Choice Specimens of American Literature, And Literary Reader | Page 9

and nothing else remains to be done.
Therefore, in these things to ascribe a non-performance to the want of
power or ability, is not just; because the thing wanting is not a being
able, but a being willing. There are faculties of mind, and capacity of
nature, and everything else sufficient, but a disposition; nothing is

wanting but a will.
* * * * *
=_Samuel Davies, 1725-1761._= (Manual, p. 480.)
From his "Sermons."
=_4._= LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED THROUGH THE
GOSPEL.
So extensive have been the havoc and devastation which death has
made in the world for near six thousand years, ever since it was first
introduced by the sin of man, that this earth is now become one vast
grave-yard or burying-place for her sons. The many generations that
have followed upon each other, in so quick a succession, from Adam to
this day, are now in the mansions under ground.... Some make a short
journey from the womb to the grave; they rise from nothing at the
creative fiat of the Almighty, and take an immediate flight into the
world of spirits.... Like a bird on the wing, they perch on our globe, rest
a day, a month, or a year, and then fly off for some other regions. It is
evident these were not formed for the purposes of the present state,
where they make so short a stay; and yet we are sure they are not made
in vain by an all-wise Creator; and therefore we conclude they are
young immortals, that immediately ripen in the world of spirits, and
there enter upon scenes for which it was worth their while coming into
existence.... A few creep into their beds of dust under the burden of old
age and the gradual decays of nature. In short, the grave is _the place
appointed for all living_; the general rendezvous of all the sons of
Adam. There the prince and the beggar, the conqueror and the slave,
the giant and the infant, the scheming politician and the simple peasant,
the wise and the fool, Heathens, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, all
lie equally low, and mingle their dust without distinction.... There lie
our ancestors, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, with whom we
once conversed, and who were united to our hearts by strong and
endearing ties; and there lies our friend, the sprightly, vigorous youth,
whose death is the occasion of this funeral solemnity. This earth is
overspread with the ruins of the human frame: it is a huge carnage, a
vast charnel-house, undermined and hollowed with the graves, the last
mansions of mortals.
* * * * *
=_Nathaniel Emmons,[1] 1745-1840._=

From his "Sermons."
=_5._= THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT.
The right of private judgment involves the right of forming our
opinions according to the best light we can obtain. After a man knows
what others have said or written, and after he has thought and searched
the Scriptures, upon any religious subject, he has a right to form his
own judgment exactly according to evidence. He has no right to
exercise prejudice or partiality; but he has a right to exercise
impartiality, in spite of all the world. After all the evidence is collected
from every quarter, then it is the proper business of the understanding
or judgment to compare and balance evidence, and to form a decisive
opinion or belief, according to apparent truth. We have no more right to
judge without evidence than we have to judge contrary to evidence; and
we have no more right to doubt without, or contrary to, evidence, than
we have to believe without, or contrary to, evidence. We have no right
to keep ourselves in a state of doubt or uncertainty, when we have
sufficient evidence to come to a decision. The command is, "Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good." The meaning is, Examine all
things; and after examination, decide what is right.
[Footnote 1: A Congregational clergyman of Massachusetts, original in
theology, and eminently lucid in style.]
* * * * *

HISTORICAL WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.
=_Cadwallader Colden,[2] 1688-1776._=
From "The History of the Five Nations."
=_6._= CONVICTION OF THEIR SUPERIORITY
The Five Nations think themselves by nature superior to the rest of
mankind.... All the nations round them have, for many years, entirely
submitted to them, and pay a yearly tribute to them in _wampum_; they
dare neither make war nor peace without the consent of the Mohawks.
Two old men commonly go, about every year or two, to receive this
tribute; and I have often had opportunity to observe what anxiety the
poor Indians were under while these two old men remained in that part
of the country where I was. An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor