A Sermon Delivered Before His Excellency John Brooks, Esq. Governor

DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL * - SERMON, DELIVERED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN BROOKS, ESQ. GOVERNOR, HIS HONOR WILLIAM PHILLIPS, ESQ. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, © S THE HONORABLE COUNCIL, AND THE TWO HOUSES COMPOSING THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE 2 ANNIVERSARY ELECTION, 7 MAY 30, 1821. « Wy Henry Ware, D. D. Hollis Professor of Divinity, in Harvard University. BOSTON: PRINTED FOR B. RUSSELL, PRINTER TO THE STATE. Russell & Gardner, Printers. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. IN SENATE, MAY 31, 1821. Ordered, That the Hon. Messrs. Williams, Tilden, and King, be a Committee to wait upon the Rev. Henry Ware, and in the name of the Senate, to thank him for the Sermon by him delivered before His Excellency the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Council, and the two Branches of the Legislature,” and to request a copy thereof for the press. ATTEST, S. F. McCLEARY, Clerk. SERMON. l ACTS........ CHAPTER XVII. VERSE 26. « And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” IN no point does our religion present itself to us with a deeper interest, in nothing does it recommend itself more strongly to cultivated minds, than in the representations it gives of the character of God, his relation to his creatures, and his dispositions towards them. That he is the creator of all things, and that all beings are the work of his hands, is not the only, nor is it the principal consideration that it offers to us. Images of a more tender kind are frequently presented, and he is declared to sustain a relation, which implies more of interest, and expresses more of nearness and affection. ‘The author of our being stands in the relation of a father to us; and we are declared to be his children, for whom he feels a parental kindness ; over whom he holds a father’s authority. ‘The same God, also, is to be acknowledged as the father of men of all nations. Nor only so; he has made them, as my text asserts, all of one blood, to possess a common nature as well, as to have a common origin; and thus to sustain not only the same relation of children to a common parent, but also that of brethren to each other.

This double relation in which our religion represents us as sustaining toward the author of our being, : and toward one another, is closely connected with many of the most important duties as well, as th highest interests of the social state. It regulates the dispositions and the conduct, which individuals owe to each other. It relates also to those, which are due from collective bodies of men, from communities and states one toward another. It prescribes the principles, upon which the members of a government are bound to act, in the conflicting interests of the commu-— nity or ciate, which they represent, and for which they act, and other communities, or individuals of the same, or of another community. Indeed there is nothing in the mtercourse of men with each other, in any of the political, or civil, or social relations, which will not be affected by a just view of this universal relation, which binds together and embraces in one, the whole human family. I have thought the subject not an unsuitable one to be addressed, on the present occasion, to an assembly of christian rulers; as it suggests a principle, which should serve as a guide to them, in all their endeavors to promote the public good. While our religion teaches expressly the doctrine of the text, the spirit which it every where inculcates, and the whole system of its precepts are of a character correspondent to those relations, the nature and the obligations of which it discovers tous. On the one hand, it is every where implied, that all men of every nation owe the same obedience to the common father of our race, are alike objects of his eare, subjects of his moral government, accountable to him, equally capable of obtaming his approbation, and securing his favor by holiness, « or of forfeiting it by sin, and a life: of impenitence. This view, while it leads us to a just sense of the duty we owe to the author of our being, is calculated also to give us enlarged and liberal notions ; : A : : : respecting our fellow-men, and to prepare us to honor, esteem, and love them.

On the other hand, every where in the same manner is implied the obligation of universal good will to one another, grounded on the same considerations ; the common origin of our race, our common allegiance to the universal parent, and the relation we sustain to each other as brethren. We see then the design and the tendency of our religion in a point of view, in which it displays its most amiable and attractive features, and exerts its noblest powers. Not exclusive but comprehensive is its spirit. Not to separate but to combine, not to drive men asunder, but to unite them together, and bind them by new ties of interest and affection is its tendency. Breathing kindness and good will all around, it produces, not hatred and hostility, not mutual injuries and deeds of violence, but love, and harmony, and peace. Not within a narrow circle is its attractive power confined—repelling all that is beyond. ‘There are no limits, beyond which its attractions are unfelt. It reaches beyond the bounds, which limit all the other principles of union, which operate upon the human mind, and draw men together. Beyond those of interest and personal affection. Beyond those of family, of nation, of country. It embraces every country, every nation, every region, and all the families and tribes of men. And throughout the whole range of its local influence, how various are the effects it produces! …