lage and conquest. We venerate "the nation, which for many generations has been the bul wark of the Religion we profess ;"* the defence,under the great "Head of the Church," of protestant reformed Christianity; the instrument in His hand of diffusing the Sacred Scriptures through the remotest regions of the earth, and transfusing them into the various languages, in which man expresses his wants and gratitude. We love those persons, and societies, who merit our love. From our parents and our country it may not be withholden, although it be not entirely deserved. Filial and patriotick duties are a pleasure, when their object is truly worthy of unhesita ting confidence, unqualified love. But they may not be refused, when the case is otherwise. "This is thankworthy, if a man, for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully." As allegiance, without any doubt, is unalienable; so is it an irreversible law of nature, that man in a social state must retain and display an interest in that connexion with his country, which he cannot dissolve. He may not shut up his sensibilities, nor re * His Excellency CALEB STRONG, in his most admirable Proclamation for a Fast, 23 July 1812,-on account of this wicked war. press his compassion, nor refuse all service even though the course of conduct be such, as his judgment and conscience must condemn.* To the positive, are superadded many moral considerations, which enforce the love of country. This may indeed be contemplated as but an extension of the great principle of love of kindred ; and all, which might be urged in justification and enforcement of domestick affections, would apply to patriotism, though, it is acknowledged, in a degree somewhat diminished. It is not so absolutely necessary, as are filial, fraternal, conjugal, and * The obligation now considered, and the tendency of an unjust system of policy to weaken its force, cannot be better expressed than in the oracular words of the first and favourite orator of New-England. On what topick, indeed, of civil wisdom are not the most eloquent, and, what is far higher praise, the most sound, and just, and virtuous maxims to be found in the works of that enlightened and upright statesman, sincere and pure patriot, exemplary man and christian. When the threatening prospect of a breach of publick faith drew him, from the chamber of disease, to his seat among the national representatives, he raised his voice, thanks to an overruling Providence, not then without effect; and gave, as it seemed, a dying testimony against our nation's violating its good faith. "It would not merely demoralize mankind; it tends to dis"solve that mysterious charm which attracts individuals to "the nation, and to inspire in its stead a repulsive sense of "shame and disgust. Every good citizen makes his country's honour his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, "but as sacred. In a country odious in the eyes of strangers "and dishonoured in his own, he would blush for his "patriotism if he retained any. He would be a banished "man in his native land." Works of FISHER AMES. p. 82, 3. Speech on Brit. treaty. parental regards; but the various arguments from reason, by which these are supported, the precepts of experience, which concur in enjoining them, with all the laws of revelation, by which they are sanctioned, may fairly be extended to involve this larger affection. Most of what was said, in a late discourse, in behalf of friendship, as necessary for the aid of our weakness, and valuable for the enlargement of our means and motives to usefulness, is strictly applicable to the present subject. This discussion is not merely related closely to that, but is intended as a continuation of it, in defending these allowable and incumbent affections. Of the two, if the distinction can easily be made, patriotism is the more obligatory; for it is involuntary and unavoidable. He, who cherishes not the other, is not so happy nor so useful, as he would be in its exercise; he, who never imbibed or has renounced this, denies an imperative obligation, and thus violates one of the perfect rights of others. To the land of our nativity we owe a debt, for the protection afforded before we were conscious of the boon. If, in the organization of most forms of artificial society, children are not regarded as directly objects of publick assistance and provision ;, yet, in fact, the civil institutions, under which any one is born, are the guarantee of all the comfort and quiet of domestick life. Vain were the effort of the immediate superintendent of childhood, if publick law gave no security for publick order. This is indeed the high and the strong fence, which shelters, while it encloses, the nursery of future citizens; and which they are bound to maintain and fortify, to repair and embellish, that it may continue to subserve its essential and beneficent purposes. This first obligation becomes more tender and impressive, by the infinite attractions of the associations of early years. What eye but glistens with delight, as it rests on the scene of infantile sports, and juvenile exploits, and discipline, and study? Who but has in gladness hailed with the poet, the places, "Where once his careless childhood strayed, The heart beats quick as memory calls up its first yearnings after a friend; and the first pure aspirations of a tenderer sentiment ;or it sinks at the revived impression, that the objects of fondest regard, of most endeared attachment, there once acted and enjoyed. This incidental allusion leads to the hold, which a country has on the hearts of its virtuous inhabitants, because it is the place of the sepulchres of their ancestors. The patriarchs Jacob and Joseph, when dying, “gave commandment concerning their bones" : "Bary us not in Egypt; we will lie with our fathers."-How do we sympathize in the strong emotions of the venerable Barzillai, who at the age of fourscore could not be induced, by royal entreaty, to go up to the comforts, and conveniences, and delights of Jerusalem :"Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again that I may die in my own city; and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother." The dust, which was once animated with the intelligence, by which we were instructed, and with the good affections, by which we were embraced, has inexpressible value. We cannot, if we would, we may not, if we could, eradicate this powerful sentiment. shades of the departed seem to rise from the cemetery, and hover round the region, whose forests yielded to their toil, and became blooming gardens and fruitful fields; whose cities The |