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complish much; the institutions of religion may exert a pervading influence, but what is commenced in the hallowed sanctuary of the domestic circle, and periodically inculcated at the altar, must be daily and hourly recognized in the common schools, that it may exert an ever present influence, enter into and form part of every act of the life, and become thoroughly incorporated with the rapidly expanding character. The same incomparable standard of moral virtue and excellence which is expounded from the pulpit and the altar, and which is daily held up to the admiration and imitation of the family circle, should also be reverently kept before the mind and the heart, in the daily exercise of the school."

My apology for detaining the Institute so long on this topic is, its vital and inappreciable importance. Without the Bible, there can be no true religion in the family, in the school, or in the state; and without religion, no sure basis of morality, of truth, of integrity, of patriotism; no safeguard to the fireside, to the property, to the liberties of the people.

Never were sentiments uttered by a great warrior and patriot, more worthy to be remembered and repeated through all generations, than those which fell from the father of his country, in his farewell address to the American people.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness--these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.

A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if a sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.

"Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." How noble, how elevated, how just these parting words!

Washington was an enlightened christian patriot, as well as a great captain and wise statesman. The oracles which he consulted in all his perils and in all the perils of his country, were the oracles of God. No one of the fathers of the revolution knew better than he did, that religion rests upon the Bible as the main pillar; and that as a knowledge and belief of the Bible are essential to true religion, so they are to private and public morality. I cannot doubt that could that greatest among the great men of his day add a codicil to his invaluable legacy, it would be, "Teach your children early to read and love the Bible. Teach them to read it in your families, teach them in your schools, teach them everywhere, that the first moral lesson indelibly enstamped upon their hearts may be, to 'Fear God and keep his commandments.'

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The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.""

The Bible, the Bible! how few are aware of what it has done for mankind, and still less of what it is destined to accomplish. Its "doctrines drop as the rain, and distil as the dew." Its breathings are the fragrance of the Paradise of God. In its spotless majesty it rises above all human eulogy, like the higher Alps, which look down upon the gorgeous drapery of clouds that aspire in vain to reach their summits, while they stand robed in pure white, and glittering in everlasting sunshine. Quench the light of the Bible, and you blot out the brightest luminary from these lower heavens. You bring back "chaos and old night" to reign over the earth, and leave man, with all his immortal energies and aspirations, to "wander in the blackness of darkness forever."

The Bible, which the pilgrims brought over in their bosoms, and under their sea-wet pillows, has done everything for New England and for this wide republic. It is the political, no less than the religious ark of our safety. It enshrines all our free constitutions of government, as well as the tables of the moral law. It is our "pillar of cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night;" and our safety lies in keeping our eyes always fixed upon it, as the twelve tribes did in the camp of the Lord.

It was by constantly reading the Bible, that our puritán fathers imbibed that unconquerable love of civil and religious liberty which sustained them through all the "perils of the sea, and perils of the wilderness." It was from the Bible that they drew those free and admired principles of civil government that were so much in advance of the age in which they lived. It was the Bible

by which they "resolved to go till they could find some better rule." The Bible was the morning altar that rose upon this ice-bound and savage wilderness, when the May Flower entered the harbor of Plymouth. It was the Bible that solaced the dying pilgrim, and comforted the mourners, during those dreadful wintry months which laid half their number in hidden graves.

It is the Bible that has built all our churches, and colleges, and school-houses, and hospitals, and retreats for the insane, the deaf, the blind and the forsaken. It is to the Bible that we are indebted for our homes, for our property, for all the safe-guards of our domestic relations and happiness. It is under the broad shield of the Bible that we lie down in safety, without bolts or bars to protect us. It is the Bible that has given us, with our free constitutions of civil government, all the statutes and ordinances of a great and independent people. It is the industry, sobriety and enterprize which nothing but the Bible could ever inspire and sustain, that have dug our canals, and laid down our rail-ways, and built our thousand factories, and "clothed the hills with flocks, and covered over the vallies with corn."

Yes, the Bible has directly and indirectly done all this for us, and infinitely more; and shall the book without whose spirit moving upon the face of the waters there had been no dry land, no moral beauty or verdure, no happy families, no systems of popular education,-shall this blessed book be excluded from the common schools of Massachusetts? Religion, the guardian divinity of all we hold most dear, answers no. Patriotism answers no. All the voices from these mountains and these charming vallies of Berkshire, answer no; and the loud echo comes

back from the east and the west, from the north and the south, no! no!! no!!!

Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Institute, I thank you for your kind indulgence. I have done. May you gain, as I am sure you will, a listening ear to all the counsels of wisdom and experience which you have to offer during these sittings. May that favoring Providence which has cheered you on hitherto in your benevolent labors, preside over all your present deliberations, and crown your future labors with greater and still greater success, till the largest desires of your hearts for the literary and Christian education of the whole people are satisfied.

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