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diff --git a/40428-0.txt b/40428-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5050023 --- /dev/null +++ b/40428-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,777 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40428 *** + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been silently +normalized. Inconsistent capitalizations of christian and christianity +have been left as in the original. + + + + +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. + +BY MARK HOPKINS, D. D. President of Williams College. + + Boston: + DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. + 1839. + + + + +Commonwealth of Massachusetts. + + SENATE, JANUARY 3, 1839. + + _Ordered_, That Messrs. Filley, Quincy, and Kimball, be a Committee + to present the thanks of the Senate to the Rev. MARK HOPKINS, D. D. + for the discourse yesterday delivered by him, before the Government + of the Commonwealth, and to request a copy thereof for publication. + + Attest, + + CHARLES CALHOUN, _Clerk_. + + + + +SERMON. + +Acts v. 29. + +WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MAN. + + +Man was made for something higher and better, than either to make, or +to obey, merely human laws. He is the creature of God, is subject to +his laws, and can find his perfection, and consequent happiness, only +in obeying those laws. As his moral perfection, the life of his life, +is involved in this obedience, it is impossible that any power should +lay him under obligation to disobey. The known will of God, if not the +foundation of right, is its paramount rule, and it is because human +governments are ordained by him, that we owe them obedience. We are +bound to them, not by compact, but only as God's institutions for the +good of the race. This is what the Bible, though sometimes referred to +as supporting arbitrary power, really teaches. It does not support +arbitrary power. Rightly understood, it is a perfect rule of duty, and +as in every thing else, so in the relations of subjects and rulers. +It lays down the true principles, it gives us the guiding light. When +the general question is whether human governments are to be obeyed, +the answer is, "He that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance +of God." "The powers that be are ordained of God." But when these +powers overstep their appointed limits, and would lord it over the +conscience, and come between man and his maker, then do we hear it +uttered in the very face of power, and by the voice of inspiration, no +less than of indignant humanity, "We ought to obey God rather than +men." + +It has been in connexion with the maintenance of this principle, first +proclaimed by an Apostle of Christ eighteen hundred years ago, that +all the civil liberty now in the world has sprung up. It is to the +fearless assertion of this principle by our forefathers, that we owe +it that the representatives of a free people are assembled here this +day to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, +to seek to Him for wisdom in their deliberations, and to acknowledge +the subordination of all human governments to that which is divine. + +Permit me then, as appropriate to the present occasion, to call the +attention of this audience, 1st. To the grounds on which all men are +bound to adhere to the principle stated in the text; and + +2d. To the consequences of such adherence, on the part, both of +subjects, and of rulers. + + * * * * * + +I observe, then, that we ought to obey God rather than men, because +human governments are comparatively so limited and negative in their +bearing upon the great purposes, first, of individual, and second, of +social existence. + +The purposes for which man was made, must evidently involve in their +accomplishment, both his duty and his happiness; and nothing can be +his duty which would contravene those purposes. Among them, as already +intimated, the highest is the moral perfection of the individual; for +as it is by his moral nature that man is distinguished from the +inferior animals, so it is only in the perfection of that nature, that +his perfection, as man, can consist. As absolute perfection can belong +only to God, that of man must be relative, that is, it must consist in +the proper adjustment of relations, and especially in the relation of +his voluntary actions to the end for which God designed him. This is +our idea of perfection, when we affirm it of the works of man. It +involves, mainly, such a relation of parts as is necessary to the +perfect accomplishment of the end in view. A watch is perfect when it +is so constructed that its motions exactly correspond in their little +revolutions with those of the sun in the heavens; and man is perfect +when his will corresponds in its little circle of movement with the +will of God in heaven. This correspondence, however, is not to be +produced by the laws of an unconscious mechanism, but by a voluntary, +a cheerful, a filial co-operation. It is this power of controlling his +faculties with reference to an ultimate end, of accepting or rejecting +the purpose of his being, as indicated by God in the very structure of +his powers, and proclaimed in his word, that contradistinguishes man +from every inferior being, and gives scope for what is properly +termed, character. Inferior beings have qualities by which they are +distinguished, they have characteristics, but not _character_, which +always involves a moral element. A brute does not govern its own +instincts, it is governed by them. A tree is the product of an agency +which is put forth through it, but of which it is not conscious, and +which it does not control. But God gives man to himself, and then sets +before him, in the tendency of every thing that has unconscious life +towards its own perfection, the great moral lesson that nature was +intended to teach. He then causes every blade of grass, and every +tree, to become a preacher and a model, calling upon him to put forth +his faculties, not without law, but to accept the law of his being, +and to work out a character and a happiness in conformity with that. +It is, as I have said, the power which man has to accept or reject +this law of his being, the great law of love, that renders him capable +of character, and it is evidently as a theatre, on which this may be +manifested, that the present scene of things is sustained. Not with +more certainty do the processes of vegetation point to the blossoms +and the fruit as the results to which they conspire, than does every +thing in the nature and condition of man indicate the formation of a +specific, voluntary, moral character, as the purpose for which God +placed him here. But this purpose is not recognized at all by human +governments, and we have only to observe the limited and negative +agency which they incidentally bring to bear upon it, to see how +insignificant must be their claims when they would come into conflict +with those of the government of God. + +I observe then, first, that human governments regard man solely as the +member of a community; whereas it is chiefly as an individual, that +the government of God regards him. Isolate a man from society, take +him beyond the reach of human government, and his faculties are not +changed. He is still the creature of God, a dweller in his universe, +retaining every thing he ever possessed that was noble in reason, or +grand in destiny, and in his solitude, where yet he would not be +alone, the government of God would follow him, and would require of +him such manifestations of goodness as he might there exercise--the +adoration of his Creator, resignation to his will, and a temperate and +prudent use of the blessings within his power. Indeed, so far as +responsibility is concerned, the divine government considers man, +whether in solitude or in a crowd, solely as an individual, and +produces an isolation of each as complete as if he were the only +person in the universe. God knows nothing of divided responsibility, +and whether acting alone, or as a member of a corporation or of a +legislature, every man is responsible to him for just what he does as +a moral being, and for nothing more. The responsibility of each is +kept disentangled from that of all others, and lies as well defined in +the eye of God, as if that eye were fixed upon him alone. The kingdom +of God is within man, and there it is, in the secret soul of each, +that the contest between light and darkness, between God and Satan is +going on, and in the struggle, in the victory or the defeat, he who +walks the city is as much alone as the hermit in his cell. It is over +the thoughts of man, his affections, his passions, his purposes, which +mock at human control, that the government of God claims dominion; it +is with reference to these, and not to the artificial index of +appearances which we set to catch the eye of the world, that the +register of Heaven is kept. On the other hand, how very few of the +moral actions of man can human government reach, how imperfectly can +it reach even these! It is only of overt acts, those which it can +define, and which can be proved before a human tribunal, that it can +take cognizance; and its treatment even of these can never be adjusted +to the varying shades of guilt. It has no eye to reach the springs of +action. It may see the movements of the machinery above, perplexed, +and apparently contradictory; but it cannot uncover the great wheel, +and look in upon the simple principle which makes character, and sets +the whole in motion. + +But I observe again, that human governments are not only thus limited, +but are also chiefly negative in their influence upon the formation of +individual character. There is, indeed, a positive and widely +pervading moral influence connected with the character, and station, +and acts, of those who are in authority. This cannot be too +prominently stated, the responsibility connected with it cannot be too +carefully regarded; still this influence is entirely incidental, and +is the same in kind with that exerted by any distinguished private +individual. Human governments have also positive power to furnish +_facilities_, as distinguished from _inducements_. They can authorise +and guard the issue of paper money, to give facilities to men of +business; they can lay down rail-roads, thus opening facilities to the +spirit of enterprise, and calling out the neglected resources of the +State; they can too, and our fathers did it, construct and keep in +repair the _rail-roads of the mind_, thus giving facilities to the +poorest boy in the glens of the mountains to come out and be an honor +to his country. Still, human government is chiefly a system of +restraint for the purpose of protection. Its object is to give equal +protection to all in using their faculties as they please, provided +they do not interfere with the rights of others. It does not propose +to furnish inducements, but to enable men to live quiet and peaceable +lives, while they act in view of the great inducements furnished by +the government of God. + +In saying this, I do not undervalue the benefits conferred by human +governments, but only assign them their true place. The office +performed by them is indispensable. They are the enclosure of the +field, without which certainly nothing could come to maturity; but +they are not the soil and the rain, and the sunshine, which cause +vegetation to spring up. These are furnished by the government of God, +which is not only a system of restraint and protection, but also, and +chiefly, of inducements to excellence. Into the ear of the humblest of +its subjects it whispers, as it points upward, "Glory," "Honor," +"Immortality," "Eternal Life." It is parental in its character, makes +us members of a family, gives us objects of affection, and by its +perfect standard of moral excellence, and the character of God which +it sets before us, it purifies and elevates the mind. Without a God to +whom he is related and accountable, man has neither dignity nor hope. +Without God, the universe has no cause, its contrivances indicate no +intelligence, its providence no goodness, its related parts and +processes no unity, its events no convergence to one grand result, and +the glorious spectacle presented in the earth and the heavens, instead +of calling forth admiration and songs, is an enigma perplexing to the +intellect, and torturing to the heart. Seen in its connexion with +God, the universe of matter is as the evening cloud that lies in the +sunlight, radiant, and skirted with glory; without him it is the same +cloud cold and dark when that sunlight is gone. Without God, man is an +orphan; he has no protector here, and no Father's house in which he +may hope for a mansion hereafter. His life is at his own disposal, and +has no value except in relation to his personal and present enjoyment. + +On the other hand, as the idea of God is received, and his relations +to the universe are intimately felt, unity and harmony are introduced +into our conceptions of that which is without, and acquiescence and +hope reign within. Nature, as more significant, becomes more a +companion. Her quiet teachings and mute prophecies, her indexes +pointing to the spirit land, instead of being felt as a mockery, are +in accordance with the best hopes, and the revealed destiny of man. +Life, too, assumes a new aspect. A common destiny is set before all, +and the consciousness of it runs as a thread of sympathy through the +race. The poor man is elevated when he sees that the principle of duty +may be tried and strengthened in his humble sphere, as well as in +those that are higher, and his labor becomes a cheerful service done +with good will from the heart. Every duty to man becomes doubly +sacred as due also to God, and the humblest life, pursued from a +conscientious regard to his will, is invested with an unspeakable +dignity. It is indeed, I may remark, this view of life that furnishes +the only possible ground of equality. Men are upon an equality only as +they are equally upon trial in the sight of God, and nothing will ever +reconcile them to the unavoidable inequalities of the present state, +but the consciousness that their circumstances were allotted to them +by Him who best knew what trials they would need, and whose equal eye +regards solely the degree in which their moral nature is improved by +the trial. When this is felt, there is, under all circumstances, a +basis for dignity without pride, for activity without restlessness, +for diversity of condition without discord. + +And not only the aspect of life in the relations of men to each other, +but its end also is changed. The moral nature assumes its true +position, and, acting in the presence of a perfect law as its +standard, and of a perfect gospel as its ground of hope, the idea of +true liberty dawns upon the mind. This consists in the coincidence of +the affections and inclinations with correct principle. It is only +when the internal constitution of a reasonable being is in harmony +with the law under which he acts, that he is conscious of no +restraint, and knows what true freedom is. The chief value of what is +commonly called liberty, consists in the opportunity it gives to use +our faculties without molestation for the attainment of this. This is +that glorious liberty of the sons of God, of which the Scriptures +speak. It is not a mere freedom from restraint which may be abused for +the purposes of wrong-doing; and become a curse, merely making the +difference between a brute enclosed and a brute at large; but it is, +in its commencement, the resolute adoption of the law of conscience +and of God as the rule of life; in its progress, a successful struggle +with whatever opposes this law; in its completion, the harmonious and +joyful action of every power in its fulfilment. This is the only +liberty known under the government of God. He who knows it not is the +slave of sin. He who struggles not for it, is in a contented bondage +of which physical slavery is but a feeble type. The perfection of this +liberty is only another name for moral perfection, which, as I have +said, is the great end of the individual; and as the direct motives +and means for the attainment of this are furnished only by the +government of God, it is evident that "We ought to obey God rather +than men." + +Having thus spoken of the effect of human government upon man in his +individual character, I now proceed to inquire, whether it is equally +limited and negative in its bearing upon him in his social condition. + +And here I remark, that it is only incidentally that human government +is necessary to man as a social being at all. Society was before +government, and if man had retained his original state, it might, +perhaps, have existed without it till the end of time. Man is +constituted by his Creator a social being; he has faculties to the +expansion and perfection of which society is requisite, but he has no +faculties the necessities of which constitute him a political being. +There must be politicians, just as there must be farmers, and +merchants, and physicians, that they and others may enjoy social life; +but social life is corrupted when politics enter largely into it. It +is not sufficiently noticed, that it is through social institutions +and habits far more than through political forms, that the happiness +or misery of man is produced. It was not from the oppressions of the +government, but from a corrupted social state, that the prophet of old +wished to flee into the wilderness. It was because his people were all +adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men, because every brother +would supplant, and every neighbor would walk with slanders. Such a +state of things may exist under any form of political organization. It +may exist under ours. Men may be loud in their praise of republican +forms, and yet be false, and unkind, and litigious; they may be +indolent, and profane, and sabbath breakers, and gamblers, and +licentious, and intemperate. Yes, and there may be neighborhoods of +such men, and the place where they assemble nightly, hard by a banner +that creaks in the wind, may be the liveliest image of hell that this +earth can present. I certainly know, and my hearers are fortunate if +they do not know, neighborhoods in this land of liberty and equality, +where the only use made of liberty is to render families and society +wretched, and where the only equality, is an equality in vice and +social degradation, which no man is permitted even to attempt to rise +above without constant annoyance. Better, far better, is family +affection, and kind neighborhood under a regal, or even a despotic +government, than such liberty as this. + +Government then is not an end, but a means. Society is the end, and +government should be the agent of society, to benefit man in his +social condition. The extent to which it can do this will depend on +its form, and the power with which it is entrusted. Absolute power, +which should be used for this purpose, is generally abused. +Considering itself as having interests distinct from those of the +people, it too often seeks to keep them in a state of degradation, and +to appropriate to itself the largest possible share of those blessings +which ought to be equally diffused. "Get out of my sunlight," said +Diogenes to Alexander the Great: "Get out of my sunlight"--cease to +obstruct the free circulation of blessings intended for all, might the +people say under any arbitrary form of government ever yet +administered. Still, such a government, when under the direction of +wisdom and benevolence, has power to produce great social and moral +revolutions for the good of mankind. Such a revolution was commenced +by Peter the Great, and his measures, though necessary, were such as +none but an absolute monarch could have adopted. Aside from +christianity, the judicious exercise of such a power is the only hope +of a people debased beyond a certain point. The King of Prussia can +maintain a better and more efficient system of schools, than any +republican government. He can provide qualified teachers, and can +compel the children to attend. + +But when, as in this country, government is the direct agent of +society, when it is so far controlled by the people as to secure the +majority at least from oppression, being merely an expression of the +will of that majority, it can have no power to produce moral and +social reformations. Laws do not execute themselves, and in such a +state of things they cannot be effectually executed if the violation +of them is upheld by public sentiment. In such a case, when vices +begin to creep in, and the tendency of things is downwards, we must +have a force different from that of the government; we must have +_moral_ power. Here religion comes in, and must come in, or "the +beginning of the end" has come. The intellect must be enlightened, and +the conscience quickened, and moral life infused into the mass; the +good and the evil must commingle in free conflict, and public +sentiment must be changed. When this is done, when patriotism, and +philanthropy, and religion, have caused an ebb-tide in the flood of +evil that was coming up over the land, then government may come in, +not to carry forward a moral reformation by force, but to erect a +barrier against the return of that tide. It can secure what these +agents have gained. It can put a shield into the hands of society, +with which it can, if it pleases, protect itself against that +selfishness and malignity which always lurk in its borders, and which +moral influence cannot reach. If, for example, polygamy were +established among us as it is among the Turks, a government like ours +could do nothing for its removal. But religion could awaken a sense of +obligation, and statistics could point out the number of poor women +and uneducated children thrown by it for support mainly upon those who +had pledged themselves to be the husband of one wife, and christian +and philanthropic effort might show that it was injurious to +individuals, and families, and the state; and then a law might be +passed, as there has been, to defend society against this evil. + +This inefficacy of our government to produce moral and social +reformations should be well understood, because it throws the fearful +responsibility of maintaining our institutions directly upon the +people, where it must rest. A government originating in society, can +have but slight ground to stand on in resisting its downward tendency. +That there is in society such a tendency, all history shows. As +nations have become older, they have invariably become more corrupt. +They have never reached that point in general morality at which men +cease to corrupt each other by associating together. Such a tendency, +not counteracted, must be fatal to republican governments, for +republican government is self-government, and as the internal law +becomes feeble, external force must be increased; and accordingly we +find that every people hitherto, have either been under regal power +from the beginning, or have, in time, reached a point in corruption, +when that power became necessary. Republican government then, is not +so much the cause of a good social state, as its sign. It can never be +borne up, with its stars and stripes floating, upon the surface of a +society that is not strongly impregnated with virtue. Take this away, +and it goes down by its own weight, and the beast of tyranny, with its +seven heads and ten horns, comes up out of the troubled waters. Here +is the turning point with us. All depends upon the influences that go +to form the character of our people. Those who control these +influences will really govern the country. To this point we turn our +eyes anxiously. At this point we look to legislators to stand in their +lot, and do what is appropriate to their station. At this point we +look especially to fathers and mothers, the guardians of domestic +virtue.--Those waters will be sweet that are fed by sweet springs. We +look to christian ministers, to enlightened teachers, to patriotic +authors and editors, to every good citizen. If there ever was a +country in which all these were called upon to do their utmost, this +is that country; if there ever was a government that was called upon +to second in every proper way the efforts of these, this is that +government. To all these we look; but our trust is only in the +influences they may bring to bear from the blessed gospel of Christ, +from the government of God. "We ought to obey God rather than men." + + * * * * * + +I have thus shown, as fully as the time would permit, though far too +briefly to do justice to the subject, the grounds on which we ought to +obey God rather than men. These are to be found in the relation of the +divine, and of human government respectively, to the ends of +individual, and of social existence. But the occasion on which the +text was uttered, a subject having directly refused obedience to +rulers lawfully constituted, will lead us to consider the effects of +the principle of the text when acted upon by men in those relations in +which civil liberty is directly involved--in the relations of subjects +and of rulers. What then will be the effect of an adherence to this +principle on the part of subjects, as such? + +There is a tendency in irresponsible power to accumulate. It first +gains control over property, and life, and every thing from which a +motive to resistance based on the interests of the present life, +could be drawn. But it is not satisfied with this. Nothing avails it +so long as there is a Mordecai sitting at the King's gate that does +not rise up and do it reverence. It must also control the conscience, +and make the religious nature subservient to its purposes. +Accordingly, the grand device of the enemies of civil liberty, has +been so to incorporate religion with the government, that all those +deep and ineradicable feelings which are associated with the one, +should also be associated with the other, and that he who opposed the +government should not only bring upon himself the arm of the civil +power, but also the fury of religious zeal. The most melancholy and +heart-sickening chapter in the history of man, is that in which are +recorded the enormities committed by a lust of power, and by +malignity, in alliance with a perverted religious sentiment. The light +that was in men has become darkness, and that darkness has been great. +The very instrument appointed by God for the deliverance and elevation +of man, has been made to assist in his thraldom and degradation. When +christianity appeared, the alliance of religion with oppressive power +was universal. In such a state of things, there seemed no hope for +civil liberty but in bringing the conscience out from this unholy +alliance, and putting it in a position in which it must show its +energies in opposition to power. This Christianity did. It brought the +conscience to a point where it not only might resist human +governments, but where, as they were then exercised, it was compelled +to resist them. This appeared when the text was uttered, and there was +then a rock raised in the ocean of tyranny which has not been +overflowed to this day. The same qualities which make the conscience +so potent an ally of power, must, when it is enlightened by a true +knowledge of God and of duty, and when immortality is clearly set +before the mind, make it the most formidable of all barriers to +tyranny and oppression. + +By thus bringing the moral nature of man to act in opposition to +power, and by giving him light, and strength, and foothold, to enable +him to sustain that opposition, christianity has done an inestimable +service, and has placed humanity at the only point where its highest +grandeur appears. At this point, sustained by principle, and often in +the person of the humblest individual, it bids defiance to all the +malice of men to wrest from it its true liberty. It bids tyranny do +its worst, and though its ashes may be scattered to the winds, it +leaves its startling testimony, and the inspiration of its great +example to coming times. The power to do this, christianity alone can +give. No other religion has ever so demonstrated its evidences to the +senses, and caused its adaptations to the innermost wants of the soul +to be felt, as to enable man to stand alone against the influence of +whatever was dear in affection, and flattering in promises, and +fearful in torture. Other religions have had their _victims_, who have +been led, amidst the plaudits of surrounding multitudes, to throw +themselves under the wheels of a system already established; but not +their _martyrs_, who, when duty has permitted it, have fled to the +fastnesses of the mountains; and when it has not, have stood upon +their rights, and contested every inch of ground, and met death +soberly and firmly, only when it was necessary. When this has been +done by multitudes it has caused power to respect the individual, to +respect humanity; and while christianity was wading through the blood +of ten persecutions, it was fighting more effectually than had ever +been done before, the battles of civil liberty. The call to obey God +rather than men met with a response, and it is upon this ground that +the battle has been opened in every case in which civil liberty now +exists. It is upon this ground alone that it can be maintained. + +I deem it of great importance that this point should be fully and +often presented, because it is vital, and because there are constant +attempts made to obscure it. Whatever elevates the individual, +whatever gives him worth in his own estimation and that of others, +whatever invests him with moral dignity, must be favorable both to +pure morality and to civil liberty. Hence it is that these are both +incidental results of christianity. They are not the gifts which she +came to bestow--these are life and immortality. They are not the white +raiment in which her followers are to walk in the upper temple; but +they are the earthly garments with which she would clothe the +nations--they are the brightness which she leaves in her train as she +moves on towards heaven, and calls on men to follow her there. These +belong to her alone. Infidels may filch her morality, as they have +often done, and then boast of their discoveries. But in their hands +that morality is lopped off from the body of faith on which it grew, +and produces no fruit. They may boast, as they do, of a liberty which +they never could have achieved. But under its protection they advance +doctrines and advocate practices which would corrupt it into license. +Their only strength lies in endeavoring, in the sacred name of +liberty, to corrupt the virtuous, and to excite the hatred of the +vicious against those restraints without which liberty cannot exist, +and society has no ground of security. "Promising liberty to others, +they are themselves the servants of corruption." Liberty cannot exist +without morality, nor general morality without a pure religion. + +The doctrine thus stated is fully confirmed by history. The +reformation by Luther was made on strictly religious grounds. He found +an opposition between the decrees of the Pope and the commands of God, +and it was the simple purpose, resolutely adhered to, to obey God +rather than men, that caused Europe to rock to its centre. In the +train of this religious reformation civil liberty followed, but became +settled and valuable only as religious liberty was perfected. It was +every where on the ground of conscience towards God that the first +stand was taken, and in those countries where the struggle for +religious liberty commenced but did not succeed, as in Spain and +Italy, civil liberty has found no resting place for the sole of her +foot to this day. It is conceded even by Hume that England owes her +civil liberty to the Puritans, and the history of the settlement and +progress of this country as a splendid exemplification of the +principle in question, needs but to be mentioned here. + +In speaking thus of the resistance of christian subjects to the +government, perhaps I should guard against being misunderstood. In no +case can it be a factious resistance. It cannot be stimulated by any +of the ordinary motives to such resistance--by discontent, or passion, +or ambition, or a love of gain. In no case can it show itself in the +disorganizing, the aggressive, and in a free government, the suicidal +spirit of mobs. Christians have in their eye a grand and a holy +object, and all they wish is to go forward, without violating the +rights of others, to its attainment. In so doing they set themselves +in opposition to nobody, but merely exercise an inalienable right, and +if others oppose them, they must still go forward and obey God, be the +consequences what they may. + + * * * * * + +We will now consider, as was proposed, the effect of an adherence to +the principle of the text on the part of rulers. This becomes +appropriate from the peculiar form of our government, and the relation +which the rulers hold to the people. Rulers have indeed, in all +countries, need to be exhorted to obey God, but when their will is +supreme, and their power is independent of the people, there can be no +propriety in exhorting them to obey God rather than men. In this +country, however, this principle needs to be enforced upon +legislators and rulers quite as much as upon the people, perhaps even +more. It is at this point, if I mistake not, that we are to look for +the danger peculiar to our institutions through those in authority. In +other countries the danger is from the accumulation and tyrannical use +of power. With us, limited as is the tenure of office, there is little +danger of direct oppression. The danger is that those who are in +office, and those who wish for it, will, for the sake of immediate +popularity, lend the sanction of their names to doctrines and +practices, which, if carried into effect, must destroy all government. +How is it else that mobs should often escape with so little rebuke? +How is it else that we hear such extravagant and disorganizing +doctrines maintained in regard to the rights of a majority respecting +property, and their power to set aside any guaranties of former +Legislatures? Certainly the people are the fountain of power. They +establish the government, they have a right to alter it; but when it +is established, the state becomes personified through it, and its acts +are to be consistent. When it is established, it _is_ a government, it +has authority, it becomes God's institution, and those who administer +it are to obey God rather than men. Wo to this country, when the +people shall become to those in place, the object of adulation and of +an affected idolatry. Wo to this country, when the people shall cease +to reverence the government as the institution of God because it is +established through them; when they shall suppose that it is in such a +sense theirs, that they can supersede its acts in any way except by +constitutional forms. + +There is also another reason why the principle of the text ought to be +especially regarded by the rulers of this country. So far as a nation +can be considered and treated as a moral person, its character must be +indicated by the acts of its rulers. Accordingly, we find that under +every form of government, God has made nations responsible, as in the +natural course of things they evidently must be, for what is done by +their rulers. But if this is so in monarchical governments, where the +agency of the people is so little connected with public acts, much +more must it be so in one like ours. Here the rulers represent the +people more immediately. They indicate in the eyes of the world, the +moral condition of the people, and hence the peculiar responsibility +of those who act under the oath of God in making and administering the +laws of a representative government. If it can ever be required of God +to vindicate his administration by the treatment of any people, it +must be of one whose government is thus administered. + +I observe then that the principle of the text should be adopted by +rulers, because it furnishes the only broad and safe basis of +political action. The adoption of this principle I consider the first +requisite of a wise, in opposition to a cunning and temporizing +statesman. Statesmanship, as distinguished from that skilful +combination of measures which has for its object personal advancement, +consists very much in a perception of the connexion there is between +the prosperity of states, and the accordance of their laws and social +institutions with the laws of justice, and benevolence, and +temperance, which are the laws of God. The laws of God are uniform. +The general tendencies which he has inwrought into the system will +take effect, and nothing, not shaped in accordance with these can +stand. Now it is an attempt to evade the effect of these tendencies by +expedients in particular instances and for the sake of particular +ends, that has been called statesmanship; while he only is the true +statesman who sees what these tendencies are, and shapes his laws and +institutions in accordance with them. The mere politician, if I may so +designate him, perceives the movements which take place in the +different parts of society relatively to each other, and is +complacently skilful in adjusting them to his purposes, but he fails +to see that general movement by which the whole is drifted on +together, and which is bearing society to a point where elements that +he had not dreamed of will be called into action, and where his petty +expedients will become in a moment, but as the barriers of sand which +the child raises upon the beach, when the tide begins to rise. + +"I tremble for my country," said an American statesman, in a sentence, +which, though awfully ominous in the connexion in which it was +uttered, does equal honor to his head and his heart, "I tremble for my +country when I remember that God is just." In that sentence are +involved the principles of that higher statesmanship before which the +expedients of merely expert men dwindle into nothing. He knew not how, +or where, or when, the blow might fall; but he knew that there was +always a joint in the harness of injustice, where the arrow of +retribution, though it might seem to be speeding at a venture, would +surely find its way. The higher movements of Divine Providence include +the lower. Sooner or later all particular, and for a time apparently +anomalous cases are brought under its general rules, and he has read +the history of the past with little benefit, who has failed to see how +the giant machinery of that Providence, in the intermediate spaces of +which there is ample room for the free play of human agency, takes up +the results of that agency as they are wrought out, and applies them +to the execution of its own uniform laws, and the accomplishment of +its own predicted purposes. These purposes, as declared by those +divine records whose prophecies have now become history, were often +such as no human sagacity, looking merely at second causes, could have +anticipated, such as no human power then existing could have effected. +Still, they were wrought out in conformity with that higher, and +uniform, and all-encompassing movement with reference to which he who +stands at the helm should guide the state, but to ascertain which, he +must not take his bearings from the shifting headlands of +circumstances, but must lift his eye to those eternal principles which +abide ever the same. On this subject there is written upon the walls +of the past a lesson for statesmen that needs no interpreter. Look at +Babylon. Who is it that stands before its walls, and utters its doom? +It is a despised Jew. And who is he that walks in pride upon those +walls, and as he points to that mighty city as the centre of +civilization and power, as combining every advantage of climate and +of commerce, mocks at that doom? It is a politician of those days. The +voice of the prophet is uttered, and it seems to pass idly upon the +wind. The eye of sense sees no effect. No clouds gather, no lightnings +descend. But that voice was not in vain. The waters of desolation +heard it in their distant caves, and never ceased to rise till they +had whelmed palace and tower and temple in one undistinguished ruin. +Even now that voice abides there, and hangs as a spirit of the air +over that desolation, and the Arabian hears it, warning him not to +pitch his tent there, and the wild beast of the desart and the owl and +the satyr hear it, and come up and dwell and dance there. Look at +Jerusalem. Who is he that stands upon mount Olivet and weeps as he +looks upon the city, and assigns, as the cause of his tears, that he +would often have gathered her children together as a hen gathereth her +chickens under her wings, but she would not? Ah! what political Jew +would have thought of _that_! He would have turned his attention to +the purposes of governors and the intrigues of courts. Into his +estimate of the causes that might affect the prosperity of Jerusalem, +the moral temper of the nation as indicated by its rejection of Jesus +of Nazareth, would not have entered. And yet, it was from this +rejection, even in the way of natural consequence, from the want of +those moral qualities which only a regard to his teachings could have +produced among them, that the destruction of the Jews resulted. +Nothing else could have destroyed their fool-hardy confidence in God, +or have allayed those fiendish passions which led contending factions +to fill the streets of the city with dead bodies even in the midst of +the siege. But they would not have his spirit; they would not have him +to reign over them, and we know that from the moment the words dropped +from his lips, "Your house is left unto you desolate," that was a +doomed city, and no political skill could have deferred the horrors of +a siege and of a final overthrow, such as was not from the beginning +of the world, no, nor ever shall be. And not only from Babylon and +Jerusalem, but from the grave of every nation buried in antiquity, +from Nineveh, and Tyre, and Edom, and Egypt, there comes a voice +calling upon rulers to be "just, ruling in the fear of God." The true +cause of their destruction was the attitude which they assumed towards +the will, and worship, and people of God. + +It is from these moral causes, between which and the result there is +no immediate, nor, to the superficial eye, perceptible connexion, +that I fear most for the stability of our institutions. It is when the +sun is shining most brightly, and the face of the sky shows, it may +be, not a single cloud, that the elements of the tornado are ascending +most rapidly; and it is when men are in prosperity and in fancied +security that they become presumptuous, and that a disastrous train of +causes is silently put in motion, as resistless as the tornado. Upon +this point of security, the eye of the true statesman is fixed. It is +here that he sees the danger and provides against it; while the mere +politician knows nothing, and sees nothing, till he begins, when it is +too late, to see the lightnings, and hear the thunders of embodied +wrath. + +Can, then, the rulers of this country, in disregard of the warnings of +all past time, with a full understanding of the claims and of the +controlling agency of the great moral principles of God's government, +go on in obedience to men rather than God, and make laws in disregard, +or defiance of his will? If so, then, from the reciprocal influence of +rulers and people, our experiment of self-government would seem to be +hopeless. Then _must_ God scourge this people as he has scourged +others. Then are the untoward symptoms of the present time, but as the +white spot that shows the leprosy. Then will the altar of liberty +decay, and the fire upon it will go out, and there will be heard by +those who watch in her temple, as of old in the desecrated temple of +God, the voice of its presiding spirit saying, "Let us go hence," and +that temple, towards which the eyes of the nations were turned with +hope, shall become the haunt of every unclean thing, and shall only +wait the hand of violence to leave not one stone upon another that +shall not be thrown down. In view of such consequences, I cannot but +feel that the solemn words of our Saviour are as applicable to +Legislators and rulers in their public, as in their private capacity. +"And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the +body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will +forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him which after he hath killed, +hath power to cast into hell, yea I say unto you, Fear him." + + * * * * * + +To His Excellency the Governor, these sentiments are addressed, as +putting him in remembrance, as he stands upon the threshold of a new +official year, of that which ought ever to be uppermost in the mind of +the Chief Magistrate of a Christian people, of the paramount authority +of God, and of the necessity there is that all human legislation +should coincide with the principles of his government. It is a great +and a sacred trust which the people of this Commonwealth commit to +their Chief Magistrate, and they expect it will be used in the fear of +God, and for the good of this whole people. That trust is in tried +hands, and we rejoice in the belief that it is safely deposited. +Especially, may I be permitted to say, does it give me pleasure to +welcome to the chair of state one in whose civic wreath literary +honors are entwined, and who can forget the toils and lay aside the +dignities of office, to cheer the young scholar on his way. Long may +our literary institutions continue to raise up those who shall add to +the dignity of office, the grace of learning, and the sanctity of +private virtue; and who, while they devote their labors more +particularly to the good of their own State, shall be regarded as +belonging to the Union and to the world. + +To His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, to the Honorable Council and +Senate, and to the assembled Representatives of the people, the +sentiments of this discourse are addressed, as the descendants of +those who showed in the hour of peril, that they feared God rather +than men. Following their example, you have come up, as you are about +to enter upon your responsible duties, to present, in this venerable +house, thanksgivings and supplications to the Lord God of our fathers; +and to do homage in the name of the Republic, to His Institutions. +This is well. But that Republic expects of you that you will imitate, +not merely in form, but also in spirit, the bright examples that are +set before you, that you will act from principle, that you will "obey +God rather than men." So doing the Commonwealth will be safe, for it +is the simple wisdom of goodness, that alone is truly wise. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sermon, Delivered Before His +Excellency Edward Everett, Governor &c. on the Anniversary Election, January 2, 1839, by Mark Hopkins + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40428 *** |