;:'i FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Dlrlaion *^ /^ /-" A HISTORY ^N OF PR//vJ^ APR 8 1932 OF THE BAPTIST CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES A. H. NEWMAN, D.D., LL.D. rROFKSSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY, McMASTER UNIVtRSlTY, TORONTO. 0- Revised Edition American Baptist Publication Society, 1420 Chestnut Street, [PHILADELPHIA. 1S2 Fifth Avenue, 256 Washington Street, 177 Wabash Avenue, New Yoi;k. Boston. Chicago. 516 N. Eighth Street, 279 Elm Street, 9J Whhehall Street, St. Louis, Dallas. Atlanta. MDCCCXCVIII. Copyright, 1894 and 1898, By The Christian Literature Company. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction. — Distinctive Principles. — Relation to other Bodies. — Ancient Perversions of Baptism. — Other Ancient Perversions. — • Medieval Antipedobaptists. — Medieval Evangelical Life. — The An- abaptists.— The Zwickau Prophets. — The Swiss Anabaptists. — An- abaptists of Silesia, Austria, and Augsburg. — Anabaptists of Strass- burg and Hesse. — Moravian Anabaptists. — Chiliastic Anabaptists. — Munster Kingdom. — The Mennonites. — Italian and Polish ■ Anabaptists. — Remarks. — English General Baptists. — General Bap- tists.— Particular Baptists i PERIOD I. FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA TO THE GREAT AWAKENING (1639-I740). CHAP. I. — Roger Williams and Liberty of Conscience 59 CHAP. II. — Roger Williams and the First Baptist Church in America. — Williams and the Providence Baptists. — Arminianism and Laying on of Hands. — Thomas Olney. — William Wickenden. — Gregory Dexter. — Chad Brown . 79 CHAP. III. — John Clarke and the Baptists of Newport. — Set- tlement of Rhode Island. — Providence Plantations. — Clarke and Liberty of Conscience. — Clarke as .Counselor and Agent. — The New Charter of 1663. — Clarke as a Baptist. — Holmes, Lukar, and Weeden. — William Peckham. — Comer Accepts Imposition of Hands. — Six Principle Associations 9^ CHAP. IV. — Baptists in Massachusetts to 1652. — New England Puritanism. — The Antinomian Controversy. — Baptists Misunder- stood.— Witter and Painter. — Law against Baptists. — Unfounded Charges. — Zeal in Persecution. — Chauncy's Antipedobaptism. — Newport Baptists at Lynn. — Clarke's Defense 1 18 V'i CONTENTS. PAGE CHAP. V. — President Henry Dunster and the Baptists. — Dun- ster in New England. — President of Harvard. — Oriental Studies. — Rejects Infant Baptism. — Mitchell's Experiences. — Proceedings against Dunster. — Conference on Infant Baptism. — A Humble Pe- tition.— Prosecution, or Persecution ? — Invited to Dublin. — Dun- ster's Death and Will 139 CHAP. VI. — Baptist Churches in Massachusetts to 1740. — First Baptist Church of Wales. — Myles a Tester. — Myles Holds a Bene- fice.— Swansea Exclusiveness. — A New Pastor Wanted. — Act for Support of Ministers. — First Baptist Church of Boston. — Confes- sion of Faith. — A Disputation. — Thirty Years of Progress. — The Half-way Covenant. — Intolerance Rebuked. — Persecution Con- tinues.— Mitigation of Persecution. — Charles II. Rebukes Intoler- ance.— The Meeting-house Closed. — Baptists Tolerated. — Hollis's Benefactions. — Comer's Death 162 CHAP. VII. — Baptists in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys. — Penn and Pennsylvania. — Pennepek and Piscataqua. — Cohansey and Phil- adelphia.-— The Keithian, Quakers. — Mennonites and Dunkards. — Philadelphia Association. — Queries Answered. — A Dearth of Pas- tors 200 CHAP. VHI. — The First Baptists of Maine, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New York. — Screven's Ordination. — Persecution at Kittery. — Screven Goes to Carolina. — Early Baptists of Carolina. — Religious Destitution. — Screven's Last Days. — Virginia Excludes Dissent. — Early Baptists of Connecticut. — Wickenden at Flushing. — First Churches of New York 216 PERIOD II. from the great awakening to the organization of the triennial convention (1740-1814). CHAP. I. — New England. — The Great Awakening. — The New Lights. — Separates Become Baptists. — Isaac Backus. — Backus Be- comes a Baptist. — A Mixed Church. — First Church, Providence. — First Church, Newport. — Second Church, Boston. — Hezekiah Smith. — Brown University. — Tlie Warren Association. — Baptists in New Hampshire. — Vermont and Maine. — Statistics 239 CHAP. IL — The Philadelphia Center. — The Philadelphia Asso- ciation.— Records Cellectcd. — A Baptist College Proposed. — Ed- wards, Jones, and Morgan. — New York.— New York Association. . 272 CHAP. III. — Virginia and North Carolina. — Virginia. — The Ke- tokton Association. — General Baptist Churches. — The Kehukee CONTEXTS. VU PACE Association. — Marshall and Stearns. — Sandy Creek Association. — The Association Di.ssolved. — Arminianisni. — Philadelphia Confes- sion Adopted. — Rapid Increase. — Protest against Slavery. — Prog- ress in North Carolina 284 CHAP. IV. — South CarolIxNA and Georgia. — Oliver Hart. — Charles- ton Association. — Richard Furman. — Settlement of Georgia. — Daniel Marshall. — The Georgia Association. — Henry Holcombe. — The Powelton Conference. — Christian Union. — A Circular Ad- dress.— ^The General Committee. — Colored Baptists 308 CHAP. V. — Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis- souri, Mississipri, AND Louisiana. — Regulars and Separates. — Middle Tennessee. — A German Church. — Illinois. — Missouri. — Mississippi and Louisiana t,^t^ CHAP. VI. — Struggles for Civil and Religious Liberty in New England. — A Threatened Appeal. — Oppression at Ashfield. — An Appeal for Liberty. — Massachusetts Praises Toleration. — Confer- ence in Philadelphia. — Manning's Memorial. — A New Constitution. — Liberty in Massachusetts, 1833 347 CHAP. VII. — The Struggle for Liberty of Conscience in Vir- ginia.— Prayer for Persecutors. — Marriage Law. — Repeal of In- corporating Act. — Washington and the Baptists. — Jefferson and the Baptists 365 PERIOD III. from the organization of the triennial convention to THE present time (1814-1894). CHAP. I. — Retrospect and Prospect. — Early Educational Ef- forts.— Illiterate Preachers. — Early Missionary Societies. — The Ad- vance Movement CHAP. II. — The Triennial Convention (1814-45). — Conversion of the Judsons. — The News Reaches America. — General Conven- tion.— Ministerial Education. — Home Mission Work. — Columbian College. — Restriction of Effort. — State Conventions. — New Eng- land Conventions. — Education in South Carolina. — Education in New York. — Education in Georgia. — Illinois and North Carolina. — Education in Virginia. — Indiana and Kentucky Colleges 388 CHAP. III. — The Triennial Convention, Continued. — Home Mis- sions.— Religious Newspapers. — Newspapers and Reviews. — Baptist Tract Society. — Baptists Protest. — Bible Controversies. — End of Bible Controversy. — Anti-effort Baptists. — Opposition to Missions. — Causes of Opposition. — Progress Notwhhstanding .... 419 379 viii COXTEXTS. PAGE CHAP. IV. — The Southern Baptist Convextion. — Fuller and Wayland on Slavery. — Southern Dissatisfaction. — Division Inevi- table.— Southern Baptist Convention. — Cooperation with other So- cieties.— Home Mission Board. — The Cuban Mission. — Mountain Work. — Foreign Mission Work.— " Omissionary " Baptists. — The Colored Baptists. — Theological Seminary 443 CHAP. V. — Northern, National, and Lnternational Societies, AND Educational Institutions (1845-94). — Missionary Union. — Foreign Missions. — Home Missions.- — Publication Society. — Education Society. — Historical Society, and Congress. — Education . 46.S CHAP. VI. — Divisions and Parties, and Concluding Remarks. — The Seventh-day Baptists. — The Disciples. — Baptists and Dis- ciples.— Old-Landmarkism. — Free-will Baptists. — The Christians. — Other Baptist Parties 484 A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS OF THE UNITED STATES. ALBERT HENRY NEWMAN, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Chirch History in McMaster Um\ersitv, Toronto, Canada. CORRECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS. r. 50. I am informed that in some article unknown to me Dr. W, H. Whitsitt had set forth the facts regarding Mark Lukar. Pp. 62-69. Since the pubhcation of the volume I have had my attention called to an act of the Massachu- setts Council (1676) rescinding the decree of banishment against Roger Williams. Recognition is made of his services to the colony in the Indian war, and his friendly bearing in general, and it is declared that " he shall have liberty to repayre into any of our Towns for his security and Comfortable abode during these Public Troubles, He behaving himself peaceably and inoffensively and not disseminating and venting any of his different opinions in matters of religion to the dissatisfaction of any." P. 80. The foot-note, though correct in form, possibly puts the case with undue dogmatism. The fact is, that only one contemporary (William Coddington) refers to the form of Williams's baptism. Coddington writing long afterward (1677) accuses Williams of at one time maintaining that " men and women must be plunged into the water." This could apply only to the short time that he remained in connection with the Providence Baptist Church that he founded. Coddington was at Newport in 1639, and may be presumed to have been cognizant of the particulars of the new baptism intro- duced at Providence. Other notices from the writings of Williams himself and his contemporaries are non-com- mittal. This question has recently been fully discussed by Dr. W. H. Whitsitt, who thinks immersion improb- able (" A Question in Baptist History," Louisville, Ky., 1896, pp. 147 seq.), and by Dr. H. M. King, who states exhaustively the case in favor of immersion (" The Bap- tism of Roger Williams," Providence, 1897). P. 218. The records of the First Baptist Church, Boston, recently examined by the present pastor. Dr. N. E. Wood, show that Screven was baptized there in 1681. He was not therefore the Scriven that signed the Somerset Confession in 1656. P. 235. The statement regarding the solitariness of the Block Island Baptist Church is not quite accurate. X BIBLIOGRAPHY. The literature on the antipedobaptist movements of the medieval and Ref- ormation times is too voluminous to be here given. A selection of a few of the more important works bearing upon the history of English Baptists is all that seems practicable. Most of the works referred to in the Bibliography of vol. iii. of the present series are of interest to the student of Baptist history. Colonial records are among the most valuable sources. For the later period, files of denominational newspapers and magazines, minutes of Associations, reports of denominational societies, State and national, and controversial pamphlets may be consulted with profit. Morton's " New Eng- land's Memorial"; Lechford's " Plain Dealing"; Winslow's "Good News from New England " ; Willard's " A'c Suior ultra Crepidam " ; Uhden's " New England Theocracy"; Chauncy's " Seasonable Thoughts " ; and Edwards's works bearing on the Great Awakening, may be referred to in this brief way. The treatises on Systematic Theology, by Drs. A. Hovey, A. H. Strong, E. Dodge, E. H. Johnson, W. N. Clarke, J. P. Boyce, and E. G. Robinson, may be referred to as illustrating the unity and variety of Baptist doctrinal teaching. The controversial writings of Isaac Backus are too numerous to be referred to individually, but are of primary importance. I. English Baptist PIistory. Barclay, Robert, The Inner Life of the Religions Societies of the Covnnon- loealth. 3d ed., London, 1879. Clifford, John (editor), Tlie English Baptists. London, 1881. Crosby, Thomas, llie History of the English Baptists. 4 vols., London, 1738-1740- Evans, B., The Early English Baptists. 2 vols., London, 1862. Goadby, Thomas, By-paths 0/ Baptist History. London, 1871. Gould, Geo., Open Co/nmunion and the Baptists of N'onvich. Norwich, 1 Sbo. Ivimey, Joseph, .4 History of the English Baptists. 4 vols., London, 1811-1830. Masson, David, Life of John Milton, and History of his Time. 6 vols., London, 1859-1880. Publications of the Hanserd Alwllys Society. 10 vols., London, 1846 .fse: . . . .Second Centennial An- niversary of the Pirst Baptist Church in Providence, R. I. Providence, 1839. IListory of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Compiled for the " Chris- tian Index." Atlanta, 1881. Holcombe, Henry, The Pirst-fruits. Philadelphia, 1812. Holcombe, Hosea, .-/ History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Alalmma. Philadelphia, 1840. Hovey, Alvah, A Memoir of the Life and Times of the Rev. Lsaac Backus, A.M. Boston, 1859. X i \' BIBLIO GKA PII \ : Jeter, J. B., Caniphcllisni F.xamiiicd. New York, 1857. , Caiiipbt'Uisni Recxainincd. New ^'ork, 1857. , Life of Dcuiicl Witt. Jones, H. G., Historical Sketch of the Louver Diihliii (or Peniiepek) Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa. Alorrisiania, N. Y., 1869. , History of the Po.xboroi/gh InTptist Chiircli of Philadelphia. Phila- delphia, 1890. Judson, E., 7'he Life of A don i ram Judsoii. New York, 1883. King, A., Me/iioir of George Dana Boardiiiaii. Boston, 1834. King-, Henry M., Early Baptists Defended. Boston, 1880. Knight, R., LJistorv of the General or Six Principle Baptists. Providence, 1S27. Knowles, J. D., ALenunr of Roger Williams. Bosttm, 1834. Leland, John, Phe Rights of Conscience Liialienable. Richmond, 1793. Lewis, A. H., ./ Critical History of .Sunday Legislation. New York, 1888. -, A Critical History of the .Sabbath and the .Snndav in the Chi-istian Church. Alfred Centre, N. Y., 1887. , Biblical 7'eachin<'S Concen/i/n;- the Sabbath and the .Sunday. Alfred Centre, N. Y., 1888. L, if- of Spencer LLoughton Cone. New York, Livermore, 1856. Lynd, S. W., Memoir of the Rev. William Staiighton. Boston, 1834. Mallary, C. D., Memoirs of Elder Edmund Botsford. Charleston, 1832. , Memoirs of Elder Jesse A/ercer. New York, 1844. Mercer, Jesse, .-/ L/istory of the Georgia Baptist Association. Minutes of the Philadelphia LnTptist Association from A.D. ijo-j to A.D. iSoy. Philadelphia, 185 1. Moss, Leninel (editor). The Baptists and the A'ational Centenary. Phila- delphia, 1876. Paxton, W. E., A Llistory of the Baptists of Louisiana. St. Louis, 1888. Peck, J. M., " Father Clark^\- or, The Pioneer Preacher. New York, 1855. Peck, John, and Lawton, John, An Lfistorical Sketch of the Bapti.d Missionary Convention of the State of N'ew York. Utica, 1837. Proceedings of the Baptist Convention for Missionary Purposes, held in Phila- delphia in J\Lay, 1814. Philadelphia, 1814. Proceedings of the Bible Convention, held at Saratoga, X. Y., Mav 22, 2j, iSSj. Philadelphia. Proceedings of the A'ational Baptist Lldueational Convention, iSjo and 18^2. New York, 1870 and 1872. Proceedings of the Seventh-day Baptist Council, held at Chicago, LIL, October 22— 2g, iSgo. With an Historical Sketch of American Seventh-day Baptist Churches, and Expose of Faitli and L'ractice. Publications of the A^arragansett Club [embracing the ^Yorks of Roger Wil- liams, and John Cotton's Writings on liberty of conscience]. Provi- dence, 1866-1874. Records of the Colony of Rhode Lsland and Providence Plantations in A'ew England. Vol. i., Providence, 1856. Richardson, R., Memoirs of Alexander Campbell. 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1808-1870. Russel, John, A Brief Narrative of Some Considerable Passages Concern- ing the J'irst Gathering and L'ltrther Progress of a Church of Christ, in Gospel Order, in Boston, in A^e-.o England, commonly (though falsely) called by the name of Anabaptists. London, 1680. BIBLIOGKArijy. XV Sampey, J. R., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary [1859-1889.] Bal- timore, 1890. Semi-Centennial Celelration of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention, l\/ay 12, rSjj. Providence, 1875. Semple, R. B., A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Vir- ginia. Richmond, 18 10; new ed., edited by G. W. Beale, Richmond, Pitt & Dickinson, 1894. Smith, J. A., Memoir of Rev. A'athaniel Colver. Boston, 1S75. Smith, J. W., The Life of John P. Crozer. Philadelphia, i8b8. Smith, S. F., Missionary Sketches. Boston, 1883. Spencer, David, The Early Baptists of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1 87 7. Stewart, I. D., Minutes of the General Conference of the Byee-7vill Baptist Connection. 2 vols., Boston, 1887. , The History of the Free-will Baptists. Vol. i., 1 780-1830. Dover, 1862. Stockbridge, Z. G.., A Memoir of the Life and Correspondence of Rev. Baron Stow. Boston, 1872 ; 2d ed., 1894. Stone, E. M., Biography of I\ev. Elhanan Winchester. Boston, 1836. Straus, Oscar S., Roger Williams, the Pioneer of Religious Liberty. New ^'ork, 1894. Taylor, G. B., Life and limes of J. B. Taylor. Philadelphia, 1872. Taylor, James B., Memoir of Rev. Luther Rice. Baltimore, 1840. , Virginia Baptist I\Iinisters. 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1859. The Centennial Record of the Free-7oill Baptists, I'/So-iSSo. Dover, 1881. The First Century of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Va., ijSo-iSSo. Richmond, 1880. The Lifa and Times of the Rev. James Ireland. Winchester, Va., 1819. The Missionary Jubilee: An Account of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. New York, 1869. Thomas, David, The Virginian Baptist ; or, A View and Defense of the Christian Religion as it is Professed by the Baptists of Virginia. JBalti- more, Enoch Story, 1774. True, B. O., Increase and Characteristics of Connecticut Baptists. Meri- den, 18S7. Tupper, H. A. (editor), A Decade of Foreign Missions, iSSo-iSgo. Rich- mond, 1 89 1. , Foreii^n Missions of the Southern Baptist Con7'ention. Richmond, 1880. , Two Centuries of the First Baptist Church of South Carolina, i6Sj- i8Sj. pjaltimore, 1889. Vedder, H. C, Baptists and Liberty of Conscience. Cincinnati, 1884. Way land, Francis, A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adonirain Judson, D.D. 2 vols., Boston, 1853. , Principles and Practices of the Baptists. New York, 1857. Wayland, F. and H. L., A Memoir of the Life and Labors of Francis Wayland. 2 vols., New York, 1868. Williams, Roger, Christenings Make Not Christians. In " Rhode Ishmd Historical Tracts," No. 14. Providence, 1881. INTRODUCTION. I. DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES OF THE BAPTISTS. The name " Baptist " was not a self-chosen one. In the early Reformation time those who withdrew from the dominant churches because of the failure of these churches to discriminate between the church and the world, between the regenerate and the unregenerate, and who sought to organize churches of believers only, laid much stress on the lack of Scriptural warrant for the baptism of infants and on the incompatibility of infant baptism with regenerate membership. Following what they believed to be apostolic precept and example, they made baptism on a profession of faith a condition of church-fellowship. This rejection of infant baptism and this insistence on believers' baptism were so distinctive of these Christians that they were stig- matized as " Anabaptists," " Catabaptists," and sometimes as simply " Baptists " ; that is to sa}-, they were declared to be " rebaptizers," " perx'erters of baptism," or, as unduly magnifying baptism and making it the occasion of schism, simply " baptizers." These party names they earnestly repudiated, preferring to call themselves Brethren, Christ- ians, Disciples of Christ, Believers, etc. Some of the distinctive principles of Baptists have al- ready been referred to. The following enumeration may not be out of place : I. Baptists of all parties have, from the beginning, per- sistently and consistently maintained the absolute suprem- I 2 INTRODUCTION. acy of the canonical Scriptures as a norm of faith and practice. They have insisted on applying the Scripture test positively and negatively to every detail of doctrine and practice. It has never seemed to them sufficient to show that a doctrine or practice, made a matter of faith, is not contradictory of Scripture ; it must be distinctly a matter of Scripture precept or example to command their allegiance or secure from them a recognition of its right to exist. 2. The application of this principle that has done more than any other to put Baptists at variance with other evangelical Christians regards the matter of infant bap- tism. Baptists have failed to find Scriptural authorization, whether by precept or example, for the administration of baptism to infants. They have persistently maintained that this practice is not only non- Scriptural, but that it is distinctly contra-Scriptural ; that it is not merely the in- troduction of a rite not authorized by Scripture, yet inno- cent and useful, but a complete perversion of one of the two ordinances that our Lord gave to his church for the symbolical setting- forth of the great truths of redemption. Believing that baptism merely symbolizes but does not bestow or condition regeneration, they have regarded it as preposterous that the symbol should antedate by years the thing symbolized ; nay, that the symbolical rite should be bestowed without any assurance that the thing symbolized would ever occur. But not only have Baptists agreed in regarding infant baptism as without Scriptural warrant and as a perversion of an ordinance established by Christ, but they have al- ways insisted that it is in a very high degree destructive of the true conception of the church as composed exclu- sively of regenerate persons. If baptism in unconscious infancy entitle a person to church-membership, in any DISTIXCTIVE PRIXCirLES. 3 sense, and do not actually work regeneration, and if those who have been thus baptized are admitted to all the priv- ileges of church-membership after a period of somewhat formal instruction, without evidence of change of heart, a large proportion of the members of such communions are sure to be unregenerate persons. Moreover, Baptists have regarded infant baptism as the almost necessary con- comitant of a state church. If there be an established form of Christianity in any particular state, it must, ac- cording to the medieval conception, be coextensive in its membership with the population of the state. If member- ship in the church depended upon the conversion and the baptism on a profession of faith of each individual, such a coincidence of church-membership with population would be out of the question. Hence, apparently, the deter- mination that the friends of church establishments have always shown to maintain infant baptism at whatever cost. 3. No less prominent has been the contention of Bap- tists for regenerate membership. They have persistently maintained that the New Testament conception of the church universal is that of the entire body of those that have become personally partakers of the salvation of Christ ; that the New Testament idea of a local church is that of a body of believers who ha\'e been regenerated and sanctified. This principle, far more than the rejec- tion of infant baptism, or insistence on believers' baptism, or contention for the precise New Testament form of bap- tism, has always been fundamental with Baptists. The baptism of infants has been rejected not simply because it is non-Scriptural, but even more because of its incompati- bility with regenerate membership. 4. Believing that faith is a matter between the individ- ual man and God, Baptists -have, from the beginning of their denominational history, regarded as an enormity any 4 ixriwDccriox. attempt to force the conscience, or to constrain men by outward penalties to this or that form of rehgious belief. Persecution may make men hypocrites, but true Christians never. Their advocacy of absolute liberty of conscience has been due not simply to the fact that they have been the suffering parties, but is rather a logical result of their fundamental principles. 5. Insistence on immersion as the only allowable form of baptism should not be omitted from an enumeration of Baptist principles ; neither should it have the prominent place that many opponents are wont to give it. The un- compromising position that Baptists have long held on this matter is a corollary of their maintenance of the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture as a norm of faith and practice, and their firm conviction that the outward act commanded by Christ and exemplified by Christ and his immediate followers was the immersion of believers in water. Anything short of complete immersion they have long been unanimous in regarding as an impertinent sub- stitute for that which Christ appointed, and as voiding the ordinance of its true symbolical significance. II. RELATION OF BAPTISTS TO OTHER BODIES OF CHRISTIANS. While on the points of doctrine and practice already considered Baptists believe that they have occupied a position that has advantageously differentiated them from all other bodies of Christians, they rejoice to see that many of the principles for which they have stood in the past have become the common possessions of evangelical Christendom. The doctrine of the supremacy and suf- ficiency of Scripture as a norm of faith and practice was professed by the great Protestant leaders of the sixteenth KELAriOX TO OTHER BODIES. 5 century ; but they were driven by observation of what seemed to them the ruinous consequences of the practical carrying out of tliis principle essentially to modify their statement of the doctrine. Most evangelical denomina- tions of the present time profess to make the Scriptures supreme, yet, on grounds that seem to Baptists wholly inadmissible, many of them refuse to accept the findings of the best evangelical scholarship of the age as to the subjects and mode of New Testament baptism. Baptists have, for the most part, been at one with the Roman Catholic, the Greek CathoHc, and most Protestant communions in accepting for substance the so-called Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, not, however, because they are venerable or because of the decisions of ecclesiastical councils, but because, and only in so far as, they have appeared to them to be in accord with Script- ure. Yet some Baptist parties have not merely repudi- ated all extra-Scriptural definitions of doctrine, but have interpreted the Scriptures in such a manner as to put them- selves at variance with these ancient formulae. Their utter rejection of sacerdotalism, ritualism, and all forms of ceremonialism has put them out of harmony with all religious parties that stand for sacerdotal and ritualistic practices. As regards the set of doctrines on which Augustin dif- fered from his theological predecessors, and modern Cal- vinists from Arminians, Baptists have always been divided. The medieval evangelical sects were all, apparently, anti- Augustinian, and the Baptist parties of the sixteenth cen- tury followed in the footsteps of their medieval spiritual ancestors in this and other important particulars. Those Baptist parties of modern times whose historical relations with the medieval evangelical parties and the antipedobap- tist parties of the sixteenth century are most intimate have 6 IXTRODUCTIOX. rejected the Calvinistic system ; while those that owe their origin to EngHsh Puritanism, with WicHfism and Lollard- ism behind it and with the deeply rooted Calvinism of the English Elizabethan age as its leading characteristic, have been noted for their staunch adherence to Calvinistic prin- ciples, not, of course, because of any supposed authority of Calvin or of the English Puritan leaders, but because they have seemed to them to be Scriptural. Calvinistic and Arminian Baptists have both had periods of extreme de- velopment, the former sometimes scarcely escaping fatal- ism and antinomianism, the latter sometimes falling into Socinian denial of the deity of Christ and Pelagian denial of original sin. The great majority of the Baptists of to- day hold to what may be called moderate Calvinism, or Calvinism tempered with the evangelical anti-Augustin- ianism which came through the Moravian Brethren to Wesley and by him was brought powerfully to bear on all bodies of evangelical Christians. Baptists are at one with the great Congregational body and with most of the minor denominations as regards church government. Holding firmly to the universal priesthood of believers, they insist upon the equality of rights and privileges of all church-members, but follow the New Testament precept and example in so far differ- entiating the functions of the members as to bring into effectiveness the gifts and graces of each and to provide for the watch-care and edification of the entire body and for the extension of the kingdom of Christ through prop- erly directed effort. The officers of the congregation not only owe their appointment to the vote of the entire church, but hold their positions only so long as seems good to the church. Some of the antipedobaptist parties of the sixteenth century, folhnving in the footsteps of their .spiritual ancestors of the medieval time (VValdenses, Bohe- RELATION TO OTHER BODIES. 7 mian Brethren, etc.), adopted a system of general superin- tendency, as did the Moravian Brethren and the Methodists in more recent times under similar influences. Regarding themselves as essentially a missionary church, and being under the stress of almost continuous persecution, they felt the need of strong administrative heads for the direc- tion of missionary effort, for administering the resources of the connection in times of persecution and distress, and for guarding the body from the inroads of error. But English and American Baptists have been from the first, with trifling exceptions, ardent advocates of independency, and this principle has at times been so overemphasized as to interfere seriously with concerted action of any kind, and with the growth of denominational spirit. It is only within the last hundred years that Baptists have come to realize the power there is in associated effort in home and foreign missionary work, in education,- in publication, etc. Baptists believe that through their conventions, associa- tions, advisory councils, missionary, publication, and edu- cational boards, with their efficient administrative officers, they have secured, without in any way interfering with the autonomy of the indi\idual congregations, most of the advantages of prelatical and presbyterial organization. The attitude of Baptists toward Christian union is often misconceived and adversely judged by their brethren of other denominations. Baptists earnestly desire Christian union, and believe that it will come in due time; but they insist that efforts for union, to be permanently effective, must be along the line of a better understanding of the word of God and more complete loyalty thereto, rather than along the line of compromise. They are themselves anxious to be instructed in the word of God more per- fectly, and are ready to abandon any position that can be shown to be out of harmony with apostolic precept or ex- 8 IXTRODUCriOX. ample. That the scholars of all denominations, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed, are so nearly in agreement as regards the leading features of the apostolic church, including the nature of church or- ganization, the character and functions of church officers, the number and character of the ordinances, etc., and that the consensus of scholarship is so nearly in accord with the traditional Baptist interpretation of Scripture, is highh- gratifying to Baptists, and encourages them to believe that the development of Christian life and practice will be in the direction of greater uniformity, and that the church of the future will more and more approximate the Baptist position. This they desire only so far as the Baptist posi- tion shall be proved by the best Christian scholarship to be the Scriptural position. III. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ANTIPEDOBAPTISTS. The claim of Baptists that their doctrine and polity are in substantial accord with the precept and example of Christ and his apostles would seem to make it incumbent on their historian to explain the early departure of the great mass of Christians from the apostolic standard. Christianity arose in the midst of religious ferment. The philosophies and theosophies of the East were never more active and aggressive than during the first three Christian centuries. Before the close of the apostolic age Gnosticism in some of its most dangerous forms wa.s. se- riously threatening the life of the churches. Belief in the magical efficacy of external rites was a universal feature of paganism, and the corrupted Judaism of the early Christ- ian age cooperated with theosophical paganism in fixing this feature on the early churches. Sacerdotalism goes hand in hand with ceremonialism, and the pagan idea of ANCIENT PERVERSIONS OE BAPTISM. g the priest as a mediator between God and man and as the exclusive manipulator of magical religious ceremonies was not long in making its impression on the Christian churches. A careful comparison of the Christian litera- ture of the second and tliird centuries with the New Tes- tament writings cannot fail to reveal the transformation of the church in doctrine and life under pagan influence. Early in the second century the idea became prevalent that while instruction in Christian truth and morals, re- pentance, faith, fasting, and prayer must precede baptism, the remission of sins takes place only in connection with the baptismal act. Such is the teaching of the " Pastor" of Hernias (about A.D. 139) and of Justin Martyr (about A.D. 150). By the close of the second century the pagan view that water baptism possesses in itself magical efificacy begins to find expression. " Is it not wonderful, too," writes Tertullian, " that death should be washed away by bathing? " To justify such ascription of eflficacy to water baptism he expatiates on the age and the dignity of water. " Water was the first to produce that which had life, that it might be no wonder in baptism if water know how to give life." " All waters, therefore, in virtue of the pristine privilege of their origin, do, after invocation of God, attain the sacramental power of sanctifi cation." In the Gnos- tic " Pistis Sophia," Christ is represented as sa}-ing: " If any one hath received the mysteries of baptism, those mysteries become a great fire, exceeding strong and wise, so as to burn up all the sins," etc. The Ebionitic writer of the " Clemen-tine Recognitions " thus represents the effects of baptism : " If, therefore, any one be found smeared with sins and lusts as with pitch, the fire easily gets the mas- tery of him. But if the tow be not steeped in the pitch of sin, but in the water of purification and regeneration, the fire of the demons shall not be able to kindle in it." lO INTRODUCTIOX. With such passages, of which many more might be quoted, may be compared the following from the orthodox Cyp- rian : " For as scorpions and serpents, which prevail on the dry ground, when cast into the water cannot prevail nor retain their venom, so also the wicked spirits . . . cannot remain any longer in the body of a man in whom, baptized and sanctified, the Holy Spirit is beginning to dwell." Side by side with the idea of the efficacy of water bap- tism there had grown up among Christians the conviction that apart from baptism there is no salvation even for un- conscious infants. This conviction seems first to have found expression in Gnostic and Ebionitic writings, but it had become pretty general before the middle of the third century. In the "Clementine Recognitions" (vi. 8,9), Peter is represented as saying: "And do you suppose that you can have hope toward God, even if you cultivate all piety and all righteousness, but do not receive baptism? . . . When you are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so at length you shall be able to attain salvation ; but otherwise it is impossible. . . . Betake yourselves, therefore, to these waters, for they alone can cjuench the violence of the future fire. . . . For whether you be righteous or unrighteous, baptism is necessary for you in every respect : for the righteous, that perfection may be accomplished in him, and he may be born again to God ; for the unrighteous, that pardon may be vouchsafed him for the sins he has committed in igno- rance." Infant baptism was the inevitable result of the twofold conviction that infants are so affected with the guilt of the race as to be subject to damnation in case of death with- out baptism, and that baptism possesses magical efficacy to secure salvation. At first it would naturally be confined OTHER ANCIENT PERVERSIONS. II to infants in imminent danger of death ; but those who had the keenest reahzation of the horrors of hell and the virtue of baptism were not content to run the risk of the sudden death of their offspring, and so the practice grew apace. It was somewhat impeded in its progress, how- ever, by the rise and growth of another error, namely, that post-baptismal sins are irremissible. It was on this ground, and on this alone, that Tertullian pleaded so ear- nestly for the postponement of baptism until such a de- gree of maturity and stability should have been reached as would warrant the expectation that the candidate would be able to guard himself from the commission of mortal sins. On this ground some went to the opposite extreme of postponing baptism until near the end of life. Thus one could be assured of entering heaven with a clean score. The rigid view of Tertullian as regards the unpar- donableness of post-baptismal sins gradually gave place to a more benignant view, and from the middle of the third century the church made such provision for the restora- tion of the lapsed that infant baptism came to be regarded by most as the safer thing. The Lord's Supper suffered a similar perversion, and, largely through Gnostic influence, ceased to be regarded as a memorial feast in which believers held communion with one another and with their risen Lord, and assumed the character of a mystic rite celebrated with elaborate ceremonial. The growth of sacerdotalism has already been referred to. The process by which the simple congregational church government of the apostolic time developed into the hierarchical government of the third and following centuries, when bishops claimed to rule by divine right and to be irresponsible, cannot here be detailed. No less destructive of the spirit of primitive Christianity 12 IXTRODUCTIOX. was the early intrusion of the doctrine of tlie meritorious- ness of external works. Jews and pagans alike attached merit to almsgiving, fasting, and the utterance of fixed forms of prayer. By the middle of the third century leading churchmen like Cyprian did not hesitate to urge almsgiving as a means of securing the remission of sins and of purchasing an everlasting inheritance. Asceticism, also, was imported into early Christianity from paganism. The disposition to regard the body as intrinsically evil, and all natural impulses as worthy only of being trampled upon, is a well-known feature of pagan religions. Fanatical seeking for martyrdom, excessive fasting, and exaltation of virginity were the earliest forms of Christian asceticism. It was chiefly through Gnosticism and Manichseism that ascetical ideas found entrance into the church. By the fourth century they had become dominant. These facts are mentioned here to show that the perver- sion of the ordinances in the early church was no isolated phenomenon, and that Baptists are not presumptuous in rejecting ecclesiastical practices which can be traced back e\en as far as the second or third century. But, it may be asked, did the church as a whole suc- cumb to these corrupting influences? Were there none that remained loyal to primitive Christianity among the tempted multitudes? Some Baptist writers have sought to find in the Montanists, Novatians, Donatists, Jo\"inianists, Vigilantians, Paulicians, Bogomiles, etc., who successively revolted from the dominant type of Christianity, and in the ancient British churches that long refused obedience to the pope, adherents to apostolic doctrine and practice and links in the chain of Baptist apostolic succession. It may suffice here to say that while some of these parties were more and .some less evangelical than the church they MED IE I 'A L A XT J FED OB A P TIS TS. I 3 antagonized, no one of them can be proved to have held to Baptist views as to the nature and subjects of baptism. Was there, then, a failure of the assurance of Christ that the gates of Hades should not prevail against his church? Far be it! We are not able to prove, it is true, that from the close of the apostolic age to the twelfth century a single congregation existed that was in every particular true to the apostolic norm ; but that there were hosts of true believers even during the darkest and most corrupt periods of Christian history does not admit of a doubt. That a church may make grave departures in doctrine and practice from the apostolic standard without ceasing to be a church of Christ must be admitted, or else it must be maintained that during long periods no church is known to have existed. In this admission there is no implication that an indiviciual or a church can knowingly live in dis- obedience to Christ's precepts without grievous sin, or can ignorantly disobey without serious spiritual loss. On the contrary, every departure, conscious or unconscious, from apostolic precept or example not only involves loss as regards the particular defection, but brings in its train other evils, which in turn bring others, until doctrine and practice become thoroughly corrupt. Not until we reach the twelfth century do we encounter types of Christian life that we can with any confidence recognize as Baptist. Among the dissenting parties which flourished at that time in the south of France we meet with Peter de Bruys and Henry of Lausanne, both of whom took a firm stand in favor of the restoration of prim- itive Christianity and for many years propagated their views with great success throughout extensive regions. Referring to the work of Peter de Bruys in a certain re- gion, Peter the Venerable, a contemporary, wrote : " In your parts the people are rebaptized, the churches pro- 1 4 INTKOD UCriON. faned, the altars overthrown, crosses burned ; on the very day of our Lord's passion flesh is pubhcly eaten ; priests are scourged; monks are imprisoned and compelled by terrors and tortures to marr}-." The scourging and tor- turing are non-Baptist features, but the writer bears wit- ness at least to the utter helplessness of priests and monks in the presence of Peter's fiery zeal. Elsewhere he sums up the errors of the evangelists under five heads. " The first article of the heretics denies that children who have not reached the age of intelligence can be saved by bap- tism, nor {sic) that another person's faith can profit those who cannot use their own, since our Lord says, ' Who- soever shall have believed and shall have been baptized shall be saved.' " He charges them, furthermore, with denying the real presence in the eucharist. The rest of the charges are in entire accord with the Baptist position. Peter labored from 1104 to 11 28, and Llenry from 11 16 to 1 148. The popularity of the latter was wonderful, and multitudes were turned by him from the dominant church. We have accounts of similar antipedobaptist movements in Breton, the Netherlands, and the Rhine region during the first half of the twelfth century. Evervin, in a letter to Bernard, refers to " certain other heretics in our land [the vicinity of Cologne], absolutely discordant from these [the Cathari], through whose mutual discord and contention both have been detected by us. These lat- ter deny that the body of Christ is made at the altar. . . . Concerning the baptism of little children they have no faith, because of that passage in the gospel, ' Whoso- ever shall have believed and shall have been baptized shall be saved.' " It is probable that Arnold of Brescia, the great Italian reformer of the same century, rejected infant baptism. If so, his position was almost identical with that of Peter de Bruys and Henry of Lausanne, with whom MEDIEVAL EVAXGELICAL LIFE. I 5 he may have come in contact. The statement of Otto of Freising, one of the best informed of his contemporaries, " He [Arnold] is said to have been astray with reference to the sacrament of the altar and the baptism of infants," is amply confirmed as to the first charge and uncontra- dicted as to the second. The early Waldenses (1178 onward) were believers in transubstantiation, baptismal regeneration, and infant bap- tism. Under the influence of more evangelical parties, most or all of them came to reject transubstantiation and consubstantiation alike, and some of them, probably a minority, became antipedobaptists. Peter Chelcicky, the spiritual father of the Bohemian Brethren, and one of the ablest evangelical thinkers of the fifteenth century, closely approached in his doctrinal system the position reached by the antipedobaptists of the sixteenth century. Like the later Waldenses, he rejected the doctrines of the real presence and baptismal regener- ation, and sought to make the New Testament the stand- ard of his faith and practice. Any departure from the apostolic model, by way of addition or diminution, he considered apostasy. God's law is perfectly sufficient in every particular. Any union of church and state he re- garded as fraught with evil. If the entire population of a state were Christian, there would be no need of civil government. A Christian state he regarded as anomalous. In the so-called Christian state there is no place for the true Christian except in the lowest ranks. All dominion, all class distinctions, are radically opposed to Christ's re- quirement of brotherly equality. No true Christian can be a king or a civil officer. Christians should avoid trade, as involving deceit in seeking advantages. He insisted on the freedom of the will, yet recognized the necessity of divine grace in regeneration. Oaths and capital punish- 1 6 IXTRODUCTIOX. ment he rejected with the utmost decision. As regards baptism, after quoting the great commission, he proceeds : " Open and clear is the word of the Son of God: first he speaks of faith, then of baptism ; . . . and since we find this doctrine in the gospel we should now also hold fast to it. But the priests err greatly in baptizing the great mass, and no one is found, whether old or young, who knows God and believes his Scripture. . . . Baptism be- longs to those who know God and believe his Scripture." It is rather disappointing to find him adding, " If such have children, baptism should be bestowed upon their children in their conscience." The Bohemian Brethren (Unitas Fratrum) practiced re- baptism in receiving members from the Roman Catholic and Hussite Churches until 1537, when they reluctantly abandoned it to escape the penalties to which Anabaptists were by law amenable. Like the Waldenses, the Bohe- mian Brethren were divided in respect to infant baptism. In an apology and two confessions addressed (1503-04) to King Wladislaus, they admit that some among them have rejected infant baptism. There is no decisive evidence that any party in England rejected infant baptism before the Reformation time, al- though a vigorous evangelical movement was carried for- ward there before and after the time of Wiclif. The medieval exangelical moxements are of interest to the student of Baptist history not simply on account of the antipedobaptist features that appear in connection with the most important of them, but still more because of the type of life and teaching which was to reappear in nearly all its features in the antipedobaptist parties of the sixteenth century. The stress laid on the imitation of Christ and on the Sermon on the Mount, the maintenance of freedom of the will, insistence on holy living as a THE AXABAPTISrS. ij necessary expression of true faith, rejection of oaths, war- fare, capital punishment, and the exercise of magistracy on the part of Christians, are common to medieval evan- gelical parties and to the various antipeclobaptist parties of the Reformation time. It is estimated that there were at the beginning of the sixteenth century between 300 and 400 congregations of Bohemian Brethren in Moravia and Bohemia, with a con- stituency of about 200,000. These had the support and protection of many of the most powerful noblemen. In the Alpine valleys of southeastern France and northwestern Italy the Waldenses (Vaudois) continued to exist in large numbers. It is estimated that they had at this period about 100 congregations, with a constituency of about 100,000. Scattered throughout the rest of Europe there were Waldensian congregations, the number of whose con- stituents may have reached 100,000 more. During the years immediately preceding the Lutheran revolt from the papacy, these evangelical Christians were active in the circulation of vernacular Bibles and other evangelical literature. IV. THE ANABAPTISTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The Anabaptist movement of the sixteenth century had its roots in the evangelical parties of the middle ages, to which it owed its modes of thought, its type of Christian life, and its methods of work. To the peculiar circum- stances of the time it owed most of the features that differentiate it from the earlier movements. The term " Anabaptist " was applied indiscriminately to all who, dissenting from the dominant forms of Protestantism and from Roman Catholicism, insisted on setting up separate 1 8 IN TROD L XTION. churches for the embodiment and propagation of their views. To the dominant parties, Thomas Miinzer, the mystical fanatic and sociaHstic agitator, who never sub- mitted to nor administered rebaptism, who persisted in baptizing infants, and who sought to set up the kingdom of Christ by carnal warfare, the scholarly and soundly Scriptural Hubmaier, the intellectual and spiritual mystic, Denck, and the chiliastic fanatics of Minister, were all alike Anabaptists, and even the most Christ-like of these were treated as criminals of the deepest dye. There was some excuse for this confusion in the fact that most of those to whom the epithet was applied denied the Scriptural authorization of infant baptism, and made baptism on a profession of faith a condition of entering into their fellow- ship. The beginning of the sixteenth century was a time of unrest and expectancy. A spirit of revolution was abroad. Enough of evangelical light and enough of the spirit of freedom had been diffused among the oppressed masses to insure among them an enthusiastic reception for any movement that should give fair promise of relief from priestcraft and of social amelioration. When Luther de- nounced indulgences and afterward went on assailing, one after another, the c<)rruptions and errors of the Roman Catholic Church, those who had come under the influence of the evangelical movements of the earlier time felt that now at last the day of deliverance had come, and rallied to his support. Luther's bold proclamation of the suffi- ciency and authority of the Scriptures, of the universal priesthood of believers, and of the right of each individual Christian to interpret the Scriptures for himself, and his repudiation of " whatever falls short of, is apart from, or goes beyond Christ," must have produced a strong im- pression on those who had been long listening for such a THE ZWICKAU PROPHETS. 1 9 mighty leader to voice their sentiments. It was natural that when Luther began to draw back, in deference to the views of the civil rulers and from fear of disastrous revolution, the radical reformers that had taken him at his word should refuse to conform to his moderated scheme, and should set themselves in opposition to what they con- sidered a temporizing policy. It was natural, also, that Luther, when he felt that the evangelical cause was jeop- ardized by the radicals, should have counseled their vio- lent suppression. The first note of revolt in Germany was sounded at Zwickau, where Thomas Miinzer had become pastor of a leading church. Under the influence of Nicholas Storch, a master weaver, who had apparently come in contact with a chiliastic Bohemian party, and \\\\o possessed a wonderful knowledge of the letter of Scripture and knew how to interpret the prophecies with reference to his own time, Miinzer was led to proclaim the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, with the overthrow of the existing order. Miinzer, Storch, and a number of their followers regarded themselyes as prophets, and claimed to be com- missioned to lead in the establishment of a reign of right- eousness and equality. After some iconoclastic procedures at Zwickau, a number of the prophets visited Wittenberg with the hope of winning to their support the evangelical leaders. Carlstadt, the rector of the university, and Cel- larius, one of the leading scholars, recognized their claims and accepted their views. Melanchthon was powerfully moved, but turned to Luther, then in retirement at the Wartburg, for counsel. Luther left his retirement and by a mighty effort succeeded in checking the movement. The labors of Storch and Miinzer during the next few years, and the violent fanaticism of Miinzer and his followers, aided in arousing the social democracy of Germany to re- 20 INTRODUCTIOX. volt, and in convincing many that the kingdom of God would be set up by a mighty display of divine power in connection with the swords of the faithful. Storch rejected infant baptism and established several congregations of baptized believers. Miinzer retained infant baptism, after declaring it to be unscriptural, and devoted his energies almost exclusively to arousing the masses to revolt. The part which he played in the Peasants' War, the massacre of his deluded followers, and his own subsequent execu- tion are sufficiently familiar. Storch is to be regarded as the father of the chiliastic Anabaptist movement, \\'hose later history was so fraught with disaster. This blending of antipedobaptist views with chiliastic reveries and with socialistic and revolutionary aims and procedures was most unfortunate, and caused antipedo- baptists of all types to be regarded as the enemies of civil and religious order. A radical movement of a widely different type we meet in Switzerland from 1523 onward. Zwingli was an ad- vanced humanist, and had no sympathy with the ascrip- tion of magical efficacy to external ritQS. His efforts at reform were directed largely against the superstitious practices of the Roman Church, and so general was anti- papal feeling in republican Switzerland that the reforma- tion of idolatrous abuses met with little opposition. Cool- headed, clear-headed, a good scholar, an able theologian, a skillful debater, an adroit politician, he aimed at political and social reform almost as much as at religious. In a disputation with representatives of the Bishop of Con- stance in 1523, he set forth his views in sixty-seven arti- cles, and overwhelmed his opponents. In the elaboration of the eighteenth article he called attention to the fact that in the early church catechetical instruction preceded baptism. He persistently denied that infants are saved THE SWISS ANABAPTISTS. 2 1 by baptism or lost through lack of it. Zwingli's type of reform rapidly spread over a large part of Switzerland and into the adjoining German and Austrian provinces. From 1 52 1 onward, Balthasar Hubmaier, one of the ablest theologians and most eloquent preachers of the time, was chief pastor at Waldshut in the Austrian Breisgau, having left a highly influential position in Regensburg on account of his adoption of evangeHcal views. In 1523 he con- versed with Zwingli on the baptism of infants, a«d Zwingli agreed with him in holding that it was without Scriptural authorization and ought in time to be abolished. Hub- maier kept his antipedobaptist views in abeyance for some time, and by his clear and strong evangelical teaching gained such an ascendency as enabled him to carry with him the influential elements of the population in the adop- tion of believers' baptism. In the meantime a radical party had appeared in the canton of Ziirich. Reformatory measures were pressed forward vigorously by Zwingli, but he was hampered by the civil authorities and dared not proceed as fast as the radicals demanded. These violated fasts and threw down images before they were authoritatively abolished. They refused to pay tithes and agitated for agrarian reform. A body of earnest Christian scholars had gathered around Zwingli, who sought to impress upon him the importance of completing the reformation of the church and the in- admissibility of allowing the measure of reform to be dic- tated by the ungodly magistracy. That the unregenerate should be admitted to the Lord's Supper along with the regenerate seemed to them contrary to apostolic precept and example. Zwingli admitted the desirableness of most of the reforms that they urged, but could not be persuaded to ignore the magistracy. Unable longer to have fellow- ship with a partially reformed church, and convinced that 22 INTRODUCTION. Zwingli was sinfully temporizing, Grebel, Manz, Blaurock, and others withdrew, and organized a church of beUevers on the basis of beHevers' baptism (December, 1524). When ZwingH saw the connection of antipedobaptism with the setting up of separate churches and the dissolution of the ecclesiastical establishment, he at once became a zealous advocate of infant baptism. The antipedobaptist move- ment spread with great rapidity in the canton of Ziirich, and thence to Schaffhausen, St. Gall, Berne, Basle, and the Graubiinden. Severe persecution for a time seemed rather to further the movement than to hinder its prog- ress. In St. Gall and its vicinity thousands were baptized in a few weeks (April and May, 1525). Hubmaier, with Roiibli's help, introduced believers' baptism at Waldshut (about Easter, 1525), and the town authorities, supported by the people, incurred the wrath of the Austrian government by refusing to deliver him up. When obliged to leave Waldshut (December, 1525) he took refuge in Zurich, where with Zwingli 's approval he was thrown into prison, and if not technically tortured (as seems probable), was subjected to the most distressing hardships. Exterminating persecution dispersed the Svv'iss antipedobaptists throughout Europe. Hubmaier took ref- uge in Moravia (July, 1526), where he won some noble- men to the support of his cause, and in about a year and a half (1526-27) built up a strong church and produced and published an extensive denominational literature. In Silesia, partly through the influence of Nicholas Storch, partly through the activity of Caspar Schwenck- feldt, an influential nobleman who had adopted antipedo- baptist views, but was prevented by his mysticism from taking a strong position in favor of believers' baptism, and still more through the influence of the Swiss antipedo- baptist movement, a large part of the population came to ANABAPTISTS OF SILESIA, AUSTRIA AND AUGSBURG. 23 reject infant baptism. Persecution drove Schwenckfeldt from the country in 1528, and Gabriel Ascherham (Schar- ding), one of the ablest and soundest of the antipedobap- tist leaders, led thousands of his followers to Moravia, which had become the land of promise for the persecuted Anabaptist hosts. In Styria and the Tyrol antipedobaptist views met with the most eager acceptance, and, notwithstanding the per- sistent efforts of the Austrian authorities to exterminate them. Anabaptists long carried on a vigorous propaganda in these provinces. One of the most famous of the Tyrol- ese preachers was Jacob Huther, who became a leader of the chief Moravian party, but afterward suffered martyrdom in his native land. These Austrian provinces had been nurseries of evangelical life during the later middle ages, and the very localities where Waldenses had flourished became centers of Anabaptist activity. Augsburg was one of the chief commercial centers of the sixteenth century, and was a refuge for persecuted Anabapti.sts from 1525 to 1530. In no locality was there a greater aggregation or a greater variety of Anabaptist life. Chiliasts of the Storch and Miinzer type and Swiss Anabaptists were both alike early on the ground ; but the first to attempt an organization of the heterogeneous Anabaptist mass was Hans Denck, who may be regarded as, next to Hubmaier, the most important of the early Anabaptist leaders. Closely associated with him in evan- gelistic work and in oriental studies and Bible translation was Ludwig Hatzer. Under Hubmaier's influence, or- ganization was effected in the summer of 1526. Denck left Augsburg after a few months, and the leadership fell upon Hans Hut, a disciple of Miinzer and a chiliast of the most pronounced type, who, however, had been baptized by Denck. The activity and influence of Hut are aston- 24 INTRODUC'J-JOX. ishing. Making Augsburg his center, he labored in Mo- ra\ia, upper Austria, and throughout southern Germany. So irresistible was his influence over the oppressed masses that a few hours' stay in a place often resulted in the establishment of a C(jmmunity pledged to his principles. There can be little doubt that he encouraged the people to expect in the near future a mighty manifestation of divine power for their deliverance, and gave secret instruc- tions to his followers to be prepared to smite the ungodly when the appointed time should come. Denck's type of teaching was perpetuated in Augsburg by Eitelhans Langenmantel, a member of one of the chief patrician families, who published largely in defense of anti- pedobaptist principles and against the corrupt practices of the time. Denck returned to Augsburg about September, 1527, and once more placed his strong hand on the helm. There are said to have been at least eleven hundred Anabaptists in the city about this time. Shortly after Denck's return a great gathering of Anabaptist leaders is supposed to have occurred in Augsburg. Persecution of a violent type soon followed. Denck departed, and died soon afterward at the house of his friend CEcolampadius. Hut died in prison, and a number of executions followed. In Swabia, Bavaria, and Franconia, exterminating measures were en- acted in February, 1528. The sanguinary imperial edict of Speier followed in April, 1529. The Strassburg authorities were even more tolerant than those of Augsburg, and the city has been called an Eldorado of the persecuted. The evangelical ministers were exceptionally liberal. Bucer for some time declined to persecute those who quietly rejected infant baptism ; Zell could never be induced to repudiate or refuse hospi- tality to any man who recognized Christ as his Lord and ANABAPTISTS OF STRASSBURG AND HESSE. 25 Saviour; while Capito could scarcely be restrained from becoming an avowed antipedobaptist. Every type of antipedobaptist life had its representatives in this center. During 1526 vast numbers of persecuted Anabaptists from all parts of Alsace, southern Germany, and Switzerland streamed into the city. Here also Denck and Hiitzer resided for some months, and produced a marked impres- sion. Among other noted leaders may be mentioned Jacob Gross, a disciple of Hubmaier; Michael Sattler, one of the ablest and most amiable of the antipedobaptists of the Swiss school ; Wilhelm Roiibli, one of the earliest and most zealous evangelists of the time ; Jacob Kautz, a brilliant preacher who went beyond Denck in the mystical character of his teaching; Pilgram Marbeck, a Tyrolese engineer, whose social position and whose devotion to antipedobaptist principles were of the highest value to the cause ; and Melchior Hofmann, a Swabian furrier, whose influence was to prove disastrous. After the issuing of the edict of Speier the Strassburg authorities felt obliged to take measures for the suppres- sion of the deeply rooted antipedobaptist movement. Many were banished, some were tortured, but the Strass- burg authorities were strongly averse to shedding inno- cent blood. The Landgra\'e Philip of Hesse was, with all his moral delinquencies, by far the most tolerant of all the princes of Germany. In spite of the entreaties and remonstrances of such neighboring princes as John George of Saxony, and of such Protestant leaders as Luther, Melanchthon, and Bucer, he steadfastly refused to deal severely with the people everywhere spoken against. It is remarkable that of the two thousand or more Anabaptists executed up to 1530, not one had suffered in Hesse. In 1529, in response to a remonstrance from the elector of Saxony, he wrote : 26 IXTRODUCTIOX. " Wc are still unable at the present time to find it in our conscience to have any one executed with the sword on account of his faith." Even after the Miinster catas- trophe, when other princes were slaughtering Anabaptists indiscriminately, he insisted on making a distinction be- tween fanatics and evangelical advocates of believers' bap- tism. " To punish capitally . . . those who have done nothing more than err in the faith cannot indeed be justi- fied on gospel grounds," he wrote at this time. The most noted and influential leader of the Hessian Anabaptists was Melchior Rink, a man of splendid scholar- ship and noble character, but unfortunately involved in the millenarian errors of Storch and Miinzer. He was many times arrested, and his life was demanded by the Saxon princes and theologians, but Philip had strength enough to protect him from his enemies. At NikoLsburg in Moravia, Hubmaier labored for a year and a half with astonishing success. The Counts Leonard and John of Lichten.stein accepted his views and received baptism at his hands. The principal evangelical preachers in the territory of the Lichtensteins, including one who had been a Roman Catholic bishop, were also convinced of the truth of Hubmaier's teaching, and became his coadjutors. A printing-press was established and Hubmaier's works were widely circulated. Hut soon ap- peared on the scene and won some to his millenarianism and his rejection of magistracy and warfare. Communism was championed by Jacob Wiedemann, and after Hub- maier's martyrdom (1528) became the dominant type of Anabaptist teaching in Moravia. Notwithstanding fre- quent bitter persecution, the Moravian Anabaptists by their skill and industry made themselves indispensable to the Moravian nobles, and their strong communistic organ- ization enabled them to husband their resources for ag- MORA I 'I A N A A 'A BA P TIS TS. 2 "] gressive work in the neighboring countries, and even in times of severe persecution to hold together. The dis- advantages of communism need not here be dwelt upon. Under Jacob Huther (1529 onward) the communistic ele- ment became dominant, and the party soon came to be known as Hutherites. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (161 8) they numbered about 70,000, and were highly prosperous. War and the Jesuits nearly wrought their extermination. In the latter part of the eighteenth century a few families removed from Transylvania to Russia. In 1874 the entire community emigrated to America and settled in what is now South Dakota. They have five congregations, with a membership of 352. (See vol. i. of the present series, p. 213.) By 1530 nearly all of the Anabaptist leaders of the earlier time had been destroyed. Persecution had become so fierce and so general that apart from Moravia there was scarcely a place of refuge. The chiliastic teachings of Hut and Rink had found eager acceptance among the pious people, who were coming to despair of the triumph of the truth through ordinary means, and who were driven to the belief that God would miraculously interpose for the deliverance of the godly and for the destruction of the ungodly. This view received extensive currency through the remarkable activity of Melchior Hofmann. After an eventful career as a Lutheran (1523-29) in Livonia, Sweden, Denmark, etc., where he created great commo- tion by his fiery denunciations of the corruptions of the time, and his proclamation of the approaching divine judgment, he adopted the Carlstadt-Zwinglian view of the Supper, and in company with Carlstadt journeyed through the Netherlands and reached Strassburg in June, 1529. In East Friesland a controversy was raging be- tween Lutherans and Zwinglians, and he and Carlstadt 28 JXTRODUCriOX. L;a\ e mucli encouragement and help to the Zwinghan party, wliicli soon became triumphant. He was equipped with a remarkable knowledge of the letter of Scripture, and with a mastery of the allegorical method of interpre- tation. He had long been a pronounced chiliast, and he had already reached the conclusion that Christ's human nature was not derived from Mary, but was essentially divine. Contact with the Anabaptists of Strassburg led to his conversion to antipedobaptist view^s. He soon found those who sympathized with him in his chiliastic and other errors, although it may be supposed that those antipedo- baptists who had been trained in the school of Denck, and those who were at this time under the influence of the soundly evangelical Pilgram Marbeck, would give little heed to such vagaries. The prophetic spirit appeared among his followers, and in 1530 he published a modern prophecy with an interpretation of Revelation xii., which the authorities regarded as treasonable. During the next three years, by his writings and his evangelistic efforts, he gained multitudes of converts throughout the Netherlands, Westphalia, and the lower Rhenish provinces. In 1531 the Hofmannites suffered severe persecution in the Nether- lands, and Jan Trijpmaker, Hofmann's most influential dis- ciple, was put to death. Hofmann now promulgated an order that baptism be suspended for two years, with the intimation that at the end of this period there would be a wonderful manifestation of divine power on behalf of the lovers of the truth. The effect of this fixing of the date of Christ's advent was wonderful. His disciples were filled with the enthusiasm of those who are assured that they ■ ha\e a great mission to perform, and that the time is strictly limited. From this time onward the growth of the party in the Netherlands was rapid. Lutheranism and Zwinelianism almost vanished. Throughout West- CIIILIASTIC ANABAmSTS. 29 phalia, Hesse, Cleves-Jiilich, and other neighboring prov- inces this type of teaching was rapidly propagated. In 1533 one of Hofmann's disciples had prophesied that he should return to Strassburg, suffer six months' imprisonment, and then lead the lovers of the truth to universal victory. He returned to Strassburg and was thrown into prison, where he died ten years later. There is something truly pathetic in the history of his prophecies and his disappointments. Again and again he fixed the date of the inauguration of the glorious kingdom, and sought to explain the preceding failures. Hofmann was undoubtedly an exceedingly able and a profoundly pious man, and to his honor it must be said that he did not counsel resort to violence. But he awakened a chiliastic enthusiasm that was sure to lead to the horrors of Miin- ster. Before the imprisonment of Hofmann a still more influ- ential leader had appeared in the person of one of his Dutch disciples, Jan Matthys by name. Hofmann seems to have announced (153 i) to the faithful that he himself was Elias ; Enoch would appear later, and be revealed to the lovers of the truth ; in two years the saints would gather at Strassburg, and to the number of 144,000 would go forth in the name of the Lord to set up his kingdom. As the end of 1533 drew near expectation was at its height, and the wildest excitement pre\'ailed throughout the Hofmannite connection. Hofmann was in prison, and the people grew impatient. Matthys announced himself as the promised prophet, and ordered the resumption of baptism. A propaganda was now carried forward with the intensest enthusiasm. Multitudes were baptized throughout the regions of Hofmann's activity. In Mat- thys we see the spirit of Miinzer revived, and that in an intensified form. He seems to have been consumed with 30 INTJWDl'C'J'IOX. hatred of the upper classes, whom he regarded as the op- pressors and persecutors of the poor people of God. To him God was in relation to the ungodly a God of venge- ance. The dealing of Jehovah with the Canaanites through his chosen people was the basis of his idea of the way in which the new dispensation was to be ushered in. Chris- tians were to take up arms, and to blot out the ungodly from the face of the earth. Meanwhile an antipedobaptist movement of great power had been developed at Miinster in Westphalia. This city had been a Roman Catholic stronghold. Protestantism of every type had been excluded with the utmost rigor. In 1529 Bernard Rothmann, a well-educated young clergy- man, began to preach evangelical sermons at St. Mauritz, in the suburbs. His influence extended into the city, especially among the working-classes. His followers were able by 15 30 to secure for him the use of one of the city churches. Under his leadership the social democracy of the city joined hands with the Lutherans, and the reform movement became so vigorous that in December, 1532, the unpopular bishop was driv^en from the city and many of his influential supporters imprisoned. The success of the evangelical movement aroused the wildest enthusiasm, not only in Miinster, but also throughout the lower Rhen- ish provinces. Monasteries were closed, and priests were driven from the city. A number of able evangelical min- isters from Cleves-Jiilich and other provinces soon joined Rothmann in his reforming work. Among the most noted of these were Roll, Vinne, Klopriss, and Staprade. These all, with Rothmann, soon became avowed antipedobaptists. Rothmann at this time possessed a commanding influence. He had married the widow of a syndic, and had the full support of the council and the guilds. Controversy with the Lutherans followed. The council attempted to compel MUNSTER KINGDOM. 3 1 the ministers to resume infant baptism. On their refusal an order was issued for the closing of their churches and the deposition of Rothmann. A great popular demon- stration secured for Rothmann the privilege of preaching in another church on condition that he should refrain from referring to the matters in dispute. He consented to re- spect this requirement until he should receive some further intimation of the divine will with respect to the matter. The news of the overthrow of Roman Catholicism in Miinster and of the rapid growth of antipedobaptist senti- ment awakened the profoundest interest among the Hof- mannite congregations. Early in January, 1534, two emis- saries from Jan Matthys reached Miinster and announced to the antipedobaptist leaders that Enoch had appeared in the person of Matthys, that the millennial kingdom was at hand, and that the baptized and redeemed should henceforth, under the dominion of Christ, lead a blessed life, with community of goods, without law, without magis- tracy, and without marriage. Rothmann, Roll, Vinne, and Stralen were baptized, and these baptized fourteen hundred others during the next eight days. These first emissaries from Matthys seem not to have fully expounded the program of their leader. On January 13th appeared two men specially commissioned by Matthys to remain in Miinster and to take the leadership of the movement. These were John of Leyden and Gertom Kloster. The former was a gifted and enthusiastic young man of twenty- three. Rothmann and the older antipedobaptist ministers were henceforth the led rather than the leaders. The city authorities were powerless to stay this wild enthusiasm. The religious institutions were seized and Roman Catholics and Lutherans alike were compelled to leave .the city. Persecution was renewed in the Netherlands in February. Learning of the success of his followers in Miinster, Mat- 32 INT ROD UC TIOiV. thys announced that it had been revealed to him that Minister and not Strassburg was the New Jerusalem. He dispatched messengers in all directions to order the faith- ful to meet at a particular time at some designated place. The command came to them as the voice of God. Multi- tudes left their homes, not knowing whither they went. Many were seized and executed on the way to Miinster. Thousands reached the city of promise. Matthys himself was soon in Miinster. The city was organized as a the- ocracy. Matthys is said to have proposed the slaughter of all the ungodly that remained in the city, but was op- posed by Knipperdollinck, who had long been a leader of the social democracy, and whose influence in the new king- dom was great. The city was well fortified and was de- fended with the utmost determination. Messengers were sent out in every direction to proclaim the setting up of the kingdom of God in Miinster. In April, Matthys was slain in attacking the besiegers. John of Leyden soon declared that he had received a divine command to be king, and he dare not disobey. Polygamy was introduced in obedience to another supposed divine intimation. A reign of terror ensued,, in which the wildest license on the one hand and the most absolute despotism on the other prevailed. For more than a year the w^retched fanatics were able to resist the bishop and his allies. At last the siege was broken and rebellion was suppressed in the most summary manner. The Miinster kingdom furnished an excuse for the in- tensifying of persecution throughout Europe. Persecu- tion extended to Moravia, and for a time threatened utter- ly to destroy this flourishing branch of the antipedobap- tist brotherhood. Among Dutch antipedobaptists that refused to follow THE MEXXOXITES. 33 the lead of Matthys were Dirk and Obbe Phillips and Leonard Bouwens, of East Friesland. Under the leader- ship of Menno Simons, supported by these brethren, the quiet antipedobaptists of the Netherlands, the lower Rhen- ish regions, and the regions bordering on the East Sea, were, after the Munster uproar, gathered into a firmly cemented union (1537 onward). Menno was a well-edu- cated Catholic priest, who had become interested in Prot- estantism as early as 1523 and had been deeply impressed by the martyrdom of Sicke Frierichs, an Anabaptist, in 153 1. As early as 1533 he seems to have entered into relations with the Anabaptists without abandoning his position as Roman Catholic priest. He used all his influ- ence to dissuade the Anabaptists from the rash measures that culminated in the Miinster kingdom. In 1536 he withdrew from the Catholic Church, and in the following year was led by the entreaties of the quiet Anabaptists, and his conviction of their sore need of help, to assume the leadership. The Mennonites, as the party afterward came to be called, repudiated with the utmost decision all fanat- ical and revolutionary measures, and denied any connec- tion with the abominations of Munster. They adopted in almost every detail the principles and practices of the medieval Waldenses and Bohemian Brethren, along with a far more decided maintenance of believers' baptism. They enjoyed for some time a considerable measure of toleration in the Netherlands and neighboring regions, and soon grew into a strong party. Dissension arose chiefly in regard to discipline, and toward the close of the six- teenth and the early part of the seventeenth century Socinianism made a deep impression on the party ; but not\\ithstanding much persecution and frequent schisms, Mennonism has maintained itself \yith slight changes, till 34 INTROD UCriON. the present time, and still flourishes in the Old and in the New World. As early as 1530 persecuted antipedobaptists from the Continent seem to have taken refuge in England and anti- pedobaptist literature to have been there in circulation. The terrible persecutions that preceded and followed the Miin- ster kingdom drove multitudes of Dutch Anabaptists to England, where rapidly developing manufacturing enter- prise offered to skilled Dutch artisans a welcome means of maintenance, while their strange tongue shielded them to some extent from persecution. A considerable number were detected from time to time, and executions and ban- ishments were not infrequent; but it is certain that their numbers continued to be considerable and that they ex- erted an important influence on English evangelical life. Most of these earliest antipedobaptist refugees seem to have been of the Hofmannite type, as those who were arraigned before the authorities agreed in denying that Christ derived his humanity from Mary. Later refugees to England were chiefly Mennonites. In Italy an important antitrinitarian antipedobaptist movement flourished from 1546 (or earlier) onward. Among the leaders were Camillo Renato, Francesco Ne- gri, Pietro da Casah Maggiore, Tiziano, Iseppo of Asola, Celio Secundo Curio, Hieronimo Buzano, and Pietro Ma- nelfi. These were all educated men of high social posi- tion. Tiziano's views may be summed up as follows: (i) Insistence on believers' baptism; (2) rejection of magis- tracy as inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity; (3) maintenance of the symbolical and memorial nature of the sacraments; (4) exaltation of the Scriptures as the only criterion of the faith; (5) denunciation of the Roman Church as devilish and absolutely antichristian. In 1550 about forty Anabaptist churches in northern Italy and the contiguous parts of Switzerland and Austria ITALIAN AND POLISH ANABAPTISTS. 35 were in fellowship with each other and enjoyed together the services of a general superintendent. At this date these churches were much agitated over the question " whether Christ was God or man." Sixty delegates from about forty churches met in Venice for the settlement of this question. The Old and New Testaments were ac- cepted as fundamental authority. Thrice during the meet- ing the Lord's Supper was solemnly celebrated. After forty days of earnest discussion an almost unanimous decis- ion was reached against the deity of Christ, against the reality of good and evil angels, against the immortality of the godless and a place of future punishment, in favor of soul-sleeping, and against the propitiatory nature of Christ's sufferings. Manelfi proved a traitor and delivered up his brethren to the Inquisition. Some escaped to Moravia, and having learned there the way of the Lord more perfectly returned and attempted to win their brethren to right doctrinal views. The religious history of Poland is closely connected with that of Italy. The Italian thinkers who disseminated anti- trinitarian views in Poland had doubtless been influenced by such antitrinitarian antipedobaptists as Tiziano, Curio, Negri, etc. So multifarious was the religious life of Po- land during the second half of the sixteenth century that toleration was a necessity, Lutherans, Reformed, Bohe- mian Brethren, Anabaptists, and antitrinitarians existed side by side, each party having its supporters among the nobility. It may suffice here to say that antipedobaptist antitrinitarianism became, after a prolonged struggle, the dominant type of religion and was embodied in the Ra- covian Catechism, first published in 1605, but prepared some years earlier. This document contains an admirable definition of baptism, entirely in accord with the Baptist view. Infant baptism is repudiated, " since we have in 36 IXTRODUCTIOX. Scripture no command for, nor any example of," it. In answer to the question, " What, then, is to be thought of those who baptize infants?" the reply is, "You cannot correctly say that they baptize infants. For they do not baptirse them — since this cannot be done without the im- mersion and ablution of the whole body in water, whereas they only lightly sprinkle their heads — this rite being not only erroneously apphed to infants, but also, through this mistake, evidently changed." It may here be remarked that Michael Servetus, the antitrinitarian martyr, was a most pronounced opponent of infant baptism. This brief sketch of the antipedobaptist movements in the sixteenth century may suffice to give an idea of the character and the diversity of the religious life opprobri- ously designated "Anabaptist." The following remarks may prove helpful : 1. The parties designated "Anabaptist" agreed with each other and with the medieval evangelical parties in aiming to restore primitive Christianity, in laying stress upon the practical teachings of Christ himself (as in the Sermon on the Mount), in rejecting the Augustinian (Lu- theran and Calvinistic) doctrinal system, including denial of freewill, justification by faith alone, etc., in rejecting oaths, warfare, capital punishment, and the exercise of magistracy by Christians. Hubmaier differed from most of his brethren as regards magistracy, warfare, etc. 2. Liberty of conscience was earnestly insisted upon by Hubmaier in a special treatise, and the violation of con- science was regarded by Anabaptists in general as abom- inable. 3. All agreed in rejecting infant baptism and in insisting upon believers' baptism, on the grounds that still prevail with Baptists. REMARKS. 17 4. Immersion was practiced at St. Gall, Augsburg, Strassburg, and by the antitrinitarian Anabaptists of Po- land. But the common practice among the Swiss, Aus- trian, Moravian, and Dutch parties was affusion. The im- portance of immersion as the act of baptism seems to have been appreciated by few. 5. A number of speculative (mystical) thinkers com- bined with the views common to the \'arious parties anti- trinitarian and uni\'ersalistic views, and some (as the Ital- ian Anabaptists) became involved in the grossest doctrinal errors. 6. Even more baleful, if possible, was the influence of chiliasm, beginning with Storch and Miinzer, transmitted through Hut and Rink, gi\en wide currency by Hofmann, and fanned into fury by Matthys. Chiliasm has no logical connection with antipedobaptist principles and is likely to arise at any time among earnest men dri\'en to despair by persecution. The great mass of those who took part in the Miinster kingdom had adopted antipedobaptist views simply because they were presented to them in connection with a social scheme that promised relief from their bur- dens, the destruction of their oppressors, and a glorious earthly life. Under circumstances such as existed in 1533—35 chiliasm inevitably leads to fanaticism. It may well be questioned whether it is safe under any circum- stances to tamper with a mode of religious thought in which so dire possibilities inhere. The extent to which the Baptist cause has been impeded b}' the Miinster king- dom is incalculable. The Baptist name is odious through- out continental Europe to-day because of it. In England and in America the opponents of Baptists long urged their extermination on the grounci that they might be expected to reenact the horrors of Miinster. 38 INTRODUCTION. V. THE ENGLISH GENERAL BAPTISTS.^ The traditions according to which Baptist churches, as distinct from congregations of Dutch Mennonites, existed in England prior to 1609 seem to be unsupported by any evidence that the historian can accept. It is possible that some Welsh congregations of the ancient British type, or some Lollard congregations, practiced believers' baptism in the sixteenth century or earlier, but decisive evidence is wanting. Robert Browne, probably under Mennonite influence, adopted congregational views and insisted on liberty of conscience (1580 onward). He is said to have been intimately associated with the Dutch population of Norwich, among whom w^ere many Mennonites, and it is probable that his church was composed in part of those who had been under Mennonite teaching. Persecution soon drove Browne and part of his congregation to Mid- delburg, Zeeland, where again he had ample opportunity to mature his views under Mennonite influence. The congregation was broken up by internal dissension, and Browne, probably losing his mental poise, returned to the Church of England and died in disgrace ; but he had given currency among English evangelicals to principles that were to bear fruit, notwithstanding the defection of their annunciator. Other small separatist congregations were formed in London as early as 1587 or 1588. Severe per- secution and the execution of Barrowe, Greenwood, and Penry, caused the exodus of many of the separatists to Holland (1593 onward), and a large congregation of Eng- lish exiles was gathered in Amsterdam under Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth (1595 onward). It may 1 See, on the General Baptists, Evans, Goadby, Taylor, Crosby, Ivimey, Barclay, Dexter (" John Smyth "), Hanbury, De Hoop Schiiffer, Weingarten, and the Ilanscrd Knollys Society's pul)lications, as in the P)il)liography. ENGLISH GENERAL BAPTLSTS. 39 be remarked that Barrowe, Johnson, and Ainsworth, in different degrees, receded from the radical position of Browne as regards church government and Hberty of con- science, adopting instead a semipresbyterian pohty and recognizing the right of magistrates to suppress erroneous teaching and practice. About 1602 John Smyth, a Cambridge graduate and one of the most scholarly men of his time, gathered a sep- aratist church at Gainsborough. About 1606 pastor and congregation emigrated to Amsterdam and established themselves side by side with the older English congrega- tion as the " Second English Church at Amsterdam." A modern writer ^ unfriendly to Smyth's principles thus char- acterizes him : " Clearly he w^as an impulsive man, with something magnetic in his popular sympathies and gifts strongly attaching his friends to himself; able to turn his hand to more than one thing; unselfish and charitable; punctilious and courageous ; never ashamed to own any wrong in himself which he discovered ; a good preacher, and a scholar of considerable acquirements — having, in short, many of the elements of a great and good man. On the other hand, his mind was restless, and perhaps his conscience morbidly .sensitive to small matters," etc. Before removing to Amsterdam Smyth had already em- braced views of church polity nearer to those of Browne and of modern Congregationalists and Baptists than were those of Johnson or Ainsworth. In 1608 he came into controversy with the brethren of the older congregation with reference to the use of translations of the Bible in the worship of God. He objected to these on the ground tliat they were apocryphal and not the pure word of God. To meet his view every conductor of divine worship must 1 Dexter, " John Smyth," p. 3. INIuch of the material here presented with reference to Smyth is derived from this schohirly work. 40 INTRODUCTIOX. be SO skilled in Greek and Hebrew as to be able to extem- porize a translation for the benefit of the unlearned. He held that " reading out of a book ... is no part of spirit- ual worship, but rather the invention of the man of sin " ; that " in time of prophesying it is unlawful to have the book as a help before the eye " ; and that " seeing singing a psalm is a part of spiritual worship, therefore it is un- lawful to have the book before the eye in time of singing a psalm." " The triformed presbytery, consisting of three kinds of elders," he held to be " none of God's ordinance, but man's device " ; he maintained that " lay elders (so called) are antichristian " ; and insisted that " in contributing to the church treasury there ought to be both a separation from them that are without and a sanctification of the whole action by prayer and thanksgiving." In most of these points Smyth undoubtedly made a wrong and impracticable application of principles ; but underlying all v/as the profound conviction of the sole authority of Scripture as it was divinely given, and of the necessity of eliminating from the worship of God every- thing non-spiritual. Early in 1609 (N. S.) Smyth reached the conviction that infant baptism, as lacking Scriptural authorization, was to be rejected as a human invention that makes void an ordinance of Christ ; nay, that it was a " mark of the beast." In this he had the sympathy and support of his church. Having reached the con\-iction that the church of Johnson and Ainsworth was " a false church, falsely constituted in the baptizing of infants and their own un- baptized estate," Smyth and his followers " dissolved their church, . . . and Mr. Smyth, being pastor thereof, gave over his office, as did also the deacons, and devised to enter into a new communion by renouncing their former baptism." ENGLISH GKXERAL BAPTISTS. 4 1 According to the unanimous testimony of contempora- ries and his own apparent admission, Smyth first baptized himself, then Thomas Helwys, and afterward the rest of the company. It is ahnost certain that the rite was ad- ministered by affusion and not by immersion. His oppo- nents make no reference to the form of the rite, which they would almost certainly have done if it had deviated from current practice ; and the entire harmony of Smyth and his party in this matter with the Mennonites, who at this time practiced affusion, would seem decisive in favor of the supposition that they conformed to the common practice. The chief reproach that the opponents of Smyth and his brethren sought to cast upon the new organization was that of introducing baptism anew and of se-baptism. The following is Smyth's answer to the reproach of in- stability : " To change a false religion is commendable and to retain a false religion is damnable. For a man of a Turk to become a Jew, of a Jew to become a Papist, of a Papist to become a Protestant, are all commendable changes though they all of them befall one and the same person in one year ; nay, if it were in one month : so that not to change religion is evil simply ; and therefore, that we should fall from the profession of Puritanism to Brownism, and from Brovv^nism to true Christian baptism, is not sim- ply evil or reprovable in itself, except it be proved that we have fallen from true religion ; if we, therefore, being formerly deceived in the way of pedobaptistry, now do embrace the truth in the true Christian apostolic baptism, then let no man impute this as a fault unto us." Smyth justified his act in instituting baptism anew on grounds entirely satisfactory to modern Baptists. He claimed that he and his followers had just as much right to " baptize themselves " as his opponents had " to set up a true church." " For if a true church," he proceeds, 42 INTRODUCTIOX. " may be erected, whicli is the most noble ordinance of tlie New Testament, then much more baptism. ... If they must recover them, men must begin so to do, and then two men joining together may make a church." He maintained that " any man raised up after the apostasy of antichrist, in tlie recovering of the cliurch by baptism," may " administer it upon himself in communion with others." The necessity for this procedure lay in the fact " that there was no church to whom we could join with a good conscience to have baptism from them." It is probable that Smyth's rejection of infant baptism was due in some measure to the influence of the Mennon- ites, who were numerous and well established in Amster- dam. A few months after the introduction of believers' baptism and the reorganization of the church, Smyth, un- fortunately, became convinced that he had made a serious mistake in introducing baptism anew. Under the in- fluence of the Socinianizing Mennonism of the time and place he adopted the Mennonite (Hofmannite) view of Christ's human nature, denied original sin and the imputa- tion of Adam's sin, insisted that men are justified partly by their own inherent righteousness, and maintained that the church and ministry must come by succession, that an elder of one church is an elder of all churches in the world, and that magistrates may not be members of Christ's church and retain their magistracy. For these errors he and his followers were excluded by a majority of the church he had founded, under the leadership of Thomas Helwys and John Murton. The excluded members to the number of thirty-two made application to the Mennonite Church for admission, humbly confessing and repenting of their error in having undertaken " to baptize themselves contrary to the order laid down by Christ." Helwys and his party besought the Mennonite brethren to take wise counsel — GENERAL BAPTISTS. 43 and that from God's word — " how you deal in this cause betwixt us and those that are justly for their sins cast out from us." The Mennonites had become exceedingly cau- tious from past experience, and postponed action until they could consult with brethren outside of Amsterdam. On various pretexts Smyth and his party were long re- fused admission. A Mennonite brother provided them with a meeting-place, and they continued to sustain friendly but not organic relations with the Mennonite Church until 1614, two years after Smyth's death. Helwys and Murton took a most pronounced stand against Smyth's insistence on apostolic succession, declar- ing that succession " is antichrist's chief hold, and that it is Jewish and ceremonial, an ordinance of the Old Testament, but not of the New." " How dare any man or men," they add in their letter to the Mennonites from which the above is taken, " challenge unto themselves a preeminence here- in, as though the Spirit of God was only in their hearts, and the word of God only to be fetched at their mouths, and the ordinance of God only to be had from their hands, except they were apostles? . . . This is contrary to the liberty of the gospel, which is free for all men at all times and in all places." They likewise took strong exception to the position "that elders must ordain elders." "If this be a perpetual rule," they ask the Mennonites, "then from whom is your eldership come? And if one church might once ordain, then why not all churches always? " From the exclusion of Smyth and his adherents onward, Helwys and Murton were the leaders of what afterward came to be known as the General Baptists. Smyth con- tinued till his death to antagonize pedobaptism, and few have ever presented the Baptist argument in a more con- vincing manner. Smyth claimed that the English sepa- 44 INTRODUCTION. ratists had placed themselves in a position that they could not consistently hold. They had renounced the Church of England as apostate, and yet had been content with the baptism and the ordination that they had received in connection with that body ; they claimed to be striv- ing to set up churches of the regenerate, but continued to baptize infants, and without claiming that they were re- generated thereby, to give them a c^uasi- membership in their churches. Some of the opponents of Smyth, appar- ently under the influence of his arguments, abandoned the extreme separatist position in favor of what is known as semi-separatism. Smyth and Helwys, and the followers of the latter, were equally clear in their apprehension and statement of the Baptist doctrine of liberty of conscience. In a long- confession of faith prepared apparently by Smyth about 1611, Art. 84 reads: "That the magistrate is not by vir- tue of his office to meddle with religion or matters of con- science, to force or compel men to this or that form of religion or doctrine, but to leave Christian religion free to every man's conscience, and to handle only civil trans- gressions (Rom. xiii.), injuries, and wrongs of man against man, in murder, adultery, theft, etc., for Christ only is the king and lawgiver of the church and conscience (James iv. 12)." Helwys wrote: " The king is a mortal man and not God, therefore hath no power over the immortal souls of his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them, and to set spiritual lords over them. If the king have author- ity to make spiritual lords and laws, then he is an immortal God and not a mortal man." Helwys became convinced that fidelity to Christ required that he should proclaim the truth to his owai countrymen in England, and that to remain in exile was cowardly. GEXERAL BAPTISTS. 45 Flight from persecution, he believed, " had been the over- throw of religion in this island ; the best, ablest, and greater part being gone, and leaving behind them some few who, by the others' departure, have had their affliction and contempt increased, hath been the cause of many falling back, and of their ad\ersaries' rejoicing." In 161 1 or 1612 he returned to England with most or all of his followers, and the church took up its abode in London. It was this company of believers who set forth from 1614 onward those noble pleas for liberty of conscience that expounded the doctrine with a fullness and persuasiveness not greatly surpassed even by Roger Williams, and to which Williams himself seems to have been greatly indebted. '^ Helwys did not go so far as Smyth in the direction of Socinianism, but wrote vigorously in defense of the posi- tion " that God's decree is not the cause of any man's sin or condemnation, and that all men are redeemed by Christ ; as also that no infants are condemned." He took a de- cided position, in opposition to the Mennonites, in favor of the true humanity of Christ and in favor of magistracy as an ordinance of God which " deBarreth not any from being of the church of Christ." Helwys's tract against flight from persecution was elaborately answered by John Robinson, to whose citations we are indebted for our knowledge of this document. A number of his writings have been preserved, but are very rare. Fortunately a considerable body of correspondence be- tween the English Baptists and the Mennonites of Holland, dating from 1624 to 1626, has been preserved in the archives of the Mennonite church of Amsterdam, and has been made available. From this correspondence the fol- 1 Tracts on lilierty of conscience, in the Hanserd Knoliys Society's col- lection. 46 INTR on uc riox. lowing facts may be gathered or inferred: (i) That Hel- wys had passed away and that John Murton (or Morton) was now their chief leader. (2) That there were five con- gregations in close fellowship, viz., in London, Lincoln, Sarum, Coventry, and Tiverton. (3) That the London church had excommunicated one Elias Tookey, with a number of his followers, on account of their opinion about bearing with and tolerating the weak or those of little understanding in scriptural matters, who, however, were very conscientious in everything they knew, and peaceful and quiet in the church. From Tookey's own letter it would seem that some of the weak ones he desired to tol- erate were deniers of the deity of Christ. It seems prob- able that Tookey's own views on this subject were Socin- ian rather than Trinitarian. This transaction would seem to show that the great majority of the English Baptists at this time laid considerable stress on right doctrinal views with respect to the person of Christ. (4) That both par- ties were eager to secure recognition by the Mennonites of Holland, and to enter into union with them. It is evident that now at last, after Helwys's death, the principles of Smyth had come to prevail. These Baptists were willing to yield much in order to secure the consent of the Mennonites to a union. The strength and dignity of the Mennonite churches, and the ability of their ministers, as well as the generosity of these earnest godly people toward the im- poverished English exiles, had profoundly impressed the latter, and they felt the need of the moral support that the union would bring to their persecuted churches in England. (5) They differed from the Mennonites in a number of matters, but these differences, so far as they could not be explained away, they besought their Dutch friends to tolerate, at least for a time. The chief differ- ences seem to have been with reference to oaths, magis- GENERAL BAPTISTS. 47 tracy, warfare, and the weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper. The Mennonites celebrated the Supper once or twice a year and were opposed to the weekly celebration ; the English found great comfort in the weekly celebration and pleaded earnestly to be tolerated in this practice. The English did not see their way to reject oaths, magistracy, and warfare entirely, and asked for toleration of slight dif- ferences of opinion in these matters also. The Mennonites limited the administration of the ordinances to such as had received ordination ; the English sought to explain their practice as substantially in accord with that of the Men- nonites, but they would extend the privilege of adminis- tering the ordinances, in the absence of an ordained min- ister, to teachers and evangelists recognized as such by the church. The efforts at union would seem to have been unsuccessful. The Mennonites were too inflexible in their positions to make compromises. After 1626 the General Baptists made rapid progress. By 1644 they are said to have had forty-seven churches, and by 1660 their membership had reached about 20,000. During the eighteenth century they shared in the general decline of religious life, and their Arminian principles made them peculiarly susceptible to the deadening influence of Socinianism. Most of their churches became openly Uni- tarian. As a result of the great revival under the leader- ship of the Wesleys and Whitefield the New Connection of General Baptists was formed in 1760 on an evangelical basis. As thus reorganized they still constitute a respect- able party in England, and are now closely associated with the Particular Baptists. 48 INTRODUCTIO.Y. VI. THE ENGLISH PARTICULAR BAPTISTS.^ The appellative " Particular" as applied to Baptists has reference to their doctrine of redemption as limited to the elect, in contradistinction to the doctrine of universal re- demption from which the General Baptists derived their designation. The rise of the Particular Baptists was as follows: in 1616 Henry Jacob, an Oxford graduate, who had been converted to Congregational views by Francis Johnson, and who had been for some years pastor of an English congregation at Middelburg, Zeeland, returned to England with a number of his church-members, and settled at Southwark, London. He doubtless soon gathered into his congregation the scattered members of earlier churches, so far as these had survived and remained in the vicinity. Jacob's church was to be the mother of the English Inde- pendents and of the Particular Baptists as well. Discour- aged by the threatening aspect of ecclesiastical affairs, Jacob emigrated to Virginia in 1624. He was succeeded in the pastorate by John Lathrop, a Cambridge graduate. Pastor and people sufifered almost constant persecution under Archbishop Laud. In 1632 forty of the members, including the pastor, were thrown into prison. Lathrop was released in 1634, but felt obliged to emigrate to New England. During Lathrop's pastorate a number withdrew " because the congregation kept not to their first principles of separation," and because they were " convinced that baptism was not to be administered to infants, but only to such as professed faith in Christ." According to an account attributed to William Klffin, a prominent actor in a later secession and afterward one of 1 See Evans, (lould, Crosl)y, Ivimey, Masson, and tlic Ilansenl KnoIIys Society's publications. rARTICL'LAR BAPTISTS. 49 the most influential of the Particular Baptist leaders, " the church, considering that they were now grown very numer- ous, and so more than could, in these times of persecution, conveniently meet together, and believing also that those persons acted from a principle of conscience and not ob- stinacy, agreed to allow them the liberty they desired, and that they should be constituted a distinct church, which they performed the 12th of September, 1633. And as they believed that baptism was not rightly administered to infants, so they looked upon the baptism they had received in that age as invalid ; whereupon most or all of them received a new baptism. Their minister was Mr. John Spilsbury." According to a record of the original church, in 1638 seven others, whose names are given, " desiring to depart and not to be censured, our interest in them was remitted, with prayer made in their behalf, . . . they having first forsaken us and joined with Mr. Spilsbury." Spilsbury felt no difficulty about the new introduction of believers' baptism, maintaining that " baptizedness is not essential to the administrator," and repudiating the demand for apostolic succession as leading logically to " the popedom of Rome." The Baptist leaven would continue to work in this con- gregation until the whole mass should have been leavened. According to the " Kiffin Manuscript," " 1640, 3d month. The church became two by mutual consent, just half being with Mr. P. Barebone, and the other half with Mr. H. Jessey. Mr. Richard Blunt with him, being convinced of baptism, that also it ought to be by dipping the body into the water, resembling burial and rising again (Col. ii. 12; Rom. \i. 4), had sober conference about it in the church ; and then with some of the forenamed, who also were so convinced, and after prayer and conference about their so so INTROD UCTIOX. enjoying it, none having then so practiced in England to professed believers, and hearing that some in the Nether- lands had so practiced, they agreed and sent over Mr. Richard Blunt (who understood Dutch) with letters of com- mendation, who was kindly accepted there, and returned with letters from them, John Batte, a teacher there and from that church, to such as sent him. 1641. They pro- ceed on therein — viz., those persons that were persuaded baptism should be by dipping the body had met in tw^o companies and did intend so to meet after this ; all these agreed to proceed alike together, and then manifesting (not by any formal words) a covenant (which word w^as scrupled by some of them), but by mutual desires and agreement each testified, these two companies did set apart one to baptize the rest, so it was solemnly performed by them. Mr. Blunt baptized Mr. Blacklock, that was a teacher amongst them, and Mr. Blunt being baptized, he and Mr. Blacklock baptized the rest of their friends that were so minded, and many being added to them, they in- creased much." Among those who seceded with Spilsbury in 1633, and who were immersed in 1641, was Mark Lukar, who was afterward to occupy the position of ruling elder and to be a leading worker in John Clarke's church at Newport, R. I., of which he was "one of the first founders" (Felt), and who died at Newport at an advanced age in 1676, " leav- ing the character of a very w^orthy walker." This point of connection between the earliest Particular Baptist church of England and one of the two earliest American Baptist churches has hitherto, so far as the writer is aware, been overlooked, and is of considerable importance. William Kithn was not of the number baptized on the occasion referred to, but seems to have become a leader among the immersionists during 1642 ; for in October of PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. 5 I this year he took part in a disputation with Dr. Featley at Southwark. Kiffin, besides ministering to a congregation and taking a leading part in denominational matters, was greatly prospered in trade and became possessed of ample means, which he used with liberality for the advancement of the Baptist cause. In 1643 further trouble arose in Jessey's church on the matter of infant baptism. Hanserd Knollys had returned from New England and had become a member of this church. Kiffin's account of the matter is as follows : " Hanserd Knollys, our brother, not being satisfied for baptizing his child, after it had been endeavored by the elder and by one or two more, himself referred to the church then, that they might satisfy him or he rectify them if amiss herein : which was well accepted. Hence meetings were appointed for conference about it." Kiffin was engaged in these conferences, which lasted from Jan- uar)^ II till March 17, 1644 (N. S.), "the issue whereof was the conviction of sixteen members against pedobap- tism." These withdrew, Jessey and his friends agreeing: " (i) Not to excommunicate, no, nor admonish, which is only to obstinate. (2) To count them still of our church and pray [for] and love them. (3) Desire conversing to- gether so far as their principles permit them." There is something delightful about the good-will with which these successive divisions occurred. A parallel case would be difficult to find. Kiffin seems to have organized a new church some time during the year 1644. By October of this year there were seven Particular l^aptist churches, on whose behalf Kiffin, Patience, Spilsbury, and others signed a " Confes- sion of Faith, of those churches which are commonly (though falsely) called Anabaptists." The aim of the confession was purely apologetical. Baptists had been 5- INTRODUCTIOX. accused in a number of polemical writings of holding to the most monstrous errors, and of being capable, under favorable circum.stances, of perpetrating the atrocities of Miinster. The document is a clear setting forth of Calvin- istic doctrine, along with a statement of baptist views on the ordinances. To guard against even the semblance of sacerdotalism it is stated that " the person designed by Christ to dispense baptism the Scripture holds forth to be a disciple ; it being nowhere tied to a particular church- officer or person extraordinarily sent, the commission en- joining the administration being given to them as consid- ered disciples, being men able to preach the gospel." The confession is in almost every detail in thorough accord with the views of modern American Baptists. In 1645 Henry Jessey himself, pastor of the original Congregational church from which the materials for seven Baptist churches had gone forth, was baptized by Hanserd Knollys. Part of the remaining membership followed his example, while a part still adhered to infant baptism but retained their membership in the mixed church. By 1646, when a second edition of the confession was issued, a French Particular Baptist church had been added. A few remarks seem called for by the obscurity of some of the statements quoted above. It is not possible out of the material that has thus far come to light to trace in de- tail the evolution of the seven churches that signed the confession of 1644. The statement quoted from the so- called " Kiffin Manuscript" with reference to the division of 1640 involves a number of difficulties. P. Barebone, with whom half of the church withdrew, has commonly been regarded by Baptist writers as a Baptist. Yet in 1642 he published " A Discourse tending to prove the Baptism in, or under, the Defection of Antichrist to be the Ordinance of Jesus Christ, as also that the Baptism of PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. 53 Infants or Children is Warrantable, and Agreeable to the Word of God," and in 1643 and 1644 he published other polemical tracts against antipedobaptism. If in 1641 he was the leader of the antipedobaptist and immersionist half of the dividing congregation he must soon after have abandoned his position. This is, of course, possible. From the construction of the sentence Jessey might be taken to be the leader of the Baptist half; but it appears that Jessey did not become a Baptist till five years later. This difficulty seems inexplicable without further materials. The party in Holland from whom Blunt received bap- tism were the Rhynsburgers or Collegiants, a party derived probably from the Socinian antipedobaptists (1619), and, like them, practicing immersion. They had much in com- mon with the Plymouth Brethren of the present century, laying great stress on freedom of prophesying, having no regular ministry, and baptizing freely, without doctrinal examination, those who professed faith in Christ. It seems not a little strange that these English Calvinistic Baptists should have thought their position improved by receiving baptism from such a source. It was an almost inevitable consequence of the circum- stances under which these churches were formed that open communion should have been to some extent practiced. The separations were from the beginning peaceful, and when the pastor of the original congregation became a Baptist, pedobaptist members remained in the church. Mixed churches involved open communion. William Kiffin became a staunch advocate of restricted commun- ion; Henry Jessey, John Tombes, John Bunyan, and others advocated and practiced open communion. Re- stricted communion gained ground during the eighteenth century; but toward the close of that century and dur- ing the present century, under the influence of Robert 54 INTRODUCTION. Robinson, Robert Hall, and Charles H. Spurgeon, open communion has become very general among English, but not among Welsh and Scotch, Baptists. Yet the number of close-communion churches in England is still consider- able. From 1645 until the Revolution (1688) the Particular Baptists rapidly increased in numbers and influence. In the Parliamentary army a large proportion of officers and soldiers were Baptists. Through the army Baptist churches were founded in Ireland and Scotland. Through the ef- forts of men like John Myles and Vavasour Powell, Baptist principles were planted in Wales, which proved highly fruitful soil. Baptists are said to have been chiefly instru- mental in preventing Cromwell from assuming the dignity and prerogatives of royalty. They became greatly dissat- isfied with Cromwell's military government, and many of them were prepared to aid in the restoration of Charles II., who was lavish in his promises of toleration. John Milton was an antipedobaptist and an advocate of believers' bap- tism, but there is no evidence of his having connected himself with a Baptist church. A number of prominent Baptists (including Jessey, Tombes, Dyke, and Myles) joined heartily in Cromwell's state-church scheme, acting as mem- bers of his Board of Tryers to pass upon the qualifications of candidates for the ministry, and accepting pastorates of state- endowed churches. Under Charles II. Baptists suffered severe persecution, along with other dissenting parties. The imprisonment of John Bunyan, which is familiar, is a sample of what Bap- tists had to endure from the execution of the Act of Uni- formity, the Conventicle Act, the Five-mile Act, and the Corporation and Test Acts. With the Act of Toleration, under William and Mary (1689), a period of religious depression set in. At this PARTICULAR BAPTISTS. 55 time the Particular Baptists numbered many thousands. More than a hundred churches united in adopting a Bap- tist recension of the Westminster Confession, which has proved the most important and influential confession ever put forth by Baptists. In a slightly modified form it has been widely accepted by American Baptists as " the Phil- adelphia Confession." During the eighteenth century the Particular Baptists made little progress. In opposition to the current Socin- ianism a hard and barren hyper- Calvinism was developed, in accordance with which evangelistic efifort is an imperti- nence. Through the influence of the evangelical revival of the middle of the eighteenth century the Calvinism of John Gill and John Brine gradually gave way to the more benignant teaching of Andrew Fuller and Robert Hall, and the great missionary movement inaugurated by William Carey became a possibility. PVom this time onward Eng- lish Baptists have had a highly honorable history, though their American brethren are convinced that their progress has been hindered by the prevalence of open communion. Particular and General Baptists have gradually ap- proached each other until the union of the two bodies has been virtually consummated, and the distinctive names will doubtle-ss soon be dropped. The Baptists of all parties in Britain number (1893) 342,507, of whom a large majority are of the Particular Baptist stock. The relations of English Baptists to those of America have naturally been most intimate. Nearly all of the early American churches had among their constituent members those who had belonged to English Baptist churches, and nearly all received accessions from the mother-country from time to time. Through their generous beneficence, and their literature also, the English Baptists have pro- foundlv influenced those of the New World. It need 56 INTRODUCTIUX. hardly be said tliat in later times the influence through literature and otherwise has been reciprocal. During the American Revolution English Baptists as a body sympa- thized deeply with their American brethren in their strug- gle for civil and religious liberty, regarding their own liberty in England as involved in the issue. ^ 1 See letter of Dr. Rippon to President Manning in " Baptist Memorial," vol. iv., p. 133. PERIOD I. FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA TO THE GREAT AWAKENING (1639- 1740). 57 THE BAPTISTS. CHAPTER I. ROGER WILLIAMS AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.^ To Roger Williams belongs the distinction of being the first in America to introduce believers' baptism and to or- ganize a church on Baptist principles. He was probably born in London about 1600."- Under the patronage of Sir Edward Coke, the famous jurist, he was educated at Sutton's Hospital and at the University of Cambridge, proceeding Bachelor of Arts in 1627. Whether during or shortly after the completion of his university course, he was led to adopt rigorous separatist principles. The Eng- land of 1630 was no place for nonconformists. In Decem- ber of that year he set sail for New England, hoping there to be permitted to enjoy a measure of soul liberty denied him at home, and not without expectation of being able to exert some wholesome influence on the development of the 1 On this and the following chapter see " Pub. Nar. CI." ; " Rec. of the Col. of R. I.," i. ; Arnold, i. ; Caldwell in " Bapt. Qu.," 1872, pp. 385 s,-(]., "Hist. Disc.," and "His. First Bap. Ch. in Prov. ; " Dexter, "As to R. W. ; " W^inthrop ; Backus, " Hist. ; " Knowles ; Gammell ; Straus; Bar- rows in " Bap. Qu.," 1876, pp. 353 seq.; Hubbard; Hutchinson; Lechford; Mather ; and Comer. 2 " New Eng. Gen. Register," 1S89, pp. 291 seij. Straus favors 1607 as the year of his Ijirth. 59 5o THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. New World. " Truly it was as bitter as death to me," he wrote some years later to the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, " when Bishop Laud pursued me out of this land, and my conscience was persuaded against the national church and ceremonies and bishops, beyond the conscience of your dear father. I say it was as bitter as death to me, when I rode Windsor way to take ship at Bristol, and saw Stoke House, where the blessed man was, and I then durst not acquaint him with my conscience and my flight." There can be no doubt but that he made considerable sacrifice, not in sentiment alone, but in position and pros- pects as well, in thus loyally following the dictates of con- science. " God knows," he wrote forty years afterward, " what gains and preferments I have refused in universities, city, country, and court in Old England, and something in New England, to keep my soul undefiled in this point, and not to act with a doubting conscience." He was not only an accomplished scholar (he was familiar with the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, and French languages), but he had a dignity of bearing, an eloquence and persua- siveness of tongue and pen, and a force of character, that, apart from his influential connections, would have com- manded for him the highest positions at home or abroad. Landing in New England in February, 1631, an at- tractive opening almost immediately presented itself. The pastor of the Boston church was returning to England and Williams was invited to supply his place. Did he accept the invitation ? Far from it. The Boston church was " an unseparated church," and he "durst not officiate to" it. He was prompted to gi\e utterance, while in Boston, to a conviction, formed no doubt long before — familiar and com- monplace now, startling and revolutionary then and there — that the magistrate may not punish any sort of " breach of the first table," such as idolatry. Sabbath-breaking, false Chap, i.] ROGER WILLIAMS. 6 1 worship, blasphemy, etc. ; and he had thus succeeded in convincing" the leading- men of the colony that he was an impracticable and dangerous man — all the more dangerous because of his splendid gifts and his unswerving loyalty to conscience. It was only what might have been expected, when the Salem church a few months later invited him to be their teacher, that six of the leading men of Boston should have sent a joint letter of warning to Governor Endicott of Salem. Thus prevented from settling at Salem, he betook himself to the older and more thor- oughly separatist Plymouth colony, where he was cordially received, and soon became associated as teacher with Ralph Smith, pastor of the church. Here he remained about two years. According to Go\'ernor Bradford, " his teaching- was well approved, for the benefit whereof I still bless God, and am thankful to him even for his sharpest ad- monitions and reproofs, so far as they agreed with truth." According to Brewster, elder of the church, toward the close of the period Williams began to " vent " " divers of his own singular opinions," and to "seek to impose them upon others." " Not finding such concurrence as he ex- pected, he desired his dismission to the church of Salem," which, with considerable reluctance on the part of some, was granted. It is certain that the influential people of Boston were industriously fostering any spirit of dissatis- faction that may have arisen. During his stay at Plymouth he spent much time with the Indians, and succeeded in so far mastering their language as to be able to converse freely with them and afterward to write " The Key into the Language of America," w^hich he hoped might proxe an important aid in the evangelization of the natives of the entire continent. His friendship with the Indians was afterward of incalculable advantage not only to himself but to his fellow-colonists. " Mv soul's desire," he wrote 62 77/^ BAPTISTS. [Per. i. some time afterward, " was to do the natives good. God was pleased to give me a painful, patient spirit to lodge with them in their filthy, smoky holes, even when I lived at Plymouth and Salem, to gain their tongue." So great was his influence over them that if he had been bent on making mere nominal Christians of them, he could, he thought, have baptized whole tribes. In August, 1634, he was invited to succeed Skelton in the pastorate of the Salem church, having since his arrival served as assistant pastor. The Boston authorities re- monstrated, and a struggle ensued that resulted in Wil- liams's banishment in the midst of winter, January, 1636. Befriended by the Indians, after much hardship he reached Narragansett Bay, where he secured land from the Indians and established a colony on the principle of absolute lib- erty of conscience. The controversy of Roger Williams with the Massachu- setts authorities that led to his banishment, and the literary controversy that was carried on between W^iiliams and Cotton some years after the former had established a col- ony of his own, are matters of such importance in them- selves, and have been the occasion of so much partisan writing on the part of Baptists and the defenders of the standing order alike, that a clear statement of the facts seems here desirable. It need scarcely be said that the idea of liberty of conscience, though it had been advocated, as we have seen, by the antipedobaptists of the sixteenth century, and though it had been set forth with the utmost distinctness and emphasis by the General Baptists of Eng- land during the twenty years just preceding Williams's controversy with the New England authorities, had not dawned upon the minds of the men of Massachusetts Bay. If anybody felt impelled to teach or practice anything at variance with the teachings and practices of the standing CiiAi'. I.] ROGER WILLIAMS. 63 order, the world was wide and there was room enough outside of the jurisdiction of the company ; inside he could not remain. The year after Williams's arrival (1632) it was enacted that, " to the end that the body of the com- mons may be preserved of honest and good men, . . . for the time to come no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." Exclusion from a church meant loss of citizenship, and the General Court was ready to execute ecclesiastical censures. We can scarcely conceive of a more perfect equipment for the exercise of tyranny and the violation of conscience than existed in this small community thus theocratically organ- ized. That this theocratic legislation was not a dead letter on the statute-book we shall soon see. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that men of convictions and conscience are not always the most agree- able members of society. The man who concentrates his attention upon one or two matters that seem to the great body of his contemporaries of minor moment, and advo- cates his peculiar views in such a way as to cause division and to bring the community into bad repute, can scarcely expect to be cordially treated in any age or in any land. The man who is travailing in spirit with a great revolu- tionary idea is likely to do far less than justice to other ideas and to existing institutions, and to act without re- gard to immediate consequences. Roger Williams was a man of profound convictions on a particular class of sub- jects. To us the importance of .some of the matters upon which he fixed his attention is manifest ; but we are forced to admit that he was often extreme and inconsiderate in the pressing of his convictions. The vast importance of the absolute .separation of church and state, of complete separation from an apostate church, and of absolute liberty 54 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. of conscience, had completely mastered his soul, and con- siderations of expediency were as dust in the balance in comparison. We can do him full honor for his consistent advocacy of these principles in season and out of season, without being unduly severe in our judgment of his op- ponents and persecutors. Let us look more particularly at the points in which he came in conflict with the standing order : 1. He was an ardent separatist, regarding the Church of England as utterly apostate, and considering it a sin to have any sort of communion with it — a sin so grievous as to place those guilcy of it, or who had fellowship with those guilty of it, outside the pale of his fellowship. This view he remorselessly pressed, from the date of his arrival till that of his expulsion, at great self-sacrifice and to the unspeakable discomfort of those who did not see eye to eye with him in this matter. 2. He was radically and unalterably opposed to the charter of the company, and regarded the colony as com- mitting an enormous sin in living under it. He insisted on having it returned to King Charles without delay as an accursed thing. In his opinion it contained " matter of falsehood and injustice — falsehood in making the king the first Christian prince who had discovered these parts, and injustice in giving the country to his EngHsh subjects which belonged to the native Indians." According to his own account of the matter, written some years later, he and others — " not a few " — were convinced of " the sin of the patents, wherein Christian kings (so called) are invested with right, by virtue of their Christianity, to take and give away the lands of other men ; as also the unchristian oaths swallowed down at their coming forth from Old England, especially in the superstitious Laud's time and domineer- ing. And I know these thoughts so deeply aflflicted the Chap, i.] ROGER IVILLLIMS. 65 soul of the discusser, in the time of his walkint^ in the way of New Enghmd's worship, that he at hist came to a per- suasion that such sins could not be expiated without re- turning again into England, or a public acknowledgment and confession of so-and-so departing. To this purpose, before his troubles and banishment, he drew up a letter (not without the approbation of some of the chief of New England, then tender also upon this point before God) directed unto the king himself, humbly acknowledging the evil of that part of the patent which respects the donation of land, etc. This letter and other endeavors (tending to wash off public sins and, above all, to pacify and give glory unto God) it may be that counsels from flesh and blood suppressed." From Governor Winthrop's account it ap- pears that Williams charged King James with blasphemy for calling Europe Christendom, and applied to King Charles some of the most opprobrious epithets in the Apocalypse. To this, among other causes, Williams at- tributed his banishment. When we reflect upon the ex- treme danger in which the colony stood from unfriendly interference on the part of the home government, it is easy to realize the consternation into which the utterance of such sentiments, and especially the proposal to write the king in person, setting forth the iniquity of the patent, must have thrown the responsible leaders of the colony. The ordinary arguments by which the appropriation of lands occupied by savage peoples was defended and is still defended were used in vain on Roger Williams. The rep- resentation of the fearful peril to which he was exposing the colony made no impression whatever upon him. Con- science was uttering its x'oice, and it should not, in him at least, go unheeded. 3. Equally strong and unalterable were his convictions afjainst the administration of oaths to the unregenerate. 66 THE BAPTISTS. [Pkk. t. and the inviting of such to join in prayer or in any act of worship. To protect itself against disloyal persons who were likely to cause disharmony in the colony and to send slanderous and injurious reports to England, it was de- cided soon after Williams's arrival to administer an oath of fidelity to the people indiscriminately. Most vehemently did Williams oppose the oath, " partly," according to John Cotton, " because it was Christ's prerogative to have his office established by oath; partly because an oath was a part of God's worship, and God's worship was not to be put upon carnal persons, as he conceived many of the people to be." "So by his tenet," Cotton proceeds, " neither might church-members nor other godly men take the oath, because it was the establishment, not of Christ, but of mortal men in their office ; nor might men out of the church take it, because in his eye they were but carnal." Such sturdy opposition to a favorite measure did not tend to gain for Williams the favor of the court, especially as that self-respecting body felt itself obliged thereby "to desist from that proceeding." 4. But the immediate and probably the most influential causes of Williams's banishment were his defiant attitude toward the court and the leading churches of the colony in accepting the pastorate of the Salem church against their earnest and oft- repeated protest, and the proceedings of the Salem church and colony under his direction with reference to a certain piece of land. Salem colonists peti- tioned the Massachusetts Bay Court for a tract of land near Marblehead to which they considered themselves entitled. What more natural than that the court should make its favorable action conditional on the church's making amends for its insolent conduct in installing Williams as pastor against the remonstrance of court and ministers? Do we wonder that Williams and his church were thoroughly in- Chap, i.] ROGER WILLIAMS. Gj dignant at this undisguised attempt to influence church action by a bribe? Wisely or unwisely, they framed a red-hot denunciation of the procedure, and sent it to the other churches, calling their attention to the grievous sin committed by their members, the magistrates. The aim of the Salem church would seem to have been to induce the churches to compel the magistrates, by disciplinary means, to deal righteously or else to vacate their offices. Williams has been charged with inconsistency in being a party to such an admonition; but it is not clear why the Salem church was not justified in appealing to sister- churches to discipline members that had committed griev- ous wrong. It was not against magistrates as such, but against off'ending church-members, that the complaint was uttered. But however justifiable the procedure may have been, it was certainly in the highest degree impolitic. The churches and magistrates were irritated thereby be- yond measure, and proceeded to labor so vigorously with the offending church as to induce a majority to abandon their heroic pastor and to consent to his removal. Williams on his part was led to denounce in scathing language the Massachusetts churches, and to renounce communion with them. Further, he would have no fellowship with the Salem church unless it would join him in denouncing and disfellowshiping the other churches. A majority of the members refusing so to do, he never entered the church again, but held services in his own house with such as were faithful to his principles. The decision to banish Williams was not hastily reached. Indeed, if we bear in mind the court's freedom from con- scientious scruples as to the employment of force in mat- ters of religion, and the pertinacity with which Williams advocated views regarded as unsettling and dangerous, we can scarcely fail to admire the forbearance of this body. 68 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. The processes that resuhed in his banishment extended over more than a year. In December, 1634, Wilhams was summoned to appear before the next session of the court, to be held in the following March. The charges preferred were those of preaching against the charter, and his " usual terming of the Church of England antichris- tian." John Cotton, the Boston minister, persuaded the court " to forbear ci\'il prosecution " until the ministers should have " dealt with him in a church way to convince him of sin." Meanwdiile arose the difficulty as to the free- man's oath already referred to. He was arraigned before the court and, in the opinion of his opponents, though by no means in his own, " confuted " by the ministers. But the court was not prepared even yet to adopt extreme measures. At about this time (May, 1635) the Salem church, in defiance of the court and the ministers, proceeded to make Williams full pastor. Williams was no doubt en- couraged by this show of confidence to continue his sharp denunciations of charter and oaths. In July he \vas again summoned to court, and charged with advocating opinions dangerous to the common welfare. Besides the matters already mentioned, he is charged with maintaining " that a man ought not to pray with the unregenerate," and " that a man ought not to give thanks after the sacrament nor after meat." The controversy about the Marblehead land followed. A decree of banishment was issued Octo- ber 19, 1635, to take effect within six weeks. A severe illness, contracted while attending court, prevented the carrying out of the decree within the appointed time, and Williams was permitted to remain until spring, pro\-ided he would abstain from teaching his peculiar views. It transpired, however, that his sympathizers were in the habit of gathering at his house, and that he was disre- garding the restriction. Arrangements were made to Chap, i.] A'0G£A' WILLIAMS. 69 seize him and transport him to England, where he might experience the tender mercies of Laud. Forewarned, he took refuge in the wilderness. He made his way to his Indian friends, who shared with him such comforts as they had. " I was sorely tossed for one fourteen weeks," he wrote some time afterward, " not knowing what bread or bed did mean." He complains bitterly in another writing of having been " exposed to winter miseries in a howHng wilderness." He firmly believed that if he had perished in his wilderness wanderings his blood would have been on the heads of his persecutors. " If we were forced to adopt a modern designation for him," writes Professor Masson, referring to Roger William.s, " we should call him the father of all that has figured any- where, in Great Britain or in the United States or in the British colonies, under the name of voluntaryism." Else- where he designates him as an " arch-individualist." If by "father" is to be understood "originator," the ex- pression is far too strong ; for, as we have seen, the Gen- eral Baptists of England were a score of years in advance of him in their advocacy of these very principles, and Wil- liams's direct indebtedness to their pleas for liberty of con- science is indisputable. But if the expression be taken to mean that by his persistent and zealous advocacy of these views, and by his successful embodying of them in a civil constitution, he first brought them prominently before the English-speaking public, and was instrumental in securing their wide acceptance, we do not demur. Yet even in this matter we should not forget that the honor must be divided with John Clarke. Roger Williams advocated the most complete separation of church and state at a time when there was no historical example of such separation ; nay, when to the mass of Christian men everywhere such a separation was almost 70 THE BAPl'lSTS. [Per.i. inconceivable. The following extracts set forth succinctly his view of the relations of church and state : " The civil magistrate either respecteth that religion and worship which his conscience is persuaded is true, and upon which he ventures his soul, or else that and those which he is persuaded are false. Concerning the first, if that which the magistrate believeth to be true be true, I say he owes a threefold duty unto it: First, approbation and countenance, a reverent esteem and honorable testi- mony, . . . with a tender respect for truth and the pro- fessors of it. Secondly, personal submission of his own soul to the power of the Lord Jesus in the spiritual gov- ernment and kingdom. Thirdly, protection of such true professors of Christ, whether apart or met together, as also of their estates, from violence and injury. . . . If it be a false religion (unto which the civil magistrate doth not dare adjoin, yet) he owes : First, permission (for approbation he owes not to that which is evil). . . . Secondly, he owes protection to the persons of his subjects (though of a false worship), that no injury be offered either to the persons or goods of any." Here we have the gist of his contention expressed in his own words. How ably and how voluminously he de- fended the principles involved, by means of Scripture, history, and reason, any one can see who will take the trouble to read " The Bloody Tenent of Persecution," " The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody," and other minor treatises of his bearing on this subject. Some time after Williams's banishment the learned and pious John Cotton felt it his duty to make one more effort to convert him from the error of his ways. In a long letter, afterward publislied, he attempted to justify the New England state-church arrangement, and the employ- ment of the civil magistracy for the execution of ecclesias- Chap, i.] JWGEK WILLIAMS. Jl tical censures. He refused to admit that Williams had been hardly dealt with, and sought to throw the entire responsibility upon Williams himself. He even attributed the severe illness Williams suffered just after the decree of banishment to God's displeasure with his conduct, and suggested that he should consider banishment from a country with whose inhabitants he could have no religious fellowship a blessing rather than a hardship. Williams's somewhat caustic answer to this letter was published soon afterward. Cotton published an elaborate rejoinder, in which he ransacked the Scriptures for materials to be used in justifying the union of church and state and the punish- ment of religious delinquencies by the civil magistracy. His principal reliance was, of course, on the Old Testa- ment; but by unnatural and forced interpretations he sought to bring a number of New Testament passages to the support of his position. He appealed, moreover, to history, and endeavored to show therefrom the utter im- practicability of laisscz faire in religion. He sought, also, to vindicate his own consistency in separating from the Church of England and in denouncing the Laudian regime, and yet in New England refusing toleration to those who differed from him. This called forth Williams's famous " Bloody Tenent of Persecution," already mentioned. Cot- ton replied in " The Bloody Tenent of Persecution Washed in the Blood of the Lamb." Williams rejoined in the most voluminous of all his works, " The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody, by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to Wash it White in the Blood of the Eamb, of whose Precious Blood, spilt in the Blood of His Servants, and of the Blood of Millions spilt in former and later W^ars for Conscience' sake, that most Bloody Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience, upon a second Trial, is found now more apparently and more notoriously guilty." 72 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. It will be impracticable for us to follow Roger Williams in the intricacies of his argument through his thousand pages. A few quotations bearing upon one or other as- pect of the great question of religious liberty must suffice. He .speaks of " that body-killing, soul-killing, and state- killing doctrine of not permitting but persecuting all other consciences and ways of worship but his own in the ci\il state, and so, consequently, in the whole world, if the power or empire were in his [Cotton'.s] hand." Again: " Soul yokes, soul oppression, plunderings, ravishings, etc., are of a crimson and deepest dye, and I belie\'e the chief of England's sins, unstopping the vials of England's pres- ent sorrow^s." " Only tw^o things," he writes, " I shall humbly suggest ... as the greatest causes, fountains, and tap-roots of all the indignation of the Most High against the state and country : First, that the whole na- tions and generations of men have been forced (though unregenerate and unrepentant) to pretend and assume the name of Christ Jesus, which only belongs, according to the institution of the Lord Jesus, to truly regenerate and re- penting souls. Secondly, that all others dissenting from them, whether Jews or Gentiles, their countrymen espe- cially (for strangers have a liberty), have not been permitted ci\il cohabitation in this world with them, but have been distressed and persecuted by them." Again : " The great- est yokes yet lying on English necks are of a spiritual and soul nature." " This tenet of the magistrates' keeping the church from apostatizing, by practicing civil force upon the consciences of men, is so far from preserving religion pure that it is a mighty bulwark or barricade to keep out all true religion ; yea, and all godly magistrates for [from ?] ever coming into the world." Here is a fine bit of sar- casm : " Are the armories of the true King Solomon, Christ Chap, i.] ROGER WILLIAMS. 73 Jesus, disarmed? Are there no spiritual swords girt upon the thighs of those valiant ones that should guard his heav- enly bed, except the sword of steel to be run for from the cutler's shop? Is the religion of Jesus Christ so poor and so weak and so feeble grown, so cowardly and base, that neither the soldiers nor commanders in Christ's army have any courage or skill to withstand sufficiently in all points a false teacher, a false prophet, a spiritual cheater or de- ceiver?" " If the elders and churches and ordinances of Christ have such need of the civil sword for their main- tenance and protection (I mean in spiritual things), sure the Lord Jesus cannot be excused for not being careful either to express this great ordinance in his will and testa- ment, or else to have furnished the ci\il state and officers thereof with ability and hearts for this their great duty and employment, to which he hath called them." As a founder of a State no less than as an advocate of a great principle Roger Williams deserves the gratitude and respect of all lovers of religious and civil liberty ; and it is the glory of the Baptists that the first State ever founded on the principle of absolute liberty of conscience was founded by a man who then and throughout his subse- quent life was one of the staunchest advocates of funda- mental Baptist principles, and who, shortly after he had effected an organization of the body politic, was the first to introduce believers' baptism and to organize a church of baptized believers. Professor Masson describes the civic part of WilHams's life-work as " the organization of a community on the unheard-of principle of absolute re- ligious liberty combined with perfect civil democracy." Having personally secured from the natives for a trifling consideration the land that was needed, he admitted to equal rights with himself twelve " loving friends and 74 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. neighbors," most of whom were, Hke himself, fugitives from Massachusetts for conscience' sake, " and such others as the major part of us shall admit into the same fellow- ship of vote with us." These promised to submit in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agree- ments as should " be made for public good of the body- in an orderly way, by the major consent of the . . . in- habitants, . . . only in civil tldiigsy In a later document Williams writes : " Having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems and natives round about us, and having, in a sense of God's merciful provi- dence unto me in my distress, called the place Providence, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience ; I then, considering the condition of divers of my distressed countrymen, communicated my said purchase to my loving friends." This first organization took place in 1638. In securing the land from the Indians Williams had the valuable assistance of Sir Henry Vane, who also served him very efficiently a few years later in securing a charter. In 1640 another agreement was signed by thirty-nine freemen. Among the articles was the following : " We agree, as formerly hath been the liberties of this town, so still to hold forth liberty of conscience." In 1643 the Rhode Island and the Providence people re- quested Roger Williams to proceed to England for a char- ter. The Civil War was raging when he reached England, and the Presbyterian party was in power. Through the good offices of Sir Henry Vane he obtained a charter for "The Incorporation of Providence Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay, in New England." This charter gave full power to the inhabitants " to rule themselves, and such others as shall hereafter inhabit within any part of the said tract of land, b)^ such form of civil government as by vol- Chap, i.] ROGER WILLIAMS. 75 untaiy consent of all or the greater part of them they shall find most suitable to their estate and condition." Williams had been obliged to sail from New York in going for the charter; but in England he received such recognition as enabled him to return by way of Boston. In 1647 Pro\i- dence and the three Rhode Island towns, Newport, Ports- mouth, and Warwick, united under the charter, and a code of laws, democratic in spirit and providing for liberty of conscience, was adopted. A fuller account of these trans- actions will be given in a subsequent chapter. Difficulties arose again about 165 i, owing to the usurpa- tion of William Coddington, supported by the Massachu- setts authorities. Accompanied by John Clarke, pastor of the Newport Baptist church and one of the most in- fluential men in the colony, Williams again proceeded to England in the interests of his fellow-citizens. Cromwell was now at the head of the government, and their mission proved entirely successful. After the restoration of the Stuarts it was thought best to secure a royal charter and thus to put the colony on a footing of complete equality with Massachusetts. It must be admitted that in becom- ing a party to the securing of a royal charter Roger Wil- liams virtually receded from the radical position respecting charters for which he contended so pertinaciously when in Massachusetts, and which constituted one of the chief causes of his banishment. The staunchest admirers of Williams would hardly seek to justify his earlier position with respect to charters, oaths, rigorous separation from the unregenerate in prayer and other religious exercises, etc. He continued to attach chief importance to the titles to the lands of the colony that he had secured from the native chiefs, but he did not disdain to secure the further advantages which recognition by the English government would give. In fact such recognition proved to be neces- 76 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. sary for preserving the colony from anarchy and from subjugation by the stronger colonies. Apologists for the New England theocracy have at- tempted to show that even in Roger Williams's colony the rights of conscience were not strictly guarded, and that j:)enalties were inflicted for substantially the same classes of offenses as those for which Williams was banished. Among the cases adduced is that of Samuel Gorton, an antinomian and anarchist, and withal one of the most vio- lent agitators and licentious defamers of the time. That Williams should have used his influence in favor of with- holding from such a man the rights of citizenship is thought to be a virtual justification of his own banishment for agitating against the charter and the freeman's oath and for his revolutionary procedures at Salem. This occurred in 1640. Still earlier (i63o industriously that Hubbard, Chap, hi.] HOLMES, LUKAK, AXD ll'EEDEX. i i i Hiscox, and others were soon zealous Sabbatarians. At last they became so convinced of the sinfulness of the neglect of the Sabbath (which they regarded as an ordi- nance of God, binding for all time and transferred by no Scriptural warrant to the first day), and by consequence so censorious and intolerant of the common practice, that in 167 1 a Seventh-Day Baptist church was formed at Newport. Two of Clarke's brothers, Thomas and Joseph, appear among the early members of the Newport church. The latter became somewhat prominent in the affairs of the colony. The first deacon appears to have been William Weeden, and Mark Lukar was designated a " ruling elder." The Baptist cause at Seekonk, Mass., led by Obadiah Holmes, was fostered by Clarke and his brethren, who vis- ited the community for preaching and the administration of baptism. After the meeting had been broken up by the authorities most of the members removed to Newport, where they formed a valuable accession to the church. The evangelistic visit of Clarke, Holmes, and Crandall to Lynn, Mass., to minister to an aged and infirm Baptist, William Witter by name, and possibly to assist others who were inclined to the Baptist way, with the cruel persecu- tion that they suffered there, may be reserved for the next chapter. This occurred in the summer of 165 i. Clarke was soon afterward sent to England as agent of the col- ony. During his prolonged absence the work was car- ried on by Obadiah Holmes and Joseph Torrey, the latter as well as the former one of the Seekonk company. Shortly after Clarke's departure controversy arose with reference to the laying on of hands. Soon after the division in Provi- dence on the ground of this ceremony, in 1652, William Vaughan, a member of the Newport church, who had adopted Six Principle views, visited Providence to submit to the laying on of hands and to arrange for a Six Princi- I 12 THE BAPTISTS. [Pek. i. pie propaganda in Newport. He returned accompanied by Wickenden and Dexter. The time did not prove ripe for the estabhshment of a new congregation, but from thi.s time onward an active and aggressive minority favored insistence on the six principles, and in 1656 a new church was formed on this basis. After his return in 1664 Clarke resumed the leadership of the congregation and was ably assisted by Holmes, Tor- rey, Lukar, and Weeden, who for so many years had been among the chief burden-bearers in the church. Next to Clarke, Torrey was the most prominent man among the Baptists of the island in civil affairs, having been at one time attorney-general and for years general recorder. The church was sadly afflicted in 1676 by the death of four of its standard-bearers. Torrey died early in the year, and was foUow^ed in April by Clarke, in October by Weeden, and in December by Lukar. The church had already suf- fered two schisms, and the Quaker agitation had hindered its progress. When these four noted men had been re- moved by death, those who remained may well have felt discouraged. Obadiah Holmes, already a septuagenarian (he was born about 1606), succeeded to the pastorate and retained it till his death in 1682. He was well educated, and had for many years, at great personal cost, labored in the Bap- tist cause. The narrative of his sufferings in Massachu- setts in 1 65 I will be found in the next chapter. Among the more noted members of the church during the latter part of the century was John Cooke, who had been a Con- o-reffational minister in the Plvmouth colony, and who was converted to Baptist views before 1680 by reading the " Narrative " of Elder Russell, of the Boston church. As a boy he was among the passengers of the " Mayflower " and was still living in 1694. Another prominent member CnAi'. 111.] WILLIAM PECKHAM. II3 was Philip Edes, who, according to Samuel Hubbard, was " one in office in Oliver's [Cromwell's] house, was for lib- erty of conscience, a merchant, a precious man, of a holy life and conversation, beloved of all sorts of men, his death much bewailed by all." As has already been made evi- dent, the First Baptist Church of Newport was strictly Cal- vinistic in doctrine. A correspondence with the Particular Baptists of England was kept up, and the relations of the church with the Swansea and Boston churches were most intimate. About 1687 the church secured the services of a young Englishman, Richard Dingley by name, who had spent some time in Boston, and who came to Newport recom- mended by Boston Baptists. Thomas Skinner, deacon of the Boston church, assisted at his ordination. After about seven years of service he removed to South Carolina. For a number of years the church was without a regular pastor and its vital forces seem to have run \'ery \o\\\ William Peckham, a member of the church, became pastor in 171 1. In I 718 an Englishman named Daniel White was appointed assistant pastor, and by his rashness in administering the ordinances, though himself unordained, and his disposition to disregard the rights of the less aggressive and prob- ably less intelligent pastor, the church was thrown into confusion. The result was that White and his friends withdrew and formed a separate congregation in 1724. The new church did not prosper, and when White aban- doned the enterprise in 1728 it is said that " the only sur- viving member that he left behind him was a solitary woman." Unwisely, as it would seem, Peckham, who must have been from age or other causes utterly unfitted for the leadership of the church, continued to sustain the relation of elder or head pastor until his death in 1732. I I 4 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. The pastorate of John Comer was in many respects a suc- cessful one, but it ended unpleasantly. Comer came to the church (1725) as a young man of twenty-one, yet with a maturity far beyond his years. A native of Boston, he had had his preparatory training at Cambridge and had studied at Yale College. He had a profound experience of divine grace when he was seventeen years of age, and a year afterward " was received into full communion with the [Congregational] church in Cambridge." He had probably already resolved to devote himself to the gospel ministry. A short time afterward a " near companion " of his "embraced the principle of believers' baptism . . . and was baptized by Mr. E. Callender, in Boston." On re- monstrating with his friend for abandoning what he re- garded as a divine institution. Comer was induced to read Joseph Stennett's treatise on baptism. It was his expec- tation that he would find many flaws in it and that by pointing these out he would be able to win his friend from the error of his way. He " resolved to turn to every Scripture quoted, and not to take any one without." In so doing he found that he " had never duly considered the viii. of the Acts, the iii. of Matthew, and the vi. of Romans, and such like places. Hereupon I got (though privately) books on the other side of the controversy and found them, if weighed in the balance, wanting." The result was a great inner conflict. He was convinced that his baptism was defective, and yet he shrank from sever- ing his otherwise happy relations with the Congregatlon- alists. It was not until he had pursued his studies at Yale that he resolved to follow the path of duty in this matter. In January, 1725, he was baptized by Elisha Callender, and shortly afterward entered the Baptist ministry. He soon had his choice between the pastorate of the Swansea and that of the Newport church. Through much prayer Chap, hi.] COMER ACCEPTS hMPOSITIOX OF IIAXDS. \ 15 and the helpful counsel of Callender he decided in favor of Newport. In March, 1726, he was ordained to the ministry by Elder Peckham and Deacon Maxwell. The church had dwindled down to a membership of eighteen — ten men and eight women. Comer kept a minute diary, and we are indebted to him for much interesting informa- tion about the Baptists of his time. His researches into the history of the earlier time have likewise been of great use to later investigators. He informs us that there were in Newport at this time'seven congregations : " Two Bap- tist churches, one under hands, Mr. James Clarke and Mr. Daniel Wightman, Pastors. My flock. . . . One Seventh- Day church, Mr. Joseph Crandall, Pastor. One congre- gation under the care of Mr. Daniel White " (already mentioned), and congregations of Congregationahsts, Epis- copalians, and Quakers, the last " very large." The anti- nomians of the early time had for the most part become Quakers. The early stages of Comer's ministry were highly pros- perous. He surpassed most of his contemporaries in evan- gelistic zeal and gifts. During the first year twenty-four were added to the church. The church contributed for the support of the pastor during the first year more than i^85, during the second year more than ^^93, while in the third year the pastor's income had fallen to ^^38. The support given was generous for the time, and the falling off was due to the fact that the pastor had adopted the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Congregational sing- ing, repudiated by many Baptist churches of the time, especially those of the Arminian persuasion, was intro- duced into the Newport church through Comer's influ- ence. Though young in years and in the pastoral office, Comer's reputation soon became so widespread that he was often applied to for counsel even from remote parts IIO THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. of the country. His evangelistic zeal led him to extend his labors far beyond Newport and Rhode Island. The adoption of the doctrine of the laying on of hands as an obligatory ordinance invoh'ed serious embarrassment for the pastor and the church. The chief difficulty of the pastor lay in the fact that while he sympathized with the Six Principle churches in this particular doctrine he was strongly opposed to their Arminianism. Moreover, he had built a needlessly expensive house and had become heav- ily involved in debt. The church- could not, of course, be expected to sit patiently under the preaching of doctrine that they believed to be erroneous. On January 9th he re- cords : " I passed under hands by Mr. Daniel Wightman, and offered for transient communion until Spring, or till I saw how God in his Holy Providence might dispose of me." For more than two years he was without a settled charge, though for most of the time he preached once each Lord's Day for the Six Principle church at Newport. Here also his ministry was fruitful ; for forty were added to the church during one year, the largest addition the church had ever had in any year of its history. At the close of his engagement it numbered 150 and was by far the largest church in the colony. His " preaching the doctrines of grace " proved an obstacle to his permanent settlement there. After a tour of the churches of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where the Particular Baptist churches practiced the laying on of hands, he assisted in organizing a church on a like basis in Rehoboth, Mass. (January, 1732), where he labored happily and successfully till his death (May 23, 1734). Comer gives us an account of a meeting at Newport (June 21,1 729) of the "Yearly Association" of the General (Six Principle) Baptists. He speaks of it as " the largest CiiAi\ m.] SIX PRINCIPLE ASSOCFATION. 11/ Convention that ever. hath been," thus intimating that this was far from being its first meeting. Besides the New- port and Providence churches, the churches of New York, Groton, Conn., Dartmouth, R. I., New London, Conn., and South Kingston, R. I., were represented. There were thirty-two delegates present — eight ministers, three dea- cons, and twenty-one brethren. " There are of churches in communion thirteen distinct bodies. In Providence, besides those mentioned, there are two under the care of Mr. Peter Place [and] Mr. Samuel Fisk. In the town of Swanzey one under the care of Mr. Joseph Maxson. In the town of Warwick one under the care of Mr. Manasseh Mar- tin. In North Kingston one under the care of Mr. Richard Sweet. 'Tis supposed there were 250 communicants and 1000 auditors. Each of these held the Doctrine of Gen- eral Redemption. There are three other churches that hold the Doctrine of Free Grace. One at Newport, . . . formerly my flock. One at Swanzey under the care of Mr. Ephraim Wheaton. One at Boston under the care of Mr. Elisha Callender. There are two churches in the observation of the Seventh Day. One at Westerly under the care of Mr. Joseph Maxson. One at Newport under the care of Mr. Joseph Crandal." John Callender, a nephew of Elisha Callender, and like him a graduate of Harvard, was called to the pastorate of the First Church, Newport, in 1730, a youth of twenty- one. He continued in this relation till his death in 1748. On the occasion of the centennial of the settlement of the island (March, 1738) Callender preached an historical ser- mon, which is said to have been the first attempt to collect and arrange the materials relating to the early history of the colony. It is still regarded as a masterpiece. CHAPTER IV. BAPTISTS IN MASSACHUSETTS TO 1652.I In reviewing the dealings of the Massachusetts author- ities with Roger WilHams we have learned something of their attitude toward aggressive and pertinacious dissent, whether in civil or in religious matters. The Massachu- setts Bay leaders were nonconforming Puritans, and they had secured their charter with the full understanding that they did not repudiate the Church of England and were far removed from separatism of any kind. They sought to be regarded " as those who esteem it our honor to call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our dear mother; and cannot part from our native country, where she specially resideth, without much sadness of heart and many tears in our eyes ; ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we have obtained in the common salva- tion we have received in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts." Under Laud's domineering in England it would have been impossible for a body of avowed sepa- ratists to secure a charter or to get permission to leave the country. Even the Salem company, w^hich represented a more thoroughgoing type of dissent, had thought it advis- able to repudiate separatism, and had refused passage on their vessel to Ralph Smith, who was coming out as pastor of the semi-separatist followers of John Robinson, who 1 Cf. Backus, Clarke, "111 News," Winslow, "Good News," Win- tlirop, Ellis, Morton, Mather, Hutchinson. Adams, Felt, Palfrey. 118 Chap. IV.] NEW ENGLAND PURITANISM. i ig constituted the older Plymouth colony. " We will not say," they wrote, " as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England, Farewell, Babylon! Farewell, Rome ! but we will say. Farewell, dear England ! Fare- well, the Church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there ! We do not go to New England as Separatists from the Church of England ; though we cannot but sepa- rate from the corruptions in it ; but we go to practice the positive part of church reformation, and propagate the gospel in America." The Salem colony soon came under the influence of the Plymouth settlement, and it was not long before the pastor of the Salem church was refusing the Lord's Supper to such leaders of the Massachusetts Bay company as Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson, and Cod- dington, and declining to baptize the child of the last- named, because they had not yet become members of any particular " reformed church " ; w^hile he had welcomed to communion a member of an English separatist congrega- tion and had baptized his child. The Massachusetts Bay authorities failed utterly to recognize the practicability of tolerating any marked dif- ferences of doctrine or practice. To allow companies of believers to organize themselves for worship on any other basis than that adopted by the party in the majority, or to allow individuals to propagate freely views opposed to those of the recognized churches, could result only in con- fusion and disaster as regards the colonies themselves, and in such a reputation in England as would result in the withdrawal of the charter, the sending out of an unfriendly governor, or even the recall and punishment of the colo- nists. The leaders of Massachusetts were peculiarly sensi- tive about the sending of adverse reports to England. In fact they deprecated the reporting of the actual state of things, and they took every precaution to prevent the I20 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. settlement of such as would be likely to injure the repu- tation of the colonies by unfriendly representations. As early as May, 1631, a regulation was adopted by the Gen- eral Court that " for time to come no man shall be ad- mitted to the freedom of this body poHtic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." This excluded Baptists from all civil privileges. The freeman's oath, referred to in the chapter on Roger Williams, was intended as a means of rigorously excluding all who should fall short of loyalty to existing arrange- ments. The case of Roger Williams had scarcely been disposed of when the Massachusetts colonies were convulsed with another religious controversy that was soon to involve the whole of New England. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, with her husband, had been attracted to Boston from England by the person and the teachings of John Cotton, the leading- Boston minister, and had arrived in September, 1634. Her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright, had followed in May, 1636. Mrs. Hutchinson was one of the most striking relig- ious characters of the time. Endowed with a rare person- ality and with a spirit of helpfulness which gave her remark- able influence over the women among whom she moved, she was able at the same time to win a number of the most prominent men of New England to her views. The teach- ings of Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers are commonly designated antinomianism. They laid great stress upon the covenant of grace as opposed to the covenant of works. They regarded the current Puritanism, with its rigorous discipline and its scrupulous attention to the outer life, as Pharisaic legalism. They insisted on the paramount importance of the inner life. If by a mystical union with Christ our natures are transformed, the outer life cannot fail to be holy ; if the tree be made good, the fruit will be CuAi'. IV.] THE ANriXOMIAX CONTROVEKSY. \2\ of like character. They made much of visions and revela- tions, and claimed to be in so complete fellowship with God as to be responsive to e\'ery prompting of his Spirit. It was the old mysticism of the middle ages, modified no doubt, directly or indirectly, by the teachings of Schwenck- feldt, David Joris, and Henry Nicholas. The last-named had secured a considerable following in England, and his writings had been translated and widely circulated. Fami- lism was the name given to his system, and it represented a pantheistic type of mysticism, somewhat like that of the medieval Beghards. While the tendency of such teach- ings is undoubtedly toward fanaticism and licentiousness, it is gratifying to know that the New England antinomians compared favorably with their orthodox neighbors in point of morality and well-doing. John Cotton, Williams's chief opponent and one of the ablest theologians of the time, was the favorite preacher of the Boston antinomians dur- ing Mrs. Hutchinson's residence there, while Wilson, his colleague, was regarded as a mere legalist. Sir Henry Vane, the governor, sided enthusiastically with the anti- nomians, while John Winthrop, the deputy governor, took a determined stand against innovation. The antinomi- ans were strong in Boston and its immediate vicinity ; but orthodoxy prevailed in the Massachusetts colonies at large. After much controversy Mrs. Hutchinson and Wheelwright were banished, and various penalties and disabilities, in- cluding disarmament, were infiicted on those that had manifested sympathy with their teachings. Cotton him- self was brought into a very embarrassing situation by reason of the partiality of the antinomians for his preach- ing and the sympathy he had expressed for some of the views of Mrs. Hutchinson and Wheelwright ; and having been censured for his course, he felt obliged to apologize in a way not wholly creditable to his consistency or his 122 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. courage. The attitude of John Clarke toward the anti- nomians and their persecutors was referred to in the last chapter. Among the leaders of the movement was Wil- liam Coddington, who had occupied a high civil position in Massachusetts, who became a chief opponent of Roger Williams in civil matters, who was for a time governor of the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations colony, and who became a leader among the Quakers. Reference has already been made to the settlement of the antinomians and their friends in Rhode Island. It does not concern us here to narrate the disputes that arose between the islanders and the Providence people. Three considerations justify this brief mention of the antinomian movement: (i) the fact that the controversy in Massachusetts and the rigorous methods adopted in dealing with the antinomians formed a prelude to the series of persecuting measures that were soon to be inau- gurated against the Baptists; (2) the fact that the Massa- chusetts leaders saw in the mystical enthusiasm of the antinomians a recurrence of phenomena with which they had become familiar in their reading of the history of Ana- baptists of the Miinster type; and (3) the fact that in the case of some at least sympathy with the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson and disgust with the intolerance of the Massa- chusetts authorities formed a transition to the Baptist position, while others, dominated by the mystical element in the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson, found their resting- place in Quakerism, with its emphasizing of the inner light and its repudiation of external ordinances. The early Puritans of New England (as of Old) knew nothing of " Baptists." The opponents of infant baptism were in their eyes "Anabaptists." Their knowledge of Anabaptists was limited to the grossly exaggerated ac- counts of the fanatics of the Miinzer and the Miinster types. Chap. IV.] BAPTISTS MISUXDERSTOOD. I23 They were quite willing to admit that individual opponents of infant baptism might be to all outward seeming quiet, peaceable Christians ; but they were fully convinced that the logic of the antipedobaptist position led inevitably to the overthrow of all social order, with the denial of magis- tracy, oaths, the right of the civil government to censure religious offenses, and, under favorable circumstances, to such fanatical outbreaks as that of Miinster. One has only to read such works as Featley's "The Dippers Dipt " (1644), Edwards's " Gangrasna " (1646), Baillie's "A Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time" (1645), Paget's " Heresiography " (1645), and the earlier continental Latin works on which these based their statements with reference to Anabaptists, to realize the horror which the name "Anabaptist" awakened in the souls of such men as Cotton, Hooker, Winthrop, and Endicott. So much must be said in order to account for the rancorous hatred of Baptists by the New England theocratic leaders, their lack of judicial fairness in dealing with radical dissentients of all types, and their determination, even by the inflic- tion of the crudest penalties, if need be, to exterminate heresy. Salem, where Roger Williams's influence had been brought most powerfully to bear, was in the earlier time the chief nursery of antipedobaptist sentiments. During the years 1636-39 those who entertained decided anti- pedobaptist views had followed Williams to Providence. After he had ceased to identify himself with the Baptists, and especially after strife had arisen in the Providence church, there would be less to attract them thither. New- port after 1644 was a more attractive refuge. As early as 1638, at Weymouth, Robert Lenthall, after- ward active in Newport, attracted attention by his views. " Only baptism," he held, " was the door of entrance into 124 ^-^^^^ BAPTISTS. [Per. i. the visible church." (" Mass. Hist. Coll.," 2d series, v., 275.) According to Hubbard, " the common sort of peo- ple did eagerly embrace his opinions." He is said to have zealously striven " to get such a church on foot as all bap- tized ones might communicate in." It is not quite clear, however, that his views were Baptist. The earliest assured case of theocratic censure on the ground of antipedobaptist error occurred December 14, 1642, at the Salem Quarterly Court. The record runs: " The Lady Deborah Moody, Mrs. King, and the wife of John Tilton were presented for holding that the baptizing of infants is no ordinance of God." Winthrop reports the matter more fully as regards the principal offender: " The Lady Moody, a wise and anciently religious woman, being taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt withal by many of the elders and others, and ad- monished by the cluirch of Salem (whereof she was a member); but persisting still, and to avoid further trouble, etc., she removed to the Dutch, against the advice of all her friends. Many others infected with anabaptism removed thither also. She was after excommunicated." Winthrop does not inform us what Lady Moody's friends advised her to do under the circumstances, but as they would scarcely have advised her to face the determined opposition of the authorities, which would have resulted in formal banishment, with death as the penalty of returning, they must have advised her to abandon her views or at least any aggressive assertion of them. We shall meet Lady Moody and her followers hereafter in their Long Island home. The next case on record seems to be that of William Witter, who had probably been influenced by Lady Moody, his neighbor. The date of his arraignment before the Salem Court was February 28, 1644 (N. S.). The Chap. IV.] WITTER AXD TA INFER. 125 record reads : " For entertaining that the baptism of in- fants was sinful, [W. W.] now coming- in Salem Court, answered humbly and confessed his ignorance, and his willingness to see light, and (upon Mr. Morris, our Elder, his speech) seemed to be staggered." He was charged with having called " our ordinance of God a badge of the whore." He is sentenced " on some lecture day, the next fifth day being a public fast, to acknowledge his fault, . . . and enjoined to be here next Court at Salem." Witter's antipedobaptist zeal, however, seems by no means to have been abated by this somewhat moderate censure. A later record runs : " At the Court at Salem, held the 1 8th of the 12th month, 1645 [February, 1646, N. S.], WiUiam Witter, of Lynn, was presented by the grand jury for saying that they who stayed whiles a child is baptized do worship the devil. Henry Collins and Nat. West deal- ingf with him thereabouts, he further said that thev who stayed at the baptizing of a child did take the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in vain, broke the Sab- bath, and confessed and justified the former speech." He was sentenced " to make public confession to satisfaction in the open congregation at Lynn, or else to answer at the next General Court." Failing to comply with either of these conditions, he was afterward sentenced to appear " at the next Court of Assistants, at Boston, there to answer, and to be proceeded with according to the merit of his offense." The forbearance of the court in the case of Witter was due, it may be supposed, not wholly to their unwillingness to resort to harsher methods in case of need, but to the fact that he was a man of little per- sonal influence. If he had been a successful propagator of his views banishment would certainly have been inflicted. On July 5, 1644, according to Winthrop, "A poor man of Hingham, one Painter, . . . was now on the sudden 126 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. I. turned Anabaptist, and having a child born, he would not suffer his wife to bring it to the ordinance of baptism. Being presented for this, and enjoined to suffer the child to be baptized, he still refusing, and disturbing the church, he was again brought to the Court, not only for his former contempt, but also for saying that our baptism was anti- christian; and in the open Court he affirmed the same. Whereupon, after much patience and clear conviction of his error, etc. — because he was very poor, so as no other but corporal punishment could be fastened upon him — he was ordered to be whipped, not for his opinion, but for his reproaching the Lord's ordinance, and for his bold and evil behavior both at home and in the Court. He endured his punishment with much obstinacy, and when he was loosed he said, boastingly, that God had marvelously assisted him." This is not the first case in which perse- cutors of Christ's chosen ones have been so swayed by their prepossessions as to make light of their sufferings and their faith, and to attribute their heroic bearing to mere obstinacy. It is an old trick of Roman Catholic persecutors. The statement that Painter was punished not for his opinion but for his reproaching the Lord's ordinance, etc., is too transparently casuistical to require discussion. Surely the fact that antipedobaptist views, unexpressed and kept in abeyance even when one's own infant was involved, were tolerated, is a slender basis for a claim of forbearance. Cases of pronounced antipedobaptism were now becom- ing so common, and the Baptist cause was making so rapid progress in Providence and Newport, that specific legislation against Baptists was felt to be desirable. On November 13, 1644, the following law was promulgated: " Forasmuch as experience hath plentifully proved that since the first arising of the Anabaptists, about a hundred Chap. IV. 3 LAW AGAINST BAPTISTS. 12/ years since, they have been the incendiaries of common- weahhs and the infecters of persons in main matters of religion, and the troublers of churches in all places where they have been, and that they who have held the baptiz- ing of infants unlawful have usually held other errors or heresies together therewith, though they have (as other heretics used to do) concealed the same till they spied out a fit advantage and opportunity to vent them, by way of questioi"h-or scruple, and whereas divers of this kind have, since our coming into New England, appeared amongst ourselves, some whereof have (as others before them) de- nied the ordinance of magistracy and the lawfulness of making war, and others the lawfulness of magistrates and their inspection into any breach of the first table, which opinions, if they should be connived at by us, are like to be increased among us, and so must necessarily bring guilt upon us, infection 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 baptism of infants, or go about secretly to seduce others from the approbation or use thereof, or shall purposely depart the congregation at the administration of the ordinance, or shall deny the or- dinance of magistracy or their lawful right or authority to make war or to punish the outward breaches of the first table, and shall appear to the Court willfully and obsti- nately to continue therein after due time and means of conviction, every such person or persons shall be sentenced to banishment." The statement that some of the antipedobaptists of New England " denied the ordinance of magistracy and the law- fulness of making war" is unsupported. In none of the cases recorded is there the slightest hint of the holding of such views. No one of the Baptists of New England can 128 THE BAPTISTS. [Per.!. be shown to have held to or taught anything of the kind. The .statement of the statute may possibly be accounted for in one of the following ways, or by a combination of these: i. The authorities may have confounded Anabap- tists with antinomians. The antinomians were charged with holding and promulgating a number of errors that were precisely adapted to the purpose of supplementing the errors of the Baptists and constituting them full- fledged Anabaptists of the dreaded type. Some of those who had been more or less closely associated with the antinomians had become Baptists in their Rhode Island home. Winthrop had written in 1641 : " Mrs. Hutchin- son and those of Aquiday Island broached new heresies every year. Divers of them turned professed Anabap- tists, and would not wear any arms, and denied all magis- tracy among Christians, and maintained that there were no churches since those founded by the apostles and evangel- ists, nor could any be, nor any pastors ordained nor seals administered but by such, and that the church was to want these all the time she continued in the wilderness, as yet she was." This statement is a most confused one and was probably based upon misinformation. " Those who turned professed Anabaptists," so far as v.e know them, were different persons from those who embraced the errors referred to. The incongruity of applying the term " Ana- baptist " to those who held that the valid administration of the ordinances was, under existing circumstances, an impo.ssibility, is manifest. Roger Williams, in adopting this view, withdrew from fellowship with the Baptist church he had founded. But even Williams was far from reject- ing magistracy. The law against Baptists was probably framed by the writer of this confused statement. Even the antinomians, though they held peculiar views with respect to magistracy, and were charged even by Roger Chap, iv.] UNFOUNDED CHARGES. 1 29 Williams with rejecting it, repudiated the charge. 2. The statement may have been made, not on the ground of al- leged utterances by Baptists, but by way of logical infer- ence from avowed views. The Massachusetts authorities supposed themselves to be such masters of the anatomy of sects that from a single feature they could infer the entire structure. The denial of the right of magistrates to in- terfere with matters of conscience, or to concern them- selves in any way with breaches of " the first table," no doubt seemed to them to involve denial of the right of magistrates to do anything effective. Of course it is not impossible that some individual of the time should have combined the rejection of infant baptism with denial of magistracy and of the lawfulness of war on the part of Christians. But all the Baptists of New England that we know anything about were quite ready to serve their fel- low-citizens in any offices to which they might be called, and they were ready when occasion offered to do their full share of fighting. During the struggle with the antinomians a law had been passed prohibiting newcomers from remaining in the colony above three weeks without a license. In Octo- ber, 1645, a petition was presented to the court for the alteration of this law, as well as of that against the Ana- baptists. The record of the action of the court in the premises is: "The Court hath voted that the laws men- tioned should not be altered at all, nor explained." Evi- dently some of the citizens besides the avowed Baptists were coming to feel that banishment was too severe a penalty for religious dissent, and were bold enough to say so. To fortify the court in its attitude toward Baptists seventy-eight residents of Dorchester, Roxbury, etc., peti- tioned in Mav. 1646, " for the continuance of such orders, without abrogation or weakening, as are in force against I ^^o THE BAPTISTS. [Pkr. i. Anabaptists and other erroneous persons." This petition, it is needless to say, was "granted." In October, 1648, the court was " informed of great misdemeanor committed by Edward Starbuck, of Dover, with profession of Ana- baptistry, for which he is to be proceeded against at the next Court of Assistants if evidence can be prepared by that time." The following record is interesting as containing an ac- count of an important Baptist movement in the Plymouth colony, and also as illustrating the zeal with which the Massachusetts Bay authorities carried their activity against " Anabaptists " beyond their own jurisdiction. The date of this letter to the Plymouth authorities is October, 1649: " Honored and beloved Brethren : We have heard here- tofore of divers Anabaptists arisen up in your jurisdiction, and connived at ; but being but few, we well hoped that it might have pleased God, by the endeavors of yourselves and the faithful elders with you, to have reduced such erring men again into the right way. But now, to our great grief, we are credibly informed that your patient bearing with such men hath produced another effect, namely, the multiplying and increasing of such errors, and we fear maybe of other errors also, if timely care be not taken to suppress the same. Particulariy we understand that within this few weeks there have been at Sea Cunke thirteen or fourteen persons rebaptized (a swift progress in one town), yet we hear not if any effectual restriction is intended thereabouts. Let it not, we pray you, seem presumption in us to mind you hereof, nor that we ear- nestly entreat you to take care as well of the suppressing of errors as of the maintenance of truth, God equally re- quiring the performance of both at the hands of Christian magistrates, but rather that you will consider our interest is concerned therein. The infection of such diseases being Chap, iv.] ZEAL IX PERSECUTION. I3I SO near are likely to spread into our jurisdiction. . . . We are united by confederacy, by faith, by neighborhood, by fellowship in our sufferings as exiles, and by other Chris- tian bonds, and we hope neither Satan nor any of his in- struments shall by these or any other errors disunite us, and that w^e shall never have cause to repent us of our so near conjunction with you, but that we shall both so equally and zealously uphold all the truths of God re- vealed that we may render a comfortable account to him that hath set us in our places and betrusted us with the keeping of both tables." Supposing the Massachusetts Court to have been correct in their apprehension of the will of God and the duties of magistrates, and in regarding the Baptists as instruments of Satan to disunite the colonies bound together by such tender ties, nothing could be more reasonable than the re- quest or demand for the rigorous suppression of these in- novators. The chief disturber of the Seekonk (Rehoboth) community was Obadiah Holmes, whom we shall meet later among the sufferers for conscience' sake. After a profound religious experience in England (he had been a wayward son, and whereas three of his brothers had been educated at Oxford he had refused to avail himself of the opportunity to secure a liberal education and had derided religion), he came to New England in 1638. He united with the Salem church, where he remained about seven years. Becoming dissatisfied there, he removed to Reho- both in 1645, where he united with the church under the ministry of Samuel Newman. In 1649, having become convinced, along wnth some others, that infant baptism was not in accord with the teachings of Scripture, they were immersed by John Clarke of Newport. He was soon after- ward excommunicated by his pastor, and in June, 1650, along with two others, was presented to the General Court 132 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. at Plymouth, four petitions, one from the Boston Court, ha\ing been entered against them. In October, 1652, the following " Presentment by the Grand Inquest " was in- serted in the Plymouth records: " We whose names are here written, being the grand inquest, do present to this Court John Hazell, Mr. Edward Smith and his wife, Oba- diah Holmes, Joseph Tory and his wife, and the wife of James Mann, William Deuell and his wife, of the town of Rehoboth, for the continuing of a meeting upon the Lord's Day from house to house, contrary to the order of this Court, enacted June 12, 1650." It would seem from this record and the fact that no sentence appears against them, that the Plymouth authorities still retained a considerable measure of the Christian moderation of the father of the Pilgrims and fell very far short of what the Massachusetts Bay authorities expected and required of them. The supposition of Baptist writers has been that the Baptists who for months held regular meetings at Reho- both under the leadership of Obadiah Holmes did not constitute a Baptist church. There seems to be no suffi- cient reason why they should not be regarded as a church. Like the body of belie\ers who gathered around Roger Williams at Providence, and who continued for many years to meet from house to house, they had a very simple organ- ization. If we call the meeting a church we may date the organization of the first Baptist church in Massachusetts in 1649. Soon after the presentment of the grand inquest the Baptists of Rehoboth seem to have remo\'ed to New- port, where they added greatly to the strength of John Clarke's church. Thus the day for organized Baptist work in Massachusetts was postponed. In his "Brief Narration," published in London, 1646, W^inslow, writing with a view to vindicating the New Eng- land authorities from aspersions current in England, in- Chap, iv.] CHAUNCY'S ANTIPEDOBAPTISM. 133 volving charges of persecution of dissent, etc., gives the following interesting bit of information: " Furthermore, in the Government of Plymouth, to our great grief, not only the pastor of a congregation waiveth the administration of baptism to infants, but divers of his congregation are fallen with him ; and yet all the means the civil power hath taken against him and them is to stir up our elders to give meet- ing, and see if by godly conference they may be able to convince and reclaim him, as in mercy once before they had done, by God's blessing upon their labors. Only at the foresaid Synod two were ordered to write to him in the name of the Assembly, and to request his presence at their next meeting aforesaid, to hold forth his light he goeth by in waiving the practice of the churches; with promise, if it be light, to walk by it ; but if it appear other- wise, then they trust he will return again to the unity of practice with them." The pastor referred to is commonly understood to be Charles Chauncy, and the congregation that of Scituate. Some have supposed that Winslow was in error in making this statement, as at a later date noth- ing is said about Chauncy's antipedobaptism, although for a long time after this date he continued to insist on im- mersion as the act of baptism. But it seems incredible that Winslow, who had been governor of the colony (1633 onward) and had all along occupied a prominent position in the civil rmd religious administration, should have given publicity to so grave a charge as that involved in the statement quoted without the most convincing proof of the accuracy of his facts. His account, moreover, is too circumstantial to admit of the possibility of mistake. We are justified, therefore, in concluding that about 1646 Chauncy, afterward president of Harvard College, wai\-ed the administration of baptism to infants, and in this matter had the full sympathy of a portion of the Scituate church. 134 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. From the fact that he ceased to give trouble in this mat- ter, it vvouki seem that he yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon him by the authorities. His insistence on immersion as the only proper baptism was no doubt re- garded by the authorities as more venial, and in this he was tolerated. But when, as we shall see in the next chapter, he had an opportunity to succeed Henry Dunster, who had been removed from the presidency of Harvard College for his aggressive maintenance of antipedobaptist views, he was able to abandon or hold in abeyance even this poor remnant of his Baptist teaching. The treatment of John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandall, members of the Newport Baptist church, by the Massachusetts authorities is one of the most noto- rious instances of intolerance toward Baptists. In his " 111 News from New England," already referred to, Clarke gives a full and graphic account of the transaction, includ- ing the legal warrants, sentences, etc., his own letters to the authorities, and Holmes's very realistic account of his sufferings and religious experiences. The accuracy of Clarke's narrative has never been called in c|uestion, and is in agreement with the records of the court and other notices in the writings of the opponents of the Baptists. Clarke's account is headed: "A Faithful and True Rela- tion of the Prosecution of Obadiah Holmes, John Crandall, and John Clarke, merely for Conscience towards God, by the Principal Members of the Church, or Common-wealth of the Massachusetts . . . ; whereby is shown their dis- courteous Entertainment of Strangers, and how that Spirit by which they are led would order the whole World, if either brought under them, or should come in unto them : Drawn forth by the aforesaid John Clarke, not so much to answer the Importunity of Friends, as to stop the mouths and slanderous reports of such as are Enemies to the Cross Chap, iv.] NElVrORT BAPTISTS AT LYXX. 135 of Christ. Let him that leadeth it consider, which Church is most Hke the Church of Christ (that Prince of Peace, that meek and gentle Lamb, that came into this World to save Men's lives, not to destroy them), the Persecuted, or Persecuting." It will be possible to give here only a brief resume of this interesting episode. The three brethren named, as representatives of the Newport church, had made the toil- some journey to Lynn, Mass., at the request of the aged and blind William Witter, whom we have met repeatedly as a pronounced antipedobaptist. It is likely that Witter's request was not simply on his own behalf, but on behalf of a number of his neighbors who had adopted Baptist views and who were desirous of being baptized and partaking of the Supper according to the Baptist way. The authorities suspected, but were not in a position to prove, that bap- tism had been administered to one or more. This was neither admitted nor denied by the accused. As they were quietly worshiping on the Lord's Day at Witter's house, two miles from town, two constables arrived with a warrant for the arrest of " certain erroneous persons, being strangers." They interrupted the service and in- sisted on carrying the three strangers at once " to the Ale- house or Ordinary." After dinner one of the constables insisted on " carrying " them to church. They agreed to go on the distinct understanding that they would declare their dissent both by word and gesture, and would hold no communion with the church. Refusing to bare their heads, the pastor bade the constable pluck their hats off. Clarke attempted to explain the ground on which he had refused to show respect to the worship of the church or to hold communion therewith, but was refused a hearing. To the offense of holding an. unlawful meeting was thus added that of disturbing public worship and denouncing 136 THE BAPTISrS. [Per. i. the church as not according to " the order of our Lord." These transactions occurred on Jul)/ 22, 165 i. A few days later they were tried and sentenced, " with- out producing either accuser, witness, jury, law of God or man." " In our examination the Governor upbraided us with the name of Anabaptists; To whom I answered, I disown the name, I am neither an Anabaptist, nor a Pedo- baptist, nor a Catabaptist ; he told me in haste I was all ; I told him he could not prove us to be either of them ; he said, yes, you have Re-baptized ; I denied it, saying, 1 have Baptized many, but I never Re-baptized any ; then said he, you deny the former Baptism, and make all our worship a nullity ; I tolci him he said it ; moreover I said unto them (for therefore do I concei\-e I was brought be- fore them to be a testimony against them), If the Testi- mony which I hold forth be true, and according to the mind of God, which I undoubtedly affirm it is, then it concerns you to look to your standing. The like to this affirmed the other two." On the ground of the original charges and the state- ments made by the accused in the examination, which are enumerated in the sentence, Clarke was fined " 20 pounds to be paid, or sufficient sureties that the said sum shall be paid by the first day of the next Court of Assistants, or else to be well whipt, and that )-ou .shall remain in prison till it be paid, or security given in for it." Holmes, doubt- less on the ground that he was an old ofTender in the Plymouth colony, was fined " 30 pounds or to be well whipt ; and the sentence of John Crandall was to pay 5 pounds, or be well whipt." When Clarke remonstrated against the sentence, for which no legal authority had been exhibited, Governor Endicott " stept up, and told us we had denied Infants' Baptism, and being somewhat transported broke forth, Chap, iv.] CLARA'E'S DEFENSE. 1 37 and told me I had deserved death, and said, he would not have such trash brought into their jurisdiction; moreo\'er he said, you go up and down, and secretly insinuate into those that are weak, but you cannot maintain it before our Ministers; you may try, and discourse or dispute with them, etc." Availing himself of this somewhat informal and rash proposal, Clarke wrote a letter to the governor asking for the opportunit}^ of disputing in public " with freedom, and without molestation of the ci\il power," " that point . . . where I doubt not by the strength of Christ to make it good out of his last Will and Testament, unto which noth- ing is to be added, nor from which nothing" is to be dimin- ished." The governor insisted that Clarke had misunder- stood him in thinking that he promised a public disputa- tion, and the ministers no doubt heartily disapproved of giving such an opportunity to so erroneous a person to disseminate his viev^s. Clarke made full preparation for the disputation, v\'ith the understanding that it would be public. The theses which he undertook to defend included (i) the sole Lordship of Christ in matters cf faith; (2) the testimony " 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, ... is the only person that is to be baptized, 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 so to wait for his coming a second time in the form of a Lord and King, with his glorious King- dom according to promise"; (3) the liberty and duty of every believer " to improve that talent his Lord hath given unto him, and In the congregation may either ask for in- formation for himself, or, if he can, may speak by way of prophecy for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of jo3 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. 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 extends " ; and (4) a testimony in favor of liberty of conscience, which, with his arguments in favor of it, has been set forth in an earlier chapter. A friend having paid the fine, the authorities insisted on his leaving without having an opportunity to set forth his views in a disputation wdth a representative of the standing order. He protested inefifectually against this course, and he afterward made this refusal of a public disputation a ground for pubHshing in England his argu- ment in full, along with a full account of the whole trans- action. Crandall's fine was paid, but Holmes refused on principle to allow his to be paid, and suffered in martyr fashion the alternative penalty of whipping. He wrote a detailed ac- count of his sufferings to John Spilsbury, the first Particu- lar Baptist minister in England, and William Kiffin, one of the earliest and most prominent.^ For showing sym- pathy with Holmes on the occasion of his punishment John Spur and John Hazell were arrested and fined, with the alternative penalty of whipping. Their fines were paid without their consent. Spur testified that in a sermon, preached immediately before the sentence on Clarke, Holmes, and Crandall was pronounced, John Cotton " af- firmed that denying infants' baptism would overthrow all ; and this was a capital offense; and therefore they were soul murderers." 1 The letter is embodied in Clarke's work, and has been copied, along with most of the documents of " 111 News," by Backus, vol. i., pp. 187 seq. CHAPTER V. PRESIDENT HENRY DUNSTER AND THE BAPTISTS.^ Henry Dunster ranks along with Roger Williams and John Clarke as one of the three foremost seventeenth- century antipedobaptists of America. Born in Lancashire, England, somewhere about 1610, he was early brought to an experimental knowledge of the truth. In giving an account of his early religious experience he said: "The Lord gave me an attentive ear and heart to understand preaching. . . . The Lord showed me my sins and recon- ciliation by Christ, . . . and this word was more sweet to me than anything else in the world." His highly sensitive conscience detected grave faults in his early manhood experience. After he had become a highly developed Christian, and one of the ablest theologians of his time, in reviewing his experience as a young man he pronounced this judgment : " The greatest thing which separated my soul from God was an inordinate desire of human learn- ing." His course at the University of Cambridge brought him into contact with some of the best religious life in England, and when he was graduated B.A. in 1630 and M.A. in 1634, his Christian character seems to have been quite as marked as his learning. Referring to his uni- versity course he said : " After this I went to Cambridge, when, growing more careless, I lost my comfort. But I 1 Cf. Chaplin, Backus, Mather, Winthrop, Quincy (" Hist. Harv. Univ."), Ellis, Hubbard, Palfrey. 139 140 'J'HE BAPTISTS. [Per. 1. came to Trinity to hear Dr. Preston, by whom I was quick- ened and revived." Preston was one of the leading" Puri- tan churchmen of the time. Dunster regarded the teach- ings of Thomas Goodwin, " in many respects the greatest divine among them all," as one of the formative influences in his life. The years intervening between the date of his first degree and that of his second were probably spent chiefly in theological studies. Plis well-known proficiency in oriental languages was one of the acquisitions of this time. Among his contemporaries were a number of men who were to attain to world-wide distinction. It will sufifice to mention the names of Cudworth, Milton, Henry More, Jeremy Taylor, and John Harvarci. He probably received ordination as a minister of the Church of England. His Confession of Faith gives some intimations of the exercises of mind that led him to abandon the ministry of the Estab- lished Church and to seek a greater measure of soul free- dom in New England : " The Lord hath made me bid adieu to all worldly treasures; and as corruptions in the Church came, first I began to suspect them, then to hate them." " So, after ten years' trouble, I came hither [to New Y^Avg- lanci] ; and the Lord gives me peace to see the order of his people." His thoroughgoing separatism finds expression in a letter written to a friend in England: " It's a glorious church, say you? Whence, I pray you, was it gathered, out of the Church of Rome, or else yet it stands in it? If it stand yet in it, then it is one of the dauglUers of the great whore. . . . No, the Church of England is gathered out of Rome. Come out of her, my people. . . . But why should we gather a church out of the English Church ? I pray you, Sir, where hath Christ constituted a church of that form ? Where's the national ministry, temple, etc. ? If you will find this, you haAC the verity, we the vanity. If congregations be the \isible churches of Christ, we have Chap, v.] DUA'STER IX XEJV EXGLAXD. 14I the day in that respect." Equally decided was his antag- onism to Scottish Presbyterianism. " A reformation of the Scottish edition," he thought, would leave the English people " in great distress, inward and outward." This was written when the Scotch were struggling with might and main for the civil and religious mastery of Britain, and were proposing to force Presbyterianism on the entire population. " National and provincial churches are nulli- ties ill rcniin natura [in the nature of things] since the dissolution of that of the Jews." That he was a somewhat advanced republican is evident from the following: "If the people and nation be free from monarchy, the ques- tion is, what form they should set up? And what, I pray you, but that which is most suitable to the matter? I say, the form which is most suitable to the matter; which the nation itself, by their faithful representatives, being pious and prudent men, can best judge of." Dunster reached New England toward the latter end of summer, 1640. He soon purchased a property in Boston, " then rather a village than a town," yet full of enterprise and growing rapidly. The entire population of New Eng- land at this time probably did not reach twenty thousand. More than two thirds of these were in Massachusetts, and something over two thousand each in Plymouth, Connect- icut, and New Haven. In 1643 all the British colonies, except Rhode Island and Providence, formed a sort of federation " for mutual help and strength," under the style of " The United Colonies of New England." Thus Dun- ster arrived at a time when colonial affairs were already well advanced, and when, owing to the troubles that were about to overwhelm England, New England would be sure to receive a large influx of population, and, what was possibly of even greater importance in the eyes of the colonists, immunity from interference on the part of the 142 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. home government. One of the most noteworthy features of early colonial life was the almost entire absence of law- yers. The irregularity of court procedures, and the tend- ency to follow the Mosaic code rather than the English statutes, may be attributed in part to this fact; though it must be said, on the other hand, that the deficiency of lawyers was due to lack of encouragement, and^ that this was due in turn to the theocratic sentiments of the colo- nists. A very large proportion of the early New England colo- nists were university graduates. By 1640 it is estimated that there were forty to fifty Cambridge men, and " the sons of Oxford were not few." There must have been something highly congenial to the intellectual and devout Dunster in his New England environment. Scarcely had he settled in his new home in Boston when he received an enthusiastic call to the presidency of the college at Cam- bridge (August, 1640). His qualifications for the position were recognized as extraordinary, and his coming just when needed was regarded by his contemporaries as provi- dential. " Mr. Henry Dunster is now President of this College," wrote Captain Johnson in his " Wonder-Work- ing Providence," " fitted from the Lord for the work, and, by those that have skill that way, reported to be an able Proficient in both Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, an Orthodox Preacher of the truths of Christ, very powerful through his blessing to move the affections. But seeing the Lord hath been pleased to raise up so worthy an in- strument for their good, he shall not want for encourage- ment to go on with the work, so far as a rustical rh}-me shall reach." We will not quote his rhyme, which repeats the recognition of providential dealing in the matter, and intimates that already young men were coming from Eng- land to enjoy the advantages of the new college, so that Chap, v.] PRESIDENT OF HARVARD. 1 43 New England was repaying England for the borrowed Dunster. In " New England's First Fruits," published in London in an early year of Dunster's presidency (1643), it is said: "Over the College is Master Henry Dunster placed as President ; a learned, considerable, and indus- trious man, who hath so trained up his pupils in the tongues and arts, and so seasoned them with the princi- ples of Divinity and Christianity, that we have, to our great comfort, and in truth beyond our hopes, beheld their progress in learning and godliness also." The college was only a school when Dunster assumed the headship in 1640, and for two years past it had been in charge of an incapable man, who had been dismissed for unworthy conduct. Dunster was really the first presi- dent of the college, properly so called, and the fourteen years of consecrated toil that he gave it brought it into a position exceeding the hopes of its best friends. Its resources were, as may be supposed, exceedingly scant}^ its staff was small, its buildings inadecpiate, its library meager; but with an enthusiastic head like Dunster, ready to sacrifice means and health for the furtherance of its in- terests, its students had advantages such as are sometimes wanting in the most amply endowed and equipped uni- versities. " He united in himself," says Ouincy, a presi- tlent and historian of the college, " the character of both patron and President ; for, poor as he was, he contributed, at a time of its utmost need, one hundred acres of land to- ward its support ; besides rendering to it, for a succession of years, a series of official services, well directed, unwea- ried, and altogether inestimable." He united with the Cambridge church, of which Mr. Shepard was pastor. In giving an account of his religious experience and doctrinal views he differed in one point only from his New England brethren, namely, in his pref- J 44 ^'^^^' BAPTISTS. [I'KU. 1. erence for immersion as the act of baptism ; yet, as " there is something for sprinkhng in the Scriptures, he should not be ofifended when it was used." He married, in 1641, the widow of a minister who had died on his way from England. He was a true father to her five children, who proved to be possessed of more than average gifts and graces. Two of the daughters married sons of Governor Winthrop, and it is to this cir- cumstance that we owe the preservation of important documentary material on Dunster's life that would other- wise, in all probability, have been lost. Left a widower in 1643, he was married again in 1644. Of this marriage five children were born. Representatives of the family still remain. Early in his New p:ngiand career, Dunster began to manifest a profound interest in the Indians. John Eliot had his heartiest cooperation. Lechford, Boston's one lawyer (in his " Plain Dealing," etc.), gives us an early account of Dunster's views of Indian evangehzation : " Master Henry Dunster, schoolmaster at Cambridge, de- ser\es commeiidations above man\- ; he hath the platform and the way of conversion of the natives indilTerent right, and much studies the same, wherein }'et he wants not opposition, as some others also have met with. He will without doubt prove an instrument of much good in the country, being a good scholar, and having skill in the tongues. He will make it good that the way to instruct the Indians must be in their own language, not English, and that their language may be perfected." It was prob- ably at his suggestion that the commissioners of the colo- nies made provision for the education at Cambridge of young men " to be helpful in teaching such Indian chil- dren as .should be taken into the College for that end." It was on his recommendation that the second charter of the Chap, v.] ORIENTAL STUDIES. 1 45 college (1650) stated the object of the college to be " the education of the English and Indian youth of this country in knowledge and godliness." The building called the " Indian College," though not erected until years after the close of his presidency, may have been in part a result of Dunster's pi-ofound interest in the spiritual welfare of the aborigines. The following sentences from a letter to Ravius, a dis- tinguished European orientalist of the time, will illustrate Dunster's enthusiasm for oriental studies and his success in imparting his enthusiasm to his students: "If God's providence put an opportunity into your hand that you help us with books of those languages from some able hands and willing hearts, . . . then should we be very glad and evermore thankful to you and them who shall procure us Buxtorf's Concordances and Bible (for the King of Spain's we have, and the King of France's Bible is more than we dare hope for) and whatsoever Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, or Arabic authors God's providence shall enlarge their hands and hearts to procure us. A wonderful im- pulse unto these studies lies on the spirits of our students, some of whom can with ease dexterously translate Hebrew and Chaldee into Greek." It is not in accordance with the purpose of this chapter to give a detailed account of the labors of President Dun- ster in and for Harvard College, or the personal sacrifices that he made in order that the work might go prosper- ously on. His multifarious duties, as teacher of many subjects, as the executive head of the institution, as finan- cial agent, etc., were familiar to most college presidents a generation ago, and are the portion of many a noble worker to-day. But he loved his work and bore his hard- ships with rare cheerfulness, and thereby commended himself and his college to all who had the interests of 146 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. the institution and of the cause of Christian education at heart. But the time was coming when for conscience' sake he must lay down the work to which he had given the strength of his manhood and which was dearer to him than hfe itself, and when those who had gloried in his successful work could see no other course open to them than to dispense with his invaluable services. Some time between 1648 and 1653 President Dunster had reached the settled conviction that " visible believers onl}.' should be baptized." It is probable that for some years he had entertained doubts as to the propriety of infant baptism before the conviction of its unscriptural and antiscriptural character so mastered him that he could no longer keep silent. The responsibility that attached to the high and honorable position that he occupied, and the foreseen con- sequences to himself (which he said was the least impor- tant consideration) and to his family, which he could not but shrink from, must have availed with a man of his dis- cretion to prevent him from rashly committing himself to views which his brethren were sure to look upon with amazement and horror. The determination of anything like the exact date of his change of view is rendered im- possible by what seem to be conflicting data. Cotton Mather places the defection of Dunster " presently " after the settlement of Mitchell as pastor of the Cambridge church. The occasion of his declaration of his views was the birth of a child which he withheld from baptism. As Mitchell became pastor in 1650, and as a child was born to the Dunsters during that year, it would seem to follow that Dunster's change of view with reference to the sub- jects of baptism occurred some time before. But a letter of Dunster's has been brought to light which bears in- ternal evidence of having been written about December, Chap, v.] REJECTS INFANT BAPTISM. 147 1 65 I. In answer to the question of an English corre- spondent : " What do you do with them that are baptized, but give no satisfactory testimony of piety when they come to age? " he answered: " None of their children are baptized until" one of the parents at least do approve themselves faithful and be joined to the church. I have herewith sent you Mr. Davenport's catechism, where the question is handled, and answered according to practice." This statement has been supposed (Chaplin, 109) to prove that Dunster held to infant baptism as late as De- cember, 165 I. But as he was professedly giving informa- tion as to the New England practice rather than com- municating his own individual views, there is no apparent reason why he should not, though at the time an anti- pedobaptist, have expressed himself as he did. But it is, on the whole, more probable that Mather was somewhat inaccurate in dating Dunster's protest against infant bap- tism " presently " after the beginning of Mitchell's pastor- ate, and that the infant withheld from baptism was one born in 1653. In that case it is probable that the infant born in 1650 was duly baptized, and it would follow that Dunster's convictions had not at that time become over- mastering. It is highly probable that the persecution of Clarke, Holmes, and Crandall, in the summer of 165 1, had the effect of awakening Dunster's conscience on the matter of infant baptism. He may have become intellectually con- vinced some time before that the practice is without Script- ural warrant. The suffering of these men for what he recognized as the truth may have so impressed the matter upon his heart and conscience that he could no longer as an honest man withhold the expression of his views, or when occasion should arise refrain from acting upon them. Cotton Mather's account of the declaration of Dun- 148 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. ster against infant baptism, and of the efforts made to win him from the error of. his ways, is so graphic and full, and so well illustrates the personal power of Dunster and the high consideration in which he was held, as well as the consternation into which his pastor and other leading min- isters and laymen were thrown by Dunster's adoption of " Anabaptist " views, that it seems advisable to quote a portion of it : " Our Mitchell, presently upon his becom- ing pastor of Cambridge, met with a more than ordinary trial, in that the good man who was then President of the College was unaccountably fallen into the briars of Anti- pedobaptism ; and being briar'd in the scruples of that persuasion, he not only forbore to present an infant of his own unto the Baptism of our Lord, but also thought him- self under some obligation to bear his testimony in some sermons against the administration of baptism to any in- fant whatsoever. The brethren of the Church were some- what vehement and violent in their signifying of their dis- satisfaction at the obstruction, which the renitencies of that gentleman threatened with the peaceable practice of infant baptism, wherein they had hitherto walked ; and judged it necessary for the vindication of the Church's name abroad in the country, and for the safety of the Congregation at home, to desire him that he would cease preaching as formerly, until he had better satisfied himself in the point now doubted by him. At these things ex- treme was the uneasiness of our Mitchell, who told the brethren that more light and less heat would do better ; but yet saw the zeal of some against this good man's error, to push the matter on so far, that being but a young man, he was likely now to be embarrassed in a controversy with so considerable a person, and wnth one who had been his tutor, and a worthy and godly man. He could afive this account of it: 'Through the Church's Chap, v.] MITCHELL'S EXPERIENCES. 1 49 being apt to hurry on too fast and too impatiently, I found myself much oppressed ; especially considering my own weakness to grapple with these difficulties ; this business did lie down and rise up, sleep and wake with me. It was a dismal thing to me, that I should live to see truth or peace dying or decaying in poor Cambridge.' But while he was, with a prudence incomparably beyond what might have been expected from a young man, managing this thorny business, he saw cause to record a passage which perhaps will be judged worthy of some remembrance. 'That day,' writes he, (Decemb. 24, 1653,) 'after I came from him, I had a strange experience ; I found hurrying and pressing suggestions against Pedobaptism, and in- jected scruples and thoughts whether the other way might not be right, and infant baptism an invention of men ; and whether I might with a good conscience baptise children, and the like. And these thoughts were darted in with some impression, and left a strange confusion and sickli- ness upon my spirit. Yet, methought, it was not hard to discern, that they were from the EVIL ONE. First, Because they were rather injected hurrying suggestions, than any deliberate thoughts, or bringing any light with them. Secondly, Because they were unseasonable; inter- rupting me in my study for the Sabbath, and putting my spirit into a confusion, so as I had much ado to do aught in my sermon. It was not now a time to study that mat- ter; but when, in the former part of the week, I had given myself to that study, the more I studied it, the more clear and rational light I saw for Pedobaptism. But now these suggestions hurried me into scruples. But they made me cry out to God for his help ; and he did afterward calm and clear up my spirit. I thought the end of them was, First, to show me the corruption of my mind ; how apt that was to take in error, even as my heart is to take in ISO THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. lust. Secondly, to make me walk in fear and take hold on Jesus Christ to keep me in the truth; and it was a check to my former self-confidence, and it made me fear- ful to go needlessly to Mr. D., for methought I found a venom and poison in his insinuations and discourses against Pedobaptism. Thirdly, that I might be mindful of the aptness in others to be soon shaken in mind, and that I might warn others thereof, and might know how to speak to them from experience. And indeed my former experience of irreligious injection w^as some help to me to discover the nature of these. I resolved also on Mr. Hooker's principle, that I would have an argument able to remove a mountain, before I would recede from, or ap- pear against, a truth or practice, received among the faith- ful. After the Sabbath was over, and I had time to reflect upon the thoughts of those things, those thoughts of doubt departed, and I returned unto my former frame.' The troubles thus impending over the Church of Cambridge, did Mr. Mitchell happily wade through; partly by much prayer with fasting, in secret, before God, for the good issue of these things ; partly by getting as much help as he could from the Neighboring Ministers, to be interposed in these difficulties; and partly by using much meekness and wisdom towards the erroneous gentleman; for whom our Mr. Mitchell continued such an esteem, that although his removal from the government of the College, and from his dwelling-place in Cambridge, had been procured by these differences, yet when he died, he honored him with an elegy." The elegiac stanzas, which Mather quotes, though not meritorious from an artistic point of view, were doubtless well intended ; but Mitchell's tribute to Dunster's holiness seems slightly inconsistent with the grounds on which he persuaded himself that his conscientious .scruples against CiiAr. v.] rROCEEDIXGS AGAIXST DUXSTER. 15I infant baptism were injections of the Evil One, and that there was a venom and poison in Dunster's antipedobap- tist teachings. Mather was of the opinion " that there was a special design of Heaven in ordering these trials to befall our Mitchell, thus in the beginning of his ministry. He was hereby put upon studying and maintaining the doctrine of infant baptism. ... In the defense of this comfortable truth, he not only preached more than half a score ungainsa3'able sermons, while his own Church was in some danger by the hydrophobia of anabaptism, which was come upon the mind of an eminent person in it ; but also when afterwards the rest of the Churches were troubled by a strong attempt upon them from the spirit of anabaptism, there was a public disputation appointed at Boston two days together, for the clearing of the faith in this article, tliis worthy man was he w^ho did most ser\-ice in this disputation." No right-thinking person can fail to sympathize with the brilliant and amiable young pastor in his trying situation ; and his determination " to have an argument able to remove a' mountain" before he should " recede from, or appear against, a truth or practice, re- ceived among the faithful," represents the spirit of con- servatism in all ages and in all denominations. As might have been expected, the magistrates (assist- ants) could not long avoid taking cognizance of the fact that the president of the college had turned antipedobap- tist. About January, 1654 (N. S.), they addressed a letter to the ministers, stating that they had been informed " that Mr. Dunster, President of the College, hath by his practice and opinions against infant baptism rendered himself of- fensive to this government," and requesting their coopera- tion in measures "for the preventing or removing of that which may tend to the prejudice of the College and scan- dal to the country." The ministers are requested "so to 152 THE BAPTISTS, [Per. i. deal ill this business that we may, at our next meeting, be thoroughly informed how the matter stands with him in respect of his opinions, and be thereby enabled to under- stand what may be expected of us." On February 2d and 3d a conference was held between President Dunster and nine of the leading ministers of the vicinity, besides two ruling elders. The president proposed his thesis in regular scholastic form in Latin : Soli visibilitcr fidcles sunt baptizcndi (visible believers alone should be baptized). John Norton, one of the chief disputants, somewhat indis- creetly admitted the truth of the proposition. " We grant it, but say infants of believing parents in church state are visible believers." His proof of this statement was based upon the supposed parallelism between the Jewish church and the Christian, which Dunster of course repudiated. After the argument based on the Abrahamic covenant and the grounding of infant baptism on the rite of circum- cision had been threshed out, the president assumed an aggressive attitude and advanced the following argument : " All instituted gospel worship hath some express word of Scripture. But pedobaptism hath none. Ergo.'" Norton insisted that "it hath a word by manifest consequence." Dunster demanded to have the word pointed out. It must be either in the Old Testament or the New. If in the New, it must be either " in John's baptism, or Christ's, or his disciples'." " John only baptized penitent believers confessing their sins. Then not infants. Ergo." When Norton denied the major premise, Dunster rejoined: " They that cannot speak are not penitent believers con- fessing their sins." Norton insisted that " they speak vir- tually. . . . We all in Adam did virtually speak a word in the covenant of works." Danforth added: "So may we be baptized in our parents." Dunster insisted on personal faith. Norton conceded this point, but held that " an in- Chap, v.] CONFERENCE ON INFANT BAPTISM. 1 53 fant makes his covenant in a public person." Dunster claimed that "there is now no public person but Christ for us to stand in." The argument from i Corinthians vii. 14 was adduced by Dunster's opponents and explained in a Baptist way by Dunster. The report of the discus- sion is evidently a very abbreviated one, little more than the heads of the arguments being given ; but nothing said by the representatives of the standing order was calculated to produce the slightest impression on one who had come to see the significance and value of believers' baptism and to realize the evils of infant baptism. In a letter written at about the time of the conference, President Dunster thus sets forth his view of the evil of infant baptism : " That way of worship which forcibly de- prives the spiritual babes and converts of the church of the due consolation from Christ and dutiful obligation to Christ — that is justly suspicious. But the baptism of un- regenerate infants forcibly deprives the spiritual babes and converts of the church of their due consolation from Christ, viz., the remission of sin, etc., and dutiful obligation to Christ, viz., to believe on him, die with him to sin, and rise to newness of life." Three months after the conference, on the basis of the ministers' report, no doubt, the General Court issued the following order: "Forasmuch as it greatly concerns the welfare of this country that the youth thereof be educated not only in good literature, but sound doctrine, this Court doth therefore commend it to the serious consideration and special care of the Overseers of the College, and the selectmen of the several towns, not to admit or suffer any such to be continued in the office or place of teaching, educating, or instruction of youth or child, in the college or school, that have manifested themselves unsound in the faith, or scandalous in their lives, and not giving due sat- 154 ^'^^^ BAPTISTS. [Pf.k. I. isfaction according to the rules of Christ." A few weeks later (June lO, 1654) Dunster offered his resignation in the following form : " I here resign up the place wherein hitherto I have labored with all my heart (blessed be the Lord who gave it), serving you and yours. And hence- forth (that you in the interim may be provided) I shall be willing to do the best I can for some weeks or months to continue the work, if the Society in the interim fall not to pieces in our hands; and what advice for the present or for the future I can give for the public good, in this be- half, with all readiness of mind I shall do it, and daily, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, pray the Lord to help and counsel us all, in whom I rest." The resignation was not accepted at once by the court, but it was left with the overseers of the college to " make provision, in case he persist in his resolution more than one month (and inform the Overseers), for some meet person to carry on and end that work for the present." There was no precipitancy on the part of the authorities, who were evidently reluctant to lose Dunster's services, and who no doubt hoped that he might at least consent to refrain from pressing his antipedobaptist views. It is probable that Dunster might have retained his position indefinitely, even after he had fully set forth his views in the conference wath the ministers, if he could have made up his mind to hold them in silence. But he was too completely mastered by his conception of the evils of infant baptism to be able, with a good conscience, to re- frain from protesting against it when occasion offered. About a month after the action of the court referred to, the rite of infant baptism was being administered in the church, and he was moved in his spirit to protest against it as not according to the institution of Christ, and to an- swer the arguments that had just been used by the pastor Chap, v.] A HUMBLE PEl'JTIOX. 1 55 in its favor. This action of his was construed by the au- thorities as a violation of a law that had been enacted against disturbances of public worship. He must have known that this action would result in the severance of his relations to the college. He was soon informed that his services were no longer required, and on October 24th he offered a second and final resignation. The position was immediately offered to Charles Chauncy, who had raised considerable commotion by insisting on immersion as the act of baptism and the celebration of the Supper in the evening. In the invitation it was signified to him that it was expected and desired that he would forbear to dis- seminate or publish these views. His conscience was not of so -firm a fiber as that of the retiring president. He was evidently eager for the presidency, and he accepted it with the conditions imposed. Dunster's petition to the court, after his final resignation, for an allowance for ex- traordinary services in order that he might be in a position to pay his debts, for the privilege of remaining in the house which he had "with singular industry through great diffi- culties erected," " until all accounts due to him from the Corporation be orderly and valuably to him your humble petitioner satisfied and paid," and for freedom " according to his education and abilities, without all impeachment, molestation, or discountenance from the authority of this colony," while " walking piously and peaceably," to " seek further and vigorously prosecute the spiritual or temporal weal of the inhabitants thereof in preaching the Gospel of Christ, teaching or training up of youth, or in any other laudable or liberal calling as God shall chalk out his way, and when, and where, and in what manner he shall find acceptance," did not receive favorable consideration. To have allowed extraordinary compensation to a man who, by his own act, had thrown the college affairs into a 156 'I'lIE BAPTISTS. [Pek. i. state of confusion and greatly embarrassed the autliorities, especially when funds were represented by a negative rather than by a positive quantity, wouUl have been an almost, unexampled act of generosity. These extraordi- nary services had been fully recognized by the overseers, and had things gone on prosperously this recognition would doubtless have assumed some tangible form ; but circumstances had completely changed. To grant the privilege of remaining in the house for an indefinite period would make it to his interest to delay a final settlement of the college accounts, and besides would be embarrassing to his successor. That he should be allowed to preach or teach in the colony would have been contrary to the rec- ognized principles of the theocracy which occasioned his removal from the position that he had so ably filled. " What other laudable or liberal calling, besides preaching and education of youth, is intended, Mr. Dunster is to ex- plain himself." The hardship involved in Dunster's position it is difficult for us to realize. Without the sanction of the authorities there was nothing to which he could turn his hand for the maintenance of his family, except, perhaps, farming or mer- chandise, for neither of which he had taste or training. It is probable that his wife did not fully sympathize with him in the position he had taken. This may be inferred from the fact that his descendants in the generation following seem all to have been associated with pedobaptist churches. So reluctant was he to leave Cambridge at once that, six days after the unfavorable reply of the court to his peti- tion, he addressed to the same body a series of considera- tions, wherein he pointed out the extreme inconvenience and hardship of changing his residence at that time of year and on so short notice, and the importance of his remain- ing to settle up the accounts of the college and to give to CiiAP. v.] PROSECUTION, OR PERSECUTION? 1 57 his successor the information necessary for the successful performance of some of his duties. This lime the court yielded, and he was permitted to remain till the following March (1655). His trial for the disturbing of public worship did not take place till April. There is no doubt but that he had rendered himself liable to prosecution for persisting in dis- turbing the service ; but that this matter should have been pressed at such a time, after he had suffered so greatly in being deprived of his position in the college, savors of petty persecution. Considering what the theocracy was, the re- lation of the college to the theocracy, and the profound dread of Anabaptism, the authorities could hardly have been expected to retain the services of a man who had assumed a hostile attitude towards what was looked upon as a fundamental doctrine. In fact, it must be admitted that the court showed considerable forbearance in not dismissing him summarily when his views had been fully ascertained ; but that he should have been subjected to the indignity of a criminal process, and especially at such a time, is less excusable. Discreditable, also, were the failure of the court to pro- vide for the prompt payment of the forty pounds which the overseers found to be strictly due him on account, and its entire ignoring of their recommendation that one hun- dred pounds be allowed him for extraordinary services. Before leaving the vicinity of Boston we find Dunster intimately associated with Thomas Gould, of Charlestown, whom we shall meet again as one of the founders of the First Baptist Church, Boston, and one of the principal suf- ferers for the faith in connection with this cause. Dunster removed to Scituate, in the Plymouth colony, whence Chauncy had been called to be his successor at Cambridge. Whether Chauncy is to be credited with such 1^8 THE BAPTISTS. [ri:K. i. a degree of generosity as would ha\-e led him to run the risk of compromising himself with the Massachusetts authorities by using his influence in behalf of Dunster's settlement at Scituate, wo do not know. The Plymouth colony, as we have seen, was far in advance of the Massa- chusetts Bay colony in the matter of toleration. Scituate probably excelled any other township of Plymouth in this respect. John Lathrop, who had been pastor of the South- wark (London) church founded by Henry Jacob when the first division occurred (1633), that resulted in the formation, under John Spilsbury's leadership, of the first Particular Baptist church in P^ngiand, had come to New England tlie f«jllowing year with a portion of his Independent congre- gation, and had settled at Scituate. These were already familiar with Baptist doctrine and were not likely to be shocked by the presentation of antipedobaptist views. Probably few other churches in New PLngland would have so far yielded to Chauncy in the matter of immersion and the evening celebration of the Supper. It is altogether likely that Dunster found in the Scituate church a number of believers who thoroughly sympathized with his antipe- dobaptist views. Our information with respect to his life and labors at Scituate during the four remaining years of his career is exceedingly meager. Deane (in his " History of Scituate ") finds " notices of him the same autumn em- ployed in the ministry, in which he continued nearly five years." The probability seems to be against the supposi- tion that he was regularly installed as pastor of the church. He had here the active sympathy and support of such noble men as Captain (afterward General) James Cud- worth, who, because he dared to entertain some Quakers and to oppose their persecution, lost his position (1657) as a member of the court. Cudworth's sentiments in re- -spect to this matter are worth quoting: "The antichristian Chap, v.] INVITED TO DUBLIN. 1 59 persecuting spirit is very active, and that in the powers of this world. He that will not lash, persecute, and punish men that differ in matters of religion, must not sit on the bench, nor sustain any office in the Commonwealth. Last election, Mr. Hatherly and myself were left off the bench, and myself discharged of my captainship, because I had entertained some of the Quakers at my house, thereby that I might be the better acquainted with their principles. I thought it better to do so than with the blind world to censure, condemn, rail at, and re\ile them, when they neither saw their persons nor knew any of their principles. But the Quakers and I cannot close in divers things, and so I signified to the Court ; but told them withal, that as I was no Quaker, so I would be no persecutor." In a letter written about a year before Dunster's death, Cudworth bears this testimony to his work and worth : " Through mercy we have yet among us the worthy Mr. Dunster, whom the Lord hath made boldly to bear testi- mony against the spirit of persecution." According to Morton (" Memorials," p. 283), Dunster" was useful to op- pose their [the Quakers'] abominable opinions, and in de- fending the truth against them." \\\ strongly opposing the opinions of the Quakers he was at one with Roger Williams, but we may be sure that neither of these great and good men countenanced the persecution of these re- ligious zealots. An incident in Dunster's later career should not be omitted. In 1656, the year after his settlement at Scitu- ate, he received the following letter from Edward Roberts, a Welsh Baptist in government employ at Dublin : " Hon- ored Friend: I am wholly a stranger to you further than as to report which hath spread itself to the rejoicing of many that fear the Lord, and hearing that your portion hath been to suffer in some measure for the Cross of l6o ^'/^^ BAPTISTS. [Per. i. Christ, myself and some other that truly love you on the ground aforesaid made it our request to the truly virtuous Lord Deputy [Henry Cromwell, son of Oliver] to provide for you in this land, who readily embraced the same, and ordered fifty pounds for the bringing over yourself and family, as you may see by a copy of his Lordship's and the Council's enclosed, with directions for me to send to you, which moneys I have sent. . . . You need not fear accommodations here, though I hope that will not be )'Our chief motive, but rather honor of the Lord and his great name. You may through mercy ha\e free liberty of your conscience ; and opportunity of associating with saints and free publishing the Gospel of Truth, which [is] greatly wanted amongst us, there being but few able and painful men who make the service of God their sake." An earnest entreaty to confer not with flesh and blood, but " to be guided by the call of God," follows. The in- vitation was not accepted. For better or for worse he seems to have joined himself to New England. Doubtless he had business interests of his own and of his step-children that would have made it difficult for him to leave the country of his adoption. He may also have foreseen that the government with whose cooperation he was invited to L'eland was lacking in stability. It may be that his de- clining health made him reluctant to enter upon an under- taking in w^hich much would be expected of him. Again, it may be that his wife withheld the encouragement that would have been necessary to make the change a happy one. On the same grounds we may perhaps account for the fact that he was content to be to the end of his life a pro- nounced antipedobaptist in a pedobaptist church. Out- side of Providence and Rhode Island there was no Baptist church in America. It is probable that up to the time of his death it would have been impossible to carry on Bap- CiiAi>. v.] DCXSTER'S DEATH AXB WILL. l6l tist work even in the Plymouth colony. No doubt he made up his mind that, having borne his testimony and suffered his martyrdom on behalf of believers' baptism and regenerate church-membership, and finding the door absolutely closed in the colony that he had chosen as his home against the carrying on of distinctively Baptist work, his duty in respect to these doctrines would be fulfilled by a continuance of his protest and by engaging in such Christian work as was open to him. He was sowing the seed. The harvest would appear by and by. His death occurred at Scituate, February 27, 1659. In his will, drawn up the year before, when disease had al- ready warned him that the end was near, he made provis- ion for his burial at Cambridge. His heart had been there during his years of absence ; there he wished his mortal remains to abide. President Chauncy and Mr. Mitchell, " his reverend and trusty friends and brethren," he ap- pointed to appraise his library, and to each he left a num- ber of volumes. Doubtless at his funeral his brethren who had felt obliged, in the interests of the theocracy, to coop- erate in securing his removal from the work in which his heart was so deeply enlisted, recalled with sadness the pathetic words contained in his statement of considerations why he should be allowed to remain in the president's residence during the winter after his resignation: "The whole transaction of this business is such which in process of time, when all things come to mature consideration, may very probably create grief on all sides ; yours subsequent, as mine antecedent. I am not the man you take me to be." Mitchell's elegiac stanzas have been already referred to. Harvard University, though she has departed greatly from the position of the Puritans and from that of Dunster, re- gards his memory as one of her chiefest treasures, and her historians have vied with each other in doing him honor. CHAPTER VI. BAPTIST CHURCHES IN MASSACHUSETTS TO 1740.^ If, with most writers, we leave out of consideration the Baptist meetings held by Obadiah Holmes and his fellow- believers at Rehoboth in 1649, then the first Baptist church within the territory now covered by Massachusetts was also the first Baptist church of Wales. The leader of the band of Welsh Baptists who, in 1663, took refuge in New England from persecutions under Charles H. (1662 on- ward) was John Myles. That they should have made their way to the Plymouth colony was natural in view of the well-known tolerant disposition of its authorities. Re- hoboth, where they settled, had already, as we have seen, witnessed the holding of Baptist meetings. Like many of the ministers who sought in New England a refuge from the persecutions of the British authorities, Myles had be- hind him a long career of distinguished usefulness. When Obadiah Holmes was gathering the Baptist comxrts of Rehoboth for worship, Myles and an associate, Thomas Proud by name, were planting the Baptist banner at Ilston, Glamorganshire, Wales. Of the early life of Myles we have only meager information. Born at Newton, in Herefordshire, about 162 1, we find him a student in the University of Oxford in 1636. He sprang from a region whose soil had been enriched by the blood of martyrs in 1 Cf. Backus, Ellis, Mather, Winthrop, Morton, Hutchinson, Ilubb.ird, Felt, Russell. 162 Chap, vi.] FIKST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WALES. 163 medieval and later times. It had been the stronghold of Lollardism in the fourteenth century, and it gloried in being the birthplace or the scene of the labors of such evangelical heroes and martyrs as Bradwardine, Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), and Walter Brute, in the medi- eval time, and of John Penry in the age of Ehzabeth. The destitution of gospel privileges in Wales about 1641 was truly appalling. Evangelical preachers had been hunted out by the Laudian inquisition, and the great ma- jority of the ministers of the established church were ig- norant and corrupt. According to Vavasour Powell, the great Baptist evangelist of Wales, " A petition was sent to the King and Parliament about 1641, setting forth humbly and truly, by many responsible persons, that after minutely searching scarcely were there found as many conscientious, settled preachers in Wales as there were counties in it." Myles began his ministry about 1645, under what circum- stances or with what views of truth we are not informed. According to the records of the Baptist church at Ilston, which Myles and his brethren brought with them to New England, the organization took place April i, 1649. The heading of the first page is said to run : " Names of the brethren and sisters who were added to this church from the first day of the second month [April, N. S.] in 1649 to the 16th day of the same month in 1650." The name of John Myles heads the list, and is followed by that of Thomas Proud. It is probable that Myles and Proud had been baptized shortly before the inauguration of their work at Ilston into the fellowship of a London Baptist church (now meeting in the Glass House, Broad Street), whither they had apparently gone for this purpose. The London church, it is related, regarded the coming of these brethren and their proposal to enter upon evangelistic work in Wales as a direct answer to their recent prayers 164 '^'^i^ BATTISTS. [Pek. i. for the evangelization of that region. A letter written by the pastor of the London church, dated Barnstable, May 9, 1650, is of interest in this connection: "Dear Brother Myles: Having heard lately, by some of your fellow- countrymen, and also by some of the brethren in London, of your seeking the way of the Lord in the participation of the ordinances of the Gospel in accordance with the proper mode of the Gospel, we could not less than bless the Father in your behalf, that you have fully submitted to the v^^ay of truth. Give my most fervent love to all the church." The London church long continued to regard the evangelistic work of Myles and Proud as their own, and were always ready to give the advice that the Welsh evangelists did not fail to ask of their more experienced brethren. It is probable that the e\-angelists received material assistance from the same source. \\\ the Ilston church book already referred to appears " A brief report of some of the chief providences of our Father towards us, his poor and despised people, who have by great grace been baptized into the name of Jesus Christ and to the profession of the Gospel, and have united in fellowship with one another in this church." The following record will be of interest: "We cannot do less than admire the unsearchable wisdom, power, and love of God in bringing about his own purposes, which transcend the power and understanding of the wisest of men. Thus to the glory of his great name he dealt, for when there was no company or society of prophets setting forth and preaching the doctrines of worship and order and Gospel discipline, ac- cording to primitive institution, that we ever heard of since the time of the apostasy, it pleased God to choose this dark corner, to put his name in it, and to give us poor, unworthy creatures the honor of being the first in all these parts to observe the glorious ordinance of bap- Chap, vi.] MYLES A TESTER. 1 65 tism, and gather together the first church of baptized be- Hevers." That the zealous laborers had much to discourage them in the early stages of the movement, and that they yet had a strong and abiding faith, is evident from the follow- ing extract from the records already quoted: "It pleased the Lord to give us some signs of his purpose to gather to himself a people to walk in fellowship with them, his servants ; but in order that he might be seen more visible in his work, he began with two women, who were baptized about the beginning of the 8th month [October], 1649; and thus teaching us not to despise the day of small things, nor to judge the work of God according to appear- ance or human probability. For when these feeble creat- ures were baptized, there was not a strong probability that one more would be added to us ; yet the Lord went on and called four more women before one man offered himself." But tlie community was ripe for such gospel efforts, and during the year following forty-six were bap- tized into the fellowship of the little band of believers. \\\ eleven years the number of members had increased to two hundred and sixty-three. The labors of Myles and his associates extended over a considerable territory, and meetings must be held in several localities in order to accommodate the people. The entire church, howexer, were expected to meet together at Ilston on the first day of every three weeks for the breaking of bread. A number of other preachers were soon raised up in connection with the labors of Myles and Proud, and by 165 i there were four churches in fellowship. The name of Myles appears as one of the testers (or triers) in connection with a parliameiitary " Act for the Better Propagation of the Gospel in Wales," signed Feb- ruary 22, 1649. The aim of the act was the rooting out 1 66 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. cf the corrupt and worthless ministers who abounded and the supplying of the principality with worthy ministers. In a few years the religious aspect of Wales had become completely changed owing to the successful working of this measure, which from a Baptist point of view was by no means an ideal arrangement, but which, on the as- sumption that the church endowments and rates were to be maintained and administered under the direction of the state, was a practical necessity. Myles was far from being alone among Baptist ministers in consenting to act in such capacity. Tombes, Jessey, and Dyke were among Cromwell's triers for England, and the first two at least ministered to beneficed churches. It should be observed that Myles and Proud were by no means the first Baptists in Wales. Vavasour Powell and Cradock had been for some years evangelizing in Wales, but as they were open communionists the results of their work had appeared in mixed rather than in Baptist churches. Baptist principles flourished in Wales, and Welsh Baptists have long been noted for their consistency and devotion. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 drove Myles from his pastorate. He is numbered among the two thousand ejected ministers, and as he had acted under the Crom- wellian government in the capacity of trier for Wales, so he seems to have received support from the parish reve- nues that had earlier been enjoyed by the corrupt minister of the parish. We would not be understood to justify his acquiescence in this state-church arrangement; but it is desirable that we should understand the real relations of things in order that we may appreciate the situation of Myles and a number of other excellent Baptist brethren of that time. The case seems to have been something like this: the Cromwellian government had not confiscated the Chap, vi.] MYLES HOLDS A BENEFICE. 1 67 church endowments or abohshed the old methods of rais- ing church revenues ; the great majority of the residents in the parish where he labored desired his services in the ministry ; his ministry was acceptable to the state-church authorities; as things were, the members of the parish must contribute through the legal channels, and the in- come from endowments, if there were any, must pass through the hands of the government authorities. Myles and his Baptist parishioners might have said, and perhaps ought to have said, " No, we will have absolutely nothing to do with a state-church arrangement; we will pay our church rates if we must ; we will let the government make what use it pleases of these and of the income of the par- ish endowments ; we will not submit to having the qualifi- cations of our pastor passed upon by the triers appointed by the government — much less shall our pastor counte- nance the continuance of the state-church system by sit- ting on the Board of Triers ; besides paying under protest what the state may exact we will, as pastor and people, pursue the New Testament plan of direct dependence on the church on the one hand, and voluntary support of the gospel ministry on the other." This would have been heroic, but the supreme importance of the voluntary sys- tem and the deadly evils of all state-churchism seem not to have impressed men like Myles, Tombes, Dyke, and Jessey, as they impressed many Baptists in the seventeenth century and as they have impressed nearly all Baptists from that time onward. With a company of his Welsh brethren, Myles made his way to Rehoboth, as has already been stated, and was not slow in instituting Baptist worship and ordinances in his new home. With him were associated, and joined by solemn covenant, James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benja- 1 68 THE BAFTISl'S. [Pkr. i. mill Alby. It does not appear that any coercive measures were undertaken against the new organization until July, 1667, when Myles and Brown were arraigned before the court " for their breach of order in setting up of a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the Court, to the disturbance of the peace of the place," and " are fined each of them five pounds, and Mr. Tanner the sum of one pound, and we judge that their continuance at Rehoboth, being very prejudicial to the peace of that church and that town, may not be allowed; and do there- fore order all persons concerned therein wholly to desist from the said meeting in that place or township, within this month. Yet in case they shall remove their meeting unto some other place, where they may not prejudice any other church, and shall gi\'e us aiiy reasonable satisfaction respecting their principles, we do not know but they may be permitted b}- this government so to do." It is evident that the Baptist work was being pushed with some \-igor and had become a matter of alarm to the pastor of the church of the standing order. It is further evident that the authoiities had ceased to regard antipedo- baptism with the horror of the earlier time. As compared with the attitude of the Massachusetts Bay authorities before and after, the last sentence of this pronouncement is toleration itself. Massachusetts would have imprisoned and banished Myles and his associates. Plymouth simply requires them to remove to a convenient distance from the church of the standing order, so as not to disturb the peace of church and town. In October of the same year the court set apart for them a large bod)- of land near the Rhode Island frontier, which they named Swansea, in com- memoration of Swansea, near Ilston, their Welsh home. The land- grant was made in the names of Captain Willet and Mr. Paine, who were pedobaptists, and three of the Chap, vi.] SIWIXSEA EXCLi'SIVEXESS. 1 69 Baptist brethren. Captain Willet proposed to the other members of the new township: " i. That no erroneous person be admitted into the township either as an inhabit- ant or sojourner. 2. That no man of an evil behavior or contentious person, etc., be admitted. 3. That none may be admitted that may become a charge to the place." It is somewhat humiliating to Baptists to find the church under Myles consenting to these proposals, with certain explications. As it is the aim of this history to relate the facts precisely as they occurred, it may be worth while to quote the terms in which they accepted the proposal to exclude all erroneous persons : " That the first proposal relating to the non-admission of erroneous persons may be only understood under the following explications, viz. : (i) of such as hold damnable heresies, inconsistent with the faith of the gospel ; as, to deny the Trinity, or any per- son therein; the deity or sinless humanity of Christ, or the union of both natures in him, or his full satisfaction to the divine justice of all his elect, by his active or passive obe- dience, or his resurrection, ascension into heaven, inter- cession, or his second coming personally to judgment; or else to deny the truth or divine authority of the Script- ures, or the resurrection of the dead, or to maintain any merit of works, consubstantiation, transubstantiation, giv- ing divine adoration to 'any creature, or any other anti- christian doctrine directly opposing the priestly, prophet- ical, or kingly offices of Christ, or any part thereof; (2) or such as hold such opinions as are inconsistent with the well-being of the place, as to deny the magistrate's power to punish evil-doers as well as to encourage those that do well, or to deny the first day of the week to be observed by divine institution as the Lord's Day or Christian Sab- bath, or to deny the giving of honor to whom honor is due, or to oppose those civil respects that are usually per- I 70 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. formed according to the laudable customs of our nation each to other, as bowing the knee or body, etc., or else to deny the office, use, or authority of the ministry or a com- fortable maintenance to be due to them from such as par- take of their teachings, or to speak reproachfully of any of the churches of Christ in the country, or of any such other churches as are of the same common faith with us or them. We desire that it be also understood and de- clared that this is not understood of any holding any opin- ion different from others in any disputable point, yet in controversy among the godly learned, the belief thereof not being essentially necessary to salvation ; such as pedo- baptism, antipedobaptism, church discipline, or the like; but that the minister or ministers of the said town may take their liberty to baptize infants or grown persons as the Lord shall persuade their consciences, and so also the inhabitants take their liberty to bring their children to baptism or to forbear." Here we see a result of Myles's training in connection with the state-church system of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. He had failed to grasp the great prin- ciple of absolute liberty of conscience which the mass of antipedobaptists from the Reformation time onward had consistently advocated and practiced. If this docu- ment mean anything, it means that Myles and his Baptist brethren would have cooperated with the pedobaptist in- habitants of the township of Swansea in excluding, by forcible means if necessary, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Arminians, Socinians of all classes, Sabbata- rians, and Quakers. Roger Williams would have been almost as imacceptable in Swansea as he had been thirty years before to the Massachusetts Bay authorities, and few, if any, of the Baptists we have encountered in New Enorland would ha\e been able to endure the test. There Chap. VI.] A NEW PASTOR WANTED. 171 is fortunately no case on record in which the vicious prin- ciple of this document was practically applied. Doubtless contact with the disciples of Roger Williams and John Clarke in the neighboring churches of Providence and Newport taught these anomalous Baptists the way of the Lord more perfectly. It may be that anxiety to escape persecution led them to express themselves more strongly on these matters than their own best judgment would have approved or than they would have been willing to carry out in practice. But this possible explanation is as little to their credit as their failure to apprehend a funda- mental principle of the denomination. Yet, notwithstanding the defect mentioned, the Swan- sea church w^as greatly prospered, the entire community remaining Baptist until the latter part of the eighteenth century. (Backus, ii., 433.) By the middle of 1681 Myles had grown " very aged and feeble," and was " often in- capable of his ministerial work." The brethren wrote an earnest plea to the Baptist ministers of London for " an able man to come over," for whom they " conceive there is a prospect of good encouragement, ... in that there seems to be an apparent and general apostasy among the churches who have professed themselves Congregational in this land; whereby many have their eyes opened, by seeing the declension and confusion that is among them." There is reason to suspect that it was not wholly the feeble- ness of the pastor that led to this application. The pastor was old and feeble, certainly, but it is probable that some feeling had arisen between pastor and people. \\\ 1682 he preached for a while in Boston, and a report gained cur- rency that was cast into the teeth of Boston brethren by the authorities in this form : " Behold your great Doctor, Mr. Myles of Swanzey, for he now leaves his profession and is come away, and will not teach his people any more, Ijo THE BAP'J'/S'IS. [I'EK. I. because he is like to perish for want, and his gathered church and people will not help him." The effort to se- cure a pastor in England proved a failure, and no doubt the differences between the old pastor and his flock were adjusted. He died as pastor of the church February 3, 1683, and his memory remains fragrant in the community where his labors were so fruitful. He was succeeded after a considerable interval by Samuel Luther, who had been for some time a member of the church and had represented Swansea in the colonial legislature. He was ordained to the pastorate July 22, 1685, elders from the Boston church assisting. He remained pastor till his death, in i/i/- The next pastor was Ephraim Wheaton, who for thirteen years had assisted Luther in his ministerial labors. The church greatly prospered under Wheaton's ministry. During the five years beginning with 171S, fifty were received into the church, and before his death, in 1734, the membership had risen to two hundred. His successor, Samuel Max- well, was noted for his piety and zeal, but having adopted Sabbatarian view\s, and being thought unsteady in other points of Baptist doctrine, he was dismissed from the church in 1739. The next pastor was popular, but proved un- worthy, and the next was so unacceptable that the church greatly declined, many members withdrawing to other churches which had been organized in the neighborhood. But a bright future was before the church in the period to follow, in connection with the Great Awakening. The new charter, under William and Mary, granted in 1691, provided for "liberty of conscience in the worship of God to all Christians, except Papists." " Liberty of conscience " was interpreted by the Massachusetts author- ities in such a way as to allow of the taxation of dissenters for the support of ministers of the standing order. In 1692 an act was passed for the support of ministers. CUAV. \i.J JCy FOR SLPFORT OF MJXISTERS. I 73 As revised in 1693, it provided " that each respective gath- ered church, in any town or place within this Province, that at any time shall be in want of a minister, such church shall have the power, according to the directions given in the Word of God, to choose their own minister" ; but be- fore the settlement could be consummated the concurrence of a majority of voters in town affairs must be secured. After such concurrence, " all the inhabitants and ratable estates lying within such town, or part of a town, or place limited by law for upholding the public worship of God, shall be obliged to pay in proportion towards the minister's settlement and support." Boston was excepted from the operation of this law, but otherwise its provisions were made compulsory by a requirement that the county courts should summon and heavily fine the selectmen or other officers of any town failing to comply. It was not long before the Bristol Court issued a warrant requiring the town of Swansea to choose a minister accordirig to law. As the Baptist church was the only church in the town, and as a large majority of the inhabitants were Baptist in sentiment, there was no difficulty in securing for the pastor the C(Micurrence of a majority of the voters of the town. It is humiliating to find that after a short delay the requi- sition was complied with, and the report was sent to the court that Samuel Luther had been chosen pastor accord- ing to law\ Whether the church allowed a general assess- ment for the support of its pastor to be carried out we are not informed. As in the laying out of the township, which had been publicly granted to a company the majority of whom were Baptists, certain lots had been set apart for the support of public worship, it may be that a general assess- ment was not required. The law referred to was in force until 1728, when an act was passed " to exempt persons commonly called Ana- 1 74 THE BAPTISTS. [Pkk. i. baptists, and those called Quakers, . . . from being taxed for and towards the support of " ministers. This act at first exempted from poll-taxes only, and it applied only to persons living within five miles of their meeting-place. In 1729 it was modified to include estate-taxes. The act was to be valid for five years only. At the expiration of this term its provisions were renewed, with the require- ment that assessors should make lists of Anabaptists in each community and that these lists should be subject to in- spection and to correction on the presentation of certificates signed by "two principal members of that persuasion." As no penalty was affixed to neglect of compliance with the law on the part of the assessors. Baptists were put to much inconvenience, annoyance, and expense in securing the exemption provided for. The history of the First Baptist Church of Boston next demands attention. It is certain that there \\'ere a number of Baptists in the neighborhood of Boston at an early date. We have seen that in 1655 Thomas Gould, of Charlestown, had fellowship with President Dunster in antipedobaptism, and that meetings were already held at the house of the former in this interest. Such meetings were doubtless kept up with a considerable degree of regularity from that time until 1665, when (May 28) Thomas Gould, Thomas Osburne, Edward Drinker, and John George were baptized, and united with Richard Goodall, William Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodall, and Mary Newel, who had been previously baptized, most or all of them in England, " in a solemn covenant, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in fellowship and communion together, in the prac- tice of all the holy appointments of Christ, which he had or should further make known to them." The Goodalls had been members of William Kiffin's church in London, Lambert and Turner of Mr. Stead's church in Dartmouth: Chai'. \i.] first baptist CHURCH OF BOSTOX. \ 75 Gould and Osburne withdrew from the church of the stand- ing order in Charlestown. According to a record made at the time by the Roxbury church and pubHshed in an almanac, " the Anabaptists gathered themselves into a church, prophesied one by one, and some one among them administered the Lord's Supper after he was regularly ex- communicated by the church at Charlestown ; they also set up a lecture at Drinker's house once a fortnight." Much was made of the fact that the new organization admitted as members and appointed to official positions those who had been excommunicated by the churches of the standing order. The " moral scandals " of which Cot- ton Mather speaks as the ground for their excommunica- tion were of no more serious nature than somewhat demon- strative protestations against the administration of infant baptism, and absenting themselves from the meetings of the church. It seems somewhat gratuitous to charge them with schismatic organization of a new church, and to seek to bring the schismatic organization into further contempt by making the incipient stages of the schism a ground for charges of immoral conduct. The officers of the Charles- town church certainly deserve credit for the patience and perseverance with which they labored with Gould. Ac- cording to Wlllard, a contemporary opponent of the new church (Backus, i., 289): "The church in much tender- ness waited upon him, and proceeded not to excommuni- cation, but tried with admonition upon admonition, and that by the space of seven or eight years ; nor was he excommunicated till (ha\-ing left his own) he joined to another society, v/ithout the church's leave, or once asking it; and now^ also being twice sent for by the church, he disclaimed their authority over him. . . . He did (while under admonition) neglect public worship, and gather a priv^ate meeting on the Sabbath to his house. He did I 76 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. wickedly slight the admonition of the church, declaring that they had, by it, discharged him of all relation to them." Substantially the same is the charge against Osburne. The occasion of Gould's first protest against infant bap- tism was the birth of a child in 1655. His own account of the matter is of interest : " It having been a long time a scruple to me about infant baptism, God was pleased at last to make it clear to me, by the rule of the gospel, that children were not capable nor fit subjects for such an ordi- nance, because Christ gave this commission to his apostles, first to preach to make them disciples, and then to baptize them, which infants were not capable of; so that I durst not bring fordi my child to be partaker of it." The de- tails of the ecclesiastical processes by which it was sought to win this Anabaptist heretic from the error of his way, as reported by Gould himself, are picturesque and in some cases piquant; but nothing new was added to the argu- ments for and against the baptism of infants. Repeated conferences led to no change of sentiment on either side. What followed these conferences may be best given in Gould's own language : " Now after this, considering with myself what the Lord would have me to do ; not likely to join with any of the churches of New England any more, and so to be without the ordinances of Christ ; in the mean time God sent out of Old England some who were Bap- tists ; we, consulting together what to do, sought the Lord to direct us, and taking counsel of other friends who dwelt among us, who were able and godly, they gave us counsel to congregate ourselves together; and so we did, being nine of us, to walk in the order of the gospel according to the rule of Christ, yet knowing that it was a breach of the law of this country ; that we had not the approbation of magistrates and ministers, for that we suffered the penalty of that law, when we were called before them." Chap. VI.] CONFESSIOX OF FAITH. 1 7/ Shortly after the oroanization of the new church, Gould was solemnly summoned to appear before the church to which he had formerly belonged on the following Lord's Day. He repudiated any right of the church to demand his presence, and declined to obey the summons. At the entreaty of some of his friends, who feared that some godly members of the church might, in case of his failure to state the grounds of his action in public assembly, ignorantly join in his excommunication and thus commit sin, he agreed to be present on a subsequent Lord's Day. The result was the excommunication of such Baptists as had been members of the church. In September, 1665, they were arraigned before the Court of Assistants. They exhibited to the court a care- fully written confession of faith. Objection was raised to the following article, on the ground that it excludes from visible saintship all unbaptized persons: " Christ's commis- sion to his disciples is to teach and baptize, and those who gladly receive the word and are baptized are saints by calling, and fit matter for a visible church." " If any take this to be heresy," the confession concludes, " then do we, with the apostle, confess, that after the way which they call heresy, we worship God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets and apostles." As the accused showed no disposition to yield to the authorities, the case was referred to the General Court to be held the next month (Octo- ber 1 1). The sentence of the court reads as follows : " This Court, taking the premises into consideration, do judge meet to declare that the said Gould and company are no orderly church assembly, and that they stand justly con- victed of high presumption against the Lord and his holy appointments, as also the peace of this government, against which this Court doth account themselves bound to God, 1 78 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. his truth, and his churches here planted, to bear their testi- mony, and do therefore sentence the said Gould, Osburne, Drinker, Turner, and George, such of them as are freemen, to be disfranchised, and all of them, upon conviction, be- fore any one magistrate or Court, of their further proceed- ings herein, to be committed to prison until the General Court shall take further order with them." It need scarcely be said that the Baptists continued their meetings. On April 17, 1666, they were summoned be- fore the County Court at Cambridge, and Gould, Osburne, and George were fined four pounds each and required to give bond for their appearance at the next Court of As- sistants in the sum of twenty pounds each. Refusing to comply with these requirements, they were cast into pris- on. The Court of Assistants required them to pay their fines and gave them to understand that the previous order was to " stand in full force." The fines seem to have been paid and the prisoners liberated. But annoyances of this kind continued. In March, 1668, Gould appealed from the County Court to the Court of Assistants, with the re- sult that the jury " found for the plaintiff, reversion of the former judgment." The court refused to accept this ver- dict and sent the jury out for further consideration. A qualified statement was returned, on the basis of which the decision of the lowxr court was sustained. In connection with these procedures the governor and council arranged for a meeting of the principal ministers along with the governor and magistrates, " before whom . . . the above-said persons and their company shall have liberty, freely and fully, in open assembly, to present their grounds ... in an orderly debate of this following ques- tion: Whether it be justifiable by the word of God, for these persons and their company to depart from commun- ion with these churches, and to set up an assembly here Chap. VI.] A DISFUTATIOX. 1 79 in the way of Anabaptism, and whether such a practice is to be allowed by the government of this jurisdiction? To Thomas Gould: You are hereby required in his Majesty's name, according to the order of the Council above written, to give notice thereof to John Farnum, senior, Thomas Osburne, and the company, and you and they are alike required to give your attendance." In this disputation Gould and his associates had the active sympathy and support of the Newport chutch, three of whose leading members, William Hiscox, Joseph Torrey, and Samuel Hubbard, were delegated by the church to be present, and arrived three days before the event. The result was as we have learned to expect in all such cases : the party in power considered themselves victorious, and the weaker party, for refusing to see the force of the arguments of their opponents, were branded as obstinate heretics. The record reminds one strongly of the protocols of sixteenth- century Anabaptist processes in Catholic Austria or Prot- estant Germany : "Whereas,Thomas Gould, William Turner, and John Farnum, senior, obstinate and turbulent Anabap- tists, have some time since combined themselves with others in a pretended church estate, without the knowledge and approbation of the authority here established, to the great grief and offense of the godly orthodox ; . . . the said per- sons did in open Court assert their former practice to have been according to the mind of God, and that nothing that they had heard had convinced them to the contrary ; which practice, being also otherwise circumstanced with making infant baptism a nullity, and thereby making us all to be unbaptized persons, and so consequently no regular churches, ministry, or ordinances, as also renouncing all our churches, as being so bad and corrupt that they are not fit to be held communion with ; denying to submit to the government of Christ in the church, and entertaining l8o THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. of those who are under church censure, thereby making the discipHne of Christ to be of none effect, and mani- festly tending to the disturbance and destruction of these churches, — opening the door for ah sorts of abominations to come in among us, to the disturbance not only of eccle- siastical enjoyments, but also contempt of our civil order and the authority here established, . . . which duty to God and the country doth oblige us to prevent, by using the most compassionate effectual means to attain the same; all of which considering, together with the danger of dis- seminating their errors, and encouraging presumptuous irregularities by their example, should they continue in this jurisdiction; this Court do judge it necessary that they be removed to some other part of this country, or elsewhere, and accordingly doth order that the said Thom- as Gould, William Turner, and James Farnum, senior, do, before the 20th of July next, remove themselves out of this jurisdiction." The sentence further provides for their imprisonment without bail or mainprise in case they should be found in the jurisdiction after the time fixed; and all officers con- cerned are especially ordered to see to the execution of the sentence. The church is forbidden to assemble again on any pretense whatever, and imprisonment and banish- ment are made the penalty of such meeting. If we would rightly appreciate the significance of this determined effort of the Baptists to embody their views in church organization and church life, on the one hand, and tiie equally determined effort of the Massachusetts author- ities to crush the movement in its very inception, on the other, we must call to mind the stage of British history that has been reached. Since the banishment of Roger Williams more than thirty momentous years had elapsed. The Long Parliament, the Civil War, the Commonwealth, Chai>. VI.] rillRTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. l8l the Protectorate, and the Restoration had succeeded one another with startling abruptness and revokitionizing- effect. The ecclesiastical tyranny of Archbishop Laud and Charles I. was succeeded by a triumph of Presbyterian Puritanism and a vigorous effort on the part of the latter to bring the whole of Britain into subjection to Presbyterian doctrine and discipline (1641-48). Independency, pedo- baptist and Baptist, which in 1640 was limited to a few per- secuted and despised congregations and a number of isolated individuals in the Puritan churches, had by 1647 attained to a dominating position in the triumphant parliamentary arm)^ most of the leading ofificers having become Inde- pendent and many of them Baptist ; and this Independent army had been able to destroy monarchy and prelacy and to put a limit to Presbyterian aspirations after theocratic control. The doctrine of liberty of conscience, which had hitherto been advocated only by a few obscure Baptists, had been set forth with magnificent completeness and tell- ing effect by Roger Williams, and had been accepted with greater or less completeness by a large proportion, and the most influential portion, of the EngHsh people. The Restoration had brought terrible persecution to dissent from the established church, involving the ejection in 1662 of two thousand Presbyterian and Independent ministers. Even English Puritans were coming to see that something could be said in favor of toleration. We may note the earnest remonstrances from leading English Congregation- alists in connection with the persecution of Clarke, Holmes, and Crandall, in 1651. The persecution of Gould and his brethren in 1668 by the New England Congregationalists was a source of amazement to English Congregationalists, who had long before learned the way of the Lord more perfectly, and who were at this very time groaning under the intolerance of the restored Stuart dynast}'. The New 1 82 THE BAPTISTS. [Pek. i. England theocracy had remained stationary in its intol- erance, while the large party in England with whom it claimed affiliation had made great strides forward in their conception of civil and religious liberty. Wilson, the first pastor of the Boston church, made a dying declaration about this time (May, 1667), which many accepted as the words of a prophet. Among the sins which in his view- greatly provoked God were :" i. Separation. 2. Anabap- tism. 3. Corahism." The latter he defined as rising up against ministers or elders. All three of these .specifica- tions were aimed at the Baptists. He reproached the magistrates for being " Gallio-like, either not caring for these things, or else not using their power and authority for the maintenance of the truth, gospel, and ordinances of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "Should the Lord leave them hereunto, how miserable a people we should be!" It should also be borne in mind that at the time of the organization of the First Baptist Church of Boston the New England churches were convulsed with controversy over the Half-way Covenant. According to the earlier arrangement, embodied in part in the Cambridge Platform of 1648, the exercise of the rights of citizenship was lim- ited to those in full communion in one of the recognized churches, and full communion was accorded only to those who gave credible evidence of having exercised saving faith and having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Each individual applying for church-membership must submit to a thorough examination as to his Christian ex- perience. Only the children of parents at least one of whom was in full communion were entitled to baptism. Baptized children were regarded as church-members by virtue of the fact that they were children of believers, but even such could become eligible to partake of the Supper Chap. VI.] THE HALF-WAY CO\-EXANT. 1 83 only by making a personal profession of saving faith.. The result of these arrangements was that within a few years the great mass of the population were deprived of full communion and so of citizenship and of the right to have their children baptized. It began to be seriously asked by many, What is the use of infant baptism, seeing that it confers no special privilege, civil or religious, apart from the personal profession of the person baptized ? Why not postpone baptism until after the personal profession ? The discontent of the majority of the population at being taxed for the support of public worship and yet denied the privi- leges of membership for themselves and their families, and especially at being civilly disfranchised, had become so general and demonstrative by 1657 that it could no longer be safely ignored. Moreover, the tendency of the logic of the situation toward the production of Baptists had doubtless become evident to many minds. The Half-way Covenant was a measure, agreed to by a large majority of the Synod called together by the civil authorities to consider the situation, for the remedying of the difficulties that had become embarrassing. Already at the time of the adoption of the Cambridge Platform there was a large and influential party in favor of extending the privileges of baptism and making the terms of communion more lib- eral. The question before the Synods of 1657 and 1662 was whether to enlarge the subjects of full communion, so that those who had been baptized in infancy, were ortho- dox in their views and without scandal in their lives, should be received into full communion without a personal pro- fession of saving faith ; or to accord the privilege of bap- tism to the children of such. The decision was in favor of the latter concession, but in practice the doors of many of the churches were soon thrown wide open, and the re- quirement of evidences of personal regeneration was gen- 184 ^'^^^ BAPTISTS. [Per. i. erally abandoned, its place being taken by a formal owning of the covenant. As the logic of the situation under the Cambridge Platform had favored the development of Bap- tist sentiment, so the virtual abandonment of the effort to maintain regenerate membership on the part of the New England churches furnished the strongest possible ground for Baptist protest, regenerate membership having been from the beginning one of the chief points of their conten- tion. The Boston church of which Wilson had been pastor was soon to suffer schism under John Davenport, his suc- cessor, who was one of the most pronounced opponents of the Half-way Covenant; and a condition of unrest in ecclesiastical matters that was highly favorable to the for- mation of new churches pervaded the colonies. But this necessary digression has already proceeded too far. We left Gould under the sentence of the court, with banishment as the only alternative to continued imprison- ment, and the Baptist church forbidden to assemble fur- ther under like penalties. On July 30th, William Turner and John Farnum were likewise committed to jail. A numerously and influentially signed petition for the re- lease of the prisoners, based on humanitarian as well as on religious grounds, was presented to the assembly at its autumn session. Governor Bellingham was one of the most intolerant of the magistrates, and was largely influ- ential in securing these rigorous measures against the Bap- tists. Francis Willoughby, deputy governor, 1665-71, is saici to have opposed these persecuting measures. Reports of this persecution were sent to England. The following extracts from a letter written to Captain OliA'er by Robert Mascall will illustrate the feelings awakened among Eng- lish nonconformists by these procedures: "We are hearty and full for our Presbyterian brethren's enjo}'ing equal liberty with ourselves; oh that they had the same spirit Chap, vi.] INTOLERAXCE REBUKED. 1 85 towards us! but oh, how it grieves and affects us that New Enghuid should persecute! will you not give what you take? is liberty of conscience your due? and is it not as due unto others that are sound in the faith? . . . Now must we force our interpretation upon others, Pope-like? In verse 5 of that chapter [Rom. xiv.] the Spirit of God saith, ' Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind ;' therefore this being the express will of God, who shall make a contrary law, and say, Persuadeci or not persuaded, you shall do as we say, and as we do ! and verse 23, ' What is not of faith is sin;' therefore there must be a word for what we do, and we must see and believe it, or else we sin if we do it. . . . And what principles is persecution grounded upon? Domination and infallibility. This we teach is the truth. But are we infallible, and have we the government? God made none, no not the apostles who could not err, to be lords over faith ; therefore what mon- strous pride is this? At this rate any persuasion getting uppermost may command, and persecute them that obey them not ; all nonconformists must be ill-used. Oh wicked and monstrous principle ! . . . Whatever you can say against those poor men, your enemies say against you. And what! is that horrid principle crept into precious New England, who have felt what persecution is, and have always pleaded for liberty of conscience? Have not those [Baptist.s] run equal hazards with you for the enjoyment of their liberties ; and how do you cast a reproach upon us, that are Congregational in England, and furnish our adversaries with weapons against us? We blush and are filled with shame and confusion of face, when we hear of these things." The following from the same letter shows how English Congregationalists had come to look upon their Baptist brethren who had fought shoulder to shoulder with them in the great conflict for civil and religious lib- l86 THE BAPriS'J'S. [Per. i. erty : "Dear brother, we here do love and honor them, hold familiarity with them, and take sweet counsel to- gether; they lie in the bosom of Christ, and therefore ought to be laid in our bosoms. In a word, we freely ad- mit them into churches; few of our churches but many of our members are Anabaptists; I mean baptized again. . . . Anabaptists are neither spirited nor principled to injure nor hurt your government nor your liberties; but rather these be a means to preserve your churches from apostasy, and provoke them to their primitive purity." Thirteen leading dissenting ministers of England, includ- ing Drs. Owen and Goodwin and Messrs. Nye and Caryl, wrote to the governor of Massachusetts in a similar strain, the consideration most emphasized being the great injury that would be done to the dissenting interest in England by such intolerant practices in New England. It was due, no doubt, to the combined influence of the strong local sentiment that had found expression in vari- ous ways, and to the vigorous protestation of the most in- fluential Congregationalists of England, that the prisoners for conscience' sake were released in a little less than a year. It is probable that a majority of the magistrates would have yielded to the demand for release long before, but the governor was obdurate. For some years the Bap- tists held their services upon Noddle's Island, where Gould took up his residence. In November, 1670, we find Turner again in prison, and warrants were " in two marshals' hands for brother Gould also, but he is not yet taken, because he lives on Noddle's Island, and they only wait to take him at town." So wrote Edward Drinker, a member of the church, to John Clarke and the Newport church. From this letter it appears that earnest efforts were made to secure the release of the prisoner, and that nearly all of the deputies were against the imprisonment of the Bap- Chap. VI.] PERSECUTION CONTINUES. 1 87 tists : " The town and country is very much troubled at our troubles; and especially the old church in Boston, and their elders, both Mr. Oxonbridge and Mr. Allen, have la- bored abundantly, I think as if it had been for their best friends in the world. Many more gentlemen and solid Christians are for our brother's deliverance; but it cannot be had ; a very great trouble to the town ; and they had gotten six magistrates' hands for his deliverance, but could not get the Governor's hand to it. . . . We keep our meet- ing at Noddle's Island, every First-day, and the Lord is adding some souls to us still, and is enlightening some others ; the priests are much enraged. The Lord has given us another elder, one John Russell, senior, a gracious, wise, and holy man that lives at Woburn, where we have five brethren near that can meet with him ; and they meet to- gether First-days when they cannot come to us, and I hear there are some more there looking that way with them. . . Brother Turner's family is very weakly and himself too. I fear he will not trouble them long." Massachusetts was far behind the times in the matter of toleration, and a commotion like that aroused by the per- secution of these godly, simple people was needed to show the authorities in church and state what the world thought of that sort of thing, and to bring out into activity the senti- ments against tyranny and injustice that might otherwise have remained latent. The reply from Newport written by Samuel Hubbard is full of sympathy and brotherly love. It is dated "9th month, 167 [," more than nine months after the letter of Drinker. It may be that other correspondence intervened. A further letter written to Newport in reply to Hubbard's, and dated " the first, loth month, '71," contains the following items : "Brother Turner has been near to death, but tlirough mercy is revived, and so has our pastor, Gould. The Lord make us truly thank- 1 88 l^t^^ BAPriS'JS. [Pi:k. I. fill, and give us hearts to improve them, and those liberties we yet enjoy that we l. vui.] religious DESriTL'TIOX. 225 forth in 1689 by "the ministers and messengers of, and concerned for, upwards of one hundred congregations in England and Wales (denying Arminianism)," and, by rea- son of its subsequent adoption (with slight modifications) by the Philadelphia Association, known in America as the Philadelphia Confession. There was at this time a dearth of gospel privileges in CaroHna outside of Charleston and its vicinity. The col- ony had a population of about fifty- five hundred, of whom three thousand were residents of Charleston. Outside of Charleston there is said to have been at that date no house of worship and no school. The Baptists were easily foremost in evangelical zeal. Screven, though advanced in age, was abundant in labors, and the Charleston church sent forth of its own numbers and procured from other communities those who carried the gospel to the neglected planters. The English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts furnished a number of mission- aries from 1707 onward, but they found that in most cases they had been preceded by the Baptists (Humphrey, " Historical Account," pp. 88, 95, 108, etc.). At the beginning of the eighteenth century the mistake of the dissenting interest in not contending more earnestly for equality of rights and privileges became manifest. The intolerance of the proprietaries had become more and more aggressive. In i 704, under the direction of Lord Gran- ville, two laws were enacted, the aim of which was to de- prive dissenters of all civil and religious rights and privi- leges. According to the first, " All persons that shall hereafter be chosen members of the Commons' House of Assembly, and sit in the same," were required " to take the oaths and sub.scribe the declaration appointed by this bill, and to conform to the religious worship of this Prov- ince, according to the Church of England, and to receive 226 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the said Church." It was provided that in case the person receiving the highest number of votes should refuse to quahfy by conformity to the Church of England, the person receiving the next highest number should be declared elected, and so on until the names voted for should have been exhausted. Thus it would be possible for a person receiving a small fraction of the votes cast to act as representative of the people. This act was fol- lowed up on the reassembling of the Commons by an Act establishing Religious Worship, which provided for the creation of a lay commission for the trial of ecclesiastical causes. It is worthy of note that some churchmen strenu- ously opposed the first bill on the ground of its injustice, and that many more opposed the second as an unwarrant- able invasion of ecclesiastical rights. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts refused to send more missionaries until the latter act should be re- pealed. The tyranny of the party in power was so rep- resented to the House of Lords that the queen was ad- vised to annul these laws. The Board of Trade advised the annulment of the proprietary charter. The laws were annulled, and from this time onward it became evident that the charter would be revoked and that the province would come under direct royal control. The struggle to secure this end resulted in a triumph of the people over the lords proprietors and their representatives as early as 1720, though the change was not completed until 1729. Thus was brought to an end the feudalism under which the colony had long groaned; and while under the new char- ter the Church of England was the established church and was supported at the public expense, the toleration of evangelical forms of Christianity was complete. It is es- timated that at least two thirds of the population at that C H AP. V 1 1 1 . ] SCRE I 'EN ' S LA S T DA YS. 2 2 'J date were dissenters. In 1707 the province was divided into ecclesiastical parishes, and provision was made for the erection of a church and for the support of a minister in each. Aged, infirm, and possessed of a competency, Screven laid down the duties of the pastorate in i 706 and retired to his farm, where Georgetown now stands. He left with the church as a memento and guide " An Ornament for Church Members," which was printed after his death. In conclusion he urged the church to secure with as little de- lay as possible " an able and faithful minister. Be sure you take care that the person be orthodox in the faith, and of blameless life, and does own the Confession of Faith put forth by our brethren in London, in 1689." But- his evangelical zeal was too great to allow him to be idle. We soon find him laboring earnestly in the regions round about his home. The church secured the services of Mr. White, an English Baptist minister, who died after a brief term of service. Screven was just considering an invitation to the pastorate of the Boston church, but was constrained to resume his work in Charleston. He died at his Georgetown home, October 10, 1713, at the advanced age of eighty-four. He left the church a strong body, with a membership of nearly a hundred. A large number of preaching- stations had been estabhshed, and the negro population, already becoming relatively large, had doubtless already been brought to a considerable ex- tent under the influence of the gospel. The population of the province had increased to about fifteen thousand, of whom rather more than half were slaves. The fresh and fertile soil was yielding rich returns to the application of slave labor, lumber was abundant and marketable, the sea abounded in valuable fish, and commercial prosperity gladdened the hearts of the colo- 228 THE BAPTISTS. [Tkr. i. nists. Culture and refinement went hand in hand with abundance and leisure, and the foundations were being laid for the brilliant political and religious history of the succeeding time, and also, alas! for more recent disasters. Little beyond his name is known of Sanford, Screven's successor. Dying about 1718 he was succeeded by Wil- liam Peartt. During his ten years' pastorate the work of church extension was carried forward with vigor, and meeting-houses were built on Edisto Island, on the Ash- ley River above Charleston, and on Stono, sixteen miles from the city (Manly, " Two Centuries," p. 94)- He mar- ried the widow of Paul Grimball, a noted Baptist who had been secretary to the prince, and a member of Gov- ernor Archdale's council. This lady was married a third time and (as Mrs. Smith) left a legacy of ^^1540 to the Philadelphia Baptist church. Thomas Simmons, an Eng- lishman who had been ordained in Pennsylvania, was the next pastor. Under him troubles began, and what had been a united and prosperous church was so rent asunder by factions that by 1746 Morgan Edwards found only three, " one man and two women," " that might be called a church." In 1733 a schism occurred resulting in the organization of a General Baptist church. They secured as pastor a Mr. Ingram from England, and wor- shiped at Stono, where a meeting-house had been erected some time before. In the same year Isaac Chanler, an p:nglish Baptist minister, began laboring in the Ashley River community, and in 1736 the work had reached such dimensions that it was thought wise to organize a church there. This also drew heavily on the mother-church. The work on Edisto was carried on at this time with con- siderable success by Mr. Tilly, but no organization seems to have been effected. One other church, which was likewise to become the Chap, viii.] VIRGINIA EXCLUDES DISSENT. 229 mother of churches, was constituted in South Carolina before the close of this period. In 1737 a company of Baptists from the Welsh Tract, Pa. (now Delaware), under the leadership of James James, settled on the Peedee River, where in 1738 they organized themselves into a church, afterward known as the Welsh Neck church. Philip James, a son of the leader, was ordained pastor of the church in 1743, Isaac Chanler and Thomas Simmons assisting in the ceremony. The church was organized so near the close of the period that nothing further need be here recorded. The history of Virginia Baptists had barely a beginning in the present period. Virginia was settled by thorough- going churchmen. The Church of England was estab- lished, the support of its ministers amply provided for at the public expense ; the people were compelled under severe penalties to participate regularly in the church services and to subject themselves to catechetical instruction; dis- senting services of any kind were rigorously prohibited ; heavy fines were imposed on ship-owners for bringing in dissenters, and the people were prohibited under heavy penalties from harboring or in any way favoring them. In 1642 three Congregational ministers from New Eng- land attempted to introduce their principles among the people, but were soon obliged to relinquish their plans and to leave the colony. About 1648 there were found to be about one hundred and eighteen dissenters in the colony, mostly Congregationalists. These were severely dealt with. The Quakers pressed in with considerable vigor from 1656 onward. The following act of the as- sembly (1661—62) applied equally to Baptists and Quak- ers, though no Baptist is known to have been in Virginia up to this date: "Whereas, Many schismatical persons, out of their aversion to the orthodox established religion, 230 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. i. or out of the newfangled conceits of their own heretical inventions, refuse to ha\e their children baptized ; Be it therefore enacted . . . that all persons that, in contempt of the divine sacrament of baptism, shall refuse when they may carry their child to a lawful minister in that county, to have them baptized, shall be amerced two thousand pounds of tobacco; half to the informer, half to the public." The provisions of the English Act of Toleration of i68g were to a great extent inoperative in Virginia for the next twenty years. From the early years of the eighteenth century there were a number of scattered Baptists in Vir- ginia, especially in Isle of Wight County. Some of these sent an earnest petition to the General Baptists of London for ministerial help. In response two ministers, Robert Nordin and Thomas White, were sent out in 1714. The latter died before reaching Virginia ; the former organized a church at Burleigh. It is possible that this and other General Baptist churches had already been gathered be- fore the arrival of Nordin. Before 1 729 there was also a church in Surrey County, in close affiliation, it would seem, with that at Burleigh. Nordin died in 1735. Two years later two more English Baptist ministers, Casper Mintz and Richard Jones, came out to carry forward the work. The church at Burleigh was in a distracted and unsettled state in 1756 and appealed to the Philadelphia Association for a visit of brethren to set things in order. If Baptists appeared in Virginia during the latter part of the seventeenth century, as Morgan Edwards supposed, they were probably driven by the severe measures referred to across the North Carolina border. W^e have no record of the formation of a church in North Carolina until 1727, when an organization was effected under the leadership of Paul Palmer, who had been a member of tlie Welsh Tract church, and who was a correspondent of John Comer, of Chap, vni.] EARLY BAPTISTS OF CONNECTICUT. 23 1 Newport. From a letter written by this church to Comer in 1729, we learn that it was organized in 1727 and con- sisted of thirty-two members. It was located in Chowan County, at a place called Perquimans. This was the only church organized during the present period. Four churches were organized in Connecticut during this period, under the influence of the Rhode Island Gen- eral (Six Principle) Baptists — the first, at Groton in 1705, through the efforts of Valentine Wightman, of North Kings- ton, R. I., who became its pastor ; the second, at New Lon- don in 1726, in connection with the labors of Stephen Gorton ; the third, in 1735, at Wallingford, of persons who had been members of the New London church ; the fourth church to be constituted, and the last during this period, was the Farmington (now Southington) church. Small bands of Baptists of the same type appeared in a number of other places. There were Mennonites in the New Netherlands (after- ward New York) as early as 1644. The Dutch colonists were of the Reformed religion and tolerated sparingly other forms of worship. The free exercise of religion was given to the Church of England in 1641, and rehgious freedom was granted by charter to the town of Flushing in 1645 ; but unacceptable forms of rehgion intruded them- selves to such an extent as to cause alarm, and in 1656 conventicles and meetings, public and private, were " ab- solutely and expressly forbidden." The penalty of preach- ing, reading, or singing in any " meetings differing from the customary and legal assemblies " was fixed at one hun- dred pounds Flemish, and the penalty of being " found in such meetings" at twenty-five pounds. Lutherans were numerous and by vigorously protesting were able to se- cure the right to worship in their own houses. The town of Flushing insisted on enjoying the provisions of its char- 232 THE BAPTISTS. [Pkk. i. ter, even to the extent of tolerating Quakers. These spe- cial privileges were withdrawn from the town by special ordinance in 1658. In 1643 Lady Moody, who had adopted antipedobap- tist views, left Massachusetts, with a number of her friends and dependents, for Long Island. On her way she spent some time in New Haven, where she is said to have made several converts to her views, among them Mrs. Eaton, the wife of the first governor of the New Haven colony, and the daughter of an English bishop. Mrs. Eaton gave much trouble to Pastor John Davenport, who labored ear- nestly to convince her that " baptism has come in the place of circumcision, and is to be administered unto infants." Lady Moody took a patent of land from Governor Kieft at Gravesend, with the guaranty of "the free liberty of conscience according to the custom of Holland, without molestation or disturbance from any magistrate or magis- trates, or any other ecclesiastical minister that may pretend jurisdiction over them." A number of other antipedobap- tists from New England and elsewhere gathered themselves around Lady Moody, but they do not seem at this time to have formed themselves into a church. Francis Doughty, an English antipedobaptist, having incurred persecution at Lynn and Taunton, Mass., for denying infant baptism, was the first religious teacher in Flushing. After laboring for a short period he left for Virginia in 1656. A paper on " The State of Religion " in the New Netherlands, drawn up by two Reformed clergymen (Megapolensis and Drissius) in August, 1657, and addressed to the classis of Amster- dam, gives a number of interesting facts with reference to Long Island at this time, which partly confirm and partly contradict some of the data derived from other sources. Mennonites are mentioned as being at Gravesend, who " reject infant baptism, the Sabbath, the office of preacher, Chap, viii.] WICKEXDEX AT ELUSIUXG. 233 and the teachers of God's word, saying that through these have come all sorts of contention into the world. When- ever they come together the one or the other reads some- thing for them." These so-called Mennonites were prob- ably identical with Lady Moody and her followers, and these peculiarities may account for the failure of these antipedobaptists to organize a regular Baptist church. The notice about Flushing is highly interesting: "At Flushing they have had a Presbyterian preacher who conformed to our Church, but many of them became en- dowed with divers opinions. . . . They absented them- selves from preaching, nor would they pay the preacher his promised stipend. The said preacher was obliged to leave and repair to the English Virginias." This preacher can scarcely be other than Francis Doughty, whose anti- pedobaptist views seem abundantly attested. The docu- ment continues: "Last year [1656] a fomenter of evil came there. He was a cobbler from Rhode Island . . . and stated that he was commissioned by Christ. He began to preach at Flushing, and then went with the people into the river and dipped them. This becoming known here, the constable proceeded thither and brought him along. He was banished the province." According to the con- temporary public records this "cobbler" was none other than the distinguished William Wickenden, pastor of the Providence church. Li November, 1656, William Hallett, sheriff of Flushing, was arraigned before the authorities for having " dared to collect conventicles in his house, and to permit one William Wickendam [Wickenden] to ex- plain and comment on God's Holy Word, and to adminis- ter sacraments, though not called thereto by any civil or clerical authority " ; also for having assisted at such meet- ings, and " accepted from the said Wickendam's hands the bread in the form and manner the Lord's Supper is 2 34 THE BAPTISTS. [I'kk. i. usually celebrated." Hallett was deprived of his office and fined fifty pounds. Wickenden was fined one hun- dred pounds and banished. He was sentenced to " re- main a prisoner till the fine and cost of the process shall be paid." When it was ascertained that he was too poor to pay the fine he was allowed to depart, with the threat of imprisonment till fine and costs should be paid in case he should return. A still more stringent ordinance was enacted in 1662, providing for a fine of fifty guldens for being present at an unauthorized religious meeting, with a doubling of the fine for the second ofifense, a quadrupling for the third, "and arbitrary punishment besides." The stringency of the law would seem to indicate that the evils forefended were becoming alarming. About 17 1 1 Nicholas Eyres, a well-educated brewer of New York, invited Valentine Wightman, of Groton, Conn., one of the most noted General Baptist ministers of the time, to New York, and opened his house on Broad Street for religious services. Wightman seems for years to have visited the city from time to time. In 17 14 Eyres and a number of others were baptized by Wightman. It was the advice of some that the baptismal service should be private for fear of the mob ; but Eyres insisted that it should be public, referring to the New Testament words : " No man doeth anything in secret, and he himself seek- eth to be known openly." He waited on Governor Bur- net (son of the famous bishop) and asked for police pro- tection. This was cheerfully granted. The governor graced the occasion with his presence and is said to have remarked after the baptismal service was over : " This was the ancient manner of baptizing, and is, in my opinion, much preferable to the practice of modern times." In 1715 Eyres's house was licensed as a Baptist Chap, viii.] FIRST CIIUKCil-ES OF NEW YORK. 235 meeting-house. In 1720 he hired a separate meeting- house and in 1721 received a permit to preach, under the Toleration Act, from Governor Burnet, which begins: " Whereas, Mr. Nich. Eyres, brewer, a freeman, and inhab- itant of the City of New York, pretending to be at present a teacher or preacher of a congregation of Anabaptists, which has had its beginning about five years ago within this city and has so continued hitherto." The recognition of the church and the ordination of the pastor seem not to have taken place till 1724, when Valentine Wightman, of Groton, and Daniel Wightman, of Newport, visited New York for these purposes. In 1728 a lot was purchased and a meeting-house erected. Considerable aid was re- ceived from the Rhode Island Baptists, but a cru.shing debt was incurred. This, combined with doctrinal dishar- mony, almost wrecked the church in 1730. According to Eyres, who left New York in 1731 to become joint pastor with Wightman of the Six Principle church of Newport, " some of them deserted under a pretense of love to the principles of absolute election and predestination." The church languished and became extinct before the close of the period. About sixteen Baptist families settled on Block Island in 1663 and without formal organization maintained reHgious services until 1772, when a Baptist church was organized, the only church that has ever existed on the island. About 1700 William Rhodes, a Baptist minister, ap- peared at Oyster Bay, Long Island, and a number were converted through his ministry and probably baptized by him. Some time afterward (the date does not appear to be ascertainable) a church was organized with the aid of elders from Rhode Island (probably General Baptists), and in 1724 Robert Peeks, a member of the church, was or- dained as its pastor. PERIOD II. FROM THE GREAT AV/AKENING TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TRIENNIAL CONVENTION (1740-1814). 237 CHAPTER I. NEW ENGLAND.! The preceding period closed with Baptist churches somewliat firmly rooted in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Caro- lina, and with feeble churches in Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina. While the first Baptist churches of America were strongly Calvinistic, Arminian- ism had proved far more popular. The First Church of Providence soon became Arminian, and Arminian Baptist churches multiplied in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The first Baptist church of South Carolina had been almost wrecked by Arminianism. In Virginia, North Carolina, and New York the Arminian type of teaching prevailed. The First Church of Boston was con- siderably shaken by Arminianism about i 740. Calvinism had secured almost undisputed control in the churches of the Philadelphia Association, and the vigor of religious and denominational life in these churches augured well for the future predominance of this type of Baptist teaching. The rapid spread of a Socinianized Arminianism was by no means confined to the Baptists nor to America. In England a cold intellectualism was becoming widely prev- 1 See Backus, " Hist." and " Tracts "' ; Hovey ; Guild, " Chaplain Smith " and "James Manning"; Callender ; Comer; Jonathan Edwards; Tracy; Trumbull; Denison ; Chauncy ; Whitcfield, " Journals " ; Stewart, "Free- Will Baptists," vol. i. ; "Cent. Rec. Fr.-W. Baptists"; A.splund; Bene- dict; True; and Barrows. 239 240 THE BAPTISTS. [Pek. n. alent alike in the established church and in the dissenting denominations. The Presbyterians of England were pre- paring to transfer their membership, buildings, and endow- ments to Unitarianism. The General Baptist churches had dwindled under the blighting influence of Socinianism till those who could by any stretch of charity be regarded as confessing the deity of Christ numbered only a few hundreds; while the evangelistic zeal of the English Par- ticular Baptists had given place to a type of hyper- Calvin- ism that looked upon evangelistic effort as an impertinence. In New England the decline in religious zeal and in the average purity of religious life had from the middle of the seventeenth century been rapid and general. The Half- way Covenant of 1662, which relaxed the rigorous restric- tion of church and ci\il privileges to the regenerate by admitting to baptism the children of moral and orthodox persons who laid no claim to personal regeneration, was symptomatic of the decline of religious zeal and fervor, and promoted still fiu'ther decline. In a great majority of the churches of the standing order the owning of the covenant became a mere formality, and all the privileges of church-membership were thrown open to those who made no profession of conversion. Under such circum- stances it was natural that experimental religion should be greatly neglected. The lowering of the standard of full church-membership inevitably resulted in the lowering of the standard of admission to the ministr}'. Far greater stress came to be laid upon intellectual training than upon a personal experience of divine grace, and if to suitable education doctrinal soundness and a life free from scandal were added, no question was likely to be raised as to the fitness of the candidate for ordination. Many good men of the standing order bewailed the secularization of the churches and sought in vain for remedies. Among other CiiA?. I.] THE GREAT AWAKEXING. 24I devices was the attempt to introduce a Presbyterian dis- cipline. Increase Mather declared (about 1705) that " the Congregational church discipline is not suited for a worldly interest, or for a formal generation of professors. It will stand or fall as godliness in the power of it does prevail or otherwise." With almost prophetic insight he added : " If the begun apostasy should proceed as fast the next thirty years as it has done these last, surely it will come to pass in New England (except the Gospel itself depart with the order of it) that the most conscientious people therein will think themselves concerned to gather churches out of churches." The begun apostasy con- tinued, and in something less tlian fifty years the process of gathering churches out of churches was going rapidly forward. It does not fall within the scope of the present work to give a full account of the Great Awakening in New Eng- land and the similar movement in England, commonly designated the Evangelical Revival, led in America by Whitefield, Edwards, the Tennents, and others, and in England by the Wesleys, Whitefield, and others. The revival may be said to have begun in America in con- nection with Jonathan Edwards's labors as pastor of the church at Northampton, Mass., in 1734. For years this community was in such a state of religious fervor and ac- tivity that scarcely an indixidual escaped the influence of Christian teaching and large numbers experienced inner renewing. From Northampton the movement spread rapidly throughout New England. At about the same time Gilbert Tennent began to agitate in the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia for the requirement of evidences of experimental religion in candidates for the ministry. In 1727, William Tennent, his father, had founded the " Log College" for the education of ministers, and had by this 242 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. time impressed with evangelistic zeal a large body of young men. The controversy as to the relative stress that should be laid on vital godliness and on education in candidates for the ministry cannot here be followed up. But those who gathered themselves around the Tennents, and who laid chief stress on vital godliness, were able, not- withstanding much bitter opposition, to stir the religious life of the middle colonies to its depths. Whitefield began his American evangelistic labors in the South (1637), and extended them to the middle and New England colonies (1740-41, etc.), preaching with marvel- ous frequency ^ and with irresistible power to immense audiences. Whitefield's New England tour was followed by a like visit from Gilbert Tennent in 1741. Side by side with these great evangelists a large number of highly gifted and enthusiastic men were soon engaged in bringing the gospel message to bear upon the masses of the people throughout the colonies. Scarcely a community wholly escaped the influence of the revival. There are few in- stances in history of transformations of religious life so profound and so widespread during so short a period. The revival probably reached its climax about 1741, but for many years afterward the work was carried forward with zeal and success. The prevailing type of preaching that underlay the revival was Calvinistic. No point in the Christian system was more dwelt upon than the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Arminianism in insidious forms had so increased by the beginning of the revival as to cause alarm to the main- tainers of the old orthodoxy. Edwards relates th.at in the early stages of the revival at Northampton this was one of the influences that led men to seek salvation. It was feared 1 He preached one hundred and seventy-five times in seventy-five days in 1740. CiiAP. I.] THE XEIV LIGHTS. 243 that with the spread of Arminianism the Spirit of God would be withdrawn from the land, and that the opportunity for securing salvation would be past. No doubt Edwards himself encouraged this view. It may be readily con- ceived that this extraordinary awakening was not accom- plished without arousing the sharpest antagonism on the part of ministers and others who had become imbued with Socinian ideas, and who regarded any manifestation of enthusiasm in connection with religion as savoring of fanaticism. The New England Baptists, as a rule, held aloof from the revival movement during its early stages. This was due to the fact that the great majority of their churches were Arminian and could not sympathize with the Cal- vinistic character of the movement ; and partly to the fact that having been so unkindly treated by the standing order they felt a natural antipathy to entering into intimate rela- tions with its members and ministers. The controversies between the New Lights, as the re- vival party came to be called, and the opponents of the revival were prolonged and bitter. It will not be practi- cable to enter into the details of the controversies and of the legal enactments against the New Lights. In many of the churches the pastor and a majority of the mem- bers opposed the revival and refused to admit the revival preachers, while a minority were enthusiastic New Lights and regarded this opposition as a fighting against God. Denunciatory language on both sides generally resulted in the withdrawal of the New Lights and the organization of churches of the regenerate. The opponents of the revival objected strongly to lay evangelization, which became a prominent feature of the New Light movement, and to the unauthorized invasion of parishes by itinerant preachers. The New Lights, it 244 ^^^^ BArrjsrs. [Pkr. n. need scarcely be said, were not always blameless in their treatment of the opposing party. They sometimes under- took, in an uncharitable spirit, to sit in judgment on those who refused to fall into line with their work. They had a definite idea of the kind of religious experience that each individual should have, and they were loath to recog- nize any one as truly con\erted who had not experienced a larije measure of emotional excitement. Yet with all their extravagances the New Lights unquestionably stood for vital godliness and aggressive Christianity, while those who opposed them put themselves in the path of a great work of reformation and prepared the way for the Unita- rian defection of the later time. Strenuous laws were enacted in Connecticut against the formation of churches without the permission of the au- thorities and against unauthorized preaching. A number of godly ministers were imprisoned, fined, and expelled from the country ; and members of New Light churches were taxed for the support of the standing churches and imprisoned for refusing to pay. Unauthorized schools and colleges were prohibited, and only university gradu- ates were allowed to receive support under the laws. A number of students were expelled from Yale College in 1 744 for favoring the New Light party. The president of Harvard College, who in 1741 had commended White- field and Tennent as "pious and valuable men of God," "greatly instrumental in the hand of God to revive this blessed work," joined with his colleagues in 1745, on the occasion of Whitefield's second tour in New England, in publishing a declaration against him. Whitefield had set the example of denouncing the unconverted ministers who opposed the revival, and was held responsible for the strife and schism that had by this time become alarming. As these Separate churches made unregenerate church- Chap, i.] SEPARATES BECOME BAPTISTS. 245 membership one of the chief points of their protest, it might have been expected that the incompatibihty of this position with the retention of infant baptism would soon become evident. Of the thirty-one ministers who were ordained as pastors of Separate churches from 1 646 to 1 65 i , five were Baptists before they were ordained and eight became Baptists soon afterward. Among the latter was Isaac Backus, who was to become the most important Baptist leader and polemicist of the period. In 1 745 a Separate church was formed at Mansfield, Conn., amid much persecution. A number of antipedo- baptists were among the constituent members. In their covenant it is stated : " Though most of us agree in the article of infant baptism, yet a difTerence in that particular doth not break the spiritual communion of saints ; there- fore it is no just bar to our covenanting and partaking of the ordinances together, wherein we are agreed." It is probable that Baptists soon appeared in all or nearly all of the Separate societies, and it was fondly hoped that the New Light bond would suffice to hold pedobaptists and antipedobaptists together in fellowship and peace; but it is in the nature of antipedobaptist convictions to grow stronger and stronger with time and reflection, and those who became convinced that infant baptism was not only non-Scriptural, but a lamentable perversion of Scripture teaching, soon came to feel that a serious compromise of principle was involved in their continuance in fellowship w^ith those who were involved in this error. The first large accession to the Baptist ranks from this source oc- curred at Sturbridge, Mass. (June, 1749). when Elder Moulton baptized thirteen members of the Separate church, including a deacon. The pastor, John Blunt, all the re- maining officers, and most of the members, amounting to over sixty, soon followed. In the words of one who par- 246 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. ticipated in this movement, " Infant sprinkling, which we called baptism, went aw^ay like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor." Having baptized nearly a hundred be- lievers. Blunt had by 1753 abandoned his antipedobaptist views and was seeking to restore the practice of infant baptism in the church. The church admonished him and called a council of Separate churches, which sustained its admonition and declared that the pastor had broken cove- nant. Although the members of the church made dili- "ent efforts to avail themselves of the exemption afforded by the law to Baptist churches, they were taxed for two years to support the standing order, and such as refused to pay had- their goods seized and sacrificed or were thrown into prison. They finally appealed to the Supe- rior Court, which decided in their favor. Irritated by the increase of the Baptists and their firmness in maintaining their rights, the legislature, in 1752, amended the exemption law so as to make it far more burdensome. It was enacted that the certificates of members should be signed by the minister with two prin- cipal members of the Baptist church, and that no minister or church should have power to give lawful certificates until they should have secured " from three other churches, commonly called Anabaptist, a certificate from each re- spectively, that they esteem such church to be of their denomination, and that they conscientiously beheve them to be Anabaptists." As the Separate churches w^ere not at first in communion with the older Baptist churches, and as Baptist churches were not numerous, it was by no means easy to secure such certificates ; while the require- ment that they should have themselves certificated as "Anabaptists " involved an insult of the gravest character. A woman named Esther White was imprisoned at Taunton from February, 1752, till March, 1753, for refusing to pay Chap, i.] ISAAC BACKUS. 247 a clerical tax of eightpence. She soon afterward became a Baptist. A Separate church at Framingham, organized in 1747, formed the nucleus of a Baptist church, which, however, was not constituted until many years later. At Norwich, Conn., the mother of Isaac Backus and several other members of the Separate church v/ere im- prisoned for refusal to pay clerical taxes. " But," writes Backus himself, who was in the midst of this great con- flict, " the more they oppressed them the more they grew." The Separate congregation soon doubled. The case of Isaac Backus is one of extraordinary inter- est and must be narrated at some length. It well illus- trates the working out of the principles involved in this movement. Born in 1724, of ancestry that represented what was best in the Congregational life of Connecticut, he was brought to a saving knowledge of the truth in connection with revival meetings held in his native town in I 74 1. Owing to his excellent religious education he did not experience so great a degree of emotional excite- ment as did many of his contemporaries. In 1 742 he united with the church of his fathers and remained a member for two years. But the decision of the church " to admit communicants by a major vote, without giving the church so much as a written relation of any inward change " ; the disposition of the pastor to regard the Sup- per as a converting ordinance, and his " strong affection for the Saybrook scheme," which embodied some of the most objectionable features of state-church Prcsbyterian- ism and which the church had rejected under the influ- ence of Joseph Backus, his grandfather; and the persecu- tion of New Lights in various parts of the country, led him, along with twenty- nine other male members and a large number of females, to withdraw and form a Separate church. Among the Separates were one deacon and a 248 THE BAPTISTS. [I'kr. ii. number of the wealthiest and most influential people of the town. They soon came to outnumber the original church, but by a strange perversion of justice they were taxed and distressed for the support of its pastor. Dur- ing a single year as many as forty persons, including a number of women, were imprisoned. The main points of contention on the part of the Separates were the restric- tion of the Supper to the regenerate, the application of church discipline so as to secure churches of the regen- erate, and the independence of the local church, with the right to call and ordain its own officers. As a result of a revival in Titicut, near Middleborough, Mass., the New Lights had withdrawn from the established church in December, i 747. Backus, who had shortly be- fore decided to give himself to the gospel ministry, hap- pened a few days afterward to pass that way and was " prevailed with to tarry and preach among them." The "precinct committee" urged him to take steps for be- coming the legal pastor of the church, but he had become convinced of the iniquity of any union of church and state. A revival resulted in about twenty conversions. A church was formed in February following, " which increased to threescore in ten months." Backus and his flock were taxed and harassed, but they were resolved, come what might, to adhere to their principles. Disputes about baptism were introduced into the Titicut church in August, i 749. Backus was brought suddenly to feel " that the Baptist way is certainly right, because nature fights so against it. And he was hurried on to preach it up the next day ; which caused confusion among the hearers, and returned with a horrible gloom over his own mind ; and he was turned back to his former practice." In September, during his absence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where he seems to have been seeking con- Chap, i.] BACA'i'S BECOMES A BAPTIST. 249 firmation in his pedobaptist \-ie\vs, Elder Moulton had visited his people " and had plunged some of them " — nine, as Backus elsewhere mentions. These had been offended by Backus's return to the advocacy of infant baptism, and now withdrew from the church and inaug- urated a meeting of their own. Backus was no doubt greatly annoyed. He expressed his sorrow for preaching against infant baptism, and declared that he was willing to venture into eternity on that practice. But anxiety soon returned. He was led a few months later to inquire, " Where is it, and in what relation to the church do those stand who are baptized but not converted? " A body of fanatical New Lights in Easton and Norton, Mass., had just adopted belie\'ers' baptism, and had proceeded in an unseemly way to baptize one another and had otherwise acted in a disorderly manner. The natural tendency of these facts would ha\-e been to deter Backus from reopen- ing the question. But he finally determined to " lea\'e good men and bad men out of the question, and inquire. What saith the Scripture?'' Hereby a settlement was granted, and he was baptized August 22, i 75 i, " along with six members " of his church, by Elder Benjamin Pierce, of Warwick. This step involved deep humiliation ; but the voice of conscience had become imperative. Lamentable discord naturally attended these events. A council of New Light churches was called (October, 1751). Sixteen were found, of whom three were Baptists, " willing to renew their covenant and go on together." These were recog- nized as the church and the rest were censured. Backus was censured and excommunicated, but was restored to fellowship and the pastorate in November following. Two of the sixteen insisted that Backus should baptize infants, and on his refusal broke off communion with the church. They were finally censured and excommunicated. In the 250 THE BAPTISTS. [Pkr. ii. meantime five Baptists refused communion and were cen- sured. A council was called (No\ember, 1752) in the in- terest of the two excommunicated pedobaptists, consist- ing of three of the churches of the former council. The two brethren were justified, and the majority, including- the pastor, censured. A general meeting of New Light churches, in which twenty-seven congregations were rep- resented, was held at Exeter (May, 1753) to adjust the difficulties of the Titicut church and to determine the pol- icy to be pursued in like controversies already imminent elsewhere. It was " unanimously agreed that a turning to or from infant baptism was not a censurable evil ; but that each should leave the other with God, according to Phil. iii. 15." The meeting arranged for a council to meet at Middleborough in July for the harmonizing of the con- tending elements in the church. The censures of the pedobaptist and the Baptist members were revoked and the church was again received into fellowship. Solomon Paine, one of the leading Separate ministers, had refused to take part in the Exeter meeting. This was regarded as a grievance by Stephen Babcock, a leading antipedobaptist Separate minister, who, moreover, criti- cised Paine's attitude toward the Baptists in the ex-parte council of November, 1752. This irritation led to the calling of a meeting of representatives of all the Separate churches. The meeting was held at Stonington in May, 1754. Forty churches were represented. The result was even less satisfactory to the Baptists, a majority having pronounced in favor of the decision of the cx-partc council of November, 1752. Pedobaptist leaders like Paine began to express the opinion that while those who confessed themselves to be in darkness with reference to infant bap- tism were to be tolerated, those who had reached the con- viction that it was wrong should be censured. It began Chap. I.] A MIXED CHURCH. 25 I to be evident to Baptists and pedobaptists alike that a breach was inevitable. So thorough was the agreement of Baptist and pedobaptist Separates in their views of doctrine and life, and so closely had they been united through their common sufferings on behalf of a converted ministry and membership, that they regarded a sundering of communion as a calamity. The fact that it would weaken the cause in the face of bitter opposition was manifest to all. Backus and his church attempted to follow the policy of mutual toleration of each other's views for or against infant baptism. " But when some pious members mani- fested a belief of duty to be buried in baptism, others re- fused to go to the water to see it done, because, in their view, they were already baptized, and to repeat it would be taking the sacred name in vain. And when an elder came and sprinkled some infants, the Baptists felt a like difficulty, though thty did not leave the meeting where it was done. Being unwilling to part, attempts were made to convince each other, which led into warm debates. . . . Thus edification, the great end of Christian society, was marred instead of being promoted, by that which is called large communion. It was so far from ansv/ering to that name, that, with their utmost endeavors, the author [Backus] and his brethren could never arrive at com- munion in the ordinance of the Supper, from September, 1754, to the end of 1755." By the beginning of 1756 Backus and a number of his brethren became convinced " that truth limits church commamion to believers, bap- tized upon a profession of their own faith." On January 16, 1756, with the assistance of representatives of the Bos- ton and Rehoboth churches, a Baptist church was organized at Middleborough, of which Backus was to remain pastor for fifty 3'ears. 252 THE BAP'J'IS'JS. [I'kk. ii. Backus was abundant in labors. The doctrines of the Separates in general and of the Baptists in particular con- tinued to be bitterly attacked. He was the chief Baptist champion of these principles, and his polemical tracts con- stitute a noble body of writings. His defense of the pe- culiar principles of the Baptists was as able as any that the eighteenth century afforded. He wrote much in behalf of liberty of conscience and against the support of the min- istry by taxation. He was ever on the alert to protest against anything that savored of persecution, and no man did more during the latter half of the eighteenth century for the promotion oi ci\il and religious liberty in New England. His services in agitating for the abolition of the unjust ecclesiastical laws of Massachusetts will be consid- ered in another chapter. He was among the foremost of the Baptists in seeing the need of an educated ministry, and was a warm friend oi Rhode Island College. A second Baptist church was organized in Middle- borough in 1758 and a third in 1761, both at a consider- able distance from the first, and Baptist principles were profoundly impressed upon the community. During his entire ministry Backus traveled much in the interest of the cause throughout the New England States, and the rapid growth of the denomination was due, in a considerable measure, to his influence. He spent much time during his later years in collecting" and arranging materials for a history of the Baptists in New England, and the denomi- nation is deeply indebted to him for the in\aluable serxice that he rendered in this direction. Wise in counsel, fervent in evangelistic zeal, systematic and industrious in his pastoral and in his literary work, ever on the alert to defend his denomination from unjust attacks, charitable toward his opponents and toward all, he finished his course with J03- in No\ember, iSC^, ha\ing CiiAi'. I.] FIRST CIIi'RCn, FROVIDE.XCE. 253 lived eight3/-t\vo years and ten months, and having served in the gospel ministry over sixty years. It will be interesting to glance at the history of the older New England churches during this period. The First Church in Providence had become Arminian, an.d had, in 1652, made the laying on of hands a condition of commun- ion. Controversy in 1731—32 had resulted in the triumph of an extreme party which made communion, even in prayer, with those who had not passed under hands a matter of discipline, and which held that " all those who took anything for preaching were like Simon Magus." The leader of this party was Samuel Winsor. He was opposed by Governor Jenckes, James Brown, and others. The church was divided, but Winsor became the pastor of the principal part in 1732. He continued in office until his death, in 1758, and was succeeded by his son, who did little for the advancement of the cause. The church had de- generated into a narrow sectarianism that caused it to hold ri-gorously aloof from the great revival movement, and during these years was more dead than alive. The open- ing of Rhode Island College in Providence, with James Manning as president, in 1770, marks the beginning of a new era in the history of this unfortunate church. Man- ning was born in EHzabethtown, N. J., October 22, 1738. In 1762 he had been graduated from Princeton College, and in the following year he had been ordained by the EHzabethtown church as an itinerant minister. He had been selected by his brethren of the Philadelphia Associa- tion to lead in founding a Baptist educational institution in Rhode Island. It was decided to begin work at Warren, where a generous support was offered him by a band of Baptists whose membership was in the Swansea church. Thither he went in the summer of i 764, and in October a church was organized, which prospered under his minis- 254 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. try. The college and its president removed to Providence in 1770. He was from time to time invited by the church to preach, and joined with its members in the breaking of bread. This was contrary to the principles of Elder Win- sor and some others, as it had come to be known that Manning did not consider the laying on of hands obliga- tory, and that he favored congregational singing. A large majority of the church desired his services, and when Win- sor and his adherents had withdrawn and formed a sepa- rate congregation (1771), Manning was invited to preach regularly and to administer the ordinances. Backus informs us that " though his powers of mind and human accom- plishments were very great, yet he used great plainness of speech, and was as easily understood by the common people as almost any preacher in the land. And few men ever prized the special influence of the Spirit of God in preaching, more than he did." A visit to the Philadel- phia Association in 1774, where he heard the unlearned but eloquent and zealous Daniel Fristoe, of Virginia, kindled afresh his zeal and courage. Before the close of 1775 he had baptized into the Providence church one hundred and ten converts, and a number of those who had been converted in his meetings had united with the New Light church under Mr. Snow. Thus the church was brought into the front rank of Baptist churches, a posi- tion that it has held to the present time. A meeting-house costing about ^7000 was erected in 1775, one of the pur- poses specified being " to hold commencement in." A Charitable Society was organized in 1774 and was char- tered by the General Assembly. The value of so well or- ganized and eflficient a church, under a model leader like Manning, at the educational center of the denomination, cannot be overestimated. Manning never considered him- self pastor of the church, but served it with considerable Chap, i.] FIRST CHURCH, XElVPORr. 255 regularity till 1786 and occasionally afterward. Under Stephen Gano, a nephew of President Manning, who served the church from 1792 till his death in 1828, the prosperity of the church was continued, one hundred and sixty-five members having been added as a result of a revival near the beginning of his ministry. There is less of interest in the history of the First Church of Newport during this period. Callender continued pastor till his death in i 748. Unfortunately, he strongly opposed the revival, regarding Whitefield as a second George Fox. The church seems to have enjoyed no extensive work of grace till the present century. Pr(3bably the ablest pastor after Callender was Benjamin Foster, a graduate of Yale in I 774. While in college he was appointed to defend infant baptism in a public debate. The result of his industrious search for arguments was a failure to find any that satis- fied him. He studied theology under Samuel Stillman, of Boston, and became one of the ablest theologians that the denomination possessed. His stay in Newport was brief (1785-88). His acceptance of a call to New York was strongly opposed by the church. Like some other of the older churches, this church for some time held aloof from the Warren Association (organized in 1767), and having afterward united with it subsequently withdrew. This attitude of the church may have been due, on the one hand, to extreme regard for church independency, and, on the other, to imperfect sympathy with the New Light Baptists, who were leaders in this and every other aggress- ive and progressive measure. It may be interesting to note that this church was one of the first to introduce instrumental music The instru- ment was a bass viol and caused considerable commotion. This occurred early in the present century. The First Baptist Church of Boston was also, unfortu- 256 ■ THE BAPTISTS. [Per. il. nately, on the wrong side in relation to the revival. The pastor, Jeremy Condy (1739-65), was a Harvard graduate and a pronounced Arminian. He claimed, in 1742, that even if he should preach election it would offend the ma- jority of the church. This fact, together with the opposi- tion of the pastor and a majority of the members to the revival, led to the withdrawal of a number of the most zealous and progressi\-e members and the organization of a second church, Calvinistic in doctrine and sympathetic with the New Light movement. The disaffected element sent to the church a somewhat elaborate statement of the grounds of their dissatisfaction and of the terms on which they would remain in the church. They represent the pastor as holding general redemption, being a free-wilier, holding to falling from grace, and denying original sin. " We mean by his denying original sin, that he softens, moderates, and explains away the guilt, malignity, corrup- tion, and depravity of human nature exactly as the high Arminian clergy forever do. . . . Whenever we have heard him discourse on the new birth, his sermons were so ill grounded, so intermixed with man's free-will agency, and so widely different from what our Lord taught and intended thereby, that we cannot avoid questioning whether he ever experienced the saving operation of that most im- portant doctrine in his own soul. We were sufficiently affrighted at a declaration in one of his sermons, that Christians cannot know or distinguish the operation of the Spirit of God upon their souls from the operation of their own minds. This assertion we look upon to be of the most dangerous tendency." The First Church remained in a languishing condition until Samuel Stillman became pastor, in 1765. Stillman was a native of Philadelphia (born 1737). He had received a good classical education, and had been trained for the ministry by Oliver Hart, CiiAi'. I.J SECOND CHURCH, BOSTON. 257 pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charleston, S. C. He was ordained as an evangeHst by this church in 1759. He was one of the most amiable, eloquent, and useful min- isters of his time. For forty years he ministered in Bos- ton, and it is said that no stranger visiting the city failed to hear him. A revival began in i 769, and in three years eighty members were added, more than doubling the mem- bership. The church was much scattered during the war, but in I 785 the pastor returned to his post, and through revivals in this year and in 1 790 large numbers were added. The leaders in the Second Church (organized in i 743) were James Bound, John Dabney, Thomas Boucher, and John Proctor. Ephraim Bound, then a young man, be- came pastor. There was considerable difficulty in making arrangements for his ordination, as most of the Baptist churches were opposed to the revival. It was decided to seek the assistance of Elder Valentine Wightman, of Gro- ton. Conn., who, though he had been for many years affili- ated with the General (Six Principle) Baptists, had entered heartily into the revival movement and was understood to hold to the doctrines of grace. It is interesting to note that Dr. John Gill, the famous English Baptist dix^ine, sent the new church a communion service, baptismal robes, and a number of books. The church prospered under the min- istry of Bound until the pastor was stricken by parah'sis in I 762, when it had reached a membership of one hundred and twenty. The Swansea and Rehoboth churches held resolutely aloof from the New Light movement and for years would enter into no relations with the Separate Baptists. In 1 754 some Baptist ministers from New Jerse)' visited them and sought, with some effect, to remove their prejudices against their New Light brethren. It w;is not until i 7/ 1 that these churches threw off their lethargy and entered heartily into 258 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. the revival movement. Several hundred were added to the churches at this time. An even greater work of grace covered these communities in 1780, when singing was in- troduced into the Second Swansea Church. As a result of the great ingathering of 1771, and the close sympathy into which the Baptists were brought with their pedobaptist New Light brethren, a church was formed in Rehoboth under the leadership of Jacob Hicks, which held that bap- tism by immersion ought not to be made a term of com- munion. By the close of the century the practice of this church had come into substantial harmony with that of the Baptist churches in general. Under the influence of a baptized evangelist named Elhanan Winchester, members of a Separate Congrega- tional church in Rehoboth formed an open-communion society in 1771. Winchester was ordained as pastor, but soon afterward became convinced of the inconsistency of the position he had assumed, and declared that he could no more administer the Supper to any who were only sprinkled in infancy. The church censured and dismissed him. It was nearly extinct at the close of the last century. Winchester became a chief leader in the Universalist move- ment. A third open-communion church was formed on the north border of Rehoboth in 1777. This also had grown very feeble within twenty years of its organization. These are by no means all of the Baptist churches that were constituted in Swansea and Rehoboth during this period. The tendency to disunion on matters of minor importance was more marked here than elsewhere. This may have been due to the fact that the community never enjoyed the services of a great Baptist leader. The Haverhill, Mass., church deserves to be specially mentioned on account of the distinguished services of its founder and pastor, the influential position that it came to Chap, i.] HEZEKIAH SMITH. 259 occupy as one of the most progressive churches in the de- nomination, and the completeness with which it ilhistrates the sufiferings and the triumphs of Baptists during this period. Hezekiah Smith was born in Hampstead, L. I., April, 1737. In 1756 he was baptized into the fellow- ship of the Morristown, N. J., church by John Gano, who was to become one of the most distinguished ministers of his time. After preparatory studies at the Hopewell (Baptist) Academy, he pursued a full course of study at Princeton, where, along with James Manning, he was grad- uated in September, i 762. Shortly after his graduation he started southward on an evangelistic tour, preaching in all the intervening colonies with great acceptance and success, and for some time making Charleston, S. C, his head- quarters. He became a member of the Charleston church and by it was ordained to the work of the ministry (Sep- tember, 1763). The decision of Manning to engage in educational work in Rhode Island seems to have deter- mined him, providence favoring, to make New England the center of his evangelistic labors. After visiting and preaching in a number of communities, including Boston, where he formed the acquaintance of Stillman, who also had within a few months come from South Carolina, he visited several townships on the Merrimac, including Haverhill. Most of the ministers of this region had op- posed the revival, and the New Light doctrine had made little impression. A bitter controversy had occurred in the West Parish of Haverhill between the pastor and his people, and had resulted in his exclusion from the meeting-house and finally in his dismission. For years the church had been pastorless, and the meeting-house was gladly thrown open to the eloquent evangelist. Here he preached for several months, and evangelized meanwhile through sev- eral neighboring townships, He did not proclaim himself 26o THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. a Baptist until such pressure was brought to bear upon him to induce him to accept the vacant pastorate that he felt compelled to explain his position. The effect of this dec- laration was to cool the ardor of his pedobaptist admirers and to arouse a bitterness of opposition that has few par- allels even in Massachusetts. But a considerable number, including some of the wealthiest and most influential mem- bers of the community, accepted his views of baptism and entreated him to remain and lead in the founding of a Baptist church. He continued to labor and soon began to baptize ; but even after a generous salary had been voted him he hesitated for many months to accept the pastorate. The church was organized in May, 1665, and in less than three years had one hundred members. Every precaution was taken to secure for the members the exemption that the law afforded. In company with representatives of the church, Smith made hurried visits to Boston, Warren, and Middleborough soon after the organization of the church, to secure from the Baptist pastors the certificates that tlie new church was "Anabaptist," and having succeeded lost no time in furnishing individual certificates to those of the "Anabaptist persuasion," signed by himself and " two principal members of the church." For years the church suffered greatly from the unfriendliness of tlie local au- thorities, who made it as difficult as possible for Baptists to avail themselves of the exemption law. During Smith's pastorate of forty-one years his labors were abundant not only in the community immediately surrounding his church, but throughout the colonies. He took the deepest interest in Rhode Island College, and spent on one occasion eight months in the South, without compensation, in raising funds for its equipment. As a member of its board he had a large share in shaping its policy. During the war of independence he served for Chap, i.] BA'OirX UXIVERSITY. 26 1 seven years as brigade chaplain. He entered into the colonial cause with great enthusiasm and was at the same time active as a minister of the gospel and as a counselor of some of the leaders in the struggle. He was one of the leading spirits in the organization (1767) and the devel- opment of the Warren Association. Smith took his place side by side with Backus, Manning, and Stillman in well- directed efforts to secure the repeal of the assessment laws and the abolition of the parish system. He was the fore- most Baptist evangelist of the time and he was instrumental in the conversion of thousands. The founding of Brown Unixersity was an event of primary importance in the history of American Baptists and meant much for the future standing and influence of the denomination. The idea of founding such an institu- tion in Rhode Island seems to have originated with Mor- gan Edwards, of Philadelphia, who in 1762 brought the matter before the Philadelphia Association. James Man- ning, a recent graduate of Princeton, a man of brilliant parts and sterling worth, was encouraged in 1763 to visit Newport, confer with brethren there, and take such meas- ures as might seem prudent for securing a charter and es- tablishing a college. In July, i 763, he visited Newport and conferred with Hon. Samuel Ward, Colonel John Gardner, Colonel Job Bennet, Hon. Josias Lyndon, and other leading Baptists, who heartily approved of the plan. Steps were immediately taken for securing a charter. Dr. Ezra Stiles, a learned Congregational mini.'^ter, afterward president of Yale College, was asked to make a draft of a charter. He inserted provisions more favorable to Presbyterians than the Baptists had intended, and left the predominance of Baptist influence insecure. The charter thus framed was about to pass the Assembly, but this was prevented by the energetic action of Hon. Daniel Jenckes, who had de- 262 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. tected the unfavorable bearing of some of its provisions on Baptist interests. Considerable commotion was caused by the discovery of the character of Dr. Stiles's work, and Baptists, somewhat ungenerously perhaps, accused him of deliberate fraud. When the Philadelphia Baptists learned of these transactions they sent Samuel Jones and R. S. Jones to Rhode Island to look after the matter. With their help and that of Thomas Eyres, now of Newport, a charter was drafted, which passed the General Assembly in 1 764. It was the intention of the projectors of the college, while vesting the ultimate control in the Baptist denomination, to give a liberal share of control to other denominations. It was intended that it should be a Chris- tian college, in which the youth of Rhode Island and other colonies might receive advantages similar to those afforded at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, open on equal conditions to people of all denominations or of no denomination. Ac- cording to the charter, twenty-two of the thirty-six trus- tees are to be forever Baptists ; five are to be Quakers, four, Congregationalists, and five. Episcopalians. Of the twelve fellows, " eight are to be Baptists, and the rest indefinitely of any or all denominations." The following extract from the charter shows the liberal spirit in which the college was founded : " Into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests. But, on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience ; and that the places of professors, tutors, and all other officers, the president alone excepted, shall be free and open for all denominations of Protestants ; and that }'ouths of all religious denominations shall and may be admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments, and honors of the college or university ; and that the public teaching shall, in gen- eral, respect the sciences ; and that the sectarian diff"er- ciiAi'. I.] BROjrx rxir/^Ks/TV. 26^ ences sheill not make any part of the public and classical instruction." The trustees and fellows included the most prominent men of all denominations — governors, ex-governors, gov- ernors-to-be, judges, military dignitaries, etc. Among the Baptists were Samuel Ward (governor. Supreme Court justice, congressman, etc.), Chief-Justice Daniel Jenckes, Josias Lyndon (afterv^ard governor), Nicholas Brown (a chief benefactor of the college). Colonel Job Bennet (who was made treasurer), Dr. Joshua Babcock (afterward major- general), Dr. Thomas Eyres (who was appointed secre- tary), Samuel Stillman, John Gano, and Morgan Edwards. Among the fellows was Hezekiah Smith, who from the beginning served the college with rare devotion. The material resources of the college were in almost ludicrous contrast with the magnificent board of trustees. About two thousand dollars were subscribed toward its equipment, but there was no endowment, no buildings, no library, no faculty but Manning, and no salary provided for him. Morgan Edwards visited England in the interests of the college, and Hezekiah Smith made an extended can- vass in the South, especially in South Carolina. It may seem strange that the dignitaries appointed as trustees did not at once make and secure from their well-to-do friends liberal contributions for the equipment of the college. But there was probably little accumulated wealth at that time and the grace of gi\-ing was not well developed. Learning that there were a number of the members of the old Swansea church residing at Warren who were de- sirous of forming a new churcli. Manning arranged to take charge of this new interest as a means of support, and to open a Latin school' that should develop into the pro- posed college. He began work in 1764. A year later he was appointed president of the college and began to 264 ^'^^^ BJriVSTS. [Per. 11. teach the studies of a coUege course to the few students who presented themselves. The first commencement was held at Warren in. I 769, when seven young- men, several of whom afterward attained t^ distinction, received the baclielor's degree. The question of the permanent location of the college had soon to be settled. The chief competitors were New- port and Providence. Newport was twice as large and probably more than twice as wealthy as Providence, and Baptist numbers and influence were proportionately large. Tt is to this day a mystery to Newport people why Provi- dence should have been chosen in preference. Providence offered ^4280, which was slightly above the Newport offer; but this alone is scarcely a sufficient explanation of the choice. It may be that Manning had private assur- ances of generous dealing from members of the Brown family, already prosperous and interested in education. It may be that the suspected heterodoxy of certain influ- ential Newport Ikiptists led to the ignoring of what seemed to be the superior claims of that city. Possibly the pros- pect of being able to support himself in Providence by preaching may have led Manning to prefer the latter city. In 1770 the college removed to Providence. Buildings were soon erected, the beginning of an endowment was created, additional instructors were secured, and the work of the institution began to compare favorably with that of the older colleges. During the war the buildings were used for barracks and other government jjurposes, and the work of instruction was sadly interrupted. After the war the prosperity of the college went hand in hand with tlie general prosperity of the denomination. It is somewhat humiliating to find the college corpora- tion voting (1793) to petition the General Assembly for " the grant of a lottery of four thousand dollars, for the Chap, i.] THE WARREX ASSOCLITION. 265 purpose of purchasing Dr. Forbes' Orrery and other articles of a Philosophical Apparatus ; and for increasing the Col- lege library ; and for other necessary and useful purposes." Such a procedure seems at that time to have been regarded as entirely legitimate and to have called forth few protests. In 1804 Rhode Island College became Brown Univer- sity, in honor of Nicholas Brown, whose liberality and that of members of the family to the present time have amply justified the change of name. Manning served the college with noble self-sacrifice and the best kind of success till his death, in 1791. He was succeeded by Jonathan Maxcy, a graduate of the college, who served ably until 1802, when he accepted the presi- dency of Union College. He afterward became president of South Carolina College, where he taught and influenced for good some of the leaders of the Southern Baptists. The president during the closing years of this period was Dr. Asa Messer, also a graduate of the college. Since that time the university has been fortunate in having a succession of presidents of the highest rank, including FrSncis Way land, Barnas Sears, Alexis Caswell, Ezekiel G. Robinson, and E. Benjamin Andrews ; and its influence for good has been incalculable. The Warren Association was organized at Warren, R. I., in 1 767. The moving spirit was undoubtedly James Man- ning, but he had the hearty co5peration of Hezekiah Smith and others in New England, and the encouragement of the Philadelphia Association. Representatives of ten churches assembled to consider the proposal to organize ; but those of four churches only saw their way clear to join in the enterprise. Even Isaac Backus, who was afterward to take so prominent a part in its proceedings, felt constrained to hold aloof until i 770. Backus's church, and many others, " waited until they could be satisfied that the Association 266 THE BAPTISTS. [Pkr. ii. did not assume any jurisdiction over the churches, before joining, and they now joined upon the express condition that no complaint should ever be received by the Associa- tion against any particular church that was not of the As- sociation, nor from any censured member of any of our churches." The four constituent churches were the War- ren, R. I., and the Haverhill, Bellingham, and Second Middleborough, of Massachusetts. Scruples gradually gave place to confidence, and a large proportion of the churches of New England identified themselves with the Warren Association, until for convenience other associa- tions were formed in various localities. The chief objects of Manning, Smith, and the other fathers of the Associa- tion were the securing of denominational codperation in education, evangelization, and the struggle for religious liberty. How nobly it subserved the last end will appear in a subsequent chapter. During this period the Baptist cause was extended into those New England colonies that had not been occupied up to I 740. There were a few Baptists in New Haiyp- shire, but no church organization before the beginning of the present period. The first organization was effected at Newton in 1755. From 1767 onward Hezekiah Smith, pastor of the Haverhill, Mass., church, labored throughout the neighboring townships of New Hampshire with gratify- ing results. His own diary gives a picturesque account of the various meetings held. In May, 1767, he preached at Hampstead, Chester, Suncook, Dunbarton, and Deerfield ; in June he assisted the Newton church in securing exemption from taxation to the standing order, and preached at Brent- wood, New Market, Lee, Madbury, and Phillipstown, (Me.). At the last-mentioned place he " preached in a barn, be- cause there was not room to hold the people in the meeting- house, and likewise because the barn was handiest to the Chap, i.] BAPTISTS IX XKW HAMPSHIRE. 267 river, where I baptized that day Simon Coffin and Sarah Coffin." In August he baptized at Brentwood. " After the baptism at the water-side I spoke some time to the people, it being one of the most solemn times, and of the greatest emotion that I ever saw at the water-side." At Deerfield Smith baptized the Congregational minister, Eliphalet Smith, his wife, and twelve other members of his church, " who the same day were embodied into a Baptist church" (June 14, 1770). It may be remarked that Smith's \isit on this occasion was in response to a special invitation from pastor and people. Two days later he baptized at Epping Dr. Samuel Shepard and six others. Shepard was ordained a year later and proved one of the most useful of the early New^ Hampshire ministers. Two days later (June i8th) Smith preached in the Congrega- tional meeting-house at New Market and " had a confer- ence with their church about some of their members who wanted to be baptized; but the church as a church would not give me leave to baptize any of their members." Two days later still he visited Stratham, where he examined a number for baptism, preached from John vii. t,,'] , "and then baptized fourteen persons. ... A glorious day has this been." The next day he " went home, after having baptized thirty-eight persons within seven days, and preached seven sermons." On July (or August) i8th he preached and baptized again at Stratham. " After baptism I entered into a public debate upon baptism with Rev. Joseph Adams and R. Marshall. . . . After debate I assisted in constituting a Baptist church there." Dr. Shepard became pastor of this along with other churches. On a subsequent visit to Stratham in September, " by reason of the number of the people," Smith was " obliged to preach out of doors, under an oak-tree." On October 9th he preached out of doors at Exeter, and " baptized 268 THE BAPTISTS. [Per. ii. Joseph Sanborn, of Epping, a Congregational preacher," and five others. " It was judged that two thousand people were at the water-side to see the ordinance administered." The Brentwood church w^as organized in 1772 and enjoyed the ministry of Dr. Shepard along with Stratham, etc. The following year a church was constituted at North- wood, chiefly of members from Stratham and Epping, with Edmund Pillsbury, of Haverhill, as pastor. Baptist churches multiplied in New Hampshire from 1780 onward, partly through the zealous missionary activity of Caleb Blood, of Marlow, Job Seamans, of Mas.sachusetts, and Biel Ledoyt, of Connecticut. Nine churches were organ- ized during 1780. Thomas Baldwin, afterward to become famous as pastor of the Second Church, Boston, and as a leader in missionary enterprise, began preaching at Canaan in 1782, when eighteen years of age, and performed much fruitful service. The New Hampshire Association was formed in 1785 of five Maine and three New Hampshire churches. By 1 795 there were in the State forty-one churches, with a membership of two thousand five hundred and sixty-two. The people of Vermont were slow to accept Baptist teaching. In 1768 a party of Massachusetts Separates, who had moved to Vermont to enjoy greater freedom, adopted Baptist principles and were constituted a Baptist church at Shaftsbury. The second and third Vermont Baptist churches were organized in Guilford township (1770 and 1772). The Pownal church followed in 1773. Toward the close of the Revolutionary war there was a great influx of population into the colony, including many Baptists and a number of able ministers. The Shaftsbury Association was formed in 1781. By 1790 the number of churches had risen to thirty-four and the membership to sixteen hundred and ten. Four other associations were Chap, i.] VERMOXT AXD MAIXE. 269 formed in Vermont before the close of the centur}' — the Woodstock (i 783), the Vermont (1785), the Lej'den (i 793), and the Richmond (1795). Nothing was attempted in the way of Baptist organiza- tion in Maine, after the removal of Screven and his breth- ren to South CaroHna (1684), till 1767, when Hezekiah Smith made an evangelistic tour in the colony, baptizing a number of believers at Gorham, Block House, Sanford, etc. In I 768 Smith aided in constituting churches at Gor- ham and Berwick. The Sanford church was constituted in 1773- In Maine also the closing years of the Revolution were a time of great denominational increase. The offer of free homesteads at the close of the war attracted large numbers of soldiers and others to the unsettled and sparsely setded regions, and the Baptist cause was thereby reinforced. Among the most successful Baptist workers were Nathan- iel Lord, James Potter, Job Macomber, Isaac Case, and Elisha Snow. Among the earhest churches organized in Maine were the Berwick, Wells, Sanford, Coxhall, and Shap- leigh. The Bowdoinham church was constituted in 1784 as a result of the labors of Potter and Macomber, with the latter as pastor. The Thomaston church was constituted a year later through the efforts of Case. From this time onward Baptist churches multiplied. The Bowdoinham Association was formed in 1787 and consisted of three churches. By the close of the centur)^ the number of churches was thirty-two and the membership fifteen hun- dred and sixty-eight. Arminianism of the Wesleyan type appeared among the Baptists of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont about 1778. In September, 1770, Benjamin Randall, a godless young man of twenty-one, heard Whitefield at Portsmouth, N. H. Two davs after leavins: Portsmouth the ureat evan- 2 70 THE BAPTISTS. [I'kr. ii. L;'elist died at Newbiiryport, Mass. Randall was more pro- foundly impressed by the news of his death than he had been by the preaching. He was converted and soon felt strongly impelled to evangelize. This prompting he hjng resisted. In 1775 he severed his connection with the Congregational church of which he was a member, on ac- count of the laxity of its disciplii\e. The birth of his third child led him to investigate the subject of infant baptism, and the result was his rejection of the rite. He was bap- tized into the fellowship of the Berwick, Me., Baptist church and soon afterward began his fruitful career as an evan- gelist. In 1778 he located at New Durham, N. H., but covered a wide territory with his evangelistic acti\'ity. It soon appeared to his Baptist brethren that he was not teaching the commonly accepted type of doctrine. Con- troversy arose and raged (1779), and he was convicted of Arminianism and disfellowshiped by a council of his brethren. Several other ministers in eastern New- Hamp- shire and w^es'tern Maine expressed sympathy with his views, notably Pelatiah Tingley, Samuel Weeks, Daniel Hibbard, Tosier Lord, and Edward Lock. In 1 780 a Baptist church was organized at New Durham in sym- pathy with Randall's views. B}^ i 790 there were eighteen churches in the connection, with about eight hundred mem- bers. Randall was abundant in labors, and his principles were soon firmly planted throughout Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Vermont. The doctrinal position of the party was that of evangelical Arminianism. Open communion was early adopted and has since characterized the denom- ination. For tw^enty years the churches refused any other designation than " Baptist." The persistence of the Regu- lar Baptists in calling these brethren " Free-willers " led to their adoption of the name " Free-will Baptist." Randall died in 1808, and a period of denominational anarchy en- sued. Quarterly meetings were held from i 783 onward, Chap, i.] STATISTICS. 27 1 but no general denominational organization occurred dur- ing this period. By 1 8 10 the connection embraced about 130 churches, iio ministers, and 6000 members. A few statistics will show how largely the Baptist cause in New England profited by the Great Awakening. In 1740 there were in Massachusetts 6 Baptist churches, in Rhode Island 11, in Connecticut 4. Most of these were feeble and some of them were in a declining state. All but four or five seem to have been Arminian, and Armin- ianism had invaded some of the few Calvinistic churches. By I 768 the number of Baptist churches in Massachusetts had risen to 30, in Connecticut to 12, in Rhode Island to 36. The Baptist cause had taken root in New Hampshire and was represented by one congregation. But only a fair beginning had as yet been made. The Baptists by this time had attained to such a position in the New Eng- land colonies, and were so full of evangelistic zeal, that progress was henceforth easy. By 1790 Massachusetts had 92 Baptist churches and 6234 members; Rhode Island, 38 churches and 3502 members; New Hampshire, 32 churches and 1732 members; Maine, 15 churches and 882 members; Connecticut, 55 churches and 3214 mem- bers; Vermont, 34 churches and 16 10 members. Twenty years later (1810-12) Maine's churches had increased to 103 and her membership to 5294; New Hampshire had 69 churches and 4940 members; Vermont had 76 churches and 5185 members; Massachusetts had a membership of 8104, but had suffered a loss of one in the number of churches; Connecticut had 65 churches and 5716 mem- bers; while Rhode Island had lost both in churches and members, the former numbering 26 and the latter 3033. Six Principle and Seventh-day Baptists are probably in- cluded in the statistics for 1790 and omitted in those for 1 8 10. The Free-will Baptists seem to be omitted in the statistics of the States in which they flourished. CHAPTER II. THE PHILADELPHIA CENTER. ^ The effects of the Great Awakening were less marked in the cok^nies inchided at the time in the Philadelphia Association than in New England. This was due to the fact that the Baptist work in these regions was already well organized and was relatively free from the hindering influences that in New England could be ox'ercome only by a great religious upheaval. An evangelical Cah'inism, substantially like that of Whitefield and the New Lights, had long prevailed among the Baptists of the Philadelphia Association As Baptists had never been persecuted in these regions there was not that bitter sectarian feeling that led the Baptists of New England to look askance at a religious movement in which their former persecutors took part. The Baptists of Pennsylvania had by 1 740 already reached a position of assured strength that ena- bled them to assert their principles with the utmost de- cision, while maintaining the most friendly relations with their brethren of other denominations. The growth of the churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey during this period was only normal. During the war there was a marked decline of membership and interest. After the war there were years of large ingathering. A few statis- tics will illustrate the numerical condition of the denomi- 1 Cf. Morgan Edwards; .Spencer; Benedict; Catlicart ; " Min. Pliil. Bapt. Assoc"; Cook; " Bapt. Mem.," vol. i., pji. 9 scij., 74 .f- Boston Female Society for Missionary Purposes, 384. Botsford, Edmund, 311, 316, 317. Boucher, Thomas, 259. Bound, James, 259. Boyce, J. P., 462, 466. Brantly, William T., 307, 381, 392, 404. Brentwood church, the, 268. Bright, Edward, 4^4. Br sbane, John, 309. Br ad River Association, 314. Broaddus, Andrew, T^ii,. Broadus, John A., 466. ■• Brown, Chad, 84, 88, 94. Brown, James, 167, 168, 253. Brown, Nicholas, 263. Brown University, 261 ; charter, 262 removal to Providence, 264, 3S0. Browne, Robert, 38. Bryan, Andrew, 320, 331. Bucer, 24. Bucknell University, 481. Bunyan, John, 53. Burkitt, Lemuel, 291. Burleson, Rufus C, 481. Burmese mission, the, 471. Burrage, Henry S., 425. Bushyhead, John, 445. Callender, Ellis, 195, 196. Callender, John, 117. Calloway, Richard, 333. Calvinists, 5, 86, 198, 239, 256, 301, 488. Cambridge Platform, 182. Campbell, Alexander, 441, 488, 490, 495, 502. Campbell, Jesse H., 411. " Campbellism Examined," 489. Capito, 25. Cardross, Lord, 223. Carey, Lot, 402. Carey, William, 55. Carlstadt, 19, 28. Carman, Joshua, 339. Catabaptists, i, 136. Cedar Creek, 334. Cent Societies, 384. Chandler, C. C, 417. Chaney, Bailey E., 345. Chanler, Isaac, 308, 309, 368, 380. Chaplin, Jeremiah, 406, 408. Charles IL, letter from, 191. Charleston Association, 310, 316, 381, 407. Charleston Bible Society, 313. Charlestown, 222, 224. Chase, I rah, 396, 399. Chauncy, Charles, 133, 155, 157. Chiliastic anabaptism, 20, 37. Chinese mission, 460. " Christian Chronicle," the, 424. " Christian Index," the, 411. " Christian Messenger," the, 425. " Christian Reflector," the, 445. " Christian Secretary," the, 425. Christian union, 7. Church, Pharcellus, 424. Church and state, separation of, 63, 69. " Church of God," the, 502. Churchwood, Humphrey, 217, 219. Clark, John, 343. Clarke, John, 50, 69, 75, 81 ; birth, education, arrival at Boston, 96 ; re- lation to antinomianism, 97 ; settled at Aquidneck, 98 ; the foundation act, 100; "111 News from New England," loi ; the annulment of Coddington's charter, 104; the charter of Rhode Island, 105 ; char- acter, 107; death, 112, 134; theses for clisi)utation, 137. IXDEX. 507 Clay, Joseph, 322. Clayton, Thomas, 207. " Clementine Recognitions," 9, 10. Clough, J. E., 470. Coddington, William, 75, 98, 104, 109, 119, 122. Coggeshall, 109. Cohansey, 205. Colby University, 406. Colgate University, 479. Collegiants, 53. Collins, Henry, 125. "Columbian Star," the, 400, 423, 427. Colver, Nathaniel, 444. Comer, John, 114, 117, 198, 230. Communism, 26, 27. Conant, Thomas J., 432. Condy, Jeremiah, 196, 256. Cone, Spencer H., 444. Confession of Faith, October, 1644, Congaree Association, the, 314. Connection between American Bap- tists and Particular Baptists, 50. Controversy between Roger Williams and the Massachusetts authorities, 62. Convention of 1827 (constitution), 404. Cook, Joseph, 311. Cooke, John, 112. Cooper River, settlement on, 221, 222. Corahism, 182. Cornelius, John, 205. Cornell, Joseph, 385. Correspondence between the Eng- lish Baptists and the Mennonites of Holland, 45. Cote, W. N., 460. Cotton, John, 62, 66, 68; controversy with Roger Williams, 70, 120, 121, 138. Craig, Elijah, 298. Crandall, Joseph, in, 115, 134, 138. Cromwell, 54, 75, 113. Cromwell, William, 423. Crozer Theological Seminary, 480. Cuban mission, the, 457. Cudworth, James, 158. Cumberland Association, 337, 338. Curtis, Richard, Jr., 344, 345, 346. Cyprian, 12. Uabney, John, 257. Davis, John, 349, 352. Davis, William, 207. Dean, William, 472. Deane, " History of Scituate," 158. Denck, 18, 23, 25, 28. Denison University, 416. Dexter, Gregory, 85, 86, 87, 91, 112. Diaz, Alberto J., 457. Dingley, Richard, 113. " Disciples," 492, 493. Dorchester petition, the, 129. Dorris, Joseph, 337. Doughty, Francis, 233. Dover church, the, 281. Dudley, Ambrose, 337. Dungan, Elder, 202. Dunham, 204. Dunster, Henry, 134; birth and edu- cation, 139; Confession of Faith, 140; arrival in New England, 141 ; president, 142; marriage, 144; ori- ental studies, 145 ; conversion, 146 ; conference, 152; verdict, 153; res- ignation, 154; removal, 157; cleath, 161. Dyke, Daniel, 193. Eager, J. H., 460. Easton, 109. Eaton, Mrs., 232. Eaton, T. T., 425. Edes, Philip, 113. Edisto Island, 228. Education Fund, 381, 407. Education Society of the Middle States, the Baptist, 381. Edwards, Jonathan, 241. Edwards, Morgan, 261, 263, 276, 278, 297. " Elements of Moral Science," 445. Elk River Association, 338. Elkhorn Association, 337. Endicott, Governor, 136. P^phrata community, the, 209. Episcopal minister of Charleston, the, 224. " Examiner," the, 424. Exclusion of Baptists from all civil privileges in Massachusetts, 120. Eyres, Nicholas, 234, 262. Elyres, Thomas, 263. 5o8 INDEX. P'aniilism, 121. Farmington (Southington), 231. Farnuni, John, 179, 184. Feeks, Robert, 235. Findley, Samuel, 280. First Baptist Churcli of Boston, 174; confession of faith, 177; fines, 178; disputation, 179, 182; service upon Noddle's Island, 186; persecutions, 188; meeting-house, 190, 197, 256. First Baptist Church of New York, 281 First Baptist Church of Newport, 88, 96; dissensions, 109, 255. First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, 205. First Baptist Church of Providence, 80, 83 ; controversies, 85 ; division, 87; history till 1 770, 95; Armin- ian, 253. First Colored Baptist Church, 320. Fishkill church, the, 282. Ford, Reuben, 370, 371. Foreign missions, 460, 461. Foster, Benjamin, 255. Framingham, 247. Franklin College, 417. Free-will Baptists, 270, 495, 499, 501. Fristoe, Daniel, 287. Fuller, Andrew, 55. Furman, Richard, 312, 321, 383, 385, 395. 402. Gano, John, 280, 281, 284, 295, 311, 335- Gano, Stephen, 338. Garcia, Francis, 308. Gardner, John, 261. Garrard (Garret), John, 285, 296, 334. General Association, 367. General Baptists in England, 38 ; sep- aration from other separatist con- gregations, 40; controversies, 41 ; after 1626 progress, 47; character- istics, 69, 85. General Committee of the Georgia Baptists, 323, 328, 329, 369. General Meeting of Correspondence, 306. General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Mis- sions, 393. Georgetown, 227. Georgetown College, 417. Georgia Association, 318. German Baptists, 470. Gnosticism, 8, 9, 12. Going, Jonathan, 416, 419. Gorton, .Samuel, 76, 99. Gorton, Stephen, 231. Gould, Thomas, 157, 174, 175, 176. Granville, Lord, 225. Granville Literary and Theological Institution, 416. Graves, J. R., 425, 494. Great Awakening, statistics of the, 271. Great Valley, 208. Green, David, 342. Griffith, Benjamin, 275, 280, 285. Griffith, Thomas, 208. Gross, Jacob, 25. Groton, 231. Ilackett, Horatio B., 432. Half-way Covenant, 182, 240. Hall, Nathaniel, 330. Hall, Robert, 54, 55. Hand, J. R., 411. Haralson, Jonathan, 462. Harding, 109. Harper, William R., 481. Harris, J. H., 481. Harris, Samuel, 295, 299. Harris, William, 91. Hart, Oliver, 278, 309, 316. Hartwell, J., 407. Harvard College, 133, 134, 142, 145, 197, 244. Hascall, Daniel, 409. Hatzer, Ludwig, 23, 25. Haverhill, 258, 265. Hawley, Major, 360. Hayne, William, 444. Hays, Edward, 284. Hazell, John, 138. Heaton, Samuel, 285. Helwys, Thomas, 41, 42. Henry, Nicholas, 121. Henry, Patrick, 365, 369. Henry of Lausanne, 13. Hepzibah Association, the, 434. " Herald, The Religious," 424. Hernias, 9. Hickman, William, 2)^^- Hicks, Jacob, 258. IXDEX. 509 Ililnian, W. , 404. Ilofmann, Melchior, 25, 27. Hofniannitc's, 28. Holcombe, Henry, 320, 321, 322, 38'4. Holliman, Ezekiel, 79, 84. Holmes, J. L., 460. Holmes, Obadiah, iii, 112, 131, 134, 138. Holmes, Obadiah, Jr., 205. Holston Association, 336. Hooper, Dr., 408. Hopewell, 209, 276. Hovey, Alvali, 480. Hubbard, Samuel, no, 124, 179, 187. Hubmaier, 18, 21, 23, 26. Hulbert, Eri B., 480. Hull, Elder, 220. Hut, Hans, 23, 26. Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 97; charac- ter and teachings, 120. Huther, Jacob, 23, 27. Hutherites, 27. " 111 News from New England," loi, 134- Ilston, 163. Immersion, 4, 41, 80, 137, 144, 155, 342, 344, 390, 428. Imposition of hands, 85, 86, 115, 214. Indians, the, 61, 64, 144, 197, 292. Infant baptism, 2, 3, 10, 20, 22, 31, 40, 51, 136. Irelantl, James, 287. Jacob, Henry, 48. Jaret (Garrard), John, 285. Jefferson, Thomas, 370, 375. Jenckes, Daniel, 261, 263, 355. Jenkins, Nathaniel, 212. Jessey, H., 49, 52, 53. Johnson, Francis, 38, 48. Johnson, Thomas, 342. Johnson, W. B., 406. Jones, R. S., 262. Jones, Samuel, 262, 279. Judson, 389, 394, 419. Justin Martyr, 9. Kautz, Jacob, 25. Keach, Elias, 202, 204. Kehukee Association, 290, 307. Keith, George, 206. Keithian Quakers, 207. Kentlrick, Nathaniel, 408. Ketokton Association, 278, 285, 287, ^^ 296, 301, 334, 371. Key into the Language of America, " the, 61, 91. Kiftin, William, 48, 53, 138, 193. Kiffin Manuscript," the, 52. Killingsworth, 203. Kincaid, Eugenio, 409. Kittery, Me., 197, 216, 220. Kloster, Gertom, 31. Knipperdollinck, 32. Knollys, Hanserd, 51, 52, 203. Lady Moody, 124, 232. Langenmantel, Eitelhans, 24. Lasher, G. W., 425. Lathrop, John, 48, 158. " Latter Day Luminary," 400, 423. Lechford, " Plain Dealing," 144. Ledbetter, Elder, 294. Leile (Sharp), George, 320. Leland, John, 305, 371; letter to Washington, 372, 375. Lenthall, Robert, 109, 123. Leyden, John of, 31. Lil^erty of conscience, 44, 60, 62, 72 ; limitations of, 77, 79, 102, 170, 365. Lincoln, Heman, 420. Lollardism, 6, 38, 164. Lord's Supper, the, 11. Lukar, Mark, 50, iii, 112. Luther, 18, 19. Luther, Samuel, 172, 173. Lyndon, Josias, 261. Lynn, Benjamin, 334. Mack, Alexander, 209. Maclay, Dr. A., 420. MacVickar, Dr. M., 474. Madison, James, 370; his amend- ments, 374. Maginnis, J. S., 408. Maine, Baptist organizations in, 269. Manichjeism, 12. Manly, Basil, 307. Manning, James, 253, 261, 265, 278, 304, 311. Mansfield, 245. Marbeck, Pilgram, 25, 28. Marblehead, the land grant at, 66. Marshall, Abraham, 319, 323. Marshall, Daniel, 286, 292, 294, 314, 317- 319- Marshall, William, t,t,2,. 5IO INDEX. Martha's Vineyard, 198. Martin, Thomas, 207. Mascall's letter, Robert, 184. Mason, George, 371. Mason, John, 339. Massachusetts, the revised law-book of, 1672, 188. Massachusetts authorities, character- ization of, 119. " Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine," 384. Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, 385. Mather, Cotton, 147, 151, 175, 195. Matthys, Jan, 29. Maxwell, Samuel, 172. Mayhew, Thomas, 198. Meeting of October 14, 1774, 357. Melanchthon, 19. Meli, P. H., 462. Menno Simons, 33. Mennonites, t^^, 38, 42, 45, 231, 232. Mercer, Jesse, 319, 321, 323, 326, 410. Mercer, Silas, 319. Mercer University, 329. Methodists, 7, 304, 330. Miami Association, 339. Middleljorough, 252. Middletown, 204. Miller, Benjamin, 281, 284. Milton, John, 54, 105, 140. Mintz, Caspar, 289. Missions among the Germans, 458. Mitchell, 147, 148, 150. Moore, Matthew, 320. Moravian Brethren, 6, 7, 315. Morgan, Abel, 205, 212, 279. Morse, Zenas, 409. Moulton, Ebenezer, 199. Mount Enon Academy, 321, 328. Mumford, Stephen, no. Miinster, 30. Miinzer, Thomas, 18, 19. Murphy, William, 299. " Murjihy boys, the," 295. Murton, John, 42. Musick, Thomas R., 343. Myles, John, 162 ; life in Wales, 163 ; arrival at Rehoboth, 167; arraign- ment, 168; settled at Swansea, 169; death, 172. Narragansett Bay, 62. "Narrative" of Elder Russell, the, 112. New Design church, 341. " New England's First Fruits," 143. New Hampshire Association, the, 268. j New Lights, the, 243, 249, 254, 256, 380. I New London, 231. ! " New York Baptist Register," the, 424. New York Baptists, statistics of, 283. " New York Chronicle," the, 424. " New York Recorder," the, 424. Newman, Samuel, 131. Newport, 88, 96, 109, 116. Newton Theological Institution, 480. Nicene Creed, the, 5. Nordin, Robert, 230. Northrup, George W., 480. Cakes, Urian, 189. Oath of the unregenerate, the, 66. Oglethorpe, General, 315. Okison, 204. " Old Baptist Banner," the, 438. " Old-Landmarkism," 494. Olmstead, J. W., 42^. Olney, Thomas, 84, 85, 87, 88. Oncken, J. G., 470. Paine, Solomon, 250. Painter, of Hinghani, 125. Palestine, mission work in, 486. Palmer, Paul, 289, 307, 500. Parker, Daniel, 398. Parker, Joseph, 289, 307, 500. Particular Baptists in England, 48 ; conferences and split, 51; Confes- sion cf Faith, 52 ; approachment between General and Particular Baptists, 55, 193. Peartt, William, 228. Peck, John M., 397, 413, 423. Peckham, William, 113. Pedobaptists, 136. Peedee River, settlement on, 229. Pelot, Francis, 316. Penfield, Josiah, 411. Penn, William, 201. Pennepek, 202, 211. Peter de Bruys, 13. Peter Chelcicky, 15. Peter the Venerable, 13. IXDEX. 511 Phelps, S. D., 425. Philip of Hesse, 25. Piscataqua, 203. Plymouth settlement in its relation to Salem colony, 119, 162, 168. Port Royal Island, 223. Powell, Vavasour, 54, 163, 166. Pratt, John, 416. ' ' Presentment by the Grand Inquest, " 1652, 132. " Primitive Baptist," the, 438. Proctor, John, 257. Proud, Thomas, 163. Providence, foundation of, 74 ; First Baptist Church, 80, 'ii^, 85, 160. Pugh, Evan, 311. Puritans' conception of the Baptists, the, 122. Quakers, 78, 82, 112, 115, 158, 191, 200, 206, 229. Quincy, 143. Randall, Benjamin, 269. Rebaptism, 16, 18, 41, 136. Red River Association, 338. Reforming Synod, the, 191. Regenerate membership, 3, 79. Rehoboth, 131, 132, 251, 257. Reynolds, J. L., 408. Rhode Island, foundation of, 74 ; rec- ognition by the English govern- ment, 75; the foundation act, 100; the annulment of Coddington's charter, 104 ; the charter of Rhode Island, 105, 160. Rhode Island College, 253, 260, 265, 311- Rhynsburgers, 53. Rice, Luther, 390, 392, 399, 405, 427. Richards, Lewis, 311. Richmond Baptist African Mission- ary Society, 402. Rink, Melchior, 26. Ripley, Henry J., 400. Rish worth, Edward, 219. River Brethren, 500. Roberts, Edward, 159. Roberts, George, 367. Roberts, John M., 407. Robertson, Robert, 54. Robinson, John, 1 18. Rockefeller, John D., 477. Rothmann, Bernard, 30. Russell's " Narrative," 193. Rutter, Thomas, 207. Ryland, Robert, 415. Sabbatarians, iii, 214, 486. Salem colony in its relation to Plym- outh settlement, 1 19. Salem Quarterly Court, 1642, 124; 1644, 124; 1646, 125. Saluda Association, 314. Sanders, B. M., 412. Sands, William, 424. Sandy Creek, 314, 336. Sanford, S. P., 412. Sayle, William, 222. Schwenckfeldt, 22, 121. Scioto Association, 339. Scituate, 158. Screven, William, 216, 218, 220, 221, 227, 309. Scripture as the norm of faith, 2, 4. Scott, Richard, 84. Sears, Barnas, 409. Second Baptist Church of Boston, ^ 257, 349. Seekonk disturbance, the, 130. Selby, Thomas, 208, 212. Separate Baptists in Virginia, 298, 300; Confession, 301. Seventh-day Baptists, 110, 204, 486. Severn's Valley, 334. Sharp, David, 469. Sherwood, Dr. A., 410. Sicke P'rierichs, 33. " Signs of the Times," the, 438. Silver Creek Association, 340. Simmons, Thomas, 228. Six Principle Baptists, 87, 91, iii, 116, 198, 257. Skinner, Thomas, 113, 192. Slavery, 305, 374- Smith, Ebenezer, 350, 351. Smith, Hezekiah, 259, 263, 265, 266, 269, 278. Smith, James, 341. Smith, John (U. S. Senator), 339. vSrnith, Ralph, 118. Smyth, John, 39, 80. Socinianism, 45, 239. Sojourner, William, 289. Somerton, 218. 512 rXDEX. Southern Baptist Theological Semi- nary, 465. Southern Baptists, separate organiza- tion of, 451. Southern State conventions, 447. Southington, 231. Spilsbury, John, 49, 138. Spur, John, 138. Spurgeon, Charles H., 54. Squire, Philip, 190, 192. Stanford church, the, 282. Statistics of 18 12, 379. Statistics of home missions, 455. Staughton, William, 280, 382, 385, 417. Stearns, Shubael, 286, 292, 296. Stiles, Ezra, 261. Stillman, Samuel, 256, 263, 309, 311, 35o> 361. Stoll, David, 309. Stone, Barton W., 502. Storch, Nicholas, 19, 20, 22. Strassburg, tolerance of, 24. Sturbridge, 245. Sutton, John, 339. Swansea, 16S, 190, 198, 253, 257. Sweden, missions in, 470. Tackamason, John, 198. Talbot, Matthew, 330. Tate's Creek, 335. Taylor, G. B., 460. Taylor, John, 337. " Teacher," the, 462. Teague, Collin, 402. Tennent, Gilliert, 241. Tennent, William, 241. Tertullian, 9, 1 1. Thomas, David, 286, 296. Tinsley, David, 330. Tinsley, Thomas, t,t,t,. Titicut, 248. Tiziano, 34. Tobey, T. W., 460. Tombes, John, 53. Tookey, Elias, 46. Torrey, Joseph, III, 1 12. Tuckaseeking, 316. Turner, William, 180, 186, 189. Unitarianism, 240. '■ United Baptist Churches of Christ, in Virginia," 302. " United Baptists " in Kentucky, 335. " United Colonies of New England, The," 141. Unregenerate, the, 65, 68, 72. Van Home, 356. Vane, Sir Henry, 74, 92, 121. Vassar College, 483. Vaughan, William, 91, iii. Vermont Baptist churches, 268. Wabash District Association, 340, 341- Wade, Jonathan, 409. Waldenses, 6, 15, 17. Waldo, Samuel, 282. Walker, Jeremiah, 330, 367. Waller, John, 296, 298. Wallingford, 231. Ward, Samuel, 261, 263. Warren Association, the, 26;, 278, 348, 357, 380. Washington's reply to Leland's letter, 373- " Watchman, The Christian," 423. Wayland, H. L., 424, 447. Weeden, William, ill, 112. Welch, James E., 397, 423. Welsh Baptists, 162. Welsh Tract church, the, 208, 229, 230. Wesley, John, 6, 47, 241. West, Nat., 125. W^estern Baptist Theological Insti- tute, 417. "Western Recorder," the, 425, 445. Westminster Confession, Baptist re- cension of the, 55. Weston, Henry G., 481. Wheaton, Ephraim, 172. Wheelwright, John, 120. Whitaker, John, -^,11. White, Daniel, 113, 115. White, Esther, 246. White, Thomas, 230. Whitefield, 47, 241, 242, 244, 269, 292, 309. Whitman, S. S., 409. Wickenden, William, 85, 89, 112, 233. Wickes, Benjamin, 385. Wiclifism, 6. Wiedemann, Jacob, 26. Wightman, Daniel, 235. Wightman, Valentine, 231, 234, 257. Willard, Samuel, 194. INDEX. 513 Willet, Captain, 169. Williams, John, 298, 300, 367. Williams, Roger, birth, studies, pros- pects in England, 59 ; arrival in New England, 60 ; Boston, Salem, Plymouth, 61 ; " The Key into the Language of America," 61 ; ban- ished, settles at Narragansett Bay, 62 ; review of the controversy, 64 ; ideas of relation between church and state, 70 ; controversy with Cot- ton, 71 ; foundation of Rhode Isl- and, 74 ; recognition by the English government, 75 ; limitations of the liberty of conscience, 77 ; rebap- tized, 79 ; foundation of the first Baptist church in America, 80 ; doubts, 81 ; relation to Dexter, 92. Willoughby, Francis, 184. Wilson's declaration, 182. ! Winebrenner, John, 502. ! Winslow's " Brief Narration," 132. Winsor, Samuel, 253. Winthrop, Governor, 121, 144. Witter, William, 124, 135. Woman's Baptist mission societies, Wonder-Working Providence," 142. Yale College, 244. I Yates, M. T., 460. ; Yates, Thomas, 284. ' " Yearly Association," 1729, 116. Yoruba mission, 460. Young People's Union of America, the Baptist, 478. Zell, 24. " Zion's Advocate," 425. Zwickau, 19. I Zwingli, 20.