America. "No sooner," says Crosby, did the death of this worthy pious gentleman reach the distant churches in New England, but from the highest to the lowest they seemed affected with the sense of the greatness of their loss, by the death of this their most generous and noble patron of learning and religion." The Rev. Benjamin Coleman, pastor of a church in Boston, his intimate friend and correspondent, preached a sermon on the occasion of the death of Mr. Hollis, before his Excellency the Governor and the General Court, April 1, 1731. The thanks of the council were next day voted to Mr. Coleman, for his sermon "on the occasion of the death of Thomas Hollis, Esq. of London, who has merited highly of this government and people, by his liberal benefactions to Harvard College, for the promoting of learning and religion in this province; and that they desire a copy of the said sermon for the press." In this vote the House of Representatives concurred April 2, 1730, and also the Governor, Jonathan Belcher, Esq. The sermon was accordingly published with the title of "The Friend of Christ and his People," and dedicated, "To his Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq. Captain General, and Governor-in chief, in and over his Majesty's province of the Massachusetts' bay in New EngJand, and to the honourable, his Majesty's Council, and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled." The style of this dedication is Jaboured eulogy, but yet it appears to breathe the generous emotions of a grateful heart. The following is an extract:- "Know then, that our friend Hollis sleepeth the virtuous, the pious, the gracious, the generous and munificent friend to our college and the churches of New England! The friend whom Christ inspired, and raised up for us, to do great things for his name and glory; having enriched him to' all bountifulness to us-ward, to cause through us, thanksgiving to God, not only now, but in all times to come. For, how great are the foundations which it has pleased God, from the enlarged heart, and open hand of this his servant, to lay, for the service of religion and learning in future generations, so long as it shall please the Lord Christ to have his golden candlesticks in these regions of the earth, and to walk in the midst of them! To how many thousands of our money doth the charity and bounty of our excellent friend amount; which of his own mere motion, and even against the restraints of his humble friend now speaking, he freely poured in upon us, from time to time, as a living spring, whose waters fail not! "Again, that which is singular in the piety and benefits of Mr. Hollis unto these churches was, that though he was not strictly of our way, nor in judgment with us in the point of infant baptism, yet his heart and hand were the same to us, as if we had been one in. opinion and practice with him. And in this let him stand a teaching pattern and example to us, of a noble Christian, catholic, apostolic spirit and love; which makes those that differ in lesser matters to receive one another to the glory of God, and a shining testimony against a narrow party spirit, · which is so much the disgrace and detriment of the protestant interest; and which so early began among the disciples of Jesus, and was rebuked by him, even in John himself, that apostle of love and charity afterward, who once said. to Christ in a fret of zeal, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. But, Jesus said, forbid him not. we "To the honour of my country, I must add, that it was the account Mr. Hollis received from us, of the free and catholic air breathe at our Cambridge, where protestants of every denomination may have their children educated, and graduated in our college, if they behave with sobriety and virtue, which took his generous heart, and fixed it on us, and enlarged it to us. And this shall be with me, among his distinguishing praises, while we rise up and bless his memory, i. e. bless God in remembrance of all the undeserved favours done us by him. "And it were an ungrateful part indeed in us, after so many great benefactions from him, to the interest of learning and religion among us, by the will of God to all posterity, if his death were not mentioned among us, in that solemn and mournful manner as it now is. The weeping widows of Joppa, would else rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us, for they stood mourning about the dead body of Dorcas, a pious disciple, that was full of good works and alms deeds which she did; and the risen Jesus approved their sorrow, and at the apostle's prayer raised her from the dead; but we mourn a greater than Dorcas, and have more to show for our sorrow than her coats and garments for the poor. Our Hollis has left behind him wardrobes of rich clothing, in many places, both for the souls and bodies of the poor, and some of our sons wear them, in our sight, and others are to put them on, from generation to generation; and if their fathers have dry eyes, we call on our children, and indeed on all the sons of the prophets among us to weep over Hollis, who clothes you in better than scarlet, with the best of deJighte, intellectual and moral, and has put on you ornaments of apparel richer than gold! Lament over him therefore with this lam entation:-How is our beauty fallen; how lovely and pleasant to us was he in his life? His love to us was wonderful; and all for Jesus' sake." Another sermon was published by the Rev. Edward Wigglesworth, D. D. Hollis Professor in Divinity, preached in the hall of Harvard College, which enomerates the same facts respecting the munificence of their departed benefactor. The following is an extract: "The expressions of his bounty were not confined to a party. And indeed, by his frequent and ample benefactions, for the encouragement of theological as well as human knowledge among us, who are Christians of a different denomination from himself, he hath set such an example of a generous, catholic, and Christian spirit, as hath never before fallen within my observation, nor, so far as I now remember, within my reading. However, it was nothing but what appeared in the constant tenor of his letters, that he did not apprehend the kingdom of God to consist in meat and drink, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. I hope the shining example he hath set herein, will be an irresistible inducement to those that shall have the government of this society in all times to come, religiously to comply with the very modest reservations he hath made in favour of those of his own denomination among us." A philosophical discourse by Mr. Isaac Greenwood, M. A. the Hollis Professor of Philosophy and the Mathematics, was read to the Students in the College, April 7, 1731, in which he extolled the virtues of their deceased founder in turgid and glowing language. The president of the college, Mr. Benjamin Wadsworth, also prefixed a dedication to the sermon of Dr. Wigglesworth, ip which, for the purpose of introducing the splendid gifts of Mr. Thomas Hollis, which he enumerates, he gives the following af fecting statement of the origin of Harvard College. "The using of proper means to promote and propagate right knowledge, must needs be looked on as very beneficial to mankind. Our fathers, who first settled in this wilderness, were well aware of this, and therefore in their early times, though they were few in number, poor, and low in their worldly circumstances, conflicting with many dangers and difficulties, did found a college here, called Harvard College, in Cambridge in New England, to train up youth in good knowledge, Learning, and virtue, that thereby they might be the better qualified, eminently to promote the glory of God, and good of men. That God of all grace, and giver of every good gift, who enabled and inclined our fathers to engage in this noble work, has owned and smiled on their pious designs in this matter. He has hitherto continued the college, and made it a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. That many educated here have been eminently serviceable in promoting both the spiritual and temporal welfare of this people, as well as in some other countries, is too well known to need any proof. "To the college thus began in weak and low circumstances, God, of his mere grace, has raised up sundry kind, generous benefactors, some at one time, and some at another; some in doing less, and some more, to promote the noble and pious ends aimed at in founding of it; thanks be to God for his smiles herein. But the late Thomas Hollis, Esq. of London, merchant, now gone to his everlasting rest, did in his donations to our college, far exceed any other of its benefactors." It is impossible to read the extracts from these American publications, without noticing how much the ministers appear to be astonished that such princely liberality and noble benevolence should have been manifested towards them by a person of another denomination of Christians; and that person too a Baptist. It was not a century before this, when their forefathers imprisoned, fined, punished, and even banished several Christians, for the crime of asserting that infant baptism had neither precept nor precedent for it in the New Testament, and for presuming to baptize those who, the General Court said, had been before baptized! It is probable at that time some might have been living whose fathers had seen good Roger Williams in the depth of a hard winter driven out of the colony, going he knew not whither, nor did, they care; when he found that hos pitality and friendship among uncivilized Indians, which had been refused him by his countrymen and brethren. It is gratifying to know that the spirit and conduct of Thomas Hollis should have so effectually taught these Massachusett Independents what their forefathers, the venerable Cotton and his associates, &c. might have learned from the founder of Rhode Island Colony, the persecuted Roger Williams, viz. that those who best understand the right of private judgment in religion, will be the most liberal in granting the free exercise of it in others who differ from them. merica owes her independence as a nation, and the unrestrained liberty of conscience which her citizens enjoy, to the principles taught by Roger Williams, and the example set them by Thomas Hollis, (both English Baptists,) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A Religious Communications. My Dear Brother, BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS. HAVING been called, in the course of providence, during the present autumn, to attend the meetings of some of the Baptist Associations in New-England, it has occurred to me, that a few remarks upon our general Association System, might be useful to your numerous readers. With this view, I shall address to you a few Letters on this subject, of which you are at liberty to make such use as you please. I shall consider in this Letter the Nature of Baptist Associations. It is well known that the Baptist churches are, in the strictest sense, independent. By this, we mean that every separate church, or regularly organized assembly of Christians, is in itself a distinct body, from whose ecclesiastical decisions there is no appeal. Each church has power to receive members, to dismiss or to exclude them, to license ministers, and to withdraw that license, and in general to perform all those acts, of which many in other churches are performed by bishops or presbyteries. In the case of ordination of a minister, there is a slight deviation from the strictness of the independent system. It is then customary to invite the ministers and delegates of neighbouring churches to meet in council, and decide upon the qualifications of the candidate, and the propriety of his being settled over that church. The candidate is also ordained exclusively by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery or Eldership, as is common in many other churches. With this single exception, each Baptist church may To the Editor. be considered an isolated, inde. pendent, ecclesiastical body. All churches are considered equal, for none acknowledges a superior. Nor has any other body whatever, a right to interfere with a church in the exercise of these, its universally acknowledged powers. When, however, a case of division or difficulty occurs in a church, it is not unfrequently the case that the advice of a council is solicited. A church is not under any obligation to solicit this advice. It is merely done as a matter of expediency, on the principle that when two parties differ, both are liable to prejadice, and thus both may be prevented from seeing clearly the path of duty. In such cases, if both desire to do right, they will ask for the opinion of disinterested men. Meetings of this kind have frequently been attended with the happiest effects. might perhaps add, that it is generally considered, in some degree, a breach of faith, to act in opposition to the advice of a council. For it is supposed, that when a church refers its difficulty to its brethren, it will, unless the case be a very plain one, consider their decision as final. Notwithstanding this unwillingness to allow of any interference in their internal concerns, our churches have always been desirous to combine together for the promotion of the general objects of Christianity. An Association is a body of this kind, and may be considered a meeting of delegates from independent churches, of which the object is to promote the general prosperi I ty of the church of Christ, and to strengthen the bonds of christian intercourse. The whole United States may be considered as divided into a multitude of Baptist Associations. An Association may comprise any number of churches from eight or ten, to forty or fifty, and may Occupy an extent of country less or greater, as our churches are more or less numerous. Their number is every year rapidly increasing. It is but a few years, since all the eastern part of Massachusetts and RhodeIsland, were comprehended in the Warren Association. In the year 1811 it was divided into the Boston and Warren Associations, by a line running west through Boston. Since that time, two new Associations have been formed from the Warren, and the Boston has become so numerous, that the necessity of a division is every year the subject of more frequent conversation. In every part of the United States, districts of country which a few years since formed one Association, now cover five or six, each as populous as the parent at the time of division. concern. Each Association, it may be remarked, is wholly independent of every other. As object is to promote the cause of Christ with in its own boundaries. With what may take place out of them, it neither has, nor wishes to have, any other than a general It corresponds with other Associations in its neighbourhood, that is, sends to them its Minutes and congratulations by the hands of one of its own number, and receives theirs in return. The number of its correspondents may be increased at will. When an intercourse of this kind is commenced, it is always expect ed to be continued, unless some misunderstanding should render it expedient that it should cease. But to come to the more interior arrangements. An Association is composed of the ministers and delegates of the churches within its limits. The minister or elder is considered a member ex officio, and the delegates are chosen by nomination at a church meeting. They are furnished by the clerk with a letter, mentioning their appointment, and containing generally, a retrospect of the state of the church during the past year. The number admitted by baptism or by letter, restored, dismissed, deceased, excluded, are all carefully noticed. The powers of the delegates are generally understood from long usage, and when acting within these powers, the churches are considered bound by their decisions. Thus if these delegates should unite in the formation of an Association Missionary Society, the several churches would, I presume, consider themselves pledged to contribute each its proper proportion. When, however, a new case occurs, in which no precedent is at hand to decide upon the powers of the delegates, it is customary to refer the question back to the churches for their decision, to be communicated by letter, at the next annual meeting. The ministers and delegates appointed by the several churches then exclusively compose the Association. The corresponding members or delegates from other Associations are always invited to a seat, and may take part in any discussion, but they are not expected to vote. Besides these, there is generally a considerable collection of members of churches who attend merely as spectators, and auditors. It is known that several sermons will be delivered, several meetings for devotion held, and many subjects discussed of importance to the |