THE

WORKS

OF

JOSEPH BELLAMY, D. D.

FIRST PASTOR OF

THE CHURCH IN BETHLEM, CONN.

WITH

A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

BOSTON:

DOCTRINAL TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY.

BX7117 34

1850

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, by

SEWALL HARDING,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

57448

STEREOTYPED AT THE

BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

R. NR.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE Executive Committee of the Doctrinal Tract and Book Society, in prosecuting the design of its organization, offer to the public a new and improved edition of the works of Dr. Bellamy, with an original and interesting memoir, prepared with much care and research, by Rev. Tryon Edwards, D. D., of New London. The Committee would also announce their intention to issue a series of books of like character, including some of the works of our Puritan Fathers, and of later distinguished divines of our country. In doing this, we do not feel responsible for every sentiment that may be advanced, as we do not presume to abridge their works, or to alter their phraseology. We leave each author to utter his own views, in his own way; that the public may have a knowledge, not only of their real sentiments, but also of their style of writing, and in some measure, the times in which they lived. We would have those eminent men, who contributed so much, by their stern integrity, their consistent piety, and their ardent attachment to the unadulterated truths of God's word, to give character and stability to our institutions, speak for themselves. We revere their memory, and praise God for such an ancestry. Their works contain excellencies which are not often found in the present issues from the press. Their intimate and living acquaintance with the Bible, their profound mode of thinking, the spiritual tone of their piety, and their masterly discussions of the principles which have given character to the churches of New England, are scarcely less necessary to us, than they were to their contemporaries.

In the growth of our institutions, and the rapid increase of our population, many errors of pernicious tendency have come in, and it becomes needful to recur to those first principles, which occupied so much of the attention of our fathers, and which they regarded as indispensable to the peace, purity, and prosperity of the churches.

There is an extensive and growing conviction, among wise and good men, of the desirableness of republishing the works of the chief fathers of New England. And what better monument than this could, in these days, be reared to the memory of those profound scholars and theologians, or what better could be done to perpetuate their influence in the churches of our land? To transmit to succeeding generations their testimony, seems to us to be a solemn duty, inasmuch as we owe to them a large debt, not merely a denominational, but a national debt of gratitude; for some of them founded, not only our churches, but virtually our commonwealth. And whatever remains among us that is lovely and of good report, whether in private character, or in social and public happiness, had its origin, in no inconsiderable degree, with our Puritan fathers.