{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40428/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40428","id":"gutenberg_40428","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40428","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Election sermons -- Massachusetts","Sermons, American"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nSmall capital text has been replaced with all capitals.\n\nMinor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been silently\nnormalized. Inconsistent capitalizations of christian and christianity\nhave been left as in the original.\n\n\n\n\nA SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY EDWARD EVERETT, GOVERNOR, HIS\nHONOR GEORGE HULL, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, THE HONORABLE COUNCIL, AND THE\nLEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE ANNIVERSARY ELECTION, JANUARY 2,\n1839.\n\nBY MARK HOPKINS, D. D. President of Williams College.\n\n  Boston:\n  DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS TO THE STATE.\n  1839.\n\n\n\n\nCommonwealth of Massachusetts.\n\n                                             SENATE, JANUARY 3, 1839.\n\n  _Ordered_, That Messrs. Filley, Quincy, and Kimball, be a Committee\n  to present the thanks of the Senate to the Rev. MARK HOPKINS, D. D.\n  for the discourse yesterday delivered by him, before the Government\n  of the Commonwealth, and to request a copy thereof for publication.\n\n                                       Attest,\n\n                                            CHARLES CALHOUN, _Clerk_.\n\n\n\n\nSERMON.\n\nActs v. 29.\n\nWE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MAN.\n\n\nMan was made for something higher and better, than either to make, or\nto obey, merely human laws. He is the creature of God, is subject to\nhis laws, and can find his perfection, and consequent happiness, only\nin obeying those laws. As his moral perfection, the life of his life,\nis involved in this obedience, it is impossible that any power should\nlay him under obligation to disobey. The known will of God, if not the\nfoundation of right, is its paramount rule, and it is because human\ngovernments are ordained by him, that we owe them obedience. We are\nbound to them, not by compact, but only as God's institutions for the\ngood of the race. This is what the Bible, though sometimes referred to\nas supporting arbitrary power, really teaches. It does not support\narbitrary power. Rightly understood, it is a perfect rule of duty, and\nas in every thing else, so in the relations of subjects and rulers.\nIt lays down the true principles, it gives us the guiding light. When\nthe general question is whether human governments are to be obeyed,\nthe answer is, \"He that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance\nof God.\" \"The powers that be are ordained of God.\" But when these\npowers overstep their appointed limits, and would lord it over the\nconscience, and come between man and his maker, then do we hear it\nuttered in the very face of power, and by the voice of inspiration, no\nless than of indignant humanity, \"We ought to obey God rather than\nmen.\"\n\nIt has been in connexion with the maintenance of this principle, first\nproclaimed by an Apostle of Christ eighteen hundred years ago, that\nall the civil liberty now in the world has sprung up. It is to the\nfearless assertion of this principle by our forefathers, that we owe\nit that the representatives of a free people are assembled here this\nday to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences,\nto seek to Him for wisdom in their deliberations, and to acknowledge\nthe subordination of all human governments to that which is divine.\n\nPermit me then, as appropriate to the present occasion, to call the\nattention of this audience, 1st. To the grounds on which all men are\nbound to adhere to the principle stated in the text; and\n\n2d. To the consequences of such adherence, on the part, both of\nsubjects, and of rulers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI observe, then, that we ought to obey God rather than men, because\nhuman governments are comparatively so limited and negative in their\nbearing upon the great purposes, first, of individual, and second, of\nsocial existence.\n\nThe purposes for which man was made, must evidently involve in their\naccomplishment, both his duty and his happiness; and nothing can be\nhis duty which would contravene those purposes. Among them, as already\nintimated, the highest is the moral perfection of the individual; for\nas it is by his moral nature that man is distinguished from the\ninferior animals, so it is only in the perfection of that nature, that\nhis perfection, as man, can consist. As absolute perfection can belong\nonly to God, that of man must be relative, that is, it must consist in\nthe proper adjustment of relations, and especially in the relation of\nhis voluntary actions to the end for which God designed him. This is\nour idea of perfection, when we affirm it of the works of man. It\ninvolves, mainly, such a relation of parts as is necessary to the\nperfect accomplishment of the end in view. A watch is perfect when it\nis so constructed that its motions exactly correspond in their little\nrevolutions with those of the sun in the heavens; and man is perfect\nwhen his will corresponds in its little circle of movement with the\nwill of God in heaven. This correspondence, however, is not to be\nproduced by the laws of an unconscious mechanism, but by a voluntary,\na cheerful, a filial co-operation. It is this power of controlling his\nfaculties with reference to an ultimate end, of accepting or rejecting\nthe purpose of his being, as indicated by God in the very structure of\nhis powers, and proclaimed in his word, that contradistinguishes man\nfrom every inferior being, and gives scope for what is properly\ntermed, character. Inferior beings have qualities by which they are\ndistinguished, they have characteristics, but not _character_, which\nalways involves a moral element. A brute does not govern its own\ninstincts, it is governed by them. A tree is the product of an agency\nwhich is put forth through it, but of which it is not conscious, and\nwhich it does not control. But God gives man to himself, and then sets\nbefore him, in the tendency of every thing that has unconscious life\ntowards its own perfection, the great moral lesson that nature was\nintended to teach. He then causes every blade of grass, and every\ntree, to become a preacher and a model, calling upon him to put forth\nhis faculties, not without law, but to accept the law of his being,\nand to work out a character and a happiness in conformity with that.\nIt is, as I have said, the power which man has to accept or reject\nthis law of his being, the great law of love, that renders him capable\nof character, and it is evidently as a theatre, on which this may be\nmanifested, that the present scene of things is sustained. Not with\nmore certainty do the processes of vegetation point to the blossoms\nand the fruit as the results to which they conspire, than does every\nthing in the nature and condition of man indicate the formation of a\nspecific, voluntary, moral character, as the purpose for which God\nplaced him here. But this purpose is not recognized at all by human\ngovernments, and we have only to observe the limited and negative\nagency which they incidentally bring to bear upon it, to see how\ninsignificant must be their claims when they would come into conflict\nwith those of the government of God.\n\nI observe then, first, that human governments regard man solely as the\nmember of a community; whereas it is chiefly as an individual, that\nthe government of God regards him. Isolate a man from society, take\nhim beyond the reach of human government, and his faculties are not\nchanged. He is still the creature of God, a dweller in his universe,\nretaining every thing he ever possessed that was noble in reason, or\ngrand in destiny, and in his solitude, where yet he would not be\nalone, the government of God would follow him, and would require of\nhim such manifestations of goodness as he might there exercise--the\nadoration of his Creator, resignation to his will, and a temperate and\nprudent use of the blessings within his power. Indeed, so far as\nresponsibility is concerned, the divine government considers man,\nwhether in solitude or in a crowd, solely as an individual, and\nproduces an isolation of each as complete as if he were the only\nperson in the universe. God knows nothing of divided responsibility,\nand whether acting alone, or as a member of a corporation or of a\nlegislature, every man is responsible to him for just what he does as\na moral being, and for nothing more. The responsibility of each is\nkept disentangled from that of all others, and lies as well defined in\nthe eye of God, as if that eye were fixed upon him alone. The kingdom\nof God is within man, and there it is, in the secret soul of each,\nthat the contest between light and darkness, between God and Satan is\ngoing on, and in the struggle, in the victory or the defeat, he who\nwalks the city is as much alone as the hermit in his cell. It is over\nthe thoughts of man, his affections, his passions, his purposes, which\nmock at human control, that the government of God claims dominion; it\nis with reference to these, and not to the artificial index of\nappearances which we set to catch the eye of the world, that the\nregister of Heaven is kept. On the other hand, how very few of the\nmoral actions of man can human government reach, how imperfectly can\nit reach even these! It is only of overt acts, those which it can\ndefine, and which can be proved before a human tribunal, that it can\ntake cognizance; and its treatment even of these can never be adjusted\nto the varying shades of guilt. It has no eye to reach the springs of\naction. It may see the movements of the machinery above, perplexed,\nand apparently contradictory; but it cannot uncover the great wheel,\nand look in upon the simple principle which makes character, and sets\nthe whole in motion.\n\nBut I observe again, that human governments are not only thus limited,\nbut are also chiefly negative in their influence upon the formation of\nindividual character. There is, indeed, a positive and widely\npervading moral influence connected with the character, and station,\nand acts, of those who are in authority. This cannot be too\nprominently stated, the responsibility connected with it cannot be too\ncarefully regarded; still this influence is entirely incidental, and\nis the same in kind with that exerted by any distinguished private\nindividual. Human governments have also positive power to furnish\n_facilities_, as distinguished from _inducements_. They can authorise\nand guard the issue of paper money, to give facilities to men of\nbusiness; they can lay down rail-roads, thus opening facilities to the\nspirit of enterprise, and calling out the neglected resources of the\nState; they can too, and our fathers did it, construct and keep in\nrepair the _rail-roads of the mind_, thus giving facilities to the\npoorest boy in the glens of the mountains to come out and be an honor\nto his country. Still, human government is chiefly a system of\nrestraint for the purpose of protection. Its object is to give equal\nprotection to all in using their faculties as they please, provided\nthey do not interfere with the rights of others. It does not propose\nto furnish inducements, but to enable men to live quiet and peaceable\nlives, while they act in view of the great inducements furnished by\nthe government of God.\n\nIn saying this, I do not undervalue the benefits conferred by human\ngovernments, but only assign them their true place. The office\nperformed by them is indispensable. They are the enclosure of the\nfield, without which certainly nothing could come to maturity; but\nthey are not the soil and the rain, and the sunshine, which cause\nvegetation to spring up. These are furnished by the government of God,\nwhich is not only a system of restraint and protection, but also, and\nchiefly, of inducements to excellence. Into the ear of the humblest of\nits subjects it whispers, as it points upward, \"Glory,\" \"Honor,\"\n\"Immortality,\" \"Eternal Life.\" It is parental in its character, makes\nus members of a family, gives us objects of affection, and by its\nperfect standard of moral excellence, and the character of God which\nit sets before us, it purifies and elevates the mind. Without a God to\nwhom he is related and accountable, man has neither dignity nor hope.\nWithout God, the universe has no cause, its contrivances indicate no\nintelligence, its providence no goodness, its related parts and\nprocesses no unity, its events no convergence to one grand result, and\nthe glorious spectacle presented in the earth and the heavens, instead\nof calling forth admiration and songs, is an enigma perplexing to the\nintellect, and torturing to the heart. Seen in its connexion with\nGod, the universe of matter is as the evening cloud that lies in the\nsunlight, radiant, and skirted with glory; without him it is the same\ncloud cold and dark when that sunlight is gone. Without God, man is an\norphan; he has no protector here, and no Father's house in which he\nmay hope for a mansion hereafter. His life is at his own disposal, and\nhas no value except in relation to his personal and present enjoyment.\n\nOn the other hand, as the idea of God is received, and his relations\nto the universe are intimately felt, unity and harmony are introduced\ninto our conceptions of that which is without, and acquiescence and\nhope reign within. Nature, as more significant, becomes more a\ncompanion. Her quiet teachings and mute prophecies, her indexes\npointing to the spirit land, instead of being felt as a mockery, are\nin accordance with the best hopes, and the revealed destiny of man.\nLife, too, assumes a new aspect. A common destiny is set before all,\nand the consciousness of it runs as a thread of sympathy through the\nrace. The poor man is elevated when he sees that the principle of duty\nmay be tried and strengthened in his humble sphere, as well as in\nthose that are higher, and his labor becomes a cheerful service done\nwith good will from the heart. Every duty to man becomes doubly\nsacred as due also to God, and the humblest life, pursued from a\nconscientious regard to his will, is invested with an unspeakable\ndignity. It is indeed, I may remark, this view of life that furnishes\nthe only possible ground of equality. Men are upon an equality only as\nthey are equally upon trial in the sight of God, and nothing will ever\nreconcile them to the unavoidable inequalities of the present state,\nbut the consciousness that their circumstances were allotted to them\nby Him who best knew what trials they would need, and whose equal eye\nregards solely the degree in which their moral nature is improved by\nthe trial. When this is felt, there is, under all circumstances, a\nbasis for dignity without pride, for activity without restlessness,\nfor diversity of condition without discord.\n\nAnd not only the aspect of life in the relations of men to each other,\nbut its end also is changed. The moral nature assumes its true\nposition, and, acting in the presence of a perfect law as its\nstandard, and of a perfect gospel as its ground of hope, the idea of\ntrue liberty dawns upon the mind. This consists in the coincidence of\nthe affections and inclinations with correct principle. It is only\nwhen the internal constitution of a reasonable being is in harmony\nwith the law under which he acts, that he is conscious of no\nrestraint, and knows what true freedom is. The chief value of what is\ncommonly called liberty, consists in the opportunity it gives to use\nour faculties without molestation for the attainment of this. This is\nthat glorious liberty of the sons of God, of which the Scriptures\nspeak. It is not a mere freedom from restraint which may be abused for\nthe purposes of wrong-doing; and become a curse, merely making the\ndifference between a brute enclosed and a brute at large; but it is,\nin its commencement, the resolute adoption of the law of conscience\nand of God as the rule of life; in its progress, a successful struggle\nwith whatever opposes this law; in its completion, the harmonious and\njoyful action of every power in its fulfilment. This is the only\nliberty known under the government of God. He who knows it not is the\nslave of sin. He who struggles not for it, is in a contented bondage\nof which physical slavery is but a feeble type. The perfection of this\nliberty is only another name for moral perfection, which, as I have\nsaid, is the great end of the individual; and as the direct motives\nand means for the attainment of this are furnished only by the\ngovernment of God, it is evident that \"We ought to obey God rather\nthan men.\"\n\nHaving thus spoken of the effect of human government upon man in his\nindividual character, I now proceed to inquire, whether it is equally\nlimited and negative in its bearing upon him in his social condition.\n\nAnd here I remark, that it is only incidentally that human government\nis necessary to man as a social being at all. Society was before\ngovernment, and if man had retained his original state, it might,\nperhaps, have existed without it till the end of time. Man is\nconstituted by his Creator a social being; he has faculties to the\nexpansion and perfection of which society is requisite, but he has no\nfaculties the necessities of which constitute him a political being.\nThere must be politicians, just as there must be farmers, and\nmerchants, and physicians, that they and others may enjoy social life;\nbut social life is corrupted when politics enter largely into it. It\nis not sufficiently noticed, that it is through social institutions\nand habits far more than through political forms, that the happiness\nor misery of man is produced. It was not from the oppressions of the\ngovernment, but from a corrupted social state, that the prophet of old\nwished to flee into the wilderness. It was because his people were all\nadulterers, an assembly of treacherous men, because every brother\nwould supplant, and every neighbor would walk with slanders. Such a\nstate of things may exist under any form of political organization. It\nmay exist under ours. Men may be loud in their praise of republican\nforms, and yet be false, and unkind, and litigious; they may be\nindolent, and profane, and sabbath breakers, and gamblers, and\nlicentious, and intemperate. Yes, and there may be neighborhoods of\nsuch men, and the place where they assemble nightly, hard by a banner\nthat creaks in the wind, may be the liveliest image of hell that this\nearth can present. I certainly know, and my hearers are fortunate if\nthey do not know, neighborhoods in this land of liberty and equality,\nwhere the only use made of liberty is to render families and society\nwretched, and where the only equality, is an equality in vice and\nsocial degradation, which no man is permitted even to attempt to rise\nabove without constant annoyance. Better, far better, is family\naffection, and kind neighborhood under a regal, or even a despotic\ngovernment, than such liberty as this.\n\nGovernment then is not an end, but a means. Society is the end, and\ngovernment should be the agent of society, to benefit man in his\nsocial condition. The extent to which it can do this will depend on\nits form, and the power with which it is entrusted. Absolute power,\nwhich should be used for this purpose, is generally abused.\nConsidering itself as having interests distinct from those of the\npeople, it too often seeks to keep them in a state of degradation, and\nto appropriate to itself the largest possible share of those blessings\nwhich ought to be equally diffused. \"Get out of my sunlight,\" said\nDiogenes to Alexander the Great: \"Get out of my sunlight\"--cease to\nobstruct the free circulation of blessings intended for all, might the\npeople say under any arbitrary form of government ever yet\nadministered. Still, such a government, when under the direction of\nwisdom and benevolence, has power to produce great social and moral\nrevolutions for the good of mankind. Such a revolution was commenced\nby Peter the Great, and his measures, though necessary, were such as\nnone but an absolute monarch could have adopted. Aside from\nchristianity, the judicious exercise of such a power is the only hope\nof a people debased beyond a certain point. The King of Prussia can\nmaintain a better and more efficient system of schools, than any\nrepublican government. He can provide qualified teachers, and can\ncompel the children to attend.\n\nBut when, as in this country, government is the direct agent of\nsociety, when it is so far controlled by the people as to secure the\nmajority at least from oppression, being merely an expression of the\nwill of that majority, it can have no power to produce moral and\nsocial reformations. Laws do not execute themselves, and in such a\nstate of things they cannot be effectually executed if the violation\nof them is upheld by public sentiment. In such a case, when vices\nbegin to creep in, and the tendency of things is downwards, we must\nhave a force different from that of the government; we must have\n_moral_ power. Here religion comes in, and must come in, or \"the\nbeginning of the end\" has come. The intellect must be enlightened, and\nthe conscience quickened, and moral life infused into the mass; the\ngood and the evil must commingle in free conflict, and public\nsentiment must be changed. When this is done, when patriotism, and\nphilanthropy, and religion, have caused an ebb-tide in the flood of\nevil that was coming up over the land, then government may come in,\nnot to carry forward a moral reformation by force, but to erect a\nbarrier against the return of that tide. It can secure what these\nagents have gained. It can put a shield into the hands of society,\nwith which it can, if it pleases, protect itself against that\nselfishness and malignity which always lurk in its borders, and which\nmoral influence cannot reach. If, for example, polygamy were\nestablished among us as it is among the Turks, a government like ours\ncould do nothing for its removal. But religion could awaken a sense of\nobligation, and statistics could point out the number of poor women\nand uneducated children thrown by it for support mainly upon those who\nhad pledged themselves to be the husband of one wife, and christian\nand philanthropic effort might show that it was injurious to\nindividuals, and families, and the state; and then a law might be\npassed, as there has been, to defend society against this evil.\n\nThis inefficacy of our government to produce moral and social\nreformations should be well understood, because it throws the fearful\nresponsibility of maintaining our institutions directly upon the\npeople, where it must rest. A government originating in society, can\nhave but slight ground to stand on in resisting its downward tendency.\nThat there is in society such a tendency, all history shows. As\nnations have become older, they have invariably become more corrupt.\nThey have never reached that point in general morality at which men\ncease to corrupt each other by associating together. Such a tendency,\nnot counteracted, must be fatal to republican governments, for\nrepublican government is self-government, and as the internal law\nbecomes feeble, external force must be increased; and accordingly we\nfind that every people hitherto, have either been under regal power\nfrom the beginning, or have, in time, reached a point in corruption,\nwhen that power became necessary. Republican government then, is not\nso much the cause of a good social state, as its sign. It can never be\nborne up, with its stars and stripes floating, upon the surface of a\nsociety that is not strongly impregnated with virtue. Take this away,\nand it goes down by its own weight, and the beast of tyranny, with its\nseven heads and ten horns, comes up out of the troubled waters. Here\nis the turning point with us. All depends upon the influences that go\nto form the character of our people. Those who control these\ninfluences will really govern the country. To this point we turn our\neyes anxiously. At this point we look to legislators to stand in their\nlot, and do what is appropriate to their station. At this point we\nlook especially to fathers and mothers, the guardians of domestic\nvirtue.--Those waters will be sweet that are fed by sweet springs. We\nlook to christian ministers, to enlightened teachers, to patriotic\nauthors and editors, to every good citizen. If there ever was a\ncountry in which all these were called upon to do their utmost, this\nis that country; if there ever was a government that was called upon\nto second in every proper way the efforts of these, this is that\ngovernment. To all these we look; but our trust is only in the\ninfluences they may bring to bear from the blessed gospel of Christ,\nfrom the government of God. \"We ought to obey God rather than men.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI have thus shown, as fully as the time would permit, though far too\nbriefly to do justice to the subject, the grounds on which we ought to\nobey God rather than men. These are to be found in the relation of the\ndivine, and of human government respectively, to the ends of\nindividual, and of social existence. But the occasion on which the\ntext was uttered, a subject having directly refused obedience to\nrulers lawfully constituted, will lead us to consider the effects of\nthe principle of the text when acted upon by men in those relations in\nwhich civil liberty is directly involved--in the relations of subjects\nand of rulers. What then will be the effect of an adherence to this\nprinciple on the part of subjects, as such?\n\nThere is a tendency in irresponsible power to accumulate. It first\ngains control over property, and life, and every thing from which a\nmotive to resistance based on the interests of the present life,\ncould be drawn. But it is not satisfied with this. Nothing avails it\nso long as there is a Mordecai sitting at the King's gate that does\nnot rise up and do it reverence. It must also control the conscience,\nand make the religious nature subservient to its purposes.\nAccordingly, the grand device of the enemies of civil liberty, has\nbeen so to incorporate religion with the government, that all those\ndeep and ineradicable feelings which are associated with the one,\nshould also be associated with the other, and that he who opposed the\ngovernment should not only bring upon himself the arm of the civil\npower, but also the fury of religious zeal. The most melancholy and\nheart-sickening chapter in the history of man, is that in which are\nrecorded the enormities committed by a lust of power, and by\nmalignity, in alliance with a perverted religious sentiment. The light\nthat was in men has become darkness, and that darkness has been great.\nThe very instrument appointed by God for the deliverance and elevation\nof man, has been made to assist in his thraldom and degradation. When\nchristianity appeared, the alliance of religion with oppressive power\nwas universal. In such a state of things, there seemed no hope for\ncivil liberty but in bringing the conscience out from this unholy\nalliance, and putting it in a position in which it must show its\nenergies in opposition to power. This Christianity did. It brought the\nconscience to a point where it not only might resist human\ngovernments, but where, as they were then exercised, it was compelled\nto resist them. This appeared when the text was uttered, and there was\nthen a rock raised in the ocean of tyranny which has not been\noverflowed to this day. The same qualities which make the conscience\nso potent an ally of power, must, when it is enlightened by a true\nknowledge of God and of duty, and when immortality is clearly set\nbefore the mind, make it the most formidable of all barriers to\ntyranny and oppression.\n\nBy thus bringing the moral nature of man to act in opposition to\npower, and by giving him light, and strength, and foothold, to enable\nhim to sustain that opposition, christianity has done an inestimable\nservice, and has placed humanity at the only point where its highest\ngrandeur appears. At this point, sustained by principle, and often in\nthe person of the humblest individual, it bids defiance to all the\nmalice of men to wrest from it its true liberty. It bids tyranny do\nits worst, and though its ashes may be scattered to the winds, it\nleaves its startling testimony, and the inspiration of its great\nexample to coming times. The power to do this, christianity alone can\ngive. No other religion has ever so demonstrated its evidences to the\nsenses, and caused its adaptations to the innermost wants of the soul\nto be felt, as to enable man to stand alone against the influence of\nwhatever was dear in affection, and flattering in promises, and\nfearful in torture. Other religions have had their _victims_, who have\nbeen led, amidst the plaudits of surrounding multitudes, to throw\nthemselves under the wheels of a system already established; but not\ntheir _martyrs_, who, when duty has permitted it, have fled to the\nfastnesses of the mountains; and when it has not, have stood upon\ntheir rights, and contested every inch of ground, and met death\nsoberly and firmly, only when it was necessary. When this has been\ndone by multitudes it has caused power to respect the individual, to\nrespect humanity; and while christianity was wading through the blood\nof ten persecutions, it was fighting more effectually than had ever\nbeen done before, the battles of civil liberty. The call to obey God\nrather than men met with a response, and it is upon this ground that\nthe battle has been opened in every case in which civil liberty now\nexists. It is upon this ground alone that it can be maintained.\n\nI deem it of great importance that this point should be fully and\noften presented, because it is vital, and because there are constant\nattempts made to obscure it. Whatever elevates the individual,\nwhatever gives him worth in his own estimation and that of others,\nwhatever invests him with moral dignity, must be favorable both to\npure morality and to civil liberty. Hence it is that these are both\nincidental results of christianity. They are not the gifts which she\ncame to bestow--these are life and immortality. They are not the white\nraiment in which her followers are to walk in the upper temple; but\nthey are the earthly garments with which she would clothe the\nnations--they are the brightness which she leaves in her train as she\nmoves on towards heaven, and calls on men to follow her there. These\nbelong to her alone. Infidels may filch her morality, as they have\noften done, and then boast of their discoveries. But in their hands\nthat morality is lopped off from the body of faith on which it grew,\nand produces no fruit. They may boast, as they do, of a liberty which\nthey never could have achieved. But under its protection they advance\ndoctrines and advocate practices which would corrupt it into license.\nTheir only strength lies in endeavoring, in the sacred name of\nliberty, to corrupt the virtuous, and to excite the hatred of the\nvicious against those restraints without which liberty cannot exist,\nand society has no ground of security. \"Promising liberty to others,\nthey are themselves the servants of corruption.\" Liberty cannot exist\nwithout morality, nor general morality without a pure religion.\n\nThe doctrine thus stated is fully confirmed by history. The\nreformation by Luther was made on strictly religious grounds. He found\nan opposition between the decrees of the Pope and the commands of God,\nand it was the simple purpose, resolutely adhered to, to obey God\nrather than men, that caused Europe to rock to its centre. In the\ntrain of this religious reformation civil liberty followed, but became\nsettled and valuable only as religious liberty was perfected. It was\nevery where on the ground of conscience towards God that the first\nstand was taken, and in those countries where the struggle for\nreligious liberty commenced but did not succeed, as in Spain and\nItaly, civil liberty has found no resting place for the sole of her\nfoot to this day. It is conceded even by Hume that England owes her\ncivil liberty to the Puritans, and the history of the settlement and\nprogress of this country as a splendid exemplification of the\nprinciple in question, needs but to be mentioned here.\n\nIn speaking thus of the resistance of christian subjects to the\ngovernment, perhaps I should guard against being misunderstood. In no\ncase can it be a factious resistance. It cannot be stimulated by any\nof the ordinary motives to such resistance--by discontent, or passion,\nor ambition, or a love of gain. In no case can it show itself in the\ndisorganizing, the aggressive, and in a free government, the suicidal\nspirit of mobs. Christians have in their eye a grand and a holy\nobject, and all they wish is to go forward, without violating the\nrights of others, to its attainment. In so doing they set themselves\nin opposition to nobody, but merely exercise an inalienable right, and\nif others oppose them, they must still go forward and obey God, be the\nconsequences what they may.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWe will now consider, as was proposed, the effect of an adherence to\nthe principle of the text on the part of rulers. This becomes\nappropriate from the peculiar form of our government, and the relation\nwhich the rulers hold to the people. Rulers have indeed, in all\ncountries, need to be exhorted to obey God, but when their will is\nsupreme, and their power is independent of the people, there can be no\npropriety in exhorting them to obey God rather than men. In this\ncountry, however, this principle needs to be enforced upon\nlegislators and rulers quite as much as upon the people, perhaps even\nmore. It is at this point, if I mistake not, that we are to look for\nthe danger peculiar to our institutions through those in authority. In\nother countries the danger is from the accumulation and tyrannical use\nof power. With us, limited as is the tenure of office, there is little\ndanger of direct oppression. The danger is that those who are in\noffice, and those who wish for it, will, for the sake of immediate\npopularity, lend the sanction of their names to doctrines and\npractices, which, if carried into effect, must destroy all government.\nHow is it else that mobs should often escape with so little rebuke?\nHow is it else that we hear such extravagant and disorganizing\ndoctrines maintained in regard to the rights of a majority respecting\nproperty, and their power to set aside any guaranties of former\nLegislatures? Certainly the people are the fountain of power. They\nestablish the government, they have a right to alter it; but when it\nis established, the state becomes personified through it, and its acts\nare to be consistent. When it is established, it _is_ a government, it\nhas authority, it becomes God's institution, and those who administer\nit are to obey God rather than men. Wo to this country, when the\npeople shall become to those in place, the object of adulation and of\nan affected idolatry. Wo to this country, when the people shall cease\nto reverence the government as the institution of God because it is\nestablished through them; when they shall suppose that it is in such a\nsense theirs, that they can supersede its acts in any way except by\nconstitutional forms.\n\nThere is also another reason why the principle of the text ought to be\nespecially regarded by the rulers of this country. So far as a nation\ncan be considered and treated as a moral person, its character must be\nindicated by the acts of its rulers. Accordingly, we find that under\nevery form of government, God has made nations responsible, as in the\nnatural course of things they evidently must be, for what is done by\ntheir rulers. But if this is so in monarchical governments, where the\nagency of the people is so little connected with public acts, much\nmore must it be so in one like ours. Here the rulers represent the\npeople more immediately. They indicate in the eyes of the world, the\nmoral condition of the people, and hence the peculiar responsibility\nof those who act under the oath of God in making and administering the\nlaws of a representative government. If it can ever be required of God\nto vindicate his administration by the treatment of any people, it\nmust be of one whose government is thus administered.\n\nI observe then that the principle of the text should be adopted by\nrulers, because it furnishes the only broad and safe basis of\npolitical action. The adoption of this principle I consider the first\nrequisite of a wise, in opposition to a cunning and temporizing\nstatesman. Statesmanship, as distinguished from that skilful\ncombination of measures which has for its object personal advancement,\nconsists very much in a perception of the connexion there is between\nthe prosperity of states, and the accordance of their laws and social\ninstitutions with the laws of justice, and benevolence, and\ntemperance, which are the laws of God. The laws of God are uniform.\nThe general tendencies which he has inwrought into the system will\ntake effect, and nothing, not shaped in accordance with these can\nstand. Now it is an attempt to evade the effect of these tendencies by\nexpedients in particular instances and for the sake of particular\nends, that has been called statesmanship; while he only is the true\nstatesman who sees what these tendencies are, and shapes his laws and\ninstitutions in accordance with them. The mere politician, if I may so\ndesignate him, perceives the movements which take place in the\ndifferent parts of society relatively to each other, and is\ncomplacently skilful in adjusting them to his purposes, but he fails\nto see that general movement by which the whole is drifted on\ntogether, and which is bearing society to a point where elements that\nhe had not dreamed of will be called into action, and where his petty\nexpedients will become in a moment, but as the barriers of sand which\nthe child raises upon the beach, when the tide begins to rise.\n\n\"I tremble for my country,\" said an American statesman, in a sentence,\nwhich, though awfully ominous in the connexion in which it was\nuttered, does equal honor to his head and his heart, \"I tremble for my\ncountry when I remember that God is just.\" In that sentence are\ninvolved the principles of that higher statesmanship before which the\nexpedients of merely expert men dwindle into nothing. He knew not how,\nor where, or when, the blow might fall; but he knew that there was\nalways a joint in the harness of injustice, where the arrow of\nretribution, though it might seem to be speeding at a venture, would\nsurely find its way. The higher movements of Divine Providence include\nthe lower. Sooner or later all particular, and for a time apparently\nanomalous cases are brought under its general rules, and he has read\nthe history of the past with little benefit, who has failed to see how\nthe giant machinery of that Providence, in the intermediate spaces of\nwhich there is ample room for the free play of human agency, takes up\nthe results of that agency as they are wrought out, and applies them\nto the execution of its own uniform laws, and the accomplishment of\nits own predicted purposes. These purposes, as declared by those\ndivine records whose prophecies have now become history, were often\nsuch as no human sagacity, looking merely at second causes, could have\nanticipated, such as no human power then existing could have effected.\nStill, they were wrought out in conformity with that higher, and\nuniform, and all-encompassing movement with reference to which he who\nstands at the helm should guide the state, but to ascertain which, he\nmust not take his bearings from the shifting headlands of\ncircumstances, but must lift his eye to those eternal principles which\nabide ever the same. On this subject there is written upon the walls\nof the past a lesson for statesmen that needs no interpreter. Look at\nBabylon. Who is it that stands before its walls, and utters its doom?\nIt is a despised Jew. And who is he that walks in pride upon those\nwalls, and as he points to that mighty city as the centre of\ncivilization and power, as combining every advantage of climate and\nof commerce, mocks at that doom? It is a politician of those days. The\nvoice of the prophet is uttered, and it seems to pass idly upon the\nwind. The eye of sense sees no effect. No clouds gather, no lightnings\ndescend. But that voice was not in vain. The waters of desolation\nheard it in their distant caves, and never ceased to rise till they\nhad whelmed palace and tower and temple in one undistinguished ruin.\nEven now that voice abides there, and hangs as a spirit of the air\nover that desolation, and the Arabian hears it, warning him not to\npitch his tent there, and the wild beast of the desart and the owl and\nthe satyr hear it, and come up and dwell and dance there. Look at\nJerusalem. Who is he that stands upon mount Olivet and weeps as he\nlooks upon the city, and assigns, as the cause of his tears, that he\nwould often have gathered her children together as a hen gathereth her\nchickens under her wings, but she would not? Ah! what political Jew\nwould have thought of _that_! He would have turned his attention to\nthe purposes of governors and the intrigues of courts. Into his\nestimate of the causes that might affect the prosperity of Jerusalem,\nthe moral temper of the nation as indicated by its rejection of Jesus\nof Nazareth, would not have entered. And yet, it was from this\nrejection, even in the way of natural consequence, from the want of\nthose moral qualities which only a regard to his teachings could have\nproduced among them, that the destruction of the Jews resulted.\nNothing else could have destroyed their fool-hardy confidence in God,\nor have allayed those fiendish passions which led contending factions\nto fill the streets of the city with dead bodies even in the midst of\nthe siege. But they would not have his spirit; they would not have him\nto reign over them, and we know that from the moment the words dropped\nfrom his lips, \"Your house is left unto you desolate,\" that was a\ndoomed city, and no political skill could have deferred the horrors of\na siege and of a final overthrow, such as was not from the beginning\nof the world, no, nor ever shall be. And not only from Babylon and\nJerusalem, but from the grave of every nation buried in antiquity,\nfrom Nineveh, and Tyre, and Edom, and Egypt, there comes a voice\ncalling upon rulers to be \"just, ruling in the fear of God.\" The true\ncause of their destruction was the attitude which they assumed towards\nthe will, and worship, and people of God.\n\nIt is from these moral causes, between which and the result there is\nno immediate, nor, to the superficial eye, perceptible connexion,\nthat I fear most for the stability of our institutions. It is when the\nsun is shining most brightly, and the face of the sky shows, it may\nbe, not a single cloud, that the elements of the tornado are ascending\nmost rapidly; and it is when men are in prosperity and in fancied\nsecurity that they become presumptuous, and that a disastrous train of\ncauses is silently put in motion, as resistless as the tornado. Upon\nthis point of security, the eye of the true statesman is fixed. It is\nhere that he sees the danger and provides against it; while the mere\npolitician knows nothing, and sees nothing, till he begins, when it is\ntoo late, to see the lightnings, and hear the thunders of embodied\nwrath.\n\nCan, then, the rulers of this country, in disregard of the warnings of\nall past time, with a full understanding of the claims and of the\ncontrolling agency of the great moral principles of God's government,\ngo on in obedience to men rather than God, and make laws in disregard,\nor defiance of his will? If so, then, from the reciprocal influence of\nrulers and people, our experiment of self-government would seem to be\nhopeless. Then _must_ God scourge this people as he has scourged\nothers. Then are the untoward symptoms of the present time, but as the\nwhite spot that shows the leprosy. Then will the altar of liberty\ndecay, and the fire upon it will go out, and there will be heard by\nthose who watch in her temple, as of old in the desecrated temple of\nGod, the voice of its presiding spirit saying, \"Let us go hence,\" and\nthat temple, towards which the eyes of the nations were turned with\nhope, shall become the haunt of every unclean thing, and shall only\nwait the hand of violence to leave not one stone upon another that\nshall not be thrown down. In view of such consequences, I cannot but\nfeel that the solemn words of our Saviour are as applicable to\nLegislators and rulers in their public, as in their private capacity.\n\"And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the\nbody, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will\nforewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him which after he hath killed,\nhath power to cast into hell, yea I say unto you, Fear him.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTo His Excellency the Governor, these sentiments are addressed, as\nputting him in remembrance, as he stands upon the threshold of a new\nofficial year, of that which ought ever to be uppermost in the mind of\nthe Chief Magistrate of a Christian people, of the paramount authority\nof God, and of the necessity there is that all human legislation\nshould coincide with the principles of his government. It is a great\nand a sacred trust which the people of this Commonwealth commit to\ntheir Chief Magistrate, and they expect it will be used in the fear of\nGod, and for the good of this whole people. That trust is in tried\nhands, and we rejoice in the belief that it is safely deposited.\nEspecially, may I be permitted to say, does it give me pleasure to\nwelcome to the chair of state one in whose civic wreath literary\nhonors are entwined, and who can forget the toils and lay aside the\ndignities of office, to cheer the young scholar on his way. Long may\nour literary institutions continue to raise up those who shall add to\nthe dignity of office, the grace of learning, and the sanctity of\nprivate virtue; and who, while they devote their labors more\nparticularly to the good of their own State, shall be regarded as\nbelonging to the Union and to the world.\n\nTo His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, to the Honorable Council and\nSenate, and to the assembled Representatives of the people, the\nsentiments of this discourse are addressed, as the descendants of\nthose who showed in the hour of peril, that they feared God rather\nthan men. Following their example, you have come up, as you are about\nto enter upon your responsible duties, to present, in this venerable\nhouse, thanksgivings and supplications to the Lord God of our fathers;\nand to do homage in the name of the Republic, to His Institutions.\nThis is well. But that Republic expects of you that you will imitate,\nnot merely in form, but also in spirit, the bright examples that are\nset before you, that you will act from principle, that you will \"obey\nGod rather than men.\" So doing the Commonwealth will be safe, for it\nis the simple wisdom of goodness, that alone is truly wise.","title":"A Sermon, Delivered Before His Excellency Edward Everett, Governor, His Honor George Hull, Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Council, and the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the Anniversary Election, January 2, 1839","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":8175}