THANKSGIVING SERMON 
 
 ON THE 
 
 P1EP1TIJ1TI OF TIB IJNIO 
 
 OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 By Rev. James P. Wilson, D. I)., 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, N. L. 
 
 ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1850. 
 
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 |)ublisl)£fo kg % (Exnsttts. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 HUGHES & TAYLOR, PRINTERS, No. 84 NORTH THIRD STREET 
 
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THANKSGIVING SERMON 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PMOTTUETf OF Til TJNIO: 
 
 OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 By Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, N. L., 
 
 ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1850. 
 
 f3ubltsl)rir bt) % (Untstccs. 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 HUGHES & TAYLOR, PRINTERS, No. 84 NORTH THIRD STREET 
 
 18 51- 
 
E^ 
 
 s 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Trustees Room, C. P. Church, N. L., \ 
 December 14, 1851. J 
 
 Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., 
 
 Dear Sir:— The undersigned, Elders and Trustees of the Central Presbyterian Church N L 
 having listened to the Sermon preached by yourself on Thank ,gi T ing day in this place believe 
 that its general dissemination would be productive of a great public good, respectfully solicit 
 a copy of it for pub licatiou. 
 
 Very truly Yours, 
 
 John A. Stewart, Robert M. Foust, 
 
 Samuel T. Bodlne, b . t>. StewarT; 
 
 Isaac Ashmead, Alexander H. Campbell, 
 
 Henry Davis, EunD D Tarr> 
 
 W. Sanderson, William P. Erhardt. 
 
 December 16, 1850. 
 To Messrs Alexander H. Campbell, Elihu D. Tarr, William P. Erhardt, Henry Davis, William San- 
 derson, R. M. Foust, John A. Stewart, B. D. Stewart, S. T. Bodinc, Isaac Ashmead, Elders and 
 Trustees of the Central Presbyteriau Church, N. L., 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 The Sermon is at your service, if in your judgment, the publication of it may 
 do good. The expression of your wishes is sufficient reason for entire acquiescence on my part. 
 
 Very Respectfully Yours, 
 
 JAMES P. WILSON. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 It is proper to state, that this Sermon was written in the discharge of ordinary duty, without 
 any view to publication. This remark, however, is intended as an apology for the rhetoric, not 
 for the sentiments. Most of the thoughts under the head of Political Integrity, will be found 
 in an article on « Political Rectitude" in the Biblical Repository, 1846, and perhaps every thing 
 else in the Sermon may be found somewhere, as there is not much that is new or original under 
 the sun. Few persons, in these stirring times, sit down to read a published Sermon. To those 
 who have the resolution to attempt it in this instance, the author would say, that the subject is 
 an important one, and he hopes they may be profited J. p. w. 
 
THANKSGIVING SERMON 
 
 1 Kings, iv., 25. '■ And Judah and Tsrael dwelt safely, every man under bis vine and under 
 bis fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all tbe days of Solomon." 
 
 This is a picture of a happy condition of society, the effect 
 of a righteous government, peace, order, harmony, every -where, 
 the result of good laws, and of popular confidence in the integ- 
 rity and uprightness of rulers. It may form a fit introduction, 
 to the subject proposed for consideration to day, — the perpetuity 
 of the Union of these United States. 
 
 The feelings of the heart are best excited, in immediate 
 view of the proper objects. It is by presenting the object, 
 that the relative emotion can be distinctly and strongly called 
 forth, and be made operative and available for good. There 
 cannot, therefore, be a topic more timely, or better suited to 
 the occasion that has brought us together. 
 
 This is a day of Thanksgiving, not for private, individual, 
 or family benefits, but for those that we enjoy, in common with 
 the great mass of our fellow citizens — privileges of a more ex- 
 tended character and of wider diffusion. The clay is designed to 
 bring these great general blessings, in which Ave all alike partici- 
 pate, up for review, that with them may come up also, the 
 great tie of a common brotherhood, the relative obligation of 
 devout gratitude and thankfulness, and the evidence of a proper 
 appreciation of them, by a course of conduct likely to secure 
 their continuance. Private griefs and sorrows have no place 
 in the general thankfulness. They should all pass out of view, 
 and be forgotten. This is not the occasion, nor the day for 
 them. 
 
 It is a beautiful sight to see a whole people laying aside by 
 common consent their ordinary business, and flocking to the 
 sanctuary, to express their thanks to God, publicly to own His 
 guidance, and humbly to seek His mercy. Such service is per- 
 fectly proper and becoming, and makes its appeal to the relig- 
 ious sentiment that exists in all bosoms. It is well, that religion 
 should sometimes lay aside her denominational garb, and appear 
 in the simple pure vestments of her original creation. All who 
 admit a God, or a particular Providence, are bound to the per- 
 formance of this duty. If there is a man who owns no obliga- 
 
tion — feels no gratitude — no emotion of thankfulness in his 
 bosom — then he is a practical Atheist, and an unworthy recip- 
 ient. 
 
 Private feelings of gratitude, are not enough, something 
 more is demanded of us in view of our social relations and 
 responsibilities. Here is the source of a vast field of import- 
 ant duties, constituting indeed, to some minds, the only evi- 
 dence even of Christian character. 
 
 If individual responsibility separate and dissociated, be 
 alone judged at the future bar, then, unless we mean to deny 
 altogether, that God takes cognizance of communities and so- 
 cieties as such, — there must be in moral estimate such a thing 
 as national piety or national sin. If then there be national 
 piety, there must of necessity, be an open manifestation of it 
 in laws and acts of a public nature. 
 
 Personal religion may be "secret. That belongs to individual 
 men. But national piety and reverence for the Deity and His 
 laws, must be open and manifest. From this it is plain, that 
 there is duty and propriety, in the appointment of days of 
 public thanksgiving — by a public declaration by the proper au- 
 thority, and gatherings together of masses of the people, to 
 show in a public manner, their respect for the authority of God, 
 and their gratitude for His mercies. 
 
 Any student of history will see full proof of this in the re- 
 cords of the past. The annals of the race abound with instan- 
 ces of national punishment for national sins. Public expres- 
 sions of thanks then, are perfectly proper. 
 
 I. The first topic that I present in connection with the sub- 
 ject is the value of the Union. 
 
 To see this, let us briefly glance at our early history, and 
 trace the hand of God in the formation and preservation of 
 these United States. The inference from such a brief review 
 will be strong and convincing. 
 
 Two centuries ago this great confederacy did not exist. The 
 whole country was one unbroken forest, interrupted only here 
 and there by the bosom of some placid lake, or the pathway of 
 some lonely river pursuing its silent course on to the ocean. — 
 Over these vast plains the Indian roamed with bow and arrow, 
 in pursuit of his game. Along these solitary vallies nothing 
 was seen but the smoke of his wigwam by day, or the light of 
 his camp-fire by night. On the spot where this beautiful city 
 stands, a wilderness grew. Instead of these thronged streets 
 and stately edifices and temples of the most High, the hum of 
 trade, and the noise of artisans, the silence of death every- 
 where prevailed, interrupted only by the yell of the savage and 
 
the scream of the bird of night. Our noble river, now laden 
 with the commerce of the world, and whitened with canvas 
 from every clime, then moved in majestic silence down its val- 
 ley, and buried in the ocean her abundant waters through un- 
 known ages. 
 
 The whole country was divided at that time into north and 
 south Virginia, claimed by two companies, one at Plymouth, 
 the other at London, under the title of Great Britain, disputed 
 only by the States' General of Holland. 
 
 The first settlement was by a company of Englishmen, under 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, in South Virginia. To North Virginia 
 came the Puritans — weary — harrassed — down-trodden exiles — 
 but in their bosoms burned a sacred fire of liberty, that nothing 
 could quench but their own heart's blood. 
 
 Before they disembarked from their ships, they had a day of 
 thanksgiving, to that God that had conducted them over the 
 stormy deep, and on that day formed a compact, that the ma- 
 jority should always rule. This was the seed of a representa- 
 tive republic, the germ from which this mighty empire has 
 sprung — noble fruit from most precious seed. 
 
 Whatever of virtue, religion, knowledge and liberty, is now 
 the boast and privilege of our fair inheritance, comes from that 
 hardy, noble band, on the cold rocky shores of New England. 
 
 Of their subsequent history, all are well informed, their pri- 
 vations, toils, dangers and the sickness that swept away one half 
 in a few months — their dreadful war with the Indians, from 
 which God delivered them — when every house was a fort, and 
 every man a soldier, — terrors and alarms by clay and by night, 
 when families bade each other farewell as they retired to repose, 
 not knowing that they should ever meet again, — when the 
 gun was the constant companion at the plough, by the fireside 
 and in the sanctuary. 
 
 Then came another and a harder trial still — the war with the 
 mother country. Unnatural though the contest seemed to be, 
 yet liberty was dearer to them than all. Strong in the justice 
 of their cause, they dissolved allegiance to England, and in- 
 voking the arm of God to their help, fearlessly cast themselves 
 into the midst of the dark and eventful struggle. God w r as 
 with them, and all was well. The veteran legions of the most 
 powerful kingdom on earth were poured upon our shores. Our 
 fathers sternly closed with them in the death-struggle, and their 
 blood flowed like water — the price of our liberties. The 
 Lord watched over our birth-right, and saved to us the inherit- 
 ance. Surely then, we shall know how to value it. I cannot 
 leave this topic more suitably than by quoting the words of 
 
Washington in his inaugural address : " No people can be 
 bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which con- 
 ducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United 
 States. Every step by which they have advanced to the char- 
 acter of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished 
 by some token of providential agency." 
 
 It is of great importance that this thought should be kept 
 distinctly before our minds — the goodness of God in all our past 
 history. It must be accompanied by a recognition of the claim 
 to our grateful acknowledgment and by a supreme trust in 
 Him for our future prosperity. 
 
 To appreciate the value of the Union we must look beyond 
 our own peculiar interest, and contemplate it in a different and 
 more comprehensive connection. This country is the hope of 
 the world. The problem of self government is here in process 
 of solution, under the happiest auspices — free from all inter- 
 vention, untrammelled by the dead past, with its entrenched 
 bigotries, — its social enormities, and its traditionary political 
 dogmas. The race is clear, and the question may be settled 
 conclusively here, if it can be settled anywhere, — and the world 
 regards it justly as a final experiment. How solemn the res- 
 ponsibility ! how deeply interesting and awful the issue ! The 
 fate of the future, in its further progress to liberty of thought 
 and action, and to everything that dignifies man, hangs on the 
 result. 
 
 This nation is at this moment the cynosure of all eyes, — not 
 only of the down-trodden and the oppressed every where, but 
 of all who pray for a higher and purer humanity, and they 
 watch the result with most intense anxiety. Shall we prove 
 incompetent to the trial — faithless to the trust ? Shall the sun 
 that has so brightly risen, go down in gloom and darkness and 
 blood ? Shall we, degenerate children of noble stock, throw 
 up our birth-right — betray the hopes of the human race, and 
 instead of the precious boon that was handed to us by our 
 fathers, transmit to our children an inheritance, not a blessing 
 but a curse? The same bright sun that cheers us shall shine 
 over their heads — the same hills and vallies smile — the same 
 spring deck the hill sides, the sima glad earth rejoice in her 
 fruits and harvests, but in vain, — " all these rich gifts that 
 blessed their fathers will be embittered by faction and rent from 
 them by unrelenting despotism." 
 
 Who can contemplate this without a shudder? our refuge 
 and hope is in God. We must lift our trusting eyes to Him, 
 and be united before Him, and around the privileges and prin- 
 ciples deposited with us for our children, to keep them in invio- 
 
lable fidelity. Let no one rebuke the disunionist, or invoke 
 upon him the retribution of heaven. Let him be left to the cer- 
 tain, but self-inflicted penalties of his own moral position. — 
 Let him stand alone undisturbed, himself a monument of the 
 security, with which, in this free, happy country, a man may 
 utter the most destructive sentiment without danger, while rea- 
 son is left free to combat it. Let him stand, and blot out with 
 sacrilegious hand the recorded history of the past ; let him be 
 recreant to the promise of the glorious future ; let him be a 
 traitor if he will, to his country, to his race, to every precious 
 human interest, to his God, then let him write his name with his 
 deed on the scroll of Time, and let it go down with the names 
 of Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold, a record for the judg- 
 ment of future ages, a beacon like theirs for all generations 
 to come. 
 
 II. Let me now turn your attention to the second topic, the 
 dangers that beset our happy Union. It is of importance that 
 these should be noticed and if possible, clearly presented. 
 
 The first I mention is the want of Political Integrity. 
 
 I mean by Political Integrity " strict probity and honor in 
 all State and National policy." This is particularly important 
 to the American people. They are characterized by a restless- 
 ness — disposition to break away from everything that is old, and 
 familiar, and usual. A spirit of innovation marks every plan, 
 and purpose, and project. In the eager chase after physical 
 gratification, that which ministers to the purer, better nature, 
 is likely to be depressed and overlooked. There is an incessant 
 whirl, an agitation deep and permanent, more than among any 
 other people. To elevate and make conspicuous the great way- 
 marks of truth and righteousness all along their path, and to 
 turn to them the attention of the crowds that press on in the 
 dust and turmoil of their mad pursuit, may not be easy, but it 
 is none the less important. 
 
 Now how can government control and direct this, except by 
 her moral power ? If she fail here, then where is there any 
 other resource, but in military coercion ? The peculiar neces- 
 sity of Political Integrity is therefore clearly seen. 
 
 There is no question but the fund of this virtue that we 
 brought with us out of the revolution has sensibly deteriorated 
 as well as diminished. 
 
 This fact is seen in the characters of the men that are put 
 in to fill the innumerable offices throughout the country, and 
 in an entire disregard of all moral qualifications as requisites 
 for office. Keal worth of character, and real merit are not now 
 the essentials for successful political aspiration. The common 
 
8 
 
 maxim of party also — " to the victors belong the spoils," points 
 significantly to a very different code of morals. 
 
 Defect of political integrity too is often strikingly manifest 
 in our State and National Legislation. Laws are made for sec- 
 tional interests, and not for the general welfare. Men forget 
 in the National Council, and in the State Legislatures, that they 
 are sent to provide for the good of the whole, and not to limit 
 their vision to one little spot where they and their constituents 
 live, and their mines and factories are, and their broad acres 
 extend, confining their patriotism by lines of latitade and lon- 
 gitude and county and state boundaries. 
 
 . There is not unfrequently an utter and entire sacrifice of in- 
 dependence among men in our Legislatures, from the highest 
 to the lowest. • Before a man becomes a candidate for office, he 
 seems to be a man as God made him, independent in his views, 
 and in the expression of his sentiments, directed by his own rea- 
 son and guided by his own conscience ; but when he is set up 
 for office, then he becomes the most weak and contemptible 
 thing in the creation, — a perfect automaton turned about just 
 as the blessed people choose to pull the strings, a vane on a 
 chimney top, very showy and high, but of no use except to tell 
 which way the wind blows. It has been said with much truth, 
 such a Legislature or Congress ought to sit in some immense 
 magnetic telegraph office, and every man hold a wire in his 
 hand, to tell him what the dear people, — his constituents, 
 think on every question that comes up for decision. 
 
 The same defect of political integrity is seen also in the in- 
 fluence on the moral sense, of a division of responsibility. Men 
 seem to think, that collective guilt is not to be resolved in mor- 
 al judgment into its constituent elements of personal criminali- 
 ty. They forget that it is merely the aggregate of individual 
 crime. Strange morals truly ! If one man perpetrates an of- 
 fence, it is a crime, but two or a dozen or a multitude may do 
 it and there is no guilt. If one man steals his neighbor's prop- 
 erty, he is a thief; but if he is one of a company for public 
 improvements, and borrows money, knowing that there is great 
 danger of never being able to pay, and then if this company 
 fails and refuses to pay according to its ability, there is no 
 moral obliquity. No such ethics as this is found in the Bible. 
 No such thing as a shifting scale, or double code of morals, — 
 one very strict for individuals the other more lax for commu- 
 nities. 
 
 The same defect of integrity is seen in what is well under- 
 stood by the cant term "log-rolling" which is nothing less 
 
than the sacrifice of principle, for success in some partial seer 
 tional interest. 
 
 I might find additional evidence of relaxed integrity, in the 
 practical maxims of men struggling for political preference, 
 such as, "alls fair in politics," which means, that if a man 
 holds an office that you covet, you may undermine his 
 character and standing, you may asperse his reputation and 
 blacken his name to carry your point, and supplant him. 
 
 I need not dwell on this at any greater length. Who does 
 not see the application of it to the topic before us, " the per- 
 petuity of the Union ?" Where is the moral power of this gov- 
 ernment, if confidence in its uprightness and integrity wastes 
 away ? And if this bo gone, (resting as this government must, 
 on the will of the people,) where is there any power at all, of 
 any kind left ? I do not say that this is a weak government— 
 not all; on the contrary, I see that it is at this hour, the strongest 
 government on earth ; for it is entrenched in the affections of 
 the people, and founded on principles, of the truth of which hu- 
 man judgment can never change, but here are dissociating, de- 
 structive tendencies which need to be watched and constantly 
 checked and set right. 
 
 What idea of this government or of any other can there be so 
 beautiful, so perfect, as that of a vast and united family, the 
 care over them that of a mighty paternity, enlightening by its 
 counsels, purifying by its control, elevating by its example. — - 
 Every public act and expression, marked by integrity, mag- 
 nanimity, and the most delicate sense of honor and virtue, in- 
 flexibly just in the administration of law, and at the same time 
 every benign good influence flowing forth like the light of the 
 sun, looking in on every family and blessing all. 
 
 This is the true idea of a government, like that of the Infinite 
 God over his boundless universe of intelligent creatures. If 
 each of these united sovereignties in its proper sphere like sep- 
 arate instruments in some grand symphony, would send forth 
 its strain, and then a deep full diapason in the great central 
 mansion of the Great Patriarch of the family, roll forth in per- 
 fect and sweetest accordance with their notes coming upon the 
 tide of song, from each instrument in the concert, what a flood 
 of harmony would swell, and roll, and die away like distant 
 thunder in the heavens.* Influences would flow forth among the 
 people, conveying and perpetuating every blessing. Who shall 
 affix bounds to the genial currents as they expand and over- 
 spread the whole surface of the moral waste, refreshing as the 
 
 * Vide the article above referred to in the Bible Repository. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 dews, and vivifying as the sunbeam on creation. With the 
 pulpit for its ally, such a tone would be given to morality, and 
 such power to its expression, that not only in the Legislative 
 Halls, would it be felt, and everywhere where the popular will is 
 manifested, but its influence would penetrate every dwelling, 
 preside in every family, and control every heart. Such would 
 be the moral power of a government characterized by strict 
 political integrity, and guided in all its emanations by the be- 
 nign spirit of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 Another danger that presents itself on slight observation of 
 society, is the Radicalism of the day. 
 
 1 mean radicalism as opposed to conservatism. This spirit 
 is and has always manifested itself to be the constant deadly 
 foe, not only to civil liberty and human happiness, but also to 
 Christianity. Religion and the State, the spiritual and the tem- 
 poral, cannot be wholly separated. Many most important ques- 
 tions in civil government, inevitably run into the province of 
 religion, hence radicals in politics are found classed not unfre- 
 quently, with the advocates of infidelity. The moral attitude 
 for each extreme is the same. I prove this statement of dangers 
 from this quarter, by calling to your minds the history of legis- 
 lative effort in this commonwealth, and in some others of the 
 States, in relation to oaths, immoralities, the Sabbath, and com- 
 mon school education ; add to it, if you choose, the subjects of 
 marriage and capital punishment. I may also in this ' connec- 
 tion refer to a kindred topic, fraught with great danger, I 
 mean individualism. Self appointed lecturers are going 
 about haranguing the people, teaching man to look upon himself 
 as a unit, to consider himself and his interests apart from society. 
 They boast that in this day, man begins to feel his own individ- 
 ual importance and must assert his individual rights. Nothing 
 can be more pernicious than such statements. The result is to 
 dissociate society, to break it up into small companies and frag- 
 ments, and insulate its members. The idea is monstrous alike 
 in politics, in religion, and in nature. There is no evidence of 
 any thing of the kind, in any part of God's vast intelligent crea- 
 tion. God alone exists by himself. Government is his divine 
 institution for men. Nothing can be more dangerous to the 
 perpetuity of this glorious Union than the propagation and. re- 
 ception of such disorganizing sentiments. They break up all 
 social quiet, by arraying one class in society against another, 
 close the avenues of kindly feeling, and pervert or destroy every 
 finer human sympathy. They make man the natural foe of 
 every fellow man. It is SELFISHNESS in its worst most imprac- 
 ticable form. It takes man away from the high dignity of 
 
11 
 
 organic membership, and makes him a fragment, of what — a 
 ruined, disordered, corrupt and corrupting mass. 
 
 These men talk much of the great progress of the age, and of 
 our rapid advance, on all the ages that have preceded. If by 
 progress be meant, better knowledge of the organic laws of mat- 
 ter, and their application to practical human use, and a more 
 perfect control of matter itself, then the point is at once admit- 
 ted. If it mean, steam, railroads, telegraphs, and abundance 
 of school books, newspapers and daguerreotypes, I do not hesi- 
 tate still, — not to mention, mesmerism, " mysterious knockings," 
 and womens' rights conventions, and other profound follies. But 
 are we making great progress in all other respects ? Are we a 
 more moral, peaceable people? Are we more law abiding? — 
 Are we more rational and less animal now, than in the earlier 
 days of our republic ? Are we more disposed than formerly to 
 bring great questions up to the eternal rule of right and wrong ? 
 Have our elections become purer, less sectional than formerly, 
 less liable to the bias of local interests, and are the best and wisest 
 men more likely to attain to high office now than formerly ? Or 
 is there in fact more political gambling now than ever before ? 
 Has the marriage relation been held more sacred, more inviola- 
 ble ? Are we less under the influence of cant terms, than form- 
 erly ; such terms as "our country," "destiny," "Anglo-Sax- 
 onism," and so forth. No more is needed than simply to ask 
 the questions. 
 
 We are in no danger in this country, of a union of church and 
 State, for the church would herself be the first to repudiate the 
 contaminating alliance. Neither are we in danger of an aris- 
 tocracy of wealth or birth or rank. The operation of our laws 
 releases us from apprehension of these, and we certainly need 
 not tremble in anticipation of too great a popular veneration for 
 the past. But we are in danger of too much radicalism, too 
 much of that which tends to overturn the fundamental princi- 
 ples of representation, and constitutional stability, in obedience 
 to present opinion, present force, and present demagogueism. 
 
 In opposition to all this I recommend a regard to conserva- 
 tism, properly and intelligently understood, conservatism, the 
 true friend of safe and rapid progress, but opposed on all points 
 to a revolutionary spirit, rising above men's outward forms to 
 the higher region of principles and ideas, and for that reason 
 is it truly conservative. 
 
 Liberty, in the lips of many is a cant term, expressive only 
 of license of the most "unrestricted kind — freedom from all re- 
 straint. But with this interpretation of the word, we should 
 
12 
 
 have the full meaning, only when each man became an Ishmael- 
 ite to his fellow. 
 
 It is not the mere right of suffrage, nor freedom of election, 
 nor license of the press, for these may enthrone Despots to 
 enslave those who clothed them with transient power. 
 
 The most perfect idea of Liberty, is where a man retains in his 
 own hands most of his personal rights, and as an equivalent for 
 those he has surrendered, receives the greatest amouut of protec- 
 tion and security in return. The very term security, implies 
 rigid, reciprocal restraint. " It is that sphere of entire rest, with- 
 in which a man has most security in following his own wishes, 
 and pursuing his own happiness, without any one to impede or 
 limit him." That is the best and most perfect of human gov- 
 ernments, where a man is under the strongest and best influences 
 to discharge all his duties ; and at the same time is restrained 
 from all wrongs, and is best protected in all his rights. This 
 is a circle within which he may move freely, discharging all 
 relative duties to others according to his own conscience, employ- 
 ing his affections and his intellect as he pleases, and dispensing 
 happiness to all around. Nothing can make him more free but 
 the religion of Jesus Christ, for that breaks the chain of evil appe- 
 tite and passion and releases him from the slavery within. 
 
 I pass on briefly to notice another topic in considering the 
 dangers that may threaten the stability and perpetuity of this 
 glorious Union. I mean Political Intolerance. 
 
 This is in its way, as fierce and relentless and uncompromising, 
 as religious persecution, with the additional danger of directly 
 acting on the machinery of government itself, and of exposing 
 to the hazard of disruption, the peace of society. The power 
 of a majority is more galling and more intolerable, from the 
 very fact of the helplessness of those who are legally bound to 
 submit to it. But this spirit of submission and acquiescence so 
 essential and so beautiful in our system, may by exultation and 
 indecent exhibitions of triumph be sharpened and envenomed 
 into faction, and local perhaps personal interests be thrown in, and 
 this be followed by retaliation, until all hope of reconciliation is 
 forever at an end. 
 
 It should never be forgotten in the exultation of victory, after 
 a close and severe contest, and when consequently the opposite 
 parties are farther separated by feeling, that difference of opin- 
 ion is not difference of principle, that we are all brethren of 
 the same principle though called by different names, that we are 
 all true republicans, and all equally devoted to the interests and 
 prosperity of our common country. 
 
13 
 
 III. The third part of the subject, is a consideration of the 
 •means most conducive to the perpetuity of the Union. 
 
 A consideration of the dangers that have been mentioned, 
 naturally suggests corresponding remedies. The nation posses- 
 ses a most admirable chart for their guidance in all coming time 
 in the legacy bequeathed to them by the Father of his Country 
 — "Washington's Farewell Address." There can perhaps be 
 no better compound of wise maxims, clear and right principles 
 forcibly stated, and rich results of long and abundant experience, 
 for the direction of the people of this country in generations to 
 come, and all this dictated by long tried affection, and enforced 
 by a life of the purest, most patriotic devotion to the interests 
 of his country. 
 
 The first and most important certainly, is a ready uniform 
 implicit obedience to law. 
 
 It is not wise to say the least, for christian men, and ministers 
 of the gospel of peace, to advocate sentiments, and countenance 
 •action, that must be disastrous in its results on the peace of 
 ^o'ciety, and the harmony and union of this great confederacy. 
 
 Every man is amenable for a good conscience before God, 
 but no man is at liberty to agitate the question of his solemn 
 •duty, faithfully to obey the laws of the government under which 
 he lives, and whose protection he enjoys, unless under circum- 
 stances very peculiar and very easily definable. The opposite 
 principle carried out would neutralize all law in its individual 
 'application.. The duty is, quiet, peaceable obedience, until the 
 remedy can be applied in a constitutional way, any other course 
 is the offspring of a revolutionary spirit — rarely indeed in the 
 ordinary course of human events — very rarely to be justified. 
 These remarks and principles apply to the law passed at the 
 last session of Congress, called " The Fugitive Slave Bill" and 
 have been made in reference to that law. Whatever may be 
 the justice or injustice of this particular enactment, one thing 
 is plain, it was passed by the wisdom of men selected and au- 
 thorized to make our laws. Of the circumstances under which 
 they discharged their responsibilities we are not competent to 
 decide. No man is competent to pass j udgment on the moral acts 
 of others. The presumption is, that they acted according 
 to the best light they had, and with the sanction of their 
 consciences. After all, we are very little more implicated 
 in the evil of slavery by this late provision than we have always 
 been under the Constitution. The well known clause in that 
 noble instrument referring to this subject, was itself introduced 
 as a matter of necessity, it was a compromise, without which, in 
 all probability, the Union never could have been formed. And 
 in the judgment of our representatives, the introduction of the 
 
14 
 
 present bill was equally necessary to continue the Union in ex- 
 istence. If this be so, then the question is an easy one. Is 
 this happy Union freighted with the treasures of the past, and 
 with all the rich hopes and promise of the future, worth so little, 
 that we are ready to sacrifice it and cast it to the winds, for the 
 sake of a law, which must from the nature of things be tempor- 
 ary ? Let any man sit down coolly, and survey the prospec- 
 tive evil of such a course. Let him remember that it is extremely 
 doubtful if every infraction of this law, no matter from how 
 pure a motive it springs, be not to the hapless object of it, in any 
 and every possible result, an utterly mistaken act of humanity; 
 and then with all this in view, let him conscientiously strike the 
 balance for himself, and act accordingly. Slavery is a great 
 curse ; a mighty moral incubus ; it reaches in its influences all 
 over the land. We cannot in the North cut ourselves off from 
 it, and be entirely separate from participation to some degree, 
 it is impossible. Nothing but such a provision, could in the 
 opinion of the wisest men, calm the irritation and allay the ex- 
 citement, that seemed ready like the Simoon of the Desert, to 
 wither every thing before it. Our Southern brethren did not bring 
 in this dreadful evil. We are as answerable for its existence orig- 
 inally as they are. We are happily released from it. They 
 are groaning under its pressure. Let us not unfraternally add 
 to the anguish and sorrow of their unfortunate position by oblo- 
 quy and reproach and taunts. Let us step forward, as good 
 citizens and do our part nobly and cheerfully. Let us not refuse 
 to bear a portion of the burden, for the original imposition of 
 which we are equally responsible with them. Let us help 
 them by our prayers and our deeds, and if need be by our 
 treasures. 
 
 The problem of a final prospective remedy for the disease is 
 yet on hand, no man has been able to solve it. The question, 
 what shall be done with three millions of an alien race in our 
 midst, has been asked for a generation past. But no answer 
 has been returned.- God in His providence, will doubtless open 
 the way, how, we do not yet see ; but the institution of slavery 
 is doomed. It must disappear before the increasing light and 
 power of the gospel. Let us not hasten too much and outstrip 
 •the leading of Divine Providence. The path to the final removal 
 •of this great evil, surely cannot be over the ashes of this glorious 
 Union, amid the wreck and crash and desolation of the dear- 
 est hopes of the world and of ages, and the horror and carnage 
 of a fratricidal war. 
 
 The second means I mention is the diffusion of moral light, — 
 a Religious Education. In no country, to no people, is educa- 
 
15 
 
 lion so important as to the people of these United States. Our 
 government has no moral inherent conservative power. It rests 
 on the will of the people. What the people are, the laws will be. 
 If they are good and wise, such will be the character of their 
 laws, and the opposite is equally true. Who then can over esti- 
 mate the importance of a properly educated mind, for the perpe- 
 tuity of our institutions. The exercise of arbitrary power in this 
 government for the enforcement of law, is the last resort, and 
 only when moral power fails. But be it remembered by every 
 American citizen, this last is the strength of a Republic. Force 
 belongs to a Despotism. It is a law of matter, not of mind. — 
 We have here no body of nobility of ancestral rank and virtue 
 to fall back upon for strength and countenance. No established 
 church to add to executive mandates the sanction of religious 
 awe — nothing of the kind. It is of the deepest interest to us 
 that this government should stand impregnable in the enlightened 
 preference and moral virtue of the people. In no way can this 
 be done but by thorough and universal education, and inculca- 
 tion of religious truth and religious principles. 
 
 I pass on to the last means of preserving and perpetuating the 
 integrity and blessings of the American Union — Religion. 
 
 This is indeed after all, our only hope — while it turns the eye 
 upward on one hand in dependence and faith, to the Great Con- 
 troller of human events ; on the other it reveals to man the deep 
 seated depravity of his own heart, where is to be found the true 
 source of all his disquiet and unhappiness. 
 
 Away with all that philosophy and sentiment and false doc- 
 trine, that disguises or perverts the great truth of the depravity 
 of the human heart, as the fundamental cardinal truth of politi- 
 cal philosophy. Such false teaching sets man to seeking some- 
 where but in himself, for the cause of his miseries, and makes 
 him impatient of control, restless under restraint, and eager for 
 experimental change to remove evils and miseries, that grow in 
 his own bosom, which no outward change can reach. 
 
 I have already trespassed too long on your time and attention, 
 and here close my remarks. 
 
 My friends, your duty is before you. It is a truth to be deeply 
 engraven on the heart of every American citizen never to fade, that 
 Enlightened Piety, is the hope of this nation under God. I would 
 say in the language of the psalmist, " Israel ! trust thou in the 
 Lord." 
 
 This government is a trustee of vast human interests, with 
 corresponding responsibilities. Never before to any nation, has 
 such a path been opened. In the seventieth year of our age, we 
 number more than twenty millions. In seventy years to come 
 
16 
 
 two hundred millions will be spread over three zones, and over 
 eight millions of square miles. The prospect is a grand but sol- 
 emn one to our eyes. This mighty nation is on its way to spread 
 abroad its families, and carry its institutions and principles and 
 civilization over this entire continent, and onward still till the 
 returning wave rolls back again and breaks on our Atlantic bor- 
 der. There will be moral power accompanying the movement 
 sufficient to reform and remould the world, if rightly applied. — 
 Shall it be used for that glorious end ? This question is not for 
 our children alone to answer, when our heads are beneath the mould 
 and the light of more distant stars, and the music of more glo- 
 rious spheres is around our dismantled spirits. No! The ques- 
 tion belongs to us. The Anglor.Saxon race must fulfil its high 
 and holy mission, and give to the world by precept and example 
 the type of a loftier, purer faith, and a more expansive philan-. 
 throphy. The deep and lasting foundations of righteousness 
 must be underneath this nation. Oh ! that " the Spirit of Holi- 
 ness, on his way to universal conquest, would engrave his name 
 on the living tablets of this nation forever 1" 
 
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