Excerpt from A Sermon Delivered Before His Excellency Edward Everett, Governor, His Honor George Hull, Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Council, and the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the Anniversary Election, January 3, 1838 God is the fountain of all power. Human gov ernments have their origin in his will. 'replen ish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth, is the original commission under which man as sumes the control of the inferior tribes of animated nature; and whether we deduce his right to the exercise of authority over his fellow-men, from the general principle developed in the fifth command of the decalogue, or from some law impressed on his original constitution - it makes no difference - the will of Heaven is, that man shall subsist in a social state, involving relations of mutual obligation and dependence - that some, by their superior wisdom and energy, shall provide for the public security, and vindicate. Individual rights from aggression, while others shall defer to acknowledged law, and sustain the government which yields them protec tion and peace. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.