Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-02-28
E. S. DUNDY, Esq, I soo,s
G. W. RHEE,1, Jr. ' -

| PHILIP ANIES, Pres.
E. E s s. DBNDE, BD Esq sec,ys.
LECTURE.
FELLOW CITIZENS in conformity with the
venerable usage of every age, and in discharge
of our grateful duty as a people, we have as
sembed on this, the evening of the anniversa-
ry of that day that gave to our Country de-
fender and a Father, to commemorate his glo-
rious achievements, and pay our humble tribute
to his unriyalled fame. The leader of the ar
my that achieved our independence, the mo-
wing spirit OF the councils that laid the found
ations of our goveInment-Our history is but
his biography and urliberty the unfading pic
| ture of his services and virtue. So many are
the great and good actions Of his lifc-so nu-
mcrous the sound and impressive maxims of
| policy delivered to postcrity, that their simple
recital would fill folio volume. For these the
! student Of history viii turn the archives Of our
Country, while ii shall be our duty to discuss
the nature Of the institutions of that Country
Of which he has been justly termed The Father
and TO consider the political diseases ifany there
be, that are preying upon its national vitality.
The settlement of New England, and the in
stitutions of this country, are results of the
Reformation. The act OF supremacy in the
reign Of Henry VIII. which separated the En-
glish nation from the Roman See, was simple
vindication Of the sovereign franchise of that
monarch against foreign influence, but contain
ed no principle favorable to religious liberty.
All the Roman Catholic doctrines were still as
serted. and the Pope could praise the king for
his orthodoxy, while he communicated him
for his diSobedience. The Catholic who deni-
ed the Kings supremacy, and the Protestant
who doubted his creed, were alike consigned
to the stake. But the accession of Edward VI.
prepared the way for Professionalism. a new
spirit Of inquiry became active, and not rite
Of the established worship, not a point in
church government passed by without strict
examination. Puritanism, jealous for inde-
pendcnce, admitted no voucher but the Bible,
which it would allow neither Pope, King nor
Parliament to interpret. They soon trampled
upon church and aristocracy, and hurried into
exile to escape the vindictiye grasp of bigotry
and intolerance. a handful of these wander
ing. harrassed protestantS, imbued with the
great principles of religious freedom, left the
green shores oftheir own fair land and sought
out home in these western wildS, Throughout
whose whole extent Art had then reared no
monument, and from whose impenetrable for
rests, civilization Shranz back afIrigbtcd and
APPALLED,. In the midst of winter with no COW
ering to shelter them from the bleak winds
they landed upon our rock bound coast having
forsaken all that man holds most dear on earth,
home, country, kindred, and friends, for
freedom to worship God With the gigantic
forest. inhabited only by the merciIess savage
and the beast of prey, upon the one side, and
the tracklesS waste of waters, over which they
had been borne from tyranny and oppression,
on the other,-the Pilgrim Fathers founded
upon Plymouth Rock the institutions of Amer
lean liberty, and consecfated themselves and
their posterity forever to freedom
As time rolled on these hardy pioneers grew
strong in numbers as they grew strong in noble
deeds, until the American Colonies had swollen
to three millions o. tf..eeemen, conscious that
they owed no allegience save to the soil which
they had consecrated to liberty, and to the God
who made them. Their growing prosperity at
length rendered them equally an object of am
bition and OF avarice to the counties that had
driven them forth, and they resolved to force
them back into the CALLING seryitude of their
ancestors. The mighty roar Of England's lion,
which had disturbed the tranquility of all the
states and dynasties of Europe, re-echoed
across the broad Atlantic, and like the tur-
ing of the giant Enceladus beneath the heay
ing Etna, was felt to the utnlust limits of the
world. But the sons of the hardy pioneers,
with ''GoD AND LIBERTY for their battle cry,
knew that they were invincible, and astonished
Europe beheld a feeble people, without an Or
ganized ent,-destitute of arms of
ammunition and almost of clothing for her few
rude soldiers, stand forth and defy the mighty
giant to the combat! Deluded desnstism SOON
reilnnn'shAd lie fruitless task of subiueation.
The remnant of fbafaed invasion were wlthora"h'
and American independence was conhr'heo.
These American institutions, thus io"nueo