Thirteen Historical Discourses, on the Completion of Two Hundred Years, from the Beginning of the First Church in New-Haven. With an Appendix. By Leonard Bacon, Pastor of the First Church in New-Haven. In one vol. pp. 400. New-Haven: Durrie and Peck. New-York: Gould, Newman and Saxton.
The time is fast coming, we are not sure that it has not already arrived, when to speak lightly of the pilgrim fathers of New-England, will be considered as evidence of any thing but a correct estimate of what is elevated in character, or noble in conduct. Indications are constantly meeting us, that the affectation of contempt, generally the offspring either of ignorance or wickedness, or of both, with which it was not uncommon a few years since to speak of the early settlers of this country, has had its day. Never, in New-England at least, if we are rightly informed, has the reverence for the men who have left the impress of their devotion to the cause of religious liberty, and wisely-regulated civil freedom, upon the institutions of this whole country; whose spirit is yet breathing in the efforts put forth for the extension of sound learning to every class of our people, and to whom we owe so much that is good and so little that is evil in our government or character— been deeper, or more widely extended, than at the present moment.
The centennial celebrations of the settlement of the different towns, which have been held in various parts of New-England, within a few years, while on the one hand they have manifested, on the other have increased, the respect for the puritan settlers. The portraitures of their character which such occasions have demanded, has indelibly impressed upon great masses of the community the conviction, that the pilgrims, whom many had before only heard mentioned to be sneered at, were 'of earth's best blood.'
Among the productions which these anniversaries have called forth, 'the Historical Discourses' before us occupy a conspicuous place. They were delivered to crowded audiences in the city of New-Haven, and relate to the church over which the author is settled as pastor, and to the civil history of the colony of which the church was, as is well known, the parent. Mr. Bacon, however, does not confine himself strictly to these topics, but in illustration of his principal subject, introduces a great amount and variety of collateral information. The work has therefore less of local character, and is better adapted for general circulation, than one would be led to infer, from the title. It is in truth a commentary upon the principles and character of the puritan settlers of this country, as illustrated in the colony of New-Haven, and as such, deserves the perusal of every son of New-England, and of every one who would know the truth with regard to those much-calumniated men. The annexed extract, a sketch of the first Sabbath spent on shore, affords a fair example of our author’s manner:
