Description:

'SERMON PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS GAGE...', 1774
Rare volume: 'A Sermon Preached Before His Excellency Thomas Gage, Esq; Governor: The Honorable His Majesty's Council, and the Honorable House of Representatives, of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, May 25th, 1774. Being the Anniversary of the Election of His Majesty's Council for said Province. Boston: New England' by Gad Hitchcock (Boston: Edes & Gill), 1774. 56pp. 8vo., FIRST EDITION, rebound in full black leather with gilt title to spine. Any front flyleaves lacking, title page, first page and last page of text bear losses and are professionally mounted, some pages bearing a slight marginal damp stain, else very good. Text of the famed Congregationalist minister's bold sermon, a distinct challenge to Britain's new Governor Gage of Massachusetts who was present in the audience. Hitchcock boldly declared: '...our contention is not about trifles, but about liberty and property, and not ours only, but those of prosperity...' He further relates: '...No individual has any authority, or right to attempt to exercise any, over the rest of the human species, however he may be supposed to surpass them in wisdom and sagacity… Rulers are under the most sacred ties to consult the good of society...[if they] contrive and attempt the ruin of the publick, it is the duty of the people to consult the common happiness, and oppose them...much lies at stake...prerogative itself is not a power to do anything it pleases...our danger is not visionary, but real...' Less than a year later, the British and colonials would clash at Lexington and Concord. Evans 13330. Sabin 32260.

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September 10, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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