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specify, shall be a member of this society. And any gentleman, on subscribing and paying twenty dollars, and any lady, on subscribing and paying ten dollars, shall be a member of this Society for life.

ART. V. The officers of this society shall be a President, two Vice Presi dents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Auditor, and one or more directors in each Parish embraced by the Society.

ART. VI. The officers of this Society shall be chosen annually; the President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer, by ballot; the others by nomination.

ART. VII. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to act both as recording and corresponding Secretary, and to exhibit reports to the Society.

ART. VIII. It shall be the duty of the directors to solicit and receive subscriptions and donations, and pay the same into the Treasury.

ART. IX. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep an account of monies or other articles received by him, to transmit the same semi-annually to the Treasurer of the American Board, for the purpose specified in Art, II. and to report annually to this Society. And it shall be the duty of the Auditor to examine the Treasurer's accounts, and report the same to the society at each annual meeting.

ART. X. This Society shall meet annually on the third Wednesday in June, at such place as they shall previously appoint, for the purpose of choosing officers, and transacting such business as may come before them.

ART. XI. The Secretary, by order of the President, may call a special meeting, by notifying one director in each parish, who shall cause the same to be made public therein accordingly.

ART. XII. Each meeting of the Society shall be opened and closed with prayer by the President, or some one by him designated.

ART. XIII. At each annual meeting, a sermon shall be delivered, by some one previously appointed by the Society, and a report read by the Secretary. ART. XIV. After the sermon and report, a contribution shall be received in aid of the Society's funds.

ART. XV. This Constitution may be altered or amended by the vote of two thirds of the members present at an annual meeting.

The following gentlemen were then chosen officers of the Society for the current year.

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Directors were also chosen in the several towns in the vicinity.

THE

Minister's hope; and its influence on his preaching

and character.

A

SERMON

DELIVERED

IN LYME, CONNECTICUT,

AT

THE ORDINATION

OF

BROTHER GEORGE W. APPLETON,

TO THE

PASTORAL CARE

OF THE

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND SOCIETY
IN THAT PLACE.

BY WILLIAM COLLIER, A. M.
PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH, IN CHARLESTOWN, MASS.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY HEWS & GOSS.

NOTE.

A FEW things, omitted in the delivery of this Discourse for want of time, are inserted in its publication. The author is aware that, in some instances, there may appear to be an air of positiveness in his language, that his friends and the public have not been in the habit of associating with his character and preaching. But, if true politeness does not consist in flattery, as seems to be the notion of some; nor true friendship, in deception, as appears to be the opinion of many; although in imitation of the example of the author of his text, he has used great plainness of speech, he trusts this Sermon will not be found destitute of a savour of that charity which rejoiceth in the truth.

It would have given additional interest to the publication, could the fellowship of the Churches expressed by Elder Asa Wilcox, of Saybrook, and the address to the Church by Elder William Palmer of Salem, Conn. have been also printed.

SERMON.

2 Cor. III. 12.

Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech,

IN the preceding verses the Apostle has given a very interesting view of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He calls it the New Testament; adverts to the manifest and beneficial effects with which it was attended at Corinth; and institutes a comparison between the present and former dispensations, in which he shews the superior excellency of the gospel to the law, and consequently infers, that the privileges and duties of ministers and people are far greater now, than they were before the advent of the Son of God into the world.

The text is an inference drawn from the foregoing account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; or the improvement which we should make of the privileges and advantages, with which we are favoured, who live under the New-Testament dispensation. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.

The sentiments contained in these words, which I shall endeavour to illustrate and improve on the present pleasing and interesting occasion, are,

First. The hope of a Gospel Minister.

Second. The influence which this hope has upon his preaching and character.

First. What is the hope to which the Apostle here refers, which induces the ministers of the gospel to use great plainness of speech?

The Christian hope comprises an ardent desire for, and a confident expectation of the enjoyment of a covenant God. It rests on the merits of Christ, and the Divine promise. The heaven of it's possessor consists in feeling the energy of the Divine attributes, and manifesting forth the Divine Glory. It is of a purifying nature. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Jesus Christ is the hope of his people; and his Gospel, which reveals him as the hope of eternal life, is the subject to which the Apostle refers in the text. To give a fair view of this subject, it will be necessary to arrange our thoughts in some order, that our memories may be assisted and the subject rendered profitable to us in subsequent life.

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I submit the three following observations, as comprising the sense and meaning of the passage under consideration.

1. The minister's hope is the Gospel itself.

2. It implies in the text a consciousness of the superior excellency of the present, to the former dispensation of that Gospel.

3. A firm persuasion and confident expectation of its ultimate success and universal triumph, notwithstanding the opposition it is called to encounter in its progress through the world. By the ministers hope, then, we are to understand the Gospel itself.

Justification. This Gospel is called the New Testament or Covenant. It is so called to distinguish it from the covenant, God made with man in innocency, and which is called the covenant of works; because the promise of life was annexed to the observance of the requisition of that Covenant. Its tenor is, Do this and live. The New Covenant is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. These covenants agree in one point; and disagree in another. The point of agreement is, that in both, the promise of eternal life is suspended on the ground of obedience. Do this and thou shalt live. The promise of eternal life is connected only with obedience in the Gospel, as much as in the law. God never made any promise, and never can in consistency with his law make any promise of life, but in connexion with obedience to this law. But the old and new Covenants disagree entirely, as to the performance of this obedience. In the former case, it is required of the creature as a condition of life. In the new covenant, it is required of Christ as the condition of life; and of the creature as the fruits and evidences of that life. The Gospel, therefore, which is the hope of the minister, exhibits the righteousness of Jesus Christ as the justification of the guilty; and the righteousness of the saints as the effects of that justification. And it is impossible for the minister to have such hope, as the Apostle speaks of in the text, or exhibit any hope to a dying world, without the combination of both these principles in the Gospel, he preaches. If the sinner does not rely wholly upon the righteousness of Christ for justification, he has NOTHING to screen him from the curse of the Divine law and if he does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness, he can have NO EVIDENCE of his interest in Jesus the Saviour. If ye keep my commands, then are ye my disciples indeed. I wish it, therefore, to be distinctly understood, that the combination of the righteousness of Christ, and the per sonal righteousness of the saints, as above stated, is an essential principle of the Gospel; and a relinquishment of either is an abandonment of the hope of its ministry.

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The Apostle, in the third chapter of his epistle to the Romans, exhibits the subject now under consideration, in a very interesting and forcible manner.

After giving a clear demonstration of the depravity and guilt of man, he makes the following important inferential declaration Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justi

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