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GAL. II. 11. I withstood him to the Face, because he was to be blamed.

SALOM CXXxviii. 2. 4. Thou hast magnified thy Word above all
thy Name, &c. All the Kings of the Earth shall praise thee
O LORD! When they hear the Words of thy Mouth.

PSALM CXIX. 9.97, 98.

Quid juventam, we labafcat, fervat æquè ac lex tua ?
O tuam quam legem amavi! Semper illam cógito.
Hastibus prudentiorem me meis haec reddidit.

BUCHANAN.

New-Haven,
Printed by J. PARKER and COMPANY, 1757

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MR.

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R. Clap's Pamphlet, entituled a brief Hiftory and Vindication, &c. When it appeared from the Press, was thought by Many, fo beneath the President, so unworthy his Station and Character, that out of Regard to him, and his Ufefulness, They omitted to make any public Remarks upon it, in Hopes that his Credit would have been in fome good. Measure faved by a general Silence about, and Difregard to his Mistakes, and difingenuous Mifrepresentations : Accordingly the following Remarks (which were chiefly wrote at a leifure Hour, without any Design for the Press) would probably never have been made public, had not the President's Piece been very industriously dispersed, and much Stress laid upon it by the President himfelf, and some of bis Friends; to the promoting among People, a Spirit of Sufpicion, Disaffection and Cenforiousness.---For this Reason many Friends to Truth and Christian Liberty, are of Opinion, that, tho the Piece has been fome Months abroad, yet it is expedient that it be answered, or animadverted upon; at the Defire therefore of a Number of Such, the following Remarks, are now made public, and recommended to the Notice of All, who are in Heart concern'd for the Interest of Truth and Peace.

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By the AUTHOR.

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SOME REMARKS

On Mr. President CLAP's History, and Vin --dication, of the Doctrines of the New-England Churches, &c.

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S the Scriptures, teach us just and adequate
Conceptions of the Deity, as they give us

the Knowledge of Ourselves, and of our Relation to God, as they give us the Knowledge of the invisible World, and shew us that Heaven is defigned, as a Reward for Virtue; as they teach us the Redemption purchased by Christ, and the Qualifications that we must really and personally become poffeffed of, in order to final and everlasting Happiness; they are of the greatest Moment, and last Concern to Men: 'Tis therefore great Pity that any Thing should be wrote or faid, that has a natural Tendency, to take off the Minds of Mankind from them as a Rule of Faith and Manners; or that they should be prostituted to serve any Designs unworthy their Calculation...

The pious Founders of the New England Churches, professed to receive the Bible as the only fure Rule and Test in Matters of Religion. This unspeakable Gift of Heaven to the Churches, they held fast; and declared that they formed not their religious Sentiments by human Schemes and Systems of Divinity, nor received for Doctrines the Commandments and Institutions of Men. They could not bear to be in Bondage to the Opinions and Compositions of fallible Men. They would not fuffer any of their Fellow-Men to have Dominion over their Faith, who were liable to err as well as themselves. They were utterly againft fubmit

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fubmitting to any Standards and Rules of Faith and Practice, but the Word of GOD. They could not bear to hear of any Church or Council, Sect or Party's being fet up as decisive Judges and Masters in Matters of Faith. And they chose rather to leave their Habitations, and their dear native Country, and all their pleasant Accommodations there, and remove into this then a howling Wilderness, a Land of Darkness and of the Shadow of Death, and prepare themselves Habitations here, where they might freely search the Scriptures, and believe and practise according to what they should find therein, than continue in their antient pleasant Seats, under the Encumbrance of being Subject to the Authority of mortal and uninspired Men in Matters of Faith. And amidst all the Hardships and Trials they had to conflict with in this Land, they rejoiced, they gloried in their religious Liberty. They folaced themselves with fearching the Scriptures. And if there were any different Sentiments among them, their Enquiry was not so much what was the Opinion of Luther and Calvin, of this or the other Man, as what faith the Scripture. They were willing to confult the Writings of good and great Men; to learn and be instructed, and to improve them as Helpers to assist them in searching the Scriptures, but not as Lords of their Faith.

They indeed gave their Affent to fome Confessions of Faith, as being in their Opinion agreeable to the Word of GOD: But at the same Time were careful to let it be known, that they received these Doctrines, not upon the Authority of these Confeffions or the Compilers of them, but of the Word of God; and referved Liberty to diffent from any Proposition in these Composures, if upon any more diligent Search of the Scriptures, they should find the fame not according to the Doctrine of the Bible: And recommended it to All to try the Doctrines of these Confeffions,

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feffions, by that only Rule of Faith. Thus the El ders and Messengers of the Connecticat Churches af sembled by Delegation at Say-Brook, when they coni fented to the Savoy Confeffion of Faith, declared, "that they did not affume to themselves, that any "Thing be taken upon Trust from them, but com "mended to their People, that they be immoveably "and unchangeably agreed in the ONLY SUFFICIENT "and invariable Rule of Religion, which is the Ho

ly Scripture, the fixed Canon incapable of Addistion or Diminution. You ought (fay they) to ac"count nothing antient, that will not stand by this "Rule, nor any Thing new that will. They further recommended to their People, " to be deter "mined by this Rule [the holy Scripture] in the " whole of Religion; That your Faith (fay they) be " right and divine, the Word of God must be the "Foundation of it, and the Authority of the Word "the Reason of it*. This was so important a Point with them, that in Order to engage the Attention of People, thereunto they took Care to have the following Article of that Confeffion printed with a different Type. Viz." The Supreme Judge by which all Contro

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verfies of Religion are to be determined, and all De"crees of Councils, Opinions of antient Writers, Doc"trines of Men and private Spirits, are to be examined, " and in whofe Sentence we are to rest, can be no other " but the holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit; into " which Scripture so delivered, our Faith is finally re"Solved+".

AND doubtless it would have been grievous to those good and excellent Men, if even their own Doctrines and Opinions should have been defended in a Manner inconfiftent with their Profession, and that free Enquiry, and full Subjection to the holy Scriptures they recommended. They never intended to set themselves up as Masters of Faith, and to have

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Preface to the Confeffion, &c. p. 6. Chap. 1. Sect. x.

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