urally grew out of these irritating cases of misdemeanor. We have argued that whatever judicial proceedings of our forefathers are called intolerant, were either dictated by the law of self-preservation; or by the spirit of the age, rather than by the temper of the men.

Our fathers were the first to emerge from that deep and wide-spread pool of persecution for conscience sake, under which the world had stagnated during ages of Popish oppression. Nor will men of sense be astonished, if, at their first coming forth from the miry brink, they dripped for a while with the ooze from which they were escaping. Soon they purged themselves from these last remaining impurities: and became the spotless champions of the freedom of the human mind.

And here we rest our defence of that noble race of men, the Puritans; of whom, their bitter enemy, the historian Hume was compelled to own, "that for all the liberty of the English constitution that nation is indebted to the Puritans."

But why speak we of defending these wor thies, who stand impregnable, at a lofty height of goodness unassailable by their weak and dwarfish detractors. They were men, the blest consequences of whose heroic and holy exer

tions must occupy the pen of history, "to the last syllable of recorded time," and whose virtues must be resounded as with angels' trumpets to the ends of the world. Let us praise the grace of God in them. Be it ever owned as one of our chief debts to a bounteous Heaven, that it gave us this godly ancestry. Whoever shall dishonor such a parentage, may well expect the anathema of the Most High, to which all the people will say, Amen.

The topic we have been considering, teaches us to set a high estimate upon Christian charity. There is no virtue in which even good men have been so apt to be wanting. "This grace," says Warburton, "regulates and perfects all the other virtues; and is, itself, in no want of a reformer." It is this which draws together the bonds of union. It closes up the breaches of Zion, and joins her walls in impregnable strength. It teaches men to "love alike, though they may not think alike." We may hope that this heavenly temper is more generally spreading among all evangelical Christians at the present day. May the past ravages of the spirit of proscription and persecution stimulate the growth of this divine disposition among men, even as the ashes of the herbage over which the

fire has passed promotes the springing of a fairer and tenderer growth.

The subject which has been before us, inspires us with confidence in the indestructible nature of truth. No force can keep it down. The blasts of opposition only blow each spark of it into a flame. Like the gold of Ophir, the fiery furnace can but purge out its alloy, and prove its worth. The very shreds and filings of truth are precious. It is the treasure of eternity, and the currency of heaven. It is the light of immortality, and the breath of angels. It is the sceptre of Jesus, and is of the essence of godhead. How vain the efforts of earth and hell to suppress it, or distort it into shapes of falsehood. It rises again in its original beauty, and defies the power of corruption. It must triumph in the end.

"The destined hour must come,

When it shall blaze with sun-surpassing splendor,
And the dark mists of prejudice and falsehood
Fade in its strong effulgence."

Meanwhile let us venerate our fathers for the sacrifices they so cheerfully made for the truth they loved, and which they felt in their hearts like a life that could not die. To permit their sufferings in behalf of principle to be forgotten, would wrong posterity, which needs to see their

example and the reverence it inspires. "To go on the forlorn hope of truth," as they did, "is a service of peril. Who will undertake it, if it be not also a service of honor?"

The memory of the Pilgrims should awaken our gratitude for the noble legacy of liberty. Of all the rich heritage they have left us, this is the chief blessing. They learned its value by what it cost to win it. And how are we, in these times of peaceful enjoyment of the wealthy bequest,-how are we to estimate its worth, except by recurring to the price they had to pay to obtain it. Let us be thankful to God who conferred it upon them, and through them, transmitted the inestimable boon to us. An eloquent writer has said of religious liberty;— "Human agency is insufficient to extinguish it. Oceans may overwhelm it. Mountains may press it down. But, like the earth's central fires, its own violent and unconquerable force will heave both sea and land, and some time or other, and in some place or other, the volcano will burst forth, and blaze to heaven."

To the young men and young women of New England may this humble vindication of our pilgrim sires not prove unacceptable or unavailing. May they never feel ashamed of that noble stock whence they are sprung, nor ever

prove recreant to the principles and faith of their ancestors. May they emulate the virtues of the sainted dead, and add fresh laurels to their urns, and cover their lineage with new honors. May they be, not only the sons and daughters of the Pilgrims, but pilgrims themselves in very deed, following the same bright path through the dark and dreary wilds of earth, in radiant progress to a glorious home in heaven.