iiiii illliiiiiliiiii iiiiiiiiia^^^^ THE BAPTIST LIBRARY: REPUBLICATION OF STANDARD BAPTIST WORKS. EDITED BY REV. CHARLES G. SOMMERS, Pastor of the South Baptist Church, Neio York. REV. WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, Pastor of the Amity Street Baptist Church, New York, REV. LEVI L. HILL, Pastor of the Westkill Baptist Church, Lexington, Greene Co., N. Y. VOLUME I. STEREOTYPE EDITION. PUBLISHED BY ROBERT H. HILL. PRATTSVILLE, GREENE CO., N. Y. 1 843. ■%=. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1843, by ROBEJ^T H. IIIIX, in the Clerk's Office pf tha Southern District of New York. n;^ is ADVERTISEMENT, -i )^ In acceding to the request which has been made that the subscribers should appear as the Editors of the Baptist Library, it seems but proper that they should explain the nature of their connexion with the work. Amid the various periodicals which con- tinually arise to claim the patronage of the churches, it may seem hazardous to attempt a publication hke the present. But a field appeared to be left vacant, which it was the duty of some laborers to occupy. A due regard to our interests as a denomination ; reverence for the memory of those of our brethren, who by their written labors yet live and toil amongst us, though themselves hidden in the grave ; the love of truth ; and above all, gratitude to that Saviour and God, whose kindness has been for years adding so largely to the numbers and in- fluence of our Churches, all appear to re- quire that no measure should be left unat- tempted to diffuse tliroughout our Churches just views of our doctrines, our discipline, and our history. To supply works of this kind in a form of great neatness, and cheap- ness, the " Baptist Library'''' was project- , ed. The merit of the design belongs ex- ^ clusively to the respected brethren who be- ^ came the publishers of the work. They • had sketched their plan, issued their speci- mens, and arranged the intended contents of the work for its first year, ere the breth- ^ ren now appearing, by their desire, as its (Editors, had been consulted. Our denomination has scarce been just to itself, in the little regard which it has shown for the preservation and wider dif- fusion of its own literature. Many intelli- gent men in our Churches are scarcely aware, of what compass and richness, this literature may boast. There are, indeed, long periods in our history, in wliich little ^ was done for the advancement of our prin- "t^ciples by writing. It was, in part, for the 5^ same reasons which have made the literary ,S^ remains of the first ages of the Christian \ Church so scanty and irregular. Persecu- tion did not allow the requisite freedom and leisure. And the burning zeal to preach Christ's gospel with the living voice, lelt little time to commend it by the written vol- ume. Christianity, in the earlitist ages of her history, did not often appear in the field of authorship, because she was intent on other tasks. She was instructing the igno- rant, and seeking out the neglected, and relieving the desolate. She was pleading ibr her life at the bar of the Prietor ; or in tlie crowded Amphitheatre, she was lacing the lions, and putting to her unfaltering tes- timony, ihebloody seal of martyrdom. We need not say that there have been seasons in our history, as a distinct body of Chris- tians, when the like bitter and relentless persecution, left our fathers but little oppor- tunity either to write or to publish. To pray, to labor, to endure, and to die, were in some lands the most that they could ac- complish, in behalf of the cause they loved. Another cause which has operated to make our literature more scanty in amount, and to scatter the little that was produced, has been found in the distrust with which many of our Churches have regarded world- ly knowledge. Indignant at seeing this made the only requisite endowment lor the Christian ministry ; disgusted at beholding the science of this world usurp in the Church of Christ, that place and prerogative which belong only to the Scriptures, and to the teachings of the Holy Spirit, our fixtliers became unreasonably jealous of Ihi* know- ledge in all its forms. Some of tlicm, in their misguided zeal, shunned it as being always and inevitably hurtful to true piety, thus unconsciously adopting the opinion of Romanism, that " Ignorance is the mother of Devotion." Yet in this very distrust of the hterature and science of the world, we trace but another resemblance to the Chris- tians of the first ages. Among the latter, as ecclesiastical history shows, there pre- vailed extensively a feeling of this ki»id. In the rise of the Montanist, and other ear- ly sects, we see this feehng struggling blindly and unsuccessfully against those who erred in the opposite extreme, liy over- valuing human knowledge, and by allowing the gospel to be "■ spoiled through phi loso- pluj and vain deceit.''^ But while Ave con- demn those Avho canonized ignorance, tlio subsequent history of the Church testifies but too well, there was- still greater danger in deifying '■'■scimrefdlscly so culled.'''' And while the intelligent Christian would justify neither of the two parties who then divided 'i-^/c >*. ADVERTISEMENT. the Church, he cannot but discern that the wider and more lusting injury to the inte- rests of truth and hohness was acconipUshed by those who unchdy exaUed, rather than by those who unduly depressed, the claims ol" worldly science. The entire expulsion of Hagar, the bond-woman, would not liave been s^o cruel, or so disastrous a measure to the household of faith, as was that of ex- alting her to occupy the place of Sarah, the free-woman : for this was the wrong which the Church endured, when Science was thrust into the })la(;e that rightfully belonged to Piety, and the hand-maid supplanted the mistress. Still another impediment to our literary progress has been ibund in the bitter oblo- quy, and the unjust prejudices which some eminent names in literature have delighted to heap on all zealous and simple believers. They who have known the truth, have dis- liked the worldly literature that mocked and caricatured it: while they who received blindly the literature, have despised the Gospel which that literature maligned and travestied. He who should form his opin- ion, for instance, of English Christians from the histories «f Hume or of Smollett, would be egregiously deceived with regard to their true opinions, their practices, the purity of their morals, and the real nature and ex- tent of their influence upon society. He, on the other hand, who knows the real worth of the Reformers, the Puritans, and the Methodists, cannot but feel indignation against the historians that have so foully wronged the motives and the actions of these classes of Christians. It has been the ancient fable well exemplified, " The man and not the lion has been the painter." While many of the devoted servants of God were laboring meekly, steadily, and most successfully, in the cause of Christ and of mankind, the popular literature of the day bestowed on them but a scoffing notice, and often named them only to sneer at a piety it did not understand, and to misre- present tenets and practices whose true na- ture it was too careless to investigate. Much has our own division of the Christian host suffered, and much does it even yet sufler from prejudices of this kind, ignorantly formed, but most obstinately cherished — prejudices, that from the irreligious have passed into some portions of the religious community. Thousands of educated Chris- tians even, are to this day, fully persuaded that we derive our origin from the mad fa- natics of Munster. The increase of intelli- gence and candor is altering, indeed, the tone of the higher class of historians on this theme.* For the excesses of the body who " Instead of being the funiKlecs of our Cliurches, the fanatics orMuni;/fln/ .s7>;/H/.-/rn^, or any expri'ssion of a similar iniport,"it is nierly by way of di.ilinrli»i— without anne-xing any secondary or obnoxious idea to i u 46 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. that supposition. It must be allowed, that as it is a sacred feast and an ordinance of divine worship, mutual Christian attection among communicants at the same table, is very becoming and highly necessary, and so it is in all other branches of social reli- gion. But that sitting down at the holy supper should be considered as the criteri- on of my love to individual.?, or to any Christian community, does not appear from the word ol'God. The supper of our Lord was designed for other and greater purpo- ses. It was intended to teach and exhibit the most interesting of all truths, and the most wonderful of all transactions. The design of the great Institutor was, that it shouhl be a memorial of God's love to us, and of ImmanueVs death for us: that, the most astonishing favor ever displayed : lainly appears, that as these per- sons professed to be disciples of Jesus Christ, Paul took it for granted they had been baptized. For this query is not, Have you been baptized? But, '• Unto, or into, what then were ye baptized ?" He infer- red their baptism iVom their profession; and he had reason so to do. For he well knew, that the first administrator of the ordinance required a submission to it, of all that brought " forth fruits meet for repentance;" that the apostolic ministry demanded the same act of obedience, from all that believe in Jesus Christ ; and the administration of baptism is a part of the ministerial office, being strictly connected with teaching the disciples of Christ, to " observe all things which he has commanded." And, as an author before quoted justly remarks ; "We find that the preachers of the gospel always did it, and the people who gladly received the word desired it. How indifierent so- ever it appears to some in our days, yet the grace of God never failed to stir up an ear- ly regard to it in times of old."* Once more : Either Jesus Christ has in- formed us in the New Testament what bap- tism is, and what is requisite to commnion at his table or he has not. If he has, we cannot admit any thing as baptism wliich we believe is not so, nor receive any to com- munion, but those whom we consider as qualified adcording to his directions, with- out violating our allegiance to him as the King Messiah, and rebelling against his government. If he has not, there is no judge in Israel, and every one may do that which is right in his own eyes, in regard to these institutions. If our Lord instituted baptism, and left it undetermined how and to whom it should be administered; if he appointed the sacred supper, without char- acterizing those who are to partake of it; his mmistering servants have a discretional power to administer them how and to whom * Mr. Bradbury's Duty and Doctrine of Baptism, p. 70 In a preceding page of the same Treatise, ho says ; 'I hear there are several who suppose that baptism is only the work of those that are grown up, and yet neglect it themselves. My brethren, whoever is in the right in doc- trine, yon are quite wrong in jiraclice. Do not despise the advice of one who has more value for your happiness, than he has for his own opinion. I will give it you in the words of Ananias; " Why tarriest thou ? Arise and be baptized, wa-shing away thy sins. aiKi calling on the name oftheLopd." See a« above p. 16. they please. And if so our brethren may sprinkle or immerse infants or adults, just as their own conveniency and the disposi- tions of their people require. SECTION IV. Several Passages of Scripture considered, which are produced in favor of mixed communion. The cause which our brethren undertake to delend, is denominated by them, Free Communion. That communion, then, for which they plead, is free. But here I beg leave to ask, from what ? — The restraints ol' men? that is a laudable freedom. From the laws oi" Heaven ? that were a licentious liberty. Absurd in theory ; impossible, in fact. It never was, it never can be the case, that God should institute a positive ordi- nance of divine worship, as the Lord's sup- per imdoubtedly is, and leave it entirely to the discretion of men to whom it should be administered. Free — {"or whom? For ev- ery one that will? This none pretend. For all who imagine themselves believers? This no one asserts. For, they do not con- sider every one that thinks himself a be- liever and desires communion, as fit for it. What, then, is the freedom for which they plead ? Why, that the Baptist church- es should admit Paedobaptists into commu- nion with them. In other words, that they should admit believers to the Lord's table, whom they consider as unbaptized. — Such is free communion : in defence of which, several pamphlets have of late been pub- lished. Who can tell, but some brethren may so improve on the doctrine of liberty in regard to divine institutions of a positive nature, as to favor us, ere long, with a Plea for free baptism ? With a dissertation in- tended to prove the lawfulness, and in some cases, the necessity, of administering bap- tism to such whom we consider as unbeliv- ers ? especially, if the candidates for that ordinance be firmly persuaded in their own mind that they are believers in Jesus Christ. But let us briefly consider the defence of this hypothesis. They argue, from several passages of scripture; from the temper re- quired of real Christians, in their behavior one towards another ; and object against us our own conduct in another respect. The principal passages adduced from holy writ, and here to be considered, are the following: "Hira that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful dispu- tations ; for God hath received him ; Re- ceive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God ; Grod, which know- VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS 59 eth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us ; and put no difl'erence between us and them, purifying their hearts by I'aith ; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."* On which passages we may observe in general ; whatever their meaning may be, except our opponents can make it appear that they contain the grant of a dispensing power to gospel ministers and churches ; that is, unless these divine declarations au- thorize the ministers and churches of Christ to set aside an ordinance, or invert the order of its administration, as they might think proper ; they are far from answering the exigencies of the case, or serving the pur- pose for which they are cited. Again: The texts produced do not so much as mention communion at the Lord's table, nor appear to have the least refer- ence to it. No ; the Holy Ghost has other objects in view, in each place. As these are the principal passages to which our breth- ren appeal, we may take it for granted, that better are not to be found ; and, con- sequently, that positve proof is wanting. But if it be allowed, that there is no posi- tive proof in favor of admitting unbaptized persons to the supper, it amounts to a con- cession that there is no proof at all. Noth- ing of a positive and ritual nature can be proved a duty, or agreeable to the will of God, merely by our own reasonings, or by arguments formed on moral precepts and general rules of conduct. For if once we admit any thing in the worship oi'God, as a duty, that is grounded, either on far-fetch- ed inferences from particular declarations of scripture, in which the holy penmen do not appear to have had the least thought of the matter in question ; or in our own ideas of expediency and usefulness, we shall not know where to stop. On this principle, a great number of ceremonies were brought into the church of Rome, and might be in- troduced by us, though not one of them could stand that divine query, ''Who hath required this at your hand 1" — As it cannot be proved, by the deduction of reason, that it is the duty of any man to eat bread and }o drink wine as a branch of divine worship, but only from the testimony of God, so what he has revealed in regard to that matter is our only rule in all that relates to the Lord's supper. Consequently, as these passages say notliing at all about baptism, nor about communion at the Lord's table, either strict, or free ; they have neither per- tinency of apphcation, nor force of argu- ment. The New Testament knows no more of infant baptism, than it does of in- fant communion : and the arguments addu- ' Rom. xiv. 1, 3. and xv. 7. Acts. xv. 8, 9. 1 Cor. Ix. 19—23. ced in defence of the former, will equally apply to the latter.* The converted Romans were command- ed by Paul to " receive them that were weak in faith, as God and Christ had re- ceived them." And we are plainly inform- ed, that the persons intended were such, as had not a clear discernment of their Chris- tian liberty, in regard to the eating of meats Ibrbidden by the ceremonial law, and the observation of days, that was of old required by it. What has this to do with free communion? Paul says, in this very epistle. " I commend unto you Phebe our sister, that ye receive her in the Lord." Was her admission to the holy table the principal thing that he desired of the believ- ing Romans ? No ; he evidently had some- thing else in view ; something that would manifest their love to a disciple of Christ, much more than barely permiting her to have communion with them in the sacred supper. For he immediately adds ; '• And that ye assist her in whatsoever business she halh need of you."t Or did he solicit admission to the Lord's table, for himself and his fellow ministers, among the Corin- thians when he said ; " Receive us ; we have wronged no man ; we have corrupted no man ; we have defrauded no man VX Or, for Epaphroditus, when he thus ex- pressed himself to the Philippians; " i?e- ceive him, therefore, in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation ?"§ Or, for Onesimus, when he said to Phile- mon : '■ Receive him, that is mine own bow- els — Receive him, as myself ?"|| Was com- munion at the Lord's table the principal thing which the apostle John had in his eye when he said ; '• We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-help- ers to the truth ?"'!I It is, I will venture to af- firm, a much greater thing to receive either a weak or a strong believer, in the sense of these exhortations, than merely to grant him a place at the Lord's table. Besides, the faith of a sincere believer may be as weak, and require as much for- bearance, in regard to the holy supper, as in respect of baptism. — A reformed, and really converted Catholic may desire fel- lowship with us who still retains the Po- pish error of communion in one kind only : ' Dr. Priesily is also of the same o|)inion. For he says, " No objection can be made to tliis custom, [i. e. of giving the Lord's sap])er to infants] but what may, witi) equal force, be made to the custom of baptizins i'l- I'ants. And he informs us, that infant communion is to this day the practice of the Creek churches, oftlic Rus- sians, the Armenians, the Maromitcs. the Copts, the As- syrians, and probably all other oriental churches." Ad- dress to Protestant Dissenters, on giving the Lord's suj>. per to Children, p. 28,31. t Rom. xvi. 1.2. I 2. Cor. \ii. 2. § Philip, il. 29. II Philem. xii. 17. H 3 John 8. 60 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. hut are we oblipred by this apostolic pre- cept, to mutilate'the sacred ordinance in condescension to his weakness ?— To em- brace the weak, as well as the strong be- liever, in the arms of Ciiristian afTection, is a capital duty of moral law. To bear with a brother's infirmities, and to "forbear one another in love," are certainly required bv that command, which says; "Thou sfialt love thy neighbor as tiiyself:" and would have been our duty, if neither bap- tism nor the Lord's supper had ever exist- ed. But are we to regulate our conduct in ihe admission of persons to a positive institution ; — to one which depends entirely on the sovereign pleasure of God, by infer ences drawn from the general and natural duties of the nioral law? Were the pre- cepts of that eternal law ever considered by the priests or the people of old, as the rule of administering positive institutions? Had they not anoiher system of precepts, express precepts, intended foi that purpose ? and was not such a ritual absolutely neces- sary ? Supposing, however, that there were no way of receiving one that is weak in faith, but by admitting him to the Lord's table, this text would be far from proving what our opponents desire ; unless they could make it appear, that the "weak in faith" were unbaptized ; or at least, so considered by their stronger brethren ; for that is the point in dispute between us. But that Paul considered the believing Romans to whom he wrote, as baptized christians, is allow- ed by all. But God receives the weak in faith ; and we are expressly commanded to receive one another, not to doubtful disputations, but as Christ hath received us to the glory of God." Granted: yet permit me to ask, Is the divine conduct, is ihe favor of God, or the kindness of Christ, in receiving sin- ners, the rule of our proceeding in the ailmjnistration of positive institutions? — Whom does God, whom does Christ re- ceive? None hut those that believe, and profess faith in the Lord Messiah? Our brethren will not affirm it. For ii' divine compassion did not extend to the dead in sm ; if the kindness of Christ did not relieve the enemies of God ; none of our fallen race would ever be saved. But does it hence follow, that we must admit the un- believing and the unconverted, either to baptism or the holy table? Our gracious Lord freely accepts ail that desire it and all that come; but are we bound, by his example, te receive every one that solicits comnuinion with us ? ouropponents dare not assert it. For though the great supreme is entirely at liberty to do as he pleases, to reject or accept whom he will ; yet it is not 80 with his ministering servants and professing people, in regard to the sacred supper. No; it is iheir indispensable duty and their everlasting honor, to regard his revealed will and obey his righteous com- mands. The divine precepts contained in the Bible, not the divine conduct in the ad- ministration of a sovereign Providence, are the only rule of our obedience in all things relating to positive institutions. Besides, gospel churches are sometimes obliged, by the laws of Christ, to exclude from their communion those whom he has received. Have churches never excluded any for scandalous backslidings, whom, notwithstanding, they could not but consid- er as received of Christ? Do they never exclude any but such of whom they have no hope? I cannot suppose, nor will they affirm any such thing. But if there may be a just cause of excluding such from communion whom God has received, why may there not be a sufficient reason of re- fusing communion to some, whom we look upon as the objects of God's peculiar fa- vor? Is there not as great a degree of disapprobation discovered in the former case, as there is in the latter ? and is not the word of God our only rule in both ca- ses? It is not every one, therefore, that is received of Jesus Christ who is entitled to communion at hie table ; but such, and on- ly such, as revere his authority, submit to his ordinances, and obey the laws of his house. By the text from the Acts of the Apostles we learn that " God is no respecter of per- sons ;" that he, as an absolute sovereign, bestows his favors on Jews and Gentiles without any difference. But must we infer from hence, that they whose honor and hap- piness it is to be his obedient servants, are entirely at liberty to receive to communion at the Lord's table all that believe, without any difi'ercnce? Can they justly conclude, that because Jehovah dispenses his bless- ings as he pleases, they m.a}^ administe.--, or omit, his positive institutions as /Aey please? Once more : They produce, as much in their favor, the declarations of Paul to the church at Corinth, relating to his own con- duct. " For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law ; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to (;;hrist,) that I might gain them that are without law. To Ihe weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all ihingsto all men, that [ might by all means save some. And this I do for the gespel's sake, that I may be partaker VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. 61 thereof with you." ] Cor. ix. 19, 23. And what do we learn in general from this pas- Bnge, but that he out of his great concern for the good of mankind, and liis abundant zeal for the glory of God, was Avilling lo do. or forbear, any thing that was lawful, in or- der to gain an impartial hearing from bulh Jews and Gentiles Vviierever he came ? I said, any thing that was lawful ; the rule of which is the divine precept, or some exam- ple warranted bj' divine authority. iXor can wc view these words in a more exten- sive sense, without implicitly charging the great apostle with temporizing, and highly impeaching his exalted character. But what has this text any more than the form- er to do with the administration, or laying aside, of positive institutions 1 It was the duty of Aaron, as well as of Paul and of us, to seek the happiness of his fellow creatures and the honor of God, to the utmost of his ability. But was this general obligation the rule of his performing the solemn sanc- tuary services on the great day of atone- ment ? Could he conclude from hence, that if the dispositions of the people required it. he was at liberty to omit any of the sacred rites, or to transpose the order in which Je- hovah commanded they should be perform- ed ? If any can make it appear that this passage really has a relation to the positive appointments of Christ, it must be consider- ed as the Magna Charta of a dispensing, priestly power, in regard lo those institu- tions. SECTION V. The Temper required of Christians towards one anoi/ter, not contrary to our Practice, Our Conduct freed from the Charge of Inconsistency — No Reason to ex alt the LorcPs Supper, in paint of Importance, as superior to the Ordinance of Baptism. Nothing is more common, with our op- ponents, when pleading for free communion, than to display the excellence of Christian charity ; and to urge the propriety, the ulil- ify, the necessity of bearing with one an- other's mistakes, in matters that -dvc non-es- sential ; in which number they class the ordinance of baptism. The epithets not fundamental — non-essential, frequently ap- plied to baptism, might be applied, with equal propriety to the LorcPs Supper? But in what respect is a submission to bap- tism non-essential? To our justifying righteousness, our acceptance with God, or an interest in the divine favor? So is the Lord's supper; and so is every branch of our obedience. For they will readily allow, that an interest in the divine favor, is not obtained, by the miserable sitmer, but grant- ed by the Eternal Sovereign. That a justi- fying righteousness is not the result of hu- man endeavors, but the work oi'our heaven- ly Substitute, and n gil't of boundless grace. And that acceptance with the high and holy God, is not on conditions performed by us, but in consideration of the vicarious obedience and propitiatory sufferiugs of the great Immanucl. Nay, since our first fa- ther's apostacy. there never was an ordi- nance appointed of God, there never was a command given to man, that was intended to answer any such end. Baptism is not fund am ental j is not essen- tial. True ; if limited to the foregoing ca- ses. But are we hence to infer, that it is not necessary on other accounts and in otlicr views ? If so, we may alter, or lay it aside, just as we please ; and, on the same princi- ple, we may dismiss, as non-essential, all order and every ordinance in the Church of God. Is not the institution of baptism a branch of divine worship? And is not the admin- istration of it, prior to the Lord's supper, essential to that order in which Christ com- manded his positive appointments to be re- garded ? " Let all things be done decently and in order." As the Divine Spirit requires the observation of order in thechurchof God, so Paul com niends the Corinthians for '^keep- ing the ordinances as he delivered them ;" and expresses a holy joy on " beholding the order" of that Christian church which was at Colosse. Butthat order which liie great Lord of all appointed, and in the practice of v/liich the good apostle sincerely rejoiced, our brethren v.'ould consider as a mere trifle, as comparatively nothing. But give me leave here to inquire, Whether the primi- tive order of gospel churches can be de- tached from the legislative authority of Je- sus Christ? And whether the exercise of that authority can be considered as having no connexion with his honor? A breach of that order which Christ appointed, as king in Zion, must be considered as an op position to his crown and dignity. Jesus our Lawgiver is Jehovah ; between whose honor and the happiiiess of sinful wornis, there is. there can be no comparison. The latter is only a means, whereas the former is the grand end, not only of a church state, but of the whole economy of providence and grace. I may, therefore, venture to retort the argument; though it be admit- ted, that the edification of Christians is of srrcat importance ; yet it must be allowed, that the honor of our divine Sovreign is of iiifiuilely greater importance; and conse- quently, the primitive order of the gospel churches should be observed. My readers must be a little surprised at 62 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. Buch reasoning as I have just produced.— Are they not ready to say, What, reverse the order of churclies, appointed by God himseii; with a view to edification! Dis- pense with a positive ordinance of heaven, and break a divine command, under the firetencc of promoting obedience to Ciirist ! f we are obliged, in some cases, to set aside an ordinance" of divine worship, and to break a positire command, in order that cer- tain individuals may perform another posi- tice injunction of tl\e great Legislator; the laws of Christ are not half so consistent as Paul's preaching ; " which was not yea and nay." Nor have we, any thing like a par- alell case, eitlier in the Old or New Testa- ment. We find, indeed, an instance of a typical rite giving way to natural necessi- ties, as when David ate of the shew bread, without incurring a divine censure : but we have no example of a positive ordinance being set aside, in favor of any one's igno- rancp. or prejudice against it, or that he might be edified by submitting to another positive institution, of which he desired to partake. The neglect of circumcision by the Israel- ites in the^wilderness, while they attended on other positive appointments of God, is arirued strongly for free communion; but letit not be forgotten that that omission is keenly censured by the Holy Ghost. The uncircumcised state of the people, whatever mifrht be the occasion of it, is called a re- proach, " the reproach of Egypt ;" which odium was rolled from them on the borders of Canaan, and the place in which they were circumcised Avas called by a new name, to perpetuate the memory of that event.* Now, as that neglect of the Israel- ites was a breach of the divine command, a reproach to their character as the sons of Abraham, and stands condemned by the Spirit of God ; it cannot authorize in us a similar omission, much less require it at our hands. P\or is that other ih.stance, which is sometimes produced, relating to the feast of tiie passover, in the reign of Hezekiah, any more to the purpose. For though ma- ny of the people were not " cleansed ac- cording to the purification of the sanctua- ry ;" though '• they did cat the passover otherwise than it was written," yet Heze- ki;ih was so conscious of those irregulari- ties that he deprecated the divine anger, eayinir, " The good Lord pardon every one that prepiireth his heart to seek the Lord God of his lathers, though he be nut clean- sed according to the ])nrification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed tiie people. (■ W^ith what shaddow of reason, then, or of rever- ence ibr God's commands, can any one plead this instance in favor of free commu- nion ? Shall a deviation from a divine rule, a deviation that is acknowledged as crim- inal belbre the Lord, and for which pardon is requested, be adduced, as a precedent for the conduct of Christians ? What would our brethren have thought of Hezekiah and his people, had they taken the liberty of repeating the disorderly conduct, when- ever they celebrated the paschal anniver- sary ? Taken the liberty of transgressing the divine rule, because Jehovah had once graciously pardoned their irregularities, and excepted their services on a similar occasion ? — Would they not have been chargeable with bold presumption, and with doing evil that good might come? — I heartily accord with the following decla- rations of a learned pen : " We must serve God, not as we think fit, but as he hath ap- pointed. God must be judge of his own honor. Nothing, then, is small, whereupon depends the sanctity of God's command- ment and our obedience."t There is, how- ever, little need of the maxims or the decla- rations of men, while we have the decision oi" Him who purchased the church with his own blood ; of Him who is to be our final judge. Now the language of that Being is : " In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect — teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And it is worthy of remark, that it stands recorded to the honor of Moses, sev- en or eight times in one chapter, that "he did as the Lord commanded him." — Exod. xl. The question is not, whatever our oppo- nents may think. Whether baptism is es- sential to our salvation ? But Avhether God has not commanded it? Whether it is not a believer's duty to be found in it? And whether the pastor and members of a Baptist church could justify themselves in admitting persons to communion that have never been bapiized ? On the prin- ciple assumed by those who charge us with bigotry in this thing, a professor that has no inclination to obey a divine command, may vindicate his refusal, by saying ; '• The performance of it is not essential to my happi- ness ; for a sinner may be saved without it." A mode of arguing this, big with rebellion against the dominion of God : a principle, which, pursued in its consequences, is preg- nant with ruin to immortal souls. What, shall we do nothing that God has com- manded, unless we look upon it as essen- tially necesary to our future felicity? Is this the way to manifest our faith in Jesus and love to God ? How much better is the reasoning of Mr. Charnock, when he says: '■ Beus voluit, is a sufficient motive ; and ■ Joshua V. 9 1 2 Chtoa. XXI. la 19, iiO. t Pciiible's introduction to Worthy receiving the Lord'a Supper, p, 21, 31. VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS we cannot free onrselves from the censure of disobedience, if we observe not his com- mands in the same manner that he enjoins them ; in their circumstances, as well as their substance. Who can, upon a better account, challenge an exemption from pos- itive institutions than our Saviour, who had no need of them : yet how observant was he of them, because they were established by divine authority ! So that he calls his submitting to be baptized of John, a/«/- fitling of righteousness. Is it not a great in- gratitude to God, to despise what he com- mands as a privilege ? Were not the apos- tles men of an extraordinary measure of the Spirit, because of their extraordinary employments? And did they not exercise themselves in the institutions of Christ? How have many [meaning the Quakers] proceeded from the slighting of Christ's institutions, to the denying the authority of his word! A slighting Christ himself, crucified at Jerusalem, to set up an imagin- ary Christ within them !'•* •'But must we not exercise Christian charity, and bear with one another's infirm- ities ? Should we not seek peace, and en- deavor to promote harmony among the people of God ? Undoubtedly ; yet is there no way for us to exercise love and forbear- ance without practising free communion ? Can we not promote peace and harmony without practically approving of infant sprinkling as if it were a divine ordinance, white we are firmly persuaded that God never appointed it ? Or, are we bound to admit as a fact, what Ave verily believe is a falsehood ? The distinction between a Christian who holds what I consider as a practical error in the Avorship of God, and the mistake maintained, is wide and obvi- ous. It is not an erroneous principle, or an irregular practice, that is the object of genuine charity. No ; it is the person who maintains an error, not the mistake defend- ed, that calls for my candor. The former, I am bound, by the highest authority to love as myself; the latter I should ever consider as inimical to the honor of God, as unfriendly to my neighbor's happiness, and therefore discourage it, in the exercise of a Christian temper, through the whole of my conduct. I freely allow that a mistake which relates merely to the mode and sub- ject of baptism, is comparltively small ; but still, while I consider the aspersion of in- fants as a human invention in the solemn service of God, I am bound to enter my protest against it ; and by a uniform prac- tice to shew, that I am a Baptist — the same when a Pa^dobaptist brother desires com- munion with me, as when one of my own persuasion makes a similar request. Thus proving that I act, not under the impulse • Works, Vol. U. p. 7G(J, 773, 775. of passion, hut on a dictate of judgement; and then the most violent Pa;dobaplist op- ponents Aviil have no shadow of reason to impeach my integrity; no pretence for sur- mising, that when I give the right hand of fellowship to such as have been irimiersed on a profession of faith, I act on principles of coKscievce; but that when admitting such to communion who liave been only- sprinkled, I acton 'motives of convenience. Though some of our Psedobaptist brethren would urge us to open communion as be- ing candid and catholic, some even of them- selves vicAv the subject very differently. A Peedobaptist, when remonstrating against the conduct of some Independent churches, that receive Baptists into communion with them, says ; " Let men pretend what they can for such a hotch potch communion in their churches, I steadAistly believe the event and is.sue of such practices will, soon- er or later, convince all gainsayers, that it neither pleaselh Christ, nor is any way promotive of true peace or gospel holiness in the churches of God's people. I shall never be reconciled to that charily, which in pretence of peace and mod eration, opens the church's door to church-disjointing prin- ciples. And he entitles his performance, " The sin and danger of admitting Ana- baptists to continue in the Congregational churches, and the inconsistency of such a practice with the principles of both.'"* Here one can hardly avoid observing the very peculiar treatment which the Baptists in general meet from their Paedobaptist breth- ren. Do we strictly abide by our own prin- ciples, admitting none to communion with us, but those whom Ave consider as baptized believers? We are censured by many of them as uncharitably rigid, and are culled by one gentleman 2vatety bigots. Do any of our denomination, under a plea of Catho- licism, depart from their avowed sentiments, and connive at infant sprinkling 1 They are suspected, by others of the Pa?dobap- tists, as a set ol' temporizers. So like those unhappy persons Avho fell into the hands of Procrustes, some of us are to short, and must be stretched ; others are too long, and they must be lopped — But I return to my argument. It should be observed, that forbearance and loA-e, not less than resolution and zeal, must be directed in the whole extent of their exercise, by the Avord of God ; else we may greatly ofl'end, and become par- takers of other men's sins, by conniving Avhen Ave ought to reprove. If the divine precepts, relating to love and Ibrbcarance, will apply to the case in hand ; or so as to justify our connivance at an alteration, a corrujition, or an omission of baptism ; tiiey Avill do the same in regard to the Lord's ■ la cruBby's Hist. Uap. Vol. 111. p. Ij, 40, 47- 64 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS, supper. And then we rirc bound to bear with sincere Papists, in ihcir mutilation of the hitler ; and to exculpate our upright friends the Quakers, in tlieir opposition to both. For it cannot be proved tiiat baptism is less fundamental than the sacred supper. " There is a Jhlse^ ungodly charity,"' says a sensible Pfedobaptist writer, " a strange fire that proceeds not irorn the Lord ; a charily that gives up the honor of religion, merely because we will not be at the pains to defend it — Vile principles can easily cover themselves with the names of temper, chari- ty, moderation, and Ibrbearance: but those glorious things are not to be confounded with lukewarmness, self-seeking, laziness, or ignorance — As there is a cloak of covet- oosness, so there is a cloak of fear and cow^ ardice — You are never to make peace with men at the expense of any truth, that is re- vealed to you by the great God ; because that is offering up his glory in sacrifice to your own — Do not dismember the Cliristian religion, but take it altogether; charity was never designed to be the tool of unbe- lief See how the Spirit has connected both our principles and duties. Follow peace with all men, and holiness., without which no man shall see the Lord."*— - "I know not that man in England," says Dr. Owen, "who is willing to go farther in forbearance, love, and communion with all that fear God, and hold the foundation, than I am: but this is never to be done by a condescension from the exactness of the \&?LSiapex of gospel truth. '"f Another Pajdobaptist author, when trea- ting on charity and forbearance, expresses himself in the following language: A con- siderable succedaneum for the Christian unity, is the catholic charity ; which is like the cliarity commended by Paul in only this one circumstance, that it ' groweth exceed- ingly" — Among the stricter sort, it goes chiefly under the name of forbearance. We shall be much mistaken if we think that by this soft and agreeable word, is chiefly meant the tenderness and compassion in- culcated by the precepts of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It strictly means, an agreement to difl'er quietly about the doc trines and commandments of the gospel, without interruption of visible fellowship. They di.stinguish careiully between /»«r/a- mentals, or things necessary lo be believ- ed and practiced ; ;ind circ7inistanlials, or things that are indifl"erent. Now whatever foundation there may be for such a distinc- tion in human syslems of religion; it cer- tainly looks very ill-becoming in the church- es of Christ, to question how far he is to be 'Mr. I!radbui7's Duty and Doctrine oi Bap. p. 201. 213, 214. t la Mr. BraJljury, as bcfyre, p. 193. believed and. obeyed.* That illegitimate charity and false moderation, which incline professors to treat divine institutions as ar- ticles of small importance, led Melancthon, to place the doctrine oi" justification by I'aith alone, the number of positive institutions in the Christian church, the jurisdiction claim- ed by the Pope, and several superstitions rites of the Romish religion, among things indifferent, when an imperial edict required compliance.! But, " as we must take heed that we do not add the fancies of men to our divine religion, so we should take equal care that we do not curtail the appoint- ments of Christ,"' j out of any pretence \o candor. Once more : Remarkably strong, are the words of Mr. John Wesley, which are quo- ted with approbation by Mr. Rowland Hill.- " A catholic spirit is not speculative latilu- dinarianism. It is not an indiflierence to all opinions. This is the spawn of hell ; not the offspring of heaven. This unsettled- ness of thought, this being driven to and fro, and tossed about with every wind of doctrine, is a great curse, not a blessing ; an irreconcilable enemy, not a true Catho- licism. A man of a true catholic spirit does not halt between two opinions, nar vainly endeavors to blend them into one. Observe this, you that know not what spirit you are of; who call yourselves of a catho- lic spirit, only because you are of a muddy understanding ; because your mind is all in a mist ; because you are of no settled, con- sistent principles, but are for jumbling all opinions together.^ Our brethren with an air of superior con- fidence otten demand, " What have we lo do with another's baptism?" This interro- gatory I would answer by proposing anoth- er : What have I to do with anr)lhe.r''s faith, experience, or practice 7 In one view, noth- ing at all, if he do not injure my person, character, or property ; for to his own mas- ter he stands or falls. In another, much; that is, if he desire communion with me at the Lord's table. After believing, baptism is the first, the very first that requires a pub- lic actof obedience. .But he says "I have been baptized." Perhaps not. Make it appear, however, and I shall say no more on that subject. — '• I am really persuaded of it in my own mind. AVere it otherwise, I should not hesitate a moment to be im- mersed on a profession of iaith. I am per- suaded Christ has accepted me, and that it is my duty to receive the holy supper. That Christ has received you, I have a pleasing persuasion ; and so I conclude, in " Stricmre.s on Modern Simony. t Aloshieiii-s Ecclesiastical History, Vol. IV. p. 37, 38. J Dr. Waf's Ifiiiiible Attempt, p. 62. § III Mr. KowlaiidlliU'sFullAnswertoMr. J. Wesley'3' Rcuiaiks, p. 40, 41. VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. 65 n judgement of charity, concerning all whom I baptize ; but that it is the immediate duty of any unbaptized behever to approach the Lord's table, I cannot perceive ; the general practice of the Christian church in every age, has been in the negative. A learned writer assures us, that " among all the ab- surdities that ever were held, none ever maintained that, that any person should partake of the communion before he was baptized." Christ commands believers to remember him at his own table. But were those believers to whom he first gave the command unbaptized ? Or, can we infer, because it is the duty of all baptized be- lievers to celebrate the Lord's supper, that it is the immediate duty of one that is not baptized so to do ? — Suppose a Jew, a Turk, or a Pagan, to be enlightened by divine grace, to have the truth as it is in Jesus, to love God and desire communion with his people before he is baptized ; would you think it right, could your own conscience ad- mit of it, as consistent with the revealed will of Christ and the practice of his apostles, that such a request should be granted by any gospel church ? In a case of this kind, I presume — and there have been millions of Jews and Heathens converted, since the Christian era commenced — in such a case you would easily discern a consistency be- tween loving him as a believer and refu- sing to have communion with him till he was baptized. Nay, I cannot help thinking, butyou would be startled at the report of any religious community admitting such an one to the Lord's table ; because it would strike you as a notorious departure from the divine rule of proceeding, from the laws and statutes of Heaven in that case made and provided. Besides, you have already acknowledged, that if you did not consider yourself as bap- tized, if you thought immersion on a profes- sion of faith essential to baptism, which you very well know is Tivy sentiment, you should think it your duty to submit, you would not hesitate a moment. So that, were I to en- courage your immediate approach to the sacred supper, I should stand condemned on your own principles. This, then, is the only question between us, what is baptism ? For you dare not as- sert, you cannot suppose, that an unbaptized believer, descended from Christian parents, has any pre-eminence, in point of claim to communion, above a truly converted Jew: and you must allow that I have an equal right with you, or any other man, to judge for myself what is essential to baptism. You verily believe that you have been bap- tized ; I am equally confident, from your own account of the matter, that you have not. Your conscience opposes the thought of being immersed on a profession of faith, because, in your opinion, it would be rebap-' Vol. L— I. tization ; mine cannot encourage your ap- proach to the Lord's table, because I con- sider infant baptism as invalid. — Now I ap- peal to the reader, I appeal to our brethren themselves, whether, on our Anti-paedobap- tist principles, we are not obliged to consid- er a truly converted but unbaptized Mussul- man, and a converted Englishman, who has had no other than paedobaptism, as on a level in point of communion with us ? For God is no respecter of persons. It is no matter where a man was born, or how he was educated ; whether he drew his first breath at Constantinople, or Pekin, or Lon- don ; whether his parents taught him to re- vere the Koran of Mahomet, the institutes of Confuscius, or the revelation of God ; If he really be born of the Spirit he has an equal claim to all the privileges of a gospel church, with a true convert descended from Christian ancestors. And if so, while our brethren abide by their present hypothesis, they could not refuse the sacred supper to the one, any more than the other, without the most palpable inconsistency ; though by admitting the ^r?ner to that divine appoint- ment, they would surprise and offend all that heard of it. But, notwithstanding all I have said, we stand charged by our brethren with a noto- rious inconsistency in our own conduct ; because we admit Paedobaptist ministers into our pulpits, to whom we should refuse communion at the Lord's table. The first thing that demands regard, is the state of the question which is now be- fore us. The point in dispute is, whether baptism be equaJly necessary to the occa- sional exercise of ministerial gifts, as it is to commimion at the Lord's table? and, wheth- er the scripture favors the one as much as the other 1 Such being the state of the question, I beg leave to ask ; Supposing our brethren to prove the aflirmative beyond a doubt, what is the consequence, and how are we affected by it? Is it, that we are found guilty of a direct violation of some divine command, that requires us to receive Pse- dobaptists into our communion ? This is not pretended. Is it, that we oppose some plain apostolic precedent ? neitiier is this laid to our charge. What, then, is the con- clusion they would infer ? It must, surely, be something formidable to every Baptist ; otherwise it is hardly supposable that so much weight should be laid upon this ob- jection. The consequence, however, is only this ; The Baptists, are not infallible and do actually err. So soon as our breth- ren shall make it appear, that they have as good a warrant for receiving Poedobaptist believers into stated communion, as I have to admit a Peedobaptist minister occasional- ee VINDICATION OF T H E BA P T I S T S ly into my pulpit, I will either encourage the former, or entirely refuse the latter. But is there no ditTerence between occa- sionally admitting Piiedobaptist ministers into our pulpits, and receiving them or oth- ers of the same persuasion, into our commu- nion ? Public preaching is not confined to persons related in a church state, nor ever was ; but the Lord's supper is a church or- dinance, nor ought ever to be administered but to a particular church as such. Now it is of a particular church, and of a positive ordinance peculiar to it, concerning which is all our dispute. — There is not that strict mutual relation between hearers of the word and the preacher, as there is between the members of a church and her pastor, or between the members themselves. And as, according to the appointment of God, per- sons must believe the gospel before they have any thing to do with positive institu- tions ; so in the ordinary course of Provi- dence, they must, hear the gospel in order to their believing. The Corinthians heard before they believed ; they believed before they were baptized ; and, no doubt, they were baptized before they received the sa- cred supper. (Acts xviii. 8.) Were we to receive Paedobaptists into our fellowship, we should practically allow what we con- sider a human mvention, to supersede a di- vine institution ; not so, when we admit ministers of that persuasion into our pulpits In this case there is no divine institution superseded ; no human invention, in the worship of God encouraged. Again: when we admit Psedobaptist ministers into our pulpits, it is in expectation that they will preach the gospel ; that very gospel which we believe and love, and about which there is no difference between them and us. But to receive Peedobaptists into communion, would be openly to connive at an error ; an error both in judgment and practice ; an error of that kind which the scripture calls, " will-worship, and the traditions of men." There is, undoubtedly, a material difference, between hearing a minister who, in our judgment, is ignorant of the only trae bap- tism, discourse on those doctrines he exper- imentally knows, and countenancing an in- vention of men. In the former case we shew an esteem for his personal talents, we honor his ministerial gifts, and manifest our love to the truth ; in the latter, we set aside a divinely appointed prerequisite for communion at the Lord's table. It has been a fact, that persons have been called by grace, who were not baptized in their infancy ; and who, considering bap- tism as a temporary institution, have con- scientiously refused a submission to that or- dinance and yet desired conmiunion in the holy supper. Now suppose a community of such ; and that they call to the ministry one of their number, who is allowed by al! competent judges to possess great ministe- rial gifts, and to be a very useful preacher : or suppose a reformed Catholic, equally the subject of divine grace, and endued with equal abilities for public service, yet conscientiously retaining the Popish error of communion in one kind only. Now, on either of these suppositions, I demand of our Pa-dobaplist brethren, whether they would receive such an one into communion with the same readiness that they would admit him into their pulpits ? If they an- swer in the negative, then we may retort upon them, shall an excellent, laborious and useful minister of Christ xcork for you, and shall he not be allowed to eat with you ? What, shall he break the bread of life fo you, and must he not be suffered to break bread at the Lord's table with you? Though as Baptists, it cannot be expect- ed, that we should produce instances out of the New Testament, of Peedobaptist minis- ters being encouraged in a similar way; because we are firmly persuaded there were none such till after the sacred canon was completed ; yet we find in that inspired volume, a sufficient warrant for uniting with those that believe, in affection and walk, so far as agreed ; notwithstanding their igno- rance of some part of the counsel of God, to which a conscientious obedience is indis- pensably required from all those by whom it is known. (Philip iii. 15, 16.) Yes, the New Testament not onXy permits o.'s lawful, but enjoins as an indispensable duty, that we should love them that love the Lord ; and that we should manifest this holy affec- tion in every way, that is not inconsistent with a revelation of the divine will in some other respect. So it was under the Jewish economy, and so it is now. To admit, there- fore, a minister to preach among us, with whom we should have no objection to com- mune, could we allow the validity of infant baptism ; as it is a token of our affection for a servant of Christ, of our love to the truth he preaches, and is not contrary to any part of divine revelation, must be lawful : or if not it lies with our brethren to prove it ; be- cause they cannot deny that the word of God requires us to love him, and to mani- fest our affection for him. When we ask a Psedobaptist minister to preach in any of our churches, we act on the same general principle, as when we request him to pray with any of us in a private family. And as no one considers this as an act of church communion, but as a testimony of our af- fection for him, so we consider that ; and it is viewed by the public as a branch of the general intercourse, which it is not only lawful, but commendable and profitable to have witli all that preach the gospel. I take it for granted, that circumcision, VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS, 67 was absolutely necessary for every male in order to communion at the paschal sup- per, and in the solemn worship of the sanc- tuary. And if so, had the most renowned antedeluvians that ever lived, or the most illustrious Gentiles that ever appeared in the world, been cotemporary with Moses and sojourners in the same wilderness, they could not have been admitted to com- munion in the Israelitish church, without submitting to circumcision. Enoch though as a saint he walked with God ; though as a prophet he foretold the coming of Christ to judgment — Noah, though an heir of the righteousness of faith, a preacher of that righteousness, one of Ezekiel's worthies, (chap. xiv. 14, 16, 18, 20.)— Melchisedeck, though a king and a priest of the most high God ; superior to Abraham, and the greatest personal type of the Lord Messiah that ever was among men — and Job, though for piety there was none like him upon earth — these I say, notwithstanding all their piety and hohness, notwithstanding all their shining excellences, exalted characters, and useful services, could not have been admit- ted to communion with the chosen tribes at the tabernacle of the Godof Israel, without a violatoin of the divine command. This I persuade myself, our opponents must allow: this I think, they dare not deny. Yet if Enoch had been in tho ramp of Israel when Korah and his company mutinied, and had been disposed to give the rebels a lecture on the second coming of Christ, I cannot suppose that his offered service would have been rejected by Moses or Joshua, merely because he was not circumcised. Or, if Noah had been present at the erection of the tabernacle, and inclined to give the people a sermon on the future incarnation of tlie Son of God, and the righteousness of faith, to which objects that structure, with its costly utensils and solemn services, had a typical regard, I cannot but think they would have given him a hearing. Nay, I appeal to our opponents themselves, wheth- er they do not think so as well as I. Yet that favored people could not have admit- ted them to communion in some other branches of divine worship, without trans- gressing the laws of .Tehovah. (Exod. xii. 44, 48. Ezek. xliv. 7.) If this be allowed, the consequence is plain, and the argument, though analogical, is irrefragable. For the paschal feast and the sanctuary services were not more of a positive nature than the Lord's supper ; nor were the former more peculiar to that dispensation than the latter is to this ; but preaching and hearing the word are not peculiar to any dispensation of grace, as are baptism and the sacred supper. Our Lord, though he warned his hearers agEiinst the pride and hypocrisy, tlie unbe- hef and covetousness, of the ancient Phari- sees, and Scribes, and Jewish teachers; yet exhorted ihe people to regard the truths they delivered. (Matt, xxiiii'l, 2, 3.) When the beloved disciple said. Master we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us ;" Jesus answered, " Forbid him not ; for he tliat is not against us, is for us." (Luke ix. 49, 50.— From which it appears, that we are under obligation to encourage those that fight against the common enem^, and propagate the common truth ; though they and we may have no communion together in the ordinances of God's house. Once more; a very competent judge of all that pertains to the minsterial character, and of all that belongs to a Christian profes- sion, has left his opinion on record concern- ing the ministry of certain persons, whom he considered as quite unworthy of his inti- mate friendship. Even Paul, when acting as amanuensis to the Spirit of wisdom, speaking of some who preached the gospel, informs us, that envy and strife, were the principles on which they acted, and the in- crease of Ms afflictions the end which they had in view. How carnal and base the principles ! How detestable the end at which they aimed ! But was the apostle offended or grieved, so as to wish they were silenced ? Or. did he charge his beloved Phillippians and all the sincere followers of Christ never to hear them ? Let his own declaration answer the queries. " What then ? notwithstanding every way, wheth- er in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preach- ed ; and therein I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." (Philip, i. 15—18.) When a cor- rupted gospel is preached, he asserts his apostolic authority, and thunders out anath- emas against the propagators of it. (Gal. i. 6 — 9.) Because, as God will not set the seal of his blessing to a falsehood, or sanc- tify a lie, it can do no good ; it is pregnant with mischief But when the pure gospel is preached, though from perverse motives, it is the truth, and God frequently owns and renders it useful. Hence the aposde's joy in the text before us. Now, as we are far from impeaching the sincerity of our Paedo- baptist brethren, when preaching the gos- pel of our ascended Lord ; and as Paul re- joiced that Christ was preached, though by persons who acted on the basest principles ; we cannot imagine that he would have ta- ken less pleasure in the thought of Paedo- baptist ministers publishing the glorious gospel of the blessed God, had there been any such in those days, even though he might have considered them as under a great mistake, in regard to baptism : And if so, we may safely conclude, that there is nothing inconsistent with our hypothesis in occasionally admitting Psedobnptist minis- ir 68 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS. ter^ into our pulpits, and hearing them with pleasure. But will our opponents as- sert, or can they suppose, that the great apostle of the Gentiles would have encour- aged with equal dehght such persons as those of whom he speaks, to approach the holy table and have communion with him in all the ordinances of God's house ? Per- sons, who made the glorious gospel of the blessed God the vehicle of their own pride and envy, and malice ; and in whose con- duct those infernal tempers reigned, and had for their immediate object one of the most excellent and useful men that ever lived? Certainly, if on any occasion, we may here adopt the old proverb ; Credat Jiulcvus appella. It is with peculiar pleasure, on this occa- sion, that I introduce the following perti nent passage from a little publication writ ten by Mr. John Ryland. His words are these : " Dr. Daniel Waterland justly ob- serves, that the true doctrine of the Trinity and the atonement of Christ, have been kept up in the Christian Church, by the institu- tions of baptism and the Lords supper, more than by any other means whatsoever ; and, humanly speaking, these glorious truths, which are essential to salvation, would have been lost long ago, if the two positive insti- tutions had been totally neglected and dis- used among professors of Christianity. In this point of view, baptism and the Lord's enpper appear to be of unspeakable impor- tance to the glory of God, and the very be- mgof the true church of Christ on earth."* Again : in another little piece, to which I have already referred, and of which the game worthy minister of Jesus Christ has expressed his approbation in more ways than one, though it does not bear his name, I find the following strong assertions rela- ting to the importance and utiUty of bap- tism: "It is highly incumbent on all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and are glad to behold their Saviour in every view in which he is pleased to reveal him- self, to consider the dignity and glory of his holy institutions. These last legacies of a dying Saviour, these pledges of his eternal and immutable love, ought to be received with the greatest reverence and the warm- est gratitude. And as they directly relate to the death of the great redeemer, which is an event the most interesting, an action the most grand and noble that ever appear- ed in the world, they ought to be held in ihe highest esteem, and performed with the utmost solemnity. Of these institutions, baptism calls for our first regard, as it is appointed to be first performed : and how- ever lightly the inconsiderate part of man- kind may efi'ect to treat this ordinance, it ' Beauty of SociaJ Religion, p. 10. ought to be remembered that Christ himself considered it, and submitted to it, as an im- portant part of that righteousness which it became even the Son of God to fulfil. As this ordinance is to be once performed, and not repeated, every Christian ought to be particularly careful that it is done in a right manner ; or the benefit arising to the soul from this institution is lost, and lost ibrever. We ought with the utmost deliberation and care to consider — its own native dignity, as an action of the positive or ritual kind, the most great and noble in itself, and well pleasing to God, that it is possible for us to perform on this side heaven. In this ac- tion, Christians, you behold the counsel of God ; it is the result of his wise and eternal purpose; it is clearly commanded in his word ; it is enforced by his own example ; and honored in the most distinguished and wonderful manner by every person in the adorable Trinity. This ordinance is no trivial affair ; it is no mean thing ; and whoever is so nnhappy as to despise it, wants eyes to see its beauty and excellen- cy. Our great Redeemer seems to have designed this ordinance as a test of our sin- cerity, and to distinguish his followers from the rest of mankind. As a captain who, to try a new soldier, employs him at first in some arduous and important service ; so our Soviour, to try his own work, and to make the reality of his powerful grace in the hearts of his people manifest to them- selves and to the world, calls them out at first to a great and singular action, and re- qures their submission to an insttutinn that is disgustful to iheir nature and mortifying to their pride." The pamphlet from which these extracts are made, speaks of baptism, " As an act of sublime worship to the adorable persons in the Godhead — As a representation of the suflferings of Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection — As the answer of a good con- science towards God — As an emblem of regeneration and sanctification — As a pow- erful qbligaiion to newness of life — And as a lively figure of the natural death of every Christian."* Mr. Daniel Turner has also borne his testimony to the usefulness and importance of baptism. For, speaking of that ordi- nance, he says ; " Christ himself submitted to this rite, as administered by John ; not indeed with the same views, or to the same ends, with others ; but as pointing out by his example, the duty of Chrtstians in gene- ral. He also gave his ministers a commis- sion and order, to baptize all the nations they taught. It appears that being bap- tized, was the common token of subjection 10 Christ, and necessary to a regular en- Six Views of Believer's Baptism, p. 1, 2, 3, 15. VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS, 69 trance into his visible Church." And, when describing the qualifications of those that are to be received into communion, he says ; " They should be acquainted with the chief design of the rites and positive institutions of Christianity, and reverently use them ; viz. Baptism and the Lord's supper." — Once more : speaking of that respect which the two positive appointments have to visi- ble fellowship among believers, he says ; "Baptism, indeed, by which we are first for- mally incorporated into the visible church, or body of Christ, is the beginning and foundation of this external communion ; but the Lord's supper is best adapted for the constant support and continual manifesta- tion of it."* Nay, he mentions the reverent use of the two sacraments, among those which are essential to the constitution of a particular visible church."t Those who argue against us in this mat- ter are continually calling baptism a non- essential, an external rite, a shadow, an outward form, &c. The Lord's supper, however, is considered and treated by them in a different manner ; for they speak of it as a delightful, an edifying, an important institution. But what authority have they for thus distinguishing between two ap- pointments of the same Lord, intended for the same persons, of equal continuance in the Christian Church, and alike required of proper subjects ? They have, indeed, the example of some Socinians, and the vener- able sanction of the whole Council of Trent. For the title of one chapter in the records of that Council, is ; " Concerning the excel- lence of the most holy Eucharist, above the rest of the sacraments."! But as a good old Protestant writer observes, "That the one sacrament should be so much extoled above the other, namely, the Lord's supper to be preferred before baptism, as the more wor- thy and excellent sacrament, we find no such thing in the word of God ; but that both of them are of like dignity in them- selves, and to be had equally in most high account."^ Nay, Mr. Ryland assures us, " That baptism ought to be considered as glorious an act of worship as ever was in stituted by God."|| Might not the Jews of old have distinguished, with equal proprie- ty, between circumcision and the paschal supper ? Does it become us to form com- parisons between the positive appointments of our Eternal Sovreign, in regard to their importance ; and that with a view to dis- pense with either of them, while the very same authority enjoins the one as well as the other? Can such a conduct be pious. ' Conipend. Social Religion, p. 27. (Note ;) and p. 63, 120. (Note.) t See p. 42. (Note) I Council. Trident. Sess. XIII. Chap. III. § Willet's Synops. Papismi, . .^56, 557. t Beauty of Social Religion, p. 9. humble, or rational ? Is it not something like " being partial in God's law," ibr which the ancient priests were severely censured? Or, shall we say of our obedience to God, as he says to the mighty ocean ; " Hither- to shalt thou come, but no further?" But supposing it is evident, that baptism is much inferior to the sacred supper in point of importance ; yet, while it is an ordinance of God, it has an equal claim on our obedi- ence. For it is not the degree of excellence or utility of any divine appointment, that is the true reason of our submission to it ; but the authority of him that commands. " It hath been ever God's wont, " says Bishop Hall, "by small precepts to prove men's dis- positions. Obedience is as well tried in a trifle, as in the most important charge ; yea, so much more, as the thing required is less ; for oftentimes those who would be careful in main affairs, think they may neg- lect the smallest. What command soever we receive from God, or our superiors, we must not scan the weight of the thing, but the authority of the commander. Either dificulty, or slightness, are vain pretences tor disobedience."* Nay, even Dr. Priest- ly, though remarkable for his liberal senti- ments and rational way of thinking, and far from ascribing too much to God's dominion over the subjects of his moral government; yet strongly asserts Jehovah's prerogative in this respect. These are his Avords : " Every divine command ought certainly to be implicitly complied with, even tliough we should not be able to descern the reason of it." And has not he who is God over all blessed forever, said ; "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven ?" As in the great concerns of religious worship, nothing should be done that is not required by Jehovah : and as the lawfulness of all positive rites depends entirely on their divine Author and his institutions ; so he who com- plies with some and neglects others that are equally commanded and equally known, may please himself, but does not obey the Lord. Further : These depreciating expres- sions, nonessential, external rite, a shadow, and a mere outward form, may be applied to the sacred supper with as much propriety as to baptism. Are not bread and wine external things, as well as water? And has not the act of baptizing as much spirit- uaUty in it, as the acts of eating and drink- ing ? Besides, an apostle has assured us, that " the kingdom of God is not meat and drink," though the latter were the richest of cordials, any more than its immersion in water, t Once more : when I consider how much • Contemplations, Vol. III. p. 274. Edin. Ed. t Vid. Uoorabeck, ut supra, p. 3C2 70 VINDICATION OF THE BAPTISTS, morefre(pientlyhaiptism is mentioned in the New Testament than the sacred supper ;* how often repenting and beleiving sinners are exhorted, by tlie apostles, to be bapti- zed ; Iiow soon tliat ordinance was admin- istered to Christian converts after they be- lieved ; what exlimiations are given to pro lessing Christians, on the ground of their being baptized ; and when 1 reflect that the Holy'Spirit commends them tliat were bap- tized by John, as " justifying God :" while he severely censures others, as •' rejecting the counsel of God against themselves, "because they slighted the solenm ap- pointment ; I cannot but wonder at the de- preciating language of our opponents in re- gard to baptism. Their very singular con- duct appears to me still more extraordinary, and yet more unwarrantable, when I re- flect that baptism is a divine institution to which a believer submits but once, and a branch of divine worship that he is required to perform but once ; in Avhich respect it greatly differs from every other appoint- ment in the worship of God, under the Christian economy. For this being the case, one should have imagined, if notori- ous and stubborn facts had not forbidden the thought, that evei^y minister of Jesus Christ, and every churc/i of the living God, would insist on a submission to what they consider as real baptism, in all whom they admit to the Lord's table. Dr. Ryland's words are, I think, none to strong when he says, (Beauty of Social Religion p. 9.) " Baptism ought to be considered as glori- ous an act of worship as ever was instituted by God. It is to be performed but once in the life of a Christian, but once to eterni- ty ; and therefore it ought to be done with the utmost veneration and love." SECTION VI. Rejlections. It appears from the foregoing pages, that we act on a principle received in com- mon by Christians of almost eve'ry name, in every age, and in every nation. When, therefore, we are compared with professing Christians in general, we have no peculiar claim to the epithet strict. Nor can we be otherwise than strict, without violating our own principles, and contradicting our own practice. For ice believe that all who have received the truth, should profess their faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized, and have the happiness, in tliis respect, of agree- ing with our brethren. If we conclude, that a believer is no further obliged by any ' Iloornbeck. ut supra, p. 409, 416. divine precept, or prohibition, than he sees and acknowledges the obligation, in regard to himself, then a believer who has been baptized may live all his days in the neg- lect of communion at the Lord's table, and stand acquitted of blame ; and covetous- ness is no crime in thousands who bow at the shrine of Mammon ; for there are cora- paritively ^evf lovers of money, who ac- knowledge their guilt in that respect. Nay, on this principle it will follow, that the more ignorant any believer is, and the less tender his conscience, he is under so much the less obligation to obey the divine com- mands. But the reader will do well to re- member, that it is not our conviction of the propriety, the utility, or the necessity of any command which God has given, that enti- tles him to the performance of it ; but, in all things of a moral nature, our being ra- tional creatures is the ground of his claim ; and in those of a positive kind, our being qualified according to his direction, wheth- er we be so wise and so sincere as to ac- knowledge the obligation or no. Thus it appears that the epithet strict, if taken in the sense already explained, is no dishon- or to us. But, if, on the contrary, our brethren mean by the epithet, that we are bigoted unnecessarily c.ract, whscripturally confin- ed ; their forwardness to give us this name calls for our censure. In the former sense, I will venture to affirm, every Baptist ought to be a strict one, or else to renounce the name. In the latter use of the term, we reject the distinguishing epithet, and require our opponents to prove — I say to prove, not to surmise, that it justly belongs to us. Our character, then, is fixed. Their own pens have engrossed it. And, be it known to all men, we are Strict Baptists. To this character, as before explained, we sub- scribe with hand and heart, in the last words of the celebrated Father Paul, Es- to perpetua. Many of my readers know that our Pse- dobaptist brethren, when they have a mind to shew their wit and be a little merry at our expense, represent the Baptists, with- out distinction, as exceedingly fond of wa- ter ; .as professors that cannot live in a church state, without a great deal of wa- ter. Nay, one of them has very politely called us ^^ watery bigots ;'''' and then adds, " Many ignorant sprinkled Christians are often, to their hurt, pulled by them into the icater.''^* According to this gentleman, then, we are watery bigots. Well, it does not greatly distress me to be thus repre- sented by a sneering antagonist, because I really believe that much water is necessa- ry to baptism, and am no less confident, Dr. Mayo's True Scripture Doctrine of Baptism, p. 83. BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL HARRIS. 71 that baptism is necessary to communion at the Lord's table. And now, before I conclude, our brethren will suffer me also to remonstrate ; and the reader may rest assured, that I do it with- out the least impeachment of their integ- rity — If infant sprinkling be a human in- vention, disown it, renounce it, entirely re- ject it, and no longer let it hold the place of a divine institution in any of your church- es. For as there is but 07ie God, and one faith, so there is but one baptism. BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL HARRIS. Mr. Daniel Marshall, in one of his evan- gelical journeys, had the singular happiness to baptize Mr. Samuel, commonly called Colonel Harris. (Mr; Harris was born in Hanover county, Virginia, January 12, 1724. Few men could boast of more re- spectable parentage. His education, though not the most liberal, was very considerable for the customs of that day. When young, he moved to the county of Pittsylvania ; and as he advanced in age, became a favorite with the people as well as with the rulers. He was appointed Church Warden, Sheriff, a Justice of the Peace, Burgess for the coun- ty, Colonel of the Militia, Captain of Mayo Fortj, and Commissary for the Fort and Ar- my.V AH these things, however, he counted but dross, that he might win Christ Jesus, and become a minister of his word among the Baptists ; a sect at that time every where spoken against. His conversion was effected in the follow- ing way : He first became serious ^ind mel- ancholly without knowing why. ;By read- ing and conversation he discovered" that he was a helpless sinner, (and that a sense of his guilt was the true cause of his gloom of mind. Pressed with this conviction, he ventured to attend Baptist preaching. On one of his routes to visit the forts in his offi- cial character, he called at a small house, where, he understood, there was to be bap- tist preaching. The preachers were Joseph and William Murphy, at that time common- ly called Murphy's boys. Being equipped in his military dress, he was not willing to appear in a conspicuous place. God, never- theless found him out by his Spirit. His convictions now sunk so deep, that he was no longer able to conceal them. He left his sword and other parts of his equipments, some in one place and some in another. The arrows of the Almighty stuck fast in him, nor could he shake them off until some time after. At a meeting when the congre- gation rose from prayer. Col. Harris was observed still on his knees, with his head and hands hanging over the bench. Some of the people went to his relief, and found him senseless. When he came to himself, he smiled ; and in an ecstacy of joy, ex- claimed. Glory ! glory ! glory ! &c. Soon after this he was baptized by Rev. Daniel Marshall, as mentioned above. This prob- ably took place some time in the year 1758. He did not confer with flesh and blood, but immediately began his ministerial labors ; which afterwards proved so effectual as to acquire him the name of the Virginia apostle. In 1759 he was ordained a ruling elder. His labors were chiefly confined, for the first six or seven years, to the adjacent counties of Virginia and North Carohna ; never having past to the north of James River until the year 1765. During the first years of his ministry, he often travelled with Mr. Marshall ; and must have caught much of his spirit, for there is obviously a consider- able resemblance in their manners. Janu- ary, 1765, Allen Wyley travelled out to Pittsylvania, to seek for a preacher. He had been previously baptized by some regu- lar Baptist minister in Fauquier ; but not being able to procure preachers to attend in his own neighborhood and hearing of New-lights, (as they were called in North Carohna) he set out by himself, scarcely knowing whither he was going. God di- rected his way, and brought him into the neighborhood of Mr. Harris, on a meeting day. He went to the meeting, and was immediately noticed by Mr. Harris, and asked whence he came? He replied that he was seeking a gospel minister ; and God having directed his course to him, that he was the man, and that he wished him to go with him to Culpepper. Mr. Harris agreed to go, like Peter, nothing doubling but it it was a call from God. This visit was abundantly blessed for the enlargement of the Redeemer's cause. Soon alter he had returned, three messengers came from Spottsylvania to obtain Mr. Harris's servi- ces. He departed into North Carolina to seek James Read, who was ordained to the ministry. Their labors were so highly fa- vored, that from that time Mr. Harris be- came almost a constant traveller. Not con- fining himself to narrow limits, but led on Irom place to place, wherever he could see an opening to do good, there he would hoist the flag of peace. There was scarcely a place in Virginia, in which he did not sow the gospel seed. It was not until 1769, that this eminently useful man was ordained to 72 BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL HARRIS. the administration of ordinances. Why he was not ordained at an earUer period, is not, certainly known ; some say, that he did not wish it ; others, that his opinions respecting the supportof ministers were objected to by the leading elders. After his ordination, he baptized as well as preached. In every point of view, JMr. Harris might be considered as one of the most excellent of men. Being in easy circumstances when he became religious, he devoted not only himself but almost all his property to re- ligious objects. He had begun a large new dwelling-house, suitable to his former dig- nity, which as soon as it was enclosed, he appropriated to the use of public worship, continuing to live in the old one. After maintaining his family in a very frugal manner, he distributed his surplus income to charitable purposes. During the war, when it was extremely difficult to pro- cure salt, he kept two wagons running to Petersburg, to bring up salt for his neigh- bors. His manners were of the most win- ning sort, having a singular talent at touch- ing the feelings. He scarcely ever went into a house, without exhorting and praying for those he met there. As a doctrinal preacher, his talents were rather below mediocrity, unless at those times when he was highly favored from above ; then he would sometimes display considerable ingenuity. His excellency lay chiefly in addressing the heart, and perhaps even Whitefield did not surpass him in this. When animated himself, he seldom failed to animate his auditory. Some have de- scribed him, when exhorting at great meet- ings, as pouring forth streams of celestial lightning from his eyes, which, whitherso- ever he turned his face, would strike down hundreds at once. Hence he is often called Boanerges. So much was Mr. Plarris governed by his feelings, that if he began to preach and did not feel some liberty of utterance, he would tell his audience he could not preach without the Lord, and then sit down. Not long before the com- mencement of the great revival in Virginia. Mr. H. had a paralytic shock, from which he never entirely recovered. Yet this did not deter hiin from his diligent usefulness. If he could not go as far, he was still not idle within that sphere allowed him by his infirmities. At all Associations and general committees, where he was delegated, he was almost invariably made moderator. This office, like every thing else, he dis- charged with some degree of singularity, yet to general satislaction. For some short time previous to his death, his senses were considerably palsied ; so that we are deprived of such pious remarks as would ^irobably have fallen from tliis ex- traordinary servant of God in his last hours. He was somewhat over seventy years of age when he died. The remarkable anecdotes told of Mr. H. are so numerous, that they would fill a volume of themselves, if they were collected. A part of them only we shall record. Mr. H. like Mr. Marshall, possessed a soul incapable of being dismayed by any difficulties. To obtain his own consent to undertake a laudable enterprize, it was suf- ficient for him to know that it was possible. His faith was sufficient to throw mountains into the sea, if they stood in the way. — He seems also never to have been appalled by the fear or shame of man, but could con- front the stoutest sons of pride, and boldly urge the humble doctrines of the cross. Like the brave soldier, if beaten back at the first onset, he was still ready for a further assault; so that he often conquered oppo- sers, that to others appeared completely hopeless. With this spirit he commenced his career. Early after he embraced religion, hie mind was impressed with a desire to preach to the officers and soldiers of the fort. An opportunity offered in Fort Mayo, and Mr. Harris began his harangue, urging most vehemently the necessity of the new birth. In the course of his harangue, an officer in- terrupted him, saying, " Colonel, you have sucked much eloquence from the rum-cask to-day ; pray give us a little, that we may declaim as well, when it comes to our turn." Harris replied, " I am not drunk ;•' and re- sumed his discourse. He had not gone far, before he was accosted by another, in a se- rious manner, who, looking in his face said, " Sam, you say you are not drunk ; pray are you not mad then? What the d — I ails you ?" Col. Harris replied in the words of Paul, " I am not mad, most noble gentleman." He continued speaking pub- licly and privately, until one of the gentle- men received such impressions as were never afterwards shaken off; but he after- wards became a pious Christian. Soon^after this, Mr. Harris found a sad alteration as to his religious enjoyment. He prayed God to restore tlie light of his countenance, and renew communion with him ; but his petition was deferred. He then went into the woods, and sought for the happiness he had lost ; thinking that, peradventure, God would answer his prayer there, though not in the fort, where so much wickedness abounded; but no answers came. Then he began to inquire into the cause why God had dealt so with him. The first that offered was his lucrative offi- ces ; upon which he determined to lay them down immediately, and settle his accounts witli the public. Having now removed the Achun out of the camp, as he thought, he renewed his suit for a restoration of.the joy BIOGRAPHY OP SAMUEL HARRIS. 73 which he had lost; but still "the vision tarried, and tlie prophecy brought not forth." He began to examine iiimself a second time. Then he suspected his mo- ney was the cause, and that he had made gold his trust. Accordingly he took all his money and threw it away into the bushes, where it remains to this day, for aught any one knows to the contrary. After this he prayed again, and Ibund that man's impa- tience will not shorten the time which infi- nite wisdom hath measured out for delays or beneficence. However, in due time the wished-ibr good came. "I am aware (says Mr. Morgan Edwards, from whose MS. history this anecdote is selected) that this story will render the wisdom of the Colonel suspected. Be it so. It neverthe- less establishes the truth of his piety, and shows that he preferred communion with God before riches and honors." Rough was the treatment which Mr. Harris met with among his rude country- men. In one of his journeys in the county of Culpepper, a Capt. Ball and his gang came to a place where he was preaching, and said, " You shall not preach here." — A bystander whose name was Jeremiah Minor, replied, " But he shall." From this sharp contention of words, they proceeded to a sharper contest of blows and scuffles. Friends on both sides interested themselves; some to make peace and others to back their foremen. The supporters of Mr. Har- ris were probably most of them worldly people, who acted from no other principle than to defend a minister thus insulted and abused. But if they were Christians, they were certainly too impatient and resentful, and manifested too much the spirit Peter had when he drew his sword on the high priest'.s servant. Col. Harris's friends took him into a house, and set Lewis Craig to guard the door, while he was preaching ; but presently Ball's gang came up, drove the sentinel from his stand, and battered open the door ; but they were driven back by the people within. This involved them in another contest, and thus the day ended in confusion. On another occasion he was arrested and carried into court, as a disturber of the peace. In court, a captain Williams vehe- mently accused him as a vagabond, a here- tic, and a mover of sedition every where. Mr. Harris made no defence. But the court ordered that he should not preach in the county again for the space of twelve months, or be committed to prison. The Colonel told them that he lived two hun dred miles from thence, and that it was not likely he should disturb them again in the course of one year. Upon this he was dis- missed. From Culpepper he went to Fau- quier, and preached at Carter's Run. — Vol. L—J. From thence he crossed the Blue Ridge, and preached at Shenandoah. On his re- turn from thence, he turned in at Capt. Thomas Clanahan's, in the county of Cul- pepper, where there was a meeting. While certain young ministers were preaching, the word of God began to burn in Col. Harris's heart. When they finished, he arose and addressed the congregation, " 1 partly promised the devil, a few days past, at the court-house, that I would not preach in this county for the term of a year : but the devil is a perfidious wretch, and cove- nants with him are not to be kepf, and there- fore I will preach." He preached a lively, animating sermon. The court never med- dled with him more. In Orange county, one Benjamin Healy pulled Mr. Harris down from the place where he was preaching, and hauled him about, sometimes by the hand, sometimes by the leg, and sometimes by the hair of the head ; but the persecuted preacher had friends here also, who espoused his part, and rescued him from the rage of his ene- mies. — This, as in a former case, brought on a contention between liis advocates and opposers ; during which, a Capt. Jameson sent Mr. Harris to a house where was a loft with a step-ladder to ascend it ; into that loft he hurried him, took away the step- ladder, and left the good man secure from his enemies. Near Haw-river, a rude fellow came up to Mr. Harris and knocked him down while he was preaching. He went to preach to the prisoners once, in the town of Hillsborough, where he was locked up in the goal, and kept for some, time. Notwithstanding these things. Col. Har- ris did not suffer as many persecutions as some other Baptist preachers. Tempered in some degree peculiar to himself, perhaps his bold, noble, yet humble manner, dismay- ed the ferocious spirits of the opposers of rehgion. A criminal who had been just pardoned at the gallows, once met him on the road, and showed him his reprieve. " Well," said he, " and have you shown it to Jesus ?" " No, Mr. Harris, I want you to do that for me." The old man immediately descended from his horse, in the road, and making the man also alight, they both kneeled down ; Mr. H. put one hand on the man's head, and with the other held open the pardon, and thus, in behalf of the criminal, returned thanks lor his reprieve and prayed for him to obtain God's pardon also. The following very interesting narrative was published by Mr. Sample, in his His- tory of the Virginia Baptists; it has also been published by Mr. John Leland, in his Budget of Scraps, under the title of " Pray- 74 BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANG. er, better than Law-suits."— As there is Bome little variation, not as to matters of fact, but in the mode of expression, in these two relaters, I have selected from them both this singular and instructive story. When Mr. Harris began to preach, his soul was so absorbed in the work that it was difficult I'or him to attend to the duties of this life. Finding at length the absolute need of pro- viding more grain for his family than his plantation had produced, he went to a man who owed him a sum of money, and told liim he would be very glad if he would dis- charge the debt he owed him. The man replied, " I have no money by me, and therefore cannot oblige you."' Harris said, " I want the money to purchase wheat for my family ; and as you have raised a good crop ol" wheat, I will take that article of you, instead of the money, at a current price." The man answered, " I have other uses for my wheat, and cannot let you have it." " How then," said Harris, " do you intend to pay me 1" " I never intend to pay you until you sue me," replied the debtor, '• and therefore you may begin your suit as soon as you please." Mr. Harris left him medi- tating : " Good God," said he to himself, " what shall I do ? Must 1 leave preaching to attend to a vexatious law-suit I Perhaps a thousand souls will perish in the mean time for the want of hearing of Jesus ! N o, I will not. Well, what will you do for yourself? Why, this 1 will do : I will sue him at the Court of Heaven." Having re- solved what to do, he turned aside into a wood, and fell upon his knees, and thus be- gan his suit: " O blessed Jesus ! thou eter- nal God ! thou knowest that I need the mo- ney which the man owes me to supply the wants of my family ; but he will not pay me without a law-suit. Dear Jesus, shall I quit thy cause, and leave the souls of men to perish ? Or wilt thou, in mercy open some other way of relief ?" — In this address, the Colonel, had such nearness to God, that (to use his own words) Jesus said unto him, " Harris, I will enter bonds-man for the man ; you keep on preaching, and omit the law-suit; I will take care of you, and see that you have your pay." Mr. Harris felt well satisfied with his security, but thought it would be unjust to hold the man a debtor, when Jesus had assumed payment. He, therefore, wrote a receipt in full of all ac- counts which he had against the man, and dating it in the woods, where Jesus entered •bail, he signed it with his own name. Go- ing the next day by the man's house to at- tend a meeting, he gave the receipt to a servant, and bid him deliver it to his master. On returning from the meeting, the man hailed him at his gate and said, '" Mr. Har- ris what did you mean by the receipt you sent me this morning?" Mr. Harris re- plied, " I meant just as I wrote." " But you know, Sir," answered the debtor, '' I have never paid you." " True," said Mr. Harris, " and I know, also, that yoa said you never would, except I sued you. But, Sir, I sued you at the'Court of Heaven, and Jesus entered bail for you, and haa agreed to pay me ; I have, therefore, given you a discharge !" " But I insist upon it," said the man, " matters shall not be left so." " I am well satisfied," answered Harris, "Jesus will not fail me ; I leave you to set- lie the account with him another day. — Farewell." This operated so effectually on the man's conscience, that in a few daya he loaded his wagon, and sent wheat enough to discharge the debt. A complete history of the life of this ven- erable man, would furnish still a lengthy catalogue of anecdotes of the most interest- ing kind. But we shall close his biography, by relating one, which though of a differ- ent nature, is not less curious than any of the former. fThe General Association of Separate Bajitists in Virginia, in the year 1774, in the ardor of their zeal for reformation, and the revival of primitive order, resolved that the office of Apostles, together with all the other officers mentioned in Ephesians, 4th chapter and 11th verse, were still to be maintained in the church. Pursuant to this resolution, the Association proceeded, in the first place, to choose by ballot one from amongst them, to officiate in the dignified character of an apostle. Mr. Harris was elected, and consented to be ordained to his ApostoHc function, by the laying on of the hands of every ordained minister in the Association.* So that he was tor a time, in I'act, as he was generally called by way of eminence, the Apostle of Virginia. — Ben- edict. ' BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANG. John Gang was one of the most eminent Ministers in his day ; in point of talents he was exceeded by few, and as an itinerant he was inferior to none, who ever travelled in the United States, unless it were the re- nowned Whitefield. He was born at Hope- well, in New Jersey, July 22, 1727, was con- verted soon after he arrived at manhood, and was ordained in the place of his nativ- ity, in 1754. SfM a full ncrount nf this singular txperiment in the Ilifslnry ol the Virginia Baptists. BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANO, 75 His progenitors, on his father's side, were from France, on his mother's from England. His great grand-father, Francis Gano, fled from Guernsey, in the time of a bloody per- secution ; one of his neighbors had been martyred in the day, and in the evening he was fixed on as the victim for the next day ; information of which he received in the dead of night In this perilous situation he made all haste to escape the sanguina- ry storm which hung over his head ; he chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and in the morning was out of the harbor. On his arrival in America, he set- tled in New Rochelle, a few miles above the city of New York, where he lived to the age of a hundred and three. Of the num- ber or names of the family of this religious refugee, we know no more, than that he had one son named Stephen, who married Ann Walton, by whom he had many chil- dren, some of whom died young ; those who lived to marry, were Daniel, Francis, James, John, Lewis, Isaac, and three daugh- ters, Sarah, Catharine, and Susannah ; the last of whom lived to the age of eighty- seven. Daniel married Sarah Britton of Staten Island, near the city of New York, by whom he had Daniel, Jane, Stephen, Susannah, John, Nathaniel, David, and Sa- rah. The two first were born on Staten Island, the others at Hopewell, in New Jer- sey. Some of these died young ; but a number of them founded families, and their posterity is scattered in many parts of Amer- ica ; most of them, however, are in the mid- dle and western States. The subject of this memoir had the happiness of being born of parents eminent for piety, by whom he was early taught the necessity of reli- gion, and a correct view of the gospel sys- tem. His maternal grandmother was about seventy-six years a pious member of a Bap- tist Church ; she lived to the age of ninety- six. His mother was of the same persua- sion, but his lather was a Presbyterian. But every thing attending his making a re- hgious profession among the Baptists, was conducted with prudence on his part, and with tenderness on that of his friends. He was at first much inclined to join the Pres- byterians, but having some scruples on the subject of infant baptism, he determined to give it a thorough investigation. He not only read books, but had frequent conver- sation with presbyterian friends ; but the more he studied the Psedobaptist argu- ments, the less he was inclined to believe them. The famous Mr. Tennant,* and some other Presbyterian ministers, were among the circle of his Pajdobaptist friends. With Mr. Tennant he conversed often and ' It i3 not known by the writer whether William or Gilbert is the iiiiiiistor itUemlcd, but it i.s proliabic it wMi the latter. freely ; at the close of a lengthy discussion of the subject of baptism, that candid di- vine addressed him in the following man- ner : " Dear young man, if the devil can- not destroy your soul, he will endeavor to destroy your comfort and usefulness ; and therefore do not be always doubting in this matter. If you cannot think as I do, think for yourself. After a suspense of some time, he be- came fully established in those principles, which he through life maintained with much ability and moderation. Having re- solved to be buried in baptism on a profes- sion of his faith, he made his father ac- quainted with his design, who treated him with much indulgence and tenderness. — He stated that what he did for him in his infancy, he then thought was right, and the discharge of an incumbent duty, but if he felt conscientious in his present under- taking, he had his full and free consent. He moreover proposed that when he .should offer himself to the Baptist Church, he would go with him and give his consent there, and answer any inquiries they might wish to make respecting his life, &c. and also that he would go and see him baptized. All these promises his catholic father ful- filled. Soon after Mr. Gano was joined to the Hopewell ciiurch, his mind was led to the ministry, but witli many anxieties and fears. He was so much absorbed in his thoughts of the great work, that he was often lost to every other object. One morning after he began plowing in his field, this passage, " Warn the people, or their blood will I re- quire at your hands," came with such weight upon his mind, that he drove on un- til eleven o'clock utterly insensible of his employment. When he came to himself, he found he was wet through with the rain, his horses were excessively fatigued, and the labor he had performed was astonish- ingly great. After becoming satisfied tliat preaching would be his employment, he applied him- self with much assiduity to studies prepara- tory for it, which he continued, with some interruption however, for two or three years. Before he had been approbated to preach, he took a journey into Virginia, with Messrs. Miller and Thomas, two eminent ministers of that da}', who had been ap- pointed by the Philadelphia Association to go and assist in settling some difficulties in two infant churches there, which had ap- plied to tliem for help. Before Mr. Gano had returned home, a report had reached Plopewell, that he had got to preaching in Virginia: and some of his brethren were tried with him, for engaging in the ministry without the approbation of the church. A meetinir v/as called on liis arrival, and he 76 BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANG. was arraigned as being guilty of disorder. He wished them to exhibit their proofs. They intbrmed him that they Jiad none only what travellers from Virginia had re- ported, but desired that he would give a relation of the matter. He replied that it was the first time he had known the accu- sed called on to give evidence against him- self, but he was willing, notwithstanding to give them an impartial relation of his con- duct, which he did. The church then ask- ed him what he thought of his proceedings, and whether he did not think he had been disorderly. He replied again, that he con- sidered this question more extraordinary than the other. He had not only given evidence in his own case which would ope- rate against him, but he was now called up- on to adjudge himself guilty, This is a specimen of that ingenuity and presence of mind, which shone so conspicuously through all the transactions of this sagacious char- acter. He at length informed the church that he did not mean to act disorderly, nor contrary to their wishes ; that his con- science acquitted him for what he had done; that he had no disposition to repent his having sounded the gospel to perishing sinners in Virginia, whose importunities to hear it he could not resist ; that the case was extraordinary, and would not probably happen again ; if it should, lie should prob- Jibly do again as he had already done. The churoh now appointed him a time to preach, which he did to their acceptance ; and after a thorough examination of his gifts and call, he was regularly set apart for tlie ministry. Soon after this, he went to reside at Morrlstown ; and calls for preaching pressed upon him so much, that his studies, in which he had considerably advanced, were in a great measure relin- quished. At tiie next meeting of the Philadelphia Association, that body was again petitioned to appoint some one lo travel to the south. Messengers had also come on from Vir- ginia, for the purpose of procuring a preach- er to labor and administer ordinances omong them. As no ordained minister could conveniently go, Mr. Gano was urged to accept ordination, and undertake the jour- ney. He pleaded agaidst it his youth and inexperience; but the messengers from Vir- ginia, and his brethren at home, united their importunities, and he engaged in the mis- sion. He was ordained in May, 1754, and set out in a short time after. In this jour- ney he went as far as Charleston, South Carolina, and traveled extensively through- out the southern States. Some extracts from his journal will give the reader some view of tlie turn of the man, and of the manner in which he prosecuted his mission. His journal, wliich was printed in his life, has but few dates, but it will be understood that the following scenes transpired in the summer and autumn of 1754. In the back parts of Virginia, this zeal- ous missionary, while conversing with some people where he lodged, in an ati'ectionate manner, respecting their religious concerns, overheard one of the company say to an- other, " This man talks like one of the Jones's ! On enquiring who the Jones's were, he was informed that they were dis- tracted people, who did nothing but pray and talk about Jesus Christ, and that they lived between twenty and thirty miles dis- tant on his route. " I determined," said he, " to make it my next day's ride, and see my own likeness.''^ When he arrived at the house, he lound there a plain obscure fami- ly, which had formerly lived in a very care- less manner, but a number of them had lately been changed by grace, and were engaged in devotional exercises. As he entered the house, he saw the father of the family lying before the fire, groaning with rheumatic pains. He enquired how he did ? " O," said he, " I am in great distress. " I am glad of it," replied the stranger. The old gentleman astonished at this singular reply, raised himself up, and enquired what he meant? ''Whom the Lord hveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receJveth," answered Mr. Gano. From this they proceeded to religious conversa- tion, and he soon found this pious family, whom the world accounted mad, had been taught the words of truth and soberness. They asked him memy questions, and were much pleased to find one, who was ac- quainted with the tilings they had experi- enced. From this place he proceeded on towards North Carolina, having a young man with him, who chose to bear him company on his way. " We arrived at a house just at dusk, the master of which gave us liberty to tarry. After we had conveyed our things into the house, he asked me if I was a trader ; which I answered in the affirm- ative. He asked me if 1 found it to answer ; to which I answered, " Not so well as I could wish." He replied, " Probably the goods did not suit." I told him, " No one had complained of that. He said I held them too high. I answered, " Any one might have them below their own price." He said he would trade on these terms ; which, I said, I would cheerfully comply with. I then asked him, "If gold tried in the fire, yea, that which was better than the fine gold, wine and milk, durable riches and righteousness, without money and with- out price, would not suit him ?" '' O, said he, " I believe you are a minister." I told him I was, and had a right to proclaim free grace wherever I went. This laid the BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANO. 77 foundation for the evening's conversation ;| who behaved amiss. I spoke and told him, and I must acknowledge his kindness, I was ashamed to see a soldier so awkward though he was not very desirous of trading. after he discovered who I wa Our itinerant continued southward until he arrived at Charleston ; and there, and in its vicinity, he preached to good acceptance. His account of his first sermon for Mr. Hart, in Charleston, is as follows : " When I arose to speak, the sight of so briliant an audience, among whom were twelve min- isters, and ono of whom was Mr. White- field, for a moment brought the fear of man upon me : but blessed be the Lord, I was soon relieved from this embarrassment; the thought passed my mind, I had none to fear and obey but the Lord." On his return from Charleston to the northward he visited an Island where he was informed there never had been but two sermons preached. The people soon col- lected together, and he preached to them from these words, " Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you." When he arrived at Tar River, in North Carolina, he found that a report had gone forth, that some of the principal men in the county had agreed, that if he came within their reach, they would apprehend him as a spy ; for by his name he was judged to be a Frenchman, and this was in the time of the French war. Some of these people lived on the road he was to travel the next day. His friends urged him to take a dif- ferent route ; but he replied that God had so far conducted him on his way in safety, and he should trust him for the future. When he got near the place where the principal men who had threatened him lived, he was advised to go through it as secretly as possible ; but that by no means accorded with his views; he replied, he should stop and refresh himself in the place. He stopped at one of the most public houses, and asked the landlord if bethought the people would come out to hear a sermon on a week day. He informed him he thought they would ; but observed, that on the ne.xt Monday, there was to be a general muster for that county. He therefore concluded to defer the meeting till that time, and requested the landlord to inform the Colonel of the regiment, (who, he had learnt, was one of those who had threatened him) of his name, &c., and desire of him the favor of preaching a short sermon before military duty. The landlord promised to comply with his request. " On Monday I had twenty miles to ride to the muster, and by 10 o'clock there was a numerous crowd of men and women ; they had erected a sta^re in the woods for me, and I preached from Paul's Christian armor. They all paid the most profound attention, except one man in his duty, and wondered his officer could bear with him. The Colonel, as I after- wards understood, brought him to order After service, I desired a person to inform the commander that I wanted to speak with him. He immediately came, and 1 told him, I hat although I prolessed loyalty to King George, and did not wish to infringe upon the laudable design of the day, yet, I thought, the King of kings ought to be served first; and I presumed what I had said did not tend to make them worse sol- diers, but better Christians. He complai- santly thanked me, and said, if I could wait, he would make the e.xercises as short as possible, and give an opportunity for another sermon, for which he should be obliged to me. I told him I had an appointment some miles off to preach the next day. Thus ended my chastisement, and the fears of my friends." " Erom hence I returned by the way of Ketockton, on Blue Ridge, where the in- habitants are scattered. On my road, I ob- served a thunder-storm arising, and rode speedily for the first house. When I arriv- ed, the man came running into the house, and seeing me, appeared much alarmed ; there being at that time great demands for men and horses for Braddock's army. He said to me, " .S'tV, are you a 'press-maslerT'' I told him I was. " But," said he, ' you do not take married men ?" I told him surely I did ; and that the master I wished him to serve was good, his character unimpeacha- ble, the wages great, and that it would be for the benefit of his wile and children, if he enlisted. He made many excuses, but I en- deavored to answer them, and begged him to turn out a volunteer in the service of Christ. This calmed his fears, and I left him, and proceeded on my way to Ketock- ton, where I spent some time, and baptized Mr. Hail." From Ketockton, Mr. Gano proceeded immediately homeward. Soon after his ar- rival, he was married to Sarah, daughter of John Stites, Esq. Mayor of Elizabeth- town, in New Jersey, by whom he had ma- ny children, most of whom are yet living. Two sons and two daughters are j-et in Kentucky, one son in Ohio, one daughter is at Hillsdale, New York, and his second son Stephen is pastor of the church in provi- dence, Rhode Island. Mrs. Gano was sis- ter to Mrs. Manning, the wife of the Presi- dent, who is yet living at Providence. It was not long after Mr. Gano had re- turned from this journey, belbrc he was again induced, by repeated solicitations, to set out on another, to the southward, in which he was gone about eiirht months, and was liajijiy to find, in many places, the fruits 78 BIOGRAPHY OP JOHN GANG of his labors in his former visits. Soon af- ter he returned Irom this excursion, he was invited by an infant church in North Caro- lina, which he had raised up in a place call- ed the Jersey settlement, to remove and be- come its pastor. Messengers came to Mor- ristown, a distance of about eight hundred miles, for the purpose of soliciting that churcii to give him up. They at first refus- ed, but afterwards concluded to leave the matter to his own choice. He therefore concluded to go ; but at the same time in- formed the Morristown church, it was not for the want of attachment to them. The church in North Carolina, he considered, was wholly destitute, and there was besides a wide field lor gospel labor. At the Jer- sej'' Settlement he continued about two years ; the church became large, and his labors were abundantly useful throughout H wide and destitute region. But a war breaking out with the Cherokee Indians, he was obliged to leave the country, and re- turn to New Jersey. About this time the Ibundation for the first church in New York was laid by Mr. Miller of Scotch Plains ; the church in Philadelphia had also been lately deprived of its pastor, by the death of Mr. Jenkin Jones. Mr. Gano preached for some time alternately at both cities, but about the time the cluirch in New York was organized, he went to live among them, and was chosen its pastor, and continued in that office about twenty-five years, excep- ting tlie time he was obliged to be absent on account of the war. Some account of his ministry here, and of the progress of the church while under his care, may be found in its liistory under the head of New York. During most of the revolutionary war, Mr. Gano was a chaplain in the army ; and by his counsels and prayers, encouraged the American hosts in their struggles for freedom from the dominions of a foreign oppressive yoke. On the return of peace, he returned to his pastoral station, and began to collect the cliurch wliich had been scattered to ma- ny dillbrent places. Out of upwards of two hundred members, of which it consisted at the time of its dispersion, he collected at first but tliirty-seven ; hut his congregation soon became large, others of the scattered flock came in, a revival commenced, which prevailed extensively, and at one commun- ion seaison, near Ibrty young persons were added to their number. In this prosperous manner tliis successful minister recommen- ced his labors in New York, and every thing appeared promising even to the time he projected his removal to Kentucky. — This removal was as unexpected to the church, as it was surprising to his friends. His reasons for it are thus stated by himself: '■' One William Wood, a Baptist minister, came from Kentucky and gave a very ex- alted character of the state of it. He made several encouraging proposals to me to go there, said there was a prospect of useful- ness in the ministry, the necessity of an old experienced minister to take care of a young church there, and flattering temporal pros- pects for the support of my family. For these reasons I concluded to remove. Be- sides, I was considerably in debt, and saw no way of being released, but by selling my house and lot. This I concluded would clear me, and enable me to purchase wa- gons and horses to carry me to Kentucky. I called a church-meeting, and informed them of my intention. They treated it as a chimera, and thought they could stop me by raising my salary. They, with all pos- sible coolness, left me to determine for my- self I immediately determined to go, and desired them to look out for a supply. This aroused them, and they very aflectionately urged me to tarry. I told them, if they had desired me to stay before I had put it out of my own power, I should then have given it up."* Having resolved on removing, he sold his estate, commenced his journey, and on June 17, 17S7, landed at Limestone, and imme- diately repaired to Washington, where he tarried a while ; he then went to Lexington . and finally settled near Frankfort, where he died in 1S04. in the 7Sth year of his age. The labors of this aged minister were owned of God for good in Kentucky; but there is reason to believe, that neither his usefulness nor his worldly comforts were so great as he expected. His changes were frequent, and some of them peculiarly try- ing. The encouraging proposals made by Mr. Wood, appear not to have been reali- zed. His wife was first made a cripple by a fall from a horse, and soon after removed from him by death. Bymostof the Kentucky brethren he was honored and esteemed, and by all of them hie death was much larnent- e'd. In 1793, he made a visit to North Car- olina, where he married for his second wife the widow of Capt. Thomas Bryant, and daughter of Col. Jonathan Hunt, ibrmerly of New Jersey, one of his old neighbors and unchanging friends. In her he found an amiable help-meet for his declining years. She had been baptized by his son Stephen three years before, that is in 1790, when they visited North Carolina together. She stillsurviveshim, and resides at his late dwel- ling, Near Frankfort, Kentucky. While he was waiting for this new companion to ar- rainge her affairs for a removal, he visited Charleston, South Carolina, and also as far northward as his son Stephen's in Provi- dence. This wirli Die preceeding extracts, is made from Ga- no's Lite, a l^iiio. volume of 150 pages. BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANG. Mr. Gano, though somewhat impaired by age, was still actively engaged in his Master's service ; but in 1798, he had the misfortune to fall from a horse, and fractured his shoulder-blade, which deprived him of the use of one of his arms tor some time. As he was recovering from this affliction, he was very suddenly seized in his bed with a paralytic shock, which rendered him al- most speechless for nearly a year. From this shock he never fully recovered ; but his speech was restored, and he had the use of his limbs so far, that he was able to be car- ried out to meetings, and preached frequent- ly, especially in the time of the great revi- val, in an astonishing manner. While the Arian affair mentioned in the history of the Elkhorn Association, was agitating the minds of many of the Kentucky brethren, this able advocate for gospel truth was car- ried to Lexington, assisted into the pulpit, where he preached a masterly discourse in defence of the proper Deity of the Saviour, which was thought to have had a consider- able influence in checking the prevalence of that erroneous system, which many were previously enclined to embrace. We shall now take a review of the history of this distinguished man, and exhibit some of those peculiar traits in his character, which qualified him for such abundant use- fulness, and rendered him so famous amongst the American Baptists. Mr. Ga no was peculiarly qualified for an itinerant preacher. He possessed, to a singular de gree, the wisdom, of the serpent, with the harmlessness of the dove. He had a saga city and quickness of perception, which but few men possess ; he had also a happy fa- cility in improving every passing occurrence to some useful purpose. He could abash and confound the opposer, without exciting his resentment ; and administer reproof and instruction where others would be embar- rassed or silent. His memory was reten- tive ; his judgment was good ; his wit was sprightly, and always at command ; his zeal was ardent ; but well regulated ; his courage undaunted ; his knowledge of men was extensive : and to all these accomplish- ments were added a heart glowing with love to God and men, and a character fair and unimpeachable. It is said that Hervey's servant declared his master could make a sermon out of a pair of tongs ; and probably not much in- ferior to his, were the inventive powers of Gano. He did not, however, descend to tlie absurd custom adopted by some, of choosing adverbs and prepositions for his texts ; but he had a happy talent of select- ting passages of Scripture descriptive of peculiar circumstances and passing events. We have a specimen of tliis in his preach- ing on the igland in South Carolina. His frends relate many instances of the same kmd, a few only of which Ave shall notice. In one of his journies at the southward, he travelled in company with a young preach- er, who has since become an eminent char- acter in that region. They took ditferent routes in the day, but were to meet in the evening, and M. Gano was to preach. Tiie meeting was at a private house, and he did not arrive at the place until late. The young man with reluctance began the meet- ing, and was in prayer when he came h\. He entered the assembly without being discovered, and took his place among the hearers ; and just as it was time to com- mence the sermon, he arose and said wilJi emphasis, / am come I Then with a com- mon tone, " I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," John x, 10, and immediately proceeded on his discourse. In going down the Ohio river, on his re- moval to Kentucky, he and his companions met with much trouble on their passage ; one of his boats was overset, and some valuable things were lost. Soon after they landed in Kentucky, he preached from these words ," So they all got safe to land." While in the army, he was informed by the General on Saturday that they shoukl march the next Monday, but was requested not to mention the matter until after ser- mon the next day. This circumstance suggested to his mind these words, " Being ready to depart on the morrow," from which he preached, and as soon as he had done, the orders were given. The funeral of Gen. Mc Dougal, a fa- mous character in New York, was appoint- ed on a Lord's day at so early an hour, that there was but little time for the afternoon service. The people generally, out of re- spect to their illustrious citizen, were pre- paring to attend his funaral. Some con- gregations did not meet, but Mr. Gano's did ; and he addressed them hastily irom these words, " Brethren the time is short." Having respect to the General'.s death, he from this short passage, preached a short but well adapted discourse, and dismissed the assembly soon enough to join the pro- cession. He had an art peculiar to himself of ac- comodating such passages to particular events. His inventive powers were ade- quate to forming proflitable discourses from almost any passage of Scripture at tlie shortest notice, and through llie whole of his ministry, he frequently indulged this in- imitable faculty. The first sermon he preached after his son Stephen visited him in Kentucky, was from these words, " 1 am glad of the coining of Slenhanas, &c." Mr. Gano Avas pcr.^onally known almost throuirhout the United Stales; and a inul- 80 BIOGRAPHY OP JOHN GANO. titude of anecdotes are told respecting him, a few only of which we shall be able to record. In one of his journies at the Southward, he called at a house and asked for some corn for his horse, which tlie landlord or- dered his little son to carry. He then in- quired if he was not a minister, and being answered in the affirmative, replied, " I have a child I want to get baptized ; I have been waiting a long time for a priest to come along, and shall now have it done." Mr. Gano gave him to understand that any service he could aflbrd him, should be cheerfully granted. The bo}^ stood staring at the priest, and neglected his errand. Mr. Gano mentioned his horse again. — "You son of a b — h," said the father, '• why don't you feed that horse, as I told you." The boy then did as he was bid, and his father began again to talk about his child. " What," said Mr. Gano, "do you mean to call it ? That boy, 1 perceive is named. Son of a b — A." After this sin- gular rebuke, nothing more was said about the christening of die child. After preaching once in Virginia, in a f)lace notoriously wicked, two young fel- ows, supposing he had leveled his censure against them, came up and dared him to fight. " That is not the way," said he, " that I defend my sentiments ; but if you choose it, I will fight you, either both at once, or one after the other ; but as 1 have to preach again very soon, I shall wish to put it off till after the meeting ;" to which they agreed. As soon as the meeting was closed, he called the presumptuous youths forward and told them he was now ready to fight them. The eyes of all were fasten- ed upon them ; yet notwithstanding, they had the hardihood to present themselves for the combat. " If," said he, " I must fight you I shall choose to do it in some more retired place, and not before all these peo- ple." With that he walked off, and bid the young men followhim. He then commenced the attack in the following manner : "Young gentleman you ought to be ashamed of your conduct. What reason have you to suppose that I had a particular refference to you ? I am an entire stranger here, and know not the names nor characters of any. You have proved by your conduct that you are guilty of the vices I have censured; and if you feel so much disturbed at my re- prooll's, how will you stand before the' bar of God?" "I beg your pardon says one ; " I beg your pardon said the other ; " I am sorry." If you are beat, gentleman, we will go back ; and tlius ended the battle. While in the army, Mr. Gano had fre- quent opportunities of administering re- proof in his skilful and forcible manner. One morninig, as he was going to pray with the regiment, he passed by a group of officers, one of whom, (who had his back towards him) was uttering profane expres- sions in a most rapid manner. The offi- cers, one after another, gave him the usual salutation, " good morning, Doctor,"* said the swearing Lieutenant. — " Good morn- ing. Sir," replied the chaplain ; "you pray early this morning." " I beg your pardon, Sir." " O, I cannot pardon you ; you must carry your case to your God." One day he was standing near some soldiers who were disputing whose turn it was to cut some wood for the fire, one profanely said he would be d — d if he would cut it. But he was soon after convinced that the task belonged to him, and took up the axe to perform it. Before he commenced, Mr. Gano stepped up to him, and said, " Give me the axe." " O no," replied the soldier, "the chaplain shan't cut wood." "Yes," said he, "I must." "But why?" said the soldier. " The reason is, I just heard you say that you would be d d if you would cut it ; and I had rather take the labor off your hands, than that you should be made miserable Ibrever." While this singular man resided in New York he was introduced to a young lady, as the only daughter of Esquire W , " Ah," replied he, " and I can tell a good match for her, and he is an only Son." — The young lady understood his meaning : she was not long after, united to this Son, and has for about forty years, been an or- nament to his cause. In one of his journies, he was informed that there had been a revival of religion in a certain place, which lay on his route. He arrived there in the night, and .called at a house, of which he had no previous knowledge. A woman came to the door, whom he addressed as follows: "I have understood, madam, that my Father has some children in this place ; I wish to in- quire where they live, that I may find lodgings to-night." " I hope," replied the woman, " I am one of your Father's chil- dren ; come in, dear Sir and lodge here." The following summary view of the character of our venerable Sire, was drawn in concsequence of a particular request, by Dr. Richard Furnam, of Charleston, South Carolina, who was personally acquainted with him in different stages of his life. " The late Rev. John Gano will be long remembered with affection and respect in the United States of America. Here was his character formed ; and here as on a conspicuous theatre, were the actions of his amiable, pious and useful life exhibited. " He was, in person, below the middle stature ; and when young, of a slender ■ The officers generally coi;jplinioiitcJ Mr. Gimo with this title. BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GANG, 81 form ; hut of a firm vigourous constitution, well fitted for performing active services with ease, and for suffering labors and privations with constancy. In the more advanced stages of life his body tended to corpulency ; but not to such a degree as to burden or render him inactive. His pres- ence was manly, open and engaging. His voice strong and commanding, yet agree- able, and capable of all those inflections, which are suited to express either the strong or tender emotions of an inteligent, feeUing mind. In mental endowments and acquired abilities he appeared highly re- spectable : with clear conception and pene- trating discernment, he formed, readily, a correct judgm.ent of men and things. His acquaintance with the learned languages and science, did not commence till he ar- rived at manhood, and was obtained chiefly by private instruction, but under the di- rection of a clerical gentleman, well quali- fied for the office. To the refinements of learning he did not aspire ; his chief ob- ject was such a competent acquaintance with its principles, as would enable him to apply them with advantage to purposes of general usefulness in religion, and to the most important interests of society ; and to this he attained. " His mind was formed for social inter- course, and for friendship. Such was his unaffected humility, candor, and good will to men, that few, if any, have enjoyed more satisfaction in the company of his friends, or have, in return, afforded them, by their conversation, a higher degree of pleasure and moral improvement. " His passions Avere strong, and his sen- sibility could be easily excited ; but so chastened and regulated were they by the meekness of wisdom, that he preserved great composure of spirit, and command of his words and actions, even in times of tri- al and provocation, when many, who might justly rank with the wise and good would be thrown into a state of purturbation, and hurried into extravagance. "As a minister of Christ, he shone like a star of the first magnitude in the Ameri- can churches, and moved in a widely ex- tended field of action. For this office God had endowed him with a large portion of grace, and with excellent gifts. He be- lieved, and therefore spake." Having dis- cerned the excellence of gospel truths, and the importance of eternal realities, he felt their power on his own soul, and accor- dingly he inculcated and urged them on the minds of In's hearers with persuasive eloquence and force. He was not deficient in doctrinal discussion, or what rhetoricians style the demonstrative character of a dis-l course ; but he excelled in the pathetic, in pungent, forcible addresses to the heart and i Vol. 1.— K. conscience. The careless and irreverent were suddenly arrested and stood awed be- fore him ; and the insensible were made to feel, while he asserted and maintained the honor of his Cod, explained the meaning of the divine law, shewingits purity and justice; exposed the sinner's guilt; proved him to be miserable, ruined and inexcusable, and called him to unfeigned, immediate repent- ance. But he was not less a son of con- solation to the mourning sinner, who la- mented his offences committed against God, who felt the plague of a corrupt heart, and longed for salvation ; nor did he fail to speak a word of direction, support and com- fort, in due season, to the tried tempted be- liever. He knew how to publish the glad tidings of salvation in the redeemer's Name, for the consolation of all who believe in him, or had discovered their need of his mediation and grace ; and to him this was a delghtlul employment. Success attend- ed his ministrations, and many owned him for their father in the gospel. " The doctrines he embraced were those which are cantained in the Baptist confes- sion of faith, and are commonly styled cal- vinistic. But he Avas of a liberal mind, and esteemed pious men of every denomination. While he maintained with consistent firm- ness, the doctrines which he believed to be the truths of God, he was modest in the judgment which he formed of his own opin- ion, and careful to avoid giving offence, or grieving any good man, who diflfered from him in sentiment. Hence, he was cordial- ly esteemed and honored by the wise and good of all denominations.* " His attachment to his country as a cit- izen, was unshaken in the times which tried men's souls ; and as a chaplain in the army, for a term of years, while excluded from his church and home, he rendered it essential service. Preserving his moral dignity with the purity which becomes a gospel minister, he commanded respect from the officers ; and by his condescension and kindness, won the affections of the soldiers, inspiring them by his example, with his own courage snd firmness, while toiling with them through military scenes of hard- ship, and danger. " He hved to a good old age ; served his generation according to the will of God ; saw his posterity multiplying around him ; his country independent, free and happy ; the church of Christ, for which he felt and An honorable testimony was borne to liis ministerial abilities and service, by a respectable clergyman of the Episcopal church, who had made extensive observations on public characters. After ffoint; to hear him. perhaps at ditferent limes, while he was employed in the regular course of service in his own church, in the city of New York, this elerjiyman noted in his journal. " that he tliought Mr. (Jano pejssossed the best pulpit taJents ofany man tie ever heard." Tliis anecdote was received from the Rev. Dr. Bowen. of New York, whose father was the clergymen referred to.— X>r. Purtrian's Letter. 82 BIOGRAPHY OB' LEWIS LUNSFORD labored, advancing ; and thus he closed his eyes in peace ; his heart expanding with the subhme hope of immortality and heaven- ly bliss. " Like John, the harbinger of our Re- deemer, 'he was a burning and a shining light, and many rejoiced in his light.' Re- sembling the sun, he arose in the church with morning brightness, advanced regular- ly to his station of meridian splendor, and then gently declined with mild effulgence, till he disappeared, without a cloud to in- tercept his rays, or obscure his glory." — Benedict. BIOGRAPHY LEWIS LUNSFORD. We now come to the man, (says Mr. Semple, in his biography)vvho, in point of talents as a preacher, was never excelled in Virginia ; and by many it is doubted wheth- er he ever had a superior any where else. Mr. Lunsford was born in Stafford coun- ty, Virginia, of indigent parents. He re- ceived a very slender education indeed ; nor had he the means to enlarge it. The God of nature furnished him with powers to surmount all obstacles. To obviate the want of education, he used, after working all day, to read till late at night, by fire light. At an early stage of his life, while attending the ministry of William Fristoe he was happily arrested by divine mercy. Mr. Fristoe baptized him when a boy, and he immediately, both in private and public, began to stand up as an advocate for the gospel. His talents, at this tender age commanded attention, and procured him the flattering appellation of The Wonder- ful Boy. After moving in a more confined circle for some few years, he began to en- large his borders. About 1774, Divine Providence directed his attention to the low- er counties in the Northern Neck. Wher- ever he placed his foot as a preacher, there attended a blessing. Believers were added to the church, through his instrumentality, in most of the neighborhoods of these lower counties. His preaching made a great noise, not only for its ingenuity, but for its novelty. Here, as in most other places where the Baptists preached, the people cried out that some new doctrine was start- ed ; that the church was in danger. Mr. Lunsford was accounted worthy to share a part of this opposition. A clergyman ap- pointed a set day to preach against the An- abaptists. Crowds attended to hear him. He told stories of John of Leyden, and of Cromwell's round-heads ; but he could not by such tales stop the gospel current, now swelling to a torrent. When Mr. Lunsford preached again in the same parts, they at- tacked him by more weighty arguments. A constable was sent with a warrant to ar- rest him. The constable, Avith more polite- ness than was usual then on such occasions, waited until Mr. Lunsford had preached. His fascinating powers palsied the consta- ble's hand. He would not, he said, serve a warrant on so good a man. Another man took it, and went, tremblingly, and served it. Mr. Lunsford attended the summons, and appeared before a magistrate. He was held in recognizance to appear at Court. — The Court determined that Mr. Lunsford had been guilty of a breach of good beha- viour; and that he must give security, or go to prison. He was advised to give se- curity, under ihe expectation of obtaining hcence to preach. He tried, but could not. He often regretted that he had taken this step ; and was sorry he had not gone to pris- on. This took place in Richmond County. After the repeal of the law for establish- ing one sect to the exclusion of the rest, a banditti attended Mr. Lunsford's meeting with sticks and staves, to attact him. Just as he was about to begin to preach they approached him for the attact. His irreli- gious friends, contrary to his wish, drew stakes out of the fence to defend him. This produced great uproar and some skermish- es. Mr. Lunsford retired to a neighboring house, and shut himself up. His persecu- tors, however, pursued him, but were not hardy enovigh to break in upon him. One of.them desired to have the privilege of con- versing with him, with a view of convincing him. He was let in, and did converse; but when he came out, he wore a new face. Hia party asked him the result. " You had bet- ter convers with him yourselves," said he. It was not until January, 1778, that Mr. Lunsford became a settled preacher, and took care of Moratico church, which was constituted at that time. He held it as an opinion, that imposition of hands by a pres- bytery was not necessary to ordination ; but that the call of a church was sufficient. It was in this way he took the care of Mo- ratico church. He never would submit to be ordained by the imposition of hands ; although the refusal produced no small dis- content among the Baptists in Virginia. In 1779, he married his first wife ; and became a resident of Northumberland. — From the time he settled in the Northern Neck, and indeed from the time he began to preach there, he gradually increased in favor with the people. It is hardly proba- ble that any man ever was more beloved by a people when living, or more lamented when dead. He had two remarkable revi- BIOGRAPHY OF LEWIS LUNSFORD, 83 vals of religion in the bounds of his church. The one, about the time of the constitution of his church, and the other commenced in the year 1788, and had scarcely subsided at his death in 1793. During these revivals, he was uncommonly lively and engaged. He preached almost incessantly ; and by his acquaintances, after the last revival, it was thought he made a rapid advance in the improvement of his talents, both in wis- dom and warmth ; especially, the latter, from which he never receded during his residence on eartli. Certain it is, that du- ring several of the last years of his life, he was more caressed, and his preaching more valued, than any other man's that ever re- sided in Virginia. Lunsford was a sure preacher, aeldom failed to rise pretty high. In his best strains, he was more like an angel than a man. His countenance, lighted up by an inward flame, seemed to shed beams of light wherever he turned. His voice, always harmonious, now seemed to be tuned by descendeng seraphs. His style and his manner was so sublime and so energetic, that he seemed indeed like an ambassador of the skies, sent down to com- mand all men every where to repent. He "was truly a messenger of peace ; and by him the tidings of peace were coramunica- led to multitudes. So highly was he es- timated among his own people, that there were but few preachers that visited them, to whom they would willingly listen, even for once, in preference to their beloved pas- tor. In argument. Mr. Lunsford was some- what satyrical ; and by this means, some- times gave offence to those who did not know him well. It was, however, perfectly clear, that he did not design to sport with the feelings of any. For it is not likely that any man of his popularity ever had fewer permanent enemies. He was very fond of reading, and retained what he read so cor- rectly, that few men could make more ex- tensive quotations than Mr. Lunsford. For his own advantage, he had procured and read some distinguished treatise on medi- cine. And so capacious were his faculties that with his small opportunities in this pro- fessional study, he actually became so skil- ful in the administration of physic, that he was often called on to attend patients at a considerable distance. To all such appli- cants, he not only rendered his services gratis, but often furnished them with medi- cine. He had the care of a large and opu- iant church, of whom some were very liber- al in their contributions but by a greater part of them he was too much neglected. For the want of their support and of his own attention to seculiar affairs, (through his ministry,) he was but in narrow circum- stances. Yet, he lived well, and rendered to every man his just dues. But now, pain- ful as the task is, we must add, that this great, this good, this almost inimitable man died, when only about forty years of age. He lived in a sickly climate, and had fre- quent billions attacts. These were some- times very severe. For two or three years before his death, he labored under repeated indispositions, even when travelling about. His manly soul would never permit him to shrink from the work so long as he had strength to lift up his voice. Sometimes, af- ter going to bed as being too ill to preach, prompted by his seraphic spirit, he would rise again, after some other person had preached, and deal out the bread of life to the hungry sons and daughters of Zion. He was a shepherd indeed. The Dover Association, for the year 1793, was holden at Glebe Landing meeting house in Mid- dlesex county, not more than fifteen or eigh- teen miles from his house. Although just rising from a bilious attact, he would not stay from a place Avhere his heart delight- ed to be, and where he had the best ground to believe that he could do good. He went and appeared so much better, that he made extensive appointments to preach in the lower parts of Virginia. He was chosen to preach on Sunday, and he did preach in- deed. On Tuesday he came up to King and Q,ueen county, and preached at Bru- ington meeting house, from these words : Therefore^ let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. It was an awa- kening discourse, worthy of this masterly workman. On that day he took cold and grew worse. He, however, preached his last sermon the next day evening ; observ- ing when he began, " It may be improper for me to attempt to preach at this time; but as long as I have any strength remain- ing, I wish to preach the gospel of Christ ; and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you." He then preached his last ser- mon, from, " Therefore, being justified, by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. He continued to grow worse until, having arrived at Mr. Gregory's, in Essex, he took his bed, from whence he was carried to his grave. In his sickness he was remarkably silent, having very little to say, which he could avoid. He was fond of joining in prayer, and sometimes exerted his now relaxed mind, in making remarks worthy of such a man. He expressed some anxiety at the thought of leaving his help- less family ; hut appeared quite resigned for the will of heaven to take place. On the 26h of October, 1793, he fell asleep in the arms of Jesus, aged about forty years. Rev. Henry Toler preached two funer- al sermons for him. One at the place of his death, another at Mr. Lunsford's meeting house, in Lancaster county, called Kilmarnock. These two sermons were 84 BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL STILLMAN, printed in a pamphlet ; and annexed to them, were two handsome elegies, written by ladies of his church. Another was writ- ten bji- Rev. A. Broaddus, which wa.? much admired. It seemed to be a mistery to ma- ny, why God should have called home so great, so useful a man, in the bloom of life. Those who thought proper to offer reasons or conjectures for explaining the ways of Providence, seemed generally to agree that Mr. Lunsford's popularity as a preacher had risen too high. The people wherever he was, or where he was expected, seemed to have lost all relish for any other man's preaching: that. God, knowing the capa city of most of his servants, was unwilling that the lesser lights should be so much swallowed up by the greater. Perhaps the better way is to form no conjecture about it ; but rest persuaded, that the ways of God are always wise, however unaccountable to man. He was twice married. He had by his first wife one surviving child. By his sec- ond wife he left three children. — Benedict. BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL STILLMAN, D. D. The following account of that eminent servant of God Dr. Stillman, is prefixed to a volume of his sermons, published after his death. The substance of it was writ- ten by his son in lavy. Rev. Mr. Gray, of Roxbury, adjoining Boston, and a part by Dr. Baldwin. The description of his doc- trinal sentiments was drawn by one of his Church. Samuel Stillman, d. d. was born in the city of Philadelphia, of parents respectable for their virtues, and of the religions per- suasion of Particular Baptists. At the age of eleven years he was removed with them to Charleston, South-Carolina, and there received the rudiments of his education, at an academy under a Mr. Rind. His im- provements there were such as presaged his future worth ; and he gave early indi- cations of a mind seriously impressed with a sense of religious truth. In one of his manuscripts we find some account of very early religious impressions being made up- on his mind. These, however, he observes, were generally of short continuance, until more effectually awakened by a sermon de- livered by the late excellent Mr. Hart, when, to borrow his own language, he says, " My mind was again sollemnly in^- pressed with a sense of my awful condition as a sinner. This conviction grew strong- er and stronger. My condition alarmed me. I saw myself without Christ and without hope. I found that I deserved the wrath to come, and that God would be just to send me to hell. I was now frequently on my knees, pleading for mercy. As a beggar I went, having nothing but guilt, and no plea but mercy." How long he continued in this distressed condition is not particularly stated, but it appears from sev- eral passages of Scripture, he obtained a degree of hope and comfort, though not en- tirely satisfied. Not long after, he heard Mr. Hart discourse from Matt. i. 21. — " And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people l>om their sins." From this ser- mon he received consolation, and adds, " Christ then became precious to me, yea, all in all. Then I could say of wisdom, ' Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.' That I still think was the day of my espousal. Glory be to God, for the riches of his grace to me. — Why me, Lord, &c." He was soon after baptized, and received into the church un- der the pastoral care ol' Mr. Hart. After fiinishing his classical education, he spent one year in the study of divinity with that gentleman. Being called by the church, he preached his first sermon on the 17th of February, 1758 : and the 26th of February, 1759, was ordained in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to the work of an evangelist. Immediately afterwards, however, he set- tled at James Island, a most pleasant situa- tion opposite the city. Soon after he visit- ed the place of his nativity, and on the twenty-third of May, the same year marri- ed Hannah, the daughter of Evin Morgan, Esq., merchant of that place, by whom he afterwards had fourteen children. He also took his degree at the university there, and returned to his society on James Island. But he had not continued above eighteen months with his affectionate and united people, before a violent attack of a pulmo- nary complaint, forced his removal to an- other climate. He accordingly fixed him- self with his family at Bordentown, New- Jersey, where he supplied two different congregations for the space of two years. His health somewhat improved, but by no means restored, determined him at length to visit New-England, hoping that the ex- ercise, together with the change of air, might yet further mend his impaired con- stitution. On his arrival here, 1763. at the request ol'ihe Second Baptist Church, he removed his family to Boston, and alter preaching BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL STILLMAN. 85 one year as an assistant to the late Rev. Mr. Bound, accepted an invitation to settle with the First Baptist Church, and was in- stalled over it January 9, 1765. By nature he was endowed with a sprightly genius, a good capacity, and an uncommon vivacity and quickness of ap- prehension. His I'eellings were peculiarly strong and lively, which imparted energy to whatever he did, and under the influence and control of religious principles, served to increase and diffuse his eminent piety. To this constitutional ardor both of senti- ment and action, which led him to enter with his whole soul into every subject which engaged his attention, he united a remarkable delicacy of feeling and sense of propriety, and such sprightliness and af- fability in conversation, such ease and po- liteness of manners, and at the same time such a glow of pious zeal and affection, as enabled him to mingle with all ranks and classes of people, and to discharge all his duties as a Christian minister and a citizen, with dignity, acceptance, and usefulness. The lively interest he appeared to take, in whatsoever affected the happiness or in- creased the pleasure of his friends, the gen- tleness of his reproofs and the gratification he seemed to feel in commending others, united to his social qualities, endeared him to all who knew him. The popularity of a preacher commonly declines with his years. Dr. Stillman, how- ever, was a singular exception to this gen- eral remark. He retained it for upwards of forty- two years; and his congregation, which upon his first connexion with it was the smallest in the town, at the age of seven- ty, the period of his death, he left amongst the most numerous. As a minister of Christ, his praise was in all the churches ; and wherever his name has been heard, an uncommon de- gree of sanctity has been connected with it. His principles were highly calvinistic, and all his sermons bore strong mark of his warm attachment to that system. The natural strength and ardor of his feelings, indeed, imparted zeal to whatever opinion he espoused, and activity to whatever duty he performed. Yet with all his quickness of perception, and acuteness of feeling, his temper was under admirable control, and he was always the thorough master both of his words and actions. Thus embracing what have been denominated the distin- guishing doctrines of the go.spel, he ex- plained and enforced them with clearness, and with an apostolic zeal and intrepidity. On the leading principles of the gospel, he always preached and conversed as a Christian minister, who took a deep and hearty interest in their diti'usion and estab- lishment. But he did not depend lor suc- cess on his zeal and fidelity. He knew that what he was, and what he was enabled to do in the cause of God, were wholy by his gracious influence. Whilst he realized his own entire de- pendence, and that of others, he was ani- mated in duty, believing that the Lord meeteth all who rejoice and work right- eousness, those who remember him in his ways. A subject on which he often spoke with grateful adoration was, the true and proper Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ. His views of sin as an infinite evil necessarily impressed upon his mind this truth. He considered the Saviour as an infinitely worthy object of divine worship, and in con- sequence of this dignity of character quali- fied to make atonement t'or sin. On this foundation rested his hope of salvation ; and if this were not a reality, he despaired of entering into glory, and believed the sal- vation of every sinner an impossible event. But having no doubt on this cardinal point, he was enabled to preach the gospel with clearness. On the subject of the trinity and unity of God, he literally believed the declaration of John, " There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one ;" but as to an explanation of the manner or mode of subsistence of the divine nature, he would say he had nothing to do ; for revelation did not explain it. He only de- clared it as a truth to be believed on the divine testimony. The total moral depravity of man was a principle on which he much insisted on all proper occasions. He had no idea that there was any latent spark of holiness in the heart of a natural man, which, as some suppose, can be kindled by the exertions of the sinner, and kept alive by the same means. This opinion he reprobated with all his heart, viewing it as a denial of that grace which is revealed in the gospel, and as having a natural tendency to take the crown of glory from the head of Immanuel. In contradiction of this error, he would often remark on this text as a motto conge- nial to the feelings of a believer, " Upon himself (Jesus) shall his crown flourish." So I'ar was he removed from this mistake, that he believed the real Christian, though renewed by the Holy Spirit was constantly dependent on God's immediate agency )br the origin and continuance of every gra- cious exercise. Ahhough he believed the entire sinfulness of the natural heart, he did not erroneously connect with it a licence to sin, nor suppose that men are released from moral duties because they are indisposed to them. From the lact that man is endow- ed with reason, will and alfections, he ar- 86 BIOGRAPHY OF SAMUEL S TILLMAN gued his moral obligation to believe what God has revealed and obey what he has commanded. As his views of man's depravity were clear and distinct, he of consequence saw the necessity ol'regeneration by the free and sovereign agency oi'the Holy Ghost. That operation of God by which this change is ertected, he did not consider as a mere cir- cumstantial alteration or new modification of the sinful affections, but that a new dis- position was given to the soul, well describ- ed by Paul as a new creation. In this change he supposed the person was brought to have entirely new views of moral subjects. Respecting the atonement of Christ, his sentiments were honorary to truth. He considered it as an illustration of the divine perfections not discoverable by any other medium ; exhibiting to all intelligent beings the odious nature of sin, God's love to holi- ness, and his unspeakable mercy to the guil- ty. He viewed the merits of Christ in his obedience and death, as having an infinite value, and as possessing a sufficiency for the salvation of every individual of the hu- man race, had it been the will of God to make its application to the conscience so extensive ; but from divine revelation he learned that its design was particular, re- specting, in its application to the heart, the elect only. He did not however, connect with this the erroneous idea of some, that ail men were not under obligation to repent of their sins and believe The gospel ; but whilst he believed the condemnation of sin- ners was by the moral law, he supposed that this condemnation would be greatly aggravated by a rejection of the gospel, and that they would be treated as those who despised God's grace. His ideas of the faith which accompanies salvation were, that it was a belief of the gospel ; a hearty reception of that plan of grace which is revealed in Christ Jesus, accompanied with love and every gracious exercise. He rejected the error, that the essence of faith consists in a person's be- lieving that Christ died for him in particu- lar ; no such proposition being contained in the word of God. and no one being war- ranted to believe this till he has good evi- dence of his regeneration. From his ideas of faith he naturally in- ferred that good works wuld uniformly fol- low. These he zealously enforced as an evidence of faith, but not as designed to originate it. Practical godliness was a subject on which he often preached, and which he urged on believers from the no- blest gospel motives. The purpose of God in his eternal elec- tion of a certain number ol the human race to salvation, was a principle dear to Dr. Stillman, as a truth clearly revealed. Be- lieving the carnal mind, or natural heart, to be enmity against God, he very justly concluded, that if any sinners were saved, their salvation must be effected by an in- fluence extraneous from themselves. To imagine with some, that God had left it with depraved men to meet him in any conditions they were to perform, he would represent as dishonary to the Divine Majes- ty, who will not give his glory to another. Neither could he believe that any of God's designs originated in time ; but that all his purposes were, like himself, eternal. This was his ground of encouragement to preach, knowing that God had determined by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, and that he had promised to make a willing people in the day of his power. From his clear apprehension of eternal personal election, he was firmly establish- ed in the final perseverance to eternal glo- ry of all those who are regenerated by the Spirit of God ; and that the grace given is an incorruptible seed. The opinion that religious establish- ments are contrary to the New Testament, was defended by him. His ideas on this subject are plainly expressed in his sermon before the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1779. The interference of rulers as such, in matters of conscience, he ever con- sidered as an infringement of natural right. In this sermon he showed that his own ideas on this subject were similar to those of the immortal Locke. He was a cordial friend to religious liberty ; and all his con- duct in life towards Christians from whom he differed, manifested that he was heartily willing that every conscientious citizen should worship in the manner which agreed witli the dictates of his conscience, after a candid examination of the word of God. He preached much to the feelings, and to the heart ; and numbers on whose minds naked reason and simple truth could pro- duce no serious effects, his powerful elo- quence was a happy means of touching and reclaiming. Nor was he only a preacher of righteousness. Few men ever exempli- fied more than he did, the virtues he re- commended to others. Whilst he exhibit- ed to his flock the various trials and corn- forts of Christians, whilst he guided them in the way to eternal life, he led them also by his own example. His sermons were always studied, and it was his judicious practice principally to write them. Yet Irom his manner of de- livery, (a manner peculiar to himself) he always appeared as easy as if speaking ex- tempore. Indeed it was his constant meth- od to add at the moment such thoughts as occurred to his mind whilst speaking. — These thoughts were as naturally connect- !ed with the subject as though they had BIOGRAPHY OP SAMUEL STILLMAN 87 been a studied part of it ; and as they were usually delivered with much pathos, they had the happiest effect upon the audience. As a public speaker, as a pulpit orator, he was second perhaps to none. Nature had furnished him with a pleasant and most commanding voice, the very tones of which were admirably adapted to awaken the feelings of an audience, and he always managed it with great success. His man- ner, though grave and serious, was pecu- liarly graceful, popular, and engaging. His remarkable animation gave additional interestto everysubjecthehandled. Those who heard him might with propriety have said of him what was said of another emi- nent preacher — " This man is in earnest ; he believes what he says, and he says what he believes. Verily this is a man of God. Ten such men, and Sodom would have stood." His eloquence was of the powerful and impressive rather than of the insinuating and persuasive kind, and so strikingly in- teresting, that he never preached to an in- attentive audience. And even those who dissented irom him in some minor theologi- cal opinions, were still pleased with hearing him, for they knew liis sincerity. They knew him to be a good man. Few persons are alike eminent in all the different duties of the ministerial office ; but it would perhaps be difficult to say in which of these Dr. Stillman most excelled. In prayer he always seemed to his audi- ence as if engaged with a present Deity. His addresses to heaven were generally short, but very comprehensive ; they were solemn and edifying, and usually very feel- ing and impressive ; and thus coming from the heart, they seldom failed to reach the hearts of others. In the chamber of sickness and affliction, he was always a welcome visitor. So well could he adapt his conversation, as to com- fort or to caution, to soothe or to awaken, just as the case seemed to require. And if he administered reproof, it was done in so delicate and mild a manner, that it oftener conciliated esteem than created offence. In his prayers with the sick and afflicted, however intricate the occasion, he was al- ways both appropriate and highly devo- tional. So eminent was his character for piety, and so universally was he beloved. that he was often called to the sick and al- flicted of other denominations. And his sympathetic feelings, and his fervent sup- plications seldom failed to pour the balm of consolation into the wounded bosom. The sick would almost forget their pains, and the mourner cease to sigh. How many wounded hearts he has bound up, and from how many weeping eyes he lias wiped the tears away — how many thoughtless sinners he was the means of awakening, and how many saints he has edified and built up unto eternal life — how many wav^ering minds he has settled, and to how many repent- ing sinners his words have administer- ed peace, can be fully known only at the great day ! It having pleased the author of Wisdom to visit Dr. Stillman with peculiar trials, and having largely experienced the sup- porting iniiuence of religion under them, he was eminently qualified to administer con- solation to others. Few persons could de- scribe with such accuracy, or enter with such facility into the feelings and exercises of the tempted, tried believer. Like a skil- ful surgeon, he knew when the wound was sufficiently probed, and when to apply the healing balm of promise. In the course of a few years he was call- ed to bury seven of his children, all adults, and some of them with rising families, hav- ing previously buried five children in infan- cy. But notwithstanding his domestic trials were so great, his Christian patience and submission were equal to them all. Such was his perfect confidence in the wisdom of God's government, that with all his extreme sensibilities, his mind lost nothing of its lively confidence, or of its cheerful hope. Dr. Stillman was possessed of great be- nevolence of heart, and was a sincere lover of persons of every Christian denomination, whom he esteemed pious and good. — Though from education and from principle a Baptist himself, he never believed that the peculiarities of any sect ought to form a separating line, or hinder the union of good men for the advancement of the common cause of the Redeemer. With many such he long lived in habits of undissembled friendship, and by them his death will not very soon cease to be regretted. With a view more especially to assist young men in attaining a suitable education for the ministry, he successfully employed his talents and zeal in aiding the interests of Brown University, Rhode Island, which owes much to his exertions. It might be mentioned as a proof of the high estimation in which his talents were held as a preacher, that there is scarcely any public occasion on which he has not at one time or another officiated. The uni- versity of Cambridge conferred on him the honorary degree of IVIaster of Arts, in 1761. The college in Rhode Island, of which he was both a Trustee and a fellow, in 1778 gave him a diploma of Doctor in divinity. He was elected a member of the Federal Convention for the town of Boston the same year, and distinguished himself there by a most eloquent speech in its defence. In 1789 he was appointed to deliver the anni- versary oration on independence to the 88 BIOGRAPHY OB^ SAMUEL S TILLMAN town of Boston, which he accomplished in a miinner both handsome and acceptable. Tin: social leeiinLTs of the Doctor were stroiii!:, ami his powers of conversation snch as always pleased. In his manners there was an unaffected elegance and ease, which rendered him unconmionly agreeable to every circle. The affability and kindness with wliich he treated persons of every de- scription, were not less the effect of a natu- ral delicacy than of a general knowledge of mankind. Hence to the great he never could appear servile, nor imperious to those in humbler stations. To both he was the gentleman, and in private company as much esteemed as he was popular in his public performances. His benevolent heart was feelingly alive to distress of every kind, and in contributing to its alleviation in every shape he was actively useful. We find his name amongst the first members of the Hu- mane Society of this commonwealth. Of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society he was a useful officer, and of the Boston Dispensary a member from its beginning, and president at his death. The Boston Female Assylum is likewise much indebted to his exertions. He was also an almoner of the private charity of many individuals, who confided in his knowledge and judg- ment of suitable objects. Such was the faithfulness with which he discharged the various duties incumbent on him as a minister of the gospel ; such was his zeal for the glory of God and the good of souls, that it may be truly said of him, he was the happy man. Holy, spirit- ual religion was not with him a transient, visionary thing, but the element in which he breathed. His soul was often so enlarged in declaring the glorious gospel, and in ex- patiating on the riches of God's grace as manifested in his word, that he not only seemed himself to enjoy a prelibation of heaven, but to have been enabled by divine influence to communicate this blessedness to others ; so that his friends have oflten said, after having heard his private conver- sation or public preaching, Truly our fel- lowship was with the Father, with his Son Christ Jesus, and with one another through the Spirit's influence. To his church and people he was strong- ly attached and particularly attentive. Nor did he ever suffer any calls of relaxa- tion or amusement to interfere with the con- scientious discharge of the smallest profes- sional duty. His duty was indeed always his delight, and nothing in his mind ever stood in any sort of competition with it. His congregation always reciprocated his warm attachment to them. They ever sat delighted under his preaching, and felt a pride in him as an accomplished pulpit ora- tor, no less than a love for him as an excel- lent preacher ; and neither of them were any ways diminished by the attention of strangers who visited the metropolis, and were commonly desirous of hearing this celebrated minister before they left it. It was his constant prayer that his life and usefulness might run parallel: in this his desires were gratified. He had now at- tained the age of seventy when the time of his departure had arrived. A slight indis- position detained him at home the two last Lord's days of his life. On the Wednesday following the second of them, without any previous symptoms, he was suddenly at- tacked at eleven o'clock, A. M. by a para- lytic shock. At ten at night he grew in- sensible, and at twelve his useful life and labors were terminated together. Could he have selected the manner of his death, it had probably been such an one as this which spared him the pain of separation from a flock he was most ardently attached to, and a family he most tenderly loved ; a scene Avhich, to a person of his feeling mind notwithstanding all his religion, must, have occasioned a shock. On the Monday following his death, his remains were attended to his meeting house, where a pathetic discourse was de- livered on the occasion, by the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Boston, to an immensely thronged and deeply affected assembly, from 2 Tim. iv. 7, S ; after which his remains were con- veyed to the tomb, amidst the regrets of a numerous concourse of people, who crowd- ed around his bier, anxious to take a last look of the urn whicli contained the relics of him, who once to tliem was so dear, but whose face they should now behold no more. Dr. Stiilman was of the middling stature, of slender habit of body, yet remarkably upright. He was dark complexioned, and rather pale. His countenance, though nat- urally open and cheerful, yet either from principle or habit more frequently present- ed the appearance of thoughtfulness and solemnity. The vivacity of his mind was strongly marked in the features of his face, which enabled him with uncommon ease to give language to the passions whenever his subject required it. The gracefulness of his person, the ele- gance of his manners, and above all, the dignity of his whole deportment were such, as could not fail of interesting the ffeelings of all who had the happiness of an acquaint- ance with him. Dr. Stillman's works, excepting one Ora- tion, consist altogether of Sermons. — Bene- dict. HISTORY BAPTISTS IN NEW ENGLAND FROM 1602 TO 1804. CONTAINING A VIEW OF THEIR PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, DECLENSIONS AND REVIVALS, OPPRESSION AND LIBERTY. WITH A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE BAPTISTS IN THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF AMERICA, BY ISAAC BACKUS, A. M. LATE PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN MTODLEBOROTJGH. PREFACE. The experience of mankind, from age to age gives the best light to direct our ways of any human means : and the record of the word of God is our only sure guide to eternal life. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is the way to bring us to that happy end ; and though the writings of all uninspired men are imperfect, yet by com- paring their various accounts together, we may gain much instruction from them about the accomplishment of prophecy, and many other things. These things were much upon my mind in early life, especially about the history of my own country. And when the knowl- edge of experimental religion was given me, above threescore j'ears ago, it increas- ed my attention to these things. But when some of our chief ministers requested me to engage to write our history, in 1771, the greatness of the work and the difficulty of obtaining the necessary materials, were great objections in my way. Yet their im- portunity prevailed ; and I spent much of my time in going to, and searching of the records of the old colonies of Plymouth, ihe Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connec- ticut, and of the United Colonies, which last are at Plymouth. I also searched ma- 1 Vol. L— L. ny other records and papers, as well as books of various kinds, and inquired of in- telligent persons, to get all the light I could from every quarter. And our first volume was published in 1777, the second, in 1784, and the third in 1796; and I never heard any thing published against the work, though I desired that it might be corrected. As several things have come to light of late, that, I had not before, and rtiy ability for writing is continued to old age,* I have thought it to be my duty to reduce the most useful things into one volume, with a con- cise view of our southern States, as well as to bring the history down to the present time. And as writers are often incorrect in their dates, I have paid much attention to that subject; and have given an exact table of events, according to what light I could gain, following the old style, until the new took place in 1752. Many of the new things in this volume were taken from Winthrop's journal pub- lished in 1790 ; from the publications of the Historical Society at Boston, and from a book which I borrowed of them, called " The Bloody Tenet," of which I know not of another copy in America. The ac- counts of our southern States were collect- ed partly when I was in North Carolina and Virginia, in 1789, and partly from oth- er sources of intelligence. And in the expe- ■ Eighty on January 20, 1801. 90 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND rience of two centuries, in this great coun- Iry, we may see a great variety of different schemes of government that have been tried, which may direct our choice to what is right, and to avoid evil Avays ; especial- ly tcT guard against all cruelty, deceit and violerrce. These things are humbly pre- sented to the public, by their aged friend. ISAAC BACKUS. MiDDLEBOROUGH, August 30, 1804. CHAPTER. 1. Their first church formed — They divide intu two — They remove to ATnsterdam — One goes to Leyden — They increase to three hundred — I''art of them come to American-Here many of them die — Yet the rest are prospered — Robinson dies in Holland — Yet viore came over — Their charter given — Their church order. The light of Revelation, and the super- stitions and persecutions of the church of England, were the causes of the first plant- ing of New-England. - A number of people near (he borders of the counties of York, Notingham and Lyncoln, were so much convinced of the corruptions of the church of England, that they withdrew from her in 1602, and formed another church, in which they covenanted together, to walk in all the ordinances and commadments of God, according to the light he had given, or should give them out of his holy word. But for so doing they were cruelly persecu- ted by the ruling powers of the national church. Yet they increased so much in about four years, as to divide into churches'; and this increased the resentment of their enemies so much, (hat they removed to Amsterdam in 1603. One of these church- es had the aged Mr. Richard Clifton and Mr. John Robinson for their pastors; but Clifton died at Amsterdam.* And as con- tentions had broken out in the church Mr Robinson and his peolpe removed to Ley- den in 1609, though to their temporal dis- advnatage. There they lived in peace and harmony, and increased to three hundred communicants. This caused much uneasiness in the church of England, and many things were published against them. Mr. Richard Ber- nard of Notinghamshire in particular, wrote a large book against them, which Mr. Rob- inson answered in 1610 ; and he observes, that because one Bolton, in the early part of the reign of Q,ueen Elizabeth, formed a church in a way of separation from the church of England, which persecution brought him to renounce, and afterwards to hang himself; and Robert Brown, a minister of that church came out and formed several separate churches, and yet turned back again into the national church, Mr. Bernard brought these instances as argu- ments against all who separated from them. Upon which Robinson said. " The uni- versal apostacy of all the bishops, minis- ters, students in the universities, yea, of the whole church of England in Queen Mary's days (a handful in comparison excepted) might more colorably be urged by the pa- pists against Mr. Bernard, tlian some lew instances against us. The fall of Judas, an apostate, of Nicolas one of the seven deacons, and of Demas, one of Paul's special companions in the ministry, sufficiently teach us that there is no cause so holy, nor calling so excellent, as not to be subject to the invasion of paint- ed hypocrites.* And as Mr. Bernard re- ferred to many evils in the primitive church- es, as a plea that the church of England might be a true church of Christ, notwith- standing all her corruptions, Robinson says, " It is true that the apostles mentioned them, but always with utter dislike, severe reproof, and strict charges to reform them. Rom. xvi. 17. 1 Cor. v. 1 Thess. v. 14. 2 Thess. iii. 6. 1 Tim. vi 5 Rev. ii. 14 — 16, 20. But how doth this concern you ? Though Paul and (he apostles with him ; yea, though Christ himself from heaven should admonish any of your churches to put away any person, though never so he- retical or flagitious, you could not do it.-'f " Your prelates govern, or rather reign, but teach not ; your parish priests teach so much as they dare for fear of their impe- rious lords, but they govern not.":!: ', No- thing hath more advanced the tlirone of anti-christ in former days, nor doth more uphold it at this day than the people's dis- charging themselves of the care of public affairs in the church, on the one side, and the priest and prelates arrogating all to themselves, on the other."l| " And I doubt not but Mr. Bernard, and a thousand more ministers in the land (were they secure of the magistrate's sword, and might they go on with good license) would wholly shake off their canonical obedience to their ordi- naries, and neglect their citations and cen- sures, and refuse to sue in their courts, for all the peace of the church, which they commend to us for so sacred a thing."§ This remark was plainly verified in tlie vast numbers who afterwards came over to New England, who did not separate from ' Prince's Chronoligy, page 2r>4. * Prince's Clironologj', p. 2&1. t Rohmson, page 53—55. X Robinson, page S2. ■f lii^hinson, page 359, 201. § Robinson, page. 14. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, gx the national church before they came away. The following account may give us some idea of his views of gospel doctrines. James Arminius, a professor of divinity in the university of Leyden, died there in 1609 ; but the opinions he had advanced have caused much controversy ever since. It was so sharp at Leyden in 1612, be- tween the two professors in their universi- ty, that few of the disciples of the one would hear the other ; but Mr. Robinson, though he preached thrice a week, and wrote sundry books, beside many other la- bors, yet went constantly to hear them both, whereby he was grounded in the contro- versy, and saw the force of all their argu- ments. And in 1613, Episcopius set forth sundry Arminian theses at Leyden, which he would delend in public against all oppo- sers ; upon which Polyander, and the chief preachers of the city, desired Mr. Robinson to dispute against him. But being a stranger, he was loth to en- gage ; yet the other telling him, that such was the ability and expertness of the ad- versary, that truth was in danger of suffer- ing if he would not help them, he at length yields ; and when the day came he defend- ed the truth and foiled the opposer, so as to put him to an apparent nonplus in a great and public audience. The same he does a second and a third time, upon like occasions ; which caused many to praise God, and highly esteem Mr. Robinson.* Thus it appears thai Mr. Robinson was a firm believer of those doctrines which are called Calvinism, while he was earnest for allovviag all men liberty of conscience ; and that the contrary behavior of many was not owing to that plan of doctrine, but to other causes. For the rulers in Holland held firmly to that doctrine, and yet they established such religious liberty as was not then enjoyed in any other part of Eu- rope. But though their religious privi- leges were great, yet many other things caused Mr. Robinson and his people to de- sire a removal to a better country. For most of tliem had been bred to husbandry, which they had not advantages to follow in Holland ; and the language and man- ners of the Dutch were not agreeable to them, and their little regard to the Sab- bath, and other religious duties, were of- fensive to them ; and the climate of the country was not favorable to their health, but their children were oppressed with la- bor and disease, so as to abate the vigor of nature in early age ; neither could they be willing to lose their interest in the Eng- lish nation, and the government thereof, if they could obtain liberty of conscience from thence. And they believed that if they Prince's Chmology, p. 35,33. could have such liberty granted them in America many would remove thither who would enlarge the English dominions, and also spread the light of tlie gospel among the heathen. They therefore sent two agents to England in 1617, to petition for such liberties and privileges. And having received some encouragement from the council there, who had the care of the American affairs, Mr. Robinson and Elder Brewster wrote to them these encourage- ing considerations. " 1. We verily believe and trust that the Lord is with us ; to whom and whose service we have given our- selves in many trials, and that he will graciously prosper our endeavors accord- ing to the simplicity of our hearts. 2. — We are well weaned from the delicate milk of our mother country, and innured to the difficulties of a strange land. 3. The people are, for the body of them, industrious and frugal, we think we may safely say, as any company of people in the world. 4. We are knit together as a body, in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord ; of the violations whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we hold ourselves straightly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole. 5. It is not with us, as with other men, whom small things can discourage, and small discouragements cause to wish ourselves at home again."* Herein they were not mistaken, as will soon appear ; for though contentions in said council, and other things, delayed their proceedings for three years, and tliey could not obtain a promise of liberty of con- science in this country, but only that the king would connive at them, and not molest them if they carried peaceably, yet casting themselves on the care of Providence, they resolved to venture." But as they could not obtain help enough, from the merchant adventurers in England, to carry over half their society at first, Mr. Robinson was obliged to stay with the majority in Holland, while elder Brewster came with the rest to America. And before they came away Mr. Robinson gave them tliis solemn advice. Said he, " We are now to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth wheth- er I shall live to see your faces again : but whether he hath appointed it or not, I charge you before God and his blessed an- gels to follow me no further than I have followed Christ. And if God shall reveal any thhig to you by any other instrument of his be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry ; for I am very confident that the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out Prince, p. 51,52. 92 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. ,of his holy word." Here he took occasion to bewail'the state and condition of the re- formed churches who were come to a peri- od in religion, and would go no further than the instruments of their reformation. "As for example, the Lutherans could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; tor whatever part of God's will he had further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And so you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them, a misery much to be lamented ; for though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God has not reveal- ed his whole will to them. And were they now living, they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light, as that they had received. And here I must put you in mind of our church covenant, where- in we promise and covenant with God and one another, to receive whatsoever light or truth that shall be made known to us from his written word. But withal, I ex- hort you to take heed what you receive for truth, and w'ell to examine and compare it with other Scriptures before you receive it ; for it is not possible that the christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once."* And after an afi'ectionate parting, Mr Robinson, on July 27, 1620, sent them the following letter : " Loving Christian Friends. I do heartily, and in the Lord salute you, as being those with whom I am present in my best affections, and most earnest long ing after you, though I be constrained for a while to be bodily absent from you: I say constrained ; God knowing how willing and much rather than otherwise, I would have borne my part with you in the first brunt, were I not by strong necessity held back for the present. Make account of me in the mean time as a man divided in my self, with great pain (and as natural bonds set aside) having my better part with you and although 1 doubt not but in your godly Avisdoms you both foresee and resolve upon mat which concerneth your present state and condition, both severally and jointly; yet have I thought it but my duty to ad(" some further spur of provocation unto them who run already, if not because you need it, yet because I owe it in love and duty And first, as we are daily to renew our re- pentance with our God, especially for our sins known, and generally for our unknown trespasses; so doth the Lord callus in a pingular manner, upon occasions of such difficulty and danger as lieth ypon you, to ^Vinslow against Gorton, p. 97, ! both a narrow search and careful reforma- tion of your ways in his sight, lest he call- ing to remembrance our sins forgotten by us, or unrepented of, take advantage- against us, and in judgment leave us to be swallowed up in one danger or other. — Whereas, on the contrary, sin being taken away by earnest repentance, and the par- don thereof from the Lord sealed up to a man's concience by his Spirit, great shall be his security and peace in all dangers, sweet his comforts in all distresses, with happy deliverance from evil, whether in life or death. . " Now next after this heavenly peace with God and our consciences, we are care- fully to provide tor peace with all men, what lieth in us, especially with our associates ; and for that watchfulness must be had, that we neither at all in ourselves do give, no, nor easily take offence being given by others. Wo be to the world for offences ; for although it be necessary, considering the malice of Satan and men's corruptions, that offences come, yet wo unto the man, or woman either, by whom the offence Cometh, saith Christ, Mat. xviii. ?" And if offences in the unseasonable use of things in themselves indifferent be more to be feared than death itself, as the apostle teacheth, 1 Cor. ix. 15. how much more in things simply evil, in which neither the honor of God, nor love to man is thought worthy to be regarded ; Neither yet is it sufficient that we keep ourselves by the grace of God from giving offence, except withal we be armed against taking of them when they are given by others ; for how imperfect and lame is the work of grace in that person, who wants charity to cover a multitude of offences! as the scrip- ture speaks. Neither are you to be ex- horted to this grace, only upon common grounds of Christianity, which are, that persons ready to take offence either want charity to cover offences, or duly to weigh human frailties ; or lastly, are gross though close hypocrites, as Christ our Lord teach- eth. Mat. vii. 1 — 3. As indeed in my own experience, few or none have been found who sooner give offence, than such as easily take it; neither have they ever proved sound and proffitable members in societies, who have nourished this touchy humor. But besides these, there are di- vers motives provoking you above others to great care and conscience of this Avay ; as first, there are many of you strangers, as to the persons, so to the infirmities of one another, and so stand in need of more watchfulness this way. lest when such things fall out in men and women as you expected not, you be inordinately afiiscted with them, which doth require at your hands much wisdom and charity for the HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 93 coveriri'^ and preventing: of incidental of- fences that way. And lastly, your intend- ed course of civil community* will minister continual occasion of offence, and be as fuel for that fire, except you diligently quench it with brotherly forbearance. And if taking offence causelessly or easi- ly at man's doings, be so carefully to be avoid- ed, how much more heed is to be taken that we take not offence at God himself! which we certainly do, so oft as we murmur at his providence in our crosses, or bear impa- tiently such afflictions wherewith he is pleased to visit us. Store up thereibre pa- tience against the evil day ; without which we take offence at the Lord himself in his holy and just works. There is a fourth thing carefully to be provided for; viz: that with your common employments you join common affections truly bent upon the general good, avoiding as a deadly plague of both your common and special comforts, all retiredness of mind for proper advantage, and all singularly affected every manner of way ; let every man repress in himself, and the whole body in each person as so many rebels against the common good, all private respects of men's selves, not sorting with the general convenience. And as men are careful not to have a new house shaken with violence, before it be well settled, and the parts firmly knit ; so be you, I beseech you, brethren, much more careful that the house of God (which you are) be not sha- ken with unnecessary novelties, or other oppositions at the first settling thereof " Lastly, whereas you are to become a body politic, using civil government among yourselves, and are not furnishedwith spe- cial eminency above the rest, to be chosen by you into office of government; let your wisdom and godliness appear, not only in choosing such persons as do entirely love, and will promote the common good ; but also in yielding unto them all due honor and obedience in their lawful administra- tions ; not beholding in them the ordinari- ness of their persons, but God's ordinance for your good ; not being like the foolish multitude, who honor the gay coat more than either the virtuous mind of the man, or the glorious ordinance of the Lord; but you know better things, and that the image of the Lord's power and authority, which the magistrate beareth is honorable in how mean persons soever; and tiiis duty you may the more willingly, and ought the more occasionably to perform, because you are (at least for the present) to have them for your ordinary governors which your- selves shall make choice of for that work. " Sundry other things of importance I could put you in mind of, and of those be- • Fo: comnii seven years their all",i)rs were manage. I in one m slock fore mentioned in more words ; but I will not so far wrong your godly minds, as to think you heedless of these things, there beincr also divers among you so well able both to admonish themselves and oth- ers of what concerneth them. These few things, therefore, and the same in few words, I do earnestly commend to your care and conscience, joining therein with my daily incessant prayer unto the Lord, that he who made the Heavens and the earth, and sea, and all rivers of water, and whose provi- dence is over all his works, especially over all his dear children for good, would so guide and guard you in your ways, as in- wardly by his Spirit, so outwardly by the hand of his power, as that both you, and we also, for and with you, may have after matter of praising his name all the days of your and our lives. Fare you well in him in whom you trust and in whom I rest an unfaigned well-wisher to your happy suc- cess in your hopetui voyage. JOHN ROBINSON."* This they received at Southampton in England ; and these excellent instructions had lasting influence upon their posterity. Two ships had been provided to carry them to America, but after sailing twice, and turning back, one of them was left, and the other sailed from Plymouth, September 6, and landed on Cape Cod, November 11. And as this was northward of where they had any patent, they drew a covenant for their civil government, which was signed before they landed by John Carver, Wil- liam Bradford, Edward Winslow, Isaac Allerton, William Brewster, Miles Stan- dish, John Alden, Samuel Fuller, and thirty three more, their wdiole number being 101 souls. Mr. Carver was chosen their gov- ernor ; and they had a tedious time to find out a place to settle in ; but on December 16, 1620, the ship came into the habor which they called Plymouth, and then they had to build themselves habitations, in a cold winter season, without any friend to help them. They intended to have gone to Hudson's river, but the Dutch had hired the master of the ship deceitfully to prevent it ; though God meant it tor their good ; for the Indians were numerous tliere, while there were none here. A great sickness a few years before had laid this place deso- late, and had swept off most of the Indians for forty miles round, so that those who re- mained were glad of their help against the Naragansets, where the sickness did not reach ; and here were fields ready cleared for them, who had no cattle to help them till several years after. How wonderful are the works of God ! Yea, and his judgments are a great deep; Mor;<>n. p.i.i;o 7-10. 94 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND for by reason of their long voyage, and the difficulties of the winter foilovving, without good accommodations, near half of their comj)any died in six months, among whom was governor Carver and his wile. — Yet the survivors were wonderfully supported and the chief sachem of the Indians in these parts came to Plymouth in March, 1621, and entered into a friendly covenant with them, which lasted all tiieir days. After- wards some friends in England wrote to them, and said. " we are still persuaded, you are the people that must make a plantation and erect a city in those remote places, when all others fail."* And they will be remem- bered to the latest posterity. Massassoit. the sachem who had made a league with them, having found out a plot which was laid against the English in the spring of 1623, . by some Indians in the Massachusetts Bay, informed our fathers of Plymoutli of it and advised them to cut off' a few leaders in it, whom he named, which they did, and so the plot was entire- ly crushed.f Such a scarcity also came upon them in that year, that they had no bread at Plymouth from the time of their planting until their corn was grown ; but they lived upon fish, deer, fowls and ground nuts. And to add to their trials, a great, drought came on with heat, from the third week in May to the middle of July, so that! their corn withered as if it were dead ; and! a siiip which tliey had long expected did notarrive, butthey thoughtthey sawsignsol' of its being wrecked on the coasts. This was distressing indeed ; but their authority set apart a day of fasting and prayer to secK help I'rom their God, and they found it was not in vain; for though the I'ormer part of the day was clear and hot, yet before their exercise was over the clouds gathered, and distilled next morning in gentle showers, and so lor fourteen days together, which revived their corn and other Iruits, so thai they had a plentiful harvest. And soon after, the slnp which they expected arrived, and another in a i'ew days wherein came, sixty of their friends. J And they never had such scarcity afterwards. Mr. Robinson and most of his people were detained in Holland, until after a short sickness, he died there on March 1, 1625, in the (ii'tieth year of his age, greatly lamented by his people both there and here. His family came over afterwards, and his son Isaac lived to be above ninety years old and lelt male posterity in the county of Barnstable. The company of adventurers in England would not be at the expense of conveying these and others from Leyden, and yet demanded the pay for their former * HiRtorical Societv. vol. 3, page 33, t Prince, p. 129— f33. t Ibid, p. 137— 13'J. expenses. Therefore in 1628 their friends here engaged to do it, when William Brad- lord, Miles Standish, Isaac Allerton, Ed- ward VVinslow, William Brewster. John Howland, John Alden, and Thomas Prince, with four friends in London after having the trade of this colony secured to them, undertook to pay the debts of the colony in England, which were eighteen hundred pounds sterling, and also to bring those friends over.* And in August 1629, thirty- five families arrived at Plymouth, from Leyden, the transporting of whom cost five hundred and fifty pounds sterling, besides supporting of them above a year more, till they had a harvest of their own, all of which was freely given them.f A wonderful in- stance of Christian generosity. On January 13, 1630, the Council for New England gave a patent to William Bradford and his associates and assigns of all that part of New England between Co- hasset rivulet towards the north, and Nar- raganset river towards the south, the west- ern ocean towards the east, and between a straight line directly extending up into the main land toward the north from the mouth of Narraganset river, to the utmost bounds of a country in New England, called Pa- canokit, alias Swamset, westward, and another straight line extending directly from the mouth of Cohasset river towards the west, so far into the main land west- ward as to the utmost limits of the said Pa- canokit or Swamset extend ; and also a tract of land extending fifteen miles wide on each side of Kennebeck river, &.c.,|: and this continued a distinct government until 1692. In 1621, they chose a governor and one assistant with him ; in 1624, they chose five assistants ; and in 1633, they chose a governor and served assistants, and contin- ued that number as long as they remained a distinct government. As to the government of the Church, they held the power to be in each particu- lar Church, to receive and exclude mem- bers, and to choose and ordain officers though they would act in fellowship with sifter churches. As to officers, they held to having pastors, ruling elders, and dea- cons. Their ruling elders were to have the gifts ol' public teachers, but not to ad- minister the ordinances of baptism and the holy supper. Such was Mr. William Brewster, from tlieir first coming to this land, until he died in 1644. They also held that every brother in the church might im- prove his giils in public teaching, if he had gifts that could edify the brethren, to whom They were to be subject. Some of their proofs for it were these : One apostle says, ' Historical CollecUons at Boston, 1794, p. 61. t Prince, p. 1G8, 192. I Prince, p. 196, 197. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 95 " he that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. And ye may all prophecy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted." 1 Cor. xiv. 3, 31. — And another says, " As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let nim rspeak as the oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter, iv. 10, 11.* Though they took much pains yet they never obtain- ed a pastor here, until Mr. 'Ralph Smith came over with the Salem company in 1629, and not being wanted there, he came that year to Plymouth, and was their pastor about six years. CHAPTER II. A Church settled at Salem — Governor Winthrop comes over with their charter — Church and State united — Williams ban- ished — His great service in the Pequot wai — A Synod at Cambridge — A new court called, loho punished many whom the synod had condemned. After our fathers at Plymouth, through great dangers and difficulties, had pre- pared the way, many who disliked the corruption and oppressions in the church of England made preparation for a remo- val into this country. Mr. John White, a minister at Dorchester in England, prevail- ed with a number of wealthy men to write over to Roger Conant and others, who were scatered in different places, to repair to Cape Ann, and they would send over money and goods to assist them in planting an fishing ; and they did so with success. And on March 19, 1628, the Council for the affairs of New England which lies be- tween lines drawn three miles north of every part of Merimack river, and three miles south of every part of Charles river and the Massachusetts bay, and extending west from the Atlantic ocean to the south sea. And they sent over Mr. John Endi- cot as governor of said people, who made Salem to be their chief town ; and on March 4, 16 29, king Charles granted the Massachusetts charter, including all the lands before described, to be holden of him and his heirs and successors. AndJMr. Francis Higginson and Samuel Skelton, with two other ministers and above three hundred persons with them, came over to • Robtnson against Bernard, p. 235. Salem and gathered a church, and ordain- ed these two ministers on August 6, 1629, and also a ruling elder; and they received the right hand of fellowship from the church of Plymouth the same day.* So early did they join with those here, whom many had censured for separating from the church of England in their native country. And on June 12, 1630, governor Win- throp arrived at Salem ; and about fifteen hundred people came over that year bring- ing the Masschusetts charter with them, and the churches of Boston, Dorchester, and Watertown, were soon formed and or- ganized like Salemj as Charlestown also was in 1632. At first they received mem- bers by a general declaration of their faith, and the discovery of a regular walk ; but they afterwards required of each one an account of a change of heart by the work of God's Spirit. Mr. John Wilson was the first pastor of the Church of Charlestown and IBoston, who was ordained with a ruling elder and two deacons, August 27, 1630. Governor Winthrop says, " We used im- position of hands but with this protestation by all, that it was only a sign of election and confirmation, not of any mtent that Mr. Wilson should renounce his ministry he re- ceived in England."! But he afterwards informsus, that when a minister had resign- ed his pastoral charge of any church, he was then" no minister," by the received determination of their churches ; and also they that did not allow any elders to lay on hands in ordinations, but those who were of the church where the ordination was.J But in 1648 that liberty was granted in their platform. The General Court at Boston, May 18, 1631, made a law that no man should here- after be admitted as a freeman, to have a vote in their government, but a member in some of their churches. On Sept. 4, 1633, arrived a ship, in which came John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Samuel Stone, min- isters, and John Haynes, afterwards gov- ernor of the Massachusetts, and then of Connecticut. Mr. Cotton was soon set- tled in the ministry at Boston, where he had much influence, both in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the country, till he died. But Mr. Hooker could not agree with him in some things of great impor- tance, though he did in others. Hooker and Stone settled first at Cambridge, and then removed with many others to Hartford, in 1636, and were leaders in the colony of Connecticut, where men were received to be ly-eemen who were not members of their churches. They also held that none had •Princo, p. aS. 190, 191. t Journal, p. 20. : Journal, page 257, 2S3. 96 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND a right to bring their children to baptism but cominuniccints, while Cotton was for others doing it, if they were not scandalous. And he was for carrying the power of councils higher than Hooker would. Governor Wintlirop gives the following account of the manner of their forming churches, and receiving members into them, which was soon established. It was, that where a church was designed to be gath- ered, their chief rulers and ministers nmst be convened, and those who were to be the first members of the church were to tell their experiences before them, and have their ap- probation, or else they were not to proceed. Of this he relates the following example. In 1635, the most of the church in Dorchester, with their minister, removed up, and plant- ed Windsor, and began the colony of Con- necticut; in which year Mr. Richard Mather came over and settled in Dorchester. And on April 11, 1636, many rulers and minis- ters met there for the purpose of forming a new church ; but it was not done, be- cause the most of those who intended to be members were thought not to meet at present to be the foundation of a church, because they had built their hopes of sal- vation upon unsound grounds, viz. Some upon dreams and ravishes of spirit by fits; others upon reformation of their lives ; others upon duties and performances, &c. wherein discovered three special errors. 1. That they had not come to hate sin be- cause it is filthy, but only left it because it is hurtful. 2. That by reason of this they had never truly closed with Christ, (or rather Christ with them) but had made use of him only to help the imperfections of their sanclification and duties, and not made him their sanclification, wisdom, &c. 3. They expected to believe by some power of their own, tind not only and wholly from Christ. These are the view^s that Governor Win- throp had of Christian experiences, and of how churches should be gathered. And satisfaction was gained the fall after, when a churcn was gathered there.* Perhaps he and many rulers and teach- ers among them, were as wise and pious men as any who ever undertook to estab- lish religion upon earth by huuman laws?, enforced by the sword of the magistrate ; and the evils which they ran into ought to be imputed to that principle, and not to any others which they held that were agreeable to the gaspel. But as their per- secutors in England were then exerting all their influence to bring these people again under their power in religious mat- ters, they took such measures to defend themselves as cannot be justified ; and as • Wirithrop, page 98, 105. Mr. Roger Williams earnestly labored to prevent those measures, and to promote the establishment of full liberty of con- science in this country, they bent all their power against him. According to his own account, and good inibrmation from others, he was born in Wales in the year 1599, and he had the early patronage of the famous Sir. Edward Coke ; was educated at the university of Oxford, and was introduced into the min- istry in the church of England. But he soon found that he could not in conscience conform to many things in their worship ; therefore he came over to this country, and arrived at Boston in B^ebruary 1631 ; and in April he was called to preach at Salem ; but us he had refused to com- mune with the church at Boston, and ob- jected against the oaths they took when they came out of England, and the force in religious afl'airs which they exercised here, the court at Bf)ston wrote to Salem against him, upon which he went to Plym- outh, where he preached aB'crre two years, and was highly esteemed by Governor Bradford and others. Mr Prince supposed that he had taken the oath of a freeman at Boston in May 1531, because a man of his name is upon their records in that month ; but this was an evident mistak, and I found a Roger Williams upon their records the fall before this minister came to America. As these colonies had received the grant of American lands from the kings of Eng- land, Mr. Williams wrote his thoughts against it while he lived at Plymouth, which some liked, and others did not ; and as Mr. Skelton was sick at Salem, Williams was invited there to preach in his place, and he obtained a dismission in the sum- mer of 1633, and preached there till Skel- ton died, August 2, 1634, after which he was ordained in Salem. He had spoken against the meeting of ministers by them- selves, once a fortnight, fearing that it might grow in time to a presbytery or su- perintendency over the churches ;* and greater difficulties soon followed. Thair charter gave them no power to make any laws contrary to the laws of England, and they had sworn to act ac- cordingly ; yet when they met at Boston, May, 14, 1634, before they elected their officers, the assembly passed an act which said, " It was agreed and ordered, that the former oath of freemen shall be revoked, so far as it is dissonant from the oath of freemen hereunto written, and that those that received the former oath shall stand bound no further thereby, to any intent or purpose, than this new oath ties them that take the same. ' Winthrop, p 57. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS II\ NEW-ENGLAND. 97 The Oath of a Freeman. I. A. B. being by God's providence an in- habitant and freeman in this Common- wealth, do freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the government thereof, and therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful name of the everliving God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and sop- port hereunto with my person and estate as in equity I am bound, and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof, submiiing myself to the wholesome laws and orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot nor practice any evil against it. nor consent that any shall so do ; but will truly discover and reveal the same to lawful authority now here es- tablished, for the speedy preventing there- of. Moreover I solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, that when I shall be call- ed to give my voice touching any such matters of this state wherein freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, without respect of per- sons or favors of any man ; so help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ." And it appears that they never acted any more in the name of the kings of England, until after 1660. And what a stretch of arbitrary power was this ! Yet men might still chose whether they would take this oath or not, if they would be con- tent not to be freemen. But when they met again, March 4, 1635, they enacted, " That every man of or above the age of sixteen years, who hath been or shall here- after be resident within this jurisdiction by the space of six months, (as well servants as others) and not infranchised, shall take the oath of residents, belbre the governor, deputy governor, or two of the next assis- tants, who shall have power to convent him for that purpose ; and upon his refusal, to bind him over to the next court of assis- tants, and upon his refusal the second time to be punished at the discretion of the court. It is ordered that the freeman's oath shall be given to every man of or above the age of sixteen years, the clause for election of magistrates only excepted. Now as this act was to bind all, Mr. Williams openly preached against it at Salem, for which the governor and assis- tants convented him before them on April 30 ; but he refused to retract what he had done, and Mr. Cotton says, "The court was forced to desist from that proceeding."* Indeed he calls it the first of these acts, but • Tenet washpil. part page 29. Vol. 1.— M. Governor Winthrop shows it to be the sec- ond.* And because of it, they at their meeting in May took away some land from Salem, by an act which said, " The land betwixt the Clift and the Forest river, near Marblehead, shall for the present be im- proved by John Humphrey, Esq. ; and as the inhabitants of Marblehead shall stand in need of it, the said John Humphrey shall part with it, the said inhabitants allowing him equal recompence for his labor and cost bestowed thereupon; provided that if in the mean time the inhabitants of Salem can satisfy the court that they have a true right unto it, that then it shall belong unto the inhabitants thereof" And how was that satisfaction to be given? Why they gave up Mr. Williams in the fall after, and when the court met, March 3, 1636, they said, " It was proved to this court that Marble- neck belongs to Salem." Thus it stands upon their records, though Mr. Cotton pretends that Salem only peti- tioned for land in May, 1635 ; instead of their having some taken from them, until they gave him up. That act of taking land from them, appeared so evil to Mr. Williams and his church, that they wrote letters of reproof to the churches where those rulers belonged; upon which their rulers and ministers met in July, and gave Williams notice that he should be banished if he did not give them satisfaction ; and Salem church yielded so much to them that he left preaching to them in August. And when the court met in September, Governor Winthrop says, ''Mr. Endicot made a protestation in justification of the letters formerly sent from Salem to other churches against the magistrates and dep- uties, for which he was committed, but the same day he came and acknowledged his fault, and was discharged."! He after- wards acted at the head of their govern- ment in hanging the quakers ; but as Wil- liams remained steadfast their record says, Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged divers new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates, as also writ letters of de- famation both of the magistrates, and churches here, and that before any convic- tion, and yet maintaineth the same with- out any retraction; it is therelbre ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing, which if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful for the governor and two magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without leave from the court." ' Journal, pa£;e 80. t Journal, j). '84, 86. 98 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. As he did not go, they sent for him to come to Boston in January, 1636, but he Gent an excuse for noi coming; upon which they sent an officer to take him, and to con- vey him on board a ship bound for Eng- land ; bat wlienthe officer got to Salem, he had been gone three days.* He first went to the place since called Rehoboth ; but Governor Winslow wrote to him, that he was then within Plymouth colony, but if he would only go over the river, he would be out of it, and be as free as themselves. And he readily did so, and obtained a grant of lands from the Naraganset Indians, where he began the first civil government upon earth that gave equal liberty of con- science. Though before he obtained it, he says " I was sorely tossed for fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not know- ing what bread and bed did mean."t And from a view of the great things which God had done for him, he called the place Providence. The nature of true liberty of conscience was very little understood then in the world. And as God had brought the people here, out of an Egyptian bondage, and given them a good land, they imagined .that they ought to imitate the children of Israel, in punishing the wicked, and in establishing an holy government in this great country. And from hence, they who opposed such a great and good work, appeared to them exceedingly criminal. A noted man, who was then active among them, thought that Christ called them, not only to assist in building up his churches, but also in pull- ing down the kingdom of antichrist; and that he said to them, " You are not set up for tolerating times, nor shall any of you be content with this, that you are set at liberty, but to take up your arms, and march manfully on till all opposers of Christ's kingly power are abolished. — Have you not the blessedest opportunity put into your hands that ever any people had ? Then fail not in the prosecution of the work, for your Lord hath furnished you with able pilots, to steer the helm in a god- ly, peaceable, civil government also ; then see you make choice of such as are sound both in profession and confession, men fear- ing God and hating bribes ; whoae commis- sion is not limited to the commands of the second table, but they are to look to the rules of the first also ; and let them be sure to put on Joshua's resolution and cour- age, never to make a league with any of these seven sectaries. The Gortonists, who deny the humanity of Christ, and most blasphemously and proudly profess them- eelves to be personally Christ. 2. The Pa- pists, who with almost equal blasphemy ' .Toumal, paije 02. t Historical Society, vol. 1, page 275 and pridQ prefer their own merits and works of supererogation as equal with Christ's invaluable death and sufferings. 3. The Familists, who depend upon rare revelations, and forsake the sure revealed word of Christ. 4. The Seekers, who de- ny the churches and ordinances of Christ. 5. Aniinomians, who deny the moral law to be the rule of Christ. 6. Anabaptists, who deny civil government to be proved of Christ. 7. The Prelacy, who will have their own injunctions submitted unto in the churches of Christ."* Here we planily learn the cause why Mr. Williams was treated so cruelly. — But as God overruled the cruel selling of Joseph to the heathen, as a means of saving the lives of many people ; so the banishing of Mr. Williams made him a chief instru- ment of saving all the English in New England from destruction. For he had obtained much knowledge of the Indian language, and friendship Avith them, when a Avar was ready to break out with the most powerful nation in the land. Of this a concise view was given, by Governor Trumbull and the general court ol'Connec- ticut, in 1774, in answer to a query from England, to know by what title they held their lands. Upon it, they said, " The original title to the lands on Avhich the col- ony was first settled, was at the time the Enghsh came hither, in the Pequot nation of Indians, who were numerous and war- like; their country extended from Nara- ganset to Hudson's river, and over all Long Island. Saffacus, their great Saga- more had under him twenty six sachems ; he injuriously made war upon the English ; he exercised despotic dominion over his subjects ; he with all his sachems and peo- ple were conquered, and made tributaries to the English. The war being ended, considerations and settlements were made with such sachems and people as remained, who came in and received full contentment and satisfaction."! Some Indians up Connecticut river had been so much oppressed by Saffacus, that that they came down to Plymouth and Boston, so early as 1631, to get some of the English to go up and settle there.]: And they afterwards went up to trade there several times, before they planted Windsor, and began a fort at Saybrook, in 1635, and Hartford in 1636. But the Pequots killed several men, from time to time until they murdered John Oldham, near Block Island because they went to trade that way. Mr. Williams began at Providence in the spring of 1636, just before Oldham was killed, the news ot which they first received from * Johnson, page 7, 8. t Said answer, page 4. J Wintlirop, p. 25. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 99 him at Boston, July 26 ; upon which the governor there wrote to him to use all his influence with the Narragansets, to obtain their help against the Pequots. This he did so expeditiously, as to return their an- swer July 30. Messengers were then sent to the Narragansets, who returned to Bos- ton with a favorable answer on August 13. An army was then sent round by water, to revenge the death of Oldham, and to try to bring the Pequots to terms ; but they re- turned without success.* Upon a sight of their danger, the Pequots sent directly to the Narragansets, with whom they had been at war several years, and desired that they would make peace with them and for all to join together, and to drive the English out of the country ; saying. If you should help the English to subdue us you would thereby make way for your own ruin ; and we need not come to open battle with them, only fire their houses, kill their cattle, and lie in wait and shoot them as they go about their business, and they Avill soon be forced to leave the country, and the Indians not be exposed to much hazard."! What policy was here ! and what would the English have done, if they had sent Williams out of the country as they intend- ed ? but a kind providence prevented it, and he now wrote an account of these to Boston ? upon which they sent to him to do his utmost for their relief; and he says, " The Lord helped me immediately to put my life in my hand, and scarce acquaint- ing my wife, to ship myself all alone in a poor canoe, and to cut through a stormy wind with great seas, every minute in hazard of my life, to the sachem's house. Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequot ambassa- dors, whose hands and arms methought wreaked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them on Con- necticut river, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also. But God wonderfully preserved nie, and helped me to break to pieces their design, and to make, promote, and finish, by many travels and charges, the English league with the Narragansets and Mohegans against the Pequots.J He prevailed with Miantenimo, the chief sa- chem of the Narragansets. to come to Bos- ton in October, and to covenant with them to war against the Pequots till they were sub- dued ; and they sent a copy of it to Mr. Williams, who could best hiterpret it to him.ll Uncas, the sachem of the Mohegans, who lived between New London and Nor- • Winthrop, p. 103— lOS. t Prrtiicf to Mason's History, p. 4. X Historical Society, vol. 1. p.-».'77. 11 Winthrop, p. 109, 110. wich, had revolted from the Pequots a little before, and now joined against them ; and the colonies agreed to raise an army against them in the spring. But the Pequots were too early for them, and sent an army up the river in April, and killed several, and captivated others ; upon which Connecticut raised an army of ninety English, and an hundred Mohegan Indians, who went down to Saybrook, where captain Underbill joined them with nineteen men upon which twenty of the others were sent back, and then the army sailed to the Nar- raganset bay, under the command of cap- tain John Mason of Windsor. After they landed, many of the Narragansets joined them, and they marched over Powcatuck river, and encamped in the night ; but the Narragansets were so much afraid of the Pequots, that they all forsook the English, and the Mohegans went behind them. Yet captain Mason and his men assaulted Mistick fort in Stonington, a little before day. May 26, 1637, and by fire and sword destroyed six or seven hundred Pequots, in about an hour, when only seven were cap- tivated, and about seven escaped ; while he had but two men killed, and twenty wound- ed.* Safiacus was at another fort where some of his own men were for killing him, because he had caused this dreadful war ; but others pleaded for him, though they all concluded to flee over Connecticut river. After which general Stoughton came up with 120 men, and Mason and part of his men joined him and they pursued the Pe- quots beyond New Haven, and Safl'acus fled to the Mohawks, who cut oti'his head, and informed tbe English of it. So many Pequots were slain or captivated, thai the rest sued for peace, which was granted upon condition of their quitting their name, and former habitations, and being dispersed among the Mohegans and Narragansets, who should pay an annual tribute for them, while others were servants to the English. All this was accomplished in about six months, as appears by the journal of Gov- ernor Winthrop, the history of captain Mason, and other accounts ; and Indian sa- chems, came to Boston in 1538, from all the country, as well as from Long Island, to express their gratitude to (he English for this victory, as Governor Winthrop inlbrms us. And captain Mason says, in liis iiisto- ry, that they had but two hundred and fifty men in all Connecticut when the war be- gan, and they were in the midst of those enemies. How wonderful then was their victory, which opened a wide door for the English to fill the country! Governor Eaton and Mr. Davenport, who came over in the time of the war, went and planted ■ Mason's History, p. 10. lOOHlST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND New Haven, in 1638, and began another colony, who allowed none to be freemen but comnuinirants in their churches. — About three thousand people came over that year ; and it was computed that from 1628 "to 1643, about 21,200 persons came over here ;* and very few of them had separated from the church of England be- fore they came away. This fully verified what Mr. Robinson said, twenly years be- fore Boston was planted ; and it shows how men are influenced in rehgious matters by ihe government which they are under. An act of justice now towards the In- dians, served greatly to confirm their friend- ship. For four young men ran away from Plymouth, and meeting with an Indian near Providence, with a rich pack upon his back, they murdered him for it, and then fled to Rhode Island. Mr. Williams informed Governor Winthrop of it, who advised him to write to Plymouth about it, whcih he did, and they sent to Rhode Island, and caught three of them, and hanged them, at Plymouth. And though some might think it strange, that three English should be executed for one Indian, yet none can tell how many lives this saved afterwards. Yet all the great services which Mr. Will- iams did for the Massachusetts, could not prevail with them to take off' his sentence of banishment, though Governor Winthrop was for it. A fear of their enemies in England had a great hand in this; for on April 28, 1634, King Charles gave a commission to archbishop Laud, and eleven men more, to revoke all the charters which he had given to these colonies, and to make Euch new constitutions and laws as they thought meet for them ; and also to dis- place their governors and other officers, and to appoint others in their room ; to im- pose tithes for the clergy, and to punish all those who disobeyed them with fines, im- prisonment, or death. And though Gov- ernor Winslow was sent over their agent and got this commission revoked, yet Laud caused him to be imprisoned in London seventeen weeks, for teaching sometimes at Plymouth, and for marrying people as a magistrate, which Laud called an invasion of the ministerial office. f And to guard against such tyranny, was of great importance. Another reason was, that ihey expected to obtain so much power here, as to give a wound to anti-christ in other countries. For a man who was well acquainted with their views, speaking of the man of sin, says, ''Mr. John Cotton, among others, hath diligently searched for the Lord's mind herein, and hath declared Bome sudden blow to be given to this blood ' Jolinsnn. n. 13. ! Hi.itoricaI Society, val iv. 10. 119,120. thirsty monster ; but the Lord Christ hath inseparably joined the time, means and manner of this work together."* The planting of this country, and the great things which God hath done here, has evidently given much light to Europe, and weakened the power of anti-christ there ; but the use of force in religious af- fairs, has been so far from weakening that enemy, that his main strength lies therein. But the Massachusetts still went on in that way, and on March 3, 1636, they said, '• This court doth not nor will hereafter ap- prove of any such companies of men, as shall henceforth join in any way of church fellowship, without they shall first acquaint the magistrates, and the elders of the great- er part of the churches of this jurisdiction, and have their approbation herein. And further it is ordered, that no person being a member of any church which shall hereaf- ter be gathered without the approbation of the magistrates and the greater part of the said churches, shall be admitted to the free- dom of this commonwealth." And when they met at Boston, May 25, 1636, Henry Vane, Esq., was chosen governor, and John Winthrop, deputy Governor ; and he and Dudley were elected to be a standing council for life, and the governor for the time being was to be their president. En- dicot was also chosen a counsellor for life the next year : for which their charter gave no right, and no others were ever elected so among them. Five rulers and three ministers were also now appointed, " To make a draught of laws which may be the fundamentals of this commonwealth, and to present the same to the next general court; and it is ordered that in the mean time the magistrates and their associates shall proceed in the courts, to hear and de- termine all causes according to the laws now established and where there is no law, then as near the laws of God as they can. So that when their laws were made, their judges were to act thereby in reli- gious affairs, instead of the laws of God. But what followed among them may be a warning to all after ages, against con- founding church and state together in their government. For disputes and divisions about grace and works, between their chief rulers and ministers, came on in Boston, and spread through all tiie country to a great degree. A fast was appointed on account ol'it, on January 19, 1637, but Mr. Wheelright then preached a sermon which increased their difficulties, for which he was called before their General Court, March 9, who dismissed him for the pres- ent ; and when they met May 17, after a sharp contention. Mr. Winthrop was again Johnson, p. 230. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW- ENGLAND. jQl chosen Governor, and Mr. Vane was left out of office and the case of Wheelright was again deferred. A Synod of minister from all the colonies met at Cambridge, August 30, and sat three weeks, and drew up a list of eighty errors which they said were held in the country ; and then the General Court met September, 26, and again dismissed Mr. Wheelright. and dis- solved the house of deputies, and called another for November 2, 1637. Such an in.- stance as never was here before or since, of electing the house of deputies twice in one fall. The house they dissolved had 26 depu- ties, and the nevvoneSl.onlyelevenof whom were in that Avhich was dissolved. And now they had a majority to punish those whom the Synod had condemned ; and they went on to banish John Wheel- wright, AVilliatn Aspenvvall, Ann Hutchin- son, and others, and to disarm 76 men 58 of whom were of Boston. Of these Mr. Wheelright and some others went and planted Exeter in New Hampshire, and were dismissed and recommended to form a church there, from the church in Boston;* though Mr. Williams was excommunicated by the church in Salem, after lie had been banished by the Court, for things that Gov- ernor Winthrop judged to be less danger- ous than the other was guilty off — Wheelright was banished for what they judged to be sedition and contempt of their government, and Williams for denying that they had any right to make laws, and enforce them with the sword in religious affairs. Wheelright afterwards made a slight confession to them, and was restored to favor, but Williams never retracted his opinion about liberty of conscience, therefore they never would restore him. And how many have there been ever since, who have been more earnest for the use of force in religious affairs, than for the peace and good order of civil government ! but wise men learn much by the mistakes of others. Mr. John Haynes was Governor of the Massachusetts in 1635, and prononnced the sentence of banishment onWilliams: but he removed to Hartford in the spring of 1637, where he afterwaads said to Will- iams, " I think I must confess to you, that the most wise God hath provided and cut out this part of his world, for a receptacle and refuge for all sorts of consciences. I am now under a cloud, and my brother Hooker, with the bay, as you have been ; we have removed from them thus far, and yet they are not satisfied "J This confirms what was before said of the difference be- tween the Massachusetts and Connecticut governments. * Belknap's New Hampshire, vol. i, p. 37. t Hutchinson's Collections, p. 71. i Historical Society, vol i. p. 280. In September, 1638, the Massachusetts made a law to compel all the inhabitants in each town to pay an equal proportion towards the support of religious ministers, though none had a vote in choosing them but communicants in their churches. And they then made another law, which said, " That whosoever shall stand excomunica- ted for the space of six months, wilhout labouring what in him or her lieth to be re- stored, such person shall be presented to the court of assistants, and there proceed- ed with by fine, imprisonment, banishment, or further for the good behaviour, as their contempt and obstinacy upon full hearing shall deserve." But this act was so high and glaring that it was repealed the next year. In the mean time, as adul- tery was a capital crime by the law of Mo- ses, a law to punish it with death was made at Boston, in 1631, and three persons were banished for it in 1638, and a man and a woman were hanged for it in 1644. CHAPTER III. Rhode Island planted — Their first govem- wenf. — Providence upon another plan. — The Baptist church there. — Their sen- timents spread. — Account of Knollys. — A law against the Baptists. — And wri- tings also. — Men in England against them. — The case of Gorton and his com- pany. — Indians against them. — They are banished but obtain relief from England — Williams obtains a charter : and writes against persecution., and Cotton against him. — Owen for him. — These colonies for severity ; but Robinson for liberty. When such cruelty was exercised at Boston, Mr. John Clarke, his brother Jo- seph, and many others concluded to remove away ; and when they came to Providence Mr. Williams advised them to go to the Is- land of Aquidnet; and he went with them to Plymouth, to inquire whether they claim- ed it or not ; and finding that they did not, many went there, and signed a covenant on March 7, 1638. in which they said, •■ We f whose names are underwritten, Exodus, do here solemnly, in tlie pres- xxxiv. 3, I ence of Jehovah, incorporate 4. I ourselves into abody politic, and I as he shall help, will submit our o nu J persons, lives and estates, unto „: o°"' I our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and to all Those perfect and most ab- 2 Kings, solute laws of his, given us in xi. 17. his lioly word of truth, to be ^ guided and judged thereby. — William Coddington, John Clarke, V/illiam 102 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, Hutchinson, John Coggsball. WiUiajn As-\ mnwull, Thomas Savage., William Dyre,! William Freeliornc, Philip Sherman, John Walker, Richard Carder, William Baul- stone, Edward Hutchinson, Edward Hutch- inson, juniur, Samuel Wilbore, John San- ford, John Porter, Henry Bull." This I copied from their records. Those whose names are in Italic afterwards went back, and were reconciled to the Massa- chusetts ; and most of the others were of note on the Island, which they called Rhode Island. Their covenant to be governed by the perfect laws of Christ as a body politic, seemed to be preferable to the scheme of the Massachusetts ; yet as they could not find laws to govern such a body in the New Testament, they went back to the laws of Moses, and elected a judge and three el- ders, to rule them. And an assembly of their freemen, on January 2, 1639, said, " That tiie judge, together with the elders, shall rule and govern according to the gener- al rules of the word of God, when they have no particular rule from God's word, by the body prescribed as a direction unto them in the case." But on March 12, 1640, they changed their plan of government, and elected a governor, deputy governor, and four assistants ; and they went on till they disfranchised four men, and suspended oth- ers from voting in their elections ; after- wards Mr. Williams went over to England and obtained a charter which included them in his government. He liad procured a deed of Rhode Island for them, from the Narraganset sachems, on March 24, 1638 ; and another to himself of Providence, the same day. He and a few friends had been there for two years before ; and when he had obtained a deed of the town, he gave a deed to Stuckely, Wcstcoat, William Arnold, Thomas James, Robert Cole, John Green, John Throck- morton, William Harris, William Carpen ter. Thomas Olney, Francis Western Richard Waterman, Ezekiel Holiman, and such other as the major part of them should admit into fellowship and vote with them. To these he gave a right in the town freely ; but they who were received after- wards, were to pay him thirty shillings a piece. And they were Chad Brown, Wil- liam Field, Thomas, Harris, William Wick- enden, Robert Williams, Richard Scott, William Renolds, John Field, John War- ner, Thomas Angell, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, Thomas Hopkins, Francis Weeks, &c. They all signed a covenant which said, " We whose names are underwritten, be- ing desirous to inhabit in the town of Prov- idence, do promise to submit ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such or- ders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabi- tants, masters of families, incorporated to- gether into a township, and such others whom they shall admit unto the same, 07ily in cifil things." And I ibund a record af- terward which said, " It was agreed that Joshua Verin, upon breach of covenant, or restraining liberty of conscience, shall be witheld from liberty of voting till he shall declare the contrary." He restrained his wife from going to meeting as often as she desired ; and upon this act against him he removed away, as their records show. ■VAnd the men who were for such liberty, ^oon formed the first Baptist church in America. Mr. Williams had been accus- ed before of embracing principles which tended to anabaptism ; and in March, 1639, he was baptized by one of his brethren, and then he baptized about ten more. But in July following, such scruples were raised in his mind about it, that he refrained from such administration among them.* Mr. Williams discovers in his writings, that as sacrifices and other acts of worship were omitted by the people of God, while his temple lay in ruins : and that they were re- stored again by immediate direction from Heaven, so that some such direction was necessary to restore the ordinances of bap- tism and the supper, since the desolation of the church in mystical Babylon. f But these cases are far from being parallel ; for the altar of God in one place, in the land of Canaan, was the onl}'' place where accep- table sacrifices could then be oH'ered ; while the Christian church is not confined to any place, but Christ is with the saints wherev- er they meet in his name ; and he says to his ministers, Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things what- soever I have commanded you : and lo, 1 am with you always, even unto the end of the world, Amen. Mat. xviii. 20, x.xviii. 10, 20, And these promises belong only to the children of God, in the way of observ- ing all his commandments, let them be or- dained by whom they may. As the priests who could not find a register of their law- ful descent from Aaron were put from the priesthood, whom Christ owes under the gospel. Ezra ii. 62. 1 Peter i. 23, xi. 9. xAfter Mr. Williams lelt that church in Providence, tbey chose Mr. Thomas Olny for their pastor, and he served them in that office until he died, in 16S2j and through many trials and changes Uiey have contin- ued ever since, and are now a flourishing church. Others had much labor about bap- tism in these times. Mr. Charles Chaun- • Wintlirr>i),p. 174_1R3. t Reply to CoUon, p. 1U7. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. IO3 cey preached at Plymouth above two years, and they would fain have settled him with Mr. Reynor, their other minister ; but he believed that gospel baptism was dipping, and that sprinkling for baptism was not lawful^ as their records show. He there- fore went to Scituate, where he practised the dipping of infants.* He was afterwards president of the college at Cambridge. — Governor Winthrop also says, " The lady Moody, a wife and anciently religious wo- man, being taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt with by many of the elders and others, and admonished by the church of Salem, whereof she was a member ; but persisting still, and to avoid further trouble, she removed to the Dutch against the advice of all her friends. Ma- ny others infected with anabaptism, remov- ed thither also." They went to the west part of Long Island, where Mr. Williams went in 1643, and made peace between the Indians and the Dutch and then sailed for England. t Mr. Henserd Knollys was a minister in the church of England for nine years, and then he was so cruelly persecuted therein, that he came over to Boston in the spring of 1638 : but their rulers called him an An- tinomian, and would not suffer him there ; therefore he went to Dover on Piscataqua river, where he preached near four years, and then returned to England, and arrived in London in December, 1641. As the war broke out there the next year, liberty for various opinions was caused thereby, and he became a Baptist, and gathered a church in London, where he often had a thousand hearers. He baptized Mr. Hen- ry Jeffy, an eminent minister in that city, and was one who signed the Baptist con- fession of faith in 1643, which was as clear in the doctrines of the gospel, as \Vas that of the divines at Westminster; a copy of which Mr. Crosby has given at the end of the first volume of his history. He also in- forms us that Mr. Knollys continued a faith- ful pastor of his church in London, through great changes and suflerings until he died in peace, September 19, 1691, aged 93 years. And though many things were published against him here, yet Dr. Mather says, " He had a respectful character in the churches of this wilderness." And Mr. John Clarke was a preacher of the gos- pel at Newport, until he formed a Baptist church there in 1644, which has continued by succession ever since. But the Massa- chusetts were so much afraid of the spread of their principles, that they made a law in November that year, which said, " Forasmuch as experience hath plenti- fully and often proved, that since the first • Winthrop. p. 273— ai^— 299. t Magnolia, Book ii| p. '^^ rising of the Anabaptists, about 100 years since, ihey have been the incendiaries of the commonwealths, and the infectors of persons in main matters of religion, and the troubles of churches in all places Avhere they have been, and that they who have held the baptizing of infants unlaAvful, have usually held other errors or heresies to- gether therewith, though they have (as other heretics use to do) concealed the same till they spied out a fit advantage and opportunity to vent them, by way of ques- tion or scruple ; and whereas divers of tliis kind have, since our coming to New Eng- land, appeared amongst ourselves, (as oth- ers before them) denied the ordinanceof ma- gistracy, and the lawfulness of making war, and others the lawfulness of magistrates, and their inspection into the breach of the first table; which opinions, iftliey should be connived at by us, are like to be increas- ed amongst us, and so must necessarily bring guilt upon us, inlection and trouble to the churches, and hazard to the whole commonwealth it is ordered and agreed, that if any person or persons, within this jurisdiction shall either openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants or go about secretly to seduce others from the approba- tion or use thereof, or shall purposely de- part the congregation at the ministration of the ordinance, or shall deny the ordinance of magistracy or their lawful right or au- thority 10 make war, or to punish the out- ward breaches of the first table, and shall appear to die court willfully and obstinate- ly to continue therein, after due time and means of conviction, every such person or persons shall be sentenced to banishment." Thus denying infant baptism was made a cause of banishment, by men who knew that many who did so, did not hold the er- rors mentioned in this law. And Mr. Cot- ton said in those times, " They do not de- ny magistrates, nor predestination, nor original sin, nor maintain free-will in con- version, nor apostacy from grace ; but only deny the lawful use of the baptism of chil- dren, because it wanteth a word of com- mandment and example, from the Scrip- ture. And I am bound in christian love to believe, that they who yield so far, do it out of conscience, as following the exam- ple of the apostle, who professed of himself and his followers, We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. But yet I believe withal, that it is not out of love to the truth that Satan yieldeth so much, but rather out of another ground, and for a worse end. He knoweih that now, by the good hand of God, they are set upon purity and reformation; and now to ])lead against the baptism of children upon any of those Arrninian and Popish grounds, as those above named, Satan 104 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NE V/-EN GLAND. knoweth they would be rejected. He now pleadoth no other arguments in these times of reformation, than may he urged from a main principle of reformation, to wit, Tliat no duty of God's worship, nor any ordi- nance of religion, is to be administered in his church, but such as hath a just warrant from the word of God. And by urging this argument against the baptism ol" children Satan translbrmeth himself into an angel of light."* Here we may see that Mr. Cotton knew the baptists among them were not such as are described in the above law; though his charily about thern was. that they were deceived by the devil, in pleading plain Scripture against infant-baptism, which hath no precept nor example for it in the word of God. And another minister near him, in writing against the baptists, raniom one end of his book to the other. And it I's implied in the sentence of banishment, passed against Mr. Williams where he is condemned for writing letters against their rulers, " before any conviction." ■ This idea the court evi- dently took i'rom Mr. Cotton, who h;id great influence in their government. And as Williams denied that Christ had appoint- ed the civil sword against false teachers, Cotton said, " It is evident that the civil sword was appointed for a romedy in this case, Deut. xiii. And appointed it was by that angel of God's presence, whom God promised to send with his people, as being unwilling to go with them himself Exod. xxxiii. 2, 3. And that Angel was Christ, whom they tempted in the wilderness. 1 Cor. X. 9. And therefore it cannot truly be said, that the Lord Jesus never appoint- ed the civil sword for a remedy in such a case ; for he did expressly appoint it in the Old Testament ; nor did he ever abrogate it in the New. The reason of the law, which is the life of the law, is of eternal force and equity in all ages, Thou shall surely kill him. because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, Deut. xiii. 9. 10. This reason is of moral, that is. of universal and perpetual equity, to put to death any apostate seducing idolater, or heretic, who seeketh to thrust away the souls of God's people, from the Lord their God."t Erom hence Williams called his reply, " The bloody tenet yet more bloody, by Mr. Cotton's endeavor to wash it white ;" ;"om which many extracts are made, in the first volume of our History ; and also an extract from Ur. Owen, who said " He who holds the truth may be confuted, but he cannot be convinced but by the truth. — That a man should be said to be convinced oC a truth, and yet that truth not shine in upon his understanding, to the expelling the contrary error, to mc is strange. To be convinced is to be overpowered by the evidence of that, which before a man knew not. I once knew a scholar invited to a • Tfo.n washed p. S3. 137. 133. V Ibid, p. 60, G7. dispute with another man, about something in controversy in religion ; in his own, and in the judgment of all the bystanders, the opposing person was utterly confuted : and yet the scholar, within a few months, was taught of God, and clearly convinced, that it was an error which he had main- tained, and the truth which he oppo- sed ; and then, and not till then, did he cease to wonder, that the other was not convinced by his strong arguments, as he before had thought. To say a man is con- vinced, when either from want of skill and ability, or the like, he cannot maintain his opinion against all men, is a mere conceit. That they are obstinate and pertinacious is a cheap supposal, taken up without this price of a proof As the conviction is im- posed not owned, so is this obstinacy ; if we may be judges of other men's obstinacy, all will be plain ; but if ever they get up- permost, they will be judges of ours."* — This the great Dr. Owen published in London, the year after Mr. Cotton's book came out there. But it was so little re- garded here, that violent methods Avere still pursued in this country, though against the minds of many. When the commissioners of the united colonies met at New Haven, September 9, 1646, they said, " Upon serious consider- ation of the spreading nature of error, the dangerous growth and effects thereof in other places, and especially how the purity and power both of religion and civil order is already much complained of if not wholly lost in part of New England, by a licentious liberty granted and settled, whereby many, casting off the rule of the word, profess and practice what is good in their own eyes ; and upon information of what peti- tions have been lately put up in some of the colonies, against the good and straight ways of Christ, both in churches and in the commonwealth, the commissioners, remem- bering that these colonies, for themselves and their posterity, did unite into this firm and perpetual league, as for other respects, so for mutual advice, that the truth and liberties of the gospel might be preserved and perpetuated, thought it their duty seriously to commend it to the care and consideration of each General Court with- in these united colonies, that as they have laid their foundations and measured the house of God, the worship and worshippers, by the rod God hath put into their hands, so they would walk on and build up (all discouragements and difficulties notwith- standing) with undaunted heart and un- wearied hand, according to the same rules and patterns ; that a due watch be kept at the doors of God's house, that none be ad- mitted as members of the body of Christ, ■ Folio collection of his tracts, p. 312, HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 109 but such as hold forth effectual calling, and thereby union with Christ the head ; and that those whom Christ hath received, and enter by an express covenant to observe the laws and duties of that spiritual corpo- ration ; that baptism, the seal of the cove- nant, be administered only to such members and their immediate seed ; that Anabap- tism, Familism, Antinomianism, and gener- ally all errors of like nature, which oppose, undermine and slight either the Scriptures, the Sabbath, or other ordinances of God, bring in and cry up unwarrantable revela- tions, inventions of men, or any carnal liberty under a deceitful color of liberty of consciences, may be duly and seasonably suppressed ; though they wish as much forbearance and respect may be had of tender consciences seeking light, as may stand with the purity of religion and peace of tiie churches." But the commissioners from Plymouth did not concur with this act. They had not lost the impression of the instructions which they received before they came to Ameri- ca ; which said, " As the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, but spiritual, and he a spiritual king, so must the governinent of this spiritual kingdom under this spiritual king needs be spiritual, and all the laws of it. And as Christ Jesus hath, by the merits of his priesthood, redeemed as well the body as the soul ;* so is he by the sceptre of his kingdom to rule and reign over both ; unto which christian magistrates, as well as meaner persons, ought to submit them- Belves; and the more christian they are, the more meekly to take the yoke of Christ upon them ; and the greater authority they have, the more effectually to advance his sceptre over themselves and their people, by all good means. Neither can there be any reason given why the merits of saints may not as well be mingled with the merits of Christ, for the saving of the church, as the laws of men with his laws, for the ru- ling and guiding of it. He is as absolute and as entire a king as he is priest, and his people must be as careful to preserve the dignity of the one, as to enjoy the benefit of the other." CHAPTER IV. Plan of Williams' government ; and of the churches in the Massachusetts. — Cam- bridge platform.. — Williams on national confusion. — Coddington does hurt to his own colony. — Winthrop dies. — Clarke and Holmes suffer at Boston. — Williams and Clarke go to England, and expose ' John xviii. 36. 1 Cor. vi. 20. such doings there. — Letter about it from thence. — Cotton dies. — Infant-baptism opposed at Cambridge. — Williams and Clarke opposed in England.! ^'^'^ V-t P^^- vail. — Williams returns and is President here ; and prevails in his colony. — Qua- kers come over and behave provokingly, and four of them were hanged. The severities, that were exercised in the other colonies, caused many of different opinions to remove into Providence colony, where they could have full liberty ; and this made it more difficult for them to agree upon their plan of government. But on May 19, 1647, they met at Portsmouth, and elected a President, as their chief ruler, and an Assistant from each of the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick; and they were to be Judges in executive courts, and to keep the peace. But six representatives from each town were to make their laws which were to be sent to each town, to be established or dis- annulled by the major vote of all their freemen. Mr. Williams was their Assist- ant for Providence ; but such difficulties arose in the colony, that he drew a cove- nant in December following for all to sign who would, wherein they say, " That gov- ernment held forth through love, union and order, though by few in number and mean in condition, yet hath by experience with- stood and overcome mighty opposers ; and above all, the several unexpected deliver- ances of this poor plantation, by that mighty Providence who is still able to de- liver us, through love, union and order; therefore being sensible of these great and weighty premises, and now met together to consult about our peace and liberty, where- by our families and posterity will still enjoy these favors ; and that we may declare unto all the free discharge of our conscience and duties, whereby it may appear upon record that we are not wilfully opposite, nor careless and senseless, and so the means of our own and others' ruin and de- struction ; and especially in testimony of our fidelity and alTection unto one another here present, we promise unto each other to keep vmto the ensuing particulars." And so went on to lay down excellent rules of conduct, in order to remove their difficulties. The name Providence, which Mr. Will- iams gave both to his town and colony, and the word hope, in their public seal, with the figure of an anchor therein, were de- signed to hold forth the hope that he had in God, that he would succeed the great work that he was engaged in, of establish- ing a civil government upon the principles of true freedom to soul and body. This appears plain in many of his writings. — But as they now appeared to be weak and 110 HIST. , OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. to have diviFions.amonpr them, the Massa- chupetts still refused fo'own them as a dis- tinct govcrnniGnt, and tried all they could to hrins tlicm under tlieir power, Avhich they Ihouiiht was a holy government ; and to continue it so, Governor Winlhrop says, '• Two churches were appointed to be fathered, one at Haverhill and the other at Andover, holh upon Merrimack river. — • They had given notice thereof to the ma- gistrates and elders who desired, in regard of their remoteness and scarcity of housing there, that (he meeting might be at Row- ley, which they assented unio ; hut being assembled, most of those who were to join, refused to declare how God had carried on the work of grace in them, because they had declared it formerly in their admission into other churches ; whereupon the assem- bly broke up without proceeding." This was in the liill of 1644.* Their strictne.ss of government, both in church and slate, did much towards restraining of immoral- ities among them ; so much that Mr. Hugh Peters, who came over to Boston in 16.35, and travelled and labored much in this country, until he went back upon the turn of times in England, where he became very famous, and gave an extraordinary char- acter of New England. When the Parlia- ment had conquered all the king's forces in Enfrland, they kept a day oi' thanksgiving for it. April 2, 1646, and Peters preached a sermon before the Parliament, the West- minster asseaibly of divines, and the cor- poration of the city of London, to whom he said, '• I have lived in a country where for seven years 1 never saw a beggar, nor heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunk- ard."! This he said to urge them into like measures with the Massachusetts. But a greater sight now appears before the world, than was then so much extolled. For the scheme which they so much admi- reil, has long since been broken and (hssol- ved ; and the principles which Avere then despised and persecuted, are now become the glory of America. Roger Williams. John Cl.irke, Joseph Clarke, Thomas Ol- ney, Gregory Dexter, Samuel Hubbard, and many others in that little colony, held the pure doctrines of grace, and the impor- t:i.!ice of a holy life, as much as tiie fathers of the Massaciuisetfs did ; and they estab- lished the lirst government upon earth, that gave equal li'aerty, civil and reliuinus, which is now enjoyed in most i)arls of America. General Greene also, the second military character in our revohitiomu'y war, sorantj from one of the first jilanters of Providence. These things shew how great men have been mistaken, and that we ever should judge of things by the light of revelation, ' Winlhrop, p. .3v')t). t Pi-tar's bc;r;;.o.i. [\ 31. and not take any men as our guides, further than they appear to walk in that light. Many books were brought from England about tills time, but none were more disa- greeable to the lathers of the Massachu- setts, than those which were written against infant-baptism, and for liberty of con- science. Several extracts from those wri- tinffs have already been given. And the public records at Boston, in 1646, shew that controversies about infant-baptism were a chief cause of their calling a synod, to compose a platform of government for their churches. Ministers were called from all their colonies to assist in this work. But Mr. Hooker of Hartford died before they met, on Juh' 7, 1647. A book of his was printed in London, after his death in which he says, " Children as cliildren, have no right to baptism ; so that it belongs not to any predecessors, either nearer or further ofl', removed from the next parents, to give right of this privilege to their children."* And when the syond met in 1648, and com- posed their platlbrm, which Avas approved by their general court, the majority of them agreed with them in this, though Mr. Cot- ton would hiive extended it further. And though he, and their churches in general, had allowed no elders to lay on hands in ordination, but the elders of the church in which the pastor was ordained ; yet they now said, '• In churches where there are no elders, and the church so desire, we see not why imposition of hands may not be performed by the elders of other churches." In this I think they were right ; but when they say, " If any church, one or more, shall grow schismatical, rending itself from the communion of other churches, or shall walk incorrigibly or obstinately in any cor- rupt way of their own, contrary to the rule of the word ; in such case the magistrate is to put forth his coercive power, as the mat- ter shall require ;t here I must enter my dissent, because this principle is the root of all the bloody persecution that ever was in the world. Mr. Williams observe.s, that the attempts for a reformation in England, by the power of the magistrate tilled tlieir country with blood and confusion (or an hundred years. For says he, "Henry the seventh leaves England under the slavish bondage of the Pope's yoke. Henry the eighth reforms all England to a new lashion, half papist, half proiestant. Ki.ig Edward the sixth turns about the wheels of state, and works the whole land to absolute protestantism. Q,iieen Mary succeeding to the helm, steers a direct contrary course, breaks in pieces all that Edward wrought, and brings forth an old edition of England's reformation, all ■ Survey of cliurcli flisciplinp, (lart i.i. p. 13. t Piiifunn, ca.;). \x. ivii. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW -EN GLAND 111 popish. Mary not living out half iier days (as the propliet speaks of bloody persons) Elizabetli (like Joseph) is advanced froni the prison lo the palace, and Iroai the irons to the crown ; she plucks up all iier sister Mary's plants, and sounds a trumpet all protestant. What sober man is not ama- zed at these revolutions !''* Yet as all those revolutions were made by rulers who were not comparable to the godlv magistrates and ministers here, they regarded not the warnings of" men whom they thought to be deceived. And a writ was sent Irom Boston, to cite men in the midst of" Providence colon}', to come to Boston to answer to complaints that were entered there, dated June 20, 1650 ; which writ is recorded at Providence. Not only so, but when Mr. Coddington was elected President of his colony, May 16, 1648. he refused to serre, because William Dyre had commenced an action against him about some lands ; and in September al"ter he went and tried to get Rhode Island to be received into the confederacy witli the uni- ted colonies ; and as that scheme failed, he went to England, in the year 1(351, and ob- tained a commission f"or hinjself to be gov- ernor of that Island, separate from the rest of the colony, when he had the deeds of the whole island in his own hands. This caused such a fire of contention among them, that one man was condemned by a vote of the town of Newport, and was car- ried and shot to death in their presence. How they were relieved will appear here- after. Governor Winfhrop was an excellent ruler, until he died, March 26, 1649, in his 62d year. He kept a journal of remarka- ble events in his colony, from 1630, until near his end. Hubbard, Mather, and Prince. made great use of it in their histories. But the first volume of it was published entire 1790, as it never was bet"ore. It gives the clearest account of dates, principles and motives of actions in their government, of any work that ever was published. By it we may learn that he was for milder meas- ures with dissenters from their worship, than the majority of their rulers and min- isters were; and though they drew him into greater severities than he desired, yet near his end, when Mr. Dudley desired him to sign an order to banish a person for he- terodoxy, he refused, saying, '• We have done too much of that work already.'-f He spent a large part of his great estate in promoting the planting of his colony, though he met with much ungratei"ul treat- ment therein ; but his eldest son went over and procured Connecticut charter and was governor of that colony until he died, in * Bloody tenet, p. 1D7 t Belknijp's Biography, vol. ii. p, 3i6. 1575. These were great honors for one family. Mr. John Clark was an Assistant and the Treasurer of Rhode Island colony in 1649; but that cotdd nol secure him irom cruel persecution in the Massachuselis two vears after, with Mr. Obadiah Holmes, " who sprang from a gooil family in England. Wlien Holmes came over first to this coun- try, he joined to the church in Salem, and was dismissed from tlience to the church in Rehoboih, under l.'.e ministry of Mr. Sam- uel Newman. With theai he walked about live years, and then he withdrew from New- man, because he had assumed a prcshy- terial power over the church. Soon af"ter, he and some others became Baptists upon which Newman cxcommumcated them, and then got them presented to the court, of Plymouth, June4, 1650. And when they came there, they found that one letter was sent to the court against tiicm t"rotn Reho- both, another from Taunton, a third from most of the ministers in Plymouth colony, and a fourth I'rom tlie court" at Boston, all urging sharp dealings with them. But Governor Bradford and his court only charged them to desist i"rom their separate meeting at Rchoboth, and adjourned their case to October court, when they were dis- missed without any punishment. Such was then the government of Plymouth colo- ny. But how different was tJiat of the IMassachusetts ! There Mr. Clarke and and two ol'his brethren went to visit an old brother of theirs at Lynn, beyond Boston, where they arrived July 19, 1651, and held worship with him next day, which was the Lord's day. But Mr. Clarke could not get through his first sermon before he and his friends Avere seized by an officer, and carried to a tavern, and to the parish worship in the at"ternoon , and at the close of it Clarke spake a l"ew words, and then a ma- gistrate sent them into confinement, and next day to Boston prison. And on July 31, they were tried before the court of As- sistants, by whom Clarke was fined twenty pounds. Holmes thirty, and John Crandal five, or each to be well whipt. When Judge Endicot gave this sentence against them, he said, '• You go up and down, and secret- ly insinuate things into those that are weak, but you cannot maintain it before our min- isters ; you may try and dispute with them." Therefore Mr. Clarke wrote l"rom the prison to the court, and proposed a fiu'r dispute upon his principles with any of their minis- ters. And upon their asking what said principles were, he saiil, '• I testify that Jesus of Nazareth, whom God hath laised from the liead, is made Lord and Christ ; this Jesus I say is Christ; in English, the anointed one; hath a name above evcrj' other name; he is the anointed 112 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, Priest, none to or with him in point of atone- ment ; the anointed Prophet, none to him in point ot^ institution ; the anointed King, who is o;one unto his Father for his glorious kingdom, and shall ere long return again ; and" that this Jesus Christ is also Lord, none to or with him by way of command- ing and ordering, with reference to the worship of God, the household of iaith, which being purchased with his blood as a priest, instructed and nourished by his Spirit as a prophet, do wait in his appointments, as he is the Lord, in hope of that glorious king- dom, which shall ere long appear. 2. I testify that baptism, or dipping in water, is one of the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that a visible believer or disciple of Christ Jesus, (that is, one who manifesteth repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ,) is the only person that is to be bap- tized or dipped with that visible baptism or dipping of Jesus Christ in water, and also that visible person that is to walk in that visible order of his house, and to wait for his coming the second time in the form of Lord and King, with his glorious king- dom, according to promise ; and for his sending down, in the time of his absence, that Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit of promise, and all this according to the last will and tes- tament of that living Lord, whose will is not to be added to or taken from. 3. I testify or witness, that every such believer in Christ Jesus, that waiteth for his appearing, may in point of liberty, yea, ought in point of duty, to improve that talent his Lord hath given him, and in the congregation may ask for inlbrmation to himself; or if he can may speak by way of prophecy for the edi fication, exhortation and comfort of the whole ; and out of the congregation at all times, upon all occasions, and in all places, as far as the jurisdiction of his Lord extend- eth, may, yea ought to walk as a child of light, justifying wisdom with his ways, and reproving folly with the unfruitful works thereof; provided all this is shewn out of a good conversation, as James speaks with meekness of wisdom. 4. I testify that no Buch believer, or servant of Christ Jesus, hath any liberty, much less any authority from his Lord to smite his fellow servant, nor with outward force, or arm of flesh to constrain, or restrain his conscience, nor his outward man for conscience sake, or wor- ship of his God, where injury is not offered to any person, name or estate of others every man being such as shall appear be- fore the judgment seat of Christ, and must give an account of himself to God ; and therefore ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind lor what he undertakes, because he that doubteth is damned if he eat, and so also if he act, because he doth not eat or act in faith, and what is not of faith is sin."* When he had given this plain testimony, there was a talk that Mr. Cotton would dis- pute him upon it : but after consulting to- gether, Cotton declined, and Clarke was released from prison, to be gone out of their colony as soon as possible. Crandal also was released with him ; but as Holmes had been one of them, they resolved to make him a public example. He was there- fore confined until September, and then was brought out to be punished in Boston ; and two magistrates, Novvel and Flint, were present to see it done severely. Mr. Holmes, after giving the previous exercises of his own mind, says, " I desired to speak a few words, but Mr. Nowel answered, It is not now a time to speak ; whereupon I took leave, and said, Men, brethren, fathers and countrymen, I beseech you to give me leave to speak a few words, and the rather because here are many spectators to see me punished, and I am to seal with my blood, if God give me strength, that which I hold and practice in reference to the word of God and testimony of Jesus. That which I have to say in brief is this, although I am no disputant yet see- ing I am to seal with my blood what I hold I am ready to defend by the word, and to dispute that point with any that shall come forth to withstand it. Mr. Nowel answered, now was no time to dispute ; then said I, I desire to give an account of the faith and order which I hold, and this I desired three times ; but in comes Mr. Flint, and saith to the executioner. Fellow do thine othce, for this fellow would but make a long speech to delude the people ; so I being resolved to speak, told the people, that which I am to suffer for is the word of God, and testi- mony of Jesus Christ. No, saith Mr. No- wel it is for your error, and going about to seduce the people ; to which I replied, Not for error, for all the time of my imprison- ment, wherein I was left alone, my brethren being gone, which of all your ministers came to convince me of error ? And when upon the governor's words a motion was made for a public dispufe, and often renew- ed upon fair terms, and desired by hundreds, what was the reason it was not granted ? Mr. Nowel told me, it was his fault who went away and would not dispute ; but this the writings will clear at large. Still Mr. Flint calls to the man to do his office; so before, and in the time of his pulling off my clothes. I continued speaking, telling them that I had so learned that for all Boston I would not give my body into their hands thus to be bruised upon another account, Clarke's Narrative, p. 9, 10. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW^ENGLAND. I13 yet upon this I would not give the hundreth part of a wampum peague,* to Iree it out of their hands ; and that I made as mucin con science of unbuttoning one button as I did of paying tiie thirty pounds in reference thereunto. I told them moreover, that the Lord having manifested his love towards me, in giving me repentance towards God, and faith in Christ and so to be baptized in water, by a messenger of Jesus, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, where- in I have fellowship with him in his death. burial and resurrection, I am now come to be baptized in afflictions by your hands, that so I may have further fellowship with my Lord, and am not ashamed of his suffer- ings, for by his stripes am I healed. And as the man began to lay the strokes upon my back, I said to the people, though my flesh should fail, and my spirit should fail, yet God would not fail ; so it pleased the Lord to come in and fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full, and with an audible voice I broke forth, praying the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people that now I found he did not fail me and therefore now I should trust him forever who failed me not ; for in truth as the strokes fell upon me, I had such a spirit- ual manifestation of God's presence, as I never had before, and the outward pain was so removed from me, that I could well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not. although it was grievous, as the spectators said, the man striking with all his strength spitting in his hand three times, with a three corded whip, giving me therewith thirty strokes. When he had loosed me from the post, having joyfulness in my heart, and cheerfulness in my countenance, as the spectators observed, I told the magistrates. You have struck me as with roses ; and said moreover, although the Lord hath made it easy to me. yet I pray God it may not be laid to your charge. "After this many came to me, rejoic- ing to see the power of the Lord mani- fested in weak flesh ; but sinful flesh took occasion hereby to bring others into trouble, informed the magistrates hereof, and so two more were apprehended as for contempt of authority ; their names were John Hazel and John Spur, Avho came indeed and did shake me by the hand, but did use no words of contempt or reproach unto any. No man can prove that the first spake any thing; and for the second, he only said. Blessed be the Lord ; yet these two, for taking me by the hand, and thus saying, after I had received my punishment, were sentenced to pay forty shillings, or to be whipt Both were resolved against paying * The sixtli part of a penny. Vol. 1.— 0. their fine ; nevertheless, after one or two days imprisonment, one paid John Spur's fine, and he was released ; and after six or seven days imprisonment of brother Hazel, even the day he should have suffered, an- other paid his, and so he escaped, and the next day went to visit a friend about six miles from Boston, where he fell sick the same day, and within ten days he ended this life. When I was come to the prison, it pleas- ed God to stir up the heart of an old acquaint- ance of mine, who with much tenderness, like the good Samaritan, poured oil into my wounds, and plastered my sores ; but there was present information given of what was done, and inquiry made who was the sur- geon, and it was commonly reported he should be sent for ; but what was done. I yet know not. Now thus it hath pleased the Father of mercies to dispose of the mat- ter, that my bonds and imprisonment have been no hindrance to the gospel ; for be- fore mj' return, some submitfed to the Lord, and Avere baptized, and divers were put upon the way of inquiry ; and now being advised to make my escape by night, be- cause it was reported there were warrants forth for me, I departed ; and the next day after, while I was on my journey, the con- stable came to search at the house where I lodged ; so I escaped their hands, and by the good hand of my heavenly Father brought home again to my near relations, my wife and eight children, the brethren of our town and Providence, having taken pains to meet me four miles in the woods, where we rejoiced together in the Lord. Thus have I given you as briefly as I can, a true relation of things : wherefore, my brethren, rejoice Avith me in the Lord, and give all glory to him, lor he is Avorthy to whom be praise forevermore, to whom I commit you, and put up my earnest prayers for you, that by my late experience, VA'ho trusted in God and have not been deceived, you may trust in him perfectly: wlieretbre my dearly beloved brethren, trust in the Lord, and you shall not be ashamed nor confounded. So I rest yours in the bond of charity, "OBADIAH HOLMES.* " Unto the well beloved John Spilsbury, William Kiiien, and the rest that in London stand fast in the faith." This was carried to England, and pub- lished there in 1652 ; upon Avhich Sir Rich- ard Saltonstall, who Avas an early magis- trate in the Massachusetts, Avhen Boston Avas first planted, but Avas now in London, wrote to the ministers of Boston, and said: • Clkike.p. 17—23. 114 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IK K E W-EN GLAND". ** Reverend and dear friends, whom I un-\ feignedbj love and respect. " It doth not a little grieve my spirit to hear what sad things are reported daily of your tyranny and persecution in New-Eng- land ; that you fine, whip, and imprison men for tlaeir consciences. First, you com- pel men to come to your assemblies who you know will not join with you in worship, and when they sliew their dislike thereof, or witness against it, then you stir up your magistrates to punish them for such (as you^'conceive) their public atl'ronts. Truly, friends, this practice of compelling any in matters of worship to do that whereof they are not fully persuaded, is to make them sin, for so the apostle tells us, Rom. xiv. 23 ; and many are made hypocrites there- by, conforming in their outward man for fear of punishment. We pray for you, and wish you prosperity every way, and hope the Lord will give you so much light and love there, that you might be eyes to God's people here, and not to practice those courses in a wilderness, which you went so far to prevent. These rigid ways have laid you very low in the hearts of the saints. I do assure you I have heard then,! pray in public assemblies, tiiat the Lord ivould give you meek and humble spirits, not to strive so much for uniformity and to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. When I was in Holland about the beginning of our wars, I remember some Christians there, that then had serious thoughts of planting in New-England, de- sired me to write to the governor thereof to know if those that differ i'rom yoa in opin- ion, yet holding the same foundation in re- ligion as AuMcbaptists, Seekers, Antinoml ans, and the like, might be permitted to live among you ; to which I received this short answer from your then governor, Mr. Dud- ley. God forbid, said he, our love for the truth should be grown so cold that we il. am! robbnl them oi" all their church rr- cords, so that all the records thoy since have of foriner actinjjs in their church, were colloclear and perfect way than men had known since the (lays of the apostles, if they had not greater light than the apostles had. This spirit taught them to give no titles to rulers, nor other men, and to use thee and thou io ^W. Humphrey Norton was scour- ged at Plymouth, in June, 1658, and then sent out of the colony ; upon which he wrote to Governor Prince, and said, " Thomas Prince, thou who hast bent thy heart to work wickedness, and with thy tongue hast thou set forth deceit ; thou im- aginist mischief upon thy bed, and hatchest thy hatred in thy secret chamber ; the strcnirth of darkness is over thee, and a malicious mouth hast thou opened against God and his anointed, and with thy tongue and lips hast thou uttered perverse things ; thou hast slandered the innocent by lying, railing, and false accusations, and. with thy barbarous heart hast thou caused their blood to be shed. Thou hast through all these things broke and transgressed the laws and ways of God, and equity is not before thy eyes. The cur.se causeless can- not come upon thee, nor the vengeance of God uniustly cannot fetch thee up ; thou makest thyself merry with thy secret ma- lice. The day of thy wailing will be like unto that of a woman that murthers the fruit of her womb; the anguish and pain that will enter upon thy reins will be like gnawing worms lodged betwixt thy heart and liver ; when these things come upon tiiee, and thy back bowed down with pain, in that day and hour thou shalt knoAv to thy grief, that the prophets of the Lord we are, and the God of vengeance is our God. HUMPHREY NORTON." This I copied from Plymouth records, where it was inserted, that posterity might know how their fathers were treated. And we may here also learn how secular force serves to inflame mistaken zeal ; for the va- rious pitnishments that were inflicted upon those people, caused their zeal to rise the higher, until the commissioners of the Uni- ted Colonies met at Boston in September, 1658 ; and then they advised each General Court to make a law to banish Quakers on HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN N E W-E N GLAND. 119 pain of death. And such a law was made at Bosion the next month, by the majority of one vote only ; and the other colonies would not follow their example. Many other punishments were .inflicted upon the Gluakers in Plymouth and New Haven col- onies, but little or none in Connecticut. On October 20, 1659, William Pvobinson, Marmadake Stevenson, and Mary Dyre, were condemned to die, for returning after they were banished on pain of death; and the two men were hanged at Boston the 27th. And though the woman was then sent away yet she returned, and was exe- cuted June 1, 1660. And on March 14, 1661, William Leddra was hanged there for the like crime. And as Charles the Second had been restored to the crown of England the year before. Governor Endi- cot and his court wrote to him in December, and said, " Our liberty to walk in the faith of the Gospel in all gnod conscience, was the cause of our transporting ourselves, with our wives, little ones, and our sub- stance, from that pleasant land over the Atlantic ocean, into this vast wilderness, choosing rather the pure Scripture worship with a good conscience, in this remote wil- derness among tlie heathen, than the plea- sures of England witli submission to the then so disposed and so far prevailing hierarchy, which we could not do without an evil conscience. Concerning the Q,ua- kers, open and capital blasphemers, open seducers from the glorious Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed gospel, and from the holy Scriptures as the rule of life, open enemies to the government itself as established in the hands of any but men of their own principles, malignant and assidu- ous promoters of doctrines directly tending to subvert both our church and state, after all other means for a long time used in vain, we were at last constrained for our own safety to pass a sentence of banish- ment against them, upon pain of death. Such was their desperate turbulence both to religion and state, civil and ecclesiasti- cal, as that the magistrate at last, in con- science both to God and man, judged him- self called for the defence of all, to keep the passage with the point oi' the sword held towards them ; this could do no harm to him that would be warned thereby ; their wittingly rushing themselves thereupon was their owiv act, we wilh humility conceive a crime bringing their blood upon their own heads."* Bui William Robinson had given a paper to the court at Boston, in which he said, " The word of the Lord came expressly to me which did fill me immediately with life and power, and heavenly love, by which he constrained me. and commanded me to ' llmcliinitm's Culleclious, p. 3J6, iJ^. pass to the town of Boston, my life to lay down in his will, for the accomplishing of his service, that he had there to perform at the day appointed.'' And Marmaduke Stevenson gave them another paper, in which he said : " The word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Go to Boston with thy brother William Robinson.''* Thus it appears, that both sides pleaded a conscientious obedience to God, in their actings against each other. And from hence we may see that the use of force in religious aflairs is a bloody 'practice. And though King Charles put a stop to their hanging any more here, yet he said, " We cannot be understood hereby to direct or wi.sh that any indulgence should be grant- ed to those persons commonly called (Qua- kers, whose principles being inconsistent with any kind of government, we have found it necessary with the advice of our Parliament here, to make a sharp law against them, and are well content you do the like there."! And many more dissent- ers died in prison in his reign, than the bloody queen Mary burnt at the stake. Open executions were now become more odious to the people, than in former days of ignorance and superstition ; while pri- vate cruelty was borne with, or little regard- ed. But the vengeance of God will reach the most secret criminals, as well as the most open murderers. CHAPTER V. Contention about Baptism. — Two Baptist churches formed — That at Boston is per- secuted three years, and then three of them were banished. — But many are for them here, and clear letters are written in their favor from, England. — After they had been confined a year, they were re- leased from Prison. — Injttstice aboxd Providence colony exposed. — And they at last prevail. Williams disputes and writes against the Quakers. — A division in Boston Church. — Clarke's faith and his joyful end. We shall now return to the affairs of Baptism. They who supposed that each believer stood in the same relation to his children, as Abraham did to his in the cov- enant of circumcision, brought none to baptism but the infants of communicants in their churches. But as those infanta grew up and had children, and yet were not communicants themselves, a great trial came on to know what would become of succeeding generations. A convention of • Bishop, p. 127- -ISJ. tlliucliiiuoii's C'-lltcUons, p. 379. 120 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. ministers met in 1657, and answered twen- ty-one questions upon the subject, and had them printed in London. But as this did not reHeve them, another convention was called at Boston in 1659, and a synod in 1662, who introduced a half-way covenant, so that they who would own it, and were re- gular in their lives, might have their chil- dren sprinkled, without coming to the ordi- nance of the supper themselves. This was pleasing to many, while others thought it an apostacy from the first principles of the country ; and the controversy about it, in va- rious shapes, has continued ever since. The first Baptist Church in Wales was formed near Swansea in that country in 1649. Mr. John Miles was their chief lea- der, and they increased to about three hun- dred members, by the year 1662, when he was ejected out of his place, by a cruel act of Parliament, which turned two thousand teachers out of their places in one day, for refusing fully to conform to the church of England. He then came over, with the book of church records which he had kept there, and it remains in our Swansea to this day. And at the house of John Butter- worth in Rehoboth, in 1663, John Miles, elder ; James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Jo- seph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby, solemnly covenanted together as a church of Christ, to obey him in all his ordinances and com- mandments. They were in Plymouth col- ony, where they had ever enjoyed much more liberty than any had in the Massa- chusetts. Mr. Brown was son to John Brown, who had long been a magistrate in that colony, and his son served them after- wards in that office for eleven years, in a time when his brethren in the Massachu- setts were fined, imprisoned and banished. Indeed Mr. Miles and church were com- plained of to court, for holding their meet- ings in Rehoboth, where was a congrega- tional church, and a small fine was imposed upon them lor it. But in 1667, the court granted them the town of SSvansea, where the church has continued by succession ever since, and is the Iburth Baptist church in America. The fifth was formed in the Massachu- setts. The light that was gained in 1653, when President Dunstar preached against infant baptism in Cambridge, caused^Tho- mas Gould, who lived near him in Charles- town, to examine the matter so tnuch, thai when he had a child born in 1655, he could not bring it to be sprinkled. F'or this he was called before the church in Charles- town, and he told them that he could see no light for inlant baptism, and therefore could not in conscience bring his child to it. Upon this, ministers, rulers and breth- ren labored with him, but could not con- vince him. He was etill willing to com* mune with that church, if they would let him do it without carrying his child to an ordinance, which he had no faith in ; and he read that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And because of this, and also his go- ing out of meeting when they sprinkled infants, they censured him in their church, and punished him in their courts for more than seven years. At length three Baptist brethren came over from England, recom- mended from churches there, and met with him and others in private houses. And on May 28, 1665, Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborn, Edward Drinker, John George, Richard Goodale, William Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodale, and Mary New- ell, "joined in a solemn covenant, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in fellowship and communion together in the practice of all the holy appointments of Christ, which he had, or should further make known unto them." Goodale came from London, and Turner and Lambert from Dartmouth ; the others were of our country, though none of them were cluirch members before, but Gould and Osborn, both of Charlestown, from whence they were excommunicated after they were baptized. These facts I gather- ed from their records and writings. They were of such a peaceable disposition, and so flir from disturbing others, as the (Qua- kers did, that their rulers hardly knew where to find them. But on August 20, 1665, Richard Russell, one of their magis- trates, issued a warrant to the constable of Charlestown, requiring him in his Majes- ty's name, to labor to discover where these people were, and to require them to attend on the established worship, or if" they would not, to return their names and places of abode to the next magistrate. This was done and some of them were brought belbre their court of Assistants in September, to whom they presented their confession of faith, in whicli they said, " Chrisi's commission to his disciples is to teach and baptize, and those who gladly receive the word and are baptized, are fit matter for a visible church." But this was loudly complained of as im- plying that none were visible saints, who were not baptized by immersion ; though they held that they ought to be visible saints before they were baptized. Tlius men turn things upside down. And -the court of Assistants charged them to desist Ironi their practice ; and because they did not, Gould, Turner, Osborn, Drinker and George, were larought before their General Court in October, to whom they presented their confession of iaith, and closed with saying, " If any take this to be heresy, then do we with the apostle confess, that after the way which they call heresy, we worship God, HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 121 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, believ- ing all things that are written in the law and the prophets and apostles." But the Court called this a contemning of their authority and laws, and declared them to be no lawful church assembly, and said, " Such of them as are freemen are to be disfranchised, and all of them, upon con- viction before any one Magistrate or Court, of their further proceeding herein, to be committed to prison until the General Court shall take further order with them." Dr. Mather tries to vindicate the Court herein, because the Baptists acted against the law of the government ; but a noted Presbyte- rian minister, says, " This condemns all the dissenting congregations that have been gathered in England since the act of uni- formity, in the year 1662." And says he, " Let the reader judge, who had most rea- son to complain; the New England churches, who would neither suffer the Baptists to live quietly in their communion, nor sepa- rate peaceably from it ; or these unhap- py persons, who were treated so unkindly for ibllowing the light of their conscien- ces."* Yet for following that light, they pursu- ed them with fines and imprisonment, for three years ; and then the court of Assist- ants appointed a meeting at Boston, April 14, 1668, and called six ministers to manage a dispute whether those persons ought not to be banished, for holding a separate meet- ing from their churches. And they sent a warrant to Thomas Gould, which said, " You are required in His Majesty's name to give notice to John Farnham, Thomas Osborn, and the company, and you and they are alike required to give your atten- dance at the time and place above-mention- ed, for the end therein expressed." And as this was heard of at Newport, Mr. Clarke and his church sent William Hiscox, Joseph Tory, and Samuel Hubbard, to assist their brethren, and they got to Boston three days before the di.spute. And it was carried on tv;o days with allowing the Baptists but little liberty to speak for themselves ; and it was closed by Mr. Mitchel, with the words of Moses, who said to Israel, If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates ; then shall thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment; and thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place, which the Lord ' Magnalia, B. 7. p. 27. Vol. 1.— p. Neal on New-England. shall choose, shall shew thee ; and thou shall observe to do all that they inform thee ; according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do : thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand nor the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest (that standeth there before the Lord thy God) or unto the judge, even that man shall die ; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. Deut. xviii. 8 — 12. Thus the sentence that was given from the law of God, in the place he chose, under the direction of the Urim and Thummim, was applied to the sentence of rulers and ministers at Boston, according to the laws of men. That they then applied this scrip- ture in this manner, appears from their colo- ny records, compared with the writings of Samuel Hubbard and Mr. Gould. And thirty years after, Mr. Stoddard brought the same scripture to prove, that all men ought to submit to a national synod, as I shall prove hereafter. Their General Court in May called those Baptists before them, to know whether they were convinced of their evil in withdrawing from their churches, by what said ministers had laid before them; but they declared that they were not at all convinced of any evil in so doing. The Court then called them obstinate Anabaptists, whom they were bound in conscience to proceed against; and gave sentence that Thomas Gould, William Turner, and John Farnham. should be gone out of their jurisdiction by the 20th of July, not to return again without their leave. And as Gould was then a prisoner, by the sentence of a former court, he was liberated from thence in order that he might obey this sentence. Mr. Mitchel, who read ofl'said scripture against them, died sudden- ly eleven days before the time set in their sentence of banishment ; but this gave no relief to these sufiisrers. And because they did not obey their sentence, these three men were imprisoned in Boston for near or quite a year. How any who feared God, could go on to act against others, as these rulers and ministers did, may seem very strange in our days ; but a caretul search into their history will open the cause of it, Mr. Wil- son the first minister of Boston, was in great esteem with other ministers, who came round him in May past, and desired him to give his dying testimony of what he con- ceived to be the cause of the displeasure of God against this country. He told them that he had long feared the following sins as chief among others, which provoked God greatly, " 1. Separation. 2. Anabaptism, 122HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 3. Corahism, when people rise up as Co- rah, against tlieir ministers or elders, as if they took too much upon them, when indeed they do but rule for Christ, and according to Christ. 4. Another sin I take to be, the making light of, and not subjecting to the authority of synods."* These thing.s he dehvcred as his dying testimony and he died August 7, 1668, just after those ]3ap- tists were put in prison tiiere. No one can easily tell how great an impression such things had upon their minds. Indeed some were of a dilferent opinion and when their General Court met in tlie fall, they present- ed a petition in favor of those sufferers, and said, " We humbly beseech this honored Court, in their Christian mercy and bowels of compassion, to pity and relieve these poor prisoners ; whose sufferings are doubt- lul to many, .and some of great worth among ourselves, and grievious to the hearts of God's people at home and abroad. Your wisdoms may be pleased to think of some better expedient, and seriously to con- sider whether an indulgence justifiable by the word of God, pleaded for and practiced by Congregational churches, may not, in this day of suffering to the people of God be more effectual, safe and inoffensive than other ways, which are always grievous, and seldom find success." And they spoke high- ly of the good lives of those Baptists, as ano- ther plea in their favor. Captain Hutchin- son, Captain Oliver, and many others signed this petition ; but some were fined for it, and others compelled to confess their fault, for reflecting on the court. But Deputy- governor Willoughby was against these proceedings.! An account of these things was sent to England, and a letter from thence to Captain Ohver said: "My Dear Brother: " The ardent affection and great honors that I have ibr New-England transport me, and I hope your churches shall ever be to me as the gates of heaven. I have ever been warmed with the apprehension of the grace of God towards me in carrying me thither. But now it is otherwise ; with joy to ourselves and grief to you be it spoken. Now the greater my love is to New-Eng- land, the more am I grieved at their failings. It is frequently said here, that they are swerved aside towards Presbytery ; if so, the Lord restore them all. But another sad thing that much atl'ects us is, to hear that you even in New-England persecute your brethren ; men found in the faith ; or holy life ; agreeing in worship and discipline vyith you ; only differing in the point of bap- tism. Dear brother, we here do love and • Morton, p. 195, 6. t Hntchlnson, vol. 1 p.'>27— 269. honor them, hold familiarity with them, and take sweet counsel together ; they lie in the bosom of Christ, and therefore they ought to be laid in our bosoms. In a word, we freely admit them into churches ; few of our churches, but many of our members are Anabaptists; I mean baptized again. This is love in England ; this is moderation ; this is a right New-Testament spirit. But do you now bear with, yea, more than bear with the Presbyterians? Yea, and that the worst sort of them, those who are the corruptest, rigidest ; whose principles tend to corrupt the churches ; turning the world into the church, and the church into the world ; and which doth no less than to bring a people under mere slavery. It is an iron yoke, which neither we nor our Congregational brethren in Scotland were ever able to bear. I have heard them utter these words in the pulpit, that it is no wrong to make the Independents sell all they have and depart the land ; and many more things I might mention of that kind ; but this I hint onlj', to shew what cause there is to withstand that wicked tyranny which was once set up in poor miserable Scotland, which I verily believe was a great wrong and injury to the reformation. The generality of them here, even to this day, will not freely consent to our enjoyment of our liberty ; though through mercy the best and most reformed of them do other- wise. How much therefore would it con- cern dear New-England to turn the edge against those who, if not prevented, will certainly corrupt and enslave, not only their own, but also your churches? Whereas Anabaptists are neither spirited nor princi- pled to injure nor hurt your government nor your liberties ; but rather these be the means to preserve your churches from apostacy, and to provoke them to their primi- tive purity, as they were in the first plant- ing ; in admission of members to receive none into your churches but visible saints, and in restoring the entire jurisdiction of every congregation complete and undis- turbed. We are hearty and full for our Presbyterian brethren's equal liberty with ourselves ; oh, that they had the same spirit towards us ! But oh, how it grieves and affects us, that New-England should per- secute ! Will you not give what you take ? Is liberty of conscience your due? And is it not as due unto others who are Ibund in the faith ? Amongst many .scriptures that in the fourteenth of Romans much confirms me in liberty of conscience thus stated. To him that esteemeth anything unclean, to him it is unclean. Therefore though we approve of the baptism of the immediate children of church members, and of their admission into the church when they evi- dence a real work of grace ; yet to those HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN N E WE N GLAND. 123 who in conscience believe the said baptism to be unclean, it is unclean. Both that and mere ruling elders, though we approve of them, yet our grounds are mere interpre- tations of, and not any express scripture. I cannot say so clearly of any thing else in our religion, neither as to faith or practice. Now must we force our interpretations upon others, pope like ? How do you cast a re- proach upon us who are congregational in England, and furnish our adversaries with weapons against us. We blush and are fill- ed with confusion of face, when we hear of these things. Dear brother, we pray that God would open your eyes, and persuade the hearts of your magistrates, that they may no more smite their fellow servants, nor thus greatly injure us their brethren, and that they may not thus dishonor the name of God. My dear brother, pardon me, for I am affected ; I speak for God, to whose grace I commend you all in New- England ; and humbly craving your pray- ers for us here, and remain your affection- ate brother. " ROBERT MASCALL. " Finsbury, near Morefield, "March 25, 1669." This was copied by Mr. Samuel Hub- bard, from whence I took it. Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Owen, and ten other ministers wrote to the Massachusetts rulers the same day, in a moving manner, and said, " We are sure you would be unwilling to put an advantage into the hands of some, who seek pretences and occasions against our liberty, and to reinforce the former rigor. Now we cannot deny but this hath already in some measure been done, in that it hath been vogued, that persons of your way, principles and spirit, cannot bear with dissenters from them. And as this greatly reflects upon us, so some of us have observed how already it has turned to your disadvantage." Yet Dr. Mather says, " I cannot say that this ex- cellent letter had immediately all the efi'ect it should have had."* So that they were im- prisoned about a year, because they would not voluntarily go out of that jurisdiction. And the year after, six magistrates gave a warrant to take up Gould and Turner again, and Turner was actually put in prison upon the old sentence, and lay there a long time ; but Gould went and lived and preached upon Noddle's island in the harbor, where they did not pursue him. For a great many rulers and others ab- horred such conduct. But we must now take a review of other things. When the rulers of the Massachusetts yielded to the order of Parliament about Warwick, they were far from giving up ■ Magnalia, B. 7. p. 27, 2i>. their designs upon the lands in Providence colony. They claimed much of the west part of it, because of the Pequot conquest; and in 1657 and 1658, they sent men and got deeds of much land in the heart of the Narraganset country. The Narraganset Indians were also so uneasy about the death of their great sachem Miantenimo, that they often attempted to revenge his death, but were overpowered by forces sent once and again, from the Massachusetts; and in 1660, they compelled those Indians to mortgage all their lands to them, for what they said was due the Massachusetts. And because two Baptist brethren, Tobias San- ders and Robert Burdick, went to work upon lands which they had procured from their government in Westerly, they were imprisoned by the Massachusetts in 1662, who then wrote to the rulers of Providence colony about it, as appears by the records of both colonies. In the mean time Mr. Winthrop went over to England, and ob- tained a charter, dated April 23, 1662, which united New-Haven and Connecticut in one colony. Their eastern boundary was described to be " By the Narraganset river, commonly called Narraganset Bay, where said river falleth into the sea." And by this general description they claimed the Narraganset country. For when the com- missioners of the united colonies met at Boston in September, they wrote to the ru- lers of Providence colony, and mentioned this charter to Connecticut, which they said granted the lands at Pawcatuck and Nar- raganset, which we hope will prevail wiiJi you to require and cause your people to withdraw themselves and desist from fur- ther disturbance." Now they should have remembered, that in 1643, they interpreted the Narraganset river, the western boundary of Plymouth colony, so as to include the lands where Gorton was settled ; and all that the Mas- sachusetts did to him was founded upon that interpretation, which supposed Pawca- tuck to be the western boundary of Ply- mouth colony. Yet now they would claim all the Narraganset country by Connecticut charter. What great blindness was here ! And it was soon discovered by the charter which Mr. Clarke procured for his colony, dated July 8. 1663, which said, " Pawcatuck river shall be also called, alias, Narragan- set river ; and to prevcjit future disputes that otherwise might arise thereby forever hereafter, shall be construed, deemed and taken to be the Narraganset river, in the late grant to Connecticut colony, mentioned as the eastwardly bounds of that colony." Yet they were so resolute that it should not be so, that they proposed to send an airent over to England, to get that line al- ]24 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. tered. Upon which Mr. Williams wrote to Connecticut rulers, and said : " It looks iii!, 39. 138 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. the professor, and ten pounds per annvim to ten scholars of good character, four of whom should be Baptists, if any such were there. Also ten pounds a year to the col- lege treasurer, for his trouble, and ten pounds more to supply accidental losses, or to increase the number of students. And in 1726, he founded in that college a pro- fessorship of the mathematics and experi- mental philosophy, with a salary of eighty pounds a year to the professor ; and he sent over an apparatus for the purpose, which cost about one hundred and fitty pounds Bterling, beside large additions to the col- lege library. No man had ever been so liberal to it before, as was this Baptist gen- tleman. CHAPTER VIII. Freetown oppressed. — Also Tiverton and Dartmouth. — They ^ot relief from Eng- land. — Increase Mather died. — His son tries for more poiper ; hut is checked from England.— He dies. — Pharnah im i- tated. — Many are imprisoned. — Religion revived — Comer converted. — He is ser- viceable in many places. — He and oth ers die. — Congregational churches at New- port and Providence. — A great work at Northampton. — Several Baptist churches formed. EauAL liberty was then enjoyed in Bos- ton, while other towns were oppressed. In 1718, a law was made to compel all the country to assist in building or repairing Congregational meeting-houses; and in 1719, another attempt was made to force Swansea to receive and support one of their ministers, when they had two Baptist churches and three ministers then in town, and no other religious society therein. Freetown, on the east side of Swansea, called Mr. Thomas Craghead, a minister from Ireland, to be their pastor, September 9, 1717, and he accepted of their call ; but instead of an amicable agreement with them about his support, he went to the court at Bristol in January, 1718, and pro- cured an order from thence to compel Free- town to pay him a salary of sixty-five pounds a year, to begin from the day he was chosen their minister. And for refu- sing to pay it, about fourteen of the inhabi- tants were imprisoned at Bristol, one of whom was a member of a Baptist church in Newport. These things produced much trouble in courts for two or three years, till the minister was forced to leave the the town, and the broils therein lasted for Bcveral generations. Tiverton and Dartmouth were the only remaining towns in the province which had not received any Congregational ministers. Therefore a complaint against them was made to their Legislature in May, 1722, and they voted a salary for such ministers, to be assessed upon all the inhabitants of said towns, which the ministers were to draw out of the state treasury. But their Assessors sent and obtained an account of how much was added to their tax on that account, and then left it out of their assess- ment. For this, two Assessors of each town were seized in May, 1723, and were imprisoned at Bristol, until they sent to England, and got that act disannulled by the king and council. One of those suffer- ers was Philip Tabor, pastor of the Baptist church on the borders of Tiverton and Dartmouth.' But before the order for their release arrived, two more Assessors o^ Dartmouth were put in prison, for not as- sessing a like tax imposed for 1723 ; though upon the arrival of that order, they were released by an act of the Legislature here. Yet the ministers were so far from yielding to these things, that they psesented a peti- tion to their Legislators, in May, 1725,* that they would call a synod, to give their advice about what were the evils which caused the judgments of Heaven upon the country, and what were the evangelical means which should be used to remove the same, signed by Cotton Mather, in the name of the ministers assembled in their general convention. But the consideration of this petition was put off to the next meeting of their Legislature. Episcopalians sent an account of it to England, and a sharp reprimand was sent from the British court to Lieutenant Gov- ernor Dummer, for giving any countenance thereto, as being an invasion of the king's prerogative, who only could lawfully call synods ; and a command to cause such a meeting to cease, if it was convened, and to cause the chief actors therein to be pun- ished if they did not immediately disperse. Before this, Dr. Increase Mather died, Au- gust 23, 1723, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, having been a preacher of the gospel sixty-five years. We have before seen how he testified against the power which minis- ters had assumed over the churches ; but his son was so fond of it, that when Gov- ernor Saltonstall died in 1724, he preached a funeral sermon for him at Boston, and got it printed at New-London. And he pub- lished a book in 1726, in which he expressed his resentment against Mr. Wise for writ- ing against the proposals of 1705. Having mentioned that tour synods had been called by authority in the Massachusetts, he says, '■ The synods of New-England know no Katchinson, vol. 2, p. 322. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 139 weapons, but wliat are purely spiritual. They have no secular arm to enforce any ■canons ; they ask none ; they want none. And they cannot believe, that any protest- ant secular arm would, upon due informa- tion, any more forbid their meetings, than they would any of the religious assemblies upheld in the country."* Yet many were banished upon the result of the synod of 1637, and the Baptist meeting-house in Bos- ton was nailed up, after the synod of 1679. Yea, and he was now earnest to have Con- gregational ministers sup])orted by taxes imposed " in the king's name." He ap- proved of the practice of some towns, who involved the salary for ministers in a gene- ral town tax ;t and there never was any law made here to exempt the Baptists from taxes to Congregational ministers, until after Dr. Mather died, February 13, 1728, aged sixty-five. But in May following, an act was made to exempt the persons of Baptists and Qua- kers from such taxes, if they lived within five miles of their respective meetings, and usually attended worship there on Lord's days ; of which they must give an account to their county courts in June annually, upon oath or affirmation, after which the clerk of each court was to give a list of their names to the Assessors of each town or precinct. In this, arbitrary power was car- ried beyond what it was in Egypt ; for Pharaoh said. " Go ye, serve the Lord ; only let your flocks and herds be stayed." Let their polls be exempted, but their es- tates and faculties taxed, said the Massa- chusetts. Herein they imitated him ; but they went beyond him in two other points; for Pharaoh said, " Go not very far away ;" hut these allowed only five miles, though many of their parishoners must go much farther than that to meeting, even to this day ; neither did Pharaoh require a list of the people on oalh, as these did. Yet this small favor was denied to dis- senters in Rehoboth for this year ; and for refusing to pay a tax to Congregational ministers there, twenty-eight Baptists, two Quakers, and two Episcopalians, were seiz- ed and imprisoned at Bristol, in March. 1729. Though Governor Burnet and his council gave their opinion in favor ol" these people, yet they were confined in prison till they or their friends paid the money. In the fall after, an act was passed to exempt their estates as well as their persons, yet still under five-mile limitations. But we will gladly turn to more agreea- ble things ; for although the majority of Congregational ministers were very cor- rupt, yet some of them were faithful and ' An account of the discipline in the churches of New Englan.i, p. 172. 173, 184. t Ibid, r- 21,22. successful. In the beginning of 1705, such a revival of religion was granted at Taun- ton, in the county of Bristol, under the min- istry of Mr. Samuel Danforth, as turned the minds of most of the inhabitants, from vain company and many immoralities, to an earnest attention to religion, and tlie great concerns of the soul and eternity ; and they had something of the same nature at this time in Boston.* In 1721. the Spirit of God was so remarkably poured out upon the inhabitants of Windham in Connecti- cut, under the ministry of Mr. Samuel Whiting, and such a great change was made, that four-score persons were added to their communion in about half a year, for which they kept a day of public thanks- giving.f One curious event happened there, which I will mention. The word preached was such a looking-glass to one man, that he seriously went to Mr. Whit- ing, and told him he was very sorry that so good a minister as he was should so gross- ly transgress the divine rule, as to tell him his faults before the whole congregation, instead of coming to deal with him private- ly. The minister smiled, and said he was glad that truth had found him out, for he had no particular thought of him in his sermon. Norwich, ten miles from Windham, en- joyed much of the like blessing the same year, from whence my pious mother dated her conversion. Boston shared something of the same, when God in judgment re- membered mercy for many ; for the small- pox came into the town in April, 1721, and prevailed through the year. It appeared to have happy effects npon many minds, while it carried a large number into eterni ty. One instance of conversion there I shall mention. John Comer was born in Boston, August 1, 1704, and sat under the ministy of Dr. Mathers. He was put out to learn a trade ; but he had such a desire for learning, that by the influence of Dr. Increase Mather, he was taken from it, and put to school in December, 1720. He had serious concern about his soul from time to time, until he had caught that distemper ; and he says, " Nothing but the ghostly countenance of death, unprepared for, was before me, and no sight of a reconciled God, nor any sense of the application of the soul-cleansing blood of Christ to my distressed soul. I remained in extreme terror, until November 22, 1721. All the interval of time I spent in looking over the affairs of my soul ; and on that day I was taken sick. As soon as it was told me that the distemper appeared, all my fears entire- ly vanislied, and a beam of comfort darted into my soul, and with it satisfaction from • Christian History, Vol. i. p. 108— 112- t Ib.fi, p. 130—134. 140 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NE W-ENGL ANP. those words, ' Thou shalt not die, but live and declare the worlds of the Lord.' Yea, BO great was my satisfaction, that immedi- ately I replied, to my aunt who told me, then I know I shall not die now ; but gave no reason why I said so." He recovered, and pursued his learning at Cambridge, where he joined to a Con- gregational church in February, 1723. Ephraim Crafts, his intimate friend, had joined to the Baptist church in Boston just "before. This, Coiner thought to be a very wrong action, and took the tlrst opportunity he had to try to convince him of it ; but after considerable debate, Comer was pre- vailed with to take Stennett upon Bajitism, the reading of which gave a great turn to his mind. However he conckided to be silent about it ; and as education was cheap- est at New-Haven, he went and entered the College there in September, 1723, and continued a member of it until October, 1724; when infirmity of body caused his return to Boston by water ; and a terrible storm at sea, with the death of a dear friend just as he arrived, brought eternity so di- rectly before him, as to spoil his plausible excuses for the neglect of baptism. He in- forms us, that those words of Christ, " Who- soever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful genera- tion, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels," had such an influence upon him, that, alter proper labors with those he was previously con- nected with, he was baptized, and joined to the Baptist church in Boston, January 31, 1725, and concluded to pursue his studies in a private way. In May following, he went to keep a school in Swansea, and was soon called to preach the gospel in the first church there ; and on May 19, 1726, he was ordained a pastor of the first church in Newport, colleague with elder Peckum. Mr. Peckum had been pastor of that church sixteen years, but his gifts were small, and he had but seventeen members in his church ; though such a blessing was granted on the ministry of Mr. Comer, that thirty-four were added to them in three years. They had no public singing, until he, with a blessing introduced it ; neither had they any church records, before he got a book, and collected into it the best ac- counts that he could get of iheir former af- fairs. As it has been a common thing in all ages when men have declined from the power of religion, to fix upon some exter- nal practice to supply the want oi" it ; so this was now evident among the Baptists in these parts, and upon every disputable point too. For in the law of Moses, a great variety of washings or bathings were re- quired, and also the laying on of hands upon the head of their sacrifices, as a token of their sins being laid thereon; and thia evidently pointed to laying our sins upon Christ, who bare our sins in his own body on the tree. And those Avashings were a clear type of regeneration, which God sheds on us abundantly through Christ Jesus our Saviour. All must allow these to be ibun- dation points. And tlie same word that is rendered baptism in the sixth chapter to the Hebrews, is rendered washings in the ninth; and divers washings, and carnal ordinances there, refer most certainly to Jewish cere- monies. But the doctrine which was held tbrlh in those washings, and laying on of hands, was evidently the doctrine of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and our ac- ceptance with God by having our sins laid upon Christ, who made atonement for them. But receiving it as a foundation principle in Ciiristianify, that every believer must pass imder laying on of hands after bap- tism, in order to be received into church communion, caused a separation among the Baptists in Newport and Providence in 1652, which still continued in Newport. And as Mr. Comer thought that separation to be wrong, and yet that laying on of hands after baptism was warrantable, he preach- ed it up in that way, on November 17, 1728, without first acquainting his church with his being of this mind. Therefore two of the most powerful members, who disliked his searching preaching, took this as a handle to crowd him out of their church. This was a sore trial to him, but they prevailed to have him dismissed in January, 1729, and he then passed under hands, and was received into the second church in New- port, where he preached one half of the Lord's days with elder Daniel Wightman for two years. A revival of religion began in that church a little before, and forty members were added to it in those two years, at the close of which they had one hundred and fifty members, being the larg- est church in the colony. Governor Jenka then lived in Newport, and communed with thai church, who supported Comer liberally. In March, 1731, he went a journey into New-Jersey, and as far as Philadelphia, and was greatly pleased with the faith and order of the Baptist churches in those parts. Upon his return, receiving an invitation from Rehoboth, he was dismissed from Newport, and removed to Rehoboth in Au- gust, where a church was formed, and he was installed their pastor, January 26, 1732. In the mean time, Mr. John Callender from Boston was ordained in the first church in Newport, a colleague with elder Peckum, October 13, 1731. Also Mr. Nicholas F.yres, who came from England to New- York, was called to Newport, and was set- HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I41 tied as a colleague with elder Wightman the same month. Mr. Elisha Callender of Boston had been sent for to Springfield, where he baptized seven persons in July, 1727, and Mr. Co- mer visited them in October following, and was there when the great earthquake came on in the evening of the 29th of that month. After he was settled in Rehoboth, he visited the people in Sutton and Leicester, in June, 1732, and baptized eight persons in those two towns, one of whom was Daniel Denny, Esq., who came from England. The No- vember following he baptized fifteen at home, in one day; and before ihe close of 1733, his church' had increased to ninety- five members, besides many seals of his ministry who joined to other churches. He was a small man, but of sprightly powers both of body and mind, and did much towards the revival of doctrinal and practical religion among the Baptists ; and collected many papers, and wrote many things that have been very serviceable in our history. But his constant labors and exertions in this noble cause, wasted his vital strength, and he fell into a consumption, of which he died in Rehoboth, May 23, 1734, before he was thirty years old. Elder Ephraim Whea- ton, pastor of the first church in Swansea, died the 26th of April before, aged seventy- five, having two hundred members in his church. These things I have carefully col- lected from various records and writings. On September 16, 1735, a Baptist church was formed in Sutton, and September 28, 1737, Benjamin Marsh and Thomas Green were ordained their joint pastors. But on September 28, 1738, by mutual agreement, the brethren at Leicester became a church by themselves, and Green their pastor. On November 4, 1736, a Baptist church was gathered in Brimfield ; and on November 4, 1741, Ebenezer Moultan was ordained their pastor. March 24, 1738, a century after the deed of Rhode Island was obtain- ed of the Narraganset Indians, Mr. John Callender delivered a sermon at Newport, which he published with enlargements, con- taining the best history of the colony then extant. But his uncle at Boston was ta- ken away by death the last day of that month ; and he finished his course in the happy manner following : March 21, he said, " When I look on one hand I see noth- ing but sin, guilt and discouragement ; but when I look on the other, I see my glorious Saviour, and the merits of his precious blood which clcanseth from all sin. I cannot say I have such transports of joy as some have had, but through grace 1 can say I liave gotten the victory over death and the grave." Being asked what word of advice he had for his church, he earnestly replied, "Away with lukewarmness ! Away with such remissness in attending the house of prayer, which has been a discouragement to me, and I have been faulty myself" The Boston Evening Post of April 3, says : " Friday morning last, after a lingering sickness, deceased the Reverend Mr. Elisha Callender, minister of the Baptist church in this town; a gentleman universally belov- ed by people of all persuasions, for his char- itable and catholic way of thinking. His life was unspotted, and his conversation al- ways affable, religious, and truly manly. During his long illness he was remarkably patient, and in his last hours (like the blessed above) pacific and entirely serene ; his sen- ses good to the last, /shall, said he, sleep in Jesus, and that moment expired." Mr. Comer gives us an account of the first planting of the Congregational church- es in Rhode Island coloriy. Mr. Nathaniel Clap from Dorchester began to preach in Newport in 1695, and continued his labors there, under many discouragements, until a church was formed, and he was ordained their pastor, November 3, 1720. But in 1727, one Mr. John Adams, a young minis- ter, came and preached there ; and because Mr. Clap would not consent to have him setded as his colleage, a party council from the Massachusetts divided the church, and Adams was ordained over a majority of the church, April 11, 1728; and Mr. Clap was shutout of his meeting-house, and his peo- ple built another for him. But in about two years, Adam's people dismissed him with- out a recommendation. Congregational ministers also took much pains to introduce their worship into Providence; to promote which, an association of ministers in and near Boston, wrote to Governor Jenks, and other men of note in that town, October 27, 1721, and said : " With what peace and love societies of different modes of worship have generally entertained one another in your government, we cannot think of it without admiration ; and we suppose, un- der God. it is owing to the choice liberty granted to Protestants of all persuasions, in the royal charter graciously given you ; and to the wise and prudent conduct of the gentlemen that have been Governors and Justices in your colony." And so went on to desire them to countenance and encour- age the preaching of their ministers among them. The town of Providence wrote an answer to them, February 23, 1722, signed by Jonathan Sprague, wherein they say : " This happiness principally consists in their not allowing societies any superiority one over another ; but each society sup- ports their own ministry, of their own free will, and not by constraint or force, u])on any man's person or estate ; and flu's great- ly adds to our peace and tranquility. Ihit the contrary, that takes any man's estate by 342 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW- ENGLAND. force, to maintain their own or any other ministry, it serves for nothing but to pro- voke to wrath, envy and strife." And they •went on to mention how such things were continued in their government. An anonymous reply to this was publish- ed the fall alter, which contained a mean reflection against Sprague's character, without any thing that could vindicate their own conduct. In January, 1723, Sprague wrote a brief vindication of his character, and then said, " Why do you strive to per- suade the rising generation, that you nev- er persecuted nor hurt the Baptist? Did you not barbarously scourge Mr. Obadiah Holmes, and imprison John Hazel of Reho- both, who died and came not home? And did you not barbarously scourge Mr. Baker, in Cambridge, the chief mate of a London ship ? Where also you imprisoned Mr Thomas Gould, John Russell, Benjamin Sweetser, and many others, and fined them fifty pounds a man. And did you not take away a part of said Sweetser's land to pay his fine, and conveyed it to Solomon Phips, the Deputy-governor Danforth's son-in-law, who after by the hand of God ran distract- ed, dying suddenly, saying he was bewitch- ed ? And did you not nail up the Baptist meeting-house doors, and fine Mr. John Miles, Mr. James Brown, and Mr. Nicho- las Tanner? Surely I can fill sheets of paper with the sufferings of the Baptists, as well as others, within your precincts ; but what I have mentioned shall suffice for the present." Mr. Sprague was a minister for many years to a Baptist society, in the east part of Smithfield, then a part of Provi- dence, where he died in January, 1741, aged ninety-three. Mr. Comer knew him, and speaks of him as a very judicious and pious man. A Congregational church was constitut- ed in Providence, and Mr. Josiah Cotton was ordained their pastor, October 23, 1728 The year before on October 29, 1729, about ten in the evening, came on the greatest earthquake that had then been known in this country, and great numbers were awak ened thereby, in all parts of the land, many of whom appeared to be truly turned to God, though others soon forgot their dan ger. But irreater things are before us, as to real reformation, and one instrument of it deserves particular notice ; namely. Mr. Jonatlian Edwards, who was born at Wind- sor in Connecticut, October 5, 1703 ; was educated at Yale college, and began to preach the gospel in 1722, and was ordain- ed at Northampton, colleague with his grand-father Stoddard, February 15, 1727. Mr. Stoddard died February 11, 1729, after having preached there about si.xty years He ])reached the clear doctrines of grace, and had great success in his ministry, not withstanding his opinion about terms of communion and church government, before described. It was a low time among them for sever- al years, until a revival of religion began in Northampton, in 1733, and it arose so high in the spring of 1735, that Mr. Ed- wards entertained hopes that about thirty were converted in a week, for six weeks to- gether ; so that scarce a grown person in the place remained unafi'ecfed, and many children were effectually called. The same work was powerful in about twelve adja- cent towns in the county of Hampshire, and they had something of it in various parts of Connecticut. Mr. Edwards wrote a narra- tive of this great work, in 1736, which was printed in England as well as America, and caused great joy to many ; though it was but as a dropping before a plentiful show- er, as will appear in the next chapter. CHAPTER IX. The low state of religion in our land. But a glorious revival teas now granted ; and it spread far. Yet laws were made against it in Connecticut^ and writings against it in the Massachusetts, though inconsistent. Ministers are punished by the General Court of Connecticut. Some inake retractions. But President Ed- wards condemns opposers. The first fathers of New-England held, that each believer stands in the same rela- tion to his children as Abraham did to his, in the covenant of circumcision ; and there- fore that each believer had a right to bring his children to baptism, which no others had. But forty years after, a door was opened for those who had been baptized in infancy, and were not scandalous, to bring their infants to baptism, though none were to come to the ordinance of the supper with- out a profession of saving grace. Yet in forty years more, an open plea was pub- lished, before described, for all baptized persons, who were not openly scandalous, to come to the Lord's supper, as well as to bring their children to baptism. And in a third forty years, these things had turned the world into the church, and the church into the world in such a manner, as to leave very little difference between them. But as it is said of false teachers, " They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them," so it was gen- erally in our land. 1 John, iv. 5. And in England the declension had gone so far that in 1736, Bishop Butler said : " It is come I know not how, to be taken for grant- ed, by many persons, that Christianity is HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 143 not so much as a subject of inquiry: but that it is now at length discovered to be fic- titious ; and accordingly they treat it as if in the present age this were an agreed point among all people of discernment, and nothing remained but to set it up as a prin- cipal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world."* But when the enemy was thus coming in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up astandard against him. Mr. George White- field, who was born in the city of Glouces- ter, December 16, 1714, converted while in the university of Oxford in 1733, and or- dained in 1736, was wonderfully furnished with grace and gifts, to proclaim doctrinal and practical Christianity through the Brit- ish empire. He sailed from England in De cember, 1737. He embarked again for America in August, 1739, and travelled and labored with great success, as far north- ward as New- York. He returned back to Georgia, from whence he went to South Carolina, and sailed from thence to x\evv' England, where he had been earnestly in- vited, and landed at Newport, September 14, 1740, and preached there three days from whence he came to Boston the ISth. After preaching there and near it many days, he went as far eastward as Old York, to see our excellent Moody ; and then he returned and preached at Boston till Octo- ber 12, aAer which he went up westward to Northampton, to see Mr. Edwards, and roused the people there ; he then turned down by Hartford and New-Haven, and away to New- York, through New-Jersey and Philadelphia, and embarked from Del- aware Bay, December 1, 1740. And he then said : " O my soul, look back with gratitude on what the Lord hath done for thee in this excursion. 1 think it is the sev- enty-fifth day since I arrived at Rhode Is- land. My body was then weak, but the Lord has much renewed its strength. I have been enabled to preach, I think, one hundred and seventy-five times in pubhc, besides exhorting frequently in private. I have travelled upwards of eight hundred miles, and gotten upwards of seven hundred pounds sterling, in goods, provisions and money, for the Georgian orphans. Never did God vouchsafe me greater comforts. Never did I see such a continuance of the divine presence in the congregations to whom I have preached."! When he went through New-Jersey, he prevailed with Mr. Gilbert Tennant to take a tour into this field, which was white al- ready unto the harvest ; and he came to Boston in December, and labored in these • Preface to his Analogy r Coliection of bis JouruaJ. p. 437, parts till March, when he came round by Plymouth, Middleborough, Bridgewater, Taunton, Newport and Providence, and he returned home through Connecticut. Both ot them in their preaching, laid open the dreadful danger of nypocricy, as well as profaneness, and spake as plainly against unconverted ministers and professors, as any other sort of sinners, and the effects were exceeding great and happy. Some indeed tried to persuade the world that the change then made in the land, was chiefly owing to the mechanical influence of their terrible words, gestures, and moving ways of address. But Mr. Prince says, ^' As to Mr. Whitefield's preaching, it was, in the manner, moving, winning and melt- ing ; but the mechanical influence of this according to the usual operation of the me- chanical powers, in two or three days ex- pired, with many in two or three hours ; and I believe with the most as soon as the sound was over, or they got out of the house, or in the first conversation they fell into. But with the manner of his preach- ing, wherein he appeared to be in earnest, he delivered those vital tniths which ani- mated all our martyrs, made them triumph in flames, and led his hearers into the view of that vital, inward, active piety, which is the mere effect of the mighty and supernat- ural operation of a Divine power on the souls of men ; which only will support and carry through the sharpest trials, and make meet for the inheritance of the saints in hght." As to Mr. Tennant he says : '• In private converse with him I found him to be a man of considerable parts and learn- ing ; free, gentle, condescending ; and from his own various experience, reading the most noted writers on experimental divinity as well as the Scriptures, and conversing with many who had been awakened by hia ministry in New-Jersey, where he then liv- ed ; he seemed to have as deep an acquain- tance with the experimental part of religion as any I have conversed with, and his preaching was as searching and rousing as ever I heard. He seemed to have no re- gard to please the eyes of his hearers with agreeable gestures, nor their ears with de- livery, nor their fancy with language ; but to aim directly at their hearts and con- sciences, to lay open their ruinous delusion, shew them their numerous, secret, hypo- critical shifts in religion, and drive them out of every deceitful refuge, wherein they made themselves easy with a Ibrm of God- liness without the power."* Religion was much revived at Boston, Northampton, and other places in (he fall and winter ; and in the two years following the work spread through most parts of • Chn»:lan Ui»t(/ry. vol. li p. 3Si— 3S7. 144 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW- EN GLAND. New-England, New- York, New-Jersey and Pennsylvania, beyond all that was ever known before in America. Several minis- ters, who were convened before, were now greatly quickened, and spent much of their time in traveUing and preaching in various parts of tlie land. Otliers who had been blind guides betbre, were now spiritually enhghtened, and heartily joined in this great work ; three of them were Mr, Wil- liam Hobby of Reading, Mr. John Porter of Bridgcwater and Mr. Daniel Rogers, a tutor in Harvard college, who all acknowl- edged Mr. Whitefield to be the instrument of their conversion. A number of young scholars also met with a change in these times, and came into the ministry, in which they did much for the good of souls. Re- ligious meetings, and religious conversation engaged the atteiition of a great part of the people in most parts of the land. A refor- mation of lile, confessing their former faults and making restitution for injuries done, were evident in many places ; and a vast number of all ages made a profession of religion, and joined to the several churches where they lived. But a great majority of the ministers and rulers through the land disliked this work, and exerted all their powers against it ; and as many imperfections appeared therein, this gave them many plausible excuses for 60 doing. But Mr. Edwards delivered a sermon at New-Haven, September, 1741, in which he well distinguished between the marks of a true work of God, and all false appearances of it, which was printed and spread through the nation, and was much esteemed. An anonymous answer to it was soon published at Boston, and many appeared against the work in the Massa- chusetts ; but they could not get any law made against it, as they did in Connecticut. Governor Talcott died there in October, 1741, while their legislature was sitting, who then elected another governor, who was greatly in favor of ministerial power ; and they called a consociation of ministers to meet at Guilford in November, and they drew up a number of resolves, in one of which they said, " That ibr a minister to enter into another minister's parish, and preach or administer the seals of the cove- nant, without the consent of, or in opposi- tion to the settled minister of the parish, is disorderly." Mr. Robbins, of Bran lord, had done something like it before at New- Haven, for which others had reproved him, and he had made some concessions to them. In December he received a letter from a Baptist minister in Wallingford, inibrming him that Dr. Bellamy had preached to their society to nmtual satisfaction, and desiring that he would do the like. This request appeared agreeable, and he appointed a meeting for the purpose, January 6, 1742. But two days belbre that time, a deacon from Wallingibrd brought him a letter signed by forty-two men ici their town, and another signed by two ministers who lived by the waj^, desiring hjm not to go to preach to those Baptists, witliout giving any reason against it, but their desire. And as this did not appear to him a suffi- cient reason to violate his promise, and to disappoint a people who were desirous to hear the gospel, he went and preached two sermons to them. Yet Ibr this he was com- plained of as a disorderly person, to the consociation of New-Haven county, Febru- ary 9. He asked how it could be disorder- ly, since he preached to a particular reli- gious society, at the request of their pastor. They answered that it was not a lawful so- ciety, but a disorderly company. He re- plied that Governor Talcott had advised Wallingford collectors not to distrain min- terial taxes from them ; and the authority sent them annual proclamations, for Fasts and Thanksgivings, as to other societies.* But they disregarded these reasons, and expelled him out of their consociation ! This was about the time that Mr. David Brainard was expelled out of Yale college, who did most afterwards towards spreading Christianity among the Indians of any man in our day. How far were the above ac- tions from a catholic behavior towards the Baptists, pretended to by many ! Those ministers procured a law to be made in May, 1742, wherein it was enacted, that if any settled minister in their govern- ment should preach in the parish of another without his consent, he should lose all the benefit of their laws for his support ; and that if any man who was not a settled min- ister should go into any parish and preach without such consent, he should be imprison- ed until he gave an hundred pound bond not to do so again ; and it" any minister came out of anyother government, and preached with- out such consent, he should be taken up by authority, and carried as a vagrant person out of Connecticut. At the same time they had an old law, by which every person was to be fined ten shillings, who drew off from parish ministers, and met for worship in a place separate from them. What tyranny was this ! And though the Massachusetts had no power to make such laws about preachers, yet said Connecticut law was printed in a Boston newspaper, and many did all they could against travelling minis- ters, and against the work in general. But Mr. Edwards published a book on the other side in 1742: shewing that the work then going on in the land was a glo- ' That Baptist church in Wallingford was formed, and Mr. Jolm Men'iman was ordained their pasitor, in 1739. HiST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN N E W-E N GL A N t). £45 rious work of God ; the duty of all to ac- knowledge and promote it, and the great danger of the contrary; wherein its friends had been injuriously blamed ; what ought to be corrected among them, and what ought positively to be done to promote the work. This book was much esteemed in Europe as well as America. Yet Dr. Charles Cliauncy of Boston was so much displeased with it, that he set off and trav- elled through the country, as far as Phila- delphia, picking up all the evils that he could find, and some reports that were not true, concerning the work, and published them in 1743, as an answer to Edwards. In an introduction of above thirty pages, he tries to prove that this work was carried on by the same spirit and errors that were con- demned by the Synod of 1637. But what has been before recited, and much more that might be produced, plainly shews the contrary. He then spends three luindred pages upon what he calls, " things of a bad and dangerous tendency, in the late reli- gious appearances in New-England." And the first thing which he so calls, is itinerant preaching, which he says had its rise in these parts from Mr. Whitefield, who was followed by Mr. Tennant and others. And betbre he cited any scripture against it, he mentioned their law against it in Connecti- cut, which he observed had been printed in one of the Boston papers. After which he produced what is said in the Scriptures concerning idle, disorderly walkers, who eat the bread of others for naught. 2 Thess. iii. 6 — 11. And then he mentioned the caution against being busy-bodies in other men's matters. 1 Peter, iv. 15. But this could not answer his turn, without mending the translation, and observing that the word busy-body, is episcopos, which is often translated bishop ; and the evil here warned against, he says, is '' One that plays the bishop in another's diocess."* But it is well known, that the word means an over- seer and is so rendered in Acts xx. 28. A busy-body then is an overseer in the affairs of others, and in the two Scriptures which he produced, it is applied to Christians in general, and is not confined to nn'nisters. All should take heed that they do not inter- meddle with the affairs of others, which do not belong to them. Two other Scriptures he brings which belong to ministers, that condemn the commending of themselves, and entering into the line of others, and the building upon another man's foundation. 2 Cor. X. 12—17. Rom. xv. 20. And these are his Scriptures to prove, that a minister ought not to preach in any parish where another was settled by the laws of men, without his consent.! But all ought to * Chauncy's Thoughts, p. 36 — 12. t P. 43—15. Vol. 1.— S. know, that the line of conduct which God has drawn in his word, and the foundation which he has laid for his church, is as high above all establishments for worship by human laws, as heaven is above the earth. And the reader will judge whether the above application of those Scriptures to worldly establishments, is not corrupting the word of God. For travelling preachers of the gospel through the world, were the great means that God made use of, to lay the foundation of the Christian church, in the apostolic age. And travelling preach- ing hath oi'ten been blessed for the good of souls in every age, and in every country where the gospel has come. Another thing which Dr. Chauncy com- plains of, as of a dangerous tendency, is a spirit of rash and censorious judging; this he says first appeared in Mr. Whitefield, who seldom preached, but he had some- thing or other in his sermon against uncon- verted ministers. Chauncy says, "I freely confess, had the ministers of New-England lost their character as men of religion, by a deportment of themselves contradictory to the gospel, I should have found no fault with any representations of them as bad men; nay dangerous enemies to the king- dom of Ciirist : for I am clearly of the mind, that a visibly wicked minister is the great- est scandal to religion, and plague to the church of God; nor is it a hurt, but a real service to the cause of Christ, to expose the characters of such, and lessen their power to do mischief."* But to prove that their character was good, he recites the words of Dr. Cotton Mather, who said, ''No man becomes a minister in our churches, till he first be communicant; and no man be- comes a communicant, until he hath been severely examined about his regeneration, as well as his conversion."] But when was it so ? This testimony was published in 169G ; but four years after Mr. Stoddard published his opinion, that if men were not openly scandalous, they ought to come to communion in the church, though they knew themselves to be unregenerate ; and this opinion had spread over the whole country betbre Mr. Whitefield came into it. Nay, Dr. Chauncy himself said afterwards, " The divinely appointed way, in which persons become members of the visible church of Christ, is utterly inconsistent with the supposition, that, in order to their being so, they must be subjects oi' .saving faiih, or judged to be so."| So that out of his own mouth he is condemned. An uncharitable and censorious spirit is ever to be watched against, much of which appeared in that day among all orders of men. And Dr. Chauncy discovered a large • Chauncy's Thoughls, p. 140,141. t Page 112. J Sermon's on breaking of bread, p. 106. 146 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. share of it, and he published many censures of others, and of some in high authority. Governor Law of Connecticut, in a procla- mation for their annual fast, February 16, 1743, called all his subjects to confess and be humbled for their sins, which he said were, " The great neglect and contempt of the gospel and the ministry thereof, and the prevailing spirit of error, disorder, unpeace- ableness, pride, bitterness, uncharitableness, censoriousness, disobedience, calumniating and reviling of authority ; divisions, conten- tions, separations and confusions in church- es ; injustice, idleness, evil speaking, lasci- viousness, and all other vices and impieties which abound among us." This Chauncy has inserted in his book.* This proclama- tion was published so early as to have in- fluence in their election of rulers ; and Dea- con Hezekiah Huntington of Norwich, who had been one of their council three years, was then left out of it, and a man was elect- ed in his room, who had sent men to prison for preaching and exhorting the year before. Huntington had been greatly engaged in the reformation then going on in the land, and he continued steadfast therein all his days. A new church had been formed in New- Haven, and another at Milford, which had been tolerated by their county court, and they had put themselves under the care of a presbytery in New-Jersey. But the legis- lature that met at Hartford in May, 1748, enacted, " That those commonly called Presbyterians or Congregationalists shall not take benefit of the act of toleration." And they also declared that no other dis- senters from the established way of wor- ship, but such as should " Before the as- sembly take the oaths and subscribe the declaration provided in the act of parlia- ment, in cases of hke nature, should be tolerated." Mr, John Owen of Groton, was complained of for preaching against their laws in April before ; therefore he was or- dered to be brought before the legislature at their next session. In the mean time a Presbyterian minis- ter was sent from the Jerseys, to preach to said societies in Milford and New-Haven ; and for preaching at Milford, he was taken up by authority, and carried as a vagrant person out of their government. But when he was let go, he came back and preached at New-Haven. And as the people con- cealed him on week days, an officer came on Lord's day morning and seized him at their meeting-house door and carried him away. Yet he returned again and preach- ed to the people ; an account of which was laid before their legislature in October fol- lowing, when it was enacted, that any min- IIis Thoughte, p. 296—6. ister who should do so again, should be imprisoned until he should give an hundred pound bond not to do so any more. Such was their treatment of a minister of Christ whose name and title since was Samuel Finley, D. D., President of New Jersey college. As Mr. Owen avoided being taken, and like complaints were exhibited against Mr. Pomroy, both were ordered to be brought before the Assembly the next May. Ac- cordingly, at their meeting at Hartford, May 10, 1744, Owen came with an humble confession, and they forgave him, he pay- ing costs. Pomroy was brought, and stood trial for some hours ; but he was condemn- ed, and ordered to be committed, till he would pay costs, and bind himself for one year, in a recognizance of fifty pounds not to offend again in like manner. He then yielded to their requirements. And Mr. James Davenport, who had gone as far in condemning the settled ministers, and in promoting separations from them, as any minister in these parts, wrote a retraction of those things, and sent it to Boston, where Mr. Prince published it in September, 1744.* After which scarce any settled minister in New-England ventured to preach in any parish, without the consent of the settled minister. Yet Mr. Edwards had before said, " If ministers preach never so good doctrine, and are never so painful and laborious in their work, yet if at such a day as this, they shew to the people, that they are not well effected to this work, but are very doubtful and suspicious of it, they will be very like- ly to do their people more hurt than good ; for the very fame of such a great and ex- traordinary work of God, if their people were suffered to believe it to be his, and the example of other towns, together with what preaching they might hear occasionally, would be likely to have a much greater in- fluence upon the minds of the people, to awaken and animate them in religion, than all their labors with them. And we that are ministers, by looking on this work from year to year, with a displeased counte- nance, shall effectually keep the sheep from their pasture, instead of doing the part of shepherds to them, by feeding them ; and our people had a great deal better be with- out any settled minister at all, at such a day as this. The times of Christ's remark- able appearing in behalf of his church, and to revive rehgion, and advance his king- dom in the world, are often spoken of in the prophecies of Scripture, as times where- in he will remarkably execute judgment on such ministers or shepherds, as do not feed the flock, but hinder their being fed, and so • Chrictian History, Vol. 2. p. 237—240 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I47 deliver his flock from them, as Jeremiah xxiii. Ezekiel xxxiv. Zech. x. Isaiah xlvi. «Scc."* How solemn are these consid- erations ! And we have before seen, that Dr. Increase Mather in the year 1700 said, " If the began apostacy should proceed as fast the next thirty years, as it has done these last, surely it will come to that in New-England, that the most conscientious people therein will think themselves con- .cerned to gather churches out of churches." And though he knew not the exact time, yet this came to pass in forty-five years in the following manner. CHAPTER X. Of Canterbury separation. — Association letter against it. — But separations multi- ply^ though persecuted. — TTie work at Middleborough.— Of President Edwards. — Of Mr. Whitefeld. — Bobbins persecu- ted, but delivered. — Sufferings at Nor- wich and Canterbury. Mr. Elisha Paine was born in Eastham, ion .Cape Cod, and was well instructed in the principles of the first church in Ply- mouth, and was well established therein. His father removed his family to Canter- bury, in Connecticut, and Avas one of the men who formed the church there in 1711. He had four sons, whom he brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and they appeared to be acquainted with experimental religion. His son Elisha was become one of the greatest lawyers in Con- necticut, and was much prospered in the woild, before the law was made in 1741, to imprison men for preaching the gospel; but he then quitted their courts, and went forth preaching the gospel through the land. The church in Canterbury was then with- out a pastor ; and on January 27, 1743, they voted to adhere to the Cambridge platform instead of that of Saybrook. Soon after, Mr. Elisha Paine set off in preaching the gospel to the northward ; but for preaching in Woodstock, which then belonged to the Massachusetts, he was taken up in Febru- ary, and was sent to Worcester jail, under pretence of his breaking a law against mocking or mimicking of preaching. But four ministers in Connecticut, being inform- ed of it, gave a certificate, that they es- teemed him qualified to preach the gospel. In May, the court at Worcester were forced to release him, as having been imprisoned ■without law; and he went round preaching the gospel for about a fortnight, and then returned home. On July 8, he set off' • Edwards' Thoughts, 1742, p. 133, 136. ' again, and travelled to Providence, Bristol, Boston, Cambridge, and as far northward as Dunstable and Lancaster, preaching with great power. He returned home De- cember 3, having preached two hundred and forty-four sermons, as appears by his journal. In June, 1744, he went and preach- ed at Eastham and Harwich, which caused a separation, and then a Baptist church in Harwich. Upon his return to Canterbury, a division took place there in the following manner : the parish had called a young minister to preach to them, by whom most of the church were not edified. The par- ish therefore called a committee of their association in August to give advice in the case. Mr. Paine was requested to give his objections against said candidate ; but he would not, because they were not called by the church. Another member gave them a copy of the vote of the church against him, which they called the act of the ag- grieved part of the church ; and they ad- vised the parish to go on and settle said candidate. For this, Mr. Paine wrote to one of those ministers in September, a sharp reproof for wronging the truth in calling that a part of the church, which was the church itself. Upon this he was seized and imprisoned at Windham before the month was out, for preaching in Windham the spring before, without the consent of par- ish ministers. Mr. Paine gave bonds to the jail-keeper, so as to have liberty to preach in the yard ; and he soon had so large a congregation to hear him, that his persecu- tors found they weakened their own cause by confining him there. They therefore released him about October 19. In the mean time, as the church in Can- terbury had no other way to avoid hearing a man who did not edify them, they with- drew from their meeting-house, and met at another house. And John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, members of it. as they also were of Yale college ; being at home in vacation time, met fbr worship with their own church ; but for nothing but so doing they were expelled from the college. And Mr. Paine was repeatedly cited to appear before the ministers of that county, to an- swer to complaints they had received against him ; but he knew them too well to submit himself to their power. Twelve of them met in November, and published a testimony against him in a new.spapcr. And near all the ministers in Windham county met and published a letter to their people, dated December 11, 1744, signed by Joseph Coite, Ebenezer Williams, Joseph Meacham, Samuel Dorrance, Solomon Wil- liams, Jacob Eliot, Marston Cabot, Samuel Mosely, Ephraim Avery, Ebenezer Devo- tion, Eleazer Wheelock, Abel Stiles, Ste- phen White, John Bass, Richard Salter^ 148 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. William Throope. They brought Deut. jciii. 1 — 3, as a warning to their people against hearing Mr. Paine and his breth- ren, and then said, " The case here suppo- ped is an attempt to draw the people to idolatry, and this, you will say, is not your case. These prophets and dreamers en- deavor to draw you to Christ, and not from him ; but then they endeavor to draw you from his institutions, to a way of worship which he has not instituted. Though the case is not so strong, yet the argument against your compliance is the same ; for whatsoever worship God has not instituted and directed in his word, is false worship, and tlierefore if there seem to be never so many appearances of God's power attend- ing it, you may not go after it, any more than after a false God."* Upon which we may observe, that Christ calls the field the world, and says of the wheat and tares, " Let both grow together until the harvest." But he says to his church, "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person." Yet these ministers held the field to be the church, and that Christ would not let his servants root up the tares. " even when they appeared.''''] Bu how fiir is such worship from the instituted church of Christ ! Yea, while they were for having the tares grow in the church, they would not let the children of God grow peaceably in the world, but took up and imprisoned many of them. On November 27, 1744, the church of Canterbury met, and sixteen members against twenty-three, voted to send for their consociation to come and ordain the candi- date whom the parish had chosen ; and they met there for that purpose on Decem- ber 26 ; but not having the majority of the church for him they could not proceed ac- cording to their own laws. At length they called the parish together, and got them to vote, that they were willing their legisla- ture should set off those who did not choose their candidate, as a distinct religious soci- ety ; and so went on and ordained him as the minister of that parish. But as the church did not desire any new incorpora- tion by the laws of men, but only petitioned to be exempted from taxes to a minister they never chose, their petition was disre garded, their goods were torn away, or their persons imprisoned for his support for fifteen years, without the least compassion from the ministers who acted in that ordi- nation. These and many other things, moved a number of teachers and brethren to meet at Mansfield, October 9, 1745, and form a new church ; and ihey elected Mr. Thomas Marsh of Windham to be their pastor, and appointed his ordination to be 'Association Letter, p. 43. t P!«e21. on January 6, 1746. But he was seized the day before, and was imprisoned at Wind- ham, for preaching without leave from par- ish ministers. On the day he was to have been ordained, a large assembly met, to whom Mr. Elisha Paine preached a good sermon, at the close of which about thir- teen parish ministers came up, and tried all their influence to scatter that flock, whose shepherd had been smitten ; though, instead of it, they elected and ordained Mr. John Hovey as their pastor the next month. Mr. Marsh was confined in prison till June, and then their court released him, and in July he was ordained as a colleague with Mr. Hovey ; and many such churches were soon after formed and organized. What our Lord says about putting a piece of new cloth into an old garment, and new wine into old bottles, was remarkably verified at this time. Great numbers of young converts had joined to their old churches ; but a regard to the pure laws of Christ, from the new wine of love to God and love to men, could not be contained in churches which were governed by the laws and inventions of men, obeyed from the love of worldly honor, and gain, or a desire to get life by their own doings, any more than a new piece of cloth could agree with an old garment, or new wine could be con- tained in old bottles. Istead of it, the rent was made worse, or the bottles were broken. The consociation of Windham county met in January, 1747, and received accounts of these transactions, and then adjourned a month, and sent citations to Mr. Paine, and others of those ministers, to appear before the lawful ministers of their parishes, or a committee of their council, to offer what they had to say in vindication of them- selves. But they were far from an inclina- tion to submit themselves to such judges. When said consociation met again, they published a copy of the confession of faith and covenant of the new church in Mans- field, and their objections against the same, and their judgment against all those new churches, and got these things printed at Boston, in a pamphlet of twenty-two octa- vo pages. To these means were added the imprisonment of Mr. Frothingham five months, Mr. John Paine eleven months, and Mr. Palmer four months, all at Hartford, for preaching without the consent of parish ministers. Mr. Solomon Paine suffered im- prisonment also at Windham for a fortnight, on the same account, and many others suf- fered the like. And three gentleman, only for being members and deacons in these separate churches, were at different times, expelled out of their legislature, namely. Captain Obadiah Johnson, of Canterbury, Captain Thomas Stevens, of Plainfield, and Captain Nathan Je wet, of Lyme. But HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I49 overstraining iheir power weakened it, and it began to decline ; for Deacon Hezekiah Huntington was again elected into their council at Hartford in May, 1748 ; and he continued in that office, and was also judge of probate until he died in 1773. These things were done in Connecticut ; but we must now return to the affairs of the Mas- sachusetts. Mr. Peter Thatcher was the third minis- ter of Middleborough, where he began to preach in 1707. and he was much engaged in that work, especially in and after the glorious year, 1741 ; and his success was Eo great, that there were above three hun- dred and forty communicants in his chnrch when he died, April 22, 1744.* But the parish committee directly after his death, exerted all their influence against the church, about calling another minister. And when the church had voted to hear Mr. Sylvanus Conant four sabbaths upon pro- bation, the parish committee went and got another man to preach there the same days ; so that the chui-ch withdrew, and met at another place till his probation time was out, and elected him for their pastor, and presented their choice to the parish. Upon this, said committee made a new regulation of voters, wherein they excluded seven or eight old voters, and made about nineteen new ones ; and they negatived the choice of the church. But the church sent for a council of five other churches to settle the matter; and by their help Mr. Conant was ordained their pastor, March 28, 1745. Yet less than a quarter of the church called themselves the standing part of it, and went on and ordained another minister the next October, and held the old house and minis- terial land, and taxed all the parish for his support. The church built another meet- ing-house, and went on to support their minister ; but such a party-spirit prevailed, even in their legislature, that they could get no relief from thence in about four years. Though such a turn was then made, that the parish was divided into two, pro- miscuously, and each man had liberty to choose Avhich he would be of, and each was to support his own minister. When this liberty was obtained, the opposing party were soon sick of the minister they had or- dained, and used violence against him until they got him away, and obtained a disso- lution of their society. Does not this, as well as the experience of Canterbury, shew the great evil of allowing the world to govern the church about religious minis- ters ? And where church and world are one, it is no better, as now appeared at North- ampton. The excellent Mr. Edwards • Christian History, vol. ii. p. 77—73, 90. was settled there, with his grandfather Stoddard, upon the opinion that the Lord's supper was a converting ordinance, and he had gone on fifteen years in that way, until he was fully convinced that it was contrary to the word of God ; and he also found that gospel discipline could not be practised in such a way. No sooner was his change of mind discovered, in 1744, than most of his people were inflamed against him, and never would give him an hearing upon the reason of his change of sentiments ; but they were resolute to have him dismissed. As he could not get them to hear him preach upon the subject, he printed his thoughts upon it, in 1749, though most of them would not read his book. In it he says, '"that baptism, by which the primitive converts were admitted into the church, was used as an exhibition and token of their being visibly resrenerated, dead to sin and alive to God. The saintship, godliness and holiness of which, according to Scripture, professing Christians and visible saints do make a profession and have a visibility, is not any religion and virtue that is the result of common grace, or moral sincerity, (as it is called,) but saviiig grace.'''' And to prove this, he referred to Rom. ii. 29, vi. 1, 4. Phil. iii. 3. Col. ii. 11, 12.* Though he did not design it, yet many others have been made Baptists by the same Scriptures, and the same ideas from them. But Mr. Stoddard's doctrine had prevailed so far in that part of the country, that in all the county of Hampshire, which then included all our state west of Worcester countj^, not less than sixty miles wide and seventy miles long, there were but three ministers who did not hold that doctrine; and the church at Northampton denied Mr. Edwards the liberty of going out of that county, for any of those whom he was to choose to settle their controversy. At last they yielded that he might go out of that county for two, as each party was to choose five. But when the council met, in June, 1750, one of the churches whom Mr. Edwards sent to, had sent no delegate to the council, though their minister came and acted in the coun- cil, so that by the majority of one vote, Mr. Edwards was separated Jrom the flock he dearly loved. Thus one of the best men in our land was rejected from his place and employment, only for coming into the be- lief that a profession of saving faith was necessary in all who came into communion in the church of Christ. But as this was evidently a good cause, so God was with him in it, so that he afterwards wrote a book which opened the true nature of the will of moral agents, beyond anything tiiat ever was published in latter ages ; and that ' On a Right to Sacraments, p. !iO— 23. 150HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. and many other works of his are still great- ly esteemed in Europe, as well as America. He was very uselVd in the ministry, until he died President of New Jersey college, March 22, 175S, in his fii'ty-sixth year. Mr. Whitefield came a second time into New-England in tlie tall of 1744 ; when such opposition appeared against liim, as never was seen before against any minis- ter of the gospel in our land. The corpo- ration of Harvard college soon published a testimony against him, which was ibllow- ed vvitli one from an association of minis- ters at Weymouth, and another at Marlbo- roush, with a third in the county of Barn- stable, besides many individuals ; and in February, 1745, Yale college did the like, and represented that he intended to root out all the standing ministers in our land, and to introduce foreigners in their stead. This was so opposite to truth, that all his life was evidently spent in laboring for the conversion and edification ol' precious souls, while he left the building and government of churches to others ; though when per- sons were brought to a saving knowlege of i Christ, they could not be easy under teach- 1 ers who were strangers to him, for he says, " A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him ; for they know not the voice of strangers." And if many ministers in our land had not been strangers to Christ, how could they have acted as they did? Those who had cast Mr. Bobbins out of their consociation, for preaching to the Bap- tists without their consent, could not let him alone ; because while he continued a pas- tor of the first church in Branford, and yet was not vvitii them, it weakened their pow- er. Therefore in May, 1743, they received a cornpbiint against him. signed by six of his people ; and they appointed a commit- tee to go to him upon it, before he knew who the complainants were, or what they complained of. But when he found who they were, he went and gave them satisfac- tion, and they wrote an account of it to .said committee, but they would come and insisted upon it, that Mr. Bobbins must go and be reconciled to their association. Tills he triad ibr Avithoat success. Yet, seeing what a storm was gathering, he drew three confessions, and went to anoth- er of their meetings, and ottered them, wherein he went as far as he could towards givintr them satisfaction, short of confess- ing tliat he broke the law of God in preach- ing to those Baptists as he did. But as he could not in conscience confess tiiat, they rejected all his confession.s. And in May, 1745, tlipy received a larger complaint against him, without his having any ])revi- ous notic3 of it, and ;mother committee \vas sent to him, who prevailed with him to go and oiFer a fourth confession to their association, wherein he pleaded his igno- rance of its being a crime to preach to the Baptists as he did, might apologize for him so that a reconciliation might be effected with them and among his people. Bui they refused to be satisfied with any thing short of his confessing that he broke the law of God in preaching to the Baptists against their consent. He went home and laid this confession before his society, who voted that it was sufficient, and they desir- ed him to continue in the ministry with them, and al.so that no councils or commit- tees might be sent there again without their request. And his church met, November 4, 1745, and renounced the Saybrook plat- form, and said, " We receive the Sriptures of the Old and New Testament, as the only perfect rule and platform of church government and discipline ;" though they did not renounce fellowship with the conso- ciated churches. This was worse in their view than all he had done before , and a much larger com- plaint was received against him than be- fore, and a consociation was appointed to try it at Branford, September 30, 1746 ; and Mr. Bobbins was required " in the name of Christ" to appear before them. But he drew an answer to each article of their complaint, and laid them before his church, who chose a committee to lay a copy of their former votes before the con- sociation, and earnestly to deny their juris- diction over them. This was accordingly done ; yet they resolved that Mr. Bobbins was under their jurisdiction, and went on to liear accusations against him in his ab- sence, and to condemn him in ten articles of his public teachintr, without naming any witnesses, or any time or place when or where either of them were delivered. And concerning his conduct they say, " He hath led off a party with him, to rise up against and separate from the ecclesiastical consti- tution of this colony, under which this church was peaceably established ; re- proachfully insinuating in a church-meet- ing, that under the Saybrook platform it is king association in opposition to Jesus Christ the only King of the church. In which articles, upon mature deliberation, we judge the said Mr. Bobbins is crimin- ally guilty of the breach of the third, fifth, and ninth commands, and of many gospel rules, for which he ought to give Christian satisfaction, by making a confession to the acceptance of this consociation."* This he was so far from doing, that he published a narrative of the whole affair at Boston, in which the reader may find all the above particulars. The consociation waited a year, and then; ■ Robbins' Narrative, p. 28, 29. HIST. OF THE, BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I5J met on September 29, 1747, and after tell- ins much of their lenity, and his obstinacy they say : '• This consociation do now, upon the whole, judge, and determine the said Mr. Robbins unworthy the ministerial char- acter and Christian communion ; and ac- cordingly do, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the word of God, and the powers invested in this consociation by the ecclesiastical constitution of this government, depose the said Mr. Philemon Robbins from his ministerial office, and ministerial and pastoral relation to the first church in said Branford, and debar and sus- pend him from communion in any of the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ."* This is in an answer to Mr. Robbins, which they published in 1748 ; in which they say of his voting with his church to renounce the Saybrook platform, " There was no more validity in such a vote, than there would have been in that, if the major part of the first society in Branford had voted to re- nounce the civil government of Connecti- cut."t And a petition was sent to their general court, that they would turn Mr. Robbins out of his meeting-house, that a regular minister might be settled therein. But such glaring conduct opened their eyes, and they ordered a council to be called out of other counties, who prevailed with New- Haven consociation to restore Mr. Robbins to a seat with them, which he held to his death in 17S1 ; but his church sent no mes eenger with him. And their general court revived their former acts of toleration to dissenters, and ordered a new edition of their laws to be printed, which was done in 1750, out of which their late persecuting laws were left, without any express repeal of them. Governor Wolcot published a pamphlet against the Saybrook scheme ; and Governor Fitch endeavored to explain away their power, which has since much declined. An end was thus put to their imprison ing men for preaching ; but still they were resolute for compelling all to support those parish ministers. Let it be observed, that the fathers of Plymouth colony held, that the ministers of Christ are to be supported only by his laws and influence, and not at all by the laws of men enforced by the sword of the magistrate ; and many who now came out in a separation from these churches, descended i'rom those Plymouth fathers, and meant conscientiously to follow their good principles, in which others joined them; but for so doing, they suffered much for several years, until their oppressors found their own cause was weakened there- by, and so desisted. A short view of two pla- ces, may give a general view of the whole. • Answer to Robbins, p. 117, t Vj.~e 3;j. The minister of the first church in Nor- wich was settled in 1717. upon the old prin- ciple of New-England ; but in 1744, he pro- cured a vote of the major part of the church to admit communicants into it without so much as a written account of any inward change of heart at all. At the same time he openly declared his attachment to the Saybrook platform, which the church re- nounced when they settled bin). There- fore a large number of the church drew off, and formed another church, and settled another minister ; yet they v^'ere still taxed to the old minister, and many were impris- oned therefor. Of this, and their temper under their sufferings, a private letter from a widow fifty-ibur years old, may give some idea. " Norwich, Nov. 4, 1752. ''Dear Son, " I have heard something of the trials among you of late, and I was grieved till I had strength to give up the case to God, and leave my burthen there. And now I would tell you something of our trials. Your brother Samuel lay in prison twenty days. October 15, the collector came to our house, and took me away to prison about nine o'clock, in a dark rainy night. Brothers Hill and Sabin were brought there next night. We lay in pris- on thirteen days, and then were set at lib- erty, by what means I know not. Whilst 1 was there, a great many people came to see me ; and some said one thing and some another. O, the innumerable snares and temptations that beset me, more than I ever thought of before ! But O, the condescen- sion of Heaven ! Though I was bound when I was cast into this furnace, yet was I loosed, and found Jesus in the midst of the lurnace with me, O, then I could give up my name, estate, family, life and breath, freely to God. Now the prison looked like a palace to me. I could bless God for all the laughs and scoffs made at me. O. the love that flowed out to all mankind ! Then I could forgive, as I would desire to be for- given, and love my neighbor as myself. Deacon Griswold was put in prison the Sth of October, and yesterday old brother Gro- ver, and are in pursuit of others ; all which calls for humiliation. This church hath appointed the 13th of November, to be spent in prayer and fasting on that account. I do remember my love to you and your wife, and the dear children of God with you, besgingyour prayers for us in such a dny oflrial. We are all in tolerable health, expecting to see you. These from your loving mother, "ELIZABETH BACKUS." They afterwards imprisoned her brother 152 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS I N N E W-EN GL AND, for such taxes. Avhile he was a member of their legishiture ; and iheywenlon in sucii ways for about eight years, until the spirit- ual weapons of truth and love, vanquished those carnal weapons, which have not been so used in Norwich since. And the same may be observed of Canterbury. Mr. Elisha Paine was ordained pastor of a church on Long Island in May, 1752: but as he came over to Canterbury the fall af- ter, he was seized and imprisoned at Wind- ham, November 21, 1752, for a tax to the minister whom the church rejected. Upon which he said, " I cannot but marvel to see how soon the children will forget the sword that drove their fathers into this land, and take hold of it as a jewel, and kill their grand -children therewith. O, that men could see how far this is from Christ's rule ! that all things which we would have others do unto us, that we should do even so unto them. I believe the same people, who put this authority into the hands of Mr. Cogs- well, their minister, to put me into prison for not paying him for preaching, would think it very hard for the church I belong to, and am pastor of, if they should get the upper hand, and tax and imprison him, for what he should be so unjustly taxed at ; and yet I can see no other difference, only because the power is in his hands ; for I suppose he has heard me as often as I ever have him, and yet he hath taken from me by force two cows and one steer, and now my body held in prison, only because the power is in his hands." And on Decem- ber 11, he wrote to the assessors of Canter- bury, and reminded them of the cruelty of the two beasts at Rome, and then said : " What your prisoner requests of you is, a clear distinction between the ecclesiastical constitution of Connecticut, by which I am now held in prison, and those thrones or beasts in the foundation, constitution and sup- port thereof. For if you can shew, by scrip- ture and reason, that they do notallstandon the throne mentioned in Psalm xciv. 20, but that the latter is founded on the rock, Christ Jesus, I will confess my fault, and soon clear myself of the prison. But if this constitution hath its rise from that throne, then come forth to the help of the Lord against the mighty, for it is better to die for Christ than to live against him. From an old friend to this civil constitution, and long vour prisoner. ELISHA PAINE."* Five days after he was released ; but the extremity of a severe winter kept him long from his family, who suHered much in an unfinished house for want of his help. Mr. Solomon Paine published a book this year ' Mr. Paine continued the pastor of liis church on Long Ibland, till he died, in 1775, aged eiyhiy-four years. to shew '• the difference between the church of Christ, and the churches established by law in Connecticut." And though they continued this oppression until 1771, yet their minister was tlieri dismissed ; and many confessed their faults in those oppres- sions, and equal liberty has been enjoyed in Canterbury ever since. CHAPTER XI. The cause why Baptist churches increased in several places, though opposed by many. Two who were against them die. The corruption of many e.rposed. Episcopa- lians try for power here. The great earthquake awakens many. More Bap- tist churches formed. Providence Col- lege constituted. Light given about bap- tism by Pcedobaptists ; and by writings concerning religious establishments. The evil ofth em opened. Particularly at Bos ■ ton. Universalism exposed. New revi- vals. Whitejield dies. Certificate laws exposed. 7 he war comes on. The Bap- tists unite with their country in it. The Quakers did not. When religion was revived in 1741, there were but nine Baptist churches in all the Massachusetts government, and none in New-Hampshire or Vermont. As Psedo- baptist instruments were chiefly used in that work, and the most of the old Baptists were not clear in the doctrines of grace, they were generally prejudiced against it. Yet the great change, that was then wrought in many minds, was the evident cause of tiie spread of the Baptist princi- ples in our land, which have increased ever since. The subjects of that work of grace embraced two ideas which produced this effect. The first is, that saving faith is necessary to give any soul a true right to communion in the church of Christ. The second is, that there is no warrant for a half-way covenant therein. And as infants are generally in the state of nature when they are said to be brought into covenant, infant baptism expires before these princi- ples. Yet, natural affection, education, honor, gain and self-righteousness, all con- spire together to prejudice people against becoming Baptists. 1 1 is not strange, there- fore, that but few became such for many years. The pastor of the Baptist church in Bos- ton was dark in doctrine, and opposed the revival of religion that began there in 1740 ; therefore a few of the church drew off, and Ibniied another church in 1742, and ordain- ed a pastor in 1743, who was a clear preach- er of the gospel, and many joined with them HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN N E WE N GL AN D. 153 from adjacent towns. A second Baptist church was also formed and organized in Rehoboth, in 1743. The like was done at Stonnington in Connecticut, the same year. And they increased so much in New- Jersey, that Mr. Dickinson, the first President of their college, wrote a pamphlet against them, which was printed both in New- York and Boston, in 1746. But it was sent over to London, and Dr. Gill published an answer to it in 1749 ; to which Mr. Peter Clark replied in 1752 ; and this examina- tion of the subject caused light to be spread in our land. More than threescore members of the separate church in Sturbridge, including all their officers, were baptized in 1749. Elder Ebenezer Moulton, of Brimfield, baptized the first part of them, and many others about the same time. In Septem- ber that year, he baptized ten persons in Bridgewater, and three in Raynham. The month before, a controversy was brought into the separate church in the joining bor- ders of Bridgewater and Middleborough, which was managed in an unhappy man- ner, and served to prejudice many against the Baptist principles; yet they gradually prevailed, until their pastor and others were baptized in 1751, and oth^s afterwards, who yet held communion with^their old brethren for a number of years. Several lively preachers were received among the old Baptists in Narragansett, who liad much success there ; and Baptist elders went from thence, and baptized many in the separate churches in Connecticut, and it seemed as though all those churches would become Baptists ; but for fear of it, fierce opposition was raised against what was called re-baptising, which was declar- ed to be a very wicked action, and some re- tracted it. This caused much unhappiness, and councils were called upon it, and a gen- eral meeting of churches at Exeter, in May 175.3, and a larger one at Stonnington in May, 1754 ; but they could not settle the controversy. Though the communing of all real saints together, appeared to be of great importance, yet many found by de- grees that it could not be done in that way ; for they saw that if they came to the Lord's supper with any who were only sprinkled in their infancy, it practically said they were baptized, when they beheved in their consciencies that they were not. And prac- tical lying is a great sin. We ought to use all the freedom towards all men, and towards Christians especially, that we can with a good conscience ; but neither Scrip- ture nor reason can require us to violate our own consciences for any cause what- ever. And upon these principles the first Baptists cliurchin Middleborough was con- stituted, January 16, 1756. and their former Vol. 1.— T. pastor was installed in his office, June 23 following. This was the first Baptist church which was formed in an extent of country of more than an hundred miles long, from Bellingham to the end of Cape Cod, and near fifty miles wide, between Boston and Rehoboth, in which are now above twenty churches. In two years before, gospel preachers from New- York and New-Jersey, had trav- elled several times to Newport and Swan- sea, and labored among our old Baptist churches with success ; and a reformation in doctrine and conduct followed and also a friendly intercourse with our new churches. Mr. Solomon Paine, who had opposed the Baptists much, died October 25, 1754, and Mr. Thomas Stevenson, November 13, 1755, after which thai opposition abated. But a cruel war now came on, which turned the minds of people off from the great concerns 0? the soul and eternity, to the confusions of this world. The ministers who had been against the late glorious work, were now using all their art to render the doctrines of sovereign grace odious ; and the doctrine of Jesus Christ being truly the Son of God, and justification by faith in his righteous- ness, was treated with scorn and contempt, in a publication at Boston in 1755. And the same spirit appeared in Connecticut. The Baptist minister and church of Wall- ingfbrd removed from thence in 17-50 ; but when the Congregational minister, who had persecuted Mr. Bobbins, died there in 1756, his people had great difficulties about settUng another. Among twenty candi- dates, tliey could not agree about any one of them. Therefore in the Spring of^ 1758, they were advised to send to Cambridge, and they did so, and a man came highly recommended from thence, and the major- ity elected him for ther pastor; and appoint- ed his ordination to be on October 11. But instead of acting by Saybrook platform, they sent for such ministers as suited them in their own county, and in other places, who were of their party. God says '• Mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary 10 the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them ; for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the sim- ple." Rom. xvi. 17, 18. This word has been abundantly cast upon all men who have separated from ministers who were supported by force ; though they have paid no regard to two characters described in the text. The first is, them who cause di- visio7is ; the second is, their acting cmitrary to the doctrine which the Christian church have learned ; for Christ himself caused divisions between his church and the world. And because the ministers of Windham 154 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. county ordained a candidate m Canterbury in 1744, contrary to the minds of the major- ity of the church, divisions and offences were caused thereby through the land. An- other division was now coming on about doctrines; for some members of the church in WaUingford had visited their candidate, and desired to know his thoughts, " about original sin, and the saints' perseverance, the power of free-will, and falling from grace," but he refused to tell them. As they were not willing to sit under such a teacher of souls, there consociation was convened at WaUingford the day before the ordination was to be, to hear and act upon a complaint exhibited against their candi- date ; but he and his party protested against their meeting at that time, and refused to be tried by them. The ministers whom they had called, formed themselves into a council, and went into the meeting-house, and heard the candidate vindicate himself, before judges that his accusers refused to be tried by. Though while they were there, they received a paper, signed by ninety- five inhabitants of that parish, who possess- ed about half the freehold estate therein, desiring them not to proceed in the ordina- tion ; and also a message from their conso- ciation, warning and beseeching them not then to proceed ; yet in the face of all this, they went on and ordained him as the pas- tor of that parish. Such an instance was never before known in our land ; therefore the consociation ad- journed, and called the southern consocia- tion of Hartford county to meet with them ; but they could not bring said party to be tried by them ; therefore at their meeting of April 3, 1759, they gave the sen-tence of non-communion against the minister so or- dained in WaUingford, and against the members of the church who should contin ue with him. They declared the ministers of their county who acted in that ordination to be disorderly persons, until they gave satisfaction for that otlence ; and they were, Joseph Noyes, Isaac Stiles, and Chauncey Whittlesey of New-Haven, Samuel Whit- tlesey of Milford, Theophilus Hall of Me- ridan, and Jonathan Todd of East-Guilford. Two of these were sons of the old minister of WaUingford, and one of them was the tutor for whom David Brainard was expell- ed from coUege. Mr. Todd and WiUiam Hart wrote in fa- vor of these men, and Mr. E. Elles and Noah Hohart wrote against them ; and all the above things appear in their publications. Mr. Robbins was one of their judges, in an affair which affords useful lessons. Here we see how self can blind the children of men. The scene of these actions was in the same town from whence all their actings against him originated. He only preached there occasionally ; they settled a minister in the parish. He acted against the desire of two ministers and forty-two inhabitants ; they against their consociation and ninety- five inhabitants. In the first case the Say- brook scheme was fairly renounced, and the word of God taken in its room ; in the other they only protested against the meet- ing of the consociation at that time, but in- tended to be of it afterwards. These things caused a division in the town, and another church and minister were settled there ; two Baptists churches also are since formed in WaUingford. And their conduct produced like effects in other places. The preaching of Mr. Ebenezer White of Danbury, was not liked by a minor part of his hearers, and they went and complained of him to their association, and advised to the calling of the consociation of that dis- trict to hear and act upon it. But when Mr. White heard of it, he called his church together, June, 28, 1763, and they renounc- ed the Saybrook platform, which many of them never liked, though they did not renounce communion with the churches who were under it. When the consocia- tion of the eastern district of Fairfield coun- ty met at Dqjibury in August, Mr. White and his churCh intbrmed them of what they had done, and refused to be tried by them. Yet they would hear the case, and finding it to be very difficult, ihey adjourned, and called in the consociation of the western district of that county to act with them. After other adjournments, and much labor, they at their meeting of March 27, 1764, rejected Mr. While and a large majority of his church, and held the minority as the church and society in Danbury, and refus- ed to recommend Mr. White as a preacher to any people, until he gave them satisfac- tion. But five ministers entered their pro- test against this last article, the first of whom was Mr. David Judson of Newtown, who, with his church, afterwards renounc- ed the Saybrook platform. Thus those ministers caused divisions and offences, from place to place, by acting upon that arbitrary scheme. Ancl there are now two Baptist churches in Danbury, and one in Newtown, with 125 members in the three churches, and 104 in the two in WaUing- ford. These were their numbers in 1802. What Dr. Chauncey and others had pub- lished about Bishops in each parish, encour- aged the ministers who were ordained by Bishops in England, to deny that any who were not so ordained could have any just right to administer gospel ordinances. And they erected an episcopal church in Cam- bridge, near the college ; at the opening of which a discourse was delivered, which con- tained bitter reflections upon the fathers of this country, for their separation from the HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I55 church of England. To this Dr. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston, pubHshed a smart an- swer, but a reply was returned, said to be written by the archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy was warmly carried on, until the American war came on, which is- sued in our independence of Britain. The great earthquake, on the morning of November 18, 1755, served to awaken a number of people, and that and other means were blessed for the conversion of several in the time of the war that then came on. The second Baptist church in Middlebo- rough was formed November 16, 1757, and the third on August 4, 1761, and pastors were ordained in each of them. Baptist churches were likewise formed and organ- ized in 1761, in Norton and in Ashfield, A revival of religion came on in the third Baptist church in Middleborough in May, 1762, and prevailed so through all the sum- mer, that people held frequent meetings on week days as well as the sabbaths, and great numbers were hopefully converted and added to the church ; and it spread among other denominations. Although ma- ny said they would all come to want, be- cause they neglected their worldly business so much, yet a few seasonable showers, in a great drought, caused a double crop of corn, so that they had enough for them- selves, and much to spare for others at a distance, where their crops were much cut short, which was very convincing to many. This work was much more pure, and peo- ple acted more understandingly, than in our former revivals ; and if all would learn to seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, they would find an addition of all needful good unto them. This work was very extensive afterwards in many parts of this land. It came on in Ipswich, under the ministry of Mr. John Cleaveland, near the close of 1763, and caused the addition of ninety communicants to his church in less than a year. And the work was great at Providence, Norwich, and many other places in 1764 ; and in March that year it was greater at East- hampton on Long Island, where one Jew was converted. And as a Baptist minister went through Woodstock in Connecticut, in December, 1763, he preached a sermon to a few people, one of whom was a young man, who had been a leader in vanity ; but he was then seized with conviction, and was converted in March after, upon which four of his old companions came to try if they could not draw him back to his old ways ; which they were so far from doing, that his labors with them produced a change in their minds ; a great work was wrought in the town, a Baptist church was formed there, and he was ordained their pastor in 1768. And other things concurred to open a wide door for the spread of Baptist prin- ciples in our land. Until now they had never had the gov- ernment of any college, for the education of youth in human learning. Their church- es in Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, had held an annual meeting to promote their welfare, ever since 1707 ; and it now ap- peared expedient to them, to endeavor to erect a college in Rhode Island government, for the above purpose. Mr. James Man- ning, who was born in Elizabethtown, Oc- tober 22, 1738, graduated at Princeton col- lege in 1762, and ordained a minister of the gospel, appeared to them a suitable man to lead in this work. Therefore, on a voyage to Halifax, he called at Newport, and pro- posed the affair to a number of Baptist gentlemen, and they liked it well ; and though they met with some opposition, yet they obtained a charter for a college, in February, 1764, from their legislature, in which the president was always to be a Baptist, and so were the majority of the corporation, though some of the Episcopal, duaker and Congregational denominations were to be of it. No religious test was ev- er to be imposed upon the scholars, though great care was to be taken about their morals. Mr. Manning removed his family to Warren, in July, where a Baptist church was then formed, and he ministered to them. In September, 1765, he was chosen presi- dent of the college, and diligently attended to the duties of it, until seven young gen- tlemen took their first degrees there, Sep- tember 7, 1769. In the Spring after the college was removed to Providence, where a large brick edifice was erected for it, and a house for the president, all by personal generosity ; and no government upon earth ever gave any thing towards said buildings, or for the college funds ; though vast sums had been given by the governments of the Massachusetts and Connecticut to their colleges. But the buildings, library, and funds of this college, were all produced voluntarily, and chiefly from the inhabitants of Providence, many of whom sprung from the planters of the first Baptist church in America. O how far was this from the thoughts of the Massachusetts, when they banished Roger Williams for opposing the use of force in religious affairs ! Mr. Hezekiah Smith was a classmate with Manning, and was ordained a minis- ter of the gospel. Having travelled and preached it to the southward as far as Geor- gia, he came into New-England in the Spring of 1764, and preached much, among various denominations, with an expectation of going back in the fall ; but a destitute parish in Haverhill prevailed with him to stay and preach to them, which lie did with 156 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. success ; and a Baptist church was formed in the heart of the town, May 9, 1765. Upon which many raised opposition against him, and things were published against the Baptists in general ; to which answers were returned ; and the more their principles were examined, the more they were em- braced. Controversies among their oppo- nents had a like effect; for in 1768, Dr. Joseph Bellamy began a dispute against the half-way covenant, which was pursued for several years. Dr. Moses Mather was one who wrote against him, and he held up the cftvenant with Abraham, as a cove- nant that all ought to be in, in order to use the means of grace for their conversion. But Dr. Bellamy replied, and said, " the unbaptized have as good a right to read and hear the word of God, as the baptized have ; and as good a right to believe and embrace the gospel. For by Christ's last commission, the gospel is to be preached to all nations ; yea, to every creature ; and that previous to. and in order to prepare men for baptism. Mark xvi. 15. 16. So that there is not the least need of being in his external covenant, in order to have as good a right to hear and believe, and to be justified by the gospel, as any men on earth have ; for there is no difference. Romans iii. 22."* And how strong is this reasoning for the baptism of believers only ! But greater things were then before them. When the British court had determined to tax America, their bishops had great hopes of establishing their worship upon it ; and one of them then said, " We may assure ourselves that this benefit will flow to the church from our present most gra- cious sovereign, whenever pubhc wisdom, public care, public justice and piety shall advise the measure. This point obtained, the American church will soon go out of its infant state, be able to stand upon its own legs ; and without foreign help, sup- port and spread itself Then the business of this society will have been brought to the happy issue intended."! The society, to whom this was preached, had expended vast sums, for sixty-six years, to propagate what they called the gospel in America ; and they now discovered what they were after ; which was to have Epis- copacy supported by force in our country. By the abstract at the end of this sermon, it appears that their society had then only seven ministers in tlie whole of North Car- olina, when they had twenty-three in the Massachusetts and Connecticut. Yet their profession was, to send ministers to gospel- jze the heathen, or to teach others who had * Reply to Mather, p. 75. i Seniioti iu I.oniluii, February 20, 17(J7, by the Biahop of {.audaff, p. 2-5,25. not a sufficient support for ministers among them. And Dr. Chandler, of New-Jersey, now wrote upon the same argument, which I before referred to ; and the danger of their succeeding appeared to be so great, that Dr. Chauncy wrote a large answer to him, wherein he said : " We are in principle against all civil estabhshments in religion; and as we do not desire any establishment in support of our own religious sentiments or practice, we cannot reasonably be blamed, if we are not disposed to encourage one in favor of the Episcopal colonists. It does not appear to us, that God has entrusted the state with a right to make religious establishmenls. If the state in England has this delegated authority, must it not be owned, that the state in China, in Turkey, in Spain, has this authority also? What should make the difference in the eye of true reason ? Ha.th the state in England been distinguish- ed by heaven by any particular grant be- yond the state in other countries ? If it has, let the grant be produced. If it has not. all states have in common the same authority. And as they must severally be supposed to exert their authority in estab- lishments conformable to their own senti- ments in religion ; what can the conse- quence be, but infinite damage to the cause of God and true religion ? And such in fact has been the consequence of these es- tablishments in all ages, and in all places."* The general association of ministers in Connecticut published a letter of thanks to Dr. Chauncy, for writing this book, in a Boston paper, in 1768. But Chandler wrote again, and Chauncy replied, and said, " The religion of Jesus has sufl'ered more from the exercise of this pretended right, than from all other causes put together ; and it is with me, past all doubt, that it will never be restored to its primitive purity, simplici- ty and glory, until religious establishments are so brought down as to be no more."! And yet he had published more, for thirty years, to uphold the Congregational estab- lishments in New-England, than any other man. And if any should plead that he held these not to be real establishments, that plea cannot be truth, because they hold fast three principles here, that are the foun- dation of all worldly establishments that ever were made under the name of Chris- tianity. The first is, infant baptism, which lays bands upon children before they can choose for themselves ; and education, hon- or, gain and self-righteousness, hold them in that way all their days, in the general custom of the world. The second is, the supporting of religious teachers by force, by the power of the magistrate. The third ' Answer to Chandler, p. 152, 153. t Reply, 1770, p. 144, 145, HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW -ENGLAND. I57 is, the allowing religious ministers a power of office which the people cannot give nor take away. The church of Rome, and the church of England, were built and are now upheld entirely by these three principles ; and the Congregational churches that are established by law in the Massachusetts and Connecticut, hold each of them fast. As long as rulers force the people to sup- port religious teachers, it bribes them to use all their influence in favor of such rulers, and this bribes rulers to continue in that way. And God says, " A gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous." Deat. xvi. 19. And so many wise and righteous men have gone in that way, that it is very difficult for their children to get out of it. But the word of God points out a clear light, which is to di- rect our feet in the way of peace. And he gives a most solemn warning to all, against adding to or taking from his words. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. And no men can force others to support any religious teachers, without adding to the holy Scriptures, our only safe rule of conduct. What vast expenses would be saved to worldly governments, if that evil was entirely renounced ! For the costs of legislatures to make laws about worship, parishes and ministers, is a main part of the expenses of all govern- ments who go in that way. Religious pre- tences have caused the most of the wars that have been in the world, under the name of Christianity ; and the expenses whicli are occasioned by wars, are as much as half of the support of government in Europe and America. Yet the holding of ministers above the churches is still a darling point in our coun- try, against all the light which God has given us. For the minister of Bolton, in Worcester county, drank to access on a sa- crament day, so as to shock his whole con- gregation. His church called him to ac- count for it, but he did not give them sat- isfaction. Three councils, one after anoth- er, were called about it, but they were all for continuing him in office there ; but as he had assumed the power to negative the acts of the church, and to dissolve their meeting, they called another, and chose a moderator and clerk, and made some pro- posals to their minister, and adjourned. But as he gave them no satisfaction, they met on August 8, 1771, and dismissed him from them, and the town concurred in it. Upon this, ministers were much alarmed, and things were published against the church, as daring usurpers of an unwar- rantable power ; upon which two editions of Mr. Wise's works were printed at Bos- ton, to shew what power the church once had. But the general convention of min- isters at Boston, in May, 1773, published a pamphlet, to try to prove that no church had a right to dismiss their minister, with- out the direction of a council therein. And in August following, a council of seven churches met at Bolton, and tried hard to have that minister restored again to his of- fice there ; and because they could not obtain it, they printed their result at Bos- ton, ds their testimony against any such power in their churches. Dr. Chauncy was moderator of that council. In 1772, a man from England, by the way of New- York, came to Boston, and artfully held up that Christ had paid the debt to justice for all mankind, so that none of them would suffer in hell after the day of judg- ment. This gave so great a shock to the ministers who held to general redemption, that they published nothing against him in ten years ; but in 1782, an anonymous pamphlet came out in Boston against him. And Dr. Chauncy published a book in 1784, wherein he held forth, that the fire of hell would pvirge away the sins of all the race of Adam, so that they would be all saved, after ages of ages,* This the pamphlet, in 1782, had cBWcApurgatory.] Now an inspired apostle says, " If the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sancti- fieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your cmi- science from dead works, to serve the living God !" Heb. ix. 13, 14. This must be done in the present life, or else they who die in their sins will lift up their eyes in tor- ment, and find a great gulf fixed between them and the righteous, which none can pass over. Luke xvi. 22 — 26. And what madness is it to hold that the fire of hell can purge away any .oins, instead of the blood of Christ ! Dr. Jonathan Edwards published a full answer to Chauncy, in 1790. But let us return to more agreeable things. A Baptist church was formed at Newton in New-Hampshire, in 1755, and one at Ha- verhill, in 1765, which were the first that were formed any where northward of Bos- ton. A great revival of religion then pre- vailed in New-Hampshire, and the Baptist principle spread therein, until a Baptist church was constituted in Stratham, and a minister was ordained there in 1771, and their increase has been great that way ever since. And a powerful work came on in Swansea and Rehoboth, which increased the Baptist churches there, and raised a new one in Dighton, which is since very large. Old churches gained great light now, about doctrines and gospel order, and more than twenty new churches were form- ■ .Salvation for all men, |). 24. t .Said Pauiplilet, p. 21. 158HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND M'.- ed in New-England, in three years. And in the close of 1774, such a work came on in Providence, that Dr. Manning baptized an hundred and ten persons in nine months ; and many joined to other churches in that town, and the work was extensive in other places. Mr. Whitefield was taken to his rest be- fore this, after his extraordinary labors, for thirty-four years, in England, Scotland, Ireland and America. He came over sev- en voyages to our country, in the last of which he landed in South Carolina, in No- vember, 1769, and went to Georgia. From thence he travelled through all the country, as far as the district of Maine : and in fifty- eight days TTe preached fifty-one sermons, before he died at Newburyport, September 30, 1770 ; as appears in funeral sermons for him, and in his life published since. And how wonderful were these things ! The first Baptist church in Vermont was formed in Shaftsbury in 1768, and the sec- ond was in Povvnal in 1773. In the three following years, Baptist churches were con- stituted at Suffield, Ashford, Hampton and Killingly in Connecticut, and Medfield, Harvard and Chelmsford, in the Massachu- setts ; when the terrible calamities of the war could not stop this work. Neither could the ill-treatment which the Baptists had met with, turn them against their coun- try, who had oppressed them ; for though they had received relief from the British court, several times, yet they saw that this was done for political ends, by men who now aimed to bring all America into bond- age. And we shall here take a concise view of the partiality that was often dis- covered, even when our rulers pretended to relieve us. The certificate acts which were made from time to time, to exempt us from min- isterial taxes, were often violated by our op- pressors, especially where new churches were formed. The Baptist church that was formed at Sturbridge in 1749, gave in certificates according to law, and yet they were all taxed to tiie parish minister ; and in two years five men were imprisoned for it at Worcester, and three oxen and eight cows were taken away, beside a great deal of other property. Several men sued for recompense, and at length judgment was .^ given for them in one case ; but then other cases were non-suited, under the pretence that the actions were not commenced against the right persons. The Baptists judged that their damages in these cases were not less than four hundred dollars. And a representative from Sturbridge pre- vailed with our legislature to make a new law, in 1752, to exclude all Baptist church- es iVom power to give legal certificates, until they had obtained certificates from three other Baptist churches, that they es- teemed said church to be conscientiously Anabaptists ; that is, rebaptizers, which they never did believe. Yet, rather than 10 suffer continually, most of the Baptists conformed in some measure to their laws, until they were convinced that true help could not be had in that way, and there- fore they concluded in 1773, to give no more certificates, and published Iheir rea- sons for so doing. The town of Ashfield was planted in 1751, and a Baptist church was constituted and organized there in 1761, with a large majority of the inhabitants in their favor. They had upheld worship there through all the perils of a long war ; yet after it was over, others came in, and ordained a Con- gregational minister, and taxed the Baptist minister and his people for his support. One condition in the grant of the town was, that they should settle an Orthodox minis- ter, and build a meeting-house ; and as the Baptists were taxed for doing that for a Congregational minister, they paid it. But after they had done it, a law was made in 1768, which took the power out of the hands of the inhabitants, and put it into the hands of the proprietors, many of whom did not live in the town, to tax all the inhabitants of the town for the support of said minister, and to lay the tax wholly upon the lands, be they in whose hands they might, and to sell the lands if the owners refused to pay it. The word support was not in the ori- ginal grant of the town from the govern- ment. Yet in 1770, three hundred and ninety-eight acres of land, owned by the Baptists, was sold, because they refused to pay a lax laid contrary to the original grant of said lands. They sought to the legisla- ture for relief, without any success, for near three years, and then sent to the King in council, and got that law disannulled. But no sooner was the news of it published here, than a malicious prosecution was commenced against the character of a chief father of that Baptist church ; and though he was fully acquitted upon trial, yet he got no recompense for his costs and trouble. This plainly discovers what wickedness is the consequence of supporting religious ministers by ibrce. More of this appeared in other places. After the Baptist church was formed in Haverhill, in 1765, they gave in certificates to the other denomination according to law, and yet they were all taxed to them ; and in 1766, a large quantity of goods were taken from one of their society, and they sued for recompense in several courts, until judgment was given in their favor in 1767, by our superior court. Their opponents had promised that this should be a final trial, yet they violated that promise, an4 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NE WEN GLAND. 159 procured another trial in June, 1769, when the case was turned against the Baptists, which cost them two hundred and fifty dol- lars. And they suffered much other ways lor several years, but they have been well treated since. At Montague they made distress upon the Baptist committee, who signed their certificates, and not upon oth- ers ; and when they sued for recompense, the case was turned against them, both in their inferior and superior courts, upon a pretence that they could not witness for themselves, though there were three of them, and if their names had not been in the lists, they could not have been exempt- ed. And both there and in the Haverhill case, Baptists were not admitted as wit- nesses of plain facts, because they were parties concerned ; though judges and ju- rors were as much so as they. The Bap- lists in Berwick and Goreham suflered much in these ways, as many others also did. And as their exempting law expired in 1774, another was made, which required that their certificates should be recorded in each parish where the Baptists lived, who must give four-pence for a copy of it, in order to clear themselves, which is three- pence sterling, the same as was laid on a pound of tea, which brought on the war in America. The Baptist churches began an annual association at Warren, September 8, 1767, who have done much to defend their priv- ileges, as well as to unite and quicken each other in religion. And when they met at Medfield, September 13, 1774, they chose an agent to go to Philadelphia, when the first congress was sitting there, to join with the Philadelphia association, to endeavor to secure our religious rights, while we united with our country in the defence of all our privileges. And when he came there, said association elected a large com- mittee to help in the affair ; and they ob- tained a meeting of the four delegates from the Massachusetts, before other members of congress, in the evening of October 14 ; to whom a memorial of our grievances about religious matters was read. Tliis, two of those delegates endeavored to an- swer, and denied that we had any reason to complain on those accounts. But when leave was given for a reply, plain facts si- lenced that plea. They then shifted their plea, and would have all the blame of our sufferings laid upon executive officers, and they asserted that our legislature was en- tirely free from blame. Three of them joined in this plea, and one of them denied that it could be a case of conscience to re- fuse to give them certificates, and said it was a matter of conscience with them to support ministers by law, and that we de- nied them liberty oi" conscience, in denying their right to do it. But when our agent was allowed to speak, he brought up the case of Ashfield, where near four hundred acres of land were sold for a condition that was not in the original grant of the town, for which the blame lay directly on the le- gislature ; and if the king in council had not disannulled that law, the Baptists might have been robbed of all their lands, as far as any thing has since appeared. He also told them that he could not in conscience give the certificates which they required, which would implicitly allow a power to man, which in his view belongs only to God. And said he, " Only allow us the liberty in the country, that they have long enjoyed in Boston, and we ask no more." This was so plain, that said delegates promised to use their influence towards having that liberty granted to all our gov- ernment. But as one of them returned before said agent got home, a report was spread in the country, that he had been to Philadelphia to iry to break the union of these colonies in the defence of all their privileges. He therefore soon met our Baptist committee at Boston, who sent in a remonstrance upon this subject to our provincial congress at Cambridge, and they passed a resolve, which acquitted us of all blame in that af- fair ; and we are now to look into their fol- lowing proceedings. A congress, elected by the people in twelve colonies, met at Philadelphia, Sep- tember 5, 1774, and sent a petition to the king for the restoration and continuance of our former privileges, and also made the best preparations that they could to defend them ; but their petition was treated with contempt, and an army was sent to compel us to yield to be taxed where we were not represented. A part of the army was sent from Boston in the night, and on the morn- ing of April 19, 1775, they killed eight men at Lexington, and some more at Concord. But the people arose against them, and they fled back the same night, and were confined in Boston eleven months, and then their army fled from thence by sea. And such things then took place in America, as never was seen upon earth before. A min- ister who came from England, and then liv- ed at Roxbury, said upon a view of our country at that time : " Now some hundred thousand people are in a state of nature, and yet as still and peaceable, at present, as ever they were when government was in full vigor. We have neither legislators, nor magistrates, nor executive oflicers. We have no offi- cers, but military ones ; of these we have • a multitude, chosen by the people, and ex- ercising them with more authority and spirit, than ever any did who had comniis- 160 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, sions from a governor. The inhabitants are determined never to submit to the act destroying their charter, and are every where devoting themselves to arms."* And a man who was born in this country, and carefully observed the events in it, inserted a note in his private diary, in January, 1776, which said, " Great and marvellous have been our dangers and our escapes. In the midst of the worst kind of wars, we have both peace and plenty. I scarce ever knew the country to be better off for provision. This is a state of trial, and the great changes which are passing over us, serve greatly to shew what is in man. As every one saw himself to be interested in the war, men were forward enough to enlist into the army, and others to supply them ; so that perhaps no army was ever supplied more plentifully with provision than ours has been." Yet a party spirit about religion still re- mained, and it was remarkably discovered in one place. A young Baptist minister was invited to preach in Pepperell, forty miles northwesterly from Boston, and it had so much effect, that a number of people met with a change ; another minister was sent for, and six persons declared their experien- ces before them, who were judged to be fit subjects for baptism. And on June 26, 1776, they met in a field, by the side of a river, for worship and the administration of that ordinance. But in the midst of their wor- ship, the chief men of the town came at the head of a mob and broke it up. The ministers tried to reason with them about their conduct, but in vain ; and a dog was carried into the river, and dipped, in con- tempt of their opinion. A gentleman of the town then invited the Baptists to his house, near another river, and they held their worship there ; but the chief men of the town followed them, and two dogs were plunged in that river ; and one young man dipped another there with scorn and deri- sion of the Baptists ; and an officer of the town went into the house, and advised these ministers to depart immediately out of town for their own safety. They asked if their lives would be in danger if they did not go, but received no answer. But they secretly agreed with their friends to disperse, and to meet at another place of water; and they did so, and those six persons were baptized, after which the mob otfered them some further abuse. These things were laid before the Warren association in Sep- tember, by whose direction an account of them was published in Boston, which the town of Pepperell answered, and the Bap- tists replied thereto, and made the town ashamed of what they had done. * Gordons' History, vol. i pp. 427, 428. At the same time an event took place which weakened the society of Quakers, more than any thing had done before, since they first came into existence. With much art and labor, their church had become numerous, in England and America, which they held to be but one church, and that all their children were born in it, and they did not allow them to hear any teachers but their own. And they had five houses for public worship in the town of Dart- mouth, which then included what is now three towns. But after our war began, one of their most noted ministers pubhshed a pamphlet, to persuade them to pay what they were taxed for the war, to defend America against Britain. Upon which they dealt with him as a transgressor of the rules of their church, and they expelled him from it in 1778. But this caused a di- vision among them, and it reached to Phil- adelphia, and it opened a door for their children to go to hear other teachers ; and two Baptist churches have been formed since, where there were none before. The Baptists were so generally united with their country in the defence of their privileges, that when the general court at Boston passed an act, in October, 1778, to debar all men from returning into their government, whom they judged to be their enemies, and named three hundred and eleven men as such, there was not one Bap- tist among them. Yet there was scarce a Baptist member in the legislature who pass- ed this act. In the same year a new plan of govern- ment was formed for the Massachusetts, which took in their old taxing laws for min- isters, who were exceeding earnest for its adoption ; but they then failed of their de- sign. But they, by deceitful arts, at length obtained what they were after. And in the mean time, Dr. Chauncy published a ser- mon in September, 1778, wherein he held up to the world, that the neglect of our le- gislature, to make an act to compel the people to make up to ministers what their salaries had lacked from the depreciation of our public currency, was an accursed thing, which caused the defeat of our army on Rhode Island. CHAPTER XII A new constitution formed. Unjust accusa- tions against the Baptists. A plea of co7iscience against them. Ministers dis- cover their mistakes. The kingdom of Christ described. Connecticut schemes against it. Yet God noio revived his work greathj. Methodism, described. Bishovs come over from England. Epis- HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 1(31 copacy abolished t?i Virginia. A neio conslitution of government established in America. President Washington favors the Baptists. A g-reat revival on our eastern coasts. Also to the westward. A CONVENTION met at Boston, Septem- ber 1, 1779, to form a new constitution of government for us, and they chose a com mittee to make a draft for it, and ad journed. A general fast was appointed, to pray for direction in the affair, on Nov. 4th; and on the 10th, the article was brought in, to give rulers power to support ministers by force ; and in order to get a vote for it, Mr. John Adams accused tlie Baptists of sending an agent to Pliihidelphia, when the first Congress was setting there, to try to break the union of these colonies in the de- fence of all our privileges. And Mr. Paine accused the Baptists of reading a long me- morial there, in which were some things against our government, which he believed never existed. Many in the convention were greatly inflamed thereby, and a vote was obtained to adopt said article. And did not these men, " fast for strife and de- bate, and to smite with the fist of wicked- ness ?" Isaiah Iviii. 4. As the Baptist agent was soon informed of these things, he wrote a narrative of the affair, naming his accusers and challenging them to a fair hearing upon it, before any proper judges, and published it in the Chronicle at Boston, December 2, 1779 ; and he has never heard of anyansv/er since. Though when the first General Court upon the Constitution, met at Boston, October 25, 1780, a chief minister of the town said in a sermon before them, " I know there is diversity of sentiments respecting the extent of civil power in religious matters. Instead of entering into the dispute, may I be al- lowed from the warmth of my heart to re- commend, where conscience is pleaded on both sides, mutual candor and love."* But do any men plead conscience for vio- lating their own promises? Or are any conscientious in denying all the country the liberty which they have long enjoyed in Boston 1 Yea, what do they do with their consciences in Boston, where the laws are made, since they are not enforced there ? And if men call interest conscience, where is their religion? A just answer to these questions may be very serviceable. The views of another minister, who had a hand in forming our Constitution, discovered how far they were from right ideas about the kingdom of Christ ; for he said to our Gene- ral Court. " The law of self-preservation will always justify opposing a cruel and tyrannical im- ■ Cooper's Sermon, p. 37, 38. Vol. l.-U. position, except where opposition is attend- ed with greater evils than submission; Avhich is frequently the case where a few are oppressed by a large and powerful ma- jority. This shews the reason why the primitive Christians did not oppose the cruel persecutions that were inflicted upon them by the heathen magistrates ; they were few compared with the heathen world, and for them to have attempted to resist their enemies by force, would have been like a small parcel of sheep endeavoring to oppose a large number of ravening wolves and savage beasts of prey ; it would with- out a miracle have brought upon them in- evitable ruin and destruction. Hence the wise and prudent advice of our Saviour to them was, " When they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another.'"* But this is so opposite to truth, that our Lord said to his heathen judge, " My king- dom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; but now is my kingdom not from thence." John xviii. 36. And Paul says, •• The weapons of our warfare are not car- nal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imagi- nations, and every high thing that exalteih itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. "^x. 4, 5. Therefore all the use of carnal weapons, to support religious ministers, that ever has been in the world, has been a violation of the laws of Christ ; lor he is the only head of his church, and each church that sup- ports her ministers in the name of any earthly head, is a harlot. And the power of spiritual weapons was such, that God again revived his work in 1779, and it pre- vailed so far for three years, as greatly to increase the old Baptist churches, and to form above thirty new ones in New-Eng- land, beside many more in the southern parts of America. And as pure religion is directly against all ofl'en.sive wars, and fills the people of God with an earnest desire and pursuit of justice and equity, this revi- val had a great influence in procuring the peace of 1783. But as it came on, many discovered more of their own blindness; for a minister of great note in Connecticut said to their le- gislature, " The pastors are orderly and regularly set apart to the ministry, by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, or of those who have regularly derived of- fice power, in a lineal succession, from the apostles and Jesus Christ." And though he knew that the first ministers in our coun- try were ordained by their churches, and West's Election Sermon, May 29, 1776, p. 19. ](J2HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. did not hold to such a successsion, yet he said, " These were all ordained before by the bishops in England."* And they had theirs from Rome, the mother of harlots, the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Rev. xvii. 5, IS. Great Britain has lost all her power here, and our rulers have sworn to renounce all foreign power over America, and yet they compel the people to support ministers who claim a power of office from England. How shocking is this ! They also accuse us of renouncing the true God, because we have renounced a successive baptism which came from Rome. For so many had been baptized in Con- necticut, that their general association set one of their number to write against the Baptists ; and he said to them, " When you rebaptize those in adult years, which we have baptized in their infancy, you and they jointly renounce that Father, Son and Holy Ghost, whom we adore and worship, as the only living and true God, and on whom we depend for all our salvation."t Whereas we have only renounced an in- vention of men, which came from Rome, and is never named in the word of God. Yet we are constantly complained of, be- cause we cannot receive it as his ordi- nance. In the year 1784, the year in which Dr. Chauncey held up the doctrine of Purga- tory in Boston, laws were made in Connec- ticut to force people to support such minis- ters, and the like was soon done in the Massachusetts. The chief rulers of New- Hampshire, for many years, were not of the Congregational denomination, and there- fore the people did not sufl'er so much from them, as they did in the Massachusetts and Connecticut, and so I have passed them over. And there is such a mixture in Ver- mont, that I have no account of great suf- ferings there. But the behavior of various parties in England at this time, may de- serve some notice. Mr. John Wesley was with Mr. White- field in Oxford College, where they obtain- ed the name of Methodists, because of their strict method of acting about religion ; and they appeared to be united in one cause, until Wesley came out against particu- lar election and final perseverance, about 1739 ; after which Mr. Wesley travelled and labored earnestly, in England, Scotland and Ireland, to promote a particular sect, until America became independent of Brit- ain ; and then he took the thirty-nine ar- ticles of the church of England, and redu- ced them to twenty-four, with new forms of Election sermon at Hartford. May 8, 1783, by Ezra S^tilcs, D. D., President of Yale Collejie, p. fiS, 61. t An address to his Anabaptist bi-elliron. by Jotepli Huntington, D. D. 1783. p. 23. prayer and discipline, and printed them in London, in 1784, and called them, "The Sunday service in North America ;" thus presuming to be a law-giver for this great country. Many of his followers met in Maryland, December 27, 1784, and drew up a pamphlet, called, " A form of disci- pline for the Methodist Episcopal church in America." They hold to three orders of office, one above another, called Bishops, Elders and Deacons, beside preachers who are not ordained. They plainly give up the opinion of a lineal succession from the apostles, because it cannot be proved. They hold to perfection in this life, and yet that saints may fall away and perish forev- er. They hold that Christ died equally for all mankind, and that no man is elected un- til he is converted. And if any one who was sprinkled in infancy, is not satisfied with it, and will join with them, they will go into the water and baptize him. And they have preached these sentiments through these United States, and into Can- ada and Nova-Scotia. Many have doubt- less been reformed by their means, and some converted ; but they readily receive awakened persons to communion, without a profession of regeneration. Hereby church and world are as really bound to- gether, as they were in old worldly estab- lishments ; whereas the Son of God says to his children, " If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John xvi. 19. He chose, or elected them out of the world, and so they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter, i. 2. God the Father hath chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love. Eph. i. 3, 4. He chose them that they should be holy, and not as they become holy in conversion. If our conver- sion and holiness were the cause of God's electing us, our salvation would be of works, and not of grace ; and this would also ex- clude all men from hope, who see that they are wholly under sin, and have naturally no good thing in them. There were many others in England, that held to a lineal succession of office, who wanted to have power in America ; but as no bishop could be ordained in England, without swearing to the king's supremacy, Dr. Samuel Seabury went into Scotland, and obtained the name of bishop of Con- necticut, from men who claimed a succes- sion from bishops in England, who refused to swear allegiance to King William, after he came to the throne in 1689. But as this HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 1(33 vwas not liked in England, letters were writ- ten to America about it, and one minister went over from New- York, and another from Philadelphia, and a special act of Par- liament then exempted them from said oath, and they were ordained bishops of the states where they belonged, to which they return- ed in 1786. So that America has men now, whom England allows to be regular bish- ops, and who can make others so ; but as Britain cannot compel us to receive or sup- port them, they have increased their de- nomination but very little any where, and they have but one minister in all the old -colony of Plymouth; and their establish- ment is abolished in Virginia. That colony was first planted in 1607, the iirst of all our colonies, and the church of England had all the government there un- til 1775, when Britain commenced a war .against us, in which dissenters from them prevailed, and took away the support of those ministers by law. And though they tried hard to regain their power afterwards, yet in the beginning of 1786, a law was made, which said : " Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free ; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and mean- ness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who, being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his almighty power to do ; that the impious presumption of legislatures and ru- lers, civil or ecclesiastical, who being them- selves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, have established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of tlie world, and through all time ; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyranni- cal ; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious per- suasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing irom the ministry those temporal rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction of mankind ; that our civil rights have no de- pendence on our religious opinions, more than on our opinions in physics or geome- try ; that therefore the proscribing any citi zen as unworthy the public confidence, by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, un- less he profess or renounce this or that re- ligious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right ; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage by bribing with a mo- nopoly of worldly honors and emoluments, those who will externally, profess and con- form to it ; that though indeed tliose are criminal who do not withstand such tempta- tions, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way ; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the pro- fession or propagation of principles on sup- position of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others, only as they shall square with or differ from his own ; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order ; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to itself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear fi-om the conflict, unless by human interpo- sition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate ; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them. '■'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be Iree to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. " And though we well know that this As- sembly, elected by the pe6ple for the ordi- nary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding As- semblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and therefore to declare this act irrevocable, would be of no eftect in law, yet wc are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infrinsement of natural right."* Jefwrsoa's Notes on Virginia, pp. 2-12— 214. 164 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. Though many have imagined that such liberty favors infidelity, yet Christianity is in full favor of it ; and the power of the gos- pel, against all the powers of Rome, pre- vailed as far and larther than the Roman empire extended, for two hundred years. And Christianity has never appeared in the world, in its primitive purity and glory, since infant baptism was brought in, and after it the sword of the magistrate to sup- port religious teachers. Yea, the foregoing declaration of Dr. Chauncy plainly says as much ; and the inconsistencies and contra- dictions, that he and others have been guilty of, serve to confirm the above ob- servations. The credit of tlie paper money, which supported our war for several years, gradu ally declined, until it entirely failed in 1781 ; so that if a kind Providence had not opened other ways for us, the independence of America could not have been established. And when that was granted, private and public debts, and the fierce methods that were taken to recover them, brought on an insurrection in the Massachusetts, where the war began. It was then found to be necessary lor a new plan to be formed for the government of all these states ; and this was done in 1787. A large convention met at Boston, in January, 1788, to consider of this new constitution, where men discover- ed what was in their hearts in various ways. I before observed that a constitution for the Massachusetts was formed in 177S which was not accepted. But I would observe now, that when it was in suspense, a noted minister said to our rulers, " Let the re- straints of religion once be broken down, as they infallibly would be by leaving the ssub- ject of public worship to the humors of the multitude, and we might Avell defy all hu- man wisdom and power to support and pre- serve order and government in the state."* Yet this same man was in the Convention of 1788, wherein much was said against adopting a constitution of government, which had no religious tests in it; and he was then in favor of the constitution, and to promote ihe adoption of it, he said, " The great object of religion being God supreme, and the seat of religion in man being the heart or conscience, that is, the reason God has given us, employed on our moral ac- tions, in their most important consequences, as related to the tribunal of God, hence I infer, that God alone is the God of the con- science, and consequently, attempts to erect human tribunals for the consciences of men, are impious encroachments upon the pre- rogatives of God."t Can these two paragraphs, from one man. " Paj-son's Election Sermon, May 27, 1778, p. 20. t Debates in Convention, p. 148. possibly be reconciled together ? Yea, or can any men support ministers by the sword of the magistrate, without acting contrary to a good conscience ? The sup- port of the ministers of Christ is as plainly a matter of conscience towards God, as any ordinance of his worship is. This I shall more clearly prove hereafter. In the mean time, the sentiments and example of the greatest men in America, deserve our serious notice. Alter General Washington was establish- ed as President of these United States, a general committee of the Baptist churchea in Virginia presented an address to him, in August, 1789, wherein they expressed an high regard for him; but a fear that our religious rights were not well secured in our new constitution of government. In answer to which, he assured them of his readiness to use his influence to make them more secure, and then said, '■ While I recol- lect with satisfaction, that the religious so- ciety of which you are members, have been throughout America, uniformly and almost unanimously the firm friends of civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glori- ous revolution, I cannot hesitate to believe, that they will be the faithful supporters of a free, yet efficient general government."* And an amendment to the constitution was made the next month, which says : " Congress shall make no law, establish- ing articles of faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace- ably to assemble, and to petition to the government for a redress of grievances." This was dated September 23, 1789 ; and it has been adopted by so many of the States, that it is part of the constitution of our general government, and yet the Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut act contrary to it to this day. And so all the evils that worldly establishments have ever produced, ought to be considered as a warning to them ; for our Lord assured the Jews, that all the blood which had been shed by for- mer persecutors, whom they imitated, should be required of them. Matt, xxiii. 29 — 35. And the blood that was shed at Boston, an hundred and forty years ago, brought the greatest reproach upon New-England, of any thing that was ever done in it. A mis- taken idea of good, in maintaining the go- vernment of the church over the world, was the cause of that evil ; but the worst of men in our land have equal votes with the best, in our present government. A view of this caused many fathers in Boston to procure an act to abolish the use of force there for the support of religious ministers ; and all * Leiand's Virginia Clnronicle, pp. 47, 48. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW -EN GLAND. 165 that is done of that nature in the country, is contrary to that example, as well as to our national government. A work of the Spirit of God at this time discovered the glory of a free gospel ; for many new plantations on our eastern coasts had scarce any ministers at all to preach to them, as a view to worldly gain could not draw them there ; but a man who was born in 1734, and settled near Kennebec river, was converted in October, 1781, and then said, " Now I began to see the base views I formerly had of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the plan of salvation ; for when I had a discovery of actual sins, and of the danger I was exposed to thereby, I would repent and reform, and think Avhat a glori- ous Saviour Christ was, and that some time or other he would save me from hell, and take me to glory, with a desire to be happy, but no desire to be holy. But, glo- ry to God ! he now gave me another view of salvation. Now I saw his law to be holy, and loved it, though I and all my conduct was condemned by it. Now I saw that God's justice did not strike against me as his creature, but as a sinner ; and that Christ died not only to save from punish- ment, but from sin itself I saw that Christ's office was not only to make men happy, but also to make them holy ; and the plan now looked beautiful to me, and I had no desire to have the least tittle of it altered, but all my cry was to be conformed to this glori- ous plan." It appeared to him to be his duty to leave the care of his farm to his wife and chil- dren, and to go from house to house, for many miles round, to converse with all he could meet with, about the concerns of their souls and eternal salvation. And though many were stupid at first, yet in the beginning of 1782, powerful effects appear- ed, so that they set up religious meetings, and one after another came out into spirit- ual liberty, and he and others were led into the Baptist principles, even before tliey had seen a Baptist minister. But hearing of these things at a distance, some preachers went among them, and the work was pro- moted thereby, and it went on through the year 1783. In May, 1784, a Baptist church Avas formed in Bowdoinham, and another in Thomaston, and pastors were settled in each of them. A cnurch was also formed in Harpswell, January 20, 1785, and a pas- tor was ordained there the fall after. These three churches began an association in 1787, which increased to six churches in 1790, and three hundred and seventeen members. These new churches had many secret and open enemies to encounter in a wilder- ness; yet God was pleased to revive hi were formed in that year, and four in 1792. And by August, 1802, they had increased to forty-one churches, and twenty-five or- dained ministers, in the counties of Cum- berland, Lincoln and Kennebec, and one thousand seven hundred and fifty four members, beside many preachers'who were not ordained. So many in eighteen years. In the mean time there was such a revival granted in and near Swansea, in 1789, and on our western borders in that and the year before, that above five hundred persons were baptized in those places. To open still more clearly the nature of what these people call religion, I shall give a distinct account of one new church on our western borders. In the adjoining borders of Bethlehem, Sandisfield and Tyringham, in the county of Berkshire, a number of people, who lived remote from parish meetings, set up a meet- ing among themselves, in 1784, to pray, sing, and to read sermons ; and they concluded not to admit any man who was not a Psedo- baptist to carry on among them. And they went on in that way, until a man who Avas a Baptist came to their meeting in the fall of 1787 ; and as he spake in public at times they alloAved him to do so once among them. This he did to their satisfaction, so that they desired him to proceed in that way, and such a blessing Avas granted on his labors, that a Baptist minister was sent tor in March, 1788, when nineteen persons were baptized and formed into a church, called the Second Baptist church in San- disfield. And they increased to forty mem- bers, Avhen Mr. Benjamin BaldAvin was ordained their pastor, June 9, 1790. They afterwards met Avith cruel oppression from the Congregational party, from which they in vain sought for relief in courts ; though their oppressors at length gave up such proceedings. Yet declension and coldness came on among the Baptists, until the Avork of God was again revived among them in June, 1798, and prevailed through the win- ter after. And they say, " conferences and lectures Avere attended in Sandisfield, Beth- lehem and Tyringham, and in the two last places almost every night in the Aveek. Neither storms of snow, nor piercing cold could obstruct their attending divine wor- ship. The most delicate characters did not observe the severity of tJie Aveather, in following Jesus down the banks of Jordan into the liquid grave. This Avork appeared to go on with great solemnity, and scarce an instance appeared of any overheated zeal, or flight of passion. Both sinners under conviction, and those who were new- ly brought into the liberty of the gospel, conversed in their meetings Avith the great- est freedom ; they spake one at a time, in work again in 1791. so that five churches the most solemn and impressive manner. 166 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. Their enemies were bound, and there was not a dog to move his tongue. It appeared also in the first church, and in neighboring towns. In one year there were added to this church about sixty, and about as many to the first church, and some to other churches! In the Ibllowing years, about twenty were added to our church each year. Our present number is one hundred and seventy-five, November 12, 1801." CHAPTER XIII. Manning^s character and death. Others raised to supply Jiis place. The increase of the Baptists makes others e.rpose them- selves. Cruelty shown to the Baptists Their first church in Connecticut better treated. They increase there. Religion greatly revived through the country Even to Virginia, Georgia and Ken- tucky. A book from, England reprinted against them. Remarks upon it. Dr. Manning was a faithful preacher of the gospel, and President of our College, for twenty five years, until he was called out of our world, July 29, 1791, in his fifty third year. He was a good instructor in human learning, but at every commence merit he gave a solemn charge to his schol- ars, never to presume to enter into the work of the ministry, until they were taught of God, and had reason to conclude that they had experienced a saving change of heart. And a tutor in the college, who appeared to have met with such a change in October, 1789, was instrumental of a revival of re- ligion, both in the college and in the town, and he was called into the ministry, and then was a president of the college eleven years. And then another tutor was hope- fully converted, and called into the minis- try, and has been president ever since. And I hope succeeding ages will follow these ex- amples. But as the Baptists increased much, in many parts of our land, a minister in the west part of the Massachusetts endeavored to make an improvement upon the plan which Dr. Stiles had published in Connec- ticut ; and his book was so pleasing to ma- ny, that it passed six editions in about two years, the last of which was at Boston, in 1793. His text is Mat. vii. 15, 16 ; and he tried all his art to represent all teachers in our land to be wolves in sheep's clothing, who were not ordained by ministers who liold a succession from England, and who do not regard parish lines. And he says, " A good shepherd attends to his own prop- er charge ; the wolf is a rapacious, prowl- ing animal, not satisfied w'th taking out of one flock, he roams from flock to flock, and can never have enough." And of an un- interrupted succession from the apostles, he says, " It is by no means necessary, that by historical deduction, we should prove an uninterrupted succession ; we have a right to presume it, until evidence appears to the contrary."* But God says, "Who hath required this at your hands to tread my courts ? Your hands are full of blood." Isaiah i. 12, 15. And the bloody hands of teachers in Rome and England, could never convey just authority to any other ministers. This was so evident to the fathers of this country, that they allowed none to be pas- tors of their churches but such as each church elected and ordained, as I before proved. And Mr. Cotton said, " The pow- er of the ministerial calling is not derived from ordination, whether Episcopal, or Presbyterial, or Congregational. The pow- er of the ministerial calling is derived chief- ly from Christ, furnishing his servants with gifts fit for the calling ; and nextly from the church (or congregation) who observ- ing such whom the Lord hath gifted, do elect and call them forth to come and help them."t From hence came the name Congrega- tional, the meaning of which many have departed from, though they still usurp the name. But it is well known in America, that it is the election of the people, that gives our civil ofiicers their power, and not (he oaths which they take from other offi- cers. And ordination of ministers is no more than swearing them to be faithful in that office. Their being furnished with grace and gifts for it, is the most essential thing in the atfair ; for an inspired apostle says, " As every man hath received the gitt, even so minister the same one to anoth- er, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if any man minis- ter, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may be glorified through Christ Jesus. The elders which are among you 1 exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufier- ings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed ; feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the over-sight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise ye young- er, submit yourselves unto the elder ; yea, * I.athrops' r'if;cciurses, ;>p.C6, 56. t Answer to Williams, Part secoiui, p. 82. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. IQJ all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humihty ; tor God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." 1 Peter iv. 10, 11. v. 1—5. Here we may plainly see, that the gifts and graces which God bestows on men for the ministry, gives them their internal call to go into that work ; and the union of the church in calling and receiving them, and the acting as a united body, is the essence of the government which Christ has estab- lished in each of his churches. All men "who claim a power of otTice above the churches, desire to be lords over God's heritage. And we must not forget, that teachers are to be known by their fruits, and not by ordination. Thorns and thistles wound the flesh, or tear away the property of others ; which is done by imprisoning their persons, or taking away their goods unjustly. If we regard this rule, which Christ has given to know false teachers by, how plainly do they appear in our land ? A great many instances of imprisonment, and spoiling of goods, to support ministers whom the people did not choose; have been given already, and more are before us. The Baptist church in Barnstable was formed, June 20, 1771, and they were not free of sufferings, though they were not great, until God revived his work there in 1781, and it increased their church and soci- ety, and they ordained a pastor therein, in 1788, who had preached to them five years. Yet in that time, and in two years after, more than an hundred and fifty dollars were forced trom them for ministers whom they did not hear. But the committee of the Warren association met at Boston, in Jan- uary, 1791, and wrote to the officers of the parishes who oppressed them, in such a manner as caused them to refrain from pro- ceeding in that way, though they did not restore the money which they had taken away unjustly. Much greater evils were soon after done in another place ; for a Bap- tist church was formed and organized in the south part of Harwich in 1757, and they built them a meeting-house, and car- ried on their worship for about forty years, when there was no Congregational minister in that parish. But when the Baptists were without a pastor, in the fall of 1792, a Con- gregational minister was ordained there, and the Baptists treated him in a friendly manner, while they still maintained their own worship, and soon got them another minister. Yet after they had done it, a few of the Congregational party, in the begin- ning of 1794, taxed all the Baptist church and society to their minister ; and near the close of 1795, they imprisoned six men for it, and forced away much property ironi others. This was so glaringly unjust, and even contrary to the law of the government, that the Baptists sued for recompense, in 1796, and obtained judgment in their favor, in their county court. But their oppressors appealed to their superior court, and ob- tained judgment against the Baptists, who in the whole lost above five hundred dol- lars. False witnesses had an evident hand in this. And as the Congregational party found that their courts favored them, they thought they might do as they pleased. An aged and pious Baptist deacon, who never was of the Congregational party, wrote to Boston, November 12, 1799, and said, " On the 26th of last July, the collect- or of Harwich came and seized about four or five bushels of my rye, and carried it offj and sold it for one dollar, and made above two dollars charge on it ; and on the 13th of August, the same collector, Edward Hall, came and seized about three tons of my hay, and carried it off, and sold it for forty- nine shillings, and returned me five shil- lings and six-pence. For all this I was taxed to their minister but seven shillings and a penny. I have given you as exact account as possible. These from yours in gospel bonds, "ABNER CHASE." The rye was taken out of the field be- fore it was threshed, so that the exact quan- tity was not known. Now the only reason that is given in our constitution of govern- ment, for empowering rulers to support teachers by force, is because " the happi- ness of a people, and the good order of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality." But how opposite hereto is the above conduct ! Our Lord says, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the proph- ets," Mat. vii. 12. And is there one man among us, who would be wiUing to be com- pelled to support any teacher that he never chose ? Yet this is the natural consequence of allowing any men to support teachers by the sword ot' the magistrate. And this practice has caused the effusion of blood, among all nations, more than any other means in the world. And the combination of rulers and teachers herein, I believe, is the beast and false prophet, which will final- ly be cast into the burning lake. Rev. xix. 20. When shall this be done, the glory of the latter day will come on, as it is describ- ed in the next chapter ; though this great event is freely left with Him to whom it belongs. But as God never allowed Israel to use any force for the support of his priests, how can any be willing to use compulsion for the support of religious ministers ? No man can be satisfied that others have a right to take away his property lor nothing, yea, and worse than nothinir. 158 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. Any Congregational minister may avoid oppressing the people if he will. This ap- peared plain in the case of the first Baptist church in Connecticut. It was formed about 1705, in the town ol' Groton, under the niin- isty of Mr. Volentine Wightman. They suffered some at first, but when Mr. John Owen became the minister of the town, he was not for forcing any money from the Baptists; and when the great revival of religion came on, he and Wightman were agreed in it, until the latter died, in 1747. His son Timothy Wightman, was ordained in his place, May 20, 1756, and he was a faithful and successful minister, until he died joyfully, November 14, 1796, aged near seventy-eight, when he left two hundred and fifteen members in his church. After which his son, John Gano Wightman, suc- ceeded him in that office. A daughter of their first pastor married a Mr. Rathbun, two of whose sons, and two of his grand: sons, are ordained Baptist ministers, and 80 have been some others of the Wightman family. Their first minister assisted in forming a Baptist church in Stonnington, in 1743, and a second was formed there in 1765. But a number there and more in Groton were then for continuing the communion of the two denominations together, and many churches were formed upon that plan ; and they began a yearly meeting in 1785, call- ed. The Groton Conference. But they have given up mixed communion in later years, and are come into connexion with the rest of our associations. Much declension and coldness about re- ligion came on in 1797, which was lament- ed by the faithful of different denomina- tions ; but a great work came on in the spring of 1798, in many parts of America. It began at Mansfield in Connecticut, in a remarkable manner. A letter from Wind- ham in October mentions it, and says, " The Spirit of the Lord seemed to sweep all before it, like an overflowing flood, though with very little noise or crying out. It was wonderful to see the surprising al- teration in that place in so short a time. I conclude there are not less than an hundred souls converted in that town since the work began. It soon after began in Hampton, but did not spread with that degree of ra- pidity as it did in Mansfield. The same happy work has lately taken place in Ash- ford." Soon after this, H;irtfbrd, their cap- ital city, experienced the like work among the Congregational and Baptist societies. A Presbyterian minister, who went from the Massachusetts to a town above them, said on F'ebruary 6, 1799, " I stopped at Hart- ford, and preached five sermons. The spirit of hearing at Hartford is greater than any rcprescutatiouij whicli have been niude. Young people of both sexes flock by hun- dreds, and the prospect is flattering in the extreme. Conference meetings are held every night in different private houses. In Mr. Strong's society, sixty are thought to be under conviction, and twenty have been hopefully brought into gospel liberty. InMr. Nelson's thirty,* and some in Mr. Flint's. This sacred flame has spread into many neighboring towns, and the pious are flock- ing into Hartford to be eye-witnesses of this glorious work. I have felt myself so much engaged in preaching, visiting and conversing with old and young, that my attention has been literally taken ofl' from wife, children, flock, and bodily infirmities." It was said that this work spread, more or less, into an hundred towns in Connecticut. In April, 1798, Mr. Blood, pastor of a Baptist church at Shaftsbury in Vermont, had his soul greatly affected with the low state of religion among them, with earnest cries that God would pour out his spirit upon the souls of men, and save them from sin and ruin. In July following, a person who had been converted before, came for- ward in baptism ; and her declaration and example awakened many others, and four were baptized in August, and seventeen in September. And the work went on in such a manner, that on February 21, 1799, he said, " The whole number added to this church, since last May, is one hundred and seventy-five ; twenty-five by letter and other ways, and one hundred and fifty by baptism. Our whole number is three hun- dred and forty-six. Many of this number are removed into different parts of the country ; there are, however, nearly three hundred that live in the vicinity, the remo- test of them not more than six miles from our meeting-house. There are also about seventy added to the west church in this town since the work began ; and thirteen to the east church. In years past there has not been the most cordial fellowship between the three churches in this town ; but the Lord has now effected a happy union be- tween us. On the last Lord's-day in Janu- ary, we all met at one communion table. That happy day my soul had desired for years. Nothing but experience could have made me believe it possible, that I could have felt so much solid delight, anticipated so much trouble, and rejoiced with so much trembling, at one and the same time. That day I trust will never be forgotten by me. In about two months after the work began, the whole town seemed to be affected. Conference meetings were attended two or three times in a week in almost ever}' neigh- borhood ; and it was surprising to me, that scarcely a single instance appeared of^ any ' Nekon'o Lhurcli urc Eajitists, HIST. OP THE BAPTISTS IN NEW -ENGLAND. 169 overheated zeal, or flight of passion. Both sinners under conviction, and those newly brought into the hberty of the gospel, con- versed in their meetings with the greatest freedom ; they spake one at a lime a few words, in the most solemn manner I ever heard people in my life. And in general they spake so low, that their assemblies must be perfectly still, or they could not hear them ; yet a remarkable power at- tended their conversation. Sinners would tremble as though they felt themselves in ihe immediate presence of the great Jeho- vah. Some of all ranks and characters among us have been taken ; from the most respectable members of society, to the vi- lest in the place. Some of our most noted Deists have bowed the knee to King Jesus ; and a number of Universalists have forsa- ken theirdelusions, and embraced the truth." And when the Shaftsbury association met in June, 1799, they had accounts that two hundred and fifty-nine had been added in the year, to the three churches in Shafts- bury, and not one member had died in that time. Also that the addition to their whole association that year was seven hundred and thirty-iwo. This work was also great on our eastern coasts. Mr. Peter Powers, a Congrega- tional minister on Deer-Island in Penobscot bay, wrote from thence, March 20, 1799, and said, " In the beginning of June last, I was called to Mount-Desert to administer sacraments to a church who have not a slated pastor, and tarried with them about nine days ; Avhen, in preaching my second sermon, the glory of the Lord came down in a wonderful manner. One convicted, and hopefully converted under the sermon, was added to the church about two days after, and three others who had betbre ob- tained a hope. Three months after this I went again to administer the Lord's sup- per, at which time I admitted twenty-eight who had hopefully been brought home in the interval. The work of conviction was then going on powerfully in the town, and spreading into those adjoining on the same island. Our association had licensed dear Mr. Ebenezer Eaton to preach, who im- proved his talent, laboring night and day among them, whom the Lord remarkably owned. How many have been brought out since I was there, I am not informed ; but according to the best accounts, there are many. The Lord multiply the num- ber, and add to the church of such as shall be saved. " I now come a little nearer home. In the beginning of winter, this glorious work began in Sedgwick, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Daniel Merrill. Perhaps there hath not been a work so powerful, and so much like the work filly-eight years ago. Vol. l.-V. i ^ ^ ^ In a time of such extraordinaries, it could not reasonably be expected but some things would be a little wild and incoherent, con- sidering the various tempers, infirmities and dispositions of mankind: but I believe my young dear brother Merrill, together with experienced Christians, were very careful to distinguish the precious from the vile ; to correct errors, to set them in the way of his steps, so that there appears to be no prevalence of enthusiasm among them, ac- cording to the best information. How great the number is of those who have been brought to hope, 1 am not able to give any tolerable account. Some say there are about an hundred, others about double that number ; I believe they are all very uncer- tain. Blessed be God, the work is yet go- ing on there, though not with equal rapid- ity. "And now, dear Sir, let your imagina- tion paint to your view the striking scene of an hundred souls, men, women, and children, at the same time under the work of the law. The tears, sobs, groans and cries issuing from scores at a time ! All the terrors of the law crowding and press- ing in upon them ; their sins, in infinite number and aggravations, staring them in the face ; all their old vain hopes gone, and cut otf, and every refuge failing ! Hear them freely confessing their old abomina- tions, their former enmity to the great doc- trines of original sin, election, the sovereign- ty of divine free grace, the power of God displayed in effectual vocation ; above all, the justice of God in their damnation ! How often are souls brought out into peace and comfort of the love of God, and the sweet consolations of the Holy Spirit ! The dead hear the voice of the Son of God. and live. Children are brought to cry, '• Ho- sanna to the Son of David," Indeed this glorious work has been wonderful among children ; and God has made instruments of them to perfect praise in carrying on his work. " This blessed work of God has begun in Blue-Hill ; but as yet has not gained the ascendency. I shall therefore come to my own dear people of Deer-Isle. And here, perhaps, the work is as remarkable as at Sedgwick, but not so rapid. Not more than eight months ago it appeared to me that religion was near expiring among us, ex- cept in a very handful of professors. Deism had taken an unaccountable stride, and spread itself over a great number of the inhabitants. And now, no Bible, no Christ ; but the Christian religion, and Christians, were the song of the drunkard ; and every drunkard, and every vice, was deemed harmless, and inoffensive to God. I had no reason to think but by the next annual meeting of the town, they would vote the 170 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLANDv gospel out from them. When the afore- mentioned work at Penobscot and Mount- Desert was going on, it seemed to have no influence on our people. This, you may be sure, was very grievous to me. How- ever, I think I was enabled to bear witness to the truth with great freedom. In Octo- ber, I perceived a more close attention to the word, but nothing special as yet. Af- ter I was confined to my house, the work began to appear ; and though I could not go abroad to preach at the meeting-house, there was seldom a day but more or less visited me under iheir trouble, and I preach- ed in my own house when I was not able to stand on my feet. At length we had the assistance of Mr. E. Eaton, whom God remarkably owns. I believe there are about forty, men, women, and children, who have obtained a hope-; and great numbers are under pressing conviction. The work is now on the increase. May the Lord con- tinue and still increase it, till they are all brought in. The mouth of Deism is at present stopped, and against the children of Israel not so much as a dog is suffered to move his tongue." A Baptist minister of Lyme in Connec- ticut, on June 30, 1799, wrote to Boston, and said, " Though the severity of last winter was tedious, yet I have not heard any one complain, or shrink at the cross, on account of the coldnes of the weather. This work has been gloriously carried on in the spirit of love. In the first part of it, there was great crying out, but it gradually subsided into free deliberate conversation on the dreadful situation they were in by nature and their full determination to continue seeking till they should find him of whom Moses and the prophets did write. I never saw less opposition to any work of God I ever was acquainted with. More than a hundred we hope have received the grace of God, and more than eighty have joined with our church. The present number of members, is three hundred and thirty-six." Extracts from these and other letters were printed in a pamphlet at Boston, and afterwards at Philadelphia. At the same time they had a great work among the Bap- tists near Kennebec river. Elder James Potter, the instrument of beginning the re- vival there, had ninety-seven members add- ed to his church in Bowdoin, in 1798 and '99 ; and five hundred and seventy-five were then added to the whole of their as- sociation. And Bo.«ton, Bridgevvater, Mid- dleborough, and many other places had a share of these blessings ; and so had some places to the southward. I received a letter from Eider Benjamin Watkins of Virginia, dated June 30, ISOl, in whicli he says, " I have lived to see sev- eral revivals in our parts, but the last has been the greatest, which originated about two years ago, in several churches belong- ing to the middle district association. Be- fore the revival began, wickedness had got- ten to a great height. Deism and irrelig- ion abounded on every hand. Professors had become very carnal, many had aposta- tized, so that there were but a few names in Sardis who had not defiled their gar- ments ; so that I had some awful fears about our condition, and was dreading that some great judgment would befall our wretched land. But contrary to my fears, the Lord visited us in a way of mercy, by stirring up his church often to assemble together, and to carry on worship by prayer and fasting, called prayer meetings. And he came amongst us, and the sacred flame has spread in various parts of Virginia ; so that we may truly say, the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage, " Our church, called Spring Creek, has an addition by baptism, since the revival began, of upwards of two hundred mem- bers ; brother Clay's about the same num- ber, or more ; brother Smith's about an hundred ; Tomahawk church about fifty ; Skin-quarter near an hundred ; Elder Web- ber's church two hundred or more ; and several other churches have had some smart additions. Tlie work has chiefly been among the young people, there has not been nigh so much noise amongst us, as there was in 1785 and '86. Many would come and give a declaration of the work of God upon their souls, that made no noise at all ; and, what was remarkable, a number of children, from ten to fifteen years of age, would come and tell of the goodness of God, while the old people, who had Uved to see several revivals, are still left out, exposed to the wrath and displeasure of God." AU the churches mentioned above, are in the three counties of Powhatan, Ches- terfield and Goochland, in the middle part of Virginia, a little above the city ot Rich- mond, their capital. I had much delight in preaching in all of them, when I was there in the Spring of 1789, when they had about two hundred Baptist churches in the whole of Virginia. And the work has been great since in many places farther south- ward. A minister in the upper part of Georgia wrote to his friend in Savannah, Nov. 17, 1801, and said, several churches here, within three or four months past, have received and baptized from twenty to fifty persons ; and one in Elbert county has had an addition by baptism of about, an hun- dred and forty. And according to the best accounts from Kentucky, there have been added to the Baptist churches, since last March, near six thousand, while multitudes HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. HI were joining to the Methodists and Presby- terians." This was put into our public papers, and sent into all the country. Those who held to infant baptism were very uneasy under such things, which they discovered in a re- markable manner ; for early in 1802, a book from England was reprinted at Exeter, in New-Hampshire, written by a minister who had been a Baptist, who held up to the world, that the greatest writers in England against infant baptism were guilty of soph- istry and deceit in their arguments, as he had clearly found by experience. And it was said that this testimony had been pub- lished seven years in England, and no an- swer had been made to it. This was so wonderful, that it passed four or five edi- tions in about a year, in the different states of New-England. But when this glory- ing was at the highest, an answer came out of the press at Boston, in December, 1802, which was first published in London the same year that the first book came out there. The facts here follow. Mr. Peter Edwards was first a zealous advocate for infant baptism in London, and then turned suddenly from it ; became a Baptist preacher, and was ordained in a Baptist church near Portsmouth in Eng- land ; but in about ten years he changed again, and published this book, to give the reasons for his renouncing the principles of the Baptists, in the beginning of 1795 ; and Dr. Joseph Jenkins of London answered him in the same year. Edwards holds up, with much confidence, that faith and repent- ance were required of all adult persons, in order for circumcision as well as baptism ; and therefore that all which is said in the gospel about the baptizing of believers, is no argument against believers having their infants baptized. He accuseth the Baptists in general of denying the use of inferences and consequences, in arguments for infant baptism, but of using them against that practice, which he calls sophistry and de- ceit. Having disarmed the Baptists, as he imagined, he lays down his foundation in these words : " 1. God has instituted in his church the membership of infants, and and admitted them to it by a religious rite. 2. The church membership of infants was never set aside by God or man ; but con- tinues in force, under the sanction of God, to the present day." P. 90. But as the Baptists never denied the true use of inferences and consequences in any argument, the charge of deceit and soph- istry must be turned back upon him who advanced it ; and whether his foundation can stand, may be judged of by the follow- ing things. 1. Circumcision was not known in the world, for above two thousand years after it was created ; and who will say that God had no church in the world for all that time? Yea, when circumcision was insti- tuted, Lot, and other righteous men had no concern in it ; neither had any females among the posterity of Abraham, though women are baptized under the gospel as well as men. 2. God said to Israel, " The life of the flesh is in the hlond^ and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls." Levit. xvii. 11. And no worship was ever accepted of God from the beginning without blood in sacri- fices. AbraTiam shed his own blood in cir- cumcision, as the father of all believers in all nations. Rom. iv. IS. And thus he was a type of Christ who shed his blood to atone for the sins of all true believers, even to the end of the world. 3. Abraham had no right to circumcise any male but such as were born in his house, or bought with his money ; and he circumcised all the men of his house, the same day that he circum- cised himself, of whom he had before three hundred and eighteen soldiers. Gen. xiv. 14. xvii. 13, 27. And how far is this from a warrant for infant baptism ! 4. No fe- males were to be circumcised, to shew that it was a man and not a woman who was to die for us. 5. The bloody sign of circum- cision weakened men so much, that two men destroyed a whole city, three days af- ter the men in it were circumcised. Gen. xxxiv. 25. But no infant that ever was sprinkled, could know that it was done, if they were not told of it by others. So far are they from answering a good conscience in baptism. 1 Peter iii. 21. None but be- lievers can do it. 6. Abraham was not to circumcise any stranger, until he had bought him as a servant with his money, which was a type of our being bought with the blood of Christ ; and after he had done it, he said, " Circumcision is nothing, and un- circumcision is nothing, but the keeping the commandments of God. Ye are bought with a price ; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Cor. vii. 19, 23. Which is a plain repeal of the covenant of circumcision. It was a type of the death of Christ to come, and baptism is to be done by faith in him who is already come. This is a reason why men might be circumcised before they be- lieved, and why baptism is only for pro- fessing believers. 7. Since he is come, he says, "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galations iii. 26 — 29. Three things are here excluded 172 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, from baptism, which were essential in cir- cumcision. 8. The children of Israel had no right to admit strangers by households, to circumcision and the passover, until the day in which they came out oC Egypt. Exodus xii. 43 — 51. But when they were going into Babylon, it was said, " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. not according to the covenant that I made wiih their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt (which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord ;) but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all know me, from ihe least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. This is the pure covenant of grace, since the death of Christ hath taken away the old covenant. Heb. viii. 7 — 13. Language cannot distinguish two covenants more clearly, than God hath here done it. And until old and new, first and second, can be made to mean but one covenant, men can never prove infant baptism by said cove- nant. 9. God promised that kings should come out of Abraham. Gen. xvii. 6. And this was fulfilled in David and his race, and in the King Messiah ; and this shews that no man now can stand in such a relation to his children as Abraham did to his. Aaron was also a type of Christ, and his lawful posterity were the only priests in Israel until Christ came, when the priesthood was changed ; and Christ is both our king and priest. Heb. vii. 12. And God says to those who are born again, among all na- tions, " Ye are a chosen generation, a roy- al priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should shew forth the prai- ses of him who hath called you out of dark- ness into his marvellous light." 1 Peter i. 23. ii. 9. And such are the only priests, and holy nation, that arc ever named in the church of Christ. By his death he abol- ished all those ancient types, and formed his church of all souls who are born again among all nations ; and officers in his church are never called priests therein, in distinc- tion from other children of God. Worldly churches have been built upon infant bap- tism, which is not named in the Holy Scrip- tures. CHAPTER XIV. A viexo of the Baptist churches in South- Carolina. In Pennsylvania and Neio- Jerscy. In Vii'ginia. Presbyterians there. A difference among the Baptists healed. The cause of equal liberty among them. A view of them in North- Carolina. In Georgia. Of Negro Bap- tists. Of the Baptists intheStateof Neio- York. In Kentucky. Of Associations. Of the Number of Baptists in all Ameri- ca. Of late remvals. Of their likeness to the first fathers of our country. How infant baptism originated. A happy change in our government. Light Jrom the case of Israel. Of the latter day glory. Truth and love, and persecution for the same, caused the first planting of New-Eng- land ; and it also caused the planting of Baptist churches in the southern parts of America. Some men from here, and some from England, Wales and Ireland, all had a hand in it. When elder William Scra- ven was cruelly persecuted in the province of Maine, in 1682, he went to Charleston in South-Carolina, and became pastor of a Baptist church there. How long it had been formed I know not. But when the Baptist church in Boston wanted a pastor, and sent for him, who had been one of them, he wrote to them, June 2, 1707, and said, " Our minister who came from England is dead, and I can by no means be spared. I must say it is a great loss, and to me a great disappointment ; but the will of the Lord is done." And he wrote again, Au- gust 6, 1708, and said, " I have been brought very low by sickness, but I bless God, I was helped to preach, and adminis- ter the communion last Lord's-day ; but am still weak. Our society are for the most part in health, and I hope, thriving in grace. We are about ninety in all." And his po.sterity have been honorable, and use- ful in those parts ever since. Mr. Isaac Chanler was a Baptist minister among them for many years, and a book of his up- on the doctrines of the gospel was printed at Boston in 1744. Mr. Oliver Hart, from Pennsylvania, got to Charleston in 1749, just alter Mr. Chanler died, and was pastor of that church thirty years. But as he was heartily engaged for liberty in America, he left Charleston before the British forces took it, in 1780, and settled as pastor of the Baptist church at Hopewell in New- Jersey the same year, where he was very useful, till he died in 1795. But the Baptist cause has prevailed much in that State to this day. Thomas Dungen of Newport was one of the signers of the request to Mr. Clarke, to HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I73 go as their agent to England in 1651, the original of which I now have. And about 1684, two years after Pennsylvania began, Dungen went there, and preached the Bap- tist principles among the people with con- siderable success ; and his posterity are numerous among them ever since. And about 1686, Elias Keach, son to elder Benja- min Keach of London, came over to Philadel- phia, a wild young man, but was soon after converted, and labored earnestly to collect the Baptists together ; and they formed a church at Pennebeck, eleven miles from Philadelphia, in 1788. Mr. Keach also was helpful in forming a Baptist church at Middletown, and another at Piscataway in 1689 ; and one at Cohansey in 1690, all three in New-Jersey. And these lour, with that at Charleston, were all the Baptist churches that were formed south of New- England, before the year 1700. Many of those who constituted the church at Cohan- sey, came from Ireland ; though one of them was Obadiah Holmes, Esq., a son of the sufferer at Boston in 1651 ; and others of his posterity have since been members of the church in Middletown. Piscataway, on Raritan river in the Jersey, sprang pardy from people who came from Piscataqua river, which has Kittery on the north side of it, where the Baptist church was formed in 1682, who were scattered by persecution. Other members of those churches went from Rhode Island colony, as appears by the publications of Mr. Morgan Edwards in 1770, and 1792. He was born in Wales, from whence also came many ministers and members of those churches; and I took many of the above things from him. And he inlbrms us of many people who came over from Wales in 1701, and resided near their brethren at Pennepeck, until they removed in 1703, and planted a church in a place they called Welsh- tract, then under the government of Pennsylvania, but now under Delaware State. In 1770, they had increased to ten churches in Pennsylvania, and 668 members, besides a few who kept the seventh-day sabbath. He gives an ac- count also of the Tunkers, the first of whom came from Germany in 1719, and had in- creased to fifteen societies, and a large num- ber of communicants, who were not in fel- lowship with the English churches. They dip persons with their faces forward, three times over. They hold to general redemp- tion, and are much like the old (Quakers in their general conduct, though more strict than tliey are now. The Mennonists also came from Germany, and are of like beha- vior, but they are not truly Baptists now. Their fathers were so in Luther's day, un- til confinement in prison brought them to pour water on the head of the subjects, in- stead of immersion ; and what was then done out of necessity, is now done out of choice, as other corruptions are. When Edwards published his book in 1792, the first-day Baptists in the Jersey had twenty- four churches, and two thousand nine hun- dred and ninety-four members ; and those who kept the seventh day, three churches and two hundred and forty-nine members. And in 1802, the Philadelphia Association had two thousand six hundred and ninety- five members. North-Carolina had but little appearance of religion in any part of it, until late years. Some Baptist ministers from New-Jersey and Pennsylvania travelled and labored there with some success, and some who went from New-England settled there. Shubael Stearns was born in Boston, January 28, 1706 ; but he went to Connecticut, where he was baptized, and was ordained at Tolland, March 20, 1751, and continued there three years. But then his soul was fired with zeal to carry light into those dark parts ; and in August, 1754, he and others set off lor that purpose, and some of them got into North-Carolina be- fore him ; and he wrote to Connecticut from the south part of Virginia, that they informed him from Carolina, " That the work of God was great, in preaching to an ignorant people, who had little or no preaching for an hundred miles, and no es- tablished meeting. But now the people were so eager to hear, that they would come forty miles each way, when they could have opportunity to hear a ser- mon." This was dated June 13, 1755; and Stearns went and settled upon Sandy Creek, which runs into Cape Fear river, where he formed a church, November 22, 1755, which increased to six hundred and six members in a few years, and several other churches were soon formed round him. Daniel Marshall was born at Windsor in Connecticut, and after he was called to preach, he went and labored some time among the Indians, in the upper part of New- Jersey, and then followed Stearns into North-Carolina, where he was very success- ful. And in and after 1758, many were converted and baptized near the south bor- ders of Virginia, and they began an asso- ciation in 1760, of five churches in Carolina, and one in Virginia, and they increased fast. On October 16, 1765, Stearns wrote to Connecticut, and said, " The Lord car- ries on his work gloriously, in sundry pla- ces in this province, and in Virginia, and in South-Carolina. There has been no ad- dition of churches, since I wrote last year, but many members have been added in many places. Not long since, I attended a meeting on Hoy river, about thirty milea from hence. About seven hundred souls 174 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. attended the meeting, which held six days. We received twenty-four persons by a satis- factory declaration of grace, and eighteen of them were baptized. The power of God was wonderful." But we must now come to Virginia, of which it may be said, The first is last, and the last first. It was planted in 1607, the first of all our English colonies; and though it was done entirely from worldly motives, yet the worship of the church of England was established by law, and no other worship was allowed of there for an hundred years. In 1643, three Congrega- tional ministers went there, at the request of a number of the inhabitants, but they were forced to depart the colony, after preaching a iew sermons. And directly upon it, the .savages were let loose upon the English, and destroyed about five hun- dred of them. This one of them declared in England afterwards, where he again suffered from Episcopalians.* In 1644, Daniel Gookin lelt Virginia and became a very useful man in the Massachusetts for many years.f The first Baptist church in Virginia was formed in Prince George county, in 1714, by Robert Norden, who then came from England, and was their pastor till he died, in 1725. In 1727, Mr. Richard Jones was ordained their pastor; and in 1742, they had about forty members, as one of them then wrote to Newport, which letter I have. About the same time, a man went from thence and formed a church on the sea coasts of North-Carolina. But these all held to general redemption, and their churches are since dissolved. In the mean time, religion was revived in Virginia by other means ; for Samuel Morris, of Hanover county, was converted in 1740, by reading some old books ; and upon his reading them to his neighbors, they set up a meeting at his house, instead of going to church. And in 1743, he ob- tained a book of sermons, taken down in short hand, as Mr. Whitefield delivered them in Glasgow, and printed there. The reading of these had such an effect upon the people, that more came to hear them than his house could hold, and they built a meeting-house for the purpose. He was also called to read them in several other places, and many were affected thereby, But they were called to account for not go- ing to church, and they pleaded the act of toleration for dissenters, though they knew not what to call themselves. At length they called themselves Lutherans, because they had received much benefit from the writings of that reformer. And hearing of Ciilainy's Acr.ount, vol. ii.p. G07. t Historical Society, vol. i. p. 228. a wonderful preacher, near an hundred miles off, they sent for him, in July, 1743, and he preached to them four days, with exceeding great effect ; and he advised them to pray and sing in their meetings, which they had not done before ; so great s the influence of tradition. Mr. William Robinson was the man whose labors had then been so much blessed among them ; and when he was going away, they asked him what he called himself; he said, " A Presbyterian." " Then we are Presbyte- rians too," said they, " for your religion is just like ours." They then sent for other ministers of that denomination, from Pennsylvania and New- Jersey, and obtained help from them, irom time to time, until Mr. Samuel Davies set- tled there in 1748. And in 1751, he pub- "ished an account of this work, and of other Presbyterians in those parts. Mr. Davies became the President of New-Jersey col- lege afterwards, and died there ; and his sermons are now much esteemed in Europe, as well as America. Those ministers met at Philadelphia in 1789, and formed a soci- ety which they called, " The General As- sembly of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America." In 1793, it was said that they had about two hundred churches in all the states south of New- England.* But they have very few of them in the old part of Virginia, where the Bap- tists have increased greatly. Mr. Samuel Harris was born in Hanover county, January 12, 1724, and he was so much esteemed, that he became a colonel of their militia, a member of their legisla- ture, and a judge of their courts, before he was converted in 1758 ; when he not only became a Baptist preacher, but also much of a father among their churches for above thirty years. And some ministers from Pennsylvania went and formed some Bap- tist churches in the north part of Virginia, about 1760, who were not fully agreed with those southern Baptists, for the fol- lowing reasons: The Philadelphia Asso- ciation had adopted the confession of faith which was composed by the Baptists in London in 1689, with the addition of an ar- ticle which required the laying on of hands upon every member of the church, which the others did not hold. Some eminent ministers in England had also carried the doctrine of particular election so far as to deny that any minister had a right to ad- dress tlie calls of the gospel to all sinners without distinction, and the Philadelphians had adopted this opinion ; and they called themselves Regular Baptists, while those who went from Connecticut were called Separates. And there were unhappy con- ' Rippon's Register, vol. ii. p. 131. HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. 175 tentions between them for many years ; for the New-England Baptists in general do not hold to the laying on of hands upon every member, nor to the above restriction of the calls of the gospel. We generally believe the doctrine of par- ticular election, and the final perseverance of every true believer, while we proclaim a free salvation to all the children of men, and even to the chief of sinners ; and we hold that God has appointed the means as well as the end, and the means in order to the end of every event. When the Jews were obstinate in receiving Jesus as the true Messiah, he said, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are deliver- ed unto me of my Father ; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls : for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt. xi. 25 — 30. The only reason why any one is chosen, called and saved, rather than an- other, is because so it seemed good in the sight of God. But many men imagine that the choice and doings of men are the cause of it, and so would take the glory of it to themselves, instead of giving it to God alone. God never fails of doing justice to all, while he says, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." And his glory essentially requires this. Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19. Therefore he says, " Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ?" Matt. xx. 15. The meanest person upon earth has a right to give his own property to whom he will ; and how mad are those who deny this right to the eternal God ! Many ruin their souls by fighting against God, but it is impossible for him to be deceived or disappointed in any of his designs of mercy, as well as of justice. And free salvation by the Son of God is held forth to all men in the gospel, as openly as the brazen serpent was to the camp of Israel ; and the condemnation of all who do not receive him, is because they hate the light. John iii. 14 — 20. There- fore the most moving methods ought to be taken whh sinners in general, to enlighten and turn them from sin to God. Light con- cerning these things gained gradually among the Baptists in Virginia, so as to unite them as one people in 1787, and they have increased much since. Mr. John Leland, from whom I had many of these things, was born at Grafton in the Massachusetts, May 14, 1754 ; and after he was baptized and called to preach, he set oti" with his young wife, in the fall of 1776, and went into Virginia, and settled in the county of Orange. He travelled and labor- ed much in those parts, and had a consider- able hand in procuring the law for equal liberty, before inserted. Though llie be- havior of Episcopal ministers themselves did more towards it; for many of them would play cards, swear profanely, and get drunk, while they imprisoned about thirty Baptist ministers for preaching the gospel to precious souls, without licence from them. This moved their rulers to abolish such ty- ranny. Mr. Leland baptized about an hundred persons in and near York-town, the year before the British army was cap- tivated there ; and in the whole he bapti- zed above six hundred in those parts. He published a Virginia Chronicle, before re- ferred to, and some other things and in 1791, he returned to New-England, and settled in Cheshire in the Massachusetts. But Mr. Stearns spent his life in those parts, and died in peace, November 20, 1771. And the Baptists have been increas- ing in North-Carolina ever since, and have been so highly esteemed by their fellow- citizens, that many members of their churches have been representatives and senators in their legislature, judges in their courts, and in other offices of their govern- ment. Mr. Daniel Marshall, after much service there, went on to Georgia, where he form- ed a church in 1772, and was the pastor of it until he died, it being the first Baptist church in that state ; and his son Abraham Marshall has been pastor o^ it ever since. The Baptists have been the most numerous of any religious denomination in Georgia, for many years past. They have lately in- creased nmch in Savannah, their capital. The late honorable Joseph Clay, who had been one of the federal judges of the dis- trict court, was ordained a Baptist minister there, in January, 1804. There are many associations in those parts, in one of which were fifty-six churches, and three thousand seven hundred and ninety-six members, in 1792 ; and they have greatly increased since. One minister baptized about an hundred persons there, in the year 1803 ; and when the first association of South- Carolina met that fall, they received the re- port of Mr. John Rooker, one of their minis- ters, who had been sent to preach among the Catawba Indians, that his preaching- among them was received with much at- tention, and they were very thankful for his being sent among them ; and they not only desired him to come again, but also that a 176 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND- school-master might be sent to teach the Indian youth in human learning, and also in Christian principles. The association ui^reed to send him among them again, and also a school-master, according to their re- quest, and to bear their expenses. Some of the English near them appeared to have a gracious work begun among them, and it was hoped that the Indians would share in the same blessing. A great many negroes in those parts have been converted and baptized, and some of them have been called to preach the gospel. George Liele was so a little before our American war ; and in the time of it he fell into British hands, and went down and baptized a number in Savannah, and then was carried to Jamaica, where he began to preach to the blacks in 1784 ; and he behaved so well as to be favored by the government there, and his success was so great that he had three hundred and fifty members in his church in 1791.* And we have heard of much increase among them since. There is one such minister and church in Virginia, beside a great number of blacks who have joined to the English churches there. And Andrew Bryan has a large negro church in Savannah in Geor- gia ; and Mr. Abraham Marshall assisted ill his ordination. The Charleston associ- ation, in 1803, received an account from the Bethel association, that more than fourteen hundred persons had joined to all their churches in a year. Such has been the work in those parts. The first Baptist church in the state of New- York was formed at Oyster bay on Long-Island, Elder Robert Feke wrote from thence to Newport, November 29, 1741. and said, " God has begun a glorious work among us, and I hope he will carry it on to his own glory, and the salvation of many souls. There have been seventeen added to our little band in about three months." I suppose their church had not been formed long. The first Baptist church in the city of New- York was formed in 1762, under the ministry of Mr. Jolm Gano, who is since in Kentucky. There were a lew Baptist churches before, northward of the city, near Connecticut line. And soon after the Brit- ish army was captivated at Saratoga, in 1777, many such churches were formed in those parts, and they have been increasing ever since. And a large number of people have removed from New-England, and planted the lands near the heads of the Mohawk, Susquehanna, and Genesee riv- ers ; and a Baptist church was formed in 1789 near the Otsego lake, which is the first church in the Otsego association, which * Rippon'a Register, Vol. i. p. 334. was formed in 1795, and it increased in three years to twenty -eight churches, and twelve hundred and ninety-two members. They have been increasing to this day, and have formed another association further westward. These associations have sent ministers to preach to the Six Nations of Indians, and also among the English in Upper Canada, where they have been well received, and an association is formed there. Several Baptist ministers in those parts were preachers before in Congrega- tional churches. If we look again to the southward, we may still see greater won- ders of grace, as well as of Divine Provi- dence. The lands upon the river Ohio were so much esteemed, both by the French and English nations, that they commenced a war about them in 1755, which ended in yielding those lands, as well as all Canada, to Great Britain. Our people began to plant Kentucky about 1777, and inhabitants have increased so much in that state, as now to have six representatives in congress, which is one more than New-Hampshire has. Many of the inhabitants went from Virginia, and the Baptists have increased to six associations, and to fourteen thou- sand and seventy-six communicants in their churches, as we had a printed account in 1802. And there are a large number of such churches on both sides of the Ohio, besides those in Kentucky ; and they are scattered into each of these United States. As associations have been often mention- ed, I will now describe the nature of them. Associations had been very cruel and op- pressive in Connecticut, as they were there established by law ; and many Baptists could not believe, for a long time, that they could be so conducted as to be serviceable any way ; and it has ever been difficult to keep a clear distinction in our minds, be- tween the real nature of things, and the abuse of them which is very common. When diificulties arise in churches, few have the patience and wisdom which is necessary, for the carrying the laws of Christ into eft'ect against oflenders, without looking to any earthly power for help in such cases. The Warren association was formed, September 8, 1767, upon the following prin- ciples. They refuse to hear and judge of any personal controversy in any of their churches, or to intermeddle with the aflairs of any church which hath not freely joined with them. When any church desires to join with them, they send messengers and a letter to the association, shewing when their church was formed, the faith and or- der of it, and their number of members. If satisfaction is gained, they are received KIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. I77 by a vote of the association, and the moderator gives the messengers the right hand of fellowship. Eacli church is to send messengers and a letter, or a letter at least, to the annual meeting of the association, to give an account of the state of their churchy and how many have been added, dismissed, excluded, or that have died in the year. If this is neglected for a number of years, or if the church departs from her former faith and order, she is left out of the association. In 1771, they began to print the minutes of their annual proceedings, which any may have if they will. By these means, mutual acquaintance and communion hath been begotten and pro- moted ; errors in doctrine or conduct have been exposed and guarded against ; false teachers have been detected, and warn- ings published against them ; destitute flocks have been occasionally supplied ; the "weak and oppressed have been relieved, and many have been animated and encour- aged in preaching the gospel through the land, and in new plantations in the wilder- ness. A collection is made at our annual meet- ings for the widows and children of poor ministers. A society has also been incor- porated, to collect money to assist pious youths in obtaining learning, with a view to the ministry. And a Missionary Society is formed to collect money for the support of travelling ministers, and to instruct and di- rect them therein, according to their best discretion. And several of them have vis- ited many destitute flocks, and some have gone into Upper Canada, with great ac- ceptance. The Warren association has extended over all the old colony of Plymouth, and over the Massachusetts as high as Connec- ticut river, and into the borders of three other states ; and its benefits soon became visible to others. The Stonnington asso- ciation began in 1772, and it extends over the east part of Connecticut, and the west part of Rhode Island state. The New- Hampshire association began in 1776, and it extends over the east part of that state, and over the county of York in the district of Maine. The Shaftsbury association be- gan in 1781, and it is in the southwest part of Vermont, the west of the Massachusetts, and east of New-York state. The Wood- .stock association began in 1783, and is in the easterly part of Vermont, and west- erly of New-Hampshire. The Groton Conference began in 1785, and it ex- tends from Connecticut river near the Bea, across the state of Rhode Island, into the county of Bristol in the Massachusetts. The Bowdoinham association began in 1787, and it extends over three counties in the district of Maine. The Vermont asso- VOL. 1.— W. ciation began the same year, and it is in the northwest part of that state. The Me- redith association began in 1789, and is in the northerly part of New-Hampshire, and the adjoining part of Vermont. The Dan- bury association began in 1790, and it ex- tends from the south borders of the Massa- chusetts, across Connecticut to the sea, west of their great river. The Leyden as- sociation began in 1793, on the north bor- ders of the Massachusetts, and it extends into the corners of New-Hampshire and Vermont, on both sides of Connecticut riv- er. The Richmond conference began in 1795, and is in the northeast part of Ver- mont. The Sturbridge association began in 1801, and it is in the southerly part of the middle of Massachusetts, and north- erly of Connecticut. Thus we have thirteen associations in New-England, in which are three hundred and twelve churches, and twenty-three thousand six hundred and thirty-eight mem- bers, where there were but nine Baptist churches in 1700, and but five more in all America. We have also many other churches in New-England beside what are in these associations ; and I conclude that in the whole of these United States, there are now abouttwelve hundred Baptist churches, and an hundred thousand members. And the main of them have been formed within forty years past. The work of God in late years has given much light to our old Bap- tist churches. The darkness that was in the first Baptist church in Boston, caused the forming of the second in 1742 ; but light gradually gained among them, until they settled a pastor there in 1765, who was clear in gospel doctrines ; and religion was soon after revived there, and the two churches were united, and they have been increasing to this day. They have gained such credit in our government, that Dr. Stillman, pastor of their first church, was called to preach the election sermon at Boston in 1779, and Dr. Baldwin, pastor of the second, in 1802. In the Spring of 1803,. religion was again revived in Boston, which still continues, and their two churches Jiave increased to six hundred and Ibrty mem- bers. This work is now powerful in Charlestown, Maiden, Woburn, Reading, Danvers, Salem and Beverly ; the first of which churches was formed in 1793, and the rest since, all within about twenty miles of Boston. Our churches in general hold to the doctrines of grace. Christian experi- ence, and the importance of a holy life, much as the chief fathers of New-England did. They differ very little from the fa- thers of Plymouth colony, only about infant baptism. And though the fathers of the Massachusetts made laws to establish ilie government of the church over the world, 178 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. yet when that power was lost, Boston re- nounced the government of the world over tiie church, as we have proved. And this practice cannot now be vindicated by Scrip- ture, reason, nor by the example of any of the fathers of New-England, for seventy years after it was planted. And it is also contrary to the general government of these United States. Infant baptism was not named in the ho- ly Scriptures, nor in any history, for two hundred years after the birth of Christ. And when it was first named, ministers called it regeneration. Because Christ says, " Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- dom of God," they held that baptism wash- ed away original sin, and that infants could not be saved if they were not baptized. And because Christ says, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you," they held that no person could be saved without eat- ing the Lord's supper ; and they brought in- fants to it, as well as to baptism. For the truth of these facts, we appeal to the most noted writings of the third and fourth centuries. A noted minister of the third century said, " It is for that reason, because by the sa- crament of baptism the pollution of our birth is taken away, that infants are bapti- zed."* Thi.s', and more of like nature, was quot- ed by an eminent advocate for infant bap- tism in our day, to defend the practice, though not the opinion of its being regene- ration. But the church of Rome, and the church of England, have long held that ministers could regenerate persons by bap- tizing them. And they who renounced that practice have been called Anabaptists to this day. Natural affection for children, and for the sick and dying, has caused an amazing attachment to ministers who they thought could save persons from hell by baptizing them ; and from thence came the notion of the necessity of an external suc- cession of ministerial ordinations, even through the corruptions of antichrist. But as fire and wind, as well as water, are of a cleansing influence, they are all made use of to explain the nature of regen- eration, wliich is efiected only by the power of the Holy Ghost. Mat. iii. 11. John iii. 5. 8. The work of sanctification in believ- ers is carried on by the ordinances of bap- tism and the holy supper, but tliey are not spoken of in Scripture as the means of be- getting faith in any person ; for faith Com- eth by hearing the word of God. Rom. x. 17. But in all nations where ministers have been supported by force, only one party of teachers and rulers have shared in the o-ains ' Clark's Defence of Infant BaiHism, 17^.2, p. III. of it, to the constant injury of all the rest of the community. And this way has been upheld by perverse disputers, who have supposed that gain was godliness. 1 Tim. vi. 5. But if the vengeance of God came upon men who were partial in his law, what will he do to those who make partial laws of their own? Mai. ii. 9. And since a door is now opened in our land for a clear deUverance from these evils, can any man be free of guilt if he tries to shut it? This consideration is enforced by late experience ; for the man, who was the chief magistrate of these United States for four years, was very fond of such par- tiality. But a man was elected into that ofiice in 1801, who is for equal liberty to all the nation. And if the holy Scriptures are well regarded, we shall be the happiest people upon earth ; for they shew that eve- ry man, who is fit for a ruler, is like good trees and vines, which yield sweet fruits to all around them, without injuring any one ; and that tyrants are like the bramble, which would set the whole community on fire, and burn up the best characters in it, if they stood in the way of their gratifying their own lusts of pride and covetousness. Judg- es ix. 7 — 15. Therefore our Lord says, " By their fruits ye shall know them." Mat. vii. 20. And this should ever guide all electors of officers, as vyell as all men in office. A review of the dealings of God with his ancient people, may aflbrd much help to us all. For the highest rulers in Israel had no right to make any laws at all, but were to govern the people by the laws of God, which he had given them by Moses and the prophets. The tribe of Levi, in which was the family of Aaron, were to have the whole government of their wor- ship, and to offer sacrifices upon the altar of God. Those offerings, with the tenth part of the produce of the good land which he had given them, were freely to be brought in annually to the place which God chose, and the Priests and Levites were to have their living in that way, and they were to have the care of the poor. Each man in Israel was to bring in those tithes and offerings to the place which God chose, in such a manner as to be able to say before him, " I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them vtnto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and the widow according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me ; I have not trans- gressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. I have not eaten there- of in my mourning, neither have I taken ought thereof, for any unclean use, nor giv- en ought thereof for the dead ; but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND 179 and have done all that thou hast command ed me. Look down from thy holy habita- tion, from heaven, and bless thy people Is- rael, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken to his voice. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath prom- ised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his commandmenis ; and to make thee high above all nations Avhich he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken." Deut. xxvi. 13—19. Thus we may see that the support of religious ministers in Israel, as well as the poor, was to be done voluntarily, as each man would desire the blessing of God upon his labors, as well as the salvation of his soul ; and also that they could not be a holy people in any other way, but by obeying the voice of God with all their hearts, and with all their souls. And for any commu- nity to call themselves a holy people, only because they have an established worship by the laws of men, enforced by the sword, is directly contrary to the national worship of Israel which vv^as owned of God. Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, and the devil tempted him to presume upon being supported by the promise of God, without going in the ways of his precepts. Mat. iv. 6, 7. Psalm xci. 11, 12. And how full is the world of this iniquity ! The nation of Israel was advanced above all other nations, when they obeyed the re- vealed will of God, in the days of David and Solomon, according to this promise. But in after generations they declined from that way, until God said, " As troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent." Hosea vi. 9. '•' The heads thereof judge for reward, the priests thereof teach for hire. and the prophets thereof divine for money ; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say. Is not the Lord among us ? None evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jeru- salem shall become heaps, and the moun- tain of the house as the high places of the forest." Micah iii. 11, 12. This prophecy was partly accomplished by the Babyloni- ans, and fully by the Romans. And tiie Jews are now monuments of warning to all nations. Isaiah xxx. 17. Thus present events prove the truth of revelation. Before the destruction of the second tem- ple, God gave the Jews a new warning, and said, " Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me ; but ye say. Wherein have we robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse ; for ye ha've robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Mai. iii. 8—10. Here we may see that a voluntary obe- dience to God about his worship and min- isters, or the contrary, brought his blessings or curses upon his people ; and he now says to people under the gospel, " Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things, live of tlie tilings of the tem- ple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. But as some ministers of the devil had prejudiced many in the church of Corinth against this apostle, he refused to take any support of them, though he said, " Forgive me this wrong." 2 Cor. xi. 13 --15. xii. 13. Thus it appears, that there is a stronger guard set against deceitful teachers, by tlie laws of Christ, than there was by the law of Moses. Yet such is the depravity of human nature, that the sup- porting of ministers of the devil by force hath filled the world with war and blood, under the name of Christianity, much more than the nation of Israel ever did. And this is now the greatest handle that infidels have to use against revealed religion. The command is, " Let God be true, but every man a liar ;" while many bring the lies of men against the truth of God, and so discover that he hath said the truth con- cerning them. Upon the case before us, he says, " Let him that is taught in the word, communi- cate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mock- ed ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. vi. 6 — 8. So that everlasting life, or endlesa misery, are connected with faithfulness or unfaithfulness in this aflair. Yea, and these things are personal between God and indi- viduals, as much as faith and unbelief are ; and therefore they are entirely out of tlie jurisdiction of tlie magistrate. And we 180 HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND, have a glorious promise of God, which says, " In the last days it shall come to Eass, that the mountain of the house of the ,ortl shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, " Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the habitation of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths ; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the people, and rebuke strong na- tions afar off, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid ; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, forever and ever." Micah iv. 1 — 5. Now it is most certain that this prophecy hath never yet been fulfilled ; but it will as surely come to pass hereafter, as ever the promise did of Christ's being born of a vir- gin. The mountains and hills here mean the kingdoms and states of this world, and the mountain of the house of the Lord, is the kingdom of Christ, who will subdue all other kingdoms, and reign forever. And he says, " The kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Dan. ii. 35, 44. vii. 27. People shall go up to the house of God, and personally obey his revealed will, as freely as the water flows in its channels. And what can be freer than water ? Every idea of force is exclud- ed from the support of his worship ; and ail tlie force for the support of religious teachers, that ever was used under the name of Christianity, was done by adding to his word. And Christ says, " I testify un- to every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophe- cy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Rev. xxii. 18, 19. O how solemn are these things ! Mys- tery Babylon was built by adding to the word of God, and by taking away what is plainly written in it ; and all religious es- tablishments by the laws of men, that ever were made in our world, were made in thai way, and so are parts of that great city. She is the mother of harlots, and she hath many daughters. And as Christ is the onr ly head of his church, every community : that supports her ministers in the name of any earthly head, is a harlot. And in Bab- ylon was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all tliat were slain upon the earth. Rev. xviii. 24. The blood of Abel was shed by Cain, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 1 John iii. 12. And the guilt of blood will come upon all men who imitate old perse- cutors. Mat. xxiii. 35, 36. And God says, " In the last days perilous times shall come ; for men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, dis- obedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lov- ers of God ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 5. Language cannot describe our times more exactly, than it was thus done by God, near eighteen hundred years ago. And how blind must men be, if they imagine that godliness can be supported by such characters ! and yet such have equal votes in government with the best men in it. The best churches that ever supported their ministers by force, had no more than a form of godliness ; and all men have denied the power of it, who have denied that the laws and Spirit of Christ were entirely suflicient to support his ministers, without any arm of flesh in the case. And God says, " Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." And the form says, " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable lor doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy i. 13. iii. 16, 17. The men of the world are allowed to make laws, and to enforce them with the sword, to punish immorahties, and to keep the civil peace ; and real Christians are best subjects of civil government in the world, while they obey God rather than man in the form of godliness. And though the worst of wars have lately been carried on by sea, yet it will hereafter be said, " Look upon Zion, the city of our solem- nities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall HIST. OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND. Ig] not be taken down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with oars, nei- ther shall gallant ships pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law- giver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed ; they could not well strengthen their mast ; they could not spread the sail : then is the prey of a great spoil divided ; the lame take the prey." Isaiah xxxiii. 20 — 23. And though the merchants of Babylon, and her mari- ners, will make great lamentations for the loss of their bloody gains, yet the Holy Spirit says, " Rejoice over her, thou heav- en, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." Rev. xviii. 20. The apostles explained the prophets, and finished writing the book of God ; and heaven and earth will rejoice to see his truth and justice glorified. WATERY WAR: OR A POETICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE EXISTING CONTROVERSY BETWEEN PtEDObaptists and baptists, ON THE SUBJECTS AND MODE OF BAPTISM. BY JOHN OP iENON. And so t^ey wrap it up.—Micah. ADVERTISEMENT. The baptismal controversy has of late become a common cause ; and the Psedo- baptists, by casting their whole weight of pamphlets, sermons, magazines and re- views in the scale against us, seem deter- mined to make us give up our distinguish- ing sentiments, or to bear us down by a fiuperior force. Their extraordinary exer- tions implicitly invite our whole strength to tlie contest ; and every one, it is conceived, is at liberty to choose his own mode of con- tending. The truly ludicrous suppositions and arguments so much in use with many of the Pa>dobaptists, which in the opinion of the writer do not merit a serious refuta- tion, form, itis supposed, a sufficient apology for any ironical observations which may appear in the following Poem. N. B. The Writer has quoted freely from a Poem, entitled, The Selopian Zeal- ot ; or, the good Vicar in a bad Mood : and to foreclose the charge of plagiarism, he would inform his readers, that he has in corporated some of the expressions of that ingenious work with his own composition, of which he has not given formal notice. THE WATERY WAR. So Christendom is doomed to feel The fiery strife of flint and steel. And parties still will be disputing, Opposing each, and each confuting, With verbal warfare and contention, In growing times, or in declension. A watery strife, of old begun. Is now more fiercely coming on. And parties with much haste prepare To fight the elemental war. This seems the ground of this dispute, As near as one can well compute • — Has Christ enacted all the laws, Intended for his holy cause ; Or must we search the Jewish code. To guide us in the Christian road? Must gospel churches now be made Of parents and their infant seed ; Or are professing saints alone, The only subjects Christ will own? Is 't Apostolic or perversion, That pouring, sprinkling; and immersion, THE WATERY WAR. 183 Are all the same baptismal rite, In substance one, and either right ? Or is immersion only, good. Exclusively the scripture mode ? The other note to pitch the tune on, Is " Anti-Christian" dose communion. These propositions thus related, Our subject being briefly stated, We ask, like preachers, small digression. Before, we come to full discussion. Sweet charity so much abounds. And utters forth such pleasing sounds, Our friends will hold us right, if ire, Will to theij^ banner quickly flee. And own a rite of man's invention, To be divine, and quit dissension ; And to their shattered stale tradition, Resign our creed, with full submission. But should our feet refuse to move, It seems as though their blazing love Would quite consume us with its flame, And load us all with guilt and shame. We value friendship, but could wish To have it in a smaller dish ; And they'd increase our obligation, To deal it out with moderation ; For while we yet have life and breath, We beg not to be lov'd to death. How troublesome this Baptist band Have always been in every land ; How much they have disturbed the peace, Of those who wished to live at ease. 'Tis not unlike, that sleepless beds Have ott supported aching heads, In fear of this unruly clan, Who fear their Maker more than man , Who take the Bible for their guide. And follow that whate'er betide, Who have the badness to reject What others treat with much respect ; Who hold that sinners must believe, Before the Lord will them receive ; Who wish to let all strife alone, And Je-sus Christ their Saviour own. O wicked Baptists, do n't you know What ills you cause where'er you go, How parsons fear you '11 break the peace Of each enlightened diocess ; And with the Bible rend the blinders, Which now the light so nicely hinders. How many ways have been invented, To make you settle down contented, To make you quit that watery way In which you always lov'd to stray : Yes, priests and princes, fire and slaughter. Have try'd to cure your love of water. Sometimes you hear the learned assertion, There are no places for immersion. Your friends have taken it for granted, Your geographic skill was wanted ; And kindly for your information, Have told, to stop your innovation, That Jordan was a lillie stream. To tnik of dipping 's all a whim ; At ^non too. and all around. No dijiping places could be found. What though there was much water there, 'T was in small brooks, you often hear;* Ye Baptists, dare not controvert What learned men so oft assert. This country, though exceeding dry, Yet brooks and tbuntains could supply, F'ull large enough, 't is thought for John, To sprinkle people one by one ; And had he used them sparing too. As moderns are inclined to do. These many brooks, we make no doubt. For sprinkling might have long held out. But lest this dry and brookish proof, Should not be tbund quite strong enough. They not unfrequently rehearse, Suppose the ancients did immerse ; Yet as we live in colder clime, To change the mode, can be no crime ; For mercy, you must all have heard, To sacrifice, must be preferred. Besides, we now are more polite Than those who walk'd in gospel light ; With dipping then they might dispense. But now it causes great oflience. But look again ye ign'rant band, Behold the great in every land, Great men, great doctors, fam'd for learn- ing, Great bishops too. of shrewd discerning. Who have retained the iniant rite. And held that sprinkling might be right. If we are wrong, can any doubt Such men would not have found it out?t Immersion too, we 're often told. Exposes folks to taking cold ; And many ills our friends resound, Which we as yet have never found. ■ Since spriiiUlins came info faslilon, criticism, im- hpard of in all former ages, halh endeavored fo derive evi- dence for a scarcity of water, frouiOio Cireck text of tlie evangelist .Tohti, and to render po/Za iidata, not imtch. wa- ter, hw numy wathTS, and then by an inijenions sn[ipo!«i- tion, to infer that many waters sif;nitics, not many waters collected into one, but many parted into many little rills, which miuht all serve for sprinklintf, but could not any of them be used for dippinp ; as if one man could possi- bly want many brooks for the purpose of sj;rinklin!!; one person at a time. It is observable, thai the Euphrates at Babylon, the Tiber at Rome, and Jordan of Palestine, are all described by jwlki ndala.—Iiobhi^-vn. So that the Kuphrates, tlie Tiber, and .Tcrdan, accordinR to Pa-do- baptist crilici.sm, may be nothing, more than little brooks, s-liriws\ and rivu.lf:ts ! t That the multitude slionld reason in this way, is not sm-prisins; but tliatmenofacknowledped abilities shouM think of eslablisliinc a professedly scripture doctrine by such ariruments as these, is enough "to amuse one." Oil what iloes Mr. Worcester's "fair and invincible con- clusion rest, that sprinklini; or afTusion is scriptural and valid." but that grfat man, andagr'^at many of them, for naiiy 'eiilurlos have practised it? Vide WorccMlci's Twi Pis.nnr,<;es,>kc., p. 66. 184 THE WATERY WAR, But now away with old objections, Which fill the PtBdobaptist sections, These dreadful bug-bearS; all have found. Are nothing more than frightful sound. Though water was as scarce of old, Ae many have so gravely told ; Yet now it richly doth abound, Now dipping places may be found. And thousands to the floods repair, To own their Lord and Saviour there. Not all the learning, toil and pain Of those who treat us with disdain. Not all their logic, scofls and flings, Their witty, nor their bitter things, (^an stop the progress of the band, Who take the Bible in their hand. Who I'eel resolved no more to trample Beneath their feet their Lord's example. And finding all their eflbrts fail. The rigid Baptists still prevail, Our friends of late, use all there art in Maintaining nothing can be certain About this strange baptismal rite ; Ergo, we all may still be right. Thus having tried all ways to still us, With terror and with shame to fill us, To prove their own foundation strong. And that 7De sure are going wrong; But finding all their former schemes Evaporate like empty dreams, <^Hir later writers seem inclin'd Unless we much mistake their mind, To quibble, cavil and evade ; To give their old tradition aid ; To show that no specific mode Is mention'd in the holy code ; One drop, a fountain, or a flood, To pour, and sprinkle, all are good. Your mode may differ much from mine, But your's I own may be divine ; And charity requires of you To make the same concession too. Since all the Psedobaptists say Of our immodest, frantic way. Of shallow Jordan, rills and springs, Of great men too, and other things, (yannot suffice to stop believers From going into ponds and rivers, At last a wide Catholicism, Has been devie'd to heal the schism. So when the doubtful sons of Galen, Perceive their healing art is failing. And all their Patents being spent, A new catholicon invent. If John, ae many lately say, Thougli Luke may lean another way,* • "The law and the prophets were until .lohn : since that time thi; kinailoinof heavett is preaclied, ami every liiaii pressrth into It." Luke xvi. Iti. Mark speaks the same language, "The b'ljinning olthe gospel of Jesus Existed in the Jewish state. Our friends would please us to relate, What section in the Jewish book, Bequir^d the work he undertook. But leaving things of other moment, To those whose business 't is to comment, We can but feel a wish to know Why John should keep the water so. If sprinkling might have been the mode,* Why should he take so long a road ? Or, if he had design'd to pour, Why then to Enon take a tour? The answer comes as quick as wink, The man was looking out for drink, And kindly seeking watering places " For horses, camels, mules and asses." The reason seems as clear as day, As Psedobaptists wisely say. Why John chose out a watery station, To do the work he was engaged in, 'T is plain that multitudes came out From all the region round about ; 'T is likely too, we lately hear, Th' encampment lasted more 'n a year,t And who but Baptists once could think That man and beast would want no drink ? This question answered with .such ease, We '11 state another if you please. Admitting John a public cater. Providing man and beast with water, And that his mind was more intent On drink, than on the sacrament. And having now obtained his end, And near by Jordan made a stand, We humbly ask, if 't is no sin, Why he should need to enter ml To this full many have reply'd, And here's the answer, cut and dry'd: That since the concourse was so poor. There was not found in all their store, A basin, pitcher, or a cup, With which to lade the water up, Tis likely John, as others do. Proceeded down a step or two In Jordaii's stream, to take a stand, To do what mig-ht be done on land. Christ, the Son of Goii: as it is written in the prophets, Beliold I send my messenger before thy face," &c. Mark i 1 — 4. * " It seems therefore to me that the people stood in ranks, near to or just within the edge of the river; and John, passinf; alons before them, cast water upon their licads or faces with his liandsor some proper instrument, by which means he might very easily baptize many thou- sands in a day." Guyse's Paraphrase, vol. i. p. 12, " The Jews in yon/rtrt were baptized, Ergo ingenious John devis'd A scoop, or squirt, or some such thing. With which some water he might lling Upon tlie long extended rank Of candidates, that lin'd the bank ; Be careful, Jolm, some drops may fall From your rare instrument on all But point your engine, ne'ertheless, To those who first their sins confess ; I,et no revilers in the crowd The holy sprinkling be allow'd." iialopian Zealot, p. 15. t Reed's Apology, p. 198. THE WATERY WAR. 185 But ere we give the subject o'er, We beg to ask one question more. Since John was so intent on thinking, To find conveniences for drinking, 'T is wondrous strange he had not thought To bring, or see some one had brought Some vessel Jordan's wave to lade in, Which might have sav'd him tedious wading. You 'd think, to help the water-fetchers, He 'd brought a load of pails and pitchers. Though old divines could tame the Greek, And learned what it design'd to speak ; Yet moderns find it strangely wild. They chase it hard through flood and field, And strive with industry and pain To overake it, but in vain. O Luther, Calvin, Poole, and Wall, And lexicographers, and all. What pity ere ye drew the quill, Our moderns of superior skill Were not at hand to show you how Baptizo may be rendered now. Though you so oft have made assertion, Its meaning primely is immersion ;* Yet such improvements have been made, To give the cause of sprinkling aid, Our critics in this learned day, Have the great modesty to say. Its meaning can't be ascertain'd 'T is "open, general," unrestrained, Andsp7^inkling,pouring, washing, cleaning, May be its true and native meaning. The most specitic sen.se they get. The term imports somehow to wet ; If water only be apply'd That will suffice, can't be deny'd. Each one may choose his manner now. If each is peased, no matter how. No matter how? Then why is 't where? And why the crown of face prefer? Why should the region of ihe nose Be deem'd more fit than of the toes, W^hy should you not baptize the hands. To execute divine commands? The feet, to run the Christian road ? The shoulders, to sustain the load? The neck the Christian yoke to bear. And serve the Lord with holy fear? Why not the sacred rite impart About the region of the heart ? W^liat, in the nature of the case, Should make you always choose the face ? 'T is something strange, we freely own, That those who preach immersion down. • Mr. Booth lias quoted eighty-two Pfficlobaptist au- thors, who have conceded that the primary meaning of baptizo is to dip, to plunge, . p. 47. Dr. Campbell, (principal of the Marischal college, Aberdeen.) " The word baptizo both in sacred authors, and in classical sig- nifies to dip, to plunge, to immerse."— Four Gos. vol. ii. p. 259. NoteonMaXt. iii. 11. Bossuet, (bishop of Meaux.) " To bap- tize signifies to plunge, as is granted by all the world." — In Dr. Stennefs Remarks on Addington, p. 50. 2. In perl'ect consistency with the plain and proper sense of the word baptize, John takes the inhabitants of Jerusalem, «&c., not to the brook Cedron, which ran hard by the city, but to the distant large river of Jordan. Dr. Towerson. " For what need would there have been of the Baptists resorting to great confluxes of water, or of Philip and the Eunuch's going down into this, were it not that the baptism of the one and the other was to be performed by an immersion? A very little water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling." Of the Sacra, of Bap. P. iii. p. 56. Pcedo- bap. Exam. vol. i. p. 209. 3. It is said also, that they were baptized, not at, but "in the river of Jordan." Venema. " It is without controversy, that baptism, in the primitive church, was administered by immersion into water, and not by sprinkling, seeing John is said to have baptized in Jordan, and where there was much loater.^^ — Hist. Eccles. Secul. i. § 138. Pcfdobap. E.ram. vol. i. p. 212. 4. John baptized also " in water," as well as " in the Jordan." Our translators have it ivilh water, but as the Greek preposition en, must signify in, not wit/t the Jordan, so when expressing the same act, or circum- stance, it must mean the same thing. Mr. Hervey, when contending that en signifies in, adds, I can prove it to have been in peaceable possession of this signifi- cation for more than two thousand years. " Every one knows," he observes in another place, " that v-ith is not the native, obvious, and literal meaning ; rather a meaning swayed, influenced, moulded by the prece- ding or following word." — Letters to Wes- ley. Let. ii. and x. SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. 193 In four of the first versions of the Bible into Enghsh, we find these words rendered literally " in water ;" but the expression not suiting the prevailing custom, it was after- wards rendered with water. It is iiu in the Vulgale, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic, and several modern versions. — Vide PcBclobap. Exam. vol. i. p. 103. Dr. Campbell. " In water. Nothing can be plainer than that, if there be any incon- gruity, in the expression in water^ this, in Jordan, must be equally incongruous." — Note in lac. Lenfant. "In the water; in the Holy Ghost. These words do very well express the ceremony of Baptism, which was at first performed by plunging the whole body in water, as also the copious effusion of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost." — In Pcsdobap. Exam. vol. i. p. 191. My reader will infer, from the foiir par- ticulars above noticed in the language of the sacred historians, in what manner the great harbinger of Christ administered this ordinance. SECTION II. The Baptism of Jesus Christ from the four Evangelists. 'Our Lord's Baptism we next find, imme- diately following the account of John. This place attaches to it infinite interest and weight, by the infinite dignity of the f)ersons baptized. The following is the ullest account given us. Matt. iii. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John to be baptized of him. 14. But John forbade him, say- ing, I have need to be baptized of thee, an^d comest thou to me ? 15. And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. — Mark i. 9. A7id— Jesus— was baptized of John in Jordan. Matt. iii. 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight- way out of the water. Mark i. 10. And coming up out of the water, Luke iii. 21, and praying, the heaven was opened. 22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came trom heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased. 23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age. John i. 32. And John bare record ; say- ing, I saw the Spirit descending from heav- en like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33. And I knew him not ; but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto Vol. 1.— Y. I me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34. And I saw, and bare record that this ia the Son of God. What, my pious reader, can we say of the subject of baptism in this case ? What an honor is here attached to this ordinance ! and consequently to all that piously follow the example of the Redeemer in it ? Let the man who slights and contemns this sacred institution, calling it "a useless, unmeaning ceremony, incapable of wash- ing away sin, or of effecting any good, and consequently utterly unnecessary," let him read these verses, and view the immaculate Son of God, who had •' no sin" to wash away, hastening from Galilee down to Jor- dan " to be baptized." Let him see the " Wisdom of God" entering the streams, and bowing beneath them, " The emblem of his future grave." This, we should suppose, would teach him to think and to speak differently ol' the or- dinance, and silence every objection to the practice of it. And if a sight of CHRIST in Jordan had no efi'ect, let him hear and see the approbation of the FATHER and SPIRIT testified on this very occasion, and immediately upon his submission to this or- dinance. Four things you will here notice in the text. 1. The language of Christ in answer to John, thus explained by an esteemed com- mentator : Mr. Scott. Thus it becometh us. " We never find that Jesus spake of himself in the plural number, and must therelbre allow he meant John also, and all God''s servants in a subordinate sense. It became Christ, as our surety, and as our example, perfect- ly /o fulfi all lighteousness ; it becometh us ALL to walk in God's commandments and ordinances without exception." — Fam. Bib. Notes on the place. 2. The I'ime chosen for fulfilling the promise of the pouring Ibrth the Spirit upon Christ. This is noticed and improved by the pious Dr. Doddridge. '• Jesus had no sin to wash away, and yet he was baptized, and God owned this ordinance so far as to make it the season of pouring forth the spirit upon him. And where can we expect this sacred effusion, but in conscientious and humble attendance upon divine appoint- ments." — Fam. Exp. Imp. of the place. 3. The Reason why Christ would be bap- tized upon which hear the celebrated and excellent Witsius. " Our Lord would be baptized, that he might conciliate authority to the 194 SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. baptism of John — that by his own example he might commend and sanctify our bap- tism — that men might not be loath to come to the baptism of the Lord, seeing the Lord was not backward to come to the baptism of a servant — that by his baptism, he might represent the future condition both of him- self and his followers, first humble, then glorious J now mean and low, then glorious and exalted ; that represented by iramer- sion, this by emersion — and, finally, to de- clare in his voluntary submission to bap- tism, that he would not delay the delivering up of himself to be immersed by the tor- rents of hell, yet with a certain faith and hope of emerging." — Miscel. Sac. T. II. Exer. XV. § Q3.—Pced. Ex. Vol. I. p. 147. 4. The Circumstance immediately fol- lowing his baptism, namely, his COMING UP OUT OF THE V^^ATER, which im- plies that he went down into it; a circum- stance required in no mode of baptism but immersion, and hence we infer he was bu- ried, or immersed in water. Dr. Macknight. "Jesus submitted to be baptized, that is, buried under the water by John, and to be raised out of it again, as an emblem of his future death and resur rection." — Translation of Epis. Notes on Rom. vi. 4. Vossius. " That John the Baptist and the apostles immersed persons whom they baptized, there is no doubt. For thus we read, and they were baptized IN Jordan. And Jesus, when he icas baptized, went xm straightway OUT OF thewater,i^c."—/n Peed. Ex. V. I. p. 204. Bp. Taylor. " The custom of the ancient churches was not sprinkling, but immer- sion ; in pursuance of the sense of the word in the commandment, and the exam- ple of our blessed Saviour." — Ut Supra, n. 199. My reader cannot be at a loss to know whether our Lord was an example of sprink- ling infants, or the immersion of believers ; nor will he, I hope, need to be reminded how infinitely interesting and binding any duty becomes by his example. How rea- sonable is the observation of Dr. Ridgeley, " The example of Christ and his apostles ought to be a rule to the churches in all succeeding ages." To which every Chris- tian will add, with Mr. Polhill, "The pattern of Christ and the apostles is more to me than all the human wisdom in the world." SECTION III. ChrisVs baptizing by his disciples in Jitdea. Tata is the only mention of our Lord's baptizing or of the disciples, during hia personal presence with them, and conse- quently it claims our very serious atten- tion. John iii. 22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Ju- dea : and there he tarried wiih tliem and baptized. 26. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was witli thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 37. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 30. He must increase, but I must decrease. Chap. iv. 1. When, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. 2. (Though Jesus himself bap- tized not, but his disciples.) 3. He left Judea, and again departed again into Gal- ilee. The import of this passage is simply this : " Jesus went into the land of Judea, and baptized ; many hearing of him, and remembering what John had preached con- cerning him, flocked to him, and soon it was generally known and said, " That Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John ;" upon which the Saviour departed, and went into Galilee." The only thing to be noticed here, and it is certainly of some importance as to our frst inquiry, is this, that Christ made dis- ciples before he baptized them. He did not begin with baptizing, but with instruct- ing. He frst taught them his gospel, and they, believing and embracing his word, became his disciples ; upon which, secondly, he baptized them. As this is all the evan- gelists have recorded respecting Christ's baptizing, through the wholeof his ministry, this in consequently all in which the prac- tice of Christ is given for the guide of his people. What we are to understand by " disciples," or " making disciples," is thus described by Dr. Owen. " By disciples of Christ, I intend them, and them only, who profess faith in his person and doctrine, and to hear him, or to be judged by him, alone in all things, &c. This is the method of the gos- pel, that first men, by the preaching of it, be made disciples or be brought unto faith, in Christ, and then to be taught to do and observe whatever he commands." — In Peed. Ex. Vol. ii. pp. 287 and 275. Our Lord however may be heard for him- self, as to what is intended by his disciples, " Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Luke xiv. 27. Whatever therefore, may be said, in favor of infant baptism, it cannot SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM 195 be said, that either the example or practice of Christ affords it any support. SECTION IV. John's last baptizing in ^non. The next passage we find on our sub- ject, is contained in very few words. It is however a passage of considerableweight as to our second inquiry. John iii. 23. And John also was baptiz- ing in ^non, near to Salim, because there was much water there ; and they came, and were baptized. Independent of the sense of the word baptize, the reason assigned for John's choice of JEnon, would evidently indicate in what manner he administered this ordi- nance. Rivers, or places of much water," are never now resorted to by our friends for the purpose of sprinkling: and if they should be, it would never be assigned as a reason, '■ because there was much water there." As much water in that case would be utterly unnecessary, it would be no rea- son, and hence is never sought. But let the baptizing in this verse be translated, and all is plain and clear. " John was im- mersing the penitent Jews in ^Enon. be- cause there was much water there." Calvin. From these words, John iii. 23, it may be inferred, that baptism was admin- istered by John and Christ by plunging the whole body under water." In Loc. Peed. E.r. V. I. i). 194. My reader, however, will be aware, thai polla udata in this verse signifies literally many waters ; and that some have contend- ed in favor of sprinkling, that it refers to many small rivulets, or shallow streams, in that place. This interpretation destroys itself; for one shallow stream would sup- ply water enough, to sprinkle all the people of ^non, and ISilam too ; and a great number of shallow streams not being re- quired, John would never choose jEnon on the very account of what was totally unne- cessary. If scripture be the best interpreter of scripture, which is universally allowed, my reader would do well to observe, that the same expression, " many waters," is used for the Euphrates, Jer. li. 13. Septaug., but the Euphrates is expressly styled •' The great river Euphrates," Gen. xv, 18. Deut. i. 7, &c., and hence the inference would be natural, that he that before chose the great river of Jordan to baptize in, would now choose jEnon, not on account of its shal- low streams, but of its affording the like fa- cility with Jordan. Whether the voice which is compared to " great thunder," and " the voice of many waters," Rev. xiv. 2, can resemble most the fall of many small rivulets, or of a vast river, cannot be difficult to determine. Let us listen a mo- ment to two of the most learned commen- tators on this verse, and, requesting the reader to remember it during our future in- quiries, we will proceed. Dr. Doddridge. " John was also at the same time baptizing at ^non ; and he par- ticularly chose that place because there was a great quantity of water there, which made it very convenient for his purpose. Nothing, surely, can be more evident than that polla udata, many waters signifies a large quantity of water, it being sometimes used for the Euphrates. Jer. ii. 13. Sep- taug., The voice of many waters does plain- ly signify the roaring of a high sea." — Fam., Expo. Para, and Note in loc. Dr. Whitby. Opi polla udata en ekei; Because there was much water there, in which their whole bodies might be dip- ped : for in this manner otily was the Jewish baptism performed, by a descent into the water, Acts viii. 38, and an ascent out of it, ver. 39, and a burial in it. Rora. vi. 3, 4. Col. ii. 12.'''— Annot. in loc. ^ General account of John's success. The above being the last mention of John's baptizing, it seems proper to close it with the short account given in Luke, of the general reception this greatest of prophets and his baptism met with from different characters. Some heard him, believed him, and were baptized by him ; and ador- ed the goodness and mercy of God in send- ing him. But others, though of greater religious repute, rejected him and his bap- tism, and thereby rejected the gracious counsel of God, against their own spiritual interest. Our Lord, on this occasion, had spoken in the highest terms of his zealous harbinger, whose labors were now at an end, and it is immediately added, Luke vii. 29. And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers reject- ed the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. 35. But wis- dom is justified of all her children. Burkitt. " Others rejected the counsel of God, — i. e. the revealed will of God, re- fusing to be baptized of him. This reject- ing the counsel of God, we are guilty of, when we are ashamed, in times of perse- 196 SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. cution to profess him— when we submit not ourselves to the reasonable laws and com- mands of Christ."— /u loc SECTION V. Chiist represents his sufferings under the figure of a Baptism, in Mark x. 35 to 40, and Matt. XX. 22. But Jesus answered and said, ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? They say unto him, We are able. 23. And he said unto them. Ye shall drink indeed of my cup. and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptiz- ed with : but to sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them, for whom it is prepared of my Father. Luke xii. 50. But I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straiten- ed till it be accomplished ! As baptism is here taken metaphorically, nothing decisive, in reference to the ordi- nance ^elf, can be grounded upon it. Our Lord in describing the greatness of his suf- ferings, he calls it a baptism. The only question in reference to our present inqui- ries is this, Does sprinkling a little water on the face, or being totally immersed in it, best set forth the severity of Christ's suf- ferings ? The following extracts will prob- ably contain my readers opinion. Dr. Doddridge thus paraphrases the pla- ces : " Are you able to drink of the bitter cup of which I am now about to drink so deep, and to be baptized with the baptism, and plunged into that sea of sufferings with which I am shortly to be baptized, and as it were, overwhelmed, for a time !" — Paraphrase on Matt. xx. 22. '' I have indeed a most dreadful baptism to he baptized with ; and know that I shall be shortly bathed, as it were in blood, n.n([ plunged in the most overwhelming dis- tress." — Paraphrase on Luke xii. 50. Witsius. '• Immersion into the water is to be considered by us as exhibiting that dreadful abyss of divine justice, in which Christ lor our sins, was for a time, as it were, absorbed ; as in David, his type, he complains, Psalm Ixix. 2, / am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me?^ —(Eron. of the Cm: L. iv. C. xvi. § 26. Mr. Hervey, the pious author of Theron and Aspasio. expresses himself, on this sub- ject, with great energy. " He longed, (be- pificent, blessed BEING !) he longed for the fatal hour. He severely rebuked one of his disciples who would have dissuaded him from going as a volunteer to the cross. He was even straitened, under a kind of holy uneasiness lill the dreadful work was accomplished ; till he was baptized with the baptism of his sufferings, bathed in blood, and plunged in death."— 7%eron and Aspasio, vol. ii. p. 150. SECTION VI. The Commission which our Lord gave his Apostles about the time of his ascension into Heaven, containing the Institution of Christian Baptism. Baptism, it is evident, was instituted long before the following commission was deliv- ered to the apostles. It was instituted by God, and enjoined on John, the forerunner of Christ, as a part of the work to which he was especially called. Hence, when speaking of the Father, he describes him by this very circumstance, " He that sent me to baptize with water." John i. 33. Our Saviour also had directed his disciples to baptize such persons as should receive his word, when he commenced his minis- try ; see § III. : but he delayed the full and formal institution of Christian baptism, till he was risen from the dead, when he unit- ed it with his last most solemn charge, giv- en by Matthew and Mark, in the following verses : Matt, xxviii. 16. Then the eleven disci- ples went away into Galilee, into a moun- tain where Jesus had appointed them. 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, say- ing, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of, the Holy Ghost; 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, 1 am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Mark xvi. 15. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. He that be- lieveth. and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not, shall be damned. 19. So then, after the Lord had spoken un- to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. How solemn and interesting was this oc- casion ! The Redeemer had undergone tlie baptism of his sufferings, last described, he had been bathed in blood in the garden ; he had sunk into death on the cross, under SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. 197 floods of wrath due to mankind ! But {the best contrived systems among men, and now he is arisen triumphant, and is about I frequently need explanations, amendments to ascend to his glory. | and corrections. It is most dangerous and He iiad appointed his disciples to meet I presumptuous to add any ceremony, or to him on a mountain of Galilee, where he ! join any service, on any pretence, unto was to give them the important charge! Heaven's appointment." — Gospel Worship, contained in the verses above. The sol- 'vol. i. p. 325. Peed. Ex. vol. i. p. 29. emn hour is come ; we may be assured the! It has been replied, that " our Lord re- disciples are eager to catch every word quired all nations to be baptized: 'Go from their ascending Lord, and that he teach all nations, baptizing them,' &c., and would give them his directions in the plain- 1 hence, as infant children make a part of all est language possible. (nations, he has here commanded their bap- He begins by encouraging their sorrow- 'tism." In reply, let me ask, whom could ful minds with a view of his supreme povv-jour Saviour intend, when in the first words er in heaven and earth ; in heaven, to give i he said " Go teach all nations ?" My read- them the Holy Spirit; to employ the an-jer will certainly answer, "Doubtless such gels in their behalf ; and finally, to bestow in all nations as are capable of being the kingdon of heaven upon them. So he. taught ; not infant children, for certain, ov had all power in earth, to gather his church any naturally incapable of understanding out of all nations ; to subdue or restrain his enemies ; and to reign over and dwell with his people as Lord and King in Zion. Hence the Saviour gives them the com- mission ibr preaching and baptizing, which you, my reader, cannot too attentively con- sider. If you conceive there is any obscu- what they hear." If this be true, which none will deny, our Lord must intend the same persons, when he immediately added these two words, " bapiizing i/ie??i;" and as teaching is set before baptizing, the passage plainly directs that persons should first be instructed in the truths and doc- rity in the one evangelist, the other willjtrines of the gospel, and in case of their explain him, and this explanation you will, [receiving the glad tidings, they should sec- no doubt, esteem preferable to ten thousand !onf% be baptized. This perfectly accords criticisms. By uniting the words of both, j with the language of the other evangelist, they may be thus disposed, '■ Go ye, there- 1 " He that believeth, and is baptized, shall fore, into all the world; teach all nations, : be saved." and preach the gospel to every creature ; him that beheveth, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Ho- ly Ghost, and he shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." It has also been objected that the Greek verb, rendered teach, is literally disciple, '' Go disciple me all nations," Avhich is done by baptizing " them." That the Avord ignifies to make disciples, is not denied, Our grr;.t LfLTisIator, who only has right but that this is done by baptism, is contrary to enact laws for his church, to whom we to fact. Simon Magus was baptized by must submit, and who will have nothing Philip ; yet he remained in the gall of bit- taken away from, or added to his word, terness, and in the bond of iniquity. Acts Rev. xxii. 18, 19., has here described to his viii. 13, 23. And are there not, in our days, apostles the person to whom they are to j any baptized injidels ; who, so far from administer this his ordinance, namely, the I being disciples of Christ, are his open believer, the person who shall cordially be- 'avowed enemies? Yet the Avords be ren- lieve the gospel which they shall preach ; dered, " Go, disciple me all nations;" but and if he has given no direction to admit let the Divine speaker himself explain what any other to this ordinance, who will dare he means by his disciple, and the question to speak where he is silent ? or even allow is settled. "If ye continue in my word, himself to think that the Lord has not ex-, then are ye my disciples indeed." John viii. pressed his own will sufficiently clear, or' 31. "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, sutticiently extensive ? Let us hear and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Mr. Archibald Hall, a Psedobaptist, speak- Luke xvi. 27. ing of this subject : " How grand and aw- ful is that weighty preface to the institution ofChristian baptism ! Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. Poolen's Continuators ; " Go ye, there- fore, and teach all nations. The Greek is, make disciples all nations, but that must be Who is (hat daring insolent worm, that will; first by preaching, and instructing them, presume to dispute ihe authority, or change and Mark expounds it, 'Go ye into all the the ordinances of HIM who is given to be world, and preach the gospel to every crea- Head over all things to the church? The[ture:' that is, to every reasonable creature solemnity of this ordinance is complete; and j capable of hearing and receiving it." — An- all the jjurposes of its institution are secured j?io^. in loc. by the authority and blessing ol" Christ. | Mr. Baxter has a very forcible passage His laws are not subject to any of those | on the same place. "Go disciple me all imperfections which are the attendants of I nations, baptizing them. As for those that 198 SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM, are discipled by baptizing, and not before baptizing, they speak not flae sense of tlie text ; nor tliat which is true or rational : else why should one be baptized more than another ? This is not like some occasional historical mention of haptism ; but it is the very commission of Christ to his apostles, for preaching and baptizing ; and purpose- ly expresseth their several works in their several places and order. Their first task is, by teaching, to make disciples, which are by Mark called believers. The second work is, to baptize them, whereto is annex ed the promise of their salvation. The third work is, to teach them all other things which are afterwards to be learned in the school of Christ. [Observe what follows.] To contemn this order, is to renounce all rules of order ; for where can we expect to find it, if not here? I profess, my con- science is fully satisfied from this text, that it is one kind of faith, even saving, that MUST GO BEFORE BAPTISM ; and the profession whereof, the minister must exY>Gct-Disput. of Bight to Sac. pp. 91, 149, 150. Pad. Ex. vol. ii. p. 270. It would be endless to cite authors in con- firmation of the plain interpretation given above of the scriptures before us. We can only add the following : St. Jerome, (the most learned of all the Latin fathers.) " They first teach all na- tions ; then when they are taught, they baptize them with water ; for it cannot be that the body should receive the sacrament of baptism, unless the soul has before re- ceived the true faith." — In Dr. Gale on Wall. p. 319. Calvin. " Because Christ requires teach- ing before baptizing, and will have believ- ers only admitted to baptism : baptism does not seem to be rightly administered, except fl^ith precede." — In Harm. Eran. Comment, ad loc. Peed. Ex. vol. ii. p. 272. Saurin. " In the primitive church in- struction preceded baptism : agreeably to the order of Jesus Christ, ' Go teach all na- tions, baptizing them,' &c." — Serm. Tom. 1. p. 301. We have now read and examined, as far as our limits would admit, all the passages of ihe four gospels, that relate to our inqui- ries. We have found the e.vample, the practice and the command of Christ, on thi.s subject; but the baptism of none but believers has yet met with countenance from His authority. We have next to ex amine the Acts of the Apostles, for the obe- dience of the disciples to the command of their Lord, and if we have in any way mis- taken his will, their obedience to it will most certainly correct our errors ; and if we have understood his word their practice on the contrary, will confirm our opinion. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. " The Penman of this Scripture," the assembly of divines in their argument to it, assure us, "was Luke the evangeHst, (as appears from the words of it) for the most part an eye-witness to the things he records, being constantly a fellow laborer with Paul. His purpose" they add, "in writing this narrative was, as he intimates in his first preface, that the church might have the certain knowledge of Christ, his gospel, and kingdom : that our faith might not be built on uncertain reports of pretenders to truth." Hence, admitting the writer to be a faithful and pious historian, and writing purposely for the direction of the people of God ever after, and, above all, under the influence of the Spirit of God, we may safely rely, not only on the accuracy of the acounts, but on the fulness and sufficiency of the information to answer his professed pur- pose. We have here recorded nine instances of the administration of baptism. If therefore, as above stated, vve have mis- understood the Saviour's commission, the apostles certainly did not : and hence, by their obedience to it, we shall find an infal- lible interpretation of his will. The first instance is, SECTION VII TJie baptism at the Feast of Penticost. On this memorable occasion, which was but ten days from the ascension, when the apostles and disciples were together at Je- rusalem, it pleased God to accomplish the promise of pouring forth upon them the ex- traordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. By this divine and miraculous power they ail were enabled to speak in different languag- es to the multitude, then assembled at Je- rusalem from difi'erent nations ; so that every one heard in his own tongue, the wonderful works of God. Some having spoken dishonorably of the disciples, Peter stands forth in the midst to defend them ; after Avhich he delivers to ihe multitude a long and impressive discourse, in which he charged the Jews with having crucified the Lord of glory ; but that God had raised him Irom the dead, and exalted him to his right hand, as the only Lord and Christ. Upon this follow the verses relating to tho ordinance, and descriptive of the subjects of it. Acts ii. 37. Now when they heard this SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. 199 they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? 38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: 39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 41. Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized : and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fel- fowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers ; 47. Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Here we must observe how the apostle Peter obeys his Lord's direction in the com- mission. He begins by preaching^ and never mentions a word of baptism till he found some of his hearers answering the character '• he that believeih." Hence they are thus described : 1. They are pricked m their heart, and cried. What shall we do ? 2, They are exhorted to a deeper repent- ance. 3. They gladly received the tcord, and thereon were baptized, and added to the church. 4. They afterward continued steadfast in the gospel they heard, and in the practice of the duties of it, praising God, and beloved of the people. Whether any part of this description will apply to infants, we mustleave the reader to judge. Nothing can be plainer than the description given by the pen of inspiration. • The 39th verse, in the above passage, " The promise is to you, and to your chil- dren," is commonly urged in favor of in- fant baptism ; as if the apostle alluded to some promise, on the ground of which, in- fant children were deemed proper sub- jects of Christian baptism. To answer which, let the three following things be con- sidered ! I. The promise to which the apostle al- ludes, has no relation to infant children, it being the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of which infants are incapable. The people, observe, were astonished at the ef- fects and gifts of the Holy Ghost, which they saw and heard. The apostle assures them, ver. 16 — 18, it was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel, which ])rophecy is thus expressed, chap. ii. 28, " I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The apos- tle, after having proceeded in his discourse, observing his hearers still amazed at the gifts of the Spirit, in order to turn their amazement into joy, refers them a second time, to this promise, ver. 38, 39, " Repent, &c., and you [yourselves] shall recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, FOR [by this I as- sure you of it] the promise is to you and to your children." Now, as the gift of the Spirit is the promise, and as infant children are incapable of receiving it, infant chil- dren, in that age, cannot be intended. What the apostle meant by children in the promise, the promise itself will ini'allibly explain. " Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy ; your young men shall see visions ;" which cannot in any sense be ap- plicable to infants. Dr. Whitby. " These words will not prove a right of infants to receive baptism, the promise here being that only of the Holy Ghost, mentioned verses 16, 17, 18, and so relating only to the times of the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost, and to those persons, who, by their age, were capable of these extraordinary gifts." Annot. in loc. Dr. Doddridge. " The promise is to you and to your children. Considering that the gift of the Spirit had been mentioned just before, it seems most natural to inter- pret this as a reference to that passage in Joel, which has been so largely recited above, ver. 17, &c., where God promises the effusion of the Spirit ' on their sons and their daughters.' " — Fam. Expos. Note on the place. 2. The word in the original, tendered children, signifies posterity. Dr. Hammond. " If any have made use of that very unconcludent argument. Acts ii. 39, in support of infant baptism, I have nothing to say in defence of them. The word children there, is really the posterity of the Jews, and not peculiarly their in- fant children." — Works, vol. i. p. 490. Limborch, (a learned divine of Amster- dam.) "By the original word, rendered children, the apostle understands, not in- fants, but posterity ; in which signification the word occurs in many places in the New Testament ! see among others, John viii. 39. 'If ye were Abraham's children. ye would do the works of Abraham.' — Whence it appears that the argument which is very commonly taken from this passage, for the baptism of infants, is of no force, and good for nothing." — Comment, in loc. Pd'd. Ex. vol ii. p. 352. 3. The words of the apostle immediately following explain his own meaning in the most decisive terms : " The promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call," to as many of you and your children, and the Gentiles afar olf, as 200 SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. God should call by his word and Spirit, to this great privilege through his Son. Matthew Henry. " To this general, the following limitation must refer, even as ma- ny of them, as many particular persons in each nation, ' as tlie Lord oar God shall call effectually into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.' " — Expos, on the place. From the whole it appears most evident, that none were encouraged to hope for Christian baptism, but such as were called effectually by grace, and none were baptiz- ed but such as, ' gladly received the word.' So far, and no farther, the word of God is our guide. SECTION VIII. Philip baptizing at Samaria. This Philip, it seems, was a deacon of the church at Jerusalem, chosen to that of- fice with Stephen, chap. vi. 5. Those two deacons at length, were raised to a more important work. Stephen had not entered the ministry long, before he was called upon to suffer martyrdom, in the cause of his Lord. Philip's labors and success are thus described : Acts viii. 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the mira- cles which he did. 8. And there was great joy in that city. 12, But when they believed Philip preach- ing the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the mira- cles and signs which were done. In this instance, as well as the former, the commission is hterally fulfilled. Philip began his work by preaching Christ to them, which when they heard and saw the miracles, they were filled with joy. Not a word about baptizing till some of the peo- ple believed the things concerning Jesus Christ ; then they were baptized, both men and women. Is it not highly probable, that some of these baptized men and women and chil- dren. And is it not still more probable, that if Clirist designed, and the apostles f)ractise(t, the baptism of the children of be- ievers, Philip would have required those believing Samaritans to have brouglit their children to the ordinance ? And il" baptism was administered to men, women and chil- dren how unaccountably strange is it, that the Sacred Historian, writing for the direc- tion of after churches, and under Divine in- fluence, should record two descriptions, and leave out the third? It is impossible that such a defect should be in such a book : and hence we infer that the only subject of bap- tism were, as described. Believers, both men and women : For, as Mr. T. Boston justly observes, "The Sa- craments are not converting but confirming ordinances. They are appointed for the use and benefit of God's children, not of others : they are given to believers as be- lievers ; so that none others are capable of the same before the Lord." — Works, p. 384. Nothing need be added farther on this place. SECTION IX. The Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. The eunuch described in this chapter, was a person of high importance in the kingdom of Ethiopia, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion. He is now returning from Jerusalem, whither he had gone to worship at one of the public festivals, when Philip is directed to meet him in his way, and to teach him what, with so much success, he had taught the Samaritans. He ibund the eunuch sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah, chap, liii. 7, 8. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, <^c. Philip having asked him if he understood the prophet, the «unuch acknowledged his in- ability without a.ssistance, and wished Philip to explain to him, whether the prophet, in that place, spake of himself or of some otlier; and took him up into his chariot lor that purpose : upon which we read, Acts viii. 35. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said. See, here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37. And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered, and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 28. And he commanded the chariot to stand still : and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he bap- tized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more : and he went on his way re- joicing. SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM. 201 These verses require no comment to ren- der them plainer ; nor will the reader need to be put in mind of the commission of Christ, after perusing them. We have here an example of the practice of the apostles before they admitted a person to baptism. Philip might have judged the eunuch a proper subject for baptism, after having heard the gospel, by being directed from heaven to teach him ; he might have judged it also, from his sincere request of it ; yet he does not, he dares not, baptize him, unless he profess to believe the gospel with all his hearty remembering, no doubt, that Christ had appointed the ordinance only for such. Those who contend that servants and children were all baptized in those days with, and on account of their master and parents, (see Matthew Henry on Acts ii. 41.) would find it difficult to support their hypothesis in this case. It is the greatest absurdity to suppose that Philip would ad- mit all the eunuch's servants to baptism, without any profession, or even instruction, when he objected to that pious master, af- ter he requested it, unless he was able to give a frank and open profession of lliith in Christ. But he baptized none but the eu- nuch ; and therefore we may safely con- clude, the apostles had " no such custom, neither the churches of God," This relates to our first inquiry. We have here also, relating to our second inquiry, some particular circumstances, cal- culated to determine most decisively the manner in which baptism was at this time administered. That this should be describ- ed in every instance, is not to be expected : if we have it but once, and admit that the apostles were agreed as to their practice, we must grant, thai as they had but " one Lord, and one faith," so they had but " one baptism," Eph. iv. 5. We cannot for a moment imagine, that one baptized by sprinkling, another by pouring, and another by immersion, and in ditTerent churches and places by different metliods ; for how would this diversity and opposition be received by people taught to be so strict, punctual and uniform, in the ordinances of the Old Tes- tament — and when all the apostles profess- ed to have the same command, were com- missioned by the same Lord, to preach the same truth and doctrine in every place ? Observe L Philip and the eunuch came to the water, ver. 36, while in the chariot together. In this situation a small quantity might easily have been given them, and the ordinance administered without the in- convenience of descending from the chariot, if a small quantity of water would suffice. Dr. Doddridge. '• It would be very un- natural to suppose, that they went down in- to the water, merely that Philip might take Vol. 1.— Z. up a little water in his hand to pour on the eunuch. A person of his dignity had no doubt many vessels in his baggage, [by which water might be brought into the chariot] on such a journey, through a desert country ; a precaution absolutely necessary lor travellers in those parts, and never omitted by them. .See Dr. Shaw's Travel's prrf. p. 4. Fam. Expos. Note in loc. 2. Philip and the eunuch not only came to the water, but descended from the chariot, and leeiit down both into the water ; and came up out of it; which, as it is a circum- stance never known or observed by Chris- tians, in this ordinance, but where it is ad- ministered by immersion, and as for any other mode, as pouring or sprinkling, it is so grossly absurd, we cannot but own, with numberless authors on the place, of all de- nominations that immersion must have been here practised. Q,uenstedius, ^a learned Lutheran di- vine.) '• Immersion is as it were, a burial : emersion, a resurrection. It is written, Acts viii. 38, 39, that Philip we7it down with the eunuch into the water, and there bap- tized him : and it is added, that, the ordi- nance being administered, they both came up out of the icater. Both the Eastern and Western churches were very observant of the rite of immersion for a great number of years." — In Poedobap. Exam. vol. i. p. 220. See Dr. Towerson, at p. 8. Calvin, on this place, observes, Here we perceive how baptism was administered among the ancients, for they immersed the whole body in water," — Comment, on Acts viii. 33. I suppose, my reader, I may venture to add, that in the case above, not the baptism oi' infants by sprinkling, but the baptism of believers by immersion, has a plain sacred precedent. The eunuch promptly trod in the footsteps of that Saviour, in whom he now believed, and consequently, " went on his way rejoicing." SECTION X. The baptism of St. Paul. Saul, the zealous persecutor, while breathing out threatenings against the dis- ciples of Christ, is met in his career of per- secution, by the Lord himself, at whose ex- ceeding glory, and powerful word, he falls prostrate and blind on the ground. Ana- nias, a devout disciple, is directed of God, to go to him, and teach him what he is to do, and for his encouragement in visiting the persecutor, Ananias is informed that Saul was praying, and that God had made hiin a chosen vessel to himself. 202 SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM, Acts ix. 17. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said. Brother Saul, the Lord, ei-en Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Chap. xxii. 14. And he said, the God of our lathers hath chosen thee, thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth. 15. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16. And now why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling oa the name of the Lord. Chap. ix. 18. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. The promptitude of Ananias in baptizing Paul as soon as he had received the mes- sage from God, and the restoration of his sight, shows how strictly this ordinance was observed in the days of the apostles ; and consequently, how it should be observ- ed to the end of time. A remark ta this effect is made by Stanhope, (an eminent English divine.) '' Observe here, that baptism, administered to a convert under such circumstances, is a sufficient intimation how guilty a neglect those deluded people allow themselves in, who treat this and other like ordinances with scorn and contempt." — In Lindsay^s Crit. Notes on che place. Paul is, exhorted to aiise, and be baptiz- ed, and wash away his siiis, '. That the preternatural gifts of the Spirit, by the laying on of hands, were, at one period of the church, the usual appen- thouglit«you meant Peter. But, passing |dage of baptism, (as they also were, during this, the reason of the epithet, " the baptism! the same period, of other Christian ceremo- of John," I humbly conceive to be, because I nies,) is unquestionable: but the simple FULLER ON COMMUNION. 231 circumstance of there having been devia- tions from the rule, clearly shows that the baptism of the Spirit was not a constituent part of the ordinance enjoined by Christ. but something perfectly distinct. How do you account i'or the baptism of the Samari- tans recorded in the eighth chapter of the Acts, being unaccompanied by the miracu- lous gift of the Spirit ? M. " Because the apostles, to whom alone the power of conferring it belonged, were not present." — Essen. Differ. 51. H. 136. S. But if the presence of the apostles was necessary to the communication of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, one of two consequences is inevitable: Either, (1.) These preternatural gifts did not tbrm a constituent part, or even an essential ap- pendage, of the ordinance enjoined by Christ : Or, (2.) The Samaritans, the Ethi- opian eunuch, (whose confession, surely, was Christian !) and probably, multitudes besides, who were baptized subsequent to the Pentecost, did not receive Chrisiian baptism ! For who will pretend that the apostles were present on all occasions of I baptism? And if the absence of this glo-l rious appendage establish an essential dif-j ference between John's and Christian bap- tism, then our baptism also will be unchris-' ♦ianized : and the alarming result will be, that there is not an individual in all Chris- tendom, from the meanest member of the least of the " little Baptist churches," to the most elevated of our "public teachers," who has received Christian baptism. Sure- ly, my friend, for once, you will yield to cir- cumstances, and permit fact and common sense to triumph over theory. M. But I have other reasons in support of my theory, which must be disposed of, before it is abandoned. " It is universally admitted that Christian baptism has inva- riably been administered in the name of Jesus, and that circumstance is essential to its vahdity : while it is evident, from the solicitude with which our Saviour avoided the avowal of himself as the Messiah, that during his public ministry, his name was not publicly employed as the object of a re- ligious rite. The practice of baptizing in his name, must have been equivalent, at least, to a public confession of his being the Messiah. The historian informs us, that while John was baptizing, all men were musing in their hearts whether he were the Christ or not But how is it possible, let me ask, that such a question should arise amongst the people, on your hypothesis ? or how could it enter into their imagination to infer, from his baptizing in the name of Jesus, that he himself was, or that he pre- tended to be, the Messiah V—Essm. DIff. 12—14. K 18, 19. S. These difficulties, supposed to be so formidable, admit, I humbly conceive, of a very easy solution. I believe it is not univer- sally admitted that Christian baptism has been invariably administered verbally in the name of Jesus : but in connection with the Father and the Spirit, in the name of the Son. Thus it is not pretended that John's baptism was administered verbally in the name of Jesus, but in the name of the Messiah, or the Christ, : and this appa- rently trivial distinction, while it furnishes an obvious reason for the cogitations and inquiries of the people concerning John — '' vhether he was the Christ or not" — is all that is necessary to expose the fallacy of your argument. John, and after him,' the disciples of Jesus might have baptized the whole Jewish nation in the name of Mes- sias, or the Christ, not inibrming them, at the same time, that Jesus was the Christ; without, in a single instance, counteracting the caution and solicitude which Jesus con- fessedly manifested, to avoid an indiscrimi- nate verbal avowal of that interesting fact. I would observe further, it is undeniable, that during his personal ministry, our Lord commissioned, not only the twelve apostles, but the seventy disciples also, to perform, in his name, acts at least equally calcula- ted to excite attention, and to give publicity to whatever the action revealed, with bap- tizing in his name. They were to preach the gospel, heal the sick, work miracles, and cast out devils ; and having fulfilled their mission, they returned exulting. " Lord even the devils are subject to us, through thy name." Now, my friend, on your hy- pothesis— that a public act in the name of Jesus, must have been at least equivalent to a public confession that Jesus was the Messi- ah'; what a dangerous experiment was this ! how inconsistent with that caution which our Lord unilbrmly observed ! here was publicity ; here was exposure of a profound ! secret! how widely and rapidly would this blazon abroad the news that Jesus Avas the Messiah ! For surely these miracles, these exorcisms in our Lord's name, must have attracted equal, probably more attention, than the administration of baptism in his name.* The simple truth appears to be, * It has been suggested to the writer, by a liighly es- teeiiied friend, that the expression, 'in the name of Chri.st,' may mean simply, 'by the autliorily, or power of Christ.' Doubtless, this idea is included in the ex- pression : but that this alone is intended, i.^ not quite so clear. On the contrary, it is demonsirable that, at least on one occasion, the action was accom])anied by a dis- tinct verbal avowal of the name, or authority, by which the exorcism was effected. How else, it may be asked, raiue our Lord's disciples to know that certain persons, whom they saw casting out devils, wrouglit miracles in lluir Master's name i For the action, they had the evi- dence of their sight; but before they could know in whose name, or by what iiuthorily, or power, tlie action was performed, some distinct evidence must have been addressed to their hearinii. Here, then, it is evident, the name of .Jesus, or of the Mcssias, must have been " pub- 232 FULLER ON COMMUNION. that though our Lord studiously avoided an indiscriminate, verbal declaration that he was the Christ, he never shrunk from such an avowal of his Messiahship as might be inferred from his works, j.^ The works that I do [comprehending, of course, the works performed by his disciples in his name] bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." M. But "if St. Paul's citation of the lan- guage of John, in the nineteenth of the Acts, be correct, what he said to the people was this : ' that they should believe on him who is to come.' The language which the fore- runner held was precise and appropriate : it was not a demand of present faith in any known individual, but was limited to afit- ture faith on a certain personage, who was about to evince his title to the character he assumed, by his personal appearance and miracles. "He said to the people that they should believe in him that was to come. Could the same person, let me ask, at the same moment, be described by terms ex- pressive of the present and the future tense, at once, as an existing individual, a person historically known, and as one that was to come V— Ess. Diff. 14, 15. H. 119. .S'. And what then 1 Admitting the cor- rectness of all you have advanced, it would avail you nothing; since the Lord's supper, as celebrated anterior to the death of Christ, is involved in the same predicament. If this kind of argument establish an essen- tial difference between baptism, as admin- istered before and after the death of Christ it must also establish a difference equally essential, between the Lord's supper, as ce- lebrated anterior and subsequent to that interesting event. In the first instance, like baptism, it was prospective ; it was required of its recipients that they should, at some future time, thus commemorate the melting transaction which was yet future. In the latter instance, it was retrospective — a com memoration of an event which had actually transpired. M. But " the spiritual import of Chris tian baptism, as asserted by St. Paul, tran- scends incomparably the measure of relig ious knowledge possessed during the min istry of John. ' Know ye not (is his ap- peal to Christians,) that so many of you as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?' What is the meaning of the words, baptized into his death ? Whatever else it may comprehend, it unquestionably means the being baptiz ed into a belief of his death. But at the time that John was fulfilling his course, this behef was so far from possessing the nunds liely employed." And if in this instance, wliy not in others 1 Ami if in connection witli miracles, wlmt should render its use more dangerous in connection with hap- tisiu I of his converts, that even the apostles were not only ignorant of the event, but impa- tient of its mention. ' As many of us,' says St. Paul, ' as were baptized into Je- sus Christ, were baptized into his death ;' which is surely equivalent to affirming that whoever were not baptized into his death, were not baptized into Christ. But the disciples of John were not baptized into (the belief of) his death. Therefore they were not baptized into Christ." — Ess. Diff. 15, 17. H. 120. S. This argument also, my friend, like the last, would, if it were valid, apply with equal three to the Lord's supper, as cele- brated before and after the death of Christ. It is not only a contradiction in terms, to say that the apostles commemorated an event before it occurred ; but the spirit- ual import, of the Lord's supper, as assert- ed by the apostle, exceeds the measure of religious apprehension which possessed the minds of its recipients at its first celebra- tion. " As often," says Paul, " as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death." What is meant by the phrase, showing the Lord's death ? What- ever else it comprehends, it unquestionably includes the belief of his death. But at the first celebration of the sacred supper, this belief was so far from possessing the minds of the apostles, that it was a mystery they could not unravel ; and even subse- quently, the death of their Lord was most abhorrent from their minds. When Jesus was apprehended, we find the very prince of the apostles engaged in active combat to prevent that identical tragedy, the com- memoration of which is the express design of the Lord's supper. " As often," says Paul, " as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death;" which, adopting your own mode of reasoning, ia surely equivalent to saying, that those who did not thus show the Lord's death, did not partake of the Lord's supper! But the apostles at its first celebration, did not thus show (their belief of) the Lord's death. Therefore on your hypothesis, the apostles did not, at that time, partake of the Lord's supper ! The truth is, iny friend, that both the ordinances, previous to the death of Christ, were necessarily different, (though in my opinion not "essentially different,") from what they were afterwards : the events which each recognize, were future events ; and the recipients of both were compara- tively ignorant of the full import of the rite to which they attended. It was then only the twilight, the dawn of the gospel- day. The mists and shadows of the night had not entirely departed. Previous to the death of Christ, there was a dinmess, a mystery, which obscured every event in- tended to illustrate and endear the death FULLER O .\ COMMUNION. 23^ of Christ. The imperfections assignable to baptism, during this spiritual twilight. are also assignable to the first celebration of the Lord's supper. Both ihe ordinances are involved in similar obscurity ; nor could the recipients of either discern the amazing transaction, to which both, at that period, pointed, as to glory yet to be revealed. What then ? Shall we consign them to the darkness of the preceding dispensation ? Or, shall we not rather recognize them as containing the germ, the first elements, the incipient qualities, of the impressive and affecting ordinances, the import of which has been discovered and realized by the clear shining of the gospel-day ? To the argument, it is immaterial ; since whatever he their destiny, the two ordinances, as cel- ebrated anterior to the death of Christ, stand or fall together. But it is not a mat- ter of absolute inditference. For, take away the ordinances as they existed during our Saviour's personal ministry, and in teaching men to observe all things what- soever he had commanded, how will you be able to discover and establish any duty, peculiar to church-fellowship, which he had commanded ? M. But •• as the ministry of John com- menced previously to that of the Messiah, which succeeded his baptism, no rite, cele- brated at the time, is entitled to a place amongst Christian sacraments, since they did not commence with the Christian dis- pen.sation, nor issue from the authorit}'^ of Christ, as Head of the church." — Ess. Diff. 17. H. 120. 'r this is Christian candor. Is it coimiiou honesty 1 Is it not wilful falsehood ? No one who is ac- quainted with Mr. Hall will suspect him of such a con- temptible and unchristian artifice. we are connected v;ith a Christian church or not. You greatly mistake, if you sup- pose we consider the absence of baptism as a disqualification for the Lord's supper only. Baptism being the divinely appoint- ed mode of entrance into the visible church, we consider the absence of it, (as far as our concurrence is concerned.) as a dis- qualification for all the offices and exercises peculiar to churches. We decline a union with Psedobaptisis in the celebration of the Lord's supper, because it is a church ordi- nance ; and to unite with those as church- members, who, in our opinion, have not en- tered the church by the door of Christ's appointing, would be, we conceive, a most unworthy reflection on his wisdom, and dis- regard of his just authority. Since He has appointed baptism as the mode in which all believers shall be admitted to visible church-fellowship, who are we, that we should presume to receive them without baptism, to any of the exercises peculiar to Christian churches, as such ? We should not elect a Peedobaptist to the ofiice of either pastor or deacon ; for they are church offices : and on the same principle we de- cline a joint participation of the Lord's supper. But prayer, and praise, and preach- ing the gospel, and Christian benevolence, are not acts peculiar to churches. They were duties before the formation of a single Christian church, and would have been du- ties to the end of time had no such institu- tion existed. A union with Psedobaptists, therefore, in these exercises, is not a devi- ation from our principle. In such a co-op- eration, we should unite Avith them, not as church-members, in the celebration of an ordinance peculiar to churches : but as Christians, in the pursuit of objects in which all good men should engage, whether unit- ed to a church or not. In uniting with Pcedobaptists, in prayer, and praise, and preaching the gospel, and acts of benevo- lence, we cultivate such a union as evi- dently is our duty ; but a joint participation of the Lord's supper with Pcedobaptists, would be a deliberate concurrence in such a reception of the ordinance as is, in our opinion, decidedly unscriptural ; and this cannot be our duty. It may be their duty to partake of the Lord's supper, since thej' believe they liave titlended to " the prior obligation," every man being required to acton his own principles; but while our belief is the very reverse of theirs, our union with them, in what we believe to be an unscriptural reception of the ordinance, would undoubtedly be, on our part, a man- ifest dereliction of principle. Nor can even the Mixed Baptist be exonerated from blame, until he can show that he has a right to unite in that system of church-fellow- ship, which he also is compelled to acknowl- 244 FULLER ON COMMUNION, edge is unscriptural. When you detect us, my friend, in unitinc: with persons, who are in our estimation unbaptized, in any offKie. in any exercise, peculiar to ciiurch-t'ellow- ship, then you may inveigh against our consistency ; but otherwise, your allegation j.s groundless. We unite with Paedobap- tists in prayer, and praise, and Christian benevolence ; for they are universal duties. We unite with them in preaching the gos- pel, because it is the duty of all who '■ know the joyful sound," to publish it. We love the brethren, because we are com- manded to love them, and because there is that in Christianity with which the heart of every Christian beats in unison. And, inasmuch as we are commanded to love tliem " for the truth's sake that dvvelleth in theai," we entertain the highest regard for those who appear to live most under the influence of divine truth in general, irre- spective of their sentiments on any one point of truth whatever. But when we are required to unite with Ppedobaptists in an ordinance peculiar to Christian church- es, our minds naturally revert to the Clu'is- tian commission, tiie peremptory and per- petual law of the Christian church, no less in its order than in its requirements ; and while we should rejoice to receive our brethren in the way which Christ has ap- pointed, we do not feel at liberty to receive them in any other way. But why do you smile ? M. Why, truly, my friend, I cannot help it. " The only color invented to hide this glaring inconsistency, is so pure a logoma- chy, that it is difficult to think of it with be- coming gravity. You remind us, forsooth, that the expressions of Christian aifection in praying and preaching for each other, are not church acts, as though there were some magic in the word church, tliat could change the nature of truth, or the obligations of du- ty. If it is our duty to recognize those as our fellow Christians, who are really such, v/irat is there in the idea of a church, that Khould render it improper there?" — JRea- sons, 33, 39 //. 300. But how serious you look! I hope 1 have not offended you. S. No, my friend, I am not ofl'ended ; but 1 conl'ess I leel hurt at the manner in which you speak of a Christian church. Allow nic, on this subject to refer you to your ex- cellent iriend, Mr. Hall. If you were to consult him, he would teach you better. In his memoir of the late Mr. Toller, of Ket- tering, he says, " Churches are the institu- tion of God." If so, Christian churches are the institution of Christ, and deserve to be nientioned with a little more decorum. And allow me just to say, my friend, that we do not think there is any '■■■mas'ic'''' in the word Church, that can change the nature of trutli, or the obligations of duty. We do not sup- pose there is any thing in the idea of a church, that should render it improper there to recognize as fellow Christians, those who are really such. But we do suppose it would be improper to receive even Christians to a church ordinance in any other way than that appointed by the Head of the Christian church. And " pure a logomachy" as you are pleased to designate our distinction be- tween universal Christian duties and church fellowship, it is a distinction which Mr. Hall recognizes and avows, and partially redu- ces to practice. M. Impossible ! S. Nay, my friend, I assure you I am se- rious. Upon what other principle, let me ask, could he have penned that most extraor- dinary paragraph, commencing on the 12th page of his Reasons for Christian Commu- nion? (H. 288.) In that passage he intro- duces to our attention a candidate for church fellowship ; and represents the minister (a Mixed Baptist !) as inquiring into his views of the ordinance of baptism ! — and this, as a matter of course ! But why, I wonder, should he institute an inquiry on that par- ticular subject, at that particular time? — an inquiry, natural enough, we should saj", from one who maintains a peculiar connec- tion between baptism and church-fellow- ship; but how are we to account for his putting the question? Is he accustomed to introduce this subject in relation toother Christian unions ? If, for example, his friend instead of desiring the privileges of church-fellowship, had proposed that they should unite in a social prayer meeting, or in preaching the gospel, or in promoting the interests of an Auxiliary Bible Society, would he, on either of these propositions, think you, have sounded his friend on the subject of baptism ? Nay, would he not in- dignantly repel the insinuation, and unhesi- tatingly pronounce the man who would in- stitute such an inquiry, in such a connection, a bigot of the very deepest tincture? But why does he observe a difference ? Why does he make a distinction ? Why does he pointedly, however "respectfully," put the question in mie case, and not in all ? On otiier occasions, he would spurn the idea of trying the consciences of his Pajdobaptist brethren on the subject of baptism ; except, indeed, in friendly discussion on equal ground ; but let them propose to join his church, and the case is altered ; a tribunal is erected ; and they must pass through an ordeal ! He does not, indeed, require, as a sine qua non, that they should be baptized: but he does require, either that they shall he, or th:u they shall believe they have been baptized. But why ? Why even this stip- I ul.if ion ? Why cannot he receive them to a a church union, as well as to a union in other Christian exercises, without instituting any FULLER ON COMMUNION. 245 inquisitorial process, however gentle and respectful, on the subject of baptism ? Sure- ly that hetrodox and narrow notion, main- tained by us, that there is a ■pecuHar con- nection between baptism and church-fellow- ship, must, by some strange unaccountable fatality, (or rather, may we not hope, by a Bort oi' scriptural instinct !) have taken pos- session of his mind, and controlled his pas- toral examination ! Seriously, my friend, seeing he would not introduce the subject of baptism in relation to a proposed union in the exercises of prayer, and praise, and preaching the gospel, and Christian be^iCv- olence, (as, indeed, he ought not ;) and see- ing he would — and would, as a matter of course, introduce the subject in relation to a church union; the conclusion is inevitable, that Mr. Hall distinctly recognizes, and avowedly reduces to practice, the identical principle, for the statement of which, you hold us up to ridicule ; viz. : that there is a peculiar connection between baptism and church-fellowship ! 71/. But the case to which you allude, is only a supposed case. etuated, a precious boon, for the guidance and consolation of the Christian church, in every successive age, and under every changing scene, till time shall be no longer. We possess, in fine, in the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles, an accumulation of evidence, which no Christian, in the first age of the church, could possibly enjoy. M. But "the most rigid Baptist will probably admit, that, however clear and irresistible the evidence of his sentiments may appear to himself, there are those whom it fails to convince, and some of them at least, illustrious examples of piety ; men, who would tremble at the thought of delib- erately violating the least of the commands of Christ, or of his apostles." — Reasons, 11. //. 2S7. S. But why are they not convinced ? Is the failure, think you, in the evidence, or in themselves? You will scarcely admit, I presume, that the evidence which the Divine Spirit has supplied, is. in itself in- sufficient. If it be, unquestionably our Pcpdobaptist brethren are not oidy blame- less, but worthy of commendation ; for who can require faith and obedience, without sufficient evidence of the nature and ()l)li- gation of the supposed duty ? But, on this 248 FULLER ON COMMUNION. hypothesis, our own faith is invalidated ; and, with ail our pretensions, we shall stand convicted of the supreme folly of believing without sutTicicnt evidence ! The evidence either is sufficient, or it is not. If it is not, now came you, my I'riend, to be convinced ? If it is sufficient, how is it our brethren are not convinced ? Have we the commission ? So have they. Have we, in the practice of the apostles, an inspired explanation of that law? So have they. Have we the assistance of the learned ? So have they. Finally, have we a capacity for judging? It were a libel to breathe any other re- sponse than — So have they. In short, we do not monopolize a single privilege; we do not possess a single advantage peculiar to ourselves. Then why are they not con- vinced ? M. It is sufficient for me, that they are not convinced j and surely you will al- low that their error is " involuntary and conscit^ntious." )S. My friend, I can readily concede, that our Pajdobaptist brethren are sincere and conscientious : but I am not prepared to allow that their error is in every sense in- voluntary. That may be conscientious, which is not involuntary. Multitudes who believe what they profess, and who are, therefore, conscientious, might believe oth- erwise, and probably would, if, in the in- vestigation of divine truth, they would be satisfied with the evidence supplied by the Divine Spirit. But if they will desert the only infallible oracle, and inquire of those whose highest pretensions are ambiguous, uncertain and uninspired, their sincere con- viction, under such a wilful choice, of infe- rior testimony, cannot by the greatest stretch of charity, be denominated involun- tary. Some, probably, of all religious communities, believe without examination, relying on the testimony of their minister, and of their intimate friends : others deem it indispensable to profess the sentiments of their immediate ancestors: the belief of a third class is regulated by feeling : while a fourth indolently assumes that the religion of the majority is infallibly true. These and a multitude of inferior conside- rations, it is to be feared, induce a large proportion of the professing community — I do not say to avow their conviction of what they do not believe to be the truth ; but, un- questionably, to believe, without jtersonal examination of the only certain evidence.* A shrewd rciidi:'!" iiuy piisslLily wish lo iui|iiirf;, whethPrthe writt-r intends lo iiitiinate th;U INi'doliamisls are iiioro accustomed than Haptists, to hcli.'vc wiiljout personal examination 1 In reply, witliciut inlriiihiiir any unkind reflection on his brethreii, he would ai)pi'al Tu the common sense of ids reader, and asic, wliellier it is not the natural tendency of Pajdobaptisni to produce such a result 1 VVlio are niost likely to " search tliet^cripiures" on baptism : those who are tauirbt, from thcLr earliest youth, that they have been baptized 1 or those who have Now the professions of such persons may be sincere ; they actually believe what they profess to believe ; but their errors are not involuntary, inasmuch as they choose to believe without a personal examination of the only certain evidence. They might, and probably would believe otherwise, if, in imitation of the Bereans, instead of re- lying on any inferior testimony, they were to " search the scriptures" for themselves, and receive the inspired testimony •' with all readiness of mind."* It is not enough, my friend, that we act conscientiously, un- less our consciences are enlightened by the word of God. Conscience itself may err. And a conscientious error cannot, by the utmost ingenuity, be converted into scrip- ture truth; nor is a practice founded on that error, scriptural obedience. The truth is, that many of the most eminent Psedo- baptists have candidly acknowledged, that the New Testament does not, by a single precept, or a single example, sanction the ceremony of infant baptism. [See BootKs Peed. Ex.'] This is true of Baxter, and Owen, and Leighton, and many besides, among the " myriads" of Peedobaptists, whom Mr. Hall is pleased to represent as sacrificed on the altar of our bigotry and intolerance. But surely it is not enough that they are conscientiously of opinion, for some reason or other, that Psedobaptism is lawful, while, at the same time, they avow their conviction that it is not sanction- ed by divine precept, or by apostolic exam- ple. On whatever evidence they have formed their conclusion, they are, on their own confession, without the sanction of the best, the only certain testimony ; the ap- pointment of the Christian Legislator, and the practice of the apostles. On this sub- received no such impression, but who know they have not been baptized 1 Indeed, those persons must liave had little intercoin-se with candid I'ajdobaptists, who are not familiar with such an avowal as this: "If I had not been baptized in my infancy, 1 should feel it my duty to examine : but as I have, and as I am now, I trust, a be- liever, and as the mode cannot be of consequence, I do not think it worth while.at my time of life, to harass and perplex my mind about it." ■ It is a little sinsular, that the liberal minded Robert Robinson, who advocated the cause of mixed commu- nion on principles " more lax and latitudiiiarian" than Mr. Hall could approve ; and who not only affirmed that Picdobaptism was an involuntary mistake, but whose fa- vorite position was, the innocence of error, in relation to divine truth ; should also have maintained, (in his Gnicnil Doclrine of Toleration, ^-c. 42, 43.) that tlie "New Testament is utterly 'jnacquainted Willi infant sprinkling;" that the "dipping of adults, on their own personal profession of faith and repentance is p!ain," and that " the New Testament is a book so plain, that antj 111.1111 of commnn seiise might understand it, if he irouM." In the pulpit, he rejjeatedlv inculcated this pmposiliiin ; and in I he first volume of Villase Sermons (T/i' C/irixtfiiii Ihlii^ion nasi/ to be underslood,) he am- plilii'S and illiisnales it with his characterisiic ingenuity ; prt laciuc his obsci-vatioiis with this remarkable sentence. " When I say all may understand it, I mean, ;/ their onm (hprnvity does not prevent it." Tlie consistency of this sentiment with the involuntariness an<\ innoceine of er- ror, is not exactly like the Cliristian religion, " easy to be underslood." FULLER ON COMMUNION 249 jectj Mr. Baxter himself presents us with a noble remonstrance, the principle of which will apply equally to baptism and church-fellowship. ■' What man, (says he,) dare go in a way which hath neither pre- cept or example to warrant it, from a way that hath a full current of both ? Who knows what will please God but himself? And hath he not told us what he expecteth from us ? Can that be obedience which hath no command for it ? Is not this to accuse God's ordinance of insufficiency ? O the pride of man's heart ! that instead of being a law-obeyer, will be a law-maker ! that, instead of being true worshippers, will be worship-makers ! For my part, 1 will not fear that God will be angry with me for doing no more than he hath com- manded me, and for sticking close to the rule of his word, in matters of worship." {^Plain Scripture Proof] 24, 333.] Now, how, with these views, acknowledging like- wise, that " there is neither precept nor ex- ample in scripture, of infant baptism," this good man could be a Peedobaptist, is, to me utterly inconceivable. Doubtless, he had his reasons, to himself satisfactory : but that they did satisfy his conscience, and that they should have satisfied his conscien- ces are two very distinct propositions. M. But surely you will not have the har- dihood to impugn his Christianity ! 5. Certainly not ; but what then ? Are we to violate the scriptural constitution of our churches, in deference to the erring consciences of persons, who substitute a ceremony confessedly unsanctioned by scripture precept or example, for a Chris- tian ordinance which they acknowledge is so sanctioned, simply because they are Christians ? Would not this indicate a greater regard for Christians, than for Christ ? Mr. Baxter's sentiments on bap- tism, were, on his own showing, precisely of this description. M. But if a person, proposing himself " as a candidate for admission to a Baptist church," were to confess that he was ''not convinced of the divine authority of the rite Avhich was administered to him in his infancy : and that, on mature deliberation and inquiry, he considered it as a human invention ; and yet refused to confess Christ before men, by a prompt compliance with what he is satisfied is a part of his reveal- ed will ; alleging that it is not essential to salvation, that it is a mere external rite, and that some of the holiest of men have died in the neglect of it." Mr. Hall himself has "no hesitation in affirming, that such an individual is disqualified for Christian communion." — Reasons, 12. 13. //. 288, — But why do you smile ? S. Because, my friend, notwithstanding the tendency of your system, you instinct- VoL. 1.— Ff. ively cling to the once descriptive epithet, '• a Baptist church :" whereas you must be well aware, that if your sentiments were universally prevalent, there would not be a single Baptist church in all Christendom! But why (provided his Psedobaptist mem- bers did not out-vote him !) would Mr. Hall reject such a person ? M. Because, " to receive him under such circumstances, would be sanctioning the want of principle, and pouring contempt on the Christian precepts." — Reasons, 13. //. 286. S. Perhaps there are scarcely any Pas- dobaptists who would confess quite so much as your supposed candidate ; nor, among our cotemporaries, have any been found who acknowledge as much a.? their prede- cessors. But if modern Pfedobaptists have found scripture precept or example for their practice, it follows that their predecessors conceded loo much : if they have not, they concede too little. If they have, oi" course they can produce them : otherwise, v/heth- er they make the acknowledgment or not, they are in the same predicament as their forefathers : and their reception into our churches, under these circumstances, would be, in my opinion, on our part, equally pouring contempt on the Christian pre- cepts. M. But " the evidence by which our views are supported, though sufficient for every practical purpose, is decidedly infe- rior to that which accompanied their first promulgation : the utmost that we can pre- tend, is a very high probability." — Reasons, 13. H. 288. S. I am pleased, my friend, to hear you say that the evidence is '• sufficient lor every practical purpose ;" because that is an ac- knowledgment that, in your opinion, Ptedo- baptism is not attributable to the want of sufficient evidence. But I am lost in aston- ishment and shame, that a Baptist should talk about the " decided inferiority" of the evidence in favor of his sentiments ; and allege that supposed inferiority in extenua- tion of his mistaken brethren ! On this hypothesis, the present '• very high proba- bility," may soon become moderately high; that again may dwindle to a very humble probability ; and a i'ew more gentle touches by the destroying wand of time, may re- duce even that to a certain indistinct some- thing — just a possibility; so dim and ob- scure, and equivocal, that the rejection of such evidence, rather than its admission, may be the suggestion of reason ! And if the successive transitions proceed as rap- idly as" the descent from a superior eleva- tion occupied by our eloquent Iriend in 1818, when [Reply, Pref xxiii. //. 153,] he thought tiie evidence was >' overwhelm- ing" to his present humiliating position, the 250 FULLER ON COMMUNION. existing race of Baptists can scarcely hope to escape the mortification of contemplating the (lying embers, and of witnessing with emotions more easily conceived than de- scribed, the extinction of the last " illus- trious spark" of that evidence, which had been a faithful light to their pious ances- tors for eighteen centuries ! Nor shall we alone be atiected. For, inferior or not, " overwhelming" or fast ebbing to a Lethe- an gulf, it may be well to consider, that it is the only certain evidence on the subject of baptism with which the church ever was, or ever will be favored. Consequently, if this be subject to decay and dissolution, we have nothing to do, but, one and all, Bap- tists, and Piedobaptists, to convene a sol- emn assembly, elect some good friend Bar- clay as our president, and, in profound stillness, muse on that which was, but which, alas, for want of better evidence, hath vanished away ! Nor is this all. For when the evidence of scripture on this sub- ject is neutralized and dried up, what be- comes of those evidences of the whole of Christianity derived from the inspired re- cords ? But, at present you admit that the evidence is " sufficient for every practical purpose." And so certain do I feel that our sentiments on baptism are scriptural, and that Pa^dobaptism is not, that I chal- lenge the whole world to produce a single scriptural proof that it is of Divine appoint- ment, whether of precept, example, or cer- tain inference. The evidence for baptiz- ing professing believers only, appears to me, as a few years ago it appeared to Mr. Hall, "overwhelming;" almost as clearly revealed as the way of salvation. M. But that may be clear to you, which is not clear to them, and vice versa ; and " the apostles refused the communion of such, and such only, as w^ere insincere. ' who held the truth in unrighteousness,' avowing their conviction of one system, and acting upon another : and wherever similar indications display themselves, we do precisely the same." — Reasoiis, 13, 14. H. 288. .S'. Indeed ! Far be it from me to say, that the pious Richard Baxter, " held the truth in unrighteousness." in the worst ac- ceptation of the phrase; but that he " avowed his conviction of one system and acted upon another," is as clear as the sun in the firmament. And, consequently, you could not, without violating your own pre- tensions, have received him to your com TDunion ; nor any of those otherwise excel lent men, who, on the same question, dis played, on their own showing, this glaring inconsistency;* and yet where, on the • It will ho. obvious to the attentive reader, that, on his own principle, of rejecting those wlio " avow llirir con- viction of one uystem, and act upon another," Mr. Hall whole, you will find better men, either in your own or in any other denomination, I am at a loss to conceive. M. But the Pa;dobaptists of the present day are " restrained from following our ex- ample by the deference to the will of God." — Reasons, Yl. II. 50. ,S. Or, rather, by deference to what they presume is the will of God ; for surely you do not mean to affirm that the ceremony they call infant bapti.sm is the will of God ! But they could not even suppose it is the will of God, but upon the assumption that thul is his will which he has not revealed ; and that they are at liberty to celebrate as a Christian ordinance, a ceremony fo" which the ablest among them cannot produce a single precept or example, or even a cer- tain inference, from the Christian scrip- tures. M. Still you admit that they are Chris- tians ; and " the apostles never give the sUghtest intimation of the possibility of possessing the inward and spiritual grace, without being entitled to the outward sign. The assertion of such an opinion, and the practice founded upon it, is a departure from the precedent and example of the earliest age, which it would be difficult to parallel."— ^ea5o?w, 16. H. 290.