Class Xii^ 
 
 Book 
 
 ■\ A/^5 794 
 
A SERMON 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE 
 
 DEATH OF DANIEL WEBSTER, 
 
 I • 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, 
 
 ON THE MORNING OF OCT. 81, AND REPEATED BY REQUEST IN THE 
 
 SAME PLACE NOV. 14, 1S52. 
 
 BY REV. JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. D. 
 
 NEWARK : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY A. L. DENNIS & BROTHER. 
 
 1852. 
 

 DAILY ADVERTISER PRINT. 
 Cor. of Broad and Bank Sts. 
 
Newark, Nov. 15, 1852. 
 Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, D. D. : 
 
 Dear *?;>— We had the pleasure of being among those who listened, last evening, 
 to your admirable sermon on the death of Mr. Webster, and believing that its circula- 
 tion through the press would greatly conduce to the benefit of our community and to 
 a proper appreciation of the value to our country of her illustrious men, we would, on 
 behalf of the young men of our city, respectfully request of you a copy for publication. 
 We remain, very respectfully and truly : 
 
 CORTLANDT PaRKEE, 
 
 J. Van Arsdale, 
 Amzi Dodd, 
 Thos. T. Kinney, 
 R. Tan Buskirk, 
 Aaron P. Whitehead, 
 Burr B. Porter, 
 S. P. Smith, 
 .John Whitehead, 
 
 Joseph P. Bradley, 
 S. G. Crowell, 
 Martin R. Dennis, 
 Joseph N. Tuttle, 
 Geo. a. Emmell, 
 ■ I. M. Andruss, 
 Dan'l Dodd. Jr., 
 Henry J. Mills, 
 Oliver B. Baldwin, 
 
 Geo. M. Robeson, 
 A. Parkhurst. 
 F. H. Teese, 
 George B. Halsted, 
 James Ross, 
 A. S. Hcbbell, 
 Ira C. Whitehead, 
 Adrian V. S. Schenck, 
 James Miller. 
 
 Newark, Nov. 16, 1852. 
 Messrs. Cortlandt Parker, Joseph P. Bradley, George M. Robeson, and others, 
 on behalf of the Young Men of Newark : 
 
 Gentlemen — Your approval of the sentiments contained in my discourse on the 
 death of the late distinguished Secretary of State, is highly gratifying to me. With 
 all its deficiencies I cannot hesitate, in compliance with the request with which you 
 have honored me, to place the copy at your disposal. That the young men of our 
 city may continue to prove themselves among the strong supports of our beloved 
 country is the sincere prayer of 
 
 Yours, with high respect and esteem, 
 
 J. F. STEARNS. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 II. Samuel, in : 38-39. — And the King said unto his servants, Know ye not that there 
 is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? And I am this day weak, 
 though anointed King. 
 
 It is unnecessary tliat I should ex|3lain to you, breth- 
 ren and friends, the reasons which have led me to select 
 these words as the theme of my discourse this morning. 
 When the heart of an entire nation is beating heavily, 
 oppressed with the sense of a bereavement such as sel- 
 dom befalls more than once during any century, it 
 would seem unfitting that the pulpit should pass on 
 with its accustomed course, without calling upon the 
 Christian assemblies met together to receive its admo- 
 nitions, to " hear the rod, and who hath appointed it." 
 
 This is by no means the time or the place to pro- 
 nounce a eulogy ; and I stand not here to review the 
 eventful life, the noble achievements, and the sentiments 
 of profound wisdom pertinently and most effectively 
 expressed, which are now, and will remain to distant 
 generations associated with the name of Daniel Web- 
 
STER. That will be done by other tongues and pens. 
 Yea, the hearts of a whole people are doing it, at this 
 moment, in silent admiration and grief. 
 
 My object is, to seize on this occasion, when the feel- 
 ings of neither you nor me will allow us to turn away 
 from the event referred to, in order to impress some 
 truths naturally suggested by it, which may be of use 
 to us, both as citizens and as creatures of God, passing 
 away to an immortal existence. My subject will be, 
 GEEAT MEN, in their relations both to God and to man- 
 kind. 
 
 The occasion on which the words of our text were 
 uttered, is prolmbly familiar to most of you. Abner 
 was the prime minister in the court of Saul, and the 
 commander-in-chief of his armies. Though he never 
 wielded, in his own name, the sceptre of administra- 
 tion, his counsel had had great influence in gi\'ing 
 shape to the destinies of his country ; and so great and 
 well acknowledged was his eminence, that even the 
 leader of the party opposite to his own, although tri- 
 mnpliant, through the success granted him by Provi- 
 dence, was constrained to say, in view of the fall of 
 such a man, '' I am this day weak, though anointed 
 kinff." To the case before us the same words seem ob- 
 viously pertinent. Not only he who now occuj^ies the 
 Presidential chair, but he likewise who shall next as- 
 cend to that responsible position, must find occasion 
 enough to adopt similar language with reference to the 
 death of our late illustrious fellow-citizen. 
 
 I. But to come dii'ectly to the suliject before us, I ob- 
 serve, in the first place, that the class of men now re- 
 
ferred to, are to be regarded as among God's special 
 gifts. And here let me explain, l^efore I proceed fm*- 
 ther, wliat is to be understood by tlie term geeat, as I 
 here use it. 
 
 By a GREAT itiAN, I do not mean simply a good man, 
 in tlie highest sense of that ex|:»ression ; though good- 
 ness is unquestionably among the marks of the truest 
 greatness, and, where it is combined with eminent 
 powers, gives to greatness its noblest direction. Still 
 less do I intend by those terms, to denote men of mere 
 brilliancy or splendid achievements, without regard to 
 the aim at which those achievements were directed. 
 Caesar and Napoleon lacked some important elements 
 of greatness ; while Washington, though far less bril- 
 liant than either of them, possessed that combination 
 of strong and benignant qualities which enable a man 
 to accomplish, not only the most remarkable, but the 
 best ends. There are doubtless different forms and de- 
 velopments of greatness — greatness of heart, greatness 
 of genius, greatness of comprehension and action. But, 
 by a great man, as I now use the expression, I intend 
 one who coml^ines all those great qualities which go to 
 constitute eminent wisdom ; who, with great thoughts 
 and fertile invention, possesses at once the judgment 
 to discern, the firmness and singleness of heart to pur- 
 sue, and the skill and energy to secure the best inter- 
 ests of his country and his fellow-men. Such men are 
 few, and when they appear, every true Christian 
 ought to regard them as among God's special favors 
 to mankind. 
 
 I cannot for a moment admit the notion, that there 
 
8 
 
 are not original and ]>roadly distinguishing differences 
 in the powers with which men are endowed. The sap- 
 ling may indeed become an oak by proper culture, and 
 the oak might have remained a shrub, had not proper 
 circumstances favored its development. But then the 
 qualities of the oak must have been lodged originally 
 in the sapling, or else no cii'cumstances and no skill in 
 training could ever make it l)econie the monarch of the 
 forest. Much has been said, in recent times, of " self- 
 made men ;" and so far as the object has been to en- 
 courage effort on the part of all classes, to attain 
 eminence according to the degree designed for them 
 by Providence, the motive has been laudable. But in 
 strict truth, there neither are, nor ever will be, self- 
 made men. The powers of man may be developed 
 and improved, but not produced, by human ex]:)edients. 
 The maker of a plain gold ring might just as well as- 
 cribe its value to his own workmanship. It is the pre- 
 cious metal, out of which tlie ornament was wrought, 
 which gives it, when completed, superior worth to one 
 of iron or brass. Let honorable and persevering effort 
 have its praise ; let culture be esteemed according to 
 its real value ; but let not God's best, natural work, 
 with its rich varieties of form and beauty, be ascribed to 
 any of man's limited processes. Depend upon it, the 
 truly great man, as was said justly in ancient times, of 
 the great poet, is " born and not made," either by him- 
 self or others. 
 
 We carry our notions of equality quite too far, when 
 we deny this most obvious and most reasonable posi- 
 tion. And Ave inflict a real injury on our youtli, when 
 
we train tliem up in tlie belief that tliey were all created 
 originally to stand upon a common level, and tliat 
 therefore tlie liigliest ranks of influence and authority 
 are of right open to the most adroit or fortunate com- 
 petitor. Do not say that the opposite doctrine makes 
 all human positions a matter of accident. Not so. 
 There is a niche prepared for every man, where he 
 may adorn his race, if only he will attain and stand in 
 it. And as to native differences, they are by no means 
 to be referred to chance or circumstances. They are 
 a divine ordination, just as much as the creative 
 word, which made "the sun to rule by day and 
 the moon and stars to give light by night." This idea, 
 is, in fact, inwrought into our very language. Not 
 only religious men, but all who use our mother tongue, 
 call mental abilities gifts, talents. Whose gifts, do 
 you suppose ? Ah, many of us forget that, when we 
 use the word. And why speak we of talents, but in 
 distinct acknowledgment, that all these things have 
 been distributed from the court of Heaven, just as He 
 chose, who giveth to one man " Ave talents, to another 
 two, and to another one." 
 
 Such is, unquestionably, the doctrine of the sacred 
 Scriptures, from the beginning to the end. The same 
 power which gave to Solomon a " wise and understand- 
 ing heart," taught David's " hands to war and his fin- 
 gers to fight." Yea, the skill with which Bezaleel and 
 Aholiab were fitted " to work all manner of work of 
 the engraver, and of the cunning woi'kman, and of the 
 embroiderer," proceeded, as we are explicitly informed, 
 from the very same hand which " touched Isaiah's hal- 
 
10 
 
 lowed lips with fire." If circumstances liave any in- 
 fluence on tlie result, if human efforts conspire to de- 
 velop original endowments, if the times seem fitted to 
 the man, as we often find them, no less than the man 
 to the times, it is all of the same far-seeing, compre- 
 hensive, di^dne Providence, who knows equally how to 
 PEODUCE and to fit the proper instrument for the work 
 which He designs to accomplish. 
 
 II. I pass, then, to observe, in the second place, that 
 the influence of such men on the destinies of their 
 fellow-citizens and of the world, is generally under- 
 rated rather than exaggerated. 
 
 It has been truly and ])ertinently said, that " God 
 never made an independent man." We are linked to- 
 gether, lx)tli as a race and as generations, as smaller 
 communities and as States and Empires, by ten thou- 
 sand ties as complicated and untraceable as those that 
 bind the human lieart to the brain, and the lu'ain to 
 the entire vital organizm. Nor is the influence of 
 any one man, hoAvever small or obscure, lost upon the 
 sum of human destiny, nor una]>])recial)le, at least by 
 Him A\'ho immbers the very hairs upon our heads. 
 Ai)art from contril)utions made in this obscure way, 
 by common men, the influence of the great and vrise 
 and energetic leaders of their race Avould lack its 
 proper material, and so fail of its end. 
 
 But on the other hand, it is with equal truth to be 
 affirmed, that but for the influence of these great lead- 
 ers, all the contrilmtions of the general mass, were they 
 a thousand fold greater than they are, could not, or- 
 
11 
 
 dinarily, be combined to the accomplisliment of any 
 great and useful result. There are mau}" workmen, 
 who can hew timber well in the forests, or dig stones 
 from tlie quarry. There are again others who can fit 
 stone to stone, and joint timber to timber ; and still 
 again, those that have skill in ^vorking curious orna- 
 ments, adorning a capitol or fitting and polishing an 
 architrave ; but still, where were the stately palace to 
 be reared — where the lofty and sublime temple — unless 
 the architect, in whose gifted brain the entire plan was 
 conceived and still resides, give the word and the law 
 which shall make all these scattered and disconnected 
 products one great whole ? 
 
 Among the functions of human society, some of the 
 most important are, undoubtedly, performed within a 
 very narrow sphere. The family circle, which is the 
 smallest, may likewise justly be regarded as the most 
 benign and useful of social organizations. And here 
 the circle is so small, and the combining force of na- 
 ture works so powerfully, that almost any man, not 
 disordered or imbecile in his mental faculties, may, by 
 proper care and consideration, guide its aftairs with 
 discretion. But when a thousand or ten thousand fam- 
 lies, with all tlieir variety of separate interest and 
 characters, are to be comljined into one jifnicipal 
 COMMUNITY, and made to co-operate for the common 
 benefit without encroachment on their individual good, 
 the exigency requires powers far more comprehensive 
 and energetic. And passing on to the guidance of a 
 State or nation, witli its complicated internal arrange- 
 ments and external relations, it needs no argument to 
 
12 
 
 sliow, that, but for men of more than ordinary capacity 
 and attainments, such vast interests cannot be skillfully 
 guided. True, it may often happen, that men of second 
 and third-rate powers may carry on the government of 
 a vast nation with success for a considerable period, 
 even as a machine, well constructed and put in motion, 
 may be tended and regulated by those Avho could 
 never have made or invented it. So the ideas, which 
 owe their birth only to some great mind, may be 
 adopted and applied by men of very inferior capacity. 
 The man who drafts the bill, or introduces the resolu- 
 tion, may plume himself upon the excellence of ms 
 measure ; while he whom the superficial contemn as 
 having originated nothing, but who is really the foun- 
 tain of other men's supposed originality, stands nobly 
 in the back ground, content if only the good result 
 may be accomplished, and caring little to whose agency 
 the credit may be given. But trace, to their true and 
 primal source, the ideas whose application has given a 
 nation honor and prosperity, and always, you will find 
 it in some mind, capable of comprehending, in one 
 view, a nation's character, condition and relations. 
 
 Hence it is, that in great crises, requiring a new re- 
 sort to fundamental principles, the powers of such men 
 are always put in requisition ; or if they are not to be 
 found, the cause fails. It may seem like arrogance in 
 the great Chatham, when at a period of the utmost na- 
 tional peril, he said to one of the nobles of. England : 
 " My Lord, I am sure that I can save this coimtry, and 
 that nobody else can." And yet, I dare say, tliat a 
 careful search of the course of events would show, that 
 
13 
 
 tliere was far more triitli tlian boasting in those re- 
 markable words. At such times, small men feel that 
 they have stretched their own line to its full length — ■ 
 that the borrowed maxims and rules and precedents 
 by which they have succeeded hitherto, are no longer 
 applicable to the exigencies of the community — the 
 machine will no longer do its work without a change 
 of construction, or the application of some new princi- 
 ple, and they are glad therefore to give it over into 
 hands gifted with inventive skill. 
 
 But what is true in the affairs of State, is equally 
 true in other departments of human thought and action. 
 We do not need many of what may l:)e called great 
 thinkers or great scholars in ordinary circumstances. 
 We take our opinions and our arguments as we do our 
 coin, from the common circulating currency, and while 
 the supply is sufficient, and the stamp uucjuestioned, 
 we feel no necessity for recurring to the mint where it 
 received its impression, or the mine out of whose rich 
 depths the ore was extracted. Every day men are 
 using, all over the land or even the world — using hap- 
 pily and usefully — perhaps scarcely doubting that they 
 themselves are the authors of them, or calling them 
 their own because they do not know who has a better 
 right to claim them as original — thoughts, which once 
 came forth fresh and new — from the brain of some great 
 master of mental, moral, or theological science. Even 
 our common-places, those truths which nobody claims, 
 because they are so obvious and familiar, were, in many 
 instances the result of painful birth-throes, on the part 
 of mighty thinkers, in days of doubt and perplexity. 
 
14 
 
 In ordinary times, by aid of these, men of common 
 abilities will occupy tlie ])ulpit or the teacher's chair, 
 or go through the routine of a profession quite as well 
 as the original thinker. But let a crisis arise, let new 
 forms of disease show themselves in the medical de- 
 partment, new heresies in the theological, or cases 
 setting at defiance old precedents and familiar analo- 
 gies in the law, and then the resort must be to minds 
 capable of dealing with first principles, and compre- 
 hending in one view a complicated system of thought. 
 There is moreover, a diflPiised influence proceeding 
 from such men, w^hich like the diftused light with which 
 men ordinarily see, is not the less salutary because its 
 beams do not flash directly from their original source. 
 We get them reflected and refracted from all the objects 
 around us, while, as to their origin, too many of us rea- 
 son much like the simpleton, who said " he did wonder 
 why the sun would not shine by night, and not keep 
 shining up there all day, when it was light enough to 
 see without him." Few are aware, I apprehend, how 
 much they are indebted either directly or indirectly, 
 to the illustrious poets, artists, orators, jihilosophers 
 and divines, whose works lie upon the shelves of our 
 libraries or adorn the walls of om- apartments. The 
 circulation of their gi'eat thoughts, which pass from 
 mouth to mouth, recited by the schoolboy, new dressed 
 and re-produced by the pretender to literary distmc- 
 tion, and treasured up and silently mused upon in the 
 minds of the thoughtful, are all the while moulding 
 men's actions and charactei-s. Even the common spir- 
 it of the age lacks an appropriate voice, till some such 
 
15 
 
 man gives it utterance ; and thouglits wliich float vague- 
 ly in the common mind, products of general advance- 
 ment, obtain a new power and permanence among tlie 
 elements of hmnan progress, when such an utterance 
 has given them authority. The living presence of 
 one such man may he sufficient to enlighten and stim- 
 ulate an entire community, while the choice spirits will 
 be drawai forth and put in motion by it, hke steel filings 
 by the attraction of the magnet. If good, as well as 
 great, the very sight of hmi and his ways, the daily 
 household words he utters, will make men grow, by 
 imperceptible and unconscious processes, wiser and 
 better ; and happy is he who may have had his mind 
 and heart trained in such a 2:)resence ! 
 
 I will not say as one has said, that " universal his- 
 tory — the history of what has man accomplished in 
 this world, is at bottom the history of the great men 
 who have worked here." That may be an exaggera- 
 tion. But I must say, that the amount contributed to 
 the world's history by men on whom God has stamped 
 \'isibly the marks of native nobility, as men born to 
 guide other men's thoughts and actions, is of far greater 
 importance than the vulgar herd are willing to ac- 
 knowledge. The names of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, 
 Da\4d, Elijah, Isaiah, and Daniel, under the ancient 
 JeAvish dispensation ; and of John the Baptist, John 
 the Evangehst, Peter and Paul under the new, hardly 
 stand, if we except their insi:)iration, in more important 
 relations to the men of their own and succeeding times, 
 than those of Athanasius and Augustine, Huss and 
 Wiclifl:e, Luther and Calvin, Bacon and Milton, Con- 
 
16 
 
 stautine, Alfred and Wasliiiigton, since tlie Christian 
 era. It is by the gift of such men, that a propitious 
 Providence oftenest manifests his disposition to befriend 
 a community. As it was in the days of old, when prayer 
 was offered in a time of general distress, and " the Lord 
 gave Israel a Saviour," so have we often found it in the 
 history of the Church and of nations. 
 
 So it was in the days of our own American Revolu- 
 tion, a period, probably, in whicli more fervent and 
 importunate prayer was offered for national Ijlessings, 
 both from closets and from pulpits all over the land, 
 than at any other, since the first planting of our colo- 
 nies. Then the Lord showed his merciful kindness by 
 giving to this country a Washington, a main^, an im)i- 
 viDUAL, yet one A^^ho proved not only a sa^dour to his 
 country by his success in arms, l)ut a li^*ing embodi- 
 ment of the very spirit by which her institutions should 
 be animated. 
 
 So A\'as it in the period of the Protestant Reforma- 
 tion. The influence of that one mighty champion, 
 Martin Luther, is of itself sufficient to prove the 
 truth of my position. When, on the evening of the 
 thirty-first of October, 1517, just three Imndred and 
 thirty-five years ago to-day, he quietly walked out, 
 paper in hand, amidst crowds of excited devotees 
 who had flocked together on the festival of "All- 
 Saints," in expectation of a plenary indulgence ; and 
 upon the door of the church in Witteml)m"g, made 
 peculiarly sacred in the eyes of the superstitious throng 
 by the accunnilation of holy relics that filled it, affixed 
 those ninety-five theses, impugning the abuses of the 
 
17 
 
 Cliurcli of Rome, wliicli lie pledged himself to defend 
 in public tlie next day against all opposers, there was 
 probal)ly not another man in all Germany, who would 
 have dared thus to throw down the gauntlet before a 
 tyrant hierarchy. And yet, on that bold act, and the 
 succeeding manifestations of high and holy resolve on 
 the part of that wonderful man, hung, under God, the 
 entire series of changes which gave the world both the 
 Reformation itself, and the blessed fruits of liberty 
 which have followed it. Meet it is, that this day should 
 be observed annually, as it is throughout Protestant 
 Germany, in commemoration of that most pregnant 
 transaction. And meet it is, that the name of Martin 
 Luther should be cherished and pronounced with 
 praises to God wherever a free-born Christian is to be 
 found. 
 
 It ill becomes us to worship great names, or fawn on 
 those whom the world has agreed to make its favorites. 
 That is a vulgar propensity. But the affectation of 
 admiring nothing, and treating real eminence as though 
 it were no higher than the common level — an affecta- 
 tion too characteristic of our times and country — is in 
 my judgment, to say the least, equally offensive. There 
 is an affectionate admiration for distimiifuished talents 
 worthily applied, which is generous and becoming, and 
 likely to be felt in its fullest measure by those who 
 have themselves a kindred nature. Only a vulgar 
 mind can fail to catch something of its inspiration. It 
 is an admiration for one of God's best gifts, the noblest 
 earthly product of creative power — an admiration, 
 whose most appropriate incentive is gratitude, and 
 
18 
 
 wliich, properly controlled and chastened, has an affin- 
 ity with the best and holiest impulses of the Christian 
 heart. 
 
 III. But I proceed to observe, m the third place, 
 that the position and destiny of such men, notwith- 
 standing all their greatness, is in the hands of a power 
 far above their control. 
 
 The insufficiency of mere natural endowments to se- 
 cure ultimate success, has become proverbial. The 
 Roman Marius, and the modern Napoleon, were both 
 great men, as the world usually estimates greatness. 
 Yet the image of the one, sitting in desolate grandeur 
 on the ruins of Carthage, and the other, wearing out 
 his last days on a lonely rock of the ocean, are beacons 
 in history, warning all men of the danger of such 
 greatness. 
 
 And even where natural endowments are combmed 
 with those higher moral qualities, which are essential 
 to constitute true wisdom, they cannot be with cer- 
 tainty relied upon for the attainment of those ends 
 which their possessor proposes to himself. God has 
 marked out for every man only a limited sphere, and 
 all beyond that he holds in his own wise but inscruta- 
 * ble disposal. Forming our plans with reference to 
 what seems the truest and l^est interests of that sphere, 
 it often hai)pens that our aim conflicts with that more 
 comprehensive aim by which the best interests of the 
 vast universe are promoted, and then, of course, our 
 designs have to be frustrated. Could we even suppose 
 in any one man such comprehensive and far I'eaching 
 
19 
 
 wisdom, as would enable him to see witli certainty 
 under all cii'cumstances, the course of prudence for an 
 entire community, so as to commit no mistakes which 
 might be the foundation of disappointment ; yet perhaps 
 a doom has gone forth from the court of heaven against 
 that community ; and, as a medium of its execution, 
 wise counsels are to fail of their accomplishment, or be 
 rejected by an infatuated people. Like Cassandra in 
 the classic fable, it is their destiny to speak words of 
 truth to minds pre-determined to reject them ; or with 
 Isaiah, they seem to have received as their commission, 
 "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their 
 ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their 
 eyes, and hear wdth their ears, and understand with 
 their heart, and convert and be healed." And when 
 the inquiry is made, "Lord, how long?" the answer is, 
 "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and 
 the houses without man, and the land be utterly deso- 
 late." Tlius has many a true patriot sunk away into 
 sorrowful retirement, or died almost broken-hearted, 
 because an ungrateful or deluded peoj)le knew not what 
 belonged to their true peace, and would rush on to a yet 
 unmanifested destiny. And thus doth the Suj)reme 
 Ruler of the nations "destroy the wisdom of the 
 wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the 
 prudent." 
 
 It genei'ally is found to be the fact, that men of this 
 character have some ambitious aims of their own, which 
 they desire to accomplish. Though in the main disin- 
 terested and patriotic, they have come to regard their 
 own elevation to posts of influence and power as in a 
 
20 
 
 measure identified witli the success of patriotic and 
 benevolent ends. Nor is this only and always a cen- 
 surable egotism. The pilot who has planned the voy- 
 age may well desire to have the helm under his own 
 management in critical moments. And, let carping- 
 mediocrity say what it will, there are men occupjdng 
 confessedly such positions in the eye of their country, 
 that to pass them by in the choice of its leaders, is to 
 inflict upon them an indignity — a "«'ound which the 
 most generous and unselfish natures are often the 
 quickest to feel. Nor can it be denied that through 
 the infirmity which attaches itself to humanity in its 
 best specimens, the hearts of such men are often 
 strongly set on the attainment of personal eminence. 
 In some, this desire goes so far, as to absorlj and neu- 
 tralize some of the most worthy original purposes. 
 
 But the history of the world, no less than the lessons 
 of Holy Writ, teaches us, that there is no combina- 
 tion of the most brilliant and \'igorous powers, ^\'liicli 
 can secure human ambition from the probaljilities of 
 a disappointment. How remarkably is this truth ex- 
 emplified in the case of the three illustrious statesmen, 
 whose names History will link together as the richest 
 ornaments of our country in the present generation ! 
 The ability of each of them to occui-)y the liighest sta- 
 tion in this great Repul)lic, and even to add to it a 
 dignity scarcely attained hitherto, not a man probably 
 of any party doubted for a moment. In the parties to 
 which they respectively belonged, not a man doubted 
 that their administration, could they be placed there, 
 would be most benign and glorious in its eftects upon 
 
21 
 
 the country. And yet with sadness, yes, witli admiring 
 grief, mnst we record the fact, that Calhoun, Clay,, 
 Webster, all three — suns as they were in our political 
 firmament, died at an advanced age, disappointed men. 
 All their life long they had toiled, 'with honorable am- 
 bition surely, if ever it is right to couple those two 
 words, to attain the post of highest honor and power, 
 over a country which I verily believe they loved more 
 than their ambition, or, at least, so identified with it, 
 that the attainment of the one Avould not have been 
 deemed by them worth the seeking without the pros- 
 perity of the other ; and yet, after having again and 
 again almost attained their object, each, in succes- 
 sion, went to his honored grave, in the grief or bit- 
 terness of a darling wish hopelessly frustrated. Oh, 
 ambition, learn here, beside these graves, one salutary 
 lesson! Generous, noble-minded, patriotic ambition, 
 come and see Avhat a mere bubble thou pursuest! 
 Men of no mark, men, comparatively at least, as all 
 acknowledge, of very small pretensions to the honor, 
 have one after another, been almost taken by surprise, 
 at findino* themselves in the chair of office ; but Cal- 
 HOUN, Clay and Webster, men on whom all eyes have 
 been resting for a half a century, have at length fin- 
 ished their career, and left their great names inscribed 
 nowhere aljove a secondary position. 
 
 Nor can the most splendid abilities, as the course of 
 the world is, secure their possessor from being the 
 mark for slander. On the contrary, they serve to 
 make him so. Envy is gratified by oljscuring what 
 seems too brilliant for its com2:)osure ; and selfisliness 
 
22 
 
 finds its account in traducing what it cannot subor- 
 dinate. So is the great man of his time doomed not 
 only to have 
 
 " all his faults observed, 
 
 Set in a note-book, learned and conned hj rote," 
 
 but to have all the faults that really belong to him 
 grossly exaggerated, the motives of his best actions 
 vihfied, and faults ascribed to him, and confidently 
 asserted and heralded from shore to shore, of which 
 perhaps he is as innocent as the infant sleeping in the 
 cradle. And though j^osterity generally sees justice 
 done to men of real worth, yet its verdict comes late ; 
 and long before it comes, the pangs of the great heart 
 that felt the sting, have obtained ease in the grave. 
 
 The grave ! yes, the grave ! And this suggests an- 
 other thought pertinent to our present subject. Al- 
 though success, in its largest measure, should l)e their 
 fortune, the greatest of their race must at lengtli die. 
 We hear a voice, which calls to us not only from the 
 fresh graves whicli have just closed over the forms of 
 our own departed statesmen, but from out the depths 
 of long ])a8t generations — from the tombs Avhere lie 
 the dust of heroes, patriots, sages, eloquent orators, and 
 ministers of the holy gospel. "Cease ye from man 
 whose l)reatli is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be 
 accounted of?" " Put not your trust in princes, nor in 
 the son of man in whom there is no help ; his breath 
 goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day 
 his thoughts perish." 
 
23 
 
 "Princes, this clay must be your bed 
 In spite of all your towers, 
 The tall, the wise, the reverend head 
 Must lie as low as ours." 
 
 How like a dream does all earthly greatness vauisli ! 
 How little does even tlie most splendid life appear 
 when we come to look in npon the eternity whicli is 
 before ns ! Verily, there is no trusting in an arm of 
 flesh, however strong. The tolling bells, the flags at 
 half mast, the interminable procession, the streets and 
 edifices all draped with black, the mournful pageant, 
 the costly and enduring monument, all speak one voice. 
 It is the voice of the inspired oracles. " I have said 
 ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most 
 High ; l;)ut ye shall die like men and fall like one of 
 the princes. Arise, O Lord, judge the earth, for Thou 
 shalt inherit all nations." And happy, alone happy 
 is the man who has his trust centered firmly on the 
 ever-living and true God. 
 
 The event to which reference has been had in this 
 discourse, is one, as I have said, of no ordinary interest. 
 The news that our great statesman was dead, sunk as 
 lead, cold and heavy, upon the hearts of the people. 
 I know not how others may regard the matter, but for 
 myself, though my personal accpiaintance with the illus- 
 trious deceased scarcely extended beyond a casual intro- 
 duction, and a passing shake of the hand, I may aflirm, 
 without the least aftectation, that I have felt this be- 
 reavement with something extremely like a deep pea'- 
 sonal sorrow. Ever since I can remember, even from 
 early childhood, that bright particular star has been in 
 
24 
 
 our American sky. As a son of New England, I liave 
 seen in liim many of the strong, deep, earnest qualities 
 which distinguished the noble ancestry to wliicli I am 
 proud to trace my lineage. As a citizen of Massachu- 
 setts, I have felt his name to be among the l^rightest 
 of the many bright gems that adorn the brow of my 
 native State. That name has been scarcely less famil- 
 iar, and had scarcely less of a homelike sound, than 
 that of father or brother. Well I remember with what 
 eagerness we college-lads watched for the papers that 
 contained those .great speeches in the discussion with 
 Hayne — how, with forms bending forward, and lips 
 half apart, the youthful group drank in the soul stirring 
 eloquence, and strove to fathom the deep reasoning of 
 the giant Statesman, as one of our number read aloud 
 for the benefit of the rest — and how we, Massachusetts 
 boys fancied ourselves taller by some inches, and our 
 dear native State, Avith her Plymouth Rock and her 
 Bunker Hill, seemed dearer than ever to our heart of 
 hearts. It is impossible for a man to contemplate, with 
 any true approbation, such an object from liis youth 
 up, and not feel his heart gradually growing to it with 
 something like filial affection : and I confess, whatever 
 others may think, and however it may require the 
 spirit of indulgence on the part of some to bear with 
 me in saying it in this place, I have believed, and do 
 believe this day, that not an honester and more true- 
 heai*ted patriot ever trod the soil of glorious America, 
 than he who has just now gathered himself up for his 
 last sleep within her fiiithful bosom. 
 
 Mr. Webster Avas no merely sectional or partizan 
 
25 
 
 politician. A Whig from principle, and hj all tlie in- 
 stincts of liis moral and intellectual nature, lie could 
 yet spring generously to the defense of measures of the 
 opposite party, whenever the country's good seemed 
 plainly to demand tlieii* support. Party men have, 
 more than once, heen disappointed in him, because his 
 aim was to be, in the largest sense of the word, a na- 
 tional statesman. He was indeed, as I have intim- 
 ated, a New England man — from stem to stern, a ship 
 of the New England built, with tiniTjers hewn out of 
 the tough oak of her noble hills, seasoned from the 
 beginning in her wholesome discipline, and ]3olted 
 through and through with her puritan principles ; yet 
 bravely did that good ship sail on the broad sea of the 
 nations, and the flas^ that ever floated at her mast-head 
 was — " Our country, our whole country, and nothing 
 but our country." 
 
 With Mr. Webster the preservation and prosperity 
 of this glorious Union w^as almost a passion. It has 
 been charged against him, that he was willing to sacri- 
 fice cherished interests, rather than hazard it. Some 
 zealous advocates of emancipation have striven to 
 clothe his history A\dth obloquy, because, having, all 
 his life, stood firmly for the liberty of the enslaved, he 
 at last, under an alarm of approaching disunion, con- 
 sented to measures which might seem adapted to thwart 
 the desired object. But, with him, it must be borne in 
 mind, the union of these States was regarded as funda- 
 mental, in the pursuit of all other desirable public 
 ends. You know the l)urning words which fell from 
 his lips in the year 1839, when, in the Senate of the 
 
26 
 
 Unitefl States, he stood up and said : "I profess, Sir, 
 in my career hitherto, I have kept steadily in view, the 
 preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union 
 we are chiefly indehted for whatever makes us most 
 proud of our country. While the Union lasts, we 
 have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread 
 out before us. Beyond that, I seek not to pene- 
 trate the veil. God grant, that, on my vision, may 
 never be opened, what lies behind. When my eyes 
 shall turn to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, 
 may I not see him shining on the l^roken and dishon- 
 ored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States 
 dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with 
 civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal l;)lood !" 
 Even sweet Liberty, the American's fii'st love, he would 
 not woo except with favor of that honored matron, 
 MOTHER of Liberty. " Not Liberty first and Union af- 
 terwards," even for the white man, even for himself 
 and his children, would he choose to inscribe upon our 
 banner ; " but that other sentiment, dear to every true 
 American heart, 'Liberty and Union,' now and for- 
 ever, one and inseparable." 
 
 It is not for me to discuss the cj[uestion, whether the 
 Union was really in danger, Avlien the measures into 
 which our two most eminent and most experienced 
 Statesmen threw themselves so eagerly, were adoi)ted. 
 Suffice it to say, they, in common Avith tliousands of 
 the most judicious observers, North and South, fully 
 believed so. And with such ^'iews, who shall charge 
 inconsistency upon even the professed friend of eman- 
 cipation for consenting to their adoption ? Alas ! for 
 
2T 
 
 the poor bondman, if North and South should become 
 separate nations ! In the wreck which might ensue, 
 ruin would fall first and surest on his defenseless head. 
 The same blow which cuts the Union of these States, 
 will doubtless rivet the chains of the poor negro's 
 bondage, and fix upon him, for a long half century at 
 least, the hopeless alternative of slavery or death. The 
 illustrious Senator would have belied his whole past 
 history, had he been willing to promote Liberty at the 
 expense of Union. 
 
 The patriotism of Mr. Webster was eminently a 
 conservative patriotism ; and hence, in part at least, his 
 failure to secure popular fiivor. In a community whose 
 every passion is lashed up to the intensest excitement, 
 wliei'e all sails are set to catch the freshest gale, and 
 the ship is dashing on over the waters with a wizard's 
 speed, reckless of rocks and shoals, the man whose 
 mission is rather to stead}^, guide, and sometimes hold 
 back, than to impel, can seldom count on being a gen- 
 eral favorite. And yet the functions of such men are 
 of pre-eminent importance, in such circumstances, for 
 the general ^\Tlfare. In the great movements of the 
 materia] universe, astronomers reckon two opposite 
 forces, the centripetal and the centrifugal. One is the 
 force of progress, the other of steady, well propor- 
 tioned, definitely aimed progress ; and it would be dif- 
 ficult to say which might easiest be dispensed with. 
 So, in human society. Xo one Avho carefully reviews 
 our history for the last fifty years, especially during the 
 period in which the illustrious deceased stood upon the 
 stage, could hesitate to say which class of forces were 
 
28 
 
 most rare, and therefore most to be soiiglit after by 
 the judicious jihilanthropist. Onward, ever onward, is 
 the general spirit of the age. As a people, we cannot 
 hold back, and we shall not hold ])ack ; it is not in ns. 
 Like the foaming rapids aT)ove the cataract of Niagara, 
 we whirl and rage and force onr way forward, thonght- 
 less often to what precipice the rusliing ^waters are ap- 
 proaching. To regulate, to control, to direct to right 
 ends, that is the problem — the problem of usefulness, 
 I mean, but not the problem of popularity. Our far- 
 seeing Statesman knew too well, that this was not the 
 road to favor with the multitude. The loud huzzas, 
 echoino- from Maine to California, were not for him, or 
 such as he. Even the support of thinking men, on 
 whom he did count, was given not seldom, however re- 
 luctantly, to different leadei*s. 
 
 Mr. Webster was a man of indefatigable industry. 
 An incident related in his addi'ess on History, last 
 winter, shows that conclusively ; and there are other 
 anecdotes of his life equally significant. Thus it was, 
 that his great Cca])acities Ijecame filled, and his great 
 powers were brought into readiness for worthy action. 
 Tlius became he, what he has been so beautifully de- 
 scribed to be by an eloquent eulogist, "chief by a two- 
 fold eminence, eminence of the very highest rank in a 
 two-fold field of intellectual and public display— the 
 profession of the law and the profession of statesman- 
 ship, of which it would not be easy to recall a parallel 
 in the biography of illustrious men."* In the latter 
 
 * Rufus Choatc. 
 
29 
 
 department, I presume lie liad no rival on the stage, in 
 any country, at the time of his decease. 
 
 Mr. Webster was a man of warm domestic affec- 
 tions, as appears pLiinly enough from the touching 
 letter, relating to his early life, and the memory of his 
 lamented brother, published since his decease. The 
 world in general, seldom see much of this part of the 
 character and life of public men. It is often a distinct 
 sphere, almost a separate world, into which none enter 
 but those who belong to it, and very little is suffered 
 to transpire for public observation. Happy is it, when 
 by the few glimpses which we now and then gain, we 
 see revealed so beautiful a picture. 
 
 But I must touch Ijriefly on one further aspect of his 
 character. Mr. Webster was a professor of religion 
 from his youth, in the communion of a Church holding 
 essentially the same great Christian truths with our- 
 selves ; and as such, was accustomed, from time to time, 
 durinsr his life, to commemorate, in the sacrament of 
 the Supper, the great mystery of the Saviour's death. 
 W^hat were his inward experiences, and how far his 
 outward life adorned his profession, I know not. The 
 life of our puljlic men is, unquestionaljly, a theatre of 
 the fiercest temptations; and if Christians would be 
 more earnest in prayer for them, and less severe in cen- 
 sure, less uncharitable in suspicion — remembering that, 
 with all their faults, some of them may have overcome 
 greater moral foes than we ever encountered, better 
 and holier ends would Ije attained. The faults of the 
 deceased have been, I have reason to believe, in many 
 instances, grossly exaggerated ; while the conflicts he 
 
30 
 
 may liave had witli evil, the tears he may have shed 
 in secret, the victories which, through grace, he may 
 have gained, are known only to the Searcher of hearts. 
 No man ever heard him speak disrespectfully of any 
 feature of our holy religion. On the contrary, he bore 
 his free and full testimony to its truth, its sacredness 
 and its jStecessity. And if, as we have learned from one 
 who knew his Avays, and spoke in the presence of many 
 witnesses in the scene of his burial, he was a man of 
 prayer — carrying his griefs and burdens to the throne 
 of grace, and, as the priest of his own househohl, offi- 
 ciating at the family altar, we need not wonder at the 
 beautiful and holy serenity, which seems to have filled 
 his soul in his departing moments. With all the facul- 
 ties of his gi'eat mind in complete exercise, with a full 
 knowledge, such as from his early training he must 
 have had, of what is needful in a preparation for death, 
 clearly apprised that the last messenger was at the 
 door, and that, to-morrow at the very latest, all that 
 was mortal of Daniel Webster would be no moi'e, 
 how calmly did he Ijid farewell to loved ones, and put 
 his soul in order for its final flio-ht ! 
 
 " Then, I am to lie patiently to the end. If it be so, 
 may it come soon." How deeply impressive is that 
 earnest response to the recital by his devout physician, 
 of the beautiful words of holy writ — " Though T walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
 no evil, for Thou art with me : Tliy rod and Thy staff 
 they comfort me," — a response evincing at once his 
 sense of dependence and his deep longing for some- 
 thing SURE to depend u^^on — ^' the fact, the tact !" — the 
 
31 
 
 great soul-sustaining fact wliich underlies and is ex- 
 pressed by those beautiful words, — " tliat is wliat I 
 want" — wliat I need, and all I need — " Thy rod, Thy 
 Pod— Thy staff, Tliy staff !" And sweet to the heart 
 of every Christian must be the recollection of that 
 prayei', closing audibly with " Heavenly Father, for- 
 give my sins and receive me to Thyself, through Christ 
 Jesus." And who needs doubt, who can consent to 
 doubt, that the sins of the great Statesman, whatsoever 
 they may have l)een, were forgiven ; not for his great- 
 ness' sake, not on account of their fewness or his many 
 counter1)alancing virtues, but for the sake of that all- 
 merciful, atoning Lamb of God, of whose mediation 
 that last prayer made mention, and whose l^lood alone 
 " taketh away the sin of the world V 
 
 So died the illustrious, peerless Statesman of this 
 western hemisphere ! America has lost none greater. 
 Gone, gone, forever, from our sky, is that bright lumin- 
 ary ! That eloquent tongue is silent ! The light of 
 that eagle eye is quenched ! That noble brow, on which 
 commanding intellect sat visibly enthroned, is cold as 
 the marble of his tomb ! That giant frame will be 
 crumbling soon, among the clods of the valley ! Fare- 
 well, illustrious spirit ! Long will it be ere thy place 
 among us will be filled ! Mad faction may distract the 
 members of this great Republic, and storms of war 
 may again lower over the Atlantic, but we shall have 
 no Webster then, to say to the one, " Peace, ye are 
 brethren," or to avert the other by his prudent and 
 skillful negotiations. Henceforth, our country must 
 pursue her way without iiim. 
 
32 
 
 His body sleeps amidst hallowed scenes. The Ocean 
 that once bore the Mayflower to these shores, sings its 
 requiem near his tomb. The air which received the 
 Pilgrims' l)reath of prayer, when they fii^st landed, 
 floats around and over it. He lies amidst the green 
 graves of those venerable sires, and not far oft' is Ply- 
 mouth Rock. Fit resting place ! May a> e meet both 
 hmi and them at the resurrection of the just ! 
 
 And now, for a short season longer we sojourn among 
 living men. The country which the good old Puritans, 
 Huguenots, Hollanders, and Scotch and Irish Cove- 
 nanters first planted ; into whose institutions glorious 
 WASHiXGTOisr breathed his patriotic spirit ; which 
 Franklin, Adams, Henry, Rutledge, and their noble 
 compeers rescued from dependence and subser^iiency ; 
 which Marshall, Madison, Hamilton, Pinckney and Ja}- 
 adorned and built u]) into a mighty nation ; and where, 
 from age to age, the blessed Gospel of our Lord was 
 preached by Cotton, Willard, Davies, Witherspoon, 
 Mason, and, worthiest of all, l)y that great scholar and 
 divine, than whom America inscribes no noisier name 
 upon her rolls, Jonathan Edwards, is now for a little sea- 
 son committed to the faithfulness of us of this passing- 
 generation. To the exercise of this faithfulness, the 
 death of our great men loudly summons us. Every one 
 of those strong anil wise pilots who are taken away, 
 leaves so much heavier a responsibility upon the mass of 
 citizens. And shall it fail to be discharged ? I call upon 
 the young men of our country, for on them devolves a 
 special responsibility. Let young America awake, and 
 gird herself with holy courage for her work. If an}' 
 
33 
 
 nation should be cherislied in her people's heart, it is 
 our own. If patriotism were ever a Christian \ii'tue, 
 it is here. We owe a debt to our ancestors which can 
 be discharged only by patriotism. We owe a debt to 
 posterity, and can discharge it only by transmitting 
 unimpaired the sacred legacy which our and their 
 ancestors intended for them. We owe a debt to our 
 race ; and in what way can we pay it so surely as by 
 keeping open here a fountain of pure influences and a 
 free asylum for the oppressed ? 
 
 Let the young men of our comitry stand fast by the 
 union of these States ! The spirit that would rend the 
 sacred sisterhood is no friendly spirit. The party that 
 would separate, to gain control of one of the fragments, 
 and not rather relinquish the whole into other hands 
 than sever in twain the living organism, is manifestly 
 a destructive party. The genius of America weeps at 
 the very thought of such a catastrophe. When the 
 sword is drawn for the murderous deed, watch and see 
 who it is that says, " Let it be neither mine nor thine, 
 but di^dde it." Watch and see whose maternal heart 
 shudders instinctively at the base suggestion. And 
 when you see her forego all else rather than that, give 
 the living child, America, with all its young hopes, 
 into her hands, " for she is the mother thereof." 
 
 Young Americans, let the ideal which you place con- 
 stantly before you, and strive ever to realize in your 
 own character, be Christian Patriotism. Assume as 
 the guide of your public acts, no narrow and partial 
 principles, even though they may appear to bemoral 
 principles. Look broadly over the fair face of this 
 
34 
 
 goodly nation. Contemplate earnestly, and study care- 
 fully Loth its external relations and the mutual obliga- 
 tions of its parts and members. Study the history, the 
 genius, the true mission and the probable destiny of 
 your country. Deposit your votes, come what will, at 
 the time of voting, in the fear of God. And when you 
 pray, commend constantly and with no formal service, 
 your dear native land to the God of your fathers. 
 
 But not alone for our country's service does the de- 
 parture of our honored fellow-citizens bid us be ready. 
 There is a better country — Ijetter far than even our o^vn 
 loved America, to which, as destined to an immortal be- 
 ing, we owe our loyalt}". The melancholy voice which 
 echoes now from shore to shore of the land, bids every 
 man, high or low, bear in mind, that he has here upon 
 this earthly ground, '' no continuing city." Our chief 
 citizenship is in another clime. With rapid course we 
 all pass on toward the judgment-seat of Christ. There 
 all mankind must stand upon a connnon level. Politi- 
 cians and their constituents will meet there, and every 
 intrigue Avill be exposed ; yes, and pastors and then- 
 people will meet there, and all the conduct and motives 
 of their intercourse will be brought under re^^ew. 
 
 And liere the ministers of the Gospel ought to re- 
 ceive an admonition, not only from the death, but 
 fi'om the recorded words of the departed Statesman. 
 As though a voice spoke to :\ie from beyond the grave, 
 would I pause thoughtfully over the mighty lesson. 
 " When I attend upon the preaching of the Gospel, I 
 wish to have it made a personal matter — yes, a per- 
 sonal matter — a personal matter." How scorching is 
 
35 
 
 the rebuke to those who merit it ! " They take a text 
 from Paul aud preach from the newspapers. When 
 they do so, I prefer to enjoy my own thoughts rather 
 than listen." And who blames him? "I want my 
 minister," he says, " to come to me in the spirit of the 
 Gospel, eaying, ' You are mortal. Your probation is 
 brief. Your work must be done quickly. You are 
 immortal too. You are hastening to the bar of God. 
 The Judge standeth at the door.' " 
 
 Ah, THAT is the only true method for a Christian min- 
 ister. When ever I come to speak in this sacred place, 
 O, let the impression henceforth be stamped deeper than 
 ever on my heart : I must make the transaction in which 
 I now engage with these immortal souls, " a personal 
 matter — yes, a personal matter — a personal matter." 
 And, brethren and friends, let those other words just re- 
 cited, sink deep likewise into all your hearts. Receive 
 them as if spoken to you, through me, by one " who 
 being dead yet speaketh," aye, who " still lives" — lives 
 in the aifections of his countrymen — lives in the -v^^orthy 
 deeds and worthy sentiments he has left behind — lives 
 as an immortal spirit, just over there, on the other side 
 of the border between time and eternity. " You are 
 mortal. Your probation is brief. Your work must 
 be done sj)eedily. You are immortal too. You are 
 hastening to the bar of God. The Judge standeth at 
 the door." Prepare, O ye mortal, yet immortal beings, 
 prepare now for a happy immortality. xVimen. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 896 585 1