to say, Let this memorial of our nation's freedom be blotted out forever, rather than be perpetuated as the signal for hoisting the flood gates of iniquity.'

But, my friends, it is not needful, on the one hand, that the observance of this day should be abandoned, nor, on the other, that it should be prostituted to any thing criminal or unedifying. The circumstances in which you are assembled this morning, seem to say-'LEt the day be

OBSERVED, BUT LET IT BE OBSERVED RELIG

IOUSLY;' and the same language is beginning to be heard from various parts of the christian community. This I suppose to be the right sentiment on this subject; and it is the design of the present discourse to illustrate and enforce it. I. LET THE ANNIVERSARY OF OUR COUNTRY'S

INDEPENDENCE BE CELEBRATED:

1. Because it is associated with the noblest efforts of intellect, and the most illustrious deeds of heroism.

The noblest efforts of intellect. However it be accounted for, I suppose it has never been seriously questioned, that the men whose counsels projected and carried forward our revolution,

were men of no common intellectual stature; that, whether they were born giants, in reference to the work they had to accomplish, or, whether they became such under the influence of propitious circumstances, they actually exhibited an energy of mind, which has never been exceeded by the greatest men of any country. In the circumstances of the case, the very conception of becoming a free people, was original: it was too bold a thought for many minds to admit ; it seemed to them more like the offspring of delirium, than the calculation of sober judgment. And the measures for carrying this purpose into effect, were as great, and bold, and original, as the purpose itself. Listen to the deliberations of that body in which the great question is agitated, and you shall hear eloquence, which neither Greece nor Rome, in the days of their glory, would have blushed to own; you shall discover a depth of counsel, an almost intuitive perception of remote consequences, which will seem to you like the workings of the spirit of prophecy; in a word, you shall see the human mind coming forth in a majesty and storm of thought, which completely cast into the shade.

all its ordinary operations. Nor were the intellectual resources of our country lessened by this first effort towards independence; but through a protracted scene of emergency and conflict, the whole course of our legislation bore marks of the same consummate wisdom. Indeed, it would almost seem as if much of the common talk of those days was more worthy to be recorded, as a monument of intellect, than many of the set speeches of statesmen in other times; and even ordinary minds-minds which, in other circumstances, would have been contented to plod along in the beaten track, received an impulse which carried them off into new and unexplored regions of thought, and gave them the deserved reputation of greatness. It may reasonably be doubted whether there was ever a period in the history of any country, in which mind was more active-more capable of commanding its powers-more ready to mount up to lofty and difficult enterprises, than the period of our revolution.

But there was heroism as well as intellect ;an invincible moral courage, which rose in proportion to the pressure it sustained; a spirit of

resistance to tyranny, which mingled itself with the very life-blood of the body politic. It would have been to no purpose that this spirit had pervaded the hall of legislation, provided it had not gone forth into the dwellings of the land but it did go forth with a lightning-like energy; causing the youth to forget his pleasures, the man of middle life, his cares, and the veteran of four score, his infirmities. I might tell you what many of you know better than I do, having seen and felt it-how this spirit operated to induce the peasant cheerfully to exchange the implements of husbandry for the implements of war; how it brought the man of strong domestic attachments to turn his back, without a sigh, upon the blandishments of home, and march for the field of battle. I might tell you how, in those days, female character seemed to assume an unaccustomed strength; how cheerfully the mother would part with her son, or the wife with her husband, to go and fight in his country's cause; and how both mother and wife, who had been educated to habits of most delicate refinement, could even become the tillers of the ground. I might tell you how this spirit lived,

and waxed more and more vigorous, while our cities were on fire, and the blood of our kindred was flowing, and every wind that swept over our country seemed a presage of the storm of battle. In short, my friends, there was heroism enough in this community, to carry into effect the greatest measures of the greatest minds ; and this, combined with the intellectual energy of which I have spoken, may be regarded as the very corner stone in the temple of our nationał freedom.

Now, I ask whether there be nothing in all this which gives propriety to the observance of this day? Is it any thing more than a just tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead, that we should commemorate an event which was connected with so much wisdom and valor, so much peril and blood? Is it not due to ourselves, that we endeavor to become more deeply imbued with the spirit of patriotism, by accustoming ourselves to contemplate the bright example they have left of it? Is it not due to our young men, that, on the annual return of this day, we should endeavor to hold up before them the illustrious models of the past, and to