call. We would fain obey our superiors, and yet we cannot think of giving up our natural, our civil and religious rights, nor acquiesce in or contribute to render our fellow-creatures or fellow-citizens slaves and miserable. We would willingly follow peace with all men, and yet would be very unwilling that others should take the advantage of a pacifick disposition to injure us in hopes of doing it with impunity. We would express duty, respect, and obedience to the king, as supreme, and yet we would not wish to strengthen the hands of tyranny, nor call oppression lawful: in such a delicate situation it is a golden rule, “So to speak, and so to do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” Nothing has a greater tendency to make men act wrong than the disbelief of a future judgment; and nothing will more effectually restrain and direct them than the full persuasion that such an event will certainly take place; nothing would have a happier tendency to make us act with prudence, justice, and moderation, than the firm persuasion that God will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or bad.

Neither could I think on any direction more applicable to the design of our present meeting, or which I might more properly recommend to the respectable gentlemen now met together to consult on the recovery and preservation of the liberties of America, and who chose to begin their deliberations with a solemn act of worship to Almighty God, who has established government as his ordinance, and equally abhors licentiousness and oppression; whose singular blessing it is if subjects enjoy a righteous Government, and under such a Government lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

You are met, gentlemen, in a most critical time, and on a most alarming occasion, not in a legislative capacity, but (while the sitting of the usual representation is not thought for the King’s service, or necessary for the good of this Province) you are chosen by the general voice of this Province to meet on their behalf, to consult on such measures as, in our local circumstances, may be most to the real ad vantage, and tend to the honour of our Sovereign, as well as the good and safety of this Province, and of all this great Continent. For the sake of the auditory, I shall briefly state the immediate causes that have given rise to this Provincial and a General American Congress, and then offer such humble advice as appears to me most suitable to our circumstances.

To enforce some acts for laying on a duty to raise a perpetual revenue in America, which the Americans think unjust and unconstitutional, which all America complains of, and some Provinces have in some measure opposed,* a fleet and army has been sent to New-England, and after a long series of hardships by that Province patiently endured, it is now out of all question that hostilities have been commenced against them; blood has been shed, and many lives have been taken away; thousands, never so much as, suspected of having any hand in the action which is made the pretence of all the severity now used against that Province, have been and still are reduced to the greatest distress. From this other Provinces have taken the alarm: an apprehension of nearer foes, not unlikely to appear as auxiliaries in an unjust cause, has thrown our neighbours into arms; how far and wide the flame so wantonly kindled may be permitted to spread, none can tell; but in these alarming circumstances the liberty of this Continent, of which we are a part, the safety and domestick peace of this Province, will naturally become a subject of your deliberations; and here I may well adapt the language of old, “There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that America was first settled unto this day; consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” Judges xix. 30. I mean not to anticipate and direct your counsels; but from your desire I should speak on this occasion, I take it for granted you will permit me to offer such hints as may appear suitable to the place and design of our present meeting.

* This opposition in some Provinces consisted in sending the tea, on which this duty was to be paid, back to England, not suffering it to be sold or landed in others; and in Boston, when they were prevented from sending it back, it was entirely destroyed, but no person hurt, nor any blood shed.

In the first place, as there is no evil in a city in which the hand of God may not be seen, so in vain is salvation looked for from the hills and from the mountains, but can come from Him only who has made heaven and earth, This undoubtedly is a day of trouble, but God saith to his people, “Call upon me in a day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.” Ps. 1. 15. “What nation has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” Deut. iv. 7. If this be our first step, if first of all we look unto him from whom our help cometh, we may hope all will be well at last. Let us he thoroughly convinced of this, we must stand well with God, else it can never be well with us at all; without him and his help we can never prosper. The Lord is with you, if you are with him: “If you seek him, you will find him; but if you forsake him, you will be forsaken by him.” 2 Chron, xv. 2. If God be for us, who can be against us ? if he be against us, who can be for us ? Before we think on, or look any where else, may our eyes be unto God, that he may be gracious unto us. Let us humbly confess and speedily turn from our sins, deprecate his judgment, find secure his favour. “Rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil; who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord your God.” Joel ii. 13, 14.

Let it be a standing rule with every one that is to sit in council upon this occasion, “so to speak, and so to do, as one that is to be judged by the law of liberty.” Let us most carefully avoid every thing that might make us incur the displeasure of God, and wound our own consciences. The effects of your deliberation may become very serious and extensive, and the consequences extremely important: think therefore before you speak, deliberate before you execute, and let the law of liberty, by which you are here after to be judged, be the constant rule of all your words and actions. Far be it from us to be reduced under laws inconsistent with liberty, and as far to wish for liberty without law; let the one be so tempered with the other, that when we come to give out account to the supreme Law giver, who is the great judge of all, it may appear we had a due regard to both, and may meet with his approbation.

Such always hath been, and such is still the attachment of America to the illustrious house of Hanover, that I need not put you in mind of our duty to the King as supreme. By our law the King can do no wrong; but of his present Majesty, who is universally known to be adorned with many social virtues, may we not justly conclude that he would not do any wrong, even though he could ? May we not hope, that to the greatness of a monarch he will superadd the feelings of the man, the tenderness of a father? May we not hope, that when the truth of things, the tears of his suffering subjects, the distresses caused by acts extremely ill advised, once reach his notice, a generous pity will force his heart, and that pity, when he feels it, will command redress ? “The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water, and he turneth it as he pleaseth.” Prov. xxi. 1. Most earnestly therefore let us pray, that in this great and most important matter also God may give unto the King an understanding heart, that power may be governed by wisdom, and the wheels of Government roll on with justice and moderation.

Should you think that all our present distress is owing to evil counsellors, nothing need to hinder you from praying that God would turn their counsels into foolishness: you may make it your earnest request, both in publick and in private, that the wicked being removed from before the King, his throne may be established in righteousness; that the rod of the oppressor may be broken, and justice and equity take place of tyranny and oppression.

It may be owing to nothing but the firm attachment to the reigning family, that so many Americans look upon the present measures as a deep laid plan to bring in the Pretender. Perhaps this jealousy may be very groundless; but so much is certain, that none but Great Britain’s enemies can be gainers in this unnatural contest*.

Never let us lose out of sight that our interest lies in a

* Were it designed to give the Pretender an opportunity to raise divisions in Great Britain, starye the manufacturers, send away troops from Ireland and Scotland, and breed civil war in America, must all be circumstances too favourable, and, I may say, very tempting to promote such a project.