To His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, to the Honorable Council and Senate, and to the assembled Representatives of the people, the sentiments of this discourse are addressed, as the descendants of those who showed in the hour of peril, that they feared God rather than men. Following their example, you have come up, as you are about to enter upon your responsible duties, to present, in this venerable house, thanksgivings and supplications to the Lord God of our fathers; and to do homage in the name of the Republic, to His Institutions. This is well. But that Republic expects of you that you will imitate, not merely in form, but also in spirit, the bright examples that are set before you, that you will act from principle, that you will "obey God rather than men." So doing the Commonwealth will be safe, for it is the simple wisdom of goodness, that alone is truly wise. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sermon, Delivered Before His Excellency Edward Everett, Governor &c. on the Anniversary Election, January 2, 1839, by Mark Hopkins