The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-11-20

create
minds of those " no shall read this discourse, feel
il would be unbec oming in me to withhold it when
thus requested for publication. II any words OF
mine, borrowing weight and worth from those
who approve them, shall seem in any measure fifty
to express the sorrow gratitude, and affection for
the illus,rious dead which are swelling the great
heart of THE Republic, shall count myself happy.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
To His Excellency MILLARp FILLMORE. the Hon.
ALEXANDER Fl. Il. stuart, sc.
SERMON.
ga WISE MAN STRONG prov. xiv, 8.
A wise and strong man, lately with us, has
departed The last Of 1.-THE three mighties'
is no more DANIEL WEBSTER is no longer
the name Of liring wisdom, grandeur, power.
He is hidden from our eyes. The funeral rlles
are over. The MOI rning multitude who, with
dropping heads and swelling hearts, attended
his BURIAL have dispersed. The little group
of chusen friends, lately gliding with sup
pressed, reverentiaI, and atfectionate sorrow
around his bed, and through the hushed house
of mourning. have all departed. The echo OF
the blended voices of bereaved love and attec-
tiona,e eulogy, which rose above his grave,
vet lnger on the air. The sickness, the death,
the burial, the admirlng tributes paid to his
memory by individuals, cities, States, and
the nation no longer passing in august and
now taken their places among the most sub
lime and affecting incidents of national history
That majestic form, which we have seen SO often
and 80 recently in this house of God, has passed
forever from our view. 1t sleeps. in the midst Of a
of solitary grandeur. by the sea 1t rests in
favorite spot, where, looking out upon the ocean
and the sky, he loved to mediate and drink in the
spirit Of a scene go congenal to his mighty mind
in the hour of ming 3 freshness md oftwiligh
calm. II is resting place suited to the severe and
majestic simplicity of his character, his intellect,
his life his death, hs burial. The sea-emblem
of vastncss, majesty, mystery, and power-chau UNITS
in fit and melancholy monotone his perpetual re
QUEEN AS the pilgrim to his tomb shall stand
upon that elevation where he sleeps, and look out
upon the sea, and hear the measured music of the
waves they break upon the shore, he will See a
submer ocean OF human souls spreading before
bis spirit eye. and hear il rolling and brea king, in
strains of sorrow, affection, admiration and graft
tude, at the base vi his lofty fame.
Few men have, we'll ns MIR. WEBSTER, illus.
trated the truth, that "a wisc man is strong"
The wise and foolish, in the language Of Solo
mon, sometimes mean merely the good and the
evil. Sometimes Solomon uses the word twise"
to designate exclusively intellectual sagacity and
power At other times, as in the text, he includes
both meanings in the word. Very frequently he
nsserts that holiness the wisdom of the heart
increases the sagacty. dscr elton, and power of
the Jude rstand!ng-the wisdom of the mind.
When these two wsdolns combined, then, in
the highest and best sense o! the word the man is
wise
He who in this sense is wise must be strong, md
all the knowledge that be gains must increase bs
strength.
II suppose the intellect of an an ge! to be given
to- good and TO lose nothing OF it's vigor and
spendor ty its mortal encasement, and by its union
with human soul and human heart, can i'm
agine how greatly wise he would be. How would
his great intellect sit, in throned supremacy over
other mlnds! He would see things they are,
forward to their results, disentang!e sophistrics,
hold vast details in his simultaneous conception,
pierce through seemings to realitiea, bring and
bind together severed truths; and every field Of
thought, and in every department Of action, ina Ike
TO rice amid the rubbish Of the schemes and sys
TENS OF the past, and the incomplete and detormcd
etructures OF the present, beautiful, symmetrical,
and complete palaces Uf thought, based upon eternal
truths and fashioned after those perfect patterns
in the skes, whose "builder and maker is God"
n such being should ming in the affairs Of men
how strong would bis wisdom prove In ruling the
thought, and determining the conduct, of the null
titudes who would be found sitting at his feet.
At vast distance fellow being such this
would be, stand the foremost men Of all the world.
Bot the suppceitioD Of such a beng enables us the
better TO perceive in what the strength of the wise
consists. In this world Of uncertainty md Of err
ror, he who can beat ell the mutitudes, " no are
pcrplexed and suffering from past mistakes, what
10 right truth. Wisdom. safety, and success, ia a
against evil. GODS might 10 with him. Every
accession OF knowledge will increase his own and
others' strength.
great mind. lghtened by grace, and direct
ed Ia lite thought and work by moral and religious
principle and feeling, Is a precious GIFT from G cd
TO msn. j. is great met ument Of good. Its
Strength 10 inward p"acc, and its gnings forth are
bsp-rc' nee. IL deserves our gratitude. II ava
kess our jost admiration. IL stimulates our curl
Qua and wandering search into it's structure, it's
action, aud the bidings Of its power. 1t rewards
DOR study. II gives right direction to our ow n
mud. ], guides communities and nations into
the ~sys Of truth, rig btoousuess and peace.
Such man is strong in hinsey No more ptia
tile spectarlc Of weakness can be conceived thu n
that Of n human soul ia doubt concerning the ia
turr, and unprepared TO enter upon IL with ''quet-
ness and assurance" Even IL IL have the men al
gifs Of BOlipgbroke or Hume. 1t 10 poor and fee
Die thing, with no peace, no power 10 breast pre-.
aent IIs, aud no good assurance OF ha ppincss in
the future. such q suul cannot be self poised
calm, aud strong. lite doubts are weakness; its
conc lUsi"ns are not strength. All uncertain of
God, u the souIs Immortality, Of tho Almighty
mode 81 dealing IN another world-ii such there
be-~fh spiri's that have sinned. how can
there BE- Confidence and rect of heart, strength
Of moral pBF pose, fired Llans and ends in me-
and steady, cheerful, and brave doing and
enduring unto the endr Or IL the conclusion
L. reached, that beyond the prcscnt life all 10
blank. that the soul At death hrs into non exist.
ebre, hat a TO out Of that black nothin gness
20 cheer and assure the souR Or IL IL conc lude
tas, God VIII make all h. Creatures happy in an
shaken, wien tells him hat is not proved
and tear suggests that II may MT be true, and
sc'enoe whispers that IL u Jaise7 II he doubts, he
ufiTsn. without ruddcr, compass, chart, or star
over NEE yeHcd waste OF waves. he knows not
whthtr' II be believes, then indeed he is anchor.
e1' po' ne 10 anchored in dark. misty, and
stormy night, by a shore from which no beacon
beams SEd no friendly voice Of warning or dircc-
% c1Iats; and all uncertain whether the vague
and solsmn sounds which reach him are the roar
IL the breakers the rocks whore he rnust neri,b
or toe TAIL OF the waves on the shore of the safe
harbof into which he mny pass in peace he must
await IN glo IN and darkness, the breaking of the
day. Surely this man has no in ward strenatl,