YALE UNIVERSITY L New England society in the city of New York, Annual report. [15th] 1820. SIS'- it- t^" * I" N « ILIllBIS^IET e A TRIBUTE TO NEW-ENGLAND : SERMON^ DELIVERED BEFOBE THE NEW-ENGLAND SOCIETY CITY AND STATE OF NEW-YORK, ON THE 22d OF DECEMBER, 1820. THE SECOND CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION LANDING or THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH. BY GARDINER SPRING, D. D. Pastor ofthe Brick Presbyterian Church in that City. jyETT-YORK: rUBUSHEH BY L. k F. LOGKWOOD, 151 k HI- BROADWAT. J. Seymour, printer. 182L At a special meeting ofthe Board of Officers ofthe Kew-England So ciety ofthe City and State ofNtw-York, held ai the City Hotel on Tuesday, the S,eth day of December, 1820, — /( was UJ\rAJ\riMOUSLT RESOLVED, That the thanks ofthe Board be presented to the Rev. Doctor Spring, for the Sermon delivered at their solicitation on their Anni versary of the 22d instant, and that he be respectfully requested to furnish a copy of it for the press : and that Gen. Stevens, President ofthe Society, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Brackett, be a Committee to present the above resolution to the Rev. Dr. Sprins. E.xtract from the Minutes, AMHERST WIGHT, Secretary. JS/e'w-York, 2,7th December, lS-20. Rev. and dear Sir, In compliance with the above Resolution of the Board of Officers of the New-England Society of the City and State of New- York, we have great satisfaction in communicating the enclosed to you, hoping you will not hesitate to comply with the re quest therein contained. We feel, from impressions made by the delivery, that a perusal of your impressive Discourse cannot fail to prove animating to patriotism, and enlivening to piety. With great respect and consideration. Your obedient servants, EBENEZER STEVENS, ZECHARIAH LEWIS, J. WARREN BRACKETT. Rev. Dr. Spring. JVew-York, January 2, 1821. Gentlemen, I had hoped the very respectable Board of the New- England Society would have excused me from submitting the ensu ing discourse to the public eye ; and it is not without much diffi dence and hesitation that I now submit it to their disposal. I am, with the highest respect. Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, GARDINER SPRING. Messrs. Ebenezer Stevens, Zechariah Lewis, J. Warren Brackett. SERMON. PSALM CVII. 7. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. I REJOICE, my friends, that, after so many memori als of the event we now celebrate, the time has arrived, when the Sons ofthe Pilgrims in this City, deem it a privilege publicly and in the house of prayer, to ho nour the only wise God, in their rehearsal of scenes, which so often drew tears from the eyes and praises from the lips of their pious progenitors. Two hundred years ago this day, our forefathers landed on the shores of this Western World. We cannot but feel, that this event deserves a grateful acknowledgment and com memoration. The ancient people of God, scattered as they had been in different portions of the globe, enslaved by one enemy after another, oppressed by difficulty and danger from every side, found no sweeter theme for their praise, than that eternal mer cy to which they owed all their hopes, and that in cessant guardianship which had so often interposed in miracles of mercy and judgment, to guide them to " a city of habitation." Their danger and their de liverance are exquisitely set forth by the Psalmist in the touching imagery of travellers lost in a pathless desert, wandering about this great wilderness world as " pilgrims and strangers on the earth," but at last directed and conducted home. The way in which they are led is often dark and mysterious ; but in the issue there is every thing to advance the praises of their guide and deliverer. Nor can we at once advert to a series of events more illustrative of these sentiments, than the course in which a wise Providence conducted our ancestors. The first settlers of New-England were descended from a highly respectable class of men, who took their rise in England, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and were called Puritans.* After the year 1662, when the famous Act of Uniformity was passed by the Eng lish Parliaraent, requiring a solemn declaration of assent to every thing contained in the book of Common Prayer, and the administration of the Sa craments, they were called Non-Conformists, and since that period they have been more commonly call ed Dissenters. Europe was not without the expectation of a par tial reform as early as the fourteenth century. Not far from this period, the authority and influence of the Roman Pontiffs began to decline ; and in the fif teenth century, some attempts at reformation were, to say the least, the ostensible objects of two important Councils of the Latin Church.t No serious advance * The title Puritans appears originally to have been a term of reproach. Mr. Neal, in-his history ofthese excellent men, remarks, "Ifa man main tained his steady adherence to the doctrines of Calvin and the Synod of Dovt; if he kept the Sabbath ahd frequented sermons; if he maintained fa mily religion, and would neither swear, nor ^be drunk, nor comply with the fashionable vices of the times ; he was called a Puritan.'''' t The Council of Constance and the Council oi Basil. The Council of Constance was assembled by the Emperor Sigwrnunrf, in 1414 ; and after sitting three years and six months, was dissolved in April, Was made in this cause, until the shameless profligacy ofthe Popes, and the martyrdom of several distinguish ed witnesses* for the truth, together with the firmness and increase of the Lollards in England, and the Hussites on the Continent of Europe, had prepared the way for Martin Luther to enter upon a work, which was destined not only to suppress the prepos terous pretensions of Papacy, but to give an effectual and salutary influence to the Church of God for centuries to come. This memorable reformation was established in the sixteenth century. The prin ciples of the Reformed Church, as adopted by Luther, were extensively received in different parts of Ger many ; found very powerful abettors in Switzerland, Geneva, France, and Sweden ; and were introduced into England towards the close ofthe reign of Henry VIII, and during that of his successor, Edward VI. With the exception ofthe Eucharist, there was a hap py agreement in the Reformed Churches on all the leading points of Christian theology ; and with the exception of the Church of England, there was also a very general concurrence in the essential principles of Church government. A lingering attachment to 1418. The great design of this Council was to put an end to the schism which arose in the fourteenth century in consequence of a collision of senti ment with regard to a successor to Gregory XI. A reformation of the Church, however, was one of the professed objects of this Council, though it was altogether defeated. The Councilof Basil was convened in 1431, under the Pontificate of Eu- genius IV. This Council sat twelve years ; and though a reformation was one of its professed objects, it met with very little encouragement. * John Uuss and Jerome, of Prague in Bohemia, were condemned and burnt alive by the Council of Constance. The same Council also condemn ed the opinions of JVickliffe, w^o has wejl been styled " the morning star of the Reformation," and passed senteuoe that his bones should be dug up and burnt with his writings. 8 the rites and ceremonies of the Latin Church, in se- leral of the Monarchs and Bishops who took a lead' ing part in the Reformation, and especially in Eliza beth, in whose reign the Reformation was matured, operated as one of the causes in giving the Church of England its peculiar form of government. Among those, who manifested no small degree of zeal for the entire renunciation of the Popish ritual, and who ear nestly contended for a purer reformation, both in dis cipline and ceremonies, were the Pilgrims of New- England. Neither Elizabeth nor James manifested any predilection for the views of the Puritans : but, on the other hand, became the advocates of a severe and rigorous uniformity, which obliged multitudes to resist the claims of the Establishment with a perseve rance and decision of no bright augury either to their religious or civil tranquillity. Under the fairest and raost sacred pretence, an effort was made, combining the power of Church and State, to impose and enforce restrictions upon the conscience, which well nigh proved the rock that severed the peace of England. Elizabeth was at heart averse to a pure reformation, and the enemy of the non-conformists ; and James, though early inclined to favour their cause, and though no prince was ever more able so to favour it as to preserve the peace of the realm, was just pusil lanimous and proud enough to become the mere crea ture of Prelacy, and from the professed advocate of religious liberty, to avow himself its implacable foe. Toward the latter part of James's reign, it became obvious that the Puritans could not remain with safe ty in England ; and a little company from one of the Northern Counties, composed principally of the Church under the pastoral care of the Rev. Richard Clifton, and his successor the Rev. John Robinson, contemplated a removal to Holland, which was ef fected in the year 1607. After residing some time at Amsterdam, they removed to Leyden, where the kindness and hospitality of the generous Hollanders was conspicuous, and will ever be cherished in grate ful remembrance. But notwithstanding the securi ty and peace which this retirement afforded them from the bitterness of persecution, their condition in Holland was not without difficulties of a very serious kind. The labour of becoming familiar with a strange language — the hardships necessary to a bare subsist ence — the exposure of the rising generation to the dissipation, immoralities, and profligacy of a popu lous city — together with the faint prospect of perpe tuating a Church which they believed to be constitut ed upon the model of apostolical simplicity,* led them to direct their thoughts toward the New World. It could not but be foreseen that their removal to America would be accompanied with the severest danger and deepest self-denial. They were about to * The Puritans appear to have maintained a sort of Church government which was not strictly Presbyterian or Congregational ; but which retaiued some of the principles of both. They believed, " That every particular Church of Christ is only to consist of such as ap pear to believe in and obey him — " That they have a right to embody themselves into a Church by contract or covenant — " That being thus embodied, they have the right of choosing their own officers, which are of three sorts, Pastors, or. Teaching Elders, Ruling El ders, and Deacons — " That these ofacers, being chosen and ordained, have no lordly, arbitra ry, or imposing power, but can only rule and minister with the consent of the brethren." PrinceU Chronology, vol. i. p. 92. Prince, in his New-England Chronology, complains of the charge that Mr. Robinson and his followers were Brownisls. Vide vol. i. p. 81. B 10 spread their sails on a boisterous ocean, and un der inclement skies to direct their course to an in hospitable clime. After . much consultation, and several seasons of special prayer for the divine di rection and blessing upon their enterprise, they left Holland for England in July, 1620, and having made suitable preparations for the voyage, embarked for America on the Sth of August, of the same year, the whole number of adventurers being about one hun dred and twenty.* After having been obliged, by the badness of the weather and the unsoundness of one of their ships, to return twice into port, they at length survived a tedious passage of suffering and hazard ; reached the harbour of Cape Cod on the llth of No vember ; about the middle of December arrived oppo site the town of Plymouth, and on the 22d of the same month, landed on the memorable rock so famed in the history of the Pilgrims of New-England. Their condition on landing was such as to call for the peculiar benignity of a superintending Providence. Without the limits of their patentt — enfeebled and sickly through the length and hardships of their voy age — without shelter and without friends — ^before them a wide region of solitade and savageness — they were compelled to pitch their tents between the bowl ings of the forest and the storm of the ocean, and * The Rev. Mr. Robinson never himself removed to New-England. It was his intention to follow his congregation ; but he died March 1, 16SS, in the fiftieth year of his age,, and at the summit of his usefulness. His wi dow and children afterwards removed to Plymouth. t Their design was to make a settlement on Hudson River, or in the ad jacent country. For this they had obtained a patent : hut they were carried beyond the precincts of the territory which had been granted to them, and w«re prevented from altering their course by the inclemency of the season. Robertson's History of America. II spend a dreary season in burying their dead, and thinking of their homes. Like the pilgrims of other times, " they wandered in the wilderness in a soli tary way ; they found no city to dwell in." Not withstanding the rigour of the climate, and the seve rities of a disease which had cut off nearly one half of the colony, very conspicuous were the divine guar dianship and munificence toward these pious men.* Not only was their arrival beyond the limits of their charter a favourable disappointment, but large num bers ofthe natives had been swept off by a pestilence which raged the preceding year ; so that it was not only less difficult to repel their invasions, but more easy to obtain the means of a comfortable subsistence, and to form such alliances as proved salutary to the colony for many years to come.f Such was the prosperity of the Plymouth colony, that large bodies of pious people in England began to make preparations for settlements among their bre- -"^ " A combination of circumstances, singularly providential, is observa ble in the settlement and preservation of these pious pilgrims in New-Eng land. On Hudson's River and-its vicinity, the Indians were numerous, and had they not been disappointed with respect to their original design, probably they would have fallen a prey to savage cruelty. In New-England, Provi dence had prepared the way for their settlement. The uncommon mortali ty in 1617, had in a manner depopulated that part of the country in which tliey began their plantatioB. They found flelds which had been planted, without owners, and a fine country round them, in some measure cultivated, without an inhabitant. The winter broke up sooner than usual ; and early in the season, they entered into a perpetual league of friendship, commerce, and mutual defence with the Indians." TrumbulPs General History of tlie United States, vol. i. t The first Governor of Plymouth colony, was Mr. John Carver. He was among the emigrants to Leyden, who composed Mr. Robinson's Church in that place. He was unanimously elected to this office by the colony, af- fTr their arrival in Plymouth harbour, arid before they went on shore. He setts, about as large a tribe, but almost totally destroyed by the great sicki oess. Beside these, there were the inland Indians, — the Maquas or Mawhawks, the Massawomeks, the Canada Indians, the Kennebeck Indians, and other tribes iu the District of Maine and on Long-Island. Their religion was like the religion of other Gentiles. Some as their god, adored the sun; others, the moon; some, the earth; others, the fire, &c. &c. The prominent characteristics of their worship were obscenity and blood. Vide Gookin''s Historical Collections ofthe Indians in JVew-England. A copy of this work will be found in the library of the New-York HH- torical Society. ri Vidence had raised up just such a race bf men as 6\\t progenitors, to disseminate the glorious Gospel in these ungenial climes. The Pilgrims of New-England were men who had pity on the heathen. Their spirit was the spirit of missions. They gloried in the prospect of plant ing Churches, and propagating a heaven-born religion. It was this that mitigated the horrors of their persecu-- tion at home, and that inspirited them with so much patience and heroism abroad. Among the early settlers of NeAv-England, you not only find the Mayhews, but others of a kindred, if not a superior spirit. Elliott, that famed " apostle of the Indians," was one of the chosen band that followed up the first colony ;* and Bourn, Treat, Sergeant, Edwards, Brainerd, and Hawley ,t soon becarae either coadjutors or success* ors in the work. The prosperity of their labours was almost without a parallel. The darkness, the thick darkness, which covered the people, began to * The Rev. John Elliott, minister.of Roxbury, Massachusetts, came to this country eleven years after the landing at Plymouth. He was intensely devoted to the work of evangelizing the Indians. He published the New Testament in the Indian language, and in a few years the whole Bible, and several other books. He established schools and Churches among thera with great success ; and, after a life iudefatigably devoted to this cause, died in the eighty-sixth year of his age. t The Rev. Richard Bourn was one of the first emigrants from England, who settled at Sandwich. He was pastor of an Indian Church at Marsh- pee, which was composed of his own converts, and which was constituted by Elliott and Cotton. He is deserving of honourable remembrance as a faith ful and devoted missionary. The Rev. Samuel Treat was the first minister of Eastham, Massacbusetls, and devoted much of his time and attention to the Indians. He had under him four Indian teacliers, who read in separate villages on every Sabbath, excepting every fourth, when he himself preached the sermons whicb he pre pared for them in their own language. The Rev. John Serjeant was a native of Newark, Jfew-.Iersey, and was a most faithful servant of Jesus Christ among the Houesatonnoc, or Stock- 28 flee away.* Yes, it has gone — and now, what de we see ? An army of ministers — a world of Bi bles — I had almost said, a continent of Churches, where, two hundred years ago, not a solitary mission ary of the cross had ever trodden the desert, not a Bi ble had blessed the cell of the savage, not a Church had lifted its spire amid the trees of the forest. The War-whoop has ceased, and the angel " having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth," in his flight over this New World has proclaimed, " Glory to God in the highest ; peace on earth, and good will to men." The spirit of evangelizing their fellow-men did not soon forsake the bosom of our fathers, nor has it left the bosom of their children. It has lived from gene ration to generation ; it has diffused its blessings ; it bridge Indians. He was succeeded by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, to all whose excellencies as a scholar and a divine, we may add the labours of six years as a missionary. The labours of David Brainerd are fresh in the recollection of every friend of missions. Gideon Hawley also is a name that ougbt not be forgotten. He com menced his missionary labours at Stockbridge ; thence made an excursion to the Mohawks ; thence to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras ; thence to the Six Nations on the Susquehanna river, devoting more than half a century in benevolent exertion to promote the salvation ofthe heathen. The Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D. D while a minister at Lebanon, Con necticut, established an Indian school, where a number of Indian youth v;ere educated as missionaries. This establishment resulted in the founda tion of Dartmouth College, of which Dr. Wheelock was the first President. * Previous to the death of the venerable Mayhew, about two-thirds ofthe inhabitants on Martha's Vineyard were reckoned as " praying Indians." There were thirty Indian ministers. In 1634, there were fourteen towns within the jurisdiction ofMassachusetts colony, inhabited by these evan gelized heathen. For the substance ofthe information on this and the preceding page, vide Oookiri's Collections, Allen's Biographical Dictionary, and the London .Mis sionary Register. 29 has marked the course of the Pilgrims wherever they have gone. Let any man sit down to the sober cal culation, and he will be convinced that a full share of the exertion which has been made by the American Churches, with the view of bringing back this lost and guilty world to God, raay be attributed to the descendants of New-England. Not a few of those benevolent designs which have poured their blessings on mankind during the last century, and which have increased in number and become magnified in impor tance within the last thirty years, were originated and brought to maturity, and have been preserved in progressive advancement by the same active and per severing class of men. New-England has been scat tering her sons and her daughters, in untold nurabers and rapid succession, over this fertile continent ; and wherever they have been dispersed, the "wilderness has blossomed as the rose, and the desert has become as the garden ofthe Lord." While on this part of my subject, a thought occurs to which I wish it were in my power to impart all the importance and urgency it demErads. Our ancestors were men who were not ashamed of their depend ence on the immediate and omnipotent influences of the Holy Spirit. They preached, they acted as though the motto of their every enterprise was, " Not by raight, nor by power, but by ray Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." They took great pains to bring for ward, in the personality and divinity of his nature, and the efficiency and glory of his office, that Al mighty Agent, who is commissioned in the method of redemption, to raake " the gospel the power of God unto salvation." Their best adapted, their most self- 30 denying^ their most vigorous exertions, they saw and felt were absolutely dependent on the Holy Ghost. And it is this thought that sunk them so often on their knees ; that excited such ardent and irrepressi ble desire for the salvation of men ; that roused the spirit of confident and intrepid exertion, and that inspired their bosoms with the all-conquering sen timent, confidence in God. They were men whose hearts were set on revivals of religion. Their Churches were early in the habit of looking up to God for the effusions of his Holy Spirit, and of set ting apart seasons of prayer for this most desirable and iraportant blessing. And many were the seasons of the outpouring of his Holy Spirit upon that favour ed land. Very early after the establishment of these infant settlements, the presence of God was wonder fully manifested in the years 1629, 1630, and 1637 ; and, in allusion to these seasons of mercy, one of thera says, " In those days God, even our own God, did bless New-England."* In the year 1680, there was a general revival of religion in Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut.f About the year 1705, very remarkable were the visitations of redeeming grace to a portion of the Massachusetts colony .| In 1679, 1683, 1696, 1712, 1718, and 1721, the blessing of God descended in a remarkable manner upon sorae of the Churches in the interior of Massa chusetts and Connecticut.§ In 1727, after the great earthquake throughout New-England, there was a * Gillie's Historical Collections, vol. i. t Ibid. vol. ii. :|: Ibid. vol. ii, { Ibid, 31 very general, deep, and saving impression upon the minds of multitudes in different parts of the coun try.* In 1734, there was a general revival of reli gion in Northampton, which extended to several towns in the county, and also to others in Connecti cut.f About the year 1740, the Spirit of God attended the ministrations of the Rev. George Whitefield, in different parts of New-England and America ; and the same influence also accompa nied the labours of the Rev. William Tennent.^ From the year 1740 to 1745, there was a signal ma nifestation of Divine power, grace, and mercy, which ought never to be brought into view without senti ments of sacred wonder and praise. Upwards of one hundred and twenty ministers, and sixty-eight in convention, bore public testimony of their firm per suasion in the power, reality, and genuineness of this work ', and, at the close of their memorable attesta tion, say, " And now we desire to bow the knee in thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Je sus Christ, that our eyes have seen, and our ears heard such things."§ The early days of New-England, my friends, were not days when revivals of religion were reproached as the reveries of deluded fanatics, or the effect of priestcraft and ecclesiastical policy; nor when good * Vide Preface to the third edition of Edwards's Narrative, by Dr. Sewall, Mt. Prince, and others. t Edwards's Narrative, ± Prince's Christian History, and Gillie's Collections. 0 This interesting document will be found at length in Gillie's Historical Collections, vol, ii, p, 306, men stood aloof from them, because they were ap prehensive that they savoured more of extrava gance than solid piety. No — they were not satis fied without them. And it was for such scenes of mercy that a benignant Providence directed their course to this new world. For two hundred years New-England has been blessed with the effusions of the Spirit above any other section of our country, and these American Churches above any other section of the earth. The unction has been preserved and dif fused. Different sections of the continent have been the theatre of these wonders ; and it appears to us, that one grand design of the colonization of the Pil grims was, that the work of redemption should ulti mately be carried forward on the largest scale in the ^western world. But there is an additional consideration, which we may not pass over in silence. The wisdom of Divine Providence, in the removal of our ancestors, appears in a very interesting light, in the influence of their doctrinal belief and practical piety. In this respect, they Avere men of " sterner stuff" than some of their puny descendants. In sentiment, they adhered ri gidly to the doctrines of the-Reformation. The doc trine of the Divine existence in a Trinity of Per sons ; — the doctrine of the entire and complete sinful ness of all mankind by nature ; — the doctrine of the atonement by the vicarious sufferings of Jesus Christ ;— the doctrine of regeneration, or the ne cessity of a radical change of heart by the special agency of the Holy Spirit; — the doctrine of justifica tion, by faith alone, in the imputed righteousness of the Son of God ; — the doctrine of the certain and 33 final perseverance of the -saints ; — and the doctrine of the everlasting blessedness of the righteous, and the everlasting punishment of the wicked — are those which the fathers of New-England considered fundamental to the system of Redemption. The Confession of Farth, drawn up by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, may be considered as a fair exposition of their creed. While they did not bind themselves to a rigorous uniformity on all the numer ous subdivisions of thought which are contained in so detailed a confession, they regarded this noble instru ment as containing the great truths of the Bible, and as sufficiently explicit to distinguish the friends of our holy religion from every class of errorists in the world.* Though professed Calvinists, they were men of true liberality and original investigation. They neither despised nor gave implicit confidence to hu man authority ;t and their doctrines and their spirit have had no small influence on their descendants from generation to generation.. New-England has ever * This Confession was framed after the removal of our ancestors to this country. The Westminster Assembly was convened as a Council to the English Parliament in 1643. To show the high estimation in which the first Churches in New-England held the Westminster Confession, in tho year 1648 a Synod was convened, with the view of adopting a system of Church discipline, and in the course of their sessions, unanimously passed the fol lowing resolution : — " This Synod having perused and considered, with much gladness of heart and thankfulness to God, the Confession of Faith, lately published by the Reverend Assembly of Divines in England, do judge it holy, orthodox, and judicious, in all matters of faith, and do tlierefore freely and fully consent thereunto for the substance." i There is an interesting fact in relation to the character and views of the ^ev. Mr. Robinson, whicii I am gratified to present to the reader in this place. Prince, ill his New-England Chronology, has a quotation from u. work of Governor'Winslow, in which he says, that " when the people of Plymouth parted from their renowned Pastor, he charged us, before God and his blessed angels, to follow him no further than he followed Christ. And if God should reveal any thing to us by any other instrnmfiiit of his, !o tie as E 34 stepped forward the bold and successful advocate of the doctrines of the Reformation. She has fearless ly driven them to their legitimate consequences ; and, within the last two centuries, has done more to illus trate and defend them, than any other section of the Christian world. The New-England divines, though differing, as we might naturally suppose men of bold and independent thought would differ, in some points of minor moment, are generally Calvinists ofthe first grade, and able defenders of the faith.* Nor was the piety of our forefathers less conspicu- ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry. For he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light to break forth out of his holy word. He took occasion also miserably to bewail the state of the Reformed Churches, who were come to a period in religion, and would go no further than the instruments of their refortnation. As for example, the Lutherans could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; for what ever part of God's word he had further revealed to Calvin, they had rather die than embrace it. And so, said he, you see the Calvinists : they stick where he left them>^a misery much to be lamented. For though they were precious, shining lights, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them ; — and were they now alive, they would be as ready to embrace further light, as that they had received. But withal, he exhorted iis to take heed itrhat we received for truth ; and well to examine, compare, and weigh it with other Scriptures, before we receive it. For, said he, it is not possible the Chris tian world should come so lately out of such an antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once," — P. 89, 90. * The New-England divines have usually, and I think without reason, been called Hopkinsians: but the fact is, they' are decided and consist ent Calvinists, As such Dr. Hopkins was always considered; and as such his followers were uniforraly called, until the famous dispute in New-Eng land about the means of grace, and the discussion of the question, 'HHiethcT ihe Scriptures contain any promise of grate lo the doings of the unregene- rate ? Dr. Hopkins had good sense enough to espouse the negative of this question ; and, though the docltine was far from being novel, from this cir cumstance alone his disciples were denominated Hopkinsians. The writer is sensible of the importance to be attached to the principles of the new school ; but that there is no such difference between Calvinists of the old and of the new school, as ought to separate brethren, is obvious from one fact, — The great body of both have agreed in recommending Scott's Family Bible, and tbe Assembly's Catechism. 35 . ous than the purity of their doctrines. As though blessings were designed for this nation for a great while to come, her early colonists were not merely good men, but some of the best men the worid has seen. About tb make this happy land the theatre of raeraorable displays of his mercy, the Great Hus bandman planted it with the choicest viae. " He sifted three kingdoms, that he might plant the American wilderness with the finest wheat." A very faithful historian says of themr, " There never was perhaps before seen such a body of pious people together on the face of the earth."* In all their de signs and conduct, personal and public, they were men who appear to have been governed hy the fear of God and the love of Jesus Christ. They felt the importance, saw the beauty, and enjoyed the conso lations of true godliness. Tl\ey were ' ' children of the, light and of the day ;" " cruciized to the world, and alive unto God;" and, in their habitual conduct, exhi bited the enlightened and holy zeal of sincere Chris tians. Nor were they negligent in the performance of external duties. No people cherished a more sacred regard fot the holy Scriptures ; none paid a more re verential respect to the Lord's day ; none mor© punctual and profitable attention to family worship and the religious education of children. Nor was their morality less uniform and consistent than their religioa.t It was the deep and thorough morality of the gospel, pervading alike the chair of magistracy, * Prince's Christian Histoiy. t When they left Holland, the magistrates of Leyden gave tbcm this ho~ nourable testimony : " These Englishmen have lived among, us now these twelve years, yet we never had one suit or action against thera," 36 the pulpit, the bench, the workshop, and the field. Vice and imraorality sought a distant retirement, and scarcely found a place among them.* Aud when in the progressive advancement of the colony, there ap peared some symptoms of declension, the whole land was filled with alarm. Ministers and people, ru lers and subjects, were alive to the question, What is to be done, that these evils may be reformed .?t Such was the character and influence of the primi tive colonists of New-England. And can we, can these United States, can the world be too grateful, that this important section of the earth was first set tled by such men ? It was a concern of vast im portance to the generations destined to inhabit this extended and fertile country, that its ^rst settlers should be wise and good. Had New-England received her first colonies from countries where the refinements of modern philosophy had super seded the religion of the Bible ; where the faith and morality ofthe Gospel were a secondary con cern, or the object of no concern; had her early colonists been a Laud, a Priestly, or a Belsham, * In a sermon before the House of Lords and Commons, and the Assem bly of Divines at Westminster, the Rev Mr. Firmin, who had resided some ume in this country, said, " I have lived in a country seven years, and all that time I never heard one profane oath, and all that time I never- did see a man drunk in that land." t In 1679, the Massachusetts government actually called a Synod of all the Churches in that colony, vith which the most unyielding impenitence is satisfied ; — ^a faith, which mocks at the seriousness and spirituality and self-devotement of true religion, and which, consi ders all the tenderness of an awakeneil conscience, to Mt. Lindsey, a man of the same stamp in England, writes — ;*' I am ac quainted with a nuniber of ministers, particularly in the southern part of this State, who avow, and publicly preach, the Unitarian doctrine. There are others more cautious, who content themselves with leading their hearers, by a course of rational but prudent sermons, gradually and insensibly to erabrace it. Though this latter mode is not what I entirely approve, yet it produces good effects. For the people are thus kept out of the' reach bf tbese false opinions, and are prepared for the impressions which will be raade on them by more bold andardent successors!'' — Vide History of American Uni- * It is supposed that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts contains about eighty Unitarian ministers. Probably about .^//^ of them openly avow their opposition to orthodoxy. "There may be Iwcnly professed anti-Tri nitarians in other parts of New-England. ¦ 41 all anxiety for the salvation of the soul, all the so lemnities of conviction for sin, as well as "all joy and peace in believing," the object of ridicule and sarcasm ; — a faith which relaxes the obligations of personal and domestic religion ; which makes no scruple in allowing ministers and people an occa sional indulgence in the more refined and fashion able vices ; and which often descends low enough to caricature the siraplicity and purity of bet ter days. Yes, all this is to be found in New- England — where the daughter of Zion was once " coraely as Tirzah, fair as the raoon, and terrible as an array with banners" — where our fathers en joyed such memorable effusions of the Divine Spi rit, and beheld such illustrious exhibitions of the Divine glory — where so rauch has been accora- plished, and so rauch endured, to extend and per petuate a " pure and undefiled religion." There is something in the apostacy of these latter times to be bhterly bewailed ; and if it were not an apostacy that involves the rejection of all the essential articles ofthe Christian faith ; all that is binding in the ple nary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ;* all that is precious in the hopes of the Gospel ; all that is holy in a Christian walk and conversation ;t and • As conclusive evidence of the truth of this observation, we refer lo the fact, that the Socinians of Boston are the known patrons of the " Improv ed version of the New Testament." One of their publications, The Gene rcd Repository, published at Cambridge, declares it to be "a version fa r more faithful, more correct, and more intelligible, than that in common use." And yet in this version, whole chapters of the Gospels have been re jected, and nearly all the fundamental doctrines explained away. We might also advert to the disrespectful language with which even the unlearned of the Socinian party are taught to speak of tbe Epistles. t Dr. Priestly himself acknowledges, that " a great number of the UnitiT- 42 all that is solemn in the retributions of the eternal world : the peculiarities of time and circumstance might, perhaps, at the present opportunity, with some justice be considered paramount to the claims of truth and religion. But we dare not suppress the fact, and to us it is a source of the heaviest grief, "that many of the sons of the Pilgrims have forsaken the Lord ;" " have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger ;" " are gone away backward." Descendants of New-England ! This is a day on which it becomes us, with high exultation, to commemorate the virtues of our ancestors ; and by our adherence to the principles, and our attach ment to the institutions, which they have intrust ed to our care, prove to the world how Worthy we are to be called their sons. Wherever your allot ment may be cast, you have much to do, to revive, and defend, and perpetuate the spirit and influence of men " of whom the world was not worthy." Your children, and your children's children, " vidll rise up and call you blessed," as you tread in the steps of your fathers. Little do the advocates of a libe ral religion and morality anticipate the influence of their views on fiiture generations, or suspect that they are devoting their offspring to a system of faith and practice that will plant thorns on their dying pil low, and embitter their reflections throughout eter nity. " Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for, the old paths, where is the good rians of the present age, are only men of good sense, and without much practical religion : and there is a greater apparent conformity to the world in them, than is observable in others," H« also says, that " he hopes they have more of a real principle of religion than they seem to have ,"' He fur- ther allows, " that they are peculiarly wanting in zeal for religion." 4S Way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls." Christians of New-England! The events of the present day are calculated to prove your sincerity, and to discover the secrets of your heart. " Watch unto prayer." Alike fearless of the allurements of that modern Catholicism, which chants forth the praises of its own liberality* only to betray the unthinking and the unwary, and fearful of tbat " philosophy and vain deceit," where many a mind shoots ahead of its own expectations, and passes beyond the hope of recovery or return ;t " con tend, earnestly, for the faith once delivered to the saints." "Be ye holy, harmless, without rebukev in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation^ araong whom ye shine as lights in the world." * In a very excellent sermon, preached by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller,^ not JoBg since, at the ordination of the Rev. William Nevins, as Pastor of the first Presbytfirian Church in Baltimore, after expressing- his views of tbe "dreadful and soul-destroying errors of Arius and Socinus," the Rev. au thor subjoins the followirrg note : — " The above language, concerning the destructive nature of the Ariati and Socinian heresies, has not been adopted lightly: but is the result of se rious deliberation, and deep conviction ; and in conformity with this view of the subject, the author cannot forbear to notice and record a declaration made to himself, by the late Dr. Priestly, two or three years before the de cease of that distinguished Unitarian. The conversation was a free and amicable one, on some of the fundamental doctrines of religion. In reply to a direct avowal on the part of the author, that he was a Trinitarian and a Calvinist, Dr. Priestly said, ' I do not wonder that you Calvinists enter tain and express a strongly unfavouratile opinion of us Unitarians. The truth is, tiwre neither can, notmtght to be, any compromise between uS', If you are right, we are net Christians at all; and if we are right, you are gross idolaters.' And nothinjkcertatnly can be more just." i Dr. Priestly says ofHimself, " He was once a CalvinisJ, and that of the strictest sect ; then a high Arian, next a low'Arian; then a Socinian; and in a little time a Socinian of the lowest kind, in which Jesus Christ is con sidered a mere man, as fallible and peccable as Moses, or any other Pro phet.'' He also says, "Idonotkaowmhenmycreedwillbejixed:" Ministers 5f New-England ! " Hold fastthat yon have received, let no man take your crown.'^ " The time vwll come," yea^ is now come, " when men^yill not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusls, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itch ing ears, and shall turn away their ears from the truth." The prevalence, the deception, the disho nesty of error, are no cause of despondency to^the friends of the " truth as it is in Jesus." Perilous times may come ; but in a little while, the Church shall put on her glory. Do not dissemble ; do not wrest the Scriptures from their native import; iiut seize on every opportunity to manifest your adher ence to the adorable mysteries of the Gospel. Stand up to your work-; and be assured you have nothing to fear, but from the unfaithfulness of a shameful neutrality in a cause which is identified with your Redeemer's glory. Fellow-immortals ! see how every thing is mea suring out the span of human life, and hastening one generation after another to eternity. Before another century shall pass away, otber raen will walk these streets, and be invested with these possessipEus. Be fore another anniversary, the places which now know you may know you no raore. Forget not the God of your fathers. Corae out from the world, and live as " pilgriras and strangers on the earth." And in a little while, all your wanderings shall be over : chastened by the trials of earth, and exalted by the spirit of heaVen, you shall be parsers of a rich, a glorious inheritance, and enjoy tWm. rest which re- maineth for the peogle of God." AMEN.