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with a lighted candle . Then we saw the room filled with men armed with guns and hatchets , having their faces blacked , and handkerchiefs tied rouud their heads . Their first act was to pinion me ; tying my arms together with a cord above my elbows , and crossed over my back . They then led me off , and hastened through the village of Wilkesbarre in perfect silence . Having travelled a couple of miles ,
they halted a few minutes ; then resuming their march , proceeded to Pittstown , ten or eleven miles up the river from Wilkesbarre . Here they stopped at a tavern , and called for whiskey—offering some to me , which I did not accept ; I drank some water . In twenty minutes they left this house , and pursued their march . There were about fifteen of them , arranged in my front , my rear , and an both flanks * We were in the
darkness and stillness of the night . As we proceeded , one of the ruffians at my side thus accosted me— Now , if you will only write two or three lines to the executive council , they will discharge Colonel Franklin , and then we will release you . ' Instantly Ianswered , * The executive council better understand their daty than to discharge a traitor to pro * cure the release of an innocent man . '
< D— him ! ( exclaimed a voice before me , ) why don't you tomahawk him ?'" Similar offers , accompanied with similar threats , were repeatedly made to Colonel Pickering on this eventful and extraordinary expedition ; he remained a prisoner in their hands for nineteen days , till the " great men" who had
encouraged this outrage , deserted the party . " They then made a last request , that I would write a petition for them to the executive council , praying for pardon , and carrying it with me to Wilkesbarre , take an opportunity to send it to Philadelphia . With this , undeserving as they were , I complied . "
The spirit and integrity which Colonel Pickering displayed throughout this romautic adventure , are sufficiently evident iu the slight sketch we have given . " In all the private relations of life , " says his biographer , " he was honest , faithful , and humane . " His public conduct has remained unimpeached . It was at his
instigation that the establishment of schools throughout the state was enacted . "His manners were plain and simple , his morals pure and unblemished , and his belief and profession of the Christian religion were , through a long life , accompanied with practice and conduct iti accordance with its divine precepts /' Such was the great and good man , on
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occasion of whose death this sermon was preached . Mr . Upham has taken his text from Psalm xv . 1 , 2 , •* Lord , who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? He that walketh uprightly , and worketh righteousness , and speaketh the truth in his heart . " The lubject is well treated , and the example of Col . Pickering is adduced
with great simplicity and feeling . There is a remark on the expression , ** speaketh the truth in his heart , " in which we cannot concur . " It determines , " says Mr . Upham , * ' that it is not required of a man to maintain or to speak the actual abstract truth , but the truth , according to his apprehension of it * ' If the Psalmist had lived in a time of controversial
and metaphysical discussion , such might be his meaning ; but waving the question of abstract and relative truth , is there not practically such a thing as speaking the truth in our hearts ( entertaining , that is , no thought or wish to deceive ) ; and is not this sincerity of heart a beautiful and necessary accompaniment to " walking uprightly , " and cs working righteousness" ? We have not room for
further quotation , and must therefore close our remarks with recommending to the reader the sermon itself , and the memoir of Colonel Pickering , which is annexed .
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Art . IL—A Sermon , delivered at the Ordination of the Rev . Jonathan Cole as Pastor of the First Congregational Society in Kingston , January 21 , 1829 . By John Brazer . Salem . 1829 .
Mr . Brazer's Sermon is an animated discussion and refutation of the objectiou made by many to Unitarian tenets , " that they exist chiefly but as a barren notion of the head ; that they are wanting in power over the affections ; that they can breathe no new and fervid life into our spiritual natures ; and that they tend , in
consequence , " to produce iu those who profess them , lukewarmness and indifference to the whole subject of religion . '' He first scrutinizes the validity of the objection , and remarks , generally , that the conduct of professors is not decisive evidence of the truth or value of the faith
professed . This remark should not , we think , have been left quite so unqualified . Faith works by love , and truth generates righteousness . Where such is not the result , there must be disturbing causes in operation , which * may be pointed out and their effects in some degree estimated . There would be a deservedly strong pre-
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Critical Notices . 567
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 567, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/47/
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