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

3. The doctrine that the sufferings and death of Christ are truly vicarious, offered to vindicate the law and justice of God in the forgiveness of the penitent sinner, and accepted in lieu of his merited punishment ; or that they were even expressive of God's abhorrence of sin. While this Association does not undertake to say whether the aforesaid doctrines are or are not denied in the book in question, we deem it due to our- selves, to the cause of God and truth, to the purity and peace of our churches. 10 to declare, that in our judgment, the foregoing doctrines Are fandamental artieles of the Christian religion. And in order more fully to express our sentiments on this siibjeet, we think proper to make a public declaration of the manner in •which these doctrines are held among us. In doing so, -we can find no language more clear and satisfactory, than that of those ancient formularies which were adopted by our early churches, and especially that of the Westminster diyinea on this subject : "We believe," then, "that there are three persons in the Godhead, the Fa- ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three ate one God, the same in substance, equal in power and gloryi ■ . " We belieTe that the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternalSon of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, and so was, and contiuueth to be, God and man, is two distinct natures and one person for ever. "We believe that Christ cxecuteth the office of a Prie»t, by his once ojfering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in makii^ continual .intercession for us, "We believe tiiat justification is an act of God's free grao^ wherein he par- doneth all our sins, and accepteth Us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone." These doctrines we regjird.as fundamental articles of the Christian religion, and the denial of them as heresy ; and such we believe are the sentiments of the Congregational churches and clergy of the State of Connecticut. In October, 1850, we addressed tlie following Lettee to the Hajbtfoed Obnteal Association-. "J^ AasociATioir of Fairfield West, to the Hautford Gentrai, AssociATioif : Dear Brethren : — ^In January of the present year, we called your attention to a judgment which you had published respecting the sentiments of Dr. Bush- nell, as emressed in his book entitled "God in Christ;" which judgment we re- garded as iiiBJarious to the churches and to the truth of the Gospel. And that the injury dome by you in that judgment might appear, we stated to you seve- ral fundamental errors which Dr. Bushnell had taught in his book, and copied out the passages referred to. We then intreated you to reconsider your judg- ment and redress Uie injury. You answered us, in substance, that you could not review the case, because the judgment complained of had been formed after a regular trial, conducted with care and.solemn deliberation. But you did not reply to any one of our allega- tions respecting the evrors taught by Dr. Bushnell in his book. You did not show, or even declare -to us, that the passages quoted had not the meaning which we assign«d to them-; or -that that meaning was not erroneous; or that, if erro- neous, it was not heretical. Our minds find no relief in your answer. For the errors yet stand uncontradicted in the book ; and your judgment stands unre- voked, that Dr. Bushnell " holds whatever is essential' in the scheme of doctrine embodied in the formulas of the church, and that he cannot "properly or justly be subjected to the charge .of -heresy and a consequent trial, or be denied the confidence of his brethren in the ministry." We take your meaning to be, that the dpctrines which he denies, though perhaps true, are not essential doctrines of the Christian religion ; that he has only denied things which are not essential ; and therefore he ought not to be tried, or charged, or even distrusted, for denying them. We think Mere ia a great difference of opinion between you and us, as to what are essential doctrines of the Christian religion. Your judgment and your answer to our Remonstrance,-forced this conviction upon our minds. We there- fore carried the question to the last meeting of Hie General Association of Con- necticut, and asked that body to make some declaration, as to what doctrines ^re so essential and fundamentai that the denial of them is to be esteemed and 11 treated ai heresy. The' General Association did accordingly make and publish a declaration, in -which the tbllowing sentences occur : "In respect to- those views, the Fairfield West Association hare stated (•what is generally known), that these discourses have been extensively under- stood by divines to deny, , "1. The' doctrine of the Trinity, as involving a tripersonality in the Divine nature. " 2. The doctrine that Christ had a human soul, distinct from the Divine nature. ' ' ' " 3. The doctrine that the sufferings and death of Christ are trujy vicariou^ offered to vindicate the law and jostice of God in the forgiveness of the penitent sinner, and aoeopted in lieu of his merited punishment ; or that they were even expressive of God's abhorrence of sin. "While this Ajssociation' dpes not undertake to say whether the aforesaid doc- trines are or are not denied in the'book in (Question, we deeni it due to ourselves, to the cause of God and tiHith, to the purity and peace of our churches, to declare that, in our judgment, the foregoing doctrjnfes are fundamental articles of the Christian religion. And in order more fully to express our sentiments on this subject, we think proper to make a public declaration of the manner in which these doctrines are held among us. In doing so, we can find no language more clear and satisfactory, than that of those ancient formularies which were adcipted by our early churches, and especially that of the "Westminster divines on this subject : "'We believe,' then, 'that there are three persons in the Godhead, tlie Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one God, the saine in substance, equal in power and glory. " 'We believe that the oiily Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man, in two 4istlnot natures and one person for ever. " ' We believe that Christ exeouteth the office of a Priest, by his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. " ' We believe that justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he par- doneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the right- eousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.' These doctrines we regard as fundamental articles of the Christian religion, and the denial of thein as heresy ; and such we believe are the sentiments of the Congregational churches and clergy of the State of Connecticut." We ask you to ponder well this declaration of the General Association, as to what a/re fundamental 'articles of the Christian religion, and what is heresy, and then to turn to what we said and quoted in our communication to you of January last, especially under the following heads: "The Dooirihe of the Trinity," "T^e Law of God," "The Atonement," and " Jijstifioation bt Faith." Are not the very doctrines, which, as we assert and prove. Dr. Bushnell has denied, declared by the General Association to be fvmdainental articles of the Christian religion, and the denial of them to be heresy? Consider once more we pray you, wliether your published judgment, that Dr. Bushnell "holds whatever is essential in the scheme of doctrine embodied in the formulas of the church is not an untrue and unrighteous judgment. We hope you will reverse that judgment. But if you do not, we ask you to use your best endeavors to satisfy our minds in respect to this matter. Ajid to add weight to this our re- quest, we quote the following sentences from the Declaration of the General As- sociation, already referred to: " We regard it as the right of any of our District Associations to remonstrate with any, other Association in respect to any proceedings which are thought to involve the faith and purity of our churches,.or to bring reproach on the asso- ciated clergy of the State. t(ixr„ ^^„n-„;j if oo +>i(a i^n+TT- nf an-& \<ssnpifii'iQjx receiving such a remonstrance 12 to re-consider the ease in question ; and, if they do not reverse their former action, to use their best endeavors to satisfy the complaining Association, in re- spect to the proceedings so complained o£" In behalf of the Association, NATH'L HEWIT, Moderator. W. JESUP JENNINGS, Scribe. Norwalh, Oct. 31, 1850. In May, 1851,the Hartford Central Association sent us the follow- ing reply : To THE MEJIBEKS 07 THE FaIKFIELD WeST ASSOCIATION. Dear Brethren : — ^Having been authorised by the Hartford Central Associa- tion to communicate to you an answer to your letter dated October 31, 1850, I hasten to forward to you a copy of the answer, which was adopted yesterday. J. A. HEMPSTED, Scribe. Bartford, May 21, 1851. (COPY.) " The Committee to whom was assigned the duty of preparing a suitable reply to the communication of Fairfield West Association, which was read be- fore this body at its last meeting, held April 19, 1851, would respectfully report the following document as in their opinion proper to be adopted by the Asso- ciation. "WILLUM "W. PATTON, ) "(Signed) S. SPRING, )■ Cmnmittee." JAMES L. WRIGHT, ) To THE Faikfiel» West Association: Dear Brethren : — Tour communication dated the Slst of last October, would have received an earlier reply, had not a delay occurred in its transmission to our Moderator, of which you have been advised. We sincerely regret, that like the one previously sent, your letter should be of the nature of a complaint ; for it is our earnest desire to cultivate the friendship of our brethren, and to add to their joy rather than to their grief. It is our hopej therefore, that we have been misunderstood, and that when our proceedings are rightly appre- hended they will cease to be* offensive. We acknowledge the right of our sister Associations to remonstrate with us upon any part of our official action which affects our common character and inter- ests ; and it has never been in our heart to treat you with discourtesy for ex- ercising that right. We have, however, considered, that it is for us to deter- mine in every such instance wbat manner of reply was suitable. Hence when we received your first letter, we replied very briefly, as seemed to us appropri- ate, simply declining to retrace our steps in the case of Dr. BushneU, until new evidence should come before us ; since it ill becomes an intelligent body, acting in matters of a preliminarily judicial nature, to be reversing, or even reconsider- ing its decisions, except as new matter is presented for action, or a new issue is made on the old matter. We considered it sufficient to notify you of the result reached, and of the principle on which it was based, without entering into a discussion of the several allegations presented in your communication.