England. diately saw that they were engaged in an undertaking which could produce nothing but harm to them- Ill success of selves. "Dr. Child preferred a petition to the the appeal to Committee against us, and put in Mr. Thomas Fowle's name among others; but he, hearing of it, protested against it, for God had brought him very low, both in his estate and in his reputation, since he joined in the first petition." Child was prevailed upon by his friends "to give it under his hand never to speak evil of New-England men after, nor to occasion any trouble to the country, or to any of the people." "Mr. Vassall, finding no entertainment for his petitions, went to Barbadoes. As for those who went over to procure us trouble, God met with them all." And before the King's death, the Massachusetts Magistrates had the happiness Dec. 3. of hearing from their agent, that "the hopes and endeavors of Dr. Child and other the petitioners had been blasted by the special providence of the Lord, who still wrought for" his people.1 1648. Before the reception of this intelligence, the Synod also had done its work; and Independency, - - or Congregationalism, as in New England it had come to be more generally called, adopting some modification of its original theory, formally recognized an arrangement designed to introduce order and unity, and to create a capacity for more efficient action and influence than now seemed to have been provided for in the original Result of frame of the churches. The constitution of the the Synod. Independent congregations in England was strictly indicated by the name which they bore. Each was competent in itself to all ecclesiastical offices, and there was no instituted connection among them, nor established method of joint or mutual action.2 In their infancy they Winthrop, II. 321, 322. I do not mean to say that the idea of Congregational Synods, or Councils, as they came into universal use in New England, was never entertained by the English Independents. It had had been so separate and so inconsiderable, that they could scarcely be said to have any common interests to watch over, at all events, to be in any condition to take care of common interests by common counsels. When they suddenly emerged from this obscurity, they found a degree of safety under the protection of the supreme authority of the empire; and, at the same time, obvious considerations forbade them to establish a definite system which would be offensive to the sectaries, of various names, whose good-will was desired in the contest they were maintaining. The position of their friends in New England was different in all these respects. From the beginning, events had impressed on them the sense of a common responsibility and a common danger. Every year's experience and reflec tion had been bearing testimony to the feebleness and other inconveniences of a complete insulation from each other. Nor was there anything in their political position to embarrass them in applying the proper remedy. On their own ground they were the conservative party. From the fanatics around them, whom a system of union and order might displease, there was nothing to be hoped, but something to be feared; and such a system would be a security against their unfriendly attempts. been entertained even so early as by writing, the Savoy divines said in their The idea of finding a bond of union among single churches in a common subjection of them to an episcopal or presbyterian jurisdiction, had been discarded, so far as it had been ever entertained. But, if a church had a right not to be harmed by coercion, so the churches had a claim for some security against the evil example or evil repute of any church, and against other ill consequences of an uncongenial association; and, for purposes of the common advantage, they had a claim to each other's support and aid, so far as these might be obtained without violence done to the will of any one. If, among possible methods of giving the order, safety, and energy of union to a number of communities, the method of compulsion was to be rejected, there remained only the method of influence, to be applied through counsel, argument, persuasion, example, and other such addresses to reason, conscience, sentiment, and interest. This method is so obvious as to require no rule to dictate it; it comes into use of itself, where circumstances present no obstacle; and accordingly, from an early period of New-England history, we find instances of a church encouraged or expostulated with by another church, or by churches, or by magistrates, or by ministers, on occasions of special interest, or on apprehensions of erroneous belief or practice.1 What good judgment thus approved as fit to be done, what experience had shown to be frequently desirable, and, above all, what the example of the primitive Church was believed to sanction, was fit to be formally recognized as a regular way of proceeding, and to be put into shape by such definite provisions as would secure it against abuse, and obtain for it public respect and confidence. There was also manifest occasion for conferring so much authority as might be perfectly consistent with VOL. II. 1 See Vol. I. 296, 350, 406, &c.; Winthrop, II. 277. 16 the integrity of all the rights that might be involved. Common sense teaches, independently of ecclesiastical precedents, that if, in a voluntary association, one party finds itself suffering, in respect to quiet or to credit, from objectionable professions or practices of another, it has a right formally and peaceably to dissolve the tie and go its separate way. Ecclesiastical Councils. This is the principle of Ecclesiastical Councils, or, as they were more usually termed, Synods, which, early grafted in New England on the original scheme of Independency, may properly be considered as the specific difference of the Congregational system; a system which in modern times has existed nowhere except in New England, and in some few separate communities of New-England origin. The organizing minds of Cotton, Hooker, Norton, and their associates, regarded this arrangement as sufficient to give the needed cohesion to the churches whose welfare they had at heart, and at the same time as free from the objection of being a fit instrument for invasion of the churches' liberties. What was more material, they believed it to be "after the pattern shown in the mount;" and, claiming for it a decisive authority, they argued with great copiousness, acuteness, and learning, that, like other features of the Congregational order, it belonged to the system positively instituted by the Apostles, when they first made converts and founded churches. A Congregational Council, or Synod, as they conceived of it, was not a permanent body, like the Classes, Synods, and General Assembly of a Presbyterian church. It was summoned for a special occasion; it was composed of clerical and lay delegates from such and so many of the neighboring churches as circumstances made it convenient for the parties interested to convoke; and its existence ceased when the occasion was over. It had no power to act immediately on individual Christians. Its judgment and will, if carried into effect at all, were carried into effect by the individual church or churches to which its counsel was addressed. And, in the case of a rejection of its advice by the party concerned, the highest act of authority to which it was competent was, if the debated question were deemed sufficiently important, to withdraw the countenance and fellowship of the churches represented in it from the offending church, thus making public their sense of its ill-desert, and their own exemption from responsibility. June 8. 1648. Aug. 6. The second meeting of the Cambridge Synod was broken up after a few days by the prevalence of 1647. an epidemic sickness. Its last and only important session continued nearly a fortnight. By a unanimous vote it approved the "Confession of Faith" of the Westminster divines, except as to those parts of the document which favored the Presbyterian discipline. Its own plan of government it exhibited in "A Platform of Church Discipline, Platform. gathered out of the word of God, and agreed upon by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches assembled in the Synod at Cambridge in New England, to be presented to the Churches and General Court for their consideration and acceptance in the Lord." In describing the consti 4 to. Cambridge The Platform may be found in Mather's Magnalia (Book V.), and elsewhere. The "Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared," by John Cotton, and Thomas Hooker's "Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline," were published this year in London; and copies of the latter had been received in New England three months before the meeting of the Synod. (See Vol. I. 582.) Hooker had presented his treatise to his clerical brethren at a meeting at Cambridge more than three years before. It was generally approved by |