WE cannot wonder that the people of Iſrael were thus deeply affected by the death of a good prince who was their warm friend and their great benefactor. JOSIAH was the common centre around which every good citizen of Judah revolved; and on him they relied, under GOD, to defend their country if invaded from abroad, and to cruſh, with the weight of his name and virtues, faction and rebellion at home.

HOW melancholy is the reflection that in the univerſal dominion of death over the human race, men of the moſt ſublime virtues and moſt illuſtrious talents, are not only ſubjected to it, but frequently become the more early victims of his power; while ſome others who cumber the ground, and infeſt ſociety, ſtill live to diſturb and diſtreſs all around them! We cannot comprehend the deſigns of Providence! It becomes us only to ſubmit and to adore, to bow before the throne of the higheſt, encircled as it may be with the thickeſt clouds, and to know that "the Judge of all the earth will do right."

ALAS! that the empire of death is ſo univerſal; that the wiſe and the prudent, the brave and the virtuous, muſt ſubmit to its power, as well as "the fool and the brutiſh perſon." It is indeed "appointed unto all men once to die, and there is no diſcharge in that war."

WHEN the power of the king of terrors is exerciſed over thoſe who, like JOSIAH, were highly eſteemed and fondly beloved; when it levels, with its fatal wand, the men who ſtood high above their fellow mortals, and removes to their long home thoſe whoſe ſervices and ſufferings had purchaſed the freedom and happineſs of a nation, we cannot be ſurpriſed that uncommon grief ſhould poſſeſs the heart, and uncommon tokens of mourning ſhould be diſplayed!

THE people of Judah, not content with ſimply committing their hero to the tomb, and bedewing his hearſe with the tears which a recent loſs occaſions, reſolved to manifeſt their grief by long and uncommon mourning. All Judah and Jeruſalem, we are told, mourned for JOSIAH. They attended his remains to the ſepulchre of his fathers, with deep and ſolemn grief. But they did not ceaſe the expreſſions of it, when the clods of the valley covered him, and the grave concealed him from their view. But, "led by JEREMIAH, the prophet of the LORD, they lamented for JOSIAH." Determined to perpetuate their gratitude, "the ſinging men and women (the poets and hiſtorians of that age) ſpake of JOSIAH in their lamentations to the very day" in which the chronicles were written. This was many years after the death of JOSIAH; probably after the return of the Jews from the Babyloniſh captivity, when the ſacred canon was completed, under the auſpices of heaven, by EZRA the high prieſt of the LORD.

WHEN we loſe thoſe who are peculiarly dear to us, and thoſe whom we highly honor, we cannot endure the idea of their being forgotten. We determine that they ſhall live in our remembrance, and that their names ſhall be tranſmitted with honor and reſpect to the "generations which are yet to be born." It is a ſentiment ſimilar to theſe which led our civil fathers to inſtitute the religious ſolemnities in which we are now engaged. Some weeks have elapſed ſince we were deprived of the great and good man who was ſo long the pride and the father of his country. Every thing which gratitude could dictate, affection inſpire and eloquence expreſs has already been ſaid and done on this occaſion. The ſervice before me is therefore a difficult one.

BUT, this ſolemnity is of a religious nature. The humble worſhip of the Deity is our object, and a moral improvement of a death ſo affecting, our deſign in the exerciſe before us. My duty is not that of the eulogiſts, whoſe claſſic elegance and glowing deſcription have drawn the character of the illuſtrious dead, and richly emblazoned his fame. No; it belongs to the preſent diſcourſe to lead our thoughts from earth to heaven; to adore the divine ſovereignty; to acknowledge his gracious hand in all that the departed was himſelf and did for us; and to point out the leſſons of wiſdom, civil and religious, which we may learn from the affecting event!

THE ſovereignty of GOD, like the thunders and lightnings and thick cloud which ſurrounded him on Mount Sinai, veils from our eyes many of the motives which influence the divine conduct, and operate in the government of the world. Without controul or reſtraint he does his pleaſure in heaven above and on earth beneath. GOD is abſolute and unlimited in his will and purpoſes. Himſelf the firſt cauſe, the ſource, the fountain of all exiſtence and energy, he has communicated to his creatures whatever they poſſeſs, and the higheſt archangel in heaven is as entirely ſubjected to the divine ſovereignty as the meaneſt reptile on earth. "GOD is a rock, and his work is perfect." The plan of his government is fixed beyond alteration, and all creatures are in his hands as the "clay is in the hands of the potter."

THE divine ſovereignty would be a doctrine of terror and diſtreſs to us, did we not know that it reſided in a being perfectly wiſe and eſſentially good. It is not the exerciſe of power, prompted by caprice, actuated by reſentment, or dictated by folly. It is the reſult of infinite wiſdom which beholds the paſt, the preſent and the future at one view, which knows the nature and the conſequences of all events, and will bring them to paſs in the time and by the means which are moſt honorary to him, and moſt beneficial to his creatures. Viewed in this light, the ſovereignty of GOD ſhould calm our hearts, engage our truſt, command our obedience, and elevate our affections. With the inhabitants of heaven we ſhould in humble devotion and grateful rapture, exclaim, "Alleluia, the LORD GOD omnipotent reigneth!"

IN all the circumſtances which relate to the world and to man, from the revolution of a kingdom to the lighting of a ſparrow, we view and ſhould acknowledge this ſovereign providence of the moſt HIGH. "In him we live and move and have our being." We are ſupported by his bounty, defended by his power, pardoned by his grace, and ſanctified by his ſpirit. Surrounded by his immenſity, we are always before his eyes. He upholds us in life. His "viſitation preſerves our ſpirits," and he has determined the bounds of our habitations which we cannot paſs."

DEATH is an intereſting period to us all, and for wiſe purpoſes we are made to dread its approaches. When its icy hand is laid upon us, or when its fatal vortex ſwallows up thoſe who are dear to us as ourſelves, then we ſhould realiſe the ſovereignty of GOD. "Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? there is no man who hath power over the ſpirit to retain the ſpirit in the day of death." When the decree goes forth from the eternal throne, when the "time, the ſet time" is come, then the grim tyrant performs his fatal office. The prayers and tears of an aſſembled nation; the fondeſt affection of immediate friends; the moſt brilliant virtues; the moſt illuſtrious character; the eſteem and honor and veneration of a world cannot for a moment arreſt the progreſs or prevent the approach of death! The great and the ſmall; the high and the low, the rich and the poor, bow their heads and die!

BUT under the exerciſe of this act of ſovereignty, at a day of lamentation like the preſent, let us contemplate the wiſdom and goodneſs and righteouſneſs of GOD. "He is in heaven and we are upon earth, and therefore it becomes us that our words ſhould be few." Our underſtandings, darkened by ſin and clogged with mortality, are ſometimes perplexed with the ways of GOD. But ſubmiſſion to his will becomes us who "are of yeſterday, and know nothing." We are as certain as he exiſts that GOD cannot do wrong. When therefore we mourn a loſs like that which now covers America with ſadneſs, we are to ſubmit without a murmer to thoſe diſpenſations which we cannot comprehend, and keep "our hearts fixed, truſting in the LORD."

BUT when, in our lamentations, we ſpeak of the friends, the patrons whom we have loſt, we cannot fail to recollect their amiable characters and their excellent virtues.

LET us conſtantly remember that GOD is the ſource of all virtue and of all excellency; that mortals are good in themſelves and uſeful to us as he makes them to be ſo. We may meditate with pleaſure on their virtues. We may remember them with the warmeſt eſteem and tendereſt affection; but we ſhould never be unmindful, that every talent of nature, of reaſon and of art, deſcends from him who is "the father of our ſpirits, the former of our bodies, and the author of all our mercies."

WE mourn this day "a prince and a great man fallen in our Iſrael;" a man more truly elevated in the eſteem of the world than any monarch who wields a ſceptre, or any hero who commands an army! The people of America have borne witneſs to his numerous virtues; and now, we will ſummon his illuſtrious ſhade to aid us in ſupport of the religion which he honored, and to make thoſe men virtuous and good whom he was inſtrumental of making free and happy.

Too often the public virtues of a great character are clouded by private views. Sometimes thoſe who are moſt uſeful to the world, and whoſe ſolid ſervices and brilliant talents, compel our reſpect and admiration, prove themſelves in the more retired walks of life to be "weak like other men." It is happy for America, now ſhe mourns her darling ſon, that not even the envenomed tongue of malice, battening on the faults of its neighbours, nor the rageful voice of party, more cruel than the grave itſelf, can aſſail the fair fame of the man whom ſhe laments! In the domeſtic relations; in his private dealings; in his daily department, you always beheld him diſcreet, amiable, dignified! He ſhone, not with the luſtre which dazzles courts and armies, but with the purer, the more honorable rays of private virtue.

WAS it not a ſenſe of religion which led our late excellent friend to acknowledge, when at the head of our armies, and more lately when he preſided in the nation, our abſolute dependence upon the GOD of providence, aſcribing the honor of his victories and our deliverance to him who "ſetteth up one and putteth down another!" In his public inſtruments; in his laſt precious legacy to his country, and in his private converſation he expreſſed the deepeſt reverence for the infinite and eternal being who is "in all and over all, and by whom all things conſiſt." His conſtant attendance on the chriſtian church, his reverend obſervation of the LORD's Day▪ as well as his whole behaviour, demonſtrated his belief in the religion of the Croſs.

"HE that is ſlow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his ſpirit than he that taketh a city." Never does a man appear ſo truly great as when he ſubdues thoſe paſſions which infuriate others, and hurry them to the moſt fatal exceſſes. And here our beloved chief diſcovered true greatneſs, and placed before our eyes an illuſtrious example. His mildneſs, his patience, his impartial benignity enabled him to controul the paſſions of others, and reconcile contending intereſts. His ſelf command enabled him to rule thoſe who did not poſſeſs their own minds. A reſerve, partly the gift of nature and partly the effect of prudent habit, prevented him from betraying his own purpoſes, or expreſſing ſudden and unſuitable feelings. His patient endurance of wrong from the envious and the miſtaken, made him their ſuperior, and converted his enemies into friends. The enemies of his country I mean; perſonal enemies he had none.

"HE that walketh uprightly, walketh ſurely." The bleſſing of GOD, the favor of men, and the teſtimony of a good conſcience are the conſequences of an honeſt and faithful diſcharge of our duty. Theſe conſequences of his integrity did our late excellent Preſident enjoy. Neither wealth nor flattery nor clamour nor violence could corrupt his heart, or detach him from his duty. Honeſtly did he exert his whole power and influence to ſerve his country, nor can an inſtance be produced of his having neglected its concerns, or betrayed its intereſts.

IT it is recorded of NAAMAN that "by him GOD gave deliverance to Syria." And him whom we mention in our lamentations this day, GOD made the principal agent in giving freedom and deliverance to America. A ſoldier in early life, when he was highly uſeful to his native province, he poſſeſſed a cool judgment and a determined courage. Without the ardent impetuoſity, the furious valour which ſometimes give ſucceſs to folly and proſperity to injuſtice, he was intrepidly brave. His love of liberty, his well known military talents, led the venerable band of patriots, who, at the commencement of the revolution, conducted our councils, to conſign to him the chief command of the American forces. Many of us remember this period, when at the hazard of his life and fortune, he firſt headed our feeble armies.— "Gallant mortal"—how did our ſouls love and honor him when firſt we beheld him on yonder plains flying to the relief of the oppreſſed, and defending the freedom of his country! How anxiouſly did we watch his footſteps through the dangers of our revolution, and how did our hearts warm with gratitude to heaven and to him, when we found that the ſoldier had not deſtroyed the citizen; that the luſt of power which led ſo many generals, the CAESARS of old and the CROMWELLS of later days, to deſtroy their country and advance themſelves, had no exiſtence in his noble boſom; but that he could cheerfully reſign his brilliant and flattering command, and ſeek the ſhades of private life!—Thither did he modeſtly retire from the applauſes of his country and the world, and ſhook from his venerable brow the laurels which oppreſſed him!

TO ſuch a man it was ſelf denial to leave the happineſs and the ſecurity of private life, and again to enter on the fatigues and hazards of elevated ſtation.—But the call of his country General WASHINGTON never declined. The unanimous ſuffrages of his fellow citizens (an election without a parallel in the hiſtory of the world) ſelected him to adminiſter the free and excellent conſtitution of government which he had aſſiſted in forming. In the cabinet he ſhone equally as in the field. The intereſts of the Union and of the ſeveral States he guarded with the tendereſt care. Our foreign relations he conducted with a temperate firmneſs which defeated the deſigns of faction, cruſhed the efforts of rebellion, and prevented us from being fatally affected with the convulſions which have ſhaken Europe to its centre, and agitated the whole world!

LIKE JOSHUA, the brave leader of Iſrael to independence and Canaan; like DAVID, the intrepid defender of his country; our late illuſtrious chief when, with manly dignity and patriotic affection he retired from the chair of government, left a legacy the moſt valuable and important to his country. While we are governed by the moral and religious principles, and preſerve the policy with reſpect to our internal and external affairs which he recommends, we ſhall be free and happy. When we leave them to adopt other principles and maxims, we ſhall deſerve any conſequences which may take place.

NO man's character is fully aſcertained till his death. And happy is he who dies as he has lived in the exerciſe of firmneſs of ſpirit and benevolence of heart. So died our beloved friend! Without the ſickneſs and long debility which ſometimes precede death; in the full exerciſe of reaſon, of humanity and patriotiſm, he ſuddenly encountered the univerſal conqueror. He ſubmitted, for reſiſtance was vain!—But nobly, and like a hero he ſubmitted!—Great in his laſt moments, with his own hands he cloſed his own eyes, and gave up the Ghoſt!!—Happy man! Uſeful and beloved in life, calm and compoſed in death, embalmed with the tears of thy friends and thy country, GOD did bleſs thee above other mortals!

AND now, let us make a ſolemn pauſe in our lamentations, and amidſt our grief acknowledge the goodneſs of GOD in raiſing up this great man, in qualifying him ſo eſſentially for the ſervice of his country, and continuing him to us for ſo many years. On this day, when we uſed to celebrate his birth with warm and grateful pleaſure, we feel his loſs moſt deeply. But, how much more deeply ſhould we have felt it, had he been taken from us at any period of our revolutionary war; or when the whole weight of his influence and character was neceſſary to preſerve us from being involved in the confuſions of the European world, or when inſurrection reared its hydra head, and threatened the moſt fatal conſequences?

BUT that GOD who has always been kind to America in raiſing up from among her own ſons thoſe who "naturally care for her ſtate" and watchfully guard her intereſts, continued his life till a period when our excellent conſtitution is firmly eſtabliſhed, and the proſpects of diſuniting and deſtroying us are greatly weakened. While we mention WASHINGTON in our lamentations this day, let us be thankful that ſo many great and good men in our Federal and State Governments are ſtill ſpared to us; men whom GOD has qualified for eminent ſervice, and called to fill the moſt important ſtations. Let us be thankful for the ineſtimable life, the uncorrupted integrity, the ſuperior wiſdom, and the pure patriotiſm of ADAMS, the wiſe and the good, who now preſides over theſe ſtates! May the Almighty continue him for many years, to be the father of his country, and the friend of mankind!

LET us be deeply humbled before GOD, this day, under the frowns of his providence in taking away men ſo great, ſo good, ſo uſeful as thoſe whom we have lately been called to deplore.

WHEN GOD removed from his ancient Iſrael "the ſtay and the ſtaff, the mighty man and the man of war, the prudent and the ancient, the honarable man and the counſellor," it was conſidered as a token of the divine diſpleaſure, and called not only for grief but humiliation. Great and good men are inſtruments in the hands of GOD to effect his purpoſes. They accompliſh his will, and by them he does good to us. When they are taken away therefore, we ought to humble ourſelves in his ſight. When thoſe by whom GOD has been uſed to do good to us are removed by death, have we not reaſon to fear that he means to deprive us of the good itſelf?

GOD is, we truſt and hope, the guardian and friend of America, and his gracious favor is the palladium of our country. Its exiſtence and proſperity do not depend upon any one man, or any number of men, let them be ever ſo wiſe or good. "The LORD is our defence, and the holy one of Iſrael is our King." It is true that when we ſuſtain the loſs of ſuch men as a WASHINGTON and a SUMNER, we are conſtrained to ſay, "Help LORD, for the godly man ceaſeth, the faithful fail from among the children of men." When thoſe who "ſeemed to be pillars" are removed, we feel the goodly fabric of our government ſhaken. But, "the reſidue of the ſpirit is with GOD." He gave us theſe excellent men. He continued them to us as long as he ſaw to be beſt. And now that he has taken them away, we will ſubmit to the will of Heaven, and rely on him who has never forſaken us nor our fathers.

BUT ſurely when we mention the virtuous and the good in our lamentations, we ſhould be ſtimulated to emulate their virtues, and be ſtudious to follow their advices, founded on experience, wiſdom and love of their country.

IT is not to the parade of mourning, nor to the dictates of affectionate feeling only that we ſhould this day attend. We ought to be made wiſer and better by an event ſo affecting, and ſervices ſo ſolemn as we are now performing. Our civil rulers have called us to celebrate the days of mourning for our beloved friend, in order to fix deeply in our minds a reverence for his character, and a reſpect to the principles which he practiſed himſelf, and in his dying legacy recommended to us. You, eſpecially, venerable fathers, who compoſe the executive and legiſlative powers of the Commonwealth: You who ſo lately ſolemnized the obſequies of our own beloved Chief Magiſtrate, will ſuitably meditate on the uncertainty of human life, and the vanity of human greatneſs. You will feel the importance of faithfully diſcharging your whole duty, both public and private, ſo that you may be approved of GOD, and "accepted of the multitude of your brethren." Go ye and imitate the ſelf-command, the diſintereſtedneſs, the cool wiſdom and warm patriotiſm of the man whom a nation this day laments. Go ye and ſerve GOD, and your generation according to his will!" Go ye, continue in your uprightneſs, and ſtill preſerve the uſefulneſs which gives us ſecurity and proſperity!—This is an awful and a ſolemn ſcene! Here the ſupreme executive power, and the high legiſlative authority of the Commonwealth, aſſemble in religious worſhip, to acknowledge and adore the governor of the univerſe under one of the moſt diſtreſſing events in his providence, and to condole each other on this melancholy diſpenſation. All the people of the Commonwealth unite this day in the expreſſions of their grief, and ſympathize with their civil rulers on the great and univerſal bereavement! May our mourning be uſeful, and may we be "taught to profit by the things which we ſuffer."

ON imbibing the principles recommended by our late illuſtrious chief, equally diſtant from tyranny and licentiouſneſs, depends the ſafety of our country. If we wiſh to be great among the nations abroad, and to be peaceful and happy at home, we muſt preſerve inviolably our union. We muſt guard againſt improper foreign connexions. We muſt maintain a ſpirit of mutual forbearance and good will, and muſt cultivate eſpecially thoſe principles of religion and morality which are the only ſolid cement of ſociety, and the only firm foundation of liberty. Where GOD is neglected; where the religion of CHRIST is denied; where men are governed not by reaſon or religion, but by party views and furious paſſions, there may be the name of liberty, but the thing never can exiſt. If we are careful to preſerve and to foſter the univerſities, the ſchools we now maintain: If we honor and reſpect the day and the ordinances of GOD: If we deſpiſe and neglect vice, and honor and ſupport virtue: If we embrace the doctrines, and ſubmit to the precepts of the Goſpel, we ſhall be a happy people, and tranſmit our civil and religious liberties, a fair and a large inheritance, to the lateſt poſterity.

BUT while we ſympathize with a nation in their afflictions, let us not forget the private diſtreſſes which this ſolemn event has occaſioned. We mourn with the deſolate widow, who is deprived of the "guide of her youth," the friend of her riper years, and the moſt valuable of her earthly bleſſings! Calmly and with compoſure may ſhe ſubmit to this afflictive event; and ſince her attachments to earth are diminiſhed, may ſhe prepare to join the "deſire of her eyes" in a better world! May his friends, his relatives, his domeſtics, while they mourn his loſs, imitate his virtues, and may none who bear his illuſtrious name, tarniſh its luſtre, or bring diſgrace upon it.

AND now, friends and fellow-citizens, let us "ceaſe from man whoſe breath is in his noſtrils, for where is he to be accounted of!" If thoſe who are the delights of their country, and the veneration of the world: If men of the pureſt characters: If thoſe for whom prayers are continually aſcending, that they may be ſpared and bleſſed: If they are taken away: If they are laid low in the duſt, how ſhall we eſcape this common lot of humanity! If theſe cedars of Lebanon, "the height whereof reacheth up to heaven, and the ſight thereof unto the ends of the earth:" If they bow and break, what ſhall become of the "hyſſop which ſpringeth out of the wall!"—Surely we are haſtening to the ſilent tomb, "the houſe appointed for all living!" We ſhall ſoon follow the friends whom we deplore, the wiſe and the good, whom we honor, through "the dark valley of the ſhadow of death!"—Let it be therefore our moſt earneſt ſolicitude, to partake of the grace of the Goſpel, to do our whole duty, and promote the welfare and happineſs of our fellowmen, ſo that when we fall aſleep, we may be "found of our judge in peace," and be "received into everlaſting habitations!"

AND now unto him, who is "prince of the kings of the earth," "before whom" all nations are as the drop of the bucket, and the duſt of the balance," to the infinite, perfect, eternal mind, "the ſame yeſterday, to day, and forever," be glory and honor, dominion and power, both now and forever,