Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-11-29
THE STRENGTH OF A NATION.
BY REV. NJ. RICHARDSON.


vision. | do not say it means this grea
American republic. But it was one that rose
from small beginning, became densely peo
pied, and inherited its land forever. Its
strength was in the righteousness of its citi.
zens. We shall consider the subject suggest
ed by the text in the inquiry: What constitute.
q strong government?
The condition of our nation is causing
many forebodings as to the stability of oul
democratic institutions. Wearied with thu
strife, or alarmed by the magnitude of tn,
questions involved, or chagrined at the hest
fancy and real or apparent inefficiency of tn
powers that be, many are saying ''we mus
have stronger government" Precisely hol
the government is to become stronger is no
stated. A few, from the formation of tn,
government, have had no confidence in it
endurance. Leading menin Europe prophesiet
our failure, on the ground that the great mas
OF people do not have the intelligence, the in
compatibility, and patient endurance adequat,
for selfgovernment. Numerous rocks havt
been pointed out as lying in the broad Sc;
over which our republican ship must sail
upon any one of which she might be wrecked
and now that she has struck upon the mos
dangerous of these, leaking badly, rent amid
ships, and lying upon her BEAM ends, the cry
is raised ''there is no plotage adequate to save
hCT. ne snip is 100 weak TO stand thu
strain. This is natural enough. In peril W.
look anywhere and everywhere for succor.
drowning man will catch ut straw, and
loosing his wits, at the anchor also.
Yes truly great nation must have
strong government Only tell us what viii
make it strong? The most gifted minds o
every age have expended their effort upol
this very question, yet the pathway of nation
is strewn with the ruins of kingdoms ono
pronounced impregnable At the very mo
ment the AsSyrian monarch was Boosting 0
its strength, its mightet of monarstNs'''
about to be reduced t. - .-'., ems was
ye 2a: -''ld' and ms government sub
Both England and France, at the very time
they were enyied for their most powerful
thrones, stood upon the brink of ruin Both
by ctgft acar, which annihiated their govern
ments, brought their kings to the block, sup
pressed the nobility and exalted the people to
power.
With governments, as with men, the strong
est may suddenly be laid low; or those who
appear the strongest in law and constitution,
or i'll hereditary right or standing armies. Not
that there is any fatality in the case; not
that nations or governments have prescribed
age, like person, an animal, a tree, at
which its vitality must cease and decay begin.
Such reasoning is fallacious. The citizens of
the Oldest government are no older than the
citizens of the same government were thou
sand years ago. They die daily, others are
daily born. Trees decay, but the forest lives
SO may nations, though thirty years suffice to
remove a generation OF men. Gods naturfl
forces do not step in and say to nations, as to
men, ''you have reached your limit, and your
days are numbered" They should be stronger
the longer they continue; and they would be
If they followed Gods plan of national we'll
being. Iniquity is their destruction
Not to the past history Of governments,
then-of kings and monarchs, can we turn
with hope; revolution, anarchy, the bloodiest
wars, have shown their weakness. Royalties,
aristocracies, theories of ''divine right and
OF blood, autocrats ariStocratS, and monarchs,
no less than tribal chiefs, patriarchs, democ-
racies, and representative republics, have risen
and tallen-leaving no marks Of strength to
guide US. And may add theoc1ucies to the
list; for the Bible shows the Jewish govern
ment most revolutionary, uncertain, and often
completely Swamped. Farewell to the past
Backward we cannot go, if we would. What
OF strength was in it, was strength for an age
that can no more return, than the earth'S orbit
can be reversed!
And it was never enough to save! All its
governments SO strong in theory have broken
when the pressure came. To-day, all the
''divine right by which kings rule is the right
OF revolution; for by its own theory, there is
not legal throne on the face of the earth
China not excepted. The sooner we stop
talking of any fundamental changes in our
government, the better: Here, we are as
strong as we shall be or can be. Perils are
before us; but no greater than other govern
ments have had or now have; and our safety
is IN meeting them free and manly men.
Better so, and nobler and happier, than cow
ardly deserton, or seeking shelter in old
structures SO often rebuilt after being leveled
| by the tempest
But can there not be government streng
| enough for security and peace? Commerce,
trade, labor, the arts, the sciences, study, re-
igion, nations happiness-all demand it.
| Surely, God has made possible a blessing so
| great, that all others are naught without it.
| The very sun is darkened when the govern
ment is weak. Anarchy bllghts all-the har-
| vest and the household; and life itself ter
ror and a curse. Give us strong govern
ment, at any price, and we will thanksgive
| forever! DO not expect too much in single
discourse upon such theme; l have time
only to allude to the following elements which
| must enter into such government.
l. Its growth must be natural-not an imi-
| tatlon Of some other government, or instituted
| by force. Mexico, therefore, has had a weak
| government She took copy of our federal
| constitution, and undertook to apply it to i
| people different in religion, education, man
ners, and customs, and the whole inward and
outward lite. 1t would not fit, and the people
have never been able to fit themselves to it.
| They could copy the lawS-not the spirit
| which dictated them, or gave them life much
less the long established habits of thought and
action, which would readily obey them
| Hence, Mexico has ever been trying to repub-
| hcanize, and never able to come to a republic
| The scion she cut from our tree of liberty
proved too foreign to the stock in which it
was grated.
Our democratic republic was of native
growth. Its germ sprung up spontaneously
at the hrst settlements in New England. The
early toonS were democraces. And the pill
grlms, before leaving their ship, drew up a
compact, the fundamental principle of which
has been Incorporated in the constitution of
the nation, and most of the states. Nominally
they were under the king-had charters from
his majestys government and governors, also
But study carefully the early history of our
townships, and you will see they were virtual
| ly independent. In religion and all civil mat
tiers they governed themselves. They did
this almost unconsciously. 1t was in their
character to do it.
They brought with them no political theory
to establish. They only knew that God made
man competent to think and act for himself,
if properly educated, and that he needed no
prelate or king to tell him what he should