The Claims

s$e ii«i9iiiiiii asiect^fioii, MAT 25, 1825. BSFOR£ His Honor MARCUS MORTON, Esq. UEUTENANT GOVERNOB, THE HONORABLE COUNCIL, AND THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. BY WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, VArrOB OF TBS 7IB8T CBURCB IV VSIT tPBUTOFIXLt). BOSTON! PRINTED BY TRUE AND GREENE, PBINTSB8 TO TBS ITATS* 1825. 'ft, ' ^^^v iV7 ; i^''. CommonttieiiUfi of JKuffiMiefittisettis. IN SENATE, May 26, 1825. ORDERED, That the Hon. Messrs. Austin, Mills and Kino, he a Committee to wait upon the Rev. William B. Spraoue, and in the name of the Senate, to thank him for the sermon by him deliv- ered before His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, and the Honora- ble Counoil, and the two branches of the Legislature, and to request a oopj'thMfiof for the press. Atxut PAUL WU.LARD, CUrk. ■ f . SERMON. LUKE.....XII. 48« Unto whomsoxvsb mvch is given, of him shaxx be hvcb Bxqt7iii£i>. This declaration of our Lord contains a principle of great extent and importance. We all practically ac- knowledge it in the common intercourse of life } in what we expect, and in what we require, of our fellow men.— It is recognised in every form of government, and in the very constitution of civil society. It constitutes a prominent feature in the divine administration; — the equitable rule for deciding the retributions of the world to come. It reaches the case of every individual, no matter whether he occupy the loftiest, or the obscurest station in society. And it is withal so simple, that the most humble capacity cannot fail to comprehend it* You must extinguish the light of man's reasbn, or his original sense of right and wrong, before you can even bring it into question ; for it id founded in the uncbaoiging laws of moral obligation. ♦-.- ^ It is obvious that there rests upon cnrery man a two fold responsibility; arising from the relations which he sus* tains to €rod, on the one hand, and to his fellow men, on the other. He is responsible to God, as the parent of his existence, and of every blessing, which renders that existence desirable. To his fellow men he is responsible, as possessing, in some measure, the means of rendering them good and happy ; and, especially, as being united with them in the nearer, or more remote relations of society. It is not easy to conceive of an individual so completely iilsulated, as to be absolved from all social obligation ; but even if that were possible, he would still be accountable as a creature of God. Nothing can sever the relation which man holds to his Creator, but an an- nihilating act, which should blot out man's rational ex- istence.

You will readily perceive, that the text admits of easy accommodation to any station or relation in life. It is my purpose, on the present occasion, to consider it in its application to civil rulers; and thus applied, the im- port of it will be, that they^ who are elevated to office^ act under a respormbilityj proportioned to the magnitude of the interests vnth which they are entrusted. As government is of divine institution, so the authority of rulers is derived originally from God : to him, there- fore, they must ultimately be accountable. But, in a subordinate sense, it is derived from their fellow men ; for it pertains to the nature of government, that the power possessed by rulers is a voluntary deposite from the people. It hence follows, that they are responsible to the people for the use which they make of it. And while this responsibility primarily respects the generation to which they immediately belong, it reaches backward to generations that are past, and forward to those which are to come. It is in this latter view — as it respects past and future generations, that I purpose to consider the re- sponsibility of rulers, at the present time; for it is an errour not peculiar to any class of men, and, therefore, incident to those in authority, that they are too prone to act in view of the present, to the exclusion of both the past and the future ; — ^to forget that they sustain relations of immense importance, which lie beyond their inmiediate field of vision. You will indulge me, therefore, honoured auditors, in an attempt to confirm the impression of your high obligations, while, in this restricted view of the text, I endeavour to illustrate the responsibility of civU rulers^ from the relations which they sustain to past and future generations ; and notice some of the claims which those relat^ms involve. I. I am, first, to illustrate the responsibility of civil nd" ersyfrom the relations which they stutain to past and future generations.

As it respects the generations that are past^ this re- sponsibility may appear from a reference to the prominent objects of publick interest, at which they have, aimed, and the labours and sacrifices^ which have been sustained for their attainment and preservation. These objects are Learning, Civil Liberty, and Re- ligion. As to the first of these, viz. Learning — it has often been remarked, as a peculiarly auspicious circumstance^ that the settlement of New-England was subsequent to the revival of letters in Europe ; and that our fathers, with an ardent attachment to religious liberty, brought hither a high sense of the value of intellectual improve- ment. They were men, who had been accustomed to breathe an enlightened atmosphere, and some of them were among the very master-spirits of the age ; and the moment they became inhabitants her^, though all around was dark and wild, there appeared, in this New-England sky, the morning star of intellectual glory. They judged — and they judged rightly — ^that ignorance is incompati- ble with a high degree of publick prosperity ; and that the developement of the intellectual powers is not more essential to the dignity and perfection of man's rational nature, than to the stability of civil govQrnment. …