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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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At a GOUNCiL held at "Bojlon 
 Septemh. 8* i6jo. 
 
 |Hc Council taking into their ferious Confideration 
 the low eftate of the Churches of God throughout 
 ihc World > and the increafc of Sin and Evil 
 amongft our fclvc^^ Gods hand following us fon 
 the fame 5 Do thcrcibrc Ap^oiiu the Twtr-oid cvvcmfttitw 
 this inftant Sepembtr to be a Day of Publick Huoiiliadon 
 throughout this Jurifdidion, and do coKimend the fame to 
 the fc vera! Churches, Eldcrj, Minifters and People, folemnly 
 to keep it accordingly : Her:by prohibiting all Servile work 
 on that day. 
 
 Bv the Council^ 
 
 fd^E^on Secret.. 4 
 
THE 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW ENGLAND 
 
 BY 
 
 W. DeLOSS love, Jr., Ph. D. 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 1895 
 
Copyright, 1895, 
 By W. DeLOSS LOVE, Jb. 
 
 All rights reserved, 
 7f 3 3 «^ 
 
 The Riverside PresSy Cambridge^ Mass.^ U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. 
 
TO 
 
 MY FATHER 
 
 WBOSB XJTB HAS KXXMPUFISD THB YIBTUS OP 
 
 HONK8T HUMIIJTT 
 
 AND 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 WHOSE OHKERFUL PIXTY HAS BESN A 80NO OP 
 
 THAKKSGIYIIVO 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 
 
 WITH PIUAL APPBCriON 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Reader, this book aims to place before you the 
 historical facts relating to the Fast and Thanksgiving 
 days which the Fathers of New England have trans- 
 mitted to their children. You will see how religiously 
 they esteemed these institutions, and how rigorously 
 they observed them, but it has not been our purpose 
 to plead for their restoration. We have rather 
 sought to exhibit the pious purpose, persevering 
 courage, and honest faith of those good men, — which 
 surely are as worthy of regard as their oaken chests, 
 spinning-wheels, and warming-pans, — and to show 
 how these days, though changed in outward form, 
 may still survive, — the Fast through the reverence 
 of the churches, and the Thanksgiving through the 
 fellowship of the family circle. Thus, though the 
 days of old seem like antique shapes, we may have the 
 life, and in this we shall best honor the Puritan fore- 
 fathers. 
 
 Herein you will find set forth the conditions lead- 
 ing to the adoption of the Fast and Thanksgiving 
 system in New England, in place of the holy days of 
 the Church of England, the circumstances under 
 which it was developed, and the reasons for its de- 
 
vi PREFACE, 
 
 cline. It is also seen in operation and is illustrated 
 in successive chapters, which tell the story of promi- 
 nent periods, the days being thus found in their 
 proper historical setting. Many appointments could 
 not be particularly mentioned in the text, but the 
 student is furnished with the data relating thereto in 
 the Calendar and the Bibliography, without which the 
 volume would be incomplete, and he may pursue the 
 study at his pleasure. It has seemed hardly worth 
 while to continue this record later than the year 1815, 
 since the dates have generally followed the established 
 custom in each State, and the sermons printed have 
 had so little reference to the days. Still, the practice 
 itself is traced down to the present time, — the history 
 of the Thanksgiving Day closing with its adoption by 
 the nation, and that of the Fast Day with what seems 
 to us a fair statement of the problem as yet imsolved 
 in several States. 
 
 The application of the inductive method to histori- 
 cal studies, while it is scientific, has some disadvan- 
 tages. In this instance it has demanded an exhaustive 
 search to recover all the days observed ; and though 
 no pains have been spared in this work, doubtless 
 others will be added to the list. The antiquary can 
 now tell at once whether or not a date, which he may 
 find in some bit of manuscript, is recorded elsewhere. 
 It is not probable, however, that any additions will 
 modify the conclusions arrived at as to the origin of 
 annual appointments, — a subject which coidd only 
 be thoroughly treated by the inductive method. 
 
PREFACE. vu 
 
 We acknowledge with gratitude the courtesy which 
 has permitted the necessary search in the Libraries 
 consulted. They are enumerated in connection with 
 their collections of broadside proclamations and 
 printed Fast and Thanksgiving sermons, many of 
 which are exceedingly rare. The uniform kindness 
 of their Librarians has made the work a pleasant task 
 to the author, and we venture to hope the result may 
 be of some assistance to them. To Hon. J. Ham- 
 mond Triunbull, LL. D., we are indebted for his 
 notes on the " Wolcott Note-book," and to Hon. 
 Charles J. Hoadly, LL. D., for the use of his col- 
 lection of proclamations and other assistance. Ac- 
 knowledgment is made for data furnished from im- 
 printed manuscripts. The work would never have 
 been attempted except for an interest kindled by the 
 resources of the Connecticut Historical Society ; it 
 could not have been accomplished without the use of 
 many treasures in the possession of the American 
 Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society. To these our thanks are rendered, and es- 
 pecially to Hon. Samuel A. Green, M. D., the Li- 
 brarian of the latter, whose personal interest has urged 
 to completion this study, which has engaged vacation 
 hours and odd moments. 
 
 W. D. L. 
 
 Hartford, Conn., September 18, 1894. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Christianizing Heathen Festivals in England. — The Multitude of 
 Holy Days. — Equality of the Sabbath and Saints' Days. — Re- 
 view of Early Laws. — The Burden put upon Labor. — Dese- 
 cration of the Lord's Day. — The "Book of Sports." — " May 
 Games ' ' allowed on ajl Holy Days. — Reformation demanded. 
 
 — Irreligious Keeping of Christmas Day 11 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 THE FEASTS OF CHRIST. 
 
 The Early Puritans willing to retain Christmas, Good Friday, 
 and Easter in the Calendar. — Refugees at Zurich. — An At- 
 tempt to abolish Saints' Days. — Its Failure in the Convocation 
 of 1562. — Origin of the Proposal to keep the "Feasts of 
 Christ." — Zurich and Geneva. — The Second Helvetic Confes- 
 sion. — Views of English Bishops opposed by Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 — Pressure for Conformity. — Field and Wilcocks — their " Ad- 
 monition to the Parliament." — Thomas Cartwright. — Genevan 
 System adopted by the Non-conformists 28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 The Puritans influenced by the Bible. — Their Doctrine of 
 Divine Providence. — Statement of their Position. — Special 
 Days early appointed in England. — Guy Fawkes's Day. — Prac- 
 tice under the Commonwealth. — The Westminster Directory 
 for Public Worship on the Manner of Observance. — Reaction 
 inEngland. — The Twenty-ninth of May, 1660 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 
 
 1595-1620. 
 
 Separatist Churches. — Robert Browne's Belief and Practice. — 
 Reformed Churches in Holland. — Henry Ainsworth and his 
 
5 CONTENTS. 
 
 Flock at Amsterdam. — John Smyth. — The Scottish Church at 
 Eotterdam. — Hugh Peter. — Thomas Hooker's Declaration as 
 to " Holy Days and Fast Days." — General Agreement in keep- 
 ing Occasional Days. — John Robinson — his Church observe 
 Fasts at Ley den. — A Farewell Feast at the close of a Fast 
 Day. — Similarity to the Dutch Custom. — A Family Gathering 
 of the Pilgrims 54 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH. 
 1621. 
 
 Influence of a New Environment. — The Forefathers give thanks 
 to God. — An Anxious Seed-Sowing. — New England's Wed- 
 ding Feast. — Winslow's Account. — A Harvest Festival and 
 not a Puritan Thanksgiving. — Significance of the Occasion. — 
 The " Bill of Fare." — Supposed Relation to the " Feast of In- 
 gathering." — The Harvest Home of England. — An Inspira- 
 tion of the Pilgrims 68 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 
 1623. 
 
 The Thanksgiving Service of the Church of England different 
 from the Thanksgiving Day. — The Puritan System in Opera- 
 tion. — Misfortunes at Plymouth in 1622. — A Hopeful Plant- 
 ing. — Six Weeks of Drought. — The Governor appoints a Fast 
 Day. — The Englishman's God sends Gentle Showers. — A 
 Public Thanksgiving. — Dates of these Occasions determined. 
 
 — Subsequent Customs in the Plymouth Colony 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 
 
 1629-1630. 
 
 Various Shades of Non-conformity. — A Preference for Certain 
 Days of the Week. — Higginson's Voyage. — Fasts at Salem. — 
 Fellowship of Plymouth. — The Days Winthrop kept at Sea. 
 
 — A Thanksgiving in all the Plantations. — The Institution 
 established 91 
 
CONTENTS. 3 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 THE 0BDEBIN6S OF DIVINE PROVIDENCB IN THE BAY COLONY. 
 
 1631-1635. 
 
 Simple Fare of the Fathers. — Threatened with Starvation. — 
 Winthrop's Foresight and the Relief Ship. — Subsequent Mis- 
 fortunes. — A Drought. — A Welcome to Margaret Winthrop. 
 
 — Praying for Ministers. — Days observed on account of Af- 
 fairs in Europe 102 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 
 
 1635-1640. 
 
 Deference paid to "Men of Quality." — Social Conditions. — Ar- 
 rival of Henry Vane. — John Cotton and Ann Hutchinson. — A 
 Fast Day to further Peace. — The Offensive Sermon. — Wheel- 
 wright is banished. — Cotton has a Day of Humiliation, and 
 a Snowstorm arises. — A Lesson in the Virtue of Demo- 
 cracy 114 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BIVER PLANTATIONS. 
 
 1635-1640. 
 
 A Providence at Windsor. — Early Hardships. — Religious As- 
 pects of the Pequot War. — Commemoration of the Victory. — 
 First Thanksgiving Day of Connecticut — October 12, 1637. — 
 A Fast at Windsor and its Story. — John Warham's Sermon. 
 
 — October Thanksgivings of 1638. — Thomas Hooker's Dis- 
 course. — Humiliation "for England and the Sickness in the 
 Bay." — The Great Flood and its Warning. — A Thanksgiving 
 Appointed by the General Court. — Connecticut's First Harvest 
 Festival 129 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 
 1640-1660. 
 
 Commotions in England. — A Summer Fast Day. — William 
 Hooke's Sermon. — Attitude of New England. — The Date of 
 Hooke's Second Sermon shown to have been April 14, 1642. — 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 \ 
 Allies in the " BatteU of Antichrist." — Subsequent Fastings. 
 — A Notable Thanksgiving in behalf of England. — Tempting 
 Providence. — " The Christian Commonwealth." — Making 
 Ready for the Restoration 147 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DUTCH CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 
 
 1643-1664. 
 
 The Dutch observed Fast and Thanksgiving Days. — Their Holy 
 Seasons. — First Congregation at New Amsterdam. — William 
 Kieft and his Humiliation. — A Thanksgiving for Peace. — 
 Features of the Observance. — " Fasting, Prayer, and Thanks- 
 giving Days." — Later Occasions. — A Study in 1653. — An 
 Annual Thanksgiving proposed. — Influence of these Practices 
 in the Adoption of the National Thanksgiving 162 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 
 
 1640-1670. 
 
 Supposed Degeneracy of New England and Consequent Calami- 
 ties. — Droughts. — Blasting of Crops. — Visitations of Cater- 
 pillars. — Locusts. — The Hand of God in Sicknesses. — 
 Prodigies portend Evil. — Meaning attached to the Appear- 
 ance of Comets. — Samuel Danforth's "Astronomical Descrip- 
 tion " — A Fast-Day Sermon. — " God's Controversy with New 
 England " 177 
 
 CHAPTER XrV. 
 
 Jacob's trouble in the wilderness. 
 
 1675-1676. 
 
 November Thanksgivings after Dark Days. — Outbreak of King 
 Philip's War. — The People humble themselves. — Ominous 
 Signs. — Fastings fail to wdn Divine Favor. — Massachusetts 
 omits the Thanksgiving Day. — The Tide turns. — An Early 
 Thanksgiving Broadside. — Joseph Rowlandson keeps the 
 Day — a Family Incident. — Connecticut's Course of Thanks- 
 givings.— The 17th of August, 1676, at Plymouth — did it 
 commemorate King Philip's Death ? — Arrival of the " Levia- 
 than's Head " at the Close of the Religious Service 192 
 
CONTENTS. 6 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE REFORMATION FASTS. 
 
 1675-1680. 
 
 A Backslidden Israel. — Increase Mather and the Reformation 
 Laws. — James Fitch follows the Early Practice at Hartford. 
 
 — " Renewal of Covenant " adopted by Mather. — Part taken 
 by Children in the Exercises. — Mather's Earnest Exhortation. 
 
 — Covenanting Fasts. — The ** Reforming Synod " sustains 
 Mather^s View. — His Proclamation. — Covenants employed. 
 
 — Results of the Movement 205 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THK CONFLICrr OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 1684-1692. 
 
 Anthority for Appointments primarily vested in the Churches. — 
 Ministers write the Proclamations. — Gradual Transfer of Au- 
 thority to the State. — A Troublesome Question — who shall 
 order a Thanksgpiving ? — It becomes a Party Issue. — Revival 
 of Interest in English Holidays. — Andros censures the Minis- 
 ters for assuming Autliority. — Increase Mather remembers it. 
 
 — Andros makes Obnoxious Appointments. — Old Customs 
 restored 221 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 THE ANNUAL 8PRINQ FAST AND THE AUTUMN THANKSOIVINO. 
 
 1620-1694. 
 
 Presumption against the Annual System. — Erroneous Opinions. 
 
 *- — When did the Thanksgiving Day become Annual ? — Eccle- 
 siastical and Civil Authority in Plymouth Colony. — Annual 
 Appointments developed in Connecticut. — Massachusetts. — 
 When did the Fast Day become Annual ? — Practice in 
 Plymouth Colony. — Elarly Adoption in Connecticut. — Massa- 
 chusetts prefers Occasional Fasts. — Her Spring Fast Annual 
 since 1694. — Old and New System 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 
 
 1692-1696. 
 
 Private Fasts at Salem kindle Fanaticism. — The Preaching of 
 Samuel Parris. — A General Fast at a Critical Time. — Atti- 
 
; CONTENTS. 
 
 tude of the Ministers. — Cotton Mather's Sermon. — He relies 
 on Fasting and Prayer. — A Convocation of Ministers to check 
 the Prosecutions. — Effect of the Bill. — Cotton Mather's Re- 
 jected Proclamation. — Samuel Sewall's Confession 256 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS AND MERCIES OF INDIAN WARFARE. 
 
 1688-1713. 
 
 Prayers for Soldiers gone forth to War. — Several Expeditions. 
 
 — Captain Church's Successes are greeted with Humiliation. 
 
 — Attacks upon the Frontier Settlements. — Appointments in 
 New Hampshire. — Assault on Deerfield. — " Clouds return 
 after the Rain." — A Court Fast. — 111 News and a Rain- 
 bow. — "Hammering out" a Proclamation on account of 
 Peace 270 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 
 
 1727-1755. 
 
 The Divine Voice in Earthquakes. — Surprise of a Sabbath 
 Night. — Startling Effects. — A Call to Prayer in Boston. — 
 Cotton Mather's Warning to a Terrified Audience. — Lecture 
 Fasts. — Religious Impressions produced. — Earthquake of 
 1755. — Changed Conditions. — The Excitement soon subsides. 
 
 — A,Scientific Explanation 285 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 
 
 1744-1749. 1755-1760. 
 
 Reinforcements and Humiliations. — Expedition against Louis- 
 burg. — Earnestness in Prayer. — Rejoicing over a Victory. — 
 Historical Sermons preached. — War against the Eastern In- 
 dians. — Thanksgiving for the Pretender's Defeat. — "Salva- 
 tions of God in 1746." — The Hostile Fleet scattered. — 
 Campaigns of 1755. — All the Colonies keep Fasts. — Thanks- 
 givings for the Reduction of Cape Breton and the FaU of 
 Quebec. — Religious View of the War 299 
 
CONTENTS. T 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SPELLS OF WEATHER. 
 
 1717-1749. 
 
 Predictions of the Almanac. — Has the Climate of New Eng- 
 land moderated ? — The Blizzard of 1717 and its Consequences. 
 — Churches turn to Fasting and Prayer. — Homiletic Use of 
 the Storm by Eliphalet Adams. — The Extreme Drought of 
 1749. — Manuscript Fast Sermon by Thomas Prince. — His 
 Thanksgiving Sermon. — Prevailing View of Divine Chastise- 
 ments • 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXm. 
 
 THE AMEBICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 1765-1783. 
 
 "Civil and Religious Liberties." — The Stamp Act. — Feeling 
 among the Ministers. — Thanksgivingfs for the Repeal. — Loy- 
 alist Proclamations in Massachusetts. — The Boston Port Bill. 
 — Governor Gage refuses to order a Fast and the Ministers set 
 a Day. — Patriotic Preachers. — Connecticut Fasts on the IDth 
 of April, 1775. — Appointments by the Continental Congress. — 
 Eleazar Wheelock keeps the Wrong Day. — Subsequent Days 
 observed. — The First Continental Thanksgiving. — After 
 Many Days a Thanksgiving for Peace 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 1795-1797. 
 
 Liberal Sentiment in Connecticut. — Good Friday Fasts in New 
 Hampshire. — Attitude of Episcopalians. — Washington sets a 
 Thanksgiving in Lent. — Disregard for the Day in New Lon- 
 don. — "The Churchman's Apology" by Bishop Seabury. — 
 He objects to Fasts in Easter Week. — The Difficulties ex- 
 plained in a Reply. — Governor Huntington sets the Fast on 
 Good Friday in 1795. — A Protracted Controversy. — Governor 
 Wolcott's Appointments. — The Good Friday Fast established 
 in 1797 347 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1789-1799. 
 
 Religious, Historical, and Political Fast Days. — Position and In- 
 fluence of the Clergy. — They are drawn into Politics. — 
 Samuel Adams's Proclamation omits Mention of the Federal 
 Government. — David Osgood's Sermon. — Federalist Ministers 
 in Massachusetts. — Reply to Osgood. — Political Sermons of 
 February 19, 1795. — Misfortunes of a Democrat. — Sermons ' 
 as Campaign Documents. — Jedidiah Morse arraigns the II- 
 luminati. — Ministers denounced. — The sjequel 362 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 1811-1815. 
 
 Practices in the New England States. — Character of Proclama- 
 tions. — Governor Gerry's Partisan Paragraph. — He is cen- 
 sured by Rev. Elijah Parish. — The Governor replies. — Po- 
 litical Preachers stigmatized in a Proclamation. — Election 
 Day. — The Federalists have an Opportunity. — Governor 
 Strong's Proclamations condemned. — National Appointments 
 on Account of the War 379 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY. 
 
 Extent of the Observance in the United States. — A Cherokee 
 Proclamation. — Early Acceptance of the Institution by the 
 Indians. — Forces making for its National Adoption. — The 
 Principle of Union. — Influence of Appointments by the Conti- 
 nental Congress. — First National Thanksgiving Day December 
 18, 1777. — Congress discusses the Subject in 1789. — Early 
 Presidential Appointments. — The Civil War. — An Annual 
 Harvest Festival since 1863 395 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 Fast and Thanksgiving Days regarded as Sabbaths by the 
 Fathers. — Early Laws and Subsequent Modifications. — Cus- 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 toms pertaining to Fast Day. — The Harvest Festival devel- 
 oped by Home Life. — Growth of the Feast. — An Ideal New ^ 
 England Thanksgiving 410 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE PRINTER AND THE PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Rarity of Broadsides. — Transmission of the Written Order. — 
 Printing becomes Necessary. — First Printed Proclamation of 
 Connecticut in 1709. — Early Massachusetts Broadsides. — 
 Their Appearance. — The Seal. — Provincial Broadsides. — 
 Proclamations during the American Revolution. — Present 
 Style in Massachusetts dates from 1784. — Many Printers in 
 Connecticut. — Press of William Bradford. — Early Broad- 
 sides in Other New England States 430 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 
 
 Fast Day abolished in Massachusetts. — Patriots' Day. — How ^ 
 the Change was brought about. — Observance of Good Friday 
 left to the Churches. — Influence of the Action in Massachu- 
 setts. — Conditions in Connecticut. — The Good Friday Fast a 
 bond of Christian Unity. — General Acceptance of the Proposal 
 to keep ''The Feasts of Christ." 446 
 
 Addenda. — A Thanksgiving on the Arrival of the Pilgrims . . 457 
 
 Abbreviations 460 
 
 Some Sources of Information 461 
 
 Calendar 464 
 
 Bibliography 515 
 
 Index of Bibliography 599 
 
 General Index 603 
 
FACSIMILE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAaa 
 A Fast Day Proclamation of 1670, being the earliest New 
 England broadside proclamation known . Frontispiece 
 
 A Proclamation for the Thanksgiving Day in the 
 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony, June 29, 1676 . . . 200 
 
 A Proclamation for the Fast Day in Connecticut, 
 June 29, 1709, being the first broadside proclamation 
 printed in the Colony 432 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS 
 OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 When Gregory the Great, in the year 596, dis- 
 patched Augustine on his mission to Ethelbert, king of 
 Kent, he sent with him the ecclesiastical observances 
 of the Roman Church. The policy adopted in dealing 
 with the customs of the Anglo-Saxons was that of 
 substituting some Christian festival for a heathen 
 feast, allowing much in the pagan manner of celebrat- 
 ing it to remain, " to the end that," as that Pope ex- 
 pressed it, " whilst some gratifications are outwardly 
 permitted them they may the more easily consent to 
 the inward consolations of the grace of God." ^ Thus 
 it was, that many barbaric customs and ceremonies 
 were invited to attach themselves to Christian festivals. 
 In niunerous instances the former were altered only 
 in purpose, and that after the lapse of years. The 
 Saxons, in common with many of the northern na- 
 tions, had their Yule-feast at the winter solstice, 
 which was doubtless even then hallowed in sim wor- 
 ship by fhe fiery sun-wheel and the blazing Yule-log. 
 They had the festival of Easter, many believe, about 
 the vernal equinox, and probably also a celebration at 
 
 1 Bede, b. 1, c. 30. 
 
12 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 the summer solstice. Around their temples they built 
 for themselves huts of the boughs of trees and there 
 held high carnival. These and other pagan observ- 
 ances being permitted, the Christian calendar easily 
 obtained recognition, and thereafter the holy seasons 
 of England were ordered by the Catholic Church, with 
 such additions as local saints might suggest, and under 
 certain regulations enacted by English kings and 
 bishops. 
 
 It is first of all necessary to obtain some conception 
 of the extent and evils of the system which the Puri- 
 tans opposed, as that was the reason why they rejected 
 it and substituted their fast and thanksgiving days. 
 
 A lamented master of the historical literature of 
 the time. Dr. Henry M. Dexter, has given us, in his 
 description of "the darkness and the dawn," a sum- 
 mary as to holy days, which we cannot do better 
 than quote. He says, " On more than one quarter of 
 the secular days of the year it [the church] forbade 
 all persons over twelve years of age to taste food 
 until three o'clock in the afternoon, besides prohibiting 
 all to eat on the eves of most festival days. On the 
 other hand it set aside nearly one half of the year on 
 various pretexts as festival time. And when it is re- 
 membered that on all these holy days the people 
 were compelled to attend church under severe penal- 
 ties, it will be seen how great was the tax put thus 
 upon the industry of the land." ^ This, however, does 
 not fully state our case, for the primary objection of 
 the Non-conformists was to the desecration of the 
 Lord's Day, which had come about through its equal- 
 ity with saints' days, as the tyranny of the church re- 
 
 ^ Congregationalism as seen in its Literature^ p. 26. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 13 
 
 acted to the permission of labor and recreations during 
 holy seasons. They contended most strenuously for 
 the Sabbath, which they found it impossible to rescue 
 from abuses except by rejecting other ecclesiastical 
 festivals, which, in themselves, they would have been 
 willing to retain. 
 
 Let us briefly trace the growth of these evils by an 
 examination of the civil laws relating to holy seasons. 
 Perhaps the first English law on the subject was that 
 of Ina, king of the West Saxons, A. D. 693, which 
 forbade working on the Lord's Day. '' If a master 
 obliges his slave to work on the Lord's Day, he shall 
 pay thirty shillings fine, and the slave be set free; 
 but if the slave presumes to work without his master's 
 order he shall be flogged, or purchase exemption by 
 a fine. A freeman guilty of the like offense is either 
 to lose his liberty or pay sixty shillings. A priest in- 
 curs a double penalty." ^ In the canons of the Coun- 
 cil of Berkhampsted, A. D. 697, — which, by the bye, 
 note the holy season as continuing from sunset of 
 Saturday to sunrise of Monday, — there is a provision 
 against traveling on the Lord's Day ; and the same 
 was repeated by the Council of Clovishoff, A. D. 747, 
 under the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was implied 
 in the constitutions of Egbert, Archbishop of York, 
 A. D. 749. It will be noticed that these laws apply 
 only to the Sabbath. But Alfred, A. D. 887, when he 
 prescribed a double penalty for thieving, included in 
 the prohibition Christmas and Easter. A few years 
 later, A. D. 906, when Edward the Elder made a 
 treaty with Guthriun, not only was trading forbidden 
 on the Lord's Day, but working on that or any other 
 
 ^ Spelman, Concilia, i. 183. 
 
14 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 feast day. This was the law : " The Dane who trades 
 on the Lord's Day shall forfeit the article and pay 
 a fine of twelve pence. The Englishman shall pay 
 thirty shillings. The freeman who does any work on 
 any feast day shall be reduced to servitude or pay a 
 fine." 1 These same laws were in force in the time of 
 Canute, A. d. 1032, and he revived the penalties 
 which several Saxon bishops had omitted. We may 
 infer that holy seasons were then very strictly re- 
 garded from the fact that, throughout most of this 
 period, laws, either of Frankish or Roman origin, 
 were in existence against huntings, banquetings, " idle 
 stories and talkings," songs, dances, standing at the 
 corners of the streets and in the open places, " the 
 profane canticles of the Gentiles," games and " devil- 
 ish mimicries." Surely these Saxon Blue-Laws were 
 equal to anything ever enacted in New England. At- 
 tendance was required, not only upon the services of 
 the Sabbath, but upon matins, mass, and vespers. Ec- 
 clesiastical usages which were early in vogue were en- 
 joined by the civil law, such as abstinence from food 
 and marriage ceremonies. It was the treaty above 
 mentioned which stipulated that " if a freeman shall 
 break an appointed fast by taking food he shall be 
 subject both to a fine and the penalty of the violation 
 of the law," and this applied to the Lenten fast, 
 Ember days, and all other appointed fasts. 
 
 Furthermore, these holy seasons were judicial holi- 
 days, and had been so since the treaty of Edward, 
 which said, "Let there be no trials, neither let any 
 one be sworn on feast days or the appointed fasts." 
 The increase of such days in the time of Canute and 
 
 1 Spelman, Concilia^ i. 391. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH 15 
 
 under Edward the Confessor indicates very clearly 
 the tendency toward an extension of holy seasons.^ 
 In the main these early laws continued on the statute- 
 books throughout the Norman period of English his- 
 tory. William the Conqueror was quite content to 
 leave the ecclesiastics to themselves and reenact the 
 laws of Edward the Confessor. The same is true of 
 the early Plantagenet kings. During the reign of 
 John, however, there was a general revival in the ob- 
 servance of holy seasons. It was furthered by a 
 celestial mandate said to have been found on Mount 
 Golgotha in Jerusalem, which an abbot brought to 
 England preaching a crusade against popular viola- 
 tions of holy times. Such a revelation could not but 
 make a more powerful impression on the people of 
 that age than the laws themselves. It enjoined the 
 keeping of Sunday and the festivals of the saints 
 under penalty of showers of stones and hot water, 
 ravenous beasts, and final destruction by pagan 
 hordes, from which they had only been kept by the 
 prayers of the most holy mother Mary. Such a 
 movement furnishes conclusive evidence of this im- 
 portant fact that, in the twelfth century, the reaction 
 against the bondage of ecclesiasticism had attained 
 considerable proportions. The early Saxon laws, 
 originally designed to secure the sanctity of the Sab- 
 bath, had been applied first to Christmas and Easter 
 and afterward to all the festivals and fasts of the 
 church, and these had been so multiplied that the 
 people were compelled by the necessities of agricul- 
 ture or trade, and their natural craving for amuse- 
 ments, to establish their markets even on the Lord's 
 
 1 See Feasts and Fasts, E. V. Neale. 
 
16 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Day, — no more sacred in their practices than saints' 
 days, — and upon all holidays to indulge in diversions 
 hostile to attendance upon church services. We are 
 able also to understand the struggle of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries between the ecclesiastics and 
 this laxity among the people. The church set herself 
 against labors of the most trivial character. Attend- 
 ance at markets on holy days was denounced under 
 the threat of anathemas. But in the end, the people, 
 who could not lessen the days, so far influenced the 
 church that labor and recreations were tolerated. 
 
 The Reformation began in the sixteenth century. 
 To put the matter in a few words, the situation forced 
 an amelioration of the condition of the people. Sov- 
 ereigns like Henry VIII. and EUzabeth sought to 
 bring it about by repealing the statutes or tolerat- 
 ing markets and shows during holy seasons. Some 
 of the Puritans staked their hopes on a revision of 
 the calendar. These movements accomplished much, 
 at least in an economic reform, but they did not rescue 
 the Lord's Day from its sacrilege. This the Dissent- 
 ers did by distinguishing it from other holy days, 
 which at last they were compelled to reject altogether. 
 
 When Henry VIII. assumed the supremacy of the 
 church, he abolished aU those feasts or holidays wliich 
 came in harvest time, and certain others. He declared 
 that the number of hoHdays had become so excessive 
 that it was prejudicial to the commonwealth, not only 
 increasing idleness, but resulting in the destruction of 
 crops " in not taking th' oportunitie of good and se- 
 rene wheather offered upon the same in time of har- 
 vest." i An attempt was also made to decrease the 
 1 Wilkins, Concilia, iii. 823. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH 17 
 
 popular veneration of the saints, but customs genera- 
 tions old could not be so easily uprooted. However, 
 his reign was an economic success, and it prepared the 
 way for the retention of the Christian calendar in the 
 Church of England. 
 
 Edward VI., though he entered more into the true 
 spirit of the Reformation, made substantially no alter- 
 ation in the calendar, which he republished in the 
 Book of Prayer. There was a tendency toward a less 
 strict observance of festivals, the Lord's Day being 
 classed with the rest. In the preamble to his act of 
 1552, setting forth " The Booke of Common Prayer," 
 it was enacted that it shoidd be " lawfid to every hus- 
 bandman, labourer fisherman and to all and every 
 other person of what estate, degree or condition he be, 
 upon the holy days aforesaid in harvest, or any other 
 time of the year when necessity shall require, to la- 
 bour, ride, fish or work any kind of work at their free 
 wills and pleasures." Thomas Fuller, in speaking of 
 the fact that the Lord's Day was included with other 
 holy days in the injunctions of Edward VI., takes oc- 
 casion to thank God that the Reformation was progres- 
 sive. It was so in the Church of England, and he 
 judges with partiality who ascribes all the honors of 
 subsequent reforms to the Non-conformists. Various 
 attempts were made by churchmen to restore the sanc- 
 tity of the Sabbath. For instance, during Elizabeth's 
 reign a measure was tlu^own out for the postponement 
 of fairs and markets from Sunday to the next working 
 day. Similar legislation was attempted in the reign of 
 James I., but was imsuccessful. As for Elizabeth, she 
 did not restore the act of Edward VI. which Mary 
 had repealed. She was disinclined to follow either of 
 
18 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 them, and more willing than they to tolerate labor 
 and amusements. She even by a distinct act placed 
 the Lord's Day and saints' days on the same footing.^ 
 Her reforms pertained principally to conduct during 
 time of service. She refused to check the desecration 
 of the Sabbath by revels, sports, and the like, which 
 ran high during her reign; indeed, she encouraged 
 them.2 Had she adopted the more liberal and reli- 
 gious measures proposed by her own bishops, the 
 outcome might have been different. But she vacil- 
 lated, and when undecided did nothing. And all the 
 while the Non-conformist sentiment was increasing in 
 strength, conceived and nurtured as it was in antag- 
 onism to this equal regard for the Sabbath and saints' 
 days. 
 
 Such being the state of affairs in the reign of James 
 I., we cannot be surprised either at the appearance of 
 his " Book of Sports," or the sensation which it made. 
 It happened in this wise : In the summer of 1617 
 the king was journeying homeward from Scotland, 
 where his stay had not been altogether agreeable, for 
 the Presbyterians were not at all incKned to coincide 
 with his views on Episcopacy. Perhaps he had not 
 been pleasantly impressed with their strict observance 
 of Sunday, and was the more willing to encourage a 
 laxity in accord with his own practices.^ The royal 
 company were indeed having a jolly time of it, travel- 
 
 1 1 Eliz. c. 2. 
 
 2 Gibson, Codex Juris, etc., pp. 236, 242 ; Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 
 255 ; Neal, Hist, of Puritans, i. 390, 391 ; Cardwell, Documentary 
 Annals. 
 
 ^ Upon one occasion, when James was in Scotland, he appointed on 
 a Saturday a feast for the following Monday for the entertainment of 
 two French ambassadors. The ministers of Edinburgh on the Sabbath 
 made that Monday a fast. — The Phenix, ii. 295. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 19 
 
 ing by easy stages, hunting in the forests, entertained 
 at sumptuous banquets, and amused by the players and 
 musicians who formed a part of the king's suite. Thus 
 they came to Lancashire, where the Papists, who were 
 quite numerous, made his visit the opportunity for 
 complaining that they were much oppressed by the 
 prohibiting of their amusements on the Lord's Day 
 after divine service. James was in the right humor 
 to grant their petition, which he did the more readily 
 in the hope of winning the popish recusants. Four 
 days thereafter he gave his petitioners a fair example 
 of the Sabbath observance which he favored. We 
 learn from the private journal of one Nicholas Asshe- 
 ton tha^i the programme for August 17 was as fol- 
 lows : " Hoghton. Wee served the Lords with bis- 
 kett, wyne and jeUie. The Bishopp of Chester, Dr. 
 Morton, preached before the King. To Dinner. 
 About 4 o'clock there was a rush-bearmg and Pipeing 
 afore the King in the Middle Court. Then to supp. 
 Then, about 10 or 11 o'clock a Maske of Noble- 
 men, Knights, Gentlemen, and Courtiers, afore the 
 King in the middle round in the garden. Some 
 Speeches ; of the rest dancing the Huckles, Tom Bedlo 
 and the Cowp Justice of the Peace." ^ The royal 
 license was at once abused, so that the king, on the 
 24th of May, 1618, was led to issue his "Decla- 
 ration concerning Lawfull Sports," hoping to correct 
 the unwarranted disturbance of worship, and at the 
 same time allay the excitement which had been occa- 
 sioned. It is sufficient to quote a single paragraph to 
 show what amusements were permitted : " Our plea- 
 sure Hkewise is. That, after the end of Divine Service, 
 
 1 The King's Book of Sports, L. A. Govett, p. 33. 
 
20 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Our good people be not disturbed, letted or discour- 
 aged from any lawfull recreation, Such as dancing, 
 either of men or women. Archery for men, leaping, 
 vaulting, or any other such harmlesse Recreation, nor 
 from having of May Games, Whitson Ales, and Mor- 
 ris-dances, and the setting up of May-poles, and other 
 sports therewith used, so as the same be had in due 
 and convenient time, without impediment or neglect 
 of Divine Service : And that women shall have leave 
 to carry rushes to the Church for the decoring of it, 
 according to their old custome." Bear and bull bait- 
 ing, which were practiced on other days, were forbid- 
 den on Sundays, — a law, by the way, which was not 
 enforced. To win the right to indulge in the above 
 sports, one had only to attend service in the morning. 
 It does not appear that the " Book of Sports " was com- 
 manded, to be read in the churches ; some read it and 
 others did not. But it was interpreted as the future 
 law of the Sabbath. The Puritans, including many 
 worthy ministers of the church which called the king 
 the " defender of the faith," were greatly incensed. 
 The royal prerogative was found to be fighting hor- 
 nets with straw in most desperate fashion. Not until 
 the damage had been done, and it was too late to re- 
 pair it, did the king see his mistake. The Pilgrims 
 were already preparing to spread the white sails of 
 the Mayflower for the voyage to the western world. 
 Thousands of their Puritan brethren had become 
 weary of the struggle to establish their ideals in Eng- 
 land and were ready to follow them. And so the sane- 
 tity of the New England Sabbath was born. 
 
 The amusements allowed in the " Book of Sports " 
 give us some conception of the provocation which our 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 21 
 
 forefathers liad. Dancing is prominently mentioned, 
 from which cause it was called the " Dancing Book." 
 The word gave license to many dances of an athletic 
 character, such as sword-dancing and rope-dancing, 
 performed by traveling joculators, of which Strutt 
 gives a very full description.^ But promiscuous 
 dances of men and women are primarily meant, and 
 these were very popular at that time. The court of 
 King James, where Buckingham was facile princeps 
 in the art, had set a fashion for which the peasantry 
 had a gi*eat Uking, but in which they quite neglected 
 courtly manners. The pillow on which " Joan " and 
 "John Sanderson" were accustomed to kneel, and 
 offer salutations as they were welcomed to the 
 " prinkimi-prankum " dancers in the ring, was vastly 
 more popular than the hard floor of the parish 
 church.2 Some of the prevailing immodest customs 
 would scarcely bear recording. Dances were often 
 the screen of rioting and drunkenness even in the 
 churchyard. 
 
 " The priestes, and clerkes to daunce have no shame ; 
 The frere or monke in his frocke and cowle 
 Must daunce, and the doctor lepeth to play the foole." 
 
 No religious person could witness such scenes, follow- 
 ing hard upon the most solenm ritual of worship, with 
 any complacency. Archery was originally ordered by 
 law in each parish as a military exercise. The plea 
 of desecration alone was raised against it, and the 
 same may be said of " leaping " and " vaulting." It 
 was claimed that such sports dissipated Sabbath-day 
 impressions. 
 
 1 Strutt's Sports and Pastimes^ c. 5. 
 
 2 Brand's Popular Antiquities, Bohn, ii. 162. 
 
22 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 The "May games" often appear in early New 
 England history as the particular aversion of the 
 forefathers. They stood for much in the way of im- 
 moral practices. We may fitly give Philip Stubs's 
 own description, found in his '^ Anatomic of Abuses : " 
 " Against Maie day, Whitsunday, or some other time 
 of the year, every parish, towne, or village, assemble 
 themselves, both men, women, and children ; and either 
 all together, or dividing themselves into companies, 
 they goe some to the woods and groves, some to the 
 hills and mountaines, some to one place, some to 
 another, where they spend all the night in pleasant 
 pastimes, and in the morning they return, bringing 
 with them birche boughes and branches of trees to 
 deck their assemblies withal. But their chief est jewel 
 they bring from thence is the Maie-pole, which they 
 bring home with gi*eat veneration, as thus — they 
 have twentie or fourtie yoake of oxen, every oxe hav- 
 ing a sweete nosegaie of flowers tied to the tip of his 
 homes, and these oxen drawe home the May-poale, 
 their stinking idol rather, which they cover all over 
 with flowers and hearbes, bound round with strings 
 from the top to the bottome, and sometimes it was 
 painted with variable colours, having two or three 
 hundred men, women, and children following it with 
 great devotion. And thus equipped it was reared 
 with handkerchiefs and flagges streaming on the top. 
 They strawe the ground round about it, they bind 
 green boughs about it, they set up summer halles, 
 bowers and arbours hard by it and then fall they to 
 banquetting and feasting, to leaping and dancing 
 about it, as the heathen people did at the dedication 
 of their idoUs." The " May games " played about 
 
#t^" 
 
 THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 23 
 
 this fantastic symbol of the goddess Flora are too 
 numerous for recital. ^ Puritan indictments were 
 not always just, though doubtless the charges brought 
 against the immorality of the season were believed by 
 them. It could hardly have been true, as Thomas 
 Hall said in his ''Downfall of May-Games," that ^^\^ 
 none but " ignorants, atheists, papists, drunkards, ^ ^ 
 swearers, swash-bucklers, maid-marrions, morrice-dan- 
 cers, maskers, munmiers, May-pole stealers, healths 
 drinkers, gamesters, lewd men, light women," and the 
 like observed the festivities of the May Day. But it 
 is beyond dispute that in the main the accusation was 
 true. And these May games were allowed on the 
 Sabbath as upon the most solemn festival days. It 
 was Latimer who went once to a certain church to 
 preach on a holy day and found the good people all 
 gone a Maying and the church locked. In the first 
 " Admonition to the Parliament," 1571, the minister 
 is represented as hurrying through the service because 
 '' some games are to be played in the afternoone, as 
 lying for the Whetstone, heathenishe dauncing for the 
 ring, a Beare or a Bull to be bayted or else Jacke an 
 apes to be ryde on horse backe, or an enterlude to be 
 playde, and if no place else can bee gotten it must bee 
 doone in the church." The literature of the Puritans 
 is full of the details of such desecration of the Sab- 
 bath and churches. A Conformist thus arraigns the 
 church : " Goe to Alehouses on the Sabboth dayes, 
 there is as well solde all kinde of loosenesse as vict- 
 uals. Goe to Greenes, there is myrth that would 
 wound a Christian man's heart with heauinesse. Goe 
 
 ^ See Brand's Popular Antiquities, i. 212-247 ; Strutt's Sports and 
 Pastimes, Intro, c. xxxiv. and b. iv. c. 3, §§ 15-20. 
 
24 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 to Fayres, there is a shew and trafficke, as well of all 
 lewdnesse as of wares. . . . The Theatres, Parish gar- 
 den, Tauernes, streetes, fields all full and prophanely 
 occupied and this chiefly on the Sabboth day." ^ 
 Against all this our forefathers stood, — the enlight- 
 ened, industrious, refined, and moral as well as reli- 
 gious people of their age. They could not discover the 
 appropriateness of commemorating the deaths of the 
 foremost apostles in a heathen fashion. That they 
 entertained a reverence for the descent of the Holy 
 Spirit out of harmony with Whitsun-ales is no reflec- 
 tion upon their characters. The chief contribution of 
 the parishioner to this holy festival was strong ale, 
 and the most virtuous was he who could " get the 
 soonest to it and spend the most at it ; " and the rol- 
 licking games grew boisterous, and round and round 
 whirled the morris-dancer, whose tinkling bells, fring- 
 ing his clownish garments, bore no inscription, " Holi- 
 ness unto the Lord." 
 
 The forefathers have been fairly hooted at because 
 they were opposed to the observance of Christmas. 
 Well, let the reader return to their times, and station 
 himself in a Fleet Street Inn on a Christmas eve. 
 The way without is obstructed with roistering crowds. 
 Wandering minstrels are playing their ditties; the 
 showman is at his entertainment. It is high carnival, 
 and all sorts of iniquity have had a liberty conferred 
 upon them by the law, since it is Christmas time. 
 There comes a company of shouting revelers bearing 
 the Yule-log, to lay with all ceremony in the great fire- 
 place of the inn, and to dance about the fire like their 
 
 1 The TJnlawfull Practices of Prelates, A Parte of a Register, p. 288. 
 See, also, pp. 36, 63. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH. 25 
 
 Saxon ancestors from whom they derived the custom. 
 The wassail-bowl on the inn table is emptied and 
 filled as the night advances. Gambling is there, and 
 everywhere, unrestricted. Their merriment is only 
 interrupted to rush to the windows and greet the 
 bands of singers, who know well what impure baUads 
 will best answer the purpose of carols for the crowd 
 without and the auditors within. If their taste rises 
 so high, they may sing of Christ as the Lord of Mis- 
 rule: — 
 
 * ' The darling of the world is come, 
 And fit it is, we find a roome 
 To welcome him. The nobler part 
 Of all the house here is the heart, 
 Which we will give him ; and bequeath 
 This hollie and this ivie wreath 
 To do him honour, who 's our King, 
 And lord of all this revelling." 
 
 But is it thought that we shall find in the church 
 on the morrow a quiet resting-place of solemn wor- 
 ship ? We might attend the chiu'ch near by. The 
 service would advance with some degree of order, 
 but in the midst of it we might hear the approaching 
 Lord of Misrule and his companions. And this, in 
 the words of a chronicler of the time, is what might 
 happen : " Then marche this heathen company to- 
 wards the church and churchyard, their pipers piping, 
 drummers thundering, their bells jyngling, their hobby 
 horses and other monsters skirmishing amongst the 
 crowd, and in this sort they goe into the church, 
 (though the minister bee at prayer or preaching,) 
 dancing and swinging their handkerchiefs over their 
 heads . . . with such a confused noise that no man 
 can hear his own voice. Then the foolish people, they 
 
26 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 look, they stare, they laugh, they fleer, and mount upon 
 forms and pews to see these goodly pageants solem- 
 nized in this sort. Then after this about the church 
 they go again and again, and so forth into the church- 
 yard, where they have commonly their banquetting 
 houses set up." ^ Thus the Lord of Misrule invades 
 the sanctuary ; and if any reverent person remains to 
 conclude the service, no sooner is the Nunc dimittis 
 sung, — " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen 
 thy salvation," — than some lusty Christmas-keeper 
 of the congregation shouts aloud his response : — 
 
 "Yule, yule, yule. 
 Three puddings in a pule 
 Crack nuts and cry yule." 
 
 This is what Christmas stood for in those " good 
 old times." Our forefathers looked with horror upon 
 such sacrilege. They would have a reformation in 
 the keeping of holy seasons. The authorities of the 
 mother church attempted it, but with a weak hand 
 and poor success. A little company of Non-conform- 
 ist saints undertook to indicate some of the causes 
 for such a state of affairs, and they were cast into 
 prison for their pains. By one of those bitter sar- 
 casms of which liistory is guilty, they were there, 
 languishing in filth and half starved, on the very day 
 that Elizabeth was solemnly washing the feet of the 
 poor in remembrance of the Lord. 
 
 It is indeed surprising that our fathers left behind 
 them their prayer-books when they came to New 
 
 1 Anatomie of Abuses j Philip Stubs; Brand's Pop. Antiq., l^Ol-- 
 503. 
 
THE HOLY SEASONS OF THE CHURCH, 27 
 
 England, but the way in wMch they shook the dust of 
 centuries off their feet, in renouncing customs which 
 they had loved from childhood, when once they felt 
 the deck beneath them, is nothing short of a histori- 
 cal phenomenon. 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 
 THE FEASTS OF CHKIST. 
 
 It is a popular impression that the Puritans, from 
 the first, cherished an intense hatred for Christmas- 
 keeping. This is doubtless true of those who came to 
 New England, the earliest of whom belonged to the 
 third generation of those who bore the name. But 
 such an opinion is an unjust reflection upon those 
 who labored for reform in the early days of Queen 
 Elizabeth. It should be modified by a more particu- 
 lar study of the situation into which they were forced 
 by the intolerance of the mother church. The fact is, 
 that many of the early Puritans, in the hope of re- 
 forming popular abuses, were willing to retain the 
 observance of Christmas, Easter, and certain other 
 festivals commemorative of Christ, though they de- 
 sired the abrogation of saints' days. These festivals 
 were known as the " Feasts of Christ." Had this been 
 granted them, the calendar of the Church of Eng- 
 land would thus have been still further reformed, 
 and might now afford a practical basis for the union 
 of Christian churches in their observance of ecclesias- 
 tical festivals, for to a considerable extent modern 
 usages conform to this principle of the early Puri- 
 tans. In the decay of the Fast Day and the later de- 
 velopment of the Thanksgiving Day, it is believed that 
 the descendants of the Puritans may with wisdom 
 and dignity return to this earlier principle, the heep- 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST, 29 
 
 ing of the Feasts of Christ, This was a compromise 
 between the reformed calendar of the EngKsh Church 
 and the practices of the Presbyterians, though it did 
 not arise as such, and, whether fortunately or unfor- 
 tunately, soon sank into obscurity. The former re- 
 tained the saints' days and the latter rejected all, in- 
 cluding Christmas and Easter. It is now our purpose 
 to show how this middle way of the early Puritans 
 arose, and how it failed of adoption. 
 
 We are introduced to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 It is presumed that Holinshed fairly represents the 
 best reformed sentiment, and therefore his own state- 
 ment is here given : " Our holie and festiuall dales 
 are verie well reduced also vnto a lesse nimiber ; for 
 whereas (not long since) we had vnder the pope foure 
 score and fifteene called festiuall and thirtie called 
 Profesti, beside the simdaies, they are all brought 
 vnto seauen and twentie : and with them the super- 
 fluous numbers of idle waks, guilds, fraternities, 
 church-ales, helpe-ales and soide-ales, called also dirge- 
 ales, with the heathenish rioting at bride-ales, are 
 well diminished and laid aside. And no great matter 
 were it if the feasts of all our apostles, euangelists 
 and martyrs, with that of all saints were brought to 
 the holie daies that follow vpon Christmasse, Easter 
 and Whitsuntide ; and those of the virgine Marie, 
 with the rest vtterlie remooued from the calendars, 
 as neither necessarie nor commendable in a reformed 
 church." 1 This opinion, however, was not " to the 
 manor born." The English reformers had been satis- 
 fied with the revision of the calendar, hoping that 
 time would correct many abuses which they depre- 
 ^ Holinshed's Chronicles, ed. 1807, i. 233. 
 
30 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 cated. But when Queen Mary came to the throne, 
 those who were so fortunate as to escape her blazmg 
 fagots found a refuge at the Protestant centres on 
 the continent. There they witnessed the freer system 
 and simpler discipline of the Reformed churches. 
 They lived in companionship with the noblest minds 
 of Geneva and Zurich, with whom they afterwards 
 maintained a correspondence, greatly to the profit of 
 the Reformation in England.^ When the news of the 
 bloody persecutor's death reached them in their exile, 
 they returned homeward like the redeemed of Baby- 
 lon, in great expectation of the future. It was a 
 considerable importation of Calvinistic theology ; but 
 as questions of doctrine were at the time quiescent in 
 England, no differences arose among them. But in 
 respect to church government, and forms and ceremo- 
 nies, they had been under the most positive influ- 
 ences. Unconsciously it may be, yet nevertheless 
 very decidedly, those who had been domiciled among 
 the hospitable people of Zurich had come to accept 
 the views of that most remarkable and sadly forgotten 
 man, Henry Bullinger, who had been and still was 
 " the sponsor of the English Reformation." 2 The 
 affection in which he was held is scattered like per- 
 fume throughout the letters of Jewel, Parkhurst, 
 Horn, Pilkington, and Cox, who became bishops upon 
 their return, and of Sandys and Grindal, who attained 
 the honor of archbishops. These men, and many 
 others of lesser note, could not but compare the sim- 
 ple service at Zurich with the cathedral splendor of 
 the EngKsh ritual. Being in the current of reform, 
 
 1 Parker Society, Zurich Letters. 
 
 2 Hist, of Early Puritans, J. B. Marsden, p. 17. 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST. 31 
 
 nothing was more natural than that they should deter- 
 mitie to follow the example of their friends at Zurich, 
 and rid the church of " the last degrading vestiges of 
 popery." ^ 
 
 Archbishop Parker, more than any one man, it has 
 been said, was responsible for Non-conformity. One 
 of his early labors was, as Neal expresses it, to " set- 
 tle the Kalendar," and this he did by prescribing les- 
 sons for the whole ecclesiastical year, which had not 
 been done before. On the 13th of January, 1562, 
 the Convocation met at St. Paul's. After they had 
 finished the review of the doctrines of the church, re- 
 ducing them to the Thirty-nine Articles, they took 
 up the discipline. A paper was presented in the 
 House covering seven points. The last reads as fol- 
 lows : " That all Saints Days, Festivals, and Holidays 
 bearing the Name of a Creature may be abrogated ; or 
 at least a Commemoration only of them reserved by 
 Sermons, Homilies or Common Prayer for the better 
 instructing the People in history, and that after ser- 
 vice men may go to work." These articles were 
 signed, be it noted, by some of the most prominent 
 churchmen of England, thirty-three in number, 
 deans, archdeacons, and proctors.^ Strype signifi- 
 cantly says : " These divines were biased (most of 
 whom had been in exile) towards those platforms 
 which were received in the reformed churches where 
 they had a little before sojourned." This was true, 
 and it is the point we emphasize. A few days there- 
 
 1 The Pilgrim Fathers, Bartlett, p. 15. 
 
 2 Neal's Hist, of Puritans, i. 180-182 ; Strype's Annals, i. 1. 500- 
 502. Both these authors give a list of the signers. See, also, Mars- 
 den's Hist, of Early Puritans, p. 44; Peirce's Vindication of the 
 Dissenters, pp. 53-55. 
 
32 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 after — these seven requests not finding general favor 
 — another set of six articles was introduced in the 
 House, supported, it seems, by the same party with 
 some others. The first article reads as follows : 
 " That all Sundays in the Year, and principal Feasts 
 of Christ, be kept Holidays ; and that all other Holi- 
 days be abrogated." This was the same in substance 
 as the former, but more concise in expression. In the 
 debate which followed, the two parties were distinctly 
 represented, one the Zurich exiles, the other those 
 who resented the adoption of foreign customs, prefer- 
 ring to follow the example of their own reformers, 
 Ridley and Cranmer. Probably this article would 
 have met the same fate had it stood alone. In the 
 vote, from which some were absentees, forty-three 
 were found in favor and thirty-five against it ; but in 
 the counting of proxies it was lost by a majority 
 of one, fifty-eight being in favor and fifty-nine op- 
 posed. So worthy a cause fell hy the hlow of one 
 praicy I It was a feeble victory for Archbishop 
 Parker, but enough to encourage his pressure for 
 conformity, resulting, as the sequel shows, in the re- 
 jecting of Christmas and Easter by the Non-con- 
 formists. 
 
 Let us now turn back and trace this system of keep- 
 ing the Feasts of Christ to its source. This is the 
 more important because we discover in the person of 
 John Calvin the chief of those influences which subse- 
 quently moved Thomas Cartwright in England and 
 John Knox in Scotland to declare for the abrogation 
 of all ecclesiastical festivals and the keeping only of 
 the Lord's Day. 
 
 " Henry BuUinger," says Thomas Fuller, " was the 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST. 33 
 
 most excellent of all tlie divines that Switzerland 
 yielded." i 
 
 " Never could worth lodge in a richer breast." 
 His scholarly attainments and moderate temper won 
 the affection of all, to the great enlargement of liis 
 influence. The views he held concerning the outward 
 reform of ceremonies were less radical than those of 
 his Genevan neighbors. Farel and Viret had there 
 abolished all festivals before the coming of Calvin, and 
 they are to be regarded as the forerunners of the 
 Non-conformists in this respect. Calvin was for some 
 time indifferent on the subject. Upon his banish- 
 ment the Bernese introduced at Geneva their system, 
 observing the four festivals, — the circiuncision, the 
 annunciation, the ascension, and Christmas. In a 
 letter Bidlinger says, since about 1538, they at Zurich 
 had been rid of the many festivals and retained only 
 the four, of which the annunciation finally dropped 
 out. When Calvin returned to Geneva he suffered 
 these Feasts of Christ to remain, recognizing them by 
 hours of divine service, though he was exercised be- 
 cause the circumcision was more prominent than the 
 crucifixion, and denounced the annunciation as a su- 
 perstition. However, he seems to have been drifting 
 all the time towards a rejection of all, for which he 
 had little regard. In 1550, by no advice of his, yet 
 " not at variance with his own opinions," partly from 
 national feeling, the Council at Geneva suddenly 
 abolished all festivals, providing only that Christmas 
 should be celebrated on the succeeding Simday.^ 
 This Calvin called the " better custom," and it flour- 
 
 ^ Abel RedevivuSf ed. 1867, ii. 35. 
 
 2 Life and Times of John Calvin, Henry, i. 134, 418; ii. 115-117. 
 
84 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ished thereafter at Geneva, even to the imprisonment 
 of some in 1555 who observed Christmas Day. 
 
 The overthrow of the Zurich system at Geneva gave 
 no offense to Bullinger, who praised the apostolic 
 liberty of the Genevese by which also he himself 
 retained his Feasts of Christ. His motive was the 
 glorification of the Lord, and his principle as regards 
 others, toleration in things indifferent. Thus the two 
 systems are clearly defined, that of Zurich and that of 
 Geneva, both different from that of Luther's followers, 
 who retained the saints' days. 
 
 The very year of the English Convocation referred 
 to, Bullinger composed what became the Second Hel- 
 vetic Confession, which appeared at Zurich in 1566, 
 and attained a preeminence in the Reformed churches. 
 To this we advert. Article XXIV., after commending 
 the Lord's Day, " to be observed in Christian freedom, 
 not with Jewish superstition," declares : " If congrega- 
 tions in addition commemorate the Lord's nativity, 
 circumcision, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascen- 
 sion, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, we greatly 
 approve of it. But feasts instituted by men in honor 
 of saints we reject, though the memory of the saints 
 is profitable, and should be commended to the people 
 with exhortations to follow their virtues." ^ 
 
 The English exiles who had been at Zurich returned 
 home with these views. Those who were afterwards 
 elevated to a bishopdom held them, and this consti- 
 tuted a part of the reform which they would gladly 
 have seen furthered in England. The Queen was not 
 so inclined, and Sandys says in one of his letters that 
 for his early vehemence he came near being deposed 
 
 ^ Schaff 's Creeds of Christendom^ i. 417. 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST. 35 
 
 and suffering tlie displeasure of her Majesty.^ There 
 is no doubt that Cox, Grindal, Horn, Sandys, Jewel, 
 Parkhurst, and Bentham, upon their first return from 
 exile, labored for this further reform in the Enghsh 
 Church, of which the adoption of the Feasts of Christ 
 was a part ; but they could not prevail with the Queen 
 and Parliament. So finally, after consultation, they 
 concluded not to desert their ministry for some rites 
 so few and not in themselves evil.^ In the vestiarian 
 controversy which followed, concerning what they 
 themselves had called " fooleries," and " relics of the 
 Amorites," they maintained with sufficient energy 
 that these were things indifferent, but forgot, it seems, 
 that, being so, those who found offense in them should 
 not be pressed to conformity. The objection to saints' 
 days had the same experience. 
 
 After the Convocation of 1562, when the measures 
 for retaining the Feasts of Christ failed, the question 
 no longer was whether saints' days should be abolished, 
 but whether those who would not observe them should 
 forfeit their ministry, not to say endure imprisonment 
 and martyrdom. Ten years passed. Meanwhile a 
 respectable number of ministers had come into promi- 
 nence who held neither more nor less on this point 
 than those who had introduced the six articles in the 
 Convocation. They had no disagreement on points of 
 doctrine, only in discipline. They asked as to fes- 
 tivals that the Sabbath might be kept holy ; that the 
 annual fast of Lent, and Friday and Saturday fasts, 
 and saints' days, might not be enjoined, being willing 
 
 1 Parker Society, Zurich Letters, April 1, 1560. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. p. 149 n. ; Strype's Annalsj i. 1. 263; Peirce's Vindica- 
 lion of the Dissenters, p. 43. 
 
36 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 that others should exercise the same right of con- 
 science. Their willingness to retain Christmas, 
 Good Friday^ Easter, and Whitsunday was desjjised. 
 They actually held out this olive branch until it with- 
 ered in their hands. At last, failing of justice from 
 the Queen and the bishops, they appealed to Parlia- 
 ment. In 1571 John Field and Thomas Wilcocks, 
 two London ministers, wrote the famous " Admonition 
 to the Parliament." ^ For this they were committed 
 to Newgate prison. This awakened great sympathy 
 for their cause. Their little tract was widely read, 
 several editions appearing from an unknown press. 
 During their imprisonment they issued, December 4, 
 1572, a Confession of Faith, in which among other 
 statements they said : " We think that those Feast- 
 days of Christ, as of his Birth, Circumcision, Pass- 
 over, Resurrection and Ascension, etc., may, by Chris- 
 tian liberty be kept, because they are only devoted to 
 Christ, to whom all days and times belong. But days 
 dedicated to saints, with fasts on their eves, we utterly 
 dislike, though we approve of the reverend memory of 
 the saints, as examples to be propounded to the people 
 in sermons ; and of publick and private Fasts as the 
 circumstances of nations or private persons require." ^ 
 And this was the fast-failing voice of such as had ac- 
 cepted the views of the Zurich exiles. Their friends 
 had vanished in the shades of Episcopacy. Visited, 
 indeed, by some kindred souls and faithful parishioners, 
 they were suffered to languish in the unwholesome 
 vileness of the place beyond their lawful sentence, en- 
 during the cold of winter, and, what was more, the con- 
 
 ^ Authorities have associated with these two, in the drawing up of 
 this admonition, Sampson, Lever, Gilby, and Cartwright. 
 2 Neal's Hist, of Puritans, i. 290,291. 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST, 37 
 
 cem for their impoverished families ; and it was not 
 in mercy that they were at last released. Nearly fifty 
 years afterward the king of England sought to intro- 
 duce into the Kirk of Scotland this very observance of 
 Christmas, Easter, Whitsimday, and the Ascension of 
 Christ ; but the ministers would not even read the ar- 
 ticle in their churches, so greatly had Non-conformist 
 sentiments altered meanwhile.^ It was then too late 
 for such a compromise. 
 
 We are not forgetfid that this was but one point in 
 the controversy, and ahnost lost in the boiling caldron. 
 It was not, however, rejected because of its bad com- 
 pany. The Episcopal party determined to retain 
 the saints' days. Against these the Non-conformists 
 protested as the remnants of popery .^ And so, as 
 the discussion went on, it developed the opinion among 
 them that these were not things indifferent, especially 
 as the popish customs remained in influence. 
 
 While Field and Wilcocks were in prison, Thomas 
 Cartwright, " lately returned from beyond sea," wrote 
 a second " Admonition to the Parliament," taking up 
 their cause. This is the point where the Presbyterian 
 system, nurtured at Geneva, advocated by Cartwright 
 and Knox, came to the front in the discussion. Thus 
 the silver stream was lost in the swollen river ! These 
 Presbjrterian Non-conformists wished to have all festi- 
 vals abolished.^ They assumed the failui^e of efforts 
 
 1 Neal's Hist of Puritans, ii. 118, 119. 
 
 2 Hawkins, one of the Non-conformists, is reported to have said at 
 his examination, June 20, 1567 : " Well, Master Hooper saith in his 
 Coramentarie vppon the Commandments that holy dayes are the leauen 
 of Antichrist." William White said: "The princes lawe sayeth, 
 Thou shalt not labour seuen dayes but shalt keepe the popish holi- 
 dayes." — A Parte of a Register, pp. 35, 36. 
 
 * They afterwards claimed that it was Whitgift who forced them 
 
38 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 to reform abuses. If they must be beggars, they 
 might as well ask for a whole loaf. Their view was 
 daily growing in popularity, and was argued directly 
 from the Scriptures with excellent ability. A short 
 time sufficed to establish it as the consensus of Non- 
 conformist opinion. And, to show what an importance 
 it had in shaping the prejudices of the New England 
 fathers, it has only to be remembered that, within the 
 decade from 1570 to 1580, Robert Browne, Henry 
 Barrowe, John Greenwood, and John Penry were at 
 Cambridge University, where Thomas Cartwright, as 
 " Lady Margaret, Professor of Divinity," rose to a 
 preeminent influence; and during the same period 
 Henry Ainsworth and John Robinson were born. 
 The advocacy of the Feasts of Christ, as a system, 
 passed to its burial in England before the Separatist 
 movement had its birth. 
 
 Thus arose the controversy between Cartwright and 
 Whitgift, in which the observance of holy days was 
 one prominent point. The literature relating to it is 
 voluminous,^ and it is unnecessary to follow the discus- 
 sion. It is sufficient to note that by it the two par- 
 ties were thoroughly intrenched ; the one rejecting all 
 holy days except the Sabbath, because they are not 
 commanded in the Scriptures, the other claiming that 
 the church had authority from the fathers to observe 
 days not enjoined. However, the controversy was of 
 
 to reject all the remnants of popery. — Loyalty of the Presbyterians, 
 1713, pp. 94 ff. 
 
 ^ The burden of the arguments is found in Whitgif t's Defense of 
 the Answere to the Admonition against the Beplie of T. C, 1574. 
 See Dexter's Bibliography, Lit. of Cong., Nos. 44, 46, 48, 50, 57, 64, 
 72. Also, Fuller's Church Hist., h. ix. s. 3, c. 7 ; Heylyn's Hist, 
 of Presby., p. 238 ; Peirce's Vindication, p. 86. 
 
THE FEASTS OF CHRIST. 39 
 
 great service in lifting up the standard of the Non- 
 conformists. Thereafter there was unanimity among 
 them on the subject. Heylyn says : " They introduced 
 little by little a general neglect of the weekly fasts, 
 the holy time in Lent, and the Embring-days, redu- 
 cing all acts of humiliation to solemn and occasional 
 fasts, as amongst the Scots." ^ Among the Presby- 
 terians of both England and Scotland the old system 
 was dead. So it was among the scattered companies 
 of Separatists. And furthermore there was a secret 
 inclination toward the same opinions among thousands 
 who still worshiped in the mother church, preparing 
 them to adopt a new system, that of fast and thanks- 
 giving days, when they should have crossed the sea to 
 New England. 
 
 ^ Heylyn's Hist, of Preshy.y p. 389. When the Scots gave their 
 sanction to the Helvetic Confession, they excepted the holy days. Cf . 
 Schaff's Creeds, etc., L 394, 682. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 " But such have been these times of late, 
 That Holy dayes are out of date, 
 
 And holynesse to boot ; 
 For they that do despise, and scorn 
 To keep the day that Christ was bom, 
 
 Want holynesse no doubt." 
 
 So run the lines of a ballad which attained a popu- 
 larity among the Cavaliers upon the reaction from 
 Cromwellian rule in England.^ It was true enough 
 that holy days were " out of date." If anything had 
 been left undone by Elizabeth to make them so, James 
 had contributed it in his "Book of Sports." The 
 Non-conformists, however, were not satisfied to desert 
 wholly the fasting customs in which they had been 
 nurtured, nor ignore the spirit of thanksgiving which 
 had pervaded their ancient festivals. A new system 
 of holy days was demanded. There were already pre- 
 pared for their adoption customs of observing days of 
 a private religious character, and, what was more 
 essential in the trend of Puritan life, days of fasting 
 and thanksgiving proclaimed by ecclesiastical or civil 
 authorities. Out of these customs, destined to attain 
 a vigorous development in the mother country dur- 
 ing the Commonwealth, arose the fast and thanksgiv- 
 ing days of New England. 
 
 It is so obvious as hardly to need emphasis that the 
 
 ^ Bump Ballads, ii. 52. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 41 
 
 Puritans were brought under the immediate influence 
 of Old Testament usages. The spirit of Jewish cere- 
 monials displaced that of the Roman Catholic ritual, 
 and as a natural sequence they recognized the author- 
 ity of scriptural fastings and thanksgivings. So they 
 founded their system upon the Bible. ^ 
 
 The philosophy of their institution is found in the 
 Puritan doctrine of Divine Providence. When the 
 Reformation came to its fruitage, a reanimated if 
 not wholly new feeling prevailed as to the divine 
 ordering of events. A God declared in mystical ser- 
 vices, which the worshipers did not understand, gave 
 place to profound convictions arising out of a spir- 
 itual experience with Him. The dormant sensibility 
 of sin was revived, and hence a fear of God's threat- 
 ened judgments. They imbibed those theological doc- 
 trines generally termed Calvinistic. According to t 
 their interpretation of Biblic al hi story, God is con- 
 stantly and directly supervising tiie affairs of men, 
 sending evil upon the city of the Ninevites for their 
 sins, for " shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath 
 not done it ? " ^ or blessing his people when they turn 
 from their evil ways, for " who knoweth whether God 
 will not turn and repent, and turn away from his 
 fierce anger, that we perish not? " ^ Their Confessions 
 declared " that nothing can befall us by chance, but 
 
 ^ The fasts of the Hebrews present four characteristics: (1) The 
 '* Day of Atonement," expressing a religious truth; (2) Periodical 
 fasts, certain months, commemorating historical events ; (3) Days of 
 private humiliation ; (4) Occasional fasts ordered by proclamation in 
 public calamities. To these last the fathers were fond of referring. 
 Thanksgiving was provided for by their " offerings of thanksgiving," 
 and was connected with the three great festivals. They had no an- 
 nual fast or thanksgiving by special proclamation. 
 
 ^ Amos iii. 6. ^ Jonah iiL 9. 
 
42 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly 
 Father, who watches over us with a paternal care, 
 keeping all creatures so under his power that not a 
 hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a 
 sparrow can fall to the ground without the will of our 
 Father, in whom we do entirely trust, being persuaded 
 that he so restrains the Devil and all our enemies that 
 without his will and permission they cannot hurt us." ^ 
 But it was rather an inference from this belief which 
 exercised such sway over their lives. They found no 
 place for the discipline of chastening love. Regarding 
 all dire happenings as punishments, and all blessings 
 as approvals, they seem to have thought that their 
 moral status before God was thus written out in 
 events. They connected every calamity or deliverance 
 with their present sin or virtue. As the former had 
 a particular voice of warning, and the latter a tes- 
 timony of forgiveness, every event approached them 
 with its shadow before and its sunshine afterward, to 
 be recognized by fasting and thanksgiving. It is 
 only within our province to record these views, which 
 It shed such a lurid light over the early history of 
 ^ New England. To suppose, however, that they were 
 peculiar to our fathers is a grave error. They 
 prevailed throughout the Calvinistic countries of 
 Europe, and were productive of similar feelings, and 
 to some extent of the same customs. They attained 
 an ascendency in the mother country, and wrought 
 into English life the observance of special fast and 
 thanksgiving days which have continued into the pres- 
 lent century. 
 
 ^ Belgic Confession [1561] and Second Helvetic Confession [1566]. 
 See, also, the Savoy Symbol, and Westminster Confession of Faith. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 43 
 
 From the year 1566, when, as Neal says, " the era 
 of separation " began, the Non-conformists had been 
 accustomed to gather in secret conventicles for fasting 
 and prayer. The practice was known to the royal 
 authorities, and did not please them. The logic of 
 such a reply as WiUiam White gave they did not 
 appreciate, — " The Ninevites proclaimed a fast before 
 they acquainted the king with it." ^ Finally, when it 
 was learned that the theme of their fastings was the 
 Queen and the Church, her royal Majesty endeavored 
 to put them down.2 Their advocacy of ^;2^6Zi'c fasts 
 and thanksgivings could not so easily be hushed, for 
 such days had ere this come into use among their 
 opponents. The time was ripe for them. Thereafter 
 they contended as earnestly ^br these days as they had 
 against saints' days. 
 
 We have met with no statement of their position, 
 as framed by the later Dissenters, more worthy of pre- 
 eminence than that given by James Peirce in his 
 " Vindication of the Dissenters." These are his words : 
 " We own there may happen new occasions of solemn 
 and public fasting or rejoicing; for which, because 
 they concern the civil state, 't is the business of the 
 magistrate to appoint proper days and times. And 
 he only can command all his subjects to observe such 
 fasts or thanksgivings when there is occasion for them. 
 But if he neglects his duty and does not appoint such 
 days, when 'tis manifest to aU that he ought, or if, 
 abusing his power, he orders days to be kept to a bad 
 purpose, we think every church has a right to set 
 apart days themselves, or to forbear to observe them 
 
 1 Neal's Hist, of Puritans, i. 247. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 370. 
 
44 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 that are not well injoin'd." ^ The points in this 
 author's discussion are : (1) Blessings that belong to 
 all Christians need no stated solenm festival besides 
 the Lord's Day. (2) The Lord instituted no annual 
 fasting season [Lent] in humiliation for ordinary sins. 
 (3) "If God by his providence testifies his displea- 
 sure, or if anything extraordinary is to be sought with 
 more fervent prayers, these are new and special occa- 
 sions^ wherein God calls us to public fasting." (4) 
 The Jews had such occasion in the Feast of Purim, 
 as England has in the 5th of November, but they 
 established no " anniversary solemnities " for bless- 
 ings which were before the setting apart of a partic- 
 ular day. (5) These special fast and thanksgiving 
 days should be ordered by the civil authority. It will 
 be observed by the careful reader that these principles 
 constitute a fair presumption against the immediate 
 appointment of annual public fasts and thanksgiv- 
 ings by the early settlers of New England. Their 
 system is wrapped up in the phrase, " new and special 
 occasions," or in the Latin they employed, "Pro tem- 
 poribus et causis." 
 
 Let us now turn back to trace the development of 
 this appointment of special days. The practice had 
 prevailed in the Roman Empire,^ and was early intro- 
 duced into England. There was little demand for 
 
 1 Peirce's Vindication, etc., ed. 1718, p. 504. The author here refers 
 to his letters in answer to Dr. Wells, from which he quotes. There 
 the phraseology of the passage is slightly different. Memarks on Dr, 
 Tre//s,ed.mO, p.23. 
 
 2 The early Christians kept such days. Bishops named them within 
 their jurisdiction. The victory of Constantino was commemorated at 
 Constantinople September 24 ; and at Alexandria July 21 was kept 
 in gratitude for the cessation of earthquakes, etc. Sozomen, 1. 6, c. 
 2 ; Bingham, Orig. Ecc, xx. 8, 3. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 45 
 
 them before the Reformation, though the fact that 
 the Code of Canute, A. D. 1032, specifies '' all the days 
 upon which a fast should be proclaimed by due au- 
 thority" would lead us to suspect their occurrence. 
 Indeed, an illustration is given us in HoHnshed's 
 " Chronicles " of a fast season transpiring during the 
 reign of Henry III., A. D. 1258 : " The haruest was 
 verie late this yeare so that the most part of the corne 
 rotted on the ground, and that which at length was 
 got in remained yet abrode till after Alhallowentide 
 so vntemperate was the weather with excessiue wet and 
 raine beyond all measure. Herevpon the dearth so in- 
 creased that euen those which had of late releeued 
 other, were in danger to starue themselues. Finallie 
 solemne fasts and generall processions were made in 
 diuerse places of the realme to appease God's wrath, 
 and (as it was thought) their praiers were heard, for 
 the weather partlie amended and by reason the same 
 serued to get in some such come as was not lost, the 
 price thereof in the market fell halfe in halfe. A 
 good and memorable motiue that in such extremities 
 as are aboue the reach of man to redresse, we shoidd 
 by and by haue recourse to him that can giue a rem- 
 edie against euery casualty, for Flectitur iratus voce 
 rogante Deus^ ^ After the battle of Poictiers the 
 king " took speedy order, by Simon, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, that a thanksgiving should be celebrated 
 all over England for eight days together." ^ Yet such 
 seasons were exceptional. The Catholic Church did 
 not foster them. During the last years of Henry VIII., 
 however, prayers in the English tongue coming into 
 
 1 Holinshed's Chronicles, ii. 449. 
 
 2 Har. Miscellany^ viii. 174. 
 
46 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 use, they were frequently ordered to be said in the 
 churches, accompanied by processions. In August, 
 1543, the plentiful crop of corn was threatened by 
 excessive rain, and so great was the danger that the 
 king sent letters to Archbishop Cranmer " to appoint 
 certain prayers to be used for the ceasing of rain." 
 Strype tells us that the same practice was twice em- 
 ployed the next year, when " occasional prayers and 
 suffrages to be used throughout the churches begun to 
 be more usual than formerly." ^ One instance was for 
 a peace, the other upon going to war. During the 
 first year of King Edward's reign, on account of the 
 victory over the Scots, a public thanksgiving was cele- 
 brated. In the order of the Archbishop to the Bishop 
 of London the latter is required " to cause a sermon to 
 be made in his cathedral . . . declaring the goodness 
 of God . . . and giving thanks for the victory, but also 
 at the same time, immediately after the sermon and 
 in presence of the Mayor, Aldermen and other citizens 
 of London, to cause the procession in English and Te 
 Deum to be openly and devoutly sung." ^ That same 
 year a fast was proclaimed in London on account of the 
 rising in Yorkshire.^ Such seasons were then generally 
 kept on the day of some festival, if convenient. They 
 found favor also in the eyes of Queen Mary, though 
 she restored the Catholic calendar ; and it would seem 
 that upon one occasion greater thanks were given than 
 the subject demanded, as she died without children. ^ 
 In 1563 London was visited by a plague. Days of 
 
 1 Strype, Cranmer, pp. 181-183. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. 218-220 ; Parker Soc, Works of Cranmer, Remains, p. 
 417. 
 
 2 Burnet's Hist, of Beformation, ed. 1865, ii. 213. 
 * Camden Soc, Diary of Henry Machyn, pp. 18, 76, 341 ; Strype, 
 Ecc. Mem., iii. 1. 324, 325. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 47 
 
 fasting were appointed, Mondays and Wednesdays, to 
 continue until some abatement of the disease, which 
 could not be observed by great gatherings as com- 
 monly, for fear of contagion. The food saved was be- 
 stowed upon the poor in the back lanes and alleys of 
 the city. In certain correspondence on the subject, 
 several questions were raised which indicate that this 
 custom of occasional appointment by royal proclama- 
 tion might not have been then fully established. For 
 instance : " In what form is the fast to be authorized, 
 — whether by proclamation or by way of injunction 
 or otherwise, because it must needs pass from the 
 Queen ? " " Whether any penalty is to be prescribed 
 to the violators thereof?"^ But, not to multiply 
 instances beyond necessity, Ehzabeth maintained and 
 strengthened the usage, as may be seen from the peru- 
 sal of her " forms of prayer." ^ 
 
 The discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 
 brought out the common sentiment. A diabolical 
 scheme had been formed — it was thought by the 
 Papists — to blow up the Parliament House on the 
 5th of November, the first day of the session. Vast 
 quantities of gunpowder and inflammable material 
 were found concealed in the vaults underneath. The 
 traitors were arrested and executed.^ In consequence 
 of this deliverance the day was ordered to be kept as 
 a '' public thanksgiving to Almighty God " every year, 
 '' that unfeigned thankfulness may never be forgotten, 
 
 1 Strype, Parker, i. 263-268; Grindal, pp. 105, 106. 
 
 2 Parker Soc., Prayers of Elizabeth. The Thanksgiving Book was a 
 collection of prayers for the thanksgiving day. Notes and Queries, 
 Ist ser. iii. 328, 481. 
 
 3 Knight's Hist, of England , chap. Ixxxi. ; Fuller's Chh. Hist., iii. 
 212-219; Neal's Hist, of Puritans, ii. 52-54. 
 
48 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 and that all ages to come may yield praises to God's 
 divine Majesty for the same." All ministers were or- 
 dered to say prayers thereon, for which special forms 
 were for many years provided, and the people were 
 commanded to attend worship. Thomas Fuller, writ- 
 ing years afterwards, expressed a regret that this " red- 
 letter day" had fallen into decay. But throughout 
 most of the term of the exodus to New England it 
 was generally esteemed, except by the Papists, and 
 esteemed, too, by some who were abused at its ser- 
 vices.i The custom of burning at night the image of 
 Guy Fawkes the conspirator, which had been paraded 
 through the streets during the day by boys who 
 begged and sang, was continued in England to within 
 a century : — 
 
 " Pray to remember 
 The fifth of November, 
 Gunpowder treason and plot, 
 When the King and his train 
 Had nearly been slain, 
 Therefore it shall not be forgot." 
 
 This annual thanksgiving, together with the one es- 
 tablished later on the 29th of May, was abolished in 
 1833, though both had previously fallen into disuse. 
 Both were recognized in New England, to some extent 
 among the Congregationalists, but chiefly in the Epis- 
 copal Church on account of their place in the calendar. 
 
 ^ The prayer for the day had this inspiring petition: *' Root out 
 that Anti-christian and Babylonish sect which say of Jerusalem, 
 Down with it even to the ground. Cut off those workers of Iniquity, 
 whose Religion is Rebellion, whose Faith is Faction, whose Practice 
 is murdering both Soul and Body." In 1633 this was altered by the 
 archbishop so as to turn it against the Puritans (Neal, ii. 254). " On 
 the 5th of November we as well as the Churchmen bless God for our 
 deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot."— Peirce's Vindication, etc., p. 
 505. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 49 
 
 It will be well now, though we have reached the 
 time when emigration to the New World began, to fol- 
 low the practice, especially during the Commonwealth, 
 which history runs parallel with the early days of 
 New England. It had a development of its own. 
 Under James and Charles I. it retained its public 
 and civil character, the number of such occasions in- "^ 
 creasing somewhat. But when the Puritans obtained 
 control of affairs it was as though the incarcerated 
 fasts and thanksgivings of centuries had been loosed.^ 
 Upon any appearance of public danger they woidd 
 hasten to order a fast. They not only abolished fes- 
 tivals, and burned the " Book of Sports " in public 
 places, but also commanded the constables on fasts to 
 seek out persons at work, that they might be prose- 
 cuted for contempt. In 1643 they established stated 
 monthly fasts on the last Wednesday of each month, 
 which they continued until 1649, when an act was 
 passed to " take away the monthly fasts," and have 
 only those on particidar occasions, which indeed they 
 had all along observed. This monthly custom we 
 meet with in New England. It happened in 1644 
 that the monthly fast of December feU on the 25th, 
 and every person was obliged to choose which God he 
 woidd serve. The Parliament chose the montlily fast, 
 which created no little uproar among the people.^ 
 Upon these days the " Solemn League and Covenant " 
 
 ^ We have reckoned more than a hundred public fasts during the 
 Commonwealth period. Proclamations in broadside for some of these 
 are extant. Scores of sermons are met with preached by Puritan 
 ministers on these occasions. 
 
 ^ Hence Macaulay's remark, "They changed Christmas into a fast." 
 See Neal, iii. 167-169. Christmas in 1647 they made a fast, which 
 nearly caused a riot in London. IbicL, iii. 423, 424. 
 
50 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 was usually read in the public assembly, which met at 
 nine o'clock in the morning, and continued until four in 
 the afternoon. In 1643 the king made proclamation 
 against them, but it availed nothing. ^ Fasts and 
 thanksgivings were the order of the day. They 
 fasted for atheism in the army, gave thanks for 
 the suppression of the Levelers, and the Parliament 
 became a veritable proclamation machine. It was a 
 fine bit of irony, expressed on a slip dropped about 
 Co vent Garden May 15, 1648, referring to a thanks- 
 giving for success in Wales, "observed," says White- 
 locke, " by the houses but not much in the city." " O 
 yes ! O yes ! O yes ! If any manner of man in city 
 town or country can tell tidings of a Thanksgiving 
 to be kept the 17th Day of this present month of 
 May, by order of the Commons assembled at West- 
 minster, let him come to the cryer and he shall be 
 hanged for his pains." ^ 
 
 Let no one suppose that their thanksgivings were 
 altogether famished ajBfairs. Feasting had always 
 been associated more or less with such rejoicings. It 
 was, at least sometimes, a feature of these English 
 days. Whitelocke gives some account of a feast June 
 7, 1649, when the House of Commons was entertained 
 by the city fathers. After hearing two sermons they 
 went to Grocers' HaU, where, after some delay in 
 
 1 Neal, in. 44, 45. 
 
 2 Notes and Queries, 4tli ser. ix. p. 202. The following lines axe 
 given in Hudibras : — 
 
 " For Hudibras, who thought he had won 
 The field, as certain as a gun, 
 And having routed the whole troop 
 With victory was cock-a-hoop. 
 Thinking he had done enough to purchase 
 Thanksgiving day among the churches." 
 
 Pt. i. canto 3, lines 11-16. See, also, Pt. iii. canto 3, line 287. 
 
IN ENGLAND, 51 
 
 choosing the lowest seats, they were sumptuously fed 
 to the music of drums and trumpets, and the fragments 
 were sufficient to cheer many of the poor of London. 
 
 The Westminster " Directory for Public Worship " 
 gives us a lucid account of what was expected in the 
 way of religious exercises. The early hours of the 
 fast day were to be occupied by each family in " pre- 
 paring their hearts for the solemn work of the day." 
 They must be " early at the Congregation " and 
 clothed in no " rich apparel or ornaments." There a 
 large portion of the day was to be spent in reading 
 and preaching the word, singing of psalms, and 
 especially in prayer, that it might be a day of " afflict- 
 ing the soul." Before the close the minister was " in 
 his own and the people's names to ingage his and their 
 hearts to be the Lord's with professed purpose and 
 resolution to reform whatever is amiss among them ; " 
 and he was also to admonish them as to the fui^ther 
 private duties of the day. The thanksgiving day 
 was much the same in its worship. The congregation 
 were first to have some '' pithy narration of the 
 deliverance obtained or mercy received," and, after 
 sermon, psalm-singing, and prayer, they were to be 
 dismissed with a blessing, that " convenient time 
 might be had for their repast and refreshing." But 
 the minister should not forget to admonish them to 
 " beware of all excess and riot tending to gluttony or 
 drunkenness " in their feasts. At both fasts and 
 thanksgivings collections were to be taken for the / 
 poor, in which the Puritans were never negligent. 
 
 Such were the days observed in England about 
 the middle of the seventeenth century. They did not 
 differ materially from those proclaimed in New England. 
 
52 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 t There was neither an annual fast nor an annual 
 thanksgiving, a fact which should have great weight 
 in discussing the customs of our forefathers. 
 
 But this system of holy days soon became over- 
 weighted in England, as the Christian calendar had 
 been, and it suffered a reaction, with the Puritan 
 government which established it. The " Merry 
 Christmas," the amusements which for centuries had 
 clustered round the May-pole, and, also, — for we 
 should not hesitate to concede it, — the deep rehgious 
 reverence that some had for the truth declared by 
 festivals commemorating the Lord's life, — all these 
 forces at last rose among the English people and 
 swept away the structure, leaving only a lone pillar 
 standing, like the 5th of November, and occasional 
 days at intervals. It can truly be said that when the 
 29th of May, 1660, came, — a day destined to be kept 
 among them more as a farewell to the Puritan than a 
 thanksgiving for the restoration of Charles II., — and 
 the royal pageant, with prancing steeds so gayly man- 
 tled and ridden by such richly robed knights, moved 
 through the streets of London, the people were 
 heartily joyful. The citizens as weU as the king 
 were ready to laugh at the new sign which on that 
 day is said to have adorned that famous hostelry in 
 Fleet Street, where Tom D'Urfey, the Killegrews, 
 Davenant, Matt Barlowe, Ingoldsby, and Isaac Wal- 
 ton are represented as holding high carnival, — a sign 
 in which mine host had the part of St. Dunstan, and 
 held the Puritan Prynne in the array of his Satanic 
 Majesty by the nose.^ The case was quite otherwise 
 
 1 An interesting account of the affair and the place, famous evea 
 in Shakespeare's time, the meeting-place of Ben Jonson's club, is 
 found in Ephraim Hardcastle's The Twenty-ninth of May. 
 
IN ENGLAND, 53 
 
 with the Puritans who had followed the Pilgrims to 
 New England. They brought with them the customs 
 of their time, holy days observed in all sincerity, and 
 found a hostile wilderness, where, with no attractions 
 toward the festivals they detested, they were to estab- 
 lish their humiliations, as the summons for divine 
 assistance in dire straits, and sing their psalms of 
 praise over mighty deliverances and the coveted har- 
 vests enticed from the virgin soiL 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 
 
 / 
 
 1595-1620. 
 
 The early history of the Separatists is written in 
 the experiences of individual congregations. The 
 ancient oak which had been so shaken by the storm 
 was surrounded by shoots of ecclesiastical life, spring- 
 ing into a vigorous development from the seed that 
 had been scattered abroad. Those which now come 
 under our view are the exiled churches at Amsterdam 
 and Leyden, — that over which Francis Johnson was 
 pastor and Henry Ainsworth teacher, which had 
 emigrated from London to Amsterdam about 1595 ; 
 the second English church which had gone thither from 
 Gainsborough, under the leadership of John Smyth, 
 about 1606 ; and the Scrooby church, of John Robin- 
 son, which removed to Amsterdam in April, 1608, 
 and shortly afterwards was established at Leyden. 
 With these we may associate the independent church 
 at Southwark, England, which would agree with them 
 in its practices ; and this church has special interest 
 because its first pastor, Henry Jacob, is known to 
 have adopted the ideas of John Robinson, and his 
 successor, John Lothrop, was afterward the minister 
 at Scituate and Barnstable in the Plymouth Colony, 
 whose church records have an important bearing upon 
 the subject. 
 
 It is essential to ascertain what were the customs 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 55 
 
 of the Scrooby exiles in order to determine what the 
 early practices were at Plymouth. The earliest of 
 the Separatists had maintained an existence in Eng- 
 land for years, and had emigrated to Holland before 
 the development of fast and thanksgiving days into 
 a popular system. So far back as the time of 
 Robert Browne, the founder of Brownism, they seem 
 to have taken up with the keeping of such days. 
 This worthy wrote of his little congregation at Nor- 
 wich : " They particularlie agreed . . . for appointing 
 publick humbling in more rare iudgementes and pub- 
 lick thankesgiuing in straunger blessinges." ^ In this 
 they were carrying out the Second Helvetic Confes- 
 sion, which declared tliat " there are also public fasts 
 api>ointed in tunes of affliction and calamity, when 
 people abstain from food altogether till evening. . . . 
 Such fasts are mentioned by the Prophets and should 
 be observed." They were also the religious legatees 
 of Field and Wilcocks. In their Confession they had 
 said : " Concerning publicke f astes wee hold that they 
 are so often to be had and kept as the consideration 
 of time and the present calamitie hanging ouer our 
 heax^ls, and due for our sinnes, shall require: and 
 wee thinke it most meete that these fasts be generally 
 and vniversally appointed, either by the authoritie of 
 goodly magistrates or particular Presbyteries and 
 Churches." 2 It is believed that Browne has refer- 
 ence to observances among themselves, appointed as 
 the need of his company woidd suggest. They were 
 public but not civil fasts and thanksgivings, — days 
 
 ^ A True and Short Declaration, etc., p. 20. 
 
 2 A Parte of a Register, p. 537. See, also, An Answer for the tyme, 
 etc., p. 74. 
 
56 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 for assembling the congregation/ Throughout the his- 
 tory of these Separatists in Holland, the individual 
 church determined what days should be kept. Recog- 
 nizing it as the source of authority, this was only 
 putting the principle into operation. At the same 
 time they may have paid a respect to any days ap- 
 pointed by the civil authorities. It would not have 
 been inconsistent with their teachings. 
 
 It will be well to state here that the Reformed 
 churches of Holland, under whose influence they 
 came, were mainly in accord with the customs of the 
 Church of England. The trend of their reformation 
 had been Calvinistic, but they had not wholly rejected 
 holy days. . Catholic and Lutheran opinions had 
 greatly modified their tendencies, which were toward 
 the adoption of the " Feasts of Christ " approved by 
 the Helvetic Confession. These became high festivals 
 among them, but not to the exclusion of all saints' 
 days. In the ecclesiastical laws published by William 
 of Orange in 1577 he specially honored Christmas, 
 Easter, and Whitsuntide. But the Dutch provincial 
 synods had not discussed the subject, and hence many 
 of the old practices prevailed. The Reformed de- 
 spised the Catholic observances, but on the other hand 
 they venerated the more prominent festivals, and held 
 services and suspended business upon them.^ At a 
 later period they even ejected those who refused to 
 conform to this practice of the Dutch Church.2 
 
 We have no details of fast and thanksgiving days 
 at Amsterdam, but, after the exposition given in 
 
 ^ Brandt's Hist, of the Reformation in the Low Countries, ed. 1720, 
 ii. 10, 12, 14. 
 
 2 Steven's Hist, of the Scottish Church in Botterdam, p. 72 n. See, 
 also, p. 339. 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES, 57 
 
 the previous chapters of the views current, we cannot 
 but conclude that they had such. Henry Ainsworth 
 gives us something of his opinion in his " Arrow 
 against Idolatrie." He evidently had little regard 
 for saints' days. He says : " Again he [Jeroboam] 
 forged but one feast out of his owne heart to make 
 mery with his images once in a year : whereas this our 
 purple Queen hath made many moe holy dayes then 
 ther be monethes (that I say not weeks) of the yere, 
 in honour of her Ladie and all her Saincts, and these 
 some of them correspondent to the paynim festivities, 
 as Christmas, Candlemas, Fasgon or Shrovetide, ac- 
 cording to the times and customes of the gentiles 
 Satumal, Febiiial and Bacchus feasts." ^ He further 
 urges that there is no other than heathen example J 
 for observing Christmas December 25, since Christ 
 was born in September rather than December. 
 
 There is another item of interest concerning this 
 church at Amsterdam. About the time of Robinson's 
 arrival there, he had received a letter from Rev. Jo- 
 seph Hall, afterward the Bishop of Norwich. It was 
 addressed to " Mr. Smyth and Mr. Robinson, Ring- 
 leaders of the late Separation at Amsterdam." In 
 Robinson's reply, entitled "An Answer to a Censo- 
 rious Epistle," he had said : " Though you have lost 
 the shrines of saints, yet you retain their days, and 
 those holy as the Lord's-day and that with good profit 
 to your spiritual carnal courts, from such as profane 
 them with the least and most lawful labour, notwith- 
 standing the liberty of the six days' labour which the 
 Lord hath given. And as much would the masters 
 of these courts be stirred at the casting of these 
 ^ An Arrow., etc., ed. 1640, p. 156. 
 
58 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 saints' days out of the calendar, as were the ' mas- 
 ters ' of the possessed maid when ' the spirit of divi- 
 nation ' was cast out of her. Acts xvi. 19." ^ To 
 this Hall responded in " A Common Apologie of the 
 Church of England," saying : " You equally condemne 
 those dales of Christ's birth. Ascension, Circumcision, 
 Resurrection, Annunciation, which the church hath 
 beyond all memory celebrated ; " and he adds this im- 
 portant item : " Your owne Synagogue at Amsterdame 
 (if we may beleeue your owne) is not altogether guilt- 
 less : your hands are still and your shoppes shut vpon 
 festiuall dales." ^ This charge may quite likely have 
 been true. Their shops may have been closed on 
 festival days in accordance with the Dutch custom and 
 law, but from no esteem for the occasions. We may 
 fairly conclude that Ainsworth's flock, as they rejected 
 saints' days, adopted the practice of church fasts and 
 thanksgivings. 
 
 As to the company under the care of John Smyth, 
 quite distinct from the former,^ if the citation already 
 given refers to them it sufficiently determines their 
 position ; and if not, we may infer their agreement, as 
 the point does not appear among the " Differences of 
 the Churches of the Separation," which Smyth pub- 
 lished in 1608.4 
 
 At a later date there were other foreign churches 
 in Holland, and these all had fasts and thanksgiv- 
 ings. ^ The Scottish Church at Rotterdam kept pace 
 
 ^ Robinson's Works, iii. 413. 
 ^ A Common Apologie, etc., p. 100. 
 
 8 The True Story of John Smyth, etc., Henry M. Dexter, p. 2 n. Cf. 
 Congregationalism as seen in its Literature, pp. 312 n., 313. 
 4 i6ic/.,pp. 313, 314. 
 ^ Steven's Hist, of the Scottish Church, etc., pp. 15, 48 n., 66, 85, 91, 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES, 59 
 
 with the customs of the Kirk of Scotland, appointing 
 days on account of the " commotions in Scotland and 
 England." In 1666 the Enghsh churches are found 
 keeping monthly fasts, and also appointing thanksgiv- 
 ings. We are particularly interested in one of these 
 churches, — that at Rotterdam, — because Hugh Peter, 
 later at Salem, was the minister in 1623, and Thomas 
 Hooker, the founder of the Connecticut Colony, was 
 there for a short time associated with William Ames. 
 Together Ames and Hooker brought out the volume 
 entitled " A Fresh Svit Against Humane Ceremo- 
 nies in God's Worship," and in this the matter is 
 clearly stated. They commended Bullinger's ap- 
 proval of " holy days and fast days," " imderstanding 
 onely by holy days set times of preaching and praying ; 
 and by days of fasting, occasional times of extraordi- 
 narie humiliation. " i Let us compare this with what 
 Henry Jacob, minister of the Southwark church, wrote 
 seventeen years before in his " Confession and Pro- 
 testation of the Faith of certain Christians in Eng- 
 land." " Days of Thanksgiving or Fasting," he says, 
 " which by men are appointed upon some special occa- 
 sion and are to be used accordingly, — in no wise 
 constantly and continually, — we approve and allow 
 as having warrant from the Spirit of God both in the 
 Law and in the Gospel." ^ Here is agreement upon 
 the system of occasional appointments, and we may 
 
 04, 273, 303, 304. The custom of having a fast in connection with 
 the choice of church officers was observed in Johnson^s church in 
 1598. It was general among these churches. A fast day was kept 
 when the Southwark church was formed. The same practices were 
 set up in New England. 
 
 1 A Fresh Svit, etc., p. 142. 
 
 2 Hanbury's Historical Memorials, ed. 1839, i. 300. 
 
60 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 conclude that Peter and Hooker and Lothrop brought 
 that system and no other to New England. 
 
 In 1609 John Robinson and the Scrooby church 
 removed to Leyden. We follow them thither; and, 
 before considering the special fasts of which we have 
 record, we summarize Robinson's teachings upon the 
 points hitherto reviewed. Such, we may be assured, 
 were the sentiments entertained by the Pilgrims. He 
 taught: (1) The sanctiiication of the Lord's Day, based 
 upon the commandment, Christ being the authority 
 for the change of day. (2) The church has no suf- 
 ficient authority for keeping saints' days, and compell- 
 ing abstinence from labor thereon. (3) " It seem- 
 eth not without all leaven of superstition that the 
 Dutch reformed churches do observe certain days 
 consecrated as holy to the nativity, resurrection and 
 ascension of Christ, and the same also . . . much 
 more holy than the Lord's day." (4) The keeping 
 of Lent is not enjoined in the Scriptures. (5) God 
 exercises a providential care over men in ordering 
 events, and therefore prayer and thanksgiving are 
 appropriate either in private or " according to the 
 churches present occasionJ^ ^ It is remarkable that 
 throughout his writings there is almost nothing said 
 of fasting as a spiritual exercise. The ideas so prev- 
 alent elsewhere in his time are conspicuously absent. 
 Henry Ainsworth expresses his mind most emphati- 
 cally against " pining the body with too much fasting 
 or evill fare." ^ Robinson's phrase is, days of " prayer 
 and thanksgiving." Both undoubtedly fasted, not for 
 
 1 Robinson's Works, i. 200, 201; ii. 268, 269,399; 452-456,504; 
 iii. 43-54, 104, 105, 126. 
 
 2 The Orthodox Foundation, etc., p. 72. 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 61 
 
 any merit in so doing, but for the furtherance of fer- 
 vent prayer. 
 
 When at last, after years spent in Leyden, that 
 most charming city of Holland, the Scrooby congrega- 
 tion began to feel the force of " sundrie weightie & 
 sohd reasons" for emigration to a new land, they 
 were moved to fasting and prayer for Divine guidance. 
 Winslow intimates that these occasions were frequent, 
 but we have no knowledge of more than three. The 
 first seems to have been in the autumn of 1617, when 
 the question of removal came to a public discussion 
 among them. The account of Winslow is as follows : 
 " At the length the Lord was solenmly sought in the 
 congregation by fasting and prayer to direct us, who 
 moving our hearts more and more to the work, we 
 sent some of good abilities over into England to see 
 what favor or acceptance such a thing might find 
 with the King." ^ The words of Bradford are less 
 definite as to the fasting. He says : " After thir hum- 
 ble praiers unto God for his direction & assistance 
 & a generall conference held hear aboute, they con- 
 sulted what particuler place to pitch upon & prepare 
 for." 2 It is probable that this conference filled the 
 latter part of a fast day ; if so, Bradford has left an 
 ample account to associate with the occasion. 
 
 The second fast day was upon the prospect of their 
 departure. This is commonly placed in 1620, though 
 the delay which they experienced afterward makes 
 the latter part of 1619 seem more probable. It then 
 became necessary to decide who should go, that such 
 
 1 Winslow's " Brief Narration " in Young's Chronicles, pp. 380, 
 382. 
 
 2 Bradford's Hist, of Plymouth Plantation, p. 27. 
 
62 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 might prepare themselves. " They had," says Brad- 
 ford, " a soUemne meeting and a day of humiliation 
 to seeke y® Lord for his direction: and their pastor 
 tooke his texte, 1 Sam. 23 : 3, 4. ' And David's men 
 said unto him, see, we be afraid hear in Judah, how 
 much more if we come to Keilah against y® host of 
 the Philistines ? Then David asked counsell of y® 
 Lord againe,' &c. From which texte he taught many 
 things very aptly, and befitting ther present occasion 
 and condition, strengthing them against their fears and 
 perplexities, and incouraging them in their resolu- 
 tions." ^ The religious services were followed by a 
 general consultation as to the future. It was then 
 decided that the pastor, Robinson, should remain at 
 Leyden, and the elder Brewster go with the Pil- 
 grims, and such as would were chosen for the elder's 
 company. It must indeed have been a sorrowful 
 day. 
 
 The third fast was their farewell. After many 
 debates and delays the time was at hand. It was the 
 year 1620, the month of July, when, " being ready to 
 depart, they had a day of sollemne humihation." Tak- 
 ing all the circumstances into account, we conclude 
 that this was the day before they left Leyden, which 
 was the 21st. They would hardly make the journey 
 to Delf shaven in a Dutch canal-boat during the night, 
 nor do we suppose they started on the fast day. The 
 religious services, according to general custom, were 
 prolonged. Bradford says the pastor took for his 
 text Ezra viii. 21 : " And ther at y® river, by Ahava, 
 I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves 
 before our God, and seeke of him a right way for 
 
 1 Bradford's Hist.f pp. 41,42 ; Winslow in Young's Chron., p. 383. 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 63 
 
 us, and for our children, and for all our substance." 
 "Upon which he spente a good parte of y^ (Jay very ^/ 
 profitably and suitable to their presente occasion. 
 The rest of the time was spente in powering out 
 prairs to y^ Lord with great fervencie, mixed with 
 abundance of tears." ^ Winslow corroborates Brad- 
 ford's suggestion of further exercises of prayer by his 
 words: "The brethren that stayed having again sol- 
 emnly sought the Lord with us and for us, and we 
 further engaging ourselves mutually as before," etc. ^ 
 Possibly it was at this informal conference after the 
 service that Robinson delivered to them the address 
 which Winslow recalled after the lapse of more than 
 twenty-five years.^ Thus throughout most of the day 
 they fasted, pursuing their religious exercises and cele- 
 brating the Lord's Supper, as their custom was ; but 
 at the close of the services, having covenanted together 
 and received their parting address, they broke the 
 fast. Winslow gives us this interesting narrative: 
 "They that stayed at Leyden feasted us that were 
 to go at our pastor's house, being large, where we 
 refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing of psalms, 
 making joyful melody in our hearts, as well as with 
 the voice, there being many of the congregation very 
 expert in music, and indeed it was the sweetest melody 
 that ever mine ears heard." * This author does not, 
 indeed, say that this feast was on the evening of the 
 fast day, but he implies it, and other considerations 
 leave no doubt of it. The occasion was more than 
 the ordinary frugal meal. In modem terms, it was a 
 
 1 Bradford's Hist, pp. 58, 59. 
 
 2 Young's Chronicles, p. 384. 
 
 ^ See Dexter's Cong, as seen, etc., pp. 403, 404 n. 
 * Young's Chronicles, p. 384. 
 
64 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 " church sociable " at which the Pilgrim company- 
 were the guests. 
 
 If the facts are as above stated, here is a custom 
 which we have not met with hitherto, — a feast on 
 the evening of a fast day! The fast usually ended 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon, but the Puri- 
 tans did not approve of the feasts with which the 
 Church of England celebrated some of its festivals. 
 They frequently referred to the inappropriateness of 
 these "bankets." How happens it, then, that these 
 Separatists are found so perilously near imitating 
 their example ? 
 
 The problem summons to our notice the peculiari- 
 ties of the Dutch people. They also kept special days 
 on occasion, which they had christened, with a signi- 
 ficant phrase, days of " fasting prayer and thanks- 
 giving " (vast-bede-en dankdag). Even in cases where 
 they are termed " fast and prayer " days (vast-en 
 bededag), or " prayer and fast" days (bidt-en vasten- 
 dag), the word "thanksgiving" (danksegging) i» 
 sometimes used in the proclamation. The Dutch emi- 
 grants to New Netherland carried such days with 
 them to the New World, and celebrated them for many 
 a day, as will be seen in a later chapter. If the 
 Scrooby company arrived in Ley den on the 1st of 
 May, 1609, they were witnesses to the celebration of 
 a thanksgiving day within a week (May 6), on ac- 
 count of the truce between the states and their ene- 
 mies.i Eobinson must have been interested in the 
 events relating to April 17, 1619, a day of " fasting 
 prayer and thanksgiving," in which thanksgiving or 
 prayer may be presumed to have prevailed according 
 
 1 Davies' Hist, of Holland ^ ii. 439. 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 65 
 
 as the Dutch minister was a Calvinist or an Ar- 
 minian.^ It was an exciting time at Leyden. And 
 there were other such days when it woiild have been 
 manifest to the observant Separatist that thanksgiving 
 did not merely include the element of praise in the 
 religious service, but also the feast after the hours of 
 fasting were over. It had been a characteristic of 
 some festivals, and thence probably passed to these 
 days of civil appointment, which, too, well suited the 
 feasting temperament of the Dutch. 
 
 Some historians would no doubt come at once to 
 the conclusion that the Pilgrims about to depart here 
 show their indebtedness to the Hollanders among 
 whom they had found an abiding place for nearly 
 twelve years ; but it seems to us an unwarranted in- 
 ference from a mere coincidence in the outward form. 
 The farewell feast of the Pilgi'ims, hallowed by prayer 
 and psalm-singing, was a very different thing in it- 
 self from the convivial gatherings of the Dutch. The 
 feast was not a part of their system ; in this instance 
 it was incidental. 
 
 There is another explanation of the fact far more 
 reasonable. It is found in their own past experiences. 
 Those little Separatist circles which, forty years before, 
 had met in private houses about London, or in " the se- 
 cluded gravel-pits of Islington," had been accustomed 
 to " dyne together & after dynner make collection to 
 pay for ye dyet." Gathered as they were from great 
 distances to hear the word of God preached, it was 
 neciessary. The manor house of Scrooby had many 
 times entertained some of this same company on their 
 meeting days. A community of life had been, to 
 1 Brandt's Hist, iii. 351 ff. The proclamation is there in print. 
 
66 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 some extent, forced upon them by the circumstances. 
 They enjoyed the social compact, which brought them 
 together like a family, in the house of their pastor. 
 So when the time came for them to break the fast, 
 they were following their own precedents in gathering 
 about the feast, which they did without any thought 
 of their neighbors. The Separatists had already de- 
 monstrated their right to be termed independent, and 
 they are the last against whom a charge of imitating 
 others should be brought. 
 
 Besides, the feast, even on a fast day, if the circum- 
 stances made it appropriate, was not at variance with 
 their religion. They regarded the spiritual end to be 
 served rather than the form. " Those men," says 
 Dr. Leonard Bacon, "were neither sour nor grim; 
 they could fast or feast, as occasion might require." 
 And have we not here an illustration of that genial 
 and hopeful disposition which characterized the Pil- 
 grims ? They had not that rugged severity necessa- 
 rily produced by the constant upheavals of Puritan 
 life in England, and which made the history of the 
 Bay Colony to run at times like a turbulent river. 
 Their life had been turned aside to flow like a shaded 
 stream. It was such a spirit which finally developed 
 the harvest festival out of the Puritan thanksgiving. 
 In their fraternity, too, they were superior to all other 
 companies of planters. The family and the home 
 were consecrated in the adversities they shared in 
 exile. 
 
 A fast " at the river Ahava " ! A goodly company 
 "seeking from God a straight way for themselves, 
 for their little ones, and for all their substance " ! A 
 fast dissolving at evening into a feast, as the day into 
 
THE FASTS OF THE EXILES. 67 
 
 golden twilight! The Pilgrim chroniclers' have given 
 us no scene more charming, none in truth more hon- 
 estly religious. It is worthy of the artist's brush, — 
 that gathering of a family of believers, in whose he- 
 roic souls courage, faith, love, and gratitude arise in 
 a psalm they must have sung on that day of fare- 
 wells : — 
 
 " lEhovah feedeth me, I shall not lack. 
 
 In grassy folds, he down doth make me lye, 
 he gently leads me, quiet waters by." ^ 
 
 There are no words which so fitly record their de- 
 parture from Leyden as those of their own historian, 
 Bradford : " So they lefte y* goodly & pleasante citie, W 
 
 which had been ther resting place near 12 years, but 
 they knew they were pilgrimes & looked not much on 
 those things but lift up their eyes to y® heavens their 
 dearest cuntrie and quieted their spirits." 
 
 ^ Ainsworth, Psalm-Book, 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH. 
 1621. 
 
 The early history of Hellenic races often brings out 
 the fact that, though professing descent from the gods, 
 they are found in possession of customs belonging to 
 an older civilization. Our veneration for the fore- 
 fathers of New England must not allow us to suppose 
 that they created wholly new institutions. The pas- 
 sengers of the Mayflow^er were liberty-loving English- 
 men, separated only so far as conscience commanded 
 from the customs of their native land. The seed of 
 many an organism, ecclesiastical, civil, or social, — 
 often thought to have been original, — they brought 
 with them, to be planted in a new soil, and developed 
 in its environment as a new variety. Yet, while we 
 forget not the seed, we need to emphasize those new 
 conditions which had a force, rarely enough considered, 
 in determining their action in church and state, and 
 ! shaping their customs. The environment will account 
 \ in great measure for the fact that opinions and prac- 
 tices, which some professed to love still as they left Old 
 V England, were lost at sea. 
 r~^ The celebration of a harvest festival by the Pilgrims 
 1 in 1621 is an illustration of the influence of these new 
 ^ conditions and circumstances in clothing an old Jdea 
 with appropriate garments. If we bear in mind the 
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH, 69 
 
 fact that they were Englishmen, living in affectionate 
 regard for their fathers, and do them the credit to 
 believe that they were a company of sensible people, 
 as we follow the stony path of their experiences at 
 Plymouth for many months, it aU seems natural 
 enough that they should do as they did. Surely we 
 will rid ourselves of the notion that they were con- 
 sciously shaping the practices of their descendants and 
 inaugurating the harvest thanksgiving of many mil- \ to 
 lions. It was not a thanksgiving at all, judged by 
 their Puritan customs, which they kept in 1621 ; but 
 as we look back u23on it after nearly tlii-ee centuries, 
 it seems so wonderfully like the day we love that we 
 claim it as the progenitor of our harvest feasts. 
 
 The Pilgrims found abimdant cause at the sight of 
 Cape Cod for praismg God. Even the Truro shore 
 was a grateful rehef after a voyage of sixty-seven days. 
 If Bradford, as we believe, describes the landing of 
 those^who went ashore for wood, November 11 > Ifi^O, 
 O. S., then their first act was to fall upon their knees 
 and bless the God of heaven,^ and without doubt they 
 made special mention of their gratitude in their wor- 
 ship the next day, which was Sunday. The signal 
 deliverance at the place of " the first encounter " was 
 not suffered to pass without their giving God " sol- 
 lei^^TEanks and praise ; " ^ and so, also, their escape 
 from shipwreck on Clark's Island was commemorated.^ 
 Such were the Pilgrims and such their habit day by 
 day. Yet we should hardly suppose that, through- 
 out the sufferings of that first dreadful winter, they 
 had other than these spontaneous recognitions of their 
 
 1 Bradford's Hist., p. 78. 2 jjjVf.^ p. ge. 
 
 8 Ibid., p. 87 ; MourVs Relation, ed. 1865, p. 59. 
 
70 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 afflictions and blessings, oftentimes tempering their 
 sadly wasted Sunday services. There was no demand 
 for a special day of humiliation ; it was a life of fasting 
 enforced by their suffering condition, and, had there 
 been signal deliverances, they were not so circum- 
 stanced as to respond in a day of thanksgiving. But 
 there was prayer, — constant prayer, like the throb- 
 bing of the pulse ; and so an infant nation was born. 
 
 The spring of 1621 opened, and the seed was sown 
 in the' fields. They watched it with anxiety, for well 
 they knew that their lives depended upon that harvest. 
 So the days flew by and the autumn came. Never 
 in Holland nor in Old England had they seen the like. 
 For the most part they had worked at trades during 
 their exile ; they were now farmers, as their ancestors 
 had been. Bounteous Nature, with the pride of a 
 milliner at a fall opening, spread all her treasures 
 before them. Their little plots had been blessed by 
 the sunshine and the showers, and round about them 
 were many evidences of the friendliness of the un- 
 tilled soil. The woodland — what a revelation it must 
 have been to them, arrayed in its autumnal garments, 
 and swarming with game, which had been concealed 
 from them during the summer! The Pilgrim from 
 over the sea fell in love then and there with New 
 England, and the bride, clad in her cloth of gold, had 
 been waiting many years for such a suitor. So it hap- 
 pened that there was a wedding feast. 
 
 The account of this occasion found in " Mourt's Ke- 
 
 ^lation " is so frequently referred to that it is given in 
 
 full : " Ouiuharvest being gotten in, our Governour 
 
 sent foure ifien on fowling, that so we might after a 
 
 more speciall manner reioyce together, after we had 
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH. 71 
 
 gathered the fruit of our labours ; they f oure in one 
 day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, 
 served the Company almost a weeke, at which time 
 amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, 
 many of the Indians coming amongst vs, and amongst 
 the rest their greatest King Massasoyt, with some 
 ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained 
 and feasted, and they went out and killed fine Deere, 
 which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed 
 on our Governour, and vpon the Captaine, 'and others. 
 And although it be not alwayes so plentifull, as it was 
 at this time with vs, yet by the goodnesse of God, we 
 are so farre from want, that we often wish you par- 
 takers of our plentie." ^ 
 
 That thisjwas a harvest festival cannot be disputed. 
 But it has generally been termed the first autumnal 
 thanksgiving in New England,^ and some have sup- 
 posed that it was the inauguration of a continuous 
 series of thanksgiving occasions. Such is not the fact. 
 We have already learned what their idea of a re- 
 ligious thanksgiving day was, and the account itself 
 shows that this was altogether a diflferent celebration. 
 It was not a day set apai-t for religious worship, but a 
 whole week of festivity. No religious service is spoken 
 of, and it is not likely that any was held, other than 
 
 1 MourVs Belation, p. 133. 
 
 2 Young says in the Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 231 n. : "This 
 was the first Thanksgiving, the harvest festival of New England." In 
 The Pilgrim Republic, p. 180, Goodwin says : " Thus heartily and royally 
 was inaugurated the great New England festival of Thanksgiving." 
 This is the opinion commonly held. Rev. H. M. Dexter, D. D., in his 
 edition of MourVs Relation, p. 133 n., says : " Here began that peculiar 
 Now England festival, the a^rmial autumnal Thanksgiving." This 
 view, however, he subsequently modified in The Independent, Novem- 
 ber 28, 1889, where he rejects the opinion that it was the original of 
 the autumnal Thanksgiving, 
 
72 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 their customary morning devotions.^ The Sabbath 
 services which bomided the week were probabTy^ef^ 
 meated with the spirit of gratitude, and for aught we 
 know they may have had a thanksgiving day besides. 
 This, however, was a week of rejoicing and pleasure. 
 The Pilgrims would surely have been shocked at 
 " recreations " during a religious season. They even 
 had more respect for Christmas than that. On the 
 Christmas Day following, as Bradford relates, " more 
 of mirth than of waight," most of the new company, 
 which had meanwhile arrived in the Fortune, excused 
 themselves from going to work from conscientious scru- 
 ples, whom the governor found at noontime " pitching ye 
 barr " and '.' at stoole-ball." ^ He thereupon confiscated 
 their " implements," and bade them keep their houses if 
 they made the keeping of the day a matter of devotion, 
 saying, " Ther should be no gameing or revelling in ye 
 streets," in which action he mirthfully justified himself 
 by the claim that it " was against his conscience that 
 they should play & others worke."'\^It was this very 
 mingling of sports with religious services, as we have 
 seen, that they had condemned in England. Whatever 
 their descendants may do, the Pilgrims would never 
 have countenanced a game of ball upon one of their 
 thanksgiving days. Moreover, such an interpretation 
 robs the passage of its charm, and impairs its real sig- 
 nificance. It is not the day we have before us, but 
 the man who will create the day. The brighter side 
 of our forefathers' characters is here displayed. Re- 
 
 ^ They had prayers before breakfast. Bradford's HtsL, p. 85 ; The 
 Pilgrim Republic, p. 180. 
 
 2 On these amusements see Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, b. ii. c, 2, 
 s. 7, and b. ii. c. 3, s. 11. 
 
 3 Bradford's Hist., p. 112. 
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH, 73 
 
 ligion had its place, and that was very prominent, but 
 they were not averse to recreations and amusements. 
 They looked with sad concern, no doubt, upon the 
 mature faces of their children, and sought to cheer 
 them by joining them at play. We regret that it 
 cannot be shown that Bradford and Standish and 
 Winslow could play stool-ball just a little better than 
 those Christmas-keepers of the Fortune's company, 
 but we have no doubt they looked on approvingly and 
 greeted the victors with applause. The muster of the 
 military before the admiring eyes of wives and sisters 
 was a needful laudation of soldierly duty, and withal 
 a wholesome spectacle for the Indians. If it excited 
 any fears in their savage breasts, these were dissipated 
 by the prevailing hospitality, — a winsome lesson 
 which they eoidd fully appreciate. The grand hunt 
 of the four prime shots, who received the honor from 
 the governor himself, was an event, and the result 
 shows that Bradford made no mistake in his selection. 
 On the whole, considering the pressure of their em- 
 ployments, it is remarkable that they spared an entire 
 week, as we infer, in general recreations and common 
 feasting. 
 
 The Pilgrim historians liave not left us any "bill 
 of fare" for this particular occasion, but we can 
 gather from extant writings some knowledge of what 
 they may have had during the week. The provisions 
 must have been bountiful, for there were about one 
 hundred* and forty persons, including the ninety of 
 Massasoit's company, who were entertained for three 
 days. All had their share of the supplies. The 
 colonists were divided into households according to 
 convenience, and over each some Pilgrim mother pre- 
 
74 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 sided who was thoroughly skilled in the art of cookery. 
 Various kinds of sea-food were at hand. They had 
 made the acquaintance of the oyster, which the In- 
 dians were wont to bring them, and who had doubt- 
 less made known to them the best varieties of fish. 
 Ducks they had of the choicest species, higlily prized 
 by the epicures of the present day. Geese were there- 
 about that would have done honor to the Michaelmas 
 feast of England. Game was brought in from the 
 woods in abundance, from venison, which they knew 
 well how to roast, to the partridge, which is never so 
 good as when broiled on the skewer. And, abqve^all, 
 they had the turkey, of which they fomid a " great 
 store " in the forest, — the turkey, thus early crowned 
 queen of their bounty, and to which example their de- 
 scendants, even though they may have failed to imi- 
 tate them in other respects, have always been loyal. 
 These savory meats all garnished their tables through- 
 out that festival. Kettles, skillets, and spits were 
 overworked, while thus their knives and spoons, 
 kindly assisted by their fingers, made merry music 
 on their pewter plates. Nor were these viands without 
 the company of the barley loaf and the cakes of Indian 
 meal, more highly prized then than wheat-fed millions 
 can imagine. As to their vegetables, we have the 
 poetic testimony of the governor himself, — for his 
 Excellency wrote poetry, the lines of which were not 
 measured by dactylic or iambic feet, but by the twelve- 
 inch rule : — * 
 
 / " All sorts of grain wMcli our own land doth yield, 
 , ^ Was hither brought, and sown in every field : 
 
 \K \ As wheat and rye, barley, oats, beans and pease 
 
 ' \ V/' Here all thrive and they profit from them raise, 
 
 All sorts of roots and herbs in gardens grow, — 
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH, 75 
 
 Parsnips, carrots, turnips or what you '11 sow, 
 
 Onions, melons, cucumbers, radishes, 
 
 B^^^, beets, cole worts and fair cabbages." ^ >» 
 
 Of " sallet herbs " they had found plenty in the 
 springtime, but now they depended upon the yield of 
 their garden seeds. The indigenous squash and pump- 
 kin they had allowed to climb their cornstalks, and 
 it may be they had now and then a pumpkin-pie. 
 " Strawberries, gooseberries, and raspis " were out of 
 season, but they may have dried some in the summer 
 sun, and the same may be said of the several varieties 
 of plums that grew in the woodland. They tell us n 
 that they had wild grapes, and we can atiHost detect 11 
 the smack in their words, '^ very sweete and strong," 
 whose sweetness might have added strength on oppor^ 
 timity, in the absence of their home-brewed English 
 beer. The most temperate of their descendants woidd 
 not begrudge them such a beverage " for their stom- 
 achs' sake " under the circumstances. The fact is that, 
 notwithstanding we know so little of the occasion, we 
 know enough of what was at hand, so we can fairly 
 say it was a royal feast the Pilgrims spread that first 
 golden autumn at Plymouth, worthy of their Indian 
 guests, and altogether creditable to their posterity .^ 
 The occasion was imique, and not in itself adapted to T i 
 be perpetuated in such proportions. As the peach- 
 tree puts forth its tinted bloom before its abiding foli- 
 age, so this harvest festival was the bursting into life 1 1 
 of a new conception of man's dependence upon the : 
 
 ^ Lines from Bradford, Mass. Hist. Soc Coll., I. vol. iii. p. 77. 
 
 ^ The exact time of this festival is unknown. If we may fix it 
 by the sequence of events in the narrative, it was between September 
 23 and November 11, and probably in October. Bradford's Hist., pp. 
 104, 105 ; Mourt's Relation, pp. 124, 137. 
 
76 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 bounties of nature. It was the promise of autunma] 
 thanksgivings to come. 
 
 It has been repeatedly said that this festival was 
 suggested to the Pilgrims by the " Feast of Ingather- 
 ing " known in Jewish history, and others have found 
 in that the motive for the development of the New 
 England Thanksgiving. All harvest festivals, whethei 
 of Christians or heathen, must be the same in essence. 
 Only in respect to its intent and duration would thi^ 
 Pilgrim celebration suggest that of the Bible, in whicl 
 worship and sacrifice were the burden of its ritual 
 John Robinson makes an extended reference to this 
 Jewish feast as kept by Ezra, and finds only a solemr 
 religious character attaching to it.^ It could not have 
 been regarded otherwise by the forefathers. The sup- 
 position seems to us wholly without warrant. 
 
 If it has a kinship to anything in the past, it is tc 
 the Harvest Home of England. The joy over the 
 gathering-in of the harvest was the main thought in 
 both celebrations. This had no bringing home witli 
 much ceremony, from the field, of the last shock oi 
 corn, fantastically arrayed in brilliant finery; nc 
 "blessing of the cart," or "kissing of the sheaves;'' 
 no harvest song, so familiar in the fatherland : — 
 
 " Here 's a health to the barley-mow ; 
 Here 's a health to the man 
 Who very well can 
 Both harrow and plough and sow." 
 
 Yet the master and the servant had the old-time fel 
 lowship at the feast, and the new-time guest, with hi^ 
 royal crown of eagle feathers, was not better than the 
 humblest. Their hockey cake was of the proper sort ; 
 1 Robinson's Works, ii. 312. 
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT PLYMOUTH. 77 
 
 and the goose, if not of aristocratic lineage, was much 
 to their liking. It is a well-known fact that in some 
 districts in England at that time the feast of the har- 
 vest contmued for an entire week.i Surely, if this 
 occasion is to be judged by analogy, it has affinities 
 with the harvest festival of England. It may be fairly 
 assumed that the idea of celebrating their ingathering 
 was famihar to them. Often in their own land had 
 they witnessed such celebrations. More than this we 
 cariiiot certainly say, for there is no evidence that 
 they observed any of the customs characteristic of that 
 English holiday season ; and if they had in mind the 
 perpetuation of the Harvest Home, it is strange, in- 
 deed, that the historian omits entirely a reference to 
 their purpose. 
 
 The harvest festival at Plymouth in 1621 was an , 
 inspiration. It was not made ; it was born. It did 
 not look backward into the past; and, as for the 
 future, no one thought of the real influence such a 
 celebration would have. The present alone com- 
 manded it ; its wonderful autimmal season, its relief 
 from anxiety, its food for those who had endured hun- 
 ger, — this benediction of the New World reanimated 
 their drooping spirits. They could serve God as truly \ \ \ 
 on a holiday in its recreations as on the Sabbath in j I | 
 its services. All slumbering discontent they would 
 smother with common rejoicings. When the holiday 
 was over they would be better, braver men, because 
 they had turned aside to rest awhile. So the exile of 
 Leyden claimed the harvests of New England. 
 
 1 Richard Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall^ says of the English 
 harvest festival : " Neither doth the good cheere wholly expire (though 
 it somewhat decrease) but with the end of the weeke." For a sum- 
 mary of harvest customs, see Brand's Pop. Antiq., ii. 16-33 ; Strutt's 
 Sports and Pastimes, b. iv. c. 3, s. 27. 
 
 '\ 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 
 1623. 
 
 The expression of gratitude to God in a religious 
 service did not make its advent in America with the 
 Pilgrims. It was, of course, a common feature of all 
 rituals. The Church of England had provided for it 
 by special prayers to be offered at the Sabbath service, 
 and this was the practice of her colonists. A failure 
 to distinguish between this thanksgiving service and 
 the thanksgiving day has led some to claim that the 
 Popham colonists at Monhegan in 1607 were the fore- 
 runners in the keeping of thanksgiving days. The 
 account itself, as given in " A Relation of a Voyage 
 to Sagadahoc," refutes the claim. It is as follows : 
 " Sondaye beinge the 9th of August, in the mominge 
 the most part of our holl company of both our shipes 
 landed on tliis Illand, whear the crosse standeth ; and 
 thear we heard a sermon delyvred unto us by our 
 preacher, gyuinge God thanks for our happy metinge 
 and saffe aryuall into the contry ; and so retorned 
 abord aggain." ^ Rev. Richard Seymour, the preacher, 
 was aii Episcopalian, and the passage shows that he 
 adhered to the custom of his church. The Puritan 
 thanksgiving day was a week-day observance, and 
 quite another thing in its whole temper. 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., xviii. 102. ; Winsor's Nar. and Crit. Hist, of 
 America^ iii. 176, 192. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 79 
 
 We have already estabKshed the fact that the system 
 of fasts and thanksgivings which the English colonists 
 as Puritans brought with them to Plymouth, Salem, 
 Boston, and Hartford was that of occasional days for 
 special causes. We now turn to follow them in the 
 practice of this system, which has continued through 
 droughts, earthquakes, and wars to modern times, ever 
 becoming less recognized. The development of the oc- 
 casional spring fast into the annual appointment, and 
 the growth of the autumnal harvest thanksgiving as now 
 observed, we shall meet with in due time, nor will 
 these changes seem so strange to us after we have be- 
 come familiar with the nature of the causes which 
 moved the fathers in early days. 
 
 A remarkable and interesting instance of their cus- 
 tom is now at hand in the experiences at Plymouth in 
 1623. 
 
 The year 1622 had been filled with misfortunes. 
 Shortly after their harvest festival, when they had 
 thought their struggles were at an end, other colo- 
 nists had arrived by the ship Fortune, unprovided 
 \vith supplies. Had this lack of forethought been at 
 once appreciated, Winslow would not have sent back, 
 by this very ship, such a glowing account of their 
 plenty, to encourage a repetition of this mistake. As 
 the spring of 1622 advanced, their " store of victuals 
 was wholly spent." Promises of supplies from the 
 Adventurers in England failed. In the summer the 
 disorderly crowd from the Charity and the Swan, 
 — the Weymouth company — were loaded upon them. 
 Their crop was depleted and damaged by these thieves 
 whom they were entertaining, and rumors of trouble 
 with the Indians had prevented them from increasing 
 
80 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the extent of their fields. Notwithstanding the fact 
 that they obtained some supplies from the Lidians by 
 barter, and more from fishing vessels by gift, in the 
 autumn their wants were greater even than in the 
 starving spring. Even a pious Pilgrim could find no 
 occasion for an autumnal thanksgiving, and they were, 
 alas ! in no circumstances to indulge in a week of 
 feasting. So the winter passed. The spring of 1623 
 only augmented their sufferings. At night they did 
 not know where they would procure food for the next 
 day. Perhaps it was Elder Brewster, in one of their 
 Sabbath services, and possibly speaking from the pe- 
 tition in the Lord's Prayer, who made the observation 
 which Bradford quotes : " They had need to pray that 
 God would give them their dayly brade, above all peo- 
 ple in y® world." ^ The one boat they had was em- 
 ployed all the time by one of the several companies 
 into which they had been divided, and the fishing 
 trips on which they went were sometimes prolonged 
 for days before they caught enough to warrant a re- 
 turn. Never since they had arrived at Plymouth had 
 they been so reduced. 
 
 In the month of April they planted their corn. A 
 second time within the space of three years they 
 turned in desperate straits to the mother earth for re- 
 lief, and lifted up their waiting eyes to Heaven. All 
 prospered until the third week in May, when a 
 drought set in. It was a new trial, and one against 
 which they could not have provided had they fore- 
 seen it. For six long weeks " there scarce fell any 
 raii^n," and there was excessive heat. Sadly they 
 watched the effect upon their crops. The fields be- 
 
 1 Bradford's Hist., p. 136. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 81 
 
 came parched. The corn withered away so they 
 thought it was dead. Their beans ceased growing, 
 and appeared as though they had been blasted with 
 fire. In the midst of this discouragement there ar- 
 rived a ship bringing the " admiral of the fishing 
 fleet," who told them he had spoken a ship at sea with 
 many of their friends aboard, but had lost them in 
 a storm, and judged from their delay and some wreck- 
 age that all had perished. " The most courageous," 
 says Winslow, " were now discouraged, because God, 
 which hitherto had been their [our] only shield and 
 supporter, now seemed in his anger to arm himself 
 against them [us]." 
 
 The narrative of Winslow gives an ample account of 
 what followed, and it should be put in liis own words : 
 " These and the like considerations moved not only 
 every good man privately to enter into examination 
 with his own estate between God and his conscience, 
 and so to humiliation before him, but also more 
 solemnly to hmnble ourselves together before the 
 Lord by fasting and prayer. To that end a day was 
 appointed by public authority, and set apart from all 
 other employments ; hoping that the same God, which 
 had stirred us up hereunto, would be moved hereby 
 in mercy to look down upon us and gi'ant the request 
 of our dejected souls, if our continuance there might 
 any way stand with his glory and our good. But O 
 the mercy of our God ! who was as ready to hear as 
 we to ask : for though in the morning, when we as- 
 sembled together, the heavens were as clear, and the 
 drought as like to continue as ever it was, yet (our 
 exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before 
 our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds 
 
82 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 gathered together on all sides, and on the next morn- 
 ing distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of 
 rain, continuing some fourteen days and mixed with 
 such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether 
 our withered corn, or drooping affections, were most 
 quickened or revived ; such was the bounty and good- 
 ness of God. Of this the Indians, by means of Hob- 
 bamock, took notice, who being then in the town, and 
 this exercise in the midst of the week, said, It was 
 but three days since Sunday, and therefore demanded 
 of a boy, what was the reason thereof, which when he 
 knew, and saw what effects followed thereupon, he 
 and all of them admired the goodness of our God to- 
 wards us, that wrought so great a change in so short 
 a time, showing the dift'erence between their conjura- 
 tion, and our invocation on the name of God for rain, 
 theirs being mixed with such storms and tempests, as 
 sometimes, instead of doing them good, it layeth the 
 corn flat on the ground, to their prejudice, but ours 
 in so gentle and seasonable a manner, as they never 
 observed the like." ^ 
 
 It was not many days after this fast, if we rightly 
 conjecture, that Captain Miles Standish, who had been 
 northward on a voyage to procure provisions, returned 
 
 ^ Winslow's " Relation," Young's Chronicles, pp. 349, 350 ; Brad- 
 ford's Hist., pp. 141, 142 n. Nathaniel Morton, in his New England'' s 
 Memorial (repr. 1855, pp. 64, 65), gives a more dramatic setting to 
 the astonishment of the Indians. Hobomok said, " I am much troubled 
 for the English, for I am afraid they will lose all their corn by the 
 drought, and so they will be all starved," but afterwards he confessed 
 to the same man, " Now I see that the Englishman's God is a good 
 God," etc. This was the version current in 1669 as given by one of 
 the fathers then living, probably John Alden. Increase Mather con- 
 cludes his account with the words, " Some amongst the Indians be- 
 came faithfull to the English" {Early Hist, repr. 1864, pp. 108, 
 109). 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 83 
 
 to them with a supply, and also with the welcome 
 news that their friends had escaped the storm and 
 might soon be expected. This was all they needed to 
 fill their cup with blessings. " Having these many 
 signs of God's favor and acceptation," Winslow con- 
 tinues, ''we thought it would be great ingratitude, if 
 secretly we should smother up the same, or content 
 ourselves with private thanksgiving for that which by 
 private prayer could not be obtained. And therefore 
 another solemn day was set apart and appointed for 
 that end ; wherein we returned glory, honor, and 
 prais^, with all thankfulness, to our good God, which 
 dealt so graciously with us ; whose name for these and 
 all other his mercies towards his church and chosen 
 ones, by them be blessed and praised, now and ever- 
 more. Amen." ^ 
 
 This is the most complete of the original accounts, 
 and the only other is that given b}^ Bradford. Hub- 
 bard, Prince, and later writers obtained aU their facts 
 from them. John Smith had evidently read Wins- 
 low's " Relation." 2 The deliverance, however, was 
 not soon forgotten, and, being rehearsed from time to 
 time, tradition added many particulars to the story. 
 Such is the authority for the report that they had di- 
 vided their last pint of corn among them, giving five 
 kernels to each person. In most modern versions it 
 is said that the rain began to fall on their way home 
 from church, but it will be noticed that Winslow says 
 " the weather was overcast " and the rain began the 
 next morning. Bradford says: "Toward evening it 
 
 ^ Young-' s Chronicles^ p. 351. 
 
 2 Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, etc., repr. 1865, 
 p. 33. 
 
84 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 begane to overcast and shortly after to raine," which, 
 though not conclusive, may be the origin of the impres- 
 sion. Thus much must be evident : it was a very re- 
 markable instance of a most beneficial rain following 
 at once upon a day of prayer, and its influence upon 
 those reverent and believing fathers can scarcely be 
 overestimated. This must have been augmented, too, 
 by the coming in of the Anne, only a day after 
 the thanksgiving, with many of the Leyden flock 
 aboard who had been left behind by the Mayflower. 
 
 The critical study of this passage, compared with 
 Bradford's, enables us to bring out several important 
 points. With a good degree of confidence we may 
 conclude that the date of the fast day was Wednes- 
 day, July 16, O. S., for Bradford says the drought 
 " continued from y® 3 weeke in May, till about y® 
 midle of July," which corroborates Winslow's remark 
 that it lasted for six weeks after the " latter end 
 of May." It was on a Wednesday, " but three days 
 since Sunday," or " in the midst of the week." The 
 Thanksgiving woidd most likley have been on the 
 same day of the week. It was after the rain had 
 proven its beneficial effects, — "in time conveniente," 
 in Bradford's phrase ; but it was before the arrival 
 of the Anne, which Winslow says was the " latter 
 end of July," by which we take him to mean, as in 
 the former instance, the last day of July. Other 
 examples of this rendering of uW die are found in 
 early documents. The tradition certainly is that the 
 Anne arrived on the 31st of July. If, then, we set 
 the thanksgiving day on a Wednesday, two weeks after 
 the fast and at the end of the fourteen days' rain, it 
 would have been July 30, the day before the ship came. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 86 
 
 This would agree with the statement of Captain John 
 Smith, which Prince quotes, that '' either the next 
 morning or not long after [the thanksgiving] came 
 in two ships." ^ Furthermore, if the departure, of 
 Captain Francis West was just before the fast, as 
 we suppose, it was " about 14 days after," according 
 to Bradford also, that the Anne came into port, 
 which would have been the last of July. Thus all 
 accounts are harmonized, and point to the 16 th as 
 the fast, and the 30th as the thanksgiving. 
 
 It is also noticed that these days were appointed by 
 " public authority," that is, by an order from the gov- 
 ernor as the civil magistrate. We believe they were 
 the first so ordered in New England ; certainly we have 
 no record of any earlier. Winslow particularly notes 
 this manner of appointment, and the reasons for it, as 
 he would hardly have done had it been a custom dur- 
 ing the previous years. Such days as may have been 
 observed previously would, by former usage, have 
 originated with the church. Both practices were in 
 use a few years later, as the Plymouth church records 
 prove. The famine was an extreme occasion which 
 demanded more than their customary private fastings. 
 Yet it was undoubtedly in accordance with the unan- 
 imous desire of the church membership, and perhaps 
 at the specific request of Elder Brewster, that the gov- 
 ernor set apart such days. If we may apply the prin- 
 ciples of criticism to the words of Winslow, there was 
 an order — the earliest form of a proclamation — 
 which declared the occasion for the day, and m which, 
 as the English custom was, the day was " set apart 
 and appointed " and " other employments " were pro- 
 
 ^ Smith's General History, lib. 6. 
 
86 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 hibited. We might almost venture that some of 
 Winslow's pious expressions were quotations from 
 such a document. 
 
 The further details of their action are not pre- 
 served for us. We can only imagine the solemn 
 character of their services, — the extended prophesy- 
 ing of Elder Brewster, the prayers,^ and the psalm- 
 singing. What attracts us most in the story is the 
 simplicity of the Pilgrims' faith in the divine answer 
 to their supplications. It was an experience which 
 must have exercised a lasting influence upon their 
 fasting and thanksgiving customs : — 
 
 " Famine once we had — 
 But other things God gave us in full store, 
 As fish and ground nuts, to supply our strait, 
 That we might learn on providence to wait ; 
 And know, by bread man lives not in his need. 
 But by each word that doth from God proceed." ^ 
 
 It must be considered a misfortune in our study that 
 we have no accounts of such fasts and thanksgivings, 
 church or public, as may have been observed during 
 the next few years. We do not doubt that they kept 
 them, not annually, but as special causes would sug- 
 gest. De Rasieres' letter of 1627 speaks of their 
 observing the usual holidays, and, as these could not 
 have been those of the Church of England, he must 
 have had certain other days in mind. In 1630 they are 
 found keeping a fast day in sympathy with the Bay 
 Colony, to which reference is made in that connection. 
 
 ^ Bradford says of Elder Brewster : " He always thought it were 
 better for ministers to pray oftener, and divide their prayers, than to 
 be long and tedious in the same, except upon solemn and special occa- 
 sions as on days of Humiliation and the like." — Young's Chronicles, 
 p. 469. 
 
 2 Lines from Bradford, Mass, Hist. Soc. Coll., I., vol. iii. p. 77. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING. 87 
 
 Meanwhile, however, other emigrants began to 
 settle in the Plymouth Colony, and in 1634 there 
 came Rev. John Lothrop and some of liis English 
 flock. We know that their practice had been the 
 same as that of the Pilgrims. It is fortunate that we 
 have the records of this church, which at first was 
 located at Scituate and afterwards at Barnstable.^ 
 They contain the dates of a number of fasts in the 
 years 1634 and 1635.^ There are six in the two 
 years, and, though we cannot say certainly that these 
 were other than church fasts, some of them may have 
 been kept also by the church at Plymouth. Some, 
 indeed, may have been ordered by public authority. 
 This supposition is favored by their record of the next 
 year, 1636, the most impoiijant of the decade on ac- 
 count of the revision of the Colonial Laws and the 
 establislunent of a more permanent government. Here 
 we meet first with a fast day, November 11, the oc- 
 casion for which was " a blessing upon their consul- 
 tation about the Laws." This would certainly have 
 moved the Plymouth church to fasting as well as that 
 at Scituate, and it is very possible that this was 
 appointed by public authority. On the 15th they 
 met to review the laws, and one residt of their labors 
 was a law concerning the appointment of fasts and 
 thanksgivings. It is as foUows : " That it be in the 
 power of the Governor & Assist® to comand solemn 
 daies of humilia^on by fasting &c, and also for 
 thankesgiving as occasion shall be offered." ^ As 
 these authorities had appointed the days of 1623, it is 
 
 1 Church records in N. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg., ix. 279 ff., x. 37 ff., 
 345 ff. 
 
 2 See Calendar. 3 Ply. Col Rec, xi. 18. 
 
88 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 probable tliat they had continued the practice since 
 then, but only upon occasion, as the law specifically 
 provides. There was now a new reason for confirm- 
 ing this civil power. The colony had extended its 
 borders. Other towns were springing up, and the 
 church at Plymouth had no jurisdiction over those at 
 Scituate and Duxbury. It was only through such a 
 law that they could secure imiformity, which was 
 desirable when the causes were of common interest. 
 As a fast was kept before the " settling the state," it 
 is probable that the thanksgiving kept by the Scitu- 
 ate church December 22 was to celebrate the com- 
 pletion of the work, and it would naturally be ap- 
 pointed under the new law. 
 
 Of this day as kept at Scituate we have some 
 further information of an important nature. The 
 record is as follows : "In y* Meetinghouse, begin- 
 ning some haKe an hour before nine & continued 
 untill after twelve aclocke, y® day beeing very cold, 
 beginning w* a short prayer, then a psalme sang, 
 then more large in prayer, after that an other Psalme, 
 & then the Word taught, after that prayer — & 
 the a psalme, — Then makeing merry to the crea- 
 tures, the poorer sort beeing invited of the richer." i 
 This is the earliest example in the Plymouth Colony 
 of feasting in connection with a thanksgiving day, fif- 
 teen years after the notable harvest festival of 1621. 
 That such was the custom, at least in the Scituate 
 church, is proven by the fact that October 12, 1637, 
 was also a thanksgiving there, " mainely for these tow 
 particulars : 1. Ffor the victory over the pequouts, 
 y® 2. Ffor Keconciliation betwixt Mr. Cotton and the 
 
 1 Chh. rec, N. E, Reg., x. 39. 
 
SHOWERS OF BLESSING, 89 
 
 other ministers ; " and it is said to have been " per- 
 formed much in the same manner aforesaid." Again, 
 December 11, 1639, was a thanksgiving, and after 
 the services they divided into three companies to feast. 
 This does not prove that the day had assumed an 
 annual character, but it shows an important feature 
 of the development towards that, namely, the thanks- 
 giving feast. And, remembering that many of tliis 
 company had been under Lothrop's care in England, 
 we have another instance like that of the exiles at 
 Leyden, of keeping a church feast, in which the circum- 
 stances of their separation had educated them. The 
 thanksgiving feast, indeed, may be called a Separatist 
 institution, and, in the light of the harvest festival of 
 1621 and the experiences of 1623, we may conclude 
 that it was not long before it was generally recognized 
 in the Plymouth Colony. 
 
 In concluding this survey of the early customs of 
 the Pilgrims, we should record the fact that their love 
 for the holidays of England was not increased. The 
 first Christmas, they celebrated by beginning the erec- 
 tion of their storehouse, and the second they labored 
 in the fields, administering some discouragement to 
 a few Christmas-keepers. It will be noted that the 
 church at Scituate appointed a fast on the Christmas 
 of 1634. As for Guy Fawkes's Day, November 5, 
 they had sad occasion to remember the fire of 1623 on 
 that day, either brought about by some roistering sea- 
 men, or set with the intention of destroying their 
 plantation. If justification is necessary for their 
 dislike of the ceremonies of May Day, it is readily 
 found in Thomas Morton's "New English Canaan," 
 whose own account of his company is sufiicient con- 
 
90 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 demnation. That reveling crew of merry mountain- 
 eers, with their " beaver-clad lasses," whose nectar 
 does not seem to have inspired the godlike in their 
 / behavior, were no doubt as offensive to the Saints 
 I Philip and James, whom they were honoring, as to 
 ) the Separatists of Plymouth, who christened their 
 ] pine-tree May-pole, surmounted with its " paire of 
 (bucks horns," the " calf of Horeb." It was, however, 
 not so much 
 
 " The proclamation that the first of May 
 At Ma-re Mount shall be kept holly-day '* 
 
 as their violation of the king's proclamation against 
 selling firearms to the Indians, that finally brought 
 down upon them the valiant Standish and his mus- 
 keteers. 
 
 The fast and thanksgiving days of the Pilgrims, 
 consecrated by their sufferings, were destined to a 
 nobler mission. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 
 
 1629-1630. 
 
 The ecclesiastical organization of the Puritans in 
 the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the natural out- 
 come of their Non-conformity in England. A resi- 
 dence in the mother country about 1625 would cer- 
 tainly have convinced the observer that large num- 
 bers, who still counted themselves as within the Church 
 of England, were dissatisfied with her religious tem- 
 per. They fully accepted her articles of faith, but 
 they could not resist the powerful reforming influences 
 of the age. Advocating, as these persons did, the em- 
 ployment of an intelligent ministry; practicing, as 
 they were wont, prophesying in assemblies distinct 
 from the church service ; hallowing the Sabbath, as 
 the majority of their fellow-communicants did not ; 
 minded also to reject numberless ecclesiastical cere- 
 monies commonly termed indifferent, — these Non- 
 conformists had thus, un^vittingly perhaps, separated 
 themselves from the body of religious life in a church 
 for which they still entertained filial affection. Or- 
 ganization does not precede the adoption of harmo- 
 nious opinions, it foUows. We cannot conceive of 
 these Puritan emigrants to New England as forming 
 any other church than they did. The life that really 
 dissented could not express itself in a church that 
 
92 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 conformed. They acted in good faith, but they laid 
 stone upon stone after a design that they knew not. 
 It seemed to them afterward, as they viewed the struc- 
 ture, that it had been ordered by Divine Providence. 
 
 Some remembrance of these conditions is essential 
 to an explanation of the fact that companies like 
 those at Plymouth, Salem, and Boston came at once 
 into agreement upon the custom of observing fast and 
 thanksgiving days. They had really come into pos- 
 session of the practice through similar experiences. 
 It was a trait of Non-conformity that declared itself. 
 Church fast and thanksgiving days had their origin 
 among communities that had prophesying assemblies. 
 These were hot always composed of Separatists. They 
 were popular among many in the Church of England. 
 Thus this older custom prepared the way for adopt- 
 ing the civil appointment ; and not only so, it was one 
 means of making the Christians of the three com- 
 panies acquainted with a common religious life, and 
 afforded the occasion upon which they were brought 
 into sympathy with one another. 
 
 We have already followed the course of one stream ; 
 but there were two others, and we shall see how all 
 came together. Historians have repeatedly noted the 
 fact that there were differences in ecclesiastical tem- 
 perament between the company of Francis Higginson, 
 which came to Salem in 1629, and that of John 
 Winthrop, which came to Boston in 1630. This is 
 apparent in the very fasts they kept on their voyages 
 across the sea. The story is told in the days of the 
 week that found favor among them. Insignificant as 
 it may appear now, there was a time, during the 
 struggle between the Non-conformists and the Church 
 
THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 93 
 
 of England, when both parties had very decided pre- 
 judices as to the days they observed for fasting. 
 The fast day in the Church of England was Friday, a 
 remnant of the dies stationum of the Roman Catho- 
 lic Church. If it fell to them to fast "twice in a 
 week," Wednesday and Friday were the days selected. 
 But at the time of the emigration the former had 
 fallen into decay, and Monday, which had also been 
 formerly regarded in England, was mostly prominent 
 in the culinary department as a " fish day." The pro- 
 test against superstitious fasting had made Tuesday 
 and Thursday more especially the days upon which 
 fasts should be kept, if at all, among the Non-conform- 
 ists; and this with design among some, and with 
 an unquestioning following of custom among others. 
 In the main, the radical dissenter avoided the obser- 
 vance of a fast upon Friday. This was not only true 
 in England, but for many years there was such a pre- 
 judice prevalent among the fathers of New England. 
 So late as 1702, Sewall informs us that when the 
 governor asked that the fast be on a Friday, saying, 
 " Let us be Englishmen," there was objection to it. 
 A public fast or thanksgiving upon that day is a rare 
 exception. If they chanced to keep a fast in Virginia, 
 where the influence of the Church of England was 
 dominant, it would naturally be upon a Friday, but 
 such would not have been the decision in Massachu- 
 setts. Thursday was the day generally preferred, and 
 as a second choice Wednesday. As to fasts in partic- 
 ular churches on the occasion of ordaining or install- 
 ing ministers, no uniformity prevailed. Churches, 
 however, which for some reason selected a particular 
 day of the week for their own observance, either by 
 
94 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 fasts or weekly lectures, usually held to it with consid- 
 erable attachment, and this Avas important in commu- 
 nities where several churches existed. Therefore, if 
 we find a church keeping a fast upon another than its 
 customary day, and that for general causes, there is 
 therein some reason for concluding that it was a pub- 
 lic fast of which the record has disappeared. The 
 immediate application of this fact will appear as we 
 turn to the sea-fasts of the voyages of Higginson and 
 Winthrop. 
 
 On the 13th of May, 1629, there passed with- 
 in sight of Land's End two ships sailing westward. 
 The larger was the Talbot in which Higginson and 
 " above a hundred planters " were passengers. As 
 the coast of Cornwall began to fade in the distance 
 the reverend leader, standing upon the deck astern, 
 his children and other passengers gathered about him, 
 exclaimed, " 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 ! 
 We do not go to New England as separatists from the 
 Church of England, though we cannot but separate 
 from the corruptions in it, but we go to practice the 
 positive part of church reformation, and propagate the 
 gospel in America.' " ^ This scene, so often referred 
 to, is very picturesque, to be sure. It has a savor of 
 loyalty in it. But it also suggests the fact that many 
 of the company had already separated from what they 
 considered the corruptions of their mother church. 
 We may be assured that her observance of holy days 
 1 Magnalia, ed. 1853, i. 362. 
 
THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES, 95 
 
 was one feature they intended to leave behind. This 
 Non-conformist minister had, during his ministry at 
 Leicester, fostered gatherings of kindred spirits for 
 prayer, hearing of sermons, admonishing the unfaith- 
 ful, and the observance of fasts, all not greatly differ- 
 ent from those of the Separatists themselves. All they 
 lacked was a covenant relation to constitute them a 
 Separatist congregation. We can see very clearly 
 what their opinions were as to holy days by their con- 
 duct. It is said of the 21st of May that they conse- 
 crated the day as " a solemn fasting and humiliation 
 to Almighty God, as a furtherance of their [our] pres- 
 ent work." 1 To this exercise they had been moved by 
 the death of the minister's child and the prevalence of 
 contrary winds. The only other minister aboard was 
 Ralph Smith, a Separatist, the future pastor of Ply- 
 mouth, and the two shared the exercises of the day. 
 The sequel is that, though a calm continued through- 
 out the day, about seven o'clock, after their services 
 were over, a fair wind sprung up " as a manifest evi- 
 dence of the Lord's hearing their [our] prayers." 
 *'I heard some of the mariners say," writes Higginson, 
 " they thought this was the fu'st sea^-fast that ever was 
 kept, and that they never heard of the like performed 
 at sea before." This fast was upon a Tliursday, and 
 the only other was upon Tuesday, the 2d of June, 
 both undoubtedly the days of the week they had been 
 accustomed to observe in England. The reasons for 
 this latter were the contrary winds, unwholesome fogs 
 accompanied with a sultry temperature, and more 
 especially the sickness of some who had been attacked 
 
 1 Higginson' s Journal of his Voyage to New England, in Young's 
 Chron. of Mass., and Hutchinson's Original Papers. 
 
96 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 by scurvy and the smallpox. On that occasion, says 
 the writer, " the Lord heard us before we prayed and 
 gave us answer before we called, for early in the 
 morning the wind turned full east, being as fit a wind 
 as could blow." It would seem also that they thought 
 a divine sanction was put upon their practice because 
 a wicked fellow among the crew, who had railed 
 against them as Puritans and mocked at their fast 
 days, fell sick of the pox and died, being the only one 
 aboard who did, excepting the child. The religious 
 exercises consisted of prayer, psalm-singing, expound- 
 ing the Scriptures, and preaching, — a service not un- 
 like that among the Separatists. In reflecting upon 
 these occasions, near the close of his journal, Higginson 
 makes a remark which shows that the custom was 
 already established among them. " Let all that love 
 and use fasting and praying take notice that it is as 
 prevailable by sea as by land, wheresoever it is faith- 
 fully performed." Now surely he and his friends were 
 such as would fellowship with the people of Plymouth. 
 Upon their arrival at Salem they found in the 
 mind of Endicott — who had hitherto, we believe, con- 
 formed to the Church of England — a kindly opinion 
 of the Pilgrims, whose physician had only lately re- 
 turned home from ministering to their sick, having 
 satisfied the governor as to their " outward forme of 
 God's worshipe." Morton informs us that the move- 
 ment for church organization originated with Hig- 
 ginson and Skelton, who " acquainted the governor 
 with their intentions." ^ Kev. Francis Bright, the 
 Conformist minister who had come in the Lion's 
 Whelp, the consort of the Talbot, was left out in the 
 
 1 New England's Memorial, p. 97. 
 
THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 97 
 
 cold. The Non-conformists carried the day against 
 some opposition. And thus we come upon the occa- 
 sion of their first fast day at Salem. About a month 
 after Higginson's arrival, Charles Gott writes thus 
 of it to Bradford: " The 20th of July, it pleased y« 
 Lord to move y® hart of our Gov' to set it aparte 
 for a solemne day of humiliation, for y® choyce of a 
 pastor and teacher. The former parte of y® day 
 being spente in praier & teaching, the later parte 
 aboute y® election." ^ Skelton and Higginson were 
 chosen and were " separated for their charge ; " but, as 
 no covenant relation had as yet been entered into, the 
 formal investiture was postponed. Moreover, the last 
 two of the five ships — the Four Sisters and the 
 Mayflower — had not yet arrived, wherein " more able 
 men" for the church officers might come.^ With- 
 out doubt aU had arrived before the 6th of August,^ 
 and therefore that day was also set apart as a fast 
 day, upon which they entered into covenant, chose 
 elders and deacons, and consecrated them to service. 
 When all the circumstances are kept in mind, it will 
 be seen that this was a memorable day. Apart from 
 its ecclesiastical importance, it was an occasion for 
 fellowship between the people of Salem and Plymouth. 
 Governor Bradford was there, having been hindered 
 by adverse winds, so that he only came in time to give 
 
 1 Gott's letter to Bradford, in Bradford's History, p. 265. This 
 day, having been ordered by the g-overnor, must be considered a pub- 
 lic fast, though its occasion was ecclesiastical. 
 
 2 Bradford's " Letter-Book " in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. vol. iii. 
 
 ^ These two ships were expected to follow the Talbot, which had 
 made a quick voyage, in three weeks. They could not have ar- 
 rived before July 20, and Bradford says of the Mayflower passen- 
 gers, they came " aboute August." 
 
98 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the right hand of fellowship. Some others had come 
 with him. But this more than all, thirty-five of the 
 Leyden ilock were there, having come as passengers 
 in the Mayflower. To them it was a happy and 
 tender reunion, as they saw once more the faces of 
 their fellow-exiles, from whom they had been so long 
 separated. As the day declined, and, according to 
 the custom, they broke the fast together, — the 
 Non-conformists of England and the Separatists from 
 Holland, — what recitals of experience there must 
 have been, what Christian sympathies must have filled 
 all hearts ! This we must believe, that the fast day 
 August 6, 1629, was an occasion upon which the 
 emigrants who had found a home at Salem were bap- 
 tized with the spirit of the Pilgrims. 
 
 Let us now follow the voyage of John Winthrop's 
 company. On March 29, 1630, '' Easter Monday," 
 they were " riding at the Cowes near the Isle of 
 Wight." That was a time proper enough for even a 
 churchman to set forth. They, too, bade a loyal fare- 
 well to the Church of England, but in another form. 
 In a " Humble Request ... to the rest of their Bre- 
 thren in and of the Church of England," etc., they 
 sought her prayers, and cleared themselves of aU sus- 
 picions of separation from their mother church. It 
 must be confessed that they were sincere, and intended 
 to conform in essentials at least. What were their fast 
 and thanksgiving days ? The first was a fast on Friday, 
 April 2, before they were on the way, of which we 
 know nothing eventful, except that two of the lands- 
 men kept thanksgiving on " strong water " that day, 
 and fasted on bread and water the next.^ As we 
 1 Winthrop's History of New England, i. 4. 
 
THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 99 
 
 read on, we notice that on Friday, April 23, they 
 celebrated a festival. That was the day dedicated to 
 St. George, and was an Englishman's feast day. In 
 this manner they kept it. The captain of the Ara- 
 bella, says Winthrop, " put forth his ancient in the 
 poop and heaved out his skiff and lowered his top- 
 sails, to give sign to his consorts that they should 
 come aboard us to dinner. About eleven of the clock, 
 our captain sent his skiff and fetched aboard us the 
 masters of the other two ships, and Mr. Pynchon, and 
 they dined with us in the round-house, for the lady 
 and gentlewomen dined in the great cabin." ^ On 
 Friday, May 21, they kept a fast, as also on the even- 
 ing before in the great cabin. This was doubtless on 
 account of the weather.^ On Friday, June 4, they 
 kept another fast for the same cause, and with some 
 success, for the next day, a " handsome gale " arising, 
 they had a thanksgiving.^ On Monday, June 7, 
 they were off the Banks, and had great success with 
 cod-lines, which they counted very seasonable, as it 
 was a " fish-day." * Such are the days of record in 
 Winthrop's journal. They invariably chose the day 
 of the week popular among churchmen for fasting, 
 and we tliink the fact indicates what shade of Non- 
 conformity they represented. 
 
 The foremost of the fleet reached port Saturday, 
 June 12, and, though some went ashore, most returned 
 to the ship, declining to stay, says Felt, "because 
 
 ^ Winthrop's History, i. 14. 
 
 2 Ibid., i. 21. Savage did not seem to understand the case when he 
 added the note : " In this bad weather they were probably without 
 food." 
 
 3 Ibid., i. 2.5, 26. 
 * Ibid., i. 26. 
 
100 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Skelton supposes that he cannot conscientiously admit 
 them to his communion, nor allow one of their children 
 to be baptized. The reason for such scruple is that 
 they are not members of reformed churches like those 
 of Salem and Plymouth." ^ It was appropriate that 
 a thanksgiving day should be kept on accoimt of the 
 safe arrival, especially after such a stormy passage. 
 But this was postponed imtil July 8, awaiting the 
 last straggler of the fleet, the Success, which came 
 to port July 6.2 Winthrop informs us that this 
 day was kept " in all the plantations," by which he 
 means Salem, Charlestown, and Dorchester. Doubt- 
 less all had offered up their thanksgivings before tliis 
 in connection with their Sabbath services, as was the 
 case at Dorchester June 6, the first Sunday after 
 their landing. Possibly church days had been ob- 
 served. But this was a thanksgiving proposed by 
 the civil authority, — the first in the Massachusetts 
 Bay Colony. It must have done something toward 
 producing a unity of feeling among those who, at 
 least, had not been in perfect accord. 
 
 The occasion of their first fast was even more im- 
 portant. A grievous sickness, induced largely by 
 the hardships of the voyage, was upon them. Many 
 died. It seemed best to the main body of the col- 
 onists, then located at Charlestown, to keep a day 
 of humiliation '^ to pacify the Lord's wrath ; " and, 
 as no church had yet been formed, it was deemed 
 the proper time to enter into covenant relations.^ 
 The date was Friday, July 30, the day of the week^ 
 
 1 Felt's Ecc, Hist., i. 134. 
 
 2 Winthrop's History, i. 35. 
 
 8 New England's Memorial, p. 109 ; Bradford's Hist,, p. 277. 
 
THE SEA-FASTS OF TWO VOYAGES. 101 
 
 it will be noted, upon whicli Winthrop's company had 
 been accustomed to fast. The church was formed, 
 and upon a subsequent fast day, Friday, August 27, 
 inducted its ministry into office.^ But the feature of 
 the fagt July__30 was its larger relations. It was 
 proposed by Governor Winthrop, who did not assume 
 to issue an order for the day, and it was consented to 
 by the action of the churches. The Salem church, it 
 appears, would not act except by the advice of Fuller, 
 Allerton, and Winslow, then at Salem. These wisely, 
 and in tender regard for their afflicted neighbors, 
 indorsed the request, and wrote also to Bradford 
 forwarding Winthrop's suggestion that the Plymouth 
 people also keep the day in their behalf. The plan 
 was doubtless carried out, and for the first time in 
 New England history there was a special religious oc- 
 casion in which all the settlements were united. It 
 might not have been the day of the week that those 
 at Salem would have selected, but that was a minor 
 consideration, and besides their visitors from Plymouth 
 had outgrown such a prejudice. On account of its 
 sorrowful cause it awakened mutual sympathy, and 
 kindled a spirit of fraternity among them. It estab- 
 lished a general acceptance of the custom as belong- 
 ing to their theocratic government. Thus the various 
 shades of Non-conformity came into agreement upon 
 this idea of Puritanism, shaking off the holy days 
 of their fathers and taking a new system in place of 
 the old. 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist., i. 36. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE ORDERINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN THE 
 BAY COLONY. 
 
 1631-1635. 
 
 A WORTHY New England father, Captain Roger 
 Clap, of Dorchester, in detailing the experiences of 
 the early settlers many years thereafter, offers this 
 cogent reflection : " You have better Food and Rai- 
 ment than was in former Times, but have you better 
 Hearts than your Fore-fathers had ? " ^ Comparatively 
 few of their descendants realize the extremity of the 
 hunger which the fathers endured. It was not merely 
 confined to a few occasions, when they may have 
 counted their kernels of com, but rather a self-denial 
 continued from year to year, when com was precious 
 because they knew not what the next season might 
 bring forth, when they could not afford the meats 
 they needed, and when at best their articles of food 
 were so few that they were reduced to such a sim- 
 plicity of life that a single dish was a bounteous re- 
 past. At the same time, all who read these early 
 writers must notice, and view with profound respect, 
 the deep and reverent gratitude with which they re- 
 garded such temporal mercies, — a gratitude which 
 characterized the thanksgiving occasion, and is a last- 
 ing tribute to the noble quality of their hearts. 
 
 1 Memoirs of Roger Clap, in Coll. of Dor. Antiq, and Hist Soc., 
 1844, p. 42 ; also in Young's Chron, of Mass. 
 
ORDE RINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 103 
 
 We turn now to a thanksgiving day in the Bay 
 Colony in which they received the sad impress of 
 starvation experiences, — a thanksgiving made out of 
 a fast through a good Providence, and just such an 
 instance of deliverance a^-^ade for the keeping of 
 the harvest festival at Plymouth. 
 
 The autumn of 1630 foimd the colonists domiciled 
 in hastily built huts, in which, as the nights grew 
 cold, they suffered much from exposure. Sickness 
 prevailed among them, which was only augmented by 
 the nature of their food. The first interest m their 
 new surroundings had passed, and the despondency 
 and gloom, perhaps in some cases of homesickness, 
 but in all of anxiety for the future, had settled down 
 upon them. Winthrop had happily foreseen that 
 scarcity would soon overwhelm the colony, for part 
 of the provisions had spoiled, and many had come in- 
 sufficiently supplied, under the impression of finding 
 abundance. Some exchanged the provisions they would 
 need during the winter for beaver skins, so that it 
 was necessary to prohibit this trafficking and all ex- 
 portation. Of course they were too late in the season 
 to plant their seed, and doubtless they overestimated 
 the supply of corn among their savage neighbors. 
 So the wise governor, anticipating starvation, had en- 
 gaged Captain William Peirce, of the ship Lyon, 
 to go in all haste to the nearest port in Ireland for 
 provisions. At sea he met the dismasted ship Am- 
 brose, and towed her home to Bristol. This caused 
 delay, so much so that he was thought to have been 
 shipwrecked. As the days went by, the danger be- 
 came more apparent. In October a pinnace was sent 
 to trade with the Narragansetts, and, though about 
 
104 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 one hundred bushels of com were secured, it afforded 
 only a temporary relief. The winter came, and with 
 it increased suffering. The only food the poor had 
 was acorns, ground-nuts, mussels, and clams. Cotton 
 Mather relates that one man, " inviting his friends to 
 a dish of clams, at the table gave thanks to Heaven, 
 who ' had given them to suck the abundance of the 
 seas, and of the treasures hid in the sands. ' " ^ It 
 was not a prophecy which Moses had given for the 
 occasion, but it was surely applicable and doubtless 
 encouraging. Boats were fitted out, and were con- 
 stantly engaged in fishing. At low tide the women 
 in numbers went forth to dig in the clam-banks. A 
 conversation among them is thus reported by an early 
 writer.^ One woman says : " My husband hath trav- 
 ailed so far as Phmouth . . . and hath with great 
 toile brought a little corne home with him." A sec- 
 ond responds : " Our last peck of meale is now in the 
 oven at home a baking, and many of our godly neigh- 
 bours have quite spent all, and wee owe one loafe of 
 that little wee have." Then a third speaks : '' My 
 husband hath ventured hmiselfe among the Indians 
 for corne, and can get none, as also our honoured 
 Governour hath distributed his so far, that a day or 
 two more will put an end to his store." Roger Clap 
 writes thus of the famine : " Bread was so very 
 scarce, that sometimes I thought the very crusts of 
 my father's table would have been very sweet unto 
 me. And when I could have meal and water and 
 
 Magnolia^ i. 78. Other historians have attributed this apt quota- 
 tion of Deut. xxxiii. 19 to Elder Brewster. Goodwin's Pilgrim Be- 
 public, p. 242. 
 
 ^ Johnson^s Wonder-working Providence, p. 49, 
 
ORDERINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 105 
 
 salt boiled together it was so good, who could wish 
 better?"^ 
 
 It was to such straits they had come by midwinter, 
 and these trials moved them to appoint a day of fast- 
 ing and prayer. The exact day set we do not know, 
 but we conjecture that it was during the second week 
 of February .2 It was on the 5th of February, probably 
 a few days before the intended fast, that relief came. 
 According to Mather, it was " when Winthrop was dis- 
 tributing the last handful of meal in the barrel unto a 
 poor man distressed by the wolf at the door, at that 
 instant they spied a ship arrived at the harbour's 
 mouth, laden with provisions for them all." ^ The 
 ship was the Lyon, which Wmthrop had dispatched 
 for relief. Her cargo consisted principally of wheat, 
 meal, peas, oatmeal, beef and pork, cheese, butter and 
 suet, and, what was of greatest importance to the 
 sick, supplies of lemon juice, a cure for the scurvy. 
 The whole was purchased for the common stock, and 
 distributed impartially as there was need. Circum- 
 
 1 Mem. of Roger Clap, in Coll. of Dor. Antiq. and Hist. Soc. 
 
 2 Savage says : " The Charlestown records mention that a fast had 
 been appointed for the next day after this ship's coming" (Win- 
 throp, i. 50). Prince says: "Feb. 5th was the very day before the 
 appointed fast " (Prince's Annals, ed. 1826, p. 341). Both foimd 
 their authority in the Chariesto\vn records. But these, as given in 
 Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 385, say : " Before the very day appointed 
 to seek the Lord by fasting and prayer, about the month of February 
 or March, in comes Mr. Pearce, laden with provisions." " Before 
 the very day " is not equivalent to " the very day before" Besides, 
 February 5 was a Saturday. They would not have been likely to set 
 such a fast on Sunday. Probably it was to have been that week, and 
 on Sunday it was announced. The labor of distributing the provisions 
 would require a postponement. Hutchinson (i. 23) says they had 
 appointed the 22d for the fast, and changed it to a thanksgiving. But 
 they would not have set a day so far distant in their extremity. 
 
 3 Magnalia, i. 122. 
 
106 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 stances no longer being appropriate for a fast, the 
 governor and council ordered a thanksgiving for the 
 22d of February.! And such was the deliverance 
 which made a profound impression upon the minds of 
 that distressed people. It was recognized as a signal 
 providence of God. About their firesides its story 
 was told by fathers to their children for many a day 
 in praise of the goodness of God and his guardian- 
 ship over the colony. 
 
 This, however, did not make an end of the distresses 
 they had for want of food. Other lessons were yet 
 to be learned in similar trials. That rigid economy 
 which affected their whole manner of life was the 
 result of repeated seasons of scarcity. Though the 
 remaining months of that year were less eventful, 
 they were at no time relieved of anxiety. The plant- 
 ers were busy preparing their fields and cultivating 
 their crops. Houses were to be built, the necessity 
 for which had been learned through the suffering of 
 the previous winter. Existence was at best a strug- 
 gle. Had it not been for the ships arriving from 
 time to time during the summer, they must certainly 
 have been greatly reduced before their first harvest 
 could be gathered. The season of 1631 was fairly 
 good, and Winthrop says there was a " plentiful 
 crop." But immigrants were coming in every ship, 
 poorly provided, who could not plant until the next 
 year. The fields were not extensive and were poorly 
 tilled. Cattle were being brought over, but so many 
 died on the ocean that those surviving were doubly 
 
 ^ It is probable that Dudley, in his letter written a few weeks 
 afterwards (Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 325), refers to a sermon 
 preached by John Wilson on that day, when he speaks of his treating 
 the causes for God's dealing thus with his people. 
 
ORDERINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 107 
 
 valuable, and the owners could better afford to starve 
 on clams than destroy their hope for the future. So 
 they contmued throughout the year on short allow- 
 ance. The spring of 1632 came. It was cold and 
 wet. Com planted in the lowlands, which were 
 cleared and could be easier cultivated, was an utter 
 failure. Some fiekls that would otherwise have 
 yielded well were destroyed by worms, and, wliile 
 those who had tilled the sandy soil did better that 
 year, the harvest was very inadequate. Again they 
 were dependent, to a large extent, upon the products 
 of the sea ; but it was not so easy to obtain them, 
 for the winter of 1632-3 was very severe.^ The 
 Charles River was frozen over, and successive snow- 
 storms piled the drifts high round alK)ut. They were 
 only delivered by the coming of a ship in March from 
 Virginia, laden with com. In the spring their strug- 
 gles were renewed. They had hopes that their third 
 planting, of greater extent than the two years pre- 
 vious, would release them from the tyranny of want. 
 But erelong a new enemy was discovered, — the 
 drought, which they learned in subsequent years to 
 dread. They assembled in their churches, though 
 at what times we know not, and besought the Lord for 
 his mercy. Doubtless the season was well advanced, 
 and their com was withering in its earing time. 
 Johnson says : " Thus it befell, the extreame parching 
 heate of the sun . . . began to scorch the Herbs and 
 Fruits, which was the cliiefest meanes of their lively- 
 hood." 2 The same writer emphasizes the urgency of 
 
 ^ Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, p. 55 ; Young's Chron. of 
 Mass., p. 386. 
 
 2 Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, p. 57. 
 
108 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 their prayers. They could not refrain from tears in 
 their religious assemblies as they importuned God for 
 rain. The answer came, and the story is a repetition 
 of that recorded of Plymouth ten years before. In 
 the quaint phraseology of this author: "As they 
 powred out water before the Lord so at that very 
 instant the Lord showred down water on their Gar- 
 dens and Fields, which with great industry they had 
 planted, and now had not the Lord caused it to 
 raine speedily their hope of food had beene lost." ^ 
 Wherefore they celebrated his goodness in a thanks- 
 giving October 16, the first public thanksgiving of the 
 Bay Colony in which the gathering of the harvest 
 bore a conspicuous part.^ Thus, be it noted, the two 
 colonies of Massachusetts, in their early experiences, 
 had the same reason to recognize God as the giver of 
 harvests, and thus in hunger, like Ruth and Naomi, 
 they were pledged to Him and to one another. 
 
 Yet it cannot be recorded that, after this even, they 
 had general abundance. A scarcity, which enforced 
 economy if not suffering, continued throughout the 
 years 1634 and 1635. Such a crisis was presented in 
 February of the latter year that a general fast was 
 proclaimed for the 25th by the churches, the court 
 
 ^ Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, p. 58. The Indians were 
 moved to amazement, and regard for the white man's God, as in the 
 instance at Plymouth, and upon a later occasion at Norwich, Conn., 
 when the prayers of Mr. Fitch were answered. Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 Coll., I. vol. ix. p. 87. 
 
 ^ " Here must not be omitted the endearing affections Mr. John 
 Wilson had to the worke in hand, exceedingly setting forth (in his ser- 
 mon this day) the Grace of Christ in providing such meet helps for 
 furthering thereof, really esteeming them beyond so many ship loading 
 of Gold" {Wonder-working Providence, etc., p. 59). Thus in his 
 thanksgiving sermon Wilson referred to the arrival of John Cotton 
 and others. 
 
ORDERINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 109 
 
 not being at hand. ^ But, not to weary the reader 
 with these recitals, it seems evident that these were 
 years of training in a simplicity of Kving such as 
 they had not practiced in England, and they surely 
 abounded in such mercies as taught them to admire a 
 " wonder-working Providence." And as we think of 
 them enduring such trials in succeeding years, rejoi- 
 cing in the springtime hopes and braving the autumn 
 disappointment, — those to many of whom the farmer's 
 life was new, — we can appreciate the force of the ten- 
 dency toward a harvest thanksgiving day. 
 
 Another prominent cause for thanksgiving during 
 those early years was the arrival of friends. Every 
 one who had endured the perils of the sea wondered 
 that whole fleets came in safety. There was one 
 thanksgiving day for such cause which was unique. 
 On the 2d of November, 1631, there came in the ship 
 Lyon the wife of Governor Winthrop and her fam- 
 ily. Upon the 4th they landed. Margaret Winthrop 
 was to be " the first lady of the land." It was an 
 event which called forth the latent chivalry of the 
 fathers. The military were summoned to arms to do 
 her honor. We do not know of another New Eng- 
 land lady who has been escorted to her home from 
 the landing by " companies in arms," or greeted with 
 such salutes as " vollies of shot." Nor has any 
 since had the like donation of '' fat hogs, kids, venison, 
 poultry, geese and partridges." The scene should 
 be remembered. It manifested a sentiment quite re- 
 freshing in that surrounding of uncultivated wilder- 
 ness. For divers days there was feasting, during 
 
 1 Johnson's Wonder-working Providence^ p. 78 ; Winthrop's Hist, 
 i. 216, 217, 220. 
 
 ^/^^ 
 
110 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 wliich many doubtless took occasion to repay the gov- 
 ernor's kindness to them in the previous winter, and 
 Friday, November 11, was kept as a day of thanks- 
 giving. Of the days observed during the period of 
 which we are writing, the arrival of ships or friends 
 is mentioned in connection with six.i 
 
 We shall not wonder that such a religious people 
 looked especially for the ordering of Divine Providence 
 in respect to their ministry. No church was formed 
 without a fast day, and no minister installed. This 
 early custom grew into a universal practice in all 
 the New England colonies, and in the local community 
 they were days of considerable importance. Johnson, 
 in his " Wonder-working Providence," relates the fact 
 that the Boston church became somewhat discouraged 
 in waiting for their minister, John Wilson, who had 
 returned to England in 1631 to bring over his wife. 
 " Their eyes now began to fail in missing of their ex- 
 pectation, they according to their common course in 
 time of great strates, set and appointed a day wholy 
 to be spent in seeking the pleasing face of God," but 
 the Lord " heard them before they cried, and the af- 
 ternoone before the day appointed brought him whom 
 they so much desired in safety to shore." ^ This day 
 was a Sunday, May 27, 1632, which instead they kept 
 as a thanksgiving. Only a few days after this there 
 came Thomas Welde, whom also the Boston church 
 much desired to secure ; but he was wanted at Eox- 
 bury. Thereupon both churches took to fasting and 
 prayer. Whether the former did not sufficiently hum- 
 
 1 The dates are November 11, 1631; June 13, 1632; September 
 27, 1632 ; June 19, 1633 ; October 16, 1633 ; August 20, 1634. 
 
 2 Johnson's Wonder-working Providence^ p. 56; Winthrop's Hist.^ 
 i. 92. 
 
T 
 
 ORDEEINGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Ill 
 
 ble themselves, or were not so urgent in their " impor- 
 tunings," they lost him, and he became the minister 
 at Roxbury. 
 
 The terrible devastation of the smallpox among ^ 
 the Indians did not, as perhaps we might expect, call 
 forth any recognition at the time. It was not noted 
 as a dispensation of Providence. But years after- 
 wards, when the savages rose against them, they 
 turned back to that event as God's way of clearing 
 the country round about for white settlers, and pre- 
 serving them from being overwhelmed in their weak- 
 ness. Thus Amos Adams speaks of it : " And lest, 
 after aU, the savages should prove too hard for them, .^ 
 in 1633 the small pox made dreadful havock among ^ 
 them and swept away almost whole plantations of 
 Indians." ^ 
 
 All their attention, however, was not devoted, even 
 in their times of famine, to themselves. Every ship 
 was welcome, like the modern newspaper, for its tid- 
 ings of events across the sea. They had enemies 
 there who were spreading evil reports of their religious 
 dissent from the Church of England. Their prayers 
 were offered, in the tone of the Psalms of David, that 
 these hostile plans might be brought to naught. So 
 when tlie favorable news came they had cause for 
 thanksgiving, as on June 19, 1833. They were also 
 thinking and conversing upon the larger concerns of 
 Protestantism abroad. It was plain to them that they 
 lived in trying times. Courage was aroused within 
 their bosoms as they thought of their own colony as 
 the hope of the reformed among the English people. 
 These Puritans are sometimes criticised as men of 
 
 ^ A Concise Historical Vieiv, etc., fast sermon, April 6, 1769, p. 12. ^ 
 
112 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DA YS. 
 
 narrow minds. They were not, in the truest sense, 
 and though they may have been bigoted they were 
 not more so than their opponents. Intellectually 
 they were strong men, of large information. The 
 vigor and progressiveness of the English universities 
 crossed the sea with them. We are to think of them 
 in 1632, amidst all their adversities, as twice as- 
 sembled in their sanctuaries, ^ when the tardy mes- 
 sengers brought them news, to celebrate the victories 
 of Gustavus Adolphus, whose armies were sweeping 
 southward against the Catholic forces of Europe to 
 rescue Protestantism and emancipate religion. The 
 King of Sweden and the Emperor of Austria played 
 unwittingly the parts of David and Saul in the dra- 
 matic language of their supplications. Those who 
 wielded the sword in Europe were rushing into their 
 battles, singing, " A mighty fortress is our God," and 
 these, whose struggle was none the less heroic, were 
 responding, — 
 
 " O Lord my God, I put my trust 
 And confidence in Thee." 
 
 So, as a detached wing of the same army, the colo- 
 nists were watching with deepest interest the more 
 conspicuous charge of another division, in whose vic- 
 tory they rejoiced as bringing glory to their common 
 Commander. We mistake the early religious life of 
 New England if we do not judge it as having this 
 relation to historic events frequently commemorated 
 in their fast and thanksgiving services. Then the 
 thought of such days encompassed the concerns of 
 nations, and the universal progress of God's kingdom. 
 
 1 June 13 and September 27, 1632. 
 
ORDEPdNGS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 113 
 
 Now, it is oftentimes true that a guardsman's belt can 
 encircle the main cause for gratitude. It becomes us 
 to credit our forefathers with this intelligent and 
 broad sympathy with the religious movements of their 
 time. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 
 
 1635-1640. 
 
 The painter has frequent chance to notice how one 
 color is changed by the shghtest admixture of another. 
 So the tint which a religious controversy assumes 
 in history would oftentimes be greatly altered by a 
 knowledge of the personal elements entering into it. 
 A church trouble usually has social distinctions or 
 individual offenses to nourish it, and these, though 
 apparent at the time, do not pass into open record and 
 soon disappear from view, leaving future generations 
 to wonder " how great a matter a little fire kindleth." 
 This is true, we believe, of the Antinomian Contro- 
 versy in the Bay Colony. Had there survived a gos- 
 siping newspaper account of the affair, we might see 
 how little part, after all, the doctrinal dispute had in 
 the disturbance. Allowing that a difference of opin- 
 ion on certain theological tenets was the main cause, 
 there was at the same time a condition of social life 
 which furnished a beginning for the excitement, and, 
 once under way, there were personal animosities to 
 keep it up. 
 
 From the first, there was a deference paid among 
 some in the Bay Colony to " men of quality." Some 
 were such themselves, — men and women of station 
 and means in England. They were needed, both for 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT, 115 
 
 the wealth they brought and the mfluence they com- 
 manded at court. When word was brought in 1635 
 of the prospect of such emigrants the colonists rejoiced, 
 and none such ever missed a cordial reception. Hence 
 the problem presented itseK as to the honors and 
 emoluments which could be offered to such of the 
 nobihty as might come over. It has been suggested 
 that the election of counselors for hf e — an honor only 
 bestowed upon Winthrop, Dudley, and Endicott — was 
 proposed by John Cotton as a solution of the diffi- 
 culty.^ It seems quite natural, upon reflection, that 
 some, who had not been counted as gentlemen before, 
 should now have ambitions to be reckoned among the 
 aristocracy of New England. This desire became so 
 prominent as to give offense, and the General Court 
 took notice of it. That legislation against " fashions," 
 which seems so strange at this day, was largely the 
 rebuke such received from some who believed in Puri- 
 tan simplicity, probably assisted by others who did not 
 fancy the aspirations of their inferiors. Wearing of 
 " laces and ruffles," " slashed clothes," and " gold and 
 silver girdles " characterized the nobility in England, 
 and the majority, who were very plain people, would 
 not permit the setting up of a claim to superiority 
 upon such vanities. " It nourished pride," they were 
 wont to say .2 The many, who constituted the nursing K^ 
 fathers of democracy, though in some instances of 
 better quality themselves, did not wish to see the 
 nobility established in New England. 
 
 1 Life and Letters of John Winthrop, i. 143, 144. 
 
 2 The fii-st law against fashions was passed in 1634. There was 
 more legislation in 1036 and 1639 ; but in 1644 these laws were re- 
 pealed. Subsequently, in 1651, aristocratic apparel was conditioned 
 upon the estate possessed. Mass. Col. Rec, i. 126, 183, 274 ; ii. 84 ; 
 iii. 243, 244; Ellis's Puritan Age in Mass., pp. 263-265. 
 
116 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Well, it was about the time these questions arose 
 that there arrived Mr. Henry Vane, the son and heir 
 of Sir Henry Vane, comptroller of the king's house. 
 He was an aristocrat, of conspicuous appearance and 
 affable manners, and soon became the admired of a 
 circle who regarded these qualities. Winthrop after- 
 wards records the fact, which has a deal of light in it, 
 that when he was elected governor " because he was 
 son and heir to a privy counsellor of England the 
 ships congratulated his election with a volley of great 
 shot." And this was quite in harmony with the cus- 
 tom he introduced of magistrates appearing " more 
 solemnly in public with attendance, apparel and open 
 notice of their entrance into court." This young man 
 won especially the favor of many in Boston. Within 
 a month he was admitted to church membership, with- 
 out which standing none could rise to very dazzling 
 heights of glory. He was invited to and accepted one 
 of the highest seats in the Puritan synagogue. His 
 residence was with John Cotton, to whose house he 
 built an addition for his accommodation. Thus asso- 
 ciated, it is not to be expected that they would be 
 divided in their counsels. Within three months we 
 find this young nobleman, who had brought some 
 little authority as to Connecticut affairs, in such a 
 position that he can assume to give the honored Win- 
 throp a lesson in government, though under the guise 
 of settling a difference between him and Dudley. 
 We venture the suspicion that the movement against 
 Winthrop was concocted in the study of John Cotton 
 upon a certain visit of Rev. Hugh Peter, of Salem, 
 who had every reason to be displeased because his own 
 troublesome predecessor, Eoger Williams, had been 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 117 
 
 allowed to escape, in which, it has been thought, Win- 
 throp may have had a part. Williams afterwards 
 wrote that, had he perished amid the cold and snows 
 of that winter, his blood would have been required at 
 the hands of Cotton. ^ However this may be, the 
 party with which Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, the disturber 
 of Israel, cast in her lot, was really formed before she 
 came into conspicuous notice. She had been in Bos- 
 ton about a year when Vane arrived, and it is not un- 
 til a year afterward that she is even mentioned in 
 Winthrop's journal. Though exception was at first 
 taken, she was finally admitted to the church to whose 
 teacher she had been devoted in England. It must 
 be admitted that she was an extraordinary woman, — 
 of exceptional mental endowments and well informed 
 in religious matters, the common theme of Puritan 
 conversation. She was fitted to teach. Her acquain- 
 tance with pathology and her philanthropic spirit gave 
 her access to many homes, and made her a popular 
 friend. Yet she lacked in judgment, and expressed 
 her mind perhaps too freely in admiration of the 
 teacher Cotton and depreciation of the pastor Wilson. 
 So far as the church was concerned, this was the main 
 cause of the trouble. As she gradually established 
 herself in the leadership of a cx)mpany of women, 
 whom she endeavored to help in spiritual things, she 
 became a social force in the community ; and when 
 the controversy came on, these women, in the phrase of 
 Cotton Mather, "hooked in their husbands." Her 
 charge against Wilson was that he preached a " cove- 
 nant of works," and did not preach a " covenant of 
 grace," as did Cotton. Furthermore, as hostility to 
 ^ Narragansett Club Publications, i. 315. 
 
118 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 her was manifested among the other ministers of the 
 colony, she included them in the same condemnation, 
 and thus brought down upon her head the disfavor of 
 a powerful body, each the bishop in his own town. 
 So it happened that the controversy arose in a way to 
 array the prejudices of the ministers, the jealousies of 
 the surrounding towns, Winthrop, the representative 
 of the old regime, and his tried friend Wilson, against 
 a circle in Boston, professing some new religious light 
 and superior holiness, to be sure, but controlling a social 
 influence through a woman's cleverness, a nobleman's 
 patronage, and the station of a minister. All of these 
 latter persons were, we judge, more to blame for the 
 disturbance than Rev. John Wheelwright, the man 
 with whose name it is associated, and who suffered 
 most by it. 
 
 Thus much it has been necessary to record in intro- 
 ducing the reader to an intelligent appreciation of the 
 circumstances in which the famous fast-day sermon 
 w^as preached. Wheelwright, who was the brother-in- 
 law of Mrs. Hutchinson and thoroughly sympathized 
 with her views, had been proposed for settlement over 
 the Boston church, October 23, 1636, but the op]3osi- 
 tion had defeated the plan. The ministers had con- 
 vened, and consulted with the court in the interest of 
 peace, but to no purpose. Some had blamed the new 
 opinions, but Hugh Peter emphatically charged the 
 trouble to Vane, and said the cause was pride and 
 idleness. So the young man wanted to go home 
 to England. At this juncture the court appointed 
 a day, January 19, 1636-7, for humiliation and 
 prayer.i Never was one more needed. From the 
 
 1 Winthrop has January 20. Writing some days after, he misdated 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 119 
 
 completeness of Winthrop's statement of the causes, 
 we may infer that some public proclamation was 
 made, and probably sent in writing thi-oughout the 
 colony. "The occasion was the miserable estate of 
 the churches in Germany, the calamities upon our 
 native country, the bishops making havoc in the 
 churches, putting down the faithful ministers and 
 advancing popish ceremonies and doctrines; the 
 plague raging exceedingly, and famine and sword 
 threatening them ; the dangers of those at Connecti- 
 cut, and of ourselves also, bvthe Indians ; and the 
 dissensions in our churches.^^!) This last item was 
 destined to swallow up the rest. 
 
 The reader is introduced on the afternoon of that 
 day to the congregation assembled in the humble 
 meeting-house at Boston. It was a stone structui^, 
 plastered with mud and thatched with straw. Through 
 the smaU windows came the dim light of a winter day, 
 suggestive of the atmosphere within. The seats were 
 rude benches. At one end was the pulpit, never 
 more worthy of Cotton's term, " the scaffold," and 
 there sat Wilson, Cotton, and Wheelwright. Before 
 it, facing the audience, were the elders' seats, filled 
 by Oliver and Leverett, who with the deacons were 
 
 hiseDtry. The Colonial Records give "the 19th of the 11th month, 
 being the 5th day of the weeke." Mr. Henry B. Dawson, in his 
 reprint of the sermon, says the 19th was Tuesday, and the fast was 
 "probably kept on Thursday the 21st, that day being usually se- 
 lected." This is an error. The 19th was a Thursday. The date 
 given in the transcript {State Archives: Hutchinson Papers, i. 21) is 
 " the xvjth of January," which may have been an error in copying, but 
 most likely this was the date he first preached it. Of the original 
 manuscript (Mass. Hist. Soc.) the first eight of the forty-two pages 
 are missing. The transcript says, " A sermon preached at Boston,'* 
 etc. It was undoubtedly preached on the afternoon of the fast day. 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, i. 254. 
 
120 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 of the ruling party. In the seats of honor, raised 
 above the rest, were the governor and deputy. Vane 
 and Winthrop. The edifice was crowded with an 
 attentive people, hatted and cloaked in Puritan fash- 
 ion. They little suspected what was in store for 
 them. There they were, assembled particularly to 
 hear the things which make for peace. All day long, 
 save for a short recess at noon, they had been there, 
 fasting after the most rigid practice. They had 
 heard a sermon in the morning, and perhaps one al- 
 ready in the afternoon. And there, up in the pulpit, 
 sat a man perfectly acquainted with the situation, 
 but who had slipped into his pocket, before he left 
 his home at Mount Wollaston to attend upon their 
 service, a sermon which he knew would effectually 
 demolish the hopes of the day ! Would he be invited 
 to preach ? He must have thought so, or he would 
 not thus have provided himself with his ammimition. 
 But he was a man of convictions and courage, and he 
 did not intend to recant, or even remodel his sermon 
 for the occasion. So, when the proper time came and 
 he was invited to " say on," he did. His production 
 is the first fast-day sermon the full text of which has 
 come down to us. The text was innocent enough. 
 It was Matt. ix. 15 : " And Jesus said vnto them, 
 can the children of the bride-chamber mourne as long 
 as the Bridegroome is wi*^ them, but the dayes will 
 come, when the Bridegroome shall be taken from 
 them, & then they shall fast." It is hardly possible 
 that remarks were interjected, after the usual custom, 
 which are not preserved in the manuscript, or it 
 would not have been presented so confidently in 
 court. Yet surely there is enough upon the surface 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT, 121 
 
 to account for the consequences. The widely differ- 
 ent views which are now entertained of it are not so 
 good an interpretation as the judgment of the time, 
 however great the excitement may have been. One 
 modern writer says : " Those who listened so testily to 
 the preacher must have heard between the lines and 
 sentences, interpolating from their own suspicions and 
 fancies what he neither uttered nor suggested. The 
 sermon seems to us earnest, but wholly peaceful, 
 kindly, and harmless." i Cotton Mather is much 
 nearer the truth in his opinion when he says : " He let 
 fall many passages which amounted imto thus much, 
 ' That the magistrates and ministers of the country- 
 walked in such a way of salvation, and the evidence 
 thereof, as was a covenant of works,' which passages 
 were aculeated by resembling such as were under that 
 covenant unto Jews, and Herods, and Philistines and 
 Antichrists ; and exhorting such as were under the 
 covenant of grace to combate those as their greatest 
 enemies." |^ The virus was not in its heresy, but in 
 these reflections upon the opposite party. He cham- 
 pioned the Hutchinsonian views of sanctification, but 
 this might have been passed had he not glorified those 
 who held them as the "true behevers." The pious 
 Wilson and the dignified Winthrop could not be ex- 
 pected to enjoy such a statement as this : " Those y^ 
 are enymies of y® Lorde, not onely Pagonish but 
 Antichristian, & those y^ nmne vnder a covenant of 
 workes are very strong, but be not afraide . . . one 
 of yow shal chase athousand." As it turned out, the 
 thousand chased the one. They must have felt slan- 
 
 ^ Ellis's Puritan Age in Mass., p. 822. 
 2 Magnolia J ii. 511. 
 
122 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 dered, too, by the words, " Those vnder a couenant of 
 workes, y® more holy they are y® greater enymies 
 they are to Ch(rist)." . . . '• Seest thou a man wise 
 in his owne eonceite more hope there is of a foole 
 then of him." To that party the preacher was fairly 
 understood to refer in his phrase, " those that oppose 
 y® waies of grace," and he applied Christ's words to 
 them, "you are the children of y® Deuel." The 
 sermon abounds in language and allusions which, 
 under the circumstances, were doubtless as satisfac- 
 tory to the majority of the congregation as they were 
 oifensive to the minority. We can imagine the breath- 
 less silence in which they were received by the Puritan 
 company, and the feelings that were kindled within. 
 The excitement was manifest when the audience was 
 dismissed, and no wonder Winthrop says " the dif- 
 ferences in the said points of religion increased." 
 
 In the March following, the General Court had the 
 whole subject before it. Finally it took up the case 
 of Wheelwright. The charge against him was, that 
 " he had called such as maintain sanctification as an 
 evidence of justification antichrists and stirred up the 
 people against them with much bitterness and vehe- 
 mency." ^ The preacher produced the sermon, and 
 probably read portions of it to the court, the ministers 
 of the colony being present. He stood by its objec- 
 tionable references to those who walked in a covenant 
 of works, and the ministers agreed that they did so 
 walk. Thereupon the conclusion was that the preacher 
 was " guilty of sedition, and also of contempt, for that 
 the court had appointed the fast as a means of recon- 
 ciliation of differences etc, and he purposely set himself 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, i. 256. 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 123 
 
 to kindle and increase them." ^ In the literal view 
 of the case the sermon sustained the charge. If the 
 premises be allowed, and the right of the court to 
 deal thus with a minister is conceded, they certainly 
 proceeded in accord with the facts, though in a most 
 tyrannical fashion and to a bigoted conclusion. 
 
 At this time the excitement was high in their poli- 
 tics. Something must be done to get rid of those who 
 were troubling Israel. Governor Vane's time came 
 at the spring election, which was held at Cambridge, 
 a place then more accessible for the other towns than 
 for Boston. The ministers had their part in it, Wil- 
 son especially, who delivered a telling speech. Vane 
 was defeated, and Winthrop was restored to power. 
 
 The next act of the drama relates to a public fast 
 which was kept May 25, 1637.^ On this account 
 the court again put off Wheelwright's sentence until 
 August. Vane and Coddington, who on the Sabbath 
 before had refused to accept the governor's invitation 
 to sit in the magistrates' seat because of their defeat, 
 on tliat fast day went over to Mount Wollaston to 
 hear Mr. Wheelwright preach, but further incidents 
 of the day are unknown. 
 
 It must be remembered that, during the early 
 months of this year 1637, the colony had also been 
 engaged with the Pequot War, on account of their 
 victory in wliich they had kept a thanksgiving June 
 15, but their dissensions overshadowed the occasion. 
 On the 3d of August Mr. Henry Vane left Boston to 
 return to England. It was the farewell of New Eng- 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, i. 257. 
 
 2 As in many other instances, the Colonial Records do not mention 
 this fast. Winthrop does not give the date, hut says it was the day 
 before the defeat of the Pequots, which was the 26th. 
 
124 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 land to all notions of setting up an English nobility. 
 He was attended by four sergeant halberdiers of Bos- 
 ton, who afterwards confessed their aristocratic ideas 
 by refusing thus to honor Winthrop because he was 
 not of the nobility, for whom indeed two of his own 
 servants were quite enough display. On the 24th a 
 day of humiliation was kept in all the churches, with 
 the consent of the magistrates, to prepare for the 
 convening of the Cambridge Synod upon the 30th.i 
 This body, having the assistance of Hooker and Stone 
 of Connecticut, began in the proper way to effect a 
 reconciliation between Cotton and the other ministers ; 
 but it accomplished little with Wheehvright, who nat- 
 urally paid little regard to the thanksgiving October 
 12, which was also kept in Plymouth Colony, partly 
 to express congratulations over the result, and doubt- 
 less also in Connecticut. The conclusion of the story 
 is fully told thus in Winthrop's history : " The gen- 
 eral court being assembled in the 2 of the 9th month, 
 and finding, upon consultation, that two so opposite 
 parties could not contain in the same body, without 
 apparent hazard of ruin to the whole, agreed to send 
 away some of the principal. . . . Then the court sent 
 for Mr. Wheelwright, and he persisting to justify his 
 sermon and his whole practice and opinions, and refus- 
 ing to leave either the place or his public exercisings, 
 he was disfranchised and banished. . . . The court 
 gave him leave to go to his house upon his promise 
 that, if he were not gone out of our jurisdiction within 
 fourteen days he would render himseK to one of the 
 magistrates." 2 He left the colony, settled in New 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, I 281-283. 
 
 2 Full details are ^ven in Winthrop, i. 291-301, 304, 306, 307, 309- 
 811, 313-317, 326, 327. 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT, 125 
 
 Hampsliire, and, amid various fortunes, lived to have 
 liis sentence revoked and attain high esteem in New- 
 England. 
 
 Mrs. Ann Hutchinson was brought before the court 
 and charged with '^ reproaching most of the ministers 
 for not preaching a covenant of free gi'ace," " justify- 
 ing Mr. Wheelwright's sermon," and making a dis- 
 turbance generally.^ Her former friend Cotton did 
 not defend her as he might have done. She was set 
 upon by the ministers, who bestowed upon her such 
 epithets as " the American Jezabel," and was excom- 
 municated from the Boston church. Finally she too 
 went forth, an exile, doubtless with the feeling that 
 her going was a martyrdom ; and several years after- 
 wards was massacred by the Indians. 
 
 The sequel of this story also relates to a fast day. 
 Months passed, and amid other public interests the 
 excitement was subsiding.^ The winter of 1638-9 
 developed sickness, and for this and " the apparent 
 decay of the power of religion and the general declin- 
 ing of professors to the world," a public fast was kept 
 December 13. On that day Mr. Cotton, says Win- 
 throp, " did confess and bewail, as the churches' so 
 his own security, sloth and credulity, whereupon so 
 many and dangerous errors had gotten up and spread 
 
 1 Examination of Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, Hutchinson's Hist, ii. 482- 
 520. 
 
 2 The colony was threatened with a governor from England, and, 
 April 12, 1638, kept a fast" to intreate the help of God in the weighty 
 matters w*^'^ are in hand <fe to divert any evill plots w*^^ may bee 
 intended, & to p'pare the way of friends w*^'^ we hope may bee vpon 
 coraeing to vs/ ' During the summer many of these arrived safely, and 
 for this, as well as the seasonable weather " to ripen the harvest," a 
 thanksgiving was observed October 25. Mass. Col. Rec, i. 226, 241 j 
 Winthrop, i. 317, 324. 
 
126 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 in the church ; and went over all the particulars, and 
 showed how he came to be deceived, the errors being 
 framed (in words) so near the truths which he had 
 preached and the falsehood of the maintainers of them, 
 who usually would deny to him what they had deliv- 
 ered to others." ^ He furthermore took occasion to 
 commend the sentence of banishment passed upon his 
 former friends as just, and withal endeavored to set 
 himself right with the other ministers of the colony. 
 The part of John Cotton in this controversy is not 
 one of the brightest pages of his career. With all the 
 light he must have had, how could he have been de- 
 ceived ? But, granting that he was, there is not suffi- 
 cient excuse for his course. He was willing to profit 
 by the early popularity which he derived from Mrs. 
 Hutchinson's praise, and he might at least have asked 
 leniency for her. It has been truly said that " they 
 who from the beginning had gone along with her in 
 her errors were not displeased at a good pretence for 
 getting rid of her without condemning themselves." ^ 
 At any rate the fast day upon which his troubled con- 
 science uttered its explanations did not eventuate in 
 the traditional blessing. It is an apt illustration of 
 the times that we find the fathers even looking for a 
 sign in the heavens. The very night of that fast day 
 a great storm arose, the wind blowing fiercely from 
 the northeast, and the snow falling in true blizzard 
 fashion throughout the night and the next day. Sev- 
 eral lives were lost between Boston and Eoxbury, and 
 others at Dorchester. A bark was wrecked on Cape 
 Cod, two vessels cast away on their voyage to New 
 Haven, and great damage done everywhere by the 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, i. 337. 2 Hutchinson's Hist., i. 73. 
 
A FAST SERMON IN COURT. 127 
 
 high tide. The ministers, we may be sure, were not 
 slow in their inferences. That, however, which Win- 
 throp records is as follows : " This happened the day 
 after a general fast which occasioned some of our min- 
 isters to stir us up to seek the Lord better, because he 
 seemed to discountenance the means of reconciliation. 
 Whereupon the next general court, by advice of the 
 elders, agreed to keep another day, and seek further 
 into the causes of such displeasure etc, which accord- 
 ingly was performed."^ From the Colonial Records 
 we learn that this latter day was April 4, 1639, and 
 the causes assigned were, '* Novelties, oppression, athe- 
 isme, excesse, supei*fluity, idleness, contempt of author- 
 ity, & troubles in other parts." 
 
 If the responsibility for the first religious contro- 
 versy of New England belongs to one more than others, 
 it will ever be put upon Mrs. Hutchinson ; but the 
 blame attaching to Mr. Henry Vane was more, we sus- 
 pect, than is recorded. He sought authority, which 
 was too readily granted him, merely because of his 
 rank. He found the people, especially of Boston, in 
 a way to encourage his ambitions, and he advanced his 
 interests, imder the favor of Cotton, by the aid of a 
 reUgious excitement and his own social success. Says 
 the historian Hutchinson : " It is highly probable that 
 if Mr. Vane had remained in England, had not craftily 
 made use of the party which maintained these peculiar 
 opinions in religion to bring him into civil power and 
 authority, and draw the affections of the people from 
 those who were their leaders in the wilderness, these,* 
 like many other errors, might have prevailed a short 
 time without any disturbance to the state, and, as the 
 1 Winthrop's Hist., i. 346. 
 
128 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 absurdity of them appeared, silently subsided, and 
 posterity would not have known that such a woman 
 as Mrs. Hutchinson ever existed." ^ 
 
 Yet, as we read the story at this distance of time, 
 discovering between the lines that which the imme- 
 diate actors did not see, there was some good which 
 resulted from it. It crushed out some of those ten- 
 dencies which Thomas Hooker probably saw in the 
 Bay Colony, and which were in part the reason for 
 his removal to Connecticut. It was a lesson in the 
 virtue of democracy. It cured the longing of the 
 colony to see "men of quality" coming over from 
 England; and probably the aristocracy of slashed 
 sleeves, ruffles, and laces were made better acquainted 
 with the Puritan spirit which would rebuke a claim to 
 superiority, whether advanced in social life or in the 
 church by a doctrine of sanctification. 
 
 1 Hutchinson's HisU^ i. 73. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 
 
 1635-1640. 
 
 The settlement of Connecticut was attended with 
 calamitous and joyous experiences, in the orderings of 
 Divine Providence, similar to those which had tried 
 the older colonies. We may be sure that fast and 
 thanksgiving days were kept from the first ; but before 
 the settlement of government these were ordered by 
 the individual churches, each making its appointment 
 independently of the others. Unfortunately, however, 
 we have no account of these earliest days, and there- 
 fore we can only locate them with probability by the 
 study of their experiences. This we purpose to do. 
 
 One of the first incidents in the history of Wind- 
 sor exhibits an interesting difference of opinion as to 
 the providences of God. A dispute arose between 
 the Plymouth traders and the Dorchester emigrants 
 who unceremoniously squatted on their lands. The 
 latter claimed that " God by his providence " had ten- 
 dered them the lands which the former had bought of 
 the Indians. In Bradford's creed this seemed rather 
 to be " casting a covetous eye upon that which is your 
 neighbor's," and he pointedly said, "Look that you 
 abuse not God's providence." ^ Perhaps he had the 
 best of the doctrine, but his opponents got most of 
 the land. The sequel can only be appreciated by fol- 
 
 1 Bradford's Hist., pp. 340, 341. 
 
130 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 lowing these Dorchester men. In the autunin of 1635 
 they had a suffering time of it. Some few had been 
 on the ground, but the rest had come overland, driv- 
 ing their herds. The arrival was late and the winter 
 was early. A few huts were inadequate, and of food 
 they had little, for the two shallops with their pro- 
 visions had not reached them. So they waited in 
 hunger through those cheerless November days. It is 
 in accord with their temper and practice to suppose 
 that then they set apart days for prayer. But the 
 panic of starvation was soon upon them. An unlucky 
 thirteen started overland for the Bay, wliich twelve 
 reached after untold hardships. The main body filed 
 southward along the river in dismal procession, hoping 
 to meet the shallops. Somewhere about Haddam 
 they met the ship Rebecca, frozen in the ice, and 
 went aboard, which a timely rain released, so that 
 in her they came, December 10, safely to Boston.^ 
 Again, it would seem strange if they did not, with 
 their friends, keep a thanksgiving. But what of the 
 shallops? A northeast storm had arisen when they 
 were off Plymouth, and seeking to make the harbor 
 in the night they were wrecked, and their cargoes 
 scattered along the shore. Here comes the moral of 
 the story. Bradford gathered up, at great labor, what 
 of their possessions he could, and probably he reports 
 the remarks heard on Plymouth beach when he says : 
 "This disaster some imputed as a correction from 
 God for their intrusion (to the wrong of others) 
 into that place. But I dare not be bold with God's 
 judgments in this kind." ^ 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist, I 204, 207-209. 
 
 2 Bradford (pp. 348, 349) maizes this record under 1636; Winthrop 
 (i. 201), under October 6, 1635. 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 131 
 
 The few who endured the severity of that winter in 
 the river plantations must have hailed with joy the 
 opening spring. It brought their friends again, and 
 Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hartford experienced a 
 busy season of house-building, and such other employ- 
 ments as attended new towns. By the autumn the 
 congregations were enjoying religious privileges. It 
 can hardly be thought that they did not find occar 
 sion for thanksgiving during that season. The arri- 
 val woiUd have been sufficient cause. 
 
 Another winter was soon upon them. They were 
 dependent, for the most part, upon provisions brought 
 with them, as the majority had come too late for 
 cultivating the fields. If we liad a fit clironicler of 
 those times we shoiUd doubtless wonder at the hardy 
 courage of those Connecticut planters, and their sub- 
 sequent history shows how they must have sought 
 divine consolation from their able ministry in frequent 
 assemblies. 
 
 The gi^eatest of their early distresses was the Pequot 
 War. Its religious aspects alone fall within our pur- 
 pose. No sooner was the fear of Indians abroad than 
 the colonists generally comprehended the fact that it 
 threatened the overthrow of their enterprise. And 
 notwithstanding all sentimental criticism, this war will 
 ever stand, not only as justifiable, but also as a re- 
 markable demonstration of courage, a military achieve- 
 ment, and a wonderful deliverance. They religiously 
 regarded God as directing them in every movement. 
 At the first alarm they must have humbled themselves 
 and committed their cause to God. That memorable 
 fast at Boston, January 19, 1636-7, had recognized 
 the " dangers of those at Connecticut," who, though 
 
132 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 doubtless grateful for the sympathy, were not thereby 
 reconciled to the ill-timed expedition of Endicott the 
 summer before, which only precipitated the trouble. 
 An early fast must have been kept at Wethersfield 
 after the attack in April, when nine were killed and 
 two young women taken captive. 
 
 A General Court held at Hartford, May 1, 1637, 
 determined upon an offensive warfare. The ninety 
 brave men would not have set out for Saybrook with- 
 out some religious recognition in the churches of their 
 departure. It is not unlikely that a fast was kept 
 the day before. Captain John Mason remembered 
 afterwards the words of Rev. Thomas Hooker to them 
 ere they embarked, " that the Pequots should be bread 
 for them," ^ and perhaps this was his recollection of a 
 sermon preached to them from the text, " Only rebel 
 not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of 
 the land, for they are bread for us, their defence is 
 departed from them and the Lord is with us ; fear 
 them not " (Num. xiv. 9). They were accompanied 
 by Rev. Samuel Stone as chaplain, and their uncer- 
 tainty as to the fidelity of Uncas and their Indian 
 allies gave rise to this incident. The authority for it 
 is Captain John Underbill, who says that, as he went 
 in his boat to meet the second detachment, he found 
 the chaplain in prayer among the soldiers, using these 
 words : " O Lord God, if it be thy blessed will, vouch- 
 safe so much favor to thy poor distressed servants, as 
 to manifest one pledge of thy love that may confirm 
 us of the fidelity of these Indians toward us, that now 
 pretend friendship and service to us, that our hearts 
 
 1 Mason's " Brief History " in Mather's Early Hist, etc., ed. 1864, 
 p. 156. 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS, 133 
 
 may be encouraged the more in this work of thine." 
 Whereupon the answer came aboard in the news of 
 five Pequots slain by Uncas' band.^ Mason may be 
 interpreted as confirming this when he says : '' The 
 news was welcome to them, and looked upon as a 
 special providence." ^ Being wind-bound at Saybrook, 
 a difference arose between Mason and his officers as 
 to whether the attack should be from the Pequot 
 River or the Narragansett. The captain favored 
 the latter, for the enemy would not expect them 
 from that quarter ; but the matter was left to the 
 chaplain, who was desired to "commend the case 
 to the Lord." He is said to have retired aboard the 
 Pink, and there remained in prayer until the next 
 morning, when he found his opinion altered to agree- 
 ment with the captain. 3 The resolute little army 
 landed near Point Judith, after keeping the Sabbath 
 aboard ; and, declining to wait for the Massachusetts 
 forces then at Providence, they pushed on. The cap- 
 tain records it as an evidence of God's leadership that 
 they were brought through a " treacherous and per- 
 fidious people," and, by a way they knew not, to the 
 Pequot fort. The day before the fight, it may be 
 remembered, was the fast day observed, in part for 
 them, by the Bay. Upon it the army had a long 
 march, with a little corn biscuit and cheese to satisfy 
 their hunger. The sun was hot as ever it could be on 
 a May day. Some were overcome, whose resuscita- 
 tion, by the by, was not the least wonder of the cam- 
 paign, for, when the captain presented his pint liquor 
 bottle, even " when it was empty the very smelling of 
 
 1 Underhill's " Narrative " in Mass. Hist. Soc. ColL, III. vol. vi. p. 16. 
 
 2 Mason's Brief Hist., p. 122. » Ibid,, pp. 123-125, 
 
134 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the bottle would presently recover such." In the 
 bivouac of that night, amid its dangers and darkness, 
 we catch a glimpse of the chaplain wrestling apart in 
 prayer for the victory ; and in the morning, having 
 "yielded themselves up to God and entreated his 
 assistance," in the spirit of Joshua's heroes, while the 
 man of prayer held up his hand, they made an on- 
 slaught which crushed the Pequots' power forever. 
 
 We have made this digression because it so well 
 
 illustrates the doctrine of divine providences which 
 
 these people held. To them, to their children, and 
 
 ^ its historians, this war was such as those recorded in 
 
 the Jewish Scriptures, — a holy war, for which they 
 
 claimed warrant from the Bible. Underbill says: 
 
 " We had sufficient light from the Word of God for 
 
 our proceedings." And Mason, in his introduction to 
 
 ( his history, professes to write in order " to preserve 
 
 \a remarkable Providence." Their deliverances may 
 
 seem trivial to us now, — the arrows received in cra^ 
 
 \ vat knots, or warded off by a bit of cheese in the 
 
 X pocket ; the wind that blew their ships to their relief, 
 
 l*^y and then changed to waft them homeward, — but all 
 
 these incidents in the olden time were the alphabet of 
 
 a divine speech to which they listened upon every fast 
 
 X. and thanksgiving day. 
 
 No record survives of the thanksgiving days that 
 would certainly have been kept in the three Connec- 
 ticut towns upon the return of the victorious troops. 
 Massachusetts observed the 15th of June, and Con- 
 necticut had far greater reason to recognize such a 
 signal deliverance. They were doubtless appointed 
 by the respective churches, and during the first week 
 of June. Hartford's lecture day was Wednesday, 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 135 
 
 and that day or Thursday would naturally have been 
 chosen there, — that is, the 7th or 8th of June. 
 Later, however, a general day of thanksgiving, for 
 the further successes of the war, was kept through- 
 out New England. Trumbull says : " This happy 
 event gave joy to the colonies. A day of public 
 thanksgiving was appointed, and in all the churches 
 of New England devout and animated praises were 
 addressed to Him who giveth his people the victory." ^ 
 We do not know by what authority he makes this 
 statement, but he includes Connecticut. As he re- 
 cords the fact after the events of the autiunn, we may 
 conclude that he had in mind a thanksgiving some 
 months after the Pequot fight. Now, such a day was 
 observed in Massachusetts upon the 12th of October, 
 and at least by the Scituate church in the Plymouth 
 Colony. The Massachusetts Colonial Records give 
 us the following entry: "The 12*^ of the 8^ m^ 
 was ordered to bee kept a day of publicke thanks- 
 giveing to God for his great nicies in subdewing the 
 Pecoits, bringing the soldiers in safety, the successe 
 of the conference, & good news from Germany." 
 Winthrop makes a similar record, and adds the fact 
 that in Boston, after the religious exercises, a feast 
 was given to the " captains and soldiers, who had been 
 in the late service." We have therefore no doubt 
 that this was the day to which Trumbull refers as 
 being general throughout New England. Nor are we 
 wholly in the dark as to how it happened to be so. 
 It was in part for the success of the synod which 
 Hooker and Stone attended at Cambridge in August, 
 and at which a " plan of union " was proposed. We 
 
 1 TruTOlmir§ Hist, of Conn., i. 93. 
 
136 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 may fairly conjecture that this thanksgiving day was 
 then and there agreed upon to be kept in all the 
 colonies, as many afterwards were appointed by the 
 commissioners. If this reasoning is correct it cor- 
 roborates Trumbull's assertion, fixes the date of the 
 first general thanksgiving in New England, and en- 
 ables us to locate the first one known in Connecticut 
 upon October 12, 1637, — one year earlier than 
 authorities have heretofore done. 
 
 We turn on now to another page of Connecticut 
 history. A fast day was observed at Windsor, Fri- 
 day, June 15, 1638. It is the first definitely fixed, 
 the recovery of which, and the notes of the discourse 
 preached by Rev. John Warham, are due to the de- 
 ciphering of Henry Wolcott, Jr.'s shorthand note- 
 book, in the archives of the Connecticut Historical 
 Society, by the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, LL. D.^ 
 Interest is added to the occasion by the fact that it was 
 only two weeks after the preaching of the famous 
 sermon on the Constitution by Thomas Hooker. The 
 colonists had passed through a grievous winter, and 
 were in the midst of this discussion. For some ex- 
 ceptional reason, Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor, was 
 in quite constant attendance upon Hooker's Wednes- 
 day lecture ; and we may suppose political agitation 
 was preparing that inmiortal declaration for the 14th 
 of January following, if the same was not formally 
 debated in a protracted assembly or court. The very 
 day after Hooker's sermon, that is, June 1, 1638, about 
 three o'clock in the afternoon, there was an earthquake, 
 
 ^ We are indebted, for the early days in Connecticut and the ab- 
 stracts of sermons preached, to Dr. Trumbull's manuscript notes on 
 the Wolcott Note-book. See Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., L 19. 
 
 J 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 137 
 
 general tliroughout New England.^ Winthrop says 
 that the noise of this earthquake was like " continued 
 thunder or the rattling of coaches in London ; " and 
 Johnson remarks that " the motion was such that it 
 caused divers men (that had never known an earth- 
 quake before) being at worke in the fields to cast 
 downe their working-tooles and run, with gastly ter- 
 rified lookes to the next company they could meet." 2 
 What use the Connecticut ministers made of such a 
 providence,on the Simday following, we do not know ; 
 but in the Massachusetts colony some thought it was 
 a trying of the churches, though none dared to suggest 
 that they deserved a shaking for their conduct in the 
 Antinomian controversy. Others very considerately 
 observed that, as the motions came from " the westerne 
 and uninhabited parts of the wildernesse " and went 
 due east, it was designed for Old England, and there 
 would be '' greate alterations in the kingdomes of 
 Europe," — a true enough prophecy. Yet, if the 
 Connecticut divines had adopted the same logic, they 
 might have said that it was designed for the Bay 
 Colony, and probably foimd some comfort therein, 
 for there was abroad a general indignation at their 
 attempts to prevent arriving emigrants from coming 
 to the river plantations. To this our story of the 
 Windsor fast day pertains. So far back as 1634, 
 
 ^ "About a fortnight before," says Wolcott, "there was a great 
 thunder, and a thunderbolt at Hartford went through a house and 
 melted a bar, and hailstones as big as a man's thumb." Some then 
 thought there was a connection between storms and earthquakes. 
 For further information concerning this earthquake, see, especially, 
 Morton's New England^s Memorial, Hutchinson's History, Bradford 
 and Winthrop. 
 
 ^ Winthrop's Hist,^ L 318, 319 ; Johnson's Wonder-working Prom^ 
 dence^ etc., p. 131. 
 
138 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 — when the fast of September 18 concerned the re- 
 moval, — an opposition had been manifested to the 
 departure, and at this date there was some feeling in 
 the matter, for such as were not dissuaded from com- 
 ing to Connecticut told what had been said to them. 
 In the well-known letter of Thomas Hooker to Win- 
 throp a pithy summary is given of this ungenerous 
 conduct, and this was written only a few months 
 after the delivery of Warham's sermon. We quote 
 Hooker's words : " The heads and hearts of passengers 
 come loaded hither, and that with grief and wonder- 
 ment, and the conclusion which is aimed at from these 
 reproaches and practices is this, that we are a forlorn 
 people, not worthy to be succored with company. . . . 
 If after much search made for the settling of people 
 and nothing suitable found to their desires but to- 
 ward Connecticut ; if yet then they wiU needs go 
 from the Bay, go any whither, be anywhere, choose 
 any place, any patent, — Narragansett, Plymouth, — 
 only go not to Connecticut." ^ He also charges that 
 incoming ships were boarded before they came to an- 
 chor by such as spread evil reports of Connecticut's 
 condition, -^ its dangers, hungerings, d}dng cattle, 
 and weed-growing meadows. With such stories inn- 
 keepers were wont to entertain their guests, and even 
 agents in the Exchange at London did the like. Such 
 was the provocation ; and, as not less than three thou- 
 sand persons arrived at Boston during the season of 
 1638, many of them in the spring, we can imagine the 
 height of feeling which was kindled by it. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that the Windsor 
 
 1 Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll.,i. 4. Cf. Life and Letters of John Winthrop, 
 ii. 421, 422. 
 
 4 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 139 
 
 church observed its fast of June 15, 1638, and the 
 occasion undoubtedly had reference to them. The 
 minister, Rev. John Warham, chose a very suggestive 
 text : " How long shall this man be a snare unto us ? 
 let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their 
 God : knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed ? 
 And Moses and Aaron were brought again imto Pha- 
 raoh : and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your 
 God : but who are they that shall go ? " (Ex. x. 7, 8). 
 The doctrine set forth was, " That godly men . . . 
 are oftentimes by accident a very snare, and the oc- 
 casion of the greatest plagues and judgments to the 
 people they have to do withal." There was scope 
 enough in this for the larger application of the theme 
 to Old England, whose Council was endeavoring to 
 obstruct emigration to the colonies by permitting none 
 to leave the country without the royal license ; and 
 the great enemy of the Puritans, Archbishop Laud, 
 might weU have filled the role of Pharaoh. It was 
 true enough, also, that the emigrants had brought dis- 
 tresses upon those with whom they had " had to do 
 withal," and, in the opinion of some, had been the 
 " occasion of the greatest plagues and judgments " 
 upon their enemies. Perhaps some of the Windsor 
 congregation entertained the aforementioned theory as 
 to the earthquake which had made off to the eastward. 
 But some at least were in a temper of mind to make 
 an application nearer home, and had we heard the ser- 
 mon throughout, knowing the grievance, we might have 
 discovered an imdertone of reflection upon the conduct 
 of the Bay Colony, and have thought the teaching very 
 evident that the people of God had a right to go and 
 serve Him even in the wilderness of Connecticut. 
 
140 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 The next thanksgiving season in the river planta- 
 tions was in October, 1638. Upon the authority of 
 the Wolcott Note-book, Wednesday, the 3d, was kept 
 at Windsor ; and the notes of Matthew Grant show 
 that Thursday, the 4th, was the day at Hartford, 
 Probably some day that same week was kept at 
 Wethersfield. An event of importance had transpired 
 the 21st of September, — the signing at Hartford of 
 " A Covenant and Agreement made between the Eng- 
 lish and the Indians." ^ This undoubtedly was one 
 ground for the appointment, though the brighter pros- 
 pect before the colony included other particulars, such 
 as the arrival of emigrants and the prospect of a har- 
 vest. John Warham on that day clung, both morn- 
 ing and afternoon, to his text of the Sunday before, 
 Kom. V. 1, from which he was to preach twenty-four 
 more sermons before both he and the text were ex- 
 hausted, perhaps to the relief of his audience. ^ The 
 text of Thomas Hooker's sermon was appropriate: 
 
 ^ Letters of Roger Williams in Narragansett Club Publications, vi, 
 117 n. ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., IV. vol. vi. p. 250. 
 
 ^ One text was a winter's supply in those days. In the autumn of 
 1639, Huit and Warham apparently started in a race of homiletic en- 
 durance. Sunday morning Huit would preach from 2 Tim. ii. 19-21, 
 and in the afternoon Warham would respond from Ps. xcii. 5-7. 
 About the same time Hooker '* struck a lead " at his lecture in Acts ii. 
 37. All went well at Windsor, until the thanksgiving of November 
 12 caused Huit to make a break, and gave Warham the advantage 
 with his thanksgiving psalm, but he caught up the next Sabbath by 
 getting in two sermons from the same text. Twice that winter Wol- 
 cott went to Hartford, and there he found Hooker working away on 
 Acts ii. 37 in a masterly fashion. In December and again in Janu- 
 ary, Huit tried to entice his coUeaglie from his psalm by preaching 
 on Jer. viii. 4, but it was no use, and by the spring Warham was way 
 ahead, and Huit gave it up. Yet the victor must have been humbled 
 when Hooker was found still preaching on Acts ii. 37 way along in 
 haying time. 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 141 
 
 " Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between 
 Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben- 
 ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us " 
 (1 Sam. vii. 12). The Indians had brought great ex- 
 pense and distress upon the colony, and this tripartite 
 covenant between the English, Mohegans, and Narra- 
 gansetts was auspicious. It might well be commemo- 
 rated, as also the other causes. But in the sermon of 
 Thomas Hooker, a considerable portion of which is in 
 print,^ his homiletic purpose led him to illustrate es- 
 pecially from the experiences of the previous winter, 
 which may already have received recognition in a 
 thanksgiving. Certainly this day in October was not 
 primarily for deliverances so far back. To those ex- 
 periences, however, we revert. As the crop of 1637 
 had been small, because there had been -few ploughs to 
 turn the soil and many Indians to turn their attention, 
 the provision for the winter had been insufficient. We 
 can imagine their hardships, shut in as they were by 
 the deep snows of a long and hard winter.^ Both 
 men and cattle perished. Therefore, in the early 
 spring, the court sent Captain John Mason and two 
 others up the river " to make trial what Providence 
 would afford for their reUef." Then there was a time 
 of anxious waiting, ending in the arrival of fifty ca- 
 noes, corn-laden, from Deerfield.^ Soon after came 
 
 ^ In the Hartford Evening Press of November 28, 1860, is published 
 Dr. Trumbull's abstract of the sermon, from the notes of Matthew 
 Grant, of Windsor ; and extracts are printed in the History of the First 
 Church of Hartford, pp. 95-97, and Thomas Hooker, pp. 101, 102, by 
 Rev. Georore Leon Walker, D. D. 
 
 - The snow lay on the ground from November 4 to March 23, 
 nearly two feet deep, in Massachusetts, and the spring was very back- 
 ward. On the 23d of April there was a snowstonxL 
 
 ^ Mason's Brief History^ p. 158. 
 
142 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 a ship from the Bay with provisions, and their distress 
 was thus relieved. Reflecting upon these experiences 
 in his sermon, Hooker says : " We might have perished 
 for want, but the Lord sent us, as it were, drink out 
 of the rock and meat from the ravens, — the Indians, 
 that they should bring provision and leave it here ; it 
 was the Lord that brought it ! " In remembrance of 
 the ship he says : " Let us, when we have seen the 
 Lord in all, — the Lord in the sending of the ship and 
 we not aware of it, — the Lord in bringing us safe, in 
 giving us provisions, . . . labour to have a heart more 
 near unto Him." And, after what has been said of 
 the earlier fast day, it should be noted that he says of 
 the efforts made to prevent emigration to Connecticut : 
 " If anything could have hindered, either by truth or 
 falsehood, to keep men from coming to these parts 
 hitherto, it had been done ; but yet, notwithstanding, 
 men's minds informed, their consciences convicted, 
 their hearts persuaded to come and to plant." Thus 
 on that day the people of his congregation were turned 
 back to review their past deliverances. 
 
 Upon the 23d of January, 1638-9, there was kept 
 at Windsor " a general day of humiliation for Eng- 
 land and the sickness in the Bay." This fact is found 
 in the Wolcott Note-book. No mention is made in the 
 Colonial Records of its appointment by the General 
 Court; but it may have been kept by the common 
 consent of the churches, without any public authority, 
 and therefore termed " general." The condition of 
 affairs in England, which afterwards assumed such 
 prominence, did not occupy their exclusive attention 
 that day. The scourge, which had swept away the 
 natives by thousands, had made its appearance among 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 143 
 
 the whites at Bostou. Winthrop says of the Massa- 
 chusetts fast day, December 13, 1638, — the day of 
 Cotton's confession, — that a chief occasion therefor 
 was " the much sickness of pox and fevers spread 
 through the country (yet it was to the east and south 
 also)."^ He did not say ''to the west," which con- 
 firms the inference that the sickness did not prevail in 
 Connecticut. Upon that day Warham discoursed with 
 appropriateness, therefore, upon the staying of the 
 plague by Moses (Num. xvi. 44—50), putting a sug- 
 gestive emphasis upon the murmuring of the Israel- 
 ites. In none of his sermons preserved in the Wolcott 
 Note-book does he so clearly exhibit his belief in the 
 judgments visited by God's providences.^ 
 
 With the opening spring of 1638-9, the church at 
 Windsor kept a thanksgiving. The day was March 
 
 ^ Winthrop's Hist., i. :3;^7. 
 
 '^ As an illustration of Warham's method, the plan of this sermon, so 
 far as deciphered, is g^iven from the notes of Dr. TnimbuU : — 
 
 Doctrine I. That the sin of a people is the [cause] and [occasion] 
 of wrath against that people. 
 
 Doctrine II. That the murmuring against providence in the way 
 of God's judgments, or against God's deputies in the way of their 
 calling, is a [provocation] of deep wrath against a people. 
 
 Reason. Because murmuring against providence is attacking the 
 ways of God as if they were not equitable. 
 
 Doctrine III. That the presence of God's people amongst wicked 
 men is the best means to hinder and [avert] their speedy destruction. 
 
 Reasons. 1. Because they will by prayer and using means with 
 God [seek his mercy]. 
 
 2. Because of the great good-will God bears unto his people he 
 will not only do good unto them but unto others for their sake. 
 
 Uses. 1. To teach us to see the admirable good-will God bears 
 nnto the elect. 
 
 2. Then let no wicked men [lay] it to their [charge] that the . . . 
 
 3. To see the madness of wicked men ; they are weary of God's 
 people. 
 
 4. To teach us to honor the godly and [seek] to [bring] them 
 amongst us. 
 
144 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 6, and it miglit have been for the preservation of 
 the winter. Warham's text was the ninety-second 
 Psahn. On the day before this, however, according 
 to Matthew Grant, "the gi^eat flood began." The 
 present inhabitants of that quiet town can imagine 
 what this meant, for the water rose higher than it had 
 within the memory of the Indians then living. The 
 houses of many were upon the low land. Their stacks 
 of hay and cattle-sheds dotted the landscape. Thanks- 
 giving services could scarcely have been over ere they 
 hasted forth, some from their houses to the higher 
 lands, and others to the rescue of cattle and fodder. 
 A southeast storm arose, with much rain and wind, 
 and blew the waters in upon them. Trees, fences, and 
 hay were swept away. It was not until the last week 
 of March that the waters subsided sufficiently to allow 
 them to estimate the damage. Then once more this 
 pious people gathered themselves together in their rude 
 place of worship upon a day of humiliation, April 5 ; 
 and the reverend minister, finding his text in Rom. i. 
 18-21, warned them " that God bears wrath and re- 
 veals wrath against all manner of ungodliness and 
 unrighteousness of man." Sermons are said to be 
 found in running brooks : such sermons are found in 
 Connecticut floods, and we must admire the men who 
 could bear to have the destruction wrought laid to 
 their charge. 
 
 Omitting now from special mention eight fasts and 
 four thanksgivings kept during the next two years 
 at Windsor, as shown in the Calendar ^ and recovered 
 
 1 Several were fasts for England, notably May 24, 1639, July 29, 
 1640, and January 14, 1640-41. Their earnestness in behalf of their 
 brethren in England was very great. Upon May 24, 1639, Warham 
 preached from Esther viii. 3-6. 
 
THE RIVER PLANTATIONS. 145 
 
 » 
 
 through the Wolcott Note-book, we turn to the first 
 thanksgiving noticed in the Colonial Records as ap- 
 pointed by the General Court, namely, September 18, 
 1639.^ We conclude that before this the churches of 
 the three towns had appointed their days, as illus- 
 trated at Windsor, and as the earlier custom was both 
 at Plymouth and the Bay. For many years they 
 jealously retained this right. The frequency of such 
 occasions could not have been provided for by the 
 court, and it was not until the year 1655 that this 
 authority was delegated by the court to the magis- 
 trates. If any significance attaches to the unique 
 wording when September 18 was appointed, perhaps 
 there was some discussion at the time as to the pro- 
 priety of such action by the court. The record is, 
 " It was coTicluded that there be a publique day of 
 thanksgiving in these plantacons vppon the 18th of the 
 next month." The italics are ours. Did they hesi- 
 tate to use the words " it is ordered " ? Certainly not 
 thereafter. This at least we know, that it was only 
 by degrees and after years that the civil authorities 
 came into exclusive possession of this delegated right 
 of the churches. No reason is given in the records 
 for this thanksgiving. We conjecture, however, that 
 it had a relation to the harvest. They were antici- 
 pating it, and that same court sent a company to 
 gather the com which the disobedient Pequots had 
 planted.^ The Indian corn was then nearly ready to be 
 gathered. They had hitherto had sorry experiences, 
 
 ^ Conn. Col. Rec.^ i. 33. Windsor anticipated the occasion by a 
 church thanksgiving, September 3. Perhaps this was on account of 
 the arrival of Rev. Ephraim Huit. 
 
 2 This was the cause for the fast at Windsor September 10: "for 
 the soldiers gone forth against the Pequots " (Conn. Col. Rec.^ i. 32, 33). 
 
146 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 and the prospect of this year had been bad on account 
 of the drought. Winthrop says that it prevailed " all 
 over the country both east and west, there being little 
 or no rain from the 26th of the 2d month to the 10th 
 of the 4th, so as the corn generally began to wither 
 and great fear there was it would all be lost." At 
 the Bay they fasted June 13, as also in the Plymouth 
 Colony, and " the very day after the fast was appointed 
 there fell a good shower." The bottom lands of 
 Connecticut, fertilized and soaked by the flood, now 
 brought to a better cultivation, profited by the warmth 
 and yielded abundantly. To increase their joy, there 
 came from Massachusetts cargoes of mackerel caught 
 off the coast that year in great quantity, and a re- 
 freshing change in the diet of the colony. This was 
 the bounty for which they had struggled through 
 great want since their arrival. But we are made con- 
 fident that this was the cause by the sermon preached 
 by Rev. Ephraim Huit, of Windsor, on that day. It 
 was from the text, '' Also that day they offered great 
 sacrifices and rejoiced ; for God had made them re- 
 joice with great joy, the wives also and the children 
 rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even 
 afar off" (Neh. xii. 43). It was a theme appro- 
 priate to such an occasion. Like the Jews in their 
 Feast of Tabernacles, they seem to have been exliorted 
 to make a feast of rejoicing. It was the first public 
 thanksgiving in Connecticut that had a special refer- 
 ence to the harvest. Ill fortime came to the colony 
 in years thereafter, but they had been brought safely 
 through the perils of a new plantation, — through war, 
 earthquake, flood, and drought, — and they had come 
 into full possession of their Canaan. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 
 1640-1660. 
 
 The 23cl of July, 1640, was a fast day of more 
 than ordinary interest in the Massachusetts Colony. 
 The General Court, when in session in May, could 
 not have anticipated the more serious aspect of affairs 
 in England, and this day was doubtless appointed by 
 the governor and council, as the custom was under 
 such circumstances. On the 5th of May, only eight 
 days before the court convened, the king had dissolved 
 the famous *' Short Parliament," having failed to 
 secure his subsidies for carrying on a war against the 
 Scots ; and only two days before, an attack had been 
 made by the mob on Lambeth Palace, where Arch- 
 bishop Laud, the persecutor of New England, carried 
 on his unix)pular schemes. The result of this failure 
 of Parliament to come to the terms of King Charles 
 was already anticipated in that body, and dismal fore- 
 bodings must have pervaded the exercises of a " day 
 of public fasting and humiliation " which they kept 
 only three days before the dissolution, somewhat in- 
 creased, perhaps, by the warning they that day received 
 from the king. The news of this breach and of impend- 
 ing war traversed the Atlantic in emigrant ships, and 
 a profound impression was made in New England. 
 Though the condition of their native coimtry had, 
 
148 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 before this, entered into their fastings, from this time 
 it was an item in their supplications for many years. 
 And, far separated by the sea from the excitement, 
 they had the cahnness to consider all possible issues, 
 and resolve, in a wisdom which was their salvation, to 
 maintain a loyalty, not to king or Parliament as fac- 
 tions, but to the established government whatever it 
 was.* In all their legislation they assumed a position 
 of neutrality, which is the more remarkable since their 
 political practices and religious prejudices were decid- 
 edly favorable to Parliament then, and afterwards to 
 the Commonwealth. Still, no listener in their reli- 
 gious assemblies could have been in the dark as to the 
 popular opinion, when fast-day sermons were preached, 
 or as the minister uttered his thoughts in extempore 
 prayer upon the Sabbath. Those who were enduring 
 hardships in the wilderness for the sake of religious 
 liberty would not be likely to favor a movement in 
 which the bishops were so united. 
 
 The news which had called forth the summer fast 
 day of 1640 added great solemnity to its exercises. 
 In Boston the services were universally attended by a 
 deeply interested people. The officers of the ships 
 then in port also came ashore for the purpose, — all 
 except one, and thereby hangs a tale. The captain 
 of the Mary Rose, — whose name is hidden in one of 
 Winthrop's blanks, — not admiring the ordinances of 
 religion as practiced in Boston, remained aboard, and 
 with his company had a service after the Church of 
 England model. Had he known what supernatural 
 spirits hovered around for the execution of judgment 
 on the contemners of the New England churches, he 
 would not have dared thus to provoke them. For he 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 149 
 
 had scarcely made his boast at the character of his ser- 
 vice to a visitor, four days after the fast, when one of 
 these spirits, we may suppose, — since no man knew 
 how it came about, — set fire to the ship's magazine 
 and blew it into shivers. The historian does not con- 
 ceal his opinion that this was a " judgment of God 
 upon these scomers of his ordinances; " and that was 
 then, no doubt, the general conclusion.^ Our English 
 captain would have done better had he attended the 
 fast-day service on shore. 
 
 The item of greatest interest, however, in what we 
 know of that day's services was the preaching of 
 a sermon at Taunton by the pastor, Rev. William 
 Hooke, the friend and subsequently the chaplain of 
 Oliver Cromwell, and the brother-in-law of Edward 
 Whalley, the regicide.^ This sermon, which bears 
 the striking title, ''New England's Teares for Old 
 England's Feares," was printed in England in 1641, 
 and there were three editions that year, now known 
 among the rarities to every bibliophilist.^ ' As the 
 manuscript was " sent over to a worthy member of the 
 honorable House of Commons," the sympathies of the 
 author may be inferred. But there is no spirit of 
 treason in his words. They are verily " Tears for 
 Old England," which must have moved his auditors 
 to the same as they saw his tragic picture of war, 
 which he thought might even then have spilled the 
 blood of their brothers and fathers. The text was : 
 " So they sate down with him upon the ground seven 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hisl., ii. 13, 14; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., IV. vol. vi. pp. 
 141, 142. 
 
 2 Leonard Bacon's Historical Discourses; Emery's Ministry of 
 Taunton. 
 
 • See Bibliography, No. 2. 
 
150 FAST AND THANKSGIVING BAYS. 
 
 dayes and seven nights, and none spake a word unto 
 him, for they saw that his grief e was very great " (Job 
 ii. 13). The latest news had evidently been the threat- 
 ened war with the Scots, and that had been the main 
 cause for the day. We quote two of the preacher's 
 most significant passages in evidence : " Let us there- 
 fore feare the worst at this present in behalfe of our 
 deare Countrey-men (considering also what ill tydings 
 we have heard thence) that nothing, as wee doubt, but 
 a miracle of divine power and mercy can preserve them 
 from the miseries of the devouring sword." " And 
 not to looke upon the occasions given on the one side 
 or the other, betweene the two Sister nations : (Sister 
 Nations ? ah^ the word woundeth,) let us looke this 
 day simply on the event, a sad event in all likelihood, 
 the dividing of a King from his Subjects, and him 
 from them, their mutuall taking up of Armes in oppo- 
 sition and defence." That, however, which constitutes 
 the charm of this sermon is its tender plea for friend- 
 ship toward England in her calamities. Loyalty and 
 patriotism resound in his words : " There is no land 
 that claimes our name but England. . . . There is no 
 Potentate breathing that wee call our dread Sov- 
 ereigne but King Charles." If any were in ill temper 
 toward the land which had thrust them out, they re- 
 ceived a forcible rebuke in the preacher's words " O 
 cruell and unnaturall ! " And such sentiments were 
 expressive of the best feeling of the New England 
 fathers throughout the struggle which followed. There 
 were tears for Old England everywhere ; but in say- 
 ing this we cannot deny that, as the Presbyterian 
 influence waned and the spirit of political and eccle- 
 siastical independency prevailed, there were smiles 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 151 
 
 mingled with those tears. As English colonies theyf 
 were neutral. As Congregationalists they were favor-/ 
 able to independency. As Englishmen they bemoaned! 
 the divisions in their native land, and as Christians 
 they fasted and prayed for the triumph of God's king- 
 dom in the midst of the turmoil. When the conflict 
 advanced to that stage where they saw visions of a 
 theocratic state arising Phoenix-like out of the ashes 
 of monarchy, they uttered their hopes perhaps too 
 freely. But in this they were only loyal to a politi- 
 cal conception which they themselves were hoping to 
 realize in New England. Nor is it strange that their 
 brethren in England were all the while deriving from 
 them a moral support. Letters went to and fro. 
 Some of their foremost men returned to take an active 
 part in the agitation. Hugh Peter, once of Salem, 
 became the most ubiquitous preacher in the realm. 
 This very Taunton minister probably left his flock 
 at New Haven, hoping to find in England greater use- 
 fulness in the cause. And by many hidden channels 
 the sentiments of New England issued in fountains 
 of good cheer among their distressed brethren. ^ The 
 fathers were esteemed by them as heroes, so much so 
 that Hooke had reason to remark in his sermon, " How 
 doe they (I meane all this while, multitudes of well 
 affected persons there) talke of New England with 
 delight ! How much nearer Heaven doe some of their 
 charities accoimt this Land, then any other place they 
 heare of in the world ? Such is their good opinion of 
 us ! . . . And when sometimes a New-England man 
 returnes thither, how is hee lookt upon, lookt after, 
 
 1 The Historical Relation of New England to the English Common- 
 wealthy John Wingate Thornton. 
 
162 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DA YS. 
 
 received, entertained, the ground hee walks upon be- 
 loved for his sake and the house held the better where 
 hee is ? " On the whole, seeing there was such a re- 
 lationship, it is surprising that they did not go too 
 far in aiding their brethren. 
 
 But we anticipate. This sermon may suffice to 
 show the character of the preaching everywhere, for it 
 is but one of many which were delivered. An impend- 
 ing war with the Scots was reason for an alarm in all 
 the colonies. Fasts were multiplied. One was kept 
 August 6 by the Barnstable church "in behalf e of 
 England, and the sadd differences betwixt it and Scot- 
 land." Possibly this was the date of a public fast 
 in the Plymouth Colony, where the magistrates made 
 such appointments. The Wolcott Note-book indicates 
 that July 29 and September 2 were fasts for Eng- 
 land in the Windsor church, and probably the other 
 churches kept the like. 
 
 A year passed before another wave of excitement 
 reached New England. The reader is familiar with 
 the early doings of the " Long Parliament," one of 
 whose first acts was to insure its longevity. The Earl 
 of Strafford was beheaded May 12, 1641, passing to 
 Tower Hill by the room where Archbishop Laud was 
 imprisoned. Measures for a reform in religion fol- 
 lowed. A new form of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was 
 proposed. Early in July, by order of the Commons, 
 papistical pictures, crosses, and statues, were removed 
 from the churches. Bills were passed for abolishing 
 the Star Chamber court and the High Commission, 
 which the Puritans had no reason to cherish. So 
 by the prospect of disbanding the two armies, peace 
 seemed to be at hand. It was the news of all this 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 153 
 
 which reached New England in the latter part of 
 August, and prompted the thanksgiving of September 
 2, 1641, which, either by intent or coincidence, was 
 kept in both the Massachusetts and Plymouth colo- 
 nies.^ In the phrase of Winthrop it was for "the 
 good success of the parliament in England." But the 
 Barnstable Church Records, at greater length, inform 
 us that it was " especially for good Tydeings fro old 
 England, of amost happie beginning of a gracious Re- 
 formation both of Religion and State, the Lord in the 
 tyme of Reformation discovering & also preventing 
 su[n]dry Treasons, one amongst others was this a dia- 
 bolicall intendment to sett y* cittye of London on lire 
 att six sundry places haveing an armie prepared uppon 
 it to massacre whome they thought good." ^ Such then 
 was the report. The treason mentioned was the so- 
 eaUed " Army Plot," by which the rescue of the Earl 
 of Straflford was intended. Doubtless the exaggerated 
 account sufficed to augment the interest in the day, 
 though we find no hint of rejoicing at the death of the 
 earl himself, whom they had no special reason to dislike. 
 The year 1642 was opened with a general fast 
 April 14. Winthrop says it was " for our native 
 coimtiy and Ireland." Of this day we have some- 
 what more to record. There is another sermon by 
 Rev. WiUiam Hooke, of greater rarity even than the 
 preceding, entitled "New-England's Sence of Old- 
 England and Irelands Sorrowes," which was printed 
 in London in 1645. It seems to have escaped notice 
 hitherto that this sermon, without date on its title- 
 
 1 August 27 was kept in England as a thanksgiving for peace be- 
 tween England and Scotland. 
 
 2 New Eng. Beg., x. 39. 
 
164 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 page, was probably preached on this fast day, instead 
 of in 1645, to which it has been assigned.^ The title 
 only specifies that it was delivered on a fast " in the 
 behalfe of Old-England and Irelands Sad condition." 
 This day answers that description, as Winthrop's 
 words show ; and no other fast day later does. But 
 our identification rests upon the critical study of the 
 sermon itself. Whoever will note the events which 
 followed the " Bishops War " will find distinct refer- 
 ences to them in the sermon as late occurrences, evi- 
 dently moving for this particular appointment ; and 
 the preacher could not have written as he did after 
 the setting up of the king's standard August 22, 
 1642. The sermon was against the prelates but 
 lately cast out as unsavory salt, — the " evill counsel- 
 lors " of the king, upon which the author exclaims : 
 " Happie is that State, when both the Counsellors are 
 faithful to give onely good advice, and the King wise 
 to discerne good advice from evill." This was pre- 
 cisely the Puritan interpretation of the king's mear 
 sures at the time. But we note some decisive particu- 
 lars. (1) The preacher justifies the Scots in uniting 
 in the Covenant " in their late defence against their 
 Tyranny." This clearly refers to the " Bishops War." 
 (2) The prelates hoped the brotherly union of Eng- 
 land and Scotland "should have engaged them in 
 blood." The armies were but lately disbanded. (3) 
 The abuse of the people's privileges " for many yeares 
 past ... is clearly represented to the view of the 
 
 ^ See Bibliography, No. 3. In Emery's Ministry of Taunton, i. 73 n., 
 the departure of William Hooke for New HaTen seems to rest upon the 
 date of this sermon, as though delivered in 1645. If this is all the 
 evidence, Hooke may have been at New Haven several years earlier. 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 155 
 
 whole world in the late Remonstrance." This passed 
 the House of Commons November 22, 1641, and was 
 voted printed December 15 following. (4) The prel- 
 ates are " not fit to occupy any roome in Church 
 or Commonwealth." The Commons had passed a bill 
 for taking away their votes October 23, 1641. (5) 
 There are vivid references to the Irish massacre of 
 October, 1641, as if to recent news : " Oh those incar- 
 nate Irish Devils ! let them be often in our sight." 
 
 But not to multiply evidences it would seem that the 
 fishing fleet, or some early ship, had brougjit advices 
 from England of these late events, and hence the day 
 and these sentiments expressed in this sermon. The 
 civil war was not then anticipated. Both of Hooke's 
 sermons were sent to a worthy member of the House of 
 Commons, and we venture the opinion that the person 
 was no other than Oliver Cromwell, the kinsman of 
 William Hooke's wife, who had them printed, the 
 latter not until 1645, if we know it in its first edition. 
 
 It is interesting to notice, in connection with this 
 second sermon, a further and curious development of 
 the thought that New England sustained a religious 
 part in this conflict. This was a common conception 
 of the time. The author of the '' Wonder-working 
 Providence of Zion's Savior " scarcely overdid it in 
 his extravagant language: "The Forlorne hopes of / 
 Antichrist's Army were the proud Prelates of Eng- 
 land ; the Forlorne of Christ's Armies were these N. E. 
 people . . . which encountring each other for some 
 space of time, ours being overpowered with multitude, 
 were forced to retreat to a place of grater safety, where 
 they waited for a fresh opportunity to ingage with the 
 main battell of Antichrist." It was thought that this 
 
156 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 was an engagement of spiritual forces upon some 
 higher plane. An importance was attached to their 
 fast days other than as mere sympathetic gatherings. 
 So the Taunton preacher declares that the colonists 
 had been dispatched as " bands of souldiers lying in 
 ambush here imder the f earn and brushet of the wil- 
 derness ... to come upon the backs of Gods ene- 
 mies with deadly fastings and prayer, murtherers 
 that will kill point blanke from one end of the world 
 to the other." In this respect they did considerable 
 warring for years, and doubtless on this occasion they 
 of this congregation responded to the exhortation, and 
 gave their enemies a "broadside" by fasting, sack- 
 cloth, and ashes. 
 
 Two other public fasts were appointed in 1642 by 
 the Massachusetts Colony, both by the court. They 
 were July 21 and September 22. In reference to 
 the latter, Winthrop specifies the ill news received of 
 " the breach between the King and Parliament." But 
 in the February following, when the fishing fleet 
 brought news of the civil war, the frequency of such 
 days for the same cause was objected to by some of 
 the magistrates. The ministers were earnestly for 
 them. So the matter was settled by a return to the 
 early custom, and the churches were " left to their lib- 
 erty" to appoint such days, and as many as they 
 chose.^ There was indeed danger that the prevailing 
 sympathy with the Parliament would thus be quick- 
 ened to excesses. Neutrality was determined upon. 
 And so it came about that, though two public fasts 
 were ordered by the court for their native coimtry in 
 1643, the churches kept many others. It greatly 
 
 ' 1 Winthrop's Hist,, ii.*112. 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. /157 
 
 strengthened the practice of local days for public 
 causes. Many such were kept everywhere. In New 
 Haven they had a system of monthly fasts, which was 
 adopted in the Connecticut Colony, beginning January 
 10, 1643-4.1 This answered its purpose of shielding 
 the authorities from issuing frequent proclamations, 
 and at the same time satisfied the popular demand. 
 
 The king of course had his sympathizers. In Vir- 
 ginia, where the Church of England held sway, it was 
 to be expected. The Good Friday of 1644 was a fast 
 there for " the good successes of the king," but the 
 terrible massacre by the Indians anticipated it. Indi- 
 viduals in New England questioned openly " the law- 
 fulness of the Parliament's proceedings." ^ Discussions 
 arose, and in 1644 the May court of Massachusetts 
 declared that whoever thus disturbed the peace should 
 be counted as an offender. This, however, did not 
 extend to shipmasters, etc., who were frequently in port, 
 some of whom were for the king and others for Par- 
 liament. Wherefore grave difficulties arose on several 
 occasions between these ships, involving the sympa- 
 thies of the people,^ in the settlement of which it was 
 noted that the colonists had " openly declared their 
 affection for the Parliament's cause by prayers & 
 fastings," — all true enough. Perhaps it was well 
 that their attention was diverted by the vagaries of the 
 Gortonists, the drought and sickness of 1644, and the 
 Indian troubles of 1645, which shared with England 
 their fast-day exercises. 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Bee, i. 99; TrumbuU's Hist, of Conn., i. 141. 
 
 2 See the case of Captain Jenyson of Watertown, Winthrop's 
 Hist.,!!. 215,216. 
 
 8 Ibid., u. 222-225, 228, 229, 238-240. 
 
\ 
 
 158 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 On the 21st of March, 1645-6, there appeared be- 
 fore the House of Commons the familiar figure of 
 Hugh Peter, newly come from Fairfax's army. He 
 brought news of victories, in which the Parliament's 
 forces had lately had good experience. On that 
 account they had kept at least six thanksgivings 
 within a short time, on one of which they had been 
 " highly feasted " by the city of London in Grocers' 
 Hall. Truly New England might keep one, especially 
 as the Massachusetts Colony, so far as we have data, 
 had not observed any since the one mentioned in 1641. 
 It was this news at least which caused the appoint- 
 ment of June 11, 1646. Plymouth and Connecticut 
 had not been so sparing. 
 
 About this time, as the reader is aware, another 
 turn of affairs in England brought on the struggle 
 between Presbyterians and Independents for ecclesias- 
 tical supremacy, ending in the setting up of the Com- 
 monwealth. In this movement the sympathies of 
 the colonists were decidedly with the latter. Out of 
 this condition arose for one thing the " Remonstrance 
 and Petition of Robert Child and others," with sub- 
 sequent disturbances concerning it.^ A petition for 
 religious toleration was ahead of the times, and this 
 was particularly obnoxious because it linked its for- 
 tunes with Presbyterian ism. So, when December 24, 
 1646, was set in the Bay Colony as a fast, it was conven- 
 ient to mention this faction as those " y* seeke to und''- 
 mine y® liberties of God's people." Alas for those who 
 would cast a slight upon the day, and tempt the divine 
 
 ^ Hutchinson's Original Papers, pp. 188-218 ; Mass. Col. Bee., ii. 
 162, 175, 196, 199; iii. 90,94, 113, 114, 219, 256; Winthrop's Hist., ii 
 319-321, 340-369, 372, 373, 391, 392. 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND. 159 
 
 displeasure, which was committed to the perpetual de- 
 fense of New England fast days ! Two of their num- 
 ber set out with a raft for Boston the day before, 
 knowing they must desecrate the day, and the winds 
 and waves arose in their might and scattered it. 
 Such, however, of this party as went to present their 
 petition before Parliament fared better, notwithstand- 
 ing John Cotton's prediction that it would prove a 
 Jonah to the ship, in reference to which they gave 
 this title to their story, " New Englands Jonas cast up 
 at London." 
 
 The public fasts throughout this period of agitation 
 were fewer than might be expected, and thanksgivings 
 were rare. We note that the chui'ches, however, main- 
 tained a constant interest in events. They anticipated 
 the rise of the Commonwealth, and though they would 
 not rejoice over the execution of the king, they had 
 found that Cromwell was a friend to New England. 
 He was waging a war against Antichrist, and they 
 could but support him. John Eliot's book on " The 
 Christian Commonwealth " was addressed " To the 
 chosen and Holy and Faithful who manage the wars 
 of the Lord against Antichrist in Great Britian." ^ 
 " Babylon is fallen," they cried. " Oh 1 what an 
 opportunity hath the Parliament now to bring in 
 Christ to rule England," said the grave Eliot ; and 
 Cotton wrote Cromwell, " I am fully satisfyed that you 
 have all the while fought the Lord's battells." Of 
 course then they gave thanks for " exceeding mercys 
 towards Old England in the prosperous good success 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., HI. vol. ix. pp. 127 ff. ; Mass. Col jRec, 
 iv. pt. 2. pp. 5, 6. The book was repudiated and condemned upon the 
 Restoration. 
 
160 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 of the armie there under the conduct of Coronall 
 Crumwall," ^ — what else could they be expected to 
 do ? And it was not amiss that they thus won the 
 Protector's favor. When it was suggested that the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony take out a new patent, 
 they could support their plea of loyalty, as they did, by 
 pointing to their " fastings and prayers for their good 
 sucesse and thanksgivings after the same was attained." 
 Such as had kept the multitude of those days in Eng- 
 land must have appreciated the argument. But as 
 in the succeeding years their vision of " The Chris- 
 tian Commonwealth " began to fade away, though the 
 ministers still held out such hopes as they could,^ 
 the wise men became apprehensive of a reaction, and 
 made ready for it. When the order was received in 
 Boston to proclaun Richard Cromwell Lord Protector, 
 they did not comply. The churches were allowed to 
 keep their own fast February 22, 1659-60, without 
 public order. They had no dislike toward the coming 
 king, they only feared a further persecution of non- 
 conformity. Their proclamation for a fast June 21, 
 1660, contains a confession of their fears as to the 
 " clouds hovering over them, threatening the utter 
 frustration of those hopeful beginnings, wherewith of 
 late years the Lord was pleased to favor them." 
 
 It was on the whole very remarkable during this 
 period, — with such decided opinions and prejudices, 
 
 1 New Eng. Beg., x. 39. 
 
 2 A manuscript sermon in possession of the Mass. Hist. Soc, claim- 
 ing to have been by the hand of John Eliot, and which was first preached 
 in 1648, has evidently an addition of later date when it was preached 
 on a fast at Roxbury. In it he says, " What though the Parliament 
 for the present be slighted, malignants grow extream insolent . . . shall 
 we therefore cast away our hope & give all for gone ? No, rather 
 let our hearts be quickened to prayer, " 
 
TEARS FOR OLD ENGLAND, 161 
 
 with a ministry unanimously favoring tlie Puritan 
 cause, and with such fast-day occasions tempting 
 them, — that the New England people did not go so 
 far as to endanger their rights and privileges. It 
 would not have been so had all their sermons been 
 printed and circulated in England and their extempore 
 prayers been reported. When finally the restoration 
 came, no address more loyal was received than that 
 of Massachusetts, agreed on by the General Court of 
 December 19, 1660, and sped on its way by the united 
 fastings and prayers of New England. The story 
 ends with the thanksgiving celebrated July 10, 1661, 
 for " answer to prayers upon their [our] late addresse 
 or petition made unto y® King, his graciouse accept- 
 ance & favourable answer." So those troublesome 
 days passed, and they quieted their souls in peace. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DUTCH CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 
 
 1643-1664. 
 
 The descendants of the Burgomasters and Sehe- 
 pens of New Amsterdam have the hereditary right 
 to hold fast and thanksgiving days in honor. Fast 
 days, ordered by the civil authorities on occasion, 
 were observed by their ancestors, and that while the 
 colony was still under the government of the Dutch, 
 as also afterwards for many years. Though not so 
 frequent as in New England, they occurred almost 
 every year, and were kept in course during certain 
 critical periods. As to causes, they do not differ 
 materially from those of their English neighbors, 
 and yet they do not exhibit that abnormal view of 
 God's providences so prominent in New England 
 Puritanism. They were civil rather than ecclesiasti- 
 cal days, being the continuance of a custom prevailing 
 in HoUand, where these subsisted in connection with 
 the holy days of the reformed churches. The same 
 may be recorded of the Dutch thanksgiving days, for 
 which they were not at all indebted to New England 
 but to their fatherland. These retained in many 
 instances that peculiar double name, by which their 
 language had christened them "fast-prayer and 
 thank days." Yet they did not develop, like those 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 163 
 
 of New England, into autumnal thanksgiving days, 
 perhaps partly because the Dutch colony was more 
 occupied with trade than agriculture, but principally 
 because the people had other seasons in which to cel- 
 ebrate the bounties of the table and make merry in 
 the home. The market-place furnished them that 
 opportunity which the Puritans found in the church 
 porch. Christmas (Kerstijd) and New Year (Nieuw- 
 jaar) were their great days for festivity, the celebra- 
 tion continuing for three weeks together, during which 
 courts did not sit and public offices were closed. 
 Young and old entered into the common sports, — 
 bowling, dancing, ball-playing, and the like, — while 
 the tap-houses were crowded with jolly burghers 
 whose merriment it was sometimes necessary to re- 
 strain. In early years they celebrated May Day with 
 great spirit, setting up the May-pole amid general 
 rejoicings and not a little rioting. Besides these 
 they kept the Passover season (Paaschtijd) and 
 Whitsuntide (Pinkster), which, like Christmas, were 
 high festivals in their churches. In fact we find 
 in New Netherland precisely the same days and cus- 
 toms so generally regarded in the fatherland ; and 
 as to their fast and thanksgiving days, they were 
 so nearly in harmony with New England as to exer- 
 cise a great influence in the development when these 
 came to be national, which is our reason for this digres- 
 sion. 
 
 It would be interesting to know whether any fast 
 or thanksgiving days were observed at New Amster- 
 dam while it was still a mere trading post, before the 
 Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. If it could be shown 
 that those early voyagers and traders set such days, 
 
164 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 they might lay claim to the honor of keeping the first 
 thanksgiving, though the harvest festival must ever 
 be conceded to be New England born. But we meet 
 with no hint of such days during those early years, 
 and probably there were none. The government was 
 not sufficiently matured. They were without minis- 
 ter and church. However, it is equally probable 
 that, under directors Minuit and Van Twiller, who 
 administered the government from 1626 to 1637, 
 such days were kept, though the loss of their minutes 
 makes it impossible to prove the fact and recover the 
 dates. Religious services were conducted on Sundays 
 by the schoolmaster, or Consoler of the Sick (Zieken- 
 trooster), who was customarily sent out by the West 
 India Company to instruct the young, comfort the 
 sick, and conduct worship. Two of these came in 
 1626.^ The first minister. Rev. Jonas Michaelius, 
 came in 1628, when the people were gathered in a 
 church, assembling from week to week in the upper 
 story of their horse-mill at the call of the Spanish 
 bells captured at Porto Rico, — a sanctuary fully as 
 romantic as the Pilgrim fort on the hill. If the 
 records kept in Director Van Twiller's time should 
 ever turn up, it would not be surprising if they 
 should reveal fast and thanksgiving days, observed in 
 the wooden church in Pearl Street, which in 1633 
 supplanted the horse-mill, and where Dominie Bogar- 
 dus might well have preached some vigorous sermons 
 against the Connecticut River colonists. 
 
 In 1638 William Kieft became the director of 
 New Netherland, and the records of his troubled ad- 
 
 ^ Their names were Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck, who 
 came over with Director Peter Minuit. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 165 
 
 ministration are extant. The first public fast day 
 known to have been kept was March 4, 1643, N. S.^ 
 They were impelled to it by troubles with the Indians, 
 and the story is briefly as follows : Early that year 
 a drunken Indian, who had been provoked by the 
 settlers of Hackinsack, killed a Dutchman, whereupon 
 a hostile sentiment was kindled at Manhattan. The 
 atonement of the savages was refused, and shortly 
 some imwise counselors urged the director to attack 
 them, who were at the time encamped across the river 
 westward. It was a Sunday night, while Kieft was 
 at a Shrovetide feast, at which Dominie Bogardus was 
 present, that a petition for vengeance was presented 
 to him, which might have been more readily granted 
 on such a convivial occasion, though quite in accord 
 with his inclination. 2 Three nights afterwards, the 
 order was executed, and men, women, and children, to 
 the number of eighty, were cruelly massacred. The 
 next day the Indians began to retaliate, and before 
 another week had passed, the Dutch boweries round 
 about had been laid waste, to which Roger Williams, 
 who was there on his way to England, was a witness. 
 Then there was time to repent and humble them- 
 selves before God. The following order was pub- 
 lished, perhaps in their Sabbath assembly, March 1, 
 only a week after it had been triumphantly asserted 
 that the Lord had fully delivered the Indians into 
 their hands. It is the first fast-day proclamation of 
 New York preserved to us : — 
 
 ^ The New Style of reckoning time was adopted in Holland in 1582, 
 and New Netherland followed the example of the fatherland. Dates 
 are therefore given as New Style during the Dutch period. 
 
 2 The petition and answer are found in Boc. Rel. to Col. Hist, oj 
 N. r., i. 198, 194. 
 
166 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 ** Whereas we are suffering at present great injury from these 
 heathens, and many of the inhabitants are not certain of their 
 lives and property, which doubtless has befallen us on account 
 of our manifold sins, It is therefore resolved by the Council here 
 that a General Fast and day of Prayer shall be observed on next 
 Wednesday, being the fourth of March, for which every one can 
 prepare, to the end that we, with hearty sorrow and earnest 
 prayer may move God to mercy, and that He will not suffer His 
 holy name to be prophaned by these heathens on account of our 
 sins."i 
 
 We have no details of the services of that day, 
 but we may conjecture that Dominie Bogardus, who 
 is said to have warned Kieft against his rashness, 
 made a profound impression upon the assembly, who 
 were thoroughly indignant against the director ; and 
 the occasion was not less moving by the presence of 
 many who had fled to the fort from their devastated 
 homes. If Kieft was himself there, he did not long 
 continue to favor the church with his presence, and 
 the minister's outspoken opinions may in part have 
 given reason for it.^ 
 
 Though the confession of sin was humble enough, 
 it did not avail with the savages, who kept up a run- 
 ning warfare for some time. Captain John Underbill, 
 of ignominious memory at Boston, but famous in 
 Indian warfare, was in conunand of the Dutch sol- 
 diers when, in the following spring, before the snows 
 melted an assault was determined against the Con- 
 necticut Indians in the neighborhood of Stamford. 
 On a moonlight night they surrounded the Indian 
 village and massacred the natives. It was upon their 
 
 1 MS. Council Minutes, iv. 1. 163 ; Doc. Eel. to Col Hist, of N. F., 
 xiv. 44. It is printed as a part of the proclamation of peace, 
 March 25. 
 
 2 Broadhead's Hist of N. Y., i. 417, 418, 760 n. O. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 167 
 
 return to New Amsterdam, from this battle on Strick- 
 land's Plain, that the first public thanksgiving of 
 record was proclaimed, though only the bare know- 
 ledge of the fact survives.^ However, another thanks- 
 giving followed, the next year, when peace was con- 
 cluded. On the 30th of August, 1645, N. S., the 
 Indian chiefs gathered outside Fort Amsterdam and 
 signed a treaty, wherefore, the day following, an 
 order was issued, which we give in fuU, as the first 
 thanksgiving proclamation we have met with in the 
 history of New York : — 
 
 "Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his unbounded 
 clemency and mercy, in addition to many previous blessings, to 
 suffer us to reach a long wished for peace with the Indians. 
 Therefore, it is deemed necessary to proclaim the fact to all 
 those of New Netherland, to the end that in all places within the 
 aforesaid country where Dutch and English churches are estab- 
 lished, God Almighty may be specially thanked, praised, and 
 blessed on next Wednesday forenoon, being the 6th of Septem- 
 ber, the text to be appropriate and the Sermon to be applicable 
 thereto. Your Reverence will please announce this matter to 
 the Congregation next Sunday so that they may have notice. 
 On which we rely." ^ 
 
 Several interesting items appear in this proclama- 
 tion. The day of the week was Wednesday, as in the 
 former instance, and that was the custom throughout 
 the Dutch period. When they ordered a succession 
 of monthly fasts, as in 1648, the day was the first 
 Wednesday of every month. The proclamation usu- 
 ally designated the services to be held, in the forenoon 
 in this case, but in some other proclamations both f ore- 
 
 IjDoc. Rd. to Col Hist. ofN. F., i. 186-188 ; Broadhead's Hist, L 
 391 ; O'Callaghan's Hist, i. 302. 
 2 3fS. Council Minutes, ir. 1. 233. 
 
168 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 noon and afternoon services are specified.^ Notice 
 was given from the pulpit upon a previous Sabbath, 
 as the custom was in New England, and probably the 
 order was read, though all proclamations at New Am- 
 sterdam were published as issued, from the City Hall 
 after the ringing of a bell. Except in the worship, 
 which was after the order of the Reformed churches, 
 the service was much like that among the English, 
 a sermon suited to the day being expected from the 
 dominie. Here, as in other instances, he was enjoined 
 to choose an appropriate text. In some proclamations 
 it was commanded that all attend church, and amuse- 
 ments were prohibited, though generally only during 
 the hours of service, as on the Sabbath.^ For the 
 same reason and during the same time all employ- 
 ments were interdicted. It was the Dutch custom in 
 the fatherland to fast only a part of the day,, and feast 
 toward evening, and the same rule was followed at 
 New Amsterdam. On days of " fasting prayer and 
 thanksgiving," presently to be noted, it was especially 
 true that the time after the second service, or the af- 
 
 ^ An ordinance at New Amsterdam, April 29, 1648, for the better 
 observance of the Sabbath declared that " from this time forth, in the 
 afternoon as well as in the forenoon there shall be preaching from 
 God's word" (MS. Records of New Amsterdam, p. 18). Fast and 
 thanksgiving days would have followed this example. 
 
 '^ In the New Amsterdam Manuscript Records there are many or- 
 ders relating to the sacred hours of the Sabbath. One of Peter Stuy- 
 vesant's, May 31, 1647, was, " On the Sabbath of the Lord commonly 
 called Sunday, before two of the clock in the afternoon, in case there 
 is no preaching, or otherwise before four of the clock in the after- 
 noon, they shall not be permitted to set nor draw nor bring out for 
 any person or persons any wines, beers etc." The same was forbidden 
 on Sunday, or any other day, " after tho ringing of the bell in the 
 evening which shall take place about nine of the clock." This related 
 to innkeepers. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 169 
 
 temoon if only one was held, was devoted to the out- 
 ward manifestation of joy, not only by games and 
 feasting, but by military display and the firing of 
 cannon. For example, in a proclamation for a thanks- 
 giving August 12, 1654, on account of peace between 
 England and the Netherlands, the people were " to 
 appear, on that day, in the fore and afternoon at the 
 place where the word of God is preached," and " after 
 the public worship shall be performed to indulge in all 
 moderate festivities and rejoicings as the event recom- 
 mends and their situation shall permit." ^ This cus- 
 tom gave a less solemn character to these days than 
 they possessed in New England ; and we may sup- 
 pose that it was partly this manner of keeping their 
 days, by both fasting and feasting, by public worship 
 and social rejoicings, that gave rise to the name " public 
 fasting prayer and thanksgiving day," which we have 
 noted in use in Holland and which was transferred to 
 New Netherland.2 In respect, however, to the recital 
 of their sins, the catalogue of calamities at home and 
 abroad, and the interpretation of Divine Providence, 
 some of their proclamations equal those of the Puritans. 
 The order for the series of fasts beginning May 6, 1648, 
 recites the "sad and doleful tidings from Europe and 
 the Northern and Southern parts of America, severe 
 inundations and floods, fevers whereby thousands are 
 swept away and scarce any to bury the dead, hurricanes, 
 shipwrecks and famine." It condemns " aU iniquity 
 all false measures and wicked practices, all blasphemy 
 and licentiousness, drunkenness, rioting, swearing, ly- 
 
 1 MS. Council Minutes^ v. 312; Translations from the Dutch^yu. 2*10^ 
 279; MS. Records of New Amsterdam^ trans., i. 506. 
 
 2 See chapter iv. 
 
170 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ing, cheating, profanation of God's most Holy name 
 and Sabbath." It declares that " nothing else can be 
 concluded and inferred than that the Holy One of 
 Israel the Almighty God, being justly provoked to 
 anger and wrath, threatens us for our imrighteous 
 deeds with a just reward, — a reward from the trea- 
 sure of wrath and righteous vengence." ^ 
 
 The earliest order we have seen for a " prayer and 
 thanksgiving day" is that designating February 1, 
 1649, N. S. It is as follows : " The Assembly has re- 
 solved and decreed to proclaim that February 1st next 
 coming be a day of prayer for the purpose of thanking 
 and praising God the Lord for the determined and 
 acquired peace now agreed upon between the King of 
 Spain and our dear fatherland ; also likewise to pray to 
 Almighty God that he may preserve the glory and 
 welfare of the fatherland and the prosperity of its in- 
 habitants. Cor. Van Tienhoven Sec." '^ Upon another 
 occasion, March 7, 1657, N. S., when they commemo- 
 rated, among other things, a harvest of self-sown grain 
 the previous season, the fields being deserted for fear 
 of Indians, the expression is " general day of thanks- 
 giving and prayers." ^ In these cases fasting is not 
 specifically mentioned. However, in 1655, when Au- 
 gust 25 was kept on account of the threatened war with 
 the Swedes of the Delaware River, the day is called a 
 general day of " fasting, prayer and thanksgiving." ^ 
 
 1 MS. Council Minutes, iv. 1. 377. 2 n^^j^^ p. 425. 
 
 ^ Ibid., viii. 458 ; Translations from tlie Dutch, xv. 69-71. 
 
 * MS. Council Minutes, vi. 75 ; Trans-, from the Dutch, xi. 30-82 ; 
 MS. Records of New Amsterdam, ii. 175-178. See Affairs and Men 
 of New Amsterdam, Paulding, pp. 151, 152, where the proclamation 
 is in print, but the rendering " universal fast and thanksgiving " day 
 is not exact. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 171 
 
 It IS presumed that what moved Peter Stuyvesant to 
 enjoin thanksgivings upon what would have been in 
 New England a fast day, was the " manifold blessings 
 and benefits of God '' manifested in their preparations 
 for the war. The two elements were intentionally 
 combined on such occasions because there were rea- 
 sons for both. A notable instance was the keeping of 
 March 13, 1658, N. S., which is twice designated in 
 a lengthy proclamation as " a general fast-prayer and 
 thank day " (algeemenen vast beed en dank dagh). 
 The prominent causes given for fasting and prayer 
 were '^ fevers in some hamlets " and " anew and never 
 heard of heresie named Quakers ; " and the causes for 
 thanksgiving the prosperity of the province, its " peace, 
 increased people and trade." ^ 
 
 The fevers above mentioned spread abroad as the 
 season advanced. Many died, and it was with diffi- 
 culty that the depleted harvests were gathered. In- 
 deed for the next three years there was little to call 
 forth unusual thanksgivings, for the sickness prevailed 
 in every hamlet, and troubles with the Indians kept 
 them in constant fear. Several fast days were ob- 
 served as follows : October 23, 1658,^ April 2 and 
 October 15, 1659, and March 24, 1660. But to- 
 ward the close of 1661 the sun appeared from the 
 clouds, for the sickness ceased, a goodly harvest was 
 
 ^ In the Dutch language, MS. Bee. of New Amsterdam^ vol. ii., 
 translation, vol. iii. 85-87 ; also, MS. Court. Min.^ viii. 699 ; Trans, 
 from the Dutch, xiv. 77-79. 
 
 2 Proclamation in full in Affairs and Men of New Amsterdam, pp. 
 155-157; also, MS. Coun. Min., viii. 995 ; Trans, from the Dutch, xiv. 
 374-376. A discrepancy in the date is noted. Both October 16 and 
 23 are given. This may be accounted for by the fact that more re- 
 mote settlements may not have received the order in time to keep 
 the earlier date. 
 
172 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 gathered, and a temporary peace with the savages was 
 secured. Wherefore a " general day of fasting prayer 
 and thanksgiving" was observed March 15, 1662, 
 N. S.i Though instances of the same designation are 
 met with afterwards, — as in the monthly fasts of 
 1673,^ — in general the Dutch term disappeared. It 
 was after all an appropriate idiom, even if it is con- 
 sidered as merely such, for no thanksgiving was with- 
 out the necessity for supplication, and it was quite 
 like the Dutch to find something to be thankful for 
 even in their darkest times. A measure of gratitude 
 would have sweetened many a New England fast, and 
 certainly there was reason enough for it. The Dutch 
 had come from quite another atmosphere than the 
 Puritans. A social license was legitimate among 
 them during the latter hours of the Sabbath day and 
 other holy days, and it was natural that this shoidd 
 pass over to a fast or thanksgiving. But the English 
 influence, while it did not check this mingling of the 
 two elements, soon made them merely civil celebra- 
 tions, which there was no church influence strong 
 enough to consecrate. 
 
 The troubles between the New England colonists 
 and the Dutch in 1653 — threatening a war which 
 would certainly have been disastrous to both — pre- 
 sent a study. Both parties went to God in fasting 
 and prayer, and doubtless with confidence in his favor, 
 since both considered themselves in the right. The 
 
 1 MS. Council Minutes^ x. 27-31. In some places this was the first 
 of a course of days kept quarterly. 
 
 2 MS, Records, iLK\\\. 158; Trans, from the Butch xxiii. 91, 92 ; New 
 Jersey Archives, i. 139. The course was the first Wednesday of each 
 month, and began December 3, O. S. Two versions give the date as 
 December 2. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND, 173 
 
 Dutch complained that their EngKsh neighbors had 
 trespassed upon their territory ; the English were ap- 
 prehensive of a conspiracy between the Dutch and the 
 Indians to destroy their settlements. In the midst of 
 preparations for war, by the command of his High 
 Mightiness Peter Stuyvesant, the pious burghers in- 
 augurated a series of fast days April 9, 1653, to con- 
 tinue the first Wednesday of each month.^ That very 
 day at least one Puritan congregation was convened to 
 recite before the Lord the wickedness of the proposed 
 invasion of the Indians " instigated by the Dutch." ^ 
 Doubtless the services of each would have been decid- 
 edly interesting to the other. The feeling increased 
 as months passed, and as to Connecticut it was aug- 
 mented by the opposition to the war in Massachusetts, 
 on which account the latter received an uncompli- 
 mentary mention in the former's fast-day proclamation 
 of March 15 following. Yet it so turned out that 
 even as the New Haven Colony was sharpening its 
 sword on the altar June 28, seeking God " in an 
 extraordinary way in fasting & praire for a blessing 
 vpon the enterprise abroad," the news came of a 
 peace concluded between England and the United 
 Provinces. Of course thanksgiving days were then in 
 order. At New Amsterdam they were heartily glad 
 to hear the news, to confirm which Stuyvesant sent 
 two messengers to New Haven, and a thanksgiving 
 
 1 MS. Council Minutes^ v. 115 ; MS. Rec. of New Amsterdam, i. 
 182 ; Affairs and Men of New Amsterdam^ pp. 123, 124. 
 
 2 N. E. Gen. Reg., x. 39. March 30, O. S., was April 9, N. S. The 
 Barnstable Church also kept May 11, and their records indicate 
 that it was " requested by their [our] Governours Maiestraites and 
 Commissioners being att Boston." It was probably kept, therefore, in 
 all the colonies. 
 
174 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 was kept August 12. The order commends fasting in 
 calamities, and thanksgiving for deliverances. In true 
 Davidic style it says, " Praise, English Jerusalem, 
 thank the Lord of Zion of Netherland." Two ser- 
 vices were held upon that day, but scarcely had the af- 
 ternoon congregation been dismissed when sounds of 
 rejoicing and gay merriment filled the streets, and mu- 
 sic and dancing, sports and feasting, gave the newly 
 palisaded town a holiday appearance. In Massachu- 
 setts the thanksgiving was September 20 ; but no 
 such day is known to have been kept in the New 
 Haven and Connecticut colonies, and perhaps their 
 intention was diverted to fasting on account of the In- 
 dians, which they were about to chastise.^ 
 
 The year 1663 was also a trying one in New Neth- 
 erland. It was shaken by the earthquake, which 
 was general throughout the country; there was a 
 flood which inundated the fields and greatly injured 
 the harvests ; and the smallpox broke out with malig- 
 nity, spreading in some localities with rapidity, so that 
 villages were decimated. These causes impelled them 
 to a fast April 4. They had not recovered their 
 spirits ere the Indians surprised Eusopus settlement, 
 and massacred many. A series of monthly fasts fol- 
 lowed, beginning July 4, which were kept throughout 
 the entire province ; ^ and so far as appears these con- 
 tinued until June 4, 1664, N. S., when they were con- 
 cluded with a thanksgiving, peace having been effected. 
 
 ^ A thanks^ ving had been appointed for October 11 , but meanwhile 
 war with the Indians was determined on by the commissioners, and 
 the thanksgiving was put ofP by the fast October 12. 
 
 ^ Among the archives at Albany is preserved a list of the places to 
 which proclamations were sent. For fourteen it was put in the Dutch 
 language, and for six in the English. 
 
CUSTOMS IN NEW NETHERLAND. 175 
 
 Among the archives at Albany, there is a letter writ- 
 ten by Rev. Hermanns Brown of Wiltwyek (Eusopus), 
 in which he asks that June 7, the day of the massacre, 
 may be kept annually as a thanksgiving in commem- 
 oration of that event. ^ Probably this was not done, 
 but it is the first record of a desire for an annual 
 thanksgi\dng, and shows that the Dutch had no such 
 custom. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to dwell further on these days 
 which were observed in New Netherland. Enough 
 has been recorded to show the prevalence of the cus- 
 tom and its points of difference from that of their 
 English neighbors. They were continued under the 
 English government. From 1690 to 1710 they oc- 
 curred almost every year, though they seem to par- 
 take more of foreign relations than those ordered by 
 the Dutch directors. During the French and Indian 
 wars they were frequent, and other plantations to the 
 south and west either kept the same days, or ordered 
 the like. Tlie influence of New York tended to pro- 
 mote this, but the main reason was the relation of 
 these provinces to the mother coimtry, which at the 
 time kept such occasions periodically, and encouraged 
 or ordered the provinces to do the same. Hence we 
 find as to these kept during the wars an agreement 
 between New England and other colonies such as 
 New York, Pennsylvania, and those at the south. 
 In proof and illustration of this, such as we have 
 found in records or manuscript documents are in- 
 cluded in the Calendar ; and they prepare us to un- 
 derstand how it was, in the days of the Revolution, 
 that the Continental Congress could expect a willing- 
 ^ M8. Correspondence, x. 122. 
 
176 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ness to keep such as they ordered. It was a step in 
 the development of national days. Those proclama- 
 tions, printed from 1693 for many years on the press 
 of William Bradford, and now of the greatest rarity, 
 carried the custom abroad into the newest settlements. 
 Wherever there was a church or a minister the idea 
 found a reception. Who can doubt that, in those 
 days, the custom was eminently beneficial ? It was a 
 means of awakening minds to religious duties, it 
 brought new communities into mutual sympathy, and 
 abQve aU it nursed their loyalty and patriotism. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 
 
 1640-1670. 
 
 The civil wars in England, whatever the hopes 
 they offered in religious matters, had a depressing 
 effect upon the prosperity hitherto experienced in 
 New England. Immigration almost entirely ceased. 
 There was a general stagnation of trade. Many set- 
 tlers became discouraged and returned to England. 
 So a spirit of discontent manifested itself which 
 reacted upon the religious life and heroic temper of 
 the people. This was increased by uncertainty as to 
 the government, and the vagaries of certain religious 
 sects which threatened their peace. And, as was 
 quite natural, the baser elements of society crept out 
 into the light, startling the commimity with most re- 
 pulsive crimes. 
 
 AU this brought on a period of lamentations in 
 their history, in which of course the prophets bore a 
 prominent part. The plantations, they were wont to 
 say, had been visited with the prosperous smiles of 
 Heaven, but the day of calamities and religious de- 
 generacy had come, and the favor of God was with- 
 held. Cotton Mather charges that many forgot the 
 " errand into the wilderness," and neglected rehgion 
 for the " enchantments of the world ; " and the reader 
 can understand how this might have appeared to be 
 
178 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 true. The child of a dozen summers, who had come 
 over in the first ships, was now the head of a family, 
 clearing his acres and building his home. A whole- 
 some industrial motive urged on his labors, while the 
 religious motive, which alone had been equal to the 
 earlier hardships, was dominant still in the life of his 
 father. But the point which engages us is this : the 
 prevailing idea was, that this decline in religion was 
 the provoking cause of a series of judgments upon 
 New England. Scarcely a season passed which was 
 not in some way remarkable, at least sufficiently so to 
 be noted in their proclamations. Everything in the 
 way of excessive cold, snow and hail storms, — es- 
 pecially if out of season, — floods and fires, and violent 
 winds which damaged their tender fruit-trees, was 
 made a serious occasion for meditation upon their 
 degenerate ways. 
 
 Of all natural causes, the droughts were the most 
 frequent occasion for fasts. They did not wait for 
 parched fields, but when rain was needed they prayed 
 for it. If it came between the proclamation and the 
 day, they kept a thanksgiving. Twice in Massachu- 
 setts during this period, once in 1642, when September 
 22 was set on account of excessive rains, and again in 
 1645, when June 26 was to be kept for a drought, the 
 weather changed before the day arrived.^ The very 
 intention was thought to have had power with God. 
 Droughts were quite general in 1639, 1644, 1662, and 
 1666, and were the principal cause for the following 
 fasts in Massachusetts : June 13, 1639, July 3, 1644, 
 
 ^ Winthrop's Hist., ii. 102, 264. Cf. Barnstable church records as 
 to June 14, 1652. The emergency was so great in 1666 that the Rox- 
 bury church anticipated the public fast by two days. Roxbury chh. 
 rec, N. E. Beg., xxxiv. 162; Dorchester chh. rec, pp. 50, 51. 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 179 
 
 June 5, 1662, and June 21, 1666. That of 1662 was 
 unusally protracted, and certain unbelievers openly 
 attributed it to the contemplated convening of the 
 synod. Tliis was a challenge to prayer, so when it 
 met the week after the public fast, they made it their 
 first duty to keep June 11, and, as a copious rain fell 
 the day after, and " seasonable showers continued week 
 after week imtil the harvest," we may suppose they 
 silenced their skeptical critics.^ But a more careful 
 examination on this point is reserved for another occa- 
 sion. 
 
 A second affliction during these years was the blast- 
 ing of their wheat crop. There was some appearance 
 of mildew in 1663, the spring being cold and damp ; 
 but, according to the best authorities, 1664 witnessed 
 the first general blasting in the Bay Colony.^ It 
 began in the latter part of June, and so diminished 
 the harvest that it was a prominent cause for humilia^ 
 tion upon the public fast, September 1. Again it vis- 
 ited them in 1665 and 1666. The Connecticut Col- 
 ony was not exempt. It appeared there and at New 
 Haven in 1665. The order for a fast in Connecticut, 
 May 29, 1668, earnestly urges that we " humble our 
 souls before the Lord in the sight and sence of o' man- 
 ifold sins, whereby we have caused the Lord to goe out 
 against us in those yearly judgments of blasting the 
 increase of the feild." ^ Almost exactly the same lan- 
 guage is used the next year in the order for June 16. 
 In reference to this chastisement, the fathers had 
 
 1 HuU's Diary, p. 189; Rox. chh. rec, N. E. Beg., xxxiv. 88; 
 Coffin's Newbury, p. 65. 
 
 2 HuU's Diary; Morton's N. E. Mem., pp. 201, 205, 208. 
 8 Conn. Col. Bee, ii. 89, 90. 
 
180 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 a good taste of their owii doctrine, for the Quakers 
 claimed that it was a judgment upon them for their 
 uncharitable deahngs. 
 
 God also sent forth swarms of destructive insects 
 against them, which are so variously named canker- 
 worms, palmerworms, and caterpillars, that it is impos- 
 sible to say certainly what species is referred to, or 
 whether they were the same. Winthrop gives the fol- 
 lowing description of these pests, which made their 
 appearance in the summer of 1646 : " Great harm was 
 done in corn (especially wheat and barley) in this 
 month by a caterpillar, like a black worm about an 
 inch and a half long. They eat up first the blades of 
 the stalk, then they eat up the tassels, whereupon the 
 ear withered. It was believed by divers good ob- 
 servers, that they fell in a great thunder shower, for 
 divers yards and other bare places, where not one of 
 them was to be seen an hour before, were presently 
 after the shower almost covered with them, besides 
 grass places where they were not so easily discerned. 
 They did the most harm in the southern parts, as 
 Ehode Island etc, and in the eastern parts, in their 
 Indian corn. In divers places the churches kept a 
 day of humiliation, and presently after the caterpillars 
 vanished away." ^ With this account we may com- 
 pare the Roxbury church records, which fix the time 
 as " about the end of the 5th month," and give fur- 
 ther details of the devastation. The oats, barley, and 
 wheat were almost destroyed, and whole meadows of 
 grass were devoured. This account says the visitation 
 was general " over aU the English plantations." It 
 concludes also with the following reflection : " Much 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist., ii. 327. 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 181 
 
 prayer there was made to God about it w*^ fasting in 
 divers places, and the Lord heard and on a suddaine 
 tooke j^ all away againe in all p*^ of the country to 
 the wonderment of all men: it was the Lord for it 
 was done suddainly." ^ If an account in Johnson's 
 " Wonder-working Providence " refers to this oc- 
 casion, as is probable, it adds interesting items. 
 " Also the Lord was pleased to awaken us with an 
 Army of caterpillars, that had he not suddainly 
 rebuked them, they had surely destroyed the husband- 
 mans hope. Where they fell upon trees they left 
 them like winter-wasting cold, bare and naked: and 
 although they fell on fields very rarely yet in some 
 places they made as clear a riddance as the harvest 
 mans hand, and uncovered the gay green Meadow 
 ground, but indeed the Lord did by some plats shew 
 us what he could have done with the whole, and in 
 many places cast them into the highways, that the 
 Cart-wheels in their passage were painted green with 
 running over the great swarms of them." This, the 
 author adds, recalled the people to the end of their 
 coming over, for they had wandered far into the wil- 
 derness out of the " sound of the silver Trumpets 
 blown by the laborious Ministers of Christ." ^ It is 
 evident that these '^ good observers " were not natural- 
 ists ; but what an effect the belief must have had that 
 the caterpillars were showered from heaven ! How 
 great, too, must their faith have been, when, in answer 
 to their prayers, they suddenly vanished ! 
 
 1 Rox. chh. rec, N, E. Reg., xxxiii. 65. 
 
 2 Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, p. 214. On the fast day, 
 July 26, 1687, James Allen of Boston preached a sermon, in which 
 he attributes an afflictive providence of worms and caterpillars to the 
 "Neglect in supporting and Maintaining the Pure Worship of God." 
 
182 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 The canker-worm may have been noted earlier, but 
 it made its appearance in force in 1657, and continued 
 its devastations yearly to 1666, reaching a height 
 in 1665. Such periods have been known since, as 
 about 1686, 1735, and 1769. Historians were not 
 particular in descriptions of these pests. The differ- 
 ence between this and the former visitation seems to 
 have been that the damage was done to the trees instead 
 of the fields. In his diary, under 1661, Hidl says, 
 " The canker-worm hath for four years devoured most 
 of the apples in Boston that the apple trees look in 4th 
 month as if it was the 9th month." This was one 
 prominent cause for the Massachusetts fast day June 
 22, 1665, and probably also for June 14 in Connecti- 
 cut. Incidental references are found to damage from 
 grasshoppers in 1666, which, though of little extent, 
 sufficed to give the ministers a chance to make homi- 
 letic use of the passage, " That which the palmer-worm 
 hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the 
 locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten, and that 
 which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar 
 eaten." 
 
 Some have supposed that there were in those days 
 plagues of locusts, but the statement is not well 
 founded. Of 1648 Winthrop says, " About the 
 midst of this summer there arose a fly out of the 
 ground about the bigness of the top of a man's httle 
 finger of brown colour. They filled the woods from 
 Connecticut to Sudbury with a great noise and eat up 
 the young sprouts of the trees, but meddled not with 
 the com. They were also between Plimouth and 
 Braintree but came no further. If the Lord had not 
 stopped them they had spoiled all our orchards for 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 188 
 
 they did some few.i " Making some allowance in this 
 story for the destruction wrought, we conjecture that 
 this fly was the cicada, known as the seventeen-year 
 locust. And leaving the period of its reappearance 
 to the naturalist it is a fact that in 1665, seventeen 
 years afterwards, according to Hull's " Diary " " multi- 
 tudes of flying caterpillars arose out of the ground 
 and from roots of com, making such a noise in the 
 air that travellers must speak loud to hear one an- 
 other, yet they only seized upon the trees in the wil- 
 derness." The well-known noise of the cicada ex- 
 plains these extracts most satisfactorily. A veritable 
 plague of locusts would certainly have spread devasta- 
 tion far and near. 
 
 In early times there were multitudes of wild pigeons 
 in New England. They were so numerous in 1642 as 
 to do great damage to the grain fields. Again they 
 came in 1648, but as the harvest was mostly gathered 
 there was little to destroy. Thousands were killed 
 and used for food, upon which account Winthrop 
 observes " thus the Lord showetl us that he could make 
 the same creature, which formerly had been a great 
 chastisement, now to become a great blessing." ^ 
 
 We turn now to consider afflictions of a more seri- 
 ous character, — the diseases of various kinds which 
 prevailed in the plantations during this period. If at 
 aU exceptional, these were particidarly regarded as 
 disclosures of divine wrath, and a large proportion of 
 the fast and thanksgiving orders had some reference 
 to them. The modern physician, who reads the pre- 
 scriptions with amazement, wonders that the mortality 
 was not even greater when infectious diseases broke 
 
 1 Winthrop's HisLy ii. 405 2 j^^^v/.^ ji. 113^ 4O4, 
 
184 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 out among them ; but on the whole the climate was 
 healthful and the people hardy, the sick were well 
 cared for and the population was scattered. Never- 
 theless hundreds died in every year of plague. Sick- 
 nesses, of types unknown to them, carried away their 
 children. This was a cause for prayer, to which they 
 responded with great fervor, and as such afflictions 
 were considered as pimishments, we can understand 
 how they cast a sorrowful depression over their reli- 
 gious services. The years from 1644 to 1649 were 
 notable for visitations of sundry diseases, as also were 
 those from 1658 to 1666. Yet we do not know what 
 the particular sickness was each year. Scurvy was 
 general among new-comers. The limited diet accounts 
 for certain common complaints. There was much 
 sickness in the summer of 1644, and partly therefor 
 a fast was kept in Massachusetts July 3. The Rox- 
 bury records notice that the first week in the 10th 
 month of 1645 '' was the most mortal week that ever 
 Eoxbury saw." Five died in one week and many 
 more were sick. We have no clue to the nature of 
 this malady. The next spring, however, there was a 
 malignant fever generally prevalent, " whereof," says 
 Winthrop, " some died in five or six days, but if they 
 escaped the eighth they recovered, and divers of the 
 churches sought the Lord by public humiliation, and 
 the Lord was entreated, so as about the middle of the 
 third month it ceased." ^ The thanksgiving on June 11 
 following celebrated this " mercy of God in withdraw- 
 ing his afflicting hand." But the year 1647 was even 
 more sickly, though perhaps the mortality was less. 
 In the summer we find the Barnstable church fasting 
 
 ^ Winthrop's Hist., ii. 315. 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES, 185 
 
 July 22, because there was " sickness upon every 
 family and every one in every family," and the order 
 for a fast in the Bay Colony April 20, 1648, speaks of 
 "the Lord's visitation generally through tliis country 
 the last summer by an unknown disease." Winthrop 
 gives tliis more complete description of it : " An epi- 
 demical sickness was through the country among 
 Indians and Enghsh, French and Dutch. It took 
 them like a cold, and a light fever with it. Such as 
 bled or used cooling drinks died ; those who took com- 
 fortable things, for most part recovered and that 
 in few days. WTierein a special providence of God 
 appeared, for not a family, nor but few persons es- 
 caped it, had it brought aU so weak as it did some, 
 and continued so long, our hay and corn had been lost 
 for want of help ; but such was the mercy of God to 
 his people, as few died, not above forty or fifty in the 
 Massachusetts and near as many at Connecticut." ^ 
 Thomas Hooker was one of the lamented victims. 
 John Eliot's record, of greater length, says it followed 
 extremely hot weather and a thunderstorm, and de- 
 scribes it as " a very depe cold, wth some tincture of 
 a feaver & f idl of malignity & very dangerous if not 
 well regarded by keeping a low diet." Another symp- 
 tom given is that it " seized upon their spirits." But 
 it is most to our purpose to note that Eliot sets forth 
 the supernatural conception of it by saying, " It was 
 suddaine & general! , as if the Lord had imediately 
 sent forth an angel, not w*^ a sword to kill but w*^ a 
 rod to chastize, and he smot all, good & bad, old & 
 young." 2 Passing other features recorded, this dis- 
 
 1 Winthrop's Hist., ii. 378. 
 
 « Rox. chh. rec, N. E. Reg., xxxiii. 237, 238. Possibly the excite- 
 
186 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ease seems to have been what is now known as la 
 grippe, to which possibly Hull also referred in his 
 diary as prevailing in 1660, and which has been 
 known in modern times. At all events it was as 
 really a plague in the minds of the fathers as any 
 wherewith God punished the Egyptians. The in- 
 quiry was at once abroad what had provoked it. The 
 apostle of Roxbury speaks for many of his brethren in 
 his meditation : " To have such colds in the height of 
 the heat of sumer shews vs, y* in the height of the 
 means of grace, peace liberty of ordinances &c yet 
 may we then fall into malignant & mortal colds apos- 
 tacys & coolings." 
 
 The year 1649 was remarkable for a sickness upon 
 the children. There was fasting in the Plymouth 
 Colony November, 15, children in the Bay dying by 
 the " chin-cough & the pockes," and the same also 
 among them. After other fasts for the same cause, 
 March 13, 1649-50 commemorated with gratitude the 
 cessation and recovery, but such diseases continued to 
 prevail in season for several years. 
 
 After a period of general health, sicknesses again 
 distressed them, and both Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut were fasting in 1658 on that account, the 
 former November 10, and the latter September 8. In 
 1661, too, there was an epidemic in Connecticut, and 
 in 1662 in Massachusetts. As if these were not 
 humbling enough, the smallpox broke out in 1666, ^ 
 having been brought over from England, where it had 
 
 ment was increased by news of the plague — doubtless the yellow fever 
 — which that year raged in the West Indies. Hutchinson Papers, p. 
 223 ; Winthrop's Hist., ii. 380-382. 
 
 1 Rox. chh. rec, N. E. Beg., xxxiv. 166 ; Morton's N, E, Mem,, p. 
 207. . 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 187 
 
 raged with great severity. But this examination is 
 sufficient to show cause for their humiliations ; and 
 no one can comprehend what those days were, without 
 measuring the effect of such afflictions upon their re- 
 ligious life. 
 
 It happened also, at intervals, that a weird spell was 
 cast over their religious assemblies by a superstitious 
 belief in the supernatural, which peopled the forests 
 with evil spirits, filled the air with strange sounds, and 
 so wrought upon their fearful souls that their religious 
 life was tempered with dismal forebodings. They 
 were indeed not exceptions in their day, for such a 
 belief was common in Europe, but their life in the 
 wilderness intensified its effect. Nothing monstrous 
 could transpire about them, but that they humbly 
 asked what it meant, and in the answer the prophet 
 often put a strain upon his imagination. A calf was 
 brought forth at Ipswich, having one head and tlu'ce 
 mouths, three noses and six eyes, whereupon the wise 
 Winthrop is moved to write : " What these prodigies 
 portend the Lord only knows, which in his due time 
 he will manifest." ^ Many such illustrations are 
 scattered throughout their history. If they found 
 evil omens in such trivial things, much more might 
 we expect they would in earthquakes and strange dis- 
 plays in the heavens. They felt the earth tremble, as 
 it did several times during this period, and an awful 
 warning clutched at their quivering hearts. What 
 wonder is it that their divines produced masterpieces 
 which they christened with such cheerful titles as 
 " The Day of Doom " ! In 1652 a comet appeared, 
 which set them questioning what was about to hap- 
 
 ^ Winthrop' « Ilistory, ii. 311. 
 
188 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 pen. They had not long to wait, and Morton has 
 thus recorded its relation to the death of John Cotton : 
 "About the time of his sickness there appeared in the 
 heavens over New England, a comet giving a dim 
 light, and so waxed dimmer and dimmer until it be- 
 came quite extinct and went out, which time of its 
 being extinct was soon after the time of the period of 
 his life, it being a very signal testimony, that God 
 had then removed a bright star, a burning and a 
 shining light out of the heaven of his church here 
 imto celestial glory above." i 
 
 " That comets, great men's deaths do oft forego, 
 This present comet doth too sadly show." ^ 
 
 Throughout most of the winter of 1664—5 they 
 looked nightly upon a comet that gleamed upon them 
 as a portentous avenger.^ It was first seen Decem- 
 ber 5, and remained in view to February 4. A sec- 
 ond appeared March 11. Moved by these threat- 
 enings the Council of Massachusetts appointed a 
 public fast for March 22.^ It is probable that the 
 tract by Rev. Samuel Danforth, of Roxbury, entitled, 
 " An Astronomical Description of the late Comet or 
 Blazing Star . . . with a brief Theological Applica- 
 tion thereof," was, in part at least, his sermon deliv- 
 ered on this occasion. It was written that month, 
 
 1 Morton's iV. E. Mem., p. 163. 
 
 2 Ihid. Lines from the funeral elegy by Rev. John Norton. 
 
 ^ Josselyn's Account of Two Voyages to N. E., ed. 1860, p. 42; 
 Morton's N. E. Mem., p. 198 ; Hutchinson's Hist., i. 226 ; Rox. chh. 
 rec, N. E. Beg., xxxiv. 162 ; Increase Mather's Discourse Concerning 
 Comets. 
 
 * The Dorchester church records say the order was " from y© Court," 
 but as that body had not been in session, and the entry was made 
 some time afterwards, it is doubtless an error, for Hull's Diary says 
 it was appointed by the council. 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES. 189 
 
 and the " Application " has the cast of a fast ser- 
 mon.^ Danforth was the astronomer and almanac 
 maker of the time. He would not let such an occa- 
 sion pass. The theological application is not given in 
 full, being mainly the heads of his discourse. Of the 
 first comet Danforth says, it is " now seconded by a 
 new appearance this spring concomitant to the trans- 
 lation of our honored and aged Governor Mr. John 
 Endicott." Endicott died March 15, and the event 
 supported the general view expressed on the fast the 
 week following. In his " New England's Memorial " 
 a reference is made to this discourse by Morton, and 
 that author attributes to the influence of the comet 
 the threatened invasion by a foreign force, deaths by 
 thunder and lightning, droughts, blasting, and mildew ; 
 and, reflecting the preaching of that day, he urges to 
 a strict and serious examination of hearts and lives, 
 in order to the finding out of those sins that are most 
 provoking to Heaven, and the reforming of them, so 
 that God may not " stir up all his wrath, but yet may 
 delight over them to do them good from the begin- 
 ning of the year to the end thereof." As such was the 
 accepted view, we may conclude that it was freely 
 expressed by others than this astronomical minister. 
 Bradstreet confidently says, "The effects appeared 
 much in England, in a great and dreadful plague that 
 followed the next sumer, in a dreadf uU warr by sea 
 w*^ the Dutch, and the burning of London the 2^ year 
 following." 2 Xs time passed and calamities came 
 upon them they reverted to this comet, which may 
 
 ^ On the fast February 15, 1681, Samuel Willard preached a simi- 
 lar sermon on a Blazing Star. See Bibliography, No. 21. 
 2 Bradstreet's " Journal," N. E. Beg.^ vol. ix. 
 
190 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 have been one reason for another mention of it in the 
 proclamation for a fast in Massachusetts the 2 2d of 
 June following. 
 
 In 1667 fear was spread abroad because of a 
 display of zodiacal light, which seemed to have an 
 ominous semblance to a spear pointed toward New 
 England. Some afterwards thought it had presaged 
 the earthquake of 1668, but more agreed with the 
 sentiment that it referred to the deaths of Shepard 
 Fhnt and Mitchell.i 
 
 Such were the views entertained of these and other 
 prodigies. We know of no author of that day who 
 has set them forth in more striking form than Michael 
 Wigglesworth in his poem entitled " God's Contro- 
 versy with New England," ^ which, besides being 
 itself an inspiration of the drought of 1662, gives in 
 thirty-one stanzas the calamities which their stubborn 
 sinfulness induced. 
 
 " Our healthful! dayes are at an end 
 And sicknesses come on 
 From yeer to yeer, becaus o^ hearts 
 Away from God are gone. 
 New England, where for many yeers 
 You scarcely heard a cough, 
 And where Physicians had no work, 
 Kow finds them work enough. 
 
 ** Our fruitful seasons have been tumd 
 Of late to barrenness. 
 
 Sometimes through great & parching drought, 
 Sometimes through rain's excess. 
 Yea now the pastures & com fields 
 For want of rain do languish : 
 
 1 Bradstreet's " Journal ; " Morton's N. E. Mem,, p. 210. 
 
 2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., xii. 83. 
 
PESTS, PLAGUES, AND PRODIGIES, 191 
 
 The cattell mourn, & hearts of men 
 Are fill'd with fear and anguish. 
 
 * The clouds are often gathered 
 As if we should have rain : 
 But for o^ great unworthiness 
 Are scattered again. 
 We pray & fast, & make fair shewes, 
 As if we meant to turn : 
 But whilst we turn not, Grod goes on 
 Our field & fruits to bum." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Jacob's trouble in the wilderness. 
 
 1675-1676. 
 
 On the 23(1 of October, 1676, the General Court 
 of the Connecticut Colony made proclamation as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 *' This Court considering the enlarged goodness of God to his peo- 
 ple in this wilderness, in appeareing so gloriously for their help in 
 subdueing of o*" enemies in so good a measure as he hath done, and 
 his mercy in remoueing sickness from the land, in the comfortable 
 and plentifull harvest that wee haue receiued, and the continuance of 
 o'" priuiledges and liberties, ciuill and ecclesiasticall hath moued this 
 Court to nominate and appoynt the first day of November next, to 
 be solemnly kept a day of Publique Thankesgiueing thorowout this 
 Colony, to bless and prayse the Lord for his great mercy towards vs, 
 with prayer that the Lord would help vs in our Hues and wayes to 
 walk answerable to his abundant mercy esi" ^ 
 
 On the 25th of the same month the General Court of 
 Massachusetts appointed a thanksgiving for Novem- 
 ber 9. We quote from the proclamation. 
 
 " God hath made bare his oune arme for our deliuerance, by taking 
 away counsell & courage from our ennemjes, & giying strange advan- 
 tage, & great success to ourselues & confoederates against them, that 
 of those seuerall tribes & partjes that haue hitherto risen vp against 
 us, which were not a few, there now scarse remajnes a name or fam- 
 ily of them in their former habitations but are either slayne, capti- 
 vated, or fled into remote parts of this wilderness, or lye hid, dispayr- 
 ing of their first intentions against us." ^ 
 
 It is probable that a similar occasion was also kept 
 in the Plymouth Colony, either by action of the 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Bee, ii. 296. 
 
 ^ This is one of the few proclamations extant in broadside. It is 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 193 
 
 churches or civil authority, notwithstanding the fact 
 that they had on the 17 th of August previous cele- 
 brated the most memorable thanksgiving of many 
 years. These public thanksgivings were the climax 
 of rejoicings after the disastrous experiences of King 
 Philip's War, which Rev. James Fitch of Nor- 
 wich, Conn., was pleased to call " Jacob's Trouble in 
 the Wilderness." The background upon which they 
 must be seen is the picture of blazing homes, cruel 
 massacre, and a more dreadful captivity, which impelled 
 the fathers of New England to humiliation as never 
 before nor since in their history. It is only our pur- 
 pose to mention the events of the war so far as it may 
 be necessary to give the proper historical setting to 
 their fast and thanksgiving days. 
 
 On Monday morning, the 21st of June, 1675, at 
 the break of day, a messenger arrived at the house of 
 Governor Josiah Winslow, at Marshfield, bringing the 
 tidings that the Indians had assaulted two houses at 
 Swansey the day before, and driven out the inmates. 
 The governor ordered soldiers to their relief, but also 
 dispatched a messenger to Boston to advise Governor 
 Leverett. In the archives of Massachusetts, the let- 
 ter that messenger bore, by the swiftest horse, is pre- 
 served, — yellow now with age, but stiU showing the 
 soiled evidence of its carriage that day.^ About four 
 o'clock that afternoon this unknown rider drew up in 
 front of the governor's house, which stood near the 
 
 dated October 11, 1675. October 11 was the day the Court met, and 
 1075 for 1676 is a misprint. We follow the Records which differ 
 slightly from the broadside. See N. E. Reg., ii. 201 ; Mass. Col. Rec, 
 V. 130 ; lY. Hamp. Col. Rec, i. 361. 
 
 ^ This interesting letter, never in print, has the answer on the same 
 sheet. State Archives : War, vol. Ixvii. 202. 
 
194 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Old Meeting-House at the head of State Street. The 
 council was convened forthwith, and a message prom- 
 ising assistance returned. Drums sounded the call to 
 arms in the streets, and the excitement of gathering 
 volunteers was everywhere. The Ancient and Hojior- 
 able Artillery had been addressed on the 10th of that 
 month by Rev. John Richardson of Newbury, on " The 
 Necessity of a well Experienced Souldiery ; " and the 
 preacher had said, " Thou knowest not how soon orders 
 may come from the Lord of Hosts for thy sudden 
 March ; and then there will be no time to get any skill 
 to defend thyself. You are now, as it were, in Garri- 
 son, but you may very quickly be in the field, not in 
 a naked field, but in a field of war, yea, perhaps in 
 Aceldema, a field of blood." And now the words of 
 the prophet were about to come to pass. 
 
 In the mean time, though making all preparations 
 for defense, the governor and council of both colonies 
 issued orders for fast days, that of Plymouth being 
 June 24 1 and that of Massachusetts June 29.^ On 
 the very day of that Plymouth fast, as the people 
 were returning from church, they were attacked by 
 the Indians, and ere the day ended, nine English had 
 been slain. Reflecting upon this sad fact Rev. In- 
 crease Mather says, " The Providence of God is deeply 
 to be observed, that the sword should be first drawn 
 upon a day of Humiliation, the Lord thereby declar- 
 
 1 MS. Cotton Papers, Boston Public Library, vi. 24 ; Baylies' Hist. 
 Mem. of New Plymouth, v. 47, 48. 
 
 ^ This was three days after the departure of troops. We know 
 of no copy of the proclamation in manuscript or print. Dor. chh. 
 rec, p. 69 ; Mather's Hist, of King Philip's War, repr. 1862, p. 56 ; 
 Salem chh. rec, in White's JV. E. Congregationalism, p. 82 ; Hull's 
 Diary. 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 195 
 
 ing from Heaven that he expected something else from 
 his people besides Fasting and Prayer." ^ 
 
 The war thus begun had not been unannounced, it 
 was believed, by ominous signs. A great gun had 
 been heard to go off, as if the Devil were letting off 
 the ordnance of heaven ; and volleys of musket-shots, 
 as of a battle in the air, had startled them. Bullets 
 whistled overhead, and troopers were heard riding to 
 and fro, as of an invisible army on the march.^ On 
 the nio:ht when the soldiers of Boston came to their 
 first encampment on the Neponset River, a shadow 
 crept over the moon, and dismal fancies curdled their 
 blood as they thought they saw on the face of the 
 eclipsed moon a dark spot like an Indian scalp, though 
 it is related that one of their number comforted them 
 with the classic witticism that " there was more cause 
 to be afraid of Sagittarius than of Capricornus." ^ 
 
 Amid all the troubles of that summer and autumn, 
 disastrous especially to the western plantations, the 
 churches observed continual fastings. It was re- 
 marked too, with sorrow, that their power thus to turn 
 back the tide of disaster had departed from them. 
 Defeats seemed to cluster about those days. When 
 Mendon was assaulted, July 14, and the first blood was 
 shed in Massachusetts, the church in Dorchester was 
 fasting, " wherein," says Mather, " the Providence of 
 God is the more awful &> tremendous." ^ The news 
 came to Boston the next day at lecture time, whije 
 
 1 Mather's Hisl.^ p. 55. 
 
 2 Magnalia, ii. 560 ; Hubbard's Indian Wars, repr. 1865, ii. 262 ; 
 Mather's Hist, pp. 158, 159. 
 
 2 Hubbard's Indian Wars, pp. 67, 68 ; Mather's Hist., p. 57 ; Mag^ 
 nalia, ii. 561. 
 * Mather's Hist., pp. 62-64. 
 
196 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 that divine was expounding the Scripture, "Who 
 gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the robbers? 
 did not the Lord, he against whom ye have sinned ? " 
 Alas ! it was but too evident that the chastisement 
 was from Him. On the 5th of August, as the First 
 Church at Boston was keeping a fast, the news came 
 of Captain Hutchinson's defeat at Quaboag, which 
 appeared so striking that another fast was kept on the 
 Wednesday following in the Second Church.^ This 
 was Dr. Mather's, and the one tiling we know about 
 that service is, that he made his boast in the Lord's spar- 
 ing the churches, showing the benefit of communion 
 with God ; but it was not long afterward that he had 
 occasion to add, like a disappointed prophet, " Now he 
 begins with the Sanctuary," — a remark provoked by 
 the destruction of the Springfield church. When Deer- 
 field was burned, this author notes that on that day 
 " Hadley was before the Lord in fasting and prayer, 
 but were driven from the Holy Service they were attend- 
 ing by a most sudden and violent Alarm." His own 
 church was similarly engaged, which " added solemnity 
 and awfulness to that desolation." *^ But notwithstand- 
 ing such ill success they multiplied their fast days. In 
 August the council at Hartford ordered a " course of 
 seekeing the Lord by Humiliation, Prayer & soule 
 affliction " by weekly fasts, each county in turn on 
 succeeding Wednesdays.^ Plymouth Colony had a 
 
 1 Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, pp. 147, 148. Wednesday was the 
 11th, and not the 12th, as in the Chronicle. 
 
 2 Mather's Hist., p. 72. 
 
 3 Conn. Col. Bee, ii. 355 ; cf . ii. 467, 469. The order was : New Ha- 
 ven County, September 1 ; Fairfield, September 8 ; New London, 
 September 15 ; Hartford, September 22. These were interrupted by 
 the thanksgiving, February 23, 1675-6. Each county kept about 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 197 
 
 public fast October 14 ; and the governor and council 
 of the Bay Colony also issued a proclamation appoint- 
 ing October 7.^ This order, which was undoubtedly 
 written by Increase Mather himself, and complained 
 that the Lord was " shewing himself angry with the 
 Prayers of his People," was sent over seas by a mer- 
 chant of Boston, with the comment that the day was 
 observed " with very gTcat show of outward penitence 
 & (no Question) with much inward affection by very 
 many, the Governor himself beginning the Duty of 
 the Day with a most heavenly prayer." '^ But Mather 
 does not record very happy results, for he says it was 
 '' attended with awfull testimonyes of divine dis- 
 pleasure," referring to the fact that, the day after it 
 was agi'eed upon. Captain Lothrop and "the flower of 
 Essex County " met their terrible deaths. The deduc- 
 tion he made was, that " praying without reforming 
 would not do," — a logic to which he adds interest by 
 remarking, when his own church afterwards had a 
 fast, " After which we have not received such sad tid- 
 ings as usually such dayes have been attended with 
 since the warr began." However, he came out tri- 
 imaphantly at last, in his discourse on the " Prevalency 
 
 twelve fasts during the year. They were discontinued by the coun- 
 cil vote of August 19, 1676, and the 30th of August was made a 
 public thanksgiving, but a previous vote of July 21 had changed 
 the last course into " like solemn dayes of Thanksgiving." Miner's 
 Diary (Hon. R. A. Wheeler, Stonington, Conn.) says that August 16 
 and 23, as well as the 30th, were public thanksgivings throughout 
 the whole colony. They probably were voluntarily so on account of 
 King Philip's death. 
 
 ^ Mather printed this proclamation in his History of King Philip^s 
 War^ pp. 93, 94 ; and perhaps he corrected from his draft some slight 
 errors and misprints which appear in it as printed in The Present 
 State of New England, etc. ; Old Indian Chronicle, pp. 161-163. 
 
 2 Old Indian Chronicle, p. 161. 
 
198 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 of Prayer," by making such experiences a trial of 
 faith to some, and a rebuke of formality in prayer to 
 others. 
 
 Soon after the inception of the reforming movement 
 discussed in the next chapter, the Commissioners of 
 the United Colonies met at Boston. It was Novem- 
 ber 2. They determined upon a winter campaign 
 against the Narragansetts, and also recommended that 
 all the colonies observe a fast on the 2d of December 
 for the success of the expedition.^ This was done, 
 and it was because this general humihation was pend- 
 ing that the autumn thanksgiving, which had become 
 usual, was that year altogether omitted in Massachu- 
 setts, and probably in Plymouth. In Connecticut it 
 was put off to the 23d of February following, and 
 then the day was largely for success against the Nar- 
 ragansetts, though the proclamation shows that it was 
 intended to cover the vicissitudes of the past year.^ 
 In his " History of King Philip's War " Mather ex- 
 plicitly says that June 29, 167^, the anniversary of 
 the first fast day, was the first public thanksgiving 
 which had been kept in the Bay Colony since the 
 war began.3 There might have been, however, here 
 and there, church thanksgivings. In one instance 
 there certainly was. At Concord, on the 21st of 
 October, several persons, who had been delivered in a 
 wonderful manner when the attack was made on 
 Brookfield, celebrated a thanksgiving therefor, and on 
 that day Rev. Edward Bulkley, preached to them a 
 
 ^ The commissioners left the several colonies to issue their procla^ 
 mations. It was only a recommendation on their part. Probably a 
 brief order was all any of them sent out. — Conn. Col. Bee, ii. 383. 
 
 2 Conn. Col Bee., ii. 408. 3 Mather's Hist., p. 167. 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 199 
 
 sermon, which is in print, with the recital of the deliv- 
 erance, though of the very greatest rarity.^ It is not 
 strange that they so omitted thanksgivings. The times 
 were dark; they feared that the plantations might 
 be swept away. Judge Sewall expressed the general 
 feeling when he wrote of November 11 that year : 
 " The wether exceedingly benign but (to me) meta- 
 phoric, dismal, dark & portentous, some prodigie ap- 
 pearing in every corner of the skies." 2 It was under 
 such depression that they kept the commissioners, 
 fast ; and, in the depth of an exceptionally cold and 
 snowy winter, the troops set out for the Narragansett 
 fort to accomplish the destruction of then* enemies. 
 Rev. Simon Bradstreet, of New London, expressed the 
 hope that " ye fight at ye swamp would be left to Pos- 
 terity ; " and, it has been, to some for condemnation, 
 and to others for praise. 
 
 When the spring opened, the Indians were abroad 
 with vengeance, and the dark cloud which had rested 
 over the river plantations of Massachusetts moved 
 eastward. Several towns were destroyed. Still they 
 kept on with their fasts, renewing their covenant with 
 God, and doing what they could toward a reformation 
 of morals. But the tide of war had already begun 
 to turn, and in the month of June it became evident 
 that the victory was theirs. At last they had pre- 
 vailed with God ! Connecticut had already antici- 
 pated a thanksgiving, and was getting ready to turn 
 its course of fasts into the same. The governor 
 
 1 See Biblio^aphy, No. 10. This sermon has never been g-iven a 
 date, that we are aware of, but in the preface it is said of Edward 
 Bulkley : " He did joyne with us therein on October 21, 75." 
 
 2 Sewairs Diary, i. 11. 
 
200 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 and magistrates of Massachusetts, it seems, were in- 
 clined to the Uke action, but the ministers were still 
 for fasting. Increase Mather and James Allen had 
 moved the General Court, requesting them to set such 
 a fast day, but they would not, neither would the 
 council when the elders urged them to it.^ On the 
 contrary, the council determined to have a thanks- 
 giving, and on the 20 th of June they appointed one for 
 the 29th. A copy of the broadside is extant in the 
 library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, being 
 the earliest thanksgiving broadside known. Thus the 
 spell of fasting was broken, and it was remarked by 
 many that " from the Time of the Resolve upon it, 
 ever since, we have experienced little else than re- 
 newed Mercies and Smiles of Providence." 
 
 We have an interesting episode of family history 
 in connection with that day. When the Indians fell 
 upon Lancaster, they carried away captive the wife 
 of the minister. Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, and her 
 children. The " Narrative of the Captivity, Suffer- 
 ings, and Removes " has come down to us from her own 
 hand. Her infant child died on the march through 
 the wilderness, and her son and daughter were sepa- 
 rated from her. The ladies of the South Church 
 in Boston raised the funds for her ransom, which was 
 finally effected, and she reached Concord on the 3d 
 of May, the day on which Rev. William Hubbard 
 preached his four-hour election sermon. The day 
 before the thanksgiving, as Mr. Rowlandson and his 
 wife were sorrowfully journeying toward Newbury, 
 they received the news that their son had come in at 
 Portsmouth. Prepared thus for a joyful service, that 
 1 Rox. chh. rec, N. E. Beg., xxxiii. 298. 
 
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 5^ 
 
 
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 4u v» O T Ti 
 
 
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 ox: 3 *^^^ o 
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 ^v2 ^ w C o Ci,^ 
 
 t* o a ." tji> o 
 cu^ Jo -ci r'^a •»; -- . 
 
 
 
 5-^ 
 
 
 
 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS, 201 
 
 worthy minister preached next day in the meeting- 
 house to a deeply affected congregation ; and it was 
 after he had done, and possibly as they were about to 
 sit down to some frugal thanksgiving feast, that a 
 messenger arrived, having ridden with all speed from 
 Boston, bringing the news that his daughter also was 
 safe among the good people of Providence. So were 
 their hearts at last made glad. 
 
 Concerning the thanksgiving in Connecticut, Au- 
 gust 30, we have only this fact to mention, that it 
 was the conclusion of a long series of fast days, the 
 most extended in their colonial history.^ 
 
 But the thanksgiving at Plymouth, August 17, 
 affords details of greatest interest. Later writers 
 have put upon those descendants of the Pilgrims the 
 imputation that their thanksgiving was appointed on 
 account of the death of King Philip.^ This is un- 
 true. The original liistorians record the fact that it 
 was appointed before they had heard of Philip's fate, 
 August 12, at the hands of Captain Benjamin Church. 
 Hubbard's record is as follows : " This was done the 
 12th day of August, 1676, a remarkable testimony 
 of divine favor to the Colony of Plimouth, who had 
 for the former successes appointed the 17th day of 
 August following to be kept as a day of solem 
 thanksgiving to Almighty God." ^ Increase Mather 
 says : " A little before this, the Authority in that 
 Colony had appointed the seventeenth of this instant 
 
 ^ See page 196, note 3. 
 
 2 Drake's Hist, and Antiq. of Boston, p. 428, says : " Such was the 
 joy caused by the news of Philip's death that in five days after, it 
 was celebrated by a thanksgiving"." In his edition of Churches His- 
 tory, i. 45, Dr. H. M. Dexter questioned this fact. 
 
 3 Hubbard's Indian Wars, i. 267, 268. 
 
202 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 to be observed as a day of pubKck Thanksgiving 
 throughout that Jurisdiction on account of wonderfid 
 success against the Enemy, which the Lord hath 
 blessed them with ever since they renewed their Cove- 
 nant with him ; and so they might have hearts raised 
 and enlarged in ascribing praises to God, he delivered 
 Philip into their hands a few dayes before their in- 
 tended Thanksgiving." ^ The day was then set apart 
 " a little before this," and on account of " former 
 successes." Bat the manuscript records of the Ply- 
 mouth church settle the question by saying that the 
 " Governor and Magistrates the week before his 
 death sent an order to all our ches to keep August 12 
 [17] as a day of publick Thanksgiving." August 12 
 was Saturday, and the thanksgiving the Thursday 
 following. Captain Church and his company went 
 the next day after Philip's death to Rhode Island, and 
 on Tuesday started through the woods for Plymouth. 
 With joyful hearts did the people of Plymouth 
 come forth from their homes that thanksgiving morn- 
 ing at the call to worship, fathers and mothers and 
 children wending their way up the path to the sum- 
 mit of Burial Hill, where their heavy-timbered fort 
 stood, on its flat roof the sentinel, watching as he 
 paced to and fro, and the cannon — a fitting symbol 
 of their holy warfare — peering angrily through the 
 battlements, for there in the lower part was their 
 meeting-house. They carried swords and muskets as 
 well as Ainsworth Psalm-books. It was a striking 
 assembly, the men on one side of the house and the 
 women on the other, — serious and solemn, all of 
 them. The minister was the Rev. John Cotton, son 
 
 ^ Mather's Hist., pp. 196, 197, 
 
JACOB'S TROUBLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 203 
 
 of a noble father. He began the service with a 
 prayer, and no one can doubt that it was "un- 
 stinted" that day. What scriptures he might have 
 read of ancient wars and victories ! What a chance 
 was theirs in that congregation, when the psahn was 
 announced, for the nasal exercise of quavers and 
 semi-quavers ! Was it the tenth ? 
 
 " Jehovah King, for ever is 
 
 and to continual aye : 
 Out of his land the Heathen-men 
 are perished away." 
 
 The minister doubtless had special unction in his 
 discourse, or, if he lacked in that, he made it up in 
 length, and they were indeed, and perhaps in more 
 than one sense, a thankful people upon whom he pro- 
 nounced the benediction. Was it just then that the 
 signal was given by the sentry annoimcing the ap- 
 proach of soldiers towards the town ? That very day, 
 at all events, — and the manuscript church records 
 say " soone after the publick worship was ended," — 
 the company of Church came to Plymouth, and with 
 them they bore the head of King Philip. " So," says 
 the minister Cotton, " in the day of our praises our 
 eyes saw the Salvation of God." Thus, says the pro- 
 digy-loving historian of those days, " did God break 
 the head of that Leviathan, and gave it to be meat 
 to the people inhabiting the wilderness." And there 
 on the casement of their fort it whitened for many a 
 day, until a curiosity-loving divine of Boston took the 
 jaw home for his collection. 
 
 So the days of autumn came on. The sounds of 
 war rolled northward like dying thunder ; the harvests, 
 saved from a drought, were gathered in abimdance ; 
 
204 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the infection of sickness liad ceased ; and they had 
 promise that ship-loads of provisions and clothing 
 would soon follow the prayers of more than one fast 
 day in Old England and Ireland. This is how it 
 was that, when the time for their autumn festival was 
 fully ripe, they turned gratefully from the blackened 
 ruins of their former homes and the newly made 
 graves of their heroes, and, remembering the year 
 which knew no such festival, again sought the sanctu- 
 ary to sing praises unto Him who had delivered Jacob 
 from his trouble in the wilderness. 
 
 " Sleep, soldiers of merit, sleep, gallants of yore, 
 The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er ; 
 While the fir-tree is green and the wind rolls a wave, 
 The teardrop shall brighten the turf of the brave." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE REFORMATION FASTS. 
 
 1675-1680. 
 
 The movement for the reformation of the New 
 England churches arose out of the belief that the 
 calamities of King Philip's War were the climax of 
 divine punishment upon a backslidden Israel. The 
 ministers at once began to testify against a multitude 
 of provoking sins, and the civil authorities to enact 
 laws to restrain and pimish the transgressors. 
 
 On the 13th of October, 1675, when the Gen- 
 eral Court of Massachusetts met at Boston, a com- 
 mittee was appointed, says Increase Mather, " in order 
 to a reformation of those evils which have provoked 
 the Lord to bring the sword upon us." ^ This com- 
 mittee called upon the teaching elders of the churches 
 for advice and help, and beyond doubt the leading 
 mind in their counsels was Increase Mather himself, 
 then the most influential minister in the colony, and to 
 whom, more than any other, the progress of the reform- 
 ing movement is due. This same court passed certain 
 ordinances aimed to prevent profanity, dnmkenness, 
 gambling, etc., in the army ; ^ and these were approved 
 by the council at Hartford on the 10th of January 
 following.^ The committee made their return to the 
 court on the 19th of October; and though it is rarely 
 
 1 Mather's Hist, of King Philip's War, p. 98. 
 
 2 Mass. Col. Rec, v. 49, 50. » Conn. Cd. Bee., ii. 392-394. 
 
206 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 met with, and has never assumed its proper impor- 
 tance in ecclesiastical history, it was the basis of the 
 laws subsequently enacted in the several colonies for 
 reformation. It was largely the work of Increase 
 Mather, and probably from his own pen. From his 
 own draft he seems to have printed it in his " History 
 of King Philip's War." ^ Having been favorably re- 
 ceived by the court, another committee was appointed 
 to frame laws in accordance with its recommendations. 
 These were passed on the 3d of November, and are 
 to be found in the Colonial Records.^ Thus was 
 begun the New England reformation, which had been 
 brewing in the minds of the ministers for many 
 years.^ A deep impression was made at once upon 
 the religious life of the people. The laws, which 
 were well understood to be but an expansion of an 
 ecclesiastical utterance, became the creed of the re- 
 formers. Ministers quoted them in their discourses, 
 and to an extent they revived prosecutions in the 
 courts. No doubt they did good by awakening the 
 people to observe the Sabbath, to restrain intemper- 
 ance, and train the children in morals and religion. 
 Edward Randolph, in his report to the Coimcil of 
 Trade,* taking a more reasonable view of the causes of 
 the Indian War, nevertheless refers to these laws, and 
 intimates that the trouble was generally ascribed to 
 these provoking evils. 
 
 1 Mather's Hist., pp. 98-100. 
 
 2 Mass. Col. Bee, v. 5&-64. 
 
 ^ See, especially, Increase Mather's fast sermon, Fehruary 11, 
 1673-4, and Samuel Willard's, June 16, 1670, and June 13, 1672. In 
 the latter, Willard says : " Many dayes of Humiliation have been kept 
 
 . . to no purpose." 
 
 * Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, iii. 241, 
 242; N. Hamp. CoL Mec, i. 342, 343. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS. 207 
 
 In Connecticut the General Court of May, 1676, 
 enacted laws similar to those of Massachusetts, with 
 the prominent omission of those against the Quakers, 
 and wearing " long haire " by men, and " borders of 
 hajre " by women.^ Meanwhile, however, the refor- 
 mation had taken on an ecclesiastical form in that 
 colony, with which we have particularly to do, namely, 
 the keeping of fast days for the " renewal of covenant " 
 as a means of reforming, — a custom which spread 
 throughout the churches of New England. The Coun- 
 cil of Connecticut had before it, on the 7th of March 
 previous, certain " collections drawn up by the minis- 
 ters." These, which have not survived in the state 
 archives, were probably articles setting forth the 
 evils needing reformation, and, accompanied by an 
 order for a fast day March 22, were sent out to the 
 churches.2 Rev. James Fitch, of Norwich, in a letter 
 to the council dated March 13, rejoicing that the 
 Lord had moved them to such a seasonable work, 
 said : " We intend, God willing, to take that very 
 daye, solemnly to renew our covenant in our church 
 state, according to the example in Ezra's time, & as 
 was sometimes practised in Hartford congregation by 
 Mr. Stone, not long after Mr. Hooker's death. If 
 other churches doe not see cause to doe the same, yet 
 wee hope it will not bee offensive ; but doe verily con- 
 clude if y' be rule for y* practise, this is a time wherein 
 the Providence of God does in a knocking & terrible 
 maner call for it." ^ It appears, then, that this had 
 been a custom in the Hartford church. Possibly it 
 had been practiced in other churches, as at Salem in 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Bee, ii. 280-283. 2 75^^.^ jj. 296, 297, 414. 
 
 « Ibid., ii. 417 n. 
 
208 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 1663, but we find no evidence of it earlier than this, 
 and it certainly had never been general hitherto. In 
 the prefatory address to Increase Mather's fast ser- 
 mon, " Returning unto God etc," preached March 
 17, 1679-80, he refers to the custom, and seems to 
 admit that it was a " new practice," as some had 
 charged, and justifies it on the ground that it ought 
 to have been done long ago. He also notes the objec- 
 tions to it in connection with his sermon of March 
 21, 1676-7. That the example of Mr. Fitch had a 
 wide influence, and was taken up by Mather, may be 
 inferred from Cotton Mather's testimonial to him 
 in the " Magnalia," in which he also commends the ser- 
 mon preached at Norwich on that fast day, afterwards 
 published with the title, " An Explanation of the Sol- 
 emn Advice Recommended by the Council in Con- 
 necticut Colony," etc.^ For more than thirty years 
 the practice was continued annually in the Norwich 
 church, and within a few months after its first obser- 
 vance the churches in Massachusetts, Plymouth, and 
 Connecticut were doing the same. 
 
 The exercises on these days were peculiar. An im- 
 portant feature was the public recognition of the 
 youth as children of the covenant. Parents undoubt- 
 edly had been remiss in family training and the church 
 in catechetical instruction. This was a revival of 
 religious instruction in the churches. Ministers began 
 to put the catechisms to a systematic use. Lists of 
 the youth were made in the parishes, who were statedly 
 subjected to an examination by the minister, — a cus- 
 tom which continued until the early part of the present 
 century, and in the absence of Sunday-schools accom- 
 ^ Magnolia, ii. 334. See Bibliography, No. 11. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS. 209 
 
 pUshed much good. Those to be catechized in Dor- 
 chester in 1676 were from seven to thirty-one years 
 of age.^ Upon the day of renewing the covenant 
 such of them as woidd, publicly acknowledged the 
 government of the church, having been first addressed 
 by the pastor and the elder. It was a kind of half- 
 way covenant, — a pledge to lead righteous lives, 
 though not as yet admitted to the Lord's table. And 
 it was the children's part in this fast-day service, and 
 the utility of such a covenant, which perpetuated these 
 covenant days for so many years. 
 
 We return to the chronological order of events. On 
 the 9th of May, 1676, the General Court of the Bay 
 Colony kept a fast day in the Town House at Boston. 
 The ministers of the colony were in attendance. We 
 believe that on this occasion Increase Mather delivered 
 his address entitled " An Earnest Exhortation to the 
 Inhabitants of New England," etc., and to this conclu- 
 sion we are led by the fitness of the discourse for the 
 circumstances, as well as the fact that he says it was 
 written two or three months before the date of the 
 preface, which was July 26. In this he not only 
 gives a general review of the calamities of the war, but 
 he urges the covenant feature as the most commend- 
 able means for furthering the reformation movement.^ 
 He ever attached particular importance to it as appeas- 
 ing the divine wrath, and, besides some special testi- 
 
 1 Dor. chh. rec, pp. 72-74, 183-185. 
 
 2 This was a prominent head in his discourse : *' Solemn Renewal 
 of Covenant with God in Jesus Christ is a ^reat Scripture expedient 
 in order to Reformation." He advises the churches to attend to it 
 with seriousness and sincerity, and the court to recommend it to them, 
 though not impose it, lest it meet with opposition in some places. The 
 whole exhortation shows that it was an address to magistrates and 
 representatives of the churches. See Bibliography, No. 12. 
 
210 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 monials of favor which he connects with this day, he 
 says of it : " There are [those] who have dated the 
 turn of Providence towards us in this Colony, and 
 against the Enemy, in a wonderful manner, from this 
 day forward." ^ But there is more evidence in the 
 same line. The Plymouth church records inform us 
 — though there is no mention whatever of it in the 
 Colonial Records — that the General Court of that 
 colony which met in June, being sensible of the heavy 
 hand of God upon them, appointed the 22d of June as 
 a fast, and " added thereto a solemn motion to all the 
 churches to renew a Covenant engagement to God for 
 Eeformation of all provoking evills." Here, then, just 
 three months after the renewal of covenant by Fitch, 
 we find the court at Plymouth recommending the 
 same to the churches within that jurisdiction, as 
 Mather wanted the Massachusetts court to do. It 
 will be remembered that their appointed day was just 
 one week before the thanksgiving already mentioned 
 in Massachusetts, June 29, 1676 ; and there is no 
 doubt that the main reason why Increase Mather, 
 James Allen, and some others of the ministers wanted 
 a fast at that time, and asked the court to appoint 
 one, was for a similar move toward the renewal of 
 covenant in the Bay Colony. As already recorded, the 
 court refused, and so did the council. Did any of 
 the Massachusetts churches keep such a day notwith- 
 standing ? Yes, one, and that Mather's own church, 
 the Second of Boston ; they kept June 21. Eliot 
 intimates that this was the outcome of the refusal of 
 the court and council; and Mather also recognizes 
 the affinity between the fast in his church and the 
 1 Mather's Hist., pp. 144, 145. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS, 211 
 
 public fast in Plymouth when he says : " June 21 was 
 kept as a day of solemn Humiliation in one of the 
 Churches in Boston, so was the next day in all the 
 Churches throughout the Colony of PHmouth. After 
 which we have not received such sad tidings, as usually 
 such dayes have been attended with ever since the 
 Warr began." ^ Elsewhere he refers to this action of 
 the Plymouth court, and associates with it the turn 
 of Providence in Plymouth Colony, making special 
 note of this feature, that they did solenmly renew their 
 Covenant with God and one another^ and putting 
 those words in italics.^ Many churches there renewed 
 covenant Jime 22. The Plymouth church, at the 
 close of their fast-day exercises, appointed a day for 
 that purpose, which was the 18tli of July, and their 
 records furnish further information as to the covenant 
 acknowledged. We conclude, therefore, that Mather 
 and some of his brethren of Massachusetts adopted 
 the idea which James Fitch had taken from an earlier 
 example in the Hartford church under Samuel Stone, 
 that they were the influential cause of the action in 
 Plymouth Colony, and that they failed of the same in 
 Massachusetts on account of the encouraging aspect 
 of affairs. Then followed the thanksgivings of Au- 
 gust and November, and for the time the reformation 
 movement was laid by. 
 
 The next action was taken by Connecticut. In 
 October the General Court, after appointing the 
 thanksgiving, issued a proclamation for a reformation 
 fast the 15th of November. The order notes that 
 " some solemne reflections haue been recommended to 
 the several churches and congregations," but " little 
 1 Mather's Hist,, p. 163. 2 jft^v?., pp. 181, 182. 
 
212 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 effect " has been observed ; therefore a second occasion 
 for humiliation is appointed.^ 
 
 Meanwhile the ministers of Massachusetts, though 
 somewhat diverted by fasts for their "messengers 
 sent into England," were discussing the reformation 
 among themselves. Private meetings were held, as 
 Sewall's '' Diary " shows, to consider the prevaiUng sins. 
 By the month of February there was sufficient interest 
 to induce the governor and council to set a public 
 reformation fast for the 1st of March. The procla- 
 mation is found in full in the Dorchester church rec- 
 ords,2 and there alone, so far as we are aware ; and, 
 excepting Hull's " Diary," it is the only evidence found 
 of such a day. Nor are we in doubt as to the reason 
 for this unusual record in that church's archives : it is 
 said that it was because the same was " moe than usu- 
 ally was wont to be." It surely was in length and in 
 tone. In some other instances the drafts of proclama- 
 tions in the hand of Increase Mather have been found, 
 but here we have only the style and the circumstances 
 to submit in evidence of its authorship. Yet we un- 
 hesitatingly claim that Mather wrote it. The Dorches- 
 ter church met the day before the public fast to con- 
 sider in what they had fallen short of their covenant, 
 and subsequently, on March 4, adopted a reformation 
 covenant and proceeded with the work.^ Doubtless 
 other churches did the same, but the plan is best illus- 
 trated in the full records of this church, to which the 
 interested student is referred. It was at one of these 
 meetings — a church fast at Dorchester, March 21, 
 1676-7 — that Increase Mather preached his sermon 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Rec, ii. 296, 297. 2 Dor. chh. rec, pp. 71, 72. 
 
 8 Ibid., pp. 17-20, 69-74. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS. 213 
 
 entitled " Renewal of Covenant the great Duty incum- 
 bent on decaying or distressed Churches." ^ Thus was 
 this feature of the reformation movement adopted by 
 the churches. 
 
 The years 1677 and 1678 present no new interest 
 in our study. PubUc affairs engaged attention, and 
 the smallpox broke out, for which causes mainly the 
 colonies fasted. Yet the movement progressed by 
 the aid of conference meetings and vigorous sermons. 
 Increase Mather's fast sermon, "Pray for the Rising 
 Generation," ^ may suffice to show the temper of the 
 pulpit. A general revival of religious interest was 
 manifest everywhere. When the Commissioners of the 
 United Colonies convened at Hartford, September 5, 
 1678, they expressed this by recommending a joints 
 fast day the 21st of November. It was kept by all, 
 each issuing its own proclamation, in which the par- 
 ticulars recited by the commissioners were introduced.^ 
 These were six in niunber, and the fifth shows the re- 
 lation of the occasion to the reformation, — " That a 
 spirit of conversion may be poured out upon our chil- 
 dren, that they may give up themselves and their seed 
 after them to be the Lord's, willingly subjecting them- 
 selves to all his holy rules and government in his 
 house." At least two sermons preached on that fast 
 were printed, and both contain in their titles the sen- 
 timents of the time. Joseph Rowlandson preached at . 
 Wethersfield, Conn., on "The Possibility of God's! 
 Forsaking a people that have been visibly near & dear / 
 to him;" and William Adams preached at Dedham, 
 
 1 See Bibliography, No. 13. 2 jj^v/., No. 14. 
 
 8 Pit/. Col. Bee, X. 398, 399 ; Mass. Col. Rec, v. 196 ; Conn. Col 
 Rec.y iii. 20, 21. 
 
 y 
 
i 
 
 214 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Mass., on " The Necessity of the pouring out of the 
 Spirit from on High upon a Sinning Apostatizing 
 People." ^ From these we may judge of the character 
 ot, the day evt rvwliere in Xew England. It is possi- 
 ble that this humiliation caused the omission of the 
 autumnal thanksgiving day in the Bay Colony, as a 
 sunilar occasion had in 1675, or left it to the orderuig 
 o£ churches and the inclination of the people.^ Con- 
 necticut had kept October 31, and Plymouth Novem- 
 ber 6. 
 
 Having now this knowledge of the strength of the 
 movement, it would be expected that it would formu- 
 late its opinions in an assembly of the churches. It 
 did so in what is known as the " Reforming Synod " 
 of 1679. The phrase "Mather's Synod" would be ap- 
 propriate, for it was largely his own affair, and the 
 modem critic is prepared to appreciate the spelling of 
 an ancient chronicler who calls it a " Sin-od." The 
 General Court of Massachusetts had before it, May 
 28, 1679, a lengthy petition, which is characterized in 
 the Colonial Records as " a motion made by some of the 
 reuerend elders, that there might be a convening of 
 the elders & messengers of the churches in forme of a 
 synod, for the reuisall of the platforme of discipljne 
 agreed vpon by the churches, 1647, and what else 
 may appeare necessary for the preventing schishmes, 
 haeresies, prophaness, & the establishment of the 
 churches in one faith & order of the gospell." The 
 original is preserved in the state archives, and is 
 signed by the following ministers: John Eliot, In- 
 
 ^ See Bibliography, Nos. 15 and 16. 
 
 ^ Dorchester kept December 18, and the record afiPords negative 
 evidence that a previous thanksgiving had not been kept. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS, 215 
 
 crease Mather, Samuel Torrey, Samuel Willard, Moses 
 Fiske, Josiah Flint, Thomas Clark, James Sherman, 
 Joseph Whiting, Samuel Cheever, Samuel Phillips, 
 Solomon Stoddard, Samuel Whiting, Sen., Thomas 
 Cobbet, Edward Bulkely, John Sherman, John Hig- 
 ginson, John Hale, Samuel Whiting, Jun'., and John 
 Wilson. 1 
 
 At the same time, and of even date with it, a draft 
 of a proclamation for a public fast was presented. It 
 is printed in the Colonial Records. The original manu- 
 script, however, is in the archives, and the curious can 
 satisfy themselves by the handwriting that the author 
 was Increase Mather.'-^ The motion of the ministers 
 was agreed to, and the synod was called for September 
 10, and so also was the proclamatio» issued appoint- 
 ing the 10th of July as a fast to pray for it. A manu- 
 script sermon by Ichabod Wiswall, of Duxbury, in the 
 collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, also 
 shows that the event was remembered " On a fast 
 daye being gennerall in Coloney New Plymouth, 16 of 
 July 1679," though it Ls the only evidence we have of 
 the fact. The two questions propounded for considera- 
 tion, also extant in Mather's hand, were: "1. What 
 are y® EuiLs that haue provoked the Lord to bring his 
 Judgments on New England? 2. What is to be done 
 that so those evils may be reformed ? " When the 
 time came, all the messengers did not put in an ap- 
 pearance, and the synod adjourned to September 16, 
 when they kept a fast, the aged Thomas Cobbett 
 preaching in the morning and Increase Mather in the 
 afternoon. After abundant consideration, a committee, 
 of which Mather was the penman, drew up the result, 
 1 State Archives: Ecc,, x. 196. 2 1^^,^ x. 20. 
 
216 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 which is found in the " Magnalia," and a manuscript 
 draft of the same is in the American Antiquarian So- 
 ciety. The prevailing view of provoking evils was 
 sustained, and measures were recommended for reform- 
 ing and training the rising generation, and especially 
 was the practice of " renewal of covenant " on days of 
 humiliation encouraged. On the 15th of October the 
 General Court approved the result and commended it 
 to the churches. Furthermore, they ordered a public 
 fast for December 11 to pray for grace to reform 
 those evils that had been witnessed against by the 
 synod. The Colonial Records do not mention this 
 fast, and we know of no evidence of it other than a 
 single copy of the proclamation in broadside in the 
 library of the Connecticut Historical Society. It has 
 the unmistakable earmarks of the reverend author of 
 everything else connected with the reformation, of 
 which the reader can judge : — 
 
 [seal.] 
 
 At A 
 
 General Court 
 
 Held at Boston, October 15, 1679. 
 
 This Court being sensible of the solemn Rebukes of God upon his 
 poor People | throughout this Land, from year to year ; our Do- 
 ings against the Lord having pro | voked the eyes of his glory, 
 so as that he hath visited us with the Sword, and since | that, 
 hath given a Commission to the destroying Angel, in respect of 
 a sore and terrible | Disease, which hath been of long continu- 
 ance, and more contagious and mortal then in | former times ; 
 and his holy Hand is in that way stretched out stil over some of 
 our Plantations. | And very lately, the Lord God hath called 
 to contend by Fire, which hath devoured a great part of ] that 
 Town, in whose welfare all New-England is concerned ; and 
 therefore we have all cause with [ bleeding hearts, to lament 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS. 217 
 
 over the doleful Ruines and Desolations, which the Lord for our 
 iniquityes | hath in one day brought upon us : especially consid- 
 ering, that at the same time, God is taking away | from us the 
 Fruits of the earth, by a greater Blasting then heretofore we have 
 had experience of. And | the Lords Watchmen, with the gen- 
 erality of serious Christians, are not without sad thoughts of 
 heart | lest if we be not reformed by these things, God should 
 punish us yet seven times for our sins, yea and at | last remove 
 our Candlesticks out of their places: and there are already some 
 awfull Symptons of a | Famine of hearing the Word of the 
 Lord ; and other spiritual Judgments, calling upon us to gather 
 our I selves together, in a way of solemn Humiliation and Re- 
 pentance before the Decree bring forth. Being | also sensible 
 that the Churches of Christ abroad in the world, are wrestling 
 with sore distressing | difficultyes, in this day of trouble, when 
 the Children are come to the birth, but there is not strength 
 to I "bring forth, | 
 
 Do therefore appoint the second Thursday in December next, 
 to be observed as a day | of publick Humiliation throughout this 
 Jurisdiction, earnestly exhorting all the Inhabitants | thereof not 
 only to confess but to forsake their Sins, that so they may find 
 mercy with God | through Jesus Christ, and to cry mightily to 
 Heaven, as for pardon, so for Grace to reform, | those evils that 
 have by the late Reverend Synced been witnessed against, and de- 
 clared to be 1 the provoking procuring causes of the Lords Con- 
 troversy with New-England. As also to pray | that the Lord 
 would remember his people in Europe, more especially in the 
 Land of our Fore- | Fathers Sepulchres, maintaining his own 
 Cause as the matter may require. 
 
 Edward Rawson Seer, 
 
 Thus did the ecclesiastical statesman of Massachu- 
 setts carry his point, advancing the reformation by 
 the authority of the court, and securing their sanction 
 for the plan of renewing covenant with God. The 
 churches responded to the advice of the synod, and 
 such as had not already done so had covenanting 
 days. On the 17th of March, 1679-80, at such 
 an occasion in the Second Church, Increase Mather 
 
218 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 and Samuel Willard preached sermons which are in 
 print. 1 It was some.^mes customary to hold a pre- 
 paratory service, and even to read the result of the 
 synod. Upon the fast appointed, before a solemn 
 assembly at which neighboring ministers were present, 
 the covenant was read and consented to by the people, 
 " the brethren lifting up their hands and ^yhe women 
 only standing up." It was an all-day se'^vice, with 
 only a brief intermission, a visiting clergyman preach- 
 ing in the afternoon. Those who made most of the 
 children's covenant found also a place for it in the 
 exercises. No one form of covenant ^^revailed, each 
 church adopting its own; but the le which is 
 found in the "Magnalia" was used by '^ide in the 
 was undoubtedly that drafted by Increase Txier tor 
 the Second Church in Boston. ^ The Thid Church 
 employed it June 29, 1680, fwhen Samuel Willard 
 preached on " The Necessity of Sincerity in renewing 
 Covenant." DorchestcT* ^nd Salem ^' ^d forms of 
 their own. Michael ^ ^lesworth composed the one 
 employed by the Maiden church April 15, 1680, a 
 public fast, upon which many churches renewed cove- 
 nant. It was printed in a quaiiio form in 1727, and 
 probably used December 21 on account of the earth- 
 quake.^ 
 
 Connecticut had no part in the " Reforming Synod," 
 and the custom which had been instituted within its 
 borders had only a limited observance. But the pro- 
 clamation for a fast June 16, 1680, shows a sympathy 
 with the efforts of their neighbors. The reformation 
 would never have gained such strength in Massachu- 
 
 1 See Bibliography, Nos. 17 and IS. ^ Magnolia, ii. 332, 333. 
 
 ^ Copy in Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
THE REFORMATION FASTS, 219 
 
 setts but for the indefatigablr efforts of Increase 
 Mather, and he gained no litt-;3' influence by it. He 
 became the foremost prophet of Israel, and perhaps 
 there is no better evidence of it than the keeping of 
 October 13, 1680, as a thanksgiving in the First 
 Church for his recovery from a sickness which followed 
 his arduoi labors. In liis manuscript diary he calls 
 it a " public thanksgiving," but we judge that he refers 
 only to the churches of Boston which were there repre- 
 sented, and whose ministers offered him their congrat- 
 ulations. * 
 
 It must not ^ e thought that such covenanting fasts 
 
 soon P'>"^^'1 ' fc of date ; they passed rather into the 
 
 ^T^-^th^T ^^ * ^ ^^^^ churches. They were kept up at 
 
 intervals fifty years, as church records and printed 
 
 sermons pfove.^ 
 
 But the people could not always wear " sackcloth 
 and ashes." Soon their fears subsided. In the words 
 of Willartl's i*mon title, nd 'found that " the fiery 
 trial was no strange thing."^ In some respects the 
 effect of the' reformation movement was beneficial, in 
 others injurious. Greater interest was thereafter taken 
 in the children. They were regarded as under the 
 watch and care of the church. Catechisms were 
 brought out and used. Perhaps the churches were 
 strengthened by it, and certainly the membership was 
 increased. But it did not accompHsh what was anti- 
 cipated, and the consequent depression over the sup- 
 posed degeneracy continued for years. Its effect upon 
 
 1 The titles of several sermons may be found in the Bibliography. 
 On the 30th of May, 1694, the ministers again memorialized the Gen- 
 eral Assembly on the subject of reformation, referring to this former 
 attempt and the laws of 1675. See State Archives : Ecc.^ xi. 79, 80 ; 
 Acts and Resolves , vii. 537-540. 
 
 ^ 
 
220 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the laws was marked, but they were carried to extremes 
 and became inoperative. At one time the ministers 
 read certain of them annually from the pulpit. The 
 church was thus burdened with a responsibility which 
 belonged to the courts, and that was injurious to both. 
 After the immediate excitement had died away, New 
 England life was very much the same as it had been, 
 and that was very far from exhibiting any evidences 
 that the people belonged to a degenerate race. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 1684-1692. 
 
 The primary authority for the appointment of New 
 England fast and thanksgiving days was vested in the 
 churches. This was their birthright in England. In 
 Plymouth, Massachusetts^ Connecticut, and New Ha- 
 ven colonies the congregations by distinct vote named 
 their days. Even after the power had become a recog- 
 nized function of government, some churches, for a 
 time, continued to vote on the keeping of those thus 
 proclaimed. This right has never been invalidated, 
 though it has fallen into disuse. Church fasts — 
 which the practice of fasting on installation days, 
 afterwards changed to feasting, kept alive many years 
 — have been discontinued. It rests now with the 
 churches to say whether or not they will observe a fast 
 day, and whether it shall be on Good Friday or 
 some other day. Civil authority can set a holiday, but 
 it cannot secure the observance of a holy day. In 
 early times the elder or minister proposed a fast or 
 thanksgiving day to the church, stating the reasons 
 moving thereto, upon which the church voted. Any 
 individual could " put up a bill " for prayer or thanks- 
 giving in the Sunday service on his own behalf. So, 
 in the larger application of the principle, any minister 
 or number ^ ministers could prepare a proclamation 
 
 ./ 
 
222 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 and lay it before the General Court or the governor 
 and council. The theory was that the court acted at 
 the desire of the churches. Its sanction brought the 
 day under the laws which protected its holy character, 
 and compelled attendance upon the services. Our 
 custom of reading proclamations from the pulpit is a 
 recognition of the necessary assent of the church, and 
 grew out of it. We have instances at hand where this 
 assent was withheld, at least by a neglect of the day. 
 In course of time the vote was considered to be in the 
 affirmative, " no one speaking." There is every rea- 
 son why the custom of reading proclamations should 
 be perpetuated in Congregational churches as a recog- 
 nition of their own ecclesiastical authority, and it 
 should be on a previous Sunday as the warrant for 
 the appointment, rather than on the day itself as the 
 warrant for assembling. 
 
 It was because the ministers had the right to move 
 for these appointments that they wrote so many of 
 the proclamations of colonial times. As they lost 
 this, the civil authorities assumed it, and gradually the 
 proclamation became an affair of the governor. If 
 no draft was presented, the secretary advised with 
 some one of the neighboring ministers as to the 
 causes which might properly be enumerated. There 
 are instances where a minister was a member of the 
 General Court, and was delegated by them to draw 
 up a proclamation. Though the governor did, doubt- 
 less, sometimes write it, or one of the magistrates, the 
 larger part, down to th3 setting up of the provincial 
 government, exhibit the style of the minister. In 
 Massachusetts, however, from about 1650 to 1692, a 
 considerable number of the original drafts are extant 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 223 
 
 in the archives, and there they may be seen in the 
 handwriting of their ministerial authors. Increase 
 Mather wrote some of the most important, and later 
 his son. Cotton Mather, did the same. 
 
 The transfer of authority from the church to the 
 state was gTadual. Dmdng the colonial period no em- 
 vbarrassment could arise, for the state was the church 
 acting in a civil capacity. The General Court, com- 
 posed of church members, knew the pulse of the re- 
 ligious community, and answered to its wish. As it 
 was desirable that neighboring churches should keep 
 the same day, this was a convenient practice. But 
 the court was not in session at all times, and so au- 
 thority was granted to the governor and council to 
 issue proclamations, which they did, either at the re- 
 quest of ministers or upon consultation among them- 
 selves. This fact explains the absence of many dates 
 from the court records, wliich contain only such as 
 that body appointed, and not all of those ; ^ and fur- 
 thermore it indicates the reason for many erroneous 
 deductions as to these days, drawn from a very incom- 
 plete hst.2 There are more outside of the Colonial 
 Records than in them. Authority was granted to the 
 governor and magistrates in Plymouth Colony by the 
 laws of 1636, though used before that, and in Con- 
 necticut by the General Court of May, 1655. It 
 seems to have been exercised by the governor in 
 
 ^ The probable explanation of these omissions is, that the proclama- 
 tion was drafted outside of the court, submitted to it, and the vote 
 indorsed on the document, so it was never attached to the records. 
 
 2 *' The Governor's Fast," Chas. E. Stevens, Esq., Congregationalist, 
 March, 31 1892 ; Customs and Fashions in Old New England^ Alice 
 Morse Earle ; Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay^ 
 vol. vii. 
 
224 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Massachusetts in early times, and February 22, 
 1630-1 is said by Winthi^op to have been apjDointed 
 by the "governour and council." In 1635 "a general 
 fast was proclaimed, which, because the court was not 
 at hand, was moved by the elders of the churches, 
 and assented unto by the ministers." ^ The standing 
 council was created about that time, and the power 
 passed over to them, though also exercised by the 
 court. With reference to December 13, 1638, Win- 
 throp says : "A general fast was kept upon the 
 motion of the elders to the Governour and Council." ^ 
 Thereafter this practice of appointment by the gov- 
 ernor and council was common, and from necessity 
 with such frequent days. The churches, however, 
 were exceedingly jealous of their rights, and a con- 
 flict between the authority of the church and the 
 state arose when the theocracy came to an end by the 
 downfall of the colonial charter. 
 
 The messengers who were sent to England to ward 
 off the threatened blow were followed with earnest 
 prayers. During the absence of William Stoughton 
 and Peter Bulkley, October 30, 1677, to December 
 23, 1679, their mission was referred to in the follow- 
 ing public fasts of Massachusetts : February 21, 
 1677-8, June 6, 1678, and July 10, 1679 ; and they 
 were welcomed home by a public thanksgiving, Jan- 
 uary 22, 1679. Again, when Joseph Dudley and 
 John Richards were in England, May 31, 1682, to 
 October 23, 1683, there were several fasts on their 
 account, — June 22, 1682, January 31, 1682-3, and 
 November 22, 1683, the last because the charter had 
 been called for. Their safe arrival in England also 
 1 Winthrop's Histj i. 216. ^ j^j^^,^ i. 337. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 225 
 
 was remembered in the thanksgiving November 23, 
 1682. The influence of the ministers was given 
 against yielding the charter, and some did not hesi- 
 tate to express their views in sermons. But at last 
 the charter died, October 23, 1684, and soon after its 
 royal enemy died als.o. When the former event be- 
 came knowTi in Boston, a pubhc fast was ordered for 
 March 12, 1684-5. Not until the 1st of July, how- 
 ever, did a copy of the judgment reach them. Mean- 
 while the General Court had set apart July 16 as a 
 public fast, the last day appointed imder their dearly 
 loved charter.! Still, as the weeks passed, their 
 dreaded governor did not arrive, and then the question 
 arose as to who should appoint their fast and thanks- 
 giving days. In the autumn there seemed, to some, 
 reason for a thanksgiving, the custom being at that 
 time all but annual. Sewall, in his " Diary," gives us 
 a good account of what followed in these entries : 
 "Oct. 22. . . . No Thanks-Giving this Session." 
 '* Nov. 6. Mr. Willard calls in and tells me of a 
 Thanks-Giving intended by the Ministers through the 
 Colony upon the 3d of the next Moneth : Go to the 
 Govern our to get his Approbation, which he doth not 
 presently grant ; but will speak of it in Council on 
 Thorsday next ; whether convenient for the Churches 
 generally to attend such a Day without an Order 
 from Authority as usual. The difficulty of Printing 
 an Order is, lest by putting in or leaving out, we 
 offend England." "Nov. 15. . . . Mr. WiUard 
 mentioned what the Elders had done as to a Thanks- 
 giving, and propounded to the Church that we might - 
 have one on the First Thorsday in December: be- 
 
 1 See State Archives : Ecc., xi. 88. 
 
226 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 cause had Fasted, and God had graciously answered 
 our Prayers ; so should meet Him in the same place 
 to give Thanks for that, and any other Providence 
 that hath passed before us. Silence gave Consent, 
 no one speaking." " Nov. 18. Uncomfortable Court 
 day by reason of the extream sharp words between 
 the Deputy Governour and Mr. Stoughton, Dudley 
 and Others. Some Essay to have put a Sanction 
 upon the Apointment for a Thanksgiving ; but it fell 
 throw. I argued 't was not fit upon meer Generals, 
 as (the Mercies of the year) to Coinand a Thanksgiv- 
 ing and of Particulars we could not agree. Govern- 
 our would have had one Article for the Peace of 
 England, ac(3ording to His Majesty's Proclamation." 
 " Nov. 20. . . . 'T was Essayed again to have had a 
 Sanction put on the Thanksgiving : but 't was again 
 pleaded, to do it without mentioning particular causes 
 would be to impose too much on those Comanded : 
 So feU." 1 
 
 It will not be inferred from this controversy that 
 any were opposed to thanksgivings, and the fact that 
 they were not then accustomed to have thanksgivings 
 for mere general causes is for the present passed. 
 Evidently the court purposely omitted the proclama- 
 tion for fear of giving oifense by " putting in or 
 leaving out." Then the ministers met and decided 
 to keep December 3, with sanction of civil authority 
 if it could be had, if not without it. They failed to 
 secure it. This therefore became an issue between 
 the old charter and the moderate parties. But the 
 point we notice particularly is, that the ministers con- 
 sidered it their prerogative to move for such appoint- 
 1 Sewall's Diary, i. 101-107. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 227 
 
 ments. The day was kept by the churches, and with 
 unusual interest among such as were disaffected with 
 the government. 
 
 The General Court recovered sufficient courage to 
 appoint a fast the 25th of March following ; but in 
 May the new government was set up, with Joseph 
 Dudley as president. The same question thereupon 
 appeared again, for the president and council issued 
 an order for a fast July 14, 1686, partly to pray for 
 rain, but principally " for a blessing upon the change 
 of government." The proclamation was read gener- 
 ally, but the day was neglected among the old charter 
 party so much as they dared in the face of laws com- 
 pelling their attendance upon worship. An example 
 was made of two prominent men of the town of 
 Woburn, William Johnson and Thomas Kendall, 
 who were made to take the oath of allegiance, and 
 were " sharply reproved by the Council " for stajring 
 at home on the fast day and having a company of 
 men gathered. ^ The issue appeared again when the 
 thanksgiving day November 25 was appointed, many 
 being sorely displeased at the preamble to the pro- 
 clamation : '' As also for that His Majesties Kingdoms, 
 and other His Majesties Plantations, flourish in all 
 happy peace and tranquility." 
 
 About this time there was a revival of interest in 
 keeping English holidays, and Christmas, Easter, and 
 saints' days, which reacted to strengthen the attach- 
 ment for fast and thanksgiving seasons. Of course 
 this was due to the Episcopalians. The New Eng- 
 landers had hitherto been favorably disposed toward 
 
 ^ Sewall's Diary ^1. 145, 146; Archives of Mass. : MS. Council Min,, 
 iL64. 
 
228 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 November 5, Guy Fawkes's Day, but when the church- 
 men commemorated it in their services, spiced with 
 sermons preached against the dissenters in the Town 
 House, it became unpopular. The king's birthday 
 was greeted with guns and military displays, and so 
 was the anniversary of his coronation. The people 
 were not in the mood to enjoy this. Some of those 
 dead Cromwellians must have turned in their graves 
 hard by at the ringing of a bell to call worshipers to 
 mourn the beheading of Charles I. Maypoles were 
 set up, and the customs of Shrove Tuesday revived. 
 So these " Whitsuntiders " or " Christmas-keepers," 
 as they were called, checked the growth of a more 
 liberal sentiment regarding Clu-istmas. In 1684 
 many had closed their shops on that day, but there 
 were fewer in 1685, and in 1686 " the shops were 
 generally open and persons about their occasions." 
 Sewall says : " Some somehow observe the day, but are 
 vexed, I believe, that the body of the People profane 
 it, and blessed be God no Authority yet to compell 
 them to keep it." Not until the provincial govern- 
 ment had been long established did the feeling sub- 
 side which was revived against these holy days during 
 this transitional period. 
 
 Sir Edmund Andros arrived December 20, 1686. 
 We have sought in vain for any evidence that a pub- 
 lic fast was kept in Massachusetts in the spring of 
 1687. Some churches may have set such a day, as 
 they did during the summer on account of caterpillars ; 
 but there was no disposition to move the royal gov- 
 ernor and council. The issue that was sure to come 
 slumbered until the time for thanksgiving drew near. 
 Then, the governor being absent in Connecticut, the 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 229 
 
 ministers concerted to keep November 17. The 
 causes are thus given in the Salem church records : 
 " 1, the mercy of the harvest ; 2, the mercy of the 
 King's declaration for liberty of Religion and confirma- 
 tion of our properties : and 3, for the general health 
 and peace amongst us here." But, alas ! the gov- 
 ernor returned to Boston the day before the contem- 
 plated thanksgiving, and, learning the facts, inter- 
 preted them as a defiance of his government, it being, 
 he thought, his prerogative to make such appointments, 
 as the custom was in England. In the evening, says 
 Sewall, he sends for the ministers, and " so Schools 
 them that the Thanksgiving is put by which was to 
 have been the 17th." It was too late, however, to in- 
 terrupt the services in remote towns which had taken 
 up the proposition, and the day was observed, as at 
 Salem. There was one minister, who was probably 
 among those summoned before his Excellency, who 
 never forgot that schooling : it was Increase Mather. 
 Accustomed, as he and His son Cotton Mather were, 
 to secure appointments and write proclamations, it 
 was a hard blow. The following spring this New 
 England bishop sailed for London. He then pre- 
 sented a " Memorial of Grievances " to the king, and 
 among them he recites further facts regarding this 
 occasion. " As to matters of religion," he says, " they 
 are inhibited the free exercise thereof, for they are 
 not allowed to set dayes for prayer or thanksgiving. 
 When the ministers in Boston had agreed with their 
 congregations solemnly to praise God because of the 
 Kings Declaration of Indulgences, Sir Edmund An- 
 dros enterteyned them with threatening words, say- 
 ing it was faction in them, and bad them meet at 
 
230 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 their perill, and told them that hee should then send 
 soldiers to guard them and their meeting-houses." ^ 
 In a " Memorial of the Dissenters of New England " 
 the matter is referred to in these words : " They are 
 not suffered to set apart dayes of prayer or thanksgiv- 
 ing, no not even for the blessing of your Gracious 
 Declaration for Liberty of Conscience. Nor were the 
 people there encouraged to make humble addresses 
 of thankes but y® contrary." ^ The church record 
 quoted is all the knowledge we have of what was a 
 statement of causes drawn up by the ministers, but 
 it was well they mentioned in it the declaration of 
 the king. Thus they made out a fair case on the 
 face of it, but in truth they cared more about their 
 right to keep such days as they pleased than about 
 this one item. On the other hand, there was rea- 
 sonable excuse for Governor Andros's action, and 
 the friends of his government must have agreed 
 with him, for he viewed such days as of civil appoint- 
 ment, as in England. When the ministers named 
 such a day they were usurping authority. It was too 
 late for them to recover what they had lost under 
 their theocratic administration, namely, this independ- 
 ence as congregations separated from the state. Had 
 they ever dreamed that a fast day would thus be or- 
 dered in Massachusetts without their free consent, 
 they would have cherished their religious rights more 
 diligently. 
 
 The governor, however, immediately summoned his 
 council, November 19, and put forth a proclamation 
 for a thanksgiving to be observed throughout all New 
 
 1 Andros Tracts, iii. 139 n. 
 "^ ^ Ibid. ; Archives of Mass. : Ecc, xi. 44. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 231 
 
 England the 1st of December following. The or- 
 der is here given as found in the archives of Con- 
 necticut : ^ — 
 
 Att a councill held att y* council chaber in boston on Sat : y" 
 19 d. of Nov. — 1687 — prest — His xcell S' Edm. Andros Kn*. &c. 
 God having bee infinitly & m'ciful to y" gov'n""* &c — order'd y' 
 thursday® 1*' da of Dec. nxt nsuin b solemnly & publicly kept 
 & obs. in al towns & pi. w0in y" hs Maj. territory & dominio 
 of N. E. as a day of pr. & thansgiv. to G almighty for hs 
 Majesties heal0 (who y Id g prserv. to reign ov' us) & hs many 
 royal favours bestow'd on h' subj' : here. & for all off blessings 
 & m'cies of heald plenty &c in 6es pts, & hubly to implore y* 
 contin. y'of. And o y* da al p'sons are to dsist fro al mail' 
 of servil workes or labour of w"** al minist" & off officers in y' 
 respectiv pi. are to give notice & conform yms. therevnto ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 By ord'. in couusil &c 
 
 In** West Sec'. 
 
 This was a general thanksgiving throughout New 
 England, and, though it was observed, the people 
 nowhere had a pleasure in it. In Plymouth, Massa- 
 chusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire it was not 
 out of the ordinary custom ; but in Rhode Island, 
 where any such days that may have been kept had 
 been by churches or families in sympathy with the 
 neighboring colonies, it was a strange god. There 
 some ignored it, not more because it was proclaimed 
 by Andros than because it was the introduction of a 
 new custom. For opening their shops Samuel Sta- 
 pleton and Christopher Hargall, of Newport, were 
 brought to court. The former made answer " that 
 he was above the observation of days and times ; " and 
 the latter said his boy opened the shop and wrought 
 on his own account, but had he not been lame " he did 
 
 1 State Arch. Conn. : MisceL, i. 33. Cf. State Arch. Mass. : Coun. 
 Min.y ii. 153, and Conn. Col. Rec, iii. 393. 
 
232 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 not know but that himself might have wrought." 
 Probably the authorities elsewhere winked at the neg- 
 lect of many. 
 
 In the spring of 1688 an opportunity was afforded 
 the governor for humbling his adversaries in the 
 dust. A thanksgiving had been celebrated in Eng- 
 land in January on account of the expectations of 
 the queen. According to Andros's theory of govern- 
 ment, the same should be ordered in the colonies. 
 Therefore, on the 18th of April, the following procla- 
 mation was issued : ^ — - 
 
 By his Excellency 
 
 A Proclamation appointing a time of publicke Thanksgiving 
 & prayers throwout this Dominion. Whereas it hath pleased 
 Allmighty God (who in signal manner hath blessed his Maj"' 
 & his kingdomes & Dominions under his Maj"*" Govern' with 
 great prosperity, peace & plenty) to give his Maj"*' also appar- 
 ent hopes & good assurance of having issue by his Royall Con- 
 sort the Queen, who (through Gods great goodness) at y' time 
 of o' latest intelligence from his Kingdome of England was w*^ 
 child: & for as much as increase of Issue of y" Royal family is 
 a publick blessing & under God y* great security of peace & 
 happiness to his Maj'*" Kingdomes & Dominions. I do There- 
 fore by y° advice of y" Council appoint, coinand & require y' 
 upon y® twenty-ninth Instant throwout y* Dominion publicke 
 thanks & solemn prayers be offered up to Allmighty God for 
 y® occasion afores^ & y* all Ministers & others do take notice 
 hereof & demeane themselves in all things accordingly. 
 
 Dated in Boston y° eighteenth day of April in y* fourth yeare 
 of his Maj"«^ Reigne Anoq. Dom. 1688: 
 
 E. Andros. 
 
 This is a true coppy pr order Sam" Gookin, Shff. 
 
 ^ There are at least two manuscript copies of this proclamation ex- 
 tant, one in the Massachusetts State Archives, Hutchinson Papers^ the 
 other among the Mather Papers, Boston Public Library. They have 
 slight verbal differences, and the latter is signed by John West, R. 
 Secretary. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES, 233 
 
 This order was sent the next day to all the colonies, 
 and in a few days the governor left Boston, expecting 
 the same to be distributed among the ministers. For 
 some reason they were not generally received, and the 
 ministers took advantage of the omission. A messen- 
 ger was sent to Samuel Willard, pastor of the Third 
 Church in Boston, by the 22d, but as no order was 
 given him he did not mention it. One, however, was 
 handed him the night before the day appointed, but 
 he did not read it, and only noticed that " such an 
 occasion was by the Governour recommended to be 
 given Thanks for," and prayed " more particularly and 
 largely for the King." James Allen, minister of the 
 First Church, incidentally noticed the day, and, much 
 to the displeasure of his hearers, gave out these lines 
 from the psalm-book : — 
 
 ** Jehovah is thy strength, 
 The King shall joyful be, 
 And joy in thy salvation 
 How vehemently shall hee I 
 Thou grantest hast to him 
 That which his heart desired, 
 And thou hast not withholden back 
 That which his lips required." 
 
 If we correctly interpret their records, the churches 
 round about Boston, having had no order, did not 
 keep the occasion. Many did not regard the cause as 
 Andros did, though it was customary in England to 
 recognize such. More were disgusted with the change 
 of government ; but that which stirred them all was 
 that the order commanded a " time " of thanksgiving, 
 and that on April 29, a Sunday, contrary to their will 
 and traditions, the implication being that they could 
 introduce into their services a prayer of thanksgiving, 
 
234 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 after the manner of the Church of England. That 
 was the height of presumption and outrage in the 
 minds of the New England ministers. The governor 
 himself doubtless appreciated the point, and yet he 
 could plead, as he did in writing to Connecticut, " the 
 order for thanksgiving is as ordered and kept in 
 England in January last." ^ Probably the ministers 
 were never before so glad to miss of receiving a pro- 
 clamation, and it seems that they also failed to get 
 one setting a fast May 3 on account of the drought.^ 
 But this was not the last of the matter. On August 
 16 the news of the birth of a prince was received, and 
 another Sunday thanksgiving was set September 16, 
 the proclamation for which is in print.^ What must 
 have been the feeling in Boston on that day, as the 
 church bells were ringing for afternoon service, when 
 they heard guns firing, and as they saw in the evening 
 bonfires blazing upon their hillsides ! Still the gov- 
 ernor could say he was only ordering the affair as in 
 England. By this time there was a general indigna- 
 tion among the churches, which the ministers furthered 
 by sermon and prayer. 
 
 We have next to record the most poignant blow 
 which the government of Andros could give. In the 
 winter of 1688-9, the governor being absent, a few 
 choice spirits of the Church of England, who were 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Bee, iii. 444. 
 
 2 " Ther was fast in o' towne it is said a publik fast but few 
 towns had notice of it nor had wee but by M^ Stoughtons enforming 
 y* y® Counsell had determined it ther was none at Rocksbery nor 
 Cambridg" nor watertown nor at boston " (Dor. chh. rec, p. 96). The 
 church at Plymouth seem to have kept it. 
 
 ^ Hutchinson's Hist.^ i. 372. A thanksgiving for this cause was 
 kept in Philadelphia December 26 (Penn. Col, Bee, i. 229). In New 
 York the day was September 2, O. S. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 235 
 
 members of the council at Boston, issued an order for 
 the keeping of January 30 as a '' day of fasting and 
 humiliation." It was the anniversary of the behead- 
 ing of Charles I., upon which, says Macaulay, " the 
 Anglican clergy had during many years thought it 
 a sacred duty to inculcate the doctrines of non-resist- 
 ance and passive obedience." A similar attempt had 
 been made in New Hampshire in 1684, of which the 
 Colonial Records give some hint, as it seems to have 
 been one cause of a disturbance. New England had 
 not forgotten the days of the Commonwealth, and 
 many were living who had been actors in its scenes. 
 A day of humiliation on account of the death of 
 Charles I. ! Every man of them felt that it was an 
 insult. The order, which hinted spitefully at their 
 plea of ignorance on the former occasion, and was 
 served upon them by sheriffs and constables, is printed 
 in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
 ciety, and is a memorial of those troublesome days.^ 
 Its immortal signers were Charles Lidget, Ben. Bul- 
 livant, Antho. Haywood, and Era. Eoxcroft. The 
 ministers, who had denounced the holy days of Eng- 
 land, who had compelled others to abstain from labors 
 on innmnerable fast days, who had evaded the authori- 
 ties and trifled with the proclamation shortly before, 
 would now receive an order based upon the statutes 
 of England, and, lest it should miscarry and some 
 " plead ignorance therein," they should have it from 
 the constable. Nothing could have been contrived 
 more obnoxious to them ; and it is enough that we 
 add this conclusion, in a few weeks the people rose in 
 revolt and placed the above-mentioned worthies in 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., III. vol. i. pp. 83, 84 
 
236 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 jail. We find no evidence that the order was read in 
 the churches, and, from its omission in records and 
 diaries where such are usually noted, we infer that 
 the occasion and the day were wholly ignored. It was 
 too evidently an attempt to foist upon them the holy 
 days of England. Surely it was not the least of the 
 causes which led to the overthrow of Andros that 
 he went athwart the religious customs of the New 
 England churches. 
 
 When the government of the colonies passed again 
 into the hands of the people, the former customs were 
 restored. Rhode Island, which had kept the days 
 ordered by Andros, lapsed into indifference, and the 
 others set their days without molestation. The pro- 
 visional government at Boston was formed April 20, 
 1689, and during their subsequent deliberations it 
 was thought best to have a fast May 7, but upon 
 consideration the order was " stopped from going 
 out." However, upon May 10, being supported in 
 their authority by the town delegates, they ventured 
 to appoint May 16, a few days before the assem- 
 bling of the second convention.^ When the old gov- 
 ernment assumed the public trusts, they ordered a 
 thanksgiving, as did also Plymouth and Connecticut, 
 for the accession of William and Mary, and the occa- 
 sion was a happy relief from their embarrassment.^ 
 
 So matters went until the provincial government 
 was set up. May 16, 1692. One of the first acts of 
 Sir William Phips, May 17, was to order that the 
 
 1 Mather Papers, MS., Boston Pub. Lib. vii. 85; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 
 IV. vol. viii. p. 709 ; Archives of Mass. : MS. Rec. 1689, pp. 12, 18. 
 
 2 June 27 in Massachusetts and Plymouth, June 26 in Connecti- 
 cut. See Calendar. Cotton Mather wrote the Massachusetts procla- 
 mation. 
 
THE CONFLICT OF AUTHORITIES. 237 
 
 fast which the former authorities had voted May 6, 
 be kept as provided, May 26.^ The proclamation 
 had been read in most of the churches the day after 
 his arrival, two days before his act, so there was 
 little else to be done. Yet surely he would not have 
 done this had he desired to make any issue with the 
 churches. For several years thereafter the appoint- 
 ments were made much as before. The order some- 
 times originated with the representatives ; upon other 
 occasions they concurred in the vote of the governor 
 and council, who issued the same when the court was 
 not in session.2 We fail to see, what some have 
 claimed, any specific gubernatorial assimiption, but 
 rather a tendency, which was characteristic of the 
 provincial government, toward centralization of au- 
 thority. The fast finally became the governor's fast, / 
 because, with the downfall of the ancient theocratic 
 order of things, the churches lost their hold upon it. 
 " The Congregational ministers," says Amos Adams, 
 " were considered as meer laymen." They no longer 
 dominated in the affairs of the General Court. The 
 
 ^ Sir William Phips's order is in MS. Coun. Min., ii. 170. Cf. 
 Acts and Resolves, vii. 459. 
 
 2 The appointments during the first four years of the provincial 
 government were as follows : (1) T. July 14, 1692. (2) F. December 
 29, 1692. (3) T. February 23, 1692-3. (4) F. July 20, 1693. [MS. 
 Coun. Bee, ii. 243 ; Dor. chh. rec, etc.] (5) T. December 21, 1693. 
 (6) F. April 19, 1694. [Dor. chh. rec. ; Brins. Note-book.] (7) T. No- 
 vember 29, 1694. [MS. Coun. Rec, ii. 292 ; Dor. and Salem chh. rec, 
 etc.] (8) F. December 13, 1694. [Ihid.'] (9) F, April 25, 1695. (10) 
 F. October 24, 1695. [MS. Coun. Rec, ii. 364 ; Dor. chh. rec, etc.] 
 (11) T. January 16, 1695-6. (12) F. April 2, 1696. Of these 4, 6, 7, 
 8, and 10 are not noted in Acts and Resolves, vol. vii., and hence the 
 inferences, that, with one exception, all days were appointed by the 
 Assembly (p. 279), and that there was only one fast between May, 
 1692, and April, 1695 (p. 459), are incorrect. Besides these, the 
 church fasts of 1692 were kept at the desire of the counciL 
 
238 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 proclamations were not prepared in their studies, 
 though one or another of them may have been con- 
 sulted. So their days of fasting and thanksgiving, 
 which had been a feature of the theocracy, passed to 
 a new stage of development. 
 
CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 THE ANNUAL SPRING FAST AND THE AUTUMN 
 THANKSGIVING. 
 
 1620-1694. 
 
 The English origin of fast and thanksgiving days, 
 and the experiences already related, establish a pre- 
 sumption against the existence of the annual spring 
 fast and autumn thanksgiving from the beginning of 
 the New England colonies. The views held may be 
 summarized as follows: (1.) The colonists brought 
 with them the practice of occasional appointments for 
 special causes. (2.) These days were named by the 
 churches as well as the civil authorities. (3.) Their 
 dependence upon a propitious seedtime and an abim- 
 dant harvest gradually made a springtime fast and an 
 autumn thanksgiving prominent. (4.) The custom 
 of rejoicing over the ingathering, illustrated at Ply- 
 mouth in 1621, attached itself to the wholly religious 
 Puritan thanksgiving day. (5.) The appointment 
 of days for special causes continued, being coexistent, 
 even to modern times, with the annual spring fast 
 and the autumn thanksgiving. -^ 
 
 We have now before us the question when these 
 days became annual, or in other words, when did the 
 spring fast day and the modern thanksgiving begin ? 
 There are those, whose reputation as historians adds 
 weight to their opinions, who claim that these seasons 
 
240 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 were annual from the first, though all the dates have 
 not been recovered. This view prevailed so far back 
 as 1756, when it was thus stated by Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Spencer Phips in the proclamation for thanks- 
 giving, November 25 : " Whereas it has been the laud- 
 able and uninterrupted practice of the people of this 
 government, from the first settlement of the Colony 
 of Massachusetts-Bay, annually, to make their publick 
 thankful and religious acknowledgments," etc. The 
 historian Hutchinson also, after speaking of their 
 occasional days, says, " They constantly, every spring, 
 appointed a day for fasting and prayer to implore the 
 divine blessings upon their affairs in the ensuing year, 
 and in the fall, a day of thanksgiving and public ac- 
 knowledgment of the favors conferred upon them in 
 the year past. ... It has continued without interrup- 
 tion, I suppose, in any one instance, down to this day." ^ 
 A similar statement may be found in Rev. David 
 Osgood's thanksgiving sermon November 20, 1794. 
 Probably Hutchinson's " History " has done much to 
 propagate this opinion, but as he was certainly wrong 
 in supposing the practice had suffered no interruptions, 
 we may infer that he had never carefully examined 
 the subject. On the other hand we may bring two 
 eminent witnesses to show that the early practice was 
 of occasional appointments, both of whom would have 
 mentioned an annual observance had it been custom- 
 ary. John Cotton, in his " Way of the Churches of 
 Christ in New England," says : " We sometimes upon 
 extraordinary occasions either of notable judgments 
 do set apart a day of humiliation or upon special mer- 
 cies we set apart a day of thanksgiving." *^ Thomas 
 
 1 Hutchinson's Hist., i. 429. ^ y^^y of the Churches, etc., p. 70. 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS. 241 
 
 Lecliford, in his " Plain Dealing or News from New- 
 England," says, '' There are dayes of fasting, thanks- 
 giving and prayers upon occasions but no holy dayes, 
 except the Sunday," a remark upon which his own 
 comment is conclusive evidence, " And why not set 
 fasting dayes &> times and set feasts ? " ^ The former 
 author published in 1G45, the latter in 1642, and they 
 establish the fact that in Massachusetts, at least, there 
 was then no annual appointment. 
 
 It is conceded that all the dates during the colonial 
 period may not have been recovered. The Calendar, 
 made up from all available sources, is only a contri- 
 bution toward completeness. Nevertheless it affords 
 the only historical basis for an examination of the sub- 
 ject, and is sufficient to warrant some deductions from 
 it. Furthermore a careful study of ecclesiastical ap- 
 pointments shows that, in the absence of action by 
 the General Court or the governor and council, the 
 churches generally may have set a day in the spring 
 or autumn, and so the custom may date much further 
 back than public records would indicate. For this 
 reason, as well as because the concurrent keeping of 
 a certain day by several churches is evidence of its 
 public appointment, such church days as we have met 
 with, previous to the year 1700, have been included 
 in the Calendar. 
 
 The reader's attention is turned first to the older 
 institution, the annual thanksgiving day or harvest 
 festival^ to determine when it began. By the phrase 
 " annual thanksgiving day," we designate a day ap- 
 pointed every year in the autumn or early winter to 
 commemorate prominently the ingathering of the har- 
 1 Plain Dealing, ed. 1867, p. 52. 
 
242 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 vest, and the mercies of the year past. Therefore two 
 elements distinguish it from special thanksgivings, — 
 the time of its observance, and the cause. The day 
 cannot always be identified by its season, for there 
 were thanksgivings in the autumn which were not dis- 
 tinctively harvest festivals, and there were harvest 
 festivals which were postponed to the winter season 
 nearer the close of the Old Style year. A thanksgiv- 
 ing kept at any time after the earliest harvest to 
 express gratitude to God on that account or acknow- 
 ledge the general mercies of the past season, would 
 embody the idea of the annual thanksgiving day. 
 
 The Plymouth Colony claims the honor of having 
 originated the harvest festival. The festival week of 
 1621, and the recurrence of thanksgiving feasts, may 
 justify this claim ; but the facts which are most 
 needed in tracing this development in the Plymouth 
 Colony are lacking. Between 1623 and 1632 we 
 have no hint of the days observed and their causes, 
 though we assume that they had such on occasion, as 
 before. From 1632 on to 1668 we must depend upon 
 the data furnished by church records, with only the 
 law of 1636, committing authority to the governor and 
 assistants, to encourage the belief that public days 
 were kept. Yet this law was to provide for occasions, 
 and not for an annual thanksgiving. It by no means 
 proves, as some have argued, an annual observance. 
 On the contrary, had there been such, by public ap- 
 pomtment, it would have been by authority of the 
 General Court, which met in the autumn ; but there 
 is no reference of the kind in their records. Some 
 days might be omitted, but it is hardly possible that 
 all would be for thirty years. Furthermore, the cus- 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS. 243 
 
 torn of church appointments had its greatest vitality 
 in Plymouth Colony. Ecclesiastical independence was 
 a feature of separatism. After public days became 
 common, the authorities did not '' order," but " de- 
 sired," " proposed," or " recommended " the same to 
 the churches. The church records and public procla- 
 mations both reveal this preeminence of ecclesiasti- 
 cal authority and practice. This accounts for so many 
 church days for public causes. It explains the action 
 of the court in recommending occasions to other 
 churches or counties when some had already kept 
 them. So the conclusion is, that though there was no 
 civil appointment of the harvest festival in Plymouth 
 Colony previous to 1668, the same may have been cus- 
 tomary in the several commimities. The Scituate and 
 Barnstable church records, on the other hand, show 
 that with them so early as 1636 the idea of a thanks- 
 giving with the feast — a feature of the separatist 
 church life — was an accepted custom. As already 
 set forth, they kept such December 22, 1636, October 
 12, 1637, and December 11, 1639. These dates are 
 neither earlier nor later in the season than those com- 
 monly fixed upon. 
 
 The first thanksgiving proclamation found in the 
 Plymouth Colony Records making mention of the 
 harvest is in 1668. The words are : " It hath pleased 
 God in some comfortable measure to blesse vs in the 
 fruites of the earth." November 25 was the day 
 appointed, and it was clearly a harvest thanksgiving. 
 From that time on to 1692, other such days are men- 
 tioned, and the writer of the Plymouth church records 
 in 1697 made this marginal note: "In these 30 years 
 past were observed amongst us many dayes of Humil- 
 
244 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 iation and Thanksgiving ordered by Authority which 
 are not here particularly made mention of." This 
 note takes us back to 1668, and prepares us to take 
 the practice of the Plymouth church as indicative of 
 the general custom.^ In 1678 there is good evidence 
 that this mother church was then observing an annual 
 thanksgiving day, usually in the autumn, for the har- 
 vest and blessings of the year past. That year the 
 day was November 6, for the " good harvest." In 
 1679 it was put off on account of the reformation 
 movement, but " the church set apart February 25 to 
 be kept as a day of Thanksgiving publicly for all the 
 mercies of the yeare spiritual! and temporall." These 
 days were set by the church, but in 1680, October 20 
 was appointed by the court. In 1681 no day was set 
 by the church, but one probably was by the court or 
 governor and assistants. In 1682 December 1 was 
 kept by authority of the church " for aU the mercies of 
 the year." Here, then, we find the working of a two- 
 fold source of thanksgiving appointments, which, with 
 interruptions for special cause, as during King Phil- 
 ip's war, we conclude was in operation back to 1668, 
 and preserved an annual custom. 
 
 As to Pl3rmouth Colony, then, the conclusion is, 
 that some time previous to 1636 the idea of a thanks- 
 giving with a feast was current among the churches ; 
 that they generally kept it for thirty years as most 
 convenient in their several communities ; and that 
 thereafter, down to the union with Massachusetts, the 
 same was appointed annually, with interruptions, 
 either by civil or church authority. It was therefore 
 a development, which their experiences encouraged 
 and the social advantages of the occasion fostered. 
 
 ^ PljrmoTith clmpch records, Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. 
 
' ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS, 245 
 
 We turn next to Connecticut. It should be con- 
 ceded that, in some respects, a more liberal spirit pre- 
 vailed in Connecticut than in the other New England 
 colonies. Among other things, there was not that 
 jealousy of civil authority in ecclesiastical matters, so 
 the power to appoint fast and thanksgiving days was 
 at an early date generally surrendered to the gov- 
 ernment. The churches were satisfied to leave such 
 days to the discretion of their rulers. There was also 
 a notable absence of that extreme morbid sentiment, 
 which at times set aside thanksgivings in other quar- 
 ters. It is characteristic of old Connecticut procla- 
 mations that even in distressing times many causes 
 for gratitude are enumerated. These are in part the 
 reasons why the calendar of Connecticut days is 
 more complete. Their practice was more continuous. 
 Though Plymouth may have been before it in origi- 
 nating the harvest festival, Connecticut by its civil 
 authority and religious constancy preserved and per- 
 petuated it. Long before the breaking out of King 
 Philip's war the annual thanksgiving was a recognized 
 institution in the colony. In the decade from 1660 to 
 1670 we' have recovered every date, the earliest being 
 October 23 and the latest November 30. Every order 
 or proclamation has such phrases as these : " year 
 past," '' blessings in the fruits of the year," " fruits of 
 the fields and of the trees," and " fruits of the earth." 
 Working backward, in tracing the custom, from 1660 
 we find similar or general terms wherever a proclama- 
 tion is known ; and, with one exception, the dates are 
 given back to 1649, the earliest being September 18, 
 and the latest December 19. The exception was 
 1654, in which year the day was appointed and then 
 
246 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 put off ; but it was certainly kept between October 
 19 and November 20, as an item in the Wolcott 
 Ledger proves. So early as 1649 the phrase " year 
 past " was in use. Back of that date we have recovered 
 only two thanksgivings proclaimed by the civil author- 
 ities : that of 1644, the order for which is not given 
 in the records, and the notable one of September 18, 
 1639, — as we think, the first so ordered. However, 
 the churches kept days from the settlement of the 
 colony, and by agreement may have kept the same day 
 between 1639 and 1649. When it is remembered 
 that the calendar thus takes us back to within a few 
 years of John Cotton's and Thomas Lechford's testi- 
 mony, we may regard the result as quite definite. 
 
 As to Connecticut Colony, then, the conclusion is, 
 that about 1649 the Pilgrims' idea of a harvest 
 thanksgiving became an accepted custom, and from 
 that time one was ordered by civil authority annu- 
 ally within its jurisdiction.^ This yearly festival, as 
 now appointed by the several States, is certainly a 
 Connecticut institution. 
 
 It remains to examine the practice in Massachu- 
 setts, which in due time was followed by New Hamp- 
 shire. Here we have far greater facilities for the 
 recovery of the facts from public records in print 
 and manuscript, proclamations, sermons, and diaries. 
 Though we may be more certain of having a large 
 proportion of the dates back of 1692, the calendar 
 
 ^ " Connecticut people, though just as pious and as prosperous as 
 the Bay colonists, do not appear to have been as grateful, and had 
 considerable trouble at times to ' pick vppon a day ' for thanksgiv- 
 ing ; and the festival was not regularly observed there till 1716 " 
 {Customs and Fashions, etc., p. 220 : Alice Morse Earle). This is an 
 astonishing paragraph, and only about sixty-seven years wrong. 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS, 247 
 
 shows many blanks. One fact is undeniable, that the 
 Puritans of the Bay Colony were firm believers in 
 the system of occasional appointments prevailing in 
 England. They judged the matter from a theologi- 
 cal point of view, and with characteristic intelligence. 
 Their thanksgivings were for notable causes, and ex- 
 hibit a greater breadth of information on pubUc af- 
 fairs. So late as 1685 we find Judge Sewall arguing 
 that " 't was not fit upon meer Generals, as (the 
 Mercies of the year) to Comand a Thanksgiving." ^ 
 He was not alone in this opinion. The ministers of 
 Massachusetts generally, the most intelligent body of 
 men in New England, placed great stress upon the 
 particular causes for thanksgiving, as their diaries 
 prove. Furthermore, upon repeated occasions, when 
 the circimistances were more suitable for a fast day, 
 the thanksgiving is known to have been omitted or 
 postponed. Such was the case in 1675 on account of 
 the war, and in 1679 on account of the reformation. 
 Sometimes there was a difference of opinion as to 
 what was suitable, as in 1690, when Sewall says, " Mr. 
 Torrey is for a Fast or at least a Fast first. Mr. 
 Willard for a Thanksgiving first. Mr. Torrey fears 
 lest a Thanksgiving should tend to harden people in 
 their carnal confidence." The f asters carried the day, 
 and the thanksgiving was put off to February 26, 
 1690-1.2 There are years, in which no date has 
 
 1 Sewall's Diary, i. 106. 
 
 2 Ihid., i. 336. The following- extract from Publick Occurrences, under 
 date September 25, 1690, was designed as a reproof for the f asters : 
 " The Christianized Indians in some parts of Plimouth have newly 
 appointed a day of Thanksgiving to God for his mercy in supplying 
 their extream and pinching Necessities under their late want of Corn, 
 and for His giving them now a prospect of a very Comfortable Har- 
 vest. Their example may be worth mentioning." 
 
248 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 been recovered, when the circumstances and the 0C5- 
 currence of a fast encourage the belief that there was 
 no public thanksgiving. On the other hand it is cer- 
 tain that some churches kept thanksgivings when the 
 civil authorities issued no proclamation,^ and that the 
 governor and council made frequent appointments. 
 
 Notwithstanding this intermittent tendency and the 
 feeling that there should be some cause other than 
 mere generals, it seems that they had autumn thanks- 
 givings, in which the harvest was recognized, almost 
 every year after about 1660. In 1662 November 5 
 was kept, among other reasons, " for giveing unto us 
 such a portion of y® f ruts of y® earth in o' late har- 
 vests." ^ Back of this we meet with only a few such 
 days, as December 8, 1659, to acknowledge " y® gra- 
 cious retorne of o' prayers put up unto him in y® wett 
 spring by giveing us a seasonable seed-time & har- 
 vest," ^ and November 5, 1656, for " the plenty and 
 aboundance of the blessings of the earth." ^ Yet even 
 in these instances there were special causes. In 1648 
 the court left the appointment to the assistants, " if 
 they shall see cause." 
 
 As to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, then, the con- 
 clusion is, that, with more frequent interruptions, the 
 autumn thanksgiving was usual after about 1660, but 
 its annual and harvest features were overshadowed by 
 the prevailing systems of occasional appointments. 
 
 1 The Salem church records inform us as to 1G68 that " the General 
 Court in the 8th month " did not appoint '* any public days of Thanks- 
 giving or Fasting and prayer as formerly." This church therefore 
 set December 23 for a fast, and January 14, 1668-9, as a thanks- 
 giving " with respect unto the mercies of the year past," etc. — N. E, 
 Cong.: Salem chh. rec, p. 75. 
 
 2 Dor. chh. rec, p. 40. » Ihid., p. 32. 
 * Mass. Col. Rec.y iv. pt. 1. p. 279. 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS, 249 
 
 It is difficult to trace the history of a custom, for it 
 is developed gradually. The annual harvest thanks- 
 giving is no exception. Its beginning cannot be set 
 on any particidar date. At first the exceptional har- 
 vest called it forth. Every year of blessings encour- 
 aged it. The religious and social advantages of the 
 day grew in favor. So it was after a time generally 
 accepted. In Plymouth it may have retained longer 
 the community character which their ecclesiastical 
 traditions had given to it ; in Massachusetts it may 
 have been less prominent because of their Puritan 
 heritage ; in Connecticut it may have taken on earlier 
 the continuity of a civil institution ; but in all these 
 colonies, settled by the same people and in con- 
 stant intercourse with one another, the custom was 
 very much the same in its practical observance within 
 the meeting-house and in the home. And, making all 
 allowance for unrecovered facts, this institution, now 
 national, can be traced back to a general adoption 
 about forty years after the memorable harvest feast 
 of the Pilgrims. 
 
 The question to which we next turn is. When did 
 the annual spring fast day begin ? This day must be 
 defined as a fast of annual observance in the spring to 
 seek divine favor upon the undertakings of the year, 
 and especially upon the planting of the fields. It is 
 distinguished from the special fast both by the time 
 and the cause. 
 
 It is unnecessary to repeat our observations as to 
 the Puritan prejudices against Lent. The keeping of 
 Good Friday was altogether obnoxious to our fore- 
 fathers, and there was no considerable change of sen- 
 timent until after the Eevolutionary War. The fast 
 
250 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DA YS, 
 
 day of the Pilgrims was a cry of distress raised to God, 
 and therefore a special cause was essential to it. But 
 after years they found they were in new conditions. 
 The beginning of their Old Style year, the planting of 
 their fields, the end of their long winters, the incoming 
 of ships with foreign news, and the reflex influence of 
 their annual thanksgiving, — these all tended toward 
 the adoption of a springtime fast day. 
 
 We find no evidence that an annual spring fast was 
 observed in the Plymouth Colony previous to King 
 Philip's War. The Colonial Records mention certain 
 days, but they were for special reasons. Indeed, the 
 absence of appointments by the General Court conven- 
 ing in March is good evidence that no such custom 
 existed. The Scituate and Barnstable church records, 
 covering a period from 1634 to 1653, give us presum- 
 ably a fairly complete fist of their fast days ; and in 
 only two instances is the season of the year an item, 
 April 7, 1636, " in respect of present outward scarcity," 
 and June 10, 1641, " in regard of y® wett & very cold 
 spring," both showing special cause. The Plymouth 
 church records show no trace of such a custom during 
 this period. However, from 1675 on to 1692, spring 
 fasts, sometimes by ecclesiastical and sometimes by 
 civil appointment, are frequent ; and allowing for 
 omissions the custom may be said to have been 
 adopted, especially as we meet with the recognition of 
 a " continuance of mercies," and the " mercies of the 
 year" in the proclamations. In 1697 the Plymouth 
 church had appointed a spring fast, but gave way for 
 that ordered by the government, a fact which argues 
 against a long-established custom of civil appoint- 
 ments in either Massachusetts or Plymouth. After 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS. 251 
 
 the union with Massachusetts the day shared her 
 fortunes. 
 
 As to Connecticut Colony, we reach most definite 
 conclusions. There we believe the annual fast day 
 was first established, if not also conceived. The cal- 
 endar shows frequent spring fasts back to 1659, some- 
 times kept as late as June. June 29, 1659, was a 
 fast " partly for the season." In 1661 April 3 was 
 appointed " to seek favour of God in y® occasions of 
 y® insueing yeare ; " and thereafter we note similar 
 expressions in every proclamation known, as for exam- 
 ple, " bless the fruits of the earth," " blessed with a 
 seasonable seedtime," ^' smile upon us in the season." 
 These were all by civil appointment, and probably such 
 as are missing were kept by the same authority. 
 
 The question which has excited the greatest interest 
 is when the annual fast day began in Massachu- 
 setts. As to this, various opinions have been advo- 
 cated. Some have claimed that the practice prevailed 
 from earliest times. The proclamations have perpetu- 
 ated this belief, and it has been a cherished tradition 
 among the people. Some have more carefully ex- 
 amined the subject, but have based their conclusions 
 upon the occurrence of fasts in the springtime without 
 regard to the causes, which were special, having no 
 reference to the seed-sowing or the beginning of the 
 year. Some have drawn their deductions from a very 
 imperfect calendar, made up from the Colonial Re- 
 cords alone, and so have been led to think that the 
 custom was not established until some years after the 
 erection of the provincial government. Some have, 
 with some reason, attributed it to the authority of the 
 provincial governor himself. Obviously, the correct 
 
252 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 answer must be supported by a minute study of the 
 proclamations, and a carefully prepared calendar of 
 the days observed. By this method the field has been 
 narrowed to a single decade, from 1684 to 1694. On 
 the one hand it is established that there was no an- 
 nual spring fast during the colonial period of Massa- 
 chusetts history, and on the other the calendar proves 
 that such a day has been observed since the latter 
 date. The conclusion is, that the custom came in 
 during that troubled and changeful decade of history. 
 The Dorchester church records have this entry in 
 1694: ''Aprilly® 19 94 ther was a publick day of 
 humiliacon Apinted by the Governer and counsell to 
 be kept in all our coUones for to seeke god in the 
 behalf of ouer self es and god people A Broad and 
 that the lord woidd B[l]ese the kings majesty and 
 prosper his great undertaking this year : and y* y® lord 
 crown this year with his Blesing and for the Rising 
 genaracon that god power forth his spiritt upon tham 
 and y* he wold continue ouer present pease." ^ We 
 have nowhere found any public record of this day, or 
 proclamation therefor ; but the fact is supported by 
 the Brinsmead Note-book, and a manuscript sermon 
 in the American Antiquarian Society, preached by 
 Cotton Mather on that day. It was evidently a spring 
 fast, and a fair type of a long line of successors. In 
 1693 we find no notice of such a day in public records, 
 and none is mentioned in the above church records or 
 Increase Mather's diary. Other authorities also are 
 silent. In New Hampshire May 23 was appointed, 
 and in Plymouth the church kept May 24 to seek 
 the blessings of the year. In 1692 May 26 was 
 
 ^ Dop. chh. rec, p. 107. 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS. 263 
 
 a fast, but for special cause, the witchcraft troubles, 
 and this was the one proposed by the '' late govern- 
 ment" and reappointed by Sir WiUiam Phips. In 
 1691 May 7 was a fast, but, as the broadside pro- 
 clamation shows, it had no reference to the season of 
 the year. So, tracing the subject back through this 
 decade, we find no other than special fasts after the 
 ancient custom. 
 
 Furthermore there is evidence of some discussion in 
 regard to fasts at this time. The ministerial procla- 
 mation had become unpopular with the government, 
 and we suspect that Cotton Mather's were, in more 
 than one well-known mstance, rejected. A draft of 
 his for July 10, 1690, does not seem to have been 
 adopted. That was the year when there was a differ- 
 ence of opinion as to whether a fast was more suitable 
 than a thanksgiving. In 1692 the trouble regarding 
 the witchcraft fasts hereafter detailed came on. Some 
 of the ministers wanted a fast which the governor 
 and council would not have, and it is only shortly 
 afterward, in 1696, that we find the latter claim- 
 ing the authority to move in such matters. On the 
 21st of September, 1694, the House voted to propose 
 to the Governor and Council " y* a Sett day sometyme 
 in Octob'^ next be appointed to be solemnized as a day 
 of Giveing thanks to God for his Enumerated Mercys 
 of the y' past, alsoe y* a day of solemn ffast be ap- 
 pointed some sett day in Novemb' next to have a 
 Humble sence of his Awfull dispensations etc." ^ 
 Whatever interpretation is put upon this desire for a 
 " sett day," it shows a preference for a time for the fast 
 sometimes chosen in earUer days both in Massaehu- 
 ^ State Archives : Ecc,^ xi. 81. 
 
254 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 setts and Connecticut. Out of all these difficulties 
 the way was found in the adoption of a stated spring 
 fast. To be sure, it was the tendency of the time, but 
 the governor would not have made an issue on the sub- 
 ject had his friends, notably the Mathers, been op- 
 posed to it. It is enough to know that there was a 
 " pulling and hauling " about fasts, and a new system 
 was the natural outcome. Then, too, there were vaUd 
 arguments for it. Their own practice as to the 
 autumn thanksgiving favored it. They must have 
 known the working of the custom in Connecticut. It 
 was the beginning of their year, the time of seed-sow- 
 ing, and the opening of communication after the win- 
 ter. But, more than all, the colony of Plymouth was 
 no more, and its representatives were exercising their 
 very modest influence among their neighbors. They 
 had adopted the. spring fast and found it convenient 
 for their purposes. It did not interfere with their 
 special fasts, and the ancient tradition of objection to 
 stated humiliation about the time of Lent was worn 
 out. So the spring fast came in naturally, and by the 
 help of circumstances which alone could have accom- 
 plished the introduction of it. From the first it took 
 on a general character which the special fast did not 
 have.^ The ensuing year became its theme, and the 
 proclamation detailed prospective hopes rather than a 
 present necessity. It was not only different in its mo- 
 tive from their ancient fast, it was hostile to it, work- 
 ing against it in the course of time, as it grew in 
 importance and gathered in the occasions of the year. 
 The honored fast of the fathers laid an immediate bur- 
 den of desire upon the people ; it was specific, and the 
 1 The Puritan A^e in Mass., Ellis, p. 160. 
 
ANNUAL APPOINTMENTS, 255 
 
 feeling it aroused was most intense. Its vitality de- 
 pended upon its harmony with Puritan doctrine and 
 life. It came through the ministers from the people 
 themselves. A theme for discourse was thrust upon 
 the preacher by the circumstances which convened the 
 congregation. The annual fast tended to dissipate these 
 interests, and the more general the causes for humilia- 
 tion were, the less of fervor, sincerity, and devotion 
 was fostered in the services of the day. So far from 
 its being true, as successive springtime proclamations 
 in Massachusetts have declared, that the annual fast 
 has come down to them from the earliest times, it is 
 altogether certain that it is a day which, even at its 
 best estate, the colonial fathers, in their intelligence 
 and piety as Puritans, would not have tolerated. Con- 
 necticut conceived and practiced the custom, largely 
 because it was most convenient for her springtime 
 General Court so to appoint it, but she finally laid it 
 aside for the Good Friday fast. It is not the honor of 
 Massachusetts that she originated it, but rather that 
 she held out longest against it, in her devotion to the 
 older Puritan doctrine and custom. 
 
CHAPTER XVin. 
 
 THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS, 
 
 1692-1696. 
 
 The year 1692, the first of the provincial govern- 
 ment, will ever be memorable on account of the witch- 
 craft delusion. It would be expected that an evil so 
 intimately connected with ecclesiastical affairs would 
 call forth frequent public fasts ; but such was not the 
 case. Churches fasted here and there, especially in 
 August before and after the executions which happened 
 upon the 19th. The Dorchester church records tell 
 us that this was at the desire of the council.^ We 
 know of only one public fast in Massachusetts before 
 that date having reference to witchcraft, and after the 
 storm passed the subject was unpleasant to some, who 
 had been conspicuous in it, and such diverse opinions 
 were held by the ministers that it was designedly kept 
 in the background until the time of reckoning in 1696. 
 
 It was the end of February, 1691, when the witch- 
 craft broke out in the family of Rev. Samuel Parris, 
 minister of Salem Village. His responsibility for the 
 prosecutions has never been disputed. Two of the 
 first accusers were members of his family, children, 
 both of them. They charged Sarah Osburn and 
 " Tituba Indian " with bewitching them, the latter 
 being a servant in the minister's family. The warrant 
 
 1 Dor. chh. rec., p. 105 ; Salem chh. rec, p. 96. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 257 
 
 was issued Monday, February 29, and the examination 
 was the next day. Calef says, '' They that were con- 
 cerned applied themselves to fasting and prayer which 
 was attended not only in their own private families, 
 but with calling in the help of others." i Eev. John 
 Hale, of Beverly, corroborates the statement in these 
 words : " Soon after this [the examination] there were 
 two or three private fasts at the minister's house, one 
 of which was kept by sundry neighbor ministers and 
 after this another in publick at the village, and sev- 
 eral days afterwards of publick himiiliation during 
 these molestations, not only there but in other Congre- 
 gations for them." ^ Doubtless these private fasts 
 were in connection with the several examinations, 
 March 3, 5, and 7, for it was upon the 11th that the 
 several neighboring ministers met at the house of Mr. 
 Parris " to join with him in keeping a solemn day of 
 prayer." Noyes, of Salem, and Hale, of Beverly, were 
 probably of the nimaber. The exercises customary on 
 such occasions were the reading of sermons and 
 lengthened prayers, and this was intended at that time 
 as a trial of the evil spirits of the bewitched, much 
 after the manner practiced by Cotton Mather with the 
 Goodwin family. It was therefore noted that those 
 persons were for the most part silent during the exer- 
 cises, but " after any one prayer was ended they would 
 act and speak strangely and ridiculously," and one 
 " would sometimes seem to be in a convulsion fit, her 
 limbs being twisted several ways and very stiff but 
 presently her fit would be over." ^ Such was the use 
 
 1 Salem Witchcraft, Fowler, p. 224. 
 
 2 Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcrafi^ pp. 25, 26. 
 8 Salem Witchcraft, Fowler, p. 225. 
 
258 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 they put that fast day to, and it had much to do with 
 what followed. The extant manuscript sermons of Mr. 
 Parris, in the Connecticut Historical Society, prove by 
 their references that his reading about that time had 
 been from sundry authors who believed in witchcraft, 
 such as Cotton Mather consulted. We even venture 
 to say that he owned the second impression of Mather's 
 "Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts," 
 and had been much moved by reading it. It would 
 be possible on such a private fast, in the presence of 
 the suspected victims, to kindle a fanatical fervency 
 which would carry many sincere people to dangerous 
 lengths. About two weeks after this, several having 
 been committed to jail meanwhile, on a sacramental 
 Sunday, March 27, Mr. Parris preached a sermon from 
 the text, " Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of 
 you is a devil?" John vi. 70, the proposition of 
 which was, " Christ knows how many Devils there are 
 in his church and who they are."i Sarah Cloyse, 
 a sister of one of the accused, can be pardoned for go- 
 ing out of the meeting-house and slamming the door. 
 Upham relates other interesting doings of that day, 
 but thus much is cited in order to place that private 
 fast at the beginning of this most horrible episode 
 of New England history in its proper light. It 
 illustrates the influence of the ministers over their 
 flocks and how they used it. These three ministers, 
 
 ^ MS. Sermons, Conn. Hist. Soc. The followingr note prefaces this 
 serraon : " Occasioned by y© dreadful witchcraft broke out here a few 
 weeks past, and one member of this church and another of Salem 
 upon publick examination by civil authority vehemently suspected for 
 shee-witches and upon it committed." — Upham's Salem Witcha-qfl, ed. 
 1867, ii. 92-94. Hutchinson's Hist, ii. 26, following Calef in Salem 
 Witchcraft, p. 231, gives this date erroneously as April 3. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 259 
 
 under the patronage of Cotton Mather, were respon- 
 sible in large part, we believe, for the kindling of 
 the excitement which followed. Brattle tells us in a 
 letter that excepting these " the reverend elders al- 
 most throughout the whole country were [are] very 
 much dissatisfied " with the court. Four days after 
 the above preaching by Mr. Parris, the church in 
 Salem kept a fast day on account of the witchcraft. 
 Other neighboring churches did the same, and perhaps 
 repeatedly ; but there was as yet no general demand 
 sufficient to call forth a public fast. Mr. Parris fol- 
 lowed up liis sacramental theme upon the next occa- 
 sion, May 8, when he discoursed on the text, " Ye can- 
 not drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils," 
 1 Cor. X. 21.^ He seems to have believed the charge, 
 which had been brought out in the examination, that 
 the witches held sacramental seasons and kept fast 
 and thanksgiving days by themselves.^ If this preach- 
 ing is to be considered, they had surely some reason 
 for doing so. And it seems to have been the order 
 of the day, for September 11, two days after the exe- 
 cution of six, one of whom was a member of his own 
 church, this divine preached from Rev. xvii. 14, 
 '' These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb 
 shall overcome them." Such discoui^ses were not cal- 
 culated to allay the excitement, and they show, better 
 than any philosophical analysis, what was the origin of 
 the fanaticism. 
 
 ^ MS. Sermons. 
 
 2 ' ' They were accused by the sufferers to keep days of hellish fasts 
 and thanks^vings, and, upon one of these fast days they told a suf- 
 ferer she must not eat, it was a fast day. She said she would. They 
 told her they would choke her then, which, when she did eat was en- 
 deavored." — Deodat Lawson's Narrative j appended to his sermon, ed. 
 1704, London. 
 
260 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Eev. John Hale, in his " Modest Enquiry into the 
 Nature of Witchcraft," and Cotton Mather also, in 
 the " Magnalia," refer to " one general Fast by order of 
 the General Court " which was " observed throughout 
 the Colony to seek the Lord that he would rebuke 
 Satan & be a light unto his people in this day of 
 darkness." That day was May 26, already referred 
 to as the first public fast under the new charter.^ It 
 was after many committals and before any executions. 
 Obviously it was a critical time, and an interesting 
 question is raised, — What effect did the keeping of 
 that day have upon the subsequent developments ? 
 Sermons were of course preached everywhere, having 
 this special. reference. If we had them all before us, 
 it would probably appear that some believed in witch- 
 craft as a real assault of the devil upon the churches 
 of New England. Such helped on the executions. 
 Others treated the occasion merely as a cause for 
 humiliation, being much in doubt as to the matter. 
 It is fair to suppose that the temper of the pulpit 
 round about Salem has been already indicated. If 
 so, it only added fuel to the flames. At Dorchester, 
 Eev. John Danforth, the pastor, preached in the 
 morning from Jonah iii. 5, and his brother. Rev. 
 Samuel Danforth, of Taunton, in the afternoon from 
 Psalm cxix. 60. Neither seem to have treated of 
 devils on the occasion, and they may represent the 
 more conservative party. Rev. Samuel Willard, of the 
 Third Church in Boston, is known to have disfavored 
 the manner of the prosecution, and would not have 
 taken any radical view. A broadside from the pul- 
 
 ^ Modest Enquiry^ etc., pp. 25, 26 ; Magnolia^ ii. 472; Hutchinson's 
 HisUi ii. 25 ; Dor. chh. rec, p. 104. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS, 261 
 
 pits o£ New England on that day would have stayed 
 the horror, no doubt. The greatest interest, however, 
 centres upon the exercises in the Second Church of 
 Boston, whose senior pastor. Rev. Increase Mather, 
 had just returned from England. The son and col- 
 league. Cotton Mather, was certainly an inquirer into 
 the phenomena of witchcraft, and of great influence. 
 His diary gives no light as to this fast-day service ; 
 but there are good reasons to believe that he delivered 
 on that day a portion of what afterwards appeared in 
 his work, "The Wonders of the Invisible World." 
 One section of this is entitled " An Hortatory and 
 Necessary Address to a Country now Extraordinarily 
 Alarum'd by the Wrath of the Devil." The principles 
 of historical criticism woidd locate the teaching before 
 the executions, though a reference to them may have 
 been afterwards introduced. It was certainly deliv- 
 ered on a fast day, for the references to need of hu- 
 miliation are frequent, and this clause is conclusive : 
 " We are engaged in a Fast this day." If a public 
 fast is meant. May 26 is the only one that meets 
 the conditions. Furthermore, we note the prevailing 
 idea of the proclamation — "to seek the Lord that 
 he would rebuke Satan & be a light unto his people 
 in this day of darkness " — in such sentences as these : 
 " Our Lord is darkened indeed since the Powers of 
 Darkness are turned in upon us." Many of Mather's 
 books were originally sermons, and some were pub- 
 lished as such. But whether or not this conjecture is 
 correct, this work sets forth his views, and though it 
 may justly be claimed that he tried to stay the force 
 of spectral evidence, he then and thereafter believed 
 in the reality of witchcraft, and attributed it to the 
 
262 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 devil. Such an address as this upon the 26th of 
 May, 1692, would have done something toward in- 
 creasing the fervor of the prosecution. 
 
 Here it should also be recorded that Cotton Mather 
 believed, as Professor Barrett Wendell has clearly 
 shown, in the efficacy of prayer and fasting in cur- 
 ing the afflicted. Of this his biographer says, " He 
 inclines more and more to reliance on fasting and 
 prayer. This was undoubtedly the view taken, when 
 the panic was once over, by even the most strenuous 
 advocates of the reality of witchcraft, and Cotton 
 Mather undeniably takes to himself the credit of 
 having held and urged it all along." ^ Perhaps he 
 inspired also that praying circle at Salem ; but certain 
 it is that all these attempts to see if prayer and fast- 
 ing would " putt an end to their Heavy Trials " were 
 failures. 
 
 Five days after this fast day. Cotton Mather wrote 
 his well-known letter to John Richards, warning him 
 against spectral evidence, and shortly afterwards the 
 council appealed to the ministers for their opinion. 
 The first execution had taken place before the answer 
 was given, June 15, but it fairly represents, not 
 only Cotton Mather who wrote it, but that larger 
 circle of ministers about Boston, removed from the 
 intense fanaticism of Salem.^ It emphatically dis- 
 couraged condemnation on spectral evidence, but 
 unfortunately overshadowed the caution with a com- 
 mendation of the judges' forwardness in prosecutions. 
 In the logic of events this was a contradiction, and 
 
 1 Cotton Mather, Wendell, pp. 107, 112-114. 
 
 ^ Hutchinson's JTts^,!!. 50, 51 ; Cases of Conscience, etc., Increase 
 Mather ; Some Miscellany Observations, etc., Samuel Willard. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 263 
 
 the executions were the outcome for which the minis- 
 ters of Massachusetts have been unjustly blamed. 
 
 It was largely because of the support of the minis- 
 ters that an attempt was made, October 26, 1692, to 
 secure a convocation of ministers to check the prose- 
 cutions. This affair enters into our story because it 
 concerned an attempt to secure a fast day. Sewall 
 thus refers to it : "A Bill is sent in about calling a 
 Fast, and Convocation of Ministers, that may be led 
 in the right way as to the Witchcrafts. The season 
 and maner of doing it is such that the Court of Oyer 
 and Terminer coimt themselves thereby dismissed. 29 
 Nos. and 33 yeas to the Bill. Capt. Bradstreet and 
 Lieut True, W™ Huchins and several other interested 
 persons there in the affirmative." ^ The explanation 
 of this paragraph is that this was a test vDte of the 
 General Assembly on the witchcraft prosecutions, and 
 nowhere has it been given its deserved prominence. 
 The Court of Oyer and Terminer had adjourned to 
 the first Tuesday in November from September 22, 
 and we have the testimony of Thomas Brattle in his 
 letter dated October 8, that the assembly was looked 
 to for some obstructive measure.. He says : " Between 
 this and then will be the Great assembly, and this 
 matter will be a peculiar matter of the agitation." 
 The bill for calling a convocation of ministers was 
 the anticipated measure, and had they favored prose- 
 cutions it would not have been appropriate. It was 
 cleverly devised, for the clergy were always hungry 
 for convocations, and besides, the appointment of a 
 fast was attached to it. Those who were dissatisfied 
 with the Court of Oyer and Terminer in their proceed- 
 1 SewaU's Diary, i. 367. 
 
264 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ings were in favor of the bill, and, knowing the posi- 
 tion of the ministers, they judged that its passage 
 would end. the prosecutions. Captain Bradstreet, of 
 whom Sewall speaks as favoring the bill, was Dudley 
 Bradstreet, the deputy from Andover, who had him- 
 self been accused and been forced to seek concealment, 
 from which he had only come forth a short time be- 
 fore and perhaps to attend this very assembly. 
 Lieutenant Henry True was a deputy from Salisbury, 
 and interested because his wife, Jane Bradbury, was 
 a daughter of Mrs. Mary Bradbury, of Salisbury, 
 even then under sentence and reprieved through the 
 intercession of some friends. The name William 
 Huchins probably should be Samuel Hutchins, a 
 deputy from Haverhill, whose wife, Hannah Johnson, 
 was related to the Johnsons of Andover, then in con- 
 finement. Their essential point was a reference of 
 the matter to the ministers in whose decision they had 
 confidence, and whoever would vote against it must 
 reject the proposition for a fast. The bill was passed 
 by a majority of four votes, and it is no wonder Sew- 
 all wrote, " The season and maner of doing it is such 
 that the Court of Oyer and Terminer count themselves 
 thereby dismissed." That was the very intention of 
 the measure. The convocation, however, was not 
 called, for there was no need of it, as the governor, 
 Sir William Phips, decided that the unpopular court 
 should die, and witchcraft prosecutions cease. The 
 fast, if we rightly judge, was ordered December 20 
 for December 29, though no proclamation is known 
 to survive.^ 
 
 ^ It was to be the 29th if the order was received in time ; if not, 
 the Thursday following. — MS. Coun. Rec.y ii, 211. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 265 
 
 The sequel came four years afterwards, when a 
 memorable fast of repentance was ordered for January 
 14, 1696-7. After the executions, a reaction set in, 
 which increased until there was a demand for a day 
 upon which to bewail the mistakes and sorrows of the 
 witchcraft ; but those who had been judges in the 
 obnoxious court, and such as had urged on the prose- 
 cutions, were sensitive as to any public act which might 
 reflect upon them. Several such were in the council. 
 Besides helping on the appointments by the governor, 
 this conflict put off for a long time the confession 
 of sin, of which many thought the judges had been 
 guilty. All motions of the House to this end were 
 rejected, and all suggestions of the ministers failed. 
 At a court fast, September 16, 1696, on account of 
 an expedition against St. John, Rev. Samuel Willard, 
 in his sermon, improved his opportunity to score the 
 authorities for this failure to make "public confes- 
 sion of the guilt incurred in the witch trials," or, as 
 Sewall puts it, he " spake smartly at last about the 
 Salem Witchcrafts, and that no order had been suf- 
 fer'd to come forth by Authority to ask Gods par- 
 don." In response to this growing demand, a procla- 
 mation was drawn up by Cotton Mather, to be offered 
 by a committee on religion, created for the purpose in 
 the House. It was a characteristic docimient, and for 
 many reasons it is worthy of print, and not least of all 
 because it is the last of the sort proposed by the clergy 
 of Massachusetts : ^ — 
 
 1 State Archives : Ecc, xi. 119; Acts and Resolves, vii. 531-533. The 
 *' Streamer " to which Sewall refers (Diary, i. 439) is put in its place 
 in brackets. The three specifications are by different hands, the last 
 being by Captain Byfield, who claimed an unjust decision in a law- 
 suit. 
 
266 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. , 
 
 Inasmuch as the Holy God, hath been, by Terrible and Vari- 
 ous Dispensations of His providence, for many sevens of years 
 Together, most Evidently Testifying His Displeasure against 
 us; and these Humbling Dispensations of Heaven have pro- 
 ceeded from one Degree of Calamity upon us to another, 
 Wherein God hath vexed us with all Adversity, until at Last the 
 symptoms of an Extreme Desolation Threaten us: A more than 
 ordinary Humiliation of this whole people, accompanied with 
 fervent supplications, and thorough Reformations, must bee ac- 
 knowledged Necessary, to prepare us for o' Deliverance, from 
 o' most unhappy circumstances. 
 
 Tis to bee Confessed, and it hath been often Confessed, That 
 the people of This Land, in a Long Apostasy, from that Reli- 
 gious Disposition, that signalized the First planting of these Col- 
 onies, & from y" very Errand into this Wilderness, have, with 
 multiplied provocations to the Almighty, sinned Exceedingly. 
 
 The spirit of This World, hath brought almost an Epidemical 
 Death, upon y' spirit of serious, practical & powerful Religion. 
 
 The Glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, here enjoy'd 
 with much plenty as well as purity, hath not been Thankfully, 
 and Fruitfully, Entertained, by those that have been Blessed 
 with the Joyful sound. 
 
 The Covenant of Grace, Recognized in o' Churches, hath been 
 by multitudes not submitted unto; and of them that have made 
 a profession of submission unto it, very many have not walked 
 according to the sacred obligations thereby Laid upon them. 
 
 A Flood of Excessive Drinking, w*** Incentives thereto, hath 
 begun to overwhelm Good order in some Towns, & even to 
 Drown civilitie itself. 
 
 Some English, by selling of strong Drink unto Indians, have 
 not only prejudiced the Designs of Christianitie, but also been 
 the Faulty and Bloody occasions of Death, among them. 
 
 The most unreasonable Impieties of Rash and vain swearing, 
 with Hellish cursing, in the mouths of some, have rendred them 
 Guilty sinners. 
 
 A Vanity in Apparrel, hath been affected by many, whose 
 Glory hath bin their shame. 
 
 The Lords-day, hath been disturbed, with so many profana- 
 tions, that wee may not wonder, if the Land see no Rest. 
 
 The woful Decay of all good Family- Discipline, hath opened 
 the Flood-gates for Evils Innumerable, & almost Irremediable. 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 267 
 
 Wicked Sorceries have been practised in the Land; and, in 
 the Late Inexplicable storms from the Invisible world thereby 
 brought upon us, wee were left, by the Just Hand of Heaven, 
 unto those Errors, whereby Great Hardships were brought upon 
 Innocent persons, and (wee fear) Guilt incurred, which wee 
 have all cause to Bewayl, with much confusion of o' Face before 
 the Lord. 
 
 It is commonly and credibly Reported, That some, who 
 have belonged unto this countrey, have committed very Detest- 
 able PyracieSj in other parts of the world. 
 
 The sins of Uncleanness in many, & y* Grossest Instances, 
 have Defiled the Land. 
 
 The Joy of Harvest hath too much forgotten y* Glad service 
 of God, when Hee hath given us, an Abundance of all Things. 
 
 Much Fraud hath been used in the Dealings of many, and 
 mutual and multiplied oppressions have made a cry. 
 
 Magistrates, Ministers, and others that have served the pub- 
 lick, have been but Great sufferers by their services, and mett 
 with unrighteous Discouragements, [y' Irreuernc: to superiors 
 in age & authority & disobedienc to parents is too frequent 
 amongst us, parents not keeping up their authority in their 
 familes. Neglects in the Administration of Justice impartially 
 and duely in Courts of Justice is too Obvious in this Land.] 
 
 Falsehood and slander, hath been continually carrying of 
 Darts thro' y* Land. 
 
 And the Successive and Amazing Judgments of God, which 
 have come upon us, for such things as these, have not Reclamed 
 us, but wee have gone on still in o' Iniquities. 
 
 For these causes, this whole people, is Admonished now to 
 Humble themselves before the Lord, with Repeated Acts of Re- 
 pentance; and particularly. To this purpose. It is Ordered, That 
 
 Thursday bee kept as a Day of HUMILIATION, 
 
 by prayer with FASTING, before the God of Heaven, in the 
 several congregations throughout this province; and all servile 
 Labour on y* Day, is hereby Inhibited: That so wee may obtain, 
 thro' the Blood of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the pardon, both 
 of These Iniquities, and of whatever other secret sins, the Lord 
 may have sett in the Light of His countenance ; And, that wee 
 may implore y" Effusions of y" spirit of Grace from on High, 
 upon all Ranks of men, and Especially upon the Rising Genera- 
 tion, whereby o' Turn to God, y" Fire of whose wrath is dread- 
 fully consuming o' young men, may bee accomplished. 
 
268 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 And it is hereby further signified, That it is hoped, the 
 pastors of the churches, will, in their several charges, by private 
 as well as public Applications, Endeavour to prevent all growth 
 of sirif as they may discern it, in their Vicinities: and y* 
 churches join with their pastors in sharpening the Ecclesiastical 
 Discipline, against all scandals that may arise among them. 
 
 And all civil officers are hereby Likewise called upon, vigor- 
 ously to pursue y^ Execution of y" Lawes from Time to Time, 
 Enacted against all Immoralities; and in their several places, 
 as well to make Diligent Enquiries and Impartial presentments, 
 of all offences against y^ said Lawes, as to Dispense Justice 
 equally, for no cause forbearing to do their office, according to the 
 oath of God, w"^ is upon them; and unto this End frequently to 
 have their consultations in their several precincts, luhat may bee 
 done by them to suppress any common Evils : 
 
 Finally, All persons are hereby advised, seriously to pursue 
 the Designs of a general Conversion unto God, as y** best 
 Expedient, for ye Encouragement of o' Hopes, That Hee who 
 hath shown us great §' sore Troubles may Revive us; and not 
 Leave us to perish in the Convulsions which are now shaking a 
 miserable world. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, Read 10*'' Decemb'" 1696, a 
 first & Second time. Voted and sent up for Concurrance. 
 
 Penn Townsend, Speaker. 
 
 To this bill there was appended a vote that five 
 hundred copies be printed, that it be published in the 
 churches and issued to justices, constables, etc., requir- 
 ing all to be faithful in executing their respective 
 offices, and that the laws relating to them be collected 
 and inserted in the proclamation. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that the council did not 
 receive this bill with complacency ; indeed, they were 
 in high dudgeon about it, professedly because the 
 House had prepared and voted all without consultation. 
 Byfield claimed that it was no new thing, and he was 
 right. The real objection was deeper, partly to the 
 assault on the judiciary, but we suspect in the main 
 
THE WITCHCRAFT FASTS. 269 
 
 because the extravagant view which Mather presented 
 of New England's moral condition was not acceptable. 
 The bill therefore was rejected December 11, and 
 another prepared by Judge Samuel Sewall was voted 
 and sent down for concurrence.- At no time since the 
 settlement of New England had there been greater 
 excitement about a proclamation. The House was in 
 a rage, backed up no doubt by the ministers, who saw 
 their long-cherished prerogative passing to its solemn 
 burial. Yet a conflict was useless, and as the council 
 acceded to the wish for a fast, it was of short duration. 
 Finally the coimcil proclamation, with some altera- 
 tions, was passed by the House December 17. It 
 has several times been printed. That part which 
 relates to the witchcraft is as follows : " And espe- 
 cially, that whatever Mistakes, on either hand, have 
 been fallen into, either by the body of this People, 
 or any Orders of men, referring to the late Tragedie 
 raised amongst us by Satan and his Instruments, 
 through the awfull Judgment of God; He would 
 humble us therefor, and pardon all the Errors of his 
 Servants and People that desire to Love his Name ; 
 and be attoned to His Land." It was upon that 
 day, January 14, 1696-7, appointed after so long a 
 delay, that Judge Samuel SewaU put up his bill of 
 confession to be read in the Third Church in Boston,^ 
 wherein he not only acknowledged any sin that may 
 have been laid to his charge as one of the judges of 
 the witches, but also left a worthy example of manly 
 self-abasement to his lasting honor. It is the falling 
 curtain which hides the horrors of the witchcraft delu- 
 sion from view. 
 
 ^ Sewall's Diary, i, 445. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS AND MERCIES OF INDIAN WARFARE. 
 1688-1713. 
 
 The most we can hope to accomplish in connection 
 with these years of war with the Indians is to set in 
 their proper environment of circumstances the prom- 
 inent fast and thanksgiving days. The trouble was 
 in part a legacy of Sir Edmund Andros, whose expe- 
 dition to the eastward in the spring of 1688 only 
 incensed the savages to hostility, and he did not undo 
 the damage by more conciliatory measures afterwards 
 adopted. 
 
 On the 27th of November, 1688, we find the Dor- 
 chester church keeping a fast " for o'^ men y* are gone 
 out to ware." Ill news had arrived at Boston August 
 19, of five English killed at Northfield, and on that 
 account a fast was kept in the First Church August 
 23. In September similar reports came from 
 the eastward, and soldiers were dispatched thither 
 immediately, and word was sent to the governor at 
 Albany. He returned home in October, and upon 
 the failure of his peaceful policy, raised an army and 
 went forth to war. A fast in Boston, November 22, 
 probably relates to their departure.^ Dorchester and 
 
 ^ They marched from Boston, Monday, November 12, and notice of 
 a fast would have been given on the 18th for the f oUowmg Thursday. 
 — Sewall's Diary J i. 235, 236. Cf. Church's Indian Wars, repr. 
 1867, ii. 55 n. 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. "2^11 
 
 other churches kept the same the week after. The 
 campaigii was a failure. The soldiers, who had sur- 
 vived terrible hardships, returned in the spring, and 
 Andros soon surrendered the government. So ended 
 the first series of fasts. 
 
 The restored Governor Bradstreet took up the war- 
 fare with vigor in 1689, to which he was moved by 
 the massacre at Dover, N. H., the 27th of June. Cap- 
 tain Benjamin Church, of fame in King Philip's war, 
 was sunmioned to Boston on or before July 17, and 
 that same week an order was sent out for a fast July 
 25, having this cause prominent : '' In regard of y® 
 Indians plotting against us & doeiiig mischief in some 
 pts Qf ye Cuntry killing & plundering." At Plymouth 
 July 30 was kept. It was not, however, until Septem- 
 ber that the expedition sailed from Boston, probably 
 the 19th,i and on that day a public fast was observed 
 therefor, the proclamation for wliich is extant in broad- 
 side. It is only necessary to say that the expedition 
 was a disappointment. Church was coolly treated on 
 his return in January, notwithstanding his valiant 
 service, and they had no victory to commemorate on 
 the thanksgiving December 19. So ended the second 
 fasting season. 
 
 The month of February, 1689-90, found the people 
 of Massachusetts agitated about the prevalence of the 
 smaUpox and a descent of the French and Indians on 
 Schenectady. These were the main causes in the pro- 
 
 ^ Church's latest instructions were dated September 18, Wednes- 
 day, and he arrived in sight of Casco harbor on a Friday afternoon, 
 having had "a brave gale." This was probably the 20th, as he 
 would not have waited a week under the circumstances. He is said 
 to have arrived at Falmouth in the " latter part of September." — Wil- 
 liamson's Hist. Maine^ i. 616. 
 
272 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 clamation for a fast March 6, also extant in broadside. ^ 
 The smallpox increased in virulence. An army 
 under Sir William Pliips was sent out April 28, whose 
 departure the Plymouth Colony had in mind in their 
 fast April 30, and perhaps May 1 was a public fast 
 therefor in Massachusetts. ^ Port Royal was taken; 
 but the day after the news arrived, while a church fast 
 was in progress at Charlestown, May 23, several 
 members of the council present were called out of 
 church, to hear the mournful story of the destruction 
 of Casco. While another expedition was preparing, 
 a public fast was ordered by the General Court for 
 July 10,3 principally " in regard of y® troubls y* 
 weer upon us and y® wars with French & Indians 
 and y® sicknes y* weer amongst us as y® feavor & 
 smallpox." The fleet sailed from Nantasket August 
 9, and again a public fast was appointed for August 
 28, the proclamation being drafted by Cotton Mather, 
 and issued by the governor and council.^ Yet even 
 as they were keeping the day, news came of the failure 
 of their Indian allies, which, in the words of Sewall, 
 " put a great damp " upon their spirits. Another 
 force, under Church, was to threaten the eastern 
 Indians, and New York and Connecticut were to move 
 against Canada, but for various reasons all these cam- 
 paigns were disastrous. Church returned to Boston, 
 
 1 MS. Proc. in State Arch. : Ecc, xi. 50. Bd. M. H. S. On that day 
 Cotton Mather preached from Ezek. xx. 21, 22, " A Textwch. N. E. 
 has more than once happily seen y® Fulfilment of." — MS. Sermon, 
 Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 '^ The only evidence we have found is the sermon notes of James 
 Allen, of Boston, Har. Coll. Lib. 
 
 ^ There is a draft of this proclamation by Cotton Mather, but 
 another seems to have been adopted. State Arch. : Ecc, xi. 53, 54. 
 
 * Ibid., xi. 57 ; Dor. chh. rec, p. 101. 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. 273 
 
 as it would seem October, ll,i where he received 
 neither thanks nor money for his services. Upon 
 reaching his home he gave the minister of the town 
 a recital of what he considered his successes, and 
 " desired him to Return Publick Thanks," but he was 
 presently made aware that the court at Plymouth, 
 October 7, had ordered " a day of Humiliation thro' 
 the whole Government, because of the frowns of God 
 upon those Forces sent imder his [my] Command, and 
 the ill success they [we] had for want of good con- 
 duct." The day was October 29.^ However, Church 
 justified himself before the coui*t November 4, and a 
 thanksgiving was appointed for November 26. Sir 
 William Pliips reached Boston November 19, with 
 boat-loads of sick soldiers and abundance of smallpox ; 
 and he probably contributed something to the discus- 
 sion already referred to, as to the fitness of a fast or 
 a thanksgiving. So in the midst of a scourge — for 
 the ceasing of which they did not give thanks until 
 February 23, 1692-3 — they gave over more resist- 
 ance against the Indians, and the third fasting season 
 ended. 
 
 The warfare was renewed in the summer of 1692, 
 under the new government. Among other causes for 
 the thanksgiving July 14, that year, the proclamation 
 for which is extant in broadside, was that it had 
 pleased God " to lay Restraints upon our Enemies, 
 and signally to Disappoint and Defeat them in a late 
 
 ^ He reached Boston on a Saturday, the Saturday before the con- 
 vening of the Massachusetts Court, which we believe was October 
 15. Furthermore, the man who brought the evil report against him 
 was " at home a week before him," and before the Plymouth Court 
 met, October 7. 
 
 2 Ply. Col Bee, vii. 308 ; Church's King Philip's War, ii. 78 n. 
 
274 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Attack upon the Eastern Parts." This was the de- 
 feat at Wells, on the 10th of June. Shortly after this 
 thanksgiving, moved thereto by instructions from 
 England, the governor made ready a force to build a 
 fort at Pemaquid. They sailed about the 1st of Au- 
 gust, and their absence was noted in the lecture fasts 
 during that summer; but they accomplished little 
 beside building the fort, and the governor reached 
 home again September 29. The thanksgiving Febru- 
 ary 23, 1692-3, mentioned as one cause " a present 
 stop to the rage of the enemy." The early months of 
 1693 were uneventful, but early in June the English 
 fleet arrived from the West Indies, with the yellow 
 fever, and the drought of the previous season set in. 
 Under such circumstances, Cotton Mather preached 
 liis sermon, " The Day, and the Work of the Day," 
 at a church fast July 6, and July 20 was also set 
 throughout the province. One cause was the expedi- 
 tion of Major Converse to the eastward and other In- 
 dian troubles ; but in August a treaty was concluded. 
 This hope of peace was dissipated by the attack on 
 Groton, July 27, 1694. Then the war was nearer 
 home, and more serious attention was directed toward 
 reformation, which, it was thought, could alone divert 
 it. Such is the setting of Samuel WiUard's fast ser- 
 mon, at the Third Church in Boston, August 23, 
 "Reformation the Great Duty of an Afflicted Peo- 
 ple." And so the troubles continued through 1695 
 and 1696. It was the old story of surprises upon the 
 newer settlements, and consequent humiliations. Thus 
 October 24, 1695, was ordered on account of the cap- 
 tives taken at Billerica and Newbury ; and July 23, 
 1696, for the massacres at York and Portsmouth. 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. 275 
 
 Then, like the solemn movement of some symphony, 
 the sorrow was varied by the impending dread of 
 famine, in which the war and the drought had con- 
 spired. It was a fear common in all the colonies. 
 For this, Massachusetts fasted July 23, 1696, — "to 
 beg our daily bread and peaxie." Yet in the midst of 
 their troubles they were turned to thanksgiving, be- 
 cause of the discovery of the assassination plot against 
 the king, the news of which came by way of New 
 York, and by a messenger bearing a printed procla^ 
 mation for the same in England, who left a trail of 
 thanksgivings behind him. In Connecticut the day 
 was June 17, and in Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
 shire, June 18, The same was also mentioned in the 
 autumn thanksgivings. So the mercies were mingled 
 with their judgments. An end finally came to King 
 William's war by the Treaty of Eyswick, signed in 
 September, 1697, and though the news came too late 
 to spare Lancaster, it promised a relief from what 
 Cotton Mather has called the ten years of great ca- 
 lamities.^ 
 
 After five years of peace, hostilities between the 
 colonists and the French and Indians were renewed 
 August 10, 1703, to continue for another period of 
 ten years. This result had been anticipated the year 
 before, when Queen Anne came to the throne, and 
 special fasts had been kept in Massachusetts October 
 22, 1702, and February 18, 1702-3, partly on ac- 
 count of " impending war." Nevertheless they sought 
 to avert it, the governor, Joseph Dudley, and others 
 holding a conference with the Indians at Casco, June 
 20, 1703, for that purpose. They failed, and upon an 
 
 1 Decennium Luctuosum : Magnalia, ii. 580. 
 
276 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 August morning the savages made an attack upon the 
 eastern settlements from Casco to Wells, killing and 
 taking captive more than one hundred persons. News 
 reached Boston the next day, and the people fully 
 realized what it meant. The frontier settlements 
 would be broken up, and perilous expeditions must be 
 sent out. We note that within a week Dorchester 
 church and town were keeping a fast "to implore 
 deliverance from their [our] French & Indian Enemys 
 who have lately made a great Slaughter: & Taken 
 many Captives at y® Eastward, & to beg Raine from 
 Heaven," to which a memorandum is attached : " God 
 sent a plentiful! Raine ; Item. Diverse of our Enemys 
 have fallen into our hands, 8. 7°^ 1703." i 
 
 And here we have an illustration of the manner of 
 appointments at this time in New Hampshire, for 
 the lieutenant-governor and council upon August 23 
 ordered a fast for September 1, and upon September 
 14 voted another for September 23, according to the 
 command of Governor Dudley.^ It may seem that 
 this was great frequency, but it was none too much so 
 considering their danger on the frontier. They were 
 a hardy people in prayer as well as fighting, — those 
 New Hampshire men ; they committed their forces to 
 the " good conduct of Heaven " on this occasion, that 
 they might " be succeeded in taking just Revenges of 
 the perfidious enemy," and offered a bounty of <£40 
 for scalps. 
 
 Of Connecticut it may be said, in this connection, 
 that her proclamations exhibit a sympathy with her 
 
 ^ Dor. chh. rec, p. 104. 
 
 2 N. H. Col. Bec.^ ii. 404. At Dover, Aug-ust 19 had been turned 
 into a public fast on account of the war. — John Pike's Journal, 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. 277 
 
 neighbors in affliction, but she was too far removed 
 from the perils of war to respond as did the northern 
 and eastern settlements. The people of Maine ob- 
 served such days as Massachusetts ordered, or were a 
 law unto themselves. So it happened that, excepting 
 Connecticut, the Massachusetts order sometimes cov- 
 ered the rest of New England, as Rhode Island kept 
 only such as were commanded from England. 
 
 Thanksgivings were kept as usual in the autumn, 
 though there was no great cause for rejoicing at victo- 
 ries ; but in the February following, while a force was 
 abroad on snowshoes, and even as Massachusetts and 
 New Hampshire were fasting for them, February 17, 
 1703-4, the Indians were preparing a severe stroke 
 by stealing southward toward Deerfield, which they 
 assaulted February 29. This aroused Massachusetts. 
 Of the forty-seven who were killed, and the one hun- 
 dred and twelve taken captive, many were their own 
 kindred, and a profound impression was made upon 
 the ministers by the taking of Rev. John WiUiams, 
 the minister of Deerfield. Upon a Sunday morning, 
 March 5, the sorrowful story was passed from one 
 to another on the way to church, and SewaU says of 
 the day in the Third Church : " Our Congregation 
 was made a Bochim, Judges ii. 1—5." Ten days after 
 this the General Assembly had a day of fasting on 
 account of these calamities, and upon that occasion 
 were preached two notable sermons which are in print. 
 One was by Samuel Willard, entitled " Israel's True 
 Safety," and the other by John Danforth, of Dorches- 
 ter, entitled " The Vile Prophanations of Prosperity." 
 To the latter print is appended " A Declaration Against 
 Prophaneness & Immoralities," which was issued by 
 
278 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the assembly March 24 following, and was probably the 
 result of that day's impressions. Both these sermons 
 presented a sorrowful picture. Willard said : " When 
 this whole People were called to Sanctify a Fast and 
 lay themselves in the dust before God, so to implore 
 his pity and succour, He hath seemed to Smoke 
 against our Prayers, and hath answered us by terrible 
 things in the late sad Catastrophe which befel one of 
 our Frontier Places a few days after." He referred 
 of course to the fast of February 17, and the assault 
 on Deerfield. Danforth said: "The Clouds return 
 after the Rain, in a new War which the Perfidious 
 and Murderous Rebels the Salvages have commenced 
 whilst we were yet Languishing under the Wounds of 
 the former." Such were the sentiments of the day, 
 and they were sorrowful enough. Connecticut had 
 been startled, too, by the slaughter at Deerfield, to 
 whose assistance volunteers from the river towns had 
 hastened, and a special session of the assembly was 
 convened, and a fast appointed for the 29th of March. 
 This wave of excitement had hardly subsided ere 
 another arose. Upon the 4th of May Governor Dud- 
 ley issued his instructions to Colonel Benjamin Clmrch, 
 about to start with an expedition eastward, and about 
 the same time he ordered a day of prayer for its suc- 
 cess, kept on the ISth.i Yet before the day arrived, 
 indeed on the very day the proclamation was being 
 read in the churches, the express brought news of 
 the assault upon Pascomuck (Easthampton, Mass.). 
 The effect can be imagined. It brought to mmd the 
 
 ^ It was ordered April 27, three days after the first issue of the 
 Boston News-Letter. The proclamation was printed in the third issue, 
 and is the first ever printed in a New England newspaper. 
 
INDIAN WARFARE, 279 
 
 days of 1675. On that fast day, in some churches, 
 the " Declaration Against Prophaneness " was read as 
 a part of the service. The Connecticut Assembly 
 was in session when this news reached them. Imme- 
 diately they fell to discussing the need for reformation, 
 and set June 14 for a fast. So the season passed, 
 and there were some successes, at least in the failure 
 of their enemies' expeditions against them, to chronicle 
 in the autumn thanksgivings. 
 
 The year 1705 was not eventful, though the war- 
 fare continued along the frontiers. A special thanks- 
 giving was kept in Massachusetts April 12, in which 
 their "late exemptions from molestations of the en- 
 emy" were noted, but the main cause was doubtless 
 the narrow escape from shipwreck which the gov- 
 ernor had upon a return voyage from Portsmouth.^ 
 In the autumn, too, they had the unusual successes of 
 her Majesty's forces in the war to commemorate, 
 though only the annual thanksgiving was set until an 
 order from England arrived, on which account they 
 repeated the same in Massachusetts January 24, 
 1705-6, — a fair example of many such days both 
 north and south in response to a royal suggestion. 
 
 The Indian attacks of 1706 were more numerous 
 and disastrous, extending along the frontier from Sud- 
 bury to Kittery, but we know of no extraordinary 
 fastings. That year, however, was notable for the 
 return of captives ; and notwithstanding a controversy 
 arising out of certain suspicions of duplicity in the 
 matter, a sufficient number were redeemed to flavor 
 the autumn thanksgivings. A larger number came 
 
 ^ Hutchinson's Hist.^ ii. 148 ; Sewall's Diary ^ ii. 126, 128 ; Proc. in 
 Boston News-Letter, No 48. 
 
280 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 later, and among them Rev. John Williams and two 
 of his sons, — a special answer, it was said, to public 
 prayers in their behalf.^ 
 
 The spring of 1707 opened with a court fast for 
 direction in the expedition then contemplated against 
 Port Royal. Sewall is rather more particular than 
 usual as to the manner of that observance. The ser- 
 vice began a little after ten o'clock, and continued 
 until half past two. At least seven ministers were pres- 
 ent, and several prayers were offered " with great 
 Pertinency and Variety," which must have been, as 
 some prayed that God would show them what to do as 
 to the expedition, and others thanked Him for the news 
 that eighteen Indians had lately been killed. We 
 may imagine, the solemn mien of our judge as he set 
 the 20th Psalm to his favorite York tune. We know 
 of no sermon preached, and it is not said that it was 
 distinctively a fast ; but it was observed as such custom- 
 arily were, and even the after-part was not out of place, 
 when they broke the fast and all retired to Home's to 
 dine at the council's expense. The whole is a picture 
 of a bygone age, for the authorities in Massachusetts 
 have long since ceased to delight in such occasions. 
 The expedition was decided on, and the spring fast 
 April 16 in Massachusetts and New Hampshire took 
 notice of the fact. It sailed May 13.2 B^^t after a 
 skirmish or two, and within a month, the army reem- 
 
 1 Dor. chh. rec, p. 129. One daughter, Eunice, did not return. She 
 married, lived, and died in Canada ; but she was for years the subject 
 of special prayers, and upon the occasion of her visit to her relatives 
 in 1741 was the principal cause of a fast day. See sermon, Solomon 
 Williams, August 4, 1741. 
 
 ^ Penhallow's Indian Wars is in error in saying March 13. Cf. 
 Hutchinson's Ilist.^ ii. 165 ; SewalFs Biary^ ii. 185. 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. 281 
 
 barked for Casco. There was great dissatisfaction, 
 increased by repeated surprises along the frontiers. 
 On the day of the ill news, however, a rainbow was 
 seen just at night, and therein they found comfort. 
 Again the forces were sent forward, with a fast July 
 24 for a blessing. They had prayers enough, but 
 no able general, and because the former woidd not 
 answer alone they finally returned home in time for 
 a hearty thanksgiving on being safely there. 
 
 Of the year 1708 it need only be said the Indians 
 kept up their warfare and the colonists offered what 
 resistance they could. But in 1709 there was encour- 
 agement from England of a final venture. Troops 
 were raised, and the squadron from abroad was 
 awaited. At last, in the autumn, word came that 
 it had gone to Portugal, and that after the poor 
 New England people had been fasting in church and 
 state all the season long. The next year they had 
 a drought and a plague of worms to pray over, for 
 which the Boston churches fasted together May 4, and 
 the province June 15. Finally the expedition arrived, 
 for which they turned to thanksgivings August 10, 
 — " the happy arrival of her Majesty's forces from 
 Great Britain for our relief from the insult of ene- 
 mies," including in the same their gratitude for rain. 
 After waiting two months, the expedition sailed Sep- 
 tember 18, with the usual humiliations to help it on, ten 
 days thereafter. It was a success, and who can say 
 that the people had not earned some encouragement ? 
 That year they had a very cheerful thanksgiving. 
 
 The year 1711 was one of continual public humilia- 
 tions, first to implore divine favor upon the great 
 expedition against Quebec, and afterwards to express 
 
282 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 sorrow over its failure. The story is familiar. Gov- 
 ernor Dudley sent forth an order for a fast in Massa- 
 chusetts and New Hampshire to be on July 26, and the 
 forces departed the 30th; but he also included the 
 keeping of a monthly fast the last Thursday in each 
 month during the expedition. August 30 was there- 
 fore kept, but before September 27 came round ill 
 news arrived, and this was put oif to October 11. A 
 similar " wheel of prayer " was in motion in Connect- 
 icut, beginning the 15th of August, and ending the 
 31st of October. This custom we have met with be- 
 fore during King Philip's war, and as Belknap says 
 of it in New Hampshire, " it was an imitation of the 
 conduct of the long parliament during the civil wars." 
 By the putting off of the fast to October 11, the peo- 
 ple of Boston had additional occasion for humiliation 
 on account of the great fire of the 2d instant, which 
 destroyed the Old Meeting-House. This was par- 
 ticularly regarded as a judgment upon an irreligious 
 people, and the sermon which Increase Mather 
 preached, " In which the Sins which Provoke the Lord 
 to kindle Fires are Enquired into," was not at all an 
 exceptional view. As might be expected, the failure 
 of this expedition resulted in renewed hostilities along 
 the frontier. 
 
 But we can remark, as Hutchinson did, " I am 
 I tired of relating these inroads of the enemy," and we 
 might add the humiliations which accompanied them. 
 By this time the people had become so accustomed to 
 news of a doleful sort that it offered less and less 
 cause for fasting. They were evidently disheartened, 
 and perhaps a little skeptical. Yet here it was truly 
 darkest just before dawn, for in October, 1712, the 
 
INDIAN WARFARE. 283 
 
 queen's proclamation of a cessation of arms arrived. 
 Of course it should be mentioned in the thanksgiving 
 at hand. In a week the council at Boston were at 
 work " hammering out " a proclamation. The secre- 
 tary drew it, and the rest of the company criticised it. 
 One phrase in the original draft was this, " for the 
 near view of a peace." His Excellency added the 
 word " happy," but the judicious SewaU thought per- 
 haps it would be better to find out what the conditions 
 were before such a joyful christening. He was over- 
 ruled. The point was too minute, and any kind of 
 a peace was " happy " to the governor. Then there 
 arose an amendment to the agricultural clause, " the 
 plentiful harvest." The judge said " the Wheat and 
 Rye were much blasted ; the Barly much diminished," 
 and he was for introducing the word " later " before 
 harvest. But it was decided not to be over-exact, and 
 to thank the Lord even for the poor crop of early 
 cereals.i We refer to this as illustrating the care 
 which was then common in framing proclamations. 
 They were not only not satisfied with mere generals, 
 but also exact in the particulars ; and it is this which 
 gives historical value to their proclamations. 
 
 We have had in this period abundant evidence of 
 the frequency of fasts. The practice had its enemies 
 even at that day. These were mostly Episcopalians. 
 In some instances they prevailed to prevent such days. 
 On the 17th of December, 1713, the Boston churches 
 had kept a fast on account of the scarcity of grain, 
 prevailing sicknesses, and the setting in of a severe 
 winter ; and two days thereafter the council were sit- 
 ting round the fire in their chamber, and fell to eom- 
 ^ Sewall's Diary ^ ii. 365. See, also, iii. 41. 
 
284 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 menting on the neglect of the occasion by the Epis- 
 copalians. General Nicholson, who was an attendant 
 at King's Chapel, thought no fast should be kept 
 without public authority, and complained because the 
 shops had been closed on the fast. Of course trade 
 had not been prohibited, but the people had come 
 to observe such ecclesiastical fasts as sacredly as 
 those proclaimed by the authorities. On this oc- 
 casion, as they were met to discuss a proposed fast, 
 the objector himself courteously moved for it to be 
 January 14, 1713-14. Still all the Church of England 
 people were tired of such constant humiliations, and 
 they had surely good reasons for being so. During 
 these years of war they had been compelled to observe 
 them by the dozen ; and though it may seem to the 
 reader that there was a sameness in them, each day 
 had its own fresh cause and complaint. It is only by 
 following them in detail, as we have done, that a true 
 conception can be had of the custom as the fathers 
 honored and practiced it. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 
 
 1727-1755. 
 
 The great earthquake of October 29, 1727, pro- 
 duced a profound impression upon the people of New " 
 England. In itself it can hardly be called a calamity, 
 for there were no lives lost, and no property was de- 
 stroyed, excepting as a few rods of toppling stone 
 wall were thrown down, the loosened bricks shaken . 
 from the chimneys, and some springs of water dried 
 up. The consequent excitement was not due wholly 
 to the fact of an earthquake, for they had their tradi- 
 tions of others that had been experienced; but rather I 
 to the use that was made of it by the ministers as a \ 
 threatened judgment upon a backslidden people. As I 
 such, it furnishes the most remarkable study of the/ 
 century preceding the American Revolution. 
 
 It had, indeed, been a long time since the land had 
 been visited with any phenomenon worthy of being 
 called an earthquake. There had been slight trem- 
 bhngs of the earth within the memory of many then 
 living, but those who recalled that of January 26 
 and February 5, 1662-3, must have been few.^ Dur- 
 
 ^ Authorities notice the following earthquakes in New England be- 
 fore 1815: June 1, 1638; January 14, 1639; March 5, 1643; Octo- 
 ber 29, 1653 ; 1658 ; January 31, 1660 ; January 26, and February 
 5, 1662-3 ; October 5, 1665 ; December 3, 1666 ; April 3, and Decem- 
 ber 9, 1668 ; 1669 ; February 8, 1685 ; June 16 and 22, 1705 ; October 
 
286 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ing this interval, however, they had been repeatedly 
 startled by news of convulsions in other lands, similar 
 to that of 1687 at Lima, in which it was reported 
 that " above 60,000 persons perished, leaving a pool 
 of water where the city stood." They did not know 
 but that such might be the fate of some in New 
 England. Nor was theirs an age of science. The 
 prevaihng ignorance concerning earthquakes, and a 
 superstitious regard for supernatural agencies, left the 
 people in a most impressible state of feeling. They 
 were many centuries nearer the catastrophe which 
 overtook the rebellious Korahites. The preaching, 
 too, had been enforced by prophecies of a judgment 
 if they did not reform. So fully were the ministers 
 committed to a belief in the divine warning of calami- 
 ties, that one may wonder what they would have done 
 for arguments without an occasional drought, or tem- 
 pest, or scourge. Ah ! it was all very real to the 
 honest and reverent men of those days, more so, per- 
 haps, than at any time since. Looking, then, through 
 their eyes, we can comprehend the widespread religious 
 interest which resulted from what their foremost di- 
 vine called " the terror of the Lord." 
 
 The 29th of October, 1727, was a Sabbath day, — 
 the old and honored New England Sabbath, when the 
 people universally attended church throughout many 
 hours of the day, read their Bibles in the solemn still- 
 ness of the twilight, and catechised the children with 
 scrupulous care. As they went to their rest, it was 
 with more than ordinary religious temper of mind. 
 
 29, 1727; April 12, 1730; September 5, 1732 ; February 6, 1737; June 
 3 and 20, 1744 ; November 18, 1755 ; July 8, 1757 ; March 12, 1761 ; 
 November 29, 1780; March 1, 1800; April 5, 1805; November 9, 
 1810; November 28, 1814. 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 287 
 
 There was nothing in the air that night which por- 
 tended evil, for it was cahn and still. Some few were 
 abroad, but the most were asleep. It was about 
 forty minutes past ten o'clock, — for authorities differ, 
 as doubtless their clocks gave reason, — when the 
 sleepers were awakened by a rumbling noise, which 
 continued for half a minute, ever drawing nearer ; and 
 then the earth began to tremble and heave upwards, 
 the shock reaching its height in about a minute and 
 then subsiding. It is worth while to give, in their 
 own words, some of the descriptions which reflect the 
 recitals of fast-day sermons. Cotton Mather says : 
 " About a quarter of an Hour before eleven, there 
 was heard in Boston from one end of the Town to the 
 other, an horrid rumbling like the Noise .of many 
 Coaches together driving on the paved Stones with 
 the utmost Rapidity. But it was attended with a 
 most awful Trembling of the Earth, which did heave 
 and shake so as to Rocque the Houses." Thomas 
 Prince gives this account : "It came on with a loud 
 hollow Noise like the Roaring of a Great fired Chim- 
 ney, but incomparably more fierce and terrible. In 
 about half a minute the Earth began to heave and 
 tremble. . . . The Noise & Shakes seem'd to come 
 from the Northwestward and to go off Southeasterly, 
 and so the Houses seemed to reel." Paul Dudley, in 
 the description which he sent to England,^ adopted 
 Cotton Mather's simile, and added that " one compared 
 it to the shooting out of a load of stones from a cart 
 under his window." He hin^self, being perfectly 
 awake, " thought at first the servants who lodged in 
 a garret over his chamber \vere dragging along a trun- 
 ^ Philosophical Trans, of the ^oyal Soc. of London, viii. 22. 
 
288 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 die bed," yet he also says there is no describing the 
 noise. His house, which was large and well built, 
 " seemed to be pressed up together as if a hundred 
 screws had been at work to tlu'ow it down." All wit- 
 nesses agree that the motion was upward, and more 
 than a dozen printed sermons support the impressions 
 of the terrible noise which accompanied it. The re- 
 port that "a flash of Light was observed at the 
 Windows and a Blaze was seen to run along on the 
 ground " before the shock, which is mentioned by 
 Mather, Prince, Foxcroft, and others, seems to have 
 originated at Hampton, N. H., and with Nathaniel 
 Gookin. Perhaps tliis was imagination, like the smell 
 of sulphur . that pervaded the house of a certain min- 
 ister. Before any of these sermons were printed, 
 and before some of them had been preached, letters 
 had carried the stories abroad, as the supplementary 
 notes testify, and then as now a story loses nothing 
 by repetition. The effects of the shock, as they were 
 reported from distant sections, were very remarkable. 
 At Guilford, Conn., " it tolled a bell ; " at New Lon- 
 don " a house was rock'd and remain'd leaning about 
 two feet over ; " at Casco and Marblehead there was 
 an agitation of the waters which made the ships sheer 
 and quiver, and it seemed as if they had run aground ; 
 at Newbury one said " there was a fissure of the earth 
 and near twenty cart loads of fine sand thrown out 
 where the ground brake and water boiled out like a 
 spring and mixing with the sand made a sort of a quag- 
 mire ; " at Boston the water in a well thirty-six feet 
 deep " turned wheyish and stank ; " at New York ves- 
 sels were shaken from the shelves, and clocks were 
 put in disorder. Animals were affrighted ; the dogs 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 289 
 
 barked and howled ; a horse quivered with fear under 
 his rider, and the beasts in the fields ran excitedly to 
 and fro. Such stories were circulated, many of them 
 true, but some exaggerated or false. However, as 
 they were believed at the time, the fear can be ima- 
 gined which extended from Kennebec to Philadelphia. 
 The subsequent events at Boston furnish an illus- 
 tration. At the first shock, the awakened sleepers 
 ran into the streets for safety, and gathered in terror- 
 stricken groups, not knowing but their end had come. 
 Some verily thought the last trump had sounded for 
 the judgment. Nor was the excitement allayed after 
 this shock was ov^r, for four or five times before day- 
 light the earth trembled. In fact, these disturbances 
 continued for several weeks, being felt thirty times 
 during the next ten days, and only ceased after a 
 shock nearly as great on the 30th of January follow- 
 ing.^ This continuance of the earthquake had a sol- 
 emnizing influence upon the minds of the people, and 
 wa§_used with great effect by the ministers in their 
 sermons, as though God were holding the people over 
 the bottomless pit awaiting their reformation. When 
 the day at Boston dawned, the streets were thronged, 
 and every one had some experience to relate. The 
 ministers were ready to utihze the occasion. For 
 years they had thundered in the deaf ears of New 
 England. Was the time at hand when God's right- 
 
 1 Shocks were felt November 11, 12, 14, 19, December 6, 7, 8, 12. 
 "On Tuesday, the 30th [Jan.] near two a clock P. m. we had here 
 in Boston the ^eatest shock that has been observ'd since the night 
 after Octob. 29. It made the houses shake and the moveables jarr. 
 It was perceived mostly by those within doors and many ran out into 
 the streets in great consternation.' ' — Boston News-Letter^ February 
 1, 1728. 
 
 f 
 
i/ 
 
 290 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 eous judgments would be visited upon them ? Cotton 
 Mather was the first to move. About ten o'clock in 
 the forenoon, at his direction, the bell of the Old 
 North Church was rung to summon the people to 
 " some seasonable exercises of religion." His church 
 had the largest capacity of any in Boston, and it was 
 quickly packed to its utmost. Other ministers came. 
 No audience had been seen for many a year so solemn 
 and devout. One after another the ministers were 
 heard in prayer, and they were sincere outpourings of 
 a repentant spirit, moving the worshipers to tears. 
 A less thoughtful people would have made it a service 
 of thanksgiving for their deliveram^e ; but they had 
 heard again and again warnings against Sabbath- 
 breaking, profanity, drunkenness, and all unrighteous- 
 ness, and these had passed unheeded. The public 
 conscience had been aroused, and by the terrors of a 
 single night. Repentance was the cry. It came time 
 for the sermon. No minister of the day was equal to 
 Cotton Mather in the dramatic recital of New Eng- 
 land's misdeeds ; and after the prayers it was his voice 
 that was heard in the awful stiUness. His text was 
 Micah vi. 9, " The Lord's voice crieth unto the city," 
 etc. It was a discourse calculated to deepen and in- 
 crease their fears. The earthquake was verily the 
 voice of God. " The Glorious God has Roared out 
 of Zion," he said ; " we have the last night heard 
 the terrible Roaring," — a favorite figure, found in 
 more than one earthquake sermon. There may be 
 more to come ; God is awaiting an answer to his sum- 
 mons. Such was the tone of the discourse. Then he 
 went on to detail the sins of the time in a most affect- 
 We shall see what advantage he took of 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 291 
 
 his opportunity, by his words to such as had been 
 guilty of sleeping during divine service. '' I see none 
 Asleep at this Time. 'T is a Congregation of Hearers 
 that I am at this Time Speaking to. This very Cir- 
 cumstance awakens a Thought in me. That sleeping 
 in the Assemblies of Zion, when it is indulged and not 
 a mere Involuntary surprisal upon Infirmity, His lit- 
 terhj a Fault and offers an affront to Heaven. But 
 it is a very Epidemical Miscarriage in the Countrey. 
 Now, Syrs, you have an Earthquake to give you a 
 push like that of the Goads given of old by the Mas- 
 ters of the Assemblies, for the Awakening of the 
 Drowsy Sleepers there. An earthquake is crying in 
 your Ears, What meanest thou, O sleeper in the House 
 of God ? Oh, No more sleeping in this dreadful place ! 
 It may soon be made so."^ In conclusion, he said 
 somewhat about the judgment and the end of the 
 world, possibly closing the service with the forty-sixth 
 Psalm, which he puts at the end of his printed ser- 
 mon. 
 
 This service lasted until two o'clock. Lieutenant- 
 Governor Dummer was doubtless himself present, and 
 recommended further services at the Old Church at 
 five o'clock. Such were held, but so many came that 
 another audience was gathered in the South Church. 
 These continued until eight o'clock. Vast congrega- 
 tions were present in both churches, and the minis- 
 ters, Thomas Foxcroft and Joseph Sewall, preached, 
 the latter from Psalm iv. 4, " Stand in awe, and sin 
 not," which sermon is in print. 
 
 It is obvious that this 30th of October was practi- 
 cally an unannounced fast day of the most solemn 
 
 1 The Terror of the Lcrrd, etc., 2<i ed. p. 16. 
 
292 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 character. Elsewhere, as in Haverhill, it was also 
 observed. But if so, it was only the beginning. As 
 on previous occasions, at the motion of the lieutenant- 
 governor, the Thursday lecture, November 2, was 
 turned into a special fast day, not only by the churches 
 in Boston, but in Charlestown, Marblehead, and Brad- 
 ford. The Wednesday had been observed at Brook- 
 line, Haverhill, and Ipswich, and Friday was the day 
 at Cambridge, Roxbury, Newton, Andover, and Wey- 
 mouth. November 7 was kept at Dorchester, the 
 16th at Hampton, Rye, and other New Hampshire 
 towns, possibly by public authority. It so happened 
 that the 2d of November had been appointed thanks- 
 giving day. in Connecticut, and the 9th in Massa- 
 chusetts. Under the circumstances, these were more 
 like fast days. A proclamation was shortly issued in 
 Massachusetts for a public fast December 21. Upon 
 all these days, sermons suitable to this event were 
 delivered, as well as some others on the Sundays of 
 November. On the 23d, Thomas Foxcroft preached 
 before the assembly on the theme, " The Voice of the 
 Lord from the Deep Places of the Earth." Cotton 
 Mather soon issued his book entitled " Boanerges," 
 designed to strengthen the good impressions produced, 
 and William Cooper printed a sermon with the same 
 purpose. So, for several months, amid a deepening 
 religious feeling, with their fears repeatedly awakened 
 by tremors of earthquake, the people listened to the 
 solemn teachings of their ministers. They were threat- 
 ened with the fate of the Korahites, and some seem 
 verily to have anticipated the end of the world. Cot- 
 ton Mather plainly said, " The smell of sulpher, which 
 is affirmed by many to have been plain imto them, 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 293 
 
 adds to a Fearful expectation of a Fiery Indignation 
 in Gods Time and way to be proceeded in." Many 
 eyes were turned toward Boston, as the metropolis, in 
 expectation that, if they were to be swallowed up, the 
 visitation would begin thereabouts. A few lines from 
 an extravagant poem^ which was printed at New Lon- 
 don, exhibits by multiplied exclamations this linger- 
 ing dread : ^ — 
 
 ** where dwells safety on this crazy Globe ! 
 Should this (which Heav'n avert) be the dire Fate 
 Of these fair Fields ! this fair Metropolis 
 Blooming and Gay ! Should this fair City Sink ! 
 These beauteous Streets, which now, even now we feel 
 Trembling beneath us ! These Ascending Spires ! 
 These beauteous Mansions, Gardens, pleasant Walks, 
 Where springs Delight ! And who live happy here, 
 Age, Infancy, and where fresh blooming Youth 
 Hop'd many a happy Day ; Should all Sink down, 
 Should all be Plung'd deep in the vast Abyss 
 Eternally Absorpt from Mortal sight ! 
 Amazement fills the Tho't ! " 
 
 Surely such a catastrophe, which appears already to 
 have overtaken the poet's lines, was sufficient to arouse 
 the fears of aU New England. 
 
 After the earthquake, it occurred to several divines 
 whose sermons were printed that the season past had 
 been full of warnings. Had not the spring been char- 
 acterized by " a gTievous and threatening cold," with 
 sickness abroad? Had not the heat been excessive 
 during the summer months, especially from July 28 
 to August 7, the like scarcely known before, and 
 some parts of the harvest cut short thereby? Had 
 there not been a remarkable storm of thunder and 
 
 1 Some Rude Sf Indigested Thoughts on the Majesty of God In the \ 
 Works of Nature : Occasioned by that Earthquake Octob. 29th, 1727. ] 
 New London, 1730, 16°, pp. (2) 12. Prince Lib., and Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
294 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 lightning the night of the 1st of August ? Had not 
 a tempest of wind arisen September 16, and laid waste 
 many fields, uprooting even the trees of the forest? 
 These had been the premonitory frowns of God upon 
 them. The eJBEect was remarkable. Churches every- 
 where were at least outwardly aroused. Meeting- 
 houses were thronged. Family worship was set up in 
 many households. "Ill customs were broken off." 
 Eev. William Williams testifies that for several 
 months following he was " busied in conferences with 
 considerable numbers who visited him [me] on the in- 
 tention of joyning to the Church, and of young people 
 desiring to own the covenant." Prince says that many 
 were added to the churches everywhere, from twenty 
 to forty on a single Sabbath, and one church received 
 above one hundred and fifty in three weeks. This 
 latter was probably the church in Haverhill, where, as 
 we learn from a letter in the appendix to John Cotton's 
 sermon, the minister was employed night and day in 
 discoursing with those who came to him on religious 
 matters. The extant church records show large addi- 
 tions at this time. But there was another side to be 
 seen later on, which Hutchinson puts thus : " As the 
 fears of another earthquake went off, the religious im- 
 pressions went with them, and they who had been the 
 subjects of both returned to their former course of 
 life." ^ A similar opinion is given in Prince's " Chris- 
 tian History " and elsewhere, as that of Sewall, Prince, 
 Webb, and Cooper, ^ and it was urged by some against 
 the revivals of Edwards's time. Many doubtless came 
 
 1 Hutchinson's Hist, ii. 326, 327. 
 # 2 Prince's Christian Hist.y i. 114 ; Edwards's Narrative^ Preface to 
 3ded. 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD, 295 
 
 into the churches who were not so much the subjects 
 of fear at the earthquake, as of the truth preached 
 afterwards, some of whom had long before come into 
 the Christian estate. But whatever view may be en- 
 tertained as to the quality of the results, the impartial 
 student must surely regard this as one of the most 
 remarkable awakenings in New England history, both 
 as respects its cause and character. 
 
 It was, moreover, the last rekindling of the reforma- 
 tion movement which began more than fifty years be- 
 fore. Again and again the churches had sought by a 
 course of vigorous legislation to reform the people, and 
 they had failed. It was not so to be done. The sins 
 of the tune, which are the sins of aU times, were de- 
 nounced by the ministers. Renewal of covenant was 
 again made a practice, sometimes in the very form 
 of 1679 ; and though there may have been a temporary 
 moral upUft in society, in a short time the flood fell 
 to that level which the character of the people could 
 sustain. 
 
 The great earthquake of November 18, 1755, to 
 which we now turn, did not resemble this former one 
 in its impressions or results. There had been lesser 
 shocks June 3 and 20, 1744 ; and fasts had been 
 called forth,^ but the effect was temporary. In 1755 
 there were changed conditions. There had been no 
 such preparatory forces as in 1727. The people were 
 engaged in a war which diverted their minds from 
 religious matters. Besides, the body of the people 
 remembered the former occasion, and their natural 
 fears had been allayed both by education and experi- 
 ence. Many of the divines of the older school had 
 ^ Jane 28, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
 
296 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 passed away, a noble company of men, — Cotton 
 Mather, Benjamin Colman, William Cooper, and others. 
 The thought of the people had been progressive, and the 
 great revivals had wrought a change in their religious 
 life. They knew more about earthquakes. ' Professor 
 John Winthrop was teaching science in Harvard 
 College. So they were not circumstanced to receive 
 the impressions of 1727. In some respects also the 
 customs as respects fast and thanksgiving days had 
 changed. The annual days had become institutional, 
 and the special appointment was not so common. It 
 demanded more extraordinary reason. Church days 
 were stiU observed, but for the most part they had 
 laid aside public occurrences. The civil authorities 
 were expected to appoint a day if it was warranted. 
 Therefore there were not such opportunities at hand 
 for kindling a general religious enthusiasm at short 
 notice, and before the public authorities could act the 
 interest had somewhat abated. 
 
 The earthquake of 1755 was more severe than that 
 of 1727, but the shock was not repeated at intervals. 
 It was soon over, and the fright was not prolonged. 
 It came at quarter after four o'clock in the morning 
 of November 18. Few were awake at that hour, but 
 the shaking was sufficient to rouse every one. AU 
 were terror-stricken. Some shrieked, and others cried 
 for mercy. In a sermon preached at East Hartford, 
 Conn., on the Sunday following, Rev. Eliphalet Wil- 
 liams gives this description of it : "I doubt not . . . 
 it was a startling Surprizal to the most of you, to be 
 Awak'd out of your Sleep in the dead, and silence of 
 Night with the mighty Noise, the strong paroxysm 
 and agitation of the Globe : your Houses rocking, and 
 
THE TERROR OF THE LORD. 297 
 
 cracking over your Heads, your Beds trembling under 
 you, and the Earth staggering, and reeling to and fro 
 like a drunken man and seeming to threaten to Dis- 
 close and Ingulph you in one general Ruin." A more 
 accurate account of the shock and its effects is fomid 
 in Professor John Winthrop's lecture on the event, 
 delivered the week following.^ The damage done to 
 walls, chimneys, and articles of ware was considera- 
 ble. All are agreed that it was an awful night. The 
 next day, at eleven o'clock, a service was held at the 
 South Church in Boston, and the pastor, Rev. Joseph 
 Sewall, preached from the thirty-sixth verse of the 
 thii-teenth chapter of Mark, '^ Lest coming suddenly 
 he find you sleeping." As on the former occasion, 
 too, the Thursday lecture was turned into a fast. 
 Doubtless the same character was given to the lectures 
 elsewhere, and the following Sunday it was the theme 
 of discourses.2 Yet it is noticeable that the excite- 
 ment had even then subsided, notwithstanding a slight 
 tremor the night before. It was the 8th of January 
 before Massachusetts had a public fast, and then not 
 exclusively on account of the earthquake. Besides a 
 mention in the spring fasts, this seems to have been 
 the extent of the humiliation. Of course the same 
 solemn warnings were uttered by the ministers, but 
 mingled with reflections of a more cheering character. 
 Thomas Prince, whose sermon on earthquakes was 
 
 ^ Winthrop's Lecture on Earthquakes ; Babson's Hist, of Gloucester^ 
 p. 346. " It is thought the shock was greater than in 1727. The 
 earth moved like the waves of the sea. The creatures irrational as 
 well as rational were terribly frightened." — Rev. Israel Loring's 
 Diary ^ MS. Notes, Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 "^ We have met with sermons preached Sunday, November -2.3, by 
 the following: Mather Byles, James Cogswell, Jonathan Mayhew, 
 Eliphalet Williams, besides several other lectures and Sunday sermons. 
 
298 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 then reprinted, and who also issued " An Improvement 
 of the Doctrine of Earthquakes," charged Professor 
 Winthrop with " diverting the minds of the people by 
 his physical explanation." ^ Doubtless this was true ; 
 but the intimation in his answer was just ; the divine 
 had himself taken a more scientific view of the sub- 
 ject than before. Progress, like a wave, bears men 
 onward unconsciously to themselves. The day was 
 passed when the people would fear an earthquake, as 
 " the terror of the Lord," and stand in expectation 
 of being swallowed up in a yawning abyss. 
 
 1 See Prince's Sermon and Improvement, etc. ; Letter in reply to 
 Winthrop on Earthquakes : Boston Gazette, January 26, 1756. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 
 
 1744-1749. 1755-1760. 
 
 The conquest of Canada had come to be recognized, 
 at the time of which we write, as essential to the con- 
 tinued peace of New England. It was the conclusion 
 forced upon them by the Indian wars. We come 
 now to consider the special fasts and thanksgivings 
 of two other wars, which, if measured by the actual 
 hostilities in New England, were of five years each, 
 namely, " King George's war," or " Governor Shir- 
 ley's war," 1744 to 1749, and the " Old French war," 
 or "French and Indian war," 1755 to 1760. 
 
 The first of these was declared in March, 1744, and 
 the attack was made on the English post at Canso on 
 the 13th of May. When this news reached Boston, 
 inunediate preparations were made to send reinforce- 
 ments to Annapolis Royal. Thereupon Governor 
 Shirley issued a proclamation for a fast to be June 28, 
 four days before the force sailed from Boston. The 
 same day was kept in New Hampshire. In Connecti- 
 cut the 15th of August was a public fast, " on account 
 of the war," though we know of no copy of the procla- 
 mation, and the Wadsworth manuscript diary is the 
 only evidence of the fact. An additional cause for 
 humiliation was found in the earthquake, which was 
 on the 3d of June, the day after the war was declared 
 
800 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 in Boston ; and, strange to relate, the opening year of 
 the second war was also remarkable in the same way. 
 During the summer efforts were made to secure the 
 neutrality of the Indians, but these hopes, which were 
 noted in the thanksgivings of the autumn, proved to 
 be delusive. However, they had special cause for 
 gratitude in the exceptional harvest of that season, 
 upon which ministers afterwards dilated as God's pro- 
 vision for the war. If it was so, it did not hold out. 
 Success attended the reinforcements, and this contrib- 
 uted to the expressions of thanksgiving. 
 
 The winter following witnessed the preparations for 
 the expedition against Louisburg, which had been 
 proposed by Governor Shirley. It was a daring ven- 
 ture, and was at first received with astonishment, but 
 finally adopted. Aid was promised from the other 
 colonies, which of course extended the interest in fast- 
 ing and prayer. Massachusetts set apart February 
 28, 1744-5, and upon that occasion Samuel Checkley 
 preached his sermon on " Prayer a Duty when God's 
 people go forth to War." There had not been for many 
 years such earnestness as was displayed that winter. 
 " Who can bring us into the def enced City ? " was the 
 preacher's cry. " Who can lead us into the strong 
 castle ? Canst not thou, O Lord ? ... In thy name 
 would we set up our banners." Thomas Prince, in 
 his valuable thanksgiving sermon upon this expedition, 
 preached July 18, 1745, gives us further information 
 as to the earnestness of their supplications. " Those 
 who were venturing into the danger," he says, " seem'd 
 to be f idlest of trust in God and courage. Many fill'd 
 their vessels with Prayers, and asking ours, they threw 
 themselves into the divine protection, in the name 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 301 
 
 of God they set up their banner, and away they sail'd. 
 Pray for us, and we '11 fight for you, was the valiant 
 and endearing language wherewith they left us." He 
 also says : " It gave further ground of hope, to see 
 such a spirit of supplication given to many in this 
 town and land on this occasion. For, besides the 
 solemn days of publick and general prayer appointed 
 by these three governments, there were particular days 
 observed in several congregations. There were also, 
 in divers towns, religious societies, some of women as 
 well as others of men, who met every week more pri- 
 vately to pray for the preservation and success of their 
 dear countrymen, and I have been well informed of their 
 extraordinary fervency, faith and wresthngs, . . . that 
 God should preserve, direct and spirit our friends, and 
 surprise and terrify our enemies, and make them yield 
 without much blood-shed, and in such a manner as the 
 work and glory might appear to be his alone." ^ It 
 will be remembered that this was during the Whit- 
 fieldian interest, and the prayer circles referred to 
 were then common. Public fasts are mentioned as 
 kept in three governments. These were Massachu- 
 setts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Besides the 
 one of February 28, we know of none in Massachu- 
 setts until the spring fast of April 4. We have no 
 dates of such in New Hampshire, but they may have 
 been the same. In Connecticut, the General Assem- 
 bly of March resolved that "instead of the tenth 
 day in April, mentioned in the proclamation for a 
 Fast, be inserted the 3d day of April, and also that 
 the last Wednesday of April next be kept as a day of 
 
 ^ Eoctraordinary Events the Doings of God, p. 23 ; see, also, Dr. 
 Chauncy's thanksgiving" sennon. 
 
302 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 fasting and prayer to implore the blessing of Almighty 
 God on the expedition against Cape Breton &c and 
 that his Honour the Governor issue out proclamation 
 accordingly." These two days were observed.^ The 
 spring proclamation in Massachusetts was issued March 
 25, the day after the forces departed, — " which forces 
 are now, thro' the Favour of Divine Providence, em- 
 barked and have taken their Departure from this 
 Place." A lecture fast was also kept May 2, on which 
 day, it was afterwards remarked, " the grand Battery 
 at Cape Breton was delivered up." ^ After a time of 
 anxious waiting, the good news of the fall of Louisburg 
 arrived in the early morning of July 3. Great were 
 the rejoicings. Crowds thronged the streets, and the 
 joy increased through the day. In the evening there 
 was a general illumination of bonfires and fireworks, 
 A public thanksgiving was in order, which in Massa- 
 chusetts was July 18, and in Connecticut July 25. 
 The news was received by the General Assembly of 
 New Hampshire, then in session, on the 5th of July, 
 and thereupon they appropriated " twenty-five pounds 
 to make publick entertainments in y® town of Portsm® 
 & at his Majesty's Fort Will"^ & Mary." Doubtless 
 also a special thanksgiving was ordered. Of Thomas 
 Prince's sermon July 18, which went through eight 
 editions, we have already spoken. It is the most val- 
 uable historical discourse on the war, of which he gives 
 a history, not forgetting to recite the remarkable provi- 
 dences of God which set the divine approval upon it. 
 
 ^ Conn. Col. Bee, ix. 99. Rev. Daniel Wadsworth, of Hartford, 
 preached April 3 from Deut. xxiii. 9, and April 24 from Eecles. ix. 
 18 (MS. Sermons, Conn. Hist. Soc). 
 
 2 John PhiUips's MS. Diary : Hist, of Old South Church, Hill, i. 565 n. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 303 
 
 Charles Chauncy, minister o£ the First Church in 
 Boston, and Thomas Prentice, of Charlestown, also 
 delivered historical sermons on that day, which are in 
 print. Only one thanksgiving sermon of Connecticut 
 is known to have been printed, that of Jared Eliot, of 
 Clinton, of rarity and interest, though that of Daniel 
 Wadsworth, minister of the First Church in Hartford, 
 survives in manuscript, bemg from 1 Sam. vii. 12.^ 
 The ministers everywhere manifested great interest 
 in this expedition. One of their nimiber, Samuel 
 Moody, who accompanied the troops, is said to have 
 cut down the papal images with his own hands, and 
 preached a thanksgiving sermon in th^ir sanctuary. 
 They esteemed it as a war against Antichrist, and 
 doubtless had greater hopes of it than were warranted. 
 The expedition was successfully carried out, too, not- 
 withstanding the failure to keep it a secret.^ All the 
 glory of this venture was afterwards appropriated by 
 England, and Louisburg was restored to the French. 
 
 On the 23d of August, 1745, war was declared 
 against the eastern Indians. In the absence of Shir- 
 ley, the lieutenant-governor, Spencer Phips, issued a 
 proclamation for a fast to be September 19. The pre- 
 amble thus states the situation : " Notwithstanding the 
 Methods used by this Government to retain the Indian 
 
 ^ In his sermon that day Daniel Wadsworth says : " To our last ad- 
 vices of all ye men y* went from this Colony there were but three 
 dead, and they fell not by ye hand of ye enemy but died of sickness, 
 and that of those y* went from this town not one had died." — MS. 
 Ser., Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 2 See Prince's sermon July 18, page 21. The assembly attempted 
 to keep it secret until all the plans were perfected, but it was betrayed 
 by a man who asked divine guidance in prayer. Jared Eliot says in 
 his sermon, " I believe that before this the French at Canada and Cape 
 Breton know all the affair as well as we." 
 
304 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Tribes inhabiting the Eastern Parts of this Province, 
 . . . they have at length perpetrated cruel Murthers 
 and other Outrages upon the most innocent People 
 inhabiting our Frontiers ; and other Murthers have 
 been also committed by some of the Western Tribes 
 of Indians on the Inhabitants of the inland Parts 
 of this Province, which Cruelties and Violations of 
 Treaty have constrained this Government to declare 
 war against the said Indians." ^ The service the people 
 were urged to on this occasion was calculated to try 
 their faith. It was to " pray for the withdrawing of 
 the affections of the Indians from the French." The 
 day before it, they had additional reasons to be dis- 
 couraged in such a request, but the fathers never 
 recognized anything as impossible. 
 
 Public attention was next diverted to affairs in Eng- 
 land. The thanksgiving proclamation in Massachu- 
 setts December 5, 1745, mentioned the return of the 
 king to England in time to repress a rebellion by 
 enemies of the crown. The rebel was Prince Charles, 
 known as the Pretender, and the affair was specially 
 interesting to the New Englanders because it was an 
 attempt in behalf of popery. In the spring fasts of 
 1746 in all the colonies this was prominent. Indeed, 
 there was a fast in Virginia February 26, 1745-6, on 
 this account, and later on a thanksgiving in Pennsylva- 
 nia July 24, 1746. Massachusetts observed the 14th 
 of August for the victory, and thereon Thomas Prince 
 delivered a discourse reviewing the affair, and show- 
 ing what a marked deliverance had been wrought in 
 behalf of the Protestant religion. 
 
 ^ For an account of these atrocities, see Drake's French and Indian 
 War, pp. 77-84. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA, 305 
 
 The Slimmer of 1746 passed thus amid alternate 
 hopes and fears. In the month of September rumors 
 were abroad of a French fleet hovering off the coast, 
 designed against Boston. It was soon ascertained 
 that ships had been seen to the eastward, and a ver- 
 itable armada, under the Duke d'Anville, was expected 
 at any time. The New England metropolis was in 
 consternation. Troops were hastily mustered for 
 defense. A public fast was set for October 16, and 
 their fears were wrought into its services. Doubtless 
 they would have been realized, too, to the fullest extent, 
 had it not been for a tempest similar to that which had 
 destroyed the Spanish Armada. Who will say that 
 this was not truly a divine deliverance? So Thomas 
 Prince thought, and on the thanksgiving November 27, 
 1746, he had an opportunity to detail it, as he did in 
 liis printed sermon, " The Salvations of God in 1746." 
 That fleet he sets forth as the object of divine ven- 
 geance. The facts were, that it suffered delays, a 
 fever wasted the troops until thousands were buried 
 in the deep, the treacherous shoals engulfed them, 
 their commander died of poison, his successor fell on 
 his sword, the rumor of an English fleet frightened 
 them, and at last a furious storm of wind, rain, and 
 hail arose and scattered them as the chaff. The 
 preacher makes much of the remarkable coincidence 
 that it was on the day of their fast that the glorious 
 God " put a total end to their mischievous enterprise." 
 " Thus when on our solemn Day of General Prayer* 
 we expressly cried to the Lord, ' Let God arise, 
 let his enemies be scattered, . . . ' then his own Arm 
 brought Salvation to us and his Fury upheld him. 
 He trode down our Enemies in his Anger, he made 
 
306 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 them drunk in his Fury, and he brought down their 
 Strength to the Earth. Terrors took hold on them as 
 Waters : A Tempest bore them away in the Night : The 
 East Wind carried them away, and they departed ; 
 and with a Storm he hurled them out of their Place." 
 
 We are not aware that any special fasts were set 
 in 1747, until those of January, 1747-8, though the 
 spring fasts were mournful enough and the autumn 
 thanksgivings less joyful than usual on account of the 
 continued depredations of the savages. The 28th of 
 January was a Massachusetts fast, partly on account 
 of the war, but principally for the burning of their 
 Court House on the 9th of December, several sermons 
 upon which are in print.^ So the trouble went on 
 until the summer of 1749 ; and though the Treaty of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed six months before, 
 peace was not proclaimed in Boston until the 10 th of 
 May. The special days of those years of course men- 
 tioned the war, but it was overshadowed by the drought 
 then upon them. 
 
 The treaty of peace was iii fact hardly more than an 
 armistice for six years. None of the disputed ques- 
 tions had been settled, and the American colonies 
 could not rest until Canada was conquered. And 
 here begins the story of the "French and Indian 
 war," with hostilities in the Ohio valley in 1754, but 
 more particularly, as respects New England, with the 
 operations determined upon by the council of colonial 
 governors at Alexandria in the spring of 1755. At 
 this time the French commanded the territory from 
 the eastern provinces westward along the St. Lawrence 
 and the Great Lakes, and southward in the Ohio and 
 1 See BibUography, Nos. 107, 108, and 109. . 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 307 
 
 Mississippi valleys to the Gulf. To break the guerdon 
 four expeditions were planned: General Braddock 
 was to go against Fort Duquesne ; Governor Shirley 
 against the French post at Niagara ; General Johnson 
 against Crown Point ; and Colonel Monckton to the 
 eastward against Nova Scotia. In all except the first 
 New England troops had a part, and so the people 
 were affected by their successes or failures. Such 
 spring fasts of 1755 as have been recovered indicate 
 that the colonists were sensible of the gravity of the 
 undertaking ; but New England was stupefied and 
 discouraged. They were burdened with debt. Some 
 were not favorable to the enterprise, having little con- 
 fidence in the leaders, and thinking it better to await 
 the more vigorous exertions of England for their pro- 
 tection. The ministers saw the storm gathering, and, 
 though mourning over the sins which they feared had 
 summoned the divine punishment, they preached and 
 prayed with imusual vigor. The customary fasts 
 were proclaimed. In Massachusetts they were pray- 
 ing July 3 for the " divers expeditions projected and 
 now in prosecution for the removal of the encroach- 
 ments" of the French. The General Assembly of 
 Connecticut in May desired the governor to order a 
 fast, because '' a considerable body of troops are raised 
 and raising . . . and are gone and going forth for the 
 defence of his Majesty's just rights and dominions." 
 The day was July 9. There was a fast in New 
 York in August, and in Rhode Island some churches 
 fasted, as that at Westerly August 27, especially for 
 the Crown Point expedition in which some of them 
 had relations. To the departing troops, then and at 
 intervals thereafter, sermons of encouragement and 
 
308 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 cheer were preached, many of which are in print. 
 But in the very midst of such expectations, the news 
 came of Braddock's overwhehning defeat. In Massa- 
 chusetts, at least, there was a public fast on the 28th 
 of August, in humiliation over this " awful rebuke 
 of the Divine Providence." Still they had hopes for 
 the Crown Point expedition near the point of execu- 
 tion. The engagement was upon the 11th of Septem- 
 ber, and the news of the defeat of the French under 
 Baron Dieskau was received in time to temper the 
 autumn thanksgivings, though it yielded no permanent 
 results. 
 
 In 1756 the sword was unsheathed in Europe, and 
 to this the colonies' owed a more vigorous prosecution 
 of the wars in America, by which they were eventually 
 to reap lasting benefits. Great plans were made to 
 further the expeditions of the previous year, but it 
 was difficult to raise troops, and money was scarce. 
 So after all, nothing was done. It was a very trying 
 year to the people on account of this uncertainty and 
 delay. A reference to the Calendar will show that 
 there was unusual fasting. In Massachusetts, Janu- 
 ary 8 was for the earthquake and the war, and be- 
 sides the spring fast April 29, they kept July 22. 
 New Hampshire also kept the latter date. Connecti- 
 cut had two extra fasts, July 7 and October 7 ; Rhode 
 Island, too, for the first time kept them company on 
 May 20. New York and Pennsylvania each had one 
 in May. Fasts seem to have come into fashion gen- 
 erally. The year following, these were ^-epeated, but 
 nothing special transpired. 
 
 With the year 1758, however, and the coming of 
 William Pitt into power in England, their hopes rose, 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 309 
 
 and the tide of disaster, which had been against them, 
 turned. In the month of June the English fleet an- 
 chored off Louisburg, the object of their first assault. 
 They had a strong force, and, what had hitherto been 
 lacking, competent officers, — Admiral Boscawen and 
 Generals Amherst and Wolfe. The exploits that fol- 
 lowed are famous in history. On the 26th of July 
 the fortress surrendered, and upon the receipt of the 
 news, a special thanksgiving was kept in Massachu- 
 setts September 14. But the colonists had learned to 
 be moderate. in their rejoicings, fearing a disappoint- 
 ment, and they doubtless reflected that once before, at 
 great expense and sacrifice, they had taken that same 
 fortress, only to see it restored. In the Massachu- 
 setts proclamation, the governor, while recognizing 
 the "great and signal success to such of His Ma- 
 jesty's Forces as have been employ 'd for the Reduction 
 of the Island of Cape Breton," yet recommended prayer 
 for the " momentous affairs of the War that are still 
 depending." The rejoicing over this victory was great 
 in England, where there were demonstrations and a 
 public thanksgiving. A recent writer upon this event 
 says of New England, " The joy and delight of the 
 English colonists knew no bounds, finding vent largely 
 in numberless thanksgiving services and prayer as- 
 semblies, the records of which have come down to us 
 in innumerable editions of their most popular preachers' 
 addresses, which were ordered to be printed at the 
 public expense." ^ This is surely a most extravagant 
 statement. The rejoicing was nowhere so exuberant. 
 We find no thanksgiving sermon that was printed at 
 the public expense ; the thanksgivings were not " in- 
 
 1 Hart's Fall of New France, p. 86. 
 
310 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 numerable," and those sermons which were preached 
 have not been printed. The autumn thanksgiving in 
 Massachusetts November 23 brought out two sermons 
 from Jonathan Mayhew on the war, which were printed, 
 and one from Jason Haven, of Dedham ; but the best 
 bibliographical lists and careful search show none of 
 the 14th of September. The autumn proclamations 
 were quite moderate, and all that was generally agreed 
 on was thus set forth in Mayhew's sermon: "It is 
 manifest, notwithstanding some strange delays, de- 
 feats and disgraces, . . . that the war has been prose- 
 cuted the last year, on the part of Great Britain, with 
 uncoromon vigor, and that the advantages gained both 
 by sea and land, have been very considerable." 
 
 The year 1759 was the decisive year of the war. 
 Three armies were in the field. One was sent against 
 Fort Niagara ; another, under General Amherst, was to 
 move northward from Lake Champlain, and down the 
 St. Lawrence River, to join the third under General 
 WoMe at Quebec. All were successful, though the de- 
 lay to the second left the greatest undertaking for the 
 third unaided. These were the burden of petitions at 
 the spring fasts, and a special day of prayer was kept 
 in Massachusetts June 28, and one about the same 
 time in Connecticut. The story of Wolfe's exploits 
 is a household tale. His brave soldiers chmbed to the 
 Heights of Abraham, and there, in the most renowned 
 action of all the French wars, on the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, the hero of the English army lost his life. 
 But he had given the greatest blow to the French 
 power in Canada, and upon the 27th instant a thanks- 
 giving service was held in the chapel of the Ursu- 
 lines, in Quebec, to celebrate the victory. Eli Daw- 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA, 311 
 
 son, chaplain of his Majesty's ship Sterling Castle, 
 preached a sermon on that occasion, which was printed 
 in London. In a few weeks the news reached Boston. 
 A thanksgiving sermon was preached before the Gen- 
 eral Assembly on the 16th of October, by Samuel 
 Cooper, minister of the Brattle Street Church. An 
 extract from tliis shows how important the event was 
 esteemed : " I know not how to express the impor- 
 tance of that success ^vith which it has pleased God to 
 bless His Majesty's Arms, and yet I feel it, and so 
 I doubt not does every one in this Assembly. Joy 
 sparkles in every eye. Triumph sits upon every face. 
 . . . God has heard our prayers, and those of our 
 progenitors. We behold the day which they desired 
 to see, but saw it not. We have received a salvation 
 from Heaven, greater perhaps than any since the 
 foundation of the Country. The power of Canada is 
 broken. Its Capital is reduced, and the British Ban- 
 ners float triumphant upon the Walls of Quebec ! " 
 A public thanksgiving was immediately ordered for 
 the 25th instant, in Massachusetts, and the same day 
 was kept in Rhode Island. Doubtless the annual 
 thanksgiving in Connecticut November 15 answered 
 the same purpose, and November 10 in New Hamp- 
 shire. Rhode Island, too, proclaimed a thanksgiving 
 November 22, and Massachusetts kept its annual on 
 the 29th, by a coincidence, the very day which was 
 a thanksgiving in England. The victory was still 
 further commemorated in the colonies, in response to a 
 letter from Whitehall, November 13, with the royal 
 proclamation inclosed. ^ Connecticut, having had, as 
 
 1 The letter and proclamation are printed in the Penn. Archives, iii. 
 90, 691. The proclamation in broadside is in the Mass. Hist. See. 
 
312 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 we judge, no special day, kept the 6th of March ; but 
 perhaps that of October 25 was made to answer for 
 Massachusetts, as we find no clue to any other. Of 
 the sermons preached on these days, a number are in 
 print, and their authors and titles are found in the 
 Bibliography. They are all exultant panegyrics in 
 praise of the heroism of General Wolfe, the bravery 
 of the English troops, and above all, they abound in 
 acknowledgments of divine favor. 
 
 In the following year the war was brought to a 
 close, so far as it concerned the American colonies. 
 The French failed to retake Quebec, and fell back on 
 Montreal, where at last, on the 10th of September, all 
 Canada was surrendered to the English. This caused 
 the series of October thanksgivings that year, and 
 brought out an additional lot of war sermons, which, 
 with those of the preceding year, constitute an impor- 
 tant contribution to the history of the war.^ Others 
 were added to the nimiber before the peace of 1763, 
 when we hear the last of the trials brought upon New 
 England by the French. 
 
 The ministers understood perfectly the significance 
 of this conquest. To them it had its religious phase, 
 to be sure. It was a war against Antichrist. They 
 cared not for territory, but desired to see the Roman 
 Catholic religion banished from the continent. Some 
 went so far as to regard the war as the final overthrow 
 
 1 Besides these in print, the following are in manuscript : Nathan 
 Fiske, November 15, 1759, An. ; Sol. Williams, November 15, 1759, 
 March 6, 1760, and November 27, 1760, Ct. ; John Eells, October 23, 
 1760, November 26, 1761, and November 18, 1762, Ct.; Justus For- 
 ward, December 9, 1762. H. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 313 
 
 of Babylon. 1 But in the main, they were broad- 
 minded men, as much so as any of the time, and re- 
 garded the English influence and power in Canada as 
 most likely to insure their prosperity, to preserve 
 peace, and further the welfare of the Indians. Yet 
 this they did not see, — how it was preparing them for 
 the struggle for independence, teaching them to war, 
 and increasing their fortifications. They rejoiced, as 
 they had reason to, after so many years of bitter expe- 
 rience, — sacrifices in money and men, hopeless cam- 
 paigns in winter's snow and summer's heat, and the 
 wearing uncertainty of the issue. So they entered 
 into the heritage of their fathers' toils, and with 
 happy hearts sang their " New Thanksgiving Song." ^ 
 
 " With Feasting and Thanksgiving 
 Our grateful Hearts are fed 
 Whicli gratifies the living 
 And can't offend the Dead." 
 
 ^ See Strange and Wonderful Predictions, etc., issued in 1759 as a 
 broadside by Fowle and Draper, copy in Am. Antiq. Soc. Lib. These 
 are attributed to Rev. Christopher Love, who was beheaded in 1651, 
 but erroneously, as the original of his predictions shows. 
 
 2 Canada Forever. New Thanksgiving Song. Broadside printed at 
 Portsmouth, N. H., in 1759 : Am. Antiq. Soc. Lib. 
 
CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 SPELLS OF WEATHEB. 
 
 1717-1749. 
 
 •* The Clouds their watery Buckets fill, but 
 Where they will be emptied I cannot tell. 
 Nor no man else since Adam fell." 
 
 Ames^ Almanack f July, 1749. 
 
 The almanac, as most readers are aware, was once 
 the liighly prized companion of the New England fire- 
 side. It used to hang upon a peg near the chimney 
 corner, and there it reigned as prophet, wit, and sage. 
 About the middle of the eighteenth century, — before 
 the newspaper was a common visitor in rural districts, 
 and after the almanac had been an indispensable 
 acquisition in housekeeping for nearly fifty years, — 
 there wks manifest such a general regard for its prog- 
 nostications upon the weather that one might almost 
 characterize it as superstition.^ That same trait of 
 human nature which has ever enticed men to consult 
 oracles and wizards won our fathers to the persuasion 
 that the almanac-maker knew somewhat of the future. 
 The one instance in which his prophecy proved true 
 wiped out the disgrace of his many failures ; and the 
 genius of his business was in recording such ambigu- 
 
 ^ Almanacs were of course printed in New England mnch earlier 
 than this, but this household regard was a long time in reaching its 
 height. Almanacks of Nathaniel Ames^ Brigg^ ; Hist, of Am. Lit.y 
 Tyler,ii. c.13.5, 7. 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER. 816 
 
 ous predictions as might afterwards serve either to 
 heighten his fame or conceal his error. In the hot 
 and dry summer of 1762, — for which, by the bye, 
 Massachusetts kept a public fast July 28,^ and possi- 
 bly Connecticut also, August 18, — we may readily 
 imagine how it was said^by the reader of Ames' Alma- 
 nack, that "Nathaniel" had wittingly predicted that 
 " the Ladies need Their Fans," and in wisdom had 
 written the lines — 
 
 " In cool Retreats we skulking strive to shun 
 The torrid Rays of June's meridian Sun." 
 
 But that renowned sage was always careful to regard 
 the season when it was likely to be warm, and he 
 never put his snowstorms along in summer. Yet 
 what brought utter confusion upon the almanac-maker 
 was the remarkable exception of tempest, snow, or 
 drought, when he could only defend his reputation 
 in such manner as Ames did in a certain instance : 
 " The Devil does not know so much of future Events \ 
 as many expect an Almanack Maker should foretell." 
 The question has been repeatedly raised, whether 
 the climate of New England has not moderated within 
 two centuries. It may have done so ; but the accounts 
 of their storms and droughts, which are met with in 
 diaries and newspapers, are to be judged in connection 
 with the greater suffering then occasioned. If their 
 crops failed, they had no outside world to draw upon ; 
 hence we scarcely notice now what brought famine to 
 them. A great snowstorm then destroyed their cattle, 
 and made their roads, which were bad at the best, 
 impassable sometimes for weeks. On the whole, there 
 
 ^ This proclamation provided that in case of rain in any town before 
 the day it should he a thanksgiving. 
 
316 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 is ground for the belief that our summers are occa- 
 sionally as hot and dry as those which summoned 
 them to general humiliation, and we experience as se- 
 vere winters and as great snowstorms as any of those 
 which made certain years famous for many a day. 
 An effective comparison is found in the snowstorm 
 of February 20-21, 1716-17, and the blizzard which 
 swept over New England on the 12th and 13th of 
 March, 1888, and which is still fresh in memory. 
 There was little suffering occasioned by the latter, 
 and only some involuntary fasting. It was treated 
 as a holiday. But the former brought serious conse- 
 quences, — a loss of life, destruction of herds, and 
 great scarcity of food. The year was thereafter known 
 as that of " the great snowstorm." Various accounts 
 are extant. The " Boston News-Letter " of February 
 25, after noting that January was very mild and 
 February " a cold winter month," says : " Besides sev- 
 eral Snows, we had a great one on Monday the 18th 
 currant, and on Wednesday the 20th it begun to 
 Snow about noon and continued Snowing till Friday 
 the 22^, so that the Snow lies in some parts of the 
 Streets about six foot high." Sewall says : " It was 
 terribly surprising to me to see the extraordinary 
 Banks of Snow on the side of the way over against 
 us." The manuscript diary of Jonathan Huntington 
 teUs us what it was in Connecticut : ^ " A grat and 
 remarkabel snow, that began on Wenesdy the 20 day 
 of february 1717 in the afternoon and continued snow- 
 ing until Thursday near night — which was thought 
 to be three foot and an half or four feet deep upon 
 a level, and upon the forth day of March there was a 
 
 1 Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER, 317 
 
 crust upon it which continued until about the four- 
 teenth day and then wasted away gradully until the 
 snow was gon." Additional notices in subsequent 
 numbers of the " Boston News-Letter " show that this 
 storm came from the northeast, was accompanied by 
 a wind, and was general throughout New England. 
 In some parts of New Hampshire the snow was five 
 feet deep and drifts were fourteen feet high. None 
 then living remembered the hke. No mail posts went 
 or came. There were then three to and from Boston, 
 — the western, southern, and eastern. Communica- 
 tion, except by water, was entirely shut off for several 
 weeks. A few ventured abroad on snowshoes, but 
 there was no traveling for horses. Some men per- 
 ished in attempts to save their cattle or reach them 
 with fodder. Many were snowbound for weeks. 
 The ministers who were attending the funeral of Eev. 
 William Brattle at Cambridge, on the 20 th, were un- 
 able to get home, and their Sunday services failed. 
 For this cause the Boston Thursday lecture, February 
 28, was much like a fast, and Cotton Mather preached 
 from Psalm cxlvii. 16-18, " He giveth snow like 
 wool," etc. At the suggestion of the "fathers in 
 the ministry," the lecture, March 14, was turned into 
 a fast, the churches concurring in the " seasonable 
 solemnity." The service was held in the South 
 Church, and large congregations attended both fore- 
 noon and afternoon.^ In the morning Benjamin 
 Colman preached from Pro v. xxx. 8, " Feed me with 
 food convenient for me," and in the afternoon Ben- 
 
 1 Hill's Hist of Old South Church, i. 384. The author suggests 
 that it was " with reference probahly to their own special needs rather 
 than to the general wants of the community." It was surely for the 
 snowstorm. 
 
318 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 jamin Wadsworth from Psalm cvii. 43, "Whoso is 
 wise, and will observe these things," etc. Other fasts 
 were held in neighboring towns March 21 and 26. 
 Upon the 12th instant a proclamation, drawn up by 
 Colonel Winthrop and amended by various members 
 of the council, was issued for a public fast April 4. 
 Its principal cause is thus stated : " To humble them- 
 selves under the Holy Hand of God in the Tokens of 
 His Displeasure, and in particular, in the late exces- 
 sive Snows and Tempests (Whereby great Losses of 
 Lives and Estates have been sustained by the way of 
 the Sea, and great numbers of Cattel Destroyed in 
 Shore, and many Families reduced into a Distressing 
 Condition)." Had the sermons of that day been 
 printed, they would doubtless give us further interest- 
 ing particulars. The only sermon we know of in print 
 relating to the storm is one by Eliphalet Adams, of 
 New London, Conn., preached on Sunday, March 3, 
 from the text, Nahum i. 3, " The Lord hath his way 
 in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are 
 the dust of his feet." ^ In this the preacher attempts 
 to show the divine displeasure in the storm, — 1. 
 " In that it happened so very late in 'the year when it 
 was the less to be expected ; " 2. "In that the snow 
 descended in so very great a quantity, far beyond 
 what is usual and hath almost been known in the 
 memory of man ; " 3. " In that it was so quickly and 
 so terribly repeated ; " 4. " In that we were driven 
 out of the House of God thereby ; " 5. " In that it 
 hath brought upon us so great distress, loss and 
 
 ^ A Discourse occasioned by the late Distressing Storm which began 
 Feb. 20, 1716, 17. As it ivas Delivered March 3d 171^. New London : 
 . . . T. Green, 1717, 16©, pp. (2) 32 (1). Prince Library, Bos. Pub. Lib. 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER. 319* 
 
 suffering." Such homiletic duty, we may conclude, 
 this storm was made to do in admonishing the people 
 on the spring fast in Connecticut April 10. It is 
 quite true that, as this storm was so exceptional, the 
 effect was extraordinary ; but upon other similar oc- 
 casions, \^ hen there had been hurricanes, floods, dark 
 days, and the like, even though fasts were not im- 
 mediately proclaimed, these incidents did not fail to 
 pass in review in due time. 
 
 We pass on over many years to find another re- 
 markable illustration of the same feature in their fast 
 days. This is a drought, and nothing did so much as 
 these spells of dry weather to bring the almanac-maker 
 into contempt. Surely, of all natural causes the 
 droughts occasioned the most fasting and prayer. 
 They are numbered by the dozfen all the way from 
 that of 1623 to the American Ee volution. i The one 
 now before us in 1749 really began in 1748, and 
 was the most extreme of the time. In the month of 
 May, 1748, the weather became hot and dry, and so 
 continued through the sunmier, broken only by one 
 shower. It is characterized in the Massachusetts fast 
 day proclamation, June 9, as an " Awful Rebuke of 
 Divine Providence in the very early and grievous 
 Drought, which threatens great Scarcity and Dearth 
 to this as well as the neighboring Provinces." The 
 harvest was gTcatly shortened, which added to the 
 scarcity then prevailing on account of the war. Grain 
 of all kinds was scarce. Indian corn rose to thirty- 
 two shilhngs a bushel, rye to forty-six:, and wheat to 
 
 1 The following were years of drought : 1644, 1645, 1662, 1663, 1666, 
 1671, 1672, 1685, 1686, 1688, 1692, 1700, 1704,1705, 1708, 1709, 1710, 
 1714, 1717, 1724, 1728, 1748, 1749, 1757, 1762. 
 
320 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 three pounds in old tenor bills. Thus the expectation 
 was heightened the following season. The farmers 
 planted as usual in 1749, and were at great expense 
 for seed. As to the sequel, it is best given in the 
 words of an old time chronicler : i — 
 
 " This Summer was the Severest Drought in this Country, as 
 has ever been known in y" Memory of y** oldest Persons among 
 us. It was a dry Spring, and by y* latter end of May the grass 
 was burnt up so that y* ground looked white; and it was y* 6th 
 Day of July before any Rain (to speak of) came. The Earth 
 was dried like Powder to a great depth and many Wells, 
 Springs, Brooks, & small Rivers were dried up, that were never 
 known to fail before. And the Fish in some of y* Rivers died. 
 The Pastures were so scorched that there was nothing green to 
 be seen, and the Cattle waxed poor, & by their lowing seemed 
 to call upon their Owners for Relief, who could not help them. 
 Although the dry Grass was Eaten so close as that there was 
 but a few thin spires to be seen, yet several Pastures took fire, 
 and burnt fiercely. . . . There was a great scarcity of Hay, 
 being but a very little cut, of y" first Crop ; & salt marsh failed 
 near as much as the English Meadow. English Hay was then 
 sold for £3, & £3.10 old tenor per Hundred. Barley & Oats 
 were so Pinched that many had not much more than their seed 
 again, & many cut down their S"^ Grain before it was ripe for 
 Fodder. Flax almost wholly failed, as also Herbs of all sorts; 
 and Indian Corn Rolled up & wilted ; and there was a melancholly 
 prospect of the greatest Dearth that ever was known in this 
 Land. In the time of our fears & Distress, the Government 
 ordered a Day of Public Fasting & Prayer; and God was 
 graciously pleased to hear & Answer our Prayers, even in a 
 very remarkable manner: for about y* 6th of July the course 
 of y* weather altered ; and there came such plentiful & seasona- 
 ble Rains, as quite altered y* face of y" Earth; and that Grass 
 which we generally concluded was wholly dead, and could not 
 come again under several years, was revived, and there was a 
 good second crop of Mowing ; it looked more like y* Spring 
 than that season of y* Year; and y^ Indian Corn recovered, & 
 there was a very good Harvest. And whereas it was thought 
 
 ^ 'Slake)'' & Annals of Dorchester, 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER, 321 
 
 in y fall of the Year that a multitude of Cattle must Die for 
 want of Meat, insomuch as they sent & fetched Hay from Eng- 
 land; yet God in his Providence Ordered us a moderate 
 Winter, and we were carried comfortably through it; and I 
 did not hear of many, if any Cattle that died. . . . Upon y® 
 Coming of y" Rains & Renewiug of y" Earth last fall, the Gov- 
 ernment appointed a Day of Publick Thanksgiving." 
 
 In some respects this is the most complete account 
 extant. Another chronicler ^ informs us that " much 
 hay was brought from Pennsylvania," that " the heat 
 and dryness was so severe that the ground cracked in 
 many places and where pieces of broken glass lay on 
 the surface it caught fire," and also adds this impor- 
 tant item that " the drought was attended with swarms 
 of catterpillars, and other devouring insects." This 
 latter trial is particularly mentioned in the proclama- 
 tion, issued June 2 for the public fast Jime 15. Of 
 this we quote the important part, " Forasmuch as it 
 has pleased Almighty God, among other Instances of 
 his Displeasure against this People for their many 
 heinous and provoking Sins, to visit us ^vith a sore 
 and distressing Drought, and a great number of In- 
 sects, which threaten the Destruction of the Fruits of 
 the Earth ; and, if God does not graciously prevent, 
 a grievous Dearth and Famine. . . . Command the 
 Clouds to distill seasonable and plentiful Rains on the 
 Earth, for reviving the corn, grass and other Fruits, 
 and stopping of the devouring Insects." The drought 
 then began early in May, and was so extreme that 
 a fast was thought necessary by the 2d of June. 
 It was a gloomy prospect. Some churches had 
 already fasted, and some towns did not wait for the 
 day appointed, but fasted the week before. Upon the 
 
 1 Rev. Mr. French's MS. in Hist, of Haverhill, Chase, p. 332. 
 
822 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 day, they came together under the burden of most 
 afflicting circumstances. 
 
 Here, then, the almanac's predictions turned out to 
 be a bitter sarcasm. Upon the Sunday when the 
 ministers read the foregoing proclamation, he had said 
 there would be " many showers." If any pious 
 farmer, whose faith in God occasionally sought en- 
 couragement from Ames' Almanack, had consulted it 
 to divine the result of their fast day exercises, he 
 might have been overwhelmed to read of " Thunder 
 and tremendous tempests " on that very day, — though 
 " Nathaniel " had wisely added " in some parts of the 
 world;" but he would have been disappointed, for 
 June 18 wa^ " y® Hottest Day that was ever known 
 in y® Northerly part of America." 
 
 We are able to get a glimpse of two congregations 
 
 through the sermons preached in Massachusetts upon 
 
 that warm sumn^er fast day. The first is that in 
 
 Marlborough, when Aaron Smith preached both parts 
 
 of the day from Lev. xxvi. 3,4," If ye walk in my 
 
 statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 
 
 then I will give you rain in due season, and the land 
 
 shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall 
 
 yield their fruit." This printed sermon, known only 
 
 to the collector of rarities, is upon "Some temporal 
 
 advantages in keeping covenant with God." In the 
 
 appendix the author gives the following account of the 
 
 drought : — 
 
 ** The Heat and Drought daily encreased, 'till not only the 
 Ground was chapt but the Corn which cloathed the Valleys was 
 fainting, and on the Point of Sinking into the earth. The 
 Trees languished and died: The Brooks dried up, the Small 
 Fish so perished that the rivers stank, yea, the Air by a long 
 Stagnation became so putrid and unfit for Respiration that 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER, 323 
 
 Mankind were in Danger of being suffocated. In this last 
 extremity, when every Countenance gathered Paleness, for all 
 things appeared dark and dismal, and in Consternation Men 
 stood gazing one on another wisely inquiring, Wherefore Gods 
 Anger burned toward them in such tremendous Manner ! I 
 say in this very critical Juncture, the Lord wrought graciously 
 for his People on the 6th of July; that memorable Day God 
 Almighty compassionated our desperate Case, and called us to 
 behold his Power in relieving us, when reduced to the lowest 
 Ebb that ever New-England saw. 'T was in the very instant 
 when all Hope was ready to fail, that the Father of the rain 
 sent plentiful Showers, and so refreshed the parched Earth 
 and recovered the perishing Fruits and destroyed the insects: 
 And the Earth yielded more than a competent Supply for the 
 Necessities and Comforts of Life." 
 
 We have added this account because of its testi- 
 mony to the temper of the people in keeping the fast. 
 It was a case of desperate need, and of more impor- 
 tance than we can realize. 
 
 The other discourse was delivered at the Old South 
 Church in Boston, by Thomas Prmce. The text was 
 Lev. xxvi. 18-20, "And if ye will not yet for all 
 this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven 
 times more for your sins. And I will break the 
 pride of your power; and I will make your heaven 
 as iron, and your earth as brass : and your strength 
 shall be spent in vain : for your land shall not yield 
 her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield 
 their fruits." This sermon has never been printed,^ 
 and an unusual interest attaches to it because of the 
 occasion, the preacher, and the fact that liis thanks- 
 giving sermon of August 24, 1749, celebrating the 
 fall of reviving rains, has been in print for nearly 
 a century and a half. The fast sermon bears this 
 
 ^ Manuscript in the Author^s collection. 
 
324 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 inscription, " Gen Fast, On occas"* of y^ most xtr^ 
 drought thro this Province known in y® memory of 
 any now alive." The indorsements show that it was 
 delivered in the " S Ch " Jmie 15, the same day in 
 " Roxbury 1^* Precinct," and July 2 in the " North 
 Ch Boston." It is written with contractions and 
 abbreviations after the author's well-known custom. 
 He also gives some account of the drought, adding, 
 however, no important items beyond emphasizing the 
 devastation in some places by " innumerable swarms 
 of worms and grasshoppers." But this paragraph, 
 which is marked in the manuscript sermon of June 
 15, was introduced by him into the printed dis- 
 course of August 24, the thanksgiving day, and was 
 evidently under the eye of Blake when he wrote in 
 May, 1750, the account already given.^ Thomas 
 Prince was a very close observer in all such matters, 
 and the foremost historical student of his time. We 
 cannot therefore think that he exaggerates the dis- 
 tress, or is astray in writing, " Never were those af- 
 fecting passages in y® 1st of Joel known to be more 
 applicable to us than in y® present day." Further- 
 more, he was the most devoted to science of any New 
 England minister, and most likely to lean toward a 
 scientific view of such phenomena. His sermon of 
 August 24 was upon " The Natural and Moral 
 Government and Agency of God in causing Droughts 
 and Rains." It was dedicated to the Royal Society 
 of London. And taking these two sermons together, 
 they furnish the best statement of that time as to 
 the philosophy which was underneath all these ap- 
 
 ^ The passage is on pages 37, 38, of the thanksgiving sermon, first 
 edition. 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER. 325 
 
 pointments of fast and thanksgiving days. On the 
 one hand it is evident that the most scholarly minis- y 
 
 ters were beginning to modify their views, and find- 
 ing more room for the operation of natural causes ; 
 on the other it is shown that such a view was still held 
 as encouraged them in supplications to God. Some 
 synopsis of his teaching is of interest. ^ 
 
 The argument is that we have to do with the same 
 God and the same revelation as the Israelites of old. 
 Though released from their ceremonial and judicial 
 laws, we have the same moral laws, and our chastise- 
 ment is as much for our moral benefit and the exhi- 
 bition of the glory of God as was theirs. He says : 
 "The only question therefore seems to be whether 
 such kinds of promises of temporal and spiritual 
 blessings and threatenings of temporal and spiritual 
 chastisements now belong to communities of Chris- 
 tians as to the Israelites of old." This he answers 
 in the affirmative. The law of nature is the law of 
 God and Christ, founded on our relation to God and 
 those about us, and so on justice, goodness, reason, 
 and wisdom. Christians are related to it as were the 
 ancient Israelites. We need the same promises and 
 threatenings. God has the government of angels, 
 men, brutes, and elements in his hands, and is always 
 present with them, and is now as capable as ever of 
 fulfilling those promises and threatenings in his wis- 
 dom and goodness. God maintains a ''visible moral 
 government over his people," and where calamities 
 are suited to accomplish a benevolent end, God uses 
 them now as in ancient times. When men do not 
 yield Him due obedience, they are exposed to his pun- 
 ishments, and when they humble themselves before 
 
826 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Him, they may hope to see sooner or later the tokens 
 of his mercy and benignity. He brings a grievous 
 drought for the wickedness of the people. Though 
 there are laws operating in a stated manner, yet God 
 does not "confine himself to act according to his 
 common Course of Nature, but most wisely and justly 
 reserves the Liberty of acting otherwise on all Occa- 
 sions when he sees most fitting. Such reserved cases 
 seem to be Earthquakes, Hurricanes and Tempests, 
 Storms of Wind, Rain, Thimder, Lightning, Snow 
 and Hail . . . but, whenever he sees Occasion, giving 
 additional Degrees of Power and different Direc- 
 tions^ or abating their Degrees of Power in other 
 ways than in his common Course of Nature, which is 
 only his usual Way of Operation in them." " In this 
 manner he may in the most proper Seasons send both 
 Droughts and Rains, and Sicknesses and Health, to 
 particular Places ; he may point his Lightnings to 
 particular Persons; he may raise a Storm to dis- 
 perse a Fleets and give additional Powers to a Gust 
 of Wind to overset a Vessel, or to the Waves to 
 break her; he may direct Physicians to a sufficient 
 Knowledge of the Cases of their Patients, and the 
 suitable Means of their Cure, and give additional 
 Forces and Directions to the Medicines in their in- 
 ward Operations or otherwise. And so in Multitudes 
 of other Cases : Or there would be no more need to 
 pray to God for a safe Voyage, or a prosperous War, 
 or to preservB from Drought, or Plagues, or Enemies, 
 or to save in any Sicknesses or Dangers ; than to 
 pray in an extream hot Day, that he would make the 
 I Sun to go down at the usual Time." 
 
 Such were the views of the New England minis- 
 
SPELLS OF WEATHER. 327 
 
 ters, and however erroneous they may now be consid- 
 ered, they operated powerfully in their day. A fast 
 like that of the 15 th of June was in this view appro- 
 priate. They verily hoped that God would interfere 
 for their relief, and when the rains came on the 6 th 
 of July they appointed a thanksgiving, not merely 
 because of the temporal blessing, but in confidence 
 that their faith in God had won a victory. So they 
 rejoiced together, and the deliverance from the drought 
 of 1749 lived in their recollections for many a day. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 1765-1783. 
 
 The history of the American Revolution covers a 
 period from the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 to 
 the proclamation of peace in 1783. This includes 
 many of the most important fast and thanksgiving 
 days ever observed in the New England colonies, espe- 
 cially those ordered by the Continental Congress, the 
 story of which in detail would require the scope of a 
 volume. 
 
 The proclamations of the colonies from early times 
 had contained, in various forms, this phrase " civil and 
 religious liberties," which like a flag had floated aloft, 
 now triumphant and now in danger, — the symbol of 
 what they held most dear. It is easy to detect the 
 approaching storm by the waving of this emblem in 
 their proclamations. Hitherto these had always dis- 
 played loyalty, of which they were an ofiicial utter- 
 ance. The royal family had been mentioned with 
 regard. A cut of the royal arms was at the top, and 
 the words " God save the King " at the bottom. 
 Even when treason was abroad, it did not appear in 
 these documents. But the time was at hand when 
 the popular feeling must be expressed, or the pro- 
 clamation come into contempt. In 1765 the plea, 
 in the spring fast proclamation of Connecticut was 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 329 
 
 " Give us Favour at the Court of Great-Britain, 
 and bless our civil Administrations." It was surely 
 a mild statement of the feeling on the Stamp Act. 
 But the governor of Massachusetts, Francis Bernard, 
 did not encourage the people to ask even that, though 
 they did ask considerably more. From that time 
 Connecticut proclamations maintained a sympathy 
 with the people, while those of Massachusetts, be- 
 cause of the sentiments of the governors, were un- 
 popular, until they finally threw the proclamation 
 overboard as they did the tea. The Stamp Act was 
 passed, and the disturbances of the summer followed. 
 At the thanksgiving in Massachusetts, December 5, 
 the people were asked to express their gratitude for 
 an " addition to the Royal Issue, another Pledge for 
 the Continuance of the Happiness and Liberty, which 
 have been secured to us by his Majesty's illustri- 
 ous House." The Massachusetts ministers were not 
 moved with unction in such a matter. On the other 
 hand, in Rhode Island prayers were put up for a 
 blessing on their endeavors for " preserving their in- 
 valuable privileges." A similar clause is prominent 
 in the Connecticut proclamation. This latter colony, 
 through its General Assembly meeting in October, 
 on account of " the dark aspects of Divine Provi- 
 dence with regard to their [our] most dear and 
 valuable rights and privileges," had requested the 
 governor to appoint a public fast. This was done, 
 and December 18 was the day named. So far as we 
 are aware, this was the only special public fast in 
 New England on this account. A writer has said of 
 New Hampshire, that they were not given to days of 
 fasting for the Stamp Act, but greeted the event with 
 
330 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 tolling bells and mock funeral processions.^ The 
 fact is that the authorities there, as in Massachusetts, 
 would not order a fast on that account, though the 
 people would gladly have kept one. They could only 
 utilize the regular days. On the Connecticut fast 
 day, a notable sermon was preached by Stephen John- 
 son, of Lyme, which is in print.^ This divine had 
 already written some patriotic articles for the " New 
 London Gazette," and liis sermon was in the same 
 tenor. He was the forerunner of a fearless race of 
 prophets, afterwards numerous and active throughout 
 the State. A single quotation will show what this 
 sermon was calculated to accomplish in resistance to 
 the Stamp Act, already general everywhere : — 
 
 " The calamities which impend over us, and which we are now 
 to deplore and deprecate are the heaviest the churches and in- 
 habitants of this land have ever felt, from any earthly power ; 
 and threaten (in our apprehension) no less than slavery and 
 ruin to this great people, in this widely extended continent. 
 Who does not know ? Who has not heard, that the fatal de- 
 cree is already past, which seems to determine the unhappy 
 fate of all America, and the West India islands ? Unhappy 
 decree ! full of woe! which imposes a burden (as is conceived) 
 far beyond our circumstances to bear, and strips us of very 
 important privileges; and (in our view) partly by its natural 
 operation, and partly as a precedent, it highly endangers our 
 slavery and wretchedness, unless God in infinite mercy inter- 
 poses and changes the British councils, or opens some other 
 way of our deliverance. In a situation so extremely alarming ! 
 well do our civil rulers call us to fasting and mourning, to deep 
 humiliation, and earnest supplication to the God of Israel, the 
 God of our fathers and of all our salvation." 
 
 1 Mem. of Dr. Buckminster, p. 35. 
 
 2 See Bibliography. This has been given as a " sermon at New- 
 port, R. I." in bibliographical lists. It was printed at Newport, but 
 was delivered on December 18, the Connecticut fast day, and prob- 
 ably at Lyme. 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 331 
 
 It required some courage to publish such a sermon, 
 and this was issued anonymously. Such, however, were 
 preached in many places. Philemon Robbins, of Bran- 
 ford, discoursed from Isa. lix. 9-16, in which he openly 
 encouraged resistance : " Such as plead the kings pre- 
 rogative in acts unconstitutional and wrong are going 
 apace to the doctrine of passive obedience and non- 
 resistance^ a doctrine held only by high flying church- 
 men." 1 There was but one inference from these sen- 
 timents, and the hearers understood it. 
 
 The Stamp Act was repealed. Rumors of this prob- 
 able action reached Boston by April 3, 1766, and 
 though they could not be put into the spring fast pro- 
 clamations, they undoubtedly affected its observance. 
 A copy of the act of Parliament was received on the 
 16th of May. Then followed such rejoicings as had 
 never been known before in the memory of the living. 
 There was no time to issue proclamations, nor was 
 there need of them. People flocked to the meeting- 
 houses, where church days were kept. Samuel Still- 
 man, minister of the First Baptist Church in Boston, 
 preached the next day upon the " Good news from a 
 far country." On the following Tuesday Nathaniel 
 Appleton, of Cambridge, delivered a similar discourse. 
 Friday, the 23 d, was observed in the West Church, 
 Boston, and then Jonathan Mayhew preached his 
 famous sermon on " The Snare broken," dedicated to 
 William Pitt, the heroic friend of the colonies. In it 
 he notes the reason for the occasion, as for many others 
 throughout Massachusetts, — " the improbability of 
 their [our] being called together for this end by procla- 
 mation, as upon some less memorable occasions." It 
 
 ^ MS. Sermon, Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
332 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 was not until tlie House of Representatives resolved 
 that the governor be desired to make such an appoint- 
 ment that he issued a proclamation therefor, naming 
 July 24, four days after the publication of which Jon- 
 athan Mayhew died. This accounts for the church 
 thanksgivings and the sermons in print and manu- 
 script delivered upon them. In New Hampshire the 
 governor had set a public fast on the 21st of May, but 
 on that very day toward evening they had the good 
 news, and the next day was one of public rejoicing. 
 Word came to Hartford on the 19th, and the General 
 Assembly forthwith requested the governor to order a 
 public thanksgiving as soon as convenient, which was 
 done, and the 26th of June was kept.^ The same day 
 was appointed in Rhode Island, though some commu- 
 nities could not wait for it. When the Massachusetts 
 thanksgiving, July 24, came round, the ministers — 
 who had been indignant that his Excellency had not 
 moved earlier in the matter — had their sermons 
 ready, and if all were such as those of Charles Chauncy, 
 of Boston, Joseph Emerson, of Pepperell, and William 
 Patten, of Halifax, which are in print, there could have 
 been no doubt as to what would have transpired had 
 England attempted to enforce the Stamp Act. John 
 Adams afterwards referred to Dr. Mayhew' s and Dr. 
 Chauncy's sermons in proof of this very point, and the 
 ministers generally agreed with them. The conclusion 
 of this episode was aptly expressed in the autumn 
 thanksgiving proclamation of Connecticut : " God hath 
 in a singular manner appeared for us in the course of 
 
 1 Conn. Col. Rec, xii. 467. The editor's note says, '* Friday, May 
 23d, was the day appointed." That was the day of the civil celebra- 
 tion, and not the day " to be religiously observed." 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 333 
 
 his merciful Providence, in the late gloomy Day of « 
 Prayer, Anxiety and Distress, averting impending 
 Evils, and saved to us our important civil Rights and 
 Liberties, — a Favour of Heaven never to be forgot- 
 ten ! " 
 
 This relief was short-lived. Other obnoxious mea- 
 sures were imposed, and, though the fire burned low, 
 it burned. From this time on to the outbreak of the 
 Revolution, the proclamations in Massachusetts took 
 on a stereotyped form. The thanksgiving proclamation 
 of 1768 is nearly word for word that of 1767. If 
 there was anything which reflected the times, it was 
 only a hint which must have incensed the people. In 
 1773 they were asked to humble themselves for " mer- 
 cies which they [we] have justly been deprived of by 
 demerit." Of course these were sometimes read in 
 the churches, but they were also often modified. One 
 occasion is conspicuous. The thanksgiving proclama- 
 tion of 1771, issued by Governor Hutchinson, had the 
 phrase "continuance of our civil and religious privi- 
 leges." Samuel Adams charged that it was "con- 
 trived to try the feelings of the people " in the hope 
 that they might thus acknowledge the same. At all 
 events it did try their feelings, for many ministers 
 would not read it, and those who did modified it by 
 leaving out the clause, or introducing, like Rev. 
 Joseph Sumner, of Shrewsbury, the words " some of." 
 In Boston only two ministers read it. Dr. Pemberton, 
 the governor's pastor, and Mr. Bacon, the young col- 
 league at the Old South Church, the latter through 
 no political design. Both were severely scored for 
 their act by the '' Boston Gazette." i The Associated 
 
 ^ See a further account in Hill's Hist, of the Old South Churchy ii. 
 146-149. 
 
334 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 ^ Pastors of Boston in 1774 voted not to read any 
 proclamations wliich the governor and council might 
 issue, — action which was proposed by Dr. Chauncy. 
 In Connecticut the proclamations were more out- 
 spoken. They recognized only the "lengthening out 
 of their public tranquillity," spoke of " public affairs 
 as in great perplexity and doubt," and mourned over 
 the " disappointment of their hopes of relief from the 
 burden laid upon them." So early as 1771 they fore- 
 east the " prospect of war." But no special fast days 
 were appointed in any of the colonies until 1774; 
 then the storm broke, and thereafter until 1783 all 
 such days had more or less reference to the war. 
 ~— — Upon Jime 1, 1774, the Boston Port Bill was to go 
 into effect. It was a memorable day throughout New 
 England, characterized by a solemn and ominous still- 
 ness except for the tolling of the church bells. It has 
 been said that it was observed by fasting and prayer.^ 
 Possibly it was among some Massachusetts churches, 
 but there was no public or general fast, for the reason 
 that the governor would not appoint one. The resolve 
 of the patriotic House of Burgesses in Virginia to 
 hold a fast on that day was the cause of their dissolu- 
 tion ; though they kept the day just the same, and 
 with uncommon solemnity .2 Generally it was a time 
 for the expression of indignation. Even in the coun- 
 try towns, such as Lebanon, Conn., the people gath- 
 ered, at the tolling of the bell, before the town house, 
 which had been draped in black, to make a public 
 declaration of their rights and privileges. Rhode 
 Island was the first, in the order of time, to keep a 
 
 ^ An Impartial History of the War in America, i. 299. 
 2 ^,„^ Arch,, iv. s. 1. 350; Conn. Courant, June 28, 1774. 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 335 
 
 public fast, which was June 30. New Hampshire and 
 Massachusetts came next, observing July 14. But 
 how did that day in Massachusetts come about? It 
 was not ordered by the governor. On the 27th of 
 May the two Houses of the General Assembly had 
 requested the new governor, Thomas Gage, to set such 
 a day ; but he had refused, saying " the request was 
 only to give an opportunity for sedition to flow from 
 the pulpit." Thereupon they resolved that if he did 
 not make the appointment before the end of the ses- 
 sion, they would recommend their respective parish 
 ministers to do so. He did not relent, and the asso- 
 ciated ministers of Boston agreed to propose to their 
 several congregations the keeping of July 14. This 
 action was spread abroad. The Berkshire County 
 Congress, which met at Stockbridge July 6, recom- 
 mended it. Everywhere it was acted upon, a few con- 
 gregations excepted, and this even in the far distant 
 settlements of Maine. The governor of New Hamp- 
 shire adopted it and issued a proclamation accord- 
 ingly, even appending the notice to the letter, calling 
 a convention to choose delegates to the General Con- 
 gress at Philadelphia, whose expenses were defrayed 
 by the collections of that day. If General Gage had 
 read the sermons which the ministers were preparing 
 for that occasion he would sui^ely have been confirmed 
 in his suspicions. Such titles as these speak for 
 themselves : " The duty of a people under the oppres- 
 sion of Man," "Despotism illustrated and improved 
 from the character of Rehoboam," " The misery and 
 duty of an oppressed and enslaved people." A niun- 
 ber of such are in print. The day in Connecticut was 
 August 31, appointed at the request of the General 
 
336 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Assembly. One of the most famous of Revolutionary 
 sermons was at that time preached by Samuel Sher- 
 wood, of Norfield, and the same year printed, to which 
 was appended a statement of grievances by Ebenezer 
 Baldwin, of Danbury, which was doubtless in part his 
 own discourse; and no utterance of the time more 
 fully sets forth the apprehensions of the Connecticut 
 ministers. 
 
 The autumn thanksgivings were ordered as usual 
 in Connecticut and New Hampshire. Little was to be 
 expected from the governor of Massachusetts, and so 
 the Provincial Congress, meeting at Cambridge, Octo- 
 ber 22, issued a proclamation for such a day Decem- 
 ber 16, which was signed '' by order of the Provincial 
 Congress, John Hancock, President." This was the 
 first proclamation of the kind which appeared, as of 
 course it would, without the royal arms and the 
 legend " God save the King," which were continued 
 on those of Connecticut thi'ough 1775 and part of 
 1776. It is needless to say that the day was popular,^ 
 and it was one fact which gave the governor reason to 
 write, " Their edicts are implicitly obeyed." Another 
 lot of patriotic sermons was put out. Those delivered 
 at Bradford, Eastham, Hatfield, Marblehead, Roxbury, 
 and one at Boston, were printed and circulated for 
 patriotic ends. That of William Gordon, of Roxbury, 
 the afternoon portion of which was afterwards deliv- 
 ered at the Boston Lecture, is the most famous. It 
 was a bold utterance, and did much to increase the 
 spirit of resistance. It expressed the following senti- 
 
 ^ Several tories in Boston opened their shops, and quite a disturb- 
 ance was made through the action of some English soldiers who visited 
 them, and charged the owners with insulting their own countrymen. 
 It was all laid to religious persecution. — Conn. Gazette, Dec. 23, 1774 ; 
 Hist. Mag., 2d ser. iv. 219. 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 337 
 
 ment : " The way to escape an attack is to be in read- 
 iness to receive it. Wliile administration consists of 
 those that have avowed their dislike to the principles 
 of this continent, and the known friends of America 
 are excluded, there should be no dependence upon 
 the fair speeches or actual promises of any, but the 
 colonies should pursue the means of safety as vig- 
 orously as ever, that they may not be surprised." 
 This sermon and the preacher were execrated by the 
 loyalists. He was called a " reverend politician," a 
 " Christian sower of sedition," a " wayfaring priest," 
 the " church-militant general," and the like, epithets 
 which also applied to the Massachusetts ministers gen- 
 erally, as well as to him. '^ Remarks " and '' Observa- 
 tions " on this sermon were put in print, but they were 
 scarcely audible amid the din which it raised. 
 
 As might be expected, fast days were abundant in 
 1775. The 1st of February was a special fast in Con- 
 necticut. On the 16th of that month the Provincial 
 Congress of Massachusetts, convened at Cambridge, 
 ordered the spring fast for March 16, and issued its 
 second proclamation. Worshipers in Boston were 
 much incensed on that day by the action of the king's 
 troops in pitching two marquee tents before a church, 
 and keeping their drums beating and fifes playing 
 throughout the entire service. 
 
 The world knows what happened at Lexington and 
 Concord upon the 19th of April, a memorable day in 
 American history, which has been commemorated of 
 late with new fervor. Perhaps it may be well to re- 
 cord the fact that Connecticut also was earnestly en- 
 gaged on that very day. Even as those stirring events 
 were being enacted in Massachusetts, the people were 
 gathering to their sanctuaries in every town of Con- 
 
338 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 necticut, to supplicate Almighty God in fasting and 
 prayer for a blessing upon their endeavors to preserve 
 their liberties. The coincidence could not have been 
 anticipated when the patriotic governor issued his pro- 
 clamation, else he would have said more than he did. 
 But he spoke as a prophet of it as " a dark and dif- 
 ficult day." It was thus given to some to fight and 
 to others to pray. The ministers were firing the peo- 
 ple's hearts with courage, and unwittingly preparing 
 the men of war to march before many hours at the 
 Lexington alarm. If Levi Hart, of Preston, whose 
 manuscript sermon has survived, had known that mes- 
 sengers would soon be on the way to *' alarm the coun- 
 try quite to Connecticut," he would surely have had 
 additional illustration for his discourse on the words, 
 " The posts went out, being hastened by the king's com- 
 mandment," Esth. iii. 15.^ 
 
 A series of fasts followed the taking up of arms. 
 The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts had already 
 moved, April 15, for the appointment of May 11, 
 and Rhode Island kept the same day by order of the 
 General Assembly, though the governor, Joseph Wan- 
 ton, refused to issue the proclamation. By the time 
 of its celebration it was endowed with a new serious- 
 ness. On June 3 the Provincial Congress of New 
 Hampshire set the 22d.2 
 
 ^ MS. Sermon, Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 2 N. H. Col. Bee, vii. 503. A copy of this broadside in the Mass. 
 Hist. Soc. has the manuscript note : It was drawn up by Rev. Samuel 
 Webster, of Temple. He was a member of the Congress ; and his 
 name should fill in the blank in the Records. The proclamation of 
 November 21, 1776, was by Mr. John Smith, of Durham ; that of April 
 24, 1777, by Rev. Daniel Rogers and Rev. Isaac Mansfield, both of 
 Exeter, chaplains ; that of August 7, 1777, by three deacons of the 
 house. Dearborn, Daken, and Knowles ; and Ezra Stiles wrote that of 
 April 16, 1778. 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 339 
 
 But the spirit which had united the colonies for 
 resistance in the Continental Congress was now to 
 inaugurate a system of national appointments, to bind 
 them together in their prayers as in arms. This body, 
 upon the 12th of June, issued a proclamation for a 
 fast day in all the United Colonies July 20i Of a 
 considerable nimiber of national fast days, this is his- 
 torically the first, and we can now see how naturally 
 it came about. All the colonies north and south ob- 
 served it, and thus the custom was furthered by their 
 unanimous approval of the occasion. The proclama- 
 tion is as follows : — 
 
 " As the great Govemour of the world, by his supreme and 
 universal providence, not only conducts the course of nature 
 with unerring wisdom and rectitude, but frequently influences 
 the minds of men to serve the wise and gracious purposes of 
 his providential government; and it being, at all times, our 
 indispensable duty devoutly to acknowledge his superintending 
 providence, especially in times of impending danger and pub- 
 lick calamity, to reverence and adore his immutable Justice as 
 well as to implore his merciful interposition for our deliverance: 
 
 "This Congress, therefore, considering the present critical, 
 alarming, and calamitous state of these Colonies, do earnestly 
 recommend that, Thursday^ the twentieth day of July next, be 
 observed by the inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this 
 Continent, as a day of publick humiliation, fasting and prayer; 
 that we may, with united hearts and voices, unfeignedly confess 
 and deplore our many sins, and offer up our joint supplications 
 to the all wise, omnipotent, and merciful Disposer of all events; 
 humbly beseeching him to forgive our iniquities, to remove 
 our present calamities, to avert those desolating judgments 
 with which we are threatened, and to bless our rightful Sover- 
 eign, King George the Third, and inspire him with wisdom to 
 discern and pursue the true interest of all his subjects, that 
 a speedy end may be put to the civil discord between Great 
 Britain and the American Colonies, without further effusion of 
 blood ; and that the British Nation may be influenced to re- 
 gard the things that belong to her peace, before they are hid 
 
340 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 from her eyes ; that these Colonies may be ever under the 
 care and protection of a kind Providence, and be prospered in 
 all their interests; that the divine blessing may descend and 
 rest upon all our civil rulers, and upon the Representatives of 
 the people in the several Assemblies and Conventions, that they 
 may be directed to wise and effectual measures for preserving 
 the union, and securing the just rights and privileges of the 
 Colonies; that virtue and true religion may revive and flourish 
 throughout our land; and that America may soon behold a 
 gracious interposition of Heaven, for the redress of her many 
 grievances, the restoration of her invaded rights, a reconcilia- 
 tion with the Parent state on terms constitutional and honour- 
 able to both; and that her civil and religious privileges may be 
 secured to the latest posterity. 
 
 "And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations, 
 to assemble for publick worship, and to abstain from servile 
 labour and recreation on said day." 
 
 This proclamation was signed, " By order of Con- 
 gress, John Hancock, President ; " and it was printed 
 in newspapers and in handbills, which were sent to the 
 authorities in the several colonies, some of whom voted 
 it or issued the same in a broadside. Before the day 
 arrived, as all are aware, the battle of Bunker Hill 
 had been fought, and the hope of a peaceful outcome 
 of the troubles was banished. Upon that occasion the 
 patriot preachers everywhere had an opportunity to 
 speak without fear and restraint, and the titles of a 
 number of sermons are given in the Bibliography, 
 which bear witness to their unstinted use of it. 
 
 The thanksgivings in the autumn were not omitted 
 even in this dark and distressing time, but the Conti- 
 nental Congress left the appointments to the several 
 colonies. That of Massachusetts was signed by the 
 members of the council, as were several thereafter, 
 and ended with the words, " God save the people." 
 The New Hampshire proclamation was issued by the 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 341 
 
 Provincial Congress, and signed by Matthew Thorn- 
 ton, President. It was in connection with this day 
 that Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, the president of Dart- 
 mouth College, drew upon himself such violent criti- 
 cism. Being remote from the seat of government, he 
 had kept November 16, the Connecticut day, the pro- 
 clamation for which he had seen, supposing it to have 
 been appointed, like the July fast, by the Continental 
 Congress. So when the New Hampshire government 
 set the 30th, the president was reluctant to keep it, 
 thinking he had already fulfilled its intent. But his 
 action was interpreted by some as disloyal, and much 
 ado was made of it, though he was indorsed by the 
 Councils of Safety of Hanover and Lebanon. How- 
 ever, he afterwards consented to keep the proper and 
 loyal day, and his sermon was printed with his expla- 
 nation in the preface. 
 
 The days in 1776 were not particularly connected 
 with the events of the war, though the proclamations 
 are especially patriotic. Spring fasts were set as 
 usual in New England, and the Continental Congress, 
 on March 16, set a general fast for the 17 th of May. 
 Like that of the preceding year it had a national 
 importance. Besides these two, Connecticut had two 
 special fasts, January 17 and September 19, which 
 were none too many for the time. The latter was the 
 first after the knowledge of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence had gone abroad, and probably no better 
 iUusti'ation can be found of the change which came 
 over the proclamations everywhere than is shown by 
 the difference between these two, the former with the 
 royal arms and the loyal motto, the latter in the most 
 intense patriotism. Both are in print in the " Life of 
 
342 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Jonathan Trumbull." It should be said that " Brother 
 Jonathan's " proclamations were the most remarkable 
 of the period. They were all written by his own hand, 
 and contain the most stirring utterances. As they 
 were read from time to time from the Connecticut pul- 
 pits they thrilled the people and ministers alike, and 
 deepened the fervent patriotism everywhere. In Mas- 
 sachusetts there was a special fast August 1. The 
 proclamation, though of unusual length, was one of the 
 most remarkable of the war, being put forth at a criti- 
 cal time, and upon a day which will always stand first 
 in American history, — the Fourth of July, 1776. A 
 single paragraph conveys its spirit: ''This Court ap- 
 prehending the present Season to be big with the most 
 important Events, not only to this, but to aU The 
 United American Colonies^ and sensible that these 
 Events are at the Disposal of the supreme Governor 
 of the Universe," etc. The order was issued from the 
 council chamber at Watertown, and the names of the 
 council are appended as follows : James Bowdoin, Jer. 
 Powell, Caleb Cushing, J. Winthrop, Rich. Derby 
 Junr, Eldad Taylor, John Wetcomb, Samuel Holten, 
 Jabez Fisher, Moses Gill, John Taylor, Benj. White, 
 William Phillips, Benj. Austin, Henry Gardner, Dan- 
 iel Davis, D. Sewall, D. Hopkins, Francis Dana, — 
 *'By their Honor's Command, John Avery, Junr., 
 Dep. Secy." " God Save America ! " On this occa- 
 sion the Declaration of Independence was read in 
 many churches of Massachusetts. 
 
 In the autumn the States were again left to name 
 their thanksgivings, which they did. But, after the 
 operations of the army for the year, it was thought 
 best by the Congi^ess that the States be summoned 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 343 
 
 to prayer at some time during the winter. A reso- 
 lution to that effect was passed December 11, and 
 sent out, but it was left to each to set its own date. 
 In accordance with the recommendation of the Con- 
 vention of New England States, which met in Provi- 
 dence soon afterward, January 29, 1777, was the day 
 observed. This did not set aside the spring fasts, and 
 several days were set during the summer following, at 
 which time Vermont joined the column of fast-keeping 
 States. 
 
 In the autumn they had their first occasion for 
 general rejoicings. As yet the Congress had not 
 appointed any thanksgivings, only fasts. It was not 
 expected, therefore, that they woidd now do so. Hence 
 the States, in the light of the successes of the north- 
 ern army, set their own thanksgivings as usual. Mas- 
 sachusetts and Connecticut kept November 20, and 
 never since the war began was there such enthusiasm. 
 It was an outburst of praise to God, after a long trial 
 of their faith. With delight the Massachusetts peo- 
 ple read the words — " He hath so far supported us in 
 our Exertions against the arbitrary Claims and mili- 
 tary Violence of Britain ; and especially in a late In- 
 stance of Divine Interposition in which the Arm of 
 the Lord of Hosts and God of Armies very conspicu- 
 ously appears, hath given us a compleat Victory over 
 a whole Army of our Enemies, hereby teaching us to 
 rely upon Him whose is the Power and the Glory and 
 the Victory." " Brother Jonathan's " proclamation 
 was in a similar strain, and was ornamented with a 
 new and peculiar cut at the top, probably such as 
 suited the taste of the woman, Hannah Watson, of 
 Hartford, who printed it, in which feature it has a 
 
344 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 unique place. Before the day arrived Burgoyne had 
 surrendered, and the design of the British of occupy- 
 ing the Hudson River and thus shutting off New Eng- 
 land from the south had utterly failed. This was a 
 victory which called for a national proclamation, and 
 so for the first time it happened that a thanksgiving 
 was kept in the United States. The day was Decem- 
 ber 18, and the proclamation, which is given in another 
 connection, was probably written by Samuel Adams, of 
 Massachusetts. No thanksgiving day during the war 
 was so prominent as this. It had a decided and signal 
 victory to commemorate in the services. The times 
 before it had been dark. Many had become discour- 
 aged. But the effect of the victory, which this day 
 did so much to glorify everywhere, was marvelous. 
 In States to which the custom was comparatively new 
 it was the occasion for both preaching and feasting. 
 The army observed it with reverence. In the words 
 of Timothy Dwight, in his sermon of that day, it was 
 the surrender of Burgoyne which ''infixed such a 
 wound upon British pride, as it hath scarcely received 
 during the century ; " and by so much as this was true, 
 the spirit of glorification was manifested among the 
 people. 
 
 There is nothing exceptional to record of the re- 
 maining years of the war. In 1778 Congress ap- 
 pointed both a spring fast, April 22, and an autumn 
 thanksgiving, December 30, and though several of 
 the States anticipated these dates, they kept the na- 
 tional appointment as well. Other than these there 
 were no special days. Such also is the record of 
 1779. In 1780 the only special day we have recov- 
 ered was the 20th of July in Massachusetts, a fast 
 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 345 
 
 on account of the late operations of the war. As the 
 war progressed the people were somewhat relieved of 
 their anxiety, and hence there was less to demand 
 exceptional days. Every fast day had some discour- 
 agement to note, and every thanksgiving some ac- 
 knowledgment of gratitude for relief or success. 
 The States had come to look to Congress for procla- 
 mations, and these were regular and less connected 
 with the war. This materially assisted the decadence 
 of the old New England system, but it furthered the 
 national appointment of such days. One reason for 
 their spreading popularity was the patriotic uses they 
 were put to everywhere. The public fasts which, 
 throughout the war, were being kept in England were 
 more or less restricted by the form of service ; ^ these 
 of America, and especially among the Congregational 
 and Presbyterian churches, were a great political as 
 well as religious force. A sentiment of nationalism 
 connected itself with the day. The preacher's words 
 went outside of his little congregation. The people 
 were impressed with the fact that the colonies were 
 united, even so far religiously as to recognize the same 
 day. Religious bodies, such as the Synod of New York 
 and Philadelphia, commended the custom. Even the 
 Episcopalians, of whom the majority were naturally 
 loyalists, sometimes read the proclamations of the Con- 
 tinental CongTCSS, and united in the services, though 
 
 ^ Forms of prayer were issued in England for these days. The 
 following is from that of February 27, 1778: "Give grace, we be- 
 seech thee, to our unhappy fellow-subjects in America. . . . Grant us 
 not only strength and courage to withstand them, but charity to for- 
 give and pity them, to receive them again as friends and brethren, 
 upon just and reasonable terms." 
 
346 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 in some quarters the patriotic rectors were condemned 
 for it.i 
 
 So the years passed, and the war came to an end. 
 The treaty of peace was signed in the autumn of 
 1783. Congress had omitted the setting of a spring 
 fast that year, and the States, having expected one, 
 were late in their appointments. Perhaps some 
 failed altogether, or left it to the churches. But for 
 the final peace it set a day of thanksgiving, the 11th 
 of December. It must have been a great day in 
 New England. Particular sermons were delivered 
 everywhere, and those in print make up an interest- 
 ing series. So the fathers and mothers of the Rev- 
 olution went up to their meeting-houses to render 
 praises to God, and gathered their heroes with re- 
 joicing at the thanksgiving feast. 
 
 1 Hist. Coll. of Am. Col Chh., Dr. Perry, Penn. pp. 470, 471 ; and 
 Mass. pp. 602-637. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 1795-1797. 
 
 The accomplished occupant of the Easy Chair in 
 " Harper's Magazine," a few years since, meditated thus 
 upon the annual fast day in Connecticut : "In Con- 
 necticut, the State in which the austerest Puritanism 
 longest survived, Good Friday was observed as Fast 
 Day ! " ^ It was in 1891 that this apparent surprise 
 at the liberal sentiment in Connecticut was ex- 
 pressed; and the impression was conveyed that it 
 was a departure from the customs of the fathers, 
 whereas the first appointment of the annual fast by 
 the governor upon Good Friday was in 1795, and 
 smce 1797 such has been the continuous practice. 
 The majority of historical students will not agree 
 that "the austerest Puritanism longest survived" in 
 Connecticut. The fact is quite the contrary, for 
 though the early settlers in the Connecticut and New 
 Haven colonies brought with them much of Puritan 
 strength m education and religion, they imbibed to a 
 remarkable degree the more liberal spirit of the Pil- 
 grims. Of this the origin of the Good Friday fast 
 is an illustration. Within a dozen years after the 
 Revolution, — which certainly did not increase the 
 popularity of the Episcopal Church in New England, 
 
 1 Harper'' s Magazine^ June, 1891. 
 
848 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 — Connecticut, largely out of its charity toward 
 those to whom its ancient custom was an annoyance, 
 began to appoint its annual fast upon the day they 
 were accustomed to observe. If it was a State in 
 which the austerest Puritanism prevailed, with some- 
 thing of prejudice against Episcopacy, this was all the 
 more creditable to it. In some other States, such as 
 Virginia, it would have had no significance, for there 
 the Episcopal Church had been dominant. Nor can 
 it be said that these were the first Good Friday fasts 
 in New England. Such had been appointed on sev- 
 eral occasions in New Hampshire fifty years before, 
 under the administration of Governor Benning Went- 
 worth, who was an ardent churchman. ^ But there 
 they were not continuous, nor was the change re- 
 ceived with general approval. The next adminis- 
 tration returned to the practice of earlier times, in 
 which Massachusetts had tutored her neighbors. Con- 
 necticut was not without an inherited fear of depar- 
 ture from the faith. When Roger Sherman began to 
 note the fasts and feasts of the Church of England 
 in his almanac, there were those who discarded it on 
 that account.^ After the Revolution, however, this 
 feeling was ameUorated, and largely through the per- 
 sonal influence of some most prominent citizens. In- 
 deed, there are numerous evidences of the fraternal 
 spirit then existing between the various reUgious 
 
 1 Governor Wentworth set fasts for Fridays other than " Good Fri- 
 day," and upon Wednesdays. There were Good Friday fasts March 
 28, 1746; April 4, 1760; April 1, 1763; April 20, 1764. Possibly 
 there were others. 
 
 2 This was several yeare earlier than the adoption of the practice 
 by Ames' Almanack. In Roger Sherman's Almanac for 1758 will be 
 found his defense against this complaint. 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT, 349 
 
 bodies. The stronger did not oppress the weaker, and 
 oftentimes received signal courtesies at their hands. 
 Still, there were doubtless dissensions here and there. 
 In 1791 a law was passed, — the text of which is 
 given elsewhere, — which prohibited labor and recrea- 
 tion upon public fast and thanksgiving days. This 
 was probably called forth by the neglect of some to 
 keep them after the ancient understanding as Sab- 
 baths. It has been said that some were brought 
 before justices of the peace for the violation of this 
 law. It may have been so, though we have found 
 no evidence of such trials. The churchmen could 
 readily find excuse for keeping Good Friday and 
 refusing to keep a fast day during Easter week, and 
 it is not unlikely that their uncharitable neighbors 
 would bring them into court upon the slightest pre- 
 tense. Such a condition of affairs would tend to 
 agitate the wiser and more kindly disposed to seek 
 some solution of the difficulty. It should, however, 
 be noted that this law only required abstinence from 
 labor and recreations, leaving all to their liberty in 
 fasting and holding services in their churches. Upon 
 the whole we are persuaded that it met with the 
 approval of the leading churchmen as weU as others, 
 except in the particular instances where the fast day 
 came during Easter week. 
 
 It is our purpose now to show how this change of 
 the annual fast day to Good Friday came about. The 
 19th of February, 1795, was appointed by President 
 George Washington as a national thanksgiving day ; 
 there the recital begins. Rev. Samuel Seabury was 
 then the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut 
 and Rhode Island. He was respected by aU, and be- 
 
350 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 loved by many who were not under his spiritual care. 
 His home was at New London, where he ministered 
 in St. James Church. Hon. Samuel Huntington was 
 then the governor of the State, — a man highly re- 
 garded for his eminent services to the nation, of good 
 education and a liberal mind, and, though himself a 
 Congregation alist, upon the most friendly terms with 
 Bishop Seabury. His home was in Norwich, where 
 at that very time the Episcopalians and Congrega- 
 tionaUsts were worshiping in the same sanctuary by 
 the courtesy of the former, the latter's church having 
 been destroyed by fire. Withal Governor Hunting- 
 ton was a man of peace, and such comments upon 
 this trait are found in the manuscripts of his contempo- 
 raries that it must be considered a notable characteris- 
 tic. The national thanksgiving day above mentioned 
 fell in Lent, being the next day after Ash Wednes- 
 day. It did not seem to the Episcopal community at 
 New London an appropriate time for thanksgiving, 
 and there was some surprise expressed that an Epis- 
 copalian like Washington should have so far forgotten 
 himself as to have named that date. So the procla- 
 mation was not read in St. James Church the Sab- 
 bath before, and the day was not observed. Thereupon 
 some ardent admirers of Washington, who, for politi- 
 cal reasons, were especially sensitive to reflections upon 
 the government, were moved with great indignation 
 against the Episcopalians. One who signs himself 
 " Plain Truth," under date " New London, March 4, 
 1795," addressed a communication to the editor of 
 the " Connecticut Gazette," of New London, in which 
 he refers to the matter as " the people insulted in the 
 government by a late instance of contempt in this 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 351 
 
 city."^ From this communication we give this ex- 
 tract : "In direct contempt of this order of the highest 
 officer of the State, the proclamation was not read in 
 the Episcopal church in this city, — and to complete 
 the system of disrespect to the Government on the day 
 appointed for public Thanksgiving the church was 
 shut up, and no notice taken of the dayT In the is- 
 sue of the same newspaper the week following appears 
 a long article entitled " The Churchman's Apology," 
 which was attributed at the time, and we now know 
 correctly, to Bishop Seabury himself.^ It is emi- 
 nently worthy of him, for it is in the kindliest spirit, 
 and takes no notice of the aspersion of " Plain Truth" 
 on " an ecclesiastic dignified in his own estimation." 
 A considerable part of the article is devoted to ex- 
 plaining the significance of " the Christian year " in 
 the Episcopal Church, but the latter part is worthy of 
 a permanent place in the literature of this subject, 
 as the utterance of the first American bishop, recov- 
 ered from an old newspaper. It is as f oUows : — 
 
 *' I have also to remark, that, according to the sketch I have 
 given, from Ashwednesday to Easter appears to be a season of 
 fasting and humiliation in the church; from Easter to Whit- 
 sunday a season of rejoicing and thanksgiving to God, for 
 Christ's resurrection, for the happy prospect of our own resur- 
 rection from death through him, and for all the blessings of 
 redeeming love. 
 
 *' I hope it will be allowed that church people have a regard 
 
 1 Conn. Gazette, March 12, 1795, No. 1635 ; Am. Mercury, March 
 16, 1795, No. 558. 
 
 2 Conn. Gazette, March 19, 1795, No. 1636. Since arriving at the 
 conclusion that Bishop Seabury was the author of this article, we have 
 been informed, by the courtesy of Rev. William J. Seabury, D. D., that 
 the original draft of the same in the bishop's own handwriting, to- 
 gether with a copy of the Conn. Gazette in which it appeared, is pre- 
 served among the bishop's manuscripts. 
 
352 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 for the church to which they belong, — an equal affection for 
 their religion with that which other Christians feel for theirs. 
 Their religion is a system of doctrines and duties, to which 
 they are bound by rules, and are not left to humor or fancy. 
 Easter will fall this year on the fifth of April. Ashwednesday 
 fell on the 18th of February. Between these days is a season 
 of fasting and humiliation. The public Thanksgiving was on 
 the 19th day of February, the 2d day of Lent. If church 
 people have a regard to the rules of their church, which some 
 of them certainly have, and an affection for their religion equal 
 with other Christians, it must have been disagreeable to them 
 to be called from the season of humiliation and repentance, to 
 a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving. I presume they have as 
 much religion as their neighbors. They must, therefore, have 
 felt severely, the disagreeable necessity they were under of 
 disregarding the regulations of their church, or disregarding 
 the President's proclamation. Some chose to do the latter. 
 Yet I never" heard fault found with the President's appoint- 
 ment. That it fell in Lent was supposed to be an accident. 
 The church-people never imagined it was intended to wound 
 them; and they trust his affection for the church, the goodness 
 of his heart, his regard for the equal rights of all religious 
 denominations in the United States will prevent the repetition 
 of such an appointment. The President they love, they pray 
 God to continue and increase the graces of his heart, to perfect 
 the virtues of his life, to bless him with every prosperity in this 
 world, and to lead him to eternal felicity in the world to come. 
 I hope, however, that it will not be imputed to them as a crime, 
 that they love their God better than any man, and regard more 
 the interests of eternity than those of this world. 
 
 " And as it is disagreeable to the church-people to be called by 
 authority to observe days of Thanksgiving in Lent, it is equally 
 disagreeable to be called on to observe days of Fasting in the 
 season appointed by the church to praise God for the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ and the happy prospect of eternal life opened to 
 us by him. Yet I believe that three times in four, the annual 
 Fast in Connecticut is by authority appointed in Easter week; 
 a week of highest joy and praise to the people of the church of 
 any in the year. It was some years ago reported that Bishop 
 Seabury had mentioned this matter to Governor Huntington, 
 and that his Excellency kindly told him, that as far as his influ- 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 353 
 
 ence extended it should not be repeated. It has not, however, 
 been mended. So that, if the report be true, I must suppose 
 the Governor has been overruled in the appointments. 
 
 " I only beg that it may be considered that church-people 
 have the same feelings and passions with others; that they are 
 equally hurt by unkind usage; and then it will be easy to con- 
 ceive what must be their sensations, after having gone thro' a 
 long discipline by fasting and abstinence from bodily pleasures 
 to be called back from joy and gratitude to God for the great- 
 est blessing ever bestowed on man, to observe a day of fasting 
 and mortification. We live in a time which boasts of its light, 
 especially in the rights of man, and in a country which boasts 
 of its candor and liberality of sentiment, — where the rights of 
 conscience are equal and secure; I hope church-men are not 
 worse than their neighbors, nor worse members of civil society. 
 They ask the equal rights of conscience — They ask the free 
 practice of their religion in their own way, which they think 
 will hurt nobody — They ask to be exempt from observing days 
 of Thanksgiving in Lent, or of Fasting from Easter to Trinity 
 Sunday. This indulgence they presume will not detract from 
 the dignity or influence of a government which they esteem 
 and love, and which, I believe, they are equally ready with 
 their neighbors to support. If they are gratified they will be 
 thankful, tho' they suppose that gratification is their right. If 
 they are to continue under the inconveniences they have long 
 felt, they must regard it as the dispensation of God's provi- 
 dence to exercise their patience, and endeavor by his grace to 
 let patience have her perfect work." 
 
 The next week " Plain Truth " published a " Reply 
 to the Churchman's Apology," ^ in which he notes 
 that the reasons for not observing the thanksgiving 
 " may doubtless be considered as coming from the best 
 authority," and commends his frankness. The day, 
 he says, was observed by " the Episcopal clergy in gen- 
 eral in Connecticut and universally in New York and 
 Pennsylvania." He censures, however, the principle 
 of opposing the canons of the church to the govern- 
 
 1 Conn. Gazette^ March 26, 1795, No. 1637. 
 
354 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ment. In the same paper is another contribution in 
 reply to the '' Apology," which attacks the keeping of 
 Lent in general, and cites the example of the king of 
 England as appointing thanksgivings without regard 
 to the fasting season. These replies do not deal 
 with the bishop's point as to the annual fast. Here 
 this controversy was lost in another, growing out of 
 the same national appointment, of which we shall have 
 some things to record further on, and which had some 
 influence in winning favor for the Episcopal cause. A 
 month later, however, a short article was published in 
 defense of the government, which is here given : ^ — 
 
 Mr. Green, — Please insert the following in answer to the 
 Churchman's reflection on the honorable Council of this State, 
 wherein he would insinuate a design in them to prevent the 
 churchman's celebrating the feast of Easter in his own way, by- 
 appointing the annual Fast on that day, and in confirmation says 
 that it is appointed in Easter week three times in four. I can- 
 not but observe his mistake in this. Our forefathers from their 
 settlement of this plantation observed a day of fasting in the 
 spring of the year, to supplicate the Almighty to bless their 
 labors and to cause the land to bring forth its increase ; and the 
 month of April was by them thought most proper, and that 
 solemnity was appointed generally on the second Thursday of 
 April. Looking over an old kalendar in my prayer book, to 
 find Easter for forty years, I find it will fall ten times in March, 
 and seven times on the 20th of April and upwards ; and sixteen 
 times on the 10th of April and downwards ; so that there are 
 but seven days between the 20th and the 10th in which the ap- 
 pointment of the annual Fast in this State is likely to interfere 
 with Easter in forty years, — the Council holding to the antient 
 custom of appointing the second Thursday. I do not know why 
 the people of Connecticut have not as good right to their antient 
 custom of a Fast in the middle of April as others to a moveable 
 feast, dodging about, sometimes as far as the 21st of March, 
 and then extending away to the 25th of April. However, the 
 
 1 Conn. Gazette, April 30, 1795, No. 1642. 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 355 
 
 Council, not knowing anything of the Churchman's Apology ap- 
 pointed the annual Fast this year early as the 3d of April, and 
 on Friday, (which was never known before) without giving any 
 offence to the most rigid of those for keeping to the rule estab- 
 lished by their pious forefathers. How different the bigot? 
 But it will be very difficult for the Council in future to adhere 
 to the custom of appointing the annual Fast in April, so as not 
 to interfere with the County Courts in Hartford and Danbury, 
 and at the same time to avoid Easter week, and if it should so 
 happen, as to interfere with Easter once in a while, it is better 
 so, than that the old custom of the annual Fast in the spring 
 of the year, in the month of April, the most suitable time to im- 
 plore a blessing on the ensueing summer, should be appointed 
 before the 21st of March or in May, in order to steer clear of 
 Easter week. But we have no reason to think otherwise than 
 that our honorable Council will oblige any respectable part of 
 the community, that may apply to them in a decent way, to 
 relieve them from keeping a Day of Fasting on Easter Week, 
 whenever it may be consistent with the appointment of Courts, 
 and the ancient custom of the State, in ordering their annual 
 Fast in the middle of the week and in the month of April. 
 
 Pacificus. 
 
 The reader has thus before him the documents re- 
 lating to this agitation, and the views of both parties. 
 As to the day when the annual fast had been ap- 
 pointed in previous years, the " three times in four " 
 to which the bishop refers were during the years 1791 
 to 1794, in the last of which it fell in Lent, and in 
 the other three during Easter week, which was more 
 than the ratio before that, though the point was not 
 essential, as it did happen so, very frequently. It 
 appears, therefore, that on some occasion previous to 
 1795, and perhaps in connection with the law of 1791, 
 Bishop Seabury had called the attention of Governor 
 Huntington to the annoyance suffered among the 
 Episcopalians by having the annual fast in Easter 
 week, and the governor had assured him that he 
 
356 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 would use his influence to prevent its recurrence; 
 but when the difficulties were brought out it was evi- 
 dently not possible at all times, and probably the 
 report was true that he failed to bring the members 
 of the council to his view. The churchmen, so far 
 as we know, had never asked that the fast be ap- 
 pointed on Good Friday. It probably never occurred 
 to them that such a radical change was possible. 
 They were willing to observe the day during Lent, 
 and in Holy Week they were accustomed to hold fast 
 services, but they did object to the day during Easter 
 week. It was without doubt, therefore. Governor 
 Huntington who proposed to the council the appoint- 
 ment of the first Friday in April. The second week 
 would have been Easter week, and would also have 
 interfered with the county courts. They must choose 
 between the third and the first, and if the latter, 
 Thursday would have been the day before Good 
 Friday, which would seem to countenance the supersti- 
 tion of days of the week, so they wisely determined 
 to try the experiment of selecting Good Friday. 
 Thus Governor Hmitington appears to have kept his 
 promise to the bishop, since this was done without 
 any knowledge of " The Churchman's Apology," which 
 was printed on the 19th of March, while the procla- 
 mation is dated the 10th. If the reader wiU now 
 recur to the situation at that time, he will find rea- 
 son to suspect that this was partly dictated by a 
 desire to allay the excitement occasioned by the re- 
 ported neglect of St. James Church, of which the 
 governor, so near by, must have been advised. In 
 setting Good Friday, April 3, they chose a day which 
 neither Episcopalians nor Congregationalists could 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 357 
 
 consistently refuse to keep, for the former were com- 
 pelled to it by the canons of their church, and the 
 latter by their own arguments for the respect due 
 civil authority. We may infer from the communica- 
 tion of " Pacificus," who, if not the governor him- 
 self, was surely one who knew, that there was some 
 criticism of the appointment by the ''bigots," so 
 called, but that no offense was given thereby to the 
 most liberal and charitable portion of the citizens. 
 Yet it was not then considered as a final settlement 
 of the matter, but only an experiment suggested by 
 the circumstances. 
 
 We now turn back to the Thanksgiving ordered by 
 the President, to trace m brief another controversy 
 which grew out of it. It had been suggested, in a cir- 
 cular sent abroad through the instrumentality of the 
 late commissioner of the United States to Algiers, 
 David Humphreys, that a general collection be taken 
 on the thanksgiving day for the redemption of cap- 
 tives.^ Bishop Seabury, out of his benevolence, issued 
 a recommendation to his diocese that such an offering 
 be taken up on the third Sunday in March, and signed 
 himself " Samuel Bp. of Connecticut and Rhode Is- 
 land." 2 This called out a sarcastic article from one 
 " Connecticut and Rhode Island," in which this title 
 was called " a pompous expression of priestly pride," 
 as he was only the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island, — as the bishops of 
 New York and Pennsylvania were wont to style them- 
 
 1 Conn. Gazette, March 26, 1795, No. 1637. There were then at 
 least thirteen ships and one hundred and twenty-six captives in 
 Algiers. 
 
 2 Ibid., February 19, 1795, No. 1632. 
 
358 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 selves.^ The bishop did not trouble himself about the 
 matter, but he had a champion in the "Newport 
 Mercuiy " who wrote under the name " Aletheia," and 
 a "Presbyterian " at home who bestirred himself in his 
 behalf. On the other hand "Sidney" and "Anony- 
 mous " came to the assistance of " Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island." 2 go fQj. weeks quite a stir was made 
 about this spiritual title, all of which, we conclude, 
 was probably urged on by the bigots' disgust over the 
 solution of the fast day question, which might readily 
 have been attributed to Episcopal influence. They 
 could not reflect on the appointment without censur- 
 ing the council, so they vented their feelings upon the 
 supposed cause of the change. However this may be, 
 the words of " Presbyterian " in reply to the insinua- 
 tions of the bishop's enemies should be recorded as 
 the best sentiment of the people : " The private char- 
 acter of Bishop Seabury will bear the test of the 
 strictest scrutiny ; it has the universal respect and 
 esteem of the citizens of New London, and cannot be 
 shaken by vile calumny." So this episode only tended 
 to increase the kindly feeling toward the churchmen. 
 This also was accomplished : the public attention was 
 diverted from criticism of what was really a radical 
 change in Connecticut customs. The Good Friday 
 fast slipped in quite naturally, and without popular 
 discussion, which would have roused some resistance. 
 A precedent was established, and the day was kept by 
 
 1 Am. Mercury, March 16, 1795, No. 558. This article was also sent 
 to the Conn. Gazette, but that paper would not publish it until after- 
 wards urgfed to do so {Conn. Gazette, March 26, 1795). 
 
 2 See Conn. Gazette, April 16, April 23, April 30, and May 7, 1795 ; 
 Am. Mercury, April 20 and April 27, 1795 ; Newport Mercury, April, 
 1795. 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 359 
 
 all denominations in their own way, and without doubt 
 as profitably as it would have been on any other day. 
 
 Before the time came for appointing the fast day of 
 1796, both Bishop Seabury and Governor Huntington 
 were dead. Hon. Oliver Wolcott was in the guber- 
 natorial office. Perhaps he thought it wise to return 
 to the former custom. Possibly he had never con- 
 sidered the matter, or was overruled by the council. 
 Great latitude was given the governor in such busi- 
 ness, but in this instance the proclamation has the 
 clause with ''advice of Council." At aU events he 
 appointed Thursday, April 14, which did not fall 
 within Easter week.^ 
 
 In 1797 Easter was April 16. The problem was 
 fairly before them. The governor did not wish to 
 set the day during Easter week, after what had been 
 so kindly said against it, and he could not set it in 
 any other than Holy Week on account of the coimty 
 courts. Nor would he be so discourteous as to name 
 a Wednesday or Thursday of that week. So a second 
 time the day was on Good Friday. It is noticeable 
 that this proclamation omits the clause "with the 
 advice and consent of Council," and probably they 
 were not called together for the purpose.^ 
 
 In 1798 the younger Jonathan Trumbull, of Leb- 
 anon, was acting-governor. There were some reasons 
 which would have influenced him to foUow the pre- 
 cedent already established. It had appeared that the 
 
 ^ The proclamation was doubtless printed at Litchfield by Collier 
 and Buel, as the imperfect cut of the seal would suggest, being with- 
 out the motto, *' Qui. Tran. Sust."' 
 
 2 Original draft in Wolcott Papers, iv. 93, Conn. Hist. Soc. The 
 fast proclamation of 1798 has the clause, but that of 1799 has 7iot. 
 That of 1797 was printed at Litchfield. 
 
360 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 fast on Good Friday had not hurt any one. Certain it 
 is, as the manuscript draft in the archives of the Con- 
 necticut Historical Society shows, that when he wrote 
 the proclamation of 1798, he regarded the question as 
 settled either by the council or precedent, for he wrote 
 in the date of Good Friday. Trumbull occupied the 
 governor's chair until his death in 1809, and surely 
 found it easy to follow his own example. 
 
 In the papers of the Connecticut Historical Society 
 there is a letter to Governor Trumbull from Bishop 
 Jarvis, under date February 19, 1802, concerning the 
 appointment of that year. The standard almanac had 
 put Easter on April 25, but by the church calendar it 
 came on the 18th. It was to advise the governor of 
 this error that the bishop wrote. But it is to show the 
 absence of any dictatorial spirit that this reference 
 is made. After remarking that "in some former 
 instances " His Excellency had thought proper to 
 appoint the fast on Good Friday, he makes the cor- 
 rection, and further says : " What attention your Ex- 
 cellency may be disposed to give to the day of very 
 solemn estimation in the church in your appointment 
 of the vernal Fast I do not venture prematurely to 
 judge. My intention is nothing more than if there 
 should be occasion for it, barely to suggest to your 
 Excellency that I trust there will be no diversity 
 either in Europe or America, but that Easter will be 
 celebrated universally on the eighteenth." The gov- 
 ernor's reply, March 15, is also preserved, and says 
 he has already decided on April 16 and sent his 
 proclamation to press. 
 
 Thus the custom came about in Connecticut. It 
 has been continuous since, and has never been objected 
 
GOOD FRIDAY FAST IN CONNECTICUT. 361 
 
 to by the people. For some years it retained among 
 the Congregationalists its ancient character, as the 
 themes treating upon it show ; but the fact commem- 
 orated upon that day has gradually been gaining im- 
 portance in its thought. It is of common interest to 
 all Christian denominations. Some have objected to 
 the appointment by civil authorities, which is thought 
 to serve no reHgious purpose, and others to the holi- 
 day character given to it ; but the day is observed 
 less as a civil fast, and more as a church day. It is in 
 fact a return to the conceptions of the early Puritans, 
 — a fast which they would have kept, as Christmas 
 and Easter, could they have separated these from 
 saints' days and the prevailing irreligious customs. It 
 is not the institution of early New England, and is 
 a fast to which they would have decidedly objected ; 
 but it seems, nevertheless, to serve best the spiritual 
 purpose of the fathers. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1789-1799. 
 
 It may be said, in a general view, that the fast 
 and thanksgiving days of Massachusetts have passed 
 through three periods to their present development. 
 The observance which the forefathers brought from 
 old England was religious, having its motive in the 
 doctrine of Divine Providence, and this was main- 
 tained with vigor down to the establishment of the 
 provincial government. With the adoption of the 
 system of annual appointments, particularly as to the 
 fast day, came in an observance having its affiliations 
 with the season of the year, the events of which it 
 chronicled, and this was characteristic through the 
 Revolution. After the organization of the federal 
 government, the observance — though retaining the 
 semblance of the first period, and operating through 
 the system of the second — was infused with the 
 political spirit, which has been, on the whole, domi- 
 nant in it to the present time. The fast day espe- 
 cially may be characterized as successively religious, 
 historical, and political. 
 
 The political sermon on a fast or thanksgiving day 
 is not a modern innovation. Aside from all the 
 arguments which may now be offered in its favor, this 
 is preeminently true : at the time of its introduction 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 363 
 
 the clergy occupied such a position in relation to 
 pubKc affairs that they would have thought them- 
 selves culpable had they been silent upon them in 
 their pulpits. During the American Revolution their 
 influence had increased rather than diminished. They 
 were the intimate friends and often the advisers of 
 public men, and entertained positive views upon the 
 various issues which necessarily arose in the organi- 
 zation of government. The congregational polity, 
 which had secretly wrought in state governments, 
 and materially influenced the union of the States, was 
 a theme to which they had been born. Moreover, it 
 so happened that the questions which directed the 
 first decade of political agitation after the adoption 
 of the Constitution, namely the relations to foreign 
 nations, and particularly the influence of France, 
 brought with them matters of great moment to the 
 religious beUefs of the people. Infidelity was rife 
 everywhere. The ministers were alarmed lest the 
 friends of the French Revolution should propagate 
 these opinions, and in arraying themselves against 
 these they also stood opposed to the Jacobinical soci- 
 eties and other democratic orders which waged a war 
 against the Federalists. So it is in a measure true 
 that the New England ministers were seduced into 
 political discussions. The political parties grew up 
 around them, and they were found partisans from the 
 circumstances of the time. Nor can it be supposed 
 that these sermons were fruitless of good. They 
 were in a sense political documents, were printed 
 and reprinted as such. Everybody read them; and 
 with the politics the readers imbibed much sound 
 sense and many arguments against French infidelity. 
 
364 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Surely they had the virtue of declaring positive opin- 
 ions, and they did not attempt to preserve a judicious 
 neutrality. On the other hand the opposite party 
 were greatly incensed against the ministers, and on 
 the whole the results were injurious to the churches. 
 
 A few months after the inauguration of President 
 Washington he appointed, at the request of Con- 
 gress, a national thanksgiving day on account of the 
 adoption of the Constitution. It was November 26, 
 1789. Tliis must be very evident, that the anti- 
 Federalists would not heartily enjoy such a day. It 
 seemed like asking them to rejoice over their own 
 defeat, and was very suggestive of the party rooster. 
 This was the introduction of the political issue. The 
 day was observed generally in New England, taking 
 the place of the usual autumn thanksgiving, though 
 some States issued another proclamation omitting the 
 particular reference to the Constitution. 
 
 As years passed, and the opposition to the policy of 
 the government increased, the Democratic party of 
 that day came into existence with its popular enthu- 
 siasm in behalf of France and her societies for the 
 furtherance of political designs. Then the ministers 
 of Massachusetts were almost unanimous in support 
 of the government. The patriot, Samuel Adams, who 
 became governor in 1793 upon the death of John 
 Hancock, was an ardent Democrat. When the season 
 came round in 1794 for the annual thanksgiving, the 
 governor, for some reason, omitted from the procla- 
 mation all mention of the federal government. This 
 was a challenge to the divines who were Federalists, 
 and they were not slow in making the most of the 
 omission. The 20th of November was therefore an 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 365 
 
 occasion for much preaching of politics in that com- 
 monwealth. Foremost of all was David Osgood, of 
 Medford. The title of his sermon on that day was 
 innocent enough, — " The Wonderful Works of God 
 are to be remembered." But in it he purposely took 
 up the several causes named in the proclamation, mitil 
 he came to that phrase so historical and significant 
 to the New Englander, "civil rights and Uberties." 
 Here he spoke as follows : " For . . . our civil rights 
 and liberties, we are, under Providence, and as the 
 mean by which Heaven has granted and continues 
 them to us, indebted to a cause or source which, I am 
 sorry to observe, is not mentioned, nor even referred 
 to in the proclamation — I mean the general or federal 
 government. This omission is strange and singular, 
 beyond anything of the kind that I recollect to have 
 seen since the first union of the states in the memora- 
 ble year 1775. It has, to say the least, a strong ap- 
 pearance of disconnection with the general government, 
 and an air of separate sovereignty and independence, 
 as though we enjoyed not our civil rights in union 
 with the other states under one common Head." He 
 continued with a eulogy of the federal government, 
 and a denunciation of the "Democratic societies." 
 In connection with the latter he thus refers to the 
 governor: "Unless we suppose him to have fallen 
 under the baneful influence of those societies, we 
 know not how to account for his having hazarded a 
 proclamation in which we are directed, neither to give 
 thanks for any advantages enjoyed by means of that 
 government, nor even to ask the blessing of Heaven 
 upon it." In a note to this sentence he says, " This 
 must appear the more extraordinary when we reflect, 
 
866 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 that at the time of Issueing the proclamation, war with 
 the savages raged on our frontiers, rebellion in the 
 bosom of the country, and our situation, with respect 
 to the powers of Europe, had become so critical that 
 we were actually fortifying and forming a numerous 
 army." ^ Other sermons of that day made allusions 
 to these events, especially to the so-caUed " Whiskey 
 Insurrection " of western Pennsylvania, which was a 
 resistance of the authority of the federal government ; 
 and they did not hesitate to speak of it, as did Samuel 
 Stillman, of Boston, as " displaying the energy of gov- 
 ernment and the excellency of the executive in the 
 methods that have been taken first to conciliate, and in 
 case of failure, to subdue the insurgents." 2 But we 
 shall let in the light by quoting from a letter from 
 Eev. Jedidiah Morse, of Charlestown, to Hon. Oliver 
 Wolcott, comptroller of the United States Treasury .^ 
 
 Chablestown, December 17, 1794. 
 My dear Sir, — I take the liberty to enclose you 
 Mr. Osgoods Thanksgiving sermon, with whh I 
 think you wiU be pleased. It will evince that the 
 sentiments of the clergy this way (for so far as I am 
 acquainted he (Mr. Osgood) speaks the sentiments 
 of nine out of ten of the clergy) agree with those of 
 the President, Senate and House of Representatives, 
 in respect to the ^'self-created Societies,'^ The 
 thanksgiving sermons in Boston & its vicinity (with 
 only two or three exceptions,) all breathed the same 
 spirit, — though their manner was not so particular & 
 pointed as Mr. Osgoods. His sermon is now the gen- 
 
 ^ The Wonderful Works of God, etc., Osgood, pp. 16, 25. 
 2 Thoughts on the French Revolution, Stillman, p. 25. 
 ^ Wolcott Papers^ viii. 9, Conn. Hist. See. 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 367 
 
 erat topic of conversation ; it has grievously offended 
 the Jacobins. Poor fellows I they seem to be at- 
 tacked on all sides. They must I think feel it to 
 be a truth, that "there is no peace to the wicked." 
 They still make a noise, but it is like the groans of 
 despair. 
 
 I could wish, if you think it proper, that the ser- 
 mon might, in a suitable way, be put into the hands 
 of our most worthy President with this remark accom- 
 panying it, that the clergy in this Commonwealth, 
 generally approve of the same sentiments. I wish 
 it because it may possibly add to his satisfaction, & 
 will certainly to our honor in his view. 
 
 To render some parts of the sermon intelligible it 
 may be necessary to observe that our Governor is not 
 considered as very warmly attached either to our 
 Federal Gov* or to the President. And as if to 
 prove to the world that this was actually the case he 
 omitted, contrary to all former custom the mention 
 of both in the Proclamation. ... I am with great 
 sincerity & esteem. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Jed= Morse. 
 
 To Oliver Wolcott, Comptroller of the U. S. Treasy. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 The sermon by David Osgood made a great sensa- 
 tion in Massachusetts. It was at once printed, and 
 several times reprinted. No former thanksgiving ser- 
 mon had such a circulation. It was a theme for com- 
 ment among the newspapers far and near. Of course 
 the reverend author came under fire, and he found 
 himself the most celebrated minister in the State. 
 The Federalists praised him, and the Democrats visited 
 
368 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 upon him all the epithets they could command.^ 
 " The Boston Independent Chronicle " printed several 
 communications on the subject, prominently those of 
 "A Friend to the Clergy and an Enemy to Ecclesi- 
 astical Presumption," " Fair Play a Jewell," and " A 
 Friend to Decency and Free Inquiry." ^ "Parson 
 Osgood " had the pleasure of seeing himself immor- 
 talized in such poetic lines as these : — 
 
 " Osgood stand forth, I dare thee to be tried. 
 In that Great Court where conscience must preside." 
 
 And the parson did stand forth, very greatly to the 
 trial of his enemies, as the sequel shows. A reply to 
 his sermon was shortly printed, and though it was 
 anonymous, the author was none other than Hon. 
 James SuUivan, afterwards governor of Massachusetts. 
 The title was, '' The Altar of Baal thrown down ; or 
 the French Nation defended, against the Pulpit Slan- 
 der of David Osgood A. M. Pastor of the Church in 
 Medford. A Sermon Par citoyen de Novion." In 
 this the author defends the governor against the charge 
 of omitting the federal government from his procla- 
 mation, closing with such withering counsel as this : 
 " I now leave you Sir, with only advising you never 
 again to step out of your line to gratify a party," — 
 advice which the " Parson " was careful to disregard 
 on the first opportunity. 
 
 The other ministers who preached political sermons 
 
 ^ " Mr. Osgood has already experienced some small reward for his 
 late sermon, as he has boasted with his usual bluntness, that he has 
 received a large cheese from a friend, as a token of his approbation. 
 We have heard of the ' tythe pig,' but never before of a tythe cheese ! " 
 — Boston Ind. Chron.j December 29, 1794. 
 
 2 Boston Ind. Chron., December 22, 25, and 29, 1794; January 8, 
 1795. 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 369 
 
 that day were not spared, though they had been less 
 pronounced in their utterances. One of these was an 
 Episcopalian. The " Boston Independent Chronicle " 
 of November 24, 1794, records the preaching on Thurs- 
 day last of a sermon against Democratic societies by 
 " a certain Episcopalian ' thumper of the pulpit 
 drum,' " and gives sufficient account of his words to 
 show that they were very decidedly political and in 
 support of the government. A later issue has some- 
 thing more to say on " The Episcopalian Canon or 
 the Trinity Church Trumpeter," and speaks of him as 
 a young man. This could have been none other than 
 the Assistant of Trinity Church, Rev. John S. J. 
 Gardiner, who afterwards delivered several strongly 
 political sermons, of which practice he was an advocate. 
 His sermon November 20, 1794, was not printed, and 
 all we know of it is from the above report. The se- 
 quel follows. In 1796 the Diocesan Convention of 
 the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts, following the 
 example of Bishop Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut, 
 already detailed, petitioned the governor, — this same 
 Samuel Adams, — asking him not to appoint the 
 annual fast day so that it would faU during Easter 
 week, in order that it may not " wound the feelings 
 of so many of the citizens of this Commonwealth as 
 compose the body of the Protestant Episcopalians." ^ 
 This " Memorial " came before the governor and 
 council on the 27th of January, 1797, whereupon they 
 "Advised that this Memorial be put on file, and 
 that the Secretary be directed to lay the same before 
 
 1 The committee were appointed May 24, 1796, and consisted of 
 Drs. Walter and Parker, and Perez Morton, Esq. They reported 
 May 30, 1797. The Memorial is printed in Journals of the Conven- 
 tions, etc., pp. 61, 62. 
 
370 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the Council when they have under consideration the 
 appointment of the annual fasts in order that the 
 wishes of the Episcopal Gentlemen may be complied 
 with." If it was hoped that Massachusetts would 
 follow the example of Connecticut and appoint the 
 annual fast on Good Friday, it was a disappointment, 
 though in this instance the request was complied with, 
 by the setting of the fast that year in May. Such a 
 course would have been strongly condemned in Mas- 
 sachusetts at that time. 
 
 By the 1st of January, 1795, the prospect of a 
 foreign war had greatly decreased, and therefore 
 Washington issued on that day his proclamation for 
 a national thanksgiving the 19th of February. Natu- 
 rally, his mention of the causes gave offense to the 
 Democrats. Again there was a general discharge of 
 clerical artillery. No less than thirty-three sermons 
 preached on that day were printed, and more than 
 two thirds of these were by the ministers of Massachu- 
 setts. Most of them were printed at the request of 
 their respective congregations; some by vote of the 
 town. Such as deal particularly with poKtics present 
 a formidable array of considerations in support of the 
 federal government. There is one notable excep- 
 tion, — the sermon of Ebenezer Bradford, minister of 
 the First Church in Rowley. He was a Democrat, 
 and upon that occasion expressed himself without 
 concealment. David Tappan, of Harvard College, 
 preached at Charlestown in the afternoon, and his 
 discourse, with that of the pastor, Jedidiah Morse, in 
 the morning, must have made the day a Federalist 
 celebration. Before the former's sermon was printed, 
 that of Ebenezer Bradford had appeared, which gave 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 371 
 
 an opportunity to answer him, which was done in an 
 appendix to Tappan's sermon. The Democratic min- 
 ister spoke in commendatory terms of the Democratic 
 societies ; these the Federalists condemned, at the same 
 time lauding the successes of the government in sup- 
 pressing the "Whiskey Insurrection," averting war, 
 and conquering the Indians. Among the rest David 
 Osgood was again heard from, in the same strain as 
 on the former occasion. This made him the champion 
 of the Federalists and Bradford of the Democrats. 
 A newspaper paragraph runs as follows : " When 
 the pitiful, short-lived fame of the monk of Medford 
 is forgotten, when his puny attempt at abuse and de- 
 nunciation is buried in merited oblivion, the laurels 
 of a Bradford shall bloom with increasing glory, and 
 that assertion of the rights of the people be remembered 
 with gratitude by millions of Freemen." ^ Alas ! the 
 fact of history is that both divines are pretty much 
 forgotten, and their sermons have fed the paper-mill 
 to such an extent that they are rarely met with by the 
 collector. 
 
 We quote again from the manuscript correspond- 
 ence of Rev. Jedidiah Morse.^ 
 
 Charlestown, March 18, 1795. 
 Dear Sir, — ... I am greatly pleased with D'. 
 Smith's Sermon.^ I am sorry it is published with 
 the privilege of copyright. It w'd otherwise be pub- 
 lished here & have, I doubt not, an extensive circula- 
 
 1 Bos. Ind. Chron., March 2, 1795. ^ Wolcott Papers, viii. 
 
 ' This refers to Dr. Smith's sermon of February 19, 1795, and not 
 to a fast sermon of January 6, a day set by the Synod of New York 
 and New Jersey before the President appointed the thanksgiving. 
 The latter was not copyrighted. 
 
372 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 tion, & do mucli good. Won't the Printer who has 
 secured the right permit an Edition to be printed 
 here ? Mr. Osgood's Second Sermon you have proba- 
 bly seen. I suppose it will be reprinted with you, or 
 w'd send you one. I enclose you for your candid ac- 
 ceptance a copy of my sermon, & also one of D^ Tap- 
 pan's and one of J)^ Barnard's. The National Thanks- 
 giving has done a vast deal of good in sl 2^olitical vieio 
 this way. All the sermons whh have been published 
 (& they are numerous) have, as far as I have heard, 
 spoke the language of Federalism except Mr. Brad- 
 ford's of whh you may learn the character in D^ 
 Tappan's appendix to his discourse. . . . 
 
 Jed^ Morse. 
 
 To Hon. Oliver Wolcott. 
 
 In a few weeks the annual fast day came, April 2, 
 and then it was Bradford's turn to reply to Tappan in 
 an appendix. 
 
 At this time also, and in consequence of the 
 national thanksgiving, a similar discussion was going 
 on in New York and Philadelphia. The sermons of 
 Samuel Stanhope Smith, delivered in the Quaker city, 
 had a wide popularity and a great sale, and those of 
 Bishop William White and Ashbel Green were enthu- 
 siastically received. In New York Osgood's sermons 
 were widely distributed, and only surpassed by one 
 delivered by John M^Knight, one of the ministers of 
 the United Presbyterian Church, who was a Demo- 
 crat of most decided convictions. So the people 
 everywhere were reading the political tracts of the 
 clergy. Encouraged by this patronage, and not a 
 little profited also, they kept at it. On the autumn 
 thanksgiving David Osgood delivered the third part of 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 373 
 
 his treatise, of which Jedidiah Morse wrote, " It is the 
 same tune in a higher key," but which the Democrats 
 attacked with animosity. 
 
 In the year 1796 another disturbing question was 
 settled, — the treaty with England was sustained. 
 This determined the character of the thanksgiving cel- 
 ebration in the autumn. Again many sermons were 
 preached, and some were printed. Referring to the 
 occasion, Rev. Jedidiah Morse wrote under date De- 
 cember 23, " Very few of y® clergy in the circle of my 
 acquaintance seem disposed to pray for the success of 
 the French since they have so insidiously & wickedly 
 interfered in the management of our political affairs, 
 & I apprehend the complexion of the thanksgiving 
 sermons throughout N. Eng^ this year is very differ- 
 ent from those of the last in respect to this particular. 
 I can speak for more than one with certainty." ^ For 
 a time, however, the excitement subsided. Rev. Eben- 
 ezer Bradford was in a measure ostracized among the 
 ministers, very much to their shame. His neighbor, 
 Rev. Levi Frisbie, of Ipswich, \\Tites to his friend 
 Rev. David MacClure, of East Windsor, Conn. : " Our 
 Jacobinical Brother Bradford has indeed preached and 
 written himself almost entirely out of credit. He was 
 not indeed expelled the association, but he was so 
 roughly dealt with that he has not attended its meet- 
 ings this long time." ^ To such a pass had these politi- 
 cal sermons brought the fast and thanksgiving days, 
 that the people looked to them for their sensations. 
 
 In the spring of 1798 it was supposed that the coun- 
 try was on the eve of a war with France. This led 
 President Adams, on the 23d of March, to recommend 
 
 ^ Wolcott Papers, viii. ^ MS. Letter, Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
874 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 a general fast in all the States on the 9 th of May. 
 Many said it had a political intent, though it was 
 generally observed ; ^ and the printed sermons show 
 how widely distributed the interest was, both as to 
 States and religious denominations. The President 
 said the country was placed "in a hazardous and 
 afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, con- 
 duct and demands of a foreign power, evinced by 
 repeated refusals to receive our messengers of recon- 
 ciliation and peace, by depredations on our com- 
 merce and the infliction of injuries on very many of 
 our fellow citizens." This was true, but it was not 
 an acceptable sentiment to some. The character of 
 Dr. Osgood's discourse on that day is briefly stated in 
 its title, " Some facts evincive of the atheistical, an- 
 archical, and, in some respects, immoral principles of 
 the French Revolution." This was the tone of other 
 sermons. Shortly before this, Robinson's " Proofs of 
 a Conspiracy against the Christian Religion " had 
 reached America. It contained somewhat sensational 
 disclosures of the character and work of the Illu- 
 minati, a secret atheistical society in France. A copy 
 had come into the hands of Rev. Jedidiah Morse, who 
 took the fast day for denouncing the pernicious influ- 
 ence of such irreligious bodies, which, he claimed, had 
 maintained branches in America for years. In an 
 appendix to his thanksgiving sermon of November 29, 
 
 1798, and in the notes to his fast sermon of April 25, 
 
 1799, he continued his discussion of this subject. But 
 from his first utterance the ministers took the alarm. 
 A voice was raised everywhere against French infidel- 
 
 ^ Connecticut observed May 16, instead of the 9th, because the lat- 
 ter was election day. — Eobbins^s Diary, i. 56. 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS, 375 
 
 ity, which was supposed to be propagated by the lUu- 
 minati. The Masonic orders were greatly disturbed, 
 and the feeling against these Federalist preachers was 
 augmented among the Democrats, who resented the 
 imputation that was put upon them. The newspapers 
 arrayed themselves on both sides. A Federalist organ 
 said of the thanksgiving sermons, " We wish it were in 
 our power to do justice to the performances (amongst 
 many others) of a Tappan, an Eckley, a Lathrop, a 
 Thacher, a Earkland, a Baldwin and a Kendall. Public 
 opinion has passed their eulogy." ^ A Democratic 
 organ replied : " Our clergy would serve the cause of 
 religion at this day of deism more effectually by vin- 
 dicating the truths of the gospel than the measures 
 of government." ^ From this time criticism upon the 
 course of the ministers increased. Though many, like 
 Dr. Morse, of Charlestown, carried their congregations 
 with them, some were not so fortimate. Many worthy 
 parisliioners deserted the churches. 
 
 When the spring of 1799 came, the President again 
 set a national fast, the 25th of April. In the pro- 
 clamation was this paragraph: "The most precious 
 interests of the people of the United States are still 
 held in jeopardy, by the hostile designs and insidious 
 arts of a foreign nation, as well as by the dissemina- 
 tion among them of those principles subversive of the 
 foundations of all religious, moral and social obliga- 
 tions, that have produced incalculable mischief and 
 misery in other countries." This was a pointed arrow 
 in the quiver of every political preacher. There were 
 then in circulation multitudes of infidel tracts, the 
 
 1 Columbian Centinel, December 1, 1798. 
 
 2 Boston Ind. Chron,, December 3, 1798. 
 
376 FAST A ND THANKSGI VI NG ' DA YS, 
 
 most prominent by Thomas Paine. It seemed to the 
 ministers that the very foundations were in danger. 
 So when the President put them in the way of it, they 
 were aroused to do their utmost against irreligion. 
 Had this been without political affiliations, only good 
 could have come from it, but the truth was quite other- 
 wise. It was a political goad in their hands. On the 
 15th of April the Boston Association of Ministers is- 
 sued a circular to their brethren, in which they com- 
 mended the President's proclamation, and besought 
 the churches to seek the reformation of evils and exert 
 themselves against the progress of irreligion.^ Of 
 course it was a day of very earnest observance, and 
 many printed sermons. David Osgood, who somehow 
 had by this time been promoted from being the 
 "Monk of Medford" to be the "Bishop of Mystic," 
 was heard from as usual, and under a very unusual 
 title, " The Devil let loose, or the wo occasioned by his 
 wrathful appearance," in which he intimated that the 
 royal residence of that personage was at that time in 
 France. His sermon was published anonymously. 
 Jedidiah Morse, who had been challenged everywhere 
 for his proofs as to the Illuminati in America, put out, 
 in extended notes to his sermon, such as had been 
 some time in his hands. Upon further investigation 
 these did not turn out as had been expected. They 
 were everywhere ridiculed. A reaction set in against 
 him. Anonymous and threatening letters were sent 
 to him through the mails, which were illustrated with 
 pen and ink hieroglyphics, and ornamented with dag- 
 
 ^ Wolcott Papers, viii. 25. — A copy of this circular. It grew into 
 an address of the Convention of Ministers of Massachusetts, which 
 was sent even to New York and Philadelphia. 
 
POLITICAL FAST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 377 
 
 gers and coffins. These at least troubled his peace. 
 He was made to feel that he had trampled upon the 
 sacred secrets of a Masonic society who would have 
 " blood for blood," as they comfortingly informed 
 him.i He did very boldly set at defiance their threats, 
 but probably in the quiet of his study at Charlestown 
 he meditated whether he had been making the best 
 use of the fast and thanksgiving days after all. At ' 
 all events that was the general reflection as the reac- 
 tion increased. Abraham Bishop, of rare fame at the 
 time, regaled his hearers thus as to the matter : "How 
 much, think you, has religion been benefited by ser- 
 mons, intended to show that Satan and Cain were 
 Jacobins ? How much by sermons in which every 
 deistical argument has been presented with its great- 
 est force as being a part of the Republican creed ? Is 
 this, men of God, following the precept, 'Feed my 
 sheep, feed my lambs ' ? " 2 This is what the people 
 began to think as the excitement passed over. To be 
 sure, the clergy had their view of the case, but when 
 they came to turn once more to their particular par- 
 ishes, it was somewhat modified. Many of the anti- 
 Federalists had forsaken the church, and absented 
 themselves from the services of the Sabbath which 
 their fathers had attended so assiduously. These were 
 made a harvest for infidelity. Indeed, the agitations 
 
 ^ The Wolcott Papers show that Dr. Morse derived his original in- 
 formation from Hon. Oliver Wolcott. Some of these anonymous 
 warnings are therein preserved, and further information on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 2 Connecticut Republicanism^ Bishop, pp. 20, 39, 40. See, also, 
 Oration at Wallingford, Conn., March 11, 1801, Bishop, p. 46 ; Works 
 of Peter Porcupine, x. 230. Cobbett approved of Dr. Morse's course 
 and copied the appendix to his sermon. The newspaper comments 
 pro and con are very numerous. 
 
378 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 of this decade in the churches of New England did 
 much to dethrone the royal influence of the one 
 church, which in many towns had hitherto united the 
 people in their worship. The religious influence of 
 the minister was greatly lessened in the end. He had 
 pleased some of his own opinion for the time, but he 
 had lost something of his preeminence and authority 
 as the spiritual patriarch of the community. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 1811-1815. 
 
 The political agitation of the closing years of the 
 eighteenth century, which had connected itself with 
 fast and thanksgiving days, destroyed the immediate 
 prospect of a national adoption of the institution. 
 New England was left to observe the regular an- 
 nual appointments in the several States. Of the two 
 States which had cherished such days from the earliest 
 times, Massachusetts, far more than Connecticut, was 
 instrumental in bringing about this uniformity. As 
 to the district of Maine, it was under the jurisdiction 
 of Massachusetts, into which it had come in 1686, to 
 which it was confirmed by the provincial charter in 
 1692, and of which it continued a part after Massa- 
 chusetts became a State, imtil its admission to the 
 Union in 1820. From its first occupation, therefore, 
 down to that time, its days were those of Massachu- 
 setts, — whose' proclamations were sent thither, — ex- 
 cept as the churches set such other occasions as local 
 causes might suggest.^ As to New Hampshire, its 
 scattered settlements were under Massachusetts juris- 
 diction from 1643 down to 1679-80, when it was 
 created a royal province. During this period its dis- 
 
 1 See Extracts from the Journals of Rev. Thomas Smith, Fal- 
 mouth, Me. 
 
380 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 tant towns kept such days as they chanced to hear of, 
 or followed the will of the churches. Before the first 
 session of its General Assembly, March 16, 1679-80, 
 a fast day was appointed for February 26, and, as 
 they began the year with fasting, they closed it with a 
 thanksgiving, January 13,168 0-1 . The proclamations 
 for both these days are in print.^ From that time on, 
 except during the unsettled period from 1686 to 1692, 
 when it returned to the fortunes of Massachusetts, 
 there was an independent method of appointments in 
 use, though under the provincial governors, as appears 
 in the Calendar, the orders sometimes issued from the 
 governor and sometimes from the lieutenant-governor 
 by advice of the council. Therefore both the days and 
 the causes were many times the same as in Massachu- 
 setts. As to Rhode Island, the custom was first forced 
 upon them during the administration of Governor 
 Edmund Andros. Then it was entirely dropped until 
 the time of the French wars, unless now and then by 
 church appointment.*^ In 1756 the 20th of May was a 
 public fast, and thereafter several public thanksgivings 
 were observed, presumably because of royal a* thority 
 or example. This practice was again taken up during 
 the American Revolution, and the days set by the 
 Continental Congress brought the State into harmony 
 with the rest of New England. After the Revolution 
 the fast and the thanksgiving parted company, the 
 former being observed only on occasion, as ordered by 
 the state or the national government, the latter be- 
 coming an annual institution with the national thanks- 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc, xvi. 265, 266, 278, 279 ; N. H. Col. Bee, 
 xix. 660, 661, 674, 675. 
 
 2 Rec. Pres. Chh., Westerly, R. I., in N. E. Beg., xxvi. 383 £P,: 
 Sermon, August 27, 1755. 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 381 
 
 giving of 1789.^ Rhode Island, therefore, has never 
 adopted the annual fast day. As to Vermont, the 
 State came naturally into the common practice during 
 the American Revolution, the first proclamation issued 
 being for the fast day June 18, 1777.^ 
 
 Thus at the beginning of the present century all 
 the New England States, except Rhode Island, were 
 keeping annual spring fasts, and these were in the 
 month of April, unless the Good Friday fast of Con- 
 necticut chanced to fall in March. Thursday was 
 the day in Massachusetts ^ and New Hampshire, and 
 Wednesday in Vermont. The annual autumn thanks- 
 giving had become an established institution with all, 
 being usually a Thursday in November, though occa- 
 sionally put off to the first Thursday in December. 
 After the national fast of April 25, 1799, there 
 were no national days until those connected with the 
 war of 1812, nor any special days in the New Eng- 
 land States. Rehgious bodies sometimes appointed 
 them, as in the case of September 8, 1808, set by the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian churches, and 
 partioiilar churches and towns did the same, though 
 less frequently than formerly. Upon one occasion, at 
 least, February 16, 1809, the legislature of Massa- 
 
 ^ In 1845 the authority for making these appointments, which had 
 been exercised by the General Assembly, was committed to the gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 2 Bee. Gov. and Coun. Vt., i. 59 ; Hist. Mag., 2d ser. iii. 110 ; Vt, 
 Hist. Soc. Coll., i. 55 ; MS. Bee. N. Y. 
 
 ^ Since 1815, the limit of the calendar, the fast day in Massachusetts 
 has usually been the first Thursday in April. The following are ex- 
 ceptions : 1829, April 9th; 1830, 8th; 1835, 9th; 1841, 8th; 1847, 
 8th; 1849, 12th; 1850, 11th; 1851, 10th; 1852, 8th; 1856, 10th; 
 1857, 16th; 1858, 15th; 1865, 13th; 1869, 8th; 1876, 13th; 1877, 
 12th ; 1878, 11th ; 1880, 8th ; 1886, 8th. These have been mainly to 
 avoid April 1. 
 
382 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 chusetts met for humiliation and prayer at the meet- 
 ing-house in Brattle Street, when the services were 
 conducted by the chaplains, Messrs. Buckminster and 
 Lowell.^ Other than in such exceptions the practice 
 of earlier times had been laid aside for the spring and 
 autunm days. The sermons which were delivered de- 
 clined in interest, as one may judge from their titles. 
 Sometimes they were political, but more generally 
 upon a stray theme to which the preacher had been 
 moved, or upon the religious aspects of himiiliation 
 and thanksgiving. The proclamations also presented 
 a great variety of considerations, always having a 
 relation to passing events, in wliich they very greatly 
 differ from the formal and sapless orders of New 
 England governors at the present time. These gave 
 a life to the services, quickening the thought of the 
 people and enforcing a recognition of blessings wliich 
 otherwise might have been unnoticed. One prominent 
 feature of most all the proclamations, during the first 
 decade of this century, was the mention of foreign 
 affairs. The fortunes of European nations were fol- 
 lowed with interest. They mourned over the devas- 
 tation of Napoleon's armies and prayed for the coming 
 of peace. This conqueror was not generally popular 
 with the ministers. They counted him a cruel tyrant, 
 and occasionally the prophets among them would get 
 out the book of Revelation and search for the par- 
 ticular vial of wrath which he was pouring out. It 
 was generally thought that he was waging a war of 
 Antichrist in behalf of the papal powers of Europe 
 or fallen Babylon, whose emissaries abroad were the 
 atheistical French, — a view not at all popular with 
 1 Hill's Hist of the Old South Church, u. 338. 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 383 
 
 such as sympathized with France. The proclama- 
 tions would also reflect, upon occasion, the local inter- 
 ests of each State, the sickness in some towns, the fires 
 of more than common destructibility, and the deaths 
 of prominent persons, all of which were appropriate 
 and useful in creating a mutual interest among the vari- 
 ous sections of the State. Institutions of learning were 
 remembered, and sometimes the ministers were special 
 subjects of prayer. One of the first public announce- 
 ments of the formation of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions was in the pro- 
 clamation of its first president, Governor John Tread- 
 well, of Connecticut, for the thanksgiving November 
 29, 1810, which was issued the month following the 
 first meeting of the board at Farmington, and men- 
 tions as cause for gratitude " institutions to send the 
 Gospel to newly peopled regions and to the Pagan 
 world." Scarcely a proclamation can be found which 
 has not a clause requiring the interpretation of his- 
 tory. We have now at hand an illustration of this, 
 in certain political proclamations, which one might 
 read to-day without interest, but which then made a 
 decided sensation. The war of 1812 did not affect 
 the days like those of earlier times, for its events were 
 not of such a critical character. But, unlike any be- 
 fore, the issues divided the people, and brought the 
 governors of the several States into the peril of ex- 
 pressing too decidedly their own political opinions. It 
 was a war of proclamations, in which the ministers 
 bore a particular part. 
 
 In the year 1811 the political caldron, in which 
 party differences had been simmering for some time, 
 began to boil furiously, and this affected the fast and 
 
384 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 thanksgiving day observances. The Federalists were 
 still strong, especially so in New England, where they 
 included most of the Congregational ministers ; but 
 the Democrats or Democratic-Republicans had pos- 
 session of the national government. Their policy had 
 all along been favorable to the French, and such 
 measures had been adopted as had paralyzed indus- 
 tries, restricted commerce, and spread abroad an 
 alarm of approaching war. Hon. Elbridge Gerry, 
 very prominent in Republican counsels, was the gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts. In due time he issued the 
 proclamation for the fast, April 11, 1811. It looks 
 innocent enough at this distance, but read with the 
 eyes of the Federalist minister, it was a provoking doc- 
 ument. Perhaps others beside Dr. Gardiner, of Trin- 
 ity Church, Boston, read it with a very brief pause 
 between the words " Elbridge Gerry Governor " and 
 " God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ! " 
 We quote the objectionable paragraph : — 
 
 " And for our unparalleled ingratitude to that Adorable Be- 
 ing, . . . who has protected us by a federal and state Constitu- 
 tion, each adapted to support the other. Who has blessed us 
 with a wise and upright national Government, which, amidst 
 numerous embarrassments and difficulties, has promoted beyond 
 reasonable expectation our peace prosperity and happiness — 
 Who has indulged us with wise legislatures, with codes of mild 
 and equitable laws, and with learned judges to expound and ad- 
 minister them — Who has diminished that party spirit, which, 
 generated by craft and ambition and fostered by ire and folly, 
 has been destructive of social happiness." 
 
 The effect of this proclamation was to bring down 
 upon the governor the severest criticism, and when 
 the day arrived the discussion of political themes was 
 in order. Two sermons of those in print attracted 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 385 
 
 fecial attention. One was by Solomon Aiken, of 
 Draeut, upon " The Rise and Progress of the Polit- 
 ical Dissension in the United States." This was 
 Republican, and of course attributed the prevailing 
 troubles to the Federalists. Its author was a vigor- 
 ous disputant, and afterwards issued an " Address to 
 Federal Clergymen on the Subject of the War." 
 One paragraph in the sermon called out special criti- 
 cism : " A separation must and will take place, things 
 will come to a crisis. There is a rooted enmity be- 
 tween modern Federalism and Republicanism. They 
 can no more coalesce than the feet and toes of the 
 Hieroglyphical Image of the Nations, wliich were a 
 part of iron and a part of Potter's clay. A separ 
 ration must come, and in the opinion of the speaker, 
 who pretends to no spirit of prophesy, neither party 
 wiU die, 'tiU it bleeds to death." Some regarded this 
 as an alarming sentiment, and it was taken notice 
 of in " An Address to the Rev. Mr. Aiken on his 
 Fast Sermon, 1811 " by " Clericus," wliich appeared 
 in the " Columbian Centinel," April 1, 1812. The 
 other sermon was by Elijah Parish, of Byfield, a vio- 
 lent Federalist, and of this more particular notice 
 should be made. His text sheds light upon the 
 course of his thought, — " Babylon the great is fallen, 
 is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and 
 the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every un- 
 clean and hateful bird," Rev. xviii. 2. After setting 
 forth his view of Babylon, and finding a resem- 
 blance between it and the principles of the Repub- 
 lican party, he takes up the governor's proclamation, 
 and deals with it thus : " In the third section is the 
 following sentence, ' Who has blessed us with a wise 
 
386 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 and upright national government, which amidst nu- 
 merous embarrassments and difficulties has promoted 
 beyond reasonable expectations, our peace ^ iwosperity^ 
 and happiness,^ This the chief magistrate doubt- 
 less expected the clergy would read in a serious man- 
 ner to their people, as a part of their instruction 
 without comment or remark. I would as soon have 
 administered poison in your cups. He would be ' a 
 lying spirit' in the mouths of Christian ministers. 
 He knew that very few clergymen in the Common- 
 wealth believed a single word of this sentence ; yet 
 he treacherously intended they should read it. He 
 doubtless intended to silence murmurs by this sancti- 
 monious declaration, and to gain influence. A more 
 fraudulent sentence never came from a scribe of 
 Babylon. What have the general government done 
 more than could be reasonably expected? From 
 what burden have they relieved you? What branch 
 of commerce have they protected? What husband- 
 man or artisan owes them any thanks ? What virtue 
 have they cherished? What comfort have they in- 
 creased? What religion have they promoted? None, 
 none, none. This very year they refused to incor- 
 porate a Baptist Society, as though they were outlaws, 
 and not to be protected by government. Thus we 
 harmonize with spiritual Babylon, not only in her 
 falsehood and fraud, her oppression, and barbarity, 
 and slavery; but in her irreligion and infidelity. 
 . . . But we must not forget the proclamation. We 
 are called upon ' devotedly to perform the sacred 
 duties ' of the day ' for unparalleled ingratitude to 
 that Being, who has indulged us with wise Legis- 
 latures.'' Where is a solitary instance of their wis- 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 387 
 
 domf — 'with codes of mild and equitable laws.' 
 Are not those of the present administration, quite of 
 another sort ? — ' who has smiled on our navigation 
 and commerce.' Have not our present Rulers bound 
 them in chains, bid them vanish from the ocean ? — 
 ' for rendering invincible our beloved country.' Mis- 
 erable man, why does he adopt this dialect of a dema- 
 gogue? . . . Why does he tell us of sins, which 
 we have never committed, of blessings, long, long de- 
 parted from us? But we turn with disgust from 
 the unpleasant theme. Other parts of the pro- 
 clamation are equally aberrations from truth and 
 decency." ^ 
 
 The preacher of tliis sermon, one of the most 
 famous discourses of the time, fell into the bitter- 
 est reproaches of his opponents. It was said he had 
 called his Excellency a "liar," and been guilty of 
 contempt of rulers. So damaging was the sermon 
 thought to be to the Federalists, that the Republi- 
 cans printed an edition of it, from the press of " B. 
 True," with the proclamation appended, and a very 
 uncomplimentary notice of the "astonishing deprav- 
 ity of a Man," who had " fallen a victim to Party 
 Spirit." 2 We do not know of a sermon which so 
 severely arraigned a governor and his proclamation. 
 But his turn to reply was at hand, for he was re- 
 elected the governor of the State. In his message 
 to the General Assembly he took pains to commend 
 the "general spirit of religious liberality and toler- 
 ance" among the clergy, adding this paragraph: 
 " Should any perchance wander into the devious paths 
 of party politicks the injury wiU not extend beyond 
 1 Sermon, pp. 26-28. 2 See Bibliography, No. 489. 
 
388 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 themselves, and they will soon retreat from the la- 
 cerations of briars and thorns which will meet them 
 at every step." This did not pass unnoticed. It 
 was remarked by one, " Had not the Governor been 
 lacerated by briars, in the hand of some clergyman, 
 he would not have put this in." ^ Without doubt 
 it was intended as a thorn for Eev. EKjah Parish 
 and some others. That same message initiated action 
 toward the passage of an act permitting tax-payers 
 to divert their support from the Congregational 
 minister in the Massachusetts towns, a movement in 
 which his Excellency must have been particularly 
 interested. When the time for the autumn thanks- 
 giving drew near, a further opportunity was afforded 
 him to retaliate. Two paragraphs in his proclama- 
 tion were especially offensive. He spoke of the " na- 
 tional government and administration, whose wisdom 
 virtue and firmness have not been circumvented, cor- 
 rupted or appalled by the arts, seductions or threats 
 of foreign or domestic foes ; " and in these words 
 acknowledged the goodness of God in giving them 
 ministers, — " who has favoured us with a Clergy 
 (with a few Exceptions) whose conduct is influenced 
 by the mild benign and benevolent principles of the 
 Gospel ; and whose example is a constant admonition 
 to such pastors and professors of Christianity as are 
 too much under the guidance of passion prejudice and 
 worldly delusion." If the party views of the former 
 proclamation could have been excused, it was not so 
 with this. Every Federalist took the words " domestic 
 foes " to himself, and the triplet " wisdom, virtue and 
 firmness " became at once a by-word among the Feder- 
 1 "The Clergy," Columbian Centinel, June 22, 1812. 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 389 
 
 alists. The ministers of Massachusetts were indignant 
 beyond expression. It had never occurred before that 
 any of their number had been so stigmatized in a pro- 
 clamation. They knew of course to whom particular 
 reference had been made, and the general compliment 
 made the dose only more bitter for them. " With a 
 few exceptions," indeed! when it was well known 
 that nine tenths of the ministers were strong and out- 
 spoken Federalists. And this they were expected to 
 read from their pulpits, — to declare that some of 
 their brethren were passionate, prejudiced, and de- 
 luded! They would never do it, and the majority 
 did not, omitting altogether the offensive paragraphs.^ 
 It was charged upon the governor that this was a 
 crafty design on his part to terrify the few who had 
 boldness to speak and stir up sedition in their par- 
 ishes ; 2 but the few were not, by any means, fright- 
 ened, though trouble did shortly afterwards spring 
 up in some towns, and the minister suffered for his 
 political sermons.^ So the excitement raged, and the 
 Republican governor seemed rather to have had the 
 best in the contest. But he was to have a reckoning 
 time, for the election was coming on, and the disfavor 
 of the Massachusetts ministers in a political cam- 
 paign was not to be despised. At this juncture the 
 proclamation for the spring fast, April 9, 1812, was 
 issued, and it was in much the same strain as its pre- 
 
 ^ Rev. Abiel Holmes, of Cambridge, read it, but amid the disturb- 
 ing" noise of the college students, for which they apologized, meaning 
 no insult to the clergyman himself. — Columbian Centinel, November 
 13, 1811. 
 
 ^ *' Salutary Counsel to His Excellency, Elbridge Gerry," Columbian 
 Centinel, November 16 and 20, 1811. 
 
 ^ See sermon of Rev. Stephen Bemis, of Harvard, Mass., August 20, 
 18X2, for an account of his troubles, Bibliography, No. 530. 
 
390 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 decessors. How could the ministers better express 
 their sentiments than by refusing to read it from 
 their pulpits? This query occurred to some one, 
 who issued an address " To the Clergy of Massachu- 
 setts," ^ a part of which is as follows : " ' With few 
 exceptions ' you recoil from the task, however author- 
 itatively imposed, ' of calling evil good and good evil ; 
 of putting darkness for light, and light for darkness ; 
 bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.' With few ex- 
 ceptions,' therefore, you have either totally neglected, 
 or considerably abridged, or read with indignant 
 reluctance and conscientious scruples, several modern 
 papers purporting to be Proclamations of Thanksgiv- 
 ing, and of Fasting and Prayer, in this Common- 
 wealth. This, as might be expected, has entailed upon 
 you an increased portion of calumny and abuse. ' So 
 persecuted they the prophets that were before you.' 
 At the commencement of the American Revolution, 
 Proclamations equally offensive were repeatedly pub- 
 lished; and the manner in which they were then 
 treated may be instructive and useful in our day.^^ 
 The writer then refers to the action of the Associated 
 Pastors of Boston in 1774, in refusing to read procla- 
 mations, and remarks that " A word is enough for a 
 wise man." It was enough in this instance for the 
 ministers, whether they were wise or not. The procla- 
 mation was not read generally. Dr. Channing excus- 
 ing himself on the ground that there was no reason, 
 civil or religious, obliging him to produce the warrant 
 for his appointment in the pulpit.^ The election came 
 off, and Caleb Strong, the Federalist candidate, was 
 chosen governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 ^ Columbian Centinel, April 4, 1812. 
 
 2 Memoir of Eliza S. M. Quinq/, pp. 150, 151. i 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 391 
 
 As every reader knows, war was proclaimed against 
 England, greatly to the disappointment of the Feder- 
 alists. The next act of the drama, therefore, relates 
 to the fast day which was proclaimed in Massachusetts 
 July 23, 1812. It was now the innings of those who 
 had suffered under Governor Gerry's proclamations, 
 and the feeling was so great that Governor Strong had 
 not an easy task. When his order appeared, it was 
 found to contain these words : " That He would inspire 
 the President and Congress, and the Government of 
 Great Britain with just and pacific sentiments, that 
 He would humble the pride and subdue the lust and 
 passion of men, from whence wars proceed, and that 
 Peace may speedily be restored to us upon safe and 
 equitable terms." He also paid a compliment to 
 Great Britain, as " the nation from which they were de- 
 scended," and " which for many generations had been 
 the bulwark of the religion they profess." Consider- 
 ing the fact that the EepubKcan newspapers had been 
 heralding the proclamation of war as " blessed news," 
 and that the English "people from whom they had 
 descended " were at the time hated with perfect hatred, 
 this laudation of their enemies and exhortation to 
 pray for peace was hard for the Republicans to bear, 
 — fully equal to anything Governor Gerry had in- 
 flicted on the Federalists. And this was the view 
 taken of it in two extended articles by " A Clergy- 
 man," printed in the " Boston Patriot," where his Ex- 
 cellency is thus addressed : " Your proclamation for a 
 Fast has excited the astonishment and mortification of 
 every friend to the liberties of his Country. The dis- 
 mal tone in which you deplore a war against the 
 
392 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 * nation from which we are descended ' and which you 
 denominate ' the bulwark of the religion we profess,' 
 may indicate your feeHngs and principles." i But 
 there were few ministers who cared thus to set them- 
 selves against the popular sentiment of Massachusetts, 
 which was increasingly against the war. The fast day 
 brought out a series of sermons from the Federalists, 
 and prominent among them were those of Samuel 
 Austin, William E. Channing, John S. J. Gardiner, 
 John Lathrop, Jedidiah Morse, and last but not least 
 EHjah Parish, the title of whose discourse, " A Pro- 
 test against the War," would have been appropriate 
 for them all. 
 
 About this time President James Madison ap- 
 pointed a national fast day August 20, 1812, to pray 
 that " God would guide their public counsels," " ani- 
 mate their patriotism," and " bestow a blessing on 
 their arms." Before this the excitement arising from 
 political proclamations had been confined principally 
 to New England ; for, though Massachusetts has been 
 selected for illustration, it must not be supposed that 
 the proclamations in other States did not contain, 
 or were not suspected of containing, political views. 
 There was less objection in Connecticut, but there was 
 some, as when Governor Griswold, in the spring of 
 1812, termed the war " an offensive war." In Ver- 
 mont there was much, and particularly in regard to the 
 national fast. Those who did not believe the war was 
 justifiable regarded the President's proclamation as an 
 impertinence. The Federal newspapers everywhere 
 were outspoken in their denunciation. Ministers 
 
 1 Boston Patriot, July 15 and 18, 1812. 
 
PROCLAMATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 393 
 
 were asked to hold divine services on that day, and 
 when they frankly expressed their opinions in their 
 sermons, their poHtical preaching was condemned. 
 For all this the proclamations, which invariably re- 
 flected the views of the governor, as the national pro- 
 clamation did those of the President and Congress, 
 were to blame. They contained clauses which roused 
 animosity, and little else could be expected at such a 
 time. As for many years it had been the custom to 
 make these specific in detaihng events, the authorities 
 were not prepared to bring out one of such a neutral 
 tint that none would be offended. And this has al- 
 ways been the danger attending special days, and par- 
 ticularly national fast days, which have occasionally 
 been ordered ; they relate to events which have more 
 or less political significance, and in which the people 
 are not agreed. At the present day proclamations 
 similar to those which have been cited would precipi- 
 tate a like disturbance and destroy much of the value 
 of such an occasion, and the national thanksgiving 
 day has only escaped this fate by its relation to the 
 harvest and the home. 
 
 There were two more national fast days during this 
 period, — September 9, 1813, and January 12, 1815, 
 but they present nothing new, unless we except the 
 sermons preached upon them. Some of these, as well 
 as those delivered upon the usual fast and thanksgiv- 
 ing days, were intensely political ; but, on the whole, 
 the interest declined. The New England people grew 
 weary of the conflict, and the ministers, having emp- 
 tied their vials of wrath, returned to more important 
 religious themes. At last a national thanksgiving day 
 
394 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 for peace was proclaimed for the IStli of April, 1815, 
 and they all gave themselves to its celebration with a 
 good degree of satisfaction, some praising God that 
 the war had turned out so well, and others that it 
 had turned out no worse. 
 
^■nnt/i 
 
 
 ^'^^t ^^' 
 
 CHAPTEK XXVII. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL THANKS- 
 GIVING DAY. 
 
 The national harvest thanksgiving day was conse- 
 crated at Plymouth in the autumn of 1621. If it 
 were given us to devise a seal for this institution, it 
 would represent a little company of our Pilgrim fore- 
 fathers gathered in devout gratitude about their sim- 
 ple board, with the Indian chieftain Massasoit as their 
 guest. This would be emblematic of a festival which 
 is now celebrated by American citizens, representing 
 all the ancient races that went forth out of Noah's 
 ark. The day is now ordered by the Executive in 
 States and Territories as vast as the lands bounded in 
 a colonial charter, and extending between the two 
 great oceans, from arctic cold to torrid heat. Its 
 proclamations bear seals with devices as various as 
 the vine of Connecticut, the palmetto-tree of South 
 Carohna, the beehive of Utah, and the seal islands of 
 Alaska. The acceptance of the institution is assured ; 
 it is fulfilling the mission for which the Pilgrims con- 
 secrated it, though among a people and in a land of 
 which they never dreamed. 
 
 In honor of the guest at Plymouth we quote from 
 the proclamation issued by J. B. Mayes, the principal 
 chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1891 : — 
 
 "Whereas, Benjamin Harrison, our great father, the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, has issued a Proclamation setting 
 
396 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 apart the 26 inst. as a day of joyful thanksgiving, in which to 
 thank God * for the bounties of His providence, for the peace in 
 which we are permitted to enjoy them, and for the preservation 
 of those institutions of civil and religious liberties.' It is proper 
 that the Cherokee People should participate in this joyful praise, 
 and thanks to God for the peace and prosperity they now enjoy, 
 and ask Him to continue to the Cherokee People that civil lib- 
 erty they have enjoyed from time immemorial, and ask that 
 they may continue in the peaceful possession of their land and 
 homes to a time without end. Now, therefore, I, J. B. Mayes, 
 Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, do hereby appoint 
 Thursday, November the 26th, 1891, to be a day of Thanks- 
 giving and Praise to God, that He still permits the Cherokee 
 Nation of Indians to live in the enjoyment of this civil and reli- 
 gious liberty, and in this struggle for the right of soil and self- 
 government, ask Him to shield us from all danger." 
 
 Thus does the enlightened representative of Massa- 
 soit's race summon his people to thanksgiving. The 
 fact brings into a clear light the present popularity 
 of the institution. To what proportions has it come 
 that so many millions were bidden to keep this ancient 
 festival! In the year 1891 fifty proclamations were 
 issued, — forty-four States and six Territories, — and 
 many of them are as characteristic of their local con- 
 stituency as the one by the Indian chieftain.^ The 
 day was welcomed by all who fully entered into its 
 significance, — a joyous occasion, which may surely 
 make a claim to be venerated as the oldest American 
 holiday. It may be presumed that many households, 
 far and near, reUgiously kept the feast of plenty in 
 the home, but it is certain that some regarded it 
 mainly as a time for recreations, the negro having his 
 
 ^ The District of Columbia was the only exception where it has not 
 been customary, the commissioners, who are the executive officers, 
 merely issuing an order to respect the proclamation of the President, 
 which, under the law, extends to the District of Columbia. 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY, 397 
 
 turkey-shoot, the Chinese their turn at fan-tan, and 
 the university student his ball-game, while a goodly 
 company everywhere, of various sects, went to the 
 house of God and gave sincere thanks to Him " from 
 whom Cometh every good and every perfect gift." 
 
 The first alien people to receive this institution of 
 the Pilgrims, strange to relate, were the American 
 Indians. They made its acquaintance at Plymouth, 
 and as Christianity spread among them through the 
 efforts of Rev. John Eliot and others, they entered 
 into the religious observances of the whites. For fast 
 days particularly they had a use in humbling them- 
 selves, confessing their sins ; ^ and so early as Novem- 
 ber 15, 1658, we find them keeping a fast on account 
 of excessive rains, as their white neighbors had done 
 a few days before. Such was their custom. An early 
 writer said of them : " They observe no holy-days 
 but the Lord's day, except upon some extraordinary 
 occasion, and then they solemnly set apart whole days, 
 either giving thanks or fasting and praying with great 
 fervour of mind." ^ So they received the thanksgiv- 
 ing day, and upon one occasion already noted their ex- 
 ample was a rebuke to their teachers .^ In their Chris- 
 tian communities, as at Natick and Stockbridge, these 
 days were highly regarded. The Indian missionary, 
 Samson Occom, carried the practice westward into 
 the wilderness, and doubtless one of the earliest cele- 
 brations of a thanksgiving day in the Oneida country 
 was by the Indian congregation of Rev. John Sergeant 
 in their new home at West Stockbridge, N. Y. So 
 also their descendants years afterwards established the 
 
 1 Eliot's Tears of Repentance ; Neal's Hist. ofN. E., i. 256 ff. 
 
 2 Andros Tracts, ii. 20 ; Magnalia^ i. 570. 3 j^ote, p. 247. 
 
398 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 institution in the then far distant Territory of Wis- 
 consin. In the light of these and other facts, a deep 
 significance attaches itself to the words which Prin- 
 cipal Chief Bushyhead of the Cherokees used in his 
 proclamation of 1882 : " While thanksgiving days 
 last, and are sincerely kept, we need not fear that a 
 magnanimous people will see their Government drag 
 and thrust the remnant of our race into the abyss." 
 
 The national thanksgiving day has come to pass 
 through the operation of various forces, some of which 
 are as apphcable to the fast day, though not those 
 which have been most decisive, and therefore the latter 
 institution has been left behind. For many years the 
 streams of emigration flowed from New England, as 
 rivers from a mountain spring, and the children car- 
 ried the knowledge of the autumn festival wherever 
 they went. It was as dear to them as the memories 
 of their childhood home. So the day arose naturally, 
 and almost simultaneously with government itself, in 
 those Western States which were settled by people 
 from New England.. It has literally grown up with 
 the country. The progress was slower in the South- 
 ern States, where they were somewhat prepared for 
 occasional thanksgivings, but were once suspicious of 
 a Puritan institution lest some Puritan doctrine might 
 be concealed within. To some extent the fast day, 
 for which many religious persons had no use, hindered 
 the adoption of the thanksgiving day, and not until 
 late years have they been so divorced that the distinc- 
 tive character of the latter is apparent. Above all, 
 it has been the character of the day itself, — its season 
 after harvest, which in all countries has been com- 
 memorated ; its joyous meaning, for which men have 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY, 399 
 
 ever had a stronger desire than for confession and 
 repentance ; its feast of plenty, which has gathered 
 the family and exalted the home life, — which has 
 operated to bring the custom into national favor. 
 
 A gradual working of the principle of union is evi- 
 dent from the first. The church at Salem reached 
 out its hand for the sympathy of Plymouth, and the 
 New England colonies recognized the emergencies 
 and deliverances of each other. It was natural and 
 proper for the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
 to agree to commend to the several general courts or 
 coimcils to appoint days in view of the concerns in 
 which they were mutually interested. So also, later 
 on, when they were united in the Continental Con- 
 gress, with other colonies along the Atlantic coast 
 which had known occasional appointments of the kind, 
 it was the utterance of a common sentiment which 
 led to such days. 
 
 The reader will recall the fact that there were three 
 fasts set by the Continental Congress before the first 
 thanksgiving. These furthered the idea of union. 
 The fu-st was that for July 20, 1775. On the com- 
 mittee to draw up the proclamation North Carolina was 
 represented by Mr. Hooper and Massachusetts by John 
 Adams. No objection was made to the custom in 
 this instance. Probably it had been furthered by the 
 action of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, 
 recommeli.ding to their congregations the last Thurs- 
 day in June, imless the Congress should appoint a fast, 
 in which case their date should be observed. The 
 second fast was May 17, 1776, recommended by a 
 vote of March 16, on a report of Mr. W. Living- 
 stone. The third was in accordance with a resolution 
 of December 11, 1776, in which each State was left to 
 
400 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 fix its own date, and by their agreement January 29, 
 1777, was selected. In the autumn of that year came 
 the surrender of Burgoyne, in consequence of which 
 the first Continental thanksgiving day was appointed, 
 December 18, 1777. On the 31st of October the 
 Congress passed the following resolution, "That a 
 Committee of three be appointed to prepare a recom- 
 mendation to the several States to set apart a day for 
 thanksgiving for the signal success lately obtained 
 over the enemies of these United States." The mem- 
 bers chosen were Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Richard 
 Henry Lee, and Mr. Daniel Roberdeau, and thus 
 Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania were rep- 
 resented in the event, though the proclamation was 
 probably drawn up by Samuel Adams. The action of 
 Congress having been communicated to the governors 
 of the several States, some reissued the proclamation 
 with an appended recommendation, which was the 
 early custom, rather than that at present practiced of 
 a separate proclamation in each State. One procla- 
 mation in all the commonwealths had manifest advan- 
 tages in producing a unity of sentiment in the obser- 
 vance, which, indeed, is as important now as then, 
 though there are good reasons for the present custom. 
 Considering the thanksgiving day as an institution, 
 apart from its annual and harvest features, the day 
 then appointed merits the honor of being the first na- 
 tional thanksgiving day in America. As such the 
 proclamation is worthy of record. 
 
 IN CONGRESS 
 
 November 1, 1777. 
 Forasmuch as it is the indispensible Duty of all Men to adore 
 the superintending Providence of Almighty God ; to acknowledge 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY. 401 
 
 with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to 
 implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it 
 having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to 
 us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence j but also to 
 smile upon us in the Prosecution of a Just and necessary War, for 
 the Defence and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Lib- 
 erties ; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Mea- 
 sure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and 
 to crown our Arms with most signal success : 
 
 It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive 
 Powers of these United States, to set apart THURSDAY, 
 the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving 
 and Praise : That at one Time and with one Voice, the good 
 People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and 
 consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor ; 
 and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgements and 
 Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their mani- 
 fold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favour ; and their 
 humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD 
 through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and 
 blot them out of Remembrance : That it may please him gra- 
 ciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States 
 respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole : To 
 inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under 
 them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them 
 fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to se- 
 cure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, 
 INDEPENDENCE and PEACE : That it may please him, to 
 prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the La- 
 bour of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase : 
 To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cul- 
 tivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under 
 his nurturing Hand ; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for 
 the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consist- 
 eth " in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.^^ 
 
 And it is further recommended. That servile Labour, and 
 such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be 
 unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so 
 solemn an Occasion. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes, 
 
 Charles Thomson, Secr. 
 
402 ^FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 In some respects this day was the most remarkable 
 in our history. The circumstances were such that the 
 people entered into it heartily, and though the harvest 
 was not prominent and an autumn thanksgiving had 
 been already celebrated in some New England States, 
 the feast was not omitted in many homes on that joy- 
 ous occasion. All patriots observed it with earnest- 
 ness. Eloquent sermons were preached everywhere. 
 The soldiers especially were gathered at the services. 
 Washington's army was then at Yalley Forge, and the 
 following is the entry in his orderly book : " Tomor- 
 row being the day set apart by the honorable Congress 
 for Public Thanksgiving and praise, and duty calling 
 us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgments 
 to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us, 
 the general directs that the army remain in its present 
 quarters, and that the chaplains perform divine ser- 
 vice with their several corps and brigades, and ear- 
 nestly exhorts all officers and soldiers whose absence is 
 not indispensably necessary to attend with reverence 
 the solemnities of the day." 
 
 In 1778 the thanksgiving day was December 30. 
 The proclamation was framed by the chaplains of 
 Congress, and amended by that body. Its chief senti- 
 ment was gratitude to God for " disposing the heart 
 of a powerful monarch to enter into an alliance with 
 us," for which General Washington had already kept 
 a thanksgiving in his army the 7th of May previous, 
 issuing an order which much resembles a proclama- 
 tion, and mingling in the exercises worship, the firing 
 of cannon, and a chorus of huzzas, " Long live the 
 King of France." So the practice was continued 
 year by year, December 11, 1783, being a thanksgiv- 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY, 403 
 
 ing for peace, and October 19, 1784, for the treaty 
 ratifying the same ; and we have a series of national 
 thanksgivings, in the autumn or early winter, from 
 1777 to 1784. For the time being this was the adop- 
 tion of the institution, but during the following years 
 of settling the government, the custom of state ap- 
 pointments returned. The first national Congress 
 after the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 had 
 the question thrust upon it, whether the practice of 
 the Continental Congress should be followed. But the 
 matter then appeared in another light because of 
 the issue before the people. On the 25th of Septem- 
 ber, Eli as Boudinot introduced the following resolu- 
 tion in the House of Representatives : " Resolved, 
 That a Joint Committee of both Houses be directed 
 to wait upon the President of the United States, to 
 request that he would recommend to the People of the 
 United States a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, to 
 be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts 
 the many signal favours of Almighty God, especially 
 by affording them an opportunity peacefully to estab- 
 lish a Constitution of Government for their safety and 
 happiness." A discussion followed, in the course of 
 which Mr. Burke, of South Carolina, said he " did not 
 like this mimicking of European customs, where they 
 made a mere mockery of thanksgivings. Two parties 
 at war frequently sung Te Deum for the same event, 
 though to one it was a victory and to the other a de- 
 feat." Mr. Tucker, of South Carolina, observed that 
 " the House had no business to interfere in a matter 
 which did not concern them. Why should the Presi- 
 dent direct the people to do what perhaps they have 
 no mind to do ? They may not be inclined to return 
 
404 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 thanks for a Constitution until they have experienced 
 that it promotes their safety and happiness. ... It 
 is a religious matter, and as such is proscribed to us. 
 If a day of thanksgiving must take place, let it be 
 done by the authority of the several States. They 
 know best what reason their constituents have to be 
 pleased with the establishment of the Constitution." 
 Messrs. Boudinot and Sherman advocated the mea- 
 sure as warranted by Holy Writ and the precedents of 
 the late Congress. The real objection in all this was, 
 of course, on political grounds, and to the proposed 
 thanksgiving for a constitution which some of them 
 had opposed. Had they considered the day, not as 
 a thanksgiving for the success of the Federalists, but 
 as an autumn harvest festival, they would have found 
 no objection to it, though it might have been thought 
 unnecessary. The Revolution had deepened the con- 
 ception of a thanksgiving as an occasional observance 
 in the minds even of those from New England. It was 
 necessary that time should modify that Puritan custom 
 before the day could be accepted by a people among 
 whom events were wont to assume a political relation. 
 Notwithstanding the opposition, however, the resolution 
 passed, and was concurred in by the Senate three days 
 afterwards. The proclamation of George Washington, 
 appointing Thursday, November 26, 1789, was the 
 result, and it was the first national thanksgi\dng day 
 after the government was established. 
 
 It may be assumed that the New England represen- 
 tatives would have then agreed to the annual appoint- 
 ment of a thanksgiving day, but in consequence of the 
 opposition the subject of national appointments was not 
 brought up again for nearly three years. On the 1st 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY. 405 
 
 of May, 1792, the House resolved to ask the President 
 to appoint a fast day. No action, however, was taken 
 by the Senate on the matter so far as the record shows, 
 and certainly no such day was appointed, though this 
 resolution has led to the statement that the first na- 
 tional fast day was in 1792. The opinion prevailed 
 that a resolution of Congress was not necessary, if the 
 President thought fit to recommend such a day. And 
 it was without any action on the part of Congress 
 that Washington, moved by the situation of public 
 affairs, in January, 1795, made the recommendation 
 for a thanksgiving February 19, — the memorable day 
 which did much to confirm Massachusetts in its politi- 
 cal observance and operated to bring about the Good 
 Friday fast in Connecticut. This was the second 
 national thanksgiving day recommended by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, and these were the only 
 appointments by George Washington. 
 
 Under the administration of John Adams two na- 
 tional fast days were observed as already noted, — May 
 9, 1798, and April 25, 1799, but no thanksgiving day. 
 It was not until 1815, and after tlu'ee national fasts 
 on account of the war, that another national thanks- 
 giving was appointed by the President, James Madison. 
 The cause was peace with Great Britain. On Febru- 
 ary 18, 1815, the following resolution was introduced 
 in the House of Representatives : "It being a duty 
 peculiarly incumbent in a time of public calamity and 
 war., humbly and devoutly to achnowledge our depen- 
 dence on Almighty God and to implore his aid and 
 protection and in times of deliverance and prosperity to 
 manifest our deep and undissembled gratitude to the 
 Almighty Sovereign of the Universe : Resolved, by the 
 
406 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States of America in Congress assembled, that a Joint 
 Committee of both Houses wait on the President of the 
 United States, and request that he recommend a day 
 of Thanksgiving, to be observed by the people of the 
 United States, with religious solemnity, and the offer- 
 ing of devout acknowledgments to God for his mercies, 
 and in prayer to him for the continuance of his bless- 
 ings." The portion printed in italics was finally 
 stricken from the resolution, because it seemed to 
 some to be an attempt to sanction the fast days which 
 the President had appointed during the war, and 
 which had met with such resistance among his politi- 
 cal enemies. Evidently the national political fast was 
 dead, but as amended the resolution embodied the 
 sentiment of the modern national thanksgiving day. 
 It passed, and the day fixed upon was April 13, 1815. 
 We know of no other national appointments for a 
 quarter century, though a proposition was made for 
 a fast in 1832, an account of the cholera, in view of 
 which Massachusetts and Connecticut kept the 9th of 
 August. But in 1841 the 14th of May was made a 
 national fast day because of the death of President 
 Harrison, and again in 1849, President Taylor set a 
 fast on the 3d of August on account of the cholera. 
 The idea of national days had so far died out that 
 only the most extraordinary cause could produce one. 
 Meanwhile, however, the annual thanksgiving day had 
 been coming into favor, and it was this enlarged 
 interest in it outside of New England which finally 
 revived national appointments during the civil war. 
 The Executive of the nation must needs wait for this 
 conquest of the institution itself among the people. 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY, 407 
 
 States like New York took up the idea of an annual 
 thanksgiving. Since the year 1817 the Empire 
 State has observed the day, doubtless largely owing to 
 Governor DeWitt Clinton, who maintained the custom 
 for ten years.^ Other States took the same action. 
 In some of the northwestern States it has been 
 customary since they were admitted into the Union, 
 Minnesota made a law requiring the governor to set 
 apart such a day. In North Carolina it was estab- 
 lished by an act of the General Assembly. So, little 
 by little, the idea gained recognition ; and before 
 the annual thanksgiving was made a national institu- 
 tion by the President's appointments, it had become all 
 but universal by the action of the several States. In 
 1858 Mr. Franklin B. Hough made an examination, 
 and reprinted all the proclamations of that year, 
 which included all the States except Virginia, Ken- 
 tucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Cahfornia. 
 Virginia observed one in 1855, but in 1857 Governor 
 Wise declined to accede to requests made to him for 
 such a day, on the ground that he had no authority to 
 interfere in matters of religion. 
 
 We have now come to the experiences of the civil 
 war. It happened naturally, as during the Revolu- 
 tion, that the fast day preceded the thanksgiving, the 
 circumstances being more appropriate for humilia- 
 tion. In the early days of calamity the people were 
 
 ^ Governor John Jay issued several proclamations, but their polit- 
 ical significance made them unpopular. Governor Clinton's met with 
 the same criticism, but the most singular objection to them was from 
 the people of Southampton, L. I., who had been accustomed to reg- 
 ulate their thanksgiving by the return of the cattle from the Mon- 
 tauk pastures. Many Long Island people had customarily kept 
 Connecticut days. See Proc.for Thanksgiving ^ Hough, pp. x, xi. 
 
408 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 summoned to fasting.^ Two such days were kept in 
 1861, — January 4 and September 26 ; but it was 
 not until 1863 that the horizon had so brightened as 
 to warrant a national thanksgiving. Then President 
 
 * Abraham Lincoln appointed one on the 6 th of Au- 
 gust because of the victory at Gettysburg. On the 
 
 > 26 th of November the same year another thanksgiv- 
 ing was observed, and this was really the harvest 
 festival throughout the country, as every Northern 
 State then recognized the institution. So also in 
 1864, the 24th of November was kept. Then came 
 the assassination of Lincoln, on which account the 
 
 * fast of June 1, 1865, was proclaimed, following his 
 own precedent in appointing April 30, 1863, and 
 August 4, 1864. It might have been that the na- 
 tional thanksgiving in 1865 would have been omitted, 
 
 ^ had it not been for the efforts of Rev. Benj. F. Mor- 
 ris, of Washington, who moved the First Congrega- 
 tional Church in that city to send a committee to 
 President Andrew Johnson and request him to issue 
 a proclamation. However, this was but an incident 
 in a movement which must have resulted in the for- 
 mal adoption of the institution by the nation. The 
 several States were prepared for it. During the cen- 
 tury that had passed since the Revolution the harvest 
 feature of the day had become dominant, and such 
 an institution the people were glad to receive. Since 
 that time it has been customary for the President to 
 issue a proclamation annually, appointing a national 
 thanksgiving day the last Thursday of November, and 
 
 ^ Both fasts and thanksgiving's were kept in the Confederate States 
 during the Rebellion. July 28, 1861, was a thanksgiving for the " Vic- 
 tory at Manassas ; ' ' February 28, 1862, and April 8, 1864, were fasts. 
 
THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY. 409 
 
 the States have issued their own proclamations naming 
 the same day. In 1876 President U. S. Grant by 
 proclamation made the 4th of July a special thanks- 
 giving day to be kept by religious services '' for the 
 blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a 
 Nation during the century^ of our existence." The 
 present national custom may be said to be the ap- 
 pointment of an annual harvest thanksgiving, and 
 such special fast or thanksgiving days as the circinn- 
 stances of sorrow or joy may seem to warrant. If we 
 speak of the thanksgiving day as a national institu- 
 tion, it dates back to the Revolution, and the first was 
 December 18, 1777 ; but if we have in mind the an- 
 nual harvest thanksgiving day, it became nationalized 
 through the adoption of it by the several States, and 
 the first appointment was by Abraham Lincoln, the 
 26th of November, 1863. There are none now in our 
 broad land who will dispute the right the day has to 
 be reverenced. It has made conquests among all our 
 heterogeneous races, has come to be regarded in every 
 commonwealth, and has received the sanction of all 
 religions. More than two and a half centuries have 
 rolled away since the beloved forefathers christened 
 it at Plymouth in the golden autumn of 1621, but 
 though it is thus the ancient of days, it is as young 
 now as then. Some of our later holidays cannot ex- 
 pect such an immortality. They will fall into neglect 
 in the course of time. But of this day, enshrined in 
 our home life, it can be confidently prophesied, in the 
 lines of the poet, — 
 
 " Men may come and men may ^o^ 
 But I go on forever." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 The manner in which aU religious seasons were 
 observed by the Puritans was the natural expression 
 of their inner life. They were a serious and solemn 
 folk, who had a reverence, almost superstitious, for 
 the meeting-house, considered worship in it to be the 
 chief exercise of a holy day, and thorouglily abhorred 
 all other occupations which might dissipate the impres- 
 sion of those services. Even the time necessarily 
 spent in the home was filled with penitential reflec- 
 tions, the reading of the Scriptures, and some few 
 devotional and theological books ; but, above all. with 
 catechetical instruction. To this latter duty the New 
 England fathers were urged by the very first general 
 letter of the company to John Endicott in 1629, 
 wherein they were commanded to " surcease their 
 labo^ every Satterday throughout the yeare at 3 of the 
 clock in the afternoone," and " spend the rest of that 
 day in catichising and p'paracon for the Saboth, as 
 the ministers shall direct." ^ It was at great expense 
 that they had rescued the Sabbath from the debauch- 
 ing influences of former times, and they intended to 
 establish it in New England as a holy day, — a bless- 
 ing to them and their descendants after the ideal which 
 they entertained of religious life. This general con- 
 ception of a holy day held sway with the people in all 
 1 Mass. Col. Bec.j i. 395. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS, 411 
 
 the colonies, until, little by little, their Puritan temper 
 of mind was modified, and consequently burdensome 
 regulations were relaxed. 
 
 The forces which had developed fast and thanks- 
 giving days before the emigration had also secured 
 for them an equahty with the Lord's Day. Such 
 occasions in the history of Israel they judged to have 
 been kept as Sabbaths ; and, in their own secret con- 
 venticles, as also upon days publicly proclaimed, they 
 knew not how to observe them otherwise. Further- 
 more, the English laws then in force applied alike in 
 many respects to all holy days, some of which were 
 even more reverently regarded than Sunday. We 
 cannot imagine that, in the face of such legislation, 
 reaching back through centuries, the Puritans would 
 have kept their fast and thanksgiving days, other than 
 with the greatest strictness. Such was their practice. 
 Neither in law nor in custom did they recognize any 
 difference between them and the Sabbath, as respects 
 abstaining from labor and amusements, or attendance 
 upon the appointed services. There was no need, 
 therefore, of any specific law concerning them for 
 some time, other than that implied in the obligation 
 to keep the Lord's Day. The earliest laws related to 
 the authority for appointments, as for instance that 
 of the Plymouth Colony in 1636 already quoted, and 
 one which is found in the Body of Liberties of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641, giving every 
 church freedom to celebrate such days according to 
 the word of God. At this time, however, a command 
 may have been appended to the orders, after the 
 ancient practice in England, requiring the people 
 to abstain from their usual avocations, for Winslow 
 
412 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 notes that the first public fast at Plymouth was " set 
 apart from all other employments." We have not 
 the full text of these orders, and cannot assert that 
 this was not usual. The first proclamation we have 
 met with, having this requirement, is that for a fast 
 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, April 20, 1648, 
 which has the words " all psons are here [by] required 
 to abstaine from bodily labo' that day & to resort to 
 y® publike meetings, to seeke y® Lord, as becomes 
 Christians in a day of humiliation." ^ Such a clause 
 does not appear in an earlier order for a fast, De- 
 cember 24, 1646, which seems to be complete. We 
 should therefore conclude that this command — for so 
 many years afterwards customarily appended to pro- 
 clamations — had its origin, not in an English custom, 
 but in the law which was enacted by the General Court 
 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the session No- 
 vember 4, 1646, on a later day than the appointment 
 of the latter fast. That law was the most important 
 of early times on the subject, and became the common 
 property of New England. It reads as follows : — 
 
 " Wherever the ministry of the word is established, accord- 
 ing to the order of the Gospel throughout this Jurisdiction : 
 Every Person shall duely resort, and attend therunto, respec- 
 tively on the Lords dayes, & upon such publick fast dayes, & 
 dayes of thanksgiving, as are to be generally observed by ap- 
 pointment of Authority. And if any person within this Juris- 
 diction shall without just & necessary cause, withdraw himselfe 
 from the publick ministry of the Word, after due meanes of con- 
 viction used, he shall forfeit for his absence from every such 
 publick meeting five shillings : And all such offenses may be 
 heard & determined from time to time by any one or more 
 Magistrates." ^ 
 
 1 Mass. Col Bee, ii. 229. 
 
 2 Colonial Laws of Mass. ^ 1672; Whitmore's Reprint, p. 43. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 413 
 
 This law was taken bodily by Mr. Ludlow into the 
 Code of Laws adopted in Connecticut in May, 1650, 
 and also appears in the New Haven Code of 16 5 5.^ 
 It therefore became the law, under which the sanctity 
 of fast and thanksgiving days was maintained, wher- 
 ever they were observed in New England. Attendance 
 upon such services was compulsory; and though it 
 contained no provision forbidding work and amuse- 
 ments, these diversions were understood to be prohib- 
 ited as upon the Lord's Day. As to Massachusetts, 
 however, after the establishment of the provincial 
 government, the laws relating to the keeping of the 
 Sabbath did not apply to fast and thanksgiving 
 days, that clause being omitted from them thereafter. 
 The proclamation contained a sufficient prohibition in 
 the words " all servile labor is forbidden." In 1682 
 the Plymouth Colony enacted a law " that none shall 
 p'^sume to attend servill worke or labour or attend 
 any sports on such dayes as are or shalbe appointed 
 by the Court for humiliation by fasting and prayer 
 or for pubUcke Thanksgiueing on penalty of five 
 shillings." ^ The effect in both colonies was the same. 
 No labors were performed upon such days. New 
 Hampshire followed the example of Massachusetts. 
 
 In Connecticut, where the colonial laws under- 
 went less modification, the original law of 1650 con- 
 tinued in force for many years. It is found in the re- 
 vision of 1702 and the reprint of 1715, with the added 
 provision that complaints under it must be made 
 within one month of the offense. In the revision of 
 1750, this law was combined with another relating to 
 
 ^ Conn. Col. Rec, i. 524 ; New Haven Col. Bee, ii. 588. 
 2 Fly. Col Rec, xi. 258. 
 
414 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the Lord's Day, the same which Massachusetts had 
 enacted in 1692 and New Hampshire in 1700, whence 
 also Connecticut derived it ; and this was done in such 
 a manner that fast and thanksgiving days were 
 brought under the prohibition against labor and 
 amusements, and attendance upon the services was 
 no longer compulsory. The amended form is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " That no Tradesman, Artificer, Labourer, or other Person 
 whatsoever, shall upon the Land or Water, do or exercise any 
 Labour, Business or Work of their Ordinary Callings, or of any 
 other kind whatsoever, (Works of Necessity and Mercy only 
 excepted) Nor use any Game, Sport, Play, or Recreation on the 
 Lord's Day, or Day of Public Fasting or Thanksgiving, or any 
 part thereof, on pain that every Person so Offending, shall for 
 every offence Forfeit the Sum of Ten Shillings." ^ 
 
 It is evident, from the very fact that these days 
 were included in the law of the Sabbath, that at this 
 time they were observed as holy days. Probably there 
 had been little occasion for the law. The few, here 
 and there, who were prosecuted for labor, only meant 
 by their violatipn to show their dislike for the govern- 
 ment or these Puritan days when they preferred those 
 recognized in the Church of England. On the whole 
 they were then reverently observed ; but after the 
 American Revolution, partly because such occasions 
 had been appropriated to party uses, and partly be- 
 cause of a decline in the veneration felt for them, 
 there was a manifest tendency to disregard them both 
 by labor and recreation. Hence a new law was made 
 in Connecticut in 1791, having entire reference to 
 the subject, and which is certainly conclusive evidence 
 
 1 Kevision of 1750, p. 139. Cf . revision of 1702, pp. 30, 103, 104, and 
 same in reprint of 1715. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 415 
 
 against the supposition that they had become mere hol- 
 idays. The following is the text of that law : — 
 
 " That on the Days appointed for public Fasting or Thanks- 
 giving by Proclamation of the Governour of this State : all Per- 
 sons residing within this State, shall abstain from every kind of 
 servile Labour, and Recreation, Works of Necessity and Mercy 
 excepted ; and any Person who shall be guilty of a Breach of 
 this Act, being duly convicted thereof, shall be fined in a Sum, 
 not exceeding Two Dollars, nor less than One Dollar. Pro- 
 vided this Act shall not be construed to prevent public Posts 
 and Stages from Travelling on said Days." ^ 
 
 This was the final attempt to preserve by law the 
 ancient sanctity of these days. Soon afterward the 
 annual fast in Connecticut was changed to Good Fri- 
 day, and possibly one great reason for this law thereby 
 became invalid, for it has been suspected that it was 
 revived merely to afford an opportunity to bring into 
 court some Episcopalians who would not regard such 
 days, especially during Easter week. It soon became 
 a dead letter, however, and was repealed in 1833, 
 with the proviso that such action should not be con- 
 strued as restricting in any way the governor from 
 recommending fast and thanksgivmg days as before. 
 
 The purpose of all these laws is evident. Such 
 occasions were days of worship, and it was necessary 
 to protect them from irreligious influences. Not until 
 the public sentiment had changed as to the solemn 
 character of the church services did the law relax its 
 efforts to preserve order and quiet in the community. 
 They show how the sabbatical conception prevailed at 
 first unchallenged; how in the course of time this fea- 
 ture was shaken off, and a civil holiday remained upon 
 which the state recommended reKgious exercises ; and 
 1 Revision of 1796, p. 177. 
 
416 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 how finally the people were left to make of these days 
 what they would and the churches what they could. 
 Moreover, they mdicate approximately the dates of 
 these changes, — the decline of the fast and the evo- 
 lution of the modern autumn festival from the eccle- 
 siastical thanksgiving. 
 
 Concerning the customs which have regulated the 
 observance of fast days, there is little to be said. 
 There was for many years no reason to change its 
 sabbatical character. Until the present century two 
 services were maintained in most communities, and 
 these occupied the major portion of the day. In early 
 times, indeed down to the general breaking up of old 
 customs by the Eevolutionary war, the people usu- 
 ally abstained from food until after the second ser- 
 vice, — a very ancient interpretation of this duty. 
 Then, as the day declined, they sat down to some 
 simple repast of cold meats, bread or "hasty pud- 
 ding," and milk. Many are now living who remember 
 when fasting was commonly practiced. One of the 
 first signs of the changing sentiment as to the day was 
 the indulgence in visiting, walking abroad in the 
 fields, inspection of barns and herds, discussion among 
 neighbors of plans for the planting, much of which 
 the spring season suggested. The first settlers would 
 never have tolerated this, but after a century it was 
 thought to be permissible. It was made also a con- 
 venient time for church meetings, a custom which 
 grew out of certain disciplinary proceedings and con- 
 fessions fostered by humiliation. Other gatherings 
 were a natural consequence. Long before labor was 
 permitted, the day was set apart by many for such 
 political or semi-religious tasks as they would not per- 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 417 
 
 form on Sundays and had no time for during week 
 days. Even amusements, when of such a nature as 
 not to interfere with the rights of a community, were 
 allowed before " servile work," which the proclama- 
 tion especially stigmatized. When worn out as a holy 
 day, it remained as a holiday, to which latter charac- 
 ter all modern laws pertain. Yet the present general 
 and popular disregard for the occasion by amuse- 
 ments of all sorts has grown up within the past 
 fifty years. It must be allowed, too, that, so long 
 as the day is recognized by the state and proclaimed 
 by the governor, they are, to say the least, in bad 
 taste. 
 
 The New England fast day was therefore a very 
 plain affair, having none of those fantastic and inter- 
 esting practices which were connected with similar 
 holy days in England. It might have been otherwise, 
 but for the prejudice against aU such days which con- 
 tinued until long after emigration had ceased. A few 
 ancient customs can be traced here and there among 
 those who owned the Church of England. After the 
 theocratic system broke down, such persons became 
 more bold, and they may fairly be suspected of de- 
 lighting to parade their affection for Enghsh customs 
 upon such days as Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun- 
 day. The baking of pancakes at Shrovetide was very 
 unsavory to the thoroughbred New Englander. It 
 was otherwise with a Churchman. 
 
 " But hark, I hear the Pancake-bell, 
 And fritters make a gallant smell." 
 
 Such fancies crept in and occasionally showed them- 
 selves, especially at Christmas time. It was because 
 of the tendency to unseemly commemoration of these 
 
418 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 festivals that the forefathers passed the law prohibit- 
 ing any from "forbearing labour" and "feasting" 
 upon them, — a law which outlived the first comers. 
 Against these " heathen vanities " Increase Mather 
 directed his treatise entitled " A Testimony against 
 several Prophane and Superstitious Customs," printed 
 in 1687. Even in the early years of the eighteenth 
 century men like Samuel Sewall struck these days from 
 the almanac, and would not adjourn court for Christ- 
 mas, though many were then more tolerant of them, 
 even to some extent observing them.i In 1712 Cot- 
 ton Mather ventured to preach a Christmas sermon, 
 probably the first by a Puritan divine in New 
 England, in which, by the bye, he condemned riotous 
 proceedings. Of course they detested the May Day, 
 with its masks and processions. In 1686 Increase 
 Mather said of it : " It is an abominable shame that 
 any persons in a land of such light and purity as 
 New England has been, shoidd have the face to speak 
 or think of practicing so vile a piece of heathenism." 
 Yet such disapproval shows that a few did keep up 
 their ancient customs; and probably by this means 
 some practices which had been most prominent dur- 
 ing the English Lenten season became associated 
 with the fast day. It may have perpetuated an af- 
 fection for Good Friday to fare on bacon and eggs, 
 and some doubtless did so on fast days without ap- 
 preciating the significance of the fact, merely because 
 others set the example. The willow, which had long 
 been an emblem of mourning in England, became 
 such here ; and, after a century, even pious Puritans 
 took occasion to cut a sprig of it when abroad, less in 
 
 1 Sewall's Diary, ii, 91, 230; iii. 315. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 419 
 
 token of their humiliation than because it had some- 
 how become customary. So they came to plant them 
 over graves or cut them upon tombstones as their 
 forefathers would not have done on account of the 
 superstition. 
 
 It was impossible to resist the hilarious proceedings 
 on the Fifth of November, — " Guy Fawkes's Day." 
 They dared not if they would. The Royal Commis- 
 sioners in 1665 had proposed the permanent establish- 
 ment of the 5th of November, the 29th of May, and 
 the 30th of January, — the first two as thanksgivings, 
 the last as a fast. ^ Only the first was celebrated to 
 any extent, and that because it was " Pope's Day," — 
 a suitable time, it was thought, for mocking pageants 
 and bonfires. The Church of England kept it with 
 religious services, but it never became popular except 
 with riotous youths. Still the bonfire and cannon- 
 firing, by this means, became later a form of cele- 
 brating thanksgiving, especially during and after tlu 
 Revolution. Such demonstrations had been tolerated 
 a century before this on Guy Fawkes's Day, and 
 some other English holidays, though the fathers pro- 
 tested against them if these chanced to fall on the 
 Sabbath. We can understand how English ships in 
 port would think it proper to commemorate the New 
 England thanksgiving in the same manner. At all 
 events they did so, and certain divines uttered their 
 protest against it. Upon one occasion, in 1662, a 
 public thanksgiving for a good harvest notwithstand- 
 ing a drought chanced to be appointed on the 5th of 
 November, and then there was a combination of re- 
 ligious services and bonfires which could not have been 
 
 1 Mass. Col. Bee, iv. pt. 2. p. 212. 
 
420 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 agreeable to all,^ though they did the same thing in 
 1667, two years after the proposal of the Royal Com- 
 missioners, which might have been one cause for it. ^ 
 The celebration of the Fifth of November was at its 
 height in England about that time, and was afterwards 
 revived in connection with the wars against France. 
 It was the same in New England, and so great was 
 the disturbance and danger of the customary riotous 
 pageants that it became necessary to enact laws pro- 
 hibiting them.2 As the Revolution drew near they 
 died out altogether, and whatever customs were ap- 
 propriate passed over to the Thanksgiving Day, or the 
 Fourth of July. 
 
 The customs which have clustered round the New 
 England Thanksgiving are by far the most interesting. 
 An autumn harvest festival has a relation to social 
 life which generates them. Since the Pilgrim Fathers 
 celebrated their feast at Plymouth, the same forces 
 which then inspired it have been at work, gradually 
 creating a festival peculiarly adapted to preserve the 
 savor of early New England life. In this respect it 
 is unique among our hohdays. Others are of later date. 
 They do not reach back into those adventurous experi- 
 ences in the wilderness, nor introduce us to the house- 
 holds of our simple, hearty, pious forefathers as this 
 does. Here alone do we meet with customs which can 
 claim originality and antiquity, more wholesome if less 
 fantastic than those which have made England's holi- 
 
 ^ Felt was led to give quite an erroneous impression concerning 
 this " Pope's Day," because he overlooked the fact that it was also a 
 public thanksgiving. Annals of Salem, ii. 45 ; Frothingham's Hist, 
 of Charlestown, p. 204. 
 
 2 Acts and Resolves, iii. 647, 664, 997 ; Am, Antiq. Soc. Coll., v. p. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 421 
 
 days a blessing to her people. The harvest festival 
 was developed by home Uf e. Its power is social rather 
 than religious. The feast has been from the first the 
 sustaining element, not so much on its own account, 
 as because it furnished the occasion for family gather- 
 ings, and this we must follow in tracing the growth 
 of customs. The germ is found in such social repasts 
 as we have witnessed among the Pilgrims in Holland 
 and the Scituate flock, which we have noted as kept 
 after the Pequot war, and which were officially rec- 
 ognized in 1645 by the Westminster Assembly of 
 Divines in the " Directory for Public Worship." It 
 was a seed that fell into good ground among those 
 who were dependent upon harvests and were stripped 
 of their ancient holidays. So it grew, thriving espe- 
 cially in the Plymouth Colony. As the household 
 became the self-sustaining unit of their life, it was 
 better that the family should feast together, rather 
 than that the richer should invite the poorer, or that 
 they should divide into three companies as Lothrop's 
 church did. So in a few years this became a dis- 
 tinctive feature of thanksgiving days. At the same 
 time it was no such feast as interfered with the reli- 
 gious features of the day, which were dominant, par- 
 ticularly in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and in 
 Connecticut. Amusements were contrary to the law 
 everywhere. The Puritan family met at the noontime 
 meal in a spirit of deep gratitude, and worship was 
 the expression of their feelings rather than recreation. 
 They would not have thought of indulging in those 
 hilarious customs which arose after a century, only 
 to be rebuked by their ministers, and at last became 
 common because the Puritan fervor had waned. That 
 
422 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 which is now usually esteemed as the early celebration 
 of thanksgiving does not date back into the lives of 
 the first comers. It was no sucA occasion as that fes- 
 tival week at Plymouth in 1621 has led many writers 
 to suppose. The feast itself was not an elaborate 
 affair, — no Puritan meal was. Extra fare was pro- 
 vided, perhaps occasionally a wild turkey or a haunch 
 of venison, 1 and there was an assembly of the family, 
 with sometimes invited guests, but they did not aban- 
 don themselves to feasting nor forget that the day was 
 holy unto the Lord. The father was wont to read 
 aloud some thanksgiving sermon, either the evening 
 before in preparation for the day, or as the family 
 gathered about the fireside after the second service. 
 The theme of conversation was the mercies of God to 
 the first settlers, — such reminiscences as we meet with 
 from the pen of Johnson, Roger Clap, and Mather, 
 — and there were recitals of providential deliverances, 
 which the hero might well have made thrilling stories 
 
 ^ An interesting" incident, professing to relate to a thanksgiving 
 dinner, was recorded by Rev. Lawrence Conant, of Danvers, in 1714 as 
 follows : — ^ 
 
 *' When ye services at ye meeting house were ended ye council and 
 other dignitaries were entertained at ye house of Mr. Epes, on ye hill 
 near by, and we had a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner with bear's 
 meat and venison, the last of which was a fine buck, shot in ye woods 
 near by. Ye bear was killed in Lynn woods near Reading. 
 
 " After ye blessing was craved by Mr. Garrich of Wrentham, word 
 came that ye buck was shot on ye Lord's day by Pequot, an Indian, 
 who came to Mr. Epes with a lye in his mouth like Ananias of old. 
 
 " Ye council therefore refused to eat ye venison, but it was after- 
 ward decided that Pequot should receive 40 stripes save one, for lying 
 and profaning ye Lord's day, restore Mr. Epes ye cost of ye deer, and 
 considering this a just and righteous sentence on ye sinful heathen, 
 and that a blessing had been craved on ye meat, ye council all par- 
 took of it but Mr. Shepard, whose conscience was tender on ye point 
 of ye venison." 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 423 
 
 of hairbreadth escapes, to be remembered by the 
 children, even if they forgot the moral. The procla- 
 mations themselves encouraged the people to such oc- 
 cupations, being a presentation of their causes for 
 gratitude, and possibly those extended dissertations 
 may have grown out of this ancient custom. Indeed, 
 there were generally two services on the day for nearly 
 a century, and the feast, crowded in between them, 
 had no great chance to expand. It finally made war 
 against the second service and overcame it. We find 
 Samuel Sewall in 1721 discussing the matter with 
 Colonel Townsend in the Council Chamber at Boston, 
 and the latter would not " move a jot towards having 
 two," though he would consent on that particular oc- 
 casion.i Evidently the colonel was of those who felt 
 that the latter part of the day should be devoted to 
 social enjoyments in the home, giving more time to 
 the feast, which had been a feature in Se wall's family 
 life for at least twenty-five years, many instances be- 
 ing noted in his diary. Even before this the evening 
 exercise had been put at a later hour than usual, or 
 in some towns, where the people found it inconvenient 
 to return to it, altogether abandoned. At first even 
 special thanksgivings, whatever the time of year, were 
 honored by a dinner, but after the days became an- 
 nual, and more particularly associated with the harvest, 
 the high festival was reserved for the autumn. The 
 bounties of the season favored the feast, and that in 
 turn warmed the social circle. So it came about that 
 ere the first quarter of the eighteenth century had 
 passed, the autumn harvest festival was a fully grown 
 and estabhshed institution. As they might have ex- 
 
 ^ Sewall's Diary, iii. 294. 
 
424 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 pected, advantage was taken of this social license, 
 particularly among such as made the inn their even- 
 ing resort and had a fondness for the sizzling " flip." 
 A thanksgiving, too, which commemorated a victory 
 in war, offered special inducements to celebrate by 
 noisy demonstrations. Rev. Daniel Wadsworth, of 
 Hartford, in his manuscript sermon preached July 
 25, 1745, closes with this caution : " Take heed y* 
 after y® public exercise of y® day is over y^none of 
 you run into those follies and indecencies y* are 
 unbecoming such a solemnity as this, let not this 
 solemnity be dishonored by any disorders committed 
 on this day or in y® evening following, let there 
 be no carousing at publick houses nor unseemly 
 noises or clamors in y® streets." ^ This wa"S the com- 
 mon attitude of the ministers at the time, but such 
 demonstrations occurred, nevertheless. The harvest 
 thanksgiving was not so liable to them. It was a quiet 
 day, the service at the meeting-house in the morning 
 being attended by all, and the feast, followed by 
 social fireside pleasures, filling the remainder of the 
 day. After the Revolution, — which was the great- 
 est force of the century for the development of our 
 social life, — these latter features were very greatly 
 expanded. In some respects they were liberalized. 
 The farmer and his grown-up sons thought it a proper 
 time to hunt the wolf which had raided his flock. In 
 the home, games were indulged in by the younger 
 members of the family, such as " Hunt the slipper," 
 " Fox and geese," and " Bhnd man's buff." Pilgrim- 
 ages to the old home, which had long been custom- 
 ary, were more highly regarded. Some thought even 
 1 MS. Ser. in Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 425 
 
 then that too much pleasure was a desecration of 
 the clay. They did not see how it was all the work 
 of healthy and natural forces. That had survived 
 which was fittest. The sabbatical thanksgiving of 
 the forefathers could not have lived. It could never 
 have been made such a festival as Christmas, for the 
 truth was lacking. Their calamities and adventures 
 in the wilderness were over. So the family conse- 
 crated the day anew to its own religious and social 
 uses, honoring alike the worship of the Puritan and 
 the feast of the Pilgrims ; and, as years pass, it be- 
 comes more and more evident that the family life 
 alone, which has saved the day, can preserve it for 
 coming generations. 
 
 There are those now living who have heard their 
 fathers tell of the New England Thanksgiving Day a 
 hundred years ago. In the great red farmhouse on 
 the hill, preparations were begun long before the day. 
 The turkey that stalked about the dooryard had been 
 watched with hungry eyes, and fattened with urgent 
 care. Pumpkins had been brought from the cornfield 
 to sun themselves on the woodpile. Ah ! it was a sure 
 sigii of the day's approach ; and they might have de- 
 fended their right to be there without being laughed 
 at by the ancient chronicler's words : " Let no man 
 make a jest at pumpkins, for with this fruit the Lord 
 was pleased to feed his people to their good content 
 till corne and cattel were increased." ^ A goodly 
 supply of all garden vegetables was at hand. Ap- 
 ples and pears, the best in the orchard, had been 
 gathered and hidden away in the dark to mellow. 
 Alas for the feast, if there was not molasses enough 
 
 ^ Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, p. 56. 
 
426 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 to be had ; there could be none without it.^ Stores of 
 raisins and citron had been laid in, so there was some- 
 thing for the girls to do, while the boys looked after 
 the popcorn, which had been seasoning in the wood- 
 shed chamber, or picked up wahiuts under the old 
 shagbark-tree in the pasture. Then there was a deal 
 of work necessary within the house, — the wedding 
 china to be brought out, the brasses all around to be 
 polished, especially the ancestral andirons, and the 
 spare chambers to be set in order, with extemporized 
 beds in every available corner, — all ready for the 
 home-coming. Grandpa and grandma were the reign- 
 ing sovereigns, and their family was a royal one. A 
 thorough-going New Englander in those days had 
 sons enough to use up in the christening all the favor- 
 ite names of the apostles, and then he had to draw on 
 the prophets. How they flocked home ! Peter, the 
 eldest, and his family live on the old homestead. 
 James is up from the city with his city-bred wife and 
 children, — but what is a palace compared to the old 
 home for a Thanksgiving ! Jeremiah has made a pil- 
 grimage thither from the far West, which might then 
 have been in " York State." Matthew, the custom- 
 house officer, and Ezra, the college professor, are 
 there, but " riches and larnin " give no prior titles at 
 that court. The night before Thanksgiving they are 
 all there, and the daughters-in-law have stowed the 
 little ones away in big feather-beds, a dozen, more or 
 less, in each, like sardines, and the youngsters have 
 
 ^ The town of Colchester, Conn., in 1705, voted to put off the 
 Thanksgiving from the first to the second Thursday in November ; 
 and the tradition is well supported that the cause was a delay in 
 receiving a supply of molasses. — Barber's Conn. Hist. Coll., p. 305. 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 427 
 
 gone to their pillow-fight in the attic chambers. 
 Around the huge open fireplace, by the light of its 
 burning logs, those boys of the olden time spin their 
 yarns of childhood's days and crack their jokes, till 
 the laughter changes to tears and they are ready for 
 the evening prayer and the tender good-night. And 
 then, that Thanksgiving morning! It is clear and 
 cold, perhaps the first snow upon the ground, for 
 Boreas was wont to contribute something unusual 
 before the days of weather reports. All the family 
 are at church, — it was expected, and the proper 
 thing, for family religion was on dress parade, — and 
 the gray-haired parson, regardless of the passing time, 
 rises to the occasion in fervent words of gratitude to 
 God for his abundant mercies. Then comes the din- 
 ner, skillfiJly managed by the maiden aunt, God bless 
 her ! — an indispensable condensation of virtue on 
 such occasions, — a dinner not so elaborate as bounti- 
 ful, not so elegant as healtliful. How the children's 
 eyes dance ! even those of the babe in the big board 
 cradle, who has no part nor lot in it. The turkey, 
 of course, is there, crisp and brown, as only one can 
 be which has been slowly roasted before the fire, and 
 basted from the dripping-pan beneath. Vegetables 
 of all sorts load the table, delicacies, too, that have 
 been waiting long for that hour, and nunierous mys- 
 teries of their old-fashioned culinary art. Then there 
 are pies of sundry kinds, the chicken-pie among them, 
 but best of all, — and can we trust our feelings 
 to mention them, — genuine pumpkin-pies baked in 
 square tins, having only four corner pieces to each ! 
 Our Quaker poet remembered them when he wrote 
 his lines, — 
 
428 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 *' Ah ! on Thanksg-iving day, when from East and from West, 
 From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest, 
 When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his hoard 
 The old hroken links of aifection restored. 
 When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, 
 And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before, 
 What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye ? 
 What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie ? '* 
 
 The feast is over at last, and while the women-folks 
 clear the table, the grandsire, his sons, and grandsons 
 make the round of barns and sheds and pens, to re- 
 new old acquaintance with their favorites. Happiness 
 reigns among the youth. They romp over the hay, 
 play hide-and-seek around the buildings, or take a 
 sleigh-ride in the straw-filled sled. Then, as the even- 
 ing shadows fall, there is a grand assembly about the 
 fireplace. How merrily the corn sputters in the pop- 
 per I How familiar the sound of nuts cracked on the 
 hearthstone ! What apples, and competitions in par- 
 ing them without a break in the golden shaving ! The 
 cider flows from the great earthenware pitcher, — it 
 never became old in those days. There are genealo- 
 gies to be explained as Ezra writes up the record in 
 the family Bible, and sombre portraits to be honored, 
 which look down approvingly upon the scene. It is 
 grandpa's patriotic duty to rehearse again the thrill- 
 ing story of Bunker Hill, in full view of the sacred 
 flint-lock, hanging from the deer-horns over the man- 
 telpiece. By and by the young heads begin to nod, 
 and the tallow-dips burn low, warning them that they 
 must separate soon, — too soon. It may not come 
 again, the same Thanksgiving joy, — not to all ; and 
 the sad suspicion solemnizes the family circle, as they 
 all bow there, and, like the sons of Jacob, receive the 
 
LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 429 
 
 sire's blessing. Ah ! those were " good old days " in- 
 deed. May generations yet unborn cherish the pious 
 flavor of that household festival ! He who for some 
 Kght pleasure forsakes it has dishonored the Lares of 
 his ancestors. The descendant of New England, be 
 he there still, on the Western prairie, or across the sea, 
 will evermore turn once a year, with tender feelings, 
 toward the scene, and in so doing he pays his tribute 
 to one of the grandest conceptions of family life known 
 in history. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE PRINTER AND THE PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The student of American history is aware that one 
 of the most interesting fields of research is offered in 
 collections of broadsides. A single sheet of print 
 oftentimes contained news not to be found elsewhere. 
 In time of war it was the extra of the weekly news- 
 paper. It announced events and circulated calimmies 
 as an irresponsible person. Programmes, ballads, po- 
 litical satires, and articles of faith were thus given to 
 the public. The single sheet was most perishable, on 
 account of its own unprotected form, and was also 
 most convenient for wrapping-paper. Some of them 
 were crammed into the Revolutionary musket, and 
 probably then attained their highest mission. So it 
 happens that these stray flyers, of an early date, are 
 known to the collector as " excessively rare." 
 
 The proclamations for fast and thanksgiving days 
 were, during the early years of printing, as now, com- 
 mitted to this form. When it is considered that they 
 contained the action of a general court or a governor 
 and council, which is not always found in their records, 
 even when these survive, the value attaching to them 
 is evident. Of the proclamations issued in broadside 
 form prior to 1750, the vast majority have utterly 
 perished. A file made up from the collections of all 
 the libraries would be far from complete, and it has 
 been a rare experience to find two copies of the same 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION. 431 
 
 proclamation before the American Revolution. But 
 as some may yet come to light, — we write in hope 
 of arresting the destroyer, — and as early proclama- 
 tions may be preserved in private collections, all our 
 remarks must be taken as merely a contribution upon 
 the subject. We record such facts as we have met 
 with in searching libraries or in private collections 
 put at our service, to which doubtless others will be 
 able to add. 
 
 The earliest manner of appointing these days was 
 by a simple order, briefly stating the causes, which 
 was in writing, and signed by the secretary of the 
 colony. This was transmitted to the minister of each 
 town, often by a special messenger, and by him was 
 read to the people. In remote districts the notice 
 was passed from one to another, the minister finding 
 some mode of communication. There are instances 
 on record where all he received was hearsay informa- 
 tion, and sometimes this was too late to secure a gen- 
 eral keeping of the day. In such a case he would 
 appoint a day the week following. Some excused 
 themselves, if the day was impopular, on the ground 
 that they had no notice. The fast in Connecticut, 
 April 18, 1771, was not observed in Fairfield County 
 because the post-rider, knowing, we suspect, what they 
 were, did not deliver the proclamations, on which ac- 
 count he was brought into court. The later colonial 
 proclamation was longer than the early order, being 
 an expansion of the causes by some minister or pious 
 layman. Therefore, as it was at first comparatively 
 brief, as the occasions were frequent, and printing 
 expensive and slow, there was no demand for putting 
 them in print, even though there was a printing-press 
 
432 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 at Cambridge. But after forty years had passed, the 
 number of towns in Massachusetts was greatly in- 
 creased, and the labor of making copies for all the 
 clergymen was considerable. Then a necessity arose 
 for the use of the printing-press. 
 
 All these proclamations were in writing in Con- 
 necticut until 1709. That year Thomas Short set up 
 his press at New London, and it is believed that his 
 first work was the fast day proclamation of June 29, 
 1709, a facsimile of which is given by the courtesy of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society. Only one copy 
 of this is known. It was issued the year before the 
 date of " The Saybrook Platform," — said to be the 
 first book printed in Connecticut, — and only about a 
 month and a half after his contract to do such work 
 went into effect.^ The Acts of the May session were 
 certainly not printed until after those of the June ses- 
 sion, which ended the 11th, and the latter would hardly 
 have anticipated this proclamation relating to the 
 expedition against Canada. Between this time and 
 his death, September 27, 1712, he probably printed 
 about ten proclamations, no copies of which are known 
 to survive. After two years Timothy Green became 
 his successor, and the fast day proclamation Septem- 
 ber 1, 1714, may have been also his first work in 
 Connecticut. A copy is in the Massachusetts Histori- 
 cal Society. Other than these two, no early Connect- 
 icut broadsides are known to us, though for several 
 years after 1723 the proclamations were printed in 
 the " Boston News-Letter," doubtless from the broad- 
 side form. As there were more than fifty such issued 
 during the first twenty-five years of printing in Con- 
 ^ Thomas's Hist, of Printing, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Coll., v. 184, 185. 
 
u 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 > s 
 
 * £ 
 3\ to 
 
 * 13 
 •* u 
 
 
 si I 
 
 *^ tf-* 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 in 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 f o 
 
 is 2 
 
 o 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION, 433 
 
 necticut, the reader can judge as to the rarity of these 
 two stray sheets. 
 
 In Massachusetts the results are quite different. 
 It cannot be affirmed that there were no proclama- 
 tions printed at Cambridge prior to 1670, but in bills 
 for government printing none are mentioned and none 
 of an earlier date have been met with. In the Ar- 
 chives of Massachusetts, at the State House in Bos- 
 ton, there is preserved a broadside, ordering the fast 
 day September 22, 1670.1 If not the first so printed, 
 very few could have preceded it, and as the forerunner 
 of more than two hundred years of Massachusetts 
 fast day broadsides, it is worthy of its place in this 
 volume. In size and style it affords an interesting 
 contrast with that of 1893, printed on the standard 
 sheet 19 by 24 inches, with which the annual fast day 
 was discontinued. The day itself is mentioned in the 
 Dorchester church records and in Hull's Diary. It 
 is not noted in the Colonial Records, being one of 
 many ordered by the governor and council. Though 
 no printer's name is attached, the work was done by the 
 well-known Samuel Green, of Cambridge, grandfather 
 of the above-mentioned Timothy Green. He was then 
 printer to the government, and this is proven to have 
 been from his press by the headpiece, which was used 
 in certain books having his imprint, for instance in 
 " The Life and Death of that Reverend Man of God, 
 Mr. Richard Mather," printed that same year by " S. 
 Green and M. Johnson." The second broadside 
 known is in the possession of the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Society. It is for a thanksgiving, June 29, 
 1676, and a facsimile of this also is introduced both 
 
 ^ Mass. Arch. , x. 17. 
 
434 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 on this account and because of its relation to the story 
 of King Philip's war. It is the earliest broadside 
 known ordering a thanksgiving day, and a special 
 interest attaches to it. This also was issued by the 
 governor and council. Another pubhc thanksgiving 
 was kept that year, on the 9th of November, by the 
 authority of the General Court, and the proclamation 
 was printed in broadside form, as we infer from the 
 reprint of it in the New England Register, which 
 differs slightly from the same in the Colonial Re- 
 cords.i A search for the original broadside has not 
 been successful. The next is for the fast June 6, 
 1678, appointed by the General Court, also in the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society. In appearance it 
 resembles the last, though the width of the print is 
 less by three fourths of an inch, and the length by two 
 inches. Two others complete the list of those issued 
 under the old charter. One is for the reformation 
 fast December 11, 1679, in the Connecticut Histori- 
 cal Society, and the other is for a fast April 21, 
 1681, in the American Antiquarian Society. Both 
 of these were ordered by the General Court. Neither 
 of them, however, nor the one preceding, are men- 
 tioned in the Colonial Records. Three fasts within 
 the space of three years, which are altogether omitted 
 from the records of the body which appointed them ! 
 If any further evidence is needed to show how im- 
 perfect a list must be which is made up from the 
 Colonial Records, it is in this summary, that such a 
 list would not include one of the days named in these 
 five early broadsides. At this time doubtless all the 
 proclamations were printed. The Colonial Records 
 1 N, E. Gen. Beg., ii. 201 ; Mass. Col. Bee, v. 130. 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION, 435 
 
 furnish proof that seven were besides these, and three 
 more are recorded elsewhere, evidently from a print.^ 
 Hence sixteen were certainly issued in broadside. 
 During the years from 1670 to 1685 at least fifty 
 public fast and thanksgiving days were kept in the 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony. The broadsides of only 
 five of these are known to be extant ; that is, only one 
 out of ten has survived the destroyer. All these were 
 doubtless printed at Cambridge by Samuel Green. 
 The type is similar to that of the Laws and Orders 
 which he issued for the government, and he would 
 most likely print also the proclamations. 
 
 One feature is deserving of special notice, namely, 
 the impression of the colonial seal at the top of the 
 sheet, lacking only in the first. Of this two different 
 woodcuts were employed, which can be easily distin- 
 guished, the Indian in the earlier having a feminine 
 appearance and a skirt about the loins, while in the 
 later the Indian wears a covering of leaves and the trees 
 are larger, evidently pines. The feminine characteristic 
 was probably due to a lack of skill on the part of the 
 engraver, who improved his work in several respects in 
 making the second cut. In Blake's " Annals of Dor- 
 chester," " he that made the then Seal or Arms of y® 
 Colony " is said to have been John Foster, who was 
 an engraver, and began printing in Boston in 1675, 
 continuing until his death in 1681.^ This might 
 raise the question whether Foster did not print some 
 of these broadsides. Yet both cuts were certainly in 
 the possession of Samuel Green, and were employed 
 
 1 Mass. Col Bee, v. 131, 156, 324, 371, 377, 388, 463; Dor. chh. 
 rec, p. 71 ; Sewall's Diary, i. 84 ; Mather's King Philip^ s War, p. 93. 
 
 2 See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, I. vol. x. pp. 94-104 ; II. vol. iv. 
 p. 204. 
 
436 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 in printing the Laws and Orders, also issued on single 
 sheets. Foster may have borrowed one to use in con- 
 nection with Mather's " History of King Philip's War," 
 but both were in existence before that work was pub- 
 lished. The earlier first appears in the Colonial Laws 
 of 1672, facing the title-page, which leads to the be- 
 lief that Green had no cut when he printed the pro- 
 clamation of 1670. This continued in use till 1675-6, 
 when the second was made, and this can be traced 
 down to 1691, being in Green's possession ten years 
 after Foster's death. The proclamation of 1676 shows 
 the earlier cut, as does also that of 1678, probably be- 
 cause the other was in use at the time in printing some 
 law. The later cut was employed in the proclamations 
 of 1679 and 1681. We conclude, therefore, that the 
 lost proclamations before 1672 resembled that of 1670, 
 that between 1672 and 1676 they were much like the 
 thanksgiving broadside of the latter year, and that 
 thereafter, so long as the seal was used, they were like 
 the proclamation of 1679. 
 
 Four other Massachusetts broadsides are known 
 prior to 1700. The first is for the fast September 
 19, 1689, among the Hutchinson manuscripts in the 
 State Archives, the day being ordered by the council, 
 which had resumed authority. The second is for the 
 fast, March 6, 1689-90, appointed by the General 
 Court met at Charlestown by adjournment on the 12th 
 of February ; it is in the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society. Isaac Addington was then the secretary, 
 and his signature is af&xed. The colonial seal is of 
 course lacking, and the type is of another font. Pos- 
 sibly both these were printed by Samuel Green, Jr., 
 of Boston, son of Samuel of Cambridge and father of 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION, 437 
 
 Timothy of New London. He then did work for the 
 government, and a considerable sum was due him at 
 his death in July, 1690. The third is a fast proclama- 
 tion for May 7, 1691, by the council, and is preserved 
 in the State Archives.^ It has been mutilated, appar- 
 ently, by cutting out the impression of the seal, and if 
 so, this was one of the last Massachusetts broadsides 
 which bore it. The cut was last in the possession of 
 Samuel Green, Sr., and the type appears to have been 
 his. Perhaps the fire at Boston, which had destroyed 
 the press of Bartholomew Green, successor to his bro- 
 ther, Samuel Green, Jr., was the reason why this one 
 was printed at Cambridge. The fourth is for the 
 thanksgiving July 14, 1692, one of the first acts of 
 the provincial government. This is in the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society. It is signed by the secre- 
 tary, Isaac Addington, and has no impression of the 
 royal arms, as we might expect. Benjamin Harris, 
 of Boston, was at that time " Printer to the Governor 
 and Council," and issued the Acts and Laws of the 
 session which ordered the day. It may be assumed 
 to have been from his press. We have enumerated 
 in all nine early Massachusetts broadsides. These 
 constitute a group by themselves, in size, typography, 
 and style of composition. AU savor of colonial days, 
 the circumstances under which they were kept per- 
 meating them, and possibly no two were drawn up by 
 the same person. 
 
 The broadsides of the provincial period are very 
 different in all respects. In composition the procla- 
 mation is a formal, stilted, official affair. The days 
 had passed into annual observance, which gave a same- 
 
 ^ Mass. Archives, xi. 58. 
 
438 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ness to the proclamations extending even to the print- 
 ing. From 1693 on, for forty years, Bartholomew 
 Green was the " Printer to the Governor and Council," 
 and, though none of his early broadsides have been 
 found, he would naturally soon adopt a convenient 
 size, with faced type similar to that used in England. 
 The royal arms, which he used in 1693 in printing 
 laws, would have been the headpiece, and the words 
 " God save the King " would have been his conclusion. 
 Strange to say, we have not met with any collection of 
 these broadsides printed before 1740. Only three are 
 known to us, as follows : that for October 26, 1721, a 
 thanksgiving, in the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 with a duplicate in the Rhode Island Historical So- 
 ciety ; that for the thanksgiving. November 28, 1723, 
 in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth ; and that for the spring 
 fast April 2, 1730, in the collection of the American 
 Antiquarian Society at Worcester. During these 
 years many were printed in the "Boston News-Letter," 
 but it is a misfortune that so few are extant in the 
 broadside form. These three are similar in style, and 
 probably fair samples of those which have disap- 
 peared. That of 1721 is printed on a sheet about 12 
 by 16, has the royal arms, the legend " God save the 
 King," and the printer's name, Bartholomew Green. 
 The signature is " Samuel Shute, Governor." There 
 was little variation from this standard down to the 
 American Revolution, and though a complete file of 
 broadsides after 1750. could not be made up, the ma- 
 jority are extant as shown in the Calendar. After 
 the death of Green, December 28, 1732, his successor 
 in business and honors was John Draper, who in turn 
 was followed by his son Richard at his death, Novem- 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION 439 
 
 ber 29, 1762, and Richard Draper did the work until 
 his death, June 6, 1774 ; so that all the broadsides 
 from 1693 to 1774 were printed in one estabhslunent 
 by three men. In 1771 the size was slightly changed, 
 and the words " Massachusetts Bay " were sometimes 
 printed at the left of the royal arms. 
 
 There came a time, however, when Thomas Hutch- 
 inson got tlirough making proclamations in Boston, 
 and then the broadside was suddenly put into very 
 democratic homespun. The earliest of this group 
 was issued by the Provincial Congress for the thanks- 
 giving December 15, 1774, and was signed by " John 
 Hancock, President." Of course the arms and legend 
 are missing. It has the plain heading '' In Provincial 
 Congress, Cambridge, October 22, 1774." Tlu-ough- 
 out the Revolution these broadsides vary greatly in ap- 
 pearance. Different kinds of paper were used, various 
 styles of type, and they had no standard size, ranging 
 from an 8 by 12 sheet to one 15 by 20. The printer's 
 name was not given as formerly. Benjamin Edes, 
 while at Watertown, issued those for July 20 and No- 
 vember 23, 1775, and he probably printed others after- 
 wards. In place of the arms we note in that for 
 March 7, 1776, the words " Colony of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay," and after the Declaration of Independence 
 this was altered to " State of Massachusetts Bay." 
 In 1779 it became " State of Massachusetts," and 
 in 1781 " Commonwealth of Massachusetts." What 
 seemed to exercise the authors most was the proper 
 substitute for the legend " God save the King." Be- 
 fore independence was declared, they wrote " God save 
 the People." The proclamation which was issued upon 
 that memorable day July 4, 1776, had "God save 
 
440 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 America." The next had " God save the United 
 States of America," which was usual thereafter, 
 though we note also " God save the People," " God 
 save the People of the United States," and " God save 
 the American States." This series of Revolutionary 
 proclamations is in every respect the most interesting 
 since colonial days. 
 
 The proclamation for the fast day April 15, 1784, 
 set the present style of Massachusetts broadsides, 
 though the sheet was only 15 by 20, the larger one 
 now used having been adopted in 1800. It had at 
 the top an impression of the state seal, various cuts of 
 which have been used since, showing nearly as great 
 diversity as those of Connecticut, and at the bottom 
 appeared for the first time the familiar words : '' God 
 save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." This 
 was printed by Adams and Nourse, who in course of 
 time were succeeded by Thomas Adams, Adams and 
 Larkin, Young and Minns, Russell and Cutler, and 
 others. These did not vary the style except in the 
 seal and a double-column arrangement. Governors 
 Eustis in 1824, and Banks in 1860, changed the fash- 
 ion, reducing the size ; but their successors. Governors 
 Lincoln and Andrew, returned to the ancient form, 
 which Massachusetts authorities have adhered to with 
 commendable loyalty. 
 
 This description of Massachusetts broadsides leaves 
 less to be said in reference to Connecticut proclama- 
 tions. In addition to the two already noted, only 
 three are known back of 1754 : the fast of 1733 and 
 the thanksgivings of 1743 and 1744. These are 
 quite similar to their contemporaries in Massachu- 
 setts, following the English style in size and type. 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION. 441 
 
 Timothy Green, of New London, was still the printer, 
 and continued to be throughout this period. After 
 the year 1754, however, a goodly number of Con- 
 necticut broadsides are extant. The collections of 
 the Connecticut Historical Society, Yale College, and 
 Hon. Charles J. Hoadly, state librarian, courteously 
 put at our service, would together make up an excel- 
 lent though incomplete file. These vary greatly in size, 
 type, and especially in the impression of the royal 
 arms and state seal. The reason is, they were from 
 different presses. Timothy Green was succeeded by 
 his son Timothy, and he in 1763 by his nephew Tim- 
 othy, all of whom printed some broadsides. At New 
 Haven, James Parker and Company set up a press 
 in 1754, to whom Benjamin Mecom succeeded in 
 1764, and he in turn was followed by Samuel Green 
 in 1767, being soon joined by his brother Thomas 
 in the firm Thomas and Samuel Green, which later 
 became Thomas Green and Son. All these printed 
 broadsides. Thomas Green went from Hartford, 
 where he had been connected with Ebenezer Watson, 
 who continued the business until his death in 1777, 
 liis wife, Hannah Watson, keeping up the establish- 
 ment with George Goodwin until she married Bar- 
 zillai Hudson, when the fu-m became Hudson and 
 Goodwin. All these printed broadsides. Meigs and 
 Dana, of New Haven, issued the thanksgiving procla- 
 mation of 1786. One certainly, in 1794, was the 
 work of Moses H. Woodward, of Middletown, and 
 probably the fast of 1796 was by Collier and Buel, of 
 Litchfield. Elisha Babcock, of Hartford, also printed 
 several. Thus there were more than a dozen imprints 
 of broadsides before 1800. That press which was 
 
442 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 most convenient when the proclamation was issued 
 usually printed it, and as each had its style of type 
 and cut of the arms or seal, the broadsides make as 
 interesting an exhibit of early Connecticut printing 
 as can be gathered. Unlike Massachusetts, the royal 
 arms and the words " God save the King " were not 
 omitted until after the Declaration of Independence. 
 Nor was it necessary for the council to issue or sign 
 any as in Massachusetts, — " Brother Jonathan " being 
 eminently qualified for the task. Both States had 
 their individual proclamations as well as those order- 
 ing a day named by the Congress, in the latter case 
 the national resolution being either prefixed or ap- 
 pended. Throughout the first half of the present 
 century the broadside was of large size, which Gov- 
 ernor Trumbull had adopted with the thanksgiving of 
 1783. But about 1850 it was reduced, and under 
 Governor Buckingham it assumed the present folio 
 form. 
 
 In the year 1693 William Bradford began printing 
 proclamations in New York. The earliest one for a 
 fast or thanksgiving day we have seen is in the State 
 Archives at Albany, and is for the fast, March 27, 
 1696.1 It has his imprmt, and is an excellent speci- 
 men of his work. The headpiece is the royal arms, 
 and the usual legend is at the bottom. The type is 
 good. In size it is somewhat larger than what had 
 been customary in the Massachusetts Colony, but the 
 same as a proclamation upon another subject printed 
 by him in 1693.' Probably it fairly represents all 
 the early broadsides in New York. Soon afterwards 
 he printed a thanksgiving proclamation for Jime 4, 
 
 ^ Governor Fletcher^ xl. 133. 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION. 443 
 
 1696, the day celebrated on account of his Majesty's 
 deliverance " from the base and horrid conspiracy s 
 and plotts of His enemies." ^ This is also in the State 
 Archives, and two more which he printed the next 
 year, all being quite similar in appearance. 
 
 The history of printing in New Hampshire begins 
 with the year 1756, when Daniel Fowle set up his 
 press at Portsmouth. Probably he printed the broad- 
 sides from that time, but we have seen none earlier 
 than that of May 21, 1766. From that date on to 
 1786 a very good collection is preserved in the Mas- 
 sachusetts Historical Society, to which several could 
 be added by the New Hampshire Historical Society, 
 the American Antiquarian Society, and the Secretary 
 of State. Before the Revolution the size and style 
 were similar to those of Massachusetts, but when 
 paper became scarce they were made smaller. Daniel 
 Fowle took his nephew Robert into partnership in 
 1764, and all broadsides down to 1769 bore the im- 
 print of " Daniel and Robert Fowle," though they 
 issued some afterward which were without the print- 
 er's name. When they separated in 1774, the latter 
 set up a press at Exeter, and shared with Robert 
 Fowle the state printing. Both imprints occur in 
 
 1776. Zachariah Fowle was successor at Exeter in 
 
 1777, and Lamson and Raulet issued one in 1786. 
 In 1785 both Melcher and Osborne and Robert Ger- 
 rish, of Portsmouth, printed proclamations, and the 
 latter for years afterward. 
 
 It is quite probable that in Rhode Island some of 
 those occasional days, kept before the Revolution, 
 were proclaimed in the broadside print. Work of a 
 
 ^ Governor Fletcher, xl. p. 164. 
 
444 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 like character was done for the government both at 
 Providence and Newport ; but we know of no collec- 
 tion of such broadsides, and the earliest met with is 
 for the thanksgiving December 13, 1781, which has 
 no peculiar features. John Carter, of Providence, was 
 the printer, as for some time afterward. The imprint 
 of Carter and Wilkinson is noted in 1795, and the 
 thanksgiving broadside of 1797 has '' Warren : Printed 
 by Nathaniel Phillips, Printer to the State." 
 
 A few early Vermont broadsides are extant, but no 
 collection has been made even by the State, and no 
 file is preserved. The fast proclamation of June 18, 
 1777, is in manuscript, and no press had been estab- 
 lished there at that time. We do not know that the 
 national fast and thanksgiving proclamations of the 
 next two years were reprinted at all, though Alden 
 Spooner was then "Printer to the State of Vermont." 
 In 1781 Spooner and Green were located at West- 
 minster, and they may have printed the broadside for 
 the thanksgiving December 6, which was in the Brin- 
 ley Library.^ It is, like its contemporaries, without 
 seal, having at the bottom the words " God save the 
 People." Hough and Spooner, of Windsor, were later 
 the state printers. Broadsides for April 27, 1785, 
 and November 27, 1788, are in the Brooks Library 
 at Brattleboro. 
 
 The day will come when all these early broadsides 
 of New England will be of greatest interest. As mere 
 curiosities of the ancient time, they have a recognized 
 value. Their story is simply told in the appearance 
 which they present, in which the progress of printing 
 is written, the history of paper-making and the chan- 
 1 Brinley Cat, No. 8912. 
 
PRINTER AND PROCLAMATION. 445 
 
 ging styles of type. They show the devastation of war 
 and the thrift of peace in their very fibre. In them 
 the record is made of calamities and deliverances 
 which exercised the spirits of the fathers, and they 
 declare with the force of contemporaries the current 
 opinion of political events. A few only survive of 
 many thousands once fresh, but now withered and scat- 
 tered leaves. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 
 
 On the 16tli of March, 1894, the annual Fast Day 
 was abolished in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 Such action was favored by the vast majority of her 
 Christian citizens of all denominations, and met with 
 no organized opposition from any source. It had long 
 been evident that the religious significance of the day 
 had departed ; but so strongly intrenched was the an- 
 cient institution in the life of the people, that continued 
 discussion, repeated memorials, and the recommen- 
 dation of successive governors were necessary to ac- 
 complish at last its overthrow. In the superficial 
 view, the action taken seemed to show a disregard for 
 a religious custom of the fathers, and to discountenance 
 the practice of fasting ; but in reality it had no such 
 purpose and could produce no such effect. The insti- 
 tution had two elements. It was both a day for re- 
 ligious worship and a civil holiday. These were 
 divorced. The churches, having come to prefer the 
 crucifixion of Christ rather than the natural blessings 
 of the season as the central idea of their humiliation, 
 were left to their liberty to reconstruct a new fast 
 day, dependent wholly upon religious fervor for its 
 sanctity. The State dealt with the civil holiday, and 
 as such it substituted therefor the Nineteenth of 
 April. Hence the statement that " Patriots' Day " 
 
RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 447 
 
 has taken the place of the Fast Day in Massachusetts 
 demands qualification. 
 
 On the 11th of April, 1894, his Excellency, Gov- 
 ernor Frederic T. Greenhalge, issued a proclamation, 
 in the usual broadside form, recommending the first 
 observance of April 19, a day which has certainly been 
 memorable in the history of Massachusetts. In this 
 he says : — 
 
 " This is a day rich with historical and significant events 
 which are precious in the eyes of patriots. It may well be called 
 Patriots' Day. On this day in 1775, at Lexington and Concord, 
 was begun the great War of the Revolution ; on this day in 
 1783, just eight years afterward, the cessation of the war and 
 the triumph of independence was formally proclaimed ; and on 
 this day in 1861 the first blood was shed in the war for the 
 Union. Thus the day is grand with the memories of the mighty 
 struggles which in one instance brought Liberty and in the other 
 Union to the country. It is fitting, therefore, that the day 
 should be celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Liberty 
 and Union. Let the day be dedicated, then, to solemn, religious, 
 and patriotic services, which may adequately express our deep 
 sense of the trials and tribulations of the patriots of the earlier 
 and of the latter days, and especially our gratitude to Almighty 
 God, who crowned the heroic struggles of the founders and pre- 
 servers of our country with victory and peace." 
 
 It should not be forgotten among those who mil 
 celebrate this day as the years roll by, that there 
 were patriots also in 1689, who upon that same 19th 
 of April gathered in haste at Boston and brought to 
 a successful issue the overthrow of Sir Edmund An- 
 dros by the surrender of the Castle, to which he was 
 that day committed. But another coincidence deserves 
 to be remembered in this connection. It has been 
 shown that the annual fast day in Massachusetts be- 
 gan with the 19th of April, 1694. The institution. 
 
448 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 therefore, survived exactly two hundred years, and 
 upon the same day of the third century there was inau- 
 gurated the celebration of a new holiday in its place. 
 Surely the change could not have been made at a more 
 fitting time ; and in Patriots' Day itself, now crowned 
 with immortality, the genius of history has designed a 
 friendly monument to an ancient custom, which has 
 served well the commonwealth in past generations. 
 
 The proposal to abolish Fast Day dates so far back 
 as 1855, and perhaps farther. That year the Salem 
 Association of Congregational Ministers discussed the 
 subject, to which they were moved in part by the oc- 
 currence of Good Friday on April 6, the day after 
 the annual fast. Since then the movement has been 
 revived from time to time by sundry ecclesiastical 
 bodies, and notably at Salem, which was appropriate. 
 In the spring of 1892 it assumed definite shape in a 
 memorial originating with the Essex Congregational 
 Club, signed by prominent representatives of various 
 religious denominations and of colleges within the 
 State, and addressed to Governor WiUiam E. Russell, 
 by whom, with other like petitions, the same was trans- 
 mitted to the legislature with a brief message on the 
 31st of May. This Memorial suggested the establish- 
 ment of a new holiday and the leaving of the sacred 
 purposes of the fast day "to be accomplished by the 
 observance of Good Friday as a church religious fast 
 day independent of all state control or authority." 
 The matter having been referred to the next legisla- 
 ture, the governor called special attention to it in his 
 inaugural address of 1893, in which he recommended 
 that " the secular duties of the State " be severed 
 from " the spiritual obligations of the churches " by 
 
RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 449 
 
 providing another legal holiday, — for which the 19th 
 of April was suggested, — " leaving to voluntary action 
 the recognition and reverent observance either of the 
 religious fast of Good Friday or of such other day of 
 fasting, humiliation, and prayer as the various churches 
 and religious communities in the Commonwealth may 
 at any time appoint for themselves." A considerable 
 majority, however, in the House of Representatives 
 voted against the measure and it failed. Only a few 
 days afterward, Governor Russell issued his fast day 
 proclamation appointing the 6th of April, which 
 brought the subject in vigorous terms into general no- 
 tice. It proved to be the last annual fast day procla- 
 mation in Massachusetts, and the body of the text is 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Whereas, our pious ancestors established the custom of set- 
 ting apart by public authority a day of fasting, humiliation and 
 prayer to God, that the whole people might thereon, in public 
 and private, unite in such holy service and devotion to their 
 Creator as the day, alike in its name and purpose, suggested; 
 And whereas, long-continued usage now requires the annual ap- 
 pointment of such a day, although it has ceased to be devoted 
 generally to the purposes of its origin, but is appropriated and 
 used as a holiday, for purposes at variance with its origin, its 
 name and its solemn character ; And whereas, this day iS recog- 
 nized in the Statutes of the Commonwealth and set apart as a 
 holiday, and recent legislative action has decided that no change 
 is to be made in regard to it ; it therefore becomes my official 
 duty now to appoint a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer. 
 Accordingly, with the advice and consent of the Council, I do 
 hereby appoint Thursday, the sixth day of April next, as the 
 day to be devoted to such purposes. It is for the people of the 
 Commonwealth to determine whether this day shall be observed 
 in conformity with the high and holy purposes for which it has 
 been instituted and is appointed, or whether it shall be a formal 
 fast by proclamation, to which the great body of the community 
 of a Christian State gives neither heed, support, nor service." 
 
450 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Again in 1894 the subject was referred to in the 
 inaugural address of Governor Frederic T. Green- 
 halge, who supported the recommendations of his pre- 
 decessor. Meanwhile the Lexington Historical So- 
 ciety had taken the matter in hand, and by a circular 
 and other means had succeeded in kindling a public 
 interest in the historic Nineteenth of April. To the 
 propriety of celebrating this day the fmal action was 
 largely due. A bill was drafted entitled " An Act to 
 abolish Fast Day and to make the Nineteenth Day of 
 April a Legal Holiday," covering all the pomts neces- 
 sary to accomplish the change, and after full discus- 
 sion, it was passed by a larger majority than had the 
 year before defeated the measure. On the 16th of 
 March the governor affixed his signature, and the pen 
 which thus bade farewell to the fast day of Massa- 
 chusetts was presented to the Lexington Historical 
 Society. 
 
 The main aro^iment which has been at all times of- 
 fered against this action of Massachusetts has been 
 that the ' annual fast day was an institution of the 
 fathers. It has been shown that this is untrue as to 
 those who lived under the privileges of the first char- 
 ter. The right, which was given to the churches 
 by the earliest law enacted on the subject, and which 
 they persistently claimed and exercised, — that of ap- 
 pointing such days for humihation as they thought 
 proper, — still remains to them. If we may assume 
 that Massachusetts will still keep special fasts, either 
 in company with sister States or in response to her 
 own governor, as she did during the civil war, then in 
 principle this action has been but a return to the cus- 
 toms of those who founded that conunonwealth. On 
 
RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 451 
 
 the other hand, though it has released the churches 
 from allegiance to the fast day as appointed by civil 
 authority, it has laid upon them the responsibility of 
 re-creating in a new form an institution wh^ch has 
 always been vital to religious life. The force which 
 has wrought most effectively to bring about the change 
 has been the Christian regard for the crucifixion day, 
 and this is the truth which alone has power to revive 
 sincere humiliation in the hearts of men. To this the 
 people of Massachusetts have tacitly pledged them- 
 selves in seeking the abolishing of Fast Day. The 
 State has furthered their purpose so far as it could, 
 and it has left reUgious bodies and Christian people 
 to do the rest. 
 
 It remains to be seen what influence, if any, the 
 action of Massachusetts will have upon the other New 
 England States. The situation is the same in Maine, 
 New Hampshire, and Vermont, where the fast day is 
 a civil holiday and not appointed upon Good Friday. 
 There also the tendency is apparent, especially in 
 cities, to observe the natural fast day of the Christian 
 year. It is doubtful if as good a substitute could be 
 found for the spring holiday, which has a strong hold 
 upon the people, as the Nineteenth of April, into the 
 celebration of which they could not be expected to en- 
 ter with the ardor of Massachusetts. Without such 
 a substitute the probability of a change is greatly de- 
 creased. New Hampshire as a State kept the earliest 
 Good Friday fast days in New England, and her peo- 
 ple might not be averse to returning to that historic 
 precedent. The churches within these States will 
 doubtless become more and more favorable to the re- 
 ligious uses of Good Friday, and the future action 
 
452 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 would seem to be reduced to a choice between the ex- 
 ample of Connecticut or Massachusetts. 
 
 In Connecticut the conditions are different from 
 those which have prevailed in Massachusetts. In the 
 former State the annual fast has been set upon Good 
 Friday for nearly a century. It may be fairly pre- 
 sumed, too, that the State which originated annual 
 appointments wiU have some reluctance to forsake its 
 ancient custom. Some at least will see little reason 
 for any change, as no modification of the present civil 
 practice can materially affect the religious purposes of 
 the day. During the last twenty-five years the gen- 
 eral tendency to return to the Christian year has 
 wrought efficiently among tlie churches for the recovery 
 of the spirit of the day. The common theme is not 
 the springtime season, but the crucifixion of Christ. 
 In form only is it the civil fast day. Formerly it was 
 the annual fast appointed upon Good Friday ; it has 
 come to be Good Friday, sanctioned by the State's 
 authority and by it made a legal holiday. It would 
 seem to be wise to allow time for this renewed interest 
 in Christian bodies to develop. They only can make 
 the day of religious profit to the community, and in 
 this they are not hindered by its civil relations. It 
 has been suggested that the governor should discon- 
 tinue the issuing of the usual proclamation. This 
 feature is, true enough, a remnant of the union of 
 church and state ; but unless it can be shown to be 
 harmful it may properly claim respect because of 
 its age, and it might be made a means of good. If 
 the churches of a Christian commonwealth are agreed 
 as to the propriety of observing Good Friday as a re- 
 ligious festival, a public proclamation of the day and 
 
RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 453 
 
 its purposes cannot be an offense to any. There is 
 something to be said in favor of this recognition of 
 the occasion by the State, and certainly the religious 
 design is not impeded by it. The validity of the 
 complaint lies not so much against the fact of civil 
 proclamations, as it does agamst their character, since 
 they have degenerated into a mere form of words, 
 which does not command the respect of Christian peo- 
 ple. A proclamation which is not in sympathy with 
 the religious community which is urged to heed it 
 needs reformation quite as much as the people. 
 
 We may fairly sum up the whole matter in this 
 statement, — the real question is whether it is better 
 to have the Good Friday fast a legal holiday or not. 
 In the one case it must run the risk of being used for 
 recreation and amusements, in the other it will cer- 
 tainly be filled with employments and traffic. In both 
 cases the observance is voluntary. Tliis is precisely 
 the present difference between Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut ; and it remains to be proven that it is 
 easier to win people from their business to worship on 
 Good Friday than from their pleasures. It is con- 
 ceded that the day is celebrated to a large extent in 
 Connecticut as a day of pleasure, but it is not dese- 
 crated in this by one who recognizes it only as a holi- 
 day. \t is desecrated by Christian people who accept 
 it as a holy day. They have come to this largely 
 through the habit of considering it as a worn-out 
 springtime fast day, and doubtless this will decrease 
 as the movement toward its recognition as the cruci- 
 fixion day gains strength. It is a fair contest between 
 the church with its holy day and the world with its 
 holiday ; and we fail to see how abolishing the latter 
 
454 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 will assist the former. Every day wliieh finds public 
 favor is likely to be set apart from labor ; and such 
 has been the result wherever Good Friday has been 
 adopted. Many European countries regard it as a 
 holiday. Even the municipal authorities of New 
 York have so recognized it upon more than one oc- 
 casion. Every ritualistic church which glorifies the 
 day in its services, making it preeminently a day for 
 worship, at the same time assists in releasing the peo- 
 ple from labor. The objection is, therefore, not so 
 much against having it a holiday, as it is against the 
 dissipating uses to which all holy days are liable. 
 And as to this, whatever the laws and customs may be, 
 its proper observance, like the keeping of the Sabbath, 
 must finally be left to the people themselves. Public 
 sentiment must be educated. The churches must 
 themselves show a regard for the occasion ; and, with 
 the united influence of ecclesiastical authorities so di- 
 verse as the Congregational and Roman Catholic, it 
 would be strange indeed if the needed reform could 
 not be effected. 
 
 The observance of Good Friday is only one feature 
 of a much larger subject, — the return to the Chris- 
 tian year. Days which our Puritan fathers would 
 not keep, and which, it must be conceded, they had 
 some reason to disregard, have come to be adopted in 
 all Christian denominations. Christmas, Good Friday, 
 Easter, and Whitsunday, which stand for the great 
 facts of Christianity, have won a new favor by their 
 merit, and have been restored to preeminence in the 
 great catholic church. Those evils which were once 
 connected with them, and against which the Puritans 
 of Queen Elizabeth's time so vigorously protested, 
 
RETURN TO THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 455 
 
 have been reformed ; and even in those communions 
 which have maintained their observance through the 
 intervening centuries, these days are not what they 
 once were. The life of Him in whose honor they were 
 instituted has revived their spiritual significance. 
 The clouds of superstition have passed away, and the 
 sunlight sheds its glory upon those summits which 
 were raised heavenward in the creation of a Christian 
 world. The day will come, and we write to speed it, 
 when these religious festivals will be sanctioned by 
 those who meet in assemblies, conferences, synods, 
 and councils ; and will be by their churches no less 
 reverently esteemed, though commemorated in an- 
 other form of worship, than among those who ac- 
 knowledge the authority of a bishop or the supremacy 
 of the Pope. They furnish a basis for Christian 
 unity, more practical than organisms or creeds; and 
 elevate a unity of life above that of form. As the 
 feasts of Christ they assume a legitimate royalty in 
 the Christian year. The honor due the saints fades 
 away in their presence, as stars that are hidden in the 
 brighter light of other Imninaries. 
 
 The descendants of the early Puritans have by in- 
 heritance an interest in the reverent keeping of these 
 festivals. It was the proposition of their own fathers 
 when Puritanism was in its infancy. The cycle of 
 events has brought us back to the convocation of 
 1562, and that compromise which was then ignomin- 
 iously buried by the vote of one proxy has come si- 
 lently to a resurrection. The spiritual children of the 
 Pilgrims, the legatees of the later Puritans, and the 
 followers of all those sects which arose during that era 
 of separation, can properly and honorably rest their 
 
456 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 present practice upon that event, and claim historic 
 fellowship with the system which their fathers sought 
 then to establish. After the lapse of more than three 
 centuries the Christian world has accepted the pro- 
 posal to keep " The Feasts of Christ." 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 A THANKSGIVING ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 Evidence has come to light since the foregoing pages 
 were in type, which supports the belief that the Pilgrims ob- 
 served a thanksgiving upon their arrival at Plymouth, and is 
 of sufficient importance to merit this added record. 
 
 The family Bible of William White, the Pilgrim, — a 
 " Breeches Bible " of 1588, — has lately been identified through 
 some marginal notes which it contains relating to the Mayflower 
 company. The later history of the volume is unknown to the 
 present possessor, Mr. S. W. Cowles, of Hartford, Conn. Its 
 early ownership is indicated by such entries as the following : 
 " William White his Book 1608," elsewhere " 1619 ; " " At 
 Amsterdam Holland. April. Anno Domini 1608 ; " " Leyden Hol- 
 land March 1609 ; " " Left Delf thaven in Holland. Sailed for 
 Southampton, August 1620 ; " " William White Sailed from 
 Plymouth in y* Ship Mayflower y" 6*^ day of September Anno 
 Domini 1620. Nov y* 9*^ came to the harbour called Cape 
 Cod ; " " Landed y' Plymouth December y" 11*^ 1620." After 
 the death of William White, the book was given in 1623, by 
 Susanna White [Winslow], to William Brewster, — who, by the 
 bye, is said to have been at " Emanuel College, England " — and 
 it is, perhaps, the one noted in the inventory of his estate as " 1 
 English bible lattin letter, 0.08.00." It seems also to have made 
 several voyages : " This book in y® dauntless ship, and brought 
 back for William Brewster, 1622-3 ; " " We took this book 
 with our Company on board y* ship Lion 18*^ July A. D. 1632." 
 At one lime it may have been in the possession of John How- 
 land, for the following entries are made : " John Howland 
 landed y* Boston in ye harbor Sep* 21'' 1627 and joined our 
 company y* New Plymouth colony. John Howland married 
 Katharain Tilley grand darter of John Carver governer apointed 
 Anno Domini 1620 of Plymouth now called New Plymouth. 
 Infant Sonne Born to John and Katherain Howland y* Six 
 o.clock morning Nov. ye 23. Anno Domini 1629." 
 
458 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Several facts in the preceding notes have been hitherto un- 
 known. Others are added to them, such as these : " Y* Ship May- 
 flower, departed from us 'in y* month of — March y' 12**' 1621 ; " 
 " John Carver. Sonne of James Carver, Lincolnshier Yeoman. 
 Called by y" grace of God Governor of our Colony Dec y* 10'** 
 1620 for one year ; " " Plymouth 1621 Sabbath y* ye new meeting 
 house on the hill. This day We sang Psalms and hymns to y* 
 Praise of God." These items of Pilgrim history could hardly 
 have been recent inventions, and there is an internal probability 
 of the truth of some of them, however difBcult it may be to 
 harmonize others with Bradford's statements. The handwriting 
 and the ink, as we think, show that the entries were made in the 
 seventeenth century. Some have been traced over an older 
 hand, which may account for some errors. Surely the record 
 that John Rowland married the " grand darter " of Carver was 
 made before the discovery of Bradford's history, which dispelled 
 the tradition that he married the governor's daughter, and 
 must therefore have been made with an older tradition in mind 
 or by some one who knew the fact. On the other hand it is 
 quite certain that all the entries were not contemporaneous with 
 the events. It could not have been >vritten in 1627 that John 
 Rowland landed at " Boston ; " and possibly the apparent date 
 when *' they chose or rather confirmed " Carver as governor, 
 given as December 10, 1620, may be due to an error of punctu- 
 ation in the first edition of Mourt's Relation, which makes the 
 10th Saturday instead of Sunday. We conclude that this Bible 
 contains veritable and valuable historical data, recorded within 
 the lives of the Pilgrims and by those who participated in their ^ 
 experiences. f 
 
 But leaving many critical points to others, and commending 
 the perplexing problems of family history to the genealogist, we 
 turn to one entry which has an important place in our subject. 
 It is as follows : " William White Maried on y" 3^ day of March 
 1620. to Susannah Tilly. Peregrine Whitee Born on Boared y" 
 Mayflower in Cape Cod barber. Sonne born to Susanna Whtee 
 December 19*^ 1620 y* Six o.clock morning. Next day we meet 
 for prayer and thanksgiving." The clause ** in Cape Cod bar- 
 ber" seems to have been added later ; they were certainly not 
 there on December 19. Bradford's record, in Mourt's Rela- 
 tion, of Peregrine White's birth has warranted the belief that it 
 occurred while they were at Cape Cod, and during the second or 
 
ADDENDA, 459 
 
 perhaps third expedition of discovery. This entry places it later, 
 the third day after they anchored in Plymouth Bay. If the 
 meaning is that the whole company *' meet for prayer and thanks- 
 giving," the circumstances do not so well suit an earlier date. 
 Possibly, then, it was on the 19th of December that the first 
 white child of New England was born, and the event might 
 easily have been associated with the very important action of 
 the day following. 
 
 It was appropriate that they should meet to render thanks to 
 (xod upon the 20th of December. At last they had found a place 
 of habitation, after forty days of wandering since they sighted 
 land. The two days before this had been spent in exploring 
 l^lymouth; they were the last of their peregrinations. The 
 circumstances demanded immediate action. Many had decided 
 ill favor of the site of Plymouth, but a final and formal choice 
 \)\ the company was necessary. Their custom at Ley den had 
 been to take such action on special days of prayer. So we have 
 a new light thrown upon Bradford's words as to this very day : 
 " So in the morning, after we had called on God for direction, 
 we came to this resolution, to goe presently ashore againe, and 
 to take a better view of two places, which wee thought most 
 fitting for vs. . . . After our landing and viewing of the places, 
 so well as we could, we came to a conclusion, by most voyces, to 
 set on the maine Land, on the first place." Thus we may think 
 of them as keeping such a day of thanksgiving as the circum- 
 stances would permit, and thereupon making their decision^ — 
 after some religious service. Upon this evidence the 20th of 
 December, 1620, may be termed the first Thanksgiving Day of 
 New England. X 
 
ABBEEVIATIONS 
 
 USED IN THE 
 
 CALENDAR AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 F. — Fast Day. 
 
 T. — Thanksgiving Day. 
 
 Pub.— Public. 
 
 Chh., Chhs., — Church, Churches. 
 
 Ecc. — Ecclesiastical. 
 
 Co. — Court. 
 
 c. — Beginning of a course of days. 
 
 Cong. — Congress of the United States. 
 
 C. C. — Continental Congress. 
 
 P. C. — Provincial Congress. . 
 
 At. — State Archives. 
 
 Hy. — Collection of Hon. Charles J. Hoadly, LL.D., Hartford, Conn. 
 
 L. — Collection of W. DeLoss Love, Jr., Hartford, Conn. 
 
 S. — Sermon in print. 
 
 S, — Sermon in manuscript. 
 
 Manuscripts are indicated by italics. 
 
 LIBRARIES. 
 
 An. — American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
 Ath. — Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Mass. 
 
 B. — Boston Public Library, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Bo. — Library of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. 
 
 C. — Congregational Library, Congregational House, Boston, Mass. 
 Ct. — Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Conn. 
 
 H. — Hai-vard College Library, Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 M. — Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass. 
 
 N. H. — New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, N. H. 
 
 N. Y. — New York Historical Society, New York, N. Y. 
 
 p. — Prince Library, in Boston Public Library, Boston, Mass. 
 
 R. I. — Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, R. I. 
 
 U. — Union Theological Seminary, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Y. — Yale College Library, New Haven, Conn. 
 
SOME SOUECES OF INFOEMATION 
 
 EMPLOYED IN CONSTRUCTING THE CALENDAR, AND WHICH 
 ARE REFERRED TO BY THE NUMBER PREFIXED. 
 
 1. Mourt's Relation, or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth. 
 
 2. Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, — Mass. Hist. See. 
 
 CoU. 
 
 3. Winslow's Relation, in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. 
 
 4. Winthrop's History of New England. 
 
 5. Morton's New England's Memorial. 
 
 6. Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts. 
 
 7. Johnson's Wonder-working Providence of Zion's Saviour. 
 
 8. Hubbard's History of New England, —Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 9. Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, and Original Papers. 
 
 10. Baylies's Historical Memoir of New Plymouth. 
 
 11. Felt's Ecclesiastical History of New England. 
 
 12. Mather's Magnalia. 
 
 13. Increase Mather's Early HistDry of New England. 
 
 14. Hubbard's Indian Wars. 
 
 15. Mather's History of King Philip's War. 
 
 16. Church's History of King Philip's War. 
 
 17. Drake's Old Indian Chronicle. 
 
 18. Trumbull's History of Connecticut. 
 
 19. Broadhead's History of New York. 
 
 20. Calendar of New York Historical Manuscripts, Dutch and English. 
 
 21. Thomas Smith, Extracts from his Journals, Falmouth, Maine. 
 
 22. Niles's Narrative of the Wars in New England, — Mass. Hist. Soc* 
 
 CoU. 
 
 23. Hutchinson Papers, — Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 24. Mather Papers, — Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 25. Winthrop Papers, — Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 26. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
 
 27. Historical Magazine. 
 
 28. Hale's Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft. 
 
 29. Paulding's Affairs and Men of New Amsterdam. 
 
 30. Stuart's Life of Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. 
 
 31. Thornton's Pulpit of the American Revolution. 
 
 32. Hough's Proclamations for Thanksgiving. 
 
 33. Wheildon's Curiosities of History. 
 
 34. The Olden Tune Series. 
 
 35. Salem Witchcraft, S. P. Fowler. 
 
462 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 36. Salem Witchcraft, Charles W. Upham. 
 
 37. " Memorable Providences," or John Pike's Journal, — MS. in Mass. 
 
 Hist. Soc. 
 
 38. Moore's Diary of the American Revolution. 
 
 39. Annals of Providence, — R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 40. Plymouth Colonial Records. 
 
 41. Massachusetts Colonial Records. 
 
 42. Connecticut Colonial Records. 
 
 43. New Haven Colonial Records. 
 
 44. New Hampshire Colonial Records. 
 
 45. Rhode Island Colonial Records. 
 
 46. Vermont, Records of the Governor and Council, 
 
 47. Pennsylvania Colonial Records and Archives. 
 
 48. New Jersey Archives. 
 
 49. Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, 
 
 50. Documentary History of New York. 
 
 51. Massachusetts Acts and Resolves. 
 
 52. Rhode Island Acts and Resolves. 
 
 53. New Hampshire Journals of the Senate and House. 
 
 54. Manuscript Council Records of New Hampshire. 
 
 55. Annals of Congress. 
 
 56. Journals of Congress. 
 
 57. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, — American 
 
 Archives. 
 
 58. Hazard's Historical Collections. 
 
 59. Ecclesiastical, vols, x., xi., and xii. Manuscript Archives of Mass. 
 
 60. Commissions and Proclamations, — Manuscript Archives of Mass. 
 
 61. Council Records, — Manuscript Archives of Mass. 
 
 62. General Court Records, — Manuscript Archives of Mass. 
 
 63. Council Minutes, — Manuscript Archives of New York. 
 
 64. Translations from the Dutch, — Manuscript Archives of New York. 
 
 65. Correspondence and Miscellaneous, — Manuscript Archives of New 
 
 York. 
 
 66. Manuscript Records of New Amsterdam. 
 
 67. " Form of Prayer " in Print. 
 
 68. Church Records of Scituate and Barnstable, — N. E. Reg., Vols. 
 
 ix. and x. 
 
 69. Roxbury Church Records, — N. E. Reg., vols, xxxiii. and xxxiv. 
 
 70. Salem Church Records, in White's New England Congregationalism, 
 
 71. Records of the First Church at Dorchester. 
 
 72. HiU's History of the Old South Church. 
 
 73. Records of the First Church in Charlestown, James F. Hunnewell. 
 
 74. Records of the First Church in Boston, — MS. in Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 
 75. History of Lynn, Lewis and Newhall. 
 
 76. Records of the First Church, Plymouth, — MS. in Pilgrim Hall. 
 
 77. Manuscript Records of the Congregational Church, Marblehead, 
 
 78. Manuscript Records of the First Church, Middletown, Conn. 
 
SOURCES OF INFORMATION, 463 
 
 79. Treasurer's Book, —MS., First Church in Dedhara, Mass. 
 
 80. Diary of Samuel Sewall, — Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 
 
 81. Diary of John Hull, — Am. Antiq. Soc. CoU. 
 
 82. Diary of Thomas Robbins. 
 
 83. Journal of WiUiam Adams, — Mass. Hist. Soc. CoU. 
 
 84. New England Hist, and Gen. Register. 
 
 85. Brinsmead Note-book, —MS. in IVtass. Hist. Soc. 
 
 86. Increase Mather's Manuscript Diaries, — Am. Antiq. Soc. 
 
 87. Cotton Mather's Manuscript Diaries, — Am. Antiq. Soc, Mass. Hist. 
 
 Soc, and Congregational Library. 
 
 88. Diary of Israel Loring, — MS. in Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 89. Diary of Michael Wigglesworth, — MS. in Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 
 90. Matthew Grant's Manuscript Note-book. 
 
 91. Shorthand Note-book of Henry Wolcott, Jr., — MS. in Conn. Hist. 
 
 Soc. 
 
 92. Hempstead Diary, — MS. in New London Hist. Soc. 
 
 93. Thomas Miner's Diary, — MS. Hon. R. A. Wheeler, Stonington, 
 
 Conn. 
 
 94. Daniel Wadsworth's Diary, — MS. in Conn. Hist. Soc. 
 
 95. Notes of Warham's Sermons, — MSS. in N. Y. Hist. Soc 
 
 96. Diary of Jeremiah Bumstead, — MS. in Am. Antiq. Soc. 
 
 97. John Fiske's Manuscript Record Book, — Hon. Samuel A. Green, 
 
 M. D. 
 
 98. Samuel Sewall's Sermon Notes, — MSS. in Bos. Pub. Lib. 
 
 99. Mather Papers, Unprinted Manuscripts in Bos. Pub. Lib. 
 
 100. Cotton Papers, —MSS. in Bos. Pub. Lib. 
 
 101. Boston News-Letter. 
 
 102. Boston Gazette. 
 
 103. New England Weekly Journal, Boston, Mass. 
 
 104. Boston Weekly Post-Boy. 
 
 105. New Hampshire Gazette, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 
 106. New London Summary. 
 
 107. New London Gazette, 1763-1773. Connecticut Gazette, 1773-1823. 
 
 108. Connecticut Courant, Hartford, Conn. 
 
 109. Middlesex Gazette, Middletown, Conn. 
 
 110. Spooner's Vermont Journal and Universal Advertiser, Windsor, 
 
 Vt. 
 
 111. Vermont Gazette, Bennington, Vt. 
 
 112. Rutland Herald, Rutland, Vt. 
 
 113. Green Mountain Farmer, Bennington, Vt. 
 
 114. Providence Gazette. 
 
 115. Washingtonian, Windsor, Vt. 
 
 116. New Hampshire Gazetteer. 
 
464 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 P3 
 
 'panoii^nam 9i9qM 
 
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 3uioi:^ou S8i:juoq:jny 
 
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 oo" 
 
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 H 
 
 
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 fep=; 
 
 HfefeH 
 
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 1 
 
 
 21 
 
 1^ 
 
 Thurs. 
 Fri. 
 
 Tues. 
 
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 S 
 
 
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 July 
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 coco 010> QOOQ T-*^ <N(NC3 
 <N<M <N -M COCOCOCO COCO CO W CO 
 5J5Q3 tO^O CDOOCO COCO COCO^ 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 465 
 
 O t- ^ 00 
 
 i-icot- i>b- t- t-t-o 
 
 iH 1-1 00 0000 00 Q000r-( 
 
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 COCCCO COCOCOCOCO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO 
 COCOCO COCOCOCOCO cococococococo 
 
466 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
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 ^^ 
 
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 ■«*1 1- 
 
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 CO 
 
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 00 00 ^00 1-H tH O ,.00 iH 00 iH ^-1 i-H ^H ..00 OOrH^C^OO'HTj^iHOO'-li-t 00 rHOO»-»r^ 
 
 rHO Tj< rH Oi Ci C5 T*< «» ■^ Oi «£) Oi ^ OS O Tji ;D O OS 05 ->* «D Oi t- ^^ C> CJ O «0 ^ OS «0 OS OS 
 
 a a 
 
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 rt *irt OS 03 r*^ i'^ cs c8 •71 C5 r^^ '^ r*^ 
 
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 ^ S t^ .£3 .a jq .jg fT jT fT ^ G tH ^ JSfT d fl tT -£! S S-fl (C ^ S ti. rC k. t^. ti. tZ >h 
 
 rl <MC<Jr- 
 
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 00 00 00 00 ooo 
 
 
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 5eo cc fo CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO CO ec ro CO 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 467 
 
 uo o o o 
 
 Ci Ci O UO lO "^ o 
 
 "^ ,.i-( 1-t 1-1 !M -^ 1-1 CI 
 
 i-t'FHOO CO OOC^l ^..►OO^CiOO OOi-lO0i-(00C3C^(MCi ^ ^^QO 53 »-i t- b- 
 
 Oicao ot^Tjtoi-t Ti» Tt« Til o ri< ,-t o o -"i* «o Ti< o Tt* •«# Tt« 1-1 Tt« r^ i;o tj* >* c» Ci 
 
 •2 ;§ 
 
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 ^ ^ 
 
 
 June 
 Aug. 
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 ft'a ST oT » j2 i2 
 
 
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 o toooo 
 
 1642 
 
 1642 
 
 1642 
 
 1642 
 
 1642-43 
 
 1642-43 
 
 1642-43 
 
 1643 
 
 1643 
 
 1643 
 
 1643 
 
 1643 
 
 1643 
 
 1643-44 
 
 1643-44 
 
 1643-44 
 
 1644 
 
 1644 
 
 1644 
 
 1644 
 
 1644 
 
 1644-45 
 
 1644-45 
 
 ill 
 
468 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 2 § 
 
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 Mass. 
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 Bams 
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 t- t^ t- t- t- b!" 00 00 QO 00 00 00 CO OSOi^OT 
 
 cocoSoSS ococoScoSo SSS3 
 
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CALENDAR. 
 
 469 
 
 
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 sss 
 
 
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 ^'^'hhp^'^'hec; 
 
 
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 1 
 
 Hon. 
 Wed. 
 Wed. 
 Wed. 
 Thurs. 
 
 
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 Wed. 
 
 Wed. 
 
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 Thurs. 
 
 i 
 
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 Wed. 
 Tues. 
 Wed. 
 Wed. 
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 t- 
 
 ^?2Sg5^ 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
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 June 
 Oct. 
 Nov. 
 Mar. 
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 Aug. 
 Oct. 
 Oct. 
 Nov. 
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 June 
 July 
 Oct. 
 Nov. 
 Nov. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
470 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 * t- 
 
 ^i:; ^Ji 
 
 ^8 
 
 
 00 o 
 
 - 05 "*•* t- l^ t^ t- T*< t- 
 
 t^^ 
 
 II 
 
 
 Welles. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Stuyvesant 
 
 Welles. 
 
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472 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
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CALENDAR. 
 
 473 
 
 iH eo 
 
 t-t>- t- 
 
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 1 
 
 Winthrop. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Prence. 
 
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 Leete. 
 
 Leete. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Wyllys. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Winthrop. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Winthrop. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Prence. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Leete. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Bellingham. 
 
 Winthrop. 
 Leverett. 
 
 Mass. 
 Conn. 
 Boston, 3d. 
 Btouington. 
 
 Boston, 1st. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 New London. 
 
 Middletown. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 Boston. 
 Mass. 
 
 
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474 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
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 475 
 
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 Jx ?S?g?g5S?g^Sg?g5292°2°2°S°o°^ oooooooococooooooooooooo coqooocoooqoooqo 
 
478 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ^ 
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 t- t- 00 
 
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CALENDAR. 
 
 479 
 
 § § 
 
 S5 1 
 
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480 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ^ g 
 
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CALENDAR. 
 
 481 
 
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 00 C5 
 
 060 
 
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 300000000 to 
 
482 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
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 S § ^^^§5 15 ?5 ^§ S § S' § §§ 
 
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 CALENDAR, 483 
 
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 25^35^2®^22=^ = = 522 225 «-j^ 2^22*22© ^« 22 
 
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 Ci OCiCS Ci O Ci O CiC5 oo C5 C50 C5 Ci C5 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ooooo 
 
484 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
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 1*: fe; fe fL; fe' H H H 
 
 ^ fe Pl; p^• H H H 
 
 fefefe'&^ft^HHHftl 
 
 ^Pn^ 
 
 ;3'^ 3 3 3 S S 
 
 ^HH 
 
 3 3 3 3 3 ^ 
 
 g5 
 
 S^^g5?5 
 
 S^ 
 
 (N 
 
 C:i 
 
 ^ ;:5?2g 
 
 - 
 
 ^ s?!a 
 
 OOO 
 
 CO 
 
 ^ 
 
 • rt o o o o 
 
 
 3 O 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. 
 
 June 
 Sept. 
 Nov. 
 
 1 
 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 
 iiiiii 
 
 8i8§ 
 
 iiii 
 t- 1- 1- 1~- 
 
 oo ooo o o 
 t— t~ t- t- t- t- t— 
 
 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 485 
 
 CO CO coo 
 
 t-t-t- OOCOOOOi 
 
 
 tt^ ?. 00 t- 
 
 r^t-r"c5 t- ^ t- ■^ '-Tin <M ^-^ r^ 
 t- CO •* 00 t- eO •* t- -* -* t- rJ4 CO 
 
 S^ 
 
 
 3 S O 
 
 « (D P4&4 
 
 be to . o o . . . 
 
 'C3'T3>>S3j->».>>5>» 
 
 o . . o 
 
 J3 ©' 
 
 • = S S r- • - 3 M o 3 S 
 
 .0 . . O fa 
 
 ^5 45 ^ 5 a 
 
 ? a ^^ S ° S 
 
 a;r s 3;r; > o 
 
 
 
 O 3---^3--- 
 
 * j3 3- 
 
 HHH&^P=lfeP=^&^P^f^HHHfeE^pE, fefHfc,fe&^HHHHfti&4 H Hfefe*HHHHH 
 
 
 SOCQ CQCQ OS 00 09000300 
 
 . U ^* U U U U -1-1 u u u u 
 
 2 2^ 2 2 2 2 « « 2 2 2 2 
 
 OQ OB 
 
 lu s - « i ; 
 
 (M (N eo 1-1 00 00 c^ o 
 
 ^^ fc ij ^ ^ 3^ Oi G. cL-^^ > 6 6 x>^ h 
 p. a a, e8 3 3 g*g*g*uooi?a3®k2 
 
 _e3 cS cS J2 2 00 " 
 
 
 ??? 
 
 eococOMcoeococccoeococoMcccoco 
 ©000000000000000 
 t-t^t-t^b- b-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-r-t-t- 
 
 00 
 
 -50- 
 
 t- b- t- t- t- f t- t- t- ti tt tt ti h- ri ► 
 
486 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 r!fc: r^t- n^r 
 
 5t-T-! lO 
 
 s s^ 
 
 s^ ^^ s s 
 
 3 . 
 
 
 ►»>> >»>» >»>» >»>> ^ ^. 
 
 OO) OO) ffiO vv Cq^vo 
 
 •^ t3 'C *t3 'O 't3 'O TIS -^iS '^ n3 *t3 
 
 S3 S3 S3 S3 rjSSS 
 
 OP Qft PQ QQ v«PPq 
 
 oa 03 ® 00 >> 
 
 fl as s « 
 
 CQOQmOSM 
 
 11 
 
 ccoqQP 
 
 sw gwgswgs swgswggw gtdggswsw |§>rggwg§sw 
 
 W. eS.ges.geS eS.©"*-©**. «S.OO*.«*. 00.0«*.00<*- 
 
 gizi g;z;og;zjoS SlzioSlzjogJz; S;z;ooS5z;S!z; oolzjo^jziooS^ 
 
 ^- ^----- . -^ ,c^^^---« ^---- . 
 
 S- 3^2^..^0 3-- 3- ---•.-- 3-- 
 
 PL| PM O &4 f^ Ph 
 
 EhH fefepNHHHfe fefefe;x<feHHEH |x,fe&^HHHP^P^ pRpHfePNfefeP^HHH 
 
 22 
 
 S 3 
 
 oQ cQ CO m 
 
 Vi Vi h h 
 
 3 3 3 3.^ 
 
 
 3 3 '2 3 3 3 
 
 HH HH HH ^HHH 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 00 Qt-t-1-j t- 
 
 
 ftp* '3'3 <» « ftCii O O O^ 
 <«1^ ^^ PP <J<J Jzi^^S 
 
 b S C ^ Oi > > > o 
 
 aaassr ooo© 
 
 coo 
 
 ?? 
 
 laiA o o«oi 
 
 po OOOi 
 
 §§i§i 
 
 b- t- t-- b- t- b- b- t— t- b- b- t- b- b- b- b- 
 
 0iOC5OC5OClC5C5C5 
 
 ooooocoooo 
 
 b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-t- 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 487 
 
 00 CO 00 
 
 S^OO T*400 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 S^ ^:$ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ S^ 
 
 
 33333333 
 
 QQQQQQQQ 
 
 
 w CQ CQ CQ CQ b^J «Q 
 
 3 3 3 S'T 3 3-3 3 3^^ 3 3^ 3 3 "^ ^ 3 fl 
 
 
 gg|w 
 
 o o J3 . 
 
 3- 
 
 3 O 3- - ■ 
 
 Ji^ . 
 
 3- » ^ ,. . 
 
 ^^ ^^pc^Pc^hh^'pm'hhh ^^^^'^^'ec^'^'^^'^^hhhn'^^' ^'hhh 
 
 < t. fci 
 
 ! 3 3 3 3 3 3 
 
 looincQ osoonasoQ oooo oscc c 
 
 ! ^ -^ ='« 3 3 3 3 3'g'« 3 S*^ 3 5 "« "^ = 
 
 HH hhhhhhhhS HHHH^HHHHH^^HH^HH ^^HH 
 
 coo -^lOiCOOOOOOCOO <M(NO'OiOOOt--Hi-i^b-ClC5CseOeO Sf5»ooo 
 
 bfe SJ» § fl &5 ** D. Q- '^ >■ p t: >> >> bo &c bo-S ^ ^ *5 > > > rj |5 J3 fe>^> 
 
 OO iM <M(M 
 
 OO OOOOOOOOOOO ^ ,-(,-( .^ ^ ,~( ^ ^ ^ W ,-1 -m-i 1-1 .^ tH J< tH (M(N(N{N 
 
 OO T-l tH i-H 1— I r-( »^ 1-1 ^H i-( »H tH ,_( r-i _i ,-,,_( t-i 1-c ^H 1-1 tI tH -r-l 1—1 T-t -H ^H -^ 1-1 ,_( ,1 ,-i ^^ 
 
488 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 coco CO 
 
 00 cot- Ci t- est- o 
 
 D CO OJ t- t-O Tt<CD00'#O Oi? 
 
 t-Ci C5 CO t- t-Oi 00 
 
 ^O"* T*« <£> TlH iX> "^ tH •* CO r»< t- -^ t- 00 t- 
 
 SI! « SH S 2 
 
 a <x> <x> o 
 
 PQ Oft f^(=lP:«« cfiP 
 
 j1 1.. S 
 
 li 
 
 
 §|W§|W||W §|W||W§|W |gWg|W|W §W|§|W|| I 
 oSlzjoS^M^^ oSlzjoS^oSiz; go;z;oS!2;S5zi olzi^oSlziMS S 
 
 .o^ ^ ^ ^ ^ o^^ 
 a- - - - - o a- 
 
 Pui P>qpLi 
 
 
 - — 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 Pub. 
 
 Ecc. 
 Chhs. 
 
 i 
 
 feP^^HHH&iP^fH 
 
 ^ |2^' 1^; Ph' ^ P^ H H H 
 
 P«i^feHHHfeP=; 
 
 Pm H H H H H P=; fe 
 
 pR 
 
 •S22 2 2222 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 £2 
 
 I'd 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 2 
 
 .a 
 H 
 
 rH «0 CO lO 0^ ^ t;^ ^ ^ 
 
 i-HCOCOt-KM 
 CO rH 1-H 
 
 sa 
 
 53 ?2 
 
 S^^g^^ 
 
 ^cooo^coco^l 
 
 rt< 
 
 -< <j <1 ;25 ^ jzi p t-5 Hs 
 
 
 > > 
 
 
 > > > ^ ^ 
 
 o o o «2^ 
 
 f^ iiDto> 6 6 *^ ti 
 
 ft3aoa»a)^=« 
 
 1 
 
 eococoeoeoecwcoco 
 
 l-t-l-t-t-t-b-t-t- 
 
 coco 
 
 5h S 52 $H S S 5h Jh 
 
 s 
 
CALENDAR. 489 
 
 O O t- t- O OJO C<J o c^ 
 
 CO 00 00 t- 00 Ot-i t- 00 o 
 
 O t- OS CD "(tl t- CSt-^ OTl«ri<00C5O CC tJ< •"^ O 
 
 Bgi^g SS 
 
 »-l (N »-l 
 
 
 QQOQCOOQ!! 
 
 ^ 1^ 
 
 -s^ 
 
 Jg 
 
 %% 
 
 •*^ ® 
 
 o 15 
 
 
 iil 
 
 ©^ 3 
 
 §i 
 
 «!§« 
 
 i3 3 a? 
 
 
 i2 3 
 
 3 5^3 
 
 CCQD^ 
 
 S^C^ 
 
 .^^ 
 
 cc!>ccco 
 
 
 *i 3ii 3 S 3 i3 3 53 3 S;ii i2 3 3 Si3 3 *2 ij 3 s 3 5 
 
 j^ .=3 eS-^t^ •=■!>-« re's .St^c5.a e8 eS .3 .c .« 
 
 ^^i§i^i wg§|w |Kgli|w iwiiw§ gpwi|w« si 
 
 fcoSoSS^^ ^oqS^zj g;z;o«oS5z; Ssz;uS5z3o oS;z5SS!z5u So 
 
 .0^ ^ ous^ - 
 
 3 - - 03-- 
 
 fefeERHHHfe ^^b^bi^ EnfefefeHHH &<fcEqHHH fepcife&tHHH fefe 
 
 OQQQCO aaQSQaSOQCQ OQOQOQ OQt&aQCQ.aQ 
 
 -d^-ob-dft -« 3 a S3'^3'«3 3 S-O 3 *« *« 3 3 3 3 'S 3 '« 
 
 S;^Ǥ^^ 
 
 "^^^ 
 
 (N(M00eCO0C5 
 
 Sco^S^ 
 
 OS 
 
 Sa J3§§°° 
 
 ss 
 
 
 > cS d 
 © © 
 
 
 Mar. 
 Mar. 
 Apr. 
 Oct. 
 
 i 
 
 fe 
 
 
 
 00 
 1 
 
 ggggg 
 
 r- 1-1 i-H r-( r-( 1-1 T-( 
 
 t- b- 1>- 1- 1- 1- 
 
 (M <N CO <M (M <N <N 
 t- t- t- t- t- t- b- 
 
 S3S 
 
490 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Oi 00 Oi 00 CO ^ 
 
 o o o ooo o 
 
 lilies 3 sgl I 5|g i |a |s| g§s^ l|§ 
 
 N. H. 
 Mass. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 
 Conn. 
 N. H. 
 Mass. 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 
 1^ 
 
 Conn. 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 Coun. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 
 Conn. 
 Conn. 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 
 Mass. 
 N. H. 
 Conn. 
 Boston. 
 
 Pub. 
 
 i= 
 
 ::-:::: 
 
 Oh 
 
 :: r :: :: 
 
 
 :: :: :: 
 
 z z :: 
 
 Pw 
 
 
 fePtjHHHfc 
 
 Pr'p^'p^'hhh 
 
 P«Jfefe*HHH 
 
 fefefeHHH&Jpi^ 
 
 fe H H H 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 
 2^2 
 
 S 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 III 
 
 a 
 
 
 ill 
 
 Wed. 
 Wed. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Wed. 
 Thurs. 
 
 rtl 05 « 00 Tj* Tj* 
 
 o 
 
 ^^S 
 
 ^ 
 
 icio>o 
 
 - 
 
 ^§5 
 
 S^^ 
 
 S^22 
 
 g^S^ 
 
 >> !M)> > > »j 
 * S O O O * 
 
 <1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 m 
 
 u > > > 
 0.0 o o 
 
 
 1722 
 1722 
 1722 
 1722 
 1722 
 1722-23 
 
 t- 1— t- 1~- 1- 1- 
 
 
 
 1725 
 
 1725 
 
 1725 
 
 1725 
 
 1725 
 
 1725 
 
 1725-26 
 
 1725-26 
 
 llll 
 
 
CALENDAR, 491 
 
 
 QQ CQ QQOQCQ 
 
 C3 CO 
 
 t- t- OS 
 
 (M rT o"{M CJ 23 rH »H ^<M (M O 
 
 Ci t— t— t« 05 C> t— t— Ci t— Ci O 
 
 05 00 000 o 00 o 00 o 00 o o 
 
 S a ^ S 3 i^i^"S 
 o a a a a « « d 
 
 +i 
 
 
 a 
 
 t^iiS 
 
 i 
 
 t^g 
 
 4^ 
 
 Ji? 
 
 ® 
 
 8 
 
 sg-s 
 
 f, 
 
 OA 
 
 
 
 •?? 
 
 •3 
 
 •5 
 
 3 
 
 'rtrt'S 
 
 03 
 
 '3'S 
 
 "eS 
 
 "oS 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 « 
 
 HH« 
 
 « 
 
 H« 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 |g|ww||w giiw|w §li|w iagsste gw§sw§ gsw 
 
 SoS^^ziSl^lz; ooSsziS^ oMoSjz; S;z;o6a^ S^oS^g^o ols^ 
 
 «o . . ... 
 
 ^3^,.-^-^ s..^^^^ SOS--* 3-.»--« 3::»222 q:I3 
 
 QPh P>4 A^Pi^Ph Pui Ph (^ 
 
 PrHHH^'^'Pe;^ P^'HHH^'^ ^'PrHHH ^^^'hhh Pn^'^'hHH ^'^^ 
 
 03 CO 
 
 ttt 
 
 3 3 3 
 
 A .a A 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 .a 
 
 H 
 
 Wed. 
 Fri. 
 Wed. 
 Thurs. 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 -1 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 ^CNO 
 
 S?5c^ 
 
 t-o t- 
 
 S 
 
 CO »H 
 
 (M 
 
 OOiOlM 
 
 ^ 
 
 ?5?5 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 > > > 
 
 000 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 < 
 
 (^ > > 
 
 p<o 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ;z5 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO cc cc CO CO CO 
 
 t— h- t- t— t— t— 
 
 ill 
 
492 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 Ai 
 O 
 
 
 
 53 53„ 
 
 gw§ gw§§gtt swgjlswg ggwls^wg «td§§gW§§! 
 
 I-- 
 
 
 ::2 :: :: 
 
 Oh 
 
 - 3 
 
 PL. 
 
 
 --5 
 
 :: :: :: 
 
 
 3 :: :: :: 
 
 = ., 
 
 HHH 
 
 fe fe PcJ H H H 
 
 P^hpR^ 
 
 HHH 
 
 fefe^liJ 
 
 HHH 
 
 Pa'l^i^Eqt^HHfiB)^' 
 
 2 2 
 
 1 1 
 
 2 
 
 «2 2 
 
 III 
 
 1 
 
 i> 
 
 222 
 s s s 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Is 
 
 ^ «* 
 
 s 
 
 ^cog. 
 
 «* 
 
 o 
 
 b-t-t- 
 
 ^ 
 
 tH CO 
 
 CO 
 
 T-t 
 
 ^ 
 
 1-1 
 
 ss 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^ 
 ^ti 
 
 4i 
 
 > >^ t^ 
 
 is 
 
 IS 
 
 1 
 
 
 oiz; 
 
 U 
 
 cococo cOcococococo COMCOM w co co eo co co co co co co co co co eo co co eo eo co 
 
CALENDAR. 493 
 
 
 
 1^ a 
 
 S^ 
 
 -a 
 
 ■5-5^^ 
 
 o o 
 
 o 
 
 u w « 
 
 l^-z 
 
 
 
 (U 
 
 '3 ee 0) 0) 
 
 HP; 
 
 m 
 
 HHMM 
 
 «l 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 ^^1 
 
 II 
 
 ?i 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 g| 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 
 &§:» 
 
 mm 
 
 SI 
 
 
 J3 . 
 
 OS 
 
 CQ CQOa 03 aOcncCflQ OQOQaQaQ OQ 03 SQOB 
 
 
 H 
 
 CO 
 
 ot- 
 
 ^ 
 
 00 
 
 S5g5 
 
 ^ 
 
 T-HOO 
 
 ^ 
 
 °°s 
 
 (N 
 
 ^ 
 
 OS 10 CO 
 
 "S 
 
 «>S 
 
 10 
 
 ^• 
 
 > > 
 
 jj 
 
 ^ > 
 
 > > 
 
 J 
 
 fH* >> 
 
 bD 
 
 > > 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 u > > 
 
 c3j£ 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 t>: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 &) P4 
 
 
 s 
 
 ^;z5 
 
 <1 
 
 -I^^JZi 
 
 !^ 
 
 <^S 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 fH 
 
 § 
 
 <)^^ 
 
 QPm 
 
 <1<1 
 
 !2; 
 
 s: 
 
 £:fc:feb:t^ 
 
 00000000 
 
 ^^ 
 
 OCiCSCi 
 
 Ci 
 
 OCiCSCi 
 
 00000000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TfiTjirj^rfl 
 
 
 
 USSrtj:;^^ 
 
 ^UJ:^?:; 
 
 t-t- 
 
 t- 1- t-t- 
 
 tl 
 
 T-t»HlHT-l 
 
 i::^:^ 
 
 • t- t-t-b- 
 rH TH rH tH 
 
 • b-t- 
 
 ^t-^t- 
 
494 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 CiCiO 
 C^ C^ <N 
 
 COCO M % 
 
 CO CO CO CO P 
 
 r: J:: 
 
 i ^ 
 
 S5 
 
 ot^'^ost— "^t-"^ Oi— f^cfct- ot-^c^i^OT cht^ CI oicorr 
 
 
 ^ » 
 
 S)^ ^ 
 
 .o .0.0 .0 .0 .0.0 
 
 ^.S 
 
 
 
 
 
 HH fePRPRHHHfePM feHHHHH fe fe fafafafafeHHHfe fePc&,&^faHHH 
 
 3 ®_3 222225 ®2 2^ 
 
 '^ 3 S = --« • 3 3 S 
 
 OQ CO CQ CQ 
 
 © 2 « 2 3 3 
 ^g^ gg g 
 
 H <N CO 1-1 r1 C^ 
 
 eo"*"^ (Noo 
 
 S ^ 
 
 5z; <1 ^ ^ ;z; Jzi Izi S 23 <«J O O Iz; 5z; Iz; «J <1<1 ^ ^ -«J 02 !zi ;z; 
 
 
 coco 
 
 .,......-.-.-. cocococococo 
 
 >< rt< rt" -!*< rt< -!*< rt< rti -*■ -h -!t< rfi -*! 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 495 
 
 ooo o 
 
 COCOCO CO 
 
 §§ 
 
 1^ !^ a 
 
 S)^' S S S 
 
 
 
 If 
 
 Wentwoi 
 
 Law. 
 
 Law. 
 
 Shirley. 
 
 Thomas. 
 
 Shirley. 
 
 Shirley. 
 
 Wentwoi 
 
 Law. 
 
 Shirley. 
 
 <0 ^ « (D 
 
 
 W 3 § 
 
 gWS|K 
 
 SWs^W^ 
 
 |Hi«wgw iwa 
 
 
 PLI 
 
 feHHH^fe fe&^fefeHHHH&i&i^'HHH fefafeHHHfepR fe&^E^fefa&,E^HH 
 
 1^ -cl 52 
 
 ^H fe^ HH 
 
 HHH^H 
 
 HH HH ^^H H 
 
 ot-»o 
 
 SS 
 
 S« Sc5 
 
 -^COOlO t- 
 
 C5 
 
 S§ 
 
 "-^ 
 
 S2^g5 
 
 cs 
 
 ^ 
 
 <B O O 
 
 II 
 
 i^'^^^ 
 1^^^^ 
 
 ^^ ^ > > > 
 
 3 O o O O O 
 
 <iOO!zi!zi!z; 
 
 < 
 
 U 
 
 u 
 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 1745 
 
 1745 
 
 1745 
 
 1745 
 
 1745-4G 
 
 1745-40 
 
 lllllllllligg 
 
 COCO 
 
 gggglllll 
 
496 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 OQ CO CQ QQ 
 
 00(M (N t- 
 
 (st- est- oot- 5 t-0?l ON Sit^ 
 
 s ^^ 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 ^ .2* ^ .2* 
 
 ® S « -S 
 
 O 0'3 0) 
 
 282 8 s 
 
 •3 0-3 ©2 
 
 0-3 
 
 i« 
 
 gn^jass wsgwi 
 
 gww 
 
 g^w 
 
 S OQ 
 
 
 33 3:: - 3:: - 3 - : 
 
 fef«H 
 
 fcfe'fefefclHHHHHfe 
 
 fefeHHHfe 
 
 fefeHHHE^ 
 
 fe*&;p<^ 
 
 HHH 
 
 ^^ 
 
 £2 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 
 i 
 
 ll 
 
 2 2 
 II 
 
 •22 
 
 '§3 3 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 
 22 
 
 3 3 
 
 ll 
 
 S5S5 
 
 ^ J5i5d5SS5 
 
 IC 
 
 ;::^ 
 
 °^c^ 
 
 Ot't- 
 
 
 
 oooc 
 
 OJO 
 
 ^0 
 
 II 
 
 ^ <5 S ^^ ►? -*J !z; J2; 
 
 
 
 
 u > > 
 
 
 
 12552; 
 
 
 oLol, 
 
 0006 05050C5C5C5C50>05asc5 OQOQQQ ^^^.ht-ith <^^<5<^3KJS3S3J2 f2f3 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 497 
 
 b- t- b- 00 30 CO lO 00 
 
 r— 00 O 00 OO 00 00 00 00 Q 
 
 OQ CQ Cq CQ 
 
 c^^ 
 
 
 t- 00 00 
 
 qcMOCi t-t- 
 
 "<!f (M -^ ■* C5 t^ 
 
 S ooS 
 
 M w sS a 1^ a SWS 
 
 J2 8 .2 
 
 IP 
 
 2 •- »2 2 .-t^ « ^ ^ --ti 2 
 
 2 ••§ ■ = o^ « »2 ^ 2 ^ .-s ^ A 
 
 •»-o^ «2_"00.2^ .-j^_:0««»5o -kS^-Oi^JS^ k2oJ2 j,_:'*o»Si_*o®iS 
 
 2=- 
 
 OQ . 
 
 feHHH fefafeHHH fefefefefefepRfefeHHfeHH fePn &H feP=< fe ^^fefefe HH 
 
 
 '^iS 
 
 ^ S^?5 
 
 -g 
 
 OCSC005^00(MeOg'4< 
 
 '^''^gc^S^g^S^^SS 
 
 ii 
 
 
 4a 
 
 »^ 2 >> >» bi) !Xaj > > d 
 ^3'::'^ 3 3 0© 
 
 
 
 gggggg 
 
 t- 1— t— 
 
 t- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 1- 
 
 
498 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 CO c*5 CO coco 
 
 00©OOi-IO»-i^i-^i-lTH^r-( 
 
 eocococococococococococoweo 
 
 QQGQCQQQGQ 
 
 S 05t^^c5 <NOO>b- 
 
 ■g 
 
 
 
 ^: 3 
 
 oS s 
 
 
 
 sa o 
 
 n 
 
 » 
 
 s >» 
 
 
 -Sec fl J ^^a-« P-c-sJ-fiSC-S^a 
 ^uQQQ^NpLi^ Ph |Z4 ^ Q Pm ;i, pLi ^ pc< Q P^^^OhEr pi^ 
 
 
 Ic-g 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 gW gSW>H'gg«5ji3g 
 
 gW gggSSMW2KH>^Hi« 
 
 Iz; oS^gpLnQlEioogizi g o ^ 52; Q g g 5?; o Pu g;z;oSoSS05;zioe5;zilz:a 
 
 rS ^^ - >. 
 
 rO^ ^ . 
 
 
 OpLi 
 
 H feBHfefefefefefeHHH fefc<fafcfeHHHHH fe fc< fe fe fe H H H H H H H HH 
 
 ;m h (1 Pi ^ u U 
 
 I CO a; n cQ 
 
 I »H P4 ^ ti 
 
 : S S S 3 
 
 s 
 
 OrHOOooooco^Heot-b- 
 
 <M CO rH CO t-i tH tH 
 
 «^^;^S^^g5S5?5S 
 
 "^SS?5 J5g5^SSg3g3^g^ 
 
 1 
 
 *«j <«5 S ►^ ^^ ^^ ^ <5 !zi ;z< ^25 
 
 tl t^ p >>_^-i^ > > > c5 
 ^ <j -< ^ h^ jg Iz; ^ ;25 P 
 
 
 rH 
 
 
 
 giig||i|g|gigi 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 499 
 
 1-1 00 e^(N<M 
 
 1-1 3; Tl ,-1 r-l 
 
 CO rt CO CO CO 
 
 
 ^ rji ^ TJl 
 
 (NO CJ 
 
 
 
 !^ S 
 
 
 
 
 p-s n fl 'o ^ f-v ^ ^ !5 *•■» 1 
 
 
 
 g ^:w §>; s° I «w |h4 I |w s? i gw 
 
 
 (2 6!l^5^l5s5^5d 5;l;^Sc3lj^ cSs;^;2i^a)i!i;^5«i 
 
 .0 x>^ ^ ^ . 
 
 3 - ^ - - . 
 
 
 Pui 
 
 H Hfefe&tHHHHHHH fafe&,feHHH fa fefafe fe fe&< H HH HH fafafaH 
 
 00 0000 ajajWMaoaQ ooauoow 00 .. oocooooono 00 
 
 •^-»--ii^J^>>->>' tHUifc--J 
 
 w e«ai=uCi.ot5ooooo aiaia.a,o<i»<u aa a. «2 "3 - A a 000© &, a cu'3 
 
 O OQOOOOOOOOQ ,-t,-i,-ii-li-li-H^ <N<M(M!MC<IC'1(MC<IC<J!M!M(M COCOCOfO 
 
 o ooooooo'oooo 0-00-0000 000000000000 0000 
 
500 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Ci (M <NC^J(M COCO05Cl3C0CO^^CO CO 
 
 eo CO coeoeo co ec co eo co co ec co eo 
 
 CQ CQ QQ OS ^^ 03 ^QQ 
 6Q CQ 
 
 
 t- 
 
 
 00 
 
 (Nt- 
 
 t- 
 
 t- 
 
 
 CO 
 
 lO t- 
 
 r.'^^ 
 
 cT 
 
 8 
 
 t-T 
 
 i;§¥^ 
 
 
 t- 
 
 
 i"- 
 
 8^ 
 
 
 ad-? 
 
 
 l=^= 
 
 
 Pub. 
 
 ^ 
 
 PLH OPh 
 
 HHHHHHHHHH 
 
 fe &^ ^ H H H 
 
 p4&;&:hhhh&j 
 
 fe fe &h' fe H H H H H H H 
 
 HH 
 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Tliurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 ^HH^ HHHHHH 
 
 OS OS 
 
 ;^s^j:;^«> 
 
 SSa«SS 
 
 »Ot-00'*<'^00iO00 
 
 $3^^?32^g^ggS^ 
 
 11 
 
 
 tJ^ C ^ > > > 
 
 &,ao.o o o 
 ^ <J <j 525 Jz; ;zi 
 
 cuOiaoooajd) 
 <5 «1 ^ ;z; ;z; 5z5 Q « 
 
 
 
 m^si 
 
 llllllll 
 
 t- b- t- t- t- t- t- t- I- r- t- 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 501 
 
 QQ 03 
 
 CM b-'i; 
 
 
 >;« S* ^ 
 
 
 
 
 t^< «g<i <i^SS-< -<So-<5S -<SuS-< ^Sou^'iS 
 
 t t 
 
 o o 
 
 S c: S S S c3 
 
 S'« 
 
 S-^ 
 
 •OO O-O r^O asO S033C0 cossco 
 
 afe^e^Ss ^^=3'^^ -a^E^^-a^ 'a^^^-a^ 
 
 .9g-w.S-gS 5*2.5-^2*^ otiSao-s 'S-saSo-S 
 
 — 1^" j^ ~ "^ _M *^ a j^ a^^ ^^a^^aa ^ a a t^ ^ a ^ a ^ a xa a 
 
 _.j--<>fc'7^fe-*^ 'S'^oi'Saj'^ *"aj^'>?-'OJ "iia)-"a"aa3 ■aai33'aa3 
 
 SMp^S^W £W^£^« tt^PHWH^ K^hhW^ K^^hK^ 
 
 a o 3 a 
 
 •g-sea 
 
 ■S 33 3 a 
 
 § aw IKS gswsws sMgsia gwgggw gw|S|w |w§§ 
 
 Oi5'0'ii2 Oi2'0*k5 i2"Ok2o- j5*oo>2* J2'0®k2" ta2'®® 
 
 ^- - - ^ , 
 
 3 - - ,. ^ . 
 
 
 fefefeHHH fefefcHHH fefefeHHH fefefcHHH fefefeHHH fefefeH 
 
 OQQQCO CQOQCQCQCO QQCC CCQQCQ 
 
 |333 ^33333 3 3^ 3 3 3 
 
 ^£^5 
 
 3 3 3 3 3 3 
 
 ^H^HHH ^HHHHH ^^^^^^ ^^'^^^^ HHHHHH HHHH 
 
 u u u > > 6 jit;t-*>>c5 t;t:t:>>> t;5:t:>c5c3 fc^fc^BrSr fefefefe 
 OiOiCuooaj aaa-ooo) &.&.cl,ooo q^cuCuo <a o fto. ft. o o o fti fti 0.0 
 <U<5<«J5z;:2;Q <-<jj<j^!2;ft << -< ^ iz; Iz; ;?; <1-ii^;z;Qa < <- <; Iz; ^2; Iz; <-<i-<JSz! 
 
 t^t^t^t^t^t^ 000000000000 ociOsciCiCi 000000 
 ooocooo o^ooooco ooo<:oi:oo r--t— t-t— t— t— ^-^-^ 
 
 h-b- t-t-t— b- t— t- t- t— t— t— b- t- t- t- I— b- .— ►—►— ^ .— ►— - - .^ 
 
 - b- b-b-tr- t- 
 
502 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 § ^ 
 
 CO CO CO CO 
 CO CO CO CO 
 
 52=3r<'^-1 
 
 cocococococ*^M^5S 
 
 W GO CiC^CiC^C^^tSa^S 
 5 coco CO CO CO coco COMCO^ 
 
 6Q CQ 
 
 OQ OQ CQ GQ 
 
 CQCGGQ GQOQ GQ 
 
 ^i r:^ ^^ 
 
 t-O t;-«OOT! 
 
 3^§§ ^^ 
 
 
 4a 
 
 An. M. 
 
 M. 
 
 Ct.Hy.M.Y. 
 
 An. M. 
 
 M. 
 
 Ct. M. Y. 
 
 6i 
 
 
 
 Ct. Hy. M.Y. 
 
 An. 
 
 Ct.Hy.M.Y. 
 
 M. 
 
 An. M. 
 
 M. 
 M. 
 
 An. M. 
 
 Ct. M. Y. 
 An. 
 
 An. M. 
 
 
 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Hutchinson. 
 
 Wentworth. 
 
 Wythe. 
 
 Wanton. 
 
 Wentworth. 
 Trumbull. 
 Trumbull. 
 Wentworth. 
 Hancock, P. C. 
 
 Trumbull. 
 Hancock, P. C. 
 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Wentworth. 
 Hancock, P. C. 
 
 Gen. Assm. 
 Thornton, P.C. 
 Hancock, C. C. 
 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Gen. Assm. 
 Thornton, P.C. 
 
 r-5 
 
 si 
 
 i^ 3 
 
 Hutchinson 
 
 Wentworth 
 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Hutchinson 
 
 Wentworth 
 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Cooke. 
 Trumbull. 
 Council. 
 Cooke. 
 Thornton, P.i 
 
 <5. ee.©"*-© os!.«8.««.oo-J3 o=*o.*...o<*..o*.. 
 
 3- 3- - . 
 
 Ph Ah 
 
 
 HH fefePMHHH fafePqfefefefepHHHH fe fe fe |x( fefe fef^ERfM Pc,|x,Eh HHH 
 
 
 .fi.3 .3.St^J.S.§ ^ j J=[^i3.3.3t^.ajS.3 t^.r:^J=.a^.3.3.3.C.3.C.C.C;G^ 
 
 ^" J51255^^S $3^;5-^g^^c3^^J3 ^SS^^Sg5gSa§§5SS5?5g 
 
 ' >> >^ s ^^^^^ > > > > 
 Pfi <J <j <J ^ ;z; }Z5 <iH ^ <j ►^ ►^ ►^ K^ <H ;2; j2; Q p^ g <3 ^ g S hj Hj h, H, h, H, jz? {2; Izj ^ZJ 
 
 6 6 t: u i^ > > > fZ C C a a ^^ fcp > > 6 ^ h f 
 
 (Nf^l COCO 
 
 COCOCOCO r* ■* Tt< "<:t< Tt* ■<*<•<*■* -^ ■^ •<# lO iO IC »0 in VC »0 lO U5 >o »o to »0 W lO »o 
 t^ t- t^ t^ t- t- t^ l>- tr- t* t^ t^ t- t— b- t- t- t~- t^ t— t— t- t- t~- t— t— b- t- t— t- t- 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 503 
 
 ^ ^ ^ •^ T^ ''tf^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 CQCOcocococccocococo 
 
 OOSOC5 
 
 Ci C5 C5 C5 
 
 cc CO CO CO 
 
 CO CO coco 00 i-i o 
 
 ■^ "* -^ •^ CO 00 c* 
 
 CO coco CO CO co^ 
 
 coeocoeocococoeoMP 
 cocococococococoeoc< 
 
 CQ 
 
 CO GQ 
 
 ^^ g^^Ji? 
 
 io^^S ^ 
 
 n 
 
 
 SW 
 
 
 hJ >• 
 
 •S " " " 
 
 s S 
 
 s 2 oj c 
 
 nail 
 
 "2 *0 * <D 'O 
 
 sa - r: Jrf CI 
 
 illiiill lliillillillliil 
 
 2 s--^ 
 
 S c S 
 
 h a fl 
 
 5 == 5 
 
 e3 h O 
 
 So -3 
 
 
 
 ^ ;«; fe Pd fe fe fe fe &; fe fc H fe H Eh fe fe &^' fe fH fe fc &^ fe E^' &I &I H H H H H H H H H H 
 
 _I^b4 U U U U t-t u u 
 
 t-t-oot-t-t^t^t-iHOo»-<oojO(N oosc50co-*'^»-iooi'OoeooO'i<'^oo 00000000 00 
 
 T-l rH tH T-< ^ 11 rH ,-irH(M(N i-l (N <M (M 0< (M <N t-( C<» (N Ol i-( i-t .-I rii-l r-l 
 
 Ji u u >>>>>>>>>j 6i)"a,jj > > 6 6 ^r«*f4r;*^^^!^^2si ti"Q, >>66666666 
 
 g e3 Q, ce c8 e8 c3 cS 3 g^-g oO«U(U SsSsaOi P- «5 5sSa300a)©<»a><D!D©a» 
 
 
 -t— t-t-t— t— h-t-b-t— t— t~-t-t-t— t— t— t— t— t— 
 
604 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 veococococccoeocococQC'b 
 
 >^ W H 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 s 
 
 3 C C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ c S S c b 
 
 ■f||2§ 
 
 •■5 £p a s « 
 
 
 
 £-^ 
 
 ^^---^-^- 
 
 2 -- 
 
 fefe[3^*fefefe&H*HHHHHrHHHH Pr'&J &;fe feP=3fe fe'H HHHHH fe fefefe&J 
 
 3'C'O'O'O'O'O r 
 
 3 'O TS n3 ^O 73 'O 
 
 3SSSS3S3S SSSPd 
 HHHHHHHHH HHHHH 
 
 ^ ^^^^ 
 
 CO(N(M(N(N(NC<ieOOOQQOOOO 
 
 i-i(N<N<N(Nca(N(N(Nr-iei5c<5eocoeoeo 
 
 <J<1<J<5^<t3<5|2;^QQPPftpq 
 
 
 OOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCO C5C50JOO»050SC5CS OOOOOS Q OQOO 
 
 t— t-t-t-t— t— t-t-t— t-t— t-t^t~»t^t— t^t-t— t^r-t-t— I— t- b-t— t^t— t— 00 oocooooo 
 
 b-t-t-t— t— Ir-t-t^t-t-t-l— t— t— t— r~- t— t— t^r— b-t— b-t-t— t— t— t-t-b- t- b-t— b-b- 
 
 1-4 iH i-i T-( iH Tl iH rH r-i r-l iH tH rH tH tH r-l t-I »-l tH rl rl r-t r-l t-I i-« r-t r-( i-t iH iH tH iH rl tH t-« 
 
CALENDAR, 505 
 
 
 >^ 
 
 
 S fi-S-S c S « b Si5 
 
 •3 3.C S O 3 5 S «-3 
 
 
 "3 s::^::::^::;:^:::::: "§:::::::::: g^i:: 
 A4 Ph EeiPh 
 
 fefeHH 
 
 H H H P* H 
 
 Em 
 
 fefefefefeHHHHHHH 
 
 fe fe fe fe fe &; &; H H H H H H 
 
 
 Wed. 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 Thurs 
 
 i 
 
 £ £ £ 2 £ £ 2 2 2 £ 2 2 
 
 333333S33S33 
 
 HHHHHHHHHHHH 
 
 2 22 2 £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 
 
 3333333333333 
 
 goct^ 
 
 t-t' t-t-t- 
 
 eo 
 
 eocoeoeoeoococoeocoeoco 
 
 S^^^^^^85?5^§5?5§5 
 
 Apr. 
 July 
 Nov. 
 Dec. 
 
 Dec. 
 Dec. 
 Dec. 
 Dec. 
 Dec. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 coco CO 00 
 
 I- 1- 1- b- 
 
 CO 00 00 05 00 
 
 CO 
 
 OOQOCC'XOOOOCOOOCOOOOOOO 
 
 t— t" t— t— t- I- b- b- r- t~- t- h- t~- 
 
506 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 \a cooc 
 
 Tt^ '^ ^ ^ T 
 
 CO CO CO CO c« 
 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 'a" ^-T 
 
 n 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 B . 
 
 5a <{ 
 
 .© .^ ©^^ -3 . « ©:^ • 
 
 i&§8|©§'g.9^|§©§S S^§© 
 
 ° fe s 
 
 5-2 m •— 
 
 a fl 
 • © © • . 
 
 g • O " '^ O O ( 
 
 a H o o oj S 
 S ©•; 
 
 2 flS ^ 
 
 
 iv^' 
 
 2 3 :: 2 
 
 
 j.. .......... 
 
 Pub. 
 
 fe&;fe'^*&jHHH 
 
 H H H H H 
 
 fePcifi^ftiHHHHHEHHHH 
 
 fa &; fe fe H H H H H 
 
 2.^2 
 2© 2 
 
 222 
 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 Thurs. 
 
 ^222,^^^^^2222 
 
 ^3S3©©©©©S333 
 
 ^.jaJ3J533333J2J=J3J3 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 COCiia 
 
 $5gS 
 
 
 rf*lO»0100(3S05(3505»0(M<M(N 
 
 ^;2;§^s^^'^J3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u o w « © 
 
 -<-<<J'<OOOOO^PQQ 
 
 -< <J <3 <«- iz; ;z5 iz; Q P 
 
 gggggggg 
 
 t^ t- 1— t— t— 
 
 SoOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOWOoS* 
 
 imiiigg 
 
CALENDAR. 
 
 bOl 
 
 CO CO cc CO CO CO 
 
 ^^% 
 
 
 
 iWS MS 
 
 !S w isgw 
 
 W 2 S 
 
 s sa . w 3 
 
 ga5SSW«- 
 
 S;5o>!25o^S go^^oS;^> ;2iog>oS;25^ ;^o>l^t3oS;25«> 
 
 ^,. - - ^ ,. 
 
 3- - - ^ - 
 
 (3m 
 
 X>^ ^ - ^ . 
 
 3- - - - ■ 
 
 fefafefeHHHH fefsJ&^'feHHHH fe&J&^'Pq'H H H H &^ EnEn &! H H H H H H &^ 
 
 copooococQM ooDOMcotcw 030505 osoQWW 05 aotcojtoaooQoo CQ 
 
 ll'S'^llll 2'S'S222l2 lll'Sslll 2'S'S2222222 ^ 
 
 HH^^HHHH H^^HHHHH HHH^HHHH H^^HHHHHHH H 
 
 OCDCSIOCO 
 
 i-l(M CN (N CO iH <M »-l 1-H-l ri M <N <N tH tI il M !M (M (N (M (N (M <N C<J <N (M (N (N 
 
 >;t;j^>i>>>o »^»^»^;^>>>> ^Jt;fc;t:>>>> p*i»i >>> > > > > > >; 
 
 Ot&OiOiOOOa} C3p,p40,0000 A&C^OiOOOO C^ai 0<J^ O O O O O O Ck 
 
 <1<i1<1<j;zi^;2;Q S <J <1 <ii iz; Iz; Iz; 5z5 <1 <J <5 -j- ^ ;z5 Iz; ^ <5<5<5S^^^;zi;z;^ <U 
 
 tOOCOOOCOOO t;- b- t- b- t- h- b- b- 00 00 CO 00 00 00 00 CO O Ci CS O C5 CS O Ci cs c» o 
 
 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 QO 00 00 00 00 Oi 
 
608 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 t^ S 
 
 .2 S S 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 £■ 
 
 o 
 
 W« 
 
 
 . o So S . 
 
 O f* 2 .is O Of "" "■■ H --S /^^ /l^ O 
 
 « .:i .S i:* "73 
 
 .•1 t'^iil'Sif.^f'S 'Si^^lilt'S,-'^ ii'^'Sa^-^l^ii^'H 
 
 c.-ti Cfllj.-tiCuaC.-tJ Ct-C.-tlflcS-if 'Si^css-'S^^-if 
 
 K m n !:; iiQ n S En O 
 
 
 S;z;>oS5z;tf> oS;z;^S;zi«o;> S^o^jz^oSos^ }z;>SoSolz;tf> 
 
 
 
 ^^ ^ - ^ - . 
 
 fePRfeHHHHH fefeENEMHHHHH fefefc|i<HHHHH fefafafeHHHHH 
 
 oQin oDiRtntnoQ 000900 sowcomoj oQOQcn ooaSminin ao.EQ.ooooncncQ 
 
 t4>H_2h;H(H;it' (Ht4(-i-J;4b(4^h ^;H(-c_;tih^^^ '-'rn^fri'r^hh^h 
 
 b^bi^HHHiribi HHH^HHHHH HHH^HHHHH H^H^HHHHch 
 
 00 10 00 T-l la 10 10 10 ^ ^ t- b. t- t- t- •^ T-l 10 (M »a (N CS Ci 05 «0 •<;*« O tH t- b- ^ f- 00 10 
 
 tif^u>>>>> ^^b4^>>>>>c3 ^;^^^>>>>c3 ^fr^u^>>>>c3 
 
 ftAftiOoooo e««a.a.ooooa) ^0.0^0-00000) &.&.&. c o o o o « 
 
 ^^<ii^^^^^ SS<j<;^^^;z;Q g<i<1^;z5 5z;^;ziQ <j <i <tj ^ ;z; ^ ;z5 ^z; Q 
 
 00000000 r-trHiHi-li-ti-li-l^iH C^JOQ'MfMC-llNC^Jr^tM f^MfOMCOCOCjeOCO 
 
 C5C5C5C5000CJ 0050i C5 C500CS0 O CS Ci O O Ci Ci C5 Ci ^r^2P^2Sl£2 
 
CALENDAR, 
 
 509 
 
 COCO CO 
 
 
 lO t- t— t- t- t~- 
 
 co CO CO CO CO CO 
 
 M CO 
 
 
 s s 
 
 
 ".^o 
 o;:} 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 W «W 
 
 .^1 
 
 s a 
 
 -tj s a oJ 
 
 «Wy<1f^O<5f^Wu t» ^ ^ O K O O 
 
 ^._ w 5 3 5 5 S" 
 
 
 ^0) <a 2 4) © 
 
 d 
 
 111 ill 
 
 ^:i 
 
 to HH f 
 
 
 g^ d 
 
 i .*a^* 
 
 5z;Q>Sc5Szis»;o> ;zi:DS;z;o^;*5Se;>o S>;^o5zi^Stf6 ^o^SoSzi 
 
 
 
 Pe^Eeh^'^^'h'h'HHH ^'H^^^'^'HEh'HHH &^'^'^^HHEhHH ^'^^'^'hh* 
 
 ; h ^M ;h ;-i ; 
 
 
 ^=^«^i::^S§^^ 
 
 OCi<N(NCOO^OiOeO^ 
 
 CO rHi-( i-lr-i<M 
 
 CO rt* CJ ^ o o 
 
 ^ a4a.&,ao o o o 0) 
 g <j <j <- <f3 ;?; ;2i ;?; ;z5 « 
 
 ►i| fe ^ ^ ^ g 12; ^ ^ q Q 
 
 uuuu>6666 
 
 e3&,a.a.oaj(ua»a) 
 
 t-' t^ u >> > > 
 
 Cua,D.eS o O 
 
 ^ <j <tj g Iz; Iz; 
 
 -+| •* >* -t< -H -t< -t< -t< -t< -t< lO I'MC uo o >ci o i-o LO »i3 o o 'O o o o -o cT o o r^ t^ r- t- t- t^ 
 
 O C3 Ci Ci C5 O O Ci OCJ C5 C5 Ci C; O C5 C5 C5 C5 C5 C5 O Ci CI C5 CI C5 Ci C5 Ci OCiCSOCSOS 
 
 ►— f— •—'-►— "^ ^- >—•— •- t- t— t— h- t- t— I— I— t- t- t- t— t~ r^ t^ t— t— t- t— t- t^ t- t— t- t- t- 
 
 t— r— t— t- t— t— r 
 
510 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 CO CO CO 
 
 
 o 
 
 c3 
 
 2§ 
 
 '-' 
 
 rHi-t 
 
 
 
 ►J 
 
 s 
 
 S>^ 
 
 fi- 
 
 « 
 
 «^ 
 
 o . 
 
 d u 
 
 C-w 
 
 ds 
 
 « 
 
 «lo 
 
 < 
 
 O lino 
 
 
 o ^: o 
 
 
 ^ d d^ d 
 
 d4J 
 
 
 h4 
 
 ;& 
 
 »- S • o . 
 
 03 43 gas 
 
 a g 5 03 a 
 
 3 V. rs .S 'd 
 
 si a 
 
 igliiil 
 
 
 5 O ^ ^ 3 . i« O 
 
 S 2 .2 .-3 :§ S 2 s .2 
 
 C <n 
 
 Iss^ 
 
 
 
 Oh 
 
 3,. - - . 
 
 HHH fefefefeER fep^HHHHH PRfcfMfMHHHHH fe fefeE=, HH HHH B=« . 
 
 OSQQaQ m CQ OQQQOQCQQQCQ CO CQCQCOQQCGQQ OQ QQQOKCQC 
 
 333 3.„-3^^ '^333333 '3^333333 !-.„a.-- 
 
 ^.3.:3 .cS.St?t^ t?^.£3X!XJ.3J:j3 •Sj3t^J3.3J3J5.3.3 ^'St^^XlJ^.C.iSJa -^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 WOtNOOCS 
 
 O O 03 ft ft &. ft =3 i530000<ll jSftftftOOOOO) ftftftftOOOCO) ft 
 
 ^^p ^<:<1^^ g <5 12; 123 Iz; ;z; Q g <5 <5 <1 J25 ^ Iz; 12; Q <t- ^ ^ <- ;z; Jz; ;z5 ^ Q <1 
 
 CO 00 QO 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CO C5 C5 Ci O Ci C5 O O C5 
 C5C5CiCSC5 C5CiCiC5C50Ci OOC5C1CSC5C5C50 __. 
 
 88^ 
 
 ^88^ 
 
CALENDAR. 511 
 
 
 o^ o ^o^ o ^o ^ o ^ o ^ 
 
 g'iil^isi i'ilili'iii ^l|ii|i^ii li^iillass 
 llllllil Jlilgllil lallliiil lllllllil 
 
 g;2;>oS;z;05> g;z;o>oS^«> S;2;o>Sz;QStf> oSt>^o52iS05t> 
 
 fq'fti&ilHHH H fefe&JfeHHHHH fe&Ifefe'HHHHH fefeERfeHHHEnH 
 
 OOtO OCWOJ TO COCO COnjTOOOTO TOTO OOCOCOTOtQ TOCOTOtOTOtOOQ 
 
 ='2o252 ^ 22— '^55252 22-2^22222 .jh2©222225 
 
 HH^HHH H HHIil^HHHHH HhS^HHHHH feH^HHHHHH 
 
 t:fc:t;>>> c5 »:t:v;c>>>>>c3 t;c5^t^>>.c5c3o feijfcb^^jr^S 
 
612 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 
 
 f^f^feP^HHHEHH fefefefaHHHHH fe &h5^ fa HH HH i-i fafafafafeHHHH 
 
 33. _: ^33333 S.^«^3SS3S3 .j3"^S3S3S3 33^.j33S33 
 
 HHfa^HHHHH Hfa^HHHHHH ^^^^T^^^r^c^ HH^faHHHHH 
 
 rJH--'Mrl<00000000lO COrHOh-t-r-b-t-'^ t-CSl.'iCOOOOOCO t-t-eOlfiOOb-'^'SiH 
 
 MMMt^>>>>0 fcJ^i*iM>>>>c5 t^MMt;>>>>cJ >^MtJC-W>>>-0 
 
 aiftOiaiOooo© CLiaaOiOoooo j^oiaoiooooa) ci-a.nia.B*ooo<u 
 
 <1 <- -< <j ;z; Izj ^ ;?; ;:^ <«1 <i1 <tj <3 ;< ;?; ;?; ;25 q g <j <j <j ^ ;?; Izj Iz; Q ^ <1 <- <j ^g ;?; ;?; !z; Cl 
 
 glOUilCOlOlOlOUO CDOOOO'OOOO t-t-t-t-b-h-r-t-b- oooooooogggo 
 00 GO 00 00 00 CO 00 CO GO CO 00 GC 00 00 00 GO 00 00 CO 00 00 00 GO 00 00 W 00 00 00 00 GO CO 00 00 01 
 
CALENDAR. 513 
 
 
 s ^.s ;^ . .s 
 
 ^ ^ a 
 
 
 
 
 ^3 
 
 1- 
 
 -5 
 
 Q < 
 
 5 
 
 S^ 
 
 ds 
 
 I liiui'Sgii gsi^i'Sbii bf'si&'assi i&-aii|s 
 
 f5 3a^3'2aj*^S-^ '-"•—-^(USajSHS-^ t-t3a;^^t-iS-<.^^H .™fc»3,^.2Pa 
 
 .2 ^..a.ScaaSoojrt o2=«fc<««S«D«J <uSi-e«(Us8Surt umScsnis 
 
 H Hi^Hh-3aQrHO&HO OoaOHh^HO&^O OJHO;5h5»SOO OOJOOcc^ 
 
 > oS^;z;;zioa25> S;z;>o5zioS»3> S;ziQ>S^o5ot> oS;z;>oSft5 
 
 -Q ^- w. - -. ^ «. - ^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ - - - ^ X>^ - ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Xi ^ ^ . 
 3 3-.-^-.--^^ 3^,.^^^^^^ 3->.„-33^«. 3-- 
 
 H fef^fef^Hr^HHH fe Pn fe fe H H H H H fa &^ fc^fc, H H H H H fafafafafafefa 
 
 « m m rn m m m 31 mm ai m m m m at m 
 
 2 -r =^52^2 = 2 22^ •-•22222 22.r:»222_^2 •-•22^222 
 
 H feH^HHHHHH HH^faHHHHH HHfa^HHHHH faHH^HHH' 
 
 00 
 
 ?3^^^?5^^^^ 
 
 '^SSga^^^?^'^ 
 
 ;^;5SJzr-?5=:5?5^ 
 
 ^=^«^12?^?5g5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 «2a,j2L,aiOoooa) 
 g <i1<j <tj Izj ;z; ^ i?; q 
 
 < ^ <- <<- 125 :2; ^ ^ Q 
 
 f^ i: -^ -^ > > i^ > a 
 &,:i,a,a,o c o o «» 
 
 <- -si <.i ^ ^ ;zi ^ ^ Q 
 
 t:, c c c >> >^ >» 
 
 rt aaas'S 3 
 
 i 
 
 
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BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1.— -1636-7, Jan. 19. —John Wheelwright, [Mount Wollaston] 
 Boston, Mass. A Sermon Preached at Boston in New England, vpon 
 a Fast Day the xvjth [19th] of January 1636. [Matt. ix. 15.] (1) 
 Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc, 1866-7, pp. 256-274. (2) Cam- 
 bridge : John Wilson and Son. 1807. 8°, pp. 22. [Twenty-five copies 
 privately reprinted from the " Proceedings."] (3) Historical Maga- 
 zine, Apr. 1867. 2 s. i. 215-224. (4) Morrisania, N. Y. : 18()7. 8°, pp. 
 viii. 28. [Twenty-five copies privately reprinted from the " Historical 
 Magazine."] (5) Boston : 1876. Publications of the Prince Society. 
 
 2. — 1640, July 23. — William Hooke, Taunton, Mass. New | 
 En-glands | Teares, | for Old | Englands | Feares. | Preached in a 
 Sermon on July 23, 1640. | being a day of Publike Humiliation, ap- | 
 pointed by the Churches in behalfe of | our Native Countrey in time | 
 of feared dangers. . . . [Job ii. 13.] (1) London : . . T. P. for John 
 Rothwell and Henry Overton, . . . 1641. 4°, pp. (4) 23. — An. P. 
 [Sabin, No. 32811. The word "Englands" in capitals and small 
 capitals. There are 13 ornaments in the first headpiece. The 17th 
 line of the title ends with the word "desires."] (2) London: . . E. 
 G. for John Rothwell and Henry Overton, 1641. 4°, pp. (4) 23. — B. 
 H. [Sabin, No. 32810. The running headline is all in italics. There 
 are 15 ornaments in the first headpiece. Another lining.] (3) Lon- 
 don: . . 1. D. for John Rothwell and Henry Overton, 1641. 4°, pp. 
 (4) 23. — Ives Coll. J. Carter Brown. [There are lines about the 
 initial letters. The 17th line of the title ends with the word "it."] 
 (4) Reprinted in "Ministry of Taunton," i. 75 ff. 
 
 3. — [1642, Apr. 14.] — William Hooke, Taunton, Mass. New- 
 Englands Sence, | of | Old-England | and Irelands | Sorrowes. | A 
 Sermon preached upon a day of | generall Humiliation in the Churches 
 of I New-England. | In the behalfe of Old-England and Irelands | 
 Sad condition. [2 Sam. x. 6-12.] (1) London : . . John Rothwell, 
 . . . 1645. 4°, pp. (2) 34. — H. (2) Reprinted in "Ministry of 
 Taunton," Emery, i. 99 ff. 
 
 4. — [1664-5, Mar. 22.] — Samuel Danforth, Roxbury, Mass. An | 
 Astronomical Description | of the late | Comet | Or Blazing. Star, | 
 As it appeared in New-England in the | O'**, lO^*", 11'**, and in the 
 beginning | of the 12^*^ Moneth, 1664. j Together | With a brief Theo- 
 logical Application | thereof. [Joel ii. 30, 31. Luke xxi. 25. Acts 
 ii. 19. 20.] Cambridge : . . Samuel Green, 1665. 16°, pp. 22. — M. 
 
516 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 5. — [1668-1669.] John Davenport, Boston, Mass. God's Call | 
 to I His People | To Turn unto Him ; | Together with | His Promise 
 to Turn unto them. | Opened and Applied in | II Sermons, | At two 
 Publiek Fasting-dayes appointed by Authority. [Zech. i. 3.] (1) 
 Cambridge : . . S. G. and M. J. for John Vsher, 1669. 4°, pp. 27. 
 
 (2) London : . . 1670. 4°. [Bacon's Historical Discourses, p. 889.] 
 
 (3) Cambridge : 1672. [Haven's List of Ante-Revolutionary Publi- 
 cations.] 
 
 6.— [1670, June 16.]— Samuel Willard, Groton, Mass. Useful 
 Instructions | for a professing People in Time of great | Security and 
 Degeneracy : | Delivered in several | Sermons | on Solemn Occasions : 
 [Jer. vii. 12.] [The first of three sermons in volume having the above 
 title-page.] Cambridge : . . Samuel Green, 1073. 4°, (4) 19, 43, 80. 
 — H. Library of Congress. Samuel A. Green. 
 
 7. — [1672, June 13.] — Samuel Willard, Groton, Mass. Same. 
 [Isa. xxi. 11, 12.] [The third of the above sermons.] 
 
 8. — 1673-4, Feb. 11. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. The Day 
 of Trouble is near. | Two | Sermons | Wherein is shewed, | What are 
 the Signs of a Day of Trouble being near. | And particularly, | What 
 reason there is for New-England to expect | A Day of Trouble. | Also 
 what is to be done, that we may escape these things | which shall come 
 to pass. I Preached (the ll^*" day of the 12'^ Moneth 1673. being a 
 day of I Humiliation | in one of the Churches in Boston. [Ezek. vii. 
 7.] Cambridge: . . Marmaduke Johnson, 1()74. 4°, pp. (4)31. — P. 
 
 9. —1674, Mar. 26. — Thomas Thacher, Boston, Mass. A Fast of 
 God's chusing, | Plainly opened, | For the help of those poor in spirit, 
 whose I hearts are set to seek the Lord their God | in New-England, 
 in the solemn | Ordinance of | A Fast. Wherein is shewed. . . . | 
 Preached on a Fast called by publiek Au- | thority. On 26. 1. 74. 
 [Isa. Iviii. 5, 6.] Boston : . . John Foster, 1678. 4°, pp. (6) 25. — 
 Ath. M. 
 
 10. — 1675, [Oct. 21]. — Edward Bulkley, Concord, Mass. A 
 Thankefull | Remembrance | of Gods Mercy | to Several Persons at 
 Quabaug or | Brookfield : | Partly in a Collection of Providences 
 about them, | and Gracious Appearances for them : and partly in a | 
 Sermon Preached by Mr. Edward Bulkley, | Pastor of the Church 
 of Christ at Concord, upon a | day of Thanksgiving, kept by divers for 
 their Wonder- | full Deliverance there. | Published by Capt. Thomas 
 Wheeler. [Psa. cxvi. 12.] Cambridge : . . Samuel Green, 1676. 
 4°, pp. (6) 14, 32. — Lenox Library. Y. 
 
 11. — 1675-6, Mar. 22. —James Fitch, Norwich, Conn. An | Ex- 
 planation I of the Solemn | Advice, | Recommended by the Council | 
 in Connecticut Colony | to the Inha- | bitants in that Jurisdiction, | 
 Respecting the Reformation of those | Evils, which have been the 
 Pro- I curing-Cause of the late Judgments upon New-England. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 517 
 
 [Dent. ix. 7.] Boston : . . S. Green for J. Usher, . . . 1683. 8°, 
 pp. (8) 1-66 (67-72, 73-133). — An. Ath. Ct. P. 
 
 12. — [1676, May 9.] — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. An 
 Earnest | Exhortation | To the Inhabitants of | New-England, | To 
 hearken to the voice of God | in his late and present | Dispensations | 
 As ever they desire to escape another Judgement, seven times | greater 
 then anything which as yet hath been. Boston : . . John Foster, 
 
 1676. 4°, pp. (2) 26. — M. [It was issued with the History of the War, 
 and a second impression was put out in 1677. Sibley's " Harvard 
 Graduates," i. 440-442.] 
 
 13. — 1676-7, Mar. 21. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. Renewal 
 of Covenant the great Duty | incumbent on decaying or distressed | 
 Churches. | A Sermon | Concerning Renewing of Covenant with God 
 in Christ, | Preached at Dorchester in New-England, the 21. Day | of 
 the 1. Moneth, 1677. being a Day of | Humiliation | There, on that 
 Occasion. [Neh. ix. 38.] Boston : . . J. F. for Henry Phillips, . . . 
 
 1677. 4°, pp. (8) 21.— B. 
 
 14. — 1678, July 3. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. Pray for the 
 Rising Generation, | Or A | Sermon | Wherein Godly Parents are En- 
 cou- I raged to Pray and Believe | for their Children, | Preached the 
 third Day of the fifth Moneth, 1678. | which Day was set apart by 
 the second Church in Boston in New-England, | humbly to seek unto 
 God by Fasting and Prayer, | for a Spirit of Converting Grace, to be 
 poured | out upon the Children and Rising Generation in | New- 
 England. [Isa. xliv. 3.] (1) Cambridge : . . Samuel Green, . . . 
 
 1678. 4°, pp. 23. (2) Boston : . . John Foster, 1679. 16^, pp. 29. 
 [" Appended to the 1679 edition of * A Call from Heaven.' " Sibley.] 
 — An. M. P. (.3) Boston: . . R. P. forJ.Brunning, 1685. 16°, pp. 
 161-198 of 1685 edition of " A Call from Heaven." — An. P. 
 
 15.-1678, Nov. 21. — William Adams, Dedham, Mass. The | 
 Necessity | of | The pouring out of the Spirit | from on High | upon 
 a I Sinning Apostatizing People, set under | Judgment, in order to their 
 merciful | Deliverance and Salvation. | As it was Delivered in part, 
 upon 21. 9. 1678. being a general | Fast throughout the United Col- 
 onies of N. E. [Isa. xxxii. 13-18.] (1) Boston : . . John Foster, for 
 William Avery, ... 1679. 4°, pp. (8) 48. — An. H. M. P. (2) 
 Reprinted in " Dedham Pulpit," pp. 29 ff. 
 
 16. — 1678, Nov. 21. — Joseph Rowlandson, Wethersfield, Conn. 
 The I Possibility of Gods For- | saking a people, | That have been 
 visibly near & dear to him | Together, | With the Misery of a 
 People thus forsaken, | Set forth in a | Sermon, | Preached at 
 Weathersfield, Nov. 21. 1678. | Being a Day of Fast and Hu- | milia- 
 tion. [Jer. xxiii. 33.] (1) Boston: . . John Ratcliffe and John 
 Griffin, 1682. 16°, pp. (6) 22. P. — (2) . . . Reprinted at London, 
 and sold by Joseph Poole, . . . 1682. 4°, pp. 35-46. [Printed with 
 
618 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 "A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary 
 Rowlandson," etc.] — Watkinson Library. Y. (3) Reprinted in 
 "Somers Tracts," ed. 1812, viii. 582. 
 
 17. — 1679-80, Mar. 17. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. Re- 
 turning unto God, the great concernment | of a Covenant People. | 
 Or I A Sermon | Preached to the second Church in Boston in | New- 
 England, March 17. 1679-80. when | that Church did solemnly and 
 explicitly | Renew their Covenant with | God, and one with another. 
 [Hosea xiv. i.] Boston : . . John Foster, 1680. 4°, pp. (6) 19 (2). 
 — M. P. 
 
 18.— 1679-80, Mar. 17. —Samuel Willard, Boston, Mass. The 
 Duty of a People that have Renewed | their Covenant with God. | 
 Opened and Urged in | A Sermon | Preached to the second Church in 
 Boston in | New-England, March 17. 1679-80 after | that Church had 
 explicitly and most | solemnly renewed the Ingagement | of them- 
 selves to God, and | one to another. [Josh. xxiv. 22, 23.] Boston : . . 
 John Foster, 1680. 4°, pp. (2) 13. — M. P. 
 
 19. — [1679-1680.] ~ Urian Oakes, Cambridge, Mass. A | Season- 
 able Discourse | Wherein | Sincerity & Delight | in the Service of 
 God I is earnestly pressed upon | Professors of Religion. | Delivered 
 on a Publick Fast, at Cambridge in | New-England. [Isa. xliii. 22.] 
 Cambridge : . . Samuel Green, 1682. 4°, pp. (6) 33. — P. 
 
 20. — 1680, June 29. — Samuel Willard, Boston, Mass. The | Ne- 
 cessity I of I Sincerity, | in renewing | Covenant : | Opened and urged 
 in a I Sermon, Preached to the Third ga- | thered Church in Bos- 
 ton, New-England ; | June 29, 1680. On the Day wherein they | Sol- 
 emnly renewed Covenant. [Part of " Covenant-Keeping the Way to 
 Blessedness."] Boston, N. E. : . . James Glen, for S. Sewell, 1682. 
 16°, pp. 131-150 (6). —An. 
 
 21. — 1681-2, Feb. 15. — Samuel Willard, Boston, Mass. The 
 Fiery Tryal no strange thing; | delivered in a | Sermon | Preached 
 at I Charlestown, | February 15. 1681. | Being a Day of | Humiliation. 
 [1 Pet. iv. 12.] Boston, N. E. : Printed for Samuel Sewall, 1682. 4°, 
 pp. (4) 19 (1).— An. H. M. 
 
 22. — [1681-1682.] — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. A Sermon | 
 Wherein is shewed that the Church of God | is sometimes a Subject 
 of I Great Persecution ; | Preached on a Publick | Fast | At Boston 
 in New-England : | Occasioned by the Tidings of a great Persecution 
 Raised against | the Protestants in France. [Acts viii. 1.] Boston, 
 in New-England : Printed for Samuel Sewall, in the year 1682. 4°, 
 pp. (6)24. — An. M. 
 
 23. — 1682, June 24 [22]. —William Hubbard, Ipswich, Mass. 
 The Benefit | Of a Well-Ordered | Conversation, | As it was Delivered 
 in a i Sermon | Preached June 24*\ 1682. On a Day | of publick 
 Humiliation. ] As also A Funeral Discourse. . . . [Psa. li. 27.] Printed 
 at Boston by Samuel Green, 1684. 16°, pp. (6) 218. —An. H. M. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 519 
 
 24. — 1682-3, Jan. 25. — Samuel WiUard, Boston, Mass. AU 
 Plots against God and his People | Detected and Defeated, as it was | 
 delivered in a | Sermon | At a Fast kept by the First gathered | 
 Church in Boston, Jan. 25, | 1682. Boston, in New-England: . . 
 Samuel Green, . . . 1684. 8^, pp. 199-227. [Printed with " The 
 Childs Portion."] — H. 
 
 25. — 1687, July 26.— James Allen, Boston, Mass. Neglect of 
 Supporting | and | Maintaining the Pure | Worship of God, | By the 
 Professing People of God : is a God-provoking and | Land-Wasting 
 Sin. I And Repentance with Reformation of it, the only way to | their 
 Outward Felicity : Or, | The Cause of New-Englands Scarcity : And 
 right way to its | Plenty. | As it was Discovered and Applied in a 
 Sermon Preached at Roxbury, | on a Fast-Day : July 26, 1687. Bos- 
 ton : Printed for Job How and John Allen, . . . 1687. 4°, pp. (4) 16. 
 
 26. — 1689, Dec. 19. — Cotton Mather, Boston Mass. The Wonder- 
 ful Works of God | Commemorated. | Praises | Bespoke for the God 
 of Heaven, | In a Thanksgiving | Sermon ; | Delivered on Decemb. 19. 
 1689. I Containing | Just Reflections upon the Excel- | lent Things 
 done by the Great God, | more Generally in Creation and Re- | demp- 
 tion, and in the Govem-ment of the World ; But more Par- | ticularly 
 in the Remarkable Revolu- | tions of Providence which are every | 
 where the matter of present Observation. | With a Postscript giving 
 an Account of some very | stupendous Accidents, which have lately 
 happened | in France. | By Cotton Mather. I To which is Added a 
 Sermon Preached unto the | Convention of the Massachuset-Colony 
 in I New-England. | With a short Narrative of several Prodigies, which 
 New- I England hath of late had on the Alarms of Heaven in. [Isa. 
 xii. 5.] [Proclamation for Thanksgiving, Dec. 19, 1689, is appended.] 
 Boston: . . S. Green, . . . 1690. 16°, pp. (8) 32.— An. H. M. P. 
 
 27. — [1691-1692.] — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. A Midnight 
 Cry. An Essay for our Awakening out of a Single Sleep. ... A 
 Discourse given on a Day of Prayer, kept by the North-Church in 
 Boston. Boston: . . John Allen for Samuel Phillips, 1692. 12°, 
 pp. 72. 
 
 28. — [1692, May 26.] — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. An Hor- 
 tatory and Necessary Address to a Country now Extraordinarily 
 Alarum'd by the Wrath of the Devil. [A part of " The Wonders of 
 the Invisible World," for full title of which see Sibley's "Harvard 
 Graduates," iii. 58, 59.] 
 
 29. — 1693, July 6. — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. The Day, and 
 the Work of the Day. | A Brief Discourse, | on | "What Fears, we 
 may have at | This Time to quicken us ; | What Hopes there are for 
 us at I This Time to comfort us : | And | What Prayers would be 
 Likely to | turn our Fears into Hopes. | With | Reflections upon Time 
 and State, | now come upon the Church | of God, | And | Collections 
 
520 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 of certain Prophecies | relating to the Present Circum- | stances of 
 New-England. | Uttered on a Fast, kept in | Boston, July 6th 1693. 
 [Job XV. 4.] Boston: . . B. Harris, 1693. 12°, pp. 71. —P. 
 
 30. — 1694, Aug. 23. — Samuel Willard, Boston, Mass. Kef orma- 
 tion I The Great Duty | of an | Afflicted People. | Setting forth | 
 The Sin and Danger there is | in Neglecting of it, under the | Contin- 
 ued and Repeated Judg- | ments of God. | Being the Substance of 
 what was | Preached on a Solemn Day of | Humiliation, kept by the 
 Third Gathered Church in Boston, | on August 23d. 1694. [Lev. xxvi. 
 23,24.] Boston, .... Bartholomew Green, 1694. 16°, pp. 76. — An. 
 M. P. 
 
 31. — [1696 ?] — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. The Christian 
 Thank-Offering. A Brief Discourse ... on Rom. 12. 1. Made on 
 a Solemn Thanksgiving, kept in a Private Meeting of Christians, on 
 the Occasion of some Deliverance. Boston : . . B. Green & J. 
 Allen, for Michael Perry, 1696. 16°, pp. 32. 
 
 32. — 1701, Sept. 18. —Samuel WiUard, Boston, Mass. The | 
 Checkered | State | of the | Gospel Church. | Being | the Substance 
 of a Sermon | prepared for, and in part Preached | on Sejitember 18th 
 1701. Being | a Day of Publick Fasting | and Prayer. [Zech. xiv. 6, 
 7.] Boston, in N. E. : . . B. Green, and J. Allen, for Samuel Sewall, 
 junior, . . . 1701. 16°, pp. 64. — An. Ath. Ct. M. P. 
 
 33. — 1703, May 19. — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. The Duty 
 of I Children, | Whose Parents have Pray'd for them. | Or, | Early and 
 Real I Godliness | Urged ; | Especially upon such as are Descended | 
 from Godly Ancestors. | In a Sermon Preached on May 19. | 1703. 
 A Day Set apart for Pray- | er with Fasting, in one of the | Congre- 
 gations at Boston, to im- | plore the Glorious Grace of God, | for 
 the Rising Generation. [Ex. xv. 2.] Boston : Printed for J. Edwards 
 & B. Gray . . . 1719. 12°, pp. 41-99. — P. [Title from the Second 
 Impression, with the sermon of Increase Mather on " The Duty of 
 Parents etc." The First Impression appeared in 1703.] 
 
 34. — 1703, May 19. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. The Duty 
 of I Parents | To | Pray | For their | Children, | Opened & Applyed 
 in a Sermon, | Preached May 19. 1703. | Which Day was set apart by 
 One I of the Churches in Boston, New- | England, humbly to Seek 
 unto God by Prayer with Fast- | ing for the Rising Generation. 
 [1 Chron. xxix. 19.] (1) Boston : . . B. Green and J. Allen, . . . 1703. 
 12°, pp. 6e>. (2) Boston: . . John Allen for John Edwards, 1719. 
 12°, pp. vi. 40. — H. P. 
 
 35. — 1703-4, Mar. 15. — John Danforth, Dorchester, Mass. The 
 Vile I Prophanations of Prosperity | By the | Degenerate | Among 
 the People of God : | In part Arraigned in the Name of the Glo- | 
 rious Lord Jesus Christ, at the Bar | of the Great and General Court 
 and I Assembly of the Province of the Mas- | sachusetts-Bay, in New- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 521 
 
 Eng-land : at their | Fast in the Council Chamber in | Boston, March 
 15th. 1703-4. I In a Sermon Upon | Jer. xxii. 21. ["A Declaration 
 Against Prophaneness and Immoralities," by Governor Dudley is 
 appended, which is dated March 24, 1703, and was also issued in 
 broadside. — An.] Boston : Printed for Samuel Phillips, 1704. 16°, 
 pp. (2) 44. — An. Ath. M. P. 
 
 36. — 1703-4, Mar. 15. — Samuel Willard, Boston, Mass. Israel's | 
 True Safety : | Offered in a | Sermon, | Before His Excellency, | the 
 Honourable Council, | and Representatives, of | the Province of the 
 Massachusetts- | Bay in New England, On March | 15th, 1704. Be- 
 ing a Day Set | a part for Solemn Fasting | and Prayer. [Rom. 
 viii. 31.] Boston: . . B. Green, for Samuel Phillips, . . . 1704. 16°, 
 pp. (2) 34. — An. Ath. M. P. 
 
 37. — 1705, Dec. 28. — Samuel WiUard, Boston, Mass. A | 
 Thanksgiving Sermon, | Preach'd at | Boston in New-England, | 
 December, 1705. | On the Return of a | Gentleman | from his Travels. 
 [Psa. Ixvi. 20.] [The gentleman was Mr. Jonathan Belcher, Sewall's 
 Diary, ii. 151.] London : Printed for Ralph Smith, . . . 1709. 8°, 
 pp. 16. — Ath. Ct. P. 
 
 38. — [1703-1706.] —Joseph Belcher, Dedham, Mass. Two Ser- 
 mons I Preached in Dedham. N. E. | The First on a Day set apart 
 for I Prayer with Fasting, | to Implore Spiritual Blessings | on the 
 Rising I Generation. | The Other | (some time after) in Private, to a | 
 Considerable Number of Young | Persons in the aforesaid Town. . . . 
 [Matt. xix. 13.] (1) Boston: . . B. Green for Samuel Phillips, . . . 
 1710. 16°, pp. (4) 30, 58. — An. (2) Reprinted in " Dedham Pulpit," 
 pp. 141 ff. 
 
 39. — 1707, Apr. 16. — William Williams, Hatfield, Mass. The | 
 Danger | Of Not Reforming | Known Evils | or, | The Inexcusable- 
 ness of a Knowing | People Refusing to be | Reformed. | As it was 
 set forth on a Day of | Publick Fasting, April 16. 1707, | at Hatfield. 
 [1 Sam. iii. 13.] Boston : . . B. Green, 1707. 8°, pp. (2) 30. — Ct. 
 
 40. — 1711, Mar. 28. — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. Orphanotro- 
 phium. I Or, | Orphans Well-provided for. | An Essay, | On the Care 
 taken in the | Divine Providence | For Children when their | Parents 
 forsake them. | With Proper Advice to both | Parents and Children, 
 that I the Care of Haven may be the more Conspicuously & Com- 
 forta- I bly. Obtained for them. | Offered in a Sermon, on a Day | of 
 Prayer, kept with a Religious | Family [28d. 1 m. 1711], whose | 
 Honourable Parents were late | by Mortality taken from them. [Psa. 
 xxvii. 10.] Boston : . . B. Green, 1711. 16°, pp. (2) 68. — Ath. 
 M. P. 
 
 41. — 1711, Dec. 18. — Benjamin Wiadsworth, Boston, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | Preach'd on a Fast-Day, kept by the | First Church of 
 Christ in Boston, | on Decemb. 18. 1711. Which Fast | was Occa- 
 
522 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 sioned by the Burning of their | Meeting-House, on Octob. 2, 1711. 
 [Psa. xxvi. 8.] [No. iii. of Five k^crmons.] Boston : . . J. Allen, 
 for Nicholas Buttolph, . . . 1714. 12°, pp. xi. (1) 168 [61-96]. — 
 An. P. 
 
 42. — 1713, Nov. 12. Benjamin Wadsworth, Boston, Mass. A 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | On Novemb. 12. 1713. Occasioned | by 
 God's Goodness in providing a | New Meeting-House, for the First | 
 (or Old) Church in Boston, N. E. | Their Former being Burnt some | 
 time before. [Zech. iv. 7.] [No. v. of Five Sermons. The half-title 
 on page 141]. Boston: . . J. Allen, . . . 1714. 12°, pp. xi. (1) 
 168 [141-168].— An. P. 
 
 43. — 1715, Aug. 2. — Benjamin Colraan, Boston, Mass. A Gospel 
 Ministry | The rich Gift of the | Ascended Saviour | Unto His | 
 Church. I As it was Represented in a Sermon | preached August 2. 
 
 1715. By I Mr. Benjamin Colman, | On a Day of Prayer kept by His 
 Con- I gregation, to implore the Divine | Conduct and Blessing with 
 them, in | their election of Another into the | Pastoral Office among 
 them. [Eph. iv. 8, 11.] Boston : . . T. Fleet and T. Crump for 
 Samuel Gerrish, . . . 1715. 12°, pp. 48. — Ct. 
 
 44. — 1715-16, Mar. 22. — Benjamin Colman, Boston, Mass. A 
 brief | Enquiry | into the Reasons | why the People of God have 
 been ) wont to bring into their | Penitential Confessions, | the Sins 
 of their | Fathers and Ancestors, | in Times long since past. | Preached 
 on a Day of General | Prayer and Fasting, | March 22. 1716. [Psa. 
 cvi. 6.] Boston : . . T. Fleet and T. Crump, for Samuel Gerrish, . . . 
 
 1716. 16°, pp. 32.— An. Ath. C. Ct. M. P. 
 
 45. — 1716, Aug. 23. — Benjamin Colman, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I Preach'd at | Boston in New-England. | On Thursday the 23d. 
 of August, I 1716. I Being the Day of Publick Thanksgiving, | for 
 the Suppression of the late Vile | and Traiterous Rebellion in | Great 
 Britain. [1 Kings x. 9.] Boston : . . T. Fleet and T. Crump, . . . 
 1716. 8°, pp. 28. — An. Ath. H. M. 
 
 46. — 1716-17, Jan. 8. — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. Zelotes. | A 
 Zeal I For the | House of God ; ! Blown up, in | a Sermon unto an | 
 Assembly of Christians: [at the Dedication of the New Meeting- 
 House on Church Green in Summer Street] in the South-Part of Bos- 
 ton I On 8. d. xi. m. 1716, 17. | A Day of Prayer kept by them, | at 
 their First Entrance | into a New Edifice Erected | by them, for the 
 Publick Worship of God our Saviour. [John ii. 17.] Boston : . . 
 J. Allen, for Nicholas Boone, 1717. 12°, pp. 44. — An. Ath. H. P. 
 
 47. — 1716-17, Jan. 8. — Benjamin Wadsworth, Boston, Mass. 
 The I Churches | Shall Know that | Christ | Searcheth the Hearts. | 
 Set forth in | the first Sermon that was | preach'd in the New Meet- 
 ing- I House in Summer-street, Boston, | being a | day of Fasting and 
 Prayer ; to ob- | tain Gods gracious presence with, 1 and Blessing on. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 523 
 
 the Congregation | who designed to attend God's | publiek Worship 
 in that Place ; | and now publish'd at their desire. [Rev. ii. 23.] 
 Boston: . . J. Allen for N. Boone, . . . [1717.] 12°, pp. (2) 34.— 
 An. Ath. P. 
 
 48. — 1717, Aug. 14. — James Keith and Samuel Danforth, Bridge- 
 water and Taunton, Mass. Bridgewater's Monitor. | Two Sermons, | 
 Preached unto a | New Assembly | of Christians | at Bridgewater. | 
 On, 14. d. vi. m. 1717. | . . . | at their Entering into the | New-Edi- 
 fice. I The first by James Keith | • • . The second [The Building of 
 Sion I carryed on by Praying.] By Samuel Danforth. (1) Boston : 
 1717. 12°, pp. 39. [Sibley's " Harvard Graduates," iii. 249.] (2) Bos- 
 ton :. . William McAlpine, 1768. 12°, pp. (2) v. 26. — M. Y. [James 
 Keith's sermon from Ezek. xxxvi. 37, with a different title-page.] 
 
 49. — 1717, Sept. 5. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. God brings 
 to the Desired Haven. | A | Thanksgiving-Sermon, | deliver'd | at | 
 the Lecture in Boston. N. E. | On Thursday, September 5. 1717. | 
 Upon Occasion of the Author's safe | Arrival thro' many great Haz- 
 ards I & Deliverances, Especially on the | Seas, in above Eight Years 
 Absence | from his Dear & Native Country. . . . [Psa. xxii. 22-25.] 
 Boston: . . B.Green, . . . 1717. sm. 8°, pp. (2) iii. 32. — Ath. M. 
 
 50. — 1717, Nov. 28. — John Barnard, Marblehead, Mass. The | 
 Nature and Manner | Of | Man's Blessing | God ; | With Our | Obli- 
 gations I thereto. | A Sermon | Preached at Salem, upon a | Public 
 Thanksgiving, | the Thursday after the Death of the | Reverend, | 
 Mr. George Curwin ; | Who departed this life, Novemb. 23d, | 1717. 
 In the 35th Year of his Age. [Psa. ciii. 1.] Boston : . . T. Crump, 
 for Samuel Gerrish, . . . 1717. 8°, pp. (2) ii. 42. — Ath. M. P. 
 
 51. — 1718, Dec. 11. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I Wherein is Shewed, | I. That the Ministers of the Gospel | need, 
 and ought to desire the | Prayers of the Lord's People | for them. | II. 
 That the People of God ought | to Pray for his Ministers. | Preached 
 at Roxbury, October 29. 1718. | W^hen | Mr. Thomas Walter | Was 
 Ordained a Pastor in that Church, by | his Grand-Father. [Heb. xiii. 
 18.] Boston : . . S. Kneeland, for J. Edwards, 1718. 8°, pp. (2) ii. 
 35. — An. Ath. M. P. Y. [The manuscript notes of the above 
 sermon [8°, pp. 8.], in the library of Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, in- 
 dicate that it was preached, probably with additions, on the " Thanks- 
 giving throughout y® Province Dec^" 11. 1718."] 
 
 52. — 1719, Apr. 2. — Increase Mather, Boston, Mass. Believers 
 encouraged to Pray | from the Consideration of | Christs Interceding 
 for them, and with them. Boston: . . B.Green, for Daniel Hench- 
 man, . . . 1719. 12°, pp. 98-128 of " Five Sermons on Several Sub- 
 jects." — An. 
 
 53. — 1721, May 10. — Cotton Mather, Boston, Mass. A Vision in 
 the Temple. | The | Lord of Hosts, | Adored ; | And the | King of 
 
524 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Glory I Proclaimed ; | On a Day of Prayer Kept [May | 10. 1721] at 
 the Opening of the New | Brick Meeting-House in the North | part 
 of Boston, by the Ministers of | the City, with the Society which | 
 Built it, & this Day Swarmed into it. [Psa. xxiv. 10.] Boston : 
 Printed for Robert Starkey, . . . 1721. 16°, pp. (4) 45.— An. P. 
 [Haven's List has two editions in 1721. The half-title is " Two 
 Sermons Preached," etc., the other being the next number.] 
 
 54. — 1721, May 10. — Benjamin Wads worth, Boston, Mass. The | 
 Lord Jesus | Walking in the midst of the | Churches. | A | Ser- 
 mon I Preach'd in the New Brick Meeting- | House, in Middle-street, 
 Boston, May | 10. 1721. Which was kept as a Day | of Fasting and 
 Prayer, (Being the | first time of Publick Worship there) | by the 
 Society which Built the | House ;' and is now Publish'd at | their De- 
 sire. [Rev. ii. 1.] Boston : Printed for Robert Starkey, 1721. 16°, 
 pp. (2) 34. — An. P. 
 
 55. — 1721, July 12. — Eliphalet Adams, New London, Conn. A 
 Sermon | preached at | Windham, | July 12th. 1721. | On a Day of 
 Thanksgiving | For the Late remarkable Success | of the | Gospel | 
 Among Them. [1 Thess. iii. 8.] (1) New London: .... T.Green, 
 1721. 12°, pp. (2) vi. 40. — L. P. (2) Windham: . . John Byrne, 
 1800. 8°, pp. 35. — Ct. U. • [The sermon is erroneously attributed 
 on the title-page of the second edition to Samuel Whiting, of Windham, 
 Conn.] 
 
 56. — 1722, Nov. 8. — James Allin, Brookline, Mass. What shall 
 I Render! | A Thanksgiving | Sermon | Preached at Brooklin, | 
 Nov. 8th, 1722. | From Psalm cxvi. 12. Boston, N. E. : . . B. 
 Green for Samuel Gerrish, . . . 1722. 16°, pp. (4)27. — C. Ct. 
 P. Y. 
 
 57.-1722, Nov. 13.— Joseph Sewall, Boston, Mass. The Holy 
 Spirit I the | Gift of God | Our Heavenly Father, | To them that Ask 
 Him. I A Sermon | Preach'd on a Day of Prayer | with Fasting, 
 kept by the | South Church in Boston, to Ask | of God the Effusion 
 of His Spirit | on the Rising Generation, Novemb. | 13th 1722. . . . 
 [Luke xi. 13.] Boston : Printed for D. Henchman, 1728. 16°, pp. 
 (4)32. — Ath. C. H. M. P. Y. 
 
 58. — 1722-3, Mar. 5. — Benjamin Colman and William Cooper, 
 Boston, Mass. Two | Sermons | Preached in Boston, | March 5, 
 1723. I On a Day of Prayer, | Had by the Church and Congregation | 
 usually meeting in Brattle-Street, | to ask the Effusion of the Spirit 
 of Grace | on their Children, and on the Children | of the Town. [I. 
 " God's Concern for a Godly Seed," etc. Mai. ii. 15. — W. C. IL 
 "The Duty of Parents to pray," etc. 1 Chron. xxix. 19. — B. C] 
 Boston: . . S. Kneeland, . . . 1723. 12°, pp. (4) iv. 38: (2) ii. 36 (1). 
 — An. Ath. Ct. L. M. 
 
 59. — 1724, Mar. 26. — Daniel Brewer, Springfield, Mass. God's | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 525 
 
 Help to be Sought, in Time of | War | with a Due Sense of the Van- 
 ity I of What Help Man can afPord : | shewed at Springfield, | March 
 26, 1724. [Psa. cviii. 12.] Boston : . . B. Green, 1724. 8°, pp. (4) 
 19. — M. 
 
 60. — 1725, June 4. — Thomas Cheever, Chelsea, Mass. Two | • 
 Sermons i Preached at | Maldon. | The First, August 26, 1722. On | 
 the Sabbath. | The Second on a Particular | Fast, June 4. 1725. 
 [Running title of the second, " Because there is Wrath, beware." 
 Text, Job xxxvi. 18.] [Boston:] Printed for, and sold by Nicholas 
 Boone, . . . 1726. 12°, pp. (2) 94. — P. 
 
 61. — 1726, Oct. 5. — Daniel Baker, Sherborn, Mass. Two | Ser- 
 mons, I The First | Preached at Dedhara, | October 5th, 1726. | On 
 a Day of Prayer with Fasting There, | to Ask the Pourings out of 
 the Spirit | of Grace on Them, | and Especially on | their children. | 
 The Other | Preached at Sherbourn, | On a like Occasion, May 10. 
 1727. [1 Chron. xxviii. 9.] [There is a half-title, and the second has 
 a separate title-page. See next number.] Boston: Printed for D. 
 Henchman, . . . 1728. 12°, pp. (2) vi. 88. — P. 
 
 62. — 1727, May 10. — Daniel Baker, Sherborn, Mass. Early 
 Piety I The | Duty & Interest of Youth. | As it was shown, | in | A 
 Sermon | Preached at Sherbourn, on May 10. | 1727. Being a Day set 
 apart there, | for Prayer with Fasting. | To Implore | the Effusions 
 of God's Spirit on | the Rising Generation. | . . . [Prov. iii. 1, 2.] 
 Boston: Printed for D. Henchman, 1728. 12°, pp. 64. — P. 
 
 63. — 1727, Nov. 1. — James AUin, Brookline, Mass. Thunder and 
 Earthquake, A Loud and | A^vful Call to Reformation. | Consider' d 
 in I A Sermon | Preached at Brooklyn, | November the First; | 
 Upon a Special Fast, | Occasion'd by the | Earthquake, | Which 
 happen'd in the Evening after | the 29th Day of October 1727. [Isa. 
 xxix. 6.] (1) Boston, N. E. : . . Gamaliel Rogers for Joseph Ed- 
 wards, 1727. 16°, pp. (4)49 (1).— Ath. (2) Same.— An. H. Y. 
 
 64. — 1727, Nov. 1. — Samuel Wigglesworth, Ipswich, Mass. A | 
 Religious Fear of God's | Tokens, | Explained and Urged; | in a | 
 Sermon | Preached at Ipswich, | November 1. 1727. Being a Day of 
 Humiliation on account | of the terrible | Earthquake, | October 29. 
 1727. [Psa. Ixv. 8.] Boston : Printed for D. Henchman & T. Han- 
 cock, . . . 1728. 8°, pp. (4) iii. 42. — Ct. P. 
 
 65. — 1727, Nov. 2. — John Barnard, Marblehead, Mass. Earth- 
 quakes I under the | Divine Government. | A Sermon, | preach'd 
 November 2. 1727. at the Lecture in | Marblehead after the terrible 
 Earthquake. [Isa. xxix. 6.] [With " Two Discourses to Young 
 Persons."] Boston: . . S. Gerrish, 1727. 12°, pp. 71-99 (3). — Ath. 
 Ot. M. P. 
 
 66. — 1727, Nov. 2. — Benjamin Colman, Boston, Mass. The 
 Earth devoured by the Curse. | A | Sermon | Preached at Boston | 
 
526 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Novem. 2, 1727. | On a Day of Prayer and Fasting", | four days after 
 the Earthquake. [Isa. xxiv. 6.] [Four sermons on the Earthquake, 
 pp. 61-86.] Boston : Printed for J. Phillips . . . and T. Hancock, . . . 
 1727. 8°, pp. 61-86. — An. Ath. Ct. H. L. M. 
 
 67. — 1727, Nov. 2 and 9. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. Earth- 
 quakes the Works of God & Tokens | of his just Displeasure. | Two 
 Sermons | On | Psal. xviii. 7. | At the Particular Fast in Boston, 
 Nov. 2. I and the General Thanksgiving, Nov. 9. | Occasioned | by 
 the late dreadful | Earthquake. | Wherein | among other things is 
 offered a brief Account of | the Natural Causes of these Operations in 
 the I Hands of God : With a Relation of some late | terrible Ones in 
 other Parts of the World, as well | as those that have been perceived 
 in New-England | since its Settlement by English Inhabitants. (1) 
 Boston : Printed for D. Henchman, . . . 1727. 8°, pp. (6) 45 (.3). — 
 An. Ath. H. P. (2) Same. "The Second Edition Corrected." 
 ...1727. 8°, pp. (6)45(3).— Ath. Ct. M. Y. (3) The First 
 Sermon Reprinted. Boston : . . . . D. Fowle, 1755. 12°, pp. 23. — 
 Ath. (4) The Same Sermon Reprinted. Boston: . . , . D. Fowle, 
 and by Z. Fowle, 1804. 12% pp. 24. 
 
 68. — 1727, Nov. 3. — John Barnard, Andover, Mass. Sin testify 'd 
 against | by | Heaven and Earth. | A | Sermon | preached on the 
 Friday | after the g^eat and terrible | Earthquake, | which occur'd 
 on the I Lord's-Day-Evening, | between the 29th and 30th of Octo- 
 ber, I 1727. [Job XX. 27.] Boston : Printed for John Phillips, . . . 
 1727. 12°, pp. 32.— P. 
 
 69. — 1727, Nov. 3. — John Cotton, Newton, Mass. A | Holy Fear 
 of God, I And His | Judgments, | Exhorted To : | In A | Sermon | 
 Preach' d at Newton, Nov. 3. 1727. | On a Day of Fasting and 
 Prayer, | Occasioned by the Terrible | Earthquake | that shook New- 
 England, — on the I Lord's-Day Night before. With an Appendix 
 containing a Remarkable | Account of the Extraordinary Impressions 
 made | on the Inhabitants of Haverhill &c. [Psa. cxix. 120.] Bos- 
 ton :. . B. Green, Jun., 1727. 8°, pp. (4) xvi. 24 (7). —An. Ath. 
 
 70. — 1727, Nov. 3. — Thomas Paine, Boston, Mass. The Doctrine 
 of Earthquakes. | Two | Sermons | Preached at a particular Fast in | 
 Weymouth, Nov. 3. 1727. The Friday after | The Earthquake. | 
 Wherein this terrible Work appears not to | proceed from natural 
 Second Causes, in any | orderly Way of their Producing : | But from | 
 the Mighty Power of God immediately in- | terposing ; and is to the 
 World, I A I token of God's Anger, &c. | and | Presage of Terrible 
 Changes. | With Examples of many Earthquakes in His- | tory, — 
 illustrating this Doctrine. [Job ix. 6.] Boston: . . D. Henchman, 
 . . . 1728. 8°, pp. 87. — M. P. 
 
 71. — 1727, Nov. 7. — John Danforth, Dorchester, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I Occasioned by the Late Great | Earthquake, | And the Terrors 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 527 
 
 that attended it. | Prepared for, and (in Part) Delivered at a | Fast 
 in Dorchester, Nov. 7. 1727. And | Transcribed for the Press with 
 some I Enlargement. [Ex. ix. 33, 34.], Boston: . . Gamaliel Rogers, 
 ...1728. 16^pp. (4)46 (5). — An. Ct. H. M. P. 
 
 72.-1727, Nov. 16. —Nathaniel Gookin, Hampton, N. H. The 
 Day of Trouble near, The Tokens | of it, and a Due Preparation for 
 it ; I In I Three Sermons | on Ezekiel vii. 7. | The First of which was 
 Preached on The Lord's | Day. Oct. 29. 1727. Which was the Day 
 ini- I mediately Preceeding the late Earthquake ; | The other Two 
 were Prepared for, and one of them | was Preach'd on a Day of Pub- 
 lick Fasting and | Prayer. Nov. 16. | To which is added, | a Sermon 
 on Deuteronomy v. 29. Preach'd the Wed- | nesday after that Awak- 
 ening Providence ; | And an Appendix, | Giving some account of the 
 Earthquake as it | was in Hampton. And something Remarkable 
 of I Thunder and Lightning in that Town, | in the year 1727. Boston: 
 Printed for D. Henchman, 1728. 8°, pp. (6) 75 (2). — An. 
 
 73. — 1727, Nov. 16. — Nathaniel Morrill, Rye, N. H. The | Lord's 
 Voice in the Earthquake | Crieth to | Careless & Secure Sinners, | 
 Shewed in a | Sermon | Preached in the Parish of Rye, in New-Castle, 
 in I New-Hampshire, | in New-England, Novemb. 16, | 1727. Being 
 a Day of Publick Fasting thro'out | the Province, occasioned by the 
 late awful and | terrible | Earthquake. . . . [Micah vi. 9.] Boston in 
 New England : Printed for Richard Jenness and Joseph Lock, in the 
 Parish of Rye, 1728. 8°, pp. (4) iv. 32. — An. 
 
 74. — 1727, Nov. 29 — Edward Payson, Rowley, Mass. Pious | 
 Heart-Elations : | being | the Substance of a | Sermon | in Publick | 
 on November 29th. in Consideration | of present Awful Providences | 
 amongst us ; and on the Sabbath | following in the Forenoon. | De- 
 cember 3* 1727. I From those words of Jeremiah, | in | Lamenta- 
 tions iii. 41. . . . Boston: . . B. Green for J. Phillips, . . . 1728. 
 16^ pp. (2) 23. — P. 
 
 75. — 1727, Dec. 21.— Samuel Phillips, Andover, Mass. Three 
 plain I Practical Discourses, | Preach'd at Andover. [1. October 29th, 
 Day preceding the Earthquake. 2. December 21st, 1727, Public Fast, 
 Occasioned by the Continuance of the Earthquake.] [Isa. cxix. 120. 
 Isa. xxvii. 8.] Boston : Printed for J. PhiUips, . . . 1728. 12°, pp. 
 (2) vi. 226 (1). — H. 
 
 76. — 1727, Dec. 21 . —John Rogers, Boxford, Mass. The | Nature 
 and Necessity | of | Repentance, | with | the Means and Motives to 
 it. I A I Discourse | Occasioned by the | Earthquake. | Preached at 
 Boxford, I in part on the | Publick Fast. Dec. 21. 1727. [Ezra xviii. 
 30.] Boston : Printed for S. Gerrish, . . . 1728. 8°, pp. 78. — Ath. P. 
 
 77. — 1727, Dec. 21. — Joseph Sewall, Boston, Mass. Repentance | 
 The sure Way to | Escape Destruction. | Two Sermons | on Jer. 18. 
 7, 8. I Preach'd Deceii^ber 21st. on a Publick | Fast occasioned by the 
 
528 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Earthquake | the Night after the Lord's-Day Octoh. 29th. | And on 
 the Lord's- | Day December 24th. 1727. Boston : Printed for D. 
 Henchman, 1727. 16°, pp. (4) 55.— An. Ath. M. P. 
 
 78. — 1727, Dec. 21. — William Williams, Weston, Mass. Divine 
 Warnings | To be received with | Faith & Fear, | and | Improved to 
 excite to all proper | Methods for our own safety | and our Families. | 
 Shew'd in a Discourse on Heb. xi. 7, | on the Publick Fast, Dec. 21. 
 1727. I on occasion of the terrible Earthquake | Oct. 29, 30. & fre- 
 quently since repeated. | To which is added, | a Discourse on Prov. 2, 
 1-6. Boston : Printed for Samuel Gerrish, 1728. 16°, pp. (2) xii. 72, 
 132. — Ct. 
 
 79. — 1727-8, Mar. 21. — John Brown, Haverhill, Mass. Solemn 
 Covenanting with God, one | of the best means to prevent | fatal De- 
 clensions. I A I Discourse | before | Publick Renewal of Covenant | in 
 Haverhil | On the Day of the General Fast: | March 21. 1727, 8. 
 Preached partly on that day, partly on | the Sabbath before. [Deut. 
 xxix. 10-21.] Boston, N. E. : Printed for Samuel Gerrish, . . . 1728. 
 8°, pp. (4)36.— Ath. Ct. P. 
 
 80. — 1727-8, Mar. 21. — Jonathan Townsend, Needham, Mass. 
 An Exhortation or Call to a professing Peo- | pie to return unto the 
 Lord. I Being the Substance of | Two Sermons | Preach'd on March 
 21st 1727, 8. I Which was observ'd throughout the Province | as a 
 Day of I Publick Fasting and Prayer. [Hosea vi. 1.] [Boston:] 
 Printed for N. Belknap, . . . 1729. 12°, (4) ii. 46. —An. 
 
 81. — 1731-2, Jan. 25. — Benjamin Colman, Boston, Mass. Min- 
 isters and People | under special Obligations | to Sanctity, Humility 
 & Gratitude | for the great Grace given Them | in the Preached 
 Gospel. I A Sermon | On a Day of Prayer, | Kept by the North 
 Church in Boston | on Tuesday, January 25. 173i | To implore the 
 Divine Direction in | their Election of Another Pastor. . . . [Eph. 
 iii. 8.] Boston : . . S. Kneeland & T.,Green, for S. Gerrish . . 1732. 
 8°, pp. (4) 20. — An. Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 82. — 1731-2, Jan. 25. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. The Dy- 
 ing Prayer of Christ, for his People's | Preservation and Unity. | A | 
 Sermon | to the | North Church in Boston, | January xxv. 1731, 2. | 
 Being a Day of Prayer for the Divine | Direction, in their Choice of 
 Another Colleague | Pastor, to succeed the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather. 
 [John xvii. 11.] Boston, New-England: . . S. Kneeland & T. Green 
 for S. Gerrish, . . . 1732. 16°, pp. (4) 26. — An. Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 83. — 1733, Apr. 18.— William Billings, Windham, Conn. A | 
 Warning | to | God's Covenant People, | against | Breaking the Cove- 
 nant of I God they are under. | A Discourse | On Jeremiah xi. 10, 11. | 
 Composed by the Reverend | William Billings, M. A. | Late Pastor 
 of the Church of Christ | in Windham- Village. | And Preach'd by 
 him on the 18th of April | 1733, it being the Anniversary Fast- | Day 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 529 
 
 then, & the last day of his Preaching. New London: .... T.Green, 
 1733. 16°, pp. (6)30. — Y. 
 
 84. — 1733, Apr. 18. — Marston Cabot, KiUingly, Conn. The 
 Nature of Religious Fasting Opened. | In | Two short Discourses | 
 Deliver'd | At Thompson in Kellingley, | Connecticut Colony. | On a 
 Day of publick Fasting and | Prayer, | April 18. 1733. [Zech. vii. 5.] 
 Boston : Printed for John Eliot, . . . 1734. 8°, pp. (4) ii. 18. — An. 
 Ath. Ct. H. L. M. P. 
 
 85. — 1734, June 18. — John Webb, Boston, Mass. The Duty of ^ 
 Degenerate People to pray | for the Reviving of God's Work. | A | 
 Sermon | Preach'd June 18. 1734. | Being a | Day of Prayer with 
 Fasting, | Observed by the | New North Church | in Boston. [Hab. 
 iii. 2.] Boston : . . . . S. Kneeland and T. Green, . . . 1734. 8°, pp. 
 (4)41. — An. Ath. C. H. M. P. 
 
 86. — 1734, Nov. 7. — Marston Cabot, Killingly, Conn. The 
 Nature of Religious Thanksgiving Opened. | A | Sermon | Preach'd | 
 At Thompson in Kellingley, | Connecticut Colony. | On a Day of 
 Publick Thanksgiving, | November 7. 1734. [Deut. xvi. 13-1.5.] 
 Boston: N. E. . . S. Kneeland & T. Green, . . . 1735. 8°, pp. (4) 
 23. — C. Ct. L. 
 
 87. — 1736, Dec. 10. — Benjamin Colman, Boston, Mass. Right- 
 eousness and Compassion | the | Duty and Character | of | Pious 
 Rulers. | A | Sermon | Preach'd on a Day of | Private Fasting and 
 Prayer | In the Council Chamber in Boston | December 10th 1736. | 
 Before | His Excellency the Governour | and the | General Court. 
 [Zech. vii. 8, 9.] Boston : . . J. Draper, . . . 1736. 8°, pp. (6) 31. 
 
 — An. Ath. C. L. P. Y. 
 
 88. — 1738, Nov. 23. — Samuel Dexter, Dedhara, Mass. Our 
 Fathers God, the Hope of Posterity. | Some serious Thoughts | on 
 the I Foundation, Rise and Growth | of the Settlements | in | New- 
 England ; I With a view to the. Edification of the Present, | and the 
 Instruction and Admonition of Future | Generations. | A Discourse | 
 Delivered at Dedham, on the Day of | Publick Thanksgiving, Nov. 
 23. 1738. I Upon the Conclusion of the first Century, | since a Church 
 of Christ was gathered in | that Place. [Psa. Ixxviii. 1-8.] (1) 
 Boston. . . S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1738. 8°, pp. (4) ii. 51. — An. 
 H. P. (2) Boston : . . Thomas Fleet, Jun., 1796. 8° pp. (4) ii. 51. 
 
 — An. Ath. H. . L. M. (3) Reprinted in "Dedham Pulpit," 
 pp. 245 fp. 
 
 89. — 1740, Dec. 3. — Joseph Sewall, Boston, Mass. Nineveh's 
 Repentance and Deliverance. | A | Sermon | Preach'd before | His 
 Excellency | the | Governour, | the Honourable | Council | and | Rep- 
 resentatives I of the Province of the | Massachusetts-Bay in New- 
 England, I on a Day of Fasting and Prayer | in the Council Chamber, 
 Dec. 3. 1740. [Jonah iii. 10.] Boston, N. E. : . .J. Draper . . . 
 
630 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 for D. Henchman, 1740. 8°, pp. (4) 33. — An. Ath. C. H. M. 
 P. Y. 
 
 90. — 1740-41, Feb. 26. — Peter Clark, Salem, Mass. The Captain 
 of the Lord's Host appearing | with his Sword drawn. | Two | Ser- 
 mons I Preaeh'd at Salem- Village | on the | General Fast, | Appointed 
 on the Occasion of the | War, February 26. 1740, 1. | From Joshua v. 
 13,14. Boston: .... S. Kneeland and T. Green, 1741. 8°, pp. (4) 55. 
 — An. Ath. H. M. P. 
 
 91. — 1740-41, Feb. 26. — Phillips Payson, Walpole, Mass. A 
 professing People directed and excited to | prepare to meet God, in 
 the Way of | his Judgments. | In | Two Sermons | Preached Feb. 26. 
 1740, 1. I upon ] a public Fast, | Occasion'd by the present War with | 
 Spain, and other Judgments. [Amos iv. 12.] Boston : . . S. Knee- 
 land & T. Green, . . . 1741. sm. 8°, pp. (4) ii. 49.— An. H 
 M. P. 
 
 92. — 1741, Apr. 23. — Nathan Bucknam, Med way, Mass. The 
 just Expectations of God, from a People, | when his Judgments are 
 upon them for their Sins. | Shewn, in | Two Sermons, | on Deut. xiii. 
 11 I Preaeh'd atMedway, | on a Day of publick Fasting and Prayer, | 
 April 23. 1741. Boston: . . T. Fleet, . . . 1741. 12°, pp. 78.— 
 
 C. L. 
 
 93. — 1741, Aug. 4. — Solomon Williams, Lebanon, Conn. The 
 Power and Efficacy of the Prayers of | the People of God, when 
 rightly offered to | him ; and the Obligation and Encouragement | 
 thence arising to be much in Prayer. | A | Sermon | Preaeh'd at 
 Mansfield, Aug. 4. 1741. | At a Time set apart for Prayer for the 
 Revival | of Religion ; and on the Behalf of Mrs. | Eunice, the 
 Daughter of the Reverend | Mr. John Williams, (formerly Pastor | 
 of Deerfield) who was then on a Visit there, | from Canada ; where 
 she has been in a long | Captivity. [Isa. xlv. 11.] Boston: . . S. 
 Kneeland and T. Green, . . . 1742. 12% pp. (2) 28.— An. Ath. 
 
 94. — 1741-2, Feb. 26. — Joseph Sewall, Boston, Mass. God's 
 People must Enquire of Him to | bestow the Blessings promised in 
 his I Word. | A | Sermon | Preaeh'd February 26. 1741-2. On a Day 
 of Prayer | observed by the South Church and Congregation in | 
 Boston, to seek of God the more | Plentiful Effusion | of | His Holy 
 Spirit I upon them and His People. [Ezek. xxxvi. 37.] Boston: . . 
 
 D. Fowle for D. Henchman, 1742. 8°, pp. 30. — An. Ath. M. P. 
 
 95. — 1742, May 13. — Charles Chauncy, Boston, Mass. The out- 
 pouring of the Holy Ghost. | A | Sermon | Preaeh'd in Boston, May 
 13. 1742. I On a day of prayer observed by the First Church there, | 
 to ask of God the effusion of his Spirit. [Acts. x. 45.] Boston : . . 
 T. Fleet for D. Henchman and S. Eliot, 1742. 8°, pp. 46.— An. 
 Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 96.-1744, Sept. 14. — J. Evans, [Charleston, S. C] National 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 631 
 
 Ingratitude lamented : | Being | the Substance | of a | Sermon | 
 preached at the Old Meeting-House | in Charles-Town in South-Car- 
 olina, I September 14th, 1744. | A Day of Publick Fast. [Isa. i. 3.] 
 Charleston: . . Peter Timothy, . . . 1745. 4°, pp. 31. — Ath. H. 
 
 97. — 1744-5, Feb. 28. — Samuel Checkley, Boston, Mass. Prayer 
 a Duty when God's people go forth | to War. | A | Sermon | Preach'd 
 Feb. 28. 1744-5. | Being a Day of publick | Fasting and Prayer | to 
 ask in particular, | that it would please God to succeed the | Expedi- 
 tion formed against his Majesty's | Enemies, &c. [1 Kings viii. 44, 
 45.] Boston: . . B. Green and Comp., 1745. 12°, pp. 24. — Ct. 
 
 98. — 1745, July 18. — Charles Chauncy, Boston, Mass. Marvel- 
 lous Things done by the right Hand and holy Arm | of God in getting 
 him the Victory. | A ! Sermon | Preached the 18th of July, 1740. | 
 Being a Day set apart for | Solemn Thanksgiving to almighty God, | 
 for the Reduction of Cape Breton. . . . [Psa. xcviii. 1.] (1) Boston : 
 . . . . T. Fleet, . . . 1745. 8°, pp. 23. — An. Ath. M. P. (2) 
 London, Reprinted, . . . 1745. 8°, pp. 21. 
 
 99. — 1745, July 18. — Thomas Prentice, Charlestown, Mass. 
 When the People, and the Rulers among them, willingly | offer them- 
 selves to a Military Exposition against their | unrighteous Enemies, 
 and are successful therein, the | Lord is to be praised, and they to be 
 loved and | honoured therefor. | A | Sermon | Preached at Charles- 
 town, I on I A General Thanksgiving, | July 18, 1745. | for the | Re- 
 duction of Cape-Breton, | by an Army of New-England Volunteers, | 
 Under the Command of the Honourable | William Pepperell, Esq ; | 
 Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief. | With the Assistance 
 of a British Squadron, | commanded | by Peter Warren, Esq; . . . 
 [Judg. v. 1,2,9.] Boston: .... Rogers and Fowle, . . . 1745. 8°, 
 pp. 31). — An. Ath. C. Ct. M. 
 
 100. — 1745, July 18. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. Extraor- 
 dinary Events the Doings of God, and | marvellous in pious Eyes. | 
 Illustrated | ina | Sermon | at the | South Church in Boston, N. E. | on 
 the I General Thanksgiving, | Thursday July 18. 1745. | Occasion'd | 
 By taking the City of Louisburg, on the Isle of | Cape-Breton, by 
 New-England Soldiers, assisted | by a British squadron. [Psa. cxviii. 
 23.] (1) Boston: Printed for D. Henchman, . . . 1745. 8°, pp. 35. 
 — An. Ath. H. M. Y. (2) Boston, Printed : London, Reprinted, 
 and sold by J. Lewis, . . . 1746. 8°, pp. 32. — H. (3) Same. (4) 
 Same. (5) Same. — Ath. H. L. (6) Same. — M. (7) Edinburgh : 
 . . R. Fleming and Company, 1746. 8°, pp. (2) 38. (8) Eos- 
 ton : Printed for D. Henchman, . . . 1747. 8°, pp. 35. — Ath. Ct. 
 M. U. 
 
 101. — 1745, July 25. — Jared Eliot, [Killingworth] Clinton, Conn- 
 God's Marvellous Kindness, | Illustrated in a | Sermon | Preach'd at 
 the South Society in Killingworth, | on the General Thanksgiving in 
 
532 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 the Colony ! of Connecticut, July 25, 1745. | Occasion' d | By taking 
 the City of Louisbourg on the Isle | of Cape-Breton, by New-England 
 Soldiers, | assisted by a British Squadron, June 17, 1745. [Psa. xxxi. 
 21.] New London: . . . . T. Green, 1745. 16°, pp. (4) 26. — Ct. M. 
 
 102. — 1746, Aug. 14. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I Delivered | At the South Church in Boston, N. E. | August 14. 
 1746. I Being the Day of | General Thanksgiving | for | The great 
 Deliverance of the British Nations | by | The glorious and happy 
 Victory | near | Culloden. | Obtained by His Royal Highness | Prince 
 William Duke of Cumberland | April 16. last. | Wherein | The 
 Greatness of the Publick Danger and Deliverance is in | Part set 
 forth, to excite their most grateful Praises to the | God of their Sal- 
 vation. [Ezra ix. 13, 14.] (1) Boston: Printed for D. Henchman, 
 . . . 1746. 8°, pp. 38 (1). — An. Ath. C. Ct. L. P. U. Y. 
 (2) Boston, Printed : London, Reprinted and sold by John Lewis, 
 . . . 1747. 8°, pp. 39. — L. [Some slight alterations in the title.] 
 
 103. — 1746, Nov. 27. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. The Sal- 
 vations of God in 1746. | In Part set forth in a | Sermon | at the 
 South Church in Boston, | Nov. 27. 1746. | Being the Day of the | 
 Anniversary Thanksgiving | in . the Province of the | Massachusetts 
 Bay in | N. E. Wherein | the most remarkable Salvations of the Year 
 past, both in | Europe and North America, as far as they are come to 
 our I Knowledge, are briefly considered. [Ex. xiv. 13.] (1) Boston : 
 Printed for D. Henchman, . . . 1746. 8°, pp. 35.— An. Ath. Ct. 
 H. L. M. P. U. Y. (2) Boston, Printed : London, Reprinted, 
 and sold by T. Longman and T. Shewell, . . . 1747. 8°, pp. 36. — H. 
 L. (3) Extract on the " Destruction of the French Fleet etc." re- 
 printed to encourage the People of God under the Execution of the 
 Boston Port Bill. Boston : Reprinted and sold by John Kneeland, 
 1774. 8°, pp. 15. (4) Same. Watertown : Reprinted and sold by B. 
 Edes, 1776. 8°, pp. 15. — H. M. 
 
 104. — [1746.] — Thomas Cradock [St. Thomas], Baltimore, Md. 
 " During this year, 1747, Mr. Cradock published two Sermons ; one of 
 which was preached in St. Thomas' Church, from Psalm cxxii. 6, 7, 
 on the day of the Governor's Thanksgiving, on the occasion of the 
 Suppression of the Scotch Rebellion ; and the other, on the same 
 occasion, in St. Paul's Church, Baltimore town, from Proverbs xvii. 
 22." Sprague's Annals, v. 113. 
 
 105.— 1747-8, Jan. 7. — William Currie, Radnor, Pa. A | Ser- 
 mon I Preached in | Radnor Church, | on | Thursday, the 7th of Jan- 
 uary, 1747. I Being the Day appointed by the | President and Council 
 of the I Province of Pennsylvania, | to be observed as a | General 
 Fast. [Jer. v. 29.] Philadelphia: .... Benjamin Franklin and 
 David Hall, 1743. 8°, pp. 23. — Hist. Soe. of Penn. 
 
 106. — 1747-8, Jan. 7. — Gilbert Tennent, PhUadelphia, Pa. A | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 533 
 
 Sermon | Preach'd | at Philadelphia, January 7. 1747-8. | Being- the 
 Day appointed by the | Honourable | the | President and Council, | 
 to be observed throughout this Province, | as a Day of | Fasting and 
 Prayer. | With some enlargement. Philadelphia: . 7 W. Bradford, 
 . . . 1748. 8°, pp. 34. — Princeton Coll. 
 
 107. — 1747-8, Jan. 28. — Nathaniel Appleton, Cambridge, Mass. 
 The Cry of Oppression where Judgment is looked for, | and the sore 
 Calamities such a People may expect from a | righteous God : | Illus- 
 trated in I Two Discourses | from Isaiah v. vii. | on January 28th 
 1747, 8. which was set apart by the Government | for Fasting and 
 Prayer, in Consideration | of the remarkable Judgments of God | 
 upon the Land ; and more especially the | Destruction of the Court- 
 House by | fire on the 9th of December last. Boston, N. E. : .... J. 
 Draper, 1748. 8°, pp. 51. — An. Ath. C H. M. P. Y. 
 
 108. — 1747-8, Jan. 28. — Thomas Prentice, Charlestown, Mass. 
 *The Vanity of Zeal for Fasts, without | true Judgment, Mercy, and 
 
 Compassions. | A | Sermon | Preach'd at Charlestown, January 28. 
 1747, 8. On a I PublickFast, | After the Destruction of the | Prov- 
 ince Court-House | by Fire. [Zech. vii. 8-12.] Boston : . . . . Rogers 
 andFowle, . . . 1748. 8°, pp. 27. — An. Ath. M. 
 
 109. — 1747-8, Jan. 28. — Ebenezer Turell, Medford, Mass. Mr. 
 Turell's | Brief and Plain | Exhortation to his People | on the late 
 Fast, I January 28. 1747, 8. [Isa. i. 10-17.] Boston : . . . . Rogers 
 & Fowle, 1748. 8°, pp. 11. — An. Ath. C. U. 
 
 110. — 1749, Apr. 27. —Gilbert Tennent, Philadelphia, Pa. Two | 
 Sermons | Preach'd at Burlington, | in New-Jersey, April 27th, 1749. | 
 The Day appointed by His Excellency the Governor, | and the Hon- 
 orable the Council, | for a | Provincial Fast, | Before the Governor 
 and others, upon Texts | Chosen by His Excellency. [Matt. vi. 16-18. 
 Jonah iii. 8.] Philadelphia : . . . . W. Bradford, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 
 40. — Library of Congress. 
 
 111. — 1749, June 15. — Aaron Smith, Marlborough, Mass. Some | 
 Temporal Advantages | in | Keeping Covenant with God, | considered 
 and applied | in | Two Discourses | from Lev. 26. 3, 4. | Delivered 
 June 15th 1749. | Being a Day of publick Fasting, on Occa- | sion of 
 the Extream Drought. Boston : . . . . S. Kneeland, 1749. 8°, pp. (4) 
 31 (1). — Ath. 
 
 112. — 1749, Aug. 24. — Thomas Prince, Boston, Mass. The natu- 
 ral and moral Government and Agency of | God, in causing Droughts 
 and Rains. | A | Sermon | at the | South Church in Boston, | Thurs- 
 day, Aug. 24. 1749. I Being the Day of the | General Thanksgiving | 
 in the | Province of the Massachusetts, | for the extraordinary reviv- 
 ing Rains, after the most | distressing Drought which have been 
 known among | us in the Memory of any Living. [Psa. cvii. 33-35.] 
 (1) Boston : Printed and sold at Kneeland and Green's, . . . 1749. 
 
534 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 8°, pp. (6)40.— An. Ath. Ct. H. M. U. Y. (2) Same, 1750. 
 8°, pp. (6) 40. (3) Boston, Printed : London, Reprinted, . . . 1750. 
 8°, pp. (6) 34. — C. H. L. (4) Same, 1750. 8°, pp. (6) 34. 
 
 113. — 1749, Nov. 23. — Gilbert Tennent, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon | Preaeh'd at Burlington in New-Jersey, November 23. | 
 
 1749. Being the Day appointed by his Excellency | the Governor, 
 with the advice of His | Majesty's Council, | for a | Provincial 
 Thanksgiving. | Before the Governor and others, upon Texts | chosen 
 by his Excellency. | With a Prefatory Address . . . [Psa. Ixv. 1. 
 Phil. i. 27.] PhUadelphia: . . William Bradford, . . . 1749. 4°, 
 pp. 28. — C. P. 
 
 114. — 1750, Feb. 28. — Solomon Williams, Lebanon, Conn. The 
 Sad Tendency of Divisions and Contentions in Churches, a [Fast 
 Day] Sermon, at the West-Farms, in Norwich [Conn.], Feb. 28, 
 
 1750. Newport : James Franklin, n. d. 16°, pp. 29. — Brinley Cat. 
 No. 2422. 
 
 115. — 1753, April 19. — Andrew Eliot, Boston, Mass. An evil 
 and adulterous Generation. | A | Sermon | Preached on the | 
 Publick Fast, I April 19, 1753. [Matt. xii. 39.] Boston: . . S. 
 Kneeland, for J. Winter, . . . 1753. 8^ pp. (2) 26. — An. Ath. C. 
 L. M. Y. 
 
 116.-1753, Dec. 13.— Samuel Dunbar, Stoughton, Mass. The 
 Duty of Ministers, to testify the Gospel | of the Grace of God. | 
 A I Sermon | Preached to the First Parish in | Braintree, | Decem- 
 ber 13. 1753. I Being | a Day set a-part by them for solemn 
 Humiliation and Prayer for Divine | Direction in their Choice of a 
 Minister. [Acts xx. 24.] Boston : . . . . S. Kneeland, 1754. 8°, pp. 
 (4)23. — Ath. M. 
 
 117. — 1755, Jan. 1. — Aaron Burr, Newark, N. J. A | Discourse | 
 delivered | at New-ark, | in | New-Jersey. | January 1, 1755. | Be- 
 ing a Day set apart for solemn Fasting and Prayer, on | Account 
 of the late Encroachments of the French, and | their Designs against 
 the British Colonies in America. [Hosea ix. 12.] (1) Philadel- 
 phia. [Haven's List, but probably an error.] (2) New York : . . 
 HughGaine, . . . 1755. 4°, pp. 41. — Bo. Ct. M. U. 
 
 118. — 1755, Mar. 20. — Samuel Wigglesworth, Ipswich, Mass. 
 The Blessedness of such as trust in Christ, | the King whom God 
 hath exalted. | A | Discourse | Delivered | to the Congregation of 
 the Southern [ Parish in Ipswich, March 20th 1755. | Being a Day 
 
 of publick Fasting and | Prayer. [Psa. ii. 12.] Boston : N. E 
 
 S. Kneeland, ... 1755. 8°, pp. (4) 28. — Ath. M. P. Y. 
 
 119. — 1755, Aug. 27. — Joseph Fish, No. Stonington, Conn. 
 Angels ministring to the People of God, for their | Safety and 
 Comfort in Times of Danger and Distress. | A | Sermon | Preached 
 at I Westerly, in the Colony of Rhode-Island, | Aug. 27. 1755. | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 535 
 
 In I the South Meeting House, j to a | number of religious People, on 
 a Day of Fasting and | Prayer (observed by them) for Success to our 
 Armies. | With a | more particular Reference to the Expedition 
 against Crown-Point ; | in which some of them had near Relations. 
 [Heb. i. 14.] Newport : . . J. Franklin, n. d. 4°, pp. 28.— An. 
 
 120. — 1755. — Joseph Bean, Wrentham, Mass. The Importance 
 of Spiritual Blessings. | A | Sermon | preached before | the Congrega- 
 tion of the First Church and Parish | of Wrentham, | on a day of | 
 Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, | A. D. 1755. [Gen. xxxii. 
 26.] Providence: H. H. Brown, 1837. 8°, pp. 23. — C. 
 
 121. — 1756, Jan. 8. — Thomas Foxcroft, Boston, Mass. The 
 Earthquake, a Divine Visitation. | A | Sermon | Preached to the 
 Old Church in Boston, | January 8, 1756. | Being | A Day of Pub- 
 lick Humiliation and Prayer, | throughout the Province of the Massa- 
 chusetts- I Bay in New-England : | Upon Occasion | of the repeated 
 Shock of an Earthquake on this Continent, and the very destructive 
 earthquakes | and Inundations in divers Parts of Europe, all in | the 
 Month of November last. [Isa. xxix. 6.] Boston : . . . . S. Kneeland, 
 ...1756. 8°, pp. 51. — Ath. H. M. Y. 
 
 122. — 1756, Jan. 8. — John Tucker, Newbury, Mass. God's 
 special Care over the Righteous, | under publick Calamities. | A 
 Sermon on the Occasion of the late Earth- | quakes. Deliver' d on a 
 Day of publick | Humiliation therefor, January 8th 1756. From 
 Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6. [One of "Four Sermons on Several Subjects."] 
 Boston: . . . . S. Kneeland, . . . 1756. 8°, pp. (2) vii. 99 [24-46]. 
 — Ct. M. 
 
 123. — 1756, May 21. —William Smith, Philadelphia, Pa. Hard- 
 ness of Heart and Neglect of God's merciful Visitations, the certain 
 Forerunners of more public Miseries ; applied to the Colonies, in a 
 parallel between their state and that of the Jews in many remarkable 
 Instances, Preached on the Public Fast, appointed by the Govern- 
 ment of Pennsylvania, May 21, 1756. [Jer. viii. 7-11.] (1) London, 
 " Discourses on Public Occasions," 1759. (2) London : Printed for 
 A. Millar, R. Griffiths &c. 1762. 8°. "Discourses on Public Occa- 
 sions," pp. 47-74. (3) Phila. : Hugh MaxweU and WiUiam Fry, 1803. 
 8°. Works, ii. pp. 90-111. 
 
 124. — 1756, Nov. 25. — John Tucker, Newbury, Mass. God's Good- 
 ness, amidst his afflictive Providences, | a just Ground of Thankful- 
 ness and Praise. | A | Discourse on Psalm cxviii. 18, 19. | Deliv- 
 ered November 25. 1756. | Being a Day appointed by Authority, 
 for a publick | Thanksgiving thro' this Province. Boston : . . . . S. 
 Kneeland, . . . 1757. 8°, pp. (2)23.— An. Ath. C. H. M. P. 
 
 125. — 1757, May 6. — Arthur Browne, Portsmouth, N. H. The | 
 Necessity of Reformation, | in Order to avert | Impending Judg- 
 ments. I A I Sermon | Preached at Portsmouth, in New- | Hampshire, 
 
536 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 May 6, 1757. | Being the | Annual Fast. [Isa. i. 20.] Portsmouth: 
 .... Daniel Fowle, . . . 1757. 8°, pp. 21. — An. Ath. M. 
 
 126. — 1757, June 30. — John Cotton, Halifax and Plymouth, Mass. 
 God's Call to His People ; — shewing their Duty. | Two | Sermons | 
 Preached at Plymouth, | June 30. 1757. | Being a Day of General 
 Humiliation, | Occasioned | by the Drought and War. [Zeph. ii. 3.] 
 Boston: . . Benjamin Meeom, . . . 1757. 8°, pp. 43. — Ath. 
 
 127. — 1757, July 8. — Matthias Harris, Lewes, Del. A | Sermon | 
 Preached in the Church of St. Peters in Lewis, | in Sussex County 
 on Delaware, on July 8, 1757. | Being | The Day appointed by the 
 Honourable Wil- | liam Denny, Esq ; to be observed as a | Day of 
 Fasting and Humiliation, to implore | the Blessing of God on his 
 Majestys Arms, | especially on the Expedition now carrying | on 
 under his Excellency John Earl | of Loudon. Philadelphia : . . . . 
 James Chattin, 1757. 8°, pp. 54 (1). — Am. Phil. Soc, Phila. 
 
 128. — 1758, Nov. 23. — Jason Haven, Dedham, Mass. The 
 Duty of Thanksgiving to God for | Favours received, explained 
 and urged. | A | Discourse | Delivered November 23d. 1758. | It be- 
 ing I the Day appointed by Authority | to be obsei-ved | as a Day of 
 publick I Thanksgiving, | for the Smiles of Providence in the Year 
 past. [Psa. ciii. 2.] (1) Boston : . . S. Kneeland, . . . 1759. 8°, pp. 
 (4) 23. — C. H. Y. (2) Reprinted in " Dedham Pulpit," pp. 281 ff. 
 
 129. — 1758, Nov. 23. — Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, Mass. Two | 
 Discourses | Delivered November 23d. 1758. | Being the | Day ap- 
 pointed by Authority | to be | Observed as a Day of public | Thanks- 
 giving : I Relating, more Especially, | to the | Success of His Ma- 
 jesty's Arms, I And those of the | King of Prussia, the last Year. 
 
 [Psa. c. 4.] Boston : N. E R. Draper, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 29, 
 
 57. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 130. — 1759, Apr. 5. — Thaddeus Maccarty, Worcester, Mass. 
 The Advice of Joab to the Host of Israel, goilig | forth to War, con- 
 sidered and urged, ! in two | Discourses | delivered at Worcester, 
 April 5th, 1759. | Being the | Day of the publick annual Fast, | 
 Appointed by Authority, | and the | Day preceeding the General 
 Muster | of the | Militia throughout the Province, | for the | Inlist- 
 ing Soldiers | for the | Intended Expedition against Canada. [2 
 Sam. x. 12.] Boston : . . Thomas and John Fleet, 1759. 8°, pp. 39. 
 — An. Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 131. — 1759, Oct. 16. — Samuel Cooper, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached before His Excellency | Thomas Pownall, Esq ; | 
 Captain-General and Governor in Chief, | the Honourable His Ma- 
 jesty's Council I and House of Representatives, | of the Province of 
 the I Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, | October IG**" 1759. | 
 Upon Occasion of the Success of His | Majesty's Arms in the 
 Reduction of | Quebec. [Psa. cxl. 10-12.] Boston : . . Green & 
 Russell, and Edes & Gill, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. xi. 53. — An. Ath. Y. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 537 
 
 132. — 1759, Oct. 25. — Amos Adams, Roxbury, Mass. Songs of 
 Victory directed by human Com- | passion, and qualified with Chris- 
 tian I Benevolence ; in | A | Sermon | delivered at Roxbury, October 
 25, 1759. I On the general | Thanksgiving, | for the Success of His 
 Majesty's Arms, | " more particularly, in the Reduction | of Quebec, 
 the Capital of Canada." [Prov. xxiv. 17, 18.] Boston: .... Edes 
 and am, ... 1759. 8°, pp. 29. — An. Ath. Bo. C. M. 
 
 133. — 1759, Oct. 25. — John Burt [Bristol, R. I.]. Sermon 
 preached at Bristol, R. I., Oct. 25, 1759, upon a Thanksgiving for the 
 Reduction of Quebec. Newport : J. Franklin [1759]. 8°. — BrinTey 
 Cat. No. 2430. 
 
 134. — 1759, Oct. 25. — Andrew Eliot, Boston, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 preached October 25th, 1759. | Being a Day of | Public Thanks- 
 giving I Appointed by Authority, | for the Success | of the British 
 Arms this Year; | Especially | in the Reduction of | Quebec, | the 
 Capital of Canada. [Psa. exxvi. 3.] Boston: . . Daniel and John 
 Kneeland, for J. Winter, . . . 1759. 8°, pp. 43.— An. Ath. Ct. 
 M. P. Y. 
 
 135. — 1759, Oct. 25. — Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, Mass. Two 
 Discourses | delivered | October the 25th, 1759. | Being the Day 
 appointed by Authority to be observed | as | a Day of public Thanks- 
 giving, I for the I Success of His Majesty's Arms, | more particularly 
 in the | Reduction of Quebec, | the Capital of Canada, | with an | 
 Appendix, | containing a brief Account of two former Expeditions 
 against | that City and County, which proved unsuccessful. [Psa. 
 exxvi. 3.] (1) Boston : . . Edes & Gill, 1759. 8^ pp. 67. — An. 
 Ath. C. Ct. H. M. Y. (2) London: Printed for A. Millar in 
 the Strand, 1760. 8°, pp. (4) 28, 63 (17). — Ct. 
 
 136. — 1759, Oct. 25. — Jonathan Townsend, Medfield, Mass. 
 Sorrow turned into Joy. | A | Sermon | Deliver'd at Medfield, | Octo- 
 ber 25. 1759. I Being a Day of public Acknowledgement | of the 
 smiles of Heaven upon the British Arms | in America : | more espe- 
 cially in the Reduction of | Quebec. [Esther ix. 20-22.] Boston: 
 . . S. Kneeland, . . . 1760. 8°, pp. (2) 28.— An. M. 
 
 137. — 1759, Nov. 10. —Samuel Langdon, Portsmouth, N. H. Joy 
 .and Gratitude to God | for the | Long Life of a Good King, | and the | 
 
 Conquest of Quebec. | A | Sermon | Preached in the First Parish of 
 Portsmouth, in | New-Hampshire, Saturday, November 10th 1759. | 
 Being the Anniversary Birth Day of | His present Majesty King 
 George II. | And apx>ointed by His Excellency | Benning Went- 
 worth, Esq. | Governor of said Province, | a Day of general 
 Thanksgiving and public | Rejoicing for the Success of His Majesty's | 
 Arms, especially against | Canada. [Psa. xxi. 1-13.] Portsmouth : 
 .... Daniel Fowle, 1760. 8°, pp. 47. — An. M. 
 
 138. — 1759, Nov. 15. — Solomon Williams, Lebanon, Conn. The 
 
538 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Relations of God's People to him, and the Enga- | gements and Obli- 
 gations they are under to praise him, | and prepare him an Habita- 
 tion. With a special View | to New-England, and the rest of the 
 British Subjects | in America. | A | Thanksgiving | Sermon, | on 
 Occasion of the Smiles of Heaven on | the British Arms in America, 
 particularly | in the Reduction of Quebec. | Preached at Lebanon, 
 November 15, 1759. [Ex. xv. 2.] New-London : . . . . Timothy 
 Green, 1760. 16°, pp. 28. -- An. Ct. H. L. M. 
 
 139. — 1759, Nov. 29. — Samuel Chandler, Gloucester, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached at Gloucester, | Thursday, | November 29, 1759. | 
 Being the Day of the Provincial Anniversary | Thanksgiving. [Isa. 
 ix. 6.] Boston, N. E. : . . Green & Russell, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 30.— 
 An. M. Y, 
 
 140. — 1760, Jan. 3. — Joseph Emerson, Pepperell, Mass. A | 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | preached at Pepperrell, | January 3d. 1760. | 
 A Day set apart by the Church and | Congregation there: | to 
 commemorate the Goodness of God to | them the Year past : | Es- 
 pecially I in the Removal of Sickness, and tbe Return of so | many 
 Soldiers from the Army. [Psa. Ixxii. 18.] (1) Boston: . . . . S. 
 Kneeland, . . . 1760. 16°, pp. (4) 25. — C. Ct. P. (2) Reprinted 
 in "The Pepperell Advertiser," Jan. 2, 1892. 
 
 141. — 1760, Mar. 6. — Mather Byles, 2d., New London, Conn. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered March 6th 1760. | Being a Day appointed, | by 
 Order of his Majesty, | as a Public Thanksgiving, | for the late Sig- 
 nal Successes, | granted to the British Arms. . . . [Psa. xcvi. 7, 
 8.] (1) New-London : . . Timothy Green, 1760. 16°, pp. 22. — An. 
 Ct. H. M. (2) Boston. 12°, 1760. [Haven's List of Ante-Revolu- 
 tionary Publications.] 
 
 142.— 1760, Mar. 6. — Eliphalet Williams, East Hartford, Conn. 
 God's wonderful Goodness, in succeeding the Arms | of his People, to 
 be acknowledged and celebrated with | Rejoicing and Praise. | A | 
 Sermon, | Preached at East-Hartford, | March 6. 1760. | Being the 
 Day of I Public Thanksgiving, | For the signally favourable Appear- 
 ances of I Almighty God, in prospering his Majes- | ty's Arms : Par- 
 ticularly by the Defeat of | the French Army in Canada, and the 
 
 Tak- I ing Quebec, &c. [2 Chron. xx. 27, 28.] New-London : 
 
 Timothy Green, 1760. 16°, pp. 31. — An. Ct. H. L. 
 
 143. — 1760, Oct. 9. — Nathaniel Appleton, Cambridge, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached October 9. | Being | a Day of public Thanks- 
 giving, I occasioned by the | Surrender of Montreal, | and | all Can- 
 ada, I September 8th 1760 | to His Britannic Majesty. | Effected 
 by I the British and Provincial Troops under | the Command of Gen- 
 eral Amherst. [Rev. xv. 3, 4.] Boston: New England, . . John 
 Draper, . . . 1760. 8°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. H. M. Y. 
 
 144. — 1760, Oct. 9, — Eli Forbes, Brooktield, Mass. God the 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 639 
 
 Streng"th and Salvation of his | People ; illustrated in | A | Sermon | 
 Preached October 9, 1760. | Being a Day of Public Thanksgiving | 
 Appointed by Authority | For the Success of the British Arms | in | 
 North-America, | especially | In the total Reduction of | Canada | 
 to the Crown of Great-Britain. [Ex. xv. 2.] Boston : . . . . Edes & 
 Gill, ... 1761. 8°, pp. 35.— Ath. H. L. M. 
 
 145. — 1760, Oct. 9. — Thomas Foxcroft, Boston, Mass. Grateful 
 Reflexions on the signal Appearances of Divine | Providence for 
 Great Britain and its Colonies in | America, which diffuse a general 
 Joy. I A I Sermon | preached in the Old Church in Boston, | Octo- 
 ber 9. 1760. I Being | the Thanksgiving-Day | on occasion of | the 
 Surrender of Montreal, and the complete | Conquest of Canada, | by 
 the Blessing of | Heaven on his Britannic Majesty's brave | Troops, 
 under the auspicious Conduct of that | truly gTeat and amiable Com- 
 mander, General | Amherst. [Psa. cxxvi. 3.] Boston, N. E S. 
 
 Kneeland, . . . 1760. 8°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. Ct. H. M. P. Y. 
 
 146. — 1760, Oct. 9. — David Hall, Sutton, Mass. Israel's Tri- 
 umph. I It concerns the People of God to celebrate the Divine | 
 Praises, according to all his wonderful Works. | A | Sermon | 
 preached at Sutton | on a | Publick Thanksgiving, | October 9th 
 1760. I For the entire Reduction of Canada. [Also at Hollis, N. H., 
 Nov. 20, 1760.] [Ex. xv. 1.] Boston : .... J. Draper, . . . 1761. 
 12°, pp. 24.— An. 
 
 147. — 1760, Oct. 9. — Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, Mass. Two | 
 Discourses | delivered October 9th 1760. | Being the Day ap- 
 pointed to be observed | as a Day of public | Thanksgiving, | for the 
 Success of His Majesty's Arms, | More Especially | in the intire Re- 
 duction of I Canada. [Psa. xcviii. 1, 2.] Boston : . . R. Draper, 
 ...1760. 8°, pp. 34, 69. — An. Ath. Bo. Ct. H. M. Y. 
 
 148. — 1760, Oct. 9. —John Mellen, Sterling, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 preached at the West Parish in Lancaster, | October 9. 1760. | On the 
 General Thanksgiving | for | the Reduction of Montreal | and | Total 
 Conquest of Canada. | Containing | a brief Account of the War, 
 from I the year 1755 ; — and a Review of the first | Settlement and 
 several Expeditions against (with | some of the Reasons for holding) 
 Canada. [Psa. xxi. 12.] Boston: . . . . B. Mecom, n. d. 8°, pp. 
 46(1). —An. Ath. M. 
 
 149.-1760, Oct. 9. — Nathan Stone, Southboro', Mass. Two | 
 Discourses | delivered at Southborough : | The First, | on a Day of 
 public Thanksgiving, | October 9th 1760. | Occasioned by the 
 entire | Reduction of Canada. | The Second, | A plain and brief 
 Discourse | to little Children. ... [1 Sam. xv. 22.] Boston : . . . . 
 S. Kneeland, . . . 1761. 8°, pp. (4) ii. 15. — H. 
 
 150. — 1760, Oct. 9. — Samuel Woodward, Weston, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached October 9. 1760. | Being a day of Public 
 
540 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Thanksg-iving | on occasion of | the Reduction of Montreal | and | 
 the entire Conquest of Canada, | by the Troops of His Britannic 
 Majesty, | under the Command of General Amherst. [Psa. cxxiv.] 
 Boston : . . Benjamin Mecom, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 30. — Ath. 
 M. Y. 
 
 151. — 1760, Oct. 23. — William Adams, New London, Conn. A | 
 Discourse | delivered at New-London, | October 23d. A. D. 1760. | 
 On the I Thanksgiving, | (Ordered by Authority) | for the Suc- 
 cess of the British Arms, | the reduction of Montreal, and the con- | 
 quest of all Canada. [Psa. xxi. 11-13.] New-London: .... Timothy 
 Green, 1761. 16°, pp. 25. — An. Ct. H. P. 
 
 152. — 1761, Feb. 12.— John Swift, Acton, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 delivered by the | Rev. Mr. John Swift, | of Acton, | at the East Pre- 
 cinct in Sudbury, | on a Fast-Day, | preparatory to the chusing and 
 settling a | Gospel minister in that Place. | February 12, 1761. 
 
 [Matt. ix. 38.] Boston : N. E Edes and GUI, 1761. 8°, pp. 18. 
 
 — Ath. C. Ct. 
 
 153. — 1762, Oct. 7.-— Samuel Frink, Boylston, Mass. The mar- 
 vellous Works of Creation and Providence, | illustrated. | Being | 
 the Substance of a | Sermon | preached at the North Precinct in 
 Shrewsbury, | on Thursday the 7th of October, 1762. | A Day of 
 public Thanksgiving, | occasioned | by the Reduction of the Ha- 
 vannah. [Rev. xv. 3.] Boston: . . S. Kneeland, . . . 1763. 8°, 
 pp. 39 (1). — Ath. M. 
 
 154. — 1762, Dec. 9. — Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, Mass. Two | 
 Sermons | on the Nature, Extent and Perfection | of the Divine 
 Goodness. | Delivered December 9. 1762. | Being the | Annual 
 Thanksgiving | of the Province, &c. | On Psalm 145. 9. | Published 
 with some Enlargements. Boston, N. E. : . . . . D. and J. Kneeland, 
 ...1763. 8°,pp. 51, 91. — An. Ath. Bo. Ct. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 155. — 1763, July 6. — James Lockwood, Wethersfield, Conn. A | 
 Sermon | Preached at Weathersfield, | July 6, 1763. | Being the Day 
 appointed by Authority | for a | Public Thanksgiving, | on account of 
 the I Peace | concluded with | France and Spain. [Psa. 1. 14, 15.] 
 New-Haven : . . James Parker and Company, n. d. 8°, pp. 35. — 
 Ct. L. U. 
 
 156.-1763, Aug. 11. — East Apthorp, Cambridge, Mass. The 
 Felicity of the Times. | A | Sermon | preached at | Christ-Church, 
 Cambridge, | on Thursday, XI August, MDCCLXIII. | Being a Day 
 of Thanksgiving | for the | General Peace. [Psa. cxlvii. 12-20.] 
 Boston: . . Green and Russell, . . . 1763. 4°, pp. (2) viii. 26. — An. 
 Bo. H. M. P. 
 
 157. — 1763, Aug. 11. — Henry Caner, Boston, Mass. The Great 
 Blessing of Stable Times, | together with | the means of procuring it. | 
 A I Sermon | preached at | King's Chapel in Boston, | August 11, 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 541 
 
 1763, I being a Day of Thanksgiving ] appointed by Public Author- 
 ity I on occasion of the | General Peace. [Isa. xxxiii. 6.] Boston : . . 
 Thomas and John Fleet, . . . 1763. 4°, pp. (2) vi. 24. — An. Ath. 
 Bo. H. M. Y. 
 
 158. — 1764, Apr. 12. — Edward Barnard, Haverhill, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | Preach'd April 12, 1764, | on the | Public Fast, | in the 
 Massachusetts-Bay, | at Haverhill and Bradford, West Parish. 
 [Hosea vii. 9.] Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire : . . Daniel & Rob- 
 ert Fowle, 1764. 8°, pp. 22. — Ath. C. U. 
 
 159. — 1765, Dec. 18. — Stephen Johnson, Lyme, Conn. Some | 
 Important Observations, | occasioned by, and adapted to, | the Publick 
 Fast, I ordered by Authority, | December 18th, A. D. 1765, | on 
 Account of the peculiar Circumstances of | the present Day. | Now 
 humbly offered to the Publick, | by the Author. [Acts. vii. 6, 7.] 
 [Published anonymously.] Newport : . . . . Samuel Hall, 1766. 4°, 
 pp. 61. — An. Ct. M. U. 
 
 160.-1766, May 17. — Samuel Stillman, Boston, Mass. Good 
 News from a far Country. | A | Sermon | preached at Boston, May 17. 
 1766. I Upon the Arrival of the important News | of the | Repeal of 
 the Stamp- Act. [Prov. xxv. 25.] Boston : . . Kneeland & Adams, 
 1766. 8°, pp. 34. — Ath. M. P. Y. 
 
 161. — 1766, May 20. — Nathaniel Appleton, Cambridge, Mass. 
 A I Thanksgiving | Sermon | on | the Total Repeal | of the | Stamp- 
 Act. I Preached | in Cambridge, New-England, May 20th, | in the 
 Afternoon preceding the public Rejoic-ings of the Evening upon that 
 great Occasion. [Psa. xxx. 11, 12.] Boston: . . . Edes and Gill, 
 ...1766. 8°, PP..32. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 162. — 1766, May 23. — Jonathan Mayhew, Boston, Mass. The 
 Snare broken. | A \ Thanksgiving-Discourse, | preached | at the Desire 
 of the West Church | in | Boston, N. E. Friday May 23, 1766. | Oc- 
 casioned by the | Repeal | of the | Stamp-Act. [Psa. cxxiv. 7, 8.] 
 (1) Boston: .... R. & S. Draper, . . . 1766. 8°, pp. viii. 44. — An. 
 Ath. Ct. L. M. U. (2) Boston : . . . . R. & S. Draper, . . . 
 1766. 8°, pp. viii. 9-52. — An. Bo. Y. (3) London : . . G. 
 Kearsley, . . . [1766]. 8°, pp. vi. 41. (4) Reprinted in " Patriot 
 Preachers of the American Revolution," 1860. 
 
 163. — 1766, May 28. — Elisha Fish, Upton, Mass. Joy and Glad- 
 ness: I A I Thanksgiving Discourse, | preached in Upton, | Wednes- 
 day, ) May 28, 1766 ; | Occasioned by the | Repeal | of the | Stamp- 
 Act. [Esther viii. 15.] Providence : . . . . Sarah Goddard and Co., 
 . . . 1767. 12°, pp. (2) 17. — An. 
 
 164. — 1766 June, 4. — David Sherman Rowland, Providence, R. I. 
 Divine Providence | Illustrated and Improved. | A | Thanksgiving- 
 Discourse, I preached | (By Desire) in the Presbyterian, or | Congrega- 
 tional Church I in | Providence, N. E. Wednesday June 4. 1766. | 
 
542 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Being His Majesty's Birth Day, and Day of | Rejoicing, | occasioned 
 by the | Repeal | of the | Stamp-Act. [Psa. cxxvi. 3.] Providence 
 (New England) : . . Sarah Goddard and Company, n. d. 8°, pp. 
 viii. 31. — An. Ct. N. H. Y. 
 
 165. — 1766, June 25. — John Joachim Zubly, Savannah, Ga. The 
 Stamp-Act Repealed. | A | Sermon, | preached in the meeting | at 
 Savannah in Georgia, | June 25th, 1766. [Zech. viii. 10-12.] (1) 
 Savannah, Ga., 1766. 8°, pp. 30. (2) Savannah, Ga., 1766. 8°, pp. 
 30. (3) Georgia Printed : South-Carolina, Reprinted by Peter Tim- 
 othy, . . . 1766. 4°, pp. 24.— Ath. 
 
 166. — 1766, June 26. — Benjamin Troop [Bozrah], Norwich, 
 Conn. A Thanksgiving | Sermon, | upon the Occasion, of the glorious 
 News I of the Repeal of the Stamp Act ; | Preached in New-Concord, 
 in Norwich, | June 26. 1766. [Psa. xiv. 7.] New London : . . T. 
 Green, 1766. 4°, pp. 16. — Ct. U. 
 
 167. — 1766, July 24. — Charles Chauncy, Boston, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I On" the good News from | a far Country." | Deliver'd July 
 24th. I A day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God, | throughout the 
 Province of the Massachusetts- | Bay in New-England, on Occasion of 
 the I Repeal of the Stamp- Act; appointed | by his Excellency, the 
 Governor of said | Province, at the Desire of its House of Re- | presen- 
 tatives, with the Advice of his | Majesty's Council. [Prov. xxv. 25.] 
 (1) Boston, N. E. : . . Kneeland and Adams, . . . 1766. 8°, pp. 32. 
 — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. M. U. Y. (2) Reprinted in " Pulpit 
 of the American Revolution," 1860. 
 
 168. — 1766, July 24. — Joseph Emerson, Pepperell, Mass. A | 
 Thanksgiving-Sermon | preach'd at Pepperrell, | July 24th 1766. | A 
 day set apart by public Authority | as a day of | Thanksgiving | on 
 the account of the Repeal | of the Stamp-Act. [Ezi^ ix. 13, 14.] 
 Boston: .... Edes and Gill, . . . 1766. 8°, pp. 37. —An. Ath. 
 M. P. 
 
 169. — 1766, July 24. —William Patten, Halifax, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered at Hallif ax | in the County of Plymouth, | July 24th 
 1766. I On the day of Thanksgiving to Al- | mighty God, throughout 
 the Province | of the Massachusetts-Bay in New Eng- | land, for the 
 Repeal of the Stamp- | Act. [Acts xxii. 28.] Boston: N. E. . . 
 D. Kneeland, ... for Thomas Leverett, . . . 1766. 8°, pp. 22. — C. 
 Ct. M. 
 
 170. — 1766, Nov. 27. — Henry Cumings, Billerica, Mass. A| 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon | Preached at Billerica, | November 27. 1766. 
 [Psa. xvi. 6.] Boston : N. E. . . Kneeland and Adams, . . . 1767. 
 8°,pp. 32. — An. Ath. C. H. L. Y. 
 
 171. — 1767, June 25. — James Chandler, Rowley, Mass. Minis- 
 ters of the Gospel, Gifts of the Lord to | his Churches ; and to be 
 obtained by Prayer. | A | Sermon | preached | at | Newbury-Port, | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 643 
 
 June 25, 1767. | A Fast, sanctified by the Congregational- | Church 
 and Society there, under Bereavement | of their Pastor. [Philem. 22.] 
 Boston, N. E. . . Edes & Gill for Buckley Emerson, . . . 1767. 8°, 
 pp. 30. — Ath. C. Ct. H. N. H. Y. 
 
 172. — 1767, Nov. 19. — Abiel Leonard, Woodstock, Conn. The 
 Memory of God's great goodness is to be abun- | dantly uttered. | 
 Illustrated in a | Sermon, | delivered at Woodstock, Nov. 19th, 
 1767. I Being the day of the | Anniversary Thanksgiving, | in the 
 Colony of | Connecticut. [Psa. cxlv. 7.] Providence [R. I.] : . . . . 
 Waterman and Russell, . . . 1768. 4°, pp. 36. — An. C. 
 
 173. — 1767, Dec. 3. — Amos Adams, Roxbury, Mass. Religious 
 Liberty an Invaluable | Blessing : | illustrated in Two | Discourses, | 
 preached at Roxbury Dec 3. 1767, | being the day of general | 
 Thanksgiving. [Gal. v. i.] [With Hynm.] Boston, N. E. : . . Knee- 
 land and Adams, ... 1768. 8°, pp. 58. — An. Ath. Bo. Ct. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 174. — 1768, Dec. 1. — Benjamin Caryl, Dover, Mass. The Duty 
 of Thanksgiving | opened and urged. | A | Sermon, | preached | at 
 Dedham, 4th Parish, December 1st, 1768. | Being the day of gen- 
 eral Thanksgiving. [Psa. cvi. i.] Boston : . . Meinard Fleeming, 
 . . . 1769. 8°, pp. 23. — Ath. C. 
 
 175. — 1768, Dec. 1. — William Symmes, Andover, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered | at Andover, December 1st, 1768. | On the | Pub- 
 lic Thanksgiving | in the Massachusetts-Bay. [Psa. Ixxviii. 1-4.] Sa- 
 lem: ... . Samuel HaU, . . . 1769. 4°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. C. M. 
 
 176. — 1769, Apr. 6. — Amos Adams, Roxbury, Mass. A concise, 
 historical view of the perils, hardships, | difficulties and discourage- 
 ments which have at- | tended the planting and progressive im- 
 prove- I ments of New-England ; with a particular ac- | count of its 
 long and destructive wars, expensive | expeditions, &c. With reflec- 
 tions, principally, moral and religious. | In Two | Discourses, | 
 preached at Roxbury on the General Fast, | April 6. 1769. | And 
 published at the general Desire of the | Hearers. [Luke i. 74, 75.] 
 (1) Boston : . . Kneeland and Adams, . . . 1769. 8°, pp. QQ. — An. 
 Ath. Bo. Ct. H. M. (2) London : reprinted for Edward and 
 Charles DiUy, 1770. 8°, pp. (4) 68. — Ath. 
 
 177. — 1770, Apr. 5. — Nathaniel Appleton, Cambridge, Mass. 
 The right Method of addressing the Divine Majesty in | Prayer ; so 
 as to support and strengthen our Faith in dark and troublesome 
 Times, I set forth in | Two Discourses | on | April 5. 1770. | Being 
 the I day of General Fasting and Prayer | through the | Province : | 
 and m the | Time of the Session of the General Court | at Cambridge. 
 [Psa. Ixxx. 1-3.] Boston : . . Edes and Gill, . . . 1770. 8°, pp. 36, 
 69. — An. Ath. Ct. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 178. — 1770, Apr. 18. — Judah Champion, Litchfield, Conn. A brief 
 
544 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 View of the Distresses, Hardships and Dangers | our Ancestors en- 
 counter'd, in settling New-England — | the Privileges we enjoy, and 
 our Obligations thence | arising ; with moral Keflections thereupon. | 
 In two I Sermons, | delivered at | Litchfield, | on the | General Fast, | 
 April 18, 1770. [Deut. iv. 37-40.] Hartford : . . Green & Watson, 
 ...1770. 4^pp. 45.— An. C. Ct. H. L. 
 
 179. — 1770, Dec. 6. —John Browne, Cohasset, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered | on the day of the Annual Provincial | Thanks- 
 giving, I December 6, 1770. [Dan. vi. 10.] Boston, N. E. : . . 
 Thomas and John Fleet, 1771. 8^, pp. 15. —An. C. M. U. 
 
 180. — 1770, Dec. 6. — Ebenezer Gay, Hingham, Mass. The De- 
 votions of God's People adjusted | to the Dispensations of his Provi- 
 dence. I A I Sermon | preached | in the First Parish of Hingham, | 
 December 6, 1770. | The day observed throughout the Province as 
 a I day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer. [Jer. xxxi. 7.] Boston : 
 .. Eichard Draper, 1771. 8°, pp. 23. — An. Ath. C. M. U. Y. 
 
 181.— 1772, Dec. 3. — Allen [John?] [Rev. Isaac Skillman ?] 
 Boston, Mass. An | Oration, | on the | Beauties of Liberty | or the 
 essential | Rights of the Americans. | Delivered | at the Second 
 Baptist-Church in Boston, | upon the last Annual Thanksgiving, Dec. 
 3d, 1772. . . . By a British Bostonian. [Micah vii. 3.] (1) Boston: 
 N. E. . . D. Kneeland and N. Davis, 1773. 8°, pp. 31. — M. (2) 
 Same. — M. (3) New London: . . T. Green, . . . 1773. 8°, pp. 23. 
 — Ct. (4) Boston, N. E. : . . E. Russell, 1773. 8°, pp. 80. — Ct. (5) 
 Hartford: . . Ebenezer Watson, 1774. 8% pp. 40. — Ct. (6) Wil- 
 mington: .... James Adams, . . . 1775. 8°, pp. 21. ["Last 
 Thanksgiving P. M. Mr. Allen, a British Bostonian preached a Ser- 
 mon at the Rev. Mr. Davis's Meeting-House from those words Micah 
 vii. 3. etc." — New London Gazette, Dec. 18, 1772.] 
 
 182. — 1774, Apr. 29. — Samuel Dunbar, Stoughton, Mass. The 
 Duty of Christs Ministers to be Spiritual | Labourers ; and the Duty of 
 Christs I Churches to pray to God for such. | Exhibited in a Sermon | 
 from Matthew ix. 38 | preached at Dorchester, | April 29, 1774. | 
 A Day set apart by the Church and Congre- | gation there, for 
 Solemn Humiliation and | Supplication, to seek the divine Direction | 
 and Blessing in the Choice and Settle- | ment of a Minister among 
 them. Boston: . . Mills and Hicks, . . 1775. 8°, pp. 28. — Ct. 
 M. Y. 
 
 183. — 1774, July 14. — Nathan Fiske, Brookfield, Mass. The Im- 
 portance of Righteousness to | the Happiness, and the Tendency of | 
 Oppression to the Misery | of a People ; illustrated | in Two | Dis- 
 courses I delivered at Brookfield, July 14, 1774. | Being a day ob- 
 served by general consent through the Province, | (at the recommen- 
 dation of the late House of Representatives) | as a | day of Fasting 
 and Prayer, | on account of the | Threatening Aspect of our Public 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 545 
 
 Affairs. [Isa. v. 7.] Boston: . . John Kneeland, . . . 1774. 8°, 
 pp. 40. — Ath. C. Ct. M. U. 
 
 184. — 1774, July 14. — Timothy Hilliard, Barnstable, Mass. The 
 duty of a People under the oppression of Man, | to seek deliverance 
 from God. | The substance of | Two Sermons, | delivered at | Barn- 
 stable, I July 14th, 1774. | A day set apart for Humiliation and 
 Prayer, on | account of the present dark and melancholy aspect | of 
 our Public affairs. [Psa. cxix. 134.] Boston : . . Greenleaf's Print- 
 ing-Office, ... 1774. 8°, pp. 31. — An. C. L. M. 
 
 185. — 1774, July 14. — Thaddeus Maccarty, Worcester, Mass. 
 Reformation of manners, of absolute necessity | in order to conciliate 
 the divine favour, in | times of public evil and distress. | Shewn in 
 two I Sermons, | preached at | Worcester, | upon a special Fast ob- 
 served there, as well as | in many other Towns, | July 14th, 1774. | 
 On account of the public difficulties | of the present Day. [1 Pet. 
 V. 6.] Boston: .... William M' Alpine, 1774. 8°, pp. 38. — An. 
 Ct. M. 
 
 186. — 1774, July 14. — David Sherman Rowland, Providence, R. I. 
 Despotism Illustrated and Improved from the Character of Rehoboam ; 
 a Discourse, delivered at Wrentham, Mass., on a Day of Fasting and 
 Prayer, July 14, 1774. — Honesdale (Pa.) " Democrat," Apr. 14, 1846. 
 
 187. — 1774, July 14. — Samuel Webster, Salisbury, Mass. The 
 Misery and Duty of an oppress'd | and enslav'd People, represented | 
 in a I Sermon | delivered at Salisbury, July 14, 1774. | On a day set 
 apart for Fasting and Prayer, | on account of approaching public 
 Calamities. [Neh. ix. 36-38.] Boston : . . Edes and Gill, . . . 1774. 
 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. M. Y. 
 
 188. — 1774, July 14. — Peter Whitney, Northborough, Mass. The 
 Transgression of a Land punished by | a multitude of Rulers, j Con- 
 sidered in two I Discourses, | delivered July 14, 1774, | being volun- ' 
 tarily observed in most of the religious As- | semblies throughout 
 the Province of | Massachusetts-Bay, | as a daj" of | Fasting and 
 Prayer, | on account of the Dark Aspect of our | Public Affairs. 
 [Prov. xxviii. 2.] Boston : . . John Boyle, . . . 1774. 8°, pp. 34, 
 71. — An. Ct. H. L. M. U. 
 
 189. — 1774, Aug. 31. —Samuel Sherwood, [Norfield] Weston, 
 Conn. A | Sermon, | Containing, | Scriptural Instructions to Civil 
 Rulers, | and all Free-bom Subjects. | In which the Principles of 
 sound Policy and good | Government are established and vindicated ; 
 and I some Doctrines advanced and zealously propagated | by New- 
 England Tories, are considered | and refuted. | Delivered on the public 
 Fast, I August 31, 1774. | With an Address to the Freemen of the 
 Colony. . . . Also, An Appendix, | Stating the heavy Grievances the 
 Colonies labour under | from several late Acts of the British Parlia- 
 ment, I and shewing what we have just Reason to expect the | Con- 
 
546 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 sequences of these Measures will be. | By the Rev. Ebenezer Bald- 
 win, of Danbury. [2 Sam. xxiii. 3.] New-Haven: . . T. and S. 
 Green, n.d. 8°, pp. x, 11-42 ; xliii-xlvi, 47-82. — C. Ct. L. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 190. — 1774, Dec. 15. — Jonathan Bascom, Eastham, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached at | Eastham, | on | Thanksgiving-Day, | Decem- 
 ber 15, 1774. [Ecc. vii. 14.] Boston : . . Edes and GiU, . . . 1775. 
 8°, pp. 20. — An. M. 
 
 191. — 1774, Dec. 15. — William Gordon, [Jamaica Plain] Rox- 
 bury, Mass. A | Discourse | preached | in the morning | of | De- 
 cember 15th 1774. I Being the day recommended | by the Provincial 
 Congress. [Lam. iii. 22.] Boston : Printed for . . . Thomas Lever- 
 ett, . . . 1775. 8°, pp. 22. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. M. U. 
 
 192. — 1774, Dec. 15. — William Gordon, [Jamaica Plain] Rox- 
 bury, Mass. A | Discourse | preached | December 15th, 1774. | Being 
 the day recommended | by the Provincial Congress ; | and afterwards 
 at the Boston Lecture. [Lam. iii. 22.] [Another sermon than the 
 last. Preached in the afternoon of the same day.] (1) Boston: 
 Printed for . . . Thomas Leverett, . . . 1775. 8°, pp. 32 (2).— An. 
 Ath. Bo. Ct. M. U. (2) London : . . Edward and Charles Dilly, 
 1775. 8°, pp. 36. — Ath. (3) Reprinted in " Pulpit of the American 
 Revolution," 1860. 
 
 193. — 1774, Dec. 15. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I preached, | December 15th 1774. | Being the day recom- 
 mended I by the Provincial Congress, | to be observed | in thanks- 
 giving to God for the Blessings | enjoyed ; and humiliation on account 
 of I public Calamities. [Psa. ci. 1.] Boston : . . D. Kneeland, . . . 
 1774. 8°, pp. 39.— An. Ath. C. Ct. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 194. — 1774, Dec. 15. — Joseph Lyman, Hatfield, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached | at Hatfield | December 15th, 1774, ) being the day 
 recommended | by the late Provincial Congress; | to be observed 
 as I a Day of Thanksgiving. [Mai. iii. 1, 2.] Boston: .... Edes 
 and Gill, . . . 1775. 8°, pp. 32. — An. C. Ct. L. 
 
 195. — 1774, Dec. 15. — Isaac Story, Marblehead, Mass. The Love 
 of our Country Re- | commended and Enforced. | In a | Sermon | from 
 Psalm cxxii. 7, | delivered on a day of | Public Thanksgiving, | De- 
 cember 15, 1774. Boston: .... John Boyle, . . . 1774. 8°, pp. 
 23. — Ath. C. H. 
 
 196. — 1774, Dec. 15. — Samuel WiUiams, Bradford, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | on the | Love of our Country ; | delivered | on a day of 
 Thanksgiving, | December 15, 1774. [Psa. cxxxvii. 5, 6.] Salem, 
 New-England : . . Samuel and Ebenezer Hall, 1775. 8°, pp. 29. — 
 Ath. Ct. M. U. Y. 
 
 197. — 1775, May 11. —William Stearns. 
 
 A View of the Controversy subsisting between | Great-Britain 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 547 
 
 and the American Colonies. | A | Sermon, | preaclied | at a | Fast, | 
 in I Marlborough in Massachusetts-Bay, | on | Thursday, May 11, 
 1775. I Agreeable to a recommendation of the Provincial CongTess. 
 [2 Chron. xx. 11, 12.] Watertown : . . Benjamin Edes, 1775. 8°, 
 pp. 33. — Ath. C. H. M. 
 
 198. — 1775, July 20. — Samuel Andrews. A Fast Sermon. New- 
 Haven. 8°, pp. 18. See Sabin. 
 
 199. — 1775, July 20. — Daniel Batwell. 
 
 A I Sermon, | Preached at York-Town, | Before Captain Morgan's 
 and Captain | Price's Companies of Rifle-Men, | On Thursday, July 
 20, 1775. j Being the Day recommended by the | Honorable Continen- 
 tal Congress | for | A General Fast | throughout the | Twelve United 
 Colonies | Of North- America. Philadelphia: . . John Dunlap, . . . 
 1775. 8°, pp. 20. — Lib. Co. of Phil. 
 
 200. — 1775, July 20. — Thomas Coombe, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon, | Preached before the Congregations of | Christ Church and 
 St. Peter's, | Philadelphia, | on Thursday, July 20, 1775. | Being the 
 Day recommended by the | Honorable Continental Congress | for | a 
 General Fast | throughout the | Twelve United Colonies | of North- 
 America. [2 Chron. XX. 11-13.] [Dedication to Benjamin Franklin.] 
 (1) Philadelphia: . . John Dunlap, . . . 1775. 8°, pp. (4) 29.— 
 Ath. H. L. (2) Same. (3) Newport (R. I.), 1776. 
 
 201. —1775, July 20.— Jacob Duche, Philadelphia, Pa. The | 
 American Vine, | A | Sermon, | preached in Christ-Church, Philadel- 
 phia, I before the Honourable | Continental Congress, | July 20th, 
 1775. I Being the day recommended by them | for a General Fast | 
 throughout the | United English Colonies | of America. [Psa. Ixxx. 
 14.] Philadelphia: . . James Humphreys, Jr., 1775. 8°, pp. 34. 
 
 — Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 202. — [1775 ?] — Jacob Green, Hanover, N. J. " The nature of 
 an acceptable Fast," preached on a Fast day appointed by Congress. 
 
 — Sprague's Annals, iii. 139. 
 
 203. — 1775, July 20. — Enoch Huntington, Middletown, Conn. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered at | Middletown, | July 20th, A. D. 1775, | 
 the day appointed by the | Continental Congress, | to be observed by 
 the Inhabitants of all the | English Colonies | on this Continent, as a 
 day of public | Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer. [Neh. vi. 8, 9.] 
 Hartford : . . Eben Watson, n. d. 12°, pp. 26. — Ath. Ct. M. Y. 
 
 204. — [1775, July 20.] —David Jones, Tredyffryn, Pa. Defensive 
 War in a just Cause | Sinless. | A Sermon, | Preached | on the day of 
 the Continental Fast, | at | Tredyffryn, in Chester County. Phila- 
 delphia : . . Henry Miller, 1775. 8°, pp. 27. — Hist. Soc. of Penn. 
 
 205. — 1775, July 20. — Joseph Montgomery, Newcastle, Del. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at | Christiana Bridge and Newcastle, | the 20th 
 of July, 1775. I Being the day appointed by the | Continental Con- 
 
548 FAST AND THANKSGIVING IMYS. 
 
 ^ress, I as a day of Fasting, Humiliation, | and Prayer. Philadelphia : 
 . . James Humphreys, Jun., . . . 1775. 8°, pp. 30. — Hist. Soc. of 
 Penn. 
 
 206. — 1775, July 20. — Ezra Sampson, Plympton, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached at | Roxbury - Camp, | before Col. Cotton's Regi- 
 ment ; I on the 20th of July, P. M. 1775. | Being | a day set apart for 
 Fasting and Prayer, through- | out all the United Colonies in America. 
 [2 Chron. xx. 11, 12.] Watertown : . . . . Benjamin Edes, 1775. 
 8°, pp. 24. — An. C. 
 
 207. — 1775, July 20. — William Smith, Philadelphia, Pa. A Fast 
 Sermon | Preached at All-Saints Church, | in the County of Phila- 
 delphia, I July 20, 1775, | being | the First American Fast | Recom- 
 mended by Congress. [Isa. Iviii. 4-7.] Philadelphia: . . Hugh 
 Maxwell and William Fry, 1803. 8°. Works, ii. 111-126. 
 
 208. — 1775, Nov. 16. — Ebenezer Baldwin, Danbury, Conn. The 
 Duty of Rejoicing | under | Calamities and Afflictions, | considered 
 and improved | in a | Sermon, | preached at | Danbury, | November 
 16, 1775. I A day set apart for Thanksgiving in | the Colony of Con- 
 necticut. [Hab. iii. 17, 18.] New York : . . Hugh Gaine, . . . 1776. 
 8o,pp. 42. — Ath. Ct. U. Y. 
 
 209. — 1775, Nov. 16. — Robert Ross, Stratfield, Conn. A ( Ser- 
 mon, I in which the | Union of the Colonies | is considered and 
 recommended ; | and the bad | Consequences of Divisions | are rep- 
 resented. I Delivered on the | Public Thanksgiving. | November 
 Sixteenth, 1775. [Judg. v. 15, 16.] New York: . . John Holt, 
 . . . 1776. 8°, pp. 28. — Ct. M. Y. 
 
 210. — 1775, Nov. 23. — Henry Cumings, Billerica, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached in Billerica, | on the 23d of November, 1775. | Be- 
 ing the day appointed by Civil Authority, | for a | Public Thanksgiv- 
 ing I throughout the Province of Massachusetts-Bay. [Psa. Ixxvii. 7- 
 12.] Massachusetts-Bay : Worcester, . . I. Thomas, . . . n. d. 8°, 
 pp. 29. — An. Ath. C. H. Y. 
 
 211. — 1775, Nov. 23. — Thaddeus Maccarty, Worcester, Mass. 
 Praise to God, a Duty of | Continual Obligation. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached at Worcester, | Thursday, November 23d, 1775. | Being a 
 day of Public Thanksgiving, | by the appointment of the General 
 Assembly. [Psa. xxxiv. 1.] Worcester : . . I. Thomas, . . . n. d. 
 8°, pp. 28. — An. Ath. H. L. M. U. 
 
 212. — 1775, Nov. 23. — Isaac Mansfield, Exeter, N. H. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached in the | Camp at Roxbury, | November 23, 1775 ; | 
 being the day appointed by Authority | for Thanksgiving through 
 the I Province. [Gen. xxvii. 9-13.] Boston : . . S. Hall, . . . 1776. 
 8°, pp. 27 (1).— An. Ath. Ct. P. U. 
 
 213. — 1775, Nov. 30. — Eleazar Wheelock, Hanover, N. H. Lib- 
 erty of Conscience ; or, no King but | Christ, in his Church : | A | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 549 
 
 Sermon, | preached at | Dartmouth-Hall, | November 80th, 1775 ; | 
 being the day appointed by the | Honourable Congress | of the Prov- 
 ince of I NeAv-Hampshire, | to be observed as a | General Thanksgiv- 
 ing throughout that Province. [John xviii. 36.] Hartford: . . 
 Eben. Watson, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 31. — C. Ct. L. M. U. 
 
 214. — 1776, Jan. 17. — Andrew Lee [Hanover], Lisbon, Conn. Sin 
 destructive of temporal and eternal Happiness : | and | Repentance, 
 Trust in God, and a vigorous, harmonious, | and persevering Oppo- 
 sition, the Duty of a People, | when wicked and unreasonable Men are 
 attempting | to enslave them. | Set forth in a | Discourse | delivered 
 at Hanover, in Norwich, | January 17th, A. D. 1776 : | being a day 
 set apart for Fasting and Prayer | throughout the Colony of Connect- 
 icut. [Isa. V. 20.] Norwich : . . Judah P. Spooner, 1776. 8°, pp. 
 i>8. — C. Ct. U. 
 
 215. — 1776, Jan. 17. — Samuel Sherwood, [Norfield] Weston, 
 Conn. The | Church's Flight | into the | Wilderness : | An I Ad- 
 dress I on the Times. | Containing | some very interesting and im- 
 portant Observations on | Scripture Prophecies : | Shewing, that 
 sundry of them plainly relate to Great- | Britain, and the American 
 Colonies ; | and are fulfilling in the present day. | Delivered on a Public 
 Occasion, January 17, 1776. [Rev. xii. 14-17.] New York: . . 
 Printed by S. Loudon, 1776. 8°, pp. 54. — An. Ath. Ct. 
 
 216. — 1776, May 17. — John Withei-spoon, Princeton, N. J. The 
 Dominion of Providence over the Pas- | sions of Men. | A | Sermon | 
 preached | at Princeton, | on the 17th of May, 1776. | Being | the Gen- 
 eral Fast appointed by the Congress | through the United Colonies. 
 [With an address to the natives of Scotland residing in America.] 
 [Psa. Ixxvi. 10.] (1) Philadelphia: . . . . R. Aitken, . . . 1776. 8°, 
 
 pp. (4) 78. — An. Ath. Ct. H. Y. (2) (3) (4) 
 
 Glasgow: Reprinted, 1777. 8°, pp. 56. — Y. (5) London: Reprinted 
 for Fielding & Walker, 1778. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. H. 
 
 217.— 1776, Dec. 5. — Eliphalet Wright, Killingly, Conn. A 
 People ripe for an Harvest. | A | Sermon, | delivered to the Church 
 and Congregation, in the fourth | Society in Killingly, | on a day of 
 public Thanksgiving, Decem- | ber 5, A. D. 1776. [Rev. xiv. 18.] 
 Norwich: . . J. Trumbull, n. d. 12°, pp. 20. — Ct. 
 
 218. — [1777, Jan. 29.] — Cyprian Strong, [Portland] Chatham. 
 Conn. God's care of the New-England colonies ; — His | reasonable 
 demands of them ; — the fruits they | have produced ; — and what they 
 have now | reason to fear and expect, from his righteous | dispensa- 
 tions, illustrated and improved : | in a | Sermon, | delivered in the first 
 Society of | Chatham, | on a day of | Fasting and Prayer. [Isa. v. 1- 
 5.] Hartford: . . Eben. Watson, . . . n. d. 16°, pp. 31. — C. Ct. 
 H. U. 
 
 219.— 1777, Jan. 30 (?).— Josiah Stearns, Epping, N. H. Two | 
 
550 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Sermons, | Preached at Epping, | in the | State of New-Hampshire, | 
 January 30th, 1777. | On a Public Fast, | appointed by Authority, on 
 account of the un- | natural and distressing War with Great- | Bi-itain, 
 in defence of Liberty. [Judg. xx. 26-28.] Newburyport : . . John 
 Mycall, 1777. 8°, pp. 39. — C. Ct. 
 
 220. — 1777, Nov. 20. — Samuel Spring, Newburyport, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | delivered at the | North Congregational Church | in | New- 
 buryport, I on a day of Public | Thanksgiving; | November 20th, 
 MDCCLXXVII. [Psa. Ixv. 1.] Newburyport: . . John Mycall, 
 1778. 8°, pp. 32. — An. Ath. C. Ct. 
 
 221.-1777, Dec. 18. — David Avery, Windsor, Vt. The Lord is 
 to be praised for the Triumphs | of his Power. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached at Greenwich, in Connecticut, | on the 18th of December 
 1777, I being | a General Thanksgiving through the | United Ameri- 
 can States. [Ex. xv. 11.] Norwich: . . Green & Spooner, 1778. 
 8°, pp. 47. — An. Ct. L. Y. 
 
 222. — 1777, Dec. 18. Timothy Dwight, New Haven, Conn. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at | Stamford, | in | Connecticut, | upon the | Gen- 
 eral Thanksgiving, j December 18th, 1777. [Joel ii. 20, 21.] [Pub- 
 lished Anonymously.] Hartford: . . Watson and Goodwin, 1778. 
 16°, pp. 16. — Ct. 
 
 223. — 1777, Dec. 18. — Israel Evans, Philadelphia, Pa. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered, | on the 18th day of December, 1777, the day of | 
 Public Thanksgiving, | appointed by the | Honourable | Continental 
 Congress. [Psa. cxv.] Lancaster [Pa.] : . . Francis Bailey, 1778. 
 12°, pp. 24. — Ct. H. 
 
 224. — 1779, Nov. 4. — John Murray, Newburyport, Mass. Nehe- 
 miah, | or the Struggle for Liberty never in vain, when | managed 
 with Virtue and Perseverance. | A | Discourse | delivered at the | 
 Presbyterian Church | in | Newbury-Port, | Nov. 4th, 1779. | Being 
 the day appointed by Government to be obser- | ved as a day of sol- 
 emn Fasting and Prayer through- | out the State of Massachusetts- 
 Bay. [Neh. vi. 16.] Newbury: . . John MycaU, 1779. 12°, pp. 
 56.— An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. 
 
 225. — 1780, Dec. 7. — Nathan Strong, Hartford, Conn. The 
 Agency and Providence of God | acknowledged, in the Preservation 
 of I the American States. | A | Sermon | preached at the | Annual 
 Thanksgiving, 1 December 7th 1780. [Job v. 12-16.] Hartford: . . 
 Hudson and Goodwin, 1780. 8°, pp. 24. — Ct. L. Y. 
 
 226. — 1781, May 3. — Joseph Roby [Saugus], Lynn, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | delivered | at 1 Lynn | on the | General Fast | May 3, 1781. 
 [Isa. X. 6, 7.] Boston : . . T. and J. Fleet, 1781. 8°, pp. 31. — C. 
 H. M. 
 
 227. — 1781, May 3. — William Smith, Philadelphia, Pa. A Fast 
 Sermon, | Preached in Chester Chapel, | Kent County, Maryland, | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 551 
 
 May 3, 1781. [Isa. Iviii. 3.] Philadelphia : . . Hugh Maxwell and 
 William Fry, 1803. 8°. Works, ii. 127-140. 
 
 228. — 1781, Dec. 13. — Samuel Cooke, Cambridge, Mass. The 
 American Revolution in a NutsheU. " Wobum Journal," Apr. 18, 
 1874. — H. 
 
 229. — 1781, Dec. 13. — Israel Evans, Philadelphia, Pa. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered | near York in Virginia, | on the | Memorable Occa- 
 sion I of the I Surrender of the British Army | to the | Allied Forces 
 of America and France, | before | the Brigade of New- York Troops 
 and the Division of | American Light-Infantry, under the Command of 
 the I Marquis de la Fayette. [1 Sam. vii. 12.] Philadelphia : . . 
 Francis Bailey, . . . 1782. 8°, pp.45 (1). — Ath. C. 
 
 230. — 1781, Dec. 13. — James Madison, Williamsburg, Va. A | 
 Sermon, | preached in the | County of Botetourt, | on the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, 1781. I Being the day appointed by Congress to be observed | 
 with prayer and thanksgiving. [Pro v. xiv. 34.] [Error in month in 
 the title.] Richmond : . . . Nicolson & Prentis, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 
 19. — C. 
 
 231. — 1781, Dec. 13. — Robert Smith, Pequea, Pa. The | Obliga- 
 tions I of the I Confederate States of North America | to praise God. | 
 Two sermons, | Preached at Pequea, December 13th, 1781, the | 
 day recommended by the Honorable Congress to | the several States, 
 to be observed as a Day of | Thanksgiving to God, for the various 
 inter- | positions of his Providence in their favour, during | their con- 
 test with Great Britain, | particularly those | of the present year, 
 crowned by the capture of | Lord Cornwallis with his whole army. 
 [Psa. Ixvii. 5.] Philadelphia : . . Francis Bailey, . . . 1782. 8°, 
 pp. (4) 36. — M. 
 
 232. — 1781, Dec. 13.— WiUiam Smith, Philadelphia, Pa. [A 
 Sermon] Preached in Chester Chapel, | Kent County, Maryland, | 
 December 13, 1781. | Being a day of General Thanksgiving and 
 Prayer, Recom- | mended by Congress, throughout the United States. 
 [Ex. XV. 1.] Philadelphia: . . Hugh Maxwell and WiUiam Fry, 
 1803. 8°. Works, u. 141-154. 
 
 233. — 1783, May 15. — David Tappan, Newbury, Mass. The 
 Question answered, | Watchman, what of the Night? | A | Discourse | 
 delivered | at Newbury, May 15, 1783, | being the day appointed 
 by Authority | for | the Annual Fast, | in | the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts. [Isa. xxi. 11, 12.] Salem : . . Samuel Hall, . . . 
 1783. 12°, pp. 19. — An. Ath. C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 234. — 1783, May 15. — Charles Turner, Cambridge, Mass. Due 
 Glory to be given to God. | A | Discourse | containing | Two Ser- 
 mons I preached in | Cambridge | May 15, 1783. | Being a day ap- 
 pointed by Government | for public Fasting and Prayer. [1 Chron. 
 xvi.29.] Boston: . . T. and J. Fleet, 1783. 8°, pp. 35. — An. Ath. 
 C. L. U. 
 
552 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 235. — [1783, Dec. 11.] — Thomas Brockway, [Columbia] Lebanon, 
 Conn. America saved, or Divine Glory dis- | played, in the late War 
 with Great- | Britain. | A | Thanksgiving | Sermon, | preached in | 
 Lebanon, Second Society, | and now offered to the Public, at the De- 
 sire of a Num- | ber of the Hearers. [Judg. v. 21.] Hartford : . . 
 Hudson and Goodwin, n. d. 8°,pp.24. — C. Ct. L. M. Y. 
 
 236. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Joseph Buckminster, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 A I Discourse | delivered | in the | First Church of Christ, | at | Ports- 
 mouth, I on I Thursday, December 11th, 1783; | being the day rec- 
 ommended by the honorable | Congress | for a | General Thanksgiv- 
 ing I throughout the | United States of America, | after the | Ratifi- 
 cation of a Treaty of Peace, | in the | Ultimate Acknowledgment | of 
 their | Sovereignty and Independence. [Psa. xcviii. 1.] Portsmouth, 
 N. H., . . Robert Gerrish, 1784. 8°, pp. 33. —An. C. Ct. 
 
 237. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Rozel Cook, [Montville] New London, 
 Conn. A | Sermon, | delivered at | New-London, North Parish, | 
 Upon the | Anniversary Thanksgiving, | December 11, 1783. [Psa. 
 civ. 34.] [With Hymn.] New London: . . Timothy Green, 1784. 
 8°, pp. 30. — Ct. L. U. 
 
 238. — 1783, Dec. 1 1. — Henry Cumings, Billerica, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached in Billerica, | December 11, 1783, | the day recom- 
 mended by Congress | to | all the States, | to be observed as a day of | 
 Public Thanksgiving, | and | appointed to be observed accordingly, 
 throughout | the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | by the Author- 
 ity of the same. [Psa. cxxvi. 3.] Boston : . . T. and J. Fleet, 1784, 
 8°, pp. 39.— An. Ath. C. Ct. H. Y. 
 
 239. — 1783, Dec. 11.— George Duffield, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon | preached in the | Third Presbyterian Church | in the | City 
 of Philadelphia, | on Thursday December 11, 1783. | The day ap- 
 pointed by the United States in Congress | assembled, to be observed 
 as a day of thanksgiving, for | the restoration of peace ; and estab- 
 lishment of our Li- I dependence in the enjoyment of our rights and 
 pri- I vileges. [Isa. Ixvi. 8.] (1) Philadelphia : . . F. Bailey, . . . 
 1784. 8°, pp. (2) viii. 28.— Ath. (2) Boston: . . T. & J. Fleet, 
 1784. 8°, pp. 26. — An. Ath. H. L. M. (3) Reprinted in the 
 *' Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution," 1860. 
 
 240. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Israel Evans, Philadelphia, Pa. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered in | New- York, | before a Brigade of Continental 
 Troops, and a Num- | ber of Citizens, assembled in | St. George's 
 Chapel, I on the 11th of December, 1783. | The Day set apart by the 
 recommendation of | the United States in Congress, | as a day of pub- 
 lic Thanksgiving for the Blessings of | Independence, Liberty and 
 Peace. [Ex. xv. 1.] New York : . . . . John Holt, n. d. 8°, pp. 
 23. — Ath. H. 
 
 241. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Johann Christoph Kunze, Philadelphia, 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 553 
 
 Pa. Eine | Aiifforderung' | an das | Volk Gottes in America | zum | 
 frohen Jauchzen und Danken. | An dem von eineni Erlauchten 
 Congres wegen erhaltenen Fiiedens und | erlangter Unabhangigkeit 
 auf den 11 ten December, 1783, aus- | geschriebenen Dankfeste in der 
 Zions-Kircbe zu Pbiladelphia | vorgestellt und auf Verlangen ver- 
 schriedener | Zuborer dem Druk iibergeben, | nebst dem | Anhange 
 einer andern Presdigt | aulichen Inhalts, und an dem Dank- und Bet- 
 tage I des Yares 1779 gebalten. . . . Pbiladelphia : . . Melchior 
 Steiner, . . . 1784. 8°, pp. 101. — H. 
 
 242. — 1783, Dec. 11. —John Marsh, Wethersfield, Conn. A| 
 Discourse | delivered at Wethersfield, | December 11th, 1783. | Being 
 a day of | Public Thanksgiving, throughout the United States of 
 America. [Psa. cxlvii. 12-14.] Hartford: . . Hudson & Goodwin, 
 n. d. 8^pp.22.— Ath. C. Ct. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 243. — 1783, Dec. 11. — John Murray, Newburyport, Mass. Jerub- 
 baal, I or | Tyranny's Grove Destroyed, | and the | Altar of Liberty 
 Finished. | A | Discourse | on | America's Duty and Danger, | Deliv- 
 ered at the I Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, | December 11, 
 
 1783, I on occasion of the | Public Thanksgiving | for | Peace. [Judg. 
 viii. 34, 35.] (1) Newburyport: . . John Mycall, 1784. 8°, pp. 75. 
 — An. Ath. C. (2) Newburyport: . . Edmund M. Blunt, 1801. 
 8°, pp. 70. — An. Ath. M. 
 
 244. — 1783, Dec. 11. — David Osgood, Medford Mass. Reflections 
 on the goodness of God | in supporting the People of the | United 
 States through the late war, | and giving them so advantageous | and 
 honourable a peace. | A | Sermon | preached | on the | day of annual 
 and national | Thanksgiving | December 11, 1783. [Psa. Ixv. 11.] 
 Boston : . . T. and J. Fleet, 1774. 8°, pp. 35. — An. Ath. C. L. 
 M. Y. 
 
 245. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Eliphalet Porter, Roxbury, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered to the | First Religious | Society in Roxbury, | De- 
 cember 11, 1783; I being the first day of | Public Thanksgiving, | in 
 America, | after the restoration of Peace, and the | ultimate acknow- 
 ledgment of her I Independence. [Psa. cxxiv.] Boston : . . Adams 
 and Nourse, 1784. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. L. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 246. — 1783, Dec. 11.— John Rodgers, New York, N. Y. The 
 Divine Goodness displayed, | in the | American Revolution : | A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached in New- York, December 11th, 1783. | Appointed by 
 Congress, | as a day of | Public Thanksgiving, | throughout the 
 United States. [Psa. cxxvi. 3.] (1) New-York: . . Samuel Loudon, 
 
 1784. 8°, pp. 42. — Ct. L. M. Y. (2) Reprinted in "Patriot 
 Preachers of the American Revolution," 1860. 
 
 247. — 1783, Dec. 11. —Benjamin Trumbull, North Haven, Conn. 
 God is to be praised for the Glory of his | Majesty, and for his mighty 
 
654 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Works. I A I Sermon | delivered at North-Haven, | December 11, 
 1783. I The day appointed by the United-States | for a | General 
 Thanksgiving | on | Account of the Peace | concluded with Great- 
 Britain. [Psa. cl. 2.] (1) New -Haven : . . Thomas and Samuel 
 Green, n84. 8°, pp. 38. — Ath. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. (2) New- 
 Haven : . . Thomas and Samuel Green, n. d. 8°, pp. 28. — An. 
 Ath. Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 248. — 1783, Dec. 11. — Joseph Willard, [Har. Coll.] Cambridge, 
 Mass. A I Thanksgiving | Sermon | delivered at Boston | December 
 11, 1783, I to I the Religious Society | in Brattle Street, | under the 
 pastoral care | of | the Rev. Samuel Cooper, D. D. [Psa. cxviii. 27.] 
 Boston: . . T. and J. Fleet, 1784. 8°, pp. 39. — An. Ath. Bo. C. 
 H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 249. — 1784, Nov. 25. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I on the I Peace ; | preached on the day of | Public Thanks- 
 giving, I November 25, 1784. [Isa. xl. 2.] Boston : . . Peter 
 Edes, . . . 1784. 8°, pp. 35. — An. Ath. M. Y. 
 
 250. — 1784, Dec. 2. — Nathaniel Noyes, South-Hampton, N. H. 
 A I Sermon | preached at | South-Hampton | December 2, 1784. | 
 Being the day appointed for a Thanksgiving through- | out the 
 State of New-Hampshire. [Psa. Ixv. 1-13.] Newburyport: . . 
 John Mycall, 1785. 8°, pp. 23. — Ath. 0. 
 
 251. — 1784, Dec. 2. — William Patten, Newport, R. I. Directions 
 with regard to the improvement | of temporal blessings. | A | Thanks- 
 giving Sermon, | delivered to the | First Society in New London, | 
 December 2^ 1784. [Ecc. ix. 7.] New London: . . T. Green, 
 n. d. 8°, pp. 22. — Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 252. — 1785, Apr. 7. — Samuel West, Needham, Mass. Two | Dis- 
 courses I delivered | at Needham, | First Parish : | on occasion of | 
 the Public Fast, | April 7, 1785. [Isa. Iviii. 6.] Boston : . . Ben- 
 jamin Edes and Son, . . . 1785. 8°, pp. 39. — Ath. C. H. Y. 
 
 253.-1785, Dec. 15. — William Hazlitt, Hallowell, Me. A| 
 Thanksgiving | Discourse, | preached | at | Hallowell, | 15 December, 
 1785. [Psa. cvii. 8.] Boston: .... Samuel Hall, . . . 1786. 8^, 
 pp. 19.— An. Ath. Bo. M. Y. 
 
 254.-1786, Oct. 29. — William White, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon, | on the Due Celebration . | of the | Festival, | appointed as a 
 Thanksgiving | for the Fruits of the Earth ; | preached in | Christ- 
 Church and St Peter's, | by . . . October 29, 1786, | the day preced- 
 ing his Departure for England, to obtain | Episcopal Consecration. 
 [Deut. viii. 10.] Philadelphia : . . Hall and Sellers, 1786. 8°, pp. 
 18.— Y. 
 
 255. — 1786, Dec. 14. —Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in the | First Parish in West-Springfield, | 
 December 14. MDCCLXXXVI, | being the day appointed by Au- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 555 
 
 thority for a | Publick Thanksgiving". [Isa. i. 19, 20.] . . John 
 BusseU, . . . Springfield, 1787. 8°, pp. 24. — Bo. H. U. 
 
 256. — 1788, Apr. 17. — Charles Backus, Somers, Conn. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached in | Long-Meadow, | at the | Publick Fast, | April 
 17th, MDCCLXXXVIII. [Ecc. vii. 10.] Springfield : . . Weld 
 «fe Thomas, . . . 1788. * 8°, pp. 24. — C. Ct. L. N. H. 
 
 257. — 1788, Aug. 14. — John Tucker, Newbury, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered at | Newbury-Port, | August 14'^ 1788, | on a | day 
 set apart | by the | First Church there | to seek the | Divine direction 
 and blessing | in the choice and | Settlement of a Colleague-Pastor | 
 with the I Rev Thomas Cary. [Psa. cxxxiii. 1.] Newburyport: . . 
 John MycaU, 1788. 8°, pp. 52. — An. L. M. Y. 
 
 258. — 1789, Nov. 26. — Oliver Hart, Hopewell, N. J. America's 
 Remembrancer, | with respect to her | Blessedness and Duty. | A | 
 Sermon, | delivered in Hopewell, | New Jersey, | on Thanksgiving 
 Day, I November 26, 1789. [Num. xxiii. 23.] Philadelphia : . . 
 T. Dobson, . . . 1791. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. Y. 
 
 258 a. — 1789, Nov. 26. — Gershom Seixas, New York, N. Y. A 
 Religious Discourse delivered in the Synagogue in this City . . . Nov. 
 26, 1789, agreeable to the Proclamation of the President of the United 
 States, &c, to be observed as a Day of Public Thanksgiving and 
 Prayer. New York : McLean, 1789. 8°, pp. 16. — Sabin, No. 78950. 
 
 259. — [1792, Nov. 22.] — Bunker Gay, Hinsdale, N. H. To Sing 
 of Mercy and Judgment : | Recommended and Exemplified | in a | 
 Discourse, | delivered on a day of | Publick Thanksgiving. [Psa. ci. 
 1.] [Half title — Mr. Gay's Reflections on the Thanksgiving next 
 after the death of his wife.] Printed Greenfield, Mass., by Thomas 
 Dickman, 1793. 8°, pp. 19. — L. 
 
 260.-1792, Nov. 29. — Frederick William Hotchkiss, Saybrook, 
 Conn. On National Greatness, | A | Thanksgiving Sermon, | deliv- 
 ered to the I First Society | in | Say-Brook, | November 29th, 1792. 
 [Deut. iv. 7-9.] New-Haven : . . Thomas and Samuel Green, 1793. 
 8°,pp. 23. — L. N. H. U. 
 
 261. — 1793, Apr. 11. — Joseph McKeen, Beverly, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached on the | Public Fast | in the | Commonwealth | of | 
 Massachusetts, | April 11, 1793. [Psa. li. 18.] Salem: . . Thomas 
 C. Gushing, ... 1793. 8°, pp. 22. — An. Ath. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 262. — 1793, Apr. 11. — David Tappan, [Har. Coll.] Cambridge, 
 Mass. A I Sermon, | delivered | to the First Congregation | in | 
 Cambridge, | and ) the Religious Society | in | Charlestown, | April 
 11, 1793. I On occasion of the Annual Fast | in | the Commonwealth 
 of I Massachusetts. [Deut. xxxii. 4, 5.] Boston : . . Samuel Hall, 
 ...1793. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Bo. C. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 263.-1793, Apr. 17. —Nathan WiUiams, ToUand, Conn. Order 
 and Harmony in the Churches of [ Christ, agreeable to God's Will. | 
 
556 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Illustrated in a | Sermon, | delivered in Tolland, | on the | Public 
 Fast, I April 17tli, 1793. [1 Cor. xiv. 38.] Hartford : . . Hudson and 
 Goodwin, 1793. 8°, pp. 31. — Ath. C. Ct. L. U. [Strictures on 
 the above sermon were published by George Roberts, Presiding Elder 
 of the Methodist Church. See Brinley Cat. No. 6269.] 
 
 264. — 1793, Sept. 20. — John Mitchell Mason, New York, N. Y. 
 A I Sermon, | preached September 20th, 1793 ; | a day set apart, | in 
 the I City of New- York, | for Public Fasting, Humiliation | and j 
 Prayer, | on account of a | Malignant and Mortal Fever | prevailing in 
 the I City of Philadelphia. [Hab. ii. 3.] New York : . . Samuel 
 Loudon & Son, 1793. 8°, pp. 64. — An. Ath. C. L. 
 
 265.-1793, Nov. 7. — Joseph Lyman, Hatfield, Mass. The Ad- 
 ministrations of Providence full of | .Goodness and Mercy. | A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered at Hatfield, | November 7th, A. D. 1793. | Being the 
 day of I Public Thanksgiving. [Psa. cxxxix, 17, 18.] Northampton : 
 .. WiUiam Butler, 1794. 8°, pp. 22. — Ath. C. Ct. M. U. 
 
 266. — 1793, Nov. 7. — Samuel Spring, Newburyport, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at the | North Church in Newburyport, | No- 
 vember 7th, 1793, I being the day appointed for a | General Thanks- 
 giving, I by the authority of \. Massachusetts. Newburyport : . . . . 
 John Mycall, 1794. 8°, pp. 40. — C. 
 
 267. — 1793, Dec. 12. — Thomas Dunn, Philadelphia, Pa. E<iuality 
 of Rich and Poor : | A | Sermon, | preached in the | Prison of Phila- 
 delphia, I on Thursday, December 12th, 1793. | Being the day ap- 
 pointed for humiliation and | thanksgiving, on the ceasing of the | 
 late epidemical fever. [Prov. xxii. 2.] Philadelphia: . . Thomas 
 Dobson, . . . 1793. 8% pp. 24. — An. 
 
 268.— 1793, Dec. 12. —William Smith, Philadelphia, Pa. [A 
 Sermon] Preached, December 12, 1793, | Appointed as a | Day of 
 General Humiliation, Thanksgiving | and Prayer, | for | Our Deliv- 
 erance from the Rage of the | Grievous Calamity, | commonly called | 
 the Yellow Fever. [Psa. Ixxviii. 34-50.] Philadelphia: . . Hugh 
 MaxweU and William Fry, 1803. 8°. Works, i. 76-104. 
 
 269. — 1794, Apr. 17. —Joseph Roby, [Saugus] Lynn, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at Lynn, | on the | General Fast, | April 17, 
 1794. [Psa. cxix. 121.] Portland : . . Thomas Baker Wait, n. d. 
 8°,pp. 31. — An. H. M. 
 
 270. — 1794, May 22. — Ezra Weld, Braintree, Mass. A | Sermon, | 
 on I Christian Union; | delivered in Wrentham, May 22, 1794, | at 
 a I Public Fast, | appointed by the Church and Pastor, | on account of 
 their Ecclesiastical Difficulties ; | and printed by their mutual desire. 
 [1 Cor. i. 13.] Boston : . . E. W. Weld and W. Greenough, 1794. 
 8°,pp. iv, 5-30.— An. Ath. C. Ct. H. N. H. Y. 
 
 271. — 1794, Nov. 20. — John Eliot, Boston, Mass. A | Sermon, | 
 delivered | on the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving, | November 20, 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 557 
 
 1794. [Psa. xcvii. 1.] Printed by Samuel Hall, . . Boston, 1794. 
 8°, pp. 26. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 272. — 1794, Nov. 20. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. Extracts 
 from his thanksgiving sermon in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 
 Nov. 24, 1794. 
 
 273. — 1794, Nov. 20. — John Mellen, Barnstable, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered at | Barnstable, | East Precinct, | on the Annual 
 Thanksgiving, | November 20, 1794. [Psa. Ixxvii. 10-12.] Boston : 
 .. Samuel Hall, ... 1794. 8°, pp. 21. —An. Ath. C. M. 
 
 274.-1794, Nov. 20. — David Osgood, Medford, Mass. The 
 Wonderful Works of God | are to be remembered. | A | Sermon, | 
 delivered | on the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving, | November 20, 
 1794. [Psa. cxi. 4.] * (1) . . Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 1794. 8°, 
 pp. 29. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. (2) Same. — An. Ath. C. 
 Ct. H. L. Y. (3) Same. 1795. 8°, pp. 29. — An. Ath. H. L. 
 M. U. Y. (4) . . Blunt & March, . . . Newburyport, 1795. 8°, 
 pp.24. — An. L. (5) Albany: . . Charles R. and George Webster, 
 . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 24. — An. (6) . . . Stockbridge : By Loring 
 Andrews, 1795. 8°, pp. 30. — C. Ct. L. 
 
 275. — 1794, Nov. 20. — Samuel Stillman, Boston, Mass. Thoughts 
 on the French Revolution. | A | Sermon, | delivered | November 20, 
 1794 : I being | the day of | Annual Thanksgiving. [Matt. xxiv. 6-8.] 
 Boston : . . Manning & Loring, 1795. 8°, pp. 27. — An. Ath. L. 
 M. U. Y. 
 
 276. — 1794, Nov. 20. — Thomas Gushing Thacher, Lynn, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached at | Lynn, | November 20th, 1794 : | being 
 the day appointed | for the | Annual Thanksgiving. [Psa. Ixv. 11.] 
 Boston: . . Thomas HaU, 1794. 8°, pp. 24.— An. Ath. C. M. 
 
 277. — 1794, Nov. 27. — Henry Channing, New London, Conn. 
 The Consideration of divine Goodness an argument | for religious 
 gratitude and obedience. | A | Sermon, | delivered at New-London, | 
 Nov. 27, 1794. I Being the day appointed by Authority, | for Public 
 Thanksgiving I in the State of Connecticut. [1 Sam. xii. 24.] New 
 Loudon: . . Samuel Green, 1794. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. Ct. L. 
 U. Y. 
 
 278. — 1794, Nov. 27. — Amzi Lewis, North Stamford, Conn. The 
 Duty of Praising God for | His Mercy and Judgment. | A | Sermon, | 
 delivered (for substance) at | North Stamford, | November 27, 1794, | 
 being a day of | Public Thanksgiving. . . . [Psa. ci. 1.] Danbury : 
 . . N. Douglas, 1795. 8°, pp. 30. — Ct. U. 
 
 279. — 1795, Jan. 6. — Samuel Stanhope Smith, [Coll. of N. J.] 
 Princeton, N. J. A | Discourse | on the | Nature and Reasonableness 
 of Fasting, | and on | the existing Causes that call us to that Duty. | 
 Delivered at Princeton, on Tuesday the 6th January, 1795. | Being 
 the Day appointed | by the | Synod of New-York and New-Jersey, 
 
558 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 to be observed as a General Fast, | by all the Churches of their Com- 
 munion in those | Stages ; and now published | in compliance with the 
 request | of the | Students of Theology and Law in Princeton. [Joel 
 ii. 12, 13.] Philadelphia: . . WilUam Young, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 
 31. — Ath. C. H. L. Y. 
 
 280. — 1795, Feb. 19. —John Andrews, Newburyport, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered February 19, 1795, | being a day | of | Public 
 Thanksgiving, | throughout the | United States of America. [Prov. 
 xvi. 7.] Printed at Newburyport by Blunt & March, n. d. 8°, pp. 22. 
 — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 281. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Thomas Baldwin, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I February 19, 1795 : | being | the day of | Public Thanksgiv- 
 ing I throughout the United States. [Psa. xxxiii. 12.] Boston : 
 . . Manning & Loring, 1795. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. C. H. L. 
 M. Y. 
 
 282. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Thomas Barnard, Salem, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered | on the day | of | National Thanksgiving, | February 
 19, 1795. [Isa. v. 3-7.] Printed by Thomas C. Cushing, . . . Salem, 
 1795. 8°, pp. 25. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 283.-1795, Feb. 19.— John Bracken, Williamsburg, Va. The 
 duty of giving thanks for | National Blessings. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached in | the Parish Church of Bruton, | Williamsburg ; | on 
 Thursday February 19th, 1795. [Psa. cvii. 1, 2.] Richmond: . . 
 Thomas Nicolson, 1795. 8°, pp. 26. — M. 
 
 284. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Ebenezer Bradford, Rowley, Mass. The 
 Nature and Manner of giving | Thanks to God, Illustrated. | A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered | on the day | of the | National Thanksgiving | Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1795. [Eph. V. 20.] Boston: From the Chronicle-Press, 
 by Adams & Larkin, 1795. 8°, pp. 23. —An. Ath. H. L. M. 
 
 285. — 1795, Feb. 19.— Pitt Clark, Norton, Mass. On the Rise 
 and signalized Lot of the | United Americans. | A | Sermon, | de- 
 livered, February 19, M,DCC,XCV, | on occasion of a Thanksgiving 
 throughout the | United States, | to the | Congregational Society, | 
 in I Norton. [1 Sam. vii. 12.] Boston : . . Samuel Hall, . . . 
 1795. 8°, pp. 30. — An. C. H. L. M. 
 
 286. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Joseph Dana, Ipswich, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered February 19, 1795, | being a day | of | General 
 Thanksgiving, | throughout the | United States of America. [Deut. 
 xxxiii. 29.] Newburyport: . . Blunt and March, . . . 1795. 8°, 
 pp. 26. — An. Ath. C. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 287.-1795, Feb. 19. — Samuel Deane, [Falmouth] Portland, Me. 
 A I Sermon, | preached | February 19th, 1795. | Being a day of | 
 National Thanksgiving, | appointed by | the President | of the | 
 United States. [Psa. 1. 14.] Portland : . . Thomas B. Wait, 1795. 
 8°, pp. 20. An. Ath. Bo. M. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 559 
 
 288. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Thaddeus Fiske, Cambridge, Mass. 
 Thanksgiving and Prayer for Public | Rulers, | recommended in a | 
 Discourse, | delivered at the | Second Parish, in Cambridge, | Febru- 
 ary 19, 1795, I being the day of National Thanks- | giving in the 
 United States. [1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.] Printed at Boston, 1795. 8°, pp. 
 20. — An. Ath. C. M. Y. 
 
 289. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Levi Frisbie, Ipswich, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 delivered February 19, 1795, | the day | of | Public Thanksgiving | 
 through the | United States. | Recommended by the President. [Psa. 
 c. 3, 4.] Newburyport : . . Blunt and March, n. d. 8°, pp. 28. — 
 An. Ath. U. Y. 
 
 290.— 1795, Feb. 19. — Ashbel Green, Philadelphia, Pa. A| 
 Sermon, | delivered in the | Second Presbyterian Church in the City 
 of I Philadelphia, | on the 19th of February, 1795, | being the day of 
 General Thanksgiving | throughout the United States. [Psa. evii. 21, 
 22.] Philadelphia: . . John Fenno, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 48.— An. 
 Ath. L. M. Y. 
 
 291. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Abiel Holmes, Cambridge, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | on the | Freedom and Happiness | of | America ; | preached 
 at Cambridge, | February 19, 1795, | the day appointed | by the |- 
 President of the United States | for a | National Thanksgiving. 
 [Deut. xxxiii. 29.] Printed by Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 1795. 8°, 
 pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 292.-1795, Feb. 19. — Samuel Kendal, Weston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered | on the day | of | National Thanksgiving, | Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1795. [Psa. cxliv. 15.] Printed by Samuel Hall, . . . 
 Boston, 1795. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 293. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 National Happiness, | illustrated in a | Sermon, | delivered at | West- 
 Springfield, I on the nineteenth of February, 1795. | Being a day of | 
 General Thanksgiving. [Psa. Ixvii. 1, 2.] Springfield: . . J. W. 
 Hooker and F. Stebbins, 1795. 8°, pp. 20. —An. Ct. U. Y. 
 
 294. — 1795, Feb. 19. — James Madison, Williamsburg, Va. Man- 
 ifestations I of the I Beneficence of Divine | Providence | towards 
 America. | A | Discourse, | delivered on Thursday the 19th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1795, I being the day recommended by the Presi- | dent of the 
 United States, for gene- | ral Thanksgiving and Prayer. [1 Sam. xii. 
 24.] Richmond: . . Thomas Nicolson, 1795. 8°, pp. 23. — M. 
 
 295. — 1795, Feb. 19. — John Mitchell Mason, New York, N. Y. 
 Mercy Remembered in Wrath. | A | Sermon, | the substance of which 
 was preached on | the 19th of February, 1795, | observed throughout 
 the United | States, | as a day | of Thanksgiving and Prayer. [Psa. 
 ciii. 10.] New York: . . J. Buel, 1795. 8°, pp. 33. — Ath. C 
 Ct. L. Y. 
 
 296. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, Salisbury, 
 
560 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 N. C. A I Sermon, | on the | Comparative Happiness and Duty | of 
 the I United States of America, | Contrasted with other Nations, par- 
 ticularly the I Israelites. | Delivered in Salisbury, on Wednesday, 
 Fe- I bruary 18th ; and a't Thyatira, on Thurs- | day, February 19th, 
 1795 : being the day of | General Thanksgiving- and Prayer, ap- 
 point- | ed by the President of the United States. [Deut. iv. 32.] Hali- 
 fax: . . Abraham Hodge, 1795. 8°, pp. 43. — Ath. 
 
 297. — 1795, Feb. 19. —John McKnight, New York, N. Y. The 
 Divine Goodness | to the | United States of America, | particularly in 
 the course of the last year. | A | Thanksgiving Sermon, | preached in 
 New- York, February 19, 1795. [Psa. Ixv. 11.] New-York: . . 
 Thomas Greenleaf, 1795. 8°, pp. 28 (3). — An. C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 298.— 1795, Feb. 19. —John Mellen, Hanover, Mass. The | 
 Great and Happy Doctrine | of | Liberty. | A | Discourse, | deliv- 
 ered I at Hanover, | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | February 19, 
 1795. I On the day | of | Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, | appointed 
 by I the President, | to be observed throughout all | the United States 
 of America, [John viii. 36.] Boston: . . Samuel Hall, 1795. 8°, 
 pp. 34. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 299.— 1795, Feb. 19. — Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown, Mass. The 
 present Situation of other Nations of | the World, | contrasted with 
 our own. | A | Sermon, | delivered | at Charlestown, | in the i Com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts, | February 19, 1795 ; | being the day 
 recommended by | George Washington, | President of the United 
 States of America, | for Publick Thanksgiving | and | Prayer. [Deut. 
 iv. 6, 8, 9.] Printed by Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 1795. 8°, pp. 37. 
 
 — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. 
 
 300.-1795, Feb. 19. —John Murray, Boston, Mass. The | Sub- 
 stance I of a I Thanksgiving Sermon, | delivered at the Universalist 
 Meeting-house, | in Boston, February 19, 1795. [Psa. Ixix. 5.] 
 Boston : . . . . John W. Folsom, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 32. — An. Ath. 
 C. M. 
 
 301. — 1795, Feb. 19. — David Osgood, Medford, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered | February 19, 1795 : | the day set apart by the | 
 President, | for a | General Thanksgiving ] through the United States. 
 [Psa. cxlvii.20.] (1) Boston: . . Samuel Hall, 1795. 8°, pp. 30.— 
 An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. (2) Litchfield (Connect- 
 icut) Re-Printed by Collier and Buel, n. d. 12°, pp. 24. — Ct. Y. 
 
 302. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Hezekiah Packard, Chelmsford, Mass. The 
 plea of patriotism. | A | Sermon, | preached in | Chelmsford, | on 
 the day of | General Thanksgiving, | February 19, 1795. [2 Chron. 
 XX. 30.] Boston: . . William Greenough, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 24. 
 
 — An. Ath. C. H. Y. 
 
 303. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Ezra Sampson, Plympton, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | delivered | February 19, 1795 ; | being | the day of | Na- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 561 
 
 tional Thanksg-iving. [Deut. xxxii. 7-12.] Boston : . . . . Samuel 
 Hall. n. d. 8°, pp. 21. — An. C. L. M. 
 
 304. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Samuel Stanhope Smith, [Coll. of N. J.] 
 Princeton, N. J. The Divine Goodness | to the | United States of 
 America. | A | Discourse, | on the | Subjects of National Gratitude, | 
 delivered in the Third Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, | on 
 Thursday the 19th of February, 1795, | recommended by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, | to be observed throughout the Union as a 
 day of I General Thanksgiving and Prayer. | . . . [Psa. cvii. 21.] (1) 
 Philadelphia : . . WiUiam Young, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 38 (2). — Ath. 
 Ct. L. U. Y. (2) Same. — L. [There were two impressions of 
 the second edition with a slight difference on the title-page.] 
 
 305. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Isaac Story, Marblehead, Mass. A| 
 Sermon, | preached February 19, 1795, | (From Ecclesiastes ix. 18.) | 
 Being the | Federal Thanksgiving, | appointed by our beloved Presi- 
 dent, the Illus- I trious George Washington, Esq. . . Thomas C. Cush- 
 ing, . . . Salem, 1795. 8°, pp. 29. [With a sermon preached Feb. 
 15, and paged continuously.] — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 306. — 1795, Feb. 19. — David Tappan, [Har. Coll.] Cambridge, 
 Mass. Christian Thankfulness | Explained and Enforced. | A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered | at Charlestown, | in the afternoon of February 19, 
 1795. I The day | of | General Thanksgiving | through the United 
 States. [Col. iii. 15.] Boston : . . Samuel Hall, 1795. 8°, pp. 40. 
 —An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 307. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Thomas Thacher, Dedhara, Mass. A| 
 Discourse, | delivered at the Third Parish | in | Dedham, | 19th Feb- 
 ruary, 1795. I Being the day recommended | by the | President | 
 of the United States, | for | Publick Thanksgiving. [Josh. xxiv. 17.] 
 Boston : . . Thomas Fleet, jun., 1795. 8°, pp. 24. — An. M. 
 
 308.-1795, Feb. 19. —John Tyler, Norwich, Conn. The | 
 Blessing of Peace ; | A | Sermon | preached at Norwich, | on the | 
 Continental Thanksgiving, | February 19, 1795. [Psa. xxix. 11.] 
 Norwich : . . John Trumbull, 1795. 8°, pp. 20. — C. Ct. M. 
 
 309. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Benjamin Wads worth, Danvers, Mass. 
 America invoked to praise the Lord. | A | Discourse | delivered | on 
 the day | of | Public Thanksgiving | through the | United States of 
 America, | February 19, 1795. [Psa. cvii. 31.] . . . Salem : by 
 Thomas C. Cushing, 1795. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. 
 
 310. — 1795, Feb. 19. — Henry Ware, Hingham, Mass. The Contin- 
 uance of Peace and increasing | Prosperity a Source of Consolation | 
 and just Cause of Gratitude to the | Inhabitants of the United States. | 
 A I Sermon, | delivered February 19, 1795 ; | being a day set apart | 
 by I the President, | for | Thanksgiving and Prayer | through the | 
 United States. [Psa. cxlvii. 12-14.] . . Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 
 1795. 8°, pp. 31. An. C. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
562 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 311.— 1795, Feb. 19.— Samuel West, Boston, Mass. A | Sermon, | 
 delivered upon the late | National Thanksgiving, | February 19th, 
 1795. [Dan. ii. 20, 21.] Boston : . . Samuel Etheridge, . . . 1795. 
 8°, pp. 20.— An. Ath. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 312. — 1795, Feb. 19. — William White, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon, | on the | Reciprocal Influence | of | Civil Policy | and | Re- 
 ligious Duty. I Delivered in | Christ Church, in the City of Phila- 
 delphia, I on Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795, | being a day 
 of General Thanksgiving. [Dent, xxxiii. 27.] Philadelphia: . . 
 Ormrod & Conrad, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. C. L. 
 
 313. — 1795, Apr. 2. — Ebenezer Bradford, Rowley, Mass. The 
 Nature of Humiliation, Fast- | ing and Prayer explained. | A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered on the | day of | Public Humiliation and Prayer | in 
 the I Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | April 2, 1795 : | with an | 
 Appendix, | in Answer to | Dr. Tappan's remarks on his Thanks- | 
 giving Sermon, dated February 19, 1795. [Ezra viii. 23.] Boston : 
 . . Adams & Larkin, 1795. 8°, pp. 40. — An. Ath. C. H. L. 
 
 314. — 1795, Apr. 2. — Nathaniel Thayer, Lancaster, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered | on the day of | Fasting, Humiliation & Prayer ; | 
 April 2, 1795. [Isa. Iviii. 1.] Boston : . . Joseph Belknap, . . . 
 
 1795. 8°, pp. 20. — An. Ath. H. Y. 
 
 315. — 1795, Nov. 12. — Thomas Worcester, Salisbury, N. H. A | 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | delivered | November 12, 1795. [Psa. Ixv. 
 11.] Newburyport: . . John Mycall, 1796. 8% pp. 31. — An. L. 
 
 316. — 1795, Nov. 19. — Francis Gardner, Leominster, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered | on the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving, | No- 
 vember 19, 1795. [Psa. Ixv. 11.] Leominster: . . Charles Prentiss, 
 
 1796. 8%pp. 23. — An. Atk. 
 
 317. — 1795, Nov. 19. — Eliphalet Gillet, Hallowell, Me. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at | Hallowell, | on the day of the | Anniversary 
 Thanksgiving | in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | November 
 19, 1795. [Psa. xvi. 6.] Printed at Hallowell, Hook, by Wait and 
 Baker, n. d. 8°, pp. 22. — C. U. 
 
 318.-1795, Nov. 19. — David Osgood, Medford, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered | on the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving, | Novem- 
 ber 19, 1795. [Gen. viii. 22.] . . Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 1795. 
 8%pp. 32. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. 
 
 319. — 1795, Nov. 19. — Jonathan Strong, Randolph, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | delivered | on the day of | Annual Thanksgiving, | Novem- 
 ber 19, 1795. [Deut. xxxii. 15.] Boston: . . Young and Minns, 
 n. d. 8°, pp. 27.— An. Ath. L. Y. 
 
 320. — 1795, Nov. 26. — WiUiam Linn, New York, N. Y. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered on the 26th of November, 1795 ; | being the day 
 recommended by the Governor of | the State of New- York to be ob- 
 served as a day of | Thanksgiving and Prayer, | on account of the 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 563 
 
 removal of an | Epidemic Fever, | and for other | National Blessings. 
 [Psa. cxvii.] New York : . . T. & J. Swords, . . . 1795. 8°, pp. 
 38. — An. Ath. Ct. L. M. Y. 
 
 321. — 1795, Dee. 24. — Walter King, Norwich, Conn. The Obli- 
 gations of a Grateful Peoj^le to | Speak the Praises of God for His | 
 Abundant Goodness ; | illustrated | in a | Sermon, | delivered at Chel- 
 sea, in Norwich, | December 24th 1795. | Being the day of Public | 
 Thanksgiving, | and | Dedication | of a | House of Worship, | lately- 
 built in that place. [Psa. cxlv. 7.] Norwich: . . Thomas Hub- 
 bard, 1796. 8°, pp. 26. — Ct. L. U. 
 
 322. — 1795, Dec. 31. — Bethuel Dodd, Whitestown, N. Y. The 
 Singular Goodness of God | to America : | a | Thanksgiving Sermon ; | 
 delivered at Whitestown, December | thirty-first, :M,DCC,XCV. [Psa. 
 cxlvii. 20.] Whitestown : . . OHver P. Easton, 1796. 12°, pp. 22. 
 
 — L. 
 
 323. — 1796, Mar. 2. —Joseph Buckminster, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 Remarks upon Paul's and Barnabas's | dispute and separation. | A | 
 Discourse | delivered in | the Congregational Church & Society in | 
 Hampton, | March 2d, 1796. | A day devoted by them to Fasting | 
 and Prayer. [Acts xv. 39, 40.] Portsmouth : . . John Melcher, . . . 
 
 1796. 8°, pp. 19. — Ct. 
 
 324. — 1796, Mar. 31. — Thomas Barnard, Salem, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered at | Salem, | on March 31, 1796, | the day | of | Gen- 
 eral Fasting | through the State of | Massachusetts. [2 Chron. xxviii. 
 10.] . . . Newburyport, by Blimt and March, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 20. 
 
 — An. Ath. Bo. Ct. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 325.-1796, Nov. 17. — Zephaniah Swift Moore, Peterboro, N. H. 
 A I Thanksgiving Sermon, | delivered | at Peterborough, in New 
 Hampshire, | November 17, 1796. [Psa. cxlvii. 20.] Keene: New 
 Hampshire. . . C. Sturtevant, Jun. &> Co., 1797. 12°, pp. 36. — 
 C. Ct. 
 
 326. — 1796, Nov. 17. — John Smith, Salem, N. H. A | Sermon, | 
 preached in Salem, | on the | Anniversary Thanksgiving, | November 
 17, 1796. . . . [Psa. cxxxvi. 26.] Amherst : . . . . Samuel Preston, 
 
 1797. 8°,pp. 32. — An. C. N. H. 
 
 327. — 1796, Dec. 15. — Samuel Austin, Worcester, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at | Worcester, | on the | day of Public Thanks- 
 giving, I observed throughout the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | 
 December 15th, MDCCXCVI. [Judg. iii. 9-11.] Worcester: . . 
 Leonard Worcester, 1797. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 328.— 1796, Dec. 15.— Thomas Barnard, Salem, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered | on the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving, | December 
 15, 1786. [2 Sam. vii. 18.] Printed by Thomas C. Gushing : . . . 
 Salem, n.d. 8°, pp. 22. — An. C. Ct. H. U. Y. 
 
564 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 329. — 1796, Dec. 15. — Henry Cumings, Billerica, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached at | Billerica, | December 15, 1796, | being the day- 
 appointed I by Authority, | to be observed throughout the | Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts, | as a day of | Public Praise | and | Thanks- 
 giving. [Psa. cxliv. 15.] . . Thomas Fleet, jun., . . . Boston, 1797. 
 8°,pp. 35. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 330. — 1796, Dec. 15. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. Na- 
 tional Peace the Source of | National Prosperity. | A Sermon, | 
 delivered at | Franklin, | on the | day of Annual Thanksgiving, | De- 
 cember 15th, MDCCXCVI. [1 King's iv. 25.] (1) . . Worcester, 
 By Leonard Worcester, 1797. 8°, pp. 23. — An. Ath. C. H. L. 
 U. (2) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 331. — 1796, Dec. 15. — James Freeman, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I for I December 15, 1796; | the day of | Public Thanksgiving. 
 [1 Thess. V. 13, 14.] [Published Anonymously.] Boston : William 
 Spotswood, 1796. 8% pp. 21. —H. L. Y. 
 
 332. — 1796, Dec. 15. — Alvan Hyde, Lee, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 delivered at Lee, | December 15th, 1796, | being the day appointed by 
 Authori- | ty for a | Public Thanksgiving. [Judg. viii. 34, 35.] 
 Stockbridge: . . Rosseter & WiUard, April, 1797. 8°, pp. 24.— 
 An. Ct. M. 
 
 333. — 1796, Dec. 15. — Benjamin Wadsworth, Danvers, Mass. 
 Social Thanksgiving a Pleasant Duty. | A | Sermon, | preached | on 
 the day | of | Annual Thanksgiving | through the | Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, | December 15, 1796. [Psa. cxxxvi. 1.] . . Salem, 
 By Thomas C. Cushing, 1795. 8°, pp. 38. —An. Ath. N. H. 
 
 334. — 1797, May 4. — Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 God's I Challenge to Infidels | to Defend their Cause, | illustrated 
 and applied in a | Sermon, | delivered in West-Springfield, | May 4, 
 1797. I Being the day of | General Fast. [Isa. xli. 21.] (1) West 
 Springfield: . . Edward Gray, n. d. 12°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. C. 
 Ct. U. (2) Same, 1803. 8°. — Ath. ^(3) Cambridge: . . . Univer- 
 sity Press, . . William HiUiard, 1803* 8°, pp. 28. — An. Bo. H. 
 M. (4) Same, 1805. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. L. U. 
 
 335. — 1797, Nov. 16. — Nathan Strong, Hartford, Conn. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at the Annual | Thanksgiving, | November 16th, 
 1797. [Psa. cvii. 8.] Hartford: . . Hudson & Goodwin, 1797. 
 8°, pp. 16. — Ath. C. Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 336.-1798, Apr. 5. — David Tappan, [Har. Coll.] Cambridge, 
 Mass. A I Discourse, | delivered to the Religious Society | in | 
 Brattle-Street, Boston, | and | to the Christian Congregation | in | 
 Charlestown, | on April 5, 1798. | Being the day of the Annual 
 Fast I in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Prov. xiv. 34.] 
 Boston: . . Samuel Hall, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 31.— An. Ath. C. 
 Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 565 
 
 337.— 1798, Apr. 6. — Nathan Strong-, Hartford, Conn. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached on the | State Fast, | April 6th, 1798. [Isa. xxvi. 
 21.] Hartford :.. Hudson & Goodwin, 1798. 8°, pp. 20. — C. Ct. 
 M. U. Y. 
 
 338. — 1798, May 9. — James Abercrombie, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in | Christ Church and St. Peter's, | Phila- 
 delphia : I on Wednesday, May 9th, 1798. | Being the day appointed 
 by the | President, | as a day of | Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, | 
 throughout the | United States of North America. [Joel ii. 15-18.] 
 Philadelphia : . . John Ormrod, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 38. — An. Ath. 
 H. L. M. 
 
 339. — 1798, May 9. — Samuel Andrews, St. Andrews, N. B. The 
 true Means to avert National | Judgments. | A | Sermon | upon the | 
 Solemn Fast ordered through the | States of America, | May 9th, 
 1798. I Delivered | at the house of John Brewer, Esq., | in Robins- 
 town, upon the river Schodick, | at his, and the desire of others of its 
 inhabitants. Citizens of the | United States. . . . [Ecc. vii. 4.] Printed 
 at Boston, 1798. 8°, pp. 22. — B. Ct. 
 
 340. — 1798, May 9. —Jeremy Belknap, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered on the 9th of May, 1798, | the day | of the | Na- 
 tional Fast, I recommended | by the President | of the | United States. 
 [Dan. ii. 42, 43.] . . Samuel Hall, . . . Boston, 1798. 8°, pp. 29. — 
 An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 341. — 1798, May 9.— Samuel Blair, Philadelphia, Pa. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered in | the First Presbyterian Church | of | Phila- 
 delphia, I on Wednesday, May 9th, 1798, | Recommended by the | 
 President of the United States | to be Observed as a Day of | Fasting, 
 Humiliation, and Prayer, | throughout the | United States of North 
 America. [Isa. i. 5.] Philadelphia : Published by James Watters, 
 & Co., . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 31. — Hist. Soc. of Penn. 
 
 342. — 1798, May 9. — Alden Bradford, Wiscasset, Me. Two | 
 Sermons, | delivered in | Wiscasset, (Pownalborough) | on the 9th of 
 May, 1798, | which | the President of the United States | had pre- 
 viously Appointed to be Religiously | Observed as a day of | Humilia- 
 tion I and I Prayer | throughout the Union. [2 Chron. xx. 1-13.] 
 Wiscasset: . . Henry Hoskins & John W. Scott, 1798. 8°, pp. 20. 
 — An. Ath. Ct. M. 
 
 343.-1798, May 9. —Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered May 9, 1798. | Being the day of Fasting and 
 Prayer | throughout the United States. [2 Sam. xv. 31.] (1) . . 
 Wrentham, Mass., by Nathaniel and Benjamin Heaton, 1798. 8°, pp. 
 28. — An. Ath. U. Y. (2) Newburyport : . . Angier March, n. d. 
 8°, pp. 24.— Ath. Bo. C. H. L. (3) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 344. — 1798, May 9. — Ashbel Green, Philadelphia, Pa. Obedi- 
 ence I to the I Law of God, | the Sure and Indispensable ) Defence of 
 
£66 FAST AND THANKSGIVING LAYS. 
 
 Nations. | A Discourse, | delivered in the | Second Presbyterian 
 Church, I in the city of Philadelphia, | May 9th, 1798. [2 Chron. 
 XV. 2.] Philadelphia: . . John Ormrod, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 51. — 
 An. C. L. M. 
 
 345. — 1798, May 9. — Thaddeus Mason Harris, Dorchester, Mass. 
 A I Sermon | preached in | Milton | on the morning, and at | Dor- 
 
 ' Chester | in the afternoon of the 9th of May, 1798 ; | being the day | 
 recommended by the President of | the United States for | solemn 
 Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer | throughout the Union. [2 Kings 
 xix. 14.] Boston: . . Samuel Etheridge, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 24. 
 — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 346. — 1798, May 9.— John Thornton Kirkland, Boston, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered on the 9th of May, 1798. | Being the day 
 of a I National Fast, | recommended by the | President of the United 
 States. [Isa. xxvi. 9.] Boston: . . John Russell, . . . 1798. 8°, 
 pp. 23. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. 
 
 347. — 1798, May 9. — William Linn, New York, N. Y. A | Dis- 
 course I on I National Sins : | delivered May 9, 1798 : | being the day 
 recommended by the President | of the United States to be observed | 
 as a day of | General Fast. [Josh. vii. 13.] New York : . . T. & J. 
 Swords, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. vi, 7-37. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. 
 U. Y. 
 
 348. — 1798, [May 9]. — Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, Salisbury, 
 N. C. " The work of God for the French Republic, and then her 
 reformation or ruin ; or the novel and useful experiment of national 
 Deism, to us and all mankind." A national Fast Sermon. — Sprague's 
 Annals, iii. 348. 
 
 349.-1798, May 9. — Joseph McKeen, Beverly, Mass. Two | 
 Discourses, | delivered at | Beverly, | on the day of the | National 
 Fast, I May 9, 1798. [1 Chron. xxviii. 8.] Salem : . . Thomas C. 
 Cushing, 1798. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 350. — 1798, May 9. — Samuel Miller, New York, N. Y. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered May 9, 1798, | recommended, by the President of 
 the J United States, | to be observed | as a day of general | Humilia- 
 tion, Fasting, and Prayer. [2 Tim. iii. 1.] New York : . f T. and 
 J. Swords, 1798. 8<^, pp. 46. — An. Ath, C. Ct. H. L. M. U. 
 
 351. — 1798, May 9. — Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at the New North Church in Boston, | in the 
 morning, | and | in the afternoon at Charlestown, | May 9th, 1798, | 
 being the day recommended by | John Adams, | President of the 
 United States of America, | for | solemn Humiliation, Fasting and 
 Prayer. [2 Kings xix. 3, 4.] Boston: . . Samuel Hall, . . 1798. 
 8°, pp. 30. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 352. — 1798, May 9. — David Osgood, Medford, Mass. Some Facts 
 evincive of the atheistical, anarchical, | and m other respects, immoral 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 567 
 
 Principles of the | French Republicans, | stated in a ! Sermon | de- 
 livered on the 9th of May, 1798, | the day | recommended | by the 
 President | of the | United States | for | Solemn Humiliation, Fast- 
 ing, I and Prayer. [2 Kings xix. 14-16.] Printed by Samuel Hall, 
 . . . Boston, 1798. 8°, pp. 27. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. L. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 353. — 1798, May 9. — Eliphalet Porter, Roxbury, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered at Brookline, in the morning, | and at the | First 
 Parish in Roxbury, in the afternoon, | of the 9th of May, 1798, | being 
 the day recommended by | John Adams, | President of the United 
 States, I for solemn Humiliation, Fasting & Prayer, | throughout the 
 Union. [Neh. vi. 16.] Boston : . . John Russell, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 
 36. — An. Ath. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 354. — 1798, May 9. — John Prince, Salem, Mass. A | Discourse, | 
 delivered at | Salem, | on the day of the | National Fast, | May 9, 
 1798: I appointed by | President Adams, | on account of the difficulties 
 subsisting between the | United States and France. [1 Tim. ii. 1-3.] 
 (1) . . Thomas C. Gushing, . . . Salem, 1798. 8°, pp. 44. — An. H. 
 L. Y. (2) . . Thomas C. Cushing, . . . Salem, 1798. 8°, pp. (4) 30. 
 
 — An. Ath. C. H. M. (3) Boston: . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 30.— H. M. 
 355.-1798, May 9. — Gershom Seixas, New York, N. Y. A | 
 
 Discourse, | delivered | in the Synagogue | in | New- York, | on | the 
 Ninth of May, 1798, | observed as a day | of | Humiliation, &c. &c. | 
 Conformably to a Recommendation | of | the President of the United 
 States of I America. [Psa. cxxxiii.] New York: . . William A. 
 Davis & Co., . . . 1798. 8% pp. 32. — C. 
 
 356. — 1798, May 9. — John Thayer [Catholic Missioner] Boston, 
 Mass. A I Discourse, | delivered, | at the Roman Catholic Church | 
 in Boston, | on the 9th of May, 1798, | a day recommended by the | 
 President, | for | Humiliation and Prayer | throughout the | United 
 States. [1 Thess. v. 17, 18.] Boston: . . Samuel Hall, . . . 1798. 
 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. Y. 
 
 357.-1798, May 9. — John Wilder, Attleborough, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered May 9, 1798, | on the importance of Special | . 
 Humiliation. [Joel ii. 15-17.] . . Wrentham, Mass., by Nathaniel 
 and Benjamin Heaton, 1798. 8°, pp. 27. — C. 
 
 358. — 1798, [Aug. 30]. — Jonathan P'reeman, Bridgeton, N. J. 
 " He published a Sermon on the day appointed by the General As- 
 sembly as a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, 1798." 
 
 — Sprague's Annals, iv. 394. 
 
 359. — 1798, Nov. 15 and 29. — Abiel Abbot, Haverhill, Mass. A 
 Memorial of Divine Benefits. | In a | Sermon, | delivered at Exeter, 
 on the 15th, | and at | Haverhill, on the 29th of November, | 1798, | 
 days of | Public Thanksgiving, | in | New-Hampshire and Massachu- 
 setts. [Psa. ciii. 2.] . . Haverhill : By Moore & Stebbins, . . . 1798. 
 8°, pp. 26. — Ath. C. L. U. 
 
568 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 360. — 1798, Nov. 15. —Joseph Buckminster, Portsmouth, N. H. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered in | the first parish in Portsmouth, | Novem- 
 ber 15, 1798, I a day observed | as an | Anniversary Thanksgiving. 
 [Psa. xlviii. 9.] Portsmouth, N. H., . . John Melcher, 1798. 8°, 
 pp. 21. — An. C. Ct. H. L. M. 
 
 361. — 1798, Nov. 15.— Abel Fiske, Wilton, N.H. A | Discourse, | 
 delivered at | Wilton, | November 15, 1798 ; | being the day of the j 
 Anniversary Thanksgiving | throughout the | State of New Hamp- 
 shire. [Psa. cxlix. 8.] [Two other sermons added.] Amherst, N. H., 
 .... Samuel Preston, 1799. 8% pp. 44 (1-24). — An. H. N. H. 
 
 362. — 1798, Nov. 15.— Robert Gray, Dover, N.H. A | Discourse | 
 delivered in | Dover, | November 15th, 1798. | A | day observed | 
 as an | Anniversary | Thanksgiving. [Psa. cxlviii. 1-4.] Dover; . . 
 Samuel Bragg, Jun. ... 8°, pp. (2) 21. — C. H. 
 
 363. — 1798, Nov. 15. — Asa McFarland, Concord, N. H. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at | Concord, | New-Hampshire, | on the | day of 
 Annual Thanksgiving, | November 15, 1798. [Psa. cxlvii. 30.] Con- 
 cord : . . George Hough, n. d. 8°, pp. 24. — C. N. H. 
 
 364. — 1798, Nov. 29.— John AUyn, Duxbury, Mass. A | Sermon, | 
 delivered on the 29th of November, 1798, | the day | of | Public 
 Thanksgiving | in the | State of Massachusetts. [Rom. ii. 4.] Bos- 
 ton: . . Samuel Hall, . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 21. — H. L. M. 
 
 365. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Samuel Camp, Ridgbury, Conn. Thanks- 
 giving and Praise due to God, for his | Wisdom, Power, and Goodness, 
 displayed | in the late and present Dispensations | of his Providence. | 
 A I Discourse | delivered at Ridgbury, | on the day of | Public 
 Thanksgiving: | November 29, 1798. [Psa. cxxxvi. 1.] Printed in 
 Danbury, by Douglas & Nichols, 1799. 8°, pp. 23. — C. Ct. 
 
 366. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Henry Cumings, Billerica, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached at | Billerica, | November 29, 1798, | being the day of 
 the I Anniversary Thanksgiving | throughout the | Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts. [Job v. 12-16.] Boston : . . John & Thomas Fleet, 
 ...1798. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 367. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Joseph Eckley, Boston, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered on the | Public Thanksgiving Day, | November 29, 
 1798. [Gal. V. 1.] (1) Boston: .... Manning & Loring, 1798. 8^, 
 pp. 23. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. (2) Same. — An. 
 H. Y. 
 
 368. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Jonathan French, Andover, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered on the | Anniversary Thanksgiving | November 
 29, 1798. I With I some additions in the historical part. [Psa. xl. 5.] 
 Andover : . . Ames and Parker, 1799. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. 
 H. L. M. Y. 
 
 369. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Asa Messer, [Brown Univ.] Providence, 
 R. I. A I Discourse, | delivered on | Thanksgiving-Day, | the 29th of 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 569 
 
 November, 1798, | at the | Congreg-ational Meeting'-House, | in the | 
 First Precinct in Rehoboth. [Jas. i. 17.] Pro\ddence : . . John 
 Carter, jnn., . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 16. — Andover Theol. iSera. 
 
 370. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at Charlestown, | November 29, 1798, | on the | 
 Anniversary Thanksgiving- | in | Massachusetts. | With | an Appen- 
 dix, etc. [Ex. xviii. 8, 9.] [Two documents at the end of the second 
 edition were also printed separately.] (1) . . Samuel Hall, . . . 
 1798. 8^ pp. 74. — Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. (2) .. Samuel 
 Hall, ... 1799. 8°, pp. 79. — An. Ath. Ct. H. L. U. Y. (3) 
 Worcester: . . Daniel Greenleaf, 1799. 8°, pp. 88. — L. 
 
 371. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Samuel Spring, Newburyport, Mass. A | 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | preached November 29, 1798. [Psa. ci. 1.] 
 Newburyport : . . Angier March, . . . 1798. 8°, pp. 26. — C. L. 
 M. Y. 
 
 372. — 1798, Nov. 29. — Nathan Strong, Hartford, Conn. Politi- 
 cal Instruction from the Prophecies | of God's Word. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached on the | State Thanksgiving, | Nov. 29, 1798. [Rev. xviii. 
 4.] (1) Hartford: . . Hudson and Goodwin, 1798. 8°, pp. 30.— 
 Ath. C. Ct. L. Y. (2) Hartford, Printed: New York, Re- 
 printed by G. Forman, for C. Davis, 1799. 8°, pp. 24. — Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 373.-1798, Nov. 29. — John Taylor, Deerfield, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered on the day of | Public Thanksgiving, | at Deerfield ; 
 Nov. 29, '98. [Deut. xi. 12.] . . Greenfield, by Francis Barker, n. d. 
 4°, pp. 19. — C. Ct. M. Y. 
 
 374. — 1798, [Dec. 6]. — Thomas Mason, Princeton, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at | Middlebury, | Vermont ; | on occasion of the 
 anniversary | Thanksgiving, | 1798. [Rev. xix. 6.] [The govern- 
 ment of God an occasion of joy to mankind.] . . Rutland, Vermont, 
 by John Walker, jun., . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 18. — Ct. L. N. H. 
 
 375. — 1799, Feb. 5. — Samuel Miller, New York, N. Y. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered February 5, 1799 ; | recommended by the Clergy of 
 the City of | New- York, | to be observed as a day of | Thanksgiving, 
 Humiliation, and Prayer, | on account of the removal of a | Malig- 
 nant and Mortal Disease, | which had prevailed in the city | some 
 time before. [Psa. ii. 11.] New York: . . George Forman, 1799. 
 8°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 376.-1799, Apr. 2. — Thomas Baldwin, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I on Tuesday, April 2, 1799 ; | at a | Quarterly Meeting of sev- 
 eral Churches | for | Special Prayer. [Isa. xliii. 12, 13.] Boston : 
 . . Manning & Loring, 1799. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Y. 
 
 377. — 1799, Apr. 4. — Levi Frisbie, Ipswich, Mass. The Nature 
 and Effects of the Works of Dark- | ness Detected and Displayed, | 
 in two I Discourses, | delivered at the | First Parish in Ipswich, | 
 April 4, 1799, | on the | Anniversary Fast Day | throughout the State 
 
570 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 of I Massachusetts. [Eph. v. 11.] . . Angier March, Newburyport, 
 1799. 8°, pp. 23, 53. — Ath. C. Ct. 
 
 378. — 1799, Apr. 4. — Leonard Woods, Newbury, Mass. Two | 
 Sermons | on Profane Swearing, | delivered | April 4, 1799 ; | the day 
 appointed by | the Governor of Massachusetts j for Humiliation, Fast- 
 ing and Prayer. [Ex. xx. 7.] Newburyport : . . Angier March, 
 1799. 8^pp. 39.— An. Ath. C. 
 
 379. — 1799, Apr. 4 and 25. — Hezekiah Packard, Chelmsford, 
 Mass. Federal Republicanism, | Displayed | in | Two Discourses, | 
 preached on the day of the State Fast | at Chelmsford, | and on the 
 day of the National Fast at | Concord, | in April, 1799. [Prov. xviii. 
 17.] Boston: . . John RusseU, 1799. 8°, pp. 35. —An. Ath. C. 
 H. L. Y. 
 
 380. — 1799, Apr. 25. —Jacob Burnap, Merrimack, N. H. A | 
 Sermon | delivered at Merrimac, | on the day | of the | National 
 Fast, I April 25, 1799. [1 Kings xviii. 17, 18.] Amherst : Preston's 
 Printing-office, 1799. 8°, pp. 15. —An. H. 
 
 381. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Abraham Cummings. 
 
 The present Times perilous. | A | Sermon, | preached at Sullivan, | 
 on the I National Fast, | April 25, 1799. [2 Tim. iii. 1-9.] Printed 
 for David J. Waters, Castine, n. d. 8°, pp. 24. — An. L. 
 
 382. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Maiiasseh Cutler, [Ipswich Hamlet] Ham- 
 ilton, Mass. A I Sermon, | delivered at | Hamilton, | on the day | of 
 the I National Fast, | April 25, 1799 ; | appointed by the | President 
 of the United States of | America. [Jer. ix. 9.] Salem : . . Johna. 
 Gushing, 1799. 8o,pp. 32.— Ath. C. Y. 
 
 383. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Daniel Dana, Newburyport, Mass. Two | 
 Sermons, | delivered | April 25, 1799 : | the day recommended by | 
 the President of the United States | for National | Humiliation, Fast- 
 ing and Prayer. [Psa. cvi. 24. Neh. iv. 9.] . . Angier March, New- 
 buryport, 1799. 8°, pp. 29, 56. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 384. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Joseph Dana, Ipswich, Mass. The Duty 
 and Reward of loving our | Country, and seeking it's Prosperity. | A | 
 Discourse | delivered in two parts, | at the | National Fast, | April 
 25th 1799. [Psa. cxxii. 6.] Boston : . . Manning & Loring, 179-9. 
 8°, pp. 41. — An. Ath. C. L. M. Y. 
 
 385. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered | on the National Fast, | April 25, 1799. [Titus 
 iii. 1.] (1) Wrentham: . . Nathaniel and Benjamin Heaton, 1799. 
 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. U. Y. (2) Reprinted in Works, 
 1842. 
 
 386.— 1799, Apr. 25. — Eliphalet GiUet, Hallowell, Me. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at | Hallowell, April 25th, 1799. | Being | the 
 day appointed by the | Chief Magistrate | of the | United States, | for 
 a I National Fast. [Numb. xvi. 14.] (1) Hallowell, 1799. (2) 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 571 
 
 Hallowell-Printed : New York- Re-Printed for, and Sold by Corne- 
 lius Davis, . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 22. — C. Ct. L. M. U. Y. (3) 
 Augusta, (District of Maine) . . Peter Edes, 1799. 8°, pp. 32.— 
 Ath. 
 
 387. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Walter Harris, Dunbarton, N. H. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at | Dunbarton, | New-Hampshire, | April 25, 
 1799 : I being- | the day of a | National Fast. [Psa. Ixxxii. 5.] Con- 
 cord : . . Geo. Hough, 1799. 8°, pp. 32. — C. 
 
 388. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Abiel Holmes, Cambridge, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached at | Brattle-Street Church, in Boston, | and | at 
 Cambridge, | April 25, 1799, | the day appointed | by the | President 
 of the United States | f or a | National Fast. [2 Chron. xxxii. 5-8.] 
 Boston : Printed for Young & Minns, 1799. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. 
 Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 389. — 1799, Apr. 25. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. Patriotism 
 and Religion. | A Sermon, | preached on the 25th of April, | 1799 | the 
 day recommended | by the President of the United States, | to be 
 observed as a | National Fast. [Luke xix. 41, 42.] Boston : . . 
 John Russell, 1799. 8°, pp. 30. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 390. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | Exhibiting | the Present Dangers, and Consequent | Duties 
 of the Citizens of the | United States of America. | Delivered at 
 Charlestown, April 25, 1799. | The day of the | National Fast. [Psa. 
 xi. 3.] [Notes on the Illuminati appended.] (1) Charlestown : . . 
 Samuel Etheridge, ... 1799. 8°, pp. 50. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. 
 L. Y. (2) Hartford : Reprinted by Hudson and Goodwin, 1799. 8°, 
 pp. 42. — Ct. L. Y. (3) New York: .... Cornelius Davis, . . . 
 1799. 8°, pp. 36.— M. U. 
 
 391. — 1799, Apr. 25. — David Osgood, Medford, Mass. The Devil 
 Let Loose, or | The Wo occasioned to the Inhabi- | tants of the Earth 
 by his wrathful Ap-pearance among them, | illustrated in a | Dis- 
 course I delivered on 1 the day | of the | National Fast, | April 25, 
 1799. [Rev. xii. 12.] [Published Anonymously.] Boston : . . . . 
 Samuel Hall, . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 16.— An. Ath. Ct. L. 
 
 392. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Samuel Stillman, Boston, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at Boston. | April 25, 1799 ; | the day recommended 
 by the | President of the United States | for a | National Fast. [Joel 
 ii. 15-17.] Boston : . . Manning & Loring, . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 28. — 
 An. Ath.- C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 393. — 1799, Apr. 25. — Eliab Stone, Reading, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered at Reading, | on the day of the | National Fast, | 
 April 25, 1799. [2 Sam. x. 12.] Boston: . . Manning & Loring, 
 1799. 8°, pp. 29.— An. Ath. H. N. H. 
 
 394. — 1799, Apr. 25.— Ezra Weld, Braintree, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered April 25, 1799 ; | being | the day of | Fasting and 
 
572 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Prayer | throughout the | United States of America. [2 Kings xviii. 
 36.] Boston: . . Manning & Loring, 1799. 8°, pp. vi. 7-31. — An. 
 Ath. Ct. H. M. Y. 
 
 395.— 1799, Apr. 25. — William White, Philadelphia, Pa. A | 
 Sermon | on the | Duty | of | Civil Obedience, | as Required in | 
 Scripture. | Delivered in Christ Church and St. Peters, April | 25, 
 1799, being a day of general Humiliation, | appointed by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. [Rom. xiii. 1, 2.] Philadelphia : . . John 
 Ormrod, . . . 1799. 8°, pp. 26. — Ath. H. 
 
 396. — 1799, Nov. 28. — Abiel Abbot, HaverhUl, Mass. Traits of 
 Resemblance in the Peo- | pie of the United States of Amer- | ica to 
 Ancient Israel. | In a | Sermon | delivered at Haverhill, | on the | 
 Twenty-eighth of November, 1799, | the day | of | Anniversary 
 Thanksgiving. [Deut. xxxiii. 29.] Haverhill : . . . . Moore & Steb- 
 bins, . . . 1799. 8^, pp. 25. — Ath. C. U. 
 
 397. — 1799, Nov. 28. — Peter Eaton, Boxford, Mass. A | Sermon, | 
 preached at Boxford, | November 28, 1799. | The day | of | Anni- 
 versary Thanksgiving | in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 [Psa. cvii. 22.] Haverhill : . . Moore & Stebbins, . . . 1799. 8°, 
 pp. 24. — An. L. 
 
 398. — 1799, Nov. 28. — Joseph Sumner, Shrewsbury, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at Shrewsbury | November 28, 1799. | On the An- 
 niversary Thanksgiving | in | Massachusetts. [Deut. xxxiii. 29.] 
 Brookfield, Mass. : . . E. Merriam & Co., 1800. 8°, pp. 26. — An. 
 Ct. L. M. Y. 
 
 399. — 1799, Dec. 5. — Martin Tullar, Royalton, Vt. The Virtues 
 of a Prudent Wife, | illustrated in a | Sermon, | delivered at Royalton, 
 Vermont, | on the | Anniversary Thanksgiving, | December 5, A. D. 
 1799. [Prov. xix. 14.] Printed at Hanover (N. H.), by Moses Davis, 
 n. d. 8°, pp. 26(2).— U. 
 
 400. — 1799, Dec. 13. — David Porter, Spencertown, N. Y. Two | 
 
 Discourses : | The Second | delivered on a | Thanksgiving 
 
 Occasion, | at the same place | December 13, 1799. [Spencertown.] 
 [Rev. xi. 17.] Hudson: Ashbel Stoddard, 1800. 12°, pp. 21, 33.— 
 Ath. Ct. 
 
 401. — 1800, Nov. 27. — John Crane, Northbridge, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at Northbridge, | November 27, 1800. | On the | 
 Anniversary Thanksgiving | in | Massachusetts. [Eph. i. 15, 16.] 
 Worcester: . . Daniel Greenleaf, 1800. 8°, pp. 21. — L; U. Y. 
 
 402. — 1800, Nov. 27. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached on the | Annual Thanksgiving | in | Massachu- 
 setts. I November 27, 1800. [1 Sam. xii. 22.] (1) Wrentham (Mass.), 
 .. Nathaniel Heaton, Jun., 1801. 8°, pp. 30. — An. C. U. (2) 
 Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 403. — 1800, Nov. 27. —Henry Augustus Rowland, Windsor, Conn. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 573 
 
 A I Discourse, | delivered | November 2Tth, 1800 ; | a day observed 
 as an | Anniversary Thanksgiving. [Psa. cxlv. 10.] Hartford: . . 
 Hudson and Goodwin, 1801. 8°, pp. 20. — C. Ct. L. Y. 
 
 404. — 1800, Nov. 27. —'Nathan Strong, Hartford, Conn. A | 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | delivered | November 2Tth, 1800. [Psa. 
 xvi. 4-6.] Hartford: . . Hudson and Goodwin, 1800. 8°, pp. 18. 
 
 — Ct. L. Y. 
 
 405. — 1801, Apr. 9. — Henry Cumings, Billeriea, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at | Billeriea, | April 9th, 1801 ; | being the day of 
 the I Annual Fast. [Rom. xiii. 11.] Amherst, New Hampsliire : 
 From Samuel Preston's Office, 1801. 8°, pp. 29. — Ath. C. H. 
 L. Y. 
 
 406. — 1801, Apr. 9. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered on the | Annual Fast | in | Massachusetts, | 
 April 9, 1801. [2 Kings xvii. 21.] (1) Wrentham (Mass.), . . 
 Nathaniel Heaton, Jun., 1801. 8°, pp. 36. — An. C. Ct. Y. (2) 
 New York : . . T. & J. Swords, for C. Davis, 1801. 8°, pp. 37 (2). 
 
 — Ct. L. (3) Hartford : Reprinted by Hudson and Goodwin, 1801. 
 8°, pp. 23. — Ct. L. Y. (4) Salem : Reprinted by Joshua Cushing, 
 1802. 8°,pp. 38. — Ath. Bo. C. H. L. U. 
 
 407. — 1801, Apr. 9. — John Leland, Cheshire, Mass. A | Blow at 
 the Root, I being a fashionab[l]e Fast Day Sermon, deliv- | ered at 
 Cheshire, April 9th, 1801. (1) Suffield, [Conn.] : . . Edward Gray, 
 1801. 12^ pp. 36. — Ct. (2) New London: . . Joseph D. Hunting- 
 ton, .. . 1801. 8°, pp. .32. — An. L. 
 
 408. — 1801, Apr. 9.— Joseph McKeen, Beverly, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I against | Speaking Evil of Rulers : | delivered on the | Anni- 
 versary Fast I in | Massachusetts, | April 9th, 1801. [Acts xxiii. 5.] 
 . . Salem, by Joshua Cushing, 1801. 8°, pp. 17. — C. H. L. U. 
 
 409. — 1801, Apr. 9.— Stephen West, Stockbridge, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered on the | Public Fast, | April 9th, 1801. [Jer. 
 xxiii. 33.] . . Stockbridge, by Heman WUlard, 1801. 8°, pp. 27. 
 
 — Ct. 
 
 410. — 1801 , Apr. 9. — Ezra Witter, Wilbraham, Mass. Two | Ser- 
 mons, I on the I Party Spirit and Divided State of the | Country, Civil 
 and Religious. | Delivered at Wilbraham, April 9, 1801, | on the | 
 Anniversary Fast, | in Massachusetts. [Matt. xii. 25.] Springfield: 
 . . Ashley & Brewer, n. d. 8°, pp. 15, 28. — Ct. L. N. H. U. 
 
 411. — 1802, Apr. 8. — Rufus Anderson, No. Yarmouth, Me. 
 Two I Discourses, | delivered on the | Public Fast, | in the | Com- 
 monwealth I of Massachusetts, | April 8, 1802. [Prov. xiv. 34.] Port- 
 land : Printed for E. A. Jenks, 1802. 8°, pp. 40. — Bo. C. U. 
 
 412. — 1802, Apr. 8. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | delivered on the day of the | Annual Fast | in | Massachu- 
 setts, I April 8, 1802. [Gal. iv. 17.] (1) Wrentham (Mass.), . . 
 
574 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Nathaniel Heaton, Jun., 1802. 8°, pp. 35. — An. Ath. C. L. U. 
 (2) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 413. — 1802, Apr. 28. — Leonard Worcester, Peacham, Vt A | 
 Sermon, | preached at | Peacham, | April 28th, 1802 ; | being a day 
 of I Public Fasting and Prayer, | in the | State of Vermont. [Dent, 
 xxxii. 15, 19, 20.] Peacham, Vermont : . . Samuel Goss, 1802. 8"^, 
 pp. 32. — Andover Theol. Sem. 
 
 414. — 1802, Oct. 19.— Vinson Gould, Southampton, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached | at | Westhampton, | in a | Time of Sickness | 
 in that Town. | Tuesday, 19th, October, 1802. [Amos iv. 12.] North- 
 ampton, Printed at the Hive Office, by Thomas M. Pomroy, 1804. 
 8°, pp. 14. — Ct. 
 
 415. — 1802, Nov. 25. — Hezekiah May, Bath, Me. A | Thanks- 
 giving Sermon, | preached at | Bath, in the District of Maine, | No- 
 vember 25, 1802. [Eph. V. 20.] . . E. A. Jenks, . . . Portland, 1802. 
 8°,pp. 28.— H. 
 
 416. — 1803, Mar. 31. — Samuel Tomb, Newbury, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered March 31, 1803, | in the Second Presbyterian Church 
 in I Newburyport, | on a day of | Fasting and Prayer. | Observed by 
 them, particularly for the purpose of seeking | Divine direction in the 
 choice and settlement of a Gos- | pel Minister among them. [Acts i. 
 24.] Newburyport: . . Allen & Barnard, 1803. 8°, pp. 24.— 
 C. Y. 
 
 417. — 1803, Apr. 7. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | delivered on the day of the | Annual Fast | in | Massa- 
 chusetts, I April 7, 1803. [2 Chron. xxiv. 15, 16.] (1) Wrentham, 
 Mass., . . Nathaniel Heaton, Jun., 1803. 8°, pp. 36. — An. Ath. 
 C. L. (2) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 418. — 1803, Apr. 7. — Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 The I Constancy and Uniformity | of the | Divine Government, | 
 illustrated and improved | in a | Sermon, | preached in Springfield, 
 April 7, 1803, I which was a day of | Public Fasting and Prayer. 
 [Ecc. i. 9, 10.] Springfield: . . Henry Brewer, n. d. 8°, pp. 21. 
 — An. Ath. Ct. L. U. 
 
 419. — 1803, Apr. 7. —Samuel Tomb, Newbury, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I delivered | in the 2d Church in Newbury, | on the Annual 
 Fast, I April 7, 1803. [Ex. xxii. 28.] (1) Newburyport: . . C. 
 Cross, ... 1803. 8°,pp. 15.— C. (2) Same. — C. L. 
 
 420. — 1803, Apr. 7. — Joseph Woodman, Sanbornton, N. H. 
 The I Substance | of | Two Discourses, | on the | Vision of Micaiah, | 
 with some | general remarks on the Character of | Ahab, King of 
 Israel. | Delivered at Sandbornton, | on the | Anniversary Fast, | 
 April 7th, 1803. [1 Kings xxii. 19-23.] Concord: . . George 
 Hough, 1803. 8°, pp. 32. — C. L. 
 
 421. — 1803. Nov. 24. — Evan Johns, Berlin, Conn. The Happi- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 575 
 
 ness of American Christians. | A | Thanksgiving | Sermon, j 
 preached | on Thursday the 24th of November 1803. [Psa. cxliv. 15.] 
 Hartford, . . Hudson and Goodwin, 1804. 8°, pp. 15. — Ath. Ct. 
 L. U. Y. 
 
 422. — 1803, Nov. 24. — William Fowler Miller, Windsor, Conn. 
 Christ the Rod of Iron upon all Antichris- | tian Kings and Nations. | 
 A I Sermon, | delivered on the | Annual Thanksgiving, in Connecti- 
 cut, I November 24th 1803. | To which is annexed, | an Appendix | 
 on the I Prophecies of the Sixth and Seventh Vials. [Psa. ii. 10-12.] 
 Hartford: . . Hudson & Goodwin, 1804. 8°, pp. 126. — Ct. L. Y. 
 
 423. — 1803, Dec. 1. — Jonathan French, North-Hampton, N. H. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered in the South Parish in Andover, | Decem- 
 ber 1, 1803, I on the | Anniversary Thanksgiving | in | Massachusetts. 
 [Deut. viii. 10.] Newburyport : . . E. M. Blunt, 1804. 8°, pp. 20. — 
 C. H. N. H. 
 
 424. — 1804, Mar. 30. — Ludovicus Weld, Hampton, Conn. A | 
 Sermon, delivered on the day of the | Annual Fast, | in | Connecti- 
 cut, I March 30, 1804. [Jer. v. 31.] Windham: . . John Byrae, 
 1804. 8°, pp. 25.— Ct. 
 
 425. — 1804, Apr. 5. — Thomas Crafts, Middleborough, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at the Second Parish in | Middleborough. | at 
 the I Annual Fast | in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts. | April 
 5, 1804. [Prov. xiv. 34.] Boston: . . Manning & Loring, . . . 
 1804. 8°, pp. 22. — An. Ath. C. L. 
 
 426. — 1804, Apr. 5. — Enoch Hale, Westhampton, Mass. Asking 
 amiss and not receiving. | A | Sermon, | preached | in | Westhamp- 
 ton, I on a day | of | Fasting and Prayer | in | Massachusetts, | April 
 5, A. D. 1804. [James iv. 3.] Northampton : Printed at the Hive 
 Office, by Thomas M. Pomeroy, 1804. 8°, pp. 12. — C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 427. — 1804, Apr. 5. — Jotham Waterman, Barnstable, Mass. Na- 
 tional Righteousness National Security. | A | Discourse, | delivered 
 April 5, 1804. | The day appointed for | Fast, | by His Excellency | 
 Caleb Strong, Esq. | Governor of the Commonwealth of | Massachu- 
 setts. [Prov. xvi. 34.] Boston : . . Manning & Loring, . . . 1804. 
 8°, pp. 27. — An. Bo. Ct. H. Y. 
 
 428. — 1804, Apr. 5. — Payson Williston, Easthampton, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered | in | East-Hampton, | on | the day of | the | 
 Public Fast | April 5, 1804. [Jer. v. 7.] Northampton : Printed at the 
 Hive Office, by Thomas M. Pomeroy, 1804. 8°, pp. 19 (2). — Ct. U. 
 
 429. — 1804, Apr. 19. — Drury Fairbank, Plymouth, N. H. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at Plymouth, | New - Hampshire, | on | Fast 
 Day, I April 19th, 1804. [Prov. xxiv. 21.] Concord : . . George 
 Hough, 1804. 8°, pp. 26. — C. 
 
 430. — 1804, Apr. 19. — Eli Smith, Hollis, N. H. The Signs of the 
 Times, I A I Sermoq, | delivered in | Holies, New-Hampshire, April 
 
676 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 19, 1804, I the day of the | Annual Fast. [Matt. xvi. 3.] Amherst, 
 N. H., . . Joseph Gushing, 1804. 8°, pp. 31. — C. M. N. H. 
 
 431. — 1804, Apr. 19. —Samuel Wood, Boscawen, N. H. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at Boscawen, | New-Hampshire, | on the | Public 
 Fast, I April 19th, 1804. [Rev. xi. 12.] Concord : . . George 
 Hough, . . . 1804. 8°, pp. 28. — C. U. 
 
 432. — 1804, Nov. 22. — David Schuyler Bogart, Southampton, 
 N. Y. The Voice of Gratitude. | A | Discourse, | delivered on the 
 22d of November, 1804 ; | being the | Anniversary Thanksgiving | in 
 the Presbyterian Church at | Southampton, | on Long-Island. [Psa. c. 
 4.] Sag-Harbor: . . Alden Spooner, 1805. 8% pp. 24. — Y. 
 
 433.-1804, Nov. 29. — Thomas Baldwin, Boston, Mass. The 
 Happiness of a People | Illustrated and Explained. | A | Sermon, | de- 
 livered before the | Second Baptist Society | in Boston, | November 
 29th, 1804 : | being the day of Annual Thanksgiving. [Psa. clxiv. 
 15.] Boston : Printed for Adams & Rhoades, . . . 1805. 8°, pp. 23. 
 — Ath. C. M. 
 
 434. — 1804, Nov. 29.-- Joshua Cushman, Winslow, Me. A| 
 Discourse, | delivered at | Winslow, | November 29, 1804. | Being a 
 day consecrated | to the purposes of | Publick Thanksgiving and 
 Praise \ throughout the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Psa. 
 Ixxxi. 1-3.] Boston : Printed for Adams and Rhoades, 1805. 8°, pp. 
 23. — H. M. 
 
 435. — 1804, Nov. 29. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. The 
 Danger of Embracing that Notion of | Moral Virtue, which is Sub- 
 versive of all I Moral, Religious, and Political Obliga- | tion, Illus- 
 trated. I A I Discourse, | delivered on the | Annual Thanksgiving | 
 in I Massachusetts, | November 29, 1804. [1 Tim. vi. 5.] (1) Provi- 
 dence : . . Heaton & Williams, n. d. 8°, pp. 32. — An. C. Ct. 
 L. (2) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 436. — 1804, Nov. 29. — Eliphalet Gillet, Hallowell, Me. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered on the | Annual Thanksgiving | in | Massachu- 
 setts, I November 29, 1804. [Isa. xxxiii. 6.] , . Augusta, by Peter 
 Edes, . . . 1804. 8°, pp. 28. — Ath. C. Ct. H. ' L. U. 
 
 437. — 1804, Nov. 29. — Joseph Lyman, Hatfield, Mass. The | 
 Two Olive-Trees : | or | Zerubbabel and Joshua. | Religion the lead- 
 ing qualification of Civil Rulers | and Christian Ministere, | illustrated 
 in a I Sermon | preached at Hatfield, Nov. 4, 1804. | Being the day 
 preceding the choice of Electors in | Massachusetts. | Also | God the 
 Sure Foundation of Confidence and Joy, | A | Thanksgiving Sermon | 
 delivered Nov. 29, 1804. [Zech. iv. 11-14. Phil.iv. 4.] Northamp- 
 ton :.. William Butler, 1804. 8°, pp. 14, 29. — An. Ath. C. Ct. 
 U. Y. 
 
 438.-1804, Nov. 29. — Thomas Mason, Northfield, Mass. A ( 
 Sermon, | preached at Northfield, | on the day of | Public Thanks- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 577 
 
 giving: | November 29, 1804. [Psa. xviii. 4.] . . Greenfield (Mass.), 
 by John Denio, 1804. 8°, pp. 16. — An. Ath. 
 
 439. — 1804, Nov. 29. — Elijah Parish, [Byfield] Newbury, Mass. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered at | Byfield, | on the Annual Thanks- 
 giving, I in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | Nov. 29, 1804. 
 [Prov. xxix. 2.] (1) Salem : . . Joshua Gushing for the Subscribers, 
 1805. 8^, pp. 24. — An. Ath. C. Ct. L. U. (2) Salem: . . 
 Joshua Gushing, 1805. 8°, pp. 22. [The second edition has notes 
 at the bottom of the pages.] — Gt. Y. 
 
 440. — 1805, Apr. 4 and 11. — John Hubbard Ghurch, PeUiam, 
 N. H. " Three unclean Spirits " combining | men against Jehovah. | 
 A I Discourse | delivered at Haverhill on the 4th, and at | Pelham on 
 the 11th of April, 1805 ; | days of Public | Fasting, and Prayer | in | 
 Massachusetts and New Hampshire. [Rev. xvi. 13, 14.] Amherst, 
 N. H., . . Joseph Gushing, 1805. 8°. — New Jersey Hist. Soc. 
 
 441. — 1805, Apr. 4. — John Foster, Brighton, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 delivered | to the First and Third Societies | in | Gambridge, | on the 
 Anniversary Fast in Massachusetts, | 4 April, 1805. [Ezek. vii. 23.] 
 Cambridge : . . W. Hilliard, 1805. 8°, pp. 26. — An. Ath. G. 
 Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 442. — 1805, Apr. 4. — Solomon Williams, Northampton, Mass. 
 Three Sermons, | preached at | Northampton, | one on the 30th of 
 March — the other two on the | Annual State Fast, | April 4, 1805. 
 . . . The Civil and Religious Foundations of the Country Shaking — 
 
 shewn from Psa. Ixxxii. 5 William Butler, Northampton 
 
 (Mass.), 180o. 8°, pp. 40.— Ath. C. Gt. H. 
 
 443. — 1805, Apr. 11. — Humphrey Moore, Milford, N. H. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered at | Milford, N. H. | April 11, 1805, | on the | An- 
 niversary Fast. [Mark iii. 24.] Amherst : . . Joseph Gushing, 1805. 
 8°, pp. 16. — G. L. 
 
 444. — 1805, Apr. 11. — Seth Payson, Rindge, N. H. An Abridg- 
 ment I of two I Discourses, | preached at Rindge, | at the | Annual 
 Fast, I April 11th, 1805. [Dan. iv. 17.] Keene, N. H., . . John 
 Prentiss, 1805. 8°, pp. 24. — An. G. N. H. 
 
 445. — 1805. — John Wilder, Attleborough, Mass. "Fast Sermon, 
 1305," Hist, of the Mendon Association, p. 140. 
 
 446. — 1805, Nov. 27. — Theodore Dehon, Newport, R. I. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered | in Trinity Church, | in Newport, | on Thurs- 
 day, 27th November, 1805, | an appointed day | of public Thanks- 
 giving and Praise. [Psa. c. 4.] Newport, R. I., . . Office of the 
 Newport Mercury, 1806. 4°, pp. 14. — An. Ath. 
 
 447. — 1805, Nov. 28. — William Gay Ballantine, Washington, 
 Mass. A favored Land under peculiar obliga- | tions to religious 
 Praise and Gratitude. | A Sermon, | delivered upon the | Anniversary 
 Thanksgiving-Day, | November 28th. 1805, | at | Washington, Massa- 
 
578 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 chusetts. [Deut. viii. 10.] Pittsfield : . . Phinehas Allen, . . . 1806. 
 8°, pp. 15. — U. 
 
 448. — 1805, Nov. 28. — James Dana, Wallingford, Conn. The 
 Wisdom of Observing* the Footsteps | of Providence. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached at Wethersfield, | on the | Annual Thanksgiving, | Novem- 
 ber 28, 1805. [Psa. cvii. 43.] Hartford : . . Hudson and Goodwin, 
 1805. 8^pp. 27. — C. Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 449. — 1806, Nov. 25. — Dirck Cornelius Lansing, Onondaga, N. Y. 
 Thanksgiving I Sermon, | preached before | the Inhabitants | of | the 
 Town of Onondaga, | November 25, 1806. [Psa. cvii. 8.] Utica : 
 . . Asahel Seward, . . . 1807. 8°, pp. 23. - Y. 
 
 450. — 1807, Apr. 9. — Edmund Mills, Sutton, Mass. A Dis- 
 course, I delivered on the | Annual Fast, | in | Massachusetts, | April 
 9th, 1807. [Matt. vii. 12.] . . Sutton (Mass.), by Se wall Goodridge, 
 1807. 8°,pp. 18. — C. Ct. 
 
 451. — 1807, Aug. 4. — Joseph Dana, Ipswich, Mass. On the 
 Worth and Loss of the Soul. | A | Sermon | delivered at | Ipswich, | 
 on a day of prayer, | Aug. 4, 1807. [Matt. xvi. 26.] Newburyport : 
 Ephraim W. Allen, 1808. 8°, pp. 23. — An. Ath. C. L. M. 
 
 452. — 1807, Nov. 26. — Thaddeus Mason Harris, Dorchester, 
 Mass. A I Sermon | preached at Dorchester | Nov. 26, 1807. | On the 
 day of I Public Thanksgiving. [Psa. cxxii. 6-9.] Boston : . . Belcher 
 and Armstrong, . . . 1807. 8°, pp. 16.— An. Ath. Bo. 
 
 453.-1807, Nov. 26.— Seth Stetson, Plymouth, Mass. A| 
 Thanksgiving Sermon, | delivered | before the Second Society | in 
 Plymouth, | November 26, 1807. [Psa. cxvi. 12.] Boston : . . Lin- 
 coln & Edmands, . . . 1807. 8°, pp. 23. — An. C. Ct. Y. 
 
 454.-1808, Apr. 7. — Mighill Blood, Buckstown, Me. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered at | Buckstown, | on the Annual Fast, | in the | 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | April 7, 1808. [Rev. x\iii. 4.] 
 Buckstown (Me.), . . William W. Clapp, n. d. 8^ pp. 22. —C. 
 
 455. — 1808, Apr. 7. — John Sylvester John Gardiner, Boston, 
 Mass. A I Sermon, | preached at | Trinity Church, | in Boston, | on 
 Fast Day, | April 7, 1808. [Jonah iii. 5.] Boston : . . Munroe, 
 Francis, & Parker, 1808. 8°, pp. 22.— An. Ath. Bo. C. H. M. 
 N. H. U. 
 
 456.-1808, Apr. 7. — Eliphalet Gillet, Hallowell, Me. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered | on the Annual Fast | in | Massachusetts, | April 
 7, 1808. [Joel ii. 17.] Augusta: . . Peter Edes, 1808. 8°, pp. 24. 
 — Ath. C. M. U. 
 
 457. — 1808, Apr. 7. — Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 The Signs of Perilous Times. | A | Sermon, | delivered | at the | Pub- 
 lic Fast, I in West-Springfield, April 7, 1808. [2 Tim. iii. 1.] Spring- 
 field : . . Henry Brewer, n. d. 8°, pp. 16. — Ath. C. Ct. 
 
 458.-1808, Apr. 7. Elijah Parish, [Byfield] Newbury, Mass. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 579 
 
 Ruin or Separation from Anti-Christ. | A | Sermon | preached at By- 
 field, I April 7, 1808, I on the Annual Fast | in the | Commonwealth 
 of Massachusetts. [Rev. xviii. 4.] (1) Newburyport : . . E. W. & 
 W. B. AUen, . . . 1808. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. 
 U. Y. (2) Portland: . . . Gazette Office, — Arthur Shirley, n. d. 
 8°, pp. 21. —M. 
 
 459. — 1808, Apr. 7. — Thomas Thacher, Dedham, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached at the Third Parish in Dedham, | April 7, 1808. | 
 The day appointed by His Excellency | the Governour, for a day of 
 Hu- I miliation and Prayer, through- | out the Commonwealth of | 
 Massachusetts. [Psa. Ixxxi. 11, 12.] Dedham : . . H. Mann, 1808. 
 8°, pp. 21.— An. Ath. C. H. M. 
 
 460. — 1808, Sept. 8. — James Inglis, Baltimore, Md. A | Sermon, | 
 delivered in the | First Presbyterian Church | in the | City of Balti- 
 more, I on I Thursday, September 8th, 1808. | Being | a day of Fast- 
 ing, Humiliation, and Prayer, I appointed by the | General Assembly | 
 of the I Presbyterian Church | in the | United States of America. 
 [Isa. Iv. 7.] Baltimore: . . Warner & Hanna, 1808. 8°, pp. 13. — L. 
 
 461. — 1808, Sept. 8. — John Ewing Latta, Newcastle, Del. A | 
 Sermon | delivered on the 8th September, a day | recommended by | 
 the General - Assembly | of the | Presbyterian Church | in the | 
 United States, | to be set apart | for | Fasting, Humiliation and 
 Prayer. [Lam. iii. 40-42.] Wilmington : . . Peter Brynberg, 1808. 
 8°, pp. 24. — L. 
 
 462. — 1808, Sept. 8.— John Broadhead Romeyn, Albany, N. Y. 
 Two Sermons, | delivered | in | the Presbyterian Church in the City 
 of Albany, | on Thursday, Sept. 8, 1808; | being the day recom- 
 mended I by I the General Assembly | of the | Presbyterian Church 
 in the United States, | for | Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer. [Isa. 
 xxvi. 20, 21.] Albany: . . Backus and Whiting, . . . WiUiam 
 Tucker, Printer, 1808. 8°, pp. v, 35, 80. — An. Ath. C. Ct. L. 
 U. Y. 
 
 463.— 1808, Nov. 17, Dec. 1, and Dec. 8. — Clark Brown, Swanzy, 
 N. H. The I Propitious Manifestations of God, | considered as sub- 
 jects demanding the Grateful | Homage of Thanksgiving, and as 
 Excite- I ments to Devout Adoration and | Humble Supplication. | 
 A I Sermon, | preached | inSwanzey, N. H., November 17th, | in War- 
 wick, Mass., December 1st, | in Putney Vt., December 8th, | on the | 
 Annual Thanksgivings | in those States | 1808. [Psa. cxvi. 17.] 
 . Keene, N. H., . . John Prentiss, 1809. 8°, pp. 28. — Ct. 
 
 464. 1808, —Nov. 30. — Alexander Proudfit, Salem, N. Y. Our 
 Danger and Duty: | Two Sermons, | delivered on Wednesday, the 
 30th day | of November, 1808. | Being a day appointed by the | Pres- 
 bytery of Washington | for the exercises of | Fasting, Humiliation, 
 and Prayer, | on account of the alarming aspect of Divine | Provi- 
 
680 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 dence to our Country. [Jer. v. 29. Amos iv. 12.] Salem : . . Dodd 
 & Rumsey, 1808. 8°, pp. 60. — Ath. H. L. 
 
 465. — 1808, Dec. 1. — John Sylvester John Gardiner, Boston, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached at | Trinity Church, | in Boston, | on the day 
 appointed for | Publick Thanksgiving | throughout the State of 
 Massachusetts, | Dec. 1, 1808. [Psa. 1. 14.] Boston: . . Munroe, 
 Francis and Parker, . . . 1808. 8°, pp. 23. — An. Ath. L. M. U. 
 
 466. — 1808, Dec. 1. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. We Rejoice 
 with Trembling. | A | Discourse, | delivered | on the day of | Publick 
 Thanksgiving, | in the State of Massachusetts, | Dec. 1, 1808. [Psa. 
 ii. 11.] Boston: . . Munroe, Francis, and Parker, . . . 1808. 8°, 
 pp. 20. — An. Ath. L. M. 
 
 467. — 1808, Dec. 1. — Jotham Waterman, Barnstable, Mass. 
 Thanks to be Given for the Lord's Mercies, both in | Times of Plenty 
 and Want. | A | Discourse, | delivered Dec. 1, 1808, the day ap- 
 pointed I for I Publick Thanksgiving, | by His Excellency | James 
 Sullivan, Esquire. | Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 [Psa. cvi. 1.] Charlestown : . . Hastings, Etheridge and Bliss, 1809. 
 8% pp. 15.— Bo. Ct. M. 
 
 468. — 1808, Dec. 31. — James Gray, Philadelphia, Pa. Present 
 Duty. I A Discourse, | delivered on the 31st of December, 1808 ; | 
 which was observed, by concert, | as a day of | Public Thanksgiving 
 and Prayer, | in several of the Churches | in the | City of Philadel- 
 phia. [Psa. XXX. 6-12.] Philadelphia : . . Jane Aitken, . . . 1809. 
 8^pp. 36. — H. L. U. 
 
 469. — 1809, Apr. 6. — Samuel Dana, Marblehead, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered to his society, | April 6, 1809, | th» day of An- 
 nual Fast I in | Massachusetts. [1 Sam. xii. 6, 7.] Charlestown : . . 
 Hastings, Etheridge, and Bliss, 1809. 8°, pp. 20. — C. 
 
 470. — 1809, Apr. 6. — Abiel Holmes, Cambridge, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at Cambridge | April 6, 1809, | the day of | the 
 Public Fast. [Jer. xi. 17-19.] Cambridge : . . Billiard & Metcalf, 
 1809. 8°, pp. 23.— An. Ath. C. Ct. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 471. — 1809, Apr. 6. — Thomas Noyes, Needham, Mass. Two 
 Sermons, | delivered | in the Second Parish in Needham, | on the | 
 Annual Fast, | April 6, 1809. [Isa. xxvi. 9.] Dedham: . . H.Mann, 
 1809. 8°, pp. 34 (1). — An. Bo. C. L. N. H. 
 
 472. — 1809, Apr. 6. — Samuel Spring, Newburyport. Mass. Two | 
 Sermons, | addressed | to the | Second | Congregational Society | in | 
 Newburyport, | Fast Day, April 6, 1809. [Ezek. xxvii. 26.] (1) New- 
 buryport: . . . . E. W. Allen, 1809. 8°, pp. 31.— An. Ath. H. L. 
 M. U. Y. (2) Newburyport: .... W. & J. Gilman, . . . 1809. 8°, 
 pp. 36. — Bo. C. M. 
 
 473. — 1809, Nov. 23 and Nov. 30. —Clark Brown, Swanzy, N. H. 
 God's Government and Works | considered as always affording sub- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 581 
 
 jects of I Gratitude and Joy: | A | Sermon, | preached | in Swanzey, 
 N. H. November 23d, | and | in Orange, Mass. November 30th, | on 
 the I Annual Thanksgivings | in those States, | 1809. [Hab. iii. 17, 
 IS.] Keene, N. H., . . John Prentiss, 1810. 8°, pp. 28. — Ath. 
 C. Ct. L. 
 
 474. — 1809, Nov. 30. — Edmund Foster, Littleton, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at | Littleton, Massachusetts, | on the 30th of No- 
 vember, 1809 ; I being the | Day of Annual Thanksgiving. [Psa. ii. 
 11.] Amherst, N. H., . . Richard Boylston, 1810. 8°, pp. 22. — H. 
 
 475. — 1809, Nov. 30. — Asahel Huntington, Topsfield, Mass. A | 
 Thanksgiving | Sermon, | delivered at Topsfield, | November 30, 1809. 
 [Psa. cxliv. 11-15.] Newburyport : . . W. & J. Gilman, . . . 1810. 
 8°, pp. 20. — L. 
 
 476. — 1809, Nov. 30. — Ethan Smith, Hopkmton, N. H. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered to | Doctor Spring's Society, | in | Newbury- 
 port, I Thanksgiving Evening, | Nov. 30, 1809. [Psa. cxix. 137.] 
 Newburyport : . . E. W. Allen, 1809. 8°, pp. 23. — Ath. C. 
 
 477. — 1810, Apr. 5. — Isaac Braman, Rowley, Mass. Union with 
 France a greater evil than union | with Britain. | A | Sermon | 
 preached in Rowley, West-Parish, | at the | Annual Fast, April 5th, 
 1810. [Jer. viii. 12.] Haverhill : . . WiUiam B. Allen, . . . 1810. 
 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. H. 
 
 478. — 1810, Apr. 5. — William Ellery Channing, Boston, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in Boston, | April 5, 1810, | the day of the | 
 Public Fast. [Matt. xvi. 3.] (1) Boston : . . John Eliot, Jun., 1810. 
 8°, pp. 23. —An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. (2) 
 Same. — M. 
 
 479.-1810, Apr. 5. — John Hubbard Church, Pelhara, N. H. 
 The First Settlement of New England. | A | Sermon, | delivered in 
 the South Parish | in Andover, | April 5, 1810 ; | being the | Annual 
 Fast in Massachusetts. [Psa. cv. 44, 45.] Sutton (Mass.), .... Sew- 
 all Goodridge, 1810. 12°, pp. 24.— An. Ath. C Ct. H. L. M. U. 
 
 480. — 1810, Apr. 5. — Joseph Richardson, Hingham, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | addressed | to the | First Parish in Hingham, | on the | 
 Day of Fasting, | April 5, 1810. [Joel ii. 12.] Boston : . . Ebenezer 
 French, 1810. 8°, pp. 20. — An. Ath. H. L. 
 
 481. — 1810, Apr. 5. — John Sylvester John Gardiner, Boston, 
 Mass. A I Sermon, | preached | at Trinity Church, April 6, 1810, | 
 being the | day of Publick Fast. [Isa. i. 7.] Boston: . . Munroe 
 and Francis, 1810. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 482. — 1810, Apr. 12. — Drury Fairbank, Plymouth, N. H. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at Plymouth, | New-Hampshire, | on | Fast Day, | 
 April 12, 1810. [Isa. xxix. 9, 10.] Hanover (N. H.), . . Charles 
 and William S. Spear, 1810. 8°, pp. 30. — C. Ct. L. 
 
 483. — 1810, Nov. 29. — Wilkes Allen, Chelmsford, Mass. Divine 
 
582 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 favors gratefully recollected | in a | Discourse | delivered at Chelms- 
 ford, (Massachusetts) | Nov. 29, 1810, | at the | Annual Thanksgiving. 
 [Deut. viii. 7-10.] Cambridge : . . Milliard and Metcalf, 1811. 8°, 
 pp. 28. — An. Ath. L. N. H. Y. 
 
 484. — 1811, Apr. 11. —Solomon Aiken, Dracut, Mass. The Rise 
 and Progress of the Political Dissension | in the United JStates. A | 
 Sermon, | preached in Dracutt, May 11, 1811, | it being the | Annual 
 Fast. [Numb, xxxii. 55.] (1) Haverhill : . . . . William B. Allen, 
 1811. 8°, pp. 22. — C. H. L. N. H. (2) Same. — L. H. [The 
 second edition has April 11th, the correct date, and another lining.] 
 
 485. — 1811, Apr. 11. — Samuel Austin, Worcester, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at Worcester, | on the | Annual Fast, April 11, 
 1811. [Isa. iii. 9.] Worcester: . . Isaac Sturtevant, 1811. 8°, pp. 
 32. — An. Ath. C. H. L. U. Y. 
 
 486.-1811, Apr. 11. — John Foster, Brighton, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached in Cambridge and Brighton, | April 11, 1811, | the | 
 Anniversary Fast | in Massachusetts. [Isa. Iviii. 1.] Cambridge : . . 
 Billiard and Metcalf, 1811. 8°, pp. 31. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. 
 L. N. H. U. Y. 
 
 487. — 1811, Apr. 11. — Eliphalet Gillet, Hallowell, Me. The 
 Patriot. I A | Sermon | delivered | on the | Annual Fast | in | Massa- 
 chusetts, I April 11, 1811. [Psa. cxxxvii. 5, 6.] Hallowell: . . N. 
 Cheever, 1811. 8%pp. 20. — An. Ath. H. M. U. 
 
 488. — 1811, Apr. 11. — Joseph Lathrop, West Springfield, Mass. 
 The I Prophecy | of | Daniel, | Relating to the Time of the End, | 
 Opened, Applied and Improved, | in Two Discourses | delivered on 
 a I Publick Fast, | April 11, 1811. [Dan. xii. 10.] Springfield (Mass.), 
 .. Thomas Dickman, 1811. 8°, pp. 18, 32. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. 
 L. M. U. Y. 
 
 489. — 1811, Apr. 11. — Elijah Parish, [Byfield] Newbury, Mass. 
 A Sermon, | preached at Byfield, | on the | Annual Fast, | April 11, 
 1811. [Rev. xviii. 2.] (1) Newburyport : . . E.W.Allen, . . . 1811. 
 8°, pp. 30. — An. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. (2) Boston:.. 
 B.True, . . . 1811. 8^^, pp. 22. — An Ath. C. Ct. [The so-called 
 " Curiosity " edition, with this note on the title-page : " The follow- 
 ing Sermon (as it is called) is reprinted by subscriptions made by 
 Republicans for the purpose of enabling the public more generally to 
 obtain and read it, that they may be convinced of the astonishing 
 depravity of a Man, who professes to be a preacher of the Gospel."] 
 
 490.-1811, Nov. 21. — Festus Foster, Petersham, Mass. The 
 Watchman's Warning to the House of Israel. | A | Sermon, | deliv- 
 ered before the Congregation in | Petersham, November 21, 1811, | 
 being the day appointed for | Thanksgiving | throughout the Com- 
 monwealth. [Ezek. xxxiii. 6, 7.] From the Press of Isaiah Thomas, 
 Jun. — Worcester : Isaac Sturtevant, Printer, 1811. 8°, pp. 24. — An. 
 Ct. H. L. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 583 
 
 491. — 1811, Nov. 21. — Eliphalet Gillet, HaUowell, Me. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered | at | Hallowell, | on the | Annual Thanksgiving | 
 in I Massachusetts, | Nov. 21, 1811. [Psa. xcvii. 1.] Hallowell : . . 
 N. Cheever, 1811. 8°, pp. 20. — L. M. U. 
 
 492. — 1811, Nov. 21.— Nathan Holman, East Attleborough, 
 Mass. A I Sermon, | delivered at | Attleborough, East Precinct, | 
 November 21st, 1811 ; | being the | Anniversary Thanksgiving | in | 
 Massachusetts. [Psa. ii. 11.] Providence: .... Dunham & Hawkins, 
 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — C. 
 
 493. — 1811, Nov. 21. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. Peace and 
 War. I In relation to the United States of America. | A Discourse, | 
 delivered in Boston, | on the | day of Public Thanksgiving | in the 
 State of Massachusetts, | November 21, 1811. [Psa. Ixviii. 30.] Bos- 
 ton : .... J. W. Burditt and Co. . . J. Belcher, Printer, 1811. 8^, 
 pp. 18. — Ath. Bo. C. Ct. L. U. Y. 
 
 494. — 1812, Mar. 1 1. — Donald McLeod. 
 
 A I Sermon, | preached | in the | Presbyterian Church of Edisto- 
 Island, I on the eleventh of March, 1812, | being the day appointed | 
 for I Religious Reflection, Humiliation and Prayer, | by the Procla- 
 mation of His Excellency | Henry Middleton, | Governor of the State 
 of South-Carolina. [2 Chron. vii. 14.] Charleston : . . E. Morford, 
 Willington & Co., . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 68. — Y. 
 
 495. — 1812, Apr. 9. — John Sylvester John Gardiner, Boston, 
 Mass. A I Discourse. | delivered | at Trinity Church, Boston, April 
 9, 1812, I on the day of | Publick Fast. [Num. xxxii. 6.] Boston: . . 
 Munroe and Francis, 1812. 8°, pp. 19. — An. Ath. Bo. H. 
 
 496. — 1812, Apr. 9. — James Miltimore, Newbury, Mass. Two | 
 Discourses | delivered | at Belle-ville, April 9, 1812, | on | occasion of 
 the Annual Fast | in the | Commonwealth of Massachusetts. [Psa. 
 Ixxxi. 18, 14, 16.] Haverhill, Mass. : . . W. B. & H. G. Allen, for 
 E. W. Allen, Newburyport, 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — Y. 
 
 497.-1812, Apr. 9. — Thomas Thacher, Dedham, Mass. A| 
 Discourse | delivered | on the day of | Public Fast, | April 9, 1812. 
 [Matt. xxiv. 12.] Dedham: . . Herman Mann, 1812. 8^", pp. 23. 
 Ath. Bo. H. 
 
 498. — 1812, Apr. 9. — Otis Thompson, Rehoboth, Mass. " Signs 
 of the Times" : | A | Sermon, | preached at Attleborough, West Par- 
 ish, I on the I Annual Fast in Massachusetts, | April 9th, A. D. 1812. 
 [Matt. xvi. 8.] Providence : Printed at the American Office, by 
 David Hawkins, Jun., 1812. 8°, pp. 23. — Ath. C. L. 
 
 499. — 1812, July 23. — Samuel Austin, Worcester, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached in | Worcester, Massachusetts, | on the occasion 
 of the I Special Fast, | July 28d, 1812. [Jer. xviii. 7, 8.] Printed at 
 Worcester, by Isaac Sturtevant, 1812. 8°, pp. 28. — An. Ath. Bo. 
 C. Ct. L. M. U. Y. 
 
584 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 500. — 1812, July 23. — Titus Theodore Barton, Fitehburg, Mass. 
 A I Fast Sermon, | preached at Fitchburg-, | July 23, 1812. [Mark 
 iii. 24.] Leominster, Mass. : . . Salmon Wilder, 1812. 8^, pp. 24. — 
 An. C. Ct. H. M. 
 
 501. — 1812, July 23.— Francis Brown, North- Yarmouth, Me. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered July 23, 1812, | on occasion of the State 
 Fast, I appointed in consequence of | the | Declaration of War | 
 against Great Britain. [Zeph. iii. 8.] Portland : . . Hyde, Lord 
 and Co., 1812. 8°, pp. 32. — Ath. Bo. C. U. 
 
 502. — 1812, July 23. — Jacob Catlin, New Marlboro', Mass. 
 Alarm to the Churches, | A | Sermon, | preached at New-Marl- 
 borough, I South Parish, | July 23, 1S12 ; | being a Day of Fasting 
 and Prayer, | occasioned by the | Declaration of War against Great- | 
 Britain. [Hosea xiii. 9.] StockbridgQ : . . H. Willard, 1812. 8°, 
 pp. 16. — C. Ct. L. 
 
 503. — 1812, July 23. — William Ellery Channing, Boston, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in Boston, July 23, 1812, | the day of the | 
 Publick Fast, | appointed by the Executive of the | Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, | in consequence of | the Declaration of War against | 
 Great Britain. [Luke xix. 41, 42.] 3oston : . . Greenough and 
 Stebbins, 1812. 8°, pp. 20. — An. Ath. C. Ct. H. L. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 504. — 1812, July 23. — Timothy Dwight [Yale Coll.] New Haven, 
 Conn. A | Discourse, | in | Two Parts, | delivered July 23, 1812, on 
 the I Public Fast, | in | the Chapel of Yale College. [Isa. xxi. 11, 
 12.] (1) New-Haven: Published by Howe and De Forest, . . . 
 Printed by J. Seymour, . . . New- York, 1812. 8°, pp. 54. — Ath. Ct. 
 H. L. U. Y. (2) Utica: Reprinted by Ira Merrell, 1812. 8°, 
 pp. 44. — C. (3) Boston : Published by Cummings and Hilliard, . . . 
 Andover : Printed by Flagg & Gould, 1813. 8°, pp. 1-28. [Printed 
 with sermon of Aug. 20, 1812.] — Ath. H. U. 
 
 505. — 1812, July 23. — Ferdinand Ellis, Marblehead, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | adapted to | the Present Situation | of | our National 
 Concerns, | preached at | Marblehead, Mass., | July 23, 1812, | ap- 
 pointed I by the Executive of this Commonwealth | as a day of | 
 Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. [Isa. Iviii. 4.] Warwick Palfray, 
 Jun., Salem, Printer, 1812. 8°, pp. 20. — Y. 
 
 506. — 1812, July 23.— Brown Emerson, Salem, Mass. The 
 Equity of God's Dealings with Nations. | A | Sermon, | preached | in 
 Salem, July 23, 1812, | a day of | Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer | 
 in I Massachusetts, | occasioned by the | Declaration of War against 
 Great- | Britain. [Jer. xviii. 7-10.] Salem: . . Joshua Gushing, 
 1812. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. H. M. U. 
 
 507.— 1812, July 23.— John Sylvester John Gardiner, Boston. 
 Mass. A 1 Discourse, | delivered | at Trinity Church, Boston, July 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 585 
 
 23, 1812, I on the | day of Publick Fast | in Massachusetts, | upon 
 the I Declaration of War against | Great-Britain. [Psa. cxx. 7.] 
 Boston : . . Munroe & Francis, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 19. — An. Ath. 
 C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 508. — 1812, July 23. — Reuben Holeomb, Sterling, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | in two parts. | Delivered at | Sterling, Massachusetts, | 
 Thursday, July 23, 1812 | at the | State Fast. [Psa. Ixviii. 30.] 
 Worcester: .. Isaac Sturtevant, 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — An. N. H. Y. 
 
 509. — 1812, July 23, and Aug. 20. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. 
 The Present War unexpected, unnecessary | and ruinous. | Two | 
 Discourses | delivered in Boston. | The first | on the 23d of July, 
 1812, I the Fast appointed | by the Governor of Massachusetts ; | the 
 second | on the 20th of August, | the Fast appointed by the | Presi- 
 dent of the United States, | in consequence of the | Present War. 
 [Jer. viii. 15.] Boston: . . J. W. Burditt & Co., 1812. 8°, pp. 42. 
 — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 510. — 1812, July 23. — Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at Charlestown, July 23, 1812, | the day appointed 
 by the Governor and Council of Massachu- J setts, to be observed in | 
 Fasting and Prayer | throughout the Commonwealth; | in conse- 
 quence of a Declaration of | War with Great Britain. [Titus iii. 1. 
 Joel ii. 1, 2.] Charlestown : . . Samuel Etheridge, Jun'r, 1812. 8% 
 pp. 32. — An. Bo. C. H. U. Y. 
 
 511. — 1812, July 23. — Elijah Parish [Byfield], Newbury, Mass. 
 A Protest against the War. | A | Discourse | delivered at | Byfield, | 
 Fast Day, July 23, 1812. [Isa. xxi. 11.] (l)*Newburyport : . . E. W. 
 Allen, 1812. 8°, pp. 26. — An. C. H. M. Y. (2) Same.— An. 
 U. (3) Stockbridge: . . E. Kingsely, H. WiUard's Print, 1812. 8°, 
 pp. 28. — L. 
 
 512.-1812, July 23. — Nathan Perkms, West Hartford, Conn. 
 The National Sins, and National Punishment in | the Recently De- 
 clared War ; | considered, in a | Sermon | delivered, July 23, 1812, on 
 the day of the | Public Fast, | appointed by the Governor and Council 
 of the State of Connecti- | cut, in consequence of the | Declaration of 
 War I against Great-Britain. [Ezra ix. 5, 6.] Hartford : . . Hud- 
 son & Goodwin, 1812. 8°, pp. 30. — C. Ct. U. Y. 
 
 513.-1812, July 23. — Thomas SneU, North Brookfield, Mass. 
 Repentance and Prayer. | A | Sermon, | preached in North Brook- 
 field, I July 23d, 1812. | A day of Prayer, | recommended by | His 
 Excellency the Governor, | on account of the Declaration of War | 
 against England. [Joel ii. 17.] Brookfield : . . E. Merriam & Co., 
 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — An. C. Ct. Y. 
 
 514. — 1812, July 23. — Micah Stone, Brookfield, Mass. Danger 
 and Duty pointed out, | in a | Discourse | delivered at | Brookfield, 
 South Parish, | July 23, 1812; | —the day of | Fasting, Humiliation 
 
586 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 and Prayer, | appointed by | His Excellency the Governor, | on account 
 of the distressed and alarm- | ing state of the Country. [2 Sam. x. 
 12.] Brookfield: . . E. Merriam & Co., 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — An. 
 Ath. C. M. N. H. U. Y. 
 
 515. — 1812, July 23. — Nathan Strong, Hartford, Conn. A | Fast 
 Sermon, | delivered | in the | North Presbyterian Meeting House | 
 in I Hartford, | July 23, 1812. [Rev. xviii. 4.] Hartford: . . Peter 
 B. Gleason & Co., 1812. 8°, pp. 19.— An. Ath. C. Ct. L. M. 
 U. Y. 
 
 516. — 1812, July 23 and Aug. 20. — Samuel Taggart, Coleraine, 
 Mass. God's Visitation of Sinful Nations. 1 Two | Sermons, | de- 
 livered in Colrain, | on the Public Fast, July 23, | and afterwards in 
 Shelburne, | August 20, 1812. [Jer. v. 29.] Greenfield : . . Denio 
 and Phelps, 1812. 8°, pp. 74 — Ath. C. Ct. H. L. 
 
 517.— 1812, July 23. — Samuel Walker, Danvers, Mass. Two | 
 Discourses, | delivered | July 23, 1812, | being the Day appointed by | 
 the Governor of Massachusetts | for | Fasting and Prayer, | on 
 account of the | War with Great Britain. [Joel ii. 12, 13.] Salem : 
 . . Joshua Gushing, 1812. 8°, pp. 26. — C. H. M. 
 
 518. — 1812, July 23. — Peter Whitney, Quincy, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered | in the morning at Quincy | and in the afternoon to 
 the I Third Religious Society in Hingham | on the day of the | State 
 Fast, I July 23, 1812. [Psa. Ixxix. 8.] Boston: . .John Eliot, 
 Jun., 1812. 8%pp. 16. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 519. — 1812, July 23. — Samuel Worcester, Salem, Mass. Ca- 
 lamity, Danger, and Hope. | A | Sermon, | preached | at the Taber- 
 nacle in Salem, | July 23, 1812. | The day of the | Public Fast in 
 Massachusetts, | on account of the | War with Great-Britain. [Psa. 
 Ix. 1-4.] Salem: . . Joshua Gushing, 1812. 8°, pp. 24. — C. Ct. 
 H. U. Y. 
 
 520.-1812, July 30 and Aug. 20. — James Abercrombie, Phila- 
 delphia, Pa. Two Sermons : | the first, | preached on Thursday, July 
 30 ; I the second, | preached on Thursday, August 20 ; 1812 : | being 
 days of | Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, | appointed by | Public 
 Authority. [2 Chron. vii. 14, and Hos. xiii. 9.] [Each sermon has 
 also a separate title-page.] Philadelphia: . . Moses Thomas, . . . 
 J. Maxwell, Printer, 1812. 8^, pp. 26, 41. —Ath. Ct. L. Y. 
 
 521.-1812, July 30. — Joseph Clark, New Brunswick, N. J. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered in the city of New-Brunswick, | on Thursday, 
 July 30, 1812. I Being | the day set apart by the General Assembly 
 of I the Presbyterian Church, | for | Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. 
 [Jer. V. 29.] New Brunswick : .... L. Deare, 1812. 8°, pp. 16. — Ct. 
 
 522. — 1812, July 30. — Stephen N. Rowan, Greenwich, N. Y. 
 The Sin and Danger | of | Insensibility | under the Calls of God to 
 Repentance : | Two Sermons, | delivered in the Reformed Dutch 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 587 
 
 Church, at Greenwich, | in the City of New- York, | on Thursday, 
 July 30, 1812, I the day set apart by the joint recommendation o£ 
 the I General Synod of the R. D. Church, | and of | His Excellency 
 Daniel D. Tompkins, | Governor of the State, | as a day of | Fast- 
 ing, Humiliation, and Prayer. [Isa. xxii. 12-14.] New York : Pub- 
 lished by Whiting & Watson. ... J. Seymour, Printer, 1812. 8°, 
 pp.33, 54.— Ct. U. 
 
 523. — 1812, July 30. — Petrus Van \aierden, CatsMU, N. Y. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered | at | Catsldll, | on Thursday, July 30, 1812. | 
 Being a day of | Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. [Luke iii. 9.] 
 [Translated from the Dutch.] (1) (2) Albany : . . Jesse Buel, 
 1813. 8°, pp. 24. — C. 
 
 524. — 1812, Aug. 20. — James Abercrombie, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 [See Sermon of July 30, 1812.] 
 
 525.-1812, Aug. 20. — Samuel Austin, Worcester, Mass. The 
 Apology of Patriots, | or | the heresy of the friends of the Wash- 
 ington and I peace policy defended. | A | Sermon, | preached in | 
 Worcester, Massachusetts, | on the day of the | National Fast, | 
 Thursday, August 20, 1812, | observed in compliance with the recom- 
 mendation of I James Madison, | President of the | United States; | 
 and in consequence of the Declaration of War | against Great-Britain. 
 [Acts xxiv. 14.] Printed at Worcester, by Isaac Sturtevant, 1812. 
 8°,pp. 32. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. Y. 
 
 526. — 1812, Aug. 20.— Winthrop Bailey, Brunswick, Me. Na- 
 tional Glory. I A | Discourse, | delivered at Brunswick, | on the day 
 of the National Fast, | August, 1812. [Psa. Ixxxv. 9.] Portland : 
 . . Arthur Shirley, 1812. 8°, pp. 16. — C. 
 
 527. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Joseph Barker, Middleborough, Mass. 
 A I Discourse, \ delivered in | Middleborough, Mass. | August 20, 
 1812, I being | the day of the National Fast. [Psa. xxii. 4, 5.] Bos- 
 ton: . . Samuel T. Armstrong, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 24. — C. 
 
 528. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Benjamin Bell, Steuben, N. Y. The | 
 Difference | between | the Present and Former Days, | shown in a | 
 Discourse | upon Eccles. vii. 10, | delivered at Steuben, August 20, 
 1812, I being the day appointed by the President of the United 
 States, I to be observed as a day of | Fasting, Humiliation and 
 Prayer. Utica: . . Ira Merrell, 1812. 12°, pp. 72. — Ath. C. U. 
 
 529. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Nathan Sidney Smith Beman, Port- 
 land, Me. A I Sermon, | delivered at the Meeting House of the Sec- 
 ond I Parish in Portland, | August 20, 1812: | on the occasion of | 
 the National Fast. [Gen. xiii. 8.] Portland : . . Hyde, Lord & Co., 
 1812. 8°, pp. 16.— An. Ath. C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 530. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Stephen Bemis, Harvard, Mass. Two 
 Discourses, | delivered at Harvard. | The one August 20, 1812, | the 
 day of the National Fast | on account of the War with Great Bri- 
 
588 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 tain. I The other May 29, 1813, etc. [Jer. ii. 17.] [National ca- 
 lamity procured to ourselves.] Harvard : . . Sewall Parker, 1814. 
 8°,pp. 47. — Ath. H. L. 
 
 531. — 1812, Aug. 20.— William EUery Channing, Boston, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in Boston, August 20, 1812, | the day of | Hu- 
 miliation and Prayer, | appointed by the | President of the United 
 States, I in consequence of | the Declaration of War against Great- 
 Britain. [Acts xxiv. 16.] Boston: . . C. Stebbins, . . . 1812. 8°, 
 pp. 15.— An. Ath. Bo. C. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 532. — 1812, Aug. 20.— John Hubbard Church, Pelham, N. H. 
 Advantages of Moderation. | A | Sermon, | delivered at Pelham, 
 N. H. August 20, 1812 ; | a day of | National Humiliation, | recom- 
 mended by the President, at the request | of the | Two Houses of 
 Congress, | after having | declared War against Great Britain. [Phil, 
 iv. 5.] HaverhiU: . . . . W. B. & H. G. AUen, 1812. 8°, pp. 15. 
 — Ath. C. 
 
 533.-1812, Aug. 20. —John Cleaveland, Wrentham, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | delivered on the day of | National Humiliation and 
 Prayer, | August 20, 1812. [Ezek. xiv. 21.] Boston : . . Samuel T. 
 Armstrong, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 20.— An. Ath. C. L. 
 
 534. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Henry Colman, Hingham, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached in Hingham and Quincy, | 20th, August 1812, | the 
 day of I the National Fast, | on account of | the War with Great 
 Britain. [Rom. viii. 28.] Boston : . . Joshua Belcher, 1812. 8°, pp. 
 21. — An. Ath. Bo. C. H. M. U. Y. 
 
 535. — 1812, Aug 20, and 1813, Apr. 8. — Moses Dow, Beverly, 
 Mass. A I Sermon, | preached in Beverly, | August 20, 1812, | the day 
 of the I National Fast, | on account of | War with Great-Britain ; | 
 and again at | the Tabernacle in Salem, | April 8, 1813, | the day of 
 the I Annual Fast in Massachusetts. [Luke xix. 41, 42.] Salem: 
 .. Joshua Gushing, 1813. 8% pp. 16. — C. Ct. H. M. Y. 
 
 536. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Timothy Dwight, (Yale Coll.) New 
 Haven, Conn. A | Discourse, | in two parts | delivered August 20, 
 1812, I on I the National Fast, | in the Chapel of Yale College. [Isa. 
 xxi. 11, 12.] (1) New-York : . . J. Seymour, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 
 60. — C. Ct. H. L. M. Y. (2) Utica: Reprinted by Ira Mer- 
 rell, 1813. 8°, pp. 48.— An. (3) Boston: Published by Cummings 
 & HiUiard, . . . Andover, Printed by Flagg & Gould, 1813. 8°, pp. 
 29-59. [Printed with Sermon of July 23, 1812.]— An. Ath. Ct. 
 H. - L. U. 
 
 537.-1812, Aug. 20. — Brown Emerson, Salem, Mass. The 
 Causes and Effects of War. | A | Sermon, | delivered in Salem, 
 August 20, 1812, I the day of | National Humiliation and | Prayer. 
 [Jer. iv. 19.] Salem: . . Joshua Gushing, 1812. 8°, pp. 16.— Ath. 
 C. H. M. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 589 
 
 538. —1812, Aug. 20. — John Fiske, New Braintree, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | delivered at | New-Braintree, | August 20, 1812. | On the 
 General Fast, | occasioned by a | Declaration of War against Great- | 
 Britain. [Num. xxiv. 10, 11.] Brookfield : . . E. Merriam & Co., 
 1812. 8°,pp. 28.— An. C. Y. 
 
 539.-1812, Aug. 20. —Jonathan French, North-Hampton, N. H. 
 Sermons, | delivered on the 20th of August, 1812, | the day | recom- 
 mended I by the | President of the United States | for | Public Hu- 
 miliation and Prayer. | To which are added | observations | on 
 the I propriety of preaching occasionally | on | Political | Subjects. 
 [2 Sam. xxiv. 14. Dent. iv. 30, 31.] Exeter: Printed at the Consti- 
 tutionalist Press by E. C. Beals, n. d. 8°, pp. 28. — C. 
 
 540. — 1812, Aug. 20.— John Giles, Newbiiryport, Mass. Two 
 Discourses, | delivered to the | Second Presbyterian Society | in New- 
 buryport, August 20, 1812 : | the day recommended by | the President 
 of the United States, | for National Humiliation and Prayer. [Psa. 
 cvi. 24.] (1) Newburyport: . . W. & J. Gilman, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 
 20. — M. Y. (2) Newburyport. (3) Newburyport: . . W. & J. GiK 
 man, . . . 1812. 8<^, pp. 20. — An. H. M. (4) Haverhill: . . W. B. 
 & H. G. Allen, 1812. 8°, pp. 28. — An. Ath. C. H. [Appendix. 
 Copious parallelisms charging the author with plagiarism from 
 Thomas Paine.] (5) Bridgeport, 1812. 8°. 
 
 541. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Eliphalet Gillet, Hallowell, Me. A | Dis- 
 course I delivered in the forenoon at | Hallowell, | and in the after- 
 noon at I Augusta, | on the day of the | National Fast, | August 20, 
 1812. [Job xxxii. 10.] Augusta: . . Peter Edes, 1812. 8°, pp. 
 23. — Ath. U. 
 
 542. — 1812, Aug. 20. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. [See Ser- 
 mon of July 23, 1812.] 
 
 543. — 1812, Aug. 20. — John Ewing Latta, Newcastle, Del. 
 A I Sermon | preached on the 20th of August, 1812, | a day recom- 
 mended by I the President of the United States, | to be observed as a 
 day I of Humiliation and Prayer. [Isa. xxvi. 9.] Wilmington: . . 
 Robert Porter, . . . 1812. 12°, pp. 24. — C. Y. 
 
 544. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Nathaniel Laurence, Tyngsborough, Mass. 
 David's crime examined, his virtue illustrated, and | his patriotick 
 example recommended, | in a | Sermon, | delivered at Tyngsborough, 
 Massachusetts, | on the late | National Fast, | August 20, A. D. 1812. 
 [1 Chron. xxi. 16, 17.] Boston: . . C. Stebbins, . . . 1812. 8°, pp. 
 15. — L. 
 
 545. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Gershom Clark Lyman, Marlborough, Vt. 
 A I Sermon | preached at Marlborough, on the | Public Fast, | Au- 
 gust 20th, 1812. [Hos. vii. 9.] Brattleborough (Vt.), . . William 
 Fessenden, 1812. 8°, pp. 23. — C. Ct. N. H. U. Y. 
 
 546.-1812, [Aug. 20].— John Matthews, Shepherdstown, Va. 
 
590 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 " National Peace and Safety : A Sermon preached on the Fast day 
 appointed by public authority, 1812." — Sprague's Annals, iv. 293. 
 
 547. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Samuel Mead, Amesbury, Mass. A| 
 Sermon | on the War, | delivered in Amesbury, | August 20, 1812, | 
 on the General Fast. [2 Sam. xxiv. 14.] Newburyport: . . . . E. 
 W. Allen, 1812. 8°, pp. 18. — C. 
 
 548. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Humphrey Moore, Milford, N. H. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at Milford, | August 20th, 1812, | the day | 
 recommended by the President, | for | National Humiliation. Am- 
 herst, N. H., . . Kichard Boylston, 1812. 8°, pp. 16. — Ath. C. 
 N. H. 
 
 549. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Reed Paige, Hancock, N. H. Obedience 
 to the Laws of Civil Rulers, a Duty | Enjoined in the Scriptures. | 
 A I Sermon, | delivered at | Hancock August 20th, 1812 ; | the day | 
 recommended by the President of | the United States | for | ' ' Pub- 
 lic Humiliation and Prayer." [Matt. xxii. 21.] Concord, N. H., . . 
 I. & W. R. Hill, 1812. 8^^, pp. 27. — N. H. 
 
 550.-1812, Aug. 20. — William Parkinson, New York, N. Y. 
 Sermon in First Baptist Church, N. Y. City, Aug. 20, 1812, a Day of 
 Special humiliation and prayer on account of the Present War. New 
 York : . . John Tiebout, 1812. 8°, pp. 25 (1). 
 
 551.-1812, Aug. 20. — Huntington Porter, Rye, N. H. The 
 Present Distressed Situation of Our Country, | and the Duty of Min- 
 isters and People in such | a time as this ; considered, in a | Sermon, | 
 preached at Rye, | August 20, 1812 ; | the day recommended by | Pres- 
 ident Madison, | for a | National Fast. [Joel ii. 15-17.] Portsmouth, 
 N. H., Printed at the Oracle Press, by William Treadwell, n. d. 8"", 
 pp. 23. [With a sermon on ' ' Peace and War " having a common 
 title-page.]— Ath. L. U. Y. 
 
 552. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Thomas Prentiss, Medfield, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached at Holliston, August 20, 1812, | the day of | Hu- 
 miliation and Prayer, | recommended by the | President of the United 
 States, I in consequence of | the Declaration of War | against | 
 Great Britain. [Psa. xxviii. 9.] Cambridge : . , Hilliard and 
 Metcalf, 1812. 8°, pp. 18. — An. Bo. C. H. 
 
 553. — 1812, Aug. 20. — John Smith, Salem, N. H. An | Apol- 
 ogy I for the Friends of Peace, | in two | Discourses, [ delivered Au- 
 gust 20, 1812. I Being the day appointed for Fasting and Prayer | 
 throughout the United States, | on account of the | War with Great 
 Britain. [Psa. cxx. 7.] Haverhill : . . . . W. B. & H. G. Allen, 
 1812. 8°, pp. 24.— Ath. C. 
 
 554.-1812, Aug. 20. —Thomas Snell, North Brookfield, Mass. 
 Praying for Rulers a Christian Duty. | A | Sermon, | preached in 
 North Brookfield, | August 20th, 1812, | a day of prayer, | recom- 
 mended by I Congress | on account of the War in which we are | 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 591 
 
 involved with England. [1 Tim. ii. 2.] Brookfield: . . E. Mer- 
 riam & Co., 1812. 8°, pp. 23-43. [With sermon of July 23.] — An. 
 C. Ct. Y. 
 
 555. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Conrad Speece, Cumberland, Va. A 
 Sermon "preached in Cumberland, Va., August 20, 1812, the day- 
 appointed by the President of the United States for humiliation and 
 prayer." — Sprague's Annals, iv. 287. 
 
 556. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Samuel Taggart, Coleraine, Mass. [See 
 Sermon of July 23, 1812.] 
 
 557. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Nathaniel Thayer, Lancaster, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered August 20, 1812 ; | the day | " Of Publick Hu- 
 miliation and Prayer," | appointed by the | National Government, | 
 who had declared | War against Great-Britain. [Jer. iv. 19.] . . 
 Worcester : by Isaac Sturtevant, 1812. 8°, pp. 16. — An. Ath. 
 H. L. Y. 
 
 558. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Otis Thompson, Rehoboth, Mass. Prayer 
 for Peace, | inculcated in a | Discourse, | delivered | on the National 
 Fast, I August 20th, 1812. [Psa. cxxii. 6.] Providence : . . David 
 Hawkins, Jun., 1812. 8°, pp. 19. —An. C. L. 
 
 559. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Noah Worcester, Salisbury, N. H. Abra- 
 ham and Lot. I A | Sermon, | on | the Way of Peace, | and | the 
 Evils of War. | Delivered | at Salisbury, in New-Hampshire, | on the 
 day of the | National Fast, | August 20, 1812. [Gen. xiii. 7-9.] Con- 
 cord (N. H.), . . George Hough, 1812. 8°, pp. 32. — H. Y. 
 
 560. — 1812, Aug. 20. — Samuel Worcester, Salem, Mass. Courage 
 and Success to the Good. | A | Discourse | delivered | at the Taber- 
 nacle in Salem, | Aug. 20, 1812, | the day of | National Humiliation 
 and Prayer, | on account of the | War with Great-Britian. ... [2 
 Chron. xix. 11.] Salem: . . Joshua Gushing, 1812. 8°, pp. 32. — Ath. 
 C. H. L. 
 
 561. — 1812, Nov. 12.— Walter Harris, Dunbarton, N. H. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered | at Dunbarton, New-Hampshire, | on | Thanks- 
 giving-Day, I November 12, 1812. [Lam. iii. 39.] Concord : . . 
 George Hough, 1812. 8°, pp. 18. — L. 
 
 562. — 1812, Nov. 26. — Daniel Dana, Newburyport, Mass. A | 
 Sermon, | preached November, 26, 1812. | The day of | Public Thanks- 
 giving I in I Massachusetts. [Hab. iii. 17, 18.] Newburyport : . . . 
 E. W. Allen, 1813. 8°, pp. 19. — An. C. Ct. L. 
 
 563. — 1812, Nov. 26. — Nathaniel Hill Fletcher, Wells, Me. A | 
 Sermon | delivered on the 26th of Nov. 1812, | the day of the | An- 
 nual Thanksgiving | in the | State of Massachusetts. [Psa. cvi. 47.] 
 Kennebunk : . . James K. Remich, 1812. 8°, pp. 16. — N. H. 
 
 564. — 1812, Nov. 26. — Isaac Lewis, Bristol, R. I. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered | in the Congregational Church, | at | Bristol, | on 
 the I Public Thanksgiving, | November 26, A. D. 1812. [Psa. c. 4.] 
 Warren, R. L, . . John F. PhiUips, 1812. 8°, pp. 18. — Ath. Ct. Y. 
 
592 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 565. — 1812, Nov. 26. — Josiah Webster, Hampton, N. H. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at | Newburyport, Nov. 26, 1812. | On the evening 
 of I Public Thanksgiving | in | Massachusetts. [Psa. ii. 11.] New- 
 buryport: . . . . E. W. AUen, 1812. 8°, pp. 22. — C. Ct. L. 
 
 566. — 1813, Feb. 16. — Oliver Cobb, Rochester, Mass. Two 
 Sermons, | preached at Sandwich. | The First, | February 1 6, 1813, on 
 a I day of Fasting, | appointed by the First Church in that Town. | 
 The Second, | Feb. 17, 1813, at the | installation | of Rev Jonathan 
 Burr. ... [2 Chron. xxv. 9.] Boston : . . . . Lincoln & Edmands, 
 1813. 8°, pp. 10, 23. — Ath. C. 
 
 567. — 1813, Mar. 25. — John Smith, Salem, N. H. The People of 
 God Invited to Trust in Him amidst His | Judgments upon sinful 
 nations. | A | Sermon | delivered on the Annual Fast | at Salem, N. H. 
 March 25, | and | at the South Parish in Andover, Mass. | April 3, 
 1813. [Isa. xxvi. 20, 21.] Haverhill, Mass. : . . . . W. B. and H. G. 
 Allen, 1813. 8°, pp. 20. — C. H. 
 
 568. — 1813, Apr. 8. — Joshua Bates, Dedham, Mass. Two | Ser- 
 mons I on I Intemperance, | delivered | on the day of the Annual 
 Fast, I April 8, 1813. [Prov. xx. 1.] (1) Boston: .... Samuel T. 
 Armstrong, . . 1813. 8°, pp. 16, 28. — An. Ath. C. Y. (2) Ded- 
 ham : Printed at the Gazette Office, 1814. 12°, pp. 18, 36. — H. 
 
 569. — 1813, Apr. 8. — Moses Dow, Beverly, Mass. [See Sermon 
 of Aug. 20, 1812.] 
 
 570. — 1813, Apr. 8.— Elijah Parish, [Byfield] Newbury, Mass. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered at | Byfield, | on the | Annual Fast, | April 
 8, 1813. [Matt. xxvi. 52.] (1) Newburyport: . . . . E. W. Allen, 
 . . . 1813. 8°,pp. 24. — C. Ct. H. L. U. Y. (2) Portland: . . . 
 1813. ^°.— Ath. 
 
 571. — 1813, Apr. 8. — Joseph Richardson, Hingham, Mass. The 
 Christian Patriot Encouraged. | A | Discourse, | delivered before 
 the I First Parish in Hingham, | on | Fast Day, | April 8, 1813. [Isa. 
 Iiv.l7.] Boston :.. Joshua Belcher, 1813. 8°, pp. 22. — An. C. H. 
 
 572. — 1813, Apr. 8. — Eliphalet Steele, Paris, N. Y. The Im- 
 portance of the Church. | A | Discourse, | in two parts ; | delivered in 
 Paris, (N. Y.) April 8, 1813, | on the day of a | Public Fast, | recom- 
 mended by the Oneida Association, | to the | Churches and Societies | 
 ■within their limits. [Psa. cv. 14, 15.] Utica : . . Merrell and Camp, 
 1813. 8°, pp. 24. — C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 573. — 1813, Apr. 8. — John H. Stevens, Stoneham, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered in | Stoneham, (Mass.) April 8, 1813. | Being | 
 the Day of the State Fast. [Judg. v. 23.] [Later editions prefix 
 the title " The Duty of Union in a Just War " and have another lin- 
 ing.] (1) Boston: . . Watson cfe Bangs, . . . 1813. 8°, pp. 27. — An. 
 C. L. (2) Same.— Ath. H. M. (3) New York : . . E. Conrad, . . . 
 1813. 8°, pp. 24. (4) Same. — L. (5) New Haven : . . J. Barber for 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 593 
 
 E. Bassett, 1813. 8°, pp. 15. — C. Ct. (6) Albany: . . J. Buel, 
 1814. 8°, pp. 24. — H. (7) Bennington, Vt., . . Darius Clark & Co. 
 12% pp. 22. — U. (8) Pittsfield : Ke-printed by Pbinehas AUen, 1814. 
 8°, pp. 24. — L. 
 
 574. — 1813, Sept. 9. — Samuel Cary, Boston, Mass. A | Sermon | 
 preached at | King's Chapel, Boston, | September 9, 1813, | the day 
 of the I National Fast. [Psa. cvi. 4, 5.] Boston : . . Isaiah Thomas, 
 Jun., 1813. 8%pp. 20.— An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. H. L. M. U. Y. 
 
 575.-1813, Sept. 9.— Pliny Dickenson, Walpole, N. H. A | 
 Discourse | on the | Institution, Observance, and Profanation, | of 
 the I Sabbath. | Delivered at Walpole, N. H. | on the | National and 
 State Fast, | September 9, 1813. [Ex. xx. 8-11.] Walpole, N. H., 
 . . . 1813. 8°, pp. 12. — N. H. 
 
 576. — 1813, Sept. 9. — John Ewing Latta, New Castle, Del. A | 
 Sermon | preached on the 9th of September, 1813. | A day recom- 
 mended by I the President of the United States, | to be observed as 
 a day | of Humiliation and Prayer. [Rev. xiv. 6, 7.] Wilmington : 
 . . Robert Porter, 1813. 8°, pp. 24. Ath. 
 
 577. — 1813, Sept. 9. — John Truair, Cambridge, Vt. The Alarm 
 Trumpet. | A | Discourse, | delivered at Berkshire, Sept. 9, 1813, | 
 the day of the | National Fast, | appointed by the President, on ac- 
 count I of I the War. [Joel ii. 1.] Montpelier, Vt., . . Walton & 
 Goss, 1813. 8°, pp. 22. — C. 
 
 578.-1813, Sept. 9. — Samuel Whelpley, Newark, N. J. The 
 Fall of Wicked Nations. | A | Sermon, | delivered in the | First 
 Presbyterian Church, Newark, | September 9, 1813, | a day of Fasting 
 and Humiliation. [Isa. Ix. 12.] New York : . . Pelsue and Gould, 
 . . . 1813. 8°, pp. 24. — Ct. L. 
 
 579. — 1813, Nov. 11 and 25.— John Smith, Salem, N. H. The 
 triumph of Religion over Infidelity. | A | Discourse | delivered, 
 1813, I Nov. 11, in Salem, New-Hampshire ; | Nov. 25, in the East 
 Parish of Bradford, | Massachusetts, | on the Public Thanksgiving. 
 [Rev. XV. 2-4.] Haverhill, Mass., . . Greenough and Burrill, 1814. 
 8°, pp. 28. — L. 
 
 580. — 1813, Nov. 25. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered November 25, 1813, | on the day of the | Annual 
 Thanksgiving. [1 Sam. xiv. 25.] (1) Dedham : . . . Gazette Office, 
 1813. 8°, pp. 20. — An. C. L. (2) Newburyport :.. William B. 
 Allen & Co., 1814. 8°, pp. 16.— Ath. C. L. (3) Reprinted in 
 Works, 1842. 
 
 581. — 1813, Nov. 25. — John Snelling Popkin, Newbury, Mass. 
 A I Sermon, | preached in Newbury, First Parish, | on the day | of 
 Annual Thanksgiving | in the j Commonwealth of Massachusetts, | 
 November 25, 1813. [Gal. v. 1.] Newburyport : . . William B. 
 AUen & Co., 1814. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. N. H. 
 
694 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 582. — 1814, Apr. 7. — Francis Brown, No. Yarmouth, Me. The 
 Evils of War. | A | Fast Sermon, | delivered at North- Yarmouth, | 
 April 7, 1814. [Micah iv. 3.] Portland : . . Arthur Shirley, 1814. 
 8% pp. 27. — C. H. U. 
 
 583. — 1814, Apr. 7. — Joseph McKean [Har. Coll.], Cambridge, 
 Mass. A Plea | for | Friendship and Patriotism ; | in | Two Dis- 
 courses, I preached at First Church, in Boston, | on Lord's Day, 27 
 March, | and | on the Annual Fast, 7 April, | MDCCCXIV. [Deut. 
 xiii. 6. Jer. xxix. 7.] Munroe & Francis, Printers, Boston, 1814. 8°, 
 pp. 59(1). — Ath. Ct. H. L. 
 
 584.-1814, Apr. 7. — EUjah Parish [Byfield], Newbury, Mass. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered | at Byfield, | on | the Public Fast, | April 
 7, 1814. [Ex. V. 17, 18.] (1) Newburyport: . . William B. Allen 
 and Co., 1814. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. Bo. C. U. (2) Same. — C. Ct. H. 
 
 585. — 1814, Apr. 7. — John H. Stevens, Stoneham, Mass. The 
 Duties of a Fast, in Time of War, | illustrated. | A | Discourse | de- 
 livered in I Stoneham, (Mass.) April 7, 1814. | Being | the day of the 
 State Fast. [Dan. vii. 3.] (1) Boston : . . Thomas S. Bangs, . . . 
 1814. 8°, pp. 24. — C. H. (2)Same.— An. L. (3) Same. — Ath. C. 
 
 586. — 1814, Apr. 14. — Abraham Burnham, Pembroke, N. H. 
 Antichrist. | A | Discourse, | addressed to the Congregational | Church 
 and Society in Pembroke, | New- Hampshire, | on | the Annual Fast, | 
 April 14, 1814. [1 John ii. 22.] Concord : . . George Hough, 1814. 
 8°, pp. 24.— C. H. 
 
 587. — 1814, Oct. 5. — Benjamin Morgan Palmer, Beaufort, S. C. 
 Gratitude and Penitence, | recommended from the united consi- | 
 deration of National Mercies and | Judgments. | A Sermon, | deliv- 
 ered I in the | Independent | or | Congregational Church, | Charles- 
 ton, South-Carolina, | October 5, 1814. | Being a day appointed for 
 Humiliation, | Thanksgiving, and Prayer, | in that City. [1 Sam. xii. 
 23-25.] Charleston: . . W. P. Young, . . . 1814. 8°, pp. 28.— Y. 
 
 588.-1814, Nov. 24. — John Truair, Sherburne, N. Y. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered | at Sherburne, November 24, 1814. | Being the day 
 of I Public Thanksgiving, | appointed by Union Association. [Dan. 
 vi. 10.] Utica : Printed .... by Merrell & Camp, 1815. 8°, pp. 15. 
 — Ct. 
 
 589. — 1814, Dec. 1. — Sylvester Holmes, New Bedford, Mass. 
 The I Government of God Glad Tidings. | A | Sermon, | preached on 
 the day of | Public Thanksgiving and Praise, | December 1st, 1814. | 
 From Isaiah lii. 7. . . New-Bedford : . . Benjamin Lindsey, 1815. 
 8^pp. 24 — C. H. 
 
 590. — 1814, Dec. 1. — Jacob Norton, Weymouth, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered December 1, 1814, | on the | Anniversary Thanksgiv- 
 ing I in I Massachusetts. [Psa. cxviii. 1-4.] Boston: . . Lincoln 
 & Edmands . » . n. d. 8°, pp. 23. — L. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 695 
 
 591. — 1815, Jan. 12. — Asa Burton, Thetford, Vt. A | Fast Ser- 
 mon, I delivered at | Thetford, January 12, 1815. | On the day ap- 
 pointed by the | President of the United States, | for Fasting and 
 Prayer, | throughout the nation. [Isa. i. 5, 6.] Hanover : . . Charles 
 Spear, 1815. 8°, pp. 23. — Ct. L. 
 
 592. — 1815, Jan. 12. — Daniel Chaplin, Groton, Mass. The Dis- 
 pensations of Divine Providence considered as | Generally Correspond- 
 ing with the Moral Character | of a Nation, and the Morals of New 
 England at the | Present Day briefly compared with the Morals of | 
 our Ancestors ; with some observations on the Duty | of Electors, to 
 give their Suffrages to Men of Chris- | tian Character. | A | Sermon | 
 delivered at Groton Jan. 12, 1815, | being the day of the | National 
 Fast. . . . [Jer. xviii. 9, 10.] Cambridge : . . Hilliard and Metcalf , 
 1815. 8^pp. 12. — C. H. 
 
 593. — 1815, Jan. 12. — John Foster, Brighton, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon I preached in Brighton, | January 12, 1815, | a day of | National 
 Fasting and Prayer | in the United States. [Luke xiv. 31, 32.] Bos- 
 ton : . . John Eliot, 1815. 8°, pp. 18. — An. Ath. C. H. L. M. Y. 
 
 594. — 1815, Jan. 12. — John Ewing Latta, Newcastle, Del. A | 
 Sermon | preached on the | Twelfth of January, 1815. | A Day | 
 recommended by the | President | of the | United States, | to be ob- 
 served as a day of | Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer. [2 Chron. 
 xxxii. 7, 8.] Wilmington: .... Robert Porter, . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 
 24. — Ath. M. 
 
 595.-1815, Jan. 12 and Apr. 13. —Edward Mitchell, New York, 
 N. Y. Two Sermons. | On the | National Fast, | twelfth of Jan. 
 1815; I and on the | National Thanksgiving, | thirteenth of April, 
 1815. [Isa. Iviii. 6 and Psa. xxii. 27, 28.] New York: .... Abra- 
 ham Paul, . . . 1815. 8% pp. 28, 44. — C. 
 
 596. — 1815, Jan. 12. — Humphrey Moore, Milford, N. H. A | 
 Discourse, | delivered at Milford, N. H. .| January 12, 1815 ; | the 
 day I appointed by the | President of the United States | for | Na- 
 tional Fasting and Humiliation. [Ex. xx. 7.] | Amherst : R. Boyl- 
 ston, . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 16. — C. H. N. H. Y. 
 
 597. — 1815, Jan. 12. — Thomas Bobbins, East Windsor, Conn. 
 A I Sermon, | preached at East- Windsor, | at the | National Fast, | 
 appointed by the ] President and Congress | of the United States, | 
 January 12, 1815. [2 Chron. xv. 1, 2.] Middletown: Loomis & 
 Richards, Printers, 1815. 8°, pp. 21. — An. C. Ct. L. U. 
 
 598. — 1815, Jan. 12. — James Wakefield Tucker, Rowley, Mass. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered Jan. 12, 1815. | On the | National Fast, | 
 at I the Second Parish in Rowley- [Isa. v. 24, 25.] Newburyport : . . 
 WiUiam B. Allen & Co., . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 20. — Ct. H. L. M. 
 
 599. — 1815, Jan. 12. — Samuel Walker, Danvers, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I delivered before the | Second Society in Danvers, | January 
 
596 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 12, 1815, I being the day appointed for | National Humiliation and 
 Prayer. [Prov. xiv. 34.] Salem : . . Thomas C. Gushing, 1815. 
 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. C. H. L. 
 
 600. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Jesse Appleton, [Bowd. Coll.] Brunswick, 
 Me. A I Sermon, | delivered at Brunswick, April 13, 1815, | ap- 
 pointed as a day of | National Thanksgiving, | by the | President of 
 the United States, | on account of the peace recently established | 
 between | this Country and Great Britain. [Psa. xlvi. 8, 9.] Hal- 
 lowell: . . Ezekiel Goodale, 1815. 8°, pp. 24. — An. Ath. Bo. C. 
 H. M. U. 
 
 601. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Samuel Blatchford, Lansingburg, N. Y. 
 A I Sermon, | delivered to the | United Presbyterian Congregations 
 of Lansingburgh | and Waterford, April 13, 1815; | being the day 
 of I National Thanksgiving, | directed by | the President of the United- 
 States, I and I the Governor of the State of New-York. [Psa. cxxxvi. 
 1.] Albany: . . Websters and Skinners, . . . n. d. 8°, pp. 20. — 
 Ct. L. 
 
 602. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Nathan Bradstreet, Chester, N. H. 
 Peace. | A | Discourse, | delivered in Chester, | New-Hampshire, | 
 April 13, 1815, [ being the day of | National Thanksgiving, | in con- 
 sequence of I the Restoration of Peace, | between the United States 
 and Great Britain. [Psa. cxx. 7.] Concord : . . I. & W. R. HQl, 
 1815. 8°,pp. 15. — L. N. H. 
 
 603. — 1815, Apr. 13. —Silas ChurchUl, Lebanon, N. Y. A | Ser- 
 mon, delivered at | Lebanon, in Canaan, | April 13, 1815, | it being | 
 the Day of Public Thanksgiving | on account of the restoration of | 
 Peace | between the | United States of America | and | Great-Britain. 
 [Psa. 1. 14.] Pittsfield: . . Phinehas Allen, June, 1815. 8°, pp. 
 24. — L. 
 
 604. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Charles Coffin, [Greeneville Coll.] Greene- 
 ville, Tenn. A | Sermon, | delivered in Rogersville, | April 13, 1815. | 
 The day appointed | by the | President of the United States, | as a 
 day of I National Thanks-giving | for the | Restoration of Peace. 
 [Psa. cxlvii. 14.] Rogersville (Ten.), . . Carey & Early, . . . 1815. 
 8°, pp. 33. — L. 
 
 605. — 1815, Apr. 13.— Jonathan Curtis, Epsom, N. H. Two | 
 Sermons, | delivered | at Epsom, New-Hampshire, | on the day ap- 
 pointed I for the annual State Fast, | and | National Thanksgiving | 
 for Peace, | April 13, 1815. [Isa. Iviii. 6. Isa. xlv. 7.] Concord : . . 
 George Hough, 1815. 8°, pp. 16, 31. — C. N. H. 
 
 606. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Joshua Cushman, Winslow, Me. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered by request, | to a Respectable Audience of Liberal 
 Christians, | assembled at | Winslow, | from that and the neighboring 
 towns, I April 13, 1815 : | the day recommended by the President, | 
 to be observed as | a | General Thanksgiving | throughout the United 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 597 
 
 States I for the | Kestoration of Peace, and other Signal | Blessings. 
 [Psa. Ixxv. 1.] HaUowell: . . N. Cheever, 1815. 8°, pp. 24. — An. 
 Ath. M. 
 
 607. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Nathaniel Emmons, Franklin, Mass. A | 
 Discourse | delivered on the | National Thanksgiving, | April 13, 
 1815. [Jer. xxx. 21.] (1) Dedham : . . . Gazette Office, 1815. 8°, 
 pp. 19. —An. Ath. C. (2) Reprinted in Works, 1842. 
 
 608. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Edmund Foster, Littleton, Mass. A | Ser- 
 mon, I preached at Littleton, April 13th, 1815 ; | being the | day of 
 National Thanksgiving, | for the | Restoration of Peace | between 
 the I United States of America | and | Great Britain. [Psa. xlvi. 
 7-11.] Boston: . . Ezra B. Tileston, 1815. 8°, pp. 16. — An. L. 
 
 609. — 1815, Apr. 13. — John Henry Hobart, New York, N. Y. 
 The Security of a Nation. | A Sermon, | preached in Trinity Church, 
 in the city of New- York, on | Thursday, April 13, A. D. 1815 ; | being 
 the day appointed by the | President of the United States, | and the | 
 Governor of the State of New York, | as a day of | Thanksgiving to 
 Almighty God | for the various Public Mercies of His Pro\ddence, 
 and I especially for the Restoration of the | Blessings of Peace. [Psa. 
 cxliv. 15.] New York: .... T. & J. Swords, . . . 1815. 8% pp. 
 21. — Ath. L. U. Y. 
 
 610. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Samuel Farmer Jarvis, New York, N. Y. 
 The I Duty of Offering unto God Thanksgiving. | A | Sermon, | 
 preached in | St. Michael's Church, Bloomingdale, | on the | second 
 Thursday in April, A. D. 1815 ; | the day appointed by | the President 
 of the United States | as | a day of Thanksgiving | for | the Resto- 
 ration of the Blessings of | Peace. [Psa. i. 14.] New York: . . 
 Eastbum, Kirk & Co., . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 16. — Y. 
 
 611. — 1815, Apr. 13. — John Lathrop, Boston, Mass. A | Dis- 
 course, I delivered in Boston, April 13, 1815, | the day of Thanks- 
 giving I appointed by the | President of the United States. | In con- 
 sequence of the I Peace. [1 Chron. xvi. 8, 9.] Boston : . . J. W. 
 Burditt, 1815. 8°, pp. 28. — An. Ath. Bo. C. Ct. L. M. U. 
 
 612. — 1815, Apr. 13. — John Ewing Latta, Newcastle, Del. 
 A I Sermon | preached at New-Castle, (Del.) | on the Thirteenth Day 
 of April, 1815. | A Day | recommended | by the | President | of the | 
 United States, | to be observed as a day of | Public Thanksgiving and 
 Praise to God | for the | Restoration of Peace. [2 Chron. xx. 27-30.] 
 Wilmington : . . Robert Porter, . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 23. — Ath. 
 
 613. — 1815, Apr. 13.— Daniel Merrill, Nottingham West, N. H. 
 Balaam Disappointed. | A | Thanksgiving Sermon, | delivered | 
 at Nottingham- West, | April 13, 1815. A day recommended by the 
 National | Government, in which to rehearse God's mighty acts, and 
 praise | His name. [Num. xxiii. 23.] (1) Concord: . . Isaac &. 
 W. R. Hill, 1815. 8°, pp. 30. — An. Ct. (2) Concord: . . Isaac 
 Hill, 1816. 8°, pp. 35. — An. 
 
598 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 614. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Edward Mitchell, New York, N. Y. [See 
 Sermon of Jan. 12, 1815.] 
 
 615.— 1815, Apr. 13. — John Morse, Green River, N. Y. A | 
 Sermon, | delivered at | Hillsdale, Green-River Society, | Columbia 
 County, New- York, | April 13, 1815, | it being a day of | Public 
 Thanksgiving | by order of the President of the United States, | on 
 account of the Restoration of | Peace. [Psa. cxxiv. 1-8.] Hudson : 
 . . S. W. Clark, 1815. 8°, pp. 16. — C. 
 
 616. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Seth Payson, Rindge, N. H. An | Abridg- 
 ment I of I Two Discourses, | preached at Rindge, N. H. | at | the 
 Annual Fast, | April 13, 1815 ; | the same day being afterwards 
 appointed by the | National Government, to be observed as | a day 
 of Public Thanksgiving, for | Returning Peace. [Ezra ix. 13, 14.] 
 New-Ipswich, N. H. : Simeon Ide, . . . 1815. 8°, pp. 15.— Y. 
 
 617. — 1815, Apr. 13. — John Snelling Popkin, Newbury, Mass* 
 A I Discourse | delivered | on the day of | National Thanksgiving | 
 for Peace, | April 13, 1815. [Psa. xlvi. 8,- 9.] (1) Newburyport: 
 .. W. B. Allen and Co., ... 1815. 8% pp. 24. — Ath. C. H. M. 
 (2) . Reprinted in Memorial, 1852. 
 
 618. — 1815, Apr. 13. — John Smith, Salem, N. H. The goodness 
 of God in restoring peace to the | United States. | A | Sermon | 
 preached April 13, 1815, | being | the day appointed for thanksgiving 
 throughout the | United States, | on account of | Peace with Great 
 Britain. [Psa. cxlvii. 14.] Haverhill, Mass., . . Burrill & Tile- 
 ston, 1815. 8°, pp. 16. —N. H. 
 
 619. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Otis Thompson, Rehoboth, Mass. A | 
 Sermon | preached on the | National Thanksgiving | for the | Resto- 
 ration of Peace, | April 13, 1815. [James iv. 1.] Providence : . . 
 The American Office, by Goddard & Mann, 1818. 8°, pp. 20. — Ath. 
 H. L. N. H. 
 
 620. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Edward Turner, Charlestown, Mass. 
 The I Substance of a Discourse, | delivered | at the Universalist 
 Meeting-House | in Charlestown, Mass. | April 13, 1815, | being the 
 day of I General Thanksgiving | for | the Return of Peace. . . . 
 [Prov. XXV. 25.] Charlestown: . . J. Howe,; 1815. 8°, pp. 16.— 
 An. L. 
 
 621. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Alvan Underwood, West Woodstock, Conn. 
 A I Discourse, | delivered at West Woodstock, | at the request of the 
 singers of the parish ; | April 13th, 1815. | The day recommended for 
 National Thanksgiving | for | Peace. [Zeph. iii. 14, 15.] Hartford : 
 . . B. & T. Russell, 1815. 8°, pp. 16. — Ct. U. Y. 
 
 622. — 1815, Apr. 13. — Solomon Williams, Northampton, Mass. 
 Historical Sketch | of | Northampton, | from its first settlement: | 
 in a I Sermon, delivered on the I National Thanksgiving, | April 13, 
 1815. [Deut. xxxii. 7.] Northampton : . . . Hampshire Gazette Office? 
 W. W. Clapp — 1815. 8°, pp. 24. — Ath. Bo. H. L. M. 
 
INDEX OF BIBLIOGEAPHY. 
 
 Abbot, Abiel, 359, 396. 
 
 Abercrombie, James, 338, 520, 524. 
 
 Adams, Amos, 132, 173, 176. 
 
 Adams, Eliphalet, 55. 
 
 Adams, William, of Dedham, 15. 
 
 Adams, William, of New Loudon, 151. 
 
 Aiken, Solomon, 484. 
 
 Allen, James, 25. 
 
 Allen, John, 181. 
 
 Allen, Wilkes, 483. 
 
 Allin, James, 56, 63. 
 
 Allyn, John, 364. 
 
 Anderson, Rufus, 411. 
 
 Andrews, Jolm, 280. 
 
 Andrews, Samuel, 198. 
 
 Andrews, Samuel, of St. Andrews, N. B., 
 
 339. 
 Appleton, Jesse, 600. 
 Appleton, Nathaniel, 107, 143, 161, 177. 
 Apthorp, East, 156. 
 Austin, Samuel, 327, 485, 499, 525. 
 Avery, David, 221. 
 
 Backus, Charles, 256. 
 
 Bailey, Winthrop, 526. 
 
 Baker, Daniel, 61, 62. 
 
 Baldwin, Ebenezer, 189, 208. 
 
 Baldwin, Tliomas, 281, 376, 433. 
 
 Ballantine, William G., 447. 
 
 Barker, Joseph, 527. 
 
 Barnard, Edward, 158. 
 
 Barnard, John, of Andover, 68. 
 
 Barnard, John, of Marblehead, 50, 65. 
 
 Barnard, Thomas, 282, 324, 328. 
 
 Barton, Titus T., 500. 
 
 Bascom, Jonathan, 190. 
 
 Bates, Joshua, 568. 
 
 Batwell, Daniel, 199. 
 
 Bean, Joseph, 120. 
 
 Belcher, Joseph, 38. 
 
 Belknap, Jeremy, 340. 
 
 Bell, Benjamin, 528. 
 
 Beman, Nathan S, S., 529. 
 
 Bemis, Stephen, 530. 
 
 Billings, William, 83. 
 
 Blair, Samuel, 341. 
 
 Blatchford, Samuel, 601. 
 
 Blood, Mighill, 454. 
 
 Bogart, David S., 432. 
 
 Bracken, John, 283. 
 
 Bradford, Alden, 342. 
 
 Bradford, Ebenezer, 284, 313. 
 
 Bradstreet, Nathan, 602. 
 
 Braman, Isaac, 477. 
 
 Brewer, Daniel, 59. 
 
 Brockway, Thomas, 235. 
 
 Brown, Clark, 463, 473. 
 
 Brown, Francis, 501, 582. 
 
 Brown, John, 79. 
 
 Browne, Arthur, 125. 
 
 Browne, John, 179. 
 
 Buckmiuster, Joseph, 236, 323, 360. 
 
 Bucknam, Nathan, 92. 
 
 Bulkley, Edward, 10. 
 
 Burnap, Jacob, 380. 
 
 Bumham, Abraham, 586. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, 117. 
 
 Burt, John, 133. 
 
 Burton, Asa, 591. 
 
 Byles, Mather, 141. 
 
 Cabot, Marston, 84, 86. 
 
 Camp, Samuel, 365. 
 
 Caner, Henry, 157. 
 
 Cary, Samuel, 574. 
 
 Caryl, Benjamin, 174. 
 
 Catlin, Jacob, 502. 
 
 Champion, Judah, 178. 
 
 Chandler, James, 171 . 
 
 Chandler, Samuel, 139. 
 
 C banning, Henry, 277. 
 
 Channing, William E., 478, 503, 531. 
 
 Chaplin, Daniel, 592. 
 
 Chauncy, Charles, 95, 98, 167. 
 
 Checkley, Samuel, 97. 
 
 Cheever, Thomas, 60. 
 
 Church, John H., 440, 479, 532. 
 
 Churchill, Silas, 603. 
 
 Clark, Joseph, 521. 
 
 Clark, Peter, 90. 
 
 Clark, Pitt, 285. 
 
 Cleveland, John, 533. 
 
 Cobb, Oliver, 566. 
 
 Coffin, Charles, 604. 
 
 Colman, Benjamin, 43, 44, 45, 58, 66, 81, 
 
 87. 
 Colman, Henry, 534. 
 Cook, Rozel, 237. 
 Cooke, Samuel, 228. 
 Coombe, Thomas, 200. 
 Cooper, Samuel, 131. 
 Cooper, William, 58. 
 Cotton, John, of Halifax, 126. 
 Cotton, John, of Newton, 69. 
 Cradock, Thomas, 104. 
 Crafts, Thomas, 425. 
 Crane, John, 401. 
 Cumings, Henry, 170, 210, 238, 329, 366, 
 
 405. 
 Cummings, Abraham, 881. 
 Currie, William, 105. 
 Curtis, Jonathan, 605. 
 Cushman, Joshua, 434, 606. 
 Cutler, Manasseh, 382. 
 
600 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Dana, Daniel, 383, 562. 
 
 Dana, James, 448. 
 
 Dana, Joseph, 286, 384, 451. 
 
 Dana, Samuel, 469. 
 
 Danforth, John, 35, 71. 
 
 Danforth, Samuel, of Roxbury, 4. 
 
 Danforth, Samuel, of Taunton, 48. 
 
 Davenport, John, 5. 
 
 Deane, Samuel, 287. 
 
 Dehon, Theodore, 446. 
 
 Dexter, Samuel, 88. 
 
 Dickenson, Pliny, 575. 
 
 Dodd, Bethuel, 322. 
 
 Dow, Moses, 535, 569. 
 
 Duche, Jacob, 201. 
 
 Duffield, George, 239. 
 
 Dunbar, Samuel, 116, 182. 
 
 Dunn, Thomas, 267. 
 
 Dwight, Timothy, 222, 504, 536. 
 
 Eaton, Peter, 397. 
 
 Eckley, Joseph, 367. 
 
 Eliot, Andrew, 115, 134. 
 
 Eliot, Jared, 101. 
 
 Eliot, John, 271. 
 
 Ellis, Ferdinand, 505. 
 
 Emerson, Brown, 506, 537. 
 
 Emerson, Joseph, 140, 168. 
 
 Emmons, Nathaniel, 330, 343, 385, 402, 
 
 406, 412, 417, 435, 580, 607. 
 Evans, Israel, 223, 229, 240. 
 Evans, J., 96. 
 
 Fairbank, Drury, 429, 482. 
 
 Fish, Elisha, 163. 
 
 Fish, Joseph, 119. 
 
 Ffske, Abel, 361. 
 
 Fiske, John, 538. 
 
 Fiske, Nathan, 183. 
 
 Fiske, Thaddeus, 288. 
 
 Fitch, James, 11. 
 
 Fletcher, Nathaniel H., 563. 
 
 Forbes, Eli, 144. 
 
 Foster, Edmund, 474, 608. 
 
 Foster, Festus, 490. 
 
 Foster, John, 441, 486, 593. 
 
 Foxcroft, Thomas, 121, 145. 
 
 Freeman, James, 331. 
 
 Freeman, Jonathan, 358. 
 
 French, Jonathan, of Andover, 368. 
 
 French, Jonathan, of No. Hampton, 423, 
 
 539. 
 Frink, Samuel, 153. 
 Frisbie, Levi, 289, 377. 
 
 Gardiner, John S. J., 455, 465, 481, 
 
 495, 507. 
 Gardner, Francis, 316. 
 Gay, Bunker, 259. 
 Gay, Ebenezer, 180. 
 Giles, John, 540. 
 Gillet, Eliphalet, 317, 386, 436, 456, 487, 
 
 491, 541. 
 Gookin, Nathaniel, 72. 
 Gordon, William, 191, 192. 
 Gould, Vinson, 414. 
 Gray, James, 468. 
 Gray, Robert, 362. 
 
 Green, Ashbel, 290, 344. 
 Green, Jacob, 202. 
 
 Hale, Enoch, 426. 
 Hall, David, 146. 
 Harris, Matthias, 127. 
 Harris, Thaddeus M., 345, 452. 
 Harris, Walter, 387, 561. 
 Hart, Oliver, 258. 
 Haven, Jason, 128. 
 Hazlitt, William, 253. 
 Hilliard, Timothy, 184. 
 Hobart, John H., 609. 
 Holcomb, Reuben, 508. 
 Holman, Nathan, 492. 
 Holmes, Abiel, 291, 388, 470. 
 Holmes, Sylvester, 589. 
 Hooke, William, 2, 3. 
 Hotchkiss, Frederick W., 260. 
 Hubbard, William, 23. 
 Huntington, Asahel, 475. 
 Huntington, Enoch, 203. 
 Hyde, Alvau, 332. 
 
 Inglis, James, 460. 
 
 Jarvis, Samuel F., 610. 
 Johns, Evan, 421. 
 Johnson, Stephen, 159. 
 Jones, David, 204. 
 
 Keith, James, 48. 
 Kendal, Samuel, 292. 
 King, Walter, 321. 
 Kirkland, John T., 346. 
 Kunze, Johann C, 241. 
 
 Langdon, Samuel, 137. 
 Lansing, Dirick C, 449. 
 Lathrop, John, 193, 249, 272, 389, 466, 
 
 493, 509, 542, 611. 
 Lathrop, Joseph, 255, 293, 334, 418, 457, 
 
 488. 
 Latta, John E., 461, 543, 576, 594, 612. 
 Laurence, Nathaniel, 544. 
 Lee, Andrew, 214. 
 Leland, John, 407. 
 Leonard, Abiel, 172. 
 Lewis, Arazi, 278. 
 Lewis, Isaac, 564. 
 Linn, William, 320, 347. 
 Lock wood, James, 155. 
 Lyman, Gershom C, 545. 
 Lyman, Joseph, 194, 265, 437. 
 
 Maccarty, Thaddeus, 130, 185, 211. 
 
 Madison, James, 230, 294. 
 
 Mansfield, Isaac, 212. 
 
 Marsh, John, 242. 
 
 Mason, John M., 264, 295. 
 
 Mason, Thomas, 374, 438. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 
 
 40, 46, 53. 
 Mather, Increase, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 22, 
 
 34, 51, 52. 
 Matthews, John, 546. 
 May, Hezekiah, 415. 
 Mayhew, Jonathan, 129, 135, 147, 154, 162. 
 
INDEX OF BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 601 
 
 McCorkle, Samuel E., 296, 348. 
 
 McFarland, Asa, 363. 
 
 McKean, Joseph, 583. 
 
 McKeen, Joseph, 261, 349, 408. 
 
 McKuight, John, 297. 
 
 McLeod, Donald, 494. 
 
 Mead, Samuel, 547. 
 
 Mellen, John, of Barnstable, 273. 
 
 MeUen, John, of Sterling, 148, 298. 
 
 Merrill, Daniel, 613. 
 
 Messer, Asa, 369. 
 
 Miller, Samuel, 350, 375. 
 
 Miller, WiUiam F., 422. 
 
 Mills, Edmund, 450. 
 
 Miltimore, James, 496. 
 
 Mitchell, Edward, 595, 614. 
 
 Montgomery, Joseph, 205. 
 
 Moore, Humphrey, 443, 548, 596. 
 
 Moore, Zephaniah S., 325. 
 
 Morrill, Nathaniel, 73. 
 
 Morse, Jedidiah, 299, 351, 370, 390, 510. 
 
 Morse, John, 615. 
 
 Murray, John, 224, 243, 300. 
 
 Norton, Jacob, 590. 
 Noyes, Nathaniel, 250. 
 Noyes, Thomas, 471. 
 
 Oakes, Urian, 19. 
 
 Osgood, David, 244, 274, 301, 318, 352, 
 391. 
 
 Packaed, Hezekiah, 302, 379. 
 
 Paige, Reed, 549. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, 70. 
 
 Palmer, Benjamin M., 587. 
 
 Parish, Elijah, 439, 458, 489, 511, 570, 
 
 584. 
 Parkinson, William, 550. 
 Patten, William, of Halifax, 169. 
 Patten, William, of Newport, 251. 
 Payson, Edward, 74. 
 Payson, Phillips, 91. 
 Payson, Seth, 444, 616. 
 Perkins, Nathan, 512. 
 Phillips, Samuel, 75. 
 Popkin, John S., 581, 617. 
 Porter, David, 400. 
 Porter, Eliphalet, 245, 353. 
 Porter, Huntington, 551. 
 Prentice, Thomas, 99, 108. 
 Prentiss, Thomas, 552. 
 Prince, John, 354. 
 Prince, Thomas, 49, 67, 82, 100, 102, 103, 
 
 112. 
 Proudfit, Alexander, 464. 
 
 Richardson, Joseph, 480, 571. 
 Robbins, Thomas, 597. j 
 
 Roby, Joseph, 226, 269. 
 Rodgers, John, 246. 
 Rogers, John, 76. 
 Romeyn, John B., 462. 
 Ross, Robert, 209. 
 Rowan, Stephen N., 522. 
 Rowland, David S., 164, 186. 
 Rowland, Henry A., 403. 
 Rowlandson, Joseph, 16. 
 
 Sampson, Ezra, 206, 303. 
 
 Seixas, Gershom, 258 a, 355. 
 
 Sewall, Joseph, 57, 77, 89, 94. 
 
 Sherwood, Samuel, 189, 215. 
 
 Skillman, Isaac, 181. 
 
 Smith, Aaron, 111. 
 
 Smith, Eli, 430. 
 
 Smith, Ethan, 476. 
 
 Smith, John, 326, 553, 567, 579, 618. 
 
 Smith, Robert, 231. 
 
 Smith, Samuel S., 279, 304. 
 
 Smith, William, 123, 207, 227, 232, 
 
 268. 
 Snell, Thomas, 513, 554. 
 Speece, Conrad, 555. 
 Spring, Samuel, 220, 266, 371, 472. 
 Stearns, Josiah, 219. 
 Stearns, William, 197. 
 Steele, Eliphalet, 572. 
 Stetson, Seth, 453. 
 Stevens, John H., 573, 585. 
 Stillman, Samuel, 160, 275, 392. 
 Stone, Eliab, 393. 
 Stone, Micah, 514. 
 Stone, Nathan, 149. 
 Story, Isaac, 195, 305. 
 Strong, Cyprian, 218. 
 Strong, Jonathan, 319. 
 Strong, Nathan, 225, 335, 337, 372, 404, 
 
 515. 
 Sumner, Joseph, 398. 
 Swift, John, 152. 
 Symmes, William, 175. 
 
 Taggaet, Samuel, 516, 556. 
 
 Tappan, David, 233, 262, 306, 336. 
 
 Taylor, John, 373. 
 
 Tennent, Gilbert, 106, 110, 113. 
 
 Thacher, Thomas, of Boston, 9. 
 
 Thacher, Thomas, of Dedham, 307, 459, 
 
 497. 
 Thacher, Thomas C, 276. 
 Thayer, John, 356. 
 Thayer, Nathaniel, 314, 557. 
 Thompson, Otis, 498, 558, 619. 
 Tomb, Samuel, 416, 419. 
 Townsend, Jonathan, of Medfield, 136. 
 Townsend, Jonathan, of Needham, 80. 
 Troop, Benjamin, 166. 
 Truair, John, 577, 588. 
 Trumbull, Benjamin, 247. 
 Tucker, James W., 598. 
 Tucker, John, 122, 124, 257. 
 TuUar, Martin, 399. 
 Turell, Ebenezer, 109. 
 Turner, Charles, 234. 
 Turner, Edward, 620. 
 Tyler, John, 308. 
 
 Underwood, Alvan, 621. 
 
 Van Vlierden, Petrus, 523. 
 
 Wadsworth, Benjamin, of Boston, 41, 
 
 42, 47, 54. 
 Wadsworth, Benjamin, of Danvers, 309, 
 
 333. 
 Walker, Samuel, 517, 599. 
 
602 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 Ware, Henry, 310. 
 
 Waterman, Jotham, 427, 467. 
 
 Webb, John, 85. 
 
 Webster, Josiah, 565. 
 
 Webster, Samuel, 187. 
 
 Weld, Ezra, 270, 394. 
 
 Weld, Ludovicus, 424. 
 
 West, Samuel, 252, 311. 
 
 West, Stephen, 409. 
 
 Wheelock, Eleazar, 213. 
 
 Wheelwright, John, 1, 
 
 Whelpley, Samuel, 578. 
 
 White, William, 254, 312, 395. 
 
 Whiting, Samuel, 55. 
 
 Whitney, Peter, of Northborough, 188. 
 
 Whitney, Peter, of Quincy, 518. 
 
 Wigglesworth, Samuel, 64, 118. 
 
 Wilder, John, 357, 445. 
 
 Willard, Joseph, 248. 
 
 Willard, Samuel, 6, 7, 18, 20, 21, 24, 30, 
 
 32, 36, 37. 
 Williams, Eliphalet, 142. 
 
 Williams, Nathan, 263. 
 Williams, Samuel, 196. 
 Williams, Solomon, of Lebanon, 93, 114. 
 
 138. . ' 
 
 Williams, Solomon, of Northampton, 
 
 442, 622. 
 Williams, William, of Hatfield, 39. 
 Williams, William, of Weston, 78. 
 Williston, Payson, 428. 
 Witherspoon, John, 216. 
 Witter, Ezra, 410. 
 Wood, Samuel, 431. 
 Woodman, Joseph, 420. 
 Woods, Leonard, 378. 
 Woodward, Samuel, 150. 
 Worcester, Leonard, 413. 
 Worcester, Noah, 559. 
 Worcester, Samuel, 519, 560. 
 Worcester, Thomas, 315. 
 Wright, Eliphalet, 217. 
 
 ZuBLY, John J., 165. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Adams, Rev. Eliphalet, 318, 319. 
 Adams, President John, 373, 375, 405. 
 Adams, Gov. Samuel, 364-370. 
 Adams, Rev. William, of Dedham, 213, 
 
 214. 
 "Admonition to the Parliament," 23, 
 
 36, 37. 
 Aiken, Rev. Solomon, 385. 
 Ainsworth, Henry, views of, 54, 57, 58, 
 
 60. 
 Allen, Rev. James, 181 n., 210, 233, 272 n. 
 Almanacs, 314, 315, 322, 348. 
 American Board, 383. 
 Amusements, on holy days, 16-27, 72, 
 
 163 ; on fast and thanksgiving days, 
 
 168, 169, 172, 396, 397, 417, 424, 428 ; 
 
 prohibited, 413-415. 
 Andros, Sir Edmund, 228-236, 270, 271, 
 
 447. 
 Antinomian Controversy, 114-128. 
 Appleton, Rev. Nathaniel, 331. 
 " Assassination Plot," 275. 
 Austin, Rev. Samuel, 392. 
 
 Baldwin, Rev. Ebenezer, 336. 
 
 Barnard, Rev. Thomas, 372. 
 
 Barnstable, church at. See Scituate. 
 
 Bemis, Rev. Stephen, 389 n. 
 
 Bible, Puritans influenced by, 40, 41. 
 
 *' Bishops' War," 154. 
 
 Bogardus, Dominie Everardus, 164-166. 
 
 " Book of Sports," 18-24, 40, 49. 
 
 Boston, town, 124, 148, 293, 305, 306, 
 317, 333, 334, 337 ; First Church, 92, 
 100, 101, 110, 116-128, 148, 149, 233, 
 270, 281, 282, 291 ; Second [North] 
 Church, 196, 197, 210, 211, 217, 218, 
 281, 290, 291 ; Third [South] Church, 
 200, 218, 225, 233, 260, 269, 274, 277, 
 281, 297, 317, 323-327, 333. 
 
 Bradford, Rev. Ebenezer, 370-373. 
 
 Bradford, Gov. William, 67, 72, 74, 97, 
 98, 129, 130. 
 
 Brewster, Elder William, 62, 80, 85, 86, 
 104 n., 456. 
 
 Browne, Robert, views of, 55, 56. 
 
 Bulkley, Rev. Edward, 198, 199. 
 
 Bullinger, Henry, views of, 32-34, 59. 
 
 Byles, Rev. Mather, 297 n. 
 
 Calvin, John, views of, 32-34. 
 Canada, conquest of, 299-313. 
 Cartwright, Thomas, follows practice 
 
 of Calvin, 32, 37 ; controversy with 
 
 Whitgift, 38. 
 Carver, Gov. John, 456-458. 
 Catechisms, use of, 208, 209, 219, 410. 
 
 Channing, Rev. WUliam E., 390, 392. 
 
 Charles I., 49, 147, 150, 228, 234-236. 
 
 Charles II., 52, 160, 161. 
 
 Charlestown, church in, 100, 101, 105. 
 
 Chauncy, Rev. Charles, 301 n., 302, 303, 
 332, 334. 
 
 Checkley, Rev. Samuel, 300. 
 
 Child, Robert, 158, 159. 
 
 Christian Year, 12, 16, 17, 28-39, 56, 60, 
 163, 351-353, 454, 455. 
 
 Christmas, heathen customs attached 
 to, 11, 12 ; English laws concerning, 
 13-15; observance of, in England, 
 24-26 ; at Geneva, 33, 34 ; Ainsworth's 
 opinion of, 57 ; honored in Holland, 56- 
 58 ; fasts on, 49, 89 ; in New Nether- 
 land, 163; in New England, 72, 73, 
 89, 227, 228, 417, 418, 454, 455. 
 
 Church, Captain Benjamin,~^Dl-204, 
 271-273. 
 
 Churches, keep installation fasts, 59 n., 
 97, 110, 221; appoint fast and 
 thanksgiving days, 56, 85, 108, 142, 
 145, 156, 221-224, 228-230, 241-244, 
 332 ; religious services of, 51, 81, 88, 
 97, 167, 168, 202, 203, 208, 209, 218. 
 
 " Churchman's Apology," 351-357. 
 
 Clap, Roger, 102, 104. 
 
 Clinton, Gov. De Witt, 407. 
 
 Cogswell, Rev. James, 297 n. 
 
 Colman, Rev. Benjamin, 296, 317. 
 
 Comets, influence of, 187-190. 
 
 Conant, Rev. Lawrence, 422 n. 
 
 Concord, church thanksgiving at, 198, 
 199. 
 
 Confessions, declarations concerning 
 Divine Providence, 41, 42 ; holy days, 
 34 ; occasional fast and thanksgiving 
 days, 55, 59 ; of Field and Wilcocks, 
 36, 55. 
 
 Congress, Continental, 175, 339-346, 
 399-402 ; national, 403-406. 
 
 Connecticut, early experiences, 129-146 ; 
 first public thanksgiving known in, 
 135, 136 ; first fast day, 136-139 ; 
 churches appoint days, 142, 145 ; 
 orders from civil authorities, 145 ; 
 monthly fasts, 157, 196, 201; de- 
 velopment of harvest thanksgiving 
 in, 245, 246 ; annual fast day of, 251 ; 
 sympathy with Massachusetts, 276, 
 277, 300 ; proclamations during the 
 Revolution, 334, 341, 342 ; Good Fri- 
 day fast in, 347-361, 452-454; laws 
 concerning fast and thanksgiving 
 days, 412-415 ; broadside proclama- 
 tions, 432, 440-442. 
 
604 
 
 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS. 
 
 Convocation of 1562, 31, 32, 35. 
 
 Cooper, Rev. Samuel, 311. 
 
 Cooper, Rev. William, 292, 294, 296. 
 
 Cotton, Rev. John, of Boston, 108 n., 
 115-127, 159, 188, 240. 
 
 Cotton, Rev. John, of Newton, 292-294. 
 
 Cotton, Rev. John, of Plymouth, 202- 
 204. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 149, 155, 159, 160. 
 
 Crops blasted, 179, 180, 283. 
 
 Customs relating to fast and thanks- 
 giving days, 416-429. 
 
 Danforth, Rev. John, of Dorchester, 
 
 260, 277, 278. 
 Danforth, Rev. Samuel, of Roxbury, 
 
 188, 189. 
 
 Danforth, Rev. Samuel, of Taunton, 
 
 260. 
 Dawson, Rev. Eli, 311. 
 Dexter, Rev. Henry M., 12, 71 n., 201 n. 
 Dorchester, church at, 100, 209, 212, 
 
 252, 276. 
 Droughts, list of, 319 n. ; fast days on 
 
 account of, 80-85, 107, 108, 146, 157, 
 
 178, 179, 190, 191, 227, 274, 281, 293, 
 
 306, 315, 319-327. 
 Dudley, Gov. Joseph, 275-279. 
 Dutch customs, in Holland, 64, 65 ; in 
 
 New Netherland, 162-176. 
 Dwight, Rev. Timothy, 344. 
 
 Earthquakes, list of, 285 n. ; in 1638, 
 136, 137; in 1727, 285-295; in 1744, 
 299 ; in 1755, 295-298, 300. 
 
 Easter, heathen origin of, 11, 12 ; Eng- 
 lish laws relating to, 13-15; in Hol- 
 land, 56; in New Netherland, 163; 
 in New England, 227, 351-357, 415, 
 454, 455. 
 
 Edward VL, 17. 
 
 Eells, Rev. John, 312 n. 
 
 Eliot, Rev. Jared, 303. 
 
 Eliot, Rev. John, 159, 160, 185, 186, 
 397. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, reforms of, 16 ; 
 tolerates desecration of the Sabbath, 
 18 ; opposition to abolishing saints' 
 days, 34, 35 ; orders fast and thanks- 
 giving days, 47. 
 
 Emerson, Rev. Joseph, 332. 
 
 Endicott, Gov. John, 96, 97, 115, 132, 
 
 189, 410. 
 
 England, holy days in, 11-39 ; fast and 
 thanksgiving days in, 40-53, 158, 234, 
 275, 311, 345; fasts for, 142, 144 n., 
 147-161, 275, 304; days ordered by, 
 175, 279, 311, 312, 380. 
 
 Episcopal Church, early reforms at- 
 tempted by, 17, 18 ; calendar of, 28- 
 32, 351-353 ; reformed bishops of, 30- 
 32, 35 ; preference for particular days 
 of the week, 92, 93; thanksgiving 
 service of, 78 ; festivals of, in New 
 England, 89, 90, 227, 228, 232-236, 
 347-361, 417-420 ; relation to fast 
 and thanksgiving days, 283, 284, 345- 
 361, 369, 370, 414, 415. 
 
 Fashions, Puritan objection to, 115, 128. 
 
 Fast Days, practice of (Occasional ap- 
 pointments, 40-47, 59, 60, 78, 79, 92 ; 
 among early Christians, 44 n. ; in 
 England, 40-53, 345 ; among the 
 Dutch, 64, 65, 162-176; annual ap- 
 pointment of, 44, 52, 79,239-241, 249- 
 255; services on, 50, 51, 81, 97, 167, 
 168, 208, 209, 218, 335, 415, 416 ; day 
 of the week preferred for, 92, 93, 99, 
 167 ; general in New England, 173 n., 
 198, 213 ; church appointments, 56, 
 85, 108, 142, 145, 150, 221-224, 228, 
 241, 411 ; civil authority for, 85, 87, 
 145, 223, 224, 237, 411 ; of religious 
 bodies, 124, 215, 381 ; of the Court, 
 209, 277, 280, 311, 381, 382; of a 
 private character, 36, 221, 256-258; 
 on installation occasions, 59 n., 97, 
 110, 221; lecture fasts, 302, 317; 
 for renewal of covenant, 207-220 ; 
 monthly, 49, 59, 157, 167, 172, 174, 
 196, 201 ; national appointments, 
 339-346, 373, 375, 381, 392, 393, 399- 
 409 ; changed to thanksgiving days, 
 105, 106, 178, 199, 315 n. ; customs 
 relating to, 416-420; Lord's Supper 
 on, 63 ; opposition to, 157, 200, 210, 
 229, 230, 263-269; disregarded, 148, 
 149, 158, 159, 227, 234, 337, 431 ; in- 
 effectual, 126, 127, 195-197 ; sanctity 
 of, 410-416; political character of, 
 362-394. 
 
 Fasting, compulsory, 12, 14 ; duration 
 of, 12, 04, 416 ; food saved by, 47 ; 
 Ainswortli and Robinson on, 60; in 
 New England, 416. 
 
 " Feast of Ingathering," 75, 76, 146. 
 
 Feasting, in England, 50, 51, 65; at 
 Leyden, 63-67 ; at Plymouth, 73-75 ; 
 in Bay Colony, 109, 135 ; of the Scit- 
 uate Church, 88, 89 ; development of, 
 in New England, 421-429. 
 
 " Feasts of Christ," 28-37, 56-58, 454, 
 
 Field* John, 36, 37, 55. 
 
 Fiske, Rev. Nathan, 312 n. 
 
 Fitch, Rev. James, 108 n., 193, 207-211. 
 
 Floods, 144, 169. 
 
 Food, scarcity of, 79-86, 102-109, 141, 
 
 142, 283. 
 Forward, Rev. Justus, 312 n. 
 Foxcroft, Rev. Thomas, 288, 291, 292. 
 
 Gage, Gov. Thomas, 335. 
 
 Gardiner, Rev. John S. J., 369, 384, 392. 
 
 Geneva, practice at, 33, 34. 
 
 Gerry, Gov. Elbridge, 384-391. 
 
 Good Friday, observance of, in Eng- 
 land, 28-39 ; in Connecticut, 347-361, 
 452-454 ; in Massachusetts, 369, 370, 
 448-451; in New Hampshire, 348, 
 451 ; in New Netherland, 163 ; in Vir- 
 ginia, 157. 
 
 Gookin, Rev. Nathaniel, 288. 
 
 Gordon, Rev. William, 336, 337. 
 
 Green, Rev. Ashbel, 372. 
 
 Greeuhalge, Gov. Frederic T., 447-451. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 605 
 
 Griswold, Gov. Roger, 392. 
 " Guy Fawkea's Day," 47, 48, 52, 89, 228, 
 419, 420. 
 
 Hale, Rev. John, 257-260. 
 
 Hall, Joseph, Bishop, 57. 
 
 Hart, Rev. Levi, 338. 
 
 Hartford First Church, fasts and thanks- 
 givings of, 132, 134-136, 140-142 ; cov- 
 enanting practice of, 207-211. 
 
 Harvest Festival, at Plymouth, 68-77 ; 
 in Bay Colony, 103, 108 ; development 
 of, 68, 239-249, 395-409. 
 
 Harvest Home of England, 76, 77. 
 
 Harvests, days relating to, 45, 46, 70-76, 
 80-86, 107, 108, 145, 146, 170, 179-183, 
 283. 
 
 Haven, Rev. Jason, 310. 
 
 Henry VIII., reforms of, 16, 17. 
 
 Higginson, Rev. Francis, voyage of, 94- 
 96. 
 
 Holmes, Rev. Abiel, 389 n. 
 
 Holy Days, number of, 12 ; judicial hol- 
 idays, 14, 15, 163 ; diminished, 16, 17, 
 29. 
 
 Hooke, Rev. William, 149-156. 
 
 Hooker, Rev. Thomas, views of, 59, 60 ; 
 at Cambridge Synod, 124 ; removal to 
 Connecticut, 128 ; on immigration, 
 138, 142; sermons of, 132, 136, 140- 
 142 ; his death, 185. 
 
 Hubbard, Rev. WiUiam, 200. 
 
 Huit, Rev. Ephraim, 140 n., 145 n., 146. 
 
 Huntington, Gov. Samuel, 350-359. 
 
 Hutchinson, Mrs. Ann, 117-125. 
 
 Hutchinson, Gov. Thomas, 333. 
 
 Indians, at the Pilgrim feast, 71, 73; 
 astonished at answers to prayer, 82, 
 108 n. ; smallpox among. 111 ; allies of 
 English, 132, 133; treaty with, 140, 
 141 ; plant corn, 145 ; massacres by, 
 157, 165, 192-200; killed by whites, 
 166, 198, 199; wars with, 192-204; 
 270-284; 299-313, 371; observe fast 
 and thanksgiving days, 247 n., 395- 
 398. 
 
 Insects, crops injured by, 107, 180-183, 
 228,281,321-325. 
 
 Ireland, fast for, 153-156. 
 
 Jacob, Henry, 54, 59. 
 
 James I., issues "Book of Sports," 18- 
 
 21. 
 Jarvis, Abraham, Bishop, 360. 
 Jay, Gov. John, 407 n. 
 Jews, fasts and feasts of, 41, 75, 76, 146. 
 Johnson, President Andrew, 408. 
 Johnson, Rev. Stephen, 330. 
 
 Kieft, Gov. William, 164-166. 
 Knox, John, 32, 37. 
 
 Labor, restrictions of, 12, 13, 17; pro- 
 hibited on fast and thanksgiving days, 
 411-415. 
 
 Laud, William, Archbishop, 139, 147, 
 152. 
 
 Laws, relating to holy seasons, 13-20 ; 
 appointment of days, 87, '88, 145; ob- 
 servance, 168 n., 349, 410-416; re- 
 formation of morals, 205-207, 219, 220, 
 268. 
 
 Lent, 14, 44, 60, 249, 351-354, 418. 
 
 Lincoln, President Abraham, 407-409. 
 
 Lothrop, Rev. John, 54, 60, 87-89. 
 
 Madison, President James, 392-394, 405, 
 406. 
 
 Maine, practice in, 277, 379, 451. 
 
 Mary, Queen, 18, 46. 
 
 Masonic societies, 374-377. 
 
 Massachusetts, early practice in, 91, 92, 
 96-101, 221-224, 237, 239-241 ; devel- 
 opment of harvest thanksgiving in, 
 239-241, 246-249 ; annual fast day of, 
 239-241, 251-255 ; monthly fasts, 282 ; 
 later practice in, 381, 381 n. ; Good 
 Friday fast favored in, 369, 370 ; po- 
 litical character of fast day services 
 in, 302-394 ; laws concerning fast and 
 thanksgiving days, 411-414; broad- 
 side proclamations, 433-440 ; abolishes 
 fast day, 446-451. 
 
 Mather, Rev. Cotton, writes proclama- 
 tions, 223, 225, 272 ; rejected procla- 
 mations of, 253, 265-268 ; Jiis relation 
 to witchcraft, 257-268 ; on earthquake 
 of 1727, 287-293 ; sermons of, 252, 261, 
 262, 272 n., 317, 418. 
 
 Mather, Rev. Increase, writes proclama- 
 tions, 197, 212, 215-217, 229 ; encour- 
 ages fasts, 194-198 ; his efforts for a 
 reformation, 205-220; rebuked by 
 Andros, 229, 230 ; on May Day, 418 ; 
 sermons of, 209, 212, 213, 282. 
 
 May, twenty-ninth of, 48, 52, 419. 
 
 May Day, games of, 20-23 ; at Merry 
 Mount, 89, 90 ; in New England, 228, 
 418 ; in New Netherland, 163. 
 
 Mayhew, Rev. Jonathan, 297 n., 310, 
 331, 332. 
 
 McKnight, Rev. John, 372. 
 
 Michaelius, Rev. Jonas, 164. 
 
 Ministers, write proclamations, 221-224, 
 338 n. ; make appointments, 225, 226, 
 335; further reformation, 205-220; 
 resist Andros, 228-230, 237, 238; re- 
 lation to witchcraft, 256-269; views 
 on droughts, 325-327 ; patriotism of, 
 329-346; preach politics, 362-394; 
 move to abolish fast day in Massachu- 
 setts 448 
 
 Moody,' Rev. Samuel, 303. 
 
 Morris, Rev. Benj. F., 408. 
 
 Morse, Rev. Jedidiah, 368-378, 392. 
 
 New Hampshire, practice in, 235, 246, 
 276, 282, 301, 302, 335, 379, 380, 451 ; 
 monthly fasts in, 282 ; Good Friday 
 fasts observed in, 348 ; laws relating 
 to fast and thanksgiving days, 412- 
 414 ; broadside proclamations, 443. 
 
 New Haven Colony, fast and thanks- 
 giving days in, 157, 173, 174 ; laws of, 
 412, 413. 
 
606 FAST AND THANKSGIVING DAYS, 
 
 New Netherland, observes fast and 
 thanksgiving days, 163-176. 
 
 Newspapers print proclamations, 278 n., 
 432, 438. 
 
 New Year's Day, 163. 
 
 New York, 175, 307, 353, 442, 443. 
 
 Non-conformists, Sabbath esteemed by, 
 12-21 ; oppose the keeping of saints' 
 days, 35-39 ; views of, 43, 44 ; prac- 
 tices of, 91-98. 
 
 Norwich, church at, 207-209. 
 
 Osgood, Rev. David, 240, 365-378. 
 
 Parish, Rev. Elijah, 385-392. 
 
 Parker, Matthew, Archbishop, 31, 32. 
 
 Parris, Rev. Samuel, 256-259. 
 
 Patriots' Day, 337, 338, 447-451. 
 
 Patten, Rev. William, 332. 
 
 Peace, thanksgivings for, 134-136, 167, 
 169, 170, 174, 192, 193, 201-204, 311, 
 346, 394. 
 
 Peirce, Captain William, brings relief, 
 103-106. 
 
 Pemberton, Rev. Ebenezer, 333. 
 
 Pennsylvania, 175, 304, 353. 
 
 Pequot War, 123 n., 131-136. 
 
 Peter, Hugh, 59, 60, 116, 118, 151, 158. 
 
 Philip, Indian king, war with, 192-204. 
 
 Phips, Sir William, 236, 237, 253, 254, 
 264, 272. 
 
 Pigeons, 183. 
 
 Pilgrims, fasts of, at Leyden, 61-67 ; 
 land at Plymouth, 69, 456-458 ; early 
 practices of, at Plymouth, 68-90 ; fel- 
 lowship with Salem, 97, 98 ; sympa- 
 thize with the Bay Colony, 101. 
 
 Plymouth Colony, development of har- 
 vest thanksgiving in, 242-244 ; annual 
 fast day of, 250, 251, 254 ; covenanting 
 fasts in, 210, 211 ; laws relating to 
 fast and thanksgiving days, 87, 411- 
 413. 
 
 Popham colonists, 78. 
 
 Prayer, form of, 345 n. 
 
 Prentice, Rev. Thomas, 303. 
 
 Preparatory service, 218. 
 
 Prince, Rev. Thomas, 288, 294, 297, 298, 
 300-306, 323-327. 
 
 Proclamations, earliest form of, 85 ; dis- 
 tributed, 174 n., 176, 233-235, 431; 
 read from the pulpit, 222 ; broadside 
 prints of, 343, 344, 430-445 ; reprinted, 
 165-167, 170, 192, 216, 217, 231, 232, 
 266-268, 330, 339, 340, 395, 396, 400, 
 401. 
 
 Prodigies, 187-189. 
 
 Reformation, need of, 125, 169, 170, 177, 
 
 178, 199; movement for, 205-220; 
 
 after the witchcraft delusion, 266-268 ; 
 
 after the earthquake of 1727, 289-295. 
 Reformed churches, 56, 162, 163, 168. 
 Reforming Synod, 214. 
 Revolution, American, 328-346, 399-404, 
 
 439 440. 
 Rhode Island, practice in, 231, 230, 277, 
 
 380, 381 ; occasions observed by, 307, 
 
 308, 311, 329, 332, 334, 338 ; proclama- 
 tions, 443, 444. 
 
 Richardson, Rev. John, 194. 
 
 Robbins, Rev. Philemon, 331. 
 
 Robinson, John, views of, 54-67, 76. 
 
 Rowlandson, Rev. Joseph, 200, 201, 213. 
 
 Roxbury, church at, 110, 111, 178 n., 
 
 Russell, Gov. William E., 448, 449. 
 
 Sabbath, equality of saints' days with, 
 
 13-20 ; observance of, 15, 19, 20, 22-24, 
 
 168, 410, 411. 
 Saints' days, 12-24, 28-39, 57-60, 89, 90. 
 Salem, church at, 92, 96-98, 100, 101, 
 
 207, 228, 248 n., 257. 
 Salem Village, 256-259. 
 Scituate, church at, 54, 87-89, 135, 152, 
 
 243, 250, 421. 
 Scotland, fasts and thanksigivings in. 
 
 19 n., 32, 39. 
 Scottish church at Rotterdam, 58. 
 Seabury, Samuel, Bishop, 349-359. 
 Separatists, adopt Genevan system, 38, 
 
 39 ; practices in England, 55, 56, 65, 
 
 95. See Pilgrims. 
 Sewall, Rev. Joseph, 291, 294, 297. 
 Sewall, Judge Samuel, 225, 226, 247, 263- 
 
 269, 282, 423. 
 Sherwood, Rev. Samuel, 336. 
 Ships, thanksgiving for arrival of, 109- 
 
 111 ; days disregarded by, 148, 149, 
 
 157. 
 Shrovetide, 57, 165, 228, 417. 
 Sickness, fasts on account of, 100, 125, 
 
 157, 169, 171, 183-187, 190, 274. 
 SmaUpox, 95, 96, 111, 142, 143, 174, 186, 
 
 213, 271, 273. 
 Smith, Rev. Aaron, 322, 323. 
 Smith, Rev. Samuel S., 371. 
 Smyth, John, 54, 57, 58. 
 Snowstorms, 141 n., 315-319. 
 Stamp Act, 328-333. 
 States, Southern and Western, 395-398, 
 
 407, 408 n. 
 Stillman, Rev. Samuel, 331, 368. 
 Stone, Rev. Samuel, 132-134. 
 Storms cause fast days, 126, 127, 169, 
 
 178, 315-319. 
 Strong, Gov. Caleb, 391, 392. 
 Stuyvesant, Gov. Peter, 168-173. 
 Sullivan, Gov. James, 368. 
 Sumner, Rev. Joseph, 333. 
 Supernatural phenomena, 187, 195, 199. 
 Synod, Cambridge, 135, 136 ; Reforming, 
 
 214-217. 
 
 Tappan, Rev. David, 370, 372, 375. 
 
 Taylor, President Zachary, 406. 
 
 *' Thanksgiving Book," 47. 
 
 Thanksgiving Days, practice of occa- 
 sional appointments, 40-47, 59, 60, 78, 
 79, 92, 226, 247 ; among early Chris- 
 tians, 44 n. ; in England, 40-53, 158, 
 234, 275, 311 ; among the Dutch, 64, 
 65, 162-176 ; annual appointment of, 
 44, 52, 79, 89, 175, 239-249 ; services 
 on, 50, 51, 88, 167, 168, 202, 203, 357, 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 607 
 
 415, 421^24, 427 ; general in New- 
 England, 135, 136, 231 ; church ap- 
 pointments, 56, 85, 145, 221-224, 228- 
 230, 241-244, 332; civil authority for, 
 85, 87, 145, 223, 224, 237, 411 ; of a 
 private character, 221 ; monthly, 201 ; 
 national appointments, 339-344, 349, 
 350, 364, 370, 393, 395-409; changed 
 to fast days, 292 ; omitted, 198, 214, 
 225; on Sunday, 78, 232-234; disre- 
 garded, 231, 232 ; customs relating to, 
 420-429; sanctity of, 410-416; feast 
 of, 50, 51, 65, 73-75, 88, 89, 109, 135, 
 421-429. 
 
 Treadwell, Gov. John, 383. 
 
 Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, 341, 342, 442. 
 
 Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, Jr., 359, 360. 
 
 UnderhiU, Captain John, 132, 133, 166. 
 
 Vane, Gov. Henry, 116-124, 127. 
 Vermont, 343, 381, 392, 444, 451. 
 Virgmia, 93, 157, 304, 3^4, 407. 
 
 Wadsworth, Rev. Benjamin, 317, 318. 
 
 Wadsworth, Rev. Daniel, 299, 302 n., 
 303, 424. 
 
 War causes fast and thanksgiving days, 
 46, 111, 112, 119, 123, 131-136, 147-161, 
 165-167, 169-175, 192-204, 270-284, 
 299-313, 328-a46, 383-394, 407-409. 
 
 Warham, Rev. John, 136, 138-140, 143. 
 
 Washington, President George, 349, 350, 
 364, 370, 402, 403, 405. 
 
 Westminster " Directory for Public 
 Worship," 51. 
 
 Wethersfield, 131, 132, 140. 
 
 Wheelock, Rev. Eleazar, 341. 
 
 Wheel\*xight, Rev. John, 118-125. 
 
 White, William, Bishop, 372. 
 
 White, William, PUgrim, 456-458. 
 
 Whitgift, John, Archbishop, 37, 38. 
 
 Whitsuntide, 20, 22-24, 56, 163, 228, 
 454, 455. 
 
 Wigglesworth, Rev. Michael, 187, 190, 
 218. 
 
 Wilcocks, Thomas, 36, 37, 55. 
 
 Willard, Rev. Samuel, 189 n., 206 n., 
 217, 218, 233, 247, 260, 265, 274, 277, 
 278 
 
 Williams, Rev. Eliphalet, 296, 297. 
 
 Williams, Rev. John, 277, 278, 280. 
 
 WiUiams, Roger, 116, 117, 165. 
 
 Williams, Rev, Solomon, 312 n. 
 
 Williams, Rev. William, 294. 
 
 Wilson, Rev. John, 106 n.,108n., 110, 
 117. 
 
 Windsor, settlement of, 129-131 ; fast 
 and thanksgiving days of, 134-140, 
 142-144. 
 
 Winslow, Gov. Edward, 70, 71, 79, 101. 
 
 Winslow, Gov. Josiah, 193. 
 
 Winthrop, Gov. John, voyage of, 98, 99 ; 
 makes first appointment, 101 ; fore- 
 sees scarcity, 103-106 ; arrival of his 
 family, 109 ; honored, 115 ; in Antino- 
 mian Controversy, 116-124; his view 
 of providences, 127, 148, 149, 180, 182, 
 187, 
 
 Winthrop, Professor John, 296-298. 
 
 Wiswall, Rev. Ichabod, 215. 
 
 Witchcraft, fasts relating to, 256-269. 
 
 Wolcott, Henry, note-book of, 136, 140, 
 142, 144, 145. 
 
 Wolcott, Gov. Oliver, 359. 
 
 Wolcott, Gov. Oliver, 2d, 366, 367, 371, 
 372, 376, 377. 
 
 Yellow fever, 186 n. 
 
 Zodiacal light, 190. 
 Zurich, 30, 33, 34. 
 
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