, 1889-05-07
BISHOP PoTTERS SERMON.

'fNHOI ~ Hh - SEfl NJ Wv.
When Bishop Potter was invited to
preach the inaugural sermon it was prob
ably expected as his audience would be
comprised of many OF the most notable
and distinguished mem Of the present day,
he would endeavor to fill his discourse
with laudation of the nation of which
his hearers were the leading representa-
tives.
Instead however of honeyed phrases
his sermon contained sound admonition
aud the contrast between the political
virtues of the early days and the political
dcgcnoracy of the present were presented
with n vividncss surprising to the mo
Guls who heard him accustomed as they
are to flattering from all sources, the pull
pit included. Said he:
"A generation which vauuts its descent
from the founders of the republic, seems
larCely,t to be in danger of forgetting their
pre- eminent distinction. They were few
in numbers, they were poor in worldly
posscssions-the sun of the fortune of
the richest among them would afford a
fine theme for the scorn of the plutocrat
of to day, but they had an invincible con
tlencc in the truth of those principles
IN which the foundations of the republic
had been land, and they had an unselfsh
purpose to maintain them. The concep
ton of the national government as a huge
machine, existed mainly for the purpose
OF rcwarding partisan scrviccs-this was
a conception so alien to the character and
conduct of Washington and his associates
that seems grotcsque even to speak of it.
l. would be interesting to imagine the first
president of the United States confronted
with some one who had ventured to APP.
proach him upon the basis OF what are
now comedy known as practical politics. "
Tho conception is impossible. Wash
ington says:
Should it be my fate to administer
the government | shall 90 to the chair un
der no pre-cnCagement of any kind or
nature whatever. And when in it. [ will,
to the best OF my judgement, discharge
the duties OF the Office with that impair.
TALLY and zeal for the public good which
ought never to suffer connections of
blood or friendship to have the least sway
on decisions Of a public nature.
"On this high level moved the first
president of the republic. To it must We
who are the heirs OF her sacred interests
be not unwilling to ascend, il we are to
guard our glorious h~eritagel
And again, another enormous differ
ence between this day and that of which
1t Is the anniversary is seen in the enor-
nous difference in the nature and in
fuence of the forces that determine our
national and political history. Then.
ideas ruled the hour. To-day, there are
indeed ideas hat ruled our home, but they
must be merchantable ideas. The growth
OF wealth, the prevalence of luxury, the
massing OF large material forces, which
by their very existence are a standing
menace TO the freedom and integrity of
the individual, the'infnite swagger of our
American speech and manners, mistaking
bigness Tor greatness and sadly confound-
ing gain and Godliness-all this is a CON
trast to the austere simplicity, the uupur-
chasable integrity of the first days and
6nt men OF our republic, which makes it
impossible to reproduce to-day either the
temper or the conduct OF our fathers."F g
While the charitably inclined assume
that it would be unjust to President Har-
rison to infer that the sermon pointed
with particular criticism .toi his acts, yet
the recent appointments of those whose
connections of blood and friendship"
have evidently had an influence in his de-
cisions of aIpublic nature, imake it certain