The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-07-17
Extract from a 4th July Sermon,
BY REV. W. II. BRISBANE.


tract of a 4th Of July Sermon by Rev.
w. II. Brisbane, in the Allentown De-
mocrat. Mr.. Brisbane has many warm
personal friends and admirers among
our readers, who will read this extract
with pleasure.
1t is true, "the nation and the king.
dom that will not serve Him shall per-
ish." God has written this upon every
page of the worlds klstory as clearly as
if in letters of fire upon the fontis-piece
of heaven.
Where are the Egyptians, The Phpni- !
clans, the Assyrians, tie Persians. =
Where are those proud cities once the |
centres of wealth and power-Thebes,
Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage and
Rome-the naughty, all-conquering
Rome ! In the history of these, and a
score of others, God has preached to the
nations from this text. Not that these
show any special interpretations of Divine
Providence. No miraculous interposi- +!
tons are needrd; God has so constituted |
the social fabric that 'the nation and the
kingdom that will not ervc lin shall
perish; yea, those nations shall be utter
ly wasted" Every nation carries with
it the elements of its own destruction.
Deeply embedded in the foundations of
every national organization lie the COM
bustble materials, and it is neither the
violation nor the suspension of any eX-
listing law, when the hand of eternal
Justice filings down the blazing torch and
fires these magazines of wrath. Where
shall we find these destructive elements
in our own government! Most unques-
tionably, in the power which has been
vested in the masses--Let that power
be unclaimed. Let the masses become
corrupt. Let the moral tone of the peo-
pie sink and virtue and religion be
driven out from us, then liberty will de-
generate into RIGHTEOUSNESS, the proud
eagle of the republic trail his plumes in
the dust, and that gorgeous temple of
/ Liberty, founded by the Pilgrim Fathers
totter to its everlasting downfall.
The security and stability of a repub-
lican government can be measured only
by the virtue and religion of its people.
All power is in their hands. If they are
regardless OF the claims of morality, that
is sure warrant they will prove equally
regardless OF all rights and obligations.
If there, the elements Of the government
are corrupt, the government itself is rot
ten TO Che core. y
But hrarkon to the words of W ashing
ton: "Can it be that Providence has
not connected the permanent felicity of
a nation with its vlrtuel And let US
with caution indulge the superstition
that morality can be maintained with
out religion. Whatever may be conced
ed to the influence of refined education
upon the minds of the people, reason
and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morality can prevail to the
exclusion of religious principles. 1t is
substantially true, that virtue or mora
lily is a necessary spring OF popular
governments" This is the testimony of
one whose love of country was as pure
!
man heart. Ii comes to us as the dying
words of our country's seer. Let them
be deeply pondered. Let them be writ
ten upon your hearts as IN letters of fire.
Nay, write upon your hearts his words
who gave us Washington, who gave us
liberty and everything good and glori-
ous-''The nation and the kingdom that
will not serve me shall perish"
read, this morning, that sublime
scene recorded in Holy Writ, where
Moses gathers the tribes of Israel upon
Ebal and Gerizm, and pronounces upon
their obedience and reverence Of God
blessings of surprising richness and pro-
fusion, and on the other, hand threat items
their national impiety with fearful and
desoIating curses, while all the people
. shout, Amen! | closed my eyes and
the scene changed. saw or thought |
saw gathered upon Gerizim the p'ous
) patriarchs of the revolution. Upon Ebal
were assembled the spirits of the Pill
grim Fathers, while in the midst of all
stood our Moses, whose countenance,
radiant with every virtue, is imperisha-
bly, Daguerreotyped upon every Ameri-
can heart. He lifted his voice and said:
"And 1t shall come to pass, if ye shall
hearken diligently unto the voice of the
Lord your God to observe and do all his
commandments, that the Lord your God
will set you on high above all nations of
the earth"
And heard his warning voice against
national iniquity. heard him pro-
nounce the curse of drunkness, the curse
of living, the curse of fraud and the
curses of all sin, and lifting his finger
| heavenward he solemnIy uttered-"the