E 392 
 .R54 
 Copy 1 
 
Class 
 Book_ 
 
 
'THE MORNING COMETH;" OR, 1 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 ON 
 
 THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST. 
 
 BY 
 
 ■ " .a 
 
 ■'.5 
 
 ■K?" 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CONGREGATION. 
 
 PRINTED BY A. JAYNES, FRANKLIN HEAD, -PITTSBURGH 
 
 1841. 
 

 
 3^S 
 
 TO HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS OF PfTTSB'URGH; 
 
 THIS DISCOURSE 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY COMMENDED, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
A DISCOURSE ON 
 THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST. 
 
 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? 
 watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also 
 the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, conje. — Isaiah 21 : 11, 12. 
 
 We are assembled this day in the sanctuary, in accord- 
 ance with the recommendation of the chief magistrate of 
 our Union, and of the municipal authorities of our city. The 
 highest civil functionary of our land has called on the people 
 of these United States to humble themselves to-day, before 
 Almighty God, in view of his judgments towards us as a 
 people, especially in the recent removal of our late Presi- 
 dent, the beloved and lamented Gen. Harrison! The cir- 
 cumstance of his death while in office, and after being in the 
 Presidential chair only a single month, is unparalleled in 
 the history of our country! It is so striking and peculiar, as 
 to have directed all thinking minds to tlie recognition of 
 God's hand in this dispensation. This event has produced, 
 it is generally thought, a deeper and wider spread sensation 
 in the public mind, than any other, since the death of Gen. 
 Washington. Every one is ready to say, a nation was 
 never more distinctly spoken to by the God of heaven, than 
 ours has been. The people of this church and congregation, 
 and city generally, heartily respond to this rccommendatioi), 
 as it is attested by this large assembly, and by the solemn as- 
 pect and Sabbath stillness of our busy population. On a pre- 
 vious occasion, it was mentioned that the appointment of the 
 fast was the most favorable omen of good which has occur- 
 red for a long time; and if properly responded to by the peo- 
 ple, and improved by the ministry, that this will be a day of 
 unparalleled influence in the history of our country, and of 
 the world. 
 
 Seldom, if ever before, have I been more deeply sensible 
 of the dignity and responsibility of the sacred ministry! How 
 solemn, yet glorious, the task of directing the meditations of 
 a great nation, at a period when none but the most aban- 
 
doned iSe to think; when the presiding officer of 
 
 the natio.i ./okes us, by appropriate exercises, to inquire 
 into the causes of these Divine chastisements ; and when a 
 great national calamity, burying party differences, turns the 
 hearts of all towards the great Ruler of nations, in the atti- 
 tude of submission and supplication! What results may not 
 be naturally anticipated from such a day! 
 
 The text selected on this occasion, was suggested as the 
 subject of discourse by the ftict, that the mind of our lament- 
 ed President, very shortly before his fatal illness, in his 
 daily perusal of the Bible, was directed to, and greatly inte- 
 rested in, this passage of scripture; a fact which ought to be 
 perpetuated as a pleasing evidence that Harrison prized and 
 perused the Bible. It is a subject that might well occupy 
 the heart of the patriot, who was so soon to die; and also, 
 the prayerful consideration of the millions whom his death 
 has assembled in the house of God, over the length and 
 breadth of the land. 
 
 There is considerable obscurity about the passage, grow- 
 ing out of its sententious and enigmatic style, and our igno- 
 rance of the precise condition of the country alluded to. Some 
 things, however, are intelligible. "Dumah" is the same as 
 Idumea or Edom, the land of the children of Esau, situated 
 in Arabia Petrae, of which the celebrated Petra, or Sela, 
 was the capital, bordering on Palestine. Mount Seir was one 
 of the principal places of Idumea; and this locates the scene 
 of the prophecy beyond all reasonable doubt. 
 
 The prophet is addressed by one out of Seir: "Watch- 
 man, what of the night? Watchman, wliat of the night?" 
 It was then and yet the province of the literal watchman, to 
 mark off the divisions of the night, and to indicate the ap- 
 proach of the morning. Tlie prophets were spiritual watch- 
 men, ("for the watchman of Israel was with my God,") 
 whose minds and hearts were absorbed in the study of the 
 great principles of the Divine administration, and thus were 
 blessed with intimate knowledge, and peculiar prescience of 
 the Divine proceedings. It was their great prerogative to 
 indicate the progress of the Divine plans from period to pe- 
 riod, and thereby to judge of the prospects of national de- 
 liverance or distress. 
 
 This question may, therefore, be thus understood: What, 
 according to your opportunities of knowledge, and your de- 
 ductions of Providence, are the purposes of the great Ruler? 
 and what are the prospects of the nation? Is the night deep- 
 
ening, darkening? or is it "tar spe. 
 
 change appear? Tlie reply of tlie piu^iuri ,c 5.,^..! m the 
 language of the watchmen: "The morning cometh," — deliv- 
 erance is near, — "and also the night;" deliverance, but not 
 permanent; prosperity succeeded by adversity — alternation 
 of morning and night. He adds, "If ye will inquire, inquire 
 ye: return, come;" that is, if you are in earnest in wishing to 
 know the truth of the case, make it your diligent study ; go 
 away now, and come again, for this subject calls not for 
 hasty and cavilling questions, but deep, long continued and 
 patient investigation. This appears to be the meaning of this 
 short prophecy in its original application. Whether the ques- 
 tion coming from the Edomite pertained to his own country, 
 or to the country of the prophet ; whether put in the spirit 
 of taunting, in the night of Israel's calamity ; or of serious 
 inquiry, in reference to his own land, in her night of sorrow, 
 we have no means now of deciding. Had we the accurate 
 details of history, we might better determine. If it referred 
 to Israel, we know that "the morning came," and "also the 
 night" — a night long, dark and dreary. Shortly after this, 
 came the prosperous reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah. Then 
 came the night of the captivity, and subsequent alternations 
 of light and darkness, closing in the long night of banish- 
 ment and wandering, in which, from age to age, the enemies 
 of the children of Abraham, in bitter scorn, and themselves in 
 plaintive sorrow, exclaim, "Watchman, what of the night?" 
 Does no morning yet dawn on the long night of Israel's des- 
 olation? If the question referred to Idumca, we know that 
 its "morning" of glory, especially of Petra, its capital, was 
 after this period, during the government of the Romans, 
 when its monuments of splendor were probably built, and its 
 period of commercial greatness occurred. Since then, came 
 its night also; its desolations, as described by Burkhardt, 
 Laborde, and especially by our own Stephens. A night of 
 centuries; a night which, most probably, is to have no morn- 
 ing, rests on Dumah and Petra. Though "she dwelt in the 
 clefts of the rocks, exalted herself as an eagle, and set her 
 nest among the stars, yet she was brought down." Now 
 "there is none inhabitant in Edom" — "none passeth through" 
 Petra, and none crieth out of Mount Seir, "Watchman, what 
 of the night?" 
 
 The principle of this passage, however, is independent of 
 these historical illustrations. With this we are specially 
 concerned on the present occasion. 
 
 /" 
 
\ 
 
 In a sense, the rulers of the land are its watchmen. 
 
 If the true nieaning of this prophecy glimmered on the mind 
 of our late President, well might he feel its mysterious voice 
 addressing him, as he gained the highest point of human ele- 
 vation, "Watchman, what of the night?" In his case, how 
 rapidly did -'the night" of death follow "the morning" of in- 
 auguration. "His sun went down wliile it was yet noon ;" 
 and the day of our national rejoicings closed suddenly in a 
 night of universal lamentation. 
 
 But, as we have intimated, the ministers of the sanctuary 
 are, in the highest sense, watchmen, as the prophets were of 
 old. They are placed in the watch-tower to study, in se- 
 renity, and elevation above the world, the mind of God, and 
 the great principles of his administration over men and na- 
 tions, as given in his word and elucidated by his providence, 
 and by the teachings of the spirit of wisdom and revelation. 
 After discovering the mind of God, as his servants and 
 ambassadors to whom his secrets and covenant are made 
 known, they must give solemnly their views of the progress 
 of his plans, and of the prospects of nations. On such occa- 
 sions as these, in the night of national calamity and general 
 humiliation, they may consider themselves as addressed by 
 the people in the question of the text, — "Watchman, what of 
 the night?" As if it were said, what do your advantages and 
 opportunities of study and reflection lead you to conclude of 
 the nation's condition and prospects? How do things look 
 from the watch-tower, where God and tiie church have plac- 
 ed you? To these questions, tiie spiritual watchman should 
 try to return honest, scriptural and satisfactory answers, as he 
 shall give account to Him who has made him, in a solemn 
 sense, his oracle and interpreter. This is our present busi- 
 ness. "If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come." Let 
 us investigate, patiently and prayerfully, this interesting 
 problem. 
 
 We shall first dwell on the flict that we are "in the night;" 
 second, endeavour to trace the procuring causes of our ca- 
 lamity; and third, give some reasons for believing that "the 
 morning cometh, and also the night;" that prosperous times, 
 though with alternations, may be expected — alternate night 
 and morning — till that day cometh, when at "evening time it 
 shall be light," and the nights of earthly and national ca- 
 lamity lose themselves in the day of unclouded, uninterrupt- 
 ed, universal millennial glory. 
 
1st. As a nation, we are in the night; a period of national 
 tribulation and calamity. This is obviously the meaning of 
 this figurative expression. And it will be readily acknow- 
 ledged on all sides, that this is our state as a nation. It 
 needs no demonstration. It is assumed in the recommenda- 
 tion of the President, and is made the justifying cause of 
 this day of national humiliation. With the United States it 
 is, in the striking language of the prophet, "a day of dark- 
 ness and of gloominess ; a day of clouds of the thick dark- 
 ness, as the morning spreads upon the mountains." A day 
 of rebuke, and of the Lord's controversy. The mourning 
 garb of this pulpit well befits and symbolizes our condition 
 as a people. For nearly five years past, this nation has been 
 suffering in various ways, and by a great variety of second' 
 causes, the most unequal manifestations of Divine displea- 
 sure. To mention only a few: We have suffered commer- 
 cial embarrassments; we have had long continued pecuniary 
 pressures; there has been a fearful diminution of the amount 
 and value of business of all kinds; we have been threatened 
 with a war with England; and have been involved in a dis- 
 graceful and most ruinously expensive war with an insignifi- 
 cant tribe of Indians. We have had a most singular state of 
 weather. We see almost every where a humiliating depreci- 
 ation of State credit. These have continued and increased, 
 with occasional intervals, through that whole period. Pros- 
 pects of a change have proved delusive. Expedients, of va- 
 rious kinds, have only heightened the difficulty. The talents 
 and counsel of the nation have been baffled ; while, in the 
 meantime, disclosures of unprincipled conduct and talented 
 wickedness, have been made, which are literally astounding! 
 We have been told by shrewd men, from time to time, that 
 things would grow better; that when specie payments were 
 resumed — when the next cotton crop was sold — when the 
 sub-treasury bill was passed, and above all, when Gen. Har- 
 rison was elected, that brighter times would come. Well! the 
 banks have resumed and suspended again — crops of cotton 
 have been reared and sold — the sub-treasury bill is passed — 
 and Gen. Harrison has been elected, and yet "for all this his 
 anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." 
 It is still night with the nation! — a night lately deepened im- 
 mensely! The last is the most startling and stunning of all 
 her visitations. Amidst the distress and embarrassments of 
 the land, the eyes and hopes of a very large—indeed almost 
 
8 
 
 an imexami)letl portion of the land — were turned to Gen. 
 Harrison. TJiey conceived that his election, and the intro- 
 duction and prevalence of his principles into the administra- 
 tion, would be a cure for our troubles. Thej labored and 
 toiled with a zeal and energy commensurate with such a be- 
 lief—employed every means — strained every nerve- — address- 
 ed every principle — moved heaven and earth — produced an 
 enthusiasm unexampled in the history of our own, and pro- 
 bably of any country, and succeeded! In the climax of this 
 tremendous excitement, as by acclamation, he was chosen 
 President — he was inaugurated — he began to govern, and in 
 one short month, was numbered with the dead! Yes, — at a 
 stroke, in the midst of the rejoicings of a nation, and the an- 
 ticipation of the future, God took away "the mighty man — 
 the man of war — the judge — the prudent and honorable 
 man — the counsellor and the eloquent orator" — the head of 
 the government — the idol of the nation. To the night of 
 previous national calamity, is now added the night of widow- 
 hood and bereavement; to previous pressures and perplexi- 
 ties, is now added the bitterness of crushed hopes and blast- 
 ed expectations; to the previous striking, but neglected visita- 
 tions of his hand, is now added this most distinct and intelli- 
 gible act of national chastisement, and most unquestionable 
 evidence of Divine displeasure. When God's "hand was 
 lifted up" in previous afflictions, though it seemed perfectly 
 plain to many eyes, and painfully so to many hearts, who 
 were conversant with his usual methods, there were n)any 
 "who would not see." The great mass of "the people turn- 
 ed not to Him that smote them." Instead of this, they re- 
 sorted to explanations and mutual criminations. Parties 
 were formed to elaborate their respective panaceas, and 
 quarrel and complain because they were not tried or ap- 
 proved. To many a heart in the land, studied in the analo- 
 gies of God's dealings, and devotedly attached to this country 
 as the destined instrument of glory to God, and salvation to 
 man, the melancholy thought often occurred, "Why should 
 she be stricken any more? She will only revolt more and 
 more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." 
 Yet God, whose thoughts and ways are above ours, again, 
 and more distinctly than ever, has smitten the whole nation. 
 He had a noble victim yet in reserve, whom the nation were 
 first to crown with her richest garland, and exalt to her 
 highest place of power, before he was stricken of God for 
 
9 
 
 the sins of the people. This last seems to have been effec- 
 tual. Eyes, hitherto bhnded, have now been opened. The 
 world, tired of her mistakes, listens at last to the church. 
 The press even, confessedly secular, echoes and invites the 
 explanations of the pulpit. Reason, baffled and bewildered, 
 remands the case, as above her province, to the higher court 
 of revelation for settlement. The nation long restive, '-as a 
 bullock itnaccustomed to the yoke," — long stout-hearted in 
 her pride, and stubborn in her rebellion, though all along 
 conscious of something wrong and rotten — touched in her 
 tenderest point, and dashed in her darling idol, seems dispo- 
 sed af length to "kiss the rod and him that hath appointed 
 it," and humble herself ''under the mighty hand of God." 
 The American people, after nearly thirty years of visible ne- 
 glect of the God of nations, like the bewildered Edomite out 
 of Seir, asks tliis day, from the high places of power, and 
 over the length and breadth of the land, in the attitude of 
 docility, — "Watchman, what of the night?" 
 
 2d. Let us. inquire, what are the procuring causes of this 
 night of national calamity? 
 
 This is one of the special objects of this day's services, to 
 seek, by prayer, humiliation, and fasting, to know "wherefore 
 God contendeth with us;" acknowledging his hand in our 
 calamities, and his providence in the night of our tribula- 
 lation, to inquire why he hath smitten us. 
 
 This was the question moved by an ancient prophet, in a 
 period of similar calamity in ancient Israel: "Who is the 
 wise man that may understand tliis: and who is he to whom 
 the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it? 
 for what the land perishelh, and is burned up like a wilder- 
 ness." As applied to us, the question would be, Why, in the 
 midst of plenty, are we under such pressures? Why, with 
 such a fertile soil, are we so poor? Why, with such vast 
 materials and preparation, are we so wretched? Why, after 
 such high anticipations, have we been so soon — so suddenly 
 and so deeply disappointed? Well may the nation and the 
 church, and everv individual of both, ponder these serious 
 questions. 
 
 There are some things in this subject that are exceedingly 
 plain, whatever else may be difficult. 
 
 1st. It is very plain that we ought not, in this investigation, 
 to rest in proximate causes, or in human instrumentality, in 
 the errors or mistakes of our leading men. or measures of 
 
 o 
 
10 
 
 legislation. These are only means by which a higher power 
 works. Confusion in counsel— folly in high places — mis- 
 taken policy and calculation, are often the instruments God 
 selects or procures for ulterior purposes, and the methods of 
 inflicting his judicial displeasure. "He often taketh the wise 
 in their own craftiness." "He giveth senators wisdom," or 
 taketh it away. "He gave Israel" a certain kind of "a king in 
 his anger, and took away" another "in his wrath." He per- 
 mits learning, pride, ambition and selfishness, to work un- 
 controlled their own ends, though to the ruin of a country. 
 In all such cases, it is philosophical as it is pious, and it at 
 once lifts the soul to a serener atmosphere of thought, to 
 realize, "They are the sword, the hand is thine." 
 
 2d. It is very plain, that it is true in reference to nations, 
 as it is distinctly asserted of individuals. "He doth not af- 
 flict wilhngly," or capriciously. In every calamity of indi- 
 viduals, there is, whether we can ascertain it or not, a reason 
 for every trial. So we believe in regard to nations, whether 
 we are vv^ise enough or not to acknowledge it, there always 
 is a sufficient, if not specific cause for national calamities. 
 
 3d. Another thing is plain, that is, that sin is in general the 
 procuring cause of calamity to nations. It was to the nation 
 the prophet was commanded to say, "Your sins have hid 
 my face from you." In answer to the question just cited 
 from Jeremiah, the reply of inspiration is, "Because they 
 have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have 
 not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, but have walk- 
 ed after the imagination or stubbornness of their own heart." 
 This general principle is brought out in almost innumerable 
 passages of the ancient prophets, Isaiah testifies explicitly, 
 "Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, 
 and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel, therefore, 
 is the anger of the Lord kindled against them; and he hath 
 stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them. 
 Therefore, the grave hath enlarged herself, and opened her 
 mouth without measure, and their glory, and their multitude, 
 and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, hath descended into 
 it." We are aware that these things w^erc said of and to an- 
 cient Israel, which was under a theocracy. But, brethren, 
 the writings of the Old Testament, and especially the pro- 
 phets, are and were designed to be a record of "the acts and 
 constitution" of God's government over nations, to the end of 
 time. Here, whether men will "hear or forbear," are written 
 
11 
 
 the great principles of his administration, wliicli regulate his 
 movements, and should be read and revered in all ages. 
 
 "In them is plainest taught and easiest learned, 
 What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so; 
 What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat." 
 
 4th. Another tiling is plain also, that the sins which bring 
 the night of calamity upon nations, are those which impli- 
 cate by their nature, universahty, or sanction the whole body 
 of the people. This, we conceive, constitutes the idea usually 
 termed national sins. Of course, we do not mean every in- 
 dividual of the nation, but the great mass. They are such 
 sins as give no one portion of the land the privilege of cast- 
 ing the first stone, or impose on none the monopoly of hea- 
 ven's malediction. We conceive that it is not the sins of 
 a particular class, or of a particular place — not the sins of 
 the government, or of the governed exclusively, but the sins 
 of the people in the broadest sense, which bring down the 
 displeasure of the King of kings, and procure the night of 
 national calamity. We are often exceedingly unfit judges of 
 the intrinsic criminality of things, as they appear to the eye 
 of heaven, and are, therefore, exceedingly unfit to pronounce 
 authoritatively or dogmatically, what specific sins are the 
 procuring causes of the wrath of God on nations. 
 
 We are, moreover, generally prone to see the enormity of 
 the sins of others, more than our own ; to feel the aggrava- 
 tion of those crimes which pertain to man rather than to 
 God; that impinge on human comforts or rights, rather 
 than God's glory." Hence, in any given case, there will be 
 such contrary conclusions, even by seemingly candid minds 
 and honest hearts; and hence, unless we fasten on some 
 strictly national cause of calamity, we are always prone, on 
 such occasions as the present, to "fast for strife and lor 
 debate," and "to smite with the fist of wickedness;" to stir 
 up the worst passions of our imperfectly sanctified natures ; 
 to glorify ourselves by placing the sins of others in the 
 strongest light, and to invade the prerogative of God, by 
 assuming to ciirect the point of his punitive thunders, or 
 curses. 
 
 This will be the pecuhar temptation of this day; and 
 unless God gives special grace and wisdom to his authorized 
 interpreters — unless they can rise to something of the se- 
 renity of his throne, and the comprehensiveness of his vision, 
 and see things, in some measure, in the light of his counte- 
 
nance, who inliabitetli eternity, the valuable purposes of this 
 day will be prevented. It will subserve little the great ob- 
 jects of this day, to single out some " mere scantlings of the 
 sins of the nation," and explain the whole mystery of God's 
 dealing with us, on some contracted hypothesis, which our 
 pride or passion may have constructed. For in thus ex- 
 pressing our abhorrence and indignation at the sins of others, 
 we may escape from all contrition or repentance for our own. 
 
 One thing more, we think, is plain: In seeking for the pro- 
 curing cause of our calamities, we should fix especially on 
 those which involve dishonor and insult to the majesty of 
 heaven. In earthly governments, the highest species of 
 crime, involving the most condign punishment, is that of 
 treason — the '' crimen Jossw majestatis^'''' as the old law 
 writers term it — the crime of violated majesty. 
 
 In the government of God, the same principle is true. 
 Treason against his governrnent — crimes directed against or 
 issuing in violation of his majesty — sins against the throne, 
 especially when they become national, of all others, may be 
 supposed to involve national calamities! While die govern- 
 ment of God does not, any more than any other government, 
 overlook or depreciate the transgressions of duties existing 
 between subjects and subjects, as such; while some of these 
 social crimes may be dark, and deserving of severe retribu- 
 tion, yet we naturally look for the special interposition of the 
 government, when sins are committed against the sovereign. 
 God " will surely visit for these things, and his soul be 
 avenged on such a nation as this.". The Old Testament, and 
 the history of the Jews, is full of illustrations of this remark. 
 
 With these admitted principles, we might leave the applica- 
 tion to the good sense and christian candor of every hearer, 
 without any specifications ; and after thus guarding ourselves 
 against false and inadequate conceptions, it will not be diffi- 
 cult to fix upon some procuring causes of calamities, in 
 which all sober and reOecting minds will agree. We do not 
 mean, of course, to exhaust the subject, or affirm there are 
 no other procuring causes of national calamities. Our aim 
 shall be to exemplify in such a manner, that observing minds 
 and enlightened consciences may carry these principles 
 round the whole circle of their application. And first, we 
 may, in accordance with these principles, find in the sin of 
 cupidity — ''covetousness, or the love of money" — one of the 
 procuring causes of national calamity. 
 
13 
 
 This is a great sin. " The love of money is the root of 
 all evil, which, while some have coveted after, they have 
 erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with 
 many sorrows." " They that will be rich, fall into tempta- 
 tion, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 
 which drown men in destruction and perdition." It is a 
 general sin — the sin, the besetting sin of the nation. Deter- 
 mining to be rich; making riches the standard of value and 
 excellence, the measure of personal and national prosperity, 
 the aim of personal and national plans, and the object of 
 personal and national pride, is the disease and disgrace of 
 the American people. It is not the sin of one state, or sec- 
 tion — of a particular class, or grade. Hasting to be rich, has 
 been the universal leprosy. It has assumed, it is true, dif- 
 ferent forms in different places. In one section, for example, 
 it may have led to oppression, to the sacrifice of the happi- 
 ness, the health, and the lives of the poor slaves. In another, 
 it has absorbed the whole souls, bodies, and energies of 
 men, in the drudgery of business, and shrivelled all their mo- 
 ral sensibilities and mental powers, in its insatiable demands. 
 In one place, it has assumed the form of wild speculation, 
 building paper cities, — expanding the value of real estate, — 
 indulging in wild and impracticable schemes, and ruinous 
 projects. In others, it has led to defalcations in sacred trusts, 
 embezzling entrusted funds, manufacturing fictitious and irre- 
 deemable money, gambling in fancy stocks, and battening on 
 the miseries and misfortunes of the breaking, or the broken. 
 But in essence it has been the same, and in influence it has 
 been universal. What portion of this great community can 
 cast the first stone here, and say, it is faultless? What state, 
 what city, what town, what individual, can plead not guilty, 
 on this charge? Can the North defame the South, or the 
 East the West, or are all guilty? Covetousness is a crime 
 partaking of the nature, and involving the punishment of 
 treason against the majesty of heaven. The principle of in- 
 spiration is, " covetousness is idolatry ;" and idolatry, what- 
 ever be its form, is treason. Treason, in essence and act, is 
 placing something in the room of God. Alas! the idol, in 
 this case, is as low and base as ever Egypt invented, or the 
 children of Ammon or Moab ever worshipped. 
 
 " Mammon! the least erected spirit, that fell 
 
 From heaven; for even in heaven his looks and thoughts 
 
 Were always downward bent, admiring more 
 
 The riches of heaven s pavement, trodden gold, 
 
 Than aught divine or holy, else enjoyed 
 
 In vision beatific."' 
 
14 
 
 Could any thing be conceived more insulting, than that men 
 should consent to become the priests of such an idol, and 
 consecrate their immortal energies to attain as much as possi- 
 ble, not of the glorious image of the infinitely excellent Je- 
 hovah, but of such a contemptible antagonist and rival! Is 
 not the glorious majesty of God offended, when character is 
 estimated by the amount of wealth possessed, and not of ho- 
 liness acquired? Is not truth outraged, and the God of 
 truth insulted, when a fool is deemed oracular, or a villain 
 is glorified, provided "he is rich and increased in goods?" 
 When defalcations, provided they amount to thousands or 
 millions; or bank robberies, provided they are splendid, 
 are matters of jest to others, and of glory to the villain, 
 rather than of shame, involving universal reprobation. God 
 forbid, that I should pander for a moment to the accursed 
 spirit which would array the poor against the rich ; or that I 
 should ever make the pulpit the organ of radical nonsense! 
 But, in a calm and sober review of the last year of our coun- 
 try's history, do we not find this sin of covetousness or cu- 
 pidity — tliis hastening to be rich, and making wealth the 
 standard of excellence, as Mons. De Tocqueville has honest- 
 ly said, one of the besetting sins of America? Is it not true, 
 that "moral and intellectual worth are but lightly esteemed, 
 in comparison with the possession of that sordid dross, which 
 every brainless upstart, or every corrupt adventurer may ac^ 
 quire?" And is it not spiritually treasonable? Is it not one 
 of those very sins, which the supreme government of the 
 universe is especially called upon to rebuke, or permit its 
 honor to be insulted with impunity? Can he — will he suffer 
 such idolatry to be unvisited? 
 
 And do we not see our sins in our punishment? Against 
 what do the judgments of God seem most distinctly to have 
 been pointed? Has it not been against "the love of money?" 
 Wiio have suffered most severely in the convulsions that 
 have swept over our land? Is it not those who hastened to 
 be rich? Where have the pressures been most crushingly 
 and ruinously felt? Has it not been where the wild spirit of 
 speculation has been most rampant, or where the unholy lust 
 of gain has most fully triumphed over the sober reason, or 
 outraged all the sensibilities of the heart, and all the most sa- 
 cred rights of man? Who have "pierced themselves through 
 with many sorrows?" Who have "fallen into many foolish 
 and hurtful lusts?" Who are crippled in usefulness — the 
 objects of distress to the pious — standing reproaches of the 
 
15 
 
 visible cliurcli, and the disgrace of the mercantile world? 
 Who are likely to "drown their souls in eternal perdition," af- 
 ter being tossed tempestuously through this present evil world? 
 We answer, those who, in scorn of all rebuke and proud 
 consciousness of superior wisdom, resolved to be rich, though 
 in the process, conscience, consistency, and the claims of 
 God, were all, alike, and at once disregarded. 
 
 Again, another procuring cause of national calamity exists 
 in the general desecration of the Sabbath. 
 
 The rememberance of the Sabbath, to keep it holy, is a 
 part of the holy and unrepealable code of laws which God 
 has given to man. It is a specific claim to a particular por- 
 tion of time, for specific purposes, by the Sovereign, who has 
 given us all our time. It forms an occasion for the regular 
 recognition of God's authority, and the supremacy of his 
 government. The Sabbath, in God's dealings with his an- ' 
 cient people, was specially designated as a badge of alle- 
 giance between the nation and its God, a purpose, which God 
 designed it should subserve in all nations wiiich profess the 
 christian religion, through all time. 
 
 These general observations, which have often heretofore 
 been enlarged upon in our ministrations, we trust will show 
 clearly, that there is something more than ordinary in its na- 
 ture, and its consequences, in the desecration of the Sabbath 
 by a professedly christian nation. This, in the highest sense 
 of the term, is treason against God. Of all other sins, this 
 is a more specific insult to his majesty; a deliberate viola- 
 tion of the oath of allegiance, which every people, who ac- 
 knowledge God, are supposed to take. 
 
 On the principles already laid down, this sin may be sup- 
 posed necessarily to involve some marked token of the dis- 
 pleasure of the Sovereign. And is not this the sin of our 
 people — of our rulers — of our private citizens — our consti- 
 tuted authorities — our associations? Is it not an all-pervad- 
 ing sin, where there is no monopoly of guilt, which is boun- 
 ded by no geographical lines — aftecting no separate branches 
 of the great brotherhood of transgressors, and involving no 
 sectional judgments? Is not our nation guilty of dishonoring 
 God, by desecrating his day? Did not the nation place in the 
 second ofiice of her gift, which we see by recent facts, might 
 have become the first, the very man who argumentatively 
 blasphemed the institution, and insulted all who plead for its 
 observance, with the energy of faith, and eloquence of sin- 
 
16 
 
 cere conviction? Again, does not the nation hold out ii 
 standing bribe, the emoluments of office, and the gains of 
 her contracts, to those who Vt'ill disobey God, by doing the 
 work of the Post Office, and of transporting the mail on the 
 holy'kSabbath? Has not our national Congress, in the sight 
 of heaven, and this whole people, repeatedly transacted busi- 
 ness on the Sabbath? And what are all of our lines of in- 
 ternal improvements, but so many facilities and temptations 
 to Sabbath desecration? What is nearly every rail road car 
 and steam boat in our land, but a splendid apparatus, em- 
 bracing at once the highest monument of human wisdom, and 
 the most exquisitely tempting violation of the rest of God? 
 What is bridge stock, turnpike stock, but indirect Sabbath 
 desecration? The principle of Sabbath desecration has per- 
 vaded almost every department of business, and meets the 
 conscientious christian at almost every step of life. Is it any 
 wonder we are in the night of calamity, if national sins bring 
 national judgments, and if the crime of treason against God 
 is the especial procuring cause of Wrath from his hand? 
 And have we not here also seen, or may we not see, our sin 
 in our punishment? Not with a view of expressing any po- 
 litical prejudices or predilections, but as a minister of God, 
 and an interpreter of his providence, I put the question, to be 
 pondered by all reflecting men. What was the whole ad- 
 ministration, of which the individual alluded to, occupied so 
 prominent a position, from the few first weeks until its close? 
 Was it not a tissue of mortifying perplexities — national hu- 
 miliation — distracted counsels — confused policy — and most 
 ruinous expenditures? Remembering the first principle as- 
 sumed, that men are but means, and administrations but in- 
 struments, in the hands of God, what could be a more expli- 
 ut rebuke to the whole nation for their proud and perverse 
 position in regard to the Sabbath, than this fact? We are 
 aware that other explanations are abundant. Politicians im- 
 mediately blame all on the party. But this is folly. When 
 
 " God proclaims 
 His hot displeasure against foolish men, 
 And desolates a nation at a blast, 
 Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells 
 Of homogeneal and discordant springs 
 And principles; of causes, how they work 
 By necessary laws; their sure effects 
 Of action and re-action." 
 
 Thus, in every age, men have contrived to exclude God 
 from the government of his own world. 
 
n 
 
 Again, what is the fact in regard to those splendid State 
 improvements, based on the principle of Sabbath desecration, 
 from which so much was anticipated? Why have our State 
 stocks been depreciated to a mere nominal value in every 
 part of Europe? Was it not from the construction of these 
 very Sabbath desecrating works? And has not this indeed 
 produced our heaviest foreign debts, and thus, to a great ex- 
 tent, the whole pecuniary difficulty of our country? Thus 
 dirowing us back to Sabbath desecration, as the procuring 
 cause of our pressures. What, especially, has been the fact 
 with the State improvements of this common^vealth, which 
 have been conducted from the beginning, on the principle of 
 Sabbath desecration, involving a whole army of engineers, 
 conductors, collectors, lock keepers, captains, crews, and 
 drivers, in the wholesale violation of this day of sacred rest? 
 Instead of yielding any revenue, these vast works, which 
 have been so costly, and from which so much was confident- 
 ly expected, have sunk annually half a million of dollars to 
 the State! This fact is gathered from official sources, and of 
 its correctness there can be no doubt. Partisans will ascribe 
 this also to political causes, and blame the extravagance of 
 this or that State administration. But we are not now con- 
 cerned with second causes. We are assured that there is 
 One, "higher than the highest." Why were the people of 
 Pennsylvania left to choose such rulers, or why did the con- 
 gregated wisdom of Pennsylvania commit such blunders? 
 And what has been the history of Sabbath desecrating steam 
 boats, and steam boat owners in this land, and especially 
 within the range of our own observation? Need another 
 word be said on that subject? This pulpit gave explicit 
 warning, and laid down the law of the Lord plainly, and 
 pourtrayed consequences, as derived from heaven, and Pro- 
 vidence has not left the interpretation or application dubious 
 or difficult to all discerning minds. In regard to this whole 
 matter, we are well aware, that the easy plea of necessity 
 will be urged. But though men may argue as they will 
 about necessity, God has never made any sin necessary. 
 England, as commercial surely as we, does not need a Sab- 
 bath mail. Scotland, to her immortal honor, "faithful amidst 
 the faithless found," does not permit a Sabbath breaking rail 
 road from one end of the country to the other; and sooner 
 or later God will show the stupidest of our land, that busi- 
 ness based on sin will be ruinous to all that embark in it, 
 3 
 
18 
 
 So that, if regard to God's law and honor does not promote 
 the observance of the day, he will command other agencies, 
 and by means of other principles, will bring about the same 
 result. Until the nation learns to regard the Sabbath, and 
 State improvements recognize the law of heaven, and indi- 
 vidual and associated business comes to be based on giving 
 one day in seven to God, our monuments of pride, and means 
 of wealth, will be made monuments of our folly, and means 
 of our chastisement. 
 
 It is obvious that the principle laid down, might be applied 
 in other ways. Wherever we discover a sin which is univer- 
 sal in its practice, or becomes so by its sanction, and that is 
 specially directed against God's mnjesty, and partakes of the 
 nature of treason, there is an additional procuring cause of 
 our calamity. But passing these, as some of them can hard- 
 ly bo discussed at all without injury, and others would give 
 rise to inappropriate contrariety of views- — 
 
 We proceed to mention one other procuring cause of our 
 calamities as a nation, especially the last and most afflictive, 
 the sudden removal of our lamented chief magistrate — our 
 confidence in man, instead of God. God's word pronounces, 
 and his providence inflicts a curse on such confidence. The 
 purpose of God in our former trials was doubdess to bring 
 us to recognize his hand, and acknowledge his chastisement} 
 to bring the nation to look to him for relief, by penitence and 
 prayer. Instead of this, however, we "went unto physicians." 
 The nation's eyes and hopes were turned away from God to 
 a man — a great and noble man it is true — one whose char- 
 acter endured a fiery ordeal; whose popularity grew as his 
 past history was reviewed; who had in a remarkable degree 
 the noble principles, and stern integrity, and republican sim- 
 plicity of our beloved Washington; one admirably qualified 
 for the high station to which he was called, and adorned 
 with excellencies adapted to make him the idol of the na- 
 tion; all shining now with special and melancholy lustre 
 around his grave — but still a man! whose "breath was in his 
 nostrils"— and not God. The great mass of the nation put 
 their trust in this man for redemption from trouble. Profess- 
 ing christians practically forgot their principles under the im- 
 pulse of prevalent excitement. Even ministers of the sanc- 
 tuary indirecdy gave the glory to the creature, which they 
 felt, in soberer moments, was due only to the Creator. The 
 nation bewildered, perplexed and intoxicated, committed the 
 
19 
 
 ^in of treason against God, and that too at a time when his 
 hand had been so signally stretched out to scourge them. 
 You remember well how it was. Every thing was to be 
 rectified — the heavens were to smile — the earth to be fruit- 
 ful — commerce to revive, and all the land be made glad, 
 when this event took place. All evils were to be cured by 
 the election of Harrison. This was a sin — a general sin — 
 a sin against the honor and glory of God — the sovereign 
 and source of national and persona! prosperity and happi- 
 ness. We can see it now. In the sober light, or rather 
 darkness, which Providence has brought over this nation, 
 the whole case appears distressingly clear to every thought- 
 ful mind. This nation provoked God by trusting in man, 
 and deeply, decisively, darkly has it been punished. Our 
 sin here, more clearly if possible than any where else, is seen 
 in our punishment. Our confidence in man has been so 
 strikingly taught in this blow, that scarcely any one now can 
 look back without wondering that he should ever have been 
 so far carried astray. Especially, christians feel astonished 
 that they could have so far forgotten the first principles of 
 Christianity — the very elements of God's administration, as 
 to have helped to swell that tide of enthusiastic confidence 
 in an arm of flesh, which is so offensive to God, and so sure 
 to incur his frown. How few can plead guiltless? North, 
 South, East and West had their log cabins, and Tippecanoe 
 songs, and symbols of hard cider, banners, mass meetings, 
 and processions. The sleep of lethargy was broken — the 
 dignity of rank forgotten — old age shook its crutches, and 
 infancy lisped the language of idolatry. God has distinctly 
 rebuked this sin. The death of Gen. Harrison has been 
 thus interpreted, not only by the spiritual watchmen, but i!ie 
 editorial corps of the land generally. It has been rendered 
 the occasion of infusing into the public mind a great amount 
 of sound religious truth, and of engraving in many hearts 
 deeply, and we trust indelibly, a sense of the great tolly and 
 danger of confidence in princes, and the duty and necessity 
 of trusting only in God. If this result is subserved, good 
 may indeed be brought out of evil, and his death may do 
 more than ever his life would have done, for his country. 
 This may be, and we trust it is, the design of Providence. 
 If so, who can regard this smgular event, hitherto unexam- 
 pled in our land, with indifference, or refrain from laying it to 
 heart? No! illustrious man, "it will be long," in the language 
 of the Rev, Robert Hall, somewhat modified, "ere thy name 
 
•20 
 
 is mentioned by Americans, witliout tears. Remote poste- 
 rity, as they peruse this melancholy page of our history, will 
 'lay it to heart,' and will be tempted to ask, if no milder ex- 
 pedient than this could suffice to correct our folly, and make 
 us mindful of our duty. They will look back witii venera- 
 tion on the noble victim, destined by the inscrutable wisdom 
 of Providence to warn and edify that people by his death, 
 which he was not permitted to the extent of his ambition to 
 benefit by his life."* 
 
 Let us lastly and briefly inquire the prospects of this night 
 of the nation's calamity. You have gathered from what was 
 said in the beginning, that in view of the whole case, we in- 
 dulge in cheering prospects. We trust "the morning cometh." 
 We cannot enter very fully into this part of the subject; but 
 some of our reasons for this impression are the following: In 
 the first place, there is great encouragement in the general 
 disposition to fulfil the duties imposed by such a period, to 
 which, the recommendation of the President has called the 
 nation. The fact here assumed, we trust, is not taking loo 
 much for granted. The duties of this nation now obvious- 
 ly are. to acknowledge tiie hand of God in our calamities; 
 to make full and honest confession, and exercise hearty re- 
 pentance for the sins which have provoked God's displeasure, 
 and to undertake and accomplish a general reformation. In 
 this view of the case, we leel especially encouraged by the 
 manner and spirit in which the recommendation of the na- 
 tional fast-day has been received by ail classes throughout 
 the nation — by the tone of the press of all parties, (the echo 
 and concentration of jjublic sentiments,) in reference to this 
 appointment — by the general absence of all objection or cavil- 
 ling in regard to this point. These are healthy symptoms of 
 a return of proper moral feeling. Never, since I have been 
 able to notice public affairs, have there been more hearty in- 
 dications of a general humiliation before God, in view of his 
 judgments. Iniquity, though far from ceasing, seems now 
 disposed to "hide its head." The lewd tongue of the agrarian 
 seems stilled, at least for a season: the foul whispers of infi- 
 delity and atheisin seem checked: the theatre is dumb, and 
 the fire-king is still, to-night. Even fanaticism, with possibly 
 an exception or two, appears to join in the general tone of 
 sentiment. There appears to be a disposition to say, "We 
 have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have rebell- 
 ed, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judg- 
 
 * Sermon on the deatli of" Princess Cliarlolte. 
 
21 
 
 ments. Oh Lord! to us belongeth confusion of faces; to our 
 rulers and our fathers; because we have sinned against thee." 
 "In our trouble," we at last seem disposed "to pour out our 
 prayers unto him." The atheistic spirit seems rebuked by this 
 manifestation, and all the latent piety of the land seem em- 
 boldened to speak out. There appears also to be some 
 symptoms of turning unto the Lord — some sense of the sin 
 and folly of cupidity — some steps towards national reforma- 
 tion in regard to the Sabbath mails — and some strong con- 
 victions in regard to the sin and folly of putting confidence 
 in man. In tbe church, where the true spirit must of course 
 originate, and whence it must go forth over the rest of the 
 population, the healthy symptoms are distinct and encourag- 
 ing. Among our rulers, a return to the principles and prac- 
 tices of better days seems rationally, from present appear- 
 ances, to be expected. Men in high places have learned, 
 or are learning, the vanity of office, and die folly of ambi- 
 tion. 
 
 We are not, and need not, be discouraged by the thought, 
 that much of this is transient, and even insincere. The his- 
 tory of Nineveh is fraught with encouragement to nations, 
 who assume the visible attitude of confession and repentance, 
 though deficient in thorough views. The fast appointed there, 
 amidst God's threatened judgments, was generally observed, 
 though we by no means suppose that it was conducted entire- 
 ly on right principles. Yet its visible results were great and 
 momentous. So we have no doubt God will signally mark 
 this act of national humiliation ; for God notices and rewards 
 visible recognitions. When we are brought low, he will as- 
 suredly help us. The first feeling of many who had mourn- 
 ed over the insensibility of the nation, and her increasing 
 chastisements, when they heard of this appointment, was, 
 "the morning cometfi." That impression has been deepen- 
 ed by the manifestations of feeling in various ways since. 
 
 There is every thing in the analogy of God's past dealings, 
 and the general tenor of his principles, to encourage us to 
 hope great things, from a visible universality in this act of 
 national humiliation. He has afliicted, only to humble us; 
 to bring us to repentance and confession, and to a recogni- 
 tion of his authority, and of our dependance upon him. Pre- 
 cisely so far as the nation manifests a disposition to take this 
 position, there is reason to believe the morning of her pros- 
 perity is approaching. With God it is infinitely easy to drive 
 all clouds away. It is because he has hidden his face, that 
 
•22 
 
 we are troubled. Let him "lift upon us again the light of 
 his countenance," and prosperity will smile through all our 
 borders, even as the blessed light of the sun, to-day, re-il- 
 lumines the creation, long hung with dreary clouds and chill- 
 ing vapors. As he doth not afflict willingly, so he never con- 
 tinues his afflictions any longer than they are absolutely ne- 
 cessary. As soon as we return to him in penitence, he will 
 return to us in blessing. Let each of us as individuals, sin- 
 cerely humble ourselves — honestly confess our sins — break 
 off from them by doing righteousness — shed around us the 
 light of a holy and consistent example — and trust and pray 
 that the same may be universal. And in proportion as we 
 feel the spirit of grace and supplication, the temper of humi- 
 liation and confession, and the purpose of thorough reforma- 
 tion, we may indulge the hope that "the morning cometh." 
 
 There is great encouragement also in the remarkable hush- 
 ing of the violence of party strife in the nation. Tliis, also, 
 we conceive to be an assumption fully justified by the facts 
 in the case. The mournful event which has specially occa- 
 sioned this fast, has greatly contributed to this result. As 
 party violence has been one of the instrumental causes of our 
 calamity, so its removal would be one of the most hopeful 
 symptoms of returning prosperity. By removing the confu- 
 sion of our counsels and harmonizing the Babel of our strife, 
 God could soon restore our country to her former glory. 
 The death of the President is adapted to do this work — to 
 calm the fever of political agitation — to turn men's minds to 
 points of agreement, rather than of diversity — to make us 
 feel ourselves brothers of one great family, and not natural 
 enemies to each other. It is eminently adapted to carry 
 the thoughts of all, especially of our legislators and leading 
 men, from the petty schemes of personal ambition and vanity, 
 to that great theatre, where the passions and excitements of 
 earth, the noise of its acclamations, the glitter of its honors, 
 the hurry of its ambition, and the fever of its strife, have no 
 place — to that region, where "there is no more sea." 
 
 What Caiaphas, the high priest, said of the Redeemer, in 
 a merely political sense, may be said of this event: "It was 
 expedient for the people, that one man die, and the whole 
 nation perish not." And we may apply to this event what 
 Dr. Chalmers said on an occasion somewhat analogous, (the 
 death of the Princess Charlotte, of England.) "It does not 
 wear the aspect of an affair of politics at all, but of an affair 
 of the heart; and the novel exhibition is now offered, of all 
 
2^ 
 
 party irritations merging into one common and overwhelm- 
 ing sensibility. Oh! how it tends to quiet the agitations of 
 every earthly interest and earthly passion, when Death steps 
 forward and demonstrates the littleness of them all— when he 
 stamps a character of such affecting insignificance on all we 
 are contending for — when, as if to make known the greatness 
 of his power in the sight of a whole country, he stalks in 
 ghastly triumph over the might and grandeur of its most au- 
 gust family, and singling out that member of it on whom the 
 dearest hopes and the gayest visions of the people were sus- 
 pended, he, by one fatal and resisdess blow, sends abroad 
 the fame of his victory and his strength throughout the wide 
 extent of an afflicted nation." How many in high places 
 have been brought to realize (God grant that it may be per- 
 manently and usefully) Edmund Burke's remark, on hear- 
 ing of the death of a competitor during a canvass: "What 
 shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" By this 
 event, the heart of the American people has been brought 
 out. It has shown, that underneath all that is fierce and fac- 
 tious in appearance, we are at bottom one people. One great 
 national calamity has made our tears flow together, even as 
 the scattered and almost alienated children of one father, 
 when they came together at his burial. This gives us a 
 blessed assurance, that if ever called to the trial, our hearts 
 and nerves would all be in blessed unison in any period of 
 general danger, or in the prosecution of any object of univer- 
 sal interest. Our greatest troubles have arisen, heretofore, 
 from distracted counsels. Our wisdom has been neutralized 
 by factious opposition ; and our most appalling dangers have 
 grown out of the fierce spirit of party, and the force of sec- 
 tional interests. If God has calmed into "unity of spirit'' the 
 disturbed elements of our land, and quelled, by one mighty 
 calamity the greatest foe of our peace and prosperity, well 
 may the patriot and the christian, with re-assured confidence 
 and thankfulness, exclaim, "The morning cometh." At the 
 next session of our national legislature, now to assemble in a 
 few weeks, the first fruits of this affliction, and of its con- 
 nected blessing, may be seen in the spirit of concihation and 
 compromise, of late so rare, and yet unquestionably so indis- 
 pensable in the legislation of a country so varied and con- 
 flicting in its pursuits. 
 
 Again, there is great encouragement in the reflection, that 
 God's ordinary method of preparing for great blessings, is by 
 previous trials. This is, unquestionably, true of individuals. 
 
24 
 
 •'The valley of Achor is the door of hope" to usefulness, hb^ 
 nor, and happiness. The giants of glorious renown in the 
 history of the world, and especially of the church, were 
 schooled in affliction, and trained amidst trials. The youth 
 of Washington, and also of Harrison, was not spent in ease 
 and luxury, but in rugged duties and disciplinary circum- 
 stances. This is God's usual plan with nations, unless their 
 judgments are designed to be final and desolating, which we 
 trust is not the fact with our land. The past, and continued 
 care and culture of God — the fact that we have not been left 
 to go on unrebuked in our pride and forgetfulness of Him, is 
 to the pious mind, richly fraught with encouragement. As 
 the individual christian feels sometimes encouraged by the 
 thought, that God does not mean to throw away all the care 
 he has expended on him, and his highest hope in sorrow 
 sometimes arises from the fact, that these trials are too costly 
 to be otherwise than disciplinary, so we may be encouraged 
 in regard to nations, especially our own land. Oh! my coun- 
 try, may the christian patriot say, thou wast beloved and pre- 
 cious in thy wildest career of prosperity; yet thou art doubly 
 dear in the night of thy sorrow; for now God dealeth with 
 thee as his own child. Because he loveth thee, and designs 
 to glorify and beautify thee, therefore, he hath dealt so with 
 thee. As in providence, he softens the earth with showers, 
 that he may fill it "with the finest of the wheat;" and he 
 crushes the flower, to cause its sweetest perfume to be shed 
 forth ; so, we trust, he has softened thy heart by sorrow, that 
 he may stamp thereon his own image, and has crushed 
 thee, that thou mayest give him the sweetest incense of thy 
 affections and gratitude. 
 
 The great blessing, of course, in our estimation, bringing 
 solid and substantial prosperity to our land, would consist in 
 a general effusion of the Holy Spirit, and a general and per- 
 vading influence of genuine vital piety over men's hearts and 
 lives. Let religion, true vital godliness, as traced in the 
 scriptures, as exemplified in primitive times, and as seen oc- 
 casionally and temporarily in revivals of religion, come to 
 pervade all classes, as a sober, settled principle, grounded in 
 the depths of men's souls, and not in the surface of their 
 sympathies, influencing their every-day business and deport- 
 ment, and carried out in all their relations, and extending 
 from the highest in office, to the lowest in society — and how 
 soon would our troubles be ended! Let cupidity, with "all 
 the lusts of the flesh," be crucified all over the land ; let the 
 
2d 
 
 genuine standard of excellence and worth become the sole 
 passport to honor and office; let christian hunnility, leading 
 men, "in honor to prefer one another," instead of incessant 
 scramblings and annoying solicitations for office, be ingrained 
 into the whole mass of the people, and then the specific evils 
 which we deplore, will speedily pass away. There would be 
 no motive then to oppression — no opportunity for Sabbath 
 breaking — no temptation to defalcation, or personal ambition. 
 Our country would be happy and prosperous; "our sons would 
 be as plants grown up in their youth ; our daughters, as corner 
 stones polished after the similitude of a palace; our garners 
 full, affording all manner of stores; our oxen would be strong 
 to labor: there would be no breaking in, nor going out, nor 
 complaining in our streets." 
 
 For the reason given, we are encouraged to hope that "the 
 morning" of this day "cometh;" that "the Spirit will be 
 poured out from on high" upon us; that a hitherto unex- 
 ampled unction will attend the services of the ministry, 
 and the labors of christian men; that the Gospel, embrac- 
 ing more and more of the true energy and genius of the 
 land, consecrating to its service the highest in office, and 
 brightest in talents, inspiring all men with a nobler ambition 
 than to "rob tiie serpent of his food, and to indulge a sordid 
 lust," will win and conquer, till our nation is ready to gird 
 herself for the work of benefiting and blessing the whole 
 world. For God empties, and then fills; he humbles, and 
 then exalts. It would be unspeakably easy with God, who 
 has "the residue of the Spirit," to bring all this to pass. If 
 we are ready, it will be done. Let him only say, "let there 
 be light," and there will be "light." Only let Pentecostal 
 effiisions of the Spirit be granted, and the nation may be 
 christianized before the close of the year. We cannot re- 
 sist the hope, that this advent of the Spirit draws near, be- 
 cause God has been training us for its enjoyment by trials. 
 It sometimes seems to the eye of faith, that "the heavens 
 are big with rain," the showers will soon descend, the pur- 
 poses of God developed, and his heritage thus inimitably en- 
 larged through all lands. 
 
 These, brethren, are some of the reasons which lead us 
 to hope that "the morning cometh" to our nation, after the 
 night of deep and long continued calamity. We do not, in- 
 deed, speak confidently or dogmatically, but only "as God 
 has dealt to us the measure of faith/' Possibly, too, we are 
 4 
 
2ti 
 
 Miiistakeii in the iacts of the case, and our hopes may too 
 much have brightened the data, on which our conclusions 
 are founded. Possibly, the nation is not, and will not be 
 humbled, and will not repent and "turn from her evil ways." 
 "The goodness" of this nation, thougii promising to-day, may 
 prove as "the morning cloud that passeth away," and then 
 we know the night will continue and deepen upon us. But 
 still, our present impressions of the prospects of tlie nation 
 are promising. God grant that the voice of this prophecy, 
 and the conclusion of this discourse, may soon be a fact, and 
 matter of thanksgiving to the American people. 
 
 But, though we believe "the morning cometh," so we be- 
 lieve that "the night," also, will doubtless, sooner or later, 
 succeed. To say nothing now of other sources of danger, 
 the very prosperity we anticipate, if we judge from the past, 
 will again, before long, engender the sins, which will make 
 the hand of God in our affliction again necessary. Several 
 of these alternations have already passed over our young 
 land. It seems, alas! as if every generation must learn wis- 
 dom by its own experience; for tlie lessons and counsels of 
 the past are disregarded. In the wild and reckless period 
 preceding our present calamity, many solemn voices were 
 heard in the noise of our nation's pride, pleading the lessons 
 of the past, but in vain. We can hardly hope for a different 
 result hereafter. Our children will hardly believe our story 
 of "the night," through which we are now passing, in the day 
 of their coming prosperity. They will not be able to see how 
 it was possible that the night could come so soon, and be so 
 deep and long continued. 
 
 But there is a period even on earth, when these alterna- 
 tions are destined to cease. There is a day known unto the 
 Lord, not dark and light, but when, "at evening time, it shall 
 be light." This is the day of earth's final story — a morning, 
 which has no night. The glory and continuance of this day 
 will amply compensate for all antecedent alternations. Its 
 developments will clear up fully and forever "the mystery of 
 God," in the government of the globe. This nation, if she 
 "learn righteousness" by God's judgments, may be an honor- 
 ed instrument of rolling forward that blessed period; and this 
 national fast, properly improved, may have an incalculable 
 power on the question of the millenium. To that "morning" 
 which "cometh," as surely as God hath spoken, we would 
 direct your thoughts amidst all the actual and anticipated al- 
 ternations of time. 
 
Bui, after all, we sliould extend our thoughts farther. 
 Earth, and its changes, should remind us of eternity, and en- 
 dear to us its deep and untroubled repose. In the night of 
 national and personal calamity and sorrow, we should hear 
 the voice of inspiration assuring us in a far higher and no- 
 bler sense, that "the morning cometh," the morning of im- 
 mortal glory, the sun-light of heaven's eternal noon. "There 
 is no night there," and '-no more curse, and no more sea, for 
 the former things arc done awav." There, we shall need 
 fasting and weeping no more, for sorrow and sighing shall 
 have fled away forever. Oh! my fellow traveller in the night 
 of time, seek to gain that land of eternal light and rest. 
 
 If our lamented President were indeed a christian, (a 
 point on which we would speak hopefully, but not positively, 
 for the evidences of piety in a President are the same as in a 
 peasant) — if he were a christian, as soon as he waked up in 
 eternity, all the mists were rolled from the word of God, he 
 had so long studied. To his eye now, "how bright the un- 
 changing morn appears!" How blessed the exchange of the 
 house of the people, the palace of America, for "the building 
 of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the hea- 
 vens;" the acclamations of a beloved country, for the wel- 
 come of redeemed brethren; the pomp and splendors of the 
 Presidency, for "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory!" 
 
 Let us, friends, fellow citizens, and fellow mourners, en- 
 deavor, by penitence, faith in Christ, and hoiy living, to liave 
 the night of death usher in to us the morning of eternal life. 
 Are you on right and safe grounds assured, that in this sense 
 "the morning cometh" to you? Is the work of the day done? 
 Remember, "the night cometh in which no man can work;" 
 and as it came to Harrison, it may come to you "in such a 
 day and such an hour as ye think not." And what would it 
 be to any of you, if "the morning" of your country's pros- 
 perity should come, and you should fully share in it — -if the 
 day of her glory should be bright and protracted from age 
 to age — if, for your sins, and iieglect of your Savior, you 
 should lie down, at last, in the night of unutterable despair, 
 where no "morning cometh," forever and ever, and no an- 
 swer breaks the silence of eternal ages to your melancholy 
 question — "Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what 
 of the night?" 
 
JJoTE. — The author of the foregoing discourse would shield himself from the impa< 
 tation of having manifested a political partisanship in some of his remarks, especially 
 on pages 15, 16, not only by a consciousness of being above such a design on such a 
 day," but also by the authority of a great name in the eartli, Dr. Chalmers, of Scotland, 
 who was, it seems, similarly accused in reference to one of his sermons. 
 
 " I cannot but advert here to a delicate impediment which lies in the way of the 
 faithful exercise of the ministerial functions, from the existence of two great political 
 parties, which would monopolize between them, all the sentiments and all the services 
 of the country. Is it not a very possible thing that tlie line of demarcation between 
 these parties, may not coalesce, throughout all ils extent, with the sacred and immu- 
 table line of distinction between right and wrong? — and ought not this latter line to 
 stand out so clearly and so prominently to the eye of the christian minister, that in the 
 act of dealing around him the reproofs and the lessons of Christianity, the former line 
 sliould be away from his contemplation altogether? But it is thus that, with. the most 
 scrupulous avoidance both of the one and of the other species of paitisanship, he may, 
 in the direct and conscientious discharge of the duties of his office, dehver himself in 
 such a way as to give a kind of general and corporate offence to one political denomi- 
 nation, and what is still more grievous, as to be appropriated by the men of another 
 denomination, with whom in their capacity as politicians he desires no fellowship 
 whatever, and whose applauses of him in this capacity are in every way most odious 
 and insufferable. 
 
 " It appears to us that a christian minister cannot keep himself in the true path of 
 consistency at all, without refusing to each of the parties all riglit of appropriation. 
 Their line of demarcation is not his line. Their objects are not his objects. He asks 
 no patronage from the one — he asks no favor from the other, except that they shall not 
 claim kindred with him. He may suffer, at times, from the intolerance of the un- 
 worthy underlings . the one party; but never will his sensations of distaste, for the 
 whole busmess oi" p>»i"ty politics, become so intense and so painful, as when the ho- 
 sannas of the other party threaten to rise around him. 
 
 "We often hear from these parties, of the virtue and the dignity of independence. 
 The only way, it appears to us, in wiiich a man can sustain the true and complete char- 
 acter of independence, is to be independent of both. Ho who cares for neither of fhenrf, 
 is the only independent man; and to him only, belongs the privilege of crossing and re- 
 crossing their factious line of demarcation, just as he feels himself impelled by the high, 
 paramount, and subordinating principles of the Christianity wliich he professes. 
 
 " But turning away from tlie beggarly elements of such a competition as this, let us 
 remark, that on the one hand, a religious administration will never take offence at a 
 minister who renders a pertinent reproof to any set of men, even though they should 
 happen to be their own agents or their own underlings; and that, on the other hand, a 
 minister who is actuated by tiie true spirit of his office, will never so pervert or so 
 prostitute iiis functions, as to descend to the humble arena of partisanship. He is the 
 faithful steward of such things as are profitable for reproof, and for doctrine, and for 
 correction, and for instruction in righteousness. His single object witli the men who 
 are within reach of his heating, is, that they should come to the knowledge of the 
 truth and be saved. In the fulfilment of this object, he is not the servant of any ad- 
 ministration — though he certainly renders such a service to the state as will facilitate 
 the work of governing to all administrations — as will bring a mighty train of civil and 
 temporal blessings along with it — and in particular, as will diffuse over the whole 
 sphere of his influence, a loyalty as steadfast as the friends of order, and as free from 
 every taint of political severity, as the most genuine friends of freedom can desire. 
 
 " There is only one case in which it is conceived that this partisanship of a christian 
 minister is at all justifiable. Should the government of our country ever fall into the 
 hands of an infidel or demi-infidel administration — should the men at the helm of 
 affairs be the patrons of all that is unchristian in the sentiment and literature of the 
 country — should they offer a violence to its religious [institutions] — and thus attempt 
 what we honestly believe would reach a blow to the piety and the character of our 
 population — then I trust, that the language of partisanship will resound from many of 
 the pulpits of the land — and that it will be turned in one stream of pointed invective 
 against such a [government] as this — till, by the force of public opinion, it be swept 
 away as an intolerable nuisance, from the face of our [country."] 
 
 Chalmers' Works, p. 345. 
 
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