E392 .648 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDD5DflH441 j§ %S'- S" o Jy . ^0 .r. ^ V .• .\^ - * 'b V*- •■/§ -0* •• S-. ' ■ - • • **.. *• ■> * ay A 4^ ■<■_ >' .^ ^-^ ^^ % •I o • * ■>^-, ' . . • * <^ '-^^o^ rO^ > .<> AT *^o V » 4.-' » • • r nmch from measures as from public yeculation — trom abused credit — iVom extravagance in private life, — from the Inrv and biaotrv of party spirit, which treats an honest opinion as a crime, and sports witli the profi)undest and most diHicult (|uestions in politi- cal science, as il they were self-evident to bovs. Any coarse of conduct which uill ruin an individual will surelv ruin a nation, unless the old maxim is reversed, that the whole is composed of its parts. But a^ain, so violent are the inconsistencies of the human character, that in s|)ifc of this intense and outraseous interest in politics, there are few who tndy ieel their solemn political responsibilities. Your vote makes you a sovereiuni — you wield no contempt- ible portion of the wt-al or woe ol tho country — in fact, your single suffrage may decide the happiness or misery of millions, and do you act out this potent sovereignty \ D ) vou diligently accomplish your- selves for the discharge of this lolly function \ Oh, would that all the interest, the zeal, the passion, the time, which arc <'Xj)ended on mere j)ersonal aiul j)arty politics — on playing iht? game — might be devoted to the study ot pihiciplfs ; to the acc|uire- ment and dill'usion of information ; to the exercise of a rifditetnis i/i/luc/ur ; ami to the niaintenanrr of that hiu'h toiK- of character in every individual, which, collected in the aggregate, would indeed amount to national y llic enufneralion of what ni: be calleU our ancient, standard, habitual sii l>oth public and private, which at all times rend days of iKitional hiimilialion appropriate, sun enough lias lircii now .su:»i.'eHt4.'d to imprej« on evcjl rt'llccliiii,' and patriotic mind, the necessity of re izing the Mpirituai ohjecls of a national fast, which u| thus enunioralcd by the prophet Isaiah : " Wash yc make you clean ; put away the evil of your doin from before mine eyes: cease to do evil ; learn U) c well; seek judgment ; relieve the oppressed ; jud the fatherless; ])l(^ad for the widow. Cc^mc now ai let us reason together, saith the Lord : Though yoi sins be as scarlet, thev shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be i wool. If yc be wiHiug anil obedient, ye shall eat th good of the land : liut if ye refuse and rebel, ve sha be devoun-d wiih ihe sword: lor the mouth of th« Lord hath spoken it." Then may we hope for the fulfilment of thedivitu promise as atmounced by the same majestic seer *' I will restore thy judges a-; at the first, and ili^ counsellors ;is at the beuinninij ; afterward thou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful cityi /ion shall be roileemed with judgment, and liei converLs with righteousness." 80 n ^< V ••«: ^p,.- ^'^'^ "._. . t • «^^ ""