“So then, we gather today on this historical occasion—and I trust you can feel the importance of this day for the future—to praise God for the display of His grace, wisdom and power in Jamestown in the early 17th century, and for the legacy it has bequeathed us. May God have mercy on us for how we have neglected and despised that legacy. May He be merciful to us by giving us renewed dedication to the preservation and development of that legacy down through our future generations.
“And so, in conclusion: I cannot stand on this precious ground without crying out: sic semper tyrannis. And I leave you with the words of Pastor William Cranshaw in his preface to Alexander Whitaker’s famous sermon, ‘Good News from Virginia’:
Go forward in [Christ’s] name and by the strength of the Lord our God, and rest assured that His goodness will either raise you more strength or will make the strength you have already able to prevail. Be not therefore faint-hearted, but remember it is God’s cause you have taken in hand. It may therefore be hindered, but cannot be overthrown. If we then were so base as to betray or forsake it, God whose it is will stir up our children after us and give them that good land to enjoy, which we are not worthy of, and which nothing but our sins and sluggishness can keep from us. Let us not therefore to our own shame leave so blessed a work to them that follow us, lest the ensuing ages say of us, Why was there such a prize put into the hands of fools who had not hearts to take it? (Proverbs) Stand to it therefore and be not wanting to yourselves, and God will never be wanting to you nor it, till His blessed providence hath brought it to pass that men shall say, God hath made His ways known upon earth, and His saving health amongst all nations: and blessed by the Lord God of Virginia, world without end.”