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

Ashbel Green (1762-1848) served as a sergeant in the Revolutionary War from 1778 to 1782. After the war he enrolled in Princeton and graduated in 1784. He was licensed to preach in 1786 and installed as the pastor of the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia in 1787. In 1792 he was appointed chaplain to congress. Green became the president of Princeton from 1812 until 1822.

—“Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you while ye be with him. And if ye seek him he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”

The proclamation of the Chief Magistrate of the nation which calls us to the service of this day, states, as the special reason of the call, that it is “a season of difficulty and danger” to our common country. That such is the fact, no one in this assembly will pretend to deny. Not an individual who seriously contemplates our national situation, can forbear to confess, that, on every hand, dangers threaten and difficulties beset us. To anyone who should suggest a sure, practicable and easy plan, for maintaining our honor and preserving our civil and religious rights, it would be acknowledged that every ear should listen with attention, and every heart offer a tribute of thanks. My brethren,—a prophet of Jehovah offers you this very plan in the words of my text. The sacred herald proclaims it to you this hour, as really as he did to the favorite people of heaven in ancient times:—As really as he then said—“Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin,” he now says—“Hear ye me, rulers and people of America!—the Lord is with you while ye be with him—If ye seek him he will be found of you.” This, I affirm, is a sure plan for national defense and prosperity: “For if God be for us who can stand against us!”—What wisdom can contend with omniscience? What power can resist omnipotence? “Associate yourselves O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear all ye of far countries; gird yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces: gird yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together and it shall come to naught; speak the word and it shall not stand; for God is with us.” Nay, more—the plan of the prophet is not only effectual, but it is the only one that can be effectual. The same veracity which gives the comfortable assurance, on one condition, connects with it an awful alternative on another. “If ye forsake God he will forsake you.”—If, forgetful of your dependence on Jehovah, ye violate his laws and condemn his ordinances, his protection and favor will be taken from you, and then cometh confusion and every evil work. Left to yourselves, you will speedily become the prey of your enemies or work out your own destruction. Vain will be all your exertions. “For there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.”—His hand will find you out, and with just displeasure will seal your final ruin.

Thus have I given what I take to be the true import of the text, and with that direct application to our own circumstances, which I hope may engage our serious attention to it—That the statement you have heard is just, I shall endeavor to prove, in establishing the following proposition, in which it is comprised,—namely, —The nation that adheres to the laws of God shall be protected and prospered by him, but the nation that forsakes and disregards those laws he will destroy.

In discussing this doctrine, it will not be necessary to give a separate treatment to its contrasted parts. More advantage may be derived from considering, in connection, the nature, both of that obedience and disobedience which is contemplated, and of that benefit or injury, which severally results from them.

First, the, let us consider what is that adherence or obedience to the divine laws, which will insure to a nation the protection and blessing of heaven; and from which we may also, see, that deficiency or disobedience, on which the threatening is pronounced.

The obedience contemplated is described in the text by being or remaining with God, and by seeking him. In this, I think, all must allow there is implied, that a nation pay some general and sincere regard to those laws and obligations of duty, which the light it possesses, manifests to be of divine institution and sanctioned by the divine authority. Reason and scripture evince, in the clearest manner, the justice of this demand. If reason remonstrates against the iniquity of requiring men to obey laws, of which they have had no knowledge, and to walk by light which they have never seen, she equally enforces their obligation to obey every equitable law with which they are acquainted, and to act agreeably to the best information which they have received. In other words, it is one of the plainest dictates of reason, that men should be answerable for their improvement of the advantages they possess, and for nothing more. Accordingly we find that inspiration, which is reason purified from all error, expresses this principle, thus,—–“That servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.—Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth not, to him it is sin.” This rule must be as applicable to nations as to individuals, for of individuals, nations are composed. Let us apply it, then, to the case before us, and see what will be its result, as it relates to Heathens, Jews, and Christians.

Of the Heathen nations the account given by unerring truth, is as follows—“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” And again—“When the Gentiles which  have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written upon their hearts, their conscience, also, bearing witness, and their thoughts, the mean while, accusing or else excusing one another.” From this it appears that the Heathen nations, though destitute of a revelation, had still so many advantages from the light of nature itself, as to render them inexcusable when they violated the great principles of duty either to God or man. To acknowledge the existence, the providence, and many of the perfections of the Supreme Being, to be sensible of their dependence on him in all their concerns, to realize their indebtedness to him for all their guilt and unworthiness, to implore his favor, and to deprecate his displeasure, was a service which, even in their circumstances, might reasonably be demanded of them. The law, also, which was written on their hearts, or discoverable from natural reason, was sufficient to teach them the duties of justice, truth, humanity and benevolence, toward each other. How little of all this was actually found among those nations, is well known to those who are acquainted with the melancholy history of their moral and religious state. But the rule of their duty was such as has been stated, and as far as they manifested any color or degree of conformity to it in their external conduct or national character, the divine mercy and condescension, as well shall see hereafter, treated them as coming within the condition on which protection and prosperity in this world, are promised and bestowed. But when all regard to the moral and religious principles that have been recited, became extinct among them as a people, then they subjected themselves to the threatened penalty.

To the Hebrew nation, the knowledge of the true God was clearly revealed. The unity and spirituality  of his offense; the infirmity, eternity, purity and holiness of his nature and attributes; his creation, and his absolute and immediate government of the world; his moral laws; and his purposes of grace and mercy toward penitent sinners; were manifested to this people, in the fullest, most unequivocal, and most impressive manner. Their national polity itself was a theocracy, or mode of government in which the Deity sustained to them, not only the common relation of supreme governor of the world, but also that of a civil chief. He dictated all their political institutions; he presided over the administration of them; and with a view to secure them against falling into that ignorance of himself, that idolatry, superstition and immorality, which, at this time, characterized and degraded all the other nations of the world, as well as to be a shadow of good things to come, he instituted a complicated ritual of ceremonial observances and temporary regulations. These advantages laid the Jews under higher and more numerous obligations to moral and religious purity than any other nation then existing. It was, also, manifestly incumbent on them to regard, with sacred exactness, even those ceremonial rites, which had been enjoined by divine authority with the most wise and benevolent intention. Here, then, we have their rule of duty. While they walked agreeably to these advantages and institutions they might be said to abide with God and to seek him. When they departed from these they were said to forsake him. The observance of these things is precisely the ground of the promise in the text,—the promise of the divine presence and protection, with all its happy consequences. On the contrary, their departure from the rule of duty which has been specified, subjected them to the threatened dereliction and displeasure of God, with all its ruinous effects.

Under the Christian dispensation we have still a new accession of light. In addition to the knowledge of the Deity, and of his laws and designs, which the ancient Hebrews possessed, we have a bright display of the very method in which his purposes of mercy toward our fallen race are fully carried into effect. “He who spake unto us by the prophets hath, in these last days, spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world”—who is “Immanuel, God with us.” By him “we have received the atonement.” We are distinctly informed, that “he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” We are assured that by faith in him “we are justified without the deeds of the law.” To us it has been declared by divine authority, that “all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father,” and that “he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who hath sent him.” We have received information, more distinct than was given under the Mosaic economy, of the million and work of the blessed Spirit of God, emphatically styled “the Comforter”—We are told that man, “dead by nature in trespasses and sins,” can be saved only by “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.” The spirituality and extent of the divine law is more completely unfolded to us than to the Jews, and the doctrine more powerfully inculcated that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” The obligations to justice, benevolence, charity, meekness, kindness, forgiveness, and every good work, are most powerfully enforced. “Life and immortality is brought to light by the gospel.” A future judgment is plainly revealed, and the states of eternal happiness and misery, which await the righteous and the wicked, are clearly and strikingly set before us.

It must immediately be perceived that this system of information originates many peculiar obligations and duties, which could not be binding or incumbent on those who were destitute of it:—And therefore the nation which is blest with the knowledge of this system, will then, and then only, come up to the condition on which the promise of protection and prosperity is founded in the text, when it pays some suitable regard to the leading principles which it contains. When those principles are generally and notoriously violated, the solemn declaration that God will forsake such a people, immediately becomes applicable.

Let me request that the statement which has now been of the rule of moral and religious duty to communities, in dissimilar circumstances or under different dispensations, may be carefully kept in mind through the remainder of the discourse, that repetition may be spared without producing mistake. Let it be understood and remembered that in speaking of the virtues or vices of nations as the cause of prosperity or adversity, I always consider the distributive justice of God as deciding the destiny of each by its relative advantages,—its relative knowledge of moral and religious truth, and that practice which is consonant or contrary to it.

This statement, however, has not been made, merely to furnish a basis of illustration to the following part of the subject; but also to show how totally void of force is a favorite remark in infidel writers on this topic. With much apparent triumph, they reproach the advocates of Christianity for representing national prosperity as any way connected with a regard to the Christian religion, and the adduce the prosperous condition of some pagan countries, both in ancient and modern times, as proof positive of the justice of the reproach. But we may here see that the fact alleged (allowing it to be a fact) is, in truth, no proof at all. Those nations never were under obligation to conform to the same standard which we are bound to regard. It will presently be seen that when they actually and generally departed from what was their rule of duty they were uniformly destroyed. But to say that a Christian nation, may with impunity become Pagan, while a Pagan nation (it is allowed on all hands) could not with justice be required to regard Christianity, is an assertion which does no honor to the sagacity or candor of its authors. It is to say that they who possess the most advantages may safely act like those who have enjoyed the least. The Heathen posses one degree of information, we another. They are dealt with by their own measure, we by ours. This is strictly the principle of justice; and the objection in question is annihilated by the obvious remark.

Here, however, it may be observed, without cavil, that no nation ever fully conforms to the rule which has been specified as marking the line of duty; and it may be asked—what is that measure of conformity, which will secure the benefits of the promise? To answer this enquiry with precision and as it relates to particular cases God alone is competent. “He giveth not account of any of his matters.” In some instances his mercy may forbear with nations after considerable defection, and in others his justice may take speedy vengeance. While the guilty are never punished till they deserve it, equity is not violated in waiting longer for the reformation of some than of others. This exercise of sovereignty, this limited variety in his dispensation, is seen in all the administrations of the Deity. The most wise and important purposes answered by it. Presumptuous is restrained, on the one hand, and despondence or despair is prevented, on the other. The entire freedom of human action is, also, preserved by this order. The mind of man is left to that full exercise of judgment and choice, and that natural operation of desire and prosperity, which render him most completely accountable for his actions. From this cause it will come to pass that the method in which nations are treated will appear somewhat irregular. The virtuous, in some cases, will appear to suffer, and the vicious to be triumphant. A semblance of contradiction will hence arise to the doctrine I inculcate. Yet, as will be shown more fully in its place, it is only the semblance, and not the substance of opposition, that will thus be produced. A criterion of judging sufficiently exact, and most highly important, will still be left us. It will still remain a perspicuous and interesting truth, that when a nation is characteristically pious it will be ultimately protected, and that when it becomes characteristically impious it will be fast hastening to destruction; and that in proportion as it approaches to the one or the other of these extremes it has reason to hope or to fear. To explain my meaning, here, with reference to a Christian nation, I would say, that—When the rulers of a Christian country recommend Christianity by their practice and example: when they discover a reverence for it by faithfully enacting and executing laws for the suppression of vice and immortality: When, without infringing on the rights of conscience, they encourage true piety, by countenancing those who profess, practice and teach it: When, on suitable occasions, and in public acts, the Being and Providence of God, and our accountableness to him, are recognized, and the honor which is due to his Son is rendered: When the moral laws of God, relative to man, as well as to himself, are truly regarded, by those whose station gives influence and fashion to their conduct, and renders it in a sort the representation and expression of national sentiment on the subject of morals: And when, in addition to this, the great principles of piety and morality already recited, are so generally and effectually taught and inculcated on the people at large, as really to influence the public mind, and in some good degree to form the popular opinions and habits:—this I would say was a performance of duty,—this would secure to a Christian nation the benefits of the divine promise. But when, among those who preside over the people, the very being, attributes, and providence of God are denied, or when there is a studied omission of every idea that refers to his government, or to our dependence on him: When, through a hatred of Christianity, it is disavowed, despised, laughed at, and in the most contemptuous manner trampled underfoot; or when through pusillanimity or impious policy, a country conceals its attachment to the religion of Jesus; or when the profession of attachment is only a thin veil of hypocrisy: When the leading men of a nation flagrantly and shamelessly violate every moral law: And when the people at large love to have it so, and are rapidly assimilating to the same corrupt standard; then they subject themselves to the divine denunciation, and are treading on the brink of destruction.

Let us now

II. Attend to the proof of this assertion; or to the proof, rather, of the general position—That righteous nations will be protected and prospered, and that impious nations will be destroyed.

The remark scarcely needs to be made, that I am not here to maintain that God will either protect a righteous, or destroy a wicked nation, by any miraculous exertion of his power, or in any other way than by the use of those means, and the operation of those causes, which under the guidance of his providence are naturally calculated, and best adapted to produce such an effect. No, my brethren—When nations, in the early stages of the world, could not be fully instructed by experience in the principles of the divine government, because time for this experience had not yet been afforded; and that the most impressive proofs of the very truth which the text asserts might be furnished to all future time, God did, indeed, work miracles of salvation for the people who feared and served him, and miracles of destruction on those who departed from his laws. But as these examples are now furnished, and held up to our view as sure indications of what we are to expect from the same source of justice from which they flowed, and as abundant experience has shown what is the settled order of the divine dispensation, miracle is not to be expected, because it is not necessary. There have been some instances, indeed, in every age, both of the deliverance and destruction of nations, in which the divine interference has appeared but little short of miraculous. Such events, however, are not to be reckoned on, though they may sometimes occur. In general, if God intend to preserve a nation, he will either dispose others to be at peace with it, or he will stir up its inhabitants to a rational, vigorous and united exertion of their strength and means, to defend themselves; and these he will bless and crown with success. If he forsake a nation he will leave it to infatuated measures, to divided counsels, to supineness, to discord, treachery, and treason; or he will counteract its efforts, and thus effectually accomplish his designs of vengeance. Peace, health, and plenty, will be blessings flowing from his favor; sword, pestilence, and famine, will be the messengers of his wrath. Sometimes his hand will be invisible, and sometimes conspicuously displayed; but in either case its operations will be sure and irresistible whether to defend or to destroy.

In establishing the point before us, the proof on which I propose principally to rely is of the historical kind. The principles of human nature and of society do indeed offer strong and conclusive evidence of the same truth, and these will be occasionally taken to our aid in the answering objections to our doctrine. But these principles have been so often and so clearly explained and applied to this subject, that nothing seems capable of being added to what must already be familiar to you; and as the conclusions deduced from them have, notwithstanding, been lately denied by a daring spirit of innovation and infidelity, I think it most proper, in every view, to treat the subject historically and to show that the theory we maintain is incontrovertibly supported by fact. In pursuing this design we assume it as a principle that the plan of Providence, or the divine government, is uniform in its execution, so that what hath happened in all time past, may be expected to happen in all time to come. Atheists and infidels may, indeed, deny that the course of human affairs is under the direction or providence of God; but even they cannot, with a shadow of truth or candor, deny the fact, that nations have actually stood or fallen by the test in question, nor can they easily resist the belief that the future will resemble the past.

To the faithful page of history then let the impartial appeal be made. Let the Heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian nations pass in review before you, and you will find their prosperity or their adversity, meted to them by the measure we have examine. What was it that produced the most ancient and the most awful desolation and extinction of nations that the history of the world records? The sacred volume will inform you—“God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually—And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast—for the earth was filled with violence: And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth: And God said unto Noah—The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.” Let every believer in revelation mark the cause which inspiration here assigns, for bringing the waters of a flood on the world of the ungodly: —Let him mark and remember that it was for general corruption and impiety; and let this be in his mind, the attestation of unerring truth, that, at least in one, and that the most conspicuous of all instances, the Deity forsook and destroyed the nations—even all the nations of the earth—because they had forsaken him. Let it also be remembered, that this happened in the infancy of the world, for the express purpose that it might be a warning to every succeeding generation of men; and that no reason can be assigned why the Deity should not be as much displeased with impiety now as then, nor why he should not punish the people who are guilty of it; though, for wise reasons, he may not use a miraculous but an ordinary method of chastisement.

But examples of the same import multiply upon us in perusing the sacred records. Why was it that “the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew up on the ground.”? It was “because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was great, and because their sin was grievous”—Because nameless deeds of wickedness were perpetrated there, and ten righteous persons could not be found, as “the salt of the earth” to qualify its corruption, and to extinguish the fire of heaven. What was the cause of the destruction of the Canaanitish nations, whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel? Was it mere arbitrary pleasure of Jehovah to destroy them, that he might make room for the settlement of his chosen people? Such is the favorite but false representation of infidels. Hear the account of Scripture, and observe, that it is held up as a warning to the Israelites themselves; “Defile not yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations are defiled that I cast out before. And the land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth with you: For all these abominations have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land is defiled.” Why was it, that the awful “voice from heaven: said to the proud King of Babylon, “O King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken—drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field!” It was that he might “know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will:—And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him—what dost thou?” Why was it that, to the son and successor of this haughty monarch, the appalling, unconnected, self moved hand, came forth, and wrote on the wall of his palace—-“Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin—God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it; thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting: Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians”? It was because he had not “humbled his heart” in the contemplation of his father’s doom. “But had lifted up himself against the Lord of Heaven”—-had profaned the vessels of his sanctuary—-“and the God in whose hand his breath was and whose were all his ways he had not glorified”—-Therefore “in that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took his kingdom.”

These instances—so pointed and powerful that the aid of enforcement would but encumber them—demonstrating the truth on which I insist, are found in holy scripture;  but observe that they all relate to Heathen nations, to nations that had no special revelation—had nothing but those great principles of religion and morality which the light of nature or the report of tradition taught, to guide them in the path of duty: And for the violation of these you have heard their destiny.

But if leaving the testimony of sacred, we resort to that of profane history itself, we shall find the same account. We shall find that when a nation of the heathen world regarded, in any tolerable degree, (for not one regarded in a high degree), the principles of religious and moral duty which I specified at the entrance, then they were most prosperous, and that when they wholly departed from these, then they were speedily destroyed. If the limits to which I am confined did not forbid it, the talk would not be difficult to evince, beyond all contradiction, from the most authentic accounts of these nations, that religion and morality, mistaken and imperfect as they were among pagans, were still their strength and security, and that a disregard to these always preceded their dissolution. The truth of this representation is recognized (it may be, some hundreds of times) by their own writers. The fact was so evident and notorious that it forced itself on observation, precluded denial, passed at length into one of those settled maxims of which there is neither doubt nor controversy, mingled itself with all their public instructions, and was regarded as essential in all their political institutions. The most learned and eloquent of the Roman philosophers and orators accounts for the superiority of the Roman state in language such as this, “We exceed not the Spaniards in number, nor Gauls in strength, nor the Carthaginians in subtly, nor the Greeks in arts, nor the Italians and Latins, who were the original inhabitants of this country, in natural strength of mind; but it is in piety and religion, in discerning that all things are directed and governed by the immortal Gods, that we have excelled all the nations and people of the earth.” Even a father of the Christian church has this remark, “That God would not give heaven to the Romans, because they were heathen, but he gave them the empire of the world, because were virtuous.” A writer of a far different character makes an extravagant assertion “That for several ages together never was the fear of God more eminently conspicuous than in the Roman republic.” But he is strictly correct, when he says, “That religion produced good laws, good laws good fortune, and good fortune a good end in whatever they undertook.” Nor are these observations less applicable to other nations of heathen antiquity. Consult the rise and fall of the Assyrian, the Persian, and the Macedonian empires, or of the free states of Greece, and you will find that their political prosperity waxed or waned very much by the measure of their religious and moral character. Their religion—I know and repeat it—was absurd, and their morals comparatively impure, but the degree of rectitude and purity which they possessed was their safety, and the contrary was their bane. I do not hold them up as objects to be envied or as examples to be imitated in the gross. They became eventually the curses and scourges of the world; but they became so by their degeneracy, which proved in the end their own destruction and—this is the point for which I contend.

In regard to the Hebrew nation, no man that has read his bible can be ignorant, that it stood or fell by the rule that has been given. Its whole history, indeed, is, and was intended to be, little else than the history of the truth of the doctrine which I now maintain. When the people “served the Lord God of their Fathers, with a perfect heart and with a willing mind:”—When they “did justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with their God.” Then they had rest; or if their enemies attempted to injure them, “one man chased a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.” On the contrary, when they forgot the Lord and walked after the imagination of their own evil heart, then they experienced every sore and destructive calamity; till at length they were completely removed out of their own land, subjected to a most humiliating captivity and bondage, while their country was ravaged and rendered desolate for the space of seventy years. The text is but a single instance, among passages innumerable, in which the general truths here stated were brought in the most striking manner to their remembrance. Read with attention the 26^th chap. Of the book of Leviticus, and you will there, find specified at large, the promises and the threatening which the whole of their subsequent history demonstrates to have been strictly fulfilled. But the most awful example which the Jews offer to the world, is in the punishment which they received after their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah, and the persecution of his apostles and disciples. An historian of their own nation, who was an eye witness of what he records, gives such an account of the overthrow of their temple, city and nation, as has not its parallel in the annals of the world. It was accompanied by the most awful and manifest displays of the divine indignation, insomuch that Titus the Roman emperor confessed that it was the hand of God, rather than his own military prowess, that effected their destruction. From that time to the present hour, the Jews have been vagabonds over all the earth, furnishing a monument and miracle of the divine displeasure, against a nation that no mercies or judgments could reclaim.

If, turning form the Heathen and the Jews, we fix on the history of Christian countries, we shall find it still confirming the fact asserted, that when they have conformed to those principles of religious and moral duty which constitute the rule of their obedience to God, they have been protected and prospered, and when they have thrown aside a regard to these, they have been blasted and cut off.

It was not till more than three centuries after the birth of our blessed Lord, that any state professed a national attachment to the religion which he taught. During this whole period, however, the light of that religion in all its purity, was diffused over many countries, and rendered them, in a degree, responsible for a conformity to it. The consequences of refusing to be guided and influences by it have been awful indeed. The whole region of Asia Minor & of ancient Greece, where the most flourishing Christian churches were planted by St. Paul, have long since experienced the fulfillment of the threatening which the beloved apostle  was commissioned to denounce. Not only have the inhabitants of that region been deprived of the gospel which they abused, but, under the Mahomedan power, they have sunk into the most gloomy political bondage;—slavery and wretchedness have been brooding over them for more than a thousand years.

A similar fate was reserved for the Roman Empire. Long had its impieties and prostrate morals been portending its fall. But when the bloody and relentless persecution, of the followers of Jesus were added to its other crimes, the vengeance of heaven could no longer be delayed. A celebrated historian of this period, whose prejudice would not suffer him to learn from it the truth of the Christian system, intimates that there is reason to believe, that in one space of about fifteen years, “war, pestilence, and famine, consumed the moiety of the human species.” Under Constantine the Great the Roman Empire became Christian; and then again her political power and internal happiness had a short revival.  But in the revolution of a few years the corruptions of Christianity debased and degraded the worship of God, rent and divided and dishonored his church, and admitted of licentiousness in principle, and immorality in practice. Then desolation entered as a flood. And inundation of barbarians broke in upon the empire, razed it to the foundations, massacred its inhabitants, swept away every monument of grandeur, every achievement of art, every comfort of life; so that this period has obtained, descriptively, the appellation of the dark ages, and furnishes but scanty documents for its own history. To such a length, indeed, did barbarism and ignorance proceed, that for several centuries there was scarcely a term in the languages of Europe by which literature or learning could be expressed. This was the period in which all the abominations of Anti-Christ reigned without controul. It was the period too in which human misery was at its height. During its continuance, several of the plagues and phials of wrath, predicted in the apocalypse, were emphatically poured out. The imposter Mahomet arose, and with sword and rapine extended his power and established his superstition over a fourth part of the then discovered globe. The crusades, which the spiritual infatuation of the princes and nations of Europe carried on for a series of years to dispossess the infidel Mussel men  of the holy land, beggared and depopulated the countries whence they proceeded, while oppression, rapacity and violence at home filled the cup of sorrow to the full.  To recount the sufferings of those who bore the Christian name, and subjected it to reproach by their follies, hypocrites, impieties and vices, during this period, would carry me far beyond the proper bounds of this discourse. At length a glorious reformation began to dawn on the benighted and miserable nations. And then—let it be distinctly observed—then began, also, and amelioration of their political state. To this reformation, beyond all question, as the fundamental and most efficient cause, has been owing the literary improvement, the civil happiness, and the general superiority of Europe over all the other people of the earth. Its influence, was by no means confined to those nations that were active in promoting it, but was greatly extended to those that contended against it. Power, tyranny and superstition, were obliged to relax their demands, and to assume a milder tone, to prevent the extension of that which they equally hated and feared.

We see, then, that the general aspect of the Christian history confirms our position in the fullest manner. To descend to particulars, is forbidden by the limits to which I am confined. Let me, only, call your attention, for a moment, to the origin of that Happy state of society which our own country has experienced, even since our forefathers formed political establishments in it. Can anyone deny that those establishments owe their excellence to the fervent piety and pure morals of their original founders? It is impossible to deny it. To Christianity, in its genuine spirit, we have rendered our country the envy of the world, which we cannot change but to an infinite disadvantage, and which, if we are careful to maintain them, will be our everlasting glory and defense.[*] Our defense they have certainly been in time past.  From the fist settlement of these States till the present hour, the signal care of heaven, in preserving us from all machinations of our enemies, has been such as to confound unbelief itself, and to furnish a most comfortable illustration of the truth I inculcate. Often, very often, both in early and latter times, has the safety and salvation of our country been dependent on circumstances which no human means could manage or control, and on discoveries which no human wisdom could make. In all these cases, when standing on the brink of destruction, the good providence of God has interposed and saved us; so that it would seem as if it were only necessary that we should be in imminent danger, in order to see a wonderful interposition of the divine hand to deliver us from destruction—God of his mercy grant that the impieties which now prevail, may not change his dispensations toward us!

If it be demanded, after all, whether history will not demonstrate that some nations distinguished for religion, have not suffered by the attacks of others, and whether some that have been distinguished for irreligion, have not been prospered?—the demand may be met without the least disadvantage to my argument. As a reply to the whole it would, I think, be sufficient to remind you of the remark already made, that, as in all the other divine dispensations, so in this, it is to be expected that there will be some appearances which seem to be exceptions to a general rule, which we must resolve into the sovereignty of God—or into our imperfect views and knowledge of his designs; and that such appearances ought by no means to weaken the influence of the general rule, or to diminish  our care to walk agreeably to it. But though this might be a sufficient answer to the inquiry, and though there may be some real need for it, in a few cases that might possibly be specified in regard to this subject; yet I am persuaded that there is much less occasion for such remarks on this subject, than on almost any other, where the ways of God are concerned. In answer to the first part of the demand, let it be observed that the conformity of nations to the standard which ensures protection is often very imperfect, while yet the fear of God and obedience to his laws are considerably regarded. In these circumstances the Deity may, and commonly does, afflict to a certain degree, with a view to reform and not to destroy. If reformation take place, the correction is withdrawn, and his favor returns. This is precisely the statement of the text, where we are assured that if a nation seeks the Lord he will be found of them. But if reformation do not take place, chastisement will continue and crease, till, at length, the people who prove incorrigible will be finally destroyed. This accounts for the appearance –. It shows that the divine blessing is not only conferred on obedience but is proportioned to it. But my recollection does not serve me for a single instance, in which a nation, however small, that could make any plausible pretension to religious and moral purity, was ever totally destroyed. On the contrary, a number of the small states of Europe have been almost miraculously preserved, when contending for real liberty and religion, against the most powerful and impetuous nations of the earth. Different, I know, has been the effect of the struggles of some of those nations, lately, to preserve their very existence. They have been carried away like dust before the whirlwind. But what has been the cause? Examine it well, and you will find the doctrine I inculcate very powerfully supported by the result. You will find that the punishment inflicted on these nations, has been most wonderfully proportioned to the measure of their and notorious hypocrites, impieties and immoralities.

But it is time to turn to the opposite part of this enquiry, and attempt to answer what many will esteem a more formidable objection, namely—that impious and immoral nations have sometimes been blest and prospered. It may even be supposed, that this point has already been yielded in a measure, when it was suggested, that the conquerors of the earth have frequently been distinguished by a disregard to everything sacred. Such a conclusion however, does not follow with justice, from the premises whence it is drawn. Why may not God, for the purposes of chastising those whom ultimately he intends to save, confer success on the unlawful enterprises of wicked nations as he does on those of wicked individuals, and yet, in both cases, be only preparing the way for the final and more awful ruin of the transgressors? That he may do this is not only possible but in some instances certain. There cannot be two grosser errors than to believe, that military success is always a mark of the divine approbation, and that conquest or extended dominion always secures happiness and prosperity to a conquering nation. As to the first, which is a favorite idea with some, that military success is a proof of the divine approbation, I would beg of those who cherish the delusion, to consider where it will lead them. It will lead them unavoidably to maintain, that Alexander  and Caesar, that Goths and Vandals, that Turks and Tartars, have been the most distinguished favorites of Heaven, for in military success none have been equal to these. No, my brethren, military success is, by itself, no proof of the divine patronage. God may, as already intimated, use a nation as the rod of his anger to chastise the guilty, and then he may break and burn it, and make its destruction a useful warning to every beholder. We are assured by scripture, that de did so with the Assyrian empire of old—Nay, he hath done it in every age, and it is his usual method of procedure. Military success, in war merely defensive, May be evidence of the divine favor; but in every other case, if we judge from experience, the presumption is against the victor. Neither is conquest and dominion a proof that the conquering nation is truly prosperous. A few of its distinguished chiefs may acquire fame and wealth, while the mass of its inhabitants are wretched in the extreme. The fact commonly happens thus—It happens thus remarkably, at present, with that nation of Europe, that is subduing others, and threatening us. Is it really prosperous? Are its citizens happy? Have they, while they have been ravaging and subduing other kingdoms, possessed true national felicity among themselves? No, assuredly—Fear and anxiety, convulsion and terror, massacre and blood, the destruction of arts, of property, of all domestic enjoyment, of all religious, moral, and social principles, of all that renders existence not a curse, has reigned in the midst of them, with infernal triumph. It is even true, that among all the nations that they have conquered, rendered tributary, pillaged, partitioned, bartered and trafficked away, not one has suffered more than themselves. The volcano which has poured desolation in burning torrents on every circumjacent region has still glowed most intensely at the centre of its force, and there, in its own bowels and crater, with the most rapid and energetic fury, it has tortured, and transmuted  and consumed, every useful material, which heaven, nature, art or accident, has offered to its touch. The scene with this nation is yet unclosed; and I grant the conclusion, that its fate will subvert the doctrine of my text completely, if its catastrophe be not an illustrious display of the divine indignation: For in the most shocking and avowed atheism, in the most marked contempt of all the dictates of religion, both natural and revealed, it has exhibited a specimen, which, as far as my knowledge extends, has never been witnessed before since the creation of the world. But that it is ultimately doomed to peculiar judgments, I have, for myself, no more doubt than of the truth of God—no more question than of my own existence. And I should feel that I acted as a traitor to my sacred trust, if, when the success of this nation are held up (and thus they have been) as a contradiction to the word of life, and when they stand particularly opposed to the truth which, from that word, I am, this day, called to maintain, I should hesitate to make this avowal, and to make it publicly.

Perhaps some will now be ready to remark, that the prosperity which it must be confessed, accompanies a national observance of the divine laws is owing  to the natural influence which religious and moral observances have to produce this desirable effect. Be it so; this influence I do not deny, but maintain. But remember, that this natural connection between piety and prosperity, vice and ruin, is still the appointment of God, and even, on this plan, is as much his order as if it had been made for every particular case, in which its effects are felt. Scripture and experience, however, do, I think, concur in teaching, that beside this natural connection, God does often and especially interfere by his providence, both to preserve and bless those who obey him, and to destroy those who reject and despise his laws.

It may be objected, finally, that the representation given, goes to unsettle an important principle which has generally been understood to belong to the Christian system, namely, that the present is a state of probation, and not of retribution. A short answer to this would be, that whatever doctrine is established by facts, is not responsible to theory for its consequences, and that all that has been said, is but an appeal to undeniable experience. But I will never answer thus where Christianity is even supposed to be implicated by it—its dictates are eternal truth. I grant that the doctrine I advocate requires some explanation in regard to this point, and I am confident it may be given in a manner that shall be perfectly satisfactory to every candid mind, and even illustrative and confirmatory of the doctrine itself.

It will be remembered, then, that the concession has already been made and repeated, that righteous nations may experience partial and temporary sufferings, and that those of an opposite character may obtain some temporary, or rather apparent advantages. This will be a call for the faith and patience of pious men, who may suffer in the general calamity, and may teach them to look forward to that better world “where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.”

But in reality, the doctrine which teaches that men are not to look for rewards or punishments in this life, though true and important when judiciously applied to individuals, is often mistaken even in its relation to them, and when applied to nations and considered as a general principle, is not true at all. It is only in this world that communities as such have an existence or character. In the world to come the whole of our race will appear as individuals, and not as communities. If any, retribution, then, be awarded to nations as nations, it must be in the present state, and not in that which is to come. But it appears to be of the highest importance in the moral government of God, that national character should be the subject both of his favor and of his frowns; and this, consequently must be experienced in the present state. It accordingly does take place in fact, and is generally to be expected.

It should also be considered, that the established connection between virtue and prosperity, vice and ruin, which has already been noticed, is much closer, and more powerful, in relation to communities than to individuals; and draws after it a present retribution as an unavoidable consequence. It is, indeed, the general tendency of virtue to produce happiness, and of vice, to beget misery, in every individual who practices the one or the other. But in a vicious society, a virtuous man will suffer in many ways from his unavoidable connection with wicked associates. In a virtuous society, on the contrary, a vicious man has many enjoyments, and derives many advantages, merely from the circumstance, that the mass of the community are not like himself. They form, as it were, a barrier around him, and their goodness is the food on which his vices live and prey. But when the greater part of the individuals of a community come to posses this character, that is, when a nation as such becomes abandoned to vice, there is no longer any suitable tie by which it can be holden together and every salutary source from which safety and happiness can proceed is dried up. Without religion there can be no obligation of an oath, no sufficient sanction to a promise, and consequently no rational and solid ground of confidence—no operative and universal motive to truth, fidelity, and integrity, either in the intercourse and transactions of individuals with each other, or in their engagements to the public. Without morality all regard to the happiness and claims of others, to public and private justice, to parental authority, to filial duty, to conjugal fidelity, to temperance, chastity, sympathy, charity and humanity, is wholly destroyed, or left to rest on the airy principle of honor, or the dangerous foundation of personal inclination. Man becomes a selfish sensual brute. And when the component parts of a nation of this description it is impossible that they should remain united, except by the most powerful compulsion. Civil liberty cannot exist at all in such a community. Society must either be dissolved entirely, or it must assume a state and form which is a greater evil than dissolution itself.

On the other hand, where religious and moral principles, in their vigor and purity, pervade the great body of individuals in a state, every social tie is strengthened, every part of the community draws toward the good of the whole, society is easily governed, because it requires but little governing, civil liberty may be extensively enjoyed, and all the happiness of the social state will be fully realized. So intimately is religion and morality connected by a natural bond, or rather by the divine constitution, with the safety and prosperity of nations. So just is the remark that any kind of religion in a state is better than none: And it will be manifest to ever one who pursues the clue here given, that just in proportion as the religious and moral system of a nation is pure in that proportion will it naturally tend to promote the public safety and happiness; and consequently that the Christian system, as the purest of all, is the best of al—the best of all, for  communities, as well as for individuals—“having the promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come.”

But the conclusion which I am here particularly to form, and I think it may now be formed with advantage, is—That nations do receive a retribution in the present world according to their several characters: —That this cannot be otherwise if they are every treated as nations, and that the divine constitution unavoidably produces this effect.

On the whole, then, the doctrine which I proposed to demonstrate has been shown to be supported by facts, and to be sanctioned by the soundest principles of reason—It has been proved to be true; and how, and why, it is true, has been explained.

A few important deductions from what your heart will now conclude the discourse.

1. We may learn from what has been said, how totally devoid of truth it that darling principle of modern unbelievers, that a nation may be as happy without religion as with it.

This a mere Atheistic  hypothesis and speculation, not only unsupported by any experience, but in direct hostility, as we have seen, with the experience of all nations, in all ages of the world. It is one of the most daring, extravagant, and unaccountable chimeras, that every entered the head even of a metaphysical infidel; and nothing but the most inveterate hatred to God and his laws could never have given it birth. Yet it has been and with many who are not destitute of influence, I fear it still is, a tenet for which they have a peculiar fondness. They endeavor to give it currency by professing separate religion form morality, and to be advocates for disarming the former, and warm contenders retaining the latter. But that morals can exist without religion, is as destitute of proof and probability, as the whole position is without this qualification. No nation has ever yet existed where this phenomenon of morals without religion has made its appearance; and there is no reason to believe that it is even possible from the very nature and structure of the human mind. Our late venerable President therefore, in his farewell address—well knowing how earnestly some were laboring to inculcate this horrid doctrine—did with great propriety warn us not to admit the idea that “morals can be separated from religion.” The very truth is, infidels first endeavor to exclude religion from the state, that they may give the name of morality to any set of principles they may choose to adopt, and that thus, in the end, they may fully accomplish their wishes by getting rid of both. Be warned, my brethren, by what you have this day heard, be warned, that without religion and morality, harmoniously united, we are an undone people; without these our civil liberty and social happiness cannon possibly be preserved. Let us esteem these our principal and most essential defense at the present hour and let us be thankful to God that he has given us a chief magistrate who, in looking to the defense of the country, has seen this important truth in its just light—has seen that we must implore and obtain the favor of God, or all other means will be ineffectual. Let each of us be deeply convinced of this as a practical truth: And therefore I add—sadly, that viewing the religious and moral state of our country in connection with this subject, we may see how urgent is the call for humiliation, fasting and prayer, for which this day has been expressly set apart.

If God deals with nations according to their relative light and advantages, and where he has given much, will always require the more—and such we have seen really to be the case—verily, my brethren, this is a truth of most solemn import to the people of America at this time. Our advantages, in point of religious and moral information, have been second to those of no people upon earth; and our circumstances for carrying this information into practice are, I believe, superior to those which any other nation now enjoys. Has our improvement then, been, in any measure answerable to our privileges? Is our moral and religious state at present, such, in any degree, as our circumstances demand? Every serious and candid mind, penetrated with grief, will answer, no! It is a most melancholy fact, that we have greatly forgotten, and departed from the Lord God of our fathers. Of the arm that has so often and remarkably defended us in the hour of distress,—that so lately and marvelously prospered us when we contended for our independence—we have been unmindful. We have returned base ingratitude for the favors of heaven, which we have experienced as a nation. Those civil and religious privileges which God from the first bestowed upon us, and which he has all along continued to us, we, have abused in the service of sin. There has certainly been a loss, and not an increase of piety and morality, in our country, since our late revolution. Infidelity does most awfully abound among all descriptions of people from the highest to the lowest. Profaneness of every description, most lamentably prevails. The ordinances of God’s day and house are neglected, deserted, and despised. His word is openly ridiculed and his Son treated as an imposter. A dissoluteness of manners and morals, like a deadly leprosy, is fast spreading itself among the people at large, and far beyond any former example.

In these circumstances we are threatened with a war from the most powerful, the most active, and the most insidious nation upon earth. A nation which has already proved a scourge to many others and which appears to be permitted by God to affect its designs for the express purpose of chastising this guilty age—this age of infidel reason. What is the language of this situation? It undoubtedly is—“God hath come forth against you for your iniquities—your conduct toward him is changed for the worse, tremble left is toward you should change likewise. Turn unto him speedily, left his anger consume you.” Yes, my brethren, let our opinion be what it may of second causes, manifest it is, that the Deity hath a controversy with us.—For some time past he hath given us intimation of his displeasure, but now he hath, as it were, set himself in array against us. Let us then truly humble ourselves before him. Let us “repent in dust and ashes” in his presence this day. Let us mourn our land defiling iniquities. Let this be to us a day of humiliation, not merely in name, but in deed and in truth. Let us “rent our heart and not our garment:”—let us, in very truth, plead with him, in secret and in public, “to turn us from our sins and to turn his anger from us.” Let us entreat for this, as sensible that we are pleading for our very existence. Let us pray that God would pour out his holy and blessed spirit upon the people, to convince them effectually of sin; and to turn them effectually to himself. Let us pray that he would bless the rulers of our land, and make them examples of real religion and found morals:—That he would dispose them all, instead of countenancing and encouraging vice and infidelity by their practice and profession, to set themselves against it, as that which will destroy both them and those they govern, if it proceed much farther. Let us resolve in God’s name and strength, to act as well as to pray. Let those who have power be conjured to use it for him from whom all power is derived and to whom they must solemnly account for the manner in which they employ it. Let each of us, in our proper places and stations, be earnest, resolute and persevering, in promoting the work of reformation. Let us each reform himself, and endeavor to set an example, purer than heretofore, of true religion, and of the discharge of every moral, social, and relative duty. Believe it, my hearers, the serious hour is come. Reformation or severe chastisement is just before us. But if we will turn unto the Lord in the manner recommended, and will, at the same time, “play the man for the people and cities of our God,” by unanimity and strenuous exertion in the cause of our country, we have nothing to fear. God will be “found of us” if we “shall seek him”—This is the assurance of the text—It encourages repentance and reformation, by the kindest and most gracious promise. If we, in very deed, put our trust in him, and act, as those who do so, let the world rise in arms against us, still we shall be safe. As therefore we love our country, our souls or our God—as we regard the happiness of time or of eternity—let us be on the Lord’s side that he may be on ours.

3rdly, Finally—Let us be thankful for the past experience we have had of the divine mercies. Hitherto we have been preserved in peace, while most other nations have been at war; and though we have not been without correction, yet light, indeed, hath been its strokes in comparison with our sins. Countless and peculiar favors are still continued to us—domestic happiness and enjoyment, health and comparative plenty— the means of knowledge and information—a spirit of growing concord, and above all, the precious gospel of the Redeemer, and the sweet and heavenly hope that it inspires. These mercies, preserved to us when we have so little deserved them, should swell our hearts with the humblest and liveliest gratitude. And let this gratitude be expressed, in leading us truly to our heavenly Father; and again I repeat it, we shall be safe in this world and happy in that which is to come. ——-Amen.

Jeremy Belknap (1744-1798) was born in Boston but spent many years in New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard in 1762 and became a teacher. Belknap was ordained in 1767; in 1775 he was chosen to be chaplain to New Hampshire troops at Cambridge but was unable to take that position. He supported abolishing slavery and the slave trade. Belknap is best known for his History of New Hampshire, a series that was published in three volumes in 1784, 1791 and 1792.

The sermon below was preached shortly before his June 20, 1798 death. This fast sermon was preached in Boston and was given on the “”Day of the National Fast” declared by President John Adams. (The text of Adams’ 1798 fast proclamation is available here.) The text of the sermon was been updated to reflect modern spelling and grammar.

SERMON,

Delivered on the 9th of May, 1798,

THE DAY

of the

NATIONAL FAST,

Recommended

By The President

Of The

United States.

By Jeremy Belknap, D. D.
Minister of the Church in Federal-Street, Boston.

PREFACE.

A proclamation of the President of the United States, appointing a day of prayer or thanksgiving, is not to be considered as an act of legislative or executive authority; because no power is delegated, by the Constitution, to any person to direct us in matters of religion; neither is it an assumption of power or an act of imperfect authority, which needs the interposition of another power to give it effect. But it is a letter of advice, or a friendly call, form a man, whom the people have placed at their head, inviting us to join with him and with one another, in an act of national piety and devotion.

The propriety of such a call, from such a person is so evident, that nothing can be said to make it more evident. Every man who has a sense of his duty to God as our preserver, benefactor and Supreme Governor, must, at once, approve it, and be pleased with it. Had this friendly notice been given in any other way; had it been communicated by a private letter to each religious society or minister, it would have had the same effect as when it comes in the form of a public proclamation.

In the same light, I have always viewed the public calls of the Chief Magistrate of any particular state, to keep days of fasting and thanksgiving. The proclamation is not an act of authority; but of friendship, of piety and gratitude; and derives all its efficacy from the reasonableness of the duty recommended, and from our own consent. Our Chief Magistrates are so convinced of this, that, though in some instances, formerly, the words enjoin, require and forbid, may have been used; yet now we hear nothing but the language of recommendation and advice. The voice of authority in matters of religion is not assumed by American rulers; and if assumed, would not be approved, by American people.

If there be any instances of opposition to a compliance with so rational a duty, as is thus recommended, it is not a subject to wonder. We are assured, that in the most happy times, there will be a disappointed party who, though silenced and incapable of doing mischief, will secretly blaspheme. The old serpent when bound and cast into the bottomless well, will retain his serpentine disposition and take the first opportunity, when permitted, again to deceive the nations. So it must be expected that his emissaries will rebel in their hearts, and gnaw their tongues for pain; for evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

The words now read are part of one of these revelations Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream which made an uneasy impression on his mind, but he had forgotten the particulars, and could by no means recollect it, nor could any of the wise men of Babylon assist him in recovering it. They could indeed, by certain rules, interpret a dream when it was related o them; but it was beyond their art and skill to tell a person what he had dreamed when he himself had forgotten it. None could do this but the God “whose dwelling was not with flesh.” [Daniel 2:11] For this incapacity, the monarch, in a fit of tyrannic passion, commanded all the wise men in Babylon to be slain; and among them, Daniel and his companions were to be put to death; but upon his promise to show the king him dream, a suspension of the decree was obtained; and after solemn prayer to God, the secret was revealed to Daniel who declared it to the king in these words.

“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” [Daniel 2: 31-45]

The same series of events was afterward represented to Daniel himself, in a vision of four beasts, answering to the four parts of the image, and signifying the same four kingdoms, with some farther particulars relating to the church of God. This vision is recorded in the 7th chapter; and there is another vision representing the same events, by the figures of a ram and a goat, in the 8th chapter. These visions were intended to conduct the mind of devout inquirers, through all the grand events, to the establishment of the universal kingdom of the Son of God, which will break in pieces and destroy all these kingdoms and stand forever.

If it be asked, in what part of the times, signified by this vision, do we live? Or, what events here set down, are to us past, present, and future? To give an answer to this question, we must consider how far divine Providence has explained the vision in its several parts. The golden heard of the image, as Daniel himself said, was the Babylonian empire, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the reigning prince; “thou art this head of gold.” It was then in the height of its splendor and glory; and the imperial city was emphatically called the “golden city.” The same empire was signified by the lion with eagle’s wings, in the 7th chapter. It was overthrown before Daniel’s death, by Cyrus, then general and afterward king of the Medes and Persians.

The silver breast and arms of the image represented the kingdom of the Medes and Persians; which succeeded by the Babylonian monarchy. This was signified by Daniel under the figure of a bear with three ribs in his mouth, in the 7th chapter, and afterwards of a ram with two horns, in the 8th chapter.

The brazen belly and thighs signified the Macedonian empire, conducted by Alexander, and continued by his four successors. This answered to the leopard with four heads and four wings, in the 7th chapter, and to the goat, first with one horn and afterward with four horns, in the 8th chapter.

These three empires, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Macedonian, have long since given place to the fourth, the Roman empire; which is meant by the iron legs and feet of the image, and by its ten toes, which were partly of iron and partly of clay. The same power is figured by the beast with great iron teeth, in the 7th chapter, and the little horn of the goat, which waxed great, in the 8th chapter. It is also represented in the Revelation of John by a beast with seven heads and ten horns. It is observable, that this empire is described in the victim of a Nebuchadnezzar in a three-fold state, 1. by the thighs and legs, which were entirely of iron; 2. by the feet, which were of iron and clay; and 3. by the toes, which were of the same materials; and this three-fold view corresponds exactly with the events which have taken place. For the Roman empire was at first strong and terrible. Whilst the spirit of true liberty animated their constitution: Whilst public virtue and genuine patriotism were the ruling principles, their councils were firm, and their arms were victorious. They conquered the neighboring countries and diffused the spirit of their constitution wherever they made a conquest. This was the first and best state of the Romans. But after a while, they grew intoxicated with success, and degenerated from their manly fortitude into luxury and pleasure. Then the spirit of corruption crept into the body politic, and it became, as the prophet represents it in its second stage, like a mixture of iron and clay. It was divided into two parts, viz. the Eastern and Western empire; the seat of the former was Constantinople, and of the later, Rome. There was, however, something of the strength of iron. They were still a powerful and formidable people. The northern nations who invaded and incorporated themselves with the Romans, in the second stage of the empire, brought with them a spirit of liberty, which the Romans had lost; but so distracted where they with intestine quarrels and religious controversies, that, like iron and clay, they never could be thoroughly blended; and these causes operate dot produce the third stage of the empire, its division into ten kingdoms; answering to the ten toes of the image and the ten horns of John’s beast.

This separation of the empire took place between eight and nine hundred years ago; and though some of the kingdoms have in some degree been changed, and mixed, ye there has been ever since such a distinction kept up, that there has generally been about the number of ten.

In the days of these kings (as Daniel foretold), i.e., the Roman empire, the God of Heaven did set up a fifth kingdom, prefigured by a stone, cut out of a mountain without hands. This was the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and as long as the divided remains of the Roman empire shall subsist, this kingdom will be, as it has hitherto been, in the state represented by the prophets, as “a stone of stumbling and rock of offense” ; but in due time it will smite the image on its feet and break it to pieces; and will itself become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. This grand event was signified to Daniel in other visions, recorded in the 7th and 12th chapters; and it is more particularly described in the three last chapters of the book of John’s revelation.

If it be enquired, why were these four empires made the subject of divine prophecy in preference to all the other kingdoms of this world? The answer is, that all of them were instruments, in the hands of God, to carry on the designs of His providence toward the Jewish people first, and ultimately the kingdom of His Son. The vision is a kind of prophetic chronology, to point out the time when the kingdom of God should come, or be visibly and permanently established. The reason why these four empires only are distinguished by the spirit of prophecy, was not because they were greater or more remarkable than some others; but, because the course of their history is connected with that of the Jewish church, and led in a regular and direct succession to the time and reign of Jesus Christ.¹ An answer of the same kind may be given, if it be asked why was this revelation made to a Gentile king? This Gentile king was connected with the Jews, and was obliged to a Jewish prophet for recovering and interpreting his dream; and the only record of it is preserved in the library of the Jewish church, to whom were committed the oracles of god. It is therefore a prophecy which comes to us in the same channel with all the other inspired prophecies, and has the same end in view, to testify of Jesus Christ; for the testimony of or concerning him is the spirit of prophecy and to Him give all the prophets witness. If the facts records correspond with the things foretold; if the prophecy coincide with the whole series of prophecy, having the same object in view, and this object be, what none but God could know, before the event; then it will follow, that eh inspiration is real, and there is a further evidence of the divinity of the revelations contained in the Old and New Testaments.

From the explication which has now been given of this sacred prophetic vision, we may see, that the present period of time, pointed out by it, is that which was signified by the ten toes of the image. The ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was divided, are still substituting, through under different forms of government; and though the division be different from what it was at first; and they are all, more or less, in the state in which the vision represents them, a mixture of iron and clay, of strength and weakness; they are partly strong and partly broken, they do not cleave to one another even as iron is not mixed with clay. None of them ever have been able, though some of them have attempted, to render themselves equally strong and terrible as the ancient Roman empire was in its first stage.

You will please to take notice, that these ten kingdoms comprehend the western part of the continent of Europe, once the western empire of Rome; among these, the countries subject to the dominion of Britain and France hold a distinguished rank; and as these are the principal ones, with which we ever had, or now have any political connection; so I shall confine my observations chiefly to them; though the same prophetic characters are equally applicable to Spain, Italy, Germany, and the other divisions of the western empire. These are the toes of the image; in which may be clearly discerned the materials of which they are composed, iron and clay, strength and weakness, wisdom and folly; sometimes the one prevailed, and sometimes the other; but there has been on union among them; all the attempts to unite them, so as to make a grand, formidable empire, resembling that of ancient Rome, have hitherto failed of success; and from the sure word of prophecy we have the strongest reason to conclude, that they will always remain in the same divided state, till the kingdom of Jesus Christ shall break them all to pieces and shall rise upon their ruins.

The iron part of these toes, or the strength and power of these divisions of the Roman empire, may be considered as consisting in the numbers of their people, the vigor, activity, and discipline of their land and naval forces; their wealth, arising from the husbandry, manufactures, commerce, and the management of their finances; the great fertility and high cultivation of their lands, their progress in arts and sciences, their maritime and insular situations, and the great natural advantages which they enjoy, of which their sagacity and their interest lead them to make the most rapid and successful improvement; to which they are farther urged by the spirit of jealousy and rivalship, always attending commercial nations. When these powers are put into action by fierce passions and by skillful leaders, they make a formidable appearance, and threaten one another, or the neighboring nations, with conquest; and it is not surprising if they are in some measure successful.

But if we view the clay part of their character, we shall find that they are not quite so terrible as some are apt to imagine. The great abilities and resources which they posses are counterbalanced by the prevalence of corruption, venality and profusion; by the luxury and effeminacy which commerce generally produces, and the unbounded appetite for pleasure which pervades all ranks and orders of the people. We shall find in some of them a spirit of faction, a want of firmness and consistency, a thirst for power and wealth, a revolutionary frenzy, operations to produce assassinations, robbery, and plunder. Under a pretense of republican liberty, we have seen some of them exercising the most boundless licentiousness and wanton despotism, in defiance of justice, humanity, policy, morality, and religion. The same crimes have stained their character when professing liberty and equality as when sounding the praises of their kings. The same tyranny, the same proscriptions, imprisonments, banishments, and waste of human life have disgrace the annals of republicanism as of monarchy; and their national character, instead of being meliorated, is, if possible, degenerated by their revolutions; for slaves, when made free, are the worst of tyrants.

Thank not, my brethren, that what I say is dictation by passion or party-spirit. I speak the words of true and soberness. This subject has been familiar to me above twenty years. It was in the beginning of the third year of our revolutionary war,² when we had no friend nor ally by Heaven to shield us form the vengeance of Britain and when she was making her greatest efforts to subdue us, that my thoughts were directed to this prophecy; and upon an attentive contemplation of it, with the best helps³ that I could obtain, I found in it sufficient encouragement to rest my hope, that the formidable power then at war with us would not prevail. The confidence which I had did not prove to be vain; but as I though there was sufficient ground for consolation in the height of our distress, and when no human help was engaged on our side; so the conclusion of the war justified the expectation.“In things of moment, on thyself depend;
Trust not too far they servant nor thy friend.”

And this very sentiment, though expressed in better language, was the advice of our great and good Washington, when he retired from office.

“The great rule of conduct (said he) for us, in regard to foreign nations, is to have as little political connection with them as possible. Europe has a set of interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation; it must therefore be unwise in us to implicate ourselves in the vicissitudes of her politics, or the combinations of collisions of their friendships or enmities. It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. As far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with good faith. But it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.” ⁷

This is the advice of a man who thoroughly understood, and wisely pursued, the true interest of his country. Of his successor we ought to have the same opinion; for from above thirty years experience he has been known and prove dot be one of our most enlightened and steady friends.

From the foregoing observations we clearly see what are the prophetic characters of these European nations, which are represented by the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the ten horns of the apocalyptic beast. It is both surprising and edifying to all studious Christians to see how plainly and exactly the picture is drawn by the inspired pen and how rapidly events are coming on, which bear so near a resemblance to the accomplishment of the prophecies. It was foretold that an antichristian power would arise and rule over the nations. This we have been used to interpret of the papal sovereignty; the combination of wealth and power with a corrupt form of Christianity, to enslave the bodies and souls of men; and doubtless the interpretation is just. But as the Scripture assures us “there are many antichrists,” [1 John 2:18] so we should extend our idea of this power to comprehend all that opposeth and exalteth itself against the pure religion of Jesus Christ. It is very evident that the French nation was one of the firmest supporters of the papal usurpation, and that its former government answered to the prophetic character of one of those “kings which gave their power and strength to the beast.” ⁸ But it was also foretold that these very kings, the same antichristian powers, should “hate the whore and make her desolate and naked, and ear her flesh and burn her with fire;” ⁹ and do we not see this remarkable prediction in a fair way of being fulfilled? The French power is not the less antichristian for the revolution. It is in another shape, directly opposed to Christianity, as well to the corrupt forms of it as to its purity. The kingdom of Satan, at present, appears to be divided against itself; how then shall his kingdom stand?

When the spirit of God foretells future events, He does not prescribe what ought to be done but related before hand what will be done. His foreseeing and foretelling these events does not justify the means which are to be made use of to bring them into effect. Wicked men may do many bad things, which may serve to bring on what is foretold in the divine inspire wrings; and yet these very men may be proper subjects of punishment for these actions. An instance of this we have in the king of Assyria, to whom the prophet Isaiah makes this memorable address: “O Assyrian, the rod of mind anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and will give him a charge to take the spoil and pretty and to trend them down as the mire of the streets. Howbeit, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. Wherefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord hath performed his whole work on Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” ¹⁰

We must not then think it strange or unaccountable that those very men, who are instrumental of brining on revolutions, predicted in the word of God, should themselves be guilty of the most atrocious crimes, and influenced by no motives but those of violence, rapine, and destruction; that they should cast o fall fear of God and even deny His existence; for bad as they are, they may be proper instruments in the hand of God to punish other bad men; to pull down thrones of iniquity; to overturn monarchies which have been supported by ambition and bloodshed; to destroy hierarchies which have been founded in pride and priest craft and maintained by superstition and persecution. From what other sort of persons could such revolutions be expected? People of sober and rational principles would not be guilty of a violent attach on the established religions of any nation; they would content themselves with enjoying the liberty of their own consciences in peace. But such convulsions are to be expected only from those who are inflamed by the most malignant passion, and influenced by the zeal of fanaticism, either in religion or politics, who have a rage for conquest and plunder and who set no bounds to their ambition and fury.

When the great designs which God has determined to accomplish, by the instrumentality of such agents, shall be fulfilled; when things shall be prepared in the course of Providence, for the final destruction of all that rule, authority, and power, which, under whatever name or appearance, hath opposed itself against the kingdom of Christ; then shall be brought to pass that great event which is represented in the vision by the stone, smiting the image on its feet and reducing it to dust. Then all these kingdoms, these powers, which have so disturbed and stressed the world, will vanish like chaff before the wind and the gentle, peaceful kingdom of the Son of David will be gradually, but universally established.

This kingdom, my brethren, is set up among us and we profess to be the subjects of it. For its increase and enlargement, it is our duty to pray; and one of the petitions in our Lord’s admirable form of prayer is, “Thy kingdom come.” [Matthew 6:10] If we are sincere in uttering this prayer, we should accompany it with our endeavors to promote it. This will be the best way of expressing our gratitude to God for so distinguishing a favor.

If it be asked, how shall we do anything toward promoting the kingdom of God in the world? I would answer, there are many ways in which we may do it, and some persons may be able to do more than others; but there is one way in which we may all do something, and perhaps this is the best way in which any of us can promote it; I mean by our example. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in Heaven.” [Matthew 5:16] There is nothing more forcible than example; like the magnet, it draws with a secret and silent, yet powerful influence. It is often more effectual than positive percepts and penal laws. Multitudes are swayed by it who are not to be governed by any other means. It is in every man’s power to do good in this way; and therefore it is every man’s duty to set a good example, to let every person with whom he is conversant, see that he is under the influence of Christian principles and prospects; that he is sincerely serving God and committing the keeping of his soul to Him in well-doing. It is impossible to conceive how much good may be done by our example. It may do good after we are dead. The remembrance of what we have been, and what we have done, may long outlive us, and unborn posterity may be the better for it. Ion this respect, then, every person has a degree of importance annexed to his character and every person ought to use that importance and that influence for the noblest purpose.

And what nobler purpose can we serve than that for which Christ died? This purpose is accomplishing, though by slow degrees; and Christianity, in its whole progress, is marked with peace on earth and good will to men. Wherever it is known and practiced mankind are the better for it; but wherever it is denied and rejected, they are the worse. Christianity, when rightly known and regarded, has made men ashamed of many enormities which they before practiced. It has abated the horrors of war, and introduced a spirit of philanthropy into that destructive science. It has reformed the legal and judicial systems, and taught less severity and milder methods of reclaiming offenders than were before known; it has, in some cases mitigated and in others extinguished, the evil of servitude, and taught men a sense of equal freedom. It has shed its genial influence on government, and taught us, in this highly favored land, how to crush rebellions and establish constitutions without violence or bloodshed.

Happy influence, blessed spirit of true religion! This is the way in which the kingdoms of this world will be so subdued, as to become the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The conquests of the Son of God are effected not by force of the sword, but the secret energy of truth; not my might nor power, but the divine spirit. By such means, and by none else, will true religion prevail, till the kingdom of Christ shall become universal.

May we ever be governed by the mild and peaceful dictates of the Gospel! May it go on from conquering to conquer, till it shall have eradicated war, slavery, oppression, tyranny, superstition, and vice; till antichristian power and influence shall be abolished; till false religion, false philosophy, and despotic government shall be destroyed; till love and peace shall reign, and truth and righteousness shall be established in the earth.

If we believe the Scriptures, we must expect that these blessings will be bestowed on the world, before the plan of Divine Providence shall be completed; and therefore we may pray in faith, grounded on the divine promises, of the accomplished of these predictions. The prospect is in the highest degree pleasant to all the sincere lovers of God and man. Whilst, therefore, we are looking, praying, and waiting for these glorious times, let us learn to anticipate them, as far as we are able, by cultivating in our own minds and conduct, those heavenly graces and virtues which shall prove us the true subjects of Christ and prepare us for the universal reign of the Prince of peace.

Endnotes

1. Hurd’s Introduction to the study of prophecy, p. 80.

2. May, 1777.

3. The works of Joseph Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, and Dr. Thomas Newton.

4. 1763.

5. 1778.

6. 1795.

7. See his Address to the people, p. 35.

8. Rev. xvii. 13.

9. Verse 16.

10. Isaiah x. 5-7, 12.

Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768-1842) fled Charlestown with his family at the beginning at the Revolutionary War – he was 7 years old at the time. Harris graduated from Harvard (1787) with a class that included John Quincy Adams. He was a librarian at Harvard beginning in 1791 and became pastor of a church in Dorchester in 1793.

The following sermon was preached by Harris on the national fast day of May 9, 1798. This fasting day was proclaimed by President John Adams.

SERMON

PREACHED IN

MILTON

ON THE MORNING, AND AT

DORCHESTER

IN THE AFTERNOON OF THE 9TH OF MAY, 1798;

BEING THE DAY

Recommended by the President of

THE UNITED STATES FOR

SOLEMN HUMILIATION FASTING AND PRAYER

THROUGHOUT THE UNION,

BY THADDEUS MASON HARRIS,
Minister of the Religious Society in Dorchester

“Remember, O my Friends! the laws, the rights,
The generous plan of power delivered down
From age to age, by your renown forefathers;
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood!
O let it never perish in your hands!
But piously transmit it to your children.
Do thou, great liberty, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy;
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence!”
ADDISON

—“He who contends for freedom
Can ne’er be justly deem’d his Country’s foe:
No, ‘tis the wretch that tempts him to subvert it, –
The soothing slave, the traitor in the bosom,
Who best deserves that name: he is a worm
That eats out all the happiness of nations.”
THOMPSON

I shall first briefly narrate the history with which it is connected; ¹ and then make them with freedom for I am an AMERICAN; with sincerity, for I am a CHRISTIAN. I have no interest to serve, and no party to advocate but that of my country and of my religion.

I. The person, whose pious conduct attracts our observation in the passage selected for our text, was Hezekiah king of Judah. He began the administration of his government by the most commendable zeal for the true religion. Truly religious and devout, he was not satisfied with the mere reformation of prevailing corruptions, the abolition of idolatry, and the regulation of the ceremonials of public worship; but he enjoined the entire submission of the affections and conduct to that Supreme Being who is the moral governor of the universe, and under whose favorable providence alone, nations and individuals are prosperous and happy. He appointed a public celebration of the Passover. This solemn anniversary feat was kept in grateful acknowledgment of their recovered freedom from the bondage of Egypt. It was calculated to cherish a perpetual sense of their obligations to their divine deliverer, and to excite a perpetual detestation of slavery. For several years its observance had been neglected. Hezekiah issued a proclamation recommending its renewal; and solicited the concurrence of all the tribes. Though infidelity was prevalent in the land, and some even ridiculed the proclamation,²yet there was still a great majority who obeyed the summons, and assisted at the solemnity. Their religious services were accepted; their humiliation and repentance met the divine mercy. “The priests and Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.”³ Hezekiah proceeded to renew the service of the temple, according to the original institution; and to provide for the honorable maintenance of the priesthood; both of which have an immediate reference to national virtue, respectability, and happiness. Judah was once more in an honorable and prosperous condition. Recovering and cherishing the sense of their national freedom, and spurning the influence of any foreign domination, the people began to cherish a sentiment of liberty, and to enjoy advantages of prosperity and peace which they had not experienced for many years. “So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem” ⁴

Hezekiah seemed sensible that RELIGION is the glory of RULERS, and the strength of their GOVERNMENT. His zeal and piety furnish a lesson to ALL magistrates, that their first care should be to stem the torrent of profaneness and impiety, and to propagate true religion, to which they ought to contribute both by authority and example. This will be a certain way to secure the blessing of God both to their selves and the people.

“Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord. And in every work that he began, (for religion and for the state) he did it with all his heart and prospered.” ⁵

Such was the king whom Sennacherib proposed to dispossess. Elated with the success of his arms against Samaria and other kingdoms, vain of his power and aiming at universal conquest, he thought with the same ease to subdue the tribes of Israel and their God, as he had other countries and their idols.

Unjust rulers always seek for some specious pretext to colour their proceedings. Sennacherib took for his, the neglect of Hezekiah to pay the tribute which had been exacted of Ahaz his predecessor. ⁶ This conduct was reproached as a violation of a public and just treaty; ⁷ but that it was justifiable, is evident. Hezekiah, who had so distinguished his self by a regard to morality and religion would not dishonor that character by a flagrant act of injustice. He would fear, too, the disaffection of his people, the reproaches of the prophets, and the chastisements of Heaven. It does not appear that Isaiah condemns this procedure; and sacred history mentions it, immediately after, as a trait of his patriotism and piety. And, as the original exaction was by compulsion, and the present demand unreasonable, we infer the fairness of his conduct in refusing submission, and the injustice of Sennacherib in threatening an invasion. ⁸

Hezekiah, fearing the worst, put his self in in a posture of defense. He made all prudent preparations for the security of the nation. He forfeited Jerusalem; laid in a great store of arms and provisions for the siege; “Caused all the people to be enrolled and marshaled for the war that were fit and able for it, placing over them captains of experience to instruct them in all military exercises, and to conduct and lead them forth against the enemy whenever there should be occasion for it;” ⁹ and he took care also to cut off as much as possible, all supply of water from the enemy. But still, wishing to escape the horrors of an open and disadvantageous war, and solicitous to preserve the prosperity to which the nation had advanced, he sent envoys to propose terms of accommodation with the Assyrians; to remove, if possible all misunderstanding; to settle all existing difficulties; and to restore harmony and peace. Sennacherib required of them, as the conditions of present negociation, the sum of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold;¹⁰ amounting to about one million five hundred and sixty dollars of our money: ¹¹ and promise of farther tributary aid as he should need or require. Hezekiah conceded to the unreasonable requisition: but, to pay the enormous sum demanded. He was obliged to exhaust his treasuries, to take away the gold and silver vessels of the temple, and even to strip that sacred house of the very ornaments which his own piety had consecrated. We may presume that he took this measure inconsiderately and unadvisedly; and not presumptuously as Ahaz had done before him: ¹² but certainly it was a very wrong one, for “the captain of the Lord’s inheritance” to have recourse to; ¹³ nor did it go long unchastised. The respite he had so dearly bought lasted but a little time. For the the treacherous Assyrian, having received the money, the loss of which, he saw, disqualified Hezekiah for war, in total disregard of the compact they had just made, and in direct violation of the law of nature and nations, (after an unsuccessful descent upon Egypt, sent three of his principal officers – Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh,¹⁴ from Lachish to demand of him the immediate surrender of his capital. Hezekiah appointed three special ambassadors, (Eliakim, Shebna and Joah ¹⁵) to hold a conference with them without the city. Rabshakeh, more expert in haranguing than his con-deputies, made a speech, insulting and reviling the government and religion of Judea, and bloated with the pride, false politics and impiety of his own nation.¹⁶

As he spoke very loud and in the Hebrew tongue, the commissioners (apprehending that the people, who had collected on the wall to observe what passed, might hear and be intimidated by the discourse) demanded that he would speak in the Syrian language which they understood very well, ¹⁷ and not in the Jew’s language, which the people would overhear. But to influence and intimidate the common people, and to impair their confidence in their rulers, ¹⁸ appeared to be his object; and he replied more vehemently and loudly: “Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall?” that is, “our business is with the people, and not with the government.” Upon which he expressly addressed the people; endeavoured to excite in them a dislike to the person, and a distrust in the administration of their chief magistrate, telling them that he had deceived them, ¹⁹ that the hope he encouraged of divine help would avail them nothing; that, instead of hearkening to him, they had better discard him; and, (repeating his demand for more money ²⁰) advises them to join them in a common cause, encouraged by the promise or enjoying greater liberty and prosperity: though (as Dr. Gill shrewdly remarks) “he does not tell them how long they should enjoy them.” Nay he even betrays the intended purposes of this proposed alliance. “Ye shall eat every one of his own vine and drink ever one the waters of his own cistern.” Happy liberty and equality! But mark what follows; “until I come and take you to a land like your own.” So they must be expatriated, and their own country, perhaps divided or sold amongst their conquerors! Lastly he proposes to them to make an agreement with him by a present, ²¹ and he concludes by bidding them beware lest Hezekiah should persuade them to trust in the Lord, to stand up in their own defense, or not to listen to his proposals.

As Rabshakeh was a very eloquent man, the envoys of Hezekiah had great reason to dread the effect of his plausible arguments on the people of Judah, especially as they had on several occasions shewn but too little confidence in their own leaders or respect for their own government, and had been repeatedly seduced by foreign power. But the good conduct of their excellent sovereign, in whose wisdom and prudence they fully confided, and the retrieved influence of religious principles, had produced such happy effects upon their minds, that they listened to these vain boastings with silent indignation. So far from disaffecting them with the government under which they were happily placed, or creating the least disunion, they served rather to increase their love to their country, their ruler, and their religion.

The Jewish envoys following the instructions of the embassy ²² made no rejoinder to the remonstrance of the Assyrians: but returned to Hezekiah to acquaint him with the disappointment of their mission. He sent to the prophet Isaiah to ask that counsel of the Lord which so critical and alarming a juncture demanded : and received in return that encouragement which his attachment to religion and the welfare of his country merited.

In the mean while Sennacherib raised the siege of Lachish and invested Libnah. Here it was that he received intelligence that his country was invaded by a new and formidable foe; Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia : to attach whom, he quitted his project against Hezekiah : but first sent him a letter in which hs threats and invectives were repeated against the nation and the religion of the Jews. Menace, by the way, of which his own death, by the hands of his sons, and a consequent revolution in the government, prevented the execution.

Hezekiah, having read the letter, went into the temple; and , spreading it before the Lord, prayed for his counsel assistance and support; and humbly and devoutly referred the cause to him. This behavior was very befitting the occasion, and displays his piety in a most pleasing point of view. His prayer was perfectly agreeable to the divine will : and Isaiah was commissioned to comfort him immediately with an assurance of the Lord’s approbation and protection.

This, my hearers, is the simple narrative of facts which stand connected with our text. It is a mirror in which we behold our own country, its present circumstances, and foreign relations. Throughout we see the manly firmness, the patriotism, and the piety of Hezekiah. The sequel shews the wonderful interposition of the DEITY in defense of his injured people and character against those who disregarded them. And the whole serves to recommend to us an imitation of the example of the good king of Judah recorded in our text: that of looking to God in every emergency which threatens our national peace, or endangers directly or indirectly our civil or religious privileges.

We acknowledge that as God is the creator, so he is the governor of the world; that his providence extends to all things and persons in it; and that all events are under his direction and subject to his control. Hence the propriety of seeking to him, on this critical juncture of our public affairs, for “that wisdom which is profitable to direct” our councils, and for that assistance which is effectual to secure our peace.

Every thing, indeed, wears an unpromising, but I trust in God, not a desperate aspect. If we are but united and firm, wise and virtuous, we may still be invincible and secure, free and happy. Fortunately independent on every nation on earth, it becomes to be wholly superior to foreign predilection and influence. Laying aside all party spirit, personal animosities, and groundless jealousies, we ought to yield to the conciliating influences of a generous confidence in our government; and seriously consider the important subject of our common welfare. Warmly attached to our own country, let its interests, its glory, its prosperity and its peace, be the objects of our prime concern; and to advance and perpetuate them, in the exertion of our best endeavours. In its fate is involved that of every citizen. We must stand or fall with the constitution.

Shall the duration of our liberty be measured by the lives of those who procured it? Shall they even survive it? Twenty two years have not yet elapsed since we claimed INDEPENDENCE, and now we see its spirit declining. Alas! Must the heroes, the patriots, who purchased the boon with the expense of their fortune and at the hazard of their lives, see us negligent of the prize, or weakly surrender the privilege! No. Let us pledge ourselves as true Americans to cherish and maintain, next to our religion, the genuine spirit of republican freedom. Nothing shall weaken our concern for the public weal. We will never give up our invaluable rights and privileges. We will never betray a timidity a meaness, or a humiliation unworthy the character of a brave, a spirited, and a free people. On the present alarming crisis, which calls for the entire unanimity of all ranks and orders of the people to give weight, strength, and efficiency to our government, we will discover our full confidence in the wisdom and integrity of tour rulers, our warm and unequivocal approbation of the wise and temperate system which they have hitherto pursued with regard to foreign nations, and our readiness to concur and co-operate with every measure they may find it necessary to adopt for preserving the CONSTITUTIONS, FREEDOM, and INDEPENDENCE of the UNITED STATES.

Veneration for the memory of our pious ancestors, gratitude for the struggles of our brave soldiers in the late successful consent for liberty, our duty to posterity, zeal for the public good, the great principles of self preservation, al justify decent and prudent measures for security and self defense : and all forbid us to become tributaries or dependents on any foreign power. If nothing but prostration of our national character or relinquishment of our national independence will suffices; – if these be the terms of negotiation or the price or peace; and if our reluctance or denial be resented by a declaration of war, our last resource must be with a solemn appeal to God for the justice of our cause to vindicate the honor of our country and Religion, at every hazard; confidently trusting in Heaven for assistance and success.

Let us firs devoutly int5reat the almighty being who was the God of our fathers, and has been signally our deliverer and friend, still eminently to bless us in the continued enjoyment of our civil and religious privileges, our national prosperity and peace: and to give the much desired issue, the most happy success to the conciliatory and pacific measures proposed by our government in the present negotiation in Europe.

And oh may he look down in mercy on his frail and degenerate creature man! Put an end to those delusions which dishonor his character and debate our’s; subdue that spirit of pride and contention which lays waste his works and distresses his children; and speedily extend the blessings of PEACE, FREEDOM, and PURE RELIGION, to all the nations of the earth! And let all the people say, Amen.

Endnotes

¹. See 2 Kings xviii, and xix chapters: 2 Chron, xxix, xxx, xxxi and xxxii; and Isaiah xxxvi and xxxvii.

². 2 Chron. xxx. 10.

³. 2 Chron xxx. 26.

⁴. 5 Chron. xxx. 27.

⁵. 2 Chron. xxxi. 20, 21. Compare 2 Kings, xviii. 3-8.

⁶. 2 Kings, xviii, 7.

⁷. “Sennacherib – lui reprochit d’avoir violé une Traité public et ligitime.” SAURIN, disc. histor. xiii. vol. 6.

⁸. “Pour decider cette question d’une maniere precise, il faudroit favoir au juste comment Achaz f’etoit engage a Tiglah-Pilezer; f’il n’avoit pas abuse des circonstances facheuses ou Achaz se trouvoit alors pour lui imposer un tribute exorbitant; et f’il avoit observe toutes les conditions requires dans le traite – Mais il semble qu’il y avoit eu de la violence de la part du roi d’Assyrie, et qu’il avoit soumis Achaz et son royaume a un joug rude parce qu’il voioit qu’on avoit besoin de son secours. Car, ensin, le service qu’il rendit a Achaz n’ etoit pas assex considerable pour vouloir Pengager a etre son vassal a perpetuite.” SAURIN, disc. historiques, xiii. vol. 6.
[TRANSLATED] Precisely to decide this question, one should know justly upon what principles Achaz had made the engagement with Tiglah Pilezer; whether he had not taken advantage of the straitened circumstances in which he found the Israelites, with a design afterwards to render them tributary; and whether he had observed all the conditions of the treaty? But it seems that there had been some instances of violence on the part of the king of Asyria, and that he had brought the Israelites under a severe yoke because he saw they had need of his succours. Yet, really, the service which he had rendered them was not so considerable as to make it their duty to become his perpetual vassals. (It will be remembered that this treaty was made4 in consequence of the assistance afforded Ahaz, against the Syrians by whom he was invaded. Tiglah Pilezer sent him forces, and enabled him to subdue them.) 2 Kings, xvi. 7-10.

⁹. Shuckford, vol. I, p. 22, and 2Chron. xxxi. 6,7.

¹⁰. 2 Kings, xviii. 14, 31. Compare Isa. xxxvi. 16.

¹¹. Brerewood de ponder. et pret. vet. num. c. 5.

¹². 2 Chron. xviii. 21.

¹³. Grotius, in loc.

¹⁴. These are not the proper names of men, but denote their employments and offices. Tartan signifies the president of the council; Rabfaris the chief eunuch; and Rabshakeh, the principal cup bearer, or chamberlain. See CALMET’S dictionary.

¹⁵. Eliakim, was high steward; Shebna, secretary of state; and Joah, master or requests. See VATABLUS.

¹⁶. “Rab-sake, plus expert a haranguer que fes con-deputex, et plus habile a parler la langue des Hebreux, fit un discours a haute voix, ou l’on appercevoit des traits de l’orguiel, de la sause politique, et de l’impiete de son monarque Sennacherib.”
JEROM, PROCOPIUS, VITRINGA, and others, have produced reasons to prove that this chief spokesman had been formerly a Jewish Priest; but had apostatized from his religion in order to get a place in the administration under the Assyrian antitheocracy.

¹⁷. “The Syrian language was then, says Dr. Gill, [on Isaiah xxxvi. 11.] common in all courts as the French is now; and was learned for the sake of negotiation or commerce.”

¹⁸. 2 Chron. xxxii. 18.

¹⁹. Isai. xxxvi. 14.

²⁰. “O Cives, Cives, quærenda pecunia primum est! Fadera, leges, libertas, virtus, post nummos.”

²¹. Isai. xxxvi. 16. – “A most insolent and unrighteous demand this, (says Dr. Gill) when he had already received three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold to withdraw his army.”

²². Isai. xxxvi. 21.

David Osgood (1747-1822) preached the following sermon at a national fast day on May 9, 1798. This fast day was proclaimed by President John Adams.

STATED IN A

S E R M O N

Delivered on the 9th of May, 1798,

THE DAY

RECOMMENDED

BY THE PRESIDENT

OF THE

UNITED STATES

FOR

SOLEMN HUMILIATION, FASTING, AND PRAYER

By DAVID OSGOOD, D.D.

Minister of the CHURCH in Medford.

And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD GOD of Israel, which dwellest between the Cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
LORD, bow down thine ear and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living GOD.

It is among the excellencies of the sacred scriptures that they furnish instruction adapted to all the exigencies of human condition. Whatever calamities befall us, or whatever dangers threaten us, either as individuals, families, or as a community; in the word of God we find our sufferings and fears to be the same, which his servants in former ages experienced; and while we are tried and tempted as they were, their example serves for our guide and support. The people of these United States are this day assembled in the house of God, under circumstances bearing a striking resemblance to those of Hezekiah and his people at the time referred to in the text. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was a triumphant conqueror. His armies had over-run several of the adjacent countries, and subjected various nations to his despotism. Among the rest, the ten tribes of Israel had fallen under his yoke, and Samaria, their capital city, after a siege of three years, had been taken. Flushed with a series of success, the victors looked out for new conquests. The kingdom of Judah bordered upon that which they had already subjugated. They had received no injury from Hezekiah, and had no just pretence for making war upon him. But among the heathen, it was held lawful to engage in war for the sake of plunder and conquest, and for extending the bounds of empire. By an ambition of this kind, all the great conquerors of antiquity seem to have been actuated.

Through the knowledge of revealed religion, the nations of Christendom have been taught better principles. Modern writers upon the law of nations universally agree in reprobating all wars undertaken by avarice, pride, or ambition. They prove, beyond a doubt, that no war can be just which is not, in its principle, defensive, undertaken solely with a view to repel an aggressor, or to prevent probably aggression. They set before us a shocking catalogue of miseries and crimes resulting from wanton hostility—a dreadful account hereafter to be settled by those who engage in offensive war. This kind of war, in itself unjust, is yet undertaken under some pretence susceptible of the colour of right. I do not, says Vattel, in his treatise on the law of nations, place among the objects of offensive war, conquests, or the desire of invading the property of another: such a latitude, destitute even of pretence, is not the object of a formal war, but that of a robbery. He adds, “A nation attacked by such fort of enemies is not under any obligation to observe towards them the rules of war in a form. It may treat them as robbers.” Is not this, my hearers, the real character of those enemies by whom our country is now threatened? They have no pretence, susceptible of the colour of right, to justify their demands. They are evidently influenced by the same spirit and views which incited Rabshakeh and his master against Hezekiah. The old pagan principle of going to war for plunder and conquest, after being exploded in Europe for more than a thousand years, is revived afresh by the present rulers of France since their abolition of Christianity.

Some perhaps may be startled at hearing me affirm, that the legislators of France have abolished the Christian religion. There are indeed persons among us who entertain a very different opinion, who consider them as stripping the whore of Babylon, pulling down the man of sin, destroying popery, and making way for the introduction of the millennium. In their view, the French revolution is a great step towards the glorious times predicted in the gospel, when the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. How astonishing is the force of prejudice in warping the judgments of men! I will set before you, my hearers, some notorious facts, which have been, for years past, circulated in the public papers, and never contradicted by the most zealous advocates for the French. – I will set these facts before you that you may judge for yourselves. “On the fourteenth ¹ of December, 1792, in a debate on the establishment of public schools for the education of youth; M. Dupont, a member of the national convention, and who, if I mistake not, is now a member of one of the councils, began his speech with the following exclamation; – “What, thrones are overturned! Scepters broken! Kings expire! And yet the altars of God remain!” – He proceeded to propose the abolition of those altars, and proclaimed himself an atheist, amidst the reiterated plaudits of the assembly, and of the persons in the galleries.” This sentence, Death is an everlasting sleep, written in capitals over the entrance into their grave-yards, was sanctioned by the authority of the legislature. “By the same power was proclaimed the abolition of the Christian era, and the Saviour of the world impiously made to yield precedence to the republic of France.” Instead of saying in their dates, as all Christian nations say, in the year of the Republic, &c. the French say, in the year of the Republic, &c. for since they have become republicans, they disdain the idea of having any Lord over them; they acknowledge neither Christ, nor his Father, nor any other Being as their master. Review their state papers, their laws, the decrees of their councils, and of their executive officers, the orders and dispatches of their generals, and their diplomatic intercourse—I challenge you to produce a single instance, in all these, of their acknowledging any Being above them, or of their making any mention of God or his providence. That Christ and his religion might cease to be remembered, and sink into utter oblivion, they did not content themselves with setting aside the Christian era, they proceeded to abolish the Christian Sabbath. Their new calendar, in which decades are substituted in the room of weeks, was obviously contrived to make the people lose the idea of the former division of time, and forget the weekly Sabbath. It seems, that notwithstanding all these attempts of the government, there were some people so obstinate in their adherence to religion that they persisted in assembling themselves on the Lord’s-day. We have, therefore, been lately told in the public papers, that their rulers, in order to embarrass these fanatics, as they call them, have forbidden the ringing of bells for calling them together to divine service.

On the seventh of November, 1793, the existence of a God and the immortality of the soul – the two first and fundamental principles of all religion – were formally disavowed in the convention; and the resurrection of the dead declared to have been only preached by superstition for the torment of the living! Two days after, in the same place, all the religions in the world were asserted to be the daughters of ignorance and pride. It was decided to be the duty of the convention to assume the honourable office of diffusing truth over the whole earth; – and as a part of this duty, that assembly decreed, that its express renunciation of all religious worship should be translated into all foreign languages. It was stated and received in the convention as an acknowledged truth, that the adversaries of religion have deserved well of their country.

In conformity to the spirit of these decrees, the convention, attended by myriads of the populace, proceeded to desecrate the churches of Christ. “The temple of the Almighty was profaned by the worship of a prostitute, personating the goddess of reason.” The cathedral of Paris exhibited the monstrous spectacle of a pagan sacrifice, by a people who had recently abolished Christianity.—I have another fact to relate, which must thrill with horror every bosom impressed with the least fear of the Almighty. “On the thirtieth of November, 1793, the pupils of a new republican school appeared at the bar of the convention, when their leader declared, that he and his school-fellows detested God! That instead of learning the scriptures, they learned the declaration of rights, and made the constitution their catechism.” After this speech, the representatives of a great nation, by the mouth of their President, “expressed the satisfaction of the convention at the declaration of these young demons. These hopeful scholars were admitted to the honours of the fitting, and received the kiss of fraternity amidst the loudest applause!”

With these facts in view, is there a person in this assembly who can hesitate a moment to conclude, that not only Christianity, but all other religions, are abolished in France, so far as they can be abolished by the authority of the magistrate? Nay, when we consider the facts now stated, are we not constrained to view the French republicans as so many infernals, broken loose from their chains in the pit below, and now appearing in this upper world under the shape of men, but still thinking and acting as demons. They are certainly a new set of characters under the sun. Such decrees and such doings as are recorded in the registers of the French republic, are not to be found in the annals of any other nation from the days of Adam down to this day.

As they are the first body of men, who ever united in disclaiming all religion, and by formal decrees publishing atheism in every language, as a discovery adapted to the general illumination of mankind; so they are the first set of legislators, who ever formed the infernal design of subverting all the regular governments in the world, and encouraging insurrection, disorganization and anarchy throughout every nation. After dethroning their king, one of the first acts of the convention is said to have been, in these explicit words, to declare itself a committee of insurrection of the whole human race for the purpose of overturning all existing governments. The famous decrees of the nineteenth of November and fifteenth of December, 1792, were modifications of the same spirit. “The first was a general signal to insurrection and revolt—an invitation to the seditious of every country, to conspire, under the patronage of France, against the established government, however free. The last of the two decrees is not merely in spirit—it is in terms equivalent to a manifesto of war against every nation having a prince or nobility. It declares explicitly, that the French nation will treat as enemies, every people, who may desire to preserve or restore a government of that character.” These decrees were accompanied by various speeches from influential and leading characters in the convention, to this purport, “that it was necessary to set fire to the four corners of Europe”—that “to disorganize Europe was one of the sublime vocations of the convention”—that “the way to effect it, was by exiting the governed against the governors, and letting the people see the facility and advantage of such insurrections.”

In times past, we have, through ignorance, censured the combined powers as the aggressors in the war; but better information, and the further development of the character of the French rulers, are doing away our error. As the decrees now mentioned, together with the known principles of those who made them, menaced nearly all the regular governments in the world, and portended speedy war against those in the countries adjacent; those neighbouring governments were undoubtedly justifiable; and, indeed, it was their duty immediately to arm, to form alliances, and to adopt every lawful measure in providing for their defense. They had but begun to make these just and necessary preparations, when the French themselves declared war and commenced hostilities. Are they not then chargeable with all the indescribable evils of this most dreadful war? Are not all its horrors, its rivers of blood, its desolation of families, its rapines, its violences, its ravages, its burnings—are they not all the works and the crimes of French republicans?

In the decrees, which I have related, you see their principles; and such as their principles are, such have been, and still are, their actions. They set out with renouncing, in the most explicit terms, all ideas of conquest, or of making the least addition to their territories. In a manner the most alluring, they professed principles of liberty and philanthropy; and invited all nations to fraternize with them in schemes of universal benevolence. By these arts they imposed upon the ignorant mass of their own nation, and upon the ignorant of all other nations, a deception similar to that of the arch fiend, when, under the delusion of making them gods, he seduced our first parents into apostacy. At the very time when they were making these great professions of liberty and equality, they were sending their emissaries into every country, furnished with instructions worthy only of the great enemy of God and man to have dictated. The object of their mission was, by all the arts of intrigue and corruption to prepare the way for carrying into effect the decrees just mentioned—decrees subversive of the civil and religious interests of all mankind. They had it in charge to stir up factions, seditions, and rebellions—to disorganize all established governments, and throw every nation and people into discord and confusion; that being thus divided and weakened, they might be the more easily conquered.

While their agents were thus employed abroad, by systems of terror at home, they put the lives and properties of the whole nation in a state of requisition; and actually disposed of them in a manner more arbitrary, despotic and cruel, than was ever before heard of in any country. Their success in the horrible work of destruction has been astonishing. In their own country, they have pillaged, burnt and destroyed more than eighteen hundred cities and villages. Mr. Harper mentions a work published at Paris three years ago, in which it is computed, that during the revolution, exclusive of those who had been killed in arms, “two millions of persons had been massacred—of whom twenty-four thousand were ministers of the Gospel, two hundred and fifty thousand were women, and two hundred and thirty thousand were children.” Many of these murders were perpetuated in ways studiously contrived to add insult to agony, and torture to the utmost all the feelings of human nature. “Infants were carried to be drowned, stuck on the points of spears; and the hands of mothers stretched out for mercy to their tender babes, were chopped off.”

In their attacks upon other nations, they have been infinitely prodigal of human blood. Besides the carnage daily renewed in every field of battle over the widely extended regions, which have been the scenes of war; through their baneful influence in all the countries subjugated by their arms, or revolutionized by their intrigues, scaffolds have been erected, on which the blood of the worthiest citizens and truest patriots has been profusely shed. Every people, over whom they have gained an ascendancy, has been brought, in a greater or less degree, to fraternize with them in their crimes: the union has been cemented with blood. Guilt the most horrible, and misery the most extreme, have uniformly followed the footsteps of their revolutionary progress in other countries as well as in their own. These evils, extended alike by their victories and their intrigues, are now blasting many of the richest and finest portions of the globe. Nearly half Europe groans under French domination. Since the invasion of the Goths and Vandals, a similar scourge, so dreadful and so extensive, hath not befallen the civilized world.

When we think of the misery and mischief, the havoc and desolation which they have produced, are we not tempted to suspect whether divine Providence hath not withdrawn its superintendency from human affairs, and given the world up a prey to these execrable monsters? They have unhinged human society, and broken all the ties on which its security and happiness depended. Amidst the loudest professions of regard for the rights of man, they have audaciously violated all rights, human and divine, prostrated the law of nations in all its branches, and insolently trampled upon all the rules of morality. Innumerable are the decrees, by which they establish iniquity by law; by which they support schemes of murder and robbery, set men free from all restraint, and encourage them in giving loose to all the worst passions of their nature. Among every people, pretending to any degree of civilization, the marriage covenant has been generally deemed sacred and permanent; but the enlightened republicans of France spurn, as a mark of slavery, such confinement. These wise legislators have rendered the dissolution of this relation so easy, that a month’s warning “from either of the parties, is all that is required. In consequence of this law, it is said, that in the city of Paris alone, five hundred and sixty-two divorces took place in three months.” In a word, having renounced Christianity and returned to a state of heathenism, they have become, as might reasonably be expected of apostates, the very worst of heathen in their practice. Like those described by St. Paul in his first chapter to the Romans, they are given up to vile affections – full of envy; murder, debate, deceit, malignity, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things – covenant-breakers, implacable, unmerciful. – From unquestionable documents, this appears to be the true character of the people with whom a miserably deluded faction among ourselves wish to fraternize. For the honour of human nature, I would not have depicted such licentiousness of principle and such atrocity of conduct—I would not have drawn such an odious character even of our enemies, were it not necessary to be known, in order to our taking proper measures for our own defense and safety.

In their conduct towards us, I have said, that they are influenced by the same spirit and views, which incited Rabshakeh and his master against Hezekiah; but in reality they are incomparably more criminal, than were the Assyrian plunderers. Though Hezekiah had given Sennacherib no just provocation, yet it is not probable that he had been particularly friendly to him, and his kingdom had the guilt of bordering upon the conquests of the Assyrian. But we are a thousand leagues distant from France, and have been enthusiasts in her favour—her only sincere friends and allies. [We are, and ought to be, ashamed to remember our demonstrations of joy at her victories. May God forgive the inconsiderate folly of his erring, though well meaning creatures!] Our government afforded her yet more substantial proofs of friendship, and in no instance ever offended. But, as our envoys expostulate, “to this distant, unoffending, friendly republic, what is the conduct and the language of France? Wherever our property can be found, she seizes and takes it from us; unprovoked, she determines to treat us as enemies; and our making no resistance, produces no diminution of hostility against us; she abuses and insults our government, endeavors to weaken it in the estimation of the people, recalls her own minister, refuses to receive ours; and when extraordinary means are taken to make such explanations, and such alterations in the existing relations of the two countries as may be mutually satisfactory, and may tend to produce harmony, the envoys who bear these powers are not received; they are not permitted to utter the amicable wishes of their country; but in the haughty style of a master, they are told, that unless they will pay a sum to which their resources scarcely extend, they may expect the vengeance of France, and like Venice, be erased from the list of nations; that France will annihilate the only free republic upon earth, and the only nation in the universe, which has voluntarily manifested for her a cordial and real friendship.”

We are told, that whilst hearing these things, the agent on the part of France manifested the most excessive impatience. He admitted the whole to be true; but in the genuine spirit of his government, contemning all the principles of justice and moral obligation, he went on to urge the power of the terrible republic, and to repeat the denunciation of its vengeance against us, unless, after suffering it to seize our property on the sea, we would not also surrender to it what we possess on the land.

Such was the first demand of the Assyrian conqueror upon Hezekiah. America will deserve to suffer, if she takes not warning from the ill consequences of his mean submission. The panic-struck king of Judah answered, Return from me, and that which thou layest upon me, I will bear. Three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold were the first requisition. To collect this sum, the king was compelled to empty all his treasures, to strip the house of God to the very doors; and after thus parting with his money to the perfidious tyrant, saw himself attacked and his dominions invaded by those very armies, for the withdrawment of which his money had been paid.

Why did he suffer himself to be thus duped and gulled? “Where,” says the pious Henry, “was Hezekiah’s courage? Where his confidence in God? Alas! May we not suppose that the very difficulties and embarrassments with which the operations of the American government have been encumbered for some years past, were experienced by Hezekiah? Among his own subjects, a numerous party were, in all probability, in favour of the enemy. Hezekiah had lately begun a great reformation; he had removed the high places, broken the images, cut down the groves, and exerted his whole authority in bringing back his people from idolatry to the worship of Jehovah. These measures of reformation must have given mortal offence to all the lovers of idolatry throughout the kingdom. Hezekiah had taken from them their gods, and what had they more? Being thus disgusted and exasperated against their own government, they were probably willing to exchange it for that of a foreign prince, under whom they knew that they would be encouraged and supported in their idolatry. Instead therefore of defending, they stood ready to betray their country, to surrender its strong holds and defenced cities to the enemy, and to facilitate his conquest. They were constantly magnifying the power of the great king, weakening the hands of the men of war, spreading terror and alarm among the people, and reproaching Hezekiah for his obstinacy in exposing the country to pillage and massacre, by not complying with the terms of the enemy. Sennacherib had great dependence upon this party in his favour. By them he was probably incited and encouraged to undertake the expedition. To strengthen and support this party, was his constant study. His object in every conference and negotiation, during the war, was to separate the people from the government, to excite mutiny among the soldiery, and insurrection among the citizens. When Hezekiah’s commissioners proposed that the conference should not be in the hearing of the people on the wall, their adversaries were the more earnest for making it as public as possible. Disregarding all the rules of decorum, they addressed themselves directly to the people, and made their communications, not to the government, but to the populace;–urging every motive, both of terror and allurement, to draw them off from their allegiance.

How far the same mean arts have been acted over again by the French rulers towards us, I need not say: their own agents acknowledge it, and vaunt of their success. They boast, that their party among us is so numerous, and their means of influence so powerful, that, in every event, they shall be able to throw the blame on the side of injured innocence. In what history can you find such unblushing impudence on the brow of guilt? It exceeds all the insulting language of the foul-mouthed, Rabshakeh.

But to every man who has the interest of his country at heart, how very alarming is this intelligence! Do we indeed thus totter on the brink of ruin?—At this eventful period, therefore, when, according to the statement of our worthy President, “all the old republics of Europe are crumbling into dust, when the monarchies of the old world are some of them fallen, and others trembling to their foundations; when our own infant republic has scarcely had time to cement its strength, or decide its own practical form; when these agitations of the human species have affected our people, and produced a spirit of party, which scruples not to go all lengths of profligacy, falsehood and malignity in defaming our government,”—in heaping the vilest slanders upon the First Magistrate of the Union, on all the enlightened and faithful men employed under him, the secretaries at home, the envoys abroad, the federal and patriotic members in the two houses of Congress; on the governors, judges, and other officers throughout the several states, who have distinguished themselves in supporting the wise and just measures of the general government—and lastly, on the ministers of religion, because they are considered as a bulwark against the spirit of faction, and for the preservation of order the union—at a time, when these violent efforts are made to render us a divided people, and facilitate the designs of our oppressors against us—at this alarming crisis, my hearers, you will permit me to call upon you by all that you hold dear in this world, to open your eyes to the gulf before you, the revolution which has been planned for you—a revolution which will infallibly destroy all your social blessings, your affection, esteem and confidence in one another; which will sweep away all your liberties, gradually wrest from you your possessions, strip you of your virtue and of your religion; and after transforming you into French demons, will give you up to be tormented through successive generations under the yoke of a foreign despotism. This is not unfounded declamation. The agents of the French Directory have avowed their design to our envoys; and their design comprehends every particular which I have now mentioned. The old republics of Europe, which they have already revolutionized, are at this moment suffering all the evils which I have described.

Having no other prey at present at hand, the arms of the French Republic are now stretched forth towards us; and the Chronicle of Boston, the Argus of New-York, the Aurora of Philadelphia, and some other ignes fatui [will-o’-the-wisp], are so many decoys to draw us within reach of her fraternal embrace. If you would not be ravished by the monster, drive her panders from among you. The editors, patrons and abettors of those vehicles of slander upon our government—those wet nurses of a French faction in the bowels of our country, have no longer any cloak for their guilt. The late intelligence from our envoys has unmasked the traitorous views of the whole party, and has recovered all honest citizens from the delusion which had been imposed upon them. They, who still persist in pleading the cause of France against our own government, in spreading jealousies and evil surmises of our constituted authorities, and in discouraging the means of defense, ought to be considered and treated as enemies to their country. They deserve to feel the righteous indignation of an injured and insulted nation. Brethren, mark them who cause such dangerous divisions among us, and let them wear the stigma of reproach due to the perfidious betrayers of their country.

Under almost every other government, the people have some real grievances of which to complain; but in this good land, there are no such grounds for complaint or disquietude. The inhabitants are the freest and happiest in the world: their government has resulted from their own matured wisdom and choice, and is liberty itself; their rulers are all created and raised to the stations which they fill, by the suffrages of the people; and for enlightened patriotism, wisdom, integrity and zeal for the public good, are unrivalled by any other set of rulers in any other nation under the sun. And are there those among us, all whose abilities are exerted in abusing and slandering these rulers, in undermining this government, in deceiving and misleading this people, and sowing divisions among them, in order to bring about their subjection to a foreign power? Of all traitors, they are the most aggravatedly criminal; of all villains, they are the most infamous and detestable.

If we have a spark of patriotism in our bosoms, my hearers, we shall reverence in the persons of our rulers, he majesty and sovereignty of our nation; and stand ready to repel, with a just indignation, every unworthy imputation upon them. Specially at this momentous crisis, we shall gather around the standard of our general government, show a marked disapprobation of those men and measures, which breathe a partiality for a foreign nation, and sternly discountenance whatever tends to impede o render suspected the administration of our executive. And as the danger approaches, and becomes more threatening, we shall form a phalanx about him, formidable and terrifying to all his enemies. At every hazard, we shall resolve, with our lives and fortunes, to support the independence of our country, and defend its honour. These things are the duties of all our citizens, of every man who has the happiness of being a member of our free and most excellent constitution. Our lives should be held no longer dear, when the dangers of our country call us to expose them in its defense. Whatever may befall us in the contest, we shall not be losers in the end. That Being who has made it our duty to die for our country, will also make it for our interest. Whilst obeying the calls of his word or providence, we shall be safe under his protection. What can harm us, if we be followers of that which is good? Numerous and powerful as our enemies are, we ought not to despond. Our situation is apparently far less hazardous, than was that of Hezekiah; yet he survived the threatened vengeance of the great king.

Towards the close of his dispute with Sennacherib, he received the letter mentioned in the text. Its contents were but the repetition of the things which Hezekiah had often heard before. They consisted of railings and invectives, of boasts and menaces. The writer vapours and blusters in all the turgidity of a French Jacobin: He vaunts of the countries which he had over-run, of the cities which he had taken, of the kings which he had conquered, and of the gods which he had captivated. Presuming the God of Hezekiah to be similar to the tutelary deities of those other nations, with blaspheming insolence he infers, that Jehovah himself could not prevent the capture of Jerusalem. “And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: Open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: And hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.” I know not whether, in the whole inspired volume, there be recorded another act of devotion which, taken in all its circumstances, is more solemn, striking and affecting than this. Here we behold the good man and the pious king making God his refuge and strong hold in the day of trouble. Menaced with the vengeance of his enemies, he hastens into the divine presence; he refers his cause to the common Father of men; he states his wrongs before the Judge of the whole earth; he implores aid from that Being in whose fight all nations are as the drop of the bucket, or the small dust of the balance. He pleads not his own merit or that of his people towards God; but he insinuates how much the honour of Jehovah himself was concerned in consequence of the reproaches and blasphemies of the enemy against him. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear; open, Lord, thine eyes and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

With what unspeakable thankfulness, my brethren, should we reflect, that Hezekiah’s God is the professed object of our devotions—that we have been taught the good knowledge of this true and living God, and are allowed and encouraged to make him our resource and refuge under all our fears and dangers! How thankful too should we be, that instead of a French atheist or deist, the President of the United States is an exemplary Christian, who, like Hezekiah, hath called us into the house of God this day, that we may bring the cause of our injured and oppressed country before the great Ruler of the world, and by earnest, fervent supplication implore the interposition of his universal providence between us and our haughty and violent oppressors! They, like the Assyrian of old, are but the rod of his anger, and the staff in their hand is his indignation. It is He who hath sent them against an hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath. Through his permission they have been suffered to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread down many nations like the mire of the streets. In all this, they have been but the executors of the divine vengeance upon a guilty world. Howbeit they mean not so, neither doth their heart think so; but it is in their heart to cut off and destroy nations not a few—and with their hand to find as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, so they boast of having gathered all the earth, and having spread so general a terror, that there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed his whole work of chastisement upon the nations, he will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the French republicans, and the glory of their high looks. He will make them to feel, that all their boasts are like that of the ax against him that heweth therewith, or of the saw against him that shaketh it, or of the rod against him that lifeth it up.

Hezekiah’s success at the throne of grace, should encourage and animate our devotions this day. God heard the prayer of his servant, noticed the letter which had been brought before him, and took upon himself the charge of thus answering the Assyrian tyrant: “I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears; therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.” So, O Lord God of Israel, let our enemies be turned back, disappointed and ashamed; and to thee shall be the glory!

AMEN.

Endnotes

¹ See Gifford’s answer to Erskine.

Leonard Woods (1774-1854) graduated from Harvard in 1796. He was a pastor in Newbury, Massachusetts (1798-1808), and a professor of Christian theology at the Andover theological seminary (1808-1846). Woods was active in establishing the American tract society, the Temperance society, and the board of commissioners of foreign missions.

S E R M O N S

ON PROFANE SWEARING,

DELIVERED

APRIL 4, 1799;

THE DAY APPOINTED BY

The GOVERNOR of Massachusetts

For Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer.

By LEONARD WOODS, A. M.
Pastor of the third Church in Newbury.

DISCOURSE I.

Exodus, xx. 7.

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

The sin here forbidden is obviously unreasonable. The mere dictate of an intelligent nature we should suppose would prove an effectual barrier against the commission of it. It is directly opposed to the deep reverence, the sincere piety, the grateful love, which the divine majesty and goodness naturally tend to inspire. But we have an express command. God descended in awful dignity on Mount Sinai, and with a voice infinitely more solemn and terrible, than the loud thundering and lightnings, and sound of the trumpet, proclaimed in the audience of the Israelitish nation, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. Now should we not imagine, if left to judge from the nature of the thing, that the command of God delivered in terms of such dreadful authority, and enforced by a sanction infinitely momentous, would fill the hearts of men with reverence and awe, and prevent the most distant approaches to the crime forbidden. But history and experience teach us a truth far less probable, and far less delightful. If we trace the history of the Israelites, to whom the law was first announced, we shall soon observe in them a total want of reverence for the character and name of God. And if we have lived only a few years, and had opportunity to make but very limited observations on mankind at the present day, we have already learnt that the third commandment, which has lost none of its original authority, is by most men in some degree disregarded, and by innumerable multitudes held in hearty contempt, and grossly violated. This deplorable fact is not an unfit subject of serious contemplation and penitent regret for a day of fasting and prayer. It may well lead us to humiliation and sorrow, and excite our most fervent intercessions, to think that any of our highly favored race should be guilty of profaning the name of Almighty God. But when we consider that such an aggravated crime is chargeable upon a great majority of mankind, and that most, if not all of us are implied in that number; how deep should be our abasement; how melting our grief; how penitent and lowly our confessions; how earnest, and yet how submissive our supplications.

That we may more clearly apprehend the extent and importance of the command in the text; that we may be roused and assisted to yield due obedience to it, and be more humble and penitent under the consideration, that ourselves and others are guilty of so repeated a violation of it; let the following things engage our serious and devout attention.

I. Several ways, in which the third commandment is transgressed.

II. The unreasonableness and futility of several arguments, which are sometimes urged as excuses for the use of profane language.

III. Some of the reasons that may be offered against it.

IV. A few directions how to avoid it.

V. Some reflections arising from the subject and the present occasion united.

Before I enter on particulars, permit me, my beloved hearers, to bespeak your patience and candor. As you have chosen me for your minister, you ought to feel willing, that I should be faithful to God and to you. I could not be so, should I omit the mention of a sin, because I fear some of you are chargeable with it. If any of you are guilty of the sin prohibited in the text, you must expect to have your consciences disturbed and wounded by the following discourses. You ought, however, to remember that it is not an object of the preacher ‘to torment you before the time;’ but by setting before you the nature and consequences of sin, to bring you to repentance, and thus to promote your present and future happiness. This desirable object I cannot expect to obtain, unless I adopt the wise resolution of Micaiah, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.

First. We are to consider several ways, in which the third commandment is transgressed.

I. By perjury; which is the making use of the name of God in confirmation of a falsehood, or the non-performance of the religious oaths we have made. For the security of reputation and property, and the good of society in many other respects, civil government has ever deemed it necessary, in certain cases, to bind the consciences of men by solemn religious oaths. The reason why this measure is adopted seems to be this; that a direct appeal to omniscient God, as the witness of what is said and the judge and avenger of a lie, will to men in general be an additional inducement to speak the truth. It is doubtless so. Many persons, who can utter falsehood in common conversation without trembling, and without a blush, dare not do it, when they have lifted up their hand towards heaven, with a solemn appeal to Almighty God for the truth of what they say. Indeed one would think that no man could be so regardless of that infinite wisdom, which cannot be deceived, and of that infinite power, which will not be mocked, as to call expressly upon God to attest a falsehood. But alas, this is no uncommon crime. Many men, through the original and superinduced blindness of their hearts, have so little sense of the majesty and holiness of God, that they are not afraid to go into his sacred presence, call him by name, and then lie to his face.

Men are guilty of perjury, not only when they swear to a thing, which they know to be false, but also when they swear to a thing, while uncertain of its truth. Nor does their guilt appear small when they give testimony to a falsehood, though they suppose it to be a truth. For we must conclude they are not necessarily deceived, but might, by using the means in their power, have gained proper information. At least, we may safely say, they cannot know that to be a truth, which is in fact a falsehood, and are criminal for positively asserting it, while any doubt remains.

Further, a man is guilty of that, which bears a near resemblance to perjury, and seems to partake of its nature, when he positively engages upon oath to do what he knows not to be in his power. But when some unforeseen providence renders it impossible for him to perform his vow, we cannot see that he is criminal for not performing it. Yet even here it may with propriety to said, that he ought to have entered into his engagement or vow in dependence on divine providence; which would have rendered the necessary omission altogether harmless.

Perjury, in every shape and degree, arises from irreverence and contempt of God; and thus appears to have a near connection with what we shall consider as

The second way of violating the command under consideration, which is, taking an oath without that deep reverence and awe, which are due to the character of the Supreme Being. This is plainly intended in the prohibition. In vain, as it is used in the text, signifies lightly, inconsiderately, and irreverently, as well as falsely. Now although a person is, by some selfish consideration, secured from false swearing; yet, if he make use of the name of God, as a mere form, or civil engine, without being penetrated with a solemn sense of the divine presence and majesty, he is most evidently guilty of transgressing the command before us. The name of God is great and venerable, and ought at all times to be pronounced and contemplated with humble fear as well, as with ardent love; especially when it is formally introduced in confirmation of what we declare. To mention and swear by his name with as little reverence, as we feel in speaking of a fellow creature, is a gross violation of the dictates of reason, an extensive injury to society, and a daring insult to the Sovereign of the world.

3. If it be taking the name of God in vain to introduce it without seriousness and reverence even in confirmation of a truth, when called upon by civil authority; what shall we say to the light and frequent mention of it in order to confirm what is said in common conversation. This, I apprehend, is one of the chief things forbidden in the text. This is surely taking God’s name in vain, in every sense of the word. It is in vain, as it is not necessary; in vain, as it answers no good purpose; in vain, as it is done in a light and inconsiderate manner; in vain, as it is often done in confirmation of a lie.

Altho a person do not often expressly mention the name of God; yet he is a transgressor of the divine law, if he allow himself to swear by any of the works or creatures of God. That the command is of such an extent is plainly declared by Christ. The Jews had perversely limited its meaning, and confined it to false swearing, or perjury. ‘Ye have heard it said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath;’ and ye arrogantly suppose that this is all the law forbids or requires. “But I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by thy head. But let your conversation be yea yea; nay, nay;’ simple affirmations, and simple negations. ‘For whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil;’ or, as it may be rendered, ‘from the evil one.’ ‘It comes from the Devil,’ says Mr. Henry. “It comes from the corruption of men’s nature, from passion and vehemence, from the reigning vanity of the mind, and a contempt of sacred things.”

Are any of my hearers guilty of thus trifling with sacred things? Do you allow yourselves in it? ‘Tis high time you should have your sins brought from under the screen of retirement and darkness, and viewed in the light of God’s house and word. Consider then, how odious, now horrid it is for persons profanely to introduce the name of the eternal God or of the holy Jesus in order to add confirmation or emphasis to their assertions! Their wickedness appears so great, that I feel impelled to say here, what I shall largely insist upon under another head; if they persevere in such a daring violation of God’s holy law, they shall assuredly perish forever, unless they can overturn the throne of omnipotent Jehovah. Let all, who hear, remember this solemn warning against the great day.

Some men, scrupling to make use of the name of God directly, swear by some of his works or creatures; as by heavens, by the foul, &c. And when a person simply says, I swear, it is necessarily implied, that he swears by something; which is a direct transgression of Christ’s command, ‘swear not at all.’

4. Persons are guilty of taking God’s name in vain, who introduce it by way of exclamation, saying, on some striking occurrence, good God, – oh Lord, &c. not from a religious sense of God, but to give utterance to the unhallowed emotions of profane mirth and levity; or at best, to express sudden joy or surprise. Nothing need be said to prove, that this is taking the name of God in vain.

5. Persons violate the third command, when they make use of imprecations, or call upon God to inflict some evil upon themselves or others. To pray for blessings upon all mankind, even our enemies, is an indispensable duty. But, from anger or malice, to imprecate damnation, or any temporal evil upon our fellow men is, in such creatures as we are, a crime peculiarly heinous and detestable.—Shall we, guilty rebels, presumptuously attempt to direct God in the distribution of punishments?—Dare we ask him, who is infinitely wise and good, to conform his dispensations to our partial views and malicious desires? Shall we, who must perish, unless we are saved by an act of sovereign forgiveness, call upon God to take vengeance on those, who happen to offend us? To use the name of God for such purposes is to use it worse than in vain. There is nothing which shows greater impiety, more towering pride and arrogance, or more hellish spite, than to call upon God to inflict damnation upon a fellow creature. It is to forget that we are sinners. It is to forget that we are men.—It is an expression of malice and revenge, which ought never to be heard, except from the mouth of Devils. Still more unnatural, more unaccountably wicked does it appear, to call down divine vengeance upon one’s self. But so it is, that if none should be lost, but those, who have expressly asked, or challenged God to damn them, the infernal regions would not want inhabitants. Let me tell you, my hearers, when you thus profanely invite the vengeance of God, there is a dreadful probability that he will take you at your word.

Another kind of wickedness, which may fall under this head, and by which men break the commandment in the text, is the venting of their unreasonable resentment against their beasts in profane and impious curses. The mention of this vice is enough to make human nature blush. That a man should feel such anger and malice against his poor laborious beast, that is destitute of reason, and therefore, incapable of having a bad meaning or design, as to imprecate divine vengeance upon it, is amazingly stupid as well as sinful. When you hear a man damn his beast, you may tell him, if his madness will admit, – it may be, my friend, it may be, that you will know what damnation is long before your beast. – That stroke of vengeance, which you call down upon him, may fall upon one, who deserves it.

A man’s profanity grows still more inconsistent and wanton, when in cool blood, perhaps with emotions of kindness at heart, he mingles curses and oaths in his addresses to his friends. ‘Tis true, he means not as he says; and this proves him guilty of falsehood and profanity at the same time.

We must observe, in the sixth place, that there are many little expressions, sometimes thought to be harmless, which approach so near the boundaries of profanity, that they may, in the sight of God, amount to a violation of the third command, and are evident transgressions of some precepts in the Gospel. I shall not enter into particulars; but only request you to bear in mind, that all idle words and all little profanities, whether polite or vulgar, are recorded in the book of God, and must be answered for at his tribunal.

Should I stop here, there would, perhaps, be some present, who might thank God, that they were not like other men; that they had, to a considerable degree, kept this commandment. But I must add, in the seventh place, that God’s name is taken in vain by insincere and formal devotions. Instead of requiring arguments to prove this, all those who make conscience of family or secret devotion, are ready to own and lament, that they have often, very often taken the name of God into their mouths, and addressed him in words of solemn import, while their hearts were destitute of homage, gratitude, and love. How many times, in the course of one prayer, do some persons take the name of God in vain! How few are free from this charge, when they ask God’s blessing upon their daily food? How few are entirely guiltless in their public religious transactions! How great a part of those, who pretend to pray, do it without humility, without sincerity; without any real desire of the favors they ask, or any love to the character and laws of God. Oh solemn mockery! Oh vain attempt to impose deception upon God! Is this such prayer, as the Almighty requires of us, and will accept? To those, who offer him such hypocritical devotion, God puts the alarming question, ‘who hath required this at your hands?’

We proceed to the second thing proposed; which was, to point out the unreasonableness and futility of several arguments, which are sometimes urged as excuses for the violation of the third commandment. The principal thing I shall keep in view is what we commonly call profane swearing; yet not excluding any of the methods, by which the command in the text is violated.

1. An argument, which many bring to justify profane swearing, at least to palliate the criminality of it, is, that they mean no harm.—-If a man should cast firebrands and arrows at those about him; none surely would think he had offered a reason sufficient to justify his conduct, by his saying, I am in sport; or, I mean no harm. That which was sport to him might be death to them. How strange it is, for a man to break the law, to despise the threatenings, and to pour contempt upon the name of God; to do that, which draws after it consequences pernicious to the interests and to the souls of men; and after all this to say, he meant no harm. There is scarcely a crime committed, which does not admit the same justification. In whatever wickedness a man allows himself, you will not find it easy to make him own, that he really means any hurt by it. The man, who neglects his family and secret prayer, who feels quite regardless of the honor of God, and ungrateful for his infinite favors, will tell you, at least he himself thinks, that he means no harm. The man who disbelieves the sacred scriptures, or rejects any of the doctrines therein contained, pacifies his conscience by pretending, that he means no harm. Whatever duty a man neglects, whatever sin he habitually commits, this is still the plea he makes, that he has no bad meaning—What a striking instance of the deceitfulness of sin, and the almost total ignorance of men in respect to their own hearts! When the Holy Spirit gives men a just and reasonable view of divine things, he makes them feel and acknowledge, that they never committed any sin without a bad intention. God, who looketh on the heart, on the designs and motives of our conduct, will never judge that to be sin, or a violation of his law, which is done without any bad intent. It is absurd then for the profane swearer to endeavor to justify himself by the argument above-mentioned. For however ignorant he may be of it, no command of God can be transgressed without implying a sinful design in the transgressor. And if his saying, he means no harm, will justify his profanity; there is scarcely any crime, for which upon the same principles, a justifying reason may not be assigned. Let it always be remembered, that voluntary self ignorance, or willful self delusion is so far from being an excuse or palliation of a crime committed, that it is a great crime itself. Christ forewarns his disciples of a time, when whosoever killed them should think he did God service. By this, however, he did not mean to exculpate those, who should murder his followers; but to exhibit the united guilt of their superstition, self-delusion, unhallowed zeal, and impious rage.

2. Let us consider another argument, by which men attempt to justify themselves, in part at least, for profanity; that they have a habit of swearing so deeply rooted and inveterate, that they cannot break off from it. They are fully persuaded it is a folly, and dishonor, and sin. But their habit of swearing has become so interwoven with their nature, that when temptation presses them to it, they cannot refrain.

In reply to this, it is by no means difficult to show, that a habit of sinning is so far from being a justification of the crimes committed, that it is a circumstance, which greatly enhances guilt; and that a person’s ill desert is aggravated in some proportion to the strength and fixedness of his vicious habits. What is a bad habit, but an inclination to commit sin strengthened & confirmed by frequent indulgence? Is this a thing that palliates guilt? Is a crime less heinous, because it has been committed many times before? Does guilt decrease, as the number of crimes increases? The repetition of a crime is, by civil law, often condemned by a penalty much more severe, than the first offence. Who ever doubted the justice of this? Who ever thought that a thief deserved less punishment for stealing the tenth time, than the first? Let reason and common sense decide.—The man, whose offence arises from inadvertence or sudden surprisal, is accounted far less guilty, than he who offends from fixed principle. The stronger, the more irresistible a man’s inclination is to commit sin, the more depraved do we think him, and the more deserving of punishment. A long practiced thief or highwayman has an unconquerable propensity to rob and steal. His dishonest, unrighteous principles are so powerful, as to sway all the active energies of his foul. No reason or argument, which can be proposed, has the least effect to turn him from his steady purpose. It is as natural for his thoughts, desires, and actions to be dishonest and wicked, as it is for water to descend. Now will any one say, that the strength of his wicked inclination and habit is a circumstance, which renders him less guilty, less worthy of punishment? Is not the contrary position evidently true, that the resistless source of his depraved disposition and habit raises his guilt to the highest pitch of aggravation? An old miser, whose heart is glued fast to his treasure, who is incapable of entertaining a liberal design or doing a generous action, is looked upon by all, as a depraved wretch, that deserves nothing but mingled pity and contempt from man, nothing but misery from God. The cruel tyrants of the Roman empire, who could no more abstain from oppression and murder, than from their daily food, are justly tho’t to be more guilty, than those, whose temper was less confirmed in cruelty, whose iniquities were less rare. All these instances, which are perhaps unnecessarily multiplied, are introduced to evince, that the strength of a depraved disposition and the invincible firmness of a vicious habit are so far from being a sufficient apology for sin, that they render it much more inexcusable and aggravated.

Let this reasoning, which I think you will allow to be just, be applied to the subject in hand. A man offers it as a plea to justify himself for profane swearing, that he has such a strong and confirmed habit of indulging himself in it, that he cannot leave it off. In other words, you have such a strong and habitual inclination to profane the name of God and to break his righteous law, that you cannot leave it off. Be not offended, if I tell you, according to the tenor of the preceding discussion, that such a disposition and habit are, both in the sight of God and man, awful aggravations of your guilt; and, unless reformed, will add dreadful weight to your future misery. Consider how this plea from the inveteracy of habit would appear at the bar of God. Shall you be able to lift up your head there, and say to Almighty God, —I had such a strong inclination to disobey thee, and my custom of doing it was of so long standing, that I could not leave it off: I therefore hope to be excused?

But I would observe, as a further answer to this plea, that it is possible for your habit of swearing, inveterate as it is, to be subdued. In the presence of great and good men, whom you respect and fear to offend, is not your language decent and pure? Does not this prove that you have power to govern your tongue; and consequently that your profanity is without excuse? Does it not likewise appear from this consideration, that a becoming sense of the presence and the perfections of God would effectually preserve you from the guilt of profaneness? Realizing that the Supreme Being observes all your conduct, loving and adoring his character, desiring to please and honor him, should you dare to profane his sacred name? Your profanity then does not arise from want of power to avoid it, but from want of consideration and sobriety. —Further, the numberless instances of reformation in the most profane, most hardened sinners prove the possibility of yours; and point you to that almighty and compassionate Redeemer, whose peculiar office it is to save his people from their sins. By submitting to the grace of Christ you will become entitled to that most important promise, that no sin shall have dominion over you. When such help is provided and offered, how can you plead, as an excuse for profane swearing, the impossibility, or even the difficulty of reformation?

3. Another reason, by which some men attempt to apologize for swearing, is, that they were in a passion. —Does God, who certainly knows our frame, feels all possible compassion towards us, and makes all reasonable allowances, anywhere excuse men for breaking his commandments, because they are blinded and overcome by passion? It is a sin, my hearers, to be in a passion; that is, to suffer our angry emotions to cloud the eye of reason, or to throw the mind into disorder. Precepts in rich abundance are found in the Bible, which enjoin a meek, placid calm, forgiving temper, and prohibit the indulgence of anger, high spirit, malice, and revenge. Now can one sin excuse another, which is occasioned by it? Can your being in a passion, which is itself a sin, excuse profane swearing, which is a still greater sin?

Some perhaps begin to think that the preacher is too strict, too severe; that he ought to be a little more candid and charitable, and allow that something may be said in excuse for profaneness, as well as many things against it. But my hearers, I must enter into some other school, besides the school of reason, or the school of Christ, before I can learn, that sin, that rebellion against God admits any excuse whatsoever. There is a day not far distant, when every mouth shall be stopped, and all impenitent sinners, in particular profane swearers shall feel and acknowledge themselves to be inexcusably guilty before God.

1. It essentially injures a person in the present life. Depraved as the world is, virtue, those branches of it in particular, which have an immediate and evident connection with the good of society, are generally rewarded with the esteem, at least the veneration of mankind at large, and with that which is much more to be desired, the approbation and love of the good; while vice of every kind, much ore a barefaced iniquity eventually robs a man of his dearest goodly treasure, his reputation. This is emphatically faced in regard to the sin, which we are opposing. —earth not take any pains to prove, that the profane swearer, whether old or young, is on the whole loved much more coldly, and held in much lower estimation, that he would be, were his language at all times pure. Even his wicked associates, though they may for the present applaud him for the countenance he gives to their beloved vices, yet retaining some remainder of common sense, must consider him, as unworthy of their sincere love, esteem, and confidence. But the approbation and friendship of the wise and good are of much higher importance. Of these a man infallibly deprives himself by profane swearing. There is not a sober and sensible man of your acquaintance, who does not esteem and love you less, for every instance of your profanity. It is a disgrace, my hearers, a horrid disgrace. It is a black stigma upon a man’s character, as a rational being, as a citizen, as a friend, and above all as a Christian. Can any be so thoughtless as to suppose it an honor? Will you glory in that, of which you ought to be ashamed? Will you be ambitious to imitate the most low, vulgar, vile creatures, that our country affords, who are often as notorious for their profaneness, as for their ignorance and vulgarity? Will you follow the example of those who are far beneath the common level of human nature? Will you leave your own rank in life to herd with those, who are, in knowledge, only one grade above, in character many grades below the brutal creation?

It may be added, that a custom of using profane oaths for confirmation will be so far from answering your design, that it will in fact render your veracity suspected. The man is indeed an object of pity, who has not reputation enough to be believed, without having recourse to swearing. But, my friend, this will not help the case. No man of sense will have any higher opinion of your honesty and fidelity on account of your profane oaths. If you were conscious of possessing an upright principle at heart, and had proved yourself an honest man, you might justly think yourself insulted and injured, if any one should refuse to credit your assertions. —May we not fear that no profane swearer has a principle of truth and honesty at heart? Do not a man’s impious oaths often spring from the base consciousness, that he has forfeited his character? Is not his readiness to establish in this way what he has said, an implicit confession, that his naked word may be doubted; that his veracity may be justly called in question? So unhappily does he counteract his own intentions. Seeking honor and applause, he meets disgrace and contempt. Seeking to gain credit to his word, h renders it more suspected. What unnatural folly and cruelty it is thus to injure himself! But the injury stops not here. I add

In the second place, profane swearing is, in its consequences, very detrimental to society. The security of our dearest rights depends in a great measure upon the reverence which men have for an oath. Almost all the decisions in our courts of justice are formed on the supposition, that men under oath will strictly adhere to the truth. If therefore men have not proper respect for an oath, nor feel the solemn obligation under which it lays them, one mighty instrument of justice is wrested from the hands of civil magistrates, and our property and reputation left exposed to the assault of dishonest and villainous men.

Now there is nothing which tends so much to wear away all religious reverence of God and all suitable respect for an oath, as the prevalence of profane swearing. To hear those around us lightly mention the name of God, and intermix impious asseverations with their common discourse is apt to inspire us with the same low & dishonorable conceptions of God, the same disregard and insensibility to the solemn obligation of an oath, as appear in them. If to hear profane swearing in others have this tendency, much more does the indulgence of it in ourselves. It is impossible that the man, who is guilty of profaneness, whenever temptation urges him to it, should feel a religious regard for the oath, which he takes before a civil magistrate. —Thus you see that the sin prohibited in the text has a most pernicious influence on the interests of society, by diminishing in ourselves and others that religious reverence, which is due to an oath; thereby freeing men from a most weighty motive to speak the truth, and opening a door for mistaken and injurious decisions in our courts of justice. Its baneful influence extends likewise to all those officers, who are by oath bound to fidelity in the trusts committed to their hands.

As the third reason against profane swearing, we urge the laws of the Commonwealth. The evil has become so extensive and alarming, that our rulers deem it necessary to super add the authority of civil law to that of reason and scripture, hoping thereby to check the spread and influence of so dire a calamity. (Here the ACT against profane swearing was read.) Suffer me now to call upon every one, who lories in being an American, and professes a loyal regard to our Government, to listen obediently to its wise decisions, and not to allow himself in any instance to be guilty of profane swearing. How false is a man’s pretence, that he is a friend to the prosperity of his country, when he lives in the habitual violation of its prudent and salutary laws! Who deserves to be considered, as an enemy to society, if not he who tramples upon the equitable commands of Government? If, my hearers, you have a spark of patriotism in your breasts, any regard to the laws of the land, any desire, or even a cold willingness, that the good of the present and succeeding generations be promoted, be persuaded to revere the name of Almighty God, and to maintain a deep and solemn sense of the obligation of an oath.

4. Profane swearing has a baneful effect upon the minds of men in a religious view. By habituating them to use the name of God without any right conceptions of his character, without religious fear or pious gratitude, their hearts become more and more estranged from the worship of their Maker. —In faithfulness to your souls, I must tell you, that the man, who is in the habit of swearing profanely, is an utter stranger to religion. From the same mouth there cannot proceed blessing and cursing. —A man cannot offer up an acceptable prayer to God, while he allows himself to take his name in vain. —Should a sincere Christian through inadvertence, or the sudden impulse of temptation, be guilty of cursing and swearing, as Peter was; he could enjoy no peace or communion with God, before he went and wept bitterly; before his heart was melted and reformed by deep sorrow and thorough repentance.

Profane swearing tends likewise to injure the minds of others in respect to religion. Its influence is contagious. The contempt of God, the alienation from his service, which you exhibit, others will be apt to catch from you. Thus impiety and irreligion will from you diffuse its deadly poison through the souls of all around.

The fifth reason I shall bring against profaneness is a consideration of the great and holy name of God. —This argument is implied in the text, and more explicitly in what God saith by Moses, ‘Thou shalt no profane the name of thy God; I am the LORD.’ —Permit me to tell you, my hearers, that the word, GOD, which is soften in your mouths, is a word of solemn, of awful import. By the life of your souls, I warn you not to trifle with that momentous word. It points us to the King eternal, immortal, invisible. GOD, —oh weigh the vast meaning of that word, —GOD is an almighty, an all wise, all gracious Spirit. —He is absolutely without beginning, without end. He has created, he supports, he moves the universe. God is everywhere present. Ascend into heaven. He is there. Make your bed in hell. He is there. Fly to the uttermost parts of the earth. He is there. Pass through the starry heavens. Speed your way into the abyss of infinite space. Continue your course swifter than a ray of light, for millions of ages; continue it, while eternity endures; and God is there. And while he is there, while he is everywhere throughout immensity, he is here. He looks on us with as constant attention, as perfect knowledge, as if there were no other creatures in existence, and all his notice were directed to us alone. He is able to save, and to destroy. All nature is at his command, under his control. Before him Angels bow, and Devils tremble. He is our final Judge. His favor is life; his frown eternal death. —Is this a Being to be rifled with, to be mocked, to be insulted? Is the name of this glorious GOD to be profaned?

There is another cogent and moving reason against taking the name of God in vain couched in these words, ‘thy God.’ ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.’ Although we have renounced our allegiance to God, and exposed ourselves to his eternal wrath; he is pleased, in the dispensation of grace to propose and offer himself, as our reconciled Father and God, and to give us an opportunity of becoming his redeemed people. To use lightly and profanely the name of the Supreme Being, who condescends to stand in such an endearing relation to us, argues an amazing insensibility to infinite obligation. It is a most unnatural wickedness for children to speak lightly of their parents. Whatever be their conduct towards others, if they have a spark of virtue remaining in their breasts, they will feel and manifest great reverence for the name of those, whom they call their parents; especially if those parents be truly wise and good. —The same principle operates in other relations. This even nature teaches. And shall we not revere the name of him, whom we call our God? Is not this a dear and important relation? Whatever we think or say of the Gods of others; let our God be tho’t of and mentioned with grateful respect and filial awe. When God proposes himself, as our God, there is great condescension and goodness implied. Should a man, far above you in rank and merit, condescend to notice you, to confer favors upon you, and to seek to notice you, to confer favors upon you, and to seek your affection, would it not be natural for you to mention him with great respect? Still more, if you lived upon his bounty; if you daily asked of him, and expected daily to receive undeserved protection and support, and in addition to all this were persuaded, that he acted from the purest and noblest principles; should you frequently introduce the name of so worthy a benefactor and friend in a slight and canting way, or as a trivial proverb? And when God, who dwells in the high and holy place, stoops down to notice us and to bless us, to offer us his friendship, and to solicit ours; shall we mention him with contempt? When he has given his Son to die for us, and thereby put himself in the relation of a reconcilable Father and God; shall we not be filled with wonder and love? And is it the way to show our love to the best of beings and the best of benefactors, lightly and irreverently to pronounce his sacred name? Is profane swearing the language of gratitude for infinite blessings, – the language of praise to infinite goodness?

Our last reason, and that of great moment, against profane swearing is suggested in the text. It is the awful sanction, by which the command is enforced. “The Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain.” If a regard neither to your own interest and reputation, nor to the good of society, nor to the laws of the land, nor to the religious concerns of yourselves and others, nor to the great and venerable name of God, —if none of these, nor any other consideration will keep you from profaning the name of the Lord; know assuredly, that He will not suffer you to pass with impunity. He will remember you in the day of his wrath. —My office, my conscience, and the word of God require me to lift up my voice, to cry aloud and spare not; to tell the people their sins, and to hold up the terrors as well, as the mercies of the Lord. —I must therefore declare to profane swearers, however exalted in wealth, in honor, or in pride; however useful to society; however amiable in other respects, —except you repent, you shall all perish. The Lord will not hold you guiltless for taking his name in vain. Whatever becomes of others, it is certain you shall not escape. All the plagues that are written in the book of God shall come upon you. Even in this life your hell may begin. Your conscience will at times be awakened and tormented. The black face of a tempestuous cloud, the flames that dart through the sky, or the assault of a dangerous disease may set the worm of guilt to gnawing, and kindle a devouring fire in your soul. God will by and by come with the sword of death in his hand. You must tremble then, if you never trembled before. At that solemn time, when you will most sensibly need the friendship of God, his face will appear with a killing frown. You will probably think, —alas, it is too late. Prayers are in vain. I have times without number profaned the great name of God. Now he is my enemy, my eternal enemy; and I dare not go into his presence. He once offered himself to me, as my God. But in that character I slighted and rejected him. Now he is my offended Judge. Shortly must I know what it is to stand guilty at his bar, and be condemned and rejected by him. Or if your conscience remain asleep to the last, or if your sickness deprive you of reason, it is but a momentary respite. At death your soul will go into the presence of an angry God. At the resurrection your body will be dragged from its peaceful lodging in the grave. ‘Legions of Angels can’t retain you there.’ You must come, however reluctantly, to the bar of your Judge. Rocks and mountains, deaf to your prayer, will not cover you from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. The time is short. It is but as tomorrow, before you will stand at the judgment seat of Christ. There you must remember, however unwelcome the remembrance, how many times you took the name of God in vain; how many ‘hard speeches’ you spoke against him. What, oh profane swearer, will be your plea? Will you justify yourself to your omniscient Judge by telling him, when you broke his command, you meant no harm, or you had formed an unconquerable habit of doing it, or you were in a passion? No. Your mouth will be stopped. —You will see justice enthroned; and that will speak indignation and wrath to you. Depart from me, ye cursed, will be the sentence of God to those, who have cursed and sworn by his name. There can be no pardon, no appeal. You must be immediately consumed by the breath of his mouth; be driven away from his presence and from the glory of his power. Miserable and in eternal despair, you must dwell with those infernal spirits, whose accomplices in cursing and blasphemy you had been even in this life. Now you will imitate them to greater perfection, forever cursing and blaspheming that glorious Being, whom you might have enjoyed in heaven; that almighty Being, whom you cannot hurt nor molest. Vain will be your rage. The fire you kindle against him, will burn yourself. The sword, which you maliciously draw, will pierce your own soul. That tongue, which has been so often employed in profaneness, will be parched up with unquenchable fire. That damnation, which you have so often wished upon others, perhaps upon yourself, you shall now suffer. —Oh hearers, people of my charge, will any of you rush headlong to this place of torment? Will you, for the sordid pleasure of profane swearing, fall into the hands of Almighty God, whose wrath is a consuming fire? If any of you have heretofore indulged yourselves in profaneness, I hope you are fully convinced of your folly, wickedness, and danger; and are ready to enquire how you shall escape the dominion and punishment of so great a sin? This brings us to what was proposed in the

IV. Division of the subject, —to give some directions to those, who wish to avoid profanity for time to come. The first directions are to those, who have to this day allowed themselves in it.

1. Be persuaded, that your reformation is possible. ‘It is one of the great artifices of the Devil, to persuade the sinner, that it is lost labor to attempt to amend his life; that his recovery is impossible; that his evil has become too deeply rooted to be conquered. Never give heed to this lying spirit.’ ¹ The grace of God is all sufficient. Although your sins are like scarlet, he can make them white as snow; though they are red like crimson, he can make them like wool.—If you set about reformation in your own strength, you can expect but little success. But you cannot too firmly believe, that God is able to reform you; able to subdue your evil habits, and implant the seeds of grace in your hearts; and that he will give his Holy Spirit to those, who ask it in sincerity and faith.

2. Labor to impress your mind with an awful sense of sin, in particular the sin of profane swearing. Consider it in all its aggravations. Some, who once had as slight and superficial thoughts of this sin as you have, are now so deeply convinced of the evil and danger of it, that they would not for the world repeat the offence. Let your heart be impressed with a solemn reverence for the Supreme Being, and with a grateful sense of his unnumbered favors. Then think how heinous a crime it is to profane his holy name. Consider further that this vice cannot plead any of those powerful allurements, which delude and destroy the slaves of intemperance and debauchery; and is therefore peculiarly inexcusable. View it in the glass of the divine holiness and the divine law. Ask yourself what profit it was; what reason you had for it, and whether, for the sordid pleasure it afforded, you would be willing the blessed Jesus should suffer to atone for it. Then

3. Go and humble yourself before God. This is a day of pious mourning and humiliation. You would do well to let alone the sins of others, and to mourn and be humble first for your own. Confess to God your aggravated guilt, and your desert of eternal misery. You must be in earnest; for it is an infinite God you have to deal with, and a matter of everlasting consequence, that is at stake. Entreat God for his name’s sake to grant you the pardon of your sins, and the sanctifying influence of his Spirit. Entreat him to give you a gospel view of his holy and merciful character, that you may abhor yourself, and yet hope in him. Pray earnestly for his renewing, purifying, strengthening grace. Cast yourself on the power and mercy of the Redeemer; and humbly beg of him, that this hateful sin may no longer have dominion over you.

4. Let your resolution be firm and universal, though humble and dependant. Resolve never again to profane that holy name, which you have now solemnly addressed in prayer; that merciful name, on which all your hopes depend. Let your mind be kept in a trembling fear, left after all that has been said, after all your resolutions and prayers, you return again to the practice of profane swearing. Alas, my friends, we tremble for you; and did you know the deceitfulness of your own hearts, you would tremble for yourselves. Without the almighty grace of God, how weak are your resolutions? How ineffectual will be your endeavors? How many there are, who mourn for sin, and, in some sense, wish to be delivered from its power; who yet find themselves more than overmatched by the tyrant? Only make the experiment, and you will feel that sin hath not bound you with cords and withs, from which you can, as Samson did, extricate yourself by a single effort. Your strength is weakness, your wisdom folly, when brought into competition with the power and subtilty of your enemy. But let me observe, that however mighty and skillful your foe, you must conquer, or die. You must vanquish sin, or God will destroy you. Let not a sense of your weakness lead you tamely to submit; but make you more humble, watchful and prayerful. Receive Jesus Christ as your friend and Savior, and then his Grace will be sufficient for you.

5. I must add one more direction which may be a little unexpected; that is, break off from all your sins. The surest way to conquer any one vice is to renounce the whole. There is a kind of alliance or near relation between all sins. A common chain so closely unites them, that he, who from right principles rejects one, must reject all; and he, who is habitually guilty of one, is, in the e of the law, guilty of all. While you secretly love or allowedly practice any one sin, your endeavors to avoid or subdue another will be interrupted and enfeebled, and probably rendered ineffectual. When you pray for grace to conquer that one sin, and at the same time fondly cling to another; you cannot expect that God will answer your prayer. Remember & deeply ponder that all important declaration of the Psalmist, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Let me further observe, that selfish, interested motives may prevail upon you to discontinue the practice of profane swearing, although your heart be not reformed. And even this partial amendment would be matter of joy to all who love you, or regard the good of their fellow men. But there is nothing, except the grace of the gospel, rooted in your heart, and operating in your life, that can save you from eternal ruin.

Suffer me to add a few directions equally applicable to all.

If you would keep yourselves from profanity, avoid all approaches towards it. Allow yourselves in none of the little, half made, vulgar oaths, so common in almost every place. Be careful not to mention the name of God at any time with lightness or vanity. It is recorded of a great Philosopher, that he never pronounced the name of God, without making a solemn pause, as if struck and overcome with the vast idea. There is enough to entertain our cheerful hours, enough to raise our spirits and make us smile, without using the name of God, or any passage of holy writ in a sportive, jesting, or trifling manner.

Another necessary caution is, watchfully guard against intemperance, or excess in drinking. Here is the source of a world of profaneness. A man who, in his sober hours, would carefully shun cursing and swearing, is often known, when partially intoxicated, to break out into the most horrid oaths. A few glasses of spirits often turn a man of decent carriage into a profane swearer, and fill his mouth with such abominable imprecations, as would greatly offend his conscience, if he were sober. Now if you wish to avoid profanity, you must diligently watch against all temptations to it. For the same purpose, keep a constant guard over your passions. If you do not rule your spirit, you will not rule your tongue. Let nothing, therefore, be suffered to raise a commotion in your soul; as this would give great power and advantage to sin. When once you subject reason to the control of passion, you are like a ship without a rudder, or an untamed horse without a bridle. Does not your sad experience prove that you often do things in anger, of which, when your mind was calm, you thought yourself incapable? In particular, that you have no power over your tongue, when your animal spirits are highly raised? Guard then against the first rising of passion; and against those common excitements of anger, warm disputes and contentions upon any subject whatever.

I beg leave most affectionately and earnestly to exhort those, who are young, to shun, with watchful and pious care, every thing that favors of profanity. You have heard others complain, how difficult it is to conquer bad habits; or, if they are beginning to form, to secure a deliverance from them, before it is too late.

Let children hear the same friendly warning. —Dare you speak the name, the awful name of God, while you are sporting and playing? Dare you swear when you are a little angry? Many of you, my young friends, oh that I could say, all of you, have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost? Will you profane that holy name, into which you have been baptized; or into which you must be baptized, if ever you would obey Jesus Christ? Dear children, if you have any regard to your blessed Savior, any affection for your parents, any love to your own souls, don’t allow yourselves to use profane words. God, the great God is your Maker. Dare you flight and affront him? Jesus is your Redeemer. If ever you are happy, you will owe it all to him, and dwell with him forever. And will you disobey Jesus, who has said, swear not at all? I hope you will attend to these things; and that you will keep out of the way of all those bad and wicked people, who allow themselves to swear.

Let us now, agreeably to the subject and the present occasion, take a short survey of our country in respect to the sin of profane swearing. The prophet says, because of swearing the land mourneth. –Have not we reason to adopt the same plaintive strain? Is not this one of the prevailing iniquities of the present day? Does not our land lie, as it seems, pressed down with the ponderous load and groaning to be delivered from it? Let us just move our eye charitably over the several ranks and orders of men, and see if enough is not presented to view, to make our heart faint and our eyes dim; and to draw from us the doleful cry, the crown is fallen from our head; woe unto us, as a nation, for we have sinned.

We will just hint at the state of our Colleges and Universities. They ought to be pure fountains of morality and religion, as well as of human science and refinement. They ought to be as distinguished for virtue and piety, as they are for literary advantages. What cause of grief would it be, to hear the name of God lightly and contemptuously mentioned by those, who have the best opportunity to know his adorable perfections; who are exalted above their fellow creatures by the bounties of nature and providence, and under proportionably greater obligations to love and serve their Maker! How deplorable would it be, should any of the sons of science early enlist into the service of iniquity, and employ their superior natural and acquired abilities in corrupting the minds and the language of others! How baneful would be the effects of profanity and irreligion, should they be found in those, who are regarded by many of their friends and relations, as possessed of superior wisdom and judgment; whose sentiments are, therefore, almost implicitly received, and whose example attracts a ready imitation!

Let us now turn our thoughts upon our seaports and populous places, where the standard of manners and politeness is taken. Here the scene is melancholy and alarming. While passing moderately along the streets, you must stop your ears, if you would not hear the name of God taken in vain; if you would not have your feelings shocked with the most horrid oaths and execrations. The throats of multitudes are an open sepulcher; their tongues blaspheme the name of the Lord. Nor is the charge to be confined to those, who are uncultivated and vulgar. In profane swearing, if in nothing else, the merchant and gentleman often unite with the truckman and sailor. Even the parlor is not untainted with this shameful vice. In many friendly circles of those, who call themselves the polite and tasty, an evening cannot be passed without loading the fleeting moments with impure and impious expressions. To these the card table is by no means a stranger. In the dialect of many, who follow this diversion, profanity is a chief ingredient. And the fair ladies, who condescend to be present, will, by their smiles, smooth over the guilty consciences of their admirers, and almost thankfully receive applause and flattery from those very lips, which is a minute before were defiled with cursing and bitterness. And what is the conduct of females themselves? We are backward to say the truth. We wish we could call them purity and perfection. We wish no female ever polluted her lips and her conscience by profane swearing. If any must be chargeable with this vice, we should desire it might be only the unpolished, ignorant, and obscure. If the well bred, the beautiful, and the gay are ever guilty of this detestable crime, I must, in shame, pass it over in silence.

We have not finished our tragical survey. We fear there are some among our rulers themselves, who, strange as it may seem, at times disregard and transgress the very laws, which their lifted hands have publicly confirmed. And we have reason to think that the want of sobriety and religion apparent in many civil officers, in particular, the irreverent and trifling manner, in which civil oaths are spoken of and administered, is one cause of the growing prevalence of profaneness and perjury.

Farmers and mechanics, who are in general most removed from temptation, and whose employment is very favorable to honesty and sobriety, are not all exempt from the guilt of profane swearing. —Their instruments of labor, their shops, fields, orchards, meadows, and dumb beasts are witnesses against them. Nor can the advanced stages of human life be altogether cleared. Old men, greyheaded and feeblehanded, are sometimes heard rolling forth with their trembling tongues hoarse and solemn oaths; as if their load of guilt were not yet so great as they could bear; or as if they could not curse and blaspheme enough in hell, and so would do a little more before they die.

The prospect blackens as we proceed. Heads of families cannot be excepted. Here, if any where, the effects of profanity are awfully pernicious. –We need not go out of the state, nor out of the vicinity to find multitudes, vast multitudes of fathers, who allow themselves to curse and swear in the hearing of their children. In these cases we must expect that all moral and religious instruction will be laid aside, or, if attended to, that it will generally prove vain and useless; while the poor children, horrible to relate, learn to swear, before they learn to pray. Where parents are less blameworthy, their children often have bad examples near, which they too eagerly follow, to the neglect of those that are good. Alas, do we not often hear little children lisping out profane words, before they know their dreadful meaning?

Shall I stop here? Is not the picture already dismal enough to make us mourn and pray? But I must add tears to sighs, and blackness to shade. –There are professors of our holy religion, who have covenanted with God, and attend the sacramental supper, that are not pure from this crying sin. –Some are known to come to the table of the Lord, to eat his broken body, and drink his atoning blood, and then go away and profane his name, and the name of his Father. Here iniquity is full. Here guilt has arisen to its highest pitch. We confidently trust there are none such in this place. But is there not a more refined kind of profaneness chargeable upon professing Christians in general? Do not many take the name of God in vain, by entering into covenant, & renewing it at the table of the Lord, without the exercises of repentance, faith and love? And is there not room to exhort all professors to guard more diligently against idle words, and to pray, as David did, set a watch, Oh Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.

Is not the survey we have taken sorrowful and humbling? Passing in silence over most other sins, we have considered only the sins of the tongue. –Is not the vast amount of these sufficient to make us tremble, and to clothe the whole land in sackcloth and ashes? How strikingly is James’ de4scription of the tongue verified among us! The tongue, that noble organ, which distinguishes man from all other creatures on earth, is by its abuse become a fire, a world if iniquity. It defileth the whole body, and setteth a fire on the course of nature, and is itself set on fire of hell. How alarming are these things? It seems as though a great part of our fellow citizens had presumptuously risen up against our Father and our God, and were resolved at all adventures to kindle his almighty vengeance. See them, with self exalting pride and arrogance, trampling upon his sacred ordinances and holy name; causing their threats and impious curses towards his throne, and making one more desperate effort to dethrone and destroy JEHOVAH. Will his anger sleep? Can we expect uninterrupted public prosperity, while this is our national character? Will his patience last forever? Will not God visit for these things? Will not his soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Yes, my brethren; goodness, long neglected and abused, becomes indignation and wrath. But as God delighteth in mercy, let us, adapting the words of Daniel, when he fasted and prayed, to our own circumstances, fall down before him with this humble confession, and this earnest, interceding prayer. Oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and keep his commandments; we, as a people, have sinned, and committed iniquity, and done wickedly. Oh Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day; to the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, and to all America. All our nation have transgressed thy law and profaned thy holy name. Therefore hath the Lord brought evil upon us, and made our cities desolate, and raised up enemies against us. To the Lord belong mercy and forgiveness, although we have sinned against him. Oh Lord, according to thy righteousness, we beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from our land. Oh our God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our danger. For we do not present our supplication before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercy. Oh Lord, hear. Oh Lord, forgive. Oh Lord hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake. Turn us from our sins, and save us; for we are a people called by thy name, and by the name of thy Son. Amen.

Endnotes

¹. Nelions Devotions.