Topics: Government

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Joseph Strong (1753-1834), brother of Nathan Strong, graduated from Yale in 1772. He was the pastor of the 1st church in Norwich, Connecticut for fifty-six years. The following sermon was preached by Strong at the funeral of Declaration signer Samuel Huntington in January, 1796.

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A

S E R M O N,

DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL OF

HIS EXCELLENCY

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT;

WHO DIED JANUARY 5TH, 1796.

BY JOSEPH STRONG,
Pastor of the First Church in Norwich.

 

A FUNERAL SERMON.ACTS XIII. 36.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.These words, are part of St. Paul’s address to the inhabitants, of Antioch in Pasidia. – After a course of historical remarks, he at length introduces his favorite subject, “that according to promise, God had raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus.” Pertinent as the discussion of such a subject would have been on other occasions; it was now particularly recommended from the circumstance, that he was in a Jewish synagogue, speaking to those who were avowed infidels to the Messiahship of Christ. Under the influence of strong delusion, that another Savior should in future be raised up, they were unwearied to distort the whole system of scripture prophecy, in support of so false and hazardous an opinion – Professed believers in the old testament writings, they were still blind to their surprising fulfillment with reference to Christ, in a large number of respects. That he might meet the prejudices of his hearers to the greater advantage, and be more likely remove them; the apostle therefore directs their attention to the resurrection, in the light of certain prophecies, which were allowed by them to be of unquestionable authority – “And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee – and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David – wherefore he saith also in another Psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption – for David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” But it is not my design, to pursue the argument of the text any further – Content with the remarks already made, as to its original intention; I shall now attempt to accommodate it to the present mournful occasion, in the light of a detached passage – an historical sketch, which commemorates the virtues and laments the death of an eminently great and good man.

Three enquiries, will comprise the substance of what is thus proposed; – when a person may be said, to serve his generation – the sense in which he is to be considered, as doing it by the will of God – and the nature of that sleep into which he afterwards falls.

With reference to the first of these enquiries; a person may be said to have “served his generation,” when he has done the whole of that good to mankind for which the forming hand of his creator appears to have designed him. Great abilities and an elevated sphere of action, are by no means essential to the character. The honest servant – the laborious husbandman – those who pursue the learned professions – and the civilian; may all have it truly said of them, that they serve their generation. No circumstance can be more self-evident, than that the present state of things was never designed for personal independence. Mutual wants, render mutual assistance constantly necessary; thus insensibly strengthening the bands of the social state, and furnishing a practical argument in favor of that benevolence, which is the perfection of the universe. Indeed, was it not for the dependence of man upon man, a link would be missing from that inconceivably long chain, which suspends from Jehovah’s hand creation at large; down to those more obscure articles, many of which it is difficult to conceive why they were ever made.

But proper and needful as it is, for these and other reasons, to serve ones own generation, there is nothing to discountenance the most earnest solicitude and strenuous endeavors, to subserve the interests of generations yet unborn. It is the character of a narrow mind, to be altogether wrapped up in pursuit of personal advantages; it is that of one comparatively so, to look no further than the benefit of neighbors – acquaintance – or other cotemporaries. The enlarged prosperity of an individual at the distance of centuries, is an object not merely to be wished, but actively labored for; so long as substantial increase is made to the quantity of human happiness, it matters less, whether it be within the limits of our own era or of one more remote. Nor is the thought I am now upon visionary or impracticable – It is true, the personal, more direct services of mankind to each other, always stand confined to a small number of years; though not to prevent their usefulness, many times, proving of a much more lasting nature. Was every generation to live for itself alone, how exceedingly limited would improvement be of every kind? The arts – science, and morals, would be placed upon much more unfavorable ground that at present; virtuous example lose its befriending effect upon the world, and long established order, by ceasing to operate, leave each successive period the prey of anarchy, with its whole train of unwelcome consequences. The remark is no doubt just, that a person cannot fail to subserve the interests of posterity, provided he serves his own generation as he both may and ought. Those parts of conduct which operate at the present time in a beneficial form, are certain to support the same character, in a way of more distant consequence.

The object of our second proposed enquiry, is in the sense in which he who serves his generation, may be considered as doing it by the will of God. What words could make more express recognition, that a divine agency is employed in forming for the purpose and directing to a particular province of action. Passing by that small number whose mental capacity is such, as scarcely to give them rank among moral agents, there are none but what are capable of being useful, in some or other way. – That diversity of constitutional make, which disqualifies for universal sameness of calling, and leads to widely varied pursuits in life, argues superior design, and is of inexpressible advantage to the combined interests of the world. No department of action is thus left vacant – the social body, like the natural, maintaining that connection and subserviency of parts, so essential to the convenience and most extended usefulness of the whole. Wide indeed, are such from serving their generation by the will of God, who from motives of ambition or imaginary interest, crowd themselves forward into some particular department of life, for which they possess no natural turn, nor have been previously educated. Plants of another climate, they shew themselves mere dwindled exotics thro’ life; occupying a place in the vineyard, without any increase to the quantity of its fruits. Numerous are the examples, of persons thus completely lost, both to themselves and others. In order to avoid the contemplated great unhappiness, the mind must be left to pursue its own native bent – the language of attending circumstances, carefully heeded; united with frequent supplication to him for guidance, without whom, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

But thus careful to fall upon that course of life, which providence appears to have designed; serving our generation by the will of God requires further, that we industriously employ our whole ability and time for the purpose. Formed to be usefully active, and never thus happy as when we are so, the hours of indolence must be cautiously avoided, and the whole extent of resources, whether natural or acquired, called into vigorous operation. Blessed with only a single talent, that must not be buried in the earth. No adventitious circumstance, can excuse from a strict observance of this, the great law both of nature and revelation. In the place of a demand for industry, barely from those who have no other resource for their daily support; it is by no means beneath those in the most easy circumstances, or whose honors hang the thickest upon them. The mind hesitates not a moment in whose favor it shall decide; whether the great man who is proud and above business, or the one who acts with humility, and does not feel himself degraded, by occasional attention to agricultural or other innocent employments.

But to complete the idea of serving ones own generation by the will of God, we must not forget to mention, a spirit of constant dependence upon him, united with views to the promotion of his glory – Indeed the former of these in its full proper extent, ever implies the latter. The acknowledgment of the heart, “that in God we live, move and have our being, involves the disposition to think, speak, and act unvaryingly for his glory. You will remark, I use the word disposition, for nothing can be more absurd in itself, or contradictory to actual experience in the case of the very best, than that the divine glory should be constantly thought of, amidst the numerous, varied, and oftentimes exceedingly perplexing avocations and employments of life; this would be to expect more from imperfect human nature, than is possible for it to perform. He who knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are but dust, extends his expectations nothing so far; but approves the heart habitually inclined to rest upon and do honor to him. But words are needless, upon so plain a subject – the ideas of every person, must be sufficiently extended and accurate, what serving ones generation by the will of God imports. Did practice in such an instance keep pace with information, real desert of character and social obligation, would without question, be far greater than at present. That the number of those who extensively serve their generation by the will of God, is so small, must not be ascribed to a deficiency of motive – barely the one, that the present season, so rapid in its progress and of such short duration, is alone allowed for the purpose, is sufficient were there no other. As cannot be forgot such is a motive which the text particularly notes. Might Christ, by his instructions, example, death, and intercession, subserve the interests of each successive generation to the end of time; David’s opportunity for doing the same, stood confined to far more narrow limits – “For David when he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.”

We are now naturally brought to the third and last enquiry upon the present subject – the nature of that sleep into which those who serve their generation by the will of God, afterwards fall. The import of sleep, as thus spoken of, is by no means difficult to be discovered – without question it denotes death, which is the lot of all, whether high or low, virtuous or vicious – useful in life or the reverse. The scripture examples of death’s being alluded to by such a form of expression, are numerous. We are presented with them both in the old and new testament; as by the prophet Daniel, “and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt – and they that be wise shall shine as the firmament: and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.” And also with reference to the deceased Lazarus, “these things said he, and after that he saith unto them our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” These and other similar Bible declarations, are obviously predicated of the body, and not of that deathless principle the soul; as for the latter, but few points command a greater weight of scripture evidence, that it continues to maintain a conscious existence, and immediately passes to a state of reward, or punishment, conformably to past character. Perhaps none have ever called in question such a fact unless secretly tinctured with infidelity. And confining sleep, as descriptive of death to the body, how just and forcible are the ideas it conveys? Does a want of consciousness mark the state of a person asleep; how strikingly is such fact in reference to the one deceased? A varied, busy world lives no longer for him in any sense or degree. – Hence that pointed address by Solomon, “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor knowledge, nor device, nor wisdom in the grave whether thou goest.” And again to much the same amount, where we find Job thus fervently expostulating with God, – “Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death; a land of darkness as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where light is as darkness. It may be also noted , as a circumstance of strong resemblance between sleep and death, that they are respectively states of recess, from everything which can disturb, and give uneasiness. Does the laboring man, after the fatigues of the day, retire to rest and his sleep is sweet to him; the same is true of the good man when descended to the grave. Arrived in the place of which inspiration observes “for there the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest,” the storms of life are forever past; no care disturbs – no pain is felt – no tear is shed, but the whole is a state of uninterrupted repose. In addition to these circumstances of likeness betwixt sleep and death, I shall only note this equally striking one – that neither of them is perpetual, but only preparatory to soon waking up, refreshed and in possession of increased vigor. What a widely different conception is this of death, from what the heathen and a large proportion of modern infidels, profess to entertain? In their opinion the close of existence; he believer in revelation contemplates it in the very different light, of life’s commencement. He ventures down securely into the grave, with strong assurance, that in as much “as Jesus died and rose again; even so them also who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.”

And, in view of deaths being only such a pleasing short sleep, how is it in a great measure deprived of its naturally terrifying influence upon the mind. Instead of shrinking back with dismay, how ought the good man, who feels conscious that he has “served his generation by the will of God,” to congratulate himself, upon its hearer approach – Not only is he thus taken away from the evil to come, but put into possession of the whole heavenly blessedness.

But, constrained to view death in the light of a privilege to the one, who is called to be its subject; it assumes a widely different aspect, with reference to those who survive. The loss, thus incurred to them, often much exceeds their most extended calculation – A pillar, in that building of which they are a part, being fallen, both its beauty and durability, are in proportionable degrees diminished. At such a season of breaking down, there certainly is the greatest propriety that none should fail to join the lamenting prophet, in his memorable exclamation, “Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth, and the faithful fail, from among the children of men.”

And having enlarged upon the doctrinal parts of our subject, to the extent which is likely to be useful, I must not delay to invite your more particular attention to the mournful and truly calamitous providence, which is the occasion of our present assembling.

We are met to pay the last offices of respect to the chief Magistrate of this State. But a few weeks past, active as usual and able to perform the various weighty duties of office; we now behold him a striking example of the Psalmists words, “I have said ye are gods, and all of you children of the most high; but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.” Probably there are few, who so richly deserve the character, which has been the burden of our past reflections, as what he did – “For when David had served his own generation by the will of God; he fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption.” – Like the ancient David, our modern one, “was taken from the sheepfold, to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.” The son of an affluent farmer, his juvenile occupations were chiefly of the agricultural kind. Without the assistance of a collegiate education, his naturally discerning inquisitive mind, enabled him to acquire a good stock of scientific information, upon various subjects – among other studies, that of law engaged his particular attention, and was what he afterwards made his professional employment for a course of years. It was in this department, that he laid the foundation of his after very extended celebrity and usefulness. Aided by that candid deliberate manner, which seemed in a sort constitutional, but few have practiced at our bar more extensively or with greater applause. During the period, that law was his governing object, he occasionally represented this town in the General Assembly; and was soon advanced to a seat at the Council Board. It was while acting there, that he was delegated to the national Congress, of which he was twice appointed President, and after spending the whole term in that department, which the law would permit, he returned to his native state; where he has since sustained in succession, the offices of Chief Justice – Lieutenant Governor and Governor, with unusually great approbation. But barely thus to sketch the civil career of our departed father and friend, would by no means do justice to his memory. Of a naturally amiable disposition, the whole tenor of his conversation was ingratiating and exemplary. For many years, a professor of religion, he appeared to delight both in the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel – a constant attendant upon public worship; he was occasionally the people’s mouth to God, when destitute of preaching. After the commencement of his last sickness, previous to that singular debility both of body and mind under which he labored a few days before death, his religious confidence continued unshaken. Amid repeated and very feeling declarations of his own personal unworthiness, he avowed unwavering trust in God through his Son; in full belief that he would keep what he had committed to him, against that day. ¹ But I perceive myself upon ground, which I should always wish to approach, with the greatest caution. The delineation of a good character, if deserved, is most commonly needless; and if the reverse, is no better than disguised satyre. The eulogy of words can never embalm the memory, which is not previously embalmed, in the progress of an exemplary, holy life. The preacher’s business is not with the dead, but with the living – May he be instrumental to heal the wounds of affliction and direct the heart to improvement, his every rational wish is answered.

Under the impression of such thoughts, I shall accordingly, now address myself, very briefly, to the adopted children of the deceased.

RESPECTED FRIENDS,

We presume, that though your present situation, is in some respects varied, from that of bereaved children in common, your feelings are not much different. – Left motherless in early childhood, the deceased and his amiable consort, opened their arms wide to receive you; and have since to the time of their death, consulted your interests, with all the apparent solicitude of own parents. Under their general guidance, the first rudiments of your education were attended to, and with what judicious indulgence they watched over your advancing youth, yourselves can best witness. Pleased with the return of filial obedience and respect, domestic happiness, has been in few instances more noticeable. But deprived months since of your adopting mother, ² upon whom these scenes of happiness not a little depended, you are this day written fatherless. At a moment so interesting and solemn, we would fervently recommend you to the particular guidance and support, of our common father in heaven. Blessed with his continued patronage, may you carefully bear in mind, and to some good degree imitate the virtues, of your deceased parent. So far as he copied the example of our divine master, see to it that you make his life your own. Amid all the possible vicissitudes which may attend you, never forget the reality and importance of religion. Duly wrought upon by such an impression, both the enjoyment and respectability of your future days, will be much added to, and the only possible foundation laid, for looking beyond the grave, with the feelings of confidence and triumph.

The brethren and other relatives of the deceased, will also permit my most sincere condolence with them, under their very great loss.

Often of late called to mourn, another wide breach is now made upon your family connection. Deprived of that brother and friend, whom you deservedly esteemed and loved – clothed in sackcloth on his account; still in few instances, does grief admit of so many substantial alleviations. – Permitted to enjoy his company till the meridian of life was past, you behold him descending to the grave loaded with honor, and not without ground of hope, that he has already joined “the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven.” To admit such for fact, that entire submission to divine disposal, which ranks so high among the Christian graces, becomes a dictate of the warmest friendship. In the place therefore, of a wish for re-union with your friend on earth, let the thought of following him into eternity, take full and lasting possession of all your minds. Weep not for him, but rather weep for yourselves and for your children; poured forth on such grounds, your tears cannot be too plentiful; till finally, may you be admitted to that world, where all tears shall be wiped away from the eyes, forever and ever.

A few words, to this very large assembly, shall close my discourse.

Beyond mere address to the passions, the present occasion is marked with the most speaking instruction to us all. Be we those who have been indulged the intimate friendships of the deceased – his brethren at the table of our common Lord, or of the number of those more distant citizens, who have for years been happy under his official administrations; let us not fail to bring his death home to the heart, and improve it as a most instructive lesson. In what more legible characters, could the uncertain fading nature of earth, be written out to view? We are thus shown, that a mind constitutionally formed for enjoyment – easy circumstances – a prospect of prolonged usefulness – and the unreserved esteem of an extensive acquaintance, can none of them defend from the arrest of death. So true is that inspired remark, “there is no man who hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war.” Respectively hastening forward, to such so solemn a crisis, may we none of us fail to practice the most industrious preparation, against its arrival. Not a moment is to be lost, in respect to the great work – “Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” Of whatever age or description of persons we are, unless believers in Jesus and sanctified by his spirit, we shall be lost forever. May a gracious God forbid, that such should prove the event, to a single individual present.

In dependence upon his sovereign and rich grace, may we all rather now feel authorized on scripture grounds, to anticipate the very different issue of life, which the voice from heaven long since declared to the apostle John, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” Amen.

 

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Endnotes

1. As some would probably be pleased with a more circumstantial account of Governor Huntington, the following extract is here inserted:
“Governor Huntington was descended from an ancient and respectable family in this state; he was son of Nathaniel Huntington, Esq. of Windham; his childhood and youth were distinguished by indications of an excellent understanding, and a taste for mental improvement. Without the advantage of collegiate education, or that assistance in professional studies which modern times have wisely encouraged, he acquired a competent knowledge of law, and was early admitted to the bar; soon after which, he settled in this town, and in a few years, became eminent in his profession. In the year 1764, he was a representative in the general assembly, and the following year appointed king’s attorney, which office he filled with reputation to himself, and usefulness to the public, till other and more important services induced him to relinquish it. In the year 1774, he was made an assistant Judge in the superior court. In 1775, he was chosen into the Council, and in the same year elected a delegate to congress. In 1779, he was made president of that honorable body, and in 1780, re-chosen. The time of his continuance at Congress expiring with that year, he returned home, and resumed his seat in council, and on the bench which had been continued vacant for his return. In 1783, he was again a member of congress. In 1784, he was chosen Lieutenant-Governor, and appointed Chief Justice of the State. In 1786, he was elected Governor, and was annually re-elected by the freemen, with singular unanimity, till his death.
The public need not be informed of the usefulness of Governor Huntington, or the manner in which he discharged the duties of his various and important offices, especially the last; the prosperity of the state during his administration, and the present flourishing condition of its civil and military interests, are unequivocal testimonies of the wisdom and fidelity with which he presided. Though not blessed with children, he was uncommonly happy in the conjugal relation with his excellent lady, who merited and possessed his most entire affection till her death.
As a professor of Christianity, and an attendant on its institutions, he was exemplary and devout; he manifested an unvarying faith in its doctrines, and joyful hope in its promises, amid the distresses of declining life, till debility of mind and body produced by his last sickness, rendered him incapable of social intercourse.
Under the influence of a charitable belief, that he is removed to scenes of greater felicity in the world of light, every good citizen will devoutly with, hat others, not less eminent and useful may succeed; and that Connecticut may never want a man of equal worth, to preside in her councils, guard her interests, and diffuse prosperity through her towns.”

2. Mrs. Huntington died June 4th, 1794, in the 56th year of her age – she was a daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, of Windham; of an amiable disposition and condescending manners, he had many to lament her death – among other excellent parts of Christian character, her benefactions to the poor, ought not to be forgotten – The number is not small, of those, who on such grounds, “rise up and call her blessed.”

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Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1793-1870) graduated from Harvard in 1811. He was the pastor of the 1st Congregational Church in Boston (1815-1850). Frothingham preached this sermon on the death of the Marquis de Lafayette on June 29, 1834.

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A

SERMON

ON THE

DEATH

OF

GENERAL LAFAYETTE,

PREACHED TO THE

FIRST CHURCH OF BOSTON,

ON

SUNDAY, THE 29TH OF JUNE, 1834.

BY N. L. FROTHINGHAM,
MINISTER OF THE CHURCH.

 

S E R M O N.Ecclesiastes xlviii.12.

“Elias it was, who was carried up in a whirlwind; and Eliseus was filled with his spirit. Whilst he lived, he was not moved with the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into subjection.”

If it were only a political leader, a great military commander, a national friend and benefactor, an illustrious man, – according to any of the vulgar patterns of fame, – that has at length gone the way, where the meanest must follow, where the most different conditions are made equal, and there is no more place for rank and pride; his memory would hardly be a fitting subject to mix with the services of the Lord’s house. If it were some mere man of the people, some man of the times, some creature of splendid accidents, that claimed to be made mention of, here is not the place where such a claim would be regarded. If the feeling, that now pervades this community to its furthest borders, were a party feeling; if the tribute, that is now paying to his name from the freemen of all nations, were a tribute to station and chance, to talents or historical renown, and not to character, to a pure and noble desert; if the voice of praises and regrets, that is lifted up on every side of us, were only a popular acclamation for some transient benefit, or an unmeaning echo of what it has become customary for half a century to repeat; the pulpit at least might well be silent. But the circumstances are altogether otherwise; and the preacher may be more than excused if he is not silent, however inadequate to the occasion his words may be, and however lost and forgotten among worthier expressions of eulogy.

The man of whom I am to speak, and whom no one needs name, was perhaps even more remarkable by his conduct and personal qualities, than by all the various situations of his eventful life. At the top of fortune and power and favour, never elated; in the depths of disappointment and hopeless afflictions, never stooping or depressed; amidst the most magnificent temptations, never beguiled; amidst the wildest disorders, never discomposed; amidst the most difficult and delicate conjunctures, never at a loss; amidst the sharpest perils, never afraid; – he was true to himself and his principles, through the most agitating succession of changes that ever swept over the world. And therefore it is, and not because he stood on an eminence, and not for any advantages which he might have but chanced to bestow, that we may make mention of him in our holy places and the offices of devotion.

One may look in vain among the names of ancient or modern celebrity, to find any other who closely reminds us of the Father of our Country, by a similar combination of noble endowments. But He not only recalls him, but presents the most striking resemblance to him. He was formed of like materials. He was trained by a like discipline. A son of his house, and a pupil of his school, he appears with such a similarity of moral features as is seldom transmitted by natural descent, or formed by the influence of any model or education. No one shares with him this distinction. “Elias it was, who was carried up in a whirlwind; and Eliseus was filled with his spirit. Whilst he lived, he was not moved by the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into subjection.”

There is something very instructive, as well as affecting in the sensation which the account of his death has recently produced among this people. He was a foreigner; of a different speech from ourselves, and dwelling in a distant home. He was an old man. He had passed far beyond the limit that is usually assigned to mortal life, and might seem to have lived long enough for any active service, having little else left to do but to die. He was not contributing, nor ever did contribute, by any peculiar intellectual ability, to the delight or instruction of mankind. He was a plain and a private man; divested by his own act of every title but that of a moral nobility, and deprived by an ungrateful government of all authority but that of a moral influence and command. He was not even adorned with the glory of success, but found the close of his days overshaded with disappointment and defeat. There have been some to tell us that there was no strain of greatness about him, and that the only appellation fairly due him is that of the good. We shall admit the assertion, – we shall accept the discovery, – when our views of what constitutes a great character shall agree more fully with theirs, who deny him the praise of possessing one. That part of the commendation, however, which they are willing to bestow, is as much as we need care at this moment to take up. We may point to it, and say; here is the true source of the sympathy and admiration and regret that we are now witnessing; feelings that are not confined to us but communicate their emotion round the globe. It is for the sake of his virtues, that his departure is bewailed as a misfortune; and his long-delayed assumption to a better glory than that of earth’s empire and man’s applause has come upon us as a prematureness and a surprise; and his “bones flourish out of their place”; and his remembrance is precious. When you have seen young faces saddened and old eyes wet at the tidings of his decrease, you knew that it was from the thought of his worth. When you hear the expressions of the general sorrow, you cannot fail to recognize in them testimonies of homage to a generous, constant, elevated soul.

A leading name has been struck from the roll of the living. A golden band, that connected us with the history of two generations and with some of the most interesting passages in the history of man, is broken. A venerable form, marred – as you have seen it – among the exposures of his daring devotion to what was right; familiar with all extremes of fortune, with the rough exercise of camps, and the dazzling pomp of courts, and the dreary solitude of dungeons; – equally collected in halls of legislation and fields of battle, and in popular crowds whether they were moved at his eloquence or muttered their discontent, whether they offered him garlands or demanded his head; – equally at home in the quiet joys of the vintage and the harvest and the summer flowers, and in the stormy labours of three revolutions; – wherever it has been, it has now gone to mingle its dust with a long line of distinguished ancestry. A brave and a loving heart has added one more to the company of the glorified. They who shall visit like pilgrims his residences in the old world will look round in vain for his cordial hand and benignant countenance; and he will not cross the sea for a fifth time towards the land that he helped to redeem. He has disappeared. He has lain down in the great rest. The ground is not consecrated by the ashes of a more single-minded and estimable and admirable man. Do not call death an equalizer, when it thus puts obediently the seal of a stamped decree and an eternal distinction upon the deeds and the name of one, over whom it has no power.

Let it be permitted to say a few words, which are all that the occasion permits, upon the peculiar character of this citizen of two worlds, this persevering friend of universal humanity, this pure impersonation – if such a thing was ever presented – of the two grand principles of order and liberty. It is of his character only that I would say these few words; for the facts in his recorded life have long been a book for our children, and are read of all. They shall be spoken with hat deep conviction and that affectionate reverence, which are neither new nor feigned.

The personal qualities, you will readily believe, must have been in several respects remarkable of one, who, without ostentation, – nay, declining and despising all the parade that vain men covet, – has made himself memorable, the world over, as a champion and pleader, a confessor and a faithful example, wherever the injurious were to be restrained, or the unfortunate helped, or the oppressed delivered. “Elias it was, who was carried up in a whirlwind; and Eliseus was filled with his spirit.” He was filled with it. What that spirit was, in its general features, we should be unpardonable if we were uninformed or forgetful. But let us attempt to define it with some particularity. Now that he is joined to his old commander, we remember that “whilst he lived he was not moved with the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into subjection.” The text fitly describes him, in some of the leading traits of his steady and lofty mind. He never swerved from his principles; never temporized with the weak, nor gave way before the strong. None ever held his integrity faster than he, through all good and evil repute. He was inflexibly consistent; and this, which is a rare merit under any circumstances, becomes the more remarkable, when it is displayed as his was amidst troubled and disjointed times, when the world was maddening in a tumult of changes, and he wise were distracted, and the wicked ruled, and the firm were divided with perplexity and fear. He stood to his purposes with an unshaken constancy, and permitted nothing on earth to feel itself his master. His courage towered up above the most frightful emergencies, and his self-possession abode the proof, when others were losing their reason. He refused ever to despair of a cause that he had once believed to be good. He refused to withdraw his hand from its most unrequited and ill-requited toils, from its sternest perils and dearest sacrifices. It was nothing to him where he stood, so that he stood for the right. He made no compromises with rabble or emperor. The violence of the low could neither intimidate his resolution nor wear out his patience, while the will of the earth’s mightiest and proudest ones could not imagine for a moment that it had the right or the power to dictate to his.

But in all this rigid perseverance and high honour was there no harshness, no arrogancy, no repulsive or unlovely admixture? So far from it, as you all well know, that nothing can be conceived more mild and courteous, more unaffected and unpretending, than his whole carriage of himself towards his fellow men. He won hearts, wherever there could be truly said to be hearts, by the gentle dignity and the meek courageousness of his bearing. He was full of quick sympathies. He was forbearing and kind. He embraced all within the regards of an unwearied benevolence. The elements of his nature were all strong, but all kept in their proper places. He united with singular happiness those, which are usually found severed and opposed. There were tenderness and force dwelling together in him, like the leopard and he kid of the ancient prediction. His was a spirit of prudence and a spirit of fire, tempered into one. He was daring but wise, eager in action but patient in endurances, sanguine and impetuous, but self-moderated. His presence of mind was not allowed to desert him under any necessities that called for it. He never forgot what was due to others, nor made any haughty estimates of what was due to himself. There was nothing in him of the self-seeking of an ordinary ambition, nor was the plain modesty of his manners impaired in any degree by the scenes of breathless interest in which he had sustained a chief part, or by the vast concerns that were accustomed to rest upon his counsel and conduct, or by the general encomiums of mankind. He was eminently disinterested. It was not his own aggrandizement that he ever carried in view, but only his unsullied name, and his unshaken principles, and the welfare of the world. Rich remunerations have been offered him, only to be declined with the cold assertion, that he attached no more importance to the refusal than to the acceptance. He divested himself of all honours, which would not contribute to any valuable end by being worn. An enemy to dangerous power, he put it calmly aside from him as often as it was presented to his hands; whether it was offered in the shape of the marshal’s staff, or the sword of the constable of France, or the more splendid ensigns of a dictator’s command. An enemy to outside pomp, he withdrew from all appearance of it, when no good to others was to be gained from the display. He, who made his first visit to our shoes in a vessel of his own preparing, would not wait for the national ship of war that was commissioned to bring him over on his last one; but preferred coming as a private man and a stranger, if it might be allowed him to do so. He found the arms of twenty-four states ready to catch him up; and the old soldier was to be greeted as a father rather than as a guest; and every sound he heard was to be like a benediction, and every step he took better than victory. No one can have read of him, without being sure that it was not so satisfying a joy to him, when he rose up in the federation of the Field of Mars as the interpreter and representative of a nation, or when he was placed at the head of more than a million and a half of his armed countrymen, as when he perceived that he lived in the affections of millions of the grateful and the free. Much as has been related of him, much as is already known of him, his history remains to be written. But his character it is impossible to mistake; and whatever new shall be hereafter recorded will be in honourable consistency with it and only illustrate it the more.

“Whilst he lived,” says the text, “he was not moved with the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into subjection.” What a train of the crowned and the discrowned, now for the most part but shades of kings, passes before us at the repetition of these words. They brought their importunities to him, or they laid their orders upon him; but they found him just as he has now been described. What was royalty, in its threats or persuasions, to the royal law in his own breast? A German sovereign one, and a deposed monarch driven from two thrones long afterwards, were taught by him that the vengeance of the one and the intercessions of the other were alike vain, when they would urge him to crouch to a galling necessity, or dissemble his cherished sentiments, or compromise his pure fame. In his own city five princes reigned, from the time when he first entered into its busy affairs, to the day when he closed his eyes upon it forever. We have only to look at his intercourse with hem, to perceive that there was something in him above their regal state.

The first, and most unhappy, both leaned upon him and feared him; and might have been rescued by him a second time, if it had not been thought too much to be indebted to him a second time for deliverance. The next was that wonderful chief, who almost dazzled the world blind with the blaze of his conquests. But there was one, who kept fixed upon him a searching and sorrowful look, as unshrinking as his own, and, as the event proved, more than equal to his own. He had retired quietly to his country home. He refused even an interview with the “emperor and king,” in his palace hall, since he had assumed to be a despot over his brethren. Palaces! He had seen all their hollowness and false luster. He was entitled to them as his resort from his early youth, and he had witnessed more wretchedness than he had ever beheld elsewhere in their envied inmates. The places that had been the objects of his boyish delight, he knew as dwellings of bitter cares and sorrows, before they were burst open by violence and spotted with blood. And is it strange, if he should have lost something of his reverence for courts? But let me add, that, when the conqueror was subdued, – when the city, that had well nigh been made the capital of the earth, was traversed and encamped in by insolent foes, – he endeavoured earnestly to befriend the fallen majesty, whose domination he had resisted. He had no hostility against the imperial fugitive, now that his ambition had overleaped itself and was no longer a terror. His indignation was turned to the opposite side; and when the English ambassador offered peace on the condition of delivering him up to the invaders, he replied, “I am surprised, my lord, that in making so odious a proposition to the French nation, you should have addressed yourself to one of the prisoners of Olmutz.”

The third figure that rises, is that of an unwieldy pretension to royalty, set up by foreign hands, and speaking what he was told to speak, and almost as helpless while he reigned, as the phantom that he seems to us now. His infatuated successor is an exile, one hardly remembers where, from an authority that he neither knew how to limit nor maintain. What could be, of whom we are now thinking, have to do with pageants like these, – except to warn them that they must pass away?

Another interval of murderous contention, and another king is in the seat that had been so rapidly and ominously left empty. Him he met as an adviser, and not as an inferior, as a patron rather than as a dependent. But his deed and intention returned to him void, and his expectations were once more baffled.

Let it be so. He has at length gone where there is no more disappointment, and where his faithful works will faithfully follow him. We will not wish that he had remained for further trials. We cannot bear to think of his furnishing opportunities for cavil, to those who do not revere and cannot understand him, by any faltering that might possibly have crept along with his old age, – by any clouding of his clear judgment, any declension of his well-used strength. Let him pass upward in peace to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, by the signs of whose “presence” he was always “moved,” and to whose holy Providence he brought himself cheerfully “into subjection.”

No; we will not desire him back. He has done enough; endured enough; enjoyed enough. It is time that he was translated. But we will write up his name as on a banner. We will plead that his memory may be sacredly appreciated and never forgotten. His example should shine out as a lesson, in these days of sycophancy and rank abuses, of party spoils and political profligacy and greedy gain; when Elias has been carried up in his chariot of glories, and they who never felt his spirit, and even scoffed at his immortal services, presume to connect themselves with his fame.

The bones of the disciple-prophet were said to awaken the dead. “He did wonders in his life, and at his death were his works marvelous.” ¹ The miracle is done over again yet, and more nobly done. The name and character and deeds of the just are often a living and divine touch, after “their bodies are buried in peace.” May it be so with him! May the memory of that Eliseus, whom I have endeavoured to bring to your hearts to-day, stir up a community that is already turning into corruption to a fresh and purer life!

 

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Endnotes

1 Ecclesiasticus xlviii.13.

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This sermon was preached by George W. Bassett in the House of Representatives chamber in 1858.

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SERMON

PREACHED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 1858.

BY

REV. GEO. W. BASSETT,
PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D. C.

 

SERMON.

I Kings, 2, 2: Show Thyself a Man.

This was a charge worthy of a dying monarch to the heir-apparent to his throne. David had nobly fulfilled his destiny as a man and a sovereign, and was about to entrust the affairs of a great kingdom to his youthful son. Most appropriately, therefore, does he enjoin upon him to conduct himself in a manner worthy of the dignity of his station. This he does in the comprehensive words of the test: “Show thyself a man.”

Though few are called to rule over nations, in many respects these words are strikingly appropriate to every human being. To the most obscure mortal is entrusted the empire of a mind deathless as Deity; and he that rules his own spirit is superior to the conqueror of the world.

The most profound statesmen, the most sagacious of politicians, and the most fearless and invincible warriors have generally failed here; and the weakest females have often meekly borne off the palm, amidst the shouts of attending angels and the applause of the King of kings.

Our text naturally suggests two inquiries: 1st. What are the essential elements of humanity? 2d. What conduct is becoming a man in view of those elements? Or, what is a man? And what is it to show one’s self a man? 1. What is a man? Oh! That the spell of sensuality might be broken, and that American mind might be disenthralled of matter; that men would see that they possess other than physical elements of being; and that the chief end of man is not to eat, drink, and die! Man possesses a triune nature – physical, intellectual, and moral; the existence, functions, and destiny of each, clearly distinguished from the other. On each department of our nature is inscribed by the creator, immutable laws, in obeying which, this natural destiny is accomplished and well-being secured; and in disobeying which, the appropriate end of being is defeated, and inevitable ruin incurred.

Look at the physical or lowest department of the human constitution. What does nature dictate in regard to its proper function and legitimate destiny? Adaptation is the key to this subject. To what is this idolized body of man adapted? And you have the exact design of nature in its creation. We find it endowed with five senses, each susceptible of pleasurable excitement from certain external objects. But the excitement of these, even on legitimate objects, beyond certain limits, is uniformly productive of pain. Hence we infer there is a natural limit to their lawful gratification. And further, these senses are the means of communication with the material world; their momentary gratification is by no means their ultimate end: they are altogether subordinate and subservient to mind. And when they usurp an unnatural supremacy over mind, their empire is death to all nobleness and true humanity.

Again, these corporeal powers belong to earth; they exhibit not a symptom of immortality. I refer not to the “spiritual body” of the resurrection spoken of by Paul and others, (a subject, I confess, hard to be understood,) but I say the corporeal powers which we now possess, have their sphere of operation in this life. Their nature is flesh, and not spirit; and their destiny is death, not life. Let this cardinal fact ever modify our estimate of their relative value and importance.

Let us, in the second place, leaving the dark domain of matter, approach the ethereal regions of spirit, and contemplate, for a moment, the immortal part of man. Here we discover the essential characteristics of a man, as distinguished from the brute. Man’s spiritual nature is composed of intellectual powers and moral feelings. Of his intellectual powers, notice particularly the power of original, independent thought. Man’s intellectual activities are not limited to the mere functions of perception. A far higher destiny is stamped upon the human intellect. He possesses not only the power to perceive facts, but to apprehend their multiplied relations, and to reduce them to complete systems of philosophy. Wisdom is the legitimate prerogative of the human intellect. Observe also the power of volition. Man was evidently not made to be the mere creature of another’s will – to live, and breathe, and speak, and think at another’s command – but was endowed with the more than royal power of individual responsibility and independent action.

In regard to the moral nature of man, notice the principle of conscience by which he comprehends and feels the force of moral obligations. He perceives what is right and feels bound to do it, and he perceives what is wrong and he feels bound to resist it. This universal moral sense, whatever may be its constitutional element, is an undeniable and imperishable fact of human nature. It is an essential part of the deathless man. It’s still small voice may be drowned for a moment, in the wild tumult of the rebellious passions; it may even be lulled into a temporary slumber, by the siren voice of vicious pleasure; but this will only prepare it to awake to a more terrible vengeance upon its suicidal victim.

As kindred to this, I would mention another interesting element of our moral constitution, and which we may call a natural sense of justice. It differs from conscience, in that the latter limits its mandates to one’s own moral acts, while the former may have reference to transactions in which one has no agency, and can have no personal responsibility. Our conscience can have nothing to do with the unheard-of cruelties of Nena Sahib, while our sense of justice is painfully violated. Conscience does not contrast this murderer of women and children, with their brave protector and avenger, the immortal Havelock. It is entirely inoperative here. But the sense of justice is not. This, independent of one’s own acts, cries out that the conduct of one is that of unparalleled barbarity, while that of the other is unsurpassed in true glory. Now, I maintain that this sense of justice is one of the most sacred and authoritative instincts of our common humanity. I know its dictates may be violated, and that too, in the name of religion, and under the mandates of a vitiated conscience; but remove all disturbing forces, and let humanity express its natural promptings, and there is no essential discrepancy. The race utters one universal demand for justice between man and man.

But we have not apprehended the essential elements of human nature until we have contemplated the source of moral action – the heart. This it is which loves and hates. This susceptibility is the crowning glory of man. An intellect to apprehend; a conscience to command, and a will to execute, without a heart to feel and love, would leave their possessor wanting in the cardinal element of humanity. The heart to love, more than all elements, constitutes the glory of our race. This is the seat of virtue, the fountain of bliss. Here is seen pre-eminently the divine image, all radiant with benevolence, or defaced and marred, and polluted by the indulgence of supreme selfishness.

Again, progress is a law of man’s spiritual nature. The human body manifestly possesses a limited destiny. It attains to complete development and maturity in a few years. It then commences its natural process of decay. Not so of the spirit of man. Reason can discover no limit to its progressive development.

The growth and expansion of the intellect is produced by its exercise upon newly discovered facts and relations, and as the facts of the universe and their relations are without limit, so there can be no reason for setting bounds to the future progress of the human intellect. The incarnate mind is amazed at the stupendous destiny that is stamped upon the intelligence of man.

The moral nature of man is also highly susceptible of consolidation and progress. Strength and stability, result from habitual exercise. The principle of benevolence, which is the great law of our moral nature, is strengthened chiefly by exercise. And all creation is full of exciting causes, and stimulants to the exercise of this faculty. Especially is the moral condition of our world one universal appeal to this principle. Besides, the Creator has connected pleasure with the legitimate exercise of all of the intellectual and moral powers, thus stimulating them to voluntary efforts at development, and indicating their appropriate destiny. Not less truthfully than beautifully is it said, that “the path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day.” Progress, therefore, is a law of man’s spiritual nature.

Having thus imperfectly reviewed the elements of the human constitution, we will proceed to the consideration of the second topic of discourse, viz: What conduct is becoming to human nature, or what is it to show one’s self a man?

1. It is not becoming a man to cultivate and exercise, exclusively or principally, his bodily powers and appetites. Nothing is more unbecoming in a man than the subjection of his physical constitution. What a moral picture is here presented to our conception! Look at the world, materialized, sensualized, degraded! What is the grand inquiry of this God-begotten race? What shall I eat? What shall I drink? Wherewithal shall I be clothed? Constitute the practical ethics of the world! Mind, heart, immortality, God, holiness – these are unwelcome ideas, seldom thought of and scarcely apprehended. What a wide waste of being! “Man, created but a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory,” living like the beasts that perish! In the highest circles of fashion men often present the humiliating phenomena of refined and cultivated animals. Their Divine humanity is lost sight of, eclipsed by refined and reputable sensualism. Is it manly to bring all the immortal powers of the spirit to subserve the momentary gratification of the animal appetites? Is it not worse than brutal? Is it not devoting the powers of a man to perform the acts of a brute? Such is the stultifying influence of the selfish passions, that immortal man has gone mad after sensual pleasure. And although every unlawful indulgence infuses an adder’s poison, yet the subjected spirit is dragged along, as by some infernal spell, from vice to vice, until it becomes the unresisting slave of its own lusts. And then what an object is man! How fallen from his primeval glory!

2. It is unbecoming a man to suffer his intellectual attributes to predominate over and subject his moral sentiments; to develop his mind at the expense and neglect of his heart.

From the lowest walks of life, through all grades of society, to the highest positions of honor and dignity, the majority of men seem everywhere to ignore the existence of a moral and accountable nature. So far from moral considerations bearing supreme sway, their claims are violated and sacrificed for the paltry considerations of temporal gratification. Intellect, and especially that second-rate development called sagacity, smartness, and sometimes talent, is worshipped. Men of genius, where are they? If this age is capable of producing them, they are struggling with adversity or pining in want; and as to superior moral worth, and an uncompromising hostility to wrong, it is an encumbrance. True virtue – not the sham religion of the times – is an un-current element of power. The real statesman may apprehend correctly the great principles that lie at the foundation of his country’s peace, but the mere politician who ignores those principles, and flatters the popular prejudices, is the available man. He, with some noble exceptions, secures the popular suffrage. And the real prophet of God may apprehend fully the moral degeneracy of the Church. He may detect and expose the heartless formalism of her service, the disgraceful inconsistency of her members, and the mercenary motives of her cowering, man-fearing, soul-deceiving priesthood, – but his message is not received. Still the “prophets prophesy smooth things, and the priests bear rule, (keep their places,) and the people love to have it so.”

But this state of things is all incompatible with the natural supremacy of the moral over the other departments of the human constitution. Man’s moral nature was evidently stamped with regal authority. As the supremacy of the physical over the spiritual makes the beast, so the ascendency of the intellectual over the moral, makes the Devil.

Intellect is not the seat of virtue or of bliss. It is the medium of happiness or of misery, according to the moral state of the heart. Did the transcendent genius of Byron make him happy? He

“Stood on the Alps – stood on the Appenines,
And with the thunder talked, as friend to friend,
And wore his garland of the lightning’s wing,
In sportive twist.
Suns, moons, and stars and clouds, his sisters were;
Rocks, mountains, meteors, seas, and winds and storms,
His brothers – younger brothers, whom he scarce
As equals deemed.<

—Yet

He died – he died of what? – of wretchedness;
Drank every cup of joy, heard every trump
Of fame; drank early, deeply drank; drank draughts
That common millions might have quenched – then died
Of thirst, because there was no more to drink.”

Deluded man! He essayed to quench his immortal thirst at the broken vessels of sinful pleasure, but neglected that perennial fountain of life that issues from the Eternal Throne above. It was the matchless words of his own bitter experience, that

“They who know the most
Must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth –
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life”

And so it must ever be with the ascendancy of the intellect over the moral nature of man. To enlarge the intellect while the heart is depraved, is to increase the power of self-torture. Every idea that is received into the mind of an unsanctified heart, will be a charge in the spiritual battery of self-destruction, that will play upon the guilty soul forever.

Is it acting the part of a man to develop all the secondary elements of human nature, while the cardinal principles – those to which all the others are naturally subservient – are either neglected or vitiated? To show one’s self a man, is to develop the entire constitution, and not to neglect or squander the most important part. Melancholy and fearful is the sight of a giant intellect under the control of wickedness. It is dark and terrible as the storms of the tropics – gloomy and desolate as polar midnight.

But I remark positively: 1. To show one’s self a man, is to repent of sin. Strange as this may sound, it is the first step towards real manhood. That man was made for virtue and not vice, – for holiness and not sin – is evident from all the adaptations of his moral constitution. But that he has violated the laws of his moral nature, and become positively vicious, is evident to all. Now the only natural or possible mode of correcting his vitiated moral nature, is to repent. No other act has the least tendency towards it. Repentance, therefore, is not only manly, but is the first truly manly act a human being is capable of. Such is the universality of human wickedness, that all moral acts, previous to repentance, are selfish and unworthy of a man. I am aware that repentance is looked upon as a weakness; but it is the most heroic of acts. It is self-subjection – a triumph over one’s worst foes – those of his own household; yea, those of his own heart! I am not speaking of the servile cowering of the sycophant; but the honest and generous return to duty of the erring subject of the Great God – an acknowledgement of the rights of the Creator and Benefactor of the universe. It is establishing the supremacy of virtue in a self-reined soul. To prostrate one’s self before the Great Jehovah, and ingenuously confess his transgressions, and abandon them forever, shows a perception of right, and evinces an integrity of purpose which is truly exalted and manly. But for a moral being to persist in wrong, against the dictates of his judgment, and under the lash of a guilty conscience, argues anything but manliness. It is the spirit of slavery in the love of it. Viewed by the standard of universal right, man is in ruins. His heart is a moral wreck, and his ignorance of the fact is one of its most melancholy effects. Now I ask if the only retrograde process from vice to virtue, from misery to bliss, and that process approved and urged by every power of the soul, is not a manly process? I say, then, to the persevering transgressor of God’s law: “Show thyself a man,” and repent of you. To the self-enslaved drunkard or epicure, I would say, show yourself a man, and subject your body to the spirit. And to the lover of the world, I would still say, show thyself a man, and trample your idols in the dust. Repentance, meanness? What else is honorable? Is justice mean? What faculty of your mind says it? But repentance is only justice to God and man. Every sin is a blow at the Throne of God and a stab at the heart of man. Sin is an infraction of the law that guards the throne, and protects the interests of the universe, and its criminality and ill-desert is measured only by the magnitude of those interests. And can it be deemed manly to persevere in transgression? Every power and faculty of man’s triune nature answers, no! A wretched, sin-cursed race cries out, no! All the angelic world above, and all the demoniac tribes beneath, unite their testimony against the manliness of continued transgression!

2. Earnest and appropriate efforts to attain to the highest possible degree of moral development, are well becoming a man. Growth in grace, truly apprehended, is the highest possible aim of man on earth. He has not apprehended the relations of man in this world, who has failed to recognize his condition as that of war, – a war of truth against error, – of virtue against vice, – of right against wrong; and it is manly to wage this great war with untiring zeal and true bravery. No nobler spectacle presents itself to observing angels, than that of a weak mortal summoning all his moral powers to the contest of right against wrong, striving to subdue every unworthy principle of action, and aspiring after the highest degree of moral greatness. This is more glorious than all military or civil triumphs.

If you would be manly and truly superior, my hearers, subdue passion; overcome prejudice; re-enthrone reason, and obey the supreme law of your mind.

3. Piety is manly. Reverence for the Supreme Being, and loyalty to the Sovereign of the Universe, are becoming a man, and nothing is more unbecoming that the opposite. There is not a constitutional pulsation of man’s moral nature, nor an adaptation or prompting of his whole constitution, but points to real piety as the true normal condition of his being. Men of mind affect to despise the Christian religion! I mean true apostolic Godliness, – real, genuine Puritanism, – the uncompromising war against the world, the flesh and the devil. They look with contempt and aversion upon the votaries of such a religion, and call the man that renounces the riches and honors of the world for such a religion, and makes himself of no reputation, for Truth’s sake – a miserable fanatic; and they affect to pity his weakness and want of manliness!

But what is a Christian, but a rectified man? This it is; nothing more; nothing less. I protest against the vulgar prejudice that when a man becomes a Christian, he ceases to be a man. He then assumes his proper, his primeval humanity, and never before. Those religions that degrade the soul, narrow the heart, and fill the mind with bigotry, conceit, and unmanly servility, are not genuine Christianity. They are the prolific spawn of an age of heartless formalism. But true Christianity is a very different thing. It is a sacred consecration of all our powers to the good of universal being. It is a condition of vast moral superiority; even a triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is a condition of perpetual antagonism against all wrong, and of uncompromising identity with all right.

Now, shall he who pours out his full heart of love and gratitude upon his Infinite Creator and Benefactor, and devotes all his powers to universal well being, be looked upon with contempt by him who worships the stupid things of sense, and knows no higher motive of action than supreme selfishness? Do you call piety superstition? It is true philosophy. Adoration meanness? It is the highest employment of man! Says a great writer, “No nobler feeling than this of adoration for one higher than himself dwells in the breast of man.” Man was made to love and to love the lovely, and to love supremely the Infinitely Lovely; and this alone is manly. Christianity degrading to humanity? Look at facts. Who is it that now challenges the gratitude and admiration of the civilized world for his unparalleled military heroism in avenging violated and slaughtered innocence, and in protecting and defending the helpless? Who is the avenging hero of bloody Cawnpore, and the angel of salvation to besieged and distressed Luck now? Who wrought those miracles of bravery in that six days march of blood and death from one to the other? The brave, the beloved Havelock, the Baptist exhorter. He it was who when Colonel, baptized the soldiers of his own regiment; and his commanding officer having investigated charges against him for disorderly and un-soldier like conduct in the thing, pronounced his regiment the most orderly and well behaved; and sending him his respects, ordered him to baptize the whole army. Has Christianity degraded that self-sacrificing hero? What else made him equal to the exigency, and carried him triumphantly through those overwhelming scenes?

Did Puritan Christianity render the soldiers of Cromwell inferior as men? When did they show it? Was it on the field of battle? Was it when the gay Cavaliers of the Royal army melted before their burning charges like wax in the furnace? Was it in the presence of the Parliament of England, whom they expelled from their venerated halls because they did the work of the Lord deceitfully, as they said? Was it when, under the inspiration of pure truth, they rose superior to all human laws and precedents, and executed a murderous sovereign in the name of the Eternal God? What made Cromwell’s Ironsides all heroes? What but the Christian religion? Are you ashamed of piety as unmanly? Go, erase from the scroll of fame the names of Washington, Wilberforce, Newton, Locke, and Milton, and even old Socrates, the most pious of the heathen!

Nowhere will you find the complete development of all the departments of the human constitution, but under the rectifying influence of a pure Christianity.

4. Love to our fellow man is essential to a manly character. The duties of justice between man and man and the spirit of universal brotherhood, are manifest dictates of the human constitution; and when man violates these principles, he so far forth ceases to be human, and approaches the character of spirits and beasts of prey. The relation of mutual dependence and essential equality, which characterizes the race, stamps its destiny in this respect. “No man lives to himself” and obeys the laws of his being; and he who lives a life of supreme selfishness, lives in violation of the laws that are written upon his constitution, and he experiences all the melancholy consequences of transgression. His heart is withered, his moral sense blunted, and his whole spiritual nature vitiated. Look at the selfish world. Man rioting upon the blood and bones of his fellow! Is this manly? Is it the dictate of the human constitution? Is man really a beast of prey? Has God furnished him with the tusks of the hyena? Has he endowed him with the mean selfishness of the wolf? The sly deception and trickery of the fox? And the fatal poison of the adder, that he should go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour? Whence this divine sense of justice, and those celestial promptings of benevolence and generosity? Ah! Man was made to be the brother, and not the tyrant and robber of his fellow man. Those fraternal promptings of his unsophisticated nature are unmistakable. They utter plainly the voice of nature’s God.

Rem. 1. This subject suggests a forcible argument in proof of the divinity of the Christian religion. It is the entire harmony of that religion with the human constitution. Reason can account for the wonderful adaptation of the provisions of the Gospel to the spiritual necessities of man, only on the theory of a common author. Philosophy had exhausted her resources in four thousand years of fruitless efforts to solve the momentous problem of human regeneration. All was hopeless darkness until the Star of Bethlehem arose with the beams of Heaven’s own light. From that great day to the present time, true Christianity has been the uniform antagonist of vice, and the great lever of human elevation. To my mind, it is far more difficult to account for the human than the divine origin or Christianity. Reason testifies, not that God was not its author, but that none but God could have been its author.

2. Notice one of the popular errors of the times. It is the neglect of the moral culture of the masses. Great and unwanted efforts are made by governments and associations to extend popular education. But education is limited to the cultivation of the intellect. No appropriate influences are used to cultivate the controlling and prompting powers of conscience and heart. Temples of Minerva, called colleges, are built and endowed; temples of fashion, called churches, are enlarged and beautified, but no temples of truth, charity and self-sacrificing benevolence are consecrated in the popular heart. Ah! My hearers, common school education will not save this country. The disease of this nation lies deeper than the intellect. It is in the heart and moral feelings of the people, and the remedy must be applied there. Like the old Jacobins, you have erected an altar to the Goddess of Reason, and alongside of it you have inaugurated the profligate worship of Bacchus, the degrading slavery of Mammon, and the wild disorder of Belial. The stream of public corruption is onward and resistless. Nothing can save this nation from discord and universal profligacy, but the wide dissemination of a reformed Christianity.

3. You see that genuine Christianity is not incompatible with the dignity and true prosperity of man. What is human dignity but the realization of human destiny? And what is prosperity but the healthy development of the entire man? But practical Christianity alone secures these ends. There is not an instinct of human nature but is gratified to its fullest susceptibility, solely by complying with the true dictates of Christianity. One can enjoy the legitimate pleasure of the bodily appetites to the highest degree, only by obedience to the Christian mandate of temperance in all things. The rich man fails of the highest advantages of wealth, unless that wealth is all consecrated to God – and so of an unsanctified ambition. Be assured, my hearers, yonder Presidential mansion will not pay at the cost of one iota of personal integrity. Fanatic or not, I protest to you that it is no temptation to a mind that appreciates the transcendent glory of moral excellence. There is a more true dignity in wheeling the gravel of the streets, with an untarnished and un-degraded spirit, than in mounting the proudest throne on earth, at the cost of honor, personal independence and true liberty. If, then, you would rise superior to all the corrupt dominions of earth, show thyself a man – claim your divine birthright, and wield the scepter of moral dominion over the world, the flesh and the Devil.

By all the necessities of your temporal being – by the immortal hungering of your deathless spirit – by the universal wail of a sin-cursed world – by the sympathetic yearnings of angelic hosts above – and by the infinite pulsations of God’s compassionate heart, I urge and entreat you now to show yourselves men; dethrone the world, and give your heart to God, and your life to the temporal and eternal welfare of your race.