Era or Event: 1780s-1850s: Early Republic

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Henry Ware (1764-1845) graduated from Harvard in 1785. He was pastor of the First Church at Hingham, MA (1787-1805) and was Professor of Divinity at Harvard (1805-1840). The following election sermon was preached by Ware in Massachusetts on May 30, 1821.

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SERMON,

DELIVERED BEFORE

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, ESQ.

GOVERNOR,

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL,

AND THE TWO HOUSES COMPOSING THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

MAY 30, 1821.

By Henry Ware, D. D.
Hollis Professor of Divinity, in Harvard University.

 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.IN SENATE, MAY 31, 1821.

Ordered, That the Hon. Messrs. Williams, Tilden, and King, be a Committee to wait upon the Rev. Henry Ware, and in the name of the Senate, to thank him for the Sermon by him delivered before His Excellency the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Council, and the two Branches of the Legislature, and to request a copy thereof for the press.

Attest,
S. F. McCLEARY, Clerk.

 

SERMON.ACTS………CHAPTER XVII. VERSE 26.
“And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”

IN no point does our religion present itself to us with a deeper interest, in nothing does it recommend itself more strongly to cultivated minds, than in the representations it gives of the character of God, his relation to his creatures, and his dispositions towards them. That he is the creator of all things, and that all beings are the work of his hands, is not the only, nor is it the principal consideration that it offers to us. Images of a more tender kinds are frequently presented, and he is declared to sustain a relation, which implies more of interest, and expresses more of nearness and affection. The author of our being stands in the relation of a father to us; and we are declared to be his children, for whom he feels a parental kindness; over whom he holds a father’s authority. The same God, also, is to be acknowledged as the father of men of all nations. Nor only so; he has made them, as my text asserts, all of one blood, to possess a common nature as well, as to have a common origin; and thus to sustain not only the same relation of children to a common parent, but also that of brethren to each other.

The double relation in which our religion represents us as sustaining toward the author of our being, and toward one another, is closely connected with many of the most important duties as well, as the highest interests of the social state. It regulates the dispositions and the conduct, which individuals owe to each other. It relates also to those, which are due from collective bodies of men, from communities and states one toward another. It prescribes the principles, upon which the members of a government are bound to act, in the conflicting interests of the community or state, which they represent, and for which they act, and other communities, or individuals of the same, or of another community.

Indeed there is nothing in the intercourse of men with each other, in any of the political, or civil, or social relations, which will not be affected by a just view of this universal relation, which binds together and embraces in one, the whole human family.

I have thought the subject not an unsuitable one to b addressed, on the present occasion, to an assembly of Christian rulers; as it suggests a principle, which should serve as a guide to them, in all their endeavors to promote the public good.

While our religion teaches expressly the doctrine of the text, the spirit which it everywhere inculcates, and the whole system of its precepts are of a character correspondent to those relations, the nature and the obligations of which it discovers to us. On the one hand, it is everywhere implied, that all men of every nation owe the same obedience to the common father of our race, are alike objects of his care, subjects of his moral government, accountable to him, equally capable of obtaining his approbation, and securing his favor by holiness, or of forfeiting it by sin, and a life of impenitence. This view, while it leads us to a just sense of the duty we owe to the author of our being, is calculated also to give us enlarged and liberal notions respecting our fellow-men, and to prepare us to honor, esteem, and love them.

On the other hand, everywhere in the same manner is implied the obligation of universal good will to one another, grounded on the same considerations; the common origin of our race, our common allegiance to the universal parent, and the relation we sustain to each other as brethren.

We see then the design and the tendency of our religion in a point of view, in which it displays its most amiable and attractive features, and exerts its noblest powers. Not exclusive but comprehensive is its spirit. Not to separate but to combine, not to drive men asunder, but to unite them together, and bind them by new ties of interest and affection is its tendency. Breathing kindness and good will all around, it produces, not hatred and hostility, not mutual injuries and deeds of violence, but love, and harmony, and peace. Not within a narrow circle is its attractive power confined—repelling all that is beyond. There are no limits, beyond which its attractions are unfelt. It reaches beyond the bounds, which limit all the other principles of union, which operate upon the human mind, and draw men together. Beyond those of interest and personal affection. Beyond those of family, of nation, of country. It embraces every country, every nation, every region, and all the families and tribes of men. And throughout the whole range of its local influence, how various are the effects it produces! Its design is no less, than that of putting down all that is narrow, and selfish, and exclusive and hostile, in the intercourse of men, in the institutions of society, in the customs that prevail, in the feelings that are cherished. It is to break down all those walls of partition, which pride, and selfishness, and passion, and jealousy, and prejudice, and fear, have erected, between nations, and between the several tribes and families of men. It is to sweep away the barriers which local prejudice or interest have raised up, between those who inhabit different regions of the earth, or different portions of the same country. It is to annihilate the odious distinctions, which are grounded on difference of colour, and feature, and form, and manners, and laws, and government, and religion, and usages; distinctions, which have laid the foundation and furnished the pretext, of so much of the violence, and oppression, and slavery, and war, that has disfigured and disgraced the world in all ages, and rendered it too often a scene of hostility and blood, and desolation. It is, not indeed to do away entirely, but to reduce and soften, and to check all that is unkind and revolting in those distinctions, of which the providence of God, or human institutions have laid the foundation, in the conditions of men of the same community; between the rich man and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the master and the servant, the parent and the child, the public officer, and the private citizen. For, in those institutions, through the instrumentality of which it produces all its great and salutary effects, it presents one spot, where all human distinctions are leveled. There, in the temple of the Most High; in the presence of Him, who alone is great, all human greatness disappears, and the rich and the poor, the prince and the peasant, the bond and the free, meet together upon equal terms.

These are the offices, in which our religion exerts its power, and displays its excellence. Thus does it cause men of different nations and of distant regions, to lay aside their spirit of hostility, to treat each other with justice, and kindness, and good faith; to live in peace, and in the interchange, as they have opportunity, of offices of good will. Thus does it bind together citizens of the same state, and members of the same community, by ties, that no competition of interest, or conflict of opinion, or difference of education, or variety of manners, have power to dissolve. Thus does it prostrate all those factitious, unnatural, artificial distinctions, which pride, and selfishness, and prejudice, and the love of power, have introduced; leaving only those, which the God of nature has established, and which are essential to the order, and peace, and well being of the moral and social system.

And all these effects it produces, without disturbing the regular course of human affairs, as established by the institutions of society; without interfering with any legitimate rights; without diminishing the authority of human government, or preventing the full exercise and influence of those private affections, and personal attachments, which belong to the domestic relations; or those which bind a man to his country, to the land that gave him birth, and to the society, with which are connected all his interests and attachments, and all the duties of a social being.

But Christianity has sometimes been reproached with teaching the obligation of universal benevolence and good will in a manner, which leaves no room for the private affections, no room for particular friendship, for any of the peculiar duties of the near relations, or those, which a man owes to his country. And it has been objected to it that, in the same spirit, it requires meekness, forbearance, and abstinence from resistance in a manner, that is incompatible with the rights of self-defense, and the authority of human government. But it is important to show, and it may be shown in the most satisfactory manner, that our religion is not liable to this charge; and that it is a mistaken view, and a false representation of its character, which subjects it to such an imputation. It is important for us to understand how far from the truth is the charge, that our religion is unfriendly to the full exercise and expression of the private and particular affections; those affections which are due from a man to his country, his kindred, his family, his friends; that it either renders him insensible to those relations, or that it requires of him anything, that is incompatible with either of them. Certain it is, that the enlarged and comprehensive spirit of the gospel has nothing in it adverse to private affection, and personal attachment. Its office is to control, to limit, and to give a right direction to the private and particular affections, not to destroy them, nor to set them aside.

By enlarging the circle through which its influence extends, it does not diminish the warmth with which it glows nearer the centre. While it carries abroad your affections, as far as there are objects, on which they can fall, and your good wishes and good offices as far, as there are beings to be benefitted by them, it permits and encourages a peculiar and warmer affection, a nearer interest, and a more active care toward your family, your friends, your neighbors, the members of the society to which you belong, your country; and you are bound to seek their good in a manner, and to a degree, in which you are not bound toward any, who are beyond those relations. But you are not to forget, that these affections and these obligations, though peculiar and specific, are not exclusive. They are not to diminish your affections, nor to relieve you from your duty to strangers; and those who are distant. They are not to be indulged and followed, where they would interfere with the obligations of general humanity, and the offices of kindness and good will, which are due to all.

But we are invited by this occasion to contemplate the spirit of Christianity chiefly in relation to its influence upon the conduct of men, who in public stations are acting for the public; and particularly upon the legislative and executive government of the state. Now, whether we consider those duties of a government, which arise from the relations of the state or nation to other states, or its relation to its own citizens, Christianity will require of each man, who has a share in administering the government, to act upon a higher and broader principle, than those common maxims of worldly policy, which are usually considered a sufficient to indicate to him the course he should pursue. According to these maxims and rules, the highest motive by which he is to be guided is what is called patriotism, or the love of country; and it is enough, if he faithfully devote himself to the interests of his country, if he pursue its prosperity, and seek its good with a steady zeal, and a single aim. If he suffer no personal interest to come in competition with it, so as to make him prefer the private to the public good, he is thought to act with sufficiently enlarged views, and from motives sufficiently elevated and disinterested. But our religion demands of him something more. While it approves and cherishes the love of country, and itself prompts to every proper deed by which the love of country can be expressed, it requires that it be controlled and limited by a higher and more enlarged principle, that of general benevolence; a principle which will not allow him to advance the interests of his own country upon the ruins of another; which will not permit him, from any prospect of advantage to his own country, to invade the rights of another, or to commit any act of injustice or oppression, or cruelty. Patriotism in its true and proper import is entirely coincident with the spirit of Christianity. In this large and liberal sense, it is inculcated by all those precepts of the Saviour and his Apostles, which tend to the peace and order of society, which require subjection to lawful authority, and promote rational liberty. It was exemplified by the Saviour himself in an affecting manner, when he wept over the approaching calamities of his country, and expostulated with her for that irreclaimable wickedness, which was bringing down upon her the vengeance of Heaven. And it appears with lively interest in the example of the Apostle Paul, expressing a readiness to suffer himself for his brethren, could he but thus save them from the punishment they had incurred, and which was about to fall upon them.

But that patriotism, which stops short of this, have little claim to our respect; it has no title to so honorable a name. Indeed, whatever name it may assume that is in fact but selfishness, a little disguised, and a little refined, which limits its affections, its exertions, its duties, and its cares, wholly to its own country and regards all beyond without sympathy, and as having no claims upon our benevolence or justice. For what is the character, and what the source and motive of that patriotism, which is thus limited and stinted, and makes not a part of universal benevolence, but is exclusive of it and stands opposed to it? The patriot of this school loves his country; but it is only because that country embraces all his own interests, comprehends all his friends; its prosperity is his own prosperity, that of his family, that of his children. In providing for it, and seeking to promote it, he is making the best and only sure provision for himself and his family. His own well-being and prosperity, his own honor and aggrandizement are identified with those of the state, and must rise or fall with it. All this is very well, but it has little praise. Christian patriotism is prompted by a higher motive, and is governed by other rules. It remembers the words of the Saviour, when he asks, “If ye love them that love you, if ye do good to them that do good to you, if ye salute them that salute you, what thanks have ye?”—The obligations of love, of good offices, and of courtesy, he confines not to his friends. He acknowledges the obligation of good will and good deeds, where there can be no return, and where there is no personal interest. He feels himself bound, to do justice to all, to wish well to all; and as he has opportunity to do good, not to his brethren, his kindred, his countrymen only, but to all.

How frequently will it happen, that in a competition of interests and conflict of rights between his own country and a neighboring state, the demands of justice and the calls of patriotism shall seem at variance. Justice to another state, requires him to forego important advantages, and will not allow him to avail himself in behalf of his own country, of opportunities for securing to her advantages, which would give her an ascendency over her neighbors. In such cases, what is the course, which patriotism, as it has been usually understood, and the common and approved maxims of worldly policy, will dictate? Will he, who has no higher principle to govern his conduct, hesitate to seek the aggrandizement of his own nation at the expense of neighboring or distant states? Will he feel himself bound to forego the opportunity of raising his own country to power, or wealth, or greatness, when he knows it can only be effected by taking undue advantages of the situation or the necessities of another; by measures, which tend in equal degree to their impoverishment, depression, and ruin? Will he refuse, will he not even feel himself required by the principles of patriotism which he professes, to give a check, if it be in his power to that prosperity of a neighboring state, which stands in the way of that of his own? There is no doubt, I presume, what answer the history of nations and of governments will report to these questions.

But Christian morality is of a more pure and elevated and disinterested character; and Christian patriotism founded on it, revolts at the thought of deriving a benefit from another’s wrong; of building his country’s glory, and greatness, and posterity, on the ruins of another people. It enkindles an ardent zeal for his country’s good. It impels him to all honorable and virtuous means for its promotion; to faithful exertions, to heroic personal sacrifices. It makes him ready to do and to suffer for the public safety and welfare. But it authorizes no act that is inconsistent with the rights, or that must impair the prosperity of another country, or another individual. The Christian patriot will no sooner pursue measures to erect his country’s glory, on the ruins of another people; to advance her power and prosperity by conquest, oppression, or slavery; or by any methods of checking the prosperity of a rival state, bringing a great evil upon it for the sake of some benefit to itself, or drawing off to itself the sources of its wealth, and the means of its safety, than he would raise his own private fortunes on the ruins of his country, or the injury of his neighbors.

Occasions may occur again, and they are likely to be frequent, in which the local interest of that section of the state, in which you live, and which you immediately represent, may stand in competition with the general interest of the state, or of some other part of it; and would be advanced by measures, that must prove hurtful to the whole, or to some other part. In such cases, a legislator, whose views of duty are narrow and contracted; who considers himself as acting for a part, and not for the whole; who is guided by no higher principle than a selfish policy, will prefer the private to the public good, will seek the particular at the expense of the general interest; will favor the views and wishes of one part of the community, where he knows he must y the same act, bring injury, distress, and loss, perhaps ruin, upon another, with which he is personally less connected, and to whose interests he feels himself less strongly bound.

How different, in each of these cases, will be the conduct of him, who carries with him into his public conduct, the enlarged views and liberal feelings of the gospel!—Who, in being a legislator, a statesman, or a magistrate, does not forget, that he is yet a Christian! Does not forget, that as all men are brethren, of one blood, of one parentage, of one nature, all are entitled alike and equally to the same measure of justice, and kindness, and humanity. He will revolt at the thought of the aggrandizement of his own country by a violation of that justice and humanity, which are due to another people; of advancing the interest of that portion of the country which he inhabits, by that which impoverishes, or lessens the prosperity of another part; or of attaining to personal ease, or affluence, or honor, by a course of measures, which bring undeserved disgrace, or poverty, or misfortune upon any other individual, however remote and unconnected.

Such, my respected hearers, is the general duty of all, and especially of those, who, in the important offices of government, are to watch over the public interests, and to give a direction to the public transactions; a duty resulting from the consideration, that God has made all men of one blood, that all constitute one great community. There are some particular things, which by the consideration of this tie, by which all are bound together, and of the duties implied in it, the rulers of a Christian community will keep in view in all their exertions for the public good. In the first place, in all measures, which have any influence on the elations of the whole, or the mutual relations of the several parts of the state, they will pursue a pacific policy. No measure will receive countenance and support, which has an evident tendency to interrupt, either with surrounding states, or between the several portions of the state, or of its citizens, the relations of peace, and the interchange of friendly offices. Care will be taken, that none be adopted; that are calculated to nourish a spirit of hostility, to awaken mutual jealousies or party prejudices, or to excite any of those passions, which alienate the members of the same community from each other, or by which their pursuits or their interests become irreconcilable. I need not say how adverse the spirit of war is to the spirit of the gospel; nor how well it becomes a Christian government, by a just and humane, and liberal policy, both in respect to its external and internal relations, to keep peace with all, and to endeavor to hasten the universal establishment of the kingdom of the Prince of Peace, and the universal reign of that righteousness and peace, which it was to introduce into our world.

Another circumstance, of which a Christian government will never lose sight, is, its duty to protect the personal liberty and maintain the equal rights of all. It is not required, in order to this, to bring all men to the same level by destroying those distinctions, which the constitution of nature has established, or the institutions of society have sanctioned. Equality of rights may remain amidst all the varieties of condition, and talents, and acquisitions, and character. It stands opposed to exclusive privileges, by which one section of the country, or one class of its citizens is enriched or aggrandized at the expense of another, or has advantages granted to it, which are denied to others under similar circumstances. It stands opposed to any favor or preference shown in the framing of laws, or in their execution to one political sect over another, or to one denomination of Christians over another. It is opposed to the subjection of any portion of the inhabitants of a country to a state of involuntary servitude, to the loss of personal liberty, or of any of their civil or political rights, which have not been forfeited by crimes, that render their continuing to possess them inconsistent with the public safety. It is opposed, in fine, to everything in the structure, and in the administration of the of the government of the state, which implies partiality, which grants to some, what it denies to others, under similar circumstances. It will be the care of a wise and righteous government to carry a steady hand, and maintain an impartial course, amidst the constant and ardent struggles for superiority and particular favor, which employ so much of the activity and zeal of the several religious and political sects, into which every community is divided, and the competition of each class of citizens to gain some advantages over other classes, and of each individual over other individuals of the same class.

Another, and it is the only other leading object I shall mention, will be to make provision for extending the means of good education to every section of the country, and to every class of the inhabitants. By the constitution of our nature we all come into being upon equal terms; equally helpless, equally dependent, and equally objects of the complacency and the care of our common parent. But, no sooner are we born into the world, than more circumstances, than can be named or imagined, contribute to destroy this original equality, and to produce that infinite variety, which we find, in the condition, and in the characters of men. The different discipline to which we were from the first subjected; the different fidelity or neglect of our parents in our early instruction; the different influences, to which we were exposed by the examples usually before our eyes in our early years; casual associations, to which in early and in mature years we were introduced; difference of industry, of activity, of enterprise, when we came to engage in the business of life; difference of occupation, to which choice, or accident, or necessity, or parental authority may have destined us; by all these, and numberless other circumstances, this equality of nature soon disappears, and human society is made up of an infinite variety of all extremes. Now it should be the great object of a Christian government, keeping steadily in view the common origin of all, “formed of one blood,” to restore, as far as can be done by proper means, that original equality from which men have departed so far. And this is to be effected, not by an arbitrary equalization of property, and leveling of all distinctions of rank and power, which industry and education, and talents, cannot fail to give; and which they must soon restore again, were they taken away by violence; but by correcting as far, as it is in their power, the source from which the difference between one man and another in all these respects, has in a great measure sprung. It is by providing that the means of education shall be extended to all. That education I mean, which is not confined to the rudiments of knowledge, but which relates also to all the principles and habits of an intellectual, a moral, and immortal being; a member of the social body, and a subject of the moral government of God. It is by multiplying the means and perfecting the system of intellectual, moral, and religious education in general, and by allowing no portion of the country, and no class or description of its inhabitants to be left by the necessity of their condition without them. It is by urging home to the very bosoms of men, the inducements to use the means and opportunities that are offered them, for themselves, and for their children. It is to press upon men the motives to habits of industry, frugality, sobriety and temperance. It is to encourage, by legal provisions and by their example, institutions and associations, which piety, humanity and patriotism have suggested, for promoting these most benevolent purposes.

It is the distinguishing glory of the age in which we live, to abound beyond all former example in the exertions of voluntary associations for preventing indigence and for mitigating its evils; for suppressing vice, and for encouraging and promoting industry, frugality, economy, and habits of temperance and virtue, and for sending that religious knowledge, which may form the whole character, and influence the whole condition of life, home to the families and firesides of those, who might never have been induced to put themselves in the way of receiving it. It is the spirit of that religion, which teaches, that we have all one father, and that we are all brethren, that is producing these effects; that is thus seeking to bring men nearer together, not by impoverishing the wealthy, but by enriching the poor; not by bringing down the lofty, but by raising the low; not by leveling the distinctions of learning, and wisdom and virtue, but by enlightening the ignorant, and raising men from the degradation of folly and the corruptions of vice to the elevation of the wise and the virtuous.

I observe, that it is the spirit of our religion, that is producing all these effects. But how late have Christians been in learning this application of its principles, and this method of accomplishing its design! How partial and limited still in the Christian world is the application of the great principles and spirit of the gospel to public transactions, and the conduct of governments. Not only has it been overlooked in the intercourse of nations with each other, so that they have regarded each other as natural enemies, rather than as brethren of one great family; but it has been unacknowledged and unthought of in the relation that subsists between the government and the citizens of the same state. How long were Christians in coming, from the fact, that “all were made of one blood,” to the just conclusion respecting the natural freedom and equality with which men are born into the world! It is a lesson, indeed, which most Christian nations have still to learn. Principles are acknowledged and practices pursued, that are utterly irreconcilable with that natural equality as to rights, which is the basis of all relation of all to a common parent, which Christianity teaches. Instead of this, it is practically admitted, that some are born to rule, and others to be subjects, some to possess power and rights, and others to have only the privilege, to obey and to suffer. And so long have the nations of the earth submitted to this unnatural state, so long have the many been subjected to the control and disposal of the few, that they have lost the power of self government and self direction. The chains they have worn so long, that they have grown into the flesh, and are not safely to be removed. Men have so long been without power, that there is reason to apprehend they would make a fatal use of it, were it suddenly put into their hands. So long have they been without liberty, and without rights, that they require time and discipline to teach them their value and their use, before it would be safe to entrust them in their hands. The evidence of this state of things, we have in the current events of the day, and in the history of the last thirty years. Men have been accustomed in most countries to pay their homage to hereditary power, and to be dazzled and awed by its external insignia, till they are unable to perceive the immeasurable distance between that which is intrinsic, and that which is adventitious in human greatness; to perceive how far the chief magistrate of a nation or state, elevated to the chair of government by his talents and his virtues, and placed in it by the free suffrages of an enlightened people, rises above him who is seated, by the mere chance of his birth, upon a throne, whatever the splendor and power with which it is surrounded.

Our religion teaches us, that God has made all men of one blood, and that we are all brethren; but by the institutions of society in some countries, and by common usages and the prevailing practice in almost all, one might well be led to suppose, that men believed themselves to be wholly unrelated to each other; that the several nations of the earth, and the several classes of the inhabitants of each country had no common origin, and no common interest. Confirmation of this opinion we should find in the general hostility manifested by the several nations toward each other. It has been such, that in all countries and in all ages, it has been reckoned one of the highest virtues of a citizen, to love his own country, and to seek her good, exclusively of all others, in a manner irreconcilable with the obligations of general benevolence, and with the notion of a common nature, common origin, and the relation of brethren belonging to all. Patriotism accordingly in the political vocabulary is defined to be a narrow, exclusive passion, which permits, if it does not even require us, to hate all the rest of mankind, whenever the supposed glory, or interest of our country comes in competition with that of any portion of mankind, who are out of those limits. We should find it also in the selfishness, and cruelties, and oppressions that are permitted in all countries; in the degradation and abject servitude to which, in many countries, a large portion of the population is born, as their natural inheritance, and inevitable lot, from the odious distinction of casts so disgraceful to pagans in the eastern hemisphere, to the still more horrible system of African and American slavery, by which so indelible a stain is fixed upon Christians in the western.

That Christians in other countries, besides our own, are beginning to understand, better than they have done, the spirit and the demands of their religion, and to apply it to correct the abuses of government, its false principles and maxims, and the evils of the social state, is a just cause of joy, and a reasonable ground of hope. That a cause against which so many passions, and prejudices, and interests are armed, should meet with opposition, and occasionally fail of success, is what we are to expect. But of its eventual prevalence, and final triumph, we have a sure pledge in the effects already achieved, and in the engines which are brought into activity to accomplish the rest; but above all in the assurance that it is the cause of humanity, the cause of truth, the cause of God—and that God will own and vindicate his cause.

There are several circumstances, which give peculiar interest to the present occasion, and furnish unusual reasons for public joy and gratulation [thanks]. I shall confine myself to the mention of two.

The first is the public sense, so clearly expressed in the recent election, of satisfaction in the past administration of the government of the state. As the highest reward that those, who serve the public, can receive, is to know, that their services have been acceptable; that their well meant endeavors to promote the public good have been successful, and have met the approbation of their fellow citizens: so is there no method, by which the public sentiment respecting the administration of government can be so distinctly expressed, as by the reappointment of the same persons to the important offices of the state.

In the reelection of those distinguished citizens to the two first offices in the government, whose faithful services, in high stations and important trusts, the public has enjoyed for so many years; and in the return of so large a proportion of the Senators and Representatives of the last year to compose the Legislature of the present; an honorable testimony is given of the public satisfaction in the wisdom, fidelity and usefulness of their past services, and of the general confidence which they have inspired. We contemplate the fact also in a still higher view; as an assurance to us of the strength and stability of our institutions, and of the good sense and good spirit of the community; and that there is intelligence enough in the people to enable them to understand when they are faithfully served by those, in whose hands they entrust the public interests; and correct principles enough to approve and to encourage public virtue, public spirit, and upright and well directed services.

While we notice, and mention on this occasion with great satisfaction, these tokens of a wise and faithful administration of the civil government, of the public prosperity and tranquility, which are its natural consequence, and the general expression of approbation it has received; we regard it, also, as a promise of the future. It invites us to confident hope, and the indulgence of pleasant anticipations of the future management of the interests of the state. It enables us to feel assured, that the administration of the government, will be committed hereafter, as it has been hitherto, to able and faithful hands; and that the people, after exercising with sound judgment and due care their right, in the selection of those, to whom their most important interests are to be entrusted, will be reasonable and just in the judgment they pass afterwards upon the manner in which the trust has been executed; and ready to express their approbation and gratitude, wherever they shall have been merited by a steady pursuit of the public good.

The other circumstance, to which I alluded, as imparting a peculiar interest to this, beyond what we have felt upon similar occasions, is the evidence we have had the opportunity of witnessing in the course of the past year, of the general satisfaction of our citizens in the principles and form of the government itself. The people have been called upon to express their opinion, not only as they have annually opportunity to do, of the administration, but also of the constitution of our government. The result is the most gratifying, the most encouraging, and the most honorable, that could have been anticipated. It has exhibited a new proof of the soundness of those principles upon which our government is founded. It has taught us what before was doubtful, and must have remained so until the doubt was removed by such an example, the practicability of perpetuating republican principles and republican institutions. We have now to offer, in proof of the stability of republican institutions, the example of a people, to whom, after an experiment of forty years, the form of their government has again been submitted for revision, to be wholly set aside, or altered, or preserved entire, according as experience shall have taught them to regard it as sound in its principles and forms, or defective, or radically wrong. That it has passed through the trial, to which it was subjected, without any injury, with so few alterations, and with all its important original features unchanged; while it is so honorable to the prospective wisdom of the illustrious men, its original framers, reflects not less honor upon the wisdom of the equally great men, who were appointed to revise the instrument; and upon the good sense and moderation of the people in the primary assemblies, to whose final decision the amendments which it was thought proper to make in it, were submitted. We have learned, what it is most consoling and encouraging to know, that there is not in them that restlessness and love of change, which would make them willing, in pursuit of an unattainable object, to put at hazard all that is valuable in their civil institutions.

There is probably no other country on earth, where the same experiment could have been made with safety; and it may be doubted whether, in every part of this, it could have been done with equal probability of a favorable issue. If it be asked, to what it is to be attributed, that we have been able, without violence, without force, without civil commotion to accomplish that, which in other countries, the friends of rational liberty and good government dare not attempt; the answer is easy and satisfactory. It is to be found in the principles and habits of the people; in the religious and moral character of the inhabitants of this state; in the state of society, derived originally from our ancestors; brought with them when they came to this country; preserved and improved by the institutions which they established, and the provisions which they made, and which are yet continued, for religious instruction, for general education, and for the general diffusion of knowledge and virtue.

It is to your reverence for religion and its institutions, the general respect paid to the Christian Sabbath, and the worship of God in public assemblies, to the general diffusion of knowledge among all classes of people, and the system of education, by which provision is made for extending competent means of instruction to every family and every child. It is to these, that you owe that elevation of moral and intellectual character in the great body of the people, those sober habits, and those just views, by which they are qualified for the enjoyment and the preservation of a free government; capable not only of selecting from among themselves, the men who are best qualified for the several offices in the administration of their government, but also of determining the great principles and rules upon which its administration shall proceed, of choosing the kind of government under which they will live.

The considerations which discover to us the causes, to which we are to attribute those circumstances in our condition, by which we are so happily distinguished, and for which we have so much cause to be grateful; point out to us also, and urge upon us, the means, by which a state of things so desirable, must be preserved. It can only be by a vigilant and faithful care of those institutions, to the influence of which we are so much indebted. Should it ever happen, that the people of this state, losing their sense of the value of religion and the importance of education, should cease to make provision for their support; our school houses and places of religious worship, be deserted, and suffered to go to de ay, or be converted to other uses; and our Sabbaths, instead of being consecrated to religious retirement and social worship, become seasons of business or amusement; then will our children grow up in ignorance and irreligion, and in those habits fatal to all purity and elevation of character, of which irreligion and ignorance are the unfailing source. Throwing off their allegiance to God, what is to be expected, but that they will throw off their subjection to parental authority; having learned to trample upon the laws of Heaven, that they will not be slow in casting off their respect for human laws? Corruption thus introduced, by the neglect or perversion of education, how rapidly will the whole mass be contaminated! Nor will it be slow in passing from the people to the administration, and thence to the very principles of the government. Then instead of the august spectacle this day before us, of the wisdom and virtue of the state assembled here, in the presence of God, and invoking his guidance and blessing, to legislate for an enlightened, and free, and virtuous people, we should have an assembly of men whose recommendation to office and the public confidence, was their hostility to all that is most valuable in the character, and habits, and institutions of the country. And how soon such a change in the character of the administration would be followed by a correspondent change in the constitution under which they act, and in all those institutions, upon which the public order, the prevailing morals, and the prosperity chiefly depend, may easily be seen.

If, with the enlightened views and liberal spirit of our holy religion, on the other hand, and following the maxims and the example of our fathers, we shall continue to make competent provision for the support of religious institutions, and a system of education, that shall extend to those, who are capable of becoming useful to the public in the most important stations, opportunities and means for the highest literary improvements, and to all ranks of men such advantages as may qualify them to fill with propriety their place in the social body, make them capable of understanding the rights and the duties of citizens and of moral and accountable beings, and of feeling the influence of the highest and best motives in the conduct of life; we may feel secure of the permanence of a free government, that it will gather strength with time, and become venerable by age, as it is beautiful and attractive in youth; and that with it, all those institutions which we so much value, brought to a more perfect state, with the advancement of knowledge, and progress of improvement, will remain to shed their blessings upon our children, when we shall be gone to mingle our dust with the dust of our fathers.

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William Jenks (1778-1866) graduated from Harvard in 1797. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Bath, ME (1805-1817) and a chaplain during the War of 1812. Jenks also was pastor of a church in Boston (1826-1845) and established free chapels for seamen in that city. The following election sermon was preached by Jenks in Massachusetts on May 31, 1820.

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A

SERMON,

PREACHED BEFORE

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, ESQ.

GOVERNOR,

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL,

AND THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE

ANNUAL ELECTION,

MAY 31, 1820.

BY WILLIAM JENKS, A. M.
Minister of a Church in Bath, Maine, now resident in Boston.

 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.House of Representatives,
May 31, 1820.

Ordered, That Messrs. Noble, of Williamstown, Humphries, of Dorchester, and Lincoln, of Boston, be a Committee to wait upon the Rev. William Jenks, to return him the thanks of this House, for his able and learned Discourse, this day delivered; and to request of him a copy for the press.

A true copy from the record……Attest,
BENJAMIN POLLARD, Clerk of the House.

 

ELECTION SERMON.THE present year will complete two centuries since the first colony of the pious Forefathers of New England embodied on these shores. Gratitude for the efforts of those venerable men and regard for their principles prompt us to notice such a period. The solemnities of this day assist the impression. Our Fathers consecrated by religious services their civil rights and blessings, and have transmitted to us the hallowed custom. Standing here, therefore, at the call of Providence, to address, on our most distinguished civil anniversary, the Constituted Authorities of that Commonwealth, which enjoys peculiarly the result of antient sufferings and labors in the cause of freedom; the Preacher will feel happy if he be able to transmit the views and feelings excited in his own mind by the subject contained in these words of the inspired volume—

2 COR. 3, 17.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

In making this assertion, the Apostle Paul had special reference to the distinctive features of the two divine dispensations, familiarly termed the Law and Gospel. The one he calls a covenant or dispensation of the Spirit, the other of the letter; and adds, the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Pursuing the comparison, he claims for the gospel an increased regard and a higher glory; for, if in various particulars honor had been bestowed on the system of commands, whose operation was fatal, it seemed fit that the benevolence of God displayed in later times should be acknowledged with every token of respect and joy.

In the process of his reasoning, he complains that the Israelites were unable to contemplate the grand design of the promulgation of the law by Moses, and asserts that their blindness will not be removed before they embrace the spiritual dispensation of Christ. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

These words I cannot regard in any other light, than as manifesting, in a general view, the prominent feature of the Gospel itself. From the exposition, therefore, of the celebrated Macknight, by which he would make the passage indicate only “a freedom of speech” in the Apostles themselves, when explaining the revelation entrusted to them, I feel compelled to dissent, and in agreement with the greater number of commentators, ¹ both of Romish and Protestant communions, assign to it the meaning already affixed.

Considering the text, then, as asserting the liberal, filial spirit of the gospel, I would in the present discourse derive from it, and endeavour to illustrate and apply the proposition, that THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS EMINENTLY CONDUCIVE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GENUINE LIBERTY.

In the first place, it vindicates the freedom of man in the concerns of religion.

But what is the freedom, to which, in the concerns of religion, man if entitled? Evidently, not a liberation from dependence on God, nor from the obligation of obedience to His requirements—the former of which is naturally, the latter morally impossible. Perfection in the Deity Himself excludes the possibility of doing wrong. To be permitted then to stray from the path of rectitude is no enviable liberty. To be as is our heavenly Father, must be regarded as well the height of happiness, as of perfection. With great propriety, therefore, is it said in the liturgy of that Church, from whose abuses only the founders of our Commonwealth dissented and removed, that the “service” of God “is perfect freedom.” ²For, to use the words of judicious Hooker, ³ “Of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempt from her power; both angels and men and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy.” The authoritative voice of the Holy Scriptures asserts those to be free indeed, who are made free by Christ. Yet are they children and friends only as they observe His injunctions, and manifest His temper.

A cordial admission of obligation and accountability to God, and to Him alone, is essential to the idea of religious freedom. This relieves from the fear of man, recalls the mind to the contemplation of perfect rectitude, acknowledges the exhibition of that rectitude in revelation as the law and standard of right, and above all, delivers from the slavery of disordered passions and corrupt principles. It tends therefore to reduce the mind to order, harmony and duty; and, freeing it from the restraints of sin and error, enlarges its powers to their just expansion.

The ancient law given to the Israelites was not merely a declaration of eternal and unchangeable principles. Every part of it would then have been of perpetual obligation. Nor is it in such a view that the Apostle compares the two dispensations. Under each of them the great object of worship is the same. But the former covenant was encumbered with ceremonial observances, which the gospel abrogates. It severed the Israelites from the rest of the world, and consulted their benefit merely, as a nation. Its worship was local and restricted, and none could partake in it, but such as joined themselves to that peculiar people. Although the law of love was inculcated, as a rule of conduct toward a member of their own tribes, and occasionally toward the stranger, it is obvious to remark, that the result separated the Jews in affection as in fact from mankind at large; and though their system itself was confessedly introductory and imperfect, yet they could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.

The religion of the gospel, that dispensation of the Spirit of God, is, on the contrary, enlarged and free. Agreeably to express prophecy, Christ is given for a light to the gentiles as well, as a glory to Israel. The burdensome observances of the Hebrew ritual are no longer binding on the conscience. Equal privileges in religion are offered to all mankind, first indeed to the Jew, but still to the Greek—barbarian, Scythian, bond and free. The spiritual kingdom of Christ knows no national distinctions. One is the Master of all its millions, and they all are brethren.

The prevailing law of this kingdom is love. And love worketh no ill to his neighbour—suffereth long, and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and never faileth.

It is not then abundantly evident that, where this heavenly religion diffuses its blessings, its tendency is, to transform into its own image the character of the selfish and arrogant, the violent and impure? And if, while it instructs the mind concerning truths most essential and important, it fill at the same time the heart, to the exclusion of pride, malice, covetousness, indolence and sensuality, what remains that can obstruct human freedom in the concerns of religion?

But the design of this day’s solemnities, the illustration of our subject, and justice to the ennobling principles of our Forefathers demand that we attend in the second place, to the salutary efficacy of the Christian religion in things of civil concernment.

I am well aware that difficulties attend the discussion of this subject. Some arise from the alleged fact, that liberty has been oppressed and silenced by ecclesiastical establishments; that in no countries has civil freedom been overwhelmed more effectually than in those, wherein the priesthood, instituted for the service and advancement of religion, has attained a temporal ascendency and power. It is then asked triumphantly, if the spirit of intolerance and bigotry, of which reproach a full measure is poured on the heads of our venerated ancestors, who first established the polity of this Commonwealth, has ever shown itself more, than when were hear the loudest professions of religion.

But what does this prove? It argues nothing effectually against the doctrine of the text. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Human nature, to say the least, is confessedly imperfect. The collision of separate and opposite interests will ever produce confusion. What men strongly desire they will strive with ardour to obtain – and if, in the chase of the honors or profits of the world, there have been found those, who prostrate on the same level things human and Divine, profane the sacred name of religion, by using it as a cloak to conceal extreme cupidity, and even while officiating at here hallowed altars, in secret sacrifice to ambition, avarice and pleasure, she is guiltless of their excesses. The cells of the Inquisition were never her abode, nor the purview of the “Holy Office” her domain. It was not she, who lighted the fires of Smithfield, nor has she been often found in Conclave. She was alike, I fear, a stranger to the voluptuous, classic Leo, and the sanctimonious Cromwell. Her code requires internal purity and practical virtue. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report are the theme of her injunction and commendation. As well, then, might we charge upon the laws themselves the guild of a criminal, who falls under their just sentence, as upon religion the faults of those, whose lives evince, that they feel not its efficacy.

All men are subjects of the moral government of God. The simple acknowledgment of this principle virtually involves the whole system of duties and motives. There is no exception. No class or individual can claim to be exempted. The wealthy, who might bribe, the great and powerful who might intimidate a corrupt human judge or lawgiver, and the poor and abject, who might be thought beneath his notice, and whose rights or sufferings might attract no regard, are equal in the sight of our Divine Lawgiver and Judge. With Him, is no respect of persons.

Where these views prevail—and they must prevail wherever the religion of the gospel, bringing life and immortality to light, exerts its influence; there a responsibility to God will be felt. The selfish propensities will be checked and controlled by higher and nobler principles. It will be perceived that he who loves God, will love his brother also.

To establish, in this view of our subject, the doctrine of the text, it is not necessary to prove that inspiration is requisite in order to teach men their interest in establishing a recognition of civil rights. For this purpose, the mere love of power and hatred of control, prudently and intelligently directed, is generally sufficient. Heathens have had notions of liberty, and have established systems of legislation and government, from which the most enlightened nations of modern times have been proud to borrow both principles and exemplifications. It is, I conceive, incumbent on me only to maintain, that where the Christian religion has its genuine influence, it purifies legislation, checks the abuse of authority, and tends to liberate mankind from all oppressive exaction and degrading restraint.

Contemplate it in the civil ruler. He feels that he is a steward of God. He knows from the oracle of his daily consultation, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. The power lodged with him he regards as a sacred deposit. The government he exercises is an ordination of God, and he rules for Him. As a legislator, no partial or interested views are permitted to govern him. He shaketh his hands from holding of bribes. As a magistrate, while he despiseth the gain of oppressions, he will faithfully execute the laws, and exhibit himself a terror to the evil; but will also exert his influence for the praise of them that do well.

Contemplate it in the citizen or subject. If the ruler, raised apparently above the sway of ordinary motives, feel yet the obligation of religious motive, and be prompted to every salutary and honorable effort for the good he has been thus elevated; he who is subject to the ordinary operation of law feels on Christian principles bound to obey—to obey every lawful institution of man, for the Lord’s sake—as free, indeed; yet not using his liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as a servant of God.

If such, then, be the fruits of the Spirit, in all respects and among all orders of men beneficent and improving—must not the best interests of society be advanced, in proportion to the prevalence of the gospel? Its tendency is, to free the human mind from the shackles of ignorance and sin, from superstition, bigotry and false zeal—to inform it respecting human destination and duty—to exhibit in its just light the lovely and most venerable character of God, to reinstate man in His favor through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and to make his abode on earth introductory to his enjoyment of the felicity of heaven.

It will not be supposed, from the foregoing statement that the preacher inculcates the doctrine, that piety alone is to be regarded, as the sufficient qualification for the management of all the varied concerns of society. It must be obvious to all, that there are certain talents of indispensable necessity to everyone, who is invested with influence and power; information, without which he will be in perpetual hazard of mistake; sound wisdom and discretion, to enable him sagaciously to discern, and prudently to secure the public welfare.

The very idea of accountability to God for the employment of every talent demands the cultivation of the intellectual and moral powers, that we may serve Him with the first fruits—the best that we can offer. So thought our ancestors, when they provided schools. So prescribed the law of Moses, when it required, take ye wise men and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. So, after the lapse of a thousand years, an indignant prophet ⁴ denounces thus a righteous malediction in the name of his Lord: if ye offer the blind for sacrifice4, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? Cursed be the deceiver, which voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing; for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts.

That the gospel affords the best practical code of international and private law, and is as worthy to sway the scepter of princes, as to guide the crosier, we have, at this enlightened period, the express avowal of a cotemporary monarch—a Monarch, ⁵ whose consistency of character seems capable of redeeming from the reproach of policy and “kingcraft” the uncommon stand he takes in the defense and propagation of the kingdom of Christ. And though that kingdom be not indeed of this world, and therefore not established by mere worldly efforts, but by the Divine Spirit, and an unearthly influence; yet that the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdom of Christ, is, pardon the source of my remark, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.” The Lord hasten it in his time!

With some inferences, applying the subject, and the address customary on this occasion I will conclude.

I. God has been gracious to this Commonwealth, both in the circumstances of its settlement, and in subsequent events.

The time of its settlement is memorable, as several of the nations of Europe had just recovered their long lost liberty in religion. Church establishments had been formed, and the defects or excellencies of them were amply developed by experience. A century had elapsed, from the first successful struggle for emancipation from the spiritual tyranny of Rome to the time, in which the exiles at Leyden were contemplating a removal to America. The abuse of ecclesiastical authority had driven them from the land of their nativity indeed, but they sojourned with a people, whom Commerce and their own necessities had taught the convenient principles of religious toleration, and had opportunity to learn some at least, of its instructive lessons.

Protestant nations for a considerable period had been claiming the privilege of thinking for themselves; and this privilege our Puritan Ancestors claimed also. Their characters were mostly formed in the school of adversity, and their virtue must be acknowledged to possess a hardihood but seldom seen. They were well acquainted with the rights, and seem to have been well disposed to practice the duties of subjects—but that human power should prescribe for them in the concerns of religion they could not brook, nor submit to the arbitrary exactions of corrupt ecclesiastical courts. They drank into the spirit of the gospel, and demanded liberty of conscience.

The English nation early claimed a share in the diffusion of Christian knowledge. It was not Luther, nor Zuinglius, but Wickliffe, and his martyred pupils in Bohemia,⁶> who sowed first the seeds of reformation from Popery, and thus prepared the way for the growth of all those principles, the fruits of which succeeding generations gather. These seeds were disseminated from the precious Word of God. Nor is it easy to believe that there were not in the English nation, even from the time of the persecuted Lollards, many who mourned in secret, and prayed for times of freedom. Under the reigns of the 8th Henry, Edward and Elizabeth, the augmentation was of course rapid; a free communication was necessarily maintained with foreign protestants, especially during the arbitrary and cruel sway of Mary; and hence, with every advantage of religious instruction and discipline, our venerated ancestors were prepared to found their Commonwealth.

Do we wonder that, having themselves escaped from restrictions and persecutions, they should not readily adopt a tolerant system? Let the revered Pastor of their church at Leyden, the amiable and catholic Robinson, answer in their behalf. “It is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of antichristian darkness, and that perfection of light should break forth at once.” That this good and great man felt the expansive spirit of genuine religious liberty is evident from his exhortation to his flock. “He charged us,” says one of them, “before God and His blessed angels to follow him no further than he followed Christ; and if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of His, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any Truth by his ministry; for he was very confident the Lord had more Truth and Light yet to break forth out of His Holy Word—but exhorted us to take heed what we receive for Truth, and well to examine, compare and weigh it with other Scriptures before we receive it”—“words,” says the New England historian, ⁷ who records them, “almost astonishing in that age,” the age of the bigot James—proving their author “capable of rising into a noble freedom of thinking and practicing in religious matters, and even of urging such an equal liberty on his own people. He labors to take them off from their attachment to him, that they may be more entirely free to search and follow the Scriptures.” Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there, indeed, is liberty. Hence the testimony of Governor Winslow; “the primitive churches in the Apostolic age are the only pattern which the churches of New England have in their eye; not following Luther, Calvin, Knox, Ainsworth, Robinson, Ames, or any other, further than they followed Christ and His Apostles.” This disposition prepared the way for the tolerant and liberal spirit of succeeding times, and gradually led our ancestors to perceive, that a contrary disposition and conduct are as unscriptural as impolitic. The sword, which religion wields, is the sword of the Spirit, and this is the word of God.

Do we examine subsequent events, still has God been gracious to this Commonwealth. Among our privileges the general diffusion of science and literature demands a primary notice. “Would you prevent crimes,” said the philosophic jurist of Milan, ⁸ “let liberty be attended with knowledge.” On this principle the civil fathers of Massachusetts had been acting a century and half before he penned the sentence. They came for the enjoyment of freedom. But, deeply sensible that mere intellectual liberty, however precious, would prove inadequate of itself, without the cultivation of piety and virtue—and that, deprived of the salutary restraints of religion, intellectual liberty but panders for the passions—they founded the first and most important seminary of our whole United Republic, “for Christ and the Church.”

The doctrines of the Reformation, which had begun to display their political tendency before our ancestors left their country, and which, conspiring with new views of the inherent rights of mankind, produced in the first place the Commonwealth of England, and afterwards temperate restrictions of royalty at “the Revolution,” were always cherished in New England. Here they virtually originated our own revolutionary struggle, were sanctioned and established with the acknowledgment of the national independence, embodied in our bill of rights, and exemplified in the code of our laws. But in all the series of events, how kind toward us was the providence of God! Neither the perils of “the Restoration,” the tyranny of Andros, the hostile fleet of France, ⁹ which was expected to annihilate the rising glory of New England, nor the sanguinary conflict with the mother country were permitted to destroy the vine, which God had planted. With every difficulty He provided relief.

II. Two errors, of opposite tendency indeed, but equally pernicious, it becomes us sedulously to avoid. One is ingratitude to the Author of our distinctions, the other a vain and overweening estimate of our character and advantages. And, perhaps, of each of these we are equally in danger. Let their cure be found in the reflection, that we fall far below the just improvement of our accumulated facilities; and that, in the advancing emancipation of mankind, to be effected by the gospel, we shall lose even their esteem, if we be not devoted to God.

Some distinctions we may overrate. But the distinction, which arises from the prevalence among a people of scriptural religion and the free enjoyment of civil liberty can scarcely be prized too high. These are precious gifts of God, and demand not gratitude alone, but consecration to His glory. Even the delusions of self-love will here be unable to exaggerate the favor. Yet the equitable rule must apply; unto whomsoever much is given of them will much be required. But,

III. The continuance of our blessings depends on our own fidelity—fidelity to God, to our own institutions, and to the best interests of our posterity.

Nations experience in this world the final ministration of providential awards. Only in the world to come can the individual behold the Divine system toward himself completed. Righteousness tendeth to life—and exalteth a nation. Sin is the reproach, and naturally effects the ruin of any people. What a course have the governments of this world hitherto run! Comparative purity in youth conducted to vigorous manhood. Jeshurun ¹⁰ then wantons in prosperity. The seeds of moral disease germinate, and a baneful harvest evinces the fatal tendency of corruption. To evoke the shades of departed states and empires is not needful here. They flit across the pages of history, both sacred and profane; and every citizen of our Republic, who addresses his country on the value of her dear bought liberty, compels them to reveal the causes of their fall. To his imagination the stagnant pool and loathsome haunts of reptiles, where once towered the walls of Babylon, testify the vengeance threatened on human pride. He questions Athens, and Rome and Carthage, and the sepulchral voice is heard to echo, “faction, ambition, avarice.” He asks the ruins of Jerusalem, and seems to hear her answer from the dust, “rebellion against my God, and rejection of His Anointed.”

The warnings of all ages, then, admonish us of our duty, and the improvements of all ages enlighten us to perform it. There has been a progress of genuine liberty in religion and in civil concerns. Nobles were once the asserters of human rights. But they meant their own; and while they wrested the Magna Charta from an imbecile despot, their vassals were slaves. But the rights, the wealth, the influence of nobles have at length migrated to citizens and yeomen. In more than one instance regal prerogative has been limited and curtailed by conventional provisions. Aristocratic insolence has been checked. Privileged orders sustain an investigation of their immunities. Divine Truth beams amidst the chaos of revolutions, and gradually reveals the principles of order and humanity. It shines on Africa and India, and breaks the bondage of caste and the chains of slavery. Wherever it diffuses its light, it raises the female character to a just elevation, leaving it by its excellence to illustrate Christian liberty. It visits the tribes of our own forests, and rears to civilization, science and religion the youth of Choctaws and Cherokees, redeeming the pledge of our pious ancestors, and fulfilling their sacred errand hither. The Bible spreads its salutary influence, and even the Russian peasant hails a dawn like his own northern Aurora. The Bible will spread its salutary truths, and no American Sparta, clamorous for “the rights of men,” will be long able to manacle her degraded Helots, or withhold instruction from them. Salutary Truth will still advance, will expel tyranny from thrones, prevent it in legislators and the people, will break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free.” ¹¹ It will be seen, that licentiousness is not liberty—nor because one tyrant falls, that the liberty of a nation is necessarily established. True liberty is built on real virtue, not that alone, which Montesquieu establishes ¹² as the principle of republican government, and terms political, but that which is founded on principles of the gospel. The patient labour of centuries may be needed to erect the fabric. One day of presumption and negligence may level it with the ground.

To protract the continuance and efficiency of our free institutions, or to advance the Commonwealth and Nation to their highest improvement, nothing seems more essential and promising than a sacred care of the education of youth. Happy it has been for ourselves, that our ancestors resolved thus in their wisdom, and were consistent in practice; and happy will it be for our posterity, if, in the true spirit of the gospel, their fathers train them up in the way they should go.

Would we then perpetuate our liberties, let us impress on the minds of our children and on our own, the vital importance of our holy religion—a religion, which is not a code of ceremonial injunctions, or merely of civil precepts, but points continually at the heart and life—a religion produced by the Holy Spirit of God, tending perpetually to the advancement of His Glory, operating by peace on earth and good will toward men, and assimilating the character of its votaries to that of the just made perfect.

His Excellency, the Governor, will be pleased to accept a cordial congratulation on the general condition of our Country and Commonwealth. The elective principles, which so early flourished in Massachusetts, now rule a Nation. Two centuries have at length witnessed their growth; and it will be no trivial distinction of your Excellency’s administration, that under it these principles have expanded into the legitimate proportions of a liberal constitution of government, now adopted as the Palladium of a Sister State, free, sovereign and independent.

That a question of such magnitude and importance, as the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, was discussed with so much magnanimity, and its erection into an organized civil community effected with so much ease and mutual good-will, as it is indicative of the progress of genuine principles of liberty, may well be a theme of this day’s respectful congratulation. And I trust your Excellency will allow the preacher, whose recollections of that part of his beloved country are mingled with many tender and grateful emotions, to express the fervent wish, that it may flourish in the hallowed principles, in which it has been nurtured, and with its parent Commonwealth enjoy the increasing blessings, which are promised to later ages.

His Honor, the Lieutenant Governor, in these felicitations of the day, will accept the tribute of respect for a professed attachment to those views and feelings, which pervaded the earlier periods of our history, and of gratitude for that beneficent and effective patronage, to which our charitable institutions bear witness. Descended from two of the most distinguished Ministers ¹³ of the gospel among the Puritan Forefathers of New England, your Honor is accustomed to survey their characters with tenderness and respect. May you see their piety revive, and blend itself with the more enlarged views and more graceful urbanity of modern times.

The Members of the Honorable Council, and of the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives demand the respectful attentions of the preacher.

To you, Gentlemen, is confided the execution of no easy task. Temporary expedients and feigned reasons of state may appear the height of wisdom to the shortsighted cupidity of the worldly; but religion offers the solid foundation of trust in God, introduces to His counsels, enables us to “act upon His plan,” and establishes the best claim to the esteem and confidence of mankind. Peculiarly necessary in free states, where ambition has a wider scope, exercises more power, enlists more passions in its service, and exerts a stronger influence; where habits soon affect the laws, and government derives its stability from opinion—need I say, Gentlemen, it asks your support? I could hardly be forgiven, were I not to say, its claims are as imperative on our legislators now, as on their venerable fathers. Yet it is not the guard of human enactions, nor the authority of civil law, much less investment with civil power, which she so much requires, as the almost irresistible power of personal example. The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

If the principles assumed in this discourse be correct, the power to legislate is a talent, for which an account is to be rendered. The consideration of this will impress deeply the mind of a conscientious legislator, and render the discharge of duty momentous. Nor are laws to be estimated by their numbers and penalties, but by the existing need of them, their intrinsic excellence, and their conformity to the unchanging principles of moral rectitude. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty—a freedom from every bias, that might else prevent and misguide the mind, or corrupt the heart. May you partake largely of the sacred influence.

A word to this audience, and I close.

We have reviewed some distinguished favors of God toward our ancestors and ourselves. What people have greater reason than we to be devoutly thankful, and conscientiously vigilant? You are not assembled to do honor to the birth day of an arbitrary sovereign, or to cringe before his satraps; but to commemorate the beginning of your own civil year—the entrance on office of those, who are by your own suffrage made dispensers to you and your children of the blessings of freedom. Let me exhort you, then, to guard against your dangers. The Lord is with you while ye be with Him. His blessings, which maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow therewith, will then alone be your inheritance and that of your families and posterity. But remember if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Let us rather labor to emancipate ourselves from all impediments and restraints of error, ignorance, prejudice and vice; and renouncing solemnly our sins, approach Him in the Great Mediator, while He may be found, professing, with the Hebrew Psalmist, I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy precepts.

 

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Endnotes

¹. See Rhemish Version, note; Whitby and Doddridge, in loco, and Schleusner, art. IINEYMA.

². Collect for Peace.

³. Ecclesiast, polity, b. I.

⁴. Malachi.

⁵. The Emperor of Russia.

⁶. Jerome of Prague and John Hus.

⁷. Prince, in his N. Engl. Chronol.

⁸. M. de Beccaria, on crimes and punishments. Ch. 42.

⁹. Under the Duke D’Anville in 1746.

¹⁰. Heb. the upright, or perfect.

¹¹. “So spreading may be the spirit for the restoration and recovery of long lost national rights, that even the Cortes of Spain may re-exist, and resume their ancient splendor, authority and control of royalty.” Thus wrote the late President Stiles in 1783. In 1820, this is history. He adds, “The same principles of wisdom and enlightened politics may establish rectitude in public government throughout the world.”

¹². Esprit des Loix.

¹³. Rev. George Phillips, first minister of Watertown, and Rev. John Wilson, first minister of Boston.

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Elisha Cushman (1788-1838) was a carpenter before he decided to become a clergyman. He was pastor of a Baptist church in Hartford, CT. This election sermon was preached by Rev. Cushman in New Haven, CT on May 3, 1820.

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A

SERMON,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF

CONNECTICUT,

AT THEIR

ANNUAL ELECTION,

AT

NEW-HAVEN,

MAY 3D, 1820.

BY ELISHA CUSHMAN,
PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.

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

1820.

 

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at New-Haven in said State, on the first Wednesday of May, A. D. 1820.

ORDERED by this Assembly, that the Honorable Sylvester Wells, and Henry Seymour, Esq. present the Thanks of this Assembly to the Rev. Elisha Cushman, for his Sermon, delivered before this Assembly at the opening of the session, and request a copy thereof, that it may be printed.

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

SERMON.If true patriotism consists in an attachment to the government under which we serve, it will become my profession to expatiate on the excellencies of Him.

—Who is the blessed and only Potentate—

I Timothy, vi. 15.

It was the design of the apostle in this text, and the preceding verses, to support the mind of his son Timothy under those discouragements which often overspread the prospects of the church. He well knew that the doctrine of salvation, by the cross of Christ, would be a scandal to those who were satisfied with nothing beyond sensible evidences, and, of course, that this doctrine would be made a subject of regard, or derision, according to its external prosperity or embarrassments. He was sensible that a system containing truths so humiliating to aspiring nature, imposing precepts so incongruous with the affections of the heart, and participating so little in temporal prosperity, would call forth the opposition of the world; and that through the infirmity of nature, Timothy would be tempted to despond under the reproaches to which his ministerial office would subject him, or to temporize with the popular influence which it was his duty to repel. He therefore enforces his charge to Christian patience and fidelity, by referring to the example of Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.

Jesus Christ has condescended to become the pattern, as well as the ruler of his people: He has exemplified every virtue which he commends for our observance: He lays no heavier burden upon his followers than he has endured himself; and perhaps no instance can be found in his life, which furnishes a more illustrious example of divine magnanimity in the deepest tribulation, than the one referred to by the apostle.—He was buffeted by his own people; hated and condemned by heathens; betrayed by one of his chosen apostles; denied by another, and forsaken by them all; and what was still more disheartening to human nature, he was apparently stricken, and smitten of God. But in the midst of all this, the afflicted Redeemer maintained his right to divine authority: He explained the nature of his kingdom, and referred who would admit no other proof of his dignity than the testimony of their senses, to an hereafter, when they should see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God.

This striking occurrence in our Saviour’s life, is calculated to inspire the most ardent devotion, to quicken us in the service of religion, to support our faith under the darkest human prospects, and teaches us to wait patiently for the victory over the world, when Christ, in his own time, shall shew who is the blessed and only Potentate.

That Jesus Christ is the blessed, and that he is the only Potentate, may be illustrated by a few following reflections.

I. He is the Blessed Potentate.

Were our reflections on the blessedness of Christ, to embrace all those divine excellencies which enrapture the celestial spirits, and which render him in the estimation of the church, the chief among ten thousands, and the one altogether lovely, we should transgress not only the bounds of prudence on the present occasion, but even the limits prescribed in the text; for if we consider him only in the character of a potentate, it is necessary to confine our reflections to the administration of his government, the blessedness of which consists in the purity and happy influence of his laws and the lenity of his dispensations.

1. The government of Jesus Christ is blessed on account of the happy influence of his laws on the morals of mankind.

Amidst the controversies which have arisen in the world respecting the necessity of a divine revelation, and its bearing upon the happiness of mankind, it has never been denied that virtue is preferable to vice, and that without the general prevalence of virtuous principles, social happiness cannot subsist: the important question has been, whether reason and philosophy, unassisted by the Christian revelation, are sufficient to influence mankind in the path of duty, and to fix a standard of morals adequate to the exigencies of the present state.

It must be acknowledged that reason and natural philosophy, have suffered in common with revealed religion, from the false pretensions of superficial professors. The tide of popular opinion, the sensual appetites, and the ambition of self interest, have each in their turn, held dominion over the human mind, under the title of reason; and in many instances inculcated principles disgusting to common sense. This accounts for the absurdities of that notorious infidel, ¹ who after having resorted to the scriptures to justify and establish his theory of the rights of man, was taught by his reason to disbelieve the authenticity of that holy volume, and to impugn its sacred doctrine. This accounts also for the inconsistencies of a thousand others, who professing themselves to be wise, have become fools.

It is through the aid of reason that divine revelation commends itself to every man’s conscience; its precepts through this medium impress the understanding, and find an avenue to the heart. It is therefore equally repugnant to truth, and a departure from Christian candor to disparage the utility of reason, upon no other authority than the foibles of superficial beings, no less irrational in their notions than they are vicious in their lives. The power of reason and natural philosophy are nowhere more highly estimated than in the holy scriptures. Natural philosophy sets before the understanding a portrait of those divine perfections which claim the homage of the heart; reason, unbiased by the depraved affections, acknowledges the justice of the claim and ratifies the law of moral obligation: The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So clearly were the perfections of God manifested to the heathens, that they are said to have known him; and so forcibly was their obligation represented by rational inference, that they were declared to be without excuse: Their being given over to a reprobate mind, was not because they adhered too closely to the dictates of reason, but because they DID NOT LIKE to retain God in their knowledge.

But after all the instruction imparted by the light of nature, it still remains a question, whether there be virtue enough in the human heart, unawed by the realities of a future state of retribution, and uninfluenced by the Spirit of God, to render that obedience to the Divine Being which reason dictates, and which conscience approves. On this question every candid man, acquainted with his own heart, will decide in the negative. It was the fault of the heathen philosophers, that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.—It is the embarrassment of the Christian, that when he would do good, evil is present with him: and it is a fact, apparent on the very face of the world, that where the doctrine of a revelation is either denied or unknown, the dignity conferred upon human nature in creation, is debased by sordid habit; the understanding, capable of retaining a just knowledge of truth, is darkened by evil affections; and the morals proportionably corrupted by sensual lust.

The adversaries of Christianity, to commend the fruits of their own principles, have found it necessary to impress with the signet of virtue, many of the dissipating amusements and indulgences of life; and where vice has been too glaring to admit of an apology, it has usually been discarded in general terms; or, through fear of finding its true pedigree, ascribed to some indefinite cause. Where the greatest corruptions are allowed to be treated in this superficial manner, and their indirect fruits honored with the appellation of innocence, it is not difficult to rear a temple nominally to virtue, and to paint its foundation with the colouring of philosophy. But if social happiness depends upon the principles of morality, its extent will be in proportion to the purity of those principles, and therefore can never be complete so long as the standard of morals is biased by a depraved taste.

The task assigned to the advocates of truth at the present day, is not so much to prove that the doctrine and precepts of Jesus Christ are beneficial to mankind, as to represent them to be the only system of peace and good will to men. Open infidelity of late, seems in many instances, to dread that publicity she once labored to maintain; her hideous portrait, and disastrous effects, have excited the apprehension of many modern ‘free thinkers,’ and driven them back to the hypothesis adopted by Lord Herbert and others, that Christianity, though a friend to virtue, is not its only source.—On this ground the peculiar claims of Jesus Christ are now disputed, and on this ground the Christian is bound to contend with error.

It is a mark of human depravity, that whilst the pure streams of morality are conveying peace to the Christian world, their source is so generally unknown; as if, because God sends his rain upon the just and unjust, it were difficult to ascertain whether his blessings are designed as a reward of virtue, or as an encouragement to disobedience; or because the Christian and the infidel are made to enjoy the blessings of good order in common, it were doubtful whether these blessings of good order in common, it were doubtful whether these blessings spring from Christianity, or from atheism, or from some intermediate principle, or indifferently from them all.

The Christian religion must stand or fall alone; it can never hare with the systems of men, in the reputation of destroying the vices of the world, and restoring the happiness of mankind. If the scattered fragments of morality, collected from mere human maxims, can produce the effects for which we depend on the gospel of Jesus Christ, they deserve our superior regard, and our entire confidence: for they evidently have this preference—they impose no cross, they conduce to the end designed by revealed religion, and supersede the means; to concede a part therefore, is to yield the whole. If the requirements of Christianity are not necessary to the restraint of the passions, and the promotion of human happiness, it is justly chargeable with unwarranted austerity. It is conceded that the morality of Jesus Christ imposes a rigorous discipline upon the passions: In addition to prohibiting those notorious crimes which the votaries of no system whatever are willing to avow, it attacks the buddings of iniquity, and forbids those apparently trifling indulgences, the greatest evil of which consists in the mis-improvement of life, and their tendency to ripen into more flagrant vice. It requires not only that we abstain from murder, adultery, theft, &c. but also that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds; that the affections should be set on things above; and that our conversation should be in heaven. But the very circumstance that renders these demands unwelcome, proves them to be of the utmost importance, by illustrating the opposition of the heart to that which is of itself just and good. The vitiated taste of man requires a remedy—and happy for us if an antidote, nowhere to be found on earth, is given us from heaven. The holy scriptures are wisely adapted to our fallen situation; they excite our hopes and fears, by revealing a future state, where righteousness is crowned with glory, and where iniquity is clothed with shame; they exhibit in the person of Jesus Christ a perfect model of excellence, calculated to elevate the mind above the level of itself; they furnish the only sufficient motives to restrain the sinful appetites; and where they are not enjoyed, a chasm is left in the moral world which no system, merely human, has ever been able to fill.

The individual and social happiness resulting from a life of holiness, might indeed convince the judgment, but can never win the affections; the present indulgence of a vicious appetite leads to a procrastination of that course of sobriety which reason declares essential to durable peace.

Nor can a sense of honor command the heart; a respect for public reputation might avail something in regulating the habits, if virtue only were approbated in the world, and vice universally despised: but this is not the case—many things highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God; as there was scarcely a species of iniquity among the ancient heathen which was not sanctioned by the example of someone of their gods, so there is scarcely a vice practiced in the world, which is not justified and applauded by some portion of mankind. What assistance therefore can rational argument obtain by appealing to a sense of honor, when the name of honor is associated with the grossest violations of order; when even the deliberate barbarities of the duelist receive applause from a considerable part of the world, and sometimes apologies from the Christian himself.

No less ineffectual are the tenderest sympathies of nature to prompt to a virtuous life. Go tell the unfeeling oppressor, who keeps back by fraud the hire of his labourers, that by his conduct he distresses the poor, and that by his example he contaminates the world; adjure him by the tenderest regard he feels for the happiness of his fellow men, to cease from his misanthropy and to become the benefactor of mankind. Go entreat the barbarous assassin to abandon his cruel purpose; tell him that he is spreading misery through the unhappy community by his nefarious practices; that whilst he is plundering the mangled corpse, he is breaking a widow’s heart, and robbing a helpless offspring at the same time, of their father and of bread: exhort him by appealing to his humanity, if he cannot meliorate, not to multiply the sorrows of life. Expostulate with the ambitious warrior, and remonstrate against the injustice of his campaigns; tell him that while he is building his throne with the bones of his subjects, he is filling the world with woe; represent to his imagination those scenes of horror which he has often with cold insensibility realized; the rural abodes of peace thrown into confusion by the din of arms—the verdant fields stained with human blood—Rachel weeping for her children, and searching for her first-born among the undistinguished heaps of the slain—pillaged edifices in flames—a merciless band let loose among the affrighted remnant of a slaughtered community.****We will turn from this dismal picture; it shades are too dark to be traced here; we will only say, it is impossible to excite generous sensations in a mind inebriated with the love of the world; it is impossible to awaken sympathy in a heart chilled beforehand with the frost of death.

Through the obstinacy of the human passions the most powerful motives fail to produce all the good requisite to human happiness: the heart must be affected before the character can be radically renewed.—But what are the motives drawn from human sources, compared with those derived immediately from the mouth of God—by whose word consequences more dismal than the miseries of life are affixed to the crimes of men? By his word the transgressor is taught that he stands in relation to God as well as man; that the magnitude of his offence is proportioned to the value of those interests which the law he has violated was designed to guard; that in trespassing upon the rights of his neighbour, he has opposed the honor of Jehovah, and that he stands before the tribunal of his eternal Judge, charged with guilt, which nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ can absolve. This revelation of a future state of retribution is the peculiar energy of the gospel, and evinces its emanation from a blessed Potentate.

As Christianity possesses a superior energy above every other system to awaken the conscience, so it has this peculiar virtue—its spirit quickens and sanctifies the heart.

It has been considered a question of importance, whether a community, favored with the knowledge of the gospel without its power, would surpass in virtue the heathen nations, who have only the light of nature, and even that eclipsed by a train of superstitious rights. Through the goodness of God a decisive experiment cannot be made, for wherever the unadulterated truth of Christianity has been faithfully dispensed, the agency of the Holy Spirit has given it access to the hearts of many, who by their pious example have in a great measure regulated the habits of the unconverted. If we can form a probable conjecture however, from the morals of a people whose faith is merely intellectual, we shall find it unsafe to rest our hopes upon a speculative religion of any kind. It is with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

It is observable that St. Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, has considered the moral tendency of heathenism and of papal superstition in every material respect the same. After extending his reflections forward to that period when the man of sin should be revealed, exercising usurped dominion over the consciences and rights of men, he immediately turned his attention to the persecutions of Nero, Domitian, and others, and observed that the mystery of iniquity did then already work—that there was no essential difference between that and the future period; only, that the pagan horn, which then ruled the Roman empire, would retain its power until it should be overcome; only he who now letteth, will let until he be taken out of the way.

This sentiment of the apostle was fully substantiated by the subsequent history of the church. The reins of government were held by men, who, though they adopted the faith of Christianity, made no other use of it than to accelerate their worldly projects; and being altogether unaffected in heart with the principles they avowed, were left without restraint, both with regard to their public edicts, and their private deportment.

The conversion of Clovis, king of the Franks, to the Christian faith, must have been considered an event highly auspicious to the church of Christ, had the doctrine he espoused held its dominion over his princely ambition, and his sensual appetites; but having embraced Christianity in the first place, to facilitate his worldly enterprise, who could suppose that the principles he had adopted would restrain his lusts, or smother the pride of his heart, or withhold his arm from shedding human blood?

By the addition of superstitious rites to the ordinances of the church; by the union of worldly maxims with the precepts of Christ, and especially by the prostitution of evangelical truth to serve the policy of state, fornication was early committed with the kings of the earth, and by an illegitimate increase of the church, thousands became nominally the sons of Zion, who were never lawful heirs to her incorruptible inheritance. A host of avaricious priests were spread over the world, who, not contented with their own personal gratification, encouraged in others the basest corruptions with the pretended authority of heaven, and exhibited the fruits of their arrogance as an article of merchandize. Had the morality of the church of Rome corresponded in purity with her doctrine, (which would have been the case, if her doctrine had been inculcated with reference to its original design,) less occasion would have been given for the enemies of the cross to charge the most salutary principles with the worst effects, and to arm themselves with the enormities of hypocrites against the power of evangelical conviction.

Divine truth, notwithstanding the abuses it has suffered, still retains its excellency, and extends its influence; where it is exhibited only as the test of worldly emolument, it may produce but little salutary effect: but where it is disseminated as the seed of piety, and cultivated accordingly, it will, through the spiritual influence of its great Author, soften the obdurate heart; it humbles that pride and subdues those passions which produce the greatest evils of life. Under its sacred energies a radical change is wrought in the whole man; the wandering sinner is brought to the communion of his God at the mercy seat. The persecuted saint, so far from retaliating the wrongs he suffers, moved by the love of God, and drawn by the love of his neighbour, prays for the blessing of heaven on the head of his enemies. The veneration and respect of the unconverted are gained; the realities of eternity are preserved in remembrance; the conscience is kept awake, and the general habits of mankind regulated. If we extend our reflections abroad, and contemplate the situation of those miserable beings who sit in the region and shadow of death, we are shocked at the contrast presented to our imaginations between light and darkness; the mind sickens at the thought of being left to make its way through this enchanted maze without a guide, and to form its ideas of futurity from mere conjecture. We bless the light of revelation which beams upon the bewildered mind, and under the genial influence of the gospel, we recognize the administration of a blessed Potentate.

2d. The lenity of Jesus Christ towards his subjects, is a further illustration of the blessedness of his government.

The humiliation and sufferings of the Redeemer have procured him the rightful scepter of the vast universe; all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth; he is set as a king upon the holy hill of Zion. He has however referred us to a future period for a full and visible display of his vindictive authority; his government is at present characterized by unexampled mildness.—A bruised reed he shall not break, the smoking flax he shall not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory. The suspension of those judgments with which idolatrous and oppressive nations have been threatened, is one of the numerous instances of divine compassion. The cry of innocent blood ascending from under the altar, though by no means a subject of indifference to him in whose cause the holy martyrs suffered, is nevertheless deferred for a season, through the divine forbearance; and where injured goodness has forbid a further delay, and the general good, connected with the glory of God, has demanded immediate vengeance, he has either delivered his servants by a premonition of his designs, or graciously supported them through their trials, and received them to himself. His lenity is no less visible in his dealings with individual sinners; though they have transgressed his law, and abused his gospel, he still protracts their space for repentance, and enriches their forfeited lives with the blessings of his bounty. He watches the first emotions of godly sorrow; he listens to the first sigh of repentance, and early answers the supplications of the contrite sinner, with the forgiveness of sin. Or if the stout-hearted transgressor refuses to bow to his scepter, and persists in rebellion until the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, he assigns no heavier penalty in the world to come, than to reap eternally what has been voluntarily and deliberately sown in time.

II. Jesus Christ is the only Potentate.

The sentiments of the apostle were too well understood to admit of such a construction as would preclude the exercise of civil authority. Although he has in the text represented Jesus Christ as the only Potentate, he has elsewhere enjoined subjection to the higher powers on earth, and declared them to be ordained of God. The institution of civil government, so far from contradicting the supremacy of Jesus Christ, directly confirms it.—The precariousness of human power, evinces its derivation from a source higher than man, and shews at once its dependence on the King of heaven. Two arguments only are proposed to illustrate the entire sovereignty of Jesus Christ. The first drawn from the fate of nations; the other from the progress of that truth of which he has styled himself the king.

1st. The prosperity or declension of empires has ever been according to the extent in which the spirit of Christianity has characterized their government. The history of nations establishes the fact that the restless ambition of princes to enlarge their dominions, and to extend their authority by injustice, has been as repugnant to their own interest as it is contrary to the spirit of Christ. It has produced evils which the wisest policy of state could never avert; it has ever exposed them to the resentment of potentates equally as ambitious as themselves, and they have found at last, that a part of their glory was purchased at the ultimate expense of the whole.—Personal indulgence in those sensualities which the Christian religion so strictly forbids, by its own natural tendency paralizes the arm of temporal dominion, and often conducts to an ignominious death. Wherever the pride of monarchs, cherished by the illusive splendor of royalty, has led them to forget their dependence, and to trifle with the liberties of their subjects, they have blindly courted sedition, and provoked insurrections fatal to themselves and destructive to their government. Specimens of these uniform effects of pride and sensuality are furnished in the history of the Greeks, of the Romans, and of some of the more modern kingdoms of Europe, and substantially prove, that righteousness only, can for any length of time, exalt a nation. Could even the establishment and support of the Christian religion by the strength and emoluments of state, atone for the personal violation of its precepts, governments long since dissolved, might still have retained their glory and their strength; but experience has proved that nothing short of Christian humility and obedience, can meet the favour of Him to whom all are subject, and on whose smiles all are dependent for temporal prosperity and eternal salvation.

2d. The supreme power of Jesus Christ is illustrated in the success of his doctrine and institutions.

The prosperity of the Christian religion from its early dispensation, and especially for a few years past, has been too obvious to escape the notice of men of ordinary information, and supersedes the necessity of a particular detail of events. It has gladdened the hearts of its friends, and awakened the jealousy of its enemies. A cursory reflection however on the multiform opposition which it has withstood, and the multitudes it has gained to its standard, is sufficient to convince every mind that is not guarded against the light, of the excellency of its nature, and the divine power of its Author.

In the first triumphs of Christianity, Jesus Christ was the only potentate. His own arm brought salvation unto him: The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. The most violent persecutions were raised against the disciples of Christ, and what could not be effected by formal indictment, was attempted to be done by fraud; but notwithstanding all that was done (and but little more could be done) to destroy the followers of Jesus, their numbers increased, and their religion flourished.

The immortal principle of piety, which had outlived the rage of Jews and Pagans combined, was next doomed to suffer the weight of papal vengeance. The history of the church, at one view, seems to represent those professors of the Christian religion, who had escaped the pagan executioner, reserved only for the rack, the fire and gibbet, prepared under the pretended authority of their own Master: while on the other hand, it represents them multiplying in proportion to their trials, and the very flames in which they expired, served only to enlighten the world, and develop the hypocrisy of their persecutors.

At length in her turn, arose that subtle adversary, justly styled modern infidelity; for the realities of a future state, which ancient rationalists acknowledged probable, she professed authority to deny; and having learned in the fate of the church of Rome, the consequences of propagating licentiousness with a pretence to divine authority, chose to distribute her indulgences with human credentials, under the forged signature of reason and philosophy. The open attack made upon Christianity at the time of the French revolution, threatened evils from which no human arm could deliver; but yet so far from being overcome by her enemies, the church gained extent and glory by the contest; infidelity became less successful in open combat, than it had been by clandestine efforts to make disciples in the dark; its noisy clamour awoke the slumbering talents of the friends of truth, and the result became, as might be expected, through the strength of her sovereign Potentate, prosperous to the church. Must not a religion which has withstood all these enemies be divine?

Jesus Christ has also displayed his power in the multitudes who have voluntarily consecrated themselves to the promotion of his religion.

There are two classes of people gained to the cause of the Christian religion, who we can hardly suppose would have embraced it, if they had not been influenced by its sacred energy. Among the first class are those earthly potentates, who are surrounded by the temptations and encumbered with the concerns of the court. Among the other, are those who from infancy have been trained up in idolatrous superstition.

It is not necessary to the present object, to investigate the motives of those, who amidst the grandeur of state, have availed themselves of their eminence in life, to commend the doctrine of the cross; admitting the motives of honour and self-interest, with which they are often charged, be justly applied—it may be with propriety asked, Whence happens it, that it is now the honor and interest of kings to recommend and aid a religion which it was once their glory and their policy to suppress? How happens it that hypocritical princes have found it necessary to assume the name of Christian, to secure the loyalty of their subjects, and gain the applause of the world, unless those whose applause they seek have been made favorable to Christianity by its own intrinsic charms?

In order to estimate the power of the gospel over the mind of pagans, trained up in superstition, it may be proper to calculate the number of souls instrumentally converted from idolatry by a single minister of Christ, and then enquire how many proselytes a Hindoo Brahmin would collect in a Christian land, in the same term of time—let him exhibit the evidence of the authority of his god, and commend by its excellencies his system of worship. In is conceded that men have been dissuaded from that belief of Christianity which they had been taught from childhood, and led to denounce all religion; but this does not afford a fair experiment of the comparative strength of the Christian religion and infidelity, for in order to estimate the weight of evidence in favour of infidelity, we must ascertain and deduct the assistance it has derived from the passions. Let us suppose that a man in order to become a complete infidel, must publicly espouse his cause at the expense of house or land, or parental affection, or whatever else rises to hinder him in his profession—that he must devote a seventh part of his time to the promotion of his religion, and consecrate his substance to defray its expence—that he must not revenge an injury—when reviled he must bless—that he must pray to the author of his faith for blessings upon his persecutors, and weep over the miseries of those who are deluded by Christianity, and who then, from the power of conviction only, would become a conscientious infidel?

The perpetuity of the Christian religion in its primitive simplicity, amidst the changes of the world, is a further proof of the power of its Author.

The philosophy of Aristotle held dominion over the intellectual world about two hundred years, until its imperfections were detected by new discoveries made from time to time. Every new hypothesis triumphed over the opinions that preceded it; the fall of one system seemed essential to the rise of another. But with the Christian religion it is not so; it has remained essentially the same from its first establishment. Improvements it is true, have been suggested, and exertions used to adapt the doctrine and institutions of Christ to the change of circumstances; nor have these exertions been altogether without effect: but the true standard has not been prostrated; every revolving year has added thousands to the number who have contended earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. After all the corruptions which have tarnished the glory of the church, the simplicity of her doctrine still remains, and the spiritual arm of her Potentate is redeeming her captive sons. Upon present prospects we may safely rest our hope, that Jesus Christ will shortly manifest his sovereign power, and subdue all things to himself.

Improvement.1st. The happy influence of the Christian religion in perpetuating the blessings of social life, urges every friend of mankind to embrace and support it; and if its chief energy depends on its establishment in the heart, the good of our fellow-men, as well as the final salvation of the soul, requires that we should be born again. In representing the religion of Christ as the only basis of real virtue, there is a sensation of delicacy; it seems to implicate a part of society, by charging them with indifference to the public good, or a want of discernment in the best means of promoting it. The truth is, the virtues upon which our present and future happiness depend, are not generally raced to their real source. The human heart, prolific in every evil, has taken advantage from the indolence of the mind, and generated a kind of neutrality of sentiment, which indeed is but another name for infidelity in embryo; and which, if not checked, may ripen into entire skepticism. We cannot but deprecate the growth of this indifference towards a system so pure in its nature, so beneficial in its effects, so blessed in the enjoyments it affords, and so essential to eternal happiness. A cordial reception of the blessed Saviour is urged by all that can render him adorable as a God, or lovely as a Redeemer. O! let us not be so unwise as to reject his blessed government, and remain forever in slavery to the prince of darkness.

2d. From the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, we learn the responsibility of those who are entrusted with authority.

It is not intended to encumber the sacred office, by incorporating with it the task of inculcating maxims of civil policy; nor would we so far implicate the wisdom of our rulers, as to suppose them under the necessity of repairing to the house of God to learn a knowledge of jurisprudence; I would therefore, know nothing on this occasion, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. The subject before us however, suggests the propriety of preferring a memorial before this honorable body in behalf of the Christian religion, respectfully representing the influence of a public character over the habits of private life, and praying them by their personal example, to shed a lustre upon the morals of the community; and in their official capacity to maintain a wise reference to the tribunal of the only Potentate, before whose impartial throne the ruler is distinguished from his subjects only by his superior advantages improved, or by the more aggravated crimes which his exalted station has enabled him to commit. It is too generally forgotten, and sometimes denied, that the transactions of life are to pass a solemn review in the coming world; but it is to be hoped that men whose weight of character has entitled them to a place at the head of a Commonwealth, will bear in mind the intimate relation of human actions to a future state.

3d. The sovereignty of Jesus Christ secures advantage to the church, from all the changes and events which take place in the world.

Every revolution in the kingdoms of the world involves certain questions, the merits of which occupy the minds of statesmen, and regulate their hopes and fears. But the Christian looks beyond all these things, and beholds the exalted Saviour working all things after the counsel of his own will, and causing all things to work together for good to them that love God. Every public event opens an avenue for the rays of evangelical light. The cession of territory to the Russian empire at different times, has prepared the way for the spread of divine knowledge, and particularly for the spiritual instruction of the Jews.—The accession of the Earl of Minto to the government of Bengal, gave facilities to the missionaries of the cross, to propagate the gospel throughout India.—The public career of Bonaparte, though tracked in human blood, excited in many instances an enquiry after the true principles of religious liberty. What benefit may accrue to the Christian church from the late revolution in Europe, remains yet to be revealed by the order of Divine Providence; but should this event pass by, and contribute nothing to the general interests of the truth, it must be pronounced an EVENT EXTRAORDINARY in the annals of the world.

How consoling the reflection, that through the influence of Him who sits regent on the throne of universal dominion, the best effects may be realized from causes in themselves afflicting, and often unrighteous. Who that possesses human, (not to say Christian sympathy,) can look with cold indifference upon the distresses of a convulsed world, and contemplate without lamentation the fate of nations, dashing to pieces like a potter’s vessel? But the Christian, with the ye of faith, enlightened by the rays of Divine revelation, while he weeps over the destinies of the world, doomed and hastening to destruction, can rejoice in the expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Then let the wisdom of this world give place to the revelation of God.—Let wise men bring their offerings to the Babe of Bethlehem.—Let every human standard be prostrated at the foot of the cross.—Let every knee bow to the exalted Saviour, and let every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord—of the increase of whose government and peace, there shall be no end. Amen.

 

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Endnotes

1 Paine.

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Peter Eaton (1765-1848) graduated from Harvard in 1787 and was a classmate of John Quincy Adams. He was pastor of a Church in Boxford, MA (1789-1845). The following election sermon was preached by Eaton in Massachusetts on May 26, 1819.

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A

SERMON,

DELIVERED BEFORE

His Excellency JOHN BROOKS, Esq.

GOVERNOR;

His Honor WILLIAM PHILLIPS, Esq.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR;

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL;

AND THE TWO HOUSES COMPOSING THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS,

ON THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

MAY 26, 1819.

BY REV. PETER EATON,
Minister of a Church in Boxford.

 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.In Senate, May 27th, 1819.

Ordered, That the Hon. Israel Bartlett and William B. Banister, Esquires, be a Committee to wait upon the Rev. Peter Eaton, and, in the name of the Senate, to thank him for the Sermon, delivered yesterday, before His Excellency the Governor, His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Council, and the two branches of the Legislature; and to request a copy thereof, for the press.

Attest,
S. F. McCLEARY, Clerk.

 

DISCOURSE.THE officers of state will accept our congratulations, on the auspicious opening of the present political year. It has been the lot of some predecessors in office, to assemble under circumstances gloomy and forbidding, when rulers felt oppressed with their high responsibility, when a thick cloud darkened our political horizon, and no friendly star pointed out the path of deliverance and safety. If they looked abroad, they beheld impending dangers; if at home, disunion and discord.

It is the happiness of our constituted authorities, to assume the reigns of government, at a period of profound peace. Europe, which has drank of the cup of suffering, to the very dregs, is hushed to silence and repose. Peace, which is continually consolidating by time, has succeeded to noise, to tumult, confusion and blood. Our own country presents the most flattering prospects, and inspires the most animating hope. Conflicting opinions, and party prejudices, are yielding to the sway of better feelings; and we enjoy the reign of uninterrupted peace, increasing prosperity, and equal laws.

The speaker is happy, that his own inclination, and sense of duty, are in perfect unison. While the former would lead him to avoid all political discussions, the circumstances of the day forbid him, to combat party prejudices, or intermeddle with political creeds. It would be arrogance in him, to presume to dictate to our Legislators, the path of duty they are to pursue, or the measures to be adopted. We rejoice, that the civil affairs of the Commonwealth are confided to those, who are much better informed than himself; with whom, in the fullest confidence, we entrust our dearest privileges, and of whose capacity and disposition to guard them, the prosperous condition of the Commonwealth is the best proof.

Shall mine be the attempt, as it is the appropriate duty of my office, to exhibit the efficacy, the salutary influence, and enforce the principles of our holy religion. The tranquil state of the public mind, encourages this attempt: and I am animated with the hope, that my respected audience, are disposed with candor, to listen to such a discussion. For a guide to our meditations, I would select that passage of scripture, recorded in

ROMANS, III. 1, 2.
What advantage, then, hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much, every way: chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God.

The apostle states and answers an objection anticipated from his preceding reasoning. This was the truth he endeavored to establish, that the want of privileges did not render the condition of the Gentiles utterly hopeless, nor the enjoyment of privileges, in which the Jews gloried, such as being the descendants of Abraham, and heirs of the promises, furnish them with a sufficient foundation of confidence. He expresses more hope of the virtuous heathen, than of the vicious Jews. If, then, the enjoyment of privileges would not avail to the felicity of the one, nor the want of them form an inseparable bar to that of the other, the inquiry was natural, what advantage does the enlightened Jew possess over the ignorant Gentile? The answer is, “chiefly, because unto them were committed the oracles of God.” This was a treasure granted to them, not vouchsafed to any other nation; a treasure, in the view of the apostle, of inestimable worth. Were the Jews favored, because they enjoyed the writings of Moses and the prophets; how much more highly are we favored, who enjoy the writings of the apostles, and of that Divine Teacher, who came from God?

The peace, order and prosperity of a nation, not less depend upon its religious than civil institutions; both are connected with the vital interest of the state.

It is well known to have been the object of certain philosophers, to prostrate religion, and bring it into contempt. So far from giving it the credit, of producing any salutary influence upon morals and the great interests of the community, it has been represented a mere political machine, managed by artful men, for the accomplishment of party purposes, and most fit to operate upon the weak, the credulous and the superstitious. It is my wish to rescue religion from this reproach. The object of the present discourse, is to trace the influence of religion upon the temper and conduct; especially, to exhibit the favorable tendency of the Christian religion, and consider its high claims to veneration and support.

My theme is noble and sublime; it not only claims the attention of the Divine, but of the Legislator and Statesman. What especially I regret it, my incapacity to do it justice.

If it be a fact, that religion is a delusion, the fruit of priestcraft and cunning; if it has no salutary influence upon the present life, upon our civil and literary institutions; if the hopes of future good which it encourages, are fallacious, let it be discarded forever. Let not a burden be imposed on the community, nor the credulous deceived by a fabulous theology. But, if it be a blessing, and one of the richest blessings of Heaven; if it has the best influence upon our present state, and future hopes, may it receive that support of which it is deserving.

We remark, that the professed religion of a nation, will have a powerful influence upon their temper and conduct, their customs and laws. The observation of the prophet may be admitted as a maxim; “all people will walk, everyone in the name of his God,” the general impression, in regard to the ruling Deity, cannot fail to have an operative influence, upon the temper and manners of the people. Hence, among Pagan nations, who have their thousand Gods, we find an infinite diversity of character, of customs and laws. The opinion formed of the presiding Deity, gives a cast and complexion to the worshipper. Some of the Pagans imagined heir Gods were vindictive and cruel. To appease them, when incensed, altars were continually moistened and smoking with the blood of human victims. Such were the Gods of Mexico, such the Gods of Carthage. How cruel, ferocious and barbarous were the people! Others viewed their Gods impure, the slaves of passion and lust. Shall we look for purity among the votaries, or wonder that temples were raised in honor of Venus? Will anyone hesitate to practice that, which is sanctioned by so high authority? Mercury was a thief, Jupiter a debauchee, Venus a prostitute, and Juno a scold. This we believe to be one reason of the low standard of morals among Pagan nations; the dishonorable views they had of their Gods. The natural tendency, then of the popular religion of the ancients, was to corrupt. So far from operating as a restraint upon the vicious propensities, it encouraged indulgence. The character of their deities was formed by their own polluted imaginations, and adapted to their depraved dispositions. The better informed, observing the superstition of the multitude, and its mighty influence upon their character and manners, incorporated with it certain virtues. To secure to them weight, to render them venerable, they were deified. Philosophers took an active interest in the religion of their country, and gave such a direction to the public mind, as would favor their own designs. Under their artful management, religion was made subservient to political purposes, and became an engine of state. Experience and observation had taught the wise and enlightened, that laws, the most rigorous, enforced only by human authority, were insufficient to restrain the ignorant populace. They were deeply impressed with the importance of an established religion; of something which should be held sacred by the people, to give security to civil institutions. It is believed the nation cannot be named, that enjoyed the blessings of a regular government, who were without a religion. That envied pitch of greatness to which ancient Rome attained, was not less owing to her religion than her patriotism. The favorable responses of her oracles, or predictions of the Haruspsex [ancient Roman religious official who interpreted omens], were considered as certain pledges of success. Lycurgus, having completed his system of laws, though not insensible to the weight of his influence and character; yet, dared not hazard them upon his own reputation, but repaired to the temple of Delphos, to obtain the sanction of Apollo. Not only, did the statesman avail himself of the influence of the popular religion, to give energy to law, and security to civil institutions; but the warrior had recourse to it, to enkindle the valor and encourage the hopes of his soldiers.

My business, however, is not with heathen mythology. Permit me to conduct your minds to that pure system of truth, with which we are favored, and trace its influence upon laws and customs, upon rulers and people. A cursory view of this system and its effects, must enhance its value in the estimation of every reflecting mind.

1. The Christian religion is favorable to the interest of science and literature. This remark is confirmed by the fact that all the science and literature in the world, at the present day, is confined to Christian nations. Who can place a finger, upon a spot on the globe, irradiated by science, where Christianity is not enjoyed? Wherever a door has been opened for the admission of Christianity, knowledge has followed in the rear; or, if preceded by science, it has meliorated the condition, and enlarged the views of the nations which it has visited. These are not vague assertions; we will recur to facts.

Many of the arts have been the result of necessity, and received their birth in the early ages of the world. The various condition of nations have led to inventions to remedy evils, which they experienced, or procure advantages of which they were destitute. The ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans, the Greeks and Romans have been justly celebrated for their discoveries and improvements; yet, in regard to general literature and science, how much do they lose in comparison with the moderns! In what did Egyptian and Chaldean learning consist? In what, the learning of the schools, in the early ages?

There is a prevailing habit, of attaching a kind of sanctity to everything that bears the mark of antiquity; names and discoveries are rendered venerable by time. We feel no disposition to derogate from the honor of the ancients, for they had to originate everything. Though they brought few things to perfection, they elicited light, they furnished a clue to direct future inquirers. Of their improvements in poetry, mathematical science, oratory and sculpture, they might boast. We also admire the systems of morals, established by their philosophers; not, however, so much on account of the perfection of those systems, as that they should have attained to such correct views, while they enjoyed very limited means of information. If in oratory they excelled, it is to be remembered, this is rather the language of nature, than art. The moderns have greatly improved upon their systems of mathematics and astronomy. If their Homer stands unrivalled, and their sculpture is unequalled; who will repair to them, for lessons upon jurisprudence, ethics, philosophy, or general literature?

Before the introduction of Christianity into Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Gaul, these nations were enveloped in ignorance. After enjoying its cheering light, how soon did they begin to emerge, from a state of gross darkness? It had a revivifying power and influence, upon every community which it visited. It found Europe drunk in barbarism. If we look back eighteen hundred years, what a spectacle is presented! Refined, enlightened Europe, was the habitation of savages. Nations who can now boast of their legislators, civilians, judges, philosophers, and theologians, were then the sport of druidical delusion. No sooner did the gospel shed its light on these benighted nations, than they were roused as from a slumber; the arts and sciences were cultivated, barbarous customs abolished, and the condition of nations meliorated. Its happy influence upon Ireland, was inevitably perceptible. The following honorable mention is made of her, after receiving Christianity. “The Hibernians were lovers of learning, and distinguished themselves in those times of ignorance, by the culture of the sciences, beyond all other European nations. They were the first teachers in Europe, who illustrated the doctrines of religion, by the principles of philosophy; among whom, were men of acute parts, and extensive knowledge, who were perfectly well entitled to the appellation of philosophers. They refused to dishonor their reason, by submitting it implicitly to the dictates of authority. ¹ Who can doubt the auspicious influence of Christianity, upon the literary institutions of our own country? In proof of our position, that religion is friendly to science, we need only compare those sections of our country, where religious order and worship prevail, with those portions, which are destitute of religious instruction. It is somewhat curious to observe, how religion and literature go hand in hand. In those favored spots, where are to be found the most valuable religious institutions, you discover the most general information and improvement; where religious instruction is not enjoyed, what lamentable ignorance and darkness! Let us extend our views to our western regions, on which the sun of righteousness has scarcely dawned; we find the minds of the inhabitants rough and uncultivated, like the country in which they dwell. The dissemination of knowledge among the people, we believe to be friendly to the diffusion of religion. The mind being enlightened, is better enabled to discern the excellency of its spirit, principles, motives, tendency, and, of consequence, its value. Religion, in return, pays homage to knowledge, by fostering those habits which are favorable to its increase.

2. We will now trace the influence of religion upon government and laws. It is one of the firmest pillars and most effectual supports of civil government. Religious principle has the best effect upon rulers; it secures their faithful services, and is a guard and preservative from intentional error. The truth of the observation of Solomon, has been confirmed by the testimony of ages; when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn. A sense of moral and religious obligation, is the surest earnest and pledge, that the legislator will enact equal laws, and that the judge upon the bench, will decide, without favor or partiality.

Religious sentiment in the ruler, not only encourages the expectation, that we shall realize our best hopes; not only impels him to consecrate his time and talents to the public good; but it has also the most salutary influence upon the governed; effectually binding them to the observance of law and order. The following considerations, may give authority and efficacy to law: self interest, popular opinion, fear of punishment, and religious sentiment. Self interest is an universally operative principle, pervading every breast, and acting with greater or less force. The requirements of public law and private interest, are sometimes in unison. When private interest enforces the observance of law, it cannot be clothed with greater authority. But, not unfrequently, they are at variance. The former, may be promoted by the violation of the latter. How often in this case, does experience teach, that human laws are feeble barriers in the way of the selfish passions of men? In vain you direct the views of those to the public good, who are destitute of patriotism.

It is acknowledged, that public opinion is a safeguard to human law and duty. Despotism wields an iron scepter; it can bear down all opposition; and enforce laws, the most contrary to public opinion. The community must yield to the yoke of oppression, and pay a forced homage to tyranny.

In a popular government, like that, under which we live, it is necessary that the laws should be accommodated to public sentiment, to secure to them a cheerful obedience. If condemned by public opinion, it is in vain to attempt to enforce them. Of this, the Grecian law giver was convinced, when asked, “whether the system of his laws, was the best which could be devised;” his answer was, “the best that the people were capable of receiving.” Under a free, popular government, a regard must be had to the temper, the feelings, and the habits of the people. When laws meet the public sentiment, that sentiment will give to them stability, yet not communicate to them a universal efficacy. The virtuous citizen can only obey for himself. What numbers are there, in every community, who are the enemies of all law, and impatient of every restraint?

A regard to character, may influence some to uprightness of conduct; yet, how many, are indifferent to personal reputation, and to public opinion; who neither esteem the applause, or fear the censure of the world? In this case, there remains only the lash of the civil law to operate a restraint. But even this restraint is removed, in the secrecy of retirement, when hope promises concealment of transgression. We contend, that religious principle only, will ensure the universal observance of public law. A sense of moral and religious obligation, is a more effectual security for upright conduct, than law, armed with the greatest terrors. Conscience exerts a mighty, an irresistible influence. She speaks with a voice he most deaf must hear. May it be further considered, it is religion only, which gives sanctity to an oath. It derives all its solemnity, all its binding power, and influence, from invoking an omniscient, ever present Deity, who abhors perjury. Lay aside religious principle, and what is there to secure the observance of an oath, but a principle of honor?

May I be permitted to repeat some observations of him, whom we delight to recognize as the father of his country. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who would labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness; these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume would not trace all their connection with the private and public felicity. Let me simply ask, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in the courts of justice? Let us with caution, indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education, on minds of a peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail, in exclusion of religious principle.” ²

Of the importance of religion to society, public peace, and social happiness, we have been taught by a modern example. A great and powerful nation, within our recollection, have made an experiment; an experiment, the simple contemplation of which, causes us to shudder. A sect of philosophers, entertaining the most exalted opinion of human nature, and flattering hopes of that state of perfection to which man might be raised, by the cultivation and improvement of reason; viewing religion as a clog to his progress, and a bar in the way of attaining to the perfection of his nature; by systematic and unwearied exertions, at length prepared the public mind for an awful crisis. An explosion took place, the restraints of religion were burst asunder, and man was free. What was the consequence? Too shocking to describe! All the ferocious passions were let loose. A nation distinguished for its philanthropy and refinement, became a nation of monsters. The land was deluged with blood and crimes. A standing monument, a solemn warning to every nation, to guard against a similar experiment.

There is this imbecility in human law, which is irremediable; the offender must be convicted, the charge proved by indisputable evidence, before it can punish. The consequence is, that numerous transgressors escape with impunity. Religious principle, in this respect, possesses a decided superiority. It takes cognizance of every action, inspects the motive, operates in retirement, when secluded from the view of the world, as well, as when under public notice. It raises a tribunal in every breast, before which it arraigns the transgressor, and pronounces sentence upon secret faults, equally, with open offences. Human laws do not so much address the hopes, as the fears of men. They derive their authority more from the penalty with which they are armed, than the reward which they promise. They are framed on the presumption, that mankind are influenced much by fear, little by hope. This may be the case with certain abandoned characters; those who have reached a high pitch of depravity. Still, it may be admitted as a question, in regard to the great mass of mankind, whether hope or fear is the most operative. Human law is armed with a lash; it has little to allure. It is clothed with everything to alarm fear, little to inspire hope. Religious principle possesses this important advantage, it addresses both hope and fear. It presents on the one hand, glory, honor and peace; on the other, infamy, disgrace and ruin. As mercy is a distinguishing attribute of religious sentiment, its tendency is to divest laws, of all unnecessary rigor and severity. The criminal code of our own State, is not only an evidence of the enlightened views and humane feelings of our legislators, but of the prevalence of religious sentiment. To our religion also, are we indebted for the cultivation of all those mild and amiable virtues, which sweeten human life and adorn the human character.

That the Christian religion should have a salutary influence upon all those, by whom it is believed and embraced, would be a natural expectation. A system, so mild and beneficent, breathing peace on earth, and good will to men, cannot fail to have the best influence on those, who acknowledge its authority. But the fact, we believe to be unquestionable, that it has a beneficial effect upon unbelievers themselves. Their tempers are softened, their manners improved, their vicious propensities restrained by that very religion, they profess to reject and despise. Religion sheds her savory influence over a whole community; the beneficial effects are not confined to open, avowed friends; it is the parent of innumerable blessings to its enemies; gives a cast to the manners, and a tone to the morals of a nation. The infidel is profited by its effects upon others; and if not made better himself, is restrained from those excesses in vice, to which, otherwise he would proceed.

3. We will consider the influence of Christianity on customs and manners. Wherever its cheering light has shone, it has abolished the barbarous customs of sacrificing human victims. This practice prevailed, not only among the most ignorant Pagans, but the most enlightened nations; was not confined to a narrow compass, but was of universal extent. The impression was received, that such sacrifices were acceptable to the Gods; were efficacious in averting their anger, in conciliating their favor; and the more honorable the victim, the more acceptable to the Deity. The Carthaginians reduced to an extremity, in searching for the cause of their pressing calamities, imputed it to the anger of Saturn; Saturn, indeed, was angry, because, only the children of slaves had been offered to him in sacrifice. To appease the enraged Deity, to atone for past neglect, two hundred children of the first families in Carthage, were immolated upon the altar of the cruel God. We turn with disgust and horror from such scenes, to bless our God for a religion which has taught us better. Wherever the Christian religion has been introduced, it has abolished this cruel rite. Let it not be said, that the progress of civilization must claim the honor. Numerous instances might be adduced, in which the abolition immediately followed the introduction of Christianity.

Suicide, abhorrent to the better feelings of our nature, is expressly forbidden by the divine law. This practice was defended by the greatest philosophers and moralists of antiquity. Seneca, Plutarch, Quintilian, gave to it the sanction of their high authority. Their disciples were taught, either to despise the ills of life; or if calamities were pressing, to quit their post. Poverty, misfortune, dishonor, were considered sufficient to justify self murder; indeed, that not any were required longer to preserve life, than life was pleasant. At the present day, among some Pagan nations, we see the torch applied to the funeral pile, and the deluded follower of a false religion, expiring amidst the shouts of an infatuated multitude. We cease to wonder philosophers should countenance the practice, while their religion presented to them, little to hope, or fear from the future; especially, when it furnished no adequate motives to endure with fortitude, the trials of life. Nor is it a matter of surprise, that their disciples should regard suicide as an innocent act, when recommended by those revered for their wisdom, and honored for their virtue. If our religion has not cured the malady; it has checked the progress of the disorder. This divine philosophy furnishes us with motives to suffer with patience, and inspires feelings which revolt at the thought of self destruction. It teaches us to consider afflictions of a medicinal nature, designed to cure our vices and improve our virtues. The public mind is so far enlightened by our religion, the public feelings so far improved, that the public voice, as the only apology, pronounces the suicide a lunatic.

Christianity is justly entitled to the honor of abolishing that barbarous custom, the show of gladiators. This became a mere pastime at Rome. As their Gods were cruel, this belief served to render mankind obdurate; to stifle all the tender feelings of human nature. The impression was received and cherished, that departed heroes were delighted with carnage. For their entertainment, and to honor their memories, tragedies were acted at their funerals, and their graves bedewed with blood. In some nations, the aged were exposed a prey to the beasts of the desert; in others, infants, in whom the torch of life just lighted up, were by violent hands destroyed, and the murderer was the author of their being. Our hearts sicken at the recital of numerous Pagan rights, so abhorrent to the spirit of our religion.

Shall I, however, request your patience, while I mention one custom more, sanctioned by public opinion in the dark ages, now condemned, but still existing—dueling. We blush, that this relic of barbarism is still preserved. It originated in ignorance, under the false impression, that divine interposition would decide with rectitude. Competitors for office decided their claims with the sword; controversies between individuals were decided in a similar manner. This practice was encouraged by the highest authority of state. Their ignorantly, yet firmly believing, that truth and ignorance would be made manifest by the result, that divine interposition would decide with rectitude, pleads strongly in their favor. Their sin was the sin or ignorance. They did not contend under the false notion of honor; they were not hurried into the field by wounded pride, but it was an honest, sincere appeal to an higher power. Not so with our modern duelist. He outrages all law, human and divine. Is he a husband? He pierces the heart of the wife of his bosom. Is he a parent? His tender mercies to his children are cruelty. Is he a son? He brings down to the grave, the grey hairs of those he is bound to reverence and honor. He rushes to his solemn account, stained with blood. We are impressed with surprise, that a custom founded ignorantly upon principles which are now exploded, forbidden by human, divine law, and public opinion, which subjects families to such acuteness of sorrow, should still exist. While religion and humanity reprobate the custom; the tears of parents, widows, and orphans, plead against it; we are unable to find a single argument in its support. Is it such a virtuous and noble deed, shedding the blood of a fellow being, that it can wipe away dishonor? Standing as a mark to shoot at, will this save a sinking character? If this is honor, the assassin may die on the bed of honor.

If we contemplate the effects of Christianity upon the customs of war, it will appear that its influence has been highly beneficial. Since its introduction, wars have been less frequent. During seven centuries, the temple of Janus was but thrice closed. In reviewing the history of ancient nations, we feel almost compelled to subscribe to the sentiment, “a state of nature is a state of war.” Battles were fought with a savage ferocity. Victors became demons, deaf to the cries of mercy, and callous to the feelings of compassion. Captives were subjected to every kind of torture imagination could invent, and the scene closed with a carnival too horrible to relate. It is recorded to the honor of the “first Christian prince, that he offered a premium to the soldier who should save a captive alive.” Comparing the customs of Christian and Pagan nations, we learn how much we are indebted for our religion. It has enlarged the minds, improved the manners and softened the temper of men. Its spirit is pacific. To its influence may be attributed the tranquil state of Christendom and our own country. It has meliorated the customs of war, impressed the hearts of kings, who have avowed the purpose of governing according to its spirit and laws, honorable to their hearts, and an honorable testimony to our religion. Though Christianity has not proved efficacious in abolishing the custom of war; our hopes are sanguine, it will ultimately accomplish the object. Various appearances indicate the present, to be the dawning of a brighter day. The societies formed in different kingdoms, to give effect to the pacific principles of Christianity, prove an increase of enlightened views and good feelings. Success to those, the object of whose exertions, is to aid in the operation.

4. We beg leave to remark, religion is the surest basis of moral virtue. France has taught Christian nations, a practical lesson, upon this subject; and, by a melancholy experiment, has shown, how feeble are the restraints of moral virtue, separate from religious principle. These philosophers, who prevailed upon her to burst asunder the bonds of religion, were the perfect advocates of moral virtue, which furnishes the most powerful, operative motives to the practice. Would the moralist give the fullest effect to his system, let it be connected with religious principle.

“Talk they of morals!
Oh thou bleeding love,
The best morality is love to Thee.”

If pleasure and satisfaction may be derived from any particular course of action, an inducement is presented to pursue that course. “Happiness is our being’s end and aim.” It is the pole star, toward which human beings are directing their views. Virtue is the pursuit of one, because it promises happiness; sensual pleasure of another, because this is happiness. The greatest apparent good determines the choice of the mind. He who practices self denial, and he who indulges his vicious inclinations, both have the same object in view. And this choice must depend upon the moral complexion of the mind. That the practice of virtue affords pleasure to the pure in heart, is acknowledged; but not to him, who has contracted a high degree of moral depravity. In proportion to the increase of depravity, the moral sense is weakened, the power of conscience diminished, the mental taste corrupted, perverted; of consequence the pleasures of virtue lessened. Does the practice afford satisfaction to a pure mind? Revenge is sweet to a depraved mind. Does the enjoyment of one, consist in suppressing the benevolent feelings, in controlling the evil passions? The enjoyment of the other, consists in their gratification and indulgence. When, then, the violation of the principles of moral virtue promise happiness, what is there to give security to its laws, separate from religious obligation?

“But the beauty of virtue, its consistency with the reason and nature of things, must give to it a binding power.” What interest will the mass of the community take in philosophical discussions of the nature of virtue? Incapable of reasoning themselves, they will listen with no interest to a strain of reasoning from others, which they do not readily comprehend. Would you impress them, truth must be presented so clearly to the mind, that it may be discerned at the first glance, and so forcibly, that it shall be instantly felt. That persons of improved minds, of refined feelings and sentiments, are sometimes influenced to the practice of virtue, from a sense of its fitness, is unquestionable. The conviction produced in the mind, by their own reasoning, is operative. Yet, how large a portion of mankind are incapable of reasoning upon the subject; who are as insensible to the beauty of virtue, as the blind to colors. Display its propriety, utility, fitness; but what will be the effect upon minds indifferent to utility, and blind to moral fitness? That the obligations to virtue may be felt, it must be enforced by the high authority of Him who made us.

Permit me to conduct your minds a step further, to that eventful period, when time will close, and human distinctions be leveled. Who has not been a witness of the consolations religion has imparted, of the patience and fortitude with which it has inspired the mind, and the hopes it has cherished? We cannot recollect the tranquility of an Addison, his dying testimony in favor of our religion, without interest. To him, and to thousands, it has been of more worth, than crowns and diadems. Will it be objected that it is all a delusion? What an innocent delusion! a delusion, if you will have it so, which humanity forbids us to wrest from anyone, when it softens the dying pillow, and comforts the last sad hour. God forbid, we should deprive man of his last hope. The age in which we live, and the country in which we dwell, are distinguished for benevolent exertions to meliorate the condition of man. Systems are in operation to diminish the aggregate of human misery; to lessen the sufferings of the poor; to extend the means of moral and religious improvement, by a mild and gentle discipline; to reform that debased class of the community rendered obnoxious to her laws; to restore the lunatic to reason, and teach the dumb to speak. To the spirit of our religion are we indebted for these humane exertions, these benevolent institutions.

To Christianity it is objected, that it is found inoperative to a large portion of those by whom it is enjoyed. This objection cannot militate either against its truth or moral excellence. That it has a salutary influence upon all those by whom it is cordially embraced, must be conceded. Not having a favorable practical influence upon those, by whom it is rejected, no more disproves its value, than the virtue of a medicine is disproved, because refused to be taken. To test the value of a medicine, it must be taken; to test the value of our religion it must be received and practiced. The increased attention paid to sacred literature, must afford the most sincere satisfaction to the friends of our religion. Christianity has never suffered by investigation and research to the speaker, the supposition appears unreasonable, that no improvements can be made in theology; that we should rest precisely in the spot, where the first reformers left us. Indeed, they were not agreed. Luther, Calvin, and Zuinglius [Zwingli – Swiss Protestant reformer], differed in their conceptions of certain parts of Scripture. In the present age of literary improvement, when the best talents are employed in theological research, is nothing to be learned? Is every art and science susceptible of improvement, except divinity? It is not with Christianity as with mathematical science. The mathematics have for their basis certain unalterable principles. The theorems of Euclid admit of demonstration, being founded in nature. Improvements may be made in mathematical science, the superstructure may be enlarged, yet its fundamental principles remain unaltered. The process of reasoning is different, in establishing physical and moral truths. The former will admit that demonstration, of which the latter is not susceptible. Though the first grand principles, on which Christianity rests, is capable of satisfactory proof, yet, from that volume which contains our religion, numerous systems have been formed, the result of the inquiry and reasoning of fallible men. In mathematics, we recur to first principles; in theology we are often necessitated to recur to ancient customs, manners, laws. In fact, we know not the precise meaning attached to certain words. On this account, the field for improvement in sacred literature is widely extended. One important advantage must be the result of theological research; the better the Scriptures are understood, the more rational and consistent will be our religious system.

If such as have been stated, are the advantages of Christianity to the world, especially to our own country, we earnestly entreat for it the countenance and patronage of those who are advanced to offices of honor and trust. We recollect with gratitude, that the civil rulers of this Commonwealth have been uniformly friendly to religious order. This is recorded to their honor, as well as to the honor of the state. The greatest men, who have adorned any age, have been the patrons of religion. Christianity can claim in the number of her friends, an Addison, Boyle, Grotius, Bacon, Locke, Newton, Washington, Jones. What statesman will feel dishonored to be enrolled upon this catalogue? These men were not only her avowed friends, but placed themselves in the front rank of her defenders. To treat religion with cold civility and decent respect, is not all we ask of rulers. Permit us to say, we wish you to throw the weight of your influence into the scale. This will strengthen our hands, and encourage our hearts, who are her appointed guardians. And this, we believe, would be no less an act of patriotism than piety. My respected auditors cannot be insensible of the weight of their influence and example. Rulers may give a cast, a complexion, a tone to the body politic.

We beg leave to express our high satisfaction in seeing his Excellency again invited to the chair of state. Repeatedly clothed with the first office in the gift of the people, is the best evidence of their confidence. Nor could it fail to have been a source of pleasurable reflection to his Excellency, that under his administration, the asperity of political prejudices and party feelings have been yielding to mutual confidence. It has been the lot of no predecessor in office, to have witnessed the country in a state of greater prosperity. A consciousness of having contributed to allay the spirit of party, and increase the public prosperity, must afford comfort to the benevolent, patriotic mind. An administration, distinguished by enlightened views, guided by a wise policy, and animated by a spirit of moderation, has been duly appreciated by a discerning community. It is our prayer to God for his Excellency, that the evening of his life may be cheered and comforted, in beholding the rising glory, progressive improvement, and uninterrupted prosperity of a country, which has been the object of his best hopes, and shared in his best services.

We rejoice in those expressions of undiminished confidence, which his Honor is annually receiving from his fellow citizens. Religious sentiment being the best pledge of fidelity, we are assured that the Commonwealth will receive all the advantage of his talents and support. Though not insensible to the honor conferred by his fellow citizens, we are happy in claiming those high in office, practically subscribing to the sentiment. “A Christian is the highest style of man.” May a life, which has borne testimony to the truth, and in which so many of the virtues of our religion have been exhibited, experience its consolations, when earth and all its scenes shall be withdrawn. We tender our congratulations to the honorable Council, and are happy, that the important concerns of the Commonwealth are to share in the deliberations, and pass in review of those, who have been taught by experience, and whose knowledge of our civil and political concerns, must render them useful in Council.

The honorable Members of the Legislature, collected from various parts of the Commonwealth, bring with them the feelings and sensibilities, and know the wants of their constituents. Highly important and responsible is this branch of our government. You are not the minions of a chief, whose humble employment it is to receive projects of laws for discussion, or to adopt them without discussion. Yours, is the honorable, responsible office to originate them, to perfect them, to adapt them to the state of the times, to the habits and security of the people. Our protection and prosperity are intimately connected with this branch of our government. To you, we look for equal laws, security of life property, liberty, the encouragement of education, the preservation of order and protection in the enjoyment of that religion, the surest basis of morals, national order and happiness, and individual enjoyment. In the discharge of official duty, you have the example of statesmen and legislators of ancient and modern times. You will profit by their wisdom and their folly, their virtues and their vices. Such long experience have we had of the wisdom of our legislators, the equity of their laws, their careful attention to every part of the community, their attachment to order, learning, and religion, that with perfect confidence we commit to them our dearest rights. Happy the people who are favored with legislators, in whom, with so much confidence, they can confide. May God bless your labors, and your labors be rendered pleasant.

It has been remarked, that in America, our lofty mountains, majestic rivers, and extended forests, show that nature has wrought upon her largest scale. Our country affords the productions of every clime. Its rapid growth and increasing prosperity encourage the most flattering hopes. Blessed with constitutions of civil government, tested by experience, to be equal to the exigencies, and adapted to the habits and character of the people; favored with statesmen distinguished for talents, patriotism, and love of order; enjoying a religion, mild and beneficent; originating numerous institutions whose bounty flows in the channel of Christian charity, forming a swelling stream, which not only enriches and fertilizes our own country, but remote nations; with laws, just and equal, and numerous seats of science for the education of youth, what expectations may we not form of the rising glory of this western world? Some of the nations of Europe are on the decline; all probably have reached the zenith of their glory; while America is rapidly advancing to national eminence. May she be for a name and a praise.

 

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Endnotes

1. Mosheim.

2.Washington.

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Zephaniah Swift Moore (1770-1823) graduated from Dartmouth in 1793. He was a teacher (1793-1796) and preached in Leicester, MA (1798-1811). Moore was professor of languages at Dartmouth and president of Williams College for a brief time in 1815. He was the first president of Amherst College (1821-1823). The following election sermon was preached by Moore in Massachusetts on May 27, 1818.

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The Sabbath a Permanent and Benevolent Institution.

A

SERMON,

PREACHED AT THE

ANNUAL ELECTION,

MAY 27, 1818,

BEFORE

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, Esq.

GOVERNOR;

HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR;

THE HONORABLE COUNCIL

AND THE

LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

By Zephaniah Swift Moore, D.D.
President of Williams College

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

In the House of Representative,
May 27th, 1818

Ordered, That Messrs. Porter, of Hadley, Hunt, of Northampton, Farley, of Ipswich, Osgood, of Methuen and Page, of Hallowell, be a Committee to wait upon the Reverend ZEPHANIAH SWIFT MOORE, to return him the thanks of this House, for his able and learned Discourse, this day delivered to both branches of the legislature and to request a copy for the press.

Attest,
BENJ. POLLARD, Clerk.

 

ELECTION SERMONMark II. 27,28.

And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.

The life of Christ was a life of benevolence. Of him it is emphatically said, “He went about doing good.” He exhibited evidence by his miracles and doctrines, that he was the Messiah and that his kingdom was not of this world. This evidence the chief men among the Jews resisted. They watched Christ, that they might discover some act, for which they might condemn him as a transgressor. No crime did they oftener allege against him, then that of violating the law of the Sabbath. When accused of this, he in no instance intimated that the law of the Sabbath is not of perpetual obligation. He performed no works on the Sabbath, but necessary works of mercy. These the law already admitted. Hence, in every instance, in which the Pharisees accused him of this crime, he effectually silenced them by appealing to the law itself; by reminding them of their own practical interpretation of the law; or by referring them to the conduct of someone, who performed necessary works of mercy on the Sabbath, but whom they never thought of accusing as a transgressor. His disciples, under pressure of hunger, plucked and ate of the corn in the field, through which they were passing to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Of this the Pharisees complained. He answered them by stating the conduct of David and his companions on the Sabbath, when they fled from Saul, and by saying, ”The Sabbath was made for man and man for the Sabbath: therefore the son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”

This general assertion very plainly implies that the Sabbath was not instituted for the benefit of the Jews only, but for the whole human family. To prohibit works of mercy on the Sabbath would be contrary to the benevolent design of God in appointing it and would involve the absurd notion that man was made for the benefit of the Sabbath and not the Sabbath for promoting his happiness. As anyone may do works of mercy on the Sabbath, especially might he, who is Lawgiver and Redeemer, and who has so regulated the day as to direct the attention of mankind to the greatest of all mercies, the finishing of his labours for their redemption.

The doctrine inculcated by the text, thus explained, is this,

The institution of the Sabbath is a permanent and a benevolent institution.

To elucidate this doctrine, I shall,

I. Show that the institution of the Sabbath is a permanent institution; and

II. That it is a benevolent institution.

The truth of the proposition, which asserts the perpetuity of the Sabbath, will appear, if we consider.

1. That it was appointed immediately after God had finished the work of creation. At the close of the account, which the sacred historian has given us of God’s creating the visible universe, he adds, “thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended the work, which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that on it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.” ¹ By blessing and sanctifying the seventh day we can understand nothing less, than appropriating it to religious duties exclusively. In this sense the temple and its utensils were sanctified. They were appropriated exclusively to religious services. By such an appropriation only can any portion of time be sanctified. That God did then thus sanctify the seventh day is as plainly asserted, as that he then ceased from creating. It is explicitly said, that he instituted the Sabbath on the seventh day, as it is that he created the lights in the firmament on the fourth day, animals on the fifth, and man on the sixth.

There is no circumstance in the account, which favors the opinion, that the Sabbath is here mentioned by way of anticipation. The reason given for sanctifying the seventh day prohibits this opinion. “Because that on it he had rested from all his work, which God has so wonderfully displayed his perfections, is one design of the Sabbath. In all other instances, in which God has appointed times for commemorating signal events, he has directed the celebration to commence at a period immediately succeeding the event to be celebrated. No reason can be given for a different procedure, as respects the appointment of the Sabbath.

The division of time into weeks or periods of seven days, which early and universally obtained, is a proof that the Sabbath was instituted when God had finished the work of creation. Of Cain and Abel it is said, “in process of time” they brought each of them an offering. The phrase, ”process of time,” literally rendered, is “at the end of days,” manifestly indicating that they had stated seasons of worship. These were probably the end of the days, appointed for labour, or on the seventh day, which God had blessed and sanctified.

Noah observed periods of seven days. Seven days before the flood, God commanded him to collect the animals to be preserved in the ark. When the waters were abated, he sent forth a dove, which returned. After seven days he sent forth the dove a second time, and again she returned. At the expiration of other seven days he sent forth the dove a third time. ² In the history of Jacob and Laban a week is spoken of as a well period of time.

The Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians and Persians have, have from time immemorial, made use of a week, consisting of seven days. The same custom prevailed among the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy, among the nations of the north and among almost all heathen nations, whether in some degree refined, or in the lowest state of barbarism. ³

This universal agreement in measuring time by weeks, among the nations of the earliest ages and among nations remote from each other, must have been derived from a common source. It is a measure, for which no natural reason can be given. For the division of time, into years, months and days, we can easily account. These are marked by the revolutions of the earth and moon. But there are no revolutions nor appearances in the material system, which mark periods of seven days. This division therefore must have been originally as arbitrary as a division into three, five or nine days. Yet it was from the earliest ages and among all nations without any variation in the form of it. For this there must have been some special reason. Such a reason will only account for its universal reception. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that on it he had he had rested from all his works.” Here, and here only we have a satisfactory account of the origin of the division of time into weeks and here only a special and satisfactory reason for it. The division was made by God himself in the law, given to the common parents of our own race, for the sanctification of the seventh day. It is easy to see how this would be transmitted from them to Noah. From the sons of Noah and their families, all nations after the flood had their origin. From the known influence of customs, it is easy to see that this division of time would continue, even among those nations, who had in great measure lost the reason of it and whose religious notions were greatly corrupted.

This also affords the only satisfactory reason for the notions, which the ancient heathen had, of the sacredness of the seventh day. That they had such notions is evident from their poets. Homer, Hesiod and Linus term the seventh the sacred day. ⁴ The Pythagoreans held seven to be a perfect number, the most proper to religion and worthy of veneration. In the Hebrew, which was probably the first language, the word used to express seven, in its primitive meaning, denotes fullness, completion, sufficiency. “It is applied to a week or seven days, because that was the full time employed in the work of creation and to the Sabbath, because on it all things were completed.” From this, heathen nations derived their notions of the sacredness of the number seven. Among them a knowledge of the transactions at the creation was not entirely lost. The opinion, that they derived these notions from the Jews, has no evidence to support it. The single consideration, that the Jews were held in the utmost contempt by all idolatrous nations and all their religious rites were by them ridiculed, renders the opinion wholly improbable. The conclusion then is, that the Sabbath was instituted at the creation.

This conclusion is further supported by the manner in which the subject of the Sabbath was introduced after the Hebrews had left Egypt. Having advanced into the wilderness, they murmured for want of food—God said, “Behold I will rain bread from Heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk with in my law or no. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” The people obeyed this injunction and the rulers of the congregation came and informed Moses. “And he said unto them, this is that which the Lord hath said, tomorrow is the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” ⁵

This account perfectly accords with the supposition that the Sabbath was now revived, the observance of which had been interrupted and perhaps wholly suspended, during the oppressive bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt. But it is wholly inconsistent with the supposition, that it had not before been instituted. The first thing commanded is a preparation for the holy rest. When that is completed, the Sabbath is mentioned as an institution previously known. “Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.”

Thus is the truth of the proposition established, which exerts, that the Sabbath was appointed immediately after God had finished the work of creation. As it was then appointed, it was not designed for one individual, or for one nation, to the exclusion of others, but was designed for the whole human family. It was made for man and of course is a permanent institution. It is acceded and in perfect correctness by those who deny the early institution of the Sabbath and suppose it was not given till the days of Moses, that “if the divine command was actually delivered at the creation, it was addressed to the whole human family alike and continues unless repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon all who come to a knowledge of it.” ⁶

2. That the institution of the Sabbath is a permanent institution will appear, if we consider that the law of the Sabbath is placed in the Decalogue.

The Decalogue contains not ceremonial, but the moral law. It is an epitome of the permanent laws of this part of God’s moral kingdom. It was written by the finger of God upon two tables of stone, which by his direction were deposited in the ark of the covenant. The law of the Sabbath is here placed not as a new law, but as one already existing. “Remember the Sabbath day.” This language clearly indicates an anterior institution. That there should be no mistake with respect to the time of its appointment, the law itself refers us to the day on which God ended the work of creation.

The very manner in which the Ten Commandments were given, particularly their having been written by the finger of God himself, seem designed to show that they are the permanent laws of this part of his kingdom; and that they form no part of that system of laws which was designed for the Jews only and which was to continue only for a time. The ground on which we conclude any law is of perpetual obligation is this, the reasons for obeying it are the same in every age. This is true of all laws, which result from the unvarying relations between God and man, and between man and man. There are permanent relations, from which result permanent duties. On this ground we conclude the obligation to obey the Ten Commandments is perpetual.

The first requires that we give God the highest place in our affections. The reasons for this are always the same. They cannot very so long as God retains his worthiness and we our faculties. The sixth requires “that we use all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others.” The reasons for this are always the same. Take the fourth, and the same rule will apply. No reason can be assigned why man when first created should be required to devote one day in seventh exclusively to religious services, which will not apply to man in every age since. No reason can be given why the Jews should be required to cease on every seventh day from all worldly occupations and devote the day to the social worship of God and other religious services, which will not apply to us and to every nation where the Scriptures are known.

The reasons for the observance of the ceremonial law and of course the obligation to observe it, ceased when Christ finished the work of atonement. But this is not true of the law of the Sabbath. The same reasons for the public and social worship of God exist now, that did from the beginning. The duties of piety are the same. The observance of the Sabbath has the same salutary influence. Men stand in the same relation to God and to a future world. Not a reason can be named for instituting the Sabbath or for observing it in an age which does not now exist in all its force. And it is not to be forgotten that it is a fixed maxim in the Divine government, that no law shall cease till the reasons for enacting it have ceased.

“No duty is more strictly moral, or of more universal obligation, that that of worshipping Almighty god. As it is our duty to join in acts of public and social worship, some fixed time must be appointed for the exercise of this duty. There is, therefore, nothing more of a positive or ceremonial nature in the sabbatical institution, than what arises form the necessity of the case,” and must exist at all times and in all places. To God it belongs to determine what portion of our time shall be exclusively devoted to religious services.

3. That the law appointed the Sabbath is a perpetual law, appears from the Scriptures of the New Testament and from the practice of the primitive Christianity.

Christ, in his memorable sermon on the mount, explicitly says that he “came not to destroy the law,” meaning the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments as is evident from the subsequent part of his discourse. “Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” The Divine law was never clothed with more authority that in this discourse of him who “spake as never man spake.”

In our text he says, “The Sabbath was made for man,” and that he himself is Lord of the Sabbath. After making known to his disciples the destruction, which would come upon Jerusalem and the persecutions which awaited his followers, he said “Pray that our flight be not on the Sabbath day.” In this he contemplated the Sabbatical institution as existing may years after his ascension. “Should the flight of his followers be on the Sabbath, they must neglect the peculiar duties of the day in consequence of the concerns that would press upon them or neglect their own safety through fear of transgressing the command of God.”

On the law of circumcision and of sacrifices, the great Apostle of the Gentiles said much. With his accustomed clearances and force of argument he shows in his epistle of the Hebrews, that the whole ceremonial law was designed to be temporary that the reasons for its continuance had ceased and that the obligation to observe it had of course ceased. But he no where intimates this of the moral law or of any of the Ten Commandments. ⁷ He asserts the contrary when he says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea we establish the law.” This he could not have said, if the Gospel annulled any part of the moral law and especially so important a part of it as the Fourth Commandment.

The Apostles observe the Sabbath in obedience to the moral law. The primitive Christians did the same, considered the Sabbath a permanent institution. Pliny the Younger, who was Roman governor of Potus and Bithynia, two districts in which the convers to the Christian faith were numerous, in a letter written to the emperor Trajan about eighty years after the ascension of Christ, testifies that the Christians kept a day in honor of Christ. Treanoeus, who was one of the disciples of Polycarp, says “Each of us spends the Sabbath in a spiritual manner, mediating on the law of God with delight and contemplating his workmanship with admiration.”⁸ In this passage Trenoeus is describing not the conduct of any particular number of Christians, but of the whole of them. This is I might add the testimony of Ignatius, Athanasius, Eusebius, and others, all agreeing in the fact that the Christians everywhere observed the Sabbath as a divine institution. This universal practice of the primitive converts to the Christian faith confirms the fact that neither Christ nor the Apostles considered the law of the Sabbath otherwise than a s perpetual law.

That the disciples, after the resurrection of Christ, observed the first day of the week as the Sabbath admits of no doubt. Their meetings for religious worship were on that ay. The inference from this fact is that they were thus directed by Christ. His authority to change the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, he intimated when eh said “The son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” The first day of the week was early distinguished by the title “the Lord’s day,” from its having been appointed by Christ as the Sabbath and from its being kept in commemoration of his having on that day completed the work of atonement.

This change, it is easy to see, instead of implying a repeal of the law of the Sabbath is a strong confirmation of its perpetuity. Should the legislative authority of any kingdom change the day of holding a court, it would be an explicitly acknowledgment of the authority of the law which appointed the court, and a confirmation of its continuance.

Thus evident is it, that the law requiring that one day in seven be exclusively devoted to t he worship of God and other religious services is a perpetual law and binding on all persons where the law is known.

II. The Sabbath is a benevolent institution.

That this is true may be inferred from the known character of God. “The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works.” He delights in holiness and in the diffusion of happiness. He is a holy and perfectly benevolent sovereign. In this character he planned and created the universe; and in this character he governs in all parts of his kingdom. Hence we may always know that obedience to any law which he prescribes and the observance of any institution which he appoints is connected with happiness. Men may enact laws and form institutions, the observance of which is not conducive to this end. From ignorance or from a want of benevolence they may err. But in neither of these respects is it possible for God to err. The divine goodness then assures us that the Sabbath is a benevolent institution, and the observance of it conducive to man’s highest happiness. It having been proved that it is an institution of God we cannot doubt its benevolence without impeaching his character.

But we are not left to this argument only though a conclusive one for proof of the proposition which asserts the benevolence of the Sabbath. Its truth appears form the nature and influence of the duties required on the Sabbath. Of these we have a statement in the law as written by God himself. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.” That we devote ourselves exclusively to the duties of religion, the pursuits of the world are to cease. And not only are we ourselves, to cease from all worldly occupations but all over whom we have authority are to do the same. We are not to direct nor permit them to do anything, which the law does not permit us to do. They are to be employed in the duties of religion.

God has also by the prophet Isaiah, given us a still more ample account of the duties, implied in sanctifying the Sabbath. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my Holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. ⁹ This passage deserves peculiar attention, as it not only describes the duties of the Sabbath, but also the temper of mind with which they are to be performed. We are not to do our own ways which relate to our worldly occupations. We are not to find our own pleasure on the Sabbath. All those ways of spending the day, which are contrived for sensual pleasure or for mere amusement are to be avoided. As we are prohibited pursuing our ordinary labors on the Sabbath, so we are also prohibited from making them the subjects of our discourse. Our conversation ought to be suited to the sacred offices of the day.

‘This beautiful passage teaches us also what ought to be the temper of our mind in the holy exercises required. Far from being weary of the spiritual employments of the Sabbath, we ought to account them our pleasure and call the Sabbath a delight as well as holy of the Lord. This day we are to esteem honorable above all other days. This day we are to honor him who is the Creator and Redeemer of the world.’ ¹⁰ This day we are to unite in his worship and to learn from his instructions our duty as subjects of his government as being united in society placed under a dispensation of mercy and preparing for a future state of retribution.

An attention to the duties of the Sabbath is closely connected with the improvement of the intellectual powers of man. It is a well-known fact that these powers are brought to maturity only by proper culture and that their growth depends on the objects with which we are conversant. He who never raises his mind above the world whose whole soul is occupied by objects of sense and the pursuits of this world debases his intellectual nature and rises little above the brutes.

There are objects and truths with which the more intimately we are conversant the greater will be the improvement of our intellectual powers. Such are those to which our attention is directed by the duties of Sabbath. These duties direct our attention to the truths of that science which God himself has taught and which treats of his being and glorious perfections and of the nature and extent of his kingdom. They direct the mind not to the works of man but the works of the ever blessed God; not to the displays of human power and skill but to the displays of infinite power and wisdom; not to the displays of the beneficence of a creature but to the manifestations of infinite benevolence; not to systems of human jurisprudence and civil polity but to the laws and government of Jehovah. The duties and employments of the Sabbath especially direct our minds to that part of the divine economy which relates to this god now placed under a dispensation of mercy by the introduction of the mediatorial scheme in which all the divine perfections appear in their peculiar glory. They call our attention to ourselves as the creatures of God formed by his power, supported by his goodness, redeemed by his love, and the objects of his constant care; to ourselves as made a little lower than the angles, possessing capacities for endless advancement in knowledge and destined by the purpose of God for immortality.

The very nature of these truths, an attention to which is involved in all the duties of the Sabbath shows how closely they are connected with intellectual improvement. If any truths within the circle of all the sciences are fitted to enlarge and exalt the powers of the mind, certainly these are. They are truths which God himself has taught. In point of importance and sublimity they exceed all others. ¹¹ What are the most sublime and interesting productions of human genius, when compared with that volume which bears an impress of the glories of the Divine Majesty which like the sun throws a light on every thing around us, makes the study of the works of nature pleasing and eloquent in the praise of their creator. The influence, then, of the employments of the Sabbath upon the intellectual powers of man, shows its benevolence.

But the benevolence of the sabbatical institution appears with is proper evidence from the influence an attention to its duties on the heart or moral feelings. It is well-known that all human conduct springs from these, and is directed to that which is good or to that which is evil, according as these are virtuous or vicious, sinful, or holy. The capacity for happiness depends for its increase on the improvement of the intellectual powers; but the happiness actually enjoyed depends on the temper of mind or moral feelings. On these the duties of the Sabbath are fitted to have an influence and a most important influence. Their whole tendency is to bring man to that state of moral feeling which is necessary to raise him to his true dignity, to restore him to the favor of God, and to prepare him for endless felicity. Their whole tendency is to deter men from sin and misery, and to influence them to be holy and happy. The duties of the Sabbath do this by bringing into view the character of God, the purity of his law, man’s dependence on him, and a future judgment. They constantly present arguments and motives to duty, the most powerful and persuasive.

To see the benevolence of the Sabbath in this respect in all its extent, we must view man as he is, in a state of moral degradation, and now on trial for a state of endless retribution. The testimony of him who cannot err and facts which speak too loud not to be heard and too plain not to be understood, show that man is alienated from the righteous sovereign of the universe, and has no relish of heart for the sources of heavenly happiness and that he is in his moral feelings unprepared for the employments of those blessed mansions, where all are devoted to God and where all is praise and all is love. To reclaim men from their state of moral degradation, to reunite them to the holy part of God’s empire, and prepare them for mansions of blessedness in the grand scope of the dispensation of mercy. To accomplish this infinitely benevolent design the Sabbath was instituted. It is an institution in which the sons and daughters of God Almighty are to receive their education for eternity. It was appointed with this expressly in view. All its duties and employments have an ultimate reference to this end and to this end have they, in every age of the world, been made subservient.

In every place where the Sabbath has been regarded as God requires, he has come according to his promise, granted his blessing and recorded his name. He has distinguished this institution above all others by making its exercises the means, by the accompanying influences of his spirit, of freeing men from the dominion of sin and preparing them for the kingdom of Heaven. To the appointed exercises of this day do the redeemed in Heaven look back with humble gratitude and praise, as the means of rescuing them from deserved ruin and raising them to immortal glory.

Go through Christendom and search every spot and the conclusion will be that in every place where the Sabbath is regarded by an attention to its duties, there are those who possess a preparation of heart for the society of the blessed. Go back to the garden of Eden and follow down the history of human family to the present time and the conclusion will be the same. Where this institution has been regarded according to Divine requirement, it has been like the river of god on either side of which is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Those in every age who have renounced this institution by neglecting its duties seem to have placed themselves beyond the influence of those means, which God has mercifully appointed for their recovery from a state of moral death to a state of moral life and blessedness. Go to those places where the duties of the Sabbath are wholly neglected and search for those whose life exhibits evidence of that state of moral feeling, which prepared for the kingdom of Heaven. The search is vain. The benign influence of the Gospel of peace is not felt. The fruits of the spirit of God are not seen. No heart is warmed with love to the redeemer; no voice speaks his praise; no cheering hope in distress; darkness and despair are spread over the tomb.

In view of the influence of the exercises of the Sabbath in reclaiming the rebellious and preparing them for future blessedness, what intuitions is benevolent, if this is not? Indeed we shall never be able to comprehend the whole of the good of which it is the means, till we behold that multitude of the redeemed, which St. John in vision saw which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues before the throne of God ascribing salvation to him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb.

While the exercises of the Sabbath have respect to man, as now receiving of his education for another world and are designed to direct his attention to that world as his proper home and as the place where virtue will receive its final reward, and sin its final punishment, they also have respect to his happiness here. The same state of moral feeling and the same course which leads to happiness in a future life leads to happiness in this. It is the nature of virtue to produce happiness. “As this is its natural tendency, so this is always its tendency. Wherever and how long soever it exists, the happiness of which it is the parent will also exist.” A society be it more or less numerous, possessing that character which prepared for future blessedness will be happy in this world.

If mankind loved God with all the heart there would be no idolatry on the earth, nor any of its attendant abominations. The name of God would not be profaned. There would be no perjuries nor hypocrisies, no ingratitude, pride, nor self-complacency under the smiles of Providence, nor any murmurings under its frowns. If men loved God supremely to honor and obey him would be their constant delight. If they universally loved their neighbor as themselves, there would be no wars, no envying’s, nor strife’s; no slanders, litigations, nor intrigues between neighbors; no persecuting bitterness, fraud, nor deceit; no haughtiness nor oppression among the great; no murders, robberies, nor thefts; no unkindness, treachery, nor implacable resentments among friends; no jealousies nor bitter contentions in families; in short none of those streams of death, one or more of which flows through every vein of society and poisons its enjoyments. Everyone would pursue that course and that only which would be conducive the happiness of those whom his conduct might in any way affect. Peace would prevail in families, in societies, and through the world.

Love to God and love to man constitute true virtue and are the foundation of every virtuous character. So far then as the observance of the Sabbath is connected with the formation of such characters, it is conducive to the happiness of society. To the value of such characters even for the preservation of society, God testified when he said if there were ten of this character in Sodom, he would spare the place for their sake; and Christ when he said to such “Ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the light of the world.”

The benevolence of the Sabbath appears from the influence of an attention to its duties in restraining the vicious and preventing crimes. The public worship of God is necessary to preserve in the minds of men that sense of their accountability to him without which society could not exist. It was remarked by Judge Hale of England that among all who were convicted of capital crimes while he was judge, he found a few only who would not confess on inquiry that they began their career of wickedness by a neglect of the duties of the Sabbath and vicious conduct on that day. Were we to go to the prison of this state, we should probably not be able to select one who after an honest and correct analysis of his character and of the influence which led him to the commission of crimes, of whom it would not be true that he began his downward course by a neglect and contempt of the duties of the Sabbath. Among all that have been sentenced to that prison, not one will be found who had been in the practice of observing the Sabbath till he committed the crime for which he was condemned. Those who interrupt the peace of society by their vices and crimes, are not from among those who observe the Sabbath as God has directed.

The very act of assembling together every seventh day and uniting in prayer and praise to God has a powerful tendency to unite mankind together. On the salutary influence of public worship in this respect, a writer of celebrity observed, “So many pathetic reflections are awakened by every exercise of devotion that most men carry away from public worship a better temper towards the rest of mankind than they brought with them. Sprung from the same extraction, preparing together for the period of all worldly distinctions, reminded of their mutual infirmities and common dependency, imploring support and supplies form the same great source of power and bounty, having all one interest to secure and Lord to serve, one judgment the supreme object of all their hopes and fears to look towards it is hardly possible, in this position to behold mankind as strangers, or not to regard them as children of the same family assembled before their common parent and with some portion of the tenderness which belongs to the most endearing of our domestic relations. The frequent return of such sentiments as the presence of a devout congregation naturally suggests will gradually melt down the ruggedness of many unkind passions.”¹²

That the Sabbath is a benevolent institution appears from its comprising in its design the religious education of the young. God has explicitly required of parents that they give religious instruction to their families. Without stated times for the performance of this duty, it would be wholly omitted. The law of the Sabbath requires that heads of families see that all under their care be devoted on that day to the duties of religion. The law as written by God himself is explicitly on this subject. The observance of it then secures the religious education of the young. It is well known that no education can supply the place of this. Instruction in human science is important; but of infinitely greater importance to their personal happiness and to the happiness of society is the religious instruction of those who are yet beginning life.

As an institution securing by its observance this important object the Sabbath stands above all others, as respects its influence on the happiness of society and as manifesting the wisdom and goodness of god. It makes those the religious instructors of the young whom they love and revere to whose example they have always looked as a pattern for their imitation and of whose ardent desire for their happiness they never doubted. In forming the tender mind the parent has an influence which no one else can have.

Much has been said by theoretical projectors in favor of certain systems of scientific and literary education to the exclusion of that which is religious, which if adopted and pursued would fit men to live under mild laws and secure to them the highest happiness attainable in the social state. These systems al involve this fundamental error that the evils which have been suffered in society and that conduct which renders severe laws necessary have arisen from a bad understanding and not from a bad heart. The history of nearly sixty centuries and the oracles of God teach us that the corrupt passion and vices of men and not their ignorance have been the cause of the evils which have been suffered and of the destruction of nations. It is a maxim, confirmed by universal history that righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.

The most effectual security against those vices which debase and ruin a people is to be found in domestic and family instruction; but not in that which excludes religion. No system of education which excludes this will lead to the practice of those virtues which are connected with social happiness and prevent those vices which render severe laws necessary.

Will it be said that most of the good effects which have been attributed to the observance of the Sabbath are to be attained to the religion of the Bible? It is admitted. But this religion has no influence where the Sabbath is disregarded. On this subject we have the evidence of facts. I need only refer you to those places and families in our own land in which the Sabbath is treated with neglect and contempt. There public and family worship are neglected; there many families do not own the sacred Scriptures and those who do neglect to read them. Let the observance of the Sabbath wholly cease for half a century in this metropolis and who would think of looking here for piety or the practice of any of the Christian virtues or even for a single Bible? Let the observance of the Sabbath wholly cease for the same period of time in this Commonwealth and what would be its religious and moral character? Go to those places within the limits of the United States where there has been no Sabbath for only half that period and they will tell you. How vulnerable, how benevolent is the institution which ever has been and still is the means of preserving the religion of God in the world and of perpetuating all its happy influences.

From the doctrine of the text thus illustrated we may see why God has so often manifested his displeasure against those who have disregarded the Sabbath. Transgressions of the law of the Sabbath are oftener referred to in the Scriptures than any others as the procuring cause of the displeasure of God. The reason is obvious. On its observance depends the observance of all the other laws of God, the whole influence of the religion which he has given the progress of the work of redemption and the happiness of man in this and the future world. Hence the same benevolence, the same tender regard to the happiness of man which influenced God to institute the Sabbath, influences him to express in a most solemn manner his displeasure against any people who despise and neglect its duties. When other motives have no influence, exemplary punishment is sure to be inflicted. The history of ancient Israel is fully illustrative of this. The indignation of Infinite Benevolence against those who despise this institution will be proportionate to his regard for the happiness of man and his own glory.

From the subject we may see how we ought to feel in view of the prevailing neglect and open violations of the law of the Sabbath. It is a fact which cannot be concealed that there is no law of God oftener transgressed than this. Instead of devoting the day exclusively to the worship of God and the duties of religion not a few pursue with their wonted eagerness the business of the world. In too many instances other employments take the place of the duties of the sanctuary, other books the place of the Bible and other conversation the place of that which is religious. How have we degenerated in our attention to the duties of this instruction form the practice of our venerable ancestors. In too many instances the evil is increased by the example of those who are high in authority who are respected for their talents and who would not be thought unfriendly to the best interests of our country. Of such may we not say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” They know not that they are as really violating the law of God as those who clandestinely take the property of others, are acting against the best interests of society and pursuing a course and forming a character which infinite purity must and will condemn. In view of the prevailing neglect and open violations of the Sabbath, we ought to feel that deep concern which the preservation of an institution requires, on which depends the continuance of all that rich inheritance of civil, social, and religious blessings, transmitted to us by our fathers and on which depends the happiness, the endless happiness, of unborn millions.

With gratitude to Him who had distinguished us by his goodness, we behold dour civil rulers presenting themselves before the Lord for his direction and blessing.

His Excellency, the Chief Magistrate of this Commonwealth, has renewed testimony of the approbation of his fellow citizens and will not accept our very respectful congratulations. Confidence that he will, by his authority and example, continue to support the institutions of that God who has, in war and peace, been his protector and benefactor, we wish him his blessing. May he continue to execute his trust with integrity and impartiality and when he shall have finished with the cares of this world may he be admitted to the rewards of the just.

His Honor, the Lieutenant Governor, will accept our cordial congratulations on the renewed expression of the confidence of the Commonwealth in his integrity, public spirit, and patriotism. Having esteemed the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, honorable and having remembered the words of him who is Lord of Sabbath, how he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” may he, when he shall have finished the duties of this lie be admitted to the enjoyment of a never ending Sabbath in the kingdom of the blessed.

The Honorable Council from the dignity of their station and the fidelity with which they discharge their trust, merit and receive our respectful attention. May He, who cannot err in counsel, be their guide and may their receive the reward of the faithful.

The Honorable Senate and House of Representatives will accept our high respects.

The view which has been taken of the perpetuity and benevolence of the Sabbath is familiar to a Legislature which has said “that an uniform and enlightened observance of the Lord’s day is solemnly binding on the conscience of every individual; that without the appointment and continuance of the Lord’s day public instruction and worship would soon languish and perhaps entirely cease; that private worship and the best virtues of social life would share the same fate; that the Scriptures containing the records, the principles, the duties, and the hopes of our religious would pass from the recollection of multitudes of our citizens who now regard them and never become known to the great body of the rising generation; that the powerful and happy influence which they now exert upon public sentiment and morals would be seen no longer; that the powerful and happy influence, which they now exert upon public sentiment and morals, would be seen no longer; that the safety of the State, the moral and religious improvement of the people, the personal security and happiness of all are intimately connected with the uniform and conscientious observance of the Lord’s day.” ¹³

These sentiments are such as add dignity to a Christian Legislature. They are expressive of views and feelings like those of our venerable ancestors. They have gladdened the heart and excited the confidence of every friend to the best interest of the Commonwealth. They assure us that as the guardians of the State you feel yourselves bound to protect by your example, by your united efforts, and by laws so far as laws will protect, the Sabbath from open violation. We are assured that with these enlightened views of the influence of the observance of the Sabbath, you will consider yourselves as “more effectually protecting individuals in the possession of their property, their reputation, and their lives, by interposing to preserve the Sabbath from neglect and contempt than by any other exercise of your power.” We are assured that, collected form every part of the state, possessing a full view of the prevailing violations of the Sabbath and a knowledge of the existing laws for tis protection, if further legislative interposition is necessary, you will interpose. If the fault is wholly in those who are entrusted with the execution of the laws how solemn must be their account to him who are appointed the Sabbath. The oath of the Lord is upon them. Will he accept the excuses which they now offer for their neglect?

You will allow me to observe that by protecting the Sabbath from open violation, you set up a rampart around the paternal government and wholesome laws of the Commonwealth which will better secure their observance than millions expended in erecting prisons. To protect the Sabbath then is the part of kindness and benevolence.

Impressed with a deep sense of your responsibility to God in the care you take of the Commonwealth you cannot for a moment be influenced by the feelings of those who complain of all laws, restraining them on the Sabbath as oppressive and vexatious. You will deeply regret the want of discernment in those who can see no difference between a national religious establishment and the legislative protection of an institution appointed by the benevolent sovereign of the universe for the happiness of the whole human family.

As the legislators and guardians of the rights and liberties of more than seven hundred thousand people, may you be under the guidance of him whose wisdom is infinite, and be the ministers of the God for good.

The subject reminds this whole assembly of their obligation to bless God for the institution of the Sabbath. It also reminds them of their obligation to attend to all tis duties, that they may obtain the blessings of which it is designed to be the means. Duty and interest impose upon as all a sacred obligation to set our hearts to all the words of God’s law and especially to this institution for it is our life.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

“Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.”

 

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Endnotes

¹. Genesis II 1,2,3.

². Genesis vii. 4 viii. 10,12.

³. President De Goguet, Origin of Laws, vol. i. p. 230. Grotius, Rollin and others, as referred to by Doddridge, Leet, exxvi.

⁴. These poets are quoted by Aristobulus, a learned Jew, by Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius. By each of them the seventh is called the sacred day. Encyclopedia, art. Sabbath.

⁵. Exodus. xvi. chap.

⁶. Paley’s Prin. Mor. And Plit. Book v. chap 7. The sentiments of this very interesting writer have had a very extensive influence, in weakening a sense of obligation strictly to observe the Sabbath. He wholly mistakes as to the time when the Sabbath was instituted ; classes the law appointing it among those , which were peculiar to the Jews ; and deduces the obligations to observe a Sabbath now from considerations of expediency merely. It is to be regretted that he did not attend with more care to the arguments, which have never yet been answered, in support of the primeval institution of the Sabbath.

⁷. There are two passages in the Epistles of Paul which to the inattentive reader may seem to favor the opinion that the law of the Sabbath has ceased under the Gospel dispensation. Rom. xiv, 15 and Coloss. Ii. 16. A very little attention to the context will convince anyone, that these passages have respect to the ceremonial law which was designed to cease under the Gospel dispensation and that they have no respect to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which was appointed at the creation and was never a part of the ceremonial law.

⁸. Unusquiesque nostum sabbatizat spiritulaiter, mulitatione legis gaudens, oppoisnum Dei admivans.” According to Eusebius Trenoeus was born at Smyrna, about the year 140 and was one of Polycarp’s disciples.

⁹. Isaiah lviii. 13, 14.

¹⁰. The Christian Observer, Vol. I, p. 419.

¹¹. The following testimony of Sir William Jones was transcribed by his biographer, Lord Teignmouth, from his own manuscript in his Bible. “I have carefully and regularly perused these holy Scriptures; and am of opinion that the volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more infinite e sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected from all other books in whatever language they may have been written.” Memoirs of the Life of Sir William Jones, page 374.

¹². Paley’s Mor. And Polit. Phil. Book v. chap. 4.

¹³. Report of the Legislature of 1814.

 

A

SERMON

PREACHED AT THE

ANNIVERSARY ELECTION,

Hartford, May 14, 1818

BY

TH REV. HARRY CROSWELL, A. M.

RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-HAVEN.

 

SERMON.LUKE XX. 25.RENDER, THEREFORE, UNTO CAESAR, THE THINGS WHICH BE CAESAR’S, AND UNTO GOD, THE THINGS WHICH BE GOD’S.

Holding in high veneration, the character of our pious forefathers; feeling every disposition to treat the customs which bear the sanction of their authority, with deference and respect; I would not, without good and sufficient cause, depart from a course, which appears to have been ranked among the “steady habits” of my native state: nor would I, from an affectation of singularity, or on any other slight ground, dissent from opinions, which have long been considered by many as incontrovertible. If, therefore, on the present occasion, I shall appear to entertain doubts on the propriety of blending too closely, the civil and religious aspects of the community; or if I shall seem more solicitous to maintain the dignity of my profession, than to subserve any particular political interest: or if it shall be found that I am more ambitious to fulfill my obligations as a minister of Christ, than to offer the incense of flattery to any sect or denomination of men; I trust, you will do me the justice to believe, that I act under the influence of a solemn sense of duty—and that I am governed by no other motive, than a sincere desire to comply with the spirit of the precept, which I have selected for my text. Be this, however, as it may—I hope to find a defense of the sentiments which I may advance, and a justification of the course which I may pursue, in the example of our blessed Lord, in the case which drew this precept from his lips.

It will be recollected, that the passage before us was spoken by our Savior, in answer to a political question a question, calculated to involve him in disputes entirely foreign to his views, and at variance with the nature of his mission. It is not necessary now to refer all the circumstances of this case; nor to examine into the motives of those by whom the question was proposed to him; nor to enquire, whether the respectful terms in which it was expressed, were affected, or sincere:—“Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly; neither acceptest thou the person of any; but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?” [Matthew 22:16-17; Luke 20:21] It is sufficient to remark, what indeed must be evident to all, that the question was of a political nature, and involved a point on which the people by whom he was surrounded, were much divided. The Jews, on one hand, were extremely tenacious of their religious freedom; and, acknowledging no other sovereign but God, they considered their independence an essential point in their religion, and viewed every interference or imposition of the civil authority, as an infringement of their spiritual privileges. While, on the other hand, the adherents of the Roman government, who pertinaciously maintained the claims of the emperor upon the service and allegiance of the people, would have highly resented any denial of his authority, or any indignity offered to his sovereignty. The question, therefore, appeared to present insurmountable difficulties; and our Saviour himself viewed it as a temptation thrown in his way by those who proposed it, for the purpose of ensnaring him. “He perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?” [Matthew 22:18; Luke 20:23] And then, requiring them to shew him “a penny” (a current Roman coin) he asked, “Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s.” [Matthew 22:20-21; Luke 20:24] To which he replied, “Render, therefore, unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God’s the things which be God’s.” [Matthew 22:21; Luke 20:25] As if he said—I perceive that you hold in your possession, and employ in your daily transactions, a coin, bearing the image and superscription of the emperor—that is, it is impressed with the dead or likeness of Caesar, and with his imperial titles. By receiving and using, and thus giving currency to this coin, you virtually admit the authority of his government; because it is by that authority, that this coin has received the stamp which it bears. Were you disposed to reject the authority of Caesar, you would refuse to give currency to his coin, which derives its nominal value from his image and superscription. Having thus tacitly submitted to his authority, you are bound in obedience to his laws, and to pay that tribute which he requires for the support of his government. You must render unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s. But, having done justice to Caesar, you are not thereby absolved from your duty to God. To Him, you owe that love, and reverence, and worship, of which no earthly power has a right to deprive him. It is that homage of the heart, which you cannot withhold from your Almighty Sovereign, without incurring the guilt of flagrant ingratitude and impiety. You must, therefore, also render unto God, the things which be God’s. “And they could not take hold of his words before the people; and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.” [Luke 20:26] Such is the example, on which I rely, to defend the sentiments which I feel bound to express on this occasion. Such is the case, which I adduce to show, that it is both improper and hazardous for those who minister in holy things, to intermeddle with the party-politics if the times in which they live. Such is the authority, on which, I trust, the opinion may be maintained, that political and religious concerns are separate and distinct, and that they cannot, without manifest inconsistency, be blended together.

In the precept before us, our Divine Lord and Master as clearly defined the limits and jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. A distinguishing line is here drawn between our temporal and spiritual concerns, and between our civil and religious rights and obligations. Keeping this distinction constantly in view, therefore, I propose now to apply the principle embraced in the text—

First, to all classes and descriptions of men, collectively—
Second, to those who are in authority, as civil rulers and magistrates—
And third, to those of the clerical profession.

1. All classes and descriptions of men, are bound to render unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God, the things which be God’s. If the subjects of the Roman empire, by possessing and giving currency to a coin which bore the image and superscription of Caesar, became obligated to submit to his government, and to pay the tribute which he demanded—it must be admitted, that every citizen of a free country, by accepting the protection, and receiving the benefit, of the laws enacted by the government, binds himself in honor, in justice, and in good faith, to yield obedience to that government, and to contribute to its support. A difference in the constitution or form of government, can make no difference in the principle. Is the citizen protected in the enjoyment of his rights and liberties—his property and his reputation? Does he pursue his proper calling, under the guardianship of the laws? Does he seek redress, when he is wronged? Does he sit securely under his vine and his fig tree; and does he enjoy his fireside unmolested? These are the only proper questions for his consideration, in determining what is due from him to his government. And if he can answer these questions only in the affirmative, if follows, as a necessary consequence, that he owes allegiance to the government. He cannot refuse an equitable return of that tribute or pecuniary support, which the management of the public concerns may require. We perceive, then, that the only manner in which we can render unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s—in which we can fulfill our duties and obligations to the civil government, under which it has pleased God to place us—is to yield to that government obedience and support, to submit quietly to its laws, and to contribute cheerfully towards its necessary and lawful expenditures. This appears to be a fair construction of our Lord’s precept; and the same principle is supported by the general tenor of the scriptures. And hence we conceive, that the minister of Christ cannot safely or justly inculcate any other political sentiment, amid the conflicting and discordant opinions of his fellow men. But if we owe thus much to Caesar—to our civil government—how much more do we owe to God! to that Almighty Ruler, who created us by his power, who preserves us by his providence, who redeemed us by his love, and who sanctifies us by his grace. We must not only obey him; but our obedience must be prompted by that love and gratitude, which carry the whole heart and soul into his service. We must be tributary to him: But instead of that perishable substance, which derives its value from the image and superscription of an earthly prince, the tribute which we owe to Him, is that living an immortal spirit, which is rendered invaluable, by the “form and pressure,” THE IMAGE, AND THE NAME OF GOD! The entire energy of the soul, must be poured out in reverence, in worship, and adoration, or we withhold that tribute which we owe to our Almighty Sovereign. We possess no treasure that can be substituted for this tribute—nothing that can exempt us from this obedience. No outward forms of submission—no cold or formal compliance with appointed ordinances—no zeal or fervency in support of peculiar doctrines or tenants—no vain-glorious or arrogant pretensions to exclusive sanctity—no sacrifices we can possibly make, save only the sacrifice of the heart, can prove acceptable to our heavenly Master. Nothing in this world—no created substance—nothing within the power of men or angels—can redeem the pledge, by which the soul is bound to God. If it can profit a man nothing, though he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul [Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36]—so it would avail him nothing, were he to offer the whole world to God, and withhold his own soul. Thus, in the general application of the precept under consideration, we perceive how far the empire and jurisdiction of our earthly rulers extend, and where the claims of our heavenly Sovereign commence. We perceive the dividing line between our temporal and spiritual concerns, and between our civil and religious rights and obligations. If, in the one case, we withhold our obedience and support, we render not unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s; and so, in the other, if we withhold the entire devotion of the heart and soul, we render not unto God, the things which be God’s.

2. Those who are in authority, as civil rulers and magistrates, are bound, in their official capacity, to render unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God, the things which be God’s. In making this application of the of the precept, the necessity of keeping constantly in view, the distinguishing line between our civil and religious rights and obligations, is sufficiently apparent. Because it is manifestly important to know, how far the civil ruler may interpose his authority in matters of a religious nature, without over-stepping the boundaries of his province, or usurping the prerogative of heaven. Touching this point, then, let us ask, whether the civil rulers of a commonwealth, composed of various denominations of Christians, can, consistently with the rights of all, exercise authority or control over those concerns which are strictly spiritual?—Or whether they can prescribe rules of faith, or modes or worship, for the great body of the people, without violating the spirit of this precept? Man is required to worship God, in spirit and in truth: and it has been already shown, that no tribute can be acceptable to the Almighty, except the free-will offering of a devoted heart. Indeed, it cannot be supposed, that services rendered by constraint—or in mere conformity to prevailing customs or habits—or to gratify the wills or affections of men—can be such a tribute, as a Being of infinite purity and boldness requires. And may not the interference of the civil government in matters of this nature, give such a bias to the mind, and impose such shackles on the will, as entirely to change the quality of the offering? Is it not the natural tendency of such an interference, to give to the religious services of the people, an appearance rather of subserviency to Caesar, than of devotion to God? If this be admitted, the civil ruler will undoubtedly hesitate long, before he will consent to exercise any authority or control in spiritual concerns. Aware that it is the prerogative of God, solely and exclusively to judge the heart; and aware also, that all men are accountable to Him alone, for the motives which govern them in their intercourse with heaven, the civil government will abstain from every measure, which may seem to usurp the rights of conscience, or which may obtrude on ground forbidden to any earthly power. All laws which tend, either directly or indirectly, to prevent the freedom of spiritual exercises—either by setting up distinctions among the different denominations of Christians—or by elevating one denomination above another—or by granting exclusive privileges to the one—or by withholding favors from others—will be carefully avoided. Nor will the government give the sanction of its authority to any habits or customs, which are likely to overawe the conscience, or cause the sense of responsibility which man owes to his Eternal Sovereign, to be transferred to his temporal rulers. The question, therefore, again returns—whether the authority of the civil ruler can, in any case, extend to matters of a religious nature? The peace and good order of society—the safety and tranquility of the people—undoubtedly depend upon the strict observance of those divine commands which prescribe a man his moral duties. Hence, it becomes the duty of the government, to found all its laws upon the moral precepts of the Bible: and the right of inflicting temporal penalties for breaches of the moral law, must follow as a necessary consequence. But all this, it will be observed, relates only to temporal affairs: and this interference is not designed, nor is likely to produce, any other than a temporal effect. It has no concern whatever with the heart or conscience. And although God may so overrule the measures of the government, as to render them instrumental in the work of conversion; yet it is not ordinarily expected, that outward punishment will produce internal renovation. Thus, then, we perceive, in this application of the precept before us, that the boundaries between the two empires can be distinctly marked. The utmost power of man, can extend only to outward and temporal concerns—while every thing relating to faith, reverence, worship, and devotion—every thing which depends on the feelings, affections, and sentiments of the inner man—belongs exclusively to God. We may therefore conclude, that the civil government cannot prescribe rules of faith, or modes of worship, for the great body of the people, without claiming for Caesar, the things which be not Caesar’s—without violating that great charter of Christian liberty, which was written by the Spirit of God, and sealed by the blood of the Savior.

3. But I am now, thirdly, to apply that precept in the text, more particularly to a class of men, whose political and religious rights and obligations, are not to be defined by the same rules which govern other cases, and whose temporal and spiritual concerns, cannot be measured by the same standard. I allude to those who are of the clerical profession. And in this application, it will be proper to consider the things of Caesar as the general concerns of the world, in contradistinction to those things which are spiritual. This class of men profess to be solely and exclusively devoted to God and his service. They profess to have relinquished the world, with all its concerns—its wealth, its honors, and its pleasures. They profess to be the ambassadors of Christ—the publishers of his gospel—the stewards of his household—the shepherds of his flock: and the acknowledge and confess, that after the entire devotion of their time and talents to the cause of their divine master, they still may prove unprofitable servants. From these men, then, Caesar, or the things of this world, can justly claim but little: and it may not be improper to enquire, in what way they may be liable to render unto Caesar, the things which be not Caesar’s and, consequently, withhold from God, that tribute which of right belongs to Him alone. If men, professing to have given up this world—shall still pursue its vain objects—shall still covet its perishable riches—shall still pant after its fleeing honors—shall still participate in its corrupting pleasures—do they not thereby depart from the plain import of their profession? Do they not injure the cause in which they are engaged? Do they not neglect their high and indispensable duties and obligations? And do they not violate both the letter and the spirit of the precept of our blessed Lord? Again, if men, bearing the commission of ambassadors of Christ, shall so far forget the allegiance they owe to him, as to listen to the overtures of any earthly power, or lend their influence to subserve any temporal interest—do they not thereby betray the sacred trust reposed in them, and treacherously surrender the rights of their master? Again, if these men, while pretending to publish and proclaim the gospel of truth, of peace, and salvation, shall, on the contrary, become promulgators and heralds of a spurious divinity, so mingled with the maxims of the world, and so degraded by the impurities of natural reason, as to obscure the truth, engender strife, and defraud man of his eternal hopes—do they not prove themselves the slaves of Caesar, though disguised in the livery of Christ? And again, if men, under the name of shepherds of the flock of Christ, shall appear more intent on feeding themselves, than on feeding the flock—if they shall neither strengthen the diseased, nor heal the sick nor bind up the broken, nor bring back that which was driven away, nor seek that which was lost—but shall suffer the sheep to wonder through all the mountains, and the flock to be scattered upon all the face of the earth—can such unfaithful shepherds expect any thing from their Sovereign, but denunciations and judgments? No—they cannot hope to hear the approving sentence, Well done, good and faithful servants! [Matthew 25:21] These are among the cases, in which the precept before us may be violated: but others, of a still deeper shade may be mentioned. If those, for instance, who have received the office of ministers in the church of Christ, shall engage in the political contentions and disputes of the day; and shall thereby foment party animosity and discord among the people, and disturb that peace and harmony, which they are bound, by the most solemn of all obligations, to cherish and maintain—how can they excuse themselves from the charge of perverting the sacred things of God, to the gratification of the unholy passions of man? And how much more culpable must they appear, if they shall carry their devotion to the things of the world and to Caesar, so such a length, as to pollute the temple and the pulpit, which are solemnly consecrated to the service and worship of Almighty God, by converting them unto forums, for political disputation! Thus we perceive the various ways in which they are liable to violate the precept. And we perceive the necessity of constant watchfulness and circumspection on their part, lest they should be found blameable, in rendering unto Caesar, the things which be not Caesar’s, and in withholding from God, the things which be God’s.

Having thus made the proposed application of the principle embraced in the text—to the people collectively—to the civil rulers and magistrates—and to the clergy—I shall observe the same classification in a few closing remarks.

Under a system of government, where the whole sovereignty of the state returns annually to the hands of the people, we seldom discover any want of attachment or respect to the civil rulers, or any disposition to withhold from hem, that obedience and support, which they have a right to claim. It is unnecessary, therefore, to ask you, my brethren, whether you render unto Caesar, the things which be Caesar’s. But there is a question of infinitely greater importance, which I am bound to impress home upon your hearts and consciences:—Do you render unto God, the things which be God’s? Does that Almighty Sovereign, by whose power you were created—by whose providence you are upheld—by whose love you were redeemed, and by whose grace you were sanctified—receive that tribute which he rightfully demands from his creatures? Have you given him your hearts? Have you surrendered your wills and affections to his guidance? Have you humbled yourselves before him? Have you poured out, on the foot-stool of his throne, the entire energy of your souls, in love, in worship, and adoration? Remember the immortal pledge, by which you are bound to the service of the Great Jehovah. Think not, that the external homage of a poor, perishing body, or the dross of this world’s wealth, can redeem that pledge. The treasures of this world will soon lose their value. The body, with all its powers, soon be mingled with the clods of the valley.—The dust must “return to the earth as it was.” But, “the spirit shall return to God who gave it.” [Ecclesiastes 12:7] Yes—while the body is mouldering in the grave, the immortal spirit shall still live. It shall again reanimate the scattered dust, on the morning of the resurrection: and it shall be held responsible before the bar of our Eternal Judge, for the manner in which every precept of holy write has been complied with. Have you rendered unto God, the things which be God’s? will then be the great and momentous question, for every soul to answer. And if the bare suggestion, now excites a momentary alarm—what must be the effect of such a question, amid the tremendous scenes of the final day—when the awful concerns of eternity are laid open to the view of the countless throng, who shall then surround the judgment-seat?

Honored and respected rulers! In expressing my sentiments on the subject before us, I have aimed at a plainness and frankness becoming my profession.—Allow me, however, to indulge in a hope, that I have not been so unfortunate, as to violate any rule of decorum, or overstep the limits of my province. With state affairs, I claim not the right, I feel not the disposition, to meddle. But for the holy religion which I profess—for the Church, in which I have the happiness to minister—I feel bound, on all proper occasions, to plead. Suffer me, then, to avail myself of this opportunity to express an earnest hope, that those who are called to administer the government by the united suffrages of a free people, will regard the religious rights of all, with an equal and impartial eye—that all denominations of Christians, may enjoy the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of their conscience, without the fear of incurring the displeasure, or forfeiting the favor, of their rulers—that our religious services may be free from every mixture of human policy, and every bias of worldly influence—and that the incense which ascends to the throne of grace, may be that “pure offering,” [Malachi 1:11] which constitutes the only acceptable tribute that man can render to God.

My brethren of the clergy! I need not apologize for the freedom with which I have spoken of the rights and obligations peculiar to ourselves, and of the importance of our Lord’s precept, when applied to our practice. The subject undoubtedly demands our attention. And as there are few occasions which call such a number of our profession together, I have deemed this a fit and proper opportunity for expressing, not only my own sentiments, but those held by the Church generally to which I belong. And as we have little reason to hope, that we shall all meet again in this world—you will permit me now, on parting, to add a word of exhortation. Let us, then, my brethren, endeavor to profit by the precept before us. Aiming to maintain the honor of our profession, and the dignity of the Christian ministry, let us not become instrumental in debasing them, by worldly mixtures. Let it be our study to stand aloof from those disputes, which disturb the peace and harmony of society. Let us not suffer ourselves to be drawn into measures, which may tend to promote the spirit of party among our respective flocks. Let us not give any reasonable cause for suspicion, that our influence is exerted in those political questions, by which the community is unhappily divided. Let us not put it in the power of the historian, to accuse us of descending from our high calling, to mingle in those dissentions, which are the offspring of human pride and passion. And, above all, let us beware that we do not defraud our Lord and Mast of his rightful claims. His kingdom is not of this world. He is jealous of his honor; and will no suffer his unfaithful servants to escape unpunished. We know the nature of our obligations. We know by what solemn vows we have enrolled ourselves under the standard of the Cross. We know that we stand pledged, by every thing dear and sacred to man, to preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED. Let us not, then, incur the dreadful quilt of preaching a religion without a Cross. Let us not glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Galatians 6:14] By this cross, let the world be crucified unto us: and by the same cross let us be crucified unto the world.

And to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all the honor and glory, now, henceforth, and forever. Amen.