American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760–1805: Two Volume Paperback Set

37. Phillips Payson, A Sermon

PolWritV1_501-550.indd 523 2/21/12 11:33 AM [37} PHILLIPS PAYSON A Sermon BOSTON, 1778 Samuel Phillips Payson was a Congregationalist minister at Chelsea, Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard, a member of the American Academy of Sciences, and a scholar in natural philosophy and astronomy, the Reverend Mr. Payson was also renowned for leading a group of irregulars in combat during the Revolution. This essay is the Massachusetts Election Sermon of 1778 printed in Boston by John Gill, the printer to the General Assembly. The sermon could well have been subtitled "On the virtues essential for popular selfgovernment ." The text is reprinted from J. W. Thornton (editor), The Pulpit of the American Revolution. BUT JERUSALEM, WHICH IS ABOVE, IS FREE, WHICH IS THE MOTHER OF US ALL. SO THEN, BRETHREN, WE ARE NOT CHILDREN OF THE BOND WOMAN, BUT OF THE FREE.-Gal. iv. 26, 31. It is common for the inspired writers to speak ofthe gospel dispensation in terms applicable to the heavenly world, especially when they view it in comparison with the law of Moses. In this light they consider the church of God, and good men upon earth, as members of the church and family of God above, and liken the liberty of Christians to that of the citizens of the heavenly Zion. We doubt not but the Jerusalem above, the heavenly society, possesses the noblest liberty to a degree of perfection of which the human mind can have no adequate conception in the present state. The want of that knowledge and PolWritV1_501-550.indd 524 2/21/12 11:33 AM [ 52 4} BOSTON, 1778 rectitude they are endowed with above renders liberty and government so imperfect here below. Next to the liberty of heaven is that which the sons of God, the heirs of glory, possess in this life, in which they are freed from the bondage of corruption, the tyranny of evil lusts and passions, described by the apostle "by being made free from sin, and becoming the servants of God." These kinds of liberty are so nearly related, that the latter is considered as a sure pledge of the former; and therefore all good men, all true believers, in a special sense are children of the free woman, heirs of the promise. This religious or spiritual liberty must be accounted the greatest happiness of man, considered in a private capacity. But considering ourselves here as connected in civil society, and members one of another, we must in this view esteem civil liberty as the greatest of all human blessings. This admits of different degrees, nearly proportioned to the morals, capacity, and principles of a people, and the mode of government they adopt; for, like the enjoyment of other blessings, it supposes an aptitude or taste in the possessor. Hence a people formed upon the morals amd principles of the gospel are capacitated to enjoy the highest degree of civil liberty, and will enjoy it, unless prevented by force or fraud . Much depends upon the mode and administration of civil government to complete the blessings of liberty; for although the best possible plan of government never can give an ignorant and vicious people the true enjoyment of liberty, yet a state may be enslaved though its inhabitants in general may be knowing, virtuous, and heroic. The voice of reason and the voice of God both teach us that the great object or end of government is the public good. Nor is there less certainty in determining that a free and righteous government originates from the people, and is under their direction and control; and therefore a free, popular model of government-of the republican kind-may be judged the most friendly to the rights and liberties of the people, and the most conducive to the public welfare. On account of the infinite diversity of opinions and interests, as well as for the other weighty reasons, a government altogether popular, so as to have the decision of cases by assemblies of the body of the people, cannot be thought so eligible; nor yet that a people should delegate their power and authority to one single man, or to one body of men, or, indeed, to any hands whatever, excepting for a short term of time. A form of government may be so constructed as to have useful PolWritV1_501-550.indd 525 2/21/12 11:33 AM ( 525 J PHILLIPS PAYSON...