Author
Thomas Church Brownell
Thomas Church Brownell (1779–1865) was an American Episcopal clergyman and the second bishop of Connecticut, serving from 1819 until his death, during a formative period for the Protestant Episcopal Church in the early nineteenth century. His theological work emphasized the importance of ecclesiastical authority and liturgical tradition within the American Episcopal tradition, as evidenced by his public addresses to civil authorities on matters of moral and religious significance. Brownell's tenure as bishop coincided with the church's efforts to establish institutional stability and doctrinal coherence in the post-Revolutionary era, making him a significant figure in the development of American Anglicanism.
From A Sermon Addressed to the Legislature of the State of Connecticut at the Annual Election in New Haven, May 1st, 1822
I. Man, in the pride and presumption of his heart, is fond of accounting for every thing through the agency of second causes. Limiting his views to these, he disregards the unseen Ruler of the Universe, who gives to these causes their impulse and dir&^'ao;^. Speculating upon national wars, he traces their origin to the aiHlSition of princes, and the intrigues of politicians. CivU commotions, where the citizen is armed against the citizen, and where the brother's hand is raised against the brother ; — ^these he regards as arising from the machinations of demagogues, working on the passions of the turbulent, and on the ignorance and prejudices of the weak. Dearth and famine, he attributes to unpropitious seasons ; and the " pestilence, which walketh in darkness," he ascribes to noxious vapours, and a tainted atmosphere. These he beholds as regular effects, constantly flowing from the same causes, and…
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