Withered at night, and scattered on the ground. Kuow that your natures are defiled with sin; Hence the wild wanderings of your early Your wide departure from the ways of And hence your danger of an awful doom. Of earth's vain pleasures for a fleeting day? Deny yourselves of every sinful sweet; Repair to Jesus; with a broken heart tain The dreadful weight of all your crimson sins, And give your debt a free and full discharge.. Then grow in grace; in all that's good and great With years advancing, dear to all the Beloved of God, a wise and holy seed, And try an ocean of eternal joy. Parents and guardians! Deign to give A kind example; let them learn of you Soon you must leave them to perform their part, By you unaided. Be you then at rest meet The long succession of your heirs below, Heirs to a kingdom, which will never fail. July 17. 1814. WORKS PROPOSED, AND IN PRESS, N. WILLIS has issued a Prospectus of Newspaper to be called the RECORDER, to commence on the first Wednesday of Jan. uary next, to be published weekly, and to be conducted on a new plan. The great characteristic of the proposed paper is, that it will contain ample accounts of Bi ble Societies, Missionary Societies, &c. &c. and will second all the efforts to execute the laws, and to suppress and discor atenance vice. The design of the paper is thus summed up: "On the whole, it will be the constaut aim of the Conductors to make their Newspaper such a publication as an intelligent Christian, in any of the walks of life, would wish to receive?" Though a great part of the contemplated paper will be occupied with religious intelligence, yet the Conductors say, that "it is not intended nor desired by them to interfere with or diminish the circulation of Religious Magazines." S. Etheridge, jun. has just received the fifth volume of Calmet and proposes put ting it to press. OF ON THE CONSOCIATION CHURCHES, AND THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSOCIA FION ON THAT SUBJECT. (Continued from p. 518.) Passing by Mr. Norton's "Responsio ad quæstionum syllogin etc." written in 1615, at the request of the ministers of New England, which however accorded substantially with the preceding extracts; we come next to the Cambridge Platform, composed by what may be called a national synod, it being a synod from the four New England col onies, and called by public authority. Of the members of this Synod, the Rev. Messrs. Higginson and Hubbard, in their "Testimony to the order of the Gospel," published with Wise's" Vindication," p. 73-80, say: "We that saw the "persons, who from four famous "colonies assembled in the synod "that agreed on our Platform of Church Discipline, cannot forget "their excellent character. They "were men of great renown in "the nation, from whence the Laudian persecution exiled "them; their learning, their holi "ness, their gravity, struck all VOL. XI. "men that knew them with ad"miration. They were Timothies "in their houses, Chrysostomes "in their pulpits, Augustines in "their disputations. The pray"ers, the studies, the humble in"quiries with which they sought "after the mind of God, were as "likely to prosper as any man's on earth." These holy men, Platform ch, ii, §. 5, declare the church to be congregational, "the term inde"pendent" (say they)" we approve "not." The xvth chapter of the Platform is wholly on the subject "Of the communion of churches one with another." The first sec. tion is this: "Although churches "be distinct, and therefore may "not be confounded one with another, and equal, and there. "fore have no dominion one over "another; yet all the churches "ought to preserve church com"munion one with another, ber "cause they are all united unto "Christ, not only as a mystical but "as a political head, whence is "derived a communion suitable "thereunto.” The 2nd section is long, and will therefore be abridged. It de clares that the communion of 68 churches is exercised by, 1, mu. tual care; I, consultation; 3, ad. monition; 4, participation; 5, recommendation of members; 6, affording relief and succor. Ac cording to the 3d way of communion, viz. by admonition, a church which might be rent with divisions, or lie under any open scandal, without seeking aid from other churches, was to be admonished; and if it did not reform, it was finally to be put out of communion. But as individual churches were to undertake the thankless service, and no councils but such as were chosen for the occasion could be employed, this way of communion became very difficult, and was seldom resorted to: "Never above once," says Dr. Mather, in 1726, Ratio Disciplina, p. 161. It was doubtless to remedy this defect in the Platform, as one primary object, that the proposals of 1705 were brought forward. The Synod of 1662, which composed the Propositions concerning consociations of churches, approved and adopted by the General Association, was a Synod of Elders and Messengers from Massachusetts only. As their sentiments are already fully before the public, nothing need be said, except to remark, that though greatly divided on anoth er subject, (that of Baptism,) they were perfectly unanimous on the subject of consociation of churches. See "First Prin ciples of New England," p. 28. Both the Platform and the Propositions of the Synod of 1662, were confirmed by the general court of Massachusetts, and published under authority as the ecclesiastical basis of the churches. And a Synod of the churches in Massachusetts as sembled by order of the General Court at Boston, Sept. 10, A. D. 1679, voted their unanimous approbation of the Platform. The Connecticut Platform, was composed by a Synod at Saybrook, A. D. 1708. Itembodies the "Heads of Agreement" assented to by the united Ministers formerly called presbyterian and congregational, in and near London, A. D. 1691, and engrafts upon that basis the sub stance of the Proposals of 1705. It is needless to proceed any farther in developing the sentiments of the fathers of New England, on the subject of communion of churches. Whoever wishes to see a condensed ac count of the great harmony of sentiment on this subject, among all congregationalists in Europe and America, may consult "First Principles of New England," by Increase Mather, Cambridge, 1676, or his "Seasonable Tesu mony," Boston, 1720. From the view now taken, it is evident that the Committee of the General Asociation are perfectly correct in representing their plan of ecclesiastical order as being, for the substance of it, “no innovation; but a recurrence "to first principles, a restoration of "our churches to their primitive "order." Report, p. 371. There are, however, as before observed, two points of difference between the principles of the Report, and the Propositions of the Synod, which deserve par ticular consideration. I. The first is, placing the communion of churches under the care and management of standing councils or consociations, instead of having it in the hands of occasional councils, mutual and ex parte, It may perhaps be thought that the Synod contemplated for mal. local associations. Prop. iv, p. 370, of the Report. "Conso"ciation of churches, is their mu"tual and solemn agreement to ex. "ercise communion in such acts "as aforesaid, amongst them "selves, with special reference to "those churches, which by Providence are planted in a conveniwent vicinity, though with liberty "reserved without offence, to "make use of others, as the nature "of the case or the advantage of "opportunity may lead thereun"to." But it appears the Synod meant no more than, that all the congregational churches far and near should enter into a mutual agreement, (perhaps by voting approbation of the Synod's propositions,) to practise communion in all the parts of it, with all their sister churches, and particularly with those around them; to more or less of which as they saw fit they would send wheneyer they needed counsel, or transacted any business in which their neighbors or the churches at large were interested. This was in reality making occasional councils the medium of the churches' communion. Now the Committee propose to substitute standing councils, called consociations, in the place of these oc casional councils. We may however notice, that this proposition of the Synod makes it the duty of each church to practise communion with those churches especially which are in the vicinity. Now this must forbid sending to a great distance for a council, whenever it will imply disrespect, or dis. trust, or any unfriendly feelings; |