A sermon, preached to the soldiers, who went from West-Hartford, in defence of their country. Delivered the 2d of June, 1775. Being the day before they marched from that place. : Published at the desire of the hearers. / By Nathan Perkins, A.M. Pastor of the Fourth Church in Hartford.

A sermon, preached to the soldiers, who went from West-Hartford, in defence of their country. Delivered the 2d of June, 1775. Being the day before they marched from that place. : Published at the desire of the hearers. / By Nathan Perkins, A.M. Pastor of the Fourth Church in Hartford.

Table of contents

Title page

PREFACE.

§

§

[Page]

PSALM, cxl.1, 2.

Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil Man: preserve me from the violent Man. Which imagine Mischief in their Heart; continuually are they gathered together for War.

MY BRETHREN,

THE pulpit is devoted to more important purposes, than the fate of kingdoms, even the instruction of mankind in the way to everlasting life. But, when necessity calls, it may with propriety, address us on civil liberty; and at once instruct and warm those who are willing to hazard their lives, in the defence of the privileges of their country. On this affecting occasion, when some present, soon expect to go into the service of the colonies, on whose account we are now assembled in the house of God, your solemn attention is earnestly solicited to the passage of holy writ, just read.

THE text, taken as a detached passage without a critical regard to its circumstances and connection, may be divided into three branches, each of which will be a distinct topic of discourse.

I. MISCHIEFS are imagined against us by evil men.

II. To make these mischiefs take effect, war is begun.

III. DELIVERANCE and preservation must be sought from the Lord.

[Page]I RETURN to the first of these. Mischiefs are imagined against us, by evil men.

To paint the distresses of our native land in colours sufficiently bright, is a task to which I own myself unequal. However, a few words on this subject, will be pertinent, and not unentertaining to you. Our forefathers purchased our invaluable liberties at the expence of their blood and treasure. To enjoy their religion, their God, and their consciences, and to transmit an unembarrassed worship, untaxed inheritance and fair freedom, with her happy train of numerous blessings, down to future generations; they left their pleasant, native soil, the other side of the atlantic, relinquished friends and near connexions, braved all hardships and despised all dangers. At the expence of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from whence they came, by unwearied endeavours and an intrepid spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and inhospitable wilds of America, then filled with savage barbarians. Propitious heaven smiled on their arduous attempts, and crowned their bold enterprises with unexpected success. How soon did this country after their settlement in it, change its appearance! the huts of savages were converted into the dwellings of christians. That dark, blind ignorance, which sat brooding over the minds of the aborigines was gradually chased away. Now fair science dawns, and the arts of life are cultivated diligently and are brought to a tolerable perfection. Where satan was once worshipped, now the true God is served. Where superstition once raged, now the purest form of worship on the face of the earth is established, and the sacred rights of conscience maintained. In a word, the glorious light of christianity has dispelled the dark glooms of paganism. And as America was sought as an asylum for civil as well as religious freedom, so governments, vested with perfect legislatures were erected by royal leave, and a friendly [Page] correspondence established between the colonies and the kingdom from whence they derived their origin. The mutual advantages of this union were great beyond expectation. From this source the exceeding increase of the wealth and fame, strength and navigation of the realm arose. America was peculiarly happy under the shadow of the wings, and in the enjoyment of the friendship of Britain. Indeed no people more happy, more free, more virtuous could be found where'er the circling sun performs its destined course. But alas, short is the date of human felicity! forgetful of the ties of blood, hardened against the bonds of obligation, and unfeeling to the sentiments of gratitude, the parent state envies the liberties, rising glory, encreasing greatness, and growing riches of the dutiful daughter. On these she fixes her malignant eye. Over these oppression longs to stretch her iron rod. Fair LIBERTY, offspring of virtue, trembles at the sight of the hated monster. Despotism assumes the specious name of government; would push coercive measures under the colourable pretence of wise commercial regulations, and calls absolute servitude, just submission to parliament.

ABSURD as are the principles and notions on which the doctrine of arbitrary power is established, there have been ever in Great-Britain found many to adopt it. The vulgar are liable at all times to be deceived; as they are now by the plausible argument used with them to persuade them, every shilling raised by taxes in America will so much lighten their burden; by which artifice the Premier has secured on his side the landed interest; and the nation has ever produced a number of bad citizens, who prone to be corrupted, have been the ready tools of wicked ministers, and the zealous partisans in a cause big with the ruin of the state. It is justly remarked by an able writer, ‘that there may be a faction for the crown as well as against it, and conspiracies against freedom as well as against prerogative.’ [Page] Whoever attempts to remove the limitations necessary to render monarchy consistent with liberty, are rebels in the worst sense, rebels to the laws of their country, the law of nature, the law of reason, and the law of God. Was the question to be put, could there be such wretches? we should be ready to answer, it cannot be. But the British annals have a shameful tale to tell, that such lovers of arbitrary power have ever existed in the state from the earliest period of the constitution. They have not only prevented the establishing any regular system for securing and improving the liberties of the subject and fixing the line of prerogative, but always lye in wait for every opportunity, which the imperfections of the constitution may give them to destroy those rights which have been purchased by the toil and blood of the most exalted individuals who ever adorned humanity. Having carried their despotic plan to enormous lengths, by the influence of bribery at home, since the accession of the present King, they have taken large strides, in the same plan, in America. Indeed, if we but for a moment look over our land, and glance a reflection on the cruel, unjust, and oppressive measures of the ministry at home, we shall be struck with horror at the mischiefs imagined against us. The sum of them all is in the statute, which declares parliament can of right, make laws to bind us in all cases whatever. Did ever more arbitrary statute disgrace the annals of the British nation, even in the most arbitrary reigns?— They have undertaken to give and grant our money without our consent—they shew no regard for our persons or rights.— But why do I stand to enumerate particulars? No conquered province was ever dealt more hardly by.—Our precious liberties are invaded—Our sacred charters violated—Our property taken from us —foreign troops, the bane of government, quartered among us in times of profound peace.—The cruel superstition of popery established, protistanism only tolerated, [Page] and a despotism dangerous to the last degree to us, erected in a large neighbouring province. Gracious God! what mischiefs are imagined against us! Never, never did so dark, so gloomy, so alarming, so terrible calamities hang over America as the present. Who that is zealous in the cause of liberty, and attached with a fervent devotion to the civil rights of his country, but must weep over her fate? Cruel as are the mischiefs imagined against us, fleets and armies are sent over to enforce them.

II. To make them take effect, or to bring us to submission, war is begun. "Continually are they gathered together for war." Had man continued in a state of innocence, war had never been known. But now, alas the fatal effects of apostacy, in every age of the world, and among all nations killing one another hath been taught and practiced by mankind, as a science. In this state of sin and imperfection, war is many times, not only absolutely necessary, but strictly lawful. It can only be lawful, either consonant to the dictates of reason or permitted by the precepts of chrisstianity, when an invasion is made upon us. It is true, according to the peaceable maxims of policy in our blessed Saviour's kingdom, we are to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them who despitefully use us. And according to the apostles doctrine are to be subject to the powers that be. From these passages to support arbitrary principles and to argue against the lawfulness of opposing force by force, would be to draw absurd and dangerous conclusions, from the gentle and condescending laws of the religion of Jesus. To draw the sword and shed human blood for the sake of conquest, must, in the judgment of reason, be deemed a horrid crime. An offensive war can therefore never be either necessary or justifiable. To enlarge empire, feed vain glory, exalt pride, reward favourites, support luxury, and gratify pestilential ambition, must be [Page] wretched motives in a Prince to engage in a war. And all the blood shed, horrors felt, and distresses endured, must be laid at the doors of the aggressors. The wretches who compose the army of a tyrant, are associated by folly in the service of rapine and murder; and that men should imagine they were deserving of honour by the massacre of their fellow creatures or fellow subjects merely to flatter ambition with a new tittle or to enforce oppressive measures, is, perhaps as inscrutable a mystery as any that has perplexed reason, and as gross an absurdity as any that has disgraced it. It is equally to punish vice and prevent misery, that I wish always to see it branded with infamy: For even the successes of vice terminate in the anguish of disappointment. As to Alexander, the fruit of all his conquests was tears, so I wish not only the tears of disappointment, but the tears of repentance to those who want to have America sacrificed to the lust of domination. A vast variety of weighty and invincible arguments might easily be produced to prove the iniquity of an offensive war, for the sake of the acquisition of honor or addition of territory. But to plunder under sanction of law, to strip a people of the blessings of peace, to raise a revenue out of the fruits of their honest industry, to involve in distress, and to reduce them to the hard necessity of either giving up their liberty, or of appealing to arms is a crime of which words cannot describe the blackness, and which must fill us with painful sentiments to think humanity is depraved enough to commit. How nearly this is the case with us and Great Britain is too plain not to be seen by all. We have reasoned—we have remonstrated—we have prayed—we have even wearied the royal ear with our cries—we have persued every respectful, every gentle measure.— But all in vain. We must be scourged into vassalage like slaves. We have been dragged reluctantly into an unnatural civil war.— Hostilities are commenced, and the kings troops, the instruments of tyranny, were the aggressors. Witness [Page] the battle at Lexington, shameful in every view, to the British arms! We are reduced to the sad, deprecated necessity of defending our rights at the point of the sword. We must either resist unto blood or be slaves. No other alternative is left us. As our's is then a defensive, it must be a righteous war. Should a ruffian meet me on the road, demand my purse with a dagger at my throat, or pistol at my breast, if by any means I could strike him dead, I should think myself warranted to do it, by the laws of God and man.

WHEN therefore our money is demanded of us, by the gentle arguments of fleets and armies, or with the boyonet at our breasts, we are warranted by all laws human and divine, to defend ourselves by the hardest, & appeal to heaven for the justice of our cause. Tamely and unresistingly to give up the liberties, with which God and nature have blessed us, and which we hold dear as men, and sacred as christians, must be a crime in us. Nay, I may venture to affirm you have no more right to give up your life and liberties, than your neighbour has forcibly to take them from you. We may therefore with humble confidence in the mercies of the impartial judge and supreme ruler of the universe, devoutly commit our righteous cause to him, and fervently implore his compassionate interposition for our deliverance. For,

III. DELIVERANCE is to be sought from the Lord. When David prays, as he does in the text, it is not because he was a coward; for he was as distinguished a warrior as eminent saint. As he appeared in Zion, fervent in devotion, so he proved himself undaunted in fortitude in the field of battle. His fear of the omnipotent God, was the best security against an unbecomeing fear of man. While therefore he complains of the injustice of his enemies, he implores the merciful interposition of heaven for deliverance and is concerned to engage the presence of the God of battles with him.

[Page]SEEKING deliverance from the Lord implies a feeling sense of our absolute dependance on—conviction of the almighty power of—continued application by prayer to the mercy of God, and repentance of sin. To seek deliverance from, is to feel our dependance on God. Mankind are naturally filled with pride and self-dependance; unwilling to own their subjection to the disposal of him, who is their Lord and Maker. But the truth is, both as individuals and as a people we are entirely dependant for life, and breath, and being, and all things, upon, and absolutely at the disposal of a sovereign God. Whether we realize it or not, it is true, God could with infinite ease cut us down and send us to endless misery. It is therefore of great moment to have our minds deeply and seriously impressed with an habitual conviction of our constant dependance on God the great creator and moral governor and supreme law-giver of the universe, from whom alone we may hope for deliverance, and who justly claims from all rational creatures, the highest esteem, most ardent love, and unremitted obedience.

FURTHER, we must be convinced [...] the almighty power of God, in order to seek acceptably deliverance. The supreme being chuses to have his people acknowlege his power. When God interposes in behalf of any, he will have his arm made bare in such a manner as to convince all it is his, both those for whom, and those against whom it is made bare. We must then realize his almighty power; believe and rest assured he can do every thing; that nothing is too hard for omnipotence; that as he made, so he governs the world with unering rectitude; that he can ride forth conquering and to conquer for his people; can strike dead all that oppose his people, and work deliverance for them by unthought of means; he can turn their adversity into prosperity, their affliction into joy, their troubles into blessings, and cut of darkness bring forth light.

Again, WE must continually apply to his mercy [Page] by prayer. God hath in gracious condescention styled himself a prayer hearing God. He permits such worms of the dust as we are, to approach his sacred presence; to spread our requests before and make known our wants to him through Jesus Christ, by whose atonement alone our sins can be pardoned & our cries heard. Now the word of God abounds with proofs of the Almighty's pleasure to make his power, as it were, tributary to the prayers of his faithful people. Thus the prayer of Joshua stopped the sun in his course; and that of Elijah, though a man of like passions with ourselves opened and shut the springs which water the earth. The prayer of the three children preserved them in the fiery furnace from being hurt, and that of Daniel from the devouring lions. The time would fail me to mention what we find recorded in scripture of the wonders wrought through the powers of prayer. There is indeed no age without a cloud of witnesses of the infaliable efficacy of prayer. Let us then begin, let us persevere in calling upon the Lord for deliverance in this dark and alarming day. Real christians must value prayer, and be constant and unwearied in it; so will the same bountiful God, whose ears are ever open to the prayers of his faithful people, open in the end, heaven to receive their persons. He will give them an abundant entrance into that kingdom, where petitions are no more; because neither weakness, nor want, nor fear, nor trial, remain, but all the soul feels is perfect felicity, and all it expresses, perfect praise.

Lastly, WE must repent of sin, or we do not seek a right for deliverance from the Lord. In true repentance, sin itself becomes the greatest burden and object of aversion; sorrow springs from an affecting humbling sense of the dishonor and injury the penitent feels he has done unto God; not from a selfish concern for his own safety, but from a regard to God, to which he was before a stranger; from a conviction that his whole [Page] deportment and the ruling tempers of his heart at all times have been evil & desperately wicked. Now the generality among us seem to be concerned for our distressed country, and are ardently desirous to contribute something to save it from ruin. They are willing to sacrifice much to the cause of freedom. But there is one kind of sacrifice by which you could do more essential service to your country, than to give all your goods to feed its suffering poor. A sacrifice, in one view, of the cheapest kind. A sacrifice which will cost you nothing. Do you ask what it can be? It is the sacrifice of your sins to the cause of liberty. If you would give up your sins, slay them, and, so to speak, offer them on the altar of liberty as bleeding victims; it will be the best thing you can do for your country, for liberty, and for yourselves.

A short improvement will close the present discourse.

IN the first place, from what hath been said, we see the justice of our cause.—The obstinacy and cruelty of our foes have obliged us to appeal from reason to arms. There is no choice left us but slavery or civil war. England, whose constitution hath been the glory, admiration, and envy of surrounding states—England as famous for arts as for arms—England, which hath shed the blood of her best citizens in the glorious cause of liberty, hath now sat down herself to forge the arbitrary chains. The laws of reason and self-preservation will justify the most strenuous opposition, nay duty calls on us to buckle on the harness & march out into the field and if we must give up our liberties, give them up at the point of the sword.

IN the second place, we may with humble confidence implore the merciful interposition of Almighty God for our deliverance. All who have an interest in heaven are loudly called upon, to besiege the throne of grace, as constant and devout supplicants. Every argument that can operate on the human heart, urges to this duty. A fervent attachment to the civil rights [Page] of your country, must irresistably force you to cry mightily to God. Let us therefore devoutly recommend our bleeding country's righteous cause, to the pitying eye of a compassionate God, through a divine Saviour, and piously crave his blessing on our rulers, on the measures that may be adopted, for success to our arms, and the divine presence to be with those, that are going from among us, in this place, into the service of the colonies, an address to whom will wind up the present discourse.

MY FRIENDS,

IT is at your desire I now address you from this sacred desk; you will therefore allow me to use the utmost freedom, and to give you my parting advice with the greatest plainess. It will be comprehended in the following particulars, which I wish you to remember & by which I wish you to act.—Be courageous—be orderly—be sober, and fear the Lord.

Be courageous. Cowardice is as unseemly in a soldier, as ignorance is in a statesman As the skill of a pilot in a storm, and the worth of a christian in a time of trial, so the valour of a soldier is best seen in a day of battle. You know not how you will feel when called into an engagement, to give back then will brand you with the odious name of a coward. The most of you are strangers to the dreadful horrors of battle. An army drawn up in battle array, the roaring of cannon, the smoke and confusion, the cries of the wounded, groans of the dying, and all the dreadful horrors of battle are things to which you have not been accustomed. He is the brave soldier who at such an awful juncture, has entire self-possession and presence of mind. You have every thing to inspire you with undaunted fortitude. You fight not for your daily bread—not for four-pence sterling a day, but for your lives, your property, your native land, your dearest friends, your just rights, all you hold dear as men and sacred as christians, your ALL. If these motives do [Page] not fire your souls in your country's cause, what can! Indeed you have every thing before you to rouse up the soldier, warm the man and animate the christian. Play the men therefore for your God, your people, and the cities of your God.

BE orderly. Nothing is more beautiful in a soldier than the most exact attention, scrupulous regard and punctual obedience to order. Orderly troops are infinitely more likely to gain honor to themselves, victory to their arms, and triumph for their country, than a confused rabble. If, in the day of battle, you do not obey strictly orders and keep in ranks, defeat will most certainly ensue. Well diciplined and orderly forces, history abundantly evinces, carry the greatest terror with them, and are generally successful. I must therefore enjoin upon you, the most punctual attention to orders.

BE sober. Temperance and sobriety are fine ornaments to the soldier whose life exposes him to numberless dangers, throws him in the midst of temptation and hardens him in the commission of sin. No two professions so full of danger, as the sailor and soldier, and none so loose and wicked. Extravagant mirth, vain levity and universal forgetfulness of decency of deportment will sit with a very ill grace on those, who pretend to sacrifice life to the cause of freedom and their country. As I would not have you lay aside the man, when you assume the soldier, so I would not have you forget the duties of religion in the noise of a camp. Let compassion, tenderness, kindness and benevolence to all, be your companions. Do not imagine you may put on the unfeeling fierceness of a barbarian, and divest yourselves of humanity. Wherever you may be posted, and in all your marches remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Remember all the duties of devotion & sink not down into stupid neglect or thoughtless contempt of them. Let it appear that the camp and religion, commonly great strangers to each other, [Page] are not inconsistent. With you, instead of profanity, let there be reverence of divine things; and instead of oaths and curses, the cries of prayer.

LASTLY. Fear the Lord. I do not mention this part of the advice, last in order, because it is last in importance; for it is the one thing needful and of infinite moment. He that fears God the most, will be the least likely to fear man; for the fear of God is the [...] security against cowardice, and the good man will make the [...]st soldier; and if you are never to return to your friends, the fear of the Lord will be a sure pass-port to eternal honours. Life, you know, is very uncertain, you are going into danger, and ought solemnly to be reminded of a dying hour. Do not think then when you have on the harness of war, the instruments of death, you are completely equipped. There is another kind of armour of infinite moment and absolute necessity, the armour of righteousness. Take then, the girdle of truth—the breast-plate of righteousness—the shield of faith—the helmet of salvation—and the sword of the spirit, and you will be completely armed, prepared to meet your fate, either to conquer, or die in battle.

To conclude. WE wish you the divine presence—we wish you the divine blessing—we wish you success, may you be secured from temptation, preserved from sickness, shielded from danger, and saved from death. But if we never see one another's faces again in the land of the living, may we all be so happy as to meet in that world, where there will be no war, nor rumors of war, but where peace serene shall fill every breast, love divine glow in every heart, and hosanna's exalted sound from every tongue.

AMEN.

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SERMON, PREACHED TO THE SOLDIERS, WHO WENT FROM WEST-HARTFORD, IN DEFENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY. DELIVERED THE 2d OF JUNE, 1775. Being the Day before they marched from that Place. PUBLISHED AT THE DESIRE OF THE HEARERS.

By NATHAN PERKINS, A. M. Pastor of the fourth Church in HARTFORD.

HARTFORD: Printed by EBEN. WATSON, near the Great Bridge.

PREFACE.

[Page]

THE only apology for the publication of this SERMON is the desire of those who heard it. And if the perusal of it, should afford either entertainment or instruction to them, or others, into whose hands accident may throw it, my labour will be amply compensated. The inaccuracies of style which may be found in it, will, I hope, find favour from the candor of the public, and its defects not be weighed in the balance of severe criticism.

Information about this book

Title statement

A sermon, preached to the soldiers, who went from West-Hartford, in defence of their country. Delivered the 2d of June, 1775. Being the day before they marched from that place. : Published at the desire of the hearers. / By Nathan Perkins, A.M. Pastor of the Fourth Church in Hartford.

Perkins, Nathan, 1748-1838.

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N11370

ID [TCP]

N11370

ID [STC]

Evans 14382

ID [NOTIS]

APX9549

ID [IMAGE-SET]

14382

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99026536

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 14382.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N11370)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 14382)

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— A sermon, preached to the soldiers, who went from West-Hartford, in defence of their country. Delivered the 2d of June, 1775. Being the day before they marched from that place. : Published at the desire of the hearers. / By Nathan Perkins, A.M. Pastor of the Fourth Church in Hartford., Perkins, Nathan, 1748-1838..

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15, [1] p. ; 16 cm. (8vo)

Printed by Eben. Watson, near the Great Bridge.,. Hartford: :: [1775]. (Signatures: [A]^8 ([A]8 verso blank).)

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