"STAND FAST IN THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH YOU HAVE BEEN MADE FREE": RARE FIRST EDITION OF "THE FIRST INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY SERMON," DELIVERED IN MASSACHUSETTS ON JULY 4, 1777

(DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE) GORDON, William. The Separation of the Jewish Tribes… Applied to the Present Day, In a Sermon Preached before the General Court, On Friday, July the 4th, 1777. Being the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independency. Boston: J. Gill, Printer to the General Assembly, 1777. Slim octavo, rebound in early tree calf boards rebacked, red morocco spine label; pp. (1-5), 6-37, (1).

First edition of William Gordon's powerful Sermon delivered before the Massachusetts-Bay House of Representatives on July 4, 1777, the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, urging all to remain steadfast against the British and recalling the earliest days of the fight, when "we were without an army, without money and without ammunition… The sword being drawn and the ground stained with blood."

"Much of the most important and characteristic writing of the American Revolution" appeared in pamphlets such as this momentous first edition of William Gordon's Sermon, delivered on July 4, 1777 in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence (Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 4). Gordon was "a vigorous partisan of independence and in 1775 was made chaplain to both houses of the Provincial Congress assembled at Watertown… He delivered the election sermon before the General Court on July 19, 1775 and the first independence anniversary sermon on July 4, 1777" (DAB IV:426). Addressing the Massachusetts-Bay House of Representatives, Gordon spoke only days before Britain's capture of Fort Ticonderoga dealt a near-crushing blow to the beleaguered Americans. In electrifying imagery he recalls the earliest days of the Revolution, when "we were without an army, without money and without ammunition… The sword being drawn and the ground stained with the blood of its inhabitants, the people offered themselves willingly in the cause." Despite uncertain victory, Gordon urges all to hold fast to the Declaration of Independence, and reject not only "kings but tyranny, and as ever to retain the supreme authority in the people… Take heed therefore my brethren, and stand fast in that liberty wherewith you have been made free" (emphasis in original). Gordon later authored the "first full-scale history" of the Revolution in his 1788 History of the Rise, Progress and Establishment of the Independence of the United States (Howes G256). First edition: "perhaps the first anniversary sermon, commemorative of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, printed" (Evans 15317). With half title. Containing "Hymn… sung upon the occasion" at rear. Sabin 28009. ESTC W29110. Rosenbach 69. Evans 15317. OCLC lists 42 copies; including the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard and Stanford. Early owner signature above half title.

Text generally fresh with occasional faint spotting or dampstaining. Beautifully rebound in old boards.