at Norwalk, assembled with his people to repel them, and saw a cannon ball smite the earth within three feet of him, without disturbing his serenity. Forced back by superior numbers, they witnessed their town given to the flames. Only one house, too remote to attract the attention of the invaders, was left standing, and into this the pastor gathered his people, and preached to them from Isaiah, lxiv. 11, 12: "Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?" Chaplain to the regiment of Col. Philip P. Brady, at Bergen, he, after seven months of arduous labor, was seized with the camp-fever, and brought so low that his life was despaired of. The good old patriot, however, lived to see the country, for which he had prayed, and toiled, and suffered, free and happy.

The brave Dr. Latta, of Lancaster Co., Pa., not only served as chaplain, but on one occasion, when an unusual number of his parishioners were drafted into the army, in order to encourage them, shouldered his knapsack, and accompanied them as a common soldier on their campaign.

Dr. Armstrong, of Maryland, served first in the ranks as a volunteer, and afterwards, when licensed to preach, became chaplain, and continued with the army till the overthrow of the British at Yorktown.

John Martin, after praying with the soldiers at Bunker Hill, seized a musket and fought gallantly to the close of the battle. A day or two after he

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preached to the remnants of his shattered regiment from Nehemiah iv. 14: "And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be ye not afraid of them."

Nathaniel Bartlett, of Reading, chaplain awhile to Putnam, was accustomed to make his parochial visits with a musket on his shoulder, to protect himself from the tories who had sworn to hang him, and kept his garret full of gunpowder, for the use of his parishioners in case of an attack.

All these, and a hundred other great and good men, by their example and eloquence fed the fires of liberty, and sustained the courage of the people. Men of learning and culture, they were looked up to for advice and counsel-whose praise was not only in all the churches, but throughout the land, for their integrity, ability and patriotism. These formed a host of devoted laborers in the common cause, but more than this, their prayers arose incessantly, from camp and field, that God would defend the right, and save his people. These last are counted as nothing by the historian, but we may rest assured that they did more than resolutions of Congress, and acts of committees of safety, towards achieving our liberties. One may consider it beneath the dignity of history to put them among the causes that led ultimately to our success : but when that history comes to be read in the light of eternity, the enthusiasm of volunteers, and the steady courage of the disciplined battalions, will sink into insignificance beside the devout prayers and faith of these men of God.

CHAPTER VI.

JONAS CLARK.

THE PASTOR OF LEXINGTON. HIS MINISTERIAL LIFE-EARLY TEACHINGS.-PATRIOTIC CONDUCT AND ABILITY AS A STATESMAN.-HANCOCK AND ADAMS FIND REFUGE IN HIS HOUSE.-NEWS OF THE APPROACH OF THE ENEMY.-HIS ACCOUNT OF IT.-SUMMONING OF THE MILITIA.-SCENE ON THE GREEN.-APPROACH OF THE ENEMY.-THE SLAUGHTER.-MR. CLARK AMONG HIS SLAIN PARISHIONERS. HIS FEELINGS AND PREDICTION. HIS DEATH.

IN writing the biographies of the illustrious, patriotic clergy and chaplains of the Revolution, I can commence the list with no worthier name than Jonas Clark, the pastor of the quiet town of Lexington. This obscure New England village has become as well known, throughout the civilized world, as Rome is. To human observation there was nothing in passing events to justify a prediction of its future renown, but that inscrutable Providence, that weaves the destinies of nations as well as of men, was preparing to make that unobtrusive spot the beacon light of the world, and its name the watchword of freemen for all time. Among the agents designed to bring about this extraordinary result no better one could have been found than Jonas Clark.

He was born in Newton, Mass., Dec. 25th, 1730. Graduating at Cambridge at the early age of twenty-two, he immediately entered on his theological studies, and when but twenty-five years of age was ordained pastor of Lexington. Here he settled on a

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little farm, and, with a salary of eighty pounds a year, and twenty cords of wood, pursued the quiet, retired life of a country minister. Grave and dignified in the pulpit, yet earnest in manner, he presented the truths of the Gospel with a fervor and power that always commanded the deepest attention of his hearers. "His voice was powerful and agreeable, and when excited by his subject, which was often the case, it extended far beyond the bounds of the meeting-house, and could be heard distinctly by those who were anywhere in the immediate neighborhood."

Uniting the life of farmer with that of village pastor, his life seemed destined to flow on evenly, and unnoticed by the great world without, to its close. But when the trouble between the Colonies and the mother country commenced, he stepped at once from his obscurity, and became known throughout all the region as one of the most uncompromising patriots of the day. Earnestly, yet without passion, he discussed from the pulpit the great questions at issue, and that powerful voice thundered forth the principles of personal, civil, and religious liberty, and the right of resistance, in tones as earnest and effective as it had the doctrine of salvation by the cross.

Long before it was certain that the quarrel must come to blows, he had so thoroughly indoctrinated his people with these great truths, that no better spot on the continent could have been found for the British first to try the terror of their arms, and make the experiment to subjugate the Colonists by force. His congregation was ripe for revolution, ready to fight and to die rather

than yield to arbitrary force. His wife was cousin to John Hancock, and thus the latter became a frequent visitor at his house. Whether the pastor influenced Hancock, or Hancock the pastor, is of little consequence; they were harmonious on the question that agitated the Colonies. The conversation of these two patriots, as they surveyed the vast interests at stake, and the fearful struggle they believed to be unavoidable, and the words of courage uttered in that quiet parsonage, would make a heroic page in American history, could they have been preserved. The Rev. William Ware, of Cambridge, in writing to Dr. Sprague, says, "It would not be beyond the truth to assert that there was no person at that time and in that vicinity -not only no clergyman, but no other person of whatever calling or profession, who took a firmer stand for the liberties of the country, or was more ready to perform the duties and endure the sacrifices of a patriot, than the minister of Lexington. He was considered, moreover, not only as a person of great ardor of temperament as a politician-the first to move himself and set others in motion on great emergenciesbut also as a person of great abilities, whose judgment was one more than others to be respected and relied upon. No one than he better understood the state of the question as between the Colonies and England; nor were there any who, earlier than he, or with more talent at the town meetings, and at other places and times, argued the great topics on which differences had arisen, and then, through the representatives of the town, presented the arguments and conclusions at