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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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gooil Old Dominion , the blessed Mother of us all , Will then raise her head with pride among the nation . " When history shall , at some future day come to draw his character , to
what department shall she assign him ? Shall she encircle his brow with the wreath of civic worth ? Or shall philosophy weave a garland of her own ? He is equally dear to all the sciences . In mournful procession , they have repaired to the tomb where
his mortal remains are lnurned , and hallowed the spot—yes , hallowed be the spot where he rests from his labours . Wave after wave may roll by , sweeping , in its restless course , countless generations from the face of the earth , yet shall the resting place of Jefferson be hallowed—like Mount
Vernon , Monticello shall catch the eye of the wayfarer , and arrest his course . There shall he draw the inspirations of liberty , and learn those great truths which nature destined him to know .
Is not , then , this man ' s life most beautifully consistent ? Trace him from the period of his earliest manhood to the hour of his final dissolution , and does not his ardour in the prosecution of the great cause of human rights , excite your admiration ,
and enlist your gratitude ? May it not be said , that he has lived only for the good of others ? Look upon him in the last stage of his existence . But a few days before his death , he exults in the happiness of his country and the full confirmation of his labours .
With the prospect of death before him , suffering under a cruel disease , he offers up an impressive prayer for the good of mankind . When speaking of the then approaching jubilee , in writfog to the Mayor of Washington , he says , "May it be to the world what I believe it will be , the signal of arouslng men to burst the chains under
which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind the mselves , and to assume the blessings of free government "—and it shall > e that signal ; a flood of light has burst upon the world , and the Juggernauts
of superstition , and the gloom ° * ignorance , shall melt in its brightness . Will you look upon him , my countr ymen , in the last moments of 1 existence ? Shall I make known J 0 you his fond concern for you and
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your posterity , when the hand of death pressed heavily upon him ? Learn , then , that he dwelt on the subject of the University—portrayed the blessings which it was destined to diffuse , and , forgetful of his valuable services ,
often urged his physician to leave his bedside , lest his class might suffer in his absence . One other theme dwelt on his lips until they were motionless . It was the fourth of July . He often expressed the wish to die on that day . On the 3 d * so says my correspondent ,
he raised his languid head and said , " This is the 4 th of Jul y / ' and the smile of contentment played upon his lips—Heaven heard his prayers , and crowned his wishes . Oh precious lifel Oh glorious death ! He has left to us , my countrymen , a precious legacy .
His last words were , * ' I resign myself to my God , and my child to my country "—and shall not that child of his age , that only surviving daughter , the solace of his dying hour , be fostered and cherished by a grateful country ?
Thus has terminated , in the 84 th year of his age , the life of one of the greatest and best of men . " His weary sun hath made a golden set . " Let the rulers of nations profit by his example —an example which points the way to the temple of true glory , and proclaims to the statesman of every age and
every tongue" Be just aud fear not ; Let all the ends thou aim ' st at be thy Country ' s , Thy God ' s , and Truth . " Then shall thy lifeless body sleep in blessings , and the tears of a nation water thy grave .
Let bis life be an instructive lesson also to us , my countrymen ; let us teach our children to reverence his name , and , even in infancy , to lisp his principles . As one great means of
perpetuating freedom , let the annual recurrence of the day of our nation ' s birth be ever hailed with rapture . Is it not stamped with the seal of Divinity ? How wonderful are the means by which he rules the world ! Scarcely has the funeral knell of our Jefferson
been sounded in our ears , when we are startled by the death-bell of another patriot—his zealous coadjutor in the holy cause of the revolutionone among * the foremost of those who sought his country ' s disenthralment
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Jefferson and Adams . 645
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v . xxi . 4 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1826, page 645, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2554/page/9/
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