Christian Blogs, Discipleship Encouragement and Correction
1806. Edward Payson, Not a Prophet, But Then Again?
The following excerpt is from a speech that the Reverend Edward Payson, gave on July 4, 1806, in Portland, Maine. He graduated from Harvard in 1803. While this is presented verbatim and is a labor of love (and English), please read this carefully and prayerfully. By the grace of God, let the words permeate your heart, mind, soul and will, and may God use it to call us to a sense of urgency in sharing the Gospel with our neighbor, while upholding our responsibilities as citizens of our beloved country.
This quotation speaks of the day that Payson saw that the men of government, its citizens and the media ceased to do what is honorable through the neglect of virtue:
“That virtue, both of those who command and those who obey, is absolutely essential to the existence of republics, is a maxim, and a most important one, in political science. Whether we retain a sufficient share of this virtue to promise ourselves a long duration, you, my friends, must decide. But, should the period ever arrive, when luxury and intemperance shall corrupt our towns, while ignorance and vice pervade the country; when the press shall become the common sewer of falsehood and slander; when talents and integrity shall be no recommendation, and open dereliction of all principle no obstacle to preferment; when we shall intrust (sic) our liberties to men with whom we should not dare to trust our property; when the chief seats of honor and responsibility in our government shall be filled by characters of whom the most malicious ingenuity can invent nothing worse than the truth; when we shall see the members of our national councils, in defiance of the laws of God and their country, throwing away their lives in defense of reputation, which, if they ever existed, had long been lost; when the slanderers of Washington and the blasphemers of our God shall be thought useful laborers in our political vineyard; when in fine, we shall see our legislators sacrificing their senses, their reason, their oaths, and their consciences at the alter of party; then we may say, that virtue has departed, and that the end of our liberty draweth nigh.”
This quotation plus an additional excerpt was posted on this site January 20, 2014, under the title “1806. 2014? What’s the Difference?”
