A sermon, occasioned by the death of George Washington, supreme commander of the American forces during the Revolutionary War; first president and late lieutenant-general and commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America; who departed this life at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, in the 68th year of his age. : Delivered in Hingham, by request of the inhabitants, January 6, 1800. / By Henry Ware, Pastor of the First Church in Hingham. ; [Two lines from II Kings]

A sermon, occasioned by the death of George Washington, supreme commander of the American forces during the Revolutionary War; first president and late lieutenant-general and commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America; who departed this life at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, in the 68th year of his age. : Delivered in Hingham, by request of the inhabitants, January 6, 1800. / By Henry Ware, Pastor of the First Church in Hingham. ; [Two lines from II Kings]

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JOSHUA 1.2.

MOSES MY SERVANT IS DEAD.

THUS was announced to his successor, the Head of the Commonwealth of Israel, the death of one of the greatest men, that has ever appeared on this earth. Famed as a great Leader, more famed as a profound Legislator, and skilled as he was in all the knowledge of the age in which he lived, it was still his highest praise, that he was the servant and friend of God, and employed as his chief minister in accomplishing one of the greatest enterprizes, that was ever undertaken in any age of the world. He was not however permitted fully to complete the vast undertaking in which he had engaged. After rescuing his nation from the slavery of Egypt, leading them through the many dangers, which attended their long journey in the wilderness, and establishing over them a wise system of government, Moses was not suffered by Divine Providence to enter the promised land, and partake with his people those blessings of peace, freedom, and safety, he had been so eminent an instrument in the hand [Page] of Heaven in securing to them. He was allowed to behold it at a distance from the top of Pisgah; but to conduct them in safety through the Jordan, and establish them in the land destined for their inheritance, was the happy privilege of his successor.

The great and good man, whose death has been lately announced through our land, and to whose memory we are now assembled to pay our tribute of respect, was favoured above the great Leader and Lawgiver of Israel. He has not only been a successful Leader in most difficult times and dangerous scenes; he has been permitted by Divine Providence to pass through them all, to survive the sufferings and dangers of his country, and see it, after the struggles of a successful war, establishing a system of free and efficient government, and under its administration enjoying eminent prosperity, and increasing with unexampled rapidity in wealth, population and strength.

He has now left these sublunary scenes, full of days and covered with glory, deeply regretted by his country and revered by mankind. His death, felt and lamented so sincerely by the inhabitants of this land, is an event which will not be beheld with indifference in other countries. The world is interested in it, for the world has been the witness of his actions. His name, which is embalmed in the memory of his fellow-citizens, has long had the admiration and respect of good men in all countries attached to it; and these will neither cease nor be diminished, while greatness is respected, while wisdom is admired, while virtue is esteemed, and goodness beloved by mankind.

As the mournful intelligence spreads along the [Page] land, it carries sorrow and affliction with it. The President, while he ‘sympathizes with the nation, and with all good men through the world, in the irreparable loss sustained by us all,’ proclaims him, ‘the most illustrious and beloved personage this country has ever produced.’ * The Senate and Representatives of the nation cover themselves and their houses of assembly in mourning. Our Army is dressed in weeds, faint emblem of the loss it feels! Our Navy hangs out the token of public sorrow. Our Churches are shrouded in black, just picture of the gloom that covers every pious patriotic heart! In our cities the bustle of business ceases,—the houses of amusement are closed. The sons of industry forego their profit! the disciples of pleasure forget their amusement! No sound is heard but the funeral knell! no countenance is seen but in the visage of sadness! For WASHINGTON is dead! WASHINGTON, the servant of GOD, the lover of his country, the friend of man, is here no more!

These are the public expressions of the public feeling. They are not the mere external marks of fashionable mourning,—they are not the pomp of affected grief. They are a voluntary tribute of respect and gratitude, from hearts impressed with a deep sense of the exalted merits and unequalled services of WASHINGTON.

It has seldom, if ever before, fallen to the lot of one man to merit and enjoy, living and dying, and through the whole of a long life, so high a degree of public estimation, and so large a share of public confidence and honour. It has been peculiar to him to share without interruption, for a long time, in the highest offices, and in the most perplexing and trying [Page] seasons of prosperity and adversity, in war and in peace, the undivided affections of his own country, and the admiration and good opinion of all others; the warmest attachment of his friends, and the profound esteem even of his enemies. Ages have scarcely produced such an instance, and ages may now pass away before another such shall occur!

For, to produce it requires such a concurrence of circumstances, as can, in the nature of things, but seldom take place. It is not in talents even of the first order, united with virtues of the brightest splendor and most unspotted purity, alone to produce such a character as that of WASHINGTON. These distinguished qualities of the mind and of the heart must meet in one, whose situation is such as to furnish the means and opportunity for their highest cultivation and improvement, before they are brought into action; and they must happen so to meet at a time and in a country, which present an opportunity for their full exercise and perfect display; when, by great events taking place, a theatre for action is opened, in magnitude and importance equal to them.

But it is rare that talents so eminent and various; and virtues so pure and splendid, meet in the same person; still more rare is it for them to meet in a person, whose situation is such, as to have them brought into public view; and yet more uncommon still for all these circumstances to concur at a time, when great and interesting events call for their exercise and public display.

And when God, for accomplishing important purposes of his providence, has caused all these circumstances singularly to conspire to form one of the [Page] greatest characters, that has appeared in any country, in ancient or modern times; it is undoubtedly our duty to pay it a grateful and respectful homage. We are to view him, in whom it appears, as the minister of God, raised up and commissioned by him to execute important purposes of his providence, and render essential services to mankind. In thus honouring the instrument, we honour him who appointed, who employs, who directs,—and who, at his sovereign pleasure, suspends it. To contemplate such a character has further a natural tendency to produce some good effect on our own; and by noticing such an example, there is a hope that we may be led, in some degree, to the imitation of it.

You will expect me, as an essential part of my duty on this solemn occasion, to attempt a character of that illustrious servant of God, whose life displayed so many and such distinguished talents and virtues, and whose death occasions so great and universal mourning. But it is with diffidence and hesitation I venture on a part of my duty, to which I feel myself so unequal. My means of information are very inadequate to a just performance of the task. I have only seen him, as you all have, at a distance, in his public life, and in his public official writings. Besides, with the most accurate knowledge of the talents, principles, maxims, conduct, and events which have conspired to form a character; it requires peculiar talents to place such an one as that of WASHINGTON in its just point of light. The clouds of heaven exhibit august and majestic appearances. We all behold them with respect, and have some just idea of their form and motions; but it demands the hand [Page] of a master to trace them on the canvas. The sun is a glorious and resplendent body. We all see its brightness, and feel its warmth; but where is the pencil that dares undertake to delineate it! The image of Washington, strongly marked as the features of his character are, is impressed on all our imaginations in lively colours; yet, to reflect this image, so as to preserve the unity of the whole, and the distinct characteristic of each of its parts, would require a mirror of more perfect polish, than you are to expect in a mind of ordinary structure.

Permit me then only to say, that the image of this great man is not like that of most others, who have shone with distinguished lustre in the annals of the world. It is not composed of some bright spots surrounded with dark shades, so as to dazzle without enlightening the beholder. His character is not an assemblage of great talents by the side of great defects, and splendid virtues contaminated by their vicinity to atrocious vices. He shone with a clear and steady lustre, which, if it seldom appeared with flashes of splendor to dazzle and astonish, was yet never mingled with shades, nor intercepted by clouds. The circumstance, which seems to distinguish his name from that of all others, is not the pre-eminence of any one talent or virtue; but, a unity of character, resulting from the perfect combination and exact balancing of all those great and good qualities, which enter into the character of one, who is to possess public esteem, guide public opinion, and command universal respect and confidence. A countenance, a figure, and a manner, which impressed awe and commanded attention, were in him but the index of a [Page] mind, and the evidences of a heart, which deserved them.

It may be useful however to be more distinct in our view; and in order to show what Washington was, and how he became the glory of this country and the admiration of others, to review the prominent parts of his public life, to study him in his actions, in the history of our country for the last forty-five, especially the last twenty-five years, and to read his character in all that has come from his pen. We will set aside the eulogies of oratory, and the panegyrics which poetry has delighted to shed upon him. The partiality of friends and the enthusiasm of admirers may flatter and deceive, and we are always disposed to distrust their testimony; but actions speak for themselves, and a man's own writings, especially in a course of correspondence, which necessarily led him to the constant exposure of the motives, the plans, and the success or ill-success of his conduct, will certainly be admitted as decisive evidence, and can hardly fail to display his true character, and exhibit him to our view in his just light.

It is in the great events of our revolutionary war, and its glorious and happy issue; the modest diffidence of himself, reliance on the candor and support of his country, and pious trust in the God of armies, with which he accepted the command of the American armies; the firmness, humanity and military skill with which he executed the high trust, and the dignity with which, after accomplishing for his country all the purposes of his commission, he resigned his command and returned to private life; it is in the patriotic readiness with which, at the call of his [Page] country, he again quitted his favourite retreat, and consented, when the world thought he had nothing to gain and every thing to lose, at an advanced period of life, to place all his well-earned glory at hazard, by accepting the most important and most difficult trust in the gift of his country; it is in the profound political knowledge, unshaken integrity, and faithful exertions to promote the good of his country, which he displayed for the same number of years in peace, as he had gloriously conducted her armies in war; it is in the pious sense of dependence on Divine Providence he manifested in every public scene and transaction of his life, and the respectful modesty, united with dignified firmness, the deep penetration, vast extent of views, and uncommon foresight, which appear in all his official communications and public correspondences; it is in the uniform and persevering steadiness he maintained in every change of circumstances and vicissitude of fortune, not elated by prosperity nor depressed by adversity, not flattered by adulation nor irritated by calumny, not alarmed by danger nor thrown off his guard by fancied safety, so as ever, in his public character, to do a rash thing or say an unguarded one, or so as to precipitate himself into circumstances unforeseen, or for which he was unprovided; it is in his superiority to the charms of greatness and thirst for power, and the great example of moderation he gave the world, when he once more retired from his high station to spend the remainder of his days as a private citizen; it is in that true greatness of soul and disinterested regard for the public good, he displayed in accepting an appointment under his successor in the Presidency, when [Page] the exigencies of his country seemed again to call for his great talents, and great influence and weight of character to be employed in her service; it is, in fact, in the whole tenor of his conduct, which history has recorded, which his grateful country has rewarded with unanimous approbation, with unlimited confidence and undivided attachment, and which future generations will not cease to contemplate with admiration and reverence, that we are to seek for the character of this great man.

The present generation is convinced, and posterity, when it reads the history of the times in which he lived, will never doubt, his having united in his person all those great qualities of the mind and good properties of the heart, which the world, not always so just, has agreed in attributing to him.

His entrance on the great theatre of public action, which we may date at the commencement of the American revolution, placed him in a commanding attitude to the view of the world, and intimated what was to be expected from his patriotism, his intrepidity, his abilities, and his sense of duty. To take the command of an undisciplined army, which was to operate against veteran troops and experienced generals; in a contest with one of the most wealthy and powerful nations of Europe; at a time when public opinion was much divided in respect to the right and expediency of resorting to arms, and when it could not but be doubtful whether the resources, or the courage, or the fortitude of the country, admitting the justice of the cause, would be equal to the conflict, and continue to support him; must have happened either from an inconsiderate unreflecting [Page] rashness, or from a deliberate sense of duty, and a patriotic readiness to serve his country, connected with a daring, yet cool intrepidity of character.— From which of these it did in fact result, we can be at no loss, after attending to the manner in which he executed the trust.

In the organization of his army, in the selection and disposition of his officers, in the plans of his campaigns, and in the general mode of conducting the war, he displayed the talents of the great commander.

In his vigilant and ceaseless care to manage with the utmost economy, at the same time with the greatest effect, the resources of his country; and in declining to be benefitted by them himself by receiving any compensation for his services, he manifested, that while he was superior to motives of private emolument, he had a great regard for the public interest.

His uniform respect for the civil authority, and the scrupulous obedience he always paid it, manifested his accurate ideas of the foundation and nature of civil liberty, and evinced that he was equally distant from holding the principle, or countenancing the practice of despotism in any form; and that he had a just abhorrence of the encroachment of one branch of power on the rights of another.

The several actions in which his person was exposed, and the coolness, intrepidity, and intelligence with which he conducted them, testify to his personal bravery.

The several instances in which he discovered daring enterprise, and practised successful stratagem, are brilliant monuments of his military genius.

[Page]His unremitting attention to the lives, health, and comfort of his soldiery, his care to avoid the unnecessary effusion of blood, and his reluctance to retaliate cruelties on the enemy, appear as pleasing evidences, that to his other great virtues he added the less splendid, but not less amiable one of humanity.

His holding together, year after year, an army composed of freemen, unaccustomed to the hardships of a camp, and the necessary rigour of military discipline, —most of the time but poorly paid, sometimes indifferently fed, and often badly clothed;— in the face of an enemy often superior in numbers, and always enjoying every advantage of discipline, military habits, and adequate supplies;—his doing this in such a manner as to overcome all obstacles, incessantly to annoy and distress, and sometimes to obtain brilliant advantages over an enemy pursuing him with superior forces, is a strong and decisive testimony to his unconquerable constancy and patience, and the vast resources of his mind. Common spirits would have sunk under the complicated perplexities and constantly increasing difficulties he had to encounter. Overcome by disappointments, harrassed by oppressive and vexatious cares, and chagrined by the want of adequate support, and of supplies equal to existing exigencies, they would have despaired of their country, and abandoned her cause. With him, they served only to call forth the energies of a mind always supplied with new resources, and ready to encounter new difficulties and dangers.

In acquiring and maintaining without interruption the entire confidence of the army, the government, and the people at large, through the whole course of [Page] a war always distressing and often unfortunate,— bringing it to a happy conclusion, and then retiring to private life, loaded with the benedictions and followed by the prayers of millions, he showed that all his conduct, while it sprung from the best motives, must have been regulated with consummate prudence, and dictated by an accurate knowledge of human nature. It furnished unquestionable testimony, that, with the great talents of the commander, he had the mild virtues of the citizen; that with the courage, enterprise, and vigour of the soldier, he had the moderation of the philosopher; that while he was formed to acquire fame by achieving great actions, he was also calculated to gain esteem, attachment, and confidence by performing good ones, and by being evidently governed in all his public and private transactions by the purest principles and a steady sense of duty.

Behold him again, when experience had taught his country the necessity of an efficient government to embrace the interests, and to ensure the safety, prosperity, union, and independence of an extensive and growing empire, at the head of an assembly of sages, selected by his country to form such a constitution of government; and after it was formed, and adopted by the people, twice placed, by the unanimous suffrages of his fellow-citizens, in the first office in the administration of it! Hitherto he had been chiefly distinguished as a military character, He is now to be admired and to shine with equal splendor as a statesman.

Far from being puffed up with the pride of office, dazzled with the glare of greatness, or corrupted by [Page] the exercise of power to the improper love of it and a wish to increase it; you see him supporting the dignity of his station with modesty, performing the duties of it with wisdom and fidelity, keeping scrupulously within the limits of his constitutional authority, and firmly preventing encroachment and usurpation in others, which, by destroying the necessary balance established by the constitution, must overturn the fair fabric of the government; and in his whole administration manifesting an ardent and sincere love of his country, a strong sense of duty, and a pious dependence on the blessing of heaven for all the success attending his honest and well-meant endeavours to promote the prosperity of his country and the happiness of his fellow-citizens.

We see him the same WASHINGTON in peace, that he had been in war,—at the head of the nation, that he had been at the head of the army; exhibiting the same skill in organizing the government, that he had done in organizing the army,—displaying the same abilities in the cabinet, he had done in the field; the same prudence to avoid difficulties and dangers, the same courage to encounter them, the same fortitude to bear them, and the same resources to extricate himself and his country from them. We see him, by pursuing a steady and uniform course in his administration at home, and adhering inflexibly to the principles of justice and good faith, and a pacific policy in his transactions with other nations, commanding respect abroad, and still maintaining the confidence and firm attachment of his own country. We see him, as soon as the state of his country would permit, voluntarily retiring from public [Page] life to resume the freedom and enjoy the ease of a private citizen; thus, after having eminently displayed, through the whole of his public life, every virtue which can adorn the man, the soldier, the statesman, and the christian, at the close of it furnishing a rare instance of republican principle and philosophic moderation.

Thus constituted by nature, thus formed by education, and thus situated by circumstances, he became the pride of his country, the ornament of human nature, the admiration of mankind,—the glory of the present age, and the example of future generations.

But here I pause. The grave pays no respect to greatness, no deference to worth, no attention to the prayers of a nation, no regard to the tears of the world! It makes no distinction in favour of the great, the wise, and the good,—the benefactors of mankind, and supporters of society. These, as well as the meanest and most useless members of the social body, must be laid low in the dust.

But when, by the wise appointment of Heaven, men of the first distinction and usefulness are numbered with the dead; amidst the tumult of sorrow and the deep and general sense of public loss, the event is usually accompanied with its consolations. In the event we now feel, and commemorate with such deep and sincere affliction, there are consolatory considerations, which ought on this occasion to be brought to view.

One of a very obvious nature is, that he, whose death we mourn, has left the world at a time most favourable for the perfection of his own character. [Page] Nothing further was wanting to render it complete. He had lived to acquire all the glory, that one man could acquire. He had arrived to old age without one stain on his fair reputation. He had no new fame to gain by living longer. In his last public act, by consenting to place his reputation once more at hazard, at a time of life, when, though there was yet no apparent diminution of the vigour of his powers, he could hardly expect, had he been called into the field, to continue long capable of acting with the same vigour as in the meridian of life, he had given a very strong proof of the sincerity of his patriotism, —that it was indeed superior to all personal considerations of ease or fame. For he certainly thus exposed himself to the danger of acting for the good of his country, beyond what was perfectly safe for his own reputation, and beyond what a predominant regard for that would have dictated. A decisive evidence, had any been wanting, of the sincerity, strength, and purity of his love of his country.

He had besides lived to be fully gratified in this, his ruling passion, by seeing his nation, to whose service he had devoted the best part of his life, happy in a good constitution of government, and a faithful administration; and rapidly progressing in wealth, respectability, and the means of prosperity and defence.

Another consolatory reflection, which cheered the good heart of that great man in his last days, and ought to cheer ours now, is one which also respects the state of our country. He had lived to see the administration of the government going on well in the hands of a successor; and we have found by happy [Page] experience, that God has raised up others to follow him in the path of glory and usefulness, capable of managing with skill and success our great national concerns. It is true, the present posture of our country, both in regard to its internal state and its foreign relations, is critical and hazardous. It calls for great vigilance, firmness, and ability, and great weight of authority in the Supreme Executive, to maintain its position, preserve its independence, and secure the respect of other nations, and keep tranquillity at home. But experience of the talents and fidelity of the present administration has confirmed and greatly increased the public confidence in it. And this increase of the public confidence is the surest pledge we can have, that it will be successful. We thus trust in God, that it will be possible for us to maintain our independence and support our free government, though we have no longer to depend on the talents and the name of WASHINGTON.

But the most consolatory consideration, and one which ought to excite strong and universal sentiments of gratitude is, that his life was prolonged to so great an extent; and that he had opportunities of rendering us so many, such various, and so long continued services, under circumstances so important and peculiar, and which required such eminent talents, and called for such uncommon popularity. It was a peculiar smile of heaven on our land, that a life so valuable was preserved through the dark days and trying scenes of our country; that he was permitted to aid us through a distressing war, and afterward, in peace, to contribute the weight of his character, as well as the fidelity of his labours and the vigilance [Page] of his care, to settle the affairs of the nation, and to establish and organize the government. This should not cease to call forth our most fervent gratitude to Heaven, and awaken this day the strongest sensibilities of our hearts.

I should not do justice to this occasion, and the duty you have assigned me, were I not now to call your very serious attention to some improvement of this solemn and affecting dispensation of providence. It is the dictate of patriotism and a duty of christianity, while we revere the hand of Heaven in an event so afflictive, to listen to the admonition it carries with it, and to profit by the lessons of interesting instruction it conveys. A death, which causes the tears of a nation to flow, has its important uses. It is a solemn admonition of the instability of all human greatness, and an affecting instance to assure us, that neither wisdom nor worth can rescue from the grave.

To all who are in public authority, to all who have the important interests of their country intrusted to them, this event should come with deep impressions of their responsibility. It should excite serious reflections on their obligations to society, and on the account they must render of their fidelity in the discharge of those obligations, to him who has all the affairs and all the interests of society in his hands.

To every grade of office in society there is attached a degree of responsibility, proportioned to the importance of the duties, and the extensiveness of the influence, of that office. Every man of principle will enter on any public trust committed to him, with a strong sense of this responsibility. He will carry it with him, and cherish it with zeal in all the duties of [Page] his office; and it will be impressed on him with new and peculiar force, when he sees one, who has sustained the highest offices, who has had the highest trusts reposed in him, and been called to act in the most conspicuous, the most interesting, and most difficult situations, summoned to appear at the bar of a righteous God, to be recompensed according to the rectitude of his principles and the fidelity of his services.

This event should admonish us all not to put our trust in man, whose breath is in his nostrils, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help; but, looking to men only as the instruments of Heaven for accomplishing the great purposes of providence, to fix our hope steadfastly in God, and place our safety and prosperity in his hands, who was the God of our fathers, and who will never forsake us their children, if we place our whole trust and hope in him.

When great and good men are raised up to perform eminent services in very critical times,—to guide a people by their wisdom, prudence, constancy, and fidelity, through perilous scenes, and raise their country to glory and prosperity; we ought to be grateful for their services, to love and respect them while living, and to honour their memory when they are dead. But to place all our dependence on any one man as the ark of our safety, and to consider all our political interests as suspended on his life, would be the height of imprudence,—the madness of enthusiasm. It would betray an impious distrust of the power or goodness of Providence; as if, when its instruments for doing good had accomplished their end, it could not raise up others to supply their places, [Page] according as the exigencies of mankind should require them!

This event should accordingly teach us, while we deeply regret the loss of departed worth, far from despairing of the protection of Heaven, far from distrusting its future care, and far from feeling a diffidence of the sufficiency of its instruments to secure our safety and promote our prosperity, to turn our eyes with hope and confidence to LIVING WORTH, and to value, esteem, and honour it. To what, my friends, was it owing, that Washington had it in his power to do so much good for his country? Was it not greatly owing to the confidence, which was placed in him by the people? I would not detract from his abilities, or lessen your opinion of his virtues. I do believe them both to have been of the very first order and purest kind. But, with the talents and virtues of an angel of heaven, I ask, whether he could have performed for his country the services he did, had he been looked upon with jealousy, beheld with suspicion, thwarted in all his views, opposed in his plans, and counteracted in his exertions? had the motives of his conduct been perpetually called in question, and calumny permitted to withdraw from him the support and good opinion of his fellow-citizens?

Let it not, O my country! let it not be the base stain of thy character, while thou honourest the memory of thy defenders who are gone, to blacken the names of those who survive; while thou buildest the tombs of thy dead prophets, to stone the living! While, with an honourable zeal, we pay the tribute of respect to deceased merit, and remember with gratitude [Page] the services of those, who are no more; let us, my dear fellow-citizens, be just to the living! Let the fidelity of past services give a confidence in the rectitude and ability, which are to render future services. And having placed our Rulers in stations, in which we expect them to do us good, let us not do them the injustice, nor ourselves the injury, to withdraw from them that confidence and support, without which it will be with diffidence, with embarrassment, and with hazard, that they attempt to serve us. Their best plans for promoting the public good may be prevented from execution, their most patriotic exertions may be defeated, and their most wise and faithful services prove ineffectual, unless we their constituents, after putting the administration of government into their hands, are ready to aid them in it with our cheerful confidence and firm support.

There is one further improvement we ought to make of the mournful event, which we this day notice. It is, to respect the prudent admonitions of our now departed friend; and to cherish a proper regard for those just principles of government, and lend a merited attention to those wise maxims of moral and political conduct, which in the course of his public life, and particularly at the close of it, he inculcated with all the sincerity and zeal of friendship, and with all the solicitude of paternal concern.

We have all read and admired his public official papers, his proclamations, his circular letter at the close of our revolutionary war, and his most valuable address to the inhabitants of the United States, when he announced his resolution of quitting the Presidential chair. It is now for us to do something more [Page] than admire. We should be solicitous, as far as our individual practice is concerned, or our influence extends, to promote the great purposes in view in that excellent address, in which he last, and most eminently, appeared as the Father of his country, by assuming the peculiar right of a father, to counsel, admonish, and warn.

This we shall do, when we exert ourselves to promote that spirit of union, he so earnestly recommends, by laying aside party spirit and the use of party names, by rejecting geographical distinctions and local prejudices, and endeavouring to perpetuate the integrity, and strengthen the bonds of the union: when we submit to the laws of the land, and encourage a cheerful subjection to all the constituted authorities; always discountenancing a spirit of insurrection, and the disposition of the minority to control the majority; a spirit utterly opposed to the first principles of republican liberty, and incompatible with order and peace: when we encourage religion, morals, and literature, and the institutions for promoting them: when we cherish public credit, by using it as sparingly as possible, and adopting the most rigid and exact economy: when we avoid all unnecessary foreign connexions, all national attachments and antipathies, preferences and hatreds; and, while we observe good faith, with scrupulous and conscientious fidelity, with all nations, shun with caution the influence and ascendency of any; not only so as to guard our public counsels from being polluted; but also so as to preserve public opinion, which, in a free government, must always regulate them, from being contaminated: when we preserve [Page] in fact a neutral position, as far as it can be preserved, and steadily pursue a pacific policy, in respect to the nations of Europe, with whose relative interests we have no concern, and in whose contentions it is desirable to take no part. These last are indeed dictated by maxims of conduct, which relate immediately to the government, and not to individuals: but as the acts of government, under elective forms, are but the expressions of the public opinion and will, it is in the power of each individual to contribute something toward forming and expressing that public opinion; and it becomes important for him to take care, that he do it with fidelity, and with a sacred regard to these maxims of political wisdom, and principles of political rectitude.

Such is a sketch of those good counsels, impressed on us by our departed friend, which we ought to preserve with the same fidelity and zeal, that we cherish the memory of him, who with so much affection, and so feeling an interest in the future welfare of the United States, has inculcated them upon us, admonished us of their importance, and recommended them to our frequent review.

It only remains for us, as the last method of improving this melancholy occasion, and the last tribute of respect we can pay to the memory of the illustrious deceased, to profit by his instructive example; in public life to imitate the virtues of his public character, and in private life to copy those humbler virtues, which shone with less splendor indeed, but with equal clearness, and scarcely with less usefulness or [Page] less remarkably in his private character; and to unite in the fervent prayer to Heaven, that our land may never want Rulers to manage her great concerns, with a zeal, fidelity, skill, and success like those of WASHINGTON, and that in life and in death they may meet with A REWARD LIKE HIS.

FINIS

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Notes

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Message to Congress.

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MR. WARE'S SERMON, ON Washington's Death.

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A SERMON, Occasioned by the Death of George Washington, SUPREME COMMANDER of the AMERICAN FORCES during the Revolutionary War; FIRST PRESIDENT, AND LATE Lieutenant-General and Commander in chief of the Armies of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; Who departed this Life at MOUNT VERNON, December 14, 1799, in the 68th Year of his Age. DELIVERED in HINGHAM, by Request of the INHABITANTS, January 6, 1800.

By HENRY WARE, PASTOR of the FIRST CHURCH in HINGHAM.

AND ELIJAH WENT UP INTO HEAVEN.

2 KINGS, ii.11.

THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH DOTH REST ON ELISHA.

—15.

Printed by SAMUEL HALL, No. 53, Cornhill, BOSTON. 1800.

Information about this book

Title statement

A sermon, occasioned by the death of George Washington, supreme commander of the American forces during the Revolutionary War; first president and late lieutenant-general and commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America; who departed this life at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, in the 68th year of his age. : Delivered in Hingham, by request of the inhabitants, January 6, 1800. / By Henry Ware, Pastor of the First Church in Hingham. ; [Two lines from II Kings]

Ware, Henry, 1764-1845.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N29263

ID [TCP]

N29263

ID [STC]

Evans 38977

ID [NOTIS]

APY2118

ID [IMAGE-SET]

38977

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99029193

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 38977.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N29263)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 38977)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 38977)

Source

— A sermon, occasioned by the death of George Washington, supreme commander of the American forces during the Revolutionary War; first president and late lieutenant-general and commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America; who departed this life at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799, in the 68th year of his age. : Delivered in Hingham, by request of the inhabitants, January 6, 1800. / By Henry Ware, Pastor of the First Church in Hingham. ; [Two lines from II Kings], Ware, Henry, 1764-1845..

Extent

27, [1] p. ; 20 cm. (8vo)

Printed by Samuel Hall, no. 53, Cornhill, Boston.,. [Boston] :: 1800.. (Half-title: Mr. Ware's sermon, on Washington's death.)

Creation

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