. t Sabine

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Solemn ^tmtti Solemn a^otos.

iMIlS;jlJL«H>fc^^^

PREACHED TO

ESSEX STREET CHURCH AND SOCIETY,
IN BOYLSTON HALL, BOSTON,
®®r ^MAir]K^(©aTiiFS" ©Am'
DECEMBER 5, 1822.

BY JAMES .SABINK, *
PASTOR OF SAID CHURCH AND SOCIETIf.

When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LoRn thy God, thnn shalt not
slack to pay it; for ths LoiiD thy God will surely require it of thee.
' Devt xxiii. 21.

pcelisheh By REauEST.

I

PUBCfSHED BY GEORGE CLARK.
JOWATHAIT HOWE, PHIKfTER, KO. 1, DOCK-SauAR.1.:.

ADVERTISEMENT.
The reader must be apprized that the following SerinoB
was composed with no view to publication, so far from it, the
author was under persuasion that it would never be repeated
after the day, for the services of which it was designed. It
was therefore but briefly written, much was left for extpmpo-
raneous impression. What now appears in print must be con
sidered as the substance and the sentiment of the sermon, not
the exact expression as when delivered. This is said, not to
apologize for defects orfauUs that may appear in the discourse
itself, but to account, to such as heard it, for the m;»lter being
a little difiTerent in print from what it was in the pulpit.

Solemn :^m&tu Solemn S^oSjjs,

A SERMON, &c.

NAflUM I. 15.
O JUDAH, KEEP THY SOLEMN FEASTS, PERFORM THY VOWS.

A NATION professing the Christian religion can
hardly administer the rights and priviligefi of civil
and political justice, without frequent appeals to the
rites and ordinances of the gospel. Every citizen
elected to any office of honour or of trust is pledg
ed upon the volume of Divine Truth, or the God of
Heaven is called, with up-lifted hand, to witness
the important transaction. Upon the election and-
sitting of the Legislature, it is quite parjiamehtary
to assemble first in the church and hear the' word
of God, and to join in the soleran acts of prayer and
adoration. The government calls to fasting and
humiliation in times of calamity, and to thanksgiving
and praise in times of prosperity and peace. The
government, under which we have the happiness

^o live, has regularly for many years appointed its
annual Fast an<i Feast. To-day is our " Solemn
Feast Day," and to assist in the public duties of it,
we have selected the words of the prophet Nahum,
calling upon Judah to remember his engagement
with Jehovah, and to fulfil the conditions of his cov
enant. " O Judah keep thy solemn feasts, perform
thy vows!" Nahum prophesied at the time Sennach
erib invaded Judah. The miraculous destruction of
the Assyrian army he considers as a type cf the
certain destruction ^of Nineveh, which destruction
had been suspended upon their repentance at the
preaching of Jonah 70 years before. The triumphs
of Rabshakeh, and his threats, are evidently allud
ed to by the prophet. Upon this invasion of Jeru
salem the children of Judah were scattered, and
the ordinances of the temple neglected, "few came
to her solemn feasts;" but upon the defeat of this
tremendous army, messengers are sent to the sur
rounding country, with the tidings of peace, calling
the people again to the Holy City, and to the per
formance of covenanted duties. " Behold (says the
prophet) upon the mountains the feet cf him that
bringeth good tiding, thatpublisheth peace! O Ju
dah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows :
for the wicked shall no more pass through thee,
he is utterly cut off."
The use we intend to make of the text as appli
cable to the present occasion is this, Solemn Feasts
ARE Solemn Vows. Brethren, if we take this mat
ter up aright, it must be thus taken up: this feast
is a RELIGIOUS feast, it is appointed by the Legisla
ture, but it is on no political occassion, on no case of

party, it is an ordinance for the whole common
wealth, in which all are equally interested, the mag--
istrates and the people : The common bounty and
blessings of Heaven are to pass in review, our grat
itude is to appear in our conversation and lives, we
vow to the Lord that we will be a Holy People,
and this vow we must perform, or we are sol
emnly mocking God, and offering the sacrifice of
fools. As to the order and serious observance of this
single day I shall say but little about it. The proc
lamation requires that you " abstain from all labour
and recreation incompatible with the religious ser
vices of the day," and I hope and believe you will
do so : but your obligations are not discharged in
the solemn observance of one whole day, you must
keep every day holy by attending to those duties
which each and every day offers : on Sabbath days
you must be spiritual and fervent in devotion, ob
servant of ordinances, and obedient to the word,
making a sabbath day's journey towards heaven.
On other days you must attend to your worldly
concerns with fervency of spirit, still serving the
Lord, and on every day let the glory of God be the
great pursuit, whether you eat or drink or what
ever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I have only to premise farther, that on such an
occasion as this, I shall not address you so much in
dividually or congregationally, as nationally and po
litically ; what I say therefore will be considered
as applying to you as a part of the nation, and you
in your national character are to receive the admo
nition and solemnly perform your vows.

6
First. Call to remembrance those vows yoa
made in days of old, and which you have so often
renewed. To trace out the origin of nations is one
ofthe most difficult things in history, the circum
stances which gave them birth; the distinct family
in which they rose; the compact and constitution,
civil or religious, upon which they established, to-
g^ether with many other important things, are to^
tally buried in oblivion. But these observations ap
ply to this nation with less truth than to any ofher
now under heaven : and if it be considered in re
gard to New-England they can hardly apply at' all.
\ou call trace the origiri of this section of the na
tion, as a distinct people, up to the very identical
men who were really the fathers of this new stock.
You have their names and their number, the places
which gave them bn-th, the names and the number
ofchildrenof the first generation : the causes and
the occasions of their coming to these shores : the
design with which they sat down, and the consti
tution of civil and moral governraent upbu which
they resolved, by common suffrage, to act and to
perpetuate their state and polity. And here rises
to our view at once, and it appears in distinct fea
tures, the Solemn Vow upon which they pledged
themselves upon coming here.' Your Fathers
were men of God, religious men; it was religion, the
fear of God, and this only, that brought them to this
landL They could not exercise themselves unto all
godliness, and maintain a conscience void of offence in
their native isle ; the (established religion there, they
deemed a grievance, and too much of a superstition :
so deep were their convictions of this, that they

counted the loss of native land, and a good land too,
and native rights, but a small thing, might they have
liberty to worship God as their judgments dictated.
They first tried a neighbouring country where lib'^
erty of conscience was granted ; and here they tried
to settle, but they had pledged themselves to God to
be holy, and their houses to be holy. Holland
they found was not the place for them in whsrh
they might expect to realize tlicir hopes ; they
saw, whatever might be their own power lo
withstand temptation, all would be lost in the next
generation; they resolved, therefore, to abandon
every earthly thing, and seek a better, that is, a
more spiritual establishment. New England pre
sented, ihey thonght, an asylum, and lo New
England they carae. And what was the stipula.'
tion? was it not pretty much like that code of terms
laid down by Jacob when he, in his way to Padan-
aram, came to a certain place in which he had hardly
where to lay his head? Jacob vowed a vow, saying,
" If God will be with me, and keep me in tiiis way
that Igo, and will give me bread lo eat and raiment
to put on, then shall the Lord be my God, and of
all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the
tenth unto thee." So the pilgrims, if God would
onlvgive thera bread, and make their water sure,
they would consecrate themselves and families to
God. This was vour Fathers' vow. And your con
tinuance as a people.is a proof that God has fulfilled
his part in the covenant, of which you are witnesses.
This vow and covenant your Fathers never a"b-
jured; they often ratified it and made its obligations
more strong- The early succeeding generations con-
i'laaed, by a series of ordinances, to keep in mind

and to increase the sanction of this covenant. What
ever may have been the changes in political affairs
from that period to the present, I am not informed
of any revocation of this solemn vow : the children
have ever since boasted of such a parentage; they
do to the present day absolutely pride themselves
in the godly deeds of their pious progenitors.
I do not mean, my brethren, to say that your
Fathers have been borne out by their posterity in
all their plans and resolves ; in every punctilio of
doctrine or law, of ordinance, or discipline: no,
could they have lived to more modern times they
would themselves in sorae things have shaped a lit
tle different course. But I ara speaking of their
grand moral principle; a determination to be "a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people." If you have never nationally
abjured this vow and obligation, if you have never
attempted to relieve yourselves from this covenant,
then it is all upon you; and I call upon you in the
words of the text to be faithful : O Judah, this day,
keep thy solemn feast, perform thy vows.
Secondly. Afresh review your obligations, and
see whether there is not an increasing injunction
binding to a more solemn performance of your
vows. Turn and look back upon what your Fath
ers had to encourage and spur them on in the per
formance of their vows; i should rather have said,
look at their disappointments, their afflictions and
trials : their trials were trials even to tribulation,
GREAT tribulation. Not to repeat the dangers of
their voyages and travels prior to their settlement;
look at the memoir of the first year ! half their

¦vvhole number difed, some of whom wiere their prin*
cipal men, through fatigue, sickness, want of neces-.
saries, raedicine, attendance, comforts. Every day
and night in fear of their lives from a threatening
savage horde, jealous, cruel lords of the soil. One
half of their labours were vainly spent in experi-
mentsj owing to their ignorance of soil and climate,
and they had to accommodate themselves continually
to a series of contingencies, as must needs be in a
New World. For years they had to carry on a war
of defence, if not of attacks and hke Nehemiah's
men to hold in one hand the instruments of labour,
in the other the weapons of war. In their very best
condition, for a length of time, their prosperity was
what in their native land would have been called
misery and distressi. Down to times nearer our own,
the pilgrim colonies were called to endure hardness ;
the parent government oppressed them, and at
length made war upon them to reduce them to ser
vitude. Their cities were burnt, their country in
many parts wasted, their sons slaughtered, their
fields, fields of blood. But still your t'athers held
to their covenant, they performed their vows.
Now return and look upon your own state and
condition. What dangers have you recently passed
through ! When fell a hundreth part, much less a
second, of your population, by sickness, and when
experienced you hunger, want, neglect ! Your mar
kets teem with every abundance, with every lux
ury I There is no yell of the savage, no terror by
night, nor arrows that flieth by day ; no pestilence
that walketh in darkness, nor destruction wasting at
Boon-dav. Your cities flourish; jour land hath

10
rest ; your governments is equal and benign ; the
oppressor is far removed ; Thou hast peace in thy
borders, and he fiileth thee with the finest of the
wheat. What encouragement then have you to
ratify your vows and to fulfil them too. O Judah
PERFORM thy vows.
I shall leave the subject, thus far considered, with
some reflections suitable to the duties and privileges
of tlie day-
1. Vows are generally made in times of trouMe,
It was affliction that brought your Fathers to this
land And to escape persecution they braved and
endured all tbe trials their history records. It was
under these afflictions that they entered into solemn
covenant. In after generations these vows were
repeated and ratified in times of calamity. I wish
you would read the history of your own people
more than you do, and impress your minds with the
righteous resolutions entered* into by them from
time to time in seasons of calapiity. It is so with
yourselves, in times of trouble; you call upon God
and vow your vows unto the Most High.
2. As vows are made in a season of offlicticn^ so
they are to be paid in a season oi prosperity. This
nation has been wonderfully prospered; your na
tional character, your independ€nce,your incompara
ble constitutbn of civil polity, your enlightened and
enlightening population, your extended trade, your
progress in the arts, jour agricultural improvements,
your literati, your universities, your religious free
dom and increase in the knowledge of Christ : you
fipeak of the^ie things with delight and ardour ; you
f%mpare your state and charactei: with that of ali

li
Qtlaer nations ; you not only vie with your parent
country, but outstrip the old mother in many of the
works of genius and of art. Well, now is the time
for the payment of vows, now you are able, but
have you so done ; as you are the most happy peo
ple on the earth, you are pledged to be tbe most
holy people on the earth. And from my own ob
servations I do conclude, that you have tbe means
and the opportunity of being the happiest people on
the face ofthe globe : there is nothing to prevent
it in the course of Providence, at least nothing ihat
appears at present. Your govemment is of your own
framing; your princes are of yourselves ; the pub
lic revenue is raised and expended as the contributors
to it dictate ; men in office and in trust are placed
or displaced at the will of their constituents ; you
are lords of the soil you cultivate ; you can enter
into no war unless you declare it yourselves ; and
you are, in Providence, so far removed from the ca
bals of princes, that you can hardly have any in
ducement to draw the sword ; you have no inqui-
ition, no tiara, no lord bishops, nor any prie&t^craft,
nor church-craft, unless you choose it ; every man
may sit under his own vine and under his own fig
tree, none daring to make him afraid. If you have
chains they must be of your own forging. And I
am willino- to confess that if I must be bound I should
wish to make my own fetters and choose the man
ner of my own bondage : but I had rather be free,
I woiild not be a slave though I might choose my
slavery; I had rather be a free man, as i'vee as God
made me. And this is your privileges! What

12
then can hinder you from being the happiest peor
pie on the earth! And if you have these means,
you ought to avail yourselves of them, and to en-.
joy the boon so richly bestowed. And it follows
too, that you OUGHT TO BE THE HOLIEST PEOPLE ON
THE EARTH, for all this prosperity is granted by
the God of Heaven to enable you to pay hira
your vows. Nor do I see any thing to hinder you
from being the holiest people on earth ; indeed^ if
you make a right use of your mercies and privileges
you must be so ; you have not the same tempta?
tions to sin as other nations. Riches are a great
snare, they that are full deny the Lord and say,
*' Are not our tongues our own, and who shall rule
over us." Your riches are in your labour and in
dustry, not in heaps of gold and silver. The pride of
family and of blood, so enilaming in the Old World,
is not known among you. Pqverty too, a source of np
small evil in most countries, is in great measure
prevented by encouragements to diligence and to
duty, so that the diligent soul ijs fatj and a man's
character is worth preserving ; not so poor as tp
be tempted to steal, nor so mean as to abandon the
tongue to profaneness and ^o cursing. The plain
ness and humility of your Father's habits, their dis
tance frora the pomp and vain show of courts, their
aversion to dissipation apd to dissipating, pleasures
are calculated to inspire you with simplicity and
humbleness of mind ; ypu pannot want the artificial
morality of the stage, nor the real initnorality pf
the mask and wanton dance. The tricks, the swind
ling, the defraud of thp Jockey Club., the turf arid
the gambling table can have no charms for you \

J3
some of these vices you have never seen, and you
never hear of them but to detest them.* When 1
turn and look down the long vista of your history I
am reminded of the famous prophecy upon the fam
ily of Jeshurun, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! As the vallies are
they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, aa
the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath plant
ed, and as cedar-trees beside the waters. God
brought him forth out of Egypt, he hath as it were
the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the
nations his eneraies, and break their bones, and
*If vow.<! made in trouble are to be paid in a season of deliv-
jerance and prosperity, as they are expected to be, then much
watchfulness and a devotional spirit will be necessary. Jeshu-
HUN was delivered from trouble and grew fat, but instead of
paying vows, there was wantonness and a wallowingiin pleas
ure. Who would have thought of Israel, not yet out of the
jvilderness, forming an alliance and dallying with the Midian
ites, but it was so. And the good people of these States are ia
great danger frora the flood of pleasure rolling in upon tbem.
The generation rising up are in an Elysium of snares ; bad
books, the drama, profane music, &c. &c. lower the tone of
morals an^ givis a (Jistaste for religion. These temptations so
powerful, can liardly fail of producing some bad effect : and
then there is at once a great drawback upon the blessed and
efficient consequences of Revivals of Religion. If professors
of religion do not pay their vows, and come to the moral stand
ard of their Fathers, Revivals of Religion, so called, will be
(easily effected. The line between the church and the world,
between hirp that believeth and an infidel, is so narrowed that
it is but a little way from the broad roatrof destruction to the
strait path leading to life : a profession of religion is not diffi
cult to make ; it is no warfare, no cross, and such a ppofessionis
pot difficult to raaintain. Professors of religion need constantly
to be revived and to be kept alive. ^^ Awake tbou that sleep-
est, ari?e frqm the dead and Christ shuH give thee life."

14
pierce them through with his arrows. Blessed is
be that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth
Ibee." Yes, on this way by which the Lord ^ath
led thee I can see on either side an altar here,
and an Ebenezer there ; at one place you met Je-
bovah-jireh,* at another Jehovab-nissi,t and m ev
ery place you Could say Jehoyah-shammab.f I
could with pleasure enlarge on this article} but I
fear that there may be a consciousness on your
part, that you have not so appreciated your priv
ileges, as to excel in every point, as might have
been expected, and then you would think that
either your preacher is flattering your vanity or iron-
izing your deficiences. I wish to do neither, and
therefore proceed to observe,
3. That if you have forgotten your vows, Gpp
"has not. He will hold yoa to them. You may
have forgotten them, or have neglected to keep
them so strictly as God demands, and as God has
been led to expect. But nothing can release you
from soleran vows : forgetfulness of them or remiss
ness in discharging them cannot. It is no uncommon
thing for solemn impressions, made in seasons of dis
tress to wear off Israel when just delivered from
distress sang God's praises and said, " All that the
Lord coromandeth us we will do. But they soon
forgat his works and the wonders which he had
shown them ; they rebelled atid vexed his Holy
Spirit and murmured in their tents." But Israel
paid for all this ; there was no being off from the
* The LoRrr will provide, or Jehovab Providence.
t The Lord my banner.
J. The Loud is there.

15
covenant; God had sworn, and Jacob had sworn;
OoD would fulfil his word, and he would make Jacob
fulfil his. Now I have no hesitancy in saying that
this nation is pledged, by solemn v-otvs, to be a peo
ple most holy to the Lord, and if so God will
make them so. Tbey may deal falsely in the cov
enant, but they will be chastised and brought to it
again. The obligations of this nation are of a high
er mark than those of other nations; other nations
will be corrected and reduced to obedience, and he
that knoweth his master's will best and doeth it not
shall be beaten with many stripes. Other nations
will be chastised with whips, but this with scorpi
ons. Brethren, 1 am now reasoning, not prophesy
ing; I am supposing that you have been, or shall be
treacherous; I do not say that it is, or will be so;
this I wish yon to consider; and it is for you to con
sider it, and that now. The official document be
fore me {the Proclamation) calls to repentance for
all past follies and transgressions: and here we
learn our duty., our own duty, whatever raay be the
state or teraper of the natjon at large : we can
only confess our own sins; we cannot confess the
sins of others.; and this is sufficient for us, and it may
work for the good of the whole. Suppose we, a
few families, a single congregation, set about per
forming our vows, and are enabled so to do, then
the Spirit of God will be with us ; and it must, if it
remain in the nation, remain some where. Or if we
repent and bewail our past follies, tlien the refor
mation begins with us; and it must begin with some,
perhap with a few first.

£very individual of us is capable of renderii^
religion a personal thing : and we who have faini*
lies can domesticate it, which will be going a great
way. As soon as religion is predominant in every
family it is become national. Let us then turn to
the acknowledgment of this vow, and from this day
say with Joshua, " As for me and my house we will
serve the Lord." " Arise and go unto Bethel and
dwell there ; and build an altar unto God who an
swered you in the day ofyourdistress,and was with
you and helped you in the way in which you went-
OFFER UNTO GOD TH.INKSGIVING ; AND PAY THT VOWS
tJNTO THE MOST HIGH.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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