The Fathers of New England: An Oration Delivered Before the New England Society of New-York, December 21, 1849, and Published at Their Request

Excerpt from The Fathers of New England: An Oration Delivered Before the New England Society of New-York, December 21, 1849, and Published at Their Request Holding this true scale of honor, which you may the more heartily do, because you have fathers who are entitled to rever ence for their worth as well as their historic position, you have undertaken to remember, and with due Observances to celebrate, each year, this twenty-second day of December, as the day Con ditomm Be it evermore a day, such as may fitly head the calendar of our historic honors; a day that remembers with thoughtful respect and reverence the patience of oppressed virtue, the sacrifices of duty, and the solemn fatherhood of reli gion - a register also of progress, showing every year by what new triumphs and results of good, spreading in wider circles round the globe, that Being whose appropriate work it is to crown the fidelity of faithful men, is Himself justifying your homage, and challenging the homage of mankind. Holding this true scale of honor, which you may the more heartily do, because you have fathers who are entitled to rever ence for their worth as well as their historic position, you have undertaken to remember, and with due Observances to celebrate, each year, this twenty-second day of December, as the day Con ditomm Be it evermore a day, such as may fitly head the calendar of our historic honors; a day that remembers with thoughtful respect and reverence the patience of oppressed virtue, the sacrifices of duty, and the solemn fatherhood of reli gion - a register also of progress, showing every year by what new triumphs and results of good, spreading in wider circles round the globe, that Being whose appropriate work it is to crown the fidelity of faithful men, is Himself justifying your homage, and challenging the homage of mankind.