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I have wrote with the usual freedom of a friend, aiming at nothing but truth, and to express my self so as to be understood. xiv. Let all our strength center and unite in this grand point. The aspect of our public affairs was never more dark and gloomy, than at the present day. It breathes the fire of righteous patriotism characteristic of the pulpit of the time, as can be seen from the three mighty Old Testament texts on the title page, and is a superb statement of American liberty. The battles for Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point in 1759 see major contributions made by the colonists. And to give an idea of the smallness of his ability for teaching, they say. Although the Great Awakening was already in progress when Whitefield made his first journey to America in 1738, it owed more to him than to any other individual. We are certainly threatened with the loss of our precious liberties and privileges, and of all our dear and valuable interests. American events could be seen as part of the general rise of religious sentiment traceable in Europe between 1730 and 1760, particularly in England, where the catalysts were the itinerant Anglican priests John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, and their compatriot George Whitefield. Both Riches and Honour come of Thee, and in thy Hand is Power and Might, and in thy Hand it is to make Great, and to give Strength unto all: Now therefore, our GOD, we praise Thee, and bless thy Name for ever and ever. Paul tells us, 2 Tim. But in whatever way it was prevented, it is beyond all controversy, from the concurring testimony of heathens and Christians, that little or no progress was ever made in it, and that in a short time, it was entirely defeated. Not but that they may be considerably useful in their places, if the religious fear of God does not reign in their hearts. After a long approval process, the Articles take effect in 1781. Bear it in mind then, and act under the solemn realizing thought of it, that God standeth in the congregation of the mighty: He judgeth among the Gods. The essence of money, lies, in what money buys. During the Revolution, his pupils were everywhere in positions of command in the American forces. Let us very gratefully observe these precepts, for they are very graciously given us for the good of the world. Who is this that darkneth Counsel by Words without Knowledge. But that they have no such authority, has been fully demonstrated in the foregoing pages, which I need not repeat. If power is all that is meant very like it may, so it may alter the constitution. In the next place, let me enquire, in respect to the protection afforded our trade at sea. I believe that all will allow, that the language used in the 6th verse, is more plain and intelligible, and has a more fixed and determinate meaning, than that in the 14th verse. 12. No intelligent friends to the christian institution doubts, but the laws made by the heathen emperors for extirpating Christianity, and destroying the professors of it, were unjust. e. Our fruit-trees loaded with fruit, and pressed down with their burdens. These strange notions and fears prevailed very much among certain odd people, who liked their old religion, and were not able to see the reasonableness of their paying for the support of any other. 4. 29. Their sermons also demonstrate the existence and effectiveness of a popular political culture that constantly assimilated the currently urgent political and constitutional issues to the profound insights of the Western spiritual and philosophical traditions. The result of this, because of the emphases in Romans, will be a stress on justification, sanctification, and true faith. But your Iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your Sins have hid his Face from you, that he will not hear. And is not the whole government, of that ancient province of the Massachusetts, demolished at a blow, by an engine of tyranny, without being summoned, heard or tried. In discoursing on this subject, it is my intention, through the assistance of divine grace. The Romans always made a difference between their colonies and their conquests, and as reasonable, allowed greater and indeed all common liberties to the former. Their blood proved the seed of the church. He will turn what appears to us scenes of confusion into perfect order, and convince all worlds that he has not taken one wrong step in the whole plan of his infinite government. John, and behold a white horse, an emblem of victory and triumph, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. But he means not to make a full end of them, but to renew them to repentance, and to recover them from their declensions. So far is this method from bringing about an unity of faith, that this is not found even with them that submit to a legal establishment. King Charles found it so, Rehoboam found it so, and so will our present king, if he hearkens to such advice. 5. But the kingdom of Christ, though altered in its situation and form of government, will not then come to a conclusion. Politically ambitious, he was thought to be interested in becoming governor of Connecticut. This is undoubtedly true: for to suppose they have a right of judgment for themselves, is to suppose they have a right to act according to their judgment: and therefore none (not the civil magistrate) can have any right to hinder them. For it is impossible to be true that any can have right or authority to oblige Christians to believe or practice any thing in religion not true or not agreeable to the word of God: Because that would destroy the sacred scriptures from being the only rule of faith and practice in religion to a Christian. To such, if there are any such among us, I would recommend a serious consideration of the awful sentence God pronounced against the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness. It is true, The first settlers in Massachusetts-Bay were promised an exemption from taxes for seven years. Should we take the expression in a figurative sense, to mean the men of the earth, and earthly powers, it may still, with truth and propriety be applied to our present case. His authority and power over us is unlimited and uncontrolable, and cannot be denied, or opposed without our being guilty of the highest crime of rebellion. Georgia is the last of the 13 original American colonies to be settled. Can we expect the laurels, without entering the list. I have endeavoured candidly to state the question, let us now endeavour to view the claim made on each side as calmly and impartially as possible. When they wanted to get footing in the town of Providence, they wrote to governor Jencks and other rulers there, in the following words, viz. 1 Cor. What your ancestors did not bring with them, neither they nor their descendants have acquired. Yet who is willing to own that he has been deceived and enslaved by them. It now remains to apply what has been said to rulers and people. Such things as these have been predicted, and, probably, by those very fowlers who contrived the snare, from which, to their great mortification, our soul is now escaped as a bird. Born in the village of Yantic in Norwich township, Connecticut, Backus converted to Christianity in 1741 as a result of the Great Awakening preaching of the theologian Eleazar Wheelock. Gen. A SERMON ON THE DAY OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION, Samuel Cooper. These horrid massacres of the saints may be emblematically, or figuratively represented in the 6th chapter of this prophetic book, in the 9th verse of which, the apostle is said to have seen under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. His Legs are as Pillars of Marble, set upon Sockets of fine Gold. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath (or fear of punishment) but also for Conscience sake. It appears from the preamble to the act, that the declared design of it is to keep persons from deviating from the ecclesiastical discipline established by law, in the year 1708 and that under the penalties by this law enacted. II. It is impossible for us to make a just and full comparison of the character either of persons or nations, and it would be extremely foolish for any to attempt it, either for increasing their own security, or impeaching the justice of the Supreme Ruler. There is a certain order among mankind, according to which some are entrusted with power to rule over others. That therefore sets the bounds to civil authority, as such, on the one side, and fixes the bounds of obedience on the other. That it is thus with subjects, is evident from the many severe laws, and terrible executions of them, which the wisest and most merciful rulers in all nations, have found necessary to preserve the peace, and promote the happiness of civil society. And we must also receive it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and will cast out none that come to him in the exercise of faith and repentance. Or, who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock. This pious example of the king, is worthy the closest imitation of his representative. Their ancestors left a country where the representatives of the people were elected by men particularly qualified, and where those who wanted that qualification were bound by the decisions of men whom they had not deputed. There was no attempt made to standardize the uses of quotation marks in the sermons. This is the constant language of the lively oracles of God. Therefore let this cruel man-eater be fairly executed, and we are ready to join heart and hand to bury him, and not to have a bone of him left for contention in all the land. Its special appeal for eighteenth-century audiences lay partly in the fact that it answered an emotional need the established Church had for too long tried to ignore, and partly in the charismatic personality of the man who revived it. What strange circumlocution of law language is used to express what they meant to conceal. He, and the good angels who are sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, were the invisible agents on one side, as the devil and his evil angels were on the other. The growth of virtue and perfection of being depends upon free choice, in response to divine invitation and help, in a cooperative relationship. The Americans pretend to no share in the legislature of Great-Britain at all, but they hope they have never forfeited their share in the constitution. May God give us the wisdom to behave ourselves with humility and moderation, on the happy success of our late remonstrances and struggles. The power of making laws is undoubtedly the highest in every society. We have their Encouragement to attend this Duty, in a time of impending judgment, v. USE 2. His political views were imbued with the thoughts of Milton, Locke, and Sidney. GOD hath set the world upon the governments and rulers, whom he has made the pillars of it. But they fell, as one observes, to rise, and triumph, and reign. Strangers and foes to them and their nation. For God having given man an understanding to direct his actions, has given him therewith a freedom of will and liberty of acting, as properly belonging thereto, within the bounds of that law he is under: And whilst he is in a state wherein he has no understanding of his own to direct his will, he is not to have any will of his own to follow: He that understands for him must will for him too. Never, O never may he permit thee to forsake us, for our unworthiness to enjoy thy enlivening presence. He still managed to achieve important reforms at the college by raising the standards for admission and graduation and by planning a new library. Now, if the parliament hath right to bind the colonists in any instance of legislation and taxation, it hath in all: Wherein, then, will consist the similarity of the colony constitutions to that of Great-Britain. He triumphed over the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, by a quotation from his own word. Indeed the necessity of persons, respecting the weakness of some constitutions, is here to be regarded. Spelling was not modernized for this edition, and spelling errors were not always corrected. Consider the necessity and importance of justice in civil rulers. The least good action, even the giving a cup of water to one of his necessitous saints, shall not pass unrewarded in his government. The presence of God with his People, is their only safety and happiness. Every thing depends, with men, on their constitution of government. He that ruleth over men, must rule in the fear of God. The British nation, at the time of forming their great charter (no matter how they became so) consisted of a king, nobility and commons: To connect the strength and wisdom of these, for the public weal, without infringing or endangering the rights of either, was their great object: And this was done in the constitution of parliament, so far as it concerned legislation and taxation. I say, you had: but you have now thrown away the substance, and retain only the shadow. And this consideration alone may convince you that this character is of the greatest importance, and worthy of your most attentive regard. He settled in Hanover County, where dissenters were frowned upon, and soon became the leader in the campaign for civil and religious liberties in Virginia and North Carolina. So he fed them in the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skilfulness of his hands. Is not the divine image and superscription written upon every precept of the gospel. They have right to this benefit so long (at least) as they act consistently with that ecclesiastical constitution under which they settled. But when they plead this for their exemption, their neighbours tell them, They know in their conscience they do not as they would be done unto. But whence then is all this hurry and tumult. And then returns this answer, Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from me, Jer. They have every motive and inducement to this, that can well be conceived of. v. ii. Though none were made in New-England by virtue of that authority. In the mean time, it stands Christians in hand to hold fast this priviledge, and to be on their guard against all attempts made upon it. None desires to withhold any thing that is granted by the express terms of your charters. 9. You, and your disciples, profess to approve of neither. This, in turn, leads to the necessity of government to coerce a degree of right living and justice from a mankind fallen from the high road of willing obedience to the loving Father. If the Divine Eternal Spirit please to inspire and speak by a gracious woman, it is the same thing to us, and requires our reverend attention as much, as if he raise up a Moses or an Elias, or make his revelations by a Paul or John. I have been deceived by my informers, misguided by my ministers, and by my own inattention to the sufferings, and dutiful petitions of my subjects, reduced all to the most dreadful hazard. Would the being independent of England make you more free. A corporation can no more assume to itself, privileges which it had not before, than a man can, by his own act and deed, assume titles or dignities. This is gratifying to the editor, and doubtlessly reflects the importance of the subject matter and intrinsic interest of the material itself. As a real friend to it, I have given you my thoughts with freedom and plainness, as you desired. He could not bear the thought of their being wrested out of our hands. In prosecuting this subject I intend only to inquire into the nature and properties of the kingdom of Christ. by the College of New Jersey at Princeton, where he tutored and where his uncle, Aaron Burr, Sr. 7. I will therefore distinctly consider them, and show that they no ways suppose such an authority (as now pleaded for) is vested in any order of men. However, he goes on preaching the gospel, and the people will hear him. And from hence, strictly and properly speaking, does that civil order there is among men take rise. Penal laws are intended for the public good: The great intention of punishing the transgressors of them is, that others may be kept in awe. They are encompassed with the divine immensity, and in God they live, and move, and have their being. Give me leave to draw a parallel—parallels have, probably, been often of use to you, at the foundry. And are not those rights, for which they now so earnestly contend, of that kind. This last instance of the care of rulers, I the rather mention, because it falls in so exactly with the circumstances of the pastors of the churches in this province. The sole question is, Is it, or is it not, the right of an Englishman not to be taxed where he is not represented. The general discontent operated very differently upon the minds of different people, according to the diversity of their natural tempers and constitutions, their education, religious principles, or the prudential maxims which they had espoused. This justice and faithfulness is necessary to their future happiness. 4, herein), who first visited the colonies in 1738 and made six more preaching tours of the country, and who died in 1770 one September morning just before he was to preach in Newburyport, Massachusetts. In this struggle between paganism and Christianity, thousands of martyrs and confessors were most cruelly and barbarously tormented, and put to death. But it is said they are to treat with the several colonies. What is the amount of this declaratory act. That the civil authority hath no power to make or ordain articles of faith, creeds, forms of worship or church government. Here note, the inhabitants of our mother-country are not more of a party concerned, in imposing taxes upon us without our consent, than they have been in this land who have made and executed laws, to tax us to uphold their worship. Thus saith the Lord God, Repent and turn your selves from all your Idols, and turn away your Faces from all your Abominations, Ezek. Considering this, nothing can be more plain, than that the supreme power in England has a legal right of laying any tax upon them for any end beneficial to the whole empire. Peter, Paul, and thousands of the christians fell a prey to his rage, like sheep for the slaughter. The power of making laws is very great, and extensive in its nature, and of the utmost importance in the exercise of it. They have braved the dangers of sea and land, routed powerful armies, and subjected nations to their will. After Davies returned to America, the Presbytery of Hanover, the first in Virginia, was established largely by his efforts late in 1755. My appreciation of them rises far above mere gratitude. Happy is that rebuke, how sharp soever, which is sanctified to make us return to God and our duty. His miraculous powers were but powers of miraculous mercy and beneficence. He took an early lead in representing the dissenting denominations against the threat of Anglican tyranny. I disdain the low singularities of a party. These contain every thing needful to be known or done by Christians. Otherwise, no italics were introduced into the texts for any reason. Surely the mountains shall become a plain, crooked things straight, and the night shine as the day. By the same, only varied according to your circumstances, they have likewise inflamed America. Hear his repeated cries, Ch. Sovereign authority is the greatest trust that can be reposed in any man. The love of Christ, says the great Apostle of the gentiles, constraineth us. Washington retreats to Harlem Heights with an army of mostly ill-trained militia. Shew that the fear of the Lord is the proper, effectual principle, to influence such to the observation and practice of justice. As popery has been the greatest enemy, and the greatest corrupter of christianity, we may rationally conclude that more prophecies relate to that, than to any other distant event. Each invested with plenary powers of government, in their several countries. Nowhere did we introduce this style, however, where the words had not been entirely in capitals in the original. The Lord, says David, said unto my Lord, unto that divine person who is my Lord, and will also be my Son, sit thou at my right hand, in the highest honour and authority, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Parliament of England cannot justly make any laws to oppress, or defend the Americans, for they are not the representatives of America, and therefore they have no legislative power either for them or against them. What great numbers upon the Continent have been lately taken off by the bloody-flux, small-pox, and yellow-fever. The judges have the key of the laws, the hearts of the lawyers, and the power of juries, too much in their own hands. While the utmost misery and confusion befals those places where the government is ill administred. This is the way to become a band of brethren from the governor, to the meanest subject. Every representative in Parliament is not a representative for the whole nation, but only for the particular place for which he hath been chosen. If the civil magistrate has this power the act supposes, if he judges it to be a disorder for the minister to preach in his own parish on a week day, he may then restrain him: or if he thinks it a disorder that there should be any public prayers but by a set printed form, he may then restrain all to such a form. No, but to bind the colonies and people of America subjects of the crown of Great-Britain, viz. And these early and plain notices of him raised a general expectation of him under this royal character. Now the way to know what branches of natural liberty are given up, and what remain to us after our admission into civil society, is to consider the ends for which men enter into a state of government. To form a clear judgment on the power of taxation, it must be enquired on what right that power is grounded. There is but one general distinction that is of essential importance in the cause now depending, and that is to be made by drawing the dividing line between the true friends to the rights of humanity, our dear country, and constitutional liberties and privileges, civil and religious: And the base, traitorous and perfidious enemies thereto. He calls, and uses whom he will, inclines and spirits how he will, and improves to what degree he will. And the same may be said of the manner of vesting particular persons with civil power, whether supreme or subordinate. David, that pillar of Israel, came into the government with that noble purpose and resolution, Psal. This we hold, not from man, but from God: which therefore no man can touch and be innocent. Yet have not our legislature from time to time, made acts to empower the major part of the inhabitants in towns and precincts, to give away their neighbours estates to what ministers they please. For those synods (or in a word) the civil authority in those several ages, or states, have had all equal claim to this right of determining the sense of scripture, and so of making these religious establishments. My throne totters, my loins tremble, my kingdom is divided and torn, my heart ready to fail, for the glory of my reign is departing. Little blood was spilt on the side of the royalists. These are eight of the ten witnesses that were summoned against Mr. John may, not unaptly, be applied to our case, and receive their fulfilment in such providences as are passing over us. The vigorous Indian warfare along the Pennsylvania and New York frontier also influences the discourse. The first settlers of the American wilds never expected that would come to pass what we have seen already. The pretence of any authority to restrain men from reading the same, is wicked as well as vain. To be sure, government and magistracy adorn the world as well as preserve it. He was called the Son of Thunder by his funeral eulogist, the Reverend Jason Haven, because he had powerfully supported the patriot cause in the Revolution. 16. True and undefiled religion will regulate our zeal, and teach us to treat even the man of sin, with no harsher language than that which the angel gave his grand employer Satan, The Lord rebuke thee. D. Whether a design to do this be not ripening apace I will not take upon me to say, but whenever it does, it must make some alteration in the policy of the mother and infant state, nay in the system of the whole British empire. Much less can it answer any good end, to affect to triumph over the power of Parliament: This would, in short, appear equally insolent, disloyal and ridiculous, in the eyes of all sober, unprejudiced men. Their cruelty and the patience of the sufferers, naturally disposed men to examine and weigh the cause to which they adhered with so much constancy and resolution. The kingdoms of the world have their laws and ordinances, and so has the kingdom of Christ. Other kings have their ministers and officers of state. 1. xxix. I presume I may venture to affirm, that in and by this act, the Parliament did not mean to set aside the constitution, infringe the liberties of British subjects, or to vindicate unto themselves an authority which it had not before, was known to have, and would always have had, though this act had never been made. You had the very same liberty we have in England. Election sermons were sometimes then repeated for a different audience. No action is a religious action without understanding and choice in the agent. This gives them success, in all their affairs. These things being premised, let me now proceed to those reflections, exhortations and cautions relative to them, which were the chief design of this discourse. Cor. If any can show us that we have made any mistakes, either about principles or facts, we would lie open to conviction: But we hope none will violate the forecited article of faith so much, as to require us to yield a blind obedience to them, or to expect that spoiling of goods or imprisonment can move us to betray the cause of true liberty. If it be for his fidelity in his high office, for his honourable support, according to the dignity of his character, you are bound in duty, in affection, and in obedience to let him have it. Written by Ebenezer Baldwin, pastor of Danbury and a powerful voice in the move to revolution, it details the transgressions of Britain against its American colonies. Without this all that is said in scripture of the wisdom and mercy of God in providing a Saviour, is without force and without meaning. The meaning is, the government of it was so. Government was not in the original of it assumed or usurped by any one man. Ask of God a public spirit, and by all means labour to subdue a vicious self-love remembring the warning given us, 2 Tim. He could easily have advanced himself to a temporal kingdom, and routed all the forces of the earth, but he had no ambition of this kind. And I hope and trust that your candor will be such, amidst all the inaccuracies and imperfections that attend such an hasty composition, as to accept it for a real token and proof of my undissembled love and heart-felt concern for my dear country, under the dark and threatning aspects of divine providence on our most invaluable liberties and privileges. If every assembly in America is suspended, the consequence must be, that the people are without their usual legislature, and in that case nothing short of a miracle seems capable to prevent an anarchy and general confusion. Should the British parliament cause cargoes of wine, impregnated with poison, to be sent to America, with orders to have them dispersed amongst the inhabitants: and their servants, the miscreants of their power, should obstinately insist on doing it, the Americans must destroy the wines, which, by their baneful mixture would be justly obnoxious to destruction, or be destroyed by their poison. Is it not strange, the preaching of that peaceable and humble Christian (as you confess his behaviour bespoke him to be while in the colony) unto a number of people, who had right to hear the gospel preached from him, should greatly disquiet and disturb such as had their choice in hearing others. However, if my discourse is to be particularly adapted to this great occasion, instead of being so general, as to be almost as suitable to any other, you are sensible it is necessary that the occasion itself should be kept in view. 19. To read the Text distinctly out of the canonicall Scripture. Which words must be understood in such a sense as is consistent with the divine perfections. Convention sermons also were political in nature and grew out of election-day ceremonies. They should also express this care, by seasonably and faithfully placing a proper guard against the designs of those, who would rule in a dispotic manner, to the subversion of the rights naturally or legally vested in the people. By the Treaty of Paris, Britain gains all of Canada and Louisiana east of the Mississippi River (Feb. This likewise is true: but when this is granted, the boast of original rights is at an end. God saw their works, that they turned from the evil way. With his classmate Reverend Thomas Prince, he edited The Compleat Body of Divinity from collected papers of Samuel Willard (1726). Nor can they be at all bound to elect the person recommended: They are to prove him themselves, and be fully satisfied in his ministerial gifts and qualifications, and may herein be controuled by no power whatever. Pennsylvania passes a law that begins the gradual freeing of slaves in the state. Who can tell what further judgments are yet in store. In which of these lights they should be considered, I leave the impartial world to judge. Liberty Fund is thanked for having the courage to undertake this large publication project and to see it through to completion. Why it is the favour of the government of Rhode Island, to hold a court of admiralty to authorize them to confine suspected persons (guilty or not guilty), and drag them away three thousand miles, to take their trial by a jury of strangers, if not enemies. This I rest on as certain, that no more natural liberty or power is given up than is necessary for the preservation of person and property. Now our country is invaded and ravaged, and bleeds in a thousand veins. It is usual with all good writers, as they advance on their subject, to elucidate and illustrate their meaning more and more, to set it in a plainer and more intelligible point of light. I shall not descend into every particular that might be offered upon it—some few remarks may suffice. And those that are not electors, who are far the greater part, stand by, idle and helpless spectators. This rhetorical form expressed the philosophical mean that free government is based on liberty, and liberty is founded in truth and justice as framed by eternal laws. Or because they were once subjects of that kingdom. It is not here as in civil societies where the right of each individual is subjected to the body, or so transferred to the society, as that the act of the majority is legally to be considered as the act of the whole, and binding to each individual. For this I appeal to their commission, Math. He has tenderly nourished and cherished her in her infant state, and protected and preserved her amidst innumerable dangers. What are we in the hands of that nation, which so lately triumphed over the united powers of France and Spain. And next to this, is that of putting laws in execution. It is easily seen, that this is a very interesting subject, the consequences in each case very important, though in neither so alarming and dangerous to Britain as to America. Success doth not constantly follow the probability of second causes. This literal meaning is to be found through use of the three methods of circumstance, collation, and application. , if I be suspended on the cross, will draw all men unto me. It will not be any security then, that they were once ranked among the great men of the earth. But that I may, to better advantage, illustrate the great necessity and importance of justice in civil rulers, I shall briefly consider them in their several capacities, and shew the necessity of their being just, while acting in them. In no. 14. There Williams remained only four years before becoming Yale University rector, a position he held until 1739. There is, surely, some difference in the tenure, by which we hold a possession: the lessee in perpetuum, is, surely, in a better situation, than the tenant at will. When disputes are once heightened by personal prejudice, or the bitterness of party, it becomes so much the more difficult to the disputants themselves to see their mistakes, and even to bystanders the truth appears wrapped up in a cloud, and through the fog and dust of argument becomes almost imperceptible. Fourth president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), Delaware-born Samuel Davies was a Presbyterian and great pulpit orator whose published sermons remained popular for half a century after his death. He was nonetheless a vigorous controversialist and prolific pamphleteer, devoting the decade of 1762 to 1771 to combating the British threat to send an Anglican bishop to America. A government may be in debt, as well as private men. They do inherit all the privileges which their ancestors had: but they can inherit no more. And no wonder, when the Lord of nature was expiring upon a cross. Witherspoon eschewed politics in America until 1774, but after that he steadily participated, directly and indirectly, in the leading events of the day. These well-meaning men, sincerely believing, that they are serving their country, exclaim against grievances, which either never existed, or are aggravated above measure, and thereby inflame the people more and more, to the wish of those who are behind the scene. The British parliament have made a publick acknowledgment of the obligation the nation lies under to his royal highness. Such a superiority in some, and inferiority in others, is perfectly adjusted to the present state of mankind. The charter of Pennsylvania has a clause admitting, in express terms, taxation by Parliament. Of course, they were organizing their points for the ear as much as for the eye, so their repetitions, enumerations, and references to a controlling scriptural thought, as well as other structural devices, all served to make the typographic augmentation of meaning that had once been favored much less necessary than might now be supposed. So God guided his people in the wilderness, and led them in a right way, in all their removes. On the other hand, see the absurdity of supposing that the civil magistrate had rightful authority to have sent away Wickliff. This defeats the mischievous plots and devices of their enemies against them. While we endeavour to cultivate harmony and union with our mother-country and our sister-colonies, in all generous and manly ways, we should not, surely, neglect to cultivate the same among ourselves. This favourable providential presence of God with his people, considered as a people, is that presence of God, which the text more especially, if not only, relates to. The lives of the people, the rights of the subject, and the disposal of their property, was originally intended to be determined by juries only. This is not, will not, cannot be the case. If we dwell a little upon the circumstances, they become deeply affecting. He remained within the Anglican Church throughout this time, but in 1784 he first consecrated preachers to further the American mission. 6. We are therefore brought to a stop about paying so much regard to such laws, as to give in annual certificates to the other denomination, as we have formerly done. In short, such was the danger, and in their opinion, so great and glorious the cause, that the spirit of the Roman matrons in the time of the commonwealth, seemed to be now equalled by the fairer daughters of America. Our privileges in this respect are very great, beyond what any other people enjoy in any part of the earth. When they had blackened him with slander, when they scourged him with shame, when they had condemned him in judgment, and nailed him to the cross, how could they help esteeming their victory complete. Accomodation is their ostensible, but we have reason to fear that to divide, corrupt and destroy is their real object: For with whom are they to treat. Inferiour principles may influence them in particular cases, and at certain seasons: But the fear of God only will prompt them to every instance of right action, and at all times. This can be done only by good reason: And this therefore is the only proper way of applying to reasonable creatures. 9. Now, if any can believe that Great-Britain and America are but one civil state, they must overthrow the doctrine of identity and diversity, confound all distinctions in nature, and believe that two is one and one is two. One is your Master, even Christ. All the disorders in human society, and the greatest part even of the unhappiness we are exposed to, arises from the envy, malice, covetousness, and other lusts of man. And the author comes very close to saying, as Edmund Burke had told the House of Commons a few months earlier, that England had long prized liberty, but slavery the Americans could have anywhere. Momentous developments crescendoed with British adoption of the Stamp Act of 1765, leading in little more than a decade to the decision for independence in 1776, which demanded eight years of fighting and formally ended with the signing of the peace treaty in Paris in 1783. Isa. He then published The Spirit of Liberty (1770), pleading the case of John Wilkes, urging that he be restored to his seat in Parliament or that the unconstitutional house be dissolved for abridging English liberties. Demand for the book has been steady over the years since first publication in 1991. Let none suspect that, because I thus urge the duty of cultivating a close harmony with our mother-country, and a dutiful submission to the king and Parliament, our chief grievances being redressed, I mean to disswade people from having a just concern for their own rights, or legal, constitutional privileges. If they prove satisfying to you, and you judge that they may be any ways serviceable to the cause of truth and Christian liberty, you may use them for that purpose as you shall think best. I now proceed to say, in the second place, Those who rule over men, must rule in the fear of God. 1620, England, torn with religious dissentions, the friends of the reformation, persecuted with unrelenting cruelty, by the intolerant spirit that influenced government, were forced to renounce their religion and liberties, or assert them with their lives. In 1755 Dunbar served as chaplain with the troops at Crown Point in the British victory over the French at Lake George. But some of the items, as previously stated, were never orally delivered though they are sermonic in tradition. One style in scripture for it is, foundations and corner-stones. Yet it pleased God to destroy their enemies, and, by his own immediate interposition, to grant them deliverance. ver. Some part of their natural liberty they do certainly give up to the government, for the benefit of society and mutual defence (for in a political society every one even an infant has the whole force of the community to protect him), and something therefore is certainly given up to the whole for this purpose. In the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina, the British cavalry under Col. But now the Almighty interposes, Hitherto he was to go, and no further. His gifts as well as calling are without repentance. Who is willing honestly to bring them forth to justice. Justification by faith alone, a solace gained by John Wesley from the Moravians, became a hallmark of his ministry, which became largely itinerant as ordinary pulpits were closed against him. What a speedy period would have been put to societies of all kinds, for promoting Christian knowledge, and propagating the gospel in foreign parts. The reappearance of a word in a text cued us to correct some typographical errors silently, but the hunting down of such reappearances was not engaged in. Yet if our opponents could once put themselves into our place, we doubt not but they would think it was high time, to seek for more full liberty than we have hitherto enjoyed, a short view of but a little part of what we have met with, may be sufficient to evince this. The Jews set themselves against it, and raised persecutions against its ministers, wherever they went. We had other advocates of distinguished eminence and worth, who generously came under similar engagements for us. Gen. Undoubtedly, Whitefield was the greatest evangelist of the century, preaching an average of forty hours each week, four times in a day that began at four in the morning and ended punctually at ten in the evening. Our princesses are disposed of to Protestant powers. And yet I think it may be presumed, a free-born people can never become so servile as to regard them, while they have eyes to see that such rulers have gone out of the line of their power. Some essential points of difference between civil and ecclesiastical government. In a state of nature men had a right to read Milton or Lock for their instruction or amusement: and why they do not retain this liberty under a government that is instituted for the preservation of their persons and properties, is inconceivable. Perhaps they might also be too much disposed to applaud themselves and one another, for their skill, and bravery, and success, and so take to themselves that glory, which was due to God: however these things were, God sent a prophet to meet them, and to deliver them a message from him. The unstable are as water, and more fitly likened to the waves of the sea, than to a pillar on shore. And, indeed, her cause being supposed good, the more friendless she was, the more she needed, and in some sort deserved, so powerful a patronage. This, you see, I have said on the supposition, those laws are to be considered only as acts of grace, as laid in the objection. 1 Pet. There is not, I believe, an order of men, in the land, more universally, or to a greater degree, injured and oppressed in regard of their just dues. Nor will it from hence follow, that government is a mere humane constitution. Not that they are to exert their authority in settling articles of faith, or imposing modes of worship, so as that all must frame their belief, and order their practice, according to their decisions, or lie exposed to penalties of one kind or another. 15. It is certainly some momentous truth, highly worthy of the most serious consideration of civil rulers, that is here delivered, or it would not have been ushered in with so much solemnity. But if there is no such clause, then the English Parliament has the same right to tax them as to tax any other English subjects. Things will go well, when magistrates are great promoters of the thing that good is, and what the Lord requireth of them. What the public good calls for therein, they are obliged to do: And the acts they make in pursuance thereof are no acts of grace, but (strictly speaking) of debt to the people. And may I not produce some of you as the trophies of his victory. Thrice married, he was the father of eight children. When England is taxed two millions in the land tax, no more is paid in Scotland than 48,000 l. This delivers them, in their lowest and most desperate circumstances. The city of New York is occupied by the British (Sept. In order to determine this, let us consider the nature of our colonies. would be graciously with them. And as to the rapid increase of its inhabitants, and swift population, it cannot be paralleled in all history. In mentioning which, my aim will be to express, in brief, what I take to be the general sense of these colonies, rather than to explain my own. Did not these things afford arguments much more plausible, for their attempt to compel the world to submit to the church, than any can have for the modern way, of trying to subject the church in her religious affairs to rulers, and the major vote of inhabitants, a great part of whom are not brethren in any church at all. Even the poor, and labouring part of the community, whom I am very far from despising, have had so much to say about government and politics, in the late times of danger, tumult and confusion, that many of them seemed to forget, they had any thing to do. The principality of Wales was never taxed by Parliament till it was incorporated and represented, and, poor as it is, it pays now considerably larger than Scotland, which is as big again. Has he not already given some symptoms of it. It is then plain that a craving, absolute prince, is a great distress to a people. These are some of the just and true principles of the Protestant religion, according to the oracles of GOD in this matter. They love neither England nor America, but play one against the other, in subserviency to their grand design, of overturning the English government. Who dare say, He will not deal in the same manner with us. Congress agrees to the Articles of Confederation and sends the document to the states for approval (Nov. Being interrogated by one occasionally present as to his meaning, he explained himself so as clearly shewed, he meant to connect the other part of the sentence with the word butler, in the commonly received sense of the word. Although they present a range of viewpoints on many different problems over a period of seventy-five years, all our writers agree that political liberty and religious truth are vitally intertwined. Our kings, were then subject to the rules of law and reason. We thankfully acknowledge the pious care, the legislature has lately taken to restrain the horrid practice of cursing and swearing, which so generally prevailed, especially in this, and our other sea-port towns, to the dishonour of God, and our reproach as wearing the name of christians. Ever since this unnatural rebellion broke out, I have looked upon the young pretender as the Phaeton of the present age. The church, in his sense of it, includes all the worthy professors of christianity, who conduct themselves on their probation here, as those that expect to be judged hereafter, by the great evangelical law of liberty. Among the chief hindrances to this life of true liberty is the oppression of men, who in service to evil deceive with untruth and impose falsehood in its place, proclaiming it to be true. What more adorns a man, a place, a country. Afterwards Sir William Phips, with the New-England people, attempted the reduction of Canada, and was obliged to return, not by the arms of the enemy, but by the severity of the season coming on earlier than usual: However, he built a fort on the mouth of Pemaquid on the frontiers of the country, which reduced all the Indians, north west of Merimac river, under the crown of England. Smith, father of the baptist minister in Ashfield (and very much of a father to that society), with a warrant from the chief judge of that county, to seize his person, and to search his house and shop for bad money: and it was said they had a like warrant for the minister, but he happened to be then absent on a journey. 7. But what may further clear this point and at the same time shew the extent of this right of private judgment in matters of religion, is this truth, That the sacred scriptures are the alone rule of faith and practice to every individual Christian. Thus you see, my brethren, by these instances, selected out of many, that the kingly character and dominion of our Lord Jesus runs through the whole Bible. The ministers who have had the chief hand in stirring up rulers to treat us as they have done, yet have sometimes been forced to commend the liberty we plead for. The scheme of government planned out for Boston, is in its whole frame and constitution, completely despotic and arbitrary. So important a change in the situation of public affairs, so great a deliverance, has, perhaps, seldom been brought about in any country, with so little criminal excess, unless it were done by God alone, without the instrumentality or agency of men, by nature liable to so many errors and infirmities. Why pretend you then to be a Lord, a Judge, in these things, for which we are to be accountable to the tribunal of Christ only, our Lord and lawgiver. All men, even they, who know not God, and are without God in the world, are yet with God, i. So far as any of us have influence on our public affairs, let us use it for the promotion and advancement of the true friends to their country. I design not to mention many particulars which according to this rule I suppose are not parted with by entering into a state of government: what is reducible to one or two general heads is sufficient to our present purpose. So that whether the colonies are or are not subjects of the crown of Great-Britain, the act is altogether unfounded. They were not always treated as welcome visitors by the established clergy, with whom serious conflict sometimes arose. Whereas, when a reformation is sincere and general, we shall have a regard to the Lord our God in it, as to our chief good and highest end. But justice in rulers should be seen likewise in their care of the religious rights and liberties of a people. Much of the original typography was sacrificed to modern tastes, therefore, with some important exceptions. And it would be no wonder, if they should keep a jealous eye over them, and think no cost too much to be expended, for the defence and security of them: Especially, if they were the purchase of wise and pious ancestors, who submitted to difficulties, endured hardships, spent their estates, and ventured their lives, that they might transmit them as an inheritance to their posterity. Backus was a trustee of Brown University from 1765 to 1799. The rhetorical training of all the sermon authors led them to syntactical constructions that made their points of emphasis emerge (commonly by a use of parallelism) unmistakably and gracefully. Nor are the following questions more difficult, viz. Are the rulers the judges, or have private Christians a right of judgment in this case. The members of a civil state do retain their natural liberty or right of judging for themselves in matters of religion. Huntington Library of San Marino, California, for the remaining forty-eight items in the book. He served as a delegate from Middleborough to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the federal Constitution in 1788. our Lord witnessed before Pontius Pilate. We take notice how you praise the love and peace that dissenters of all ranks entertain one another with in this government. iii. While a society subsists, no man, or number of men, have authority to call to account those who are vested with supreme authority: which makes it extremely difficult to correct disorders in a state, when the foundations are out of course. Thus must we pour out our hearts before God, and say, in most humble importunity as Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Regarding the Appendix to this sermon, see Evans, American Bibliography, No. There have, I am sorry to say it, but really there have lately been many unwarrantable jealousies, and bitter mutual reproaches among the people of this town and province, occasioned by that unhappy measure, which has been so often referred to. Let us not bite and devour one another, lest we be consumed one of another. Part of: Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols. Every one must give account of himself to God, to whom alone as his only master he is to stand or fall: And it will be but a poor account the papist will have to give of all his ceremonious worship, that the pope or priest directed him so. A woman, we know, is the weaker sex, and looks to her husband for support and protection. So it did for Israel in delivering them from Egyptian bondage: then God went forth for the salvation of his people: yea, he rode upon his horses and chariots of salvation, made speed to help and save them. And this undoubtedly it is, which the confederated colonies are now contending for. If the Parliament cannot tax you, because you have no representation therein, for the same reason it can make no laws to bind you. What liberty do you want, either civil or religious. Pray then consider what our brethren have suffered at Ashfield. 23). No Englishman ever ceded, to any king, any power over his property: the right of taxation, as has been shewn, is exclusively vested in the people. After all the vehement cry for liberty, what more liberty can you have. He himself was a bookseller, journalist, and confidant of John Wilkes and Edmund Burke. This appears unreasonable, to inflict so heavy a punishment for preaching in such cases as abovementioned, when (as it may happen) it might be evidently duty so to do. And every right which I enjoy, is common to Englishmen and Americans. Yet he was, notwithstanding, absolute and craving, though he was told, it would end in the destruction of himself, and his people. The Ninevites were sensible, that to outward signs and means of humiliation, they must add repentance and reformation. Let us then be sensible of the destroying evil of sin, and the necessity of true repentance. 21) is little known. Most certainly they are guilty of great folly, who make a mock at sin. What son, either of America or of liberty is there, that has the least spark of ingenuity, who can help being touched and penetrated to the inmost recesses of the heart, by such magnanimous and generous expressions in behalf of the colonies. With what winged speed would foreign titular bishops have posted over in order to take possession of their respective sees. There has, ever since the settlement of these colonies, been numbers of pious, godly persons, on the other side of the water, who have been friendly and well-disposed towards us, and have used all their power and influence to promote our growth, our wealth and prosperity. 13. They have not, by abandoning their right in one legislature, acquired a right to constitute another: any more than the multitudes in England who have no vote, have a right to erect a Parliament for themselves. You was largely assisted, and by that means wholly delivered from all your enemies. In like manner, wise and faithful ministers are pillars in the Church: Which is built on the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief Corner-stone, Eph. Nine of the fifty-five participants in the Federal Convention in 1787 were Princeton graduates, chief among them James Madison (who, among other things, spent an extra year studying Hebrew and philosophy with Witherspoon after his graduation in 1771). Asa, as a wise and martial prince, led forth his army to put a stop to their progress, and set the battle in array: and, as a godly and religious prince, sought to God for help and success. Let us know and keep our own place, and do our duty to those whom GOD sets over us. If the doctrine of resumable power is not admitted, the doctrine of divine hereditary right must be maintained. Which if it had always had its due force on the minds of men, we should never have heard of the necessity of uniformity in religion to the peace of the state, nor any such legal establishment of religion I have been impleading. If we may judge by the manner in which these words are introduced, there are none in all the bible, applicable to civil rulers, in their publick capacity, of more solemn importance. If this were effected, they trust the English in general would be so irreconcileably disgusted, that they should be able, with or without foreign assistance, intirely to overturn the government: especially while the main of both the English and Irish forces, are at so convenient a distance. Every one acquainted with the history of our country, of the New-England colonies in particular, must know, that there have been floods issued from the mouth of the old serpent, after the woman, to effect her destruction and overthrow. Many other elements in the originals, ornamental, typographic, or idiosyncratic, have been dispensed with. This implies both a free and voluntary act, and that they give nothing but their own property. Does not the wrath of man in this instance praise God. These are confuted in the preceding tract: yet I would just touch upon them again. Since which, you tell me, there has been last October an addition made, viz. They are all equally vested in the same right, and hold it independent one of another, and each one independent of the whole, or of all the rest. If they will, where are the beauties of Christianity. He overrules all his creatures, and all their actions. The measures of government necessary to be adopted, at present, are the same, either for a temporary or a perpetual expedient. That men should so rarely be satisfied with their own possessions and acquisitions, or even with the benefit that would arise from mutual service, but should look upon the happiness and tranquility of others, as an obstruction to their own. And what might reasonably be expected in consequence of such a breach of trust, but that the best laws, together with the authority that enacted them, should be held in contempt. It may be, there was scarce ever a province under more melancholly circumstances, by reason of injustice, which is become almost unavoidable. A man would scarce deserve the character of a good member of society who should receive to be silent on all occasions, and never mind, speak or guard against the follies or ignorance of mistakes of those at the helm. If, because America is a part of the British empire, it is as much so, or in the same manner is a part of it, as is the bishoprick of Durham, or the manor of East-Greenwich, nothing can be plainer than that it must be affected by every tax that is laid just in the same manner and proportion as is the bishoprick of Durham, or manor of East-Greenwich. Next, it may be proper to take a nearer view how far, and in what manner, the acts of Parliament operate upon the different subjects of the British empire. In 1757 he settled in Weston, Connecticut, as the first pastor of a church consisting of twelve members. Thus we find the case remarkably among us. Tit. Without this due regard to government and laws, we shall still be miserable, my friends, notwithstanding all that God and the king have done to make us happy. While you speak as the naked sons of nature, this is certainly true. Godliness with contentment is great gain: But they that will take a contrary course fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Thus will my reign become glorious, my demise tranquil. The right of the Commons of Great-Britain to lay on taxes arises, as I conceive, from their having been chosen by the people who are to pay these taxes to act in their behalf and as their representatives. 21. A man has a right unto his life, his estate, his liberty, and his family, although he should not come up unto these and those blessed institutions of our Lord. It is very true, we have heretofore seen times of great adversity. And the ways in which they should express this care are such as these. Only it must be remembred here, a distinction ought always to be made between government in its general notion, and particular form and manner of administration. And Judgment is turned away backward, and Justice standeth afar off: for Truth is fallen in the Street, and Equity cannot enter. And the dealings of God in his providence, in bringing his church from a state of oppression and persecution, into this good land, are very parallel and similar to his dealings with the Israelites, in delivering them from the tyrannical power of the haughty, cruel monarch of Egypt, and conducting them to the good land of promise in Canaan. This is not a dark abstruse point, but seems plain and essential to the very being of liberty. May you be filled with the most tender and fatherly compassion for your people under the present distress and danger, and do all you can to relieve them. , a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Or what portion have we in the son of Jesse. We are still engaged in a bloody, and in all probability, a tedious war, with two of the most inveterate enemies to the interests of Great Britain. He was honored with a D. It is true, to do him justice, he has deserved well of the church of Rome, and, in all probability, will hereafter be canonized amongst the noble order of their fictitious saints. Of course, the political background is the direct movement of disparate British colonial societies toward independent nationhood, federally organized under a Constitution that preserves the essentials of English liberty under law. It is held a maxim, that in government a proportion ought to be observed between the share in the legislature and the burden to be borne. Massachusetts adopts its 1692 Charter as a functioning state constitution. For British troops cease to be glorious, in so inglorious a cause. America, if she fell, would fall like a strong man, would embrace the pillars of state, and pull down the constitution along with her. Were not the Britons obliged by the love of liberty, to obtain their royal Magna Charta, sword in hand, from King John. Because of the great importance of it to the Christian and to his standing fast in that liberty wherewith Christ has made him free, you will not fault me if I am the longer upon it. Let me here take a plain case to illustrate the point. Natural rights of a Lockean kind he had not yet reconciled with his view of human depravity derived from John Calvin. Blessed be the Lord, his spirit has been, we hope, moving on the hearts of many to convince and awaken them. If therefore this right of taxing the Americans resides in the Commons of Great-Britain at all, it must be an inherent right in themselves, or at least in consequence of their being representatives of the people of Great-Britain. McCorison, director, to John Hench, and to Keith Arbour at the American Antiquarian Society for their generous assistance. 17, 23. That they who form a colony by a lawful charter, forfeit no privilege thereby, is certain. This the great adversary and all his agents and instruments prosecuted with unrelenting rage. As God has exalted you above your brethren, let your light shine before them, that others seeing your good works may glorify your heavenly Father, and be excited to follow you. And he that hath right to take one penny of my property, without my consent, hath right to take all. His subjects are such on whom he may depend: they are all ready to lay down their lives for him. Nor is this about a trivial matter, or what is dependent upon the will of your legislature. And presently the tyrant Nero employed all the power of the Roman empire to crush them. The privileges are granted on the conditions that are written in the charter. In no. If we get divided and broken to pieces among ourselves, what will become of us. The following narrative may help to explain what they meant by it. It would hardly be possible for you to steer clear, between anarchy and tyranny. Now, this is not always to be done by a fear of men. But another strand of history accompanies, interacts with, and gives roots to this familiar progress, one that is less known and lacks the direct line of development just rehearsed. The other text Rom. And is not this the case of Great-Britain and America. , was president. Our Gold is become dim, and our fine Gold changed. The rights of Americans antecedent to any charters, or colony constitutions under the crown. Capt. Our preachers, however, understood that this gift of freedom to do right and live truly carries another possibility, rebellion and rejection, as well. Thus the harmless subjects of the Prince of Peace have ever been slaughtered from age to age, and yet they are represented as triumphant conquerors. Unto what has been already said that will shew this, I shall add but a few words. But the text likewise says— The Judge asketh for a reward. And after more of this nature, they close with saying. His conquests were so many deliverances, and his victories salvations. The absence of an enemy was our sole defence. Not that I would insinuate, that there were no others like-minded with them—but that therein they set an excellent example for others to copy after, and what was proper to awaken the attention of Christians. Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. The people have not representatives assigned, but chuse them, and being so chosen, the rights of the people reside now in them, and they may, but not before, act in their behalf. Let us then attend to these words with reverence and godly fear, lest they also rise up in judgment against us in the terrible day of the Lord. To point out to you in some particulars, how the wrath of man praises God. So the peace, tranq
