[208] _A Discourse, delivered February 19, 1795. The day set apart by the President for a general thanksgiving throughout the United States._ By David Osgood, A. M., pastor of the church in Medford, Boston, 1795, p. 18. [209] _Ibid._, pp. 18, 19. [210] _A Sermon, delivered before the Convention of the Clergy of Massachusetts, in Boston, May 26, 1796._ By Jeremy Belknap, minister of the church in Federal-Street, Boston. Boston, 1796, pp. 15 _et seq._ A similar note was struck by Tappan in the convention of the following year. _Cf._ _Sermon, delivered before the Annual Convention of the Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts, in Boston, June 1, 1797_, Boston, 1797, p. 26. [211] _A Sermon, delivered on the 9th of May, 1798. Being the day of a National Fast, Recommended by the President of the United States._ By John Thornton Kirkland, minister of the New South Church, Boston. Boston, 1798, pp. 18 _et seq._ [212] Complaints of the nature indicated, and justifications of ministerial conduct in continuing the practice of “political preaching” increase in number from about 1796 on. The following examples are picked almost at random: _The sermon preached by John Eliot at the ordination of Joseph M’Kean, Milton, Mass., November 1, 1797_, Boston, 1797, p. 33; James Abercrombie’s _Fast Day Sermon, May 9, 1798, Philadelphia_, Philadelphia, (n. d.); Eliphalet Porter’s _Fast Day Sermon_ of the same date, at Roxbury, Boston, 1798, p. 22; Samuel Miller’s _Fast Day Sermon_, also of the same date, at New York, New York, 1798. [213] _God’s Challenge to Infidels to Defend Their Cause, Illustrated and Applied in a Sermon, delivered in West Springfield, May 4, 1797, being the day of the General Fast._ By Joseph Lathrop, minister ... Second Ed., Cambridge, 1803. [214] _Ibid._, p. 4. [215] _A Sermon, preached on the State Fast, April 6th, 1798._ ... By Nathan Strong, pastor of the North Presbyterian Church in Hartford. Hartford, 1798, pp. 14 _et seq._ [216] _Some Facts evincive of the Atheistical, Anarchical, and in other respects, Immoral Principles of the French Republicans, Stated in a sermon delivered on the 9th of May, 1798._ ... By David Osgood ... Boston, 1798. [217] One of the curious results of the reflection of the American clergy on the significance of the French Revolution was a marked disposition to treat the Roman Catholic Church with unwonted sympathy and respect. Osgood’s implied apology not infrequently received an unblushingly frank statement. _Cf._ for example, Nathan Strong’s _Connecticut Fast Day Sermon_, cited above.