Farewell to the First Congregational Church in Norwalk, Conn. (bound with other addresses)

The Association of Fairfield West met at the house of Rev. L. H Atwater, in Fairfield^ Jan. 8, 1850., at 11 A. M., to con- sider the sentiments of Dr. Bushnell, as published in a book entitled " God in Christ," and also the action of the Hartford Central Association thereon. Wei-e present — Rev. Elders Nathaniel Hewit, D:D., E. D. Kinney, E. Hall, D.D., T. Smith, L. H. Atwater, C. T. Pren- tice, T. B. Sturges, L. B. Burr, I. Jennings, and S. J. M. Merwin. Opened with prayer. Proceeded to consider the subject before us. Heard and considered several documents on this subject by members of the Association. Voted, that these documents be referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Hall, Smith and Atwater, to report thereon at an adjourned meeting. Adjourned to meet at Stamford, at the house of Rev. Isaac Jennings, on the 29th inst., at 11 A. M. Closed with prayer. Attest, Theophilus Smith, Scribe. The Association of Fairfield West met at Stamford, Jan. 29, 1850, at 11 A. M., according to adjournment. Were present, Rev. Elders N. Hewit, D.D., J. H. Lins- ley, D.D., E. D. Kinney, E. Hall, D.D., T. Smith, L. H. At- water, S. B. S. Bissell, T. B. Sturges, I. Jennings, S. J. M. Merwin, G. M. Porter, A. B. Rich, and G. Hall. Opened with prayer. Dr. Hall, in behalf of the committee appointed Jan. 8th, made a report in the form of a Remon- strance and Complaint from this Association to the Hartford Central Association. Proceeded to iiear, discuss and amend this report. Tiie roll was called, and each member expressed his views. Whereupon, it was Voted, that this Remonstrance and Complaint be adopted by this Association ; that it be signed by the Moderator a:nd Scribe, and sent to the Mode- rator of the Hartford Central Association. Adjourned. Closed with prayer. Attest, • Theophilus Smith, Scribe. The Association of Fairfield West met at the house of Rev. Dr. Hall, in Norwalk, March 19th, 1850, at 11 A.M., to hear the answer of the Hartford Central Association to our Re- monstrance and Complaint, and to take such action in the premises as might be deemed expedient. Were present, Rev. Elders S. Haight, M. Mead, N. Hewit, D.D., E. D. Kinney, E. Hall, D.D., T. Smith, D. Mead, L. H. Atwater, S. B. S. Bissell, C. T. Prentice, T. B. Sturges, I. Jennings, S. J. M. Merwin, and G. Hall. Opened with prayer. The Answer of the Hartford Cen- tral Association to our Remonstrance and Complaint, was read. Whereupon it was Voted nnammouslj, that our Remon- strance and Complaint to the Hartford Central Association, and their Answer to the same, be printed, and that a copy be sent to each member of the several District Associations in the State. Voted, unanimously, that we address a letter to each Dis- trict Association (excepting Hartford Central), earnestly re- questing them to meet and consider this subject, and let us know the conclusion to which they come. The form of the letter to be addressed to each District As- sociation was read and adopted. Attest, Theophilus Smith, Scribe. REMONSTKANGE AND COMPLAINT Dear Brethren : Our relation to you as ministers of neigliboring churches which have, from their origin, been united in the closest bonds of fellowship with the churches which you serve in the ministry, and that under the acknowledged principle — and for more than one hundred years under the express stipulation [as in Chap. IV. of the Heads of Agreement] — " That they are most ready and willing to give an account of their proceed- ings to each other, when desired for preventing or removing any offenses that may arise aniong them ;" which principle established among the churches must be regarded as equally in force among their ministers ; — also our relation to you as an Association united with you in the General Association of Connecticut, — by which relation we stand or fall with you in the esteem and fellowship of the churches of this country and of the world, and by which we are so far held responsible for acts of yours which, may justly be held to forfeit that esteem and fellowship, — these relations not only give us the right, but impose upon us the duty, when we judge your proceed- ings to be at any time greatly injurious to the truth in Christ, to come before you with our earnest but brotherly Remon- strance AND Complaint. From these relations, also, we are under obligation to the churches, to the community, and to God's holy Truth, not to be silent when our silence must ne- cessarily"be considered as our acquiescence in proceedings which go to shield or to countenance destructive error. We judge that such a duty is imposed upon us by your re- cently published decisioH in the matter of Dr. Bushnell's book entitled " God in Christ." The duty appears to us now to be urgent. The doctrines of that book are not only spread abroad in the book itself, deriving no small celebrity from the celebrity of its author ; but there has also been circulated a reiteration and defense of its main positions under the sanction of honored and in- fluential names. Communications are inserted in religious papers having a wide circulation among our churches, either vindicating those doctrines, or apologizing for them — at times by impugning the faith of our churches — or raising questions as to how it can be decided whether the doctrines treated of in the book (viz., the Trinity, the Atonement, and Justifica- tion,) are fundamental, or so far forth fundamental that any manner of denial or teaching concerning them can be regarded as heresy ; or whether we have any ascertainable standard doctrines on these subjects, by which any possible doctrines concerning the Trinity, Atonement, or Justification may be adjudged heretical. One of these communications, purport- ing to be from a minister of many years' standing in Connec- ticut, declares his doubts concerning the truth of these doc- trines, as held in our churches, and affirms, on his own know- ledge, that many ministers around him are also doubting the same. All which things, with other considerations which we have not mentioned, have caused us to fear lest the doctrines of that book may be alreadj' gaining a dangerous ascendancy — especially over the minds of the young — and preparing the way for a wide-spread error, captivating to the carnal mind, but de- structive of the faith, and ruinous to the souls of men. These things have also caused ministers and churches abroad — who are in communication with us — to doubt whether there is not among the ministers and churches of Connecticut a serious and wide-spread departure from the truth as it is in Christ ; which doubts, in the continued silence of our Associations, we cannot but regard as justifiable. Under these circum- stances, the doctrines of the book now go abroad bearing the sanction of your official decision, that you regard their author " as holding whatever is essential to -the scheme " embodied in " the formulas of the church," and that, in your view, "he could, not be properly or justly subjected . to the charge of heresy, or be denied the confidence of his brethren in the ministry." Yet we find that your " committee were unanimous in the conviction," (and " all the members of the committee acceded to the proposition " so to report ; which report was read to your Association and accepted with the two other re- ports,) that the book in question " denies that the following are revealed truths,' viz. : " 1. That there is a real Trinity in the Divine nature." " 2. That, anterior to the incarnation, the personality of Christ was distinct from that of the Father." " 3. That the end sought and achieved by Christ, in making the atonement, was to cancel the penal claims of condemning law, by voluntarily offering his own sufferings and death as a sufficient satisfaction therefor, and so to redeem every be- liever from further exposure to these claims." Permit us to say, brethren, that when we consider the terms in which the book denies not only these, but other doctrines, which we hold as essential to Christianity, we are much amazed and grieved at your decision. We ask you once more to review with us the doctrines set forth in that book. We give you a statement of the doctrines which, as we believe, the book contains, with the passages which contain them written underneath. We underscore parts of these passages, to call to them your especial atten- tion. I. — Concerning the Logos, or Word. The Logos, or Word, which was in the beginning with God, [p. 145,] called elsewhere the Form of God, [p. 145,] and which, at the incarnation, was made flesh, is a capacity of self-expression in God, [pp. 187, 177, 145,] by which he can [P. 187.] " By the Word, or Word of Life, that peculiar ^otcer in the Di- vine nature, by which God is able to represent Himself outwardly in the forms of things, first in the worlds, and now in the human person" — " by this Word of Life, God has now expressed himself." [P. 177,.] " Undoubtedly the distinction of the Word, or the power of self- representation in God thus denominated, is eternal." outwardly produce himself [p. 146.] In creating the worlds, God only represents, expresses, outwardly produces Himself, [p. 145,] first in the worlds, then in men, [p. 146,] and at the incarnation, as God has before produced himself in all the other finite forms of being, and as he has before appeared in the human, so now, yet more of God is exhibited in the human frrm, in the person of Jesus Christ, [pp. 145, 146, 147, 151, 152.] [Pp. 145, 146.] " There is in God, taken as the Absolute Being, a capa- city of self-expresswn, so to speak, which is peculiar — a generative power of form, a creative imagination, in which, or by aid of which, He can produce Himself outwardly, or represent himself in the finite. In this respect God is wholly unlike to us. Our imagination is passive, stored with forms, co- lors and types of words from without, borrowed from the world we live in. Bui all such forms God has in himself, and this is the Logos, the Word, else- where called the Form of God. Now, this Word, the Form of God, in which he sees himself, is with God, as John says, /rom the beginning. It is God mirrored before his own understanding, and to be mirrored, as in fragments of the mirror, before us. Conceive him now as creating the worlds, or creating worlds, if you please, from eternity. In so doing, he only represents, ex- presses, or outwardly produces Himself. He bodies out his own thoughts. What we call the creation, is, in another view, a revelation only of God, his first revelation " " Now as John also declares, there was light, the first revelation was made, God was expressed in the forms and relations of the finite." " One thing more is possible that will yield a still more effulgent light, viz., that, as God has produced himself in all the other finite forms of being, so now he should appear in the human." - " Indeed, He has appeared in the human before, in the same way as He has in all the created objects of the world." [P. 147.] " But there was yet more of God to be exhibited in the Human Form of our race." " Now, therefore, God will reclaim this last type of Himself, possess it with his oyfn life and feeling, and through that, live himself into the acquaintance and bio- graphic history of the world." — " This is Christ, whose proper deity or divi- nity we have proved."