the creation, reclaimed to the use of civilized man.  We shall whiten this coast with the canvas of a prosperous commerce; we shall stud the long and winding shore with a hundred cities.  That which we sow in weakness shall be raised in strength.  From our sincere, but houseless worship, there shall spring splendid temples to record God’s goodness; from the simplicity of our social union, there shall arise wise and politic constitutions of government, full of the liberty which we ourselves bring and breathe; from our zeal for learning, institutions shall spring which shall scatter the light of knowledge throughout the land, and, in time, paying back where they have borrowed, shall contribute their part to the great aggregate of human knowledge; and our descendants, through all generations, shall look back to this spot, and to this hour, with unabated affection and regard.”

A brief remembrance of the causes which led to the settlement of this place; some account of the peculiarities and characteristic qualities of that settlement, as distinguished from other instances of colonization; a short notice of the progress of New England in the great interests of society, during the century which is now elapsed; with a few observations on the principles upon which society and government are established in this country; comprise all that can be attempted, and much more than can be satisfactorily performed, on the present occasion.

Of the motives which influenced the first settlers to a voluntary exile, induced them to relinquish their native country, and to seek an asylum in this then unexplored wilderness, the first and principal, no doubt, were connected with religion.  They sought to enjoy a higher degree of religious freedom, and what they esteemed a purer form of religious worship, than was allowed to their choice, or presented to their imitation, in the Old World.  The love of religious liberty is a stronger sentiment, when fully excited, than an attachment to civil or political freedom.  That freedom which the conscience demands, and which men feel bound by their hope of salvation to contend for, can hardly fail to be attained.  Conscience, in the cause of religion and the worship of the Deity, prepares the mind to act and to suffer beyond almost all other causes.  It sometimes gives an impulse so irresistible, that no fetters of power or of opinion can withstand it.  History instructs us that this love of religious liberty, a compound sentiment in the breast of man, made up of the clearest sense of right and the highest conviction of duty, is able to look the sternest despotism in the face, and, with means apparently most inadequate, to shake principalities and powers.  There is a boldness, a spirit of daring, in religious reformers, not to be measured by the general rules which control men’s purposes and actions.  If the hand of power be laid upon it, this only seems to augment its force and its elasticity, and to cause its action to be more formidable and