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 SERMON, 
 
 OCCASfONED 
 
 BY THE DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 ffii8 2Bvttlltnt& Mtmtt eitnton, 
 
 LATE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 ST. GEORGE' S CHURCH, J\\ Y. 
 
 ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1S2S. 
 
 — 0!©^— 
 
 1/" 
 
 BIT TH2 HEV. JAMES :AXIX.XT03, D.D. 
 
 RECTOR OF SAID CHURCH. 
 
 — ^!©©— 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OP THE VESTRY OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. 
 
 — QQ©— .. ' 
 
 NEW-YORK 
 
 PRINTED EY GRAY AND BUNCE, 224 CHERR1T-3TKEE.T. 
 
 1828. 
 
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Monday Morning, Feb. 25, 1828. 
 Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 The undersigned, having heard with the highest gratification and 
 pleasure, the Sermon delivered by you yesterday morning, feel it a duty to 
 acknowledge their sense of the judicious and happy manner in which you 
 treated so delicate a subject. 
 
 Desirous of extending the benefit of this valuable production to those who 
 had not the privilege of being present at its delivery, and convinced that it 
 would be to them a most acceptable favour, we are induced, as members of 
 Vestry, to request a copy of the same for publication, 
 
 We are, dear Sir, 
 
 Your very sincere friends, 
 
 JAMES D. L. WALTON, 
 EUM. MOREWOOD, 
 R. WARDELL, 
 HUBERT VAN WAGENEN, 
 THOMAS BLOODGOOD- 
 JOHN STEARNS, 
 THOMAS S. TOWNSEND. 
 WM. SHATZELL, 
 JAMES A. BURTUS, 
 JOHN H. HILL. 
 Rev. Dr. James Milnor. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The promptitude and unanimity with which you have requested a copy 
 of the Sermon preached by me yesterday in St. George's Church are grateful 
 to my feelings, as an expression of your approbation of a well intended, but 
 feeble, tribute to the memory of our late excellent Governor. 
 
 Although very sensible how far below the merits of its subject, this hasty 
 attempt has fallen, I cannot refuse the call of the official representatives of 
 my beloved people, for its publication, and therefore commit it to your dis- 
 posal. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 and affectionate pastor, 
 
 JAMES MILNOR. 
 Messrs. James D. L. Walton, &c. 
 
 Churchwardens and Vestrymen of St. George's Church. 
 
 February, 25, 1828. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 Romans, xiu. part of 7th verse. 
 " RENDER, THEREFORE, TO ALL THEIR DUES — HONOUR TO 
 
 WHOM HONOUR." 
 
 The kingdom of Christ is not of this world. 
 It is spiritual ; and the place of its erection is in 
 the hearts of men. It outlives the limited term of 
 human existence on earth, and its objects transcend 
 in dignity, as in duration, all the inferior, transitory, 
 concerns of the present scene. 
 
 Yet the subjects of Christ's government, while 
 they owe a paramount allegiance to Him, and are 
 principally concerned in rendering obedience to 
 his laws, in extending his hallowed empire in the 
 world, and in preparing to exult with all his faith- 
 ful people in the final triumph of their heavenly 
 king, are also the subjects or citizens of various 
 civil governments, and amenable to human laws. 
 And, therefore, in that complete directory of reli- 
 gious, moral, and social duty, presented in the sa- 
 cred Scriptures, the relative obligations of those 
 invested with the office of rulers, and of those who 
 are subject to their sway, are delineated and urged 
 with a clearness and force, alike calculated, on the 
 
one hand, to maintain the claims of just authority, 
 and on the other to promote the safety and happi- 
 ness of the people. 
 
 Do we desire to know what should be the cha- 
 racter of men elevated to official stations in the 
 civil community? We are told, they should be 
 " able men ; such as fear God ; men of truth, hat- 
 ing covetousness." Do we desire to know in what 
 manner they should discharge their official functions- 
 We are told, they are " not to wrest judgment;" 
 that their conduct is to be marked by the strictest 
 rectitude and impartiality, not regarding the persons 
 of men, having no undue respect to the poor, nor 
 "honouring," to the subversion of justice, "the 
 persons of the mighty." They are cautioned "not 
 to take a gift," that is, to avoid that bribery and 
 corruption which so effectually, " blind the eyes of 
 the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous," 
 and to fulfil all their duties " in t^e fear of the 
 Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart." 
 
 Nor are the obligations of the governed less lu- 
 minously detailed and enforced. Legitimate govern- 
 ment is to have their firm, united, and cordial sup- 
 port. " Every soul is to be subject unto the higher 
 powers," and " he who resists them" is declared to 
 " resist the ordinance of God." Being " sent of 
 Him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the 
 praise of them that do well," those under their rule 
 are required to be " subject, not only for wrath, 
 but for conscience sake." " To Caesar," our Lord 
 
himself requires to be " rendered the things that 
 are Caesar's." St. Paul rebukes, with severity, in the 
 verses preceding'the text, a rebellious spirit ; and, 
 in the peaeeable temper of the Gospel, in the pas- 
 sage immediately before us, he calls on his fellow 
 Christians, even under the arbitrary government of 
 Nero, to " render unto all their dues, tribute to 
 whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear 
 to whom fear, honour to whom honour." 
 
 These counsels, rightly understood, are entitled 
 to our unfeigned respect, our unreluctant conformi- 
 ty; and there can be no impropriety, on suitable 
 occasions, in a proper spirit, and with a worthy end, 
 to our making such injunctions as the foregoing the 
 themes of public observation and enforcement. 
 They may have been sometimes prostituted to pur- 
 poses alien from their original design; but it is a 
 circumstance honourable to our holy religion, jhat, 
 while it is mainly concerned about the interests of 
 the soul, and of eternity, it is not unmindful of those 
 connected with the present life, and provides ample 
 and intelligent directions, primarily in regard to our 
 duties to God, but subordinately in regard to every 
 social human relation, both public and private. 
 
 Occupied, therefore, as it undoubtedly becomes 
 the ministers of Christ to be, in preaching the truths 
 of his everlasting Gospel ; and rarely as it may be 
 expedient for them to bring subjects of a secular as- 
 pect before the people of their charge; yet there are 
 occasions when topics of this kind may be suitably 
 
noticed. God forbid, that the pulpit should ever 
 be the vehicle of party feelings, or the sacred func- 
 tions of the ministry be prostituted to an engage- 
 ment in the fluctuating politics of the day. It is 
 hoped a sense of the dignity of their office, and the 
 responsibilities to which they stand pledged, will 
 preserve the ambassadors of Christ from thus de- 
 basing their commission. If there should be any 
 found willing so to dishonour their high and holy 
 calling, I am persuaded, they would soon reap their 
 merited reward in the unqualified condemnation of 
 all the considerate and good. Still, however, every 
 divine precept, whether it regard the destinies of 
 eternity, or the inferior interests of time; whether 
 it involve the homage due to the Almighty Ruler of 
 all, or the obedience and respect due to those who 
 are called in his Providence to preside over the af- 
 fairs of men, may, in its turn, be used for public 
 edification, and applied to profitable use. 
 
 There have been times when that injunction of 
 Paul to Titus has been seasonably urged in the 
 sacred desk; — " Put them in mind to be subject to 
 principalities and powers, and to obey Magistrates ;" 
 and there have been times, when unrighteous and 
 oppressive rulers have been addressed on the wicked- 
 ness of their conduct, with a holy boldness, such as 
 Paul himself exhibited before the tribunals of Felix, 
 Festus, and Agrippa; or as Peter, and the other 
 Apostles evinced, when the hand of tyranny would 
 hare stopped them in their course of duty; but they 
 
Itrmly declared, " we ought to obey (Jod rather than 
 
 men." 
 
 In our free and happy country there is indeed, 
 in general, very infrequent occasions for the interfer- 
 ence of the Ministers of Christ in any matters that 
 the most scrupulous conscience or the most fastidi- 
 ous taste would deem an infringement on their pe- 
 culiar functions. The people of our land are virtu- 
 ally their own rulers. No hereditary claims to 
 official dignity, or political authority, here exist. 
 These are recognized only in the persons of those 
 on whom the people have bestowed them. Our legis- 
 latures are controlled in the enactment of laws by 
 limits prescribed in written constitutions. At short 
 stated periods they surrender their powers back into 
 the hands of those from whom they were received? 
 to be rewarded, if faithful, by their renewal; to 
 sink into the rank of private citizens, if a discerning 
 public disapprove their measures. The highest 
 executive officer holds his station by no more per- 
 manent a tenure. He is alike amenable to the 
 people, and liable to be called to a relinquishment of 
 his honours on the constitutional expression of the 
 public will. That caprice, rather than exact wis- 
 dom, should sometimes influence the judgment of 
 a tribunal so variously constituted, is to be expected 
 from the weakness and fallibility of man: But ? 
 with all its unavoidable defects, never was there a 
 plan promising a greater measure of the blessings 
 of a good government, than that under which a gra= 
 
8 
 
 cious Providence has cast our lot. Never was there 
 a more efficient restraint on an inordinate spirit 
 of ambition, or a desire of arbitrary power, than 
 this resistless accountability of our public officers ; 
 nor a more powerful security for the preservation of 
 our liberties, civil and religious, than the ever re- 
 curring exercise of the right of unbiassed suffrage 
 on the part of the people. 
 
 Brethren, I pray you to excuse allusions, which, 
 I confess, would in general be more proper at other 
 seasons, and in other places, than the present. But, 
 when contemplating the distressing public bereave- 
 ment just sustained, in the sudden removal of our 
 late illustrious Chief Magistrate, it seemed impossi- 
 ble not to think and to speak of institutions with 
 which he was so long connected, which he loved so 
 dearly, and in the conduct of which he was so dis- 
 tinguished and patriotic an agent. When mourn- 
 ing over such a loss, we may derive an admissable 
 solace of our grief, and a motive for unmurmuring 
 submission to the will of God, in our remaining 
 blessings. Yes, brethren, in the midst of our regrets, 
 we will forbear to render that honour which is most 
 justly due to the memory of our departed ruler, 
 until we have poured forth to Him who " divides 
 to the nations their inheritance, and sets the bounds 
 of the people," the overflowings of our gratitude, 
 for his unnumbered benefactions. 
 
 In the apprehension of all who believe, as does 
 your preacher, in a special Providence, ever actively 
 
employed in the affairs of men, this is the true 
 method of fulfilling the precept in the text. 
 
 The first tribute of Honour is due to God for 
 our temporal, no less than our spiritual, mercies. 
 To wisdom imparted from above we owe our ad- 
 mirable frame of civil government, and the equal 
 laws which have emanated from the exercise of its 
 legislative powers. To the protecting care of our 
 watchful and Almighty Guardian we stand indebted, 
 that the adversary of our race has not been per- 
 mitted to incite in the minds of public functionaries, 
 of any political designation, a disposition to invade 
 the rights of the people on the one hand, or to with- 
 hold, on the other, a fearless exercise of the powers 
 intrusted to their charge ; that our various tribunals 
 are seen administering Justice with laudable wisdom, 
 purity and mildness; that we have known so little 
 of the tumult, and so few of the other evils, sometimes 
 attendant upon popular elections; that the supports 
 of our civil and religious privileges continue solid and 
 immoveable ; that our community is favoured with 
 a most extraordinary exemption from oppressive 
 pecuniary burthens; and that such an immense 
 amount of intellect and exertion are, from year to 
 year, employed in countless measures of internal im- 
 provement ; while abroad our country and its insti- 
 tutions are every where advancing in the estimation 
 of the wise and good, and the American name be- 
 coming a praise among the nations of the earth. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 Nor dare we overlook, nay we will record with 
 livelier feelings of devout gratitude and praise, that 
 grand moral machinery which the Spirit of Jehovah 
 has put in operation, and his Providence is carrying 
 on throughout our land, for the alleviation of hu- 
 man misery ; for the education of the poorer classes ; 
 for advancing the interests of science and litera- 
 ture ; for spreading abroad the hallowed influence 
 of revealed truth, by means of Missionaries, Bibles, 
 Tracts, and Sabbath School instruction ; and for 
 sending: forth to the most distant nations of the 
 earth, the light of that blessed faith, on which are 
 staked all the immortal interests of man. 
 
 Does it not become the beneficiaries of blessings 
 such as these to render the honour that is due to 
 their great Bestower ? " Truly he hath not dealt so 
 with any nation." " O that men would praise the 
 Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works 
 to us children of men." " Bless the Lord, O our 
 souls, and forget not all his benefits." 
 
 Nor let our praise expend itself in empty words. 
 While with our mouths we confess the God, who 
 " rules in the army of Heaven, and among the in- 
 habitants of the earth," as the author and giver of 
 all our good things, let us manifest the sincerity of 
 our offerings of praise, for sincerity alone can give 
 them value, by consecrating our hearts to his ser- 
 vice, by cherishing a true faith in the rich mercies 
 of redemption through his crucified Son, and by 
 
 V 
 
II 
 
 living habitually under the influence of that holy 
 religion, from which all our other blessings derive 
 their hope of perpetuity, without which they would 
 soon be transformed into a curse. " Let us," I 
 repeat, in the language of our Apostle, " render 
 unto all their dues :" and in doing so, never forget 
 that our first, and greatest, and most enduring tri- 
 bute belongs to God. 
 
 But the plans of Omnipotence are achieved by 
 human instruments; and it is not inconsistent with 
 the paramount claims of God to honour those whom 
 He so highly honours, as to constitute them the 
 agents of his benefactions to mankind. To those 
 whom He employs to accomplish his designs of 
 goodness, if faithful in the discharge of the func- 
 tions committed to their trust, a subordinate mea- 
 sure of gratitude and respect is justly due. They 
 deserve to be honoured while they live; and when 
 they die, a nation's tears may well bedew their 
 graves, and grateful memory delight to perpetuate 
 their fame. 
 
 The remark is true in the most general sense. 
 The occasion calls for its special application to such 
 as have occupied distinguished public stations. And 
 we do not hesitate to say, that to such a tribute of 
 respect is due ; that to render it is consonant with 
 the apostolic precept in our text ; and, so long as it 
 exceeds not the merits of its subject, and derogates not 
 from the superior reverence we owe to God, it con- 
 travenes no principle of our holy faith. It is but 
 
12 
 
 the payment of a well-earned debt, to praise the 
 man whose ambition has employed itself in great, 
 and excellent, and useful objects. It is not to the 
 idle incumbent of hereditary honours; it is not to 
 the man raised to distinction by base and treacherous 
 artifice, or lawless force; it is not to one mistakenly 
 elevated to a rank, which he disgraces by arrogance 
 and pride, we are called to render honour ; but to the 
 honest statesman, rising into public favour by inhe- 
 rent worth, and patriotic effort, and constantly em- 
 ploying his distinguished talents to the public good ; 
 and to the memory of such a man we would advo- 
 cate, without the smallest scruple, a munificent re- 
 turn of public gratitude and praise. Flattery, the 
 character of our holy religion, and of our civil 
 institutions alike forbid. But where history has 
 already recorded evidences of personal and official 
 worth which time cannot obliterate, nor ingratitude 
 itself deface, there can be no offence in eulogy. 
 
 Such is the case of that illustrious man whom we 
 have seen, with awful suddenness, cut down in the 
 midst of his days, and of a career of public useful- 
 ness in which few would venture to present them- 
 selves as his competitors. We can say of Dewitt 
 Clinton, not in the sycophantic spirit of Tertullus to 
 Felix, but in the chastened soberness of truth, that 
 41 by him we have enjoyed great quietness, and by 
 his providence very worthy deeds have been done to 
 our whole nation." Then let us give his memory 
 its due. Let us render honour to whom honour 
 
13 
 
 justly appertains. It is doing homage to virtue it- 
 self to honour its possessor, and well deserved com- 
 mendation of the dead may assist to excite the living 
 to a noble emulation of his bright example. 
 
 It is in this view, and under such impressions, that 
 I feel a glow of grateful satisfaction, mingled with 
 no ordinary sensibility, in according my feeble tribute 
 of respect to the memory of the distinguished Chief 
 Magistrate of whom our State has been bereaved. 
 The events in which he bore a conspicuous part will 
 fill a large place in the history of our Country ; and 
 some faithful biographer, of talents commensurate 
 to his noble subject, will hand down the name of 
 Clinton to the admiration of a late posterity. 
 
 In this place little more can be done than just to 
 glance at a few of those prominent features of his 
 character and life, to which more competent hands 
 will hereafter give the illustration and expansion they 
 deserve. 
 
 Our late Chief Magistrate occupied in the literary 
 world the acknowledged reputation of a fine 
 Scholar. On the foundation laid in his Collegiate 
 course, his excellent natural abilities, and regular 
 habits of study, enabled him to rear a superstruc- 
 ture of a brilliant order. Of the variety and extent 
 of his knowledge, the various topics, which, in suc- 
 cession, occupied his pen, and the rich current of 
 his daily conversation, furnished decisive proofs. 
 The many excellent institutions of our City and 
 State, which he fostered with his patronage, and de- 
 
14 
 
 lighted with his communications, evince his love for 
 literature, science, and the arts ; and his interesting: 
 messages at the annual Sessions of the Legislature, 
 since he has filled the Governmental Chair, besides 
 the exhibition of great acquaintance with the sub- 
 jects they embraced, exhibit models of pure and 
 classic composition. 
 
 He was a distinguished Civilian and Statesman. 
 Fully versed in the principles of political economy, 
 and public law, to the republican Constitutions of 
 our Country his native love of liberty gave the best 
 affections of his heart, as the most powerful bul- 
 works against its invasion. His intimate know- 
 ledge of the resources of the nation, and of this 
 member of it in particular, his almost intuitive per- 
 ception of the most eligible plans for drawing them 
 forth, at the cheapest rates, into the most efficient 
 practical use, his minute and experimental informa- 
 tion, especially as to the best means of enriching the 
 community by the facilities of inland water com- 
 munication, are subjects of commendation acknow- 
 ledged by all. His accurate foresight of the happy 
 result, which, thank God, he lived Ions: enough to 
 witness, gave a spring to the employment of his 
 strong intellect on this novel subject, and imparted 
 vigour and perseverance in the prosecution of his 
 views. The great works, in the planning and execu- 
 tion of which he bore so pre-eminent a part, will be 
 an enduring monument to his praise, and a grateful 
 posterity will concede to his memory that of many 
 
15 
 
 other undertakings of a similar character, which the 
 present generation, or the next, under the smiles of a 
 favouring Providence, will not fail to see accom- 
 plished. This is not the place for enlarging on that 
 great variety of evidence which the public life of 
 Mr. Clinton afforded, of his talents as a statesman ; 
 but it would be unjust not to add, that he was a 
 patriotic statesman. Public utility and the people's 
 happiness were the unremitting and disinterested 
 aim of all his studies and exertions. He leaves no 
 inheritance to his mourning family, but his virtues 
 
 and his fame. 
 
 He was too, in the best sense, a Philanthropist. 
 His bosom expanded to the generous character of 
 the age. His range of mind, his moral sense, his 
 warmth of feeling, carried him beyond a contem- 
 plation of the mere physical wealth and prosperity 
 of the community in which he lived. He looked 
 with intense anxiety to its growth in intellectual 
 and moral grandeur. The more elevated seats of 
 learning had his unqualified approval and support : 
 But he considered our Common Schools as the great 
 engines of popular improvement. In them a large 
 proportion of the young and rising generation of the 
 commonwealth were to receive their preparation for 
 future usefulness. The competent maintenance, and 
 multiplication and good conduct of these schools 
 were therefore to him delightful objects of official 
 and personal regard. His incessant exertions in 
 their promotion o will never be forgotten, so long as 
 
16 
 
 knowledge and virtue continue to be thought the 
 best safeguards of liberty, and its attendant bles- 
 sings. 
 
 The melioration of our penal code, and the disci- 
 pline of our prisons owe much of their present ex- 
 cellence to his indefatigable efforts. But he viewed 
 the prevention of crime as more desirable than its 
 punishment, and the reformation of the offender 
 as more humane and profitable than his excision. 
 He saw especially in the universal diffusion of the 
 lights of learning and religion, for he desired to see 
 them indissolubly united, the best means of accom- 
 plishing the first of these objects. He was no vi- 
 sionary Philosopher. He amused himself with no 
 dreams of social, or. individual, perfectability. He 
 beheld man as a fallen, helpless, being, and with no 
 more than a suitable regard to human agency in the 
 developement and application of those collateral in- 
 strumentalities for his improvement, which the 
 goodness of God had placed within his reach, it was 
 in the religion of Jesus Christ that he believed were 
 centered the only adequate securities for the happi- 
 ness, and best interests of man in his present, or fu- 
 ture state of being. 
 
 In this divine system he avowed both publicly 
 and privately his firm belief: And, hence, he was 
 ever ready to give the weight of his personal, and 
 where it was proper his official sanction, to its in- 
 stitutions. Yes ; amidst the clamours of infidelity 
 Clinton shrunk not from the avowal of his attach- 
 
17 
 
 ment to Christianity ; and though immersed in the 
 varied cares of public life, he found a pleasure in 
 affording his countenance and aid to the diffusion of 
 its influence. 
 
 Of that noble institution, the American Bible 
 Society, he was long an honoured Vice-President ; 
 and on more than one occasion greatly added to the 
 interest of its anniversaries by occupying the place 
 of its venerable President, the illustrious Jay, pre- 
 vented by the infirmities of age from gratifying the 
 Society, and the public by his presence. 
 
 At its very last annual meeting, in an address, 
 which the Society will delight to preserve on their 
 records, as a memorial of their lamented patron, he 
 pronounced " its end" to be " celestial." " It looks 
 down," said he, " on man for his good, and it looks 
 up to heaven for its blessing. It reverses the 
 dreams of heathen mythology, and extends upwards 
 the everlasting chain, which binds together the 
 earth and the heavens. Like a shining: Pharos on 
 a tempest-beaten promontory, it sends forth a saving 
 light, which carries us securely through the storms 
 that agitate our bark on the ocean of time. With 
 such high destinies, with such exalted ends, who 
 would not afford," he exclaimed, " the means of its 
 preservation and perpetuation, and apply to its con- 
 cerns the most energetic exertions of liberality and 
 wisdom. There is nothing, " he added," in the ele- 
 ments, in the composition, or in the administration 
 
 of the Society, which ought to alarm the jealousy, 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 or excite the suspicion of the most rigid sectarian, 
 in religion, or politics. It was founded, and has 
 been supported, by men of all creeds. It looks with 
 an equal eye on all the humble followers of Christ; 
 and it distributes, with an equal hand, the benefits 
 which spring from its bosom. It acknowledges no 
 superiority, but the superiority of piety and wis- 
 dom, and it admits of no distinctions, but those 
 which grow out of the improvement of human 
 character. If its pedestal be upon earth, its apex 
 reaches the heavens." 
 
 In the same address he took an inspiring view of 
 the events of the present day, as demonstrating, with 
 irresistible force, the superintending Providence of 
 God ; of their effect in enabling the new world to re- 
 flect back the light which had been radiated upon 
 her from the old ; and of the importance of giving 
 a right direction to that archimedian lever, the press, 
 by " infusing the principles of our holy religion into 
 the movements of a power so mighty and transcend- 
 ant:" declaring with solemnity, his persuasion, that 
 " systems of general education, and a diffusive 
 spread of Bible Societies were necessary for the 
 tranquillity, good order, and liberties of mankind." 
 
 Instead of offering an apology for the length 
 of these quotations, on a subject of such deep in- 
 terest, I will honour the memory of our deceased 
 fellow labourer in this sacred cause, and its kindred 
 objects, and encourage the hearts of its numerous 
 friends now before me, by one other passage, which , 
 
19 
 
 I pray God, may prove prophetic. " We are," said 
 he " on the verge of events greater than the astonish- 
 ino- ones, which have occurred within our times ; 
 discoveries vast and stupendous. Institutions deeply 
 connected with human melioration, and events of 
 unprecedented character may be expected. The 
 fountains of intellectual, moral, and religious light, 
 which are now concentrated within comparatively 
 narrow boundaries, will overflow the World ; and 
 humanity, throwing off its fetters, and rising above 
 its incumbrances, will be ennobled, as well as disen- 
 thralled." You are all ready, I trust, Christian 
 Brethren, to respond a hearty Amen to these joyful 
 and scriptural anticipations. 
 
 Time would fail to enumerate all the literary, 
 religious, and benevolent enterprises, in which Mr. 
 Clinton was associated. 
 
 Of Sunday Schools he was a feeling advocate. 
 He has often, and earnestly, recommended them to 
 the support and patronage of the Christian public, 
 and was rejoiced to attend their anniversary exhibi- 
 tions. Speaking of that of the last year in this city, 
 he said, the sight of the procession of the thousands 
 of children of which it was composed, the pupils of 
 Sabbath Schools, was " irresistibly calculated to ex- 
 cite the tenderest sympathies of our nature;" and 
 expressed his wish, that past success might teach 
 their supporters, " the imperative obligation to act 
 well their parts, and anticipate more momentous 
 results." 
 
20 
 
 Missionary and Tract Societies had also his de- 
 cided approbation, and efficient countenance ; and 
 he publicly expressed his earnest interest in the in- 
 stitutions of the respectable denomination to which 
 he was attached, for assisting destitute pious young 
 men in their preparation for the Ministry. 
 
 You perceive, that I have rather sought to state 
 facts than employ myself in vague eulogy on that 
 part of Mr. Clinton's character, which gives it a 
 peculiar claim to notice in this place : And may I 
 not call on those who have enjoyed personal inter- 
 course with our beloved Chief Magistrate, or have 
 witnessed his public communications, to testify, how 
 meekly he bore his well earned distinctions, and 
 what unaffected diffidence marked his whole de- 
 meanour ; so that while, on the latter occasions, all 
 regarded him as first among the throng, he seemed 
 to think himself the least. 
 
 In his private relations Mr. Clinton's character 
 was such, as to make his loss too great to his family, 
 even for a nation's gratitude to supply. May the 
 mourning widow, and the bereaved children look 
 to a higher source for the consolation which they 
 need. May they find it in the bosom of that be- 
 nignant Being, who has promised to be a father to 
 the fatherless, and a husband to the widow 7 , and in 
 the animating hopes of that blessed Book, which 
 was believed in and loved by their departed pro- 
 tector and friend. 
 
 In closing my remarks on the character of this 
 
21 
 
 distinguished man, I wish it not to be inferred that 
 it was faultless. Exemption from frailty, and in- 
 firmity, nay from sin, is not the attribute of mortal 
 man; but that, in public and private life, his faults 
 were obscured in the constellation of his virtues, 
 will be admitted by those who observed him most, 
 and knew him best. Future generations, in the 
 review of his well told life, will acknowledge, that 
 few men have lived so free from merited imputation, 
 in his retired or offieial course ; few were ever 
 followed to the grave with such universal, undis- 
 sembled, poignant grief. 
 
 I have finished my intended observations on the 
 character of the great man whose death has inflicted 
 so signal a calamity on our State and Country. I 
 would not have so occupied your time, had I not deem- 
 ed all that I have said, a just, though very feeble, 
 tribute to departed worth ; one which your own esti- 
 mate of its subject required to be rendered; one 
 which, in letter and spirit, is a compliance with the 
 apostolic precept in the text, " render to all their 
 dues — honour to whom honour ;" one which would 
 involve no infringement on the sanctity of this day 
 or place, or the excitement of a single feeling con- 
 nected with public controversies, which, as they 
 have long ceased to agitate the bosom of your 
 preacher, will never find a place in his public com- 
 munications. 
 
 I am free to confess my concurrence generally in 
 the objections that have been made to the introduc- 
 
22 
 
 tion of such subjects into the pulpit unadvisedly or 
 lightly ; while I see not their application to such a 
 case as that which has now employed us. I de- 
 precate the alliance of Church and State, of which 
 in this country there does not exist, as I believe, the 
 remotest danger. I would, as promptly as any man, 
 deny the obligation of obedience to the mandates of 
 the civil authority, in regard to the performance of 
 ministerial duty ; and, even in the case of a respect- 
 ful request such as that made, I have no doubt from 
 the purest motives, in the present instance, by the 
 constituted authorities of the City, I would claim 
 the right of determining for myself on the propriety 
 and expediency of a compliance. But it is extremely 
 difficult for me to see, why a man's having occupied 
 a public station should exclude his memory from a 
 mark of respect, which, I presume, all will admit, 
 may sometimes be properly and profitably rendered 
 to our departed friends. Such notices of men, whose 
 lives have been distinguished by public usefulness, 
 are not novelties, either in this country or abroad. 
 Our libraries are full of memorials of this kind ; 
 and the only apology I can make for the present, is 
 a repetition of my solemn conviction, that, if it were 
 ever proper, it is so in regard to the illustrious in- 
 dividual, taken from the arms of his country by so 
 sudden and unlooked for a dispensation of God's 
 providence, and for whom a whole community is 
 this day clothed in the habiliments of mourning. 
 
23 
 
 A few words of improvement, and I will no 
 longer trespass on your patience. 
 
 1'. Let those who are called to fill exalted and in- 
 fluential places in society, behold, in the bright ex- 
 ample before them, the compatibility of religion and 
 benevolence, and of an active engagement in their 
 promotion, with the highest eminence of station. 
 Who will aver that the public honours of Mr. Clin- 
 ton were in the slightest degree tarnished, or his 
 influence impaired, or his happiness abridged, by 
 the employment of a portion of his time and talents 
 in the promotion of moral and religious education, 
 in the circulation of the inspired Book of God, in 
 the preparation in learning of young men destined to 
 become the public Teachers of Christianity, in the 
 diffusion^by missions and tracts, both at home and 
 abroad, of its glorious doctrines and inimitable pre- 
 cepts, and even in that last charitable object of his 
 enlarged mind, so humble in its appearance, but 
 promising to be so blessed in its results, the estab- 
 lishment of Infant Schools. God grant, that in 
 greater numbers than at present, our public charac- 
 ters, and our men of wealth and influence, may be 
 found imitating his honourable example. 
 
 2. Let us learn from this unlooked for providence, 
 the precarious tenure by which we hold our choicest 
 blessings. We fancied that in our late Chief Ma- 
 gistrate we had much good j treasured up for many 
 years. Not a few of those whose minds are occu- 
 pied in public affairs, were hoping to see his sphere 
 
24 
 
 of usefulness yet more enlarged ; and his vigorous 
 and comprehensive intellect employed, not for the 
 State merely, but the Nation. In a moment the 
 least expected we have had a solemn demonstration 
 of the uncertainty of all earthly good. We have 
 been painfully taught how easily divine Omnipo- 
 tence can frustrate human expectation ; that man may 
 see " vanity" inscribed on his richest treasures, and 
 possessions ; and learn, that there is no dependence 
 for indestructible happiness but in the favour of God, 
 and the hopes inspired by true religion. " As for man, 
 his days are as grass ; as a flower of the field, so he 
 flourisheth ; for the wind passeth over it, and it is 
 gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more." 
 3. Let us, under this, and every affliction, learn 
 quiet and unmurmuring submission to the will of 
 God. " He worketh all things after the counsel of 
 his own will, and giveth not account of any of his 
 matters." " His ways are not our ways, nor his 
 thoughts our thoughts." Yet, when the mysteries 
 of his Providence shall be unravelled, as they will 
 be in the great day, which is to determine the final 
 destiny of all men, it will infallibly appear, that " the 
 Judge of all the earth hath done right." Let no 
 present obscurity lead us to doubt, either the wis- 
 dom, or the goodness, of his providential dispensa- 
 tions. What we " know not now, we shall know 
 hereafter." One thought however merits our atten- 
 tion. Nations and States, as well as individuals are 
 sometimes subjected to the chastening rod of the 
 
25 
 
 Almighty for their sins. While we of this commu- 
 nity bow submissively under this most afflictive 
 stroke, it becomes us all, and more especially 
 our rulers, to consider, whether it be not wise to 
 avert further judgments by erecting new bulwarks 
 against the inroads of licentiousness, and the deso- 
 lating progress of vice and immorality : For, surely, 
 there can be no promise of permanent security and 
 happiness to any people, who allow, where it is in 
 their power to prevent, the violation of God's laws. 
 Lastly ; let this disastrous instance of the uncer- 
 tainty of life teach us all, " so to number our days 
 as to apply our hearts unto wisdom." Death spares 
 neither rank, nor age. The efforts of this whole 
 community, had it been possible, would have been 
 put in requisition, to preserve the existence of him 
 whose loss we lament. But " there is no discharge 
 in this war." " The days of man are determined. 
 The number of his months are with the Lord. He 
 hath appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." 
 " The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and 
 the spirit unto God who gave it." In the awful 
 suddenness of this event, let us see the urgent ne- 
 cessity of habitual preparation for death. Time 
 and opportunity for that special preparation, on 
 which so many vainly calculate, it may be the plea- 
 sure of God, as the punishment of procrastination, 
 to deny us. Let us, then, disarm death of his ter- 
 rors, by at once turning to God with full purpose of 
 
36 
 
 heart. Repentance for sin, and faith in the sacrifice 
 of Christ, attested by undissembled holiness of life, 
 will not fail to draw down the pardoning mercy of 
 God, invest us with the sweet enjoyment of inward 
 peace, and prepare us for a blissful eternity. 
 
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