Park, Edwards A. A Discourse delivered in Boston before The Pastoral Association of Congregational Ministers in Massachusetts, May 28, 1844. Andover: Allen, Morrill & Wardwell, 1844. First Edition. [11111]
Removed, new acid-free wrapper, 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches, 44 pp., foxing. Good. Pamphlet.
A Discourse on the text Matthew 5:13-16, "Ye are the salt of the earth..."
The author discourses upon the duties incumbent upon the New England Clergy. These are:
To be circumspect in their treatment of the laity. He says that while Congregational laymen are more informed of Biblical doctrine than others are, they are in no position to understand or have thoughts about the deeper theological controversies.
To make no conditions of church fellowship which are not essential constituents of Christian character.
To dispense with all needless machinery of government in the church. "Some laws and some offices we must have in the church; but when we see the phalanx of clerks and wardens, curates and prebendaries, deans, deacons, archdeacons, bishops, archbishops, lords spiritual, and spiritual courts, we almost lose sight of him who said, 'Be not many masters.'" p. 12.
To preserve simplicity in their mode of divine worship.
To make the doctrines of the gospel prominent above all things else, and to bring them into immediate contact with the mind and heart of man.
To make the services of the sanctuary as attractive as they can be made, in consistency with the prominence of christian doctrine.
To defend and perpetuate, so far as a sound judgment may approve, the principles of our Puritan forefathers.
Edwards Amasa Park (1808-1900), Congregational minister, professor of mental and moral philosophy at Amherst College (1856-36); professor of sacred rhetoric at Andover Seminary (1836-1847); professor of systematic theology at Andover (1847-1881). Parks was the great exponent of what became known as New England Theology. His sermon The Theology of the Intellect and that of the Feelings led to the great theological/metaphysical controversy with Charles Hodge of Princeton.
"An ardent admirer of Jonathan Edwards, whose great-grand-daughter he married, Park was one of the most notable American theologians and orators. He was the most prominent leader of the 'new school' of 'New England Theology.'" - Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).
