/ 
 
 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS, 
 
 FROM 1814 TO 1864. 
 
 V 
 
 Br REV- WILLIAM CEOWELL, D. D.. 
 
 FREEPOBT, ILL. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://archive.org/details/lamerOOcrow 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 A complete historic review of the literature produced by 
 Baptists in the English language would involve a history of 
 the language itself. Its characteristic ideas, though not in 
 the exact form or ciiltus of the present day, have largely 
 intermingled with the recorded English thinking from the 
 beginning. Though it is not the object of this paper to ex- 
 hibit the process of this statement in detail, yet the fact is 
 necessary to a proper estimate of American Baptist Litera- 
 ture in the last half-century ; for, as literature is the out- 
 growth of ideas, its form, its direction, its chief material in 
 one age, are largely influenced by preceding ages. Whether 
 it be the record of struggles, of conflicts, of persecutions, of 
 sufferings, or of peaceful progress, of calm advocacy or of 
 turbulent controversy, literature becomes the chief material 
 of the history of religious opinions. The literature of Bap- 
 tists in the English language is a growth of centuries, — 
 each successive age imparting to it a fresh modification, — 
 each part so vitally related to every other part, that, to be 
 rightly estimated, it must be viewed as one organic whole. 
 
 And when we have traced this literature to what might 
 seem its fountain-head, in the various dialects out of which 
 the conglomerate English language was formed, as the diverse 
 races were gradually fused into one people, we soon find that 
 its characteristic ideas had sprung up long before, from a far- 
 distant fountain. We find that their origin must be sought 
 in another land, in a far-distant age. Their rise in the Brit- 
 ish Isles is soon found to be no original fountain, no native 
 spring. 
 
 50 
 
394< LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 When the Holy City was about to be besieged by a hostile 
 army, the king " stopped all the fountains " of water, so that 
 in the place of cool springs, bubbling up from rocky dells, 
 the invaders found dusty roads, arid wastes, or the stubble 
 of harvested fields. Not that royal power could force back 
 the upspringing waters : they flowed on, as pure as ever, 
 securely enclosed by time-defying masonry, down deep in 
 the earth, flowing beneath high hills, through secret con- 
 duits, or strong archways, or winding galleries cut through 
 the living rock, to be poured out where the besieged, not 
 the besiegers, might rejoice in their cooling presence. Ages 
 rolled away ; the places of the primitive fountains faded from 
 the memory of man ; the existence of these deep crypts be- 
 neath the massive city walls, the lofty towers, or temple bat- 
 tlements, was all unknown ; so that even 
 
 " Siloa's brook, that flowed 
 Fast by the oracle of God," 
 
 was deemed to spring up at the very spot where its spar- 
 kling waters first came to view, so far distant from its real 
 source. 
 
 So it was when the waters of life gushed forth, fresh and 
 pure, from the teaching of our blessed Lord and His holy 
 Apostles. For a time they flowed on, widening and deepen- 
 ing as they went, gladdening thirsty souls in their open prog- 
 ress towards the great sea of peoples and nations. The 
 saintly purity, the simplicity, the heavenly-mindedness of the 
 early churches, the perfect sincerity of their religious life, 
 the singleness of heart, the childlike earnestness of their 
 piety, have never since been witnessed. They drank the 
 pure waters of the primitive fountain. 
 
 But the Holy Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
 heaven, was soon besieged: this primitive fountain, too, be- 
 came " a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." The waters of 
 life still flowed on, unchecked and pure, but out of the sight 
 of hostile foes and false friends who would corrupt them ; 
 they found outlets in Asia, in Greece, and in Italy ; they 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. $95 
 
 gushed forth in the valleys of the Pyrenees and the Alps ; 
 they sprung up in the mountains of Wales, mingling but 
 slightly with the turgid waters of religious political history, 
 in those centuries of darkness, of superstition, of corruption, 
 and of persecution. 
 
 This early corruption of Christianity, by which its sacred 
 name was profaned to the base uses of persecution, was 
 foretold by the New Testament writers, — by Paul and 
 John especially, — who speak of the process as even then 
 begun. 
 
 First, as was to be expected, came those corruptions of 
 Christianity consequent on the intermingling of Jewish ideas. 
 In its earlier and grosser corruptions, Christianity was held 
 to be an offshoot of the Abrahamic and Mosaic institutions : 
 Jesus was raised to the Messiahship for his legal piety ; the 
 Divine favor flowed down an hereditary channel ; the king- 
 dom of the Messiah was a continuation of the kingdom 
 of Israel, improved, but not essentially changed ; not only 
 was the child included in the covenant with the parent, but 
 the descendant with the ancestor ; the way of salvation by 
 grace through faith was almost as little known to the people 
 as the courses of those hidden fountains. 
 
 Next, as Christianity extended itself over the Roman Em- 
 pire, increasing the number of its nominal adherents chiefly 
 from among the heathen, that crafty power, true to its tra- 
 ditional policy, adopted the rising religion, instead of the now 
 effete systems of philosophy and worship, which had lost their 
 hold on the popular mind. Primitive Christianity disap- 
 peared from the surface of history, which, for many dreary 
 centuries, was chiefly occupied with the intrigues of ecclesi- 
 astics and the intolerance of bishops and emperors, of popes 
 and kings. The soul of Rome remained pagan still, when 
 her body, clad in scarlet robes, sat in the temple of God. 
 History is occupied with the decrees of councils, the ri- 
 valries of ambitious prelates, the contentions of jarring 
 parties, and the fortunes of hostile creeds, with now and 
 
396 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 then a reference to the sufferings of the true witnesses of 
 Jesus. 
 
 But the pure waters of life were neither dried up nor ut- 
 terly driven back ; they flowed on unseen, to gladden the 
 Lord's hidden ones. While state ecclesiasticisms — with 
 their ranks and orders of ministry ; their altars, candles, vest- 
 ments, and chrisms ; their pictures, crosses, confessionals, and 
 absolutions ; their corrupt teaching of salvation by works, 
 sacramental grace, regeneration by water, applied to uncon- 
 scious babes — were hunting the faithful few, scattering 
 the only true churches that remained, punishing with fines, 
 imprisonments, scourgings, those who kept the ordinances as 
 they were delivered, who abhorred infant baptism with all its 
 train of corruptions, the Lord was not left without faithful 
 witnesses to His truth. As early as the fifth century, one of 
 the champions of infant baptism declared that eternal damna- 
 tion awaits all who deny its utility, — although it was not 
 even claimed to Jiave the sanction of the New Testament. 
 The Catharists, a few centuries later, dared not say, when 
 questioned by the bishops in the South of France, that 
 infant baptism was wrong; they said they would only ap- 
 peal to the Gospels and the Epistles. Nothing that power, 
 wielded by bigotry, jealousy, and intense hatred of those 
 principles which Baptists now advocate boldly, could do, was 
 left undone to exterminate those who held God's truth in its 
 purity. 
 
 The Reformation in Europe, resulting in the separation of 
 some of the German States from Rome, followed by the 
 quarrel of the British king with the Pope, prepared the way 
 for partial religious toleration. A powerful party arose in 
 Europe, — combining much learning, talent, and political in- 
 fluence, — who took the name of Protestants. The right to 
 protest against a dominant but corrupted form of religion 
 being established, the long-hunted sheep of Christ began to 
 creep forth from their hiding-places. Their sufferings for the 
 truth's sake now came to remembrance, when states and na- 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 397 
 
 tions threw off the yoke of "the Triple Tyrant;" and the soul- 
 stirring sonnet of Milton expressed the feeling of thousands: — 
 
 " Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 
 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones." 
 
 The distinct and peculiar character of that people who, 
 " in their ancient fold," had kept God's truth, hecame more 
 and more obvious. It soon became evident that the differ- 
 ences between them and other Protestants even, were not only 
 irreconcilable, but radical and vital, — beginning with the 
 subjects and the true outward form of baptism, and extending 
 to the structure, the design, the powers, and duties of the 
 Church, to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's presence in 
 the Church, and to the relation of the kingdom of Christ to 
 the kingdoms of the world. 
 
 The name Baptist, in English literature, was applied to 
 those who held to the primitive faith and order, rejecting all 
 human additions. The differences between the Baptist theory 
 and the Romish and Protestant theory became more plain as 
 the freedom of discussion allowed them to be pointed out. 
 The Baptist theory admits voluntary, intelligent, account- 
 able persons only to the Church ; the Romish and Protes- 
 tant theory receives infants also : the Baptist theory re- 
 ceives all its accessions as born of the Spirit; the Romish 
 and Protestant theory those who are born of the flesh ; by 
 the Baptist theory, all who are in the Church are entitled to 
 the communion of the Lord's table ; by the Romish and 
 Protestant theory, many who are claimed as members of the 
 Church are debarred from the Lord's table : by the Baptist 
 theory, the government of the Church is in the hands of all 
 the brethren ; by the Romish and Protestant theory, it is 
 in the hands of the priesthood. The mission of Baptists 
 was seen to be to restore the primitive form, membership, 
 government, ordinances, and spirit of the churches, and the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
398 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 In thus tracing the literature of Baptists, in the English 
 language, to the times of our Lord, to his Apostles, and to 
 the primitive churches, we deny that it was an offshoot of 
 Rome, or of the Reformation. The primitive churches have 
 long since ceased to exist ; no one of them has come down 
 to us in its ancient organized form ; all traces of them, ex- 
 cept a few brief records concerning them, which God has 
 preserved to be transmitted to us, have perished ; yet the 
 seeds embalmed in the Inspired Record, like kernels of wheat 
 in the cerements of the dead exhumed from the catacombs of 
 ancient Egypt, retained their vitality ; they found a soil par- 
 tially prepared in England; they sent up vigorous shoots 
 towards the light and warmth of freedom. 
 
 This growth was as nearly like that of the first age of 
 Christianity as the changed condition of the people admitted. 
 The mixture of Jewish ideas and pagan customs had 
 changed primitive Christianity into " another gospel ; " yet 
 the seeds which sprang up so vigorously at first were sure to 
 send up another growth, whenever the genial sun of freedom 
 should kindle the light of knowledge. A nursery soil was 
 partially prepared in England ; there the seeds threw forth 
 vigorous germs ; there the half-smothered germs struggled 
 up through the superincumbent mass of ecclesiastical rubbish 
 towards the light of religious freedom, till, in the fulness of 
 time, the young trees, somewhat twisted and gnarled, were 
 ready to be transplanted to the virgin soil of America, where 
 God was laying the foundations of the mightiest empire on 
 earth, of which, not religious toleration simply, but absolute 
 religious freedom, the entire separation of religion from civil 
 concerns, should be the chief corner-stone. 
 
 " The chief glory of every people," says Johnson, " arises 
 from its authors." The people who speak the English lan- 
 guage are largely indebted to Baptist authors. They have 
 done good service in every department of literature. Like a 
 tree, our literature has one organism, one principle of growth, 
 one life, though made up of roots, trunk, and branches. It 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS 399 
 
 has, in fact, a threefold division, like the three parts of a tree. 
 That is to say, this literature may he comprised in three 
 general divisions : — 
 
 1. The first division will comprise the literature produced 
 hy Baptists in England, from the beginning down to the era 
 of Foreign Missions inaugurated by them. The rills of 
 Baptist literature that sprung up in America in the early 
 period of our colonial existence were so intermingled with 
 the stream of English Baptist literature as to form one whole. 
 That portion of Baptist literature which has continued to 
 flow on in England, since the great divergence of religious 
 thought and of civil polity consequent on the independence 
 and freedom of this country, does not come within the scope 
 of our review. 
 
 2. The second division will comprise the literature pro- 
 duced by Baptists in America, from its settlement, onward 
 through its colonial existence, the AVar of Independence, and 
 our subsequent career, to the year 1814*, the era of our For- 
 eign Missions. This division is important, rather from its 
 qualities, its sturdy nature, and its subsequent influence, than 
 for its amount. 
 
 3. The third division will comprise the literature pro- 
 duced by American Baptists during the last half-century, — 
 the immediate subject of this review. During this period, 
 the literature of American Baptists has been a comparatively 
 separate, independent stream ; while that of English Baptists 
 has continued to flow on. The influence of the literature of 
 the Baptists of England on the American mind has steadily 
 declined. The current is now setting in the opposite direction. 
 The English Baptists are now taking lessons from the his- 
 tory and the teachings of American Baptists. They are be- 
 ginning to see in our doctrines, our polity, and especially in our 
 treatment of the religious sects around us, elements of unity, 
 strength, and success, which are wanting in theirs. Baptist 
 literature, in the English language, must reach its perfection 
 in the United States of America. 
 
400 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 It will be seen that the literature embraced in each of these 
 divisions has its own peculiar characteristics and uses, as dis- 
 tinctly marked as those of infancy, childhood, and youth ; — 
 that the infant was neither a bastard of Rome, nor a mongrel 
 of the Reformation, but the true child of the woman who 
 fled into the wilderness from the face of the beast. It will 
 be seen that the family likeness of the Baptists of these mod- 
 ern days to the Christians of the early centuries is becoming 
 more and more manifest, by the researches of the most 
 learned historians. It will be seen why primitive Chris- 
 tianity, thus reproduced, has, from its own nature, been at 
 ceaseless variance — either as accuser or victim — with state 
 establishments of religion with their corruptions, with all ter- 
 restrial churchisms, whether they be the emanations of polit- 
 ical ambition or the instruments of sectarian aggrandizement, 
 in England and America. 
 
 1. In looking at the first division of the modern Baptist 
 literature, as it sprung up in England, we are surprised that 
 a people so oppressed and wronged should have produced any 
 literature at all, unless that of remonstrance or of martyr- 
 ology. Banished from the halls of learning, shut out from 
 the universities, deprived of temporal support, fined, impris- 
 oned, scourged, their persons mutilated, their books burned, 
 their names cast out as evil, an adulteress calling herself 
 " the Church " armed with the powers of law for their de- 
 struction, — how could it be expected that the early Baptists 
 of England would enrich the literature of their country % 
 Who would have expected that England's most brilliant es- 
 sayist, historian, and critic of the present age, in his review 
 of the literature of the seventeenth century, would have given 
 such a verdict as this \ — " We are not afraid to say, that, 
 though there were many clever men in England during the 
 latter part of the seventeenth century, there were only two 
 great creative minds. One of these minds produced the 
 4 Paradise Lost,' the other the ' Pilgrim's Progress.' ' 
 
 One of these " two great creative minds," the Shakspeare 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 401 
 
 of the spiritual drama for mankind, the matchless delineator 
 of the unseen workings of the human spirit in its struggles 
 after God, in its conflicts with the unseen, in its aspirings 
 after the power of the world to come, was immured in prison 
 twelve years, for declaring the primitive Gospel and admin- 
 istering the primitive ordinances as a Baptist preacher, abun- 
 dant in labors for his Master ! The other composed his two 
 most elaborate, painstaking volumes to prove from the Scrip- 
 tures the Divine origin and authority of the distinguishing 
 principles of Baptists ! 
 
 The crowning glory of the character of Milton, for which 
 he deserves the lasting honor and love of mankind, far more 
 than for his wonderful erudition and his imperial genius, was 
 his intense love of God's revealed truth respecting the king- 
 dom of Christ. This was the spring of his quenchless, tire- 
 less love of liberty, culminating iira burning hatred of all 
 persecutions for conscience' sake. His letters to Salmasius, 
 his letters as the Secretary of Cromwell, sent in the name of 
 the Protector to the princes of Savoy, of France, of Sweden, 
 of Denmark, and of Transylvania, to the Senate of Geneva, 
 to the Lords of Germany, remonstrating against the persecu- 
 tions of the Albigenses, — the promptings of his own brave, 
 generous soul, — show how fully that soul was imbued with 
 the love of liberty. His appeal for the freedom of the press 
 is in a style of more than mortal eloquence, such as nothing 
 but the deepest conviction could have inspired. No one can 
 estimate the indebtedness of English freedom, as well as of 
 English literature, to the pen of John Milton. 
 
 The fame of Bunyan, as an author, rests chiefly on his 
 peerless work, the " Pilgrim's Progress." Although the 
 author, as it is said, of as many works as he was years of age 
 (60), many of them of rare excellence, yet that marvel- 
 lous book causes all the others to disappear from the pop- 
 ular view, like stars in the presence of the sun. No book, 
 perhaps, except the Bible, has been translated into so many 
 languages ; none depicts so vividly the struggles of the hu- 
 
 51 
 
402 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 man heart with temptations and spiritual foes, in all climes 
 and ag-es. 
 
 Before the middle of the seventeenth century, we find 
 among the names of authors who enriched English literature, 
 and stood forth as the advocates of a pure gospel, those of 
 Edward Barker, of Samuel Richardson, of Christopher 
 Blackwood, of Hansard Knollys, of Francis Cornwell ; and. 
 in the latter half, of Jeremiah Ives, of John Tombes, — who 
 published fourteen books, — of John Norcott, of Henry d'Ai:- 
 vers, — who joined with Tombes in repelling the assaults of 
 Richard Baxter, — of Benjamin and Elias Keach, of Edward 
 Hutchinson, of Thomas Grantham, of Nehemiah Cox, D. D., 
 of Thomas De Launne, — whose book contained a preface 
 by Daniel Defoe, and which his opponents answered by put- 
 ting him in the pillory, taking off his ears, fining and im- 
 prisoning him, and finally allowing him to die in prison, — 
 of Doctor Russell, and of Collins, besides many others. 
 
 It must be remembered that this was an age of great re • 
 ligious declension in England, of a general eclipse of faith. 
 In the Established Church, during this period, says a distin- 
 guished writer of that Church, " It was not merely that Ra- 
 tionalism then obtruded itself as a heresy, or obtained a footing 
 of toleration within the Church ; but the rationalizing method 
 possessed itself absolutely of the whole field of theology. 
 With some trifling exceptions, the whole of religious litera- 
 ture was drawn into the endeavor to ' prove the truth of 
 Christianity.' .... Dogmatic theology had ceased to ex- 
 ist ; the exhibition of religious truth for practical purposes 
 was confined to a few obscure writers. Every one who had 
 anything to say on sacred subjects drilled it into an array of 
 argument against a supposed objector. Christianity appeared 
 made for nothing else but to be ' proved ; ' what use to make 
 of it when it was proved was not much thought about." * 
 
 The preaching of that age was, to use Johnson's compar- 
 ison, rather an Old Bailey theology, in which the Apostles 
 
 1 Soe Mark Pattison, on " Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, from 
 1688 to 1750." 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 403 
 
 were arraigned once a week fur the capital crime of forgery, 
 ,than the Gospel of salvation. The Baptists of this period 
 were called to the work of testifying and suffering, not only 
 for the primitive order and ordinances of the house of God, 
 but for sound doctrine, for the truth of God in opposition to 
 the speculations of men; to contend with dead formalism, to 
 hold up the cross of Christ in the place of worthless forms. 
 
 In the early part of the eighteenth century, we find in the 
 roll of worthies who enriched the literature of that period the 
 names of such writers as Samuel Ewen ; John Brine, men- 
 tioned by Bickersteth as " a powerful writer ; " Benjamin 
 Beddome, the admired preacher, writer, and poet; the three 
 Stennetts, Joseph, an eminent minister of London, author of 
 many works, his son, Joseph Stennett, D. D., a distinguished 
 scholar and author, and Samuel Stennett, D. D., also of Lon- 
 don ; John Evans, LL. D., one of whose works soon sold 
 to the number of a hundred thousand copies ; J. H. Evans, 
 the author of many excellent religious works, of which the 
 London " Christian Magazine " says, " Every page is cal- 
 culated to awaken prayer and holy meditation ; " Dr. Gale, 
 the learned opponent of Dr. Wall ; the famous Dr. Gill, 
 whom Toplady regards as having " trod the whole circle 
 of human learning," and of whom he says, that, " while 
 true religion and sound learning have a single friend in the 
 British empire, the works and name of Gill will be known 
 and revered ; " Joseph Burroughs ; William Zoat ; Caleb 
 Evans, D. D., another ardent friend of religious liberty, as 
 well as an advocate of the freedom of the Colonies, " a 
 spirited controversialist and zealous assertor," says a distin- 
 guished American writer, " of those liberal and noble prin- 
 ciples to which we were indebted for our glorious Revolu- 
 tion ; " Abraham Booth, the excellent minister and judicious 
 writer ; Joseph Jenkins, author of several treatises ; and the 
 learned Robert Robinson. 
 
 Towards the close of the last and the beginning of the pres- 
 ent century, a galaxy of names of accomplished scholars and 
 
404 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 brilliant writers appear in the firmament of English litera- 
 ture as the champions of the primitive faith. Among them 
 are the names of William Jones, author of a work on the 
 history of the church ; of Thomas Llewellyn, the friend of 
 Dr. Gill, and correspondent of Dr. Manning ; of William 
 Richards, LL. D., another ardent friend of religious liberty, 
 who bequeathed his valuable library of 1300 volumes to 
 Brown University ; of Robert Hall, of John Foster, of 
 Andrew Fuller, of Christopher Anderson, of Joseph Ivi- 
 mey, and others. 
 
 Fuller is an acknowledged prince among theological writers, 
 a keen anatomist of error, whose controversial and practical 
 writings are a rare treasure of spiritual wisdom. Of Foster, 
 Sir James Mackintosh says, " I have read, with the greatest 
 admiration, the Essays of Mr. Foster. He is one of the 
 most profound and eloquent writers that England has pro- 
 duced." The fame of Hall is coextensive with the glory of 
 elegant letters. Dugald Stewart says of him, " Whoever 
 wishes to see the English 'language in its perfection, must 
 read the writings of that great divine, Robert Hall. He com- 
 bines the beauties of Johnson, Addison, and Burke, without 
 their imperfections." Sir James Mackintosh, from whom a 
 biography of Hall was expected when he himself was sud- 
 denly made the subject of biography, says, " His eloquence 
 is of the highest order, the natural effusion of a fertile imag- 
 ination and of an ardent mind ; while his style is easy, va- 
 rious, and animated. On a review of all his varied excel- 
 lencies, we cannot but expect with confidence that the name 
 of Robert Hall will be placed by posterity among the best 
 writers of the age, as well as the most vigorous defenders 
 of religious truth, and the brightest examples of Christian 
 charity." 
 
 This will not be considered extravagant, coming from 
 such a man, whose estimate is amply confirmed by scholars 
 and critics like Dr. Gregory, Sir T. N. Talfourd, Bicker- 
 steth, Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Lord Brougham, and the most 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 405 
 
 eminent literary reviewers of all parties. The effect of his 
 pulpit eloquence is represented as wonderful beyond descrip- 
 tion. No preacher drew such crowds of the most highly 
 cultivated hearers, even of those who despised the people 
 with whom he was connected. Some of the most eminent 
 writers and preachers in England at the present day are 
 found among the Baptists. 
 
 2. Turning to the second division of Baptist literature in 
 the English language, that produced in America from its 
 settlement to the year 1814, we meet, at the threshold, a 
 fact of deep significance. The key-note of Baptist literature 
 on American soil is the bugle-blast of religious freedom ! 
 The battle that had been waged in Old England for tolera- 
 tion, is taken up in the New World for absolute freedom 
 of religious opinion, action, and worship ; for the complete 
 separation of spiritual from civil concerns ; for the inviola- 
 bility of conscience ; for the perfect equality of all men be- 
 fore God ! The first Baptist writer takes up his pen for 
 entire freedom of opinion. Toleration is not the creed for 
 him ; he denies the right of civil magistracy over the con- 
 science in religious matters at all ! In him the genius of the 
 great reformer is united to the meekness, the patience, the 
 calm courage of the moral hero. The grand truth first as- 
 serted by the Apostles before the Jewish rulers was now to be 
 reasserted, preparatory to its incorporation with the political 
 life of a great nation : " We ought to obey God rather than 
 men." God was preparing the way for primitive Christian- 
 ity to become a power in the land. He was laying the foun- 
 dation of a nation whose glory was to eclipse that of all 
 preceding nations. In this nation, religious and civil liberty 
 were to go hand in hand with knowledge. 
 
 The far-reaching influence of the principle then incorpo- 
 rated into our civil state can even now be but partially esti- 
 mated. A distinguished European scholar and political writer, 
 Gervinus, in his " Introduction to the History of the Nine- 
 teenth Century," speaking of the Rhode Island colony founded 
 
406 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 by Roger Williams, says : " These institutions have not only- 
 maintained themselves, but have spread over the whole Union. 
 They have superseded the aristocratic commencements of 
 Carolina and of New York, the high-church party in Vir- 
 ginia, the theocracy in Massachusetts, and the monarchy 
 throughout America; they have given laws to one quarter 
 of the globe, and, dreaded for their moral influence, they stand 
 in the background of every democratic struggle in Europe." 
 Thus, the central idea of the alleged heresies for which Wil- 
 liams was banished from Massachusetts was, in a century 
 and a half afterwards, incorporated into the Constitution of 
 the United States, 1 and is a part of the unchanging law of 
 this great nation. 
 
 The remarkable testimony of an American historian, Ban- 
 croft, to the merits of this apostle of freedom, has never 
 been impeached : " Roger Williams was the first person 
 in modern Christendom to assert, in its plenitude, the doc- 
 trine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions 
 before the law ; and in its defence he was the harbinger of 
 Milton, the precursor and the superior of Jeremy Taylor. 
 For Taylor limited his toleration to a few Christian sects : 
 the philanthropy of Williams comprehends the earth." 
 
 Whether this principle ever would or could have been 
 triumphantly maintained, or even asserted, by any of the 
 Pedo-Baptist sects is a question for calm reflection ; the facts 
 have passed into history, that, in England and America, Bap- 
 tists alone have been the asserters, the unflinching advocates 
 and martyrs of this glorious principle, in which all men re- 
 joice together. It is, therefore, no arrogant claim, that Bap- 
 tist principles, as set forth in their literature in England and 
 America, were the seeds of American liberty. They were 
 planted by Baptists, watered by their tears and blood, weeded 
 out by their unremitting vigilance, toils, and sufferings, till 
 they have grown to be a great tree, so that all the birds that 
 will may lodge in the branches of it. 
 
 1 Sec Article II. Amendments. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 407 
 
 John Clarke, the companion of Williams on his voyage to 
 England, after he had been sentenced by the Boston magis- 
 trates to be publicly whipped, wrote a treatise against the 
 persecutions in New England, which was published in Lon- 
 don. The Wightmans of Connecticut, Valentine, Timothy, 
 and John Gano Wightman, father, son, and grandson, 
 whose aggregate ministry in the same place extended through 
 one hundred and thirty-six years, made some contributions 
 to our literature. Valentine Wightman, being challenged 
 by the " Standing Order" to a debate on baptism, pub- 
 lished, in I7285 the debate in a volume, — probably the 
 first book in defence of the true baptism ever issued in Amer- 
 ica. Abel Morgan prepared a Concordance of the Bible in 
 the Welsh language, which was published in 17^0, after his 
 death. His nephew, Abel Morgan, of Middleton, N. J., 
 published a reply to an assault on believers' baptism, by Rev. 
 Samuel Finley, a Presbyterian minister, afterwards President 
 of Princeton College. John Callender, pastor of a church 
 in Newport, R. I., published an historical discourse in 17^8, 
 and left valuable manuscripts, afterwards used by Mr. Backus. 
 Benjamin Griffith, of Pennsylvania, prepared a work on 
 church discipline, another on the resurrection, and a reply 
 to a pamphlet on infant baptism, about the middle of the last 
 century. 
 
 There is reason to believe that the earliest American Bap- 
 tist work, designed to set forth the doctrines of the Baptists 
 in didactic form, was by the Rev. John Watts, the second 
 pastor of the Pennepek Church, the oldest Baptist church 
 in the Colony of Pennsylvania. Morgan Edwards says, " He 
 [Watts] composed a catechism, or little system of divinity, 
 which was published in 1700." No copy is known to be in 
 existence. 
 
 The first President of Harvard University rejected infant 
 baptism, for which he was compelled, though a very learned 
 and godly man, to resign his place in 1654<. His successor 
 held immersion to be the true baptism ; and both only needed 
 
408 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 more of the martyr spirit, or less violence on the part of the 
 ruling- powers, to become Baptists in profession as well as in 
 belief. 
 
 About the middle of the last century, the Rev. Isaac 
 Backus commenced his active career of preaching-, travelling, 
 and literary labor, for which his memory is so highly revered 
 at the present day. His publications, which number from 
 thirty to forty, are mostly on the vital doctrines of religion, 
 or in opposition to the soul-destroying errors of the day, or 
 historical, or in defence of religious liberty, of which he was 
 a tireless and fearless advocate. His efficient labors and bold 
 championship in this cause deserve our lasting gratitude. His 
 life and labors are well commemorated in a beautiful volume 
 compiled by the Rev. Dr. Hovey. 
 
 The literary remains of that prince of pulpit orators in 
 his day, the Rev. Dr. Stillman, are mostly sermons on the 
 vital doctrines of Christianity. Rev. Morgan Edwards, a 
 native of Wales, came to this country in 17^1, and became 
 the pastor of a church in Philadelphia. He published sev- 
 eral sermons and theological treatises, and " Materials to- 
 wards a History of the Baptists of Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey," in two volumes, In 1792- Samuel Shepard, a be- 
 loved physician of soul and body,- published several works, 
 some of them in defence of Baptist principles. Rev. William 
 Rogers, D. D., of Philadelphia, was a fruitful writer. Rev. 
 Richard Furman, D. D., of South Carolina, published ser- 
 mons and addresses ; and the eccentric John Leland held the 
 pen of a ready writer. 
 
 About the beginning of the present century, the Rev. 
 Thomas Baldwin, D. D., of Boston, commenced his literary 
 labors, through which he exercised a strong, lasting, and 
 highly salutary public influence. Rev. Henry Holcombe, 
 D. D., who divided his ministerial labors between Georgia, 
 South Carolina, and the city of Philadelphia, wrote exten- 
 sively in defence of the great truths of Christianity. James 
 Manning, D. D., at an earlier period, attained eminence as a 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 409 
 
 preacher, a teacher, a statesman, and author. The Rev. Dr. 
 Stanford, of New York city, Rev. Dr. Mercer, of Georgia, 
 and Rev. A. Broaddus, of Virginia, were fruitful authors. 
 The highly cultivated and brilliant Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, 
 D. D., was a popular author, and his literary remains, col- 
 lected by the Rev. Dr. Elton into a large octavo volume, have 
 a permanent value. The Rev. William Staughton, D. D., 
 contributed to the literature of the cause of which he was so 
 distinguished a pulpit advocate some valuable publications. 
 
 It appears that all publications during this period in de- 
 fence of Baptist principles, of a polemic cast, are replies to 
 attacks by Pedo-Baptists, or were called out by challenges 
 to debates, or are reasons assigned for becoming Baptists, by 
 ministers converted from other denominations. The books 
 by Wightman and Morgan, the four pamphlets by Backus, 
 the two brief works by Benjamin Foster, Dr. Baldwin's three 
 pamphlets, all replies to attacks, the reasons given by Daniel 
 Merrill and Rev. Dr. Chapin for becoming Baptists, and 
 many others, prove this. 
 
 The first periodical publication by the Baptists in the United 
 States was " The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary 
 Magazine." The first number was issued in September, 
 1803, by a committee of "The Massachusetts Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Society," which had been organized in the early part 
 of 1802. The first article was the Constitution of the So- 
 ciety, followed by an "Address from a Committee of the 
 Baptist Churches in Boston." But two numbers, of thirty- 
 two pages each, were issued the first year, two the second 
 year, the twelfth and last number of the volume being issued 
 Jan. 1, 1808. The second volume of twelve numbers was 
 completed in December, 1810. The third volume com- 
 menced in March, 1811, closing December, 1813. The 
 fourth commenced March, 1814, closing December, 1816. 
 A new series was commenced in 1817, issued on alternate 
 months, or a volume in two years, till the close of 1824, 
 from which period it has been issued monthly, to the present 
 
 52 
 
410 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 time. In 18£6, after the removal of the Foreign Mission 
 Board to Boston, the magazine was transferred to the Board 
 of the General Convention. It continued to be largely oc- 
 cupied with biographies, literary essays, reviews, letters, 
 poetry, obituaries, &c, till the close of 183J, when it became 
 " a strictly missionary publication," which it has continued to 
 be to the present time. 
 
 The second benevolent organization of Baptists not only 
 engaged in the promotion of literature incidentally, like the 
 first, but was formed for that special purpose. " The Evan- 
 gelical Tract Society " was organized in Boston, Nov. 13, 
 1811, Dr. Baldwin President. Its objects were catholic and 
 liberal, being of no sectarian cast, and are thus set forth in 
 its constitution : " To procure and circulate such religious 
 books and tracts as illustrate and defend those great and lead- 
 ing truths of Christianity, viz., the depravity of human na- 
 ture, the divinity and atonement of the Saviour, the necessity 
 of the Holy Spirit's influence to change the heart, the pleas- 
 ures of experimental religion, and the importance of a holy 
 life and conversation." The Society was originated and 
 managed wholly by Baptists, who thus early mustered to 
 meet the coming onset of Unitarianism, the distant mutter- 
 ings of which were not yet loud enough to arouse the dor- 
 mant Puritanism of New England. 
 
 " The Salem Bible Translation and Foreign Mission So- 
 ciety " was founded in 1812, "to aid the translation of the 
 Scriptures into the Eastern languages, at the present time 
 going on under the superintendence of Dr. William Carey." 
 This organization, too, was both directly and indirectly in aid 
 of literature. 
 
 On the 18th of May, 1814, delegates from many Baptist 
 churches assembled in the house of the First Baptist Church 
 in Philadelphia, and founded "The General Missionary Con- 
 vention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of 
 America for Foreign Missions." This event gave a strong 
 impulse, not only to the missionary cause, but to the literary 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 41 i 
 
 spirit of Baptists. One of the first fruits of this intellectual 
 quickening' was the formation of " The Massachusetts Baptist 
 Education Society," Sept. 22d of the same year, " to afford 
 the means of education to young men of the Baptist denom- 
 ination, who shall furnish evidence to the churches of which 
 they are members of their personal piety and call to the 
 ministry." 
 
 The only institution of liberal learning over which Baptists 
 then exercised any control was Brown University, chartered 
 in 1*765. This was about the middle of Dr. Messer's Pres- 
 idency, which extended from 1802 to 18£6. Its spiritual 
 and intellectual pulse beat feebly at this period. 
 
 Before entering on the third division of our literature, we 
 must pause and consider the great changes that had taken 
 place during this second period of its development, from the 
 settlement of the American Colonies down to 1814, — the 
 transition period to the last half-century. This literature was 
 the pedestal reared by our American Baptist fathers on the 
 strong foundation laid in England. Its earliest note was 
 the battle-cry of soul-freedom ; its closing strain, the anthem 
 of victory. During both these periods, our principles and 
 our literature were asserting the right to existence, rather 
 than putting forth their claim to be worthy of all acceptation. 
 
 Meanwhile they had won a victory which astonished the 
 world, alarmed crowned heads, disquieted pensioned prel- 
 ates, disgusted popes and cardinals, scandalized every state 
 church in Christendom, and may well overwhelm us with 
 grateful astonishment, as we trace the hand of God in this 
 most wonderful feature of the great American Revolution. 
 Who would have expected that the crowning glory of Amer- 
 ican Independence was to be the incorporation into the life 
 of a mighty nation of the principle for which Baptists had 
 so long prayed, reasoned, pleaded, suffered, and bled ? 
 
 When it is borne in mind, that, during most of this period, 
 no man could hold office in the Massachusetts colony till he 
 had partaken of the sacrament in the Puritan churches, — that 
 
41^ LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Roger Williams was persecuted, banished, and his life put in 
 the extremest peril, for his opinions, — that a man was heavily 
 fined for writing a piece against the laws for the support of 
 religion, and another for reading it, though it was never pub- 
 lished, — that in 1636 it was enacted, that, "if any Chris- 
 tian shall openly condemn the baptizing of infants, or shall 
 purposely depart from the congregation at the administration 
 of that ordinance, he shall be sentenced to be banished," — 
 that an act of disfranchisement was passed against any who 
 should attend Baptist meetings, — that in 1644< a law was 
 made to banish Baptists, — that it was enacted that any 
 person absent from worship in the Pedo-Baptist churches 
 " shall forfeit, for his absence, five shillings," — that " no 
 person shall publicly preach, or be ordained to the office of 
 a teaching elder, wheu any two organized churches, council 
 of state, or general court shall declare their dissatisfaction 
 thereat," — that in six years " twenty-eight Baptists were 
 imprisoned at Bristol, by the constables of Rehoboth for 
 ministerial taxes," — that in New York, Virginia, and South 
 Carolina, laws equally or more severe were in force against 
 them ; — when these well-known facts are considered, no one 
 will be surprised at the small amount of Baptist literature, 
 but rather that any at all was produced. 
 
 We are now to behold Baptist principles and literature 
 developing themselves on a theatre entirely new since the 
 Christian era. We are to see how these principles and their 
 literary outgrowth modify, adapt, produce, and reproduce each 
 other, when left to their own inherent energy, protected by 
 law in common with all other forms and opinions, but neither 
 pensioned nor persecuted. Their sturdy growth had already 
 snapped asunder every band, as Samson threw off the Phi- 
 listines' withes. Though weakened somewhat by that mad- 
 ness which, Solomon says, oppression engenders, Baptists 
 had won for themselves a fair field, free from all impediments 
 but those of prejudice and of pride. Their oppressors had 
 fortified themselves in the chief seats of power, of honor, and 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 413 
 
 learning : they bore about tbem some marks of tbe furrow 
 and of the brick-kiln. 
 
 At the beginning of the last half-century, the last vestige 
 of state religious oppression of Baptists was dropping off, 
 though civil disabilities continued in some of the States many 
 years later. A transition was now manifesting itself in the 
 Puritan churches of New England, which led to the most 
 important results. They had been filling up with uncon- 
 verted men, under the combined effects of infant baptism, the 
 half-way covenant, lax doctrine, and making the Church a step- 
 ping-stone to civil office. The influence of the great awaken- 
 ings in the days of Whitefield and Edwards had died away, 
 or was reacting" in various forms of fanaticism and formal- 
 ism. The utterances of the Puritan pulpits were chiefly doc- 
 trinal, argumentative, and controversial. The Arminianism 
 which had been the dread and the target of many of the 
 old Puritan divines, though comparatively latent in their 
 churches, had now taken a new form in the Methodist organ- 
 ization, which had become bold and aggressive, its advocates 
 dwelling largely on the alleged inconsistencies of the old 
 Puritan doctrines, often caricaturing, always opposing them, 
 while another schism was manifesting itself in the opposite 
 direction. 
 
 The seeds from which Unitarianism in New England grew 
 were first sown by the Puritans themselves. Early in the 
 present century, the tares began to manifest themselves in 
 alarming strength and numbers. Funds devised for the 
 support of Puritan churches, schools, colleges, and religious 
 enterprises, were diverted, in large amounts, to the support 
 of doctrines the most abhorrent to the spirit of Puritanism. 
 Between the preaching of dead orthodoxy and living hetero- 
 doxy, of dead faith and living reason, the extensive breaking 
 up of the old foundations, and the violent controversies that 
 arose, the power of persecution was lost. 
 
 This, too, was a transition period in political opinions. 
 The old Federalists party, which included the more strictly 
 
414 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 religious and high-church elements, particularly the Puritan, 
 was now out of power. In the State of Virginia, a mighty 
 revolution of politico-religious opinion had taken place, com* 
 mencing ahout the period of the Revolution, by which the 
 dominant episcopacy of the colony had been overthrown, and 
 its monopolies taken away, while Baptist principles had made 
 rapid progress. As a natural consequence, the Baptists of 
 that day were largely of the Jeffersonian school in politics, 
 as their oppressors were largely of the opposite school. The 
 Puritan preachers declaimed loudly against the War of 181 c 2: 
 Baptist preachers preached Christ, prayed for the President, 
 and won rapidly on the public respect and confidence. The 
 Puritans, in common with many Pedo-Baptist bodies, were 
 weakened by divisions and contentions ; and many, who nat- 
 urally looked to them for a spiritual home, found it only 
 among the Baptists. 
 
 Other causes combined to make this the era of a new spir- 
 itual and intellectual life to the Baptists of that day. It was 
 the era of voluntary benevolent organization, the beginning 
 of those great religious movements which combined the en- 
 ergies of the various religious bodies or denominations, for 
 the diffusion of the Bible, of tracts and books, and for the 
 extension of Sunday-schools all over the land. American 
 Christians of various names, emulating the example of their 
 brethren in England, had now opened their eyes to the claims 
 of the heathen. The religious energies of the people were 
 beginning to adjust themselves to the novel condition of 
 things in a state of absolute freedom. 
 
 The baptism of Judson and Rice, after their arrival on 
 heathen ground, — the return of the latter to this country, his 
 extensive travels, his powerful and persevering labors, — the 
 united action of the then scattered Baptists, — the stirring 
 appeals which then, for the first time, were circulated from 
 North to South, from East to West, — the letters of Carey, 
 of Marshman, of Fuller, Ryland, Sutcliffe, — the polished elo- 
 quence of Hall, the mighty thoughts of John. Foster, — gave 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 4 15 
 
 a new turn to Baptist thinking in America, and imparted a 
 powerful impulse to our literature. 
 
 S. The principal Baptist writers and scholars in active life, 
 in 1814, were Rev. Drs. Baldwin, of Boston; Stanford, of 
 New York ; Alison, Hoi combe, Rogers, and Staughton, of 
 Philadelphia ; Semple, of Virginia ; Furman, of South Car- 
 olina ; Mercer, of Georgia; and the brilliant Maxcy, who was 
 then President of South Carolina State University. 
 
 The first ten years, to 1824, were not fruitful of literary 
 works. Judson's sermon, assigning the reasons of his change 
 on baptism, preached in Calcutta, in 1812, was not repub- 
 lished in this country till 1817- In the same year, an Amer- 
 ican edition of Robinson's " History of Baptism," edited by 
 Mr. Benedict, was issued from the house of Lincoln & Ed- 
 mands. Strictures on the work appeared in the Baptist 
 Magazine, to which Mr. Benedict replied. Some brief issues 
 in pamphlet form, by Elisha Andrews, Dr. Baldwin, Caleb 
 Blood, Dr. Chaplin, William Collier, Elisha Cushman, Henry 
 aud Hosea Holcombe, John Leland, Jesse Mercer, W. Par- 
 kinson, Silas Stearns, D. Sharp, and Charles Train, with 
 some small works from the pen of Dr. Chapin, who renounced 
 <he pedo-baptism of the Congregationalists to become a Bap- 
 tist, and an abridged edition of Benedict's History, make up 
 the sum of the literary issues of this decade. 
 
 The Magazine was the organ of Foreign and Home Mis- 
 sions, as well as of the denominational interests and general 
 benevolent movements of the Baptists. To it they looked 
 for religious intelligence, for literary reviews, for obituaries, 
 and for the defence of their principles. Brief biographies 
 of Robert Hall, of Menno, Tallmadge, Winchell, Fuller, 
 Winn, Gale, Fawcett, Keach, John Howard, Thomas Hollis, 
 Dr. Rogers, Dr. Carey, and others, are found in its pages. 
 Addresses and appeals in behalf of the Foreign Missions 
 were sent far and wide through the Magazine ; the letters 
 of Judson, then unknown by face to the Baptists, coming 
 from the far-off, almost unknown empire of Burmah, stirred 
 
416 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 their hearts like a trumpet-peal. The visit of Mrs. Judson 
 to this country, near the close of this decade, increased 
 greatly the interest in their Mission, and stirred up much 
 literary discussion. 
 
 The next ten years, to 1834<, was a period of more ener- 
 getic preparation for increased literary activity. The thrill- 
 ing accounts of Judson's imprisonment, the heroic fortitude 
 of his wife, and their fearful sufferings, were published far 
 and wide in this country, even in the secular papers, investing 
 our devoted missionaries with something akin to the glory 
 of martyrdom. The Memoir of Pearce, by Fuller, was a 
 beautiful picture of primitive piety, united with ministerial 
 faithfulness. The republication of Pengilly's M Guide," in 
 1825, indicates that the pen of Baptists in this country had 
 not yet been much employed in that department. 
 
 In the early part of 1 829, the Memoir of Ann H. Jud- 
 son, by Rev. J. D. Knowles, appeared. A second edition 
 was immediately called for ; it was favorably noticed and 
 generally read, exciting a degree of interest in the Mission 
 hitherto un parallelled. Few missionary biographies have 
 been so extensively read, or produced equal effects. The 
 heroines of romance paled before the heroine of faith. No 
 American female had stirred such enthusiasm ; her praises 
 were on almost every tongue. Almost^ for the " Christian 
 [Unitarian] Examiner" said of the Mission, judged by that 
 memoir, " It is our deliberate conviction that the whole enter- 
 prise was uncalled for." And after praising Mrs. Judson's 
 talents, energy, and self-sacrificing spirit, as personal traits, 
 the reviewer adds, " But we repeat our most serious convic- 
 tion that she would better have remained at home." 
 
 During this period, the Baptists of New England turned 
 their attention to the more thorough theological education of 
 their ministry. In some of the older portions of the country, 
 it was a transition period from an uneducated, unsalaried min- 
 istry, preaching in uncouth, badly located houses and to illiter- 
 ate people, to an improved outward condition. Manufactur- 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 447 
 
 ing villages sprung up, draining the population from the old 
 centres. Our young ministers entered these openings, gath- 
 ering flourishing churches. A new class of literature was 
 called for, explaining and defending our doctrines, and suited 
 to popular reading*. The missionary spirit stimulated the 
 desire for ministerial education, as well as for books and 
 periodicals. Weekly religious papers now commenced their 
 agency ; the pens of young writers attempted short flights 
 in their columns ; the fruits of maturer literary and theolog- 
 ical culture began to appear. An improved literary taste 
 stimulated the demand and supply. The blade grew vigor- 
 ously ; some first-fruits appeared, but the most prominent 
 feature of our literature during this period was its promise 
 for the future. 
 
 In the ten years preceding 1844*, the full corn ripened 
 more rapidly. In 1836 the "Christian Review" entered on 
 its career as our leading literary organ. Its periodical issues 
 have added twenty-eight large volumes to our literature, 
 much of it of permanent value. Though at this writing it 
 is in a state of syncope, we trust it will soon be revived, to 
 resume its useful career with new vigor. 
 
 Many valuable books were issued during this decade, and 
 the religious weekly press greatly extended its activity, abil- 
 ity, and influence. But the religious and missionary efficiency 
 of the time was greatly distracted by agitations which had 
 no small influence on literary progress. Books, pamphlets, 
 periodicals, pulpits, and platforms were largely occupied with 
 discussions of the relations of our churches, benevolent soci- 
 eties, and missionary enterprises, to Southern slavery. A 
 peculiar cast was thus given to the literature of that period. 
 
 The next decade, to 1854, was more fruitful of permanent 
 literature, the results of critical study. The increase of 
 our periodical literature, also, was, perhaps, greater during 
 this period than any of the preceding; its tone more ele- 
 vated, its circulation far more general. The close adherence 
 of Baptists in all parts of the country to the New Testament 
 
 53 
 
418 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 had prepared them to be of one mind and one way, in the 
 absence of creeds, confessions, rubrics, or prayer-books for 
 their guidance ; so that the doctrines and discipline of the 
 churches were substantially the same in all parts of the land. 
 
 It was during this period that our church polity became 
 the subject of distinct, special attention. Its essential, radi- 
 cal differences from the various ecclesiasticisms which have 
 sprung- up from the persecutions of primitive Christianity, — 
 modified as they have floated down the stream of time, — 
 its Divine authority and sacred claims, as contained in the 
 New Testament, were now brought prominently to view. 
 Church polity has become a branch of study in our theo- 
 logical seminaries, and m^any books on church government 
 and discipline have been prepared and circulated among the 
 churches. It is now seen, that, although Baptist churches 
 are severally independent of all ecclesiastical control, yet, in 
 doctrine and in action, they are more nearly a unit than any 
 other religious order or body in the country. 
 
 From 1854 to the present time our literary progress was 
 onward, till the breaking out of the Rebellion, involving us in 
 the horrors of a dreadful civil war. This put a stop to book 
 literature in the Rebellious States ; and their weekly relig- 
 ious papers are nearly all extinguished, the few that survive 
 being so reduced in size and quality of execution as to be of 
 little worth. In the Loyal States, the literary standard of the 
 weekly press has been much elevated since the commence- 
 ment of this decade, and the circulation in some cases much 
 extended. In the Border States, the troubles caused by the 
 Rebellion in its early stages, and even before fighting com- 
 menced, destroyed our weekly papers. 
 
 Our book and pamphlet literature has felt the shock com- 
 mon to all publishing interests, yet its vitality is as vigorous 
 as ever. Valuable works from Baptist pens are issuing from 
 various publishing houses, as in a time of peace. No people 
 are more loyal to the Government than the Baptists of the 
 Loyal States ; no religious body in the Revolted States has 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 419 
 
 so large a proportion of loyal hearts, or so few active Rebels, 
 as the Baptist. The pen has its victories as well as the 
 sword, as the history of our literature abundantly shows. 
 
 When our fathers entered on the work of Foreign Mis- 
 sions, the country was suffering" the evils of a foreign war : 
 we meet to celebrate the semi-centennial anniversary, amid the 
 conflicts of civil war. We are now to review the progress 
 of fifty years ; to note the development of that form of 
 doctrine which we have received as the Christianity of the 
 Apostolic age, under the light of the nineteenth century, the 
 warmth of liberty, the protection of civil law, and the in- 
 spiring motives of the spirit of Missions. We are to see 
 in what directions our thoughts have been flowing ; what we 
 have done to stamp those thoughts on the current records of 
 the times. The spoken words of our fathers have passed 
 away ; the thoughts which have found place in the enduring 
 literature of the age remain to us. 
 
 Literature must be analyzed and classified, in order to esti- 
 mate its relative value. But this is attended with difficul- 
 ties. Some works belong to one class, some to more than 
 one ; their titles are not, in all cases, the indices of their class. 
 A list of titles and of names of authors would give no defi- 
 nite idea of our literature ; while a classification according to 
 merit, or usefulness, or quality of style, is impossible. The 
 same books which some bibliographers would place in one 
 class would be differently arranged by others; yet we must 
 attempt a classification of this literature, however loose and 
 imperfect, or liable to critical objections, it may be. 
 
 A complete catalogue of the works produced by Baptist 
 authors in the past fifty years is not attempted. The most 
 we can do is to take a somewhat orderly ramble through our 
 literary garden, see what has been done by way of laying out 
 walks, grubbing, blasting, levelling downwards and upwards, 
 trenching, draining, manuring, planting and transplanting 
 trees, laying out flower-beds, putting in seeds, pruning, graft* 
 , ing, and weeding. This garden is in three general divisions, 
 
4-20 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 according to the kind of planting and tillage in each, as trees, 
 vines, and annual plants. Or, to drop the figure, the first 
 division of our literature is into three departments, according 
 to outward form, viz., into Books, Pamphlets, and Period- 
 icals. 
 
 BOOKS. 
 
 Our book literature, the most permanent in form, may be 
 comprised in three general divisions, viz. : — 
 
 I. Religious Literature. 
 
 II. Denominational Literature. 
 II. General Literature. 
 
 By following this division we shall see, in the first place, 
 what 'Baptist authors of the last fifty years have done in the 
 cause of sacred learning, in explaining and defending the 
 generally received truths of Christianity, how they have 
 preached these truths, how they have honored them in their 
 lives, how they have traced out their progress in the world, 
 how much they have added to the common stock of knowl- 
 edge of foreign countries ; in the second place, how they 
 have explained and defended their own peculiar doctrines and 
 practices, how their lives have borne witness to their profes- 
 sions, how these doctrines and practices have been treated 
 by hostile powers, how they have triumphed, how they have 
 found utterance in hymns of praise, or in the language of 
 youth, or in church creeds ; and, in the third place, what Bap- 
 tist scholars and educators have done in the general cause of 
 critical and classical learning, in the advance of science, of 
 general literature, history, poetry, music, fiction, biography, 
 and the making of text-books for schools and colleges. This 
 survey includes the whole field of modern literature. 
 
 I. Religious Literature. 
 
 To this division belong those books whose object is to 
 promote piety, sound doctrine, religious knowledge, and cor- 
 rect morals, in general, or to oppose the grosser and more 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 4£1 
 
 pernicious forms of error. They are in eight classes, as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. Didactic; or that class of books designed to teach 
 some portion of the leading or generally received truths of 
 Christianity, without special reference to denominational dif- 
 ferences. The following authors have contributed to this 
 class of literature : — 
 
 Andrew Broaddus, of Va. " History of the Bible." 8vo. 1815. 
 
 William Collier, Mass. " Gospel Treasury." 4 vols. Boston. " Evan- 
 gelical Instructor." 
 
 William Parkinson, N. Y. " A Treatise on the Public Ministry of the 
 Word." 1818. 
 
 Henry Holcombe, Pa. " Primitive Theology." 1822. 
 
 John Stanford, N. Y. " The Aged Christian's Companion." 1829. 
 Two editions. 
 
 Jesse Mercer, Ga. " Ten Letters on the Atonement." 1830. 
 
 James Loring, Mass. "Am I a Christian ? " 
 
 J. Newton Brown, Pa. " Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge." 
 1835. " Obligations of the Sabbath." 1853. 
 
 Howard Malcom, Mass. " Bible Dictionary." 140,000 copies sold. A 
 new edition, enlarged, since published. " Christian Rule of Marriage." 
 " Extent of the Atonement." 
 
 Joseph S. C. F. Frey. " Narrative." 1833. First published in London. 
 Passed through ten editions. " Essays dn the Passover." 1834. "Joseph and 
 Benjamin." 2 vols. 12mo. A very popular work. " Judah and Israel ; or, 
 The Restoration of Christianity." 1837. "Lectures on Scripture Types." 2 
 vols. 1841. 
 
 Daniel Hascall, N. Y. " Elements of Theology." 1840. 
 
 R. B. C. Howell, Tenn. " The Way of Salvation." 
 
 Robert Turnbull, Conn. " The Theatre." 1836. A new edition. 
 " The Claims of Jesus." 1841. " Theophany ; or, The Manifestation of God 
 in Christ." 1849. W'ith a new edition, touching Bushnell's theories. " The 
 World we live in." 1851. " Christ in History." 1853. " Life-Pictures 
 from a Pastor's Note-Book." 1857. 
 
 George W. Anderson, N. J. " The Way to Christ, and the W T alk in 
 Christ." 
 
 Francis Wayland, R. I. " Limitations of Human Responsibility." 
 1838. " The Apostolic Ministry." 1853. "Letters on the Ministry of the 
 Gospel." 18G3. 
 
 William R. Williams, N. Y. " Lectures on the Lord's Prayer." 1855. 
 Republished in England. " Religious Progress." 1850. 
 
 Henry J. Ripley, Mass. " Sacred Rhetoric." 1849. " Hints on the 
 Promotion of Piety in the Christian Ministry." 
 
 Henry C. Fish, N. J. " Primitive Piety Revived : a Prize Essay." 
 12mo. 250 pp. "History and Repository of Pulpit Eloquence, containing 
 Sketches of Preaching and Preachers in all Countries and Times, with the 
 
422 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Masterpieces of Sacred Oratory." 2 vols. 8vo. pp.1235. "Pulpit Elo- 
 quence of the Nineteenth Century, containing Discourses of Eminent Min- 
 isters." 8vo. pp. 819. "The Price of Soul Liberty, and who paid it." 
 Mr. Fish is also the author of several premium essays, and of tracts for the 
 American Tract Society. 
 
 J. L. Dagg, Ga. " Manual of Theology." 
 
 William Hague, Mass. " Christianity and Statesmanship." 1855. 
 " Home Life." 
 
 Robert W. Cushman, Mass. "A Pure Christianity the World's only 
 Hope." 1845. 
 
 Elias L. Magoon, N. Y. " Republican Christianity." " Proverbs for 
 the People." 
 
 Baron Stow, Mass. " Christian Brotherhood." " First Things." 1857. 
 
 Kazlitt Arvine, Mass. " Cyclopaedia of Moral and Religious Anec- 
 dotes." 8vo. Several editions have been published in London. " Cyclo- 
 paedia of Anecdotes of Literature and Fine Arts." 1854. pp. 725. 
 
 Pharcellus Church, N. Y. " Religious Dissensions ; their Cause and 
 Cure : a Prize Essay." "Antioch ; or, The Increase of Moral Power in the 
 Church." " The Philosophy of Benevolence : a Prize Essay." 
 
 Oakman S. Stearns, Mass. " The Person and Work of Christ." 
 Translated from the German. 
 
 Franklin Wilson, Md. " Duties of a Pastor." " Duties of Churches 
 to their Pastors." 
 
 William C. Duncan. " Life, Character, and Acts of John the Baptist." 
 " The Tears of Jesus." " Pulpit Gift Book." 
 
 Rufus Babcock, N. Y. " Tales of Truth for the Young." 1838. " The 
 Emigrant's Mother." 1859. 
 
 Jeremiah B. Jeter, Va. " The Christian Mirror." " Business and 
 Devotion." 
 
 Daniel C. Eddy, Mass. "Lectures to Young Men." "Young Wom- 
 an's Friend." " Heroines of the Missionary Enterprise." Republished in 
 England and Holland. "Angel Whispers." A volume of sermons of con- 
 solation. 
 
 J. A. Goodhue, Mass. " The Crucible ; or, Tests of a Regenerate Life." 
 
 William W. Everts, N. Y. " Bible Manual." " Pastor's Hand-Book." 
 " The Bible Prayer-Book." " Scripture School-Reader." 
 
 M. R. Torrey, Mass. " Premature Church Membership." 
 
 WlLLIAM C. Buck, Kv. "The Philosophy of Religion." 
 
 Cornelius Tyree, Va. " The Living Epistle." 
 
 E. F. Winkler, S. C. " The Spirit of Missions." 
 
 Justus A. Smith, 111. " Letters to a Bible-Class, on the Canon of Scrip- 
 ture and its Inspiration." 
 
 ABRAHAM II. Granger, R. I. "The Voice of Christ in the Storm." 
 
 2. Critical and Excgetical, including Translations* The 
 labors of American Baptists in this department of general 
 religious literature have mostly been of recent date ; but if 
 the first-fruits are the earnest of the harvest, and samples 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 4#3 
 
 of what we may expect it to be, we may hope for one of 
 immense richness in future years. Authors of this class 
 are : — 
 
 Irah Chase, Mass. " The Work claiming to be the Constitutions of the 
 Holy Apostles, including the Canons, with a Prize Essay on their Origin and 
 Contents." 1848. pp.498. " Remarks on the Book of Daniel, in Regard 
 to the Kingdoms, especially the Fourth, the 2300 Days, the Seventy Weeks, 
 and the Events predicted in the last three Chapters." 1844. " The Mean- 
 ing of Irense us in the Phrase ' Regenerated unto God.' " " The Testimony 
 of Origen respecting the Baptism of Children." These last, both in one 
 volume. 
 
 Henry J. Ripley, Mass. " The Four Gospels, with Notes." In 2 vols. 
 pp. 288, 270. 1839. 15,000 copies sold. "Acts of the Apostles, with Notes." 
 1843. 8500 copies sold. " The Epistle to the Romans, with Notes." 1857. 
 " Representations respecting Baptism in Robinson's Lexicon." Notes on other 
 portions of the New Testament are in preparation. 
 
 Horatio B. Hackett, Mass. " Chaldee Grammar, translated from the 
 German, with Additions." 1845. "Exercises in Hebrew Grammar, with 
 Selections from the Greek New Testament for Translation into Hebrew." 
 1847. pp. 115. "A Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts of the 
 Apostles." 1852. pp. 407. Revised edition stereotyped in 1858. pp. 480. 
 Reprinted in England. " Notes on the Epistle to Philemon, with a revised 
 Translation." 1860. Dr. Hackett also contributed thirty articles to Smith's 
 " Dictionary of the Bible," chiefly in the second and third volumes, and nu- 
 merous articles to the " New York Theological and Literary Review," " Bib- 
 lical Repository," " Bibliotheca Sacra," and " Christian Review." 
 
 Asahel C. Kexdrick, N. Y. " Olshausen's Commentary on the New 
 Testament, revised and edited, with Notes." 6 vols. pp. 3694. 
 
 Thomas J. Conant, N. Y. " Gesenius's Hebrew Grammar, translated 
 from the German." "A New Translation of the Book of Job." "A Synop- 
 tical View of the Uses of the Word BanrL&iv in Classic Greek, in the Septu- 
 agint and New Testament." 
 
 Mrs. II. C. Conant, N. Y. " Translations of Neander's Commentaries 
 on the Epistles to the Philippians, of James, and John." 
 
 Robert E. Pattisox, Mass. "A Commentary, Explanatory, Doctrinal, 
 and Practical, on the Epistle to the Ephesiaus." 1859. pp. 224. 
 
 Isaac T. HintoN. "The Prophecies of Daniel illustrated." 
 
 Alvah Hovey, Mass. " Life of Chrysostom, translated from the Ger- 
 man." 1854. pp. 239. In conjunction with David B.Ford. "The Mir- 
 acles of Christ." pp. 319. 1854. 
 
 Robert Turxbull, Conn. " Vital Christianity, with Introduction and 
 Notes." Translated from Vinet. 1846. " Vinet's Miscellanies." 1852. 
 " Pulpit Orators of France and Switzerland." 1852. 
 
 Exocn Hutchinson, N. Y. " Syriac Grammar and Chrestomathy." 
 "Music of the Bible." 1864. 
 
 Adiel Sherwood, Ga. " Notes on the (whole) New Testament, Ex- 
 planatory and Practical." 1856. pp. 732. 8vo. 
 
424 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 3. Polemical ; or books designed to defend the doctrines 
 held in common by Evangelical or Protestant bodies, or to 
 confute errors. To this class belong : — 
 
 Elisiia Andrews. " The Moral Tendency of Universalism." " Review 
 of Winchester." " Dialogues on Universalism." 
 
 John Tripp, Me. A volume against Universalism. 
 
 HOSEA HoLCOMBE. "A Refutation of the Rev. Joshua Lawrence's Pa- 
 triotic Discourse ; or, Anti-Mission Principles Exposed." 1836. 
 
 David Pease. " The Good Man in Bad Company; or, Masonry a Dan- 
 gerous Combination." 8vo. 1830. 
 
 John Dowling, N. Y. "An Exposition of the Prophecies supposed by 
 William Miller to predict the Second Coming of Christ." 1840. "A Defence 
 of the Protestant Scriptures from the Attacks of Popish Apologists." 1843. 
 " History of Romanism, from the Earliest Corruptions of Christianity to the 
 Present Time." 1845. 8vo. pp. 734. 25,000 copies sold in less than ten 
 years. 
 
 Richard Fuller, Md. " Correspondence with Bishop England con- 
 cerning the Roman Chancery." 12mo. " Correspondence with Dr. Way- 
 land on Slavery." " Letters." 
 
 John Russell. " The Serpent Unveiled." A powerful work against 
 Universalism. 
 
 Wilson C. Rider, Me. A volume of lectures on Universalism. 
 
 Reuxe R. Coon. A volume against Universalism. 
 
 J. B. Jeter, Va, " Campbellism Examined." 12mo. 
 
 Hiram Parker. " The Harmony of Ages." 
 
 4. Historical. To this class the following- authors have 
 contributed : — 
 
 o 
 
 David Benedict, R. I. " History of all Religions." 1824. 
 
 Ann H. Judson, Burmah. "Narrative of Missions to the Burmese Em- 
 pire." 1823. 
 
 Baron Stow, Mass. "A History of the English Baptist Missions in In- 
 dia." pp. 252. 1835. For American Sunday-School Union. 
 
 John O. Choules, R. I. " History of Missions." 2 vols. 4to. Third 
 edition. 1840. Edited Neal's " History of the Puritans," with copious notes; 
 Forster's " Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth;" " Ilinton's United 
 States," 2 vols. 
 
 Joseph BANVARD, Mass. "Plymouth and the Pilgrims." "Novelties 
 of the New World." " Romance of American History." " Tragic Scenes 
 in the History oi Maryland." "Wisdom, Wit, and Whims." "Story 
 Truths." " Haoits of Birds." "Wonders of the Deep," &c. &e. 
 
 MRS. II. C. Conant, N. Y. "Popular History of the English Bible." 
 1856. pp. 4G0. "The New England Theocracy." Translated from the 
 German of Uhden. 
 
 SKWALL S. Cutting, N. Y. UnderhilPs " Struggles and Triumphs of 
 Religious Liberty." 12mo. Edited. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 405 
 
 William Dean, Bangkok, Siam. " The China Mission : embracing a 
 History of the various Missions of all Denominations among the Chinese." 
 John Dowling, N. Y. " The Judson Offering." 
 
 5. Biographical. The lives of useful and eminent Chris- 
 tians, intended to illustrate the excellence of religion. 
 
 James D. Knowles, Mass. "Memoir of Mrs. Judson.' pp. 234. 1829. 
 " Memoir of Roger Williams, the Founder of Rhode Island." 1834. pp. 
 437, 
 
 D. W. Phillips, Mass. "Memoir of Christmas Evans." 
 
 Romeo Eltox, R. I. " Memoir of President Maxcy." With a collection 
 of his literary remains. " Biographical Sketch of Roger Williams." Pub- 
 lished in London. Edited " Callender's Century Sermon, with Copious Notes 
 and Biographical Sketches." 
 
 B. Sears, Mass. "Life of Martin Luther." 1850. pp. 486. 
 
 Francis Wayland, R. I. " Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. 
 Adoniram Judson, D. D." 1853. 2 vols. pp. 1060. " Life of Dr. Chal- 
 mers." 1864. 
 
 Mrs. Emily C. Judson, Burmah. " Memoir of Sarah B. Judson." 
 " The Kathayan Slave." 
 
 Jrah Chase, Mass. " Life of John Bunyan." 
 
 G. F. Davis, Conn. " Memoir of Abigail L. Davis." 
 
 Gurdon Robins. " Life of James H. Linsley." 1845. 
 
 J. Clement, 111. " Memoir of A. Judson." 1851. pp. 336. 
 
 J. B. Jeter, Ya. "Memoir of Abner W. Clopton." "Memoir of Mrs. 
 Henrietta Shuck, the first Female Missionary in China." " Memoir of An- 
 drew Broaddus." 
 
 A. C. Kendrick, N. Y. " Life of Mrs. Emily C. Judson." 
 
 A. Hovey, Mass. " Life and Times of Isaac Backus." 1859. pp. 364. 
 
 Daniel C. Eddy, Mass. " The Burman Apostle." 
 
 Lucius E. Smith, Mass. " Heroes and Martyrs of the Modern Missionary 
 Enterprise." 
 
 " Life of Spencer H. Cone, by his Sons." 
 
 " Life of Bela B. Jacobs, by his Daughter." 
 
 Robert Fleming, N. C. " Life of Humphrey Posey." 
 
 S. F. Smith, Mass. " Life of Joseph Grafton." 1849. 
 
 Howard Malcom, Mass. " Life of Lydia H. Malcom." 
 
 Reuben A. Guild, R. I. "Life, Times, and Correspondence of James 
 Manning, and the Early History of Brown University." pp. 500. 1864. 
 
 John Gadsby. "Memoirs of the Principal Hymn Writers and Com- 
 posers of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Cejituries." 
 
 Joseph Belcher, Pa. " Hymns and Hymn Writers." 
 
 H B. Hackett, Mass. " Christian Memorials of the War." 1864. 
 
 Robert B. Semple, Ya. " Memoir of Elder Straughan." 
 
 Daniel Chessman. " Memoir of Thomas Baldwin." 
 
 Charles G. Sommers. " Memoir of John Stanford, D. D., including 
 Memoirs of Thomas Baldwin, D. D., of Richard Furman, D. D., and of John 
 Williams, D. D." 1836. 
 
 54 
 
4-06 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Alonzo King. " Memoir of George Dana Boardman." 1839. 
 
 Samuel W. Lynd, O. "Memoir of William Staughton." 1834. 
 
 James B. Taylor, Va. " Memoir of Luther Rice." 1841. " Lives of 
 Virginia Baptist Ministers." 2 vols. pp. 1000. 
 
 C. D. Mallory, Ga. "Memoir of Jesse Mercer." 1844. " Memoir of 
 Edward Bdtsfbrd." pp. 240. 1832. 
 
 A. D. Gillette, D. C. " Memoir of Rev. Daniel II. Gillette." 1844. 
 
 Rufus Babcock, N. Y. " Memoir of Andrew Fuller." pp.300. 1830. 
 " Memoir of J. M. Peck." 18G4. Twelve biographical papers in " Sprague's 
 Annals," making fifty pages. 
 
 J. M. Peck, 111. " Life of « Father Clark.' " 
 
 Jeremiah Asiier. (Col'd.) "An Autobiography." 8vo. 
 
 Barox Stow, Mass. " Life of Harriet Dowe." 
 
 Orrin B. Judd, N. Y. " Memoir of Willard Judd." 1848. 
 
 Anne T. Drinkwater. " Memoir of Mrs. Deborah II. Porter." 1848. 
 
 H. Harvey, N. Y. "Memoir of Alfred Bennett." 1852. 
 
 Mrs. R. B. Medbury. " Memoir of William G. Crocker." 
 
 Richard M. Nott, N. Y. " Memoir of Abner Kingman Xott." 1860. 
 
 S. F. Smith, Mass. Two biographical papers in " Sprague's Annals." 
 
 6. Volumes of Sermons. This list is probably very in- 
 complete. Of the ministers who have published volumes of 
 sermons, are : — % 
 
 William Parkinson, two volumes. George Leonard, one volume, 
 posthumous. William T. Brantly, a very forcible and polished writer, 
 two volumes. Francis Wayland, three volumes. Rufus W. Gris- 
 wold, one volume. C. W. Hodges, one volume. Richard Fuller, one 
 volume. 
 
 7. Travels : for religious or missionary purposes. 
 
 Howard Malcom, Mass. " Travels in Southeastern Asia." 2 vols. 
 1839. 
 
 T. J. Bowen. "Adventures and Missionary Labors in Several Countries 
 of Central Africa, from 1849 to 185G." 
 
 George W. Samson, D. C. " Goshen and the Holy Land." " The East." 
 
 S. D. PilELPS, Conn. " Holy Land, with Glimpses of Europe and Egypt. 
 A Year's Tour." 1863. pp. 407. Four editions issued. 
 
 I). A. Randall. "The Handwriting of God in Egypt, Sinai, and the 
 Holy Land: the Record of a Journey from the Great Valley of the West 
 to the Sacred Places of the fyst." 1862. pp. 7G4. 8vo. 
 
 Daniel C. Eddy, Mass. " Europa ; or, Travels in England, France, Sv. it- 
 zerland, and Italy, in 1851." Also, "The Percy Family," in five volumes, 
 viz., "Ireland," kt Scotland and England," "Paris and Amsterdam," "The 
 Baltic and Vesuvius;' "The Alps and the Rhine." Also, "Walter's Tour 
 in the East," six volumes, viz., "Walter in Egypt," " Walter in Jerusalem," 
 " Walter in Samaria," " Walter in Damaseus," " Walter in Constantinople," 
 " Walter in Athens." 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 427 
 
 8. General Religious Boobs Edited, 
 
 Howard Malcom has edited Kempis's * " Imitation of Christ;" Law's 
 " Serious Call ; " Reach's " Travels of True Godliness ; " Henry's " Commu- 
 nicant's Companion ; " Butler's "Analogy," with introduction and notes. 
 
 J. N. Brown has edited eleven volumes of Bunyan's Works, and many 
 others. He has also been editor of seven or eight periodicals. 
 
 J. O. Choules edited James's " Church Member's Guide;" "The Bible 
 and Closet ; " and other works. 
 
 II. Denominational Literature, 
 
 To this division belong those books whose apparent object 
 is not only to explain, advocate, and defend Christianity in 
 general, but which give special attention to the principles 
 and practices of the Baptists. The following classes of books 
 will be found under this head, viz. : — 
 
 1. Didactic ; or books designed to teach, explain, and com- 
 mend their principles. The authors of this class are : — 
 
 Jesse Mercer, Ga. " Prerequisites to Ordination." 1820. "Scripture 
 Meaning of Ordination." 1830. " Resemblances and Differences between 
 Church Authority and that of Association." 1833. "An Essay on the Lord's 
 Supper." 1833. 
 
 Andrew Broaddus, Va. "A Treatise on Church Discipline." 
 
 William Crowell, 111. " The Church Member's Manual of Ecclesias- 
 tical Principles, Doctrine, and Discipline." 184 7. pp. 272. " The Church 
 Member's Hand-Book : a Guide to the Doctrines and Practices of Baptist 
 Churches." 1849. pp. 144. 
 
 Warham Walker, N. Y. " Church Discipline." 
 
 Eleazar Savage. " Church Discipline, Formative and Corrective." 
 
 J. L. Reynolds. •' Treatise on Church Order." 
 
 Joseph Belcher, Pa. " Baptisms of the New Testament." 
 
 Thomas F. Curtis, Pa. k ' Communion." " The Progress of Baptist 
 Principles in the last Hundred Years." 
 
 R B. C. Howell. " The Deaconship." " Terms of Communion at the 
 Lord's Table." 
 
 Wilson Jewell, Pa. " Baptism ; or, The Little Inquirer." 1838. 
 
 Samuel W. Lynd. " Baptism a Divine Institution." 
 
 P. II. Mell. "Baptism: its Mode and Subjects." 1854. 
 
 Richard Fuller, Md. " Baptism and Communion : an Argument." 1849. 
 
 T. L. Davidson. " Baptism and Conversion." 
 
 N. M. Crawford. " The Baptism of Jesus : its Fulfilment of Righteous- 
 ness." 1855. 
 
 Francis Wayland, R.I. "Notes on the Principles and Practices of 
 Baptist Churches." 1857. pp. 336. 
 
 J. L. Dagg, Ga. "Church Order." 1858. pp.312. 8vo. 
 
4.£8 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Edmund TuBNET. " Baptism, in the Import and Explicitness of the 
 
 Command." 
 
 William C. Duncan. tl Symbolic Rite of Baptism." 
 DUDLEY C. IIaynes, N. Y. " The Baptist Denomination." 
 Edward T. Hiscox,N. Y. " The Baptist Church Directory." 1859. 
 Minor G. Clarke, Pa. " Christian Baptism and the Christian Com 
 
 munion." pp. 140. 
 
 Albert N. Arnold. " Prerequisites to Communion ; or, The Scriptural 
 
 Terms of Admission to the Lord's Supper." 
 
 2. Historical. Among the authors of books of this class, 
 written in the special interest of the Baptist body, the vener- 
 able David Benedict began his labors before the com- 
 mencement of the half-century, and still continues among us. 
 His works are : — 
 
 "A History of the Baptists." In two volumes. 1813. An Abridgment 
 of the same in 1820, in one volume. " General History of the Baptist De- 
 nomination in America, and in all Parts of the World." 8vo. pp. 990. 1848. 
 " Fifty Years among the Baptists." Historical and didactic. 1858. pp.460. 
 
 Robert B. Semple. " History of the Virginia Baptists." 1810. 
 
 William Freitoe. " History of the Ketockton Baptist Association." 
 
 Warren Association. " Compendium of Minutes, 17G5-1828." 1798-1830. 
 
 Richard Furman. " History of the Charleston Association." 
 
 Jesse Mercer. " History of the Georgia Baptist Association." pp 418. 
 1836. 
 
 Horatio G. Jones. *' History of the Philadelphia Baptist Association." 
 1823. 
 
 "Baptist Annual Register," 1832. "Baptist Triennial Register," 1834. 
 " The American Baptist Almanac," by the Baptist Publication Society, annu- 
 ally. "A History of the Philadelphia Baptist Association." 1843. 
 
 S. Wright. " History of the Shaftsbury Association." 
 
 Ebenezer E. Cummings, N. Y. " Annals of the New Hampshire Bap- 
 tists." 1835. 
 
 Isaac McCoy. " History of the Indian Baptist Missions." 1840. 
 
 HOSEA HOLCOMBE. " History of the Alabama Baptists." 1840. 
 
 HENRY Jackson., "Account of the Churches in Rhode Island." 
 
 W. C. Duncan. "History of the Early Baptists." pp. 350. 1857. 
 
 WILLIAM GAMMELL. "History of American Baptist Missions." pp. 
 350. 1849. 
 
 William Hague. " The Baptist Church transplanted from the Old to 
 the New World." 1846. 
 
 John Peck. " History of the New York Baptist Missionary Convention." 
 1837. 
 
 J.Newton Brown. " History of the Baptist Publication Society." pp. 
 300. 1850. "Descriptive Catalogue of the American Baptist Publication 
 Society." pp. 350. 1861. " Introduction to the History of Baptist Mar- 
 tyrs." " Life and Times of Simon Mcnno." pp. 300. 1853. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 4£Q 
 
 Frederick Dexxisox. " Historical Notes of the Baptists and their 
 Principles." 1857. 
 
 Sewall S. Cuttixg. " Historical Vindications ; or, The Province and 
 Uses of Baptist History." 
 
 A. D. Gillette, D. C. " History of the Eleventh Baptist Church, Phil- 
 adelphia." 1842. 
 
 Joshua Millett, Me. " History of the Baptists in Maine." 1845, 
 
 A. R. Beldex, N. Y. " History of the Cayuga Baptist Association." pp. 
 211. 1851. 
 
 G. W. Purefoy, N. Y. " History of the Sandy Creek Association." 1859. 
 
 Jacob Drake. " History of the Columbus Baptist Association." 1859. 
 
 Jesse H. Campbell. "Baptists of Georgia." pp. 288. 1847. 
 
 Isaac Davis, Mass. "Historical Discourse on the Fiftieth Anniversary 
 of the First Baptist Church in Worcester, Mass., Dec. 9, 1862." 
 
 "History of the New London Baptist Association." pp. 125. Author's 
 name unknown to me. 
 
 3. Polemic. Works designed to refute doctrines held by 
 religious bodies not regarded as holding the most deadly or 
 dangerous errors, and to establish some portions of doctrine 
 held by Baptists. The authors of this class are : — 
 
 Samuel Wilcox. " Scripture Manual : a Plain Representation of the 
 Order of Baptism." 12mo. 1818. 
 
 Daxiel Hascall, N. Y. " Definitions of ' Bapto ' and ' Baptizo.' " 1818. 
 
 Thomas Baldwin, Mass. " Essay on John's Baptism." " Church Com- 
 munion Examined." 
 
 G. Foote. " Brief Examination of the Mode and Subjects of Baptism." 
 1830. 
 
 Isaac T. Hixtox, La. " History of Infant Baptism." 1840. 
 
 William Hague. " Eight Views of Baptism." 1836. 
 
 J. Richards. " Convert's Guide to Baptism." 
 
 J. J. Wools ey. "Baptism." 1840. 
 
 C. H. Hoskex. "Infant Baptism." 1843. 
 
 R. B. C. Howell. " Evils of Infant Baptism." 
 
 Edmund Turxey. " Scriptural Law of Baptism." 1850. 
 
 George W. Axdersox. " Vindication of Baptists." 
 
 Samuel Hexdersox. "A Discourse of Methodist Episcopacy." "A 
 Debate." 
 
 J. T. Smith. " Infant Baptism." 1850. 
 
 T. G. Joxes. " A Vindication of the Baptists." 1860. 
 
 A. C. Daytox. " Baptist Facts against Methodist Fictions." 1859. 
 
 4. Apologetic works ; being replies to assailants, supposed 
 to misunderstand and misrepresent Baptist doctrines and 
 practices. The distinction between this and the preceding- 
 class is very clear, though it may not be easy to determine, 
 
430 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 in all cases, to which class a particular book belongs ; for 
 writers who commence on the defensive, sometimes change 
 to assailants before they end. Thus, Dr. Baldwin published 
 replies to the attacks of Peter Edwards, and letters in which 
 the distinguishing sentiments of the Baptists are explained 
 and vindicated, in answer to a later publication by the l\ev. 
 Samuel Worcester. So Elisha Andrews published a vin- 
 dication of the distinguishing sentiments of the Baptists 
 against the writings of Messrs. Coombs, Miller, and Ed- 
 wards, and a reply to James Bickersteth ; Clark Kendrick, 
 " Plain Dealing with Pedobaptists," being a reply to attacks 
 on the Baptist principle of communion. 
 
 The writers of this class are very numerous, especially in 
 reply to attacks on the established order of the Baptist 
 churches in America, in regard to communion at the Lord's 
 table. This has been chosen as the main point of assault 
 by Pedo-Baptist writers, of all their various sects. Little 
 more can be done here than to give a list of the names of 
 writers, without distinguishing between books and pamphlets. 
 
 Among those who have written in defence of the Baptist principle 
 respecting the Lord's Supper are: Thomas Baldwin, Jesse Mercer, 
 Daniel Sharp, Spencer H. Cone, Andrew Broaddus, Daniel 
 Merrill, Gustavus F. Davis, Henry J. Ripley, Barnas Sears, J. 
 
 B. Taylor, Thomas F. Curtis, Jacob Knapp, Albert N. Arnold, 
 William Crowell, H. Harvey, John L. Walleb, Alvah Hovey, 
 
 C. H. Pendleton, M. V. Kitzmiller, Willakd Judd, James Pyper, 
 J. M. C. Breaker, M. G. Clarke, and J. Wheaton Smith. 
 
 Among apologetic wliters in reply to attacks on baptism may be mentioned 
 Daniel Merrill, in reply to various writers ; Hosea Holcombe, ''Reply 
 to F. Emery," 1882 ; Irah Chase, on articles in " Robinson's Lexicon ;" II. 
 J. Ripley's " Reply to Stuart on Baptism," 1833 ; Adoniram Judson, two 
 sermons ; AVillard Judd, " Review of Stuart," 1836 ; A. BRONSON, " Reply 
 to Fowler," 1835 ; J. T. Smith," Reply to Peters," 1849 ; William Hague, 
 " Replv to Cooke and Towne ; " T. G. Jones, Vindication ; Richard Ful- 
 ler ; John Bates, " A Defence of Baptists ; " John Dowling, " A Vin- 
 dication of the Baptists," 1838. 
 
 5. Retractions of the tenets and practices of other sects 
 form another class of Baptist literature. A very large pro- 
 portion of our ministers are converts from various Pedo-Bap- 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 431 
 
 tist sects, either before or after entering the ministry. Of 
 those who have published their reasons for so doing-, are : — 
 Daniel Merrill, Stephex Ciiapin, Adoniram Judson, Simon J. 
 Jarvise, John F. Bliss, Hubbell Loomis, Asa Prescott, and others, 
 renouncing Congregationalism ; Milo P. Jewett and others, renouncing 
 Presbyterian ism ; Thomas Armitage, Stephen Remington, and others, 
 renouncing Methodism ; II. G. O. Cote and others, renouncing Romanism. 
 
 6. Sunday- School Books. A large number of Sunday- 
 school books have been prepared by Baptist authors ; but, 
 as they are mostly published anonymously, I have been un- 
 able to obtain a full list of them. 
 
 Among the names that occur to my memory are those of George B. Ide, 
 Baron Stow, William Hague, A. A. Gould, Joseph Banvard, D. 
 C Eddy, W. Crowell, Geo. B. Taylor, Miss M. A. Collier, Mrs. 
 Denison, Mrs. M. A. Clarke, H. C. Fish, G. J. Carleton, S. B. 
 Page, Mrs. A. M. C. Edmoxd, &c. 
 
 7- II/jmn-Books. 
 
 In hymnology, the principal American Baptist writers of lyric poetry are 
 S. F. Smith, Sidney Dyer, S. D. Phelps, Stephen P. Hill, Henry 
 S. Washburn, James D. Knowles, J. R. Scott, Miss M. A. Collier, 
 Miss L. S. Hill, J. N. Brown, R. Turnbull, &c. &c. 
 
 Among the compilers of Hymn-books are Andrew Broaddus, of " The 
 Dover Selection of Hymns," and " The Virginia Selection of Hymns; " Hosea 
 Holcombe, a collection of hymns, 1815 ; Jesse Mercer, " The Chorister," 
 1817 ; James M. Winchell, " Arrangement of Watts's Psalms and Hymns, 
 with a Supplement;" William Collier, "A Selection of Hymns ; " G. 
 F. Davis, a collection of hymns; a collection by G. F. Davis and J. IT. 
 Linsley ; a collection of hymns by B. M. Hill ; " The Baptist Harp ; " J. 
 Banvard, " Christian Melodist ; " J. Aldrich, " Sacred Lyre ; " N. M. 
 Perkins, " Vestry Hymns ; " Phineas Stow, " Ocean Melodies ; " B. Stow 
 and S. F. Smith, "The Social Psalmist;" William Dassay, a collec- 
 tion of hymns; S. F. Smith and Baron Stow, "The Psalmist," with a 
 ' w Supplement " by J. B. Jeter and Richard Fuller ; B. Manly and B. 
 Manly, Jr., " The Southern Psalmist ; " S. S. Cutting, " Hymns for the 
 Vestry and Fireside;" John Dowling, a collection; W. C. Buck, do.; 
 " Manual of Psalmody," reedited by Rufus Babcock ; " Plymouth Collec- 
 tion," reedited by J. S. Holme ; the " Sabbath Hymn-Book," reedited by 
 F. Wayland ; Sidney Dyer, " Devotional Hymn-Book." 
 
 8. Catechisms. American Baptists have not been very 
 
 fruitful in the production of Catechisms ; and those which 
 
 they have prepared have had but a very limited influence. 
 
 One was prepared by Robert B. Semple; one by Thomas Baldwin; 
 one by Henry C. Fish. 
 
4S2 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 9- Confessions of Faith. In this branch of literature 
 American Baptists have done very little indeed. Er.ch 
 church, being independent, adopts articles of its own framing, 
 or those of any other church, or none at all, at pleasure. 
 Some of the oldest and most stable churches in America, as 
 the First Church in Providence, have no articles. Of the 
 Confessions of Faith most in use are the " Philadelphia 
 Confession of Faith," so called, printed by Benjamin Frank- 
 lin in 17i3? with many subsequent editions, and ' ; The New 
 Hampshire Confession of Faith," which is more extensively 
 used than any other. But, evidently, no reliance is placed on 
 any creed, except the New Testament, to preserve sameness 
 in doctrine and church order. 
 
 III. General Literature. 
 
 Works of science, general history, and biography, the 
 arts, poetry, fiction, and elegant letters, also text-books, and 
 school-books, are arranged under this head. Their aim is, 
 rather to discipline the intellect, cultivate the understanding, 
 stimulate the conscience, improve the taste, purify social life, 
 promote loyalty, patriotism, and philanthropy, than to advo- 
 cate any particular religious doctrine or duty. Books of 
 this nature may be classed thus : — 
 
 1. Classical and Critical; including translations. Au- 
 thors who have contributed to this class are: — 
 
 William Staugiiton. An edition of Virgil, with Notes. He also pre- 
 pared a Greek Lexicon, which was printed only in part. Dr. Staughton 
 was, perhaps, the most popular pulpit orator of his day, in this country, and 
 though an elegant scholar, yet his many public engagements prevented him 
 from doing much in classical and critical labors. 
 
 Barnas Sears. '! A Grammar of the German Language, being a trans- 
 lation from Noehden, with Additions from other German Authors." " Select 
 Treatises of Martin Luther, in the Original German, with Philological Notes, 
 and an Essay on tin- German and English Etymology." "The Ciceronian; 
 or, The Prussian Method of Teaching the Latin Language." 
 
 Horatio B. HACKETT. " Plutarch on the Delay of the Deity in the Pun- 
 ishment of the Wicked." Greek text, with a body of notes. 1844. pp. 171. 
 The same revised, 18G4. Dr. Ilackett's labors have been chiefly in the crit- 
 ical department of Biblical and General Religious Literature. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. ^SS 
 
 James T. Champlin. " The Greek Oration of Demosthenes on the 
 Crown, with Notes, and a Chronological Table." " Kiihner's Latin Gram- 
 mar, with Exercises, translated and remodelled." "A Short, Comprehensive 
 Greek Grammar, with Materials for Oral Exercises, for Schools and Col- 
 leges." 
 
 J. S. C. F. Frey. " Biblica Hebraica." " A Hebrew Grammar in the 
 English Language," which had reached ten editions in 1839. " A Hebrew 
 and English Lexicon." " Hebrew Reader." " Hebrew Student's Pocket 
 Companion." 
 
 Asahel C. Kendrick. " Introduction to the Study of the Greek Lan- 
 guage." " Greek Ollendorf : a Progressive Greek Grammar." Dr. Kendrick 
 has also contributed many critical articles, in aid of classical learning, to 
 various Reviews. 
 
 John L. Lincoln. A critical edition of Livy. A critical edition of 
 Horace. 
 
 Albert Harkness. Edited "Arnold's First Book in Latin." "A 
 Second Book in Latin." " A Latin Grammar." 
 James R. Boise. " Exercises in Greek Prose Composition." 
 Prof. J. F. Richardson. "A Treatise on Roman Orthoepy." 
 WiLMAM J. Knapp. " French Grammar and Chrestomathy." 
 S. F. Smith translated from the German " Conversations-Lexicon" articles 
 amounting to about one entire volume of the " Encyclopaedia Americana." 
 
 2. Works on Science. Some of these are in the form 
 of separate treatises, or text-books, others in periodicals, or 
 cyclopaedias, or compilations. Among the earliest laborers in 
 the department of science was 
 
 Daniel H. Barnes, who died in 1828, deeply lamented. Of him an 
 eminent naturalist, quoted and indorsed by the Hon. Gulian C. Verplanck, 
 says : — 
 
 " The reputation of Mr. Barnes as a naturalist will be immovably estab- 
 lished upon his Memoir on the shells of his country. The introductory ob- 
 servations, applicable to the whole study of conchology, are marked by that 
 precision, clearness, and lucid order for which he was remarkable. He de- 
 scribed above twenty new species ; and, a short time before his death, he 
 received a nattering proof of the estimation in which his labors were held by 
 the learned in Europe. The great and splendid work of Humboldt on Mexico 
 contains beautiful plates and descriptions of the science just referred to. The 
 first zoological critic of Europe, (the Baron de Farnassac,) in commenting 
 upon this work, points out many errors into which the author has fallen, — 
 ' errors,' he observes, ' which had arisen from his not having consulted the 
 works of American naturalists, and especially the labors of Mr. Barnes.' 
 
 " As a naturalist, Mr. Barnes had very peculiar qualifications. Familiar 
 with the learned and several modern languages, he was enabled to pursue his 
 investigations beyond the narrow limits of his own. His inquiries were con- 
 ducted with a caution, a patience, and a modest diffidence, which cannot be 
 too much imitated." " Indeed," adds Mr, Verplanck, " he sustained himself 
 55 
 
434 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 in every department of duty, in a manner worthy of a gentleman, a scholar, 
 a Christian, and a minister of the Gospel." 
 
 Mr. Barnes contributed several valuable papers, illustrated by explanatory 
 plates on conchology, to " Silliman's Journal," viz., " Geological Section 
 of the Canaan Mountain," v. 8-21 ; " Memoir on the Genera Unio and 
 Alasmodonta, with numerous figures," vi. 107-127, 258-280; "Five Species 
 of Chiton, with figures," vii. 69-72 ; " Memoir on Batrachian Animals and 
 Doubtful Reptiles," xi. 269-29 7, xiii. 66-70; "On Magnetic Polarity," 
 xiii. 70-73 ; " Reclamation of Unios," xiii. 358-364. Mr. Barnes was an 
 eminent teacher, and much beloved as a minister. He also rendered very 
 important aid to Dr. Webster, in preparing his " Dictionary of the English 
 Language." 
 
 JAMES H. Ltnsley, a kindred spirit, of an active, inquiring, cautious, 
 exact mind, a zealous Baptist, an earnest preacher, devoted much of his ener- 
 gies to natural science, being laid aside by disease from preaching the Gospel. 
 He prepared a series of papers on the Zoology of Connecticut, for the Yale, 
 Natural History Society, published in the " American Journal of Science and 
 Art." Then followed Catalogues of the Birds, the Reptiles, the Fishes, 
 and the Shells of Connecticut, published in " Silliman's Journal" during the 
 years 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Phelps says of him : " He ascertained more species of birds 
 in Connecticut than Wilson found in the United States ; more of mammalia 
 than had been found elsewhere in New England ; and of shells, more than 
 double the number supposed to be resident there." 
 
 Augustus A. Gould, M. D., Physician to the Massachusetts General 
 Hospital, an accomplished naturalist, has contributed the following works: 
 u Genera of Shells, translated from Lamarck ; " "A System of Natural His- 
 tory," from Gall's Works; "The Invertebrata of Massachusetts ; " "Prin- 
 ciples of Zoology," in connection with Agassiz ; " Mollusca and Shells of 
 the United States Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes;" "Land 
 Mollusca of the United States," 3 volumes; " Mollusca of the North Pacific 
 Expedition." Dr. Gould is a member of most of the American, and has been 
 made an honorary member of many foreign societies, for the study of natural 
 history. 
 
 Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M. D., has prepared " A Decimal System 
 for the Arrangement of Libraries;" and "A Perpetual Calendar for the 
 Old and New Styles." 
 
 Francis Wayland. " Elements of Moral Science." " Elements of Po- 
 litical Economy." " Intellectual Philosophy." 
 
 ALEXIS Caswell. "Lectures on Astronomy before the Smithsonian 
 Institute." " Address before the American Association for the Advancement 
 of Science." 
 
 John L. Dagg. " Elements of Moral Science." 
 
 Justin II. LoOMIS. " Elements of Geology." " Elements of Anatomy, 
 Physiology, and Hygiene of the Hainan System." 
 
 D. J. Macgowan. A work on Chinese Horology, in " Report of the 
 United States Commissioner of Patents." "Law of Storms," in Chinese. 
 The latter had circulation also in Japan. 
 
 James T. Champlin. " Text-Book in Intellectual Philosophy, for Schools 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 4,35 
 
 and Colleges, containing an Outline of the Science, with an Abstract of its 
 Historv." " Bishop Butler's Analogy and Discourses." Edited, with an 
 'Analysis. " First Principles of Ethics, as a Basis for Instruction in Ethical 
 Science, for Schools and Colleges." 
 
 George I. Crack. " Divine Providence, as related to Physical Laws." 
 Prof Chace is also the author of several articles on scientific and philosoph- 
 ical topics in the leading Reviews. 
 
 Ghover S. Comstock. "Notes on America," in the "Journal of the 
 Oriental Society." 
 
 Larkin B. Coles. " A Treatise on Physiology." 
 
 3. General History. Some contributions have been 
 made to this class of General Literature. 
 
 A. A. Ross. " The Civil and Religious History of Rhode Island." 
 John M. Peck. " Western Annals " " Guide to Emigrants." 
 Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. " Records of the Massachusetts Bay." 
 
 Edited. " Passengers in the Mayflower." " Remarks on the Census." 
 " Records of the Colony of New Plymouth." " Memorial of the Inaugura- 
 tion of the Statue of Franklin." 
 
 Samuel G. Arnold. " History of Rhode Island," in 2 volumes. 
 
 George P. Putnam. " American Facts." 
 
 Austin J. Coolidge. " History and Description of New England." 
 
 Reuben A. Guild. " Historical Sketch of Brown University." 
 
 B. W. Whidden. " The Religion of China." 
 
 4. Polite Literature; including literary works edited. 
 The most prolific laborer in the department of elegant let- 
 ters was the late 
 
 Rev. Rufus W. Griswold, D. D. He divided his time between the 
 labors of the ministry and the literary management of several magazines, 
 among which were " The New Yorker," " Brother Jonathan," " The New 
 World," &c. &c. For two years he was the editor of " Graham's Magazine," 
 and for about the same period of the " International Magazine," the plan of 
 which was projected by himself. Dr. Griswold's literary labors were very ex- 
 tensive, and he was a voluminous author. Some of his works belong to other 
 classes of literature. " He achieved an amount of labor," says his literary 
 critic, " highly creditable to his literary industry. In addition to the works 
 which we are about to mention, he gave to the world, from time to time, with- 
 out his name, partly or entirely written by himself, six or eight works on his- 
 tory and biography, a novel, seven discourses on historical and philosophical 
 subjects, and contributions to magazines and newspapers sufficient to fill a 
 dozen octavo volumes." His Avorks belonging to this class are : " The Bio- 
 graphical Annual for 1842." 12mo. "The Curiosities of American Litera- 
 ture," as an Appendix to Disraeli's '• Curiosities of Literature." " The Poets 
 and Poetry of America." 8vo. 1842. This work received the highest com- 
 mendations from the ablest critics. E. P. Whipple, the " London Examiner," 
 
436 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Bishop Potter, Baron Frederick Yon Raumer, of Prussia, unite in its praise. 
 Thomas Campbell, author of " The Pleasures of Hope," says of it, " Mr. Gris- 
 wold's work is honorable to the character and genius of the American people." 
 " The Knickerbocker" and " North American Review" noticed the sixteenth 
 edition in 1855, with the highest commendations. "The Prose Writers of 
 America." 1846. 8vo. Fourth edition, 1852. Such scholars as William H. 
 Prcscott, William C. Bryant, H. B. Wallace, " The Knickerbocker," H. T. 
 Tuckerman, commend this work in the highest terms. " The Female Poets 
 of America." 1848. 8vo. Reached its fifth edition in 1856. "The Prose 
 Works of John Milton, with an Initial Memoir." 1855. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 " AVashington and the Generals of the American Revolution." 1847. 2 vols. 
 " Napoleon and the Marshals of the Empire." 184 7. 2 vols. " Scenes in the 
 Life of the Saviour, by the Poets and Painters." Edited. " The Sacred 
 Poets of England and America." 1849. Edited. "The Poets and Poetry 
 of England in the Nineteenth Century." 1845. 8vo. Fourth edition, 1854. 
 " The Works of Edgar A. Poe : Poems, Tales, and Miscellanies ; with a 
 Memoir, by R. W. Griswold." " The Republican Court ; or, American So- 
 ciety in the Days of Washington." This last was " sumptuously printed and 
 richly illustrated," and called forth the highest admiration. 
 
 Thomas Curtis was an accomplished literary laborer. In England, Dr. 
 Curtis was the original editor of the " Encyclopaedia Metropolitana," and the 
 editor of the " London Encyclopaedia," throughout. After his settlement in 
 the South, he published occasional sermons, a course of " Lectures on the 
 Poetry of the Bible," " Lectures on Bible Episcopacy," an address on edu- 
 cation, and a volume of poems. He left several volumes yet unpublished, 
 and among his last writings are " Notes of a Plan for the Emancipation of the 
 Slaves," which he offered to advocate in the South, if others would in the 
 North. As early as 1858, he wrote : " Without this, a civil war will ensue, — 
 a civil war for slavery." 
 
 William R. Williams is a fruitful writer of essays, reviews, addresses, 
 and sermons, properly belonging to this class. His volume of" Miscellanies" 
 is one of the richest contributions to elegant literature. His sermons are 
 often rare gems of literary beauty. 
 
 John O. Ciioules edited " Christian Offering," and other works, and was 
 the writer of many literary articles. 
 
 Barnas Sears edited Roget's " Thesaurus of English Words," with addi- 
 tions, which may as well be classed here. Also, in connection with Profs. 
 Edwards and Felton, translated "Ancient Literature and Art : Essays and 
 Letters from Eminent Philologists." 
 
 W. S. Chase edited " Modern French Literature, with Notes." 
 
 Jeremiah Chaplin. " The Evening of Life." " The Memorial Hour." 
 
 G. W. Hervey. " Christian Courtesy." " Rhetoric of Conversation." 
 Published by the Harpers, republished in London. 
 
 Kazlitt Arvine's " Cyclopaedia of Anecdotes of Literature and the Fine 
 Arts" is'also an aid to elegant literature. 
 
 J. D. Chaplin edited " The Riches of Bunyan," a selection of rare 
 gems. 
 
 J. Clement's "Noble Deeds of American Women" may also be classed 
 here. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 437 
 
 E. L. Magoon. " The Eloquence of the Colonial and Revolutionary 
 Times." 184 7. 
 
 R. W. Cushmax. " Pure Christianity the World's Only Hope." 1845. 
 
 5. Poetry and Music. Enough has been done in this 
 department to show that the Muses are not strangers to us. 
 As a lyric poet, the name of 
 
 S. F. Smith is well known as the writer of some of the most popular lyrics 
 and odes in the language. The national ode, 
 
 "My country, 'tis of thee," 
 is one of the most popular patriotic songs in the English tongue. The fu- 
 neral hymn, 
 
 11 Sister, thou wast mild and lovely," 
 
 has often soothed the hearts of pious mourners on the death of some young 
 Christian female ; and his 
 
 " Yes, my native land, I love thee," 
 
 has called forth many tears of tender, solemn joy at the departure of mission- 
 aries to a foreign land ; and his soul-awakening hymn, 
 
 " The morning light is breaking," 
 
 is not excelled, in lyric force and the power to awaken holy emotion in be- 
 half of the world's conversion, by any hymn in the language. Dr. Smith, 
 in connection with Dr. Stow, compiled "The Psalmist," which has had a 
 larger sale, perhaps, than any other collection of hymns. He has also pub- 
 lished a volume entitled " Lyric Gems," — the title given by the bookseller. 
 He likewise translated from the German the larger part of the hymns and 
 songs in the " Juvenile Lyre," — a song-book for children. Original hymns 
 from his pen are adopted in the hymn-books of most of the Christian denom- 
 inations. 
 
 Sidney Dyer is a prolific writer of songs and ballads. Among his pro- 
 ductions are " Voices of Nature," " Thoughts in Rhyme," " Songs and Bal- 
 lads," " Ruth : a Cantata, in two parts," " Olio of Love and Song," " The 
 Drunkard's Child," " The Two Apprentices," " The Winter Evening," &c. 
 Mr. Dyer has published more songs, in the form of " sheet music," than per- 
 haps any other man in the country. 
 
 Of those who have published volumes of poetry, are 
 
 J. Newton Brown. " Emily, and other Poems." pp. 296. " The Apoc- 
 alypse : a Commencement Poem." 1856. 
 
 S. Drydex Phelps. ''Eloquence of Nature, and other Poems." 1842. 
 pp. 168. 12mo. " Sunlight and Hearthlight ; or, Fidelity, and other Poems." 
 1856. pp. 252. 12mo. 
 
 Emily C. Judson published " The Olio, or Domestic Poems." 1852. 
 12mo. She was also t' e author of many small pieces of poetry, which were 
 first printed in magazines, and afterwards published in the two volumes of 
 " Alderbrook." Some of her pieces are very touching and beautiful. 
 
438 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 William C. Richards. "Electron : a Telegraphic Epic." 
 
 Richard Furman. " Pleasures of Piety, and other Poems." 1859. 
 pp. 220. 
 
 Thomas Curtis. " Anastasis, and other Poems." 
 
 A. C. Kendrick. " Echoes : Translations from German and French 
 Poets." 
 
 Mrs. A. M. C. Edmoxd. " The Broken Vow, and other Poems." 
 
 William B. Bradbury is a distinguished musical writer, teacher, and 
 composer. He has prepared and published the following works : " The 
 Young Choir," 1841; "School Singer," 1843; "Flora's Festival," 1845; 
 " Young Melodist ; " " Musical Gems ; " " Sabbath-School Melodies;" " Young 
 Shawm," 1855; " Psalmodist ; " "Choralist;" " Mendelssohn Collection ; " 
 *' Psalmata, or Choir Melodies;" "The Shawm," 1854; " Social Singing- 
 Book ; " " Alpine Glee-Book ; " " Metropolitan Glee-Book." He is editor of 
 the "New York Musical Review," and contributes to various journals. 
 
 Charles Thurber published " Memorials of the Heart;" also, " Chem- 
 istry in Rhymes : a Book for Children." 
 
 6. Fiction, A few writers among us have employed 
 their pens in this department, for the purpose of gaining 
 hetter attention to some moral or religious truth. Among 
 them are : — 
 
 Mrs. E. C. Judson ("Fanny Forester"). Among her earlier produc- 
 tions are " Charles Linn ; or, How to Observe ; " " The Great Secret ; or, 
 How to be Happy ; " " Allen Lucas ; or, The Self-Made Man ; " " Trippings 
 in Author Land." " Alderbrook," in 2 vols. 1846, consisting of tales, sketches, 
 and poems, published in the " New York Mirror," was so popular that 33,000 
 volumes had been sold in 1853. 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Denison. " Home Pictures." " What Not ?" " Carrie 
 Hamilton." " Gracie Amber." " Old Hepsy : a Tale of the South." She 
 has contributed extensively to many periodicals. 
 
 Mrs. Jane D. Chaplin. " The Convent and the Manse." " Green 
 Leaves from Oakwood." Mrs. C. has also contributed sketches and tales, in 
 great numbers, to our periodical literature. 
 
 Mrs. J e annie Dowling De Witt. " Kate Weston ; or, To Will and to 
 Do." 12mo. pp. 500. "The Story of the Adder; or, The History of the 
 Stanley Family." 
 
 Mrs. S. R. Ford. " Grace Truman ; or, Love and Principle." " Mary 
 Bunyan : a Talc of Religious Persecution." 
 
 Mrs. Cornelia H. B.Richards (" Mrs. Manners"). "Aspiration: 
 an Autobiography of Girlhood." 1854. "At Home and Abroad," &c. &0. 
 
 Joseph Banvard. " Priscilla ; or, Trials for Religious Liberty." 
 
 A. C. Dayton. "Theodosia; or, The Heroine of Faith." 
 
 PHARCELLUS Church. " Mapleton ; or, More Work for the Maine 
 Law." 12mo. 1854. 
 
 Geo. T. Carleton. " The Unique." 1844. 
 
 Mrs. Eliza T. P. Smith. " The Little Republic." 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 439 
 
 7. School-Books. Besides the classical and critical text- 
 books already noticed, school-books for common schools have 
 been prepared. 
 
 Samuel S. Greene published "The Analysis of Sentences;" "First 
 Lessons in Grammar;" "The Elements of English Grammar." The series, 
 as now published, stands thus : " The Introduction ;" " The Analysis;" " The 
 English Grammar." Half a million or more sold. 
 
 Charles W. Sanders. " Spelling-Book ; " and " Reader," First and 
 Second. 
 
 C. W. Bradbury published " First Lessons in English Grammar, with a 
 New and Comprehensive Arrangement." 
 
 8. Biography. Authors of this class are : — 
 
 William Gammell. " Life of Governor Ward, of Rhode Island." " Life 
 of Roger Williams." pp.220. 1845. In Sparks's "American Biography," 
 vol. 4, 2d series. 
 
 Rufus W. Griswold. " Biographical Annual." 1842. " Memoir of Ed- 
 gar A. Poe." So the biographical parts of "Poets" and "Prose Writers of 
 America," "Female Poets," " Washington and the Generals of the Revolu- 
 tion," and " The Republican Court," are among the most valuable portions 
 of general biography. 
 
 John M. Peck. " Life of Daniel Boone." In Sparks's "American Biog- 
 raphy." 
 
 9. Miscellaneous. The classification has been made so 
 literal that few books remain to this class, though many- 
 might be noticed, as 
 
 " The Philosophy of the Imponderables," by George Brewster ; " Pe- 
 ter Schlemihl in America," and " Modern Pilgrims," by George Wood ; 
 " Light or Morning," by David Bernard ; &c. &c. 
 
 PAMPHLETS. 
 
 These are abundant and various. Many pamphlets have 
 only a local or temporary purpose, yet they are valuable as the 
 materials of literary history. They are on all subjects, in all 
 varieties of* style, manner, and form : sermons, orations, ad- 
 dresses, essays, and reviews. They are didactic, polemic, 
 historical, biographical, critical, apologetic, retractive, and 
 hortatory, in prose and poetry, and their name is legion. Of 
 course, no attempt to present a complete list or classification 
 will be made ; yet, a fair view of our literature requires that 
 
440 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 they receive some attention. Much of what was formerly 
 published in pamphlets is now given to the public in maga- 
 zines, reviews, and newspapers. 
 
 Our pamphlet literature may be grouped in a loose and 
 general way under the heads of: I. Sermons; II. Addresses. 
 or Inaugurals by professors and presidents of institutions 
 of learning, Orations, Speeches, &c. ; III. Scientific Pam- 
 phlets ; IV. Historical Pamphlets, not sermons ; V. 
 Apologetic ; VI. Controversial ; and VII. Miscellaneous 
 Pamphlets. 
 
 I. Sermons. 
 
 Great numbers of sermons have been published by our 
 ministers in the last fifty years, some in pamphlets, some in 
 the " National Preacher," some in the " Baptist Preacher," 
 the " Southern Baptist Preacher," the " Western Baptist 
 Preacher," and other similar periodicals, some in the minutes 
 of associations and conventions, in magazines, and newspa- 
 pers. The publication of many of them was called for by 
 circumstances apart from the permanent or literary value of 
 the sermons themselves, which having passed away, the in- 
 terest in the sermons has passed away also. 
 
 Among those who have issued sermons in print, the venerable Baldwin 
 stands first. Nearly forty of his sermons were published. His General Elec- 
 tion Sermon, before the Massachusetts Legislature, in 1802, was received 
 with uncommon favor, as was indicated by the fact that it passed through 
 three editions. More than half his printed sermons were issued before 
 1814. 
 
 The name of the eloquent pastor of the Charles Street Church, Boston, 
 the Rev. Dr. Sharp, stands next in order. He preached the Election 
 Sermon in 1824, and the Funeral Sermon of Gov. Eustis the same year. 
 Twenty or more of his sermons were published in pamphlet form, besides 
 others in various periodicals, some of which went through several editions. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Francis Waylaxd has published twenty or more sermons 
 in pamphlet form, besides his volumes of sermons noticed under that 
 head. His sermons are always received with strong marks of favor by the 
 public. 
 
 Rev. Dr. William II. Williams has issued many sermons in pamphlet 
 form, besides several volumes, originally sermons, which have taken a perma- 
 nent place in the elegant literature of our country. The names of others, as 
 Staugiiton, Brantly, G. F. Davis, C. Train, Bolles, Stow, Hague, 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 441 
 
 Ide, Fuller, will be remembered as able preachers, and as the authors of 
 printed sermons, on a variety of topics, which may be classed thus : — 
 
 1. Associational, or Convention Sermons. 
 
 W. Collier, before Baptist Missionary Society, 1816 ; John Williams, 
 before New York Missionary Society ; T. Baldwin, before Baptist General 
 Convention, Philadelphia, 181 7 ; Stephen Chapin, before Maine Baptist 
 Education Society, 1820; before Baptist Home Mission Society, 1841; D. 
 Benedict, before Warren Association, 1821 ; L. Bolles, before Boston As- 
 sociation, 1822; R. Babcock, on Claims of Educational Societies, 1829; B. 
 Stow, before American and Foreign Bible Society ; " Efficiency of Primitive 
 Missions;" G. B. Ide, "The Moral Elevation of the Church essential to 
 Missionary Success;" Bradley Miner, on " Preaching to the Conscience," 
 before Boston Association ; J. N. Murdoch, "A Ministry approved unto 
 God," before Connecticut Baptist Education Society, 1857 ; J. B.Taylor, 
 before American Sunday-School Union, 1856; John Willis, before New 
 York Missionary Society. These are but samples of such as can be remem- 
 bered. » 
 
 2. Ordination and Installation Sermons. 
 
 T. Baldwin, of David Leonard, 1794; of W. Collier, 1799; of Elisha 
 Andrews, 1800 ; of John Peak, 1802 ; of Elisha Williams, 1803 ; of J. Chap- 
 lin, 1804 ; of D. Merrill, 1805 ; of James M. Winchell ; L. Bolles, at New- 
 port, 1818; J. Chaplin, of Stephen Chapin, 1819; of A. King, 1826; of 
 George D. Boardman, 1828; W. Collier, of G. W. Appleton, 1819; Ste- 
 phen Gano, of Peter Ludlow, 1823 ; C. Train, 1823 ; S. Chapin, 1822; 
 Irah Chase, of J. D. Knowles, 1826; Elisha Tucker, 1826; J. Gil- 
 patrick, of W. C. Rider, 1830; Silas Hall, 1831; A. Fisher, of J. 
 
 Alden, 1833 ; F. Wayland, of W. Hague; T. F. Curtis, of Foster, 
 
 1853. 
 
 8. Dedications, and Constitution of Churches. 
 
 Elisha Andrews, Belchertown, Mass., 1814 ; T. Baldwin, Bellingham, 
 1802; Boston, 1811 ; Cambridge, 1817; Silas Stearns, Bath, Me., 1816; 
 Charles Train, Framingham, 1827 ; C. P. Grosvenor, 1829 ; S. P. Hill, 
 Haverhill, 1833 ; W. Hague, Boston, 1839 ; W. T. Brantly, dedication of 
 Baptist Church, Augusta, Ga., 1821. 
 
 4. Commemorative Sermons. 
 
 T. Baldwin, of George Washington, 1799 ; W. Staughton, of Dr. B. 
 Rush, 1813; of S. Jones, D. D., 1814; Jesse Mercp:r, of Gov. Robins, 
 1819 ; S. Chapin, of Luther Rice, 1822 ; Bi-centennial, 1822 ; J. Barnaby, 
 
 of Gov. Eustis, 1828 ; William Parkinson, of Holmes, 1832 ; J. Gil- 
 
 PATRICK, of I). Merrill, 1833; J. O. Choules, Thanksgiving, 1829; of D. 
 Webster, 1852; R, Babcock, of Geo. Leonard; R. E. Pattison, of J. 
 Chaplin, 1843; D. Sharp, of Dr. Chalmers, 1847; J. T. Champlin, of W. 
 H. Harrison, 1841 ; S. F. Smith, do., 1841; R. Turnbull, on Chalmers 
 and Vinet, 1847; W. Hague, of J. Q. Adams, 1848; of A. Judson, 1851 ; 
 56 
 
4^2 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 of J. O. Choules, 1856; J. S. Maginnis, of N. Kendrick, 1849; J. N. 
 Granger, of S. B. Mumford, 1849 ; T. D. Anderson, of President Taylor, 
 1850; J. N. Murdock, do., 1850; A. C. Kkndrick, of Abel Woods, 1851 ; 
 E. H. Gray, of A. Judson; Henry Jackson, of E. Nelson, 1852; G. W. 
 Samson, of D. Webster, 1852. 
 
 5. Historical Sermons, 
 
 James M. Winchell, two sermons, History of First Baptist Church, Bos- 
 ton, 1819 ; T. Baldwin, 1824 ; Joseph Grafton, 1830 ; J. O. Choules, 
 1830; B. Manly, History of Charleston, S. C, Baptist Church, 1837; W. 
 Hague, Second Centennial of First Baptist Church, Providence, 1839; A. 
 Bennett, History of Baptist Church, Homer, N. Y., 1842; T. C. Teas- 
 dale, Baptist Church, New Haven, 1842; T. Curtis, on the Founding of 
 Baptist Church, Charleston, S. C, 1842; B. Stow, Centennial, 1843 ; J. W. 
 Parkhuhst, History of Baptist Church, Dedham, 1846; H. C. Fish, Semi- 
 centennial, 1851 ; H. Jackson, Historical Description of Central Church, 
 Newport, 1854 ; R. Turnbull, Historical Discourse on First Baptist Church, 
 Hartford. 
 
 6. Funeral Sermons, 
 
 W. T. Brantly, of L. D. Banks, August, 1823 ; Lenitives of Sorrow, 
 Beaufort, S. C, 1828 ; T. Baldwin, of Dr. Stillman, 1807 ; of Mrs. Collier, 
 1813 ; of J. M. Winchell, 1820 ; S. Chapin, of O. Wilson, 1824 ; W. Bowen, 
 1828 ; E. W. Freeman, on Mrs. Graves, 1833; S. F. Smith, of B. Miner, 
 1854; E. B. Smith, on D. O.Morton, 1852; F. Wayland, on Mrs. Caswell, 
 1850 ; C. Willett, on Capt. McLean, 1851 ; T. Armitagk, on Dr. Cone, 
 1855; J. N. Murdock, on Hon. Silas Wright; on Mrs. Williams, 1857 ; C. 
 G. Fairbanks, on Deacon Foster, 1860; J. Duncan, for Mrs. Kent, 1862. 
 
 7- Occasional. 
 
 R. Furman, Communion essential to Salvation, 1816; T. Baldwin, on 
 Lord's Day after Execution of Pirates, 1819 ; on the Duty of Parents, 1822 ; 
 E. Cushman, Election Sermon, 1820; on Christian Fortitude; Clark 
 Kendrick, before Legislature of North Carolina; Stephen Gano, on the 
 Divinity of Christ, 1827 ; G. F. Davis, Thanksgiving Sermon, 1828 ; a Tem- 
 perance Sermon, 1831 ; J. Bahnaby, Thanksgiving Sermon, 1825 ; F. Way- 
 land, Fast. Day Sermon, 1828; T. B. Ripley, a Sermon at Portland, Me., 
 1828; W. T. Brantly, a Sermon on the Trinity, 1824; Duty of publicly 
 dedicating Children to the Lord, 1824; Testimony of Enemies to Religion, 
 1824; J. E. Wkston, Claims of the Poor, 1830; C. P. GROSVENOR, two ser- 
 mons, on National Blessings and on Infidelity, 1829; Alerkd Bknxitt, 
 The Kingdom of Christ distinguished from the Kingdom of Caesar, 1830; II. 
 Fittz, Obedience the Test of I >isripleship, 1834; J. T. IIinton, two ser- 
 mons on the Spirit's Operations, 1832; on the Alton Riots, 1 S ;i 7 ; JOHH 
 Tripp, on the Inspiration of the Scriptures, on the Perseverance of the 
 Saints, on the Two Witnesses, and several other sermons; Irah CHASE, 
 on Anger, 1*22; B. S row, Thanksgiving, 1837; Spiritual Power, 1852 ; A. 
 Kallocii, Fast Day, 1849; D. Sharp, do., 1822, 1842, 1846; L. Tracy, 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 44,3 
 
 Farewell to Boylston, 1848; E. L. Magoon, before North Carolina Legisla- 
 ture, 1843 ; R. H. Neale, the Burning Bush ; the Incarnation ; W. Hague, 
 True Charity; D. D. Pratt, on Voluntary Associations; J.N. Murdoch, 
 Signs of the Times, 1859; Peacemakers and Peacemaking, 1856; Building 
 the Tombs of the Prophets, 1859 ; the Basis and Ends of Civil Government, 
 1859 ; the Causes and Issues of our Civil War, 1862; R. B. C. Howell, the 
 Divine Care of the Church, 181.'}; H. C. Fish, Characteristics of Successful 
 Benevolent Effort, 1848 ; on Sumner and Kansas, 1856 ; J. N. Granger, 
 a sermon, 1847; M. Sanford, the Ocean, 1851 ; W. Dean, Thanksgiving, 
 1857 ; Ministerial Sources of Support, 1859 ; P. Church, Permanence of the 
 Pastoral Relation, A Passion for Souls, and other sermons ; J. \V. Olm- 
 stead, the Ominous Future, 1844 ; R. W. Cushman, Calm Review of the 
 Religious Awakening in Boston, 1842; S. L. Caldwell, to the Volunteers, 
 1861; J. H. Gilmore, a Thanksgiving Sermon, 1863; A. Pollard, on 
 Justification by Faith, 1863 ; H. G. Weston, on National Fast, 1861 ; J. C. 
 Stockbridge, two discourses, 1856 ; D. C. Eddy, Political Rights of Min- 
 isters, 1854 ; N. Wood, Modern Spiritualism. 
 
 8. Miscellaneous Sermons, some of which are classed 
 here because the subjects of them are unknown to me. 
 
 Missionary sermons in great numbers have been published by Messrs. J. 
 Parkhurst, Sharp, Wayland, Brantly, Furman, Williams, Ful- 
 ler, Chapin, Stow, Brown, Granger, Ide, Welch, Dowling, War- 
 ren, and many others. 
 
 Of sermons on baptism the number to be found is very few. T. Pink- 
 ham published one in 1839, being a Retraction of Pedo-Baptism ; W. T. 
 Brantly, " The Covenant of Circumcision no Just Plea for Infant Bap- 
 tism." Many sermons have been printed in the religious and secular news- 
 papers. 
 
 II. Addresses, or Inaugurals. 
 
 Wm. Staughton, as President of Columbian College, 1822 ; S. Chapin, 
 as Professor in Waterville College, 1826 ; as President of Columbian College, 
 1829 ; Joel S. Bacon, President of Georgetown College, 1830; James D. 
 Knowlks, as Professor at Newton, 1832 ; R Babcock, President of Water- 
 ville College, 1834; Alva Woods, President of Transylvania University ; 
 J. S. Magixnis, Professor at Hamilton, 1839 ; J. Upham, at New Hampton, 
 1846 ; A. Hovey, at Newton, 1854 ; J. G. Binney, President of Columbian 
 College, 1855 ; M. B. Anderson, President of Rochester University, 1854 ; 
 P. B. Spear, Professor at Hamilton ; Stephen W. Taylor, as President 
 of Madison University; E. S. Gallup, Professor at Hamilton, &c. &c. 
 
 Several Baccalaureate Addresses by Messrs. Wayland, Woods, Mal- 
 com, Pattison, Bacon, Chapin, Samson, and others, have been published. 
 
 Of Orations on public occasions, Charles Train has published four or 
 five; J. D. Knowi.es and B. Stow, several each; F. Wayland, several, 
 on literary, scientific, and philanthropic subjects. E. Cushman, Z. L. 
 Leonard, S. L. Caldwell, Isaac Davis, A. Caswell, and J. A. 
 Bolles, have published addresses. 
 
444* LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Scientific and Historical pamphlets have been issued, but 
 they are of little or no permanent value, because whatever 
 they may contain that is new or valuable is taken up into the 
 more permanent book literature. 
 
 Many Apologetic pamphlets have been issued, such as : — 
 
 Letters of W. F. Broaddus and Slicer, 1836 ; J. L. Dagg, in De- 
 fence of Strict Communion, 1845 ; W. H. Turton's Baptist Position De- 
 fended, 1844 ; R. Furman, Review of A. B. Smith, 1845 ; H.J. Ripley and 
 J. W. Smith, Replies to Albert Barnes, on " Exclusiveism," 1855 ; &c. &c. 
 
 Controversial pamphlets have been issued by 
 Baldwin, Chapin, Chase, J. Winter, E. Foster, R. F. Middle- 
 ditch, E. Worth, W. Parkinson, Crawford, Kilpatrick, &c. 
 
 A large number of Miscellaneous Pamphlets have been 
 
 issued. 
 
 Joshua Bradley, on Revivals and on Freemasonry; Solomon Drown, 
 in Behalf of the Greeks, 1824; Isaac Davis, Report of the Committee of 
 Examination at West Point, in 1832 and 1854, addressed to the Secretary of 
 War; John Leland, the Jarring Interests of Heaven reconciled by the 
 Blood of the Cross, and Some Events in his own Life; J. A. Bolles, a Prize 
 Essay on a Congress of Nations ; Wm. Gammell, Sketch of the Benefac- 
 tions of Nicholas Brown ; Brief Notice of the late Commodore Charles Morris, 
 1855 ; S. Adlam, The First Church, in Providence, not the Oldest Baptist 
 Church in America, 1853 ; J. R. Bliss, Place of the Baptists in Protestant 
 Christendom ; J. Dowling, The Old-Fashioned Bible ; W. Parkinson, The 
 Romish Antichrist ; Wm. Crowell, Advantages of the Baptist Church 
 Polity, 1845 ; Report on Separate Schools for Colored Children in Boston, 
 for the School Committee, 1847; Six Letters, &c, 1855; Exegesis on John 
 iii. 5, 1856 ; Thoughts on the Benevolent Organizations Proper for the King- 
 dom of Christ, 1858; H. B. Hackett, Speech on Bible Revision ; Address at 
 the Consecration of the Soldiers' Monument in the Newton Cemetery, 1864 ; 
 &c. &c. 
 
 PERIODICALS. 
 
 The most remarkable growth of our half-century literature 
 is in our periodical issues, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. 
 When our fathers inaugurated the Foreign Mission enter- 
 prise, fifty years ago, they had one periodical in all America, 
 " Tin; Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine.'' 
 It was issued once in three months, each number containing 
 thirty-two pages, making a volume of nearly four hundred 
 pages in three years, or one hundred and thirty pages a 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 445 
 
 year. This was the sum total of our periodical literature 
 in 1814*. From that small beginning", — the first number 
 of the Magazine was issued in September, 1803, — our peri- 
 odical literature has grown, during the half-century of our 
 missionary life, to its present giant proportions. It is one of 
 the marvels of the age. It is peculiarly an American growth, 
 the most characteristic fruit of the tree planted by Roger 
 Williams. It is a power before which State intolerance, 
 priestly rule, persecution for conscience' sake, Popery in any 
 of its thousand forms, cannot stand. Stronger than armies, 
 or than any political society, the religious press can put down 
 any power that dares to array itself against the rights or the 
 liberties of the people. 
 
 The leading facts in the history of the Magazine have already been noted. 
 
 Quarterly. 
 
 " The Christian Review*' was commenced in 1836, as a literary and re- 
 ligious quarterly. Each issue contained one hundred and fifty pages or more, 
 making an annual volume of upwards of six hundred and fifty pages. Its 
 first editor was Prof. J. D. Knowles. At his sudden death, while the second 
 number of the third volume was partly in type, B. Sears became its editor, 
 which he continued to be till the end of volume sixth. He was succeeded by 
 S. F. Smith, who was its editor to the end of volume thirteen. E. G. Sears 
 edited the fourteenth volume ; then S. S. Cutting, assisted by several breth- 
 ren, to the end of volume seventeen ; then R. Turnbull and J. N. Murdock 
 to the end of volume twentieth. J. J. AVoolsey conducted the work through 
 its twenty-first volume. Franklin Wilson and G. B. Taylor were its editors 
 to the end of the twenty-fourth volume, and E. G. Robinson to the end of 
 the twenty-eighth volume, or to the close of 1863, at which time its distinct 
 issues were suspended, and it was merged in the " Bibliotheca Sacra," of 
 which B. Sears is one of the editors. 
 
 " The Review " has maintained a highly respectable position among the lit- 
 erary and theological quarterlies of the day. It has been an able exponent 
 of Baptist principles, though catholic in its tone. It has added some eighteen 
 thousand pages to the permanent literature of American Baptists during the 
 twenty-eight years of its existence. The suspension of its issues will, no 
 doubt, be temporary, for it is not to be supposed that the Baptists of America 
 will consent to give up so important a medium of influence. 
 
 As to the writers who have created this amount of literature, I have found 
 it impossible to obtain a complete account. "The Review" has received the 
 aid of the literary labors of our best scholars, as well as that of others, not 
 Baptists. S. F. Smith, who was its editor during a longer period than any 
 other man, and who has been a constant contributor to it, has written for it 
 
446 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 about sixty articles, making thirteen hundred and eighty pages, besides nearly 
 all the literary notices during his editorship. B. Sears has contributed about 
 five hundred pages. F. Wayland has been a large contributor, especially to 
 its earlier volumes. A. C. Keudrick has contributed three hundred pages, 
 or more ; A. N. Arnold, about two hundred pages. II. B. Haekett, S. Bai- 
 ley, D. C. Havnes, M. B. Anderson, A. Hovey, J. T. Champlin, R. Bab- 
 cock, R. A. Coffin, T. F. Curtis, W. Gammell, H. J. Ripley, W. R. Wil- 
 liams, J. S. Maginnis, I. Chase, W. Hague, J. M. Peck, H. Lincoln, V. R. 
 Hotchkiss, G. D. Boardman, J. R. Loomis, J. H. Raymond, S. L. Caldwell, 
 H. W. Richardson, R. E. Pattison, have contributed several articles each, 
 of from twenty-five to one hundred and fifty pages ; W. Crowell seven ar- 
 ticles, making one hundred and fifty pages. S. S. Cutting, E. G. Robinson, 
 R. Turnbull, J. N. Murdock, F. Wilson, and G. B. Taylor were frequent 
 contributors while acting as editors. The names of G. W. Samson, O. S. 
 Stearns, W. Ashmore, S. Talbot, E. B. Cross, E. L. Magoon, R C. Mills, L. 
 Moss, H. C. Fish, G. S. Chace, G. R. Bliss, S. R. Mason, O. Howes, W. C. 
 Child, Hon. R. Fletcher, Hon. S. G. Arnold, J. A. Bolles, Esq., J. Belcher, 
 F. Bosworth, C. B. Davis, G. W. Eaton, J. Dowling, S. P. Hill, E. W. Dick- 
 inson, F. Mason, S. D. Phelps, C. B. Smith, D. AV. Phillips, A. Caswell, N. 
 Bishop, II. T. Washburn, Miss M. A. Collier, and others, appear on its list 
 of writers. 
 
 J\ font Id?/. 
 
 " The Macedonian," a monthly sheet, devoted to Foreign Missions, has 
 been published, under the direction of the Secretary of the Missionary Union, 
 twenty-two years. It has attained an extensive circulation, and done much 
 to diffuse missionary intelligence and stimulate the missionary spirit. 
 
 "The Latter Day Luminary" Avas commenced in Philadelphia, in 
 February, 1818, a magazine of single column page, "five numbers a year, 
 profits sacred to the cause of missions," edited by Dr. Staughton, assisted by 
 Burgess Alison, II. G. Jones, and Luther Rice. It was published about three 
 years. 
 
 "The Sabbath-School Treasury" was issued several years by the 
 Massachusetts Sabbath-School Union. 
 
 " The Baptist Mkmorial," a double column, 8vo. magazine, was com- 
 menced in New York, in 184 2, by R. Babcock, who edited it six years, then 
 E. Hutchinson three years ; after which it was issued for a time in Rich- 
 mond, Va., then six years in Philadelphia, under the name of " Thk Bap- 
 tist Family Magazine." About five thousand copies were issued. 
 
 " The Baptist Preacher," a monthly pamphlet, containing one or two 
 sermons in each number, with short articles on preaching, was commenced in 
 Richmond, Va.,in 1842, by H. Keeling, and continued fifteen or twenty years. 
 A work of the same character and title was issued in Boston two years, edited 
 by William Collier. 
 
 " Thk Wkstern Baptist Review" was commenced in Louisville, Ky., 
 in 1845, by John L. Waller, its name afterwards changed to "Christian 
 Repository," edited by S. II. Ford, till the Rebellion drew its editor to hie 
 own place among the traitors to his country. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 447 
 
 " The Young Reaper " is a small monthly sheet, for Sunday-school chil- 
 dren, issued nine years by the American Baptist Publication Society. 
 
 " The Home Evangelist " is a monthly sheet issued by the Home Mis- 
 sion Society. 
 
 " The Home and Foreign Journal " was published several years, pre- 
 vious to the Rebellion, by the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 
 Several other monthlies have been issued, though monthlies have proved 
 to be far less successful than weeklies ; and some monthlies were changed to 
 weeklies, as will be seen in the notice of that class of periodicals. Besides 
 these, " The Baptist Mirror " was issued by Davis Dimock, semi-monthly, 
 at Montrose, Pa., in quarto, in 1825-6-7. In 1827, " The Literary and 
 Evangelical Register" was issued at Milton, Pa., a few miles from Lew- 
 isburg, by Eugenio Kincaid. " The Western Baptist Preacher " was 
 issued several years in Illinois. 
 
 " The Mother's Journal " was commenced in Utica, N. Y., in 1835, 
 edited by Mrs. Kingsford, Mrs. Conant, Mrs. Allen, and Mrs. Clarke, in suc- 
 cession, till it came into the hands of its present conductors, Rev. Dr. and 
 Mrs. Hiscox, of New York city. It has been conducted with good taste, 
 has done much good, and been liberally sustained. 
 
 WetEy. 
 
 " The Christian Watchman," the oldest Baptist weekly, was com- 
 menced in Boston, in 1819, True & Weston, publishers. It was edited many 
 years by Deacon James Loring, then three years by E. Thresher, and at 
 brief intervals by others. In 1838 William Crowell became its editor, and 
 conducted the paper about ten years. United with " The Christian Re- 
 flector," and taking the name of " The Christian Watchman and 
 Reflector," J. W. Olmstead became its editor. Among its earlier con- 
 tributors were Messrs. Anderson, Sharp, Keely, Knowles ; later, Stow, Sears, 
 Church, Hague, Cutting, Samson; later still, Lincoln, Murdock, Stock- 
 bridge, Hovey, Arnold, Ide, Smith, Richards. It has been from the first self- 
 sustaining, vigorous, and efficient. 
 
 " The Christian Secretary" had its origin in 1822, under the patron- 
 age of the Connecticut Baptist Missionary Society, at Hartford, E. Cushman 
 its first editor. It was edited successively by P. Can field, G. Robins, and A 
 Bolles, till in 1838 N. Burr became its publisher and responsible editor till 
 his death, in 1861, when E. Cushman, son of its first editor, assumed the edi- 
 torial care, which he still retains. The paper was, for a short time, merged in 
 a New York paper, but soon returned to its old home. It has done efficient 
 service to the cause of true religion in Connecticut. 
 
 " The Christian Index" originated as a quarto in Washington city, un- 
 der the name of " The Columbian Star," in 1822, which was edited by 
 several gentlemen connected with Columbian College, as Rice, Knowles, Stow, 
 till 1826, when it was removed to Philadelphia, its name changed to "The 
 Christian Index," AV. T. Brantly, editor. Some years afterwards it was re- 
 moved to Georgia, and edited by Jesse Mercer, till, at his death, it became 
 the property of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and was edited by different 
 persons, being published at Penfield, Athens, and Macon, at different times. 
 
44S LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Several other papers, as "The Landmark Baptist," "The Cham- 
 pion," &c., have been in existence in Georgia for a longer or shorter time. 
 
 "The Examiner" is the name of the paper combining "The New 
 York Baptist Register," commenced at Utica in 18'23, so long edited 
 by A. M. Beebe, Esq., and " The New York Recorder," formerly M Bap- 
 tist Advocate," edited first by S. S. Cutting and subsequently by M. B. 
 Anderson. The union of the " Register " and " Reeorder " took place in 
 January, 1855, and the name of the paper was changed to " The Exam- 
 iner," in June the same year, Messrs. Cutting and Bright editors. In the 
 autumn of that year, E. Bright became sole editor, which he continues to be 
 to the present time. The paper has received the literary contributions of 
 many eminent writers, has been issued in a style of great mechanical excel- 
 lence, and extended its circulation from year to year, till it has reached a 
 weekly issue of twenty thousand. 
 
 " The Religious Herald" originated in a monthly pamphlet, in Rich- 
 mond, Ya., October, 1826, edited by H. Keeling. At the end of the year it 
 was changed to a weekly, under its present name, E. Ball, a native of Ver- 
 mont, editor. Soon after, W. Sands, from England, became its editor, who 
 continued to conduct it many years. For some years before the Rebellion, 
 J. M. Shaver was its editor. It has been ably conducted from the beginning. 
 
 " Zion's Advocate" was first issued in Portland, Me., in 1828, by A. 
 "Wilson, who conducted it till 1839, when J. Rieker was its editor till 1842 ; 
 then Mr. Wilson resumed the charge, till 1848; then S. K. Smith, till 1851 ; 
 J. B. Foster, till 1858 ; W. H. Shailer, till the present time. 
 
 In 1822 "The Waterville Intelligencer" entered on a career of a 
 few years, being in part a Baptist paper ; soon after, " The Baptist Her- 
 ald," at Brunswick, ran a brief career; and in 1836 " The Eastern 
 Watchman " was issued for a time. 
 
 "The Biblical Recorder" originated in a monthly pamphlet, edited 
 by Thomas Meredith, at Edenton, N. C, in 1829, called " The Biblical 
 Interpreter," which, after a few years, was issued weekly, under its pres- 
 ent name, and removed to Raleigh. T. W. Tobey was for a time its editor, 
 — perhaps is still. There have usually been, in the State, two or three 
 other papers, claiming to be Baptist, of little circulation or influence. 
 
 "The Journal and Messenger" unites "The Baptist Weekly 
 Journal," commenced in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1831, edited by John Ste- 
 vens, " The Cross," a Baptist paper in Kentucky, and " The Messenger," 
 of Indiana. For a time it was called " The Cross, and Baptist Jour- 
 nal." In 1838 the paper went into the hands of George Cole, who re- 
 moved it to Columbus. In 1847 it passed into the hands of J. A. Batchelder 
 and D. A. Randall. In 1849 Mr. Batchelder became its sole proprietor. 
 The paper received its present name after the union with M The Messenger," 
 and was removed to Cincinnati. In May, 1856, Mr. Cole again became ii- Bole 
 editor, which he still continues to be. Under his management it has been 
 a useful paper. 
 
 "The WESTERN RECORDER" originated in a semi-monthly, at Shelbv- 
 ville. Ky., in 1833, afterwards removed to Louisville, ^. L. Waller editor. 
 For some years. " Tim; WESTERN Pioneer," of Illinois, and " The Bap- 
 tist," of Nashville, Tenn., were united with it, J. M. reck and R. B. C. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 449 
 
 Howell assistant editors, under the name of " The Baptist Banner and 
 Pioneer," issued at Louisville, Mr. Waller, chief editor. In 1851, it received 
 its present name, under which it was issued till the breaking out of the Re- 
 bellion, when it ceased its issues ; but has lately been revived again, in a 
 small sheet. Its influence has been somewhat mixed, much that was crude 
 and mischievous finding utterance through its columns. 
 
 " The Tennessee Baptist " was commenced in Nashville, Tenn., in 
 January, 1835, by R. B. C. Howell, who was its editor thirteen years, when 
 he placed it under the care of the General Baptist Association of the State, 
 after which it fell into the hands of J. R. Graves, from Vermont. It was a 
 most mischievous and pestilent sheet under his management, obtained a wide 
 circulation, became a violently partisan, personal, and abusive paper, and ex- 
 ceeded the secular prints in its advocacy of Secession, till, on the capture of 
 Nashville, its guilty editor fled to the South, and its issues ceased. Several 
 other Baptist weeklies have been issued from Knoxville, Nashville, and 
 Memphis, for several years each, all of which have ceased. 
 
 " The Western Watchman" was commenced in St. Louis, in 1838, J. 
 M. Peck editor. From 1851 it was conducted about ten years by William 
 Crowell, till, at the coming on of the troubles connected with the Rebellion, 
 its issues ceased. A paper called " The Missouri Baptist " had previously 
 been issued for a time by J. T. Hinton. Two or three other papers, claiming 
 to be Baptist, have had a temporary existence in Missouri. 
 
 "The Southern Baptist" originated in a monthly, at Greenville, S. C, 
 in 1840, T. W. Haynes editor. At the end of the first year it was removed 
 to Charleston, where it had several editors in succession, till it was discontin- 
 ued three or four years ago. 
 
 " The Michigan Christian Herald " was commenced in Detroit, Jan- 
 uary 1, 1842, by the Michigan Baptist State Convention. A. Tenbrook 
 was its first editor ; it was then edited by M. Sanford, J. Inglis, and others. 
 For about fourteen years previous to 1862 it was edited by G. W. Harris, and 
 published by M. Allen, under a lease from the Convention. In January, 
 1862, E. Olney and E. Curtiss became proprietors, the latter chief editor. In 
 April, W. Alden and others became editors and proprietors. It has received 
 the literary contributions of the pastors in the State, its circulation, never 
 large, being almost exclusively in that State. To its wholesome influence 
 the Baptists of Michigan are largely indebted for the remarkable harmony 
 in doctrine and practice which they have enjoyed above any other Western 
 State. The recent liberality in the endowment of three institutions of learn- 
 ing is, in a great degree, owing to the excellent influence of this paper. 
 
 " The Alabama Baptist " was commenced at Marion, Ala., January, 
 1843, M. P. Jewett editor. Its name was afterwards changed to " South- 
 western Baptist," J. C. Henderson editor. Another weekly paper was 
 published a year or two in Alabama. 
 
 "The Chronicle" is the union of " The Christian Chronicle," 
 commenced in Philadelphia, in 1846, G. W. Anderson editor, afterwards 
 edited by W. B. Jacobs many years, then by J. S. Dickerson, assisted by 
 J. N. Brown, several years, with " The New York Chronicle," com- 
 menced in 1850, in New York, O. B. Judd editor, till, in 1857, P. Church 
 became its editor, which he continued to be till its union with " The Chris- 
 57 
 
450 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 tian Chronicle," under its present name, near the close of 1863. The paper 
 has attained a high character, a wide circulation, and extensive usefulness, 
 since it came under its present management. 
 
 The first weekly Baptist paper in Philadelphia was "The World," in 
 1832. "The Religious Narrator" had a short existence, edited by 
 W. T. Brantly, and was united with " The World," the united paper taking 
 the name of " The Christian Gazette," under the editorship of R. W. 
 Cuslmian. 
 
 " The True Union " was commenced as a weekly paper in Baltimore, in 
 January, 1850. For fifteen months it was edited by the proprietor, Thomas 
 J. Beach, Esq. From April, 1851, to the end of 1852, it was edited nomi- 
 nally by " the Baptist pastors of Baltimore," but really by F. Wilson. In 
 1853, Mr. Wilson's name appeared as editor, which he continued to be till the 
 close of 1856. In 1857 it was edited by G. F. Adams ; from the end of that 
 year to 1860, by John Bang. In 1861 Mr. Wilson again became its editor, 
 till the close of that year, when he determined to discontinue its publication. 
 During its existence of twelve years, it seldom had a circulation of over fifteen 
 hundred. It was edited gratuitously during eight of these years, yet its 
 expenses amounted to $3500 above all its receipts. Its principal contributors 
 were R. Fuller, G. F. Adams, J. M. W. Williams, George B. Taylor, G. W. 
 Samson, S. C. Barton. 
 
 " The Christian Era" was commenced in Lowell, Mass., in June, 1852, 
 J. M. Burt editor. In 1856 A. Webster purchased the paper, removed it 
 to Boston, and became its editor, which he still continues to be. 
 
 " The Christian Times " was commenced in Chicago, 111., in 1863, J. A. 
 Smith and Leroy Church editors. " The Northwestern Baptist " was 
 commenced in Chicago, in 1842, continuing two years; "The Western 
 Star," at Jacksonville, in 1845, two years; " The Western Christian," at 
 Elgin, from 1845 to 1860; "The Watchman of the Prairies," at Chi- 
 cago, from 1847 to 1852. "The Illinois Baptist" was issued in the 
 southern part of the State a few years. " The Western Pioneer," com- 
 menced by J. M. Peck, which was much earlier, was noticed under the head 
 of " The Western Recorder." 
 
 " The Witness " was first issued by S. Dyer, in 1856, at Indianapolis, 
 Ind. M. G. Clarke soon became its editor, till, in 1863, M. E. W. Clarke as- 
 sumed its charge, which he still continues. One or two papers had a previous 
 brief existence in the State. 
 
 " The American Baptist " was started by the friends of Free Missions, 
 and has been published several years in the city of New York. It is now 
 ably edited by N. Brown, formerly Missionary to Assam. 
 
 Some other weekly papers have had an existence for a longer or shorter 
 time, in various parts of the country. " The New Hampshire Baptist 
 Register" was issued at Concord many years, by Edmund Worth. "The 
 Vermont Observer" was issued many years, a blight on the Baptist 
 cause in that State. " The Southwestern Chronicle," at New Or- 
 leans, La., " The Mississippi Baptist," " The Texas Baptist," " The 
 Arkansas Baptist," were issued some years, chiefly echoes of the " Ten- 
 nessee Baptist." In the State of Virginia, several weeklies, claiming to be 
 Baptist, have been issued for a time. One or two papers have been published 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 45 1 
 
 at San Francisco, CaL, for a time, and " The Evangel " is still issued. 
 There are two or three German Baptist papers issued in the United States, 
 and one Swedish. A paper in French, by N. Cyr, in Canada, circulates in 
 this country. 
 
 The weekly press has proved itself an agency of wonderful efficiency in 
 promoting unity of doctrine, practice, and feeling among us. It has done 
 very much to make our principles known, to remove prejudices, disarm op- 
 position, and secure the respect of the public. It is peculiarly an arm of 
 strength to Baptists, in their advocacy of pure Christianity. No portion of 
 our literature has more elements of popular efficiency, none seems likely to 
 be more effective in the future. 
 
 A weekly religious newspaper is one of the modern wonders of the world. 
 It is a universal cyclopaedia of things sacred and secular, new and old, grave 
 and gay, in poetry and prose ; it treats of religion, literature, science, morals, 
 of the concerns of state, of discoveries, improvements, inventions, of the arts, 
 of patents, of disasters, victories, and defeats. Here it tells that the sources 
 of the Nile have been discovered, there of an improved sewing machine. 
 Here is a critique on Sir William Hamilton's Metaphysics, there a remedy 
 for baldness. In this column you are treated to a grand description of the 
 starry heavens, in that to a remedy for dyspepsia. Here is a learned critique 
 on Tischendorf 's manuscript, there a cure for corns and bunions. What a 
 perfect history of our social, religious, civil, and ecclesiastical life is stamped 
 on the pages of these weekly journals ! 
 
 Our publishing - enterprises, to which we are indebted for 
 much of the success of our literature, deserve honorable 
 mention. The earliest Baptist publishing house in the Unit- 
 ed States was that of Lincoln & Edmands. Mr. Ensign 
 Lincoln, a native of Hingham, Mass., formed a partnership 
 in 1806 with Thomas Edmands. At the death of Mr. 
 Lincoln, in 1832, the partnership was dissolved, and on the 
 17th of January, 1835, the concern passed into the hands of 
 Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. In November, 1850, Mr. 
 Kendall retired, and the firm became that of Gould & Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln set up for himself as a printer, in Boston, in 1800, the first 
 book he printed being a complete edition of Cowper's Poems. He also 
 printed Johnson's Dictionary Abridged, in pearl type. He was a man of God, 
 without reproach, - the model of a Christian man of business, a licensed 
 preacher, abundant in labors, of whom Mr. Buckingham, a journeyman 
 printer with him in the same office, says, that " if all church members were 
 as conscientiously true to their professions as he was, the millennial year 
 would be rapidly approaching." His labors and influence were of inestimable 
 value to our denominational literature. The present firm, composed of his 
 son and son-in-law, have well carried on the work so nobly begun. The cat- 
 
452 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 alogue of their publications is their highest praise. This firm has ■won a very 
 high position in the annals of liberal, useful, and sound literature. 
 
 Of the works issued by Gould & Lincoln, Wayland's " Moral Science " has 
 reached a sale of 135,000 copies ; Malcom's "Bible Dictionary," 140,000 ; 
 Hugh Miller's Works, 116,000, (of which " Testimony of the Rocks " 
 28,000) ; " Memoir of Ann H. Judson," 66,000 ; " Annual of Scientific 
 Discovery," 52,000 ; " Aimwell Stories," 92,000; " Agassiz and Gould's Zool- 
 ogy," 40,000. 
 
 The firm of Manning & Loring, of Boston, has also done worthy service 
 to the same cause, but no means are at hand of giving their publications in 
 detail. 
 
 In New York, the house of L. Colby & Co., succeeded by that of Sheldon 
 & Co., have done and are doing a good work. The Publication Society, lo- 
 cated in Philadelphia, have given a strong impulse, especially to the dissemi- 
 nation of our devotional, tract, and Sunday-school literature. Publishers and 
 booksellers are as needful as authors. We must not only make our own 
 books, — we must put them in circulation. A Christian publisher of high 
 moral and religious aims, uniting superior gentlemanly and business qualifica- 
 tions to an ardent love of truth, may attain a position of usefulness, second, 
 perhaps, to no other in the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Of the works issued by Sheldon & Co., " Olshausen's Commentary," trans- 
 lated by Kendrick, has reached a sale of 80,000 copies ; " Grace Truman," 
 40,000 ; Benedict's " History of the Baptists," 25,000 ; " Baptist Library," 
 8,000; Kendrick's "Life of Emily C. Judson," 12,000; Phelps's "Holy 
 Land," 4,000. 
 
 It will thus be seen that Baptists have contributed more or 
 less to every department of English and American literature. 
 They have been the fast friends of good and liberal learning ; 
 they have been foremost in the cause of popular education ; 
 they have contributed to the elegant and ornamental, in liter- 
 ature and the arts, as well as to the substantial ; they have 
 given the aid of their pens to all that elevates, ennobles, lib- 
 eralizes, adorns, and sanctifies human nature. 
 
 For the purposes of a comparative estimate of the litera- 
 ture of American Baptists, it may be grouped in three gen- 
 eral divisions : First, that which relates to the spiritual con- 
 cerns of mankind, their duties to God and to each other, 
 their common accountability and immortal welfare, as travel- 
 lers to the judgment-seat and the endless eternity beyond ; 
 Second, that which relates to the civil, the social, the political 
 concerns of men, and the rights, the liberties, the interests, 
 the duties, the progress of the human race, as related to law, 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 453 
 
 to magistracy, and to civil government ; Third, that litera- 
 ture which relates to the enlarging of the boundaries of hu- 
 man knowledge, the progress of the human intellect in science 
 and the arts of life, to the instruction of the young, the nour- 
 ishing and discipline of the mind, the cultivation of the taste, 
 the improvement of the heart, the purifying of social inter- 
 course, and the general progress of the moral and social vir- 
 tues among men. 
 
 The characteristic of the first division is that it is preem- 
 inently Scriptural, — that is, its premises, its assumptions, 
 its ultimate authority, its tone and spirit, are shaped to the 
 great idea that God has spoken to men, not only in the 
 works of creation and providence, but in a far more sacred 
 and authoritative voice, by Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, 
 and, above all, " by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir 
 of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." The Di- 
 vine inspiration, the supreme authority, the surpassing excel- 
 lence, the perfect sufficiency of the Scriptures for everything 
 pertaining to man's redemption, to the knowledge of duty, 
 and to the visible kingdom of God, constitute its cardinal 
 principle. Its motto is, " If we receive the witness of men, 
 the witness of God is greater : for this is the witness of God 
 which He hath testified of His Son." 
 
 The theology that pervades this literature is of the Atha- 
 nasian, Augustinian, Calvinian type, though neither derived 
 from nor much influenced by men or schools. Baptists al- 
 low no creed to stand between them and the Scriptures. No 
 articles of man's framing, as to doctrine or discipline, were 
 ever made the tests of good standing among them, in the 
 church or the ministry. The Bible, the Bible alone, the Bi- 
 ble direct, in its most obvious meaning, has ever been the 
 one only authoritative standard. Each church draws up 
 articles setting forth its tenets for the information of the 
 public, or for convenient reference, or adopts those of an- 
 other church, or none at all, according to its pleasure ; yet 
 the doctrinal unity of our literature, in the absence of all 
 
454 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 ecclesiastical or sectarian barriers, is as nearly perfect as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Equally uniform is its teaching respecting the Church, — its 
 nature, design, constituent elements, polity, and government. 
 Conversion, as the work of the Spirit, producing repentance, 
 faith, and love, is the indispensable qualification of admission 
 to its fellowship. No Baptist author ever advocated the re- 
 ception of unregenerate persons, whether infants or adults. 
 All maintain that the Church is a spiritual affiliation for 
 spiritual ends. Its design is ever declared to be the progres- 
 sive holiness of its members and the conversion of the world. 
 
 As baptism is the visible form of admission to the Church, 
 as well as of professing Christ, it is uniformly represented as 
 following conversion, and preceding church fellowship and 
 communion ; indeed, there is no exception to this remark, 
 worthy of note, in American Baptist literature. Robert Hall, 
 in England, though holding the burial of believers in water 
 as the only baptism, yet advocated the displacement of the 
 two ordinances so far as to admit unbaptized persons to the 
 Lord's table. His theory has made no progress in this coun- 
 try. All, of course, agree that the members of a church 
 only have the right to it's communion. The unseemly clamor 
 that has been made by those that claim their entire sect as 
 belonging to their " church," has induced a few ill-instructed 
 Baptists to seek a theory by which Baptist communion tables 
 also may be thrown open to all who see fit to come to them. 
 The point affects not the members of the church, but only 
 sojourners. The question is simply whether persons believed 
 to be pious, yet held to be unbaptized by the church, may 
 not be invited by courtesy to the Lord's table. Even on this 
 point, the concurrent voice of Baptist literature for restrict- 
 ing invitations to the Lord's table — if any church deems it 
 necessary to extend them — to members of churches of the 
 same faith and order, is more nearly a unit than that of any 
 of the surrounding sects on points of vital importance to 
 their integrity. 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 455 
 
 The independence of each church is uniformly maintained 
 through the whole current of Baptist literature. The ten- 
 dencies are to carry this principle to its extremest limits. 
 And although nearly all the churches unite in associations for 
 mutual sympathy, cooperation, and the collection of statistics, 
 yet there is a watchful jealousy of any interference with 
 the churches, even by the expression of opinion. 
 
 The official equality of ministers, the right of each church 
 to admit and expel members, to call offenders to trial, to con- 
 stitute tribunals for the trial of ministers by inviting other 
 churches and their ministers, and to provide for the support 
 of worship, follow so obviously from the preceding principles, 
 that the testimony of our literature in reference to them is 
 entirely concurrent. 
 
 The characteristics of the second department of our liter- 
 ature are not less distinct or striking. It has never advo- 
 cated, but uniformly opposed, the union of Church and State, 
 the support of clergy by the State, every form of legal com- 
 pulsion for the support of religious worship, and all persecu- 
 tion for religious opinion. The contrast, in this respect, with 
 other religious literature is most remarkable. Can it be said 
 that the literature of any of the sects that practise infant 
 baptism, excepting those that have sprung up under the light 
 of American freedom, is free from the taint of a persecuting 
 spirit \ Not only those aggregated sects, each claiming to 
 be a church, — territorial or diocesan, — as the Romish, the 
 Lutheran, the Episcopal, and the Presbyterian, but even the 
 Congregational or Independent denominations of New Eng- 
 land, — have they not all manifested the same spirit of 
 persecution for conscience' sake] Even to this day, their 
 literature is not purged of this foul spirit ; while Baptist 
 literature in all ages, in all countries, has been free from such 
 a taint. 
 
 Yet Baptist literature has dealt largely, very largely, with 
 current political matters, even to the extent of incurring great 
 reproach therefor. The Baptists of the American colonies 
 
4<56 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 were held up as malcontents, aiming at the subversion of 
 civil order, political brawlers, turning the world upside down 
 with their theories of unbridled liberty. Had they aimed at 
 special political rewards, their literature would furnish proof 
 of the fact. Can it be found ] In shaping the national 
 policy under the old Congress, in the formation of the Na- 
 tional and State constitutions, the Baptists were the most 
 active, outspoken, and earnest of all ; and their record, with 
 its glorious results, is known and read of all men. 
 
 The fact that the Baptists were oppressed and afflicted, 
 seeking toleration, availing themselves of the popular sym- 
 pathy, as a persecuted people, will not account for this fact. 
 The Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Con- 
 gregationalists, in turn, have all been persecuted ; yet they 
 have each become persecutors, when opportunity offered. The 
 reason must be found in the nature of Baptist principles 
 themselves, out of which this literature has grown. It is be- 
 cause that literature has drawn its life directly from the pure 
 fountain of God's Word, not from the mingled, turgid, be- 
 fouled streams of sectarian ambition, political strife, and 
 worldly dependence, that it has kept free from this relic of 
 heathenism. 
 
 And more than this, principles of civil freedom advocated 
 by Baptists amid the fires of persecution, principles then de- 
 nounced as subversive of all government, of all true civil 
 and social order, are now received as admitted maxims of 
 republican or democratic liberty and law. The natural equal- 
 ity of all men before the law, as before God ; the right to 
 self-government through constitutions, laws, and magistrates, 
 ordained by a majority of the people, — that government ex- 
 isting by the will of God and for the good of the governed ; 
 the right of every one to the blessings of liberty and knowl- 
 edge, are ideas inherent in Baptist principles as set forth in 
 their literature. 
 
 The benign influence of these principles on the enslaved 
 Africans in America is also seen. The nature of our church 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 457 
 
 government rendered it impossible that any ecclesiastical rule 
 forbidding slaveholding, such as the Methodists, the Quakers, 
 and some Presbyterians have enacted only to be broken, 
 should be adopted. The subject was therefore left to the 
 several churches, and to the individual conscience of each 
 member. Great numbers of slaves have been gathered into 
 independent Baptist churches, governed by their own appli- 
 cation of the law of Christ. Many Baptists have been mas- 
 ters of slaves, yet few have defended slavery as right ; while 
 the great majority of them have opposed it, or submitted to 
 it as an evil, to be borne till a change could be made. 
 
 The literature belonging to the third division is character- 
 ized by strength, purity, and moral earnestness. Whether 
 scientific, classical, or general literature, it has always a high 
 aim. Very little of it is designed merely to instruct the 
 intellect ; less still merely to please ; none to influence the 
 passions at the expense of good morals. If the cross of 
 Christ and the salvation of the soul be not the direct aim in 
 this portion of Baptist literature, the aim is always subser- 
 vient to these ends. Nothing corrupt in doctrine, or of im- 
 moral tendency, is found in it. 
 
 A large amount of literature of this class has been pro- 
 duced by authors who, though they received their early nur- 
 ture in Baptist families, and listened to the truth from Baptist 
 pulpits, have not united themselves to our churches. Though 
 this is not reckoned as a part of our literature, it has grown 
 out of the influence of Baptist principles and institutions. 
 Its vigorous, liberal, stimulating spirit has been widely influ- 
 ential in the political and social life of the United States. 
 
 On a comparison of our literature with that which has 
 sprung from the State religious establishments of Europe 
 and the church sects of the United States, some disparities 
 will be observed. Baptists have produced no long, minute, 
 disputative creeds, or confessions of faith, like those of the 
 Protestant sects, — affirming, denying, and defining what men 
 must believe, as if belief of dogmatic doctrine could save the 
 
 58 
 
458 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 soul, or preserve the true faith in the world. They have pro- 
 duced few elaborate treatises on scientific, scholastic, and 
 metaphysical theology, though they have made valuable con- 
 tributions to theological science. Nor have they produced 
 works of extensive research in the so-called department of 
 ecclesiastical history. The reason is, we have little need or 
 use for such works, though a true history of primitive Chris- 
 tianity, from the close of Luke's history, in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, is greatly to be desired. As the residuum of the 
 conflicts of truth with error through the centuries past, with 
 here and there a gem worth preserving, they are valuable to 
 us. We admire the learning, the ability, the patient toil 
 shown in these mighty tomes, as we admire a vast ancient 
 ruin ; though, for the purposes of man's redemption from 
 sin to God, they are scarcely more useful than would be the 
 Pyramids for modern dwellings. From these monuments 
 of learning, built by State-paid, creed-bound theologians, in 
 the interest of systems largely mingled with error, we may 
 take here and there a fragment, as the stones of the Pyra- 
 mids are carried off to build useful structures. What end 
 have those long-drawn creeds yet served, but to distract and 
 divide those who use them ] To what better purpose can we 
 put the most learned, candid, and truthful works of ecclesias- 
 tical history, than by digging among the rubbish to exhume 
 the beautiful form of primitive Christianity ? What por- 
 tions so useful as their confessions and retractions % 
 
 It is in the departments of Biblical exegesis, of practical 
 religion, of useful knowledge, of missionary biography and 
 history, that our literature is richest. Our polemic literature 
 is small in compass, but very effective. Ours is emphatically 
 a livings literature ; for our church principles, our doctrines, 
 polity, and government never change ; they are the same 
 from age to age ; only our manner of teaching them and of 
 refuting opponents changes. 
 
 Very different is it with the sects around us, who add to 
 and take from the teachings of the Scriptures. Compare the 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 459 
 
 literature of the various Pedo-Baptist bodies in the United 
 States, for the last fifty years, with that of their parent sects, 
 the State churches of Europe, or with their own earlier teach- 
 ings in this country, and note their widening divergence from 
 their former grounds, on such points as the toleration of all 
 religious opinions, liberty of speech and of the press, the 
 support of religion by the State, the right of private judg- 
 ment, unlimited freedom of worship, infant church member- 
 ship, the obligations of infant baptism, baptismal regenera- 
 tion, grace through the sacraments, the value and necessity 
 of being born of the Spirit, for proofs of the rapid strides 
 which they have made towards us, while our position remains 
 unchanged. 
 
 In thus tracing the directions in which our recorded 
 thoughts have been flowing, the influence of our foreign 
 missionary enterprise on our literature is very manifest. 
 That literature could not have been what it is, without our 
 Foreign Missions. Their reflex influence on all branches of 
 our religious and educational movement, has been traced by 
 other hands. That the missionary spirit has powerfully 
 stimulated our literary activity, while our missionary labors 
 have thrown much light on the history of the early conflicts 
 of Christianity with heathenism, and even on the meaning 
 of some passages in the Scriptures, cannot be doubted. 
 
 On the whole, while Baptists have done nothing to boast 
 of, this survey of our literature shows, that, in the depart- 
 ment of letters, where they might be supposed to be specially 
 deficient, they have no cause to be ashamed. The wonder is, 
 that they have done so much and so well, while emerging 
 from the furnace of persecution and the brick-kiln of op- 
 pression into the pure light and the bracing air of American 
 liberty. The value of literature is not in proportion to its 
 quantity, but in its power for good. What we have done 
 is valuable as the first-fruits, the earnest of the coming 
 harvest. 
 
 Enough has been done to show how favorable are Baptist 
 
460 LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 ideas to literary culture and intellectual activity. He must 
 be a bold reviler of truth, or a very stupid bigot, who will 
 now reproach Baptists as an illiterate people, or affirm, in 
 view of our literary progress thus far, that our principles or 
 practices are unfavorable to the cause of sound learning, or 
 to the graces of literary excellence. Our freedom from 
 ecclesiastical trammels manifests itself in our literature, as 
 well as in our popular growth. We do not greatly recruit 
 our ranks from the rich, the cultivated, or the refined ; and 
 intellectual and literary culture among us is the fruit of in- 
 fluences that grow out of the truths which we hold. 
 
 Yet the doctrinal unity of our literature is a power for 
 the suppression of error greater than all creeds and canons 
 and standards, with all their ecclesiastical machinery to set 
 them in motion. " The locusts have no king, yet go they 
 forth all of them by bands ; " so, without Pope, or Bishop, 
 or Presbytery, or governing Conference, or any power above 
 the churches but their common Head, we are one people, in 
 all that is essential to harmony of thought and action, more 
 nearly than any other Christian denomination of equal extent 
 in the land ; nor can any other, with the use of all its creeds, 
 its standards, its canon laws, and ecclesiastical appliances, so 
 surely, so speedily, or with so little hurt to the people of God, 
 put down dangerous heresy, when it issues from the press, 
 as can the Baptists of these United States. 
 
 In concluding this brief and very imperfect survey of our 
 half-century literature, the conviction must force itself upon 
 our minds, that we have only begun to comprehend the 
 power of the pen and the press to refute error, to promote 
 correct thinking, to stimulate intellectual activity, to preoc- 
 cupy the minds of the young, and to extend the Redeemer's 
 kingdom. It is fit that we here and now erect an enduring 
 monument, as a way-mark to those who shall come after us. 
 Let the work go on ; let us, let our sons who come after us, 
 highly appreciate and liberally encourage the labors of the 
 pen. Let a beautiful column rise aloft, worthy the broad 
 
LITERATURE OF AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 461 
 
 and firm foundation laid by our English fathers ; worthy the 
 noble martyrs of soul liberty on American soil ; worthy the 
 perfect freedom and the abundant blessings which are our 
 happy birthright. And may the pen that shall write up our 
 literary history of the next half-century have a still better 
 account to give of the literary achievements of the sons who 
 will rise up to take the place of the fathers.