Parish, Elijah. A Sermon, preached at Boston, before His Excellency Christopher Gore, Governor, His Honor David Cobb, Lieut. Governor, the Council and Legislature, upon the Annual Election, May 30, 1810. Boston: Printed by Subscription, 1810. First Edition. [11054]
Removed, no wrappers, 8 1/2 x 5 inches, 24 pages, foxing. Good. Pamphlet.
A controversial sermon that the Legislature refused to put into print. "The Discourse is printed by private subscription. A majority of the Honourable House of Representatives, against the usage of a century and a half, in like instances, not only refused to observe the customary form of civility; and ask a copy for the press; but passed a resolution containing high charges against the Sermon, and purporting that the dignity of the House forbade the usual courtesy to the preacher." - verso of tp.
"In 1810 he delivered the annual election sermon, in which he assailed the National [Federal] administration with such acrimony that the legislature declined to print the discourse. It was published by subscription (Boston, 1810), and widely circulated and discussed." - Appleton.
A sermon on the text Romans 13:4, "For he is the minister of God to thee for good."
The author describes the qualities and the policies of a good ruler, and what the results of bad rulers, including American sailors "perishing in the prisons of Napoleon."
Parish was an arch foe of Thomas Jefferson and his party. James Madison, who was a Jeffersonian, had just been elected to the Presidency, but the thrust of this sermon are the policies that had been promoted by Jefferson during his tenure. Madison had served as Jefferson's Secretary of State, and was his hand-picked successor.
"Can a creature be found, so lost to all virtues of the heart, who would not prefer rulers of a Christian spirit to infidels, pouring their sarcasms on him who was born in a manger? Men have walked in the fiery furnace, and not been burned; but wicked magistrates have not failed to increase the iniquities of the people."
"The examples of rulers have great influence on the public mind. If they profane the Sabbath, disdain public worship, ridicule the Bible, scoff at the Saviour, or despise his ordinances, every fool will ape their ungodliness, mimic their vices, and pursue their steps down to ruin."
He points out the destruction and horrors of war that then consumed Europe, through the despotism of Napoleon, and warns the same will happen in the United States unless their liberties are preserved.
Elijah Parish (1762-1825), b. Lebanon, Conn.; graduated at Dartmouth, 1785; finished his studies under Rev. Ephraim Judson of Taunton, Mass. He was from 1787 to 1825 the pastor of the Congregational Church at Byfield, Massachusetts. He was an Hopkinsian, and a strong Federalist; Dartmouth awarded him the D.D. degree in 1807. Dr. Parish published several works of geography, a History of New England, A Gazetteer of the Bible, and with Rev. David McClure a Memoir of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock. He was a Trinitarian or Orthodox Congregationalist.
