then, should we defer the declaration ? Is any man so weak, as now to hope for a reconciliation with England? Do we mean to submit to the measures of parliament, Boston port-bill and all? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. It 3. The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the declaration of independence? That measure will strengthen us. will give us character abroad. The nations will then treat with us, which they never can do, while we acknowledge ourselves subjects in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain that England herself, will sooner treat for peace with us, on the footing of independence, than consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole conduct towards us, has been a course of injustice and oppression. 4. Sir, the declaration will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered immunities held under a British king,-set before them the glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. 5. Read this declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow. uttered to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. 6. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it, who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it, who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support. 7. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judg ment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment;-independence now, and independence for ever. It is sometimes supposed that John Adams actually made the above speech. It contains sentiments which he cherished; but Daniel Webster is the author of the speech itself. In his discourse on Adams and Jefferson, he imagines Mr. Adams to have thus spoken in favor of the immediate adoption of the declaration of independence. It is a masterly production, and it should be read or recited on a pretty high key, with rather quick time, and with great and increasing animation and power. Emphasis and quantity should be combined in its elocution. Mr. Adams was such a warm friend to liberty, that he could at all times say: Thy spirit, independence, let me share; Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare, Mr. Adams wrote the following letter the day after the declaration was adopted. It is worthy of profound attention. "PHILADELPHIA, July 5th, 1776. "Sir-Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever debated in America; and perhaps, greater, never was or will be dec ded among men. A resolution was passed, without one dissenting colony, that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. "The day is passed. The 4th of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great American Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory-I can see that the end is worth more than all the means, and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not. I am, &c. JOHN ADAMS." 26. DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.-Josephus. 1. There lives at this time in Judea a man of singular character, whose name is Jesus Christ. The barbarians esteem him as a prophet; but his followers adore him as the immediate offspring of the immortal God. He is endowed with such unparalleled virtue as to call back the dead from their graves, and to heal every kind of disease with a word or a touch. 2. His person is tall and elegantly shaped; his aspect amiable and reverend; his hair flows in those beauteous shades which no united colors can match, falling in graceful curls below his ears, agreeably couching on his shoulders, and parting on the crown of his head; his dress of the sect of Nazarites; his forehead is smooth and large; his cheek without either spot, save that of a lovely red; his nose and mouth are formed with exquisite symmetry; his beard is thick and suitable to the hair of his head, reaching a little below his chin and parting in the middle like a fork; his eyes are bright, clear, and serene. 3. He rebukes with mildness, and invites with the most tender and persuasive language, his whole address, whether word or deed, being elegant, grave, and strictly characteristic of so exalted a being. No man has seen him laugh, but the whole world beholds him weep frequently; and so persuasive are his tears, that the whole multitude cannot withhold their tears from joining in sympathy with him. He is very modest, temperate, and wise; in short, whatever this phenomena may turn out in the end, he seems, at present, to be a man of excellent beauty, and divine perfections, every way surpassing the children of men. In the year ninety-three, Flavius Josephus wrote a voluminous history, entitled, "Antiquities of the Jews." Notwithstanding he was a Jew, and probably a zealous one, he speaks of Jesus Christ in his celebrated history, in the most commendatory manner: "Now there was about this time, one Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles also. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first, did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again, the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him." Thus undeniably speaks the great Jewish historian. The above description of the person of our Savior, is said to have been found in his writings, and transcribed at London in 1732. It is an eloquent description of that exalted personage, and it was sent by Publius, president of Judea, to the senate of Rome. It is however considered doubtful whether Josephus wrote it. Be that as it may, in the eighteenth year of the Emperor Tiberius, Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior, appeared on earth, clothed in the majesty of the Son of God, and held up to the view of the world, an infinite variety of the most instructive and interesting truths, which extend their influence through all the concerns of life, the shadow of death, and an endless duration in another world. Christ's manner of speaking was as perfect as his doctrines. And, in the beauti ful language of the late reverend and lamented W. Ward Ninde: "The orator of our times-he who would fill the largest space in the public eyewho would glow with the most lofty feelings of our nature, and take part in the mightiest events of the age, must be a christian-the disciple and humble imitator of Him "who spake as never man spake." 27. THE BLIND PREACHER.-Wm. Wirt. 1. One Sunday, as I travelled through the county of Orange, my eye was caught by a cluster of horses, tied near a ruinous, old, wooden house in the forest, not far from the road-side. Having frequently seen such objects before, in travelling through these States, I had no difficulty in understanding, that this was a place of religious worship. Devotion, alone, should have stopped me, to join in the duties of the congregation; but I must confess, that curiosity to hear the preacher of such a wilderness, was not the least of my motives. ral 2. On entering the house, I was struck with his preternatuappearance. He was a tall and very spare old man,―his head, which was covered with a white linen cap, his shrivelled hands, and his voice, were all shaken under the influence of a palsy, and a few moments convinced me that he was blind. The first emotions which touched my breast, were those of mingled pity and veneration. But ah! how soon were all my feelings changed! 3. It was a day of the administration of the sacrament, and his subject, of course, was the passion of our Savior. I had heard the subject handled a thousand times; I had thought it exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose, that in the wild woods of America, I was to meet with a man whose eloquence would give to this topic, a new and more sublime pathos than I had ever before witnessed. 4. As he descended from the pulpit, to distribute the mystic symbols, there was a peculiar, a more than human solemnity in his air and manner, which made my blood run cold, and my whole frame to shiver. He then drew a picture of the sufferings of our Savior-his trial before Pilate-his ascent up Calvary-his crucifixion and his death. 5. I knew the whole history; but never, until then, had I heard the circumstances so selected, so arranged, so colored! It was all new; and I seemed to have heard it for the first time in my life. His enunciation was so deliberate, that his voice trembled on every syllable; and every heart in the assembly trembled in unison. 6. His peculiar phrases had that force of description, that the original scene appeared to be, at that moment, acting before our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews-the staring, frightful distortions of malice and rage. We saw the buffet, my soul kindled with a flame of indignation, and my hands were involuntarily and convulsively clenched. 7. But when he came to touch the patience, the forgiving meekness of our Savior-when he drew, to the life, his blessed eyes streaming in tears to heaven-his voice breathing to God, a soft and gentle prayer of pardon on his enemies:"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,"the voice of the preacher, which had all along faltered, grew fainter and fainter, until his utterance being entirely obstructed by the force of his feelings, he raised his handkerchief to his eyes, and burst into a loud and irrepressible flood of grief. The effect was inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation. 8. It was some time before the tumult had subsided, so far as to permit him to proceed. Indeed, judging by the usual, but fallacious standard of my own weakness, I began to be very uneasy for the situation of the preacher. 9. For I could not conceive how he would be able to let his audience down from the height to which he had wound them, without impairing the solemnity and dignity of his subject, or, perhaps, shocking them by the abruptness of the fall. But the descent was as beautiful and sublime, as the elevation had been rapid and enthusiastic. 10. The first sentence with which he broke the awful silence, was a quotation from Rousseau: "Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ like a God!!" Never before did I completely understand what Demosthenes meant by laying such stress on delivery. The "Blind Preacher" is from the "British Spy," of which the late honorable and lamented William Wirt, of Baltimore, was the author, Rousseau, mentioned in the tenth verse, was a celebrated Swiss philosopher, born in Geneva, A. D. 1711. The "Blind Preacher" is one of the most pathetic and beautiful pieces of a descriptive character in our language. It should be read colloquially, and in an animated manner. |