The New Hampshire Gazette

COMMUNICATIONS.

I have lately read the Rev. Francis Brown's Sermon delivered July 28, 1812 on occasion of the Massachusetts State Fast appointed in consequence of the declaration of War against G. Britain, by Gov. Strong.

I take the liberty to make the following extracts from it. Page 5. "What share the inhabitants of our own country are to have in the effects of the divine displeasure, it is impossible, at present, to foresee. As much as this, however we may venture to say, that so far as we become connected with the infidel powers of Europe, or as far as the policy of our government leads to a connection with those powers so far we are in danger of suffering with them the judgment of heaven. —Since, then, war against Great Britain has recently been declared, since an actual prosecution of war with that nation will almost inevitably entail upon us an ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE, and SINCE, if WE ONCE enter upon the aceldama of European hostilities, it seems almost impossible we should escape, till ruin come upon us to the utmost"&c.

In page 8, He expects "a time when all the tribes of Israel shall be collected from their dispersion and be spread upon the mountains of Canaan." He holds forth the idea that by the "agency" of G. Britain "they will be brought." "One division of Judah will return by sea, and through the instrumentality of some FAITHFUL maritime power." "It is clear that the ships of that people will be employed in the noble work of carrying the dispersed of Judah back to the promised land." (Their 'Ships have already received more than six thousand of our Seamen. "Noble work")

Page 22, "And have you not anticipated me my brethren, in the opinion I am now about to express, that this revived Roman beast is none other than the French nation with its dependencies and subject states, under the sway of the present imperial family of Bonaparte?"

"It the new dynasty has arisen in a nation of infidels and atheists, where Satan certainly reigns, if any where on earth."

Page 26, "infidel France is the Antichrist of the last days."

Page 30. "On these grounds, I should not deem it strange, if France, in conjunction with those states which imbibe her principles and favour her views, to gratify the pope and at the same time to indulge her own hostile feelings, should by & by commence a direful war against the church, and prove herself to be the beast of the bottomless pit by slaughtering the witnesses."

Page 27, And the ten horns, which thou sawest, are ten kings, by which are meant distinct kingdoms or states, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour/with the beast. These have one MIND AND SHALL GIVE THEIR POWER AND STRENGTH UNTO THE BEAST: THESE SHALL make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. These ten horns, it should seem, are so many, different sovereignties, which are to arise towards the termination of
the 1260 years in close political connection with the beast, and which will exercise their power in immediate subserviency to his views."

Page 30, "From our subject we are led to make the anxious inquiry what is to be the fate of our own country amid the distresses which are to be brought upon the nations."

"Hence it has been inferred, that as this nation has grown out of European colonies, so its destiny is comprehended in that of some of the nations of Europe. This reasoning appears to me conclusive. Page 31, But it is manifest from the general tenor of the prophecies, which respect the last days, that there are to be but two great classes of powers in Europe, the beast and his vassals, on one side, and those who oppose the beast and his pretensions, on the other. Therefore, give it to you as my deliberate opinion, after a dispassionate examination of the subject, that we are either to become an ally (and not impossible, a norm) of the antichristian beast, or that we are to be of the number of those, who shall resist his encroachments, and oppose his blasphemous designs; and that, accordingly as we are found upon one or the other of these two sides, our destiny will be, either to be destroyed with the beast by the judgments of heaven, or, being corrected in measure, to stand approved of God, and to be instrumental in accomplishing his gracious designs for the restoration of Judah & the enlargement and glory of the church. And it is under this aspect of things, more than for all other reasons, that I dread the consequences of the present war; a war, which, without some important change in the policy of the English or American councils, must certainly be continued till the time of the end!—for a peace between France and G. Britain is, to human view, forever impossible—I speak it deliberately, FOREVER IMPOSSIBLE. But, my brethren, a necessary consequence of a continuance of this war will be an alliance with France; if not a declared and public, yet a secret and effective alliance!"

Page 32, "French ships will frequent our harbors; French subjects will flock into our country; French soldiers will be admitted into our armies, which may possibly be under the command of French officers; and, as the natural effects of all this, French principles will gain a footing upon our soil. The contagion, once introduced, will spread with the rapidity of the plague, and with an influence equally fatal.—The American character will gradually assimilate to the French till at length the mark of the beast will be found upon our foreheads!" Mr. Brown, in his conclusion, says he is "not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet;" and for this last expression I give him the credit of uttering a truth.

The recent events in Europe, the downfall of Bonaparte and peace between G. Britain and France, and also between the U. States and G. Britain prove that Mr. B. is guilty of a gross misapplication of the sacred prophecies. Who can doubt that his discourse was designed to induce the citizens of his country to join the standard of the enemy and give him aid and comfort, to oppose the "beast," Bonaparte and "infidel France?" Gov. Strong about that time declared that G. Britain is "the bulwark of our holy religion." Were Mr. Brown's application of the prophecies true, who would have dared to oppose the enemy? For we should have been "destroyed with the beast by the judgments of heaven." But I forbear to make farther comments,

People of New-Hampshire! I blush to say that the Trustees have appointed the same Francis Brown President of your College!!!!