NATIONAL SINS : A CALL TO REPENTANCE,
It
A S E R M () N :
PREACHED ON
T H E N AT I O N A I, FAST,
August 3, 1849,
...ABERLAND CHURCH, C H A R L EST ON, S.C.
HY THE
REV. WHITEFOORD SMITH, I). D.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST,
CHARLESTON, S. C.
OFFICE OF THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, 29 PINCKNEY.STREET.
c. CANNING, PRINTER.
IS49.
NATIONAL SINS : A CALL TO REPENTANCE,
A S E R M () N :
PREACHED ON
T H E N AT I O N A I, F A ST,
August 3, 1849,
IN CUM BERLAND CHURCH, CHARLESTON, S.C.
BY THE
REV. WHITEFOORD SMITH, D. D.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
CHARLESTON, S. C.
OFFICE OF THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, 29 PINCKNEY-STREET,
C. CANNING, PRINTER.
1849,
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1JNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GENERAL LIBRARY
ANN ARB9R, MICHIGáN
2, 2 7. § 3
The desire expressed by many that the following
sermon should be published, together with a wish to
bear his testimony against the prevailing vices of the
times, has induced the author to lay it before the
public in its present form.
SERMON.
“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me
with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping,
and with mourning :
“And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto
the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the
evil.”—JoEL, ii. 12, 13.
In obedience to the call of the President of the United
States, the American people are this day engaged in a
general act of humiliation and prayer. It is appropriate
to a Christian nation at all times to acknowledge the
divine supremacy. But it is pre-eminently appropriate
that they should humble themselves under the mighty
hand of God, when his judgments are abroad in the land.
And such is the occasion of this day’s convocation.
Several months ago, the desolating scourge which has
almost depopulated many cities of the Old World, was
announced as having again made its appearance on our
shores. The startling intelligence was well calculated to
strike a panic in every heart; for the memory of its for-
mer visitation was yet fresh in the minds of many. With
fearful anxiety was its progress watched as it braved the .
current of the mighty Mississippi, paying its visit of death
to the cities and towns upon its banks, and awakening the
wild cry of despair upon the bosom of the father of waters.
Still onward it swept to the very borders of civilization, and
the great cities of the West groaned beneath the curse.
6
Even mountain barriers proved no obstruction to its
course, and now Eastern cities wail under its stroke. So
wide-spread a desolation becomes a national judgment;
and the chief magistrate of our country, in accordance
with a custom wise in itself, honoured by the practice of
all ages, and most salutary in its moral influence, has con-
voked our people to-day, that we may make humble con-
fession of our sins, and implore that mercy which our
necessities require, but which our merits do not deserve.
There are some general principles which deserve our
attention, and which are necessary to be borne in mind,
that we may be induced to such an act of humiliation and
prayer as may be acceptable to God. The first of these
, is, that such visitations are not accidental or fortuitous,
but that they are the interpositions of Providence, the
stretching out of the hand of God.
National calamities are sometimes the result of mal-
administration, or at any rate they are so intimately con-
nected with secondary causes, that they are not recognized
by the multitude as the judgments of heaven; though it
pleases God often to employ them as such, and the
pious do so regard them. Thus it often happens that
countries are involved in war through the ambition and
policy of kings, and their subjects become the victims of its
fury; yet, the thoughtless thousands reflect not that a
superintending providence has permitted this for the
chastisement of a people's sins. A great monetary pres-
sure involves commercial embarrassment and general
bankruptcy; and the whole blame is laid upon the policy of
the government, while men forget that God has been
preaching a truth which they will only hear and learn
when experience becomes the painful task-master; that
riches make to themselves wings and fly away.
But when the breath of the pestilence becomes the
7
instrument of God—when the angel of death unsheathes
his glittering sword and it drinks the blood of thousands—
when no local causes can be found for the wide-spread
evil—when in the city and in the hamlet, in the east and
in the west, all over the land, the same disease prevails,
and the people fall before it—when the healing art is
baffled, and philosophy stands confounded—then, the
irresistible conviction takes hold upon the minds of men,
that it is a visitation of God—then, the simplest may read
as though it were inscribed upon the firmament above
them, “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the
people not be afraid! shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord hath not done it !” The pestilence is no fortuitous
occurrence. It is not subject to the control of man. It
seems to be admitted that this dreaded scourge is lodged
in the atmosphere we breathe. And in what more signal
manner could a judgment from heaven be manifested 7
Who hath power over the air but God? Who but the
Almighty maketh “a way for the lightning of thunder tº
And who but He hath power to control the elements and
to withhold the rain or the lightning 7
Another consideration in immediate connection with the
former is this, that the judgments of God thus sent upon
nations are corrective and punitive.
In the administration of God, the punishment of indi-
viduals may be deferred. He is long-suffering and slow to
anger. The adjudication of the last day will sufficiently
vindicate the divine justice and truth, and the punishment
of the sinner then will be awful indeed. But nations have
only a temporary existence, and where a people are for-
getful of God—where public virtue is corrupted—where
great national sins provoke the divine displeasure, and
God hath a controversy with the people of a land, the
vindication of his law requires that that people should
8
suffer, and the vengeance of offended Heaven is poured out
upon the sinful community. So, when the wickedness of
man waxed great in the earth, and the whole world was
corrupt, God brought in a flood upon the world of the
ungodly, saving only Noah and his family from the univer-
sal deluge. So, when the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
went up before him, and their abominations provoked his
wrath, he “turned them into ashes, and condemned them
with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those
that after should live ungodly.” So, Egypt, and Moab,
and Edom, and Assyria, and the great cities of Tyre and
Sidon, all in their turn were made the subjects of retri-
butive justice. And so Palestina has been dissolved, and
until this day the descendants of Abraham realize the
displeasure of God in the destruction of their national
polity, and are exiles and strangers upon the earth.
And the history of later times is replete with simi-
lar illustrations, where the iniquities of cities and king-
doms have been followed by the judgments of God.
Among these unhappy France stands prominent, where
the reign of Atheism was but the prelude to the reign of
terror.
Thus does the Almighty chastise the nations which refuse
to acknowledge his supremacy, and vindicate before the
world the authority of his throne.
Another consideration which should be well remembered,
is, that when under a sense of the divine displeasure a
people rightly humble themselves and implore the mercy
of God, he accepts their humiliation and repentance, and
removes his judgments from them. This feature of the
divine government well accords with the nature of God,
and with the frailty of man. An illustrious instance of
it occurred in the history of the once renowned Nineveh.
When the wickedness of its inhabitants had provoked
9
Jehovah's anger, Jonah was sent to proclaim against them
the coming judgment of heaven, and the whole burden of
the Prophet's message was, “ In forty days Nineveh shall
be destroyed.” Though in this dread denunciation there
was no promise of pardon even on condition of repentance,
yet it was implied in the principles of the moral govern-
ment of God, and the king and the people, alarmed at the
warning voice, clothed themselves in sackcloth and ashes
and fasted and humbled themselves before Almighty God.
And the voice of their prayer was heard on high, and the
threatened judgment was, for a time at least, averted.
Often too in the history of the Jewish nation were the
threatenings of judgment followed by humiliation and-
repentance mingled with fastings and prayers, and often
were the contrite pitied, and the guilty spared. For “He
will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger
forever.”
This has sometimes been the case with individuals.
Thus was it with the proud Nebuchadnezzar, great
Babylon's haughty king. When the admonitions of God
were despised, and his threatenings disregarded, and the
advice of his prophet unheeded—“when his heart was lifted
up and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from
his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and
he was driven from the sons of men ; and his heart was
made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild
asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body
was wet with the dew of heaven ; till he knew that the
most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he
appointeth over it whomsoever he will.” Then proclaimed
the monarch, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol
and honour the King of Heaven, all whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment; and those that walk in pride
he is able to abase.”
10
How full of encouragement is this feature of the divine
government | Terrible indeed would be the cloud of
judgment if no radiant hues of mercy shone upon its
blackness. Deep and dolorous would be the cry of despair,
if hope were exiled from the heart of man. But the
chastenings of the Lord are not intended for our destruction
if we will receive them as they are designed. For God
has declared, “I will not contend forever, neither will I be
always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and
the souls which I have made.” “Therefore also now, saith
the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with
fasting and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend
your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the
Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the
evil.”
Another important consideration is, that when, instead
of repentance there is hardness, and the judgments of God
are either mocked or resisted, he has still heavier stores of
vengeance; and will bring out the magazines of his wrath.
So when unhappy Pharaoh resisted the divine command,
and hardened his heart against the judgments of God,
plague followed plague, and curse succeeded curse, until
his own servants expostulated with him on his perverseness
saying, “Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed ?”
And when in the pride and rebellion of his heart he still
refused to submit, the wail for the first-born dead went up
from every Egyptian habitation. Then followed the closing
scene of discomfiture and overthrow, when “Jehovah
triumphed gloriously, and the horse and the rider were
thrown into the sea.”
And who can ever forget the fate of unhappy Israel,
God’s chosen nation ? In her melancholy history stands
conspicuously recorded, the forbearance and the justice,
1 I
the goodness and the severity of God. Often did he
expostulate, and long did he wait, till his mercy was
magnified above all his name. But when repentance was
only followed by backsliding, and the cup of their iniquity
was full—when he “ looked for judgment, but behold
oppression, for righteousness but behold a cry”—then did
he take away her hedge, and break down, her wall, and
lay her waste, and her honour was trodden down in the
dust. The abomination of desolation floated over her most
holy place, and Zion was ploughed as a field.
And now, my brethren, in view of the principles which
have been asserted, and I trust satisfactorily illustrated,
let us come to the contemplation of our own past history
and present circumstances, and see the necessity we are
laid under, to humble ourselves in the dust, to repent, to
fast, and to pray, if peradventure God may turn away his
anger from us, and in wrath remember mercy.
If there is one feature more worthy than all others to be
well remembered in connection with the origin of our
nation, it is the sincere and unaffected piety, the deep and
ardent religious devotion of our ancestors. They were men
of faith. To the eye of reason, to the calculations of a
worldly policy, there was little hope for success in the
War of the Revolution. No veteran army was ours; nor
was our coast lined with fortifications, or guarded by an
experienced navy. With an untrained militia, often almost
destitute of arms and ammunition, with no resources which
constitute the sinews of war, contending against disciplined
forces amply supplied, our people came to the struggle for
their liberty with scarcely an earthly hope. But their very
Declaration of Independence proclaimed to the world the
ground of their confidence and hope, they relied upon the
justice of their cause, upon the protection of heaven, upon
the God of battles. The result justified the wisdom of their
12
trust, and proved how happy is that people who make the
Lord their confidence and shield.
The same humble dependence upon God which
characterized them in the field, marked their deliberations
in council. It was an interesting incident in the early
history of our national deliberations, when, perplexed and
embarrassed by conflicting opinions and interests, a wise
and venerable man arose, and calling the attention of the
assembly to their need of divine aid in such a crisis,
proposed by prayer and supplication to ask guidance of
heaven in the dark hour. And the needed help was
graciously afforded; harmony prevailed in their counsels,
and wisdom shone in the result.
In establishing the constitution of this great Republic, it
was declared that “no religious test should ever be required
as a qualification to any office or public trust.” Far was
it from the framers of that noble instrument, however, by
this provision, to exclude religion. But with a just
discernment they perceived the baneful effect of all alliances
between Church and State; and with such an appreciation
as they perhaps of all men living were best qualified to
form, of the value of religious liberty, they were resolved
to secure its blessings to themselves and their posterity.
They cast not off their allegiance to God when driven by
a stern necessity they abjured the authority of a king.
They renounced not the reasonable obligations of religion,
when they spurned the despotism of the hierarchy. They
knew full well its inestimable advantage to those who,
regardless in great measure of its external trappings,
cherished with holy vigilance its quickening spirit. Unlike *
the misguided republicans of a later day, they discerned
the difference between the religion and the form, and while
they freed the human mind from superstition, they yielded
to Christianity the willing homage of a living faith.
[3
Knowing full well the value of divine revelation they made
it the great corner-stone of the Republic, and recognizing
charity as worth more than zeal, they left the wide field
of religious operation open to all. Heaven-directed men
who knew how to discriminate between the arrogant
assumptions of kingly power, and the just authority of
constitutional law ; between the rampant bigotry of an
ecclesiastical zealot and the virtue of an humble Christian.
It was a sentiment worthy “the Father of his Country,”
“that no truth was more thoroughly established, than that
there exists an indissoluble union between virtue and
happiness;–between duty and advantage; between the
genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous people,
and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; and
that the propitious smiles of heaven could never be expected
on a nation that disregarded the eternal rules of order and
right, which heaven itself had ordained.”
Happy had it been for us if sentiments so exalted had
been kept constantly before our eyes, and engraven on
the tablets of our hearts. But how far have we departed
from the examples of those noble men
It is appropriate to this occasion that we should duly and
solemnly consider and review those sins of our people
which have provoked the displeasure of Heaven and
brought down upon us the judgments of God. And this
we should do, not as partisans or politicians, desirous to
throw blame upon those from whom we may differ, but as
brethren of one great confederated nation, involved in com-
mon in the guilt of national sins, and bearing in common
the national affliction.
And as judgment is threatened to begin at the house of
God, it may be well to look first into the churches of our
land, and see if they have not been derelict to duty and
guilty of departure from the single and high end of their
constitution.
14
Placed upon the same level, and secured in the enjoy-
ment of all their rights, they have been called to the dis-
charge of those noble functions they were ordained to
perform. To be witnesses of the truth of our holy religion,
to proclaim the message of mercy and salvation to men, to
win sinners from the pursuit of vice to the paths of virtue,
to lift up a warning voice against all immorality, to point
out the way by which alone national prosperity and
perpetuity, could be attained, to minister heavenly con-
solations to those who suffer, and to animate with celestial
hopes the hearts which were otherwise despairing ; these
were the legitimate ends of the church's institution, and
worthy of her greatest exertions.
But as among the twelve a controversy arose which of
them should be greatest, so it is to be feared a spirit of
human ambition has sadly corrupted the churches of our
day ; and the work which might well have employed the
hearts and hands of angels, has been measurably lost sight
of in the struggle for human pre-eminence. Instead of the
brotherly regard and Christian charity which should have
characterized co-workers in a common cause, a narrow
jealousy unworthy of the Christian name has too often
arrayed them in opposition and strife, the one denouncing
the ministrations of another, and each anxious only for its
own Shibboleth.
Under the influence of wealth and popular favour,
much of the simplicity of early Christianity in this country
has given place to a desire for gorgeous externals and
imposing forms. But the most splendid habiliments of the
dead can never revivify the corpse.
Nor this only. Forgetful of the example of Him whom
they call Lord and Master, and whose infinite wisdom was
shown when he said, “Render unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are
15
God's :" there have not been wanting those who have
descended into the arena of political strife, at d by the
introduction of questions of civil polity into ecclesiastical
judicatories, have fomented bitterness and wrath ; and
some have even been ſound to desert the nobler offices of
the pulpit to become political agitators.” Well might
angels weep, if weep they can, over derelictions such as
these, wondering that men whom God had called to sweep
through loftiest regions of Gospel verities and preach
salvation and eternal life to man, could rather choose to
mingle in the din and tumult of earthly things.
Well then does it become the Churches on this day to
put on sackcloth and humble themselves in the dust, to
make acknowledgment of their sins and implore the
divine mercy.
In the State as well as in the Church there have been
sins to call down upon us the anger of God.
The inordinate desire for wealth, the ambition to be
ranked first among the great powers of the earth, the
proud and boastful language which we have too often
held, are all in strange and striking contrast with the prin-
ciples and conduct of our republican ancestors. How has
the spirit of patriotism been substituted by the spirit of
party 2 How few are there of the prominent men of our
country who can rise above the narrow views of political
association, and embrace the comprehensive interests of
the whole nation? How few who are ready to sacrifice
the promptings of a towering ambition upon the altar of
their country’s good 7 What scenes have been witnessed
upon the floors of our national legislature, which would
have shocked the virtue and done violence to the sensibili-
ties of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence,
or who formed the federal Constitution ? Nor has even the
*In some places ministers have become Anti-slavery lecturers.
ió
Sabbath been free from desecration Its early dawn
which should have beheld the rulers and legislators of a
great and happy people sending up their orisons to God
with grateful hearts, has witnessed the last violent conflict
over some darling scheme of policy, and the passions which
should have subsided before its holy calm still tempest-
wrought and high.
But let us not vent our indignation against the ministers
of religion and the officers of State as though they alone
had sinned. If we turn our eyes upon the great body of
our people, how much shall we discover calling for humili-
ation and repentance It will not do always to deal in
general denunciations against sin. It is necessary some-
times to be specific and minute. Let us then look closely
and with a scrutinizing eye upon some of the more flagrant
iniquities of which as a people we have been guilty.
Although the page of history is full of examples of the
truth, that national degeneracy and corruption are the sad
but inevitable consequences of wealth ; and although this
truth is of frequent application to individual character, we
have been strangely infatuated with a desire for opulence
and increased riches. A consequence of this general
covetousness has been an unwillingness on the part of
thousands to pursue the steady and honourable path of
industry contented with the blessings of competence, but
they must needs rush into wild and extravagant specula-
tions with the hope of amassing in a year what might well
be the reward of a life of toil. Flushed with the success of
a first trial, or mortified by a first defeat, another experi-
ment has been hazarded, and still another, until the habit
of speculation has been fully formed ; and revulsion after
revulsion in the commercial world has scattered the frag-
ments of many a wrecked fortune. This spirit has likewise
seduced from agricultural pursuits many of our people,
17
congregating them in large cities where they have been
“engulphed in luxury and effeminacy.” It has led many
to the abandonment of home and all its sweets, to the
sundering of the dearest ties of friendship and kindred, to
the relinquishment of all the advantages of a settled and
well-ordered community, to expose themselves and their
families to the inconveniences and sufferings of a life in
the wilderness. Its latest development has been the
crowding of emigrant vessels with suitors of fortune, who
have left houses full of bread, that they may starve in
sight of California gold. .
To gratify this insatiate appetite for gain our people are
already beginning to manifest a desire for conquest and
extended territory. And although every acquisition-be-
comes the subjects of fierce contention, convulsing the
nation and threatening its very dissolution, yet so impetuous
is this passion and so blind, that before we have realized
the results of the late Mexican conquest, we hear clamours
about the Canadas and Cuba. Shall we forget that whom
God would destroy, he first turns mad ' The present
area of our national domain is amply sufficient for every
want we can properly have, and enough for our posterity
for ages.*
In immediate connection with this accursed avarice,
stands the lawless agrarianism of the age ; a principle as
hostile to religion as it is antagonistic to the constitution of
society. Not satisfied with the largest blessings of con-
stitutional liberty, it threatens the overthrow of all law,
and the annihilation of all distinctions among men. Under
the pretended right of the majority to govern, it would
wrest from the minority all that has been secured to them
by federative compact.
* SeeAppendix A.
18
Nothing is made plainer both by nature and revelation,
than the design of God that there should be inequalities in
the condition of man. “The poor shall never cease out of
the land,” was declared by the inspired Law-giver; and
the fulfilment of the purpose was witnessed by our Lord,
when he said, “the poor ye have always with you.” Had
every man been made independent of his fellow, how soon
would the sordid selfishness of our degenerate nature
have raised every man's hand against his brother. But
the same infinite wisdom which made the law of mutual
dependence the basis of all inanimate creation, has applied
the same principle to all the relations of human society.
Wise and merciful is this arrangement of our Heavenly
Father. For, by it the sympathies of our nature are
called into action, all that is lovely and generous and
grateful in man finds room for exercise, and we are
permitted to imitate our Maker in the luxury of blessing
others.
We have asserted that this communism, socialism, Or
call it by what name you may, is hostile to the genius of
religion. It is eminently so in its origin, which is a jealousy
of all who seem more favored than ourselves. It is ob-
viously so in its practical working, which is irrespective
of the rights of property, and in violation of the fundamen-
tal principles of honesty and justice. Religion imposes
moral obligations and gives moral precepts to the rich and
to the poor, to the master and the servant. It teaches con-
tentment with the lot in life which Heaven assigns to each,
and enforces its teachings by the promise of a great
reward. But if such inequalities in society did not exist, if
such relations were unlawful and destined to be overturned,
what need of rules for the regulation of human con-
duct in these relations ! “None of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself,” is a great feature in
19
Christian character, a great principle in Christian life,
Obedience to magistrates and respect to law are among
the important duties which religion teaches. And he who
for purposes of self-aggrandizement would destroy all
forms of human government, and plunge society into the
horrors of anarchy and barbarism, is a traitor to his country,
to his race, and to his God.
There was a time when age commanded respect, when
the young venerated the experience and the virtues of the
old, when the hoary head was a crown of glory. But, alas !
among the sad signs of human degeneracy, the young have
become forgetful of the honour due to age, and the
counsels of wisdom and piety are too of unheeded and
scorned.
We have no sympathy with that croaking spirit which
is always mourning over days and institutions long gone
by, and which deprecates any improvement or change.
But we are equally opposed to that disposition which
would run hurriedly into every change which a specula-
tive spirit may suggest, allowing no system time enough
for trial and denouncing every thing old as antiquated and
unsuited to the times. The very restlessness which thus
urges to perpetual change is evidence of dissatisfaction
with its own experiments, and proves a want of due
deliberation, thought and care.
As a people how deeply have we been involved in the
sin of Sabbath-breaking ! Who can contemplate the
sweet calm and stillness of a Sabbath, spent in the worship
of God, undisturbed by the interruption of worldly cares
and avocations, with the affections of all hearts gratefully
fixed on the Giver of all good, and reflect upon the happy
influence of that day of rest, the earnest and antepast of an
everlasting rest in heaven in communion with God and
with the good, who can survey the whole people of a land
20
thus employed, emulating the strains of angel and arch-
angel, and not exclaim, *
“I love thee, when thy Sabbath dawns
O'er woods and mountains, dales and lawns,
And streams that sparkle while they run,
As if their fountain were the sun :
When hand in hand, thy tribes repair,
Each to their chosen house of prayer,
And all in peace and freedom call
On Him, who is the Lord of all.”
But how different the scene the Sabbath now presents I
What city can we visit, where there are not temptations
presented to its violation ? And even the country, where
nature seemed to sympathize with man in keeping holy-
day has had her forest sanctuary invaded by the noise and
hum of active and busy life, and the devotion of the
villager is disturbed by arrivals and departures. And how
many of our fellow-men know no Sabbath. No day of rest
is theirs, when with their wives and children they can go.
up to the house of prayer and acknowledge their obliga-
tions to their Creator ; or, sit quietly in their houses and
talk to their little ones of Jehovah's mercies and train.
their minds to virtue ; no tranquil hours are theirs when
they can hush the storms of passion which have been
awakened in their breasts, and dwell upon the lessons of
heavenly love. If the humanizing influences of religion
and the Sabbath are thus withdrawn, can we wonder that
men become reckless, and the restraints of virtue and
morality are fearfully weakened? Or, should we inquire
into the causes of the increase of crime within the last
quarter of a century, may not the disregard of the Sabbath
be well assigned as one of the most prominent and fruit-
ful ?%
There remains to be considered another sin, of which as
a people we have been guilty, which calls for humiliation
and repentance. If there be a right dear to freemen—if
* See Appendix B.
21
there be an instrument which rightly used is the greatest
foe to tyrants—if there be one engine greater than others to
work weal or woe for our country, it is that which has
been designated “the palladium of liberty,” an unshackled
press. Employed in the cause of virtue and of freedom,
who can calculate its value 7 Enlisted on the side of vice,
who can compute the magnitude of its power for ill 7
Making tributary to its service the mighty discoveries of
modern science, it multiplies its influence a thousand-fold.
Its daily sheets, its weekly issues, its monthly magazines,
its quarterly reviews, its cheap publications are spread over
the land, and read in cities and towns, in villages and
country-places, exerting an untold power over the opinions
and character of our people. And this prodigious power
Has been grievously abused. The liberty of the press has
degenerated into licentiousness, and the patriot and
philanthropist cannot but mourn over the prospects of their
country, when they contemplate its blighting influence.
One of the most signal instances of this licentiousness, is the
abuse of magistrates and public officers. . If the stranger in
some foreign clime should form his opinion of those who are
called to the chief magistracy of our Union, from the
periodical press, he might well suppose us sunk in the
lowest degradation. No epithets are toovile to be employed,
no insinuations too base, no crimes too great to be imputed
by a party press to the candidates for the fighest office in
the gift of the people. The very motives of public
functionaries are assailed, and the acts of the most
conscientious held up to derision and scorn.
We wish not to trammel the liberty of the press. It is
the security of the people that the acts of their agents
undergo a proper scrutiny, and that they be well informed
on all subjects of public interest. But this is consistent
with high and honourable speech. Self-respect should
22
promptus touse respectful language even in the denunciation
of the grossest crimes. The cause of truth loses rather than
gains, when its advocates descend from the lofty position
on which she places them to employ as instruments
vituperation and abuse.
But what shall be said of that licentiousness of the press,
which exhibits itself in many of the cheap publications of
the day, where virtue is dishonoured, and the lowest,
basest, and most profligate passions of human nature are
invited to a wild debauch 7 When the press first corrupts
the heart, and then panders to the worst desires it has
awakened—when every agency is employed by which its
horriblé emissions may be circulated, spreading desolation
and ruin in its course, who stands not appalled at the
moral pestilence and shrinks not from its dread contagion ?
To every wild scheme of fanaticism—to the assassination
of private character—to the circulation of obscene police
reports—and to unnumbered other abuses, a portion of
the press has lent itself, until its proper designation has
become “the chronicle of crime.” The father of a family
has need to exercise a ceaseless vigilance over his
household reading, lest the deadly poison infect his
children, and they fall to rise no more. Well for him
if he is not so swallowed up in avaricious thoughts, and
so intent upon the acquisition of fortune, as to leave no
time to consider their higher interests.
We may well rejoice that there are so many honourable
exceptions to the general licentiousness of the press; that
all are not corrupt; and it is a source of high gratification
to us that the State in which we live, and this community
particularly, has ever exhibited a determined opposition
to such dangerous abuse. Let us guard against the
introduction from the large cities of our Union of these
vehicles of moral death, more to be dreaded than “the
28
pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction
that wasteth at noon-day.”
It has been our effort to present you with candour, friends
and brethren, some of the most flagrant and crying sins
which pertain to us as a people. True, the catalogue
might have been greatly enlarged. You might have been
reminded of your negligence as heads of families in training
your children and servants in the fear of God. A dark
picture might have been drawn of the evils of intemperance,
which has stalked like a demon through the land, laying
low the fond hopes of many a parent's heart, invading even
halls of legislation and the sanctuary of God. And you
might have been pointed to another evil of no ordinary
magnitude, had we pictured to your view the dismal scenes
of the gaming table. But enough has been said, let us
hope, to awaken us to a sense of our national sins, and to
point out the connection between them and the affliction
under which our people now groan. Can we wonder that
the hand of God is made bare for our chastisement when
we see how greatly we have sinned 7 “Be not deceived :
God is not mocked.” As surely as he lives, he will vindicate
the honour of his insulted throne.
But the other day, our papers brought us the intelligence
of a dreadful desecration of the Sabbath, and of a judgment
which speedily followed. In Cincinnati, it is said, more
than five thousand persons united in a profanation of the
Sabbath, by holding a musical festival in the neighborhood
of the city, where “drinking, dancing, and other acts of
revelry were the order of the day.” “The result of the
festival was fearful in the loss of life. It is supposed that
one hundred of those who joined in the Sabbath desecration
on that occasion, died in ten days from the effects of
wine drinking. It is stated by one of the daily papers,
24
that nine thousand bottles of sour wine were drunk on that
day !”
Is it not time for the good and virtuous, for the patriot,
the philanthropist and the Christian, to join in humiliation
and prayer 7 Come then, my brethren, and let us humble
ourselves before the Lord. Let us weep that such enormities
are committed in this land of liberty. *
When the pestilence once raged in Israel, David their
king, entreated God for his people, and at the threshing-floor
of Araunah the Jebusite he offered burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings unto the Lord; and the Lord was entreated
for his land, and said unto the angel that destroyed the
people, “It is enough : stay now thy hand.”
When Ezra led the returning captives from Babylon, and
met with difficulties in his way, then he “proclaimed a
fast there, at the river Ahava, that they might afflict
themselves there before their God, to seek of Him a right
way for them, and for their little ones, and for all their
substance. And when they fasted and besought Him, He
was entreated of them.”
The same ear that heard the supplications of his people
in the ancient time, is still attentive to our prayers. The
same hand that helped them in the day of their distress, is
ready to be stretched out for our deliverance. Blessed be
God that he hath put it into the heart of the ruler of this
land to convoke our people to-day, and that so many who
fear God are every where assembled to make prayer and
supplication to the King of Heaven.
We, of this community, have cause to mingle devout
thanksgiving with our humiliation and confessions, for God
hath dealt kindly by us. As yet, the pestilence has not
visited our homes, and while we sympathize with those
* See Appendix C.
25
who suffer, we may well be grateful for the mercies we
enjoy. Let us not provoke the Almighty to wrath, or mock
him with a pretended service, but let us keep this fast unto
the Lord, according to the direction of his word. Let us
“break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by
showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening
of our tranquility.” “Then shall thy light break forth as
the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily ;
and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of
the Lord shall be thy rereward.”
And now, most Merciful God and Heavenly Father,
whose tender mercies are over all thy works, and who hast
promised acceptance and grace unto the contrite, dispose
our hearts unto a true repentance, and grant unto us as a
people, that we may ever hereafter keep thy command-
ments, and walk in thy ways to the honor and glory of thy
name, through Jesus Christ our Lord; unto whom, in the
unity of the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour
and glory, forever. Amen.
APPENDIX,
A.
The following extract from “Ramsay’s History of the
United States,” is so much in point, and contains such
excellent advice, that I cannot forbear inviting the attention
of the reader to it. He is addressing his fellow-citizens,
and says: g
Cherish and support a reverence for government, and
cultivate union between the East and the South, the
Atlantic and the Mississippi. Let the greatest good of
the greatest number be the pole star of your public and
private deliberations. Shun wars : they beget debt, add
to the common vices of mankind, and produce others,
which are almost peculiar to themselves. Agriculture,
manufactures, and commerce are your proper business.
Seek not to enlarge your territory by conquest. It is
already sufficiently extensive. You have ample scope for
the employment of your most active minds, in promoting
your own domestic happiness. Maintain your own rights;
and let all others remain in quiet possession of theirs.
Avoid discord, faction, luxury, and the other vices which
have been the bane of commonwealths. Cherish and
reward the philosophers, the statesmen, and the patriots,
who devote their talents and time, at the expense of their
private interests, to the toils of enlightening and directing
their fellow citizens ; and thereby rescue citizens and
rulers of republics, from the common and too-often-merited
charge of ingratitude. Practise industry, frugality, tem-
perance, moderation, and the whole lovely train of repub-
lican virtues. Venerate the plough, the hoe, and all the
implements of agriculture. Honour the men who with
their own hands maintain their families, and raise up
children in ared to toil, and capable of defending their
country. Reckon the necessity of labour not among the
curses, but the blessings of life. Your towns will probably
ere long be engulphed in luxury and effeminacy. If your
liberties and future prospects depended on them, your career
28
of liberty would probably be short ; but a great majority
of your country must, and will be yeomanry, who have no
other dependence than on Almighty God, for his usual
blessing on their daily labour. From the great excess of
the number of such independent farmers in these states,
over and above all other classes of inhabitants, the long
continuance of your liberties may be reasonably presumed.
Let the hapless African sleep undisturbed on his native
shore ; and give over wishing for the extermination of the
ancient proprietors of this land. Universal justice is
universal interest. The most enlarged happiness of one
people, by no means requires the degradation or destruction
of another. There is territory enough for them and for
you. Instead of invading their rights, promote their hap-
piness, and give them no reason to curse the folly of their
fathers, who suffered yours to sit down on a soil, which the
common parent of both had previously assigned to them.
Diffuse the means of education, and particularly of religious
instruction, through your remotest settlements. Support
and strengthen the hands of public teachers, and of worthy
clergymen. Let your voluntary contributions confute the
dishonourable position, that religion cannot be supported
but by compulsory establishments. Remember that there
can be no political happiness without liberty; that there
can be no liberty without morality; and that there can be
no morality without religion.
g
B.
The following article which appeared in the Southern
Christian Advocate a few weeks since, may be new to the
reader. In general, churches are among the first buildings
to be erected after the location and settlement of a town.
On the Southern coast of West Florida lie the ruins of
the once pleasant little city of St. Joseph. Spread out to
the westward before it is the broad and commodious bay
by the same name, being an arm of the great gulf. It is
an excellent harbor where the largest ships may lie at
anchor with safety. Time was when its beautiful surface
was thickly dotted with merchant vessels waiting to be
laden with cotton to be carried to other climes. The
surrounding territory is one vast plain of white sand,
scarcely varied by the smallest hill, and but thinly wooded
29
with low pine trees and scattering stunted shrubs—being
such an immense barren that no human being lives within
twenty miles around the place. Bears and other wild
animals inhabit the marshes and places of concealment,
living principally on shell fish, and whatever else may
float to the shore. *
In the midst of this wild, uninhabited wilderness, sprung
up like a mushroon almost in a day about the year 1831,
the city above named. It was the principal mart of a
large up-country territory. The produce was conveyed by
an outlet of the Chattahoochee, called a bayou, into the lake
Wimmaco, from thence by a railroad which led across the
plain to the city, and was continued in the bay nearly a half
mile to about fifteen feet of water terminating in the form
of a T., where the cotton was received immediately from
the cars on board ship lying by the wharf. The people
came from all parts of the world, consequently there was a
variety of languages spoken, and various were their cos-
tumes and habits of life. Cars were hourly passing loaded
with all classes who resorted hither. Some for specula-
tion—some for health, and others to indulge in pleasure and
idleness. Never was there a place more prolific of the
dreams of happiness and the anticipations of wealth never
to be realized. It is said that the Mansion house of the
new city was completed, with some fifty rooms, in less than
one week and filled with boarders. A large territory was
surveyed out into city lots, and sold for the most extrava-
gant prices. Fine houses were erected on credit, that cost
thousands. Vines and choice fruits brought from tropical
climes, were highly cultivated. Pleasant gardens were
tastefully arranged, in which were cultivated all kinds of
flowers and shrubbery. Every luxury that a pampered
appetite could wish was realized, and if we may judge
from the immense quantity of champagne bottles scattered
in all directions, Bacchus was the principal household
god. In less than five years it numbered nearly four thou-
sand inhabitants, and was considered a potent rival and
cause of jealousy to its neighbouring sister town Apalachi-
cola. Many a fine house was seen stealthily to crawl
away from the latter, and find its way to the new rising
city. Gentle reader, the dreams of wealth were of short
duration. Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, were written on her
walls. She was weighed in the balances and found
wanting. As anomalous as it may seem in a christian
30
land, in the height of its prosperity, no house of worship
was ever erected there, and dedicated to the living God.
A reverse of fortune was soon to follow, commercial affairs
assumed a different aspect. The price of cotton fell in the
market, and it was evident that business was fast de-
clining. To hasten its total ruin, in 1841, the yellow ſever
broke out, and the citizens fled in every direction,-many
leaving all they had, leaving their sick friends to die
almost alone, and be buried, as it happened, by strangers.
Some of the fugitives never returned to regain their
property; nor was it known what was their fate. A
mighty change has come over this once flourishing sea-
port town. The bay spread out in front of it is as
beautiful as ever, but the city is an entire wreck. Once
elegantly finished houses are fast falling to decay. Some
seventy souls are now living among the ruins, secluded
from mankind. A Sunday school has recently been
formed, and is kept up by a faithful few. They have
had no preaching for several years. A meeting was held
there a few Sundays since, and some remarked that it
was the first time they had ever attended church and
heard a sermon.
Such is the fate of the unfortunate city of St. Joseph,
and we venture to say the like has never been known
in the United States.
C.
PROFANATION of THE SABBATH.—The Germans of Cincin-
nati have been outraging the moral feelings of the com-
munity by holding what they call a musical festival, in the
neighborhood of that city. Some 5000 persons were
present, chiefly German Lutherans and Papists; and drink-
ing, dancing, and other acts of revelry, were the order of
the day. And what is worse, the secular papers of the
city, with scarcely an exception, eulogized the celebration.
The Central Watchman, however, speaks of it as follows:
“The result of the German Festival on Bald Hill, Sabbath
before last, has been more fearful in the loss of life than
we had anticipated. It is supposed that 100 of those who
joined in the Sabbath desecration on that occasion, died
in ten days from the effects of wine drinking. It is stated
by one of the daily papers, that nine thousand bottles of
sour wine were drunk on that day ! It is matter of alarm,
31
that intemperance is still fearfully on the increase in our
city. Places for the retail of intoxicating drinks are mul-
tiplying on every hand. We counted the other day ten on
one side of a single square One thousand in this city—
one to every twenty or twenty-five families And this is
about the proportion in most of our large cities.” In
announcing the festival, a paper published by five Ger-
man ministers had the effrontery to say: “From Heaven
we expect no disturbance; for he means it well, even if
he pours down rain upon his flowers; they flourish only
the better. But what will our Puritans, Methodists, and
hypocritical bigots of all colors say, when they see, early
on Sunday, the procession of happy and free men walking
up Bald Hill ? Well, they will wish them a few stormy
thunder claps, but they cannot grunt down the chorus,
from the breasts of German freemen.” Whatever Metho-
dists and Puritans may say, the Lutheran Observer expresses
itself in no ambiguous terms, concerning such baptized
infidels. “We disclaim ecclesiastically, theologically, and
practically, all and every relationship and communion
with them, and wish not to be named or thought of in
connection with such ministers. May the Lord preserve
our land, our Sabbath, and our free institutions from the
withering influences of German neology. Such displays
of its practical effects, really seem calculated to bring
down upon our land the signal judgment of heaven.”—
Southern Christian Advocate.
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