Book Description

Excerpt from A Sermon, Delivered at the Meeting House of the Second Parish in Portland, August 20, 1812: On the Occasion of the National Fast And Abraham said unto Lot, let there be. No strife, I pray t7zee, between me and thee, and between my herd men and My herdmen fbr we be brethren. Ever since the apostasy of man the world has pre, eented a scene of disorder and ruin. The lawless and ungovernable passions of the human heart have burst forth in the eigpressions of eontengion and war -so that a his tory of our race has been little better than a register of the blackest crimes Even the first descendant of our prim itive parents raised the Weapon of death, and precipitated his brother prematurely to the grave Pride, ambition and a desire of gain have multiplied the causes of context. Tion, and spread devastation and misery over the whole face of the earth. Princes, and other rulers, have some times wantonly sported with human blood, and stained the records of heaven with crimes which fallen angels, never committed. This was the case in those wars which are recorded on the pages of the Grecian and Roman his tories -and the same disposition is discoverable in those violent contests which have, in modern times, converted the whole continent of Europe into a field of slaughter and blood War i geertainly one of the sorest judgments with which a nation can be visited -1-and in this light it has always been considered by every man who is under the influence of the s irit of the gospel. The religion of the bible inculcates Iihc dispositions of unanimity and peace. A part of the anthem sung by the angels of heaven at the advent of the Saviour, was glory to'god in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to'ward men. This disposition is strongly inculcated in every part of the Bible. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peacably with all men. And we hove a practical hius= tration of this precept in the words of our text. A con. Test had arisen between the domestics of Abraham and Lot, which was happily adjusted by the interposition of, the pious and illustrious patriarch. His reasoning breathes the spirit of mildness and love. Let there be no strife, I pray'thee, between me and'thee, 'and between my herd; men and thy herdmen for we be brethren. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.