ADDRESS. 



My Friends, 



The occasion, which brings us together, has much 

 in it calculated to awaken our sensibilities, and cast a 

 solemnity over our thoughts. 



We are met to consecrate these grounds exclusively 

 to the service and repose of the dead. 



The duty is not new ; for it has been performed 

 for countless millions. The scenery is not new ; for 

 the hill and the valley, the still, silent dell, and the 

 deep forest, have often been devoted to the same 

 pious purpose. But that, which must always give it 

 a peculiar interest, is, that it can rarely occur except 

 at distant intervals ; and, whenever it does, it must 

 address itself to feelings intelligible to all nations, and 

 common to all hearts. 



The patriarchal language of four thousand years 

 ago is precisely that, to which we would now give 

 utterance. We are " strangers and sojourners" here. 

 We have need of " a possession of a burying-place, 

 that we may bury our dead out of our sight." Let 

 us have " the field, and the cave w^hich is therein ; 



