Election Sermon

DISCOURSE. Juss called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and their great ones exercise au- - thority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: hut whosoever will be great ‘among YoU, shall be your minister ; And whosoever of yon will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Turse are the words of divine inspiration and their meaning is Usefulness ;—Usefulness, the duty and the - glory of mankind. When I connect together the words - Usefulness and Duty, I suggest no new idea; I bring forward no startling proposition ; I only refer to one of - those plain unquestioned truths, that lie at the bottom of our moral faith;—truths received by our fathers from former generations, and handed down to us; truths, whose interpretation he who runs may read, whose obligation is as acknowledged as it is strong. on when I bind the two terms Usefulness and Glory. bination of a strane? sonnel then, do I declare a a doctrine, which men are but been haan to understand. _ Glory! it has been the watchword of the bold, the restless, the aspiring. Its trumpet-sound has eile ed the rush of blood through many a heart ; and kindled in the imagination visions of exceeding brightness. Youth has leaped up at its stirring-sound, and age has sotten the burden of its years.* Its blaze has lighted up the pages of romance, and cast a broad glare over the records of sober history. Solitary indivic ual } made it their idol, and crowds have shouted forth. worship. It has caused nation to rise up again tion, and shaken kingdoms into fragments. It the story of the world. Fathers have told j children ; age has proclaimed it to age; and erations of mankind, as they have travelled ov have thought the life well spent that was given pursuit; and its reward abundant, though its ¢ on cord were an epitaph. a And what is this glory that men have thus purchased, with care, and toil, and even life it What is its character, its tendency, its rae Yy makes it worth such cost? What is the good it or promises?

Shame on the intelligence and virtue ofa man! love of glory has been an insane passion, and ry itself, he has coveted, utter madness. It has but another name for power, dominion, ralesti I signs have been, the sceptre, the sword, the scenes of triumph, the throne, the battle-field, ace. It has been born in flame, and nour blood ; it has thrived on intrigue, and grown the midst of a world’s terrors and distress. the monopoly of kings, warriors, exactors—w amost hateful lust for power, have sought to sti voice, chain down every arm, that could opp unhallowed purpose of unlimited control over, and life of men. Glory! it has been the s thousands to the exaltation of one. To enlarg and subdue mankind; to be in authority, an unto one, go, and he goeth; and to another, co he cometh; and to my servant, do this, and he —this has been Glory. To break down the spi multitudes into passive obedience, and make n i will, a law, unresisted, unquestioned ; ;—this | Glory. To lead or send forth thousands of human beings, in the glitter and noise of military array; to j] some weaker land, and turn its fields into deserts, its homes into graves; to cloud its heavens with the smoke and dust of battle, and literally soak the ground with human blood ;—this has been Glory. And what has such glory been, in the eye of reason and of God? Splendid crime ; and they who wore its honors, guilty offenders. Its very name isa sound to shock the moral feeling, and sicken the heart with ; for, it is associated with the thought of robbery, bondage, and woe, through age after age. It has been a dazzling and a scorching brightness; not only causing a burning fever in the few, but, a strange madness in the many. For, —unhappily for the prosperity of men—not those only who seized upon the rewards of this Glory, but those who were only stepping stones, instruments, have been made giddy by the same delirium, and spent their strength, and wasted life; not for their own welfare, but the aggrandizement of those who used them but as tools—and when the point was gained, left them— the broken tools that tyrants cast away by myriads, when they dare to pave their way with human hearts.’ Not only have the painter, the poet, the novelist, the historian, combined to hallow this brilliant mockery ; and build up their enduring monuments to those individuals who have been successful in this bold and bad ambition; but, even the philosopher, the Christian, have forgotten their high vocation, and lent their voices to the Hymn that was chaunted forth to the praise of mighty heroes; when, their only feelings should have been—abhorrence for the sin, and pity for the delusion; their only prayer, Heaven forgive these great ones their offences; and cure the blindness of their __ Worshippers. _ How vast, measureless, the difference between this spurious glory, this mischievous renown; and ¢ al honor, that true greatness, which is the er excellence of our nature; the second great ¢ of our religion; whose obligation is of divine sing; and whose interpretation is Usefulnean é " glory of mind and of heart. Not the lust of poy but the love of duty, that toils, not for eel iia izement, but a wide-spread good. . That see lighten, not bewilder; to elevate, not deureda to deem, not to oppress; to save, not to destroy. 7 glory, not of the despot, but the benefactor; not of warrior, but the philanthropist. The Slory ame of ¢ ward appearance, but of the inward man. …