The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1841-05-20

CHRISTIAN, through thy Fathers grace.
One is given thee near His own.
From the Boston Notion.
A SERMON,
Delivered on Sunday April 18th, by Rev.
GEORGE WHITNEY, Of Jamaica Plain, Mass.
80. On occasion Of the Death Of
PRESIDENT HARRHscS.
Mum hers 1G CHI. go VS..
Z" These men die the common death Of all men,"
Since last addressed you, my friends,
from this place of our solemnities, an un-
usual bereavement has passed over our
land. Disease and death have been unit
edly busy, and rapidly successful in clos
ing the earthly career of one, on whom
the world had nothing higher among its
honors to bes,ow. He, whom this great
people, in numbers before unprecedented
in our history, had chosen TO stand at the
head of its affairs, has suddenly bowed,
as in the words Of the text, to the com
mon lot, and passed where sovereign
and subject lie down together-,heir
empty distinctions no longer known. He
had been summoned to fill an exalted
station and invested with the forms OF
earthly power, but they all afforded no
immunity against the universal decree.
He has died the common death of all
men. He has fallen, too, in the morning
of his work, while as yet the harness had
hardly all been girded on. The sanguine
hopes of friends and the waiting expecta-
tons of all have been blasted in an hour.
n deep solemni,y and an honorable sym
patty pervade all classes and parties
throughout our wide spread borders.
There is melancholy and Overwhelming
sense Of a great and common loss.
AS becomes Christian patriot, l
would turn this affective providence to
some edifying account. should degrade
myself in my own eyes if could be
persuaded TO speak Of him any the soon
er-or the more tardily because of this
party or that. He was of the noble par
iy of good men and that is enough for me.
| have no anxiety either to bespeak the
patient audience Of any one. am sure
of all can desire from every right mind
and every generous heart. 1t is an hour
when honest differences lose all the
prominency they may once have posses
sed, in theme of deeper import-as
fading stars die out before the opening
dav. There is a power. too, i'll the
grave, which huries up, for the most part,
all antipathies, and leads us to calmer
Justice towards those whose memories i,
is soothing to us to guard. Nay more,
even our well grounded preferences
shrink away and give place to tender
and charitable emotions, when death has
arrested one in his race and summoned a
kindred spirit to the presence of his
God. 5. e
But, more than this, there were Cir
cumstances which tended to make the
loss we are deploring more than usually
affecting. It's an unwonted spectacle
to see youthful faces saddened and tears
in the eyes of grown men at the depar.
ture of any public servant. 1t has not
been easy for us to divest the mind of
the impression that void has been made
in the household circle. This, think.
has been to an extraordinary degree the
general sentiment. Men have felt as if
one had been suddenly smit.en down.
with whom they have been long familiar
"a friend and not stranger-an ac-
quaintance and not public functionary.
This has been owing, in part, to the
character of the man as far IS it was
known, having those traits pre-eminenl
which bind human sympathies with
them; partly also, and TO much wider
extent, L suppose, to that universal en-
thusiasm which manifested itself in an
endless variety Of forms, making his
name familiar to us like household
word, and which so recently bore him
up from his comparative poverty and re,
tirement to the high station he filled, in
the striking language of one, who had
himself been seated there, as upon the
wings of g whirlwind. F"
Furthermore, the event before us has
presented another feature already alluded
to always touching to the heart and full
of solemn admoni,ion to every thought
full mind. Only a single month hat
passed, the waxing and waning OF sin
ole moon from the day Of his elevation tt
the dav of lis death. Sudden and melan
choly was the transition from The hour
when myriads were doing him glat
homage, to the feeble one, appointed t
us ali. which none could be found stron!
lenongh to afford him help. The robe
Of Office and the winding sheet scenes
to have been brough, in together. IN
public congratulations Of the ceremo'n l
hall had hardly subsidized to give repos
to The chamber Of death. The sound
! Of rejoicing seemed still to be llagerln
! e.. while flesh and heal