lifornia onal lity THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IOS ANGELES THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORHH *. It' REV. DR. BEECHER'S SERMON, ADDRESSED TO THE LEGISLATURE OF CONNECTICUT; AT THX DAT Or TU BY LYMAN BEECHER, D. D. -HAVHN : ?t?BLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LSISLATf &K. I. Bunce, Printer, a 182$. Ala General Assembly of the Slate of Connecticut, holden at New-Haven in said Stale, on the f.rsl Wednesday of May, in the year of our lard one thousand eight hundred and twenty six PESOLVED, That the Hon Samuel Chimh, end Monis Woodruff, be di- fert-'.d to vviit on the Rev. LYMAN BEEOHciR, and preseut him the trunks of t!e Gen ml A-?eiubl'. for the Scr-nun delivered by him this day, and re- quest a copy of the same, (hat it n y be printed. A true Copy of Record, Examined by THOMAS DAY, Secretary* REVELATION xxi. 5. "And He that sat upon the throne said Behold, Imake all thingi new." HE history of the world is the history of human nature in ruins. No state of society has been permanent and universal which corresponds with the capacities of enjoyments posses- sed by man, or with his conceptions and desires. Small por- tions only of the human family have, at the same time, enjoyed a state of society, in any considerable degree desirable: while much the greatest part of mankind have, in all ages, endured the evils of barbarism and despotism. It is equally manifest, that this unhappy condition of our race has not been the result of physical necessity, but of moral cau- ses. The earth is as capable of sustaining a happy as a miser- able population, and it is the perversion only of her resources and of the human faculties, which has darkened the earth and made the misery of man so great. The human intellect has given proof of vigour and ingenuity sufficient to bless the world ; and powerful efforts nave been made in every age, by afflicted humanity, to es- cape trom this downward bias, and rise to elevated and permanent enjoyment. Egypt, in her monumental ruins, affords evidence of a high state of the arts, which arose and passed away at a period beyond the reach of history. In Greece, a vigorous in- tellect and favouring clime thrust up, from the dead level around her, a state of society comparatively cultivated and happy ; but the sun of her prosperity blazed upon the surrounding darkness 6 t& set .speedily in the night of ages. Rome fought her way to dominion and civilization, and furnished specimens of mental vigour and finished culture. But the superstructure of her greatness rested upon oppressed humanity, and was reared by "he plunder of a devastated world. Commerce, which has giv- en to cities a temporary eminence, has elevated but a little the pjoral condition of the multitude ; and science, which was restor- ed to modern Europe at the Reformation, and commerce and the arts, which have followed in her train, have not, to this day, disenthralled the nations. From experiments so long and so hopelessly made, it would sepm to result that, in the conflict between the heart and the in- tellect of man. victory has always declared on the side of the heart ; which has led many to conclude that the condition of man h hopeless in respect to any universal abiding melioration of his forKli'-iort. The text throws light upon this dark destiny of man. It is a voice from heaven announcing the approach of help from above. " He that sitteth upon the throne saith, behold I make all things new." The renovation here announced is a moral renovation, which r-: .til change the character and condition of men. The renova- tion will not be partial in its influence, like the sun shining ih clouds on favoured spots, but co-extensive with the ru- in. Nor shall its results be that national glory, which gilds on- palace, and cheers only the dwellings of the noble. It shall bring down the mountains and exalt the valleys. It shall :