BX 7139 .H3 : 
 
 L830 
 
 
 
 Hawes^ Joel, 
 
 1789 
 
 -1867 
 
 
 A tribute to 
 
 the 
 
 memory 
 
 of 
 
 the Pilgrims 
 
 
 
 
TRIBUTE 
 
 MEMORY OF THE PILGRIMS 
 
 A VIXDICATIOX OF THE 
 
 congregatiojVal churches 
 
 OF NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 BY JOEL HAWES, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD. 
 
 HARTFORD : 
 COOKE & CO. AND PACKARD & BUTLER. 
 
 1830. 
 
DISTRICT OP CONNECTICUT, ss. 
 
 Be it remembered, That on the eighteenth day of August, in the 
 
 JL* S» fifty-fiftli year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
 
 Joel, Hawes, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the 
 
 title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, 
 
 to wit : 
 
 "A Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims, and a Vindication of the Con- 
 "gregational Churches of New-England. By Joel Hawes, Pastor of the 
 " Fust Church in Hartford." 
 
 In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act 
 " for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts 
 " and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times 
 " therein mentioned." — And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary 
 "to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing 
 "the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
 " copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits there- 
 " of to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other 
 " prints." 
 
 CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 A true copy of record, examined and sealed by me, 
 
 CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
 G. F. OLMSTED PRINT«.... HARTFORD. 
 
TO THE MEMBERS 
 
 THREE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES 
 
 IN HARTFORD, 
 
 BEFORE WHOM THE FOLLOWING LECTURES WERE DELIVERED, 
 
 K.ND AT WHOSE REQUEST THEY ARE NOW PUBLISHED, 
 
 THEY ARE AFFECTIONATELY 
 
 INSCRIBED, 
 
 SY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Lectures were delivered on successive 
 Sabbath evenings during the months of March and 
 April of the present year. It would be trite to say- 
 that they were written without any reference to publi- 
 cation, and are committed to the press at the request 
 of friends. Such however is the simple fact. The 
 discussion was commenced for the benefit of the 
 author's own charge, and with no purpose of extend- 
 ing it beyond two or three discourses. It was so 
 announced to the audience. But as the subject was 
 pursued, it increased in interest and presented other 
 and important topics of remark, and was therefore 
 continued much beyond the author's original design. 
 
 After he had consented to the publication of the 
 Lectures, it was his intention to give them a careful 
 revision, that he might correct those inaccuracies in 
 style and language which necessarily attend the first 
 draught of a composition. But the pressure of daily 
 employments, together with feeble health, has rendered 
 this impracticable ; and he is now compelled to com- 
 mit the work to the press with only expressing his 
 regret at defects which he is unable to supply. This, 
 however, is not offered as an apology for errors in 
 sentiment, or for mis-statement of material facts. If in 
 these respects, the author has in any case fallen into 
 mistakes, he can only say that it has not been for the 
 want of a desire to know, nor of sincere endeavors 
 to ascertain the truth. 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 As in delivering the Lectures, the author considered 
 himself to be addressing friends, he used much plain- 
 ness of speech, and commented with freedom on 
 sentiments held by some, who belong to denomina- 
 tions different from his own. If in this particular, any- 
 thing he may have said shall wound christian charity, 
 or furnish just cause of offence to any of the sincere 
 friends of Christ, none would more deeply regret it 
 than himself. That he is strongly opposed to certain 
 pretensions, which are advanced by some, respecting 
 tlie external order of the church, he is willing to avow ; 
 and he is so, because he sincerely believes that such 
 pretensions are contrary to the spirit and doctrine of 
 the scriptures, and of pernicious tendency. But he 
 utterly disclaims every feeling of alienation or un- 
 charitableness towards any who bear the christian 
 name, simply because they are not of the same denomi- 
 nation with himself, or may differ from him in their 
 form of church polity and modes of worship. With 
 perfect truth he can repeat the sentiment, which is 
 more than once advanced in the Lectures — Grace he 
 with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- 
 cerity. That the spirit of this Apostolic salutation 
 may more and more extensively pervade the minds 
 and be manifested in the lives of all who profess to be 
 christians, is the author's highest wish and fervent 
 prayer. 
 
 Hartford, August, 1830. 
 
 Note. To prevent mistake the author thinks it proper to state, 
 that his remarks in the first Lecture, respecting the constitution 
 and order of the primitive churches, are not confined to the age of 
 the Apostles, but generally to the first two centuries after Christ, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Constit'dtion and Order of the Primitive Churches, 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 Origin, Principles, and Influence of the Congre- 
 gational Churches of New-England, - - - 41 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 Deductions from the foregoing Lectures, - 79 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 Character and Vindication of the Pilgrims, - 109 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 Causes and Extent of Declension in the Congre- 
 gational Churches of New-England, - - - 145 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Means of Recovery and Defence, - - . - - 1S5 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND ORDER OF. THE PRIMITIVE 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 JEREMIAH, vi. 16. 
 
 THUS SAITH THE LORD, STAND IN THE WAYS AND SEE, AND ASK FOa 
 THE OLD PATHS, WHEEE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THERlIIN, 
 AND YE SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 
 
 I PROPOSE in this, and some additional lectures, to 
 present an outline of the constitution and order of 
 the primitive churches, with special reference to an 
 illustration of the principles and polity of the Con- 
 gregational churches of New England. It is with 
 no purpose to excite controversy, that I call your 
 attention to this subject. In the discussion of it, I 
 shall, doubtless, be led to advance sentiments, not 
 altogether in accordance with those that are held 
 by some other denominations of christians. This is 
 the exercise of a common right. We all claim the 
 privilege of explaining and defending our own views 
 of truth and duty ; and if this is done in the spirit of 
 candor and kindness, no one has any cause of com- 
 plaint. I am not accustomed, as you know, to at- 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 tach much importance to mere forms and ceremo- 
 nies, much less, to attack the forms and ceremonies 
 of other denominations. These are matters, which 
 I regard as comparatively of small moment ; and in 
 judging of the expediency of adopting them in reli- 
 gious worship, I readily concede to others the same 
 liberty that I claim for myself I fully believe, with 
 the Apostle, that in Christ Jesus, neither circumcis- 
 ion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a 
 new creature ; and that while one saith t am of Paul, 
 and another, I am of Apollos, and another, I am of 
 Cephas, unless we are all of Christ, imbued with his 
 spirit and devoted to his service, we cannot see the 
 kingdom of God. "Every believer in Jesus," says an 
 eminent Episcopalian, "who is a partaker of the grace 
 of God in truth, is a member of the true church, to 
 whatever particular denomination of christians he 
 may belong ; without this, Popes, Bishops, Presbyt- 
 ers, Pastors or Deacons, are but the limbs of Anti- 
 clirist, and of the synagogue of Satan, and belong to 
 no church which the great Shepherd and Bishop of 
 souls will acknowledge for his own."* Let it not be 
 supposed however, that because I do not consider 
 the outward form or polity of the church, as of the 
 essentials of religion, I therefore regard it as a mat- 
 * Miller's Letters, p. 24. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 
 
 ter of entire indifference. This would be a great 
 mistake. The garment you wear is no part of your 
 person, " either of your soul or your body," and yet 
 one garment maybe more convenient than another; 
 or it may be so inconvenient as to be scarcely capa- 
 ble of being worn. In like manner, though forms of 
 church government and modes of worship are no 
 essential part of religion, yet one form of government 
 and mode of worship may be better adapted to pro- 
 mote the cause of religion than another ; and they 
 maybe so corrupted and changed from the simplicity 
 of the original institution, as directly to counteract 
 and defeat the great end of religion.* 
 
 The subject, then, proposed for consideration is 
 one of importance ; and I cannot but hope, that a 
 discussion of it may lead you to stand in the way 
 and see, and to ask for the old paths, where is the 
 good way, and to walk thej-ein, that you may find 
 rest for your souls. 
 
 There are, moreover, at the present time, some 
 special reasons for calling your attention to this 
 subject. As a general fact, it is a subject, I appre- 
 hend, but little understood by the members of our 
 churches. It is rarely discussed, either from the 
 pulpit or the press ; and while we are all sensible, 
 
 * Campbell's Lectures on Eccles. Hist. p. 128. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 that great and precious blessings have flowed to us, 
 from the religious institutions of our fathers, there 
 are but few among us, I fear, who clearly understand 
 the principles of those institutions, or are properly 
 qualified to defend them, when attacked. And 
 attacked they often are, at the present day, and that, 
 with no small share of acrimony and violence. 
 Misrepresentations are made, and claims advanced, 
 which strike at the very foundation of the ancient 
 churches of New England ; and though in years 
 past, the number and moral power of these churches 
 may have sufficed to render such misrepresentations 
 and assaults comparatively harmless, the times have 
 changed, and it has become important to adopt 
 other means of defence. We must, as a denomin- 
 ation, understand the nature and tendency of that 
 form of church polity which has come down to us 
 from our fathers. The principles of Congregation- 
 ahsm must be explained ; their accordance with the 
 scriptures and with primitive practice demonstrated ; 
 their adaptation to the genius of our civil institutions 
 pointed out, and their happy influence in promoting 
 vital godliness and all the best interests of men illus- 
 trated and enforced. 
 
 To accomplish some of these objects, in respect to 
 the people of my own charge, is the end I propose 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 5 
 
 in attempting this service. May the Spirit of all 
 grace guide nie in the prosecution of it, and crown 
 the effort with an abundant blessing. 
 
 The first question I propose to consider is, wheth- 
 er Christ, or his Apostles established any particular 
 form of ecclesiastical polity, as of universal obli- 
 gation ? In other words, do the scriptures furnish 
 us with any precise instruction, respecting the 
 external form of the church, or the method accord- 
 ing to which it should be governed ? The affirmative 
 of this question, as you are aware, is asserted by some 
 with an air of confidence, that would seem to pre- 
 clude the possibility of a doubt respecting it. We 
 are told by the advocates of what are very properly 
 called high church notions, "that one form of govern- 
 ment for the church is unaherably fixed by divine 
 appointment ; that this form is Episcopal ; that it is 
 absolutely essential to the existence of the church ; 
 that, of course, wherever it is wanting, there is no 
 church, no regular ministry, no valid ordinances ; 
 and that all who are united to religious societies, not 
 conformed to this order, are " aliens from Christ," 
 " out of the appointed road to heaven," and have no 
 hope but in the uncovenanted mercies of God." 
 These exclusive claims, I am aware, are rejected 
 
 by a great number of the most intelligent and pious 
 1* 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 Episcopalians in our country and in England ; but 
 they are also asserted, in all their ofFensiveness, by a 
 still greater, and I fear, growing number, in that 
 denomination. 
 
 Now before any one should presume to advance 
 such claims, he ought, certainly, to be able to adduce 
 the fullest and most decided authority in support of 
 them. But where is such authority to be found ? 
 Is it furnished in the gospel of Jesus Christ, or in the 
 writings of his Apostles ? To me nothing seems 
 plainer, than that it is not. I have read the Christian 
 scriptures in vain, if in any one chapter or verse the 
 subject of church government is formally discussed, 
 or any thing like a system of polity laid down as of 
 universal obligation. That our *Lord Jesus Christ 
 established a church and appointed certain officers 
 in it, is admitted by all. But that he prescribed the 
 exact form of the church, or the order of its govern- 
 ment, or the mode of ordaining its ministers, is no 
 where taught in the New Testament, and is, I am 
 persuaded, a sentiment having no other foundation, 
 than the authority of men. 
 
 Accordingly a multitude of Episcopalians, both 
 Bishops and others, readily acknowledge that the 
 scriptures no where establish any particular form of 
 church government. This is well known to have 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 7 
 
 been the opinion of all the English reformers; and in 
 later times, it has been held by such men as Locke, 
 and Bacon, and Stillingfleet, and Tillotson, and 
 Leighton, and Reynolds, and Burnet, and Croft, and 
 a long hst of others, the brightest lights that have ever 
 shone in the English church. To these witnesses, I 
 will add two others of more modern date. Arch- 
 deacon Payley says ; " It cannot be proved, that any 
 form of church government was laid down in the 
 Christian scriptures, with a view of fixing a constitu- 
 tion for succeeding ages," The Editors of the 
 Christian Observer in their number for March, 1804 
 say, "that Episcopalians found not the merits of 
 their cause, upon any express injunction or delinea- 
 tion of church government in the scriptures, for there 
 is none." 
 
 On the fact here conceded, I have three remarks 
 to make. 1. From the silence of Christ and his 
 Apostles on the subject, it is entirely certain, that they 
 regarded no particular form of ecclesiastical polity 
 as essential, either to the existence of the church, the 
 authority of its ministry, or the validity of its ordin- 
 ances. If the outward form of the church, or the 
 mode of constituting its ministry is a matter of such 
 importance, that there can be no church, and no 
 ministry unless they are organized and appointed in 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 a particular way, it is incredible, that our divine 
 Lord and his inspired messengers should have passed 
 by the subject, in so much silence, and no where 
 have delivered any explicit instructions respecting it. 
 The truth is, our Lord Jesus Christ, by leaving this 
 matter undetermined, has left his churches a discre- 
 tionary power of modelling their form of govern- 
 ment, according to their views of expediency and 
 the general principles of the gospel. Had he intend- 
 ed to establish any uniform mode of government, he 
 would have legislated explicitly on the subject, and 
 laid down specific rules, according to which the 
 church should be governed in all future ages. But 
 he has not done this ; and therefore every church 
 has a right to make laws for itself, provided that these 
 laws are consistent with charity and with the funda- 
 mental doctrines of Christianity.* 
 
 2. It is an unauthorized assumption of power, and 
 a grievous offence against charity, to make any par- 
 ticular form of church government or mode of wor- 
 ship a condition of christian fellowship and commun- 
 ion. Whatever the scriptures have decided on this , 
 subject is of divine authority ; but nothing else is of 
 such authority, or at all binding on the consciences 
 of men. But the scriptures have no where decided 
 
 * Mosheim, vol. 1 : 85. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. ^ 
 
 that any particular form of government, or mode of 
 ordination is essential to the existence of the church, 
 or the authority of its ministry, or the validity of its 
 ordinances. Those, then, who affirm, that there can 
 be no true church, or ministry, or ordinances, but 
 such as are constituted and administered in a partic- 
 ular way, assume to themselves the right of deciding 
 in matters which the great Head of the church has 
 left undecided ; and when they proceed to make a 
 compliance with their prescribed rites and ceremo- 
 nies, a condition of fellowship with other christians 
 and churches, they sin against charity, and violate 
 the great principles of peace and unity in the church 
 of God. Without any authority from Christ, or his 
 Apostles, and contrary to the whole spirit and tenor 
 of the gospel, they place a point of external order, 
 on a par with the essence of religion ; and in so 
 doing, virtually excommunicate from the church of 
 God, a very great proportion of the protestant 
 world — declaring them to be ' out of the appointed 
 way to heaven,' and having no hope, but in the * un- 
 covenanted mercy of God.' Can this be right? Is 
 there any thing in the spirit or precepts of the gospel 
 to justify principles like these ? 
 
 That such high and exclusive claims should be 
 advanced by Roman Catholics, claiming infallibility, 
 
10 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 is what might be expected ; but that they should be 
 advanced by Protestants, professing to take the 
 Bible for their guide, is more than one could believe, 
 if the fact were not attested by the most indubitable 
 evidence. To me nothing seems plainer than the 
 principle laid down by Robert Hall, in his Treatise 
 on Communion,* that *no man or body of men 
 has a right to make that a condition of communion, 
 which is not in the New Testament made a condi- 
 tion of salvation.' This principle approves itself to 
 the common sense and conscience of every man, and 
 runs through the whole tenor of the christian scrip- 
 tures. It ought to be adopted as a fundamental prin- 
 ciple in all the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 and every departure from it, every attempt to erect 
 forms and ceremonies into terms of christian com- 
 munion, ought to be regarded as a violation of the 
 very spirit of the gospel, and as the worst sort of 
 heresy, f 
 
 * p. 4. Preface. 
 
 t The term is here used according to its meaning in the ori- 
 ginal, as denoting sect or party, and needs no qualification. 
 
 " Nothing, says Robert Hall, more abhorrent fro«i the princi- 
 ples and maxims of the sacred oracles can be conceived, than the 
 idea of a plurality of true churches, neither in actual commun- 
 ion with each other, nor in a capacity for such communion. 
 Though this rending of the seamless garment of our Saviour, 
 this schism in the members of his n)ystical body, is by far the 
 greatest calamity which has befallen the christian interest, and 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 
 
 11 
 
 3. I venture another remark. Our Saviour has 
 commanded nothing, expressly, respecting the exter- 
 nal form of the church, or the mode of its govern- 
 ment. As a natural consequence, christians have 
 formed themselves into different denominations, and 
 have adopted different forms of government, and 
 modes of worship. Is this, on the whole, to be re- 
 gretted ? That many and serious evils are occa- 
 sioned by the existence of different denominations 
 cannot be doubted. But would they have been 
 
 one of the most fatal eifects of the great aposta cy foretold by 
 the sacred penman, we have been so long familiarized to it as to 
 be scarcely sensible of its enormity, nor does it excite^surprise or 
 concern, in any degree proportioned to what would be felt by one 
 who had contemplated the church in the first ages. To see 
 christian societies regarding each other with the jealousies of 
 rival empires, eacli aiming to raise itself on the ruin of all oth- 
 ers, making extravagant boasts of superior purity, generally in 
 exact proportion to their departure from it, and scarcely deign, 
 ing to acknowledge the possibility of obtaining salvation out of 
 their pale, is the odious and disgusting spectacle which modern 
 Christianity presents. 
 
 The bond of charity which unites the genuine followers of 
 Christ in distinction from the world, is dissolved, and the very 
 terms by which it was wont to be denoted, exclusively employed 
 to express a predilection for a sect. The evils which result from 
 this state of division are incalculable ; it supplies infidels with 
 their most plausible topics of invective ; it hardens the conscien- 
 ces of the impenitent, weakens the hands of the good, impedes 
 the efficacy of prayer, and is probably the principal obstruction 
 to that ample effusion of the spirit, which is essential to the 
 renovation of the world." Terms of Communion, p. 11. 
 
12 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 less, had there been but one denomination ? Sup- 
 pose that Christ had prescribed a particular form of 
 government for the church, and had laid down, in 
 minute and circumstantial detail, a ritual of worship 
 and discipline. There would then have been but one 
 denomination of christians in the world. All would 
 have had the same name, the same polity, the same 
 mode of worship. Are we sure that this would 
 have been a blessing ? Would there have existed in 
 the church more piety, more zeal, or more efficient 
 activity in promoting the cause of Christ, and the 
 salvation of sinners ? We have not the means of 
 deciding this question ; but to me, it seems highly 
 probable, that in such a case, the whole church 
 would have been a dead sea ; such as it was during 
 the dark ages, when there was, in fact, but one de- 
 nomination. Deep night brooded over the whole 
 world ; and the power of godliness had well nigh 
 become extinct. 
 
 Considering how imperfect men are, even the best 
 of men, it can hardly admit of doubt, that it is better 
 for the church and the world, that different denom- 
 inations should exist. And this was probably one 
 reason why Christ did not establish any one invaria- 
 ble form of government for his church. Nor is 
 there any thing in what is here said, that implies in- 
 difference to essential error, or fellowship with de- 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 13 
 
 nominations that deny the fundamental doctrines of 
 the gospel. Such denominations there are; and 
 the Bible forbids us to have any fellowship with 
 them, lest we be partakers of their evil deeds.* 
 
 But there is nothing in the Bible, or in the nature of 
 the case, which need prevent real christians, to what- 
 ever denomination they belong, from uniting, on the 
 ground of their common Christianity, and treating 
 each other as members of the same body, and of the 
 household of faith. Episcopalians, Baptists, Meth- 
 odists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and others, 
 while they hold the fundamentals of the gospel, 
 might retain their distinctive principles, and yet be on 
 terms of the most cordial fellowship and communion. 
 This, indeed, is what constitutes the true unity of the 
 church. It is a unity, not in forms and ceremonies ; 
 nor in points of unessential doctrine and practice ; but 
 in kindness and love, and a harmonious assent to the 
 fundamental truths of the gospel. This is the only 
 unity that is worth striving for ; and all who break 
 this unity by setting up outward forms as terms of 
 communion ought to be regarded, as they were in 
 primitive times, as " schismatics" and " violators of 
 the church's unity and concord. "f 
 
 • 2 John, 11 tKing on the Primitive Church, p, 154-160. 
 
 2 
 
14 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 Let US now pass to consider the constitution and 
 order of the primitive churches. 
 
 I. The constitution of these churches. 
 Under the preaching of Christ and his Apostles, 
 great multitudes were converted to Christianity. 
 These were collected into distinct societies, larger 
 or smaller, as the case might be, each of which was 
 accustomed to meet in the same place for the purpose 
 of social worship and the enjoyment of christian 
 ordinances. Such was the church of Philippi, the 
 church of Ephesus, the church of Antioch, the 
 church of Rome. They were distinct, independent 
 congregations of christians, assembling together for 
 religious exercises. The organization of these 
 churches, was extremely simple. They were volun- 
 tary associations of holy men and women meeting 
 together on terms of perfect equality, for purposes 
 purely religious ; united in faith and love, and 
 cementing their union, as they had opportunity, by a 
 joint participation in religious offices; in adoration and 
 praise, and in commemorating the sufferings of 
 their common Lord and Savior. They had no sac- 
 rifices, nor images, nor oracles, nor sacerdotal orders, 
 nor splendid ritual, nor any thing of that pomp and 
 show which were subsequently introduced to cor- 
 rupt and debase the simplicity of christian worship. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 15 
 
 Acting on the principle laid down by our Savior, 
 that his kingdom is not of this world, the primitive 
 churches stood out from all connexion with civil 
 government, and never in the least interfered in the 
 affairs of the state. Each church was independent 
 of every other, forming by itself a little republic, 
 governed by its own laws and regulating, by a com- 
 mon vote of the brethren, all its internal concerns.* 
 There is no evidence, that the churches w^ere joined 
 together by association, confederation or any bonds, 
 but those of charity and a mutual interchange of kind 
 offices, till the middle of the second century. The 
 powder of enacting laws, of appointing teachers and 
 ministers, of determining controversies, of adminis- 
 tering descipline, of expelling and of receiving again 
 into communion unworthy members, w^as lodged in 
 
 * " Although all the churches were, in the first age of Chris- 
 tianity, united together in one common bond of faith and love, 
 and were in every respect ready to promote the interests and 
 welfare of each other, by a reciprocal interchange of good offi- 
 ces; yet with regard to government and internal economy, 
 every individual church considered itself as an independent com. 
 munity, none of them ever looking in these respects, beyond the 
 circle of its own members for assistance, or recognizing any 
 sort of external influence or authority." MoshieirVs Commenta. 
 ries. vol. 1, p. 263-5. 
 
 Every one must perceive that the fact here stated by the learn- 
 ed Moshiera is totally irreconcilable with the notion that govern, 
 ment by Diocesan bishops existed in the primitive churches. 
 
16 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 each particular church, nor could the pastors either 
 resolve or sanction any thing whatever without the 
 knowledge and concurrence of the general body of 
 christians, of which the church was composed.* 
 
 * Since I he delivery of these Lectures, the author has been 
 favored with the perusal of three very interesting manuscript 
 Lectures by Dr. Murdock, on the same general subject. From 
 the eighth Lecture in the series, he is permitted to make the 
 following extract. 
 
 "The supreme power was in the assembled fraternity, or in 
 the whole body of christians composing the association, or 
 church. Respect was paid of course, and necessarily, to the 
 inspired Apostles, and to the men of most talents and weight of 
 character. Yet even the Apostles did not claim dominion, or 
 jurisdiction over these associations, as being their constituted 
 Lords and Governors. As inspire men, as the Apostles of Jesus 
 Christ, and the persons who, under God, had converted many of 
 the associated individuals, — they spoke in a higher and more de- 
 cisive tone than ordinary brethren ; and were heard with far 
 greater reverence and respect. Yet they did not take upon them 
 to decide the questions which came before a church, as if they 
 alone had authority. They stated their views, offered reasons 
 for their opinions, and then invited the brethren to decide the 
 case. The procedure at the election of Mathiast to succeed 
 Judas, in the creation and appointment of the seven Deacons» 
 and in determining the question respecting the duty of Gentile 
 converts to obey the laws of Moses, affords us both proof and 
 illustration of this point. 
 
 And so in all Paul's Epistles, he speaks with assurance, as be- 
 ing an inspired man, and he commands and exhorts ; yet without 
 taking the decision of any ecclesiastical question out of the hands 
 of the church or associated brotherhood. Even in the clear and 
 strong case of the incestuous person at Corinth, he did not assume 
 
 tActs ii. Acts vii. Acts xv. Mosheim's Com. p. 210. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 17 
 
 Such is a general view of the order of the primi- 
 tive churches, as it may be gathered from the records 
 of the New Testament and the writings of the earii- 
 est christian fathers. 
 
 2. Let us next consider what officers were ap- 
 pointed in these churches. The Apostles were 
 extraordinary ministers. They received their com- 
 mission directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. They 
 had no stated charge. Their field w^as the world. 
 In their apostolic character, they had no successors. 
 Their office expired w^ith themselves. Besides these, 
 there were other extraordinary ministers, such as 
 prophets and evangelists and some others.* Their 
 office, it w^ould seem, was temporary, adapted to the 
 peculiar exigences of the church in that day, and ter- 
 minated when the circumstances which gave rise to 
 
 the power of excommunicating the offender, but only called upon 
 the brethren to do this duty, by meeting together, and casting 
 out the man forthvvith.f Neither can an example be adduced 
 from all the New Testament, of the Apostles, individually or 
 collectively, appointing any man to ofRce, in any church, with- 
 out the previous consent and election of that church ; or of their 
 deciding, judicially, any case of discipline, or any proper ecclesi- 
 astical question, by their own power and authority. So careful 
 were these faithful ambassadors of Christ, not to lord it over God's 
 heritage, and not to infringe upon the power o:" every church to 
 manage its own affairs, itself paying due regard to the best light 
 afforded to it." 
 
 * Eph. iv. 11. t 1 Cor. V. 3—7. 
 
 2* 
 
18 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 it ceased to exist. Setting aside these, there were 
 only two classes of permanent officers in the primi- 
 tive church ; bishops, or as they are commonly cal- 
 led, presbyters and deacons. During the lives of the 
 Apostles, and for a considerable time after, there was 
 generally a plurality* of presbyters or bishops in 
 each church, who presided over its government and 
 instruction with equal and co-ordinate authority. No 
 one claimed any precedence or superiority over 
 others, nor exercised any, but what was voluntarily 
 conceded to him on acconnt of his superior wisdom, 
 piety, and weight of character. These presbyters 
 or bishops were chosen by the people, and were 
 consecrated by their fellow presbyters to their office, 
 by prayer and the imposition of hands. f As they 
 were chosen by the free suffrages of the people, so 
 they were supported by their voluntary oblations. 
 They presided in their assemblies, conducted their 
 worship, and assisted in maintaining government and 
 discipline ; but as just remarked, they had no power 
 to enact laws or establish rules for the regulation of 
 the church without the consent and concurrence of 
 its members. 
 
 As for bishops, considered as an order of ministers, 
 distinct from presbyters, there is no evidence of the 
 
 * Acts XX. 17. Philip i. 1. Moshiem's Com. vol. 1. p. 219. 
 1 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 19 
 
 existence of any such order in the primitive church, 
 Most certainly its existence and authority are no 
 where recognized in the New Testament. It proba- 
 bly soon became customary for the presbyters in a 
 particular church to appoint one of their number as 
 a sort of moderator or president, a primus inter pares. 
 But this gave him no additional authority as a min- 
 ister, nor any right to extend his jurisdiction a step 
 beyond the limits of his own church or parish. 
 After the most careful examination which I have 
 been able to give to the subject, I am prepared to 
 say, that nothing like a modern diocesan bishop, 
 claiming the exclusive right of ordination, confirma- 
 tion and government, and presiding over the churches 
 of an extended province, existed in the church till 
 near the close of the second century. 
 
 This is not the place to exhibit, in detail, the 
 evidence of this position. Some of the topics of 
 argument are the following. 
 
 The first ministers of Christ were all considered as 
 equals ; they were required to be so by their divine 
 Lord, and not to assume or exercise any authority 
 over one another* They all received and acted 
 under one and the same commission ; and could not, 
 therefore, be invested with different, but with the 
 
 * Mark X. 42—45 : Luke xxii. 25 
 
20 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 same authority.* They were called by the same 
 names, bishops and elders being terms of the same 
 import, and convertible, one for the other, as used in 
 the New Testament.f As they were designated by 
 the same names and invested with the same authority, 
 so they were required to possess the same qualifica- 
 tions and were appointed to perform the same duties. 
 They all had an equal right to preach, to baptize, to 
 ordain J to rule§ in the church, and to perform all 
 the functions of the sacred office.|| 
 
 In some of the churches, as at Ephesus and Phil- 
 lippi,T[ there were a number of bishops, who governed 
 in their respective churches as co-ordinate rulers or 
 as a common council. In no part of the New Testa- 
 ment, do we find the least notice taken of any church 
 or number of churches, having been subject to the 
 authority of a single man. In none of the addresses 
 or salutations to the churches, contained in the Acts 
 of the Apostles and in the Epistles, are bishops once 
 mentioned as an order of ministers distinct from 
 presbyters, or in any respect superior to them. 
 Both bishops and presbyters received the same 
 
 * Math, xxviii. 19, 20. 
 
 t Acts XX. 17, compared with verse 28 : Titus i. 5, 7 : 1 Peter 
 
 V. 1, 2 : also, see King on the primitive church, p. 67. 
 
 I lTim.iv.14: Acts xiv. 23. 
 
 § 1 Tim. iii. 2, 4, 5 ; v. 17 ; i. 22. i| Miller's Letters, p. 41. 
 
 ^ Acts XX 17—28 : Phil. i. 1,2. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 21 
 
 ordination, and no instance occurs either in the New 
 Testament or in the history of the two first centu- 
 ries, in which a bishop was otherwise ordained than 
 a presbyter. 
 
 The Bible, then, furnishes no authority in sup- 
 port of the order of bishops as a distinct class of 
 ministers. Its authority is decidedly against such 
 an order. No matter then how early this order ex- 
 isted. If it is not authorized by the scriptures, it is 
 of human origin ; and has no right to claim suprem- 
 acy as if it w^ere of divine appointment.* 
 
 * It is often asked with an air of triumph, as if the question 
 admitted of no answer, how and icAen episcopacy was introduced 
 into the church, if it was not of apostolic origin. Those who 
 think there is any difficulty in answering this question, would 
 do well to consult Miller's Letters and Dr. Campbell's Lectures 
 on Ecclesiastical History. The rise of episcopacy in the church 
 can very easily be traced, and is well sketched in the following 
 language of Dr. Chauncy. " The bishop was no more than 
 primus inter pares, the head presbyter, the praeses or moderator 
 of the consistory, and it was by gradual steps he attained to the 
 power with which he was afterwards vested. These ecclesias- 
 tical superiorities and inferiorities, which have for a long time 
 been visible in the Christian world, were unknown in the first 
 and purest ages : nor did they at once take place. It was the 
 work of time. From prime-presbyters, arose city-bishops ; from 
 city-bishops, diocesan ones ; from diocesan bishops, metropo- 
 litans ; from metropolitans, patriarchs ; and finally, at the top of 
 all, his holiness the pope, claiming the character of universal 
 head of the church." Dud. Led. p. 84. 
 
 Chauncy's view of Episcopacy. Miller's Letters. Dwight's 
 System. Mosheim's Hist, and Comm. 
 
22 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 But what is the testimony of antiquity on this sub- 
 ject ? The early fathers, such as Clemens Romanus, 
 Ignatius, Polycarp, Tertullian, Justin Martyr and 
 others, who lived within the second century, though 
 they often mention the officers of the church, take 
 no notice of more than two orders, bishops and dea- 
 cons, nor once intimate that any distinction existed 
 between bishops and elders, but with one voice de- 
 clare them to be of the same order.* Added to this, 
 it was the opinion of the first reformers in the church 
 of England, that there is, according to the gospel, no 
 distinction between bishops and presbyters. " In a 
 celebrated work called The Institution of a Christian 
 Man, approved expressly by Archbishop Cranmer, 
 Bishops Jewell, Willet and Stillingfleet, and the main 
 body of the English clergy, together with the King 
 and Parliament, is this declaration." " In the New 
 Testament there is no mention of any other degrees, 
 but of deacons or ministers, and of presbyters or 
 bishops."t Dr. Reynolds, professor of divinity in 
 
 * After the author had consented to the publication of these 
 Lectures, it was his intention to present, in the form of notes, a 
 brief argument in support of each of the above positions with 
 quotations from the Fathers. But he soon found that this would 
 require a volume, instead of a few short notes. He was therefore 
 obliged to relinquish his purpose, and only to refer to his prmcipal 
 authorities in the margin. 
 
 t Dwight's Sys. vol. 5, p. 191. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 23 
 
 Oxford, declares that all who had labored for five 
 hundred years before his time, taught that all pastors 
 whether entitled bishops or priests, have equal pow- 
 er and authority by God's word ; and this, he adds, 
 is the common judgment of the reformed churches of 
 Switzerland, Savoy, France, Germany, Hungar}% 
 Poland, the Netherlands, Scotland and England." 
 Nor is there any evidence, that, among Protestants 
 the perfect equality of bishops and presbyters was 
 ever publicly denied, or the exclusive divine right of 
 Episcopacy ever asserted, till 1588. In January of 
 that year, Dr. Bancroft,* chaplain of Archbishop 
 Whitgift, undertook to prove in a sermon, that the 
 ' bishops of England were a distinct order from 
 priests, and had superiority over them jure dwino, 
 and directly from God.' ' This, says the historian 
 Neal, was new and strange doctrine to the church- 
 men of these times.' But it has now become an old 
 and common doctrine, and its advocates, it grieves me 
 to say it, are increasing in number, and in the exclu- 
 siveness of their pretensions — pretensions which deny 
 to all ministers, but such as have been ordained by a 
 bishop, the right to preach the gospel, and administer 
 the sacraments; and which pronounce the churches of 
 all other denominations, except the episcopal, to be 
 
 * Neal, vol. 1, 558. 
 
24 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 irregular and unscriptural. And all this in the 19th 
 century ! Truly, when one hears this, he can hardly 
 refrain from thinking, that since the time of Edward 
 the sixth, the reformation, in respect to some people 
 at least, has been rather retrograde, than progressive. 
 Tlien, Calvin, and Knox, and Bucer,and Fagius and 
 Tremellius and Peter Martyr, though foreigners and 
 Presbyterians, were openly acknowledged by the 
 English reformers, as true ministers of Christ. The 
 last four of these illustrious men, without any ques- 
 tion as to the validity of their ordination, were em- 
 ployed as professors of Divinity in the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge ; and Knox, it is well 
 known, when compelled to flee from Scotland, was 
 received with open arms, by the fathers of the 
 church of England, and without reordination was 
 allowed to preach in all their pulpits. He was also 
 appointed one of the chaplains to Edward the sixth ; 
 and when the book of common prayer was under- 
 going a revisal, he assisted in that work. He was 
 likewise employed in revising the articles of religion 
 previous to their ratification by Parliament.* All 
 this, it would seem, was irregular ; and we are now 
 told that none have a right to preach, or administer 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Knox. Period III. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 
 
 25 
 
 the sacraments but those who have received ordin- 
 ation from a bishop. With Episcopalians, who dis- 
 claim, and many do disclaim ihete high pretensions, 
 I have no controversy. Holding, as many ot them 
 do, the essentials of the gospel ; and truly devoted, 
 as many of them are, to the cause of our ccn.mon 
 Master, / hid them God sjjeed with all my heart. I 
 complain only of those who assert that their's is the 
 only true, Apostolic church, and their's the only au- 
 thorized ministry, and their's the only valid ordin- 
 ances, and who, by their assunr.pticns on this subject, 
 declare all other churches schi^matical, and all other 
 ministers mere intruders into the sacred office, and 
 their ministrations null and void. Eefore I can 
 admit such claims, I must exemine them; end if I 
 find them unauthorized, and unscriptural, I hold 
 myself bound to resist them, as opposed to the w hole 
 ^spirit of the gospel, and a gross violation of the great 
 law of christian love and concord. 
 
 But I gladly quit this topic. I have touched upon it 
 from no love of controversy, nor from any wish to 
 wound the feelings, or disturb the peace of any indi- 
 vidual who may choose to worship God in a differ- 
 ent communion from that to whi^ch I belong. But 
 as it is a topic on which much is said and written at 
 
 the present day, and which is frequently obtruded 
 3 
 
26 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 upon our attention, I felt it my duty to say thus 
 much upon it, to convince you, my friends, if indeed 
 any of you need to be convinced, that the argument 
 is, to say the least, not all on one side. 
 
 3. Let us next consider the manner in which per- 
 sons were received into the primitive church. Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to set up a 
 spiritual kingdom, and he required that all, who be- 
 came members of his church, should be holy persons. 
 On this principle the primitive churches were 
 formed. The Apostles and first teachers of Chris- 
 tianity required of all, whom they received to the 
 special ordinances of the gospel, an open profession 
 of their faith in Christ, and a solemn engagement to 
 live in obedience to his commands. Hence Origen 
 says : " We do our utmost, that our assemblies be 
 composed of good and wise men, so that none who 
 are admitted to our congregations, and prayers, are 
 vicious and wicked, except very rarely it may hap- 
 pen, that a particular bad man may be concealed in 
 so great a number." In the earhest times of the 
 church, it was customary to receive persons to bap- 
 tism and the communion immediately on their profes- 
 sion of faith and hopeful conversion. Such was the 
 fact in regard to the three thousand who were con- 
 verted on the day of Pentecost ; and also in the case 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 27 
 
 of Cornelius, of Lydia, and the Jailor. This custom, 
 however, was soon discontinued, probably, during 
 the life time of the Apostles, and then none were ad- 
 mitted to baptism but such as had been previously 
 instructed ; and by a season of trial, had given satis- 
 factory evidence of pious dispositions and sincere 
 intentions. Hence arose the order of catechu- 
 mens, — a class of persons w^ho were candidates for 
 membership in the church, and who were carefully 
 instructed, with reference to their beinoj admitted 
 to the special ordinance of the gospel.* How long 
 they were continued in this state of preparation does 
 not appear. Probably the season of probation varied 
 with circumstances ; — was sometimes longer and 
 sometimes shorter, according to the age and charac- 
 ter of the candidates. The object was two fold — 
 that they might be instructed in the principles of the 
 gospel, and evince by a change in their lives and 
 habits, the sincerity of their professed conversion. It 
 was a wise and most salutary regulation, and ought 
 ' to be adopted in all the churches of Christ. Nothing 
 can tend more directly to corrupt the church and de- 
 stroy its moral power, than the practice of admitting 
 persons to communion before they have had time to 
 
 * See Mosheim vol, 1. p. 99, also Cave's Primitive Christian- 
 ity, p. 305. 
 
28 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 test the reality of their rehgion, or to show by their 
 lives, whether they are wortliy subjects to be enroll- 
 ed among the disciples of Christ.* 
 
 As the primitive churches were exceedingly cau- 
 tious in receiving persons into their coiiimunion, so 
 they were strict to maintain discipline, and to exclude 
 from their society all unworthy and depraveil mem- 
 bers. ' The holy or good christians of those times/ 
 says an old writer, 'were infinitely careful to keep the 
 honor of their religion unspotted, to stifle every sin in 
 its birth, and by bringing offenders to public shame 
 and penalty, to keep them from propagating the ma- 
 lignant influence of a bad example.' For this purpose, 
 they watched over one another,told them privately of 
 their faults, brought them before the cognizance of 
 the church ; and as the case might be, suspended or 
 cut off from communion those who walked disorder- 
 ly and could not be reclaimed by milder methods. 
 It is needless to specify particular offences, since 
 none were spared. They aimed to keep the 
 churches in the faith and purity of the gospel, and by 
 investing them with a holy, spotl(?ss character, to 
 have them answer the great end of their institution ; 
 
 * See a valuable discussion of this subject in the Christian 
 Spectator, for June, 1830, p. 254. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 29 
 
 the maintenance and dissemination of light and holi- 
 ness in the world.'* 
 
 That infant baptism was practiced in the primitive 
 churches admits of no reasonable doubt. To say 
 nothing of the scriptural authority for this practice, 
 the earliest historical recordsj furnish the fullest evi- 
 dence that christian parents were in the habit of 
 dedicating their children to God in the ordinance of 
 baptism To adults this ordinance was never ad- 
 ministered but on a profession of faith, and then 
 usually by immersion, though not always. The 
 quantity of water used, or the manner of applying it, 
 w^as not deemed essential, nor ought it to be so con- 
 sidered at the present day. The thing signified in 
 baptism is the only thing worth contending for ; and 
 since we and our Baptist brethren are perfectly 
 agreed on this point, it is deeply to be lamented, that 
 any among them are disposed to make the mere 
 mode of ceremony, the cut of a coat, a condition of 
 communion, or a wall of separation between them 
 and other christians. So did not the primitive christ- 
 ians. They could differ about rites and ceremo- 
 nies and forms, and yet freely con)mune vvhh each 
 other and unite in all the varied expressions of 
 
 * Cave's Prim. Ch. p. 356. f See Cave p. 303-306. 
 
 3* 
 
30 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 christian love and fellowship. And I trust in God, 
 that the day is not far distant, when all christians 
 shall possess the same spirit, and act on the sanne 
 principle ; when they shall cease to institute terms 
 of communion not authorized in the Bible ; and 
 shall regard and treat each other as children of the 
 same Father and members of the same household of 
 faith, though they have different names and ivear 
 different garments. 
 
 4. In regard to the manner of conducting public 
 worship in the primitive churches, it seems to have 
 been something like the following. After the people 
 were assembled, the first service performed was the 
 offering of a short prayer, which seems to have been 
 designed as an invocation of the divine presence and 
 blessing. That this was the uniform practice, is 
 not certain ; but that it was common, Mosheim and 
 Cave think there can be no doubt. After thus open- 
 ing the service, the scriptures were read, usually 
 by a person appointed for that purpose, who was 
 preparing for the sacred office. The portion read 
 was longer or shorter, according to circumstances, 
 sometimes consisting of a chapter, and sometimes of 
 several chapters. Then the assembly united in sing- 
 ing a psalm or hymn, which was either selected out 
 .of the scriptures, particularly from the book of 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 31 
 
 Psalms, or was of their own composing. In this 
 duty the whole congregation bore a part ; all joining 
 together in celebrating the praises of their God and 
 Saviour. Then followed the preaching of the word. 
 The portion of scripture which had been read, fur- 
 nished the subject ; and the object of the preacher 
 was to illustrate and enforce what the people had 
 heard from the word of God. His discourse had 
 very little resemblance to a modern sermon. It was 
 a free, glowing, extemporaneous illustration of the 
 divine oracles, and closed with a direct and fervid 
 exhortation to the hearers to believe and practice 
 the sacred lessons which they had. heard. When 
 the sermon was ended, whicTi was usually an hour 
 long, the w hole congregation rose up to present their 
 common and united prayer to Almighty God. In 
 their public devotions, especially on the sabbath, 
 their posture w^as always standing. As they account- 
 ed that a joyful and glorious day, they deemed it 
 improper to kneel, though they often used this pos- 
 ture in prayer on other occasions. The congrega- 
 tion, standing up, turned their faces tow^ards the 
 east, probably out of respect to Christ, as the sun of 
 the moral world, or from a common opinion that 
 that was the most excellent part of the world ;* and 
 » See Cave, ch. ix. 288, and King, ch. ij. 27. 
 
33 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 then spreading forth their hands, and hfting their 
 eyes, which were closed, towards heaven, they si- 
 ently joined in the prayer which was offered by the 
 president or minister. They did not vocally join in 
 the prayers, or utter responses ; but simply testified 
 their assent, at the close, by saying amen, or so let it 
 he. Says Tertullian, a father of the second century, 
 " We do not pray with a monitor, reading our pray- 
 ers out of a book. No, but on the contrary we pray 
 de pectore, from the heart, our own heart and soul 
 dictating to us what is most proper and suitable to 
 be asked, having no need of any other monitor be- 
 sides." Justin Martyr, who lived half a century 
 earlier, says, that the bishop sent up prayers and 
 praises, ose dunamis, according to his abihty, — an 
 expression entirely inconsistent with the supposition 
 that he used a form of prayer or prayed from a book. 
 Chancellor King, himself an episcopalian, and one 
 who examined this subject with great ability, af- 
 firms, " That the words or expressions of the prayers 
 offered in the primitive churches, were not imposed 
 or prescribed, but every one that officiated delivered 
 himself in such terms as best pleased him ; and 
 varied his petitions according to the present circum- 
 gtances and emergencies ; or if it be more intelligi- 
 ble, he adds, the primitive christians had no stinted 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 
 
 33 
 
 liturgies or imposed forms of prayer."* Indeed, lit- 
 uro-ies were unknown in the church till towards the 
 close of the 4lh centary ; nor then was there any 
 one uniform ritual or service prescribed It was left 
 to every bishop to draw up a form of prayer for his 
 own church f After the prayer, the assembly pre- 
 sented their oblations or gifts, which each one, 
 according to his ability, had brought with him. 
 From these offerings the elder or officiating minister 
 took so much as he thought necessary for the cele- 
 bration of the Lord's Supper, which he consecrated 
 by prayer; the people saying, amen, at the close. 
 This ordinance vvas usually celebrated at the close of 
 worship every Lord's day, and perhaps in the earliest 
 times of the church, still more frequently, making a 
 part of social worship whenever they engaged in it. 
 After partaking of the Lord's Supper, it was a cus- 
 tom, in many of the churches, for the members to sit 
 down to a sober and sacred repast, called the feast 
 of love. At the breaking up of the assembly, the 
 brethren and sisters exchanged with each other, what 
 from its being a token of mutual good will, was 
 called the kiss of peace. Well may we exclaim with 
 
 * King's Prim. Church Part 2. p. 33. To this very able and can- 
 did writer, tlie author is indebted for most of the facts above 
 stated. 
 fNeal vol. 1, p. 97. Krazer de Liturgiis, sec. 1, chap l.p. 7. 
 
34 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 Mosheim, ' How truly admirable the simplicity by 
 which the rites of our holy religion were character- 
 ized in these its infant days.'* 
 
 I will det^iin you but a moment longer, just to 
 notice the manner in which the primitive christians 
 regarded the Sabbath. There is the fullest evidence 
 that in the time of the Apostles, and indeed from the 
 time of our Savior's resurrection, the first day of the 
 week was kept as a day of holy rest, sacredly devo- 
 ted to the public and private duties of religion. On 
 this day the disciples were met, when Christ first 
 appeared to them after he had risen from the dead, 
 and again the next week, or seven days after. On 
 this day they were assembled, when, at the season 
 of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost descended upon them 
 in his miraculous gifts, and achieved for them the first 
 fruits of the cross, in the conversion of three thousand, 
 under a single sermon. And frequently, in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and in the Epistles allusion is made 
 to this day, as a season expressly set apart for the 
 holding of solemn assemblies, and universally re- 
 garded by christians as holy time. In what manner 
 the early christians w^ere accustomed to keep the 
 Sabbath is sufficiently indicated by a passage in 
 Clemens Alexandrinus. " A true christian, he says, 
 
 * Mosheim's Com. vol. 1, p. 262. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 35 
 
 according to the commands of Christ, observes the 
 Lord's day, by casting out all evil thoughts, and en- 
 tertaining all good ones, glorifying the resurrection 
 of the Lord." Justin Martyr also writes : " On the 
 day that is called Sunday, all, both of the country 
 and city, assemble together, where we preach and 
 pray, and discharge all the other usual parts of 
 divine worship." And Dionysius declares : " To- 
 day being the Lord's day, we keep it holy." 
 
 The Sabbath was exceedingly precious to the prim- 
 itive christians. They called it ' the chief of days ;' 
 * their rest indeed.' They kept it w ith sacred glad- 
 ness, as TertuUian affirms, giving themselves to holy 
 joy, and banishing every thing that had the least ten- 
 dency to, or the least appearance of sorrow and grief, 
 insomuch that they considered it highly improper 
 and wrong either to fast or kneel on that day in 
 their worship. 
 
 In regard to fasts and festivals, none were enjoined 
 by Christ or his Apostles ; and none A^ere regarded 
 by the first christians as of divine appointment, 
 though several were introduced at an early date, 
 and were generally observed. The fast of Lent 
 was very ancient, though far enough from having 
 apostolical authority. So the festival of Easter, in 
 commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, was 
 
36 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 early observed in the churches ; and likewise of 
 Whitsunday, or Pentecost, in commemoration of the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles. But no 
 mention is made of Christmas till more than three 
 hundred years after our Saviour's advent, nor is there 
 any evidence that this festival was observed in the 
 church at an earlier period. 
 
 As for confirmation, it seems hardly necessary to 
 remark, that it is a rite wholly unauthorized in the 
 scriptures, and not once mentioned in any historical 
 record till two hundred years after Christ. But by 
 that time, it is well known, that a great variety of 
 absurd and unscriptural rites had crept into the 
 church, — such as the use of sponsors in baptism, 
 annointing the body, signing with the sign of the 
 cross, exorcism, and a formal consecration of the 
 water in baptism. All these rites were practiced in 
 the time of Tertullian, who is the first author that 
 takes any notice of confirmation ; and if his testimo- 
 ny proves this rite to be of Apostolic origin, it proves 
 the rites above specified to have the same origin.* 
 
 * See King on the Prim. Church, Part II. p. 80. 
 The author is aware that there are three texts, which are usu- 
 ally urged in support of the rite of confirmation. Acts 8 : 14 — 17. 
 19 : 6. and Heb. 6 : 1,2. But whoever reads these scriptures, with 
 an impartial mind, must at once perceive that they have no refe- 
 rence whatever to the rite of confirmation, as understood and 
 
PRI>TITIVE CHURCH. 37 
 
 Such is a very brief outline of the order and 
 worship of the primitive churches. Simple in their 
 organization and government ; pure in doctrine and 
 
 practiced at the present day. In the first passage, it is said ' that 
 Peter and John went down to Samaria, and prayed and laid their 
 hands on those whom Philip had baptized that they might receive 
 the Holy Ghost, i. e., his miraculous gifts. But what has this to 
 do with the modern rite of confirmation ? Have bishops power, 
 by prayer and the laying on of their hands,' to communicate 
 miraculous gifts ? If not, they might as well stretch themselves 
 upon the dead body of a child, in imitation of Elisha ; or make 
 ointment with spittle for the cure of the blind, in imitation of our 
 Savior ; or anoint the sick with oil, in imitation of the Apostolic 
 Elders ; as pray and lay their hands on those who were baptized, 
 in imitation of Peter and John, who did this to the Samaritan 
 converts, that they might receive the miraculous gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost.' I say miraculous gifts, — such as prophesying, speaking 
 with tongues and the like — because they were something visible 
 and obvious to sense ; somethmg that struck the wonder and 
 ambition of the wicked sorcerer; for it is said, when Simon saw 
 that through laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was 
 given, he offered them money. Besides, as Dr. Whitby justly 
 observes, if they laid not their hands on all that were baptized, it 
 makes nothing for confirmation ; if they did, then Simon Magus 
 al^o vras confirmed and received the Holy Ghost, which it is pre- 
 sumed, the advocates of this rite will not admit. (Letters on 
 Dissent, p. 44.) 
 
 That the same thing is meant by the laying on of hands by 
 Paul, Acts 19 : 6. is expressly asserted ; the Holy Ghost came on 
 them^ and they spake with tongues and prophesied. 
 
 As to Heb. vi. 1, 2. the ablest and best commentators agree that 
 the laying on of hands in this passage denotes the same thmg as 
 in the passages above referred to — that is, the communic.">tion of 
 miraculous gifts. Thus Owen, "Whitby, Scott, RosenmuUer, 
 and Stuart. 
 
 4 
 
38 CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 practice ; unincumbered with rites and ceremonies 
 of human invention ; not divided into different sects 
 and denominations ; but all known by the same 
 name and holding the same vievs^s of truth and duty ; 
 no Methodists, no Baptists, no Episcopalians, no 
 Presbyterians or Congregationalists,but all christians, 
 united to one another in the bonds of a common 
 faith and of the purest affection, and all devoted in 
 body, soul, and spirit, to the cause of their common 
 Savior and the good of mankind, — truly, these were 
 happy days for the church ; and glotious were her 
 triumphs in extending the dominion of her King, 
 and sending abroad among the nations the tidings of 
 salvation. The heathen beheld with astonishment 
 these societies of holy men and women, and cried 
 out with admiration — Behold how they love one 
 another. " We are," says Tertullian, one of the 
 earliest and ablest apologists of the christians, " we 
 are ready to die for each other, and we call one 
 another brethren, because we acknowledge one and 
 the same God, the Father, and have been sanctified 
 by the same Holy Spirit, and have been brought 
 from the same state of ignorance to the light of the 
 same marvellous truth." But, alas ! how soon did 
 the gold become dim and the most fine gold changed ! 
 Long before the close of the second century, the 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCHES 39 
 
 simplicity and purity of primitive times began to be 
 obscured and corrupted by the innovations of men ; 
 and before the commencement of the fourth, a deplo- 
 rable depravation of doctrine, discipline and morals, 
 had crept into the church and disfigured the body of 
 Christ. Corruption and decay coE^tinued to advance, 
 till the sun that rose over Judea, and at first spread 
 so glorious a light among the nations, set in a long, 
 dreary night of a thousand years, and the profoundest 
 darkness, interrupted only by here and there a glim- 
 mering of light, settled over the whole world. But 
 the same sun rose again at the Reformation ; since 
 which time, it has been on the ascendant, pouring 
 an increasing eflTulgence over the earth, and shedding 
 a diviner lustre upon the churches of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. A portion of this celestial light has fallen on 
 the ancient and venerable churches of New-England, 
 to a consideration of which, I shall invite you in my 
 next Lecture. 
 
LECTURE IL 
 
 ORIGIN, PRINCIPLES, AND INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF 
 
 NEVV^ ENGLAND. 
 
 JEREMIAH vi. 16. 
 
 THUS SAITH THE LORD, STAXD YE IN THE WAYS AKD SEE, AND ASK FOR 
 THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THEREIN, 
 AND YE SHALL FIND BEST FOR YOUR SOULS. 
 
 The object of the present Lecture is to trace the 
 origin, exhibit the principles, and illustrate the influ- 
 ence, of the Congregational Churches of New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 These cfiurches, then, are not to be regarded as 
 novel institutions, known only in modern times. 
 They are rather the revival of the churches, that 
 were planted in the earliest and best days of Chris- 
 tianity. The immediate agents of this revival Vv^ere 
 a society of cliristians in the north of England, who 
 in 1602, separated from the established church, and 
 ^entered into a covenant to study the scriptures, as the 
 only rule of religion, rejecting all human inventions 
 
 and walking in all the ways of the Lord, made known 
 
 4* 
 
42 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 or to be made known to them, according to the best 
 of their endeavors, whatever it might cost t?temJ* 
 
 This holy purpose was formed in troublous times ; 
 and the execution of it cost the venerated f(3unders 
 of these churches incredible hardship and suffering. 
 Popery had indeed received its death blow in Eng- 
 land, in the reign of Henry the eighth. But its cor- 
 rupt and persecuting principles were so inwrought 
 into the very texture of society, and so combined 
 with all the civil and religious institutions of the 
 country, that for nearly a century and a half, they 
 maintained a fierce and bloody conflict with the rights 
 of conscience and the dearest hopes of man. Dur- 
 ing the reign of Edward the sixth, the reformation 
 made rapid advances. But by a mysterious provi- 
 dence, that wise and pious prince died at the early 
 age of sixteen ; and by his untimely death, all the 
 noble designs of reformation, which he is said to 
 have formed, were at once blasted. Mary succeed- 
 ed, — who was a bigoted papist, and of course, a 
 bitter enemy of reform. Popery was immediately 
 restored in all its abominations, and the reformers, 
 who about this time received the name of puritans, 
 were persecuted with relentless cruelty. At the ac- 
 cession of Elizabeth, in 1558, the fires of Smithfield 
 * Prince's New England Chronology, p. 4. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 43 
 
 were quenched, and the power of Rome restrained. 
 But the reformation instead of advancing, during her 
 reign, went back. Though profisssedly a protestant, 
 she was in heart more than half a papist. Tolera- 
 tion was a virtue unknown to her thoughts, and 
 abhorrent to her feelings ; and though she restor- 
 ed the reformed liturgy of Edward, it was not with- 
 out making many alterations in it for the worse, 
 and establishing, anew, many of the absurd and un- 
 scriptural ceremonies of popery. Nor can any thing 
 better be said of James, and the two Charles's who 
 succeeded Ehzabeth.* During their successive 
 reigns, conformity to the established church, in all its 
 rights and forms, was pressed with the greatest rigor, 
 and non-compliance punished with extreme severity. 
 All those ministers who wished for a thorough refer- 
 mation in the church, and sought to have its doctrines 
 and ceremonies strictly conformed to the scriptures, 
 were treated with the greatest indignity and oppres- 
 
 * James had been bred a presbyterian ; he had publicly declared 
 that the kirk of Scotland was the purest church in the world, and 
 that the English liturgy sounded in his ears like an ill mumbled 
 mass. But on his accession to the English crown, he renounced 
 these sentiments, and affirmed that a Scottish presbytery agrees 
 as well with monarchy, as God and the devil. No bishop, no 
 king, was the argument with which he silenced every plea on 
 the part of the puritans for toleration.— (Grahame's Hist, of the 
 United States, vol. i, p. 215.) 
 
44 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 sion. They were driven from their pulpits, deprived 
 of their livings, throv^^n into prison, and subjected to 
 penalties due only to the vilest of criminals. In this 
 manner, during the reign of Elizabeth, a fourth part 
 of the ministers were suspended as puritans, among 
 whom were the best preachers in the kingdom, at a 
 time when not more than one minister in six could 
 compose a sermon.* And in the second year of 
 Charles the second, two thousand more were com- 
 pelled to resign their livings, because they could not 
 swear their unfeigned assent and consent to every 
 thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer. 
 The great Locke, styles these two thousand ejected 
 ministers, learned, pious, orthodox divines ; and 
 when it is recollected that among them were such 
 men as Calamy, Bates, Owen, Baxter, and Howe, 
 we may well believe, what is said of them by a 
 historian of those times, that their equals have not 
 been seen in any age or nation. 
 
 It was in such times, that was nourished that vig- 
 orous and m'anly piety, which led our ancestors to 
 forsake all for Christ, and to turn their eyes towards 
 other lands, where they might enjoy those rights of 
 conscience, that were denied them in the land of 
 their birth. In an address on the subject of removal, 
 
 * Hist, of Dissenters, vol. i, p. 60. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 45 
 
 they say, " The sun shines as pleasantly on America, 
 as on England, and the Sun of Righteousness, much 
 more clearly. We are treated here in a manner 
 which forfeits all claim upon our affection. The 
 church of England has added to the ceremonies and 
 habits of popery, the only marks of antichrist which 
 were wanting — corruption of doctrine and a bloody 
 persecution of the saints. Let us remove whither 
 the providence of God calls, and make that our 
 country, which will afford what is dearer than pro- 
 pert}- or life, the liberty of worshipping God in the 
 way which appears to us most conducive to our 
 eternal well being-"* 
 
 In the spirit of these sentiments, the little company 
 of faithful men, who, in 1602, had formed themselves 
 into a church in the northern counties of England, 
 resolved upon leaving the land of their nativity, 
 where they could no longer be allowed to worship 
 God according to the dictates of his word. Accord- 
 ingly in 1607, they removed to Amsterdam, and the 
 year following to Leyden, There, with the learned 
 and pious Robinson, for their pastor, they dwelt 
 together in great peace and harmony about twelve 
 years. But Leyden was no place for effecting the 
 great purpose of their association, which was to 
 
 * Hist, of Dissenters, vol. i, p. 82. 
 
46 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 establish churches in conformity with the word of 
 God; to transmit evangelical purity in doctrine, 
 worship and discipline, with civil and religious liber- 
 ty, to their posterity and the world. Among other 
 reasons assigned for wishing to leave their retreat in 
 Holland, they mention this as prominent : — " An 
 inward zeal, and great hope of laying some founda- 
 tion, or making way for propagating the kingdom of 
 CJhrist to the remote ends of the earth ; though they 
 should be as stepping stones to others." This was 
 the grand object for which God raised them up, and 
 which, by the aids of his grace, they were enabled 
 to achieve. After repeated seasons of fasting and 
 prayer to engage the blessing of God on their enter- 
 prize, the pious exiles, bidding adieu to the land that 
 had kindly received them as strangers and sojourn- 
 ers, prepared to embark for the land of their future 
 ■destinies. It was agreed that the elder and largest 
 part of the congregation should remain behind, whilst 
 the younger and more vigorous portion of it should 
 go before, to prepare for them a place in the wilder- 
 ness. Among these was the revered Brewster, the 
 noble Carver, and Bradford, and Allerton, and 
 Standish, and a hundred others, prepared like Abra- 
 ham of old, to go forth at the bidding of God, not 
 knowing whither they should go. Assembled with 
 
OF NEVV-EXGLAND. 
 
 47 
 
 their brethren on the broad strand at Delfh Haven, 
 their beloved pastor, hke Paul, kneh down with them 
 on the sea shore, and with strong crying and tears, 
 commended them to the God who ruleth the winds 
 and the waves. They then embraced and wept in 
 each others arms, till the wind and the tide compel- 
 ling them to part, they were received on board the 
 ship in waiting for them, and commenced their 
 voyage to the new world, bearing hither the ark of 
 God, and the elements of a mighty empire.* 
 
 The various fortunes that attended them, during 
 a long and boisterous passage, I need not enume- 
 rate. Suffice it to say, that on the •22d of Dec. 1620, 
 they planted their feet on the rock of Plymouth, and 
 laid the foundation of those civil and religious insti- 
 tutions, which, for two centuries, have been the 
 glory of our land, and the admiration of all lands. 
 
 * The Speedwell, of 60 tons, had been purchased in Holland. 
 In this vessel, they came to Southampton, where the Mayflower 
 of ' nine score tons' was, which had been hired f.r the voyage. 
 In these two vessels they sailed from Southampton the 5th of 
 August, 1620. They had not sailed far, when the Speedwell 
 became leaky. They put into Dartmouth and refitted, and sailed 
 again ; but the Speedwell, after sailing about 100 leagues, became 
 so leaky that it was necessary to re';urn. Both vessels went back 
 to Plymouth, where the Speedwell was abandoned ; and as many 
 as could be, were taken from her on board the Mayflower, mak- 
 ing one hundred and one in all. The rest went back to London, 
 «— (DartV New-England Memorial, p. 28-38. 
 
4B CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 I have been thus particular in tracing the history 
 of this little band of pilgrims, because they are to be 
 regarded as the primary and chief founders of the 
 New- England churches. And it is worthy of remark, 
 that these first New-England colonists, retaining the 
 principles of their beloved Robinson,* always mani- 
 
 * The following noble sentiments, with which Mr, Robinson 
 concluded his last discourse to the pilgrims before their departure 
 for America, are worthy to be held in everlasting remembrance. 
 To do justice to them, we must remember, that such a spirit of 
 christian liberality as they breathe, was then hardly known in the 
 world. 
 
 Brethren, said he, v/e are now quickly to part from one another, 
 and whethtT I may ever live to see your faces on earth any more, 
 the God of heaven only knows ; but whether the Lord has ap- 
 pointed that or no, I charge you before God, and his blessed angels, 
 that you follow me no farther than you have seen me f)llow the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveal any thing to you by any other 
 instrument of his, be as ready to receive it, as ever you were to re- 
 ceive any truth by my ministry ; for I am verily persuaded, I am 
 very confident, the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of 
 his holy word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the con- 
 dition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in reli- 
 gion, and will go, at present, no farther than the instruments of 
 their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond 
 what Luther saw ; whatever part of his good will, our God has 
 revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it ; and the 
 Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great 
 man of God, who yet saw not all things. 
 
 This is a misery much to be lamented ; for though they were 
 burninor and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not 
 into the whole counsel of God ; but were they now living, would 
 be as willing to embrace farther light, as that which they first re. 
 ceived. I beseech you remember it, 'tis an article of your church 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 49 
 
 fested a spirit of christian forbearance to^vards other 
 denominations; nor is it known that they, or the 
 Independents in England, to which denomination they 
 belonged, ever oppressed or persecuted any of their 
 fellow-men, on account of their religious sentiments— 
 a fact as honorable to their principles, as it was sin- 
 gular in the age in which they lived.* 
 
 covenant, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be 
 made known to you from the written word of God. Remember 
 thau and every other article of your sacred covenant. But I must 
 herewith exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth. 
 Examine It, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of 
 truth before you receive it; for 'tis not possible the christian 
 world should come so lately out of anti-chrinian darkness,- rnd 
 that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once And I 
 would wish you, by all means, to close with the godly people of 
 England ; study union with them in all things, wherein you can 
 have It without sin, rather than in the least measure to affect a 
 division or separation from them."_(3/a^Ae,-'. Magnolia, p. 59, 6a. 
 These sentiments, Mr. Robinson recommended to esteem, by 
 exemplifying, in his life and demeanor, the fruits of that Spirit by 
 whose teaching they were communicated ; by a character, in 
 which the most eminent faculties, and the highest attainments. 
 were absorbed by the predominating power of a solemn, affection, 
 ate piety. He died in Holland, 1625. 
 
 * In 1G41, the Plymouth colony passed an ordinance in these 
 words: " No injunction shall be put on any church, or church 
 member, as to doctrine, worship, or discipline, whether for sub. 
 stance or circumstance, beside the command of the Bible " 
 
 It is the tr.e glory of the Independents, that 'of all christian 
 sects, It was the first, which, during its prosperity as well as its 
 adversity, always adopted the principle of toleration. '-(i/„;;,e'. 
 Hist., vol. 7, p, 20. 
 
 5 
 
50 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 Conformity to the ceremonies of the established 
 church being still urged by the adherents of the 
 hierarchy with unabated rigor, multitudes followed 
 their brethren across the Atlantic, that they might 
 share with them in the enjoyment of civil rights and 
 religious privileges. 
 
 In the summer of 1630, no less than fifteen hun- 
 dred persons landed in the new world ; and during 
 the twelve years of Archbishop Laud's administra- 
 tion, four thousand planters and more than seventy 
 ministers emigrated to America. Persons of all ranks, 
 ministers and their congregations, driven out by the 
 proscriptions of a bigoted prelate, and an arbitrary 
 king, ' kept sometimes dropping,' says Cotton Mather, 
 * sometimes flocking into New-England.' In twenty 
 seven years from the first plantation of the colonies, 
 forty-three churches were formed ; and in the same 
 number of succeeding years, eighty churches more 
 rose into existence.* All these were Congregational 
 churches. They were formed after the model of the 
 Plymouth church, and were composed almost entire- 
 ly of exiles from England, who were ejected from 
 the establishment, because they could not, in con- 
 science, conform to rites and ceremonies prescribed 
 by human authority. 
 
 * History of Dissenters, rol. 2, p. 430. 
 
or KEW-ENGLAND. 51 
 
 II. Let us now examine the principles on which 
 these churches were founded. 
 
 1. In the first place, then, it was adopted, in these 
 churches, as a fundamental principle, that ' the in- 
 spired scriptures only, contain the true religion ; 
 especially that nothing is to be accounted the Protes- 
 tant religion, but what is taught in them ; and that 
 every man has a right of judging for himself; of 
 trying doctrines by them, and of worshipping accord- 
 ing to his apprehension of the meaning of them.' 
 This, I say, was ?l fundamental principle in the for- 
 mation of the New-England churches, and constitu- 
 ted, indeed, the grand line of demarcation between 
 them, and the church of England, from which they 
 separated. For while our fathers maintained that 
 the scriptures were the only and sufficient guide in 
 matters of religion, it was constantly assumed by the 
 advocates of the hierarch}^ that the king and bishops 
 had a right to enact cannons, to prescribe ceremonies 
 and forms of worship, and to enforce conformity hy 
 penal statutes. This, for more than a hundred and 
 fifty years, was the great subject of dispute between 
 the dominant party in the church of England and 
 our Puritan ancestors, and the chief cause of the 
 sufferings to which the latter were subjected. Hence, 
 when they came to establish churches in this western 
 
52 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 world, they formed them on the great principle that 
 * the Bible, the Bible alone contains the religion of 
 Protestants,' and that Jehovah alone is the Lord of 
 conscience. 
 
 2. In respect to faith, they believed the doctrinal 
 articles of the church of England to be agreeable to 
 the scriptures. While in their native land, suffering 
 for non-conformity, our fathers never complained of 
 the doctrinal part of the Thirty-Nine articles as un- 
 sound or unjicriptural. They never had any contro- 
 versy w^ith the established church on this subject. 
 It vs^as for other and far different reasons, that they 
 refused submission to her cannons, and separated 
 from her communion ; it w^as because they could not 
 swear to the conscientious observance of rites and 
 ceremonies which were the very refuse of popery ; 
 it was because they were compelled to receive into 
 communion with the church, men of profane and 
 wicked lives, and were forbidden to exercise disci- 
 pline over them ; it was because Bancroft and Laud, 
 instead of Cranmer and Abbot, wore the episcopal 
 crown, and the intolerant James had said in his star 
 chamber, ' let not puritans be countenanced,' and 
 they were compelled, by royal and prelatical author- 
 ity, to encourage the profanation of the Lord's day, 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND 53 
 
 by publishing Siiuday sports from their pulpits ;* — 
 these were the causes of the separation of our fathei-s 
 from the established church, and not any disbelief 
 or dislike of her doctrines, as contained in the Thirty- 
 nine Articles. These articles, drawn up by the first 
 English reformers, who were in familiar correspon- 
 dence with the great Calvin, and afterw^ards revised 
 by Knox and other Scotch reformers, do unques- 
 tionably contain the leading doctrines of the Bible 
 and of the Reformation. They were always so re- 
 garded by our fathers, who cordially embraced them, 
 as accordant with the inspired oracles, and made 
 them the basis of the creeds and confessions of laith 
 which were introduced into the first churches of 
 New-England. 
 
 3. Our fathers came here, smarting from under 
 the rod of ecclesiastical domination. They were, 
 therefore, specially careful to guard the independence 
 of the churches. Each church was regarded as a 
 distinct community, independent of all foreign con- 
 trol, and having in itself full power to choose its own 
 officers, enact its own laws, and to regulate all its 
 internal concerns. At first, most of the churches 
 had a pastor and teacher, with tw o or more deacons, 
 la some churches, ruling elders were appointed. 
 
 * jS'eal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. 2, p. 2G5— 2G9. 
 
 5* 
 
54 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 But this class of officers was not considered essen- 
 tial to the organization of a church, and the appoint- 
 ment of them was after a time discontinued. The 
 officers, thus placed over the church by their own 
 free election and choice, had no arbitrary or impos- 
 ing power ; but maintained government and disci- 
 pline with the consent and concurrence of the broth- 
 erhood. The supreme power was always regarded 
 as being in the assembled fraternity, or in the whole 
 body of christians, composing the church. In cases 
 of difficulty, councils of neighboring pastors and del- 
 egates from the churches, were called in to assist in 
 the settlement of them ; but their decisions were 
 only advisory ; having no binding authority over the 
 parties concerned. Such councils are, to the present 
 day, the only ecclesiastical tribunals acknowledged 
 in the churches of Massachusetts. In Connecticut, 
 they have been superseded by Consociations. These 
 are bodies composed of the pastors and delegates of 
 churches within given districts. They have no ori- 
 ginal jurisdiction over the churches, but form stated 
 tribunals of appeal, advice and decision, in such cases 
 as may be brought before them ; and from the expe- 
 rience of more than a century, have been found to 
 exert a most efficient and happy influence in main- 
 taining the purity and peace of our churches. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLA\D. 55 
 
 4. It was a principle adopted in all the first 
 churches of New- England, that none were to be 
 received into their communion, but such as " were 
 sound in the faith, without scandal in their lives, and 
 in the judgment of charity persons of visible holi- 
 ness." Says governor Winslow, " As the churches 
 of Christ are all saints by calling, so we desire to see 
 the grace of God shining in all we admit into church 
 fellowship, and keep off such as openly wallow in 
 the mire of their sins ; that neither the holy things 
 of God, nor the communion of saints be thereby 
 leavened or polluted." And by one of the earliest 
 and brightest lights of New-England it is added, 
 " that it was adopted as a universal and fundamental 
 maxim, that churches are bound in duty, to inquire 
 not only into the knowledge and orthodoxy, but into 
 the spiritual state of those whom they receive into 
 full communion. And to omit inquiries as to the 
 spiritual experience of those who come to the table 
 of the Lord, has a tendency to fill the sanctuary with 
 those who never had any experimental knowledge of 
 the things of God."* This principle, that particular 
 churches ought to consist only of regenerate persons, 
 the letting go of which, as Dr. Owen says, brought 
 in the great apostacy of the christian church, was 
 
 * Magnalia, Vol. 2. p. 56-9. 
 
56 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 sacredly regarded in all the first churches of New- 
 England ; nor to this day has it been renounced 
 by any, but such as have also renounced the spirit 
 and doctrines of those churches, and gone over to the 
 side of heresy. 
 
 5. In regard to christians of other denominations, 
 the Congregational churches of New-England act 
 on the principle of open communion ; making evi: 
 dence of christian character the only condition of 
 
 fellowship.* Hence, while our fathers admitted 
 » 
 
 * Speaking of the founders of our churches, Governor Winslow 
 says, " They are entirely of the same faith with the reformed 
 churches in Europe, only in church government they are en- 
 deavorous after a reformation more thorough than what is in many 
 of them ; yet without any uncharitable separation from them. He 
 gives instances of their admiiting to communion among them the 
 communicants of the French, the Dutch, and the Scotcli church, 
 es, merely by virtue of their being so ; and says, We ever placed 
 a large difference between those that grounded their practice on 
 the word of God, though differing from us in the exposition and 
 understanding of it, and those that hated such reformers imd 
 reformation, and went on in anti-christian opposition to it, and 
 persecution of it." Mather's Mag. vol. 1 : 58. 
 
 In the covenant adopted by the Third, now Old South Church 
 in Boston, at its formation in 1669, is the following article, which 
 breathes a spirit of true christion liberality : " We do hereby 
 covenant and promise, through the help of the same grace, to 
 hold, promote, and maintain fellowship and communion with all 
 the churches of saints, in all those holy ways of order, appointed 
 between them by our Lord Jesus, to the utmost, especially with 
 those among whom the Lord hath set us ; that the Lord may be 
 
 % 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 57 
 
 that the doctrinal articles of the church of England, 
 and also of the reformed churches of Scotland, Ire- 
 land, France, the Palatinate, Geneva, Switzerland, 
 and the United Provinces, were, in all essential points, 
 agreeable to the sacred oracles ; they freely allowed 
 to all the pious members of these churches, fellows- 
 ship and communion with themselves.* And in the 
 articles of agreement adopted by the Presbyterians 
 and Congregationalists in England in 1690, and 
 recommended to the chlirches of Connecticut by the 
 convention of ministers and delegates met at Say- 
 brook in 170S, this' broad principle of communion is 
 recognized — " As to what appertains to soundness of 
 judgment in matters of faith, we deem it sufficient 
 that a church acknowledge the scriptures to be the 
 word of God, the perfect and only rule of faith and 
 practice, and own either the doctrinal part of the 
 articles of the church of England, or the confession, 
 or catechisms, shorter or larger, compiled by the 
 Assembly at Westminster, or the confession agreed 
 on at the Savoy, to be agreeable to that rule.f 
 
 one, and his name one, in all these churches, throughout all gene, 
 rations, to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus." Hist, of the Old 
 South Church, p. 16. 
 
 * Prince's New England Chronology, p. 91. 
 
 iKatio Disciplinae, p. 310. 
 
58 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 6. In conducting public worship, our fathers reject- 
 ed a prescribed ritual and forms of prayer, not because 
 they considered them unlawful, or forbidden in the 
 scriptures, but because they considered them inex- 
 pedient, and not conducive to the great purpose of 
 social worship. They felt, that to be tied down to 
 a liturgy would be a restraint upon their devotions, 
 chilling their affections, and stinting their desires and 
 their petitions. They chose therefore to worship 
 God in the free, unembarrassed manner of the primi- 
 tive christians, ' not reading their prayers from a 
 book,' but uttering them from full, united and warm 
 hearts. 
 
 7. There is another feature in our ecclesiastical 
 polity which I must not pass unnoticed. It relates 
 to the manner in which the independence and purity 
 of the churches are secured, in consistency with the 
 rights and privileges of the congregation. These 
 two bodies are in some respects united and one, but 
 in others, are distinct, independent corporations. In 
 the call and settlement of a minister, which is the 
 great business they have to transact together, each 
 exerts a separate and uncontrolled agency. And 
 yet the concurrence of each is indispensable to the 
 vahditv of their respective acts. The church has no 
 power to place a minister over the congregation. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 59 
 
 nor has the congregation any power to place a minis- 
 ter over the church. In effecting the settlement of 
 a pastor the concurrent voice of the church and soci- 
 ety is essential. This is an admirable arrangement. 
 While it secures the church from all improper and 
 dangerous interference on the part of the society, it 
 also secures the society, in the enjoyment of its own 
 rights and privileges, while co-operating with the 
 church, in the settlement and support of a minister. 
 And as each exerts a distinct agency in this matter, 
 and shares alike in the services of the pastor, the 
 effect is to excite in each a mutual interest in the 
 pastor, and in all the concerns of the society of 
 which each forms a component part. 
 
 Such, my friends, is a brief view of the polity 
 of the Congregational churches of New-England. 
 Such are the principles of religious liberty, for ' which 
 our feUhers suffered in England, traversed the ocean, 
 and sought a dangerous retreat in these remote and 
 savage deserts, that here they might fully enjoy them, 
 and leave them to their latest posterity.' 
 
 III. Permit me next to call your attention to the 
 influence which these churches have exerted over 
 the character and institutions of this community. 
 Here let it be recollected, that the first settlers of a 
 country always give character to that country. 
 
60 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 Their institutions and habits, whatever they are, 
 usually descend to their posterity, and have a pow- 
 erful influence in deciding their presesent and future 
 destiny. 
 
 Let it be recollected, moreover, that for nearly a 
 hundred years after the settlement of New England, 
 there were very few of any denomination in the 
 land, besides Congregationalists. In 1700, there 
 were in all the New England States then settled, 
 nine hundred Episcopalians, of whom one hundred 
 and eighty five were communicants. There were 
 no Methodists ; and with the exception of Rhode 
 Island, very few Baptists. Not a single church of 
 this denomination existed in Connecticut, and but 
 two or three in Massachusetts. There were at the 
 same time one hundred and twenty Congregational 
 churches in New England, besides thirty churches 
 composed of Indians.* It is plain, then, that New 
 England is, what it is, chiefly from the influence of 
 the Congregationalists, and of Congregational princi- 
 ples. I state this with no feeling of boasting, nor 
 with any wish to detract from the merits, of other 
 denominations ; but because it is a fact, and ought 
 to be known. Let us consider this influence, 
 
 * Hist, of Dissenters vol. 2, p. 449. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. ^ 61 
 
 1. In respect to civil liberty. The New Testa- 
 ment is emphatically a republican book. It sanc- 
 tions no privileged orders ; it gives no exclusive 
 rights. All, who imbibe its spirit and obey its pre- 
 cepts, are recognized as equals ; children of the same 
 Father ; brethren and sisters in Christ, and heirs to 
 a common inheritance. In the spirit of these kind 
 and endearing relations, the first christians formed 
 themselves into little republican communities, 
 acknowledging no head but Jesus Christ, and regu- 
 lating all their concerns by mutual consultation and 
 a popular vote of the brotherhood. In these distinct 
 and independent societies was realized for the first 
 time in this world the perfect idea of civil and reli- 
 gious liberty. 
 
 It is true they were not associated for civil pur- 
 poses ; nor did the circumstances of the age allow 
 them to form themselves into a body politic, in which 
 they might enjoy and exercise the rights of free men. 
 Still the spiiit, the idea of the thing was in their 
 minds ; and had they been permitted to establish a 
 constitution of civil government, it would unques- 
 tionably have been based on the truest principles of 
 hberty. 
 
 The Puritans imbibed the same spirit, and derived 
 
 their principles from the same pure source of light, 
 6 
 
62 CONGREGATIONAL CHrRCHES 
 
 of holiness and freedom. They modelled their 
 churches after the primitive form, and founded them 
 on the basis of entire independence and perfect 
 equality of rights. Twice in their native land had 
 they saved the British constitution from being crush- 
 ed by the usurpations of the Stuarts ; and Hume, 
 who was never backward to reproach both their 
 character and their principles, is compelled to 
 acknowledge that what of liberty breathes in that 
 constitution is to be ascribed to the influence of the 
 Puritans.* These were the men who settled New- 
 England. They came here bearing in their bosoms 
 the sacred love of liberty and religion ; and ere they 
 left the little bark that had borne them across the 
 ocean, they formed themselves ' into a civil body 
 politic,' having for its basis this fundamental prin- 
 ciple, that they should he ruled by the majority. Here 
 is brought out the grand idea of a free, elective gov- 
 
 * " So absolute indeed was the authority'of the crown, that the 
 precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was preserved by 
 the Puritans ; and it was to this sect whose principles appear so 
 frivolous, and habits so rediculous, that the English owe the 
 whole freedom of their constitution." Hume's Eng., vol. 5, p. 183. 
 
 Again, " It was only during the next generation that the noble 
 principles of liberty took root, and spreading themselves under 
 the shelter of Puritanical absurdities became fashionable among 
 the people." Ibid. p. 469. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 63 
 
 ernment. Here is the germ of that tree of Hberty 
 which now rears its lofty top to the heavens, spread- 
 ing its branches over the length and bi^eadth of our 
 land and under whose shade tw-elve millions of free- 
 men are reposing. The spirit of all our free, civil 
 and religious institutions, was in the breasts of our 
 pilgrim fathers. It was cherished and invigorated 
 amidst the toils and sufferings which they endured in 
 their native land. It nerved them with courage, and 
 inspired them with hope amid the perils of the deep 
 and the trials of the wilderness ; and prompted and 
 guided their counsels, in founding their churches and 
 establishing a government on principles of the purest 
 republicanism. It was taught by them in the family, 
 in the school, in the sanctuary, and in the hall of 
 legislation. It breathed in their devotions, it anim- 
 ated their efforts, and sustained them in all their 
 self-denials, and hardships and sufferings. It de- 
 scended to their children in their successive gener- 
 ations, increasing constantly in vigor and strength, 
 till it broke out in the revolutionary war, and was 
 embodied in that excellent form of government, 
 which, while it blesses with equal rights and privil- 
 eges the millions of our own land, is sending forth 
 a redeeming, emancipating influence among the more 
 
64 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 numerous millions of other lands, who are groaning 
 under the yoke of oppression and tyranny. 
 
 When I think of this, the conviction of my own 
 mind is irresistible, that no men were ever commis- 
 sioned of heaven to perform a greater, or more noble 
 work than the fathers of New England. They lived 
 not for a day, but for all time and eternity ; not for 
 themselves, but for posterity and the world. 
 Friends of liberty themselves, they w^ere the com- 
 missioned heralds and establishers of it in these 
 ends of the earth. The great lesson that man, 
 by the grace God, is capable of governing himself 
 without the scourge of kings, or the dictation of 
 spiritual lords, they had learnt in the school of 
 Christ, and reduced to practice in the churches 
 of Christ. This prepared them to carry the 
 same principles into the establishment of their 
 civil institutions. As in their sanctuaries they could 
 not and would not acknowledge the authority of 
 popes, or cardinals, or bishops ; so when freed from 
 the oppression of foreign nations, and left to choose 
 for themselves, they could not and would not ac- 
 knowledge the authority of autocrats or kings. 
 The principles which governed them in the forma- 
 ation of their churches, they incorporated into their 
 civil government ; and all who embrace those prin- 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 65 
 
 ciples, in the true spirit of them, must, and will 
 be the decided friends of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 2. Let us next consider the influence of these 
 churches on the intelligence of this community. The 
 primitive churches, from their earliest organization, 
 took all possible care to accustom their children to 
 the study of the scriptures, and to instruct them in 
 the doctrines of their holy religion. For this pur- 
 pose schools were every where erected, and the 
 means of common education diffused among all 
 classes belonging to these christian communities. 
 Hif^her seminaries w^ere also erected, in which per- 
 sons of riper years were instructed in the different 
 branches both of human learning and sacred erudi- 
 tion, and youths of suitable qualifications were 
 trained up for the holy ministry.* The cause of this 
 pious care in the primitive christians for the educa- 
 tion of their children was their ardent love of the 
 scriptures, and the firm belief they had, that a knowl- 
 edge of them is an essential means of saloation. 
 They wished to educate their children because they 
 wished their children to be saved. 
 
 The same cause operated in the bosoms of our fa- 
 thers, and prompted them to the same course of con- 
 
 *Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 100. 
 
 6* 
 
66 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 duct. They esteemed the Bible the richest gift of 
 heaven ; and themselves, prizing the knowledge of 
 its sacred truths above all earthly treasure, they felt 
 it to be a duty of primary importance to impart the 
 inestimable boon to their offspring, by furnishing 
 them w^ith the means of general education. But for 
 this, our system of free schools had probably never 
 come into existence. The whole system, with all its 
 countless blessings, sprung from the high esteem 
 which our fathers had of the scriptures, and the 
 ardent desire they felt to impart the knowledge of 
 them to their children and to all posterity. Hence, 
 pn their arrival in this wilderness, they had scarcely 
 felled the trees and cleared a spot on which to erect 
 their humble dwellings, when they began to counsel, 
 to legislate and provide for the education of the 
 rising generation. Among their earliest laws are to 
 be found those that relate to the instruction of the 
 young in religion and useful learning. Within eight 
 years after the settlement of Massachusetts, Harvard 
 College was founded, and in a very short period, the 
 system of free schools, which has ever since been the 
 glory and defence of New-England, was in full ope- 
 ration. The system was at that time a perfect 
 novelty on earth. Nothing like it, on a large scale, 
 had ever been witnessed. Smce that time it has 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 67 
 
 spread into mmy states of the Union. It was early 
 introduced into Scotland,* Switzerland and Hol- 
 land — countries by the way, that had embraced the 
 same great principles of the reformation which were 
 held and brought here by our fathers. But even 
 now, in the country from which the pilgrims came, 
 the system is unknown in practice. And only ten 
 years ago, wdien Mr. Brougham presented a plan to 
 Parliament, to provide by law, for the education of 
 the poor, the representatives of the three kingdoms 
 listened to him with astonishment and delight, as the 
 advocate of new and important principles, though, in 
 fact, he advanced no principles, and presented no 
 
 plan, but such as are familiar to all our children, and 
 
 have been in operation in New-England, for nearly 
 
 two centuries. f 
 
 I will only add under this head, that as our 
 
 fathers were the warm and active friends of edu- 
 
 * It was not however till 1696, that the scheme of extending 
 the means of instruction to the poorer clases in Scotland was 
 rendered effectual, by what has well been styled, "one of the 
 last and best acts of the Scottish Parliament." 
 
 fit is said that in England, not more than one child in fifteen 
 possesses the means of being taught to read and write ; in Wales, 
 one in twenty ; in France, until lately, where some improvement 
 has been made, not more than one in thirty five. In Kew-England 
 everv child ])ossesses such means. (Webster's discourse on the 
 landing of the Pilgrims.) 
 
68 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 cation, so also have been their descendants. The 
 Congregationalists have always been the advocates 
 of a learned ministry, and of the diffusion of intelli- 
 gence among the people. For this purpose they 
 have, from time to time, made large appropriations 
 of money, both as individuals and as a community. 
 Of the eleven Colleges in New-England, eight were 
 founded and have been mainly supported by the 
 Congregationalists, to say nothing of the Academies 
 and Theological Seminaries that have grown 
 up under their care. The happy effects of this 
 liberal patronage of literature and science, are felt 
 throughout our whole land. In no community on 
 earth is knowledge so generally diffused as in New- 
 England ; and from no community, equally nume- 
 rous, have there gone forth so many men to bless 
 their country and the w^orld by their talents, their 
 learning and their piety. We must notice, 
 
 3. The influence of these churches on the morals 
 of this community. That the first planters of New- 
 England were men of the purest morals, admits of 
 no question. The magistrates of Leyden, speaking 
 of the congregation under the pastoral care of the 
 excellent Robinson, bear this honorable testimony 
 to their character — " These Englishmen have lived 
 among us now these twelve years, yet we never had 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 69 
 
 one suit or action come against them." Equally evi- 
 dent is it, that the second generation after the settle- 
 ment of the country, were hardly less distinguished 
 for strictness of morals and general integrity of char- 
 acter. An eminent minister, speaking of this period 
 of our history, in a sermon before the British Parlia- 
 ment, said — " I have lived in a country seven years, 
 and all that time, I never heard one profane oath, 
 and never saw a man drunk in that land." And 
 though after this, there was a gradual departure from 
 the strictness of primitive manners, still it is unques- 
 tionably true, that for more than a hundred years 
 after the settlement of the country, the morals of thy 
 people were singularly pure and correct. No where 
 has there been so little intemperance, profaneness, 
 and sabbath-breaking ; no where, so little of theft, 
 and fraud, and violence ; no where, such general 
 obedience to good laws, or such security of person 
 and property, or such uniform regard to justice and 
 truth, and the duties of benevolence and charity, as 
 there was in New-England, during the period of its 
 history, which preceded the old French war. Cases 
 of gross immorality and wickedness did, no doubt, 
 exist ; but I speak of jhe mass of the people, and I 
 feel confident that no person, acquainted with the 
 subject, will be disposed to call in question the cor- 
 
70 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 rectness of what I have now said. Nor at the pres- 
 ent time, greatly degenerated as they are, will the 
 morals of the people of New^-England suffer by a 
 comparison with those of any part of our country, 
 and, I may add, of the world. And though the state- 
 ment made before the British Foreign School Society, 
 by the Hon. Mr. Barbour, lately our Minister to 
 Great Britain, may be a little colored, it is still worth 
 repeating in this place, as it shows the opinion which 
 disinterested and intelligent men entertain of this 
 portion of our country. His words are these : — 
 " There is not, on the whole face of the civilized 
 globe, a population more truly moral and religious. 
 Indeed, we may say of it, that every man was 
 educated, and every man virtuous ; and that the 
 exceptions to both were very rare," 
 
 What now is the cause of this pre-eminence in mor- 
 als, for which New-England has been,and is still, so 
 distinguished ? The seeds of it were planted by our 
 pious ancestors in their earliest civil and religious in- 
 stitutions, and in the manners and habits which they 
 impressed upon their immediate descendants. And 
 the churches, planted by their piety and care, have 
 served as nurseries, in which those seeds have, from 
 generation to generation, been nurtured and matured; 
 and the ripe fruits of which have been spread abroad 
 
OF NEW-ENOLAND. 71 
 
 over the whole community. All classes of society 
 have felt the moral, healthful influence of these 
 churches. As a general fact, they have been com- 
 posed of persons of correct sentiments and religious 
 character. The families connected with them, have, 
 to a great extent, been families of prayer, accustomed 
 to read the Bible, to keep the Sabbath, and to train 
 up their children in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord. 
 
 I do not forget the lamentable defection of a part 
 of these churches in Massachusetts. But with the 
 exception of these, which, compared with the whole, 
 are a very small number, it is an undoubted fact, that 
 the great body of the Congregational churches of 
 New-England have, from the first, maintained the 
 fundamental principles of the gospel, and have exert- 
 ed a very powerful influence in giving tone and 
 elevation to the morals of the community. 
 
 It is customar)^ I know, at the present day, to 
 inveigh against the doctrines held by our fathers and 
 taught in their churches, as 'austere,' and 'speculative,' 
 and ' demoralizing' in their influence. Our reply is, 
 look at facts. The tree is known by its fruit. And 
 if you reject the doctrines of the New-England 
 churches, as false, or unfriendly to sound morals, 
 then, 1 insist, that you explain how it is, that this 
 
72 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES. 
 
 same New-England is so * signalized by the moral 
 glory that sits on the aspect of her general population'? 
 If Calvinism ' vitiates and corrupts' the habits of a 
 people, how comes it to pass, that in the portion of 
 our country * where there is the most Calvinism, 
 there is the least crime' ? The moral education of 
 this community, let it be remembered, was complet- 
 ed, and its general character formed, before any 
 other denomination existed here, — was completed 
 and formed, therefore, under the influence of the 
 doctrines of the Puritans, which were decidedly 
 Calvinistic. And yet, where is the community to be 
 found, more distinguished for the purity and eleva- 
 tion of its moral sentiments and moral character ? 
 
 I might appeal, also, to Protestant Switzerland,* 
 to Holland, to Scotland, to the English Non-conform- 
 ists, and the Protestants of the north of Ireland, — 
 communities that have been distinguished for the 
 Calvinism of their creeds, — and if you call in question 
 the truth, or the moral tendency of those creeds, I 
 call upon you to point me to other communities, 
 
 * For an account of the present lamentable state of morals and 
 religion in Switzerland, especially, Geneva, see Christian Specta. 
 tor, for March and June, 1830 — also. Spirit of the Pilgrims, for 
 March, 1830. It is understood, that Unitarianism is now, an4 
 has, for a long time, been the dominant religion of the countrj.. 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAXD. 73 
 
 holding other creeds, that can endure comparison 
 with these, in the tone and vigor of their morality.* 
 
 4. I must advert to the influence of these churches 
 on the religious character of this community. To 
 say that the fathers of New-England were christians, 
 is scanty praise. They were eminent christians ; such 
 as the world has rarely seen. They came here in 
 the faith and hopes of the gospel, which they loved 
 better than life ; and here they labored, and prayed, 
 and suffered, that they might found churches, in 
 which that gospel might be maintained in purity and 
 power, and its glory be spread abroad over the face 
 of the whole land. Nor did they labor in vain. The 
 little church, borne to these shores in 1620, in the 
 Mayflower, ' of a forlorn hope,' has multiplied and 
 extended its principles and its polity, till now there 
 are in New-England, more than 1050 churches hold- 
 ing the doctrines of the pilgrims, numbering over 
 120,000 communicants ; to say nothing of the hun- 
 dreds of churches, and thousands of communicants, 
 that have gone out from this home of our fathers, 
 and are established in different states of the Union. 
 That all the members of these christian societies are 
 pious, is not pretended. That the great body of 
 them are, cannot reasonably be questioned ; and the 
 * See Edinburgh Review, vol. 36, p. 257. 
 
 7 
 
74 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 influence which they exert, in maintaining and diffus- 
 ing through the community the power of godhness, 
 is great and most happy. From the first, they have 
 been signaHzed by oft repeated and powerful revivals 
 of religion. There never has been a period, of any 
 considerable continuance, since the settlement of the 
 country, in which the effusions of the Spirit did not 
 descend upon some of the churches ; while at some 
 periods, hundreds of them have been visited at once, 
 and thousands of renewed and joyful converts have 
 been gathered into their communion. As the fruits 
 of these precious seasons of 'refreshing from the 
 presence of the Lord,' there have always been in the 
 churches a goodly number of lively, active, devoted 
 christians — christians who worshipped God in their 
 closets, in their families, and in the sanctuary ; chris- 
 tians who revered the word, the day, and the ordi- 
 nances of God, and whose hearts and hands were 
 opened to aid, by their charities and efforts, to send 
 the gospel to the destitute. If these things furnish 
 any evidence of piety, then has piety dwelt and 
 operated in the Congregational churches of New- 
 England, and it dwells and operates in them still. 
 Their influence has been primary and prompt in 
 most of the benevolent operations of the day. They 
 took the lead in the cause of Home Missions. Their 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND. 75 
 
 agency was first and chief in the formation of the 
 American Board for Foreign Missions ; in the forma- 
 tion of the American Education Society ; and of 
 the American Tract Society ; and of the American 
 Temperance Society; and they have exerted, at least, 
 their share of influence, in sustaining the operations 
 of the American Colonization and Bible Societies. 
 Their Missionaries are far away in the western wil- 
 derness, among the ill-fated Indians, and the destitute 
 whites ; beyond the Mississippi and the Arkansas ; 
 they are to be found in the Islands of the Pacific, 
 at Ceylon, at Bombay, in Greece, at Malta^ and 
 along the shores of the Levant. These heralds of 
 the cross, proclaiming salvation to thousands sitting 
 in the region and shadow of death, are the sons of 
 the pilgrims, sent forth and supported by the sons of 
 the pilgrims. Nor will they, we trust, ever desist 
 from the great work of mercy, till the truths of the 
 gospel and the principles of civil and religious liberty, 
 in the defence of which, the pilgrims labored, and 
 suffered, and died, shall be proclaimed in every land, 
 and a guilty, bleeding, dying world, feel their redeem- 
 ing influence, and break forth into songs of praise 
 tind salvation. 
 
 And now in conclusion, I cannot forbear to ask, 
 are there here no marks, that God regards these 
 
76 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 churches with approbation and favor ? The picture 
 I have draw^n is not for boasting. I am not insensi- 
 ble to the many and great imperfections and sins, 
 w^hich exist in the churches of my own denomination. 
 I have surveyed them ; and as I surveyed, have been 
 ready to sit down and weep over them. But con- 
 ceding all, on the score of faults, which can reason- 
 ably be demanded, I may still ask, are there here no 
 indications, that the Lord Jehovah looketh down 
 from heaven upon the churches planted by the pil- 
 grims with approbation and favor ? Where is truths 
 where is piety, where is hope and salvation to be 
 found, if not in these christian societies, which, for 
 two hundred years, have shared so signally in 
 the protection and care of Almighty God, and which, 
 for the same period, have exerted so happy an influ- 
 ence on all the dearest interests and hopes of this 
 favored community ? Shall we be told after all this, 
 that our churches are no churches ; that our minis- 
 try is * unauthorized,' and our ordinances ' invalid,* 
 and that we are all out of the ' appointed' way to 
 heaven, and have no hope but in the *uncovenanted 
 mercies of God V Can those who advance these 
 pretensions, and claim to be the only true Apostolic 
 church, exhibit better evidence of being built upon 
 the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus 
 
OF NEW-ENGLAND // 
 
 Christ being the chief corner stone ? Is there in 
 that church which assumes to be in the only * true 
 line of succession,' to possess the only ' authorized 
 ministry,' and the only * vaHd ordinances,' more of 
 humihty, and prayerfulness ; more of personal and 
 family religion ; more of self-denial and separation 
 from the world ; more of benevolent concern for 
 the salvation of sinners, and of readiness to make 
 sacrifices to send the Bible and missionaries to the 
 dying millions of the heathen world, than is to be 
 found in hundreds and thousands of churches which 
 she declares to be ' schismatical,' and charges with 
 ♦ obstinately contemning the means which God has 
 appointed for salvation, and as guilty of rebellion 
 against their Almighty Lawgiver and Judge'.* If 
 it be so indeed that the Episcopal is the only true 
 church, we ask for the signs of it, — signs in a holier 
 and more effective ministry, in a holier and more 
 spiritual communion, and in a greater number of the 
 fruits of conversion and holy living ? If these signs 
 appear, we concede the pre-eminence she claims ; 
 and ask to be received within her favored inclosure. 
 But if they appear not, then let not claims that are 
 based only on spiritual pride and airy forms, be plac- 
 ed in competition with truth and holiness ; or urged 
 
 * Bishop Hobart's Companion for the Altar. 
 
 7* 
 
78 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 
 
 to the casting out of the church of God, thousands 
 and millions of those, who love the Lord Jesus Christ 
 in sincerity and in truth.* 
 
 But I forbear. Let us, my brethren, imbibe and 
 cherish the true spirit of Congregationalism ; the 
 spirit of civil and religious liberty ; the spirit of 
 kindness and charity towards all who call on the 
 name of the Lord. And let us hope and pray, that, 
 as we now extend the hand of fellowship to all of 
 w^hatever denomination who love the Saviour, so 
 the time may soon come when they shall be disposed 
 to reciprocate the token, and regard us as fellow 
 disciples with them of the same Master, and fellow 
 heirs of the same inheritance. 
 
 * These closing paragraphs may seem severe. Let them not 
 be misapplied. They are aimed only aga.'msi high church notions. 
 Those who disclaim such notions, and show a spirit of christian 
 liberality towards their brethren of other denominations, have no 
 concern in them. To all such, of whatever name, let grace be 
 multiplied. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE FOREGOING LECTURES. 
 
 JEREMIAH vi. 16. 
 
 THUS SAITH THE LORD, STAND YE IN THE WAYS AXD SEE, A^V ASK FOB 
 THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THEKEIK, 
 AND YE SHALL FIND BEST FOE YOUB SOULS. 
 
 In the two preceding Lectures, T endeavored, first, 
 to present an outline of the constitution and order of 
 the primitive churches : and secondly, to trace the 
 origin, principles and influence of the Congregational 
 churches of New-England. Without attempting a 
 review of the train of thought pursued in those 
 lectures, my present object is, to call your attention 
 to several reflections, which naturally arise from the 
 preceding discussion. 
 
 L In the first place, then, there is a striking 
 '-esemblance between the Congregational churches 
 of New-EnHand, and the churches which existed in 
 the primitive ages of Christianity. This fact you 
 must all have noticed, as we passed in review the 
 constitution and polity of these respective churches. 
 It is, no doubt, true, as Dr. Campbell* remarks, 
 » Lect. on Eccl. Hist. p. 129. 
 
so DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 •* that there is not a church now in the world, whicli 
 is on the model of that formed by the Apostles. 
 The circumstances of men and things are perpetually 
 varying, in respect of laws, civil polity, customs and 
 manners ; these, in every society give rise to new 
 regulations, arrangements and ceremonies ; these 
 again insensibly introduce changes in the relations of 
 different ranks and classes of men to one another ; 
 exalting some and depressing others." 
 
 The church of God has in every age, felt the influ- 
 ence of these changes in society ; and in its external 
 form and modes of worship, has been modified in ac- 
 commodation to the varying circumstances and habits 
 of men. But though there are no churches in modern 
 times exactly on the model of the primitive churches, 
 still some churches bear a nearer resemblance to 
 them than others ; and this distii>ction, I am persua- 
 ded, can be claimed by the churches of no other 
 denomination, more justly, than those planted by the 
 fathers of New-England. Their great object in 
 coming to this land was to set up the tabernacle of 
 God, to form churches, and establish a mode of wor- 
 ship and discipline after the manner, which appeared 
 to them most nearly conformed to the example of the 
 New Testament. Says Governor Winslow, " The 
 primitive churches in the Apostolic age, are the only 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 81 
 
 pattern which the churches of Christ in New Eng- 
 land have in their eye — not following Luther, Calvin, 
 Knox, Ainsworth, Robinson, Ames, or any other, 
 further than they followed Christ and his Apostles." 
 Similar language is to be found in the writings of aU 
 the New England fathers ; and how nearly, in estab- 
 lishing their churches, they were enabled to conform 
 to the divine pattern proposed for their imitation, 
 must be obvious to all who will candidly make the 
 comparison. 
 
 The primitive churches, as we have seen, were 
 voluntary associations of pious persons, accustomed 
 to meet together in the same place, for the purpose 
 of social worship, and a mutual participation in the 
 ordinances and privileges of the gospel. They were 
 distinct, independent communities, joined together 
 by no other tics than those of a common faith and a 
 common interest ; acknowledging no head but Jesus 
 Christ ; each having in itself a perfect right, in 
 obedience to his word, to choose its own officers, to 
 enact its own laws, to exercise discipline over its 
 members, and to adopt whatever regulations seemed 
 best calculated to promote personal holiness and the 
 advancement of Christ's cause on earth. The or- 
 ganization and mode of worship adopted in these 
 christian societies were extremely simple. They 
 
82 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 had only two classes of permanent officers, elders 
 and deacons. Both were chosen by the free suffra- 
 ges of the brotherhood, and were set apart to their 
 oifice by the simplest rites — by prayer and the im- 
 position of hands by the presbytery, or council of 
 neighbouring elders. Among the elders or bishops,thus 
 chosen and ordained, there was no assumption of 
 power or pre-eminence, one above another. They 
 were all of the same order, invested with the same 
 authority, and appointed to the same duties ; and sur- 
 rounded as they were by a body of affectionate, con- 
 fiding disciples, who looked up to them for instruction 
 and guidance, they lived and taught and prayed 
 among them, not as lords over God's heritage, but 
 as helpei-s of their faith and joy. 
 
 The rites practised in the primitive churches, were 
 few and simple ; administered in the plainest manner, 
 and with no appearance whatever of show and pa- 
 rade. Baptism was regarded, simply, as the instituted 
 rite of mitiation into the christian church ; and the 
 Lord's Supper, as the appointed memorial of the 
 death of Christ. No mysterious efficacy, no pretend- 
 ed charm, no incomprehensible power to regenerate 
 and save men, was ascribed to these ordinances, as 
 administered by a particular class of men. All was 
 plain and intelligible, appealing directly to the under* 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 83 
 
 standing and the heart. The same simplicity charac- 
 terized the whole worship of the primitive churches. 
 In their places of meeting, which were an ' upper 
 room,' a private house, a cave, or a wilderness, there 
 were no paintings, no images, no burning of incense, 
 or sprinkling of holy water ; no priests with their 
 mitres, and robes, and other ' paraphernalia of pontif- 
 ical dignity.' When the christians belonging to a 
 particular church met for worship, they began by an 
 invocation of the divine blessing ; then a portion of 
 scripture was read ; then the assembly united in a 
 song of praise ; then the elder or presiding officer, 
 or some other person at his request, rose and addres- 
 sed them, usually from the portion of scripture read, 
 and closed with offering a prayer, not from a book 
 or form, but from the feelings of a warm and full 
 heart ; the people standing the while, and joining 
 in the prayer, not by responses, but in the silent 
 assent and pious aspirations of their own minds. 
 
 In all these particulars, how striking is the resem- 
 blance between the churches, planted by the Apos- 
 tles, and those established in this land by our vene- 
 rated fathers ? Well may we believe them, when 
 they say, that the primitive, Apostolic churches, were 
 the only pattern they had in their eye, in organizing 
 the churches of New-England. They certainly well 
 
84 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 understood their pattern, and were singularly happy 
 in imitating it. And though we may not infer, from 
 the resemblance of our churches to those of primitive 
 times, that our's are the only true churches, yet may 
 we justly regard that resemblance as a high recom- 
 mendation of them, and as furnishing substantial 
 ground for the preference we feel for the order and 
 worship of our own denomination. Especially, have 
 we just cause for preferring that simplicity which 
 characterizes the worship in our churches. Simpli- 
 city was the grand distinguishing feature in the wor- 
 ship of the primitive churches. It was introduced 
 into them by Christ and his Apostles, as best adapted 
 to the great ends of religious worship — purity of 
 heart and holiness of life ; and the more strictly we 
 adhere to primitive simplicity in the duties and offices 
 of religion, the greater will be its power in the work 
 of sanctification, and the more abundant the fruits 
 of holy living. 
 
 2. The principles and polity of the Congregational 
 churches, are happily adapted to all the various cir- 
 cumstances of men, and to the most advanced state 
 of society and the church ; such, as we have reason 
 to hope, will exist during the millennium. That this 
 character belonged to the primitive churches, will 
 readily be admitted. Simple in their organization 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 85 
 
 and modes of worship, entirely removed from all 
 
 connexion with civil government, and aiming only 
 
 to persuade men to lead quiet and holy lives, they 
 
 were fitted to exist in any state of society, and under 
 
 any form of government ; and were equally well 
 
 adapted to the circumstances of the rich and the 
 
 poor, the learned and the ignorant, the high and the 
 
 low. 
 
 In point of fact, they did exist and flourish in 
 
 extremely different states of society, and under very 
 
 different forms of government. They gathered into 
 
 their communion, men of every grade of intellect, 
 
 and of the most opposite characters, from the stupid 
 
 idolater, to the Jewish priest ; from the ignorant 
 
 peasant, to the sage philosopher ; from the beggar 
 
 in the street, to the prince on the throne. Many of 
 
 all these various classes were brought into the fold 
 
 of Christ, under the ministry of the Apostles and 
 
 their immediate successors ; and by the simple forms 
 
 of instruction and worship, which then prevailed in 
 
 the church, were nourished up unto eternal life. 
 
 And had those same simple forms been retained in 
 
 the church, they would have been perfectly adapted 
 
 to all the exigencies of society, and the varying cir- 
 
 cumstancc.3 of men from that time to the present. 
 
 The primitive worship demanded no costly sacrifices; 
 8 
 
86 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 it imposed no unmeaning rites ; it encouraged no 
 pomp or show ; it set up no mere forms or observ- 
 ances as terms of communion. It appealed, not to 
 the senses, nor to the imagination, but directly to 
 the heart and conscience ; to the understanding and 
 judgment ; to the common, immutable principles of 
 our nature ; and was therefore equally well adapted 
 to all men, in all circumstances, and of every variety 
 of age and character. 
 
 The polity and worship of the Congregational 
 churches are of the same general character. They 
 are plain, simple, intelligible, and, like the gospel 
 whence they are derived, are adapted to no particu- 
 lar age or class of men, but to man as man, in all the 
 variety of circumstances in which he may exist. 
 Mere forms and ceremonies are regarded as com- 
 paratively, of little importance. The kingdom of 
 God is not considered as consisting in ' meats and 
 drinks,' or in ' divers washings' and ' carnal ordin- 
 ances'; but in 'righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost.' The great point aimed at in Congre- 
 gationalism is to fit men for this kingdom and form 
 in them this temper ; and the means, which are 
 deemed best adapted to this end, are the exhibition 
 of divine truth, and the administration of divine or- 
 dinances, in the plainest and simplest forms. Hence 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 87 
 
 every thing like parade and show, every thing that 
 is addressed merely to the imagination and senses, is 
 rejected from our worship, as unfavorable to spiritu- 
 al devotion, and fitted rather to obstruct, than pro- 
 mote the due impression of God's truth and ordin- 
 ances. In short, the Congregational mode of wor- 
 ship, like that which prevailed in primitive times, 
 addresses itself to the inteUigence, to the con- 
 sciences and the hearts of men, and is therefore likely 
 to be most highly prized and relished, where there is 
 the most intelligence and the most pure and spiritual 
 affection. Let society advance to ever so high a 
 degree of knowledo^e and refinement, and let true 
 religion prevail in the same degree, and if any thing 
 can be inferred with certainty, from the genius of 
 the gospel, or the principles of the human mind, 
 there can be no doubt that the simple, unadorned 
 forms of worship, adopted in our churches, would be 
 most happily adapted to the exigencies of such a state 
 ofsociety, and wisely calculated to cherish and pro- 
 mote the spirit of holiness. 
 
 At the same time, such is the truly liberal and 
 catholic spirit, which characterizes the principles of 
 Congregationalism, that if the millennium were to 
 commence to-morrow, there would be no need of 
 modifying or changing any one of those principles. 
 
88 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 It sets up no exclusive terms of communion ; it insists 
 upon no outward forms, or unessential rites as condi- 
 tions of christian fellowship. It receives all, whom 
 there is evidence to believe Christ has receiv- 
 ed. On this ground, our churches, without relin- 
 quishing or altering any one principle of their organ- 
 ization, or polity, might admit to their communion 
 the whole world, converted to Christ, and extend 
 the hand of fellowship to all christians of whatever 
 name or denomination. But on the principle of 
 the Episcopalians, the millennium can never come till 
 the whole world become Episcopalians, and on the 
 principle of the Baptists, the millennium can never 
 come, till the whole world become Baptists ; and on 
 the principle of the Papists, the millennium can never 
 come till the whole world become Papists ; but on 
 the principle of the Congregationalists, the millen- 
 nium may come at any time, and they be prepared 
 to enter into the spirit of it, and embrace in the 
 arms of christian fellowship, all who love the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, however much 
 they might differ in certain points of form and 
 ceremony. And such difference will doubtless 
 exist in the purest and best days of the church. The 
 unity which Christ prayed might exist among his 
 friends, and which, we may be sure, icill ultimately 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 0\f 
 
 exist among them, is not a unity in outward forms, 
 or in things unessential to salvation ; but it is a unity 
 of faith in the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, 
 and of love, towards all who possess the temper and 
 bear the image of Christ. This is a unity that is 
 practicable and highly important. It was delightful- 
 ly exemplified in the primitive christians, who, while 
 they differed on points of form and ceremony, 
 some observing and others rejecting many of the rites 
 of Judaism, still loved one another as brethren and 
 communed as fellow christians. It is now exemplifi- 
 ed by many individual christians in different denom- 
 inations, and especially by the missionaries among 
 the heathen. These devoted servants of God, 
 whether Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, Con- 
 gregationalists, or Presbyterians, in their love for 
 Christ and the souls of men, rise above the little 
 prejudices of sect and name ; and abhorring the 
 bigotry that erects into terms of communion, 
 mere points of external order, are accustomed, as 
 they have opportunity, to unite with one another in 
 commemorating the love of their common Lord and 
 Savior, and in all the offices of christian fellowship 
 and affection. This is only an exemplification of 
 what will every where be witnessed in the latter 
 
 day glory of the church. Cliristians will then, I 
 
 8* 
 
90 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 cannot doubt, have their peculiar preferences and 
 attachments in respect to modes of worship and rules 
 of order. To expect all men to think alike in such 
 things is as unreasonable as to expect them to look 
 alike. But such things will then be regarded in their 
 true light, as comparatively little things, — certainly 
 not as lines of division among christians ; and all of 
 whatever denomination loving the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and his truth and cause with supreme affection, will 
 love and embrace one another in the bonds of holy 
 fellowship aad communion. And what is this, but 
 the universal extension of the principle now adopted 
 and acted upon in the Congregational churches of 
 New England, that of opening the door of communion 
 to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. The polity of the Congregational churches is 
 wisely adapted to the genius of our civil institutions. 
 This might at once be inferred from the fact, that 
 these institutions originated from the same spirit, and 
 were estabhshed by the same men, that were em- 
 ployed in establishing our churches. They are, 
 indeed, but distinct parts of one grand harmonious 
 system of civil and religious liberty. Both are per- 
 vaded by the same spirit, and are based on the same 
 principles of freedom. It is the distinguishing 
 characteristic of our civil institutions that they are 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 91 
 
 elective. They originate in the choice of the people. 
 With the people is the primary source of power. 
 They have the right to elect their own rulers, and 
 through them to enact their own laws, and to adopt 
 whatever measures are deemed best calculated to 
 promote the general good. 
 
 Precisely similar is the constitution of our churches. 
 No man, or body of men, has any power to preside 
 over, or govern them independently of their choice. 
 They are essentially free communities, possessing 
 and exercising the right of choosing their own offi- 
 cers and regulating their own concerns, responsible 
 to none but Jesus Christ, the sovereign Head of the 
 church. In common with the members of civil 
 society, the members of any particular church have 
 a right to delegate power to individuals of their body 
 for certain purposes ; and also to associate with 
 other churches, if this is thought best, for the greater 
 security of their common interests. But all this is 
 mere matter of choice, decided always by the voice 
 of the majority, and is thus in exact harmony with 
 the spirit of our civil institutions. 
 
 I must add further, that such are the organization 
 and order of our churches, that they tend, directly 
 and powerfully, to strengthen and perpetuate our 
 civil institutions. Every Congregational church is 
 
92 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 not only a school of divine knowledge and piety, but 
 also of civil and religious liberty. There is cherish- 
 ed the spirit, and there are taught the principles 
 which he at the foundation of a free government. 
 It is impossible that persons, who are accustomed in 
 the church, to feel and act as freemen, should be 
 the friends of arbitrary power. As in matters of 
 religion they have been taught to call no man 
 master; so in matters of civil government, they will 
 submit to no authority but that which is lawfully and 
 freely constituted over them. Equally impossible 
 is it, that such persons, I mean those who are actua- 
 ted by the true spirit and principles of Congrega- 
 tionalism, should ever wish for a union between 
 church and state. They know full well that the 
 only tendency of such a union is to destroy both 
 civil and religious liberty, and to produce, either an 
 ecclesiastical or political despotism, both of which 
 are equally to be dreaded. And though the remark 
 may seem needless, in this place, I will just drop it 
 in passing, that notwithstanding all the clamor that 
 is raised by infidels and others against the Congre- 
 gationalists and Presbyterians, as wishing to bring 
 about a union between church and state, there is no 
 denomination in the land that more sincerely depre- 
 cates such a union ; and none would have to forfeit 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 
 
 93 
 
 greater privileges, or make greater sacrifices, if it 
 should finally be effected. 
 
 4. Tiic principles and polity adopted in Congrega- 
 tional churches, are well calculated to secure their 
 purity, both in doctrine and practice. It is held as 
 a fundamental principle in these churches, that the 
 Bible is the only rule of faith and worship, and that 
 every man has a right to study the scriptures and 
 judge of their m.eaning for himself. The doctrines 
 taught in these churches are, and with some slight 
 variations, have been from the first, decidedly evan- 
 gelical ; and they have been, and are now, with 
 some few exceptions, preached with great purity and 
 effect. In every church, personal piety, grounded 
 on a change of heart, and exemplified in a christian 
 life, is required as an indispensable qualification for 
 membership. Each church, also, has the right, and 
 is in duty bound, to watch over its members, and to 
 advise, reprove, or exclude from communion, as the 
 case maybe, such as walk disorderly, or violate their 
 covenant engagements. The ministry is also care- 
 fully guarded. Before any one can receive license 
 to preach the gospel, he must produce a certificate 
 of christian character, and of regular membership in 
 some church of Christ, and undergo an examination, 
 ])oth as to his doctrinal and experimental acquaint- 
 
94 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 ance with religion, before an association of ministers. 
 At the time of his ordination he is again examined, 
 and if after settlement, he departs from the faith, or 
 becomes immoral in conduct, he is amenable, either 
 to the church of which he is pastor, or to the associ- 
 ation to which he belongs, who have a right to dis- 
 miss and depose him. 
 
 The practical influence of these principles has 
 been found, from experience, to be eminently happy. 
 For more than two centuries, they have secured to 
 the churches of New-England, unparallelled pros- 
 perity and great unanimity in doctrine and practice. 
 Whilst they recognise the Bible as the only rule 
 of religion, and encourage all desirable freedom of 
 inquiry, they guard the churches against corruption 
 and error, by shutting the door of their communion 
 against the admission of unworthy members, and 
 the door of the ministry against the intrusion of 
 unsanctified and heretical teachers. 
 
 It is, indeed, often urged, as a serious objection 
 against the order of our churches, that they have no 
 uniform confession of faith, or formulary of doctrine, 
 to which their ministers and members are required 
 to give their assent ; and in this particular, it is 
 claimed, that the Episcopal church has greatly the 
 advantage. Our reply is, look at facts. There are 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 95 
 
 in New-England, about 1200 churches of the Con- 
 gregational order. Of these, more than 1050 are 
 decidedly orthodox ; leaving less than 150, chiefly 
 in Massachusetts, that have renounced the doctrines 
 of the Reformation, and become Unitarian. In 
 Connecticut, there are 220 Congregational churches, 
 all of which, with the exception of one, are evangel- 
 ical, and are under the pastoral care of evangelical 
 ministers, so far as they have ministers of any kind.' 
 These facts are important. They furnish very deci- 
 sive evidence of the efficacy of our ecclesiastical 
 polity, to preserve the purity of the churches ; and 
 in view of them, we cannot forbear to ask, whether 
 that church, which boasts of its liturgy and articles, 
 as being the great safeguard against corruption and' 
 error, can furnish better evidence of unity in faith, 
 and purity in doctrine and practice ? 
 
 That the liturgy and doctrinal articles of the Epis- 
 copal church, are substantially correct in sentiment, 
 is readily admitted. Nor are we disposed to deny 
 that, in some respects, they may exert a favorable 
 influence in guarding the faith and purity of the 
 church. But, when they are set forth as the grand 
 preservative from error, and a superiority is claimed 
 for them in this particular, above the polity and 
 worship of every other denomination, I must pause 
 
96 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 and examine, before I can admit the validity of such 
 claims. What, then, are the facts in the case ? 
 The Thirty-nine Articles, we admit, are, for the 
 substance of them, agreeable to the scriptures ; they 
 are decidedly evangelical ; and every minister offi- 
 ciating in the Episcopal church, is required to give 
 his unfeigned assent and consent to them. But does 
 it hence follow, that all the clergy in that church, 
 are evangelical in doctrine, or united in sentiment ? 
 This is so far from being the fact, that of the eleven 
 or twelve thousand ministers belonging to the estab- 
 lished church in England, only two or three thousand 
 are considered as evangelical.* Three-fourths, at 
 least, of the whole number, differ entirely in senti- 
 ment, from such men as Scott, Newton, Rich3iond, 
 and the Editors of the Christian Observer. In gen- 
 eral, they are high churchmen, and decidedly Armi- 
 nian in sentiment, holding the doctrine of baptismal 
 regeneration, and of the exclusive validity of the 
 Episcopal ministry and ordinances, and consigning 
 all others, not conformed to their church, to the 
 ' uncovenanted mercies of God,' as furnishing for 
 them, the only hope of salvation, f 
 
 * See Hart's Installation Sermon, p. 24. 
 
 t The fact is, that subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, is 
 not generally regarded in England, (is it in this country ?) as 
 implying a cordial or ex animo belief of them. They are rather 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 97 
 
 And how is it in this country ? We have the 
 authority of one, whom the Christian Observer* 
 declares to be a " most respectable American Episco- 
 palian clergyman, and distinguished preacher,'' for 
 saying, " that there is not a party among the ranks 
 of the English clergy, in relation to points of theo- 
 logical discussion, which has not its counterpart ia 
 every important particular, among the clergy of 
 America ; and that the din and clash of those contro- 
 versies which excite the most feeling in England, are 
 echoed back by combatants here, who are as eager 
 and obstinate as any in Christendom." " Our church," 
 this writer adds, " with the exception of a few par- 
 ticulars, unconnected with theological doctrine, is an 
 exact miniature of yours." I take no pleasure in 
 stating these facts. I simply refer to them, to show, 
 that the high claims set up by our Episcopal breth- 
 ren, for their Articles and Liturgy, as securing to 
 their church unity of faith, and purity of doctrine and 
 worship, are unfounded. The truth is, very little reli- 
 ance can be placed on confessions of faith and 
 formularies of doctrine, for preserving the church 
 
 considered as ' articles of peace,' in the sense explained by Dr. 
 Paley, in his Moral Philosophy ; and thus understood, they can 
 be, and actually are, subscribed by persons of the most opposite 
 sentiments. 
 
 * Christian Observer, Nov. 1823. 
 
 9 
 
98 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 from false sentiments and corrupt practice. The 
 best means for effecting this, are the means best 
 adapted to enkindle and keep alive a spirit of hum- 
 ble, devoted piety. The reformed churches of 
 Germany and Switzerland once had, and many of 
 them now have, a correct creed — scriptural formu- 
 laries of doctrine, to which all who ministered at the 
 altar, or came to the communion, were required to 
 give their assent. But most of thos3 churches, with 
 their ministers, have passed through all the various 
 grades of Arianism, down to the lowest sort of Soci- 
 nianism, and even Deism, and yet retain the form of 
 christian churches and the name of christan ministers. 
 Articles on paper, however scriptural, oppose but a 
 feeble barrier to irreligion and error, when these are 
 seated in the heart, or are dominant in the head. 
 They may, perhaps, enforce an outward submission, 
 and produce an outward uniformity ; but of what use 
 are these if error and sin lie lurking beneath ? In no 
 country on earth are the forms of popery so rigidly 
 observed as in Italy ; and yet in no country, are 
 there so many infidels and atheists. 
 
 5. The principles and polity of the Congregational 
 churches are powerfully influential in promoting 
 vital godliness. Look back to the primitive churches ; 
 while they retained their simple form and simple 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 99 
 
 modes of worship, they retained also their spiritu- 
 ality of character. Religion was in the hearts of the 
 disciples a principle of living energy. Christianity 
 mio-htily prevailed and flourished. The standard of 
 the cross was set up in a thousand lands. Converts 
 were multiplied as drops of the dew. Hundreds 
 and thousands, attracted by the simple majesty of 
 truth, ministered in love and applied by the secret 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, turned from dumb idols 
 to serve the living God. The gospel was then proved 
 to be the power of God unto salvation. Its moral 
 influence, untrammeled by forms and ceremonies of 
 human invention, ' was too mighty for philosophy, 
 priestcraft, arbitrary power and prevailing corrup- 
 tion combined.* But by degrees, primitive simplicity 
 passed away ; and in its stead, ceremonies and rites 
 ■were multiplied almost beyond enumeration. The 
 sacraments were increased from two to seven. 
 Religious w^orship was encumbered with endless 
 forms and observances, and celebrated with great 
 splendor and show\ The ministers of Christ, not 
 contented with being simple teachers of religion, 
 and helpers of the faith and joy of their brethren, 
 began to lord it over God's heritage ; to claim pre- 
 eminence one above another, and to aspire after the 
 honors and distinctions of the world. At length, 
 
100 , DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 under Constantine, the church became an ally of the 
 state, and Christianity the established religion of the 
 empire. And now the work of decay and corrup- 
 tion went on with melancholy rapidity. Neither the 
 ordinances nor the doctrines, nor the organization 
 nor the officers of the church were any longer what 
 they had been. 'The houses of worship were made 
 to rival royal palaces ; the ministers of the church, 
 divided into different grades, and possessing different 
 powers, were as numerous as the servants of a king, 
 and fared as sumptuously. Paintings and statues, 
 and gold and silver vessels ; various and most costly 
 instruments of music ; scarlet and purple and fine 
 linen ; robes and mitres and crowns, and all things 
 magnificent and imposing, were employed to give 
 splendor to divine worship, and cause a strong im- 
 pression to be made on the senses.' But not to 
 dwell longer on the mournful picture, suffice it to 
 say, that things continued to wax worse and worse, 
 till finally all ecclesiastical, and civil power too, was 
 vested in the pope of Rome ; and kings and bishops 
 were alike compelled to do him homage. 
 
 Now it is deeply affecting to notice, how at every 
 step, as the church departed from the primitive, 
 simple form of a republic, and assumed, by degrees, 
 first the form of an aristocracy, then of a monarchy, 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 
 
 101 
 
 and last of all, of a frightful despotism, piety constant- 
 ly declined ; the power of religion languished, till at 
 length its light was smothered by the corruptions of 
 popery, and scarcely a single ray interrupted the 
 deep darkness of a thousand years. 
 
 Then it was that ' bishops could not write their 
 own names, that Hebrew and Greek were reckoned 
 heretical, that indulgences were sold, that prayers 
 Avere offered to dead men and women, that priests 
 were thought to have power to forgive sin, that an 
 old man was reckoned the vicar of the Almighty, 
 and the inquisition was armed with its horrible pow- 
 ers, and did its work of blood and desolation.' 
 Religion was utterly lost amidst the multiplied and 
 nameless forms that were thrown around it, and the 
 spirit of devotion expired in a blind and senseless 
 attachment to rites and ceremonies. 
 
 But, to return from this digression, which I shall 
 not regret, if it only serve to impress our minds, 
 more deeply, with the importance of adhering, in 
 our worship, to the pure pattern of the gospel. — 
 Religion revived at the Reformation, and throwing 
 off the mummeries of popery, assumed something 
 of its unadorned, primitive simplicity ; and just in 
 proportion as it did this, it prospered and flourished. 
 
 in Switzerland, Holland, and Scotland, where the 
 9* 
 
103 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 form of church government, and modes of worship, 
 were the most simple, and approached nearest to 
 what they were in primitive times, most of the Hfe 
 and power of religion was exhibited. This is em- 
 phatically true of New-England. Here our ecclesi- 
 astical order and modes of worship, have, from the 
 first, been characterized by great simplicity. Our 
 churches have had no liturgy, no forms of prayer, 
 no ritual of any kind. In our places of worship, 
 there is nothing of decoration, or splendid ornament, 
 to attract the eye, or please the fancy. Nothing is 
 tliought of but the gospel, the prayers, the songs of 
 praise. All is devoid of pomp and show. The 
 minister is clothed in a modest black dress, and his 
 sole business is, to fix the thoughts of the congrega- 
 tion on God, and to instruct them in the things of 
 God. Simplicity and seriousness ; thought, intelli- 
 gence, truth, addressed directly to the understanding 
 and the heart, — these are, and ever have been, the 
 characteristics of divine worship, as performed in 
 the Congregational churches of New-England. The 
 fruits are manifest. A manly and vigorous piety has 
 been maintained in the churches. Their members, 
 to a very great extent, have been exemplary, intelli- 
 gent, devoted christians. The presence of God has 
 been manifest in their sanctuaries ; the influences of 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 103 
 
 the Holy Spirit have descended like the dew of 
 Hermon ; and great multitudes, ' planted here in the 
 house of the Lord,' have been transferred to ' flourish 
 eternally in the courts of our God.' If the tree is 
 known by its fruit, the evidence is decisive, that the 
 simple form of government and mode of worship, 
 that prevail in our churches, are most happily calcu- 
 lated to promote personal piety, and prepare the soul 
 for the purer and nobler worship of the heavenly 
 world. 
 
 And here, let me make this general remark, that 
 just in proportion as christians rise in the tone of 
 their piety, their regard for forms and ceremonies is 
 diminished, and their attachment to simplicity in the 
 worship of God is increased. On the other hand, 
 just in proportion as men depart from the spirit of 
 religion, they are wont to substitute forms in its 
 place, and to become bigoted in their attachment to 
 the mere ceremonials of worship. For an illustration 
 of this, look at the Romish church. The devotees 
 of that communion, can see no truth, or excellence, 
 or piety, in any religion except theirs. Theirs is 
 the only true, infallible church ; theirs, the only 
 authorized ministry, and sacraments, and worship ; 
 and all who are without tlie pale of their church, are 
 without the hope of salvation, and bound over to 
 
104 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 perdition. In the mean time, their worship is little 
 else than a mere business of the senses ; music, and 
 painting, and pantomime, and shows of various kinds, 
 are made to take the place of the essentials of devo- 
 tion. Their religion is a mythology ;* every thing 
 grand and impressive and sanctifying in Christianity, 
 is turned into mere dramatic, or scenic effect ; simple 
 prayers are superseded by splendid ceremonies ; 
 saints and images are made the intercessors with an 
 almost forgotten God, and the immediate objects of 
 devotion are lost sight of. A relic, a ceremony, a 
 penance, a mere counting of beads, or uttering of 
 prayers in an unknown tongue — these are accounted 
 the great things in religion, the weightier matters of 
 the law ; whilst the love of God and mankind, holy 
 affections and a holy life are regarded as of little 
 worth. No w^onder that the populace, that unin- 
 formed and worldly men should be pleased and 
 captivated with this system of superstition, which 
 appeals so directly to the senses, and is so well 
 adapted to lull the conscience and sooth the heart in 
 its sins. The true practical effect of the whole 
 sumptuous apparatus of Romish worship is to work 
 upon the natural sensibihties, and to flatter men with 
 a belief that they are the favorites of God, while ia 
 
 * See Natural History of Enthusiasm, p. 52. 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. 105 
 
 fact they are the slaves of sin. This is the effect of 
 every system of worship, just in proportion as it 
 draws off the mind from the sjnrit of religion to the 
 mere forms of it. And it was doubtless with a view 
 to prevent this effect, and to inspire in the bosom 
 a spirit of enlightened, fervent devotion, that our 
 Lord Jesus Christ appointed the worship under the 
 gospel to be simple, spiritual, appealing directly to 
 the intellect and the heart, and fitted to raise the 
 thoughts to God and heaven. 
 
 And now if the principles and polity of our 
 churches bear so near a resemblance to the churches 
 of primitive times ; if they are adapted to all the 
 various circumstances of men, and to the most ad- 
 vanced state of society and the church ; if they har- 
 monize with the genius of our civil institutions and 
 tend directly to strengthen and perpetuate them ; if, 
 in fine, they are calculated to secure the purity of the 
 churches, to promote personal religion, to form a 
 character of intelligent, fruitful piety, and thus qual- 
 ify us to serve God here and to enjoy him hereafter ; 
 if this is the nature and tendency of the principles of 
 Congregationalism, then have we good reason for 
 strong attachment to them, and for wishing to see 
 them extended through the world, and perpetuated 
 to the latest posterity. They are principles, my 
 
106 DEDUCTIONS FROM THE 
 
 friends, which are connected with all the best inter- 
 ests of society, and the dearest hopes of men- ' 
 To publish and extend them on earth, Apostles 
 and Martyrs labored, and suffered, and died. To 
 estabUsh and perpetuate them in this land, our vene- 
 rated fathers left the land of their birth, traversed 
 the ocean, dwelt in the wilderness, and here laid 
 down their lives a sacrifice in the cause of civil and 
 religious liberty. 
 
 The blessings resulting from these principles we 
 enjoy in rich abundance, and on us is devolved the 
 high responsibility of transmitting them to those who 
 shall come after us. And while I would call upon 
 all to cherish an enlightened attachment to the liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made us free, and to guard, 
 with the influence of their united prayers and efforts, 
 the sacred trust committed to their keeping, let me 
 enforce the exhortation by rehearsing the words of 
 two* of the venerable fathers of New England, ut- 
 tered by them just before they ascended to their re- 
 ward in heaven. " We do earnestly testify,' say they, 
 ^ that if any w^ho are given to change, do rise up to 
 unhinge the well established churches in this land, it 
 will be the duty and interest of the churches to exa- 
 amine whether the men of this trespass are moro , 
 
 * Rev. John Higginson, and Rev. William Hubbard. 
 
FOREGOING LECTURES. ]07 
 
 prayerful, more watchful, more zealous, more patient, 
 more heavenly, more universally conscientious, and 
 harder students and better scholars, and more wil- 
 ling to be informed and advised, than those great and 
 good men who left unto the churches what they now 
 enjoy ; if they be not so, it will be wisdom for tliQ 
 children to forbear pulling down with their own hands 
 the houses of God which were built by their wiser 
 fathers, until they have better satisfaction." 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 THARACTER AXD VINDICATION OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 PROVERBS X. 7. 
 
 L 
 
 ;iE ;memory of the just is blessed ; but the name of the wicked 
 
 SHALL ROT. 
 
 Of the truth of this inspired declaration, how 
 niteresting an illustration is furnished in the history 
 of the fathers of New-England ? Their proud op- 
 pressors, with their guilty works, have long since 
 passed into oblivion, or are remembered only with 
 detestation and reproach. But the memory of the 
 pilgrims still endures, fragrant as the breath of the 
 morning ; and the lapse of time, instead of obscuring, 
 only adds fresh lustre to their names, by unfolding, 
 more clearly, the grandeur of their enterprise and 
 the immensity of the blessings conferred by them 
 on their posterity and the world. 
 
 Brief, indeed, are the notices of their character 
 and works, that have come down to us, in the annals 
 of our country ; and now, that the winds and storms 
 of two hundred winters have swept over their graves, 
 we look in vain for the places where most of them 
 
 sleep beneath the silent clod. But they still live : 
 10 
 
110 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 live in the principles they taught ; in the institutions 
 they established ; in the schools, academies, and 
 colleges, and in the virtue, intelligence, and happi- 
 ness, which bless their descendants, and make this, 
 in comparison with other lands, as the garden of 
 God. These are the monuments of their fame ; far 
 more durable than sculptured columns, or triumphal 
 arches. They are a living memorial of the wisdom 
 and piety of our fathers, known and read of all men ; 
 and in the recollection of their virtues and their deeds, 
 thousands and millions, yet unborn, will rise up and 
 call them blessed. 
 
 Of the causes which drove our ancestors from the 
 land of their birth, and brought them to these shores ; 
 of the churches they have founded, and of the influ- 
 ence which these churches have exerted over the 
 interests of this community, some account was given 
 you in a preceding lecture. 
 
 My present object is, to furnish you with a brief 
 sketch of the character of our fathers, and also to 
 attempt a vindication of them on some points, where 
 their conduct has been severely censured. 
 
 The subject, I am aware, can have little claim to 
 your attention on the score of novelty. It has so 
 often been considered, that it would be vain for me 
 to expect to present it in a new light, or to furnish 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. Ill 
 
 any thing, either in point of fact, or illustration, that 
 is not already familiar to most of my hearers. And 
 yet, such is the nature of the subject, so strong and 
 deep are its associations with all our dearest privi- 
 leges and brightest hopes, that it can never fail to 
 interest, to instruct, and to profit, however frequently 
 presented, or however familiar to our thoughts. — 
 The truth is,' the founders of New-England were no 
 ordinary men ; the purpose for which they lived and 
 died, was no ordinary purpose. They were emphat- 
 ically the benefactors of mankind ; raised up of God, 
 to establish new forms of society, to develop new 
 principles of government, and to open new sources 
 of human happiness and human improvement, Such 
 w^ere their characters and achievements, and so im- 
 mensely interesting the consequences which have 
 resulted from their principles and conduct, that so 
 long as there remains in us any regard to an illustri- 
 ous ancestry, any veneration of virtue and piety, any 
 love of civil and religious liberty, we can never speak 
 or hear of the patriarchs of New^-England, without 
 feeling that they are most w^orthy to be held in 
 grateful and everlasting remembrance. 
 
 Nearly all nations, of which we have any account, 
 lose their origin in a fabulous antiquity, or in the 
 obscure traditions of a savage state. Even those 
 
112 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 countries, where the arts and sciences have been 
 most flourishing, were originally planted, or were 
 afterwards overrun by barbarians who had been 
 driven from their homes by the pressure of want, 
 or the love of conquest. But far other causes gave 
 rise to the settlement of New-England. Her origin 
 runs back to no fabled antiquity, is lost in no dark 
 traditions of a barbarous age. Her first foundations 
 were laid in intelligence, in virtue and piety. New- 
 England owes her existence to the love of religion, 
 and solely to the love of religion.* The men who 
 first came here, were the chosen instruments of God, 
 in extending his empire on earth ; and for the accom- 
 plishment of this great work, they were eminently 
 qualified. They were not barbarians, whose de- 
 scendants, like the Greeks and Romans, groped their 
 way to civilization, through ages of superstition and 
 
 * The following note from Hutchinson, seems well founded. — 
 •* Whether Britain would have had any colonies in America at 
 this day, (1760,) if religion had not been the grand inducement, 
 is doubtful. One hundred and twenty years had passed, from the 
 discovery of the northern continent by the Cabots, without any 
 successful attempt. After repeated attempts had failed, it seems 
 less probable that any should undertake in such an affair, than it 
 would have been if no attempt had been made. — Hutch. Hist. p. 11. 
 
 It required the patience, the self-denial and fortitude of the pil- 
 grims, to endure the labors and surmount the difficulties of plant- 
 insf a colony on these bleak and inhospitable shores. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 113 
 
 darkness. They were not pagans, like the first in- 
 habitants of Great Britain, to whom christian mis- 
 sionaries were sent, to turn them from dumb idols 
 to the living God. They were not papists, who, 
 like the planters of South America, shut up the w^ord 
 of God from their posterity, and entailed upon them 
 the bondage of a corrupt and superstitious religion. 
 They were not slaves, who came here to toil in the 
 service of despotism, and transmit to a debased pos- 
 terity, their own sad inheritance. They were not a 
 band of lawless adventurers, fleeing from the hand 
 of justice, and coming here only for purposes of 
 conquest and aggrandizement. They were enlighU 
 ened freemen, w^ho understood the nature, and appre- 
 ciated the blessings of liberty. They were devoted 
 christians, who, not being permitted to worship God 
 according to the directions of his word, in their own 
 land, fled to this American wilderness, that they 
 might organize churches, and institute modes of wor- 
 ship, in accordance with the example of the Bible. 
 They were, in short, men of great decision and firm- 
 ness of character ; of untiring patience and dauntless 
 fortitude, and withal, ardently attached to the gospel 
 and its institutions, ready to make any sacrifices 
 in its defence and propagation, and qualified to 
 10* 
 
114 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 lay broad and deep the foundations of a mighty 
 empire.* 
 
 About to make this country the theatre of signal 
 displays of divine mercy, the great Husbandman 
 brought hither the choicest vine. " He sifted three 
 kingdoms that he might plant the American wilder- 
 ness with the finest wheat ;" and the glorious harvest 
 now waves over a thousand lands. But this is a 
 general view. Let us descend to a few particulars. 
 
 Jo the first place, then, the Others of New- 
 Eogland were men of strong intelligence, and of 
 
 * The coarse jest has often been repeated by foreign writers, 
 that the Adam and Eve of the colonies came out of Newgate ; and 
 even Dr. Johnson could stoop to utter the malignant remark, that 
 the Americans are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful 
 for any thing we allow them, short of hanging. — Bosivell, vol. 2. 
 
 And yet the very work, in which the first of these sarcasms is 
 repeated with great complacency, contains the following just sen- 
 timent respecting the character of our ancestors. 
 
 " ThCTe are few states, whose origin on the whole, is so re- 
 spectable as the American — none whose history is sullied with 
 so few crimes. The Puritans who had fled into Holland to avoid 
 intolerance at home, carrild with them English hearts. They 
 could not bear to think that their little community should be ab- 
 sorbed and lost in a foreign nation ; they had forsaken their birth 
 place and their family graves ; but they loved their country and 
 their mother tongue, and rather than their children should become 
 subjects of another state, and speak another language, they ex- 
 posed themselves to all the hardships and dangers of colonizing 
 in a savage land. No people on earth may so justly pride them- 
 selves on their ancestors as the New-Englanders." — Quarterly 
 Rev, No. 4. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 115 
 
 great moral fortitude. Many of them were from 
 families of distinction, elevated by rank and fortune, 
 and highly honored in their- own country for their 
 talents and learning. Most of the ministers and 
 civilians who came over with the colonists, received 
 their education in the Universities of Oxford and 
 Cambridge ; and many of them were deeply versed 
 in the literature and science of the day, especially in 
 the learned languages.* It was no uncommon thing 
 for the early ministers of New-England to read the 
 Hebrew and Greek scriptures, at their ordinary 
 morning and evening devotions in their families. 
 They brought over with them extensive libraries, 
 and ^vere hard students all their lives. New-Eng- 
 land has never beheld in her councils men better 
 qualified to lead in the affairs of state, than wxre 
 Bradford, and Winslow% and Yvlnthrop, and Haynes, 
 and Hopkins, and Brad street, and \yyllys. Nor 
 have the churches ever been blessed with more able 
 or learned ministers than were Wilson, and Cotton, 
 and Norton, and Shepard, and Hooker, and Stone. 
 Messrs. Hubbard and Higginson, w^ho personally 
 remembered this class of ministers, describe them in 
 the following terms: "They w^ere men of great 
 
 * Ramsay's Colonial Civil History, p. 235. Allen's Biographi- 
 cal Dictionary. 
 
116 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 renown in the nation from which the Laudian perse- 
 cution exiled them. Their learning, their holiness, 
 their gravity, struck all men who knew them, with 
 admiration. They were Timothies in their houses, 
 Chrysostoms in their pulpits, and Augustines in their 
 disputations." The people who follow^ed these holy 
 men into the wilderness were their spiritual children, 
 who imbibed their spirit and sentiments, and loved 
 and venerated them as their fathers in Christ. They 
 were men of great enterprize, and of the most deci- 
 ded moral courage. They feared God ; and there- 
 fore felt and acted as if they had no one else to fear. 
 In the defence of their principles, they were prepar- 
 ed to make any sacrifices, or to encounter any 
 dangers. They were men to whom conscience and 
 duty were every thing ; human threats and human 
 punishments nothing. They could endure shame, 
 reproach, imprisonment and exile ; but they could 
 not endure to yield up their consciences to the dicta- 
 tion of arbitrary power, or wear the yoke imposed 
 upon them by the prince and prelates of a corrupt 
 establishment. 
 
 We can, indeed, form no conception of the hard- 
 ships and sufferings endured by our fathers in 
 securing for us these pleasant homes and this goodly 
 inheritance. They were hardships and sufferings, 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 117 
 
 the bare thought of which, it would seem, must have 
 disheartened and overwhelmed them. And yet they 
 endured them, not only with fortitude, but with 
 cheerful, unrepining resolution. Like the primitive 
 christians, they took joyfully the spoiling of their 
 goods ; and were willing to suffer all things for the 
 sake of Christ and his cause. Hence, when the 
 whole scene of their sacrifices and dangers was full 
 in their view, instead of shrinking from them, they 
 .could meekly say, " When we are in our graves, it 
 will be all one, whether we have lived in plenty or 
 in penury ; whether we have died in a bed of down, 
 or locks of straw. Only this is the advantage of the 
 mean condition, that it is a more freedom to die. 
 And the less comfort any have in the things of this 
 world, the more liberty they have to lay up treasure 
 in heaven." When told by their friends in England, 
 that they might perish by the way, or be cut off by 
 famine or the sword, their only reply was, " We 
 may trust God's providence for these things. Either 
 he will keep these evils from us, or will dispose 
 them for our good, and enable us to bear them." 
 The sentiments expressed by one of their number 
 may indeed be taken for the sentiments of all. " I 
 take notice of it, he says, as a great favor of God, not 
 only to preserve my life, but to give me contented- 
 
118 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 ness ill all our straits ; insomuch that I do not re- 
 member that ever I did wish in my heart, that I had 
 never come into this country, or wish myself back 
 again to my father's house. The Lord Jesus Christ 
 was so plainly held out in the preaching of the gos- 
 pel, and God's Holy Spirit was pleased to accompa- 
 ny the word with such efficacy to many, that our 
 hearts were taken oiT from Old England, and set 
 upon heaven. The discourse not only of the aged, 
 but of the youth also, was not, how shall we go to 
 England, but how shall we go to heaven." 
 
 Sentiments like these bespeak a moral courage in 
 the men who uttered them, — a spirit of selfdenial and 
 selfdevotion to the cause of God and the good of 
 mankind, which were hardly surpassed in the purest 
 and best days of Christianity. They are indeed the 
 ' sentiments of a lofty virtue,' of a high, immovable 
 confidence in God, and well entitle our fathers to 
 be regarded as of kindred spirit with Apostles and 
 martyrs. 
 
 We may next notice their disinterestedness and 
 high public spirit. Had our fathers been men of a 
 narrow, selfish policy, they would never have left 
 the green fields of England, for the dreary wilds of 
 America. A little bending of the conscience, a little 
 relinquishment of duty, and a slight outward sub- 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. lli) 
 
 mission to mitred authority, would have kept them 
 in possession of their quiet homes and spared them 
 the sacrifices and perils of a removal into this distant 
 and desert land. But they had higher and nobler 
 views. They had a largeness of heart and a grand- 
 eur of purpose which forbad their settling down at 
 home, contented if they might but live in ease and 
 die in plenty. Their eye was on other and better 
 objects. They had, as they expressed it, " an in- 
 ward zeal and great hope of propagating the king- 
 dom of Christ to the remote ends of the earth." This 
 was the grand inspiring motive of their enterprize ; 
 they looked beyond the little circle of selfish interest, 
 to the kingdom of God and the salvation of their 
 children, and their fellow men. With this object in 
 view, they bade farewell to their friends and their 
 homes, and the land of their father's sepulchres, and 
 committed themselves to the perils of the deep and 
 the trials of the wilderness. Immediately on their 
 arrival in the place of their future destinies, we be- 
 hold them, not absorbed, each one, in seeking his 
 own private interests, but dwelling together as a 
 great family, having a common interest, and all 
 endeavoring to promote the general good.* While 
 
 '^The peculiar situation of the Plymoutli colonists naturally led 
 Iheni, like the Virginians, for a time, to throw all their property into 
 
120 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 vet the wilderness was unsubdued, and the wild 
 beasts and savages were prowling around their 
 paths, they began to legislate and act for the public 
 weal and the benefit of posterity.* The sanctuary, 
 the college, the school house, the hall of legislation, 
 and the court of justice, rose nearly at the same time 
 with their own humble dwellings ; and whenever a 
 new settlement was commenced, it began and arose 
 under the combined influence of all these causes. At 
 a very early period, a law was passed, obliging all 
 heads of families to teach their children and appren- 
 tices so much learning as to enable them to read 
 perfectly the English language. 
 
 Within seventeen years after the settlement of 
 Massachusetts, the system of free schools was regu- 
 
 a common stock, and like the members of one family, to carry on 
 every work of industry by their joint labor for the public good. 
 This policy was soon found to be attended with great difficulties ; 
 and after a trial of about three years, it was relinquished, and a 
 separation of possessions was introduced, though the full right of 
 separate property was not admitted till a much later period. — 
 Mather, B. 1 Ch. in. 
 
 * " After God had carried us safe to New England, say they, 
 and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our live- 
 lihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled 
 the civil government ; one of the next things we longed for, and 
 looked after, was to advance learning and perpetuate it to poster, 
 ity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when 
 our present ministers shall be in the dust." — 1 Hist. Collect^ 240. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 121 
 
 larly organized, and became matter of legislation.* 
 Eveiy township of fifty householders, was required 
 by law to maintain a public school, at public ex- 
 pense ; and every township of one hundred house- 
 holders, to maintain in like manner, a grammar 
 school, to instruct youth and fit them for the Univer- 
 sity, to the end, they say, in this memorable law, 
 that learning may not be buried in the graves of our 
 forefathers in church and state. ■\ Only eight years 
 after the arrival of our fathers in Massachusetts, 
 four hundred pounds sterling were granted by the 
 General Court to found Harvard College. Large 
 additional grants were soon made, both in land and 
 money ; and so general was the interest felt in the 
 prosperity of that Institution, established expressly 
 • for Christ and his church,' that frequent contribu- 
 tions were made to aid its funds, both in Connecticut 
 and New-Haven ; and money w^as granted from the 
 pubhc treasury. 
 
 At the same time, the most liberal provision was 
 made for the support of the gospel. The institutions 
 of religion were held in such high estimation by our 
 fathers, and were deemed so essential to the prosper- 
 ity of society, that they considered it no hardship, 
 
 * The system existed in practice several years earlier, 
 t This was in 1647. 
 
 11 
 
122 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 but rather a privilege, to contribute of their sub- 
 stance to establish and support them. The first 
 churches in New-England, though their numbers 
 were small, generally poor and subjected to all 
 the dangers and difficulties incident to the set- 
 tlement of a new country, usually supported two 
 able, experienced ministers. The six first towns in 
 Connecticut enjoyed the constant labor of ten able 
 ministers. This was one minister to about fifty fam- 
 ilies, or to two hundred and sixty or seventy souls.* 
 
 Had the people of the present day as high a re- 
 gard for the gospel, or were they as willing to make 
 sacrifices for its propagation among the destitute, 
 our country, which is now in danger of becoming a 
 moral waste, would speedily be blessed with the 
 means of salvation, and the teeming millions of its 
 population be saved from barbarism and ruin. 
 
 The enlarged and benevolent spirit of our pilgrim 
 fathers, was not confined to the people of their 
 own community. They were men who pitied the 
 heathen ; and one object of their emigration to this 
 country was, that they might diffuse the light of the 
 gospel over this dark and benighted continent. 
 
 In the very infancy of the colony, they began to 
 take measures for the civilization and conversion of 
 * Trumbull, vol. l,p.280. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 1-23 
 
 the Indians. Towards these ill-fated sons of the 
 forest, they always conducted with strict justice, and 
 generally, with great kindness and forbearance.* 
 " They did not claim one foot of ground in the coun- 
 try, till they fairly purchased it of the natives."t At 
 a very early period, a school was established at 
 Harvard College, to teach them the rudiments of 
 the christian faith. Missionaries were sent forth to 
 guide them into the way of life, and great was the 
 .success which attended their labors. Eliot, the famed 
 Apostle of the Indians, lived to see twenty-four chris- 
 tian societies organized among them, and these in- 
 structed by twenty-four native preachers. In 1700, 
 there were thirty Indian churches in New-England, 
 under the pastoral care of the same number of Indian 
 preachers. In some villages, a large proportion of 
 
 * Says Dr. Dwight, " the annals of the world cannot furnish a 
 single instance, in which a nation, or any other body politic, has 
 treated its allies, or its subjects, either with more justice, or more 
 humanity, than the New-England colonists treated these people. 
 Exclusively of the country of the Pequods, the inhabitants of 
 Connecticut bought, unless I am deceived, every inch of ground 
 contained within that colony, of its native proprietors. The 
 people of Rhode-Island, Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New- 
 Hampshire, proceeded wholly in the same equitable manner. — 
 Until Philip's war, in 1675, not a single foot of ground in New- 
 England was claimed, or occupied by the colonists on any other 
 score, but that of fair purchase. — DwighVs Travels, vol. 1, p. 167. 
 
 t Mather's Magnalia. History of Dissenters, vol. 2, p. 431, 
 
124 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 the families were families of prayer. In this noble 
 work, Eliot, and Mahew, and Bourne, and Cotton, 
 took the lead, and were followed by Treat, and 
 Sargeant, and Edwards, and Brainerd. Thousands 
 of poor Indians, gathered into the fold of Christ by 
 the instrumentality of these servants of God, have 
 entered the world of light, and with them are rejoic- 
 ing in the presence of their common Redeemer and 
 King. 
 
 Another trait in the character of our fathers, was 
 their attention to the religious instruction of their chil- 
 dren. They adopted the maxim that * families are the 
 nurseries of the church and the commonwealth ; ruin 
 families, and you ruin all.' They aimed, therefore, 
 to engage the presence and blessing of God to abide 
 in their families. With their own hearts set upon 
 heaven, they were earnestly desirous that their 
 children might be prepared to follow them to the 
 world of glory. For this purpose, they constantly 
 maintained family religion and family government. 
 The word of God was daily read, and the worship 
 of God daily observed in their houses. They sought 
 for their children, as they did for themselves, first 
 the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The in- 
 fluence of this principle was prominent in the family, 
 in the school, and in all their domestic and social 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 125 
 
 ^LTTansements. Their towns were churches, so that 
 the young people saw Httle abroad to weaken the 
 effects of the example and instructions which they 
 enjoyed at home. In the great work of training the 
 young for the service and glory of God, parents 
 and magistrates, and pastors and churches co-ope- 
 rated with mutual zeal and fidelity. These labors, 
 honored with the blessing of God, rendered the 
 second generation of the colonists hardly less distin- 
 guished for their piety, than were their fathers. The 
 sreat body of them were members of the church 
 and adorned their profession by a holy life. 
 
 That the fathers of New England were the ardent 
 friends of liberty will not be questioned. They had 
 shown themselves its fii^mest advocates in their 
 native land ; and when driven out by the rod of op- 
 pression, they came here bearing the standard of 
 liberty, and set it up, a glorious ensign to the nations. 
 And that their children might be qualified to live un- 
 der a free government, and enjoy its blessings, they 
 took great pains to form in them correct moral 
 principles ; and to accustom them, from childhood, 
 to that subordination, and those habits of obedience 
 which are essential to the existence of republican 
 institutions. They carefully inculcated the duty 
 
 of obeving the laws for conscience sake, and of show- 
 11* 
 
126 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 ing respect to superiors, especially to magistrates. 
 And that there might be the best reason for such 
 respect, they chose, with much circumspection, out 
 of all the people, able men, such as feared God and 
 hated covetousness, to bear rule over them. The 
 suffrages of the people were not solicited by needy 
 adventurers, nor intrigued after by young and ignor- 
 ant ambition. Government was not considered as 
 established for the gratification or emolument of 
 office seekers, but for the protection and happiness 
 of the people ; and promotion was conferred, not 
 jjrematurely, as the reward of patriotic professions, 
 but wisely, as the reward of tried integrity in the 
 subordinate grades of usefulness. 
 
 Chosen by such a people, and for such purposes, 
 the rulers of the land were a terror to evil doers, 
 and a praise to those who did well. By their talents, 
 their age, their experience, their examples, and their 
 official influence, they upheld religious institutions, sus- 
 tained the energy of law, gave a healthful tone to pub- 
 lic morals and endeavored to prevent crime, and su- 
 persede the necessity of punishment, by establishing 
 over the mind the authority of Jehovah. The result 
 was the universal prevalence of moral principle and 
 moral practice, and to a great extent, of true religion. 
 For it pleased God to make it manifest by the blessings 
 
OF THE PILGRIMf?. 127 
 
 bestowed on our fathers, that godliness is profitable 
 unto all thing, having promise of the life that now is, 
 and of that which is to come. 
 
 No men ever cherished a more sacred regard for 
 the Sabbath than did our pilgrim ancestors.* . One 
 reason why they left Leyden, was the unrestrained 
 profanation of the Lord's day, by the inhabitants of 
 the place. They trembled for the consequences of 
 such an example to their children, and wished to 
 remove where the full influence of God's holy day 
 might operate in forming their characters and fitting 
 them for heaven. They considered the Sabbath as 
 the firmest support of virtue and religion, and, conse- 
 quently, as lying at the foundation of social happiness 
 and political prosperity.f They therefore observed 
 
 * " II was a distingishing mark of a Puritan in those times, to 
 see him going to church twice a day with his Bible under his arm ; 
 and while others were at plays and interludes, at revels, or walking 
 in the fields, or at thfe diversions of bowling, fencing. Sec. on the 
 evening of the Sabbath, these with their families were employed in 
 reading the scriptures, singing psalms, catechising their children, 
 repeating sermons or prayers. Neal, vol. 1, p. 560. 
 
 t The sentiment of the excellent Mr. Shepard, minister of Cam. 
 bridge, was the common sentiment of the day. "If any state 
 would reduce the people under it^ unto all sorts of superstition 
 and impiety, let them erect a dancing Sabbath ; and if the god of 
 this world would have all professors enjoy a total immunity 
 from the love of God, and all manner of licentiousness allowed 
 them without check of conscience, let him then make an every 
 day Sabbath." Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 349. 
 
128 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 the day with great seriousness. They prepared for 
 its approach, by a seasonable adjustment of their 
 temporal affairs ; they welcomed its arrival with joy, 
 and spent all its hours in the public and private duties 
 of rehgion. A sacred stillness reigned in their habi- 
 tations, and throughout their villages and towns; well 
 befitting the day of God, and well calculated to raise 
 the affections and thoughts to the eternal rest of 
 heaven. 
 
 For the scriptures our fathers cherished the pro- 
 foundest veneration. They received them with un- 
 hesitating faith, as given by inspiration of God. They 
 studied them as the only rule of religion, and humbly 
 endeavored to conform their doctrines and lives to 
 this only standard of faith and practice. What those 
 doctrines were, I have before stated. They were 
 the doctrines of the Reformation, the doctrines of 
 Grace, the doctrines now denominated Calvinistic, 
 and held in all the evangelical churches of New- 
 England.* Our fathers believed these doctrines, 
 
 * It has been suggested that it would be well to omit the above 
 terms in describing the doctrinal belief of our fathers. But the 
 author can sec no good reason for this. It is true, that the ene- 
 mies of evangelical religion, and among them some professed 
 ministers of the gospel, are much gratified when, by misrepresent- 
 ation and perversion, they can make these terms the occasion of 
 bringing reproach upon the doctrines of orthodox christiang. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 129 
 
 not because they were taught by Luther^ or Calvin, 
 or any other uninspired man, — they thought for 
 themselves ; they called no man master, — they be- 
 lieved them, because they found them in the Bible ; 
 and they loved them, because they had felt their 
 power in their own hearts, and had witnessed their 
 effects on the hearts and lives of others. Hence, 
 they embraced them with a deep and thorough con- 
 viction of their vital, saving energy. They taught 
 them in their families ; they taught them in their 
 
 They intimate that our fathers believed all the doctrines taught 
 by Calvin and Luther, and simply because therj taught them ; and 
 they would fain have it understood that the orthodox of the pre- 
 sent day believe precisely the same doctrines, and on the same 
 ground. They know better ; and when they make such repre- 
 sentations, they do it only to bring odium upon a system of doc- 
 trine which they dare not attempt to refute by fair argument. 
 
 When the doctrines of the Reformatian, the doctrines of Grace, 
 the doctrines denominated Calvinistic are spoken of, it is intended 
 to designate a system of truth — a system distinct from Arminian- 
 ism and Socinianism, and which in its essential principles was 
 held by the reformers, was held by our fathers, and is now held 
 by evangelical christians in New-England, and throughout the 
 world. It is not pretended, nor by an honest interpretation of 
 language, can it be affirmed, that every sentiment, which may at 
 any time have been attached to this system, has been believed by 
 all who have embraced the system. This is not true ; and those 
 who insinuate to the contrary, know it is not true ; and when 
 Unitarians and others represent the Orthodox as holding all that 
 Calvin and the reformers taught, there is too much evidence that 
 they do it with a wicked design, and may justly be charged with 
 bearing false witness against their neighbors. 
 
130 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 schools ; they taught them in their churches ; and 
 their entire characters and habits were formed under 
 their influence. 
 
 With what vigilance they guarded the purity of 
 the churches, I have already intimated. They ad- 
 mitted none to membership but such as gave evi- 
 dence of personal religion ; and they retained none 
 in their communion, who lived in known disobedi- 
 ence to the laws of Christ. 
 
 That their churches might be composed of holy 
 persons, their children saved and the cause of religion 
 sustained and promoted in the land, our pious ances- 
 tors had their hearts much set upon revivals of 
 religion. They prized above all earthly blessings 
 the influences of the Holy Spirit. It was no doubt- 
 ful matter with them, whether those influences are a 
 reality, or whether they are indispensable to the 
 conversion of sinners. They hung all their hopes of 
 salvation for themselves and their posterity on tlie 
 word of God, and the eflicacy of his Spirit. Hence, 
 ministers, and magistrates, and churches, were much 
 in the habit of unitedly looking up to God for the 
 eff'usions of his Spirit. Frequent and special seasons 
 of fasting and prayer were set apart for this purpose ; 
 and most signal were the displays of divine power and 
 mercy which they were permitted to witness. A 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 131 
 
 volume would scarcely contain the instances on 
 record of the special out-porings of the Holy Spirit 
 on the churches of New-England. In 1G29, in 1630, 
 and 40, the presence of God was wonderfully mani- 
 fested in most of the settlements ; and, in allusion to 
 these seasons of mercy, one of them says : In those 
 days, God, even our God, did bless New-England.* 
 Says another, alluding to the same seasons of refresh- 
 ing : Let us call to mind the first glory in the first 
 planting of New-England. O that converting 
 glory which did then appear : multitudes were con- 
 verted to thee, O Zion. Let me say, multitudes, 
 multitudes were converted to thee, O Hartford, to 
 thee, O New-Haven, and to thee, O Windsor ; and 
 the same may be said of many churches in New- 
 England, f I might descend to later times, especially 
 to 1680, to 1705, to 1734, 40, and 45, at which 
 periods, and to some extent during the intervals, 
 God poured out his spirit upon the churches in a 
 very wonderful manner, and thousands of happy 
 converts were gathered into the fold of Christ. But 
 enough has been said to show in what estimation 
 these seasons of divine mercy were held by the 
 fathers of New-England ; and how, in answer to 
 
 * Gillie's Historical Collections. 
 
 t Prince's Christian History, vol. 1, p. 76. 
 
132 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 their prayers, showers of grace have, from genera- 
 tion to generation, descended upon this favored 
 portion of our land, clothing it with moral verdure, 
 and rendering it as the garden of God. 
 
 If I have not mentioned piety, as forming a distinct 
 trait in the character of our fathers, it is because this 
 trait was blended with all their feelings and actions, 
 and shone forth as the grand, pervading principle of 
 their conduct and lives. Says the Rev. Thomas 
 Prince : " There never was, perhaps, before seen 
 such a body of pious people together on the face of 
 the earth. For those who came over first, came for 
 the sake of religion, and for that pure religion, which 
 was entirely hated by the loose and profane of the 
 world. Their civil and ecclesiastical leaders were 
 exemplary patterns of piety. They encouraged 
 only the virtuous to come with, and follow them. 
 They were so strict on the vicious, both in church 
 and state, that the incorigible could not endure to 
 live in the land, and went back again." 
 
 Indeed nothing in the character of these men, espe- 
 cially their ministers, strikes me with such admiration, 
 as their fervent, devoted piety. They were eminently 
 men of God. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy 
 him, was with them the great end of existence. 
 They were mighty in prayer. They were trained in 
 
 -.4 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 133 
 
 the school of affliction, which gave a deep, mellow 
 tone to their piety; a holy familiarity and fervor to 
 their supplications, and caused them to feel and act 
 habitually as strangers and pilgrims on earth. Their 
 \ irtues took hold on another world ; their graces 
 were matured by suffering, and were daily invigora- 
 ted by converse with God and invisible scenes. 
 Hence their contempt for external circumstances, 
 their patience in tribulation, their fortitude, their 
 tranquiHty, their inflexible resolution, their steady 
 hope and lofty purpose. One overpowering senti- 
 ment possessed their minds and impelled them 
 onward in the path of duty and heaven, regardless 
 alike of the frowns and flatteries of the world, and 
 of toil, and danger, and suflTering ; — it was the fear 
 and the love of God, and the hope of his eternal 
 favor in glory. That favor they now enjoy. They 
 rest from their labors and their works do follow them. 
 II. But it may be asked, had these men no faults ? 
 They had, — they had the faults of our common 
 nature ; nor were they wholly free from the faults 
 of the age in which they lived ; and these, misrepre- 
 sented and exagerated as they often have been, are 
 regarded by some as almost a complete ofl^set to 
 their virtues and as rendering them worthy only of 
 
 doubtful praise. Let us examine some of the 
 12 
 
 '*t^. 
 
134 CHARACTER AND VINDICATIOX 
 
 charges brought against our fathers, and see whether 
 they are capable of vindication. 
 
 1. In the first place then, it is alleged that they 
 held the doctrines of Calvin, which are said to be 
 ' gloomy,' * chilling,' and of ' demoralizing tendency.' 
 Their doctrines were no doubt Calvinistic ; and we 
 rejoice to see these doctrines associated with so 
 much unquestionable excellence of character ; with 
 such strong intelligence, lofty virtue, and nobleness 
 of purpose. It is a circumstance which speaks 
 much for the truth and excellence of these doctrines, 
 and goes far to convict those who bring the objection 
 that they are ' gloomy and severe,' either of gross 
 ignorance, or of wilful misrepresentation. " When 
 other systems shall have'produced a piety as devoted, 
 a morality as pure, a patriotism as disinterested, and 
 a state of society as happy, as have prevailed where 
 the doctrines of our fathers have been most preva- 
 lent, it may be in season to seek an answer to this 
 objection." At present I will dismiss it by citing the 
 opinion of a learned civilian and infidel, found in the 
 British Encyclopedia.* After an account of the 
 Calvinistic and Arminian systems, to the latter of 
 which he gives the preference, this writer says: 
 
 * Article Predestination, said to have been written by Robert 
 Forsyth, Esq. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 135 
 
 " There is one remark ^vhicll we ieel ourselves bound 
 to make. It is this that from the earHest ages 
 clown to our own days, if we consider the character 
 of the ancient Stoics, the Jewish Essenes, the modern 
 Calvinists and Jansenists, compared with that of 
 their antagonists, the Epicurians, the Saducees,the 
 Arminians and the Jesuits, we shall find that they 
 ]iai-e excelled, in no small degree, in the practice of 
 the most rigid and respectable virtues ; and have 
 been the highest honor to their own age, and the best 
 models for imitation to every succeeding ageP 
 
 2. Our fathers have been accused of ' supersti- 
 tion,' of ' rigidness' and ' bigotry' in their religious 
 opinions and practices. To this accusation I am not 
 careful to answer ; because it is rarely brought, 
 except by those, who are wont to regard all stead- 
 fastness in the faith, and strictness in rehgion, as 
 superstition and bigotry. Indeed change these 
 terms ^(yi reproach, so often cast upon the memory 
 of our fathers, into piety and constancy in the service 
 of God, and you will have a much truer representa- 
 tion of their characters, than is usually given of them 
 by their enemies. The ancestors of New England 
 had not learnt, as have many of their descendants, to 
 tamper with their consciences and their God. Re- 
 ligion and eternity were with them serious matters ; 
 
136 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 and if in defending the one, and preparing for the 
 other, they were unbending, and sometimes erred, 
 on the score of strictness, it was certainly erring on 
 the safe side, and in a manner which it were wisdom 
 in their posterity to imitate, rather than indulge in 
 that thoughtlessness of God and another world, 
 which is characteristic of so many at the present 
 day. 
 
 3. Our fathers have been censured for adopting 
 the laws of Moses as the ground of their own civil 
 code. But this is not true any further than they con- 
 sidered those laws to be of a moral nature and adap- 
 ted to their circumstances. They immediately de- 
 parted from them, in a great variety of particulars ; 
 and as their circumstances changed, they departed 
 from them still further, — a fact which plainly proves 
 that they never meant to adopt the Mosaic law, as 
 universally binding on themselves or other chris- 
 tians. That they had a high respect for that law, as 
 instituted by God, is true, — that they adopted many 
 of its principles into their own system of regulations 
 is equally true ; and in doing so they acted most 
 wisely. One immediate effect was to diminish the 
 number of human actions punishable by death, from 
 one hundred to fourteen. That in some particulars, 
 they followed the Jewish law too closely is admitted. 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 137 
 
 Would it have been wiser had they adopted the judi- 
 cial code of their native land, in which were regis- 
 tered at that time one hundred crimes, the punish- 
 ment of which was death, and which have since been 
 increased to one hundred and seventy six?* 
 
 4. It is alleged that they enacted laws which were 
 oppressive to other denominations, and, moreover, 
 that they were actually guilty of persecution. This 
 indeed is a serious charge, and to some extent must 
 be admitted to be true. And yet whoever candidly 
 examines the facts in the case, will find abundant 
 evidence that our fathers, in tliis respect, were far 
 from being sinners above all who have dwelt on the 
 earth. Many of the laws that are complained of 
 were enacted when there were few or none of any 
 other denomination in the land. They were design- 
 ed to protect and support their own ecclesiastical 
 and civil order ; and not to operate at all as perse- 
 cuting or oppressive enactments against christians 
 belonging to other sects. It is also true that most of 
 those persons who are said to have been persecuted 
 and oppressed, suffered not so much for their reli- 
 gious opinions, as for their offences against the state, f 
 
 * Dwight's Travels, vol. 1, p. 166. 
 
 t This, according to Winthrop, was the ground of the sentence 
 of banishment, passed on Roger Williams. 'He broached and 
 divulged diverse new opinions against the authority of magistrates, 
 
 12* 
 
138 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 Some of them outraged all decency and order, 
 and cojnmitted such acts as would unquestionably, 
 
 as also wrote letters of defamation both of ihe magistrates and 
 churches.' — Winthr op's Hist. ofN. E. edit, by Savage, vol. l._p. 167. 
 
 For a particular account of the causes for which Mr. Williams 
 was banished, see Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. 1, 
 p. 41 ; Dwight's Travels, vol. 1, p. 142 ; Magnaha, vol. 2, p. 430. 
 As for the laws, subsequently enacted against the Baptists and 
 Quakers, no one, most certainly, can justify them. They were 
 oppressive and wrong. But let no one reproach, too severely, the 
 memory of our fathers, in this matter, till he is certain, that m 
 similar circumstances, he would have shown a better temper. 
 
 It is allowed that they were culpable ; but we do not concede, 
 that in the present instance, they stood alone, or that they mer- 
 ited all the censure bestowed on them. " Laws similar to those of 
 Massachusetts were passed elsewhere against the Quakers and 
 also against the Baptists, particularly in Virgmia. If no exe. 
 cution took place here, it was not owing to the moderation of the 
 church." Jefferson, Virg. Query, XVIII. 
 
 "The prevalent opinion among most sects of christians, at that 
 day, that toleration is sinful, ought to be remembered ; nor should 
 it be forgotten that the first Quakers in New England, beside 
 speaking and writing what was deemed blasphemous, reviled 
 Biagistrates and ministers, and disturbed religious assemblies ; 
 and that the tendency of their opinions and practices was to the 
 subversion of the commonwealth in the period of its infancy." 
 Holmes's Amer. Annals. Hutch, vol. 1, p. 180-9 . 
 
 "It should be added, that in Massacuusetts the law which 
 enacted that all Quakers returning into the state after ban- 
 ishment, should be punished with death, and under which four 
 persons were executed, met with great, and at first, successful 
 opposition. The deputies, who constituted the popular branch of 
 the legislature, at first rejected it ; but afterwards, on reconsider, 
 ation, concurred with the magistrates, (by whom it was originally 
 proposed,) by a majority of one only." Ckr. Svect. 1830, p. 2G(J. 
 
OF THE PlLr.RlMS. 130 
 
 at tlie present day, subject a man to imprisonment, 
 if not to a severer punishment. 
 
 The fathers of New-England, endured incredi- 
 ble hardships in providing for themselves a home 
 in the wilderness ; and to protect themselves in 
 the undisturbed enjoyment of rights, which they 
 had purchased at so dear a rate, they sometimes 
 adopted measures, which, if tried by the more en- 
 lightened and liberal views of the present day, must 
 at once be pronounced altogether unjustifiable. 
 But shall they be condemned without mercy for not 
 acting up to principles which were unacknowledged 
 and unknown througout the whole of Christendom ? 
 Shall they alone be held responsible for opinions and 
 conduct which had become sacred by antinui- 
 ty, and w'lich were common to christians of all 
 other denominations ? Every government then in 
 existence assumed to itself the right to legislate in 
 matters of religion ; and to restrain heresy by penal 
 statutes. This right was claimed by rulers, admitted 
 by subjects, and is sanctioned by the names of Lord 
 Bacon and ]\iontesquieu, and many others equally 
 lamed for their talents and learning. It is unjust 
 then, to ' press upon one poor persecuted sect, the 
 sins of all Christend mi V The fault of our fathers 
 was the fault of the age ; and though this cannot 
 
140 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 justify, it certainly furnishes an extenuation of their 
 conduct. As well might you condemn them for not 
 understanding the art of navigating by steam, as for 
 not understanding and acting up to the principles of 
 religious toleration. At the same time, it is but just 
 to say, that imperfect as were their views of the rights 
 of conscience, they were nevertheless far in advance 
 of the age to w^iich they belonged ; and it is to them 
 more than to any other class of men on earth, the 
 world is indebted for the more rational views 
 that now prevail on the subject of civil and reli- 
 gious liberty. 
 
 5. Another accusation, I must notice : the ances- 
 tors of New-England, were the dupes of a miserable 
 delusion ; they believed in w^itchcraft, and put seve- 
 ral persons to death, who were supposed to be guilty 
 of that crime. But were they alone in this delusion ? 
 Has not a belief in witchcraft prevailed in every age 
 of the world, and among all classes of men ? Was it 
 not believed in by Lord Coke, by Lord Bacon, by 
 Sir Matthew Hale, and Justice Blackstone. So 
 late as the reign of George the second, there were 
 laws in force in Great Britain, against witches.* It 
 
 * Blackstone Comment, Book iv. ch. 4. 
 
 The authors of the Universal History, have stated some palli- 
 ative facts, which deserve to be reported on such authority : — 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 14J 
 
 has been justly observed by an intelligent historian, 
 "that the importance given to the New-England 
 trials, proceeded more from the general panic, than 
 from the number executed ; more havintr been put 
 to death in a single county in England, in a short 
 space of time, than have suffered in all New-England, 
 from the first settlement to the present time.* 
 
 It may be well, also, for those who are accustomed 
 to reproach our fathers, as fanatics, to recollect that 
 leading prelates in the church of England, bishops 
 and archbishops, upon their knees, pronounced king 
 James, a very Solomon for wisdom, not doubting 
 that he spoke by inspiration of God, and that this 
 same Solomon wrote a book to prove to his subjects 
 the reality of witchcraft, and the duty of proceeding 
 against the professors of this black art, with all the 
 severity of the law.f What, then, is the amount of 
 
 " In justice to the ministers and people of TCew-F.nffland, we are 
 to observe, that the persecutions for witchcraft, were carried on 
 by wretches, partly to gratify their private resentments and inter- 
 ests, and partly from a spirit of enthusiasm and credulity ; nor 
 could they have happened, had it not been for the weakness of the 
 governor, and Dr. Mather, who were rendered the tools of more 
 designing men. The people in general, and some ministers, par- 
 ticularly Mr. Caleb, of Boston, detested them, and remonstrated 
 against them from the beginning, but all to no purpose." — Vol. 39. 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. vol. 2, 15—16. 
 
 t History of Discenters, vol.2, p. 445. 
 
142 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION 
 
 the charge brought against our ancestors for believ- 
 ing in witchcraft ? Why, that they did not at once 
 shake off the errors of the times, and mount, at a 
 single step, into the superior light and advantages of 
 the present day. 
 
 But it is time to have done with vindication. The 
 fathers of New-England need it not. Their memo- 
 rial is before us ; it is in their works ; in the peace, 
 the plenty and happiness which prevail in this land 
 of the pilgrims ; in the virtue, intelligence and enter- 
 prize ^^hich distinguish the sons and the daughters of 
 the pilgrims ; in the schools, the churches and higher 
 seminaries of learning which every where greet the 
 eye, and bring to every hamlet and to the door of 
 every cottage, the means of knowledge and the bles- 
 sings of salvation ; in the numerous charities and 
 institutions for the relief of suffering and want, which 
 adorn and bless this community ; in the extension of 
 the blessings of civil and religious freedom through- 
 out our country ; and in the prospective extension 
 of these same blessings throughout the world — these 
 are the monuments which proclaim the virtue of our 
 ancestors, and will perpetuate their memory till the 
 end of time. Faults, T admit they had ; yet, take 
 them all in all, the world never saw their like. There 
 are men, I know, who can see in the character of 
 
OF THE PILGRIMS. 143 
 
 our fathers, nothing to claim their gratitude, or their 
 veneration ; and who manifest a sort of parricidal 
 pleasure in magnifying and exposing their failings. 
 What in them was great, and disinterested, and 
 generous, and noble, they keep out of sight ; and hold 
 up to public view, only w^hat was little, defective and 
 absurd. If in any part of their example, there be 
 any thing unsound, ' these flesh flies' 'detect it with 
 unerring instinct, and dart upon it with a ravenous 
 delight.' I envy them not their pleasure. Let them 
 enjoy it alone. Their taste reveals their temper, and 
 shows them incapable of discerning excellence and 
 worth, when associated with the love of God and a 
 firm faith in the doctrines of his word. 
 
 Let us, my friends, ever cherish, in grateful recol- 
 lection, the memory of our fathers. They are well 
 entitled to our gratitude and veneration. " No sober 
 New-Englander can read the history of his country, 
 without rejoicing that God has caused him to spring 
 from the loins of such ancestors, and given him his 
 birth in a country, whose pubhc concerns were 
 entrusted to their management. There is no account 
 in the annals of colonization, in which the principal 
 actors have left fewer memorials behind them calcu- 
 lated to awaken the regret of mankind, or call forth 
 a blush on the faces of their descendants, or more 
 
144 CHARACTER AND VINDICATION, &C. 
 
 fitted to command the admiration and applause of 
 both."* 
 
 Let us, then, vindicate our claim to so illustrious an 
 ancestry, by always showing ourselves ready to 
 defend their characters, to adhere to their principles, 
 and follow in their footsteps up the bright and shin- 
 ing way to heaven. Let us, on all occasions and at 
 all times, firmly and perseveringly, maintain the spirit 
 and the form of that religion, vv^hich was at once, the 
 main-spring of the counsels and the crowning glory 
 of the character and achievements of the pilgrims. 
 The great inheritance, which, with so much toil and 
 suflfering and prayer they purchased and bequeathed 
 to us, let us here, in the presence of God, resolve to 
 preserve and bequeath to our children, that so w^e 
 and they may rise to join the glorious company of 
 our ancestors, who, in long and bright succession, 
 have ascended to the world of light and blessedness. 
 
 * Dvvight. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN THE 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF 
 
 NEW.ENGLAND. 
 
 JEREMIAH, ii. 21. 
 
 YET I HAD PLANTED THEE A MOBLE VINE, WHOLLY A RIGHT SEED : 
 HOW THEN AI^T THOU TURNED INTO THE DEGENERATE PLANT OF 
 A STRANGE VINE UNTO 3IE ? 
 
 It has often been remarked, that between the 
 history of the ancient Israehtes, and that of the peo- 
 ple of New-England, there are many striking points 
 of resemblance. Like them, our pilgrim ancestors 
 were persecuted and oppressed in the land where 
 they dweh. Like them, they w^ere delivered from 
 the powder of their oppressors, by the * uplifted hand 
 and outstretched arm of Jehovah.' Like them, they 
 were conducted by a gracious Providence through 
 the perils of the sea, and planted, a noble vine, whol- 
 ly a right seed, in the land of their future residence. 
 And like them, their descendants have forsaken the 
 God of their fathers, and are ' turned into the de- 
 generate plant of a strange vine.' To trace the 
 
146 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 causes and extent of this degeneracy, is the object 
 of the present lecture. 
 
 1. In attempting to point out some of the more 
 prominent of these causes, it is necessary to go back 
 to an early period of our history. The first planters 
 of New-England were, with few exceptions, profes- 
 sors of religion. They came here that they might 
 enjoy, unmolested, their religious rights, and estab- 
 lish that form of civil and ecclesiastical order, which 
 they deemed most agreeable to the word of God, 
 and best adapted to promote the interests of his king- 
 dom. Their motives were pure, and their object 
 noble. 
 
 But they had not yet learnt the full import of the 
 Savior's declaration — My kingdom is not of this 
 world. They knew not how to separate the church 
 from the state. Perhaps they deemed it impractica- 
 ble ; or if not impracticable, wholly inexpedient. 
 Hence, in all their early, public proceedings, there 
 was an unnatural blending of things spiritual with 
 things temporal — a most unhappy and hurtful inter- 
 mixture of church and state. At the first court of 
 election, held in Massachusetts, 1631, a law was pas- 
 sed " that from that time, no persons should be ad- 
 mitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 147 
 
 as were members of some of the churches within its 
 limits.*" 
 
 Whatever may be said as to the right of the colo- 
 nists to enact such a law, the extreme impolicy of it 
 is perfectly obvious. It is, no doubt, to be regarded 
 as the first, in a series of causes, which tended to 
 corrupt the churches, and bring on that declension, 
 which has since overspread so large a portion of the 
 land of the pilgrims. The influence of the law was 
 especially disastrous in three respects. " It held out 
 a sort of premium for hypocricy." For all who wish- 
 ed to enjoy the privileges of freemen, would of course 
 determine to become members of the church ; and 
 as this could be permitted only on a profession of pie- 
 ty, they would be strongly tempted to make such a 
 profession without the requisite qualifications. 
 
 Those, on the other hand, who had too much con- 
 science to do this, or who having applied for admis- 
 sion to the church, were rejected, would of course 
 
 * Holmes' Amer. Annals. This law continued in force till 
 1662, when, by the remonstrances of Charles the Second, the col- 
 onists were compelled to make some alteration in it. It was en- 
 acted that every candidate for the privileges of a freeman should 
 produce a certificate from the minister of the parish that he was 
 a person of orthodox principles, and of honest life and conversa- 
 tion. This alteration of the law was chiefly in appearance. Its 
 bad influence was hardly at all diminished. See Grahame's His- 
 tory of America, I. 263. 
 
148 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 be decidedly opposed to the existing order of the 
 churches, and exert all their influence to overthrow 
 it. They deeply felt the privations to which they 
 were subjected ; and as they considered them whol- 
 ly unjust and oppressive, they loudly complained of 
 them, and as early as 1646, petitioned not only the 
 courts of the colonies, but the British parliamenty 
 praying, as they say, in ' behalf of thousands,' that 
 they might enjoy with others the rights and privileges 
 of freemen.* 
 
 In the mean time, the ministers and churches sym- 
 pathising with this class of men in the disabilities un- 
 der which they labored, were strongly inclined to 
 extend relief to them. The proper way of doing 
 this was to abolish the law which they had so un- 
 wisely enacted. But this was deemed sacred. In 
 these embarrassing circumstances, a powerful temp- 
 tation was presented to lower the terms of admis- 
 sion to the church, and to receive persons to com- 
 munion on slight and insufficient evidence of piety. 
 The result was, that not a few, as we have reason to 
 beheve, were early introduced into the churches* 
 
 * For a larger discussion of the subject introduced in this lec~ 
 ture, and for several facts stated, see in the Spirit of the Pilgrims 
 for 1829, Letters on the Introduction and Progress of Unitarian, 
 ism in New-E^ngland — a series of very able and useful papers. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 149 
 
 who though, in the main, correct in sentiment and 
 moral in conduct, were strangers to the power of 
 godhness, and averse to the duties of strict rchgion. 
 
 Their influence was hke an incubus on the vitals 
 of the church. It tended to depress the tone of pie- 
 ty, and to infuse a spirit of formahty and worldUness 
 into the services of rehgion. 
 
 The next cause to be specified was the introduc- 
 tion of the half-way covenant. This strange anoma- 
 ly in religion naturally sprung from the law, the mis- 
 chief of which I have just described. From natural 
 increase and emigration from abroad, the class of 
 persons in the colonies, not qualified to profess re- 
 ligion, soon became numerous. Many of these were 
 highly respectable for their talents and general worth 
 of character ; and it was felt to be a hardship, that 
 they should be deprived of the privileges enjoyed by 
 others around them, and especially that they should 
 be denied the right of baptism for their children, 
 w^hich they had always enjoyed in their native land. 
 To obviate these difficulties was the object of the 
 half-way covenant. It provided that all persons of 
 sober fife and correct sentiments, without beinfj ex- 
 amined as to a change of heart, might profess reli- 
 gion, or become members of the church, and have 
 
 their children baptized, though thev did not come to 
 13* 
 
150 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 the Lord's table. The plan originated in Connecti- 
 cut. It was formally discussed and adopted at a 
 meeting of ministers in Boston, in 1657, and ratified 
 anew in all its essential features, by a general synod 
 in 1662.* 
 
 This mischievous measure, however, was from the 
 first strongly opposed by many of the most eminent 
 ministers in the country, and by a still larger number 
 of the churches; and in this state it was not adopt- 
 ed by a single church till 1696. But it afterwards 
 prevailed extensively throughout New-England ; and 
 wherever it did prevail, the consequences were emi- 
 nently unhappy. Great numbers came forward to 
 own the covenant, as it was called, and had their 
 children baptized ; but very few joined the church 
 in full communion, or partook of the sacrament. Sat- 
 isfied with being half-way in the church, and enjoying 
 a part of its privileges, they settled down in a state of 
 dull and heartless formality ; and felt little or no con- 
 cern respecting their present condition or future 
 prospects. They had found a place, within the pale 
 of the visible church, which, while it relieved them 
 from the necessity of repentance and a life of holy 
 obedience, quieted them in their sins, and gave them 
 
 * Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. I. 298—310. Hist. 
 of D^scnters, vol- 11. p. 441. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 151 
 
 a comfortable, but deceitful hope of heaven. By 
 receiving into covenant connection such numbers of 
 unsanctified persons, the moral energy of the church- 
 es was destroyed ; their distinctive character, as ho- 
 ly communities, was swept away ; the discipline of 
 the gospel could no longer be maintained ; nor the 
 doctrines nor the duties of the gospel be preached 
 and enforced with that clearness and directness 
 which are requisite to give them effect on the heart 
 and hfe. 
 
 This state of things prepared the way for another 
 step in the progress of decline. About the year 
 1700, Mr. Stoddard, a distinguished minister of 
 Northampton, inferred, with apparent justness, that 
 those, who in virtue of their covenant connexion 
 with the church, had a right to receive baptism for 
 their children, had an equal right to the Lord's sup- 
 per. This led him on to another conclusion,'that the 
 Lord's Supper is among the appointed means of re- 
 generation ; a converting ordinance ; — that all per- 
 sons ought to come to this ordinance, for the same 
 reason, that they ought to attend public worship, or 
 read the Bible ; and consequently, that a profession 
 of piety is not to be required as a qualification for 
 communion in the church. 
 
152 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 This doctrine, like the half-way covenant, was at 
 first far from being generally approved either by the 
 ministers or churches. It was regarded as a dange- 
 rous innovation, and as directly opposed to the prin- 
 ciples and practice of almost all the churches in New 
 England. The matter was publicly controverted 
 between Mr. Stoddard and Dr. Increase Mather of 
 Boston. But "owing to Mr. Stoddard's great influ- 
 ence over the people of Northampton, it was intro- 
 duced there ; and by degrees it spread very much 
 among ministers and people in that county, and in 
 other parts of New-England."* 
 
 The great principle, adopted by the pilgrims 
 in the organization of their churches, and by 
 which alone their purity could be preserved, was 
 now gone. Piety was no longer regarded as 
 an essential qualification ' for membership in the 
 church. Unconverted persons, those who knew 
 themselves to be such, were received as mem- 
 bers of the spiritual body of Christ, and admitted, 
 without examination or restraint, to the special, seal- 
 ing ordinances of the gospel. This practice ' brought 
 in the first great apostacy of the christian church ;' 
 and wherever it was adopted in New-England, the 
 influence was deplorable. The churches in which it 
 
 * Edwards' Works, vol. I. 65. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 153 
 
 prevailed, ceased to be, even in profession, societies 
 of sanctified persons ; and composed of a strange 
 mixture of the holy with the unholy, they soon lost 
 their vital energies, and sunk into a state of great 
 formality and coldness. 
 
 The churches having thus become secularized in 
 their spiritual character, it could not be expected 
 that the ministry would entirely escape the infection. 
 Ministers who were truly pious, could not fail to 
 experience the chilling influence of the coldness and 
 apathy that prevailed around them, and would be 
 greatly straitened and embarassed in the ministra- 
 tion of the word and ordinances of God. But more 
 than this ; many would be likely to enter the minis- 
 try who had never experienced the grace of God in 
 their hearts. And that this, in numerous cases, 
 w^as the fact, especially during the period that elaps- 
 ed from 1680 to 1740-50, there is most painful 
 evidence to believe. The ministers referred to 
 were for the most part, ' grave men ; in speculation 
 orthodox, or moderately so, and went the customa- 
 ry round of ministerial duties with a good degree 
 of regularity ; but their preaching lacked point, and 
 earnestness, and application ; their devotional servi- 
 ces lacked warmth and spirituality; their labors were 
 not blessed of the Holy Spirit ; their people slum- 
 
154 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 bered, and they slumbered with them, and an aspect 
 of moral desolation and death was spread over the 
 congregations and churches where they labored.'* 
 
 As another cause of decline, I venture to mention 
 the custom of supporting religion by law. The 
 ministers of New-England were at first supported 
 by voluntary contributions, usually made at the 
 close of public service on the Sabbath. But this 
 method being found inconvenient and defective, a 
 law was early passed, requiring all to pay for the 
 support of the gospel in proportion to their property. 
 This law, with some modifications, continued in 
 force for more than a hundred and fifty years ; 
 and while the country was thinly settled, and the 
 people were nearly all of the same denomination, the 
 law, it cannot be doubted, was productive of much 
 good. It secured to the community a much greater 
 amount of religious instruction, than could have been 
 expected from mere voluntary associations for the 
 support of the gospel. But that the good was 
 counterbalanced by no small amount of evil, cannot, 
 I think, be reasonably questioned. The law, espe- 
 cially in its earhest provisions, did in fact create a 
 religious establishment. It recognized the Congrega- 
 tional churches as the established churches of the 
 
 * Spirit of the Pilgrims, 1829 : p. 70. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 155 
 
 state, and secured to them the special patron- 
 age and support of the civil power. What then 
 should prevent the churches of New-England from 
 experiencing, at least in some measure, the disastrous 
 effects, which have always resulted from ecclesiasti- 
 cal establishments ? If any thing can be known, with 
 certainty, from the history of such establishments, it 
 is that they invariably tend to beget a spirit of 
 formality and worldliness ; to turn off the hopes of 
 ministers and churches from the living God, and to 
 inspire in them a deceptive confidence in an arm of 
 flesh. And this, beyond doubt, was, to some extent, 
 the effect on the ministers and churches of New- 
 England. They lay recumbent on the civil arm, 
 and slumbered in a deceitful security, derived from 
 the protection and support of law. They did not 
 feel their dependance on God, as they would in other 
 circumstances ; nor pray nor act with that humility 
 and decision in promoting the cause of religion, 
 which they would have had under a due impression 
 of the great truth, that salvation is only of the Lord. 
 Nor is this all. As other denominations multiplied 
 in the community, they complained bitterly of the 
 preference which was supposed to be given to the 
 Congregational churches. Though permitted to 
 worship God in their own way, they were continually 
 
156 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 inveighing against our churches as the standing order ; 
 and early began to exercise that spirit of proselytism, 
 and to cherish those deep rooted prejudices, and to 
 vent those revihngs of a hirehng priesthood, and those 
 complaints of persecution and oppression, Avhich have 
 not wholly ceased to this day. These causes have 
 not been without their influence. In many cases, 
 they have weakened, and in some, have laid waste 
 the churches in our connection ; and to a great 
 extent, they have operated to excite and keep alive 
 prejudice and enmity against the doctrines and order 
 of the Congregational churches. 
 
 Besides the causes now specified, others more re- 
 mote might be mentioned. The bloody wars, which 
 for many years, the colonists were obliged to carry 
 on with the Indians had an unhappy influence upon 
 the interests of religion, and tended to drive from 
 the churches the mild and merciful spirit of the 
 gospel. The wide extension of the new settlements, 
 by which the people were often deprived of the 
 advantages of christian communion and worship, 
 tended to the same result. In many cases, also, there 
 was a rapid increase of property, which kindled 
 pride, and fed covetousness and turned away the 
 hearts of the people from the love and service of 
 God. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 157 
 
 But these causes of decline were slight and limited 
 in their operation, compared with the French war, 
 and the war of the Revolution. The first of these 
 wars commenced in 1775, and lasted till 1763. 
 During that period the country was constantly 
 alarmed and agitated, and burdened with taxes, and 
 often plunged in distress and mourning. The pub- 
 lic mind was absorbed in other concerns than those 
 of religion ; the tone of christian feeling and senti- 
 ment was relaxed, and the cause of Christ greatly 
 neglected. 
 
 In the mean time, a multitude of foreigners, offi- , 
 cers and soldiers, were spread over the land. Many 
 of these were men of corrupt principles and corrupt 
 morals ; and they were assiduous in their attempts 
 to infuse the poison of their sentiments and practices 
 into the minds of their American associates. And 
 in these attempts they were but too successful. 
 Multitudes of young men and others, drawn away 
 from the quiet pursuits and regular habits of home, to 
 mingle with British soldiers and British officers in the 
 temptations of the field and the camp, soon discov- 
 ered that they were no dull proficients in the school 
 of infidelity and vice. When they returned home, 
 they had drunk too deeply of the cup, to exchange 
 
 their new principles and practices, for the sober 
 14 
 
158 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 doctrines and lives of their countrymen. The means 
 which had been pursued to corrupt them, they now 
 pursued to corrupt others ; and in this way, the 
 morals and the habits of New England received a 
 shock, the effects of which are felt to the present 
 day.* 
 
 Next followed the revolutionary war, which was 
 productive of still more disastrous effects in corrupt- 
 ing the morals and defacing the religious character 
 of New England. The public mind was more 
 deeply excited. The war was carried on in the 
 •midst of the people, and all classes, in one way or 
 another, were engaged in it. The consequences 
 were every where felt, and every where visible. 
 The minds of men were drawn away from the great 
 concern of life ; their moral sense was blunted ; 
 their respect for the law, the truth, and the institu- 
 tions of God was diminished ; and multitudes ini- 
 tiated in the infidel philosophy of France, which 
 now began to spread in the country, threw off the 
 restraints of christian principles as childish, and 
 learned to treat all religion with scorn, as a mere 
 dream of dotards and fit only for children and nurses. 
 
 Such to a great extent was the state of public feel- 
 ing and sentiment at the close of the w^ar ; and for 
 * Dwight's Travels, vol. 4, p. 366. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. ITjd 
 
 several years after, it was rather deteriorated than 
 improved. There was no longer that reverence for 
 God, nor that veneration for the Sabbath, nor that 
 regard for truth and justice, nor that unhesitating 
 behef in divine revelation and the great doctrines of 
 the Bible, which were so conspicuous in the character 
 <)f the first settlers of New England. The princi- 
 ples and characters of its inhabitants were essentially 
 changed ; infidelity and scepticism had already 
 taken deep root, and there was a melancholy pre- 
 paration for the rapid and extensive spread of error 
 through the countiy. 
 
 I must now notice an event, which, while it is to 
 be regarded as the great cause of restoring moral 
 vigor and purity to the churches of New England, is 
 also to be considered as the occasion of introducing 
 many of the errors which have since overspread the 
 land. I refer to the revivals of religion which took 
 place near the middle of the last century. The state 
 of religion was at that time lamentably low. Owing 
 to the influence of the half way covenant and the 
 practice of admitting to the communion those v;ho 
 gave no evidence, and made no profession of piety, 
 the life and power of religion had well nigh departed 
 from the churches, and to a melancholy extent, they 
 were composed of unsanctified members. The min- 
 isters were much in the same state. They had not 
 
160 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 yet renounced the creed of their fathers. They were 
 in the main, orthodox in sentiment and sober in hfe, 
 but greatly deficient in the spirit and power of the 
 ministry. Their fault was not so much that they 
 preached error, as that they did not preach the truth ; 
 at least not with that discrimination and force, which 
 were necessary to give it effect in the conversion 
 and moral improvement of men. Their sermons 
 were too generally in the form of dull moral essays, 
 exceedingly defective in evangelical sentiment, in 
 application and point ; and tended rather to build 
 up men in their self righteousness, than to convince 
 them of sin and bring them to Christ for salvation. 
 In short, their existed, extensively, at this time, both 
 in ministers and churches a laxer system of doctrine 
 and practice than had before prevailed in New-Eng- 
 land. Hence, President Edwards remarks : "About 
 this time, began the great noise, that was made in 
 this part of the country, about Arminianism, which 
 seemed to appear with a very threatening aspect 
 upon the interests of religion. The friends of vital 
 piety trembled for fear of the issue.* 
 
 Such was the state of things, when, in 1734, it 
 pleased God to pour out his spirit in a very wondeful 
 manner. The work commenced in Northampton, 
 under the clear and powerful preaching of Edwards. 
 
 * Works, vol. 3, p. 13. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 161 
 
 It soon extended into the adjacent region ; and ma- 
 ny towns in Connecticut were visited. It began in 
 Boston, in 1740, and in that, and the three following 
 years, prevailed to a greater or less degree, in more 
 than one hundred and fifty congregations in New 
 England, and some of the middle and southern states.* 
 In its commencement, the revival was peculiarly 
 still, solemn and powerful; and its fruits eminently 
 holy and precious. But in its progress, many things 
 were connected with it, which were of a very un- 
 happy character, and tended greatly to bring re- 
 proach upon the work, and to put a stop to its ad- 
 vancement. There was much intemperate zeal, and 
 extravagance and enthusiasm. Nor is this at all won- 
 derful, when we consider what was the state of the 
 churches and of the ministry. But conceding all that 
 can be claimed with any show of justice, even by the 
 enemies of the revival ; there is evidence enough to 
 satisfy every candid, christian mind, that it was indeed 
 what it was declared to be, by the united public testi- 
 mony of one hundred and sixty ministers, 'a great and 
 precious work of God .' Multitudes were gathered in- 
 to the fold of Christ, and continued to adorn the doc- 
 trine of God their Savior, till by death they were 
 removed to a better world. New life and power 
 
 * Dwight's Life of Edwards, p. 191—2. 
 
 14* 
 
162 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 were breathed into the ministry — a higher and more 
 decided tone of piety was imparted to the churches, 
 and a change eftected in the state of rehgious senti- 
 ment and practice, the blessed effects of which re- 
 main to the present day. 
 
 But as might have been expected, this work of 
 God met with great opposition. It broke the slum- 
 bers of the impenitent and prayerless. It reached 
 the consciences of those ministers and members of 
 churches, who were either destitute of piety or were 
 too deeply sunk in moral insensibility to welcome 
 the visitations of the Holy Spirit. They felt them- 
 selves reproved and condemned by what they wit- 
 nessed and heard, and were roused to great hostili- 
 ty and resistance. Many of the ministers preached 
 and wrote against the revival as a work of delusion 
 and fanaticism.* Many of the churches united to 
 resist its progress, and to vilify and reproach all who 
 were in any way engaged in promoting it. The re- 
 sult was, that a large number, both of ministers and 
 churches, took a permanent and decided stand against 
 revivals of religion, and against those doctrines which 
 
 * It is not intended to intimate that all, who opposed the revi- 
 val, were of course destitute of religion. Some real christians 
 were, no doubt, early prejudiced against it, by the false reports of 
 its enemies, and the exceptionable conduct of not a iew of its pro- 
 fessed friends. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 1G3 
 
 God is wont to bless in producing revivals. For this 
 they were prepared by the previous state of their 
 hearts. They we^-e predisposed to embrace loose 
 Arminian sentiments ; and the revival was the occa- 
 sion of bringing out the feelings of their hearts, and 
 leading them to embrace the errors to which they 
 were before inclined. Here is to be traced the first 
 open departure from the faith of the pilgrims— the first 
 visible, decided step in the progress of that system of 
 error which has since spread its blighting influence 
 over so many of the churches of New-England. Its 
 first form was Arminianism ; then followed Pelagian- 
 ism — then Arianism ; and last of all, Socinianism.* 
 
 * Very similar to this has been the progress of declension in 
 those churches in England that have renounced the faith of the 
 Nonconformists, and become Unitarian. Among all the dissent- 
 ing ministers who officiated in London in 1730, there was not one 
 acknowledged Arian, though there were a considerable number 
 who were Arminians. But within thirty years after this, "Ari- 
 anism spread far and wide in the country, especially in the Pres- 
 byterian congregations, both ministers and people." Socinianism, 
 which has been well called the " second stage of the disease," 
 soon supervened, and with very few exceptions has spread itself 
 into all those congregations that had first taken the infection of 
 Arianism. Says an intelligent traveller, " The form which Uni- 
 tarianism assumes here, [Birmingham] and with very fewexcep. 
 tions throughout the country, is Humanitarianism ; insomuch 
 that an Arian congregation, — one of the very few remaining ones 
 in England, — not long since wishing to obtain a minister of their 
 own sentiments, found it a matter of great difficulty ; and wheth- 
 er they succeeded at last, I am not quite certain." Dr. Sprague's 
 Letters from Europe. See Hist, of Dissenters, vol. 3, p. 314-328. 
 
164 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 Having thus traced some of the principal causes 
 of the decHne of rehgion in New-England, let us next 
 endeavor to mark its extent. * 
 
 The declension in respect to the spirit of piety 
 commenced at an early period ; and it was often 
 deeply deplored by the aged and more experienced 
 ministers.* 
 
 *In a sermon preached 1740, by the Rev. Mr. Prince, of the 
 Old South Church, Boston, it is said — "Thus this wonderful 
 work of the grace of God, begun in England and brought over 
 hither, was carried on while the greater part of the first genera- 
 tion lived, for about thirty years ; and then the second generation 
 rising up and growing thick upon the stage, a little after 1660, 
 there began to appear a decay : and this increased to 1670, wheu 
 it grew very visible and threatening, and. was generally complain- 
 ed of and bewailed bitterly by the pious among them : artd yet 
 much more to 1680, when but few of the first generation remain, 
 ed." So affecting were the evidences of a declining state of re- 
 ligion at this time, that at the instance of the ministers, the Mas. 
 sachusetts government called a synod of the churches in that col. 
 ony, to consider among other things, these two important ques- 
 tions : — 1. What are the evils that have provoked the Lord to 
 bring his judgments on New-England ? — 2. What is to be done, 
 that so these evils may be reformed ? By the recommendation of 
 the synod, many of the churches solemnly renewed their cove, 
 nant with God and one another ; the consequences of which were 
 eminently happy. Says Cotton Mather, " Verily remarkable was 
 the blessing of God on the churches that did not so sleep, as some 
 others ; not only by a great advancement of holiness in the peo. 
 pie, but also by a great addition of converts to their holy fellow, 
 ship. Many thousand spectators will testify that they never saw 
 the special presence of the great God our Savior more notably 
 discovered than in the solemnity of these opportunities." Chris- 
 tian Hist. vol. I. p. 94—98-107. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CIIVRCHES OF N. E. 
 
 1G5 
 
 In 1G68 a venerable minister, in a sermon preach- 
 ed before the Legislature of INIassachu setts, says, 
 " Alas how is New England in danger, this day, to be 
 lost, even in New England ; to be buried in its own 
 ruins .? How sadly may we lament it, that all are 
 not Israel that are now of Israel ? How is the good 
 grain diminished, and the chaff increased ? The 
 first generation have been reproved, lime after time, 
 and the most of them gathered in as shocks of corn 
 in their season ; but we who rise up to tread the 
 foot-steps of those that have gone before us, alas ! 
 what are we ! What coolings and abatements are 
 there charged upon us, in the things that are good, 
 and that have been our glory ? We have abated in 
 our esteem of ordinances, in our hungering and 
 thirsting after the rich provisons of the house of 
 God. We have abated in our love and zeal, in our 
 w^ise, tender and faithful management of that great 
 duty of mutual watchfulness and reproof"* 
 
 In 1702, Dr. Increase Mather, in a work entitled, 
 the Glory departing from New England, says, " Look 
 into pulpits, and see if there is such a glory there as 
 once there was. New England has had teachers, 
 eminent for learning and no less eminent for holiness 
 and all ministerial accomplishments. V/hen will 
 
 * Mr. Stoughton's Election Sermon. 
 
166 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 Boston see a Cotton, and a Norton again ? When 
 will New England see a Hooker, a Shepard, a 
 Mitchell, not to mention others ? There are minis- 
 ters who are not like their predecessors, nor princi- 
 pled, nor spirited as they were. No little part of the 
 glory was laid in the dust when these eminent serv- 
 ants of Christ were laid in their graves. Look into 
 our civil state ; does Christ reign there as once he 
 did ? How many churches, how many towns are 
 there in New England, that we may sigh over them 
 and say, The glory is gone /" O, if this venerable 
 servant of God saw such cause for lamentation and 
 mourning in his day, what would be his emotions 
 were he to visit the scene of his labors and look round 
 upon the churches, where once he preached and 
 prayed and ministered the bread of life ? Truly 
 may it be said of those churches, the glory is gone. 
 And the same lamentation may be uttered over ma- 
 ny other churches of New-England. There is a mel- 
 ancholy decay of piety visible throughout this land of 
 our pilgrim fathers. There is no longer that reve- 
 rence for God, and regard for his institutions ; no 
 longer that purity of morals and general correctness 
 of sentiment, nor that disinterestedness and zeal for 
 the public good which " dignified and adorned the 
 age of New-England's simplicity." The eviden- 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 167 
 
 ces of our degeneracy will appear in the following 
 particulars: * 
 
 1. In an extensive disregard and neglect of reli- 
 gious institutions. These, by our pious ancestors, 
 were held in the highest estimation. For the enjoy- 
 ment of them, they were willing to forego any 
 worldly good, or to make any worldly sacrifices ; 
 and that their posterity might prize and enjoy them 
 in all future generations, was the object of their daily 
 prayers and deepest solicitude. 
 
 But by how many of their descendants, are the 
 institutions of the gospel utterly neglected and de- 
 spised ? How many towns and parishes are there in 
 New-England, that are waste places, on which no 
 rain or dew of heaven descends, and where no sound 
 of spiritual life and mercy is ever heard ? What num- 
 bers are scattered over this land of the pilgrims, who 
 rarely, if ever, hear a christian sermon, or enter a 
 place of christian worship, and who prefer their cov- 
 etousness to the blessings of the gospel, and regard 
 every dollar that is given for the support of the gos- 
 pel, as no better than lost ? O what an affecting sight 
 would it be to our fathers, to behold such multitudes 
 of their posterity, in this very land which they plant- 
 ed with churches and Bibles and the means of salva- 
 tion, hving without hope and without God in the 
 
168 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 world, selling their birthright as a thing of naught, 
 and turning their back upon all the institutions and 
 blessings of the glorious gospel ? 
 
 In the early days of New-England, the Sabbath 
 was esteemed a delight, the holy of the Lord, honor- 
 able. Its sanctity was guarded by efficient laws, 
 and all classes of men, legislators, magistrates, and 
 heads of families, were zealously engaged to secure, 
 by the whole weight of their authority and example, 
 a due observance of that holy day. 
 
 But the profanation of the Sabbath has now be- 
 come so common, that it has almost ceased to be 
 regarded as a sin. The laws protecting it§ sacred- 
 ness, have long since been swept away, or sleep as a 
 dead letter in the statute book, — attesting thus, both 
 the piety of our ancestors, and the degeneracy of 
 their descendants. 
 
 The duty of maintaining family religion, was once 
 universally acknowledged in New-England, and seri- 
 ously practised in nearly all the families in the land. 
 Every day, the scriptures were read and God wor- 
 shipped ; and not a child or a servant was suffered 
 to grow up, without being instructed in the princi- 
 ples of religion, and taught to reverence the day, the 
 word and the name of God. 
 
 But how sad a contrast is now exhibited ? How 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 169 
 
 many thousands of families there are in which no 
 prayer is heard, and no thanks rendered, and no 
 worship in any form offered to the great Father of 
 mercies and Giver of all good ? It would seem as 
 if many parents never had a thought respecting the 
 spiritual and immortal interests of their children ; 
 but as if their existence and their happiness were 
 confined wholly to this life, and they had nothing 
 either to hope or to fear in the life to come, they 
 appear anxious only to train them up for the pleas- 
 ures and enjoyments of the present world. O how 
 melancholy a departure is this from the early habits 
 of New-England ? and how dismal the effects which 
 result from it, in the multiplication of prayerless fam- 
 ilies and prayerless persons ? O if God should now 
 execute the sentence, pour out thy fury upon the fam- 
 ilies that call not on thy name, how would the smoke 
 of the land ascend up like the smoke of Sodom, and 
 lamentation and w^o be heard in every part of it ? 
 
 For a long time after the settlement of the country, 
 New-England was eminently distinguished for the 
 purity and strictness of its morals. Lying and decep- 
 tion, oppression and fraud, intemperance and pro- 
 faneness, and other kindred vices, were compara- 
 tively unknown in the land, and were regarded, 
 
 universally, with abhorrence. But now, how aw- 
 15 
 
170 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 fully common ? How often is the glorious name of 
 Jehovah profaned in our streets ? How extensive 
 and terrible is the brutal sin of intemperance ? How 
 widely extended too is the dreadful sin of falsehood, 
 in the various forms of evasion, duplicity and hollow 
 hearted profession ; of lying, and perjury, and breach 
 of trust, and violation of oaths of office ? The times 
 in which we live, are strongly marked with a spirit 
 of deception and double dealing ; of artful accom- 
 modation and deceitful management. Men are ev- 
 ery where seen putting on masks, and walking in dis- 
 guise. They speak with flattering lips and a double 
 tongue ; say one thing and mean another. They 
 have no principle, no integrity — all is insincere and 
 hollow-hearted. They have no frankness, no open- 
 ness — all is cunning and concealment — all is duplici- 
 ty and management. How lamentably visible is all 
 this, not only in the humble, but the higher walks of 
 Hfe ; not only in private, but in pubhc stations ; not 
 only in the petty town or parish meeting, but in the 
 grand council of the nation ! Time was, when in 
 New-England, the freeman's oath meant something ; 
 when the electoral franchise was deemed a sacred 
 trust ; and when in the exercise of it men felt them- 
 selves bound to regard God and conscience and the 
 good of the community. But how lamentable a 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E, 171 
 
 change has taken place in these respects ! How 
 wide and general a departure is there, in the exer- 
 cise of civil rights and in the performance of civil 
 duties, from the true spirit and intent of our institu- 
 tions — from all that is free, unbiassed and equita- 
 ble — from the solemn obligations assumed in the 
 oaths of those who elect, and of those who are elect- 
 ed ! What eagerness for office, — how unfaithful to 
 perform the duties of office ! What indeed, in a 
 multitude of cases, are oaths of office worth ? No- 
 thing. The men who take them are frequently the 
 first to violate the very laws which they had solemn- 
 ly sworn to maintain and execute. Conscience, in- 
 tegrity, the honor of God and the public good, — 
 what are they in competition with ambition, with 
 self-interest and party spirit ? A dust in the balance. 
 By multitudes they are sacrificed without a thought 
 of guilt or a feeling of remorse ; and the frequency 
 and impunity with which this is done, argues a deep 
 apostacy from the principles and habits which char- 
 acterized the people of New-England in the days of 
 her primitive glory. 
 
 To our pious ancestors, the doctrines of grace 
 were exceedingly precious. Their excellent char- 
 acters were formed under the influence of these 
 doctrines. They were the main-spring of their en- 
 
172 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 terprize, their zeal, their self-denial and devotedness 
 to the service of God and the good of mankind. In 
 the belief and defence of them, they bid adieu to 
 their native land ; encountered the perils of the 
 ocean ; became exiles, and labored, and prayed, and 
 died in this wilderness, that the doctrines they held 
 so precious might become the light and the salvation 
 of their descendants in all future time. 
 
 But how many are there in this land of the pil- 
 grims, who now oppose and reject these doctrines, 
 as ' austere and gloomy,' as ' irrational and absurd,' 
 as * chilling to the affections and debasing to the 
 mind V How many substitute, for the holy, humbling, 
 sanctifying truths held by our fathers, a system which 
 flatters men in their sins, and feeds their self-right- 
 eousness and false hopes, — a system, which leaves 
 the conscience undisturbed, and the heart unimpres- 
 sed, and ministers quietness and ease to impenitence 
 and unbelief, — a system, which satisfies and soothes 
 the gay and the w^orldly in a course of self-indulgence 
 and estrangement from God ; which ' mocks at the 
 seriousness, and spirituahty, and self-devotion of true 
 religion, and considers all the tenderness of an awak- 
 ened conscience and anxiety for the salvation of the 
 soul, all the solemnities of conviction of sin, as well 
 as all joy and peace in believing, the object of ridicule 
 and sarcasm V 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 173 
 
 The fathers of New-England believed in the 
 divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and were accus- 
 tomed to honor him, even as they honored the Father. 
 But the advocates of the system alluded to, at least 
 the greater part of them, believe Christ to be a mere 
 man ;* and that to pay him religious homage, would 
 be idolatry, f 
 
 * Prof. Stuart, in his Letters to Dr. Channing, says,* " A short 
 time since, almost all the Unitarians in New England, were simple 
 Arians. Now, there are scarcel}'^ any of the younger preachers 
 who have not become simple Humanitarians." This was in 1819. 
 
 In an article published in the Christian Register, August 1826, 
 the editor says, — " Some at least among the Unitarians still hold 
 that tenet," (the pre-existence of Christ,) admitting of course that 
 only a few hold it. 
 
 The number of Arians in the Unitarian connection has every 
 year been diminishing, and that of Humanitarians increasing. 
 The young men who have come out as ministers of late years 
 among them are nearly all Humanitarians. This is spoken advis- 
 edly. Those who are best acquainted with facts will be the last 
 to call in question its correctness. The truth is, the whole tend- 
 ency of the system is downward. The account given by Dr. 
 Priestly of the progress of his own mind on this subject is an 
 exact history of the course pursued by hundreds and thouaands 
 who have embraced Unitarianism. He says : " He was once 
 a Calvinist, and that of the strictest sect ; then a high Arian, 
 next a low Arian ; then a Socinian ; in a little time a Socinian of 
 the lowest kind, in which Jesus Christ is considered a mere man, 
 as fallible and peccable as Moses, or any other prophet. He adds, 
 / do not know when my creed will he fixed. 
 
 t That to pay religious worship to Christ is considered by Uni- 
 tarians idolatry, it would be easy to show from their writings; 
 and on their principles no conclusion is more just. 
 * p. 175. 
 
 15* 
 
174 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION TN 
 
 Our fathers believed that Christ gave himself a 
 ramom for sinners ; that he died, a propitiatory sac- 
 rifice, that he might redeem us unto God by his blood. 
 But now we are told, that he died simply as a martyr 
 in the cause of truth ; that the only effect of his suf- 
 ferings and death, is to give efficacy to his instruc- 
 tions in reforming the lives of men, and thus qualify- 
 ing them for forgiveness ; that the doctrine of atone- 
 ment, as held by the Orthodox, ' is dishonorable to 
 God,' that it ' calumniates his character' and ' throws 
 gloom over the universe ;' and by some, it is openly 
 declared, that they would ' resort to the less chilling 
 creed of the atheist, rather than admit it.'* 
 
 Our fathers believed that man is a fallen, depraved 
 being, destitute of holiness, and that before he can 
 do works pleasing in the sight of God, he must be 
 regenerated or born of the Spirit. But the system 
 
 In a conversation on some of the fundamental doctrines of reli- 
 gion, Dr. Priestly once said to Professor Miller of Princeton : " I 
 do not wonder that you Calvinists entertain and express a strongly 
 unfavorable opinion of us Unitarians. The truth is, there neither 
 can, nor ought to be, any compromise between us. If you are 
 right, we are not christians at all ; and if we are right, you are 
 gross idolaters. 
 
 See Dr. Miller's Sermon at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Nevins, 
 Baltimore. 
 
 * See Dr. Channing's Dedication Sermon at New-York, 1826, 
 and Rev. Mr. Lamson's Ordination Sermon at Danvers. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 175 
 
 which is now becoming f;ishionable in New-England, 
 rejects this doctrine as false, and injurious to the 
 character of God ; insisting that ' man is by nature 
 no more inclined or disposed to vice than to virtue,' 
 and that ' wickedness, so far from being the prevail- 
 ing part of human character, makes but an inconsid- 
 erable part of it ;'* and as to regeneration, they 
 describe it as a change, either from the Jewish reli- 
 gion, or the idolatrous religion of the gentiles, to an 
 open profession and sincere belief of the christian 
 religion ; but that the term " is without meaning, 
 when applied to those who have been born and 
 educated under the gospel. "'f 
 
 By our pious ancestors justification by faith, 
 through the atonement and mediation of Christ, was 
 esteemed a doctrine of the greatest importance ; and 
 on it, living and dying, they hung all their hopes of 
 pardon and acceptance with God. But by the ad- 
 vocates of what is called liberal Christianity, this doc- 
 trine is rejected. They say that ' to build the hope 
 of pardon on the independent and infinite sufficiency 
 of Jesus Christ, is to build on an unscriptural and 
 false foundation.'' "Those persons deceive them- 
 selves, who in the apprehension of death, lay hold on 
 
 * Dr. Ware's Letters to Trin. and Calv. p. 24. 
 t Chris. Disciple, 1822, p. 419, 420. 
 
176 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 the merits of Christ, and expect to enter heaven in 
 consequence."* 
 
 It was once the faith of New- England, that the 
 present Hfe is the only period of probation ; that all 
 who die in their sins are forever lost ; and that ac- 
 cording to the Bible, the wicked will, at the last day, 
 come forth unto the resurrection of dajunation^ and 
 go away into everlasting punishment. But on this 
 subject of amazing interest, the system now in view, 
 has long since symbolized with Universalism. and 
 now, with perhaps some exceptions, goes hand in 
 hand with the abettors of that false and delusive 
 doctrine. f It likewise rejects the existence of fallen 
 angels, representing the language of scripture on this 
 subject, as ' imagery, borrowed from oriental philoso- 
 phy, and not to be taken in a literal sense.' The 
 term satan, is only a ' personification of the principle 
 ofevil.'t 
 
 * Chris. Disciple, New Series, vol. 1, p. 440. 
 
 t If il be said that many Unitarians believe in a future state of 
 •etribution, the same is true of many Universalists. " The doc- 
 trine of a limited future punishment, says the author of the Mod- 
 ern History of Universalism, (p. 434) has never excited a very 
 general interest among Universalists. For twenty years a differ- 
 ence of opinion has existed on this point ; but the difference has 
 not been the cause of alienation of feeling, or disruption of fel- 
 lowship." For proof of the fact asserted in the text, see Spirit of 
 the Pilgrims, Apr. 1830. Also, Dr Bancroft's Sermons, p. 391-409. 
 
 X Improved version of the New-Testament, passim ; Letters 
 of Canonicus to Dr. Channing, and Ware's Sermons. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 177 
 
 Our ancestors fully believed the Bible to be the 
 word of God. They believed, with the Apostle, 
 that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 
 that in composing the sacred volume, holy men of God 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, But this 
 cardinal, fundamental truth is now rejected, and the 
 doctrine is proclaimed, both from the pulpit and the 
 press, that the ' Scriptures are not a revelation, but 
 only the record of a revelation,'* — that ' the compo- 
 
 * The meaning of this lan^age seems to be something like 
 this : Christ was a messenger sent from God to make known his 
 will to mankind. What he taught, therefore, was by inspiration, 
 and is to be received as of divine authority. But the Evangelists, 
 who wrote the Xew Testament, were not inspired. In recording 
 what Christ taught and did, they simply wrote as honest well 
 meaning men, liable of course like other men to make mistakes, 
 and to adopt ' false and inconclusive reasoning.* The history 
 therefore, which they have given us of the life and teachings of 
 Christ, is to be regarded as a work of their own unaided powers ; 
 as " possessing a properly and purely human character." Hence 
 Unitarians make a wide distinction between the gospels and the 
 epistles. The former, containing an account of what Christ 
 taught, are regarded as of higher authority than the latter, which 
 contain only the opinions and reasonings of uninspired men. — 
 The reason for making this distinction is obvious. " I never knew 
 a man," says Orton, " make a distinction between the gospels and 
 epistles, but the reason was apparent. He was a Socinian ; and 
 finding little about the sacrifice and atonement of Christ in the 
 evangelists, (as there could not be mucli before our Lord's death) 
 and finding the doctrine run through every page of all the epistles, 
 he was willing to sink the character of the epistles, and lessen 
 men's ideas of them, in order to support his favorite notions." — 
 Letters to Dissenting Ministers, vol. L p. 136-7. 
 
178 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 sition of the Bible is a human work' — a work produ- 
 ced by the natural operation of human thought and 
 feeling ; that the Scriptures, so far as their compo- 
 sition is concerned, are to be regarded as possessing 
 a properly and purely human character ; the lan- 
 guage, comparisons and arguments used in them to 
 enforce the communication being altogether a hu- 
 man work.* 
 
 It is asserted moreover, that * if a philosopher of a 
 mind as enlarged as that of Cicero, and of as high 
 and pure moral sentiments, had lived in the apostol- 
 ic age, believed Christ to be a messenger from God, 
 and had carefully committed to writing what infor- 
 mation he could then obtain concerning his charac- 
 ter, miracles and doctrines, subjoining his own expla- 
 nations and remarks, such a work would have been 
 at least of equal value with any book which remains 
 to us of the New Testament.'f 
 
 The fathers of New-England believed in the spe- 
 cial influences of the Holy Spirit, and in conversion 
 and revivals of religion as the effect of such influences; 
 and many were the seasons in which magistrates 
 
 * Christian Examiner, for Jan. 1830. With this representation 
 let the reader compare 2 Pet. i, 21. 2 Tim. iii. 16. Gal. i. 11. 
 1 Cor. ii. 13. 
 
 t Christian Examiner, for Julj, 1829. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 179 
 
 and ministers and people united in praying for this 
 richest of heaven's blessings on themselves, on their 
 children, and the community at large ; and when the 
 blessing was enjoyed, they poured out their hearts in 
 devout thanksgivings to God for the bestowment of 
 it. But now the special influences of the Spirit are 
 discarded as a delusion, and revivals of religion are 
 reproached as the reveries of fanatics ; and even 
 ministers publicly deride and preach against them, as 
 the work of enthusiasm and priestcraft, and altogeth- 
 er of pernicious tendency. 
 
 Our fathers considered the church of Christ a 
 community distinct from the world. They believed 
 that every church ought to consist only of those who 
 have been renewed by the Spirit of God, " sanctifi- 
 ed in Christ Jesus, called to be saints ;" and most 
 carefully did they guard the purity of their churches 
 by requiring of all whom they received to their com- 
 munion, evidence of personal piety and a public pro- 
 fession of their faith in the great doctrines of the 
 gospel. 
 
 But now the idea of a church as distinct from the 
 congregation is openly denied. It is aflirmed that 
 ' the distinction attempted to be kept up between 
 the two, is in most respects artificial and without a 
 counterpart in nature ;' that the sacrament of the 
 
180 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 Lord's supper ' should be open alike to all ;' and that 
 we have no more business to shut up this ordinance 
 to a peculiar and chosen few, than we have to treat 
 in a similar manner any of the public services of the 
 sanctuary. It is said moreover, that ' no examina- 
 tion of candidates for ordination, or for admission to 
 our communion or fellowship, with whatever soften- 
 ing pretence it may be proposed, should ever be ac- 
 quiesced in.'* To crown all, the men of this system 
 assure us, that mere error is innocent and of no ac- 
 count. ' The denunciations of heaven,' it is said, 
 ' were never uttered against error of faith, but error 
 of practice.' ' Jesus neither condemned, censured 
 nor judged any man for his errors.'f And yet with 
 marvellous consistency they denounce the whole sys- 
 tem of the orthodox ' as absurd, unscriptural and 
 pernicious ;' that they consider transubstantiation it- 
 self a less monstrous doctrine than the five points of 
 Calvin.J 
 
 Such are some of the characteristics of the sys- 
 tem which now prevails in some parts of New-Eng- 
 land ; and such the marks which indicate the nature 
 and extent of our apostacy from the faith and piety 
 
 * Christian Disciple, 1822, p. 54. 
 
 \ Unit. Mis. 1822, p. 175, and 1821, p. 54. 
 
 t Chris. Examiner, vol. HI. p. 76. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF N. E. 181 
 
 of our fathers. The defection commenced about 
 seventy or eighty years ago ; and the first visible 
 form which it assumed was Arminianism. It soon 
 passed through the intermediate changes of Pelagian- 
 ism and Arianism ; and having in the latter form, 
 chief ij hy concealment,* worked its way into some of 
 the pulpits and infected some of the churches of the 
 metropolis of Massachusetts and its immediate vicin- 
 ity, it broke out about fifteen years ago in the form 
 of Socinianism. The system is still most evidently 
 on the descending scale ;f and where it will stop, it 
 would be unseasonable to predict. It has long been 
 tending to a single point ; and that is, whether the 
 Bible is an inspired book, and its decisions final and 
 authoritative in matters of faith. That point it has 
 already reached in Germany, and many parts of 
 Great Britain ; J and though in our own country, 
 
 * For evidence of this fact, see Spirit of the Pilgrims, Mar. 1830. 
 
 t See Hist, of American Unitarianism, and the Review of this 
 work, in the Panoplist for June, 1815. 
 
 \ The ablest critics among the Liberalists in Germany, do not 
 hesitate to admit that the leading doctrines of the orthodox sys- 
 tem are taught in the New-Testament. But then the authority 
 of Paul, and John, and Peter is not decisive with this class of 
 Theologians.* They claim the same right to examine and try 
 their sentiments, at the bar of human reason, that they do the 
 sentiments of other men. 
 
 * See Stuart's Letters, second edit. p. 167. 
 
 16 
 
162 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION IN 
 
 there are many advocates of the system, who seem 
 reluctant to approach this point, and start back as 
 they look over and see the gulf beneath, still not a 
 few are boldly treading towards it, and only wait a 
 favorable opportunity, — the rising up of some able 
 intrepid leader, — to step forward and openly avow 
 the principle that the Bible is not decisive authority 
 ill questions of faith. 
 
 Descendants of New-England ! — Sons and Daugh- 
 ters of the pilgrims ! — forsake not the God of your 
 fathers ; turn not away from that religion, in the 
 light of which they sojourned on earth, and in the 
 comforts and hopes of which, they ascended to 
 glory ! — forget not the character of your fathers, 
 nor lightly throw away the institutions and principles 
 and hopes which they have bequeathed to you, as a 
 rich legacy from Heaven ! — renounce not your pa- 
 rentage — renounce not your Bibles, nor your hopes 
 of salvation ; nor throw yourselves within the influ- 
 
 In 1819, Professor Stuart, in his Letters to Dr.Channing, ven- 
 tured to predict that the ' lapse of a few years would bring the 
 Unitarians, in this country, to an undisguised avowal of German 
 divinity, in all its latitude ;' and that the question between them 
 and the orthodox would soon be, "whether natural or revealed 
 religion is our guide and our hope."* The rapid progress, since 
 made towards the fulfilment of this prediction, has exceeded all 
 that was then anticipated, and leaves little room to doubt as to 
 the final result. 
 
 * pp. 171-175. 
 
THE CONGREGATIONAL CIITRCHES OF N. E. 183 
 
 ence of that delusive system which is sweeping so 
 fast into those regions of error, where the Spirit ot 
 God never comes, and the voice of redeeming mercy 
 is never heard ! 
 
 And now in conclusion, who of us can refrain from 
 lifting up his heart to God in devout thanksgiving, 
 that amidst all the apostacies and errors and sins 
 which have swept over the land of the pilgrims, he 
 has still a seed to serve him — I will not say a faith- 
 ful few, but a faithful many ? The evangelical Con- 
 gregational churches of New England were never in 
 a more prosperous state than at present. They never 
 included so large a number of pious, devoted mem- 
 bers ; they were never blessed with a more intelli- 
 gent and faithful ministry ; they were never more 
 united in sentiment and never cheered by brighter 
 prospects. The banner of the pilgrims still waves 
 over the land, and on it is still borne the animating 
 inscription. Qui translulit sustinet. Let us pray 
 that it may remain there forever ; and that all pos- 
 terity may experience the fulfilment of its significant 
 meaning — He that brought us over will still sustain 
 us. Yes, blessed be God, the vine which he brought 
 out of Egypt and planted here, still lives and flourish- 
 es. Yes, though many have been engaged to break 
 down its hedges — though the boar out of the wood 
 
184 CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DECLENSION, &C. 
 
 has often threatened to waste it, and the wild beast 
 of the field to devour it, it still lives and flourishes ; 
 it has struck deep its roots, and its boughs are like 
 the goodly cedars. — It has shot forth more than a 
 thousand branches in its native soil, and its boughs 
 extend to the far distant parts of the land. Let it 
 still flourish ; its leaves are for the healing of the na- 
 tions, and blessed are all they that repose under the 
 shadow thereof. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 MEANS OF RECOVERY AND DEFENCE. 
 
 JEREMIAH vi. 16. 
 
 THUS SAITH THE LORD, STAND YE IN THE WAYS AND SEE, AND ASK FOB 
 THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THEREIN, 
 AND YE SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 
 
 This scripture, with which I commenced these 
 Lectures I deem as appropriate as any other to close 
 ihem ; because having stood in the ways and seen, 
 and asked for the old paths and found, as we trust, 
 where is the good way, it seems proper to conclude, 
 with an enforcement of the exhortation, to walk 
 therein, that we may find rest for our souls. 
 
 Accordingly it is the object of the present Lecture 
 to consider the means, and urge the duty of main- 
 laining and defending the order and principles of 
 the Congregational churches of New England. The 
 announcement of the object implies the existence of 
 danger. And danger does exist. The condition of 
 these churches is no longer what it once was. A 
 great change has taken place in the character and 
 circumstances of the community. Numerous other 
 16* 
 
)86 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 denominations have risen up around and in the midst 
 of the churches planted by the Pilgrims ; and it is 
 not to be disguised, that many of them look with no 
 friendly eye upon these ancient and venerable watch 
 towers of the gospel. The very position, which our 
 churches, for a longtime, held, as the sole occupants 
 of the ground, and which they now hold, as the lar- 
 gest and most influential denomination in New Eng- 
 land, excites the sleepless jealousy of minor sects 
 that are opposed to our doctrines and discipline ; 
 and facts are not wanting to show, that however 
 divided they are among themselves, they are not 
 backward to unite in carrying on a warfare against 
 what is deemed a common enemy. 
 
 At the same time, the very cause, which excites 
 the jealousy, and quickens the spirit of proselytism 
 in other denominations around us, operates to infuse 
 a spirit of inactivity and slumber into our own de- 
 nomination. We are in danger from our number 
 and strength. Confident of the correctness of our 
 priiiclples, and of the stability of the foundation on 
 which they rest, we are liable to cherish a feeling of 
 false security, and to overlook the causes which are, 
 secretly, or more openly, operating to undermine 
 and lay waste our goodly inheritance. For a long 
 period after the settlement of the country, our reli- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 187 
 
 gious institutions existed and flourished almost with- 
 out the agency or care of the people attached to 
 them. They were organized by our pious ances- 
 tors, and the community, where they were located, 
 continued to enjoy the blessings flowing from them, 
 with scarcely thinking of the source whence they 
 sprung, or of the possibility of that source being cut 
 off* or exhausted. We have never, as a denomina- 
 tion, been trained to defend our principles, or guard 
 our rights. We have taken no pains to cultivate or 
 extend a denominational feeling. Rarely has any 
 thing been heard, either from the pulpit or the press, 
 designed to illustrate the grounds of our church or- 
 der, or to show the excellence of our modes of wor- 
 ship. Devoted to what have been justly considered 
 more important interests, we have hardly given a 
 thought to external forms, or bestowed any labor 
 upon the outward frame work of our churches. 
 
 But circumstances have now changed. The means 
 of safety, which were once deemed sufficient, cannot 
 now^ be relied upon without extreme presumption. 
 The members of our churches and congregations 
 must study and understand the principles of their own 
 order ; they must be made acquainted with the pe- 
 culiar duties which are imposed upon them by the 
 change of the times ; and must realize the necessity 
 
188 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 of wise, decided and persevering exertions to sus- 
 tain the interests which have come down to us, so 
 precious a heritage from our pilgrim ancestors. 
 
 In pointing out the means by which this is to be 
 attempted, our attention is, in the first place, direct- 
 ed to the christian ministry. There never was a 
 class of men on whom rested weightier responsibili- 
 ties, than on the Congregational ministers of New- 
 England. They have entered into the labors of men, 
 honored of God as instruments in establishing his 
 church in this w^estern world. The interests entrust- 
 ed to them are of immense value ; and at this day, 
 especially, can be maintained only by great, perse- 
 vering and well-directed labors. 
 
 The first and great thing demanded of ministers is, a 
 plain and faithful declaration of the whole counsel of 
 God. This is fundamental. It is the grand appoint- 
 ed means of reviving religion when it is decayed ; and 
 of keeping alive in the church a spirit of aflfectionate, 
 fruitful piety. No historical fact is sustained by fuller 
 evidence, than that the great apostacies that have, at 
 different periods, taken place in the church, commen- 
 ced in a concealment, or partial exhibition of the 
 distinguishing truths of the gospel. The defection 
 began in the ministry, and was extended to the 
 churches, and the people at large, through the medi- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 189 
 
 urn of a smooth, deceptive style of preaching. This 
 is eminently true of the defection from orthodoxy 
 "which has overspread so large a portion of Germany. 
 It is also true of the lamentable apostacy which has 
 taken place in many churches in Great Britain.* 
 
 * See in the Spirit of the Pilgrims for Feb, 1830, an article on 
 the state of religion in Germany; also, Hist, of Dissenters, vol. 
 3, p. 314. 
 
 In a pamphlet published by Bretschneider, a learned German 
 theoligian of the liberal school, the following facts are stated 
 respecting the indifference to religion which prevails in that 
 country where the New Theology, or the doctrine of the Ration- 
 alists has taken the deepest root and ] reduced the most fruit. " He 
 states that this indifference is spread among all classes, that the 
 Bible used to be found in every house — that very many made it a 
 law to read a chapter every day, or at least every Sunday ; that it 
 must have been a very poor family, where a Bible was not a part 
 of the marriage portion, but that now very many do not possess 
 one or let it lie neglected in a corner, — that now hardly one fiflh 
 of the inhabitants of towns receive the sacrament or confess ; that 
 few attend the churches, which are now too large, though fifly 
 years ago they were too small ; that few honor Sunday, but that 
 many make it a day for private business, or for work, and that 
 there are now few students in theology, compared with those of 
 law and medicine ; and that if things go on thus, there will short- 
 ly not be persons to supply the various ecclesiastical offices. 
 Within sixty years, he says, the sermons have changed very 
 much; and in contents, tone and form, have followed the spirit 
 of the age, insomuch that many, instead of preaching on the doc. 
 trines of Christianity, betook themselves to the more useful sub- 
 jects of politics and agriculture, &c. This writer does indeed try 
 to prove that the new fancies of the Rationalists had not produced 
 this indifference ; but here Tittman directly contradicts him, and 
 positively testifies that the consequence of the prevalence of their 
 
190 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 And it is equally true of the churches in this country, 
 that have renounced the truth, and gone over to the 
 side of heresy. The mischief, in all these cases, com- 
 menced in the ministry, and showed itself first in a 
 cautious, concealed manner of preaching the truth. 
 The ministers, who first adopted this manner, were 
 
 sentiments was distrust and suspicion of the doctrines of Chris, 
 tianity, among all classes ; and an entire indifference to religion." 
 See Biblical Repertory for Jan. 1827. j>. 4-5. 
 
 The following facts, respecting the process of decay in many of 
 the Dissenting churches in England, are from Bogue and Ben- 
 nett's History of Dissenters. 
 
 " tn many places, indolence diffused through the dissenting con- 
 gregation its benumbing influence. It could not be said that the 
 doctrine of the preacher was contrary to truth. But he did not 
 "breathe his soul into his sermons. His words appeared to freeze 
 upon his lips. The people felt the chilling impulse, and on their 
 faces might be read cold insensibility, and frozen indifference." 
 
 " But during this period (from 1714 to 1760) error was the de- 
 stroying angel of dissenting congregations. In the ordinary 
 course of things, in proportion as dissenting ministers have 
 departed from those religious principles which were held by the 
 men ejected from the establishment for nonconformity, they have 
 reduced the number of their audience. Whenever they have de- 
 parted from what is called Calvinism, the congregation has evi- 
 dently felt the change : it has been arrested in its growth, and, 
 after a time visibly decayed." 
 
 " In whatever communions Arminianism may have had crouded 
 places of worship, it never had this effect among dissenters; but 
 almost M-ithout an exception, was the first stage of a congrega- 
 tional decline. Arianism maybe called the second stage of the 
 disease, and where it filled the pulpit, invariably emptied the pews. 
 %Vhere Socinianism found an entrance, its operations were quicker 
 than those of the Arian creed and more effectual ; flourishing soci- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 191 
 
 not themselves heterodox. They believed the es- 
 sential doctrines of the gospel, and occasionally 
 preached them ; but ' not the whole' — ' not in their 
 fulness' — not in their undisguised simplicity and plain- 
 ness, nor in a close and fearless application of them 
 to the heart and conscience. There was in their dis- 
 
 eties were reduced to a few families, which being animated with 
 zeal for the new opinions, or indifferent about any, chose to con- 
 tinue to support the modes of worship, to wliich from education 
 or use, they were attached. In many places, Socinianism was the 
 abomination of desolation, and consigned what had formerly been 
 the house of prayer and of the assemblies of the saints, an undis- 
 turbed abode, to the spiders and the bats." 
 
 " But it may be asked, is no exception to be made in favor of 
 congregations in which religion flourished ? An Arian congre- 
 gation, under an Arian minister, whose religion was in a flour- 
 ishing state, perhaps cannot be named in the whole of England, 
 since the day that James Pierce preached that doctrine within the 
 walls of his new meeting at Exeter." 
 
 Describing the state of religion among the Dissenters from the 
 accession of George the third to 1808, the authors say : — " Many 
 who drank the cup of Arianism first, and then of Socinianism to 
 the very dregs, ceased to be members of the dissenting congrega- 
 tion ; and with a perfect hatred of the doctrines of the church of 
 England, pusillanimously and disingenuously bore a part in 
 her very explicit Trinitarian worship. By the operation of these 
 causes many a Presbyterian congregation dwindled from a giant 
 into a dwarf They are in general now but the shadow of what 
 they formerly were, and many of them have ceased to exist. 
 Devonshire, the cradle of Arianism, has been the grave of the 
 Arian dissenters ; and there is not left in that populous county, a 
 twentieth part of the Presbyterians which were to be found at her 
 birth. More than twenty of their meeting houses, it is said have 
 been shut up ; and in those which remain open there are to be 
 
192 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 courses a wretched sterility of evangelical sentiment 
 and feeling. They were afraid, perhaps, that a plain 
 and full exhibition of the truth would give offence ; 
 and, therefore, kept it back, or presented it in such 
 a disguised^ partial, pointless manner, as to deprive 
 it entirely of its power to awaken and convince. — 
 
 seen the skeletons only of congregations which were full and 
 flourishing before error had banished prosperity." 
 
 *' In other counties of England where these sentiments prevail- 
 ed, the effects have been the same. Like the devouring pestilence, 
 Arianism and Socinianism have, with few exceptions, carried 
 desolation with them into every congregation where they have 
 obtained an entrance ; and some scores more of their meeting 
 houses would have been shut up but for the pious benevolence of 
 persons of a different creed in the former generation. By their 
 endowments, many of the present Presbyterian ministers have 
 been enabled to retain their office, and to preach to what 
 deserves not the name of a congregation, but is better described 
 by the prophets account of what remains after the shaking of the 
 olive tree : two or three berries on the top of the uppermost 
 bough, four or five on the outmost fruitful branches thereof So 
 great is the change which these sentiments have produced, that 
 perhaps there are not now in England twelve of their congrega. 
 lions which can boast an attendance of five hundred people ; 
 whereas before the introduction of Arianism they could in more 
 than two hundred places count five hundred hearers, and in sev- 
 eral, more than double that number." 
 
 Hist, of Diss. vol. 3, p. SU—vol. 4, p. 120. 
 
 The important and very instructive facts disclosed in these 
 extracts are a sufficient apology for the length of them. They 
 deserve to be deeply pondered, as they show the tendency of lax 
 preaching, and especially the fatal influence of Arian and Socin- 
 ian sentiments wherever they prevail. 
 
AND DEFENCE. 193 
 
 Having gone so far, as through fear or favor, to con- 
 ceal or partially exhibit the great doctrines of the 
 gospel, the next step was to regard these doctrines 
 as of little practical importance — as mere specula- 
 tive points, and to substitute for them, the preaching 
 of a dull and heartless morality. This prepared the 
 way for the coming in of Arminianism, then of Ari- 
 anism, and last of all, of Socinianism. The connec- 
 tion is perfectly obvious ; and can be traced back 
 directly to a want of decision and plainness on the 
 part of the ministry, in declaring the truths of God's 
 word. It is the most wretched policy that can be 
 adopted, to attempt to build up the cause of God by 
 a compromise of his truth. Its uniform effect is to 
 destroy the life and power of the ministry — to weak- 
 en and scatter the congregation, and in the end, to 
 estabhsh the reign of error and sin. God has ap- 
 pointed his own means of building up his kingdom. 
 They are the truths of his gospel, ministered in fidel- 
 ity, and made efficacious on the heart by the power 
 of the Holy Spirit. And the minister who rejects 
 these means, for others of his own devising ; who 
 substitutes policy for duty, and relies on tempo- 
 rizing expedients, instead of the blessing of God on 
 a faithful declaration of his truth, will have the mor- 
 17 
 
194 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 tification to see his wisdom turned into folly, and the 
 curse of heaven resting on all his labors. 
 
 Let a timid, time-serving policy then be forever 
 banished from the ministry. It has done more than 
 any other one cause to scatter the seeds of error, 
 and multiply the waste places of our land. It was 
 not -by such a policy that our fathers established the 
 churches of New-England ; nor is it by such a poli- 
 cy, that they can be sustained and built up, and their 
 moral influence diffused through the community.— 
 What God requires of the pastors of these churches 
 is, that they stand up fearlessly for his cause and 
 truth, and proclaim, in the fullest and most direct 
 manner, the doctrines of his word, trusting him for 
 the consequences. If there are those in our congre- 
 gations who cannot endure such an exhibition of 
 truth, it is far better they should retire, than that any 
 attempt should be made to retain them, by a conceal- 
 ment or partial delivery of God's message. Every 
 such attempt is wrong in itself; and never fails to 
 weaken the hands and lessen the influence of a min- 
 ter. The ambassador of Christ always purchases 
 peace at a most dear rate, when he does it by a sa- 
 crifice of truth and duty. 
 
 It is no time, let me further say, to withhold ' 
 from ^the people, the disitnguishing doctrines of , 
 
AND DEFENCE. 19d 
 
 the gospel, or to substitute in their place, vague 
 and general statements, or a light and flimsy decla- 
 mation, when, as now, the enemy is coming in 
 like a flood, and foundations are being shaken and 
 swept away. Ministers are especially called upon, 
 at the present day, to dwell upon these doctrines 
 with much frequency and earnestness ; to preach 
 them with great clearness and force ; with great 
 cogency of argument, illustration and appeal. — 
 Their discourses should be instinct with feeling and 
 intelligence ; with spirit and power ; appeahng di- 
 rectl}^ to the understanding and conscience, and 
 coming home to the feelings and wants of men. The 
 spirit of the age does not tolerate a dull, scholastic, 
 spiritless manner of giving j-eligious instruction ; — 
 the gospel does not tolerate such a manner. It is a 
 generous, expansive, noble system of truth, bearing 
 directly and powerfully on all the relations, duties 
 and hopes of men ; and when narrowed down, as it 
 too often is, to a few common-place topics, constant- 
 ly recurring, and with little or no variety of illustra- 
 tion, it loses its native character and power, and be- 
 comes a dry, frigid, lifeless thing. To interest the 
 minds of men, and produce its proper efl?ect on the 
 heart and life, it demands to be presented in its own 
 native glory ; to be unfolded in all its wide relations 
 and aflfecting consequences; to be preached, in adap- 
 
 r 
 
196 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 tation to the spirit of the times ; with affection and 
 fervor ; with clearness of thought and closeness of 
 application and appeal. And facts abundantly tes- 
 tify, that whenever the gospel is thus preached, it 
 attracts attentive hearers, gathers flourishing congre- 
 gations, and builds up the church in holiness and 
 love. Notwithstanding all the reproach that is cast 
 upon the evangelical system of doctrines, one thing 
 is indisputable — it is of all systems the best adapted 
 to excite attention and interest feeling ; and the only 
 system that can be relied upon to preserve a congre- 
 gation from decay, or to revive it when it is decayed. 
 So strong a conviction have I of this truth, that I am 
 fully persuaded, that if the evangelical ministers of 
 New- England were, but for a short time, to change 
 their strain of preaching for one more lax and accojn- 
 modating, it would be the ruin of their cause^ — the 
 means of vacating their places of worship, and spread- 
 ing indifference and worldliness and death among all 
 classes of their hearers.* 
 
 * " When you have the opportunity of seeing and observing more 
 of the state of religion in our congregations, you will find what I 
 have long since found (and every year that I live increases my 
 conviction of it,) that when ministers entertain their people with 
 lively and pretty things, confine themselves to general har- 
 rangues, insist principally on moral duties without enforcing them 
 warmly and affectionately by evangelical motives ; while they 
 neglect the peculiars of the gospel ; never or seldom display the 
 grace of God and the love of Christ in our redemption ; the ne- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 197 
 
 Let the pastors of our churches, then, realize their 
 responsibiHty, and resolve, with Paul, to know nothing 
 among their people ' save Jesus and him crucified.' 
 
 cessity of regeneration and sanctification by a constant depend, 
 ance upon the Holy Spirit of God for assistance and strength in 
 the duties of the christian life ; their congregations are in a 
 wretched state ; some aro dwindling to nothing, as is the case 
 with several in this neighborhood, where there are not now as 
 many scores as there were hundreds in their meeting places fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 But when by trade and manufactures, new persons come to the 
 place and fill x\p the vacant seats, there is a, fatal deadness spread 
 over the congregation. They run in the course of the world, fol- 
 low every fashionable folly ; and family and personal godliness 
 seem in general to be lost fimong them. There is scarcely any 
 appearance of life and zeal in the cause of religion which de- 
 mands and deserves the greatest. 
 
 Whereas, on the contrary, I never knew an instance where a 
 minister was a pious serious man, whose strain was evangelical 
 and affectionate, but his congregation kept up, though death and 
 removals had made many breaches in it. . And in general minis- 
 ters of this latter sort have had more affection and respect from 
 their people than the former." 
 
 Orion's Letters to Dissenting Ministers, vol. 1, p. 100. 
 
 " I see no connection between Calvinistical sentiments and 
 xealous useful labors, but I have long observed with great surprise 
 that our orthordox brethren in the church and among the dissent, 
 ers, are in general most serious and active in their ministry ; and 
 those of freer principles, more indolent and languid. I have met 
 with few exceptions in the compass of my acquaintance. I do 
 deliberately think that the more persons enter into the peculi- 
 arities of tha gospel, and the more regard they pay to the sacrifice 
 of Christ and the influences of the Spirit, the more their own piety 
 will increase, and the more zealous they will be to do good to the 
 souls of others." Ihid. vol. 1, p, 90. 
 
 17* 
 
198 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 Let them drink deep into the spirit and sentiments 
 of the gospel, and give to all their discourses a thor- 
 oughly Biblical character — deriving their doctrines 
 directly from the pure fountain of truth, and sustaining 
 all their instructions by proofs from holy writ. This^ 
 at the present time, is supremely important. For^ 
 as was remarked in the last lecture, the great ques- 
 tion at issue, between the friends and the enemies of 
 evangelical religion in our country, is fast verging to 
 a single point, and that is, whether the Bible is au- 
 thority in matters of faith. This question settled,, 
 and the controversy is at an end. Here then, let 
 the ministers of Christ take their stand ; and com- 
 mitting themselves to the truth and authority of God's 
 word, they need not fear the issue. Let them give 
 themselves wholly to their work — their time, their 
 talents, their studies, their all. While they gather 
 around them the children and youth of their charge 
 in the Sabbath school and Bible class — while they 
 maintain stated meetings for conference and prayer, 
 and visit from house to house, that they may learn the 
 character and wants of their people, and thus know 
 how to give to each a portion in due season, let them 
 look well to the pulpit, and remember that there they 
 are especially to lay out their strength and exhaust 
 their energies, so that fervor, intelligence and life 
 
AND DEFENCE. [\)\) 
 
 breathing through their ministrations and animating 
 their prayers and sermons, the sanctuary may become 
 a centre of attraction and interest to the surround- 
 ing population, and its services the means of their 
 conversion and salvation. Every day and on all oc- 
 casions, let them keep in view the great end of their 
 ministry, and the solemn account which they must 
 soon render'^of their stewardship unto Him who call- 
 ed them into his service and appointed them to watch 
 for souls. Thus preaching and thus living, the inte- 
 rests which they are called to watch over and sus- 
 tain will be secure. The Lord himself will lift up a 
 standard against the enemy, and spread the pavilion of 
 his love over the churches planted by our pilgrim fa- 
 thers, and they shall stand and flourish, the glory and 
 defence of our land, till the end of time. 
 
 2. Let us in the second place, inquire what means 
 are to be used by the members of our churches in 
 order to perpetuate their existence and promote 
 their prosperity. In their associated cajmcity then, 
 the first thing required of them, is, that they use great 
 caution in the admission of members to their com- 
 munion. It is plain from the Bible that our Lord 
 Jesus Christ designed that the church, his spiritual 
 body, should be composed only of living, spiritual 
 members. This principle was uniformly regarded 
 
200 MEANS or RECOVERY 
 
 and acted upon in the primitive churches ; and also 
 in the first churches of New-England. And while it 
 was maintained, those churches flourished, and sent 
 forth a healthful, regenerating influence over the 
 land. But as the relinquishment of that principle 
 brought on the papal apostacy, and shrouded the 
 world in ages of daikness, so in New-England, it 
 brought on the apostacy from the faith of our fathers, 
 and has reduced many of the churches planted by 
 their care, to mere societies of unsanctified, worldly 
 men. And such must always be the consequence 
 of opening the door of the church to persons who af- 
 ford no evidence of piety. The necessary effect is 
 to destroy the distinctive character of the church, 
 as a holy community, and to introduce into it the 
 seeds of corruption and decay. 
 
 Let the churches, then, that still retain the faith 
 once delivered to the saints, carefully guard against 
 the admission of persons to their communion, who 
 furnish no satisfactory, scriptural evidence of having 
 been born of God. It is only such as have been re- 
 newed by the Holy Spirit, that Christ judges wor- 
 thy of a place in his spiritual temple ; and if any of 
 a diffbrent character are introduced into it, they will, 
 in the day of trial, prove to be * hay, wood, and stub- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 201 
 
 ble/ and only serve to weaken, deform and destroy 
 the glorious edifice. 
 
 It is not enough considered, that the strength of a 
 church is in the pietij of its members — that its influ- 
 ence, in promoting the cause of God and the salva- 
 tion of men, depends entirely upon its possessing a 
 hohj, distinctive character; — such a character as 
 shall attract the attention of the world, and cause 
 them to mark and consider its members, as a socie- 
 ty of holy and devoted men and women. A church, 
 possessing such a character, w^hether it be rich or 
 poor, consist of few or many members, is ' a city set 
 on a hill, that cannot be hid,' — a glorious light, lifted 
 up on high, towards which the eyes of all will be di- 
 rected, and whose influence, like the hand of God, 
 will be felt turning back the tide of corruption, and 
 elevating towards heaven and holiness a depraved 
 and thoughtless generation. But, take away this ho- 
 ly, distinctive character from a church, and its reno- 
 vating, life-giving influence is gone ; and itself, mer- 
 ged in the surrounding mass of worldliness and sin, 
 no longer exists a glorious light to mark the w^ay to 
 heaven ; but a baleful meteor to mislead, bewilder 
 and destroy. 
 
 In this view, it is seen to be a duty of immense 
 importance, not only that the churches should guard 
 
202 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 against the admission of unworthy members to their 
 fellowship, but also that they should maintain a care- 
 ful inspection over their members, when admitted^ 
 and promptly exclude from their communion such 
 as walk disorderly, or bring reproach upon the chris- 
 tian cause. There is, I fear, in many of our church- 
 es, a growing laxness in this respect. There is not 
 that promptitude and decision in maintaining the dis- 
 cipline of the gospel, which existed in the better days 
 of New-England. There is not in the members of 
 our churches, that tenderness and carefulness in 
 watching over and admonishing one another that 
 there once was. In many cases, things are tolera- 
 ted, which are a scandal to religion ; and persons are 
 allowed to retain their standing in the church, whose 
 lives are a reproach to their profession. These things, 
 wherever they exist, are melancholy evidences of a 
 low state of religion ; and no church in which they 
 are tolerated, can reasonably expect to prosper. Its 
 light will become dim — its energies be %veakened, 
 and the Holy Spirit, grieved by the unnatural inter- 
 mixture of the pious and profane, will depart from 
 its members, leaving them to declension, to division 
 and ruin. 
 
 But we must here consider, more particularly, the 
 the duties that are required of the members of our 
 
AND DEFENCE. 203 
 
 churches in their individual capacity. The circum- 
 stances, my brethren, in which the providence of God 
 has placed you, impose upon you great and pecuhar 
 obhgations. You are called to bear a part in sus- 
 taining the most precious interests that were ever 
 entrusted to the hands of men. And that the sacred 
 trust be not betrayed by you, it is first of all neces- 
 sary, that you look well to your personal religioii. If 
 the spirit of piety be cold and languid in your bo- 
 soms, you can do nothing to any good purpose, in 
 building up the cause of Christ. The church of 
 which you are members will derive no benefit from 
 your example, or your prayers ; and in the commu- 
 nity where you live, you will exert no influence in 
 favor of vital godliness and the salvation of your fel- 
 low-men. If the salt has lost its savor ^ it is good for 
 nothing. What the times demand, is a piety of the 
 primitive stamp, — the deep-toned, self-denying, self- 
 devoting piety, which characterized the fathers of 
 New-England. Times of trial are at hand. The 
 minds of men are pow^erfully excited ; the public 
 opinion is in a feverish state ; there is extensively 
 manifested an extreme restiffness under the restraints 
 of religion ; a strong disposition to break the bands 
 and cast aw^ay the cords of allegiance to God ; mul- 
 titudes in all classes of society are setting themselves 
 
204 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 against the Lord, and against his anointed ; infideh- 
 ty and heresy, in a thousand forms, are spreading 
 through the land ; and the signs are not dubious, that 
 a crisis is approaching in the rehgious affairs of our 
 country, which will severely try the hearts of men, 
 and cause all to show whether they are for or against 
 the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Let christians, then, look well to the foundation 
 on which they stand. Let them see to it, that they 
 be thoroughly rooted and grounded in the truth, 
 eminently circumspect and holy in life, striving in all 
 things to exhibit the spirit of the gospel, and thus put 
 to silence the vain scoffs of ignorant objectors. Let 
 them fearlessly assert their attachment to Christ, 
 and their belief of the distinguishing doctrines of his 
 gospel ; and let them consider, as devolved on the7Ji, 
 the sacred duty of sustaining, in their vigor and 
 purity, the institutions of our fathers, and of elevating 
 the standard of piety in the community where they 
 xeside; 
 
 ^ It is especially important at the present day, when 
 the enemies of religion, and errorists of every name 
 are combining to overthrow the faith once delivered 
 to the saints, that christians should carefully study 
 the evidences of that faith, in the only pure source 
 of evidence, the Bible ; and be i-eady always to give 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 205 
 
 to every one that asketh them, a reason of the hope 
 that is in them. At a time hke this, a superficial, 
 traditionary faith will not suffice. Those \\ ho have 
 no better foundation to stand upon, will show them- 
 selves unstable as water, carried about by every 
 wind of doctrine. 
 
 Take, then, my friends, the great principle of the 
 Reformation, and steadily act upon it, that the Bible, 
 the Bible alone, is the rule of religion ; and while 
 you embrace, in an intelligent affectionate faith, 
 whatever doctrines are taught in the Bible, always 
 be bold and decided in defending them against the 
 cavils and reproaches of foolish and wicked men. 
 He is unworthy of the christian name, who shrinks 
 from an open avowal of the truth of God, or is afraid 
 to defend what God has taught in his word. 
 
 ' Cultivate a spirit of universal good will, and of 
 amicable fellowship towards all those, of whatever 
 sect or denomination, who differing from you in non- 
 essentials, agree with you in the fundamentals of re- 
 ligion.' If others assert exclusive rights, or set up 
 exclusive terms of communion, unchurchmg all who 
 do not exactly agree with them in outward forms and 
 ceremonies, imitate them not. All such exclusive 
 claims are wrong in themselves, and cannot fail, in 
 
 the end, to injure the denomination that asserts them. 
 18 
 
206 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 Ever act on the truly liberal and catholic principle 
 of receiving and treating all as christians whom you 
 have evidence to believe that Christ has received. 
 Never cherish towards any such, of whatever name or 
 sect they may be, any other than a spirit of christian 
 kindness and love. Never encroach upon their rights ; 
 never attempt, by unfair means, to proselyte an indi- 
 vidual from their connexion ; never throw the slight- 
 est obstacle in the way of their prosperity. 
 
 I mean not by this to encourage indifference to 
 error, or the slightest deriliction of your own distinc- 
 tive principles. On the contrary, I would have you 
 regard all error as hurtful ; and for the principles of 
 your own order, I would ever have you cherish, and 
 on all proper occasions, express, a strong and decided 
 preference. But I would also have you show, that 
 you make a distinction between great things and lit- 
 tle — between essentials and non-essentials in reli- 
 gion ; and that, while you love and prefer your own 
 denomination, you can, at the same time, extend the 
 hand of fellowship to all who love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity and truth. 
 
 In all attempts to build up the cause of Christ, scru- 
 pulously avoid a worldly, selfish policy. The religion 
 of Christ frowns on such a policy ; and demands to 
 be promoted only by plain, open, honest conduct. 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 207 
 
 proceeding from motives that will bear to be inspect- 
 ed in the face of day. 
 
 Carefully guard also against connecting, in any 
 manner, the interests of the church with the affairs 
 of state, or the politics of the day. Let there he no 
 political combinations f 07^ religious purposes , nor re- 
 ligious comhinations for political purposes. Experi- 
 ence proves that the tendency of all such combina- 
 tions is to corrupt religion and destroy the energies 
 of the church. My kingdom, says our Lord, is not 
 of this world. — Not of this ivot^ld in its spirit ; not of 
 this icorld in its aims ; not of this world in the means 
 of advancing its prosperity, and extending its influ- 
 ence on earth. Every day, I am more and more con- 
 vinced, that the great point to be aimed at in this 
 country is to withdraw the church, as far as possible, 
 from the collisions of politics, and the strife of party 
 spirit. In these angry times, religion has nothing to 
 hope from civil government ; I wish I could add, it 
 has nothing to fear from it. The only true and safe 
 policy is to let the church stand on its own immuta- 
 ble foundation — the truth and promise of God ; and 
 to adopt only such means in building it up as are 
 sanctioned in his word. Not that christians are to 
 take no part in the political concerns of thedr country. 
 They are freemen ; — they possess the rights and lie 
 
208 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 under the responsibilities of freemen, and can by no 
 means be excused from bearing a part in sustaining 
 the interests and promoting the welfare of the com- 
 munity of which they are members. Especially 
 does the right of suffrage impose on them a very sa- 
 cred duty ; and in the exercise of that right, they are 
 solemnly bound to commit themselves to the dicta- 
 lion of no party, but with an enlightened conscience, 
 and in the fear of God, always to withhold their sup- 
 j)ort from had men of every name, and to give their 
 votes in favor of such as are best qualified for the du- 
 ties of office, to whatever denomination or party they 
 belong. I will just add in this connection, that so 
 totally depraved are the politics of the day, that I see 
 not how a christian can enter fully into the spirit of 
 them, or commit himself to any party, to go all lengths 
 with them, without doing violence to his conscience, 
 and greatly injuring his christian character and influ- 
 ence. Certain T am, that if the churches of our coun- 
 try are to prosper, or if the members in communion 
 with them are to grow in faith, and love, and useful- 
 ness, they must be preserved from the mania of par- 
 ty zeal, and stand aloof from the conflicts of ambi- 
 tion, and the din of political controversy. Their 
 sphere of influence is more retired and silent. It is 
 in the sanctuary, in the family, in the every-day in- 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 209 
 
 tercourse of life, in diffusing around them the spirit 
 of holiness, and exemplifying in conduct the pure 
 and blessed principles of the gospel. 
 
 Here, my brethren, is the appropriate sphere of 
 christian enterprize and action ; — these the means 
 by which the churches of New-England are to be 
 streno^thened and their influence extended through 
 the land. Let a higher standard of piety be set up 
 in these churches, and all the members of them aim 
 in their temper and life, to make a complete exhibi- 
 tion of the spirit of the gospel. Let family religion 
 be revived and maintained in all their households, 
 and the blessing of God be daily and piously sought 
 to descend upon them and their children. No duty 
 is more reasonable than this — none more conscien- 
 tiously performed by our ancestors, and none contri- 
 buted more to that punty of morals and elevation of 
 piety w^hich distinguished the better days of New- 
 England. Indeed nothing is plainer than that if there 
 is no religion in the family, there is none in the church, 
 and none in the community ; and all hope of piety 
 in the risinfj generation is vain. 
 
 Let the Sabbath of the Lord be honored as at the 
 beginning ; and every professor of religion make it a 
 matter of conscience to observe that holy day, accor- 
 ding to the design of its appointment. This is a duty 
 18* 
 
2J0 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 of prime importance. At a time when the Lord's 
 day is every where profaned with impunity by wick- 
 ed men, it becomes christians to keep the day with 
 peculiar strictness — to throw the w^hole weight of 
 their example in favor of its due observance ; and 
 thus to stay, at least for a while, the sweeping ruin 
 which the general desecration of the Sabbath threat- 
 ens to bring upon the country. 
 
 Look well to the education of your children. Let 
 the school, the academy, the college ; their associates, 
 amusements, and occupations in life, all be chosen 
 with reference to their spiritual and immortal well- 
 being. Having dedicated them to God in baptism, 
 and thus solemnly engaged to bring them up for him, 
 see to it that you always remember your vows, and 
 never act inconsistently with them. So live your- 
 selves, and so train up your children, that you may 
 point them to your example and say, Tread in my 
 steps and go with me to heaven. This duty, always 
 important, is supremely so at the present day. 
 
 When Jesuits were sent among the Waldenses to 
 entice them from the truth to idolatry, they returned 
 amazed, professing that children of seven years old 
 knew more of the scriptures, and of the mysteries of 
 the gospel, than many of their doctors did. This 
 suggests your duty, and points out the means, by 
 
AND DEFENCE. 2tl 
 
 which you may hope to save your children, and 
 quahfy them to receive the precious inheritance 
 which must soon pass from your hands to theirs. 
 The errors, the temptations, and sins which every 
 where surround the young, can be averted only by 
 bringing them early under the influence of christian 
 instruction and christian principle. 
 
 Be it then your great concern to train up your 
 children for God and glory, — to imbue their young 
 and tender minds with the principles of the gospel 
 and with the love of virtue and goodness. 
 
 Let christian mothers, especially engage with zeal 
 in this divine w^ork. With the first dawnings of af- 
 fection and intelligence in your little ones, let your 
 doctrine drop as the rain and distill as the dew. 
 Early attach them to the institutions and principles 
 of the pilgrims. Tell them the story of their toils 
 and sufferings ; make them acquainted with the excel- 
 lence of their character, with the grandeur of their 
 enterprize, and the rich blessings that have flowed 
 from their counsels and their efforts ; and while with 
 pious care you labor to train them up in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord, pour over them the in- 
 cessant fervent prayer, that the God of the pilgrims 
 will be their God, and their portion forever. 
 
 Let your hearts be much set on revivals of reli- 
 
212 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 gioii. Never forget that the churches of New Eng- 
 land were planted in the spirit of revivals ; that they 
 have hitherto existed and prospered by revivals, and 
 that if they are to exist and prosper in time to come, 
 it must be by the same cause which has from the 
 first been their glory and defence. 
 
 Let the irreligious and the profane, let infidels and 
 scoffers discard the influences of the Holy Spirit, and 
 denounce revivals of religion as fanaticism and delu- 
 sion ; but let christians, let the descendants of the pil- 
 grims, never be ashamed to own their dependance 
 on the Holy Spirit, or to confess that it is not by 
 might nor by power, but by the spirit of the Lord 
 that his kingdom is to be built up in this fallen world. 
 
 Finally, ever bear it in mind, that you have but a 
 little while to live, and that your great business here 
 is to prepare yourselves, your children and your fel- 
 low men for the scenes of eternal judgment. Live 
 then as becometh those who must so soon go hence 
 and give up their account unto God. Live not for 
 time, but for eternity ; not for yourselves, but for him 
 who died for you and rose again. Then shall you 
 see the cause of God prospering around you ; the 
 heritage of your fathers descending in undiminished 
 glory to bless your posterity, and yourselves cheered 
 in the decline of life by these happy visions, shall die 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 213 
 
 in peace and rise to become pillars in the temple of 
 God to go no more out forever. 
 
 3. Permit me now to address a few words to the 
 members of congregations, considered as distinct 
 from the churches. The religious institutions of our 
 fathers, my friends, have strong claims on your steady 
 attachment, and vigorous support. They have been 
 bequeathed to you by men eminent for their talents, 
 their learning and piety. For two hundred years 
 they have been diffusing through this community, 
 the blessings of knowledge, of virtue and religion. 
 Under their enlightening and sanctifying influence, 
 many of your ancestors have been gathered into the 
 fold of Christ and prepared for his kingdom of glory. 
 Through the unwearied care of a long succession of 
 pious men, and the w^atchful providence of a gra- 
 cious God, they have come down to you, retaining, 
 still, much of their original simplicity and excellence ; 
 and now the blessed inheritance is placed in your 
 hands to be transmitted to those who are to come 
 after you. What remains then but that you cherish 
 an enlightened, uniform attachment to these institu- 
 tions, and support them by your combined influence. 
 There are indeed the best and most solid reasons 
 for such attachment. You have seen their accord- 
 ance with the order of the primitive churches, — 
 
214 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 their adaptation to the genius of our civil institutions, 
 and to all the great purposes of religious worship. 
 You have also been called to survey, though imper- 
 fectly indeed, the happy consequences which have 
 resulted from them, both to this community and the 
 country at large. Never then forsake these institu- 
 tions. Never be backward to bear your full propor- 
 tion of the expense necessary to support them. 
 That parent, or master of a family, who retires 
 from the house of God, or withdraw^s his name as a 
 member of an ecclesiastical society, because he is 
 unwilling to pay a little tax for the support of the 
 gospel, wr&ngs his own soul and inflicts the deepest 
 injury on the welfare of his family and society. For 
 a little paltry lucre, he does that which will probably 
 prove the ruin of himself, and be the means of en- 
 tailing sin and ruin upon his posterity. Ever then 
 avoid such a course of conduct as you would avoid 
 the road to death. It is mean, it is sinful, it is de- 
 structive to your best interests both in this world 
 and in that which is to come.* You owe it to the 
 
 *The author states this with a melancholy arra)' of facts before 
 him. Individuals, and families, and, in some cases, wliole neigh- 
 borhoods, once exemplary for their morals and general respect 
 for religion and religious institutions, has he known to be redu- 
 ced to a state little short of heathenism, by an act of covetous- 
 ness or passion, in breaking away from their connection with ec 
 
AND DEFENCE. 215 
 
 memory of your pilgrim ancestors, you owe it as a 
 debt of gratitude to those who have hved here 
 before you, and from w hom you have received this 
 goodly heritage ; you owe it to your children and 
 to posterity that are fast rising up to fill your places 
 in society, to throw the shield of your entire influ- 
 ence around the institutions of our venerated fath- 
 ers, and to defend them against all assaults of 
 enemies. 
 
 Do not understand me to inculcate a bigoted 
 attachment to your own order, — an attachment 
 which shall lead you to set up exclusive pretensions, 
 and to look down with a haughty eye upon all other 
 denominations. This would be an error as directly 
 opposed to the true principles of Congregationahsm, 
 as it is to the spirit of the gospel. But while you 
 cherish sentiments of true liberality towards other 
 
 clesiastical society. A man is covetous, and unwilling to give 
 any thing for the support of the gospel ; or he takes offence at 
 something said or done by the minister, or at the misconduct of 
 some member of the church, or at some supposed mismanagement 
 or improper act on the part of the congregation, — forthwith, he 
 throws in his certificate— withdraws himself and his family from 
 the house of God and from all connection with the stated means 
 of grace. This is a case of very frequent occurrence ; and it is, 
 much as if a man, to gratify his avarice, or revenge some injury 
 done him by his neighbor, should fire his own house, or sign a 
 warrant for the exclusion of himself and his posterity from the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
216 MEANS or RECOVERY 
 
 denominations that difter from you in forms of wor- 
 ship and modes of external order, never be indifferent 
 to the superior claims of your own ; always be ready 
 to assert a preference for ijour own, and by all proper 
 means, strive to promote its prosperity and extend 
 its influence. 
 
 Be not moved, if at any time you hear it asserted, 
 that the ecclesiastical order to which you belong, is 
 schismatical ; that the ministry under w^hich you sit, 
 is unauthorized ; that the churches belonging to your 
 denomination, are no churches ; and that the ordi- 
 nances administered in them, are invalid and nuga- 
 tory. Such charges and denunciations should rather 
 excite your pity than alarm your fears ; and should 
 be listened to with the same unconcern that you feel, 
 when a " partizan of the Papacy denounces you for 
 rejecting the supremacy of the Pope, and questions 
 the possibility of your salvation out of the church of 
 Rome." 
 
 Remember the interesting relation you sustain to 
 past and future generations, and be faithful to the 
 sacred trust committed to you. Above all, remem- 
 ber that the best and most perfect forms of worship, 
 are after all, hut forms; and if unanimated by the spirit 
 of true religion, are only as sounding brass and tink- 
 ling cymbals. Never forget that religion is a persona] 
 
AND DEFENCE. 217 
 
 thing ; that it has its seat in the heart, and is indis- 
 pensable to your standing approved of God in the 
 great day of account. Enter, then, without delay, 
 into the spirit of the institutions which you inherit 
 from your fathers ; be christians in deed and in truth, 
 and thus be prepared to join your pious ancestors 
 in that blessed world where distinctions of name and 
 sect are unknown ; where all who love the Lord 
 Jesus in sincerity, are embraced in one vast, united 
 and happy assembly ; where their worship and com- 
 munion are perfect and everlasting. 
 
 4. I turn, in conclusion, to the young, especially 
 to young men, the rising hope of the church and of 
 society. Ardently attached as I am to the principles 
 and order of the Congregational churches, and to the 
 institutions of my country, I look round with deep 
 emotion, upon those into whose hands the precious 
 inheritance is soon to pass. I behold the aged 
 fathers and mothers, who have long borne the heat 
 and burden of the day, passing from the stage of life 
 and dropping, one after another, into the unseen 
 world. I see others of my own age, the acting mem- 
 bers of society, fast treading after the aged, and 
 soon to be gathered with them to the great congrega- 
 tion of the dead. The young are rising up to fill our 
 places, destined to act a little moment amidst these 
 19 
 
218 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 transcient scenes, then to disappear, giving place in 
 their turn to another generation. O how affecting 
 these changes ! How soon to be experienced ! God, 
 my young friends, has placed you in circumstances 
 of deep and solemn interest. You are called to 
 cherish the memory of your ancestors, to bind their 
 principles to your hearts, to defend and maintain 
 their institutions, and transmit them unimpaired, to 
 those who shall come after you.. Those ancestors, 
 my friends, are worthy of your veneration and love ; 
 their principles worthy of your deepest affection and 
 esteem ; their institutions worthy of your warmest 
 attachment and most decided support. 
 
 They have, indeed, often been viHfied and re- 
 proached ; they will be vihfied and reproached 
 again ; but this alters not their merits, nor renders 
 them the less deserving of your esteem and support. 
 The cry of bigotry and superstition and perse- 
 cution will be echoed again and again. You will 
 hear it repeated a thousand times that Calvin burnt 
 Servetus, that the Puritans persecuted the Quakers 
 and Baptists, and were the abettors of a gloomy and 
 intolerant religion. This stale and silly slang is in the 
 mouth of every enemy of religion, who has only 
 wit enough to repeat what others have said before 
 him; and has, time out of mind, furnished the 
 standing topics of ridicule and reproach to all who 
 
AND DEFENCE. 
 
 219 
 
 hate the spirit and institutions of the Pilgrims. A 
 sufficient reply is — Look at results. Men do not 
 gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. The 
 works of the Pilgrims speak for themselves. They 
 furnish their own defence. But who are they that 
 are so fond of raising the cry of bigotry and super- 
 stition ? Are" they the tinily candid, the truly pious, 
 the truly liberal ? The very last characteristics to 
 which such persons are entitled. They cry bigotry 
 against others, but are themselves the greatest bigots ; 
 and are tolerant towards none but the enemies of 
 evangelical truth and serious religion. 
 
 Be not moved then, my young friends, at the 
 charge of bigotry, while you stand up in defence of 
 essential principles, and show yourselves decided in 
 supporting the institutions of your ancestors. The 
 charge falls on others rather than yourselves ; and 
 furnishes an occasion of glorying rather than of 
 shame. 
 
 But Calvin burnt Servetus, Calvin burnt Serve- 
 tus — yes, Calvin burnt Servetus. He did not. He 
 neither burnt him, nor instigated his burning. He 
 endeavored to plead him off from the sentence pro- 
 nounced upon him by the Senate of Geneva, and to 
 obtain for him a commutation of his punishment for 
 something less severe. But what if he did procure 
 
230 MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 the death of Servetus ? Does this prove the Bible 
 untrue, or the system of doctrine usually denomina- 
 ted Calvinistic, false ? or that the Orthodox of New- 
 England hold that system just as Calvin taught it ? 
 or that they are advocates for the persecution and 
 burning of heretics ? Nothing of all this. Why then 
 are these things said ? To bring reproach upon the 
 truth, and to excite odium against the friends of evan- 
 gelical religion. But was Calvin, or the Purtians 
 the only persecutors that ever lived ? Did not So- 
 cinus, the founder of Socinianism, persecute Fran- 
 cis Davides, superintendent of the Socinian churches 
 in Transylvania? Did he not procure his being 
 thrown into prison, where, after languishing six 
 years, he died?* Are not christian men and chris- 
 tian women at the present day, in various Cantons of 
 Switzerland, persecuted, imprisoned, and banished 
 from the country, for holding the evangelical doc- 
 trines, by those who style themselves liberal chris- 
 tians ?t I am ashamed to state these things, and 
 would not, but for the sake of rescuing the truth 
 from perversion, and defending it against the re- 
 
 * See Waterman's Life of Calvin, p. 126, and Hist, of Diss, 
 vol, IV. p. 244. 
 
 t Chris. Spectator, 1830, p. 99—326. 
 
AND DEFENCE. 221 
 
 proaches that have been cast upon it.* Let the 
 doctrines and institutions of the fathers of New-Eng- 
 land stand or fall on tlieir own merits ; but let no 
 
 *The allusion in this sentence, and the reason for introducing 
 the preceding paragraphs, will be understood by those who were 
 present at the delivery of the lecture. To others it is a matter of 
 too little importance to need explanation. 
 
 Many, whose standing argument against the doctrines of the 
 Orthodox is, that Calvin burnt Servetus, seem not to recollect 
 the persecutions which in this nineteenth century the Unitarians 
 have carried on, and are still carrying on, against the friends of 
 evangelical religion in Switzerland. They are wont also to pass 
 over silently the act of persecution perpetrated by Socinus against 
 Davides, while at the same time they keep up a constant deafen- 
 ing outcry against the murderous Calvin for his conduct towards 
 Servetus. The following facts may help to a better understand, 
 ing of this subject. They are from iJogue and Bennett's Hist, of 
 Diss. vol. IV. p. 244 : " If it be alleged that Socinus left Davides 
 to the civil power, the same excuse may be made for Calvin. When 
 it is asserted that this reformer ruled in Geneva, so that the acts 
 of the government were his own, it may be replied that the gov- 
 ernment once banished Calvin himself, who declared before Ser- 
 vetus came to Geneva, that it would not be in his power to save 
 him ; so that his influence was little more than that of the Socini- 
 ans in Transylvania, who had acquired such an ascendant that the 
 man whom they persecuted was sent to die in a jail. Calvin la- 
 bored to dissuade a strun.<rer, who was vievred with horror, from 
 coming to a place where the laws, which had been enacted long 
 before by the emperor, would consign him to the flames ;* but the 
 Socinians saw their brother, the superintendent of their churches, 
 hurled from his honors to a dungeon; and what efforts did they 
 make to save him ? The death of Servetus, which was cruel in- 
 deed, was inflicted for what all the reformers, as well as Calvin, 
 deemed damnable heresies, worthy of death, the blasphemy of de- 
 
 * See Moshcim for the above facts. 
 
 19* 
 
22% MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 dishonest, illiberal measures be adopted to bring them 
 into disrepute, or to arm ignorance or prejudice 
 against them. Those doctrines and institutions, my 
 young friends, will bear examination. Examine them ; 
 examine them for yourselves ; examine them in the 
 light of God's word ; examine them in the light which 
 the experience of two centuries has cast upon them ; 
 examine them in the lioht which beams from the vir- 
 tue, the intelligence, the piety, the happiness that so 
 signally bless this fair portion of our land ; and sure I 
 am, that the effect will be a deepened conviction of 
 their excellence, and of the duty of maintaining them. 
 Come forward then, ye who are so soon to be the 
 acting members of society, and possess the goodly 
 inheritance that has come down to you from your 
 
 grading the Son of God to an ordinary man, his death to mere 
 martyrdom, and his worship to idolatry. But the Socinians who 
 are supposed to outstrip all others in liberal principles, hunted 
 Davidos to prison from political motives, lest the odium under 
 which they labored should be augmented. Socinus publicly 
 stigmatized the adherents of Davides as semi-Jews, and urged 
 the unfortunate man to renounce his error ; but privately he ac- 
 knowledged (as in all reason and consistency he was compelled 
 to do) that it was a mere nothing — nay, no error at all, but a proof 
 of strong faith ; so that Davides v/as made a sacrifice, not to hon- 
 est bigotry, but to mere finesse. The aggravated guilt of Socinus 
 is, indeed, no excuse f®r that of Calvin ; but it may suffice to ex- 
 pose the conduct of his followers, who adduce the crime of the 
 latter, as a proof of the blackness of his character and of the intol- 
 erant tendency of his doctrines." 
 
AND DEFENCE. 223 
 
 fathers. Never forsake that inheritance ; never 
 think lightly of it ; never withhold from it the aid of 
 your counsels, your efforts, your prayers. Wherev- 
 er your lot in life may be cast, glory in your ances- 
 try ; show yourselves the worthy descendants of the 
 Pilgrims ; and do all in your power to revive, ex- 
 tend, and perpetuate their spirit, their principles and 
 their institutions. Be not beguiled by any of those 
 false-hearted, delusive systems, which, while they are 
 forever chanting forth the praises of their own libe- 
 rality, are distinguished for nothing so much as for 
 their illiherality towards all who hold the distinguish- 
 ing doctrines of the Bible, and are firm and decided 
 in support of them. Bring all such systems to the 
 test. Be not deceived by fair speeches and kind 
 professions. Words may be softer than oil, and yet 
 be drawn swords. Inquire whether the advocates 
 of such systems are men of piety, are men of prayer, 
 are men of devotedness to God and the good of man- 
 kind : vrhether the systems themselves are accord- 
 ant with the truth of God, adapted to your wants as 
 sinners, fitted to cheer and comfort you in the dying 
 hour, and to prepare you for the great day of judg- 
 ment and account. If they endure not this test, for- 
 bear to embrace them, and abide still in the old paths, 
 the good way, and you shall find rest for your souls. 
 
)rZ4i MEANS OF RECOVERY 
 
 Cast an eye forward to the scenes before you. 
 Recollect that you are born for immortality ; that 
 you have begun an existence which is never to end, 
 and that your condition, eternal ages after the heav- 
 ens and the earth shall have passed away, depends 
 on the character you form in this state of your pro- 
 bation. Rise up then to the great work of prepar- 
 ation for immortal honor and blessedness. Remem- 
 ber from whom you are descended ; into whose 
 labors you have entered ; what privileges you enjoy 
 and to what heights in glory you may rise, if you 
 forfeit not the bright inheritance by forsaking the 
 God of your fathers and going after other gods. 
 
 It is recorded of the ancient Scythians, that 
 when in battle they were overpowered by their 
 enemies, they would retreat till they came to the 
 graves of their fathers, and there take their stand 
 nor yield but in death. 
 
 And now, could I make my voice resound through 
 New-England, I would assemble the youth, the 
 young men of the land around the graves of their 
 fathers, and there I would swear them to be true 
 to their memories and to maintain their principles 
 and institutions with their latest breath. If you 
 fail here, my friends ; if you forsake the God of 
 your fathers and alienate the precious inheritance 
 
AND DEFENCE. 225 
 
 * which they have bequeathed to you, O how will 
 you offend against the venerable exiles, who came 
 here and toiled and suffered and died, that they 
 might leave their example and their labors a bless- 
 ing to their descendants and the world ! How will 
 you offend against the dearest privileges and hopes 
 of this community, and draw down upon your 
 memories the reproaches of posterity for having 
 robbed them of their birthright ? The sacred shades 
 of the Pilgrims will testify against you ; the graves 
 of Hooker and Stone and Haynes, of Robinson and 
 Winthrpp and Cotton will testify against you ; God 
 himself will testify against you, and provoked by 
 an ungrateful dereliction of truth and duty on the 
 part of those whom he has distinguished above all 
 others by the abundance of his blessings, he will 
 inscribe on the temples of New-England, the glory 
 is departed. 
 
 But I read brighter auspices in the destiny of 
 New-England. The God, who remembers mercy 
 unto a thousand generations, will not forget the chil- 
 dren of the Pilgrims ; nor the churches planted and 
 nurtured by their prayers and tears. He will still 
 watch over them for good ; will still defend and 
 bless them with his continual presence and favor ; 
 and when their present pastors and members shall 
 
226 MEANS OF RECOVERY AND DEFENCE. 
 
 be gathered to their final home, other ministers and 
 christians will be raised up to occupy these pulpits 
 and fill these churches ; and thus the divine light 
 kindled by the Pilgrims amidst icy storms and dreary 
 wilds, will continue to expand and brighten, from 
 generation to generation, till it mingles and is lost in 
 the glories of millennial day. 
 
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