COUNTRYMEN AND BRETHREN: I would gladly have declined an honor, to which
I find myself unequal. I have not the calmness and impartiality which
the infinite importance of this occasion demands. I will not deny the
charge of my enemies, that resentment for the accumulated injuries of
our country, and an ardor for her glory, rising to enthusiasm, may
deprive me of that accuracy of judgment and expression which men of
cooler passions may possess. Let me beseech you then, to hear me with
caution, to examine without prejudice, and to correct the mistakes into
which I may be hurried by my zeal.

Truth loves an appeal to the common sense of mankind. Your unperverted
understandings can best determine on subjects of a practical nature. The
positions and plans which are said to be above the comprehension of the
multitude may be always suspected to be visionary and fruitless. He who
made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious
to all.

Our forefathers threw off the yoke of Popery in religion; for you is
reserved the honor of levelling the Popery of politics. They opened the
Bible to all, and maintained the capacity of every man to judge for
himself in religion. Are we sufficient for the comprehension of the
sublimest spiritual truths, and unequal to material and temporal ones?
Heaven hath trusted us with the management of things for eternity, and
man denies us ability to judge of the present, or to know from our
feelings the experience that will make us happy. "You can discern," say
they, "objects distant and remote, but cannot perceive those within your
grasp. Let us have the distribution of present goods, and cut out and
manage as you please the interests of futurity." This day, I trust, the