M,

THE SINS OE THE NATION.

A SERMON,

PREACHED ON

THANKSGIVING DAY,

Fovember 19tli. 1857,

^ AT WEST BROOKSVILLE, MAINE.

BY

REV. IBEM W. SMITH.

ELLSWORTH ;
PRINTED BY N. K. SAWYER.
1857.

CL4x

X

THE SINS OF THE NATION.

A SERMON,
TREACHED ON
Txa:.A.3srK:sGi-i"V"iivra- jdj^-^,
November lOth, 1857,
AT WEST BROOKSVILLE, MAINE.

BY**
REV. IREM W. SMITH.

ELLSWORTH :
PRINTED BY N. K. SAWYER.
1857.

Rev. Mr. Smith — Sir: — Haring listened with deep interest, on
last Thanksgiving Day,'[to your discourse on thef "Sins of the Nation,"
and agreeing 'with you in the sentiments therein contained, and believ
ing that good may result from its puhliSition, 'we request a copy for
that purpose.
West BkooksvillS," Nov. 23, 1857. DAVID WASSON,
EBEN CARLTON,
G. V. MILLS,
LUTHER TAPLEY,
WILLIAM WASSON,
I. H. WASSON.

Deacans Wasson and Carlton, and Messrs. Mills, Wasson, Tapley and
Wasson — Gentlemen : —
I appreciate the compliment •which you pay me in
asking for a copy of my sermon for^puhlication, but regret that it is no
more worthy of the purpose^or 'which you request it ; and in complying
¦with your request, allo'w me to say as^ an apology for some of its defi
ciencies ,^that it was vrritten in haste. Yours truly,
West Brooksville,'^Nov. 23, 1857. IREM W. SMITH.

A

V-. 6f- )<

u

THE SINS OF THE NATION.

" An, SINFUL KATIOS, A PEOPLE LADEN WITH I.VIQDITT, A SEED OF ETIL-D0EE3, CDILDKEN
THAT ARE OOttttUPTEKS ; THEY HAVE FORSAKES TUE LORD, THET HATE PROVOKED THS HOLV
OSE OF ISRAEL UXTO ASGER."— Isaiah 1: 4.
The most striking exhibition of man's proneness to forget God,
is furnished in the history of His chosen people. Although they
were exalted above all other nations, in point of privilege, they re
lapsed into the lowest depths of sin. God made the most won
derful manifestations of Himself to them, while they were in Egyp-
tion bondage, in working miracles for their emancipation; in pro
viding a path for them through the Red Sea; in causing water to
gush from the rock-, and bread to descend from heaven; in guiding
them by a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night; in shaking
Mount Sinai to its center, as He proclaimed the ten Command
ments; yet, at the foot of that awful Mount, they made and wor
shipped a molten calf. While He was speaking to them in the
most awful and sublime manner, tbey were offering praises to a
God of their ewn formation. How soon were His tokens of love
and mercy to them forgotten. How ungrateful they were to Him,
who had been so merciful' and kind to them. Instead of looking
up fo Heaven with hearts overflowing wiih love and praise, as the
first precept in Divine Law requires, they were looking down .to
earth and paying homage to mere matter. They were then sin
ful and corrupt, and might with propriety have been addressed in
the language of the text: "Ah sinful nation !" The text and con
text describe the moral state of the Jewish nation, after they had
been a long time in the land of piomise. The first chapter of Jsaiah

describes that people as keeping up the form of God's service, but
as being without the spirit of it.
At the time this prophecy was uttered, the nation was distin
guished for hypocrisy. They made great pretensions to piety, and
complied in many respects with the requirements of the law, but
were without love to God in their hearts. Therefore all their ser
vices were odious in His sight. "To what purpose is the multi
tude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the iord. I am full of the
burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts." "Bring no
more vain oblations." "Your new moons and your appointed
feasts, my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to
bear them." "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil. Leani to
do well."
They were guilty of covetousness. "Their land," says the
prophet, "is full of silver and gold." They were guilty of op
pression. The Prophet admonished them to undo the heavy bur
dens, and let the oppressed go free. These were the great sins, of
which they were guilty; hypocrisy, covetousness and oppression.
,They provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, which was re
vealed to them, not only in prophetic 'words, but in flaming ven
geance. Many and great wore the judgments of heaven upon them,
before the Roman armies were brought against them. Their coun
try was made desolate, their cities were burned with fire, and
strangers devoured their land in their presence. They were taken.
captives and bound as slaves for seventy years.
Throughout all their land they were besieged. Their high
walls did not protect them from the Roman fury; and even Jeru
salem itself, strongly fortified as it was by its three walls, its tow
ers, its ravines and its mountains, had many of its battlements
torn down before the army entered and took possession. The
siege lasted until famine ensued. The histori an who saw the
whole, says: "Women snatched the food out of the very mouths.
of their husbands, and sons of their father.i, and mothers of their
infants." "In every house, if there appeared any semblance of
food, a battle ensued, and dearest friends and relations fought
¦svith each other, snatching away the miserable provisions of life."

5 .
At tha taking of Jerusalem by Titus, the captives who were
above seventeen years of ago, were sent bound to the works in
Egypt; those under seventeen years were sold. This accordu with
prophecy: "And the Lord shall bring thee agai'i into Egypt with
ships." In Egypt, 1 1,000 perished from want, and thousands wero
slain. The Jews have been scattered from one end of the earth to tho
other. They are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; yet,
they haYe existed the same people, according to the promise. The
Jews, notwithstanding the assaults of a thousand different cir
cumstances, in every ago and clime, remain the same people. But
they have found no rest; "And among these nations shalt thou
find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest." From
various countries they have been driven: like the wind of heaven,
they wander round the earth, seeking rest and finding none.
Their unhappy condition has been of long continuance. "Since
the^dispersion, kingdoms and empires have arisen and passed
away; revolutions have changed the face of the globe again and
again; earthly magnificeaoe and grandeur have flourished, and be
come hid in the ruins of time; but the Jewish nation, which in the
di.spersion, seems like a bubble on the waves, is an ever-during
monument. They have become an astonishment, "a proverb and
a by-word." They provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
and their oppression, their dispersion among all nations, and cruel
treatment from all; their small numbers, and low condition, are
the eflTects of their forsaking Cod. If they had been thankful to
Him for the blessings which He had bestowed upon them, and had
obeyed the Commandments which He gave them, they would have
been made to ride upon the high places of the earth, and would
have been fed with the heritage of Jacob, their father; "fof the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." But they were ungrateful
and rebellious, cruel, and -oppressive, and have become a prcverb
and a by-word.
God's dealings with the Jewish nation should be a warning to
others. Let wicked nations look over the desolations of- that once
great and Heaven-favoured people, and take warning and repent.
It was their sing that kindled the flames of His wrath; and the

6
sins of this- nation are invoking His vengeance. The words ofthe
Prophet express the moral character of the American people. "Ah
.sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity."
The guilt of human conduct is in proportion to the light under
which it is practiced. Deeds that are extremely sinful under the
full blaze of Divine truth, are not as sinful in heathen countries.
Hypocrisy, coveteousness, and oppression, are nowhere practiced
by holy beings. They are the fruits of a corrupt nature, whether
indulged by professed christians, or by pagans in their blindness;
but they are far more heinous in the sight of God, when prac
ticed in lands of Gospe! light, than in those which have not been
blessed with a revelation from Heaven. The more I'ght we have-
the more guilty we are, if we do what God's La'w forbids. There
fore, in judging as to the guilt of conduct, we must have some
conception of the circumstances under which it is allowed, the
motives, and the light which shines around it.
If we view the moral state of our country from this stand-point,
we behold a sinful nation; for darker deeds have stained no peo
ple, than are here sanctioned by law, and no nation under the
whole heavens, has more means of knowing right from wrong mor
al action, than are enjoyed by people of this country. Those to
whom the text was fiist addressed, had only the Old Testament;
•we have bpth the Old and the New Testaments. They, had the
Law and the Prophets; we have the Law, and the Prophets, and
othe Gospelj the history, the precepts, and the examples of Him,
who oame to proclaim liberty to the captives. We are more sin
ful then were the Jews, at the time the heavens and the earth were
eumnioned to bear witness to their sins, for we are guilty of com
mitting the same sins under more light then shone upon
them. Hypocrisy, covetousness, and oppression are three great moral
evils which hang like dark clouds in the sky of this country. Not a
small number of professing christians are more proud than humble;
they are more ambitious to gain the good will of man, than the
approbation of God. They profess to be laying up treasures in
Heaven, while they are seeking with all their powers the emolu- i
ments of this world. They are rendering homage to m^nunon

while they profess to worship the God of Heaven. They profess
to desire the dissemination of Gospel truth, but show by their con
duct, that their profession is false. There are many who profess
to love God, while they stand upon the necks of beings, who are
made in His image; while professing to love His Law, they hurl
contempt at the second great commandment. Men who profess
to be heralds of the gospel, whose duty it is to proclaim glad ti
dings to all men, preach the doctrines of involuntary servitude,
and of property in man, to a great number of their hearers. These
are some of the specimens of hypocrisy, of which many of the
worldly great and grand are guilty. God says to them, "bring
no more vain oblations;" "your professions, your pompous cere
monies, your grand assemblies, I canno t away with. When ye
, spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea,
when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full
of blood." ^ /
An unhallowed passion for wealth has been, is beating in the
heart/ of this nation. This has prompted a host of business men
to step out of the path of uprightness, into those of fraud and
crime. They are more determined to be rich than honest, and
shun the trains of industry and merchandise, to cast their hopes
upon the desperate throws of speculation, in the weakness of
those whom they can entrap. They are reckless in the use of
p ower which trade has thrown into their hands, and destroy prop
erty which has cost many others years of hard toil and anxiety.
They make investments with money not their own, and venture
upon speculations which can eventuate safely only by immediate
success, and the failure of which must be bankruptcy, ruin and
disgrace. The hearts of these men are so fixed on the acquisitioa
of wealth, that the hopeful means of it are too seductive, to al -
low them to think upon the righteousness of using those means.
They forget 'whose money they are using; they forget whose prop-
etty they are squandering; they forget their souls; they forget tho
Qod that made them, and think only of mammon. They love,
worship, fear no God but thia. They rob their Maker, to serve their
Idol; they are deaf to God's voice when this Idol speaks to them.
It commands, and they obey. It threatens, and they tremble. It

8,
promises and tbey are electrified with hope. But when God
speaks to them they hear him not. His commandments they do
not obey. His threatenings they do not fear. His promises they
do not regard.
Their Idol tells them to keep their thoughts away fi'om death;
not to allow them to fly beyond the precincts of the tomb, but to
keep them on thia side of the grave, and confine them to his own
domains; and their thoughts are thus confined. Bargains, com
merce, losses, gains and schemes, which are in connection with
financial matters, absorb their whole attention. They have no
time to think about things which are beyond the cold stream of
death; about the glories of heaven and the torments of hell.
Mammon's empire is the great subject of their contemplations.
In this way, they are prepared to adopt any scheme, however sin
ful, that will add to their means of accumulating property. When
God and eternal things are shut "out from the heart, it offers a
welcome to deception and fraud. These are practiced by not a
small majority of those who are engaged in commercial business.
Only a few, in comparison to the whole, transact business, and
buy and sell, on the principles laid down by Christ. They look
only on one side, and that side is their own.
This covetous spirit is the manifest cause of the present disar
rangement in the machinery of trade and finance. If commerce in
all its departments had been conducted by honest hands; if prom
ises and contracts had been made on tha principles of truth and
justice; if charity and contentment had occupied the place of ava
rice and ambition; our country would have been saved from the
storm which has hung over it and burst upon it. From the over
throw of the confidence and repose of mutual business in the land,
the innocent suffer with the guilty, and poverty visits the habita
tion of thousands on the account of the craft and dishonesty ofthe
ungodly and the desperate.
Many honest and upright persons, whose industry and economy
had procured for them all that they ought to have desired of this
world, have been stripped of all their property, and driven from
their happy homes, through the failures of fraudful men. How
many have been thrown out of employment, whose only means of

a livelihood were their every day exertions. It is supposed that
forty thousand persons have been cut off. from employment, di -
rectly or indirectly, by the mercantile failures that have occurred
since August, in the city of New York. Among these are hus
bands and fathers, with families entirely dependent on thom, and
with nothing saved for the future. Thousands are daily thronging
the streets of our large cities, who are without homes or friends;
perishing with hunger and cold, asking lor employment, begging
for bread, but all in vsin. How many will suffer; aks ! how ma
ny will perish during the coming winter. When we look at the
cause of these evils and these sufferings, ^can we but exclaim,
•'Ah sinful nation !"
But the half has not been told. To the great sin of the nation
I have not as yet referred; in viewing which, all other moral evils
disappear lite dark specks on the vault of heaven, when black
clouds roll up from the west; for it is a comprehensive summary
of wickedness. I afB.rm, that the system of slavefy, which our laws
sanction, violates every commandment that was written by the
finger of God on the tables of stone. A covetous desire of that
which is the root of all evil, is what prompts ungodly men to
traffic in human beings. An unhallowed passion for wealth and
worldly aggrandizement commenced, and carries on the nefarious
commerce in human blood and flesh. It is covetousness that bind;
the black man in chains, and holds over him the tyl-ant's whip
that tears him away from his wife and children, and from all bis
rights which are dear to him as life; frora the_ paths of learning
and improvement, and shuts him out from the rays of the gospel,
and keeps him in heathenish darkness, and robs him of happiness,
and God of the glory of his service, whose voice shogk Mount
Sinai in saying, "Thou shalt not covet."
"Thou shalt not bear false witness," is another commandment
from the same high authority which is transgressed by every man
who advopg,tes that God has given him the right to enslave, and
hold as property, any class of the human race; who endeavors to
convince thpse whom he chains down, that they were not design -
ed to be free, but were made to be enslaved, and that they are in
diity bound to toil as beasts of burden, and to submit cheerfully

10
to all his dealings with them, whether they harmonize with their
desires or not; for God's word says, "undo the heavy burdens
and let t/ie oppressed go free." If any thing is clear in the word
of God, it is that He hates oppression. Read from Genesis to
Revelation, and you will find a host of paragraphs, passages,
chapters and illustrations, which condemn oppression; and he who
denies what is revealed in the inspired volume, bears false witnepSSi
and thus breaks the ninth commandment.
The eighth forbids stealth and robbery, of which every slave
holder is guilty. If it is not robbery to take from a person the
effects of all his labors through his whole life time; to deprive
him of the comforts of life; of the privileges of acting for
himself, and of living without fear of being torn from hia fam
ily; I ask, what is? No man was ever robbed, if the slave
is not. The tearing a person away from his dearest friends,
and crushing him down in despotism, is the most heaven-
defying robbery that ever invoked the wrath of Almighty God.
He who plunders his neighbor's property at midnight, is a
virtuous man, compared to one who holds his brother in
chains. That slavery tends to the violation of the seventh com
mandment, the slaveholders themselves dare not dispute. The
blackest forms of the crime which is forbidden by this
precept, are the legitimate results ofthe system. Those who
were first enslaved in this country, had nothing but African
blood in their veins; but a large number of the three and a
half millions who now toil upon the Southern plantations,
are almost, if not quite, as white as those who pretend to own
them, and whose hearts are not half as black. But why is
this ? Why are they not all of the African color ? Why
are so many of them as white as Americans? No verbal an
swer' is required. Every enlightened person knows, that the
most shameful violation of the seventh commandment is the
cause. "Thou shalt not kill," is one of the links of the golden
chain, which is broken by the system of slavery. The treat
ment which the slaves recieve, brings them to premature death.

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Misery invokes death. The more unhappy we are, the sooner
our strength will be gone, and our souls will take their depart
ure from these lumps of clay. A man, whose limbs are gall
ed with manacles,? whose back is scarred with whips, whose
heart is wrung with sorrow day after day, whose mind is over
whelmed with trouble, will not live as long as he would, were
he free from these afflictions. Manacles, whips, toil, sorrow —
the most heart-rending troubles are in connection with, and
are elements in the system of slavery. These instruments of
death are used by the oppressor 'with malice aforethought, which
constitutes him a murderer.
"Honor thy fether and thy mother," is one of the ten com
mandments, at which slavery hurls defiance. To honor our
parents, we must obey them; but slave children are taught to
disregard the precepts of their parents, and obey only those of
their cruel masters. Slaveholders desecrate the sabbath, by for
bidding the dispensation of the pure gospel. Ministers at the
South, must preach doctrines to the slave, which are not taught
in the wor"d of God, or leave for the North, as some have done;
thus, you see, the system violates the fourth commandment, which
requires a remembrance of the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
It is not keeping the Sabbath day holy, to preach tho devil's
doctrines, which Southern ministers inculcate to their slaves, and
to the slaves of those, whose money they are seeking. It is
the most shameful way of spending a day, designated as one
of sacred rest. The sabbath is the time to show the people
their sins; to exhort them to "undo the heavy burdens and let
the oppressed go free," and to proclaim glad tidings to all men;
and in what way can the professed ministers of Christ violate
more disgracefully the fourth precept of the Decalogue, than to
occupy the sabbath in teaching doctrines, which cbme in com
petition with the good of man and the glory of God, for the sake
of worldly emoluments 1
The profanation of God's name, is another violation of His
law. His name may be, and often is, profaned in His works
of Creation and Providence. When we contemn a man's con
duct, we contemn him. When we despise the works of God, we

12
despise their Author; for they are manifestations of Himself.
Is not the black man despised ? Is he not undervalued, when
considered as fit for nothing but to toil under the lash ? Was he
not made for a higher purpose ? Was he not made in the image
of God, and wade to glorify Him, in his body and soul, which are
His ? If so, he is despised, and liB who despises him, despises
God, his Creator, and thus he profanes His name, and breaks
the third commandment. The human soiil is the noblest work of
God, and the deformation of His noblest work, is one of the most
God-defying acts of fallen men !
I have now shown to you, that the system of slavery, which is
upheld by the laws of the land, violates eight of the command
ments. Every man who is a slaveholder in spirit, whether his
land is tilled with unpaid labor or not, is under the influence of
a covetous heart, and transgresses the third, fourth, fifth, sixth,
seventh, eighth and ninth precepts ofthe Law of God, and if
he breaks these, he breaks the first and second — he transgresses
the whole Law of Heaven ! Every link in the golden chain is
broken by every rhan, who says amon to American slavery !
He would rend it to a thousand fragments, and hurl it to the
four winds of heaven ! He would dethrone Jehovah, and rule
the nations ofthe earth with a rod of iron ! Here in America,
one of the most enlightened parts ofthe globe, laws are enacted
which give license to, and encourage the violation of all the pre
cepts, which wero given by the omniscient and Holy God ! A
majority in our congressional halls, the ruling spirits on the
bench of the highest tribunal of the nation, and the chief mag
istrate of the same, place these holy commandments under their
feet, and legislate, decide and execute, from the impulse of self
ishness. If one of the Prophets should return from the spirit
world, with a commission to show the people their sins, would
he not summon heaven and earth to bear witness to them 7
What better language could he employ than that of the Proph
et Isaiah? "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a
seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters! They have for
saken the Lord." "Ye revolt more and more; the whole head-
is sick, and the whole heart faint !" "Thy princes are rebel

13
lious and companions of thieves; every one loveth gifts, and fol-
loweth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neith-^r doth
the cause of the widow come unto them."
This nation claims some eighteen hundred millions of money
m the shape of human beings, as a basis of commercial opera
tions. The' mercantile community build upon it; give and take
bills that have no other bottom but this false capital. This
false capital is accepted all over the land as true; endorsed by
the supreme judges at Washington, countersigned by the Ex
ecutive, backed by the basis of our laws and government, and
Sanctioned by the churches and the ministry ! The nation claims
eighteen hundred millions of money, which it has no right to,
according to the Higher Law. It is not the nation's property,
but God's, vrhich is stolen from Him. We have robbed Him;
we have taken millions of immortal beings, and stamped them
as, property, and turned them into money; and God is now say
ing to us, "Let my people go, that they may serve me, or the
heavens will blaze with the lightnings of my wrath over your
heads!" We have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger
God will, and is now begining to punish our sins as a nation.
especially the sin of oppression. He is calling for a settlement.
He demands His money. He says, "ye have robbed me; this
whole nation." He is now executing judgments upon our idols
of silver and gold— tearing down our dagons and golden calves.
The proud are begining to hang their lofty heads — the rich are
becoming poor — monuments of wealth are falling to ruins— the
cry of financial distress is heard from all parts of the land — tho
wailint^s of poverty are mingling with the noise and tumult of
failures, losses, and crumbling banks. And the judgments of
God will come closer, heavier, and more dreadful, as we harden
our hearts against Him. They must keep pace with our disobe-
dience. The hand of God is now laid on our finances; but this
is only the begining of evil. An Egyptian darkness, and all the
plagues that were sent upon that people, may afflict us if we do
not let the oppressed go free. Heavy judgments are now hang-
ivjT "'•'"• "« wi.snended only by the patience of God; and when

14
His patience becomes exhausted, they will fall like thunder bolts
and the wicked will not escape. God will punish this people
for they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts, and des
pised the word of the Holy One of Israel. As fire devoureth the
stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaflT, the flames ?f God's
wrath will consume this nation, if it continues lo revolt more
and more. False prophets may cry peace ! peace ! but there
will be no peace until we repent of our sins. Heaven's anger
will smoke upon us, unless we fall prostrate before Him, and
acknowledge our offences and do His service.
We shall not be prospered a.s a nation; so long as we claim
property in human beings — the whole country will be shaken
until the chains of slavery are shaken from off the oppressed.
Nothing can stand, which is not built upon what God approves.
The winds and the floodjwill dash to ruin every house that is
built upon the sand.
God has been merciful to this nation, and we wonder at
His patience, not His indignation.
He has proved to us by His Providence, that "He is mer
ciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He
hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us accord
ing to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear him." If He
had not been slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, this wick
ed nation would have been punished with signal judgments long
ere the present time. While it has been perpetrating the most
revolting deeds, calling wickedness virtue, and virtue wicked
ness, making and executing laws, which require open rebellion
to Him, His watchful care has been over us. Showers of mer
cy have fallen from the celestial heavens, and saved us from the
consuming flames of Divine vengeance.
Let us be thankful to God, for His great mercy to us; for
His tokens of love, while we have deserved nothing but indig
nation and wrathy fo.T giving us space for repentance, and of
fering us pardon and peace on terms so easy.
God is calling on us to repent of our sins, and if wo humble
ourselves before Him, and plead for pardoning grace, He wil

15
have mercy on us, and save us. "Come now, let us reason to
gether, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shell
be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be de
voured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spok
en it."

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