VIRGINIA HERALD
Friday, August 12, 1808
Extract from an Address, delivered by the Rev. Samuel B. Wilson, on Monday last, at the execution of Samuel Hill, who was condemned for the murder of William Summerson, of Caroline county, Virginia.
“OCCASIONS like that which has called us together to-day, but seldom occur in this country. The mildness of our laws have greatly mitigated the punishment of criminals; and very laudable efforts have been made, to proportion the punishment to the turpitude of the crime, But you are now present to see the rigor of the law, in awful justice, take its course on one of your fellow creatures. By one fatal act of ungovernable passion, he has deprived himself of all earthly happiness, and must now suffer the most dreadful penalty that human laws can inflict. While you are spectators of this solemn scene, let the voice of reason be heard, and salutary counsel make a deep impression on your minds. Punishments like this are intended to deter vicious members of society from the perpetration of crimes, that endanger the lives of their fellow citizens, or the peace of society; and involve themselves in the deepest misery. Let me entreat you then to suppress the hard emotion of irregular passion. Were we to trace bak the different steps of vice from the blackest crime to the first bud of iniquity in the soul, we would often find its origin in malice, envy, or ambition, produced by causes the most trivial and insignificant. Pass not then, the sacred limits of rectitude–verge not on the steep and craggy precipice of iniquity–for the ungovernable passions of the human mind once roused, like an irresistible tempest may sweep you from the bosom of domestic happiness and social comfort, to the darkest dungeon of human misery. Without the salutary restrains of religion, you will ever be exposed to the worst of evils. No human laws can ever produce that virtue, which is necessary for the existence, and well being of society, while religion is treated as a fable. Let it be indelibly impressed on your minds that you are accountable to God your maker for all your conduct, that his omniscient eye is ever on you, and that dungeons of the greatest misery are prepared in another world for the workers of iniquity. This religion which I recommend, exhibits not only motives of terror, but also of love. It makes its possessor happy here and prepares him for complete and everlasting happiness hereafter. It enriches the human breast with the most noble virtues, and blesses society with its most honourable members.
The tide of social happiness rises or falls in proportion to the progress or decline of religion. Where there is no religion, iniquity must prevail, and like a cancer in the human body, must extend its deadly poison to the vitals of every government. May I not call then, on every lover of his country, to manifest his patriotic principles, by personally renouncing iniquity in every shape, and embracing the religion of Jesus. That man, who by his profession, or his practice discountenances religion, must be an enemy to his country; he gives his voice against that also which can quell the turbulent passions of the human mind, and diffuse order and happiness thro’ our world. Let the heaven-born principles of religion this day inspire your minds with piety, and a resolution now be formed, that you will by precept and example, instruct your fellow-men to venerate that religion which alone will secure individual happiness and social order. Then shall war give place to peace, confusion to order, malice to philnthropy, and man shall no more raise the weapons of death to shed a brother’s blood.
To you my unhappy fellow-man, I must address the last words of friendly counsel that can ever reach your ears from me. Cut off from earthly happiness, and beyond the power of human aid, you can have no safe refuge but your God. Although he is a God of holiness and jealous of his honour–although his justice inflicts tortures greater than human tongues can utter, yet he is a god of boundless mercy to the penitent soul. Think, O think! how solemn your situation. A trembling soul, you stand on the verge of that precipice that overhangs eternity. Death will soon hurry you off to that world whence there is no return. Before this God of justice you must render an account of all your transactions, and from his mouth receive a sentence that can never be reversed. If you appear before him with crimes unconfessed, and not repented off, you must expect the fiercest of his wrath. But in Jesus there is hope. His mercy to penitent souls exceeds our highest thoughts. A dying thief on the cross received his pardon and his title to life. Those who trust in him shall never be disappointed. But those who despise him shall die without hope.”
Transcribed by Christine Hill (Pennington) Borrus, a three greats granddaughter of Samuel and Clarissa