FAREWELL DISGOURSE

DELIVERED AT

THE THIRTEENTH‘ CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH?

ON
®cta5iun nf fiaefiizgnittg his Qtbargz,

SUNDAY, JULY 4, 1858.

BY J. 1. T. OOOLIDGE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH.

B O S T O N :
  JAMES MUNHOH AND COMPANY,

134, Wasnmerox Szrmm-r.

1858.

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,

22, SCHOOL Snmm.
1858.

DISOOURSE.

2 Tirn. iv. 5: “ Bur wmoxr rnou IN ALL» mtmes, ENDURE AI"FL1G'1‘IONS, no
true w<:>nn or an IBVAN(3ICLIS'I‘, .MAI{Zl<] FULL moon or rm: 1vII.\'Is'.r1”tY."

TI—IIs labors of the noble apostle were nearly ended. Paul,
the aged, his course rapidly drawing to its close, patiently
'waiti1ig the time of his departure, "Writes to youthful Timothy
many eX.hortations to fidelity, that he may do the Work of an
evangelist, and make full proof of his ministry.

I have recently read again all the words of Paul concern-
ing Iris“ oiiice as an ambassador of T Christ. He magnified it.
No one can feel the force of his Words without a thrill of
joy, if indeed he has been called to the same ministry, and a
trembling at his very heart lest he fail of fidelity to the great
commission. Truly he desires a. good thing who seeks ordi-
nation as aservant of men for Christ’s sake. There is no
nobler Work. To stand before men, not in one’s own name;
to speak, not in the exoellency of one’s own wisdom ; to warn,
to urge, to invite, not with the persuasion of one’s own tender-
ness ; but to do all in the name and love of the blessed Lord,
and in the wisdom which the Holy Ghost teaclieth,---this
surely is a position,“ an office, a Work, With which none other
can bear comparison. And should it be that the Lord seals

4:

a ministry as his own by the living souls brought by it into
living relations of love and hope to himself, from the bondage
of the world to the liberty of the sons of God, from the
darkness of the natural heart to the ever-beaming glory which
breaks upon the renewed heart, who can measure the satis-
faction of him whose service is thus approved? And yet
so conscious must he be that the excellency of the power is
not in himself, but in God, that his song of thanksgiving has
but one burden : “ Not unto me, not unto me, but unto thy
name, be all the praise!”

I would magnify my ofiice. ‘After sixteen years’ experi-'

ence, I would bear record, that, sacred as from my childhood
it has always been to me, it has grown holier with every
passing year, even unto this moment, when I am resigning
its exercise inthis long—cherished spot. Never has it appeared
to me so grand, never did I feel deeper gratitude to the great
Head of the church, that he called me from every other
occupation of men to the ministry of his gospel, than now,
when it would seem its long labors ended in disappointment

and failure. The distinction is a very broad one between the

office, and the place of its exercise. The office stands in
the call and ordination of Jesus Christ, not in thelwill and
appointment of man. The ministry of the reconciliation
is the Lord’s establishment, not the choice of men. The
pulpitis not framed by men’s hands. It is wherever the
ambassador of Christ stands to proclaim the gospel of pardon
and peace. It may be the deck of a fishing»-boat thrust out
a little way from the land, or it may be in the courts of the
temple; it may be on themountain’s side, or in the syna-
gogue’s desk; it may be in the noisy judgment-hall, or the
quiet upper chamber ,9 on Mars Hill, or Caesar’s palace. ,Men

may build costly temples to cover it, and come and sit gladly»

beneath its shelter; they may reverence it, and lavish of their

abundance to adorn it. And it is Well they should. But
they did not and do not establish it. Let them tear down
the houses they have builded for it; let them burn and
destroy the Work of their own hands, and thrust the preacher

from it ; let there be no more massy towers and lofty spires 

within the cities and villages of the land; still, While the
gospel is remembered in any heart, there will be pulpits
enough by the ‘wayside, and corners of streets, whence its
solemn threatenings and gracious invitations shall be pieached
in the ears of men. Though the voice be as of one cry-
ing in the Wilderness, still ‘it will cry, and men shall come
and be baptized, confessing their sins, and irnploring their

«pardon of the Almighty God, through the precious blood of n

his Son Jesus Christ. The last pulpit will fall, the voice of

the last preacher will be hushed, only when the angels who

sang the birth-song of the Redeemer shall chant the requiem
over his despised and forgotten redemption. 4 Let the distinc-

tion be made always between the office, and the place where  

it is exercised, and how can one but magnify his calling, and

e glory in it, leave What he may, or stand where he Will, careful
only todo the Work of an evangelist, and make full proof of I
his ministry? The Lord give me grace that I changenot in

this testimony! ~ 7       e   

But I must pass from this theme to meet the dernands of I

the especial occasionoftthis day. ‘The time has come, not
unlocked for of late, but which We could nottrealize, and

which but the fewest of us have soughtsor desired, when my  
ministry among you must cease. I must now resign to you I I
whatever you have conimitted to my hands, I know not how  

; I can better meet theexpectatiotns and proprieties of the shout» 

than byiacalrri‘ and? full reviewof my ministryat this post;

Sfou will pardon the appearance of egotism; 7 T he occasion
I is so personalin all its aspects, that I must need  of » ~

myself. I hope to speak the exact truth. I shall certainly
set down nought in malice. I Wish to deal fairly with all.
In any criticism I may be led to make, I desire to be under-
stood as speaking only of matters as I comprehend them. I
shall try to wound no one’s feelings, and be unjust to no one’s
faith. I cannot expect to satisfy every one. And my criti-
cism I must allow to be criticized; nor shall I complain, if
only the friendly feeling be reciprocated.

I shall divide what I have to say into these parts,——my
personal experience; the spirit of this ministry, and its
results. '

I. My personal experience. I should much prefer to.
pass over this entirely. But the peculiarities of my position

demand that it should, in part at least, be related. It is
known among you, and it has been widely spread abroad,
that my faith has undergone great and essential changes since
I commenced my labors among you, and that it is on this
account alone that our relation is now dissolved. It is proper
that Ishould speak to that point. It will be seen in the
narrative, What I desire to have distinctly understood, that
these changes have been neither sudden nor recent. They
are the result of a long and constant process of thought and
experience. To myself they appear not so much changes,
as increasing light from the first faint ray of earliest dawn, -—
light which I have ever prayed for, and been ready to follow,
guide whither it Would. ,

I was educated a Unitarian of the straitest sect. As such
I passed my earliestyouth, and as such mad. choice of my
profession in life, and became a student in the theological
schoolat Cambridge. ' It was during the preparatory studies
of the ministry in that place that the original movement which
has led to this issue commenced. I And this was the occasion:

A theme was assigned to me, entitled “ What is the meaning
and efficacy of the death of Christ ? ”_ With easy rapidity, I
wrote down the views I had received from my early training.
But instantly the question arose in my mind, awakened by no
previous doubt or former disputation, and independent of all
human suggestion, --——-wholly, as I believe, by theaction of the
Holy Spirit, --—-“ Do you explain the language of the apostles
concerning that wonderful death?” I answered the rising
doubt quickly and easily by saying they magnified the event ;
they stood too near to see it in its true proportions; they
naturally and honestly misconceived its meaning; they con-
fused it through their Jewish training. But when the question

struck deeper ; when it asked, “ Do you explain the language ”

Christ himself uses concerning his death and its eflicacy C’ do
you fill up his words with aemeaning at all commensurate
with their apparent force? and, if he intended no more than
you say, why did he clothe such simple truths in such per-
plexing forms I’ ”—---then I saw the brink on which Istood ;
then I saw that the question really involved the whole subject
of faith. I saw that it struck at the very root of Christianity

as a system of authoritative truth. I saw that it carried with C

it the very Bible itself. I could yield up easily the authority
of Paul and Peter and James and John; but I could not
resign without sharp anguish my repose in Christ as an

infallible Teacher. ' I could not allow the fatal thought, that i

he might have been deceived himself, orthat he might have
overstrained the purpose of his owndeath. I hadlearnedto
rest on his infallibility through divine inspiration, and my
reverence for his character was most profound. The bare
suspicion of the leastexaggeration or mistake, or of his,mean-
ing aught but precisely what his words appeared to convey,
was acute distress. y Yet the witheringthought did come,and

remained, and my soul grewdark; and, without exaggeration, g

I can say, “ The rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon my house, and it fell ; and great
vvas the fall of it.” My faith lay in ruins. I was full of doubt,
and yet not in despair. I could not lose my reverence for
Jesus Christ, ---— a reverence which had grown with my growth
and strengthened With my strength, and which held me to him
in the midst of my darkness. Long days, and even months,
so passed. At last I was led by the Spirit, as I thankfully
believe, to see this much with perfect clearness, ---—that Jesus
Christ, whatever his nature might be, man, archangel, F irst-
born of the creation, or Son equal with and one with the
Father, was far above me ; that my place was not at his side,
certainly not above him to criticize him, but at his feet
meelilypto hear and believe. Many sayings of‘ his I did not
comprehend; but the darknesswas in me, and not in him.
He was Light, and in his light should I see light. I humbly
and rejoicingly acknowledged him as my Master and Lord.
And in due time I went forth to preach in his name, and
according to his Word. I felt justified in so doing. ' There
appeared nothing in the body to which I belonged to forbid
it, but every thing in its spirit and profession to allow it. If
in this I judged wrongly, my plea must be a sincere and
honest purpose. I

So it was that you found me a preacher, and called me
to your pulpit, and to the office of pastor among you. In
thisspirit I accepted the trust, and commenced my labors.
I came to preach in the name of Christ, to preach whatever I
should learn from him, and to preach on his authority alone.
I was a Unitarian by education, by social relations, and so
far as my faith concerning Christ had taken form. But, even
then, it was not Unitarianism which was dear to me. I held
it lightly, ready to part with it, if so Christ should require,
though never dreaming that he would. It was therefore no

9

chance selection of a text, when, on the Sunday following my
ordination, I I preacheclfrom these words : “ So thou, 0 son
of man! I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;

therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn

them from me.” My most frequent themes of discourse and
exliortationlwererepentance, regeneration,’ newness of life,
renewal of spirit ; these more than the moralities and respecta-
bilities of life, because I saw that the fountain must be pure
before the stream could run clear ; that the tree sound at the
core alone brought its fruit to perfection; and because it
seemed the way of the Lord.

Still there were many words of Jesus that were hardand
dark, opening depths of meaning I could. sound with no
plummet of my own making. The Gospel of St. John espe-
cially was a sealed book. I loved to readit, for the same
reason, as I suppose, that the apostles loved to listen while
the Master spake, even though they turned one to another,
saying, "‘ We cannot tell what he saith.” At last, you must
allow me to say, the first really revealing light broke upon
me, when I was enabled to discern the meaning inthese
two tezgzzts, which had before appeared to standain direct
opposition: “No man can come to me,eeXcept the Father,

who hath sent me, draw him ; ” “ No man cometh unto the I

Father but by me.” The office of the Holy Ghost, in its
awakening power arousing the soul to a consciousness of its
deepest wants, and guiding it to the Son, the only satisfaction ;
and that of the Son, by his own incarnation, manifesting the
Father, -—--I-were distinctly opened upon my mind. a My fre-
quent theme became “ Christ, the image of God; ” “ Who?
soever hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Christ, the

manifestation of the Father, -—-—- this  never wearied of unfold-a I

i ing to you in every possible and I attractive form in wllich it ‘

appearecl to my own soul ; and many among you Weilcomed

10

it as a bright and blessed truth, shedding new light upon
the relations of the Father and the Son, and of the soul of
man to each. » .

My mind continued to pursue the opening Way. I was
called to minister to very deep experiences. I Was invited
to holiest confidences. Secrets of the inmost soul Were
revealed to me. Troubled hearts sought to be soothed;
conscience—beaten souls to be relieved; the mourner to be
consoled; the dying to be ministered unto, as those close
to the threshold of eternity. As a pastor, I Was made
familiar with the deep workings of the soul; and, from my
conferences, I Wentback to the study of the Bible. More
and more, I found the experience of the human heart an-

d svvered back to the Bible, as deep calleth unto deep. I saw

that all men needed a gospel, --- needed more than a righteous
and holy and perfect law; that the law could not deliver, but
only increase the consciousness of condemnation. I saw it
was not Paul alone who called, “ Who shall deliverance from
the body of this death?” but the inmost soul of every man;
and that it was only when every man could exclaim with
Paul, “I thank God through Jesus Christ,” that he found
the peace and joy of believing, according to the Scripture,
“ Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” And therefore it Was, when we
assembled to dedicate this temple to the most high God, and
to his Son the Saviour of the World, I endeavored in my

a discourse to; set forth, with What clearness of faith I had,

Jesus Christ man’s “needed Saviour. ‘ .

But not yet was my faith complete. Steadily it advanced,
until, by the constant study of the Bible in our various read-
ings» and lectures, the ‘marvellous ‘unity of that book stood

isignally forth, ---- a unity in the midst of its manifold diversity.

It is, then, onebooli from Genesis to the Revelation, from the

11  

creation to the consummation of all things; the history of
the mighty movement on the part of our God for the re-
demption of a fallen race ,' of the knitting anew the broken
relations between the Lord God and his alienated children
on the earth; of that mystery of God’s will which was work-
ing from the first to the end, that, in the dispensation of the
fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things
in Christ. It is therefore God’s own word to the human
family, clear, authoritative, final. Then it was that the

meaning of these and similar words began to be revealed: a

“ God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself ;”
“ There is no other name given under heaven whereby man
can be saved; ” “ When we were yet without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly.” I saw this to be the
burden of Scripture, its key—note, melting into one glorious,
subduing harmony its thnusand various voices. I saw with
increasing light and joy how sacrifice, psalm, prophecy,
agreed with history, biography, epistle; how the Old Testa-4
ment pointed as a finger continually on to the New, and the
New fulfilled the Old ; how that in Adam we die, and in
Christ are made alive; that the spiritual Rock the fathers
drank of in the wilderness was Christ; that the Word of the
old dispensation, who in the beginning was with God and
was God, was in the new dispensation made flesh, and dwelt
among us ; that He appeared in the end of the world to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that God might be just,
and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. All was
clear ; my faith was established. The ‘Lord had led me
about, but at last had placed my feet upon the rock. My
faith stands on the Bible, the whole Bible; in Him to whom
the Scriptures give witness ; in his life, as my inspiration;
in his death, as my reconciliation; in his resurrection, as
my hope of eternal glory; in his ascension and coronation.

as my all—poWerful Advocate with the Father, and as Head
over all things to his church. To Him I trust the everlasting
interests of my undying soul ; blessing God that I can say,
“I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he
is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.”
“ I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life I live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me.”

Such, my friends, as accurately as can be briefly stated, is
the history of those changes in my Christian faith which have
removed me so far from the form of doctrine in which I was
early instructed. You now easily perceive Why, as I have
said, they appear to me not so much changes, as increasing
light from the first faint b:real«: of day.

“ Are you not, then, a Unitarian?” does any one inquire? I

I answer, I am not. “ W1'1e1'ein do you differ ?” I answer,
In my entire conception of the Whole system of salvation, as
I read it in the Scriptures and the necessities of the human
heart. It is difiicult, I know, to criticize the views of a body,
which, in its original dogmatical position, seems fast passing
away. It is too evidentto be denied or longer concealed,
that, in the denomination called Unitarian, there are at pre-
sent two very opposite and determined movements, bothof
which will compel the absolute abandonment of the form of
faith which in the religious world is known by that name.
The one is leading with great force and attractiveness to the
extreme of Rationalism ; the other, to greater nearness to and
closer sympathy ‘With the broad" evangelical body of the
Christian church. Yet there is that which is understood

as Unitarianism in the community; and from that I differ

with strong dissent. "I dissent from it because it does not
recognize and express. the unity of the Bible, by which alone
“the spiritual identity of the religion of the Bible, from

13

Genesis to the Revelation,” can be discerned and accepted;
because, therefore, it does not recognize the universal aliena-
tion of the human race from God, through the disorder and
disarrangement which our nature, regarded as a Whole, has
derived from sin; and because, therefore, it does not recog-
nize the great central fact of Christianity, -—--the Incarnation
of the Eternal Son, Whom, when the fulness of time had come,
God sent forth, made of a woman, made under the law, that
through union with this Son of God, and by his life and
death reconciling God and man, We might receive the adop-
tion of sons, and regain the image‘ of the Creator, which in
Adam We had lost. “ The first man is of the earth, earthy:
the second man is the Lord from heaven.” “ In him was I
life; and the life was the light of men.” And again I
dissent from Unitarianism, thus understood, because I. am
compelled, with deep regret for its seeming harshness, to
declare, after long and careful observation, that, left to itself,
to its own tendencies unrestrained, to its own natural pro-
clivities, it leads to irreverence and unbelief?‘ In fine, the
distinction between the system of Unitarianism on the one

. hand, and the system of the Evangelical church on the other,

it I am painfully aware this will seem a hard saying. It will appear, to many I
ifaithful hearts among the Unitarians, most false and ungenerous. But it should he
remembered, Ispeal-:, not of individuals, but of a system. I speak of the tendencies
of that system as they are made manifest in the generation educated under its influ-
fence. I cannot disguise from myself, and I should be untrue to my convictions
of duty, if, in the position in which I am placed, I refused to atfirm,that the spirit of
the system, as such, did not lead to the disbelief’ of the Scriptures, as a final autho-
rity in matters of faith; to lax ideas of theso-vereignty of‘ God, and theexceeding
sinfulness of sin as against that sovereignty; and of the oflered salvation by Christ,
holding that salvation rather as by the faith of Christ, the faith he brought and _
taught, than by faith in Christ as himself the Reconciler and Saviour. If I judge
vwongly, it is not intentionally, or with unkinduess and hardness of heart. I am
united with too many Unitarians in the bonds of Christian love to wish, in parting
with the body, to cast an ill-natured censure. In that body, I would bear testiw .
mony, if it were of any account or need, that there are very many of as pu1'emandas
devouteflc’ spirits timt can be counted in any household of faith. ‘ I

14

seems to be accurately stated in these Words, Which, in quot-
ing, I have taken the liberty to slightly alter: “ The one
makes the individual the starting‘-point for all improvement;
whereas the sta1'ting-point of the other is Christ. The first is
for dealing with nature as it finds it.   It takes man such as
he is, with the powers and faculties which he possesses, and
supposes that their cultivation may enable him to shake off
the evils and infirmities which all deplore. The man himself,
therefore, is the commencement of all renewal. He may use
God’s grace, indeed; he may invoke the name of Christ:

but in himself is the ultimate principle of renovation. The

second, on the other hand, makes Christ alone the starting-
point of all improvement. It attributes the first renewal of
man’s race to the entrance into its ranl~:s of a higher Being,
whose quickening influence is the principle of regeneration
to all believers. In Him, and not in them, is the original

. principle of movement; and it is only by union with Him

-—--the 'Word incarnate---that the restoration of man is possi~
ble.” “ For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he
given to the Son to have life irrhimself; ” and he “ quicl«:en«

  eth whom he Will.”
This is a very broad distinction; and, not for a moment i

doubting which is the Scripture doctrine, I am compelled to
leave the former, and, with my Whole heart throbbing with
gratitude that I can, cleave to the latter.

 II. Havingrilingered so long on this division of my dis»
course, I hasten to say rfewer Words on What yet remains.
And I pass to rthe spiritof the ministry, which is now
iclosing.    I   I    I  

’May Inot say;,”iti has been an earnest spirit ? * Hovv can

I the preacher helpiiheing, in earnest?i How can he,‘ if his
whole soul is filled with the deepsolemnityiofr“ his position ?

He should not preach at all, who does not feel, “ Woe is me
if I preach not the gospel !” who cannot say, “ I believe, and
therefore do I speak.” What a commission has he received!
What, a cause has he to plead! What great, stirring, urgent
themes has he to unfold 1 He, a living and yet a dying man,
stands before living and yet dying men to bind together
the ‘life that now is and the life that is to come, with the
strong bonds of solemn responsibility and just retribution;
to open the mysteries of the human heart, and bring down
the mysteries of the infinite grace of God ; to arouse and
inspire, to Warn and encourage, to Wound and to heal, to
bind and to unloose according to the counsel of the Most
High; to startle the dream of the sinner, to gently lead the
penitent, to console the mourner, and open the visions of the
new city of God to the dying. He is to maintain the sacred
cause of Christ, to advance his kingdom, and Win souls to his
fold. Must he not be in earliest? It is earnestness alone
that can keep him in the hearing of men. Only as he is
earnest will he make his voice be heard amid the noise of
business and the choruses of pleasure. The pulpit must be
in earnest, or there is no excuse for it; and, in these earnest
days, it will be passed by and forgotten. I ask again, brethren,
may I not say that this ministry has been in earnest? Wl1at~
ever of manner you may have had to bear with and pardon,
Whatever apparent severity you may have had to regret at
times, whatever infirmities and infelicities may have given

‘ you pain and temporary offence, will you not allow me the

right tosay, that my work has been an earnest one; that I
have spoken and labored, not as one who was a time-server
or a days-man, but as one who believed his office was no

,sinecure,but a charge, solemn, momentous, and exercised

under an awful responsibility? , God forgive me if I have not
left this impression on your souls I

16

And may I not also say, the spirit of this ministry has
been full of ready sympathy and respectful courtesy‘? He
mistakes his calling grievously who in his earnestness loses
tenderness and respect for those who listen to his Words.
Pride, coldness, distant reserve, assumption, are no proper
traits in the character of the ambassador of Him Who, by his
infinite condescension and out of his abounding love, Was the
friend of every man; as ready and willing a guest at the poor
man’s board as at the rich man’s banquet, at Mary’s cottage
as at the I’harisee’s mansion, at the marriage in Cans. as at
the Centurion’s house of mourning. His servant should
strive for the same spirit; and when he speaks from the
holy desk, though he rebuke and Warn and threaten, it
should be With no disrespect or scorn, with no hardness and
cold severity, but firmly, yet tenderly; uncompromisingly,
yet in love; boldly and indignantly if need be, as need there
sometimes is, yet with a heart that loves While it rebukes,
and rebukes because it loves.

No one knows better than I, how far, very far, below the
blessed example, I have fallen. No one knows better than I,
that at times I have not spoken as one Whose voice was
attunedto the soul--subduing accents of the gracious Lord,
gracious ‘even when he was compelled to say, “ VVoe unto
you I ” But I can truly affirm, I have sought to bring myself
into sympathy with you all ; to rejoice with those who rejoice,
and Weep With those who Weep. I have sought to enter your
homes as a personal friend. i I have Welcomed you to my
own with a frankcordiality. I have invited your confidence,
and have kept it, when reposed in me, as a sacred treasure.
I have stood in this desk, knowing you alone as mypeople,
and striving, according to my ability, to open to you the
riches of the blessed gospel. , I have been with you in sick-
ness, that I might bring you the healing of the Spirit. I I have

17

been with you in sorrow and bereavement, that I might corn-
fort you with the love of God, the sympathy of Christ, and
the peace of the Holy Ghost. In all things I have striven
to be to you a true pastor, accordingto the measure of grace
the Lord hath given to me. God forbid that this should have
the appe’arance of boasting ! I say it honestly, meekly acknow-
ledging the grace of God, by which alone it is true, if indeed
it be true. ‘

Yet once more, n1ay’I not say that the spirit of this ministry
has been an honest and free spirit? Great asthe change of

religious views and constant as the progress have been, and I

broad as the differences are between some of us, there have
been no concealment, no attempt atidisg~uise,no partial state—~
Inents, no vain compromises. I have spoken plainly and
unequivocally what I have thought, and after the method in
which my mind could most fairly express its thought. T 0
you, first of all, I have opened my deep and growing convic-
tions. You have been enabled, if you Would, to follow me
step bystep in the Way in which I have been led. I have
never said nor Wished to say elsewhere more or differently
than I have spoken here.   It has been a free pulpit. You

have always rebuked every attempt to restrict its liberty.  

I I have neverbeen straitened in my freedom to speak on any n

theme, and after the dictate of my own conscience, wliether

on usual or unusual topics of discourse. I have never been  
  forced to vindicate among you the liberty -or the pulpit.’ I

have always found it granted. I If any have ever thought to

restrain it in the least degree, they soon discovered they

, understood not the spirit you were of, and have taken1the1n~ y

selves to arnore congenial atmosphere, or been silent. This     r
freedom I have endeavored never to abuse,but, in its spirit, I

to speak thehonest thought of a free mind.  was a noble ;

When, ‘open. a candid ’acknow*--

stand you ‘took two years ago,
     y y y   3

I8

ledgment of difference of doctrinal views among us,Ayou yet
requested me to retract my resignation, and remain your
pastorfi I was proud of you then. I felt it was a glorious
example. I hoped a different consummation from this we
to-day Witness. I trusted that the Word of truth we should so
candidly study together would bring to us at least the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. sAnd my trust Was, I know,
the desire and efibrt also of the largest number among you.
But there were those who could not sufler it so to be. And
I do not complain of the disappointment, because to the very
last the spiritnof the ministrations has been kept unsulliecl by
any suspicion of dishonesty and insincerity. I have spoken

the word as it was given me to speak. Perhaps a longer con»

tinuance would not have been free of uneasy restraints.

III. And now of the results of the ministry. I should
have much to say on this point, did time permit me to follow

 It may be proper to state, for the information of those unacquaintecl with the
facts, that reference is made to the action of the proprietors_ of the church upon a
letter addressed to them by the pastor, provisionally resigning his cities, in 1856.

- The lfolilowingpcommunication in answer will fully explain the tent :»~-—

’, J . . p “ BOSTON, May 21, 1856.
. “ Whereas the proprietors of the Tliirteeutli Congregational Church have

received 3. comrnunication from their pastor, the Rev. J. I. T. Coolidge, provisionally

resigning his lofl“ice,.and alleging .‘ great and decided clianges ’ in doctrinal views;
therefore -~-— g . _ I I p _ I V

“ Resolziecl, That the proprietors aforesaid, invievv of the abovewnanied circum-
starices, take this occasion to express in the strongest terms their personal attachment
to their pastor, ——- an attachment strengthened by the association of fourteen years;

and by his truly faithful and devoted pastoral services, fully acceptable, as we

believe, to every member of this society. » » .

“Resolved, That while we do not fully sympathize with the views of Christian.
doctrine frequeiitly expressed by our pastor, and especially at the late interviewv in o
the Vestry, yet nevertheless, feeling strongly averse to any disturbance of our mutual A

relations’ as pastor and people, we respectfully request him to witlidraiv the letter
ai‘oresaiti;l thus leaving thewiioie rnatteries thcugli that 5 communication had not
beeninade. »  ~ . I V - ~

I “ A true copy. 3 Attest: ” . WM. M. Szmrsos,
I ’ C'!er7c'tgf the Pi*oprz'etors.”

19

my inclination. But I must, in the fewest Words, close this

division of my subject. I say, then, my aim, my sole aim,
growing more and more distinct with every pztssing year,

becoming more and more my simple purpose, has been «to

lead the souls of this fold of Christ to the Great Shepherd;
this, first and last, strongest and foremost of all my desires

and prayers; Not to preach to you elegant essays, not to

please fastidious tastes, not to charm the ear with flowing
eloquence even if I had thepower, not to invite you to vain
discussions, not to attack: other rnen’s oypinions, not to contend
with opposing views, not to dogmatizue or c1'itioize,, have I
stood before you from sabbath to sabbath ; but simply, in what
best Way I could, to lead you to Jesus Christ, the all-suflicient

Guideand only Lord ; to him in faith and love, that you xniglit

be under his direction, who is the Way and the truth andthe

life ; and to look solely to him as the one only appointed Way to -
the Father. This, I repeat it, has been my one purpose. ‘ I I
asked you to repose your confidence in no men, and in no-

huma.n creed, but solely in Him who saith to all, ‘f" Come unto

me; 7’ and “ Wl10SO comethto me, I will in no wise cast outf’ ,
it I’ have set him before you constantly and unweeriedly, ~—-—-4-
Christ, “ who of God is Inede unto us Wisdom audrigliteousw T
I ness and sanctifioation and redempition,”’—--and have called

upon you to receive him as your Prophet, li’riest, and King.
By all the appeals of God’s love through him, by all the
n1oving entrea.ties of his condescension and poverty and suf-

fering end y death, by all the persuasions of his yearning ,
tenderness and pity, I have sovught to win your souls to J

him. I

I V With devout gratitude  spealzo it, many and many , a{ I
soul arnongyou has responded to the call, and found they
peace it elsewhere soughtin yain. ‘ Many and meny a one
among you has felt his heart burn Wltl1lI1_l'1l1’I18.Sl.IeS11S has i  

5.2()

talkeclwith him, and he with Jesus. Many and many a one
has come to this altar, and joyfully rnacle his confession of the
Lord who bought him, and consecrated his Whole life to
the service of his Redeemer. Manyliave found a Friend who
will never desert or forsake then1,--—--a; Pastor who will lead
them by the still Waters and in green pastures ; many now"

present with us to--dpay, and many gone before us, who have  

felt no fear, but sweet peace, in dying, because they trusted
in Him who had given them eternal life ; many, a large corn-
pany, who shall n1eet,e.fterithe short sepemtions of this rnortal
life, around his throne,ito join together in the ever-sWelling
anthem of the recleernecl, “ Worthy the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and blessing.” . These are the seals of

i my ministry, and the crown of my rejoicing. Therefore, my

brethren, clearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown,
so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Your faith let
no man take from you. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, who hath loved. us; and hath

« given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good Worclanél

  Work!  Only let your eonyereetion be as becornteth the gospel

in of Christ.

. This is all I need say of the results of this ministry. The

great day of account shall unfold the Whole; and may the

Lord -haye mercy on me, if Ieliave failed to Watch for your

  souls fl ° ti

Thnsaimy friends, In have es briefly as I might, ileeving

rmnoh nnseid. that my heart p prompts, 1‘eyieWed my trninistry i

in this plane. “ I have been fo1'ce‘cl to rspealttof Inyselftoo
much. It was not :3. topic Ieleetecl, It was pressed upon
me. I have spoken pas niyygonsoienoe bears Witness.

21

And now it remains only to speak that Word We all shrink
to hear. Sixteen years of my life have been spent among
you. They have been as happy as often falls to the lot of
mortals. God has been gracious to me. The Lord has
revealed himself to me ; and What could I ask more? Your
kindness has been uninterrupted. Your forbearance has been
tested by my youth and inexperience, and has never ‘failed.
Your trial has been great in being compelled to listen to one
Whose own views in religion have been constantly unfolding
in a direction you did not desire; and all but the fewest of
you. have sustained it, and were willing to sustain it still. I

sconld love to pnrsuerny ministry among you to the exid.

I could Wish I might have finished my course with you With»
out a denorninational name, preaching to you of the blessed
Jesus as the Scriptures and his ever—present spirit should
give me power,----preaching to you "withthe Bible in your

hands, from the Bible alone. But it was not so to be.

There are those among you who couldtnot suflierit,
Farewell, then, my friends 1 God be with you, and bless

you, and lift npthe light of his countenance rnore and more  

upon you, and give you peace l Your Welfare will be ‘dear to

y me; and, when life’s short warfare is ended, may you be

found in the everlasting peace of heavenly v
To the children of this congregation’ let me say, I have

  loved you tenderly, as a. pastor should the lambs of his flock,

I have Watched for you with constant vigilance. I have

prayed for you that the good Lord might keep you from
the evil that is in the World. Remember me, then, as one

who will ever remember you. Remember me as one who

love.s

left as his last word to you, Love the dear Lord, who is the
children’s Friend and Saviour, ready always to lay his hand of

_ blessing upon‘ them, and fold themto his bosornin perfectt

22%

To all who have labored with me in any portion of the ‘
Work here carriecl forward ---— and most truly and nobly have

you given me of your life and co—operation ----let me grate-
fully express my sincerest thanks. May the Lord reward

‘you bountifully, who have sowed sci bountifully!

And to this our beautiful and beloved “Zion will I say,
“ Peace be Within thy walls, and prosperity Within thy palaces!

For my brethren and companions’ sake will I nowsay, Peace

be within thee I ” V -
Now the Lorri of peace himself givetyou peace always, by

all means 1 The Lo1*dyhetvs{ithl you all! Farewell!