Columbia ®[nibers;itp mtijeCitpofi^ekt)|9orfe LIBRARY DISCOURSE IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FORTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSAKY OF THE MITE SOCIETY; AND THE Staff Punkei m)i Jfiftttntlj ^itmkrsitrj OF TUB FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN AMERICA, BY HENRY JACKSON, Pastor of Central Baptist Church, Newport, M, I, PROVIDENCE : JOHN K. STICKNEY, 1854. Kev. H. Jackson : Dear Sir — ~ At a meeting of " The Female Missionary Mite Society," on the 13th instant, it was Resolved, unanimously, To present to you their grateful thanks, for your historical and deeply interesting discourse in behalf of the Society/ delivered at the First Baptist Meeting House, on the 5th instant. And it was, also, unanimously voted, to solicit you to grant a copy for publication. With great consideration, Very respectfully, Yours, Providence, March 14th, 1854, S. J. WINSOR, Secretary. Newport, March 20th, 1854. Miss Susan J. Winsor: Secretary of the Female Missionary Mite Society — ' ' The discourse to which yoiT refer, is here^ with submitted for your disposal. Commending the interests of your Society, as well as those of the ancient Church, whose two hundred and fifteenth anniversary was united with the forty-sixth anniversary of your organization, to the continued faVoi: of Heaven, I remain, Very respectfully, Yours, HENRY JACKSON. A. C. GREENE, PRINTER, PROVIDKNCB. DISCOUESE. Luke xxiv : 47. '■'■ Beginning at Jerusalem.'''' We are convened this evening to perform religious services in commemoration of the Forty- Sixth Anniversary of the " Mite Society," it , having been organized on Tuesday, November 11th, 1806, forty-seven years since, in November. It is not unsuitable that we appreciate other events also, which will hardly fail to excite your attention, when I remind you that this month. Two Hundred and Fifteen years since, our forefathers laid the basis of this church of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon those principles that have stood the test of ages, and which he, at his coming, will not disown. To pass the many seasons of religious truth which, during more than one hundred and fifty years, God was pleased to grant to the mem» bers of this body, there was an event at the close of the first quarter of the second century, that you will permit me hereto name, I refer to the deep interest that men, then worship- ping with this religious assembly, exhibited in that child of truth and science which was first nursed in a beautiful village below us,^ but which in May, 1770, was brought hither to its permanent home. Among those men were found descendants of that honored man, who in 1642 was ordained a minister, *Warren, the town where the College was founded, 1764, and instruction commenced Sept. 1765. 1* 247383 arid who in this office continued lo officiate in this church fof about twenty-three years, or until his death in 1665, The name of the Rev. Chad Browne, has not been forgotten) nor have his children, in any day from that period, ceased to partake of emblems, that he delighted to minister, to the church here established. With the University of the Broiuns, came also its teacher and its head. The citizens crowded the old housef on the cor- ner of King, since called North Main, and Smith streets to lis-* ten to words of knowledge from his lips; and on Wednesday, July 31st, 1771, when thirty two years old, the voice of the church called him lo lis pastorate, urging that in the then cir-* cumstances of the College, he could both leach the principles of science and minister at the altar — services which President Manning felt himself unable to perform. But as the limes were, the results taught him ihc wisdom of ihe measure. He had»the higliest evidence lo sustain him. More than one bun-' dred persons received baptism at his hands, ntu! ihe house in which we are assembled to-night he had the pleasure of con- secrating, Lord's day. May 28ih, 1775, to public worship and commencement services, as he had done previously, the build- ing now known as '■''Univcrsitij HaU^'''% to useful learning. fThe first house was build in 1700. In 1726, this house, measuring 3& by 41 feet, and finished with pews and galleries, was erected. The con-" gregation then embraced 240 families, and the church 118 members. The population of the town was about 4000. JThis building was commenced on Monday, 26th of March, and on Monday May 14th, the corner stone was laid by John Erown. Its dimensions are 150 by 46 feet, four stories high, and it was completed in 1771. The situation "is airy, healthful and pleasant, being on the summit of a hill pretty easy of ascent, and commanding a prospect of the town of Provi- dence below, of the Narragansett Eay and the Islands, and of an exten- sive country, variegated with hills and dales, woods and plains, &c. Surely this spot was made for the seat of the Muses.'' Morgan Edwards, 1771. And verily, as Dr. Manning, in the words of the patriarch, af- firmed at the dedication of this beautiful temple, so he was constrained often in the subsequent years of his ministry in this place to repeat that text of the Scriptures, Gen.xxviii: 17- " This is none other hut the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.^^ By the peculiar success of the pastorship of this servant of Christ, the former house had become " too small for the great number that pressed to hear the Gospel;" and as an illuatration of the manner in which the Lord had opened the hearts of the worshippers, and had also inspired with gen- erous sentiments many of the influential citizens, behold these premises, in the deeds of which, the objects are so distinctly stated, viz.: "for erecting a house for the public worship of Almighty God and holding public commencements.-'l Seventeen years of Dr. Manning's life were devoted to this church and the College, when constrained by his frequent persuasions, the former yielded to his request, and on Lord's day, March 16ih, 1788, his pastoral relation ceased. But he did not leave this house without giving that sweet and precious counsel, which was the great end he sought to accomplish in your fathers, saying from the sacred desk as he retired on that holy Sabbath, " Finally, brethren, farewell. Be j)erfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be ivith you" This sacred pastoral tie, so mutually dear, was not severed but of necessity. The JThe north half of the lot was purchased of Win. Russell Esq., embracing 90 feet on King, or North Main Street, and the south half of Amaziah Waterman Esq., including the intervening land to Pi'esident Street, ex- cepting a lot in the south west corner of 112 feet on President, and 58 feet on King, now North Main Street. Each lot was bought at £855, or $2,853,33 — amounting to $5,706,60 ; and the house at cost was erected for about $20,000. The premises may be set down at $25,700,66 in 1775 ; in 1854 they could not be obtained at $100,000. The house is 80 by 96 feet including tower, and the lot is about 200 by 300 feet, in- cluding the small lot before named. church said go if you must, and, as well becomes the Presi- dent of any important institution, devote your entire energy to the duties of the rising college. Bui this privilege was not long continued. His fondly cherished purpose was soon in- terrupted. On the morning of Wednesday, 29ih of July, 1791, he, when not fifty-three 'years old, was suddenly called from his high eminence by that messenger, to whose summons every one yields, and rose to higher employment than this world can furnish, aged fifty-two years, nine months and six- teen days, he having been born in Elizabethtown, N. J., on Monday, Oct. 16th, 1738. He was the President of the Col- lege, twenty-five years, ten months, and twenty-four days ; and pastor of this church, sixteen years, seven months, and sixteen days. Associated with President Manning was the son of the fourth generation of the venerable and reverend, Chad Brown, a professor in the Institution, the designer of this house, and a member of this church, having been baptized by Pastor Manning on Lord's day, April 2d, 1775, and who in a man- ner as sudden, departed this life on his birthday, when fifty- two years of age, Saturday, Dec. 3d, 1785, he having been born, Monday, Dec. 3d, 1733 : — I refer to the Hon. Joseph Brown, a brother of the four Browns, of Providence memory, and by no means inferior to either of them in genuine worth. Thus entered eternity James Manning, its first ; and since him, Jonathan Maxcy, its second; and Asa MesseR; its third President ; but the University still lives, having a highly successful and justly respected president, Francis Wayland, who presides over its interests with great dignity, as \\\e fourth in office, and who was elected to this station Wednesday, Dec. 13th, 1826, and upon the duties of which he entered Friday, Feb. the 9th, 1827. And to-night it becomes us to conse- crate afresh to science and religion, this child of our fathers — our venerable matron. And here also an the opening of this ^wo hundred and sixteenth year of this Our Mother ChurcHj we will renew our covenant with her, and lift up our prayer that her age may never become infirm, nor her sons and daughters fail to adhere to her precepts, or jieglect to seek her counsels, while her service is needed by Him, by whose prov- idence she has been placed in this land of religious and civil freedom. She is the mother of Baptists in America, and therefore the first and the oldest church in the Denomination in this country. Nor are we ready to see her occupying any other position, than history has assigned to her, in the first two centuries of its settlement. Before I enter upon an account of the object and success of the ancient society, now assembled in this house of seven- teen hundred and seventy-five, I deem it appropriate first to dwell upon some of the causes to which its origin is to be as- cribed. The period to which I refer, will ever be memorable in the history of Christian Missions, and especially to us, in the annals of American Baptist History. In the month of July, 1790, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Baldwin began his ministry in the town of Boston and became the pastor of the Second Baptist in that place on Tuesday, the lllh of November. He was at that lime thirty-seven years of age, having been born in the town of Bozrah, Connecticut, Saturday, Dec. 23d, 1753. In the First Baptist' Church in that same New England Metropolis, had officiated for twenty- five years as its pastor, (a quarter of a century,) Rev. Dr. Samuel Stillman, then fifty-three years old, having been born in Philadelphia, Wednesday, the 27lh of February, 1737. He was not settled until Tuesday, January 9th, 1765, although he commenced his ministry there in 1763. From the begin- ning of 1790, a very interesting revival of religion was enjoy- ed in both these, and two Congregational churches; but principally in the first two. I copy from the Baptist Register, published in England, 1792^ some account of that work of grace, not doubting that in this connection it will be accepta- ble to you. " There has been," the writer writes, '' a very pleasing revival of relig- ion at Boston for eighteen months past. The Lord has evidently been at work in that place. Dr. Stilhnan, Pastor of the First Baptist Church there, had for some time felt a greater desire than usual for the conversion of siimers, which naturally led him to more than common exertions. An uncommon seriousness and attention were observed in the public assem- blies ; the people seemed to stand on tip-toe to hear the word, at length some persons became anxious and inquisitive about their salvation. About the month of August, several young persons went a small distance into the country to visit a sensible person. His godly conversation was the means of awakening one or two of them, who, when they got among theif young acquaintances in a factory where they all wrought together, were the means of awakening several others ; and, at length, a considerable number of them were evidently under great concern of mind. Some of them visited the Eev. Mr. Baldwin, pastor of the Second Baptist Church ; thirteen or fourteen of them at a time, have been in Dr. Stillman's study, inquiring what they should do to be saved. At this time, " these pastors" preached or expounded almost every night in the week ; several evening societies were set up, which have been thronged ever since. Those per- sons who, in a judgment of charity, were brought to the knowledge of the truth, made a pulilic profession ; others were deeply convinced of sin, by seeing their companions leaving them, and, as they thought, going toheav-^ en. Thus the work, which was chiefly among the young people, went on gradually, and what is a very pleasing circumstance, rationally, without much noise or show. It was remarkable, how clearly they appeared to be convinced of their guilt, and lost condition, and of the justice of God ia their condemnation, as well as of the method of salvation by Christ." The power of religious truth developed for some few years subsequent to the settlement of Dr. Baldwin, was, as other lips have pronounced, the great instrument of restoring in many churches of different denominations in Boston and vi- cinity, that had become mere religious formalists, the evangel- ical character which has from that period been constantly in- creasing, and which has become so distinctly recognized among those who believe in experimental religion. These servants of Christ labored together as in a common cause Ioe seventeen years, when the senior in a manner sudden, at the age of seventy years, and thirteen days, fell asleep in Christ in his own house, at midnight, Thursday, March 12ih, 1807 ; and the junior in a manner equally sudden, al Wal.rville, Maine, during the night of Monday, the29ih of August, 1825, aged seventy-two years, eight months, and six days ; the pray- er of each having been most graciously fulfilled, that their life and active usefulness, might expire at the same hour. It was during the last ten years of the eigteenth ceniury, or from 1790 to 1800, or more than fifty years since, that the first pure missionary feeling was discovered in our denomination. Our fathers began to contemplate plans for the sustaining of missionary labor. The R-ev. Lemuel Covell, a Baptist clergy- man who had been a resident of the town of Milton, County of Saratoga, Slate of New York, under date of Monday, Oc- tober 14th, 1799, makes mention of some one hundred and fifty members w^ho had been added to our churches in that place ; and also that remarkable revivals of religion had been enjoyed in the year previous in the infant settlements at the westward, referring to that section of country, which is now denominated Central and Western New York. As illustra- tive of his times, I give you a passage in his own language* " Oh ! with what inexpressible delight," he writes, " did we descend to the frozen liquid to find the grave of our glorious Leader! Not the severity of the rugged blasts of winter- storms — not the coldness of the weather, nor the frozen state of the water seemed in the least to discourage the most deli- cate constitutions from testifiying their loyalty to the dear Re- deemer, by following him in the ordinance of baptism ; and we frequently had such manifestations of the divine presence on such occasions as every attempt to describe would be en- tirely ineffectual." Mr. Covell assigns a reason for his letter, that he had been " informed by Capt. Hallett " (that aged dis- ciple who recently ^died at his residence on Cape Cod,) " that you," (the minister in Boston to whom he addressed it) " were 10 in a correspondence with Dr. Rippon, of England, and were engaged to collect, and communicate to him, all the intelli- gence respecting the situation and progress of religion in America, that lies in your power : and concluded from that circumstance, that any accounts from these parts, of the con- quests of Sovereign Grace, the revival of religion, the conver- sion of perishing sinners, and the increase of the kingdom of the despised Nazarene, must be both rejoicing and useful to you. I have, by a pamphlet you have published, seen, that you have already had intelligence of the revival in Shaftsbury, in the State of Vermont, the year past ; but there have been several in the compass of my acquaintance, that I think it probable you have no account of." In the years eighteen hundred and one, and four and five, there were powerful revivals of religion in the church meeting in this house, and also in those of Boston. Churches of oth- er denominations of Christians, likewise participated in these outpouringsof the Holy Spirit. These seasons of the Spirit's power, repeated as they were during a few successive years, laid in this country the foundation for that deep missionary feeling that has prevailed tince the opening of this century ; and gave energy to Evangelical churches in the prosecution of that gospel labor, that constitutes the most remarkable fea- tures of the age in which we live. The departure from Eng- land of the Rev. Dr. Carey and his associates, for India, Thursday, June 13th, 1793, in conformity with his appoint- ment on Wednesday, the ninth day of the previous January, had incited a spirit of prayer in christians, and multitudes were led to inquire, what it means to say, " Thy kingdom eome." It seems to me that it becomes us to mark the peculiar, as well as special providences of God, to which I have adverted. As I have said, for several successive years, revivals of the ^race of God, were frequent throughout New England, and 11 in many other parts of the United States, and northern Prov- inces of America ; and that by this means, in addition to the conversions under the ordinary ministry of the word, a large number of souls became members of the American churches. In the Warren Association alone, to which we belong, during the first ten years of this era, or from eighteen hundred to eighteen hundred and eleven, there were added to the churches then composing it, by christian baptism, four thousand, four hundred and seventy-five ; it being an annual average of more than four hundred and seventy : and thai too, when the number of the population did not equal one third of its pres- ent estimate. Such additions according to the number of our present inhabitants, would exceed fifteen thousand in the ag- gregate. Nor did these effusions of grace cease with eigh- teen hundred and ten, for in eighteen hundred and twelve and sixteen, and twenty, they were graciously renewed in the con- version of very many other souls, and from year to year there have been reported frequently, large additions to our churches, and in this day, as our periodicals bear us testimony, this glo- rious work is progressing in various portions of the land, and one at least even now in your southern County. And among those ministers whose labors have been thus honored of the great Head of the church no one could record more of such mercy than the Rev. Dr. Stephen Gano, the revered pastor of this church to which you belong, who for thirty-six years and ten days, (he having been called to this office, Wednes- day, the 8lh of August, 1792,) preached in this place the gos- pel with great power and unction, as some of us can testify, and during his pastorate enjoyed nine different revivals, and who departed this life, Monday, August 18ih, 1828, being sixty-five years, seven months, and twenty-five days old, he having been born in the city of New York, Saturday, the 2oth of Dec. 1762. Sabbath, April 6th, he broke bread to this church, and on Sabbath, the 27th, in the morning preached for the last time on those words of the Romans, v: and 4th, 12 so beautifully and largely fulfilled in his soul, ^^ And exper- ience, hopey On Wednesday, May ^8di, he pronounced his benediction in this house, and which the people felt still abode upon them, when, in front of the pulpit that he so long had fill- ed, his remains were placed, and as they followed iheni to the ground where those of the Browns and Manning, also rest in hope. It was this minister of Jesus, who, when apparently dying, by Joseph Martin, that i'aithful deacon who, anxious to see the man die that had taught him the way of life for so many years, had come in at the hour, sent to ^his church the warm assurance of his continued love towards them accom- panied with this peculiarly marked message. " Tell them that the Divinity of Christ is the rock upon which my soul rests in my last hour." " What Dr.," rejoined the Deacon, " do you hold to that doctrine yet." " No," he replied, " but that holds me." No marvel that he could affirm as he did to a friend, " I die understandingly." Tt was during such divine manifestation to the churches in this country, that the seed of the word of God was sown broadcast, and that by this means the hearts of American christians became deeply imbued with that sweet and holy sympathy, that so justly signalized Jesus Christ, " when he saw the multitudes, and was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Then he said to his disciples, " The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are iew. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth la- borers into his harvest." The churches as of old, were multi- plied greatly in numbers, piety, and pecuniary ability. Com- merce also at the same time was gaining in the land ; and ed- ucation, both ministerial and common, received the fostering care of the infant Republic and the growing church. I won- der not therefore, that the last century could not close without being adorned with a missionary society, though it were form- ed in the last year of its existence.^ Nor, that as early in this century as Thursday, 2'J;h of April, 1802, a committee of the I wo Baptist churches in Boston, consisting of Samuel Still- man, Thomas Baldwin, Richard Smith, Daniel Wild, John Wait, and Thomas Badger, should have sent from the Bap- tisl Churches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island a Circularj expressed in language as follows, viz.: " To our Christian Brethren united with us in the faith and order of the gospeh Being deeply impressed with tiic important obligations we are under, not only to pray for the prosperity of Zion, but to use our best endeavors to promote, and spread far and wide, the! knowledge of our Divine Immanuel; and reflecting seriously upon the afTccling situation of many of our dear fellow men, who from local, and other circumstances, are deprived of the means of Christian knowledge and consolation, which we enjoy from a preached gospel ; feel our hearts go out towards ihem, in ardent desires for their salvation. Under^hese impressions, and animated by the laudable ex- ertions which many of our Christian friends, of diiierent de- nominations, on both sides of the Atlantic are making, to ex- tend the empire of truth, and promote the salvation of dying men, Vv'e propose the forming of a Missionary Society, for the purposes hereafter mentioned. And, in order to make our intt'niion more explicit, we submit to your consideration the following constitution;" the fourth article of which is ex- pressed in these words, vi:^.: " The object of this society shall be, to furnish occasional preaching, and to promote the knowledge of evangelical truth in the new settlements within these United States; or farther, if circumstances should ren- der it proper." Thus came into existence, " The Massachu- setts Baptist Missionary Society," at the First Baptist Meeting House in Boston, Wediiesday, May 26th, 1802, which is still continued under the name of " The Massachusetts Baptist • " Massachusetts Miasionary Society," Boston, Tuesday, May 28th, 1799, 14 Convention." The Society when instituted, committed i(g interests for the years 1802-3, to a Board of twelve Trustees and their names are recorded in the following order, viz.: Sam- uel Slillman, Hezekiah Smith, Thomas Baldwin, Joseph Girafton, Stephen Gano, Joel Briggs, Valentine W. Rathbun, Thomas Waterman, John Wait, Richard Smith, Stephen Dana, and Oliver Holden. These Trustees gave to their missionaries such admirable instructions that I beg leave for a moment to allude to them. They authorized and directed them to labor in such destitute places, as had no stated minis- try of the word ; and solicitously to avoid all interference with, and allusions to those political topics which divide the opin- ions, and too much irritate the passions of our fellow citizens, such subjects being, as they believed, " irrelevant to the spirit- ual purposes of missionary exertion, subversive of a reasona- ble success^ and excite an asperity of feeling that is wholly opposed to the meekness and gentleness of the Christian tem- per, ' for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.' " Those twelve Trustees entered upon their trust, and diligently labored in that, and also in many other departments of Christian Missions, until one after another they have been called from their respective spheres, and not one of them re- mains to describe the doings of that last Wednesday in May, 1802. In the gradual development ol the spirit of those times, there came into active efficiency, " The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,''^ Friday, June 29th, 1810. The Salem Bible Translation and Foreign Mission Society, formed in the month of January, 1812 ; and on Wednesday, the 14th of the ensuing October, the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, embracing Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The conversion of the Rev. Messrs. Judson and Rice to Baptist sentiments, and the baptism of Mr. and Mrs. Judson at Calcutta, on Lord's day, September 6lh, 1812, tended to deepen the conviction that had been constantly gain* 15 Irig upon ihe Denomination, which resuhed finally in the COfl- stitulion of the General Missionary Convention of the Bap- tist Denomination in the United States, on Wednesday, the 18th of May, 1814, at the First Baptist Meeting House, in the city of Philadelphia. At that Convention, twenty-ond members were elected a^ its Board of Commissioners, and five as honorary members, every one of whom, as also every member that constituted the original Board of the First Bap- tist Missionary Society in America, have ceased to be mem- bers of the church militant, and have been admitted to the church triumphant, the last survivor of the Board first naraedj the venerable and Rev. Dr. H. G. Jones, so long known as the Pastor of the Baptist Church in Lower Marion, Pa., died at his residence, near Philadelphia, Monday, December 12lh, 1853, aged 79 years. The soil being prepared by the conversion of such great multitudes in our land, both the men and the means were al- ready prepared to sustain the work of missions. And a work so well begun, is being carried forward by the church of other names, but of the same spirit. And it is a delightful and ani- mating consideration that although the members die, the Head lives to supply their places j so that the walls of the spiritual Jerusalem cease not, nor will ihey cease in being built, until the headstone thereof be brought forth with rejoicing, crying, grace, grace, unto it ; and the entire body of believers in Jesus shall have been welcomed to their permanent abode. No one should question the fact, the truth of which has been so evidently exhibited during the years we have thus briefly contemplated, and as every other year of God's grace has so fully illustrated, wherein it has been graciously vouch- safed, viz.: That the revival of pure religion, as in the DAY OF THE PeNTECOST, DOES EFFECTUALLY PROMOTE THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS, THE PROVIDENCE OF GoD HEREBY TEACH- ING US THAT NO FEELING IS MORE INDICATIVE OF TRUE AND ENLIGHTENED PIETY THAN THAT WHICH PROMPTS US TO SINCf With THE ANGELS, " Oi\ EARTH PEACE: GOOD WILL TOW ART- MEN J " OR LIKE THE MaSTER, TO GO " ABOUT DOING GOOD." But it is not permitted to every disciple to become a foreign missionary. There is soil at home that must be cultivated; and which, if neglected, we shall be unable to sustain those we send to the heathen. God has wisely provided for this in the missions of our half century* And it is as true now. as in the beginning, that the promise is made to the disciple^ and not to the place of his labor. "For does it not in Scripture say, Tliat he who goes and he who stays, Shall have an equal part 1 — And both shall hear the joyful words, "Well done " — ^ye servants of the Lord— Ye shall my glory share." In the early records of the Massachusetts Baptist Mission- ary Society, we have the journals of the pioneers in our do- mestic Missions. It is impossible to read the account of the labor tliey performed, and the privations they endured, and not be impressed with the diligent manner in which they pur- sued the objects of their appointment, and the power with which they preached the Lord Jesus. And the names of Isaac Case, Peter P. Roots, Lemuel Covell, Jesse Hartwell, Caleb Blood, James Murphy, Phineas Pillsbury, Henry Hall, John Tripp, James Read,* Joseph Cornell, and many oth.^rs, will be held in devout rememberance by those who reap the fruit of their missionary efi'urts. And in those days likewise, such men as Rev. Dr. Baldwin, and Dr. Gano, with the ap- probation of their respective churches, explored in person the field of labor, that the appointments of the Board might be made with greater judgment, and the appropriations be ex- pended in a manner the most effective for the Society. And in those days also, thechurch as a body were not only impress- *Father of Dea. James H. Read of the First Baptist Church, Prov. R. I • 15^ 'ed with the demand, but seldom a prayer was offered, eilhet in social or public wor.-jhip, in which the suppliant did not in an earnest and fervent manner beseech the Lord of the har* vest, " to raise up, and suitably qualify, and thrust into his harvest faithful laborers.'' And in what period so much as in this day of ministerial requisition, has this prayer of the fathers, been so imperiously necessary ? It is appropriate, especially on this Occasion, that I particu'^ larly allude to the Rev. Joseph Cornell, that minister of Christ, who was the father and the first pastor of the Second Baptist Church in this city. He was born in Swansea, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 11th, 1747, and was settled as a christian pastor in Providence, on Wednesday, May 1st, 1805, and which office he resigned in November, 1811. Mr. Cornell was employed as a missionary by the Society, of which I have just spoken in the years 18C3 — 4. The portion of the ■country which was assigned to him was northern New York and Upper Canada. And that I may illustrate the character of this energetic and efficient servant of Christ, I ask your indulgence while I read to you an extract from each of his two journals, that appeared in the Magazine, which was first published in 1802, the same year that the Society was formed. The first was dated at Galway, New York, Wednesday, April 6th, 1803 (the town of his permanent residence, and where al- so he so suddenly and so sweetly died, Wednesday, July 26lh, 1826, in the eightieth year of his age,) and which he thus closed, viz.: " I cannot paint out to you the Macedonian cries from the north part of ■Black River, and from Canada, for help. I have been in the habit of travelling in new countries for a number of years, but I never was sensi- ble of instrumentally making so many people glad in a journey before. Their thanks were multiplied from town to town, and their prayers were, that they might be favored with furtlior assistance. May the Lord of the harvest send more laborers into all the vacant patrts. I have visited and preached in forty-one towns where they have no set- tled minister of any denomination ; in thirteen towns where there never had been a missionary before. I have 'preached in forty-seven towns m 2 18 the whole; and rode one thousand miles, (not railroad miles, or tui*npike roads.) In my whole tour I have tried to preach one hundred and twen* ty-three times, besides attending a number of conferences. I have very little to say about difficulties." The second letter is dated at the same place, Thursday, May 10th, 1804, and in conclusion he writes : " I think 1 may venture to say, I have had as much of the divine pres- ence as I ever had, in a journey before. The thought of meeting you, deaf l>rethren, at the throne of grace, when I have attempted to pro.y or preach in this desert land, has often extorted tears of joy from my eyes. that your labors in having sent the first missionaries into these northern re- gions, may be blessed. I have lately seen a letter, giving an account of a missionary's return* ing to England from the Cape of Good Hope, accompanied by three Hot* tentots, who had been converted to the faith of Jesus ; and further stat* ing, that he had gathered a church there of thirty members. On reading this account my heart exclaimed, my body is not too good to be worn out in so glorious a cause, might I only have the company of my sweet Savior, who left heaven and came down to earth to die for us poor sinners. Since I have been on my mission I have rode seventeen hundred and seventeen miles. I have attempted to preach one hundred and sixty-one sermons. And I think I can say 1 have found the saying of that prophet true, " TTiey that ivait on the Lord shall renew their gti-ejigth." Lord make me thankful that I have seen so much of the work of thy spirit on the hearts of poor sinners. Not unto us, not on us, Lord, but unto thy name be all the glory in the church throughout all ages." Mr. Cornell visited this town in 1804. For one year he supplied the Richmond Street Congregational pulpit, a meet"» ing-house that had been erected in 1794 — 5, and dedicated on Sabbath, the 16th of August, 1795, but which was then va-' cant by the death of their pastor on Sabbath, the 10th of April, 1803, (the year previous,) the \^orthy and venerable. Rev* Joseph Snow, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and of the fifty-ninth year of his ministry. In the summer of 1804, at Eddy's Point, then so called, and in the vicinity of Mr. Cornell's dwelling-house, there were evident indications of a revival of religion. During the ensuing autumn and winter the work of grace gradually became more powerful' 19 It prevailed also among the congregation occupying tlie^e premises. The pastor having been confined that season for several weeks at home by a broken limb, the meetings were prompt- ly and faithfully conducted by the Rev. John Pitman,* that able, and sound, and faithful divine, so long known and so universally beloved in this community; and Rev. Dr. Mes- 3ER, the President of the University, and Mr. Cornell, and other servants of the Lord Jesus. One hundred and thirty- four pejsons were during that revival added to this church. The Second, or Pine Street Baptist Church, was organized on Wednesday, May 1st, 1805, numbering on that day seven- teen, but which by the following September had increased to sixty members. And as another fruit of this revival, the First Baptist Church in Pawtucket was formed in the month of August of the same year, under the care of Rev. Dr, Bene- dict, that laborious and indefatigable historian of the denom- ination, and the efficient Secretary of the Convention, and who during his fifty years residence in this State, has ever felt a deep intt^rest in the prosperity of the Zion of our God. To this revival also is to be ascribed the establishment of the church in Pawtuxet \dllage, in the same year, their meeting house having been erected in 1803, two years previously. The constitution of these three churches and the large addi- tion made to those already existing in the State, gave to the Missionary cause a new and fresh impulse. Already smaller bodies, auxiliary to the parent society at *This venerable father in the ministry in his last written instructions to his children thus closes that excellent paper, viz.: " I commit you all into the hands of him that is able to keep you fVom falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior, take care tliat you do not deny him, or di- minish his glory in your esteem, lest you be presented faulty in his pi-e& ence, and sink forever. This frcm him who this moment of writing it Las a pleasing prospect of being with Christ, the possessor of every di- vine perfection, when you are reading it." Signed, JOHN PITMAN. 2*- Boston, had been reconnmended, and in many of the ehurcKes' in the Association had been organized. The formation of the female members into distinct societies was also advised by Rev. Messrs. Baldwin, Gano and Bolles, under the style of Mite Societies for missionary purposes. Among these is the Mite Society of the Baptist churches existing in this town in 180G, some of whose worthy deeds I shall recognize to-night, and which I believe is the oldest, and of course the first mis- sionary organization in the State. In the summer of that year several ladies belonging to the two Baptist congregations gave to the subject much prayerful and deliberate consideration. As yet every church in the State had remained insensible of any obligation of this char- acter. Although the formation of a female missionary socie- ty may seem to us a matter of little magnitude, nevertheless in that day, it v/as, at that time, a question whether it could live if it were constituted. Those ladies after due reflection and advice, resolved to imitate their sisters in IMassachusetts, They prepared a constitution, and gave an invitation from each of the pulpits on the second Sabbath in November to all the ladies of both congregations who felt any interest in the enterprise, to meet on the afternoon of the succeeding Tues- day, the 11th, at the parsonage of the First Church, to consid- er the expediency of forming such a society. At the time thus designated, a large number convened. The twelfth chapter of the gospel of Mark was read, and the first prayer at the first missionary meeting in Rhode Island, was offered by Mrs. Mary Cornell, the esteemed wife of the minister of the second church, and an efficient disciple of Jesus, who also Hke that Mary, when the teacher was on the earth, delighted to git at his feet, and hear his word. Encouraged by such a full Representation as had then met, the constitution previ(«usly ar- ranged was adopted. The preamble and first article of the constitution will suffi- ciently explain the leading object of the society and the plan to obtain funds. " Whereas by the blessing of God, mu'ch' •2i g