"When we speak of the value of religion [to society, we mean the spirit and substance, not merely the form. If it come to be generally viewed as only an engine of state, it must soon cease to be even so much as that. Whilst we must approve decency in all, and wish sacred seasons and rites to be observed, we pray that religion [the historic Christian Faith, in the Apostolic sense, Dr. Kirkland is referring to, Ed.] may appear to be the sincere conviction and governing principle of those, who pay it the homage of exterior respect. Do any recommend that as necessary to others, which their conduct shows they do not think necessary to themselves, they are liable to be thought to overrate the importance of their principles, or not to be in earnest in recommending them."

BY JOHN THORNTON KIRKLAND, D.D.

PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY [1816]

Source: Election Sermon, Massachusetts 1816

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The framers of the constitution of the United States acted upon the same principle, and all our national legislation, (till recently, at least,) has been conducted on the ground that Christianity is the established religion of the nation…Now, the great principle derived from a review of our colonial history,-from an examination of the constitutions of the several states, and of that of the United States, is this, viz. "That the people of this country have retained the Christian religion as the great foundation of their civil, social, and political institutions, while they have refused to bestow a legal preference to any one of its forms over another….The contrary doctrine, viz. that Christianity is to receive no regard or countenance from the laws of the land, is false in fact, and ruinous in its consequences. The man who propagates this doctrine is an enemy to his county.

And now, if the pillars of moral and social order which Christianity has furnished, are overthrown, the political edifice must also fall. And the friends of Christianity, in such an issue, will not suffer alone.

I have now illustrated, it is hoped, with sufficient clearness, the fact that Christianity does sustain a most important relation to all our social and civil institutions;-a relation, such as the foundation of an edifice bears to the edifice itself;-and that our fathers and subsequent legislators never intended to renounce this relation, and that the attempt to fix a contrary impression, is untrue in fact, ungrateful in its character, and dangerous in its consequences.

(Dartmouth, Hampden-Sydney, Princeton)

Source : Sermon, The Relation of Christianity and of the several forms of Christianity to the Republican Institutions of the United States, 1833 John K. Converse

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Many will always form their opinion of a government from what they know of the characters of the men who administer it. They are better judges of the private characters of men, with whom they are conversant, than they are of the constitutionality, propriety, or tendency of their political measures. When a government is administered by men of acknowledged wisdom and rectitude, it will have the confidence, attachment and support of good men. When it is administered by men, whose characters are vile or contemptible, it will be abhorred or despised.

Joseph Mckeen, A.M.

President, Bowdoin College

Source: Election Sermon, Massachussetts, 1800

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A short biography of a contemporary of John Harvard, giving salient insights into the founding of Harvard’s alma mater, Emmanuel College.

Source: Samuel Stone’s 1684 Catechism, the 1899 Reprint issue.

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No man liveth to himself. We live, we act for those who shall come after us. The customs, the manners, the habits, the national character now forming, will probably affect posterity of many generations. Their condition will take its complexion from this age. Their rights must descend to them through our hands. If by any neglect or misconduct on our part, these rights, of which we are the trustees and guardians, shall be forfeited and lost to ourselves only, but to our descendants, who, in this respect, will suffer the consequences of their fathers' sins.

BY REUBEN PUFFER, D.D.

Source: Election Sermon, Massachusetts, 1803

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REUBEN PUFFER, D.D.

Source: Election Sermon, Massachusetts, 1803

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The founder of this college [ Harvard College ] was an English Puritan minister. That fact is a fragment of an historical truth of large import. The distinctive character and qualities of the New England Colonies---impressed and effective from the earliest days, entailed and expanding and radiating over our whole country to this day of its extant and grandeur---are to be referred to that truth, which may be thus simply stated. A hundred scholars from Cambridge and Oxford Universities were concerned in the first planting of our wilderness settlements, with their churches, schools, colleges, and printing presses, during a period in which there was to be found scarcely a single college-bred man in all the other English Colonies here. More than thirty years after the first class were pursuing their studies in this college, Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, wrote to the commissioners of foreign plantations in London: " I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years: for learning has brought disobedience into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best governments. God keep us from both !" This was seven years after the Bible, translated into the language of the natives, had been printed and published here. These statements sum up the whole explanation of the pre-eminence of New England in thrift, learning, science, and influence.

Seventy of the hundred of those exiled scholars were from Cambridge, then a special Puritan stronghold. A score of them, contemporaries and associates of John Harvard, during some of his terms, might have shared the intimacy of John Milton. These exiled scholars were peers of those they left behind in erudition, in strength and grace of character. They brought with them their books, and the talent to make more books. They changed their atmosphere and surroundings, but not their spirits nor their minds. They had had the sharp discipline of angry ecclesiastical and polemical controversy, with the arguments of infliction, fines, and prison on the side against them.

Their mastering aim was, that in the transition process then in progress, of the reformation, restoration, and reconstruction of their beloved English Church, all that had been incorporated into its doctrine, discipline, ceremonial, and ritual, from the repudiated Rome, should, in root and branch, be renounced, for the return to the simple, scriptural, apostolic model. They found no such dignity allowed in the country during the more than a century and a half before the Colonies won their independence; and those baronial prelates have since found no place here. They attended their flocks into the wilderness of hill and valley, and held over them a godly discipline, guarding purity in their households, and industry in the fields, and preaching strong doctrine in their pulpits. They sought out the most promising young men in their parishes, guided their studies, and sent them here for the best education the time would furnish. They brought with them the aches and scars and bruises of their conflict. They were intolerant---as all men the world over, in all time, have ever been and always will be, when they are in solemn earnest---for the truth or error. Austere, rigid, narrow, in many things unlovely, they really were; and this was simply because they put themselves under the same severities which they imposed on others. The very noblest thing about them was that teasing restlessness of spirit, that quickening energy of progressive thinking, which compelled them to outgrow their own limitations; so that they have relieved us from having such as our contemporaries, and stand to us only as most worthy ancestors. They have left us the most eminent heritage on the earth.

Source: Memorial of John Harvard, 1884

By George Edward Ellis, D.D., LLD.

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A large portion of the civilized world is divided into two great sections. Whatever may be the character of each individual in either section, the general tendency of one is to support, of the other to destroy the cause of Jesus Christ. It is our duty to pray that these may be disappointed in their designs against the cause of the Redeemer; it is our duty to pray like the Psalmist, "Grant not the desire of these wicked men." Prayer is a duty, tho’ the friends of Anti-Christ point the finger of scorn. In answer to prayer, seas have divided their billows, rivers stopped in their course; the sun and moon stood still; how much more will God hear us, when we pray against bold blasphemers.

1. Of course, in no instance can we "bid them God speed." or rejoice in their success.

If in the most secret manner we rejoice at their success; if we breathe a congratulation in our hearts; we then approve their character; we partake in their sins; we must receive their plagues. To rejoice in iniquity is ourselves to be guilty.

1. What plagues or judgements will those endure, who do not separate from this Anti-Christian power.

Source: ELIJAH PARISH, D.D. ( Dartmouth )

The Annual Fast Sermon, Massachusetts, 1808

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1. They shall imbibe her spirit, assume her character.

They shall receive her plagues; the same, which she endures herself. This is the plagues of all plagues. Rather let famine, war and pestilence, arrest us, than the malignant, contagious spirit of Anti-Christ. What this spirit is you have in part just heard, and may better learn from a thousand sources daily opening before you.

Infidelity is a prominent feature of the haggard countenance we are examining. The ruling power of Europe has long been determined to pull up religion by the roots, to cast this tree of Paradise into the fire of their vengeance. They have determined to destroy the means of its existence….

But our object is in view. The command is, "Come out of her, my people, that ye receive not of her plagues." One of the plagues of these self-destroyers is to be like this power to whom they adhere. In order to ascertain what this is, we have been so particular. She is rampired round with infidelity, and daring impiety. She despises the ordinances, the churches, the christian ministry. Her language is, "where is the promise of his coming?" "The doctrines of ministers and christians are idle dreams."

Sometimes God gives up the wicked to commit sin with all greediness, as a part of their punishment for other sins; he withdraws his Holy Spirit, and they believe a lie, that they may be dammed. So those, who will not come out from Anti-Christ, are left to become like Anti-Christ.

Source: ELIJAH PARISH, D.D. ( Dartmouth )

The Annual Fast Sermon, Massachusetts, 1808

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This great doctrine of the deity of Christ speaks a language of encouragement and consolation to the trembling and desponding soul. Are there those who, pressed with depravity and guilt, can scarce believe that the mercy of the gospel can ever reach them, or that they have any concern in its invitations ? Let them think a moment whose this mercy, and these invitations are. O sinners ! look to Jesus. He is the Savior you want. Were he less than God, you might well despair. But banish the disheartening thought. He is God all-sufficient; therefore he is mighty to save. His person is divine; therefore his atonement is infinite; his blood can cleanse from crimes red as crimson, or black as hell. He is God; he has therefore infinite compassion and patience to bear with creatures the most guilty and provoking, and to save them forever. He is God; and can subdue your strongest corruptions, and most inveterate foes. He is God unchangeable; nothing therefore shall ever separate those who trust in him, from his love. Like a God, he pardons; like a God, he comforts, blesses and saves. O come; lay your guilt at the foot of his cross. Commit your precious, perishing souls to his hands. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall never perish. You shall have a friend in death. The almighty Savior, the compassionate Shepherd, will go with you through that dismal vale. And having past the terrors and the gloom, you shall come forth into the light of his countenance, and adore, and celebrate, and enjoy his love forever. You shall sing the song, which angels cannot sing, to him who loved you, and washed you from your sins, in his own blood.

Source: The Deity of Christ

DANIEL DANA, A.M. ( Yale, 1782 )

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Resource Center

 Zechariah 4:6

The instruments which God employs in building up and governing states and empires, furnish a practical illustration of the sentiment derived from the text.

All ranks of among men, from the highest to the lowest, (though they may not be conscious of any divine influence) have their place and work assigned them, by Him who is wonderful in councel, and excellent in working: whose province it is to make the conduct both of the virtuous and vicious, subserve the designs of his mysterious and perfect government. The holy decrees of the Omnipotent God cannot be frustrated, nor the scheme of his providence broken, by the wicked councels, and feeble efforts of creatures who inhabit his footstool. "There are many devices in a man’s heart; neverthless the councel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, controlling the elements, whose will the wind and the waves obey, and by whose decree the destiny of all nations is fixed, has a commanding influence over those who are employed in forming codes of laws, and into whose hands are committed the rights, liberties and lives of his people. Legislators and Statesmen, whether Christian or pagan, derive their wisdom and power from the great Governor and Legislator of the world. His secret, but powerful, agency is concerned in raising them up, moulding their minds, forming their characters, and fitting them for the stations which they occupy. They are God’s ministers, by whom he dispenses civil blessings, or executes national judgements. If they enact righteous laws, pursue an upright policy, and maintain a wise and just administration; it is because the Most High has given them a spirit of wisdom, and love, and of a sound mind: for he hath said, Councel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding. If rulers pursue a destructive policy, by reason which, vice and licentiousness are encouraged and systematized, peace, order and prosperity banished from society, and the choicest blessings of life swept away by their ruthless hands, it is because the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of them, and given them up to infatuated councels. He who is infinitely wise and powerful can never want instruments to accomplish his purposes, as all creatures are subject to his dominion, and controlled by his will. If he designs to chastise a people for their wickedness he can give them Legislators, whose laws, like Draco, shall be written in letters of blood. If Athens filled with dissentions is to be quieted, he can raise up and qualify Solon for the work. If the Spartan government, rent by faction, and enervated by luxury, is to undergo a reform; if industry and useful arts are to be encouraged, and peace and order restored to a distracted people, a wise Providence can accomplish all this by the instrumentality of a Lycurgus. The wisdom and power of the Universal Governor, are exercised in fashioning the minds, as well as the bodies of men. With a skillful hand, unnoticed, indeed, by the grossest infidels, and with a touch too delicate for them to perceive, he sets in motion and guides those secret springs of the mind, which produce great characters, and splendid actions.

We have the testimony of God in his word, that his providence is intimately concerned in the elevation of men to seats of magistracy and power. By me, saith Divine Wisdom, "kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth." There is no power, saith the apostle Paul, but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. The Providence of God is not less concerned in influencing the policy of civil magistrates, than it is in raising them to office, and clothing them with authority and power. "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will." By civil rulers, who are the ministers of God’s mercy or wrath, he carries on his designs, and executes his eternal purposes in the kingdoms of men. When he gives them in mercy they bear the names of their subjects in the breastplate of judgement, upon their heart, for a memorial before the Lord continually. When he gives them in anger, he hardens their spirit, and makes their heart obstinate, yea, firm as a stone, and hard as a piece of the nether millstone. It becomes a people then to rejoice when the righteous are in authority, for they are ministers of God for good, and to mourn when the wicked bear rule, for they are the rod and staff of the divine indignation. For this reason, weak, unprincipled and tyrannical rulers are to be viewed with terror. They are awful tokens of God’s displeasure, and as really the executioners of his merited vengeance as the pestilence, famine and tempest. Sinful nations are often punished, by having rulers set over them, who, like the princes of Zoan, are fools, or brutish like the councellors of Pharaoh.

Weak and wicked Magistrates rendered vain and giddy by their elevation, may flatter themselves that they are independent of him who girds them with power. They may say in the blasphemous language of the king of Babylon, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." He who breaks the sceptre of rulers, and cuts off the spirit of princes, and is terrible to the kings of the earth has them in derision; he lets loose or restrains their rage at his pleasure, making their wrath praise him, and restraining the remainder of wrath. When they have performed the Lord’s work, his strange work of judgement, and accomplished the purpose for which they were raised up, they shall eat of the fruit of their own froward way, and be filled with their own mischievous devices. The sovereign disposer of events, can bring good out of their evil designs and wicked policy. He can disappoint their devices, or take them in their own craftiness. To use the language of another, "he can execute his decreed, by a pious Joshua, or an impious Nebuchadnezzar; by a holy David, or a haughty, insolent, blaspheming Sennacherib."

 DIODATE BROCKWAY, A. M. ( Yale, 1797 )

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The government of every collective body of men is its blessing or its scourge, sometimes both by turns, or both with deductions and mitigations. Who shall discharge their trust, are questions which may involve every social benefit and external religious privilege. Whether the possessor of authority, the monarch, elective chief magistrate, or popular leader, be wise or weak, devoted to a part or considerate of the whole, guided by principle or swayed by passion, decides much of the good or evil of a state or nation. Thanks be to God, who though he tries and visits,does not any where wholly forsake the children of men, nor leave them without check or remedy, entirely to the passions of one another, that the worst government is better than anarchy; that amidst all the flagrant defects and abuses of civil institutions, arising from the excess of resistance or restraint, from faction or despotism, so many of the sources of human subsistance and enjoyment remain unaffected; that men are able to accommodate themselves with greater or less contentment to evils resulting from established modes, and that so much of the happiness of every individual is derived rather from his feelings and character than the precise circumstances in which he is placed.

The specific form of the government is commonly determined for us by the order of Providence; authority being variously distributed, in hereditary or elective rulers, in a few or in many, by the operation of permanent and uncontrollable causes. Our business in this respect is seldom to change or abolish, but only to preserve, amend or improve the exiting arrangement.

Source: 1816 Election Sermon, Massacusetts

John T. Kirkland, D.D. President, Harvard University

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