On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
at the * tirne , were considered as stamped with a character which would secure universal respect atid confidence , if they Were uFhefed forth with his approving signature . Cotton Mather ' s great work , the Magnalia , is graced and hallowed by a delightful prefatory commendation , written by the good man at the age of
eighty-two . His grey hairs were adorned with that crown of glory with which a virtuous old age always encircles the brows . The light , which had beamed from his pure and holy example during his long life , was collected and concen-i trated with a supernatural lustre around his venerable form . The generations as they passed , knelt ; to receive his
benedictions ; they crowded round him that that they might enjoy , before he was taken away , that conversation , which a contemporary declares to have been * a glimpse of heaven . ' He always welcomed them as they approached . And when they retired from his presence they felt that it was good for them to have been
there . We can imagine the hoary and benignaut patriarch , standing among his younger brethren and successors , and saying , in the language of Jacob , before his departure , while his children and children ' s children were gathered around him , * Bring them unto me , and I will bless them . ' At last he was called home
by his Heavenly Father His dust reposes in our soil—let his memory be treasured up in our hearts—let his character be honoured in all our churches . " - —Pp . 29 , 30 . The * remainder of the list would less interest our readers . The preacher thus concludes it , and passes to the consideration of his principal topic :
" Before relinquishing the subject , it is proper to mention the interesting fact , that , although there have been fourteen regularly ordained Pastors of this Church , the ministry of my venerable friend and colleague , ( Dr . Prince ) who has been permitted to preside over and conduct the solemnities of this service , covers one quarter of its whole duration . It has been protracted beyond that of any of his predecessors ; and , in a few weeks , if his
life shall be preserved through them , it will have extended itself to half a century . Let us join with him , my friends , in rendering thanks to that good Providence which has thus lengthened out his days . May philosophy and religion continue to dhed a calm and holy lustre upon his path—And may God bless and illumine the evening of a life which has been spent in discovering and adoring his perfections , as they are revealed in his works !
Untitled Article
- " In looking back along the history of this Church , our attention must not be engrossed by the contemplation of individual characters , however interesting , or of transient events , however important . We must extend our vision until it reaches the very foundation upon which it was built ; and if we examine that foundation , we shall find that it rests upon a few great principles . To these principles let us give our attention . tK
It has always been allowed that this was the First American Congregational Church . It is true , indeed , that those excellent and pious men at Plymouth , who were worthy of the glorious distinction , which they rightfully possess , of being the first and foremost of the Pilgrim race , had maintained Christian worship for years previous to the organization of this Church ; but for some time they considered themselves only as
a branch of the church whose pastor , and a majority of whose members , remained in Leyden ; and , owing to various causes , they did not become a distinct and fully constructed religious , society for some time after the establishment of the church here . It is upon grounds like these , that our claim to the character of the First A meriacn Cougre ^ rational Church has been uniformly presented , and alway sallowed .
" But we go further , and maintain that this should be regarded as the mother of the Congregational Churches throughout the modern world . It is well knowu , to every one conversant with the history of the Protestant Churches , that
Robert Brown , more than forty years before , conceived , and endeavoured to put into operation , a scheme of Christian social worship and ecclesiastical government , similar in many points to that adopted by our fathers . It is also well known that John Robinson , on the
continent of Europe , and that Henry Jacob and John Lathorp , in England , had adopted substantially the same principles as those of Brown , and were the Pastors of Churches somewhat resembling , our own , before the year 1629 . But either these attempts were crushed in the beginning , or , if independent churches
were formed , they were repressed by persecution , or restrained by authority , and thus finally exterminated , so that no traces of * them are now to be found . And , besides , they were not , in all points , conformed to the principles which were here defined , and declared to belong to a Congregational Church . " While inquiring into the principles , upon which this Church was established ,
Untitled Article
50 Critical Notices . — 'llieologicul .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 50, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/50/
-