity their exalted stations, and may be fitly denominated Gods, and workers together with God.

To be equal to this important character and employ, it is necessary that they be persons of good natural abilities, and acquired accomplishments. The former of our bodies and the father of our spirits, has been pleased to exercise, both his “wisdom and sovereignty in the different make of men. To some he giveth wisdom and understanding exceeding much; and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore,” whereby they are able to discern both time and judgment, and are ready for every emergency. The powers of others seem formed upon a lesser scale, and evidently point them to a lower line of duty. Education serves to keep up the natural diversity in the human composition. The situation and circumstances of some, in the course of providence, is peculiarly favourable for improvements in those useful sciences which enlarge and ennoble the mind, and qualify it for extensive usefulness. While others are necessarily destitute of those advantages, and consequent improvements. Providence, as with a sun-beam, points out the former of these, as persons proper to be vested with ruling powers, in preference to the latter. Their qualifications bespeak it; the public good demands it; and the word of God directs to it. “Provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them.” Able men—men possessed of wisdom and knowledge; of sense and substance, or fortitude and firmness; neither enervated by debauchery, or effeminated by dissipations, equal to the cares, fatigues and burden of government; and of “attending continually on this very thing.” Their religious and moral qualifications are directly subjoined, and are equally desirable in those who rule over men. Such as fear God, are really religious, in principle and practice; Men of truth—of inviolable integrity; who maintain a sacred regard to their engagements: Hating covetousness; not only free from that turbid source of corruption; but detesting the low principle that centers wholly in itself.

Such characters collected from a large community, for the purpose of conducting its important public concerns, compose a truly respectable assembly: A Congregation of the Mighty: God’s vicegerents. They exhibit a faint resemblance and representation of the source of all power; and are ministers of the providential government of the great Supreme.

Our text represents the great Jehovah as present with them; and taking cognizance of their conduct. God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty: He judgeth among the Gods.

Infidel minds, and those who by their conduct, have made it for their interest, either that there should be no God, or that he should be regardless of their behavior; have sometime flatly denied his superintending human affairs. At other times endeavoured to argue themselves into skepticism upon the subject. The ancients of Israel, in the days of Ezekiel, had the confidence to assert, that “The Lord had forsaken the earth.” Others of a still more ancient date are represented as querying—“Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are—How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.” Others still have said in their hearts, secretly whispered to themselves, when rebuked by their consciences for their criminal conduct; not daring to utter aloud the impious thought: “God hath forgotten, he hideth his face; he will never see it.”

Our inward feelings revolt at such blasphemous suggestions, and assertions. And the word of God throughout, reprobates the shocking imagination; and represents it, as the fruitful source of all the over-flowings of impiety and immorality, which prevail, in the most degenerate places and periods of time.

The most high God, the possessor of Heaven and Earth, is uniformly revealed in his word, as an immense, an infinite Being; omnipresent and omniscient. His universal presence and inspection, are necessary to the administration of his providential government now; and to a righteous distribution of rewards and punishments, in the judgment of the great day.

He is present in the Congregation of the Mighty as an attentive observer:–A powerful assistant: A righteous Judge.

Though he has given the earth to the children of men, and imparted of his authority to his Vice-gerents below; yet he still holds the reins in his own hands, and hath the government on his shoulders; and critically observes the conduct of those, who by being exalted to rule, are brought especially nigh to himself.

He beholds with approbation those wise and faithful servants who conform to the moral character of the Supreme Ruler, and make his administration the pattern and standard of theirs. He observes their unwearied endeavours to possess their minds with political wisdom, that they may fully comprehend the duties of their station; and their uncorrupted fidelity for the discharge of them; their careful attention for the removal of every needless burden, and the redress of every real grievance. He sees their solicitude to remove whatever obstructs the free course of justice; their assiduous endeavours, that it may be impartially administered, to all of every rank, and in every part of the community. He observes the firmness and fortitude with which they oppose themselves against evil doers, and the workers of iniquity; with what zeal and ardour, they labour for the suppression of vice and immorality, so utterly ruinous, both from its natural tendency, and the righteous judgment of God. He regards their meekness, self-denial and patience, their prudence, paternal affection and public spirit; and that philanthropy and God-like benevolence which animates to the noblest exertions for the public good.

He particularly notices the serious reference they cultivate to his all seeing eye; and the habitual influence this has upon the temper of their hearts, as well as the discharge of the duties of their exalted stations.

A lively sense of an ever present God, must powerfully arrest every mind that is the subject of it; and beget that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom: Which is so essential and important a branch of religion, as to be frequently substituted for the whole of it. This important principle is indispensably necessary, for every man, who wishes to approve himself to God. It is the greatest ornament to a Christian Ruler; and of the happiest influence to the uniform discharge of every incumbent duty. Whenever it exists and exerts itself, Heaven regards it with approbation. It renders the services and sacrifices of all who possess it acceptable, and well pleasing in his sight. The Congregation of the Mighty thus qualified, disposed and employed; will secure and enjoy the approbation of the Supreme Ruler.

But the great God not only takes notice of all their exertions for the honour of his name, and the good of society; but is present with them for their assistance and support.

Civil Rulers are honoured as ministers and instruments of his providential government; and they are favoured with his providential presence, that the ordinance of Heaven in this respect, might not be rendered void; but that they may accomplish that which the Supreme Ruler pleases; and prosper in the station which he has assigned them.

When God has such a favour for his people, as to afford their Rulers his gracious presence; his right hand and the light of his countenance will do great things for them, and cause all things to go well with them.

Are they involved in darkness, or embarrassed with difficulties? The fountain of light, will illuminate their minds, and irradiate their paths, and make their duty plain before them.

Are they beset with threatening dangers? He that is with them, is more, and mightier, than all that are against them; and can easily deliver from the strivings of the people within; and external violence from abroad.

The presence of the Supreme Ruler, in the congregation of the mighty, as a sun and a shield for their direction and defence, is at all times desirable; and upon some emergencies of the highest importance. Such difficulties may perplex their minds, and embarrass their paths, as that they may really not know what to do. But the Father of light, if graciously present with them, can easily point out to them, the path of duty and safety. He has an immediate access to the human mind, and an entire command of it. As the rivers of water, he turneth it which way soever it pleaseth him. He can suggest such a train of thought, and mode of conduct, as shall lead them out of the labyrinth, set their feet upon a rock, and establish their goings.

Does a spirit of sedition arise, and the contagion catch from breast to breast; do the clouds collect and blacken, the clamor wax louder and louder, and direct its course, against the constitution and guardians of the State: Is it ready to burst out in contention, confusion, and every evil work? Oh how desirable is the gracious presence and powerful influence of the Supreme Ruler, at such a period, with those who act under him.

Such seasons of danger and distress are not ideal. They have been realized under every form of government; though more frequently perhaps under those of the most liberal complexion. It is not the best system of civil rule; or the most faithful and judicious administration, that is a certain security from such evils.

Under the , where God himself condescended to be their King; enacted their laws, civil as well as sacred; resided among them, exhibiting continually, a visible appearance of his presence; conducting the affairs both of Church and State, by the ministry of Moses;–of whose appointment to office by Heaven, his qualifications for it, and fidelity in it, they had the most undeniable proofs. Yet under all these advantages for a quiet administration, and obligations to a due submission; Korah and company, had the address to effect a most dangerous insurrection. They first attach to their interest, a number of leading characters; then raise their posse, and prepare their charge.

But what charge could hold, against so eminent a Ruler as Moses? Whom has he defrauded, or oppressed? Not a single individual. He declares before the heart-searching God, he had not. “Respect them not (says he, in his solemn address to the Deity) I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.”

What is the terrible grievance, or pretended grievance, that enables these sons of sedition, to raise the whole Congregation against Moses and Aaron? It is pride and imperiousness. Strange that this of all things, should be the charge, when we are assured, from sacred record, that “the man Moses, was very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth.” But what of that? The charge takes, and that answers the purpose. “Ye take too much upon you, (they complain) seeing all the Congregation are holy, every one of them: Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the Congregation of the Lord?

This daring rebellion was severely rebuked by the righteous Governour of the World. The authors of it, and leaders in it, were partly consumed by fire from the Lord: And for the rest, the earth opened her mouth, and they went down quick into the pit.

But such a malignant effect had this insurrection upon the minds of the people, that even this awful interposition of the great God of Heaven, was not sufficient to quell it. The very next day there is a fresh rising, and a new charge exhibited. Moses and Aaron are impeached with killing the people of the Lord.

Gracious Heaven! Is it possible, that when those sinners against their own souls, were cut off by the hand of God, in the open view of thousands and ten thousand witnesses; and by his creating a new thing too; causing “the earth to open and swallow them up, with all that appertained to them,” that the whole Congregation should directly charge Moses and Aaron, with the murder of those pious good people?

This was too much for infinite patience to endure. “Get ye up from this congregation (says the Lord to Moses, prostrate before him as an humble fervent intercessor for them) that I may consume them in a moment.” And though Moses and Aaron stood in the gap, and at length turned away the anger of God: Yet it was not till fourteen thousand seven hundred, were made monuments of the divine displeasure; besides them that died about the matter of Korah.

These things happened to Israel of old for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come, and they admit of a profitable improvement. We do not indeed in the present age expect miraculous interpositions; yet when God is graciously present with his servants, he does sometimes by a surprising coincidence of events, work out their salvation: So that “whoever is wise and observes them, may understand the loving kindness of the Lord.” To proceed with our subject.

The great Governor of the world, is not only present with those in authority, as an observer of all the good they do for his people; and to afford every assistance and support, as circumstances require:–But as a righteous judge, who critically observes the deportment of the whole, and of each individual, and takes cognizance whenever they lose sight of the great end of their appointment. He judgeth among the Gods.

That all-piercing eye which pervades the universe, and penetrates every disguise, sees who constitute the Congregation of the Mighty. He perfectly knows the various views they have; and the different improvement they make of their talents and opportunities. They are raised above their brethren; not that they may shine in affluence, and fare sumptuously every day; much less, that they may indulge to inglorious ease and sloth; and least of all, that they should pervert judgment and justice; but that having a more extended circle of duty, they may be more extensively useful. If however there are any who neglect the business of their station, who permit their talents to lie by them useless, as though folded up in a napkin, if content with the honors or profits of preferment, they leave the duties to be performed by others: He who stands in the midst of their assembly observes it. If through their delinquency, “judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: If truth falleth in the street, and equity cannot enter,” the Lord sees it. “If they forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to perish; if they say, behold we knew it not: Doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? And He that keepeth their soul, doth He not know it? And shall He not render to every man according to his works?”

Whatever pleas any may substitute for the neglect of their duty, every omission is noticed by the righteous Judge; and noted down in the book of his remembrance. The abuse of their trust, exposes them to the just resentments of those, who have confided their interests to their care; and to the present rebukes of that God who judgeth in the earth. But whether they fall under the effects of these now, or not—a severe reckoning and an awful doom awaits them at the great day: “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And if mere indolence and inattention to duty, be thus resented by the Supreme Ruler; those who are chargeable with direct and positive breaches of their trust, will not escape his observation. If they judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked: If mischief be framed by a law, in effect and constructively, however covertly done, and men are turned aside from their right—He who is higher than the highest regardeth such violent perversion of judgment and justice. When this is the case, “all the foundations of the earth or land, are out of course,” as it is expressed in our context: For when justice is perverted, what good can be expected? “The omniscient God sees, and shall he not avenge such injustice as this? Hear that declaration of our blessed Lord, which will apply to the point, and deserves the serious attention of those who abuse their trust; “But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come, in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.”

And now will not the consideration of the divine presence in the assembly of political rulers, most powerfully engage them to a conscientious discharge of the duties of their exalted station? If their minds are possessed with a lively sense of his immediate inspection; they will, they must attend to the important affairs that come before them, with great solemnity of spirit.—Every matter that is suggested, or submitted to their consideration, will be impartially examined; and nothing suffered to pass merely upon the account of its plausible appearance. In every debate the enquiry will be, not what measure will most contribute to my popularity; to secure my present station; or advance me to an higher? Nor, what will be most for my personal interest, or the advantage of those with whom I am particularly connected? But what is fit, and right in itself, and in the view of my most calm and retired thoughts, divested as much as possible of passion and prejudice? What will stand the awful trial of the Supreme Governour, and meet his final approbation?

A lively sense of an ever present God, habitually impressed upon the mind, will happily influence the general temper and conduct; and it will prove peculiarly beneficial in pressing public emergencies: It will raise above that fear of man which bringeth a snare; and lessen, if not utterly destroy the force of temptation, from whatever quarter it originates. It will make them stedfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord. It will expand the human heart, and inspire with a laudible ambition, to secure his sacred sanction. In short it will form a principle of action, which viewed in its proper connexion and extent, is one of the noblest and best that can possess the Ruler’s breast.

There are it is true, other principles that have their use, and are often improved by Providence to produce good effects: Such as a benevolent disposition:–A quick sense of honor:–ambition of being distinguished as of consequence in the State; and the like. But the influence of all these lower principles, is very uncertain, especially in times of great trial and temptation. If present interest, and present duty interfere, as they sometimes may, what is there but a serious reference to the invisible God, that will enable the ruler to hold fast his integrity? This indeed will engage him to go through honor and dishonor, good report, and evil report; resolutely to surmount, or charge through every difficulty and opposition that he meets with in the line of duty. The testimony of his own conscience affords him a constant support, a continual feast. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

Faithful Rulers, acting uniformly under the influence of this most excellent principle, have the fairest prospect of securing the acceptance and approbation of their fellow-citizens; and thereby of protracting the period, and enlarging the sphere of their usefulness. But whatever returns are made them, by an ungrateful world or perverse generation; God is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love. That peace of his which passeth all understanding, shall possess their hearts, and prove their support under every present pressure. And in the nearest views of dissolution, the testimony of their consciences, that they have walked before God, with a perfect heart, and have done that which was right in his sight, will inspire a hope sure and stedfast. And great shall be their reward in Heaven.

Will not the subject, thus considered, naturally lead us to reflect, with the most pleasing sensations, and sincerest gratitude to Heaven, upon our own happy constitution of civil government. Emancipated from British domination, freed from that exorbitant claim to a right to bind us in all cases whatever; which like a horrid vortex threatened to swallow up all that was dear and sacred in our view; and to reduce us to a state of absolute servility: Freed from these evils, we have had the singular privilege of forming and establishing a frame of government for ourselves: And, to render it the more perfect, of availing ourselves of the examples and maxims of the sacred writings, as well as the wisdom of all preceding ages. The thought that it is our own is a pleasing recommendation. The treasure and the blood we have been obliged to expend in order to its acquisition, must enhance its value. But especially the broad basis it lays for equal liberty, civil and religious; the security it gives to all our rights as men, and Christians; the favourable aspect it has upon our peace and prosperity in this life; and the advantages if affords of securing a good foundation against the time to come; all conspire to raise our esteem even to veneration. Strangers are not permitted to rule over us. “Our nobles are of ourselves: And our Governour proceeds from the midst of us.” Our best characters, it is our privilege and our duty to select, out of all the people, and from every part of the Commonwealth, to conduct our interesting affairs: And, not by will or caprice, but fixed fundamental rules, which they are under the oath of God to maintain sacred and inviolable. And if experience should convince us that amendments or alterations, are eligible, or necessary; a constitutional mode is pointed out, in which they may be effected, without exposing us to those intestine jars and convulsions, which usually attend alterations, and especially revolutions in other States. Happy, thrice happy people, have we but wisdom to know, and virtue to improve, so excellent a system.

What thanks should we render to God most high, to God who performeth all things for us, for the favourable dispositions of his providence, which opened the way for, and has enabled us to secure so excellent a constitution! Our present situation is by no means the result of chance. The revolution that introduced it was replete with brilliant events; such as engaged the attention and admiration of distant nations; and will shine with distinguished lustre in the faithful page of history. The hand of Heaven has been conspicuous, in raising up eminent characters for council and war, in uniting so extensive a territory in a common cause; in giving us favour in the eyes of foreign powers, and influencing them to afford us essential aid; and especially in a variety of marvelous interpositions of his providence, in periods of greatest perplexity, darkness and danger. How did the Supreme Ruler ride forth upon the Heavens for our help; and in his Excellency upon the skies! How often did he make bare his arm on our behalf, and exert the saving strength of his own right hand, till we obtained the completion of our wishes; peace with established independence; upon terms too, as honorable to America, as they were humiliating to Britain.

To hint at these interesting events, will not be deemed improper at this time, as it serves to touch the secret springs of gratitude, and draw forth our whole souls in love to him, to whom we are so infinitely indebted. And at the same time, may remind our civil Fathers of the confidence the community repose in them, by committing the Supreme powers of the constitution, both Legislative and Executive, to their care: And the sacred obligations they lay themselves under by accepting the trust.

His Excellency will consider his renewed call to the first seat of government in this Commonwealth, by the voice of the people, as a decided proof of their continued attachment to his person, and grateful acceptance of his past services: And the confidence they still repose in his abilities and disposition for future exertions in their favour.

His Honor the Lieutenant-Governour elect: The Honourable the Senate, and the Honourable House of Representatives, advanced to their respective important stations by the suffrages of their fellow-citizens, have now an happy opportunity of improving the large share of public confidence they possess, in contributing to the peace, order and felicity of the whole community. To this great end, they will direct their united attention and exertions.

In filling up the vacancies in the Legislature, and furnishing out a Council, for the Supreme Executive, their eyes will be upon the faithful in the land, upon men of known and tried abilities.

In all the business that comes before our Honoured Rulers, they will keep in view the public good, as the great end of their appointment to office. By a strict conformity to the principles of the constitution, they will if possible, cut off all occasion for murmuring and complaint: And where any really exists, effectually and expeditiously remove it.

They will keep a vigilant eye upon those restless spirits, who either from an aversion to the necessary restraints of government, discontent at their own situation, or embarrassments in their personal interest, through their own folly, extravagance or unsuccessful speculations, are continually plotting mischief, exciting the fears and jealousies of honest people, insinuating that their liberties and privileges, are invaded, or in danger, &c. Such men are the pests of society: They should be narrowly observed, and whenever their factious disposition discovers itself by overt acts, seasonably and severely animadverted upon; that others may avoid their crimes as they would their fate. Inattention to evils of this kind in their rise is dangerous, and may prove fatal.

To contribute to public happiness our civil Fathers will give every encouragement to industry, so indispensably necessary to bring forward to our aid, the numerous resources with which our country is blessed. By good laws and proper encouragements, they will endeavour to improve our agriculture, fisheries, commerce, arts and manufactures. These extensive fields will furnish out full, and profitable employ for all parts of the community. And industry in the improvement of these advantages, attended with proper economy, would enable us to emerge from our embarrassments, discharge our debts, feel our independence, and appear to advantage upon the great Theatre of the world.

To answer the great end of their appointment, our Rulers will patronize learning and the liberal arts. They will encourage our Schools and Academies, and especially our University, so illustrious for the renowned characters it has already produced: And to which the Commonwealth will still direct her eye for “strong rods for the scepter of them that bare rule;” to her own sons nurtured in that seat of learning, will she look for prophets, and to her young men for Nazarites, to take her by the hand, and lead her in the way she ought to go.

They will moreover endeavour the impartial distribution of justice and judgment. “The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke: He that ruleth over men, must be just.” Would they approve themselves to the Supreme Ruler or answer the prime design of government; they must conscientiously attend to this cardinal virtue. All their acts and laws must be founded upon this sure basis. And all their promises and engagements, held sacred and inviolable.

Their promises, their plighted faith for the payment of the public debt, does in a particular manner solicit their most serious attention. The creditors of the public, attached to the interest of their country, in the most critical juncture, cheerfully stepped forward, and exposed both their persons, and their fortunes, to the most threatening dangers, on her behalf. While some jeoparded their lives in the high places of the field, and endured all the fatigues of a severe and long continued war; through various perils, many times in cold and nakedness, hunger and thirst, yea “in deaths oft.” Others risked their interest at the earnest call of their country, in the support of the common cause, relying upon the public faith. Have they forfeited their right to their interests, either from loan, or services performed? Britain perhaps, had her arms been successful, might determine they had; for their treasonable attempts against her authority. And those among ourselves, who have been uniformly inimical to the American cause, may be pleased with the cruel mortification to which they see them subjected. But is there an individual friendly to the revolution, and possessed of the most moderate share of judgment and integrity, who does not view them as highly meritorious?

The decided part they took in favour of their much injured country, and in periods too of its utmost perplexity and danger, is greatly to their honor. They asserted her rights and supported her cause, not by a mere profusion and flourish of words; but by actions, which admitted of no duplicity of sense or meaning. They risked their dear-earned interest, and their still dearer lives for the freedom of their country. Heaven directed and assisted the noble exertions, and crowned the arduous attempt with glorious success. Had they not a right to expect, that government would honor themselves, by paying a sacred regard to their engagements? Did not sound policy, justice, honor, gratitude and every ingenuous principle which actuates the human mind, urge to this? Can specious promises, under the names of certificates, indents, facilities, due-bills, &c. couched in the fairest terms, while covering the grossest deception, be considered as an honorable discharge of the public engagements? Is this class of citizens, to look and expect till their eyes and hearts fail them with waiting? Have not many already been as effectually ruined by their dependence upon the public faith, as if their substance had been consumed by the flames? Have not many, urged by sad necessity, been obliged to part with their public securities, for a very trifling consideration? And must not more directly share their severe fate, unless the justice of government interpose? Some appear averse to this interposition, because it must now come too late with respect to many. But if through the delinquency or delay of the public, many of her faithful and tried friends, who have rendered her the most essential service, are ruined; is this a good reason why they should make thorough work, and dispatch the whole body of them?

“To turn away a man from his right, or subvert him in his cause, the Lord approveth not,” in any case whatever. But are there not in the case before us some circumstances, which give a peculiar colouring to the injustice done, to a part at least, of the public creditors, by withholding their due?

When David while in the strong hold, exclaimed,–“O that one would give me water to drink out of the well of Bethlehem; and three of the thirty chief, break through the host of the Philistines, and drew it, and brought it to him; he would not drink of it. My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing (says he.) Shall I drink the blood of these men, that have put their lives in jeopardy? For with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it.” In this view of the case, and as far as it will fairly apply to our army,–is there an individual, who would withhold from them their due; and deprive them of that bread they have acquired a righteous claim to, at the peril of their lives? Again.

The aged and helpless, and particularly widows and orphans, may be viewed as another class of public creditors. These, incapable of vindicating their rights, have a special claim to the patronage and protection of authority. Injustice offered to these, and especially to the latter, is ever considered as greatly aggravated. And some of the most pointed threatnings in the whole book of God, are directly leveled against this sin. Says the Supreme Ruler of the universe,–Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in anywise, and they cry at all unto me; I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”

There is other property, of which the community have availed themselves in the late contest, the with-holding of which, and especially the perversion of it, from its original design, is perhaps carrying injustice to its highest pitch. I mean that which has been devoted to God: Consecrated to charitable uses: The pious donations to our University: The funds for the benefit of Churches, and other societies: The provision made in one place and another, for the relief of the aged and necessitous, the widow and orphan. What is an invasion of this kind of property, but down-right sacrilege? A crime that scarce admits of excuse or extenuation. “If one man sin against another, the Judges shall judge him: But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall plead for him?”

Shall these claims upon the public be still suspended to give scope for speculation? Shall they be vacated, or in any degree mutilated, because the discharge of them is not to be effected, without laying a burden upon the community? And this when we are assured, they are entirely competent to the annual discharge of the interest, and lowering the principal, with a tax no heavier in proportion to the present number, than was commonly paid before the war? Would such pleas avail between man and man? Would they with good men and true, in a Court of Justice? Should an individual endeavour to get rid of his debts by such means, would it not consign his character to perpetual infamy? Can any plead for it then in a community; especially when the example it exhibits is so detestable in itself, and so destructive in its tendency, and abominable in the eyes of a righteous God, who declares, “I hate robbery for burnt sacrifice.”

Permit me only to add here, Our honoured Rulers among all their other exertions for the good of the Commonwealth, will pay a particular attention to the interest of Religion. Is it their governing aim to approve themselves to God? They must personally think of, and practice, the graces and virtues of the Christian character, without which it is not possible to please God. If they have the interest of religion at heart, they will give it their determined support: Not by instituting articles of faith, or forms of worship, or in any manner infringing the rights of conscience; but by promoting none to places of power and trust, but persons of good moral characters; by countenancing and encouraging the ministers of religion; by a faithful execution of the laws for the suppression of profaneness, immorality and impiety; and especially by an exemplary attendance upon public worship, and gospel institutions. Examples, and particularly of those in higher life, have a prevailing victorious force; and by them good Rulers may eminently subserve the interests of piety and virtue.

“Godliness is profitable to all things; having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” It ensures the favour and blessing of heaven. It contributes to public happiness, by engaging all orders of men to an upright discharge of their several duties. Rulers possessed of religious principles, will approve themselves “Ministers of God for good,” to their people. And subjects under similar influences, will yield due obedience; not merely for wrath, or through fear of punishment; but from a far nobler principle,–“for conscience sake.” Religion in this view is so far from being a vain thing, that it is our life.

To these articles, and indeed to the whole circle of the duties of their elevated stations, our honoured civil Fathers will view themselves as under sacred obligations to attend. It is fit and reasonable in itself, that you do so. Heaven requires it of you; and the public good, in which your own private happiness, and that of your dearest connections is involved, demands it. But there is no consideration can have a more commanding force, than that which our text holds up to view. May you all feel its fullest effect. God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty. The Supreme Ruler, before whom the most exalted intelligences of the upper world, prostrate with veiled faces, is present with you. He knows you all by name. Your principles, your views and the inmost recesses of your souls, are all naked and open to his inspection. He is at hand for your assistance. If you devoutly implore it, he will graciously afford it. And if you have it, and improve it; we may hope for clear evidence, from your happy and successful administration, that He is with you of a truth.—He judgeth among the Gods. He carefully notices your conduct, with a view to a righteous retribution. “Though you are called Gods, yet you must die like men;” and like your brethren of the dust appear before his dread tribunal, without any remains of your present civil distinctions. Actuated by this solemn thought; conducting with serious reference to the broad eye of heaven, and the recompence of reward; you will have the fairest prospect of acquitting yourselves with honour, of being approved of God, and accepted by the multitude of your brethren. Yea, it will give you boldness in the day of Christ Jesus. Having been faithful in a few things, he will make you rulers over many; and admit you to the joy of your Lord.

How solicitously concerned does it become us all to be, that we avail ourselves to the utmost of our present inestimable advantages; and especially that we do not forfeit and forego them, by our own folly and perverseness!

Our advantages are much every way. The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places; and we have a goodly heritage. The land we possess, like the chosen residence of God’s favourite people of old, is “a land of hills and vallies, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. The eyes of the Lord our God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” It amply repays the toils of the industrious husbandman; yielding a rich supply of the necessaries, and most substantial articles of life; and a good surplusage for the purposes of commerce. Our fields, the uncultivated wilderness, the fisheries, the trade, and numerous arts and manufactures, offer business and bread, to every industrious individual; business suited to every different genius; and a decent support, and what in other countries would be called luxurious living.

Our land is a “valley of vision.” We are blest with the bright beams of gospel light and grace, which afford the highest advantages, for securing an inheritance in a better, in a heavenly country, when our connections with this are over.

The establishment of the new federal system, so favourable to a firm, and at the same time free government; so well adapted to brace the nerves of civil authority, through the whole frame; “to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity:” The consideration which our firm bond of union will give us among the nations of the earth: The bright and pleasing prospect of enjoying the fruits of all our exertions and expense for liberty and independence, under the wise councils, and judicious regulations, of those eminent patriots, from the various parts of the union, which compose our national government: and especially under the presidency of that illustrious Chief, in whom we all concenter our views with an unanimity as desirable, as it is unexampled.

These advantages we now possess, are great in a separate view; but combined, are they not singular, and unparalleled, by any part of the whole habitable world? May I not with the utmost propriety, as well as warmest emotions, congratulate our honoured Rulers, this respectable audience, and our whole land, upon our present promising situation? More particularly upon the new era so happily, so auspiciously commenced. The tranquil easy advance to this new stage of political existence; and all the pleasing scenes which providence is opening to our view. Have we not the most flattering presages of realizing all that felicity so beautifully pictured out by the sweet Psalmist of Israel? “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace; that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in or going out; no complaining in our streets.” Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Says an ingenious foreigner with respect to these United States;–“It is impossible not to wish ardently, that this people may attain to all the prosperity of which they are capable. They are the hope of the world. They may become a model to it. They may prove the fact, that men can be free, and yet tranquil. They may exhibit an example of political liberty, of religious liberty, of commercial liberty, and of industry. The asylum they open to the oppressed of all nations, should console the earth. The ease with which the injured may escape from oppressive governments, will compel Princes to become just and cautious. And the rest of the world will gradually open their eyes upon the empty illusions with which they have been hitherto cheated by politicians.”

With all these advantages, greater perhaps than providence has ever committed to any one people “since the transgression of the first pair;” with all our own raised expectations, and that of others; should we through our folly and perverseness, miscarry, alas how contemptible shall we appear! How criminal and wretched hall we be!

And is there not really danger sufficient to suggest the idea? To put us upon our guard, if not to alarm our fears? Virtue is justly represented, as the spirit of a republican government. Have we a sufficiency to animate ours? If the spirit be departed the form will be of but little worth. Had the people of these States, in fact, possessed those measures of public and private virtue, which the confederation gave them credit for; that might have proved a foundation for many generations. Experience has given the most unequivocal proofs, that it did not possess energy sufficient for us. And though we promise ourselves much from the National Constitution, so happily effected, organized and commenced; yet we may by no means expect to be happy under it, without our own consent and co-operation too.

If we are not prudent and cautious in our elections to important public offices: If we are impatient of the necessary restraints and expense of good government: If we indulge to mean groundless jealousies and suspicions of those in authority; and give a loose rein to the vices too prevalent in the present day; and especially if we get beyond the restraints of religion, and bid adieu to the fear of God: Have we not every reason to expect, that our most pleasing prospects will soon be closed, and succeeded by the deepest gloom?

May we unite in guarding against this danger; and exert ourselves for the support of order, peace and good government; which is really no other than our own support, and that of our nearest and dearest interests. Let us endeavour to derive a blessing upon the administration of government, by addressing ardent prayers, supplications, intercessions and thanksgiving, to the throne of Grace, for all who are in authority. Let us cultivate a condescending, benevolent, pacific and public spirit: And especially by repentance and reformation, and a careful practice of the various graces which constitute the Christian character; let us strive to conciliate the favor of Heaven. This will have the happiest aspect upon our tranquility. “If God giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? But if he hideth his face, who can behold him, whether it be done against a Nation or a man only?”

To conclude, let us all of every character, seriously remember, that the all-seeing eye of the Supreme Governor and Righteous Judge of the world, is not confined to the congregation of the Mighty. It runs to and fro through the whole earth, beholding the evil and the good. It critically observes the temper of our hearts, and the tenor of our lives: how we conduct in our several stations; whether we improve, or neglect, the talents committed to our trust; whether we make his approbation our governing principle, or live as without God in the world. We have each our station and work assigned us by our common Lord; and are under a sacred injunction to occupy till he comes. Come he most certainly will; and every eye shall behold him: And everyone receive an irreversible award from his mouth, according to the deeds done in the body. Let this solemn awful thought have its due weight on all our hearts, and it will have the best effect. It will make us such manner of persons as we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Thus may we pass with improvement the varying scenes of this mortal life; and finally be admitted to a kingdom that cannot be moved; to a city that hath foundations whose maker and builder is GOD.

William White (1748-1836) graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1765, was ordained in 1772, and became rector of Christ Church in 1779. He served as chaplain in the Continental Congress, helped organize the Anglican church in America after the Revolution, and was elected Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. To see the corresponding national Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by George Washington click here.

On the

Reciprocal Influence

Of

Civil Policy

And

Religious Duty

Delivered in

Christ Church, in the city of Philadelphia,
On Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795,
Being the Day of General Thanksgiving.

By William White, D. D. Bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia:
Printed by Ormrod & Conrad, at the Old
Franklin’s Head, No. 41, Chesnut-Street.

March, 2d. 1795.

To the President of the United States.

Sir,
The liberty which I take, of sending the following Sermon from the Press, with a dedication to the first Magistrate, is not from the thought, that I can, in any way, add to the reputation, so high as his, in
our own country and throughout the world; but for a use, which arises out of my argument.

The relation which I have asserted of religion to civil policy, is well known to be considered as chimerical by some; while it is contemplated by others, as involved in whatever relates to the prosperity of the commonwealth. If a question should be raised, concerning the sense of the governments under which we live, it cannot be denied, that persons of the latter description may appeal to many particulars, in law and in practice, which can be defended on no other ground, than that of the propriety of the states availing itself of the religious principle in the minds of its citizens, in order to answer the purposes of its institution. When, therefore, in addition to constantly operating sanctions, we hear the voice of our country calling on us to assemble, for the express design, of offering our acknowledgments to the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, for his prospering of its counsels, and of invoking the continuance of his mercies; it is another sanction of the latter opinion, which the advocates of it cannot fail to notice, as being to their purpose; especially if it be aided by the reputation of those, from whose authority it proceeds.

It cannot have escaped the notice of any, that, since your elevation to the seat of supreme Executive authority, you have, in your official capacity, on all fit occasions, directed the public attention to the Being and the Providence of God: And this implies a sense, as well of the relation, which nations, in their collective capacities, bear to him, their Supreme Ruler; as of the responsibility to him of earthly Governors, for the execution of the trusts committed to them. Even had such acknowledgments come from any one, whose conversation or whose conduct were in opposition to the principle implied; still they might have been pleaded, as an homage to the truth, extorted by existing circumstances or by some selfish views; at the expense of the violation of theory, or else of the crimination of the person. In the present instance, it is to my purpose to remark; and, but for this circumstance I should not now remark it; that an unimpeached sincerity of character, accompanied by the public acknowledgment of a Divine Being, not attached to station but evidenced throughout life, warrants, on every rul of evidence, a much stronger construction. We have a right, to apply the testimony of such a character, as the result of an enlightened conscience; and to think it an advantage to our cause, to pronounce, that a mind, which has embraced all the civil interests of the American people, has not overlooked the relation which they all bear, to the great truths of religion and of morals.

On this ground, Sir, I presumed, in the following discourse, delivered in your presence, to apply the summons under which we were assembled, to the doctrine which it was my object to establish: in doing which, it could not escape my recollection, that the sanction would come, with especial weight, before a Congregation, who have been witnesses of a correspondent conduct of the person, in his attendance on divine worship among them, during the frequent occasions of his temporary residence in this city, within the twenty years last past. For the truth of the construction of the act of government, the preacher only is responsible: The right of making the construction, if it be done with decency, seemed to come within his privileges as a citizen: And for any censure he might hazard, as to the propriety of the reasoning, he was willing to commit himself in that respect; considering, as he did, that the point intended to be established, was not mere matter of speculation, but involved important duties of civil rulers and equally important rights of Christian ministers: the former, as a conformity to professions brought forward to the public eye; and the latter, as giving us an opportunity to remind our civil superiors, when occasion and prospect of usefulness occur, of practicing duties, which with a view to the happiness of the civil state, they, officially and with great propriety, recommended to us and to our congregations.

From this statement of circumstances, the design, and, I hope, the propriety of the Dedication, must be evident. It is, Sir, that in proof of a point, which I believe to be essential to the duties and to the felicities of public and of private life, I may, in the most explicit and pointed manner that occurs to me, avail myself of the aids which I think I discover, in the measures of your administration and in the weight of your character: a use of human authority, which cannot be objected to, as in applicable to the subject; because it is of the essence of my argument, that, in every permanent government, civil rulers will be drawn to confess the principle asserted; either, as in the present instance, by a declaration of truths believed and felt; or, as may happen, by a compliance with what they suppose to be popular prejudices and weakness. And this is a circumstance, which I apply in proof, that my doctrine is involved in, and inseparable from social order.

The time, Sir, may come, and I believe it must come, when the doctrine here maintained will be held a much more important subject, than it has yet been, or political investigation; and when the acknowledging of if will be demonstrated by fact, to be a trait in the character of the enlightened statesman and in that of the virtuous citizen. In that event, it will be no small part of the praise of the chief magistrate of the present day, that, as the result of his own judgment and consistently with his own practice, he made acknowledgments, which are in contrariety to a theory, that sets open the flood-gates of immorality.

What is more, the time will assuredly come to another state of being; and I cannot suppose that the personage whom I am addressing has a doubt of the certainty of it; when the recollection of having upheld the interests of religion and of virtue will be a more substantial consolation, than any now arising from the merited gratitude of fellow citizens and the applauses of distant nations.

That you may enjoy that best reward of your present labors; and that the remainder of your life may be crowned with a measure of felicity, proportioned to the glory of the past period of it; is, Sir, the sincere wish and the devout prayer, of your respectful, affectionate and obliged humble servant,
WILLIAM WHITE
Feb. 28th, 1795.

Were my opinion, on this subject, other than what has been stated, I should find it continually contradicted in the Scriptures. For we are told, on that high authority,-“they who rule over men, should rule in the fear of God;” and, “by him kings reign, and princes decree justice;” a sentiment alike applicable to the administrators of public authority, under every form, or by whatever name; and it is he, “who speaks the word concerning states and kingdoms;”-to “build and to plant,” on the one hand, and “to pluck up and destroy,” on the other. And in the New Testament, however far the kingdom of its divine author, from being that of this world, yet it has an influence on its affairs, in the injunction it gives, “to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake;” and in its affirming, of magistrates, that they are “God’s ministers,” designated to their stations by his Providence.

These authorities, and may others to the purpose, however far from confounding religion and human policy, in respect to their sanctions, and the states of being to which they belong, yet shew, that the two subjects are contemplated by revelation, as having and action and reaction on one another.

Among the many places to my purpose, are the words of my text. They are those of the Jewish Law-giver; when, having seen his people borne (as it is said) “on Eagles’ wings,” and now on the verge of the promised land; and when, having taken a view from the top of Pisgah, of countries on which he was not to enter, he contemplates, in prophetic visions, the future fortunes of the nation; and, in some of the strongest symbols of eastern poetry, describes them, such as they afterwards came to pass. Of this exalted strain, my text is a very small part. I have taken it, merely for the acknowledgment it contains, of the relation of the nation to their heavenly King; in their being the subjects of his protecting and blessing providence. And therefore, I shall say no more in the way of comment, out proceed to the object of this discourse: which is, to show,
1. The Sanctions of which government may extend, to the encouragement of religion and the practice of its duties;
2. The aids, which religious duties must bring, to the support of government and the accomplishment of its righteous ends; and
3. The joint effect of both these considerations, on the purpose, for which we are, this day, assembled.

1st. I am to show, the sanctions which government may extend, to the encouragement of religion, and the practice of its duties.

One way, is by acknowledging religion to be the basis of its existence.

That this is so, needs no other proof, than that government arises out of the wants of society, in al its possible circumstances: for it follows, that the relation between rulers and the people, or, if you will, between the public and the individuals severally who compose it, is as evident as that between husband and wife, or that between parent and child, or any other: all which relations, existing as they do in nature, point to the will of the God of nature, as the source of the duties they involve.

The evidence of the relation thus asserted is not weakened, by the considering of the civil state, under the notion of a social compact. For although express or implied compact be the origin of the forms of government and of the titles of those who govern; yet, it is not left to compact, whether there shall be government; but it arises from that property of our nature, by which we are social beings; and therefore can never be denied, as an appendage to the human condition; unless it be contended, that it is more agreeable to the order of nature, to seek our respective abodes in the recesses of forests; not to leave them, except to prey on other animals and on one another; and to retire from our bloody meals, satiate and sullen, to our dens.

But no: it is a characteristic of man, that he is a social being: Society however, cannot exist, without government: which, therefore, rests on the will of God, who ordained society and qualified us for its enjoyments. Is it not, then, an instance of the propitious influence, which religion may look for from the civil state, that it should acknowledge itself, to have been created by her pleasure, and to be supported by her commands? The scriptures, alike exact in tracing the origin, as in defining the limits of our duties, have drawn the line of distinction on the present subject; in declaring government to be, in respect ot the forms under which it is administered, “the ordinance of man;” and yet, in respect to the foundation on which it stands, “ordained of God:” a foundation, which cannot be shaken, without the destroying of every vestige of moral obligation; as well from the administrations of those who govern, as from the submission and the obedience which they require.

2dly. Another aid, which religion may receive from government, is in the good examples of those, by whom its power are exercised.

However apparently true in theory, the encomiums made on man, as a being governed by reason; yet, when brought to the standard of practice, it must be confessed, that he is much oftener governed by prejudice, or by passion, or by fancy; or, by what combines them all, a propensity to imitation. There can be but little occasion to demonstrate, that high stations, with their usual attendants of wealth, of patronage, and of real or supposed abilities, must be powerful incentives to an imitation of the virtues of those who fill them: and if it could be doubted, it might be seen to be the result of a correlative fact, that can have been unobserved by few, I mean the frequent effect of the vices of such persons, in the corrupting of the minds and the morals of their dependents, of their companions, and in proportion as their spheres extend, of the public generally. There arises, indeed, from this view of the subject, the awful truth, that even splendid benefits to society give us, sometimes, an inadequate ground, on which to judge of the general usefulness of the characters, by whom they have been achieved. Moralists tell us, to call no man happy, before his death: But to determine on his usefulness, we must go beyond that period; and form a probable estimate of the effects of his actions, on his fellow men, in ages to come; aye, and on their condition in that state, in which both they and he shall answer, for “the things done in the body.” If, while he was dazzling–perhaps benefiting them by his labors, he was corrupting them by his example; if his children, his servants, his friends, in short all who either from connection, or from the eminence of his station, had their notice drawn to him, knew nothing of his acknowledging of a God, than what arose from a profanation of his name; if they beheld him living in the habitual neglect of those acts of devotion, by which alone it can be made venerable to the mass of mankind, and by which alone they can be trained to the practice of its duties; and if the poison of his ungodly living be spreading over the body politic, to the depraving of its members and perhaps, before long, to the downfall of the government, which it is his boast to serve; in regard to all, who, in this picture, stand confessed, could we see them, with the whole assemblage of their actions; looking back to the motives from which they spring and to the consequences in which they end; it would be a series of mischiefs, for which no services can atone.

But to turn aside from this representation, of what civil rulers may do by a corrupt conduct, I rather delight in reminding those whom the present occasion has brought together, of what they may do, by their opposite good example. They may, by the profession and the practice of religion, show them to be as ornamental to the private character, as they are essential to the peace and the prosperity of the state: they may make irreligion and immorality as unfashionable, as they are base: they may extend the opinion, until it shall be as universal as it is true, that society has no sure hold of a man’s integrity, but by motives which address themselves to his conscience: they may expose the folly and the mischiefs of the assertion, that a bad man in private life is not, on that account, the worse citizen or ruler of the state. They may do all this; and therefore, to say nothing of their own responsibility for a good, which Providence has connected with their stations; the position is true, that government may extend this benefit to religion, thro’ the medium of the good examples of those, who are entrusted with the administration of its powers.

3dly. It may effect the same, by laws. I mean such laws, as are for the suppression of immoral conduct: it being this and not the conscience, to which laws apply. I mean, further, such laws, as encourage bodies of men, associated for the purposes of devotion and of charity, and which maintain them in their rights and their properties. And if anyone should extend the sentiment, to such laws, as exist in the eastern parts of this union, affording to bodies of the description stated, a more positive and direct aid, I know of no principle of government, that can interfere; and there is so much credibly said, of the good order, and of the good morals resulting, as not to permit me to doubt their usefulness. But I wish, on this point, to express myself with reserve; and to limit the privilege of the citizen, by the decorum of the ministry. It is the belief of Christians, that their church is “the stone from the mountain, made without “hands,” which shall survive all the revolutions of states and kingdoms: and “stand forever.” They know, that it will exist, independently on the policy of the world; but whether this will obtain its righteous ends, without the sanctions and the precepts of the other, may be doubted. In what way, if at all, that aid should be applied, must be left to the community, thro’ the medium of their public functionaries. To us, as Christians, it only belongs, to implore the Divine being, that in this and in every other line. They may have wisdom to discern and grace to accomplish the high ends of their delegation.

In the meantime, left the sentiments now expressed should be construed to a meaning, foreign to that of him who utters them; it may be proper to declare, that they are considered as independent on any alliance, by which, either the magistrate may make religion the engine of despotism, or by which the priesthood may avail itself of his authority, to establish a dominion over consciences. The first, wherever the evil exists, partakes of the character of that beast in the revelation, to whom “the dragon “gave his power and seat and great authority:” and the latter has the properties of that other beast in the same book, “which had two horns “like a lamb and spake like a dragon.” Still, the just and reasonable objects of religion and of civil policy are, in part, the same; and therefore, the one may extend its salutary influence to the other. I pretend not either to prescribe, or to limit the extent in which they may be expected to co-operate; any further that to pronounce, that either of them is misapplied, whenever its venerable name is made a cover, for measures which violate the high demands of justice, or of mercy, or of civil and religious freedom.

But while I wish to supplicate, with modesty, the sanction which government may extend to religion; I will adopt, under the second head of my discourse, the higher tone of confidence, as to the aids, which religion must bring to government: must, in the strictest sense; in regard, not only to the sure tendency of religious duties, but to the impossibility, that society should exist without them.

The way to demonstrate this, is to point out several instances, in which the influence of religious duties is deeply felt; and then to submit to every understanding, whether, considering the difficulty of restraining the passions of mankind, within the bounds necessary to the social state, even with these aids, it is credible, that the object can be accomplished without them.

The first proof I shall give, is, that religion is the proper principle of all duty; it being beyond the ingenuity of man, to devise another, that shall extend to all times and to all cases. Is it possible, then, that a regard to the Being who sees in secret, that powerful principle, which manifests itself in personal conduct, in domestic duties, in short, in all the affairs of private life, may be spared from the high departments of the public? That there is no call for it, in the exercise of public rights, nor in the enacting of public law, nor in the administration of public justice, nor in the expenditure of public treasure?

The argument derives weight, from the acknowledgment made by the wisest statesmen of different times and countries, of there being the imperfection inherent to government, that it is, in itself, insufficient to its objects; owing to the innumerable occasions, in which the temptations to injury either have no counterpoise in the danger of detection, or are so powerful as to defy it. hence it is, that rulers of every description have had recourse, more or less, to the religious principle in the mind; the virtuous, because they venerate it, as the voice of God, giving effect to their designs; and the wicked, as supposing it a weakness, which they may abuse. We may be told, indeed, of the hypocrisies, which have been engrafted on this stock: Which, however, only show, how deep is the root of the principle, which must be conformed to, either in sincerity or in pretense. For as there would be no imposing professions of friendship, if there were not such a tender sentiment in nature; and no wearing of the mask of patriotism, if there were not such a species of benevolence to adorn and dignify the mind; so, there would be no hypocrisy for the purposes of state, if real religion were quite foreign to its concerns.

Is there not, then, incorporated in the condition of humanity, an evidence of the principle of humanity, an evidence of the principle in question? Must not its influence be felt, in innumerable cases, remote from the notice of human eye, and in an extent, that surpasses the powers of human calculation? And in this its silent operation, must it not be a powerful counterpoise, to the basest passions of our nature? To that daring ambition, which would disregard every impediment of law? To that disappointed ambition, which would sacrifice the world, to its revenge? To that love of rule, which would let no bounds to its oppressions? And to that love of gain, which nothing else can circumscribe? What if, in very many, these passions rage without control: Still society gains a great deal, from the many, in whom they are, by religion, conquered: from the many more, in whom they are, by her admonitions, bounded: and from the many more, in whom, by her awful presence, they are accommodated to character and decorum; and even forced to assume the cloak of apparent virtues.

2dly. There is a powerful effect of religion, in the cultivation it brings to all amiable affections: which I mention as another proof, of the aid asserted. The most obvious property of devotion, is its elevating of our minds to that all perfect good, whom we cannot contemplate, without moral improvement. Let anyone, who doubts of the amiable tendency of religion, consider devotion as an operative principle on the mind; investigating its effects, when it acts, retired from every notice, but that of its great object; and independent on any dark passions, with which error or infirmity may clog it: and let him deny, if he can, that, whether it be a duty or a weakness, the affections which it prompts are those of gratitude; of humility; of resignation; of love; but above all, of a longing desire, to be conformed to the standard of perfection thus displayed to it; especially of imitating the essential benevolence of his nature, which extends as wide as the creation. Can then such affections be awakened, in our intercourse without Creator; while we are insensible to the occasions which call for them, in our intercourse with our fellow men? Shall the same person have a heart easily melted in one case, but cold and obdurate in the other? Shall he, in the former relation, be grateful, humble, resigned, affectionate? And in the latter, be ungrateful, arrogant, impatient, selfish? No; the habits of the mind cannot show the impressions of such opposite and inconsistent molds: and if so, it is evident, that devout affections must yield their genial warmth to all those departments of private life, the felicities of which make up the great compound of public good, which it is the object of law and of government to accomplish.

3dly. There is a proof of my point, in the vast diversity of condition, accompanying the social state, in all the variety of its forms: A circumstance, which calls for the contentment of very many; while, independently on religion, there can be no rational motive to the duty, that shall be applicable to the great majority of mankind. Perhaps it would, in some measure, break the force of this argument, if it could be proved, that the only fit and intended government, is the despotism of the few, over the miserable many: Although even then, there would be this inconsistency in the divine government, that the few are too weak for the sovereignty assigned to them, without a belief in the many, of duties which have no existence, but in the imagination. But to uphold the opinion of a commonwealth, in which every individual has his part; to describe a government, the leading feature of which, is the combining of the interest and the wills of all, to a single point and for a united object; and yet to imagine, that, independently on the sanctions which religion offers, the citizens of such a commonwealth, or the subjects of such a government are bound to contribute in their respective callings, whatever these may be, to the common good; and to suppose, that its least successful members will not–indeed, may not arrogate to themselves, such portions of its wealth and of its honors, as either fraud or violence may promise to make their own; is project, alike chimerical in theory and shown to be impossible in practice. Yes, it has always happened, that whenever, either by the refinements of a false philosophy, or by any other means, the mass of a people have been brought to disregard the first and leading truths of religion, all have become impatient to govern; and there have been none qualified to every vestige of equal liberty and equal law; or, if the names were retained, it was only to render the power the more secure and the oppression the more extreme: An awful lesson to thee, O my country; and what exhibits to thee irreligion in high station, as a blasting of the honors of the patriot and an impeachment of the integrity of the man.

Lastly; I will mention another instance; which, indeed, is not strictly another; but a confirmation of those which have gone before: I mean, the blessed tendency of those express precepts in the scriptures, which were given to promote the great points of social order and submission to authority and law. They are such as that of “rendering tribute to Caesar;” and of course, to the Supreme Power, under whatever form or name; that of “being subject: to the powers that be;” and that of being subject to every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake;” with others, which it is not necessary to repeat: Precepts, which, however they have been perverted to the setting of prerogative above law, were never given to prescribe forms of government, or to adjust the pretensions of interfering claims; but having in contemplation acknowledged government, under whatever form, declare, that the interests and the passions of the individual are to bow before the authority of the public; under the highest penalties, which even religion has to offer. Now it cannot be affirmed of these precepts, any more than of the others in scripture, that they have their full force on all, who confess their obligation. Yet it is impossible, but that they must have a visible effect on some; and a silent and insensible influence over many more: and therefore, such a religion must be fruitful of aid to the government, under whose protection it lifts up its voice; and whose prosperity it teaches us to pray for and to promote.

And now, if, after a discussion of the points stated, there should be any one in this assembly, who thinks that the proofs do not apply; and who, therefore, believes, that a member of the community is not the worse citizen of the worse statesman, for his being an irreligious or an immoral man; or rather, for it is to this the argument extends, its being no part of his character, that it is adorned by the profession of religion, and by the practice of its duties; and who would risqué the future fortunes of his country, on the issue of such a Theory; unsupported as it is by the history of past times and contradicted by the opinions of the wisest and the best men, in all ages and in all countries; I would remind such a person, of the consequences of the experiment, if it should be unsuccessful. For in that case, it goes to the utter depravation of the morals of the people. In regard to their civil interests, it lands them, after the fluctuations of faction, with all its horrors, in that only cure of a corrupted community, unrelenting despotism. And in regard to their condition in another life, however uninteresting to such a political adventurer; the very possibility of its “second death,” and the danger of having added to the number of its victims, should make him, at least, seriously weigh the consequences which he hazards.

In the meantime, I hope it appears to the audience generally, that there was reason, to exult, as I did, in the beginning of this discourse, in the civil sanction which my doctrine receives, from the appointment under which we are assembled; and that I promised to apply, in the conclusion, the tow points discussed, as incentives to the duty of the occasion.

It is the duty of thanksgiving, for mercies of the greatest magnitude; a duty, which, if the argument of this discourse is well founded, rests on us, in the double character of citizens and of Christians: which calls on us, as well to attend to the patronage extended by the public authority, to the practice of piety; as to yield to the same authority, the aids it asks of us, for the forwarding of its righteous views.

If ever there were causes of general devout gratitude, they must be such, as are brought before us, at this time: causes, which, however comprehensive of benefits of various forts, may be traced to that principal cause, under Providence, the establishment of a government, proportioned to the necessities of the nation; and connected with that event, the molding of the constitution of the state government, to the principles of the federal. For that great lading event, about the time of its accomplishment, we poured forth our praises to Almighty God, in this place. But however sincere our joy, it was reserved to subsequent events, to show us the full benefit of the occasion of it. For it seems to have been a part of the dispensation, which was permitting bloody wars among powerful nations, to place this rising commonwealth, at the eve of the mighty contest, in the very condition, which, alone, could prevent her from being involved in and, perhaps, the victim of the storm. So that, if we have formerly contemplated, with devout gratitude, an event, which finding us disunited and weak at home, neglected and despised abroad, with a discouraged agriculture and an almost ruined commerce, produced an immediate and progressive increase, in whatever can make a people prosperous, secure and happy; there was yet, in reserve, an evidence of the magnitude of the mercy; an opening of the precipice, on the verge of which we stood; but which we should not now contemplate, without lifting up our voices and our hearts, to the presiding power of God; who has thus guarded us against not only seen, but unseen dangers; and has done more for us, than our own knowledge of our situation permitted us either to ask, or to think.

Even with this apparent guard against the danger, who, among us, did not possess, a few months ago, some such feelings as those of the prophet, when under the view of the desolations coming on his country, he exclaimed, in the agony of his spirit, “O my soul, thou hast heard the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war? The danger has died, like distant thunder, with noise, but not with desolation. This is a mercy, which may best be estimated, by a contrast with the miseries of weeping millions of our fellow men: and if we have a sense of the benefit, now is the time to raise the song of gratitude to him, who, with such tender care, has” defended us under his wings and “made us safe under his feathers;” and “whose faithfulness and truth have, so conspicuously, been our shield and buckler.”

Little, however, does it avail, for a country to be free from foreign war, if discord, foul fiend, blow the trumpet of sedition within her bosom; and if, when citizen and citizen disagree, the appeal be made, not to law, not to the fountain from which law should issue; but to violence and persecution. Such, however, is what faithful history will record; not to stain the rising glory of our republic, but to illustrate its principles; competent as they have been found, to the calling forth of the spirit and of the strength of the community, against those who would arrogate to themselves its powers. Far be it from me, to open wounds, which, I hope, are closing; or to dwell on errors, for which penitence is, probably, endeavoring to atone. But it is impossible to take into view the full ground of our Thanksgiving, unless we remember the disorder referred to, with gratitude for the suppressing of it; this, after a forbearance, which should have prevented the necessity, and yet by a firmness and force, which rendered resistance desperate; with the least possible injury to private convenience, and to public treasure; and with the rendering of what had happened an additional security of the government, endangered by it. all which, while it deservedly directs the public gratitude to those, whose wisdom guided and whose courage accomplished the measure, should carry us further; even to the adoration of the high and mighty Ruler of the Universe; who, having bid the billows roll, has bid them sleep; who has brought lasting good out of temporary evil; and who is thus conspicuously beheld, in his “stilling,” not more “the rage of the sea, and the noise of his waves,” than “the madness” of popular tumult and insurrection.

If there could be any doubt of these public mercies, it would be easy to read their proper character, in the private benefits, which flow from them. For was there ever a country, which, in the same space of time and in proportion to its numbers and its means, has exhibited the like spirit of enterprise on the ocean? Has made the same extension of its agriculture? Has witnessed the beginnings and the progress of so many useful arts and trades? Has received so many testimonies of the increasing respect of foreign nations, not only in the treaties of their governments, but in the emigrations of their subjects? These are mercies, which the world witnesses and records: Well then does it become us, not only to confess them, but to give the praise where it is supremely due, to that gracious Being, who make “the clouds drop down on us their fatness;” and who, in every other way, blesses the public, and the individuals, generally, who compose it.

Here my enumeration would cease; if a new ground of gratitude had not recently arisen from what is stated as a subject of prayer, in the appointment. I allude to the instruction that we should intercede, in favor of the whole family of mankind, for the blessings, which we possess or ask for, ourselves. For bear witness, o ye nations of the earth, that confederate America, not seeking her glory and her wealth, in the destruction of you citizens, in the devastation of your countries and in the spoiling of your commerce, wishes you every felicity, which she can implore of a gracious providence, for herself! Am I sanguine, in contemplating the benevolent sentiment, as in part carrying into effect, in the confessed negotiations of contending nations? I trust not: And may God grant, not only the full accomplishment of the event desired; but that, to perpetuate it, there may, more and more, prevail the genuine spirit of that religion, and fruit of which will at last be, that “nation shall not rise against nation: and that “they shall learn war, no more.”

And now, I hope I shall not be thought to derogate from the mercies enumerated, if, having a retrospect to the argument of this discourse, I exhort you, in the language of scripture, to “rejoice, with trembling:” To “rejoice, for the real ground of joy, in the blessings stated; but “with trembling,” left, in this career of prosperity, there be a lurking evil, to disappoint us of its fruits. When we compare the circumstances of the settlement of this country, with the energy, which, in a variety of ways, has been of late years, put forth; it is no unsuitable inquiry to a reflecting mind, how far the characters which have been formed and the events which have been achieved, were the result, under Providence, of those religious persuasions and of those virtuous habits, which were a general characteristic of the early settlers; and therefore, how far a now growing spirit of irreligion may be like a worm, in the issuing buds of the glory of the republic? If the answer be such as is suggested by my subject, the danger cannot be discovered, nor the error corrected, too soon. Let then the occasion be considered, as calling our attention “to the rock from which we were hewn;” And thus, as drawing us back to the habits, which have raised us to our rank among the nations. How great a change this would make on many, who, otherwise deserve well of their country, cannot escape our notice. In regard to all such, great is the difficulty of Christian ministers; men, who ought to cultivate, in themselves and in others, a reverence, as well of the persons, as of the stations, of those who possess the confidence of the public; great, I say, is our difficulty, in pressing the most obvious duties, without an apparent implication of their examples, as having a contagious influence on morals. Were this avoided, we could not make the world blind, to the confession implied by themselves, in their attendance on such occasions as the present, of what ought to be their attendance, at other times.

Guardians of your country’s weal! By the sanction which you have given to this day’s devotions, you have demanded their support of the high interests, which you superintend: Let is not then be thought an indecent freedom, that, in return, we invite your patronage of the practice of piety, in all its duties. Christian brethren, generally! The government, in its various branches, confesses, this day, the connection of its purposes, with your devotions: Let it receive the benefit of them; not only at this time, but on all fit occasions; and especially, by their happy influence, in the discharge of the duties of life.

Finally, one and all! “Fear God and keep his commandments.” For this it the whole “of man;” in regard, as well to the dignity of his nature, as to his duties, private and public.

David Tappan (1752-1803) graduated from Harvard in 1772. He was a pastor of a church in Newbury (1774-1792) and later a professor of divinity at Harvard (1792-1803). The following election sermon was preached by Tappan in Massachusetts on May 30, 1792.

SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE

His Excellency JOHN HANCOCK, Esq.

GOVERNOUR;

His Honor SAMUEL ADAMS, Esq.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOUR;

The Honourable the

COUNCIL, SENATE, AND HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES,

OF THE

COMMONWEALTH

OF

MASSACHUSETTS,

MAY 30, 1792.

BEING THE DAY OF

GENERAL ELECTION.

By David Tappan, A. M.
PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN NEWBURY.

Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS.

In the House of Representatives, May 30, 1792.

ORDERED, That Mr. Emery, Mr. Thorndike, and Mr. Howe, be a Committee, to wait on the Reverend David Tappan, and thank him in the name of the HOUSE, for the SERMON delivered by him this day, before His Excellency the Governor the Council, and the two Branches of the General Court; and also to request of him, a copy thereof for the Press.

Attest.
HENRY WARREN, Clerk.

PSALM 77, VERSE 20,

THOU LEDDEST THY PEOPLE LIKE A FLOCK, BY THE HANDS OF MOSES AND AARON.

How various and transcendent are the excellencies of the sacred writings! They combine all the different species of literary composition in their highest perfection, and consecrate them to the moral improvement, the present and future happiness of man. They furnish the best summary precepts, models, and incentives, for producing the good citizen and statesman, for effecting an orderly and prosperous state of things in the civil and temporary combinations of this world: Whilst their primary object is, to prepare men for the nobler, the everlasting community of the blessed.

These observations are eminently illustrated by that part of the inspired volume, which relates to God’s ancient people. The words just recited, look back to the infancy of that favoured nation. They introduce the God of Israel under the beautiful signature of a Shepherd leading his flock; which expresses in a very lively and endearing manner, the singular tenderness and care, with which Heaven had conducted that people from the bondage of Egypt, to the promised Canaan. The latter part of the verse, presents the subordinate and united agency of Moses and Aaron, in accomplishing that memorable series of events. These two celebrated characters had been early and closely linked together, by the ties of nature, of religion, and of common sufferings. They were afterwards united by the more awful bond of a divine commission, which constituted them Plenipotentiaries from Jehovah, the King of Israel, to the Egyptian Court, which employed them as instrumental saviours of their oppressed countrymen, as their guides and protectors through the dangers of the wilderness, and the prime Ministers of their civil and ecclesiastical polity. Whilst the one was Chief Magistrate in the Commonwealth, the other was High Priest, or first officer in the Church. And the institution and combined influence of these two orders in that community, were a most wise and salutary provision both for its public and individual happiness.

The divine appointment, then, and concurrent agency of the civil and ecclesiastical ruler, in leading the ancient people of God, naturally invite our attention to the importance and utility of political and religious guides in a Christian state, and to that union of affection and of exertion for the common good, which ought to characterize and cement them. To explain and enforce this union, without confounding the Church and the Commonwealth, or blending the different provinces of their respective Ministers, is a truly delicate task. The Speaker hopes, however, that his well-meant endeavours to explore such a field, before an audience so respectable, will not be deemed either vain, or impertinent to the occasion. He flatters himself that the seasonable and momentous complexion of the subject, which cannot fail to strike every intelligent eye, will procure to the discussion and application of it a candid reception.

This joyful anniversary collects our civil and sacred leaders from various parts of the State, to one consecrated spot. It unites them, methinks, into one happy brotherhood. It brings them together to the altar of God, their common Founder, Master, and Judge. It makes them joint partakers in a kind of yearly festival, sacred to liberty and to religion—a festival, which seems to renew and to seal mutual friendship, and their harmonious ardent affection to the general interest. Is it not congenial then with the spirit of the day, as well as decent and useful on other accounts, that these two orders should sometimes be the united object of its public addresses from the word of God; that their reciprocal influence, and their conjunct operation to the common good, should be clearly defined, and forcibly urged?

Under the solemn impression of these ideas, we will endeavour to mark out the two different provinces of Moses and Aaron, or of the Ruler and the Priest; the beneficent influence of each upon the public welfare; and the several ways, in which they may and ought to befriend and assist each other in leading the people of God.

The discriminating genius of the two departments may be thus defined. The one has for its immediate object, the temporal interest of mankind; the other, their spiritual and everlasting. The one aims to regulate their outward behavior, so far as to restrain them from injuring one another or the public, and engage their contributions to the common welfare: The other contemplates the due regulation of the heart, as well as the overt-acts which issue from that source. The one enforces its addresses by sanctions merely civil and worldly; the other by motives which chiefly respect the soul and the life to come.

Let us now turn our attention to the important and happy influence of each department upon the public interest.

The importance of such an officer in society as the civil Magistrate, is immediately seen and felt by all. It grows out of the present weakness and corruption of mankind. It is suggested by the social feelings belonging to our frame, joined with a sense of mutual dependence and common danger. Accordingly, when such officer possesses the spirit of his station, and with intelligence and fidelity pursues its leading design, the effects on the community will be equally benign and diffusive. A ruler of this character, like the central orb of the planetary world, enlightens and animates, cements and beautifies the whole political system. With a skillful, steady, yet gentle hand, he moulds a confused mass of discordant materials into one regular and harmonious compound, and holds it together with a silken, yet invincible chain. By a strictly righteous, equal, and paternal administration, he spreads the blessings of justice, freedom, tranquility, public and private prosperity, through all classes of the people. The advantages of such a magistracy transcend description. To use the delicate and splendid figures of inspiration. It resembles “the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; like the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”

But it is needless to expatiate on this branch of our subject. The beneficent influence of good civil rule stands confessed to the eye of reason. It is inscribed, as with a sun-beam on the face of our happy country. It has been delineated with superior ability and address, on these anniversary solemnities.

Let us then direct our attention to the other object before us, namely, the importance and benefit to society, of the CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD, or of public religious instructors. To set this point in a just and easy light, let us consider at large, the necessity of religion to the well-being of a community, and then inquire, what are the best means of diffusing and maintaining it.

The necessity of religion to public order and happiness, has been generally acknowledged by discerning minds in all countries and ages, yea, by enlightened infidels and atheists. But a set of philosophers and free-thinkers, who boast of their superior reason and liberality, have appeared on the stage, in these days of modern refinement, who have employed all the powers of metaphysical sophistry and licentious ridicule to shake the foundations of religion: And some of them have even denied its political importance and utility, and have proposed in its stead a kind of philosophical or civil morality, as fully competent to the purposes of general order and security. A system of ideas, or at least of practical feelings, very similar to this, seems growing into fashion in various parts of the American Union; a system, which considers all religious principles, observances and instructors, as the remains of old monkish ignorance, superstition and bigotry, or the antiquated offspring of worldly policy, begotten in the early and ruder stages of society; but which are wholly unsuitable and useless, if not a heavy tax upon the public, in this more enlightened and mature period of human affairs! But let us meet these refined politicians upon their own ground; and ask them, what they have to substitute in the room of religion, as an adequate prop to their own favourite scheme of morality.

Will they say, that civil laws and institutions, planned with wisdom, and executed with vigour, will completely answer the purpose? But these human provisions can embrace only the visible actions of the subject. They can prevent or punish those offences only, which may be known and legally proved. They consequently, leave out of their jurisdiction all secret crimes; as well as those numberless immoralities, which human laws can never distinctly define, but which operate as the poison both of private and social felicity. Civil regulations proclaim their own incompetency, even in the judicial procedures submitted to their authority: For no general rule can accommodate itself to an infinite diversity of circumstances: And therefore the aid of religious principle seems absolutely necessary to supply the defect. This will teach the Legislator to construct, and the Judge to interpret and apply the laws, upon so just and liberal a plan, as will present the best advantages in every case, for discovering the truth, and so for protecting the innocent, as well as chastising the willful offender. This will induce a conscientious, a filial and generous obedience, on the part of the subject, to the reasonable authority of the Magistrate and the laws. At the same time it will prevent a cowardly, degrading submission to the claims and measures of imperious despots, or a fawning, idolatrous, prostration at the feet of a dignified fellow-worm. In short, whilst human laws punish criminal actions, it is the glory of religion to prevent them, to tear up the roots from which they grow. Whilst law is deaf and unrelenting to the cries of penitent guilt, religion pardons and comforts the suppliant, returning offender, and hereby encourages and fortifies his purposes and efforts of future obedience. Whilst the one enforces strict justice only, the other inculcates the whole train of gentle and beneficent virtues: It inspires an intercourse of humane, generous kindness, and grateful attachment and fidelity, between the higher and lower classes in society; an intercourse, which like the vital fluid diffuses cheerful health through the whole political body. Thus civil institutions and measures, even in their best state, require the succours of religion, to supply their deficiencies, to soften their rigour, to enforce and to sweeten their observance.

“But a sense of honour, the desire of esteem and praise, and fear of their opposites, joined to the efficacy of salutary laws, will certainly form a sufficient security of the general order and welfare.” We answer, the good influence of this principle will not bear a comparison with that of religion. For the praise or censure of the world, exerts its principal force within a very small circle, upon more splendid or public characters; whilst the great majority of the people, concealed under humble roofs, feel little of its efficacy. But religion applies its stimulating or withholding influence to the ignorant, the obscure, and the weak; as well as to the wise, the noble and the mighty. The world does not bestow its palm till men have almost reached the goal; but religion applauds and cherishes the first virtuous desire, intention, or effort. The world often mistakes in its judgment of characters and actions; but religion places an unerring witness and judge in our very bosoms. In a word, even the esteem of men in the case before us, ultimately derives its force from religion. For if the social or moral virtues of mankind, were once stripped of the lustre, the stability, and the majesty, which religious principles communicate, the respect paid to them, would suffer an immediate shock: The idea of honour and disgrace, connected with their performance or omission, would be greatly enfeebled: And the opinion of the world, left without a steady guide, would grow too fluctuating and capricious, to restrain or to actuate human conduct.

“But the connection between the interest of the public and of individuals, lays a sufficient bond upon the latter to contribute to the order and welfare of the former.” We reply, this connection is not always so immediate and striking, as to influence the unthinking, the poor and the wretched, to pay homage to the order and beauty of the social system, whilst there is nothing for them individually, but apparent deformity and misery; whilst those very principles and rules, which secure harmony to the public, wealth, power and magnificence to some of their fortunate neighbours, seem to bind them down to perpetual poverty and toil; and when a violation of these laws promises instant relief or benefit to themselves, and at the same time, perhaps threatens no direct injury to the community at large. There are some cases too, in which the more opulent ranks, or the governing powers of the State, may with reason consider the public interest and their own, as separate objects: And if their minds are not enlightened and regulated by religion, they will often view these two interests as distinct, when they really unite. The will also be supremely inclined to pursue private advantage, at the expense of every rival claim. In such instances, what is there effectually to restrain such elevated characters from sacrificing the public, at the shrine of their adored, though paltry idol? There is nothing which promises a sure and perpetual guard against these evils, but religious principles, the sentiment of a Deity, and of a future state of recompense, early planted in the minds, and deeply rooted in the hearts both of the high and low.

“But some infidel and irreligious characters have conducted well in a social and political view.” We answer, religious ideas early taught and imbibed, will secretly influence the conscience and practice, long after the understanding has begun to question, and even to reject the arguments, on which they are founded. Besides, a habit of order and propriety in conduct, once formed, is not easily subdued by after speculations; especially when an adherence to it is connected with the marks of public esteem and favour, or enforced by the commanding motive of private interest. Not to add, that there are some, who affect a superiority to the common mass of mankind, by talking like infidels, who yet feel themselves constrained to think and act, in many instances, like vulgar believers.

“But if religion be the main prop of social order, why does not the latter always relax and decline with the former?” The answer is, religion still keeps her hold of men, through the medium of natural conscience, of early habit, and some awful controlling impression of a future retribution, even when their hearts do not feel her transforming power, nor their lives display her peculiar and most attractive charms. If then religious principles have such salutary effects on society, even when their influence is feeble, and when they manage the human mind by the inferior and precarious handle of fear; what would be their fruits, if they reigned in full glory, and commanded the free and steady services of love? If love to God and men, which is the life of religion, pervaded all classes in the community, what a copious and excellent harvest would it quickly produce! This would ensure the universal practice of all those virtues, which nourish and exalt a nation; whilst it directly promoted the interest and comfort of all ages, conditions and stations; it would, as the great law of moral attraction, draw the affections and efforts of all to one common center, the good of the whole. Must not such a spirit and conduct immediately advance the respectability, the vigour, the temporal and spiritual prosperity of a people? Must they not draw down the approving smiles, the guardian care, the rewarding munificence of the Supreme Ruler of nations? On the other side, must not irreligion, and its natural offspring, vice, equally tend, both by a direct and a judicial operation, to disjoint, to enfeeble, to destroy a community? Does ot the universal experience of public bodies from the beginning to this day, seal the truth of these observations? Is it not one mighty practical demonstration of the salutary fruit of piety and virtue, or the baneful influence of their opposites, upon the order, the liberty, the general welfare of nations?

The necessity of religion to public happiness being sufficiently proved, an interesting question arises; what are the best means of diffusing and maintaining in a community this precious and fundamental blessing? This inquiry brings up to view the importance of public religious instructors. The political necessity of such an order of men, directly results from that of religion itself, when compared with the ignorance, dullness, and depravity of the human mind, the spiritual and sublime nature of religious truths, the want of leisure as well as ability in the bulk of mankind, for studying and familiarizing them, and the influence of surrounding objects of worldly cares and amusements to intercept their view, to efface or weaken their impression. In this dark and impure region, how apt are even the most contemplative and virtuous characters to lose sight of moral and spiritual objects, and to get out of the sphere of their attractive and regulating influence! How greatly then do we all need the friendly voice of STATED MONITORS, to recall our forgetful, wandering feet; and to enlighten and warm our hearts afresh with the divine principles and motives of religion! Those in high station need to be frequently reminded, that there is a Being above them, to whom they are accountable, equally with the lowest of the people. Persons of great genius and learning, require to be often admonished that their obligations to serve God and the public, are proportioned to their superior talents. The worthy and good in society, need a frequent and lively inculcation of those truths, which tend to nourish and fortify their virtues, to enliven and extend their efforts of usefulness. How much ore needful, then is public religious instruction to the inferior members of the community, to the numerous class of laborious poor, to the grossly ignorant, the careless, and the vicious! Without this, how shall they obtain a competent knowledge, or an abiding practical impression of their various relations and duties to God, to man, to civil society?

In this view, the public worship of the Deity, and stated instructions in religion and morality, appear as necessary and beneficial to the State, as they are to the souls of individuals: And the institution of a WEEKLY SABBATH, devoted to those purposes, is the offspring of profound and generous policy, if viewed merely in its aspect upon our present social condition. For the decent and united observation of it, by the Members of each Corporation, is, an eminent mean of promoting useful knowledge, civilization and good neighbourhood; of strengthening the cords both of political and Christian union; of bringing seasonable rest and refreshment to the body and mind, after the fatigues of worldly care and toil; and of keeping alive in the minds of all ranks, an awful commanding sense of Deity, of moral and religious obligation: Agreeably, the public benefits of this institution are distinctly visible on the face of those communities, which carefully support and observe it; whilst the contrary features equally distinguish those, which despise or neglect it.

The preacher cannot do full justice to this part of his theme, or to his own profession as a Gospel Minister without adding, that the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, properly stated and enforced by its teachers, has a peculiarly favourable influence upon the present social state of mankind: For, it is the volume of revelation only, that fully illustrates and confirms, and with due authority presses, those great religious principles, which we have shown to be the basis of virtue and of order. At the same time it superadds a new scheme of truth, suited to the lapsed state of mankind, which at once encourages, directs, assists and constrains to universal goodness; it presents the Deity, in the full orbed lustre of his perfections; it displays the matchless philanthropy, the generous expiation and intercession of his Son; it offers and conveys the needed succours of his spirit; it ascertains and describes the future joys and sorrows of immortality. Must not these discoveries, suitably realized, powerfully tend to check transgression—to kill the seeds of vice, and to produce, to enoble, and improve every branch of a virtuous character? The moral system too, which Christianity builds upon these principles, is an eminent friend to our present felicity. For it inculcates the most extended, the most active, the most self-denying benevolence; it links us to the great brotherhood of man; yea, it unites us to the universe, to eternity, and to God, the head and sum of both. It levels all the haughty feelings of superior rank or abilities, and places true greatness in humble, condescending, elevated goodness. By this, as well as by constantly pointing us to those two great levelers, death and an endless retribution, it introduces a kind of generous republican equality among the different orders and conditions in society. It equally regards and secures the interest of all the members of the community, by that great rule of equity, “whatever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.” By presenting the same motives and rewards of virtue to the weak and the strong, and by urging both to secret acts of goodness, from a regard to the approving eye, and final recompense of the Supreme Judge; it provides a steady support, a constant opportunity, a universal engagement to the practice of virtue. We may add, it regulates and refines those important social connections and duties, the conjugal, parental and filial, in a manner highly favourable to the order and happiness of human society. In a word, the spirit of our religion, is uniting and peaceable: It is loyal, patriotic, and free: It is the life and support of good government and of rational liberty. Even the positive, ceremonial rites of Christianity, properly administered, are important out-works, which guard the public welfare: For by striking upon the senses and imaginations of men, they bring affecting truths with peculiar force to their hearts, and hereby operate to produce a decent and regular outward deportment.

What an engine of public usefulness, then, does the Christian institution put into the hands of its Ministers! And how important is it to the common good, that such an order of men should be spread out over the whole community! What unspeakable aid may they afford to, as well as receive from, the civil Magistrate! Whilst the people at large reap a plentiful harvest from the united labours of both! Which brings us more distinctly to point out the several ways in which the Ruler and Priest may and ought to combine their influence, or to assist each other, in leading the people of God.

We mean not to advocate such a union or cooperation of the two order, as involves a heterogeneous mixture of civil and spiritual objects; as places the Magistrate upon Christ’s throne, in the Church, and invests the Christian Minister with the honors and the powers of the State: Such motley alliances are the offspring of political and priestly ambition, aided by equal cunning; are the main pillar both of civil and religious tyranny; and the source of infinite mischiefs to the intellectual and moral character as well as the temporal condition of mankind. They infect the best religion under Heaven, its Professors and Ministers, with the spirit of this world, with a proud, cruel, persecuting and immoral disposition. As a celebrated writer observes, “persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but is always the strongly marked feature of all law, religion, or religious established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and religion re-assumes it original benignity. In America a Catholic Priest is a good citizen, a good character, and a good neighbour; an Episcopalian Minister is of the same description; and this proceeds from there being no law-establishment in America.”

But whilst we execrate such treasonable conspiracies between Rulers and Priests, against the dearest rights and interests of man, we may consistently recommend to the two orders, a liberal and patriotic combination for the general good. There is indeed, in many respects, a natural alliance between intelligent, virtuous Magistrates and Ministers, in a free and Christian State.

And first, the Magistrate may and ought to cooperate with the Christian instructor, by throwing the weight of his personal example and private influence into the scale of Christian piety and virtue. The efficacy of example, when arrayed in all the splendor of high office, is not to be described. As religion adds grace and dignity to the most exalted station, so she derives a superior charm and majesty from it.

When the great political characters in a community, give their uniform sanction to religion, by exhibiting her fairest features in their daily deportment; when they openly revere the name, the Sabbaths, the temple, and all the sacred institutions of the Most High; when they liberally and zealously contribute to the settlement and support, the reputation and success of a learned and virtuous Priesthood, to the extensive propagation of Christian knowledge, and to the pious education of the rising age; when they are eminent patterns of virtue themselves, and are careful to cherish and honour it in others; how unspeakably do such examples confirm and extend the credit and influence of religion! What animation and confidence, what superior respectability and success, do they give to its teachers! What authority and energy must the inward consciousness, and open lustre of such virtue impart to Rulers themselves, in their official proceedings; especially those which have for their object, the suppression of wickedness, and the encouragement of the opposite interest! Which leads us to observe, that Rulers efficaciously concur with Christian Ministers, when they carry the spirit of religion into their public conduct: When all their political measures are regulated by the everlasting maxims of natural justice, of Christian equity and benevolence: When they accordingly distribute the burdens, apply the resources, fulfill the engagements and discharge the debt of the public, with the scrupulous fairness, the exact economy, the assiduous attention required by those rules, in the similar transactions of private citizens: When they detest and scorn the idea of sanctioning by their public authority, any measure, which they would blush to avow or to practice in their individual capacity: In short, when the whole system of their public conduct appears to be prompted and guided by a SUPREME regard to the example and laws, the approbation and honour of the infinite Ruler and the good of his moral family: What a glorious attestation is here of the reality, the commanding force of religious obligation! Such a train of political measures is pregnant with various and almost inconceivable good. It inculcates various sentiments upon the public mind, with all the authority and force of the highest, the most conspicuous, and unequivocal example. It also directly and efficiently contributes to the general prosperity: For it proceeds upon principles, which are as essentially necessary and conducive to social union and happiness, as the laws which govern the material world, are to the harmony and welfare of nature.

Further, the Magistrate may greatly strengthen the Christian Teacher, by directing his public attention to the advancement of religion and virtue as an immediate and primary object; by so arranging his measures for the increase of temporal good, as to render them in the best manner subservient to that which is spiritual and eternal; by enacting and executing laws for the prevention or punishment of profaneness and immorality; by promoting virtuous characters to offices of honor and usefulness; by neglecting and despising the vicious; by lessening and removing the temptation to iniquity; by augmenting and multiplying the encouragements to goodness; by giving birth and efficacy to public and private means of learning, so essential to rational piety; by effectually providing for the support and decent observance of public religious worship and instruction so necessary, as we have seen, to the virtue, the civilization, and happiness, of the community. Such a legal provision for the maintenance of religious institutions, obviously falls within the province of the Magistrate, on account of their transcendent importance to civil government and society: Nor does such provision adjusted upon an equal and liberal plan, make the least approach to a political establishment of any particular religious profession, nor consequently involve any invasion of the prerogative of Christ, or the sacred rights of conscience. On the other hand, Secondly. The Christian Minister may and ought to strengthen the hands of the civil Ruler. If he possesses those qualities of head and heart, which suit his benevolent and comprehensive office, he must have the most tender and ardent feelings for the interest of the State, as well as the Church. He must perceive an important connection between them, as well as the friendly aspect of the Christian doctrine upon both. He must consequently feel a double stimulus to a prudent and faithful discharge of his trust. He therefore endeavours, both in his public ministrations, and in his private conversation and example, so to represent and enforce the Christian system, as that it may, under the divine blessing, have its full effect upon the character and condition of mankind, in reference to this world and the next. He takes particular care not to make this beneficent and peaceable religion, an engine of civil or spiritual tyranny, confusion, malignant strife, or in any respect, an instrument of increasing, instead of lessening human depravity and wretchedness. He feels himself peculiarly united to the worthy Magistrate, by the ties of personal esteem and public affection. He studies that his whole deportment respecting the Rulers and the laws, may express and promote a spirit of decent subjection and obedience, and he enforces such submission by all the authority and sanction of religion. His social intercourse with his family and flock, his daily prayers in private and in public, tend to kindle and to nourish the sentiments of loyalty and patriotism. He loves to mention in the ears of the rising race, the names and services of patriot Rulers, of eminent public benefactors; and hereby to charm the tender mind to the love of virtue, of country, of mankind, as well as to a due veneration for, and grateful submission to such Ministers of divine benevolence. His public discourses too, all tend either directly or remotely, to form his hearers into good citizens and subjects, as well as holy Christians. That such a reciprocation of services between the two orders, falls within the line of propriety and important duty, is too obvious to the eye of discernment, to require a formal illustration.

It is with great satisfaction, that we appeal to the historic page of our own country, for a striking comment upon the preceding discourse. Our fathers were led out of the house of bondage in Britain, into the wilderness of America, and planted here, as in the land of promise, by the same divine Shepherd, who led ancient Israel from deep oppression and misery, to the joys of freedom and plenty. The same good spirit, which inspired Moses and Aaron, to undertake and conduct so arduous an enterprise, evidently guided and animated the leaders in that great attempt, which gave birth to New-England. The same union of friendship, of counsel and exertion in the public cause, which characterized the Hebrew Lawgiver and High-Priest, distinguished the political and religious Fathers of Massachusetts. The rulers of the State, were at the same time Members and pillars of the Church. The religion which they thus solemnly professed, was the rule of their public and private conduct, and the advancement of its interests, a main object of both. For this purpose, they readily co-operated with the schemes and endeavours of worthy clergymen, and contributed their best efforts for their comfort, reputation and success.

The advice and influence of the priesthood were likewise ever at hand, to aid and succeed the operations of the Magistrate, and to promote the civil, as well as religious interests of the people. It is granted, indeed, that our ancestors carried this union of Church and State, to an unwarrantable length. But this was not their peculiar fault: It was the complexion of the age. And shall we, their children, who owe so much to their generous services and sufferings, shall we, like undutiful and cursed Ham, take pleasure in exposing their nakedness? No, my fellow-citizens; whilst we spread a veil of filial piety over their imperfections, let us with the most grateful emotions, celebrate that united agency of Moses and Aaron, which, under God, laid such early and noble foundations of freedom and order, of science and religion; which in the feeble infancy, and great poverty of the settlement gave birth to a public seminary of learning; a seminary, which from its foundation, to this day, has borne on its front the united inscription of the Ruler and the Priest, in the names of its Founders, and Benefactors, of its Governors and Sons! But passing over the intermediate stages of our history; you will permit me modestly to ask, does not the inscription just mentioned, appear very conspicuous on the face of our late glorious revolution? Did not these two orders remarkably unite their efforts to keep the public mind in a posture of vigilance, of information, of patriotic ardour? In those times which tried men’s souls, did not the public prayers and discourses, the private influence and example of the great body of the clergy, firmly and successfully co-operate with the civil and military measures of the country? Did not the same zealous concurrence of the two departments, procure the adoption of the excellent constitution of Massachusetts, and of the present federal system, which gives union, order, and happiness to America? Did not the same virtuous and unshaken combination eminently mark that perilous and alarming crisis, which a few years since passed over this Commonwealth? Do not these striking facts evince, that the spirit of the clerical office at least, in this enlightened and free country, is an important friend to the liberty, government and happiness of society? On the other hand, it becomes us gratefully to acknowledge the support which religion and its Ministers have received from the civil government of this State, from the authority and example of some of the first political characters in it; the additional reputation and success which they have instrumentally derived from that source; and the consequent face of superior union and order, civilization and virtue, which adorns a great part of our community. These advantages would strike us with much greater force, were we allowed to contrast our situation in these respects, with that of some other parts of the Union: But decency forbids the invidious comparison.

When we look over this numerous and respectable assembly, a cloud of witnesses rushes upon our senses and hearts, in support of the ideas now advanced.

Our eye is first caught by the Chief Magistrate of this Commonwealth, who has had a large share in the great political drama, that has been acted on the stage of the new world, and covered it with glory. The presence of his Excellency restrains the lips of delicacy from paying him a formal tribute of praise. But while his distinguished political services are engraven on every American bosom, justice to a different part of his character, constrains us to observe, that he has ever treated religion, its institutions and Ministers, with a respect becoming the enlightened, consistent patriot, and Ruler, in a Christian State. The clergy within his jurisdiction, feel the animating influence of his attention and patronage, and wish him in return, a large experience of the comforts of our divine religion, amidst that trying scene of bodily infirmity, with which he has so long been afflicted. It is also our united prayer to God that his Excellency may ever form his whole private and public conduct upon the divine model proposed in the life and precepts of the Christian lawgiver. That so his personal example and official measures may unite their influence to spread piety and virtue as well as every temporal blessing, through the community. To this, he will feel himself urged by every motive, which can operate upon a heart of sensibility; in particular, by the interesting prospect of death and endless retribution, to which the highest earthly god is equally bound with the lowest of his subjects. May conscious fidelity cheer the solemn hour of dissolution, inspire boldness before the decisive tribunal, and be crowned with superior glory in the kingdom of Heaven.

His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governour, merits our tribute of respect, on account of that distinguished union of political wisdom, patriotic virtue, and Christian piety, which has long dignified his reputation among the civilians of the age, he has not been ashamed of the cross of Christ, but has long been enlisted under that despised, but heavenly banner. May he still continue an ornament and pillar, both of the Church and Commonwealth, till his hoary head shall come down to the grave in peace.

The Honourable Council claim our regards, on account of their important share in the executive department, and worthy personal qualities, which pointed them out to the suffrages of their enlightened fellow-citizens. Whilst their elevation to this office reflects on them a ray of glory, it obliges them to a correspondent dignity of sentiment and conduct: It invites them to a noble imitation of the governing wisdom, justice and mercy of HIM, who is wonderful Counselor, the King of righteousness and of peace. It particularly calls them to advise and consent to the appointment of such characters only, to interpret and execute the laws, as are exemplary themselves for the observance of human and divine injunctions, and endowed with talents and dispositions suited to the important trust. In this way they may unspeakably promote the civil and moral interests of all parts of the Commonwealth.

The Gentlemen who compose the two Branches of the Honourable Legislature, will permit our congratulations on the fresh mark of esteem and confidence, with which their constituents have honoured them. They will likewise remember that the trust, with which they are charged, is very solemn and momentous; that it is rendered still more awful, by the declarations and oaths, with which they have recently entered on its execution. As we cannot doubt their sincerity in those professions and appeals to Heaven, we entertain a cheerful hope that all their transactions on this day and through the year, will be regulated by the excellent principles of that religion, and of those civil constitutions which they have publicly taken for their guide. We reasonably expect that all their laws and proceedings will be so many branches growing out of the stock of equal justice and comprehensive benevolence; that they will be strongly marked with the same integrity, virtue and honor, which suit and adorn the rational and Christian character in a private capacity. They will ever remember that the same practical principles, must form the basis both of public and individual happiness and glory; and that the policy of those who would rear the fabric of national prosperity upon a different foundation is equally unphilosophical and iniquitous. As human art, in order to produce certain useful effects must conform to the principles of nature, or the established laws of its great Architect; so the politician must build the order and welfare of society upon those moral principles and connections, which the same Almighty Ruler, has instituted in the rational system. If he act an opposite part, he virtually, attempts a new creation: Yea, like the man of sin, he exalts himself above all that is called God; for it is the glory of the Deity himself, though he be an absolute Almighty Sovereign, that he cannot govern upon any other plan than that of inviolable truth, justice, and goodness; that he cannot lie to any of his subjects, or trifle with their reasonable petitions, expectations or claims. It will be the glory of our Rulers, to copy after this divine original. No idea therefore of omnipotence or uncontrolled Sovereignty, will be permitted to infect their deliberations and decisions; but their whole conduct, as it respects particular citizens, the Commonwealth in general, and the great American Republic, will, we trust, exhibit a fair picture of honest, enlarged and Federal policy.

Honored Fathers: As you do not remove out of the sphere of religious obligation, by entering the circle of politicks; as you, have all this day professed the Christian belief, and many of you are complete visible members of the Redeemer’s family; you will feel under the most sacred ties, to devote the superior powers and advantages of your present stations, to the Christian interest. Whilst therefore you tenderly guard the rights of conscience, and afford equal protection to all peaceable citizens, you will make and enforce every needful provision for the general diffusion of religious and moral sentiments, and for the maintenance and observation of those Christian and literary institutions, which are requisite to that end. Among such institutions, the neighbouring University has a distinguished claim to your liberal patronage. It has been one of the grand nurseries of civilization, liberty, good government and religion. Our very existence, as a respectable community, is, under God, greatly derived from that source. Filial gratitude then, as well as every sentiment of public virtue, press our Rulers to nurse and cherish this their ancient parent, with a tender and generous care.

In a word, let me respectfully call upon all our civil officers, in every department, to consecrate their authority, influence and example to the greatest good of the community. You, Gentlemen, collectively considered, are the moving and regulating principle of the whole political machine. If you jointly and strenuously pursue a virtuous train of conduct, it will operate like a powerful charm upon all parts of the system, and call up a new creation of beauty, virtue and happiness. Let it then be your first ambition and endeavour, to make mankind wiser, better and happier; to raise up the drooping head of virtue; to tread down irreligion and vice; to enlarge the empire of knowledge and righteousness; to augment as much as possible, the sum of created good, and of creating and redeeming glory.

And since the advancement of these great interests lies very much between you and the standing teachers of religion, let gentlemen in these different orders cultivate a friendly and patriotic alliance, by all the methods which prudence and generous virtue suggest.

Ye venerable leaders of our civil and ecclesiastical tribes; how many and how forcible are the ties which bind you together! IN this land of political and religious freedom, you both derive your election to office from one source; you are fellow-labourers in one great and benevolent cause; you are important members of one civil body, and by visible profession and sacred obligation, of one Christian family; in the due performance of your several offices, you display the same leading excellent talents and virtues, and mutually give and receive the most important support. Certainly then, there can be no strife, no jealous distance between you; for ye are brethren. We congratulate the people of Massachusetts, on the liberal and virtuous union, which at this moment subsists between you, and which is particularly exemplified in those numerous laudable incorporations, which embrace many of your first characters; and which have for their object, the interests of science, of arts, of education, of humanity, of Christian knowledge and piety. To perpetuate this union and render it still more operative to the general good, and not the low selfishness or vanity of exalting and strengthening his own profession, considered as a separate interest, has been the preachers governing motive in this discourse; and with a view to the same grand object, he modestly submits to the candour of both departments, a few monitory hints, suggested by the present aspect of society and of religion.

In the first place: Our leading characters in the civil and the literary line, will feel the peculiar importance, at this degenerated period of animating their clerical brethren, in every method dictated by wisdom and virtue; and particular, by encouraging them to calculate their public ministrations upon principles of the most extensive usefulness. They will consider, that many of us are connected with societies, which are chiefly composed of the laboring and more illiterate class; that these peculiarly need the privileges of a weekly Sabbath and public religious instruction; and that many of them require very plain, and very pungent applications, in order to enlighten their ignorance, to rouse their stupidity, or to check their vicious career. Our Christian patriots, therefore far from despising, will generously aid those teachers, who frequently endeavour, by all the methods of familiar, pathetic, or alarming address, to reach and refine these rougher parts of the community. The enlarged knowledge and experience of our learned civilians will also inspire sentiments of candour towards the priesthood, in regard to that variety of speculation, of gifts, and address, by which it is diversified; they will view this diversity as naturally resulting in great measure from the spirit of free inquiry and improvement, which characterizes the present day. They will consider too, that it furnishes public teachers suited to the various capacities, tastes and prejudices, and all the grades of character and condition, which at this period mark the face of society. They will further consider, that the operation of republican equality and religious freedom, will sometimes introduce a Christian instructor not perfectly agreeable to the relish or the speculations of a few superior members of a corporation, but perhaps very acceptable and beneficial to the general mass of the people. In such cases, does not a regard to social order, to equal rights, to the greatest moral and political good, require a generous and peaceable acquiescence?

On the other hand it becomes the clergy at this day studiously to hold up their office, and the religion which they teach, in the most respectable and pleasing light. A special attention to this object, is rendered important, by the present improved state of society; by the learning and politeness, which adorn many of our religious assemblies; by the rapid progress of loose sentiments and manners, and the consequent disrelish or contempt of Christian doctrines, institutions, and teachers. To check these spreading evils it becomes the sacred order to pay great attention both to the private and public duties of their function; it becomes them, in the performance of the latter, to display a force of reasoning, a propriety of thought, of method and expression, a decency of style and address, which may at once bear down the scoffs and the sophistry of libertism, justly please the taste of literary refinement, and at the same time exhibit the plain, the affectionate, the evangelical preacher. It becomes them both in their ministrations and personal example, to represent the Christian institution and ministry, as friendly to human happiness in both worlds; as breathing a social and courteous, a candid and forbearing, a loyal, uniting, and public spirit; a spirit, which whilst it supremely attaches us to the service and rewards of the life to come, cherishes a proper sensibility of our rights, duties, and enjoyments as inhabitants of the earth. It becomes them in every consistent method, to support the civil interests of the community, the respectability of its Rulers, and the efficacy of its Laws. And whilst law speaks to the public ear, in one uniform, inflexible tone, it is ours, my Reverend Fathers and Brethren, to bring home the address of religion to the bosoms of individuals; and by a pertinent and forcible application of her peculiar truths and sanctions, to seize their consciences, their imaginations, their hearts; to possess and command their inmost feelings. By this process, under the influence of the all creating spirit; we are first to mould them into good men, and then by an easy transition into good citizens, rulers and subjects. Above all, let us ever keep in our own realizing view, and endeavour to enforce upon our people, the primary, the infinitely weighty object of our religion and ministry, viz. the spiritual, everlasting salvation of immortal beings, and the glory of God and his Son, shining forth in the wondrous contrivance, and accomplishment of it. Whilst our Rulers are pushing forward our temporal prosperity and glory, let us labour to establish and to complete that glory, by a corresponding advancement of this most important object. Into this channel let us endeavour to draw all the civil and literary, as well as religious advantages, which come within our reach. Let the united efforts of the clergy and laity, be especially employed in diffusing Christian knowledge and virtue, through those vast territories of our country, whose poverty, and remote situation have precluded the stated enjoyment of religious institutions; and in promoting a more general and effectual attention to the private means of education, in various parts of the Commonwealth. By such a union of public exertion, our leading characters in Church and State, will resemble the two olive-trees, which the Prophet saw in vision, emptying their golden oil into the candlestick of Zion.

Fellow-Citizens of this great Assembly,

I felicitate you and our common country, on the natural, civil and religious advantages, by which we are so eminently exalted; and especially on the prosperous train of our national affairs, under the auspices of indulgent Heaven, and its favourite Minister, the President of the United States. When we mention this beloved citizen and benefactor of America, every bosom present, feels the endearing and forcible illustration, which his example gives to the leading sentiment of this discourse. For the charm of his piety, of his public and private virtue, as well as political wisdom, has been a principal cement of our national union, and so a prime source of all its attendant blessings. What then is wanting to complete the glory and happiness of our country? Nothing but the general prevalence of the same excellent spirit; a spirit of sublime virtue, corresponding to the natural grandeur and extent of America, and to its noble constitutions of government and religion. Virtue enlightened and invigorated by political and Christian knowledge, is eminently the soul of a republic. It is necessary to direct, to enliven, to guard the election of its Rulers, and to secure to them, the generous confidence, submission and cooperation of the people. It is peculiarly requisite in a community like ours, spread out over such an immense continent, divided by so many local governments, prejudices and interests: A people so circumstanced, can never be firmly and durably united, under one free and popular government, without the strong bands of religious and moral principle, of intelligent and enlarged patriotism. Liberty planted in such a soil, will be perpetually tending to unbridled licentiousness, distracting jealousies, and popular confusion. Let us then set up a vigilant guard against these encroaching evils. Let us not imagine that the exercise of civil liberty, consists in ignorant or envious abuse of public characters and measures; nor that religious freedom will justify careless neglect or wanton contempt of the truths, the ordinances, and ministers of that religion, which was sent down from Heaven to guide us, to present and future happiness. Though we are not accountable to the civil Magistrate for our religious sentiments and worship; yet we certainly are to the Deity; and he has given us no liberty in this enlightened country, either to think with Deists and Skeptics, or to live like Atheists; nor will the prostitution of his Sabbaths, to idleness or amusements in human and divine laws, pass in his account for a mark of superior politeness or liberality. In opposition to these wicked, but too modish abuses of liberty, let us remember that energetic government, is the guardian of freedom, and that religion, especially the Christian, is the pillar of both. Let us then properly respect, support, and concur both with our civil and religious Ministers. Let us exercise the most scrupulous care in the election of both, and be rationally satisfied, that their heads and hearts, their principles and morals, comport with the spirit of their several offices. But having chosen them, let us treat their persons and administrations with that confidence and honour, which become a wise and magnanimous people, and which may, by the blessing of God, give the greatest effect to their benevolent labours.

Finally: As the crown of all, let us become pious towards God, humble and obedient believers in his Son, conscientiously submissive to the government and laws of our country, sober, frugal, and diligent in our several employments, just and kind to one another, unitedly and zealously attached to the great interests of America, and of the whole human fraternity. Then we shall hold out an inviting example to all the world, of the propitious operation of a free government; we shall encourage and accelerate the progress of reason, and of liberty, through the globe. Already has the new world diffused the light and warmth of freedom across the Atlantic, into the old; which has given birth to a surprising and glorious revolution. Let us be nobly ambitious, by our future conduct, to feed and extend the generous flame; and thus to realize the wishes and hopes of all benevolent spirits in Heaven and earth. Let us especially labour and pray, that these political struggles and changes, may, under the divine agency, introduce new and brighter scenes of Christian knowledge and piety, till the whole world shall be covered with divine glory and human bliss. And may we in particular, after having filled our departments in society here, with usefulness and honor, be united to the more glorious community of the righteous; where the official distinctions of Moses and Aaron, are known no more; where all the followers of the Lamb, shall form one royal priesthood, one mighty combination of perfect and happy immortals; and God the original source of being and blessedness, shall be ALL in ALL.