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 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 MAY 2 4 2005 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/discourseoccasioOOspra 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 OCCASIONED BY 
 
 THE DEATH OF THE 
 
 HON. SILAS WRIGHT, 
 
 LATE GOVERNOR 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK; 
 
 AND DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ALBANY, 
 
 SEPT. 5, 1847. 
 
 BY WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 
 
 MINISTER OF SAID CHURCH. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 TRINTED BY C. VAN BENTH0YSEN. 
 
 1817 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Albany, Sept. 7, 1847. 
 To Wm. B. Sprague, D. D. : 
 Rev. and Dear Sir, 
 The undersigned, impressed with the value, eloquence and appropriateness of 
 your Sermon on Sunday last on the death of our late distinguished fellow-citizen, 
 Silas Wright, respectfully solicit a copy of it for publication. 
 
 Uniting with you in deploring an event, which deprives his friends and his country 
 of one so eminent in statesmanship, and in the moral qualities which adorn and 
 elevate public distinction, we remain, 
 
 With the highest regard, 
 
 Your friends and parishioners, 
 
 ERASTUS CORNING, 
 GREENE C. BRONSON, 
 THOMAS W. OLCOTT, 
 WILLIAM SMITH, Jr., 
 B. R. WOOD, 
 JAMES D. WASSON, 
 A. McINTYRE, 
 JOEL RATHBONE, 
 ANDREW WHITE, 
 JOHN TOWNSEND, 
 E. P. PRENTICE. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 In complying with the request so kindly conveyed to me by your note of the 
 7th inst. it is due to myself to say that the Discourse referred to was written while 
 I was labouring under bodily indisposition, and partly while suffering severe pain. 
 Such as it is, I cheerfully put it at your disposal, and am glad to join you in any 
 suitable expression of regard for the memory of cur departed friend. 
 I am, Gentlemen, with great regard, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. B. SPRAGUE, 
 Messrs. E. Corning, and others. 
 Albany. 9lh Sept., Ib47. 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 PSALM CXLVI. 3, 4. 
 
 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there 
 is no help. His breath goeth forth ; he returneth to his earth ; in 
 that very day his thoughts perish. 
 
 It is interesting to observe how constantly 
 the statements of scripture are verified before 
 our eyes ; how doctrines are illustrated by facts ; 
 how predictions pass into history ; how the 
 voice of God in his providence is but an echo 
 to the voice of God in his word. Nor is it in 
 the general course of things alone that this 
 analogy is to be recognised : not an event oc- 
 curs, however grand, however strange, how- 
 ever appalling, but that if we search the scrip- 
 tures, we shall either find that it is shadowed 
 forth among the things that are to be, or else 
 shall discover its actual prototype in some re- 
 corded reality. It is a profitable exercise thus 
 to compare what we see of God's doings in the 
 world, with what we read of his doings and 
 purposes in the Bible. It is fitted to exalt our 
 
6 
 
 conceptions both of his providence and his 
 word, and to render his utterances in each 
 more distinct and impressive. And if I mis- 
 take not, we shall find ourselves thus employed, 
 in meditating on the passage of scripture which 
 I have just read to you, in connection with the 
 dispensation of providence which hath sug- 
 gested its selection as a subject for the present 
 exercise. 
 
 " Put not your trust in princes, nor in the 
 son of man, in whom there is no help. His 
 breath goeth forth j he returneth to his earth ; 
 in that very day his thoughts perish." We 
 have here a caution, or if you please, a pro- 
 hibition, enforced by an argument. 
 
 The prohibition is conveyed by the words, — 
 " Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son 
 of man." 
 
 The object which we are here forbidden to 
 trust, — what is it ? 
 
 In the most general sense it is " the son of 
 man,"' — the race of man, — all the dwellers 
 upon the earth who possess the same facul- 
 ties with ourselves. Not that I would dero- 
 gate aught from the dignity which man can 
 reasonably claim ; for whatever be his degra- 
 dation, there is greatness, there is nobility, 
 
pertaining to him. He was the last of the cre- 
 ations of God. He was constituted by his Ma- 
 ker the lord of this world 5 and hence we find 
 that all the inferior orders of being render him 
 either a voluntary or an involuntary tribute. 
 Time was when, though a creature, he was a 
 sort of miniature divinity. God Himself ac- 
 knowledged that his own image was shining 
 out upon him ; and even now, amidst his pre- 
 sent ruin, there is that about him that marks 
 him clearly enough as a child of the skies. 
 Let man then receive all the homage to which 
 he is justly entitled. I may reasonably admire 
 him as a glorious piece of the divine workman- 
 ship. I may venerate him, savage though he 
 be, outcast though he be, for the traces of the 
 divine image which I can still recognise in 
 his intellectual and immortal nature. I may 
 love him for the excellence which he exem- 
 plifies or the benefits which he confers. But 
 there is a sense in which I may not yield him 
 my confidence ; for he is a " son of man •" and 
 of such an one God hath said, "Put not your 
 trust in him." 
 
 But suppose it be conceded that mankind as 
 a race are not to be trusted, ■ — yet is it not at 
 least possible that this general rule may have 
 
its exceptions? There are some great spirits 
 in the world $ — great, I mean, when compared 
 with the mass. There are men who stand out 
 from the race for the vastness of their intellects, 
 the loftiness of their purposes, the intensity of 
 their efforts in the great cause of the world's 
 regeneration. And these men, not unfre- 
 quently, are exalted to high places, and have 
 a large dominion meted out to them by the 
 providence of God, and their influence presses 
 upon you, like an all pervading element, from 
 every direction. Be it so that you may not 
 trust the vulgar herd j be it so that you may 
 not trust even men of ordinary intellectual and 
 moral stature, — yet are not these nobles among 
 the race fairly entitled to your confidence ? 
 Not so long as God says, " Put not your trust 
 in princes." He allows you to reverence them \ 
 as the case may be, he even requires you to 
 obey them ; and it is at your peril that you 
 withhold from them suitable regards ; but after 
 all, you may not, you can not, trust them, unless 
 you will incur the divine displeasure. 
 
 Nevertheless, this statement needs to be 
 qualified : it is qualified by the general tenor 
 and spirit of the Bible. If we will understand 
 God's word aright, we must view it in its con- 
 
9 
 
 nections, comparing spiritual things with spirit- 
 ual ; and by the aid of this principle of inter- 
 pretation, we quickly arrive at the conclusion 
 that the prohibition in our text is to be taken 
 in that restricted sense, which renders it quite 
 consistent with the cultivation of that mutual 
 confidence among men which is enjoined as a 
 virtue, and which is essential to the well- 
 being, — I may say, to the existence, of soci- 
 ety. If the child were not to trust the parent 
 nor the parent the child, the magistrate the 
 subject nor the subject the magistrate, the 
 master the servant nor the servant the mas- 
 ter j — if a universal distrust were to be dif- 
 fused through all the marts of commerce, and 
 all the halls of legislation, and all the walks 
 of social and domestic life, the very elements 
 of society would part ; and the same winds 
 that would unfurl the standard of universal 
 anarchy would be Heaven's own requiem to 
 human peace and joy. What the text forbids, 
 therefore, is an ultimate reliance on an arm of 
 flesh, even the most powerful \ — a trust that 
 goes beyond man's ability, virtually attributing 
 to him qualities which he does not possess ; — 
 a trust that brings dishonour upon the Highest, 
 
 overlooking his supreme control. The amount 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 of the prohibition then is this : — you may put 
 your trust in man within certain limits defined 
 by his character and his condition ; but you 
 may not trust him in respect to the ultimate 
 disposal of any thing j you may not trust him 
 in any way that is inconsistent with rendering 
 due honour to the supreme agent ; and in 
 trusting him at all, you are to regard him only 
 as an instrument in G.od's hand for carrying 
 into effect the great ends of his administration. 
 But why is it that we may not put our ulti- 
 mate trust in men, — even in princes ? Let 
 man stand forth and show himself, and in every 
 feature of his character I can find a reason, 
 why he should not be the object of my highest 
 confidence. Prince though thou art, yet inas- 
 much as thou art a son of man, thou art a 
 short sighted creature, liable to mistake even 
 in thy most confident calculations, and there- 
 fore not to be trusted. Thou art a mutable 
 creature, often vacillating where thou wast 
 expected to stand firm, showing thyself alter- 
 nately the advocate and the opposer of the 
 same cause ; and who can assure me that 
 to-morrow will not find thee a different man 
 from what thou art to-day ; and therefore how 
 can I put my trust in thee as if I knew that 
 
11 
 
 thou wouldst never change ? Thou art a sel- 
 fish being j thou carest for thyself too much 
 and for others too little ; and how am I to 
 know that my interests may not suffer, even 
 perish, if they are committed to thy keeping ? 
 And thine arm is very feebleness j when nerved 
 to the utmost, it is scarcely a match for an in- 
 sect j and even though thine heart may be good 
 for some great and worthy achievment, con- 
 scious weakness may lead thee to turn thy 
 face the other way. Each of these were a 
 sufficient reason for not giving to man our 
 ultimate confidence. But I shall content my- 
 self with having barely alluded to them, and 
 dwell only on the reason which is suggested 
 by the text •, — viz : the fact that man is mortal. 
 There is " no help" in him, because " his 
 breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, 
 in that very day his thoughts perish." Let 
 him possess whatever other qualities he may, 
 so long as he has the sentence of death in 
 himself, it were madness to trust him as if he 
 were to live forever. 
 
 " His breath goeth forth." 
 Man's life came with his breath, and with 
 his breath it departs. The operation of breath- 
 ing is performed by the lungs, — an organ of 
 
12 
 
 extreme delicacy, and liable to derangement 
 from a thousand causes ; some of which are, 
 while others are not, within the range of 
 human discovery. No matter in what part of 
 the system disease may be seated, or how 
 many of the animal functions it may derange 
 or destroy in its progress, it never becomes 
 fatal, till, either directly or indirectly, it reaches 
 the lungs and stops the breath. See you that 
 strong man bowed under a burden that is too 
 heavy for him ; — panting, writhing, convulsed 
 with an agony that pervades every nerve, dis- 
 torts every feature, vents itself in every breath? 
 Oh, he is undergoing the mysterious process 
 of dying ! The ultimate fact that comes with- 
 in your observation is, that his breath is 
 going forth ; but the visible here is only the 
 representative of the invisible j — there is an 
 assemblage of great and awful facts of which 
 the senses take no cognizance, that cluster 
 around this one, and that go to make up the 
 whole idea of dying. You cannot judge of 
 the office of death by what you see : the mon- 
 ster himself must become your teacher, and 
 you must become at once his subject and his 
 victim, before you can suitably estimate the 
 work that he performs. 
 
13 
 
 But this expression is significant not merely 
 of death, but of sudden death. " His breath 
 goeth forth," as in the twinkling of an eye. 
 Perhaps he sat by your side conversing with 
 you 5 a brief pause ensued, and while you were 
 waiting for his answer, you saw that he was 
 dead. Perhaps he retired to his chamber in 
 vigorous health ; and as he appeared not in the 
 morning at the accustomed hour, you knocked 
 at the door of his apartment, and received no 
 answer, as it turned out, because he was dead. 
 Perhaps he was in the pulpit proclaiming God's 
 message, or at the bar vindicating the rights of 
 the injured, or in the senate house speaking 
 to the extremities of the nation j — he uttered 
 his last sentence with all his wonted earnest- 
 ness and manliness, and there were no signs 
 of faltering even upon the very last word ; and 
 yet it was the last word he was destined to utter : 
 the preacher, the advocate, the statesman was 
 dead. And it is not merely in the more mys- 
 terious forms of disease that sudden death 
 lurks, but in the innumerable casualties, as we 
 call them, — unlooked for and appalling occur- 
 rences, which enter so largely into the expe- 
 rience of men. How suddenly did that man 
 die, who was awakened at the dead of night 
 
14 
 
 by the fury of the flames or the crashing of 
 the timbers, in the ship that was bearing him 
 across the ocean ; and yet he was only one of 
 a host who sunk that night in the great waters. 
 How suddenly did he die, who went forth from 
 the midst of his friends, a little while since, to 
 encounter the perils of the battle field : amidst 
 the confusion and terror of the scene, an event 
 occurred little heeded by those around him, 
 but of mighty import to himself; — he fell 5 his 
 breath went forth, and his armour seemed to 
 be left in the keeping of a corpse ; and this 
 instead of being a solitary case, differed in 
 nothing material from hundreds of others. 
 Oh there is not an hour of your life, however 
 free from care, however full of joy, but death 
 may come. There is no pleasure so innocent, 
 no duty so sacred, no condition so safe, no 
 relation so tender, but that it may become 
 identified with death's terrible ministration. 
 " He returneth to his earth." 
 The going forth of his breath is the prepa- 
 ration for this. When the vital principle hath 
 once fled, none but the creating power is ade- 
 quate to restore it 5 and it is not too much to 
 say that that power is pledged not to restore it 
 till the day of the final restitution of the dead. 
 
15 
 
 And with the extinction of life begins the pro- 
 cess of decay. At first it may not be percep- 
 tible. The lips, though sealed, look as if they 
 might still perform their office. The features, 
 though fixed and motionless, have settled down 
 into a smile. The limbs, though cold and rigid, 
 seem to the eye just as when they were nerved 
 with life. And the mourner sometimes will 
 have it that his friend is there •, nay, will even 
 embrace that lifeless body, as if it were expect- 
 ed to give back some wonted token of endear- 
 ment. But soon, in obedience to a law of 
 his nature, he begins to return to his earth. 
 Not only is he deposited in the earth as his 
 final resting place, but he gradually becomes 
 assimilated to the clods that press about him, 
 until, after a few generations, he may himself 
 constitute the clods in which other bodies shall 
 lie embosomed. I would never speak or think 
 of this humiliating feature of our condition, 
 without giving God thanks that Jesus is the 
 Resurrection and the Life. Let me have this 
 blessed truth as a lamp to my feet, and I will 
 not fear to traverse death's darkest dominion ; 
 — for what matters it though I find my own 
 dearest friend there, where the worm revels ; 
 what matters it though all my friends and kind- 
 
16 
 
 red are there, an assemblage of corpses passing 
 ages of unbroken silence together ; — what 
 matters it, so long as I am permitted to know 
 that the Lord of the sepulchre is there too ; 
 that they are only undergoing the Heaven-or- 
 dained process in preparation for their putting 
 on immortality j and that because they have 
 died in Jesus, they sleep in him, and he will 
 bring them with him at his second coming ? 
 " In that very day his thoughts perish." 
 
 Every man has his thoughts, his purposes 
 concerning the future. This results alike from 
 the constitution which God has given him, and 
 the condition in which He has placed him. 
 These purposes, as they exist in different indi- 
 viduals, exhibit an almost endless variety 5 but 
 they all have respect to the body or the spirit 5 
 to the life that now is or that which is to come. 
 But be they what they may in their character 
 and tendency, when the breath goeth forth and 
 man returneth to his earth, in that very day 
 they perish. Suppose it be one of the princes 
 of the earth that hath died, — what a perishing 
 of purposes is there in him ! 
 
 If he had ambitious purposes, they perish. 
 The love of influence is an essential element 
 of our nature ; and it is only where it becomes 
 
17 
 
 perverted through excessive self-regard, or 
 where it sinks into the ignoble desire of mere 
 personal ascendancy for the sake of mere per- 
 sonal gratification, that the indulgence of it is to 
 be condemned. But the world abounds with 
 examples of such perversion ; — cases in which 
 this desire, instead of being kept within its 
 legitimate limits, mounts up into the ruling 
 passion, and arms itself with mighty power, 
 and defies every opposing influence. And 
 besides these extreme cases, there are many 
 others in which this passion is steadily at work, 
 where its operations are, in a great measure, 
 unperceived. It nerves many a hand that you 
 would say was moved only by generous or 
 patriotic impulses. It breathes in many a 
 speech that you would suppose was dictated 
 by unmingled good will to man. It is the soul 
 of many a purpose that would seem to have 
 been originated by some influence from above. 
 But wherever this spirit exists, and whatever 
 may be the purposes which it dictates, they all 
 perish in the day of death. There may be 
 plans formed for enlarging the sphere of one's 
 influence or one's dominion, that appear en- 
 tirely practicable ; but what nothing else seemed 
 likely to defeat, death defeats in a moment. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 The individual may have felt himself so great 
 and strong, that he thought there was no cause 
 to fear from any thing ; but in his estimate of 
 adverse agencies, he forgot the irresistible 
 power of the king of terrors. No matter 
 what wreaths or diadems might have been 
 within his reach, if he had lived, they all fade 
 upon his dying eye, and the experience of his 
 last hour stamps vanity as well upon what he 
 had aspired to as upon what he had attained. 
 
 If he have had patriotic purposes, these 
 perish also. He may be a man of compre- 
 hensive and lofty aims ; he may have cherished 
 during his whole life an earnest devotion to his 
 country's welfare ; he may have been placed 
 in circumstances especially fitted to keep the 
 fire of patriotism alive and glowing in his bo- 
 som ; dark clouds may be lowering in the 
 national horizon, and the time of need for 
 the action of great and heroic spirits may 
 have come \ and his own prolific mind may 
 be teeming with purposes of safety and honour 
 to his country ; but here again, with the going 
 forth of his breath all his noble purposes perish. 
 His mind is still active indeed, but it is em- 
 ployed upon other objects and amidst other 
 scenes. God may take care of his country ; 
 
19 
 
 but other instruments than himself must be 
 used for its preservation. 
 
 Or if he have had humane and benevolent 
 purposes, they too must, with equal certainty, 
 perish. He may have had a naturally philan- 
 thropic spirit, — an car that was quick to catch 
 the notes of sorrow, — a heart that beat in- 
 stinctively to every tale of wo : though he may 
 have occupied a lofty station, he may have de- 
 scended with the utmost grace into the hut of 
 poverty or the chamber of sickness to soothe 
 and to comfort •, he may have been the centre 
 of intellectual or social improvement to the 
 community in which he lived ; and his liberal 
 mind may have been intensely occupied in 
 opening new channels of public or private 
 blessing ; but stern, inexorable death arrests 
 him ; and all his purposes of good, — where 
 are they ? Oh he can labour no longer for their 
 accomplishment ; for already he has returned 
 to his earth. Public spirit and philanthropy 
 that put in requisition his services once, are 
 now weeping around his grave. 
 
 I have spoken of the perishing of the 
 thoughts or purposes of the individual who 
 is himself the subject of death ; but it must 
 occur to you at once that in his death, other 
 
20 
 
 purposes than his own perish. If he have 
 been an exalted patriot, his country has had 
 her eye upon him as a helper in great and 
 pressing exigencies : she has expected to take 
 counsel of his wisdom, to repose in his firm- 
 ness and integrity, and perhaps to outlive some 
 fierce storm for which the political elements 
 may seem to be combining themselves, because 
 she looks to him to ride in it and direct it. Or 
 it may be, it almost certainly will be, that his 
 country is divided in respect to important 
 principles of national policy ; and the party to 
 which he belongs may have identified him, if 
 not with its continued existence, at least with 
 its highest prosperity. Or if he have been 
 largely endowed with, generous and humane 
 sensibilities, if he have been signalized as the 
 friend of the sick and the destitute, if he have 
 been ever ready to enlarge the circle of phi- 
 lanthropic effort within his sphere, then, rely 
 on it, there are multitudes who have been 
 looking to him as a benefactor •, there are 
 hearts which expected to have been soothed 
 by his charities, and other hearts which ex- 
 pected to have been improved and guided by 
 his wisdom ; and the whole community have 
 identified him in some way or other with their 
 
21 
 
 hopes of general progress. But all these vari- 
 ous purposes, no matter to what they relate, and 
 no matter by whom they are cherished, perish 
 in the very moment of the going forth of his 
 breath. The political party in connection 
 with which he had laboured receives a shock, 
 as if the balance wheel in her machinery were 
 gone. The country at large which had reve- 
 renced him for his great and patriotic qualities, 
 acknowledges that an armour-bearer hath failed 
 her. Those who had been blessed with his 
 kindness in the hour of need, and those who 
 had relied upon his counsel in times of diffi- 
 culty, and those who had felt their labours 
 lightened by his generous smile or his volun- 
 tary co-operation, — all realize that they had 
 had purposes associated with him, of which 
 perhaps they had not before been conscious ; 
 — purposes, the perishing of which, it may 
 be, hath arrayed the future in respect to them, 
 in deep darkness. That great man, that prince, 
 died like any other of the sons of men •, but 
 in the going forth of his spirit there was a 
 blow struck that vibrated to unnumbered 
 hearts : in the perishing of his thoughts, the 
 thoughts of millions perished also. 
 
 Pause now and see whether we have not 
 
22 
 
 gathered the materials for a most convincing 
 argument against trusting in the son of man, — 
 against trusting even in the princes of the 
 earth. Yonder is a man of undisputed great- 
 ness. The God of nature made him great \ 
 and the God of providence has added largely 
 to his stature by the influences with which He 
 has surrounded him. And he is amiable and 
 generous and public spirited, as well as saga- 
 cious and far seeing : his integrity not less 
 than his intelligence renders him an object of 
 public respect. His country, as might have 
 been expected, has found him out, and lifted 
 him into one of her loftiest stations, and almost 
 told him that she had nothing to give but what 
 she was willing should be his. He has no 
 sickly constitution to embarrass him in his 
 efforts for the public weal j and if the physi- 
 cian visits him, it is in a social and not in a 
 professional way. You see there the full vigour 
 of a gigantic mind, and the strong pulsations of 
 a patriotic heart. You see laurels that have 
 been already placed upon the brow, and these 
 perhaps only a pledge of yet brighter laurels 
 which are to come hereafter. You behold a 
 frame so erect and robust as not even to sug- 
 gest to your mind a thought about mortality. 
 
23 
 
 And yet while you arc looking at that prince, 
 what is it that forces itself upon you hut the 
 appalling fact that his hrcath is going forth? 
 You may call for medical aid 5 hut when the 
 physician comes, he has to do only with a 
 corpse. You may anxiously enquire if it he not 
 faintness instead of death ; but they who are 
 the wisest in such matters, answer ' No.' You 
 may raise up the great man from the spot where 
 death hath laid him, in the hope of gaining 
 some evidence that the vital spark is not clean 
 gone ] hut you cannot resist the conviction 
 that you are putting yourself in contact with a 
 clod. All his purposes, and all your purposes 
 in connection with him, have perished. And 
 now I ask whether the son of man, whether 
 even a prince, is to be ultimately trusted. Is 
 it not rather madness than folly to put our trust 
 in any amount of human wisdom, or human 
 firmness or human integrity, so long as it 
 must always be associated with human morta- 
 lity? 
 
 It cannot, I think, have escaped you, as we 
 have passed along, that each division of our 
 subject has a most striking practical illustra- 
 tion in the life and death of that eminent indi- 
 vidual whom this state and this nation have 
 
24 
 
 just been so suddenly called to lament. I am 
 aware of the supposed delicacy of introducing 
 into the pulpit notices of individuals who have 
 been identified prominently with either of the 
 great political parties of the country ; but my 
 own past experience has furnished me with 
 evidence that here at least it is safe to do it ; 
 that whatever may be your political preferen- 
 ces or prejudices or even asperities, they do 
 not render you insensible to whatever is praise- 
 worthy and of good report in the character of 
 the illustrious dead. Besides, in the present 
 case, I rejoice to observe that the clamour of 
 party is hushed, and even the newspapers 
 which sometimes show fiery tongues, and are 
 used to hard and bitter words, — nay the very 
 newspapers that dissented most earnestly from 
 his political creed, seem, under the subduing, 
 healing influence of the grave, to have forgot- 
 ten that he was their opponent, and are doing 
 honour to themselves in their efforts to do 
 honour to him. But the circumstance which 
 has seemed to me to render it imperative that 
 I should speak of him thus publicly, is that he 
 was a member of this congregation up to the 
 time of his recently leaving the city ; so that 
 it must seem to you almost as if I were speak- 
 
25 
 
 ing of one of your own Dumber. Many of 
 his most intimate friends are here-, and this 
 whole congregation, I may say this whole 
 community, have been afflicted by the tidings 
 of his death. 
 
 I am sure that I shall not put myself even 
 upon doubtful ground in the estimation of any 
 of you, in saying that the citizen, the states- 
 man, the friend whom we lament, may justly 
 be reckoned among the princes of the land. 
 Endowed with a commanding, well balanced 
 and versatile intellect, vast in its comprehen- 
 sion, clear in its perceptions, calm and safe 
 in its judgments ; possessing a heart made of 
 frankness and tenderness and generosity ; fa- 
 voured with the advantages of a correct moral 
 training under the parental roof, and subse- 
 quently with the advantages of an excellent 
 liberal education ; he gave early promise of 
 the distinction which he ultimately reached. 
 Shortly after he was settled in the legal pro- 
 fession, lie was introduced on the arena of 
 political life. His services were first put in 
 requisition as a member of the Senate of this 
 state ; and in the progress of his public ca- 
 reer, he became successively a member of the 
 House of Representatives in Congress, Comp- 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 troller of the state of New- York, member of 
 the Senate of the United States, and finally 
 Governor of this state, whose servant in some 
 capacity or other he had been for more than 
 twenty years. In each of these several sta- 
 tions, he was distinguished for his prudence, 
 dignity and earnest devotion to the duties of 
 his office. It was probably in the United 
 States' Senate, where he was brought not only 
 in contact but in conflict with the greatest 
 minds of the nation, that he attained his highest 
 distinction. I believe it will not be questioned 
 by any competent or impartial judge, that he 
 stood in the foremost rank in that venerable 
 body, and that when he rose to speak, the 
 ablest of his opponents felt that there was 
 work about to be made ready for them. I 
 have been credibly informed that the man who 
 has been for some time the acknowledged 
 leader of the adverse party in Congress and 
 in the nation, — a man whom the whole civi- 
 lized world has recognised as belonging to the 
 very highest rank of intellectual aristocracy, 
 has more than once borne a testimony to the 
 exalted powers and qualities of our departed 
 friend, such as might reasonably satisfy the 
 most ardent of his political admirers. 
 
27 
 
 Having spoken of the offices which he ac- 
 tually held, it is proper to advert to the fact 
 that there were other offices of equal or even 
 greater importance, proffered to his acceptance 
 which he thought proper to decline : I refer to 
 the offices of Secretary of the treasury, and 
 Judge in the supreme court of the nation, in- 
 cluding also a nomination to the Vice-Presi- 
 dency of the United States. Whatever may 
 be the speculations of politicians upon his con- 
 duct in this respect, the obvious construction 
 of it would warrant the conclusion, — a con- 
 clusion fully justified, I think, by his general 
 character, — that disinterestedness was a lead- 
 ing element in his patriotism, and that his heart 
 was set, far less than that of most political 
 men, on personal exaltation. 
 
 What Mr. Wright was in private, most of 
 us know from actual observation ; for he passed 
 several years in the midst of us, and he was 
 always perfectly accessible to the humblest 
 man in the community. He was gifted with 
 an uncommon perception of the fitting and 
 graceful in all the relations of life. While lie 
 had a high respect for plebeian honesty, and 
 could, as occasion required, put on the plebeian 
 himself, there was no circle of society so 
 
28 
 
 polished or elevated, but that he was as much 
 at home in it, as if it were the only sphere in 
 which he had ever moved. In his intercourse 
 with his friends he was open and confiding j 
 always happy in their society and always on 
 the alert to gratify and oblige them ; and even 
 the stranger who saw him but for a moment, 
 was not likely to forget the dignity of his 
 manner and the kindliness of his smile. To 
 the neighbourhood in which he had his home 
 and in which he finally died, he sustained 
 the most grateful relations j mingling with 
 them freely as a judicious counsellor, a sym- 
 pathizing friend, and even an active labourer. 
 He was specially gifted with those qualities 
 which render one's presence welcome at the 
 bed side of the sick ; and his services in this 
 department of social duty, were not unfre- 
 quently proffered and rendered with the most 
 cordial and winning alacrity. He hesitated 
 not to address himself to manual labour in 
 aid of any object that was likely to benefit 
 the neighbourhood or the community j and 
 it has even been intimated that excessive 
 effort of this kind, within the last few weeks, 
 was the proximate cause of his death. In 
 a word, I may say with confidence, he was 
 
29 
 
 respected, honoured, beloved, in every rela- 
 tion. 
 
 There is a fact or two in his history, to 
 which I cannot forbear to advert, illustrative 
 of at least a highly respectful regard to the 
 institutions of religion. One is, that during 
 his residence in Canton, while the church 
 at which he statedly attended, was without 
 a pastor, he was accustomed to aid in the 
 maintenance of puhlic worship, by reading 
 a printed discourse, the devotional service 
 being conducted by the officers of the church. 
 And during the time that he has been at the 
 head of our state government, we are all wit- 
 nesses with what regularity he attended here, 
 and with what apparent earnestness he listened 
 to the preaching of the word. I mention these 
 things only for what they are worth ; but they 
 certainly reflect honour upon his character as 
 a public man, while they come with the force 
 of a rebuke to many other public men, who 
 find an apology for habitually turning their 
 backs upon the sanctuary, on the ground that 
 they are burdened with the cares of the state 
 or the nation. 
 
 But if the language of the text fairly rep- 
 resents the character and the rank of our 
 
30 
 
 departed friend, — if, by common consent, he 
 has taken his place among the princes of 
 his country, we have only to look a little far- 
 ther to find language equally expressive of 
 his sudden, and to his friends at least, awful, 
 exit. At a moment when he seems full of 
 life and gladness, when his vigorous and 
 elastic step speaks of health to all his neigh- 
 bours, and no suspicion of approaching evil 
 lurks even in the innermost sanctuary of do- 
 mestic affection; — at a moment when he has 
 just completed his preparation for an important 
 public service, and is making his arrangements 
 to come among us again as a friendly visitor ; 
 — Oh at this most unexpected moment " his 
 breath goeth forth !" It seemed to those who 
 looked on as if it must be some fearful illusion 
 that had overtaken them ; or else as if the 
 breath had gone only to come again ; but it 
 was no illusion ; — it was no temporary sus- 
 pension of the vital energy. Death, as if to 
 show how he could sport with the strongest, 
 had held that prince in his grasp but a few 
 moments, before he bid the agonized lookers 
 on take notice how thoroughly he had done 
 his work. And before the vital warmth has 
 fled, the lightning is put in requisition to bear 
 
ai 
 
 the heavy tidings over the land ; and the sun 
 in whose morning beams our friend rejoiced, 
 has not sunk beneath the horizon, before the 
 state, I had almost said the nation, is putting 
 on her habiliments of mourning, because she 
 shall see his face no more. He is said to have 
 spoken, a day or two before, to one of his 
 friends, of sudden death, as not in itself unde- 
 sirable 5 but whatever his own thoughts may 
 have been in respect to himself, the event cer- 
 tainly took all others by surprise. 
 
 And the consequence of his death, — how 
 well the text describes that : — " in that very 
 day his thoughts perish." What his own ex- 
 pectations or purposes in respect to the future 
 were, I know not ; but who does not know 
 that there were in many minds expectations 
 and purposes in respect to him of the highest 
 moment ; — that a large portion of the party 
 to which he belonged, as well as many of the 
 party to which he did not belong, were antici- 
 pating the time when he would be crowned 
 with the highest honours of the nation? But 
 see, ye men of calculation and of foresight, 
 see how your thoughts have perished. Before 
 you had time to invest him with the robe of 
 supreme authority, or even to present him to 
 
32 
 
 the nation as a candidate for it, his race was 
 run, — his days were numbered. When the 
 humblest individual dies, the thoughts of some 
 perish in his death •, but such a withering of 
 human expectations as the monster here ac- 
 complished, occurs but rarely in an age. 
 
 But does not the passage on which we have 
 been meditating suggest, still further, the legi- 
 timate use to be made of this afflictive event? 
 Does it not rebuke with awful emphasis that 
 excessive confidence in the wisdom or the 
 power of man, in which consists so much of 
 our national guilt, and from which arises so 
 much of our national danger ? " Put not your 
 trust in princes." It has become, I fear, one 
 of the most distinctive features of our charac- 
 ter as a nation, that, in rendering homage to 
 party, we overlook the homage that is due to 
 God. You select an individual from the mass 
 as a candidate for office, who possibly has little 
 personal ability or personal worth, to distin- 
 guish him from thousands from amidst whom 
 he is taken. But the fact that you have thus 
 designated him as your candidate, seems to 
 you to have separated from his nature every 
 element ol mediocrity, and to have given him 
 an undisputed claim to extraordinary intel- 
 
33 
 
 lectual and moral qualities. You stand com- 
 mitted now to his exaltation ; and you go about 
 testifying to the world that the safety of the 
 state or the nation is bound up in him. And 
 when your object is gained, and you have ac- 
 tually succeeded in lifting him to the desired 
 elevation, — if you will notice the progress of 
 your own mind in respect to him, you will find 
 that indifference was exchanged for preference, 
 that preference was matured into admiration, 
 and that admiration has finally become idola- 
 try. You are suffering that poor mortal to 
 supplant the great God in your regards as the 
 controller of events ; and though you would 
 shudder at being called an atheist, yet in this 
 matter of national prosperity at least, God is 
 not in all your thoughts. Yes, I repeat, party 
 spirit has made idols of our rulers ; and God 
 is now chastising us for our idolatry. He is 
 showing us the arm of flesh palsied, broken, 
 that we may lean upon it no longer. Men of 
 every class and every party, open your ears, I 
 pray you, to the teachings of the tomb. See 
 how much your idols are worth, when they are 
 thus broken in a moment before your eyes. 
 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's ; 
 but forget not to render also to God the things 
 
34 
 
 that are "God's. Let your rulers receive the 
 homage which is due to them ; but remember 
 that if your country is preserved and blessed, 
 God must be its preserver and benefactor ; and 
 you need not marvel if your own efforts for 
 its exaltation, provided they are put forth in 
 any other spirit than that of ultimate depen- 
 dence on God, should be found to have in 
 them the elements of a curse rather than a 
 blessing. 
 
 Is not this dispensation in connection with 
 the subject we have been contemplating, strik- 
 ingly illustrative also of the awful mystery that 
 pervades the counsels of Heaven? Man has 
 his purposes 3 and he imagines perhaps that 
 they are in full accordance with the purposes 
 of God 5 and possibly finds in this reflection 
 the most powerful motive to labour for their 
 accomplishment. And yet God has higher 
 purposes, which can be best answered by his 
 causing the thoughts, the designs of men to 
 perish. In the individual who has just died, 
 multitudes had centred their hopes of the na- 
 tion's growth and glory ; they had prospec- 
 tively identified with him measures of supposed 
 utility and perhaps reform ; and it seemed to 
 them as if the continuance of his life were 
 
35 
 
 almost certain, because it was so necessary •, 
 but He who sees the end from the beginning, 
 saw that the great ends of his government 
 would he best accomplished by his removal ; 
 and therefore he hath returned to his earth. 
 Oh how the wisdom of the Unsearchable 
 mocks at all the force of human calculation ! 
 When it seems to short sighted man as if God 
 were defeating his own designs, He is actually 
 moving forward, in all the majesty of omnipo- 
 tence, to their accomplishment. He may 
 trample on human hopes, in his progress ; He 
 may overturn magnificent structures that the 
 heart of charity hath originated and the hand 
 of skill hath reared ; He may seem to leave 
 behind Him naught but desolation and dismay ; 
 and still when the day of final revelation 
 comes, wisdom, perfect wisdom, will be found 
 inscribed upon every part of his procedure. 
 Let this reflection hush the rising spirit of 
 complaint in the hour of public or private 
 calamity. When God raises up eminently 
 useful men and continues them, and when 
 He changes their countenances and sends 
 them away, He is working in the one case as 
 well as the other, for the ultimate triumph of 
 good. He may not only send princes, as it 
 
36 
 
 would seem to us prematurely, to the grave, 
 but He may dash kingdoms to pieces as a pot- 
 ter's vessel, and yet nothing will have occurred 
 but will help to form the mighty mirror that 
 will reflect his glory upon an admiring uni- 
 verse to all eternity. 
 
 I must not close the discourse without sug- 
 gesting a caution. Let no one imagine from 
 any thing in the preceding train of remark, 
 that there is any just ground of glorying save 
 in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have 
 spoken of the graces of nature and commended 
 them 5 and so I have a right to do, for they are 
 the gift of God. I have spoken of the dignity 
 that pertains to rank, and the homage that is 
 due to rank ; and here again, I am sure that I 
 offend not against the spirit of the Bible. But 
 I should be chargeable with treason to Him 
 whose servant I am, and with criminal unfaith- 
 fulness to you whose servant I also am, though 
 in a far lower sense, if I were not most dis- 
 tinctly to proclaim that in the great matter of 
 the final meeting with God, nothing can avail 
 but a conscience sprinkled with the blood of 
 Christ, and a heart purified by his Spirit. The 
 badges of earthly distinction become worthless, 
 if not burdensome, amidst the shadows of 
 
37 
 
 death. The plaudits of the multitude pall upon 
 the spirit that is just rushing forth to meet its 
 God. The prince may have scorned the beg- 
 gar's poverty and the beggar may have coveted 
 the splendour of the prince ; but both must 
 enter Heaven by the same strait and nar- 
 row way, or else incur the reprobate's doom. 
 AVhether ye are men of high degree or of low 
 decree, I would that it might fall like thunder 
 upon your ear and upon your heart, " Without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord." 
 
LB2325.L77 
 
 Obituary addresses delivered on the 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1 1012 00085 2162