Our kindred who are chained,

The stricken and the pained,
The lov'd and dear;

For them we rise to-day,

Nor turn the other way,

But give our hands and pray
And wipe the tear.

The starving orphan child,
The widow weeping wild
In hovel low;

Their cry has reached our ear,
We come to quell their fear,
Their aching hearts to cheer,
And soothe their woe!

O Father make us strong

To break the Tyrant's thong,

Through Love, and Thee;

To turn the Despot's will,

Bid sorrow's waves be still,

And conquer every ill

Till all are free.

The following appropriate and impressive address to the throne of grace, succeeded:

PRAYER.

BY REV. BRO. E. YEATES REESE.

MOST MERCIFUL GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER! we uncover ourselves before Thee, in sincere and reverent acknowledgment of Thy universal Sovereignty. THOU art GOD OVER ALL, and blessed forevermore. Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy Glory. We bless and adore Thy excellent name, OH LORD, that although we are worms of the dust, creatures of a moment, and sinners against Thy most Holy Law, yet as the workmanship of Thy Creative power, and the subjects of Thy Preserving and Redeeming grace, we are invited to approach Thee in the attitude of worshippers through the merit of thy Son, the Saviour of the World.Grant unto us, Oh, Lord, on this occasion, a due sense of our exalted privileges; and so replenish us with the dews of Thy heavenly grace that we may be kept free from sin, and walk soberly, righteously and godly in thy fear.

ALMIGHTY GOD, AND FATHER OF ALL MEN, we do thank Thee for the privilege of thus assembling ourselves before Thee, and invoking Thine aid in the great work in which, as an association of brothers, we are engaged. We know that our best concerted schemes shall fail in the accomplishment of any permanent good, unless they be directed by wisdom

higher than our own, and executed by an arm stronger than the arm of flesh. We do therefore most humbly beseech Thee, to let thy blessing rest upon the Institution whose claims we this day celebrate in Thy presence. Hallow THOU its principles with the smile of Thy Love. Preserve them from abuse; from the perversion of wicked and designing men; and cause them, to be greatly instrumental in alleviating the sorrows of humanity; in lifting up the bowed down; in carrying consolation to the abodes of virtuous wretchedness, and in causing the widow's heart to sing for joy. OH LORD, OUR HELP, AND OUR REDEEMER, THOU art the friend that sticketh closer than a brother, THOU art thyself ESSENTIAL LOVE, and what we know of TRUTH is but the twilight of THY smile:-grant then, unto us, we implore thee, the spirit of FRIENDSHIP, of LOVE, and of TRUTH, that in the dissemination of these high and heaven-born principles, we may promote the glory of our common Father and Lord, and the well-being and happiness of our race. In FRIENDSHIP, may we be friends of all men -friends of one another,—and especially friends, lovers, servants of the LIVING GOD! May our hearts, as well as our walls and our banners, be inscribed, with FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY! May we abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good:-and by an upright walk and a chaste conversation, secure thy favor in Time and in Eternity: hush forever the voice of malignant opposition, and go on rejoicing to the performance of the high and responsible duties to which as men, as good citizens and especially as brethren of a common Order we are called. And as children of Thee, the Father of all men, as good and true citizens of these United States, we would send up to Thee, the incense of pure and devout supplication, for thy blessing upon the world; and especially upon our beloved nation. Remember Thou with great favour the President of our happy land, and all who are in authority; incline their hearts to wisdom; teach them to walk in thy ways with holy fear, and cause them ever to remember, that while the greatest blessing which a nation can possess is goodness and wisdom in its rulers, its heaviest calamity must be corruption and wickedness, in high places:-that, righteousness exalteth a nation, and sin is a reproach to any people.

Finally, Oh Lord, we commit ourselves, to thy Fatherly protection.Keep us this day from danger and calamity. Let thy banner over us, be Love! Sanction thou our labour, and establish thou the work of our hands; yea the work of our hands, establish thou it. Grant unto us present peace and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy Will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

At the close of the above the Master of Ceremonies arose, and addressing the immense assemblage, stated that in consequence of the advanced hour of the day, the "Introductory Address" would be omitted. He then introduced the Rev. E. H. Chapin, of Massachusetts, one of the orators of the day, who proceeded to deliver the following oration, marked by great beauty of style, and elevated tone and purpose, and forcible and elegant language.

THE SUPREMACY OF PRINCIPLE.

BY E. H. CHAPIN.*

THERE is nothing durable but PRINCIPLE. Nothing has permanent sway in the enlightened judgments and the unbiased affections of men, but virtue-something which is for God and for humanity. Forms and Institutions change and pass away; but the Truth which they were meant to propagate, lives and acts-for it is eternal. The Institution, the Form, belongs to the body, and, like it, is gross, local, perishable; the Principle pertains to the soul, and is spiritual, unlimited, everlasting.

Men are apt to resist conscience, and are fearfully driven by passion. Too frequently they pluck "the specious evil, and shun the latent good,' marring even the outward form that God has so curiously moulded, and still more deeply the divinity within them, by the violence of sin. Yet the worst man recognizes and reverences goodness, and, in his better moments, or in the long run, always decides for it. All men commend the principle-the right, the good, the true principle. The most abandoned sensualist, shameless and profane, who plays his stake of lust, or avarice, or ambition, on the very table of the Ten Commandments, approves it, even while he laughs at, or violates it. There never was a good deed performed, that the deep heart of humanity would not say "Amen" to it-"It is right!" Displayed even in the fictitious colors of a novel, the thrill that acknowledges triumphant virtue is a genuine emotion-a genuine tribute to abstract goodness. The glow, or the tear, is not all affected, though distilled from the alembic of jaded sentimentality, or kindled in the heart of selfish worldliness. It demonstrates to us, that somewhere in that nature there is an approval of virtue. There never was a good man who did not excite respect in the most degraded witness-in his bitterest foe. All this may be transient, hidden, covered up with smiles and sneers. But, I repeat, Principle alone is permanently regarded-only Virtue is always reverenced and esteemed. Its radiance penetrates the most opaque ignorance; and Satan himself, high as he may hold his thunder-scarred crest, bows in spirit before it.

I know that it takes a long time for men to divest themselves of their prejudices, and that Truth must slowly burn away the mists that beset its early rising. Ages roll on ere justice is done. Time alone supplies the touchstone. The children have to build the tombs of the Prophets that their fathers slew. In the midst of their daily life men are encompassed with deceit. They are prone to admire the mere show of things. They are attracted by dazzling externals. They are fettered by pernicious laws of etiquette. They act as they do not feel. They prize what they cannot approve. They decide as they do not think: because they are pressed by immediate circumstances, and act from the appetite, the policy, or the exigency of the moment. But when the human heart pronounces its judgment, truly and freely-when it speaks con

*An Oration delivered at the Dedication of Odd Fellows' Hall, City of Baltimore, Sept. 18, 1843.

cerning the Past, the Absent, and the Dead-when pride, and ignorance, and fear, are lifted from the reason, and the enlightened conscience utters its oracle; then, men always decide concerning the Principle: not whether the deed was done, or the word spoken, in this or that form; but whether it was essentially the right thing, the good thing, the true thing.

I am well aware that the immediate rewards of Truth and Goodness, have too frequently been the hatred of the wicked and the contempt of the scorners the ignominy of the scaffold, or a bed of faggots, with the hiss of malice rising above the crackling fire. But by and by, when humanity has progressed to a higher vision, and an age is yearning for better things, the neglected bones are canonized. Freedom catches new inducements, and Religion stronger arguments, from the rank grass of the patriot's grave, and the bright blood-spot of the martyr. What a noble name in English history has his become to us, who, but a few generations since, died upon Tower-Hill, stained with the reproach of treason! We may not approve of every individual element in his character. But we cannot forget that calm fortitude, and that resolute self-sacrifice. We cannot forget that he died for liberty-that he was a martyr for principle. The words of his dying prayer echo now in our hearts. "Grant that I may die glorifying Thee for all thy mercies; and that at the last Thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a witness of Thy Truth, and even by the confession of my opposers, for that OLD CAUSE in which I was from my youth engaged, and for which Thou hast so often and wonderfully declared Thyself." These are the words of conscious virtue, and their tones can never die. Even his own age repealed, when he was dead and gone, the blighting attainder. But other ages shall estimate the place of his sacrifice as more regal than a throne. Time and the human heart reverse all false decisions, and determine for the true. The memory of Jeffries shall blacken in scorn; the generations of the free shall cherish the name of ALGERNON SIDNEY close with that good 'Old Cause,' which breathed upon by his dying prayer, and sprinkled with his blood, he commended to the world.

I would most earnestly impress upon you, then, the supremacy of Principle-the momentous fact that any deed, or institution, is valuable, and will secure perpetuity and esteem, only as it is based upon Truth and Goodness. It is only in the childhood of the individual, or the race, that men attach essential value to mere forms, or appearances. To the boy, the king must wear a crown, and be clad in jewelry and ermine-to the unreflecting, he must be consecrated by hereditary descent, and rule by constituted power. But the informed and liberal mind says,-"not sothese are our truly royal men," and points to Howard in the lazar house, and Cincinnatus at his plough. "What is the deed worth to man?" "What good has it accomplished?" are the questions which search the acts of the Past, and investigate the claims of venerable institutions. No matter how much it has dazzled the world—no matter by what means it has been upheld. If it was done wickedly-if it enshrines falsehood; it will one day be stripped of all its brilliant accompaniments, and the voice, and the heart of humanity will condemn it. When the age of Reformation comes, and the torch of reason is brandished about, illuminating dark crannies, and consuming dry abominations with its quick fire-wo then

to all falsehoods with which it comes in contact-wo to all shams-wo to all fabrics, whether of individual glory or public concern, that have been founded on the ignorance of men, or cemented with their blood and their tears! But Virtue abides the scrutiny. She appears more beautiful in the investigation; and from the smouldering ashes and the dust of old systems, she rises with a celestial birth-song, and, in a new phasis, vindicates her immortality.

If we consider the standard literature, the old and cherished books of a people, we shall find in them, some philanthropic element, some spirit of Goodness and Truth, which constitutes their conservative and popular efficacy. It is not merely a defect of style, or lack of wit, that consigns the productions of intellect to oblivion. What has become of scores of the poets of Elizabeth's reign, who charmed their contemporaries with their pleasant fancies, and wove their "Garlands of dainty devices?" They are only known to the curious antiquary. But he who drew from the deep springs of thought, and held intimate communion with nature-who made the great soul of man his instrument, and touched each chord of joy and tears with mighty mastery-who gave a tongue to every passion and a voice to deep emotion-who painted each well-known lineament of feeling, and made affection eloquent, and consecrated sorrow, and summoned all the beautiful of reality and of fancy to adorn the motly procession of human life-he-Shakespeare, is known, and read, and repeated, wherever civilization, and art, and genius, have their sway. And why? Because he sympathized with man. He spoke from the heart to the heart. He elevated virtue, and stripped the regalia from vice, and pleaded for the good and the true in maxims which are household words, and uttered on children's lips. The books of one age may be rejected in the next, because they are superficial, or full of vapid sentimentalism. But they are superficial, or vapidly sentimental, because they convey no principle, and utter no strong, true feeling. Neither shall licentiousness survive, nor profanity, nor the cold abstractions that have no bearing upon human welfare. They may live for their day, they may be cherished by a partial few; but genius, with all its power, cannot preserve them from popular oblivion. But the old songs and ballads of a people, that breathe something of a noble freedom, a simple worth and manly honesty, that the shepherds have chanted among the hills, and the workman at his task, and old crones have sung over cradle-beds, these shall be cherished, like familiar hearth-fires, amid the lights and shadows of men's homes. A grand objection has been justly made to the poetry of Byron. It is not the licentiousness that defiles his verse, nor even the blasphemy that makes us shudder. But it is his scepticism as to the reality of all Truth and Goodness. When he has arrayed Virtue in all the glory of his transcendent imagination, and delineated the beautiful affections of the human heart with all his master-power; he turns him around and laughs at all as false and hollow-as hypocritical forms and painted harlotry. And this is his poison, and his rebuke. Do not understand me as joining in the fashionable outcry against Lord Byron. In many respects in which he is condemned, probably he is not worse than others whose works are highly prized. There is in his verse a full vindication of his claims to the fame of a poet. But those claims rest upon passages that have the nerve of principle, that kindle with the fires of a lofty and gen