The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1779-03-31 00:00:00, page 1

[No. ll.]
Mr. Collins,
I Concluded my last cffay with declaring my
intention to point out, on a future opportunity,
the causes of our national evils, and the remedies
for their care. —I confcis it is much easier to
discover the symptoms of a disorder than their
causes. However an attempt to cure diseases
by only attempting to check or remove symptoms,
without knowing or endeavouring to remove the
causes, is the business of empiricks and quacks, not
phylicians.—lf I fliould be so happy as to discover
the true ones of our national evils, I expeft to meet
with opposition and enemies: For such diseases are
seldom or never cured, without cauhng pain and dis
tress in the affeded members, which will always ex
ert themselves to avoid it, and render such attempts
abortive. However, as my sincere intention is to
serve my country, I shall at all times gratefully re
ceive inftrudion, and the discovery of any of my
errors tendered to me with candor, and totally dis
regard and despise the rancour and abuse of any who
may appear to be actuated from principles of irreli
gion and love to private and felf interest. —I thus beg
the impartial attention ^ my fellow-citizens to
what I shall endeavour to offer with candor on this
fubjed.
I. It appears to me highly probable that the un
grateful conduct of this nation towards God, our-kind
benefactor and just arbiter of the universe, is to be
ranked among the chief causes of our present distresses.
That God, in the course of his providence, is wont
to chastise and punish nations he has particularly
favoured, for their profane and abominable ingra
titude, is evident from the whole of divine revelation.
After the leader of Israel had prophetically denounced
a mixture of national calamities on that people, -he
declares, All these curses shall come upon thee, and
Jball pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be de
frayed, because than hearkeqedfl not •so the voice of the
Lord thy God, to k?ep bis commandments and bis jia takes,
which he commanded thee * * Compare with this what
happened to this nation not long after their pofleflion
of that land of liberty and plenty.J If government
by misrule from ignorance, imprudence or villainy,
become the immediate causes of a pation's distress,
yet a holy God permits it, and in justice directs it,
for a punilhment to the guilty nation. Thus the
Sovereign of the world threatens, and I will give
children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over
them, and the people shall be oppressed, ever, one b,
another, and ever, one b, his neighbour.^ Ancient
and modern history, both profane and divine, bear
testimony to this truth. —It has been frequently assert
ed in our public prints, that it was evident God gave
the government of Great-Britain up to foolifh coun
sels, in order to punish the nation for their fins.
The events have hitherto proved it. Before I proceed
to show that our fins are such as require national
chastisement and punishment, I beg leave to observe,
that in the best of nations there are always some a
bandonedly wicked; and in the worst of nations tome
moral good. —That in the mod abandonedly wicked
nations, all the individuals are not guilty of the
fame vices, nor in the fame degree ; but some of one
fort and some of another, and so in conjunction make
out and aggravate the whole —That a nation is deno
minated vicious or virtuous, according as the one or
the other of those opposite characters become public
and honourable in the opinori of the prevailing party.
I fear the vicious will overbalance the morally virtu
ous in our community, and that our fins are of such
an aggravated nature, being committed against light
and mercies, as require severer calamities than we
have as yet experienced. My reasons for this fearful
apprehension I shall attempt to give with candor and
without exaggeration and agreeable to truth, as
far as my knowledge of men and manners in our
community extends.
I. The leading principle of vice is libertinifm, i. e.
u maintaining by words or actions, that the laws of
religion ought to have no restraint upon men. Princi
ples as definitive to civil society as difhonourable
to the Supreme'Being. These are the principles so
much in vogue and practice among those who assume
the charater, air and deportment of gentlemen a
mong us. —To our shame it must be confeffed that
there are men among the honourable members of the
august council of this empire, which are too well
known to make redicule of all religion and every
thing sacred, and yet are entrusted with the manage
ment of the important affairs of the contest, which
is committed to God for a decision. It however
* Deut. xxiv. 45. f The book of fudges.
I Isa. iii. 4, 5.
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. ll.]
WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1779.
affords fatisfadion to the virtuous among us, to fee
by several resolves of Congress, that men of such an
abandoned character have, as yet, not the majority
in that houfe.—ln one of these resolves it was warmly
recommended to the different Legislatures to pass laws
for the effectual curbing of vice. The good people
of this State have long complained that the laws un
der the former government were infufficient for that
purpose, and I hoped that our new Legislators would
have amended them, especially when I saw it so warm
ly recommended by Congress ; but when 1 reviewed
the titles of the laws they passed, I found, to my
surprise, this was neglected. If this neglect has
proceeded from a disregard and indifference rc
fpecting these matters, it is too evident a proof that
some of the leading members ate too much tainted
with these pernicious principles.—l have a true re
gard for the gentlemen of our army, as liar as their
bravery in the defence of our country demands it.
But I am lorry to have so much reason to believe
that a great part of them, are intirely swayed by
such Epicurean principles. lam induced to believe
this from their public conduct. The lad thanksgiv
ing day, proclaimed by Congress (under whose im
mediate authority they aft) was almost wholly dis
regarded by that part which is quartered in Somerset.
His Excellency the Commander in Chief was then at
Philadelphia. Add to this their frequent balls, at
a time when so many of our fellow-citizens groan
under the frowns of heaven: Their drinking to ex
cess, their heaven provoking custom of profane
cursing and swearing, their Shocking profanation of
God's holy day, and an intire disregard of all public
worfliip due to our Creator; their neglect of the
laws of Congress for restraining vice in she army.'
All which affords too much ground for such suspicion.
Chaplains in our army, who eat their country's
bread and draw their pay for doing no other duty
than reading service to their brigades less than half a
dozen of times in a twelvemonth, are probably actu
ated by no better principle. If we view the gentle,
men and ladies engaged in the affairs of private life,
they will exhibit to us a still more deplorable 'feene
of vanity and debauchery, ihewn in their balls,affem
blies, extravagant dress and unaccountable faihions,
their unrestrained profanation of the sabbath, by
pursuing their vanities or fecplar affairs. The whole
of their luxury and dissipation, joined with jhat
intire disregard of the infeituted worihip of God and
all sacred things, strongly evinces that the maxim of
Epicurus, eat, drink and divert yourselves, for after
death there is no pleasure, has much greater influence
on such dissipated minds than those of the holy reli
gion of Jesus Chritt.—What adds to the awful guilt
of those of superior rank in a nation, is the powerful
influence the conduct of such have upon the morals
of the rest of the community.
2. Though it must be supposed that the generality
of inferior rank in our different States, of whatever
chriftian denomination they be, still believe that the
laws of religion ought to influence our actions, ,et
the destructive examples before recited, the many temp
tations of the present day, and the prevailing corrup
tions of human nature, have carried, like a might,
torrent, the multitude down the flream of vie, even
against the dilates and checks of their own conferences.
This is at least evident, that the general neglect of
divine truths and the public ordinances of God, the
profanation of the Lord's Day, even by numbers
who profi fs to believe the divine command for the
fandification of it ; the horrible practice of profane
cursing and swearing, drunkenness, and all excess of
riot, have made such advances of late, as threaten
the deftrudion of the rising generation, by thus
bursting asunder the laws o' religion and society.
3. The culpable neglect of civil Magistrates in the exe
cution of our laws against open profanity and vice,
though I mention in the laji place, is by no means one of
the leaf of our national fins. The civil sword is en
trusted to them to check vice and punish wickedness.
For he is the minifler of God to thee for good, but if
thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beoreth
not the sword in vain. This is the language of a
writer whose authority and veracity our magistrates
will not presume to dispute.—Though I confefs with
pleasure that the Attorney General and Grand Juries
of our courts have in a late instance exerted them
selves for punilhing gamesters at horse-racing, I must
however ackowlcdge I know of no other instance of
any civil magistrates fini g or any ways pufiifhing
for profane swearing, cursing, sabbath-breaking,
gaming, or any public vice punishable by the laws
of the land, ever fihee our glorious revolution
has happened: Though these vices have never
been more public and daring among us than since
that time. What many of such officers do with
THE
their confeiences I know not. I suppose they gene
rally excuse themselves because no complaints are
lodged with them. But who in the whole commu
nity are under such solemn obligations to inform as
these gentlemen are ? Why do they want to be in
formed of what their eyes behold and their ears hear ?
If they want information why do they not fend for
evidences and examine them refpeding credible re
ports of vices punishable by law, having been per
petrated in their refpethve diftrids ? Such conduft
would soon put a flop t%p # blic vice. Why then is
i; notdone ? Because many Magistrates dread more
the frowhs of man, of abandoned man, than of a
holy and a just God, to whom they are held refpon
lible for the negled of duty, and the injury there
from accruing to society. It is descriptive of the
diffracted state of Israel, where a facred* historian
lays — In those days there was no king in Israel, but
ever, man did that which was right in bis own eyes.
There is no fin more provoking o God and destruc
tive to society than that those to whom Providence
has committed the civil sword, refufe to use it for
the end it was given, and by their finful neglect rather
encourage the vices intended to be thereby prevented
than check them.
The foregoing hints exhibit to us, my fellow-citi
zens, an awful but a true portrait of the moral cha
racter of this diltreffed country. Can the honest
perfou, when he-feriotifly reflects upon it, wonder
that cur empire labours under a complication of dis
orders ? How can those who really believe the exist
ence of a God and the government of the world by
his providence, expert that he will pass by those
deftrudive and God-provoking vices, in a people
which make profeffion of chriftianity, which he has
constantly punished, even in Pagan nations ? We are
certainly a people laid under many obligations of
gratitude to God, to them I may fay in the language
of Moses, Do ,e thus requite the Lord, 0. 'foolifh
people and unwise ! What will be the issue of a per
jeofluuce in such condufl ? If God be against us who
shall be for us ? Shall there be an 'evil in the'eit,, .and
the Lord bath not done it ? Ought not every true
friend to his country, to exert himfelf in order to
remove this chief cause of our national calamities?
1 know addrefles of a serious nature generally afford
matter for ridicule to libertines and atheists. My
proper business here is not to attempt a confutation
of their principles; I only call their attention to
what they mult acknowledge to be a truth attested
by the history of all ages, namely, that luxury and
all manner of public vice have at all times pioved the
procuring causes, or at least the forerunners of nati
onal calamities ; and therefore I would conjure them,
for the welfare of themselves and fellow-citizens, to
reform, at least in their moral conduft, in order to
remedy our present calamities and avoid greater.
1 hose who are as yet not proof against the precepts
of the gospel, I would address in the words of a
prophet, to his wicked and luxurious sovereign.
1 Iherefore, 0. ' king, let m, counsel be acceptable unto
thee, and break off thy fins b, rigbteoufnefs, and thine
iniquities b, Jbewing mere, to the poor, if it may be a
lengthening of th, tranquility. Let such as are led
captive by their corruptions and the power of their
vices, seriously refleft upon their past conduct, com
pare it with the precepts of the holy gospel, and
maturely judge for themselves. Does your profanity
and vice afford you any real profit, advantage or
true and lasting pleasure ? Is there a God ? Is there
a final judgment and a future state of punishments
and rewards to be expe&ed ? Are you responsible to
the supreme Judge for all your moral actions? I ap
peal to your confeiences for answers to such import
'!". queries 0 Confider yourselves as members of
civil society, and I venture to assert, if you are tories
you have Balaam's disposition, you would readily have
curled our Israel, you have done your endeavour
to injure it, is it wonder that such should do their
utmost to lay offences in our way, and bring the in
dignation of God upon us ? knowing that would be
worse than all the power and force of our enemies.
Such will sooner or later get a Balaam's reward. But
you who esteem yourselves friends to your country,
can you persevere in a conduct so evidently calcu
lated for its deftrudion ? You have reasons to be con
vinced that our fins have done us more hurt than
our inveterate enemies. And will you go on to ruin
your country, and bring yourselves and fellow-citi
zens in still greater distress ? Have you a spark of love
left for your bleeding country, forfake the evil of your
ways, and turn to that God who has juflly smitten
us, and in wrath has often rememb< red mercy, and
still shows, by his providence, that he waits not for
our deftrudtion, but for our repentance, in orderthat
he might save and deliver us in a way ' honourable to
[Numb. 69.]