Preceded by the MINUTES OF THE CETUS, (1738-1754,) and the PROCEEDINGS 1 AND FOLLOWED BY THE MINUTES OF THE ORIGINAL PARTICULAR SYNOD, (1794-1799.) NEW YORK: BOARD OF PUBLICATION OF THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH THE NEW YORK ASTOR, NDX AND Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by REV. THOMAS C. STRONG, On behalf of the Board of Publication of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in North America, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. HOSFORD & Co., Stationers and Printers, 67 and 59 William Street, N. Y. The BOARD OF PUBLICATION have the pleasure of presenting to the Church the first volume of a complete edition of the Minutes of our highest judicatory. The greater portion of the contents of this volume have been from the beginning inaccessible to the English reader, and those Minutes which were recorded in English have yet been so rare as to be scarcely attainable. The General Synod having ordered the translation of the early proceedings, from 1771 to 1790, the work has been done with conscientious fidelity by the Rev. Wm. Demarest. The Minutes in the Appendix have been added as a link in our denominational history, and as showing one of the stages in the development of the existing ecclesiastical organization. The preliminary portion finds its place here as being the only official records extant of the struggle which a hundred years ago convulsed our churches. It is believed that even a cursory perusal of these Minutes will give an intelligent reader a better conception of the origin and meaning of the Cœtus controversy than he can procure anywhere else. |