0703b-Progress of Denomination continued

THE QUIET YEARS Chapter III continued A few years after the establishment of the Philadelphia Association, a correspondence was opened with the Baptist ministers of London. In a letter dated August 12th, 1714, Abel Morgan says:-"We are now nine churches . . . In these churches there are about five hundred members, but who are greatly scattered on this main land. Our ministers are necessitated to labour with their hands. We hope, if it please God to supply us with more help, we shall be more churches in a little time. Most churches administer the sacrament once a month. These ministers are all sound in the faith, and we practice most things like the British churches." Another letter, written the following year, contained a request for assistance, in books, &c., "for the preservation and further promoting of the truth in those parts." Two gentlemen responded to the request. "Mr. Thomas Hollis and Mr. John Taylor gave a supply of books; Mr. Hollis sent twelve copies of Mr. Burkitt’s Annotations on the New Testament, directing that each minister in those parts might have a copy; and Mr. John Taylor gave twenty pounds’ worth of old books, and several copies of the Baptist Catechism."

Acknowledging the gift, the church at Philadelphia wrote as follows:-"Your letter was read in our meetings in town and country. We concluded that the books might be disposed of as intended: the family-books for the benefit of well-disposed folks; the Annotations to be for particular qualified persons. The other books for the public use, for our leading brethren to resort to, are lodged here in the city, to be lent and returned again; whereby the rising generation may have the benefit of them as well as the present. The contents of the letters and a catalogue of the books are recorded in our church-books, to prevent all mistakes." An acknowledgment was also forwarded by the Association, at its annual meeting, held September, 1717. An extract from their letter will show the nature of the struggle which the Baptists in Pennsylvania had at that time to maintain:-"We think that the very minds of the people in common here are tainted with Arminianism, Socinianism, and what not. The common notion of religion among them is like a leprous house: it is not to be mended by patching, but must be pulled down, and re-built upon the right foundation-the covenant of grace. This we labour to do, and, therefore, go against the current of the times, that others who succeed us may see no cause to lament our having gone before them; and this we still do, God permitting."9 They did it, and that right well. None of their successors have lamented "their having gone before them."

We have adverted to the remarkable increase of our denomination in the latter half of the period now under notice. It was the fruit of a series of revivals. The ministers of those times were not satisfied with discharging the duties of their pastorates. They undertook long journeys, preaching as they went, often with no preconceived or definite plan, but traveling and laborings as they believed themselves to be directed from above. Mighty effects followed, "the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word," not indeed by "signs following," such as Apostolic churches saw, but by still greater displays of power and mercy-by the conversion of souls. These manifestations were not confined to any particular part of the country; they were everywhere enjoyed. Rhode Island experienced a rich blessing in 1774. The churches in the northern parts of New England were more than doubled in number in the ten years preceding 1792. Many thousands were added in Virginia and other Southern States. In 1791 there was an extensive revival in Massachusetts, which reached far into the State of New York. Two hundred and ninety-three members were added to the churches of Saratoga and Stillwater in that year.10

We need not be surprised at some oddities. All society was in a ferment; strange things bubbled up to the surface, now and then, and were gazed upon, or smiled at, or it may be wept over, till they sank into oblivion. If the churches composing the Sandy Creek Association in North Carolina were tenacious of the kiss of charity, the laying on of hands upon members, the appointment of elderesses, and such things; if a large Baptist body in Virginia were so mistaken as to choose, in the year 1774, three of their number, and designate them "apostles," investing them with a power of general superintendence; and if, in some respects, the fervency of New Light feelings got the better of discretion and decorum, we must bear in mind the peculiarities of the times. After a long season of cold and drought, the Lord "poured water upon him that was thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground;" the spiritual vegetation sprang up thick and strong, requiring skilful cultivators; and some detriment was experienced for want of care in pruning and training. In the course of a few years these wants were supplied, and suitable arrangements constituted. Surely we ought to prefer a revival of religion, though dashed with some irregularities, to the death-like coldness of mere orthodoxy and form. The year 1764 was memorable for the founding of Rhode Island College, now called "Brown University." This Institution originated with the Philadelphia Association. The desirableness of the measure had been long felt. The Rev. Morgan Edwards was the principal mover in the undertaking, and his views were zealously forwarded by the Pennsylvania Baptists. They chose Rhode Island as the seat of the proposed College, because it was supposed that the preponderance of the Baptists in that State would secure the bestowment of a suitable charter of incorporation. The Rev. James Manning, then of Philadelphia, being at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1763, on his way to Halifax Nova Scotia, called a meeting of the chief Baptists, and laid the subject before them. The result was that a plan was formed, preliminary measures were taken, and application was immediately made to the legislature for a charter. Some difficulties arose, from the dishonest dealing of a Presbyterian minister whose assistance had been asked in the preparation of the charter, and who actually drew it up in such a manner that the Presbyterians would have had the control. The design was defeated, and the original promoters of the object obtained their wishes. The College was founded on the following plan:-

"That into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests; but, on the contrary, all the members thereof shall for ever enjoy full, free, absolute, 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 youth of all religious denominations shall and may be freely admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments and honours of the college or university, and shall receive a like fair, generous, and equal treatment during their residence therein, they conducting themselves peaceably, and conforming to the laws and statutes thereof; and that the public teaching shall in general respect the sciences; and that the sectarian differences of opinions shall not make any part of the public and classical instruction."

"The government of the college is vested in a Board of Fellows, consisting of twelve members, of whom eight, including the president, must be Baptists; and a Board of Trustees, consisting of thirty-six members, of whom twenty-two must be Baptists, five Friends or Quakers, four Congregationalists, and five Episcopalians. These represent the different denominations existing in the State when the charter was obtained. The instruction and immediate government of the college rests in the president and Board of Fellows."11

Mr. Manning, afterwards Dr. Manning, was chosen president. He commenced his labours at Warren, in 1766, and was soon encouraged by the resort of students to him for instruction. The erection of a college building became necessary, and Providence was chosen as the site, that city having offered the largest contribution towards the object. The work was accomplished in 1770. On the breaking out of the American war, the Institution was suspended for six years, and the building was used for barrack and hospital purposes by the army. Dr. Manning died in 1791, and was succeeded by Dr. Maxcy, who resigned his office in 1802, when Dr. Messer became president. He was followed by Dr. Wayland, who resigned, "full of honours," in 1856. The University was next under the presidency of Dr. Barnas Sears, who resigned in 1867, in order to superintend educational arrangements in the South, founded by the munificent liberality of George Peabody, Esq., and is succeeded by Dr. Alexis Caswell. This venerable institution is now a hundred years old. About two thousand students have graduated there, upwards of five hundred of whom have become ministers of the Gospel.12

Rhode Island College was named "Brown University," in 1804, in honour of Nicholas Brown, Esq., to whose liberality it has been largely indebted. In the year abovementioned he founded a Professorship in Rhetoric and Belles Letters. He afterwards erected "Hope Hall," a spacious structure, designed to afford the increased accommodation required for the students, which cost 30,000 dollars. "Manning Hall," more recently built by the same generous benefactor, has the library on the ground floor, and the upper part is used for a chapel. The library contains between thirty and forty thousand volumes. The importance of providing means of instruction for those who intended to enter the ministry was early felt by our brethren on the American Continent. A considerable sum was raised for the assistance of such persons by the Philadelphia Association. Private seminaries of education were established in different parts of the country, which were attended by many who afterwards became ministers of the Gospel. The first academy of the kind was opened by Mr. Eaton, at Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1756. Dr. Samuel Jones established another, at Lower Dublin, Pennsylvania, in 1766; and a third was founded at Wrentham, Massachusetts, in 1776, by Mr. W. Williams, one of the first graduates of Rhode Island College. These were useful efforts. They were the germs of the noble undertakings which have characterized the present age. The introduction of Baptist principles and practices into that part of the American Continent which is now called "British North America" remains to be recorded. In 1760, Shubael Dimock and family, with other persons, emigrated from Connecticut and settled in Newport, Nova Scotia. The vexations they had endured in their own country in being taxed for the support of the ministers of the "Standing Order" (Congregational) led to their removal. The Rev. John Sutton, a Baptist minister, accompanied them. He remained about a year in the province, baptized Mr. Dimock’s son Daniel, and many more, and then returned. The Dimocks, father and son, preached the Gospel in the district where they had settled, and many were converted and baptized, but no church was formed. The Rev. Ebenezer Moulton, of Massachusetts, visited the same province in 1761, and preached chiefly at Yarmouth. The same results followed as at Newport. He also returned. In 1763, the Rev. Nathan Mason removed from Swansea, Massachusetts, to Sackville, which was then in Nova Scotia, but is now in New Brunswick (the separation into two provinces having taken place in 1784). A church had been formed, of which Mr. Mason was chosen pastor before he left. The whole church emigrated. They remained at Sackville about eight years, during which time they had increased to sixty members. The original emigrants then returned, and the church died out. Another church was formed in the same place in 1799. The first Baptist church formed in the province was at Horton. Ten persons were constituted a church, October 19th, 1778, and the Rev. Nicholas Pearson, who had been preaching there some time, was chosen their pastor. His labours were so successful that fifty-two persons were added to the church in 1779 and 1780. In the latter year the church adopted open communion, by admitting Congregationalists to their fellowship. The other churches which were established during the century adopted the same policy. The ministers to whose labours the denomination was chiefly indebted for its maintenance and extension in Nova Scotia were Thomas Handly Chipman, Joseph Dimock, John Burton, James Manning, Theodore Seth Harding, Harris Harding, Edward Manning, Enoch Towner, and Joseph Crandal. All these were eminent men in their time. Uneducated, in the common meaning of the word, they were well versed in Bible theology, and they were powerful preachers. They did not confine themselves to the neighborhoods in which they lived, but itinerated through the province, proclaiming the glad tidings wherever they could gain access to the people, and turning many "from the power of Satan unto God." Their names are held in high honour in Nova Scotia.

Mixed fellowship prevailed in all the churches, that at Halifax excepted, which was the only Baptist church (properly so called) in Nova Scotia, at the close of the eighteenth century. But all the pastors were Baptists, and the converts were invariably baptized. Strict communion became the practice of the churches in 1809. The first Association in British North America was formed in Lower Granville, Nova Scotia, June 23, 1800. It consisted of nine churches, viz.: Annapolis and Upper Granville, Digby, Lower Granville, Horton, Newport, Cornwallis, Chester, Yarmouth, and Sackville, N.B. A Baptist church was formed in the Township of Hallowell, Prince Edward County, Canada West, about the year 1795. The Rev. Joseph Winn was pastor, and probably exercised a general oversight over other Baptist communities, which were subsequently founded in that part of Canada. The Rev. Reuben Crandell was also an active and successful minister in the same province.

There were many excellent ministers whose names and lives deserve to be recorded here, but space forbids.

1 The " halfway covenant" is thus explained by Dr. Lyman Beecher:-"According to the provisions of this anomaly in religion, persons of a regular deportment, though destitute of piety, might be considered as Church members, and offer their children in baptism, without coming to the Sacramental Supper, for which piety was still deemed indispensable. The effect was, that owning the covenant, as it was called, became a common, thoughtless ceremony, and baptism was extended to all who had sufficient regard to fashion, or to self-righteous doings, to ask it for themselves or their children. As to the promise of educating their children in the fear of the Lord, and submitting to the discipline of the Church, on the one hand, or of watchful care on the other, they were alike disregarded, both by those who exacted and by those who made them."-Autobiography, i. p. 270.

2 Dr. Hovey’s Life and Times of Isaac Backus, p. 167.

3 Hovey, pp. 28, 184.

4 Benedict’s History of the Baptists, p. 654.

5 History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, p. 121.

6 Howell’s Early Baptists of Virginia, p. 39.

7 Trumbull’s History of Connecticut, quoted by Dr. Hovey, p. 35.

8 Benedict’s History, p. 605.

9 Ivimey, iii. pp. 127,131, 133.

10 Hovey, p. 258.

11 Hovey, p. 151.

12 See Guild’s History of Brown University.