The duty of giving thanks for national blessings. A sermon, preached in the parish church of Bruton, Williamsburg; on Thursday February 19th, 1795. Being the day appointed to be kept as a general thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout the United States of America. / By John Bracken, D.D., Rector of Bruton parish.

The duty of giving thanks for national blessings. A sermon, preached in the parish church of Bruton, Williamsburg; on Thursday February 19th, 1795. Being the day appointed to be kept as a general thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout the United States of America. / By John Bracken, D.D., Rector of Bruton parish.

Table of contents

Title page

A SERMON, &c.

[Page]

A SERMON, &c.

PSALM, 107. 1, 2.

O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

THE goodness of Almighty God is that attribute on the contemplation whereof, our thoughts, so long as we feel how much we stand in need of it, do most delight to dwell. To this we naturally have recourse under the apprehension of danger, or the pressure of affliction. And thus far all is right. But the misfortune is, blessings vouchsafed seldom make impressions proportioned to the ardency with which they are implored. The same mouths, which, in time of distress, can cry mightily unto God, are too often observed, upon men's enlargement from their straits, to become unaccountably silent. They, who perhaps have but just experienced the goodness of the Lord, want to be put in mind to give thanks unto him for it: Even the redeemed of the Lord must be called upon to say that his mercy endureth for ever.

That beautiful psalm, which begins with the words of my text, contains great variety of matter for praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God. On what particular [Page] occasion it was first composed, or to what purposes it might be afterwards applied, does not certainly appear. That part of it which immediately follows my text, besides some allusions in other parts of it, seems most fitly to represent the case of a people brought back to their own land, after a state of separation from it, and dispersion over the several quarters of the earth. A case however to which we need not confine the words before us, nor the duty therein recommended. If restoration from a captivity already felt calls for devout joy and religious exultation, surely the preservation of those rights and comforts, which are the great sources of human felicity, may well inspire the redeemed of the Lord with like sentiments of gratitude. The recovery of any good is not in itself a more real blessing than the continued possession of it.

In the application of the words then to the business of this day, which the piety of government hath thought fit to sanctify by the appointment of a public thanksgiving for the manifold and signal mercies bestowed upon this country, in the peaceable establishment, and continued possession of constitutions of government, which unite, and by their union establish liberty with order; for the preservation of our peace foreign and domestic; for the seasonable controul which has been given to a spirit of disorder in the suppression of the late insurrection; and generally for the prosperous [Page] course of our affairs public and private, and all the other great and various favours, which he hath been pleased to confer upon us; I shall take occasion from thence to consider and illustrate 1. The general ground on which the duty of thanks-giving for national blessings is founded. 2. The particular reasonableness of the duty on this occasion; and 3. The proper manner of expressing our gratitude for such blessings, with the influence it ought to have on our conduct.

1. As to the first: The duty of thanksgiving for national blessings is in general manifestly founded on these two plain suppositions:

That benefits conferred call for suitable acknowledgements to the benefactor by the receiver; and, that the supreme benefactor, to whom nations, as well as single persons stand indebted for the benefits conferred on them, and the deliverances vouchsafed to them, is Almighty God. Suppositions so agreeable to our natural notions, so generally allowed by the sober part of mankind; that they can need very little, will hardly admit of any illustration.

The connexion between favours conferred on one part, and gratitude due on the other is so immediately visible, that it is scarcely possible by the interposition of any other consideration to render it more evident than it is by itself. If any person can be supposed insensible of it, after having done the lowest [Page] office of kindness to another; we can only help his apprehension by referring him to his own feeling on such an occasion, bidding him ask his own heart, what his expectations were from the person he assisted, and (as we not more usually than properly say) obliged.

And that God is the great benefactor to whom all our acknowledgments are ultimately due, is a supposition equally certain with the other; tho' more liable to be perplexed by the disputer, more apt to be overlooked by the politician of this world. The great Governor of the universe so generally acts by the intervention of subordinate causes, so usually brings about his own purposes without controuling the power which he originally gave them, or altering the tendencies, which he at first impressed upon them; that we cannot ordinarily distinguish with exactness between the effects of his general concurrence, and of his special direction. But then neither is it at all necessary that we should so distinguish. Notwithstanding our inability to explain the nature of the divine superintendance, or to point out the instances of the interposition, devout applications for the blessings we want, and grateful acknowledgements for those we have received, will still be our reasonable service, so long as we are assured, that all events are in God's hands, and that 'he worketh all things after the counsel of his will.'

Whatever efficiency the author of nature [Page] may have given to any part of his own workmanship, neither scripture nor sound philosophy will permit us to suppose, that he hath put the supreme management of the whole out of his own power. No: He, who first formed, must still continue to uphold, this great machine of the universe. The minutest movement in it is continually subject to his direction, and all its parts incessantly declare his glory, and fulfil his word. And as to the moral world: He, who is the God of the spirits of all flesh; in whom they live, and move, and have their being,' must be perfectly acquainted with their several powers, intimately present with all their operations. 'In his hand are the hearts of men as the rivers of water, and he turneth them whithersoever he will.' Whether by direct internal applications to them, or by disposing outward circumstances for them, or by numberless other methods unsearchable to us; he most easily can, and (we have reason to think) continually does, influence their counsels, where he does not irresistably force their wills: Nay, he can even work their jarring humours, their interfering designs, into a subserviency to the great and good purposes of his providence. He brings forth in each generation such persons to act, according to their own free choice, their various parts on the theatre of life, as he foresees will answer, sometimes by their great abilities and good dispositions, sometimes by the contrary, his holy purposes [Page] of judgment or of mercy. And the influence of this one arrangement on the establishment of our present tranquillity may have been, and probably hath been unspeakably great. For tho' we should blush to be thought so uninstructed in the nature of our addresses to Heaven as to fancy they can work any temporary change in the dispositions of the Deity, who is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever; yet we are not ashamed to maintain that God, in the chain of causes and effects, which not only sustains each system, but connects them all with one another, hath so wonderfully contrived, that the temporary endeavours of virtuous men shall procure good and avert evil, by means of that pre-established harmony, which he hath willed to exist betwixt moral actions and natural events.

All events, then, not excepting those which seem to happen most agreeably to (what we call) the natural course of things, or to depend most on the free determinations of human choice, are in the last result to be ascribed to the direction, or at least the permission of Almighty God. And if so, more especially applicable must this be to those events, on which the fates of whole kingdoms depend. If, (as we are assured by unerring wisdom) 'not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our father;' if those of his creatures, which to us seem most inconsiderable, be yet by no means so inconsiderable as to escape his notice, or to be [Page] left out of his protection; his condescending care, we may be sure, interests itself with at least equal regard in those transactions, by the issue whereof all that is valuable to large societies of men, the liberties and lives of millions may be finally decided. This is indeed an awful subject, and, from the narrowness of our views of things, we must often be at a loss to account for particular appearances relating to it. But we have reason to suppose, that states and kingdoms are the great scenes, on which the Lord of the whole earth most usually displays the strength of his arm, and the justice of his administration. Frequently indeed we perceive no marks of the interposition of God in what passes But we are both inadvertent and short sighted: Ignorant not only of the secret springs and material circumstances of many human actions, but yet more, beyond comparison, of principal purposes in the divine administration. Yet this however we know that he is incessantly conducting the affairs of the present world towards a full display of his wisdom, justice, and goodness, in the next, tho' often by steps invisible to our eyes, and improbable to our imaginations. ‘For his judgements are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.’

2. We should in all things, then, believe a Providence; but in many cases we may see it, and plainly in our own case; and at the same time we must see the reasonableness [Page] of our acknowledgments and thanksgivings for it.

Under the guidance of Providence we have been conducted to, and planted in, a fair and fruitful country, of which we may say in the words of Moses, 'The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills: A land of wheat and barley, and fig trees and pomegranates, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it: A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.'

In this land we have continually experienced the protection of the same kind providence, the fostering care of Heaven; so that within a short period from a handful, we have become a great people: and from those who had no name, we have been raised to take our rank among the nations of the world. In the scenes which led to this successful event, we have had deliverances, little less than miraculous, frequently vouchsafed to us, and have seen many visible interpositions of Providence, in causing such concurrences of circumstances for our advantage, as no human wisdom could either foresee, direct, or over-rule. Nor did God only bestow the blessing, but it is he who continues it; and every days peace, as well as every days bread, is a new gift from him. Thus we may again apply the words of Moses and say 'As an eagle stirreth[Page]up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.'—We have been favoured with a succession of the blessings of Heaven from above and of the earth beneath, of fruitful seasons, and a plentiful increase; and for the better and more assured enjoyment of these favours, it hath pleased the divine Providence to bless us, at a most seasonable conjuncture, with the peaceable establishment of a most happy constitution of government; which, under the protection of wise and good laws, secures to us all our private rights and just liberties, and renders this country the honoured repository of sacred freedom, an asylum from oppression, at a time when almost all the other civilizen nations have, thro' force or treachery, lost their sacred rights. When we see, in one of the fairest countries of Europe, the most interesting and noble struggle, for native rights and civil independence, crushed under the iron hands of unfeeling neighbouring despots;—and, in another the most powerful and civilized, even liberty herself, that sweetest of natures blessings, in her too eager haste, and, alas, misguided efforts, to regain the legitimate throne from which she had been long detruded, marking her stained footsteps deep with domestic blood.

Our exertions to curb the savage, predatory [Page] incursions of the several neighbouring Indian tribes have been crowned with a degree of success that promises a speedy termination to all acts of hostility from that quarter: and, by the prudent and steady conduct of those, to whom the helm of government is entrusted, we have been preserved from foreign war, under circumstances peculiarly difficult and embarrassing, by which the passions of numbers had been worked up to a degree of rage and fury: 'Some, from well meant, but mistaken zeal, thinking that how was the time to pay the debt of gratitude to our allies, by entering ourselves parties in their cause; and others urged on by a just resentment and indignation at those shameful and perfidious spoliations, which, under British councils, were made on our trade. The offending power appears now sensible and ashamed of the wrongs committed against us. She hath listened to our remonstrances of reason, truth and justice, and is constrained to promise restitution.' Hence our prospects of external peace begin to open before us with an unclouded horizon; and the most inflamed among us are led to acknowledge the propriety and prudence of trying every method of amicable negotiation, previous to that dernier resort, calamitous and destructive war.

God, in his infinite wisdom, hath indeed found it necessary, in order to awaken our grateful attention to the blessings by him [Page] conferred upon us, to threaten us with an interruption of them, by permitting the designs of a few factions and ambitious men to excite an insurrection in some western counties of a neighbouring state. This however, under the providence of the same good and gracious being who permitted it, hath been speedily and happily suppressed, and, beyond expectation, without the effusion of blood. But as this attempt, so highly disgraceful to the American character, in its direct tendency, put to hazard all our social rights and blessings, and is the first of its kind under our present constitution, it may perhaps be expected of me that I should not thus cursorily pass it over. I must therefore with a mixture of reluctance and pleasure make some observations, which may concern us all, on the unhappy occasion

And first let me lay before you the uncommon and complicated guilt of this atrocious attempt; and point out to you some aggravating circumstances, with which it was attended. It was an attempt to defeat a law, which the constituted authorities of government (the chosen representatives of the people) in aid of its necessities, had, on the most mature deliberation and reflection, enacted. It was an attempt to insult, to abuse, nay even to murder those men, who were constitutionally entrusted with the execution of the laws of their country. It was an attempt to sow dissension throughout this country, at a time when the blessings [Page] of a wise and free constitution had happily operated greatly to unite the hearts of all good citizens, and when, from peculiar circumstances, unanimity was singularly necessary. It was an attempt to frustrate those upright and steady measures, which have raised this country to a pitch of the most enviable prosperity; which, by the providence of God, have hitherto preserved to us the inestimable blessings of peace, amidst the desolating conflicts of almost every nation with whom we are in any degree connected; and which, we have daily increasing hopes, will secure to us a continuance of those blessings. It was in short an attempt to set every man against his brother; to fill the land with disorder and blood, and to give us up for a prey to the worst of enemies, anarchy and internal confusion.

The attempt having been thus shocking in its nature, let me next observe, how much it is the duty of every man to express his detestation of this crime by every means in his power. It is not enough that we do not actually join in such ruinous attempts. If we encourage them by our words, we are instrumental to their progress. To palliate guilt is to partake of it. And if we blow the dying embers of sedition by our breath, we take the surest means of kindling it again into flames. Even to be silent on such an occasion is a kind of connivance at the crime. No expressions of hatred and detestation [Page] against such ruinous wickedness can be too public or too strong. For thus alone by the united voice of all honest men, the leading instruments of sedition can be struck dumb, and their deluded followers convinced of the baseness and profligacy of that attempt, in which they have been so unhappily involved.

My next observation is of a much more pleasing kind. In the quelling this shameful Insurrection we have had the strongest proof of a general attachment in all ranks of citizens to our most excellent constitution, notwithstanding the loud clamours of some few factious combinations, and deluded individuals, which have been so industriously circulated among us: and, at the same time, the propriety and usefulness of a national militia have been unequivocally demonstrated. There have been honest men who doubted, and dishonest men who spread suspicions, concerning the effects of this establishment. It had been suggested that a militia in the hour of trial, when employed against their fellow citizens, would prove themselves either timid, or incapable or unfaithful; that they would be more likely to aid an Insurrection than to quell one. But in this event we have seen a clear and noble instance of their union and ability, their integrity and courage. A mutual confidence, grounded on a mutual knowledge of each others upright intentions, was the cement that bound them together. 'The eye did not say to the hand, I have no need of thee, [Page]nor yet the head to the feet, I have no need of you. But God so tempered the body together, that there was no schism therein▪ but the members had the same care one of another'. But above all let me remark, that we may attribute the suppression of this dangerous attempt, without bloodshed, to the unanimity, the conduct, the integrity, the generous forbearance, and distinguished humanity, which was displayed on this unhappy occasion, and which evinces not only a general spirit of patriotism, but also the excellence of a law, which fixes the national defence on its most natural and sure foundation, by teaching every man not to rely on the precarious and dangerous assistance of a mercenary standing force, but in turn to become his own, and his country's defender.

If we turn from government to religion, we have the same reason to adore the gracious majesty of Heaven, still working for his holy name, that is, for the general good of mankind. For tho' it would be vanity to boast in this case, as in the other, that true religion, like civil liberty, is scarcely to be found, except in these states, when we behold the Protestant faith professed in the purity of the Gospel, in so many kindred churches in Europe; yet this we cannot but declare, and should always acknowledge with gratitude, that, whilst so many in other countries, and under governments who call themselves Christian, have been [Page] deprived of that inestimable liberty, we are protected in the free exercise of this most pure religion, and by law secured in a full liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of conscience, and of disciplining and improving our minds in the practice of all virtue, unembarrassed by legal clogs or penalties, in an extent unknown in any other part of the civilized world.

If these be things, which are the proper subjects of praise and thanksgiving, and call for the heartiest expressions of our gratitude to him, 'who redeemeth our life from destruction, and crowneth us with mercy and loving kindness;' undoubtedly there is no nation under the sun that hath more reason this day than we to say, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits that he hath done unto me? I will offer to him the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.' And this leads me to consider

3. The proper method of expressing our thankfulness; and the influence it ought to have on our future conduct.

And here, that the expressions of our gratitude should be as public and national, as the benefits that call for them, is a point which I need not insist on. The present solemnity proceeds upon this supposition, and your attendance in this holy place implies your assent to it. Nor will I doubt but that the sincerity of your religious acknowledgments has borne some proportion [Page] to the reality and greatness of the blessings you have been acknowledging. But supposing that: outward acknowldgments singly are downright pageantry and mockery. Nay inward sense of obligation along with them, if it bring not forth suitable and lasting obedience, is imperfect, inefficacious, delusive homage, which our Maker cannot accept. 'Herein is my father glorified, faith our blessed Saviour, that ye bear much fruit.' And thus we are to understand that awful denunciation; 'If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, faith the Lord of hosts, I will send a curse upon you, and I will even curse your blessings.'

If, then, the providence of God hath planted us in a fruitful country, and his goodness successively crowns our years with a perpetual increase, let us express our thankfulness by temperance and sobriety, by works of mercy and charity, by taking care to prevent luxury and debauchery, pride and vanity, sloth and forgetfulness of God; which are the vices too apt to spring up out of prosperity and plenty. 'When thou hast eaten and art full, said Moses in his last exhortation to the Israelites, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast [Page]built goodly houses and dwelt therein,—and thy silver and thy gold, and all that thou hast, is multiplied;—then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God.'

If God hath preserved unto us our lawful liberties and properties under a mild and well constituted government, when almost all other nations upon earth are subject to arbitrary and illegal dominion; which is that form of government, wherewith God threatened to punish the Israelites, when he declared unto them the manner of the king who should reign over them:—Our thankfulness for this blessing can by no other way be so properly expressed, as by making it our chief care to use that liberty, which we so justly boast of, and which we have thought worth defending with so much blood and treasure, so as not to abuse it to licentiousness and wantonness; to use our liberty so as not to break thro' the obligations of regular government, and legal restraints; to use it so that we ourselves contribute nothing to the diminution of it.

In the most popular governments some authority there must be, and somewhere placed. And wheresoever authority is placed, it must, if it has any meaning, create a proportionable obligation to obedience, (in other words, a proportionable restraint upon the freedom of action) in those who are subject to it. For after all our speculations, the obligations lying on the members of any community as such, must be [Page] measured by the laws of that community. These are at once the standards of the magistrate's authority, and of the liberty of the subject. These are the declared will of the whole society, and must determine that of every member of it. A liberty to oppose his own private will to that of the public, and to resist those persons, who are entrusted with the execution of it, is no part of that liberty, which any society can allow its members. Nor can it be taken by any subject without a violation of the duty he owes to the government that protects him; to himself, as greatly interested in its peace and good order; and especially to that Being, whose providence in the accounts of right reason, as well as those of revelation, 'ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.'

Legal liberty, then, is all that can be demanded by members of society, and more than this cannot be confidently desired by any, who are willing to enjoy the benefits of government. 'Tis true we may think ourselves aggrieved by some of the laws in being; or we may dislike some thing in the form of government we live under: Or perhaps something in the conduct of persons entrusted with the administration thereof is not as it should be.' In all these cases, or any other of real or apprehended grievances, we have legal, constitutional, peaceable means for redressing them, with uncontrouled liberty to use those means, if we will. And [Page] suppose they operate not so speedily, or so effectually, as we may wish; yet if force may be used instead of them, upon every failure or delay, especially when caused merely by difference of opinions amongst ourselves, no society can subsist. Taking unwarrantable steps in opposition to such as we may think, whether too hastily or not, bad men and bad measures, is only introducing additional wickedness of our own, and giving others a pretence for continuing and even increasing theirs. If we are too corrupt to expect any good from mutual persuasion; much less can we expect it from mutual violence. The beginning of strife, especially between public parties, is as when one letteth out water; and 'tis impossible to say, where the breach may end, or the inundation be stopped. I am willing to believe, no considerable number of those persons, who first engaged in the measures we have been recollecting, had any thoughts of taking those steps, into which they soon permitted themselves to be hurried. But, alas! when respect for well settled constitutions, and the restraints of law, are once unadvisedly broken in upon; when men's passions are heated, and their jealousies set to work; no man can foresee how far those about him, or even himself may afterwards be carried. The gradation hinted at by St. Paul is generally found too easy and natural; from backbiting and calumniating the actions of those in authority, to whisperings [Page] and secret cabals against them; from whisperings to swellings and menaces, from swellings to tumults and riotous assemblings; thence the transition becomes almost unavoidable to open insurrection and rebellion.

Too much have the people of these United States been unhappily divided by party distinctions and names of reproach; which often fatally hinder men from being of one mind in a house, and separate those, whom both duty and interest call upon to be chief friends. In this imperfect state of human affairs and human passions, it cannot indeed be, but that offences of this kind will come. But the present seems as promising a season as can well be expected, if not for wholly extirpating this baneful root of bitterness, at least for checking the growth of it. The general attachment lately shewn to our present established constitution of government was confessedly of the utmost importance to us all. And tho' some diversity of sentiments about the methods of promoting our countrys interest, will ever subsist among such creatures as men, and will generally appear in a free country: Yet surely, unless men are unreasonably fond of their own opinions, mere diversity need not degenerate into strife, nor zeal work itself up into rage and fury.

If, however, inconveniences in this respect should not always be prevented: If some will still be more solicitous for the prevalence of their own schemes, than about the [Page] promotion of the general good: If they will go on groundlessly suspecting, and thence needlessly disgusting their well disposed neighbours: If, in short, warm zealots will unnecessarily kindle a tire, and compass themselves about with sparks: Let each of us at least 'keep his own heart with all diligence,' guarding against the first motions towards all such vehemence in himself, and avoiding as much as possible the contagion of it in others; being well assured that nothing in this world can recompence the loss of a meek and quiet spirit, which is not only a present ornament and blessing to every one that retaineth it, but a necessary preparative for that peaceful region, where the harsh voice of party shall not be heard: Where enmity and discord shall have no being. If God hath given peace in our borders and continues to us the blessing; among other expressions of our gratitude for so comprehensive a blessing, let us remember to root out of our own breasts those lusts from whence, as from their original source, come wars and fightings among us; and let us, in their stead, cultivate those heaven born affections, which are at once the glory and happiness of brethren dwelling together in unity. And as it is a blessing of inestimable value in society, let us with resolution and watchfulness guard against every practice that may openly or secretly endanger it; nor hazard its destruction by delusive attempts, by listening to those [Page] 'who in quest of ideal perfection, are never satisfied with any established form of government, but whose unquiet minds, ever in pursuit of visionary theories, neglect the more important objects of peace, industry and stability of goverment, which are the only circumstances that can give greatness or prosperity to a nation.'

Lastly, If God hath bestowed upon us the inestinable gift of religious liberty; of worshipping him according to the dictates of conscience; and vouchsafed to us the glorious light of the Gospel, and the knowledge of his son Jesus Christ; whilst many other nations are deprived of this liberty; and several too lie yet in the darkness of Heathenism, and have not the knowledge of the law of God:—The best and most acceptable method of returning our thanks for so inestinable a blessing is, that we endeavour to propagate the Christian knowledge with simplicity to others, and that, animated with the love thereof, we take care above all things to obey the truth ourselves in all its purity; that we stedfastly take more and more heed, without regard to any human authority whatsoever, and without calling any man father or master upon earth, to adhere to the divine authority of the Scriptures only, throwing off 'the sin which may so easily beset us,' that of too great eagerness and unchristian contention, about those secondary and incidental differences of opinion, which seem [Page] to divide us into various sects; while we all rejoice in one common day, which the glorious light of the Gospel hath spread over these extensive states. As therefore we all profess to be under the same Shepherd, we should not surely make one another uneasy, because we lodge in different folds; seeing we all hold that a time will come, when all shall hear his voice, and there shall be one fold under one Shepherd.

To conclude. The constitution we live under is, in every respect, so happily balanced, as to partake of the beneficial influences of a just authority and a sober liberty, and to avoid the extremes of tyranny on one hand, and licentiousness on the other: A constitution under which we may be as secure, as any thing human can secure us, in our persons and our properties, in our lives and our consciences: A constitution, by a due improvement of the advantages whereof, we may be easy in this world, and happy in a far better. Let us then at once shew ourselves worthy of these blessings, and secure the continuance of them, by rendering unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto GOD the things that are GOD'S: Expressing our affection for our country by praying for its peace, and by contributing our honest industry, in our several stations, towards its prosperity; and our zeal for our holy religion, by a constant and devout attendance on its worship and its ordinances, and by adorning it with all the virtues and [Page] graces of a truly christian life.—In one word, our first duty is to fear God, our next, and in subordination thereto, to honor and obey those who are lawfully invested with authority:—Join therefore these two together by means of wisdom and a sound understanding, with fervent prayers for a blessing on our endeavours;—and then tho' the rain should descend,—and the floods come,—and the winds blow, and beat upon our house,—yet our political edifice will not fail;—FOR IT IS FOUNDED ON A ROCK.

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The duty of giving thanks for NATIONAL BLESSINGS.

A SERMON, PREACHED IN The Parish Church of BRUTON, WILLIAMSBURG; On THURSDAY February 19th, 1795.

Being the day appointed to be kept as a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout the United States of AMERICA.

By JOHN BRACKEN, D. D. Rector of Bruton Parish.

RICHMOND: Printed By THOMAS NICOLSON, 1795.

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Title statement

The duty of giving thanks for national blessings. A sermon, preached in the parish church of Bruton, Williamsburg; on Thursday February 19th, 1795. Being the day appointed to be kept as a general thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout the United States of America. / By John Bracken, D.D., Rector of Bruton parish.

Bracken, John, d. 1818.

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2006-02.

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N21548

ID [TCP]

N21548

ID [STC]

Evans 28331

ID [NOTIS]

APV6209

ID [IMAGE-SET]

28331

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99001669

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 28331.

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— The duty of giving thanks for national blessings. A sermon, preached in the parish church of Bruton, Williamsburg; on Thursday February 19th, 1795. Being the day appointed to be kept as a general thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout the United States of America. / By John Bracken, D.D., Rector of Bruton parish., Bracken, John, d. 1818..

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26 p. ; 19 cm.

Printed by Thomas Nicolson,,. Richmond [Va.]: :: 1795..

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EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.