A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ. GOVERNOUR...OF MASSACHUSETTS, OCTOBER 25, 1780. BEING THE DAY OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION AND INAUGURATION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
[Boston]: T. and J. Fleet, and J. Gill, 1780. [4], 55, [1 blank] pp, with half title as issued. Disbound, else Very Good with light toning and a few light fox marks.
Cooper spent his career at the Brattle Square Church in Boston. He "was active in the cause of American freedom and intimately associated with its leaders." DAB. Despite his eminence, "his only literary output consists of a small number of sermons and miscellaneous pamphlets of which Palfrey rates his sermon of 1780 On the Commencement of the Constitution, as his best." Id.
The Massachusetts Constitution, which Cooper celebrates here, was drafted primarily by John Adams. One of the most significant documents of the Revolutionary era, it served as a model for other constitutions. Cooper's text is from Jeremiah: "Their Congregation shall be established before me: and their Nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them." Cooper likens America to ancient Israel: "Like that nation we were led into a wilderness, as a refuge from tyranny, and a preparation for the enjoyment of our civil and religious rights." He asserts that Israel's government, under "a charter from Heaven, was that of a free republic," thus demonstrating what "ought to be regarded as a solemn recognition from the Supreme Ruler himself of the rights of human nature." So too in America, and under the Massachusetts Constitution, "all men are born equal and free," and none has a natural right to exercise dominion over others.
FIRST EDITION. Evans 16753. Gephart 13110. Item #41181
Price: $750.00