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the prerogative of making them the instruments of executing his own wise and benevolent designs.

The thoughts which have been suggested upon this subject are not, we trust, altogether foreign to the great occasion which has called us into the house of God at this time. We are professedly convened to pay public respect to the memory of that great man who has lately fallen in our Israel. And certainly we have just ground to lament the decease of Washington the Great. This character of right belongs to him. Great men have always been very rare in our world. Not one in a century, not one in a million of mankind has ever appeared. Though there have been many shining characters in the various learned professions, yet none of these, however acute their genius, or however extensive their learning and information, have deserved to be called great. A profession always cramps the genius, circumscribes the sphere of action, and stamps a littleness upon any human character. A great man is above learning and every learned profession. He must be an independent citizen, and have a full scope for the display of all his mental powers. He must be either a statesman or a warrior. In this capacity he may found, or rule, or save a nation; and thereby establish a character more durable than marble, and as lasting as the page of history. In our Washington both the statesman and the warrior were united. In the former character he held an elevated rank; but in the latter he shone without a rival, and even eclipsed the greatest captains of antiquity. God gave him a graceful figure, and a noble commanding aspect. He put him in possession of a large independent landed interest, which placed him in the first rank of citizens, inspired him with the love of liberty, created an aversion to tyranny, and effectually guarded him against the corrupting influence of places and pensions. Entirely free from the subtilties of law, the intrigues of a court, and the schemes of ambition, he lived greatly independent. In this most eligible situation he stood prepared to hear and to obey the calls of his country. Possessed of a strong and capacious mind, which was able to devise and keep its own counsels, he was fitted to stand at the head of an army and at the head of a nation, and to maintain a controlling influence in both the cabinet and the field. Such an influence, it appears from the papers that have been published, he actually did maintain, during the whole course of the American war. He first formed his army by diffusing a military spirit, and establishing military order and subordination, through the whole. He next concerted his plans of operation, and provided the means of carrying them into effect. And in order to this, he found it

necessary to superintend the grand council of the nation, and often to direct their most important measures. For a number of years Washington was the soul of America; and by his superior wisdom and weight of character, he absolutely governed thirteen professedly united but actually disunited states. In this momentous situation, while he carried in his hand the fate of more than three millions of people, he displayed the astonishing resources of his mighty mind. At one and the same time he attended to a multiplicity of great and interesting objects. While he directed the movements of all the American forces, stationed at very different and very distant posts, he kept a watchful eye over the motions of the British army, and all the manœuvres of their most skilful and famous generals. In the midst of all these weighty, and seemingly overwhelming cares and concerns, he stood alone, giving advice to all, and receiving assistance from none. There was not a man in the world capable of looking farther, or directing better, than himself. And here let us reflect with admiration and astonishment, that he never failed in a single instance, of executing his most complicated and important designs. He concerted the plan of dislodging the enemy from Boston, and he executed his purpose. He formed the scheme of surprising and capturing the Hessians at Trenton, and he actually took them by surprise. He conceived, concealed, and carried into execution, the complicated and deep design of conquering the whole British army at Yorktown. By such masterly strokes of generalship, he stands the rival of a Cyrus and a Hannibal, in those very qualities which have rendered their names immortal.

This great man, we are now to remember, God raised up in mercy to America. God gave him his great abilities, together with an opportunity and a disposition to display them in his country's service. It was God who gave him the universal love, the entire confidence, and unanimous suffrages, of his fellow citizens. God placed him at the head of our armies, and at the helm of our government. God girded his loins, directed his counsels, and succeeded his mighty efforts, through the cares of the cabinet, and the dangers of the field. Let the man be absorbed in his Maker. Let Washington the Great be loved and admired, but never adored. Our first regards are due to Him who made him the instrument of his own glory, and the founder of our national independence, and the principal promoter of our national peace, prosperity, and rising greatness.

As the goodness of God has been displayed in the life, so his awful and amiable sovereignty has been displayed in the death, of the father of our country. His life was a host. His

sword was the hope of America, and the terror of all her enemies. But the mighty man is fallen, in a day of darkness and of doubtful expectation. This great and afflictive event has spread a gloom over America, and penetrated every grateful patriotic heart in the nation. It has thrown the court, the camp, and the navy into tears. It has pierced the bosom of our illustrious President, the surviving support and glory of his country. It has, in a word, produced a more general, a more deep, and a more sincere mourning, than was ever perhaps produced by the death of any other man in the world. Jesus wept. We may weep. A nation may mourn, but never murmur nor despond. This national bereavement was designed to throw us into the hand of God, and make us feel our absolute dependence on the great first Cause. God is still able to raise up instruments to fulfil his purposes towards a people whom he has always delighted to protect, to increase, and to prosper. If we eye his hand in the gift, and submit to his will in the removal, of our late deliverer and benefactor, we may humbly hope that God will never permit us to suffer for the want of future statesmen and warriors to guide all our civil and military movements, in defence of our liberties and our lives. The death of Washington is a national trial. If to honor him, we rob God of his glory, God will be displeased, and most probably our whole nation will be punished. In the midst of our national grief, let us conduct like a people who believe the existence, and acknowledge the providence, of an infinitely holy, wise, righteous and benevolent Being. And while we pay a supreme respect to Him, let us gratefully perpetuate the memory of him, whose memory ought to be embalmed and transmitted to the latest ages of time.

By this we shall promote the honor of our nation. Though there may have been men in America whose talents were equal to Washington's, yet they never had an opportunity to display them. And though there may arise among us men hereafter, whose talents shall be equal to Washington's, yet they will never have an opportunity to display them. Washington, therefore, must necessarily be the greatest man that this quarter of the globe ever did or ever will produce. It is the genius and not the soil of a country that renders it illustrious. It is the agents in great revolutions, and not great revolutions in a nation, that render it famous. The mighty revolutions in Persia, in Greece and in Rome, had long since been lost in oblivion, had they not been attached to the immortal names of Cyrus, of Alexander and the Cæsars. So the virtues, the talents, and the mighty deeds of Washington, will do more to render the Americans famous in the annals of history, than all

the fruits of his mighty exertions. If we mean to stand high among the nations of the earth, we must perpetuate the memory of the founder of our nation.

By this we shall also transmit a bright and amiable example, for the admiration and imitation of future statesmen and warriors. There is nothing equal to examples to inspire the minds of young politicians and warriors. Alexander formed his character according to the standard of Homer's heroes. The Iliad he always carried about with him. The life and character of Washington may form thousands to shine in the cabinet and in the field. This ought to animate us to send down the current of time our illustrious Washington, with undiminished lustre and glory. And I must add, that by doing justice to Washington, we shall do honor to God. For our sakes he raised him up. For our sakes he gave him all his greatness and glory. Gratitude to God, therefore, requires us to commemorate his death, admire his character, imitate his excellences, and be watchful of his fame. His fame and ours are inseparably united, and both deserve our gratitude to Him who has made us a nation, defended our liberties, and placed us high above all other nations in civil and religious advantages. Let us, therefore, sing aright of mercy as well as judgment, and exercise that gratitude and submission which the smiles and the frowns of Heaven now loudly demand. Amen.

SERMON XI.

LAMENTATION FOR WASHINGTON.

FEBRUARY 22, 1800.

How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!-2 SAMUEL, i 27.

WHEN David first heard of the death of his father and of his friend, he was deeply affected, and discovered the strongest marks of unfeigned sorrow. "Then he took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him; and they mourned and wept until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel." As the remains of these illustrious warriors were in the power of their enemies, David could not, as he did on a similar occasion, follow them to their graves, and weep over them there. But all that he could do, in his distressed situation, he did. Being no less expert with his pen, than with his lyre and spear, he poured forth the tender emotions of his heart in a solemn, plaintive, funeral dirge. Though he felt a warmer attachment to Jonathan than to Saul, yet in celebrating their virtues, their talents, and their public services, he pays them an equal tribute of public respect. He endeavors, with all his poetic skill, to inspire the whole nation with the same sensibilities, which he felt in his own bosom, and calls upon them, in the most pathetic strains, to unite in deploring the untimely decease of the great ornaments and benefactors of their country. "How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished!" Our loss is great and irreparable. The death of our generals is the death of our hopes and the destruction of our arms. Our national calamity calls for

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