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EDITOR'S PREFATORY NOTE.

THE last few months in Massachusetts developed a temper in the people, and a persistent policy on the part of Governor Gage, which, manifestly to both parties, must before long end in collision. On the 1st of September, 1774, Governor Gage issued precepts for "the Great and General Court" to be convened at Salem, October 5th; on the 28th of September he issued his "proclamation," that, "from the many tumults and disorders which had since taken place, the extraordinary resolves which had been passed in many of the counties, the instructions given by the town of Boston, and some other towns, to their representatives, and the present disordered and unhappy state of the province," he then thought it highly inexpedient that it should be so convened. But ninety of the representatives did meet at Salem on the 5th, and on the next day, Thursday, organized a convention - John Hancock, Chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln, Clerk. On Friday they "resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress," which, after several sessions, was dissolved, December 10th, having first" recommended " the election of delegates to another congress, February 1st ensuing, to" consult, deliberate, and resolve upon such further measures as, under God, shall be effectual to save this people from impending ruin, and to secure those inestimable liberties derived to us from our ancestors, and which it is our duty to preserve for posterity." The third Provincial Congress assembled at Watertown, May 31, 1775; and before that body President Langdon delivered this Sermon, it being the day fixed by charter for the election of councillors, election-day," and this was the usual "Election Sermon."

The first blood of the war of the Revolution was shed at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775. The fire of British guns gleamed over the colonies, and beneath its flash every heart throbbed, and every soul felt that the die was cast. Yet it was not Englishmen who were in fratricidal

war with their American brethren, but England, palsied by the church "gospel" of unlimited submission, and corrupted by her German king. Even then, though shocked, there yet lingered in the American breast the old yearning towards "home," the mother-land, and the fond pride of British nationality, which might have been rekindled, and the dissolution of the political bands deferred; but German obstinacy smothered the flame, and resistance—“rebellion "— became a revolution. Happily, time heals the wounds and dissipates the asperities of political separation; and in the indissoluble unity of the nations in blood, in language, and in faith, there remains a nobler brotherhood, dear to every manly heart and Christian hope.

The resistance and union of the colonies were the very opposite of the results expected by the ministry. Severity defeated its ends. Colonial non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption agreements were met by government prohibition of the fisheries and commerce, though it involved a sacrifice of British interests; for it was shown that New England only could successfully prosecute the fisheries, and the table of the House of Commons was loaded with statistics of their enormous value and importance to trade. The sword was two-edged; but with George III. personal feelings were superior to national interests.

The Provincial Congress voted, May 5th, that General Gage "ought to be considered and guarded against as an unnatural and inveterate enemy to the country." One hundred thousand pounds lawful money were voted; and thirteen thousand six hundred men, from Massachusetts alone, enlisted, as a superior force was the "only means left to stem the rapid progress of a tyrannical ministry." Force must be met by force; and the colonial militia- -men with souls in them, ardent for their own firesides and rights were ready for the king's mercenary troops. "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress" was authority enough. Proclamations from royal governors were as the idle wind. Gage was master of Boston only. The trembling tories detained the wives and children of the patriots in Boston, for the security of the town, though in violation of General Gage's faith for their removal. The inhabitants of the seaports, exposed to the enemy by sea, fled from their homes to the interior, and were in want and suffering. "How much better," said the preacher, oppressed by the sight of all this misery, "for the inhabitants to have resolved, at all hazards, to defend themselves by their arms against such an enemy!" The day at Lexington and Concord, and other principal events, are referred to in the Sermon.

Such, in brief, was the face of affairs on this 31st of May, when the Provincial Congress was convened at Watertown. The old formula of proceedings was observed as far as possible. It was

"Ordered, That Mr. Brown, Doct. Taylor, and Colonel Sayer be [a] committee to wait on the commanding officer of the militia of this town, to thank him for his polite offer to escort the Congress to the meeting-house, and to inform him that, as this Congress are now sitting, the Congress think it needless to withdraw for that purpose: but will, with the reverend gentlemen of the clergy, attend them to Mrs. Coolidge's, if they please to escort them thither, when the Congress adjourns."

By a special vote, Dr. Langdon's Sermon was sent to each minister in the colony, and to each member of the Congress.

The preacher, SAMUEL LANGDON, D. D., born in Boston, in the year 1722, graduated at Harvard College, 1740, and chaplain of a regiment in the crusade against Louisburg, 1745, was pastor of a church in Portsmouth, N. H., from 1747 till 1774, when, by reason of his eminent talents, learning, and piety, and of his bold and zealous patriotism, he was appointed to the presidency of Harvard College.

He was moderator of the annual convention of the ministers, held, by special invitation of the Provincial Congress, at Watertown, June 1st, following election-day, when he signed the following letter:

"To the Hon. JOSEPH WARREN, Esq., President of the Provincial Congress of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, etc.

"SIR: We, the pastors of the Congregational churches of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, in our present annual convention,"— at Watertown, June 1, 1775,-"gratefully beg leave to express the sense we have of the regard shown by the Honorable Provincial Congress to us, and the encouragement they have been pleased to afford to our assembling as a body this day. Deeply impressed with sympathy for the distresses of our much-injured and oppressed country, we are not a little relieved in beholding the representatives of this people, chosen by their free and unbiassed suffrages, now met to concert measures for their relief and defence, in whose wisdom and integrity, under the smiles of Divine Providence, we cannot but express our entire confidence.

"As it has been found necessary to raise an army for the common safety, and our brave countrymen have so willingly offered themselves to this hazardous service, we are not insensible of the vast burden that their necessary maintenance must"-devolve-"upon the people. We

therefore cannot forbear, upon this occasion, to offer our services 1 to the public, and to signify our readiness, with the consent of our several congregations, to officiate, by rotation, as chaplains to the army.

"We devoutly commend the Congress, and our brethren in arms, to the guidance and protection of that Providence which, from the first settlement of this country, has so remarkably appeared for the preservation of its civil and religious rights.

“SAMUEL LANGDON, MODERATOR."

After an able administration, in a period of peculiar embarrassment, he resigned the presidency of the college, and became pastor of the church at Hampton Falls.

In the New Hampshire State Convention of 1788 he was prominent in securing the adoption of the Federal Constitution. He died, November 29th, 1797, beloved and revered for his private and public life.2

1 See Address to the Clergy, p. xxxvii.

2 Rev. Rufus W. Clark's sketch in Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, i. 455-459.

DISCOURSE V.

AN ELECTION SERMON.

AND I WILL RESTORE THY JUDGES AS AT THE FIRST, AND THY COUNSELLORS AS AT THE BEGINNING; AFTERWARD THOU SHALT BE CALLED THE CITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE FAITHFUL CITY. - Isaiah i. 26.

SHALL we rejoice, my fathers and brethren, or shall we weep together, on the return of this anniversary, which from the first settlement of this colony has been sacred to liberty, to perpetuate that invaluable privilege of choosing from among ourselves wise men, fearing God and hating covetousness, to be honorable counsellors, to constitute one essential branch of that happy government which was established on the faith of royal charters?

On this day the people have from year to year assembled, from all our towns, in a vast congregation, with gladness and festivity, with every ensign of joy displayed in our metropolis, which now, alas! is made a garrison of mercenary troops, the stronghold of despotism. But how shall I now address you from this desk, remote from the capital, and remind you of the important business which distinguished this day in our calendar, without spreading a gloom over this assembly by exhibiting the melancholy change made in the face of our public affairs?

We have lived to see the time when British liberty is just ready to expire, when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation is deeply undermined and ready to