A Sermon Delivered Before His Excellency Levi Lincoln, Esq., Governor

I HARVARD COLLEGE TRANSFERRED FROM THE GRADUATE SCHOOL BUSINESS ADMWISTRATION iiiiLOli f iUt glSIBDil®^ DELIVERED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY LEVI LINCOLN Esq. . 60VERIY0R, HIS HONOR THOMAS L. WINTHROP LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, "> THE HON. COUNC3IL, THE SENATE, AND HOUSE f>P REPRESENTATIVES OP THE COMMONWEALTH OP MASSACHUSETTS. MAY 30, 1827 BEING THE DAY OF CrrnetAl Election. BY MOSES STUART Aflsociate ProfeMor of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary at Andover. .•"-* BOSTON : True and Greene, State Printers 1827. U.<> i-^lJ^Ts/^l \/ HARVAKO COLLEGE LIBRARY RECEIVED TMrfUUuH THE " GRADUATE SCHOOL OFj BUeiriESS AOMIMSTKATtON eommonbiealtli of Jttamaclitjsetto. IN SENATE, Mat 31, 1827. Orderedf That Messrs. Parker, Pbillifs and Barstow, be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Moses Stuart, and present him the thanks of the Senate, for his Sermon, delivered yesterday, before the Executive of the Commonwealth, and both Branches of the Legislature ; and to request a copy for publication. PAUL WILLARD, CUrk J SERMON. 2 Cor. III. 17. Where the spirit of the lord IS, there is liberty. The appellation of Lord is often given to the Saviour by Paul. Independently of the cases in which the apostle calls him the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the simple appellation of Lord is more frequently employed by him, than any other designation of the Messiah. There can be no reasonable doubt, that by Lord, in our text, is meant the Lord Jesus ; so that the passage would convey the same idea which it now does, if it should be translated, "Where the spirit of Christ is, there is liberty." The phrase spirit of Christ, as employed in our text, means either that spirit which Christ bestows on his true disciples and followers, or that which real Christians possess and exercise. Whether we understand it in the former, or the latter sense, will make no material difference in the meaning of the passage. The spirit which Christ gives, is a Christian spirit ; or, in other words, it is a spirit which makes his followers like to himself. On the other hand, the expression spirit of Christy is not unfrequently employed by the sacred writers to designate the simple idea of a Christian spirit^ viz. that temper of mind which the disciples of Jesus possess and exercise.

It amounts, then, to the same thing in substance, whether we say that spirit of Christy in our text means the spirit which he bestows, or that which Cristians possess ; for it is one and the same. The only difference is, that when we employ the phrase spirit of Christ, to designate the sptnY which he imparts, we make a special reference in our mind to him as the author of the gift ; but when we use the same phrase merely to designate the spirit which Christians possess, we consider it simply as belonging to Chris tians and as being exercised by them, without any special reference to the source from which it comes. The meaning of our text, then, appears to be, that WHERE A CHRISTIAN SPIRIT EXISTS OR REIGNS, THERE WILL LIBERTY OR FREEDOM BE. The original design of the apostle, when he uttered this, was not to express a sentiment merely political or civil. Still, something of this nature is included in the expression. He had just been speaking, at some length, of the imperfect light and liberty of such Hebrews as remained attached to the ancient Mosaic institutions, with all their ritual prescriptions. In our text he avers ; that where a Christian spirit prevails, there men are freed from Jewish ignorance and bondage. Nor was their liberty merely freedom from ceremonial prescriptions. As the performance of the Levitical rites was intimately connected, in a great variety of ways, with the civil and social state of the Hebrews ; so freedom from these rites would necessarily affect many of their civil and social relations. I have dwelt thus long upon the explanation of the text, in order to show that I am not making a fanciful or perverted application of it, when I apply it to the present day, and aver, thai where a christian SPIRIT PREVAILS, THERE WILL BE TRUE FREEDOM OR LIBERTY. All civilians who hear me, will accede to the propriety and certainty of the maxim, that wherever the reason for any particular law exists, there the law itself ought to be considered as in force. It is equally true, that wherever there exists a good reason for the application of any principle contained in the law of God, there the application of it ought to be made. I hope to shew, that there is as much reason to maintain that a Christian spirit will free men, at the present timey from bondage and oppression, either of a civil or ecclesiastical nature, as there was to maintain, in the time of Paul, that the same spirit would free the Jewjs from the burdensome part of the Mosaic institutionsIn pursuing the subject thus introduced, it is my design to inquire.

I. What true liberty is ; and II. I shall endeavour to show, that a christian SPIRIT WILL PROMOTE AND SECURE IT. I. What is true liberty ? It is not a right to do, in all respects, as every one may wish. I take for granted the principle, that men are designed by their Creator to live in a social state, and under civil regulationstu In this respect we may well say. The powers that 6e, are ordained of God. If this point be conceded, it follows that no one can have a right to do those things which will endanger the existence, the safety, or the well-being of the civil and social state. …