These are

our national mourning, lamentation, and sorrow. the sentiments, which this beautiful poem was designed to inculcate. And these are the sentiments, which every people ought to feel and express, when those, who have been eminently useful in life, are laid in the dust.

To describe men of eminence, and to show the propriety of lamenting their death, will be the business of the ensuing dis

course.

No man was made merely for himself, but all men for the service of each other. Usefulness, therefore, does not so much. consist in seeking our private, personal happiness, as in promoting the general welfare of all with whom we are any way concerned. Though most men are capable of doing something for others as well as for themselves; yet only a few individuals possess either talents, opportunities, or inclinations, to become extensively useful. And among these there are so many degrees of merit, that it is extremely difficult to determine the precise point where mediocrity ends, and eminence begins. It is easy, however, to give a general description of those, in various departments of life, whose uncommon exertions for the public good justly place them in the noble rank of eminent men.

Since the general good of society requires particular persons to devote themselves to particular employments, any individual of a superior genius and of an enterprising spirit may become eminently useful in any lawful profession. The theoretical farmer, who spares no labor nor expense in trying experiments, and in discovering the easiest and best modes of cultivating the earth, is an eminent citizen. The man who pursues the business of commerce upon the broad basis of general utility, promotes the public good as well as his own, and is extensively useful to his country. The man who, by close application and critical observation, makes advances in the healing art, and employs his superior skill in relieving the pains and maladies of his fellow men, is a great public blessing. The man of genius and integrity, who is profoundly learned in the law, and who exerts all his abilities in promoting the cause of justice, and defending the rights of his fellow citizens, does honor to his profession, and contributes largely to the general good of civil society. In a word, every one of a public spirit and superior talents, who makes it his supreme object, in his private employment, to promote the public happiness, is an eminently useful man.

There is a higher class of eminent men, who move in the higher walks of life. These, instead of seeking merely the honors and emoluments of office, have so much greatness of

mind and goodness of heart, as to employ their public and important stations, as the means of more public and extensive usefulness. On this eminent list, we ought to place all those who shine with a peculiar lustre, either in the seats of learning, or in the courts of justice, or in the councils of state, or in the supreme command of fleets and armies.

But there are some who rise higher still on the scale of usefulness. I mean those, who extend their views beyond the limits of their own nation or country, and exert their influence to promote the general good of all mankind. There are a few individuals, among the many millions of our race, who have heads and hearts equal to such a great, extensive, and benevolent design. It must be allowed by all, that the inventors of useful arts and sciences, the founders of civil, religious, and literary institutions, and the deliverers of nations and kingdoms from slavery and ruin, are the most illustrious and eminently useful men in the world. The happy effects of their great and noble exertions, will continue and increase to the remotest periods of time.

When such eminently great and useful men are removed from the stage of life, their removal is a public calamity, which calls for public mourning and sorrow. All nations have felt the propriety of lamenting the loss of those who have been eminently useful in life, and of paying them peculiar honors at death. This appears from the practice of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and especially from the funeral rites of the Jews, at the decease and interment of their eminent judges, generals, kings, priests, prophets, and patriarchs. When the pious patriarch Jacob died in Egypt, his death was publicly lamented by a most solemn and splendid funeral. His body being embalmed, the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. And after this, we are told, "Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt. And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians." The decease of Aaron on his journey to Canaan was deeply regretted. "When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel." Though Moses, the servant of

the Lord and king in Jeshurun, died, and was buried in private; yet his death was publicly and universally lamented. It is recorded to his honor, that "the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended." Samuel was an eminent prophet and judge in Israel, and his death was deplored as a national loss. We read, "All the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah." Our text and context contain the lamentation, occasioned by the premature and sudden death of Saul and Jonathan. In a few chapters forward, we find a particular account of the funeral honors paid to an eminent general, who fell by the hand of an assassin. "And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bier. And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" Of Jehoiada the priest we read, that "he waxed old, and was full of days when he died. And they buried him in the city of David, among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward his It is recorded of Hezekiah, that pious prince and eminent reformer, that "he slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death." The same religious people more deeply lamented the untimely death of Josiah, and paid a more public and lasting respect to his memory. The account of his death and of their conduct is very striking. "And the archers shot at king Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him into the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; and the singing-men and singing-women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and made them an ordinance in Israel." Though God often reproved his ancient people for paying religious homage to the idols of the heathen; yet we never find that he reproved them for paying funeral honors to departed men of superior merit, among their own nation. Their example in this respect therefore, seems to have a divine sanction; and plainly teaches us the propriety of lamenting the death and commemorating the virtues of those who have been eminently useful in life.

But the propriety of this may be still farther illustrated. Here then permit me to observe,

1. The death of eminent men never fails to diminish the glory of a people. Such illustrious characters are the ornaments of human nature, and of the nation to which they belong. Multitudes, whom God has endowed with noble talents, and favored with peculiar opportunities of doing good, either bury or abuse their intellectual powers, and become a reproach to their country as well as to their race. But those do honor to their nature and to their nation, who display superior abilities by a series of great and noble actions. A few such illustrious characters will render a nation respectable in the eyes of all the world. The Grecians were never very rich, nor very numerous, and yet there never was a more renowned nation on earth, Their eminent men have commanded the respect and admiration of all succeeding ages. Great and good characters are a greater glory to any nation, than all their wealth and numbers. Whenever, therefore, their greatest and best men are removed by death, their glory departs, and they necessarily sink in the view of surrounding nations. This seems to have been the first idea which struck the mind of David, in composing his mournful elegy on the death of Saul and Jonathan. "The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places." As their lives had increased, so their death diminished, the glory of their nation. And any people have reason to lament the loss of their glory when they are bereaved of the fathers and friends of their country.

2. The death of eminent men not only diminishes the glory, but weakens the strength, of a people. Wisdom is better than weapons of war. The strength of a nation lies in the heads and hearts of those who have the care and direction of the national concerns. A people may possess a very rich soil, a very extensive country, and very ample resources of wealth, and yet be extremely weak and defenceless, merely for the want of able men to preside in their councils and to lead in their armies. This was frequently the case in the Jewish nation. In the time of Joshua they were strong, and struck terror into all their enemies; but after his decease, though they increased in numbers, yet they declined in strength, and became an easy prey to every people who had courage enough to invade their country. In the days of David they were again universally respected and revered; but in succeeding ages the want of wise and valiant men exposed them to poverty, meanness, and slavery. The strength of the most powerful nations has often been suspended upon the exertions of a single warrior or statesman. Alexander raised the Grecians to the empire of the

world, and that empire was suspended upon his life; for his death divided and dissolved his extensive dominions. Though it is not very commonly the case that a single person is the sole support of a people, yet the death of one who sways either the sceptre or the sword, never fails to give a great national shock, and to weaken either the civil or the military strength of the kingdom. David was deeply impressed with this painful thought, while deploring the death of those who fell in the defence of their country. "How are the mighty fallen!" He repeats the sad reflection. "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" What avail all our numbers, all our fortresses, and all our national resources, after our mighty men of valor, wisdom, and experience, are laid in the dust! The same sentiment he expressed with greater sensibility on the death of Abner. "I am this day weak, though anointed king." A nation often sustains a greater loss by the death of an able general, than by the defeat of a numerous army. For it is much easier to recruit a numerous army than to replace a renowned general. No men have been more sincerely and universally lamented than those brave and mighty generals who have fallen in the field of battle, and by their death depressed the hearts and weakened the hands of a whole nation. A people therefore can never have a greater cause for public mourning and lamentation than the loss of noble patriots and warriors, who have been the strength and protection as well as ornaments of their country. I may add,

3. The removal of wise, virtuous, and valuable men from a people is not only a distressing but an alarming dispensation of divine providence. It indicates that God is about to bring a train of heavy judgments upon them, for their ingratitude and abuse of public blessings. He often took away from the house of Israel their greatest and best men, as a prelude to a series of national calamities. This appears from his express declaration by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator." This was a heavy calamity in itself, and a presage of impending judgments. For it is added, " And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them, and the people shall be oppressed." We often find a train of evils following the death of great and good men in Israel. After the death of Joshua and of the elders that outlived him, the people fell into licentiousness, anarchy, and confusion, from which they never recovered until