THIS publication has been delayed by hindrances, which it is unnecessary to particularize. From the circumstances, under which it is now made, it is not impossible that some inaccuracies may have escaped notice.

JUNE 28, 1825.

THE LORD OUR GOD BE WITH US, AS HE WAS WITH OUR FATHERS; LET HIM NOT LEAVE US, NOR FORSAKE US.

Ir is with even greater satisfaction than at the time of our separation I anticipated, that I welcome your return, my friends, to this consecrated place. To many of us our temporary absence has shown more sensibly than ever the strength of the ties that attach us to it. We have become indebted to the Christian hospitality of our brethren for all which was in the power of hospitality; and we have been privileged to hear from other pulpits impressive lessons of duty, which may cause this separation from the accustomed scene of our solemnities to be blessed to many of our souls. But we could not forget, that to be a subject of the kindest hospitality is to be absent from one's home; and, in circumstances otherwise the most favourable to devotion, we have missed the familiar objects with which the services of publick devotion had been associated in our minds. The free spirit of Christian worship, it is true, does not confine itself to places any more than to forms; but yet it is natural, that it should glow with a warmer ardour, and mount with a more vigorous flight, where prayer has been wont to be made. It is natural and right, that the place should be endeared to a pious mind, where its humble

supplications have been offered, its generous desires excited, its virtuous purposes inspired. Attachment to God's word and ordinances is nearly allied with attachment to his house; and the sentiment is greatly strengthened, if the scene of our social devotions has been the scene of events honourable to a religious institution, and betokening the smiles of Heaven. This peculiar reason for attachment to the place of our worship, it is only necessary to look into its history to see that we possess; and it is so desirable for the religious institution, with which we are connected, to have a hold on our affections, that I should do wrong to lose the opportunity to prove the reasonableness, and, if it may be, secure the permanency of the emotions excited in many minds this day, by showing, from a retrospect of the fortunes of this Church, how graciously the Lord our God hath been in times past with our fathers.

We trace this Church of our fathers to an honourable origin. Its establishment was not owing, like that of too many others, to dissension among fellow worshippers, nor even to so unimportant a cause as preference for the services of a popular individual. It was gathered in the spirit of conscientious adherence to truly enlightened views of Christian order. At the period when its founders associated themselves, there were three churches in this town, besides one congregation of the Baptist sect, and one of the Episcopalian. (1.) In these churches the early customs and prejudices of New England still maintained their ascendency. Calvinism was preached in its primitive rigour. The communicants exercised a distinct and original jurisdiction in church affairs. Candidates for admission to the Lord's supper were required to recount in publick their religious experiences; and the well-founded feeling of dislike to the Church of England was carried to such a length, that the reading of the Scriptures, and the use of the Lord's prayer