The Reverend gentleman, who now sits by, and who officiates as chaplain of the day, is a stranger to me; of coarse I know not his politics, nor his particular tenets of religion. His prayer bespeaks the goodness of his heart, and his regard for the rights of man. It manifests that the heavens do rule. The religion which he professes, is the only religion that ever met the guilty sinners wants, and brought relief to his woes; that ever gave assurance of the pardon of sin and the resurrection from the dead. The part in it which he has taken, admonishes him to be an example to the flock, and not to lord it over God's heritage. The precepts of it are pure and the best calculated for the good of men, even in this world, of any code of ethics ever known; the morals of Seneca, and the golden verses of Pythagoras not excepted. The spirit of it is peaceable—thinketh no evil, and works no ill to his neighbor. May his life be preserved, and his labor be blest—may he be faithful unto death, and at last receive a crown of life, with a "well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of thy Lord." The gentleman appointed to read the Declaration of Independence, has discharged his trust with dignity, distinctness, and volubility. The pen of Jefferson, perhaps, never appeared to better advantage. We are all of us acquainted with the soundness of his judgment, and the correctness of his life. With his honored father we had the same acquaintance, but ah! he is gone the way of all the earth! "How wise, how useful once, avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot; A heap of dust alone remains of thee— Excluding at this time, all ideas of the glories and miseries of the other world, and tending only to the state of death abstractly—the land of darkness without order; we will suppose that the spirit of some departed pa. triot, dressed in the costume of this world, should appear among us to-day, and supply the place of him, now on the floor; his language, we presume, would be as follows: "My old acquaintance, I come on an embassy from the land of silence, where the king of terrors reigns; but, notwithstanding, he is called king, yet his subjects are all on a democratical level. The golden crown, the sacredotal robe and mitre, and glittering wealth, which distinguish the inhabitants of your world, have no influence in the regions of the dead. There, the servant is free from his master, and the voice of the oppressor is not heard. There, the king and the beggar sleep side by side, and men have no pre-eminence above the beasts." This reverie reminds me of an anecdote respecting Brutus. The night before he fought his last battle, as he lay on his bed, his evil genius appeared at his bedside, and drew the midnight curtain, to whom Brutus said, "who art thou?" The ghost replied, "I am thy evil genius; meet me to-morrow in the field of battle."—" I'll meet thee there," said Brutus. If this account be true, Brutus had stronger nerves than the President of Persia (Daniel) had; for when an angel appeared to him, he lost all his strength. In looking before me, I notice some who, by their hoary heads, declare that they are old. My brothers, some of us have known the hardships of the tented field to defend our rights, and all of us have endured the priva tions and burdens that war imposes. Thousands, who never armed themselves for the field of battle, lost all or a great part of their property by the depreciation of paper money. Thousands were stripped of their flocks and furniture by the invading enemy. Thousands had their houses burnt to ashes, who had to wander where they could to find shelter, etc. It is but taking a very partial view of the subject, to conclude that the troops were the only sufferers in gaining our independence.. Among ourselves there were tories, who favored the cause of Great Britain, and aided them with supplies; and there has been an aristocratic party always embarrassing our government, and lying in wait to trick the people out of their rights; but, when the people have been almost swallowed up, they have risen in their strength, and, arming themselves with little bits of paper, have discomfitted their adversaries and saved themselves. The clouds were not more threatening to the sons of liberty, in 1777, at the north, and, in 1781, at the south, than they were, in 1797, at Washington; but the same kind hand that saved us from the lion at Saratoga, and the bear at York, delivered us from the uncircumcised Philistines at Washington. These things, my elder brethren, must be fresh in your minds, for they tried the souls of men, and made indelible impressions on their hearts. He who has wrought so great salvation for us, we trust, will not suffer us to perish with thirst, but will create a hollow in the jaw of some ass, and give us water to drink. The Tariffites and Nullifiers make some noise at present, but time and cool reflection may evaporate the acrimony in hot air, without letting of blood or amputation. At seve ral periods of our national existence, affairs have appeared more gloomy than at this present, and the clouds dispersed: and, if we have vanquished the lion, we will not fear the whelps.. The young men here present, who are now rising up to take control of the destinies of the nation, I wish to address on the subject of govern ment. Every nation, and every generation of the same nation, has an undoubt ed right to form their frame of government, and code of laws, and alter them at pleasure.* Those of you, therefore, who are coming into action, will have no embarrassment in departing from the rules which your fathers The laws given by Moses are the only exception. preferred, whenever you are convinced that those rules were defective and better can be substituted. But, as most of the writings and speeches of the present day are about men and measures, I shall take the liberty of communicating a few thoughts on the designs and principles of civil gov. ernment. Some found government on birth. The son of a reigning king must hold the sceptre at the decease of his father—being born with a sceptre in his hand, booted and spurred, and that the mass of the people are born, saddled and bridled for him to mount and ride. Others ground it on power: that the conqueror is entitled to the crown as an inheritance to dispose of at pleasure. A third class build government on grace, or what they call by that name. The papal kingdoms and states adhere to this principle; and wherever a religious test is required to qualify the right of suffrage, or the right to hold an office, the same principle is acknowledged. But the true principle of all legitimate government is mutual agreement, commonly called compact. To illustrate this, let us suppose that an indi. vidual is residing on a lonely island, not knowing there is another on earth. In this case, he is absolute sovereign; his will is his law, which he repeals or amends at pleasure. The soil he claims by occupancy; and what improvement he makes on any part of it, gives him a moral right to what he has improved. In a course of time, the individual has ten sons: what now? If all those sons are honest, each of them may be as independent and sovereign as the father: each may settle himself on some part of the soil, and honestly enjoy all the fruit of his labor. But one of the ten is quarrelsome and knavish, what shall be done with him? The vagrant is strong, and is able to handle the nine, one by one, and rob them of their earnings and deprive them of life. Here social compact, called government, begins. The nine unite to withstand the aggresion of the villain, and secure their lives, liberty and property. A shady tree is their state house, where they meet from time to time, to adopt measures of safety; and, in case they do not all agree, four must give up to five. This is simple democracy. After a lapse of years, from these ten no less than ten thousand proceed. What next? The government must now assume a new shape. It would not be practicable now for all to assemble. Each family or section must choose their agent to act for them, and to receive a reasonable reward for his time. This is not a simple but a representative democracy. From this abbreviated miniature of the rise and use of government, we learn that the vices of some, and the weakness of individuals to defend themselves, gave the first impetus for social compact. Consider government in its various ramifications, and it takes a great scope, and calls for abundance of laws; but simplify it, and bring it to its original bearings, it amounts to no more than a simple confederacy of in dividuals to secure life, liberty and property, for which they have to sacrifice a part of their native liberty, some of their acquired property, and, in certain cases, hazard their lives, for the protection of all. It is said by some that all the expense of the British government, by land and sea, is to support the twelve judges. The ladies here present deserve peculair notice; and with abundance of pleasure I address them, for almost all the women are Jackson-men. How can it be otherwise? When New Orleans was ready to be swallowed up, the women hung around the general with weeping eyes, to whom he said: "Fear not, the city must and shall be protected;" and he was up to his promise. And can the women forget this? No; never. The very temper of the women towards the men is, " you protect and provide for us, and we will honor and nourish you." Nor can I believe that the ladies in this section of the country are less grateful than those at the south. A stranger, once travelling through this state, said it was "a hell for horses—a purgatory for men—but a paradise for women." Faithful history hands down to us the exploits of women, patriotic, military and pious. Deborah, who judged Israel, drew the plan of military operation for Gen. Barak, and went with him to battle. Jael, with a nail and ham. mer, slew Sisera, who commanded a vast host with nine hundred chariots of iron. A woman in Thebes broke the skull of King Abimelech with a piece of a mill-stone. Huldah, the prophetess, gave instructions to King Josiah. Judith cut off the head of Holofernes. Priscilla taught Apollos the way of God more perfectly. Phebe was a succorer of many. Philip had four daughters that prophesied, etc. In latter times, when the Saxons were invaded by the Danes, the Saxon women, by a secret movement, cut off the heads of thirty thousand Danes in one night. To reward them for this, the Saxons decreed that the woman should sit at the head of the table -be first served, and walk at the man's right arm. Adam was refined out of the earth, and the woman was refined out of man, consequently, the woman is like a double refined loaf of sugar—the farthest removed from clay of any part of the creation. Indeed, so great is the influence of woman, that the innocency of Adam—the faith of Abraham—the strength of Samson—the bravery of David and the wisdom of Solomon bowed before it. ANONYMOUSLY TO ELDER JAMES WHITSITT.* If Christ died for all the human family, with one and the same view, why is it the greater part of them live and die, without ever hearing of his name? If hearing of it is not necessary to salvation, why should so much time, expense, and affliction, be imposed on the world? If Christ has suffered all that is necessary to make reconciliation to God, what has chilled his love, that, either by withholding the means for men to use to save themselves, or by limiting the displays of regenerating grace, by which he saves them, he should not save with ease, those who cost him pain and blood? If Christ has not died for all, those for whom he did not die, have no more cause to complain than the felon has, because no other appears to die for his crimes; and yet, to a spectator, this looks like a respecting of persons. The law of eternal right, will always be binding on rational beings, as long as the perfections of God, and the faculties of men exist. This law enjoins on all men to believe all that God reveals, and do all that he commands. That God revealed the true Messiah, and the Messiah gave infallible proofs that he was the anointed, is certain; therefore, all who saw him and his works, and did not believe in him gave God the lie; and, all who do not believe the record that God has given of his Son, make him a liar. It is, moreover, true, that all who do not believe shall be damned; are condemned already. The light is not the condemnation, only by exposing the evil deed, of breaking the law. To believe that men will be condemned for simply not believing that Christ died for them, is prepos terous; and, if he did not die for them, it would condemn them for not believing a lie. If a prince falls in with a family of vicious habits, and marries one of them, and frees her from her debts, and reclaims her from her vices; does this deliver the rest of the family from the restraints and penalties of the law? Can they justify themselves, by pleading that the prince has married one of the family? That men were made good at first, is clear; and, that God requires them to be as good as he made them; and, in case they have relapsed, to cast away all their sins, make themselves new hearts, and renew right spirits within them, is also clear; but, from this, does it follow, that men are bound to be better than Adam was, to posses eternal life—the unction from the holy one—new covenant * Published in 1832. |