THE occasion, my christian friends, which calls us together this day to the house of God, is equally important and joyous; and the observance of this day by the whole people of united America, in public expressions of gratitude to God for important national blessings, exhibits to the imagination a most magnificent and interesting scene.

To aid us in contemplations suited to the occasion, I have selected the passage of Scripture which has now been read.

It may be applied, perhaps, with as striking pro­priety to the present circumstances of the inhabitants of this country, as it ever could be to those of any people, since its original application, by the sacred penman, to the situation of the children of Israel, at a time of great prosperity.

[Page 6] In the President's proclamation for this day, we have a representation of the present condition of the United States, which remarkably corresponds, in its leading features, with the elegant and sublime des­cription in the text.

He maketh peace, saith the Psalmist, in thy borders. The President, in the preamble to the proclamation, speaks of ‘our exemption hitherto from foreign war, and an increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemption.’ The Psalmist says, He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. The President takes notice of ‘the great degree of internal tranquility we have enjoyed, and the recent confirmation of that tranquility, by the suppression of an insurrec­tion which so wantonly threatened it.’ And parallel to the words of the text, He hath blessed thy children within thee, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat, are those of the proclamation, which remind us of ‘the happy course of our public affairs in general, and the unexampled prosperity of all classes of our citizens.’

On account of such important public blessings, the children of Israel are called upon to express their gratitude to God. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O Zion! And in ‘circumstances which so peculiarly mark our situation with indications of the divine beneficence towards us,’ we are reminded in the proclamation of our ‘duty as a people, with [Page 7]devout reverence, and affectionate gratitude, to acknowlege our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.’

That we may know the extent of our obligations, and have feelings awakened answerable to them; let us now take a particular view of that state of pros­perity, which, at this day, marks the condition of the United States; the general outlines of which are so justly sketched in the proclamation.

The basis of all our public happiness are certainly the constitutions of government under which we live; which, in a degree perhaps never before experienced in any country, "unite, and by their union establish, liberty with order."

In other countries, liberty has usually languished under a system of corruption, or been crushed beneath the arm of arbitrary power; or else the social order has become the victim of faction; and liberty has degenerated into a licentiousness, more dreadful in its operation, and more oppressive in its effects than any other system of tyranny.

The constitution of the United States, and those of the several states which compose the Union, are formed on purely republican principles. They were the deliberate act of the people,—intended to secure their rights, by guarding, on the one hand, against encroachment and oppression by persons invested [Page 8]with civil power; and, on the other, against the numberless evils, which must result from a relapse into licentiousness and disorder. And they happily embrace the two great objects of government,—se­curity of rights to individuals, and of strength, dig­nity, and order to society.

Under these constitutions every man enjoys perfect security, and feels an honest independence, while he conducts consistently with the general good, and does not contravene the rights of others. The poorest member of the community is conscious of a perfect equality with the richest, in respect to the protection of his person, and the security of his property. And not only so, but, under the constitution of this Com­monwealth with few exceptions, and under that of the United States without any, he is taught to feel his importance as a member of the body politic, by his having an equal voice in the election of persons to hold the most important offices of government, and by being himself, equally with others, eligible to the first offices.

It is a great excellency of our government, that our rulers are from among ourselves; and that they do not derive their stations from birth, or any adven­titious circumstances, but are raised to office by the suffrages of the people; that they enjoy no heredi­tary distinction, or right of domination; that they are servants of the people,—accountable to them for [Page 9]their conduct in the offices in which they are placed by their voice, and liable to be displaced, if they are found to neglect their duty, or betray their trust.

Our constitutions of government, under which all enjoy equal rights, by having equal protection of persons and security of property, and by being equal­ly represented in the administration, are the glory of our land, and the admiration and envy of the friends of freedom in other countries. Imperfections they doubtless have in common with all other productions of human wisdom; yet such is, notwithstanding, their intrinsic excellence and real importance, that the contemplation of them this day may with the greatest propriety fill with satisfaction our hearts, who are so deeply interested in them, and our lips with praise to the benign Author of all good: inasmuch as they lay the foundation of all our civil and politi­cal advantages, and are the source of most of our so­cial and domestic felicity.

Next to the glorious fabric of our government, "the preservation of our peace foreign and domestic," by which we continue to enjoy its blessings, lays claim to a tribute of gratitude to the God of peace.

In order justly to estimate the blessing of peace foreign and domestic at the present day, and in the present posture of affairs, it is necessary for us to lend our attention to the circumstances which have, for some time, endangered its existence.

[Page 10] Several circumstances, in the course of two years past, have concurred to embarrass our internal affairs, and to render our situation with foreign nations ex­tremely delicate and critical.

The war, which has been carried on with so much zeal and obstinacy between France and several of the European powers combined against her liberties and independence, could not, from the nature of the thing, be uninteresting to this country. Having our­selves, so lately, made a glorious and successful sac­rifice in the cause of liberty, it was natural for us to rejoice to see the principles of freedom extending their influence. And we could not but behold with peculiar satisfaction the ardent and resolute exertions for freedom in a large and powerful nation with which we were in alliance; and which had long groan­ed under as refined and systematic despotism, as, per­haps, ever existed in the world.—And, proportioned to our satisfaction in the efforts made by the French nation to shake off the fetters of slavery, and recover their freedom, was our indignation at the unprovok­ed, and unreasonable interference of a wicked com­bination in her internal concerns. And as sincerely as we lamented the excesses, which, till lately, dis­graced the glorious cause in which France was en­gaged; and as much as we detested the sanguinary measures pursued by a faction within her; the American people had discernment enough to know, [Page 11]that these excesses were not to be attributed to the cause in which she was engaged; and they had can­dour enough to trace them to their true source. They knew that great convulsions were inevitable in so great a revolution, and that violent measures were to be expected in the exertions of a people, who were engaged with zeal and resolution in crushing an an­cient and established tyranny; and still felt the deep­est resentment against those, who had been the instru­ments of their oppression, and who, they naturally supposed, were wishing to prolong it. They were aware, befides, that the open invasion of France by the combined powers, and their secret intrigues in the heart of the country, by exasperating the friends of the revolution, by sowing jealousies and distrust among the leaders of it, and fomenting faction in every form through the nation, were the principal causes, to which were to be imputed the shocking scenes, which cast a deep shade over the dawn of freedom in that country.

The American people, in general, have wished well to the cause of the French, through every stage of the revolution; at the same time that they had to lament it should be the occasion of so much incidental misery, and such shocking scenes of wanton cruelty and injustice.

This partiality of the Americans to the cause of the French, expressed perhaps by individuals too [Page 12]strongly and pointedly for a neutral power, operated as an encouragement to them to employ every effort to engage us to take an active part in their cause; at the same time it awakened the jealousy of some of the combined powers, and might probably be one occa­sion of the unfriendly and hostile mode of treatment adopted toward us by the British court.

Thus were we exposed to the attempts of one na­tion to draw us into the war, which through the arts of an intriguing minister had nearly proved effectual; while by another we were provoked by various insults, and by acts of robbery, outrage, and hostility chal­lenged to unsheath the sword.

To defeat the views and frustrate the expectations of those, who wished us to take part with them in the war, in such a manner as to preserve at the same time their friendship and confidence; and to support our national consequence with those, who had grossly in­sulted and injured us, without drawing the sword to resent the insult, and seek satisfaction for the injury; required in our government more wisdom and ad­dress, and more coolness and moderation united with firmness, than generally fall to the lot of men, to whom are entrusted the affairs of nations.

And the difficulty of conducting in such a manner as to avoid taking a side in the European war was increased by several inauspicious circumstances a­mong ourselves.

[Page 13] There were some men among us so regardless of the common good, and entirely under the influence of selfish views, as to rejoice in the prospect of war, from the hope of rising to wealth by the calamities of their country. There were with us, as there are in all countries, men who are impatient of the linger­ing process of industry and regular business to make their fortune. To such men war presents the most fascinating prospects. Having, before their eyes, ex­amples of enormous estates very easily and rapidly amassed, in the course of the late revolution in this country, by privateering, and various kinds of specu­lation, which war, and its consequence, a general derangement of affairs, never fail to present; they dream of nothing but war and revolution: and nothing will satisfy their avaricious desires, till by war they can be furnished with an easy and expe­ditious way of rising to opulence; or by producing internal confusion, and effecting a change in the or­der of things, they can avail themselves of the gene­ral convulsion and shift of property to secure an am­ple share to themselves.

Characters of this description abounded in every part of the Union; and they were not deficient in exertions, nor very scrupulous in their measures, to engage others with them in the cause.

They were joined by all the restless, ambitious, and disappointed persons, who, having abilities [Page 14]which rendered them dangerous, but wanting those virtues which beget respect and confidence in man­kind, had been defeated in their ambitious and as­piring views by the good sense and caution of the people. Stimulated at once by ambition, chagrin and refentment, these men were ready to join in a measure, which furnished so alluring a prospect of producing a revolution in government, or changing the present order of things in such a manner, as to give them an opportunity of rising to eminence and distinction.

Some were advocates for war from an opinion that the national honour required it. Some, because they cherished an old grudge against Great-Britain, and, without attending well to the probable conse­quences of the measure, were ready to seize on any opportunity to manifest their resentment. And some there were, who thought this country obliged, either by treaty or by the principle of gratitude, to engage actively with France in her contest against the enemies of her freedom and independence.

It happened unfortunately that within the United States were many citizens deeply indebted to British merchants. A rupture with Great-Britain present­ed a certain prospect of either an entire extinction of those debts, or at least a delay of the term of pay­ment.— And we cannot but lament that the language employed, and measures proposed by some influen­tial [Page 15]members of Congress were such, as to expose them to the suspicion of acting under the influence of this consideration. Candour, however, and a regard to the honour of our country would lead us to hope, that no man, entrusted with a share in the manage­ment of our national concerns, would advise to mea­sures obviously tending to involve the whole country in a ruinous war, for the sake of relieving some in­dividuals, in the state to which he belonged, from the necessity of paying their just debts.

The several characters and descriptions of men which have been mentioned, besides their own direct exertions, had their several spheres of influence; and being joined in their measures by the disorderly, the discontented, the enemies of the Federal Government, and those who were disaffected on account of its general operation, or particular parts of its admini­stration, they constituted a very formidable faction in the state.

The more effectually to accomplish their purposes, they instituted societies in imitation of the jacobin clubs in France; and in order to strengthen their party and carry into effect their designs, they had re­course to measures which must have sunk a good cause into disrepute,—a bad one it rendered infa­mous. By seditious and inflammatory publications they endeavoured to poison the public mind,—to deceive the people,—to excite their jealousy, and rouse their passions.

[Page 16] The enemies of peace and order were greatly aided in their designs, by finding, in several parts of the Union, printers of news-papers, who regarded so little their duty to the public, as to devote their presses to the cause of sedition, and to suffer falsehood, slander, and misrepresentation to flow copiously in those pa­pers, which should have been sacredly employed as the vehicles of public instruction and political in­formation. In those papers they defamed and abused public characters,—they misrepresented and censured the measures of government,—they endeavoured to cast an odium on the most meritorious officers of government on account of their most meritorious actions, and thus to destroy the public confidence in them. They abused the President for exerting his constitutional authority in order to preserve our peace. They vilified and traduced those mem­bers of Congress, who advocated moderate and pa­cific measures; holding them up to public detesta­tion as lukewarm patriots, as being under British influence,—friends to Great-Britain, and enemies to their country. Their speeches they mutilated, and handed scraps of them to the public in such a form, and so detached from their connection, as entirely to pervert their meaning, and convey sentiments which were never entertained by their authors.

By the circulation of those papers, suspicions were sown among the people, the public sentiment was [Page 17]misled, and the public feelings agitated. And the spirit of disorder, uneasiness, and opposition, by which the public tranquility was threatened in every part of the Union, in one part of it actually broke out in avowed opposition to the laws, and open re­bellion against the government.

These, which I have mentioned, are some of the leading circumstances, which have operated to dis­turb our internal tranquility,—threatened to shake the fabric of our government—thus endangered our freedom, and rendered it difficult for the friends of peace, in the administration of government, to pre­vent our country from being entangled in the Euro­pean war.

Amidst all these obstacles to the continuance of peace and tranquility, through the wise and season­able measures adopted by the President, and the faithful exertions of the friends of peace and order in Congress, supported by the concurrence of public sentiment, and accompanied with the smiles of hea­ven, we yet enjoy the blessing of peace; and a fair prospect, which is daily brightening, that we shall continue to enjoy it under circumstances highly ad­vantageous, and consistent with public faith and na­tional honour. Rejoicing in the continuance of peace, and the check, which has been given to a spirit of disorder and insurrection; we have reason to bless the day, when the friends of peace and advocates of [Page 18]moderate measures prevailed over those, who, by rash and violent proceedings, would have precipitated our country into a ruinous war. And we have the further satisfaction of seeing, that the leaders of faction are losing their influence,—that the honest and well­meaning citizens, who had been duped by their ar­tifices, and betrayed into their measures, begin to be undeceived,—and that the societies, which had arro­gantly usurped the prerogative of the people, and were endeavouring to dictate to their representative government, and to controul its measures, are fast dwindling into insignificance.

To the continuance of peace, the suppression of insurrection, and the triumph of order it is chiefly owing, that this country is, in other respects, in so flourishing a condition.

It requires but little discernment and only com­mon attention to perceive, that the unexampled prosperity of the several classes of our citizens, our rapid improvement in agriculture and manufactures, the surprising increase of our commerce and naviga­tion, the prodigious accession of wealth and strength to the community at large, and the easy circumstan­ces of the inhabitants in general, of every class, are chiefly owing to that regular course of things, which several years peace, a good government, and internal tranquility have produced. And nothing is more certain, than that all these marks of prosperity must [Page 19]receive a check, and some of them perhaps be utter­ly annihilated, were we to engage in a war with any of the European powers, or were our government to be materially shocked by faction.

There never was a time heretofore when this country was in so flourishing a condition, and made so respectable a figure abroad, as it does at this day. Among many other evidences of our increasing wealth, power, and importance, it is particularly worthy of our present notice, that notwithstanding the long and expensive war by which we purchased our independence, the resources of the United States are such, as to enable them to pay, with a great deal of ease, the interest of the public debt; and that the present debates in Congress, on the reduction of the public debt, discover to us that there is ability in the nation and a disposition in our government, by a pretty rapid process to sink the principal. It is highly honorary to the United States, and a source of consolation to the citizens; that, while other na­tions, already burdened with debt to the utmost ex­tent of their resources, are yet madly plunging into the most ruinous wars to add to their embarrass­ments; it is the enlightened policy of our govern­ment to avail itself of the present prosperity to relieve the country of existing debt, and, if possible, to avoid the necessity of increasing it, and to prolong that peace and prosperity, which furnish the only hope of its final extinction.

[Page 20] The success, which has attended the late negocia­tion with the court of Great-Britain, furnishes anoth­er proof of our national respectability. We have authentic, though not official notice, that the En­voy Extraordinary, lately sent by our Supreme Ex­ecutive to the British court, on business of the most interesting nature, has effected the design of his mis­sion. This success, while it evinces that our friend­ship is of some importance in the estimation of other powers, we have reason to hope and expect, will contribute much to our future prosperity and hap­piness.

To enumerate the marks of private prosperity would lead me beyond the limits of a sermon. It is, besides, unnecessary. They are seen and felt by all the inhabitants of our land. That people in general of nearly every class and occupation enjoy a state of unusual prosperity; that the means of a comfortable subsistence were never more than now within the reach of all; that industry and enterprize in every line of life are highly encouraged—that they receive a sure and ample reward—and that this reward is well secured to him who earns it, are facts so obvious, that they can neither be overlooked nor contested.

Equally certain it is, that we live under a mild and free government; as mild and free as we can bear—a government, under which each individual has given up as few of his natural rights, as is con­sistent [Page 21]with the secure possession of the rest in a state of society.

For all these public blessings and marks of private prosperity, which distinguish our condition as a peo­ple and as individuals, let the just tribute of our uni­ted thanks ascend this day, as an acceptable sacrifice, to that God, by whose providence we enjoy them all.

And while, with hearts deeply impressed with a sense of our obligations, we unitedly praise the Lord for these indications of divine benignity; piously noticing the footsteps of a kind providence in our na­tional concerns: the proclamation directs us, ‘at the same time humbly and fervently to beseech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us, and to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to him for them.’

While we hold in just estimation the patriotic ex­ertions of those men, who were instrumental in fra­ming and establishing the happy government under which we live, as well as of those who have been the means of preserving to us the great blessing of peace, and promoting our prosperity; let us yet always bear in mind, that, in effecting these blessed ends, they were but the instruments of that providence, which rules over all; and that our first acknowlegements are due to the Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and perfect gift.

[Page 22] This direction of the President to express a pious sense of dependence on the great Governor of the world is peculiarly seasonable at the present day, when we are in so great danger of imbiding the athe­istic sentiments so openly avowed and publicly coun­tenanced by a nation, with which we have close con­nections and constant intercourse.

The French people, as was naturally to be expect­ed, in their zeal to destroy every vestige of the an­cient tyranny and superstition, have gone to a la­mentable excess on the other extreme. They have too evidently confounded government with tyranny, and religion with superstition. We are not however to imagine, as has been too hastily believed by some, that the French are become a nation of atheists.—Yet it is certain that a very considerable proportion of the nation have exploded all religion; and, in some of their most public and solemn acts, their government has virtually rejected the doctrine of a God govern­ing the world by his providence. While we put a candid construction on the present infidelity and ir­religion of the French, attributing it to their zeal to exterminate all superstition; and while we hope and believe that, ere long, they will vibrate back again to some rational system of religion, we cannot be too careful to avoid the contagion of their present prin­ciples.

Next to acknowleging the hand from which our [Page 23]blessings flow, it is necessary for us ‘rightly to esti­mate their immense value.’ If we estimate our public blessings according to their worth, we shall never be willing to sacrifice them to private interest, party prejudices, national pride, passion, or resent­ment. It will be our wish to prolong them to the latest period, and to preserve them unimpaired.

We are directed to pray, that God would ‘pre­serve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits.’

Nations are apt to grow arrogant and presumptu­ous, as they become rich and powerful; and wan­tonly to engage in destructive wars, which serve to exhaust the treasures, and waste the strength of the country, to contaminate the morals of the people, and, by a certain process, to corrupt their govern­ment and undermine their liberties. They will sac­rifice the lives and property of the inhabitants to na­tional pride and resentment; and, instead of endea­vouring to reconcile differences with other nations by fair negociation, will bring the heaviest calamities on the country, by appealing to the sword for de­cision on the most trifling occasions.

Another danger to which we are exposed by pros­perity is, that, as we increase in wealth, we shall progress in luxury; that distinctions in society will be marked by stronger lines, as we depart from that [Page 24]mediocrity of condition, which, as yet, very much distinguishes the situation of the inhabitants of this country; and that, as inequality of condition gradu­ally increases, we shall gradually lose our republican sentiments and manners, and with them our repub­lican form of government. God forbid this should ever be the case! But certainly there is a natural tendency toward it, which it requires some care both in the Government and in the people to guard against.

The body of the people, especially in the middle and lower walks of life, must cherish the republican virtues. They must be distinguished by industry, frugality, and temperance; so as to maintain their individual freedom and independence, and prevent the wealth, and with it the power of the community, from settling into the hands of a few.

And the Government would do well to set the peo­ple an example of republican plainness and frugality. Were persons in high office in government to dis­countenance by their example the introduction of luxury, extravagance, and dissipation, it might have considerable influence on the manners of society at large. They may further subserve essentially the public good by pursuing regular and uniform mea­sures in the administration of government; by a fixt and permanent policy; and by holding up as few objects of speculation as possible, which serve to dis­courage the exertions of patient industry, by enabling [Page 25]enterprizing individuals, and often the least useful members of the community, to acquire large fortunes without industry, and without pursuing any regular business.

The President's caution against delusive pursuits, which endanger the advantages we now enjoy, re­minds us of certain commercial regulations proposed in Congress for the purpose of promoting the com­mercial interest of the country. Upon thorough examination of their nature and tendency it appeared that they must, in the issue, have operated extremely to our disadvantage. This being the case, the adop­tion of them with the expectation of their promoting our advantage must have proved a very delusive pursuit.

It reminds us of the vigorous effort afterward made, by taking advantage of the general indigna­tion at the depredations made on our commerce by the British in the West-Indies, to stir up the people and the government to acts of hostility in return. Besides the numberless incidental calamities of war, the exposure of the lives and property of the citizens, such a measure must have brought on us, it must have been the occasion of increasing beyond all calcula­tion our public debt, and in equal proportion aug­menting our public burdens.

A more delusive pursuit can scarcely be imagined, than that of plunging a nation in war to obtain in­demnification [Page 26]for injuries, which, if obtained, would pay but an inconsiderable part of the probable ex­pences of the war. Especially where any hope re­mains of an amicable adjustment of difficulties by negociation.

It leads us again to think of the clamours, daily made against our government by persons, who would make the people believe it too aristocratic in its form and oppressive in its operation.

Under our present government, where each man is fairly reprefented, where all, except in a very few cases of incapacity, are alike candidates for office, and every public officer is subject to the law, and ac­countable for his conduct in office, there is as much freedom and equality as can exist with social order. Every attempt to lessen the confidence of the people in their public servants, to spread discontent and jealousy, to foment a spirit of faction, to excite in­surrection or opposition to the measures of govern­ment; and all misrepresentations of the designs and measures of men in office, have a certain tendency to undermine and destroy, instead of increasing, the freedom of the people. This the leaders of faction know. But they have popular themes of declama­tion with which to deceive the people; and they have it in their power, by disguising well their real views, to delude into their measures many honest and firm friends to liberty with order.

[Page 27] Equally unfriendly to the continuance of liberty and equal rights are the popular societies established in this country as checks on our government. Whatever may be their pretences to democratic principles, they constitute a dangerous aristocracy. They are inconsistent with any permanent govern­ment, as they tend to keep a country in a state of perpetual revolution. In the history of France for three years past we have melancholy evidence, that they put it in the power of a few popular and am­bitious individuals to controul the operations of the representatives of the people, and in effect to exer­cise the whole power of the government.

A spirit of jealousy is the soul of a republican government. By watching faithfully the measures of government, the people have it in their power to keep in office those men who serve them with sidel­ity, and pursue measures promotive of the general good, and to displace those who do not.

But this is a service they can only perform them­selves. It is not capable of being delegated to oth­ers. They can neither with propriety nor safety en­trust it in the hands of men they do not know; men who have nothing to recommend them to public confidence, but their own high pretensions to ex­alted patriotism and concern for the liberties of the people—pretensions, which none but their own so­ciety have acknowleged, and which we do not [Page 28]know that they have ever supported by actual ex­ertions for the public good.

While, as friends to order, we reprobate all com­binations of men for the purpose of opposing, em­barrassing, or controuling the operations of govern­ment, or influencing elections; as friends to liberty, we should cherish a spirit of jealousy, and earnestly wish that all might be vigilant in guarding their rights, and in preventing the corruption of govern­ment, and checking its tendency toward despotism.

The prayer of David respecting those, who were combined against him and opposed his wise govern­ment, seems peculiarly applicable to the combina­tions against our Federal Government. Slay them not, lest my people forget; scatter them by thy power, and bring them down. It is not to be wished that opposition should be wholly extinguished. It would be an unfavourable symptom. It would denote a political lethargy. But it is desirable that it should be prevented from rising to excess, and, by powerful combinations of men, shaking the fabric of govern­ment. A little fermentation gives a proper anima­tion and vigour to the body politic; but, carried to excess, it produces convulsions, which threaten dis­solution.

Again. We are not to expect the continuance of our present advantages, unless we ‘merit it by not [Page 29]abusing them, by our gratitude for them, and by a corresponding conduct as citizens, and as men.’

We shall be guilty of abusing our advantages, if, as a nation, or as individuals, we become vain, pre­sumptuous, and insensible of our obligations; cor­rupt and licentious in our manners, regardless of the principles of piety and morality, and inattentive to religious obligation and social duties. And we shall deserve to lose our excellent government and the freedom it secures, if we ever become, on the one hand, so inattentive to our rights, as to allow the government to become oppressive; or suffer in­triguing men, on the other hand, to amuse us with the idea of more perfect freedom, so as to undermine the principles of our excellent constitution, and by their insidious manoeuvres to excite discontent, and produce a revolution.

While our primary and principal view, in im­proving with fidelity our national advantages, and making ‘our conduct as citizens and as men, cor­respondent to them,’ is to secure and perpetuate thereby our individual interest and the common good of our country; it is natural and just for us to make it a secondary consideration, at a time when the con­vulsions of Europe oblige so many to quit their na­tive countries and seek a secure and peaceful retreat abroad, ‘to render this country a safe and propitious asylum to the unfortunate of other countries:’ [Page 30]and, with our faithful exertions, to join our united and fervent prayers for this happy effect.

While we again pray, ‘that true and useful knowlege may be extended among us, and that habits of sobriety, order, morality and piety may be diffused and established,’ let us accompany our prayers with the most zealous and faithful exertions to promote these desirable ends.

As long as the inhabitants of this country shall be attentive to the subject of education, extending pub­lic advantages, as is now done in this and some of the other states in the union, to the children of every class of citizens; and as long as we shall be distin­guished by the general prevalence of the habits of sobriety, order, morality and piety, there can be no dan­ger of our losing the blessings of freedom and good government. But, certain it is, these blessings will be no longer ours, when those habits shall be lost, and the general extension of the means of education shall be neglected. We shall always have a govern­ment suited to our character. Freedom and order can be supported only in an enlightened and virtu­ous community. Ignorance and vice require the severer discipline of arbitrary power. And it is their natural tendency to introduce it.

When we extend our view to other countries, in many of them we meet with striking evidences of the justice of this last remark. We find that igno­rance [Page 31]and superstition, and a prevalence of bad mor­als are the support of despotic power.

Our satisfaction in contemplating the flourishing condition and bright prospects of the United States is checked, when we contrast with it the calamities of other nations, which are either oppressed by des­potic power, involved in the miseries of destructive war, or struggling with faction at home and conflict­ing with foes abroad in the cause of liberty.

Enjoying ourselves the sweets of peace, freedom, social order, and prosperity, and sympathizing in the sufferings of those to whom these blessings are de­nied, let it be our fervent and devout prayer to Al­mighty God, ‘that all the blessings we possess or ask for ourselves, may be imparted to the whole family of mankind.’