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Under the happy influences of our republican institutions, every in- 

 ducement to industry exists. No church power can exact the tithe of 

 our proceeds, nor extort through the operation of law, the black-mail. 

 Here republicanism dignifies labor, and under the American doctrine 

 of " equal rights," admits not of the incubus of a pampered aristocracy. 

 Here no tyranical oppression of government can be permitted to retard 

 or interfere with the merciful sentence of God upon the first transgres- 

 sion, when Adam was "sent forth from the garden of Eden to till the 

 ground,'' — "/«. the siveat of thy face, shall thou eat bread:'''' and here, 

 as if to a favored peoj^lo, the best adapted portion of the earth for that 

 purpose, in soil and climate, becomes our inheritance, where "out of the 

 ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the 

 sight and good for food :" and here, truly, having every facility, is man 

 induced to take the highest degree of pleasure, and derive the greatest 

 extent of benefit, comfort and happiness, which he can experience on 

 earth, in fulfilling the Divine sentence. 



Man is peculiarly adapted to labor, and is gifted with qualities and 

 capacities which enable him to command the fructuous properties of 

 the soil, and to apply them to the various uses necessary to his existence, 

 comfort and happiness — the wind and the wave form no obstacle to his 

 locomotion — nor does the thunder of the summer cloud hush, aor dis- 

 tance forbid the expression of his thought, or the communication of his 

 ideas. His capacity for labor enables him to cause the subtle lightning 

 to leap at his command, instinct with intelligence, and the restless wa- 

 ters, in their most impetuous fury, safely to transport the burden of bis 

 treasures. Without labor, his volition would be in vain — the earth 

 itself would almost refuse him subsistence — his thoughts and ideas 

 would be confined to his own breast and the ear of his neighbor — his 

 position on earth would be stationary, and neither wind nor wave, nor 

 art nor science could contribute much to his necessities or happiness. 

 Labor is necessary, and so long as man shall regard obedience to God 

 as the golden rule of human existence, it must be also esteemed honor- 

 able, for God himself hath commanded it. Not only so, the experi- 

 ence of every day exemplifies that it is also promotive of health and 

 contentment, the summum bonwn of earthly attainments. 



But, unfortunately, the standard, or representative of labor, established 

 to regulate and equalize an interchange, has been productive of serious 



