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med on the occasion, were assigned to the following gentlemen, viz. The Rev. Elijah Waterman to make the introductory prayer; Rev. Nathan Perkins, D. D. to preach the sermon ;-Rev. David Ely to make the consecrating prayer, during the imposition of hands by the Rev. Messrs. Nathan Perkins, David Ely, Stephen W. Stebbins, and Calvin Chapin; Rev. Stephen W. Stebbins to give the Charge; Rev. Calvin Chapin to give the Right hand of Fellowship and Rev. Jonathan Bartlett to make the concluding prayer.

The above voted as the doings of this Association,

Attest,

ON the 24th of February last, was ordained to the pastoral care of the church of Christ in New Milford, the Rev. ANDREW ELLIOT. The Rev Samuel Sturges made the introductory prayer: Rev. Samuel Fisher preached the sermon from 1. Cor. ix. 16; Rev. David Ely made the consecrating prayer; Rev. Stephen W. Stebbins gave the charge; Rev. Israel Ward gave the right hand of fellowship; Rev. Elijah Waterman gave the charge to the people and Rev. Medad Rogers made the concluding prayer.

The consecration of a minister to watch for the souls of his fellow men, always an interesDANIEL C. BANKS, Scribe. ting scene, was in this case renThe ordination was perform-dered peculiarly solemn and ed on June 1, 1808, in the manner as above,

ISRAEL WARD, Moderator.
Attest,
DANIEL C. BANKS, Seribe.

ORDINATIONS.

ON Wednesday June 15th, 1808, the Rev. TIMOTHY P. GILLET was ordained to the pastoral care of the first church and Society in Branford. The Rev. Benjamin Trumbull, D.D. made the introductory prayer; the Rev. Alexander Gillet preached the Sermon from Matthew xiii. 52;-the Rev. Ammi R. Robbins made the consecrating prayer; the Rev. John Foot gave the charge; the Rev. Matthew Noyes gave the right hand of fellowship; and the Rev. John Elliot made the concluding prayer.

joyful by the recollection of past difficulties in the society and by á general harmony throughout the present occasion, promising the most happy consequences.

ORDAINED at New Canaan Feb. 10th, 1803, the Rev. WILLIAM BONNEY. Rev. William Fisher of Middlesex made the introductory prayer; Rev. Ebenezer Porter of Washington preached the sermon from 1 Thess. ii. 4: Rev. Platt Buffet of Greenwich offered the consecrating prayer; Rev. S.Goodrich of Ridgfield gave charge; Rev. Heman Humphrey of Fairfield gave the right hand of fellowship; Rev. Daniel Smith of Stamford, gave the charge to the people, and Rev. Samuel Fisher of Wilton made the concluding prayer.

the

POETRY.

"Who love to be called of Men Rabbi ?” Matthew xxiii. 8.

NOT the Godly-'tis their glory
To renounce a mortal's bays,
Often greetings to the pilgrim
Do but check him in his race.

Not the Humble-'tis their burden
That they're loaded with attire ;
Stripp'd or light'ned of their plumage,
Easier they ascend and higher.

Not the Contrite-they are happy,
In the notice of a God;

Can a title make them richer?

What is honor from a clod?

Not Faith's subjects—for a kingdom

Is their least allotted prize,

Names and crowns and thrones are baubles,

To the kingdom in the skies.

Not the Heavenly-their devotion

Is not kindled by this star;

That alone which leads to Jesus,

Shares their homage, claims their care.

Not the Saint then-for these graces

Form his whole, his inmost heart;

Pride and envy, lust, ambition,

Carnal love and joys, no part.

Spare then, O ye fond dispensers,
Masters of these titles, spare

The heirs of GOD, and fill with vapor

Those alone who thrive on air.

Titled Christians, look to JESUS,
Ever fleeing man's applause,
Lisp his accents;* take no honor
But from God and thro' the cross.
* John v. 45.

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The way to excitè men to cry ear nestly to God for his saving

mercy.

A

SENSE of danger or distress will make men engaged to obtain relief, and excite them to make earnest application to him, from whom alone they see any reason to hope it may be obtained.

[No. 8.

there is no hope that we shall
We
escape with our lives.
therefore, entreat thee instantly
to arise for our deliverance.

In this instance it is plain,
that the disciples considered it
as a great evil to be suddenly
drowned in the sea that they
saw themselves in great danger

that they viewed themselves as utterly insufficient to avert the evil, or to deliver themselves from it-that they felt wholly dependent on the power and mercy of the Lord for preservation, and saw no reason to expect deliverance, without his speedy and effectual interposi

This is illustrated by a case recorded in Matthew viii. 23, 24, 25. As Christ and his disciples were crossing a small sea, whilst he was asleep, there arose a great tempest, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves. In this alarming situation; and that they were thence tion, his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, "Lord, save us we perish"-As if they had said, Lord, the ship is now even covered with the waves, and But in case no tempest had we are on the point of sinking arisen, and no uncommon danin a watry grave. All our skill ger had been apparent, there is and efforts to keep it above wa- no reason to suppose they would ter, and bring it to land, are ut-have thought it necessary to terly insufficient. Unless thou awake their Lord from his reinterpose for our preservation, pose, or to make any special apVOL. I. No. 8.

excited to repair and cry to him
for help, expressing their des-
pair of life without his special
aid.

M m

1

plication to him for help. Yea, | if after the tempest arose, they had thought their own power and skill sufficient to prevent the ship from sinking, and to bring it safe to land-if they had felt as though they had a sufficiency in themselves, or within their reach, to avert the evil, and effect their preservation; there is no reason to think they would have thus run to Christ, and called upon him to save them.

In this instance, then, it may by clearly seen, that a thorough Conviction of present danger of great and terrible evil, together with a sense of insufficiency to ward it off, or to escape it, will naturally arouse men to earnest enquiries for a way or means of escape, and to earnest cries to him, from whom alone they see any reason to hope for deliver

ance.

The same general truth is illustrated and confirmed by numerous other cases or facts recorded in the scriptures.

Hence it is evident, that the people of Nineveh were thoroughly convinced, that their danger of speedy destruction was great-that neither they nor any human being, could prevent it, unless God was pleased to avert or withhold it and that this conviction and sense of their danger, of their own insufficiency to avert the impending evil, and of their absolute dependence on God for preservation, awakened in them the deepest concern, and aroused them to the greatest attention, and exertion in the use of means, and to cry mightily to God for his interposition and favour. Whereas, if Jonah had preached and warned ever so much, without this conviction and sense of danger wrought in them, there is no reason to think they would have fasted and put on sackcloth, or turned from their evil way, or cried mightily to God for his mercy. Again,

From the parable of the Pharisee and Publican, in Luke xviii. it appears, that whilst the Pharisee, who trusted in himself that he was righteous, thanked God that he was not as other men, but did not ask him for any favour, the Pub

of his guilt and danger," smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

In the third chapter of Jonah we are informed, that the people of Nineveh, believing that the threatened overthrow of their city, which the prophet denounced, was from God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sack-lican, who had a feeling sense cloth that by the decree of the king and his nobles, they were ordered to keep the fast with great strictness, and it was said to them, “Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands: who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?"

From these and other instances, which it is needless to particularize, as well as from our general experience, it results, that the make and constitution of the human soul is such, that mankind are excited, roused and impelled to attention, to seek and labour for deliverance or preservation from

impending evil, in some pro- | conceivably great and dreadfu!,

portion to their apprehension and sense of the magnitude of the evil, and of the greatness of their danger of suffering it; and also, that their apprehension and sense of the greatness of their danger will increase, as their conviction and sense of their insufficiency to avert or escape the impending evil, and of their absolute dependence on God for deliverance, increase; and that their application and cries to God for deliverance, will be earnest and importunate, in some proportion to their conviction and sense, that it depends on his will alone, whether they shall be delivered or not, so long as they apprehend any room to hope that he may possibly vouchsafe to deliver them.

and that they have no sufficiency to avert or escape it that their escape or deliverance has no certain connection with any thing which they can say or do, but depends on the sovereign pleasure of God-that unless he is pleased to interpose his power and mercy, they must unavoidably suffer it; and, like the disciples in the ship covered with the waves, they will be all attention and concern, and excited to cry, "Lord, save us : we perish"-God be merciful to us sinners.

From what hath been illustrated we infer, that it is very desirable and highly important, that sinners should be thoroughly convinced of their danger of everlasting destruction-that they should be fully sensible, that the evil to which they are exposed is inconceivably great and dreadful, and that their danger of suffering it is also great and threatening indeed.

Believers of the bible more generally appear to think it desirable and important, that sin

If the evil, of which any apprehend themselves to be in danger, appears small to them, a mere trifling calamity, they will not be likely to be much engaged, or to give themselves much trouble to escape it. If the evil appears great; yet if their danger of suffering it ap-ners should be diligent in the pears to them to be very small, still they are not apt to be much concerned about it, or greatly engaged about obtaining an escape or preservation from it. And so long as they verily think it is in their own power to avert or escape the evil, however great it be, or that there is a certain connection between what they are in all respects able to do and escaping the evil, it will seem to them as though their danger was small as though they might confidently expect to escape it.

But let them be thoroughly convinced, that the evil is in

use of means, with a view to es cape the wrath to come, and obtain eternal life; and many profess to believe it of importance, that they should earnestly seek and pray to God for his mercy. But, according to what has been stated and illustrated, there doth not appear to be any ground for a rational expectation, that sinners will be engaged in a diligent and earnest attention to the ordinary means of salvation, and feelingly and earnestly cry to God for his mercy, so long as they have but little or no sense of their danger of falling shor

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