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

Aaron Bancroft (1755-1839) was a minute-man who served during the Revolution, fighting at Lexington and Bunker Hill. He graduated from Harvard in 1778 and was a missionary in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for 3 years. Bancroft served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Worcester, MA (1785-1839). The following election sermon was preached in 801 in Massachusetts by Rev. Bancroft.

SERMON,

PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY

CALEB STRONG, Esq. Governour,

THE HONOURABLE THE

COUNCIL, SENATE,

AND

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,

MAY 27, 1801,

THE DAY OF

GENERAL ELECTION.

By AARON BANCROFT,
MINISTER OF THE SECOND CHURCH IN WORCESTER.

In SENATE, May 27, 1801.

ORDERED, That the hon. Elijah Brigham and John Treadwell, Esquires, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Bancroft, and in the name of the Senate, thank him for the Sermon this day delivered by him, before his Excellency the Governor, the Hon. Council, and the two Branches of the General Court, and request of him a copy for the press.

GEORGE E. VAUGHAN, Clerk.

ELECTION SERMON.

ISAIAH LX. 21, 22.

Thy people shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

These verses contain a prophetic description of the influence and the effects of Christianity upon a community. They need not be exclusively applied to any one nation. It is the appointment of God—it is order of nature, that a course of good moral practice shall promote the strength and happiness of a nation. We see this truth illustrated in the pages of sacred and profane history: Our nation must furnish one more example to illustrate and enforce the divine maxim.

The passage before us I have chosen with a design to review the principles and habits, under the influence of which this Commonwealth has attained to its present state of population and strength, wealth and dignity; and to enforce the necessity of their preservation to our future welfare and prosperity.

The review will not be thought impertinent to the occasion, on which we are assembled. The commencement of a new century is an era, which invites to retrospection. We cannot too often recur to first principles. In the review, rulers will find the lines of their duty, and subjects the means of their happiness.

The settlement of America by Europeans is an event interesting to the man of piety and the philosopher. It was one of the boldest enterprises, which ever entered the human mind; and was prosecuted with an effort and constancy honorable to man. It originated neither in the lust of conquest nor the desire of gain. It was the love of civil and religious liberty, which animated our venerable ancestors to attempt the American colonization. They preferred freedom to ease, and the liberty to worship their God agreeably to the dictates of their consciences, to the affluence and splendor of the old world. They fled not from the wholesome restraints of government, but indignantly left a country, which denied them the exercise of the rights of Christians and of men.

The first emigrants to our shores were venerable for endowments, excellent in the human character, and conducive to the well-being of a community. Many of them possessed the essential attainments of solid literature: They lived under habitual impressions of a presiding Deity, and cherished a sacred regard to moral obligations. Their religion was an effectual principle of good practice through all the transactions of social and civil life. They felt the spirit of patriotism, and laid the foundation for a great and happy nation. They adopted the best measures to render their posterity the safe repository of the invaluable privileges, which, with infinite labour and hazard, they were enabled to transmit. While their security against the assault of their Indian neighbours, and the supply of their daily bread, were objects, on which to exercise all the energies of their minds, they opened temples for the worship of God; founded seminaries of literature; and established schools for the education of children.

The wisdom of their system was unfolded in the progress of their settlement. In families children received a religious education, and saw examples of piety and order. The surest principles of virtuous practice were impressed upon the infant mind, which grew with its growth, and were strengthened with its strength. With the incorporation of towns, schools were established upon a plan new to the world; supported at the public expense, they were alike open to the rich and the poor. Here the American youth were initiated into the elements of useful learning, were fitted for the business of society, and were prepared to support an independent and useful character. The general employment was the business originally assigned to man, the tillage of the ground, the natural exciter of sober habits.

Attendance upon the public institutions of the Sabbath was universal; and the adoration of divine perfections, the supplication of divine blessings, which formed the addresses to the throne of Deity; the unchangeable truths and duties of a religious and moral nature, which were explained and enforced in every sermon, tended, by their very reiteration, to keep alive deep impressions of the superintendence of God, a reverence for the divine character, and a view to the final issue of human action. These impressions were carried into all the transactions of the world.

The general influence of the above system was salutary to all the interests of society. The public opinion was formed to a sense of propriety of character and conduct. All orders felt the importance of a pure example. Irreligion and immorality were holden in universal disgrace; or, if the force of religion was not felt, deference to public sentiment constrained to decency of exterior behavior. The votaries of infidelity, impiety and vice dreaded the light of day, and sought darkness and concealment for their unhallowed communion. The evidence of these principles and practices in individuals was a bar to the attainment of every object of popularity and ambition. In this state of society, the love of applause, the desire of distinction, and every similar principle, combined their influence with motives of religion to preserve purity of general practice.

Elections to office by popular suffrage were conducted with purity and delicacy. Every imposition and interference were resented. The attempt of an individual to solicit suffrage was sure to defeat his ambitious wishes. A good moral character was considered an essential qualification in a candidate. Men of exemplary life were alone thought worthy of confidence.

A decent respect was paid to rulers, as the means to facilitate the object of their appointment. The public mind was not poisoned with groundless suspicions of evil designs in those, who managed their concerns. The traduction of public reputation was deemed a malignant vice. The watchful waited until trust was violated, and treacherous measures were adopted, before the confidence of people in their officers was attempted, by artful insinuations, to be destroyed, or the passions of the populace excited in opposition to the measures of government.

The business of government was a plain path, and led to the general good: It was easy, because it was managed without intrigue, upon system, and by uniform principles. The administrators of it were rewarded for their patriotic endeavours by the approbation and gratitude of their constituents.

The excellent judicial arrangements of the parent State were happily accommodated to our circumstances; and by our courts of justice, life, liberty, and property were secured. The execution of government in all its branches was aided by general opinions, customs, and manners favourable to the operation of wholesome laws; and by the sanction, which time always gives, in virtuous minds, to measures of wisdom and expedience.

The clergy of our country were denied that power, which ever inspires ambition, and excites, in eccesiasticks entrusted with it, the attempt to exercise spiritual domination over their fellow men. Those emoluments were not annexed to their offices, which furnish a temptation to luxury and dissipation: confined strictly to their profession, their influence was great and salutary.

A just apprehension of the encroachment of the parent government upon our colonial rights, kept in exercise a vigilant care of public liberty. The danger from the Indian tribes nourished a martial spirit, and habits of industry and sobriety gave nerve to the American character. If our countrymen possessed not the manners of a refined state of society, they were free from its dissimulation: If they were destitute of the blandishments of polished life, they were happily ignorant of the corruptions of old countries.

The American picture doubtless had its shade. With the purest piety, the spirit of religion in some instances, was intolerant; and a greater stress was often laid upon forms and ceremonies, than their nature and design will justify: but intolerance was the weakness of the age; and superstition is less dangerous than indifference to the concerns of religion. Our ancestors, religious in their principles, and chaste in their opinions, simple in their manners, and sober in their practices, rise to our view in the dignity of the human character. The good effects of their principles and habits appeared in the progress of our country from infancy to national manhood. Under the hand of her hardy sons, the wilderness blossomed as the rose; and the desert became a fruitful field. Her resources were increased with the exigencies that required them: She furnished characters to manage her important concerns; and numbered her proportion of men of science and wisdom in the roll of fame. Her growth was like the vigorous expansion of the human frame: The heart was found, and the head was healthy. There was no schism in the body. The head said not to the limbs of immediate action, I have no need of you; nor these to the head, we have no need of you; but whether one member suffered, all the members suffered with it; or one member were honoured, all the members rejoiced with it.

The strength of our countrymen was not to be estimated by their numbers; their principles and habits gave them a force superior to the physical powers of a despotick government. The influence of these was fully displayed, when our country assumed her place among the sovereign and independent nations of the earth. She was prepared in her genius and manners for a free, a republican form of government. Her patriots, educated in her own schools, discovered an acquaintance with political science, which had never been exceeded in the old world: they exhibited an acumen and energy of mind equal to the arduous post they were called to fill.

The habit of order was so effectually interwoven into the national character, that, in the suspension of the administration of justice, between the death of the colonial government, and the life of independence, great evils did not ensue. Our streets were not infested with robbers, nor our houses assaulted by thieves. When the publick mind was agitated by the hazard of objects the most interesting to man; when fear was awake to every impression of danger; when enthusiasm was excited as a necessary stimulus to endure the conflict; although suspicion was pointed against numbers among ourselves as hostile to the interests of the community, yet no individual through our Commonwealth, during the contest, lost his life by an act of popular violence. The men of our country, feeling the dignity of freemen, the lords of the soil, understood the worth of the rights, for which they contended; they were consistent in the measures of defence, and by their energies rose superior to the exertions of a kingdom powerful in the means of annoyance.

Independence acknowledged, we were enabled by the collected wisdom of the country to form, and on the result of due deliberation to adopt, “constitutions of government which combine liberty with order,” and the security of individual right with the necessary energy of the ruling power. The quiet and manly exercise of the highest freedom, which before had never been exercised by any people.

The united influence of the above causes has ripened a state of social order and happiness as near perfection, as the world has known. In our country, the prophetic description of our text has been verified. Our people have been righteous; by the benediction of God they have inherited the land, and risen superior to the thousand difficulties, which rendered the undertaking doubtful even to the sanguine mind. The branch planted by heaven, has been watered by streams of divine munificence; and our God, by it, has been glorified. A little number has become millions; and a weak band a strong nation: The Lord has accomplished it in his time.

Must the period that is now passed, in future, be remembered as the golden age of America? In a conformity to the customs, and in the imitation of the examples of our ancestors, we, their descendants, shall secure our social order and happiness. But is there no appearance, which darkens the prospect of the future glory and prosperity of our country? Is there no danger lest prosperity will intoxicate us? Have not too many fallen off from the principles and habits of their ancestors? Is not publick opinion in a degree corrupted? Are we not threatened with the loss of that spirit of religion, purity, and order, which thus far has been our union and strength, our honour and happiness? Is merit a security of reputation? Is patriotism sure of its reward in the approbation and gratitude of the community? Is not every candidate for public office made, through the virulence of party, the object of calumny and abuse? In the struggle of party for superiority, are there not given false representations of facts and measures? Under artful pretensions of patriotism, are not groundless insinuations brought into view, of dispositions and designs hostile to publick liberty and publick good? Must not every man, who consents to serve his country in publick life, expect that his character will be tortured upon the rack of jealousy; and even his good name be made to pass through the ordeal of slander and detraction?

Another dark appearance in our political horizon, is a system of philosophy, which, under the spurious pretence of raising man to his perfectibility, destroys the fine feelings and ingenuous sensibilities of the human heart; which, while it dazzles the undiscerning mind with views of philanthropy, that have no distinct object, removes every restraint from the dissocial passions of human nature, and undermines every security of individual right. It degrades man from his rank, makes him the being of the moment, the sport of accident, and the absolute victim of death. The apostles of this philosophy disregard the wisest maxims of experience, and endeavour to introduce a national administration in politicks and morality, upon abstract principles. With the love of country and of man on their lips, they discover a disposition to demolish those pillars of society, which the world has holden sacred, and time proved to be necessary.

These sophists are not merely the growth of the present day; under other forms they have existed in past ages; and were ever found to be the enemies of the general order and social happiness. In the Roman story we find an order of the Senate to banish this class of men from the city of Rome, one hundred and sixty years before the birth of Christ. The reason assigned for their banishment gives a true character of the brethren of the order in modern times: “Because,” says the historian, “they were looked upon as dangerous talkers; who, while they reasoned on virtue, sapped its foundations, and were capable, by their own sophisms, of corrupting the simplicity of ancient morals, and of spreading among young people, opinions dangerous to their country.” ¹ The revival of this philosophy in the present age, has been in the old world; but the corrupt passions of men render every country a soil too fertile in its growth: Wherever it spreads, it must prove destructive to the peace and happiness of human nature, and to the order and welfare of society.

Infidels of the last age generally acknowledged the moral government of the Deity, the immortality of the soul of man, and a future state of retribution. Although they aimed to deprive us of the more animating motives, and the superior hopes of revelation, they left us our God: they left us the system of moral obligation; natural religion was allowed its force. While men acted under the eye of Deity, and with a view to his approbation, we had some security for their probity and general good conduct; but, in the present age, Infidelity has assumed a more daring attitude, and uttered her blasphemies in a bolder tone. She has called in question the government and being of God. She has represented the whole universe, with all its orders of being, in all the variety of its works and harmony of its laws, as existing without an intelligent cause, or a moral end. These positions enervate all the principles, which bind society together, form the security of every valuable right, raise man to the dignity of his character, and direct his exertions to objects worthy the pursuit of a rational and accountable being. The disciples of the system have felt the spirit of proselytism; they have multiplied publications of a skeptical and blasphemous nature, which have too generally circulated in our land.

Experience will correct the error of sophists; but the evils, which operate this correction, may be incalculable. The work of mischief is much easier than that of good. The axe soon prostrates the tree, which time and nature have reared. The brand in a moment consumes the edifice, which years of labour and experience have erected. It is the same in the moral world. The insidious arts of the profligate may soon corrupt the pure mind of the youth, whose moral principles and sober habits were the result of the unwearied attention of a solicitous parent. The evil pens and contagious examples of some few characters of splendid talents and captivating address, may weaken the moral principles and corrupt the manners of a community, which required ages to establish, and which have formed the characters of successive generations of men. The publick opinion once corrupted, and the religious and moral habits of the people destroyed, the strong band of society is broken, and civil liberty is no more. We shall experience the decrepitude of national age, before, in the order of nature, we shall have attained to the full strength of national age, before, in the order of nature, we shall have attained to the full strength of national manhood. The forms of our government may remain, but its spirit will be fled; and some aspiring individual, like the artful Augustus, may adopt our forms to subserve his own ambition. Our nation will be rent by party, or we shall lie in the stupor of despotism. By our vices we shall forfeit the blessings of our God; our own doings will beset us about, and we shall suffer the miseries of impiety and wickedness, of faction and anarchy, of tyranny and oppression.

Had the founders of the Commonwealth established the plan of society upon a different basis, should we have attained our present state of respectability? Would not their successors have suffered by the weakness of the foundation, on which the superstructure was to be erected? Subsequent wisdom might have been insufficient to correct the errour of the first settlement. The future efforts of patriotism would have been ineffectual to raise the Commonwealth to its present state and dignity.

Try the supposition by the experience of those of our sister states, which were formed on different principles. We conceive, that we have maintained a superiority over them on many points of national importance; and we laudably wish to preserve our preeminence. In the above review we find the causes, and they are still operating, although, I fear, with weakened force. To the general information, the religious principles, the industrious and orderly habits, the sober and manly character of our people, we must attribute every superior excellence in our national features and condition. If we part with these for the worst of the maxims and practices of those states, whose social order has been less perfect, we shall sink below their level of worth and dignity.

It cannot be denied, that our whole system of religion and education has been attacked. When this is endangered, we may tremble, as the Israelites trembled when the ark of God was on the field of battle, or in the hands of the enemy. It is the palladium of our liberty, the security of our publick prosperity, and the foundations of our individual happiness.

Christianity assumes no other authority over the affairs of the world, than that, which arises from the influence of its doctrines and precepts upon the lives of men. Its connection with civil society results from its tendency to enrich the heart with every virtue which adorns human nature, or increases social happiness; and to enforce the duties of rulers and subjects by sanctions, which the occurrences of this world cannot weaken. This influence is infinitely important.

The experiment of conducting the concerns of civil government without the aid of religion, has recently been made in the old world, and reason is abashed, and humanity blushes at the scenes of oppression and cruelty that ensued. Religion legitimates every subordinate principle of action: It ennobles ambition, by directing it to its proper object: It renders the love of same safe and laudable, by making it the motive of salutary conduct: It gives to benevolence its active force, by the assurance of its ultimate reward. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Religion, in all its aspects, is favourable to liberty: It restrains the turbulent passions of men, renders them submissive to good laws, and, in the disposition of their minds, prepares them for the utmost extent of freedom. But when moral restraints are removed; when dissocial passions have uncontrolled license; when the spirit of party and faction is prevalent, energy of government becomes necessary. Unable to govern itself, such a people requires severity in the ruling power, and in some form it will arise.

The situation of the United States is daily changing. Commerce has opened all her sources of wealth to our enterprising merchants; and the luxuries, which the increase of riches has introduced, threaten to contaminate our purity and enervate our strength. The political state of Europe has flung many foreigners among us, whose genius and habits will not amalgamate with the American character. With this unhallowed mixture, our national manners and character are in danger of being corrupted.

The resources of our country are abundant, if the minds of our people can be kept fixed to their interests, and their patriotism and virtue be preserved. With these guards upon our nation, we need not fear foreign powers. If we fall, it will be by our own vices. If we must run the race of impiety and folly, of party and faction, of dissipation and vice, in which all Republicks have preceded us, let the wise and good unite their energies to procrastinate the catastrophe, and to the utmost, continue the reign of virtue and happiness.

In this view, a sacred and important duty devolves upon men in conspicuous stations, and of influential characters, by their example to encourage attention to institutions, which have proved salutary to our country. The force of example is great. The example of those, who move in elevated spheres, and possess commanding talents, has superior influence. Men of this description possess high means of publick good; motives of religion and patriotism conspire to induce their exercise. They may exert themselves free of the prejudice, which often attaches itself to characters, whose professional business is moral instruction and persuasion. They will not be suspected of interested motives in the support of a system of religion, by which they gain their bread, and acquire an influence over the minds of their fellow-men. Their endeavours will probably have effect upon many, who are prejudiced against the common methods of instruction and improvement. These will certainly be effectual with all, who are governed by the fashion of the day, and implicitly follow the direction given by the great and splendid.

The association of distinguished persons in England, to discountenance infidelity, irreligion, and immorality; and to encourage the observance of the Christian Sabbath, attention to the institutions of the gospel, and the general practices of piety and virtue, is worthy the imitation of similar characters in our country.

The political opinions of the speaker will be discovered by the tenour of his observations: But he addresses himself to no party. He disavows the spirit. Of the evils which menace our peace, all complain: In the preservation of the principles and habits recommended, all discerning patriots will be united. He has not the presumption to dictate to the rulers of the Commonwealth, the measures of their publick conduct: Yet they will permit him to suggest the importance of an adherence to a system which has been productive of so much publick good. Religion, as a transaction between God and the souls of men, is too sacred for human regulation. Civil government may not intermeddle with this holy subject. But it clearly falls within the province of a Christian legislature, to support institutions, which facilitate the instruction of people in the truths and duties of religion, which are the means to give efficacy to the precepts of the gospel, and are calculated to instill the spirit of morality and order into the minds of the community. The oath of office makes this the duty of our Legislature, by the third article of the Bill of Rights. The denial of the being or government of God, blasphemy, and the derision of moral obligation, destroys the solemnity and use of oaths, and weakens the principles, on which the administration of justice and the peace and order of society are suspended; laws, therefore, against these crimes, the freest governments have conceived to be within their powers, and have enacted. To regulate the dissocial affections, to restrain the licentious passions of human nature, and to render “man mild and sociable to man,” is one essential end of civil government. Errours of speculation, which sap not the foundation of society, must be left, for their correction, to the natural force of truth. Many errours in practice we must leave to the operation of moral causes; suffer their endurance until a remedy shall be found in their consequences; until the misery they produce shall correct them. If profligate publications cannot be prevented, their deleterious influence may be counteracted by habits of wise reflection and sober practice. As the means of this important end, government will extend its patronage to our university, colleges, and schools. On these institutions are dependant our prospects for characters to fill the publick stations of society, and to defend our country from the insidious attacks of the disciples of infidelity and vice.

The general education of youth is a subject of as high importance as can occupy the mind of the patriot or the Christian. To render them the worthy heirs of the invaluable inheritance, which we hope to transmit, they must understand the nature of a free government; distinguish social order from anarchy; liberty from licentiousness; the freedom of law from the unrestrained freedom of the savage. They should be inspired with moral principles, as a security against the seductions of a country, rapidly increasing in the means of dissipation and voluptuousness: by habits of piety and virtue, their minds should be armed to repel the assaults of infidelity and libertinism.

The speaker wishes, with deference to suggest, whether some plan might not be grafted into our general system of education, to disseminate the political information necessary to a republican government; and to secure the rising generation from that spirit of innovation, and rage for change, which endanger the primary principles of good order. Care will be taken, that our youth fall not into the hands of instructors of profligate characters, and abandoned principles. The purity of elections will be guarded, and encouragement given to the wise and faithful exercise of the rights of suffrage; that our government may not become corrupt in its first operation. By measures directed to these important objects, our civil rulers will be the nursing fathers of the Christian church, and the guardians of the manners and habits of the community.

The large majority, by which his Excellency is re-elected to the chief seat of government, evidences the approbation of the Commonwealth, of his past services, in this elevated and responsible office. Unanimity, at this day, was not an object of expectation. It is an honourable testimonial of personal merit, that his support has been the greatest where his private character was best known. The unanimous suffrage of those, who were conversant with his walks in social life, must be grateful to the feelings of his Excellency. Confident, that he will lend the united force of his authority and example, to support the institutions of religion, and to preserve the purity of publick morals; that he will execute his trust in righteousness, and with an impartial view to the general good, we wish him the guidance of heaven. May the measures of his administration be applauded by the wise, and approved by the just: May he possess the increasing confidence of his country, and obtain the reward of his God!

The present state of politicks renders the publick service of the two Branches of the Legislature arduous and difficult. They will be watched with critical attention. Their best designs may be attributed to impure motives, and their wisest measures censured. Under these circumstances, worldly principles of action would fail; but the man, who looks within himself for the rule of his publick conduct, will never want support. In the testimony of his heart to the purity of his intentions and the rectitude of his actions, he will find a reward. He will be strengthened to persevere in the path of patriotism and virtue, from a regard to the approbation of Him, who is higher than the highest, whose eyes survey the children of men, and who requires that which is altogether just. Although they now fit as gods, they will reflect, that they must die as men, and give account like one of the people. May wisdom direct their deliberations, and the benediction of heaven render the measures of their adoption beneficial to their country!

To pass unnoticed, on this occasion, the general government of the United States, might be deemed critical omission.

It has been our happiness, that the men placed at the head of the government, were distinguished as well for their piety, as for their political wisdom. Its administration has accorded with the characteristic maxims of our own Commonwealth. Never was a people under higher obligations to a government, than we are to that of the Union. At its organization, the country was embarrassed in every national operation. In each department, the administration was without a precedent: It had new paths to explore, and first principles to adopt. The state of Europe rendered its connexions with foreign nations critical and hazardous. The convulsions of that country soon reached us: We were annoyed by the maritime force of the powers at war: We were the objects of their diplomatick artifice and intrigue: The honest prejudices of our own countrymen aided the interested designs of one of the belligerent powers, and made the business of our rulers the more delicate and laborious. War, like a portentous cloud, hung over our land, and threatened us with all its evils. Under these perplexing circumstances, the administration firmly took the ground of neutrality, and with moderation exercised its rights. It sacredly preserved publick faith; impartially executed national justice and in this way secured us the blessings of peace and tranquility. While the stablest pillars of old governments, and the long established order of society were convulsed, under the auspices of the general government, the resources of our country were called into action; publick credit was established; individual right secured; and the property of the nation doubled. As the price of these blessings, we have paid but one direct tax. Is not a debt of gratitude due to those, who, under God, have been the instruments of this unexampled prosperity? That no mistakes have been committed in the management of our national concerns, is not presumed. Infallibility is not the portion of man: But experience, the best test of the wisdom of publick measures, has given its sanction to those of the federal administration.

Our own venerable patriot, who has now retired to private life, to enjoy dignity with ease, demands the grateful acknowledgements of his signal services. He was among the first to vindicate the invaded rights of his country. He was a primary agent in the establishment of independence; and the confidential minister of the publick during the revolutionary war. By his diplomatick negotiations, he conciliated the friendship of some respectable nations in Europe to our infant Republick, and obtained a loan of money, when our exigencies were the greatest. Under his auspices, as the federal head, our country has probably passed the crisis of danger from the commotions of Europe. His active life has been devoted to publick employment, and through all his stations of trust and responsibility, his integrity and patriotism have been without a stain. Difference of opinion on questions of high national moment, may, for the present, prevent his worth from being duly appreciated; but the impartial historian will do justice to his merits: In future time, the State which gave him birth will derive a lustre from his name.

The return of this anniversary is calculated to animate the minds of all, who attend upon it. The human heart must be enobled by the reflection, that our governours and legislators are raised to office by our own suffrages. To behold them assembled in a body, by their united wisdom, to consult the welfare, and transact the business, of the Commonwealth, is a sight to give joy to every lover of liberty and of country. What impressions would this sight make on the reflecting minds of those, who groan in the chains of despotism? To behold this venerable body around the altar of God, to implore divine wisdom in their deliberations, and the blessing of Heaven upon the measures of their future adoption, must raise every soul in devout gratitude to the original author of all mercies.

Happy America, didst thou know thine happiness! Would to God, that all nations of the earth might annually pass in review before thee, to teach thee the excellence of thy situation, and to inspire thee with a conduct necessary to perpetuate thine advantages! Search the globe, and where can be found, a people, among whom, civil and religious privileges are more perfectly enjoyed? What people of the earth may more justly be attached to their country, than those of Columbia? Where may the spirit of patriotism be cherished with brighter prospects? O! that I could speak with an energy to reach the hearts, and animate the practices, of all the citizens of the United States. Our governments, with all their attendant blessings, are bottomed on the broad basis of publick opinion; and in their support, require the individual exertions of our countrymen.

Can prosperity never content the human mind? Having obtained the highest object of freedom, do we desire a change? From a jealousy that our rulers may do us evil, shall we deprive them of the means to do us good? Shall we leave the protecting arm of Deity, to become the sport of atheistical chance and accident? Shall we turn from the light of revelation to follow the blind guides of infidelity, that we may be left in dark and desolate regions, where there is no path to direct our steps, no object to reward our labours? Shall we give up the enobling hope of immortality, to become like the brute, the victim of perpetual sleep? Shall we part with the maxims of our venerable ancestors, which time has proved to be wise, for a spirit of innovation, which nothing sacred or profane can restrain? Shall we part with the certain blessings of civil freedom and social order, for the fanaticism of ideal liberty and equality, which the nature of man, and his condition of action make it impossible to realize?

God grant, that the spirit of our text may possess the hearts and regulate the lives of our countrymen. Our people being all righteous, the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and security forever. Our rulers being just, ruling in the fear of God, they will be to us like the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

Under this spirit, the general and state governments will operate on each other like the laws of cohesion and attraction, in nature; like the heavenly bodies, they will revolve in harmony, and from their combined influence we shall derive national prosperity and individual security. We, the branch which God has planted, shall inherit the land to His glory. With the steady progress of time, we shall advance towards national perfection, for our God will bless us.

Endnotes

¹ Suctonius in his book of Rhetoricians.

Benjamin Trumbull (1735-1820) graduated from Yale in 1759. He was the preacher for a church in North Haven, beginning in 1760, for almost 60 years. Trumbull served as volunteer and chaplain during the Revolutionary War. This sermon was preached by him in Connecticut on May 14, 1801.

A

S E R M O N,

PREACHED ON THE

GENERAL ELECTION

AT HARTFORD, IN CONNECTICUT,

MAY 14, 1801.

By BENJAMIN TRUMBULL, D. D.
PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN NORTH-HAVEN.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, A.D. 1801.

ORDERED, That the Honorable David Daggett, and Mr. Joseph Doolittle, present the thanks of this Assembly to the Reverend Benjamin Trumbull, D. D. for his Sermon delivered before them at the General Election on the fourteenth instant, and request a copy thereof for the Press.

A true copy of Record,
Examined by
SAMUEL WYLLYS, Secretary.

I KINGS ii. 2, 3.

I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord Thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies as it is written in the Law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou dost, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.

MEN of the most distinguished fame, piety and usefulness, after a few years of faithful services, must quit the stage, and retire into darkness and silence. Kings, who, like David, have filled the throne with honor, must exchange their robes of royalty, the scepter and the crown, for the shroud and the tomb.

To this solemn and momentous period, David, that eminently pious and magnanimous ruler, was now advanced. And how august, how instructive and interesting is the scene, which his example, as exhibited in the text, presents to our view? We behold a renowned and mighty prince, after achieving wonders in the field, and rendering the most essential services to the church of God, taking leave of the world, resigning his government, and giving his final charge to Solomon, who was to reign after him upon the throne of Israel. I go, says he, the way of all the earth. “Exhausted with years and public labors, I suffer the common lot of man, and must sleep with my fathers. I have done with courts, government and life itself. I am bidding a long adieu to them, to you and to all mankind. You are now to accede to the government of a numerous and mighty nation, the people and heritage of the God of Jacob. Upon this great occasion, in these tender and solemn moments, I therefore entreat and charge you, by the affections of an aged, dying father, by all my desires and prayers for your honor and prosperity, and for the welfare of Israel, God’s chosen people, that you be strong and show yourself a man: That you act up to the dignity and glory of your nature. This your exalted station, as the ruler of God’s people, and the immense interests committed to your care will constantly demand. To you, and to them it will be of incalculable importance.”

The words import, that there is great worth and dignity in man: That to conduct himself agreeably to them is to act an useful, wise and glorious part. They comprise everything which a wise, magnanimous and dying father could wish for a favorite son: Everything which a pious prince, who preferred Jerusalem to his chief joy, could desire to see in him, who was to bear rule over the heritage of the Lord. Indeed in this short sentence, David compriseth distinguishing piety and righteousness, whatever is enjoined in the subsequent verses, relative to keeping the charge of the Lord and walking in all his commandments. It also imports that civil government is an arduous work, equal to the utmost strength of human capacity, challenging all the dignity and powers of the greatest men; and that it is of the highest importance that civil rulers be men, displaying that piety, knowledge, prudence, fortitude and magnanimity which are the glory of man.

In this view of our text it will be natural, for its further illustration, to give some sketches of the dignity of man: To show how this is displayed in civil government, or what it is for rulers to show themselves to be men: And lastly how important it is that they should act in character, agreeably to the dignity and excellency of human nature.

I. It will be natural to give a sketch of the dignity and capacity of man.

To show the dignity and awful weight of government, it is necessary to exhibit the dignity and worth of the creatures governed, and the immense value of their interests. This only can show the magnitude of the trust committed to the civil magistrate and the dignity and importance of his office.

But man, who is a subject of divine and human government, is a creature of vast dignity, worth and interests. This is expressed in the text, in the terms, be strong and quit yourselves like men. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God. Man is capable of the most signal usefulness and enjoyment in time and in eternity. In a variety of respects, his Creator hath exalted him, and put a matchless dignity upon him. Though by his apostasy he hath lost the moral image of God, and in that respect the crown is fallen from his head, the gold is changed, and the most fine gold is become dim, yet he still retains resemblances of his natural image, and in many respects is a glorious creature. He is a master-piece of divine workmanship; fearfully and wonderfully made. The erectness of his stature, the convenience and usefulness of his members, the wisdom with which they are all placed, the beauty and majesty of his countenance, the gift of language, and harmony of his voice are endowments by which he is distinguished and exalted above all creatures in this lower system of worlds. But his intelligent soul more especially gives him his dignity and inestimable worth. This is a bright resemblance of the natural perfections of his common father. He is a spirit, so is the soul of man. He is all intelligence and activity, and so is the human mind. Man is the living image of the living God. In him is displayed more of the image and glory of the Deity than in all his other works below the sun.

The worth and dignity of man appear in his capacity, in the great and noble achievements and works which he hath done and is capable of doing. He is capable of thought, reflection, reasoning, consciousness, volition and extensive knowledge:–Of contemplating himself, the heavens, the earth and seas, the variety of creatures and things which they contain, with their natures and usefulness:–Of speaking of trees, from the Cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the Hyssop that springeth out of the wall: ¹ of discovering their various uses, whether for food or physic, for navigation or commerce, for personal or national emolument: And of employing all creatures, elements, trees, plants, herbs and shrubs of every country and climate for his own profit, convenience and pleasure.

He is capable of rising instantaneously, in his contemplations, from earth to the heavens; of traveling among stars and planets; of measuring their distances and magnitudes; and of making vast discoveries in philosophy and astronomy:–Of rising still higher, from the contemplations of nature, to the far more important and pleasing contemplations of nature’s God. He can plan and effect wonderful works; erect cities and kingdoms, found and govern empires. If we look back to the effects of ancient times, in the land of Shinar, Egypt and Palestine, what glorious works there presented themselves, where Babel, Babylon, Nineveh, and the Pyramids, which have been the wonder of the world, were erected! Where stood Jerusalem, the holy temple, and all the magnificent works of Solomon! If we survey the kingdoms of Europe, what super works attract our view and fill us with astonishment!

How great and useful have been the writings of men, in every learned profession! What thanks do the world owe to Hypocrates, Boerhaave, and to several modern writers, for their discoveries and communications in the healing art? To Hale, Cook, Littleton, Montesquieu and others, for the light which they have thrown upon the laws of nature and nations, and upon jurisprudence in general? How have Lock, Sir Isaac Newton, Franklin, and other logicians and philosophers, enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge? With what admiration do we view the works of theologians? Of Pool, Owen, Perkins, Twiss and others? What changes have they effected? Paul propagated and established Christianity through the heathen world; and the pens and eloquence of Luther and Calvin wrought the glorious protestant revolution.

To come nearer to our own times, and to our own country, how great and extensively useful have been the works of our pious and venerable ancestors, in crossing the Atlantic, in planting Christianity in North America, in turning a wilderness, a land not sown, into gardens, orchards and fruitful fields? And in converting thousands of heathen to the knowledge, love and fear of God? Especially, in forming such free, civil and religious constitutions, at a time when the light of liberty was but just dawning upon mankind; and in founding colleges and schools, and making such provision for the general diffusion of knowledge among their descendants, as has rendered us, under the divine smiles, the most free, intelligent and happy people upon whom the fun hath ever shone?

May I not with equal propriety mention the more modern, but not less signal and important works, the American revolution, affected by the energies of the sword and pen of a Washington, aided by the other sages and heroes of America? The peace negotiated by those renowned men, Adams, Franklin and Jay? The constitution of the United States, the counsels and labors by which, in the course of a few years, they have been elevated to such a distinguished point of power, respectability, opulence and prosperity? Do not all these proclaim the capacity, the dignity and worth of man.

But nothing has yet been said of that in which his chief importance appears. He is immortal, capable of more happiness than all the creatures of God, whether angels or men have yet enjoyed, or will enjoy to the consummation of all things. The lives and happiness of the whole intellectual system, collected into one life and sum of happiness, would be a mere nothing, like a drop to the ocean, or spark to the sun, in comparison with immortality, and that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and blessedness which one soul is capable of enjoying. The pains and sorrows of all men on earth and of the damned in hell, from the creation to the judgment day, are nothing, when contrasted with that eternity of sufferings which an immortal spirit may endure. As redeemed creatures may be progressing in knowledge, usefulness and bliss, during their immortality, it is not improbable, that the knowledge, usefulness and happiness of every individual saved from among men, will exceed those of all creatures from the day of their creation to the end of time. In this view how does language fail to describe, or imagination to conceive the dignity, capacity and worth of man?

Again, if we consider all the counsels of God from eternity, and all his works in time employed for his recovery; the Son of God dying, rising, interceding and reigning forever for his salvation, how does it aggrandize our ideas of the dignity and worth of man? Saith Dr. Young, In heaven’s great and constant effort for our welfare is capitally written the dignity of man. In what beautiful and striking language does he represent his incalculable worth?

“Know’st thou the worth of an immortal soul?
Behold this midnight glory: worlds on worlds,
Amazing pomp! Redouble this amaze;
Ten thousand add, and twice ten thousand more;
Then weigh the whole: one soul outweighs them all.

A greater than he hath said, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

II. I proceed to show how this dignity is displayed in civil government, or what it is for rulers to show themselves to be men; especially in the sense of our text.

In general it may be observed, that since the dignity and importance of men are of such incalculable magnitude, they must, to show themselves men, at a wise, honorable, magnanimous and glorious part. Their conduct must be in some measure proportionate to their dignity, their high stations and immense interests, and to their capacity, and advantages. They must first seek and promote the greatest and best interests; the highest happiness of themselves and others, and harmoniously treat all objects and interests according to their nature, worth and importance. For men of great dignity and consideration, to act dishonorably, unrighteously, meanly, or wickedly; to neglect great and lasting interests, and employ themselves about those which are trifling and momentary; to prefer private to public good, the honors, wealth and pleasures of time, to those of eternity, are totally inconsistent with the reason and dignity of man.

These observations will apply, in their full force and utmost latitude, to civil rulers. As they stand in the first rank among men, as to their management are committed vast and complicated interests, and as they are distinguished for abilities and advantages for public usefulness; so they should act with views proportionably great, wise, public spirited and magnanimous. Everything selfish, narrow, partial, unrighteous and wicked in them, will appear in a peculiar manner inglorious and inconsistent with human dignity, and especially with that of a civil ruler.

From these general observations it clearly appears that the dignity of man is strongly exhibited, in good government. It will however appear, in a stronger point of view, from a consideration of the immense interests committed to their care, and of the persons for whom they are to legislate and judge. If one immortal creature be of such incalculable worth, how much more valuable must be thousands and millions of them, with all their interests civil and religious? In a Christian state or nation there are many of the sons of God, princes of heaven who shall reign in life by Jesus Christ forever. There are men of whom the world is not worthy; men who shall judge angels, nay judge the world, ² even the judges and potentates of the earth. So precious are they that God hath said, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. ³ In presiding over such beings and interests, the highest dignity is manifested. The greater the trust is, which is committed to men, the greater are the honor and dignity put upon them.

Especially is the case, when they are called to it of God, as are all civil rulers, whatever may be their forms of government, or whatever instrumentality men h=may have in their advancement. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. ⁴ For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. ⁵

They are termed by the high and awful name of Gods, ⁶ and judge and act for God. They are his ministers, for good to the people. ⁷ By the very nature and design of their office, they are God’s deputies not for themselves, but for the people, to do them good and nothing but good. Their whole authority, powers and influence should be employed to keep and promote the public peace and happiness; to maintain all the natural, civil and religious rights of their subjects, to suppress all immorality, and to countenance and support everything which is useful, virtuous and praise-worthy. They are represented as the very pillars of the earth, which support it, and prevent its dissolution. ⁸ In what can the dignity of man be possibly more displayed than in sustaining these high and momentous offices, and in a zealous, wise and faithful discharge of them? Does it not imply everything in which human nature can appear great and good?

Particularly, civil rulers, to show themselves men, must be truly and eminently religious. This is fully implied in the text. Solomon was directed to show himself a man by courageously keeping the charge of the Lord his God, by walking in all his ways, and commandments, and testimonies, as they were written in the law of Moses. The words import that no person can be a man, acting consistently with his rational nature, without it. The same idea is suggested by the prophet Isaiah, who calls upon the Israelites to show themselves men, by renouncing their idols, and acknowledging and submitting to God, as their portion and happiness. ⁹ David insisted on this in his address to Solomon, not only as absolutely necessary, that he might show himself a man, but that he might be happy either in his person or government. That thou mightiest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself. His remarkable words, I Chron. xxviii. 9. Are exceedingly expressive of these truths. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Thus did the man after God’s own heart, one of the greatest, most experienced and renowned princes, press religion upon his son, that he might be happy in his person and kingdom, and not be totally and forever rejected by God. Indeed he gives it, as the first and most essential part of the character of a good ruler, that he must be truly pious and righteous. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men, must be just, ruling in the fear of God. ¹⁰

Those great commands, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God, are not less binding on the prince than on the peasant, on the ruler than on the subject. These precepts, and the high office which rulers bear, as ministers of God, oblige them to imitate him in his goodness, in the purity of their principles and aims, of their constitutions, laws, judgments, and whole legislative and executive conduct. They should bear true allegiance to him, act with the same benevolent principles, and seek the same ends which he seeks, the public happiness and the glory of his name. But without religion consisting in the love and fear of God, in the love and practice of righteousness and universal goodness, there can be no allegiance to him, nor a single principle or view under the influence of which they ought to act.

In a word, the consideration of their dignity and worth, that as individuals they have interests to secure far superior to everything temporal, and that the many thousands of their subjects have interests equally momentous, and that magistrates are called to their high offices, to subserve these complicated and immense interests, furnisheth the most energetic motives to religion and virtue. A celebrated writer observes, “He who thinks of his dignity, necessarily thinks of God; and he who values his dignity as necessarily worships and obeys him.”

Further, they must, to show themselves men, possess great knowledge and wisdom, an enlarged understanding, comprehensive of the various interests of the people and of the means of promoting them.

Civil Government is arduous, and requires the knowledge of a great variety of things, with a singular prudence in the management of public affairs. The civil magistrate should have an intimate acquaintance with the genius, laws, customs, manners, dangers, resources and whole state of the people whom he governs. He ought also to know the genius, laws, customs, commerce, wants and advantages of the sister states; their peculiar prejudices and prepossessions, that he may avail himself of all these circumstances, to do good to the people over whom he presides, and to the several states in the union: and that by his extensive knowledge, and the impartiality and integrity of his government, he may subserve the general interests of the nation. Indeed he should have a general acquaintance with the religion, genius, navigation, commerce, general laws and state of nations and of the whole world; that from this comprehensive view he may govern himself and the affairs of the commonwealth, with respect to all their extensive and numerous interests and relations, in such a manner as shall most effectually promote the peace and emolument of the subjects of his own immediate government, and the peace and mutual advantage of all their relations. In this way he may be useful and do good to all men. As far as possible, he should be versed in the whole art of jurisprudence, finance and government.

The knowledge of men is also of high consideration to civil rulers. However wise they may be, in other respects, and however excellent their constitutions and laws, and with whatever extent of wisdom and foresight measures may be adopted for the general happiness, yet if the men appointed to execute them are too weak, irresolute or wicked to perform the duties of their respective offices, the designs of the legislature will be frustrated, and the people will be deprived of the happy effects of their wisdom, and of those advantages to which they have a just claim by their constitutions and laws. That rulers may therefore be happy in their government, they must know men, and have fortitude to reject the weak, intriguing and wicked, and to employ the wise, faithful and good, in the executive departments of the government.

As the human mind is capable of endless improvement, and as knowledge is so important for the purposes of good government, how laboriously should rulers study these points, that they may be men in knowledge and wisdom?

The affairs of government are high, above the reach of vulgar minds, though they may be good, and have the best designs towards the community. Moses therefore commanded, Take ye wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. ¹¹ Solomon, sensible of the necessity of wisdom in the government of a great people, asked it of God. The petition was highly acceptable, and he gave him wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. ¹²

Civil rulers, to show themselves men, must also possess high paternal feelings, be of a public, noble spirit, deeply impressed with a sense of the vast worth of the interests, the liberties, lives, property, order, peace and prosperity of a commonwealth and nation. They should be strongly inclined to sacrifice all private interests for the public good, and to employ their honors, talents, opportunities and advantages wholly for its advancement. God commands that all rulers should be men fearing God and hating covetousness. ¹³ As they are his ministers for good, they ought, as far as possible, like him to be good and do good unto all. Like the light of the morning sun, rising without clouds, and gladdening a thousand regions, and like the clear shining after rain, which warms and fertilizes the gardens, the orchards and fields, and with countless fruits and plenteous harvests, enriches whole nations, and administers food and gladness to all men, they should, by extending the righteous, benign and peaceful influences of their government to small as well as great, to the fatherless and widow, to the humble cottage as well as the spacious dome, to thousands, to millions, to all, diffuse universal safety, comfort and joy. While, with these feelings, they act the man, they will appreciate the civil, temporal order, peace and happiness of the community; the liberties, lives and fortunes of the thousands who have entrusted to them their invaluable interests. They will appreciate their immense religious concerns, and not forget their own.

They will realize the importance and necessity of religion and Christian morals, that a people may be free and happy. They will not be insensible of the mutual influence, which government and religion have upon each other. All the measures of government, and even the examples of rulers, will encourage, or injure religion. It cannot be unaffected with the government and example of those in authority. Religion in like manner hath incalculable influence on the government, liberties and happiness of a people. In proportion as men are really conscientious and influenced by genuine principles of the gospel, they will be self-governed. Crimes will be prevented even in secret, and it will give to individuals and to the community at large, such security, peace and order, as mere law can never afford. Where men feel the influence of religion, mild laws will be sufficient for the purposes of government, and but few restraints on the natural rights of the people will be necessary. But when conscience is lost, and moral motives have no influence, a people can be governed by severe laws and punishments only; by Newgates, swords and cannon. In just such proportion as the influence of moral principles and motives are annihilated, the restraints of law must be increased, and the natural rights and liberties of the subjects be diminished. At the same time, property, character, life, and all public and private interests will be less secure. What state of society can be more wretched, than that described by the prophets, when judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off? Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter? ¹⁴—When every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders? ¹⁵—When the best of them is a brier, and the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge? ¹⁶—What order, honor or safety, what liberty or happiness can there be among such a people? It is doubtless the greatest quackery in politics, to imagine, that free government and liberty can be maintained without religion and morals.

While rulers taste the pleasures of religion, and act under the influence of wisdom, they will also appreciate the interests of literature, encourage colleges and schools, and advocate all proper means for the general diffusion of knowledge among the people. This is of high consideration both in a civil and religious view; especially in a republican government. If the people are sufficiently illuminated, they will ordinarily, under a wise and good government, be peaceable, steady and joyful. Whatever factious and designing men may insinuate, they will know their true interests, and faithfully support a wise and righteous government. Faction will have but little influence, and ordinarily will be but of short duration. This lays the foundation for eminence in all the learned professions, and is the hand-maid of religion. This has been one grand mean of the civil and religious liberty, peace and happiness of this and the New-England States. This indeed was a leading step in securing the liberty and happiness of America. Men must understand the great principles of rational liberty, that they may contend for, and maintain them. Religion and literature will therefore be encouraged while legislators display the dignity of man.

Further, that they may show themselves to be men, they must possess uncommon magnanimity and fortitude. It is commanded in the text, Be thou strong and show thyself a man: and the Lord commanded Joshua, Be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee. ¹⁷

Men of all characters have need even of supernatural strength, that they may overcome the world, their lusts and spiritual enemies. For who is he that overcometh the world, but he that is born of God? Is not this the victory that overcometh the world even our faith? ¹⁸ Rulers, and all men in high life, are in peculiar danger from the riches, pleasures, honors, applause and flattery of the world. Worldly cares, company and a multiplicity of business are calculated to fill the mind and leave no place for God and religion. Hence it is written, Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. ¹⁹ Great courage and magnanimity therefore are necessary for men in public stations that they may war with firmness and resolution against the lusts of their own hearts, and the snares and allurements of the world: That they may bear a firm testimony against vice, scatter the wicked with their eye, and not bear the sword in vain: That they may be proof against the subtlety and arts of intriguing men, and the flattery and bribes of those who, in these crooked ways, would court their favor, and tempt them to partiality and respect of persons. They have often to steer in a rough sea. Sometimes faction rears its baleful head within, and wars rage without. Liberty, property, religion and life are at stake. What fortitude, at such times, is necessary, that their hearts may not melt and be shaken with fear, either from the attacks of foreign or domestic, open or secret enemies? The ruler should stand like a rock in the sea, which keeps its place though the storms arise, the billows roll and dash themselves upon it with the greatest violence. Especially, is this necessary in popular governments; that rulers may act impartially, do justice and judgment, faithfully pursue their own opinions and the public good, though popular prejudices and the popular breath should sometimes be against them. When party spirit runs high, and rulers, notwithstanding their most able, upright and faithful services, are misrepresented and vilified, a peculiar nobleness and magnanimity are necessary, to rise superior to calumny and abuse, and to treat all parties with candor, impartiality and goodness. This displays the dignity of man.

Indeed, integrity, faithfulness, diligence, sobriety, and all the social virtues, are necessary that Christian magistrates may show themselves men. They should be examples of everything which a wise and good ruler would wish to have the people to be, to make them great, honorable and happy. The good example of rulers puts great dignity upon them, endears them to their constituents, and has a most salutary influence on individual and public happiness.

In a word, that any of us may show ourselves to be men, we must act up to the dignity of our nature. We must know the Lord our God, be strong to keep his charge, and to walk in his ways, and exhibit all those virtues which may make us good citizens, useful in society, and qualified for a blessed immortality!

III. I proceed to show how important it is that rulers should act in character, agreeable to the dignity of human nature.

The observations which have been made, and passages of scripture which have been adduced, set this in a strong point of light. The address of David to his beloved Solomon, in our text, imports its high necessity and transcendent moment.

The express commands of God, that rulers, from the ruler of thousands even to the ruler of tens, should be able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; just, ruling in the fear of God, are expressive of its high importance. The divine requisitions are of the highest consideration. They are absolutely indispensible.

Further this appears from a consideration of the immense interests committed to the management of rulers, and of the influence which the manner of their government will necessarily have upon them. They rule over men, over thousands, it may be over millions, everyone of whom is worth more than a world. They enact and support the laws by which they are to be protracted in their names, persons, estates and all their civil and religious interests; nay, by which they are to live or die. They are guardians of everything dear to them. The many thousands over whom they bear rule will rejoice or mourn according to the manner in which they govern. It will have influence on the religion, morals, present and endless happiness of innumerable multitudes of the human race. Individuals, families, the present age, and generations to come may be exceedingly effected by their government and example. Is it possible then to calculate of what importance it is that they should show themselves to be men?

Further, in what a forcible and engaging point of light will this appear from the happy effects of a wise and righteous government? How are these attested by scripture and all experience? Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness. ²² When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice. ²¹ Their influence is represented as cheering as the light of the morning, and like the genial effects of the sun and rain, which clothe nature in all her beauties and produce fruits and harvests of every kind. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain. ²²

How happy and honorable was the nation of Israel under the government of David and Solomon? How did the kingdom of Judah prosper in the reigns of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and other wise and pious kings? How have other nations and communities flourished under wise and good government? How great and happy have been the effects of it in New-England, and especially in Connecticut? How wise and free are her constitutions? How mild and salutary her system of laws, and the genius of her government? Where is liberty so amply enjoyed? Where is such provision made for schooling? And where is knowledge so generally diffused among the people? What commonwealth was ever governed with less expense, or to more general satisfaction? Where is the community upon earth which rivals her in these respects?

The distraction and misery to which a people are reduced, by a weak and wicked government, may add further light and energy to the point under consideration. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken, Woe unto thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning. ²³ When the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. ²⁴ God denounceth it as one of the heaviest curses upon his own people, That he would give children to be their princes, and that babes should rule over them. ²⁵

Facts and the experience of mankind, in every age and country, give us the same ideas of a weak and wicked government. How did the folly of rehoboam at once divide the kingdom of Israel, and deprive it of all that wealth, dignity and prosperity, to which the preceding reigns of his illustrious ancestors, David and Solomon, had raised it? How fatal and lasting were the effects of the wicked reigns of Jeroboam and his successors, on the throne of Israel; and of Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon and Zedekiah upon the throne of Judah? They have been the same in other nations in every period of the world! How have the impious and wicked governments of Europe, within the course of a few years, brought incalculable miseries on the people and astonished the world with new crimes? In what a strong and affecting point of light do these considerations evince how highly necessary and important it is that rulers show themselves to be men?

The consideration, that the blessing of God will attend a wise and pious government, and no other, is also of great consideration, to engage rulers to be strong and keep the charge of the Lord. That thou mayest prosper, says David, to his beloved Solomon, in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself. The words import that there is no prosperity to be expected for rulers themselves, nor their subjects, unless they show themselves strong, to keep the charge of the Lord, and to walk in his ways. At the same time, they contain an implication or promise, that if they will do these they shall prosper in all their measures, and be most happy in their government. The blessing of God will attend them and the people, and righteousness will exalt the nation.

In a word, that civil rulers, and all others, in the various departments and conditions of life, should act in character, as men, is of infinite moment to themselves. All are indispensibly bound to pay the first and principal attention to religion. Our Saviour and Judge has commanded, Seek first the kingdom of God. ²⁶ Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. ²⁷ If we are disobedient to these high commands, we shall deprive ourselves of the transcendent dignity and happiness of men. We shall destroy interests more valuable than the whole material system, and whatever our circumstances may have been in the present state, we shall mourn at last without pity or end. Our responsibility will be high and solemn, in proportion to the interests entrusted to us; and to our capacities, honors and opportunities. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him will they ask the more. ²⁸

On a review of our subject it is natural to remark on the infinite ingratitude, horrible nature and criminality of sin. What language can describe the ingratitude of treason against him who has given such dignity and worth to man? How ineffable the criminality of destroying such a creature? How sorrowful would it be? How dreadful the crime to destroy the cities, the wealth and happiness of empires, to quench the sun and stars and obliterate the whole material system? But still more sorrowful and tremendous is it to ruin an immortal soul! To destroy one’s self! Well has the poet said,

“Not all these luminaries quench’d at once,
Were half so sad, as one benighted mind,
Which gropes for happiness, and meets despair.”

It is natural further to remark the necessity not only of rulers being men of prayer, constantly asking wisdom, and the high qualifications for good government, but that the people should pray for, and by all means encourage and support them. Proper views of the vast interests committed to their management, and of their high responsibility to God and men, cannot fail to awake in them, as it did in king Solomon, an impressive sense of the necessity of wisdom and aid from heaven, and of their diligently employing all means and opportunities to furnish themselves for public usefulness, and to call into exertion their whole capacity for the common weal.

At the same time, these views will strongly impress on the minds of good people, a sense of the duty of making supplications, prayers and intercessions for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. ²⁹ Under the same views and impressions, they will obey magistrates, and be in subjection, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. ³⁰ They will render tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. ³¹ They will be candid in judging and modest in speaking of men in authority, and of the public measures. They will be peaceable, contented, industrious and thankful under a good administration of government. With their lives and fortunes, they will support their constitutions and laws. They will abhor faction, discountenance public clamor and insurrection; and be far from the character of those who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities, and of those things which they know not. ³²

Further, justice cannot be done to this subject without observing, that it furnisheth motives of the highest consideration to cultivate the mind, and to summon into exertion all the powers of man. Is it possible to describe, or even to conceive the weight of the arguments which his dignity, immortality and capacity for endless improvement and usefulness, for happiness or misery, furnish to persuade every man to be wise and good? Who can seriously contemplate them and not be all life and diligence in the service of God and his generation?

In this state, and at this eventful period, there are peculiar incentives, for all to show themselves men, and to be strong to keep the charge of the Lord our God: especially for the legislature. The good sense and order of our citizens; the encouragement and support, which, for more than a hundred and sixty years, they have uniformly given to the government; their steady conduct in electing men, who have been distinguished for wisdom and patriotism; and when they have once chosen them, in giving them their suffrages annually, during the period of life, or until, by reason of age, they have been incapacitated for public usefulness, is of great consideration, to encourage them to give themselves to the study of government and jurisprudence, and to possess themselves of every qualification which may render them publicly and most extensively useful. The expression of the general esteem of their fellow-citizens in annually placing them in the chair of state, cannot but conciliate their warmest affections, elevate their patriotism, and stimulate their exertions for the common weal. This, while it animates them, is of essential advantage to the citizens, as it gives them rulers rich in experience as well as knowledge. Experience in government is like experiment in philosophy; it teacheth that which nothing else can teach, and is to be depended on. These circumstances create mutual confidence between the ruler and subject, and greatly subserve the general peace and happiness.

On these auspicious circumstances, on the general health and plenty; on the preservation of the lives of his Excellency the Governor and Council, of the Judges of the Superior Court and of our citizens in general, with heartfelt joy, I beg leave to congratulate your Excellency, and this honorable General Assembly. That since the last general election there has been but one breach among the judges of our courts, and but two among two hundred of the clergy, ³³ certainly demands our public notice and grateful acknowledgements. The flourishing state of our college and schools is matter of congratulation. These all exhibit motives to piety and usefulness. With the utmost deference, I wish to suggest to your excellency, and this honorable legislature, that you will appreciate and feel their influence. The examples of former governors and magistrates, which have shone with the most distinguishing luster, the happy and lasting effects of their government, the honor and pleasure of continuing and increasing the public happiness, and of important and extensive usefulness to the American States, and to the world of mankind, will not certainly escape your wise observation, nor be without their influence. The eventful period, in which you are called to public action, the uncommon field which presents itself for the display of all the greatness and goodness of man will not be without your notice.

Was there ever call for such a number of great and good men, and for the display of talents in the various departments of the national government, and in those of the government of the particular states, as there is as present? While our citizens are making settlements in every part of the United States; while they are settling a new and extensive government; while they are traversing the ocean, appearing in the East and West-Indies, and in almost every port in the habitable earth, what infinite service might be done to the cause of God and men, by training them to good government, to wisdom, piety, righteousness and the various social virtues? Who can calculate the good effects which it might have not only on the affairs of this state, but of the sister states in general? What happy influence it might have on the morals, civil and religious interests of the new settlements? How far it might extend its influence to future ages and to the four quarters of the earth?

To govern with views, and in a manner most subservient to these noble ends, will be, in the true import of our text, to show yourselves men.

The dangers attending government call for vigilance, manly wisdom and exertion. To maintain and cultivate the peace of America, amidst the animosities of Europe, and the conflicts and jealousies of numerous nations, to conciliate parties and preserve internal peace, to guard against the intrigue, perfidy and demoralization which have made Europe a field of blood, and spread unprecedented misery among a great proportion of the human race, are works becoming the dignity of man. Objects and motives of such magnitude, it is presumed, will arrest your attention, and call into exertion all your powers for the general prosperity and happiness. May you be strong nd show yourselves men, and so keep the charge of the Lord our God, that you may prosper in all that you do, and whithersoever you shall turn yourselves. May you by great and noble actions, the most extensive benevolence and usefulness, embalm your names to the latest posterity. Thus may you prepare for the closing scene of life, when, like David, you shall go the way of all the earth, and stand before him who is higher than the highest and judgeth among the Gods. Then may you meet his all-gracious approbation, and be forever as distinguished for dignity and blessedness among the sons of God, as you have been for exaltation and usefulness among men.

The dignity and worth of man call for universal exertion for his salvation. Especially do they challenge our exertions, my Reverend brethren, who are appointed to watch for souls, as those who must give account. ³⁴ We have interests of our own more valuable than empires, and beside these, how many others of equal importance, are committed to our care? How solemn, how wonderful the trust? How extensive is the field of usefulness, which opens before us? How grand are the objects, how weighty the motives which call us to action. What immense good, by the blessing of God, may we, at such a period, effect by our spirited and faithful labors? By ably defending Christianity? By a zealous and faithful preaching of the doctrines of the cross? By an assiduous inculcation of Christian morals? By supporting government, and training up young men for usefulness in church and commonwealth? By diffusing the knowledge of Christ among the new and extensive settlements on our borders, and by communicating the blessings of salvation to the perishing Heathen of the American continent?

The union and correspondence we have formed with the Presbyterian churches in America, and a similar one with the ministers and churches of Vermont, afford advantages for the most extensive usefulness. The countenance which this honorable legislature have been pleased to give our charitable designs, the liberality with which our good citizens have supported them, and especially, the revival of God’s work in many of our congregations and in the new settlements, challenge our religious acknowledgements. At the same time, they afford engaging motives to perseverance and still greater exertions in our work. Shall we not then brace up with a kind of invincible and immortal vigor and heroism, and spring forward, with united hearts and exertions, to the divine employment to which we are called? Let us rise superior to this vain world, to all its allurements, reproach and persecution. Like the great apostle, warmed with the love of God and men, and fixing our eye upon the goal of glory, let none of these things move us, neither let us count our lives dear to us, that we may finish our course with joy; and the ministry we have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. ³⁵

To conclude, since man is far greater than can be conceived, let all my hearers show themselves to be men. Contemplate, I beseech you, the transcendent worth and dignity of your natures. Know that you have interests of your own, an empire within, to govern, more valuable than Alexander’s or Caesar’s. You have to subdue your lusts and govern yourselves: To vanquish Satan and the world, or you can never be happy. You run not for corruptible and mortal, but for incorruptible and immortal crowns. You may be kings and priests, and reign with your Redeemer and his redeemed people forever. Deprive not yourselves of heavenly priesthood and royalty. Be not guilty of the infinite crime of destroying yourselves, nor of destroying others. Know that you have families to train to virtue and glory: That you are called to seek the peace, and promote the interests of the churches, societies and corporations to which you respectively belong: To support, build, make honorable and happy this commonwealth; this young, but extensive and growing nation. In proportion as you awake to these duties you will show yourselves to be men. Whatever you design to do, do it immediately; for soon, yes, very soon, like David, you will go the way of all the earth. Work therefore while the day lasteth; for the night cometh when no man can work. This will make you honorable and useful in life and happy in death. This will qualify you to rejoice in the gladness of God’s nation, and to glory with his inheritance forever. Amen.

Endnotes

1. I Kings, iv. 33.

2. I Cor. vi. 2, 3.

3. Zechariah ii. 8.

4. Psalm lxxv. 6, 7.

5. Rom. xiii. 1.

6. Psalm lxxxii. 6.

7. Rom. xiii. 4.

8. I Sam. ii. 8 and Psalm lxxv. 3.

9. Isaiah xlvi. 8.

10. 2 Samuel xxiii. 3.

11. Exodus xviii. 21 and Deut. i. 13.

12. I Kings iii. 9, 10, 11, 12, and chapter iv. 20.

13. Exodus xviii. 21.

14. Isaiah lix. 14.

15. Jer. ix. 4.

16. Micah vii. 4.

17. John I 7.

18. I John v. 4, 5.

19. I Cor. i. 26.

20. Eccles. X. 17.

21. Prov. xxix. 2.

22. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4.

23. Eccles. x. 16.

24. Prov. xxix. 2.

25. Isaiah iii. 4, 5.

26. Matt. vi. 33.

27. John vi. 27.

28. Luke 12. 48.

29. I Tim. ii. 1, 2.

30. Rom. xiii. 5.

31. Verse 7.

32. Jude 8.

33. Joseph Hopkins, Esquire; one of the judges of the Court for the County of New-Haven, the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, one of the fellows of Yale-College, and the Rev. Timothy Langdon have deceased since the last election.

34. Heb. xiii. 17.

35. Acts xx. 24.

A

SERMON

Preached
Before The

Honorable
The Council,

And The

Honorable The Senate,

And

House of Representatives

Of The

Commonwealth
of Massachusetts,

May 18,
1800,

Being
The Day Of

GENERAL ELECTION.

By Joseph
McKeen, A.M.

Pastor of the
First Church in Beverly.

Ordered- That Moses Brown and James Burnham,
Esquires, and Mr. John Stephens, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. McKeen,
of Beverly, and in the name of the House, to thank him for his Discourse this
day delivered before the Hon. Council and the two Branches of the Legislature,
and to request a copy thereof for the Press.

Matthew 5- Latter part of the Verse.

A city that is
set on a hill, cannot be hid.

The divine author of our holy religion addressing his immediate disciples, suggested to them the distinguished part they should be called to act in erecting his kingdom of righteousness and truth in the world.

He well knew that many would estimate the character and worth of his religion by its visible influence on their conduct. If they imbibed its genuine spirit, and exhibited in their deportment a just specimen of its purity, they would recommend it to the consciences of men. But should they, on the contrary, practically disregard its doctrines and precepts, they would incur the suspicion of propagating a cunningly devised fable for selfish purposes, unfriendly to the general interest and happiness of mankind.

That they might act their part with dignity and fidelity, with honor to themselves, and advantage to their fellow men, it was necessary that their minds should be impressed with a deep sense of the importance of the work assigned them, and of their high responsibility. Their every word and action would acquire new importance from their office, and would invite the critical attention of friends and foes. The former would be likely to defend and imitate even their foibles, and the latter to exaggerate them into crimes of magnitude to the disadvantage of them and their cause. It behooved them therefore to remember that all eyes were upon them, and that, to
guard their own reputation, and promote the best interest of mankind, their whole conduct should be governed by wisdom and integrity. A City that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

The same observations are in a degree applicable to all men, who fill important offices in the Commonwealth.

Many will always form their opinion of a government from what they know of the characters of the men who administer it. They are better judges of the private characters of men, with whom they are conversant, than they are of the constitutionality, propriety, or tendency of their political measures. When a government is administered by men of acknowledged wisdom and rectitude, it will have the confidence, attachment and support of good men. When it is administered by men, whose characters are vile or contemptible, it will be abhorred or despised.

That rulers therefore may in the best manner answer the end of their elevation, it is desirable that their private as well their official conduct should command the respect of every beholder. To do this, brilliancy of talents is by no means the most essential requisite. It is far from being necessary, for instance, that every member of a deliberative assembly should be qualified to shine as a public speaker. A sound judgment, and a general knowledge of the public interest, are necessary to the discharge of the duties of their places with reputation to themselves, and advantage to the community; but these endowments and qualifications for usefulness will not ensure them the respect and confidence of an enlightened and free people, unless they are reputed men of virtue. The greater their abilities and knowledge are, if they are believed to be destitute of moral principle, the more they will be objects of fear and distrust. The servile and corrupt will seek their favor, and expect to gain it by their readiness to co-operate in the execution of base designs; but good men, alarmed and discouraged, will retire into the shade, accounting in such a state of things a private station the most honorable post. It is obviously, then, of great importance that men in places of public trust, authority and honor, should be not only truly virtuous, but unsuspected. It is conceived to be more necessary in a free, than to a despotic government. In the latter, force is the instrument that is principally relied on to preserve the public tranquility; but in the former, much is to be done by instruction, persuasion and example. The influence of these will be felt by the well-disposed, who will be gently drawn into a combination in favor of the order and happiness of society, which will extend its_.benign influence over others less informed and less virtuous. In a design so laudable and patriotic, it may be reasonably expected that virtuous rulers will lead the way. The happiness of society is an object, which they will always keep in view. And it is
believed that in many cases their example will contribute not less efficaciously than their statutes to the real respectability and permanent prosperity of the State.

It has pleased God in his gracious providence to grant us the singular privilege of deliberately framing, and freely adopting, constitutions of government, for the express purpose of securing our freedom, and promoting our welfare. Their importance and excellence are, and ought to be, gratefully acknowledged. But, if the real freedom of a country depends as much on the character and habits of the people as on a written constitution, our civil fathers will give us leave to solicit the weight of their example, authority and influence in opposition to the mistaken notions and vices which threaten our liberty, and in favor of the principles and virtues, which are indispensable to our freedom and happiness.

It is not thought necessary to attempt on this occasion a formal proof of the power of example. It has been seen and felt and acknowledged in every age. It is equally obvious that the example of men in places of authority and honor is more influential, and more likely to be imitated than that of persons in the lower walks of life, especially in an elective free republic, where there are no hereditary distinctions of rank to prevent a free intercourse between the people and their rulers. Their elevation renders them conspicuous, like a city on a hill, and naturally attracts the public attention. Besides there is a general disposition in people to imitate the conduct of their superiors: And, unfortunately, they learn more easily to imitate their vices than_. their virtues. For this reason men, who are clothed with power, or raised by their wealth above their neighbors, ought to feel themselves in a degree responsible for the behavior of those around them. The happy tendency of good example deserves to be seriously considered by every virtuous ruler, and every real friend of his country. Blessed be God, we have had a Washington, whose unrivalled fame may silence the suggestions of a false shame, and dissipate the fears of timid virtue, which dreads the charge of singularity in goodness.

Good example acts with the greater effect, because it reproves without upbraiding, and teaches us to correct our faults without giving us the mortification of knowing that any but ourselves, have ever observed them. We feel the force of counsel or persuasion much more sensibly, when we see that one does what he advises or requires us to do. But the best counsel from one, who obeys not his own precepts, nor practices upon the principles of his own advice, will generally be little regarded. We do not believe a man to be in earnest, who advises one thing, and does the contrary.

To resist the progress of irreligion, injustice, luxury, selfishness, and an impatience of legal restraint, is a duty imposed by patriotism. And I hope my much respected hearers feel their obligation to recommend by their own example piety, justice, economy, public spirit, an attachment to our constitutions, and a cheerful submission to the laws, as essential to our political happiness. The influence of their ex ample is the more necessary at the present day, because an attachment to old opinions and old customs, which once exercised an almost boundless sway over the human mind, has lost great part of its power, and has given place to a passion for innovation, which rejects whatever is old fashioned, with as little reason and as little examination as prejudice formerly retained it. This passion indulged would prostrate the religious, moral and political principles, which are the bulwarks of our freedom.

It has been thought by many, and still is by some, that government is the only foe to liberty; that the people of any or every country might at once become free and happy, if such a spirit of opposition to their oppressors could be excited as would enable them to cast off their old chains. But experience is correcting this error.

When we cast off the British yoke, we generally apprehended the greatest danger to our liberties from the power which must be delegated to our rulers. Accordingly, our principal guards were placed on that side. Power was granted with great caution. Barriers were erected against its abuse. Its duration was made short. Its exercise has been watched with the eyes of jealousy, and the right of censure exercised with great freedom. But is there not equal or greater danger on the other side? The constitution of this Commonwealth has not indeed left us unguarded against our vices; but the importance of these guards has not in general been duly appreciated. We have been less afraid of our vices than our rulers.

The love of liberty we inherit from our fathers; it is so “interwoven with the ligaments of our hearts, that there can be little doubt of our enjoying it, and little danger of its being wrested from us so long as we are capable and worthy of it. But a capacity for enjoying it depends on a sound and healthful state of the body politic.

The more freedom we have, the more necessary is the aid of religious and moral principles to the maintenance of order and tranquility. When these are lost, or very much relaxed, severe restraints, which cannot always admit of those legal forms, that are essential to the security of liberty, become necessary; yet the people may retain a love of liberty, or rather an impatience of restraint, as the sensualist retains a passion for pleasure, after his constitution is so much impaired by excess, that indulgence would be fatal to him. Liberty, like the pleasures of sense, must be enjoyed with temperance and moderation, lest degenerating into licentiousness it prove destructive.

There are none, it may be presumed, who will openly avow that political liberty is, or ought to be, a license for every one to do what is right in his own eyes; yet where the love of liberty is strong, and its nature not distinctly understood, there is too often a disposition to look with an indulgent eye on licentiousness, as only the extreme of a good thing, and therefore pardonable. But the difference between them is greater than some imagine: They are indeed so different, as to be incompatible in society. When one has an excess of liberty, he invades the rights of his neighbor, who is thereby deprived of a portion of the liberty which a free constitution promises him. Liberty in that case becomes exclusively the possession of the strong, the unprincipled, the artful, who makes a prey of the innocent, weak and unsuspicious. A state of things like this is a real despotism, and of the worst kind. It is a poor consolation to the plundered, abused sufferer to be told, that he must not complain; for his oppressor is not an hereditary monarch, acting by a pretended divine right, but only a fellow citizen, acting in the name of “liberty and equality.”

He might answer, “If I must be deprived of my liberty or property at the will of another, let me have an hereditary master, who, secure in the possession of his power, will oppress according to certain rules, which long usage has sanctioned, and long experience has proved to be not incompatible with the existence of the community. But deliver me from the tyrant of a day, who knows no bounds to his rapacity: Deliver me from anarchy, which rages like a fire that cannot be quenched. Established despotism, dreadful as it is, is systematical, its operations are in some measure subjects of calculation; but anarchy, like the hurricane, spreads horror and devastation, and seems to rejoice in its triumph over every thing that wears the semblance of order or utility.

To some, who do not distinguish between social and personal freedom, it may still seem a paradox that restraint should be necessary to the being of liberty. In their view a free government and a weak government mean the same thing. But scarce any mathematical truth admits of a more conclusive demonstration than this, that laws wisely framed, impartially interpreted, and faithfully executed, are essential to the liberty of a community. Liberty cannot be long enjoyed under a government that has not sufficient energy to be a terror to evil doers. The law is not made for the righteous, it is not made to restrain the honest, peaceable, sober and industrious members of society, who are a law to themselves; but it is made for the lawless and disobedient, murderers, men- stealers, liars, perjured persons, and others, who can be restrained only by the strong arm of power. That love of liberty, therefore, which prompts men to resist the laws, and to overturn or weaken the government established for the common good, is a spurious passion, which every well informed friend to real liberty will feel himself in duty bound to discountenance. It is not less necessary that we should understand and practice our duties, than that we should understand and assert our rights. The prevalence of sound virtue therefore would afford the best security to our liberty. It is admitted, I believe, by all political writers, that morality is absolutely necessary to the happiness of a free State. And there is if I mistake not a growing conviction in reflecting minds that religion is the only sure support of morality. It is with peculiar pleasure, that we read in the valedictory address of the late illustrious president of the United States, the following sentiments, which can never be too deeply impressed on our minds. “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 could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply asked, 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 courts of justice. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded of the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”

The constitution of this Commonwealth recognizes the same important principle, and expressly declares that the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality. It requires that any person chosen Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Counselor, Senator, or Representative, and accepting the trust, shall make a declaration that he believes the Christian religion, and has a firm persuasion of its truth. Charity therefore forbids us to believe, without strong evidence of the fact, that any of them will ever endeavor to destroy the foundation of our happiness and best hopes, and thus incur the reproach which justly belongs to the hypocrite.

And the same charity teaches us to indulge the pleasing expectation that our honored civil fathers will lend the influence of their example to support the institutions of Christianity, and to attract a general attention to “public instructions in piety, religion, and morality.” The excellence of Christianity, and the good effects of which it may be productive to society, must be acknowledged by all who seriously and impartially consider the purity of its precepts, the tendency of its doctrines, and the power of its motives. Yet no person, who is acquainted with the true genius of the gospel, will be likely to suspect that it is merely a political institution; or that its highest object is the preservation of civil order. Its great aim is to assimilate us to the moral image of our Maker, and to make us happy in eternity. But such is the constitution of things under the government of our benevolent Creator, that the same temper and conduct which lead to happiness in another world, have a tendency to make us happy in this. The spirit of genuine Christianity universally, or even generally, imbibed, would meliorate the condition of mankind in a higher degree, than can ever be expected from the wisest and best institutions of a merely civil nature. Its chief energy is leveled at the heart; its first aim is to purify the fountain of human actions, that the stream may be pure also. By its influence on private character it makes good rulers and good citizens, and disposes them to fulfill the obligations, that result from the various relations, in which they respectively stand. It is the vigorous root, which supports and nourishes all those virtues, that constitute the dignity of human nature, and the strength and glory of a state.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has not prescribed any particular form of civil government to be adopted by the nations of the world. And it is conceived that one very good reason may be given why it has not, which is, that the kind of government the most suitable for one, might be the most improper for another. But as it forbids all injustice and oppression, as it inculcates every personal, social, and divine virtue, and teaches us to respect the rights of others, as well as to stand fast in our own liberty; it has certainly a friendly aspect on the cause of freedom and of free governments. The nature of the religion of Christ, therefore, and its tendency to promote the happiness of society, and to make us meet for a heavenly inheritance, give it a just claim to our most cordial affection. And a recommendation of it by the example of our civil fathers will justly entitle them to double honor.

Justice is a virtue enjoined by every government, human and divine: And, being reputable in all countries and in all ages, every man would be thought to practice it, yet to enforce the practice of it, and to prevent injustice, may be considered as the chief end of government. It cannot confer rewards on all its quiet and obedient subjects. Its business is to protect them against the violence and injustice of others, that they may enjoy the fruits of their industry in security and peace. This being the end for which civil government was instituted, it is of vast importance that those, who administer it, should act in strict conformity to the rules of justice, both in their public and their private capacities. With how much dignity does a ruler appear, when he can say with Job, “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: My judgment was as a robe and a diadem!” His character commands respect, overawes the wicked, and makes him a terror to evil doers. It adds authority to his office, and enables him to answer the end of his elevation much more effectually, than if he were of a different character. Even good men may sometimes find it difficult to pay due honor and respect to an office, when they must despise him who holds it.

A scrupulous adherence to the principles of justice is necessary to procure for a government that respect and confidence, without which it cannot in the best manner effect the design of its institution. When a government defrauds individuals, it may be naturally expected that they will retaliate when they have opportunity: And they will do it with the less compunction or remorse, because it may seem the only practicable mode of obtaining redress. The government in this way contributes to the corruption of the public morals, and strengthens a pernicious opinion entertained by too many, that there is a real opposition between the interest of the government and that of the people. Injustice on the part of government deprives it of its best support, the confidence of good men. It provokes a spirit of hostility, which is followed by a series of oppressions and frauds, producing and reproducing each other, that too plainly indicate a disease in the body politic, which must terminate in convulsion or dissolution.

The constitution of this Commonwealth declares that “industry, temperance and frugality, are absolutely necessary, to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. The same doctrine is maintained by the most judicious historians, philosophers and politicians. Patriotism enjoins it therefore as a duty upon all men in public stations to make these virtues reputable by their example, and to resist the progress of the opposite vices, luxury, extravagance and an inordinate love of pleasure, which, as one justly observes, “enervate the soul, make fools of the wise, and cowards of the brave.”

The rapid increase of wealth in our country for a number of years is a subject of congratulation among the friends of our prosperity; but at the same time it has excited some painful apprehensions. Its usual concomitant luxury has kept pace with it.

Is there no reason to fear that our habits of patient industry and economy will be impaired, and that we shall feel little disposition to return to them, when they shall become as necessary, as they have been in any former period? It cannot be expected that our career of prosperity will be perpetual. It may meet a severe and sudden check. In any case the demands of luxury increase more rapidly than the means of satisfying them. She is one of the daughters of the horse- leech, which says not, It is enough. Luxury and extravagance have a certain and direct tendency to subject individuals to embarrassments, which are a dangerous snare to integrity, and a fruitful source of discontent and faction in the State. They have a tendency also to produce a speculating, adventurous spirit, which cannot contribute to the general prosperity. It is in the nature of things impossible that every man should make a fortune by games of chance; but it is possible that many by indulging such a spirit may involve themselves and a multitude of innocent persons with them in want and wretchedness.

Patient industry and economy are the only certain sources of private and, public prosperity, and they are indispensable to the preservation of good morals. They interest men in the support of order, law and government, without which they have no security for the possession and enjoyment of the fruits of their own labors. While the speaker solicits the example of men in public stations to recommend every virtue that leads to political prosperity, he does not presume to instruct them in their official duties. He would however in this connection beg leave to express a wish that, when money is to be procured for any useful purpose, recourse may be had as seldom as possible to lotteries. They not only operate as a heavy tax upon the poorer class of people; but they beget fantastic hopes and expectations, which cannot he realized, they foster a rage
for gaming which tends to the destruction of every virtuous and manly principle, and they undermine the basis of private and public prosperity.

The importance of economy in the public expenditures cannot have escaped the notice of any one. It begets a confidence in the government, it encourages the people to submit to heavy burdens when they are necessary, and it enables the State to meet the extraordinary demands, which providing for the public safety may at any time occasion. It saves the government from much embarrassment in case of war or invasion by means of its credit; and prevents a temptation to have recourse to such expedients as are at once dishonorable, and ruinous. It is however a very different thing from parsimony. It shrinks from no burden, which the independence, liberty, safety and honor of the community impose. It does not estimate the value of these things by a pecuniary scale. It does not require men to devote their time and talents to the public service without an adequate compensation. It does not withhold the encouragement that is necessary to the progress of science, and the improvement of useful arts. Parsimony, on the contrary, produces many of the same evils as profusion. It begets no confidence. It regards not the worth of objects, but inquires how much they will cost. It holds out a constant temptation to fraud. It not unfrequently defeats its own intentions, and by a solicitude to save trifles incurs the necessity of making large sacrifices.

A generous public spirit is indispensable to the happiness of a free people.

When a mercenary, selfish disposition pervades a community, the love of country becomes a pretence; a regard to the general welfare is professed for the purpose of deception, public employments are sought only as the means of accumulating wealth and a wide door is open for the practice of corruption, which in process of time may become so general, and be so well understood, that it shall cease to be offensive. When such is the character of a people, their degradation is far advanced, and ruin by rapid strides is hastening on them. It is important therefore that a generous regard to the public welfare be assiduously cultivated. In this, as in every other view, the spirit of Christianity is highly favorable to national respectability. This spirit imbibed by a people disposes them to be just and benevolent, to do to others as they would have others do to them, and to look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. It prevents their entertaining a mean wish that their representatives should so far forget the dignity of their office, as to govern their public conduct by local attachments and interests, or to as the part of mere attorneys for their respective districts, or to do in their public capacity, what a man of probity and honor would blush to do in private.

The same spirit actuating legislators gives a liberal complexion to their conduct. They feel and act as guardians of the Commonwealth, and invariably aim to do justice
to all, and to promote the general welfare. They do not confine their views to the short period of their political existence; but consider the tendency of every public measure to promote the future prosperity of their country.

Were the Commonwealth a company or partnership to be dissolved with the present legislative body, after which each individual, detached from every other, were to shift for himself, patriotism would not impose such, duties on our rulers, as it now does. It would not require them to project or mature plans for the benefit of posterity, nor even of this generation beyond the present year. They might act on the maxim of the epicure, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, public credit, and institutions for the promotion of science, religion and morality, would have no claim to their support or patronage. But as the social compact is not formed for a year or an age, but to be of the same duration with humanity itself, the public- spirited and virtuous guardians of the Commonwealth will consult the interest of unborn generations. In this respect the wisdom, piety, and patriotism of the first planters of- New- England can never be too much admired. At a period, when an invincible fortitude was necessary to surmount the difficulties at tending a new settlement in a savage wilderness, and when their dangers and hardships might have been thought a sufficient apology for applying all their resources to the purpose of feeding, clothing, and defending themselves, they established schools, provided for the religious instruction of the people, and founded a college. Their aim was not merely to people a country: their more noble and sublime object was to make it a seat of piety, virtue and freedom. To their enlightened and patriotic exertions, under God, the present generation is indebted for many of its most precious blessings, and this Commonwealth for the very respectable rank she holds in the union. May their example in this respect belong imitated, and their descendants prove themselves worthy of such ancestors by cherishing their wise institutions, and inquiring, as they did, into the remote, as well as immediate, influence of public measures on the character and happiness of the community. Again,

An attachment to our constitutions of government in opposition to a spirit of innovation, is necessary to the permanency of our political prosperity. Any man, who will take the trouble to reflect, and every man in a public station ought to reflect, because he has to think for others as well as himself, will he convinced that innovation and reformation are not synonymous terms.

You will do the speaker the justice to believe that he is not the advocate of unreasonable and groundless prejudice; but he frankly confesses that it appears to him less dangerous than a blind, impetuous passion for changing. The evils produced by the former are capable of being estimated: the deleterious consequences of the latter bid defiance to calculation. It is justly remarked by a learned British writer, now in America, that “human nature, with the various interests and connections of men in a state of society, is so complex a subject, that nothing can be safely concluded a priori with respect to it. It is extremely hazardous, he adds, to introduce any material change into an established form of government. No human sagacity can foresee what inconvenience might arise from it.” If these observations are true, and their truth will hardly be controverted by any man of reflection, considerable changes should be the effect of necessity only. Forms of government, and modes of administration, that have been found to answer the end of their institution, should not be hastily changed because some imperfections are discoverable in their theory. When experience has shown the necessity of alterations, and they can be made without hazard to public peace and order, let them be made. A prudent man will not set fire to his house, and thereby endanger the lives of his family, because some parts are not so perfectly convenient, or some of its proportions not so agreeable to the eye, as they might be made in a new edifice.

Even necessary alterations should not be precipitated. It is not sufficient that the necessity be perceived by a few men of superior discernment, skilled in the science of government. Let them wait till the conviction becomes general: and. a general conviction must be  the effect of feeling, rather than the result of reasoning. If, previous to this, any material alteration be attempted, though it should be with good intentions, the example will have most of the bad consequences of innovation. It will tend to loosen the bands of society, excite a political tempest, and give opportunity to some unprincipled, ambitious, and as yet unknown adventurer to mount the storm, and direct its vengeance against our wisest and best men, whose very, wisdom and goodness will in his view be crimes, which nothing but their blood can expiate. Our honored fathers will join with all good men in earnest prayers to the supreme Arbiter of nations, that the day may be far distant, when so sad a catastrophe shall be realized, when the people, after being made the instruments of their own degradation, shall pass from the hands of one master to those of another, with as little ceremony, as if they were- beasts of burden. And we feel a confidence that the legislature of Massachusetts will set an example of attachment to her own and the federal constitutions worthy of the imitation of other legislatures; as well as her own citizens. Lastly, a cheerful submission to the laws is indispensable to our political happiness.

In a government like ours the rulers can make no law that does not affect themselves equally with their constituents. This affords a high degree of security that all our laws will be dictated by a regard to the general good, and that no restraint will be laid upon individuals, which does not conduce in a greater degree to the public happiness. Interest therefore as well as duty enjoins a prompt obedience.

But as there are many, and perhaps always will be, in a large community, who do not perceive that they gain more by the restraints laid on others, than they lose by those laid on themselves, it is of great importance that rulers set an example of cheerful obedience to the laws. If they do not, they will be suspected of having had improper views in enacting them: And the laws will be hated or despised. It is justly required of the ministers of religion that they teach by example: It is not less necessary in a free State that rulers should govern in the same way.

Their personal examples and influence may do more than their statutes to discountenance impiety and vice, to promote a religious observance of the Christian Sabbath, to check the progress of infidelity and licentiousness, and to make us a virtuous and a happy people.

Addresses of congratulation to the first and second Magistrates in the Commonwealth have been usual on this anniversary. But it has pleased the all- wise GOD, whose counsels and ways are incomprehensible by us, to remove both of them by death in the last political year.

Soon after its commencement we were called to mourn the loss of our amiable and worthy Governor Sumner, whose spirit of government, happily tempered with moderation, and guided by wisdom and integrity, eminently qualified him for the exalted station, to which for several successive years he was invited by the general suffrages of his fellow- citizens. We had indulged the pleasing hope of long tranquility under his government; but his death afforded an affecting illustration of the propriety of that scriptural admonition, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”

By a recent stroke his Honor Lieutenant- Governor Gill is also numbered with the dead, after having discharged for nearly a year the duties of the first Magistrate with zeal and fidelity, and after having received the approbation of his constituents, expressed by their almost unanimous reelection of him to fill the station, which he had holden for a number of years.

It would have been peculiarly pleasing to see the people of this large and respectable Commonwealth happily united in the choice of a first Magistrate to succeed his late Excellency Governor Sumner. But in a free elective government it cannot be thought strange that the eyes of the people should be turned towards different persons to fill so important an office. We indulge however the expectation that there will be a general and cordial acquiescence in the will of the majority; as we doubt not a great part of the majority have full confidence, that the Character, to whom the prevailing suffrages have been given, will ably and faithfully discharge the duties of his office.

Honored Fathers of the Council, Senate, and House of Representatives,

Many of you have had repeated assurances of the confidence of your fellow- citizens, who believe that you love your country, and that you will labor to promote its prosperity.

They have a right to expect that you will aim in all your acts and deliberations at the public welfare, and particularly that you will exert the powers, with which you are constitutionally vested, to preserve the union of the States, and to support the general government, which is indispensable to our liberty and happiness. We are happy in the confidence that these just and reasonable expectations of your constituents will not be disappointed.

You have many motives to fidelity; but none that ought so deeply to impress your minds as this, that you are accountable for all your conduct to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who standeth in the congregation of the mighty, and judgeth among the gods. Your public and private conduct now will have an important influence on your future state. You will consider therefore, that, though you are rulers over men, you are God’s servants, and his approbation is of more importance than all other interests.

Though ye are all called gods on earth, ye shall die like men.

What painful demonstrations of this solemn truth have we had in the past year! Alas! Washington, whom we loved, and delighted to honor, is no more. The father of his country sleeps in dust. How long shall our tears continue to flow at the recollection of his dear name! But it is for ourselves, not for him we are to weep. Having finished the work, which has Master in heaven had assigned him, he has been called from the field of his labors to receive, as we trust, his reward, and to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

Though removed from our world, his virtues live in our remembrance. And may the affection we had for him in his life, and the sorrow we felt at his death, engage us to honor his memory by an imitation of his pious and virtuous example! By this may he long continue to bless his country!

Imagine, honored fathers, that ye hear him, though dead, yet speaking to you. And is not his language to this effect? “Remember that you are not elevated to your present places for your personal emolument, but for the good of your fellow mortals, whose happiness in life depends much on your conduct.

“Rejoice in the honor conferred on you by your fellow- citizens, chiefly because you are thereby enabled to be more useful to them during the short period of your continuance on earth. Bear in mind that however eminent your talents and usefulness, or however great the affection of your country may be, you must soon fall by the hand of death, and your heads be laid low in the dust. Seek therefore the honor that cometh from God. Let his fear rule in your hearts; embrace and obey the gospel of his Son, fulfill the duties of your respective stations with fidelity, and then you will be prepared to resign your earthly honors without regret, and enter into possession of glory and immortality.”

Fellow- citizens of this assembly,

If, as has been said, the real freedom of a people depends very much on their character and habits, every member of the community by setting a good example may contribute to the preservation of our liberty and happiness. Every man, who lives under the influence of Christian principles, who leads a sober, righteous and godly life, is a benefactor to his country, and he shall not lose his reward. When all terrestrial kingdoms and states shall be dissolved, and the fashion of this world shall pass away, he shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord his God, and shall shine as the firmament, and as a star forever and ever.

FINIS

John Smalley (1734-1820) graduated from Yale in 1756. He was the preacher for a church in New Britain, Connecticut (1758-1798). This sermon was preached by Smalley in Connecticut on May 8, 1800.

A

SERMON,

PREACHED ON THE

GENERAL ELECTION

AT HARTFORD, IN CONNECTICUT,

MAY 8, 1800.

By JOHN SMALLEY, A. M.
PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN BERLIN.

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, one thousand eight hundred—

ORDERED, That the Honorable Thomas Seymour and Selah Heart, Esquire, present the thanks of this Assembly, to the Reverend JOHN SMALLEY, for his Sermon, delivered on the Anniversary Election, on the eighth of May instant, and to request a copy thereof for publication.

A true copy of Record,
Examined by
SAMUEL WYLLYS, Secretary.

ISAIAH iii. 4, 5.

And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.

When we read and hear such threatening predictions as this; and see our judges as at the first, and our counselors and governors as at the beginning—equally wise and good; we are ready to bless ourselves, and to say in our hearts, These things shall come upon us. That the whole of what is here foretold, has not yet come upon us, we have certainly great reason to bless God, and to congratulate one another. But it should be remembered, that neither past mercies, nor present happy circumstances, are any security against evils to come. Surprising changes in this fallen world, have ever been frequent, and are still to be expected. Prosperity and adversity, like sunshine and storms, are wont to follow each other, almost in constant rotation. Communities, as well as individuals, that have been remarkably raised up, are often as wonderfully cast down, in the providence of God, when most exalted. “He blesseth them also,” it is said, ¹ “so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Again they are minished, and brought low, through oppression, affliction and sorrow.”

Of such vicissitudes, the chosen people threatened in our text, was a striking and an instructive example. This nation had long been favored, in regard to government, as well as religion, far beyond any other then on the earth. From its earliest infancy, it had been under the peculiar guardianship of heaven. “When Israel was a child,” says the most High in Hosea, ²“then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt:–I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms: I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke.”

They had been liberated from powerful oppressors, and cruel task-masters, by the out-stretched arm of the Almighty. They had been led like a flock, through the Red Sea, and forty years in a most perilous, howling wilderness, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Under Joshua, their great and beloved general, they had vanquished mighty armies; and had obtained a peaceful settlement as a free and an independent people, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here, when they forgot God their Saviour, who had done such great things for them, and so many wonderous works before their eyes, he sometimes left them to have no guide, overseer or ruler; and suffered the Heathen around them, to make terrible inroads on their borders. Nevertheless, as often as they cried unto the Lord in their distresses, he raised them up judges—valiant, righteous men, to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies, and to administer justice among them. Afterwards, because of their uneasiness, and the hardness of their hearts, God gave them kings; and these, several of them, were very eminent for wisdom and virtue. Nor was their happiness, in this respect, yet at an end; for Isaiah prophesied no later than the reign of Hezekiah; one of the most amiable and best of princes.

But, from the days of their fathers, they had gone away from God’s ordinances; and now, it seems, the measure of their iniquities was almost full. A very awful decree of the holy One of Israel against them is therefore here announced. See the preceding context. “For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff; the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient; the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes,” &c.

From my text, thus connected, the doctrine deducible, which will be our present subject, is this:

That to be under a weak government, is one of the greatest calamities, ever sent upon a people.

This, you observe, is here threatened together with drought and famine in the extreme—a total want of bread and of water; as well as being bereaved of the most eminent men, in every necessary employment: and it is mentioned last, and most enlarged upon, as the consummation of misery.

But, after explaining the calamity designed, and some of the principal causes of it, I shall attend, more particularly, to the proof and illustration of this doctrine.

There are two senses, in which government is said to be weak: when it is unwise; and when it wants energy. The latter is the more extensive signification of the phrase; and it comprehends the former: this, therefore, is the sense now to be considered. By a weak government will be meant, one that wants energy; whether through the weakness of those by whom it is administered, or by any other means.

To mention, with a little enlargement, some of the most common causes of so great an evil, will not be foreign to the design of this anniversary.

1. That the government of a nation or state has not proper energy, may be the fault of its constitution. A form of government may be such, that, unless the administration of it be arbitrary, it will necessarily be weak.

To give rulers all that power, and reserve to the subjects all that liberty, which is best for the people, is a nice point; very difficult, I imagine, to be exactly hit, by the wisest of men, and men the most disinterested. There is a danger of erring, undoubtedly, on either hand; of abridging freedom, as well as of limiting authority, more than is for the greatest general good—of adopting a constitution too despotic, as well as one too feeble. But when it is left to the people at large, what government it is left to the people at large, what government they will be under, the error most to be apprehended, I believe, is on the side of inefficiency.

The love of liberty is natural to all mankind; and even to birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Of this celebrated virtue, we lost nothing by the fall of our first parents. Everyone, however depraved in other respects, wishes to be free—unboundedly free; to have none above him; to be his own subject, his own governor, his own judge. And when, for obtaining the advantages of social union, individuals give up to the community, or to any constituted authorities, a power over their words and actions, their property and lives; they do it with great reluctance, and as sparingly as possible.

To observe the extreme reluctance of some, on such occasions—to see how strenuously they will dispute every inch of power, vested anywhere, which might possibly be abused, or turned against themselves; is apt to remind one of the cautious policy of certain ancient Pagans, described by Jeremiah, in regard to their gods. Not only would they have gods of their own making, and made of such materials that they must needs be born, because they could not go; but, as wooden gods could fall and might happen to fall upon the makers of them, or on their children, or valuable furniture; for full security, they fastened them with nails and with hammers. “Be not afraid of them,” says the prophet; “for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”

Checks, unquestionably, there ought to be, on every department of a free government: But if such checks be laid upon rulers, that the ruled are under no check at all, harmless, indeed, will such rulers be; but altogether insignificant. These servants of the people, must have more power than the child, and the base, who proudly so call them; unless we would have them miserable gods, or ministers of God to us for good—their scripture titles. They must have authority to punish treasonable lies against themselves, as well as slanders against the meanest of their subjects; otherwise, who will be afraid of them? Or what protection can they afford?

2. That the government of a people is too weak, may be the fault of those betrusted with its administration. It may be owing to their weakness; or to their indolence, or flowness in doing business; or to their excessive lenity; or to their not being of a virtuous character, or not paying a due attention to the strict regularity of their own lives. These particulars, suffer me cursorily to go over.

When the rulers of a land are children; whether in understanding, or in firmness and stability of mind, we are not certainly to expect that the reins of government will be guided with discretion, and held with sufficient force. To govern well, at least in the higher and more difficult offices, considerable theoretic knowledge, some experience, and more than common natural powers, are altogether necessary. And so is that degree of courage and inflexibility, which will enable a man to maintain his post, and to persevere in what appears to him the plain path of duty; unmoved by noisy opposition—undaunted by popular clamor—undismayed by imminent danger.

To support an efficient government, rulers must likewise be men of vigilance and activity. “He that ruleth,” says an Apostle,³ “with diligence.” And of Jeroboam it was said, ⁴ “Solomon, seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.” A commonwealth, under the superintendency of indolent men, will resemble the field of the slothful which we read of, that was “all grown over with thorns; the face of it covered with nettles, and the stone wall thereof broken down.” Or, though rulers be not “slothful in business;” they may be so slow in transacting it, and in bringing anything to a termination, as very much to lower the tone, and defeat the salutary designs, of civil government. When courts of justice are so dilatory in their decisions, and such endless evasions, and reviews, are admitted; that a man had better lose almost any debt or damage, than commence a legal process for a recovery, the protection of law must be lamentably weak.

Excessive lenity, will have a similar effect. Mercy, is indeed an amiable attribute; to pass over a transgression, is said to be the glory of a man; and being ready to forgive, is a duty much inculcated in the word of God: But in one who sustains any place of authority, whether that of a parent or master, or civil magistrate; lenity and indulgence may be carried farther than is the glory or duty of a man; unless it be his duty and glory to have no government. Should rulers remit crimes, or pass them over without condemnation, when the public good, or righting an injured individual, requires their punishment; merciful they might be, but not as our Father in Heaven is merciful.

Liberality to the poor, out of one’s own proper goods, is a capital Christian virtue; but of the property of other people, judges and law-givers, may possibly be over liberal. The persons even of the poor are not to be respected in judgment. Making provision by law, for supporting such as are unable to support themselves, is doubtless very commendable; but why those who happen to be the creditors of the poor; who have helped them much already, and suffered much by their slackness and breach of promise, should be still obliged to lose ten times more for their relief, or for the relief of their families, than others equally able, it is not easy to conceive. And should courts of law, or courts of equity, cancel the debts of men, whenever they please a present incapacity to pay them, whether such clemency might not too much weaken government, as a security to everyone in his rightful claims, may be a question. Indeed, in any case, to give an insolvent debtor a final discharge from all he owes, without the consent of his creditors, looks like giving him a license to be an unrighteous man. For can it ever be right, or can any court under heaven make it right, for a man not to pay his promised debts, for value received, when now he has money enough, because once, the payment of them was not in the power of his hands.

Thus to exonerate of a heavy load of old debts, one deeply insolvent, is necessary, it will be said; as without this he could have no courage to commence business anew. And, no doubt, such expected exoneration, will be a mighty encouragement to extravagant adventurers, who have nothing to lose, since, by running the greatest hazards, with the slenderest chance of immense gain, they risk only the property of others. If successful, the profit is their own; if unsuccessful, the loss is their neighbour’s. But if the tendency of being thus merciful, were much better than it is; or the urgency for it far greater; would it not be doing evil that good may come. “He that ruleth over men must be just” ⁵ The laws of truth and righteousness, are not noses of wax; to be bent anyway, as will suit present convenience. It is dangerous to break down, or break over, the fixed barrier of eternal justice, on any pretence of temporary necessity.

One way more was hinted, in which those who govern, may weaken government; and that is, by being men of a vicious character; or by not paying a due attention to the strict regularity of their own lives. Indeed, “a wicked ruler” is often strong, and fierce, and active, as “a roaring lion and a ranging bear;” but rarely for the benefit of “the poor people.” He will not be eager to pluck the spoil out of the mouth of the fraudulent villain, or the violent oppressor; unless that he may get it into his own. Nor will authority, in the hands of libertine men, however it may terrify, be much revered. When the makers or judges of laws, are themselves notorious breakers of them, or of the laws of heaven, government will necessarily fall into contempt. It is also to be observed, that advancing to posts of honor, men of loose principles and morals, gives reputation to licentiousness, and stamps it as the current fashion. Their example will encourage evil doers, more than all the punishments they are likely to inflict, will be a terror to them. “The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted.” ⁶

But rulers may be far from being the vilest men, they may be very good men; and yet, by an incautious conformity to common practices, supposed to be innocent, they may too much countenance some things which are of very hurtful tendency. Permit me to instance in one particular. “It is not for kings,” we read, “to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink.”⁷ And certainly, it is not for the lower classes to drink so much of these as many of them do, if they regard their health, or competence, or peace. I select this instance, because it is directly pertinent to the main subject in hand. Nothing is a greater weakener of government—nothing makes the multitude more heady and high minded—nothing raises oftener or louder, the cry of liberty and equality—nothing more emboldens and enflames that little member, which boasteth great things, and setteth on fire the whole course of nature—nothing, in a word, makes men more incapable of governing themselves, or of being governed, than strong drink. Now, if rulers drink, though not to drunkenness; no so as quite to “forget the law,” or greatly to “pervert the judgment of any;” if they only drink as much as is very universally customary, in polite circles, on great occasions; though they do not hurt themselves, they may too much sanction that which will hurt their inferiors. That divine injunction, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,”⁸ lies with peculiar weight on civil rulers, as well as religious teachers. They, more than others, are under obligation to lead the multitude, in whatsoever things are sober, wise and good. They, of all men, are bound in duty to abstain from all appearance of anything, which, improved upon by bungling eager imitators, might grow into a practice pernicious to society. Nor should it be forgotten, that every deviation from rectitude of conduct, lessens the dignity, and lowers the authority of great men. “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking favor: so doth a little folly, him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.” ⁹ But,

3. That weakness of government which is a calamity to any people, is often principally the fault of the people themselves. It may be owing to their negligence, or to their caprice and folly, in the choice of their rulers; or it may be owing to their ill-treatment of them when chosen. A government most excellent in its constitution, and most wise, just and firm, in its administration, may be enervated, or rendered inadequate, by the ungovernableness of the people: By their revilings and slanders—their haughtiness and insolence—their factions and tumults. David once said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too hard for me.” ¹⁰

Nor must it be omitted, that, besides the immediate natural causes of a weak government, the irreligion, or general wickedness of a people, may be its procuring cause, as a judgment of heaven. “The most High ruleth in the” nations of men; “and giveth” the dominion over them, “to whomsoever he will.” ¹¹ “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south; but God is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” ¹² When the ways of a people please the Lord—when they fear Him, and work righteousness; among other blessings, he gives them good governors, under whose able and equitable administration, they lead quiet and peaceable lives. On the contrary, when they forget Him, neglect his worship, and disregard his word; among other modes of punishment, he takes away their wise and faithful magistrates, and gives them weak or wicked ones in their stead; or leaves them to trample all authority under foot. This was the cause of the calamities threatened in our text and context. See the eighth verse, which concludes the paragraph. “For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.”

Let us now attend, as was proposed, to the proof and illustration of the doctrine laid down: That, of all the calamities ever sent upon a people, being under a weak government, is one of the most deplorable.

It is said, ¹³ “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.” It is also asked, ¹⁴ “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And if we consider the matter, it may easily be seen, that the people of all characters, and not merely the righteous among them, must be in a very wretched condition, should government be overturned, or have no coercive force.

First; an exposedness to all manner of mutual injuries, without redress, is one obvious evil thence arising. The people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, and every one by his neighbor.

“Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad,” is an observation of the royal preacher.¹⁵ And many are the accounts in history, of oppression’s having had this effect on a multitude of men, the wise among the foolish. How often have whole nations raved and raged, like the fiercest of animals, under the operation of the hydrophobia, at only a distant oppression of this terrible evil?

I am sensible, it is the dread of oppression from government, and not of being oppressed one by another, through the want or weakness of it, that usually occasions this rage, and these ravings. The people are ten times more apt to be afraid of having heavy burdens and grievous restraints laid upon them, by the best men in power, than of anything they might be in danger of suffering from their equals, however wicked, and however unrestrained. But what can be the reason of this? Is it because there is not really as much mischief to be feared, from individual, as from public oppression? From the oppressions of the many, as of the few? From the unrighteousness of millions, let loose, as from that of one man, or a small number of men?

This, certainly, is not the case; this cannot be the reason. When there is no law, and everyone does what he thinks fit, without fear of punishment, the people, I believe, have ever been and are ever likely to be, much more unhappy than even under a very despotic and oppressive government.

What then is the reason? Why are the people, whose voice is said to be the voice of God, so much more ready to sound and take an alarm, when threatened with the latter, than with the former of these evils? Why are they so loud and tumultuous, when their liberties are thought to be in any danger; and so quiet and easy, when government is rudely attacked, and ready to be overthrown? Why is the shock of terror so much greater and more universal, at the remotest prospect of tyranny, than at the nearest, and most evident approximation to total anarchy?—There may be several reasons.

One, probably, is; when the people are oppressed by each other, their sufferings are separately felt: Whereas, oppression from the higher powers falls upon all in a body. In the former case, everyone bears his own different burdens; and divided complaints, though bitter, make but a confused and feeble murmur: in the latter case, all feel or fear the same; all voices, therefore, are united in one tremendous cry.

Another reason may be; under oppression from government, often no other way of relief is seen, than popular combinations and insurrections; but when injuries are done us by individuals, because there is no government to restrain them, a remedy is always near and obvious. If everyone is oppressed, everyone can be an oppressor. If a man’s neighbours all bite and devour him, he can bite and devour all his neighbours. Hence, a dissolution of government, instead of being universally deprecated, appears to many, “A consummation devoutly to be wished.”

But there is another cause of the wonderful phenomenon I am accounting for, more influential perhaps with the most, than both the forementioned. It is owing to charity. A kind of charity, not the exclusive glory of modern times; but entirely peculiar to fallen creatures. A kind of charity, which covers a multitude of our own sins, from our own sight. A kind of charity which always begins, and ends, at home; though often extensive in its circuits. From this boasted charity, we are ever inclined to hope all things, and believe all things, in favour of any number, or class, or order of beings, in which we ourselves are included. Thus men, naturally think of mankind, more highly than they ought to think. Frenchmen, of the French: Britons, of the British: Americans, of the people of America: Those of every state and town, of their own state’s men and town’s men; and men of every calling, of their brethren of the same occupation, collectively considered. In like manner, the common people, think the common people exceedingly honest, harmless, and virtuous; while of those in power, though of their own choosing, and just chosen out of all the people, they have not near so favorable an opinion. That the people should have too much liberty, therefore, they are not at all afraid: that rulers will not have checks enough upon them, is all their fear.

This beam of selfish liberality of sentiment, it ay be impossible for us to cast wholly out of our eye: But that, round the edges of it, we may get some glimpse of real human nature; I know of no better way than to look upon mankind one by one; or in circles not including ourselves. Let us then think of other nations; other states; other towns, and neighbourhoods; or of particular persons among our nearest neighbours. In this separate view, let us search and look; let us impartially examine characters.—Where do we find a great predominance of the innocent inoffensive people? Where do we find a nation, or state, or town, or society, except our own, so very virtuous? Where do we find many individuals, besides ourselves, so just and true, temperate and chaste, meek and merciful; so free from covetousness, pride, envy, revenge, and every unfriendly passion, that we could live safely among them, were they at full liberty from all the restraints of law and government?

Indeed, how great an alteration this would make, in the apparent characters of most men, it is difficult to conceive, without the trial. A very partial trial of it, for a short time, some of us have once seen; when it was made lawful to discharge pecuniary obligations, at the rate of a tenth, a twentieth, and even a fiftieth, of the real value justly due. We then had a convincing evidence, that the external justice of our common honest people, is owing to the expected compulsion of civil law, much more than to uprightness of heart, or feelings of conscience, or any dread of a higher tribunal. From this specimen, and from the sacred story of the behavior of the men of Benjamin, relative to the Levite from mount Ephraim, when “there was no king in Israel; and everyone did that which was right in his own eyes;” we may have some faint idea of the horrid scenes of unrighteousness, lewdness and cruelty, that would everywhere be acted, were it not for the fear of temporal punishment. From all that we have read of the destruction of mankind by one another, whenever they are at liberty; and from recent indisputable information of the shocking state of things, where government has been overturned; we may well believe that the scripture accounts of the depravity of men, are no exaggeration. Not even the following: “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.” ¹⁶

But if this be a true portrait of fallen men, when left to themselves, how much are we indebted to the restraint laid upon them, for the little peace we enjoy? And may we not well be convinced, that all the terror of the civil sword, in the most faithful and skillful hands, will not be more than enough to restrain from iniquity, such a race of beings, so that they may dwell together, not in unity, as brethren, but with any tolerable safety? Especially if, as is added to finish the above picture, “There is no fear of God before their eyes?” And that this last trait, is still a part of the character of many, is abundantly evident, both from their avowed principles and open practices. Now this being the case, that while the hearts of men are fully set in them to do evil, they have no fear of the God of heaven to restrain them; were it not for the dread of gods on earth, our civil rulers, what security should we have, for our names, or property, or lives? If we had no other evil to apprehend, from weakness of government, than only this, of lying open to all manner of mutual oppressions, slander, frauds and violences; it would, even then, be evidently one of the greatest calamities that could befall a people.

But a second evil, somewhat distinct, and worthy of some notice, is suggested in our text: No one in a subordinate station would keep his proper place, or treat his superiors with suitable respect. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.

Solomon says, “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error that proceedeth from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich in low place. I have seen servants riding upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.” ¹⁷ When authority fails, or is obstructed, at the fountain head, its remotest streams must, in a little time, run low. If parents will not obey magistrates, children will be disobedient to parents; if masters refuse subjection to the higher powers, their servants and apprentices will soon pay as little regard to their injunctions. Thus this evil proceedeth from the ruler; or from his not being able to rule. And a serious evil it certainly is. By superiors, in every degree, it will soon be very sensibly felt. They will have none to fear them, none to honor them, none over whom they can have any command. Inferiors, of the very lowest grade, may exult, for awhile, in such areas of freedom; and think them glorious times. But even to these—to the child and the base, this turning of things upside down, generally proves fatal in the end. Being under no control, they spend their time in idleness; waste their substance, if they have any, in riotous living; have recourse to pilfering, gambling, and every hazardous expedient, to support their extravagances, and by various foolish and hurtful practices, soon plunge themselves into irrecoverable wretchedness and ruin.

There is yet a third capital evil, arising from too weak a government, which, though not mentioned in our text, should be briefly noticed, when treating of this subject at large. A community in such a situation, will be able to make little defense against a foreign enemy. Like the people of Laish, who had no magistrate in the land to put them to shame in anything; they will be an easy prey to any handful of enterprising invaders. No resources can be drawn forth—no navies furnished—no armies raised and supplied—no fortifications erected and garrisoned, without energy in government. What Solomon says of a man that has no rule over his own spirit, holds equally true of an ungoverned nation: it “is as a city that is broken down, and without walls.”

The doctrine, I conceive, needs no farther illustration or proof. It only remains, that I endeavor to point out some useful inferences from it, applicable to our own times, and to the present occasion.

1. The Holy Scriptures may hence be vindicated, in their being so much on the side of government; and no more favorable to the insurrection of inferiors.

On these topics, it must be acknowledged, the spirit of the gospel, as well as of the Old Testament, is somewhat different from the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom we have all had our conversation. Our Saviour “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil;” but under the political oppressions of the Jews, his countrymen, he seemed not much to sympathize with them. When it hurt their consciences to pay tribute to a foreign power, and they asked him whether it were lawful; his answer was, “Render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s, and to God, the things that are God’s.” He constantly preached peace, meekness, humility and submission. His apostles in like manner, taught children to obey and honor their parents: and servants to be “subject to their own masters, with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward.” And, instead of animating their numerous proselytes, at Crete, at Rome, and all over the world, to rise in arms against these rulers of the earth who were their unrighteous and unmerciful persecutors; they would have them “put in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates:” ¹⁸ they exhorted them to “submit themselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake;” ¹⁹ and told them, “Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” ²⁰

At this distance of time, and after so many revolutions, such passages as these may seem hard sayings, to some good soldiers, even of Jesus Christ. No wonder that the inculcators of so much poverty of spirit, should be rejected with scorn, and treated with scurrility, in this “age of reason.” We are not to wonder, were there no other cause, that infidelity should exceedingly increase, in these times of “illumination.”

To the spiritually minded Christian, however, it will readily occur, in favour of the author and finisher of our faith, and his first ministers, that the great objet they had in view, was to save the souls of men; and that, teaching them to be meek and lowly in heart, poor in spirit, and contented in whatsoever state they were, was better adapted to this design; than filling the heads of inferiors with exalted notions of the equal “rights of man;” inflaming their hearts with pride and angry passions; and throwing families into envying and strife, and nations into the convulsions of civil war; till everyone can be as free as the freest, and as high as the highest.

But, leaving things eternal out of the question; according to the subject to which we have now been attending, if the preachers and penmen of the New-Testament had aimed only to promote the temporal happiness, of only the lower classes of mankind, they would have done wisely in writing and preaching, on the duties of subordination, exactly as they did. Never can there be peace on earth, or any safety among men, while children are allowed to rise up against their parents, servants against their masters, and subjects against their civil rulers, whenever they think differently from them, or dislike their government. Thus to make the child, the governor of his governors, and the base, the judge of his judges, is the certain way to endless confusion, in all human societies.

2. If the doctrine insisted on be true, it follows, that a ready submission to all those burdens which are necessary for the support of good government, and for national defence, is the wisdom, as well as duty of any people.

The apostle to the Romans, having said, “The powers that be are ordained of God;” having observed that the benevolent end of their ordination was the good of the people; and, on these grounds, having enjoined subjection to them, he adds; “For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”

Public expenses are apt to appear to many, excessively high: but, perhaps, they do not well consider the real occasion there is for great expenditures, in a nation or state of any magnitude.

In order to the support of good government, many rulers, of high and low degree, are absolutely necessary. And it is necessary that those who occupy the higher offices, should be men of superior knowledge, and uncommon natural abilities: such knowledge as is not easily acquired, and such abilities as might procure them a plentiful income in other occupations. If the bramble, or the shrub oak, were adequate to rule over the trees, a cheap government might be expected; but if the vine, the fig-tree, and the olive-tree, must be promoted; we are not to think that these will leave their rich fruits; their sweetness, and fatness, without a suitable compensation.—Besides, rulers of high rank, must be at no inconsiderable expense, to support the proper dignity of their stations. It is also to be taken into the account, that the duties of those who rule well, and attend continually upon this very thing, are not only exceedingly laborious, but that some parts of the essential services they have to render must be very disagreeable; if they have any compassionate sensibility. The execution of deserved vengeance, is said to be God’s strange work; as being, in itself, most opposite to One whose nature is love, and who delighteth in mercy. And, doubtless, that punishment of evil doers, for which earthly rulers re appointed, and which the public good requires, must be rally painful to the feelings of humanity; more painful, in many cases, than the amputation of limbs, and other high operations in surgery, for which, on that account, as well as because of the superior skill and great care requisite, an ample fee to the operator is thought reasonable. Moreover; those who stand in elevated stations, are the marks of obloquy, and exposed to many dangers, much more than men on the level ground of private life. All these things well weighed, the equitable reward of governors, and the necessary cost of supporting good government, must be no inconsiderable burden on the people.

In order to national defense, against hostilities from abroad, still heavier expenses are often indispensible. In perilous times, there must be armies and fleets, forts and garrisons. At the first outset, more especially, when all these things are to be new-created, to a people unused to such vast expenditures, they will naturally appear enormous; and very easily may a popular clamor be raised against them. It is possible, indeed, that more may be laid out in these ways, many times, than the public exigencies require; but of this, few of the complainers are competent to judge. A nation that has an extended coast, and an extensive commerce to defend, had better be at immense charges for the security of these, than lie open to those spoliations and invasions, to which, without arming, when all the world is at war, they might inevitably be exposed.

To provide both for the internal and external safety of a numerous people, the burdens laid upon them must often be heavy. These are evils to be lamented; but in the present state of mankind, they are necessary for the prevention of far greater evils; and should therefore be submitted to, without murmuring.

3. The preceding observations may suggest to us, some peculiar advantages of a republican form of government. ²¹

Under every form, there must be orders and degrees; some must bear rule, and others be subject to tribute. Under every form, there will be duties, imposts, excises, and perhaps direct taxation. All forms of government, however, are not equal. Much advantage hath the republican, many ways.

One advantage is, that the people may always have good rulers, unless it be their own fault. Under a monarchy, or an aristocracy, let the body of the people be ever so virtuous, and ever so vigilant, they may have children for their princes, and babes to rule over them. When power is hereditary, in kings or nobles, not only is there a risk of having the highest seats of government filled by minors; but, if this should not happen, the hazard is great, that those who inherit the first offices of government, will frequently be men of not much knowledge, or of not much virtue. But in elective governments, where the people at large are the electors, and especially where the elections are frequent, they may always have wise and faithful men in all places of authority; if such are to be found, and if such they choose.

It may next be observed; that in republican governments, there is the least occasion for illegal associations, or popular tumults, to obtain a redress of grievances. If there be any mal-administration, or any fault in the constitution, a remedy is provided, without disturbing the public pace.

Another advantage must not be forgotten, which is very great: under this free form of government, the interests of rulers and subjects are so blended—so the same, that the former cannot oppress the latter, without equally oppressing themselves. In an absolute monarchy, the king; and in an aristocracy, the nobles, may “bind heavy burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders,” without being obliged to “touch them themselves with one of their fingers:” but in democracies, the highest magistrates are subject to the same laws, the same duties, the same taxes, which they impose upon others. At least, those who this year bear rule, the next election may be under law, under tribute. This is a great security against their decreeing unrighteous decrees, and writing grievous things.

Lastly; representative rulers feel themselves so dependent on the people, for their continuance in office, that they are not likely to grow haughty and unreasonably over-bearing, as those naturally will, who have no such dependence.

These are some of the peculiar advantages of a republican government. But then, it is to be well remembered, that the best things may become the worst for us, be being abused. To render democratic governments stable and happy, it is highly necessary that the people should be wise, virtuous, peaceable, and easily governed. For want of these requisites, republics have often been, like “man that is born of a woman, of few days, and full of trouble.”

4. In the more particular application of our subject, we are naturally led to a view and conviction, of our own mercies, and privileges, and prospects, and duties.

That the past mercies of Heaven towards this country, have been singularly great, every pious observer will be ready devoutly to acknowledge. I have reference, chiefly, to political mercies; or those which relate to civil liberty and government. Hardly another instance can be found, I believe, in all history, of a people’s enjoying both these blessings jointly, in so high a degree, for so great a length of time, as they have been enjoyed by several of these united states; and by this state, in particular. The people of Connecticut, from the beginning, have invariably chosen their chief magistrates, and general assembly; and they have had a succession of good governors far beyond the common lot of mankind. Our “officers have been peace, and our exactors righteousness,” with as few exceptions, perhaps, as ever were known in any part of the world.

Or, if we confine the retrospect, within the compass of the last five and twenty years; and extend it to the whole union, how wonderful have been the salvations granted us! In this period, we have passed through the Red Sea of a revolutionary war; in which our then friends and coadjutors, assaying to follow us, as most who ever attempted it before us, have been drowned. Here, quite contrary to what usually happens, on such occasions, we had guides eminent for prudence, stability, coolness, and unconquerable perseverance. And one, super-eminent for all those; by the integrity of whose heart, and the skillfulness of whose hands, we were led like a flock, in safety, far surpassing all rational expectation. We have also passed, afterwards, thro the howling wilderness of an almost national anarchy: where were pits, and scorpions, and fiery flying serpents. Here again, our great men, with the greatest of all at their head, in a general convention, formed and recommended our present admirable constitution. And our wisest counselors and most eloquent orators, in every state, straining every nerve, procured its adoption; whereby we were saved, when on the brink of dissolution. That such men were raised up, and put forward, in these times of need; and their way made prosperous; was certainly “the Lord’s doing, and ought to be marvelous in our eyes.” In either of these perils, “it was of the Lord’s mercies that we were not consumed.”

And as past mercies, so our present privileges, are singular, and such as deserve a very grateful acknowledgment. While many other nations are suffering the ravages of a most furious war, still likely to be carried on with redoubled rage; we enjoy the inestimable blessings of peace. While most other nations are under the dominion of hereditary kings and nobles, such as they happen to be born and educated, whether virtuous or vicious, wise men or fools; we have rulers from the highest to the lowest, of our own election. While one other nation, great and highly civilized, after swimming in seas of blood for eight years, and after nearly as many revolutions, in a violent contest for liberty and equality, has at last, nothing more of either than the empty name, we possess the reality of both, as far as is consistent with any order or safety.

Our national expenses are necessarily great: but the burden of them is laid, as much as possible, on those most able to bear it; among whom, the imposers, being of the richer class, has taken a large proportion on themselves. In the nation, and in this state, the policy of government, certainly, is not to “grind the face of the poor.” The mildness and gentleness of our administration, it appears to me, is generally very great; and, in regard to its wisdom and firmness, considering the times, I think it deserving of much applause. Respecting rulers, certainly our condition, hitherto, is far different from that described and threatened in our text.

Such have been our mercies; such are our privileges. What then are our prospects?—Not altogether fair and promising, after all. As in the blessings of heaven, and the abuse of these blessings, there is a striking resemblance between us, and the land of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, at the time of this prophecy, to which we have been attending; so, in the sequel, it is possible there may be a similitude. Our mountain is not yet so strong, that we have reason, from any quarter, to say in our prosperity, we shall never be moved.

Some may flatter themselves, that, although other republics have frequently been tumultuous, and of short continuance; ours will be peaceful and permanent, because of the greater knowledge and virtue of the people.

It is true, in this part of the union at least, “We know that we all have knowledge.” But, I doubt, we have more of the “knowledge which puffeth up,” than of that knowledge which promises “stability of times.” It is true, we have the light of the gospel; and were we disposed to be guided by this light, we need not fear the fate of ancient republics, that were bewildered in Pagan darkness. But, in matters relative to government and subordination; too many choose to take their instructions from Heathen philosophy, rather than from the oracles of God. And as the knowledge, so the virtue, of even this happy country, exceedingly wants to be Christianized. It is true, our “charity aboundeth:” but I am afraid we have not much of that charity which is “the bond of perfectness, or the bond of peace.”

Perhaps some good people are ready to think, we may safely “trust in God; who hath delivered, and doth deliver, that he will yet deliver us.” And had we rendered according to the benefits done us, indeed, we might thus securely trust. But has this been the case? On the contrary, have we not sinned more and more, since the almost miraculous deliverances granted us? Has not the worship of God been neglected; his day and name been profaned, his laws transgressed, and his gospel despised and rejected, of late years, more than ever? Have not infidelity, and all manner of loose principles, and immoral practices, abounded in all parts of the land, since the revolution, and our happy independence, more than at any former period?—Shall we then “lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? No evil can come upon us?” ²² Or shall we think, “Because we are innocent, surely his anger shall turn from us?” His ancient covenant people thus leaned, and thus said, in times of their greatest degeneracy; but what were the answers of God to them? ²³ “You only have I known, of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.” And, “shall I not visit for these things? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”

When we read such solemn divine admonitions as these, and consider our own ways and doings, can we confidently expect the continued smiles and protection of the holy governor of the world? Instead of this, may not our flesh well tremble for fear of him? Have we not reason to be afraid of his avenging judgments?

And has he not already begun to testify his righteous displeasure against us, in some terrible instances? For several years past, our capital towns and cities have been sorely visited with a wasting pestilence; little, if at all known before, in these parts. And now, very lately, a most awful breach has been made upon us; and of the very same kind threatened in our context to Jerusalem and Judah. For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, hath taken away from America, the stay and the staff:–the mighty man, and the man of war. The judge, and the prudent, and the ancient: The captain of all our armies, and our most honorable man. All these, in one; by a sudden and surprising stroke, hath the Lord taken away. The man who “fought for us, and adventured his life for, and delivered us.” The man who gave system to our distracted affairs; united our broken confederacy; and long guided our difficult course, between the whirlpools of European wars. The man, but for whom, very possibly, we should now have been wretched, conquered, rebel colonies; instead of triumphant, free, independent states; and but for whom, afterwards, we might have been as a rope of sand, instead of a strong united nation:–The man to whom we are thus indebted—on whom we were thus dependent, is no more.

What farther public calamities the sudden decease of this great Saviour of his country may portend, God only knows. We have reason to apprehend, that as he was ever prosperous in life, so his death, for him, was favorably timed; that he was taken out of the way of evils to come; great evils coming on a land most dear to him; which he could only have seen, to his inexpressible sorrow of heart, without being able to prevent. This lesson, however, we are plainly and most impressively taught, by a Providence which has clothed a continent in mourning; that Gods on earth must die like men.²⁴ That o man hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war.” We have many great and good men, yet spared to us; nor are we without one, at the head of our national government, who, I presume, has the high veneration of the best judges, and their cordial prayers that he may long live; and long fill the important station which he now possesses. But his breath is in his nostrils; and so is the breath of every other man, most accounted of; in the nation, or in the state. Nor is natural death, the only way whereby our remaining firm pillars, may be removed.

And if we consider the spirit that now worketh, well may we be apprehensive of unhappy changes; and of all the evils threatened in our text. Some of these, we already experience. Though God hath not given children to be our princes, nor many bad men, we hope, to rule over us; yet the people are oppressed one by another, in a degree, I believe, beyond what has been usual heretofore. And certainly it is a remarkable day, for the child’s behaving himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. Nor is this to be wondered at. Of such scenes as we have lately passed through, it is the natural consequence. In revolutionary times, all expressions of respect are wont to be laid aside, or the application of them reversed. The great lessons inculcated on youth, instead of modesty, dutifulness and subordination; are boldness, self-sufficiency, and self-importance. Children, too young to read the Bible, or to be taught their catechism, are mounted on the stage, to act the orator, the patriot and politician: while the parents, the aged and the wise, fit or stand around in low place, wonder and applaud. Brutus and Cassius, (not Jesus nor Paul, Peter nor John,) are the great models and instructors, of the rising generation of Christians. Such things as these, we have seen; and the effects of them, we still sadly feel. Habits of subordination, always painful to human pride; when once effaced, or much weakened, are not easily restored. On the other hand, habits of haughtiness and disobedience, always congenial to the human heart; when once imbibed, naturally increase to more ungovernableness. One point of freedom gained, another is struggled for with the greater ardor. Licentiousness, like the rave, never says, “It is enough.”

In this state, though not near so free as some, great liberties are enjoyed. We have liberty to do everything that we ought; and a great many things that we ought not. In matters of religion, our liberties are almost unbounded. We may sell, buy and read, what books we please: the best, or the most atheistical and blasphemous. We may worship what god we choose: a just God, or one who has no justice for men to fear. Every creature, has equal liberty to preach the gospel: and to preach what gospel he thinks proper. Those who persuade men by the terrors of the Lord, to stand in awe, and not sin; and those who embolden men in all manner of iniquity, by assurances of no wrath to come, have equal encouragement. Any people may make the firmest legal contract for the support of what minister they will; and any number, or all of them, may break it when they will.—In civil matters, our liberty is a little more circumscribed; yet, in these, we have a good deal of elbow-room, to do wrong, as well as right. We may honor all men, or defame the most dignified and worthy characters. We may speak the truth, or assert and propagate falsehoods. Man may fulfill their promises, or not fulfill them; pay their debts, or never pay them, without any restraint, or much danger of compulsion. All these liberties, and a thousand others, if not explicitly by law allowed; are taken, very freely by many, in their worst latitude; and taken with impunity, in a multitude of instances.

Yet, with all this, numbers among ourselves, and much greater numbers in the freer states, it is said, are not satisfied; but are striving, by calumnies, and by intrigues, for new revolutions still further to weaken government. That some men might wish to have their own hands and tongues at greater liberty, provided their neighbours and enemies could be kept fast bound, may easily be conceived: but how any man, on the least sober reflection, should be willing that all others should be under less restraint than they now are, appears almost inconceivable. One would have thought, that the tragedy so long exhibited on the great European theatre of confusion, and especially the last scene; must have opened the eyes of the most blind; and obliged them to see, that overturning and overturning, with a view to break all bonds of society asunder, is not the way to public happiness, or personal safety. Nevertheless, this seems not to have been the case. A majority of the people, however, it may be presumed, are convinced, that our greatest immediate danger, is of having too little government, not too little liberty.

Nor are our duties, if we have this conviction, hard to be understood. Were we in earnest disposed, to stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way? And would we walk therein, rest might be found; and the threatened evils now spoken of, be prevented.

If we would not have the child behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable, greater attention should be paid to the schooling and government of the rising generation. Some attempt towards a reform in this matter has already been made, under the auspices of the general assembly: and, as far as I have had opportunity to observe, it has been attended with encouraging effects. It is necessary that those just weaned from the breast, should have line upon line, and precept upon precept; and it is of importance what those lines and precepts are. Little ones should be learnt their letters, at least; if not a few lines of the New-Testament, before they are learnt to be Grecian and Roman orators and patriots. They should be learnt a little modesty, and a little manners, before they are learnt to govern the nation. They should be made good children, before we attempt to make them great men.

If our legislators would prevent our being oppressed every one by another, the old and good way is, to have a code of laws, as short and plain as possible, and suitably enforced. Obsolete laws; and laws the only tendency of which is to evade, or needlessly delay, the operation of justice; I should think, ought to be repealed. And certainly great care should be taken, by the appointment of capable and faithful judiciary and informing officers, that the laws unrepealed be duly executed.

If our judges of courts, would keep us from oppressing, or being oppressed, they should cause “judgment to run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” They should see that the old complaint in Isaiah;²⁵ “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter,” be not applicable to ourselves. They should see, if possible, that their judgment seats be not environed with so high piles of voluminous fortifications, and such numerous garrisons, armed at all points, and able to defend anything, that right can hardly be obtained, in the plainest cause, without a siege, as long, and as costly, as the siege of Troy.

If the freemen—the fountain of power, would strengthen government, or guard against its being farther weakened; they should be very punctual in attending their legal meetings, and very careful for whom they give in their suffrages, as members of Assembly, or of Congress. They should see that they do not vote for weak men, however honest; nor for vicious men, however capable; nor for intriguing men, who are crowding themselves forward, by every popular artifice: who understand perfectly all the duties and faults of their superiors, but see no beam in their own eye, and never mind their own business. Men of real abilities, are generally unassuming and self-dissident. Men sensible of the difficulties and responsibility of important posts of trust, are generally backward to undertake them. Men restless where they are, and troublesome to those above them, are generally haughty and overbearing, if advanced to higher stations. Nor should the freemen be too much given to change; unless they mean to weaken government. Bad men, if in office, cannot be too soon turned out; but those who have ruled well, ought not to be dropped, merely that every man may have his turn; nor merely to show the great power of the people, and to keep their servants, who govern them, more in fear of them.

The ministers of the gospel, are thought to have no concern with the temporal happiness of mankind: doubtless, the good way for them, whether the old way or not, is to confine themselves very much to their spiritual vocation. Doubtless their principal business is, to save the souls of those who hear them. But in order to this, they must warn all, of that “wrath of God which is reveled from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” They must “convert sinners from the error of their ways,” or they cannot “save their souls from death.” They must teach their converts to “observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded,” by himself or his Apostles; or they cannot make them “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” And among these instructions, teaching them to “obey those who have the rule over them, and to be cautious how they speak evil of dignities, must not be omitted. Ministers must not “shun to declare all the counsel of God,” both to rulers and subjects, if they would be “pure from the blood of all men.” In a word, they must do what in them lies to make all their hearers good Christians; for without this they can never get them to heaven; and they need do no more, to make them peaceable and orderly members of society on earth. Thus far, and in this manner, Aaron may still support the hand of Moses, in ministering to the temporal good of men, even in a consistency with the modern line of separation drawn between them.

Lastly; all of every order, if they would do their part to prevent all the evils threatened in our text and context, from coming upon us, as the righteous judgments of Heaven, must see that their tongues and their doings are not against the Lord. Never can we rationally hope that God will be at peace with us, unless we treat his laws and ordinances with greater attention and respect. Unless we cease to do evil, and learn to do well; unless some check be put to those loose principles, and licentious practices, which have over-flowed all our cities, and towns, and villages.

The old paths, then, and the good way, to which we must return, and in which we must walk, would we find rest, are plain before us.

But, it is to be feared, the voice of a majority may now be, as it was in the days of Jeremiah: We will not walk therein. Both from the signs of the times, and from several predictions of scripture, I think the probability is, that things are not about to alter for the better, but for the worse. Mankind seem yet combining, and “taking counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us;” and God seems remarkably leaving them to strong delusions, to believe strange lies. He seems determined to let them go on, and try the boasted experiment of liberty and revolutions, to the uttermost: designing, it may be supposed, to have a more convictive discovery exhibited, than has ever yet been given, of the madness in the heart of the sons of men, before the general regeneration of the world. The unclean spirits, predicted to come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, as represented in the vision of John; appear evidently to have gone forth over all the earth, and to have been exceedingly busy and successful, in raising and training up their forces for the battle of that great day of God Almighty; ²⁶ which, according to the common calculation of expositors, is now only commencing. Whether we turn our eyes to the word of prophecy, or to the aspects of providence, we have reason to be very apprehensive, that “this darkness” is yet for a while, to “cover the earth, and gross darkness the people,” ²⁷ in a greater and greater degree, before the expected reign of light and truth, righteousness and peace.

Nevertheless, let not good men despond: nor let them relax their exertions to repel, as long and as extensively as they can, the prevalence of error, irreligion and wretchedness. Mightier is He that is with them, than all that are against them. When it is asked in the eleventh Psalm: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” the answer is short, but very emphatical and abundantly sufficient: “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. Elsewhere, the Psalmist, adoring the power and wisdom of the Most High, says, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of the wrath shalt thou restrain.” ²⁸ It is often said, “Christ is able to support his own church and ministers, without the aid of human laws.” This is doubtless true, it is also true, that Christ is able to take care of his church, and to bring the many sons given him to glory, without any ministers at all. And equally true is it, that God is able to govern the nations, without the help of earthly rulers. But, from these premises, the consequence will not follow, without hard drawing, that men may innocently and safely neglect exerting the power they have, for the support, either of good government, or of uncorrupted Christianity. “Those that walk in pride, God is able to abase;” but is there therefore nothing hazardous, nor wrong, in thus walking? A curse was once denounced, on them who “came not to the help of the Lord, against the mighty; though the Lord helped himself, without their assistance. But the foregoing truths, however they may have been perverted to the countenancing of human negligence in the cause of God or Christ, are matter of just consolation to the pious and good, when they walk in darkness and have no light: when they see little probability that their utmost efforts for the support of order, or of undefiled religion, will have any effect.

There will always be some, and some that ought to be leaders and teachers, whose policy it is, to turn with the times; to swim with the tide, and swing with the vibrating pendulum of popular opinion. Who will trim their way to seek love; and “become all things to all men, if by all means they may save” themselves. But a steadfast adherence to truth and duty, however great the apparent danger, is the only way of real safety. He who thus “loses his life, shall save it;” and he shall lose his life who would save it,” by deserting his post, or hiding himself under refuges of falsehood, when evil is forseen. “The fearful and unbelieving, shall have their part” at last, in the same lake with bolder transgressors. “The fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”²⁹ For the encouragement of good men, in perilous times, and particularly of good rulers, it is written: “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.” ³⁰ On these grounds is the exhortation in Isaiah, a few chapters after our text, ³¹ with which I shall conclude. “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.”

Endnotes

¹. Psalm cvii. 38, 39.

². Chap. xi. 1-4.

³. Rom xii. 8.

⁴. I Kings xi. 28.

⁵. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3.

⁶. Psalm xii. 8.

⁷. Prov. xxxi. 4.

⁸. Exod. xxiii. 2.

⁹. Eccl. x. 1.

¹⁰. 2 Sam. iii. 39.

¹¹. Dan. iv. 32.

¹². Psal. lxxv. 6, 7.

¹³. Eccl. x. 16.

¹⁴. Psal. xi. 3.

¹⁵. Eccl. vii. 7.

¹⁶. Rom. iii. 13-17.

¹⁷. Eccl. x. 5, 6, 7.

¹⁸. Tit. iii. 1.

¹⁹. 1 Pet. ii. 13.

²⁰. Rom. xiii. 2.

²¹. This inference was passed over in the delivery.

²². Micah iii. 11. Jer. ii. 25.

²³. Amos iii. 2. Jer. v. 9.

²⁴. Psal. lxxxii. 6, 7. Eccl. viii. 8.

²⁵. Chap. lix. 14.

²⁶. Rev. xvi. 13, 14.

²⁷. Isa. ix. 2.

²⁸. Psal. lxxvi. 10.

²⁹. Prov. xxix. 25.

³⁰. Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16.

³¹. Chap. viii. 12, 13.