Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1831-03-31

.M-iRCH 81, 1881
sIe. WIRT'S LETTER

States, to the ReU. John Breckenridge, en-
closing $50 to promote the cause of Sunday
Schools, is filed with sentiments which all
good men approve, and which ought to be
writtea On the hearts Of the people. The
letter was read at the late meeting in behalf
Of the american Sunday School Union, held
ia the city of Washington.
Washington, Feb. Is, 1881.
DEAR SIR regret that it is not in NV
power to be with you this evening, that /
! might have united my humble efforts with
those OF our fellow citizens who will be pre-
sent, In advancing this great, and, as be-
heve 1t, Heaven directed cause. That Iii.
berry and Learning lean ON each other fer
support" Is a truth which has long been
known to the wise, and of which we are all
becoming convinced by fearful experience.
1t has been the ignorance of the people which
has SO long enabled tyrants to hold the world
IN chains; and they have never failed to burst
them asunder whenever light has broken in
strongly upon them. But If they are permit
ted to relapse into ignorance and its natural
attendant, grovelling vice, tyrants will raise
again, under the name of patriots, and we
shall see the world re plunged into Gothic
darkness aHd dsspotism. 1t is not in the ma.
tare oil things, that popular government
can long subsist, except among an enligbt
ened aud v'rtuous people; nothing else can
shield them against the designs of wicked g.
intriguing politicians, who always come 10
the name and garb of patriotism, and, cali
ing themselves friends of the people, cheat
them 20 their ruin Every effort, therefore,
10 enlighten the people, deserves the Jealous
SuDD0rt
and hail, with manifested ioy, the ardeur
with which this great and philan thropic plan
has been every where received.-Viewed in
temporal and political light, merely, it de
serves the strongest support frem all who
WISH the continuance of our free and happy
institutions at home; and when we see the
ehect that our example is producing on the
fHorid, the motive of our exsrtions raises to
q lar ioitier and nobler sentiment Ii is the
cause, not OF the United States only, bat of
the whole earth. Il is the cause of man thro'-
out thu world, and who is there 60 poor and
sordid OF spirit, as to think only Of himself
when the great question is, whether this earth
shall be inhabited by enlis htened and virtu-
GUS iIeemen, erect and firm on the BASH Of
independence, or by hordes of ignorant,
groveIing and PROSTATE slaves, huggng their
chains and licking the dust from the feet of
But in connexion with these great tempe
raj benefits, your society has still higher s.
hoier aim-spreading the light of the Cos.
pei, and advancing the kingdom Of the Re
deemer. In relation TO the world at large, |
believe that public virtue has no solid basis.
but in Religion. | mean by public virtue,
that which impels man, in all his public
acts, to look solely to the good of his coun-
try, without any view ofpersonal aggrandse.
ment. | believe that the Fathers Of the re-
volution were, for the NEST part, such men.
A great crisis called them out, and the COM
mon danger, as well as the common hope,
supplied great motive Of action which
held them together, and directed their united
efforts TO the liberation Of their country. But
that crisis once passed, Il the object aehiey-
ed, the natural passions of man came into
play, and then came personal ambition, with
all Its disastrous retinue of faction, intrigue,
injustice, barbarity, SANDER, contention and
STRIFE; until our whole country presents a
scene from which every honest and peacea-
bic man recoils, without ray of hope, ex-
eept from the power Of the Almighty. Pri-
vate vice always keeps peace with public i'm
morality. Principles and manners descend
naturally from those who occupy distinguish
ed places, to those who dwell in the humble
walks of life. This is an admitted trutk in
menarchies, and we have had experience E.
nough to know, that it is extensively true in
republics. One distinguished man is able to
corrupt whole neighborhood by his example
and Vaccinations; and the sphere of his per
nicious influence becomes enlarged, IN pro-
portion to the eminence to which he has ris-
en-. The only correction is that which you
seek to apply, and The plan is laid in the pro-
foundest wisdom. Begin at the other end
of society, with the rising generation, IN the
humber walks of life. Plant 10 them the
seeds Of that Gospel, to whose power the
world Of civilized man bears evidence, and
you raise up great antagonist principle
which will Overwhelm corruption, though
seated on high. The people i'll truth hold the
upper place ameng us. They are the spring
head. the natural fountain of all power. Pu-
rfy the fountain and its streams will be pure.
And what is there SO efhcacious, nay, what
IS there that has any power at all to produce
such an effect, but the Gospel efthe Redeem
er carried home to the heart by his spirit
Mere human virtue is cheat-a sclntllla-
ton at best, which we see continually eS-
tinguished by temptation. 1t bias no power
10 resist the call Of selfish ambition, and the
tissue of vile means and agents which such
an ambition never fails to employ. 1t may
make shew in public; but it has no power
to resist the temptations which solicit the ras. :
SONS OF man in private. and which have al
ready poisoned all the springs of moral &C
Aim Lee hon he IIEl