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compassion towards the disturbers of the public peace has been carried far enough, if not too far, in both the northern and southern states. It seriously concerns those who are intrusted with the execution of the laws to reflect that "the judgment is God's," and that he allows them not to fear the face of man, nor to indulge that tender mercy towards the enemies of government, which would prove cruelty to their most virtuous and peaceable subjects.

6. The present appearance of a 'seditious and rebellious spirit in this happy country is extremely alarming. This spirit has often appeared in the world, and produced the most fatal effects. When the spies returned from searching the land of promise, a spirit of rebellion broke out in the camp of Israel. And though Moses and Aaron on that occasion fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel; and Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, employed the whole force of their eloquence to persuade the deluded and infatuated rebels to go forward and take possession of the land of Canaan; yet they absolutely refused to obey the authority of their wise and faithful rulers. This was highly displeasing to God, who doomed them to wander and perish in the wilderness; while he safely conducted the dutiful and obedient to a land flowing with milk and honey. The last time Jerusalem was besieged, a spirit of sedition proved fatal to the city and to millions of its deluded inhabitants. The French were happy in their new-modelled government until a spirit of rebellion broke out and destroyed their monarch, their nobility, their clergy, and their wisest and best citizens. Switzerland, which lately contained a number of rich, flourishing, united states, is now groaning under the fatal effects of a seditious and rebellious spirit. The same spirit has once and again disturbed the peace of America. At the close of the last war a spirit of opposition to the commutation act appeared in Connecticut, but was easily and happily nipped in the bud. Some time after, a levelling spirit prevailed in this Commonwealth, and produced a formidable insurrection against the courts of justice, which it required a military force to suppress. Since the establishment of our present general government, some of its enemies at the southward took up arms, and violently opposed the collection of duties on distilled liquors. To reduce those sons of sedition to reason and to order, was extremely troublesome and expensive to the public. And this year the same turbulent and rebellious spirit has appeared again, and rendered it necessary to call forth an armed force against the opposers of government. The present appearance therefore is truly alarming. Though but small

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numbers have yet openly and violently opposed the laws of the land, yet the leaven of rebellion has evidently poisoned the minds of many in various parts of the Union. It is yet unknown what will be the effect of either lenient or severe measures towards those who are now in the hands of public justice. The people feel deeply interested in the fate of disorganizers and insurgents. This however is certain, that unless a spirit of sedition can be effectually suppressed, and a spirit of subordination effectually established, there can be no peace nor safety to these United States. A very wise and experienced ruler has said, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." It is not only very contagious, but extremely infatuating. It deprives men of all sober reasoning and reflection. This is demonstrated by the effects which it has already produced amongst us. Some very honest and in other respects very judicious people have already become deaf and blind. They cannot see the increasing light thrown upon the dark designs of France, nor hear the voice of the most wise and enlightened statesmen. This presages a rapid progress of the present spirit of infatuation. And should this continue and increase, it will naturally produce one or the other of these deplorable effects. It will either bring on a general civil war, and reduce us to the dreadful system of liberty and equality; or it will render it absolutely necessary to tighten the reins of government, and lay stronger restraints upon the tongues, the pens, the hands, and the liberties, of those who are now complaining of our free government and its wise and gentle administration. We may all be satisfied that our general government will never be altered for the worse, so long as we remain heartily attached to it, and will faithfully exercise our right of choosing upright and able rulers, who understand the nature and estimate the worth of our excellent constitution. But though the present prospect is, that the prevailing spirit of sedition and rebellion will be eventually suppressed; yet there is ground to fear, that if much time, great exertions, and large sums of money be employed to suppress it, the body of the people will be so irritated that they will choose to have government strengthened and their liberties abridged, rather than be perpetually exposed to the dire effects of sedition, insurrection, and rebellion. Nothing, therefore, can prevent the horrors of civil war, or the loss of our civil liberties, but the effectual suppression of that seditious spirit which refuses to be subject to principalities and powers, and to obey magistrates.

7. It is just ground of humiliation before God, this day, that our free, flourishing, and highly favored nation has become so averse to submission to civil government. There is no nation in the world who have better laws than the people of

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America; and yet there is no nation, perhaps, who pay so little regard to their own laws, as the enlightened citizens of the United States. How are the laws against gaming, profane swearing, sabbath-breaking, and the use of unjust weights and measures, trampled upon by all classes of people! And what a daring spirit of sedition and rebellion is making its dreadful appearance through every corner of our land! These are national sins; and these national sins are extremely aggravated. No nation on earth knows its obligations to obey magistrates, and submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, better than we do. From the first settlement of our country to nearly the present period, we have been habituated to pay submission to every species of human authority. And we still enjoy the sacred oracles, and religious instruction from sabbath to sabbath. These circumstances greatly enhance the guilt of our national disobedience and licentiousness. Let us lament the prevalence of these land-defiling iniquities. It is the proper duty and business of the day. And unless we sincerely perform this duty, this day will increase our national guilt, and ripen us for national ruin.

8. It is extremely impolitic as well as criminal, in civil rulers, to reject christianity themselves, and to endeavor to make their subjects reject it. It is well known, that some of our civil magistrates who fill high seats in government, are become apostles of infidelity, and represent it as conducive to liberty and equality, and the most perfect state of civil society. But what evidence can they find in Scripture, in reason, or in experience, to establish their bold and novel opinion. It appears from what has been said in this discourse, that christianity is calculated to strengthen the sinews of government. It commands rulers to be faithful to their trusts, and subjects to be obedient to all in authority. And it enforces these commands, by the weighty motives of eternity. It is also the dictate of reason, that the spirit of christianity, which is the spirit of pure disinterested benevolence, forms the best rulers and the best subjects, and eminently qualifies both for the different stations they hold in society. And when or where was it ever found by experience, that atheism, deism, or infidelity, had a favorable influence upon the peace and happiness of a civilized people? But one nation in the world have made the experiment, and they have nothing to boast of their new discovery. What tremendous havoc has infidelity made among all orders and classes of men in the French nation, and in all the nations whom they have sacrilegiously regenerated! It is astonishing, that learned statesmen should not only embrace the principles of infidelity, but even propagate such loose and immoral senti

ments. If they would consult only their personal power and influence, and the present good of society, they would certainly recommend revealed religion, and sincerely desire that the great body of the people might imbibe its spirit, and act under its powerful and benign influence.

9. It now only remains, my hearers, to put you in mind of your duty, at the present critical and alarming crisis. You see a spirit of disaffection and opposition to government prevailing among your countrymen. You have heretofore felt, and begin to feel again, the bitter effects of such a disorganizing spirit. You know the reasons, or rather pretences, which the uneasy and discontented allege for their opposition to public men and public measures. You have heard the duty and necessity of submitting to government briefly described and inculcated. It now seriously concerns you, as you regard your consciences and your country, to appear openly and decidedly in favor of your laws and of your rulers. Speak well of their characters, and duly appreciate their late noble and spirited measures. Reflect upon the plain and obvious reasons upon which the sedition and alien laws are founded, and upon the urgent necessity of heavy taxes for the public defence. Can you hesitate a moment, whether it be possible to maintain your national independence, without being armed, both by land and sea, against both foreign and domestic enemies? Where can be our safety, if the navies of Europe are suffered to sail into our ports and harbors without the least obstruction? What can hinder a sudden and awful revolution of government, if the counsels of those be followed, who are insidiously aiming to bring about such a dreadful catastrophe? Open your eyes upon the fate of other nations, and attend more to the conduct than to the language of the French republic, who have long fixed their ardent wishes upon the fertile fields of America, and left no measure untried, to deceive us to our own destruction. Think not that you shall cease to be subject to principalities and powers, if the great nation take you under its wing. Though they have given different appellations to magistrates, yet they have not weakened their hands, nor shortened their swords. "The powers that be," in that tyrannical nation, are more to be dreaded than a Nero or Caligula. There appears to be but one way to escape the dangers to which you are exposed, and that is, to obey your present wise, firm, faithful magistrates, and cheerfully concur in their wise and prudent measures to guard you against French infidelity and French tyranny. "Submit yourselves, therefore, to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; and lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour." Amen.

SERMON X.

GREAT MEN THE SERVANTS OF GOD.

DEATH OF WASHINGTON, JANUARY 30, 1800.

FOR Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me; I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. -ISAIAH, xlv. 4, 5.

MANKIND have always been extremely prone to overlook the hand of God in those events, which he has brought to pass by the instrumentality of subordinate agents. This has often led them to feel and to conduct very improperly under the dispensations of divine Providence. To rectify and prevent such a great practical error, God has been pleased, time after time, to predict some of the most important revolutions in the civil and religious world, and to name or describe the principal agents, by whom they were to be effected. He foretold the descent of Jacob and his family into Egypt, and their preservation there, by the agency of Joseph. He foretold the suppression of idolatry among his degenerate people, by the exertions of Josiah. And in a later period of the Jewish nation, he foretold their long and distressing captivity in Babylon, and their happy deliverance by the instrumentality of a pagan prince. To the character and conduct of this illustrious personage our text has immediate reference. The prediction is truly solemn and sublime; becoming the majesty of the God of Israel and the supreme Sovereign of the universe. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates;

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