more or lefs, of longer or shorter duration, shall praise the Redeemer. The church will live and profper, and will come forth from the furnace of affliction as gold purified feven times. "And the redeemed of the Lord fhall return and come to Zion with fongs, and everlafting joy upon their heads. They fhall obtain joy and gladness, and forrow and fighing fhall flee away." And why may not Chriftians begin their fong now? Though you do not fee the glorious Redeemer, yet, believing, you love him who orders all things perfectly well, takes the beft care of the church, and of every one who trufts in him, and will glorify himself by all things to the highest degree. Well may you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; while you watch and keep your garments, ftriving together for the faith of the gofpel, and in nothing terrified by your adverfaries. With joy I now bid you a hearty, though I hope not a long, FAREWELL. But New-England, the place of my nativity, demands my more particular attention. Afide from my partiality in favour of this part of the world, I believe that all men of obfervation and judgment in this matter, who are acquainted with the Proteftant world in general, and with the religious ftate of New-England, from the first settlement of it, will grant there has been the appearance of more true religion in principle, profeffion and practice, and a more regular, moral conduct among all orders and ages of perfons, in this part of America, than in any other part of the Chriftian world of equal: extent. Bofton, the metropolis of New-England, has been, till within less than fifty years paft, a place of more religious order in the obfervation of the fabbath and other religious duties, a better education of children, and of a more decent, sober, moral conduct of the inhabitants in general, than of any other equally or more populous city or town on the face of the earth. And the people in general in New-England were dif pofed to pay respect to religion, to maintain family re ligion and worship. The fabbath and public worship were regarded and attended upon, by the inhabitants in general. The churches were confiderably large, and a degree of difcipline kept up. Children were under government, inftructed and catechifed. Grofs, open vices were in a great degree reftrained. Leading men in public ftations were in general exemplary, and the bigger part of people were intelligent in things of mo rality and religion, and of a good behaviour. But, alas! "How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!" Of late years a great and rapid degeneracy has taken place, both in the doctrines and duties of religion. Family worship, and a proper government and religious education of children, are generally neglected. Error and ignorance in religious concerns, and vice and immorality in conduct, are greatly increasing. Infidelity, Deifm and Atheifin are fpreading as an irrefiftible torrent, and many, if not moft, of the youth and rifing generation are growing up ready to imbibe error and infidelity. If these shall have their natural courfe, unless divine influence interpofe, and put a stop to them, New-England will foon become as famous for irreligion, infidelity, atheism, immorality and heathenifm, as it has been for the con trary; and Chriftianity will be wholly excluded and forgotten. It is true that all Chriftian minifters, and others in public and private stations, who are friends to the caufe of Chrift, ought to hope, pray and strive against this evil, and exert themselves to the utmost in all proper ways in oppofition to the cause of fin, Satan and evil men; and be ready to die in the cause of truth and religion. In the pleafing hope of this, I embrace you all, whether perfonally acquainted with you or not, with the moft cordial affection, and benevolent FAREWELL. At the fame time I take my leave of New-England, with the painful fear and profpect of the. evils which have been mentioned, flying to my text and the truths contained in it for fupport and comfort. Rhode-liland, Rhode-Ifland, particularly Newport the capital, in which I have lived near thirty of the last years of my life, now demands my special attention. This town has been long noted for the many different religious fects and denominations into which the inhabitants are divided, while the body of the people have been confidered, I believe juftly, to have very little true religion, if any; and they have appeared more dissolute, vicious, erroneous and ignorant, than people in general are in other parts of New-England. And there has been no general revival of religion, or reformation, to this day; and the moral state and character of the inhabitants in general has not become better, but the contrary. The extraordinary and general revival of religion in New-England and many other places, about fixty years ago, did not reach Newport in any confiderable degree. While the heavenly dew fell copiously on other places, this town received but a few fcattering drops, and remained almoft wholly dry. There are a great number of families in this place who have no appearance of any fort of religion in their houfes, and who never attend on any public worship; and there are many individuals of this character in other families; and many others, who, though they attend public worship fometimes, yet not conftantly nor often. All these doubtlefs include the greatest number of the whole inhabitants; and a great part of them are fo inattentive to religion, and fo ignorant, that they have really no religious principles: others have imbibed, and are ftrongly fixed in, religious maxims and notions, as contrary to the Bible as darknefs is to the light. Of those who conftantly attend public worship, including the profeffors of religion, very few of them maintain any family worship or religion, and by far the greater part are fo immoral in their conduct, or ignorant or erroneous in their notions of religion, as to fall vaftly short of the fcripture character of true Chriftians. There There have been a number of real and excellent Chriftians in this town, of different denominations, who are now in heaven; and doubtlefs there are fome yet among us, but there is reafon to conclude that the number of fuch is greatly leffehed, and that there are now but very few. Of you I take my affectionate leave, wifhing you may increase in number, and shine, in the midft of a crooked and perverfe generation, as lights in the world. The flave trade, and the flavery of the Africans, in which this town has had a greater hand than any other town in New-England, must not be paffed over unmentioned here. This inhuman trade has been the firft and chief spring of all the trade and bufinefs by which this town has rifen and flourished: which has there. fore been built up, in a great measure, by the blood and unrighteous fufferings of the poor Africans. And this trade is yet carried on here, in the face of all the light and matter of conviction of the unrighteousness and aggravated iniquity of it, which has of late years been offered, and against the exprefs laws of God and man. And there is no evidence that the citizens in general have a proper fenfe of the evil of this business, of the guilt which has been contracted by it, and of the displeasure of God for it, or that they have a just abhorrence of it; but there is much evidence of the contrary, and that there is little or no true repentance of it. In this dark, unpleasant and melancholy view of the state and character of the body of the inhabitants of this town, I muft take my leave, with a painful profpect of the evil which is coming upon them and their pofterity; which they would not believe, were they told. To moft of them I cannot speak, and if I could, and they should know what I think and fay of them, it would only ferve to excite the refentment and in dignation of the moft. But there is a bright fide, to which the Chriftian may look for fupport and comfort, in the midst of all this dark and evil ftate of things, which cannot be too often brought into view. All this fin and wrath of man, and the evils which attend and follow it, will praife Chrift, and turn to the greatest good of his kingdom. And all the wicked fhall be fhaken from the earth, and from this island too; and it shall yet be full of meek, humble and holy inhabitants, who fhall praise the Lord, and delight themfelves in the abundance of peace and happiness. AMEN. HALLELUJAH: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. But I must now come nearer home, and, not without fenfible and affectionate emotions, take my farewell of the church and congregation in this town, with whom I have lived, miniftering to them most of the time for above thirty years. When I first came among you the church was not fmall, and increased in number; and the congregation appeared to flourish. Above an hundred young perfons used to repair to my houfe at appointed times for religious inftruction. But when the war with the British came on, we were, for a time, broken up, and many of us fcattered into the country, a number of whom never returned again. In this time our parfonage house was deftroyed, the bell of the meeting-houfe was taken away, and the infide of the houfe was fo defaced and deftroyed by the enemy, that public worship could not be attended in it; and thofe who ftayed in the town during the refidence of the British here, and thofe who went out and returned again, fuffered loffes in their worldly intereft. By thefe events, and by the deaths that have taken place, both on the land, and of the men who have used the fea, we are become few in number, and in a degree poor in worldly circumftances. Most of the church and congregation which were on the ftage when I first came here are gone to the grave. But the greateft calamity of all is, the good people who have deceafed have none, or very few, to fucceed them and fill up their places, and have left us in a great and awful degree deftitute of the power and practice of true reli Ddd gion. |