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which shall for ever burn , he stood consp icuous , - © tit how transcendently bright was that halo of glory by which be was surrounded on the 4 th of July , 1776 !—that day ever precious in the recollections of freemen , now rendered
doubly so by the recollection that it was the birth-day of a nation , and the last of him who had confei / ed on it immortality . Yes , illustrious man it was given thee to live until the event of a Nation ' s Jubilee . Thy disembodied spirit was then upborne by the
blessings of ten millions of freemen , and the day and hour of thy renown , was the day and hour of thy dissolution !—How inseparable is now the connexion between that glorious epoch
and this distinguished citizen ! Does there not seem to have been an especial providence in his death ? The sun of that day rose upon him , and the roar of artillery and the hosannas of a nation sounded in his ears the as *
surances of his immortality . So precious a life required a death so glorious . Who now shall set limits to his fame ? On the annual recurrence of that glorious day , when , with pious ardour , millions yet unborn shall breathe the sentiments contained in
the celebrated Declaration of Independence ; when the fires of liberty shall be kindled on every hill and shall blaze in every vale , shall not the name of Jefferson be pronounced by
every lip , and written on every heart ? Shall not the rejoicings of that day , and the recollection of his death , cause the smile to chase away the tear , and the tear to becloud the smile ? But
not to the future millions of these happy States shall his fame be confined ; that celebrated State Paper will he found wherever is to be found the abode of civilized man—sounded in the ears of tyrants , they shall tremble on their thrones ; while manso long
, the victim of oppression , awakes from the sleep of ages and bursts his chains . 1 he day is rapidly approaching , a prophetic tongue has announced it , " to some nations sooner , to others later , hut finally , to all , " when it will be
made manifest " that the mass of mankind have not been born with saddles on their backs ; nor a favoured jew booted and spurred , ready to ride r h \ , S itimatel y > by the grace of u ° d- 3 Already has this great truth moused the one half of this Continent
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from the lethargy in which it has sa long reposed . Already are the paeans of liberty dhafited from the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio de la Plata , and its altars are erecting on the ruins of a superstitious idolatry . A mighty spirit walks abroad upon the earth ,
which shall , on its onward march . which shall , on its onward march , overturn principalities and powers , and trample thrones and sceptres in the dust . And when the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations ,
hastened on as it will be by the example of America , shall they not resort to the Declaration of our Independence as the chaTter of their rights , and will not its author be hailed as the
benefactor of the redeemed ? But , my countrymen , this State Paper is not the only lasting testimonial which he has left of his devotion to the rights of man . Where should I stop were I to recount the multiplied
and various acts of his life , all directed to the security of those rights ?—The Statute Book of this State , almost all that is wise in policy , or sanctified by justice , bears the impress of his genius , and furnishes evidence of that
devotion . I choose to present him to you in the light of a mighty reformer . He was born to overturn systems , and to pull down establishments . He had a more difficult task to accomplish than the warrior in the embattled field .
He had to conquer man and bring him to a true knowledge of his own dignity . He had to encounter prejudices become venerable by age—to assail error in its strong places , and to expel it even from its fastnesses . He
advanced to the charge with a bold and reckless intrepidity , but with a calculating coolness . —The Declaration of which I have just spoken had announced the great truth , that man was capable of self-government ; but it still remained for him to achieve a
conquest over an error which was sanctified by age , and fortified by the prejudices of mankind . He dared to proclaim the important truths— < 4 That Almighty God hath created the mind free : that all attempts to influence it
by temporal punishments , or burdens , or by civil incapacitations , tend only to beget hypocrisy and meanness , and arc a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion , who be ing Lord both of body and of mind , yet chose not to propagate it by coer-
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Jefferson and Adams * 641
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1826, page 641, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2554/page/5/
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