Winthrop's The Plantation in New England

John Winthrop - January 12, 1587 - March 26, 1649


John Winthrop was a principal figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As an English Puritan lawyer, he led the first wave of English immigrants in 1630 who settled in the New World. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the first major settlement after the Plymouth Colony. He served as Governor of Massachusetts Bay for twelve of the first twenty years of the colonies existence. Winthrop saw the Puritan colony as a 'city upon a hill' bringing inspiration and vision to the development of the new English colony. His family was a wealthy landowning merchants. He was trained as a lawyer and became Lord of the Manor at Groton in Suffolk.


Winthrop did not participate in the founding of the colony in 1628 but became involved with the colony the following year. King Charles I was anti-Puritan and began to suppress Nonconformist Protestants. Winthrop was elected to the post of Governor and traveled to the New World in April of 1630. Winthrop led a group of colonies ts to the North American continent who founded a number of local communities in Massachusetts Bay and the Charles River.


Winthrop served twelve terms as governor from 1629 until his death in 1649. He became a profound inflence upon the conservative religious community and a force for compatitive modernization. Winthrop clased with Thomas Dudley who was more conservative. He also clashed with liberals such as Roger Williams and Henry Vane.


His son John became a founder of the Connecticut Colony. The Plantation in New England is a most historical account of life in the early colonial period in America.

The grounds of settling a plantation in New England

     First, The propagation of the Gospel to the Indians. Wherein first the importance of the work tending to the enlargement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and winning them out of the snare of the devil and converting others of them by their means.

     Secondly, The possibility of attaining it, God having by his word manifested his will for the spreading of the Gospel to all nations, and intercourse of trade having opened a passage, and made a way for commerce with the East and West Indies and divers plantations of the Dutch and English being settled in several parts of those countries and the ill conditions of the times being likely to furnish those plantations with better members than usually have undertaken that work in former times.

1. The consideration of our own condition like unto theirs in times past.
2. The advantages and benefits we may receive from those parts challenging the rendering of spiritual things for their temporal.
3. The diligence of the Papists in propagating their Religion and suspicion and enlarging the kingdom of Antichrist thereby with all the manifest hazards of their persons and deep engagements of their estates. Reasons to be considered for justifying the undertakers of the intended plantation in New England and for encouraging such whose hearts God shall move to join with them in it:

     First, It will be a service to the Church of great consequence to carry the Gospel into those parts of the world, to help on the coming in of fullness of the Gentiles and to raise a bulwark against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits labour to rear up in those parts.

2. All other Churches of Europe are brought to desolation and of sins for which the Lord begins already to frown upon us, do threaten us fearfully, and who knows but that God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the general calamity, and seeing the Church hath no place left to flee
into but the wilderness what better work can there be, than to go before and provide Tabernacles, and food for her, against she cometh thither.

3.This land grows weary of her inhabitants, so as man who is the most precious of all creatures is here more vile and base than the earth we tread upon, and of less price among us, than a horse or a sheep, masters are forced by authority to entertain servants, parents to maintain their own children, all towns complain of the burden of their poor though we have taken up many unnecessary, yea, unlawful trades to maintain them.

4.The whole earth is the Lord’s garden and he hath given it to the sons of men, with a general condition, Gen: l.28. Increase and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it, which was again renewed to Noah, the end is double moral and natural that man might enjoy the fruits of the earth and God might have his due glory from the creature, why then should we stand here striving for places of habitation, (many men spending as much labour and cost to recover or keep sometimes an acre or two of land as would procure them many hundred as good or better in another country) and in the meantime suffer a whole Continent, as fruitful and convenient for the use of man to lie waste without any improvement.

5.We are grown to that height of intemperance in all excess of riot, as no man’s estate almost will suffice to keep sail with his equals, and he who fails herein must live in scorn and contempt, hence it comes that all arts and trades are carried in that deceitful and unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good and
upright man to maintain his charge and live comfortably in any of them.

6.The fountains of learning and religion are so corrupted (as beside the unsupportable charge of the education) most children (even the best wits and fairest hopes) are perverted...

7.What can be a better work and more honorable and worthy a Christian than to help raise and support a particular church while it is in the infancy and to join his forces with such a company of faithful people as by a timely assistance may grow strong and prosper, and for want of it may be put to great hazard, if not wholely
ruined…The Lord revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets, it is likely he hath some great work in hand which he hath revealed to his prophets among us, whom he hath stirred up to encourage his servants to this plantation for he doth not use to seduce his people by his own Prophets, but commits that office to the ministry of false prophets and lying spirits…

Cotton Mather's Life of William Bradford

 From the Magnalia Christi Americana

…And the Lord accordingly brought them at last safe unto their desired haven: and not long after helped their distressed relations thither after them, where indeed they found upon almost all accounts a new world, but a world in which they found that they must live like strangers and pilgrims.

     Among those devout people was our William Bradford, who was born Anno Domini 1588(9), in an obscure village called Austerfield, where the people were as un-acquainted with the Bible, as the Jews do seem to have been with part of it in the days of Josiah; a most ignorant and licentious people, and like unto their priest. Here, and in some other places, he had a com-fortable inheritance left him of his honest parents, who died while he was yet a child, and cast him on the education, first of his grand parents, and then of his uncles, who devoted him, like his ancestors, unto the affairs of husbandry. Soon a long sickness kept him, as he would afterwards thankfully say, from the vanities of youth, and made him the fitter for what he was afterwards to undergo. When he was about a dozen years old, the reading of the Scriptures began to cause great impressions upon him; and those impressions were much assisted and improved, when he came to enjoy Mr. Richard Clifton’s illuminating ministry, not far from his abode; he was then also further befriended, by being brought into the company and fellowship of such as were then called professors; though the young man that brought him into it did after become a prophane and wicked apostate. Nor could the wrath of his uncles, nor the scoff of his neigh-bours, now turned upon him, as one of the Puritans, divert him from his pious inclinations.

     At last, beholding how fearfully the evangelical and apostolical church-form, whereinto the churches of the primitive times were cast by the good spirit of God, had been deformed by the apostacy of the succeeding times; and what little progress the Reformation had yet made in many parts of Christendom towards its recovery, he set himself by reading, by discourse, by prayer, to learn whether it was not his duty to withdraw from the communion of the parish-assemblies, and engage with some Society of the faithful, that should keep close unto the written word of God, as the rule of their worship. And after many distresses of mind concerning it, he took up a very deliberate and understanding resolution, of doing so; which resolution he cheerfully prosecuted, although the provoked rage of his friends tried all the ways imaginable to reclaim him from it, unto all of whom his answer was:

     “Were I like to endanger my life, or consume my estate by ungodly courses, your counsels to me were very seasonable; but you know that I have been diligent and provident in my calling, and not only desirous to augment what I have, but also to enjoy it in your company; to part from which will be as great a cross as can befall me. Nevertheless, to keep a good conscience, and walk in such a way as God has prescribed in his Word, is a thing which I must prefer before you all, and above life itself. Wherefore, since ’tis for a good cause that I am like to suffer the disasters which you lay before me, you have no cause to be either angry with me, or sorry for me; yea, I am not only willing to part with everything that is dear to me in this world for this cause, but I am also thankful that God has given me an heart to do, and will accept me so to suffer for him.

     Some lamented him, some derided him, all dissuaded him: nevertheless, the more they did it, the more fixed he was in his purpose to seek the ordinances of the gospel, where they should be dispensed with most of the commanded purity; and the sudden deaths of the chief relations which thus lay at him, quickly after convinced him what a folly it had been to have quitted his profession, in expectation of any satisfaction from them. So to Holland he attempted a removal.

     Having with a great company of Christians hired a ship to transport them for Holland, the master perfidiously betrayed them into hands of those persecutors, who rifled and ransacked their goods, and clapped their persons into prison at Boston, where they lay for a month together. But Mr. Bradford being a young man of about eighteen, was dismissed sooner than the rest, so that within a while he had opportunity with some others to get over to Zealand, through perils, both by land and sea not inconsiderable; where he was not long ashore ere a viper seized on his hand – that is, an officer – who carried him unto the magistrates, unto whom an envious passenger had accused him as having fled out of England. When the magistrates understood the true cause of his coming thither, they were well satisfied with him; and so he repaired joyfully unto his brethren at Amsterdam, where the difficulties to which he afterwards stooped in learning and serving of a Frenchman at the working of silks, were abundantly compensated by the delight wherewith he sat under the shadow of our Lord, in his purely dispensed ordinances. At the end of two years, he did, being of age to do it, convert his estate in England into money; but setting up for himself, he found some of his designs by the providence of God frowned upon, which he judged a correction bestowed by God upon him for certain decays of internal piety, whereinto he had fallen; the consumption of his estate he thought came to prevent a consumption in his virtue. But after he had resided in Holland about half a score years, he was one of those who bore a part in that hazardous and generous enterprise of removing into New-England, with part of the English church at Leyden, where, at their first landing, his dearest consort accidentally falling overboard, was drowned in the harbour; and the rest of his days were spent in the services, and temptations, of that American wilderness.

     Here was Mr. Bradford, in the year 1621, unanimously chosen the governour of the plantation: the difficulties whereof were such, that if he had not been a person of more than ordinary piety, wisdom and courage, he must have sunk under them. He had, with a laudable industry, been laying up a treasure of experience, and he had now occasion to use it: indeed, nothing but an experienced man could have been suitable to the necessities of the people The potent nations of the Indians, into whose country they were come, would have cut them off, if the blessing of God upon his conduct had not quelled them; and if his prudence, justice and moderation had not over-ruled them, they had been ruined by their own distempers…

     For two years together after the beginning of the colony, whereof he was not governour, the poor people had a great experiment of “man’s not living by bread alone;” for when they were left all together without one morsel of bread for many months one after another, still the good providence of God relieved them, and supplied them, and this for the most part out of the sea. In this low condition of affairs, there was no little exercise for the prudence and patience of the governour, who cheerfully bore his part in all: and, that industry might not flag, he quickly set himself to settle propriety among the new-planters, they had sunk under the burden of these difficulties; but our Bradford had a double portion of that spirit…

The Christian Faith of George Washington

Mary Ball Washington was a devout Christian who taught her son George the importance of prayer and the reading of the Scriptures by the personal example of the manner in which she lived.

Washington's public and private papers contain more than a hundred written prayers. His personal aides may have been the authors of a number of public prayers attributed to him. Those prayers were explicitly Christian in nature. He would never have signed or uttered a prayer without agreeing with the sentiment of the document.

He often added personal prayers which were drawn up by his aides. Washington affixed his signature to a letter composed by Alexander Hamilton to Comte de Rochambeau on February 26, 1781. The letter declared: “This repetition of advices justifies a confidence in their truth” to which General Washington adds “which I pray God may be confirmed in its greatest extent.”

General Lewis of Augusta County, Virginia provides a reliable testimony to General Washington's personal prayer life in a letter dated December 14^th 1855. General Lewis testifies of a conversation between General Washington and Continental Army General Robert Porterfield which occurred shortly before General Washington's death. Porterfield's duties as brigade inspector resulted in frequent interaction with General Washington. Porterfield recounted his personal experiences at Valley Forge and the New Jersey campaign. Porterfield went to Washington's private quarters in an emergency and found the Commander-in-chief on his knees in prayer. After confiding with Alexander Hamilton concerning the occasion, Hamilton replied to General Porterfield: “such was his constant habit.”

George Washington acquired the habit for times of personal prayer and supplication early in life. Washington's biographer, E.C. M'Guire noted that sources were still alive when he wrote his biography.

Colonel B. Temple was an aide to General Washington whom M'Guire quotes concerning recollections of events during the French and Indian Wars.

Washington would read the Bible to his troops and lead them in prayer when a chaplain wasn't available. Temple declared to M'Guire that:

“...on sudden and unexpected visits into his [General Washington's] marquee, he has, more than once, found him on his knees at his devotions.”

Washington frequently used Biblical phrases having had an extensive knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. This is not an inconsequential fact but strong evidence of his Christianity. General Washington had a strong tender affection for Marquis de Lafayette whom he loved as if his actual son. The General made seven separate references to passages from the Bible in a personal letter to Lafayette. No aide was the author of this correspondence.

Washington used nine Biblical allusions when composing a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. His personal correspondence contains over 200 phrases from the Holy Scriptures and allusions to passages found in the Bible.

Among his favorite passages of Scripture is Micah 4:4 which he often quoted:

“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken.”

In April 1789, Washington declared: 

“The blessed Religion revealed in the Word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity.” 

He spoke of the infallible Bible as the Word of God as only a Christian would proclaim.

Deists do not believe the doctrines of depravity of humankind, the revelation of God through the Holy Scriptures, nor effectual personal prayer to Divinity.

At the end of the American War for Independence, General Washington sent a “Circular to the States” which contained a protracted list of blessings upon the fledgling nation. The letter ends: “and above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation.”

“Revelation,” in the era in which Washington lived meant only one thing: The Holy Bible! Furthermore, it specifically meant the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the New Testament.

As stated before, deists do not believe that the Bible is the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, a deist would never utilize a capital R when using the word revelation.

Critics of George Washington's Christian faith present the matter of his church attendance. Prior to the American War for Independence, Washington and his family may have attended church perhaps once a month. A round trip to and from the Anglican Pohick Church of which Washington was a member required a three hour journey. The rural parish church was about nine miles from his home. An available Anglican minister would hold divine services about once a month.

George Washington had close personal relationships with various clergymen before, after, and throughout the American War for Independence. Washington would correspond with and graciously open his home for visitation to more than a hundred ministers.

Washington was always keen to faithfully observe the sabbath and refused to perform work except for writing personal letters to friends. Furthermore, he gave his personal staff and servants the day off to attend church services. Whenever he and his family did not attend church; Washington chose to assemble the members of his family and read a sermon aloud while leading them in devotions.

Throughout the war, the General insisted that officers and men under his command attend Divine services. Upon receiving command of the Continental Army, Washington issued his first General Order on July 4, 1775.

“The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war, established for the Government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness [the first of a number of orders he would issue concerning these vices]; and in like manner requires and expects , of all officers, and soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine Service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.”

Washington made the effort to attend church himself but was not always able to do so when no service was in camp. Biographer E. C. M'Guire declared that:

“one of his secretaries, Judge Harrison, has often been heard to say, that 'whenever the General could be spared from camp, on the Sabbath, he never failed riding out to some neighboring church, to join those who were publicly worshiping the Creator.'”

Throughout his presidency, George Washington was accompanied by his wife Martha who worshiped with him on Sunday mornings. President Washington's secretary, Tobias Lear declared:

“While President, Washington followed an invariable routine on Sundays. The day was passed very quietly, no company being invited to the house. After breakfast, the President read aloud a chapter from the Bible, then the whole family attended church together.”

Lear recounts what happened after returning from church. In the afternoon Washington was inclined to write his personal correspondence:

“...while Mrs. Washington frequently went to church again, often taking the children with her. In the evening, Washington read aloud to the family some sermon or extracts from a book of religious nature and everyone went to bed at an early hour.”

There was a year in which the Washington's did not attend Divine Services after the President retired to Mount Vernon. Apparently, the Washington's switched their attendance to Christ Church in Alexandria which began having weekly worship services. George Washington's adopted daughter Nelly Custis testified:

“He [Washington] attended the church at Alexandria when the weather and roads permitted a ride of ten miles. In New York and Philadelphia [when he was President] he never omitted attendance at church in the morning, unless detained by indisposition...No one in church attended to the service with more reverential respect. My grandmother, who was eminently pious, never deviated from her early habits. She always knelt. The General, as was then the custom, stood during the devotional parts of the service.”

The controversy concerning Washington's Christian beliefs arouse after his death. Accusations were made that he never partook of the Lord's Supper.

It was the custom in colonial Virginia to offer the Holy Sacrament of Communion only at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide (Pentecost Sunday). It was not uncommon for many Anglicans to receive communion only once a year.

Furthermore, Bishop William Meade explained: 

“...there was a mistaken notion, too prevalent both in England and America, that it was not so necessary in the professors religion to communicate [receive communion] at all times, but that in this respect persons might be regulated by their feelings...Into this error of opinion and practice General Washington may have fallen.”

Nellie Custis granddaughter of Washington wrote of her childhood at Mount Vernon. 

“On Communion Sundays he [Washington] left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother [Martha].”

 Throughout the Colonial era, Communion services were as long as the worship service which Washington attended. It was not unusual for two thirds of a congregation to leave an Anglican church before the Communion Service commenced.

In a letter dated December 14, 1855, General S. H. Lewis of Augusta County, Virginia quoted General Porterfield declaring: 

“...he had known General Washington personally for many years ...I saw him myself on his knees receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.”

Dr. James Richards followed Reverend Timothy Johnes as pastor when General Washington was in Morristown, New Jersey during the winter encampment of 1778-79. Dr. Richards recounts:

“...the report that Washington did actually receive the Communion from the hands of Dr. Johnes was universally current during that period, and so far as I know, never contradicted. I have often heard it from the members of Dr. Johnes family, while they added that a note was addressed by Washington to their father, requesting the privilege.” 

Consequently, Washington was a communicant in the Presbyterian Church while the Continental Army was encamped in Morristown.

Reverend Alexander Hamilton, great-grandson of General Washington's aide tells of events which occurred during the Hamilton family reunion. Reverend Hamilton wrote of the reunion which occurred in New York City in 1854. Continental Army General Phillip Schyler's daughter was Alexander Hamilton's ninety-six year old widow. Mrs. Hamilton made it a special endeavor to accompany her seven year old great-grandson to visit St. Paul's Church in New York City. She has something special to tell the child and other members of her family. She wanted the boy to remember her recollections concerning her experience while receiving Holy Communion in 1789. After arriving at St. Paul's she told the boy that she had been present in the church on the inauguration day of the first president of the United States. She was present in St. Paul's when President Washington received communion. She clearly impressed upon the child's mind that she personally witnessed President Washington receive Holy Communion so that he would be able to tell others.

Reverend Alexander Hamilton remembered her own words:

 “If anyone ever tells you that George Washington was not a communicant of the Church, you say that your great grandmother told you to say that she had knelt at this chancel rail at his side and received with him Holy Communion.”

There are at least 270 recorded times when George Washington used the word Providence. He utilized the term Providence referring indirectly to Almighty God. It is perfectly clear from his correspondence and records that Washington did not speak of a vague ethereal impersonal deity. His personal world view concerning deity was consistent with the God of the Bible. The Deity which George Washington worshiped intervened personally on behalf of the soldiers of the Continental Army and the American cause of independence. He viewed God as the God of ancient Israel as recorded in the Old Testament.

Washington wrote to a Hebrew congregation of Savannah, Georgia:

“May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land – whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent Nation – still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”

On October 19, 1777, Washington wrote a letter to Major-General Israel Putnam soon after the victory of Saratoga:

“Should Providence be pleased to crown our arms in the course of the campaign with one more fortunate stroke...I trust all will be well in His good time.”

Mary Thompson is a research specialist at Mount Vernon. Peter Lillback quotes Mary Thompson in his book Sacred Fire concerning George Washington's spirituality.

“I would think that God and Providence are synonymous in Washington's mind. When you look at a number of the letters, it becomes obvious that he feels Providence...is involved in what happens in the world...When I found [in researching Washington's religious beliefs] ...was that this was a man who believed that God took an active interest in people's lives...and that's not the belief of a Deist.”

George Washington's practice and religious views were influenced by the Anglican culture of colonial Virginia. It is crystal clear that George Washington was a devout believer in Orthodox Christianity.

This essay is edited and condensed from Peter Marshall's book The Light and the Glory, Appendix Two "The Christian Faith of George Washington" 

Francis Asbury 1745-1816

Francis Asbury was born in 1745 to a poor family living near Hampstead Bridge in England. His mother and father were among the first converts of John Wesley founder of Methodism. His parents became Christians after the death of his sister; Asbury's only sibling.

His mother chose to surround her remaining child with the Scriptures, prayer, and the joyous singing of hymns. She graciously opened her home to Christians whom she felt would be a good influence upon her cherished boy.

Asbury declared: 

“I abhorred mischief and wickedness, although my mates were among the vilest of the vile for lying, swearing, fighting, and whatever else boys of their age and evil habits were likely to be guilty of. From such society I very often returned home uneasy and melancholy.”

Francis was often ridiculed by his peers for his strong principles and convictions. Furthermore, his peers mocked him for the many Christians who were to visit his home. Methodism was considered a crazy new religion and adherents to the faith were often persecuted. He experienced cutting insults from his peers who jeered at him with taunts calling him “Methodist Parson.”

Francis asked his mother keen perceptive questions concerning Methodism when he was thirteen years old. At his mothers request, a friend of the family took Francis to Wednesbury, England to attend a Methodist service. Asbury experienced Methodism for himself and was impressed by the spontaneity of the service.

“This was not the Church but it was better. The people were so devout, men and women kneeling down, saying 'Amen.' Now, behold! They were singing hymns, sweet sound! Why, strange to tell! The preacher had no prayer book, and yet he prayed wonderfully! What was yet more extraordinary, the man took his text and had no sermon book: thought I, this is wonderful indeed! It is certainly a strange way, but the best way.”

Asbury and a Christian friend were praying in the loft of his father's barn when he gave his life to Jesus Christ trusting Him as Savior and Lord.

He felt a strong call to participate in the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission.

Although he continued to work as a blacksmith's apprentice; at the age of seventeen he became an itinerant preacher traveling throughout his neighborhood.

At the age of twenty, Francis Asbury began ministering full-time; preaching in a circuit in Methodist churches throughout England.

John Wesley called for Methodist preachers to emigrate to America. On August 7, 1771, he answered Wesley's call and chose to immigrate to America at the age of 21.

Wesley boldly proclaimed, “Our brethren in America call aloud for help!” Francis Asbury chose to answer the call affirming the Scripture, “Here I am send me.”

Francis Asbury was chosen to become one of two Methodist superintendents when he arrived in America. His title was changed to “bishop” while serving in a leadership capacity in the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was under his leadership that Methodism grew in the young fledgling nation. Asbury's life and conduct as well as his message defined the role of a Methodist itinerant preacher.

“Go into every kitchen and shop; address all, aged and young, on the salvation of their souls” became the motto to which he aspired. At his urging, other Methodist preachers followed in his footsteps.

He became a 'circuit riding preacher' who traveled throughout America on horseback. He preached in the open air, homes, meeting houses, camp meetings, conventions, and spiritual revivals.

Francis Asbury spent his life spreading Methodism throughout the young nation. As an itinerant preacher, Asbury traveled constantly for forty-five years and traveled nearly three hundred thousand miles throughout the nation. He traveled throughout the country mostly on horseback and crossed the Appalachian mountains more than sixty times. Francis Asbury followed in the footsteps of his Lord and Savior of whom the Scriptures declare “foxes have homes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to rest his head.” Asbury had no home of his own and found shelter wherever his Lord would lead.

There were 300 Methodists and four ministers in America when Francis Asbury arrived on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean of the young nation in 1771. Methodism spread to every state in the Union in 1816 when he died. He preached more than 16,000 sermons and ordained over 4,000 ministers. There were more than 214,000 Methodist in America when he left the shores of America to step into the shores of heaven.

Most dear and tender friends: 

Whose I am, and whom under God I desire to serve; to build you up in holiness and comfort hath been through grace my great ambition. This is that which I laboured for; this is that which I suffered for: and in short, the end of all my applications to you, and to GOD for you. How do your souls prosper? Are they in a thriving case? What progress do you make in sanctification? Both the house of Saul grow weaker and weaker, and the house of David stronger and stronger? Beloved, I am jealous with a godly jealously, lest any of you should lose ground in these declining times: and therefore cannot but be often calling upon you to look to your standing, and to watch and hold fast, that no man take your crown. Ah! How surely shall you reap in the end, if you faint not! Take heed therefore that you lose not the things you have wrought, but as you have begun well, so go on in the strength of Christ, and give diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end. 

Do you need motives? 1. How much are you behind hand? Oh, the fair advantages that we have lost! What time, what sabbaths, sermons, sacraments, are upon the matter lost! How much work have we yet to do! Are you sure of heaven yet? Are you fit to die yet? Surely they that are under so many great wants, had need to set upon some more thriving courses. 

Secondly, Consider what others have gained, whilst we, it may be, sit down by the loss: Have we not met many vessels richly laden, while our souls are empty? Oh, the golden prizes that some have won! While we have folded the hands to sleep, have not many of our own standing in religion, left us far behind them?


Thirdly, Consider you will find little enough when you come to die: The wife among the virgins has no oil to spare at the coming of the bridegroom; temptation and death will put all your graces to it. How much ado have many had at last to put into this harbour! David cried for respite till he had recovered a little more strength. 

Fourthly, Consider how short your time for gathering in probably is? The Israelites gathered twice so much manna against the sabbath as they did at other times, because at that time there was no manna fell. Brethren, you know not how long you have to lay in for. Do you ask for marks, how you may know your souls to be in a thriving case? 

First, If your appetite be more strong. Do you thirst after GOD and grace, more than heretofore? Do your care for and desires after the world abate? And do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Whereas you were won't to come with an ill-will to holy duties, do you now come to them as hungry stomach to its meat?


Secondly, If your pulses beat more even. Are you still off and on, hot or cold? Or is there a more even spun thread of holiness through your whole course? Do you make good the ground from which you were formerly beaten off? 

Thirdly, if you do look more to the carrying on together the duties of both tables.
Do you not only look to the keeping of your own vineyards, but do you lay out yourselves for the good of others? And are ye filled with zealous desires for their conversion and salvation? Do you manage your talk and your trade, by the rules of religion?


Do you eat and sleep by rule? Doth religion form and mould, and direct your carriage towards husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants? Do you grow more universally conscientious? Is piety more diffusive than ever with you? Doth it come more abroad with you, out of your closets, into your houses, your shops, your fields? Doth it journey with you, and buy and sell for you? Hath it the casting voice in all you do?


Fourthly, If the duties of religion be more delightful to you. Do you take more delight in the word than ever? Are you more in love with secret prayer, and more abundant in it? Cannot you be content with your ordinary seasons, but are ever and anon making extraordinary visits to heaven? And upon all occasions turning aside to talk with God in some short ejaculations? Are you often darting up your soul heavenwards? Is it meat and drink for you to do the will of GOD? Do you come off more freely with GOD, and answer his calls with more readiness of mind? 

Fifthly, If you are more abundant in those duties which are most displeasing to the flesh. Are you more earnest in mortification? Are you more strict and severe than ever in the duty of daily self-examination, and holy meditation? Do you hold the reins harder upon the flesh than ever? Do you keep a stricter watch upon your appetites? Do you set a stronger guard upon your tongues? Have you a more jealous eye upon your hearts?


Sixthly, If you grow more vile in your own eyes. Do you grow more out of love with men's esteem, and set less by it? Are you not marvelous tender, of being slighted? Can you rejoice to see others preferred before you? Can you heartily value and love them that think meanly of you? 

Seventhly, If you grow more quick of sense, more sensible of divine influences, or withdrawings. Are you more afraid of sin than ever? Are your sins a greater pain to you than heretofore? Are your very infirmities your great afflictions? And the daily working of corruption a continued grief of mind to you?


I must conclude abruptly, commending you to GOD,and can only tell you that I am
Yours in the Lord Jesus, 

F.A. 

The Arminian Magazine, II
(Philadelphia, 1790), 251-54

Artillery Sermon by Reverend Jacob Troute

Artillery Sermons were periodic addresses in which a clergyman would admonish the military on topics such as: “a defensive war in a just cause is sinless” and the sin of cowardice.

A unified, Biblical world view founded upon the Sacred Scriptures was the rich soil that brought forth the liberties defended throughout the American Christian Revolution. The fruits of American liberty are the products of Pastoral cultivation.

Historian Alice Baldwin declared:

 “The Constitutional Convention and the written Constitution were the children of the pulpit.”

This particular 'artillery sermon' was delivered on the eve of the Battle of Brandywine on September 10^th, 1777 to the Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. Among the papers of Major John Shofinger was found the discourse of Reverend Jacob Troute.

“They That Take the Sword Shall Perish by the Sword”

“Soldiers, and countrymen, we have met this evening perhaps for the last time. We have shared the toils of the march, the peril of the fight, and the dismay of the retreat, alike. We have endured the cold and hunger, the contumely of the internal foe, and the scourge of the foreign oppressor. We have sat night after night by the campfire. We have together heard the roll of the reveille which calls to duty, or the beat of the tattoo which gave the signal for the hardy sleep of the soldier, with the earth for his bed and the knapsack for his pillow.

And now, soldiers and brethren, we have met in this peaceful valley, on the eve of battle, in the sunlight that tomorrow morn will glimmer on the scenes of blood. We have met amid the whitening tents of our encampments; in the time of terror and gloom we have gathered together. God grant that it may not be for the last time.

It is a solemn moment! Brethren, does not the solemn voice of nature seem to echo the sympathies of the hour? The flag of our country droops heavily from yonder staff. The breeze has died away along the green plaid of Chadd's Ford. The plain that spreads before us glitters in the sunlight. The heights of Brandywine arise gloomy and grand beyond the eaters of yonder stream. All nature holds a pause of solemn silence on the eve of the uproar and bloody strife tomorrow.

“They that take the sword shall perish by the sword.”

And have they not take the sword? 

Let the desolate plain, the blood-sodden valley, the burned farmhouses, blackening in the sun, the sacked village and the ravaged town, answer. Let the withered bones of the butchered farmer, strewed along the fields of his homestead, answer. Let the starving mother, with her babe clinging to the withered breast that can afford no sustenance, let her answer, - with the death-rat-tle mingling with the murmuring tones that marked the last moment of her life. Let the mother and the babe answer. 

It was but a day past, and our land slept in the quiet of peace. War was not here. Fraud and woe and want dwelt not among us. From the eternal solitude of the green woods arose the blue smoke of the settler's cabin, and golden fields of corn looked from amid the waste of the wilderness, and the glad music of human voices awoke the silence of the forest. 

Now, God of mercy, behold the change. Under the shadow of a pre-text, under the sanctity of the name of God, invoking the Redeemer to their aid, do these foreign hirelings slay our people. They throng our towns, they darken our plains, and now they encompass our posts on the lonely plain of Chadd's Ford. 

“They that take the sword shall perish the sword.” 

Brethren, think me not unworthy of belief when I tell you the doom of the British is sealed. Think me not vain when I tell you that, beyond the cloud that now enshrouds us, I see gathering thick and fast the darker cloud and thicker storm of Divine retribution. 

They may conquer tomorrow. Might and wrong may prevail, and we may be driven from the field, but the hour of God's vengeance will come! 

Ay, if in the vast solitudes of eternal space there throbs the being of an awful God, quick to avenge and sure to punish guilt, then the man George Brunswick, called king, will feel in his brain and heart the vengeance of the eternal Jehovah. A blight will light upon his life – a withered and accursed intellect; a blight will be upon his children and on his people. Great God, how dread the punishment! A crowded populace, peopling the dense towns where them men of money thrive, where the laborer starves; went striding among the people in all forms of terror; an ignorant and God-defying priesthood chuckling over the miseries of millions; a proud and merciless nobility adding wrong to wrong, and heaping insult upon robbery and fraud; royalty corrupt to the very heart, and aristocracy rotten to the core; crime and want linked hand in hand, and tempting the men to deeds of woe and death; - these are a part of the doom and retribution that shall come upon the English throne and English people. 

Soldiers, I look around upon your familiar faces with strange interest! Tomorrow morning we go forth to the battle – for need I tell you that your unworthy minister will march with you, invoking the blessing of God's aid in the fight? We will march forth to the battle. Need I exhort you to fight the good fight – to fight for your homesteads, for your wives and your children? 

My friends, I urge you to fight, by the galling memories of British wrong. Walton, I might tell you of your father, butchered in the silence of the night in the plains of Trenton. I might picture his gray hairs dabbled in blood. I might ring his death-shrieks in your ears. Shaefmyer, I might tell you of a butchered mother and sister outraged, the lonely farmhouse, the night assault, the roof in flames, the shouts of the troops as they dispatched their victims, the cries for mercy, and the pleadings of innocence for pity. I might paint this all again, in the vivid colors of the terrible reality, if I thought courage needed such wild excitement. 

But I know you are strong in the might of the Lord. You will march forth to battle tomorrow with light hearts and determined spirits, though the solemn duty - - the duty of avenging the dead – may rest heavy on your souls. 

And in the hour of battle, when all around is darkness, lit by the lurid cannon-glare and the piercing musket-flash, when the wounded strow the ground and the dead litter your path, then remember, soldiers, that God is with you. The eternal God fights for you; He rides on the battle-cloud. He sweeps onward with the march of a hurricane charge. God, the awful and infinite, fights for you, and you will triumph. 

“They that take the sword shall perish by the sword.” 

You have taken the sword, but not in the spirit of wrong or revenge. You have taken the sword for your homes, for your wives and your little ones. You have taken the sword for truth, justice and right, and to you the promise is,be of good cheer, for your foes have taken the sword in defiance of all that men hold dear, in blasphemy of God they shall perish by the sword. 

And now, brethren and soldiers, I bid you all farewell. Many of us will fall in battle tomorrow, and in the memory of all will ever rest and linger the quiet sense of this autumnal eve. 

Solemn twilight advances over the valley. The woods on the opposite height fling their long shadows over the green of the meadow. Around us are the tents of the Continental host, the suppressed bustle of the camp, the hurried tramp of the soldiers to and fro, and among the tents the stillness and awe that mark the eve of battle. 

When we meet again, may the shadows of twilight be flung over the peaceful land. God in heaven grant it! Let us pray.

William McGuffey - McGuffey's Readers

Reverend William Holmes McGuffey (1800 - 1873) was a preacher, professor at the University of Virginia, and an educational reformer. Furthermore, he was president of Ohio University and department chairman at the Miami University of Ohio. As author of McGuffey's Reader, he became known as “The Schoolmaster of the Nation.” William McGuffey was the gentleman responsible for creating the first teacher's association in the Ohio Valley.

The first edition of the McGuffey's Reader was published in 1836. It was the pillar of public education throughout America until 1920. 125 million copies of the McGuffey's Readers have been sold as of 1963. Hence, it has become one of the most influential textbooks in the history of American education.

He designed his textbooks to “fit the child's education to the child's world.” Furthermore, McGuffey sought to build the child's character as well as his or her vocabulary. One hundred and twenty-two million copies of the McGuffey's Readers have been sold within seventy-five years. His readers which promote a theistic Calvinist worldview continue to be used in some public schools today. Since 1961, 30,000 Readers have sold each year. As found in the New England Primer, the McGuffey's Readers encourage the ideas of salvation, righteousness, and piety.

Other than the Holy Bible, the McGuffey's Readers “represent the most significant force in the framing of our national morals and tastes.”

McGuffey wrote these remarks in the forward of his reader:

“The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our prevalent notions of the character of God, the great moral governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions.”

Furthermore, he declared:

“The Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus are not only basic but plenary.”

From the Preface of the Fourth Reader:

“From no source has the author drawn more copiously, in his selections, than from the sacred Scriptures. For this, he certainly apprehends no censure. In a Christian country, that man is to be pitied, who at this day, can honestly object to imbuing the minds of youth with the language and spirit of the Word of God...”

John Westerhoff III in his work “McGuffey and His Readers” declared:

“From the First to the Fourth Reader, belief in the God of the Old and New Testament is assumed. When not mentioned directly, God is implied: 'You cannot steal the smallest pin...without being seen by the eye that never sleeps.' More typically, however, lessons make direct references to the Almighty.: “God makes the little lambs bring forth wool, that we may have clothes to keep us warm...All that live get life from God...The humble child went to God in penitence and prayer...All who take care of you and help you were sent by God. He sent his Son to show you his will, and to die for your sake.”

“When we investigate the content of McGuffey's Readers, three dominant images of God emerge. God is creator, preserver, and governor.”

“Evening Prayer” is found in the Eclectic First Reader: Lesson 37.

“At the close of the day, before you go to sleep, you should not fail to pray to God to keep you from sin and harm. You ask your friends for food, and drink, and books, and clothes; and when they give you these things, you thank them, and love them for the good they do you. So you should ask your God for those things which he can give you, and which no one else can give you.” 

“You should ask him for life, and health, and strength; and you should pray to him to keep your feet from the ways of sin and shame. You should thank him for all his good gifts; and learn, while young, to put your trust in him; and the kind care of God will be with you, both in your youth and in your old age.”

The preface to the 1837 Eclectic Third Reader states:

“In making [my] selections, [I have] drawn from the purest fountains of English literature...For the copious extracts made from the Sacred Scripture, [I make] no apology.”

“Indeed, upon a review of the work, [I am] not sure but an apology may be due for [my] not having still more liberally transferred to [my] pages the chaste simplicity, the thrilling pathos, the living descriptions, and the matchless sublimity of the sacred writings.”

“From no source has the author drawn more copiously than from the Sacred Scriptures. For this [I] certainly apprehend no censure. In a Christian country, that man is to be pitied, who, at this day, can honestly object to imbuing the minds of youth with the language and spirit of the Word of God.”

Extracts from McGuffey's Eclectic Third Reader 1837:

1. The design of the Bible is evidently to give us correct information concerning the creation of all things, by the omnipotent Word of God; to make known to us the state of holiness and happiness of our first parents in paradise, and their dreadful fall from that condition by transgression against God, which is the original cause of all our sin and misery...

3. The Scriptures are especially designed to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; to reveal to us the mercy of the Lord in him; to form our minds after the likeness of God our Savior; to build up our souls in wisdom and faith, in love and holiness; to make us thoroughly furnished unto good works, enabling us to glorify God on earth; and, to lead us to an imperishable inheritance among the spirits of just men made perfect, and finally to be glorified with Christ in heaven.”

The character of Jesus Christ is taught in the 21^st lesson of McGuffey's Eclectic Third Reader.

"The morality taught by Jesus Christ was purer, sounder, sublimer and more perfect than had ever before entered into the imagination, or proceeded from the lips of men.”

The National Education Association honored Reverend William Holmes McGuffey at his death. This resolution was issued on August 7, 1873, in Elmira, New York.

“In the death of William H. McGuffey, late Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Virginia, the Association feels that they have lost one of the great lights of the profession...in offices as teacher of common schools, college professor, college president, and as author of textbooks; his almost unequaled industry; his power in the lecture room; his influence upon his pupils and community, his care for the pu8blic interests of education; his lofty devotion to duty; his conscientious Christian character – all these have made him one of the noblest ornaments of our profession in this age, and entitled to the grateful remembrance of this Association and of the teachers of America.”

Elmira, New York, August 7, 1873.

Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) was the daughter of prominent Presbyterian preacher Lyman Beecher of New England. She was also the sister of Henry Ward Beecher a renowned preacher of his era. Harriet was a teacher who authored the book Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in serial from between 1851 and 1852. Harriet was a widely read author and an important part of the abolitionist movement preceding the Civil War. Although she wrote thirty historical novels and countless essays an poems which were primarily about colonial life in New England; Uncle Tom's Cabin or Life Among the Lowly became her most famous work. It first appeared as serial installments in the National Era an anti slavery newspaper. It is generally believed that Uncle Tom's Cabin aroused more popular sentiment in the states north of the Mason Dixon Line than any other publication. The book sold 10,000 copies its first week of publication. She became a celebrity in Great Britain, Europe and the United States after the publication of her book.

Public sentiment in opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law was stirred up through the publication of her book. The overseer “Simon Legree” in her story became the embodiment of cruelty of slaves throughout the southern states. “Tom,” the slave hero became the likeness of the oppressed slave with a pure loving compassionate heart.

When President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet, he declared to her: 

“So you're the little lady who started this big war.”

Harriet dedicated herself to Jesus Christ at the tender age of fourteen after listening to a sermon delivered by her father.

“As soon as my father came home and was seated in his study...I went up to him and fell in his arms, saying, 'Father, I have given myself to Jesus, and He has taken me,' I never shall forget the expression of his face as he looked down into my earnest childish eyes...'Is it so?' he said, holding me silent to his heart as I felt the hot tears fall on my head.”

Harriet would rise each morning at 4:30 to commune with her Lord and Savior before beginning her daily activities. She heartily enjoyed listening to the birds, watching the sunrise, and sensing the gracious loving presence of God her redeemer. Her best known hymn was written while meditating on Psalm 139:17-18.

“How precious also are are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

Still, Still with Thee 

Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,

When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee,

Fairer than the morning, lovelier than the day light,

Dawns the sweet conscientiousness, I am with Thee.

Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,

The solemn hush of nature newly born;

Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,

In the calm dew and freshness of the morn,

Still, still with Thee, as to each newborn morning,

A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,

So does this blessed consciousness, awaking,

Breathe each day nearness unto thee and heaven.

So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,

When he soul awaketh and life's shadows flee.

O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning

Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee

It was Harriet's faith in Christ which became the anchor which sustained her throughout the personal storms she encountered in life.

Harriet was a remarkable woman who raised seven children while managing household and a career. She was an instructor in a college. Harriet's life was filled with personal tragedy. Her son drowned while he was a freshman in college. Another son became an alcoholic and disappeared and a daughter became addicted to morphine which was administered as a pain-killer following childbirth.

A Selection from Uncle Tom's Cabin

Simon Legree is determined to recover two slaves who have escaped. He demands that Tom reveal whatever he knows of the two runaway female slaves.

“The morning star now stands over the tops of the mountains, and gales and breezes, not of earth, show the gates of day are unclosing. 

The escape of Cassy and Emmeline irritated the before surly temper of Legree to the last degree; and his fury, as was expected, fell upon the defenseless head of Tom. When he hurriedly announced the tidings among his hands, there was a certain light in Tom's eye, a sudden upraising of his hands, that did not escape him. He saw that he did not join the muster of the pursuers. He thought of forcing him to do it; but, having had, of old, experience of his inflexibility when commanded to take part in any deed of inhumanity, he would not, in his hurry, stop to enter into any conflict with him.

Tom therefore, remained behind, with a few who had learned of him to pray, and offered up prayers for the escape of the fugitives.

 When Legree returned, baffled and disappointed, all the long-working hatred of his soul towards his slave began to gather in a deadly and desperate form. Had not this man braved him, – steadily, powerfully, resistlessly, – ever since he bought him? Was there not a spirit in him which, silent as it was, burned on him life the fires of perdition?

'I hate him!' said Legree, that night, as he sat up in his bed; 'I hate him! And isn't he MINE? Can't I do what I like with him? Who's to hinder, I wonder?' And Legree clenched his fist, and shook it, as if he had something in his hands that he could not rend in pieces.

But, then, Tom was a faithful, valuable servant; and, although Legree hated him the more for that, yet the consideration was still somewhat of a restraint to him.

The next morning, he determined to say nothing, as yet; to assemble a party, from some neighboring plantations, with dogs and guns; to surround the swamp, and go about the hunt systematically. If it succeeded, well and good; if not, he would summon Tom before him, and – his teeth clenched and his blood boiled – then he would break the fellow down, or – there was a dire inward whisper, to which his soul assented.

Ye say that the interest of the master is sufficient safeguard for the slave. In the fury of man's mad will, he wittingly, and with open eye, sell his own soul to the devil to gain his ends; and will he be more careful of his neighbor's body?

'Well,' said Cassy, the next day, from the garret, as she reconnoitered through the knot-hold, 'the hunt's going to begin again, to-day!

Three or four mounted horsemen were curvetting about, on the space front of the house; and one or two leashes of strange dogs were struggling with the negroes who held them, baying and barking at each other.

The men are, two of them, overseers of plantations in the vicinity; and others were some of Legree's associates at the tavern-bar of a neighboring city, who had come for the interest of the sport. A more hard-favored set, perhaps, could not be imagined. Legree was serving brandy, profusely, round among them, as also among the negroes, who had been detailed from the various plantations for this service; for it was an object to make every service of this kind, among the negroes, as much of a holiday as possible.

Cassy placed her ear at the knot-hole; and, as morning air blew directly toward the house, she could overhear a good deal of the conversation. A grave sneer overcast the dark, severe gravity of her face, as she listened, and heard them divide out the ground, discuss the rival merits of the dogs, give orders about firing, and the treatment of each, in case of capture.

Cassy drew back; and, clasping her hands, looked upward, and said, 'O, great Almighty God! We are all sinners; but what have we done, more than all the rest of the world, that we should be treated so!'

There was a terrible earnestness in her face and voice, as she spoke.

'If it wasn't for you, child, she said, looking at Emmeline, 'I'd go out to them and I'd thank any one of them that would shoot me down; for what use will freedom be to me? Can it give me back my children, or make me what I used to be?'

Emmeline, in her childlike simplicity, was half afraid of the dark moods of Cassy. She looked perplexed, but made no answer. She only took her hand with a gentle, caressing movement.

'Don't!' said Cassy, trying to draw it away; 'you'll get me to loving you; and I never mean to love anything, again!'

'Poor Cassy!' said Emmeline, 'don't feel so! If the Lord give us liberty perhaps he'll give you back your daughter; at any rate, I'll be like a daughter to you. I know I'll never see my poor old mother again! I shall love you, Cassy, whether you love me or not!'

The gentle, childlike spirit conquered. Cassy sat down by her, put her arm around her neck, stroked her soft, brown hair; and Emmeline then wondered at the beauty of her magnificent eyes, now soft with tears.

'O, Em! Said Cassy, 'I've hungered for my children, and thirsted for them, and my eyes fail with longing for them! Here! Here!' she said, striking her breast, 'it's all desolate, all empty! If God would give me back my children, then I could pray.'

'You must trust him, Cassy,' said Emmeline; 'he is our Father!'

'His wrath is upon us,' said Cassy; 'he has turned away in anger.'

No, Cassy! He will be good to us! Let us hope in him,' said Emmeline, – 'I always have had hope'...

The hunt was long, animated, and thorough, but unsuccessful; and, with grave, ironic exultation, Cassy looked down on Legree, as, weary and dispirited, he alighted from his horse...

'Well, Tom!' said Legree, walking up, and seizing him grimly by the collar of his coat, and speaking through his teeth, in a paroxysm of determined rage, 'do you know I've made up my mind to KILL you?'

'It's very likely, Mas'r,' said Tom, calmly.

'I have,' said Legree, with grim, terrible calmness, 'done – just – that – thing, Tom, unless you'll tell what you know about these yer gals!'

 Tom stood silent.

'D' ye hear?' said Legree, stamping, with a roar like that of an incensed lion. 'Speak!'

'I han't got nothing to tell, Mas'r,' said Tom, with a slow, firm deliberate utterance.

'Do you dare to tell me, ye old black christian, ye don't know?' said Legree.

Tom was silent.

'Speak!' thundered Legree, striking him furiously. 'Do you know anything?'

'I know, Mas'r; but I can't tell anything. I can die!'

Legree drew in a long breath; and, suppressing his rage, took Tom by the arm, and, approaching his face almost to his, said, in a terrible voice, 'Hark'e, Tom! --ye think, 'cause I've let you off before, I don't mean what I say; but, this time, I've made up my mind, and counted the cost. You've always stood it out agin me: now, I'll conquer ye or kill ye! – one or t'other. I'll count every drop of blood there is in you, and take 'em, one by one, till ye give up!'

Tom looked up to his master, and answered, 'Mas'r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I'd give ye my heart's blood; and, if taking ever drop of blood in this poor old body would save your precious soul, I'd give 'em freely, as the Lord gave his for me. O, Mas;r! Don't bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than 't will me! Do the worst you can, my troubles'll be over soon; but, if ye don't repent, your won't never end!'

Like a strange snatch of heavenly music, heard in the lull of a tempest, this burst of feeling made a moment's blank pause. Legree stood agast, and looked at Tom; and there was such a silence that the tick of the old clock could be heard, measuring, with silent touch, the last moments of mercy and probation to that hardened heart.

It was but a moment. There was one hesitating pause, – one irresolute, relenting thrill, – and the spirit of evil came back, with sevenfold vehemence and Legree, foaming with rage, smote his victim to the ground...

Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear. What brother-man and brother-Christian suffer, cannot be told us, even in our secret chamber, it so harrows up the soul! And yet, O my country! These things are done under the shadow of thy laws! O, Christ! Thy church sees them, almost in silence! …

'He's most gone, Mas'r,' said Sambo, touched, in spite of himself, by the patience of his victim.

'Pay away,till he gives up! Give it to him! – give it to him!' shouted Legree. 'I'll take every drop of blood he has, unless he confesses!'

Tom opened his eyes, and looked upon his master. 'Ye poor miserable crittur!' he said, 'there an't no more ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul! And he fainted entirely away.
'I b'lieve, my soul, he's done for, finally,' Legree, stepping forward, to look at him. 'Yes, he is! Well, his mouth's shut up, at last, – that's one comfort!'

Yes, Legree; but who shall shut up that voice in thy soul? That soul, past repentance, past prayer, past hope, in whom the fire that never shall be quenched is already burning!

Yet Tom was not quite gone. His wondrous words and pious prayers had struck upon the hearts of the imbruted blacks, who had been the instruments of cruelty upon him; and, the instant Legree withdrew, they took him down, and, in their ignorance, sought to call him back to life, – as if that were any favor to him.

'Sartin, we's been doin' a drefful wicked thing! Said Sambo; 'hopes Mas'r'll have to 'count for it, and not we.'

They washed his wounds, – they provided a rude bed, of some refuse cotton, for him to lie down on; and one of them, stealing up to the house, begged a drink of brandy of Legree, pretending that he was tired, and wanted it for himself. He brought it back, and poured it down Tom's throat.

'O, Tom!' Said Quimbo, 'we's been awful wicked to ye!'

'I forgive ye, with all my heart!' said, Tom, faintly.

'O, Tom! Do tell us who is Jesus, anyhow?' said Sambo, – 'Jesus, that's been a standin' by you so, all this night! – Who is he?'

The word roused the failing, fainting spirit. He poured forth a few energetic sentences of that wonderus One, – his life, his death, his everlasting presence, and power to save.

They wept, – both the two savage men.

'Why didn't I never hear this before?' said Sambo; 'but I do believe! – I can't help it! Lord Jesus, have mercy on us!'

'Poor critturs!' said Tom, 'I'd be willing to bar all I have, if it'll only bring ye to Christ! O, Lord! Give me these two more souls, I pray!'

That prayer was answered!”

Uncle Tom's Cabin ends with this declaration:

“A day of grace is yet held out to us. Both North and South have been guilty before God; and the Christian church has a heavy account to answer. Not by combining together, to protect injustice and cruelty, and making a common capital of sin, is this Union to be saved, but by repentance, justice and mercy.”