REY. DR. NEALE’S 
 
 ELECTION SERMON, 
 
 DELIVERED JANUARY 8, 1852. 
 
RELIGIOUS 
 
 E R T Y. 
 
 • P 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, 
 
 GOVERNOR, 
 
 HIS HONOR HENRY W. CUSHMAN, 
 
 LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, 
 
 THE HONORABLE COUNCIL, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 ANNUAL ELECTION, JANUARY 8, 1852. 
 
 BY REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D. D. 
 
 Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Boston, 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 DUTTON & WENTWORTH, STATE PRINTERS, 
 No. 37, Congress Street. 
 
 1852. 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/religiouslibertyOOneal 
 
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 €ammontoeaitl) of iHassacljttsetts. 
 
 House of Representatives, Jan. 9, 1852. 
 
 Ordered, That Messrs. Andrews of Montague, Loring of Andover, 
 and Small of Truro, be a Committee to present the thanks of this House 
 to the Rev. Rollin H. Neale, D. D., for the Sermon delivered by him 
 on Thursday last, before the Executive and the two branches of the 
 Legislature of this Commonwealth, and ask a copy for the press. 
 
 LEWIS JOSSELYN, Clerk 
 
SERMON. 
 
 ROMANS XIV: 4. 
 
 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own Master 
 
 HE STANDETH OR FAELETH. 
 
 It was said of our Saviour that he knew what 
 was in man;—and the Scriptures, in their perfect 
 adaptedness to human nature in all the varied cir¬ 
 cumstances and relations of life, evince a similar 
 proof of their divine origin. The legislator and 
 statesman can take no more effectual means to 
 qualify themselves for their important duties, their 
 complex and vast responsibilities, than by consult¬ 
 ing the Sacred Oracles. Those governments which 
 are formed after the Scripture model, and which 
 bear the closest conformity to the principles and 
 spirit of revelation, are found on trial best adapted 
 to the character and wants of mankind, and conse¬ 
 quently are the most prosperous and enduring. 
 
 Religious Liberty, the principle involved in the 
 text, is a prominent doctrine in the teachings of 
 Christ and his Apostles. It is adapted to the well¬ 
 being of man in any circumstances; even among 
 the rudest nations, and in the darkest periods of 
 human history. What results, therefore, may we 
 not anticipate from its practical operation among a 
 
6 
 
 people, where, as with us, Christianity has already 
 obtained a footing; where there are so many safe¬ 
 guards against the influence of error, and such 
 numerous and ready means for arriving at a knowl¬ 
 edge of the true God. 
 
 The Bearing of Religious Liberty on our 
 own National Prosperity, is the topic, which may 
 occupy, not unprofitably, the present hour. 
 
 By religious liberty we mean the privilege of 
 worshiping God according to the dictates of our 
 own conscience. Its principle is, that while we 
 are under obligation to be good and peaceable citi¬ 
 zens, to obey magistrates, and submit to every ordi¬ 
 nance of man for the Lord’s sake, no human au¬ 
 thority may interfere with our relations to the Cre¬ 
 ator that for our faith and practice, so long as we 
 do not trench upon the legitimate sphere of civil 
 government, we are responsible only to Him who 
 has exclusive dominion of the soul;—that in those 
 thoughts and feelings and actions which we re¬ 
 gard as essential to the enjoyment of the divine 
 favor and the attainment of eternal life, no human 
 eye may watch us, no human arm control us, no 
 human tribunal summon us to account. 
 
 It must be so from the very nature of the case. 
 Religion is strictly an individual affair. Every man 
 must here think and feel, act and answer, for him¬ 
 self. Neither guilt nor holiness is communicable by 
 bargain, barter, or descent. Neither magistrate nor 
 priest, minister nor layman, can stand before the 
 
7 
 
 Creator as the spiritual representative of another. 
 The sphere of our religious emotions is a sacred 
 enclosure, where each individual is to be left alone 
 with God. The sanctuary of the soul is a hallowed 
 retirement, to be entered, and entered only, by the 
 High Priest of our profession. This principle is 
 a conspicuous and distinguishing feature of the 
 Christian faith. Even under the Jewish economy, 
 formidable barriers existed in the path of the wor¬ 
 shiper. Holy vestments, sacred places, and priestly 
 functions, stood up with frowning and chilling as¬ 
 pect between the hearts of the people and the life- 
 inspiring influence of the Divine presence. But now 
 a new and a living way has been consecrated by the 
 blood of Jesus, in which every sincere suppliant 
 may have communion with Heaven. Wherever we 
 are, in society or in solitude, on the ocean or on the 
 land; in the desert, the city or the mountain top, 
 God is not far from every one of us. The incense 
 of an honest heart can rise to the Omniscient One, 
 in the humblest circumstances of devotion, as ac¬ 
 ceptably as beneath the lofty cathedral dome; and 
 even when the lips move not, and the eyes, weighed 
 down with sickness and sorrow, are closed, the heart, 
 gratefully devout, may throb its silent adoration 
 to the Deity, and breathe forth as true a spirit of 
 prayer and praise as if it mingled its tones with the 
 melody of thousands, and bowed ostentatiously be¬ 
 fore an imposing altar and a consecrated priest. 
 Such is the doctrine and this the spirit of our holy 
 religion; and yet the nations of the earth have been 
 strangely slow in understanding either the one or 
 
8 
 
 the other. Even Christian communities, mistaking 
 the sphere and the limits of their responsibility, 
 have conscientiously scourged and branded, ban¬ 
 ished and burned, the heretic. Strange as it now 
 seems to us, history abounds with instances where 
 the secular power has thought itself fulfilling a 
 divinely appointed mission,—exercising a high and 
 holy prerogative in putting men and women to 
 death for the good of souls and for the honor of 
 Christ. These views are not now carried out so 
 rigorously as at former periods; still their withering 
 and deadly influence is felt in almost every land. 
 Ours is the only government where religion is en¬ 
 tirely dissevered from the state; the only country 
 in which the civil magistrate, should contending 
 sects come to him with their feuds and difficulties, 
 would be required to say with the deputy of Achaia, 
 not scornfully but reverently, “If it were a matter 
 of wrong or wicked lewdness, reason would that I 
 should bear with you, but if it be a question of 
 words and names and of your law, look ye to it, 
 for I will be no judge in such matters.” 
 
 Such is the religious liberty enjoyed in these 
 United States. It is derived directly from the King 
 in Zion. It is not regarded as a matter of tolera¬ 
 tion, but a heaven-descended and inalienable right. 
 Saul is an Episcopalian, and Cephas a Presbyterian, 
 and Gains a Baptist, and Demas a Roman Catholic, 
 because, in the exercise of their own judgment, and 
 under, we trust, a sense of responsibility to God, 
 they so choose to be. The people of every nation, 
 Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in 
 
9 
 
 Mesopotamia; and every religious sect, whatever 
 may be their faith, with the merest shred of a creed, 
 or with the most motley and far-spread patch-work 
 of a superstitious ritual; whether Catholic or Pro¬ 
 testant, Jew or Turk;—they may here worship God, 
 each in his own way, without molestation or fear from 
 any human agency. If the Chinese choose to erect 
 a Buddhist temple in California, or in any other 
 part of the Union, they will meet with no trouble ; 
 and no special attention will be given to their work 
 or their worship farther than as they may be, for 
 a while, matters of curiosity. Every man may sit 
 under his vine and under his fig-tree and none shall 
 make him afraid. 
 
 Persecution may indeed exist without brandish¬ 
 ing deadly weapons over the head of the supposed 
 errorist. It may follow its victim with suspicion 
 and scorn. It may turn upon him the demoniac 
 glare of anger, and breathe venom from its lips. 
 But this spirit, we have reason to hope, is fast dis¬ 
 appearing from among us; or, if it lingers in some 
 quarters and occasionally lifts up its horrid form, it 
 is looked upon with general disgust as a base out¬ 
 rage upon humanity, and the grossest violation of 
 the laws of God. Such is our liberty. It is worth 
 treasures and blood, and there are those in other 
 lands who would gladly pay and are paying this 
 great price for it. But we were free born. It is a 
 heritage which has descended to us from the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, who, in the language of the gifted poetess, 
 
 “ Have left unstained, what here they found, 
 
 Freedom to worship God.” 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 What then is the practical bearing of religions 
 liberty upon our happiness and prosperity as a 
 nation 1 
 
 In the first place, it is the parent and guardian 
 of mental liberty. Independence of thought on one 
 subject leads to independence of thought on others. 
 Especially is this true in reference to religion. If 
 there are restraints here, the whole soul is in bond¬ 
 age ; and if there is freedom here, then are we free 
 indeed. One may be in poverty or in prison and 
 suffer a thousand disabilities, and be “ a man for a’ 
 thatbut if he allows his conscience to be in the 
 keeping of another, he is a slave of the most menial 
 kind. There is nothing left in him that can give 
 strength or dignity to a human being; no indi¬ 
 vidual character or noble endeavors, or lofty aspira¬ 
 tions. The glory has departed. 
 
 There have been times in the history of nations, 
 nor have those times entirely passed away, when 
 religious restrictions were laid upon the intellect as 
 well as upon the conscience. Men were not allowed 
 to think, or at least to express their thoughts, with¬ 
 out having first ascertained whether they were in 
 harmony with the popular creed, and the prescribed 
 faith. It is recorded of the Alexandrian fathers 
 that in their honest intention to develop the true 
 sense of Scripture, they inserted a punctuation mark 
 after the word tv, in the third verse of the first 
 chapter of the Gospel of John. The conscientious 
 Chrysostom was greatly alarmed at this proceeding, 
 and denounced it as rank heresy. Epiphanius, still 
 
more zealous, declared it an act of blasphemy, and a 
 sin against the Holy Ghost. Excitements rose high 
 in the theological world. Wise heads combined to 
 stay the spreading evil. And thus, on account of a 
 single dot, the perilous work of punctuating the 
 inspired volume was delayed for years. A similar 
 spirit of hostility to free thought crippled the en¬ 
 ergies of philosophers and scholars, and spread 
 over the earth the darkness of a thousand years. 
 Strong and active minds then existed. There were 
 giants in those days. But they were doomed to 
 walk only in the go-carts of despotism. They were 
 occupied with the most profitless inquiries. Not 
 daring to rise up in conscious majesty and pursue 
 their work in the open face of day, they burrowed 
 in the obscurity of convents and cloisters, and wast¬ 
 ed on puerile conceits the powers that were designed 
 for discovery and progress. Preachers and authors 
 wrote with the fear of the censorship, or the Index 
 of prohibited books, before their eyes. The shadow 
 of the pillory or of the grim inquisition fell, through 
 their study windows, sadly and ominously upon the 
 page that should have been dedicated to freedom, to 
 truth, and to God. But no such bit or bridle is im¬ 
 posed on us; and never can be. Our philosophers 
 and learned men may push their investigations as 
 far as they please; no prince or prelate can harm 
 them. They may make, or think they make, dis¬ 
 coveries in science that are wonderful and startling; 
 and they may announce thetn to the world and 
 to the church ever so boldly ; no sun or successor 
 of St. Dominic will raise his iron hand, nor bend 
 
12 
 
 upon them a frowning brow. If some of their the¬ 
 ories seem to come athwart the Bible, be it so. 
 The fate of the Tuscan philosopher, often so plain¬ 
 tively deprecated, they have no occasion to fear,— 
 however much it might in some instances be de¬ 
 served. Our men of genius may exert themselves to 
 the utmost, may range the wide creation, and unlock, 
 if they can, the mysteries of nature. Their acquisi¬ 
 tions may equal their pretensions even. They may 
 
 “ Know all learning and all science know, 
 
 And all the subtle, nice affinities 
 Of matter trace, its virtues, motions, laws, 
 
 And most familiarly and deeply talk 
 Of mental, moral, natural, divine, 
 
 Leaving the earth at will, may soar to heaven, 
 
 And read the glorious visions of the skies, 
 
 And gaze far back into the awful depths of Deity.” 
 
 No obstructions will be thrown in their lumi¬ 
 nous path. Our transcendentalists may indulge in 
 imaginative theories and keen speculations, and with 
 looks of wondrous wisdom, speak of the “ absolute,” 
 and the “infinite,” and the “innate,” as familiar 
 things, intelligible and palpable to their every 
 sense. They may put forth those long reaches of 
 thought which pluck bright honor from the pale- 
 faced moon, or dive into the bottom of the deep, 
 where fathom-line can never touch the ground, and 
 drag up drowned honor by the locks ! Our policy 
 and our safety consist in simply standing out of 
 their adventurous way, and giving them as wide a 
 range as possible. The astronomer may scan the 
 heavens to the utmost sweep of his telescope; the 
 
13 
 
 geologist may grope in the bowels of the earth, 
 and talk freely and learnedly of the countless ages 
 through which its strata have been slowly churned 
 and curdled; the mathematician may bend over 
 problems reaching back to periods equally remote, 
 and in the fervor of scientific enthusiasm seem to 
 forget the Mosaic account of creation. What then ? 
 We shall neither send them to the stake from an 
 insane fear; nor throw away our bibles in as insane 
 a credulity. We have no apprehension that there 
 will ever be discovered a want of harmony between 
 the true out-speaking of nature, and the clear, un¬ 
 erring and rightly-understood voice of inspiration. 
 An intelligent faith in the word of God is too 
 strong, too deeply rooted and grounded in everlast¬ 
 ing truth, to be timorous of man or of human sci¬ 
 ence. Religion rejoices in the mental freedom she 
 inspires, and of whose blessings she herself is no 
 stinted recipient. 
 
 The influence of this freedom is not confined to 
 the study of the scholar. It does not expend itself 
 in mere theory. It is something practical. We all 
 share of its blessings. It is felt in every department 
 of society, and changes the entire character and des¬ 
 tiny of nations. Those Europeans who first settled 
 on the banks of the St. Lawrence, were the legitimate 
 offspring of church and state. Nursed from infancy 
 in the lap of power, fed with artificial stimulants, 
 and trained to martial rule and discipline, they lan¬ 
 guished for want of vital sap and energy: whereas 
 the colonies from England, our Puritan forefathers, 
 seeking refuge from oppression, driven from their 
 
14 
 
 firesides and their homes, tossed on the billows of 
 the ocean, and left at length, outcast and neglect¬ 
 ed, amid the storms of winter and the yell of sav¬ 
 ages, beset with difficulties on every side, but still 
 strong in native vigor and self-confiding courage, 
 grew yet more strong with the conflicts and the 
 buffetings of life, and exhibited in their charac¬ 
 ter all the native might, the stern endurance and 
 hardihood, of their own coast and clime. They had 
 thrown off their shackles and come out of prison. 
 Hatred of all civil and spiritual domineering had 
 become with them a ruling passion. The spirit of 
 nonconformity had taken possession of their souls, 
 and the love of liberty was sublimed in them to a 
 fiery essence. They were resolved to be free. Hence 
 their sinewy limbs, and thoughtful brows, and ener¬ 
 getic purposes. And what but the same spirit has 
 poured around the abodes of their descendants the 
 multiplied comforts of social and domestic life, and 
 stirred up to unwonted activity and enterprise the 
 teeming millions of our population, and awakened 
 an inventive power among our artisans, our manu¬ 
 facturers, and agriculturists, that is daily giving a 
 new impulse to the various branches of industry, so 
 that, as recorded by the ablest, the bitterest and the 
 most anti-American press in all Europe, the United 
 States, at the World’s Fair, in every valuable art, in 
 everything for human improvement, so far distanced 
 every competitor, as to leave none else in sight. 
 To what, I ask, is this attributable but to that soul- 
 liberty, in which they occupy an enviable and soli¬ 
 tary preeminence among the nations of the earth 1 
 
15 
 
 It is not thus with the South American States. Re¬ 
 publics though they are, with a salubrious clime, a 
 fertile soil, and exhaustless mines of gold and silver, 
 they are yet, in all the elements of human power, 
 whether of head or heart, in the quiet pursuits of 
 peace, or the fiercer conflicts of war, as dwarfed and 
 inert as Pharaoh’s lean kine, and like them, through 
 years of famine or years of plenty, remain gaunt and 
 meagre still. What is wanted is religious freedom. 
 This has a vitalizing power. It arouses men to action, 
 and sets them forward in a career of improvement. 
 
 Dangers indeed are to be apprehended from these 
 awakened energies. The practical effect of liberty, 
 depending as it does upon the manner in which it 
 is employed, is diversified in its character, like the 
 vegetation of the earth. Rightly used and trained, 
 it becomes the waving harvest, the rich and abun¬ 
 dant fruits of cultivated fields, which fill our garners 
 and pile our boards with plenty. Perverted or suf¬ 
 fered to run wild, it presents only thorns and briers ; 
 or, at best, is like the green, yet deceptive ivy, which 
 “ hastens the decay it serves to hide, and crumbles 
 into speedier ruin the edifice it was designed to adorn 
 and beautify.” A strange progeny is sometimes 
 born even of American freedom. Our genius, like a 
 minister at large, is fruitful of suggestions, and con¬ 
 stantly devising new modes of operation. Under its 
 excited influence a thousand uncouth notions and in¬ 
 ventions are obtruded upon the public eye. Strange 
 and suspicious theories in science, government, and 
 religion, are broached and propagated through the 
 community. Stars are frequently appearing above 
 
16 
 
 the horizon, promising to guide their followers to a 
 new Bethlehem ; but prove, in the sequel, like the 
 corpse lights of English fable, which pointed only to 
 the graves their discoverers and admirers were soon 
 to occupy. Though Fourier has gone to his Judge, 
 his system lives and has here its list of votaries. 
 The radical and the comeouter are abroad ; the lat¬ 
 ter has not only come out himself, but is anxious to 
 thrust out Christ and his creed from his neighbor’s 
 heart and house. Views adverse to the church and 
 the ministry, and to all organized governments, are 
 freely expressed ; yea, attacks are made on the Bible 
 and Christianity itself. But do we, on this account, 
 wish any other restraints upon the soul than those 
 which Heaven imposes! Would we, from fear of 
 the tornado, have the winds imprisoned ! Or, to 
 save a toppling edifice or a branching tree here and 
 there, which may be uprooted or overturned by the 
 maddened tempest, would we forego the genial in¬ 
 fluence which springs from the pulses or even the 
 billows of the atmosphere! No: We would have 
 the soul free as the elements of nature. Let thought 
 be as unrestrained as the lightning, and come forth 
 in bold thunder-tones—who is afraid ? If it be of 
 men, it will come to naught; if of God, ye cannot 
 overthrow it. The wildest fanaticism will often die 
 of itself if you but let it alone ; it becomes a raging 
 flame only by ill-judged endeavors to smother the 
 fire. The true and successsful way of curing mental 
 as well as bodily diseases is by bringing them to the 
 light and air. Nature is her own physician. Let 
 her roam at pleasure under bright skies and over 
 
17 
 
 green fields, and she will throw off many maladies, 
 which, were she confined to the stifled atmosphere of 
 a sick-room, and doomed to the apothecary’s drugs 
 and doses, would prove her death. Thus it is with 
 the soul. It finds health and life by its own free¬ 
 dom. Let argument meet argument, opinion come 
 in conflict with opinion, different systems and theo¬ 
 ries grapple with each other upon a fair and open 
 field, and the result will be the correction of error, 
 the exposure of folly, and the ultimate triumph of 
 truth and righteousness.* 
 
 Religious liberty has a direct and strong bearing 
 upon our national stability. Prophecies of failure 
 respecting the republic have been uttered from its 
 origin. The cry of disunion is nothing new nor 
 strange. There are doubtless some circumstances 
 which may justly occasion alarm. It was an in¬ 
 telligent and deep conviction of real danger, that 
 prompted the remark from the patriot of Monticello, 
 46 1 tremble for my country, when I remember that 
 
 * Error and falsehood can thrive only in darkness, whereas truth 
 courts the light. Christianity shrinks from no investigation. She loses 
 nothing by the strictest scrutiny. She never stood on a loftier emi¬ 
 nence or more immovable foundations, than at this moment. Men at 
 other times and in other lands have endeavored to blot the Sabbath 
 from existence, and enact a decade to the Goddess of Liberty ; but the 
 memorial day of the creation, the resurrection and the redemption, has 
 returned to the calendar in spite of its foes, and there it will stand for¬ 
 ever, encircling and gladdening the nations with its hallowed light. 
 The Bible, too, in other times has encountered enemies, as numerous 
 and bitter, and as strangely conscientious; but it has survived every 
 attack, and the assaults of its old and foiled opponents have become 
 its enhanced defence, the thicker and the more prominent bosses on the 
 3 
 
18 
 
 God is just.” A nation that sets itself against the 
 Lord, that is recreant to its moral obligations, that 
 tramples upon the interests of humanity and the 
 laws of righteousness, cannot long survive. No 
 invading army may burn its cities, or lay waste its 
 fields; no crushing power from without may blot it 
 from existence; it carries within itself the seeds of 
 decay and ruin. Many a strong government has 
 thus been broken into fragments. Many a mon¬ 
 archy, as well as republic, from the midst of out¬ 
 ward prosperity and apparent strength, has thus, 
 from its towering height, descended suddenly to 
 the grave, as if smitten by an invisible hand. That 
 this nation, in its prosperity and pride, is exposed 
 to danger, it were hypocrisy and falsehood to deny. 
 The soul, here freed from the restraints of man, is 
 in danger of breaking away from the laws of God. 
 The young men of America, now entering upon the 
 stage of life, and they who are to take part in its 
 checkered drama for the next thirty years, will de¬ 
 velop their character, and put forth the energies of 
 
 buckler of Jehovah. “ The word of God is tried.” It has passed 
 through many a fiery ordeal. Science and philosophy, as well as 
 malice and power, have seemed for the moment to threaten its over¬ 
 throw ; but it has come forth divinely protected from every furnace of 
 the destroyer, its truths beaming with the brighter effulgence, and freed 
 only from the fog and fiction and error with which they are liable to be 
 intermingled and shrouded by human imperfection and guilt. The 
 rough scaffolding, indeed, put up by human hands, and which has 
 come to be regarded with superstitious reverence as part of the build¬ 
 ing, may be torn away ; but only to leave the temple of Christian truth, 
 as established by the Lord himself, in more grand and beautiful pro¬ 
 portions, with a superstructure standing upon the Rock of ages, and 
 rising in strength and majesty, and attractive splendor, before the eyes 
 of all nations. 
 
19 
 
 the human mind and heart, whether for good or 
 for evil, more fully and more effectively than any 
 generation of men that has ever existed. This 
 innumerable multitude are now on their march. 
 Already the tramp of their footsteps is sounding in 
 our ears. They are the men who will determine 
 the character and complexion of our future history. 
 And if greater care be not taken for their education 
 and moral improvement than has ever heretofore 
 been taken, their purposes and passions will be em¬ 
 bodied in the laws and institutions of society, and 
 flame out from all the places of power and influ¬ 
 ence, in such broad and terrific characters, that not 
 only “ whoever runs may read; but whoever reads 
 will run.” 
 
 What, then, in these circumstances, are our means 
 of safety 1 Shall we rely solely on government % 
 Will you put this population, fired with the spirit 
 of freedom, into a straight jacket of civil statutes, 
 and compass them about with a constabulary force % 
 It is, I am aware, a favorite maxim in some quar¬ 
 ters, that government is the all-in-all to a people; 
 that wisdom and goodness can proceed only from 
 organized authority; that there can be but little 
 intelligence, or morality, or religion even, unless 
 sanctioned by power, and enforced by legal enact¬ 
 ments. I believe in no such doctrine. There is a 
 spirit in man, a heart and a conscience, and the 
 inspiration of the Almighty hath given him under¬ 
 standing ; and if allowed the free exercise of these 
 high powers with which he is endowed by the 
 Creator, he will be a better and a safer citizen than 
 
20 
 
 if his soul were cowed down by an Argus-eyed 
 police, and he met at every turn by some prohibi¬ 
 tory law. I remember, when a youth, listening to 
 the eccentric Randolph, from the lobby of the senate 
 chamber, in Washington. He frequently boasted 
 that he was the most useful man in Congress, for 
 the reason that he always gave negative votes. He 
 thought there was danger of too much legislation. 
 He believed that liberty was itself a conservative 
 principle; and that a free people might safely be 
 entrusted with a large amount of discretionary pow¬ 
 er. And is not this a true sentiment 1 Certainly. 
 It is illustrated and confirmed by our own history 
 and present condition. We have less of the ma¬ 
 chinery of government than any other nation, and 
 less need of it than any other; and one reason is, 
 that, where man is free, where he is left to think and 
 act for himself, where he has an individual character 
 to sustain, and individual responsibilities to meet, a 
 feeling of self-respect, an ambition to deserve the 
 confidence reposed in him, and an intelligent per¬ 
 ception of his own interests, will keep him from 
 making war upon society. The spirit of true free¬ 
 dom is ever associated with a regard for public 
 order, and with a respectful and even reverential 
 deference to law. It binds together harmoniously 
 a community of free and independent men. It 
 is like the union of the centripetal with the cen¬ 
 trifugal power in nature, which keeps the planets in 
 their steady pathway round the sun: While throw¬ 
 ing out a mighty force, it is equally attractive, direct¬ 
 ing and impelling innumerable and separate bodies 
 
21 
 
 in their onward course, without jar or collision; or, 
 if notes of discord are occasionally heard, they soon 
 die away amid the sweeter music of the spheres. 
 
 Keligious liberty tends to a general diffusion of 
 knowledge, so essential to the stability and pros¬ 
 perity of a nation. If learning does not with us 
 rise so high as in some of the nations of Europe, yet 
 what is lost in height is made up in length and 
 breadth. And this is far better, so far as real util¬ 
 ity is concerned, than a few brilliant lights in the 
 midst of surrounding darkness, just as our extensive 
 prairies are more valuable for all the purposes of 
 tillage than some Alpine mountain, whose top is 
 lost in the clouds, or dazzling in the rays of the sun, 
 but whose sides are barren and unproductive. Italy 
 may have her distinguished scholars, a few individ¬ 
 uals, preeminent in taste and refinement. But how 
 many of her population know not their right hand 
 from their left! Scarcely a dozen papers are pub¬ 
 lished in all that classic land, and not half the peo¬ 
 ple, I suppose, are capable of reading even them: 
 Whereas, in the United States, the various avenues 
 of light to the public mind are open. The press is 
 free from unnatural surveillance and restraint, and 
 is sending out its periodicals, and spreading its sheets 
 all over the land. Above four hundred millions of 
 copies are annually distributed; and, how seldom 
 do you find a bom and bred American, whether 
 riding in his coach, or drawing a hand-cart, who 
 does not read the “ papers.” Many, it is true, are 
 scarcely worth reading, and the character and spirit 
 
22 
 
 of some of them are more suited to the cities of the 
 plain, and the day when Lot fled out of Sodom, amid 
 the avenging fires of Heaven, than to this free repub¬ 
 lic, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. But 
 the greater portion are adapted to instruct the pub¬ 
 lic mind. They constitute a kind of national libra¬ 
 ry, a universal athenseum, from which, if there issue 
 no very deep streams of thought, there is constantly 
 going forth a broad and refreshing current of general 
 intelligence. 
 
 Our Free-School System, also, owes its prosperity, 
 and indeed its existence, to the spirit of religious 
 liberty. Repeated efforts have been made to intro¬ 
 duce it into Great Britain, but hitherto without 
 success. The whole body of nonconformists are 
 opposed to it. In the exercise of what they deem a 
 godly jealousy of the established church, they set 
 themselves strenuously against whatever may tend, 
 in their estimation, to enlarge its power. They 
 suspect danger in the “ School Bill,” and ply the 
 parliament and her majesty with petitions for its 
 defeat. Much as we may sympathize with their 
 motives, we cannot commend their wisdom. We 
 bless God that here the different denominations of 
 Christians have no such fears and jealousies of one 
 another. Sectarianism is, as it ought to be, excluded 
 from our schools. Teachers are selected indiscrim¬ 
 inately from the whole community, and the question 
 asked, is, whether they are qualified to instruct our 
 children in the usual branches of a popular educa¬ 
 tion 1 and not to what church they belong, nor 
 
23 
 
 what are the peculiarities of their religious creed. 
 And it is delightful to see in these schools the chil¬ 
 dren of the rich and the poor,—children whose 
 parents are from every nation, and entertaining, 
 probably, every variety of religious sentiment,— 
 here sitting side by side, knowing no distinctions, 
 and having no rivalry or strife with one another, 
 except for the merit and the rewards of scholarship. 
 Such is the system which, commenced by our fathers 
 in the Mayflower, has been diligently followed up 
 by their children, from generation to generation. 
 By all classes of citizens it is looked upon with sat¬ 
 isfaction and pride, as the glory of our Common¬ 
 wealth. In the immense strides taken by the coun¬ 
 try in all the paths of progress, since the beginning 
 of the present century, there is no department of 
 life in which the people have manifested a greater 
 interest, and where the signs of improvement are 
 more visible, than in our public schools. It cannot 
 be otherwise, in a healthful state of society. The 
 education of youth has been happily compared to 
 the flowering out of the community. It is to the 
 moral and intellectual world what the outburst of 
 spring is to the natural; with this marked ex¬ 
 ception : The material creation makes no advance; 
 but only repeats itself, with an exquisite and beau¬ 
 tiful uniformity, from year to year; while the pow¬ 
 ers of the soul are immortal, and susceptible of 
 indefinite improvement. 
 
 Religious liberty, also, secures most fully and 
 most effectively to our nation, the influence of the 
 
24 
 
 pulpit. The “ Indebtedness of the State to the Cler¬ 
 gy,” was ably shown by the gentleman who preceded 
 me in this public service. But it is to the entire 
 separation of the church from the state, and the 
 perfect freedom we enjoy in our religion, that the 
 pulpit is indebted for much of the power for good 
 with which it is here invested. The ministry is not 
 a profession favorable to the acquisition of wealth, 
 nor is it the usual path to political preferment; and 
 it is sometimes said that our general influence in 
 society is less imposing than that of the clergy in 
 the days of our fathers. This may be so; and yet 
 be no disparagement to the ministerial office or 
 character. The truth is, that free, republican insti¬ 
 tutions tend to strip off the pomp and glare of offi¬ 
 cial dignity, and accord respect and honor to men 
 for what they are in themselves. Whatever station 
 an individual may occupy, his influence in society 
 depends essentially on his own personal character. 
 This is specially true of the Christian minister. 
 He may be called “ Bishop,” “ Archbishop,” or 
 “ Cardinal;” the title will avail but little with 
 intelligent people. The more important inquiry 
 will be, Is he an honest manl Is he a faithful 
 shepherd and bishop of souls \ Is he like Cowper’s 
 pastor, 
 
 “ Much impressed himself, 
 
 As conscious of his awful charge, 
 
 And anxious mainly that the flock 
 He feeds, may feel it too ?” 
 
 The potent charm which formerly attached to the 
 clerical name and garb, it must be allowed, does not 
 
25 
 
 now exist. Nor is this a matter of regret. It only 
 tends to separate and preserve Christianity from the 
 corrupt and corrupting influence of the world, and 
 to keep unsoiled those pure and heavenly robes in 
 which she shall ultimately be presented to the bride¬ 
 groom. And besides, who does not know that a 
 minister, embosomed in the affections and confi¬ 
 dence of his people, is far more efficient for good, 
 than if girt about with the insignia of office and 
 power, with a glittering tiara upon his head, and 
 keys of awful mystery in his hand 1 The truths of 
 the everlasting gospel, proclaimed as they are with 
 us from a thousand pulpits in every part of the 
 land, and to tens of thousands of hearers, from the 
 lips of their own chosen teachers, are instilling into 
 the public conscience and the public heart an in¬ 
 fluence, which, for the preservation of whatever is 
 good and valuable in our country, is infinitely more 
 effective than all the paraphernalia of a standing 
 army. This unpretending yet continuous infiltra¬ 
 tion of moral and religious truth into the commu¬ 
 nity, through so many and various channels; this 
 nourishment of the tree by means of its branches 
 spreading themselves afar and freely in the air of 
 heaven, is an inestimable source of national vitality 
 and strength. 
 
 More than all; the Paraclete of the New Testa¬ 
 ment, the Divine Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom 
 the Father sends to the devout suppliant in the 
 name of Jesus, is the mysterious and glorious me¬ 
 dium through which the favor of God is realized 
 4 
 
26 
 
 among men, and which is as essential to the perma¬ 
 nent prosperity of a nation, as it is to the life and 
 salvation of an individual. But this Spirit is pre¬ 
 eminently the spirit of freedom. It cannot be em¬ 
 bodied in state enactments, nor confined to creeds 
 and forms, nor infused into the soul by any human 
 authority whatsoever. Its sphere of operation is in 
 connexion with spontaneous emotions, personal 
 responsibilities, and individual thought. In reim¬ 
 pressing upon man the image of his Maker, and 
 bringing his thoughts into subjection to the obe¬ 
 dience of Christ, it creates within him the greater 
 individuality of character; it brings him to himself. 
 He is under law, but it is a perfect law of liberty; 
 liberty of the highest and the purest kind ; 
 
 “ ’Tis liberty of heart,—such as 
 Monarchs cannot give, nor all the 
 Powers of earth and hell confederate, 
 
 Take away.” 
 
 “ It is held by charter, 
 
 And that charter sanctioned sure 
 By the unimpeachable and awful oath 
 And promise of a God.” 
 
 Here, then, is our strength as a nation; here our 
 defence and safety as individuals. With a free 
 press, and a free school, and a free pulpit, and the 
 unrestrained influence of the Spirit of God upon the 
 free soul, we shall stand forever, firm as the ocean 
 rock, around whose base the waters harmlessly rage, 
 and around whose summit the winds of heaven as 
 harmlessly play. 
 
27 
 
 Government, sustaining no official relation to re¬ 
 ligion, is, on this account, in a position to be more 
 efficiently aided and strengthened by her power.* 
 Christianity, moving in her separate and appro¬ 
 priate sphere, entering, as she alone can, into the 
 sanctuary of the soul, and sweetly enforcing the 
 
 * Much is said at the present time, about the “ higher law,” by one 
 party, as if men were to follow their individual convictions, regardless 
 of civil government; and by another, as if they were to follow the laws 
 of man, regardless of God. The true philosophy on this subject, it 
 seems to me, may be stated in few words. Government, with us, exists 
 for certain specified purposes; purposes which are clearly defined in 
 the constitutions of the several states, and in that of the Union: and 
 as religion is not one of them, it cannot interfere in spiritual matters, 
 without transcending the limits of its responsibility. In its corporate 
 capacity it has no more to do with religion, than the directors of a bank, 
 or the superintendents of a railway. The legislator and magistrate, in 
 the discharge of their official duties, can consult only the constitution 
 as it is. Fidelity to their specified trust is the law that binds them, and 
 for which they are responsible to an earthly constituency. At the 
 same time, they are men, subjects of the government of God, and 
 amenable at his tribunal. The responsibility of the individual to his 
 Maker, cannot be set aside by any inferior accountability which he 
 may have assumed as an officer. The true statesman will be religiously 
 faithful to his appointed work, and, like Daniel the prophet, so manage 
 the affairs of government, that not the wiliest politician shall be able 
 to find any just occasion against him, in things pertaining to the king¬ 
 dom ; and yet, as by his oath of office he recognizes a higher tribunal 
 and a higher law than man’s, he will not perjure himself by disregard¬ 
 ing that higher law; but will follow the revealed will of Heaven, though 
 it should lead him, as it did the noble Hebrew at the head of the Chal¬ 
 dean cabinet, into the very den of lions. While he has no right to use 
 his official power to enforce religion, or to accomplish any other pur¬ 
 poses aside from those for which he was specially intrusted with au¬ 
 thority, he cannot, nevertheless, forget the paramount authority of God 
 over himself, as an individual, without a recklessness of moral charac¬ 
 ter which would disqualify him for any station of influence or honor, 
 either in Heaven or earth. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
 wisdom, and one of the most essential elements of true patriotism. 
 
28 
 
 counsels of Heaven upon the inner man, is a might¬ 
 ier element of strength to our national institutions 
 than if she were herself legally allied with the sec¬ 
 ular power. It is not the religion of the statute 
 book, but that which lives, and moves, and has its 
 being in the renewed heart, that furnishes to society 
 and to government that which they most need—a 
 man, perfect and complete; with an enlightened 
 conscience and a soul of his own: not held under 
 mortgage and rack-rent to corporate authorities, 
 nor left in pawn with ecclesiastical usurpers. 
 
 Our government, thus separate from religion, pat¬ 
 ronizing no sect and proscribing none, has taken 
 the most effectual method of attaching to itself the 
 whole body of the people. However diversified 
 may be our religious views, we all stand on an equal 
 footing in regard to the state. Our country is the 
 common mother of all who live under her laws. 
 None are disowned;—none are thrown from her 
 maternal embrace, because of their religious convic¬ 
 tions. We are all her legitimate children:—all 
 equal and acknowledged heirs of the inheritance. 
 It is this family relationship in civil affairs, with 
 our individual freedom in regard to religion, and 
 the satisfaction which thence ensues, which is pre¬ 
 serving the nation from those outbreaks and revolu¬ 
 tions, so common and so terrific on the eastern con¬ 
 tinent. The strife of political parties is sufficiently 
 bitter, but there is generally no religious principle 
 or point of conscience involved in their controver¬ 
 sies. Hence, however high and menacing party ex¬ 
 citement may occasionally rise, it soon subsides; 
 
29 
 
 the thunders sleep and the winds retire. Happily, 
 in the political world as in the natural, the storm is 
 succeeded by a calm, and there comes the clear sun¬ 
 shine after rain. But if religious interests are inter¬ 
 mingled with the secular, and the strong arm of 
 civil authority is laid upon the still stronger convic¬ 
 tions of the soul, the conflict is deadly. The tem¬ 
 pest is continuous and horrible, raining down hail¬ 
 stones and coals of fire. It is like the pouring out 
 of the apocalyptic vial upon the rivers and fountains 
 of waters, until they • become blood. All parties 
 suffer in the struggle. The oppressor is doomed, 
 sooner or later, to share the fate of his victim. Thus 
 within a few years, we have seen mighty kings 
 hurled from their thrones, long-standing and power¬ 
 ful dynasties scattered in an hour, and the fairest 
 fields of Europe saturated with human gore. 
 Heaven has so ordained it as an act of retributive 
 justice to the persecutor. Thou art righteous, O 
 Lord! which art, and wast, and shalt be, because 
 thou hast judged thus; for they have shed the 
 blood of saints and of martyrs, and thou hast given 
 them blood to drink, for they are worthy. 
 
 There is nothing so difficult to repress, as the 
 religious sentiment. The tyrant may clothe his 
 captive in chains, and lay him low in a dungeon; 
 but it is not so easy a task to bind the free spirit. 
 He may put a seal upon the lips, but not so readily 
 on volition, and thought, and the moral sense. The 
 soul, freer than air, more rapid than light, regards 
 no chains, and is limited to no dungeons. The 
 thoughts that wander through eternity, defy all 
 
30 
 
 bolts and bars, and an awakened conscience, right 
 or wrong, mocks at all created force. There are 
 yet men upon the earth, who will think for them¬ 
 selves. Their souls were not made to be hampered 
 with fetters. You might as well chain the Helles¬ 
 pont as them. You may forge manacles, and 
 erect prisons, and stand at the portal with a point¬ 
 ed bayonet; the immortal spirit will rise in 
 majesty, and inscribe its laws upon society in 
 the more enduring characters. You may evoke 
 the thunders of the Vatican, and pass sentence 
 of excommunication, and threaten them with the 
 vengeance of Heaven in the world to come; 
 they will yet utter their thoughts, and proclaim 
 aloud their irrepressible convictions. Knowledge 
 is power. Love is active. Inspiration cannot but 
 speak the things it has seen and heard. Science 
 may be forced upon her bended knees to recant her 
 heresy of the earth’s rotation, 44 and yet it moves,” 
 will come forth in spite of all, from her lips. 
 
 “ The Spirit cannot always sleep in dust, 
 
 Whose essence is etherial; you may try to darken 
 And degrade it; it may rust dimly awhile, 
 
 But cannot wholly die; and when it wakens 
 It will send its fire intensely forth, and higher.” 
 
 When the “ bull of the pope” has fallen on such 
 a mind, or the “ edict of a bishop ” oppressed it, 
 when the congregational 44 formulas ” have been 
 imposed, or the 44 presbyterian book of discipline” 
 held it down too closely, when the baptist 44 articles 
 of faith,” or the scruples of the 44 dear brethren” 
 have abridged it of its liberty, it will stir under its 
 
31 
 
 burden ; it will break down or leap over its safe¬ 
 guards, and scatter all human restraints as quickly 
 as did the Judge of Israel the green withs that 
 bound him. 
 
 Hence, of all governments, none stand on so pre¬ 
 carious a footing as those which attempt to control 
 religion. They are as vineyards planted on the 
 sides of Etna, where the royal husbandmen gather 
 their clusters of revenue and luxury amid the white 
 ashes of a recent eruption, or while feeling beneath 
 them the first surgings and throes of some new and 
 impending evolution, that shall bury the vine and 
 the vine-dresser, the tax and the tax-gatherer, in the 
 same lava flood. In attempting to repress and stifle 
 the sacred fires which Heaven has enkindled in the 
 soul, you will yourselves be consumed. The strong 
 man shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; they 
 shall both burn together and none shall quench 
 them. 
 
 But it may be asked, Is Christianity herself safe 
 in the hands of the people 'l Objections are urged 
 against the “ voluntary system,” on the ground that 
 it tends to infidelity and atheism. Fears have been 
 expressed by our brethren beyond the Atlantic that 
 such would be our fate;—that religion would ulti¬ 
 mately die out, for want of legal safeguards and 
 protection. But what has she ever gained by such 
 protection'? It is a suspicious circumstance that 
 her avowed and bitter enemies have strongly advo¬ 
 cated her union with the state. And why do they 
 wish the union'? Rousseau unintentionally pays 
 
32 
 
 Christianity a compliment, by assigning his reason. 
 It is substantially this:—As she came from the 
 hands of Jesus Christ, she is annoying to the na¬ 
 tions : she makes assaults upon human character ;— 
 she accuses men of sin, and threatens the guilty 
 with a future judgment; and thus creates commo¬ 
 tions and divisions among mankind. “ Of all 
 Christian authors,” he tells us, “ the philosopher 
 Hobbes was the only one who fully saw the evil, 
 and dared to propose a union of the two heads of 
 the Eagle, and thus reduce the whole to political 
 harmony.” The evil, according to him, was in the 
 spiritual nature and aggressive power of the gospel. 
 And the remedy was to be found in putting religion 
 under the guardianship of human government. 
 And an effectual remedy it has ever proved! It 
 takes out of Christianity her life and soul, and 
 leaves her as weak and inoffensive as her bitterest 
 enemies could desire: and that, too, without im¬ 
 parting any additional strength to the secular pow¬ 
 ers. It is a union which 
 
 “ Not enriches them, 
 
 But makes her poor indeed.” 
 
 The truth is, that not only is the state the 
 stronger, but Christianity is the purer and the 
 more powerful, when they are suffered to operate 
 apart. It is better for both eagles, if I may 
 borrow the figure, not to unite them in a common 
 head, but to give them a separate and distinct 
 existence, and open to their flight the whole 
 expanse of the horizon. The bird of paradise 
 
33 
 
 can sustain herself upon her own unaided wing. 
 She did so in the first age of the Christian era. 
 The strong arm of government was indeed stretched 
 out;—not, however, to shield the interests of 
 the new religion, but to crush them; for this 
 purpose Christ was crucified, and his disciples 
 driven from city to city, and hunted through 
 synagogue and dungeon and amphitheatre, into a 
 bloody and dishonored grave. But was Christianity 
 thereby extinguished] No: she gathered fresh 
 energies in the sepulchre, and arose with her au¬ 
 thor, to claim the skies and rule the subjacent 
 earth. From amid perils, imprisonments and 
 deaths, she went forth in the greatness of her 
 strength, to the conquest of the world. But no 
 sooner did she consent to lean upon human aid 
 and power, and to creep for. patronage and protec¬ 
 tion under earthly corselets and coronets, than she 
 ceased to wield the energies of Heaven. When she 
 placed upon her brow the diadem of the Caesars, 
 she seemed to have acquired additional vigor; there 
 was an apparent glow of health upon her coun¬ 
 tenance ; but it was only the unnatural bloom upon 
 the cheek of consumption, a bright hectic flush, 
 indicating only weakness and decline. The impe¬ 
 rial sword, raised in her defence, pierced her to the 
 heart. Seated in the chair of state, arrayed in 
 royal robes, and crowned with fading laurel, she 
 began herself to fade. Rocked to sleep in the 
 cradle of popular favor, she slumbered for ages, and 
 if left solely to the care of kings and queens, would 
 have slept the sleep of death. Were these high 
 5 
 
34 
 
 functionaries humbly and gratefully to regard her 
 claims, they might indeed fulfil the beautiful lan¬ 
 guage of the prophet, and become her nursing 
 fathers and her nursing mothers; but when Chris¬ 
 tianity is decoyed from her own lofty position, to 
 nestle in the arms of authority, and draw nourish¬ 
 ment from the breast of pride and ambition, the 
 deadly poppy and the fatal nightshade are distilled 
 into the milk on which she feeds, and with all the 
 gorgeousness and splendor of her outward adorn¬ 
 ing, is but a sickly child, 
 
 “ Sad to view, 
 
 Its visage pale and wan.” 
 
 If we may rely upon a distinguished geologist, in 
 his “ first impressions” of England, a national re¬ 
 ligion, even at its best estate, is altogether vanity. 
 In the technical language of his profession,—“ It is 
 no longer a living devotion, but a petrifaction, a 
 fossil, existing, it is true, in a fine state of keeping, 
 but still an exanimate stone.” Everywhere and in 
 all circumstances, religion, owing to the evil tenden¬ 
 cies of human nature, is liable to degenerate into 
 mere form; but where the church is allied with the 
 state ; where a religious profession is a passport to 
 worldly preferment; where a 16 living” is secured to 
 the officiating clergyman, independent of the volun¬ 
 tary contributions of his hearers; and where no 
 farther attentions to the flock are expected, than 
 what are requisite to prevent their going in quest of 
 strange pastures, a strong temptation is presented to 
 ambition, to avarice, to sloth and spiritual fraud. 
 And it will generally be found, that the system 
 
35 
 
 which provides a “living” for the shepherd, be¬ 
 queaths a dying to his flock. Human nature must 
 be entirely changed, if, in such circumstances, hy¬ 
 pocrisy do not enter the sanctuary of the living 
 God, and lay impious hands upon the horns of 
 the altar.* 
 
 Christianity, so far from dying out amid our free 
 institutions, has found here a field specially prepared 
 of God, for her most signal and brilliant tri¬ 
 umphs. Had America been discovered before the 
 reformation, before the printing of the Bible, and 
 before those struggles for liberty which had earlier 
 began to agitate the public mind, how different from 
 what they now are would have been the character 
 and prospective destiny of these United States. But 
 God kept this great continent concealed from Euro¬ 
 pean adventurers, until a people were prepared to 
 occupy it. An un traversed ocean rolled between it 
 and them, and darkness was upon the face of the 
 deep. No navigator was allowed to land upon these 
 shores, until the sun of the Christian era had reached 
 an elevated point in the eastern horizon, and 
 broken through the mists and darkness which had 
 
 * When the English Puritans, in the time of Cromwell, became su¬ 
 preme in the state, they passed a resolution in Parliament, prompted, 
 doubtless, by motives of piety, that no person should be admitted into 
 the public service, until the house were satisfied of his real godliness. 
 The result was as might have been expected; men who cared for no 
 religion, rushed into the church, and those good people, who, when pro¬ 
 scribed and persecuted, had obtained a deservedly high reputation for 
 sanctity, now found themselves mixed up with, and jostled and overpow¬ 
 ered by, a motley multitude of traffickers, money-changers and office- 
 seekers, whom Christ would have driven from his temple, with a whip 
 of small cords. 
 
36 
 
 gathered around it in its ascension, so that when 
 this new earth arose from chaos, it was greeted at 
 once by great lights which God had placed in the 
 firmament, and whose genial rays, we trust, will 
 continue to shine upon our hills and valleys with 
 undiminished purity and brightness, to the end of 
 time. 
 
 The manner in which emigration from other 
 lands has been at one time retarded, and at another 
 hastened, evinces the same all-wise and beneficent 
 regard to the character which this nation should 
 ultimately form. “ What hath God wrought,” was 
 the first message sent by the telegraph, as if from 
 Heaven itself to this people. “ I the Lord have given 
 you wealth and power, mountains of iron and valleys 
 of gold, a boundless territory and a free government; 
 I have kept back the hordes of Europe until you 
 could consolidate the foundations of your free insti¬ 
 tutions, and prepare your magazines of light for these 
 ignorant millions ; I have added the ocean steamer, 
 the railway, the steam printing press, and the tele¬ 
 graph, as ye have been able to bear the stress and 
 the storm of their influence. Employ, then, all 
 these for my glory and the establishment of my 
 kingdom.” 
 
 The sceptic may say, all this has so happened, 
 and attribute it only to blind chance; but thought¬ 
 ful minds cannot avoid looking beyond these inter¬ 
 mediate agencies to a higher source. Above the 
 wheels and pulleys and crossbeams of second causes, 
 and within the reservoir of human industry and 
 mortal skill, they recognize, as the controlling force 
 of the complicated machinery, the presence of Him 
 
37 
 
 who is wonderful in counsel and mighty in work¬ 
 ing ; and gratefully exclaim,—This is the Lord! 
 We have waited for him;—This is our God! We 
 will rejoice and be glad in his salvation. 
 
 One reason why Palestine was chosen of God to 
 be the great theatre of human redemption, where 
 the ministry of prophets and apostles, and of Christ 
 himself, should be exercised, was its central posi¬ 
 tion. Whatever was there said and done, was pro¬ 
 claimed as upon the housetops, and the sound 
 thereof went out to every land. Ships were pass¬ 
 ing and repassing from its coast, to all the promi¬ 
 nent places on the Mediterranean. Caravans, richly 
 laden, were often seen wending their way from 
 Egypt to Persia, and still farther to the East, where 
 lay the wealth and splendor of India. Thus when, 
 in the fulness of time, Christianity arose, the way 
 was prepared for the widest diffusion of her light. 
 A similar position is occupied by the United States, 
 not only in reference to the western continent, but 
 to the population of the world. The great body of 
 the people of Asia are collected in masses on her 
 eastern coast, upon the shores of the Pacific; and 
 that of Europe on her western, along the borders of 
 the Atlantic. America, extending as she now does 
 to both oceans, is in the near proximity of them all. 
 She can stretch out her arms and make her influ¬ 
 ence felt over the entire globe. And is this high 
 position assigned her, think you, simply that she 
 may become a great and wealthy people ;—the com¬ 
 mercial emporium of the world I Is she to hold out 
 in her full hands only patent steam-reapers, the cu¬ 
 riously made lock, or the deadly revolver \ Is her 
 
38 
 
 commerce only to add to an already overflowing 
 treasury 'l Is she to use God’s ocean only as a road 
 for the transportation of cotton and tobacco and 
 New England ruml No. The great sea where go 
 the ships, was not made to be a mere theatre of 
 worldly enterprise, but to subserve the higher pur¬ 
 poses of benevolence and love. Its winds and 
 waves are to waft, to every shore, the truths and 
 principles, the hopes and the joys of Christianity. 
 It is a highway of emerald and sapphire for the 
 footsteps of the Lord of Hosts. Christ is yet, as in 
 the days of his flesh, to walk triumphantly upon 
 the waters, and display his wonders in the deep. 
 The multiplied facilities which are now enjoyed for 
 traversing sea and land; the roads of iron w hich 
 bind together the most distant parts of the conti¬ 
 nent ;—the rivers, grooved by the finger of God ;— 
 the oceans poured from the hollow of his hand ;— 
 the ships which plough their w 7 ay through the storm¬ 
 iest sea and in the darkest night; the wires, full 
 of vitality and clinking w 7 ith thought, that are 
 spreading their electric network in every direction, 
 are the great arteries, and nerves, and life-blood of 
 human sympathy, designed not merely to facilitate 
 the intercourse of nations, and bring the whole 
 human family into a loving brotherhood, but to re¬ 
 animate the world with a new life, to unite the 
 earth with Heaven, and to recover man to the love 
 and service and companionship of his Creator. 
 
 But to say nothing of the influence which may 
 be sent abroad, this country is the chosen asylum of 
 all nations. If Japheth has fulfilled the prediction, 
 uttered while the earth was yet moist and reeking 
 
39 
 
 from the deluge: If he has hitherto occupied the 
 tents of Shem; he is here requiting his brother for 
 the usurpation and encroachment, by inviting all 
 the tribes of Japheth’s gray stock, and smuggling 
 Ham, and luring Shem, by the advantages of art, 
 science and traffic, to be the occupants of his own 
 broad tent. We may suffer somewhat, temporarily, 
 from this influx of foreigners; but I have no sym¬ 
 pathy with the oft-repeated cry, that the sun of our 
 liberty, civil or religious, will thus fall from the 
 heavens, and the night of the middle ages spread its 
 clouds of darkness and gloom over these fair fields.* 
 The shadow on the great dial of human destiny 
 moves not backward. Vassalage and serfdom shall 
 never return. There is too wide a diffusion of the 
 morning light, for bat-eyed superstition to resume 
 her reign : and the light which is here shedding 
 forth its beams, is that of the morning, not of the 
 close of day. 
 
 America is called upon, by the providence of 
 God, to put forth the impulses of a generous 
 humanity. Her’s is no ordinary mission. The 
 
 * Japheth, though he may not, in all cases, find angels in the stran¬ 
 gers he entertains, will be ultimately a gainer by his hospitality. Those 
 nations which now exert the widest influence, are all the product of 
 mixed races; while those that lie dormant and altogether unfelt in the 
 world, are such as have kept their blood and their thoughts untainted 
 with foreign admixture. It required the original Briton, the Saxon and 
 the Norman, to make the modern Englishman. In the American char¬ 
 acter, there is coming to be not only a union of these, but a still far¬ 
 ther infusion of varied elements from all nations. Let these materials 
 be moulded and controlled by Christianity, and there will spring up a 
 race infinitely superior in individual prowess and length of life, to those 
 who trod the earth with giant steps in the first age; men of high moral 
 stature, and who, in good words, and noble thoughts, and worthy deeds, 
 shall survive a thousand years. 
 
40 
 
 Indian and the African have yet unfulfilled claims 
 upon her justice. The down-trodden of her own 
 land, and the captives now crowded in Austrian 
 prisons, are crying to her for relief. She cannot be 
 heedless of these appeals. She would be unfaithful 
 to her character and past history, if indifferent to 
 oppression and suffering in any part of the world. 
 When the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle were vis¬ 
 ited with famine, the warm heart of America beat 
 generously in their behalf. Like the High Priest 
 of Israel, she went as with a golden censer, and stood 
 between the living and the dead, until the plague 
 was stayed. 
 
 And when the nation of classic memory and 
 fame was contending against fearful odds for its 
 liberty and life, there was here, as there ever will 
 be with a free and Christian people, a general, irre¬ 
 pressible and spontaneous outburst of sympathy. 
 Rich men poured forth their treasures. Poetry 
 sung the praises of liberty. Religion offered prayer 
 to God. And a lofty eloquence rang through our 
 halls of legislation. So it should ever be. It is a 
 memorial in man, of his celestial origin and attain¬ 
 able destiny. There is a nobleness of soul, a gran¬ 
 deur of sentiment, a disinterestedness of heart, 
 which soars as far above all consideration of self, as 
 the heavens are higher than the earth. Its impulses 
 and throbbings are felt across oceans and continents, 
 and they are not only the occasion of the sweetest 
 emotions that ever arise in the human bosom, but 
 the mightiest power for good a nation can wield:— 
 more effective by far, in aid of crushed and bleed¬ 
 ing humanity, than if accompanied by a forest of 
 
41 
 
 bristling bayonets. Christian compassion itself, 
 more potent than an armed force, is only weakened 
 by threats of violence and declarations of war. The 
 time, I believe, has come, at least in the history of 
 this country, when the voice of wisdom, experience 
 and love shall avail more for the deliverance of the 
 oppressed, and the prosperity of the free, than the 
 heaviest ordnance of the battle-field;—when the 
 expression of truthful ideas, the manly utterance of 
 honest convictions, founded on the eternal princi¬ 
 ples of justice and of right,—the sending forth of 
 the Bible and the missionary of the cross, shall 
 cause greater joy to the nations, and be more start¬ 
 ling even to the despots of the world, than if con¬ 
 fronted by the roar of artillery and the blast of 
 trumpets. This is the honor; this the sceptre of 
 power conferred upon us by the God of Heaven. 
 Let us employ it, not only in behalf of nations 
 struggling for freedom ;—but, what is a higher glory 
 still, for the moral regeneration of mankind. May 
 we never part with our birthright. Let not the 
 Shield of the Mighty be vilely cast away.* 
 
 Permit me now to tender to His Excellency the 
 usual congratulations. In addition to the respect 
 accorded you as a man, by all parties and denomi¬ 
 nations, we honor you as the Chief Magistrate of 
 this Commonwealth: a state which, though of lim¬ 
 ited geographical dimensions, justly ranks with the 
 highest in the land, for the intelligence and enter¬ 
 prise, the enlarged patriotism and moral worth, of 
 her citizens. We honor the stand you have taken 
 
 6 
 
 # See Appendix. 
 
42 
 
 in the cause of popular education, and your sen¬ 
 timents of devotion to the Union. The labors and 
 responsibilities of the office you sustain, are doubtless 
 onerous and trying ; especially in times of high po¬ 
 litical excitement, and among a people exercising 
 an uncommon liberty of conscience, and, not unfre- 
 quently, a vexatious freedom of speech. 
 
 But, sir, it is by these things men live, and a 
 prophet of old has declared, that “ it is good for a 
 man to bear the yoke in his youth.” However, that 
 I be not further tedious, I will conclude my re¬ 
 marks to your Excellency, somewhat in the lan¬ 
 guage, though I trust not in the spirit, of the Bo- 
 man orator:—“ While by thee we enjoy quietness, 
 and while worthy deeds are done unto this people 
 by thy providence, we shall accept it always, in all 
 places, with all thankfulness.” 
 
 In behalf of His Honor the Lieutenant Gov¬ 
 ernor, and the members of the Executive Council, 
 we would invoke not only the spirit of tenderness, 
 but that of sound wisdom and firm integrity. This 
 is indispensable to a faithful discharge of the re¬ 
 sponsible and often painful duties of your office. In 
 the administration of public justice, with the dis¬ 
 cretionary exercise of the pardoning power, the 
 character of the individual has to be merged in that 
 of the magistrate, who, while he sympathizes with 
 the sufferer and with the guilty, is bound to sustain 
 the majesty of the law. He cannot yield to the 
 clamors of the socialist, nor to the pleadings of 
 affection and friendship, nor yet to the yearnings of 
 his own heart-felt compassion, without being crimi- 
 
43 
 
 nally recreant to the solemn obligations which 
 Heaven has imposed. While faithful to your high 
 trust, gentlemen, you will receive, as you will deserve, 
 the respect and support of an enlightened community. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate , 
 
 and of the House of Representatives: 
 
 We welcome you to the posts of honor and of 
 toil to which you have been elevated by the free 
 and voluntary suffrages of your fellow-citizens. It 
 is an interesting feature in our institutions, illus¬ 
 trated by the assembly before me* that men from all 
 the different professions in life, and entertaining 
 various religious opinions, are alike eligible to 
 the halls of legislation, and may take an equal 
 part in the deliberative councils of the Common¬ 
 wealth. May the session, upon which you are 
 now entering, be distinguished for efficiency and 
 harmonious action. It is due to the character of 
 the people you represent, and to the history and 
 reputation of Massachusetts, that her Legislature 
 should ever be composed of high-minded and honor¬ 
 able men, who know how to utter their honest con¬ 
 victions with wisdom and firmness, and yet with 
 candor and courtesy. 
 
 And, gentlemen, while engaged in conducting 
 the affairs of human government, may you remem¬ 
 ber that you are yourselves under the govern¬ 
 ment of God, and amenable at his solemn tribunal. 
 
 And now, to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, 
 the only wise God our Saviour, be honor and glory, 
 dominion and power forever ! Amen. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 The mission of M. Kossuth, now in this country, and 
 his doctrine respecting American intervention in the af¬ 
 fairs of Hungary, are producing no little excitement in the 
 public mind. That there should be a deep and wide¬ 
 spread sympathy with the people in whose behalf he so 
 earnestly pleads, is perfectly natural and Christian-like. 
 The patriotic and eloquent appeals of the illustrious ex¬ 
 ile, the pictures which he so graphically and truthfully 
 draws, of the unfortunate yet heroic Magyars, struggling 
 for freedom, for religious freedom, nay, for their very ex¬ 
 istence, we know, from our own feelings, must reach and 
 stir the inmost depths of the soul. “ Here I stand before 
 you,” he says, “ to plead the cause of these, your less 
 fortunate brethren ; the cause of humanity •—I may suc¬ 
 ceed, or I may fail; but I will go on pleading with that 
 faith of martyrs, by which mountains are moved ; and I 
 may displease you, perhaps ; still I will say with Luther— 
 May God help me , I can do no otherwise .” Noble mind¬ 
 ed man ! His appeals will not be in vain. Thousands of 
 hearts in this free republic, and in other lands, will beat 
 warmly and effectively for his oppressed nation. The 
 favor of Heaven will be invoked and enlisted in their 
 behalf. When we think of the treachery and butchery 
 which this people have suffered from the Georgeys and 
 Haynaus of Austrian despotism, the imprisonments and 
 scourgings inflicted upon innocent men and defenceless 
 women, we feel that if the cause of Hungary is not suffi¬ 
 cient to enlist the sympathy and support of good men, 
 “then,” to use the burning words of its mightiest cham¬ 
 pion, “ is there no just cause and no justice on earth. The 
 blood of no new Abel will move toward Heaven. The 
 
45 
 
 genius of charity and Christian love will mournfully fly 
 the earth : a heavy curse will fall upon morality ; oppressed 
 men will despair, and only the Cains of humanity walk 
 proudly, with impious brow, about the ruins of liberty on 
 earth ! ” But the favor of God and of Christian men is 
 shown by the assertion of correct principles, by the force 
 and pressure of moral sentiment, by the keen weapons of 
 truth, and the piercing light of intelligence and love. We 
 have seen, with emotions of satisfaction and gratitude to 
 God, the expressions of sympathy and good will, which, 
 from multitudes in the different Christian nations, have 
 followed the steps of the Hungarian chieftain to his 
 Turkish exile. We feel a just pride that, by the inter¬ 
 position of an American President and an American 
 Congress, our own flag of protection and freedom floated 
 over him, on the distant waters of the Bosphorus. We 
 admired the more than Roman triumph which he achieved 
 during his short visit to England. “ He landed on the 
 southern coast, not far from where William of Normandy, 
 nearly eight centuries before, had landed; not far from 
 where, nineteen centuries ago, Julius Caesar had landed 
 also ; but William on the field of Hastings, and Caesar in 
 his adventurous expedition, made no conquest comparable 
 in grandeur to that achieved by the unarmed and unat¬ 
 tended Hungarian.” A similar demonstration of popular 
 enthusiasm greeted his arrival on our shores. He is the 
 nation’s guest. His mission is successful. He need ask 
 no more. The country has espoused his cause, and with¬ 
 out engaging in a belligerent enterprise, will send him 
 forth to his father-land, armed with the most efficient 
 weapons of success which the nation can proffer. We 
 would say to our guest, in the language of our esteemed 
 Senator in Congress,*—“ Be content with the outgushing 
 sympathy which you now so marvellously inspire every- 
 
 # Hon. Charles Sumner. 
 
46 
 
 where throughout this wide-spread land, and may it 
 strengthen your soul! Trust in God, in the inspiration 
 of your cause, and in the great future, pregnant with free¬ 
 dom for all mankind. But respect our ideas, as we re¬ 
 spect yours. Do not seek to reverse our traditional, 
 established policy of peace. Do not, under the too plau¬ 
 sible sophism of upholding non-intervention , provoke 
 American intervention on distant European soil. Leave 
 us to tread where Washington points the way.” This is 
 the spirit, and this the doctrine, which meets our most 
 hearty approval, and will, we doubt not, be responded to 
 by the great body of the American people. We have 
 been taught from our infancy, as a nation, to venerate the 
 character of Washington, and we are now reaping the 
 rich fruit of his instruction. It is well for us that love 
 for him and his recorded sentiments has grown with our 
 growth and strengthened with our strength. He was 
 obviously raised up of God to be the father of his country, 
 and was led, in his farewell address, to speak to us as with 
 the voice of inspiration. His counsel to “ observe good 
 faith and justice toward all nations,” and yet to “ steer 
 clear of entangling alliances with any and every portion 
 of the foreign world,” is not only adapted to the prosperity 
 of our republic, but commends itself still more for its per¬ 
 fect harmony with the principles and spirit of our holy re¬ 
 ligion. Christianity will not indeed ask with a cold, 
 unfeeling, Cain-like selfishness,—Am I my brother’s keep¬ 
 er? She recognizes a brother in every human being, 
 and regards every act of kindness to the stranger, the 
 sufferer and the oppressed, as done to the Lord himself. 
 But she wields a mightier power than that of the sword. 
 The weapons of her warfare are not carnal. The greaves 
 of the armed warrior and garments rolled in blood, con¬ 
 stitute no part of her appropriate costume. She goes forth 
 to the achievement of her victories in majestic simplicity, 
 with the accents of truth upon her lips, and the love of 
 
47 
 
 God and the love of man, warm and glowing in her heart, 
 and is thus destined, in her onward progress, to usher in 
 the bright and joyous day of universal freedom to the 
 nations. 
 
 By the good providence of God, America is placed at a 
 happy distance from the belligerent nations of the earth. 
 The volcanoes of war may surge and burst on the eastern 
 continent, but scarcely a cinder can reach our shores. We 
 should neither honor God, nor do good to our fellow men, 
 by seeking out the yawning crater, or plunging into the 
 boiling lava. Heaven, whose guardian angels have watched 
 over us from the first, has, we trust, designed us for a 
 destiny more worthy of immortal beings. Our continued 
 existence as a free republic, the thrift and enterprise of 
 our citizens, the comforts of social and domestic life 
 which everywhere prevail, the safety with which more than 
 half the population go to bed at night with unbolted doors, 
 our cities springing up as by magic on seaboard and in¬ 
 land, smiling villages peering out from every valley and 
 upon every hill-top, groups of happy children on their way 
 to school, the hallowed influences of the Sabbath and the 
 sanctuary, and the enterprises of benevolence and piety 
 which are here in successful operation for diffusing the 
 blessings of the gospel of Christ throughout the world,— 
 are enabling us to fulfil our highest mission as a nation, 
 and to discharge most effectively our fraternal obligations 
 to the family of man. We are in a goodly ship. The 
 interests of humanity in every land, and for centuries to 
 come, will depend very much upon our safety and contin¬ 
 ued prosperity. If, in the tempest of nations, some are 
 cast adrift, and are found on the wide waters, floating on 
 planks, or clinging to the vessel’s sides, we are prepared to 
 take them aboard. But whether we shall hazard ship and 
 cargo, and all the great purposes for which the voyage 
 was undertaken, for the sake of deciding a battle on the 
 high seas, is a question which our experienced pilot at 
 
48 
 
 the helm, the far-seeing Secretary of State, will take 
 time to think of: — “ Yes, he will think of that.” 
 
 Our nation, in its maturity and strength, has doubt¬ 
 less duties devolving upon it, far greater than were 
 demanded in its weakness and infancy. When the 
 foundations of the republic were laid, we were as a 
 child in the cradle. The large dress of our unoccupied 
 territories hung loose about our puerile limbs. We have 
 now grown up to manhood. We have left the nursery, 
 and must henceforth take our stand among the “ Powers ” 
 of the earth. Nor would we shrink from any responsi¬ 
 bilities belonging to our new position. A nation, no 
 more than an individual, should live to itself. No intelli¬ 
 gent and well-disposed citizen of the United States would 
 wish to see his country degraded to the u rotting vegeta¬ 
 tion of a Paraguay, or to the mummy existence of a 
 Japan or a China.” Progress is her duty and her privi¬ 
 lege. Let the nation pursue the bright pathway marked 
 out for her, by the God of nature, of providence and 
 grace, and there is no limit to her improvement. Our 
 “ ancestral tree ” will spread out its giant branches aloft 
 and afar, while multitudes are reposing under its shadow, 
 and partaking of its fruits. Let us religiously correct our 
 faults ; let us free ourselves from the just charge of inhu¬ 
 manity and oppression; let the republic continue to de¬ 
 velop its natural resources j let mental and moral culture 
 shed its healthful influence around our youth; let the 
 word of the Lord sound out from our pulpits, and the 
 light of a pure Christianity be reflected over the nations, 
 and no higher object of ambition,—no brighter prospect 
 of true greatness and glory,—can be presented before us 
 in the present world. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS — URBAN A 
 
 N30112001263612A