Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

tures of feeling were of any account with him, which could exist without an actual obedience; but, as became a rational and accountable being, he solemnly considered his relations to God and his kingdom, and having once established a principle concerning either his duty or his interest, he yielded himself up with undivided energy to bring his feelings and his conduct into conformity to it. Hence the remarkable consistency of his piety. It was not one thing to-day and another to-morrow; it was not the religion of feeling without action, nor of action without feeling; it was not so expended on duties more appropriately religious, as to leave nothing for the common offices of benevolence, nor so exclusively engaged in these as to afford no warm delight in the exercises of devotion, but like the varied hues of sunbeams mingling in the pure splendor of morning light, it was the union of all christian graces in beautiful consistency; and like the morning light it shone more and more unto the perfect day. There may have been others in whom some single virtues have shone with equal lustre ; but for another example of all the graces of christianity, mingled in so perfect symmetry, and exemplified amidst trials so various and severe, we know not where, at least among the records of modern piety, we are to look.

The mental superiority of Edwards, no doubt, contributed to the purity and elevation of his piety. This, sanctified by divine grace, enabled him to grasp the truth of God concerning his character and government with a comprehension and force, qualified him to apprehend the nature of holiness and the course of duty, with a discrimination and to an extent, and bore him on towards the object of his choice with a decision and power, far beyond the experience of ordinary minds. But it is at least equally evident, that his piety contributed reciprocally to his mental superiority. It early and constantly directed his powers to objects above all others suited to expand and exalt them; it summoned him by the strongest motives to diligence in the improvement of time and of advantages for intellectual culture; it purified his mental vision from the corruptions of prejudice and the bias of unholy inclinations and passions; and it gave him a peace of mind which left his powers undiverted and unoppressed by the common anxieties of mankind. In this view of his attainments, who may not find cause of humiliation? Few have the natural endowments of Edwards; few can reach the same qualifications for usefulness; and for what we have not received, we are not answerable. But who that has spent half the number of Edwards' years, had he possessed the same elevation, steadfastness, and purity of moral aim, would not have made attainments, compared with which, all that he has actually made are few and feeble?

ART. II.-REVIEW OF HAWES' TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE PILGRIMS.

A Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims, and a vindication of the congregational churches of New England. By JOEL HAWES, pastor of the first church in Hartford. Hartford: Cooke and Co. 1830.

THE old puritans are "a sect every where spoken against," and yet every where regarded with deference. The influence which they have exerted in giving character to the world, is necessarily admitted by all who know or regard historical truth. There has been no class of men since the days of the apostles, whose principles and institutions contained so much right and so little wrong, or were calculated to do so much good and so little hurt. Yet they have always lain under obloquy. It has been the fashion to revile them. Even those who have most fully admitted the good they achieved for their posterity and for mankind, have still felt obliged to reproach, or at liberty to misunderstand their principles. But after all, it is to their principles we are to look for the source of their actions, because they were, in an eminent degree, men of principle. So deep rooted and universal is the enmity to the puritans, that there is not a leading author in the whole circle of English literature, whose subjects led to speak of them at all, who has not abused them. Even to this day, if one of their descendants sets himself to inquire, in the most dispassionate manner, what were the principles which made his forefathers such men, it is sure to call forth a new volley of obloquy and ridicule. As claiming descent from the puritans, (higher honor than the blood of royalty,) we think it our duty to venerate their character and to vindicate them, as far as truth will go, from the opprobrium with which it suits the enemies of their principles to load their memory. Meaning to embrace all fit opportunities of doing this, we express our thanks to the respected author of the work before us, for the ability and zeal with which he has paid his willing "Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims." Such a tribute is becoming from the successor of Thomas Hooker; and is given with beautiful consistency by one who has in his doctrine and his character so much of genuine puritanism.

The "Tribute" consists of six lectures, which the author tells us "were delivered on successive sabbath evenings during the months of March and April, 1830." Lecture I. is on the Constitution and Order of the Primitive Churches-II. Origin, Principles, and Influence of the congregational churches of New-England-III. Deductions from the foregoing Lectures, shewing the striking resemblance of these churches to the primitive churches,

their adaptedness to all the exigences of the church, even up to the millennium, and their entire harmony with the genius of our civil institutions-IV. Character and Vindication of the Pilgrims-V. Causes and Extent of Declension in the congregational churches of New-England-VI. Means of Recovery and Defense.

It is hardly necessary to say, that these topics have been treated by one who sincerely believes, and cordially loves the principles, character and institutions of our pilgrim fathers, and that they have been handled with ability and in the spirit of christian candor. The author loves truth, and seeks it diligently, judges with discrimination, and presents the results of all his studies in a style of great simplicity and perspicuity. Every father of a family in New-England, who wishes to bring up his children to reverence the memory of their ancestors, should make them acquainted with this book. As a specimen, and for the sake of refreshing the memory of our readers respecting the early history of the puritans, we copy from the beginning of the second lecture the following brief historical sketch. THE object of the present Lecture is to trace the origin, exhibit the principles, and illustrate the influence, of the Cong egational Churches of New England.

These churches, 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 christianity. The immediate agents of this revival were a society of christians 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 or to be made known to them, according to the best of their endeavors, whatever it might cost them.'

This holy purpose was formed in troublous times; and the execution of it cost the venerated founders of these churches incredible hardship and suffering. Popery had indeed received its death blow in England, in the reign of Henry the eighth. But its corrupt 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. During the reign of Edward the sixth, the reformation made rapid advances. But by a mysterious providence, 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 succeeded, -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 accession of Elizabeth, in 1558, the fires of Smithfield were quenched, and the power of Rome restrained. But the reformation during her reign, instead of advancing, went back. Though professedly a protestant, she was in heart more than half a papist. Toleration was a virtue unknown to her thoughts, and abhorrent to her feelings; and though she restored the reformed liturgy of Edward, it was not without making many alterations in it for the worse, and establishing, anew, many of

the absurd and unscriptural ceremonies of popery. Nor can any thing better be said of James, and the two Charles's who succeeded Elizabeth. During their successive reigns, conformity to the established church in all its rites and forms, was pressed with the greatest rigor, and non-compliance punished with extreme severity. All those ministers who wished for a thorough reformation in the church, and sought to have its doctrines and ceremonies strictly conformed to the scriptures, were treated with the greatest indig nity and oppression. They were driven from their pulpits, deprived of their livings, thrown 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 compelled 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. pp. 41-44.

We have long felt that those descendants of the puritans, who still cleave to the religious institutions of their fathers, were culpably negligent in regard to those institutions. We know that their principles of church government are but little studied, and that very few, even of our ministers, have ever made themselves familiar with the reasons in favor of the congregational system. They have rather fallen in with it because they found it, and knew it was established by wise and good men, and saw that it operated well, and did not see any good and sufficient reason for altering it. Indeed it is believed that within less than twenty years, some of those who stood high in the estimation of our churches, and who had much influence in forining the opinions of our young ministers, were in favor of what they thought a more efficient mode of church government. We think this feeling has now chiefly passed away, and that the great body of our ministers, and all our theological teachers, are decidedly in favor of our "old paths." But still the subject is not studied as its importance requires it is not studied as our fathers studied it.

Three facts prove the scantiness of the attention which is given to the reasons of congregationalism-that so little is published on the subject, that the books which are published are so little read, and that in our theological seminaries, so little interest is taken, both by teachers and pupils, in that part of the course which respects this particular subject. The only work which we now think of, as having been published in the last twenty years, is the volume before us, and another a few years ago, called "Ratio Disciplinæ," by Professor Upham of Bowdoin college. We have,

therefore, thought it our duty to embrace the present opportunity, to exhibit a brief view of what congregationalism is, and the reasons for it. In doing this, we do not mean to disparage any other mode, nor to give any ground of offense to those who differ from us. But we shall take it upon ourselves to use great plainness of speech. We ought not to be ashamed to maintain the institutions of our fathers. Neither the bible, nor experience requires us to participate in the feelings of those, who find food only for their mirth in the proceedings of the men that first planted New-England. To us it is very plain that the right way of maintaining discipline, and of regulating the various practical affairs of the churches, is of the first consequence to the purity, union, and enlargement of Christ's kingdom on earth. Some of our brethren, in their abundant deference to those who differ from us, have carried the idea that congregationalists do not much value their principles. And the easiness with which so many church members and ministers desert them, is a proof that the mind of God on the subject, as our fathers found and taught it, has not been very faithfully inculcated among their posterity. The men who colonized this northern wilderness, took a different view of the matter. They laid out their strength on the subject of church government. Their best ministers employed their most diligent labors, continually, for many years, in seeking and exhibiting the light which the word of God throws on this subject. It is sufficient to refer to the labors of John Cotton, first minister of Boston, of Norton and Shepard, of Increase Mather, of John Owen in England, and of Thomas Hooker, first minister of Hartford. Cotton's "Power of the Keys," was the first book on that subject written in America. Owen sat down to confute it, and was so convinced by it, that he became a zealous congregationalist all his days. Hooker wrote his "Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline," and sent it to England for publication in 1646, but the copy was lost, with the ship which bore it, and many valuable lives. He was immediately urged to re-write it, which he did. But before it had received the finishing stroke, he was called to his rest. He was a man of eminent gifts, was one of the most powerful preachers in New-England, and still more remarkable for his prayers, a man of great learning and skill, having distinguished himself at Emanuel College, Cambridge, Eng. His sermons were searching and experimental. He was rich in charities, and his family exhibited the power of godliness. For many years before his death, he had been in the habitual enjoyment of a comfortable assurance of God's favor, and when dying, said, "I am going to receive mercy;" then closing his own eyes, he expired with a smile on his

[blocks in formation]
« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »