It is thought by many that America must be in a pitiful plight because she has no Feudal Antiquities and no Established Church. They may be consoled by finding that she does make something of what antiquity she has; and that her children have their high and solemn festivals, their religious commemorations of the men and deeds of former days. It is true that these are rather in contrast with those which English Episcopacy has embalmed in her Prayer-book; but they may do for so young and rude a people ill the lapse of ages shall provide them with something better. They have no thanksgiving for the restoration of a besotted and tyrannic dynasty; they only celebrate the restoration of millions to the possession of their native rights. The landing which they commemorate is not that of a foreigner, "come for their goods," but of the Pilgrim Fathers seeking freedom to worship God in the wilderness. Instead of one royal martr, they venerate thousands of martyrs and confessors, made so by the tyranny of him and his house. And we have a further specimen of their Holy Days in the discourse before us, which was delivered on the second centenary celebration of the formation of the first Congregational Church in America. The courtiers of the day, if they ever heard of the event, only smiled at it. By the results of that and similar events, in after times, hare courtiers and kings often been made to frown, sometimes to tremble. Happy for the world and themselves had they also been made to think.

We cannot give a better account of the occasion of this sermon than by quoting its introduction:

"We have assembled here to perform a service enjoined upon us by the example of our ancestors. Its nature and object will be best explained by referring to the notices of its previous celebration, which have fortunately been transmitted to our day. One is found in the records

Salem, August 6, 1729. On Wed

nesday was celebrated the FIRST CEN

com

TURY LECTURE, in the meeting house of the First Church here, in commemoration of the good hand of the Lord in founding that Church on August 6th, 1629; just one hundred years ago; enlarging and making her the mother of several others, and preserving and blessing her to this day. She was the first Congregational Church that was pletely formed and organized in the whole American continent, which was on the day above-mentioned, when the Rev. Mr. (Francis) Higginson was ordained the teacher, and the Rev. Mr. Skelton their pastor. Governor Bradford and others, deputed from the church at Plymouth, coming into the assembly in the time of the solemnity, (having been hindered by contrary winds,) gave them the right hand of fellowship; wishing all prosperity and a blessed success to such good beginnings.

"The Century Lecture began with singing Psalm cxxii. 1-8. The Rev. Mr. Fisk then preached a very agreeable sermon from Psalm lxxviii. 1-7. We then sang Psalm xliv. 1, 2, 6, 7. The Rev. Mr. Prescott then prayed. We theu sang Psalm c. first metre, and the Rev. Mr. Fisk pronounced the blessing.

"There were thirteen ministers present, and a considerable confluence of people both from this place and the towns about.'

"The Records of the Church contain a similar account. It denominates the occasion,THE FIRST CENTURY JubiLEE,' and concludes by expressing the petition that the Lord would accept the offering of thanks which had then been made.'

"One hundred years more have passed away since the interesting service, which has thus been described to you in the language of those who were present to witness and partake in it, was performed on this spot. The Centennial Jubilee' has again come round; and we are now gathered to commemorate the completion of the Second Century since the formation of the First American Con

gregational Church. During the hour which we are spending together, it will have been drawn to its close.

"As we enter upon the discharge of the interesting and affecting duty which has fallen to our lot, the images of those virtuous and pious men who here laid the foundation of an order of churches, which are believed to be more favourable to the promotion of the blessings of Christianity among men than any other, rise up before our minds, and we feel that it is good to contemplate them, as they were engaged in the great and solenin transaction which established the institutions of the gospel, in their original purity and simplicity, in the new world. We commend those of their de. scendants and successors, who happened at the time to be on the stage of life, for the faithful zeal and the filial gratitude with which, when one century had revolved over the Congregational Churches of America, they assembled to do honour to the venerable mother and the beautiful pattern of them all. And we would now endeavour to repeat, as nearly as possible, the service which they then performed.

"It is with this intent, that the same passages from the Psalms, which our ancestors devoutly sung on the previous occurrence of this occasion, have now been chosen, in the very form in which they existed in the quaint and unpoetical, but, in many instances, affecting expression of their ancient version-a version which, at the same time that it affords, in its uncouth metre and rude versification, pleasing evidence of the progress of devotional poetry in later times, must possess a charm in the estimation of every one who loves to recal to mind the conditions and manners of the Fathers of New-England. It was used in all the churches, in most of them for more than a hundred years, and was universally known by the name of the Bay PsalmBook.' I have also adopted, for the text of this Second Century Lecture, the same passage which my predecessor selected as the text of that which he delivered at the close of the First Century. Let them be transmitted on, while the church and the world endure, to those of our successors who shall be called, one after another, with the interlapse of a hundred years, to the discharge of the duties of this occasion."-Pp. 3-6.

Mr. Upham then takes a rapid view of the ministers who have, in succession, held the pastorship of the Salem Church. The first was Samuel Skelton, described by an early writer as 66 a man

of gracious speech, full of faith, and fornished by the Lord with gifts from above." His assistant was, however, the more prominent character, Francis Higginson.

"With a genius and eloquence which, had he stooped to conformity, would have secured to him all the glory and power that an earthly ambition could covet, he submitted for conscience' sake to the severest sacrifices and the most embarrassing distresses, while in his own country. For conscience' sake, he braved what were theu indeed the dreadful perils of the ocean, and fled to this wild and wintry shore; and here he perished au early martyr to the holy cause of Christian liberty.

"Virtue and religion demand that the character and actions, the services and sufferings of this good man should be presented in all their interest, and with all their attraction, to the generations of New-England. The man who laid the foundations of our religious institutions in the principles of the most perfect freedom, and of apostolic simplicity, ought never to be forgotten. We should take delight in rescuing his example from obscurity, and his name from oblivion.

"The Christian graces shed such a beauty upon his daily life, that the hearts of all who witnessed it were charmed into love and admiration. It is related, that, when he left Leicester, the place of his residence in England, to embark for the forests of America, although at the time he was suffering beneath the frowns of the government, the people of every rank and party rushed forth from their dwellings to bid him farewell. They crowded the streets through which he passed. Every eye was filled with tears, and every voice was imploring blessings upou him! Our imaginations should often present him to our hearts, as he called his family and fellow-passengers around him, leaned over the steru of the vessel in which he was borne in exile from his native home, while the cliffs of his country, still dear to his soul, although it was driving him out to perish in the wilderness, were disappearing from sight, and uttered that memorable benedictiou, than which there is nothing more affecting, more magnanimous, or more sublime in the records of history:

We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England - Farewell, Babylon !___farewell, Rome!-but we will say, FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND! farewell, the church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there!' Our bosoms must al

ways experience a softened and melancholy emotion when we reflect upon his rapid decline and premature death. His delicate constitution could not bear the rigours of the new climate, and the privations incident to the early settlement. The sufferings of one short year, the se. verities of a single winter, carried him of. As the termination of his life approached, he seemed to have been admitted to clearer views of the results of the great enterprise which he had been called to conduct. His soal soared into those higher regions, from which the scenes of futurity can be discerued. In bis dying hours he repeatedly uttered the prediction, which has already been so wonderfully fulfilled. 'He was persuaded,' he said, that although the Lord was calling him away, he would raise up others to carry on the work that was begun, and that there would yet be many churches of the Lord Jesus Christ in this wilderness.' While he sleeps by the side of their fathers, may our childreu of every generation venerate his character and cherish his memory.

"Such was Francis Higginson! We hare cause to bless Providence that a character so bright and beautiful in all the attributes which can adorn the man, the patriot, and the Christian, was selected to take the lead in that great work commenced at the formation of this Church, and which will never be finished while error and bigotry remain -' the further reformation of religion in the world,'"-Pp. 9-11.

The next name on the list, and a noble one it is, is that of Roger Williams. He "was chosen to succeed Francis Higginson, in opposition to the strong and repeated remonstrances of the Church in Boston, to which some of his peculiar principles had given offence. He and his worthy colleague, Mr. Skelton, fearlessly exposed themselves to the reproaches of the ministers of the colony, by expressing their disapprobation of the institution of a Pastoral Association. They predicted that it would give rise to a Presbytery, and they called upon the charches, if they valued their liberties, to resist the first movements towards such a tyranny. The institution, which alarmed these vigilant guardians of the independence of the Congregational Churches, still exists under the name of the Boston Association, and although, to the honour of its members be it spoken, it has never produced the results which were apprehended, the ministers of this Church, in opposing it, did not think and act without reason. They argued with

the wisdom of philosophers, they looked forward with the vision of prophets. The step, which they reprobated, has always been the first step in the progress of spiritual domination. It was by extensive associations, in the first instance of ministers, and then, of churches, that the primitive congregatious were gradually despoiled of their freedom, and brought in captive to enlarge the dominions of hierarchies-to swell the power of bishops and popes. It has been by the means of them, that Presbyteries and Consociations, too often perverted into the worst forms of aristocracy by which human society can be oppressed, have in more modern times risen into being.

"Roger Williams was faithfully and resolutely protected by the people of this place, through years of persecution from without; and it was only by the persevering and combined efforts of all the other towns and churches that his separation and banishment were finally effected. The late learned historian of Salem, the Rev. Dr. Bentley, says, with great justice of Mr. Williams, that he was not afraid to stand alone for truth against the world.' It was his good fortune to find in John Endicott, and in many others of his congregation in Salem, kindred spirits, ready and willing to take the same noble and magnanimous stand. They adhered to him long and faithfully, and sheltered him from all assaults. And when at last he was sentenced, by the General Court, to banishment from the colony, on account of his principles, we cannot but admire the fidelity of that friendship, which prompted many of the members of his congregation to accompany him in his exile, and partake of his fortunes, when an outcast upon the earth. It was in the midst of wiuter that they were thus driven forth from the civilized world. Can you not, my hearers, contemplate in imagination a deserted and destitute company of men, women, and children, struggling through the deep snows of an unexplored wilderness? The storm is raging over their heads, bending the strong oak, swinging the lofty pine, and shaking from their branches a constant accumulation of the drifts, beneath which they are almost buried from sight.-Chilled with the frosts, and worn down by fatigue, how slowly they make their way! Who are they? They are the minister of this Church, and a chosen band of his faithful flock; and they are the victims of a bigoted interference, on the part of the other churches, in the affairs of that to

which they belonged. They are thus cruelly exiled because they have acted upon the great principle of independency upon which the churches of New-Eugland were here founded. But they were uot permitted to perish in that dismal forest; a merciful Providence directed their steps, and preserved their lives. In the language of their pious leader,' as the same sun shines on the wildernesse that doth on a garden, so the same faithfull and all-sufficient God can comfort, feede, and safely guide even through a desolate howling wildernesse,' or, as he has expressed the same sentiment in verse, for Roger Williams also was a Pilgrim Poet:

"Lost many a time, I've had no guide,
No house, but hollow tree.
In stormy winter night, no Fire,

No Food, no Company

God makes a path, provides a guide

And feeds in Wildernesse ;

His glorious name, while earth remains, O that I may confess.

"The Indians kindly received and hospitably sheltered them. The hearts of these rude beings were softened, their confidence secured, and their affections charmed, by the kindness, honesty, and Christian benignity which ever marked the deportment of Roger Williams. Throughout his whole history, he proved that it was possible to live on terms of mutual good-will with the Heathen inhabitants of the land. In all his intercourse with them, he invariably experienced, again to use his language,

"How kindly flames of nature burne
In wild humanitie.
God's Providence is rich to his,
Let none distrustful be.
In wildernesse, in great distresse
These Ravens have fed me.

"The exiled company were led to a place of refuge and safety, and there they lived, peaceful and prosperous. They became the founders of a free Commonwealth, and the name of him who con. ducted them is immortal."-Pp. 41-45. Hugh Peters follows in this illustrious catalogue. He had been living for four or five years at Rotterdam, whither he had retired from the oppression of Archbishop Laud, and where he had been received with great kindness, and was held in high regard.

"It was while he was thus living in prosperity and in honour, that his active and benevolent spirit felt an attraction towards the. poor and feeble settlements of New-England. He perceived a wide

field of usefulness opened to him here, and came over the ocean to occupy it. Within about two years from the time of his arrival he was ordained Pastor of this Church. His residence in America continued seven years. Faithful tradition, corroborating the testimony, aud supplying the deficiencies of the imperfect records of that day, has informed us of his energy, his usefulness, and his eloquence. He left the stamp of his beneficent and wonderful genius upon the agriculture, the fisheries, the manufac tures, the commerce, and the navigation of New-England. Salem never advanced so rapidly, as during the period of his residence here. He reformed the police, introduced the arts, and erected a watermill, a glass-house, and salt works. He encouraged the planting of hemp, and established a market-house. He formed the plan of the fisheries, and of the coasting and foreign voyages. Under his influence many ships were built, one of them of three hundred tons. He checked the tendency of the people to religious dissipation by diminishing the number of lectures and conferences which they were in the habit of attending. As a preacher and pastor he was eminently successful. In the course of five years eighty males and as many female members were added to his Church. He took an active part in the service of the infant College; and through his whole life continued to confer his benefactions upon the inhabitants of the colony. It was not until after repeated solicitations on the part of the General Court of Massachusetts, that his affectionate and admiring church and congregation consented to let him accept the commission to which he had been several times appointed, that of agent or ambassador from the Plantations to the government at home.

"It is honourable to his character to find that, after his return to his own country, he continued to hold in grateful and respectful remembrance the people with whom he had resided in America. In a sermon, preached before both Houses of Parliament, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, and the Assembly of Divines, he passes the following eulogium upon our early ancestors; would that their descendants might also merit it! I have lived,' said he, ' in a country, where, in seven years, I never saw a beggar, nor heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunkard.""-Pp. 17—19.

་

We refrain from citing the account of Hugh Peters' return to England, of his patriotic conduct, of his heroic death, because these, we trust, are not new to

our readers; and because we wish to extract the notice of his daughter; her for whom he wrote, during his confinement in the Tower, the "Dying Father's Last Legacy."

"It is enough to make the heart bleed to think of the situation in which the poor child' to whom he addressed his dying advice was left. She was a forlorn, forsaken, helpless creature, the memory of her revered father was loaded with infamy, she was utterly destitute of friends, of sympathy, and of the means of subsistence. I do first,' says the wretched parent, commend you to the Lord, and then to the care of a faithful friend, whom I shall name unto you, if a friend may be found in this juncture, that dare own your name. And if I go shortly where time shall be no more, sink not, but lay thy head in His bosom who can keep thee, for He sits upon the wares. Farewell-And since we must part-must part: take my wishes, sighs, and groans to follow thee, and pity the fecbieness of what I have sent, being writ under much, yea very much discomposure of spirit.' After advising her to procure, upon his departure, a situation as a servant in some godly family,' he makes the following proposal. But if you would go home to New-England (which you have much reason to do) go with good company, and trust God there: the church are a tender company.' Although the imagination is left to conjecture the particulars of the life of this desolate young orphan, it is delightful to our hearts to think that she did seek refuge in that New-England which was so dear to her father. The God to whom he committed her in his dying hour did not desert her. There is reason to believe that the people of this place, that tender company' to whom he commended her, received her into the arms of their love and compassion, and did for her every thing that gratitude and benevolence could suggest."*-Pp. 23, 24.

"In Hutchinson's Collection of Papers there is a letter from a gentleman in London to Governor Leverett, requesting him to inform the Salem Church of the wretched and destitute condition of the bereaved family of Mr. Peters, and to commend to its charity and care his wife, who, for years before his execution, had been afflicted by mental alienation. The daughter to whom Mr. Peters addressed his 'Legacy' was born before he left America; her baptism is found recorded thus in our Church books. 1640. 1st mo. 8. Eliza, daughter of Mr. Pe

VOL. IV.

E

Edward Norris (who had been a clergyman in England) succeeded Hugh Peters in the ministry at Salem, and lived a life of peace and usefulness. He was followed by John Higginson, the son of that Francis Higginson who, though on account of his age he held the subordinate office, yet appears to be considered as the real founder of the Church. "He (John Higginson) was the first person admitted to this Church after its formation, and the last forty-uine years of his life were spent in the duties of its pastoral care.”

"The life of this excellent man was protracted to the great length of ninetythree years. Throughout its whole course he was a beautiful specimen of a distinct and peculiar class of men, who in many points were possessed of a dignified and amiable interest, the primitive New-England Ministers. His last days were spent in peace and honour; they were lovely and venerable. He was regarded as the Nestor of the Congregational Churches. His counsel was sought in every emergency-his sanction requested. for every undertaking. Books, published ters.' After her father's execution, she came to America, according to his advice, and was kindly received by his friends. So respectable was the situation in which they placed her, that she was married to a gentleman of rank in Newport, Rhode-Island. It is probable that she removed with her husband to England, where she became a widow. There can be no doubt that she lived there in affluence and honour, for she had iufluence enough to recover from the crown her father's foreign possessions, which had illegally been confiscated. Humphrey Devereux, Esq., a member of this Church and Society, is at present the owner of an estate on the Marblehead shore, which originally belonged to Hugh Peters. The deed by which he holds it, was given to his ancestor, March 17, 1705, by Elizabeth Barker, widow, daughter and sole heir of Hugh Peters' She appears to have been in America at the time of signing this deed. The sum which she received for the estate was over three hundred and fifty pounds. At its date she must have been sixty-five years of age. It is highly gratifying to our feelings to find evidence, in these few facts, which are all that we can ascertain concerning her, that the good Providence to which her dying father entrusted her, supplied her wants, conducted her steps, aud surrounded her path with blessings."