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;®f)e %vxxt H) tgntt^ of Man.

SERMON

DELIVERED before |

THE UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY

IN SHUTESBUEY, MASS.,

.¦SiiiaijatSpAFTESKOOJN*, MARCH 12, 1848.

BY OTIS W. BACON.

GREENFIELD:
MERRIAM & MIRICK'S STEAM PRESS.
1848.

Slje Sruc JBtgnitg of Jtlan.

SERMON

delivered before

THE UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY

IN SHUTESBUEY, MASS.,

SABBATH AFTERNOON, MARCH 12, 1848.

BY OTIS W.tBACON.

GREENFIELD:
MERRIAM & MIRICK'S STEAM PRESS.
1848.

NOTE.
The author ofthe following pages, submits them for publication, not be
cause of their literary merit, nor for the sake of a name, but because he be
lieves the sentiments which they contain, to be truthful, and their reception,
especially among the youth, of great importance. From this consideration,
founded upon a desire to be the humble instrument of good in the world,
does he send out this little Pamphlet, trusting that it will find a warm recep
tion in all Christian hearts.

SERMON.

Proverbs, iii : 16. — Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left
hand riches and honor.
Solomon in the language of my text is discoursing
of wisdom. The chapter from which it is taken, repre
sents him as holding conversation with his son. " My
son forget not my law : * * * happy is the man that
findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understand
ing. For the merchandise of it is better than the mer
chandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold ;
She is more precious than rubies, and all the things
which can be desired; are not to be compared unto
her." Throughout the scriptures of Divine Truth,
wisdom is often dwelt upon, as the most important of
all the Christian graces ; writers in both the Old and
New Testaments, speak of it as the fundamental prin
ciple in the system of Christianty ; it is represented as
the pearl of great price ; as being of invaluable impor
tance, in laying the foundation of a truly religious char
acter. " It is in the attributes of God," says a popular
writer, " that we are to find the elements of true great
ness." We search in vain for these, amid the reli
gions, governments and characters which have received
the world's approbation.
I know that the records of the past are records of
human heroism ; — that the train of martial glory has
followed in the footsteps of earth's mightiest men, has
welcomed them with shouts of rejoicing, though fresh
from fields bleached with a brother's bones, and moist
ened by the falling tears of widows and orphans. Yet

in all this, there is but the empty sound of words ; all
the homage which we render to the " pomp and cir
cumstance" of mere physical and intellectual triumph,
is degrading and unworthy a Christian age ; only good
ness is worthy of reverence ; only those actions, which
are sanctified ' by that wisdom which springeth sponta
neously from the words of Jesus, can achieve victories
worthy of thanksgiving and praise ; only such deeds as
are ennobled and warmed into existence, by the two
sons of Christian truth, love to God, and love to man,
are life-long and glorious.
Human characters may leave their imprints indelibly
engraved upon the past — they may be looked to through
coming ages as great and noble, yet they can only se
cure the approbation of God, when moulded by Chris
tian principles ; when thoroughly imbued with the spirit
of the Great Teacher. Our actions will receive the-
smiles of our Heavenly Father, when they are the bene
ficent fruits of God-like attributes engrafted in the heart..
Solomon, who has been styled by some, "the wisest
man," has> in my text* hit upon the fundamental attri^
bute in the nature of God, and handed down to us the
blessed assurance, that whosoever receives it, shall find;
favor in the sight of the Lord ; — in her: right hand, we.
are told is length of days, and in her left, riches: and
honor. " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all:
her paths are peace ;" following in these paths, beauti
ful arbors, ever green with the immortal fruits of right
eousness, afford the care-worn pilgrim shade and' shel
ter from the heats and storms of life — around these;.
the Olive branch of peace hath entwined its tendrils,.
laden with clusters of fruit, of which, if men eat they
shall become as Godsi Here the lion and the lamb lie
down together ; — here the heavenly beatitudes shower
their blessed influences upon., men, who have reached!
the true dignity of the divine nature : who are poor in
spirit, pure in heart, and hungering and thirsting after
righteousness.

I have said that wisdom was: an attribute of Goi.
None will dispute me on this point ; human nature
teaches it — His revelations teach it, not clearer than
his works ; — in every lineament of these we learn im
portant lessons of the Divine Mind ; — all creation is
painted with an Infinite Hand, demonstrative of the
skill of the great Architect. The ancient servant of
God, awed and subdued by the grandeur of His works,
bursts forth in the involuntary language of inspiration ;
" the heavens declare His glory, and the firmament shad-
oweth forth His handy works ; — their sound has gone
out into all the earth, and there is no place where
their voice is not heardl"
Infinite love and- power eould never exist, was not
the hand of wisdom behind these, giving tone and
character to all their aimings ; — wisdom hath establish
ed her pillars deeper than the foundations of the Uni
verse ; she hath conceived a mighty plan of redemp
tion, while she brings to her aid the lesser attributes of
Jehovah, to hasten it on to a glorious consummation.
Man can arrive to a full and perfect standard of Chris
tian holiness and perfection, only by copying the attri
butes of God ; — by leading a life in strict conformity
to the guidings of that wisdom, which dwelleth in all
contrite souls — which is pure and peaceable, full of
mercy and good works.
From the tenor of these remarks you will readily
perceive, my hearers, the subject which I propose to
contemplate at this time. — The True Dignity' of Man.
That there is a manly dignity, which is necessary to
the completion of the Christian character, and indis
pensable to extensive usefulness, is not a matter of con
troversy; nor is- this: dignity incompatible with the
meekness and humility of Jesus of Nazareth. Search
the records of His life, and while they abound with
strong and unparalleled exhibitions of meekness, they
also abound with stern and. pungent reproofs, with ex
amples of firmness and decisiveness of character.

6
While His associations were with publicans and sin
ners, — while He lived in closest communion with the
common people, He was also found at the age of twelve
years, disputing the learned doctors of divinity, by ask
ing them questions; — while He lifted up His voice
upon the banks of Galilee, and in the forests of Judea,
He also proclaimed the truths of God, in the magnifi
cent temples of Jerusalem ; — while
" Cold mountains and the midnight air,
Witnessed the fervor of His prayer,"
He called upon His Father at the grave of Lazarus,
to show to the blinded multitude that His works
were accepted in heaven, and that He lived in close
affinity with the spirits of the just ; — while He acknow
ledged His brotherhood to the most distant and obscure
of the race, He also taught that He and the Father
were one : — while He commenced the purposes of His
mission, in the most humble and unceremonious man
ner, the influence which He sent out, has been a " ter
ror to evil doers," and in all ages, a joy to them which
have done well : — it has broken down the unnatural dis
tinctions of society ; conquered the heathen prejudices
of country and color ; loosened tyranny from its iron
fastenings, and demolished systems of cruelty and wrong.
Such are the striking exhibitions of the Saviour's
dignity ; — such the examples of true glory, which the
moral grandeur of His life imparts. In them we dis
cover the divine breathings of that wisdom which
" cometh from above ;" in them we discover the man
liness of a perfect man ; in them we find powerful md-
tives for energetic and unwearied action.
We are to set high the prize of the mark of our
exalted calling, until we obtain the true dignity of
Christian sanctification ; and from the serene illumina
tion of such an eminence, can we bid proud defiance
to the elements of sin ; then shall we be stimulated to
deeds of charity, by an ever active, and ever expand
ing philanthropy.

Then shall the benedictions of those which were
ready to perish cheer us onward in our pathway of
love ; then shall we hold in our right hand length of
days, and in our left, riches and honor ; not the enjoy
ment of mere physical luxury, which at the best, is but
a bubble blown by a fleeting breath : — not the riches of
the man who pulled down his barns to build greater,
ignorant of the fact of his dissolution until the light of
eternity broke upon his early morning vision, — not the
honor which cometh from men ; not the vain applause
and unmeaning approbation of the deaf and blind mul
titude; but, the durable riches of righteousness; the
reconciling smiles of our Father in heaven, and the
blessings of an innumerable company of pure spirits on
the earth.
Such are some of the rewards of wisdom ; truly these
are better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain
thereof than fine gold ; more to be desired, than the
outward adornings of wealth, or the fantastic trappings
of mere external beauty. My friends, let us search for
wisdom as for a hid treasure — search for it, as for
the path of the just, which leads to honor and true
greatness. How poorly have men in past times ap
preciated its worth, or sought to be enlightened by
its infallible revelations : — they have dug into the bow
els of the earth — penetrated the hidden recesses of
mountains — plunged into the depths of the sea — ex
posed themselves to hunger, famine and pestilence, all
for the sake of worldly gain. Had they sacrificed a
tenth part of this, for that knowledge which maketh
11 wise unto salvation," — for that truth which maketh
free, for that love which subdues hate, then would the
present generation have been centuries nearer the true
dignity of a Perfect Map, than where we now are.
Then would our love of mammon have been exchanged
for a love of goodness ; — our reverence for carnal ordi
nances, for a sacred regard for those ceremonies, which
minister only to the wants of the spirit ; our admira-

8
tion for outward display and sensual aggrandizement,
for an active sympathy with virtue unadorned.
We should seek, my hearers, for a true, unaffected
Christian dignity ; — for the dignity which was in Christ ;
this will render us free, on the one hand, from pride
and selfishness ; and on the other hand, from a time
serving, mercenary spirit, which fears to tread boldly
the path of duty. These two extreme positions are
equally detestable, and alike to be avoided; we can
discover between them, only in the exercise of that
wisdom, of which our text makes mention, and which
in defiance of his moral defections gave Solomon the
appellation of the wisest man, and placed him upon a
throne of Glory and Renown.
I have not time to go into an analysis of human na
ture^ which may perhaps be thought necessary to illus
trate the force of my subject. All men cannot be alike
great ; yet there is that in every man, which* if cultivat
ed, may render him great in his sphere-of action; — may
adorn his life with those virtues, which are the habili
ments of angels. Tell me not that man is totally deprav
ed — that there is in him no redeeming principle —
that he is a child of the devil by nature, and from the
beginning. This doctrine is one of the most blasphe
mous doctrines advocated at the present day ! It is a
libel upon human nature and its Author, an utter viola
tion of all the teachings of Holy Writ. Man has a
nature like unto that of angels ; a nature which claims
its parentage in the skies, and its immortality beyond
the regions of time and sense ; a nature which has
within itself the resources of wisdom. Only cultivate
this nature ; — =call into action its dormant and slumber
ing Energies— touch them by the magic wand of good
ness, and there shall be a resurrection of the spiritual
life. It is a fearful thing to crush the spirit; awful
retributions follow a life of sensuality. Then, my breth
ren, let us have in exercise that wisdom which is in the
sight of the Lord very precious ; let us remember, that

he that " is wise, is wise for himself, but he that iscorn-
eth, he alone must bear it." ;
Men have naturally an aspiring spirit; — all are
ereatures of an undying ambition, — we are never satis
fied with present circumstances, but are seeking for
imaginary joys and pleasures, which live only in the far
distant future ; We desire to arrive at some post of
eminence, where we can be called great by the world ;
we wish to write our names in fadeless characters upon
the age, that our wisdom may guide and enlighten the
future historian ; this deathless propensity for fame —
this thirsting after glory and renown, is one ofthe
strongest propensities ofthe human nature ; it is de
veloped in all stages of life, and under all circumstances;
the mere infant, dallying upon its mother's knee, yields
obedience to that burning passion, which has stimulated
the warrior at the eve of battle, which has led him
triumphantly over fields of blood, which once lifted the
standard of victory over a conquered world; leaving its
ehampion unsatisfied, and panting for other Worlds to
conquer. The student, amid those various pursuits,
obsequious to the College curfew, is fired by the same
spirit, which nerved the Roman Orator, amid the deaf
ening plaudits of the enraptured thousands which chaTed
around the Rostrum. The common soldier, at an
annual review, feels throbbing through his veins, that
panting for victory, which beat in the soul of Napoleon
at the Bridge of Lodi, as he sprang upon the dying
bodies of a thousand men, calling upon his brave troops
to save the Emperor. Now I will not condemn this
longing after an immortal fame ; it is a divine principle
in human nature :— without its culture and expansion,
we never shall reach the true dignity of men : when
this principle is tempered with heavenly wisdom;— when
it is brought into sweet and harmonious reconciliation
with the law of the spirit, burning with an active sym
pathy for the sufferings of the race,— seeking fame and
glory, only in deeds of Christian beneficence, then wil
2

10
it exalt and elevate man ; — clothe him with the dignity
of a God, causing him to stand up a light house in the
barren waste of ages, — telling to the floating voyager,
that shipwreck and death can only be avoided, in the ex
ercise of that germ of Divine Wisdom, which imparts to
human actions a moral grandeur and an intrinsic worth.
But alas, how has this indwelling passion for distinc
tion been perverted! Its perversion, in all ages, has
been a mill-stone about the neck of humanity, which has
bound it fast in the depths of ignorance and vice : — all
the distempered longings after office ; all the vain and
selfish enterprises of soeiety ; all the failures and defeats
with which we come in contact, in our upward aimings,
are attributable to a perversion, or wrong cultivation
of those aspiring impulses, which give tone and aspect
to human character. It is true, that we live in a Chris
tian nation, where the sensual associations of a Mahom
etan Heaven, or the degrading indulgencies of a
Pagan philosophy are disregarded, yet, in the main, we
are seeking greatness and honor, through those deprav
ed mediums, which shall only cover us with disgrace,
when their corruption is exposed to the light of a
Christian philanthropy; — the height of individual dis
tinction, — the tone of national honor, — the zenith of
worldly glory, are determined by the skill of a soldier,
the shrewdness of a government, and the blood red
phantom of a martial renown !
We do not bow down before stocks and stones, and
gods of ebony and marble, but we worship any other
Deity, than our Father as He is in Heaven, and in His
wise and merciful providences on the earth. It has
always been so; men, void of understanding, and des
titute of wisdom, have sought to distinguish themselves,
in acts, which only betray the weakness of the natural
heart, when unenlightened by the aids of that spiritual
holiness which renders the heart pure in the sight of God.
Men in different ages of human progress, have
lavished glory upon the successful robber ; the Scan-

11
dinavians bestowed it upon the victorious pirate ;— the
age of Roman power lavished its honors upon Cato,
for the heroism which he displayed in applying the
dagger to his own heart, thus rendering suicide one of
the virtues of that age.
Theft in one nation, at a certain time, was consider
ed honorable. There is an old Welch tale concerning
the advice which a mother gave her son, that he might
secure for himself a lasting and honorable name. " Now
here" says the anxious parent to her son, " when thou
seest victuals and drink help thyself thereto ; should any
precious jewel attract thy eyes take it ; — thus shalt thou
acquire fame." A Spanish servant in the sixteenth
century, acquired fame, by breaking the skull of a
heretic, in the presence of the Emperor of Augsburg;
this splendid achievement, entitled him to the highest
favors of his master, Charles the fifth, the Duke of
Alva. Demosthenes sought a badge of glory, by his
overpowering eloquence ; after returning from his
studies at Athens, he consulted the Oracle, for direction
in his onward career. The answer of the Oracle,
breathed a sentiment, worthy of higher origin than the
superstitions of Paganism ; it was that he should make
his own judgment, and not the dictations of the people,
the guide of his conduct.
The annals of heathen literature, are filled with inci
dents illustrative of the fact, that men have followed
the most low and unworthy pursuits in search of
honor ;— that in their ambitious longings after renown,
they have overlooked the important fact, that the
crowning excellences of greatness and dignity must rest
upon the two pillars of goodness and virtue.
We, in this age, bear a unanimous protest against the
standards of true dignity and human greatness, which
in other and less civilized ages, have received the hom
age of men, and the approbation of the world ; we
profess to have reversed the very poles of past genera-

12
tions ;— rto have renounced the " hidden things" of a
dishonest and vain philosophy, and established new and
Christian tests of honor and renown. We claim for
ourselves a wisdom, transcending even that of Sol
omon; — a wisdom, clothed with the subtlety of the
serpent, but baptized with the harmlessnessof the dove.
We have a Religion, which is a direct revelation from
heaven ; revealing to our understandings, in characters
of unchanging loveliness, the Fatherhood of God, and
the brotherhood of man ; this Religion was given to lay
in us the foundation of individual character ;— to im
plant deep in our hearts the seeds of disinterested benev
olence ; which if pruned and cultivated, shall thrive
and ripen into the true dignity of a perfect man, in
whose heart apd actions, shall be centred the moral
attributes of his Maker. x .
Yet our professions are " sounding brass" ; we bow
down before gods of despotism, and yield obedience to
the burning passions of a dark and benighted age.
" Mene mene tekel upharsin," yet lingers, upon the wall,
ominous of demolished thrones, divided kingdoms, and
conflicting sects ?v-4he heathenish associations of the
past, form the Christian reflections of the present ; —
heroes pf the middle age, covered with a murdered
brother's blood, are welcomed to our Christian temples
and our fireside homes, as models of true greatness, —
to stimulate the youth of our land, to seek fame and
glory, by cultivating the barbarous artt of conquest and
extermination. Guided by the dim twilight of the old prophetic ages,
we build our engines of torture and wring out the life
of a fellow mortal, as if he were an insect of the dust,
We pass through perils by land and by sea to increase
our worldly possessions ; in this we think there is dig-,
nity,.and self-sacrifice ; yet who cannot see that a thirst
for wealth is the curse of the present age. Most of the
innumerable evils which afflict society, are attributable

13
to the unrighteous means which are put forth, for the ac
cumulation of property ; money is the idol which men
have erected, — transformed it into a God in their, own
minds, while all the powers of their souls, are bowed
down before it in servile homage, Truly has the Word
declared, that a, love of money is " the root of all evil,"
The unjust and cruel distinctions of society, which are
sundering the tenderest ties of human, love,— under
mining the foundations of all domestic joy — sowing the
poisonous seeds of desolation around the very hearth.,
stones of the social circle, have their origin in the abuse
of the money power, wielded by the aristocracy of
wealth. Look at the unnatural contrast, which our
cities present ; on the one hand, you behold streets,
ladened with the abundance of wealth, adorned with the
hand of elegance and taste, presenting an appearance
which might lead the stranger to suppose, that misery
received no welcome there ; that all reveled in un
bounded luxury.
Yet turn and look the other side the way, ere you
pass judgment ;-r- here you behold wretched hovels,
whose inmates have been schooled in vice, and trained
up in iniquity, beneath the very shadow of those .tem
ples of Christian worship, from which they have been
excluded by a perverted public sentiment. Look over
the walls of yonder prison, and behold its outcasts, which
are your brethren, though in chains ; — the same sun
which warms you with its gladdening rays, cheers them
in their lonely abodes of solitude and despair ; the eye
of that same Father in Heaven, which looks upon you
with approving smiles, knows the circumstances of the
prisoner's guilt — loves him still, owns him as an off
spring of God, as a jewel destined to a glorious and
immortal home. He once was kind* virtuous and af
fectionate;; but, pinched by the cold hand of necessity,
and despised for his poverty, being of proud spirit, he
yielded in the hour of temptation, and in the bitter bowl

of crime sought to assuage his grief; — then have com
passion on him, for he is one of the victims of the " lust
of mammon."
Go to the cotton fields of the south, and behold three
millions of your fellow beings, robbed of their man
hood — transformed into merchandise, and " sold to the
highest bidder," to gratify an ungodly thirst for gold.
I would not undervalue the money-power; I know it has
brought blessings as well as cursings ; witness its effects
upon our Country, for the last two-hundred years. Then
an unbroken wilderness, resounding with the savage
yell, and the echo of the tomahawk was all that marked
the prospect. Now, how changed the scene ; mountains
have been leveled, and valleys filled ; — the hand of in
dustry, and the genius of art, have built up cities, teem
ing with life and population — have erected the univer
sity of learning, where the rudiments of a scientific ed
ucation are inculcated ; — 'have adorned the banks of our
noble rivers with factories, in which are heard the clat
ter of a thousand wheels ; — have by the aids of steam
power, annihilated time and distance, belting the very
universe itself in their discoveries, and whitening the
bosom of old Ocean, with the million sails of commer
cial enterprise.
All this, , and more has the Money-power done.
Some may think, in view of its achievements, that the
neplus ultra of human perfection, is already reached,
— that man now stands erect, in the fullest dignity of
which his moral nature is susceptible. This might be
so, if money was used only to promote the highest good
of society ; but, when used as now, as a means of
fraud, it can be productive of little else, than accumu
lated wrong.
Unfortunately, the first chapter of our nation's history,
is a record of falsehood, and atrocious injustice ; — seen
in robbing the Indians of their native soil, purchasing
their lands and paying them in gun-powder, teaching

1
them in the spirit of Puritan Christianity, to sow it in the
earth, that they might reap it again in the time of har
vesting. There is no government on earth, the history of
which, can furnish a parallel for that deception and
wrong manifest in the dealings of thetpilgrim fathers
with the aborigines of America. It would seem per
fectly natural, that that spirit of robbery, conquest and
blood, which has left the wild red man, — the rightful
owner of the soil on which we stand to day — tuning his
harp of mourning, on the banks of the Pacific, should
still be visible in all the deliberations of the American
government. In what we have here named, we see the pernicious
workings of the love of money. This is not the only
nation and government, which the Money-power has
crushed, and reduced to bankruptcy ; — it was the ruin
of Rome, of Athens, and of Greece. The Grecian Re
public, after flourishing for six centuries, fell, and great
was the fall of her ; bowing, as she crumbled into ashes,
to a golden shrine which shone, but to allure, which guid
ed but to destroy. We have reason to tremble for our
destiny ; we may rest assured, that, though our public
men may cry " peace and safety," the volcanic fires of
a revolution, slumber beneath the very fabric which
constitutes our union : — and when our ruin is told, as
told it will be, unless we turn to God, it will then be
recorded thatthe unlawful usurpation ofthe Money-pow
er, was its great and procuring cause ; still with the
grasp of a miser, we are in search of wealth, in our in
dividual and national capacity, as if the goal of Chris-
? tian dignity was found in its accumulation ; yet this is
purely degrading ; unworthy of any other days, than
those when there were giants on the earth ; no wonder
that the ghost of Cain, (who, through envy of his bro
ther's possessions slew him,) yet wanders to and fro ;—
no wonder that the sepulchral voice of nations, buried in

16
graves of theif own invention, yet tells us to beware,
to review our ways, and turn unto the Lord.
It remains for another, and a distant age, to appre
ciate the worth of Christian principles ; — to discover a
meaning in those beautiful truths, divinest in all the rev
elations of science and Christianity ; — that goodness is
indespensable to lasting greatness ; that fame and glory
are objects of honorable pursuit, when sought after in
the path of duty; — that the dignity of a perfect 'man, — >
that " length of days," and " riches and honor," can be
reached, only in the exercise of that " wisdom," which
stimulateth to deeds of unaffected philanthropy, — which
loseth sight of self, seeking first and foremost, the ed
ucation of the ignorant, the reform of the criminal, the
freedom of the oppressed, the liberation of the captive,
and the ultimatum of human good.
" God only is great," was the exclamation of Macelon,
as he commenced the funeral eulogy of the spendthrift
monarch of France, Louis XIV.
Kings are robbed of their crowns and their lives, —
powerful empires rise in a day, and perish in the shad
ow of their earliest existence ; change and decay mark
the sudden departure of all external greatness; only good
ness is omnipotent ; only truth is synonymous with the
existence of the Eternal, without beginning of days or
ending of years.
Finally, my hearers, may we form our ideas of true
dignity and renown, upon the blessed atributes of our
Heavenly Father. For virtue shall live forever ; and
through the round of endless ages, shall present human
ity spotless and pure at the throne of its Creator.