Election Sermon

"sERMON, «1g EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, THE LIEU_ ENANT GOVERNOR, THE COUNCIL, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF VERMONT, Adte ber At DANVILLE, Novewses 10s, 1805 3 @EING TRE Dar oF GENERAL ELECTION. By JOHN FITCH, a. 2. Paflor of the Congregational Church, in Danville, PEACHAM : Printed by SAMUEL GOSS, 1805. Te) f be 7 J ti In GENERAL ASSEMBLY, O&cber 11th, 18 ia ON motion of Mr. Enos, Re/olved, That a Committee off Ht be appointed to wait on the Rey. Mr. Fircu, present to hi ae | thanks osthis House, for his Eleéion Sermon, delivered y bi: day, and request a Copy for the prefs. Members chofen, Mg ra Cem. | F Lyon, E, Porter, and Hurd. i Extract from the Journals, P Artet— MARTIN POST, Clerk, Py 1 KINGS, iii. 9. Give, therefore, thy servant an understanding heart to _ judge thy people, that I may difcern between good and | bad: For whois able to judge this thy so great a people? HE diffidence, with which Solomon af cended that elevated flation,,to which he was called by the death of his fathper, constitutes one of the most instruaz= ing, most amiable, and most eventful traits in his charaer. His obferving mind already looked forward, and anticipated the complicated and arduous tafk assigned him ; he already estimated the inade- | quacy of his own limited powers to its difcharge ; _ and, under the united pressure of these difcouraging telleCtions, he aflumed the reins of government with | atrembling hand. ‘To this unufually self-dissiident fiate of mind, we are undoubtedly to aicribe that dignified rank, which he has ever fustained among the potentates of the earth, and that high pitch of elevaHon, to which he exalted the kingdom, over which “he prefided. [iS 3 Soon after afcending his father’s throne, he paired to Gibeon, a celebrated place of sacrifice, { the purpose of presenting to Jehovah a {plendid feriug, and of fecuring, if poflible, the protettion g blefling of the Most High. So deeply was the portance of this objet impressed upon his mind, ang entitely was his heart devoted to its attainment, t when God appeared to him and said, “ Afk wha thall give thee,” his only request was, a wife; underitanding heart: For who, said he, is able judge this thy so greata people? . This remarkably wile and patriotic request pears evidently to have been the refult of much § vious thought, of much acquaintance with h m and with human nature in general, and ofan difinterefled attachment to the public good, age, to which he had now attained, had afforded an opportunity of obferving with an attentive eye inconfiderable portion of his father’s administra the education, which he had received, under h rection, of a prudent and faithful parent, had f to imprefs on his mind many important and t 1 lessons ; he had already been acquainted, i meafure, with the accumulated difficulties, witha a pious and faithful ruler must of necessity stru and the reflections, which had been fuggette what he had seen, and by what he had been tau had produced a full, and fettled conviction, tha important and arduous talk of government ¢ never be performed without wifdom from on h Already had he cast his eye from one extre his kingdom to the other, and perceived, that i a very extenfive field, that was confided to his’ Placed at the head of a great and populous na he felt that it was his province to watch ov public good, and to preferve inviolate, as fat a s sible, the rights of each individual fubje&, it to be his duty, to encourage whatever mig conducive to the public good, and to cast ak ; P ie s frown om whatever mi was fensible, that all ae might prove injurious. ite government mut be fu ordinate departments th a close and vigilant perintended, and watch o interests of agricultur eye ; that the wide ext i jous arts, must receiy e, oben did sie ten dand that institutions raphy ent vicina Tete uae emorality piet : promotion fs 3 sngiion of A alanak have been inattentive me aes can we suppose Mes the filting between iednfelt e numerous relati m ta ith whom it was his and the beactivesiag ti tubs _ most perfec amity y with to live on diva PHINCess, extenfive, complicated nd while bk given of the duties assigned him, h , and important nat ng the is equal to such a ra a ready to pe ee Nor did the seas slabidiaa Hes > * Who so be in any me of the undertaki the chara A peel: lessened, by a ata appear he was called ifpofition of the eration of to rei people, over wh the doétrine of abi 4p He had been evi 2 beg it would sachets n depravity, and perc ly taught wife and side Hee counteract many ye ot that thoughts of man’s “9 intentions. …