Era or Event: 1770s-1780s: War for Independence

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Elijah Parish (1762-1825) graduated from Dartmouth in 1785. He was the pastor of a church in Byfield, MA (1787-1825). This sermon was preached by Parish on the fast day of April 11, 1811.

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A SERMON,

PREACHED AT BYFIELD,

ON THE

ANNUAL FAST,

APRIL 11, 1811.

BY ELIJAH PARISH, D. D.

“The voice, which cries through all the Patriot’s veins
“When at his feet his country groans in chains,
“With angel-might, opposed the rage of hell,
“And fought like Michael, till the Dragon fell.”

A SERMON, &c.

REVELATION, CH. XVIII. V. 2.

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every soul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

In this and several other passages of scripture, Babylon means the Roman empire or Papal power and influence over the nations. ¹ The fall of Babylon, therefore, is not the fall of Rome, or any particular city; but the destruction of that power, which has been so long, and so terribly exercised by the sovereign Pontiffs of Rome, or any particular city; but the destruction of that power, which has been so long, and so terribly exercised by the sovereign Pontiffs of Rome. As when the literal city of Babylon was destroyed, her deserted houses, her falling palaces, became the habitation “of wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the islands, a dwelling place for dragons;” so mystical Babylon in her fall becomes the habitation of men, possessing similar characters; of men to be compared with “hateful birds, foul beasts, and devils.” Another scripture saith, “They are as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed;” and another scripture referring to the same period, saith, “They are the spirits of devils.”

If spiritual Babylon be not completely “fallen,” or destroyed, yet is her power wonderfully lessened; her hour of entire dissolution makes haste. The Pontiff of Rome, once the terror of Europe, whose frown shook crowns from the heads of kings, and overturned their thrones, is now, if he exist, a mere puppet in the hands of the mighty Napoleon. A chained captive, or a trembling vassal, he goes and comes at his command. Strong reasons, however, are not wanting to prove, that the Papal power “is fallen.” The Emperor has not only arrested the head of that church, but “is constantly issuing laws against her, and banishing her priests.” The college of Cardinals, who alone have the authority of electing a Pope, are now many of them “confined in the different prisons of France; so that probably, in the present state of things, a new election is impracticable.”

But whether Babylon be “fallen” or not, certainly she has become the habitation of devils, of foul spirits, of unclean and hateful birds. This diabolical influence prevails, in a particular manner, through the Papal nations. There Napoleon has raised his standard, there he has blown the blast of victory; there his spies, his agents, his officers, his laws, or his armies, spread devastation, solitude, and woe. The hail of divine judgments has fallen on those countries; yet none of them repent; but madly blaspheme God and his Son.

Our design is to illustrate the propriety and truth of the text, when applied to this ruling influence of Europe.

I. The power, which now rules Papal Europe, which occupies the place and influence of Babylon, may be compared to foul beasts and birds, and devils, on account of its falsehood, fraud, and treachery. The devil is a liar from the beginning. This is one of the prominent features of his character; and this is equally a trait of the reigning power of Europe. The Chieftain of Europe totally disregards all promises, disdains all oaths, and daily violates the most solemn treaties. Though a formal treaty binds him in amity to this country; yet so long has he trampled on all its articles; so long has he plundered our commerce, and insulted our applications for redress; so long has he continued to capture, to sink, or to burn our ships, to chain and imprison our seamen, that most people have forgotten, that he is bound to offices of friendship, that any treaty ever existed between the two countries. Why should they not? Does our government presume to mention it? Do our public officers refer to it? Is it not, like a dead man, forgotten and out of mind?

The monarchs of Spain, though they were his friends, his allies, his humble servants, and obedient vassals, were betrayed in a most perfidious manner. Just before he laid violent hands on Ferdinand, he wrote him an epistle, full of brotherly affection. Among many other kind things, he says, “The caution with which I have proceeded ought to convince you of the support you will find in me, if factions of any description, ever disturb your reign.” In another place he says, “Your royal highness knows all the recesses of my heart.” He concludes his letter of love in the following manner. “Rely upon my wish to reconcile every thing, and to find opportunities to give you proofs of affection and high regard. And so I pray God may keep you, Brother, under his holy and worthy protection.” Proceeding to cajole and flatter him with an Imperial visit; then, changing his tone, he invites, persuades, and forces him to enter the French dominions. ² There was he instantly seized, as a malefactor, a slave, an outlaw, confined by guards and walls, every step watched by the angel of death. There was he compelled to issue a proclamation, requiring all the inhabitants of Spain, his faithful subjects, to abandon him, to submit to Napoleon, “the Scourge of God.” Army after army is poured into Spain, the fields are laid waste, the churches are robbed, the cities are besieged and destroyed; myriads of the peaceful inhabitants are made prisoners, myriads are slain. The whole country is deluged with blood. Would the annals of hell furnish an instance of viler falsehood, treachery, fraud, and violence?

In Portugal a similar tragedy is acting. There too the government was friendly; there like Spain they contributed their wealth and influence to promote the despotism of the destroying Angel. Now their country is overwhelmed with armies; their daughters, their wives, their mothers, are exposed to the wanton brutality of French soldiers. Blood flows; the royal family have gone into banishment. They prefer reigning in the wilds of South America, to the vicinity of the Tyrant whose atmosphere is pestilence and death.

The pusillanimous monarch of Prussia, on the eve of his destruction, received a letter from the French Emperor, breathing esteem and affection.³ But time would fail me; volumes are necessary to relate half his deeds of falsehood, fraud, and treachery. Is not Babylon the habitation of devils? But I ought not to have forgotten the establishment of numerous Spies in every town, village, and neighborhood. Cruel as death, brother betrays his brother, and fathers their sons. No man dares utter his thoughts with freedom. ⁴

I ought to mention the march of armies to Egypt and Palestine, their robberies and murders, on the banks of the Nile and Jordan; the misery they caused at Alexandria, Joppa, and Jerusalem. I ought to describe them furious, as hungry tigers in the massacre of their Turkish prisoners; in a moment a thousand captives are shot in cold blood. ⁵ But the sun would go down ere I had done.

II. The oppression and barbarity of their laws prove that Babylon is inhabited by devils, or governed by one, who may be justly compared to Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.

His laws like those of Draco are written in blood. Any one concerned in British traffic shall be shot. In Hamburg at one time goods to the amount of six millions have been burned. In every part of papal Europe the conflagration spreads. These are not the goods of an enemy; but of his own subjects. Their taxes are cruel and barbarous beyond conception.

The farmer is compelled to pay a tax at every stage of his labor, as he plows, plants, or gathers his fruits. Often his means fail, he is unable to advance the last tribute, and his harvest is consumed in the field. ⁶ Very thing, almost, which can be named, is subject to heavy taxation, “servants, vehicles, household furniture, dogs, gateways, chimneys, windows, doors.” Even industry itself groans under a heavy impost; all persons exercising any responsible trade, as “butchers and brokers,” are doomed to a heavy tax for the privilege. Some persons pay “the fourth, others a third, and others one half their income in taxes to the government.” But these direct taxes are not the most dreadful part of the story. A certain percentage is levied on all those taxes; sometimes forty per cent. In 1800 it was more.

More barbarous still; no proprietor may cut down timber, or clear his own land under heavy penalties, without applying six months previously, and obtaining the permission of government. This is often refused.

But the conscription, or draughts for the army and navy, are the most terrible of all human regulations. Children are torn from their parents, to be disciplined and trained to butcher mankind. But here I think it my duty to be more particular by liberal quotations from a late writer, who had the best possible means of ascertaining the truth, so lately as 1809. ⁷ He says, “The narrative I have laid before the public are facts, and I pledge my existence to the truth of what I have stated.” He assures us that, “The dreadful conscriptions pursued with unrelenting severity, have given rise to such a general discontent, that the death of Bonaparte is devoutly wished for; his name is feared and abhorred by every reflecting Frenchman, by all, who are not enjoying pensions or lucrative employments, under his tyrannical power. The severe and arbitrary restrictions laid on the little commerce that remains, the overbearing insolence and extortion of his numerous custom-house officers paralyze all the efforts of trade in the interior of France.

Far greater proportion of France shows a poverty and a negligence in the general cultivation of the lands, that strongly mark the weak state of commerce and the great want of capital.

In villages scarcely a cottage can you enter without beholding the fathers and mothers of families, bewailing the loss of a beloved child, dragged to the armies. Several assured me, they had lost three, four or five sons of the age of seventeen or eighteen; some had at last their only child wrested from them. As for the cultivated fields, there the sturdy youth is not to be seen; but old and infirm men, with old women, scarcely able to support the fatigue of ploughing, tilling and reaping their lands, perform all the labours of agriculture. For hundreds of leagues, that population formerly so remarkable in France has disappeared: in the field scarcely a peasant is seen. The medical men often sell a powder to these brave youths, that produces a temporary blindness, if applied to the eye; and if applied to any open wound, an inflammation and swelling of the limb, that often endangers the life of the wretched lad; but notwithstanding heavy fines and severe imprisonments, in some instances for life, the government cannot stop it. These are facts, many of which came within my own knowledge. When the unfortunate young men are collected together, they are often sent chained by the neck and hands, and driven, like condemned criminals, to the different places of rendezvous.

If any thing further were necessary to prove the wretched situation of the French people, it would be sufficient to allude to what is seen at all her churches, her fairs, her public festivals, and amusements. There you meet with scarcely any thing but old age and infirmity.

Ask the women where the young men are? They one and all answer; “they are gone to be butchered.”

To this the Editors of the Literary Panorama add, “This expression, ‘gone to be butchered,’ more literally true than either the speakers, or Mr. Sturt intends. We have spared our readers the pain of perusing accounts of this nature, that have reached us from the highest authority. We shall only mention two. One of them related to the slaughter of three hundred French conscripts in the bloom of life and manhood, led in pairs to the slaughter-house where cattle were usually slain, and treated in a like manner. The other was of no less than seven hundred French, conducted to a similar death, on a much later occasion. Humanity shudders at these facts, and what says policy to the loss of the rising generation in the mad pursuit of insatiable ambition?

But to return to our author, “This is no secret. This is no untruth. They speak feelingly; for many are parents, sisters, or lovers of these absent youths, dragged to the armies. One of the most formidable engines of tyranny in France is the military police, called the Gens d’armes, a number of soldiers scattered in every little neighborhood, who excite the dread and hatred of the whole nation. Their employment is to search for murderers, thieves, and deserters. They are also employed to execute the dreadful orders of Bonaparte. This increases that fear, hatred, and contempt, so universally felt. Unprincipled in general, of course corrupt and treacherous, they accept your bribe, and then betray you.

In every town, city, village, or commune, throughout the departments, these instruments of tyranny are established, and being in general artful men, and very poor, they exercise a tyranny equal to their ruler. To every coffeehouse and every place of public amusement, they have access under the pretence of preserving peace and order.

They establish idle and worthless people in every public house and hotel as spies, who make their reports often from pique and malice, or to prove their zeal. The same system is established by seducing servants of every family to report what is said at the table, of whatever nature. These reports, true or false, are sent to the minister of police, who without notice and even without enquiry, sends an order to arrest the whole family, often in the dead of night.

If any observations have been made on Bonaparte or his government, or on his favorites, they never see the light again, nor can a friend trace them out.⁸ Another description of police more terrible even than the gens d’armes is employed by Fouche, minister of police. These men travel through every city, town, and village of a department, and are supplied with money, that they may attend public places, being men better drest, better educated, and often wearing the insignia of the legion d’ honneur, they insinuate themselves into society and freely abuse the government, Bonaparte, and his favorites, in the hopes of entrapping the unwary. Having given his information the miscreant leaves the district for another, and the unfortunate family are seized in the accustomed manner and conveyed to the dungeons of Paris, or to some strong fortress in the departments, and never are heard of any more. Does any reflecting man need to hear another syllable to be convinced of the diabolical influence, which governs Papal Europe, and which, like the deadly winds of the African desert, is blasting all the fair prospects of our country’s glory?

Do not the same causes produce the same effects? Can that power, which has proved fatal to the best interests of man even in France, be friendly and useful in America? Will he, who has changed the laws, the customs, the morals of Europe, confirm our privileges, or secure our felicities? As well may we expect that pestilence and plague, transported to our shores, will become harmless and pleasant; that the angel of death will be a cheerful companion, and the grave a sumptuous habitation. Will not our countrymen be convinced? Or must they like Babylon’s king be driven from men, be hewers of wood, be degraded to brutes, before they can learn the signs of the times, that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that Napoleon is the angel of his vengeance?

III. The power of France carries discord, slavery, and ruin among the nations; therefore on this account, she may be represented, as having the character of Satan.

The devil sows discord even among brethren. He is a murderer from the beginning. As a roaring lion he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. He casteth men “into prison.” He is the prince of the power of the air. His emissaries and agents are in every quarter. Where do we not find the agents, the spies, the armies, the laws, the influence, the hired demagogues of France? The foe of humanity, is she not making war on the human race? Her maxim is, “A king of France resigns his scepter, on the day that he lays aside his sword.” ⁹ Such are the citizens of Babylon, of Papal Europe. Like devils, their element is fire, discord, and destruction. It is their boast, their pride and glory, to swell the tide of human misery.

Switzerland, like us, was happy in her religion, her liberty, her republican virtues. She became divided by French intrigue. A French party, as in our country, raised their voice, and poisoned their councils. Still they could not prevail, till a French army appeared; a dreadful battle was fought; their women raised their swords, and fell covered with blood in their first ranks. The poor farmers were vanquished. The standard of France was unfurled in their towns, and a new constitution from Paris was adopted. The brave Swiss are slaves.

Holland was rich, and free, and happy; but she like Switzerland had her Republicans, who envied their neighbors, and wished to see them reduced to their level. A French army marches, and Holland is ruined. Miserable is the consolation of the good people, that their distracted neighbors, once so partial to their oppressors, are not only as miserable as themselves, but as heartily join in execrating their new Rulers. Their funds are plundered; their hospitals and other humane institutions have lost their support. The sick and poor are dying in their streets. The Hollanders are slaves.

Prussia was a powerful monarchy; but her king listened to the prattle of French amity; he reposed confidence in French promises, till Napoleon came, as a whirlwind of heaven, and overturned his empire. Solitude, desolation, and misery, darken his palaces. Not only his people; but Himself and his nobles are slaves.

Hamburgh, lately one of the most opulent cities on the globe; happy in her little Senate, her numerous humane institutions, and her immense commerce, is brought down to the dust. She has supported French armies, and been plundered and plundered, till a great part of her population has vanished; her misery is extreme. The Hamburghers are slaves.

Sweden is a victim bound and laid on the altar of sacrifice. Nothing but the name and the carcass remain. Her vital life, and vigor, and glory, have fled.

Germany—the Emperor of Germany has resigned his crown and throne, and ceases to be. The different States are divided, crushed, and scattered, like leaves of the forest, before the autumnal blast.

Spain and Portugal are overrun with the armies of France. Their fields are red with blood, their people pale with famine and terror. Italy, Naples, Venice, Milan, Mantua, Modena, Genoa, Tuscany, and other States, are conquered, revolutionized, impoverished, robbed, and ruined. The ancient mistress of the world is incorporated with the terrific empire of the Corsican; she sits solitary like a widow.

If there be one friend to French domination in our country, would not a moment of serious reflection convince him of his error? Where is the Stadtholder of Holland? Driven by French influence an exile to England.

Where is the King of Sweden, and brother in law of the Emperor of Russia? An exile in England. Where is Lucien, brother to Napoleon? Driven by his brother to England, the asylum of the afflicted, the land of mercy, which rises from her surrounding waters, like the mountain of Ararat; to save a sinking world. Where is the King of Naples; where the King and Queen of Etruria; where the monarchs of Spain? Prisoners of Napoleon. Where is the Prince and Royal Family of Portugal? Exiles in South-America. Where is Louis, the late King of Holland? A wanderer in Europe, hurled from his throne, or compelled to resign, by his own brother Napoleon. In the name of goodness, what would convince men of the malignity of French amity, if they are not convinced by these things? Bears and tigers spare their own families. Is not Babylon, or Papal Europe, a habitation of devils?

IV. The impiety and atheism of the dominant power in Europe, are not equaled in that world “where hope never comes.”

But on this subject, my beloved people, I have heretofore been so particular, that I shall not awaken your distress by a review of the dismal prospect. I only remark to you, that the same immorality, the same crimes, irreligion and infidelity still prevail in these ill-fated countries. The Christian Sabbath, the preached gospel, the book of God, every thing most sacred, is treated with daring mockery or impious contempt. A late decree of the government in Paris, among other things, remarks, “That the greater part of the population of Paris has but the Sunday for the enjoyment of theatrical exhibitions.”

This entirely agrees with the account, which one of our most respectable countrymen, ¹⁰ lately received from several ministers of religion in France. They informed him that “the seeds of piety had in the course of the revolution been completely extirpated from the breasts of almost every class of the community; and that since the re-establishment of the hierarchy, and the resurrection of the altar, Christianity had regained but a small share of influence over the public mind.”

Moral darkness, iron slumbers, universal death, more than Egyptian horrors, brood over papal Babylon. She is a province, belonging to the kingdom of darkness; she lieth on the confines of the capital; she experiences to the full the impressions of its manners, the terror of its laws, the influence of its officers, the authority of its prince. According to prophecy, there was to be a period in the fall of Babylon, or the papal power, when her superstition should change to infidelity;¹¹ when a further degradation of moral character should take place; when her people should be “brute beasts,” and “devils.” That awful period has arrived. These “spirits of devils,” according to another prophecy respecting them, “have gone forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” The war has commenced; the war will rage, till the final battle in Armageddon. These spirits go to enlist “the whole world,” in the war; they have reached our credulous shores; they have defiled our soil, polluted our atmosphere, enlisted a great portion of our people, poisoned them with a moral plague.

“Men are scorched with great heat, and blaspheme the name of God.” They sigh under intolerable suffering; but repent not to give glory to God. This period is marked as the uproar of moral chaos and the reign of devils. Babylon is fallen. Her ceremonies have ceased to awe the minds of the people; her terrors cease to appall the heart; her Edens cease to charm the fancy. All is doubt, uncertainty, and atheism. Apostacy unfurls her standard; persecution builds her prisons and kindles her fires; crimes triumph; hell is let loose; devils swarm in Babylon, and rule the empire.

Such is the picture of the dominant power, which governs the world. Say not, that the colors are too coarse. Not the pencil; but the subject is in fault. Were a painter to give you a demon in the enchanting tints of virgin innocence, or to represent a storm of fire, and a nation wrapt in flames, with the lovely colors of the rainbow, you night admire the delicacy of his strokes; but certainly you would not applaud the soundness of his judgment, his fidelity, or his love of truth.

The subject suggests several general
REFLECTIONS.1. Let us bless God, if he has afforded us light and grace, not to join ourselves to that dreadful influence described in the text.

Has God removed your former prejudices? Once we thought as children; we spake as children. The killing of oxen and the songs of triumph, at the dissolution of government in France, did not awaken our terrors. We did not know that the triumph of hell, and the reign of devils had commenced. Has God increased your information, and opened your eyes, as he did those of the Assyrians, “And they saw and behold they were in the midst of Samaria,” surrounded with their enemies.

Though the fatal influence mentioned in the text is to be more particularly felt in Babylon, or among the papal nations, yet all nations and people are exposed, who do not hold fast the faith of the gospel. Geneva, and a part of Switzerland, and Holland, did not constitute any portion of Babylon, yet they so far had her character, that they have joined this dreadful confederacy against God and his Son. Our country has manifested an awful portion of the same diabolical spirit. The Lord knoweth how to sever the chaff from the wheat. If we, our families, church, and congregation, are delivered from this spirit of Anti-Christ, is it not matter for devout thanksgiving? Is it not a rich consolation to labor in your shops, to turn the furrows of your fields, to bid the wheels roll at your different manufactories, for the support of sound principles? Is it not a high privilege from God, to save your seed and gather your harvests, with a direct design, to resist the hosts of Babylon, to sustain the cause of good government, and true religion? Whatever pleasure a man may take in a course of error, how much soever he may boast, and exult, and triumph; there is, there ever will be, an immense, an essential difference between him, and the man, laboring in the cause of God, of truth, and benevolence. A thousand “ways may seem right to a man, which are the ways of eternal death;” in these ways he may enjoy a proud pleasure; yet there is in the way of true wisdom a pure satisfaction, a moral luxury, which he can never know. There is a peace, a dignified courage, in the way of duty, the way of correct principles, which a deluded mind, however confident and daring, will never experience. Error may be bold; she may be sanguine; she may have raptures of delight; but her joys do not satisfy, they do not enrich the soul; they are hollow, without foundation, like the baseless fabric, reared by a gay vision of the night. Hypocriscy and error have their rash pleasures; but they never have the consolations of sincerity, of rational conviction, and heavenly truth. Bless God, therefore, for directing your steps on the side of his people, his cause and glory. “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps.”

2. What a miserable interest are those supporting, who favor and abet French influence in any country!

Is one man in the world so deluded, so hardy, so cruel, so abandoned, as to favor such an influence? We should instantly answer, No, had not such men already ruined other countries, were they not actually endangering our own country. A French party has brought destruction upon Holland, Switzerland, Geneva, and other countries. They called themselves republicans, and their country and themselves are crushed. They excused the outrages of Napoleon; they apologized for his atheism; they disbelieved his designs of universal devastation, till they felt his sword in their own vitals.

All ye, who have commiseration for the miseries of others, weep over those, who are left of God to believe such fatal delusions.

3. What must be the character of the French party in any country?

The prophecy says, that “the spirits of devils” from the falling empire of Babylon, should go forth to enlist in support of her cause “the whole world.” Passing events perfectly correspond with the prophecy. The agents of Anti-Christ, the power, which has risen upon the ruins of falling Babylon, are known in every civilized country of “the whole world.” From Petersburgh to Pekin, from Washington to Constantinople, “they are compassing sea and land!” to make proselytes. They have a party in every country. Congenial minds harmonize. As the different streams from the same fountain blend and unite; so do minds of the same character.

But it has been said, that some good men have enlisted in their ranks. For proof we have their own testimony. There was a Noah in the old world, a Lot in Sodom; but he came out and separated from them, and saved himself and part of his family.

Doubtless many, who have given their names and influence to the cause of falling Babylon, did not intend to proceed where their leaders are conducting them.

The “rich intended only to secure some emolument or office; the poor, some of them, were fascinated with the dream of bringing others down to their level. But once launched on the stormy ocean of wild delusion, they wander without a compass; they see no star; they find no shore. They proceed all lengths with their party. Now they would deprive the ministers of religion of various privileges, common to other citizens. They must not write, nor act, nor speak, though it be in their view for the advantage of the human race, as though they had not common discernment, a common interest in saving themselves, their families, their people, and their country. Probably the next step will be to silence and crush this order of men; then to abolish the Sabbath; then to cast their bibles into the fire, kindled by Philosophy; then to scoff at the Saviour, proclaim death an everlasting sleep, and shout, “No God,” “no monarch in heaven, we would preserve our republic on earth.” Such is the general course of French republicanism in all countries.

4. What must be the character of our government?

Does it not harmonize with Babylon? In falling Babylon are their laws oppressive and cruel, are they crushed by their commercial restrictions? Have we not our embargoes, and our non-intercourse laws, precisely, in the same stile? Is there falsehood, and treachery in the government of Babylon? Have we not our false and treacherous proclamations, declaring the decrees of Milan and Berlin to be revoked, when they were not revoked! Do not the two governments harmonize, like the pulse in different limbs of the same body? If there be fever in one the other glows.

Does not our government quaff the cup of humiliation, as though it were the nectar of immortality? Like trembling vassals, they kiss the rod, which lacerates them; their complaints are not those of a magnanimous nation; but the pulling’s of corrected children. They make laws to admit the armed ships of France into our ports, while an English vessel may not ride in our waters. What do I say? While our own vessels dare not enter our ports for fear of confiscation and robbery! It is an awful truth, that our vessels at this moment, a large portion of them, can find no protection in any quarter of the world, but under the guardianship of the British flag. If they go to any nation of Babylon, the pirates of Napoleon arrest them, and they are lost forever. If they fly to our own country; our own country, more unmerciful than Babylon, with all her devils, instantly seizes them, and in addition extorts three times their value.

Does not every good man exclaim, why this gratuitous contribution to accomplish the ruin of our country? We were no part of spiritual Babylon; why should we be volunteers in the work of self destruction? Why should our country, like a comet flying from her orbit to be lost in the sun, rush to certain ruin? Why should our country plunge into the political pandemonium which is opened before us, and make us fellow-citizens with the infernal demons of Babylon? Forbid it heaven, forbid it; Oh my country! The nation is afflicted, the merchants, the farmers, complain; all our calamities rise from the friendship of our government to their haughty Master. Whenever you choose independent Rulers, your commerce will be free, your markets will be full, your country will be prosperous. Just so far as you conform to Babylon, you will suffer; just so far as you are independent, you will be happy. We are entirely the authors of our own embarrassments. If there no hope? Do you not hear a voice from the tomb of Washington, warning you of your danger? Do you not hear God himself, informing you that “Babylon is the habitation of devils, that to be prosperous, you must be separate from her? Why then did our country make a monstrous law to ruin her own citizens? Why did the majority of our Legislators perjure themselves, when they had sworn to support the constitution? Why did they knowingly violate that article, which declares, that no “ex post facto” law shall be made?

What mighty kindness had Napoleon done us; what infinite injury had England inflicted, to produce this outrageous act of gratitude and revenge? I will inform you. France had made such havoc on our commerce, that our treasury was compelled to pay $75,550 merely for the support of our distressed seamen, taken prisoners in that country. What then must have been the loss of ships and merchandize? What think ye was the expense of those taken in England? Not a single cent. ¹² To increase the outrage, the law has not been published. Yes, vessels have been seized by an unconstitutional law, never published. Blush, Algiers, blush ye Neroes of the world. Ye are outrivaled in the science of despotism. This is the government prating about impartiality and equal justice to all nations; this is the government, which embargoes the produce of your farms, and the hopes of your families; this is the government, which makes laws to punish honest deeds performed long before the law existed; this is the government, which cuts off all intercourse with the only nation, which protects your property and your lives; this is the government, which harmonizes with – – – – – – -“devils.”

If we come down to the State government, we find the same intolerant, treacherous, and tyrannical temper. I mention only a single instance. Look at the proclamation, which has called us together. Beside many things, which are obliquities from the line of truth, there is an insidious attempt to overawe the consciences of Ministers and people, and to deprive them of the privilege of worshipping God, according to their own belief. In the third section is the following sentence. “Who has blessed us with a wise and upright national government, which amidst numerous embarrassments and difficulties has promoted beyond reasonable expectations, our peace, prosperity, and happiness.” This the Chief Magistrate doubtless expected the clergy would read in a serious manner to their people, as a part of their instruction, without comment or remark. I would as soon have administered poison in your cups. He would be “a lying spirit” in the mouths of Christian ministers. He knew that very few clergymen in the Commonwealth believed a single word of this sentence; yet he treacherously intended they should read it. He doubtless intended to silence murmurs by this sanctimonious declaration, and to gain influence. A more fraudulent sentence never came from a scribe of Babylon. What have the general government done more than could be reasonably expected? From what burden have they relieved you? What branch of commerce have they protected? What husbandman or artisan owes them any thanks? What virtue have they cherished? What comfort have they increased? What religion have they promoted? None, none, none. This very year they refused to incorporate a Baptist Society, as though they were outlaws, and not to be protected by government. Thus we harmonize with spiritual Babylon, not only in her falsehood and fraud, her oppression, and barbarity, and slavery; but in her irreligion and infidelity. The same moral putrefaction covers the land with the damps of death. Oh my God, do we “not partake her sins, must we not drink the cup of her plagues?” Would the people see the prospect before them, their hearts would shake with terror; they would not proceed to challenge omnipotence to execute his threatening’s.

But we must not forget the proclamation. We are called upon “devoutly to perform the sacred duties” of the day “for unparalleled ingratitude to that Being, who has indulged us with wise Legislatures.” Where is a solitary instance of their wisdom?—“with codes of mild and equitable laws.” Are not those of the present administration, quite of another sort?—“who has smiled on our navigation and commerce.” Have not our present Rulers bound them in chains, bid them vanish from the ocean?—“for rendering invincible our beloved country.” Miserable man, why does he adopt this dialect of a demagogue? Why does he not as the tender father of a numerous household of children, tell us our weakness, our danger, our guilt, and lead us devoutly to the temple of humiliation and prayer? Why does he tell us of sins, which we have never committed, of blessings, long, long departed from us? But we turn with disgust from the unpleasant theme. Other parts of the proclamation are equally aberrations from truth and decency.

Such is the spirit of our State and General governments. Do they not exhibit the hypocrisy, the oppression, and cruelty of Babylon? Had they sold themselves to her Prince, had they sworn to destroy their country, would they dare perform more than they have?

5. Has the glory and power of Babylon fallen? Then we see what may be expected in our country, if she imbibes the same spirit, and adopts the same cause.

Resistance is our only security. The only power in Europe, which has uniformly resisted, is the only one, which has not materially suffered. If we make a common cause with “the hateful birds, beasts and devils,” their cup of judgments will be poured out for us. We must endure the same oppression, the same misery, the same ruin. Look again and behold the woes of Europe. Emerging from the ark, and from the top of Ararat, surveying the countries around, how hideous was the prospect to Noah. He looked; no husbandman appeared in the fields, no herds in the pastures, no flocks on the hills. He looked; the courts of justice were swept away; the royal palaces were gone; the holy temples had fallen. Proud cities, their lofty spires, their dazzling splendors, have vanished. Solitude, desolation, and death, brood over the world. More terrible is the state of things in a great part of Europe. Their fields are not drowned; but they are red with the blood of the people; their harvests are perishing where they grew, or torn away by the hand of ruthless violence. Their sons and brothers are not buried in a flood; but they are oppressed, degraded, chained, and dragged to the field of slaughter and death. Their courts are continued, not to repress iniquity; but to terrify, to torture, to imprison, and destroy the enemies of despotism; their temples open not to adore the Prince of Peace; but to echo the blasphemies of atheism.

I say not these things to convince you, for you are convinced. This is one of the richest consolations of my heart, and an abundant reward for my feeble services. But, I say these things to confirm and establish you in the truth. I would have these sentiments riveted in your bosoms. I would have them sink to the bottom of your hearts, and constitute a part of your souls. As to the preacher and the aged, these things will soon cease to be interesting. Our ears will not hear the sighs of the nations; our eyes will not see the cloud of “woes,” which is coming on the world; but to you, who are younger, I say, Hold fast these truths. Remember that your Pastor was never more in earnest, than on this subject. If you should be persecuted; or what is more dangerous, if you should be flattered or rewarded, join not the antichristian party of the land. Go not among them; enter not their city. Babylon is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. “I hear a voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people.”

AMEN and AMEN.

 

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Endnotes

¹. Faber.

². Narrative of one who was near his person.

³. See his Manifesto.

⁴. See Belgian Traveller.

⁵. Testimony of a French officer.

⁶. Walsh.

⁷. Charles Sturt, Esq. late Member of Parliament for Bridport, resident in France, and detained there as a hostage, nearly seven years.

⁸. Bonaparte has erected 8 bastiles in which he confines those he dares not try.

⁹. American Review.

¹⁰. Mr. Walsh.

¹¹. See Faber.

¹². Report of a Committee of the last Congress.

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Elijah Parish (1762-1825) graduated from Dartmouth in 1785. He was the pastor of a church in Byfield, MA (1787-1825). This sermon was preached by Parish on the fast day of April 7, 1814.

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A

DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED

AT BYFIELD,

ON

THE PUBLIC FAST,

APRIL 7, 1814

BY ELIJAH PARISH, D.D.

A DISCOURSE, &c.

EXODUS 5. 17, 18.

BUT HE SAID, YE ARE IDLE YE ARE IDLE; THEREFORE YE SAY, LET US GO AND
DO SACRIFICE TO THE LORD.
GO THEREFORE NOW, AND WORK: FOR THERE SHALL NO STRAW BE GIVEN
YOU, YET SHALL YE DELIVER THE TALE OF BRICKS.

That evil exists in the world, requires no proof. That tyranny and despotism are not among the smallest evils, which afflict the family of man, will be generally allowed; yet from the days of Nimrod to Napoleon, the earth has trembled under the iron foot of her tyrants. Their swords devour more than the pestilence; streams of blood follow their course; the sighs of the nations, and the tears of the world, are extorted chiefly by their oppression. The greater part of the windows, and the orphans, and the poor, and the miserable, and the dying, execrate them as the authors of their woes. Nor is this ferocious despotism peculiar to one form of government; whatever government is worst administered is worst. The Republics of Rome and Venice, and perhaps another, which alone exists, have been as oppressive as the despotism of Turkey, of Persia, or Japan.

Nor is it the least among the proofs of a divine superintendency, that great “good is often educed” from these political evils. Had not the barbarous despotism of Egypt extorted tears of blood and sighs of desperation, from the posterity of Jacob, they might possibly, till this day, have been the slaves of her servile princes, the vassals of her imported Mamelukes, repairing the cities, which their fathers built, plowing the fields, manured with their fathers’ bones. The sons of Israel were passionately attached to their union with this ancient Dominion. They and their fathers had been in the country about two hundred years. ¹ They no longer had any predilection for the country of their forefathers nativity; they preferred the turbid Nile, to all the waters of Canaan; the plains of Egypt, to all the hills of Judea. So rooted were their attachments to their present connection, notwithstanding their oppressions, that Moses, who knew them well, so despaired of rousing them to demand their independence, that he said, “They will not hearken to my voice.” So it happened. After he had called on them, to redress their grievances themselves, instead of writing petitions; to act, instead of making melancholy faces; they met him, and said, “Ye have made our name to be abhorred;” “ye have put a sword in their hands to slay us.” You frighten us, and you will ruin us, by your bold preachments. “So they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. The political measures, which Moses urged, appeared rash and violent. Moderation was the popular doctrine; it therefore, became necessary that God in His providence should afflict, and distress, and ruin them, by the abominable measures of their government, to render them willing to adopt suitable measures for their own advantage.

To mention some of Israel’s oppressions, noticing any points of resemblance in our own country, which may happen to occur, and suggesting some happy results of those oppressions, is the present design.

I. I am to mention some of Israel’s woes.

1. The exactions and hard services of the government were among the evils endured by Israel. They were compelled to build the cities of Pithom and Raamses, to which it is thought, have succeeded Damietta and Cairo; They were probably compelled to raise the pyramids, those stupendous wonders of the world. These grievous hardships wore out their strength, exhausted their patience, and blasted their hopes. Exod. 5. 11. 13, 14. Their labours were, as various, as they were oppressive. The object of their tyrants was, not merely to enrich or aggrandize themselves; but to discourage and break down the spirits of Israel, to change the state of society, to bend their sturdy minds, to new modes of employment. Therefore, they made them serve in mortar, and brick, and in the field. New manufactures were, probably, established; or old ones extended. In the fields they might dig canals from the river, or carry out manure, while the pyramids demanded the greater part of their time. These, though externally, coated with stone, are partly of brick, just such brick, as the Israelites made, having straw or stubble, incorporated with the clay. Accordingly history informs us, that Sesostris, whom a learned writer ² supposes to be the Pharaoh of scripture, caused it to be inscribed on all his great works. “No native Egyptian labored on this.” If strangers performed these labours, who so probably as the enslaved Israelites? Taskmasters were set over them; princes of burdens, it may be rendered. The laws were unjust; the manner of executing them was barbarous. Josephus says that his countrymen were forced to dig canals, to raise walls, to build the pyramids, and finally, that they were forced to learn all sorts of mechanic arts. It is therefore, an old scheme of cunning Tyrants, to drive their people from commerce and agriculture, to engage them in manufactures. This enfeebles their powers of body and mind, and makes them fit for slaves, and tools of despots. Therefore, the daring sons of Abram were no longer permitted to sail on the “Great Sea” to “the mart of nations, whose merchants were princes.” They were not allowed to navigate the Red Sea; nor to bring spices and all precious things from the East.

I do not pretend to discover any likeness between the Pharaohs of Egypt, and the Presidents of America. If all intelligent hearers perceive a surprising resemblance, between their laws and measures, I pray you to remember that Pharaoh was raised up to afflict, to punish, and ruin his wicked country; our rulers are chosen, and approved by the people. They are, therefore, pronounced honorable men. Would any people choose Pharaohs to crush and ruin their best hopes?

2. Another grievance of Israel was, their hopes of domestic felicity were blasted; their sons were torn from them. This order of the Egyptian government argues, that they had lost all the sentiments of humanity, that they sported with the rights of their subjects, that they must have been the terror of the people and the scourges of God.

“But why is this introduced? Has anything resembling this taken place in this Christian country, of chosen Rulers? Has any little Moses been heard weeping on the river?”—Ye, who make these enquiries are abundantly able to return the answer. Concerning two unprincipled and profligate laws, judge ye, which is the most infamous and abominable. With the balance of truth and candor in your hands, say then, which is the most horrible law, that which consigns an infant offspring to the tomb; or that which declares an offensive war, against a whole nation, which involves all the people of your own country in the guilt and calamities of war; which drafts your sons by thousands and hundreds of thousands, to march against a friendly province, commanding them to murder and destroy, and probably to be slain or perish themselves? Which law is most terrible, that which puts in jeopardy a part of the infants in one nation; or that, which puts in jeopardy all the people of two nations, which lets loose the sword and conflagration, with their attendant evils, famine, terror and pestilence in two countries?

It is conjectured by the learned ³ that the law of Pharaoh, against the male infants of Israel, did not take place, till after the birth of Aaron, and was repealed soon after the birth of Moses; or else 80 years after, the males could not have amounted to 600,000 able men. It is also the united opinion of Commentators and of the learned in general, that this edict was repealed at the death of the king, who first published it, which they suppose happened 4 years after the birth of Moses, and that it never was executed to any great extent. This is made certain by the scripture history; the agents appointed to execute the law were rebuked for their neglect, and God rewarded them for disobeying the wicked law. The law perhaps was originally restricted to the vicinity of the court; and therefore, only two midwives were sufficient to execute the law. This demonstrates, that the law extended only to a very small district. But our Rulers have given commission, not to two women, two feeble women, but to the whole veteran armies of Britain, with their navy of a thousand ships, to murder, burn and destroy New England. A thousand times as many sons of America have probably fallen victims of this ungodly war, as perished in Israel by the edict of Pharaoh. Still the war is only beginning; if ten thousand have fallen, ten thousand times ten thousand may fall. Say then ye, who are wise; ye, who are considerate, whose calamities have been the most terrible, the sons of Jacob, or the sons of America? Whose Rulers have been most greedy of blood? Which people have had most cause to adopt measures of relief?

3. The petitions of Israel, and their manly remonstrances, were treated with neglect; they produced no effect, but to multiply their vexations and burdens.

“Then the officers of Israel cried to Pharaoh; Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants; ye say to us, make brick; behold thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. (But he said,) ye are idle, ye are idle, Go, therefore now and work; for no straw shall be given you; yet ye shall deliver the tale of brick;” and the officers of Israel did see, that they were in an evil case; after it was said, “ye shall not minish aught from your bricks of your daily tasks.” “They did see that they were in an evil case.” This required no wizard eyes, long before; yet they could reproach Moses, for attempting their emancipation.

Unhappy Israel, had thy father Jacob anticipated such a result; had he forseen these miseries of his posterity, had he seen your ignominious, servile endurance, would he have left his native country? Would he have united his interest with Egypt? Would he not rather have starved in Canaan? The petitions had been respectful and pathetic; yet they provoke increasing vengeance; they pull down increasing calamities. At first they only excluded them from their usual occupations, requiring them to build one or two cities for the NATION, for the public good. Then they made them serve with rigor, in mortar and brick rearing those lofty tombs of their kings, or temples of their gods. Then they sent them into their fields to dig ditches. Then they made war upon their sons; and last of all, deprived them of straw, with-held their means; yet would not lessen the demands of government. Such is the process of despotism; she begins with little; like the grave, she takes all. Was ever a savage yell more terrible, than a tyrant’s voice? “Let the people gather straw where they can find it;” so the people were scattered through the land. Those who had been shepherds, learned to burn brick; the sailors joined the army; the merchants went to build cities; others dug clay. These were the fruits of their petitions. Such is always the fruit of petitions to a mercenary, venal government. They are a society organized for mischief. “To abandon usurped power, to renounce lucrative error, are sacrifices, which the virtue of individuals has on some occasions, offered to truth; but from any society of men no such effect can be expected. The corruptions of a society, recommended by common utility and justified by universal practice, are viewed by its members without shame or horror; and reformation never proceeds from themselves; but is always forced upon them by some foreign hand.” ⁴ You may as well expect the cataract of Niagara to turn its current to the head of Superior, and rush over the western mountains, as a wicked Congress to make a pause in the work of destroying their country, while the people will furnish the means. Not their petitions; but their march to Canaan, relieved the woes of Israel, and instantly stopped the work on the last pyramid, which has not been finished to this day.

With what puerile simplicity, then is it asked. “Will not the peace in Europe, or the dastardly conduct of our armies, give us peace?” No. Our disasters are a part of the original scheme. It was never intended, nor wished, that the Canadas should be subdued. Look at your officers; look at your soldiers, the clippings and parings, and refuse of humanity. Was it ever expected that these miserable beings would make conquests? Ye would as soon expect an army of caterpillars to mow down your forests. What is the peace of Europe to your Rulers? Should the English now be at liberty to send all her armies, and all her ships to America, and in one day burn every city from Maine to Georgia, your condescending Rulers would play on their harps, while they gazed at the tremendous conflagration. They would make this a new argument to carry on the war with new alacrity.

No peace will ever be made, till the people say, “There shall be no war.” If the rich men continue to furnish money, the miseries of war will continue till the mountains are melted with blood; till every field of America is white with the bones of the people. ⁵ Equally childish are your hopes from the effect of your petitions. Let the towns and the Counties and the States, continue to petition and petition, till all the paper in the land is consumed, it will not alter one vote in Congress. For years the wagons of government have groaned with your petitions, and remonstrance’s, and supplications. The tables of Congress have shuddered , under the woes of New England. Thousands and thousands, and tens of thousands of the independent merchants, and farmers, and other people, who had never before asked petition of any man, have humbly bowed before the national government, have humbly recounted their miseries, have humbly suggested the easy mode of relief, have anxiously implored relief, with a pathos, which might have moved the cold ear of Death. What has been the effect? Precisely the same, as at the court of Pharaoh. Tyrants are the same on the banks of the Nile and the Potomac, at Memphis and at Washington, in a monarchy and a republic. Petitions are the means, and the hope of children. As well may the solitary pilgrim in the desert of Sahara petition a horde of wild Arabs, not to plunder his bread and his water, as the sons of the pilgrims petition their masters of the South. As well may the shrieking vessel petition the howling winds not to drive her on the rock of the billows; as well may the terrified inhabitants of the Canadas implore the Christian barbarians of the South, not to burn their fair villages, their pleasant homes, and their temples. Happily the day of petitions has passed away.

A principal effect of all your petitions has been to convince you, that your first sufferings were light. They were a serpentine rivulet; they now are a mighty river. If ye were then vexed to madness, what will ye do in these swellings of Jordan? Non-importations, and restrictions have been added to non-importations and restrictions; open war has been added to secret machinations, and ye have approached the highest point in the tremendous climax of human despotism. Without a license, the boat of the fisherman, the more humble canoe of the hermit, may not leave the cavern of his rock, to seek his daily support.

“But these restrictions are, or will be repealed.”—Undoubtedly. Who does not know this, as certainly as that your oppressors have cunning and treachery? Were they to persevere, they, and their laws, and restrictions, would be cast to the moles and the bats. They will, therefore, suspend, and they will alter, and they will change the mode of despotism; yet all is despotism still. The very relief shows the barbarism of their system. They now tell the farmer, he may drive his team, and not be assaulted; the fisherman, that he may row his boat, and not be sunk by their artillery; the traveller, that his trunk is now free from search; the bride, that she may convey her choicest furniture to her home, it shall not be broken by the axe of their strolling officers; that all may sleep, and not be alarmed, by the midnight ghosts of administration.” What is this, but saying, “We claim the RIGHT of taking away these comforts; we justify our late barbarous laws, which subjugated you to these vexations. These shall overwhelm you again, like the tide of the ocean, when it shall be our sovereign pleasure.” ⁶

The government have opened their Pandora’s box, and every plague, which comes forth, is more terrible than his fellow. What may next appear, from their lake of miseries, scares the imagination to conjecture. Will martial law be proclaimed through the land? Will a conscription like that of France take place, as has been threatened? Will gangs of hired assassins, called soldiers, patrol your streets, rouse you from your midnight slumbers, burst open your doors, abuse, and wound, and scourge, and terrify your families? These things have already been done without law.

Deliver us, oh ye Rulers, of a submissive and dispirited people; deliver us from this dreadful uncertainty. Give us a law, though written in blood, though written by the finger of despotism, that we may know when to open our houses to midnight prowlers of the government, when to be silent under the point of their bayonets, when to open our bosoms to the daggers of a ferocious soldiery, that we may hear the cheering voice of tyranny, saying, “Hitherto I will come, and no further.” Though this law should command us to submit to grossest indignities, to fall down before the petty tyrants, who are the golden images of the administration, or to admit them to enter our bed chambers, like the frogs of Egypt, we shall submit; we have submitted. That we can endure despotism with as much meekness and silence, as the slaves of the grand Seignior, has been demonstrated by a long course of experiments. His subjects believe, that insult and death from his hand, is a privilege, is martyrdom. They covet the favor, as a title to immortal felicity. How many of our country now glory in the infamy and misery of aiding the government, in those very measures, which are not only destroying the country, but depriving themselves, and their families of employment, of property, and of bread! Some have thus demolished large estates. Like Sampson they have willfully pulled destruction on their own heads. We have seen an opulent merchant persevere in this mad infatuation, till he has petitioned the town; yes, till he has petitioned the town for the base privilege of a pauper. The base privilege has been granted him. Thus, like the worshippers of Moloch, the supporters of a vile administration, sacrifice their children and families on the altar of democracy. Like the widows of Hindoostan, they consume themselves; like the frantic votaries of Juggernaut, they throw themselves under the car of their political idol; they are crushed by its bloody wheels.

Vexation upon vexation, misery upon misery, infamy upon infamy, have resulted from your petitions to the government. At first they interdicted certain articles of commerce, from certain countries; then they interdicted all foreign commerce. Your petitions were like clouds wafted to Washington by every wind; like clouds they produced nothing, but a more dismal storm, a more frightful prospect. An offensive war was openly declared. Again petitions persecuted the palace; all commerce was interdicted, or every boat, and wagon, and trunk of a solitary traveller, was subjected to search and plunder. This law is now executed by brutal soldiers, sword in hand. Not only your ships, but your boats, your teams, and yourselves, as to any object of traffic, unless you will expose yourselves, to the artillery of government, are chained, as fast as the slaves of Algiers. The full viols of despotism are poured on your heads; and yet you may challenge the plodding Israelite, the stupid African, the feeble Chinese, the drowsy Turk, or the frozen exile of Siberia, to equal you in tame submission to the powers, which be.

Forgive me, forgive me, my friends, though I thus speak, it is not the language of reproach. Your obedience to law is your merit, your glory. Your patience is not the patience of fear; your gentleness is not the torpor of insensibility; your silence is not weakness; it is not cowardice, NO. Your patience is magnanimity; your silence is conscious strength; your obedience is moral habit, is religious principle, supported by religious ordinances. These principles and ordinances, though they are the scorn of your oppressors, have saved their laws from contempt, their officers from deserved violence; their whole system from insult and outrage. They, with their imported Secretaries and patriots, raised an insurrection, rather than pay a tax on their intemperance; the sons of the pilgrims pay a tax for their bread; yes, thousands and thousands yield up their bread, and their common means of support with manly silence; but there is a point; there is an hour, beyond which,——you will not bear——

II. We were to suggest some of the advantages, which resulted to Israel from these immense oppressions of their government.

Their separation from the Ancient Dominion, who had oppressed them, was the great, the grand result of their political miseries. In this event were involved blessings, too great to be described, blessings too numerous to be named. By this, they were freed from their former bondage. They bid farewell to the brick kilns and ditches of Egypt. Their merchants never again raised the walls of her cities, nor grew dizzy on the top of their towering pyramids. But here for once the parallel fails. The people of New England cannot separate themselves from the country of their oppressors. The Atlantic will not open us a passage; no Canaan flows with milk and honey for us. If we leave our fields, and towns, and temples, looking to the west, though no Anakims appear on the mountains, nor are their cities walled up to heave, nor have we heard the fame of their valor; yet do we not behold the sons of violence and rapine? In their neighborly quarrels, are not “their hair and beard clotted stiff with gore,” Do you not hear their dismal howlings for blood, more blood? Will the sons of New-England give up their traffic, and their homes, to dwell with the ferocious hordes of Kentucky and the West. NO. Here we must trample on the mandates of despotism; or here we must remain slaves forever. But, I may specify a few happy effects of Israel’s sufferings. Possibly some future Columbus, on a voyage of political discovery, may devise some means of making our miseries produce permanent blessings. Some political galvanism, yet to be discovered, may heal the infectious pestilence, which is wasting the vitals of the Commonwealth.

1. The oppressions of Israel introduced a better government, better adapted to their character.

They had endured a perpetual conflict with their superiors in power. Their collision of interests had become intolerable to the sons of Jacob. What gave wealth and ease to their oppressors, ruined them. These sections of the community had been like two dark and furious clouds, ascending the hemisphere. In their union, they disgorge their thunders, and shake the world; but Israel was the sufferer, the tributary, a mere attendant, bearing the burdens of the government, while denied the blessings. Her sons no longer sailed on the great sea, nor on the Red Sea; but were deafened by the eternal rattle of her dismal manufactures. These measures of government were as fatal to the prosperity of Israel, as were the ten plagues to Egypt. Israel had submitted to the unlimited control of Pharaoh, a proud infidel, a despiser of religion, a profane scoffer at divine things. He neither knew, nor cared whether there were one God, or twenty Gods; but when Israel separated, Jehovah became their Legislator and King. They had been vexed and scourged by petty tyrants, tools of government; now they were under the pious guidance of Moses and Aaron. “Their nobles were from themselves, and their governors proceeded from the midst of them.” They had been the creatures, and tools, and engines of a government, in confederacy against God and his cause; they now combined all their power and resources to exalt their Savior; They persevered in the great design, till they had passed the wilderness of Arabia; till they had crossed the channel of the Jordan; till they had subdued their enemies; till they had reared the temple on mount Zion; till their millions had covered the hills of Canaan; till their laws, their customs, and their religion, were established from the banks of Euphrates to the river of Egypt. Such were the fruits of their miseries and vexations in Egypt. It was necessary, that they should sigh under the rod of oppression, to wake them from their political lethargy, to dispel their prejudices in favor of the union, under which their fathers had enjoyed repose and prosperity, to provoke them to seek a better government; to inflame them to noble darings, in bursting the bonds of oppression; in dissolving their connection with the merciless slave holders of the country. Well might they sing; “Partial evil is universal good.” But alas, we have no Moses to stretch his rod over the sea.****No Lebanon, nor Carmel, nor Zion, invites us across the deep.***

2. Another immense advantage, to Israel from dissolving their union with Egypt, was an escape from the fatal contagion of infidel examples.

Though the body of the Israelites might have but little connection with the body of the Egyptians, still there must have been a constant intercourse, dangerous to all, and fatal to many. The nature of the case, and subsequent events, in their zeal for Egyptian idolatry, demonstrate all this. Though, not as judges, and legislators, and advocates, many persons must have been at the court of Pharaoh, if it were only to bear the sighs and tears of the people, before the throne of their tyrant. Here they must witness a thousand instances of impiety; they must see the first man in the nation neglect all the forms of religion. They must be tempted with bribes, and a thousand nameless enchantments of an opulent court. Returning home, these men would bring pestilence and death to the tribes of Israel. Some of the most unprincipled and profligate supporters of the administration would be appointed collectors of the revenue. These would poison the country with the spirit and vices of infidelity.—–Many of the laws breathed oppression, and provoked to crimes. By these and other means, wicked examples were greatly multiplied. Roused by the vexations, they endured, their chains fell off, and they escaped this danger of irreligious examples; they separated themselves from this land of mischief and crimes.

Though it is a law of your nature, that the general spirit of the community be transmitted to the distant members; though distinguished individuals, diffuse their spirit, however base, in the community around them, I certainly do not present the fact as matter of information, that a black cloud of infidelity hangs over the south. It cannot be criminal in one to mention what is publicly known to all. If the late President, the sage of Monticello, proud of his infidelity, has employed Printers to publish his contempt for the writings of Moses; if he has pronounced the universal deluge an impossibility; if his successor has given the whole nation every possible reason, except his public avowal, to believe that his deism is, as fixed as the ice of the poles; if his profanations of the Sabbath, if his common, his habitual, his notorious neglect of public worship, are, as complete evidence, as the most candid confessions, that he has no part nor lot in Him, who was crucified on Calvary, and rose from the tomb of Joseph, is it strange, that a swarm of scoffing infidels should darken the country, where these exalted personages reside? The approach of that region to paganism may be inferred from the riot of their Sabbaths, from their falling temples, the small numbers of their churches, and the smaller number of their Pastors. Do you not fear that this virulent impiety will by degrees be extended to all sections of the country, which are under the same government, and swayed by the fatal policy of the same men?

Those, who are in the least acquainted with history, sacred or profane, well know, that the irreligious character of Rulers, like the atmosphere of Java, carries poison and death through the land.

Here again you may envy the privilege of Israel, and mourn that no land of Canaan has been promised to your ancestors. You cannot separate from that mass of corruption, which would poison the atmosphere of Paradise; you must in obstinate despair bow your necks to the yoke, and with your African brethren drag the chains of Virginia despotism, unless you discover some other mode of escape.

3. Israel’s woes in Egypt terminated in giving them the fruit of their own labors. This was a powerful motive for them to dissolve their connection with the Ancient Dominion. Though their fathers had found their union with Egypt pleasant and profitable; though they had been the most opulent section in Egypt; yet since the change of the administration, their schemes had been reversed; their employments changed; their prosperity destroyed; their vexations increased, beyond all sufferance. They were tortured to madness, in seeing the fruit of their labors torn from them, to support a profligate administration. Instead of laying up corn, and silver, and gold, as once they did, they were no longer their own masters. With the money, which they earned, they were not permitted to pay their own debts; but the debts of the ancient dominion. After they had paid the debts of others, they were still in debt themselves. If they paid money, sufficient to build navies, and construct roads, and other great works, these were not for themselves; but for their lordly tyrants, or the money was wasted by bankrupt officers, before it reached the treasury, and often devoted to projects of folly and mischief. If they were compelled to pay taxes, to build forts and support armies, neither the forts, nor the armies were for their defense. They became discouraged; they were perplexed. Moses and others exhorted them not to despair, and assured them that one mode of relief would prove effectual. Timid, trembling, alarmed, they hardly dared to make the experiment. Finally; they dissolved the union; they marched; the Sea opened; Jordan stopped his current; Canaan received their triumphant banners; the trees of the field clapped their hands; the hills broke forth into songs of joy; they feasted on the fruit of their own labors. Such success awaits a resolute and pious people.

Is there any thing? Whereof it may be said “See, this is new? It hath been already of old time. Say then, ye who are best acquainted with the state of the country, is a course of abominable oppression, not unlike that of Egypt, bearing down New-England, and tearing from her mouth the fruits of her own labors? In the Southern States, are costly roads made? Are post offices supported? Are fortifications erected? Are armies paid? Are princely salaries enjoyed? Are palaces reared in royal splendor, from monies, chiefly paid in these commercial States?

Enquire, examine whether of the national expenditure for twenty years, the proportion of Virginia, according to her population and representation in Congress, be not more than thirty one millions, while she actually paid only thirteen millions, exonerating herself at once of eighteen millions. On the other hand, the proportion of this Commonwealth was twenty millions; but such were the taxes on your laborious industry, that instead of 20, you actually paid more than forty millions. ⁷ Again in the year 1791, the proportion of the public debt, belonging to Virginia was nearly eleven millions. The income of her revenue since that time, so far from paying any part of the principal would have fallen short of discharging the interest, by almost thirteen millions; but by sharing the revenue from your labors and dangers, all this interest has been paid for her, with nearly half her principal, making a profit to her of eighteen millions. Massachusetts has sacrificed these immense portions of her labors, for the privilege of belonging to the UNION; for the privilege of embargoes, and war, and all the privations and miseries, which she has endured. Had Massachusetts only received the fruit of her own toils, her fortifications and other means of defense might have been rendered formidable; and she might have built from twenty to thirty ships of the line. What a glorious union for Virginia! You have saved her from bankruptcy; you have built her fortifications, maintained her armies, paid her expences of government. Have you learned to sympathize with her imported slaves? Your labors go into the same purse; you virtually support the same masters; you generously lend your help to those miserable beings, who blacken their fields; you help them in paying for those luxuries, those costly mansions; those splendid equipages, and those prancing chariots, which you never saw. Is not all this right? You are healthy and vigorous; they are feeble and delicate. You are poor, or in moderate circumstances; they are rich in lands and slaves. You are compelled to labor hard, to submit to frugality, and endure a thousand privations; they move in splendor, and riot in voluptuous pleasures. You toil in a cold, and barren country; they enjoy a delicious climate, and a richer soil. Is it not pleasant to obey such lords, to minister to the pleasures of such a happy race? What a blessing is a Union with such delightful masters! No wonder, if every man in New-England preaches in favor of the Union! Resume your labors then; to pay their expences, hew down your forests; drag your masts from the snowy mountains; launch into the ocean; buffet the storms……………. “Is the preacher distracted? If a spy of government be present, we may all be accused of treason.” If you pass yonder Cape, you may probably never return; the boats of government are more fatal than all the cruisers of the ocean.

The Israelites were compelled not only to labor; but to labor, as their masters commanded, in mortar and manufactures; so must you. Go not then to the water’s edge; go not to the East; go not to the West; go not to the North; this is “towards the enemy.” Hasten, hasten, home; purchase you a wheel, a distaff, and a spindle, and wool, and flax, and spin with thy maidens. If death be more desirable; then follow the banner of the tremendous Dearborn; force your way through the forest to the Canadas; AND THERE DIE, as ten thousands have before thee, to feed the wolves of the north. Whether your vexations, are more or less intolerable, than those of Israel, ye are able to judge.

They became weary of yielding the fruit of their labors to pamper their splendid Tyrants. They left their political woes; they separated. Where is our Moses; Where is the rod of his miracles? Where is Aaron? Alas! No voice from the burning bush has directed them here. Bow then to the publicans of government, and say to the humble African, “Thou art my brother.”

4. The woes of Israel, and her subsequent separation from Egypt, relieved them from being involved in her judgments.

To escape the judgments, which are decidedly coming on a wicked nation is a mighty deliverance. Individuals may escape their demerits; communities cannot; communities do not exist in a future state. Accordingly those communities, which are peculiarly wicked, are punished as such; the members of such a body politic, though relatively innocent, are at least partially involved in their punishment.

Lot suffered the loss of his house, his goods, his cattle, and a part of his family in the fire of Sodom. Noah and his family, merely from living in the same world, with a wicked generation, though not included in the most dreadful part of the sentence, endured undescribable distresses. Giving up his former pursuits, laboriously engaging in the building of the ark, anticipating the destruction of his house, his fields, and the world, what must have been the anguish of his spirit. Collecting his household, at the door of the ark; seeing the dark clouds arise; the hemisphere wrapped in darkness; the lightening blazing; the thunders rolling, how dreadful the scene. As the waters rise, the ark floats along the vale. As the waters rise, his neighbors ascend the higher ground; they hail the lordly ark; they implore relief; they entreat; they beseech the patriarch to receive them on board; they plead and weep; they stretch forth their hands, when their voices are lost in the howlings of the storm. The door is shut, and there is no room. Who can imagine the distress of the Preacher, in his last words to his perishing neighbors. Confined a whole year in the dismal mansion with fowls and beasts, driven at the mercy of the winds, over the towering billows of the world; no friendly port in view, no friendly sail to be spoken, totally uncertain on what mountains top he might strike, on what rock he might dash, must it not require all his faith in God, to calm his own fears, to soothe the terrors of his afflicted family? Such were the evils of being connected with an impious people. Israel had by a series of miracles escaped the judgments of Egypt; but they could not expect miracles always to be performed for their security. They, therefore, separated; they burst their chains, and escaped the judgments, which were filling the land with horror.

What is the moral aspect of our nation? Has not New-England, as much to apprehend, as the sons of Jacob had? But no child has been taken from the river to lead us through the sea: yet are not a million slaves, a million “souls of men” bought and sold in the markets of the south? Are not the tears and miseries of a million souls daily crying to the God of justice to hasten the day of retribution? Will they cry in vain? Are the same people unitedly supporting the Antichristian power of Europe? Are they fighting her battles, and must they receive her plagues? Must not those States, which remain united with them, whatever may be their individual character, share in their punishments? When the day of retribution comes, and come it will, the whole community, however extensive, just bend before its terrors. If God shall send the sword, her crimson terrors will not be arrested on thy borders; but echo from thy hills, and reverberate across thy valleys. Should the angel of pestilence be commissioned, he would not only visit the south, but the North; lover and friend would be put far from thee. Should Famine say, “Here am I; send me;” the pale messenger would blast the fruits of thy grounds, snatch the bread from thy mouth: the morsel from the little hands of thy sons, thy daughters. If judgments are coming on the nation; if the sea does not open thee a path, where, how, in what manner will you seek relief? No Moses—no Canaan—no separation. Finally:

To conclude the subject, we discover the malignant nature of American democracy. Democracy, is the Author of all the Egyptian misery and mischief, endured in the land. Our political sufferings are entirely different from those of other nations. In other quarters of the globe, tyrants entrench themselves, behind the shields of their standing armies. But here the people themselves produce their own calamities, defend their own tyrants. They intrigue, they vote, they petition, for the continuance of their embarrassments, and their poverty, and their distresses. Yes, when their clamors and their votes are not sufficient, and when the sober part of the country send their petitions, and spread their grievances, before the thrones of their Masters, the men of democracy come forward with counter petitions, and beseech, and implore the government not to relieve the sufferings of the country, not to restore the nation to its former affluence and prosperity. They pledge ‘their sacred honor’ and lives to support the most baleful measures. These are the men, who forge the chains for themselves and their country. Were a fair statement of these facts made in a distant country, it would be considered an irony, a satire, a burlesque on humanity. But when a thousand Gazettes, and a million votes have confirmed all this, what must be the astonishment. The relation is believed, merely, because it is impossible to disbelieve. When Israel were sighing under their hard bondage, and Moses and his adherents were constantly making application for relief, what would have been thought, had an unprincipled, savage party been plying Pharaoh with counter petitions, beseeching him not to furnish straw, entreating him not to lessen the tax of brick, and pledging their infamous honors to support his abominable measures? Precisely such is the temper of American “republicans,” so called. A new language must be invented, before we attempt to express the baseness of their conduct, or describe the rottenness of their hearts. Has such a barbarous infatuation ever prevailed before? Divines had described a dreadful depravity among the sons of Adam; but divines had not described, nor conceived such a depravity. Where could they have found facts to support such a theory? Robbers and banditti have not destroyed themselves, to crush their associates; tigers do not mangle their own flesh; nor do fallen spirits with all their malice towards their companions petition for the increase, or continuance of their torments. Where is the man, forging chains for himself and posterity? Him have I offended.

2. God governs the nations for great and good designs. He controlled the affairs of Egypt, the affairs of Israel. Egypt was infatuated by her power and prosperity to crush the Israelites, and to drive them to a separation. The Israelites by those oppressions were roused to independence, and prepared for the highest prosperity: the best country, and the best civil polity in the world. The fame of their wisdom, their skill in the sciences, and their immense traffic, travelled through the world. Awed by the valor of their legions, and the impetuosity of their cavalry, distant tribes sued for peace, and the noise of battle ceased. Their merchants caught the gales of remotest seas, and silver was abundant in Jerusalem, as the stones of the hills. Princes came from the ends of the earth to admire the splendor of the court, and the felicity of the subjects. God continues to raise up other Pharaohs; their hearts are hardened against reason, and persuasion, and sound policy; and though it is not in their heart, neither do they think so; yet we know that the morn of light and glory will burst from this political darkness. Therefore,

3. Let us bear our public calamities with submission to the will of heaven.

God will bring good from every evil. The furnaces of Egypt lighted Israel to the land of Canaan.

Though a terrific cloud hangs over our land; though it may drown your fields in blood; God may be about to accomplish a glorious purpose. The book of providence is a sealed volume; nor may the wisest angel open the mysterious leaves. When the days of Israel were bitterness, and their nights terror, did they believe that those evils would result in their emancipation from an abandoned government? Yet, so it was; and perhaps these were the only means, that could have roused that people, to assume their independence. What dismal reflections must have torn the bosom of Pharaoh, surveying the miseries, which he had occasioned. “I have ruined my kingdom; I have destroyed myself.” What must be the reflections of our exalted President, in the silence of retirement? “While I have made myself great, I have ruined my country. Her morals, her affluence, her cheerfulness, are gone. To feed my friends, I have kindled the fires of war. Burning villages, and dying soldiers, are the monuments of my glory. Ten thousand wretches in the agonies of death have poured their curses on my name. I am steeped in blood. History will hold me up to the execration of the world; not a triumphant murderer, like Pizarro or Attila, but like Pharaoh or Absalom, a mere blunderer in the science of blood. Had I loved my country, as I love my office, I should not have been the scorn of the universe.”

We live, my brethren, in a most eventful period. The whole Christian world are standing with their swords drawn. Our country, hungry for blood, is ambitious of making a figure in this boundless scene of destruction; she is trying, and striving, and panting, to lift a sword; but as the Hebrews, waging an offensive war against the Amalekites, when the Lord was not with them, were vanquished and driven back with shame; so are our armies led into captivity, and vanquished, and driven back.

Should the navies and armies of Britain invade New-England, could the general Government defend you one day? Would not your beautiful towns vanish in a blaze? Could the standing army prevent an invading foe from marching where they please? The armies of government are “as a thread of tow, when it toucheth the fire;” New-England, if invaded, would be compelled to defend herself. Do you not then owe it to yourselves, owe it to your children, and owe it to your God, to make peace for yourselves? Will you rush to the combat, when you dare not ask the blessing of heaven? Will you crimson your fields with the blood of your sons, merely because your Rulers have commenced the contest, merely because they find their advantage in your miseries? Will you perish to please your oppressors? Where then are you ministers of peace? Although the sword of the foe has not drunk the blood of the valiant; nor have the sons of the mighty been led into captivity; although the legions, who move to this iniquitous war, will find no bard to make them renowned in their day, to raise the song of mourning; nor to relate their deeds to other times; although for the perpetual disasters of the camp, “no sighs arise with the beams of the east; no tears descend with the drops of the night;” yet is this war most calamitous. It calls for shame and pious sorrow; it calls for supplication and grief of soul, that Heaven in anger should punish us with such men of blood, to rule the nation. Passing events seem to indicate that God intends to purify the earth, not with a flood of water; but a deluge of blood. Blessed are they, who understand the signs of the times. He that taketh the sword shall perish with the sword. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword, must be killed by the sword. Those, who engage in a murderous, offensive war, shall have blood to drink, for they are worthy. They have had blood to drink. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath; because he knoweth, that he hath, but a short time.

The Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth. The earth shall no more cover her slain. The stars are falling; the moon is blood; He taketh the sun in his wrath, and hideth him in his clouds. The great day of his wrath is come, and who will be able to stand?

 

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Endnotes

1. For an explanation, see the comment in Henry, Scott, or Clark, &c. on Exod. 12, 40.

2. Mr. Whiston.

3. Dr. A. Clark.

4. Dr. Robertson.

5. Probably the country has distinctly pronounced. “Peace shall be made;” i.e. the rich have refused to trust the government. This class of men may have peace when they please. An army cannot breathe a week without their aid.

6. Accordingly Mr. Madison’s paper already boasts of “the rigor” with which the law has been executed, “as an assurance” “of complete effect” should there “be a resuscitation of this system.” Thus our lords talk concerning the resurrection of the goblin, before she is buried or even dead. A more puerile spirit was never manifested than the exultations, because the late afflictive system is suspended. A measure of dire necessity, which tortures every nerve of the rulers. As well might the martyrs of the Inquisition sing hosanna to their tormentors in the moments of respite from the rack or burning stake.

7. See Learned Essays of Calculator in the Columbian Centinel.