HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY Ċ 8135.5 1858 Oct. 25, d sift r. L. Hooper Boston, DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the eighteenth day of August, in the L. S. fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, JOEL HAWES, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, to wit: "A Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims, and a Vindication of the Con"gregational Churches of New-England. By JOEL HAWES, Pastor of the "First Church in Hartford." In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act "for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts "and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times "therein mentioned."-And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary "to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing "the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such "copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits there"of to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical, and other "prints." CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. A true copy of record, examined and sealed by me, CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. G. F. OLMSTED......PRINT......HARTFORD. TO THE MEMBERS OF THE THREE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES IN HARTFORD, BEFORE WHOM THE FOLLOWING LECTURES WERE DELIVERED, AND AT WHOSE REQUEST THEY ARE NOW PUBLISHED, THEY ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The following Lectures were delivered on successive Sabbath evenings during the months of March and April of the present year. It would be trite to say that they were written without any reference to publication, and are committed to the press at the request of friends. Such however is the simple fact. The discussion was commenced for the benefit of the author's own charge, and with no purpose of extending it beyond two or three discourses. It was so announced to the audience. But as the subject was pursued, it increased in interest and presented other and important topics of remark, and was therefore continued much beyond the author's original design. After he had consented to the publication of the Lectures, it was his intention to give them a careful revision, that he might correct those inaccuracies in style and language which necessarily attend the first draught of a composition. But the pressure of daily employments, together with feeble health, has rendered this impracticable; and he is now compelled to commit the work to the press with only expressing his regret at defects which he is unable to supply. This, however, is not offered as an apology for errors in sentiment, or for mis-statement of material facts. If in these respects, the author has in any case fallen into mistakes, he can only say that it has not been for the want of a desire to know, nor of sincere endeavors to ascertain the truth. As in delivering the Lectures, the author considered himself to be addressing friends, he used much plainness of speech, and commented with freedom on sentiments held by some, who belong to denominations different from his own. If in this particular, any thing he may have said shall wound christian charity, or furnish just cause of offence to any of the sincere friends of Christ, none would more deeply regret it than himself. That he is strongly opposed to certain pretensions, which are advanced by some, respecting the external order of the church, he is willing to avow; and he is so, because he sincerely believes that such pretensions are contrary to the spirit and doctrine of the scriptures, and of pernicious tendency. But he utterly disclaims every feeling of alienation or uncharitableness towards any who bear the christian name, simply because they are not of the same denomination with himself, or may differ from him in their form of church polity and modes of worship. With perfect truth he can repeat the sentiment, which is more than once advanced in the Lectures-Grace be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. That the spirit of this Apostolic salutation may more and more extensively pervade the minds and be manifested in the lives of all who profess to be christians, is the author's highest wish and fervent prayer. Hartford, August, 1830. NOTE. To prevent mistake the author thinks it proper to state, that his remarks in the first Lecture, respecting the constitution and order of the primitive churches, are not confined to the age of the Apostles, but generally to the first two centuries after Christ. |