Topics: Holidays

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Evan Johns (1763-1849) was born in Wales and emigrated to the United States in 1801. He was selected as the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Berlin, CT in 1802 and served until 1811. He became pastor of the Congregational Church of Canandaigua, NY in 1817.

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Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity religion and morality are indispensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.

 

“Through the good hand of our God upon us we are, once more, assembled to contemplate the various benefits, conferred upon us by divine providence; to cultivate sentiments of gratitude, and to present, to our liberal Benefactor, that homage, of which he is worthy. An exercise this, at once, rational and delightful; an exercise which, if we engage in it heartily, cannot fail to promote our happiness; since the feelings of gratitude are, in themselves, pleasant, and at the same time a source of contentment. Should we properly discharge the duty now before us, we shall, not only act the part of Christians, but also, become more respectable as citizens; and lay a foundation for that harmony, without which, the highest external privileges will never secure even our temporal happiness. To have the mind ever attentive to existing evils, and forgetful of actual good, while it involves the basest ingratitude to God, is to furnish ground for the most serious disunion. It is to keep alive those embers which when supplied with but a moderate quantity of fuel, never fail to break out into a devouring conflagration.

Permit the preacher, then, to act in character as a minister of the Prince of peace. Surely, no one on the present occasion will charge him with going out of his province, though he should advert to some topics of a political nature – topics not adapted to foment a factious spirit; to gratify or chagrin a party, as such; but to promote that complacency of soul, essential to self enjoyment. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.”

Happily for us, the subject matter to which the text naturally leads us, is applicable to the United States at this time; but particularly so, to the State in which we live.

In the first place we have “no breaking in:” we are not annoyed by foreign invasion.

Many of my hearers know, by experience, by what a sore evil it is for a people to have their country the seat of war. They, who have been active in a state of warfare, can never forget the SCENES, which it presents, and the EFFECTS, of which it is productive. They must remember the pangs of distress, mutually experienced when they were separated from their friends, uncertain whether they should, ever, meet again. They can easily recollect the feelings they had at the moment of departure from the domestic roof – feelings, which must have been painful, though their breasts should have been animated, in the highest degree, by patriotism. They will call to mind, how they felt, when about to face a formidable enemy on the field of Battle; as well as when engaged in the work of Death: – the scenes of carnage which their eyes beheld; and the groans, which, notwithstanding the thunder of War, pierced their ears : – the fatigue they experienced, even when Victory was perched on their banners; but more particularly, the evils attendant on a hasty retreat before a pursuing Enemy: – how trying it is, in such circumstances, to encounter the inclemencies of the weather; and to experience the attacks of wasting Disease.

The bad EFFECTS which a state of war produces on morals must be fresh in their recollection, now the business of education was neglected, the Sabbath, in many instances, a time of hurry and bustle, the House of God, in a measure, deserted, and violence practiced by wicked individuals, glad to throw off the restrains of the civil Law. They must know that, an Army, tho’ under the strictest discipline, is a School of irreligion, where habits of licentiousness are acquired; where he who was a libertine in secret, throws off the mask, and becomes the open Advocate of principles baneful to the happiness of Man. They must know that, habits principled people, who have opportunities to gratify their avarice at the expense of the Public: – habits which, long afterwards, continue to prey on the Community. To paint all the evils of War is not practicable. They are numberless. War is one of the greatest scourges with which Heaven, in its wrath, punishes a people. But, with this sore judgment, we are not visited. Our Territory remains in peace at this very remarkable period, when a great part of what is called the civilized World, suffers the Horrors of War, of which the flames after having been suppressed for a very short season, soon bursting forth with increased violence.

How thankful ought we to be to Divine Providence for casting our lot in a Country separated, by a wide Ocean from the European World; and, consequently, exempt from the danger, to which otherwise, we should have been exposed! May the people of the United States, ever, make a wise use of their advantageous situation. May they never permit European transactions to foment among them a Spirit, in the least degree, favoring of Faction. Let us carefully avoid even the Language to which civil animosities have given rise in a remote quarter of the world. Be it our study to frown on those, who would introduce, into our happy Land, that Spirit which has spread such desolation in distant parts. Keep your eye fixed on the welfare of your country; and never suffer yourselves to be agitated by designing men, to whatever Party they belong.

It is natural to presume that, Parents will cheerfully follow the line of conduct marked out; since, in a state of peace only, “their Sons will be as plants grown up in their youth,” not liable to be cut down by the sword of Violence, before they attain the maturity of Manhood. In a state of peace only, not amidst the tumults of War can their “Daughters be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude for a Palace;” well educated, so as to have their Manners correct; brought up under the influence of Religion so as to have their Morals untainted by Vice. Young People, surely, will be advocates for the doctrine, here inculcated; because, in the absence of War only, can they enjoy the charms of mutual society and, advantageously, form the most important connection in life. The Husbandman will, readily, approve of what is recommended; since, by the continuance of Peace only, can he, with any certainty, expect to avail himself of his “strong oxen to labor” for his advantage, that, his “Garners may be full, affording all manner of store.”

Such being the happy state of our Country, let me, again, call on you to present to Heaven the Incense of gratitude.

Our Country is happy in another respect. “There is no breaking in,” – no invasion of Liberty and Property.

Fully represented, by persons of your own choice, deputed for a short period, at the expiration of which they return to the mass of people. You have every security against the enacting of laws prejudicial to your interest. Under such a Constitution of things your Liberty cannot be invaded. It stands on the firm basis of a purely representative Government. Nor is there any danger of your Laws being improperly administered; since your Executive and your Magistrates are, annually, reappointed by yourselves, or your Representatives; and therefore, must feel themselves habitually, responsible to the Public for their official conduct. Any misconduct in their Office would be their undoing. To continue in Office, by reappointment, those who have been faithful in the discharge of their duty is a wise maxim, which, by prescription, is, in a manner, become the Law of the State. By observing that Rule, the most effectual means are taken to join the advantage of the experience with that of talent’ and to preclude the uncertainty which must arise from a frequent succession in such Offices. Surely, more dependence can be, rationally, placed on those, whose skill and integrity have been tried, than on others, of whose ability and uprightness you have had no experimental proof. This mode of acting, also, while it makes the Officers, in question, sensible of their responsibility, gives them a manly independence, in the discharge of their duty; assured that while they behave well they shall not be supplanted by intriguing Place-seekers.

Thus, it appears that, your liberty, political and personal, in secure; shielded by a full representation in the Legislature, and an equal administration of the laws. As evident is it that your Property is safe. It cannot be taken from you without your consent, either in your own persons, or in the act of your Representatives. What a striking contrast between your situation and that of those Countries where the reverse of all this obtains: where the Enjoyment of the most important rights depends on an arbitrary act of the will!

Your only danger is from YOURSELVES. As long as you cultivate Virtue and acquire the knowledge competent to the proper management of your affairs, you are safe. But should you lay aside all respect for the Institutions of you Forefathers; – should you cease to watch over the education of youth; – should you give yourselves up to gambling, idleness, and dissipation; – should you lend a credulous ear to designing Demagogues, – to men professing great concern for the people, while eagerly pursuing their own advantage only’ your Ruin will be the speedy and certain consequence. Such Conduct as this is the Rock on whish Republican Governments, of former ages, have made shipwreck.  Information and Virtue alone can preserve you. Let every individual act, as if the future state of his Country, and the happiness of posterity, depended on himself alone.

Let us proceed to consider a third particular in which our Country is eminently happy. There is “no going out:” none are banished or harassed into voluntary Exile.

The experience of our Forefathers, by whom this Country was first settled, in this respect, differed widely from ours. To enjoy, in security and without molestation, the most sacred rights, they were obliged to leave their native land, – to immigrate to this western world, then a savage wilderness. With the difficulties they had to surmount, and the hardships they were obliged to endure, you cannot be unacquainted. You need not be told of the dangers which met them at every step of their progress in this Country, presenting nothing but the wilds of nature, where all was gloomy and frightful. “The forests were dark and tangled; the meadows were overgrown with rank weeds; and the brooks strayed without a determined channel.” In the meantime cruel Savages, ever hostile to strangers, roamed through the Territory and claimed it as their own. Even, within the memory of some persons now living, such was the state of things in the district where we reside. To settle here was deemed a most formidable undertaking, by those, who lived but a few miles distant. But the scene is now changed. The wilderness is become a fruitful field; and you are surrounded, not with the necessaries of life only, but also with many of the elegant accommodations so important to the happiness of civilized man. Population rapidly increases, and every possible encouragement is given to the exertions of Industry. Hence, the hand of the diligent cannot fail to make him rich, if he be prudent and temperate. Thus, while, to the present hour, in other parts of the world, many are obliged to turn their backs on their native spot, you have it in your power to live in ease and security, within your Township. In the recollection of what were the circumstances of you Forefathers, may we not say to you, “other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors?” Let me repeat it: to make you as comfortable in your circumstances as is desirable for mankind, nothing is necessary but good Conduct on your part. Shall we survey the good which we enjoy and not acknowledge the hand which bestows it? Shall we not, rather, make the Language of the devout Psalmist our own?

“Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it; thou preparedst room before it; and didst cause it to take root and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it; and the boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.” From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi and the Western waters, of what a Territory are American Citizens the absolute lords!

If any persons, among you leave the district which gave them birth; it is not because they are harassed at home, but because the most extraordinary encouragement is held forth to their industry elsewhere; or because, in those parts, which, as yet, have a very defective population, they can acquire possession of land upon very easy terms. To a person, who has witnessed the evils which sorely oppress a large portion of the human race in the Old world, a scene like this in the New, must, if he have a spark of benevolence, afford the most genuine pleasure.

Permit the preacher to lead you to the contemplation of a fourth circumstance which marks you happy state. “There is no complaining in your Streets:” there is no perversion of Public Justice, – no invasion of the rights of conscience.

Are not your equitable laws righteously administered? Are not your “Judges as at the first and your Counselors as at the beginning”? Yes, your laws are accurately defined by men of integrity and professional talents; and points, in contest, are referred for decision to your Peers, – Jurors chosen impartially from yourselves. Thus provision is made, on the one hand, for the conviction and punishment of the guilty criminal; and, on the other, for the acquittal of the innocent: a provision of such long experience has proved the salutary effects. No one can suffer in his person, his property, or his reputation, through the capricious or interested decision of a Despot. Nor can I overlook the comparatively small Expense with which justice is administered; so that, the poor, as well as the rich, may obtain their rights. Would God that, through human depravity, this circumstance were never an encouragement to commence vexatious and unnecessary Law-suits! The character of man, however, must be entirely changed; so as to render the existence of law unnecessary, before this can be rationally expected.

As for the rights of conscience among you, they cannot with truth be said to be violated. Is not every one at full liberty, in the manner which he prefers to worship God? You have no exclusive establishment. You have no religious articles drawn up in scholastic language imposed on you by human authority. The Magistrate does not sentence you to everlasting damnation, if you refuse to subscribe to his religious Creed. You are not subjected to civil disabilities for Nonconformity to a mode of worship. Any peculiarity of religious opinion does not lower you in the estimation of a majority of your fellow Citizens, provided your manners be inoffensive, and your morals pure. Avery slight acquaintance with those Countries, where exclusive Religious Establishments have long obtained, would convince you, that the reverse of all this is there experienced. Under a genuine Religious Establishment, though you should contribute liberally towards the support of religion in the manner approved by your Conscience, you would be compelled to pay one tenth part of your whole produce, to maintain the form of religious worship preferred by the Chief Magistrate. There, permission to worship God without violating your Conscience, you would find regarded as a mighty favor. And though you should happen to approve of the established mode of divine worship, you would have no influence whatever in the choice of your religious instructor. Though his talents were of the meanest kind, his learning contemptible, his doctrine no better than pagan Morality, his habits indolent, and his morals vile; you would be compelled to contribute a tenth of your produce towards his support, during the term of his natural life. This is the nature of Religious Establishments. I am, thus, particular, because I would not have you err so grossly as to apply the phrase religious establishment to a state of things to which it is not at all applicable.

“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord:” happy is that people among whom legal support is given to Christian instruction; or whose Legislature give patronage to the Gospel.

To many persons, I am aware, the existing law, in regard to religion, is very obnoxious. If any such be present, they are requested to hear, with candor, what the preacher is about to advance on this branch of his subject. Will it not be granted, that, Christianity is favorable to the temporal happiness of mankind? I presume that, none will contest this, but such men as are, at once, “wicked and unreasonable.” All who have but a moderate acquaintance with the New Testament, the love, meekness, forbearance, and gentleness there inculcated; the temperance, the equity the benevolence and the probity it enjoins; the powerful motives by which its lessons are enforced, motives the best adapted to sway the human heart; will readily acknowledge that, the Gospel of the Prince of peace is the most powerful engine which can be employed to promote the happiness of man in this world; even on the supposition (if it can be made for a moment) there were not future state of retribution.

But not to enlarge on this topic, let us appeal to fact, and facts are stubborn things. Is it not true, that, where Christianity has existed in any degree of purity, for a length of time, it meliorates the character of THOSE, who have no true religion? What has introduced that urbanity of manners, peculiar to modern Christendom? What gave rise to the striking contrast between the civilized part of the world now, and the most renowned nations of antiquity, in the article of POLITENESS? I boldly aver it is Christianity. It is not a notorious fact, that, when it was fashionable in France to exclaim against all Religion, there were seen not only the triumph of Licentiousness, but a visible degeneracy in the Manners of the people: – that, they, for a time divested themselves of the politeness, which used to distinguish them as a nation; and became, in the same proportion slovenly in their dress? To prove the truth of the same position, permit me to call your attention to a striking fact, notice by Sir George Staunton in his account of Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China; a country where Christianity never prevailed. At a certain place, He informs us, where an immense concourse of people eagerly pressed to see the English strangers passing along the road, many had stationed themselves on the Barges navigating the Canals. There, a man, unfortunately, fell into the water; and was seen in a drowning state, while his hat floated on the surface. But the Bystanders were not disposed to rescue him, while greedy to secure the hat. Would the least improved class of people in these States or in England; would an American or British sailor though habitually drunken and profane, have acted thus? No. He would have instantly lunged into the water to relieve the distressed. Upon what principle can we, rationally, account for this difference of character, if not on that of the remote or indirect influence of Christianity?

It is remarkable that, poor people, when under the influence of Religion, exhibit a neatness and cleanliness in their person and habitations, to be, in vain, looked for among the irreligious in the same circumstances. This is so evidently the case that four medical Gentlemen, at Norwich in England, not remarkable for their Christian zeal, declared, in the social circle, that they instantly knew whether a family were religious, on their entrance into a Patient’s apartment. Religion, they said, where it existed, infallibly indicated itself by the exercise of foresight, and a certain comfortable appearance not to be seen elsewhere. Are not my hearers ready to testify that, their observations are to the amount? – that, those who pay a steady regard to the institutions of Religion appear in their persons and houses, to much greater advantage, than those who neglect religious duties?

We ought, also, to remember that law is but a feeble barrier against iniquity of every kind, if not supported by the influence of Religion upon Conscience. Let those determine on this point, who have visited certain parts of the United State, where Religion is very feeble or very limited, in its effects; or rather where its influence has never been felt. They will confirm every observation of the Preacher.

I could mention to you examples of Parishes in this State, where the people have been obliged to borrow money, when inattentive to religious order; but, in their turn, have been able to advance loans, after a steady attendance on the Institutions of the Gospel. Christianity, then, powerfully tends to the temporal happiness of man.

That the rights of Conscience are not infringed by any law of this state, as already, appeared. But, here, let me advert to a principle which no one will be hardy enough to controvert.  IT IS A DUTY INCUMBENT ON THE CIVIL LEGISLATURE TO EMPLOY ALL MEANS APARENTLY ADAPTED TO ENSURE PUBLIC ORDER AND PRIVATE SECURITY. On this immovable foundation stand your School-laws. And those persons, whose care the Welfare of the State is committed, have a right to consider our places of worship in the same point of view: Schools where lessons of morality are given without which the Community cannot prosper. What is man, come to mature years, but a grown up Child? The hackneyed argument employed against the institutions of our Forefathers, if it prove anything, proves too much; that is, it proves nothing. It would annihilate all the provision made for the education of our Children, consign us to a state of general barbarism, and, soon, make us bow the neck, ingloriously, to the yoke of Despotism. A state of ignorance and licentiousness would, in a very short time, convert the plausible, fawning Demagogue into an oppressive and cruel Tyrant. Hence, the friends of our religious Institutions are the most powerful supporters of liberty; and the persons, who would abolish the laws in question, whether they know it are not, are the enemies of their Country; and, were they to prevail, would prove the Pioneers of Despotism. Shall we not, therefore, most cordially comply with what the Proclamation recommends by praising God “for the moral and social Institutions wisely adopted by our venerable Forefathers; and that their influence continues to operate in a valuable degree”?

“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord”

The things already asserted to are so many realities; but realities which pertain to this world only. In the meantime, we are bound for ETERNITY. Far be it from us, therefore, to view religion in no other light, than as a source of present advantage. You may be so trained up, and have such habits established, as to be respectable as Citizens, while destitute of the grace of God. You may be under effectual Restraints, through a Christian education, so as to be preserved, at least, from flagrant misdeeds; while the heart remains unchanged, and you continue at enmity with God; in a true state of variance with that Being into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall. The observance of the best order, in this life, will not fit you for Heaven; those regions whither purity alone shall enter.

The Lord cannot be said to be your God in the most important sense, compared with which, all other considerations are as the small dust on the Balance unless your hearts are the temples of the Divine Spirit. All your advantages will not avail you, if destitute of faith in Christ, operating effectually within you, as a living principle, in the mortification of sin, and in the cultivation of that temper which distinguishes the Christian. Without this, though you should be exalted to heaven, like Capernaum, you shall be brought down to Hell: without this, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for you: without this, your residence in this favored country will occasion a dreadful increase in misery in the End. This is the most important concern; and we are constrained to address you in the plainest language, and in the most solemn tone. Woe unto the Minister who flatters his people.

But there are those among you, whose God is the Lord in the most important sense; – on whose hearts the divine law is written by the finger of the Holy Spirit; and with whom God has made an everlasting covenant well ordered in all things and sure. Happy the persons who are in such a state. They have acquired the knowledge which is the most useful, the most necessary, and the most noble. They are rescued from then most alarming situation; and there is no longer “a dreadful sound in their ears.” They are raised from the most degraded state of bondage, and have had conferred upon them liberty of the most glorious kind. They are partakers of a truly solid peace: their minds are animated by the most glorious hope, – the most exalted expectation. They have a certain promise of unerring guidance on the most important occasions. Through the medium of the divine word and ordinances; by prayer and meditation; and in the contemplation of nature; they have intercourse with God.

To them adversity itself proves advantageous; – Death has no terror, but opens an avenue to immortality. For them is reserved the most glorious inheritance, of which the human imagination cannot form an adequate conception. “Happy is the people that is in such a Case.”

Let me ask you whether this be your condition? Have you no evidence of it? And are you, nevertheless, easy about the great concert? Is it possible? Yes: you are, habitually, secure; though conscience, at times, denounce against you, beforehand, the judgment which will overwhelm the Workers of iniquity. “What meanest thou O sleeper? Arise and call upon thy God.” Then, should your life be spared another year, twelve months hence, you will have an additional subject for praise and thanksgiving: – that, you have been visited with spiritual day; that, though lost you are found, though dead, you are alive again. Then shall you enjoy the bounty of providence with double relish. Otherwise , your “table will become a snare to you; and that, which should have been for your welfare, a trap.”

Joseph Lathrop (1731-1820) Biography:

Lathrop was born in Norwich, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale, he took a teaching position at a grammar school in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he also began studying theology. Two years after leaving Yale, he was ordained as the pastor of the Congregational Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts. He remained there until his death in 1820, in the 65^th year of his ministry. During his career, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from both Yale and Harvard. He was even offered the Professorship of Divinity at Yale, but he declined the offer. Many of his sermons were published in a seven-volume set over the course of twenty-five years.

Following are two sermons preached by Lathrop on two separate Sabbath days. Both of these sermons were based on Revelation 1:10.

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TTWOSERMONS,

On The

Christian Sabbath,

For Distribution

In The New Settlements

Of The

UNITED STATES.

By JOSEPH LATHROP, D. D.
Pastor of the first Church in West-Springfield.

ON THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH.SERMON I.Revelation I. 10.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.

The Apostle John was one of those, who by their doctrine and works bare testimony to the resurrection and divinity of Jesus Christ. For this testimony, he was banished by the Roman Emperor to an island called Patmos, a dreary, uninhabited island in the Archipelago, which is a part of the Mediterranean sea.

As his crime was preaching the gospel of Christ, his persecutor chose to send him into a solitary and desolate place, where he would have no opportunity to propagate his religion. But no solitude could exclude him from communion with God—no artifice of man could defeat the purpose of heaven. Here was communicated to him, in vision, that wonderful revelation, which contains a prophetic series of events, from that time to the end of the world, and which, in every age, is a standing demonstration of the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ. ‘The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.’

John makes particular mention of the day, on which he received the divine communication. ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.’

The churches, to whom he wrote, knew and observed this day. He named it to them to shew, that their Lord had put a distinguished honor upon it, and that they were bound to keep it holy in honor and obedience to him. On this day John was in the Spirit. Being engaged in the exercises of piety and devotion, he enjoyed that high communion with God, which, at other times, he had seldom known. By a pious observance of God’s consecrated day he could have communion with him in a wilderness.

We will here consider the day, which is distinguished by the name of the Lord’s day—the manner in which the holy apostle was employed on this day—and the advantage, which he found in his employment.

We will then attend to the instructions, which may be collected from our subject.

I. We observe, first, that the apostle speaks of a certain day, distinguished from all others by the name of the Lord’s day.

As he was writing to Christian churches, and expressly to the churches in Asia, he undoubtedly called the day by a name, which was then common and familiar among Christians. We may therefore conclude, that there was a certain day, which, in the apostles’ times, was known and observed in all the churches, as eminently and peculiarly the Lord’s day. And this must be the first day of the week, the day on which the Lord arose from the dead; for no other day is mentioned in the New Testament, as in any respect distinguished among Christians from other days, or as entitled to the peculiar honor of being called by this name.

As the sacrament of the supper, which was instituted in remembrance of Christ’s death, is called the Lord’s Supper; so the day on which he arose from the dead is called the Lord’s day. As the supper is distinguished from all other festivals by the express institution of Christ, and by his express command to observe it in remembrance of his death; so the day of his resurrection is distinguished from all other days by this great and important event, and sequestered by his authority as a day of religious worship among Christians, that this interesting event might the better be kept in remembrance. There is the same reason, why Christians should have a standing memorial of his resurrection as of his death. The supper is the memorial of the one; the Christian Sabbath is the memorial of the other. And this is called the Lord’s day, for the same reason, as that is called the Lord’s Supper.

The name seems to be taken from the 24th verse of the 188th Psalm, where David, speaking prophetically of Christ’s resurrection, says, ‘I will praise thee, for thou art become my salvation. The stone, which the builders refused, is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day, which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice in it, and be glad.’ Here is a plain intimation, that the day, on which the marvelous work of Christ’s resurrection should be accomplished—the day, when the stone rejected by the builders should be made the head of the corner, would be consecrated for, and observed by the church, as eminently the Lord’s day—the day which he had made in a peculiar sense—had dignified by his resurrection, and appointed by his authority for religious worship.

And we find in fact, that this day, immediately and constantly, after our Lord’s resurrection, was observed among his disciples as a day sacred to piety and devotion. And the observance of it was doubtless in compliance with the previous instructions of him, who is Lord of the Sabbath; otherwise we can hardly suppose, it would have begun so soon, and prevailed so generally, as it appears to have done.

The apostle John, in his gospel, tells us, that Jesus rose from the dead early on the first day of the week. ‘And the same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, when the disciples were assembled together, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you.’ And on the eighth day after this, when the disciples were again assembled together, came Jesus, as before, and stood in the midst of them.

There is certainly some reason, why these circumstances are so particularly remarked, once and again. And what could it be, but because this day was, in future, to be distinguished by the religious assemblies, of Christians, and the gracious presence of Christ in them?

We are told, in the history of the acts, that ‘when Paul and his company came to Troas,’ where was a Christian church, ‘they tarried there seven days; and on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.’ And because this was the day, on which Christians statedly assembled for religious worship, Paul gives instructions to the churches of Corinth and Galatia, that, in order to prepare a collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem, ‘every one, on the first day of the week, should lay by him in store, as God had prospered him.

This day was honored by the first remarkable effusion of the divine Spirit on the apostles of Christ, and the preachers of his Gospel; and by the first signal instance of the success of their preaching. ‘When the day of Pentecost was fully come, the disciples were all together with one accord.’ This is the same festival, which, in the law of Moses, is called the feast of weeks; i.e. of seven weeks, or one week multiplied into another, which make forty nine days. It was forty nine days after the second day of the Passover. Pentecost signifies the fiftieth. It is so called, because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day from the first day of the Passover. The first day of the Passover was the Jewish Sabbath; the fiftieth day from thence would be the first day of the week. On this day the disciples were all together. On this day Christ fulfilled the promise, which, before his ascension, he made to his disciples, that ‘they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.’ On this day Peter preached to the assembled Jews; and the word came with power and with the Holy Ghost. Multitudes were awakened and converted, and the same day there were added to the church three thousand souls.

In this chapter, which contains our text, we have another example to our purpose. John, in his vision, beheld the churches in Asia assembled, on the Lord’s day, for religious worship, and the Lord Jesus walking among them, to observe their order, to assist their pastors, and to impart his grace. He says, ‘I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day. And I heard behind me a great voice, saying, I am the First, and the Last. And what thou seest write in a book, and send to the seven churches which are in Asia. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of them one like the son of man—his eyes were as a flame of fire—and he had in his right hand seven stars.—The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches.’ This vision plainly instructs us, that the Lord’s day was the time, when the churches assembled for hearing the word—that on this day, their respective angels or pastors attended to preach the word to them—and that the Lord Jesus, in a peculiar manner, honoured this day by his gracious presence with his worshipping assemblies, & ministering servants.

These examples sufficiently demonstrate, that the churches, from the time of Christ’s resurrection, and during the life of the apostles, met for social devotion on the first day of the week, and that they did this with the approbation of him, who is Lord of the Sabbath, and in consequence of his institution.

We find, indeed, that Paul often went into synagogues to preach on the Jewish sabbath, or the seventh day of the week; for as this was the day, on which the Jews assembled for worship, it was the most favorable opportunity to preach the gospel to them. But wherever Christian churches were established the first day of the week was invariably observed as sacred time. This was the day on which they met together to hear the word, break bread, and unite in prayer and praise.

That a seventh part of time should be sequestered for the purposes of piety and devotion was a law as early as the creation of man. ‘On the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; and he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.’ This law is not only recorded by Moses for the Jews, but seems to have been conveyed to other nations, by tradition. How else should it be, that nations, which had no knowledge of, or paid no respect to the mosaic law, should think of dividing their time into periods of seven days? Periods of years are naturally marked by the declinations of the sun: periods of months are also marked by the changes of the moon: periods of days are marked by the vicissitudes of light and darkness. We easily see, how mankind came to agree in these divisions of time. But how came they to think of these septenary [seven] periods of days? Doubtless they were taught, from the beginning, to reverence one day in seven as consecrated to God.

The sons of Adam had their stated seasons of worship. These were probably at the end of the days appointed for labor. ‘Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.’ They both were employed in secular occupations. ‘And in process of time;’ or, as the margin reads, agreeably to the original, ‘at the end of the days, they brought the one of the fruit of his ground, and the other of the firstlings of his flock, an offering unto the Lord.’

Noah, after the ark had rested, constantly observed periods of seven days in sending forth his doves, to discover whether the waters of the flood were abated.

The Jews, in the wilderness, before the law was given from Sinai, observed one day in seven, as a holy Sabbath; and God, by withholding the manna on a certain day, pointed out this, as the day of rest. Moses, by God’s direction, says to the people on the sixth day, ‘Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath. Six days ye shall gather the manna; but on the seventh, which is the Sabbath, there shall be none.’

When the law was given, there was placed among the moral precepts, a command to observe a seventh part of time as holy to God. This with the others, was spoken by the voice of God to the people, and written with the finger of God on a table of stone, and deposited by the order of God in the ark of the covenant. These circumstances plainly indicate its moral and perpetual obligation.

The contempt of the Sabbath is in scripture ranked with idolatry, and other gross corruptions and immoralities; for it always was followed with a general depravation of sentiments and manners. One reason, why the Jews were to observe the Sabbath, was that they might not be seduced to idolatry: And one reason, why Christians are not to forsake the assembling of themselves together on the Lord’s day is, that they may hold fast the profession of their faith.

The prophets, in their reproofs and exhortations to the Jews, lay particular weight on the religious observance of the Sabbath, and distinguish this from all ceremonial observances. This they urge, in degenerate times, as the first step to a reformation, and a principal mean of national virtue, security and happiness: And the judgments which befell that nation are oftener ascribed to their profanation of God’s holy day, than to any other particular crime; for this was the source of all crimes.

If we believe, that there is one supreme God, who exercises a moral government in the world, we must believe, that we are bound to worship him. And if we believe, that we are made to subsist in a social connection, and to serve one another in the exercise of mutual benevolence; and that God extends his government to societies, as well as to individuals, then we must believe, that social worship is a moral duty. If we are to worship God in a social manner, there must be some fixed and known season for this purpose. And as mankind would not be likely to agree on the time, it is reasonable to expect, that God, in a revelation given to men, would appoint the time for them. Thus far the observance of a Sabbath is matter of moral obligation, as really as prayer, or praise, or any exercise of piety, justice or benevolence.

A seventh part of time seems to be a reasonable proportion for sacred use. Too frequent a return of holy time would exclude the necessary occupations of the world. Too long intervals would leave the pious sentiments awakened in our devout exercises to languish and expire. Tho’ we cannot say, that this is the only proportion, which would answer the purposes of piety, without intruding on the duties of common life, yet experience teaches us, that it is justly and wisely chosen. Which of the seven days should be consecrated to religion, in preference to the others, reason could form no judgment. This depends on positive institution, and belongs not at all to the morality of the command. And therefore, tho’ the Sabbath cannot be abolished, yet the day may be changed. From the time of the creation, there was a natural propriety in resting from the labors of life, on the day, on which the work of creation ceased, because this would aptly bring to mind that vast and stupendous work.

The deliverance of the Jews from the bondage of Egypt, was an event, in which that nation were deeply interested, and which, in all generations, they ought thankfully to commemorate. Therefore the renovation of the ancient institution, so far as it peculiarly respected them, had a special reference to this deliverance; and their observance of the Sabbath is urged by this, in addition to other arguments. ‘Keep the Sabbath day, and sanctify it, as the Lord hath commanded thee—Remember, that thou waft a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord brought thee out thence with a mighty hand; therefore he commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.’

The Jewish Sabbath was appointed to be on the day of this deliverance. Thus it would be a mere pertinent commemoration of it. The resurrection of Christ, by which he finished the work of our redemption, was an event far more grand, interesting and glorious. Hence there was a manifest propriety in setting apart that day of the week, on which he arose, to be observed in perpetual remembrance of this event. This was eminently the Lord’s day; and as such it was revered and observed in all churches of the saints.

We proposed to shew,

II. How John was employed on this sacred day. It appears from the text, and the words connected with it, that he spent this, and doubtless other Lord’s days, in the exercises of religious worship.

As he was confined to a place uninhabited, he had no opportunity to join in those social devotions, which were a usual part of the business of the Lord’s day among the early Christians. But he did not forget the day, when it returned. He remembered it in distinction from all other days, and spent it, as far as he was able, in conformity to the sacred design of its institution. He did not give himself to indolence and slumber, as if there were nothing to be done; but implied in the expression, I was in the Spirit. He had a vision of the assembled churches, and of Jesus walking in the midst of them. He attended to the instructions given him by Christ relative to the work which he had to perform, particularly to the admonitions, which he was to send to the churches in Asia. Not able to go and preach to them in person, he employed the day in writing letters of reproof, instruction, and consolation, that they might know what the Spirit said to them.

It was by humble prayer, that the prophets of old were prepared to receive the visions of God. Daniel, before he was made acquainted with the great designs of providence concerning the church, set himself to search the word of God, and to seek light and direction from him by earnest supplication. The visions, which he has recorded, were made to him in consequence of fasting and prayer and reading the books of former prophets. In like manner John was prepared for the discoveries made to him. He remembered the Lord’s day. He gave himself to meditation and prayer, and doubtless also to reading the prophets; for from them he has taken many of the expressions, and most of the figurative descriptions, which we find in this book. While he was seeking divine grace, light and comfort in these devout exercises of the Lord’s day, the heavenly communications were made to him.

This leads us to consider.

III. The benefit, which the apostle found, in attending on the duties of the Lord’s day.

He says, I was in the Spirit. This phrase especially intends the communication of the Spirit of prophecy, as appears from the following description of the vision presented to him. The phrase is again used in the same manner in the 4th chapter. The expression, in this high sense, is applicable only to the prophets of God. But there is a sense in which it may be applied to every pious and humble Christian. As there was an extraordinary operation of the Spirit, peculiar to the prophetic and apostolic ages, so there is an ordinary influence, common to all ages of the church.

The Spirit of God is represented as dwelling in the hearts of true believers, to sanctify them more and more from sin, to assist them in prayer, to strengthen them in duty, to comfort them in trouble, to succor them in temptations, and to seal them unto the day of redemption. And in regard of these gracious influences, they are said to be in the Spirit. The apostle says to the Romans, ‘ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.’

The Lord’s day is the time, when Christians most eminently experience the communication of the Spirit; for the word and ordinances administered on this day, are the means by which God imparts his grace to humble souls; and it is in a diligent attendance on these means, that they are to hope for his grace.

God promised of old, ‘In every place, where I record my name, I will come unto you and bless you.’ Similar to this is the promise of our Savior; ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ It is by an attendance on the instituted duties of the sanctuary, that Christians increase in knowledge and holiness, have their doubts removed and their darkness dispelled, and feel their virtuous resolutions animated and confirmed. Christ gave pastors and teachers for the edifying of his body, that all might come to perfect men in him.

We may add farther: The conviction and conversion of sinners are, in scripture, ascribed to the Spirit of God. The preaching of the word is the ordinary mean of conversion: but it is by concurrent divine influence, that the word becomes effectual to this end. The sinner, therefore, awakened to a sense of sin, convinced of his danger, and ‘framing his ways to turn unto God,’ may be said to be in the Spirit—to be a subject of divine operation. As God is pleased ordinarily to grant his spirit in the use of those means, which are to be statedly enjoyed on the Lord’s day, so this is the season, when sinners have most reason to hope for the effectual working of God’s power in their souls. Lydia’s heart was opened, while she was hearing the word. It was on the day of Pentecost, while Peter was preaching, that the multitude were pricked in their hearts. It was when this apostle was speaking the word to Cornelius and his friends, that the Holy Ghost fell on them. The Galations received the spirit in the hearing of faith. As the word of God is the appointed mean of obtaining the Spirit, and as the Lord’s day is the appointed season of hearing the word, so this is the time, when we are most likely to receive the heavenly gift. Therefore seek the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him when he is near. Ask and ye shall receive; for he gives his Spirit to them who ask him.

 

center>SERMON II.

Revelation I. 10.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.

The Christian Sabbath, or the first day of the week, is here called, the Lord’s day; it being the day, on which he arose from the dead, and which he appointed to be observed among Christians, as a season of religious worship.

On this day John was employed in such exercises of piety and devotion, as were suited to his solitary condition, and to the general state of the church, whose prosperity lay with weight on his mind.

Being thus employed, he received some special communications of the divine Spirit. He had a view of the blessed Jesus in his exalted glory—a view of resembling, but far surpassing that which he formerly had, when he was with him on the mount. And he had also a discovery of the great designs of providence with regard to the church, from that time to the end of the world. The Spirit of revelation and prophecy, which John enjoyed on the Lord’s day, was peculiar to the times of inspiration. But there is an influence of the Spirit common to all ages. And this we may hope to obtain by our attendance on the institutions of the gospel on the appointed day. Christians on this day may receive the sanctifying and comforting presence of the Spirit; and sinners may hope to become the subjects of his convincing and converting power.

On these thoughts we enlarged in our preceding discourse.

I shall now call your attention to the reflections and inferences, which naturally result from our subject.

I. As a day has been set apart by divine authority for the commemoration of Christ’s death and resurrection; we may hence conclude, that these were events vastly important to mankind, and worthy to be remembered in all ages of the world. If Jesus had been only a common man, and his death and resurrection uninteresting occurrences, a day would not have been sequestered to perpetuate the remembrance of them.

Moses, the great lawgiver of the Jewish nation, was deservedly held in high estimation among them for his institutions and miracles, virtues and self denials. But lest a superstitious veneration should be paid to him, his burial was so ordered in providence, that the place of it was utterly unknown.

Next to Moses, Elijah was a man of most distinguished eminence among the Jews. He restored to its primitive purity the divine law, which had been corrupted by the intermixture of pagan rites. He performed many surprising miracles. He acted in the cause of religion, with a warm and animated zeal. He encountered opposition, and endured affliction, with singular fortitude and patience. To reward his great piety and patriotism, and to prevent a superstitious remembrance of him, he was translated to heaven, and exempted from death.

No day was sequestered, nor form of worship instituted in memory of these high and distinguished characters; but, on the contrary, particular care was taken, that nothing like religious veneration should be paid to their names. A grateful remembrance is due to publick benefactors; but no festivals have ever been divinely instituted in honor of their persons, or in memory of their services. Certainly then we must conclude, that Jesus Christ is a character superior to all human characters; and that his death and resurrection are events, in which mankind are more interested, than in any other event, which has taken place in the world.

A day was set apart in commemoration of the creation. An additional reason for the religious observance of a Sabbath among the Jews, was their glorious deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. The former was a work worthy to be commemorated by all mankind. The latter was an event peculiarly deserving of a grateful remembrance among the Jews. But when the Redeemer died on the cross, and rose again from the dead, another day was appointed, instead of the former, to celebrate the wonders of his redemption. We may then conclude, that redemption is a work more worthy of our remembrance, than creation itself. Creation has given us a rational existence: Redemption has procured for us a happy immortality. If positive happiness is of more value, than bare existence, we are more indebted to divine goodness for the work of redemption, than for that of creation.

The superstition of heathens has deified certain heroes and conquerors; and the superstition of some nominal Christians has canonized particular saints, and appointed days for the celebration of their virtues and works; but divine institution has honored with this distinction none but our glorious Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. To him, in the religious observance of his day, let us devoutly pay the honor due to his merits.

II. Our subject teaches us, that it is the indispensible duty of all Christians, living within a convenient vicinity, to associate for the maintenance of, and an attendance upon the instituted worship of God. The appointment of a particular day for this object bespeaks its solemn importance.

The Jews, on their Sabbath, were to have a holy convocation. The early Christians, on the Lord’s day, came together to break bread, hear the word, and unite in prayers and praises. The believers in Corinth are said to have met together in one place. The Hebrew Christians are cautioned, not to forsake their religious assemblies. In the several provinces of Asia, there were distinct churches, and each church had its fixed pastor. To the pastors John directs his epistles, to be by them communicated to the people of their respective charges. Wherever the apostles found a number of believers, so situated that they could assemble together, they collected them into a church; and in every church they ordained an elder. They never allowed Christians to live in a disconnected state, nor churches to continue without a pastor.

Their example teaches Christians their duty in all ages. They are bound to associate for the maintenance of divine worship, and to procure them pious and able ministers, who may statedly preside in their religious solemnities. And every Christian, as he has opportunity, is bound to join himself to some such society, for his own and the common edification. No man has a right to live unconnected with the church; and no church has a right to continue destitute of a pastor. These are not matters of human option, but divine injunction. As Christ has purchased the church with his blood, instituted social worship in it, given pastors and teachers for its edification, and appointed a day, in which it shall statedly assemble, they who voluntarily, or negligently continue without a minister, without stated worship, and without the observance of the Lord’s day, live in plain disobedience to his authority, and in open contempt of his grace and love.

We see, then that they who change the place of their worldly habitation, should keep in view the worship of God. Men have a right to alter their situation, when they think they can mend it; to sell one inheritance and purchase another, when they reasonably expect to meliorate their condition. But in all their removes they should preserve a regard to divine worship, should either go to places where it is enjoyed, or speedily seek the enjoyment of it where they go. This was the temper of the Psalmist; ‘God shall choose our inheritance for us, even the excellency of Jacob, which he loved.’ This excellency or glory of Jacob, was the sanctuary, which God had ordained, and the worship, which he had instituted. The Psalmist refers it to Providence to choose for him his earthly inheritance; but with this humble and pious reserve, that it might be in a place, where God was known and worshipped. ‘This one thing he desired of the Lord, and this he sought after, that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire at his temple.’ This privilege, has so near a connection with the existence of religion, and with the hope of Salvation, that a pious man, sooner than part with it, will forego every worldly interest.

III. Our subject teaches us the importance of attending on divine institutions. It is thus that we are to obtain the Spirit.

We are dependent on God in the concerns of religion, as well as in those of common life. Of ourselves, without the grace of God, we are no more sufficient to effect our preparation for heaven, than, without the blessing of his providence, we are sufficient to procure our daily bread. But his grace no more supersedes our labors in the former case, than his providence excludes our diligence in the latter. To obtain the blessing of his providence on our husbandry, we must apply the means which nature and experience point out. To obtain the influence of his Spirit in the work of our Salvation, we must apply the means, which his word prescribes. The Sabbath, the preaching of the gospel, joint prayer, and social worship are institutions of God; and, while we enjoy them, we are to expect his blessing only in the use of them.

God doubtless could grant his Spirit independently of these means; nor will we presume to say, how far his grace may interpose in behalf of some, to whom these means are denied. But we, who enjoy them, cannot expect his blessing in the neglect of them. God could reveal to every mortal the gospel scheme, as easily as he revealed it to the apostles; and he could form men’s hearts to embrace it by his immediate energy, as well as by the intervention of external means. But this is not the way in which he has chosen to deal with us. He has given us a written revelation—he has appointed teachers to open the doctrines, and inculcate the precepts contained in this revelation. And he grants his Spirit in the hearing of faith. ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’

God will not do that for men immediately, which they are capable of obtaining in the use of the means which he has given them.

When there was no written revelation, God often communicated his will to men in an immediate way. As the written revelation began to appear, these immediate communications became less frequent. And when revelation was complete, they wholly ceased.

When Saul of Tarsus, who made havock of the church, was on his way to Damascus, with a commission to destroy the Christians there, Jesus, that he might bring the persecutor to a conviction of his madness, spake to him by a voice from heaven, and made himself known to him as the Savior whom he was persecuting. Saul now enquired, ‘Lord, what will thou have me to do?’ Jesus could as easily have instructed him in his future duty, as have spoken what he had already. But that was not necessary. There were other means of information within Saul’s reach. Jesus therefore says to him, ‘Go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do!’ He obeyed; and Ananias was sent to instruct him.

When the devout Gentile Cornelius prayed in his house, his prayer rose up before God, and an angel was sent to tell him, where he might find an apostle, who could instruct him in the way of salvation. God could as easily have taught Cornelius by inspiration, as have taught the apostles. And the angel, if such had been his orders, might as well have given him instruction on this subject, as have directed him to send for Peter. But God will have his institutions honored. He would not by inspiration, or by a message from heaven, teach this Gentile the things, which he could learn by applying to a minister of Christ. Cornelius could not, by his own reason, investigate the way of salvation. But he could send for Peter; hear the apostle when he came; and understand what he said. Had he refused to apply to Peter, or to hear him preach, his inability to find out the way of salvation, would have been no excuse for his ignorance.

Farther: The gospel teaches us, that we are saved, not of ourselves, but by the grace of God. A doctrine worthy of all acceptation; but no way tending to encourage indolence.

Salvation is the purchase of Christ. In this view it is wholly his own work, we have nothing to do in it. It is the gift of God: We can do no more to deserve it for ourselves, than we have done to purchase it for the world. The gospel teaches us the way of salvation: Had we not been taught the way, we never could have found it. Repentance is the condition of pardon; and to this divine grace is necessary. Thus all things are of God.

But then we are rational beings—there are means put into our hands—and with the means God often gives some attendant influence of his Spirit; for the gospel is called a ministration of the Spirit. The means afforded us we must apply to the purpose for which they were appointed. Thus we are to hope for God’s blessing. ‘To him who hath, shall more be given.’ If we neglect the plain institutions of God, despise his word and worship, and profane his day, there is no ground to expect, that his spirit will be given us; for there is no encouragement in scripture, that it will be given us; for there is no encouragement in scripture, that it will be given in this way.

IV. Our subject farther teaches us, that the Lord’s day is a season peculiarly favorable to the purpose of religion.

On this day John was in the spirit. He certainly had some good reason for informing the churches of this circumstance. And what could it be, but to recommend to them the religious observance of the day, as a mean of obtaining the spirit.

The churches, to whom he wrote, were generally fallen from their first purity. The purport of his letters was to reprove them for their declensions, and exhort them to repentance. He tells them that what he wrote was dictated by the spirit of Christ, and that he received the spirit on the Lord’s day—that on this day Christ walks in the midst of his churches, and that if they would receive his spirit, they must meet him in his sanctuary, where he walks.

Here is a plain intimation, that the declension of religion among them had been owing to a neglect of the Christian Sabbath; and that the revival of religion would depend on a more strict observance of that day.

It appears from John’s letters to some of these churches, that their declension had been caused, in a great measure, by the influence of certain irregular teachers, who, under false pretensions, had gained admission among them, disturbed their order, and corrupted their sentiments. It is common, that such teachers divert men from the stated worship of the Lord’s day, by substituting other times of worship in its place. John would have Christians strictly attend to the instituted worship of the holy Sabbath. He suggests to them, that the day of the Lord was the season, and his ordinances were the means of obtaining his grace. Christians must be builded together for an habitation of God thro’ the spirit, and by peace and union in sacred duties grow into an holy temple in the Lord.

Other days, besides the Sabbath, are sometimes pointed out in providence, and may be usefully employed for the purpose of social worship. But occasional seasons must never supplement the Lord’s day. When this is the case, they rather obstruct, than promote religion. An attendance on occasional worship is a matter of Christian prudence; an attendance on the stated worship of the Sabbath is matter of divine requirement and moral obligation. Paul, when necessity required, taught out of season, as well as in season; and from house to house, as well as publickly. Thus he did in Ephesus, when the gospel was first introduced there. But seasonable and publick teaching he preferred. At Troas he waited seven days for the return of the Lord’s day, when the disciples would of course come together. Other seasons, prudently chosen, may be useful; but on this day we have most reason to expect God’s blessing. If we wish for the power of religion in our own hearts, and the promotion of it among others, we must honor this day.

V. We are taught, that, under ordinary circumstances, we cannot be excused from the duties of the Sabbath. John, even in a state of banishment and solitude, found something to do.

As social worship is an institution of God, every one, as there is opportunity, is bound to attend upon it. This however, is not the only duty of the Lord’s day. There are other more private exercises, which belong to it. It is to be ‘a Sabbath to the Lord in our dwellings.’ We are to ‘call the holy of the Lord honorable, and to honor him, not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words.’ We are to withdraw ourselves from the cares and occupations of the world, and employ our private hours in meditation, self examination and prayer, and in profitable conversation and reading—in exercises adapted to promote personal piety, and in instructions suited to advance family religion.

VI. We are here farther instructed, that we ought to improve the Lord’s day with an aim and desire to obtain the Spirit in those gracious influences, which are suited to our condition and character. We should come to God’s house hoping that we may receive a word in season, and that the word may be attended with the holy Ghost and with power.

Sinners should desire the convincing and converting influences of the Spirit. In hearing the word, the Jews, at the feast of Pentecost, were pricked in the heart. The Lord’s day is the time in which, and the preached word is the mean by which the Spirit usually convinces sinners, and begins a good work in them. The stated exercises of the Sabbath are indeed sometimes the means of conviction to those, who had no such aim in attending on them. The Jews, on the day of Pentecost, received lasting benefit from a gospel sermon, which they had no previous intention or desire to hear. But where any serious disposition already exists, there is still greater hope of spiritual benefit. If then you view yourselves as being in a state of unpardoned guilt, and feel any solicitude to be delivered from this state, attend on the publick solemnities of the sanctuary, give earnest heed to the things which you hear, apply to yourselves what is pertinent to your case, and pray for the Spirit to impress it deeply on your hearts. And let the serious sentiments, awakened in hearing the word, accompany you in the ordinary business of life. Take heed, that the affairs of the world extinguish not your Sabbath feelings; but let your better frames govern you in your worldly labors, and restrain your worldly affections.

If you are in affliction, go to God’s house with a desire to hear some instructive and consoling truths adapted to your case, and with these to receive the guiding and supporting influences of that Spirit, who is called the comforter. David, in the house of his pilgrimage, made God’s statutes his song. He confessed that, unless God’s law had been his delight, he should have perished in his affliction.’ Asaph in his perplexities went to God’s sanctuary, and there found relief. Hannah, in the bitterness of her spirit, repaired to the temple of God, and there poured out her soul before him. ‘And she went her way, and her countenance was no more sad.’

If you view yourselves as saints, so improve the Lord’s day, that it may be a mean of rendering you more holy and heavenly. Seek a greater measure of the Spirit’s sanctifying influence.

To be in the Spirit, is to possess and exercise that temper which is the fruit of the Spirit. ‘This is in all goodness, righteousness and truth.’ We are in the Spirit, when the Spirit awakens into exercise those pious and benevolent dispositions, in which the religion of the gospel consists.

We are especially required to exercise these graces in the publick solemnities of the Lord’s day, prayer, praise, and hearing the word. Al these things are to be done with charity, meekness and humility. When we stand praying, we are to forgive, if we have ought against any man. We are to sing praises with grace in our hearts, with thankfulness to God, and peaceableness and benevolence to men. In hearing the word we are to lay aside all malice, envy, guile and hypocrisy, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, that it may save our souls. When we thus worship God on the Lord’s day, we may be said, to be in the Spirit, for we have those tempers, which are the fruits of the Spirit.

But let us not imagine, that these goodly frames are required only on the Lord’s day—that if we are serious, grave and devout then, we may indulge our passions, and live to the world every day besides. The religious exercises of the Lord’s day are instituted to make us constantly and habitually pious and holy.

We are to be in the spirit on this day, that we may walk in the spirit every day. We are to forgive, when we stand praying—to have the peace of God in our hearts, when we are singing—to put on humility and meekness, when we are hearing, that we may be always of a meek, humble, peaceable and forgiving temper. If such a temper is right in the duties of devotion, it is right also in the duties of common life. In vain we pretend, that we are in the spirit of Christ on his day, if we are in the spirit of the world on all other days. Let us, therefore, at all times, put on humbleness of mind, meekness, goodness and love, which are the fruits of the spirit. Thus it will appear, that we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit, which is of God, and tht we know the things, which are freely given us of God.

CONCLUSION.Our subject may with great propriety, be applied to the people dispersed in the wilderness, and in the new settlements, for whose benefit the publication of it is principally intended.

To you, our friends and brethren, we address our affectionate advice.

In regard to your own, and your children’s worldly interest, you have removed to a distance from us. But we hope, you have carried with you those sentiments of regard for the gospel and the day of our Lord, which you entertained while you were among us. And we entreat you not to forget them, nor suffer them to languish in your hearts.

Pay an early attention to the enjoyment of the gospel ministry in the places where you are. Let not the paucity of your numbers, or the poverty of your condition plead for too long a delay, lest your children, growing up unaccustomed to this divine institution should contract an indifference to it; and even some, who are older, should, by long disuse, sink into habitual carelessness; and thus your difficulties, instead of being diminished by an increase of wealth and numbers, should be increased by the diminution of virtue and piety. For your encouragement, think of the example of the fathers of our country. In all their new plantations, one of the first objects was the enjoyment of gospel ordinances, and the settlement of an able minister. In their zeal they found ability; and God prospered them. For our present national happiness we are much indebted to their social spirit, love or order, attention to family education, and reverence for divine institutions.

Look to the example of the holy patriarchs. They were pilgrims in the world. But in all their peregrinations they shewed a governing regard to God and his worship. And wherever they made a stand, their first work was to erect an altar to God, at which they, and all, who accompanied them, might attend for social devotion. Thus they preserved religion in their own hearts, maintained it in their households; and recommended it to the people among whom they sojourned; and thus they obtained the promise of God’s blessing on their posterity.

As you have come from different parts to settle on the same ground, it is natural to expect, that there should be some diversity in your sentiments and usages. But let not this diversity obstruct your measures for obtaining religious order and a stated ministry. Avoid vain jangling and perverse disputing, and exercise yourselves to godliness. Distinguish between things essential, and things circumstantial in religion. A proper zeal for the former will always be accompanied with condescention in the latter. Exercise the same charity, humility and forbearance, which saint Paul inculcated, in his day, on the Jewish, and the Gentile believers; and you may, as they did, unite in the same church, and under the same ministry; for we trust, your differences are, in few instances, greater than were theirs. The rule which this apostle gives you is, that ‘you reject not those, whom God receives.’ This rule, well observed, will have a happy tendency to unite you.

While you are destitute of a stated ministry improve the means, which you have.

Attend on the missionaries, whom we send among you. We shall fend only such as can be well recommended—men duly authorized, and competently furnished for their mission—men of ability, learning and piety—men of pacific, candid and conciliating dispositions—men who will study to edify you in love, not to sow discord, and cause divisions among you.

If you have not a minister, yet forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. Statedly meet on the Lord’s day, join together in prayer, and let there be a portion of scripture, or some pious book read in your assemblies. Thus you will proote brotherly peace and love; thus you will cherish in youthful minds sentiments of reverence for religion, for the gospel, and for the Lord’s day.

On this day, forbear all unnecessary secular labor and worldly discourse, and restrain your children from diversion and amusement, and every thing inconsistent with its sacred design. Remember, how John kept the day in a wilderness. Let it be a Sabbath to God in your hearts, and in your dwellings.

Maintain daily religion in your families. Let your houses be houses of prayer. Let the Holy Scriptures be read in them. Train up your youth in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Walk before them in a perfect way. Thus let there be a little church in every house; and soon there will be a house for God in every plantation, and his house will be filled.

Cultivate the spirit of religion in your hearts, and exhibit the virtues of it in your lives. Consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, and be fellow-workers to the kingdom of God.

We wish you health and prosperity; and, above all, that your souls may be in health and prosper. Great will be our joy, if we hear, that you and your children walk in the truth, the order and purity of the gospel.

How transporting to John, in the wilderness, must have been that vision, in which he saw, on the Lord’s day, the churches of the Redeemer assembled in their respective temples, to mingle hearts and voices, to offer joint prayers and praises, and to hear the glorious doctrine of salvation; and, at the same time, beheld the Lord Jesus, dressed in his robes of majesty and grace, walking among them to observe their order, diffuse his influence, bless his ordinances, and offer incense with the prayers of his saints? This nearly resembled his subsequent vision, in which he saw a door opened in heaven, a throne there placed, and saints and angels surrounding it with harps and songs, and giving glory and honor and thanks to him who sat upon it, and who lives for ever and ever.

A sight like this was enough to turn his wilderness into paradise—his Isle of Patmos into the Garden of Eden.

Could we see you, our brethren, who are scattered in the wilderness, every where gathering into churches, erecting sanctuaries for God, assembling in them on the Lord’s day, calling ministers of Christ to preside in your solemnities, walking together in purity, peace and love, and thus exhibiting a proof that the Lord is among you of a truth, we should feel a joy approaching toward that, which saint John must have felt; and our joy would be the joy of you all. May God pour down his spirit and blessing upon you from on high, and comfort all your desolate places; may he soon make your wilderness as Eden, and your desert as the garden of the Lord: may joy and gladness be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

F I N I S.

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The following sermon was preached by David Oliphant on Massachusetts’ annual Thanksgiving in Salem on November 24, 1825.

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The Happy Nation

A

Sermon

Preached at Beverly, Nov. 24, 1825,

Being the Day Appointed

By the Executive Authority of the Commonwealth,

For the

Annual Thanksgiving.

By David Oliphant
Pastor of the Third Congregational Church.

 

Sermon.PSALM cxliv. 11–15

Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood; that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of a palace; that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; that our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in nor going out; that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

This Psalm appears to have been composed after David’s accession to the throne of Israel. The Lord has been good to this people and to their monarch, in subduing their enemies. He renders him, for the favor thus shown, his tribute of thanksgiving. But still they had other enemies to overcome; and in the former part of the text, he offers his petitions for the continuance of the Divine favor, in order that the complete redemption and prosperity of Israel might be accomplished. Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. The object of this prayer is expressed in the latter part of the text; viz. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth &c.

The Psalmist prayed for victory over his and his people’s enemies, that they might have peace. “Peace,” says a pious commentator, “is the mother of all earthly blessings to communities, and to the families that compose them; whose happiness consisteth in a numerous and hopeful progeny of sons and daughters, the former healthy and well nurtured, growing up like young plants in a kindly soil, until they attain to their full strength and stature; the latter fair and virtuous, like so many tall, well proportioned, highly polished, and richly ornamented columns, gracing the house to which they belong. When to these we have added plenty of corn, and all other provisions in the granaries and store-houses; flocks and herds ever thriving and increasing; freedom from hostile invasions, and domestic complaints, so that there be no breaking in nor going out—no irruption of aliens into the commonwealth, nor emigration of inhabitants to foreign countries, by captivity or otherwise; we shall find ourselves possessed of most of the ingredients which enter into the composition of temporal felicity. Such felicity God promised to his people Israel, and bestowed on them, while they kept his statutes and observed his laws.” Well might it have been said of this people, while in the enjoyment of a state of peace, and of all the blessings which flow from such a state; and well may it be said of any people in such circumstances of prosperity; Happy is that people that in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Called again by our civil fathers, in accordance with a long continued custom, in this section of our country, to render to Almighty God our thanks and praise for his goodness to us another year, it may not be improper to take a brief survey of the present state of our happy land; to advert to some of the principal causes of our prosperity; and to the means of perpetuating it.

In contemplating our present state, we may call to mind, in the first place, what the Psalmist prayed for in the text as the chief source, under God, of temporal prosperity; viz. peace. We are at peace among ourselves, and with foreign nations. We have no intestine divisions—no civil broils, leading to anarchy, bloodshed and misery. We are on terms of amity, and enjoy the blessings of free intercourse with all the nations of the earth. We have no breakings in upon us by hostile nations. We are not called to witness ravages and desolations of war, nor to experience in any form, this dreadful scourge of the Almighty—one of the greatest with which a country can be visited—one of the severest with which the Sovereign Ruler of the earth chastises a wicked people. We have no goings out from among us— no emigration to foreign lands, by which our country is depopulated. We are not exposed to be carried away into captivity, as the nations, or parts of them, often have been. Such are the privileges and blessings here enjoyed, that there is no disposition to go out to other countries in expectation of greater, for they can nowhere be found. There is no nation so highly gifted in these respects as our own. Hence it is, that while other nations are diminishing in population, or making but slow advances, the population of our own country is increasing with unexampled rapidity. It is rolling its tide to the south and to the west, through the immense tracts, which till recently were a wilderness, or roamed only be savages. And the time is not far distant when it will reach its utmost limits, and turn its course backward to the regions whence it began. Nay, should the smiles of Divine Providence continue to be afforded, it cannot be long before our population must exceed in numbers any other nation upon the earth. The means of supporting a numerous population are nowhere else so ample as in this land of freedom—a land preeminently blessed both by natural and civil advantages.

In surveying our condition as a people, we may notice the variety and salubrity [favorable to/ promoting health] of our climate. We have almost all the varieties, and in point of salubrity, take our country at large, no country, at least no one of equal extent, is more highly favored. Earthquakes, pestilences, and desolating storms, are comparatively of rare occurrence.

Our agricultural interests are prosperous. We have not only a various and salubrious climate, but also a fertile soil generally, and one adapted to nearly, if not quite all the productions of the earth. It yields for the most part, under proper cultivation, a great abundance, so that there is not only enough for the supply of man and beast, but a surplus for transportation. Our green pastures are covered with flocks and herds, so that it is literally true that our garners are full, affording all manner of store; our oxen are strong to labor, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. While our fields thus wave with the rich and luxuriant harvest, and our cattle are seen upon a thousand hills, our waters are well supplied with fish; our manufactures are rapidly increasing and improving, and our commerce is extending itself, by the enterprise of the people, to every part of the Globe.

Our condition in regard to literature and science is also highly favorable, and rising into competition with older nations. If we are yet behind some of them, in respect to the number of literary and scientific men, and in respect to the means of improvement in these things, we are behind no nation, particularly we, who have our lot cast in happy New England, in respect to the extension of the benefits of education to all classes of the people. We can say in this respect what no other nation can say—what, it were to be wished, our fellow-citizens out of New England might say, that there is not an individual, who may not enjoy, if he has the disposition, to some extent, and usually in a good degree, the advantages of mental culture. No one is compelled, as is too often the case elsewhere, to be ignorant, through want of proper legal provision for the education of the people. The blessings of education with us are proffered to all.

The last, though not the least of the ingredients which mingle in the cup of our temporal felicity, that I shall notice is, the blessing of civil liberty. This is the crown of all the rest. The rest may be enjoyed, at least to a very considerable extent, where this is wanting. Liberty, in respect to temporal blessings, is the glory of this land, and of other lands where it is enjoyed. By comparatively few nations, however, is it enjoyed; and in none is it so well understood, and do so many blessings as yet flow from it, as in these United States.

While we thus glory in our liberty, however, there is one page of our civil charter which is stained with a dark foul blot—a blot which has too long injured our fair name, and exposed us to severe but just censures. It is the blot of slavery. It is destined erelong, we hope, to be removed. It must be removed, or it will provoke, not long hence, the curse of heaven upon us; at least upon that part of our country where the evil is tolerated and defended.

But in contemplating the condition of our highly favored land, I have hitherto spoken only of what constitutes our temporal felicity. In the enjoyment of this we are happy; and when the means of promoting this shall be multiplied, as they undoubtedly will be, this temporal felicity will be greatly increased.

We are made happy however—we are distinguished more by our moral and religious advantages, than in any other way. God hath not dealt so with any nation. Upon how many has the light of Revelation never shone! How many are yet enveloped in all the darkness of idolatry, superstition and infidelity, and dwell in places full of habitations of cruelty, without the Scriptures, without the institutions of religion, without the blessings of the Christian Sabbath and of the Christian Ministry; without any of the means of grace! But on the whole of this land, the light of heaven, through the medium of the Scriptures, shines. On some portions indeed, this light falls with diminished rays, but for the most part, it pours upon us its full beams. The gospel is here preached, if not stately to all the people, yet occasionally to all, or nearly all, and with a greater degree of purity, simplicity, and fidelity, probably, than to any other people on the face of the earth. In short, our moral and religious state, far below, as it falls, what is should be, is still elevated above that of any other people; and I venture to say, it affords a broader and stronger foundation for our national prosperity and happiness, than anything else, or so far as we have anything to do in promoting these, than all things else. Take away our moral and religious institutions, and with them our moral and religious feelings and habits, and though our salubrious climate and fertile soil might remain, liberty and peace would soon be torn away from us—the tide of our population would no longer rise and swell—the fountains of legislation and justice would be corrupted—education would no more be a common blessing—literature, science, and the arts, would cease to be cultivated—the efforts of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce would all be paralyzed, and we should sink in the scale of national prosperity and happiness, as fast as we have for many years been rising. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. It was to a religious influence mainly that the Psalmist referred, when he said in the text, that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, and our daughters as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. It is moral and religious culture alone that can give to the former their full strength and stature, that is, make them the best and most useful citizens; and to the latter real comeliness and beauty, so that they shall be to the state, what the tall, well proportioned, highly polished, and richly ornamented columns are in gracing the house to which they belong. Mental culture, and a suitable preparation in other respects for the business of life, may do much towards rearing up good citizens—useful inhabitants for the commonwealth, but moral and religious culture will do more. Find a virtuous community—a moral and religious community, and you find a people necessarily prosperous and happy; for God is their friend—he blesses them with his smiles.

I would now advert to some of the principal causes of our national prosperity.

It is to be feared that too many ascribe it to wrong causes, or to those real causes which are only secondary in importance; and probably there are not a few, who think but little, and who care but little about the causes, provided they can share largely in this prosperity—if they can gather riches, and enjoy all that heart can wish. Put the question to some, even our most enlightened citizens, Why is it that this country has experienced such unexampled prosperity?—rising within the course of a few years comparatively, from infancy to manhood—from indigence to opulence—from being a handful of people to a great magnitude in the political constellation, and they will tell you, It is owing to our numerous local advantages—to our climate and soil; to the facilities of intercourse between us and other nations, and between different parts of our own country; to the enterprise and intelligence of our citizens; to the freedom of our institutions—the excellence of our laws, and the wisdom and impartiality with which they are executed. And when they have said thus much, in the way of accounting for our national prosperity, they stop, and either never think of ascribing it to any other causes, or are unwilling to acknowledge any others.

Now, without any doubt, all these causes, to which our national prosperity is referred, are real causes. They have had, and still have their influence in promoting it. But the great original Source of this prosperity is left out of view, and with very many he principal secondary cause. My hearers, we have been prospered as a nation, because the Lord has been our God. We are happy, because He is for us, and not against us; and because the influence of that holy religion, which He has revealed for the benefit of mankind, has been, and is still so extensively felt throughout the community. God was never more evidently the Protector and Friend of the nation of Israel, than has been of our own; though in some special relations, he stood nearer to them than he does to us, and did more for them than he has done for us, or for any other people.

We dwell in a goodly land. But who gave it to us? Who inspired our puritan fathers with the determination to quit the land of their nativity—a land then of religious intolerance and cruel despotism, to seek an asylum in these western wilds, where they might enjoy religious and civil freedom? Who protected them amidst the dangers of the ocean? Who planted their feet safely on these shores? Who drove out the heathen before them, and gave them their possessions—a land blessed with so many natural advantages for a flourishing empire? Who inspired our fathers with the spirit of liberty? Who gave them wisdom to lay so broad and firm a foundation for the beautiful temple of liberty which they have reared? Who sustained and inspirited them amidst all their early discouragements? Who preserved them from the invasions of a savage foe? Who multiplied their numbers, gave success to their enterprises, and when the hand of despotism would have crushed them again, enabled them to make successful resistance, and to establish their independence on an immoveable basis? Was not the hand of the Lord in all this? If he had not protected and prospered, what would ever have been accomplished, compared with what has now been accomplished through his blessing?

It is true that all means which have been employed from the first settlement of this country to the present time, to bring about the events that have taken place, were necessary; but the blessing of God was equally necessary. Means have been the secondary causes of our prosperity—they are so still; but if we stop at the means, we refuse to give God the glory due unto His name. I love to trace His hand in all the leading events of our history, and at every period of it, to take a stand on the eminence which it affords, and survey the scene around me, and exclaim with pious admiration and gratitude, What hath God wrought! He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

And among the secondary causes of our prosperity, I love to mark and distinguish the influence which religion has had in forming our national character, and in raising us to the present elevated and conspicuous stand which we are enabled to take among the nations of the earth. I venerate the names of our distinguished men in the senate and in the field. I would bestow the meed [a deserved share or reward] of applause for their wisdom, and heroic deeds. I am willing to allow all that can justly be claimed in behalf of the intelligence, efforts, and enterprise of the inhabitants of this land; but after all, I maintain that among secondary causes, the piety of our fathers, and of their descendants, has contributed more to the prosperity and glory of this nation, than any other, or than all others combined. Our fathers came here more on account of their religion than anything else. It was their spirit of religious freedom that enkindled in their bosoms the kindred spirit of civil liberty, and led them on ultimately to the establishment of their independence. And the influence of puritanical piety, with whatever contempt it may be regarded by some of the sons of the pilgrims, has been felt from their day down to the present; and although it has been in no small degree lost, it is most devoutly to be hoped that this piety is to revive, and its influence to be even more powerfully and extensively felt, than it ever has been, giving vigor to the life blood which flows through all the veins of the body politic. Let this influence but be felt, by those who make and execute the laws—by our public men, from those who sit in the chair of state, down through every subordinate grade of office—let it be felt by the ministers of religion, in our literary institutions, in our common schools, and among the several classes of the community, and there can be no question but that all the prosperity and happiness that we now possess, will go down to posterity, and be enjoyed, only in a greatly enhanced degree, by our children’s children, even to a thousand generations, if time shall permit so many to live on earth. Let this influence be properly felt, and it will do more towards promoting the real prosperity and happiness of this nation, and making it truly distinguished, than all the wisdom of our statesmen, the victories of our fleets and armies, the ingenuity and enterprise of our citizens, and all other means combined. Let us be a virtuous and pious people, keeping the statutes, and obeying the precepts of the Lord, and we have the assurance of His protecting care, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords—the Ruler among the nations, who setteth up one, and putteth down another, and can dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

This care has been signally manifested in the case of every pious and moral community on earth. And where is the nation to be found, either in ancient or modern times, that has forsaken the Lord—that has virtually cast off His authority, by violating His precepts, and disregarding His sacred institutions, that has not been visited with His judgments? How many have sunk down from a state of great prosperity and influence, into a state of insignificance! Not a few, for their wickedness, have been blotted from the list of nations. The Jewish Commonwealth especially, will forever stand as a solemn memento of the influence of piety in elevating, and of the influence of sin in depressing the condition of people.

I come now, in the last place, to consider some of the means of perpetuating our national prosperity.

And here, after the remarks which I have already made, I need not say, or at least dwell upon the point, that we should most earnestly seek the Lord to be our God, by unceasing endeavors to secure His favor and friendship. With His blessing, and in the enjoyment of His smiles, and under His providential care and guidance, great as our prosperity may be at present, it will increase, and as far beyond our present expectations, as the condition of our country at this time, exceeds that of our fathers, struggling for existence in these originally inhospitable and uncultivated wilds.

But how should we secure this blessing? It must be important, or such a man as David, the best king that ever say upon an earthly throne, would never have said, Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. It is not difficult to answer this question. It is vastly more difficult to do, taking men as they are, what this answer implies. To secure God’s blessing on our country, we must keep his statutes, and obey his commands. As a people we must become virtuous. Piety must be cultivated. Its influence must extend through all classes of the community. We are now enjoying benefits which the piety. There is a sad degeneracy in many respects among us their sons. The influence of this are to come after us will feel it, and feel it severely too, unless a reformation in many of the opinions and habits of the present generation shall take place. A moral current has commenced its course in this nation, which if now seasonably checked by an opposing current of virtue and piety, will erelong spread desolation through this goodly heritage, and carry down with it into common and tremendous ruin, whatever is valuable in our civil or religious institutions. It must eventually, if not checked, undermine and completely destroy this fair fabric—our national republic, which has been reared at such a vast expense of labor, blood, and treasure.

Many will say, let us improve our many natural advantages—let us employ to the best purpose our physical strength—let us improve our agriculture, increase our manufacturing establishments, extend our commerce, multiply our facilities of internal intercourse, enlarge the foundations of our literary and scientific institutions, increase the means of education among the people, select brave men for the field, and wise men for the cabinet and senate. As to piety and morals, they are subjects with which we need have but little concern. If this is not the language of words with many, it is the language of their practice. Now I would say, take care of piety and morals, in the first place. Guard these as an object of the first importance, and let the means which have been alluded to be regarded as secondary. Attend suitably to the former, and the latter will not be neglected, but rendered more effectual. Piety will nerve the arm of the body politic with vigor; and will give success to every enterprise calculated to bring glory and honor to our name. But let piety lose its influence among the body of the people, and this arm is unnerved; and the time is not far distant, when it will be written in broad and legible characters, on our civil and religious institutions; The glory is departed.

In order to promote this piety, and extend its influence as widely as possible—this piety, which is the best bulwark of defense that we can have, because that which God specially approves and follows with his blessing, his word must be circulated and studied—its truths must be believed, and its precepts obeyed. The young must early be instructed in the ways of religion, and brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. A nation’s nursery is in the bosom of her families, and if the discipline here is not salutary, her citizens must be corrupt. Divine institutions must be regarded—especially the Sabbath. A nation of Sabbath breakers cannot long be a prosperous or happy nation. Vice must be frowned upon, in all its forms. There is a monster among the vices of this land, that prowls through it from one extremity to the other—that has gone out through all its length and breadth, and is making dreadful havoc on the morals, and peace and lives of our inhabitants. It is the monster Intemperance. He finds access to every class of the community, from highest to the lowest. Even the female sex have not escaped his fangs, but have fallen victims to the enticements, which, hideous as he is, he has thrown around him. Not even the professor of the holy religion of the Gospel has always been careful to avoid his snares.

The crime of holding in bondage a million and a half of our fellow-men is another that cries loudly to heaven against us. Slavery is a sore evil. It threatens most seriously the prosperity and happiness of our country, and especially the interests of those parts of it where the evil is tolerated, and not only tolerated, but defended and coveted. The abettors of it have taken a viper into their bosoms. They stand upon the trembling surface of a bursting volcano, and if the evil is not removed or mitigated, it must erelong involve them in a tremendous ruin, and perhaps the whole land, for God will not forever cease to avenge the wrongs of that injured race. Every friend to his country—every will wisher to its prosperity, must heartily desire to see this evil removed, and must be willing to lend a helping hand to remove it. In fine, to promote the prosperity of this nation in the highest degree, everything destructive of a rigid virtue should be discountenanced, and everything promotive of pure and undefiled religion should be encouraged.

But you inquire, What can we do towards promoting this prosperity? We are only a few individuals. Every individual can do something—is bound to do something. A heavy responsibility rests upon each. Let every individual do his duty in promoting piety and morality, and the work of reformation is accomplished. Let all do their duty in these respects, and our national prosperity is placed on an immoveable basis.

It becomes us seriously to inquire what we are individually doing for the prosperity, the honor, and the glory of our country. Let the parent inquire what he is doing—the master, the professional man, the legislator, the minister of religion, and the minister of justice, severally what they are doing. All have an influence. Let all resolve to exert it in favor of their country. Let them cherish the spirit of piety. Let them exert the influence of a good example. Is there a dishonest man, let him become a man of integrity. Let the profane put away their oaths. Let the Sabbath breaker reverence and observe God’s institutions. Let the drunkard become sober; and whatever other vice may prevail, let it be abandoned. Every immoral man is an enemy to his country, however loudly he may proclaim his patriotism. Every truly pious man is his country’s friend, however obscure his situation. He does more to secure the blessing of God—more to promote his country’s real prosperity and glory, than the immoral and the impious, with the most shining talents, and in the most elevated stations. Piety I make, among secondary means, the grand bulwark of a nation’s defense. If this will not defend us, we must inevitably fall. Let all resolve then to cultivate it, that they may contribute their share towards this defense, by securing the blessing of heaven; and that thus, our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of a palace; that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; that our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in nor going out; and no complaining in our streets. Then will it be said of us, by those who shall behold our prosperity; Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

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James Gray (1770-1824) was born in Ireland and graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1793, but immigrated to the United States in 1797. He served as a pastor in Washington, NY (1797-1803), and preached at the Associate Reformed Church in Philadelphia beginning in 1803. Gray helped establish the theological seminary for the Reformed Church in New York City and the Philadelphia Bible Society. This sermon was preached in Philadelphia on December 31, 1808.

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PRESENT DUTY.

A DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED ON THE 31ST OF DECEMBER, 1808;

WHICH WAS OBSERVED, BY CONCERT,

AS A DAY OF

PUBLIC THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER,

IN SEVERAL OF THE CHURCHES

IN THE

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA.

By JAMES GRAY, D. D.
PASTOR OF THE ASOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH.

THANKSGIVING.

Philadelphia, November 1st, 1808.

At a meeting of the Clergy of the following religious denominations, viz. The Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, German Lutheran, Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John, Moravian, and Associate Reformed Churches: with a pledge of co-operation by the German Reformed, and Reformed Presbyterian Churches; whose ministers were prevented by circumstances from attending the meeting: the last day of the present year, was appointed to be observed in their respective places of public worship, as a day of solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the blessings conferred on this city in particular, and the nation at large, during the current year; and of prayer, for the continuance and enlargement of the divine favor to ourselves and others.

By order of the meeting, the following address to the people of their respective charges, is respectfully submitted.

GRATITUDE for the unmerited blessings of a munificent Providence is at all times a reasonable exercise and an incumbent duty, and the expression of it constitutes an important part of that public worship, which all Christian societies, are regularly in the habit of offering unto God in their weekly assemblies—But when cities or nations receive peculiar favours; or when they are exempted from calamities to which they have been before subject, or under which other nations are suffering, there appears to be a special call in providence for setting apart, days of thanksgiving and praise, to Almighty God for his distinguished mercies.

Upon a review of the occurrences of the year which is now drawing to a close, and from a consideration of the dispensations of divine providence towards this city in particular, we are of opinion, that our circumstances plainly indicate, the propriety of engaging, unitedly and publicly, in rendering thanks to a gracious God, for the favours which he hath bestowed upon us. For, although we have suffered some privations, and have been threatened with considerable dangers, yet our city and our country generally, have been exempted from the calamities of war, pestilence and famine; the three principal scourges, which the governor of the universe makes use of, for the punishment of guilty nations. The blessing of peace can scarcely be appreciated by those who have never witnessed the horrors of war. The long train of evils attendant on a state of warfare, whether successful or unsuccessful, cannot be fully described. But that which greatly enhances the value of this blessing in our case, is, that to us it is almost a peculiar favour. The whole civilized world beside, has been, for many years, in an awful state of agitation. The period in which we live is marked by events of a very uncommon and astonishing kind.—Thrones, dominions, and empires, have not only been shaken to the centre, but overturned to the foundation. Ancient dynasties, the most powerful in Europe, have been entirely annihilated, and new ones suddenly created. Human blood has been profusely shed, and millions of our fellow creatures have been hurried out of the world by a violent death.—And still the work of destruction goes on—still the sword of war is bathed in blood.—Permitted to be little more than spectators of this awful scene, it is no doubt our duty, to sympathize in the sufferings of afflicted humanity; but, at the same time, we may rejoice that the “Lord reigneth,” and will overrule all these commotions to accomplish his own wise purposes. And we should be unfeignedly thankful, that hitherto to our country has been preserved from being involved in the tremendous storm which now overwhelms Europe: and also, that the spirit of internal discord has been so far repressed, as not to burst forth into open acts of violence. Whilst other cities have been convulsed and torn asunder with dissentions and insurrections, ours has enjoyed undisturbed peace, and settled tranquility. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.”

But, our gratitude is not only due to God for the blessing of peace, but also for that of health. You stand in no need of arguments to convince you, that pestilence is a terrible judgment.—Your own experience is sufficient to prove, that the prevalence of a malignant epidemic disease, is a fearful calamity. At the conclusion of some former years, the retrospect of events was calculated to produce very different sensations from those which you feel at the present time. Then, the most poignant grief was revived by every recollection of the past. But these distressing scenes are too recent, and have left too deep an impression on your minds, to be easily forgotten; and the mention of them is here introduced, merely to excite your gratitude to a merciful God, for preserving you during the last season, from a visitation so calamitous. The common lot of mortality, it is true, has fallen upon many;–and the insatiable grave has devoured its usual number of victims, both old and young: but “the pestilence which walketh in darkness, and destruction which wasteth at noon day,” have not come near you. General health, with its concomitant blessings, has been granted. Free from alarm, and free from danger, you have been permitted to remain in your dwellings, and without interruption from disease, to pursue your respective occupations, and to enjoy the inestimable privilege of assembling from Sabbath to Sabbath in the house of God. “Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, and his mercy endureth forever.”

But whilst we are recollecting the blessings of a beneficent providence, which claim your gratitude, we must not omit to mention the plenty, which has rewarded the labours of the husbandman. It is God who giveth us “rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” It is he who causeth the earth “to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” He has “crowned the year with his goodness,” and his “paths drop fatness,” so that “the pastures are clothed with flocks’ the valleys also are covered over with corn. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.” “Sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.”

But it must be confessed, that the picture has a dark as well as a bright side. For, although in the retrospect of the past, there is reason to rejoice; yet, in the prospect of the future, there is also much cause to fear. Let us therefore “rejoice4 with trembling;” and, while we offer our thanksgiving for favours received, let us earnestly beseech the Father of mercies to continue our blessings, and to deliver us from those evils which we either feel or fear.

Our national affairs, it is acknowledged by all, are in a very difficult and perilous condition, and seem to be rapidly approaching to some important crisis. No human wisdom is adequate to foresee, and provide against, the evils to which we may be exposed. We should, therefore, with importunate supplications, entreat Almighty God to interpose in our behalf, and to continue to protect our country from all the dangers by which it is surrounded; to preside over our President; to counsel our counselors; and so to overrule all the deliberations of our legislators, that they may be led, at this critical and interesting period, to adopt such measures, as will preserve the peace and promote the prosperity of the nation. And as the hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord, so that he turneth them whithersoever he will, let us earnestly pray that he would dispose the contending powers of Europe, to treat us with justice, and permit us to remain in peace;–that he would smile on our country, and cause our agriculture, commerce, and manufactures to flourish:–that he would preserve the health of our citizens, and banish plague and pestilence from all our borders.—And, above all, let us beseech the “God of all grace,” that he would grant the rich effusions of his Holy Spirit to all our churches, that truth and piety, may flourish in our day; that the institutions of religion may be reverenced; that justice, benevolence, and humanity, may prevail; that the rising generation may be early and deeply tinctured with the genuine spirit of the gospel; that vice and error may be suppressed; that luxury and dissipation may be retarded in their alarming progress; that political dissentions and the baleful spirit of party may be extinguished; and, in short, that a pure and general reformation may take place among all denominations of Christians, and through all classes of society. And, finally, let us pray, that God would extend the benign influence of the gospel to the most dark and distant regions; that the whole earth may be full of the knowledge of God; that his name may be great among the heathen; and that the remnant of Israel may be gathered in; that “the Lord may be King over all the earth,” so that there may be “One Lord and his name One.”

Dear brethren, we earnestly recommend that the day appointed be religiously observed for the aforesaid purposes; and that attention to secular affairs be, as far as practicable, intermitted. And we hope that a gracious God will enable you in sincerity to offer “the sacrifice of thanksgiving” and the “prayer of faith;” and that his ear will be open to receive your supplications, and his arm stretched out for your protection and salvation.

 

PRESENT DUTY.

A DISCOURSE, &c.

PSALM, XXX. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

“IN my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord, and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou mine helper. Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee forever.”

WE have assembled for the purpose of contributing our share to carry into effect the concluding recommendation in the address which was read to you in the morning. Thanksgiving for public mercies received, and prayer for future mercies, were the two objects submitted by that address to our serious and conscientious consideration. The recommendation to consecrate the day to these objects comes from a number of clergymen of various religious denominations; who, after considering the aspect of holy providence, judged it their duty to make the proposal, and to take that part in its execution, which their station in the church of God renders proper. Accordingly, our former discourse went to illustrate the subjects of thanksgiving; the present is devoted to illustrate those of prayer.

The passage of Holy Writ which has been read, records events, which bear no obscure analogy to the circumstances of this nation. It presents, in the life of David, one of those rapid transitions from prosperity to adversity, which occur not unfrequently in human affairs. And, what is more interesting still, it exhibits that good man, in every change of fortune, tendering due adoration to the Supreme Disposer: praising the divine favour in his elevation, and from the depths of distress looking up, and imploring the divine interposition. It is thus that the visitations of the spirit of grace qualify for all contingencies. Give us but an abundant unction of that grace, and let Sovereignty order events as he pleases; for, whether in sorrow, or in joy, we shall abound in faith, and “in those fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” This nation, like David, has been elevated to a high pitch of prosperity; like him, it is “troubled:” may our views and conduct correspond with his: and may God of his infinite mercy grant, that a similarity of issue may fill up the measure of coincidence; till the two cases accord as type and antitype.

“In my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.” Such was David’s declaration; and it is not long since this nation might have pledged him in the cup of blessing. It was but lately that its mountain swelled towards heaven, and seemed to promise some stability of base. Within its territorial circuit were displayed a rapidly increasing population,–fed, clothed, and industrious; while a generous soil poured out, with exuberant bounty, a superabundance of the gifts of life. Agriculture pushed on its conquests over the forests. Cities sprung up out of villages; villages arose in the deserts. In addition to these essential articles of national prosperity, its commerce covered the ocean: ships from every clime crowded its harbours: the fabrics and productions of the trafficking world filled its warehouses. We were clothed in silk, and fared sumptuously every day. The self-created distractions of other nations seemed to be permitted, and ordered by Providence to swell the spring-tide of our national prosperity. Our coffers ran over; and we exhibited the political phenomenon of a nation paying its debts. Our mountain stood strong. It is to be hoped there was national piety enough to recognize the fact, that it stood strong, by the favour of God. Perhaps some calculated on the perpetuity of our prosperous condition; on its longer continuance many certainly did calculate. Self-love, so inventive of reasons to justify and flatter its hopes, could produce a thousand imposing arguments to demonstrate, that it was as much the interest of other nations, as of this, that commerce should continue to flow in the channels, into which the necessities of the times had forced it.

But sanguine hopes are seldom realized; and ours, if such hopes were ours, have met a disastrous rebuke. The Lord hath hid his face and we are troubled. All the internal springs of prosperity continue; but commerce is gone. Reflecting men had long beheld, with anxiety and with terror, the embittered and obstinate spirit of hostility displayed by the two conflicting potentates of Europe. The fate of two great nations, populous, rich, and highly civilized, was itself an object sufficiently interesting to humanity. But that interest was, it appears, mingled with too justly founded a fear, that the effect of their hostilities might reach beyond themselves; that it might affect the essential interests of many nations; and that the principles of public law and of civilization might get involved in the issue. These were not the alarms of the passions, but the apprehensions of sober wisdom, calmly calculating the effects of exorbitant ambition and relentless wrath, united with great power. The event has justified them all. Even this nation, “entirely divided from the whole world,” has got involved at last. Nature had removed her far from the theatre of war: a commerce, which nursed and nurtured both the belligerents, has brought us into the midst of it: a commerce, which nursed and nurtured both the belligerents, has brought us into the midst of it: a commerce, the value of which we well knew, and they have sufficiently proclaimed; while each cuts off the channel which conveyed it to the other, as they would cut through the aqueduct of a fortress which they wished to reduce. The thing is done. Our commerce has disappeared from the ocean. Our ships rot along the banks of our rivers. Our seamen, where are they? At this moment the nation stands astounded. And no wonder. A great portion of the arrangements of the social body are to be changed at once, in opposition to feelings the most tender, and habits the most inveterate. Wealth must explore new and untried channels; industry find new objects; the poor seek new resources; even luxury—but luxury is the last that suffers in public distress.

Such are the circumstances in which we meet to supplicate the interposition of divine providence in behalf of the nation. The interest at stake is the happiness of a whole people. And we shall ill display our faith in God, or love to man, if such circumstances do not inspire our prayers with ardour and importunity. The subjects of prayer I shall state and illustrate in order of the address.

FIRST SUBJECT OF PRAYER.

It is our duty “To entreat Almighty God to interpose in our behalf, and to continue to protect our country from all the dangers by which it is surrounded; to preside over our President; to counsel our counselors; so to overrule all the deliberations of our legislators, that they may be directed, at this critical and interesting period, to adopt such measures as may preserve the peace and promote the prosperity of the nation.”

In sum and essence; that God would inspire our magistrates with wisdom and virtue for their high official functions; and crown their labours with, what is the end of all civil government, the happiness of the nation. Among all the social duties there is scarce any, of the duties which the people owe to their governors, there is certainly not one, which comes home to the understanding with stronger recommendatory arguments, and at the same time impress conscience with less force, than the duty of prayer for civil magistrates. Every thing else we will do for them; honour them, praise them, pay them, fight for them; every thing but pray for them; every thing but bear them on our hearts to the throne of grace. This fact is a demonstration that there is a prevalent practical atheism in human nature; and that, even under the gospel and with all the boasted illumination of the age, the simple principle that “Jehovah reigns” is by far too sublime for the gross and vulgar conceptions of men, who feel sufficiently impressed with every other species of government. The unceasing agency of Deity in the production of things, his operation on the mind of man, his supreme but all-wise disposal of us and our concerns; or in other words, what we call his Providence, is a principle of faith more difficult of admission than his creating energy; and vastly more important. It is this that lays the basis of religious trust. In introduces us to a rational communion with all the perfections of Deity. Deny this, and that communion is gone. All appeals to his justice or mercy, all confidence in his wisdom or power are absurd, if he presides not over us and all that interests us. But do they manifest their belief in the providential government of God, who never recommend the common weal to his care and keeping? It will be well if even that part of the community, who are accustomed to wrestle with God, by prayer, shall be found to have respected, as they ought, the apostolic exhortation: “I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty: for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” ¹ It were devoutly to be wished, that there did prevail that sublime faith which recognizes Jehovah’s agency in all thing, from the most minute to the most grand, and which recommends to his safe keeping, parents, ministers, magistrates, church, and state; that he would so enlighten them by his spirit, that they may discharge their various trusts with fidelity. It is this that would sanctify man in all his relations. It is this that would sanctify, even that too frequently unsanctified thing, patriotism.

There are two objects to be kept in view when we address the throne of grace in behalf of our civil magistrates. The first is, that God would inspire them with wise and righteous counsels. Even a heathen could dedicate a temple to the Inspirer of good counsels. We will have exchanged heathenism for Christianity, to little purpose, if we do not honour the true God in our way, as much as pagans honoured idols in theirs. A conversion from superstition to atheism is a poor step in the progress of intellect. Let us take a view of the privilege granted to prayer when a nation’s welfare is at stake; of the use which piety makes of that privilege; of the approbation which God gives to that use; and of the consequences to national felicity. Let us survey the whole in the instance of Solomon. After his advancement to the throne of Israel, he attended a grand national festival, at which he offered up a thousand burnt offerings. The subsequent history runs thus: “In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed me great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people that is so great?—And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king; wisdom and knowledge is granted thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.” ² Such was the prayer of Solomon; such the answer of God. We read the result in the history of a long reign, peaceful and glorious; which civilized and enriched the Israelitish nation, and diffused its fame, linked and entwined with the most solid advantages, to the surrounding countries. When God withholds the blessing of wisdom from a government, the consequences are dreadful. There is not a more awful mark of heaven’s displeasure against a people, than to see their rulers abandoned to infatuated counsels. Yet in the changes of men and measures in the political management of nations, there has appeared I know not what malignity, worse than human; which has seemed to triumph in the pernicious counsels and ruinous administration of civil governors: as if the errors of a statesman and calamities of a nation, were grounds of rejoicing: or as if any virtuous man could wish a change, the means to produce which must be the previous prostration of justice and public happiness. Let us pray God to inspire our rulers in all their various ranks and functions, with wise counsels; and particularly with that, without which no counsel is wise, nor can be ultimately beneficial—the righteousness which exalteth a nation.

But we should pray for more than wisdom and righteousness in our civil governors. Injustice and folly eventually and inevitably destroy nations: but wisdom and virtue will not always save a state. It is the blessing of heaven which gives them that success. Mankind admit, unless when malignity to multiply its censures multiplies crimes, they admit that no man is responsible for the success of his measures, but only for their wisdom and rectitude; herein recognizing an important principle of religion—the providential government of God. There are nice junctures in human things. The moral machinery of states is vastly complicated: it interlocks, moreover, with the machinery of nature; with the situations and productions of countries; with winds and waves, and a thousand things else. To give success, therefore, to the wisest plans, belong to him whose kingdom ruleth over all. Did a government combine in itself, the wisdom of Solomon, the meekness of Moses, and the heroism of David, it could neither insure success to its measures, nor stability to its duration. Nations should look beyond their chiefs, those idols whom they worship to-day, and dash in pieces to-morrow, to the supreme Jehovah, as the author of political prosperity or trouble. It must be strange, if, while the “hairs of our head are numbered,” and even “a sparrow falleth not on the ground without our heavenly father;” states and empires, the most important of things, should rise and fall without his agency. Strange indeed! That he who has kindly relieved us from the burthen of our cares, commanding us to be careful for nothing, but in every thing to let our requests be known to him by prayer and supplication, should be considered as having excepted the weightiest of all human cares, those of nations, from his benevolent grant, and left them to bow us down to the ground, without opening any avenue by which we may bring them to his throne, and obtain his support under their pressure. Let it never be said that those who pray to God for daily bread, for the preservation of an absent friend, for the recovery of a sick relative; should by some unaccountable weakness of faith, or sluggishness in duty, neglect to pray for their country; which includes in it the life, comfort, virtue, and honour, of themselves, their friends, of millions of human beings, and of unborn ages.

It is a happy circumstance that this duty stands detached from the opinions afloat concerning men and measures. Our duty is plain; we see our magistrates elevated by the providence of God, and the voice of men, to the seat of authority: a nation’s interests are in their hands: their administration must prove the happiness or misery of those whom they represent: this we see; and it is our duty to pray that God may enable them to discharge their duty.

THE SECOND SUBJECT OF PRAYER IS THUS EXPRESSED—

“And as the hearts of kings, are in the hand of the Lord, so that he turneth them whithersoever he will; let us pray that he would dispose the contending powers of Europe to treat us with justice, and permit us to remain in peace.”

This article includes three ideas.—Prayer for our enemies.—That they may treat us with justice.—That we may remain in peace.

Prayer for our enemies. Whether both, or either of the potentates of Europe, whose proceedings affect this country, be actuated by a spirit of animosity to its prosperity, the searcher of hearts must determine. We can see in them, only the organs of public measures. And, beyond peradventure, their measures will never be produced as a proof of their friendship for us. We place our duty on high ground when we insist, that, enemies though they be, we may not omit to pray for them. It is the command of our Lord: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven.” Doth God prescribe laws for individuals, and not for societies? It is absurd to imagine that every man is bound to pray for the enemy who inflicts a trifling personal injury; and yet that nations are under no obligation to pray for those more powerful enemies, whose injuries afflict millions. Let the law of God have its full scope. When we see the spirit of human nature interposing with its arguments, menaces, and physical force, to avert national calamity; let the spirit of Christianity interpose with its prayers and supplications—that cheap defence of nations.

But what prayers? That our enemies may triumph in their iniquity! God forbid. Christianity knows nothing of the wickedness of praying, that injustice may prosper: nothing of the absurdity of praying that our enemies may be successful in invading our rights; and ourselves successful in defending them. It is impossible for God to command, or for man to perform such a thing. The prayer which we are directed to address to the throne of grace, is, that the Lord, in whose hands are the hearts of kings, “would dispose the contending powers of Europe, to treat us with justice.” We ask no more, we dare ask no more, than that God would dispose them to “reign in righteousness.” He can easily inspire them with sentiments of justice and moderation. He can teach them to feel the truth so fully taught in the scriptures; so echoed by every man that writes, and every man that speaks; so confirmed by every page of history; and yet so ineffectual in the hour of temptation:–that no solid permanent advantage ever accrued to man or country, from the violation of justice and mercy. Whatever thoughtless men may have surmised, or malignant men urged against the duty of praying for our enemies, the truth is, our prayers for our enemies, and for our friends, and for ourselves, contemplate the very same blessing: that God would subject us all to the authority of his own most holy, wise, and good law, and prosper us in the discharge of our duty. But every prayer for the success of unrighteousness, even our own unrighteousness, is an abomination. The reason why prayer for enemies is so specifically and forcibly noted by our Lord is obvious. Injury excites no feeling but resentment; and resentment prompts to nothing but revenge. These are far from comprehending the whole duty of man, in any case. Do we not see in every act of injury to man, a dishonor done to God, a brother exposed to wrath? The former can be repaired, the latter averted, only by his repentance and reformation. Our prayers, if fruitless to the offender, at least exempt our own souls from guilt, while still we are in possession of all the rights and means of self-defense. If answered, God is honoured, a brother restored to virtue, and our own peace and happiness secured, by a bloodless victory. The duty of prayer for our enemies will, when duly examined, be found, like the other sublimities of that glorious system of which it is a part, as full of wisdom and sound discretion as it is of benevolence.

There are times that try men’s souls. The present times try the souls of Christians. Perhaps even they have not been wise spectators of the out-pouring of the viols of divine wrath on the nations of Europe. Glowing with unsanctified rage towards this nation, and as unsanctified an attachment towards another, they may have indulged themselves in an exultation in defeats and in victories, far from Christian. Are we sure that we have felt for man as we ought? Have we interceded with our heavenly father, to abridge the days of violence and blood? I take it for granted that it was always our duty to pray that those men who direct the energies of desolation, over so large and fair a portion of Christendom, should be disposed to use the vast power which heaven has committed to them, for the peace and happiness of mankind. They were at no time objects of indifference. Noting human, is foreign to man. Our duty is now brought home to us. They are our enemies: and in this new relation, inauspicious and painful as it is, our duty has become more definite and pressing; we must pray for them. Nor let a narrow and selfish regard confine our views to those points only in which our own interests are concerned. Let us lift up our eyes, and cast them over that wide field of horror which Europe presents. Millions of men, as dear to their creator as we can be; and many of them as faithful servants of their Redeemer as any of us, exposed to hunger and nakedness, to oppression and the wasting sword, claim our prayers on their own account.

For ourselves, we are to pray that we may be permitted to “remain in peace.” Of the value of peace I need say nothing. The subject is too plain for argument; too trite for declamation. That men, as individuals, are fond of peace I believe; the occurrences in domestic and social life justify the inference. But that nations, in their corporate capacity, are fond of peace, is utterly incredible. With all their perpetual declamations in favour of peace, are they not perpetually at war? Fifty years in the century scarcely suffice for shedding human blood. Their conduct is the language we must believe. By some frown of God upon the human race, almost all the systems of government hitherto adopted, have been constructed, as if on purpose, to render peace insecure; and to make it, as easy to commence war, and as difficult to terminate it, as possible. It is not very long since, in that part of the world which we have been habituated to call civilized, every gentleman walked the streets with a sword by his side; no doubt under pretence of preserving the peace. Did they preserve it? It was but a word, it was but a look, and blood flowed. What individuals were then, nations are to this hour. The slightest insult, the slightest injury, even the suspicion of injury or insult, is sufficient to commit two great nations, on the field of mutual wrath and destruction. And once committed, they rarely cease, while they can find soldiers to be slaughtered, and money to pay them for exposing their lives. Open the pages of history, and tell me how many governments have been constructed on the principle of rendering peace secure, and the commencement of war difficult. If one cannot propose a remedy for such a clamant evil, he may at least be permitted to lament it. While the divine deduces from perpetual wars a proof of the corruption of human nature, the politician may demonstrate from the same source, the ignorance of mankind in constructing governments. The proof is complete in both instances.

I will not affect to conceal the satisfaction I feel, that, by the singular favour of heaven, this nation has obtained a government marked with imbecility, or an inaptitude for war. Yes, that imbecility, so scoffed and so scorned: that imbecility, so regretted and bewailed: that very imbecility, is the brightest star in our political constellation. It is the grand security of our peace; and a much better security, than will ever be found in the justice or moderation of any one man whatever. To what other human cause can be ascribed the tranquility, under which we have so long and happily flourished? It is not the political calculations of a man or knot of men at the head of affairs, it is not their gutsy passions; it is not even their legitimate resentment of injuries and insults, that can commit the nation to the certain calamities, and uncertain issues of war. The injury must oppress, the insult must irritate, the whole mass of inhabitants, from one end to the other of a great empire. The cause of war must be a great one, because it has a nation to move. A government in a perpetual state of revolution, by the frequency of elections, can scarcely begin, and never continue a war contrary to the will of those who must ever be the actors and sufferers—the people. But whether an armed nation inflamed with one common spirit of resentment, will prove an imbecile enemy, when its territory and domiciles are violated, is another question. We must defer the answer, till we see with what wisdom its energies are directed.

To those indeed who account human blood as so much water; who calculate nothing on thousands of fellow men writhing in the agonies of despair and death, on fields of battle; nothing on millions of human souls sent to the eternal world; who never reflect on the armies of widows and orphans, thrown into the jaws of hunger, and into the jaws of vice, still more devouring: to such sanguinary spirits war may appear a trifling inconveniency, to be incurred on every pique of national pride, or for every paltry motive of commercial advantage. But the man who estimates these as very great evils, and who fills up the group of horrors, with burned cities, with desolated countries, with national debts contracted, which will wring from the hands of labour, its hard earning for ages to come; such a man will ask, what is gained by all this waste of human life, and human happiness? Is it that a hero may triumph! Is it that a victory may be announced by the ringing of bells, and splendid illuminations! Is it that a hospital may be built for those miserable fragments of men who have left their legs and arms on the field of battle! Is it the pitiful dole of charity, so ostentatiously bestowed on widows and orphans, the poor solace for the loss of husbands and of fathers! Is it that most detestable of all boasts, the superior desolation, inflicted on the enemy! Or is it the status quo ante bellum! If this be the whole, and in most cases it is the whole of the advantage accruing from a glorious and successful war, he will despise the wisdom and detest the morality of the men, who did not evade it, as long as evasion was possible. When national liberty and independence are the question, there is no choice. They deserve them not, who hesitate a moment about defending them. This is a cause worthy of blood. But to create facilities of going to war on every occasion, is the extreme of folly and depravity. Is war such a blessing, that we should be afraid of missing any opportunity of getting into it! David preferred the pestilence.

But whatever protection the national institutions furnish to peace, they can never insure it. There is a supreme and righteous ruler, who will take vengeance on transgressing nations. And there is some ground of apprehension that he is preparing an awful chastisement for us. If the measure of our guilt should be that of our alarm, security is at present no proof of wisdom. But I shrink from attempting the portrait of national iniquity. Whether we have transgressed beyond the bounds which divine forbearance permits to frail man, before the infliction of national judgments, God only knoweth. It were well, however, if a signal national repentance and reformation, rendered the question less dubious. If the supreme ruler please he can soon raise up against us some “bitter and hasty nation,” to be the rod of his wrath. With the most profound humility and contrition, let us prostrate ourselves before him, and urge our last plea—his mercy. Let us pray that our peace may be permanent. He is not worthy the name of Christian, who is terrified merely by “the two tails of those smoking fire brands,” terrific and mighty as they are, and flushed with the conflagration of half the globe. He is still less worthy that name, whose hope of deliverance is not in the arm of Almighty God.

THE THIRD SUBJECT OF PRAYER TO GOD IS—

“That he would smile on our country, and cause our agriculture, commerce and manufactures to flourish.”

The objects brought under our eye in this article, are the most important and obvious causes of national prosperity.—The organization of a great empire, is never completed, till every useful art and profession, has engaged in its service its due portion of the national wealth and population. Then; as hands, feet, eyes, ears, minister, each in its station and office to the being and well-being of man, each section of society, in its appropriate station and functions, contributes to the being, support, ornament and felicity, of the nation: and thus, while there is a separation into parts, there are ligaments which connect those parts into a whole; and there is no schism in the body politic.

Agriculture is the first and noblest employment of man: the most conducive to health and longevity; the most favourable to the enjoyment of the pure and unsophisticated pleasures of humanity; the best calculated to expand and invigorate the mind, to preserve virtue uncontaminated, and to nurture a pure and ardent piety. Cities have their importance, as marts of commerce, and seats of science, and as the centers where national force and counsel are collected, and whence they operate on the nation, and on all things connected with the nation. But the mass of political power, of sound practical intellect, of virtue, of piety, of happiness, of patriotism, should ever be sought among the cultivators of the soil. If it be not found there, we may assure ourselves that the nation is a hot-house, where plants are forced by artificial means beyond the power of soil and climate. It was a paradise watered by the dews of heaven, and producing its fruits and flowers by the immediate breath and agency of God, that was the first residence of innocent humanity; and that furnished the means for perfecting its piety, and its virtue. We rejoice therefore to see the wilderness retreating westward. We exult, while we survey the teeming vallies and green hills, where man has asserted the original dominion which God gave him over nature. There peace and plenty reign throughout the year. Happy husbandmen! Ye are the philosophers in soils and in crops; in flocks and in herds: ye are the astronomers who know, not the eclipses of planets and satellites, but under what heavenly sign to sow; when occur the droughts, and the dews of heaven; and when to expect the appointed weeks of harvest. Ye are the elder sons and stewards of the universal parent, who receive from his own hand the bounty intended for all, and distribute it around his family. It is you that feed us all. And may that God who has given to you, “every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree,” bless your labours with abundant increase.

But the husbandman is only the first link in the chain of social connections. The “cunning artificer” holds an important place. Clothes for decency and health, and some species of shelter from the elements, are as necessary to man as bread. Arts are coeval with society. And in the progress of tribes from barbarism to civilization, from civilization to refinement, from refinement to luxury, the increase and extension of the arts keep pace with the march of general improvement. The prosperity of that class of men, who devote themselves to arts and manufactures is greatly interesting, both for their own sake, and for the sake of the public, so essentially served by them. Self interest and social benevolence, may be set at variance by sordid wretches, quibbling metaphysicians, and intriguing politicians; but the sound moralist and wise man know that benefits ought to be mutual; and will no more wish to destroy this principle, than that other principle of nature, that action and reaction are equal, and in opposite directions. Manufactures promote agriculture, as agriculture feeds manufactures. They are the two pillars of national independence, I mean real practical independence, where the sense does not belie the sound; that independence which can be seen, felt, and enjoyed. A people depending on foreign countries for the bread that feeds them, are in the most miserable state of dependence that can be can be conceived. Rome, with five millions of inhabitants, domineering over the globe of the earth, and calling herself the mistress of the world, saw herself desolated by famine and insurrection, whenever a storm or other casualty interrupted the arrival of the victualling fleets of Egypt and Africa. Even the circumstance of being clothed by foreign countries, creates a dependence; certainly not so dangerous as the former, but yet a real dependence. But whenever a nation has secured within itself those essential articles, “food and raiment,” in the possession of which God has said “be content,” she may boast of a substantial, practical independence. Should this country secure that advantage, at the price of all its present difficulties, the purchase will not be too dear. The young eagle is now sufficiently fledged to be thrown from the nest, to provide for himself. Providence has done this. And while some are indulging a zealous eloquence in reproaching those whose injustice has troubled us, and in magnifying the injury beyond all its dimensions, in order to render the reproach more pungent; it is highly gratifying to see how many are bending their genius and force to those projects of internal improvement, which must in the end convert a transient calamity, into a permanent national blessing. We pray for their success most sincerely. “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far aboe rubies, she seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.—She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands on the spindle; and her hands hold the distaff. She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the streets, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”

Commerce is the next article, which claims our notice as a subject of prayer. This is the link which connects nation to nation; and converts the various tribes of men into one society. This is the channel in which the divine bounty flows, till it finds its level; equalizing the riches and enjoyments of mankind, notwithstanding the variety of their soils and climates. It is the vehicle in which arts, science, and improvement, make the tour of the globe. We will appreciate its importance when we consider that it is to it we owe the grain in our fields, the fruits in our orchards, the cattle in our plains, and the flocks on our hills; to say nothing of those medicines by which we are enabled to ward off the calamities of life, and protract our existence to a reasonable period. Among its moral effects we recognize the security of property. It has taught justice to rapacious despotism. No arbitrary demands, no governmental extortions, nor any thing to impair that mutual trust which is the soul of traffic, can exist in the same atmosphere with commerce. The moment property becomes insecure, she spreads her sails, and is gone to another port. In fine, could nothing else be said in favour of commerce, than that it has wasted the gospel of salvation, over a great part of the habitable world, it would be a high eulogium.

But alas! The moral condition of mankind forbids us to realize the golden dream of nations, linked together in friendly intercourse, mutually interchanging superfluities, for the relief of mutual wants. The human family was once a single society; and God thought it necessary to interpose, and sever them into dissociated tribes. Their union, it would seem, was the source of corruption; their separation is to be the security of virtue. The period of their re-union (if ever that should take place) has not yet arrived: it lies hid amidst the shades of long futurity. Commerce is now the only bond of union among nations. And if mankind were virtuous, and national concerns conducted on principles of justice, this bond seems sufficient for all the purposes of charity, and mutual benefit. Virtue, however, is scarce indeed. Individuals are but partially under the influence of moral principle; and, if I mistake not, nations not at all. This is the principal cause of the inconveniencies resulting from commercial relations: inconveniencies so numerous and weighty, as in many cases to render the general benefit, or general detriment, of such relations, extremely problematical. Should we give the reins to fancy, and imagine the nations of the earth to be so many moral persons (the personification is usual) we would shudder to contemplate the personages whom our curiosity had conjured up. What are they? Robbers. Do you expect candour, truth, fidelity, justice, mercy, from one of them? Nothing less. Do you expect they will make a fair bargain with you? Not if it be in their power to deceive you. Will they adhere to a bargain? Not if they find an interest in breaking it. If you are weak will they assist you, will they even permit you to grow strong, by the blessing of Providence? They seize the moment of your weakness to subject you to their power, or to turn the little rivulet which supplied you, into the full stream of their own overflowing prosperity. Do they care for your blood? They do not. If this be not the truth, history lies, and the testimony of all our senses deceives us. And while nations are actuated by such principles, commerce, which brings them together, will be the grand cause of controversy, and bloodshed. Hence the fact, that while nothing is so favourable to commerce as peace, nothing so injurious as war, yet almost all the wars of modern times, originate in commercial claims and interests. It has long been matter of fact, and of feeling to this country, that commerce creates frequent collisions of interest among nations, and ever exposes the weak to the cupidity and injustice of the powerful. It is generally believed that America is not able to support her commercial rights by the sword. But I do not know that it is so generally admitted, that even were she able to enforce all her claims, the object is scarce worth the cost. What! Can we not eat our own bread? Can we not wear our own wool? Can no healthy, can no invigorating beverage be produced in a country, reaching almost from the pole to the equator? Can we not live out our three score years and ten, on the blessings which God has bestowed on one hemisphere of the globe? While foreign commerce is so cautiously guarded, and so much panegerysed, why is domestic commerce, which would link the east to the west, the north to the south, of this great empire; which would create new ties and dependencies, new benefits and charities among the children of the same household, so little thought of; or why has it so few advocates?

I ask not in what situation, as to piety and virtue, and the prospects of eternity, that large portion of the community are placed, who are immediately employed in the transportation of commodities from country to country. I will not enquire into the effects of commerce on patriotism: there are noble minds, which in the day on their country’s peril can break those moorings which attached them to foreign nations, and make themselves fast to its soil and its fortunes. I have said that commerce brings us medicines; need I add, it is also the vehicle of disease. I have said it taught despots to respect property; but does it instruct republics to cherish liberty? When its advantages are all summed up, they amount to a rapid maturity, and premature decay of every nation which depends on it. And where is the great ground of boasting, if commerce introduces wealth, wealth luxury, luxury the dissolution of morals, and that gain the decay and extinction of the state!

But are we not to pray for the prosperity of our commerce? Most unquestionably: nor have I lost sight of that duty. But I hold myself bound in honour and in conscience, not to urge the duty of prayer, without exhibiting what I conceive to be a just valuation of the blessing to be asked. Commerce is a blessing, but of the secondary order. As comfort is to be sought in our families, not in visiting our friends; so a nation’s felicity is to be found within the precincts of its territory, not in foreign connections. I do not take into the calculation the case of a Tadmor in the wilderness, or a Corinth between two seas: such places are only centers where men meet to do business. Nations possessed of extensive and fruitful territories are different things. To the declamations in favour of general commerce, made by the men who manage the affairs of states, we listen with spontaneous jealously. Without estimating at its worth the enlarged and permanent interest of a nation, they may be well pleased to see an immense property floating along its wharves, presenting a convenient subject of revenue, to any amount, and easily collected. Such men are not the best judges. Errors in politicks and morals are rarely discovered, and never proclaimed, by those who profit by them. The case seems to stand thus—we certainly do derive several important advantages from foreign nations; these are blessings to us: and we certainly do communicate several important advantages to foreign nations; these are blessings to them: and every man of humanity, would wish that the tide of heaven’s blessings were permitted to wash all the shores of the universe, without being interrupted by those mounds, which an unjust policy is perpetually erecting to force them out of their natural course.

I cannot close this article without observing, that since it has pleased God to inflict a wound, we should be thankful that he has inflicted it on a part, of all others the least mortal. Had it been famine, or pestilence, or civil commotion, then should we have felt the weapon pierce our vitals. But he has touched us in the extremities, in commerce, a part exquisitely sensible, tremblingly alive to feeling; but not at all mortal. The language of the dispensation is, You shall have bred to the full, but you shall not grow rich so fast as you calculated.—

The remaining subjects of prayer, I shall recite together.

Let us pray to God: “That he would preserve the health of our citizens, and banish plague and pestilence from all our borders; and, above all, let us beseech the “God of all grace,” that he would grant the rich effusions of his Holy Spirit to all our churches, that truth and piety, may flourish in our day; that the institutions of religion may be reverenced; that justice, benevolence, and humanity, may prevail; that the rising generation may be early and deeply tinctured with the genuine spirit of the gospel; that vice and error may be suppressed; that luxury and dissipation may be retarded in their alarming progress; that political dissentions and the baleful spirit of party may be extinguished; and, in short, that a pure and general reformation may take place among all denominations of Christians, and through all classes of society. And, finally, let us pray, that God would extend the benign influence of the gospel to the most dark and distant regions; that the whole earth may be full of the knowledge of God; that his name may be great among the heathen; and that the remnant of Israel may be gathered in; that “the Lord may be King over all the earth,” so that there may be “One Lord and his name One.”

The limits which must be set to this discourse admit nothing beyond a cursory notice of the three topics here suggested:–Health, Religion, and the extinction of Party spirit.

Of health it is unnecessary to say much, as every human being is equally ascertained of its value; and as the audience are in the habit of attributing this, with every other blessing, to him in whom “we live, and move, and have our being.” Too much circumspection, however, cannot be used to preserve on our hearts the impression, that he is the God of our lives, and that our days are in his hand. No reasonable man will object against inquiries into the causes of health and disease; no true philosopher will exclude from his consideration of the subject, the idea of a supreme cause: but it belongs to the Christian to estimate the moral considerations; the sins, and the reformations, which influence divine judgments and mercies. While we bless God that he hath not said concerning us, “they shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence,” let us implore his mercy for such an increase of faith and righteousness, that it may cease to be necessary to teach us the obligation of his law, by the infliction of its penalties.

As to Religion, it is the one thing needful; the portion of the soul, the means of securing to man an immortality of happiness and of glory. In this view, it is constantly presented, in all the acts of private and social worship. Here we need not dilate. But the appropriate duties of the day forbid us to overlook the immense importance of it to states, and societies. A high encomium is passed on religion, when it is represented as the contrivance of civil authority, to enforce subjection to the laws. We cannot avoid feeling indignant that so base and spurious a parentage should be assigned to the offspring of heaven; yet, while the high priests of impiety who pretend to have inspected the register of her birth, acknowledge, that notwithstanding the baseness of her descent and blood, she is still the protectress of order and law, of justice, peace and social concord, we accept the compliment; and allow it that accumulated meaning, which belongs to the praise of an enemy. They are right in this praise. It does require something more august than mortal majesty; something more imposing than the wisdom of senates; something more terrible than legal penalties, so easily evaded; some inspection less capable of elusion than that of human tribunals, to give efficiency to those laws which prescribe restraints to all the wild and furious, and destructive lusts, of the human bosom.

When we read the Scriptures, we feel the impression of a dignity in magistrates, laws and obedience, which we are sure we never experienced in reading history, or in contemplating any particular commonwealth: we see the magistrate receiving an investiture more noble than the pomp of a coronation, or even the election of the freest people on earth can give. He is the “minister of God;” the instrument by which the sovereign of heaven, manages the moral government of this world; by which he dispenses his justice and mercy to mankind, and preserves the order, peace and happiness of the human race. As such we fear and venerate him, with an allegiance consecrated by religion. We see in just laws something more than the contrivance of those men, whom wisdom, or the reputation of it, has raised to the high trust of legislation: they are the laws of God sanctioned by eternal rewards and punishments: and we feel that “we must be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.” Religion, so far as it operates on society, secures veneration to magistrates, and obedience to the laws, to the full extent of their merit.

It does more: far more. It attains the noblest ends of civil government, by a native inherent energy, which leaves the magistrate nothing to do, but to look on and approve. While a Christian is enabled to “do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God;” the laws against murder, unchastity, fraud, perjury, and other enormities, may, for him, sleep in the statute books of the country forever. He knows little about them. They were not made for him; but “for the lawless and disobedient; for the ungodly and for sinners; for the unholy and profane.” He soars over the heads of magistrates, and transacts his moral concerns, immediately with the sovereign of the universe: and while he thinks only of obeying the laws of God, he renders an exemplary obedience to the laws of man.

The influence of religion does not terminate here. Within the circle of social relations, there are immense tracts, where human government has scarcely the shadow of authority. How extensive are the duties of parental and filial obligation? How numerous those imposed by friendship and gratitude? How sacred the obligation to forgive injuries, to sympathize with sufferings, to bear with prejudices? Yet there is not one of a thousand of such duties that can be enforced by civil law; not one of a thousand violations of them, against which a civil penalty can be directed. They are only a few palpable crimes and virtues bout which the magistrate is versant.—Religion steps in and sanctifies all the relations of man; and by a secret but mighty influence, eradicates vices which the laws could not punish, and plants in their room graces and virtues, which the laws could not enjoin. Need I add, that religion furnishes the surest and best, and in many cases the only consolations, which can cheer and support us under the numerous calamities to which humanity is at present exposed.

As well therefore for sake of the blessings which it diffuses among men in this life, as because it is the means of everlasting happiness, should we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would diffuse the gospel over the land, and by the blessing of his divine spirit render it efficacious in the conversion and sanctification of the inhabitants. For the same reasons, we should pray for its diffusion over the globe. The moral state of the world at this day is shocking; it is alarming. The greater part of it is literally a field of blood, where nothing is displayed but perfidy and violence. We despair of general peace and virtue, till the “prince of peace,” reigns in righteousness. Our prayers should be the more earnest on this subject, because here, more than any where else, God displays that sovereignty which baffles calculation. He only can Christianize the world.

The last subject to be noticed is party spirit. Perhaps it may appear superfluous to attempt defining a spirit, which whistles in every wind, and roars in every storm of politics; and which, though frequently changing its visible vehicle, still continues the same malignant blasting spirit, which all the world have agreed in reprobating. I should have thought so, were there not reason more than to suspect, that unguided declamation, has placed on one degraded level, the mean partisan and the man of moral worth; and poured out the same fretful and acrimonious invectives, against the baseness of the one, and the principled virtue of the other. The clumsy sophistry crawls on, from error to error, thus: every man belongs to some political party; he is, therefore, a partisan; and therefore, again, must be actuated by party spirit; and then, as all agree that party spirit is a base and abominable spirit, the conclusion is unavoidable: all men are alike base. A conclusion grateful to miscreants! But to ascribe no other, nor better motive to tens of thousands of men, respectable for judgment and virtue, than the desire of supporting a party, is to betray an intellect too weak to judge of human nature; or a heart so thoroughly rotten and dissolved, as to be incapable of conceiving even the possibility of a virtuous motive. What is that spirit which in all sects and parties, civil and ecclesiastical, merits the abhorrence of good men?

It has been said that parties are unavoidable in free governments. And whether we look to fact, or philosophy, we must accredit the assertion. The laws of justice and mercy are divine, and immutable. Systems of political economy must change with circumstances; and therefore God has left them free, binding us only thus far, that change them as we may, we must never violate justice and humanity. We accept the liberty which the Creator has conceded to the free-born mind, under the sole restriction which his righteousness has imposed. To minds so differently gifted as ours, so variously instructed, so usurped by personal, local, and unaccountable feelings and prejudices, political questions will ever present an infinite variety of views. Differ we will. Nothing can prevent it, unless God should, by a moral miracle, reduce all men to the same standard of intellect, education, habits, virtues, vices. That miracle would indeed prevent parties: but it would destroy society, by destroying the adaptation of our various talents, to their appropriate offices in the social state. Under free governments, where mind lives, parties spring out of the constitution, which God has given to the world, and to man. Sin does not spring from the necessity of things. But man must mend God’s world! Is there, then no human cure for parties? Yes, certainly: a medicine tried in all climates and on all constitutions, with complete success. A superincumbent despotism, which forbids all communication of thought, and combination of counsel! A despotism which appropriates to government the rational privileges of thinking, planning, and resolving; and leaves to the nation only the brutal rights of feeding, and of obeying they know not why, nor wherefore: such is the cure: if we like the medicine, let us swallow the dose; it never yet has failed. Only still the pulsations of my heart, and I shall have no more fever. One of the first of men, in one of the first of human productions, has said: “Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. ” ³ What man would praise that stagnant pool of society, where the pure and wholesome streams of our rational and nobler powers, are absorbed and evanish, leaving nothing behind but the grossness of our animal nature? Let us have the free and honest use of our souls, and if that creates parties, we shall derive some profit even from these. They will stimulate thought, they will provoke discussion, they will promote research, they will affect compromises between plans and measures, preferable in many instances to any one of those plans or measures, separately.

The result is; that if parties are unavoidable, there is an unavoidable and a virtuous party spirit. No man can prevent himself (nor ought he, if he could) from feeling an interest in the measures which he judges just and beneficial; nor an he avoid an attachment to the men who support them. As an honest man, he must applaud both. Any pretence to the contrary, would betray hypocrisy, or at least insipidity of character. A candid man, acting on his best judgment in the duties of his station, and violating no moral law, is an object of approbation. We may dispute his political judgment; but the man we must respect. It is a violation of truth and decency, to stigmatize such men as partisans.

But there is another, and a very different party spirit. A spirit in which wisdom and honesty have no share. It knows nothing but party. Name but the men, and it stands ready to approve or disapprove, as the case may be, all they are pleased to do or think. It never ponders the wisdom and utility of a proposition; but asks who moved and seconded it. It always dresses by the flag of party. It I a malignant spirit too: it deals less in panegyric than in censure; more in refutation than in confirmation. It is a presumptuous spirit; it knows every thing, and how it originated, and in what motives, and where it will end. This is that evil spirit which, in one degree or other, in all the parties on the field, is laboring with all its might, to banish all truth and candour, all independence of character, and enlightened patriotism, out of the nation and out of the world.

Its very first effect is to render a man’s intellect of no use to him: talents, genius, knowledge, wisdom, of what use are they to a man who considers himself pledged to a blind and obstinate adherence to whatever his party, or the leaders of his party, are pleased to propose? The less such a man knows the better: “a common steadfast dunce,” noisy, bustling and violent, forms the best of partisans. When this party spirit has thoroughly leavened a mass of men, it gives a fatal permanency to the party, long after they have unfortunately survived their wisdom and virtue. Few parties arise without making court to public opinion, by the profession of an honourable object, to be obtained by just and honourable means. Few preserve their original purity; but, by a variety of obliquities and aberrations, maneuver themselves off their first ground, and lay themselves liable to be frowned back into atoms, by the good sense and virtue of the community. But party spirit holds them together, after they have renounced, or lost their first object. And they are found cooperating, with the zeal of proselytes, in measures, which perhaps not a man of them would ever have adopted of unbiased choice.

But it is with horror that I mention one other effect of this party spirit. It is this—that, it destroys the best and noblest of human virtues, that which is the base of all virtue, and of all virtuous character, honesty. I do not allude to pecuniary honesty; that is the lowest grade of the virtue: I mean that honesty, which impels a man, on every question of conduct, to form his best judgment; to speak “as he thinketh in his heart;” and to act according to his principles. Such a one is an honest man; and we should never stoop to call or to think any other man honest. Yet such a man, the thorough paced partisan scarcely can be. He gets into the habit of shutting his eyes least he should discover the faults of his party, and their measures; or the excellencies of his opponents, and their measures. He learns to defend what he does not understand, and to confute what he cannot comprehend: to speak or be silent, to praise or to blame, by signal; to throw out innuendoes; to search for slanders; to credit vague rumours; to circulate dark reports. What a pernicious influence must such proceedings have on any man’s mind? A soul poisoned, throughout the whole circle of its faculties, with darkness, and evasion, and disingenuity, is ruined.

Such is that “baleful spirit of party,” for the extinguishment of which we are called upon to address our ardent supplications to the throne of grace. And verily the temptations re so numerous, and the motives to its indulgence so prepollent, and almost irresistible; that to secure men against their influence, belong only to that God, who can preserve virtue untouched in the midst of the fiery furnace.

Here, I willingly conclude. My object has been to lay before you what I conceived a just, (though it is certainly an inadequate) view of the blessings for which we have met to pray: and at the same time to communicate some impression of the duty of praying for those blessings. That latitude of reflection which such an occasion, and such topicks required, has been freely indulged. Knowing and feeling our privilege of drawing near with boldness to the throne of grace, nothing is wanting but a just estimate and impression of the blessings, which we are to supplicate. If the subjects which have been stated are not important, it will be difficult to name those which are. I hope you will ever esteem it a religious duty, which you owe to God, and a political duty which you owe to the state, to pray for the prosperity of the nation, and for those who administer its government. And, whatever issue adorable Providence may give to the present portentous circumstances, whether peace, or unavoidable war: be of good courage, and play the men for your people, and for the cities of your God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.

 

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Endnotes

1. I Timothy 2: 1-3.

2. 2 Chronicles, 1: 7-12.

3. Milton’s Areopagitica.

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Samuel Hopkins (1807-1887) graduated from Dartmouth in 1827. He was a pastor of a church in Montpelier, VT (1831-1835), later in Saco, ME (1835-1842), and in Standish, ME (beginning in 1844). The following Thanksgiving sermon was preached by Hopkins on November 29, 1838.

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THE CURSE UPON THE GROUND, A BLESSING.

A

SERMON

PREACHED UPON THE DAY OF

PUBLIC THANKSGIVING,

NOVEMBER 29, 1838.

BY SAMUEL HOPKINS,
PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
IN SACO, ME.

 

SERMON.Genesis 3: 17-19

AND UNTO ADAM HE SAID, BECAUSE THOU HAST HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE, AND HAST EATEN OF THE TREE OF WHICH I COMMANDED THEE, SAYING, THOU SHALT NOT EAT OF IT: CURSED IS THE GROUND FOR THY SAKE; IN SORROW SHALT THOU EAT OF IT ALL DAYS OF THY LIFE;

THORNS AND THISTLES SHALL IT BRING FORTH TO THEE; AND THOU SHALT EAT THE HERB OF THE FIELD;

IN THE SWEAT OF THY FACE SHALT THOU EAT BREAD, TILL THOU RETURN UNTO THE GROUND; FOR OUT OF IT WAST THOU TAKEN: FOR DUST THOU ARE, AND UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN.

Before the fall the world was a paradise. Its roses had no thorns; its fountains, no bitterness; its charms, no disease. The sunbeam was pure life; the flow of the waters was like the flow of Love; the notes of the wind, of beast, of bird, of man, of woman – were music. The beauty of God was penciled upon everything which had life; it was mirrored in everything which had brightness. His name was spoken, his goodness, declared, his power, confessed – everywhere. The hum of the insect – the shaking of the leaf – the ripple of waters – the voice of man chimed together in the song of gladness. The chorus of praise to God was universal; for all things felt welcome inspiration of his indwelling presence.

The world was an infant heaven. It had, within itself, the living principles, the entire furniture, the budding promise of angelic bliss. All things here were such, that, had they gone on, untouched by the Spoiler, they would have developed, in the day of their maturity, as bright a display of the Godhead, as ripe and as rich a harvest of enjoyments, as heaven itself affords. Our first parents walked in Eden – as newborn spirits do in the upper courts of God-children in their conceptions, children in their enjoyments; reaching forth, and growing up, to the mark of spiritual manhood. But their infancy was without defect. Their happiness was pure and constant. Every bodily sense was a channel for some incoming enjoyment. Nature was their minister and their teacher. She brought them pleasures from throughout her storehouse. She showed them God in every pleasure;–in the moonlight, in the twilight, in the shade of their arbor, in the fruits they ate, in the waters they drank. They lay down and slept, they woke and arose, they communed and thought – with rejoicing and thanksgiving.

But the world is changed. The song of universal gladness has ceased. The bodily senses yield not only pleasure, but pain. The heat of the sun is not only genial but oppressive. And the earth itself, instead of ministering unmixed pleasure, teems with a thousand evils. Her soil – her products – are changed. She is under the curse of God. Now – it is ordained, that even the best of her productions should have somewhat of ill. Her beauties bloom to perish. Her flowers are armed with thorns and poisons. Her elements minister abounding discomfort. The whole system of nature has undergone means of subsistence. By the sweat of our face we must eat our bread, until we return unto the ground. This is the general condition of human life. Every man’s daily sustenance is the hard earning of toil and sorrow. Discomfort, and weariness, and pain, are the price of life. The few who are exempt from personal toil rely upon the toil of others.

This state of things was ordained when God uttered the words which I have chosen for my text. But for this decree, Nature would still have been as Nature was before the fall. We, like our first parents, should have been exempt from thorns and thistles and the sweat of the brow. To sustain life, we should have needed only to eat and to drink and to sleep. To partake of the bounties of nature we should have needed only to open the eye. But the decree was uttered. The ground was cursed. The result has been – want and toil, from generation to generation; a result which shall continue until the consummation of all things.

How many men have read the sacred record of this curse without understanding? How many have mourned and lamented over the change this curse has wrought. How few have discerned the loving-kindness of God herein, although that loving-kindness is woven with the very letter of the curse. Do chief magistrates call upon the people to thank God for ordaining that they must eat their bread in the sweat of the brow? Do devout men, when enumerating the mercies of the Lord, mention this? Do the children of poverty – do the hoarders of wealth – when they rise to their toils, or flee to their beds, think of this? And yet, here the blessing is – avowed in the very tenor and framework of the curse – taking effect from the very day of its utterance – only the second in the order of tie, only the second in point of value, concerning man – perpetuated, too, from generation to generation – and diffusing its precious influences throughout the world today!

But what! Is a curse a blessing! Is a curse reason for devout thanksgiving! Is not this a paradox—or rather an absurdity? I answer – neither absurdity – nor paradox. It is a simple and obvious truth that, next to our praises for Redemption by the blood of Christ, we owe God our praises for the curse recorded in the text.

That we may gain a clear view of this truth, let us examine – the reasons – and the influences – of this curse.

I. Its reasons.

Under the government of God, “the curse causeless shall not come.” He never dispenses an evil, great or small, spiritual or physical, temporary or eternal, without a reason; never, without a sufficient reason; never without a compelling reason. This is a fundamental doctrine; qualifying all the acts, the purposes, the laws, the words of God; a doctrine which he has abundantly revealed – which bears essentially upon his government, and character; upon our condition and duties.

There was a reason, then, for the curse we are considering. There is a reason for its entailment present day. God declares it. “Because thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying , thou shalt not eat of it.” Disobedience of God was the grand reason of the curse originally; and our disobedience of God is the grand reason of its perpetuity. The curse was ordained because of Sin; it has continued because of Sin. It was established for a perpetual decree in full view, and because, of Sin which was, and Sin which was to be. It was established because – Sin being present – it was a curse necessary to the perfect adjustment of God’s purposes; necessary to the full play of his benevolence and grace; necessary to the grand experiment of human probation; necessary in a system of things where punitive justice was kept at bay; in short – necessary to the best good of man.

Sin, then, is its primitive reason; and the good of man, its secondary reason. It is a weight—thrown into the scale of contending influences—to keep God’s grace and man’s sin at equipoise; to give grace sway upon Sin; to keep Sin from defeating grace. Its origin was in the secret counsels of God’s benevolence; its nativity, a brilliant era in the history of God’s wisdom; its introduction to the world, a wondrous display of God’s loving-kindness.

A system of things which would do well for a holy being, would not do for a sinful being. A mode of life which would consist with the best good of the one, would not consist at all with that of the other. A Garden of Eden, with its spotless, changeless, universal beauties, and luxuriant abundance, would answer the purposes of man without sin; but if so – it would answer the purposes of man with sin – not at all. And the moment the character of man became changed by sin, there must needs be, to secure his good, a corresponding change in his mode of life. Hence the necessity of ordaining some change in nature; a change compelling man to sustain life at the cost of toil and weariness. This change was wrought in the curse we are considering. And surely00if there was benevolence in profusion and glory of Nature before the fall—there is benevolence in her comparative barrenness and noxiousness since. Thorns and thistles sprang up to elicit labor. Labor was ordained to abate, for the time, the plague of Sin.

To show you that I do not speak at random, I refer you again to the very edict by which the curse was established. You find there no malediction uttered—no bolt of damnation hurled—upon the transgressor. No curse is recorded there concerning mankind. The curse was upon the ground. And the curse upon the ground was, and was declared to be, a blessing upon man. “Cursed is the ground; “cursed, that it may “bring forth to thee thorns and thistles;” cursed, that thou mayest “eat bread in the sweat of thy face;” cursed “for thy sakes.”

But observe—

II. The influences of this curse.

See how it is a blessing to men. See—how it so9ls, essentially, the influence of Sin! See—how aptly it adjusts itself in the system of Grace! See—how it accords with the arrangements of Divine Mercy! See—how it has priceless value as a co-worker in the plan of Redemption!

1. Observe its obvious influence upon salvation. Many a saint is now in heaven whose first lesson in the school of Christ was learned through the chastening influence of the burdens of life. And many are the heirs of God here, who could tell you that unceasing toil first awakened the desire for heavenly rest -; that cares and burdens taught them to expect no quietude in this world; that this conviction led them to seek a better country; that thus, they first began a preparation for heaven by contending with inbred sin.

Men labor for the meat that perisheth. It perishes with the using. They get a good thing and it passes away. They crave again, and again they labor. They go from labor to labor—from care to care—from weariness to weariness. And if, per chance, they are so schooled by the bitterness of their travail as to confess the trouble and vanity of life—; if perchance, they come to cry out for brokenness of spirit—how fitly does the voice of Christ chime in with their necessities and their convictions—“come unto me—come unto me—All ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you—rest!” How like hope to the despairing—like the breath of heaven to the fainting—like the balm of life to the dying! And how many—first dispirited by the burdens of a weary life—have caught these words in faith, found rest to their souls, and blessed God for the bitter discipline of a hard and painful lot.

And is there no one, a joint heir with Christ, who could testify that his hope of heaven is quickened, and brightened, by the exhaustion of his worldly toil? Is there no one who could tell you, that he goes to the secret feast of his closet fellowship with a better appetite because of the burdens of life?—no one who could tell you, that they make him pant the more after God, and long the more for the crown of glory—the harp of perfect praise—the fruition of sinless rest? Is there no one who is nerved for his warfare, pushing upward toward the stature of perfection, sloughing off his deformities, and growing in very meetness for heaven, under the tuition of worldly toil—under the influence of this very curse of the earth? Are there none of Christ’s beloved who are thus getting meat out of the eater—and honey out of the rock? Yes—thousands.

But take another view. Suppose the garden of Eden were still blooming and bounteous as in the days of man’s integrity. Suppose the habitation of all men were beside its fountains—and beneath its fruitful branches. Suppose no toil were requisite to gain subsistence and comfort. How many—think ye—would have availed themselves of the offer of salvation? To how many—think ye—would the blood of Christ have proved a blessing? How many—think ye—would have sought, through that blood, an entrance into a better country, an heavenly? How many, under the influence of faith which is Life, would have fled to Christ for comfort? Were the world a good and easy home—were we fed and clothed and warmed and sheltered, without care or effort—were all our wants supplied as fully and as freely as our first parents’—who would set himself to the task of earning a better inheritance? Who would sigh for a better country?

Had the earth interposed no obstacles to our enjoyment—borne neither thorn nor thistle—imposed upon us no price of hard labor for her bounties—it is to be doubted whether the scheme of Redemption would not have passed away without a single trophy; whether the grace of God in salvation would not have been published without a single proof—; whether the verity of that grace would not have been an everlasting problem—; and the rising glory of that grace, remanded to everlasting night.

So far, then, as Sin is contrary to eternal life; and so far as universal luxury and ease would have been impediments to salvation—so far the sorrowful labor which God has apportioned to men fitteth, like a key-stone, into the stupendous arch of Redemption—holdeth us, like a spell, within the reach of Grace—and overshadoweth, like a Mercy-cloud, the whole span of our probation.

And, so far, the curse upon the ground was a priceless blessing upon man.

2. Observe the influence of this curse upon the remnant of human enjoyments.

A creature of perfect holiness would pluck with pure delight, and taste with a perfect relish, every bounty of God. He could walk in an earthly paradise and appreciate every circumstance of comfort. He could gather blessings—copious as the dews, and successive as the moments—without satiety. He would find a zest in every blessing—though all should cost him nothing.

But who does not know the influence of sin upon our relish of God’s blessings? Being sinners—that which costs us nothing we esteem lightly. The light of the sun costs us nothing—how little we rejoice in it. The air of heaven costs us nothing—with what thoughtlessness we breathe it. The outspread provisions of Grace cost us nothing—with what tameness we regard them. The great work of Redemption cost us nothing—how little we prize it. And so it would be of all the comforts which have survived the wreck and ruin of the fall—where they free as the light, the air, the grace of heaven, we should prize, we should enjoy them, as little. Food, and raiment, and warmth, and shelter, and home, — and whatever we relish now—would be insipid.

God has seen fit to throw in a corrective for this baneful influence of Sin. He has seen fit to establish an order of things which has redeemed human life from utter insipidity. He has seen fit to set a price upon our most essential blessings. He has seen fit that they should come to us by cost—by the sweat of the brow—by labor and toil and weariness. And—to secure the payment of this price—for man’s sake—to give relish and vitality to his blessings—he has uttered and confirmed the decree—”cursed be the ground.”

And now—the bounties of the world yield us enjoyment in true and undeviating proportion to the price at which we secure them. The rich man enjoys his abundance because of the toil and anxiety it has cost him. The man of hard bodily labor—enjoys his homely meal and his rough bed—because of the weariness which has earned them. The man of hard mental labor (for there is sweat of the brow in the study) enjoys his food and his bed because of the weariness and pains by which he has secured them. The parent enjoys his family circle, he comes home with gladness and appreciates the life and quiet of his fireside—be he poor, or be he rich—according to the toils and weariness of the day. A mother’s joy in the probity and promise of her child is proportioned to the care, the anxiety, the pains he has cost her. A Christian minister’s joy over the recovery of a backslider, or the dawning hope of a new born soul, is measured by the unseen solicitude, by the wearing and midnight labors, by the unpublished wrestling with God, through which he has won them.

All this relish of blessings, of whatever name, is linked in with, and evolved from, the toil and hardships by which they are preceded. It is the fruit of that wise economy which God established in the curse of the ground. It is the result of that connection, then fixed, between labor and the acquisition of good. The bearings of this connection are incalculable. It is operating all over the world. It is showering its benediction upon many a natural relation; upon many a bounty of nature; upon many a luxury of art. It is as the Wisdom of God brooding over chaos. It is as the enchantment of God circumventing and baffling the Spoiler. It is as the Life of God imbreathed upon the dying. It is as the Power of God—transmuting the stone to silver—bringing back again form and luster to the shattered tarnished diamond.

3. Observe the influence of this curse in the prevention of evils in the world.

Suppose, the world over, men were exempt from hard labor. Suppose sustenance and warmth came spontaneously. Suppose the eye was delighted and the body comforted with all that the lust of the flesh and the pride of life could crave. Suppose all men could live and have their heart’s content—without exertion. What would be the result? Who would venture to meet the result? “Pride, and fullness of bread and abundance of idleness,” partial as they were—were the damnation of Sodom. They would be, if entire, the utter damnation of the world. Were they universal, the world would be like Sodom; one vast theatre of abominations—one vast charnel-house of irrecoverable death. Depravity would have one unbroken holiday of reveling. It would sweep over the earth like a whirlwind. It would tear up the slender remnant of human enjoyments—like a tornado. It would stamp upon the relics of natural affection—upon the residue of inward hope and life—till they were ground to powder. It would wake up every passion to frenzy. Vice and crime, lust and cruelty—in then thousand shapes—would reign from morning till night, from night till morning. The smoke and the cry of torment would ascend without cessation. Every fountain of domestic enjoyment would be broken up; every note of love, silenced—as in the grave; every bond of sympathetic fellowship, severed; every feature of moral beauty and promise effaced separate interests would clash in strife and grate in discord. The knell of death would boom upon every gale—and the dirge of departed joys be screamed in every ear.

This is no visionary fancy. The restless faculties of the mind will have action. They will—they must have—pursuits. Withdraw from the sphere of their existence pursuits and employments which involve no sin—still they will have action; they will go out, under the guidance of domineering sin, to countless deeds of iniquity. And—in the practice of unchecked and undiverted sin—they must grow up to a giant strength; under the iron tyranny of accursing habits; erasing every form and every foot-print of enjoyment form off the face of the earth.

But look at the omens which imperfect experiment affords. The press of worldly toil is not distributed to men alike. The compulsion to labor differs in degree. Where, now, has depravity reached its tallest stature, and expanded to its most frightful strength? Where there has been “abundance of idleness.” Where the necessity for labor, as a means of subsistence—or as a means to meet artificial wants—has been abated. Where wealth has abated it. Where barbarism has abated it. The most vicious, the most wretched, the most loathsome, portions of the earth, at this very hour, are those where men are the least compelled to hard, and unremitting toil. The most vicious classes of our own community are those who discard patient, industrious labor. The pests of society—the tenants of our prisons—the victims of our gibbets—the inmates of our dens of infamy—are idlers; men and women and children who have been suffered to evade the restraining law of honest and productive industry. On the other hand the communities—the classes—among whom probity and happiness and virtue have most prevailed, are those who have been impelled, by natural or artificial wants, to the highest exertions.

And what do these facts import? Why! Plainly this; that labor and toil and the sweat of the brow are powerful checks upon human depravity. Plainly this; that if all demand for toil should cease, if all the wants of men were met without their exertion—the surges of misery and abomination would roll over the world in unbroken and cursed succession.

So then, toil – busy occupation – is the safety-valve through which the perilous excess of depravity is diverted. Men wish to evade it; and, if they might, they would. Hence the mercy of enweaving it, strong and stern as necessity could make it, with the very condition of human existence. Hence – as a universal law – it is the very secret of temporal salvation – the bridle upon the jaw of the devourer.

Behold, then, the deep wisdom—the careful kindness—the timely forecast of God, in the enactment of the decree—“Cursed is the ground for thy sake.” See here—a counterpoise against impetuous and deadly depravity. See here—a befitting provision for the emergencies of erring human life. But for this—what would our world have been? A Golgotha—an Aceldama—a muster-field of moral and bestial defilements—a very counterpart of Hell!

Look now, my hearers, at the curse of the ground. Behold how obviously it suits with the higher antidotes to Sin; how its harmonizes with, and helps on, the great work of salvation; how it is of vital importance to the efficacy of Redemption; how it vivifies the fountains of our earthly comforts; how it comes in as a temporary alterative to our depravity, putting check upon its growth, and woe; giving to our day of probation—and vantage ground to the means of grace. Look at all this—and say if men have reason to deplore the decree “that they should earn their bread by the sweat of the brow.” Say if they should curse the thorns and the thistles—the impediments to their enterprises—the taskmasters of their toil—which God has ordained.

I might point out the bearings of this doctrine upon several subjects of high practical interest; its bearings upon domestic education and parental duty; its bearings upon legislative policy and responsibility; its bearings upon the countless artificial luxuries of life, at which green-eyed sanctity is wont to point with abhorrence.

But I must stop. With one appeal I commend the truth to your consciences.—The sweat of the brow-the pressure of care and toil—are not among you calamities. They are not things to be thought of on fast days and forgotten on feast days. They are not things to be prayed against and denounced. They are blessings. You ought to bear them with cheerfulness. You ought to grapple with the thorns and thistles of life without murmuring. You ought to give God thanks for their multiplied profusion. You are getting many a choice treasure—you are culling many a delight—you are shielded from many a curse—by means of this curse upon the ground. Where would you be—what would you be—what would your world be, were this curse recalled? Could your suffrage avail, would you dare lift up your hand for its repeal? To repeal it would be death to all your joys; your hopes; your restraints; your probation. Nay—to recall it would baffle, irrecoverably, the brilliant schemes of God’s saving grace—it would consign you and me to abandoned depravity, and despair!

NATIONAL PROSPERITY PERPETUATED:

A

DISCOURSE:

DELIVERED IN THE

CHAPEL OF YALE COLLEGE;

ON THE DAY OF
THE ANNUAL THANKSGIVING:

NOVEMBER 29, 1827.

BY ELEAZAR T. FITCH.

Videte ne, ut illis pulcherrimum fuit tantam vobis imperii gloriam reliquenre, sic vobis turpissimum sit, illud quod accepistis, tueri et conservare non posse.—Cit.

NEW-HAVEN:
TREADWAY AND ADAMS
CHRONICLE OFFICE, PRINT.
1828.

 

DISCOURSE.Psalm CXV. 15.
Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

 

In his song of thankfulness, the Psalmist thus congratulated happy Israel. On the day when he composed the song, he beheld the descendants of that ancient patriarch in their prosperity:–a nation, preserved from the dark idolatry of the gentiles; happy in the possession of the lands of Palestine and in the enjoyment of the instruction, protection and favor of Jehovah; and among them, the sons of Aaron, blest with the permission of presenting their national and individual offerings of penitence, devotion and gratitude on mount Zion. The prosperity of his brethren and companions, filled his heart with joy; and induced him thus to remind them of the lovingkindness of God. Crowned with the riches of earth and of heaven, they were called upon to trace their blessings to that God who is the Maker, Proprietor, and Lord and Disposer of both worlds: “Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.”

Yet the eye of the sacred poet rested not simply on the prosperity of Israel at that day, blest with the benefactions of God. His object was to excite and fix the grateful confidence of the nation upon the God of their fathers—the help and the hope of Israel. Their present blessings he regarded, as so many testimonies of what the goodness of God had been towards his servants in past ages, and as so many pledges of what his goodness would still be towards them and their offspring should they continue to place their grateful confidence in him, their supreme benefactor. They were reminded that they stood on an eminence of prosperity between the fathers and posterity: and that the God from whom had originated their gifts was now present in Zion, demanding, by all his goodness until that hour, their grateful confidence, in order that he might watch over their possessions still, and transmit them, augmented, to succeeding generations. “O Israel, trust thou in the Lord….O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord….Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord….The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us….He will bless them that fear the Lord, both great and small. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.”

From this address to Israel, which breathes the truth and fervency of heavenly inspiration, we learn, that, in their prosperity, God demanded of them their grateful confidence in order to perpetuate their blessings. The sentiment is one, indeed, which runs through the history of all the revelations addressed to Israel: that if they presented to God the aspect of an obedient and thankful nation, he would continue and multiply his blessings on the land; but that if they were stained with national ingratitude and rebellion, he would banish them and their children from their privileges, and scatter them into the corners of the earth, an eminent example of punishment to all nations:–which he did, when the priests and the people, before Pilate, ungratefully rejected him in the person of his Son, and he made them, for it, a monument of his indignation in every nation of the earth by their desertion and exile.

The general sentiment is worthy of our attentive consideration, that, in the day of national prosperity, gratitude to God is demanded as the necessary means of securing its perpetuity.

You will expect me, on this occasion, to illustrate this sentiment in the application which it has to ourselves: and this I shall attempt to do, under the following particulars:

1. 1. The goodness of God to this nation;

 

1. 1. The gratitude which he demands in return; and,

 

1. The connection of the claim with the continuance of our national prosperity.

I. Let us contemplate the goodness of God to us as a nation.

I will not attempt the boundless detail which would open before me, were I to enter upon a particular enumeration of all the blessings, worldly and spiritual, which the Lord of heaven and earth has conferred upon this people. I will rather survey the whole under one or two aspects which may exhibit, more clearly to us, his exceeding great goodness. Let us contemplate, then, the bounty of God in the greatness of the privileges he has freely conferred on us, and his watchful care in maturing them for our possession.

The bounty of God is manifest in the greatness of our privileges.

Survey, for a moment, our worldly advantages. Fixed on a soil of great variety and fertility; bordered in its whole extent by the ocean, and intersected, in every part, by vast and navigable rivers; embosoming resources, immense and as yet but partially explored; enjoying the suns and skies of every variety of climate; separated far from the polluting and jarring elements of the Eastern hemisphere; this nation has every possible advantage for the enjoyment of worldly peace and prosperity. And that prosperity it highly enjoys. Even in her youth, she is already adorned with most of the internal improvements of the old world, and has added to them important inventions of her own. Through the whole extent of her coast and on the margins of her noble rivers, she has established her populous and busy marts; that vie in elegance and wealth with foreign cities and far surpass them in their rapidly increasing prosperity. From her hills and vallies, she annually rolls into these confluent marts, the products and fabrics of trade, to the amount in value of more than a hundred millions; yet leaving the granaries of the farmer full, and permitting, as does no other nation, the laborer to detain enough in his possession to furnish himself and his household with the necessaries and luxuries of life. She has filled her hundred harbors with ships, and sent them forth, with the fleetness of the wind, on every sea and to every nation, to collect the treasures of the deep, or bear the treasures of both sea and land to other marts: till her tonnage competes with that of the most favored commercial nations, and her navy, the protectress of her commerce, rivals theirs. And she collects a revenue which, for the lightness of its burthen and its competency, may well render her the envy of nations perplexed with enormous expenditure, and impoverished with oppressive taxation.

View, next, our civil privileges. This, is the dwelling of freedom. This, the home of liberty. Exiled from other lands, she here has found a resting place. Nor is the freedom which marks our institutions of government a mere word, suited to swell a thoughtless declamation. Go ask the Turk, by what tenure he holds his possessions, his personal liberty, his life: and he will tell you by the will of a Pacha, or the Grand Seignor. That is despotism; tyranny. The yeoman of this favored nation will tell you that he holds them by the will of God and unalienable right; that they are secured to him by his fellow-citizens, in a written bill of rights and constitution of authority which no power, legislative, judicial, or executive can violate. That is freedom: power emanating from the citizens; regulated by open compact, in which the majority, through their agents, protect the individual in his just rights, and restrain and punish offenders for the good of the whole. This is our shield in the house and by the way; our shelter of repose, through every innocent occupation and enjoyment; the bond of confidence, in our social intercourse and commutations; the incentive to enterprise, in every branch of honorable gain or preferment. In what nation, unless in the fatherland of our ancestors, will you find the citizens thus treated by government as being equal in their rights; left free in their intercourse with one another; or permitted to aspire to more elevated conditions than those of birth? If you doubt your superior privileges, go hold as tenants of European lords; surrender your freedom of speech to the jealous espionage of kings; and subject the liberty of your persons to the gendarmerie of power.

Look, next, at our literary privileges. Vain were it indeed for us, in the infancy of our literary institutions and means, to boast a supremacy over the older institutions of Europe, with their distinguished patronage, their immense libraries, and their vast apparatus for scientific experiment and research. We can only assert that we are advancing towards rivalry. Yet this nation is fast rearing the edifice of her literary fame. She is rapidly multiplying her men of science and letters, and infusing into them the keenest ardor of research. Her writers, her orators, her poets, are already commanding the respect of other nations as well as elevating the genius of her own children. But on this survey, it is my joy as an American to recognize that diffusion of privilege which, rather than accumulation, characterizes our happy country. Our institutions of learning are not designed for a select few: but, in the form of the college, academy and school, they are diffused through the several States, and bring the means of knowledge to every village and to the doors of almost every hamlet in the nation: and from the free and unshackled press, channels of instruction and intelligence are opened to the whole population through which knowledge is constantly circulating. How rare is that phenomenon at least in New-England, that is so common in other nations;–an adult who cannot read! Yes: you may travel to an obscure cottage on some distant mountain, apparently secluded from all intercourse with the surrounding world; and yet its inmates shall show you, that they hold communion, in their thoughts, with every part of this nation, in her minute interests; with South America, in her revolutions; with Greece, in her struggles; with Europe, in her developing policy. Yes, that they hold converse with the dead of past ages; and they will tell you of the fall and rise of empires; or inspire you with the sentiments of illustrious writers. The traveler who visits us from foreign nations, acknowledges, with surprise, this happy diffusion of knowledge and intelligence: for he leaves a peasantry at home shut out from the avenues to learning—as ignorant, almost, of what is passing on the wide theatre of the world, as the cattle that graze upon the domains of their lords.

Survey, again, the religious privileges which enrich this nation. These in their very nature are heavenly privileges. They elevate man as a spiritual being. They resemble him to the moral image of his Maker and the angels. They bring him into communion with God on earth and prepare him for that communion in more exalted stations in eternity. And how richly are they enjoyed here! Not only in the volumes of divine truth, that are on the shelves of our habitations, and constantly spread before individuals and families the ways of present and eternal happiness; not only in those temples which elevate their spires towards heaven from the spacious cities and thousand villages of our territory, and weekly open their portals of praise and instruction for the pilgrim to eternity: but in that religious freedom and toleration which dawns on us as on no other nation, and leaves the friends of piety an open field for their benevolent labors; and in the presence of the Spirit of God in our churches, with his most signal gifts;–our last and best hope of elevating a triumphant standard against the irruptions of ungodliness.

We have thus far surveyed the bounty of God in the profusion of his gifts: let us now contemplate his watchful care over their preparation and transmission.

On the opening of the seventeenth century, but a little more than two hundred years since, the fast territory which now embraces the population of these United States, was one immense forest; broken only by the silent bosom of the lake or the lonely pathway of the river; inhabited by the savage and his game. At that time Great Britain claimed authority over it; disputed in the title, only by the States General of Holland. By all in that nation, it was regarded with great interest: by the king, as an accession to his dominions; by the capitalist, as a source of profitable investment; and by the adventurer, as a scene of hardy and industrious enterprise. Divided into North and South Virginia, and held by the two companies of Plymouth and London by patent from the king, it was prepared for the introduction upon its soil of the adventurous colonist who, from any motives, might choose to fix his residence here and plant the germ of a rising empire.

A colony of Englishmen under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, first landed as settlers on South Virginia. To North Virginia, the Puritans, exiled from their native land, or harassed in it, came; bearing in their breasts the sacred love of liberty and religion. These latter adventurers, (I confine myself to these, for their history is briefly the history of all, and soon merges itself in that of all,) these adventurers, while their ship was yet hovering on the coast, and before they disembarked, appointed a day of thanksgiving to that God who had conducted them safely across the ocean, and formed on that day a civil compact with each other that they should be ruled by the majority,–in which latter act they founded the liberties and union of a representative republic. When they landed, the germ of all our present prosperity lay concealed in their little society. Theirs was the spirit of hardy enterprise, the desire of virtuous liberty, the regard for knowledge, the attachment to religion, which was to be developed on the theatre of this nation, and to mark the character and bless the destiny of a numerous posterity—the effects of which we feel at this day in those peculiar privileges which the God of heaven and earth has secured to us as our fair inheritance.

But what is the history of the transmission? Go back and survey the adventurers, landed upon an unexplored coast, on the eve of a bleak and desolate winter, with a vast ocean on one side separating them forever from their former homes, and on the other a boundless forest filled with savage beasts or with men as wild and savage. They are to unlock the stores of temporal wealth which the God of the whole earth had concealed beneath these vallies and mountains. They are to protect, extend, and perpetuate those principles of civil and religious freedom which the God of heaven had inspired in their breasts. Yet at what toil, with what privations and sufferings, through what perils and dangers; to be endured and surmounted, only by the guiding and protecting care of Heaven! To God they commit their infant interests: and go forth, strong in heart and vigorous in nerve, to the perilous encounter. They fell the forests: they build their houses; they erect their sanctuaries; they sow their plantations; and over their harvests they raise their pious thanksgivings.

But the day of adversity soon comes. Famine, pestilence, war,–those scourges, terrible to nations abundant in resources and sympathies for lightening the evil,–were to be encountered, in their most appalling forms, by these few and feeble adventurers. The native tribes, who at first welcomed them to a residence in the territory, soon regarded their increasing prosperity with envy, were jealous of their power, and coveted their wealth. Nor was it difficult to find pretences for justifying their hatred, or occasions for venting it in the cruelties of war. Who has not read of those days of distress, when (it might be said almost literally) every village was a garrison, and every householder, a soldier; when every heart was filled with terrors by day and alarms at night; when the gun was become the most necessary of implements, and was a constant companion at the plough, by the fireside, and in the sanctuary? Or why should I relate the story of those Indian wars which terminated in the desperate battles which, under the guidance or instigation of Philip the brave, spread carnage and woe through New-England; the grand struggle for mastery—the crisis of destiny to the colonies and the aboriginal race? The blood of our fathers then flowed for us freely; and in that day of fainting and sorrow, the God of all power declared himself on their side, the helper of those that trusted in him and the destroyer of their foes. Nor in closing this series of warfare in triumph over the Indian tribes were they restrained from acknowledging the favor of God in conducting them to it, by the reflection that their cause had been unjust. “I can clearly say,” the pious governor Winslow observes, in a letter written at the time, “that before the present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this colony, but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors.” The planters had protected them in their rights, by their laws; and had attempted to introduce them to a friendly participation in their own privileges. And it is a record cheering to us, as we weep over this downfall of the aboriginal race, that, at the time of the war of Philip, more than twenty towns of Indians had united with our pilgrim fathers in acknowledging the One God and Savior of nations.

But another crisis of peril was to arise with the colonists: nor in that hour were they less signally favored with the guardian watchfulness of God. They were now to encounter a powerful foe in the nation that gave them birth. Though the ties of kindred pleaded against a war so unnatural, and their inexperience was to cope with valor often tried on the field of battle and crowned with triumph; yet they saw in their liberties what was dearer to them than all they might risk in the contest. Embarking their lives and fortunes, they launched forth upon the perilous enterprise. Strong in the justice of their cause, they disowned their allegiance to their former fosterland; and called upon God to watch over their destinies through the coming, dark, eventful struggle. The note of war was sounded; the veteran troops of Europe were upon our territories; and the blood of our patriot fathers was poured forth as the price of our liberties. At this crisis of destiny, the Lord watched over our birthright. He secured to us our inheritance.

Nor do I fear the imputation of Puritanism when I acknowledge thus the goodness of God in conducting this nation up through past perils to its present height of prosperity. A Puritan ancestry is my pride. Puritan principles are my hope and my joy. I would blush rather for the American who, through inattention to the history of his country or fear of the imputation of prejudice, should prove himself so unworthy of his privileges as not to respond cordially to the grateful declaration of Washington, after he had achieved the independence of his country and resigned his military commission, when called to take the chair of chief magistracy: “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

I have dwelt too long perhaps on this part of the subject. But the goodness of God toward us in conferring upon us the peculiar blessings we enjoy, and in transmitting them to us with so much care from our fathers, is worthy of a frequent and an attentive consideration. We should dwell upon it, until it affect our hearts. The survey presents to us impressive evidence, that the Lord of heaven and earth is our highest benefactor. He is seen to be with us, deserving and claiming our pious gratitude. To this thought I would now advert: and consider,

II. The gratitude which he demands in return.

Now it cannot be that the Lord, who holds in his hands all the riches of heaven and earth and who dispenses them so freely in his providence, should ever seek to be enriched gain by gifts which men can offer, or to be gratified with the flatteries of their tongues. He does not seek literal repayment. He simply asks to be acknowledged in the benefactions he has made, and to be trusted in for future, with hearts duly alive to his unbounded goodness; in order that he may consistently carry forward the works of lovingkindness that he begins. His object, like that of every good being, is to do good. He therefore seeks in men that preparation of heart which is implied in a grateful sense of his supreme goodness; which will fit them to receive, without abuse, his future favors. That was the return he sought of Israel, for the favors bestowed on that once happy but now desolate nation: and it is that, which he demands from his nation, for the goodness in which he appears before us at this day as the Guardian of our infant interests, the Giver of our present blessings, and the Promiser of increasing prosperity in years to come.

This return for his goodness involves in it, more especially, our grateful acknowledgment of what he has done and our supreme trust in him for future prosperity.

Our grateful acknowledgment of what he has done. In the lyric ode which contains the text, the Psalmist, rejoicing in the prosperity of Israel, began his strain of devotion, with a public and grateful acknowledgment of their indebtedness to God. “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” Such open acknowledgment, God demands from this nation. Not a merely formal acknowledgment: as if we could crowd our praise into one set day of thanksgiving and go and riot on his bounties and delight ourselves in his gifts, in a forgetfulness of him, during the other days of the year. Not a thoughtless acknowledgment: as if we might bring him the offerings of our lips and feelings, and trust to discover reasons for our thankfulness afterwards. The acknowledgment which he demands of the American citizen is an enlightened and ardent one:–that which springs from intelligent and studious minds awake in some measure to the true extent and source of our national blessings; and from warm and grateful hearts which feel how much we owe to his goodness, and carry the feeling with them through the enjoyment, the intercourse and the duties of life. There have been many in this nation in the past periods of its history who have made this intelligent and heart-felt acknowledgment of divine goodness: and presented to God the offering of thankful and obedient hearts. They have borne the sentiment with them from the closet to the family, the social circle, the popular assembly, the bench of justice, the senate, the chair of chief magistracy: and they have united in devoutly expressing it in the sanctuaries of God. There are many such, we would hope, at this day—the salt of the land to preserve it—the breath of the land to revive it;–and it is to add to their number and secure unto himself a grateful nation, that God appears before us at this day reminding us of his gifts and of his high and imperious claims.

But more especially does he demand of us supreme trust in him for our future prosperity. This was the demand which he made on Israel through the Psalmist. “O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord.” And this demand is now brought to our consciences with no less power by the voice of his providence. He calls us to put our trust in him as the supreme, the only source of our future prosperity. The trust which he requires is not that formal trust, which lifts up the voice to him for aid, but goes away and seeks all its joys and resources in his gifts: not that idle trust, which sleeps in inaction, and waits for God to perform both our duties and his promises. It is the heart-felt trust which enthrones him over our affections and subjects our lives to the guidance of his commandments, and which believes, from the testimonies of his goodness with which he surrounds us, that he is ready to bestow prosperity “on them that fear him, both great and small.” It is the active trust that engages cheerfully in the duties or the conflicts through which his guiding hand directs us as the avenues to prosperity; and which, like Israel, labors, endures privation, encounters enemies, when called to it by the cloudy and fiery pillar of his guidance. This is the trust which he demands of American citizens at this day when, more than ever, we are in danger of withdrawing our confidence from him and reposing in the rich gifts that form our inheritance. He stands before us as the Author of all our prosperity; and asks that we submit ourselves to his future guidance:–that we welcome him to preside over us with his authority and dwell with us with his word and institutions and Spirit of grace, that we come around him, each in our various stations, and cast upon his care the temporal and spiritual interests of the nation, waiting as obedient servants to receive and fulfill his orders. Was ever a claim more just, ore pure and disinterested, more worthy of our attention? To this claim, multitudes have gratefully responded in this nation. In the days of past peril and adversity, our fathers trusted in him and were delivered; and in this critical day of our prosperity, when we are threatened with no less dreadful but more insidious enemies, there are many who look to him alone as the supreme hope of the nation. And it is to add to their number and secure to himself a people gratefully submissive, whom he may conduct to increasing prosperity in years to come, that he reminds us at this day of his gifts: “Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.”

We are now come to the remaining thought:

III. The connection which the claim has with our national welfare in time to come.

Now that the prosperity of this country can be perpetuated, only by placing, as a people, our grateful trust in God and complying with the claims imposed upon us by his goodness, will, I think, be manifest from the following considerations.

1. We can in no other way secure the favor of God upon the destinies of the nation.

The Most High ruleth over the kingdoms of men. In his hand it is to plant and build, and to pluck up and destroy. Who can doubt this, that believes there is a God and that he created the heaven and the earth. Surely, he is Lord over the domains of his own creation; and will perform his righteous pleasure among the nations. Nor does it ever enter into his purposes to treat them without regard to their conduct. For the truth rests on the foundation of his essential goodness, and it has been fully attested in his revelations to Israel and by his conduct in the earth, that he will not cast off the people who put their trust in him; and that, though he bear long with those that refuse and rebel, he will not forget to punish. And shall we be exempt from the general laws of his providence? Can this nation withdraw itself from his domains? Can it change the nature of his purposes of government? Or, if he come forth to punish, can it avoid feeling the terror of his indignation?

Truly a weighty responsibility devolves upon us. God who has been the deliverer of our fathers and has brought us into their inheritance with many added gifts, has come, demanding of us the acknowledgment and trust of grateful hearts, in order that he may continue to us, and to those who come after us, our rich inheritance. Unlike the critical times of our nation’s adversity, this is the crisis of her prosperity. The issues dependent, are most weighty; and are to be felt in the joys or woes of the many millions who are coming forward to occupy the bounds of our habitation. If we put our trust in God; if the sentiment be broad and deep in the nation; no doubt he will go with us in favor and perpetuate his heavenly and worldly gifts with us and our children, and “increase them more and more.” But if we withdraw our confidence from him; if we ungratefully merge the thought of his goodness in our own worldliness and pride and lust; the scourges of vengeance are in his storehouse, and he will no doubt draw them forth for our punishment. It is only for him to withdraw from us the heavenly gifts of his grace, and convert our worldly gifts into snares of destruction; it is only for him to commission the evils of famine, pestilence, anarchy and war to pass through the land; and we and our children shall feel the tremendous scourging of his rod.

But the question whether we respond to the demand of God or not, has a most manifest connection with many of the secondary sources of our safety or danger;–a connection which must be conceded, even by him who is so hardy as to deny that God has a direct agency over the destinies of nations. I proceed, therefore, to remark on the connection of our gratitude with our prosperity:–

2. That it is the only means of maintaining a healthy tone of moral sentiment in the nation.

Need I show you how necessary a pure state of private and public morals is, to the welfare of a people? Vices are the scourges of those who practice them; they contaminate those who are in their vicinity; they carry distress and mourning into the relations of life and society; and they embitter the possession of every gift of God. What woes does that nation embosom in itself that is corrupted in its own sins? A nation in which neither the fear of God, respect for an oath, nor regard for a future state, stand as barriers against crime or securities for truth and justice? And if such shall ever become the fate of this nation generally, that her inhabitants, casting off the fear of God and man, are openly defiled with every pollution and crime, she will need no foreign enemy, she will need no domestic intriguer, to render desolate her joys. With her own vices shall she be crushed, and perish in her sins; and her name be placed on the catalogue of nations that have been whelmed in this vortex of ruin.

How then shall we rescue our country from so tremendous a fate, and preserve the fair possessions God has given us, uncorrupt to other generations? On what secondary resources can we rely to strengthen in the minds of our citizens and of rising generations the obligations to chastity, temperance and self-government; and to truth, justice and charity in their intercourse with one another? Can we trust to the bonds of self-interest? But the one who has surrendered himself to sin, has already relinquished his best interests in time to his lusts: and how shall he, by this consideration alone, be withdrawn from his wickedness; or others be restrained from rushing upon the same mad career? Can we trust to the influence of reputation? But the law of honor sinks or rises with the men who enact it: and it is facile enough to accompany society down into all those vices which degrade, torment, and destroy. No; it is the law of God only that can sustain a healthy tone of morals in a community: a perfect, unbending standard of purity, enforced by his own eternal sanctions.

And in order that God may address his law to us and our children with power: it is for us gratefully to subject ourselves with all our interests to him as our Lord. Only as we thus put our trust in him, shall we walk in his commandments before our fellow-citizens; and carry into our various stations in society the quickening and purifying power of godly precept and example. On this will depend our support of those institutions and ordinances of his which shall weekly remind our inhabitants on every hill and vale, that there is a God who demands their homage, and who will, through Christ, accept their heart-felt offerings. All real strength for awakening a high and solemn sense of obligation in any community, for stemming the tide of corruption, or for saving those who are exposed to it; must lie, as a secondary source, in hearts devoted to God. For what shall it avail that the word of God is in our hands, if the flame of devotion be extinguished from our hearts: and our citizens, as neighbors, as heads of families, as magistrates, neglect their high and sacred duties; and breathe, from their stations of influence, the deadly contagion of vice?

If we look over this nation and mark, with an impartial eye, the varying state of its morals, we shall not want evidence to show how intimately dependent these are on the state of piety and religion. There are some happy and bright spots of moral verdure, and many dark and fearful ones of sterility and desolation, presenting themselves to us on such a survey: which, alike exemplify this truth, and stand forth to us the harbingers of peace or the beacons of danger, that call upon us, most loudly, to put our trust in God in this day of our prosperity, and secure to the generations that come after us a home and heritage of joy and not of woe. But,

3. The religious gratitude and trust of this nation is the only means of securing an inviolable bond of union among our citizens.

Need I illustrate the necessity of firm union in this Federate Republic, in order to our true happiness? One in our origin, one in our language, one in our past perils and present prosperity; it can never seem desirable to break our peaceful fellowship, and divide into different, jealous, jarring nations. At least, if the day should ever arrive in which a division would be expedient or necessary, it is desirable that these States should then separate from each other in peace and as brethren. But such a division, made in harmony and love, is not the division to which we are most exposed, or which could most affect our peace. Nor is it that cool and honest difference of opinion which good men may entertain and express respecting particular men and measures connected with the government, which, kept within the bounds of moderation, serves but to surround our rulers with a salutary vigilance. But it is the divided and dividing feeling of ambition and selfishness,–the spirit of faction—that bane of republics. It is that spirit of sectional jealousy and variance which inflames the passions of one part of a country against another: or that spirit of party which runs through a whole nation, enkindling alienations among all its citizens, separating neighborhoods and households into ranks of hostility. Every intelligent patriot is aware that this constitutes one of the most threatening sources of danger to our republic. For, faction, once wild and ungovernable, unchains the furies of anarchy and blood to roam on their work of desolation; nor will they, when loosed, surrender themselves, or the melancholy wrecks of the nation they have desolated, except to the victorious arm of the unfeeling despot.

Where then, under God, is our safety? Where is that bond which shall preserve us, in our various pursuits and opinions, on terms of fraternal confidence and fellowship? Does it exist in the written constitution of our country, which so nicely adjusts and balances the various exercises of authority in our national government? But what is that instrument, without the concurring voice and hearts of the citizens? Does it lie in our common possessions and privileges, transmitted to us from our fathers? Alas! faction may desolate the fairest heritage; and divided hearts will spoil the joys of the most beauteous dwelling! It must be some higher bond, that will lift us above our selfish passions; that will instill into our hearts the forbearance and kindness of true charity; that will give us joy in the prosperity of each other and sympathy in trial; and that will rally us around our common privileges, as one man, against every enemy that would invade so fair a heritage. That bond is the piety which puts her grateful trust in God. There never was, and never will be, a firmer bond to unite men on earth in brotherly kindness. Let there be diffused in this nation the deep and pervading sentiment that we owe all our privileges to God; let the eye of trust from all parts of our common country be directed to him as the only efficient protector and guardian of our weal; and our cemented hearts shall be bound in holier ties to one another and to our common possessions. They who thus devoutly bear the welfare of their country before God, will feel that the interests around which they are stationed are sacred; and their hearts will be as one to guard the trust.

Nor is this mere theory: it is fact;–seen in the history of our Puritan fathers when, casting their common privileges on the protection of God, their hearts were knit together in confidence as the heart of one man. And if we survey our nation at this day of our prosperity, we may easily discover what elements of division or of union there are abroad in it, which are to decide her future destinies. There stands the demon of discord, instilling the selfishness that forgets the common good in contests for sectional interests and for power and patronage in the government. There hovers the angel of union, inspiring the love of the common good, which, far stronger than the petty partialities it may feel for its own limits or its own favorite, maybe safely relied on in the hour of trial;–infusing those spiritual charities which unite the hearts of the most distant members of the republic in weeping and prayers and offerings for the spiritual good of every part of this nation and of other less favored nations of the earth. Here behold we the pledges of our future union and strength, or the preludes of our future division and ruin; accordingly as we trust, or ungratefully reject, the guidance of the God of our fathers. United before his throne and around the previous privileges that are deposited with us for posterity, we shall be strong. To every foreign foe, we shall present the rampart of united hearts; impenetrable, like the firm cemented rock that forever repels the dashing waves. And within our borders, from one extremity of the nation to the other, ten thousand wakeful eyes shall guard the common interest, to detect and awe every domestic intriguer. This unity of pious trust in God, no question of state policy or of election to office in the government, will ever be able to sunder. But if we ungratefully withdraw our hearts from God; if we foster pride and selfishness and ambition and every element of faction and anarchy, and become loose to each other as the sands of Zahara; then farewell to that union which was founded in the piety of the Pilgrim exiles, and cemented with the blood of our fathers! We shall lose the boon that was handed to us, and bequeath a sad inheritance to our children. In vain shall these hills and vallies smile upon them; for the rich gifts which blessed their fathers shall be embittered to them by faction, or rent from them by unrelenting despotism.

But in illustrating the influence which our national gratitude must have upon our national prosperity, I would remark once more:

4. That it is the only means of insuring the necessary sacrifices and exertions for the welfare of the nation.

No one who attentively surveys this nation will allow, that we can neglect to make active exertions for its welfare and yet hope to bequeath our inheritance, unimpaired, to other generations. We are called to the work of supporting those social, civil, literary and religious institutions which now bless the nation and form the hope of a future age, and we are to remove the evils which already exist in the nation: or time alone will do the work of ruin. This double task lies on our hands: and it must be performed, in order that our privileges may pass safely over those who come after us.

But in supporting our institutions,–which, more than in any nation, are cast upon the spontaneous efforts of the people,–what will secure the cheerful giving, the labors and sacrifices of our citizens? Take, for instance, the institutions of religion, which form the key stone of all the others. Where, if our citizens ungratefully forget God, will be found the persons to continue these:–to build our houses of worship and support the ministers and ordinances of religion? Custom, fashion, self-interest may prompt to these exertions awhile; but they are soon relinquished, or the institutions themselves perverted, if the true spirit of piety is gone. But the work of supporting them is not confined to places where they have already had an existence: they are to be extended to desolate places. And it is in this aspect, that a work of great magnitude is presented to the American citizen. Our territory is broad; washed by those distant oceans that divide the world. Our population is extending with a rapidity unprecedented in the annals of time. Over the vast valley of the Mississippi, it is the destiny of this age, if any,–and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, of the next,–to extend our free and happy institutions. The work is to be met now:–or, the tide of population will extend far beyond the presence of our religious institutions or their influence. A loud call is here presented for benevolent care over the interests of this growing empire: and where shall it meet a cheerful response, but in the hearts of those citizens who gratefully welcome God to be the guardian of this nation, and who humbly wait on him to know and fulfill their allotted duties?

But a greater demand is made on the benevolence of the American citizen than is involved in supporting and extending the happy institutions of his country: evils exist that must be encountered and removed, if he would not surrender its prosperity. Beside the evils of vice and faction, to which I have already adverted;–which seem to be rolling up, every day, a more dark and portentous cloud over our prospects:–there exists, in the slave population of the South, an evil that is to be met and removed now; or that fair portion of our beloved nation is subjected, at no distant day, to all the horrors of a servile war. This is no pleasant theme. Would to God the occasion for it did not exist. But there is no concealing the evil. There is no resisting the calculations which show its rapid progress, if something be not speedily done, to the fatal catastrophe. The ties of kindred, country, humanity, religion, plead that the nation come forward to the work of removing the evil a one man. Its removal will require the exercise of great forbearance, patience and charity between the slave holding States and the others; as well as the unwavering decision of the whole that the work shall be done, and their untiring energy in the prosecution. The crisis has come. We are to seal our destiny. The evil is to be removed now, or we are to groan under its scourges. We are now to do our utmost, or despond ever afterwards. If the South and the North now unite as the brethren of one common country, and as friends of the enslaved Africans, and commit their undertaking to him who has hitherto conducted the destinies of this nation in kindness; there is hope that we may yet blot this stain from our annals, and avert this impending scourge from our country. But if the North will reproach and refuse her aids and sympathies, and if the South will be jealous and refuse her assent and co-operation; if they will not unitedly come before God and commit to him the issues of the cause, waiting on him in their appropriate duties; our hope is gone, and we or posterity shall smart for our injustice towards man and ingratitude towards God.

I trust these considerations are sufficient to show you, how essential it is to our continued prosperity as a nation, that we fulfill the obligations which we owe to God for his kindness.

And now, could I cause my voice to resound through this nation, I would call upon all its inhabitants to review what God has done for their fathers; to survey, studiously, the privileges they are now enjoying at his hands; to contemplate the blessings which he proffers to their acceptance for posterity: and urge them, by these affecting testimonies of his goodness, to accept with devout hearts his guidance, committing themselves and the interests around which he has stationed them as guardians, unto him who delights to show mercy from generation to generation. “O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.”

What sacred motives invite the citizens of this republic, to walk in this only path of prosperity!

The Lord of heaven and earth is with us, asserting his imperative claims. These claims we must face on another day of retribution. And how will we bear the stigma of ingratitude in that day, when the Lord shall appear in his glory and confound us before witnessing men and angels?

The world is before us, presenting its claims. Here the experiment is happily begun whether a nation may not perpetuate its existence and prosperity with free institutions; and the people who groan in bondage, or sigh for more liberal measures in other nations, look hither for sympathy and encouragement, and for the dawning of a brighter day. They watch anxiously the issues of an experiment which is the world’s last hope for the success of freedom. If we are so unfaithful as to alienate these blessings from our land, and cause God who has conferred them to withdraw from us in indignation; if, I say, the experiment fails in our hands; what despondency must weigh down the hearts of all the friends of freedom in the earth! They will reproach us with their doom, as they descend into a dark and hopeless night of despotism. And our shame shall be recorded on the annals of the world, as an ungrateful republic which thrusted from her the richest boon of heaven.

Posterity appear before us, urging their claims. We hold in trust the privileges of their birth-right. If we alienate the precious trust, how will they reproach our memories that we robbed them of their inheritance! They will pass through these cities and villages, the minions, it may be, of despotic power; and the chains of their servitude will be rendered more galling, as they reflect:–“These were the homes of our pilgrim fathers, and they were free. Here lived that degenerate race who lost their pleasant heritage, and left us, outcast and friendless orphans, to suffering and woe.”

My friends, enlightened piety is, under God, the hope of this nation. Let the sentiment be deeply engraven on your hearts, that the American citizen must honor the God of his fathers, if he would effectually consult the welfare of his country. And to you who are preparing for important influence and are soon to enter upon responsible stations in this community, the subject is addressed with peculiar force. With you, are soon to be deposited the hopes of other generations. If you, and the generation who are rising upon the stage of life with you, shall, in your various stations, wait on God and fulfill your appointed duties; the God of our fathers will bless you. Jehovah shall dwell in the land, its glory and defence. Iniquity shall retire at his presence, with her train of deformity and crime. The hearts of all shall be blessed with unity and joy. And from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the unnumbered millions yet to inhabit this continent, shall rejoice in inheriting the rich legacy of your institutions.

Is this picture of prosperity, too bright to realize? Indeed, we fear. The heathen republics of Greece and Rome, and the infidel republic of France, are already recorded on the page of history, the eternal monuments of failure. But the Spirit of Holiness, as was predicted by prophets of old, is now on his way to universal conquest. With hope we look to him to retain and multiply his triumphs with us, and record his name on the living tablets of this nation forever.

“Then,—, were the smiles of Heaven thine own,
The bright paternal smiles of deity.
Then, my loved country, would thy soil be known.
The hallowed and the blest, the truly free,
And every evening hour a nation’s worship see.”END.

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A sermon preached on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1852, by Reverend Joseph Hodges, Jr. in North Oxford.

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Sermon
Psalm LXVIII [68]:19.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our Salvation.

The psalm from which our text is selected, is deemed one of the most excellent and sublime portions of the Sacred Scriptures. It was sung, most probably, on some public and joyous occasion, when the ark was carried to Mount Zion: possibly, after a successful engagement in battle. It embraces every general topic calculated to excite gratitude and call forth praise, in view of the divine mercy, protection and beneficence. The psalmist, in the rehearsal of these blessing of remembrance, seems to pause and break forth in an expression of praise to God. The effect is very apparent in the mere reading of the psalm; but it is difficult for us to conceive of the full effect when sung by the vast choir who attended the ark, accompanied by so great a number and variety of musical instruments. The triumphs of the Jews, however, looked beyond the mere occasion of them, – temporal triumphs over temporal enemies, — they regarded them as typical of a more glorious one, when the great Messiah should complete his reign. Their minds, thus elated with the present, and moved by a fervid anticipation of the future, amid the imposing multitude, with their overpowering music, must have been excited by a spectacle at once touching to the heart, inspiring to the imagination, and lasting in its associations.

It is indeed, in a manner less imposing, that we are called upon to offer our tribute of praise and thanksgiving. Amid the current of life, our usual duties and avocations, the routine of common events and obligation, it is appropriate for us to pause, and at this season of our annual festival, lift up our humble voice in praise to our usual fruitful harvest, and to engage in other worthy pursuits and enterprises, the results of which furnish evidence of general prosperity. Every useful undertaking has been sustained. Though sin and trouble, losses and accidents, sickness and death, are the usual lot of some, from which none are entirely exempt, amid it all there has been the good hand of a wise Governor and Benefactor to guide, to deal out the blessings of life, and to overrule all events of prosperity or adversity, for the happiness of all.

It would be appropriate to recount the many favors of heaven, to specify the instances of mercy and goodness common to us as individuals or a community. There might be drawn out a long catalogue of benefits, with which the good Providence of God has loaded us, and each so presented, as to excite afresh in our breast delightful emotions of gratitude. These benefits would not be unlike those, which have often, almost annually occurred. God, in his Providence, as you are aware, gives, withholds, and controls, so as not only to affect the mind and heart with a sense of the blessings bestowed, to produce the feeling of gladness; but to stimulate withal a sense of obligation in respect to enterprise and activity. We feel bound not only to laud our great Benefactor, but we are moved by our gratitude to adopt and carry out plans of serving him which shall result in the good of the world and to His honor.

If therefore, instead of recounting these benefits, I refer you to the enterprises and improvements which have grown out of these favors, and which are calculated to stimulate us to greater exertions, to engage in more elevated employments, I may accomplish quite as good a service.

In prosecution of the object which I have suggested, time will allow me only to glance at some of the improvements in agriculture and manufactures, with which we are more intimately connected, and refer to the condition of education amongst us, as associated with the various branches of industry.

Agriculture I may name as a science, as well as an art, of the first importance. Some may be disposed to smile because this employment is spoken of as science. As it has been too often conducted, or neglected, it may seem to be the business of the most limited capacities of the most ordinary calculators, for those alone who can perform drudgery. Too often we fear that this sentiment has been taken for granted by farmers themselves, and hence they have plodded on, too much in the same old track. Hence the rest of the world is in advance of them, and their sons frequently leave them to follow less honorable callings. It is however at the foundation of all other employments, and no less dignified, healthy, or profitable. Its study and practice will serve to develop improvements, resources, strength, and health, as much certainly as any other. A glance at the earlier ages of the world will afford us some idea of the improvements which have taken place. If we may use Jahn as authority; and I know of no better, we must conclude that the implements first employed for husbandry were of the rudest construction, and so continued to be with comparatively little change for ages. Instead of shovels and spades, only sharpened sticks and flattened pieces of wood were used. The plow was made of a bent bough sharpened at one end, requiring the greatest strength and attention to hold it. The harrow was nothing more than a cluster of limbs of trees, thrown together so as to scratch the soil, tear apart the clods, and level somewhat the earth. Every other farming implement was of the same rude character. To perceive the improvements in this branch of business, we need not go further back than our own boyhood. Compare the implements then in use with those now, both as to form and adaptation, and we are struck with the change. Hence the ease and rapidity with which we prepare the land, sow the seed, and reap the harvest. And many are the improvements for gathering fruits and grain, mowing and raking, pulling up stumps by their roots, sinking rock, ditching meadows, irrigating hills, and converting marshes into arable fields. Science has taught us how resuscitate worn-out lands and to make the rich richer. No man who has land paid for, a house to live in, and information which may be gained in our common schools, with a good paper on farming, with health and energy, need be destitute. As much, however, depends on the head as the hands, yea more. There are needed, activity, investigation, perseverance and economy. And on this festival day, when so much of the farmer’s care and productions are brought to our board, in token of our thankfulness we are bound to understand and carry out in the world the improvements which, under a kind Providence, have been developed. Nor should we stop with the present. We should not live without leaving our mark somewhere, in and on our age; such as shall call forth the gratitude of another generation for what we have done; such as shall stimulate that generation to do more, and become wiser, than the former. Thus from generation to generation, the capabilities for the production of fruits shall abundantly manifest that agriculture is in no respect inferior to any other employment in dignity, usefulness, tastes, or health.

It would be interesting to trace the history of improvements in manufactures from the earliest times to the present. We are struck with the improvements in the structure of machinery, and the architecture of the mills within the last twenty-five years. This is true of all manufactories. We have specimens of art in the manufacture of cloth in ancient times, that would compete with those of modern, possibly in beauty, texture, and durability. But the long process and great labor mad these fabric expensive and rare. None but kings and princes could afford to be clothed in soft raiment and embroidered garments. Formerly cotton was deemed the richest and most costly fabric, now the commonest and cheapest. Under what inconveniences too, in the earlier days was cloth woven and garments fabricated? The Israelites had learned the art among the Egyptians and became their superiors. They were the New Englanders among the Southerners. On their tedious return to Palestine, they wove curtains for the tabernacle rich and beautiful. There was work performed under difficulties which, even in this day, in patient, persevering New England, might be deemed insurmountable. Scarcely less astonished should we be, to view the improved facilities with which we are now favored, compared with the disadvantages under which manufactories were commenced in our county. These very disadvantages were such, however, as to give stimulus to every generous enterprise.

May I not be permitted here to refer to the advantages growing out of our manufactories? That there are evils connected with them, we may not deny. The same may be said of every other enterprise under the sun, and it will be so, so long as human nature remains what it is, under the direction and restraints of similar impulses and influences. The evils are not necessarily of the business, but rather of the nature of the men who conduct and perform it. As the world advances there must necessarily be division of labor. Some may sigh for the time to return when in every family there shall be the loom, the spinning wheel, the shoe bench, the carpenter’s bench, the anvil, the chair-maker, the basket-maker, the broom-maker, the tailor, the dress-maker, as well as the farmer and dairy. And what manufacturers they were! Now as good and honest as those times were, who would roll back the world upon them? Now manufacture, commerce, agriculture, and all other honest employments or professions, help each other. What farmer would get twenty-five or thirty cents per pound for his butter in the country, such a season as this even, were all agriculturists who spun and wove their own cloth, and made their own garments and shoes? I do not speak as a partisan. Not at all. There have been in days gone by, honest differences as to the adoption of various measures in respect to political economy. There may be now. But the trouble was then, and now is, I divine, there was and is needed the light which comes from intercommunication of a practical character- a better understanding, not of theories, but of the working of them. When this light and understanding shall prevail, it will be found that all parties are nearer together than they supposed; that their true interest lies just on the line which divides these party interests, on which only the few quiet ones dare to walk. We need now the farmer, the merchant and manufacturer. Let each in his department adopt the principle “Live and let live.” For this purpose we have the world as the field of our operation. This village, this town, this county of Worchester, this our New England, these United States, none are large enough to operate in. Our action and industry must tell on the whole world. We have been inclined to circumscribe ourselves- or certainly to pen up ourselves within the old thirteen states. – Or perhaps we would somehow have New England set apart, or kept by itself, for fear with all honesty, that its industry, its ingenuity, its learning, its good taste, its good morals and religion, would be lost, no longer identified. But the Providence of God in its operations and developments is wiser than men. The foolishness of our Heavenly Father is wiser than the wisdom of the best of us. There is more wisdom in the plans of heaven that in all the concentrated wisdom of all political parties united, to effect the good of the world. When you have looked on the movements of our day, both of our own country and of Europe, some score of years hence, who shall be permitted to do so, will be fully convinced of this. We need not go to England, or China, of California, or Washington, or Boston, to exert any influence. The elements of this world, so far as intellect and principle are concerned, are elastic; and if you strike one, so as to make an impression, like a row of ivory balls suspended in contact, you affect all the rest. What you have to do then is not to turn from your calling, but act in your proper sphere; laying hold upon the information which comes in your path. If you have a farm to cultivate, do it with your might; as if you meant to accomplish something in this line business. If you have a manufactory to build, go about that most manfully. Whatever you have to lay your hand to that is good and honest, be about it in earnest. It is this spirit of earnestness and honesty and patient industry that has made New England what she is.

But as we are inclined to take pride to ourselves, not only as New England but also as a nation, as we have grown strong in our youth, and lest we might as we approached manhood become insolent, Providence is scattering among us thorns; sending- not the best specimens- the world to us. We may think in our vanity, that it is for the purpose of having them instructed and converted both politically and religiously. Would that they might become in both respects almost and altogether like ourselves, save those bands of Slavery for the South, and the Fugitive Slave law for the North. But may we not learn something from them? This truly; that man is our brother, and wherever he is found, in our country, or far away, in whatever circumstances, should be one with us. In this respect, the world is our country, our state, our town, our neighborhood, and whatever distinctions there may be in some respects, we are naturally dependent on each other. If England, proud in every thing as she is, has yielded to this nation the meed of praise, as superior to her in every useful employment, and awarded us a niche above all the world beside, we should be ambitious to prove ourselves as humane, as true to the world in all its wants and interests, as the mother country has been: not in arms and blood-shed, let what has been in this respect suffice, but in giving what is far more honorable, and the wiser policy, the advantages of civilization and pure christianity, of freedom and peace, through our faith and virtue, honesty and industry, ingenuity and energy, art and science, hope and charity. We have taught the world whatever may be the advantage of division of labor in its general character, that no artisan in free New England need confine himself to making the twentieth part of a pin. So sorry an account of his life he need not give, if he will but be a man.

True, as yet, but little of the mere polish, the mere ornament, has occupied our attention. What has been done of this character is only a pastime effort, as a matter of temporary gratification. It is rather a matter of accident than aim, that good taste has been combined with utility. Or rather we may infer that whatever is truly arranged for utility and convenience, produces good proportions, beauty, taste, and permanency. This sentiment is well sustained by a graphic writer in the Edinburgh Review. He says: “The tomb of Moses is unknown; but the traveler slakes his thirst at the well of Jacob. The gorgeous palace of the wisest and wealthiest of monarchs, with cedar and the gold and ivory, and even the great Temple at Jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of the Deity himself, are gone; but Solomon’s reservoirs are as perfect as ever. Of the ancient architecture of the holy city, not one stone is left upon another; but the pool of Bethesda commands the pilgrim’s reverence at the present day. The columns of Persepolis are molding into dust; but its cisterns and aqueducts remain to challenge our admiration. The golden house of Nero is a mass of ruins; but the Aqua Claudia still pours into Rome its limpid stream. The Temple of the Sun, at Tadmore in the wilderness, has fallen, but its fountain sparkles in its rays, as when thousands of worshippers thronged its lofty colonnades. It may be London will share the fate of Babylon, and nothing be left to mark it, save mounds of crumbling brickwork. The Thames will continue to flow as it does now. And if any work of art should rise over the deep ocean, time, we may well believe, that it will be neither a palace nor a temple, but some vast aqueduct or reservoir; and if any name should flash through the mist of antiquity, it will probably be that of the man who in his day, sought the happiness of his fellow-men rather than glory, and linked his memory to some great work of national utility and benevolence. This is the true glory, which outlives all others, and shines with undying luster from generation to generation, imparting to works some of its own immortality, and in some degree rescuing them from the ruin which overtakes the ordinary monument of historical tradition, or mere magnificence.”

Utility has ever been the watch-word of American genius, and we are happy that it is so. Even in our more ornamental literature we discern it. A tribute is everywhere paid to utility- so that if one seeks to gratify his love of the beautiful and true, for their own sake, he manifests a disposition to vindicate his course on the score of utility.  Our sweet poetry betrays it.

I am inclined to think that utility and beauty are more nearly allied than we are generally disposed to allow. Are not strength and beauty usually combined? Is it not the strong and beautifully proportioned ship that weathers the most storms and outrides the most gales? Is it not the stateliest, the noblest, and hardiest trees, that gain strength through the pelting of a hundred winters? Now nature has furnished the outline, and made the suggestion which we as its learners should carry out in our enterprise. We are struck with the beauty, and acknowledge the advantages of natural scenery. View the valley of French River. Who as he passes along its stream, beholding the hills rising on either side in beauty and loveliness, extending in graceful and undulating curves, furnishing here and there a lively perspective; interspersed, as it was in early autumn, with trees reflecting from their changing foliage every variety of shade, giving a most picturesque and romantic appearance- not the less so on a misty, drizzly day like one of our October Sabbaths, than in the sunshine; -when the leaves and trees seemed fairy pictures, surrounding us with hills and vales of paradise, not in the soberness of reality, but in the beautiful wildness of a dream; as the gorgeous coloring of the imagination, or a rare deceptions of the painter’s skill, or some enchanted view which at best was a happy illusion. Can we say less, than that nature, in her suggestion of beauty as a model of taste, has done her part? But what do we behold amid this delightful landscape, where dashes along, eternally murmuring, the stream which gives name to the valley, itself full of beauty! Do we not here perceive utility? What constitutes the beauty, furnishes also the power which the ingenuity of man has improved, and thus added excellence and life to the picturesque scenery. But has man fully carried out the suggestion of nature? Some little more attention to the planting and nurturing of fruit and shade trees and shrubbery and flowers around our manufactories, dwelling houses, school houses, and house of worship, where the ancient forest has been torn up, would render this valley of the French River on of the most beautiful, unique, and inviting in the land! This might be the result without the expenditure of much money, time or labor. It would be better than a holiday for young persons to start out on some spring-like morning, collect and plant young trees which might take root and live many generations. This would be less fatiguing and much more satisfactory in the end than what is often done. Many a one, to enjoy a holiday, will hasten to the city and swelter in the sun, chasing pleasure which is ever eluding their grasp. Here, in the pastime of planting trees, there would ensue a living satisfaction; a satisfaction continuing and enhancing with the length of life. Here are change of employment, pastime, stimulus to the mind, interest, exercise, and utility, all combined. Besides it would more than gratify. It would cultivate a love for the beautiful, and serve to produce correct taste, drawn from nature herself.

Sometimes indeed, we have views of the sublime in nature which seem to cast into the background the beautiful. The grand cataract, the overshadowing mountain, the wild tornado, the tempest at sea, and the battle-field even, are accounted grand and sublime. The final results of each may be utility. Such, however, are rare. So in life there are projects and actions and engagements which may correspond. Amid destruction and terror, utility in the end may ensue. But the sunrise, the sunset, the sunlight, the moonlight, the starlight, the veiling cloud, the cheering landscape where waves the grass and grain, where murmurs the gentle stream, where are the pleasant vale, undulating hill, and the rich plain, the village with its spire and manufactories and the distant farm house; these are the common things, intimately connected with the useful and the beautiful which all may enjoy, all full of interest, all connected with pleasant, tender, associations varying in different families and different individuals, according to the checkering of their lives. For every thing bears on it the impress of the character and hue of events, sorrows, and joys which have moved our souls and given interest to our lot.

I may be permitted to remark further, that would we have intelligence and good taste prevail with utility, we need education. It is the instrumentality of success. Let all become ignorant in the true sense of the term, and there will follow a combination of ignorance, worthlessness, folly, and dissipation; indeed any thing rather than thrift and comfort. All persons, old and young, have minds; natural powers; some more, some less. All have a thirst for knowledge. They are inclined, however, to put into operation such knowledge as will furnish them immediate gratification. Some kind of knowledge will be practiced, if not for good, for evil; if not from books, from other sources; if not from schools like the one established in this district during the year; certainly from that extemporaneous school which occurs the year round in the street, or in the bar-room, the bowling alley, the card-table, or some other place of which it is a shame to speak. Now one kind of instruction, such as the Commonwealth provides, and which the munificence of individuals in this vicinity aids to carry out, in our common schools, strengthens the powers of the mind and fits them for the business of human life. But the other kind, gained in the street and other places where virtue is derided, serves to weaken the intellectual powers, as well as the moral and physical. Soon as the buoyancy of youth has passed away there are no resources to which to apply for interest or gratification. The mind can be moved only through the baser passions. Hence many become old, young. Their intellect becomes as feeble as that of an infant. Whatever may be their physical strength, they have no moral or intellectual.

It is wise, therefore, and very wise, to give particular attention to the education of the young all over the land. Education properly conducted is intended and calculated to furnish light and power for the accomplishment of good; not to make the world worse than it is, but better; so as to develop its latent powers and put them into operation. Knowledge is power. To be efficient, it must be practical. Mere theory is not power. Theory and practice, or the knowledge which embrace each, is power. The world has grown old, and yet we have just begun to develop its resources, and to use to advantage principles which have lain dormant since its existence. Fields of action and interest are continually opening. The more we do, the more we may. This is a law, which in its general bearings is true; and still, labor will have the better pay. This may seem paradoxical, and yet it is true and philosophical. There may be occasionally an overaction, producing reaction. But this will correct itself and serve to bring about a true balancing of things. We have been afraid to pay much for education, and too often the cause has been permitted to go begging. There can be no better investment than funds secured for the education of the young. When we pay for schoolhouses, teachers, and apparatus, it is like putting money into the bank, or a premium paid for the insurance of property. If we are not safe now, it is because we have not been heretofore sufficiently liberal. Complaints of taxation, or withholding the proper amount of appropriation by the towns, for purposes of schooling, only proves that the voters have not been properly educated. We are therefore happy to know there are some who feel an interest in this subject, and their actions and professions are alike honorable to their minds and hearts.

There are some considerations to which it would be appropriate to refer today worthy of our attention and sympathy. Death has made inroads upon men in high stations within a few months. Though such events are associated with grief and cast over the mind and heart the gloom of sadness, we may not pass them by when some of them are of so recent occurrence. The community has been thereby affected. Not like those whose hearts have been penetrated by deeper sorrow, where the head of a family circle has been stricken down by the common destroyer, and his place left vacant, literally made an aching void, reminding of the reality in form, in countenance, in affection, in voice, and excellence that was, and is no more. True it may be no more of an affliction for the family of Webster, to part with the honored and beloved head, than for another family unknown beyond private life. Many of the latter class possess keen sensibilities, and strong ties of attachment, equal to those of the former. And in view of such an event they are as deeply afflicted. This day comes to all, thus situated, reviving associations long cherished. The day which has been heretofore the occasion of much happiness, now produces the keenest sorrow; not without mitigation. In view of past joys, and intimacies, and virtues, and hopes, there is even to them occasion of gratitude. It is that which bears the pleasant melancholy of a sunny autumn day when the wind suddenly striking the trees with its startling rustle, drops the golden leaves to turn to earth. They who thus die live in the hearts of their friends and are there cherished, how muchsoever to the bustling, unthinking world they may have passed into oblivion. But the memory of great and influential men, who have been active in the world for scores of years and have left their mark upon it, cannot be effaced. That world, that nation, that community which have known their worth, will be profoundly affected. It is natural for us to inquire, who shall fill their places? Who shall ever exert so powerful and happy influence? Not only do men of the world and political virtue make similar inquiries, as they have done successively in regard to the lamented Calhoun of the South, Clay of the West, and Webster of the North; but we are accustomed to hear the same from other professions, and in respect to men occupying smaller sphere- of the bar, of the pulpit, of the bench, and of the seat of science. Though we mourn their departure, that is human, yet we may be grateful for the lives they have been permitted to live; that what they have done, spoken, and written, are in our possession, and may be preserved so far as on examination and the test of time, there are virtue, truth, and value in them. The Providence of God furnished them with their powers of mind, fitted them for and placed them in their posts. It has removed, checked, or prospered them according to its wisdom. So that we see enough of them to show us that they were human, fallible, erring. And therefore we may not adore the men, whilst we may venerate the principles which they inculcated. In the Providence of God we are tough lessons, which we may receive with thankfulness. Instead of regretting the dispensation which removes them as instrumentalities, and thus honors them, it should be rather a matter of gratitude. We complain sometimes of the ingratitude of the majority towards one who is excellent and deserving. We may not be able to judge of the correctness of the decision of the majority in the time of its expression. If it be of God, it will stand, but if it be of men, it will come to naught. Remember the case of Joseph.The majority of his brethren were against him. They in their wisdom plotted his destruction. Their own wisdom was folly. Their plotting was the plan of God to save both him and them. So God meets individual and nations. He teaches them that they are only men, nothing more. It is not the popular will or effort that saves always, or destroys. But some hidden spring which God touches brings out unforeseen results. These results may be in the highest sense an occasion of gratitude to all concerned. Hence we rely not on any system which men of a party may devise for the perfection or permanency of our government, not on the measures of any political party ever in power or that ever will be. These parties, however proper they may be, or however honest, or whatever name they may assume to catch the popular ear, must be, as they ever have been, changing as to the policy of their action. We rely however, on the overruling power and goodness of God. The things which will save or ruin us do not depend upon so slight a circumstance as securing free trade or a protective system. There are currents of honesty and virtue, of truth and sincerity, of charity and good will; or of falsehood and deception, of vice and wrong, of oppression and ambition, which will bless or curse this nation. All other policies, though they be not the wisest, we may meet. Our government may continue to prosper, if we but have the principles of truth and righteousness as their foundation.

There is one view in which we may consider the deaths of these great men calculated to excite the gratitude of the good. In the providence of God they have so occurred, often, as to rebuke the animosity of party spirit. When Adams the elder and Jefferson died, on the same birthday of our national Independence, this was most happily the effect. Years after, when occurring one of the most exciting canvassings for president which resulted in the choice of Harrison, the Providence of God rebuked that spirit by the marked defeat of one candidate, and the death of the other in a few days after his inauguration. Other instances less marked have occurred which were peculiarly salutary in their effects on the community. And now, just in the height of the excitement in respect to the presidential election, he who was deemed the greatest statesman of the age was smitten down, as if God would rebuke this partly spirit. The lesson, which we are taught is a matter of gratitude inasmuch as we are directed to repose confidence in the great and good Sovereign who knows how and when to make use of the great instrumentalities of mind for accomplishing great purposes and of teaching lessons which take immediate effect. We are compelled to pause long enough in our career to notice it. These dispensations and lessons may not be such as to produce elation of mind; yet such they may be as to afford peace, confidence, and hope, and prompt to happy exertions, and result in more holy and charitable sentiments towards men as our brethren who are of the same blood and bound to the same tribunal.

In closing, we are deeply impressed with importance of religious instruction. Man is naturally a religious being. But his religion frequently degenerates into superstition, and seldom does he pursue the course of truth and consistency. We ought to remember, whilst so much is done for the physical powers and the intellect, the most important and elevated are the religious. Notwithstanding the commendation we give to physical and mental sciences, and the importance we attach to their culture, yet little real advantage, lasting benefit will accrue where the sentiments of the Bible are not inculcated and adopted. Look at intelligent, philosophical France; an enlightened nation, almost literally without the Bible. What is the consequence? Other things may contribute to make the nation what it is. But much of their instability and want of true principle spring from the destitution of that religious element which the use of the Scriptures, with due reverence to their Author and true regard for his government, begets. Whilst the French are the politest nation on the earth, the most polished and scientific perhaps, a nation of gentlemen and ladies, doing everything according to the strictest rules of etiquette; they are the lowest in the scale of truth and virtue. If he adheres strictly to this established code, there is not a sin named in the Decalogue which a Frenchman may not commit and yet be esteemed a gentleman, a man of honor. Now education of the intellect and polished manners, without virtue and religion would make this nation like France. And fatal indeed would the prevalence of such principles of virtue and ambition prove to the permanency of our free government. Hence the need of teaching the truth as the Bible contains it. We need a religion which teaches and enforces the Sabbath as a day to be devoted to God, not a mere holiday. We need a religion which shall have control of the heart and life; which shall put an active faith and a conscience into all our works. The measure of religion called for by many, if not the many, is rather just enough to put conscience to rest and turn faith to presumption. They are not willing to live day by day according to their teaching, their principles. Men like to have seasons when by penalties and penances, they may pay off their accumulated debts of sin, with permission from their conscience thus bought off, to indulge themselves again, or to do up their work of religion a little beforehand. To borrow an illustration from the playful, almost sacrilegious suggestion of young Franklin to his Puritan father, when he was laying down the pork for the season in the cellar; “Why would it not be well,” said he, “to crave a blessing on the whole barrel, and thus save time at the table?” Now though men may not be so light and playful about their religion, yet it is the inclination of the human heart to do up their religious matters in a day, and enjoy the world and sin the rest. This disposition tends to sap the foundation of public virtue. It will, if permitted to gain universal ascendency, serve eventually to overthrow our government. This is an evil with which we have to contend in every good and worthy improvement, not only with respect to the virtues of the heart, but such as are common to the intellect, which are requisite in the true progress of science and the arts and human governments, the true progress of the world.

The End

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Thomas Skinner (1791-1871). He studied law and graduated from Princeton, but in 1811 changed his profession to the ministry and was ordained in 1812. He served as pastor of the Second Church in Philadelphia, the Fifth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, the Pine Street Church in Boston, the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church in New York. He was a professor at the Theological Seminary in Andover from 1832-1835, and a professor at the Union Theological Seminary in New York beginning in 1848.

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Love of Country:

A Discourse,

Delivered on Thanksgiving Day, December 12th, 1850,

In the

Bleecker Street Church.

By

Thomas H. Skinner,
Professor in the Union Theological Seminary.

Discourse.Psalm cxxxvii. 5, 6. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

These words, taken from one of the most beautiful and touching melodies ever written even under inspiration, are an effusion of religious patriotism. They were prompted by an insult to that sentiment offered to captive Jews by their oppressors. “They that carried us away captive, required us to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? The solemn chant would imply insensibility in us, to the dishonor of our country;—the Holy Land, with all its sacred associations, now lying desolate under the tyrannous hand of our heathen masters. No song of Zion from us shall entertain the ears of profane men, by the river of Babylon. Sooner may the divine judgment deprive us of every use both of hand and tongue.”

These Jews, in their exile, had not renounced The Love of Country: it was stronger in them than the love of life. Was not the affection virtuous? And has not the Holy Spirit, in this inspired Ode, set to it the seal of the Divine approbation?

It has been said that Christianity is against Patriotism. It removes the walls of partition between the different nations; makes the world one brotherhood; and thus leaves no place for the love of country, which is a sectarian and selfish sentiment, and is consistent with enmity to mankind. “Patriotism, that celebrated virtue, so much practiced in ancient, and so much professed in modern times, that virtue which so long preserved the liberties of Greece, and exalted Rome to the empire of the world; this celebrated virtue,” says a writer on the Evidences of Christianity [Saome Jenyns], “must be excluded; because it not only falls short of, but directly counteracts the extensive benevolence of this religion.” This, I shall, in the first place, show to be an error, or prove that Patriotism is a Christian virtue. Then, secondly, I shall specify the prominent duties of Christian patriotism; and, finally, I shall consider how love to our country, guided by the Gospel, will show itself in the reference to two or three subjects of national moment, now exciting special interest, and one of them no small solicitude, amongst us.—

It has been erroneously affirmed that the ethics of Christianity deny Patriotism a place among the virtues. Although there is no specific inculcation of it in the New Testament, it should not be hence inferred that the Gospel either disowns or underrates it as one of the modifications of that love which is the fulfilling of the Law. There were sufficient reasons for the silence which was observed on this subject, in the days of our Lord and his Apostles. The Jews were now in a state of vassalage to Rome, and appeals to the love of country, in their circumstances, would have been understood by them as a summons to rebellion against the established government; and had Christianity made such appeals, it would have taught disobedience to one of its own precepts—that which demands submission to the established authorities.—Again, this unhappy people were at this time, the subjects of a fanaticism which made them think malignity toward other nations a duty; and addresses to patriotism would, in their case have been in effect, only exciting and confirming an already rancorous hatred of mankind.—But more than all, this sinful nation, whose history from the beginning had been little else than a record of unparalleled perverseness, had only to perpetrate the murder of Christ in order to fill the measure of their guilt, and bring on themselves those visitations of the Divine wrath by which their political existence was destroyed: and our Savior, who was well aware of the gathering of the storm, and of the desolation it would produce, was too deeply moved with compassion, to be instilling lessons of patriotism into their hearts, while everything in their condition demanded alarms and calls to repentance.

The time moreover had arrived when the dispensation of Liberty was about to supersede that of Restraint, and all nations in respect of religious rights were to be made equal. The middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles was in the process of demolition; and exhortations to the love of country, either in the one or the other, would have had no other tendency, than to engender mutual antipathies, and thus prevent the accomplishment of the gracious design. But the silence of Christianity on that topic, at such a time, no more implied hostility or indifference to patriotism, universally and absolutely, than our being silent about intemperance, on a sacramental occasion, supposes us indifferent to the guilt of that sin.

The Gospel indeed proclaims peace and good-will to the world: It seeks to make all men in reference to earth, pilgrims and strangers, to unite them in one holy and happy fellowship, and to subject them to new and celestial relationships, strong and lasting as eternity, and embracing in their wide scope, the entire universe of the good, both on earth and in heaven. But the reasoning which would hence infer any inconsistency in the spirit of the Gospel, with the highest degrees of devotion to the welfare of our country, would make Christianity subversive of the foundations of society, and opposed not to nationality only, but to the continuance of the human race: For if the love of country be excluded by the predominance of that heavenly-mindedness which the Gospel inculcates, so are the love of neighborhood, and the love of domestic relations, and all the endearments of friendship, and all local attachments, and the pursuits of business, and labors for a household provision, and whatever else is necessary to the continued existence of man in this world.

It is admitted that Philanthropy, and not Patriotism, is the comprehensive expression, the most complete exponent, of the spirit of the Gospel, in reference to mankind. But there may be expansion without inconsistence; and there may be limitations and degrees, and various forms of interest and affection, connected with the most perfect harmony and unity of spirit. A Philanthropy which has no particular localities, no definite spheres of labor, no fixedness of regards, no specific tasks, no preferences, no individual of vicinal trials and pleasures, is a mere abstraction; why then may not the love of country consist with, nay, be a modification of the love of Man! Nothing is more manifest than that the same Law of Nature, which unites us in different degrees of affection, with different portions and individuals of our kind, must originate a peculiar love of country, in every unperverted heart; and therefore to make the spirit of Christianity opposed to patriotism is to make it unnatural.

There is a species of patriotism, so called, which the Gospel does not approve. It was the maxim of Themistocles, that whatever is advantageous to one’s country is just.—But as that self-love is criminal which pursues its purpose in violation of another’s rights, so is that love of country, if it must be so termed, which wantonly interferes with the peace and independence of other nations. Christianity has no encouragement for the darings, no sympathy with the spirit, of an Alexander or a Napoleon, or of any one of the great conquerors, whose exploits history has recorded, or poetry sung; on the contrary, language cannot express its hostility to all, whether individuals or nations, who encroach on the peace and liberty and unalienable rights of others, to aggrandize themselves. A plundering army is in the sight of God, but an association of robbers and murderers, whose individual liabilities will not be alleviated in the day of judgment, because they were banded together and headed by a brave and skillful chief. The triumphs of the Roman Generals which filled the Imperial city with exultation, moved Heaven with purposes of exterminating wrath against the nation.

The religion of Christ is also opposed to the vaunted patriotism of the spirit of party. The Gospel obliges us to seek the Country’s good: not the success of one portion of the community in opposition to another. It may be that the interests of the party and of the Country are identical; in which case, while Christianity requires us to pursue those interests, it forbids our doing so with the feelings of rivalry; and if we disregard the prohibition, however successful we may be, it denies us the praise of love to the nation. Good may come to the Country by our means, but our condemnation will be just, unless an honest zeal for the nation’s happiness, not the party’s triumph, be the motive of our conduct.

II. I proceed to specify the leading Duties embraced in the Love of Country.

1. It has been questioned whether Christians, and especially Ministers of the Gospel, should not stand aloof from all political contests, and either not vote at elections, or conceal their votes, so that their preference among rival candidates for office shall not be known. But is it not a purely selfish and time-serving prudence which ordinarily suggests this course? There may be rare occasions when reserve may be demanded; and our moderation and equanimity in political affairs should always be exemplary; but the cause of our Country is in all respects too important, and especially too closely connected with the interests of religion, to permit anyone who is controlled by principle and the spirit of the Gospel, to be in common cases, either negative or unknown in the influence which he exerts. Shall the interests of the nation be abandoned to the blind and headlong action of partisan zeal? When the State, as with us, deprives no man of the elective franchise, no man should deprive himself of it; and if public sentiment is anywhere opposed to a Clergyman in the calm and regular exercise of this privilege, he ought therein to be opposed to public sentiment; showing that he loves his Country and his Savior too well, and is too sensible of his final responsibility to God, to consent to the constant disuse of any talent which has been put into his hands.

2. A Patriotism governed by the precepts of the Gospel, cannot be revolutionary, so long as the government is administered according to legitimate authority, or the commission granted by the laws. We may frankly express our opinions of cabinet measures and legislative enactments. Under our responsibility to God, we should examine and judge whether the executive Head of the nation and all subordinate officers, act in their respective stations with or without authority; and if the limits of power are transgressed by them, we are not bound to silent submission. Circumstances may make it certain that resistance would be unavailing, in which case it would be unjustifiable; but to maintain that non-resistance is universally our duty, is to place God on the side of absolute tyranny, and to deny the permanent obligation of Patriotism, unless it be the invariable fact, that magistrates, do what they may, should be left unmolested. But so long as the government which is administered, is that which has been established, and so long as the administration is constitutional on the whole, however imperfect in some particulars, the spirit and the proceedings of Christian Patriotism will be anti-revolutionary; and while it may regret and freely censure “the want of wisdom,” firmness, clemency and principle in “the powers that be,” will not only obey, but sustain, if need be with arms, those duly constituted powers, against all rival ones, foreign or domestic; and this it will do from regard at once to the Country’s welfare and the will of God, who has declared the established authorities to be his own ministers, and those who resist them to be adversaries to this ordinance.

3. Nevertheless, Patriotism, as I have intended to assert, may possibly not only consist with, but be active and prominent in promoting Resistance. The noblest manifestation of the love of country have been made in revolutionary conflicts. When magistrates, for their own aggrandizement, maltreat and oppress the people in the exercise of usurped authority, they are the greatest of criminals, and if there be no appointed means for displacing them, other effectual means, if there be such, should be taken. The same principle in morals, which justifies a man in slaying one who would murder him, gives a people a right to use violent resistance against tyrants whom they cannot otherwise remove. Patriotism in such cases, true to itself as devoted to the national happiness, takes counsel of Expediency, and does not act without regard to probability as to consequences. The question first to be settled is, whether a revolution is practicable; and when no doubt remains on that point, another question demands solution, namely—whether the evils, present and future, incidental to a revolutionary contest, will be less than those which call for a revolution. If resistance would on the whole certainly tend to the nation’s damage, to attempt it would be the part, not of patriotism, but of fanatical rashness; and in the sight of God and man would be sedition and treason.

In uncertainty as to duty, we cannot, without folly, disregard the probable consequences of a proposed course of action. It is willful self-murder to expose ourselves to ruin, and worse, if others are to be associated with us, unless we proceed under a firm conviction of the propriety of the measure. Right is to be always done; fiat justitia ruat coelom; but let right be first ascertained. If Heaven is to be overturned, let it not be done by a mistake. In ordinary circumstances, right, justitia, requires submission “to the powers that be;” and if it sometimes requires or permits resistance to them, it is when the evils which call for resistance are greater than any which may probably connect themselves directly or remotely with revolutionary measures. Right will never be found on the side of those who pursue a course which, on the whole, is against the public good.

It is impossible to detail beforehand the circumstances in which Resistance becomes proper, or to define the limits to which oppression may proceed, before it should be attempted, or to specify the primary or other particular steps to be taken, after I has been resolved upon. The path of Patriotism, first and last, will be discovered and pursued by applying the principle of Expediency to the circumstances that justify or demand resistance. Patriotism resisting the civil authorities, is as thoughtful and reflective, as wise and sedate, as self-renouncing and profoundly studious of the national happiness, as it is sublimely venturous and bold. Resistance is the part, either of the most heroic and exalted form of virtue, or of the most enormous criminality. No responsibility is greater than that which Patriotism assumes when it seeks to subvert unjust and tyrannical rule. To take this responsibility in haste is not the part of patriots but of desperadoes and infatuated fanatics.

4. It is said that Christianity forbids the use of arms—and every form of war, so that martial courage is no form of true Patriotism. This, which is manifestly inconsistent with what we have just been propounding, is not the true teaching of Christianity. Though the Gospel would beat swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, and keep the world in perfect peace, and though it employs a tone and emphasis of teaching against wars and fightings, which makes the responsibility for them fearful, yet it gives no ground for the conclusion, that it is unlawful to serve one’s Country in the camp or the battle-field. When we consider what is written concerning the four Centurions [Matt. viii:5 et seq., Luke xxiii. 47, Acts x. 1-8, and xxvii. 11]; and the advice of John to the soldiers [Luke iii. 14]; and that principle which so expounds the scriptures in question, as to draw from them testimony against arms, has not its limit in that inference, but equally condemns all punishment of crime, and either takes the sword from the Magistrate, or makes him bear it in vain, if it does not go against government itself, we find ourselves obliged to protest against this interpretation of the Gospel, as in the highest degree fanatical. Great as are the horrors of war, the same principle which vindicates the Divine Government in permitting these and greater evils, namely—that the highest good of the whole must be maintained against all opposers, at whatever hazards or consequences, vindicates the use of weapons of war in support of the government legally administered, against all assailants from without or within.

5. The spirit of true Patriotism, as we have before said, is one with that of all just government in seeking as its last end the Public Good: and because this is not to be identified with increase in numbers, wealth, territory, or magnificence, but with intelligence and virtue,—the only ground of solid and lasting happiness; and because these are to be permanently secured only by the prevalence of Religion; therefore, while an enlightened love of country must zealously promote the Education of the People, it must, while pursuing this object, be mainly intent on their Evangelization. They are the nation’s best friends, who, by holy living, and missionary labors and sacrifices, are infusing the leaven of the gospel into the community. In this Country, the State cannot use the public treasure in advancing Christianity, but that every statesman, judge and ruler should be a Christian in all his conduct, private and official, and particularly should be a liberal and zealous patron of Home Missions, is demanded alike by patriotism and religion.

6. One of the greatest duties that we owe our Country is Prayer for those who are in authority over it. In their hands lie the springs of the national welfare, and they cannot be touched without consequences of good or evil to every interest, civil and spiritual, throughout the whole land. There is not a village, church, family or individual whose interests are not committed to the Country’s Head and Council; and though the final triumph of the Church be certain, it is presumption to expect that the happiness of either country, church or individual is safe, if importunate prayer be not continually offered on behalf of those who bear the burden and responsibilities connected with the administration of the government. If they are wise and holy men, they ought to be prayed for, and much more if they are not. A distinct and prominent place should be given them in the devout exercises of the sanctuary; nor should it content anyone in this high matter to unite with others in public prayer, however solemnly and constantly; the most earnest supplications for them should ascend daily from their domestic worship.

7. Finally, though the Church in this land be separate from the State, there is no power which can be brought into action in favor of the nation’s happiness, equal to that of the Pulpit. The energies of this Divine means of every good to man, are greatly increased with us, by its disconnection from all civil advantages and aids. If it receive no support, it is under no specific obligations. If it stands alone, it stands independent and free: while there is no place near or remote, no person high or low, no subject whether of politics, legislation, morals, religion, science or art, to which it may bot boldly apply its appropriate influence, under protection of the government, so long as it violates no one’s civil rights. This privilege has the American Pulpit. Its field is boundless, its way unobstructed; it may a full experiment of its powers, and if it does this, the proof will not be wanting to the country, that the Gospel ministry is the best friend to all human interests, national and individual; the State will reverence and cherish, though it cannot espouse, the Church; and the peace of our rising and spreading Republic, will flow as a river, and its righteousness as the waves of the sea.

The Pulpit is often charged with occupying a sphere not its own, and there teaching against the Gospel, in its strictures on civil and political matters. Since ministers of the Gospel are of like passions with other men, they have, doubtless, sometimes given occasion for this grave accusation. But if they earnestly endeavor to meet their responsibilities in relation to the matters in question, the most blameless and exemplary manner of doing this, might be no security against the imputation of profaning the pulpit by intermeddling with politics. Ministers of the Gospel are not to hold themselves aloof from observing or criticizing the doings of magistrates and politicians. The kingdom of Christ, though not of this world, is over all kings and kingdoms, and governments of whatsoever kind; and of this kingdom the earthly administrators are Ministers of the Gospel; and if they do not appropriately assert the universal supremacy of its Lord and its laws, there is no unfaithfulness so great as that of which they are guilty. If, for the civil government and good of mankind, the “powers that be” are ordained of God, the Christian ministry are also most sacredly ordained of God, to propound his word and assert his authority to all orders of men, whether in low place or high, in office or not, requiring them in all parts of their conduct, and in every act of life, private or public, to obey the Divine Law. If civil legislatures make laws against the Law of God, or if judges and magistrates perpetrate moral wrong in the administration of the law, or if cabinet proceedings be in open violation of the great principles of moral order and rectitude, the silence of the Christian ministry, in view of such offences against the Sovereign of the Universe, would entitle them to the indignant disapprobation of God and men. Far should it be from the Ministers of Christ “to speak evil of dignities;” they should esteem, and teach all men to esteem civil order, as more precious than life; they should enjoin obedience to the laws—active obedience, unless the laws be immoral—and passive, unresisting submission to legal penalties, even though the laws be of this character; but as Christ’s anointed ambassadors and representatives, they are to maintain His just authority—the authority of Truth and Virtue, the supreme rule of Heaven—over all nations, and all human proceedings and acts. And if, in doing this with the “meekness of wisdom,” they incur the reproach of trespassing beyond their proper province, or any other reproach, they will, in due time, exchange this unmerited condemnation for the recompense of suffering for righteousness’ sake.

III. We now turn our attention to the more particular topics we promised to remark upon. Of those we had in thought, the first which presents itself is—

1. Popular Education.—We have already intimated the important place which this holds among the objects most deeply involving the national welfare. A people who appoint their own officers should be qualified to judge for themselves, as to the fitness of persons to places; otherwise they must be in this matter as men walking in the dark. If they have no guide, their appointments will be capricious, and may be absurd; and if they are led by others, the work is but theirs in name; they are but living machines for doing their managers’ pleasure. This might be less undesirable if it were certain that the hands they were under would be qualified to manage them, but as the case is, the almost certain fact would be the reverse of this. The conclusion is, that popular government, where the people are ignorant, is but a pretense, and that the government really in force is that of demagogues—the worst species of despotism.

It is well, therefore, for our Republic, that the work of educating the common people is engaging so much thought. It is an auspicious omen that all our political parties think and speak alike on this point. No party seems to regard popular ignorance as necessary to its success. But there is one thing as to this matter, in which all do not seem to be of the same mined, namely, that it is not sufficient simply to educate the people. This, most certainly, is the truth. Education can but render them intelligent; but simple intelligence in human nature is but as light to lawless men who are pursuing the path of crime and ruin. Knowledge is power, and is it desirable to arm depravity with power? Let the history of demagoguism answer this question. Demagogues in relation to the people they have misled, have ever been intelligent men; and what has been their preeminence over them in other respects, but the preeminence of selfish ambition? Make the people simply intelligent; let conscience in them be seared or perverted; let principle be dead; let selfishness be ascendant, and they do but become by education, as a community of shrewd and crafty dealers, ever eyeing one another, to discover advantages for getting the higher hand. The government now will be administered by corruption; the strong will rule, and their scepter will be iron, and the oppressed will wait the day to exchange the yoke for the throne and the rod. The demand for virtue in a republic is not less urgent than the demand for knowledge; both demands are to be met. With education religion must be conjoined in just proportion. The heart of the nation must be pure, and to this end Christianity must preside in the schools; and educational training, from the beginning and throughout, must be kept under the control and sway of the Word of God.

As friends to our Country, we cannot but rejoice that the several State Legislatures are giving this subject their attention; nothing deserves more their best counsels, and their liberal provision; but there is cause to tremble as well as rejoice. The question is under discussion, whether the Word of God should be read in our Common Schools? It is strenuously urged against this, that our Government being unsectarian, cannot constitutionally interfere with any one’s preferences or opinions on this point. The argument would restrain our legislatures from allowing any connection whatever, of religion, with their proceedings. Were there heathens amongst us, they might complain. Atheists themselves might complain of any legislative measure which was against their convictions or consciences, as to matters of religion. It is so, that our civil authorities must stand as much aloof from all recognition of God and Christ, in the exercise of their functions, as this argument supposes? If it be, with what fearful interest should we examine on what foundation our institutions are resting, and whether our destiny as a nation is not that which awaits all the nations which refuse to acknowledge the sovereignty of Christ.

This objection to the association of religion with popular education, though not triumphant as yet, and we hope for the honor of our Country it never will be, has its advocates among persons who call themselves Christians, and is not without practical influence in our elections and legislative proceedings; and falling in, as it does with man’s native enmity against God, it is well suited to inspire every friend of the Country with pensive thought, bearing as it does with direct force against this main pillar of our Republic, The Union Of Virtue and Intelligence In The People. If it prevail in our legislative bodies, and the Bible be banished by law from the Common Schools, then as our legislation will be against the government of God, we must look elsewhere for the means of popular education, and implore the Divine Mercy in behalf of the civil powers. We are not to despond. There are other resources at hand. The right and the ability will be left us of educating our children, and others under our influence, as we please. Let all private Christians do what they can; let wealthy Christians maintain schools of their own; le the different Evangelical churches undertake this work; and in their periodical councils, consistories, conventions, conferences, and assemblies, let free schools for the religious education of youth be as missions, or any other matter of denominational concern. Thus let the business proceed, and perhaps the mischief of irreligious legislation will be over-ruled, and be made the occasion of greater good than legislative resources, however ample, and however well appropriated, could have accomplished.

2. The next of these topics is Romanism.—This is an element in our social State, which does not combine well with our peculiar institutions. Its ascendency would be our overthrow, as an independent people. It would subject us to the sway of the Pope, whose kingdom is of this world—not spiritual only. The priests of this superstition are under an oath of allegiance to the Roman pontiff, which binds them to him in such a manner, that they could not, without perjury, stand for our country’s independence, in opposition to his will. They intend, if possible, to acquire the control of affairs. They have a plan of operations, and they are conducting it with great diligence, and with admirable adaptation to the spirit of the age and the genius of our people. Its instruments are churches, schools, colleges, theological seminaries, convents, nunneries, orphan asylums—unobjectionable, and the most efficient which could have been chosen. It is forwarded by foreign aid—French, Austrian, and Italian Romanists furnish hundreds of thousands a year, for the promotion of their faith in the United States.

This religion is becoming quite prominent and zealous in our political operations, and would make the impression that in some districts it already holds the balance of power. It is unquestionably advancing with great rapidity. Popish emigrants are arriving daily, and in large numbers. Impossibility alone will prevent the success of this bold, crafty, and pernicious system.

What is to be done? We cannot banish Romanism from our shores. Like Slavery, it has a place amongst us, from which it is no easy work to dislodge it. And should we desire its removal? Patriotism forbids. There were Roman Catholics among the achievers of our freedom, and their descendants are with us, having all the loyalty of their fathers; and there are others, not a few, who would resist their own priesthood with the Pope at their head, in defense of the Republic. Far from us be the wish, that our Catholic population might be expelled. Neither should we seek to prevent or diminish the immigration of Catholics. Our country stands open to the oppressed of all nations, and in the name of humanity so may it always stand. The favor of God would be forfeited by closing our door against any portion of suffering mankind. Nor should we receive them otherwise than with kindness, nor deal with them otherwise than as brethren. They come to us with a religion which we cannot look upon with favor, but they come to improve their condition; and even their undesirable religion recommends them to our philanthropic regard. In all appropriate methods we should strenuously resist the schemes of their priesthood and foreign patrons, for the extension of Romanism in this country; but let us, with open arms, and with warm fellow-feeling, welcome the emigrants, in whatever numbers they may come. Let them come from Ireland, from France, from Germany, from Spain, from Italy—let them come as many as will, and sit down with us under the Tree of Liberty, which God has planted in this land for the weary and afflicted of all nations.

Much may be plausibly said against this on the ground of abstract right, and absolute consistency. There is in Romanism the root of every evil: its tendency is everywhere to demoralize man; and it embraces a civil element which cannot commingle with our nationality as an independent people, and which, fully developed and ascendant, would bring us under the yoke of the worst despotism on earth. This is all true. Nevertheless, in the full view and the probable working of things, and as an experiment, which is to proceed under the influence, moral and civil, now advancing with resistless force and astonishing celerity in this country, we may wisely, prudently, and righteously allow, yea, and encourage the influx of Roman Catholics form every part of the world; and it is, therefore, on the whole, incumbent on us to do so. There would be cause for fear if all other influences were to be in abeyance, and Romanism have nothing adverse to encounter; but none, in the actual circumstances in which it must find itself. The protestant population is gaining on the Catholic at the rate of more than four hundred thousand a year. The Protestant clergy are eighteen or twenty thousand, and the Catholic eight or ten hundred. The Protestants are not inactive, and it is not probable that they will be. The converts from Romanism are many times more than the converts to it. These facts show no cause for fear. Suppositions may be made which would be startling, if there were reason to think they are to be realities; but, except in the imagination of alarmists, there seems to be no reason for such a conclusion; and in a world like this, where the utmost evidence as to the future course of things, cannot transcend probability, we can scarcely hope for higher security than we have, that Romanism is not to prevail in the United States, but to be ultimately lost in the predominance of a nationality, civil and religious, altogether our own.

3. The remaining topic is Slavery. This is becoming a subject of extreme interest in this country. It is moving deeply our religious bodies, entering with great earnestness and with decisive effect into our political contests, and profoundly agitating our national councils. As Christian patriots, we cannot be justified in holding toward it the position or neutrality or indifference. It is not probable that the excitement which has been created will subside without some result of importance to the nation. What course does true patriotism require us to take in regard to it? Let no man content himself with denouncing the excitement as the fruit of fanatical zeal. That cannot be done indiscriminately without casting reproach on not a few of the most excellent and honored of our citizens, and also without disregard to historic truth. This movement in our nation, unhappily as it has proceeded, in too many instances, is referable to a spirit in the age—an invincible spirit, we trust it will prove to be found—which seeks the universal emancipation of man, which should be resolved into the triumph of Christian truth as its remote cause, and which republican America, as having proclaimed to the world the natural equality of mankind, from the beginning of her independence, cannot, without palpable inconsistency, resist. Slavery as a system, should find advocates everywhere throughout the whole earth sooner than in this land of freedom. It should, and we hope soon will be, the universal desire that the institution utterly cease. But what to do in regard to it under existing circumstances—what Christians seeking the country’s good should do, is the question. And it demands for its solution, if any question ever agitated amongst us has done, the guidance of the wisdom which is from above; the wisdom which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. American slavery, whatever evils it includes or propagates, has law on its side, and that, if we are not to renounce Christianity, is a serious fact, neither to be overlooked nor simply condemned and denounced. Christianity, as taught and exemplified by Christ and his apostles, does not permit its disciples, either individually or in their synods, to resist directly the civil power, except where that power forbids the exercise of true religion; and that authorizing slavery simply does not amount to this, the sacred records themselves attest. They do this constructively, not merely by silence as to the evils of slavery in the Roman empire, where its form was worse that it is with us, but by the kind of instruction with it requires Christian teachers to give in reference to the subject; by injunctions of obedience to Christian slaves; and by exacting for them from their Christian masters, not instant emancipation under all circumstances, but justice and kindness in the exercise of authority. No inference from hence can be drawn to the dishonor of the Gospel, as though it were friendly to the institution of Slavery; but the just observation is, that the Gospel being designed for the reformation of wrong-doing, and not for its condemnation merely, and relying for its success not upon miracles, but persuasion and the blessing of God, would not defeat its own end by provoking the magistrates’ resistance, with no means at hand of staying the devouring sword. The times, it is true, are different, but there is no change with us rendering obsolete or inapplicable the teaching of primitive Christianity on this subject. There is a greater number of the professors of Christianity; its spirit and power in the community are of wider extent; but the State with us holds itself aloof from the Church, and stands as Rome did in defense of Slavery; and we have no want of proof that the tendency of direct aggression upon the object around which its powerful shield is thrown, is to inflame popular and civil indignation.

Our wisdom in walking, as to this matter, in the footsteps of the apostles, would appear, from another consideration. If the State interposed no obstacle; if it were convinced of the impolicy of Slavery, and desirous of bringing it to an end, and ready to enter upon prudent and feasible measures for its abolition at once, would there be no obstructions to be surmounted, no provisions against incidental evils to be devised, nothing to be done to prepare the slave population for a condition of independence? Is it not morally certain that abrupt legislation against our slavery, would lead to evils in the country scarcely less, on the whole, than the slavery itself, and in respect to slavery be abortive? How unwise, therefore, that a course should be pursued implicating the laws and slaveholders together in atrocious guilt, for not bringing the system to an end in a day! There should be no question as to the intrinsic and enormous evil of Slavery, as existing in this country; but it is a maxim of wisdom and virtue, that many things which ought not to have been done, are, because they are done, not to be undone. The institution of American Slavery, we hope in God, is not one of these things. It is, doubtless, in one way or another, sooner or later, to be undone. A tide of opinion and feeling is rising against it, which, if things proceed as they are now doing, will at length become too powerful to be resisted. If, however, it be undone, with advantage to the slaves, and without hazard to the peace of the nation, the result must be effected, not by an impetuous driving home of abstract right and truth, but by the meekness of wisdom operating in the indirect, gentle and suasory methods of primitive evangelism. In this age, and especially in this free land, the discussion of the subject should, as it will, be prosecuted; but this should be done thoroughly; the subject should be looked at on all sides; all the difficulties connected with it should be admitted and considered; allowances should be made for circumstances tending to mitigate the country’s responsibility, as having had the evil entailed upon it; and the proceedings in regard to it should be marked by exemplary meekness, taking note of the glaring fact, that the materials and causes for excitement in this affair are peculiarly abundant, both in the actors and those to be acted upon. These, so far as we can see, are the general principles by which our love or country should direct its way in relation to this subject.

They are, I think, the proper directory of our patriotism in reference to the excitement now prevailing about the restoration of fugitives from slavery. The immediate occasion of this excitement is a legislative measure for the maintenance of principles of order, which were settled, when the compact was formed, on which the American Union is based. The States originally composing this Union bound themselves by a sacred compact to observe these principles, and the other States also are under the same obligation. These foundations of the Union had been disturbed, and our national Council, after serious and long deliberation, enacted this law as a measure for securing them against further molestation. That it would produce excitement could not but have been foreseen from the existing state of feeling in the country in regard to Slavery; but its justification is, that this, or some other not less efficacious measure, was necessary to prevent a worse evil—the violation of the national compact, tending to the disruption of the bonds of Union, and the overthrow of the great American Republic.

The law has given dissatisfaction on various grounds: It has been thought by some to be unconstitutional, by others to be at least inexpedient, and not a few have denounced it as positively immoral, or against the law of God. Without attempting to examine its character, or interfering with any one’s judgment of it in any point of view, the path of Patriotism is manifest. Be the just estimate of the law in question what it may, if such a country as this is any longer an object to be loved or desired, if American Patriotism has not become an unlawful and vicious sentiment, violent resistance to the authorities of the land is one of the highest crimes that man can commit.

It is universally felt that the restoration of fugitives from bondage is, in itself or apart from civil relations and affinities, a work of simple injustice and inhumanity; but where such fugitives themselves are violators of civil order, and where those who oppose their restoration are violators of the same order, and of their own sacred covenant, whereby they have bound themselves not to violate it, no true humanity, or justice, or virtue, in any form, will forcibly resist the execution of a law requiring their restoration. The alternative now is, either to let the law have its course, or to overthrow if possible the government of the country,—and the office of casuistry here, is to judge which of these two will prove the greater evil. If the destruction of the government would be for the advantage of the slaves, would this compensate the evil in which it would involve the interests of the nation and of mankind?

There is no difference as to the course to be taken, whether the law be immoral or not, so far as resisting the government is concerned. Those who think it immoral should not violate conscience, by doing what to them would be wrong, but let them not violate social order and resist the ordinance of God, by refusing to suffer patiently what obedience to conscience may cost them. They have in this country the right of remonstrance and petition, and of using whatever means they may think best, consistently with keeping the public peace, for obtaining the regular repeal of the law; let them, if they choose, avail themselves of their rights; but unless they are convinced that it is their duty to seek the overthrow of the government, they are not more bound in conscience to decline obeying the precept of the law than they should be to bear meekly and unresistingly the infliction of its penalty for their disobedience. Let them love the Constitution of their country well enough to suffer for it patiently, even though they love God and virtue too well to do wrong though at their Country’s bidding. To resist the authorities in the regular administration of a law, simply because it is supposed to be unjust, is the part, not of loyalty to God, but of rebellion against both God and the State.

Nor would it vary the character of the resistance, if not a particular enactment only, but the Constitution itself, enjoined as some seem to hold that it does enjoin, the violation of essential morality, in relation to this matter. Whether the Constitution, or a particular law, require wrong-doing, the requirement will be obeyed by no conscientious man; but violently to resist the government on account of immorality in the Constitution, is another and a most flagitious immorality, unless it be justifiable to attempt a revolution on this account. In vain is it alleged that there is a higher law than the Constitution. For the purpose intended, namely, to justify resistance, there is no higher law, unless it be a law which exalts itself above all that is called God, or is worshipped. God has given no law authorizing resistance to civil government, when there is no sufficient cause for a revolutionary contest.

In conclusion, let us bear in mind, with grateful wonder and praise, that, while as Christians, the love of country is not only allowed, but required of us by our Holy Religion, we have a country so preeminently deserving of our best affection, our most devoted attachment; a country most remarkably signalized by dispensations of the Divine favor from its beginning; and never more so distinguished than at the present moment; a country the most favored, the most prosperous, and the most happy on the globe, and a country advancing in power and greatness with a rapidity of which the history of nations affords no parallel, and which commands the admiration of the world. How many waters should it require to quench, how many floods to drown the flame of American patriotism. O my Country, with all thy faults, if I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not my Country above my chief joy.

THE

AMERICAN UNION:

 

A DISCOURSE

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1850,
THE DAY OF THE ANNUAL THANKSGIVING IN PENNSYLVANIA.
AND REPEATED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19,
IN THE TENTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.

BY
HENRY A. BOARDMAN, D. D.

Second Thousand.

PHILADELPHIA:
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO AND CO.,
SUCCESSORS TO GRIGG, ELLIOT & CO.
1851.

 

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO AND CO.,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

To the Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D. D.

Philadelphia, December 20th, 1850.

Dear Sir:–Your friends and immediate fellow-citizens who have listened to your discourse on the Union, are naturally desirous of sharing with the country at large the advantages of so valuable a production.

The spirit of true patriotism which it breathes is especially calculated to do good y being widely diffused at the present moment, while it is distinguished by a tone of piety that is auspicious at all times, and cannot fail to be universally acceptable.

In the name of all who had the satisfaction to witness your eloquence on this interesting occasion, we respectfully ask that you would favor us with the use of the manuscript for publication.

With sincere respect and regard,
Your friends and faithful servants,J. R. Ingersoll,            G. M. Dallas,
R. Patterson,          W. M. Meredith,
John K. Findlay,        Jos. Patterson,
W. C. Patterson,        R. M. Patterson
John W. Forney,        Edward Armstrong,
John S. Riddle.

Philadelphia, December 20th, 1850.

To the Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D. D.

Reverend and Dear Sir:–Cordially approving the sentiments expressed by you in your recent discourse on the American Union, and believing that a more general diffusion of these sentiments would tend to the formation of a sound public opinion on this very important subject, and being desirous, moreover, individually, in some explicit and formal manner, to testify our own devout attachment to the Union, and our utter dissent from those who would subvert it, and our determination to abide by the Constitution and laws, and more particularly those laws of the last session of Congress known as the Compromise Acts, we, the undersigned, do most gratefully and heartily thank you for your eloquent and timely discourse on this subject, and request a copy of the same for publication.

Alex. W. Mitchell, M.D.,        Charles B. Penrose,
Wm. H. Dillingham,         A. V. Parsons,
Lawrence Lewis,        John S. Hart,
Wm. Shippen, M.D.,        James B. Rogers,
C. B. Jaudon,        Wm. Harris, M.D.
Hugh Elliot,        J. N. Dickson,
Francis West, M.D.,        Smith, Murphy & Co.,
Wm. Goodrich,        Hogan & Thompson,
R. R. Bearden,        J. B. Ross
Turner, Harris & Hale,        James Boggs,
James Imbrie, Jr.,        Lippincott, Grambo & Co.CORRESPONDENCE.Jno. R. Vogdes,         Peter L. Ferguson,
John K. Townsend, M.D.,        Truitt, Brother & Co.
W. H. Gillingham, M.D.,        Martin & Smith
A. B. Cummings,        W. Kirk,
John H. Brown,        Arthur A. Burt,
Samuel Hood,        Morris Patterson,
William B. Hieskell,        Faust & Winebrenner,
Moses Johnson,        William Brown,
Dale, Ross & Withers,        D. B. Birney,
Thos. H. Hoge,                Gemmill & Cresswell,
Dundas T. Pratt,        J. G. Mitchell,
F. N. Buck,        Scott, Baker & Co.,
James Orne,        J. Anspach, Jr.,
James Schott,        Geo. C. Barber,
Wm. Veitch,        J. W. Tilford,
Lind & Brother,        Jno. McArthur,
Taylor & Paulding,        Robt. M. Slaymaker,
B. P. Hutchinson,        A. W. Slack,
Sibley, Moulton & Woodruff,        James Burrowes,
David Springs & Co.,        Knorr & Fuller,
R. B. Brinton & Co.,        De Coursey, Lafourcade & Co.,
James Leslie,        Maurice A. Wurts,
Henry R. Davis.

Philadelphia, December 23d, 1850.

Gentlemen:–I cannot doubt that the favor with which my late humble effort in behalf of the Union has been received, is to be ascribed more to the existing state of the public mind on this subject, than to the intrinsic merits of the performance itself. I do not feel at liberty, however, to decline an application emanating from a body of my fellow-citizens so honorably representing the commerce of our city, and the learned professions, and comprising gentlemen whose public services have won for them the respect and gratitude of the nation, and identified their fame with that of the Union.

In the hope that the discourse which you have in such flattering terms requested for publication may be made, by a good Providence, instrumental in promoting in some degree the cause which we all have so much at heart, I herewith place the manuscript at your disposal.

I am very faithfully,
Your friend and fellow-citizen,
H. A. BOARDMAN.To the Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll,
Major-General Patterson,
Hon. George M. Dallas,
Hon. Wm. M. Meredith,
Hon. Charles B. Penrose,
Hon. A. V. Parsons,
Alex W. Mitchell, M. D.
Wm. H. Dillingham, Esq.,
Professor Hart,
Lawrence Lewis, Esq., and others.

 

THE UNION. 

Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not be thy father that hath brought thee? Hath he not made thee, and established thee?

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness: he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings;

So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the graps.—‘Deut. XXXII 6-14.

THESE words delineate with great beauty of imagery the general course of the Divine dispensations towards ancient Israel. Susceptible as they are of a ready adaptation to our own country, they suggest some of the various causes for gratitude to the Supreme Disposer of events, which should animate our hearts as we assemble in our sanctuaries on this Day of Thanksgiving. But they also intimate (if we choose thus to appropriate the passage to ourselves) that we are in danger of perverting and losing the munificent blessings Providence has conferred upon us. There is, I fear, but too much occasion for this warning. The pulpit should be very slow to give countenance or currency to topics calculated to excite or alarm the public mind; but where the Union itself is in jeopardy, both patriotism and religion forbid that it should remain silent. In the judgment of discreet and upright men of all parties, a crisis of this kind has now arrived. And, indeed, the indications of it are so palpable that he only who shuts his eyes can fail to see them.

Up to a period quite within the recollection of the young men before me, the atrocious word, Disunion, was never uttered in any part of the Republic but with abhorrence. The universal sentiment was that the Union of these States was to be maintained at all hazards—that it was not a question to be discussed—and that any individual who should presume to impugn its sacred obligation would be justly chargeable with moral treason, and ought to be regarded as an enemy to his country. This wholesome public sentiment has been for several years past gradually giving way. Our ears have become familiarized to the word, Disunion. A protracted session of Congress has been consumed in discussing the thing itself. One State is at this moment almost on the verge of secession. Others are threatening it. And a large and vigilant party elsewhere are pressing favorite measures with the full conviction that, if they succeed in carrying them, the Union must and will be riven asunder. Under these circumstances, the pulpit may no more keep silence than the press. We have the same civil rights as other citizens; and we do not mean lightly to surrender them. But aside from this, the interests of religion in this country are in some sort confided to the keeping of the Ministry: and Christianity—not Christianity for our own land merely, but for the world, and for all coming generations of mankind—has so much at stake in the American Union, that, if we should refuse to co-operate with our fellow-citizens in all legitimate measures for the preservation of that Union, we should be recreant to the Master we profess to serve, and unfit to minister at his altar.

In the original manuscript of Washington’s Farewell Address, there is the following paragraph partially erased. With the exception of the last sentence, it was rejected by him; but no apology will be needed for citing it on an occasion like the present: “Besides the more serious causes already hinted as threatening our Union, there is one less dangerous, but sufficiently dangerous to make it prudent to be on our guard against it. I allude to the petulance of party differences of opinion. It is not uncommon to hear the irritations which these excite, vent themselves in declarations that the different parts of the United States are ill affected to each other, in menaces that the Union will be dissolved by this, or that measure. Intimations like these are as indiscreet as they are intemperate. Though frequently made with levity, and without any really evil intention, they have a tendency to produce the consequence which they indicate. They teach the minds of men to consider the Union as precarious; as an object to which they ought not to attach their hopes and fortunes; and thus chill the sentiment in its favor. By alarming the pride of those to whom they are addressed, they set ingenuity at work to depreciate the value of the thing, and to discover reasons of indifference towards it. This is not wise.—It will be much wiser to habituate ourselves to reverence the Union as the Palladium of our National happiness; to accommodate constantly our words and actions to that idea, and to discountenance whatever may suggest a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned.”

It maybe doubted whether this paragraph would not have been retained, could Washington have foreseen the events which are passing before our eyes. For there is a tone of remark now prevalent on this subject which indicates a wide-spread and perhaps growing disposition to calculate the value of the Union. That such a problem should in any quarter be seriously entertained—that it should not, on being propounded, be as summarily and indignantly thrust away as the question would be, whether we shall not replace our present form of government with a monarchy—is symptomatic of a decay of that pure and lofty patriotism which once throbbed in every American breast. Certain it is that those who can degrade a theme like this to the computations of a mere commercial arithmetic, and resolve the value of the Union as they would adjust a marine venture, or the cost of a cotton-mill, have never even begun to comprehend the extraordinary chain of events which led to the establishment of this Union, the gigantic difficulties which opposed its formation, the manifold blessings which have resulted from it, and the legionary evils which would be produced by its destruction. A proper discussion of these several topics in a temperate and able manner might well engage the leisure of some one of our eminent statesmen at the present juncture, and could not fail to have a salutary influence on the nation at large. I propose simply to recall your attention to THE ORIGIN OF THE UNION, AND SOME OF THE MORE OBVIOUS CONSEQUENCES WHICH WOULD BE LIKELY TO FLOW FROM ITS DISSOLUTION—that we may the better understand what it is that certain parties are proposing to accomplish.

The observation has been often made, that the whole current of events connected with the settlement of America, and the growth of the Colonies, reveals a purpose on the part of Divine Providence to found, in this Western Hemisphere, a model government. They were no ordinary men who were sent here to lay the foundations of an empire in a wilderness tenanted by wild beasts and savages. No nation can boast a more honorable ancestry than that which comprises the Puritans, the Huguenots, and the Quakers, who fled to this continent, that they might enjoy

“Freedom to worship God.”
The seeding of the soil gave promise of a rare and generous harvest; and amply was the pledge redeemed. They knew not the exalted mission entrusted to them; it was impossible, without the gift of foresight, that they should have known it. But it is easy for us to see that, during the entire period of their colonial state, they were preparing for the work before them. In their privations and dangers, their sicknesses and wars, their mutual rivalries and quarrels; in the unnatural neglect and flagrant oppression with which their circumstances helped to develop; and in the continual accession to their numbers of men of kindred principles, who were driven from the old world by persecution or tyranny—we can detect a superhuman agency, which was moulding the strengthening them for the scenes of the Revolution, and the responsibilities involved in its successful termination. These, it is important to remember, demanded a training no less peculiar than the Revolution itself. It is too commonly taken for granted that, with the Peace of ’83, all danger was over; that the auspicious issue of our contest with the mother country was tantamount to the creation of a free and powerful Republic. In a word, that, as soon as their battles were ended, and the chains of their colonial vassalage broken, our fathers had but to sit down in quiet and enjoy the benign protection of that glorious Union which has, under Providence, made us the most prosperous nation on the globe. This is not only an utter misconception of the facts in the case; but it is adapted to disparage the wisdom and patriotism of the men of the Revolution, and to impair our reverence for the Union itself. It is scarcely going beyond the truth to say that their work was but half accomplished with the close of their last campaign. They had severed their allegiance to the crown; but they had no adequate government of their own, and they were in a situation most unfavorable for the establishment of one. The Union, that is, such a Union as their necessities demanded, was so far from evolving itself spontaneously from the chaos which succeeded the war, that the wisest and best men among them entertained the most anxious apprehensions as to the possibility of effecting it at all. “It may be in me,” said one of them, ¹ a man whose comprehensive and penetrating intellect resolved the abstrusest theorems in political science as by intuition, and who could express his profound and luminous views in a style which would scarcely suffer by a comparison with that of Junius—“It may be in me a defect of political fortitude, but I acknowledge that I cannot entertain an equal tranquility with those who affect to treat the dangers of a longer continuance in our present situation as imaginary. A nation without a national Government is an awful spectacle. The establishment of a Constitution in time of profound peace, by the voluntary consent of a whole people, is a Prodigy, to the completion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety. I dread the more the consequences of new attempts, because I know that powerful individuals in this State [New York] and other States, are enemies to a general national Government in every possible shape.”

In a similar strain, General Washington, at an earlier period, two years after the Treaty of Peace, wrote to Mr. Jay: “What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing! I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking: thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous! What a triumph for our enemies, to verify their predictions! What a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and salacious! Would to God that wise measures may be taken in time to avert the consequences we have but too much reason to apprehend!”

The old Confederation would have been too weak even for the purposes of war in any other hands than those of the pure and able men who were called to conduct the Revolution. And when the outward pressure was removed, and the colonies fell back under the sway of their several local usages and interests, the compact which united them proved to be but a rope of sand. The condition of the country waxed worse and worse, until it seemed to be on the verge of some terrible catastrophe. The war had dried up its resources. The government was encumbered with a debt which it had no means of paying. Commerce was at the lowest point of declension. The colonies, oppressed by their necessities, and more solicitous to retrieve their own fortunes than those of the Union, refused the supplies of money which were indispensable to the efficiency of the Confederation, and even to its prolonged existence. The Government was the very picture of imbecility; without troops, without a revenue, without credit, without power to enforce its laws at home, or to inspire respect abroad. And the reciprocal jealousies of the colonies, reviving with the return of peace, afforded little ground to hope that any scheme of union could be devised in which they would all, or even a major part of them, coalesce. The defects of the existing league were too palpable to be denied; but the most discordant opinions prevailed as to the appropriate remedy. This may be seen in the multiform objections which were made to the new Constitution when it came to be submitted to the States for their adoption. Not to speak of the monarchical party alluded to by General Washington, and which was probably very small, the following may be taken as a sample of these objections—“This one tells us that the Constitution ought to be rejected, because it is not a Confederation of the States, but a government over individuals. Another admits that it ought to be a government over individuals to a certain extent, but not to the extent proposed. A third objects to the want of a bill of rights. A fourth would have a bill of rights, but would have it declaratory not of the personal rights of individuals, but of the rights reserved to the States in their political capacity. A fifth thinks the plan would be unexceptionable but for the fatal power of regulating the times and places of election. An objector in a large State exclaims loudly against the unreasonable equality of representation in the Senate. An objector in a small State is equally loud against the dangerous inequality in the House of Representatives. From one quarter the amazing expense of administering the new government is urged; from another the cry is that the Congress will be but a shadow of a representation, and that the government would be far less objectionable if the number and the expense were doubled. A patriot in a State that does not import discerns insuperable objections against the power of direct taxation. The patriotic adversary in a State of great exports and imports is not less dissatisfied that the whole burthen of taxes may be thrown on consumption. This politician discovers in the Constitution a direct and irresistible tendency to monarchy; that is equally sure it will end in aristocracy.” ² But it would be wearisome to go on with this catalogue, and cite the objections urged against the instrument as a whole, and those advanced against the specific provisions appertaining severally to the legislative, the judicial, and the executive departments. Enough has been said to show that the convention which assembled to frame a Constitution had an herculean task to perform; and that, without the special illumination of Divine Providence, they must have essayed in vain to frame an instrument which should unite in its support the suffrages of a majority of the States.

It is an additional consideration of great weight, bearing upon this point, that they were without a model. There was no existing government which they were willing to copy. There was no government of antiquity which would at all answer their purpose. They were, in truth, not only in advance of their own age, but of all ages, in their ideas of civil government. We may apply to them what Milton has said of the Hebrew prophets: they appear

“As men divinely taught, and better teaching
The solid rules of civil government,
In their majestic, unaffected style,
Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome;
In them is plainest taught and easiest learnt,
What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so.”The concise instrument drawn up and signed in the cabin of the May Flower, was the charter of an embryo Commonwealth. It recognizes the great principle of equality, and the right and duty of the “civil body politic,” into which the signers organized themselves, to “enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, as should be thought most convenient for the general good of the colony.” This germ expanded. It derived nurture from the alternate indifference and tyranny of the home government. The colonists, not of Massachusetts only, but of Virginia and the other provinces, were compelled to act for themselves. They came to regard the “general good,” not the honor of a throne, or the aggrandizement of an aristocracy, as the proper end of government; and “just and equal laws,” as the legitimate means by which this end was to be promoted. Long before their difficulties with the crown reached their crisis, these ideas had become as familiar to their minds as household words. They were very unlike the prevailing ideas in the Old World. They found no place in the constitutions of the most liberal monarchies. Political equality—popular suffrage—equal laws—the right of the majority to govern—the greatest good of the greatest number as the end of government,–these were principles which, however they might be entertained by individuals, had yet for the first time to be enacted, or even recognized by any European monarchy. And when with these principles is combined another of no less importance, that of a representative republic, we shall search in vain for any adequate exposition of their views even among the so-called republics of ancient or modern times. It shows an extraordinary elevation of mind, and a moral courage stamped with true sublimity, that they should have succeeded in divesting themselves of the intolerable thraldom of precedent and authority, and dared to lay the foundations of their new structure on principles which no other government had made trial of, or which had certainly never been tested in such combinations as were now contemplated. These principles alone, however, were suited to the emergency, and they applied them with a trustful fortitude and a profound wisdom which have never ceased (unless they have now ceased) to elicit the gratitude of their posterity, and the admiration of enlightened and liberal statesmen in all lands.

Without stopping to illustrate these points in detail, let us advert for a moment to that great principle of a representative republic which they invoked to harmonize the conflicting rights and interests of the colonies. Our minds are so familiar with this principle that we are scarcely in a position to appreciate the wisdom which guided the convention to the discovery of it (for it was a discovery), and led them to adopt it as the core of the new Constitution. They were to create a Government or Governments for the colonies. Putting monarchy out of the question, these plans were before them: 1st. Consolidation; the dissolution of the thirteen Provincial or State Governments, and a general amalgamation under one republican charter. 2dly. Consolidation in the form of a pure democracy. 3dly. The organization of thirteen entirely independent Governments—republican or democratic. 4thly. A simple Confederation of thirteen sovereignties.

These were the only models to be found in the annals of the world. All Governments not monarchical had conformed to one or another of these types: and yet the statesmen of the Revolution had the sagacity to see that they were alike either impracticable or utterly insufficient for their purposes. Consolidation was out of the question; the colonies would not consent to merge their individual existence in a single organization. A pure democracy was impracticable even for the States as such. A democracy requires the periodical convocation of the entire body of the citizens, to conduct its legislation, and is of course admissible only in the case of States comprising a very limited territory. This was a favorite scheme of a party after the war; and to elude the difficulty just stated, they were for dividing the larger colonies into districts of a tractable size. The creation of thirteen isolated sovereignties would have been the sure precursor and occasion of dissensions and wars. Nor would a simple Confederation of such a cluster of sovereignties, the scheme which was advocated by many of the most patriotic and influential men of the nation, have been essentially better. Such a Confederation already existed. Its inadequacy was matter of experience. No modification would be of any avail which came short of curing its radical vice, to wit, that of providing “legislation for States or Governments in their corporate or collective capacities, and as contradistinguished from the individuals of whom they consist.” So long as this principle was retained, the States might be bound together in a league, but there could be no national Union. Nor would a general government be able to enforce its decrees at home or to protect its foreign interests, if the execution of its mandates were made contingent upon the legislation of other independent sovereignties. ³ A new principle was, therefore, needed to meet the exigencies of the case; and it was found in that of a representative republic. The sovereignty of the several States was left unimpaired in respect to all matters of local jurisdiction, while the Federal Government, springing no less directly than the State governments from the bosom of the people, and operating no less directly upon the people, was clothed with the functions requisite for the efficient administration of all interests appertaining to the general welfare of the Republic. Thus was the great problem solved. From the confusion and distraction, the imbecility and exhaustion, the conflicting theories and rivalries, of these emancipated provinces, emerged the Union, clothed with majesty and honor, radiant with celestial beauty, her temples bound with a perennial olive-wreath, and her hands filled with such blessings for the expectant people as no nation but God’s chosen one had ever dreamed of. Tyrants looked upon her and gnashed their teeth with rage. The patriots of every land hailed her advent as the rising of a second sun in the heavens. The down-trodden nations of Europe found life and hope even in her far-off smile. And as her magic influence penetrated their dungeons, the martyrs of liberty felt their chains lightened, and blessed God that, although their efforts had failed, one nation had at length established its freedom. It was in truth the triumph, the first great triumph, of CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY. The records of mankind supplied no parallel to it; and it was a fitting occasion for a jubilee among the friends of human progress of every creed and country.

This cursory glance at the difficulties which were surmounted in the formation of our government may serve to enhance our appreciation of the Union, and to invigorate our gratitude to the men who founded it. A nobler race of men, or one who have a stronger claim upon the affectionate veneration of mankind, the world has never seen. It is impossible that they should be forgotten so long as integrity, patriotism, and public virtue, have a being among men. Their names (to borrow the sublime tribute of Daniel Webster to John Hancock—a tribute which we may even now appropriate to the great orator himself) have a place as bright and glorious in the admiration of mankind, “as if they had been written in letters of light on the blue arch of heaven, between Orion and the Pleiades.” Certain it is that if we ever cease to do them honor or to cherish the work of their hands, we shall deserve the execration of all future generations. For, whatever specious objections may have been urged against the Constitution at the period of its adoption, it is not with us an open question whether that immortal instrument was framed with all the wisdom which has been claimed for it, and whether it is adequate to the purposes for which it was designed. The seal of more than sixty years is now upon it, and its results are known and read of all men. In the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London, is the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of that noble structure, and the felicitous inscription upon it runs thus: “Reader, if you seek his monument, look around!” So we may say of our Constitution. If you would estimate its value, LOOK AROUND!

“How many States,
And clustering towns, and monuments of fame,
And scenes of glorious deeds.”Contrast the thirteen colonies of the Revolution with our thirty-one States. And then contrast the Republic as a whole with any other, even the most prosperous, empires of the globe. I give utterance only to one of our familiar common-places, when I say, that whether we regard the increase of its population, the development of its resources, the augmentation of its wealth, its power, and its influence among the nations, or the steady progress of its people in all the arts of a refined civilization, the history of this country is unexampled in the annals of our race. Without wishing to chime in with that strain of self-complacent declamation which has made so many Fourth of July orations an offence to cultivated ears, the occasion not only authorizes but compels me to say, that there is no people on the earth so free as we are; none who possess such an affluence of all the immunities and appliances, social and political, secular and religious, essential to the plenary enjoyment of all personal rights, and to the greatest good of the great mass of the nation. To prove this would be a work of supererogation. If any man can “look around” and doubt it, he has mistaken his country, and should transfer his domicil to a more congenial clime.

Nor is the extraordinary growth of the United States in all the elements which constitute the true greatness and glory of a nation more indisputable than is the fact that we have been steadily opposed by most of the leading cabinets of Europe, and especially by the whole moral influence of the British Government and aristocracy. England has never forgiven us the Declaration of Independence. Whether it is because this Union is a standing memento of her folly and misgovernment, or because she is jealous of a daughter whose ships and spindles compete with her own in the markets of the globe, certain it is that she has always looked upon us with an evil eye. No maternal pride has ever betrayed her into a spontaneous burst of admiration at the enterprise, the intelligence, and the moral worth of her transatlantic offspring. When James the Second, one of her faithless kings, whom she drove in indignation from his throne, overlooked from the French coast the great naval action of La Hogue, and saw the British, after putting to flight that imposing squadron with which all his hopes were embarked, pursue their enemy in boats into the very shallows, and set fire to the ships which would otherwise have escaped, he could not restrain his admiration of their gallantry, but cried out, “Ah, none but my brave English could do this!” But no such paroxysm of generosity has ever overcome our venerable mother in contemplating this fair country. Instead of exclaiming, as she has marked the gradual transition of this vast wilderness into a cultivated continent, covered with towns and cities, and smiling harvests, “None but my brave children could have done this!” she has systematically detracted from our just fame, and disparaged our achievements. Allowing for individual exceptions, the tone of her press (not to speak of other indices of her feeling) has been marked with an illiberality and acerbity towards us which nothing could justify. Her journalists and tourists have set themselves to misrepresent and depreciate our institutions. From her stately Quarterlies down to the humblest hebdomadal repositories of provincial wit and wisdom, they have exerted their ten talents or their one talent, as the case might be, to cast ridicule upon our public acts and monuments, upon our civil franchises, our manners, our literature, our very roads and vehicles, and the whole working of our political and social systems. They have done what they could to make the impression in Europe that our great “experiment” was a failure; that there was no security here for life and property; that anarchy and semi-barbarism were already rampant; and that the Union must presently fall to pieces. And how has the country heeded these unworthy demonstrations? Precisely as a loaded train heeds the straws which sportive children scatter on the rails; or as an eagle heeds the pellets of mud cast after him as he soars upwards on his mighty pinions towards the sun. The country has advanced with a constantly accelerated momentum, which has at least changed the contempt of its maligners into the dignity of hatred. And neither defamatory presses nor official decrees, neither standing armies nor a domiciliary espionage, nor all these combined, have been able to conceal the truth from the simple-minded peasantry and the degraded operatives of Europe. Alike in their pestiferous workshops and in their remote mountain chalets, the name of the United States is a talisman to them. The salutation, “I am an American citizen,” is the best passport a stranger can have to their confidence. Often have I seen their eyes sparkle on hearing it; and the sight made me proud of my country. It was the boast of the ancient Roman that the watch-word, “I am a Roman citizen,” would secure him personal respect throughout the known world. But it was the dread of the imperial eagles which insured his safety. No such sentiment protects the American abroad. It is not the inspiration of fear, but of love, which lights up the countenances of the common people at his approach. They know little of politics, and less of geography. They have read but few books. They could give no very lucid account of this country. But they have these two ideas about it inwrought into their minds, viz., that it is a free country, and that the people are comfortable and contented. This makes it a land of hope to them. This makes them long to get here. This constitutes the subtle, mysterious influence which has gone out from our Union into all the hamlets and all the mines and forges of Europe; and which is drawing their tenantry towards us with an agency as irresistible as that which keeps the needle to the pole. This it was which made an honest, truthful peasant, who lived in one of those lofty valleys at the base of Mont Blanc, say to a party of Americans, a year or two since: “Not less than two hundred of my neighbors have gone from this small valley to your country, and nothing but the want of means keeps me from following them.” I say again, I was proud to hear it. These unbought testimonies to the all-pervading and blessed influence of my country—testimonies picked up by the wayside, and by the cotter’s hearth, and the shepherd’s fold, from reapers, and wagoners, and guides, and laborers—are worth more than all the studied compliments ever bestowed upon America by courtly diplomatists. It is something to belong to a land which looms up in this way before all nations, as a land of peace and plenty, of virtue and safety—as an asylum where the oppressed may find a refuge from tyranny, and the poor the amplest scope and encouragement for frugal industry. It is something to belong to a land which is known wherever the foot of civilized man has trod, not by her Caesars and Napoleons, not by her bloody wars and conquests, but by her Washingtons and Franklins, her civil and religious liberty, her equal laws, and her thriving populations. That such a land should draw upon the Old World is not surprising. The philosophy of the fact is sufficiently simple, and it was set forth by one of the illustrious orators of the Revolution with a felicity which is equaled only by his extraordinary prophetic announcement of the fact itself. Immediately after the close of the Revolution, Patrick Henry delivered a speech of great power in the Assembly of Virginia in favor of a liberal policy on the subject of immigration. Contrasting the expanse of our territory with the scanty population, he observed, “Your great want, sir, is the want of men, and these you must have, and will have speedily, if you are wise. Do you ask, how are you to get them? Open your doors, sir, and they will come in; the population of the Old World is full to overflowing; that population is ground, too, by the oppressions of the governments under which they live. Sir, they are already standing on tip-toe upon their native shores, and looking to your coasts with a wishful and longing eye; they see here a land blessed with natural and political advantages, which are not equaled by those of any other country upon earth; a land on which a gracious Providence hath emptied the horn of abundance; a land over which Peace hath now stretched forth her white wings, and where Content and Plenty lie down at every door! Sir, they see something still more attractive than all this; they see a land in which Liberty hath taken up her abode; that Liberty whom they had considered as a fabled goddess, existing only in the fancies of poets; they see her here a real divinity, her altars rising on every hand throughout these happy States, her glories chanted by three millions of tongues, and the whole region smiling under her blessed influence. Sir, let but this celestial goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair hand toward the people of the Old World, tell them to come, and bid them welcome; and you will see them pouring in from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west; your wilderness will be cleared and settled, your deserts will smile, your ranks will be filled; and you will soon be in a condition to defy the powers of any adversary.” Li
berty did “stretch forth her hand towards the Old World,” and this eloquent prophecy glided into history. The three millions who chanted her glories have now become twenty-five millions; and the mighty current of humanity is setting towards our shores with a depth and a majesty which are enough to awe every thoughtful beholder. There are various aspects, economical, political, and religious, in which this imposing movement may be viewed. The twofold object for which it is cited here is to illustrate, on the one hand, the unprecedented growth of our country; and, on the other, the Antaean hold which this Union has taken upon the other hemisphere. Without restricting the remark to this wonderful migration from the Old World to the New, we are safe in affirming that the sublime spectacle of a self-governed and well-governed nation has told with prodigious effect upon the dynasties of Europe. For “the greatest engine of moral power known to human affairs is an organized, prosperous State. All that man in his individual capacity can do—all that he can effect by his private fraternities, by his ingenious discoveries and wonders of art, or by his influence over others—is as nothing, compared with the collective, perpetuated influence on human affairs and human happiness of a well-constituted, powerful commonwealth. It blesses generations with its sweet influence. Even the barren earth seems to pour out its fruits under a system where rights and property are secure; whilst her fairest gardens are blighted by despotism.” ⁴ Such an example has been before the world for more than half a century; and while it is impossible to trace the influences which have gone out from it upon the other hemisphere, all parties are agreed that it has had a most effective agency in bringing about the ameliorating changes which have taken place in the European Governments. The reforms in those governments, which have consisted essentially in raising the people from a condition of political nonentity to a substantive power in the State, have drawn their animating breath and derived their most effective support from the precedent supplied by these United States. If the Nesselrodes and Metternichs of the day are competent witnesses, this country has been the great laboratory from whence “liberal ideas” have been continually flitting across the ocean and disturbing the Dead Sea tranquility of the venerable despotisms of Europe. The extent to which these ideas have permeated the masses there is really surprising, when one considers the vigilance and severity with which tyranny everywhere guards its usurpations. Many a generous struggle has proved abortive, and hecatombs of brave but unfortunate patriots have been immolated to the Moloch of absolutism; but the cause of freedom has on the whole advanced. The nations are not where they were at the commencement of this century; and unless we betray our trust, and extinguish the light which now allures them on to freedom, there is little likelihood that they will ever consent to resume their chains. If we guard this vestal flame upon which so many anxious eyes are turned, the political renovation of the world must go on. Other lands will be emancipated, and the prophetic vision so beautifully depicted by the poet will be realized:–

“I saw the expecting regions stand,
To catch the coming flame in turn;
I saw from ready hand to hand
The bright but struggling glory burn.
And each, as she received the flame,
Lighted her altar with its ray;
Then, smiling to the next who came,
Speeded it on its sparkling way.” ⁵

No man who believes that there is a Providence can take even a brief retrospect of our history, like that which has now engaged our attention, without discovering innumerable evidences of his benignant agency. He who does not see a Divine hand directing and controlling the whole course of our affairs, from the landing of the colonists at Jamestown and Plymouth until the present hour, would hardly have seen the pillar of cloud and of fire had he been with the Hebrews in the wilderness. This Union is not the work of man. It is THE WORK OF God. Among the achievements of his wisdom and beneficence in conducting the secular concerns of the world, it must be ranked as one of his greatest and best works. And he who would destroy it is chargeable with the impiety of attempting to subvert a structure which is eminently adapted to illustrate the perfections of the Deity, and to bless the whole family of man.

There are, however—the fact cannot be disguised—parties actually at work in endeavoring to destroy the Union. A party at the South and another party at the North, the poles apart in their speculative views of the subject which agitates them, and inflamed with a bitter mutual hostility, have virtually joined hands for the purpose of demolishing this Government. This is not, indeed, as to one of these parties, the ostensible object they have in view; but it is essentially involved in that object, and they know it. They must, therefore, be held to the responsibility of aiming at a dissolution of the Union, equally with those inhabitants of the Southern States who avow this as their aim.

The subject which has occasioned this commotion is Slavery. The Southern Disunionists would secede because Congress, at its late session, passed certain acts abridging, as they allege, the rights of the slave-holding States; and the Northern Disunionists insist upon the repeal of a law passed at the same time, entitled the Fugitive Slave Law, even though its abrogation should involve a dissolution of the Union. My business as a Northern man, and a citizen of a free State, is with the latter of these parties, or rather with the North generally. In the few observations I am about to make on the subject, I shall simply reiterate sentiments which have been so often and so eloquently expressed both in Congress and out of it, that they have become familiar to every well-informed citizen. But I may say that the man who can put the American Union, with all its untold and inconceivable blessings, into one scale, and the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law into the other, and then strike the balance in favor of the latter, is without an exemplar in the history of the race until we get back to the record of that primeval tempter who said to our first mother, “Ye shall not surely die.”

She pluck’d, she eat!
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,
Sighing thro’ all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost!”In saying this, I utterly disclaim any design to become the champion of Slavery. I have never set myself to defend it; and by the grace of God I never will. I concur in the estimate which is put upon it by the people of the North, and by tens of thousands of our Southern countrymen, that it is a colossal evil; and that no consummation is more devoutly to be wished and prayed for than its removal. But I can as little undertake the championship of Northern agitators and fanatics as that of Slavery. I believe they are the worst enemies of the slave, and the most efficient protectors of Slavery; and as such, I can have no fellowship with them. The law to which they object may be, or it may not be, defective or unjust in some of its provisions. If it is, it will no doubt at the proper time be amended; if it is not, it will stand. But what we are called upon to discountenance is the spirit in which this excitement is promoted—the recklessness and violence with which the unconditional repeal of the obnoxious law is demanded, irrespective of consequences—the abusive attacks which are constantly made upon the South—and the whole system of measures put in operation to alienate the two portions of the confederacy, and bring about a disruption.

However the fact may be contemned by the radical Abolitionists, it behooves us all to remember, what even the cursory retrospect presented in this discourse must have made sufficiently manifest, that the Union of these States was a matter of compromise. Obstructed as it was by the most serious impediments, it could never have been effected had not all the parties concerned been animated by a rare spirit of accommodation. General Washington, in submitting the draft of the new Constitution to Congress, thus expresses himself in his official letter as the President of the Convention: “In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.”

In this spirit the Union originated, and in this spirit it has, under God’s blessing, been preserved. On all the most important measures of the government, the country has been divided into two great parties. We have passed through various crises, which have tested the loyalty of one party or of the other, as the case might be, as in a fiery furnace. Take for example the following measures: Jay’s Treaty—the Embargo—the War of 1812—the Missouri question—the Nullification controversy—the admission of Texas—and the Mexican War. Each of these measures was highly offensive to a large portion of the American people. The legislation of Congress was, in some of the cases, resisted by Statesmen of the most eminent abilities, as being in the face of the Constitution and destructive to our best interests. But when the acts were passed, the law-abiding spirit of the Anglo-Saxon race began to work, and all parties acquiesced. We have a striking illustration of this in one of the most recent of the measures just mentioned, the admission of Texas. The major part of the population in the free States regarded this, in the manner in which it was done, as a gross invasion of the Constitution. A distinguished citizen of South Carolina, formerly Governor of that State, has remarked, in a letter recently published, that “the admission of Texas furnished a far greater provocation to the North to secede, than the admission of California does to the South, with the auxiliary stipulations incident to the former.” ⁶ But we did not secede. Nobody talked of seceding, except the party who are driving at disunion now. The sober sense and enlightened patriotism of the mass of the people, fortified by sixty years’ experience, have taught them the necessity of forbearance, and made them feel that it is far better to submit even to what they believe to be wrong and hurtful measures than to break up the Union. They have no notion of setting the ship on fire because the captain deals out some oppressive orders. They choose rather to wait till the ship returns to port, and then, if they can, get a new captain.—In this spirit the compromise measures of the last session ought to be treated. They were not party measures, for none of the recognized parties was, as such, satisfied with them. But they supplied the only platform on which men of all parties could meet; and this is a sufficient reason why the country should acquiesce in them.

That a statute respecting fugitive slaves should form a part of this series of pacificatory measures, was a thing of course. One of the chief compromises of the Constitution itself relates to this very subject. The South would not come into the Union without some guarantee on this point, and the following section (Art. IV. Sect. 2) was adopted by the Convention—I believe unanimously. “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.” A law was enacted under Washington’s administration, and with his approval, to carry this provision of the Constitution into effect. ⁷ This law had of late years been rendered nugatory in some of the States by local legislation, and it became necessary to replace it with another. This is the statute which is now exciting so much opposition, and the execution of which has been resisted with so much violence. These demonstrations, although professedly directed against some of the details of the act, are to a great extent leveled against its principle. We do the party concerned in them no injustice in supposing that they would be equally hostile to any adequate law designed to effect the same object. In this view, one cannot but be struck with the flexible morality which can declaim fiercely about the inalienable rights of man, while it is trampling under its feet one of the most sacred covenants which ever bound a people together. There is no difference of opinion as to the meaning of the Constitutional provision on this subject. To that provision, in common with the others, our fathers assented, and we have assented. It is one of the terms of a compact into which we have as a people entered with one another; and which is just as binding upon us as any other of its provisions. Our judgment may condemn it. It may be very revolting to our feelings. But this is nothing to the purpose. We are under no obligation to remain in a country which we believe to be governed by oppressive laws; there is nothing to prevent our flying to any land which rejoices in a milder code and a more rational liberty. But as long as we continue citizens of this Union, we must abide by its Constitution and obey its laws. ⁸ And we cannot consent to take lessons in ethics from those who deny this proposition. The first requisite we demand in a teacher of morals is that he be a moral man himself. And when a covenant-breaker comes to expound to us our obligations, we feel disposed to decline his instructions and to say to him,

“Your nickname, virtue; vice, you should have spoke;
For virtue’s office never breaks men’s troth.”

To some persons this may sound very unfeeling as regards the slave. I will not reply by saying that the Apostle Paul thought it no sin to send a fugitive back to his master. But this is a case where we are not at liberty to take counsel merely of our sympathies. The obligation of contracts is not made contingent upon men’s feelings; and if this plea was to be urged at all, it should have been before the Constitution was adopted. We do not, however, rest our answer to the objection on this ground only. We are not willing to concede a monopoly of all the sympathy which is entertained for the bondman to the party which is clamoring for an unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. So far from it, we claim to be the truest friends of the slave. We believe that, as well for nations and in respect to public affairs, as for individuals, “Honesty is the best policy;” and that kindness to the colored race, no less than patriotism, demands a faithful adherence on the part of all concerned to the stipulations of the Constitution. By that instrument the exclusive jurisdiction of slavery is reserved to the several States. We have no more right to dictate to South Carolina what she shall do with her slaves than she has to prescribe to Pennsylvania what railroads we shall construct or what banks we shall charter. Nor does the responsibility of her system of servitude any more attach to us than does the responsibility of the serfdom of Russia. The Northern abolitionists (I use the term in its technical sense), impressed, it would seem, with a conviction that their proper responsibilities, sectional and national, secular and spiritual, are not commensurate with their capacities, have volunteered to shoulder by much the heaviest portion of the obligations resting upon the Southern States. The South declines the proffered civility; but they press their attentions. The South remonstrates, on the ground that the contemplated interference would be highly prejudicial to her tranquility; but her officious friends insist upon it as their right to help her manage her private affairs. The South at length puts herself in an attitude of resistance, and points to the solemn compact in the Constitution; but they reply, with an air of triumph, that they are governed by a “higher law,” and that under that law, it is not only their right but their duty to take charge of her slaves. And what have they accomplished by this Quixotic generosity? They have riveted the fetters of the slave. They have deterred at least three States, Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, from carrying out the plans of prospective emancipation they were just entering upon when this outbreak of misguided philanthropy occurred at the North. They have scattered the seeds of discord and alienation broad-cast through the Confederacy. In a word, protesting that they were the exclusive friends of the slave, they have taken him to their breasts with a hug which reminds one of the embrace of that terrific automaton of the Virgin found in the dungeons of the “Holy Inquisition,” which, clasping the victim in its arms and pressing him to its bosom, transfixed him with a thousand concealed spikes and knife-blades. And their fitting auxiliaries in all this crusade against the South have been British emissaries; the subjects of that crown which, in the face of the remonstrances of some of the colonies, planted slavery in our soil and fostered it into manhood, and which at this moment has millions of subjects at home and in its colonies who would be the gainers in physical comfort, and even in spiritual privilege, by exchanging places with our Southern slaves.

The failure of all past efforts at the North to ameliorate the condition of the slave is not more palpable than is the certainty that the grand expedient now contemplated would prove equally abortive. For, suppose radicalism could achieve its purpose and split the Union to pieces, how would this help the slave? Does any man, not a tenant of a Lunatic Asylum, believe that Disunion would mitigate the evils of Southern servitude? Would it bring about a relaxation of the laws which regulate it? Would it incline the planters to put books and pens into the hands of their slaves? Would it facilitate the flight of fugitives? Would it conciliate the various legislatures towards schemes of emancipation? No one is so infatuated as to affirm this. The most frantic abolitionists must be aware that the disruption of the Union would put a cup of gall and wormwood to the lips of every slave; that it would be a signal for the enactment of more stringent laws than have ever appeared upon the Southern Statute-books; and for the institution of a system of surveillance on every plantation and in every household, the rigor of which has no parallel in the records of American bondage. In the name, then, of three million slaves, we protest against all schemes for dissolving the Union. We believe that, terrible as such a catastrophe would be to the whites, it would be no less so to the blacks; that it would abridge their privileges, augment their burdens, and postpone by many years the period of their ultimate emancipation. And we should be criminally indifferent to their welfare, as well as treacherous to those sacred bonds which have hitherto united the North and the South in an honorable and affectionate brotherhood, if we could remain silent when sincere but mistaken religionists and unprincipled demagogues have well nigh precipitated the country into this frightful abyss. And we are all the more disposed to break silence because we believe that, of the two classes of agitators just named, the latter has a great deal more to do with the present excitement than the former. There is, it is true, a settled conviction in the minds of the Northern people that slavery is a great evil, and there is an anxious desire to see the country rid of it. But, left to itself, this feeling is as still as it is strong and deep; and it never could have been lashed into the foaming surges which now break over the land but through the systematic, crafty and wicked exertions of political demagogues. There were men in the ancient republics whose motto was,

“Better to reign in hell than serve in Heaven;”
and they cared not what became of their country, so they were promoted. Monsters, it has been said, cannot perpetuate their species; but this species, if not perpetuated, has been reproduced, for we indubitably have them among ourselves. Like Erostratus, who, when put to the torture, confessed that his motive in setting fire to the magnificent temple of Diana at Ephesus was to gain himself a name among posterity, these men appear to be intent upon attracting to themselves the attention of the world, even though it can be done only by applying the torch of civil war to this glorious Union. Let us hope that a merciful Providence will baffle their designs; that the upright and law-abiding people whom they have, for the time, bewitched with their enchantments, will detect the real character of their leaders; and that these local ebullitions of fanaticism will soon give place to those patriotic and conciliatory sentiments which have in every previous crisis of our history proved equally efficacious against domestic faction and foreign aggression.

It would be well for all classes of our citizens, at this critical juncture, to look Disunion fairly in the face. Its unavoidable effects upon the colored population constitute but a tithe of the evils which would flow from it. Not to exhaust your patience by going into the question at large, let it suffice to say that Disunion not only involves a fratricidal war, but that it would undoubtedly lead to a continued series of contentions and disruptions among the States. It seems to be taken for granted that, if we divide, we divide into two confederations. But why stop at two? It would be quite as natural certainly to form four confederations as two. And how long should we pause at four? A sense of common danger might hold the new combinations together for a season; but this would give place, after a while, to local and more potent influences. The strength of the Union lies not in its physical, but its moral power. Its real buttresses are not its army and navy, its mines and factories, it canals and railroads—not even its written constitutions and charters, its laws and tribunals; but its sacred traditions, the inwrought and, until lately, universal conviction of its unparalleled benefits, and that sense of its sanctity which has made the nation regard it with a reverential awe akin to that with which the Hebrews looked upon the ark of the covenant. The feeling has been that the Union was another ark of the covenant to us—that it was the repository of our most precious national mementoes, the symbol of the Divine presence with us, and the pledge of his future protection. This feeling is not to be ascribed to any specific training. It is no set lesson we have learned at school, or which has been drilled into us like a code of morals or a code of manners at home. We have inherited it from the mothers who bore us; we have inhaled it in the air of heaven; it has gathered nourishment from the scenes of our firesides, from our daily employments, from our journeys, from our sanctuaries, from our national anniversaries, from all our experiences and all our associations. It has grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength, and imperceptibly become a part of our being. And this it is which, under God, has made the Union so strong; it is because its roots are struck down into our hearts, and so interlaced with the very framework of our moral being, that they seem to belong to our personal identity.

Now dissolve the Union, and not only do we cease to be what we have been, as individuals, but the power of the Union over us is gone, and gone forever. You annihilate by one stroke that feeling of its sanctity which has done more to preserve it than all other causes combined. And it matters not whether you merely cleave it in halves or divide it down into quarters or eighths. One pebble will spoil a mirror as well as a handful. The people will have learned, from a single rupture, that the Union is frangible—a most fatal discovery. For when they, have broken it once, they will not scruple, if occasion serves, to break it, or rather to break its fragments again; for it will have ceased to be the Union. We shall no longer have a national existence. The great events of our history—the illustrious names which adorn our annals—the heritage of renown committed to us—can no longer be appealed to as incentives to virtuous conduct, or as rallying-cries in seasons of peril. What orator will dare allude to Bunker Hill or Yorktown, to Champlain or Erie? What senator will dare invoke the name of Washington—or to speak of Henry and Marshall, of Greene and Morgan, of Jackson and Harrison, of Hull and Bainbridge? These illustrious men toiled and bled for the UNION; and when we shall have destroyed the work of their hands, and resolved the almost perfect government they established or defended at so great a cost into a group of petty jarring confederacies, shame will conspire with ingratitude in consigning their names, their honors, and their sufferings, to a speedy and an eternal oblivion. Nothing—if this calamity awaits us—nothing presents itself to our expectations but a future as humiliating and disastrous as our past has been bright and ennobling. Instead of that beneficent mission which we have been wont to suppose had been confided to us, of leading the nations on to freedom and happiness, we may look forward to protracted scenes of anarchy and bloodshed, which will sicken and discourage the patriots of other lands, and supply the partisans of arbitrary power with a triumphant proof that nations require a master.

We are not at liberty to disregard this consideration. Even if we were so lost to virtue and patriotism as to be reckless of the fate of our own countrymen, we could not elude the responsibilities which rest upon us in reference to the world at large. This Union cannot expire as the snow melts from the rock, or a star disappears from the firmament. When it falls, the crash will be heard in all lands. Wherever the winds of Heaven go, that will go, bearing sorrow and dismay to millions of stricken hearts. Not the dismay and sorrow incident to the blighting of their own prospects and the breaking up of their household plans’ but the deep and inconsolable grief occasioned by a calamity so startling and so disastrous in its bearings upon the happiness of mankind as to leave the mind no opportunity for expatiating on its own private misfortunes. For the subversion of this Government will render the cause of CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY hopeless throughout the world. What nation can govern itself, if this nation cannot? What encouragement will any people have to establish liberal institutions for themselves, if ours fail? Providence has laid upon us the responsibility and the honor of solving that problem in which all coming generations of men have a profound interest, whether the true ends of government can be secured by a popular representative system. In the munificence of his goodness, he put us in possession of our heritage by a series of interpositions scarcely less signal than those which conducted the Hebrews to Canaan; and He has up to this period withheld from us no immunities or resources which might facilitate an auspicious result. Never before was a people so advantageously situated for working out this great problem in favor of human liberty. And it is important for us to understand that the world so regards it. The argument with which Napoleon inflamed the ardor of his troops on the eve of the great battle of the Pyramids was in these pregnant words, “Soldiers! consider that from the summits of yonder Pyramids forty centuries look down upon you.” Whatever the rhetoricians may say of this speech, they must at least admit that the principle to which it appeals constitutes one of the most powerful springs of human action, and that no man is at liberty to disregard its promptings. We, certainly, are bound to remember that the nations are looking to us, not for themselves only, but for the “centuries” which are to follow, to learn whether “order and law, religion and morality, the rights of conscience, the rights of persons, and the rights of property, may all be preserved and secured in the most perfect manner by a government entirely and purely elective.” And if, in the frenzy of our base sectional jealousies, we dig the grave of the Union, and thus decide this question in the negative, no tongue may attempt to depict the disappointment and despair which will go along with the announcement as it spreads through distant lands. It will be at once the most unlooked-for and the most irrefragable testimony ever given to the odious theory, that princes were made to govern, and nations only to obey. It will be America, after fifty years’ experience, in the course of which period she had done more to inspire the nations with a desire for liberal institutions than all other popular Governments combined had effected in the lapse of ages, giving in her adhesion to the doctrine that man was not made for self-government. It will be Freedom herself proclaiming that Freedom is a chimera; Liberty ringing her own knell all over the globe. And when the citizens or subjects of the Governments which are to succeed this Union shall visit Europe, and see in some land, now struggling to cast off its fetters, the lacerated and lifeless form of Liberty laid prostrate under the iron heel of despotism, let them remember that the blow which destroyed her was inflicted by their own country.

“So the struck Eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again,
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart.
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel
He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel;
While the same plumage that had warmed his nest
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast.”Nor is this the only aspect in which the issues of Disunion present themselves to our contemplation. We are forced to consider them as well in respect to our spiritual our civil and social interests. For the most remarkable characteristic of this whole movement is that the sacred name of RELIGION should be invoked to give a sanction to measures adapted to destroy this government; the Union is to be broken up for the sake of religion! The lofty morality of the Scriptures will not permit us to live together under a constitution which authorizes the Fugitive Slave Law; and we must separate.

“I thought where all thy circling wiles would end;
In feign’d religion, smooth hypocrisy!”It needed but this ingredient to consummate the superlative madness and impiety of this scheme. For, if there is any one great national interest upon which the disruption of these States would fall with a crushing weight, it is our CHRISTIANITY—that interest which as much surpasses all others in importance as it will in duration.

There is no land where Christianity has achieved nobler victories than it has here. Enjoying at once plenary protection from the State and the utmost freedom, it has developed itself with a purity and an energy rarely witnessed in the Old World. It was a sublime undertaking, that of supplying, without the aid of endowments or government patronage, churches and spiritual teachers for a youthful and growing nation like this, diffused over so great an expanse of territory. And the predictions of failure were equally sanguine and universal among the adherents of the ecclesiastical establishments of Europe. But these predictions have not been verified. We may venture to assert, without violating the modesty proper to the occasion, that Christianity has accomplished far more than its friends could have anticipated; that the efficiency of the voluntary principle, as displayed here, has excited the astonishment of its bitterest opponents; and that we have done more y our example to refute the vicious theories of foreign statesmen and ecclesiastics, and to promote the progress of religious liberty on that side of the water, than could have been done by whole libraries of polemical divinity. The time forbids me to go into detail. But no candid observer can survey our country, in its moral and religious features, without being impressed with the grandeur of the results already achieved here. Not to speak of the churches with which the land is dotted over; the large body of educated and evangelical clergymen who occupy our pulpits and conduct most of the higher literary institutions; the liberal sums spontaneously contributed for the support and propagation of the Gospel; and the promptitude with which further subsidies and new laborers are supplied as fresh fields demand cultivation; look at the benign and powerful influence religion has exerted upon the population at large. There was a work to be done here so indispensable that the government could not get on tranquilly without it, but which the government could not do. Religion has done it. It has been the chief agent in establishing our systems of education. It has been the main-spring of most of the humane institutions designed to alleviate the wants and improve the condition of the people. It has gone down among the masses, and not only fed them and clothed them, but renovated their principles, restrained their passions, taught them their duties, and made them value their privileges. It has received in the arms of its comprehensive charity the myriads who land upon our wharves; and done more by its wondrous alchemy, than all other agencies combined, to transmute them into good citizens, and to homologate all creeds and parties and tongues in a harmonious brotherhood. It has redoubled its exertions to keep pace with the tide of emigration as it has rolled over the prairies, pierced the primeval forests of the West, and poured itself down the slopes of the Rocky Mountains upon the fertile plains of Oregon and into the auriferous valleys of California. And, not satisfied with domestic conquests, though stretching from ocean to ocean, it has sent forth its peaceful cohorts to distant shores; and from Asia, from Africa, from the Isles of the Sea, ten thousand voices come back to proclaim their bloodless victories, and to assure us that the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad for them, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose.

Now let the Union be dissolved, and how certainly will this vision pass away. For it is not possible that this event should occur without involving religion in the general catastrophe. It is a common maxim that, in times of public distress or alarm, credit is the first thing to suffer. It is no less true that RELIGION sympathizes at such crises, not only with credit, but with every other element of prosperity. Christianity is not a thing by itself—a mere matter of Bible-reading and Church-going, of Sundays and Sacraments. It is interfused, as we have just seen, through all our relations, comprehends all our employments, and exerts its prerogative over the whole field of human duty. The moment you touch the commerce or the husbandry of a country, you touch its Christianity. If you paralyze any branch of industry, weaken the popular confidence in the government, excite an expectation of war, or do anything else to agitate the public mind, religion feels the effect of it. It requires no prophet, therefore, to foresee that, in the event of a disruption, the churches would share in the common fortunes of the country. Amidst despondency and terror, dissensions and war, their strength would dwindle and their zeal decline. With diminished resources, the money now appropriated to the maintenance and diffusion of the Gospel would be wanted to pay troops and purchase munitions of war; or, should an appeal to arms be averted, to meet the enormous taxes for civil and military purposes incident to the new order of things, and the critical relations among the several States and Federations. It is no extravagant supposition that, if the process of dissolution once begins, it will not finally stop until the Republic is chopped up into six or eight distinct Leagues, each one of which must have its own general government, with the usual symbols and implements of nationality, such as Legislative and Judicial tribunals, ambassadors, a navy, and, what will then be unavoidable, a cordon of camps and fortresses and a considerable standing army. The very transit from our present condition to a state like this would be like the passage of a fleet through the Norwegian Maelstrom. It would extinguish hundreds of feeble churches and shatter the strongest ones. Instead of keeping pace with the spiritual wants of our nomadic population, which they are barely able to do when blessed with a redundant prosperity, the various denominations would find it difficult to sustain themselves at home. Foreign Missionaries would be recalled, and fields restored to paganism which have been won from it at a great outlay of money and life, and which are now “white to the harvest.” The circumstances of the country would be as unpropitious to the culture of sound morals as they are now favorable. Infidelity and atheism would run riot through the land, violence and crime would super-abound, and we should deteriorate in all those high oral qualities which have hitherto attested the efficacy of our Christianity and secured for us the respect of the civilized world.

And all this avalanche of evil is to be brought down upon us for the sake of RELIGION! We are to exchange our present condition for alienation, insecurity, commercial prostration, the decay of our churches, and the bankruptcy of our great charities—for the sake of religion! We are to make the Bible a nullity, and the Sabbath a day of amusement, re-open all the sluices of immorality, and deluge the land with licentiousness and profanity—for the sake of religion! We are to disband our schools and churches among the heathen, and send back the multitudes, now under Christian instruction, to worship in idol temples and sacrifice their children to devils, for the sake of religion!

We protest against this huge impiety. If fanatics and demagogues are resolved to destroy this Union, let them not pretend to sanctify the parricidal crime by perpetrating it in the name of religion. Enough that Buddhism should crush its deluded devotees under the car of Juggernaut, in the name of religion; that Mohammed should fertilize kingdoms with human blood, in the name of religion; that a spurious Christianity should keep its arsenals of chains and fagots and slaughter whole tribes of unoffending peasants, in the name of religion. Let not Satan come hither also in robes of an angel of light. Let not the august name of religion be invoked to hallow an enormity which would not only shroud this land in mourning, but inflict upon religion itself the most irreparable injury. Every consideration of virtue not only, but of decency, forbids that Christianity should be called upon to preside at an auto-da-fe of which it is itself to be the holocaust; to consecrate an action which would for the time arrest its own beneficent triumphs, clothe atheistic impiety with superhuman power, and send a thrill of sardonic joy through those infernal legions who exult only in the calamities of virtue and the victories of sin.

Not to pursue this painful theme, it must be too apparent to require argument that the dismemberment of this Union would be one of the most appalling calamities which could befall the world. “Other misfortunes (I use the words of the great statesman of Massachusetts) may be borne or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it; if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still under a new cultivation they will grow green again and ripen to future harvests. It were but a trifle even if the walls of the Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished Government? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of Constitutional liberty? Who shall frame together the skilful architecture which unites national sovereignty with State-rights, individual security, and public prosperity? No, if these columns fall, they will not be raised again. Like the Coliseum and the Parthenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than were ever shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw—the edifice of Constitutional American Liberty.” ⁹ But why should they fall? What is it which now threatens to overwhelm this Government in irretrievable ruin? Has it become so enervated by luxury as to sink into a state of inanition? Are we falling to pieces through the extraordinary and intractable expansion of our territory? Is there a victorious army at our gates? Are we ground down with oppressive laws for which there is no remedy but in a dissolution? No: none of these. But Congress, in the exercise of a power never before called in question, has admitted a State into the Union which refused to tolerate involuntary servitude; and in obedience to an imperative requisition of the Constitution, has passed a law for the reclamation of fugitive slaves! These are the grounds on which it is proposed to destroy this Government. For these reasons we are called upon, in the midst of peace, plenty, and prosperity, to exchange the best Government the world has ever seen—the most affluent blessings, the most glorious reminiscences, and the most brilliant prospects a nation ever enjoyed—for dismemberment, anarchy, and carnage. Surely, if the establishment of this Union by the voluntary consent of the people was, as Mr. Hamilton declared, a “prodigy,” its voluntary destruction by that same people or their degenerate descendants, for causes like these and after sixty years experience of its benefits, would be a far greater prodigy. The turpitude of such a crime has nothing in history to illustrate it. Language was not made to define it. The generation which perpetrates it will cover themselves with an infamy as deep as the abyss into which they will have plunged their country. And the patriots of all coming generations will execrate the memories of the men who betrayed the priceless heritage of Constitutional Liberty which was purchased with the blood of their fathers and placed in their hands as trustees for all mankind.

Let it be our aim to do what we can to avert so fearful a catastrophe. Let us cultivate a spirit of conciliation towards all portions of the Confederacy. Let us sustain the majesty of the law. Let us invoke the blessing of heaven upon our rulers. Let us, above all, be instant and earnest in commending our beloved country to the care of that benignant Providence who has brought us through so many dangers and crowned us with such unexampled prosperity.

 

END.

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Endnotes

1. Mr. Hamilton.

2. Mr. Madison.

3. See these points argued in the Federalist.

4. Mr. Edward Everett.

5. I am indebted to Mr. Everett for this beautiful quotation.

6. General James Hamilton’s Letter to the People of South Carolina.

7. It must be recorded, to the lasting honor of Pennsylvania, that she was the first of the thirteen States to abolish Slavery. This was done under the administration of President Reed, in 1780. And it is a circumstance worthy of note, that the act embraces a provision for the extradition of fugitive slaves. The following is an extract from its Eleventh Section: “Provided always, and be it further enacted, that this act, or anything in it contained, shall not give any relief or shelter to any absconding or runaway negro, or mulatto slave or servant, who has absented himself, or shall absent himself, from his or her owner, master or mistress, residing in any other State or Country; but such owner, master, or mistress, shall have like right and aid to demand, claim, and take away his slave or servant, as he might have had in case this act had not been made.”

8. It is not necessary, for the purposes of the present argument, to state the limitations of this principle.

9. Mr. Webster’s Speech at the celebration of Washington’s Birthday, in Washington, 1832.

SermonPreached in the 1st Congregational church,

New London, Conn.
On the Day of Thanksgiving
November 28, 1850

By Abel M’Ewen,
Pastor

 

“Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.”

Acts iv. 10

This Scripture has been selected as the theme for a discourse on this occasion, for the purpose of canvassing the question: How ought the people of the Free States in this country to deport themselves in relation to that law of the United States, called the “Fugitive Slave Law?”

Occasion for preaching on this subject is found in existing facts. The law is producing great and dangerous agitation in the land; the consciences of many people are tried by the demands of the law in question, as they understand it; while the consciences of others are unsettled as to what they ought to do in circumstances into which this law may bring them. The danger is great, that not a few, acting by a misguided conscience, and that others, acting without heed to conscience, may produce national calamities which will beget regret and remorse, which will be as bitter as they will be unavailing. All people will think and feel, if they do not speak on this subject. It is one, touching so vitally, the interests of this country, so jeopardizing the interests of every individual, of every family, and of the Church of God; and so pressing itself into contact with the conscience and duty of all people, that silence on the part of preachers may look more like non-committal than like prudence.

In their relation to this law, some people would regulate their duty by looking exclusively at the Constitution of these United States, without regard to the counsels of divine revelation; others would give themselves up to abstract dictates of the Bible, refusing to modify these, or to restrict the import of detached portions of the Scripture, even by principles, by which God himself has qualified and limited his own laws, in conformity to circumstances in which the subject of these laws were involved. This question of duty cannot be candidly settled, without looking at our whole condition, in which the word and providence of God have placed us.

Though it may not be practical to make out a course which every person in the Free States should tread, providing him guidance on every emergency which may betide him; I shall attempt to do something toward this provision.

1. By an examination of some scriptural counsels, which warrant mankind, on some occasions, to disregard the injunctions of civil rulers, that they may obey the revealed will of God.
2. By adverting to other parts of sacred Scripture, in which obedience of civil rulers is made obedience of God.
3. By remarks upon an express prohibition of God, which some people in the Free States, conceive interdicts their compliance with the “Fugitive Slave Law.”
4. By noticing the obligations which the Constitution of the government of the United States imposes upon all the citizens of these States.

1. By an examination of some scriptural counsels, which warrant mankind, on some occasions, to disregard the injunctions of civil rulers.

A number of texts of Scripture might be cited; sufficient however, it will be to do justice to the occasion, and to the consciences of men, to examine candidly, and in their various bearings, two authorities, which set before us, men inspired and true to their duty, who disregarded the injunctions of civil rulers that they might obey God.

The first case is that of the apostles, Peter and John, when they commenced their ministry after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had wrought a miracle, healing a cripple, by a word; they stated publicly that it was done by the power of God in the name of Jesus. Because they preached the gospel, and confirmed it by miracles, the rulers of the Jews thrust them into prison; the High Court of the nation brought them forth to its bar, and asked them by what authority they wrought miracles. Expressly and without disguise, the apostles answered, “by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” Among themselves, the rulers said that they could not deny that a miracle had been wrought; “but,” said they, “that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.” And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus. Here is the law. It was an injunction from the highest rulers in the nation, forbidding the Apostles, and of course, all other men, from preaching the Gospel. The reply of the two Apostles follows: “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” This appeal in the form of a question to the understanding and conscience of the rulers, and of the world, was a declaration of Peter and John, that their determination was to disobey the civil edict, and to obey the command of the Divine Savior, in this specific matter of preaching the Gospel; that further than this, they should disregard civil law, they gave not the slightest insinuation. “We cannot,” said they, “but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Nor did they relieve their conscience by empty words. Forthwith, and with perseverance and until death, they did preach the Gospel. In the spirit of this disregard of a civil edict, all the Apostles and early preachers uniformly disobeyed civil rulers in this specific thing, whenever and wherever they, directly or indirectly, interdicted the preaching of the Gospel.

Inconsiderately, and without analyzing their zeal, many people seize upon this scriptural authority, as their warrant for disobedience of every civil law, which they conceive to be in letter or in principle inconsistent in any degree with a divine precept.

Justice to this investigation demands that some duties suggested by this action of the apostles be noticed, and that some mistakes made in the use of this example be detected and exposed.

The command of the rulers was a prohibition of action which had been made the main duty of the apostles and Christians, by a recent and specific command of Jesus risen from the dead, and about to ascend to heaven. This action of the apostles is an example for ministers who are commanded to preach the Gospel, to preach it though forbidden by civil rulers to do this. To regard this, however, as an example which warrants men to transgress all civil law which is inconsistent in some respect, as they conceive, with divine law, is an abuse of the example. All human laws are imperfect; the administration of them is imperfect. A human law often in some principle, or in the application of it, conflicts with divine law. Subjects of civil law are not on this account to rebel and transgress. A tax is by law laid upon the people, but it is so made that it operates unrighteously. It lays the burden comparatively upon some, and spares others from it. Divine law incumbent upon rulers and people is, “Do justly,” “Defraud not.” Hundreds perceive the iniquitous operation of the tax law. Poor widows and orphans are oppressed by it. Some rich people are exempted from its demands. Shall these hundreds take their stand and refuse to pay the tax? Shall they advise the oppressed not to pay it, and to arm themselves against the collection? Shall the advisers join the sufferers with force and arms, raising mobs to resist the collection? Shall senators and orators instruct the people to disobey such law, because they conceive it conflicts with divine injunctions to justice, and with divine prohibitions of iniquity? Shall these insurgents take words out of the mouth of Peter and say to the rulers of the land, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye?” And shall they claim that they make a legitimate use of this scriptural counsel? No, this specific action of the apostles is to be heeded and plead only as a specific example for doing the precise thing which the apostles did. Had the makers of our civil constitution, had the congress of the United States conspired to enact a law forbidding all the ministers and people of this country to preach and hear the gospel at all, doubtless it would be pertinent for us to say to these civil rulers, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye;” and doubtless the authority of this example would justify us in adopting methods for practically exercising the rights of conscience and of private judgment, in doing God’s will to save the soul. If this example might be carried away from its specific application, and be plead to justify insurrection against civil authority and law, in every case in which individuals and clubs of people think they see, that they or others are called to submit to some law, which in some particulars conflicts with divine law, against hundreds of laws it may be used to justify insurrection. No human government can stand under such an exposition and use of this specific text of Scripture.

Will it be said that every man has a natural right to personal liberty? He has. So has every man a natural right to all the property he can get. But men have found the necessity of restricting men in the exercise of their natural liberty to do many things, which, but for law, they might do; and might, but for law, obey their conscience and the dictates of kind affection, in doing. Were it not for law, I might go into my neighbor’s house when he forbids me, to teach his children the Gospel, when he is teaching them infidelity and the arts of seduction and villainy. The law which prohibits me, is said, perhaps, to be oppressive upon me, a kind man, or upon my neighbor’s family, made up as it is, of moral and immoral beings. Much law must, adventitiously, in many of its operations be oppressive, for the sake of the general benefit of law, as in this instance. I must submit to this restriction from my neighbor’s house, that I and all my countrymen may, by law, be protected in closing our doors against a thousand ruinous intrusions. The law which makes a man a slave is a very oppressive law; of course, the law which restores a fugitive from slavery, is a very oppressive law. Any law which introduces slavery into the world, into a nation, into any community, is an unscriptural law. But when the evil of slavery exists, some laws regulating it, are not unscriptural; for God himself has made such laws. The laws of divine enactment which regulated slavery in the Hebrew commonwealth, were very oppressive some men. The evil of slavery existed; it had originated, not by divine law or authority, but from the corrupt passions of men; and God regulated it. The people of Israel would not have been justified in rebelling against the laws of that country, touching slavery, because they were oppressive. Those laws were, for the benefit of the community, necessary slave laws emanated from the source of all Hebrew law. This was enough to impose the duty of submission while these were laws.

Any law which would have introduced polygamy into the world, would have been a law, emanating not from the will or enactment of God. God found polygamy in Israel, which the vile hearts of men had originated. And Moses, or rather God by Moses, enacted a law suffering men to repudiate wives not guilty of adultery, and to take others. This law was oppressive upon the repudiated and upon their friends. But the sore evil of polygamy existed, making the hearts of husbands hard and cruel towards wives who were not objects of affection; and God, by a law unavoidably oppressive, regulated the evil until the coming of Christ. Had men or women in Israel rebelled against this law because it was oppressive, their conduct would have been wickedness, and they would have been punished by divine authority. They might have plead for their justification in this rebellion an abstract principle, right in itself; nevertheless in their present circumstances, they would have been guilty of rebellion against divine authority. Though our fugitive slave law is, of necessity, oppressive, we cannot rebel against it, and say for our justification, it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto Him, more than unto our rulers who made this law. If we concede that it is such a law as they ought not to have made, still it is a law, made by us, by our representatives, in whose hand God has placed the authority of legislation; and it is not God’s revealed will that we use the example of Peter and John to justify ourselves in disregarding any law, emanating from this legislative authority, except law, thence coming, which interdicts us from the specific action, from which the apostles were indicted by the Sanhedrin.

We speak of the example of Peter and John, as furnishing a warrant for preachers of the Gospel, to preach it, though forbidden by rulers, in this specific action. Though the apostles conceived it to be their duty, in this isolated and great work, to obey the command of Jesus, though civil rulers imposed silence upon them; still, even this action—so important to this lost world, so peremptorily commanded, and forbidden so manifestly by human malice against Christ and his salvation—the apostles modified, and were conscious of liberty and obligation thus to act. If forbidden to preach the Gospel in one city, they fled to another; simply bearing their testimony against those who interdicted and rejected the divine message. Their ministry was thus modified in accordance with circumstances, because their commission was modified to meet such embarrassment. The servant of Christ was not to strive. The command of the Sanhedrin was, “Speak not, nor teach at all in the name of Jesus.” This command, putting the Gospel out of the world, was not to be obeyed. If the apostles were forbidden to preach in the synagogue or temple, they retired to a place more humble, and less obnoxious to the indignation of the civil magistrates, and of the people, actuated by unhallowed prejudice and zeal. They made no noisy and showy demonstrations of their conscientiousness and rights—no fiery and vindictive denunciation did they utter against opposition; but in meekness they exhibited truth against error.

Much less did the apostles, to sustain a cause which they were not at liberty to relinquish, or action which they were forbidden to suspend, arm themselves, or advise others, by force to withstand those who they knew were conscious of setting themselves, with selfishness and hostility, against God himself, and his commands. Christ had taught his followers, and all men, that, “They who take the sword, shall perish by the sword;” that subjects of civil law—interdicted even from even this specific action, preaching the Gospel, which it was right for them to perform—might not, neither they nor their adherents, as insurgents, arm themselves to resist. What a stretch of civil disobedience, then, it is, for those who lament and abhor slavery, and who feel a compassion for fugitives from it, to plead the example of Peter and John to justify armed resistance of civil law, to form armed combination—for what? To resist officers of the law in the administration of existing law. And they advise those whom they regard as sorely oppressed by the law, by arms to resist the officers of the law, even to the taking of their lives. Had the early Christians taken the life of a magistrate who imprisoned Peter and John, and who bound and scourged Paul, and Slew James and Stephen—the Record of this armed resistance, and of this perpetration of murder, would have stamped the Gospel and practical Christianity with the spirit of crime, and the world would have shrunk from it, as from a religion horrid with blood.

Some of these intemperate counselors have, manifestly, some misgivings as to the wholesomeness of their advice; and they have said that they would suffer, to any extent, under oppressive law, but that they would not, by such law, be coerced to perform acts of wickedness. Will they abide by their principle? The counsel which they adopt for the guidance of their own action, will they extend as advice to others? Without sacrifice or danger, these men of noise may engage to suffer all the evils which the fugitive slave law has in store for hem, which are just none at all. But will they advise the fugitives to submit to all the suffering which oppressive law brings to them? In giving counsel to them, these advisers lose sight of their principle of avowed subordination to civil law, to the extent it shall deal out suffering; and, instead of counseling these poor victims of oppression not to be coerced, by law, into acts of wickedness, they advise them to defend themselves from suffering, even to the extent of assault and battery, and even of murder, perpetrated upon the officers of law.

The other scriptural counsel to which I propose to advert, is, that of Daniel, who disobeyed the decree of king Darius, which was, that any man who should, for thirty days, ask any petition of any god or man, save of Darius himself, should be cast into the den of lions. Daniel, in disregard of the prohibition, continued to pray, openly, to the God of heaven. The record approves his conduct. His example is good authority for the disregard of civil law, in this specific case. Were the Congress of these States to issue such a decree, it would, on the authority of Daniel, be the duty of the people of this nation to continue their prayers to God.

But to carry the authority of this example away from the specific action concerning which it counsels us, and to plead it in justification of rebellion against any law which is thought to be oppressive, or inconsistent with some precept or principle of revealed religion—is impertinent.

Daniel meditated no violence—practiced no violence—recommended none—would have discouraged all violence, in defense of his privilege of prayer. He prayed, in disregard of civil laws, and he expected to submit; and he did submit to the powers of government, which cast him into the den of lions. Shall fugitives from slavery, take counsel from his disregard of civil law? They, in slavery, thought the law, subjecting them to bondage, was oppressive; and, to get their rights, fled. Their conduct, in this particular, resembles that of Daniel—peaceably taking their rights. Pursued by the law, which follows them to carry them back, not to the lion’s den, but to dens sufficiently terrific and cruel, we admit; will they go, like him, without resistance to existing law?

One view, which may be taken of these two instances of disregard of civil law, nullifies them effectually, as divine authority, which men may plead to justify themselves in violation of existing laws which perpetuate slavery. Persia, like all the Eastern nations in the days of Daniel, had in it, slavery. He and all the children of the Captivity were slaves. No doubt, he thought slavery was oppression and cruelty, on the part of the government and masters. He was a most favored slave; still, we know that he sighed for his liberty, for the liberty of his fellow slaves, and for their restoration to their father-land. He was a most influential slave, and was therefore, under uncommon obligations to do what it was right and proper to do, for the emancipation of himself, and of those in bonds with him. They had been carried into bondage, not from a Pagan land into a land of revealed religion, but the reverse of this. Daniel however, did not take the principle, on which he disregarded the edict, respecting prayer, and justify himself, or others, in raising an insurrection against the slave laws of Persia. If he used not his own example, his own principles for such a purpose, under all his personal temptations, and all the solicitations of his kindred and countrymen, who can make such a use of it, without perverting it from its legitimate application? Doubtless Daniel would have been himself highly gratified, and would have done, in his own estimation, a favor to Persia, and an unspeakable one to the slaves of that country, could he, by a legal operation, have abolished all slavery there, and all slave laws. To have attempted this however, by insurrection, would have been an adventure, too wicked, and too costly, as it would have been a general sacrifice of the slaves, and a subjection of the whole population to the violence, misery, and despair of anarchy.

Let us take a similar view of the other authority, which is plead for the justification of rebellion against civil authority, in the disregard of the fugitive slave law of this country. The apostles, forbidden to preach the gospel at all, said to the rulers, “whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye.” Slavery was at this time prevalent among the Jews, regulated by the Levitical code, and prevalent in other parts of the Roman Empire, regulated by the laws of Rome. The apostles, espousing the righteous and merciful principles and precepts of the gospel, could not have owned slaves. They regarded slavery, doubtless, a great oppression, and a great sin, and they would have advocated the legal extermination of slavery.

As they had found it to be their duty to preach the gospel, though forbidden by civil authority, why did they not carry out the principle adopted for action in this isolated case, and undertake, as some modern reformers do, to rid their country of all sin, sanctioned by human law, by preaching and practicing insurrection against all oppressive and corrupt laws. By Roman law, the power even, of taking the life of a slave belonged to his master. The apostles, however, uttered not a note, moved not a finger to encourage insurrection, even against a law so grievous. Hear Paul’s advice to a slave. “Art thou called (i.e. to be a Christian,) being a servant? Care not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather; for he that is called in the Lord, being servant is the Lord’s freeman.”

Facts speak louder than theories. Men may now take the action of Peter and John, preaching the gospel, when interdicted by rulers, and on the authority of this action construct a theory, which shall encourage insurrection against every existing law, which is conceived to contravene some precept, or principle of revealed religion; but the practical comment of the apostles shows, that they did not carry out this principle to justify insurrection, even against the unchristian laws, which were conservative of slavery. Senators in their places, animated by a zeal for liberty, or something else, may sound the note of rebellion against the Constitution, which they have made oath to support, and against laws, made by the legislature, of which they are a part, proclaiming to the ignorant, the fanatical, and the insubordinate, that the law of God is higher than human laws; but would these dignitaries examine the Scripture, from which, as they pass they take a maxim, they would see, that they build at least one of their political theories on other foundation than that of Christ and the apostles.

2. Some light may be gained to regulate our conduct in relation to the fugitive slave law, by adverting to parts of sacred Scripture in which obedience to civil rulers is made obedience of God.

Not to be tedious, I will confine my quotation to one broad and pertinent injunction given by Paul in his epistle to the Romans, xiii. 1—5. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that be, are ordained of God; Whoever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God; a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake.”

This injunction to obey magistrates is general, referring to all people in nation; and to all laws under which they live; and providing no dispensation from obedience to existing law, inculcated by this injunction, except what is found in express exceptions, made and particularized by authority tantamount to this general and unqualified statute, which prescribes the subordination of every soul to law. Throughout the New Testament I know of liberty in but one case given or claimed, by divine authority, for transgressing civil law. That was liberty to preach the gospel, as claimed by Peter and John, though interdicted by civil rulers. Speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus implied, doubtless, reading the Bible, worship regulated by the gospel, and the inculcation of gospel truth by writing. With this single exception, the unqualified injunction of God, by Paul, enforcing as a matter of conscience, and as a religious duty, or, as obedience of God himself, practical subjection of every soul to every existing law, under which, in the providence of God, he is placed, stands unrepealed and unqualified. A man may think a law of the country is unwise, oppressive, and inconsistent with divine law. No matter. It is the decree, the mandate of the powers that be. Wrath from civil authority will come upon him, if he disobey, and not only to avoid that, but for conscience sake, a regard for God, whose ordinance, the powers that be, is he must obey every law. Nero’s laws were bad, cruel; the laws of the Sanhedrin were bad. Paul knew it; God knew it; and he knew that many future laws would be bad. Nevertheless, he gave the broad injunction upon all men to be subject to all law, and this injunction God has never repealed. Some people affect tenderness of conscience for obeying divine law in preference to human law. A tender conscience will not be perverse; it will cherish tenderness for this law of God, given by Paul, precisely as God has qualified it, and precisely as he has maintained it, and left it in force.

3rd. Remarks are to be made upon an express prohibition of God, which some people, in the free States, conceive interdicts their compliance with the fugitive slave law.

The prohibition, to which allusion is now made, is found in the Levitical statutes, Deut. Xxiii, 15, 16: “Thou shalt not deliver, unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master, unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best; thou shalt not oppress him.”

The question before us is: does this prohibition constitute a dispensation, to the people of the Free States, from the general injunction upon them, to obey all existing laws, under which they live, particularly a dispensation from a practical compliance with the demands of the fugitive slave law?

This law, recorded in Deuteronomy manifestly was a municipal law of the Jews. How far it is binding upon us, how far it excuses us, in withholding ourselves from the execution of our fugitive slave law, depends not a little, on what it was, in its application to the duties required by it of the people of Israel. They had slaves, some who were of their own blood, Jews; others whom they purchased of the heathen living around them, or in the midst of them. The language of the statute indicates that id did not regulate the conduct of the Jews, in relation to their own slaves. Occasionally some of these escaped from their masters. To whom did they flee? The language of the statute is, “The servant who is escaped from his master unto thee.” Who is designated by the word thee? The law was addressed to the commonwealth, not to a particular individual. A slave in Israel who had escaped from his master did not flee from him to that nation, he was before he absconded already in that land, under that government. The additional provisions of that statute show satisfactorily that the word thee designates the nation, and not the individual. “He (the servant) shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates.” Was any person, any family obliged to keep a slave who had fled to him, whatever he was, however he might conduct, and whatever might be the circumstances of the person to whom he fled, as to age, sex, health, sickness, or poverty? Must this individual, upon whom the fugitive quartered himself, keep him in such of his gates, that is, in such of his houses, rooms, yards, or fields, as the fugitive should choose? Something must have been meant by gates, different from any such thing, pertaining to an individual. “He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates.” Among whom? In the family; in the room which he should select? This could not have been enjoined. The word thee, designated the nation; the word gates designated the cities or towns of the land, in one of which the fugitives might choose to dwell. The word among directs that the fugitives should be permitted to dwell among the nation, not among the family of a particular individual. The nation, undeniably, was addressed by the words of the statute. The word thee meant the state. If a servant had escaped from his master to the commonwealth of Israel, he had come from a pagan nation, where the master had the disposal of the slave’s life, and he kept him in idolatry. Such a fugitive from such a foreign nation, come to the land of Israel, might dwell in some one of its cities, or towns, he should not be delivered up. Mark another provision of this statute concerning the treatment of the fugitive: “Thou shalt not oppress him;” that is, enslave him nor make his residence in Israel, onerous. The Jews might buy slaves of the heathen, but they might not enslave a fugitive from heathen bondage. Provision was made, by law, for the holding of slaves in Israel, whether the slaves were Jews or heathen, and also for the emancipation of slaves. It could not be, that in this statute, concerning fugitives, provision was made, for all slaves in Israel, to emancipate themselves by escaping and ensconcing themselves in a neighboring family, or in any in Israel.

If, then, it be settled that this statute forbade the delivery only of fugitive slaves from masters of foreign, heathen countries, what bearing has it upon our duty in relation to slaves who escape to us from masters in our own land? We have made a constitutional compact with masters who are our own countrymen, not to obstruct the recovery of persons, who by law, owe them services. It is to be lamented, that when the Constitution of the United States was made, there was any necessity for making such a compact. It was made. The fugitive slave law is based upon that compact. The statute in Deuteronomy, though it forbids us to make a covenant with foreign, pagan masters to restore a fugitive, and forbids us to restore them, does not touch our responsibilities towards masters who are our countrymen; and who, though living in the great national sin of slavery are a part of our own Christian community. It may be that our fugitive slave law is an unwise and oppressive law. It is, in substance, the same law as that, which in 1793, was made for the benefit both of the North and the South. It may be that this law, now in force ought to have more intelligibly given to those apprehended under it, what the Attorney General of the United States says it has given, the right of habeas corpus: it may be, that this law ought to have given to the apprehended, trial by jury in the State where they are arrested; it might have prevented clamor, had the law explained that the fee of the judge was doubled, on the condition of his decision that the person tried before him was a slave, because such a decision subjected himself to double Labor in the preparation of subsequent papers. Possibly the law amerces too heavily marshals and citizens who may be concerned in the apprehension of fugitives, for delinquencies, or for some interference prompted by humanity: nevertheless, the law is a law of the land, made by our representatives; therefore made mediately by ourselves. There is no dispensation from obedience of it to be got for us, from the statutes in Deuteronomy; nor from anything else. If we would get rid of it, or of something objectionable in it, at the proper time we must get it repealed or amended by a legal legislative process. He who prevents the execution of the law, while it is in force, or by withholding himself from a service which the law may demand of him, exposes his country, himself, and the fugitives too, to all the miseries of anarchy. We may show great kindness to fugitives from slavery. But by urging them to rebellion against existing law, or by indulging ourselves in such rebellion, we expose them to destruction. From government or from anarchy it must come. God saith to rebels, “Wilt thou not be afraid of the power?” “he is the minister of God: a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”

4. Notice is to be taken of the obligations which the constitution of the United States imposes upon all the citizens of these States.

The section of the Constitution which pertains to the restoration of fugitive slaves is as follows: “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, and escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but he shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor is due.”

It may be said that no such Constitution ought to have been made. The reply is, the evil of slavery then existed in all the States, as it existed in Israel, when God made for that nation its laws for slavery. Without this Constitution, the government of these States could not have been established. As God saw that slavery could not then be abolished in Israel, and therefore regulated it; so, the fathers of our nation thought slavery could not then be abolished here; they consequently made a Constitution to regulate it. A law has been made, and it ought to have been made, to carry out this provision of the Constitution; a law officially pronounced by the Attorney General of the United States to be constitutional. If the existing law be not constitutional, the Court of the United States legally appealed to will so decide; and the legislature, and the people by it, may revise, correct and perfect the law. If the Constitution be too wicked and cruel to be endured, the nation has powers reserved to it in the Constitution, to amend and perfect that. The present generation, by their oaths, have adopted the Constitution and laws of the United States, and engaged to support them as they are or as they shall be, when constitutionally and legally amended. The people cannot annul a single law be rebellion; nor venture upon a rebellious act toward such nullification, without violating their consciences and exposing themselves to all the horrors and miseries of anarchy. If the North in this way undertakes to nullify this obnoxious law, the South may retaliate; and by the same means destroy any other law. Refractory people all over the land, following the inconsiderate and wicked example, will be emboldened by insubordination to abrogate all law.

It is unnecessary and irrational for any person in this country, because he abhors the fugitive slave law, to turn his thoughts toward revolution as a remedy. Occasion may exist in a nation for a revolution. When a foreign power holds dominion over a nation, and by law or orders in council oppresses it, transporting, it may be, its citizens out of their country for trial—or, when a domestic tyrant or a tyrannical oligarchy have repudiated written Constitutions, monopolized governmental power, appropriated all public revenues to the gratification of their own lusts, and oppressed the people by burdens and irritating privations, cutting them off not only from all participation in the government but from all redress by law—then, revolution, if it be feasible and if it promise success and relief, is justified.

But if the people of a country be, as we have already noticed, under divine injunction to be subject to the powers that be, how in circumstances of wrong, and ;peril, and suffering, can a nation justify itself in revolution? The reply is, the command of God that men be in subjection to the civil government existing over them, applies to them as separate citizens, acting not nationally, but on their private responsibility, When the nation, impelled by intolerable oppression, rises in mass, and nationally disowns its government, that government ceases to be the civil power, which, by the ordinances of God, existed to rule and protect that nation. God ordains and sanctifies every government which gets and maintains a being by, and only by, a nation’s will. The subordination which God, by Paul inculcated, was subjection on which the nation retained. A nation is not, by this edict of heaven, bound to retain, obey and honor a government which perpetrates extensive robbery and murder, or even crimes of less magnitude. When the government of a nation has become a monster of iniquity and cruelty, that nation is bound, if it can, to succor its suffering people, by throwing of the galling tyranny. Cast into abandonment and impotency by the nation’s solemn verdict, the oppressor is seen by the people; but it is no longer among the powers that be. Thus revolution may find justification.

But, for a people who hold the government of their country in their own hands, and who are at liberty to amend, and change, and perfect its constitution and laws through their own representatives, to seek revolution is idiocy or madness. It is a revolt form themselves.

“Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!” Woe, an hundred fold to thee, O nation, when thou art thyself a child! Renounce, annihilate all existing government! This is easy. But to establish a government, to frame one for a people of diverse and conflicting interests, to agree upon one and adopt it; for a nation, in the process of all this work, to save itself in the end from the grasp of some military chieftain, or to save itself in the end from the desolation of anarchy—this is labor. Let senators and ministers of the Gospel, journalists and declaimers, conventions and all citizens understand, that if by force they resist the execution of the fugitive slave law, or produce such resistance, they wage war against the United States, and are guilty of treason!