NEXT to the belief of the being of a God, the first cause, the one Supreme; it is of the last importance to such creatures as we are, to be firmly persuaded of his providence; concerned in the administration and adjustment of all the affairs of the universe; that all events are under its controul and direction, and that all mankind are the subjects of it.

TO secure and maintain amongst mankind a prac­tical acknowledgment of the divine superintendency, has been the care of heaven, in diverse ways and manners, by natural light, by revelation, and exam­ples the most striking and illustrious.

A DISPENSATION no less benevolent than wise.

TO make a rank of beings capable of receiving laws, and subjects of moral government, argues infi­nite wisdom.

[Page 6] IN case of defection from primitive rectitude, through voluntary transgression, which is the condi­tion of man; to be put into a state of probation with capacities of knowing the relation wherein they stand to the Supreme Being, and performing their various relative obligations to him, and other beings they are connected with, and with all necessary means to this purpose, is most favourable and graci­ous.

THERE is nothing more certain than that the pre­sent is a state of imperfection and vanity, in which we are exposed to distress and misery from different quarters. In this state of fluctuation, while tossed upon the tempestuous ocean of this world, to be able to revert to first principles, and to find an asylum in the first cause, where, with unshaken confidence, we may anchor all our hopes of safety, and, in every tribulation, be relieved under all our anxious fears, must afford the higest satisfaction to the human mind.

OUR Saviour, who came from, and is returned to the Father, hath assured us, that this providence is concerned in the smallest and most inconsiderable things amongst men; that the hairs of our heads are all numbered; and that a sparrow falleth not to the ground without the knowledge of our heavenly Father.

IF the smallest things are the subjects of his over­sight and care, we may, without vanity, argue that those which are of greater and more momentous con­cern, are most certainly under his cognizance; that those events which are of greater consequence to the [Page 7] world, are under his more immediate government, and that they do not take place without his direction, or permission; that they are designed to accomplish some great and excellent purposes in the kingdom of providence, though to us many of them may be unknown; God's judgments being unsearchable, and his ways past finding out from the beginning to the end.

THOROUGHLY impressed with this sentiment, we should be led to yield an absolute and entire resig­nation to the divine government, referring all con­cernments and their issue to the direction and dispo­sal of infinite wisdom.

WHERE there is a due internal reverence for providence, and a fit and regular deportment, agree­able to various and different administration, there is nothing to fear from the divine government; but every thing to hope for and expect, which is fit for God to grant, and man to receive.

"THE judge of all the earth will do right."

WE cannot but approve the divine administration as just and equal; nay, what is wanting to give us the highest complacency and delight in the divine superintendency?—when we consider him (as we ought) possessed of infinite goodness, prompting to acts of mercy and kindness;—of infinite wisdom to foresee all possible events and contingencies, and of infinite power to execute all his purposes of grace and favour.

"THE Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, the world and they that dwell therein."

[Page 8] IT is true that the children and servants of the most High, are not to expect an exemption from troubles in this world; but then they have this as­surance, that if they comport themselves to the cir­cumstances and allotments of providence, they shall be delivered, or receive adequate direction and sup­port.

THE faith and virtue of Abraham, were brought to great trial. He had the promise of a certain tract of land, from the Lord, proprietor of the uni­verse, to be given him and his descendants for an inheritance: he believed the promise, that there would be a fulfilment, and was fully persuaded that he was called, commanded by that authority which is indisputable, and ought immediately to be com­plied with, to quit his native country, that he might be prepared in due time, to take possession of the promised land. From this principle, this persuasion, he resolved to yield a compliance with the command.

BY faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an in­heritance, obeyed. This he did, when he knew not where the inheritance was, not when he should re­ceive it. "He went out not knowing whither he went."

THE veracity of God is a sufficient security for the performance of all his promises.

THE foundation of moral obligation, is the will and pleasure of the Supreme, which can never be otherwise than agreeable to the eternal fitness of things. The divine pleasure may be signified and [Page 9] made known, in a variety of ways;—by immediate revelation, by visions, voices, or dreams; by the in­strumentality of Angels, or men, or by his written word. In which several ways, God has communi­cated his pleasure to the children of men.

IT is not material to our present enquiry, how, or in what manner the mind of God was announced to Abraham: It is enough that it was sufficiently signified to him; that this was clear to him, beyond all reasonable doubt.

FAITH is the prime principle of action, adapted to the state of man in this world of imperfection. Evidently so in Abraham's case, which may be some­what peculiar, so far as it relates to an express pro­mise of receiving an inheritance. He believed in the promise, that it was true, and would be made good. He believed in the authority of God, that he had an undoubted right to rule over him, and that an unreserved obedience and subjection were due. From this principle of faith, when called of God to go forth, he instantly obeys.

THE circumstances attending Abraham, in this peculiar situation, render his faith and obedience very notable, for which he has been entituled to the highest encomium, and is exalted to a high stati­on, amongst the most illustrious worthies.

IT was a hard, though just command—"get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." He quits all his possessions, foregoes every convenience, in his native land; bids adieu to dearest relatives, when, or whither ever to [Page 10] return again, he knew not; all was uncertainty; he departs, not knowing whither he went: How long he must wander as a pilgrim from city to city, from one kingdom and country to another; what hard­ships and difficulties he must undergo, to what dan­gers he must be exposed, he was altogether in the dark, ignorant, and unapprized.

UNBELIEVERS in revelation, might be ready to sneer at this account of the matter, and burlesque the very supposition that God should give a com­mand to the Patriarch, exacting obedience, under such circumstances, laughing at Abraham as a hot­headed enthusiast, or a crack-brained fellow, run­ning from place to place, in his frenzy, under a no­tion of finding a country which he should enter and possess, and which of right, should descend, as an inheritance, to his posterity.

THOSE that believe in a God, a providence, that this is a state of uncertainty, and that we are ac­countable, would, upon serious reflection, find oc­casion to suppress, at least, some part of their ridi­cule.

BOTH the foundation of faith and obedience, and the principle on which mankind are to act, are equal­ly the constitution of heaven.

ABRAHAM, acting agreeable to these, acquitted himself in the best manner, with honour and dignity, with the approbation of his Maker. And while he wandered about, as a pilgrim, altogether uncertain of the time of the fulfilment of the promise, there was a part for him to act, agreeable to his character, [Page 11] as a man of sense and reason, a servant of the most High, and the father of the church of Israel. He was not discharged from the duties of moral obliga­tion, in this state of doubt and uncertainty; but to comport himself agreeable to the knowledge of his Maker's will, and agreeable to the obligations re­sulting from the various diversity of his condition.

GOD, in his ineffable favour and grace, hath de­signed us for another, and better state, and we are here in a course of trial to be trained up for it; and to us there is no imaginable way, in which this end could be so well answered, as by a state of un­certainty, with regard to the events of providence, consistent with the liberty of action, with which we are endowed; the due exertion of which, is necessary to denominate our conduct virtuous; the neglect and abuse of it, vicious.

WE know this, by the word of God, which is confirmed by observation, that mankind are mortal, and we are to act with a wise reference to this, in the whole of our conduct, being exhorted hereunto; but infinite wisdom hath seen fit to conceal, entirely from our view, the time, manner, and circumstances of our departure. We know this, in general, that piety and virtue, shall in no wise miss of a reward; persevered in to the end, they will conduct us to the heavenly Canaan, our last, and best settlement, an inheritance unfading, and eternal. But, as to all intermediate events, we must be content to refer them to the disposal of infinite and unerring wis­dom. It is by religion, a due cultivation of our hearts, and improvement of certain graces, that we are to be trained up for the heavenly world.

[Page 12] GOD knows what trials are necessary, or best calculated to advance our highest interest, and to bring us to compleat happiness; from these the best are not exempted Abraham the friend of God, had great trials; for his own pri­vate and personal benefit, and with this more exten­sively benevolent view—the good of his nation—the good of mankind:—That those who came after, might have a pattern of faith, obedience and resigna­tion, and from the consideration of divine guidance and support afforded to others in pressing difficulties, be animated to endure hardness, with like firmness and fortitude.

OUR imitation is expected, under all similar cir­cumstances. God hath been pleased to estimate the virtue of men, in proportion to the difficulties at­tending the performance of their obligations.

WHILE we are ultimately to consult his glory, he hath furnished us with high, general motives of in­terest, to induce our obedience, and in some cases, as in Abraham's, particular and special ones. He had the promise of a certain country for an inheritance. He was willing to quit many of the delights of life, and throw himself, with dependance on providence, up­on the wide world, where he would be exposed to unknown dangers and difficulties: He prized the promised blessing, and was willing to do and suffer any thing, at the call and under the guidance of pro­vidence, to obtain it.

FROM this view of the subject in general, it ap­pears, that it is of the greatest concernment, that we ever entertain the most exalted conceptions of an [Page 13] over-ruling providence; that we ever live and act un­der this full persuasion, that we are entirely depend­ent upon it;—that we express our sense of it by prayer for the blessings we need, praise for mercies received—all flowing from the fountain of divine Benignity:—That we should be penitent, as it is in­iquity which originally made it necessary that we should be visited with stripes, or exercised with tri­als—that we should be humble, under the rebukes of providence—any tokens of divine displeasure:—That we should be patient in adversity, waiting, with resignation to the will of heaven, the time of our deliverance, or the bestowment of expected favours; —and that we persevere, in the direct line of our duty▪ in the due use of means, through tribulation and distress, surmounting every impediment. The different aspects of providence, require different de­portment.

THE grand enquiry in any particular case is, what is my duty? Abraham was commanded by God to go forth: The command involved an immediate ob­ligation; he did not hesitate. We may know with sufficient certainty, though not in the same manner with Abraham, that we should receive an inheritance, because it may be proved beyond all manner of doubt, that of right, it belongs to us; or it may be, we may have the greatest assurance, that it is the will and pleasure of heaven, we should secure and de­fend an inheritance, the immediate grant of the Su­preme Disposer, or rightfully descended to us.

IN either case, it would become immediate duty, [Page 14] to set ourselves to devise and adopt the most suitable method and means to obtain or secure, what of right belongs to us.

ALL possessions, rights and priviledges, being the immediate grant of heaven, or honestly acquired, or rightfully descendeded, as an inheritance, are to be guarded with care against all encroachments.

THESE are to be estimated, according to their im­portance to the well-being of individuals, or the emolument of societies.

SOME will admit of a surrender, at least, in part; others, again, may be ceded on no pretence whatever.

WHAT are called natural rights, are in part sur­rendered, whenever mankind voluntarily enter into society and form into bodies-politick;—which sur­render, ought ever to be with this express, or at least, tacit view and design—the promoting the greater security and advantage of every individual, and the more extensive happiness of the collective body—the sole true end of all government.

THE rights of conscience are unalienable: They are sacred, the common birth-right of every man; they are not to be surrendered to any man, or body of men; they ought not to be denied to any, nor invaded by any.

THE right of private judgment, in matters purely religious, and of worshiping God according to their apprehensions of scripture purity and model, was de­nied to our worthy and venerable ancestors, the first planters in this colony, in their native land.

HOW sacred and unalterable a regard they paid to [Page 15] these, and at what an inestimable price they held them, the history of their sufferings, for their defence and security, is full and ample testimony.

THEY appeared to be under the most lively and impressive sense of an over-ruling providence—that his aids were necessary to extricate them out of their embarrassments,—to give success to their continued attempts, for the security of their religious liberties,—and to make them happily instrumental of handing down this richest inheritance, to posterity, inviolate: For which, they laboured with unabating zeal, and indefatigable ardor.

IT was their great unhappiness to live in an age of great ignorance, and almost universal bigotry: In an age, when the rulers were disposed to arbitrary mea­sures in the state;—when the reigning Prince was grasping at absolute power—an undeniable specimen of which, he gave in the face of the world, by or­dering a capital infliction on one of his subjects, with­out law, without trial, without judge or jury; of whom, the greatest patriot in Britain, and the most successful advocate for the Colonies, in former years of distress, publicly declared, that "he was the meanest Prince that ever sat upon the British throne!" They lived at a time, when the King of England was more tender of the Roman Catholicks, than of them, and preferred a sect (of whom it was notorious, that some of their number had been conspirators in the powder plot) to them, branded by the name of puritans, by way of hatred and contempt, at a time when the English bishops were lordly and tyrannical.

[Page 16] THEY were persecuted in various ways and forms!

THIS is the account given of the rise of the Fathers of this country: "That several religious people near the joining borders of Nottinghamshire, Lin­colnshire and Yorkshire, finding that their pious mi­nisters urged with subscription, or silenced, and the people greatly vexed with the commissary courts, apparitors and pursevants, which they bore sundry years with much patience, till they were occasioned by the continuance an increase of these troubles, and other means, to see further into these things by the light of the word of God; how that not only the ceremonies were unlawful; but also, the lord­ly, and tyrannous power of the Prelates, who would, contrary to the freedom of the gospel, load the con­sciences of men, and by their compulsive power, make a profane mixture of things and persons in di­vine worship.

"That their offices, courts and canons were un­lawful, being such as have no warrant in the word of God, but the same that were used in popery, and still retained! upon which, this people shake off this yoke of antichristian bondage; and, a the Lord's free people, join themselves by covenant, into a church state, to walk in all his ways, made known or to be made known to them, according to their best endeavours, whatever it cost them!"

IN this incorporated state, with Mr. Robinson at their head, whom they had chosen their pastor, they continued many years under great difficulties, till at length the persecution increasing, and prevailing to [Page 17] so great a height, that all hope and expectation were cut off, of their being able to defend and secure their priviledges, or that they might enjoy them, unmo­lested!—For "they were extremely harrassed, some cast into prison, some beset in their houses, some forced to leave their farms and families."

SEEING the wisdom and necessity of attending to the precept, when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: They fly to Holland as many as could then escape, and others, as opportunity offered, followed after, through very great difficulty from their pursuers; and there expose themselves to all the difficulties that of course attend the settle­ment of a people in a foreign land; foreseeing that they might by some means or other be involved in public difficulties, which had arisen in the place of their residence. After having tarried at Amsterdam a year, they remove to Leyden, to the great detri­ment of their secular affairs. After having been at Leyden seven or eight years, they think of a remove to North-America: And in this as in the whole of their enterprize, they appear to be actuated from the best motives, to avoid the ill example of the Dutch, which they feared would be infectious, and cause re­ligion to degenerate amongthem; and with this more extensive view of positive good, of laying some foundation for propagating the kingdom of Christ to the remote ends of the earth!

IT is agreed that application should be made to the Virginia company in England for a patent that they might carry their pious purpose into execution; and every proper mean is made use of, to induce the [Page 18] King to grant them liberty of conscience in America.

TO convince the Virginia company that they were in earnest, and suitably prepared to engage in such an adventurous enterprize, several special reasons are suggested;—"That we are well weaned from the de­licate milk of our mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land—knit together in a most strict and sacred bond; and it is not with us as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish ourselves at home again."

THE attempt was fruitless as it respected the ap­plication to the King. He utterly refused the grant; the most that could be obtained, was, that he would connive at them. Upon the return and report of the agents, great were the discouragements of the people who sent them: Surmounting these, they ap­ply again to the Virginia company, and, after long and tedious delays succeed, though without the grant of liberty of conscience.

AFTER having prepared for their voyage, as all could not go, their parting was most sad and sorrow­ful in Holland; being to sail from England, similar was their grief at parting with their friends there, to go to an unknown land. Having embarked on board two vessels, they put to sea, but fail not far before one of the ships proving leaky, and being in the ut­most danger of foundering, find themselves under a necessity to put about, and return to the land. After having repaired sufficiently, as was supposed, putting to sea again—as before, under a necessity to put about, and return to the main, one vessel being ad­judged [Page 19] unfit for the voyage;—the other concludes to proceed—sad and melancholy was the parting of friends, endeared to each other by every tie—by the strongest—a sympathetic concern for each other, suffering in a common cause.

GREAT must have been the distress of our fathers, when, in the midst of the ocean, all hope of arriving at land appeared to be cut off;—providentially re­lieved, they pursue their voyage.

ARRIVING at these shores, by them unheard of, and to them entirely unknown—how great their dis­appointment! how bewildered their condition!—View them failing to the southward for Hudson's river▪ the place of destination, within twenty-four hours, falling among shoals and breakers, in iminent danger if they went forward! coming to a con­clusion to return to these shores.

How dismal the situation to coast along these in­hospitable shores—and roam these savage wilds, for five or six weeks, uncertain and undetermined, where to settle, through storms and tempests, cold and rain, snow and hail, in terror from barbarians, whose num­ber to them was utterly unknown, and by whom they had reason to fear that they might be totally cut off!

AFTER having fixed upon a spot and determined where to settle—favoured with no shelter, but the canopy of the heavens▪ to screen them from the in­clemency of the season—the rigour of winter—only in possession of a scanty and insufficient pittance of the real necessaries of life, pining with hunger, and pinched with cold! some few of them, fraught with [Page 20] dark designs against, and apparently inimical to the colony in its infancy! no civilized settlement near enough to afford the least relief.

THUS "through a great variety of obstacles and hardships, this small and pious people, are at length arrived and seated on this strange and distant shore; but yet a shore, they are conducted to by an over-rul­ing providence, beside their own design, though not without the secret plots of others. Wherever they turn their eyes, nothing but distress surrounds them. Harrassed for their scripture-worship in their native land, grieved for the profanation of the holy sabbath, and other licentiousness in Holland, fatigued with their boisterous voyage, disappointed of their expect­ed country, forced on this northern shore, both ut­terly unknown, and in the advance of winter; none but prejudiced barbarians round about them, and without any prospect of human succour: without the help or favour of the court of England, without a patent, without a publick promise of their religious liberties, worn out with toil and sufferings, without convenient shelter from the rigorous weather; and their hardships bringing a general sickness on them, which reduces them to great extremities, bereaves them of their dearest friends, and leaves many of their children orphans. Within five months time, above half their company are carried off, whom they account as dying in this noble cause, whose memories they consecrate to the dear esteem of their successors, and bear all with a christian fortitude and patience, as extraordinary as their trials."

THE review of the magnanimous ancestors of this [Page 21] land from their persecuted state in Britain, and the series of disasterous events, and scenes of woe allott­ed to them, to the time of their arrival and settle­ment in this, then savage and barbarous world, and in the infancy of the colony, is more than sufficient to excite our wonder and astonishment!

WHAT could have supported them under all their perplexities and fears, disappointments, depressions and persecutions in their native land, inexpressible sufferings, and amazing hardships in a foreign coun­try, and in this then rude and uncultivated wilder­ness—through perils by land, perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren,—but a thorough con­sciousness of the best cause, actuated from the most noble views, motives and designs, and the concurring efficacious operations of an Almighty providence?

THE cause of liberty is the cause of God—it is the richest inheritance, the grant of heaven, never to be alienated, to be defended at every hazard. For the defence, security and enjoyment of this, the most respectable progenitors of this colony, viewed them­selves as under obligation to flee from their oppres­sors, persecutors and tyrants: By faith they obeyed: Went forth as Abraham, not knowing whither they went.

COMMITTING themselves to the care and guid­ance of providence, they determined with submission to go to Holland. Abraham after his call might de­termine to go to some particular place, and to con­duct himself as to him might appear to be fittest and best, not knowing where the inheritance was, or when he should arrive at it.—And as the fathers [Page 22] viewed themselves as absolutely under the direction of providence, they held themselves obligated to at­tend to its calls.

WHERE they should finally be settled in the peaceable enjoyment of their rights, they knew not, but appeared to have a full persuasion that the time would come.—It did; but they were finally settled in a land unsought for, and undesigned by them. The providence of God brings good out of evil.—By the permission of heaven our noble ancestors were persecuted at home. To this is owing under the guidance of providence, if not the settlement, yet till of late date the very flourishing state of these colonies.

ON this anniversary, we revere the providence that conducted our ancestors through so many trials and sufferings, to these inhospitable shores, fraught with the richest blessings to posterity, then unborn,—and, we trust, to be born. A tribute of the highest gratitude is due, and a grateful memory thereof ought never to be obliterated.

WE admire their faith, patience, resignation, piety, fortitude, bravery, magnanimity and perseverance; yea, almost every excellent quality, of which the human mind is capable, or ornamental to the life, as men and christians.

THE best testimony which we can give of our gratitude to providence, and that we have a due respect for their memories, is to imitate their virtues, to build and improve upon the foundation which they have laid. Their sufferings should teach us highly to prize the rich inheritance which they have [Page 23] conveyed to us: To guard it with the utmost zeal, care, circumspection and vigilance: To cultivate the same spirit, and in all things to demean ourselves worthy of our illustrious descent.

HOWEVER, the most liberal and disinterested spi­rits, the greatest patriots, are obliged for the pre­sent, to contract their views, to turn their whole at­tention to the defence and safety of the state, to guard and defend the inheritance which has been handed down to us, and of which we may justly con­clude, we are liable to be deprived, without every effort on our part, and the kind aids of an interposing providence.

PROVIDENCE usually works by means, (and fur­ther than this we have no reason to expect) and to neglect any exertions of which we are capable, is to render ourselves unworthy of the priviledges which have descended to us from our noble and most re­nowned ancestry, and to provoke heaven to permit a dispossession, even by the hands of the oppressors of the earth.

THIS people have long since entered upon their labours, and largely partaken of the happy fruits of their toils and and sufferings.

FORCED into an unnatural civil war, we are fol­lowers of them in tribulation▪ in defence of the liber­ties, the mighty blessing, descended from them to us as a natural inheritance. Duty to God, decent respect to the memories of our first benefactors, in­terest, the present common weal, indispensable ob­ligation to society, with united voice, call upon us to [Page 24] stand forth in this day of uncommon trial;—at a time when life, liberty and property are struck at—when there appears an unalterable determination to wrest from us every priviledge, and to strip us of every liberty.

IT is not to be concealed or denied, that our pro­genitors were persecuted mainly on account of their religious sentiments and practice: That for the security of these religious rights, &c and that they might transmit them inviolate, they fled from their native country That our present oppressors have a design upon our religious liberties, is to be justly apprehended from their establishment of the Roman-Catholick religion upon this Continent. This is undoubtedly to be viewed as a specimen of the spirit of British administration, as to religious matters.

THE history of the world shews that the only ba­sis, on which religious liberty can flourish, is that of a free civil government: Of which, those free-born spirits could not be ignorant, but must have the high­est sense of their importance to the well-being of the community, and that without the free enjoyment of civil privileges, those of a religious nature might not expect to flourish, but to be checked, borne down, and crushed;—which, perhaps, hath taken place, without exception, where tyranny and despotism have gained an ascendency in the state.—

WITH civil we may bid adieu to religious liberty.

THE colonists, in their late, and present struggle for their liberties, have had occasion to revert to the first principles of the English constitution; and in op­position [Page 25] to the assumed right of Great-Britain, of forc­ing a tax upon them, have declared it to be an essen­tial right of Englishmen, to be taxed only by them­selves, or their representatives freely chosen; that they were out of the realm of England, unrepresent­ed, and therefore ought not to be taxed: They have been abused, and traduced as broaching a new doctrine, and assuming a priviledge, the right of exemption unthought of, till within a few years.—These ca­lumniators of mankind, instruments and tools of oppression could not, were they capable, withhold a blush, when they do, or might know that our fore­fathers in the infancy of Plymouth colony, disclaim­ed all authority of parliament over them that in their corporate capacity, being legally assembled, did or­dain, constitute and enact, that no act, imposition, law or ordinance should be made, or imposed upon them, then, or in time to come, but such as should be made or imposed by consent of the associates or their repre­sentatives legally assembled; which stands as a funda­mental at the head of a number of their law books, new extant, in this town. ^*

[Page 26] LIFE, liberty and property are an inheritance se­cured by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and royal charters or compacts; neither of which ever were by our an­cestors, or their descendants ceded to any power on earth to be disposed of without their con­sent. And who, that had the least feeling for himself, his country or posterity, could stand unmov­ed, when he beheld direct attempts made to render them, one and all, totally insecure and precarious.

IT may not be improper here to take a short view of some of the tyrannick steps and measures devised and adopted by the British ministry, and their coad­jutors, which led to the unnatural civil war in which we are unhappily, but necessarily engaged—together with a short glance at the conduct of the Colonists, in their various and complicated embarrassments.

FOR years past, who could behold, but with in­dignation, the various manoeuvres of our enemies both on this and the other side of the atlantick, to deprive the inhabitants of their unalienable rights and immu­nities, and to subjugate them to slavery.

BY ministerial influence and corruption, in concert with their aiders and abettors, natives, but parricides of this country, acts of parliament have been procured, which sufficiently indicated that the various regula­tions [Page 27] of administration had their origin from a pre­concerted plan and system of tyranny and oppression. Fundamental to this system, was the declaratory act, that the parliament of Britain had a right to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever.

IN consequence of this, acts of parliament were made, under various specious pretences, for raising a revenue in the Colonies without their consent.

JURISDICTIONS of certain courts extended be­yond their antient limits.

SUBJECTS deprived, in many instances, of their inestimable priviledge of trial by a jury of their peers.

A COURT erected, to the intent that Colonists should be transported to England for trial.

THE Governor of Massachusetts-Bay, and the judges of the superior court, rendered totally inde­pendent upon the people for their support, and en­tirely dependent upon the crown, both for their com­missions (which they hold during pleasure) and for their salaries:—Which had a direct tendency to an undue influence, and to introduce corruption into the sacred seat of justice, and to make them subservient to the schemes of wicked and designing ministers, and to become the devoted tools of despotism.

HUMBLE, importunate and loyal supplications to the King have been ingulphed in the dark abyss of ministerial corruption, or hurled from the throne with the greatest contempt.

ASSEMBLIES frequently, wantonly and arbitrarily dissolved; and never upon a less virtuous occasion, [Page 28] than when they have proposed to enter into a peace­able consideration of their grievances—delegating member from among themselves, to join with others deputed for the like purpose, that ways and means might be devised for a radical redress; or for refusing to rescind a rightful, laudable and patriotic resoluti­on for this purpose.

EXPENSIVE and oppressive offices have been multiplied, and the vile arts of corruption have, with unabating zeal, been practised to divide, that they might destroy the people.

TO awe the inhabitants to a surrender of their rights, the castle voluntarily surrendered into the hands of our enemy, by a man whose name and me­mory will be loaded with execrations to latest time. For years the harbour of Boston filled with ships of war, and the streets thronged with military executi­oners.

THE port of Boston shut up, whereby the inha­bitants were reduced to this shocking alternative, either to submit to slavery, or to cast themselves upon providence for supply, in a threatened famine;—which they must have felt, had it not been for the generous donations of their sympathizing brethren through the Continent, who viewed them as patrons of liberty—peculiar sufferers in defence of our com­mon rights.

ADD to these, the charter of the province, that sacred barrier against the encroachments of tyranny, wrecked, mutilated, and as it were annihilated; the foundations of government entirely out of course, the governor being made as arbitrary and despotic as the grand Turk.

[Page 29] MOREOVER, a murderous law made to snatch those bloody villains from the award of justice, who should embrue their hands in the blood of those noble sons of freedom, who might have spirit and courage suffi­cient to assert and defend their rights.

PUBLIC magazines purchased at the expence of the community, for their defence and safety, and private property in many instances seized and detain­ed, and kept in the hands of military plunderers, that the good people of the land might be in a defence­less condition, and the more easily dragooned to the most abject slavery.

INDIVIDUALS frequently assaulted, most shame­fully abused and insulted by the rude and brutal sol­diery, while in the peace of God and the king, pur­suing their lawful callings!

THEN was trumpeted abroad, by ministerial pros­titutes and braying Issachars the omnipotence of par­liament, accompanied with the most tremendous me­naces, that all indiscriminately, without a tame sub­mission, should feel its dreadful vengeance.

THEN was the matchless and irresistible force of Britain, both by sea and land, painted in the most horror-giving colours. And, as matters drew towards a crisis, we were told of a royal standard and pro­clamation, specifying a certain time to repair there and swear allegiance, that we might save our necks; but if not, all that stood out would be considered as rebels, and must die their death.

THIS wrought powerfully on timid spirits, while others treated it as a bug-bear, and conducted if pos­sible, with more life and spirit.

[Page 30] GREAT indeed has been the embarrassment of our public affairs, and great our distress and per­plexity; and innumerable the provocations to drive the locusts from the land: But such was the loyal­ty of this people, and such their affection to the parent state, and so remote the idea of independency and a seperation, that every patriotic heart appeared to be willing to suffer any thing, consistent with the safety of our country, and the final preservation of our liberties, in hopes that something in providence would turn up, to convince the whole nation of the infatuation of the British councils, whereby there might be a radical redress of our grievances, reconci­liation take place, peace and harmony be restored

AND if the public energies did not keep pace with and were not adequate to the virulent measures of our oppressors, their undue moderation may, in a sort, be excused upon the footing of the above con­siderations.

THIS temper and conduct probably gave life and spirit to the enemy; who, instead of granting our humble petitions, or regarding our just remonstrances, and proceedings the most pacific, increased our wrongs and multiplied our oppressions.

ALARMED at the strides of despotism and arbitra­ry power, the people became determined to make every lawful and laudable opposition to ward off ty­ranny and slavery.

MANY expedients were devised: It was justly con­sidered as matter of the highest importance that we should act in concert, and that to this purpose there should be a union of the Colonies, if possible. How [Page 31] to bring it about was the concern of many: The implacable and almost unpardonable enemies of American rights, fearing lest the consequences of such a union might prove fatal to their measures, to prevent so necessary and desirable a junction, pro­cured the dissolution of diverse assemblies of the re­presentative bodies, through the Continent.

THE people knew that they had a right to petition and be heard, but had been refused—they knew they had a right by nature and the English constitu­tion, peaceably to assemble together personally, or by their representatives, to consider their grievances and devise methods for their redress:—Being deni­ed this, according to usual mode by the iron hand of power, laying aside forms, the people availed them­selves of their right, met together in their respective towns, chose their representatives; collecting them­selves into a body, are the representatives of the peo­ple, whither known by the name of a house of re­presentatives, convention or congress. And the de­legates chosen by those bodies to represent them in general council or congress, are properly the repre­sentatives of the people, and whatever council, ad­vice or measures are recommended, after mature de­liberation, ought as strictly to be adhered to by the Colonies, as if they came directed in channels more usual and customary.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the evil machinations of our enemies to prevent a union of the Colonies, a glorious one has been formed; for which I know not that it is possible to be sufficiently thankful to providence. May God preserve, strengthen and perfect it.

[Page 32] A UNION formed upon the best principles; the love of liberty, the love of our country, the love of posterity! Associations entered into for our mutual defence and safety, and to promote the common weal.

UPON the footing of this union, many expedients have been devised; most of which have been recom­mended, or highly approved by the Honorable Con­tinental Congress, and which have been found eminently beneficial in our day of general calamity: as county conventions, who recommended a suspension of courts of justice, lest they should by some means or other, be instrumental of bringing on that tyran­ny and slavery which every patriot detests, and against which it is the duty of every individual to guard:—a measure highly approved by the American Con­gress.

IN like manner, committees of correspondence, inspection and safety have been bodies of men great­ly serviceable to the state, in their respective depart­ments.

THE rising of the people to carry into execution measures dictated by the united wisdom of bodies de­legated for that purpose, was a token for good.

THEIR collecting in large bodies, and repairing to those persons who had taken out commissions up­on the ruins of our once happy constitution, to de­mand of them a surrender of those offices, and to make an explicit declaration that they would not act by virtue thereof, and in no other way do any thing whatever, prejudicial to the community, had at least a temporary check upon tyranny, and was preventive [Page 33] of very great mischief, which those men might have been capable of doing by their corrupt doctrine, in­fluence and example, had they been unnoticed as obnoxious and odious.

IN the mean while the Congress of this colony extended their views to the last event, and, agreeable to the advice of the C [...]ent, were preparing for defence.

THE enemy in the capital being reinforced from time to time, at length armed themselves, and march­ed forth under the cover of darkness, with intent, according to the acknowledgment of their General, to destroy a military magazine, in a distant town, procured solely for the defence and safety of our country. When on their way, on the memorable 19 [...] of April, 1775, they commenced hostilities,—shed the blood of war in peace!

AN alarm being given, the inhabitants collecting from neighbouring towns, gave them such a warm reception, that those troops, the flower of Britain, picked for the purpose of robbery, pillage and plun­der, if not for blood, and who had often bragged and boasted, that one regiment or two, could, at plea­sure, march from one end of the Continent to the other, unmolested, spreading havock and desolation, found themselves, two thousand, or at least eighteen hundred in number, necessitated to retreat with the utmost precipitation, to their strong hold, pursued and galled by the way by Americans, in number not a quarter equal to the enemy, at any one time engaged in the action of the day.

FROM that time we may safely date the aera of [Page 34] civil war in these colonies, unnaturally and barba­rously commenced by Great-Britain.

WITH gratitude to providence, we view our peo­ple inspired with courage and intrepidity, and the fear and dread of them falling upon our unnatural and merciless enemy.

WE deplore the slaughter of any of our brave patriots and heroes, who fell on that day; a day which fixes an eternal stigma upon the British arms, stained with the blood of innocents. They gave undeniable marks of their being totally destitute of justice, bravery and humanity; they were once cha­racterized for justice and humanity towards their natural and avowed enemies, without which qualities of mind, it is impossible that there should be bravery and magnanimity: They have irretrievably lost their honour. It is a day memorable for giving victory to a few hundred Americans, brave and de­termined, armed and engaged in the best cause, for the defence of their country, and its inestimable pri­viledges, over an army of British troops, who judged themselves invincible, especially by Americans, up­on whom they had been taught and acccustomed to look down with as much contempt and disdain, as Goliah of Gath did upon David the stripling.

AFTER having dropt a tear over the graves of our slaughtered brethren, with the keenest feel­ings of sympathy, let us condole with the bereaved, the surviving relatives; dying in so glorious a cause, they have died in the bed of honour; the history of this Continent will hand down their names with honour till time shall be no more; "for it is immortality [Page 35] to sacrifice ourselves for the salvation of our country."

FROM that memorable day to the present, one instance excepted, our enemies have been in­glorious in arms; the alarm occasioned by their violence, blood and murder, spread far and wide; and the brave sons of freedom impressed with the most anxious concern for their distressed, bleeding country, flew to arms, and by hundreds and thou­sands, not only from this but neighbouring colonies, came down for the defence of this devoted people; by their means, with the speedy raising of a continen­tal army, the enemy have been circumscribed within very narrow limits, cooped up and confined to Boston and its suburbs, disappointed, mortified and defeated.

REMARKABLE hath been the health of our camps, which demands our grateful acknowledgment; scarcely and enterprize has been formed but what has been executed with valour, bravery and success.

THE covering which providence has afforded to our troops, upon the lines, and in the day of battle, during the campaign, is almost without a parallel.

IF we look into the wide extended province of Quebec, how agreeable the prospect! Where we behold one fortress and strong hold after another surrendering to the victorious arms of the continent; from the latest accounts relative to the capital of that department we have good reason to believe that the whole is reduced to the obedience of the United Colonies.

THESE acquisitions are highly important in them­selves, but much more so in their consequences.

[Page 36] OUR most sanguine expectations are exceeded in the pacifick dispositions of the Canadians, and the numerous tribes of Indians, with whom every evil machination hath been made use of, that wit or wick­edness could devise, to rouse them to arms by our unnatural foe, that they might be their auxiliaries in carrying into execution plans most ruinous and de­structive to this whole Continent: How great must the chagrin of those be who have failed in every manoeuvre of this sort?

So far have the Canadians and Indians been from being inimical to our troops, that they have shewed many acts of kindness in supplying of them with provisions in their marches and encampments; not only so, but many of them have joined our forces to check and subdue the ministerial army.

NO less are we to take notice of our remarkable captures by sea, one of which, under our present circumstances, is almost inestimable.

"NOT unto us, oh Lord, but unto thy name be the glory."

WE should act quite out of character as men and christians, and should practically disown a superin­tending providence, did we impute those manifold and signal blessings that we have received to any thing short of the efficacious influences of his providence on the minds of men, and its most favour­able interposition on behalf of this continent, for our defence and safety in a day of great distress and ge­neral calamity.

THE descendents of Abraham, who were to take [Page 37] possession of the promised inheritance, while they were in Egypt, the house of bondage, suffered much from the hand of power, the Egyptians fearing they might grow so powerful as to become independent, determined to stunt them in their growth, and keep them down by renewing their burdens and oppressi­ons; but the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew. God was with them, and the very means the Egyptians made use of to humble them and prevent their increase, by an over-ruling providence, were made the occasion of their growth and prosperity. There are many traces and foot­steps of a like providence in the late and present day; in the union of the Colonies, after every evil machination to prevent it; the check upon the Ca­nadians and Savages, and their friendship to the con­tinent; but these must be waved; time will not permit me to point out those, which to me appear to be important and obvious. "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad!"

It remains that we should be unfeignedly thank­ful for every instance of past success; that we be patient under all fatigues an hardships, and that we, at the call of past providences, adequate to the re­demption of our fathers, and favourable to us, per­severe in the direct line of opposition to that tyran­ny, which is abominable in the sight of heaven, and destructive of the rights of mankind.

"OUR fathers trusted in thee—they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them; they cried unto thee, and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and were not confounded."

[Page 38] GOD has often appeared for this people in days of great darkness and distress. Such is our cause, so righteous in the sight of heaven, that it will, by no means, become us to harbour one distrustful thought. How can we say, after such a series of favourable providences, in the midst of deserved affliction, that his mercies are clean gone, and that he will be favourable no more.

FOR my own part, I must acknowledge, that I feel animated from this confidence, that our pre­sent noble struggle for our rights, and the unwearied exertions of the patriots, friends and benefactors of this country, will bring about a happy termination of all our troubles.

IN the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whither this or that shall prosper. Let those who have be­gun well endure to the end, leaving our most im­portant concerns with Him, who is the avenger of wrongs, in confidence that he will finally break and subdue the power of the oppressors of the earth, and of this Continent in particular.

SHOULD the deportment of this people be, accord­ing to the various providences of God, in every suita­ble expression of piety and patriotism, then might we all pray with the most raised expectation, that the petitions we asked of him should be granted.

"RETURN, oh Lord, we beseech thee, and visit the vine which thine own right hand hath planted, and make it strong for thyself, and give peace in our day."

[Page 39] SHOULD this be the grant of heaven, the most pleasing and glorious prospect would open to our view.

THEN America and "the desart shall rejoice and blossom as the rose, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and ever­lasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

AMEN.