V "BaiUvi

AMERICA, THE TeMcHER OF THE UTATIOJfSt

1

A SERMON,

PBEABt^.P.IN THE

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

OF WASHINGTON, DC,

S.ABBATH, DECEMBER 33, 1849. ,

-i-S'-.'S'-

BY ELISHA BALLANTINE,
,PASTOH OF THE CHTJSGH.

Published by request.

WASHINGTON,
GIDEON & CO., PRINTERS.
1850.

AMERICA, THE TEACHER OF THE NATIONS-

A SERMON,

PREACHED IN THE

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
OF WASHINGTON, D. C,
SABBATH, DECEMBER 23, 1849.

BY ELISHA BALLANTINE,
PASTOR OF THE OHUHCH.

Published by requert.

WASHINGTON,
GIDEON & CO., PRINTERS.
1850.

SERMON.

ACTS xvh, 26, 27. — " God hath made of one blood all nations of men, fob to dwell
ON ALL THE FACE OF THE EABTH, AND HATH DETEBMINED THE TIMES BEFOBE APPOINTED,
AND THE BOUNDS OF THEIK HABITATION; THAT THEY SHOULD SEEK AFTEE THE LOBD, IP
HAPLY THEY MIGHT FEEL AFTEB HIM AND FIND HIM."
The address of the Apostle Paul, of which these verses are a part,
was made "in the midst of Mars' hill," the place of the celebrated
court of Areopagus. Its hearers were the philosophers, and the curious
public of Athens, who had asked him to explain to them the new doc
trines which he taught. The Apostle showed himself fully equal to
the great occasion — able, on the broad ground, and from the great truths
of natural religion, to confute the religious errors of his hearers, and to
instruct them in the truth concerning God, and thus to open the way
for their hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will barely mention
some of the great truths which are contained in the text.
First. All the nations of men on the eaith are of one race, having
descended from a common origin. "God hath made of one blood all
nations of men."
Again: God designed, and has adapted mankind to inhabit all
parts of the earth: not a few degrees of latitude and longitude, as most
of the races of inferior animals, but the torrid, the temperate, and the
frigid climates alike. He made the nations, says Paul, "to dwell on
all the face of the earth."
Further: God appointed beforehand — that is, before their taking
place in history — the existence, the location and boundaries , and the
times — that is, the duration, changes, and end — of the individual
races and nations of men on the earth. "And hath determined the
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation."
But, manifestly, the location and boundaries of nations, their rise,
duration and extinction, involve all their complicated relations to each
¦K '

other, and their mutual influence on each other's condition and cha
racter. All these, then, also — that is, the whole history of the nations
of the world — Paul teaches the learned men of Athens — are the subjects
of the counsels and of the providential ordering of God.
Moreover, Paul teaches his Athenian audience, that a great de
sign of God in regard to men is, that they should come to a knowledge
of himself — or learn, embrace, arid practise the true religion. "That
they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find
him." God has made this, Paul teaches, the great business of men; their
great duty; their interest, no doubt, and their salvation. Profound,
inspired views of human things!
But still more: Paul teaches here, that the rise, the locations, the
fates and fortunes of nations, their contiguities, and their mutual re
lations and influences, as thus ordered and controlled by Providence,
loere all designed by God to be instrumental in bringing about this
great result — viz., the universal prevalence among the nations of the
saving knowledge of God. Observe the connexion: "God hath made
all nations of men, and hath determined their times and their bounds,
that they should seek the Lord."
The Apostle may, indeed, mean, that the fact of the Power and
Providence of God over human affairs, gives God a claim to men's
worship and obedience; and also makes it the interest of men to know,
love, and obey God, so as to obtain the divine favor and blessing on the
earth. But he must mean to say still more than this; namely, as just
said, that the mutual influence of men on men, of nation on nation,
of race on race — extensive and various as these influences are — were
designed by God to be an instrumentality for the universal diffusion of
true religion.
The truth of this doctrine, thus drawn from the text, could be plain
ly proved from many other parts of the bible; and could also be abun
dantly and strikingly illustrated from history, both ancient and modern.
But there is time, to-day, to do neither. We will now just state the doc
trine, or proposition again, but in a particular case, namely, in regard
to this, our nation, as one of the nations of the earth: God, the great
Sovereign of the world, •has, in his Providence, ordered as he has the
existence of this American people, its position, its boundaries, its times
and its fortunes , and also its relations to other nations and races of men ,

with a reference to our exerting an instrumentality , through all
these, on the other nations and races of men for their good; and espe
cially for their spiritual and eternal good by imparting to them the
true religion. In the design of God — in the fore-appointments of the
Eternal mind— in the counsels recorded in the Book of God's Pur
poses — thus, we believe, stands the plan:
AMERICA, A TEACHER OF THE NATIONS.
This is, if true, a purpose of God worthy of our serious attention and
earnest feelings.
We will pursue this subject a little, as thus restricted tn our nation;
and we will do so historically. For this is not the place, neither is this
the time, to indulge either the fancy or the feelings of national vanity.
We mean to do neither. What we wish to do is, to strengthen the
deduction of doctrine which we have made from the text, by a demon
stration of the truth of that doctrine from the course of our country's
history — that is, of God's Providence towards this nation: so that the
Word of God and the Providence of God may sustain each other in
teaching us our great duty and allotted work as a nation.
But in doing this we shall find it difficult, if not impossible — at any
rate, we should do our subject great injustice — to confine our view
strictly to the imparting of religious truth. Because, not only are all
truths related and bound together, but especially are all those great
truths and principles connected and found associated together in fact,
which are the great basis of the well-being of men, physically, intellec
tually, and morally. True religion never exists alone in a community,
but associates with itself other blessings. A good religious influence is
never exerted alone, but in intimate connexion with other means and
agencies for human well-being. So it is a fact, that while we stand
almost alone among the nations in maintaining the entire independence
of the State and the Church, nowhere in the world, we believe, is
there a more real and intimate connexion between the State and Reli
gion — I mean Religion as it actually lives and rules in the hearts of
the people. We are compelled, therefore, in making out our point,
and we ask to be allowed to go a little beyond the strict boundary of
religious truths and influences; while these are always, however, as the
day and occasion demand, the chief point and the great end of our in
quiry.

History — both that of the past and of the present — will show our
nation, giving instruction, as a teacher of the nations, not only in reli
gion, but also in other truths, most intimately connected with the well-
being of men . And actual influence of one kind will prove the exist
ence, or at least the possibility, of influence of the best kind.
A vast field presents itself before us, upon the greater part of which
we cannot now even cast a glance. The text, also, speaking as it does
of nations, while it does not by any means exclude the consideration
of the influence of individuals of the nation acting upon individuals, or
the masses of other nations in foreign lands, permits us to confine our
selves, to-day, to our associated, national influence upon other nations
and races of men. We therefore pass by unnoticed, now, the blessed
results of American Evangelical Missions in foreign lands, intending
to bring these up, in connexion with our general theme, on another
occasion. They, also, will be found to exemplify beautifully the truth,
that America is in fact, as well as in the purpose of God, a teacher of
the nations. We omit, also, all that influence for good exerted by
American travellers in foreign lands — by American merchants, me-
chanics, engineers, and officers under other governments, in all of
which capacities many Americans are scattered over the world.
And in reference to these narrower limits of influence, we believe that
facts, which we intend to present, justify us in using even stronger lan
guage than we have derived from the text; and in thus expressing the
purpose of Divine Providence in reference to us as a people:
AMERICA, THE TEACHER OF THE NATIONS.
We believe, namely, that the American people are called in Provi
dence to a work and an influence upon the nations of the world at
large, to which no existing nation has been appointed, and no race of
people, except perhaps the Jews.
It is obvious at once that nothing could have been more improbable
than such a destiny of our nation at its fiist planting. Its bounds were
located on a just discovered, wilderness continent, far off across an im
mense ocean. Hither our fathers fled because it was far off, and to get
away from the world. Their highest hope in reference to themselves
and America was, that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled, (Jer.
31, 2.) " The people which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness, even Israel when I went to cause him to rest." But
God's thoughts were not as their thoughts, were as much higher than

theirs as heaven is high above the earth: and he guided them to their
allotted place that he might make them a people who should be a light
to the world/
But to the proofs.
This office and work of our nation in instructing other people in the
lessons of wisdom began with the first movements of our forefathers in
the cause of national independence. And who were the pupils of this
people, thus yet struggling to the birth? The mother-nation — the British
Parliament — the greatest men and minds there. They received and
they felt the masterly instruction given on the rights of man, and in the
fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty. Lord Chatham
spoke the deep convictions of the nation, and testified to the profound
and lasting lesson it had learned from America, when he said in his place
in Parliament, that " though he had studied and admired the free states
of antiquity, the master spirits of the world; yet, for solidity of reason
ing, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no body of men
could stand in preference to the Congress of the United Colonies."
It will not surprise us then, that the nation, of which yet scarcely
born, Britons said this, should soon be engaged in the Providence of
God in imparting lessons to a whole army of Frenchmen. Ah, they
knew not wherefore they had come hither, namely, not simply to stand
by the teacher of the nations in her first childhood, and to assist her
first weak efforts to stand alone; but also, and chiefly, while so doing, to
receive themselves a lesson which should be most fruitful of conse
quences on the mind and on the history of France and of Europe.
The whole fact of this instruction is presented before us in the scene
constantly, witnessed during the years of the war — Lafayette riding by
the side of Washington. Oh, had they all well learned the whole
lesson which the young America taught, and especially in regard to a
pure and a free religion; and had there been less to unlearn in them
and in their nation, which was incapable of a union with what they
here acquired, and which was not unlearned, and is not yet unlearned;
there would have been less plausibility in the libel, that liberal princi
ples are chargeable with producing the most terrible evils that have
ever befallen any nation.
Nor have England and France alone felt the influence of American
teaching. We are teaching those nations which never came into con
tact with us. The very fact of our existence, of our peculiar history,
growth, and present condition, operate far off, invisibly, and in ways

not to be prevented by any regulations of jealous governments. The
presence of our ambassadors and of our consuls, the vast numbers and
immense commerce of our ships, the visits of our national vessels, all
bearing testimony to our strength, our wealth, our skill, and our enter
prise; our ship-loads of clothing sent to destitute Greeks, and of food
to the starving Irish, and the increasing contributions of our churches to
religious objects and efforts in Europe, the accounts of travellers who
have visited us, the very geographies in the hands of their school-chil
dren , are all constantly conveying, extending, and impressing the lesson
which we teach. As in a Lancasterian school, the lesson which is
received by one or a few, goes from mouth to mouth, and from mind
to mind, far beyond the direct agency of the teacher. Deep and wide
is the silent effect produced. Nor is that effect altogether unperceived.
The political and ecclesiastical astronomers of Europe, who watch
with sagacious and jealous eyes, the signs of the times which appear
in their horizon, are finding to their dismay that there is a disturbing
power somewhere, operating upon the movements of their systems, and
baffling all their calculations. Like Columbus of old, they suspect
that there is a vast continent in the west; or, with the skilful astrono
mer of our day, they have ascertained the position of this agitating cause,
and have actually succeeded in discovering it. It is we, they find, the
American people, who are the cause of all. They are not mistaken.
In the popular movements, both political and religious, of the last two
years in Europe, " America" has been the watchword. When a few
years ago that grand scene was exhibited in Scotland, of the best min
isters and people of the Established Presbyterian Church withdrawing
from the General Assembly, and giving up professors' chairs, churches,
parsonages, and revenues, and forming the " Free Church of Scot
land," independent of the State, and supported entirely by the willing
hearts and generous offerings of the people; we knew, and the world
knew, whence was derived that lesson of practical and successful Free
Churchism. Thus we are teaching all kinds of truths. And we imagine that
Europeans do not estimate definitely the amount of our possible influ
ence among them. It may prove to be like what often occurs in na
ture. If from some lofty mountain point you look down at dawn of
day upon a stretch of plain country below you, you will sometimes
find that it is completely hidden by a dense and motionless mass of
cloud, resting upon it like the covering of a bed. But soon you will

observe a slight movement in the mass. There is not a breath of wind
— there is no manifest cause: something is at work, however, and
causing an increasing agitation throughout. It is the reflected light of
the sun, itself still beneath the horizon. And that which is yet seen
is only the beginning of his power. Let him appear above his mountain
line and look down directly upon the scene, and the gentle agitation
will increase to violence, and soon the cloud will be entirely dissipated,
and all the valley will be irradiated with light. But history is our busi
ness to day, and facts of the present time — not anticipations of the
future. The great sphere of action for our nation as a teacher is here at home.
Here we are giving impressions and silently teaching lessons, both secu
lar and spiritual , to many travellers who come among us to return again.
And there are such , not only from every nation of Europe ; there is
now in America, for instance, a monk from a convent on Mount Lebanon ;
and but yesterday a letter from London was published in one of our
papers, which stated that we might expect to see next year a delegation
from Australia, who were coming to learn our institutions, that they
might set up similar ones on the opposite side of the globe. But our
nation has other than transient pupils under her charge. There are
those of a color different from ours, and who like us come originally
from an eastern continent, who are scattered, unequally indeed, but
numerously, throughout almost all our territory. We speak now of
these people in reference to the single point which our subject presents,
and which we feel is exceedingly important. Divine Providence,
who, as we have learned, determines the times, the locations, and the
mutual relations of the nations and races of men, has placed these people
in the relation to us of pupilage . America has been made in Providence
the teacher of these also. And how much soever may be true or untrue
of all that has been said of our faithfulness and unfaithfulness in our re
lations to them, this is true, they have learned, and they are learning
much that is good from us. We appeal to the mighty difference between
them, as they are among us, both north and south, and their degraded
brethren in their native land. We appeal to every approach, yes, to
the near approaches made in multitudes of individual cases, to the civil
ization, the comfort, the education, and the religion of the whites. We
quote, as results of this pupilage, the colonization of six thousand emi
grants on the coast of Africa, their enterprise and prosperity there, their
schools, and their chinches, and their religious character; and their
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10
laws, their constitution, and their free republic, made after the pattern of
ours, and administered and sustained, thus far, in a way worthy of its
original. And we appeal, lastly, to the fact that eighty thousand native
Africans have voluntarily put themselves under the civil protection
and control of the colony, and under the instruction in civilization,
learning and religion of the colonists. America has sent forth that
stripling nation taught in her school, and in fulfilment of her high des
tiny as teacher of the nations is through her reaching and teaching the
tribes of benighted Africa.
Further — within the last ten or fifteen years, Europe has been pour
ing upon us a continued and continually increasing tide of emigrants.
The numbers that arrive amount sometimes to thousands in a day.
They come from Ireland, England, Scotland; from Norway, Sweden,
and Denmark; from Holland, France, and Germany; from Switzer
land and Italy; from the Portuguese islands, and from down-trodden
Hungary. They come, fleeing from the hands of the political execu
tioner. They come, exiled by civil tyranny, or by persecution for
their Protestant opinions. They come for bread, fleeing from famine.
They come to live among us, and share in our better lot; and thus
testify to the fact already asserted, of the deep and pervading impression
made throughout Europe, by our country and its institutions. They
come, and they scatter themselves among our people, north, south,
east, and west. They are Catholics and Protestants. A large propor
tion of them are poor, ignorant and degraded, understanding little or
nothing of our character, our government, or our religion. They
come, under the ordering of God's Providence, as our pupils; and our
nation is the appointed teacher of these numerous representatives of
the nations of Europe — their teacher in all good things — in all that
conduces to the well-being of men, physically, intellectually, and reli
giously. And as new classes are coming with every ship, it is almost
as if God spoke aloud his purpose and will from heaven — America, the
teacher of the nations.
But even if America does all, for all these multitudes from Europe,
which the Providence of God is laying upon her, she will not yet have
done her whole appointed work, of instruction on the nations of the
earth. Within two years another door has been opened namely on
our southwestern border; and thousands of Mexicans have become our
fellow-citizens. These, also, are by this means, placed in all their
ignorance, indolence and superstition, as learners at our feet. And

11
the energy of our people is already operating upon the entire mass of
this lately acquired population; and newspapers, books, schools, and
ministers of the Gospel, as well as private citizens, are conveying the
instruction with a rapidity and an effect not to be estimated. But I
must not dwell upon the single facts, and the thousand interesting sug
gestions which they excite, for time forbids.
Providence had a still wider work for- us to do — till within not many
months utterly unforeseen. It is as if God had purposed that all the
nations of the earth were to be blessed in us. On the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, in the most remote part of our new territory , just after
our title to that territory had been ratified, and as our people were
beginning to go up and take possession, God threw open apparently
inexhaustible mines of gold. The glittering attraction is not only
drawing thither citizens of our own country in sufficient numbers to
assert the American name and proprietorship; but, lo! speedily there
begin to congregate there, Mexicans and Central Americans; people
from Granada and Equador, Peruvians and Chilians; also, Russians
from the north, and Indians from the interior, and nations of the remote
island of the Pacific; yea, as if Providence meant to bring the whole
world to our feet, also people from China, brought thither by the ships
of Britain. If a man standing on the wharf of San Francisco, and
amazed at the coming crowds, should ask in the words of a prophet,
"'Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?"
another might answer him in the words of the same prophet, as he
pointed with his finger, "Behold these come from far; and lo, these
from the north, and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim."*
These multitudes know not all that for which they have come. As
was true of the teachers in their firstcoming, so of that of the scholars
— "a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps."
Many — ah! many of them, shall die disappointed and unblessed.
Many will return home again; yet not all, without carrying away with
them a blessing other than their gold. But the greater part will be all
their lives learners in our nation's school; and in the end they and
their children will learn a wisdom which is better than gold, yea, than
most fine gold; the science of true happiness, temporal and eternal.
Our glance has been rapid and impeifect — it is all we could give.
We cannot misunderstand however the meaning of events, and the

*The Bible name of China.

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designs of Providence. America has been made by Providence the
teacher of the nations of the earth; and thousands of their people are
either already among us, or are crowding upon us from the east, from
the south, and from the west — and who knows how soon also from the
north; and they are scattering through all our broad territory. Our
duty is to bid them welcome, and to make them sharers in all our
blessings, and especially to remember that God has determined our
times and our boundaries and our relations to all these people, that
they may seek after the Lord, if haply they may feel after him and
find him.
And what a mighty influence shall America hereafter wield through'
these millions of immigrants and their descendants, back upon the
nations from which they came. The bands of brotherhood between
them and their kindred will not be broken, but in the increasing inter
course of the world will be drawn closer and closer. And when,.
through our effectual teaching, those who have' come among us have
become a part of ourselves, shall not America stand at the very centre
of influence in the world, from which streams of light and moral power
shall set perpetually upon all other lands, like the ocean currents flow
ing perpetually from our coasts towards the shores of other continents^
Oh, in view of all that God has done for us as a people, and with this
great duty to other nations included, we Americans have reason to sayr
"'the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, yea, we have a goodly
heritage." But is this nation prepared to do this her appointed duty as the
teacher of the nations? Some men indulge gloomy forebodings, and
expect to see, not the millions who are flocking to us, elevated and
made happy, but ourselves overwhelmed by their ignorance and degra
dation, and ultimately sunken into anarchy and barbarism. Permit me
to point out, in one moment, some facts which go to sustain different and
better anticipations.
And the great fact is, the vitality and vigor of the American spirit
and character. As traits of the American character may be mentioned,
independence of thought and opinion — an unconquerable spirit of en
terprise — public spirit — love of order — high appreciation of education —
a sense ©f justice and of the rights of individuals — a high moral public
sentiment — a strong religious spirit — a fundamental correctness of reli
gious convictions; among which are, the conviction of personal respon
sibility before God for moral character and conduct — the demand that

13
Christians manifest in their lives the power of holy principles — the re
spect shown by all for those who do so — the contempt felt for those,
and especially for those ministers of the Gospel, who do not live as
Christians should — and, finally, a high appreciation of the ordinances
of Christian worship. This characteristic American spirit is shown,
first, in the older parts of our country. And here I will mention but
one fact out of a thousand, viz., the energetic spirit of Christian be
nevolence. That spirit has devised and is carrying on schemes of effort
designed to reach every class of our people, and almost every nation of
the earth. We have Missionary Societies, who send out and support
missionaries into those parts of our own country where there are no
churches, and to other and especially heathen lands. We have Bible
Societies, Tract, Education, Sunday School, and Seamen's Friends'
Societies, all whose operations are extensive and are continually in
creasing. All of these are sustained by the voluntary contributions of
thousands of our people who act upon the conviction that the mind and
heart of the people at large must be cultivated . The same vigor of the
American spirit is shown also in the newer portions of our coun
try. One of America's leading statesmen, who has quite lately made
a wide circuit through the counties of a western border State, testifies,
that every where, even to the western line, up to the very wilderness,
are to be seen not only the results and the rapid advances of business
and industry, but also school-houses and churches; and these, good
buildings built by the people while yet struggling with the wildness
of nature, and with the lack even of physical comforts;, and not only
built, but used and well frequented. Texas too, and even California,
of whose people one ignorant of American character might expect no
thing morally good — California too, shows in good measure the same
traits of character. There too, the sincere and consistent minister of
Christ is respected and listened to, the capable school-master is encour
aged, books are sought, newspapers are started and supported ; even a re
ligious newspaper is projected, enterprise is in full swing, and improve
ments of all kinds advance as if by magic. Notwithstanding all that
is inevitably defective and wrong there, the late wilderness and solitary
place " is glad for them, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the
rose." But, for convincing proofs of the vigor of American principles-
throughout all our population of every class, we need only refer to the
civil constitutions lately formed and established in Texas, in California,.
and in the Republic of Liberia. In all of them do all the features of

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American character which have been mentioned, social, political and
religious not only appear, but they are the characteristic features. And
these constitutions have been made, not by assemblies of America's
greatest statesmen here at the metropolis of the nation, but are all three
of them the product of the spirit of the respective populations as ex
pressed by delegates who were elected by their spontaneous suffrages.
And therefore they show, that you may gather a population out of our
people in what way you please, and at what point in the world you
please; you might suppose them from the history of their coming to
gether, utterly unfit for self-government; yet, without any government,
they will maintain general order, and they will speedily organize; and
when the machinery of their society, manufactured by themselves, is
set up and put in motion, it will be found to be, even in its moral and
religious features, just like that of the older States. No, there is no
decay among us of all that which constitutes Americanism. It has all
the vigor of youth, with the superadded strength and steadiness of ma
turity. Our nation is therefore just now fitted, by the universal spirit
and cherished principles of her people, more than ever before, to be
what she is, and what Providence designed her to be, the teacher of the
nations in the true principles and means of temporal and eternal hap
piness. What are the results thus far of the immense emigration from for
eign lands? Are we retiring before the new comers as the Indians have
done before our fathers and us? Is there a giving-way any where of
traits and influences strictly American ? Is there not every where a
strengthening of these, and an improvement manifest and rapid among
the immigrants generally, an assimilation, an Americanization1? They
are brought to us, indeed, as rough pieces from the strata of European
society, rigid and unsusceptible. No violence is used upon them. But
our American atmosphere acts upon them as a mighty solvent, the spi
rit of our community penetrates them, our benign government at once
warms and blesses them; they feel the pulsations of the nation's kind
and tender heart, and they love us; they find themselves, indeed, in a
new world, which is gently, but powerfully, making them new like
itself. It may be said, that the views which have been given are cheerful
indeed, as only the bright side of things has been presented, and cer
tainly flattering to ourselves; but why are they introduced into the pul
pit? What personal duty do they involve and press home upon us to-

15
day. What duty ? Our whole review of the past and the present has
shown us both what God would have us do as Americans, and has
shown the American people actually employed more or less consciously,
in the way appointed by God. The plain duty of the American peo
ple then, and of every portion and individual of them is, to go on to
do that great duty assigned us, only with a clearer consciousness of our
high calling, with sincerer consecration to it, with greater efforts and
with determined perseverance. For great is the work which is to be
done. Though the plan be God's, and also the Providential ordering,
the instrumentality is ours — and it must be used and consummated.
Shall results be realized without the using of the appointed means?
Has Providence wrought alone in the making of American character
and prosperity to be what they are? Trace back the history of these
to their cradle in England, in the midst of the religious and political
convulsions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — to the conse
crated lives, the mighty efforts, the heroic self-denial, and the fortitude,
even unto death, of the thoroughly trained Calvinists of that period,
the acknowledged champions of religious truth and civil liberty. It is
because those defamed, those honored men, had worthy successors, who
gave up. themselves to the maintenance of truth and right, and thus let
their light shine, that we have received the inestimable legacy transmit
ted by their fathers. And where were they trained who in Missouri,
Texas, California and Liberia, are setting up the school-house and the
church, as well as all the machinery of free government ? Among our
selves — in the schools and the churches and communities, where we
too were educated. They say, we must have the same institutions
under which we grew up; and we the people of the older States feel
and say, they must have them. And hence, the cheering facts in re
gard to our newest settlements, which have been noticed. It is by
these means that the strong American spirit is cherished and matured
there also, and by which it is to be made the ruling spirit, capable of
assimilating to itself all the crude and foreign materials, with which it
there meets.
These views suggest, also, the duty of all wise and benevolent Ame
rican citizens in regard to the maintenance of healthy and holy influ
ences among ourselves, and throughout the population around us.
The older parts of the country are the reservoirs from which the newer
are continually supplied. The emigration westward is immense.
Whole communities here are weakened by it. Especially are very

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many of owr churches, particularly country churches, kept low and
weak, not by any lack of energy or of success in the use of the means
of grace, but by the self-exhausting supplies constantly furnished by
them for the West. But is this a real loss? Facts which we have al
ready presented show, that while individuals often "seem to have left
their religion behind them, (he mass who go westward show all the ef
fects of their former moral training. Is then the circumstance of the
continued weakness and' dependence of many of our eastern churches
a discouraging circumstance? Rather it is an encouragement and
a mighty argument for our continuing to sustain them. They have
aided the West by all who have gone thither from them, and in pro
portion to the good training which they had given them. We must
keep these reservoirs of good and holy influences full. These eastern
churches, these recruiting and training places of enlightened and reli
gious people for the West, must be sustained. Christian principle
must be strong, active and all pervading here, so that we may continue
to do for the West what we have heretofore done. Each Presbytery,
each Church, each Christian and each American citizen, must do his
part for those next around him. Thus we shall both operate directly
and efficiently on the West, while at the same time we do our duty to
the destitute here, and also to those foreign emigrants who come among
ourselves. See then dear friends, the greatness of the small effort which you
are able to make in this cause — the mighty bearings of what you are
asked to do. It maybe as little, in comparison with the grand end,
and as imperceptible, as that which is done by a single insect in the for
mation of a coral reef. But by the united and persevering energies of
all, an island of moral beauty and happiness shall emerge from the
ocean of man's ruin, and become, indeed, by God's good blessing, an
island of the blessed. Do something in this blessed work to-day.

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