THE CHRISTIAN PATRIOT.

SERMON

DELIVERED AT THE

SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

BOSTON, JULY 5TH, 1840.

I’UI%§[.ISI~II~ZI) .B'Y’ RTCQTIESTI‘.

CAMBRIDGE:
FOLSONLVNELLS,AND THURSTON,

PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.

1840.

SERMON.

“ HAPPY rs THAT PEOPLE, WHOSE GOD IS THE Lorin.”
Psalm cxliv. 15.

ONE of the most common of the mistaken and
false forms, into which religion is apt to run, is an
isolated piety, an abstract and independent devotion;
religion, separated from the business of life, instead
of being Woven up, conscientiously, with all its con-
cerns. For convenience’ sake, we have a particular
day, and place, and order of men, and class of exer»
cises, especially devoted to the consideration of the
great topic; but it is that its influence may be made
to run through all days and places, all intercourse,
every subject and employment. Yet the church has
ever been prone, even more than it is conscious of,

to sever itself from the world, instead of leaveningg

it to its own spirit; and the same man, in his church
relations, is a Christian, or would grieve not to be
considered and to consider himself so, who, in some
of his worldly interests and pursuits, is absolutely an
atheist, living Without God in his thoughts.

On no subject is this more obvious, than on the
one, from which it is most unfortunate in our country
religion should be driven off, seeing it is that which
agitates more people here than any other, viz. the
Whole business of politics. Religion and politics are
spoken of as opposite poles, the positive and the
negative as the acknowledgment of God is con-
cerned. , We hear it said, politics are of no particu-
lar religion; and it is too often true, in a more abso-
lute sense than is intended. It Would seem, at first,
as if both subjects were so important, so exciting,
that the human heart is hardly large enough. for both.

4

When we speak of a manas a politician preeminent-
ly, one enthusiastically absorbed in the affairs of the
nation, or more probably of a party, we do not eX—-
pect to find him in a church. And when a zealot
for churches is invited to the polls, he seems to an-
swer to the purpose, when he replies, “ My Master’s
kingdom is not of this World.” If he is a clergymani
the rofessional res onse expected from him is, “
havepnothing to dopwith politics; ” and only those
object to this, who suppose, if he voted at all, he
would vote with them; to all others he seems to
have made the natural and legitimate reply. Both
of these men are wrong, but they both point the di-
rection in which public prejudice blows.

Our festivals, again, are either political or re»-
ligious; not both together. There would seem to be
something incompatible and profane, or absurd, in
making them both. Such an anniversary as yester-
day is not strikingly a religious day ; as to-morrow’s
published list of its outrages and truculent mishaps
in all our cities will attest. Many of our more se-
rious people generally flee from its noisy and turbu-
lent festivities. Early in the morning, trains of ve-—

‘hicles may be seen leaving the city by every outlet,

anxious to escape from the celebration of the National
Independence. And, when that day of the month
falls upon the first day of the Week, its celebration
is postponed till Monday; as if confessedly impossible
to bring its spirit into harmony with the Christian
Sabbath. "

All this shows, not that politics and religion are
necessarily inconsistent, —-— for the former, I suppose,
is a duty as reallyas the latter, and all duties should
be performed in the fear of God,----but it shows,
that the spirit of politics which prevails is not the
right one. The good of our country should be pro».
vided for, as in the sight of God, and in sacred love
to our fellow-men; and then it is a holy service, and
need not be dissevered from the solemnest ministra-
tions of devotion. It is one of the modes of wor-

5

ship with which the Universal Father is well pleased ;
one of the forms of his appointed ceremonial of re-
ligion pure and undefiled, which consists in going
about doing good for his sake. But, if it is only a
selfish, headlong, intemperate scramble for preemi-
nence, if it is mercenary, not moral, in its spirit, a
question of interest, not of right, the Sabbath is
too good a day for it, and so is every other day.

Interest is to be regarded as well as right; but
do not all political parties appeal too exclusively to
the former? A reverence for right is not held high
enough, as the guiding polar star for the opinions
of the people. The people think, morality is a mat-
ter of home and neighbourly intercourse, not involved
in the votes they cast, and the opinions they express,
on the acts of government, encouraging or condemn-
ing. How seldom is the guilt of upholding iniqui-

A tons public measures reflected on, as good men re-

llect on private violations of the ten commandments.
They may do infinitely more mischief than an indi-
vidual’s misdemeanour, and yet many deem it a little
thing. Men seem to think they may hold what opin-
ions, and belong to what parties they please, with-
out regard to their truth or effects, except as affect-
ing themselves; as if politics were a lawless region,
always out of Christendom, and from which even
conscience was excluded by general consent. Look
through the community and the world, and see
how, on almost every question, you may draw a line
between parties, accurately coinciding with the line
between their interests. You need not ask, on which
side a man’s convictions lie, if you only know on
which side his wishes lie. The coincidence is cer-
tainly remarkable ; and melancholy it is to reflect on
the Wide heartlessness it indicates. Here we see
men fair»-minded in every other concern, men of se-
vere religious sanctity, of nice honor, of scrupulous
integrity in their personal transactions, where the
weli'ar'e of a few immediate connexions or acquaint—~
ances is at stake; but, when millions may lose

6

through the prevalence of an opinion, the first and
only thought that seems to occur to them is, How
will it affect us, and in our lowest interests? And,
if it promise to be lucrative, forthwith they adopt
that opinion, as if their soul’s salvation hung upon it.

They adopt that opinion, I said; but can it be
possible, that men always do really believe as is for
their interest? Can they be conscientious, in such
innumerable cases, arriving, through careful and dis-
passionate examination, at precisely the result that
happens to favor their views and wishes? I allow a
great deal for the blinding power of self-interest;
but this uniform concurrence of hope and belief is
astonishing still. These same people will reason as
clearly as daylight on any argument which comes
within the tenth of an inch of their own concerns
without touching; but, the moment it touches, their
light is darkened, their logical acumen is blunted,
their perceptions evince a certain unfortunate ob-~
liquity, which is sure to twist their notions in one
invariable direction. Can this be right? Can it be
honest? We know, or we might know, if we chose,
that truth and justice cannot always, and on every
accidental question and measure, be in our favor.
We are bound, at any rate, not to take it for grant-
ed. Let us inquire. Let us make up our minds
to lose so many dollars, to relinquish a few preju-
dices, and partialities, and expectations, rather than
lose probity, the approbation that speaks within, all
generosity of soul, and the smiles of God. Let us
not be satisfied to be guilty, because the guilt is
shared with a multitude. Away with injustice and
ungenerosity, though only in thought, however popu-~
lar, however fashionable. So shall we do our part
to bring into currency a more elevated and uncom-~
promising tone of political honor and conscience; and
the whole regions of politics he no longer but as the
Barbary States of moral geography, outlawed lands
and piratical seas, from which are excluded all faith
and virtue, all laws of God and man.

'7

Politics should be but one form of that charity
which is the end of the divine lavv, one mode of be-
nevolence, one of the ministrations of philanthropy;
and “ Holiness to the Lord ” be inscribed overthe
portals of its halls of state and the chambers of its
social festivals, as over the church door. Especially
yvith us should this be aimed at on triple grounds.
For, if political parties with us cannotbe Christian
parties, then are We a godless nation; there can be
few Christians throughout the length and breadth of
the land; since he, who is no politician under our
institutions, is a solitary rarity.

Then, if they believe their own declamations, puf-
fing up so unvveariedly the national vanity, We are the
most favored people on which the sun shines, at
least, as regards all that God has done for us; and
the Giver of all good should, least of all, be ungrate-
fully overloolted by  All the flights of rhetoric,
that yesterday glittered over this continent, all the
floods of panegyric that were sounded forth upon
ourselves and our institutions and advantages, should
they not all reécho, at least in an undertone whis-
per in reason’s ear, as if saying, To whom much is
given, of them much will be required?

And, then, to make all that is given to us safe for
us, and to expect a blessing continuance, We must
remember God, and insist on a religious morality as
the very first manifestation of a true patriotism. Ay,
patriotism, that most abused of Words. Alas! that
it is ever vaunted and bravadoed by the scoffer and
the profligate, not knowing, that blessed is that
people, and that alone, vvhose God is the Lord.
"Without him they may speak great swelling Words
of vanity; but bombastic professions and oratorical
displays are not the disinterested self-denial and so-
ber toils of a virtuous citizen, who fears God and
honors government, and serves and saves the state
without boasting. He alone isa patriot. By such
alone the country stands.

The Ruler of nations hath uttered the decree.

8

From the beginning of time his world has been il-
lustrating it. As surely as he is just and the King
of nations as of individuals; as surely as there is
truth taught by experience, and the unvarying cer-
tainty of the same effects from the same causes, ac»-
cording to the natural constitution he has impressed
on his universe, the past, in all quarters of the globe,
bids us look Well to it. You may be the traitor
within the garrison, though treason to the country be
furthest from your thoughts. You may invoke ruin
upon it when you are shouting, louder than any, the
glory of its institutions. You may be the deadly
enemy, though you shed your blood for it. , Look
over the World. Look through history. Look into
the nature of things. When hath a righteous na-~
tion perished? Where is there one doing justice and
judgment, and it is not well with it? Public virtue
is the strongest spirit of national vitality; and pri-
vate virtue is the life—blood, coursing through every
artery and vein, large and small, of the public in»
stltutions.

On the other hand, is it not undeniable from rea-
son, Scripture, and experience, that the predomi-
nance of selfish principles and corrupt morals is the
unfailing cause of calamities, perplexities, and ruin
in a country? Reason tells us, that the character of
the Judge of all the earth is pledged to have it so.
Vice, in the individual, may not always meet its
retribution, nor virtue its reward, in this world, be—-
cause there is to be another, of more perfect retribu-~
tion for individuals. But nations exist here alone.
Unlike the soul, they are annihilated at their tempo-—~
ral dissolution. Therefore, if their fortunes and fate
be subjects of the divine Providence, to their present
existence, which is their only one, must be applied
the principles of its moral rule.

The Scriptures confirm this rule, and do not re-
strict it to the theocracy of Israel. They say; “ O
Israel, thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; your in»
iquities have turned away good things and with—-

9

holden them from you.” But it is not of Israel alone,
(of Whom it might be said, God was, in a peculiar
Way, a Governor by temporal sanctions,) that he an-
nounces this principle of legislation. His declara-
tions are general. “At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom,‘to
build up and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight,
that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the
good wherevvith I said I would benefit them. In
the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, and the wine
is red. It is full mixed, and he poureth out of the
same. As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of
the earth shall drink them.” .

And the experience of mankind puts the impres-
sive truth beyond dispute. What is history but, on
this account, like the Prophet’s, a scroll written,
within and without, with lamentation, and mourn-
ing, and Woe. Pity weeps as she unrolls its vener-—
able annals. Its oldest records present the Cities of
the I}’lain set forth for an example of the national
ruin, that full surely awaits national unrighteousness.
“Ten righteous men could not be found in them,”
and they perished. Even to an earlier page the ge-
nius of history points, and sighs over the ravages of
the flood. “All flesh had corrupted their ways be-

fore the Lord,” and we stand aghast at the sweep-‘

ing catastrophe. Turn over a few pages onward,
and direct your attention to the chosen people. See
them, at one time, visited with pestilence, famine,
eonflagration, tempest; at another, falling under the
svvord,or languishing in captivity, fleeing before the
scourge of war, or terrified with awful phenomena of
nature, and all these proclaimed the retributory an-
gels of the Lord, the ministers of his justice for their
sins. The wisdom of their wise men was taken
away, and the understanding of their prudent men
hid ; and it was moral debasement that did it. Their
cities, the places of their fathers’ sepulchres, were
laid Waste, and the gates thereof consumed with fire;

and, in all the seasons of their affliction, mark the
2

10

moral shade running through the history in propor-
tioned intenseness; mark idolatry and its bitter fruit,
general profligacy, tempting them to forget their
God.

Read of a later day, travel among the scenes of
profane chronicles, if you would see, that national
vice is national suicide. Stand upon the mouldering
ruins of a thousand cities, once great and fair, and
seek,--—-you will seek in vain,-—-—-for trace or even
site of many others; and ask, Where are they, and
Why have they vanished from the earth? Roam
through the desolated territories of empires, once
splendid and mighty, and, as you brood over the
gloomy vestiges of their decay, and cannot find an
inhabitant for many a mile, where throngs were loud
and busy once, ask yourself, if integrity, industry,
humanity, temperance, piety, and purity were rife
there, when the besorn of destruction came to sweep
away all that magnificence ; if general holiness found
a tomb under those wide—spread ruins.

Thus history or travel will conduct you over the
globe, and everywhere teach the same salutary les-
son. They will point to empire after empire, and
dynasty after dynasty, shrivelling and shrinking
with the imbecility of moral corruption; and it is
not more sure, that the palaces of their pride, and
the monuments of their perverted might, are crum-~
bling into dust, than that other empires and other
dynasties, now treading in their steps, will follow
themtto decay and desolation. O that our beloved
land may be wise from the lesson! ‘And the lesson
is more pertinent under our republican polity, than
under any other. If righteousness exalteth a nation,
and sin is a reproach and ruin to any people, most
speedily of all must it prove so to a people without
the restraints of a strong government. Liberty and
licentiousness roll trippingly off the tongue together;
they flow, unseparated, from the lips of many, with
easy alliteration and commonplace proverbialness, as
if they «were almost the same thing, or one inevitably

11

followed the other. But, if it does, it is as common-
place a maxim of history, that it will follow it speed-
ily to ruin. Liberty and licentiousness,-—-it is the
tritest of proverbs, -—--- cannot co—exist lastingly. The
free people is the last that can afford to be vicious.
The slave may throw ofi” the restraints of virtue, and
yet be kept in order by the restraints- of despotism.
But, when a freeman does not govern himself, he is
ungoverned, so to speak, and careering to perdition ;
like the uncurbed wild ass of the desert, rushing to
t.he precipice he tosses his head too high to see.

Thelefore, every immoral republican is a traitor
and conspirator against his government, as much as
if, being the subject of a king, he pointed a dagger
argaitist his life. He is spreading stratagems and
snares for the feet of his sovereign; for public vir-
tue is his sovereign. He is seeking to blind, and
deafen, and lame, and cripple, and make wholly in-
efficient, and worse than inefficient, he is seeking
to corrupt, into tyrannical vvantonness and cruelty,
the most beneficent monarch that ever sat upon a
throne.

So that you see, my brethren, in addition to every
other motive for being good Christians, patriotism
should be one. After we have turned away from the
voice of God; after we have steeled our hearts to
the claims of him who died upon Calvary, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; after

we have besotted our minds to act the foo1’s part of

blindness to our own interest; there is yet one ape-r
peal which maynot be lost upon our generosity, one
consideration that should be sufficient; public spirit,
the love of our country. Its welfare is resting on
our individual virtue. For, as drops of water make
up the ocean, and grains of sand constitute vast con-

‘ tinents, so the personal character of the humblest in-

dividual among us adds something, for weal or for
woe, to that national character, by which the land
of our love, the government which has cherished us,
will stand or fall. Our native soil, the scene of our

12

happy childhood, the land of our fathers, the land
Where we have enjoyed so much, where we expect
so much, and from which the world expects so much,
shall it realize these expectations? Shall it become,
as has been so fondly anticipated, the glory of the
nations, the perfection of beauty, the joy of the Whole
earth, showing What man canrdo with unshackled
energies and faculties ripely developed in the whole-
some air of liberty? Or shall it be one more by-‘Word
and mockery of the aspirations and pretensions of
freedom; it

Think of this, when tempted to any Wicked or
base act. Above all, think of it when tempted into
any of the ‘peculiar and besetting snares, the be-
traying exaggerations and caricatures of liberty; to
vicious license, to lawlessness and recklessness of re»
straint, to inebriate zeal, party prejudices, bigoted
factiousness, mob-rioting, passionate reviling of the
powers that be, or the powers that are to be, and all
bitter or mercenary partisanship. Remember, when
tempted to any of these, you are tempted then to
disappoint so many noble souls, the lovers of their
kind, in every quarter of the globe, the enthusiasts
for the advancement of the human race to a pitch of
excellence and enjoyment yet unrealized, but the
guaranty forvvhich they look for in the great eXperi——-
ment of selfigovernment now trying on these shores.

The old World may be said to be leaning, with
feverish anxiety, over the ocean to catch every symp--
tom of the success or failure of this experiment.
Have pity on the last hopes of man. Let it not be
said again, as it was by the dying Brutus, after he
had sacrified all to realize a patriot’s dream; “ O vir--
tne, I have worshipped thee as a reality, and found
thee but a shadow.” Let it not be said, again, as
it was by thenoble—-hearted Madame Roland, as,
on her way to the guillotine to lose her head for
continuing a virtuous enthusiast for freedom amidst
the herd of the vicious, shetpassed under the statue
of Liberty; “ 0 Liberty, how they have played thee!

13

What crimes have been committed in thy name!”
Ay, how it has been played in the world, histrion-
ized, juggled! What crimes have been committed,
what crimes have not been committed, in its sa-
cred name? It is assuredly the cloak of boundless
evil, when not guarded with most scrupulous probity;
for the best things, corrupted, always become the
worst. The precious diamond may be blackened
into a worthless coal. The sweet name of liberty
has become a sound of ill omen and nauseous asso-
ciations to many of the readers of history, from want
of virtue in its votaries. Patriotism has been char»
acterized as the last resource of a villain. Revolu-
tions, said Napoleon, are not made with rosewater;
but it were well if blood, and seas of it, were the
dearest price paid. Moral corruption is what ren--
ders revolutions worse than vain.

Our fathers have made one more trial, knowing
that past failures wereifrom want of Christian prin-
ciple, and that they had settled these shores ex-
pressly in obedience to Christian principle, and there»-
fore they might hope. In faith and prayer they
struggled; for they felt, that with God all things are
possible in the cause of righteousness, and they
hoped their children would feel this too. From the
first, they set out with the idea of making this com-—
munity that happy people, whose God is the Lord,
-----«a Christian nation,--—what the world had never
yet seen, but what all its experience concurred in
testifying it must see, or it would never see the
amount of prosperity man is capable of attaining on
earth. A Christian people! Not merely a sober,
industrious people, without religion, if such could
be expected, but distinctively a Christian people.
Bright and glorious idea, far»-seeing wisdom, true,
solid statesmanship! Look round the globe, my
friends, and see its kingdoms prospering at this time
just in proportion as they come near realizing this
idea, other elements of their greatness being the
same. Begin from the effete East, and cometo the

14

infant West. The nominally Christian are more
thriving than the Pagan and Mahometan; the Pro-
testant than the Catholic; the praying and Bible-
reading, than the ceremonial and formalist; and, so
long as hypocrisy could be kept out, that people would
prosper most, who should require, as the settlers of
these New England colonies did, that none but mem-
bers of the church should he rulers in the state.
Such a regulation is a bait for hypocrites, a trap for
the consciences of the ambitious, and, therefore, it is
not to be enforced after the primitive virtues of the
settlement have been corrupted. But, if there were
no fear of hypocrisy, verily and indeed happy would
be that people, with whom God was effectively their
Lord through the strict observance of such a rule.
Then might we see such a phenomenon as 21 Chris-
tian people.

As it is, let us,----and it seems more incumbent
on us than on any nation that lives in the sun’s
light,-——let us do what we can to make Cllzrristvlan
more expressive, than as a mere geographical term.
‘When we are called a Christian nation, let us allow
more to he meant, than that we are not savages or
barbarians, or only semi—civilized, as all those nations
are, in which Christianity is unknown. Christian
should be more than European or American, as dis-

tinguished from Asiatic or African. It should be

more than latitude and longitude; more than eastern
or western, northern or southern; more than tropics
and zones, equator and ecliptic, arctic or aritarctic.

And how can we make a Christian nation? To
become so, must be an individual, not a collective
act. Legislation cannot do it, if legislation would.
Resolves of majorities, in caucus or Congress, in
towns or by States, or even unanimous votes, is not
the way to effect it. The simple and sole process is
for each person privately to resolve, for his single part,
to he a Christian. The obscurest citizen, who has
no influence in legislative deliberations, no political
name or fame whatever, —-- nay, the shrinking woman

15

and child, whose deliberations look not beyond the
homestead, or who can legislate only over their own
hearts,-—---these can add a stone, as truly as the
mightiest statesman or the loudest demagogue, to
build up the national temple to the Lord. Public
opinion is the life--breath of our government, and
therefore to Christianize that, We have but to Chris-
tianize ourselves. 0 what it is ye may achieve!
No such power as this is possessed by the suljects
ofany government but yours. They cannot regen-
erate their sovereign. They cannot even pray for
his conversion with the hope, the assurance, of the
prayer being granted if sincere, which may Warm
your breasts.

And is there a consideration of earth or heaven,
that is not present and potent to move us to this
prayer? Pour it out to God, if righteousness would
liave but the promise of the life that now is. If a
rr1ajor'ity of the Cit‘l§;'SE3I1S were sincere followers of J e--
sus Christ, is it not evident, the councils of this
nation would be wiser and mightier, its progress more
glorious, its dominion even more potent than any the
World has ever seen? The day when it shall be re-—
solved, that the same evatigelical principles shall gov-»
ern states that govern churches and gospel professors
in their private relations, would be the true jubilee of
iireedom. That will be the mind’s and the soul’s
decllaratiorn of independence. That will be break-»
ing every yoke at length from body, and heart, and
spirit. Thenceforth slavery, in any form, would be
but a tradition and a name; whereas now it is the
commonest of conditions, and to the mass liberty is
but a name; for he that serveth any sin is the slave
of sin. That day Will come, when the people choose.

Choose it, resolve it, 0 my brethren, as the first
of civil duties. Whatever your party predilections,
sacrifice them all for the party of righteous men.
Support no administration, and oppose none, but on
the around ofymoral principle. Go with themas far
as Jesus Christ would go, and no further. Read the

16

constitution by the light of the Gospel. The Saviour
be your paramount leader.

And now I see his communion table before me
this day, and I fear all that has been said will seem
out of keeping with its solemn associations; so dese-
crating, as I began with intimating, seems any allu-
sion to the politician’s trade. But let me hope I
have not spoken all in vain. Follow it in the spirit
in which you come here to the house of the Lord
himself. You are performing a solemn act of Wor-
ship then, if you feel it aright. You should enter
upon office, you should deposite your vote for office,
with a religious sense of accountableness, like that
which makes you so serious when you handle the
emblems of the Saviour’s body and blood.

Approach his table because you would be good
citizens, among the other reasons of the act ; because
you love, and would serve and save, your country;
because you would have it long free; because you
would be truly free yourselves. Where the spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty. If his Son shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed. Wliere he is not
the deliverer, men may clamor, and boast,,and ca-
rouse, and with bacchanalian revelry call themselves
free, but they are the bondmen of corruption, the
thralls of Satan. 0 be ye, unlike them, the freed--A
men of the Lord, whose service is perfect freedom.