An address delivered before the Washington City Temperance Society, November 15, 1830 / by Thomas Sewall.

  • Sewall, Thomas, 1786 or 1787-1845.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address delivered before the Washington City Temperance Society, November 15, 1830 / by Thomas Sewall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ADDRESS H§§1 Fellow Citizens, Every period in the history of the world has its peculiar features, is distinguished by some leading circumstances which seem to absorb the spirit of the historian, and mainly to arrest the attention of the enquirer after truth. The progress of the arts and sciences, the discovery of new coun- tries, the planting of colonies, the revolution of states and empires, the convulsions of kingdoms, the seisms and persecutions of the church, the tyranny of potentates over their subjects, as well as war, pestilence and famine, have all, in their turn, formed these great landmarks. In view of these facts, it is natural for the enquiring mind, while ca- reering over the world, and marking the events of the time, to stop and ask, what will constitute in future history, the great features of the period ' in which we live ? Will the political revolutions of the times, the coro- nation and death of emperors and kings, or the contests of ambitious po- liticians, which now create such general commotion in the world, will these form the prominent features ? They will no doubt be gathered up and form a part of the future history of our time; but, there are other circumstances and events which will constitute the more prominent sub- jects of attention; projects more noble and elevated, achievements more beneficent to man, and more extended and durable in their consequences. The translation of the Holy Scriptures into every tongue, and their dis- tribution through the world, the mission of the preached gospel to all na- tions, the efforts to wrest the rising generation from ignorance and vice, the exertions to emancipate the African from slavery and restore him to the land of his fathers, and to send back with him to that benighted re- gion of the earth, the light of science and religion ; to carry light and immortality to the idolatrous millions of Asia, and of the South Sea islands, as well as to bring to a knowledge of the truth the savage tribes