holy and to be kept sacred, in the Scriptures; but churches and congregations are at liberty to set apart days of fasting, thanksgiving, and prayer.

[See Belknap's American Biography, Art. Robinson; Trumbull's History of Connecticut, chs. xiii, xix; Hooker's Survey of the Sum of Church Discipline; Bogue's and Bennet's History of the Dissenters, vol. 1. ch. 1; the Introduction to Cotton Mather's Ratio Disciplinæ; Bartlet's Model of the Primitive Congregational Way, chaps. ii. v. See also Mass. Hist. Collections, vol. iv, p. 18; and vol. vi, 2d series, p. 537.]

§. 18. Remarks on the preceding general principles.

Some of the above general principles will hereafter be considered with some minuteness, and with particular reference to the authorities and reasonings, on which they

rest.

Even on a slight examination, they will be found to be fundamental, and to embody the elements of a full system.

It will be a matter of some interest to know, that nearly all of them, (at least for their substance,) were distinctly adopted by the church at Leyden, and are, therefore, to be considered as having been approved by the candid and discriminating mind of Robinson, enlightened, as we have reason to believe, by the Spirit of God and the Holy Scriptures. And in these respects we are ready to suppose, he may have seen further than those eminent reformers, Luther and Calvin, whom he imagined to have stopped short of a perfect reformation, and not to have seen all things.—It ought to be remarked, however, that in one respect the example of the Leyden church, has not been followed, viz: in including among the authorized, scripture church officers, what have been termed Ruling Elders; a view of the subject, which has long since been abandoned by general consent. Nor does

it appear, that the distinction between Church and congregation was so clearly drawn, nor the practices, flowing from the distinction, so fully recognized, as in a few years later.

§. 19. Facts relative to the origin of Congregational Churches.

The principle, that individuals have a right under certain circumstances to form themselves into a churchstate, to appoint officers according to the mind of Christ, as revealed in the Scriptures and by the light of nature, and that a church, thus constituted, has in itself a principle of preservation and of church power, and is truly an authorized household of Christ, was understood and admitted by some few persons in England, as early as 1580. And on this fundamental principle a number of churches were gathered; but as the founders of them did not arrive at other principles equally liberal and important, they do not, at this period, seem entitled to be considered Congregational Churches. In the year 1602, a church was gathered on the confines of the counties of York, Nottingham, and Lincoln in England, which chose two ministers, Mr. Richard Clifton and Mr. John Robinson. In the year 1608, the families, composing this church, with Mr. Robinson for their teacher and leader in religious things, set sail for Holland. They spent one year in Amsterdam, and then emigrated to Leyden, where they remained together eleven years. In 1620 a part of them left for New-England, Preparatory to their leaving in July of that year, a day of prayer was observed by Mr. Robinson's Congregation, on which occasion that venerable man preached from Ezra viii. 21, "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance,"

On the 21st of July, that part of the Congregation, who were about to sail for America, departed from Leyden for Delft Haven. On the 22d, Mr. Robinson, being on board of the vessel, bent upon his knees, and commended them, in an ardent and affectionate prayer, to God. He did not sail with them, but returned to the remaining part of the Congregation. He never came to America, as he intended, but died at Leyden, on the 22d of February, 1625; a man "pious and studious of the truth; largely accomplished with gifts and qualifications, and suitable to be a shepherd over the flock of Christ."

From this pious and well informed man Congregationalists generally date their rise. Among other acceptable testimonies in favor of the ecclesiastical principles and the faith of himself and his associates, he wrote a work in Latin, entitled, APOLOGIA PRO EXULIBUS ANGLIS, QUI BROWNISTAE VULGO APPELLANTUR, published at Leyden in 1619.

§. 20. Of the name, Independents, sometimes given to

Congregationalists.

In the early periods of their history, as a separate sect, the Congregationalists, as they are now commonly termed, were more frequently known by the name of Independents. The origin of this last-mentioned name is said to have been owing to certain expressions found in Mr. Robinson's Apology, (APOLOGIA PRO EXULIBUS ANGLIS, &c.,) where he asserts, "Every particular society is a complete Church; and, as far as regards other Churches, immediately and INDEPENDENTLY under Christ alone." No doubt Mr. Robinson, at an early period of his life, entertained views, approaching strict independency; but the general account is, that after going to Holland and having opportunities of conversation with

the learned Dr. William Ames,* he was led to abandon those sentiments. So that when he asserts the Independency of particular Churches on each other, he is undoubtedly to be understood to mean, that one Church cannot be authoritatively controlled by another, and this is precisely the doctrine, which has been firmly maintained by Congregationalists since his time, although it has often been strangely misunderstood or misrepresented. The opinion, which has been held to, is, that particular Churches are independent of each other so far as this, that no other Church or body of Churches can enforce its opinions upon it by means of bonds, penalties, imprisonments, or bodily inflictions. If one Church can control another, by means of its superior knowledge of the Scriptures, by the illustrious excellence of its example, by moral means and not by force, there is no objection. This is the independency, which was undoubtedly meant to be asserted by Robinson and which is claimed by Congregationalists at the present day, and no other; for no Churches more unanimously and zealously maintain that there is a heavenly bond of union, a golden chain, which binds together not only the Churches of Christ, but the individual followers of Christ. In particular is it necessary, that the Churches of the same communion, following the same discipline and professing the same views as to the true doctrines of Scripture should hold

*Dr. Ames was a native of Norfolk in England, and was educated at Christ's College in Cambridge. Having left his native country on account of the unpopularity of the sentiments which he maintained, he afterwards settled as a Professor, in the University, of Franeker in Holland. He was the author, among many other esteemed productions, of a book entitled MEDULLA THEOLOGIAE; a work of considerable note. He is frequently mentioned by the early writers in New-England, who wrote on the subject of Congregationalism. He died in 1633, aged 57.

intercourse, should meet together for worship, for mutual instruction and for consultation, relative to the extension and peace of the City of Zion; and this is a principle so very important, and it is so necessary to avoid all mistake in relation to it that the Congregational Churches, especially those of America, have ever decidedly rejected the name of Independents, and have consented to be known by that only, which is now commonly applied to them.

The name of Independents is particularly mentioned in the Platform of 1648, and objected to. And the very first words, in the RATIO DISCIPLINAE FRATRUM NOV-ANGLORUM, being an attestation in favour of the same by the venerable Dr. Increase Mather, are these; "That the Churches of New-England have been originally of the CONGREGATIONAL persuasion and profession, is known to every one. Their Platform does expressly disclaim the name of Independent." And again more recently, it is stated at the commencement of Mr. Samuel Mather's Discourse concerning Congregational Churches, "The Churches of New-England are nominally and professedly Congregational. They do not approve the name of INDEPENDENT, and are abhorrent from such principles of Independency as would keep them from giving an account of their matters to their brethren of neighboring Societies, regularly demanding it of them."-See also on this point Bartlett's Primitive Congregational Way, CHS. i, ii. and Mass. Historical Collections, vol. x, p. 24..

§. 21. Origin and import of the name Congregationalism. The name, Congregationalists, like that of Independent, has reference to one of the principles of those who bear it, but it is thought not to be equally liable to be misunderstood. The principle referred to, is, that each congregation, assembly, or brotherhood of professing christians, meeting together for religious purposes in one place, is a complete Church. Such a Church may be