President Atwater's Election Sermon

' 4 Prefident Atwater’s i lection mmm mmmiimmm v\'iA’’ 'AjM&Wk ssflwJB A SERMO N, PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY ISAAC TICHENOR, Es ^ Governour, THE HONORABLE THE COUNCIL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STATE OF VERMONT, BURLINGTON, ANNIVERSARY ELECTION, October 14, 1802. -- - By JEREMIAH ATWATER, PRESIDENT OF MIDDLEBCRY COLLEGE. THE natural place of Virtue is near to Liberty t but it is not nearer to extreme liberty than to servitude. MID D L E BURY.- A By HUNTINGTON W FITCH, ANTHONY °H A S W E L L, PRINTER TO THE STATE. 1802. &rr in * ' IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, OCTOBER IS, 1802. RESOLVED , That a committee of three Members be appointed to wait upon the Reverend Mr. Atwater, return him the thanks of the House, for his Election Sermon, and requefi a copy thereof for the prefs. Members chofen—Mr. Lyon, Mr. Leland, Mr. Niles , Attejl. SERMON, &c. 1st PETER—II Chap. 16th Verse. AS free, aitd not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. Called to speakbesore this respectable Assembly, I have need of much of the candor, and mud beg the patient indulgence of my au¬ dience, on the present occasion. The time has been, when the feelings of all which have happened on the theatre of Europe. But the European world is now at peace, and our fympathy with foreign governments, it is to be hoped, is lessened. The affairs which now occupy our minds, are the concerns of our own country, and its government. What happens in all free countries, has happened here, that differences of opinion have arifen. What lies at the bottom of these differences, is, I appre¬ hend, difference of views, relative to the nature £nd end of government itself. To entertain right ( 6 ) ideas on this point will, by all, be judged of the highest importance. Errors here, cannot fail to produce those evils whith ever attend error. It is desirable, not only that we should know the true end of government; but that we Ihbuld un¬ derhand the foundation of our own free, repub¬ lican fystem, that we may unite in our endeav¬ ours, to give to it permanency, and guard againfl: the evils, which threaten its overthrow. Wheth¬ er in treating on a fubjed of this fort, in times like these, I may flatter myfelf with the idea of efcaping cenfure, or not, still, this may, with truth, be said, that to attempt to irjitate and add fuel to the flame of party, would be improper, and incompatible with the friendly feelings, with which we ought to assemble on this anniverfary.

In the chapter containing the text, the apostle direded those to whom he wrote, how to condud in the civil relation. He fuppofes that there may be such a thing, as an abuse of liberty, and warns them to guard againfl: it.. What I now propose, is, to confider the reflraint which the idea of government always fuppofes, and the nature of this reflraint in a republican govern-, ment; the connexion of such a fyflem in our own country, with the peculiar state of society, and the moral principles and habits of the peo¬ ple ; and the neceflity and the means of preferv- ( 7 ) kg them. The apostle, in the context, Informs as, that rulers are appointed for the punifhment of evil doers, and for the praise of those who do well. Government may then, I conceive, be confidered, as having its origin, primarily, in the vices of man. If all men were virtuous, there would be little need of it. But such is man’s nature, so prone is he to invade the rights of others, that he needs restraint: The felfilh pafsions need curbing and regulating. The necefsity of government arifes from the necessity of such restraint. This is a very obvious truth : But at the fame time, apt to be overlooked in an age, when multitudes, feeling that restraint® have, in many instances, been unnecessarily impofed, in the paroxyfin of passion feem difpofed to throw off all restraint. To exclaim against restraint, and to extol unbounded liberty, has ever been a popular theme. The man who can flatter restlessness with change $ poverty with an equalization of staticn and property j vice with the indulgence of passion ; and diicon tent with the removal of restraints which are difpleafing, has ever found friends among those, who are dissatisfied with the existing order of things. Liberty is a found dear to us all: But what do we understand by it ? One, perhaps, denotes by it, a licenfe to do what he pleases, and con* ( 8 ) fiders every kind and degree of restraint, as ty¬ ranny, whether that restraint originates with the individual himself, or is impofed by civil rulers* Self-government, as commanded by christianity, is viewed as a counteraction of natural freedom, and civil government as an intrusion on natural rights, equally odious. It is the perfe&ion of Rousseau’s celebrated fystem, entitled the Social ContraCt, that “ every perfon while united with all, shall obey only himself, and remain as free, as before the union.” Such a liberty as this mud be pronounced, in the highest degree, de¬ trimental to the interests of mankind. It re¬ duces man back to the very state of barbarism, from which government is fuppofed to have re¬ deemed him. Liberty, if confidered as a bleffing, mult be taken in a qualified fenfe. The freedom which it implies, must be a limited, not abfolute freedom ; unless we will pronounce government itself a curfe ; for the very idea of government always fuppofes some restraint. But to this restraint the perversity of man’s nature has ever been oppofed, and vicious men have ever been most loud in exclaiming in favor of un¬ bounded liberty ; because such a liberty is no other than the liberty of finning, the liberty of indulging lawless paflion, and of invading a neighbor’s rights. It would arm the idle and profligate against the virtuous and industrious.