Religious Principle

Rev. SAMUEL C. JACKSON’S ELECTION SERMON. 1843. Religious Principle—A Source of Public Prosperity. A SERMON HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN DAVIS, GOVERNOR, HIS HONOR GEORGE HULL, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, THE HONORABLE COUNCIL, AND THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, AT THE ANNUAL ELECTION, ON SATURDAY J TANU AY 7.1843. BY SAMUEL C. JACKSON, Pastor of the West Church, Andover. Wostow: DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. Oe coe eerersresacee® HOVE TAS hid ( rt pa 4 } Lf Capes ; mer a ; eax Eommonwealth of Hlassachusetts. SENATE, January 11, 1843. OrpereD, That Messrs. Dickinson, Exiot and GREENWoop, be a Com- mittee to present the thanks of the Senate to the Rev. Samvet C. Jackson, for his Discourse delivered before the Government of the Commonwealth on the 7th inst., and to request a copy for publication. Attest : LEWIS JOSSELYN, Crerx. fC The following Discourse was abbreviated in the delivery. SERMON. 2 Peter, ii i7: FEAR GOD. HONOR THE KING. THE usage which has assembled us is a memorial of Christian piety. Good men have gone before us. Their impress is upon our religious customs, upon our laws and institutions. This occasion, conse- crated by similar convocations, for more than two centuries, reminds us of the Christian rulers who, for so many generations, have come up hither ;—who came in times often of thrilling interest, from changes of administration and dynasty in the mother-land, from the revocation of charters, from the tyranny of foreign governors, and from the scenes and hazards of revolution. What men were they! With what integrity of purpose and nobleness of spirit did they come to this metropolis, to share the honors and responsibilities of government! Would that their successors, in our halls of legislation, would wrap themselves in the mantles that fell from them, and catch from their memories inspirations of virtue and patriotism ! Religion has conferred upon us our free govern- ment. From the service it has rendered freedom, as well as from its divinity, it is entitled to be heard by those intrusted with our civil authority.

The brief injunctions | have quoted from an in- spired Apostle bring to view our relations both to God and to civil government. ‘The first, implying a supreme regard to the divine will, as the rule and motive of duty, asserts the great law of moral con- duct. ‘The other enjoins a due respect to the exist- ing depositary of the civil power, as a public agent, holding a trust from the Almighty for the good of men. ‘Though apparently independent, we are taught, if not by their connexion, yet by the direc- tions of the New ‘Testament, to regard our duties to civil society as a part of our duty to God. Religion, both natural and revealed, teaches that magistrates are ‘¢ God’s ministers ;” if so, our obligation to them is founded on a higher obligation to Him who appointed them. As rulers and people we are not backward to heed suggestions of physical advantage, or the com- mon lessons of political wisdom ; but, at the present time, we most need the operation of a surer element of national happiness—the general honesty and high moral principle which result from the fear of God. Permit me to direct your attention to— RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE AS A SOURCE OF PUBLIC PROSPERITY. The proprieties of the occasion will not allow me, nor am I disposed to enter the field of party politics, or to touch any party chord ; yet it should be con- sidered that many political questions have moral bearings, that political evils often arise from moral causes, and are illustrations of the moral condition of a people. On these moral aspects I may touch, as appropriate to my office and to this service. Reverence for God is the summary of all religious principle. ‘That it is an essential element of national prosperity, appears from its relation to true virtue ; from its tendency to secure an observance of the first principles of civil government ; from the insuffi- ciency of other grounds of reliance ; and from its efficacy to diminish, if not remove, prominent public evils.

I. Religious principle is the main support and security of true virtue. That individual virtue is the grand basis of repub- lican freedom, is a truth that no intelligent man will for one moment doubt. ‘There can be but two kinds of government, the one relying for its support on force, the other on moral restraints. That the prev- alence and efficacy of moral restraints depend mainly on a general and devout reference to the supreme will, as the rule of duty and the incentive to its per- formance, is certain. Instead of abstract reasoning, ty) | prefer to appeal to the undeniable facts, that the Christian revelation enforces duty upon the principle of a command from the Creator,—that our own moral powers acquiesce,—that the experience of the world has proved that the light of conscience, and natural religion, have never yet produced an amount of virtue sufficient to constitute a safe basis of popu- lar freedom,—and that the highest instances of moral and social advancement have been in those communities most governed by the precepts and sanctions of the Christian religion. Forever true are those memorable words of Washington, so often quoted, and worthy of being repeated in the hearing of the nation through all time :—* Let us,” he says, ‘¢ with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refmed education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” But there is a morality of practical atheism. It would be modified, neither in principle nor extent, if the idea of God were obliterated from the world. It honors religion with compliments, but discards its principles in practice. …