SERMON. DELIVERED AT Lee, December 22nd, 1820; BEING THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY SERMON. PSALM XLIV. 1. 2. 3. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them : but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. REVOLVING time, whose progress no created arm can arrest nor retard, has brought us, protected by a merciful providence, to witness, this day, the completion of two hundred years, since the landing of our forefathers, at Plymouth. We have reached a period, which must excite a deep and lively interest in every reflecting mind, and which will be distinctly marked by the future historians of this country. A similar occasion has not occurred, within the recollection of the oldest person present, and will not again occur, until long after every individual, in this assembly, shall be numbered with the great congregation of the dead. Of all the children, which shall be born, within twenty years to come, few indeed will see the completion of another century. The occasion is a memorable one. Both reason and religion dictate, that we with our fam ilies appear, this day, before the Lord to refresh our minds with the wonderful works which he wrought, in planting our fathers in this land, and to erect a monument of praise to his great name. The words which have been selected, as the foundation of a discourse, seemingly could not have describ ed the case of the pilgrims more perfectly, nor have been more appropriate to the present interesting occasion, if they had been dictated by the Holy Spirit for no other purpose. "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession, by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them : but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them." The writer of this Psalm, who was David or some other prophet, recollecting the instances of divine good. ness and divine interposition, experienced by his fathers before him, and continued to his day, and the rich blessings and privileges, which Israel, as a people, enjoyed ;--privileges, which pre-eminently distinguished them from surrounding nations, was led devoutly to make the acknowledgment in the text. It was the practice of the pious leaders in Israel to record all instances of special divine interposition, that the knowledge of them might be transmitted to succeeding generations to encourage their hope in the mercy and protection of the God of their fathers. If any portion of people, on the earth, are under obligations to acknowledge that God has been favourable to them, and to their fathers before them, it is the people of New-England, the descendants of those pious pilgrims, who subjected themselves to all the dangers of the ocean, and the privations of a howling wilder ness, to find a peaceful asylum in this new world. With a hope, my brethren, of awakening in our own breasts, and in the breasts of our children, the heavenborn feeling of pious gratitude, let us devoutly consider what works the Lord, wrought in the days of our fathers, and mark some of the prominent instances of divine goodness to the people in this land. This is the appropriate business of this centurial celebration, they gave up themselves, first unto God, and then to one another, and solemnly engaged to maintain the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, free from human inventions. Viewing the Act of Uniformity, passed by the first Parliament under queen Elizabeth, which was rigorously enforced, as destroying all their religious freedom, they conscientiously refused to conform. With the doctrines of faith, contained in the thirty-nine Articles, they fully accorded, but they considered the modes and forms of religious worship, imposed upon them by authority, as unscriptural. They not only separated themselves from the church of England, but they voluntarily embraced a banishment into Holland. After residing a short time at Amsterdam, to which place they first removed, they finally settled in the city of Leyden. This was about seven years from the time they entered into covenant with one another in England. "In that city," says Dr. Cotton Mather," this people sojourned, an holy church of the blessed Jesus, for several years, under the pastoral care of Mr. John Robinson, who had for his help in the government of the church, a most wise, grave, good man, Mr. William Brewster, the ruling Elder." But it was not the will of the Head of the church, that this should be the place of their final residence. On witnessing the profanity of their neigh bours, and their habitual violations of the sabbath, their minds were soon filled with deep concern for their posterity. It was with pain, that some of these pilgrims saw their sons, with a view of obtaining a livelihood, enter the Dutch armies and navy. After much consultation, fasting and prayer, they resolved, if God should prosper them, and, in his providence open a way, to remove to America, having heard many favourable reports of this western world. This church had considerably increased, at Leyden, and contained three hundred communicants. It was resolved, that only a part of the church, consisting of younger members of the most vigorous con B |