Page:Unlawfulmarriage00jane.djvu/17

Rh to His Church, renders it an imperious duty to avoid even the appearance of, and strictly to "

"It has pleased the Lord to preserve this Church during two centuries in America, and render her conspicuous and respectable for her faithful adherence to the doctrines of the gospel and the purity of her morals. It is,, fervently hoped, that this distinguished Church will never relax in her holy discipline, nor tarnish her high and worthy character by abandoning her standards, or rescinding her own canons;—above all, that she will not be the first, the only one in this country, or even in the world, who shall dare to contravene the law of God, and dispense with a crime which he forbids." Pp. 176–178.

In the year 1788, the Particular Synod of that Church resolved, "that as all such marriages are contrary to the word of God, and that purity of life so becoming the Christian character, the persons contracting such marriages cannot be admitted to the table of the Lord until the offence be removed." In 1797, the question "was brought up from the Particular Synod,