POLITICAL SERMONS OF THE AMERICAN FOUNDING ERA 1730–1805
This book is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.
The cuneiform inscription that serves as our logo and as a design element in Liberty Fund books is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
© 1998 by Liberty Fund, Inc.
This eBook edition published in 2013.
eBook ISBNs:
Kindle 978-1-61487-018-0
E-PUB 978-1-61487-136-1
To the Pulpit, the Puritan Pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our independence.
John Wingate Thornton
This principle, that a whole nation has a right to do whatever it pleases, cannot in any sense whatever be admitted as true. The eternal and immutable laws of justice and morality are paramount to all human legislation. The violation of those laws is certainly within the power of a nation, but it is not among the rights of nations.
John Quincy Adams
Contents
Volume 1
Editor’s Note to the 1998 Edition
1 GOVERNMENT THE PILLAR OF THE EARTH [1730]
2 NINEVEH’S REPENTANCE AND DELIVERANCE [1740]
3 THE ESSENTIAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF PROTESTANTS [1744]
4 BRITAIN’S MERCIES, AND BRITAIN’S DUTIES [1746]
5 CIVIL MAGISTRATES MUST BE JUST, RULING IN THE FEAR OF GOD [1747]
6 THE MEDIATORIAL KINGDOM AND GLORIES OF JESUS CHRIST [1756]
7 THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE [1760]
10 AN ORATION UPON THE BEAUTIES OF LIBERTY [1773]
11 AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY [1773]
12 SCRIPTURAL INSTRUCTIONS TO CIVIL RULERS [1774]
13 A CALM ADDRESS TO OUR AMERICAN COLONIES [1775]
John Wesley
14 A CONSTITUTIONAL ANSWER TO WESLEY’S CALM ADDRESS [1775]
Anonymous
15 AMERICA’S APPEAL TO THE IMPARTIAL WORLD [1775]
Moses Mather
16 THE CHURCH’S FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS [1776]
Samuel Sherwood
17 THE DOMINION OF PROVIDENCE OVER THE PASSIONS OF MEN [1776]
John Witherspoon
18 THE BIBLE AND THE SWORD [1776]
John Fletcher
19 GOD ARISING AND PLEADING HIS PEOPLE’S CAUSE [1777]
Abraham Keteltas
20 DIVINE JUDGMENTS UPON TYRANTS [1778]
Jacob Cushing
21 A SERMON ON THE DAY OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION [1780]
Samuel Cooper
22 A SERMON PREACHED AT LEXINGTON ON THE 19TH OF APRIL [1781]
Henry Cumings
Chronology 1782–1788