A Discourse Pronounced Before His Excellency William Eustis

IN this chapter the Prophet foretells the deliverance of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, and the blessings connected with their return to the land of their fathers. When we recollect the deep-toned anguish with which he elsewhere records the suffer, ings of his countrymen, it is easy to conceive, that he should announce the termination of their calamities, and the commencement of a happy era in their history, with all the glow of patriotick delight And as a man of piety, his delight must have been greatly increased, when he foresaw, that in the en* joyment of a profusion of blessings, the Author of them would not be forgotten. He was told, that the voice of joy and thanksgiving should be heard, and that the people would have such a conviction of the kindness of their deliverer, as would engage their hearts to approach unto Him. There can be nothing more pleasing to God, nor more in unison with a spirit of enlightened piety, than a devout and grateful acknowledgment of his benefits* This is a duty which we all owe to our Maker. But if we would perform this duty acceptably, and make it a reasonable service, we must meditate on our personal and relative condition ; we must ponder on the nature, extent, and variety of our blessings ; and not only view the history of the past, but look forward to the cheering prospects of the future. When our thoughts are thus employed, whatever may be our situation, whether we dwell in the shades of private life, or are elevated by the suffrages of our fellow citizens to publick and honorable station, we shall feel innumerable reasons for thanksgiving to Almighty God. As the Civil Authorities of the Commonwealth are assembled in this House, to render homage to the Governor of the World, and to pray that he would guide their Counsels and bless their measures for the publick good, it will not perhaps be deemed unsuitable to the occasion, should I remind them, and my fellow citizens who are present, that the past kindness of Providence to our Country, and the excellent nature of our Civil Institutions, have special claims on our gratitude.

It would be impossible in one discourse, to enumerate all the blessings of our social and political condition. I shall therefore confine myself to such topicks as are suggested by the prediction in our text In doing this, you will not fail to observe a remarkable coincidence between the blessings that were promised to the Jews, and those for which our nation is so highly distinguished. 1st It was predicted, that their population should greatly increase. * t will "multiply thetti and tbe^ shall not be few." In the safcred Writings, nothing is more common, than to describe the prosperity of a nation by the number of its inhabitants. The promise made to Abram, that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude, was an assurance, that they would become a mighty and prosperous people. When Moses was about to resign the cares of office, he expired his desires for the prosperity of the Israelites in the following prayer, "The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you. 9 ' It was also mentioned by another prophet as a special token of divine favor, that a little one should become % thousand, and a small one a strong nation. There may, indeed, be such a state of society, &nd Such arrangements concerning the distribution of property, that an increase of population may be viewed with dread. Even men of enlarged and philosophical minds, may consider it as the introduction of so many human beings, only to swell the tide of misery and vice, which already flows through the poorer classes of the Community. But there is nothing in our political Institutions, or in the possible limitation of our means of subsistence, whteh can make an increase of population, a subject Of gloomy foreboding to us. So far from this, when we read the history of our Country, and learn from what a small beginning we have already become a numerous people, we are sensible that we have great cause for gratitude. When the pious but feeble band of Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and asked as a boon, that they might be permitted to dwell among savages, who among them could have thought, that their posterity would have extended over so many States ? Had any of the number been endued with the gift of prophecy, and, like the bards of old, described what would be the condition and increase of their descendants after the lapse of two hundred years, he would have been to them as one that dreamed* They could not have believed him so* joy. But God has multiplied us, so that we are not few* There are, at this time, more than a million and a half of inhabitants in New-England, and it. has been stated by respectable authority,* " that there are now more than a million of people, descendants of New-England ancestry, living free and happy, in regions which sixty years ago, were tracts of unpenetrated forest" And what is still more gratifying, these people have carried with them from the home of their Fathers, the love of literature and religion, and those habits of industry, virtue and economy, for which New-England has been so justly celebrated* When, from the sons of the Pilgrims, we direct our attention to the present number of inhabitants in the United States, we shall find, that the population of no other modern nation has advanced with equal rapidity* At the commencement of the war of the Revolution, there were about three millions of peoVide * Hon. Daniel Webster's discourse delivered' at Plymouth. …