constitutional principles herein before mentioned. For effecting these purposes, we have addressed an humble and loyal petition to his Majesty praying relief of our and your grievances; and have associated to stop all importations from Great-Britain and Ireland, after the first day of December, and all exportations to those Kingdoms and the West-Indies after the tenth day of next September, unless the said grievances are redressed.
That Almighty God may incline your minds to approve our equitable and necessary measures, to add yourselves to us, to put your fate whenever you suffer injuries which you are determined to oppose not on the small influence of your single province but on the consolidated powers of North-America, and may grant to our joint exertions an event as happy as our cause is just, is the fervent prayer of us, your sincere and affectionate friends and fellow-subjects.
By order of the Congress,
Henry Middleton, President.
Originally published in London in 1712 and based on a sermon given by the Reverend Bradbury on November 5 of that year, this essay was republished in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1774 as being especially appropriate to the troubles then facing the colonies. Thomas Bradbury wrote a number of essays celebrating liberty and the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and his work is typical in that a close textual analysis of a biblical passage is used to illustrate a political principle or defend a political position. Readers of this pamphlet will understand the genesis of the common revolutionary flag bearing a serpent and the words “Don’t Tread On Me.” Dividing the serpent into thirteen sections to represent the thirteen colonies completed the efficient iconography representing thirteen republics. This reprinting is based upon the 1774 reprinting, which in turn was based upon a 1767 reproduction of the 1712 text. The intermediate printing of 1767 included additional editing of the original, so the version reproduced here is not precisely as Bradbury wrote it.
GEN. XLIX. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Issachar is a strong Ass couching down between two Burdens;
And he saw that Rest was good, and the Land that it was pleasant; and bowed his Shoulder to bear, and became a Servant unto Tribute.
Dan shall judge his People as one of the Tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a Serpent in the Way, an Adder in the Path; that biteth the Horse-heels, so that the Rider shall fall backward.
I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord.
Ch. xlvii. 29
Rom. ix. 6, 7.
Ch. I.lix. 1.
These Words are Part of the Prophecy that Jacob dealt among his Sons when the Days drew near that he must die; and they let us see with what Variety of Temper those People acted, who all grew from the same Father: A full Argument how well the Distinction is form’d, That all are not Israel, who are of Israel: Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham, are they all Children: He here opens out what shall befal ’em in the latter Days, and how they would carry it when they came into the promis’d Land; and, because some of ’em should have little or no Taste of Liberty, and others would pursue it through all the Expence and Danger that lay in their way, he places these Two together, that every one who reads may do Justice upon the plain Opposition there is between ’em.
I shall consider the Words, First, As they describe a People that are Sluggish and Cowardly, who will venture nothing to have All, [2] whose Souls are beneath knowing the Distinction of Bondage and Freedom: And on the other hand, as they give us the Character of those who admire their Liberties and will dare to seek and fetch ’em where ever they are carried; who reckon this a Property that should not be lost as long as it can be kept, and will scarce submit to an Existence under Tyranny.
In these two Branches you have the Division of the Text; Here’s a Tribe of Israel that gives us an Example of each Temper: Issachar is remembred for his neglect of that which Dan was resolv’d upon no Terms to part with: And by observing what good old Jacob saith of these Two that were so unlike any another, we may fix the Characters that are due those who either despise or value the Deliverance of this Day.
I. I shall begin with the Account that you have of Issachar, whose Passive Obedience (if you’ll call it so) is condemn’d to Memory by these Words; Issachar is a strong Ass couching down between two Burdens: And he saw the Rest was good, and the Land, that it was pleasant, and bowed his Shoulder to bear, and became a Servant to Tribute: Where you have three Things:
1. The general Temper of this People.
2. The Subjection and Bondage they fell into. And,
3. The Reason they gave for this Stupidity.
Ver. 9, 21. 22, 27.
(1) You may observe, that many of the Tribes have their History couch’d in a Resemblance that’s given of ’em: They are compar’d to some Creature of that very Disposition that should obtain among ’em: Thus Judah is a Lyons Whelp; Naphtali a Hind let loose; Joseph a fruitful Bough; and Benjamin a ravening Wolf. Now these Allusions would convey to us such thoughts of the People as bear up to the Account we have of ’em afterwards: They are most of ’em to be understood as a Reputation; but what is said of Issachar, is as full of Contempt as a Metaphor can be: We are to know him by his Likeness to the [3] most heavy and stupid Animal in the Creation. Instead of having his Name from something vigorous and beautiful, his Father leaves this upon him, That he’s a strong Ass couching down between two Burdens. The Ground of the Similitude you see is the little Relish they should have for their Liberties, the sorry and dull Surrender they would make of themselves to Tyranny; which is a Temper expos’d in this Comparison two ways.
1. It’s imputed to nothing else but the Stupidity of them that submit to it; the Tribe that sinks into those Measures is resembled by an Ass.
2. It’s condemn’d by the Insinuation that it was in their Power to have it otherways; Issachar is a strong ass: That very Strength that makes him couch under a Load, would be sufficient to throw it off.
1. What the Comparison leads me first to tell you, is that the Foundation of all Passive Obedience is laid in Stupidity. They that couch down between two Burdens, who bow their Shoulders to bear, and become Servants to Tribute, may here see what Herd they belong to.
Exo. I xiii 12.19.
Tho’ an Ass was more us’d in those Eastern Countries than it is with us, yet the Old Testament hath accounted of it as so mean a Creature, that the Comparison is very just: It seems to be made for no higher a Design than Drudgery, bearing of Burdens no way remarkable either for its Head or its Heels, so little capable of being taught, that the Folly of our Nature is signified by it, that Man is born as a wild Ass’s Colt: And tho’ it’s true in those Parts, we find the greatest Men riding on them, yet it’s a Creature that the Ceremonial Law hath branded in a very peculiar way: It must, upon no Terms whatsoever, be thrown among the
