'0^ ■S#f m. W0. t ; %■■: .-^^ .' '^A V*' ^ ^> .^\^^' <-. v-b^ ■^cr> ^\^^ v\>' ■%^^ <-%. ^.v^^^ '^'-^ j^N*^ <.*'^.^X.5^^ '"'^it^'-- # OS /\.o.c,;%^''^::s^> ^-^ '-^^^ ^..^^^' ,:." ^^'- ^^ '^ V\- -".%'■ ^^^^'^ ^ ^v>^- '' ^ .' .>CLT^ ^ %.' U 'f^JSXy..^ ■0^ V 'M.^ ^^ ^0^ s^^ -^^^ v-"V.-: ■ .\J =" aV ^/* ^ ^- ,'^ ■^' DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE DEDICOION OF THE NEW CHURCH EDIFICE or THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND SOCIETY^ IN WARJREN, R. I. MAY 9, 1846. Bt JOSIAH p. TUSTINogl^tJ^'^^ ^^^S'r^^ i8G7 \ PROVIDENCE: *^'"»»'ash\n^ *. n. BROWX. 25 MARKET SaUAR*- 1845, ■-N 1 <\ IP' Warrex, JuNt 10, 1843. At a special meeting of the Benevolent Baptist Society in this town, held in the Lecture Room of the Church, on the 9th inst. it was " Resolved unanimously, That the undersigned be a Commit- tee to solicit for the press a copy of the Historical Discourse delivered at the Dedication of the new Church Edifice, on the 8th day of May, by the Reverend Josiah P. Tustin, Pas- tor of the Church." It affords us pleasure, Dear Sir, to communicate to you ^he above resolution, while we assure you of the continued r«- gard of Your friends and obedient servants, LEVI HAILE, S. P. CHILD, A. M. GAMMELL, CHARLES RICHiMOND, jun. G. M. FESSENDEN, PREFACE. In the following pages there are some historical notices of a sacred succession of Independent Churches, in the Principality of Wales, who held the sentiments of the modern Baptists, in more or less purity, during the long lapse of the dark ages, and even from the first introduction of Christianity into Britain. It is the history of principles, rather than the names of sects, that has engaged our at- tention. The author need make no apology for directing the attention of those of his brethren who enjoy literary leisure, and possess a religious spirit, to a subject always interesting whenever named, but which has been sadly neglected by scholars in the Baptist, and other evangelical persuasions. It is a most cherished and prevalent opinion, with the Welsh Baptists, that their distinguishing principles have been preserved in their purity, by the Cam- brian people, through all the ages from the first ▼1 PREFACE. introduction of Christianity into their Island. That God has had his scattered and hidden people in Piedmont and Holland, as well as in Wales, through the night of the dark ages, there can be no doubt. But it seems to have been a part of His wise ar- rangement for their preservation, that they should be kept in obscurity, and that obscurity now makes it very difficult to t?ace their history. What we find concerning them in the historical works acces- sible to the general reader, are but the scattered fragments thrown by their enemies into contempt. It is not too much to say, that the history of Cambro-British Christianity is yet to be written. Adequate attention has never yet been given to the purely Cambrian portion of British history. The causes of this neglect can readily be assigned. Among these reasons is the fact stated by Sir James iMackintosh : " The history of this native race has not yet been extracted from fable; nor has any Welshman yet arisen who has made such attempts to recover the perhaps still remaining materials, as will warrant us in asserting that they have alto- gether perished. An early conquest damped the national feeling, which would have fondly clung to the slenderest fragment of such memorials, from the pursuit and preservation of which at the fa- vorable time they were diverted by their long reli- ance on the legends of Geoffrey of Monmouth." But we may safely hazard the assertion that the materials for the Ecclesiastic?! History of the old PRERACE. ni British Churches, are by no means lost. They are locked up in the yet untranslated Welsh lan- guage, and deposited in many an old Welsh book or manuscript, laid away in the archives of their abbies and parish churches. Of the most au- thentic and valuable writers among the Welsh Bap- tists, Joshua Thomas' History of the Welsh Bap- tists, is the most accessible : but even of this work, only some meagre portions, imperfectly translated,, have appeared in the English language. All that has been attempted, in the following al- lusions to Cambro-British Christianity, has been a rapid bird's eye view of a few prominent facts, chiefly derived from such authorities as Ivimey's History of the Baptists ; Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, and Crosby's History of the Enghsh Baptists. Abundant references could have been made to facts in the Civil History of the Welsh, in works which are accessible to the author ; such as Powell's History of Wales, exhibiting the succession of the Princes of Wales, from. Cadwallader the last king, to Llewe- lyn, the last prince of British blood; written origin- ally in British, by Caradoc, of Llancavan: Published in English by Dr. Powell : Also, a Sketch of the early history of the ancient Cymry, from the year 700 B. C. to A. D. 500. 8vo. London, 1803. Also, the His- tory of Wales, with an x\ppendix, in Nine Books. By Rev. William Wanington. London, A. D. 1786- Vlll PREFACE. But the abundant materials in these, and in similar works could be brought into but very little requisition, in a brief historical sketch, such as this pretends to be, the only object of which is to take a rapid glance at the order of events as they stand associated in the connexion between this quiet village church and the ancient churches of the British race, on another con- tinent. Had pastoral duties afforded the requisite leisure for such a service, the writer would gladly have penetrated further into the Aboriginal history of this vicinity, and have exhibited at greater length many facts, of more than a local interest, which are intimately associated with the events which led to the settlement of this Town, and the organization of this Church. Regretting both the fact of the hith- erto sad neglect of our local history, and the unwrit- ten memorials of the worthy men who deserved a higher meed of praise than such a passing notice ; and lamenting his inability to present this Discourse in a better form, it is given, such as it is, as a token of respect to the members of the Church and Congre- gation under his pastoral care, by their sincere friend, THE AUTHOR. Warren, July, 1845. MATTHEW XXIII : ». «« One is your Master, even Christ : and all yb ARE Brethren." It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to give a summary of Christianity, in a few points af doctrine, expressed in a few words. The high- est efforts of sanctified genius and the greatest powers of human expression, when employed in defining and classifying within a small com.pass, the peculiarities of the Gospel, have been atten- ded with perplexity and dissatisfaction. The Author of our Religion, " who spake as never man spake," taught the spiritual truths he revealed, in language which could only have been dictated by the clearest conceptions of his all-originating mind. He connected eternity with time, threw a strong and burning light upon the shadows of futurity, and brought home to the bosoms of men, a present apprehension of the substantial realiticsof the invisible world 10 HISTORICAL DISCOLRSK. The Doctrines he revealed were simple and yet sublime; the Worship he established was spiritual and purifying; the Conduct he re- quired was holy and benevolent. His Religion viewed as a collective system, may be considered doctrinally, as to what we are to believe, experimentally, as to what we are to feel, practically, as to what we are to do. The equal blending of doctrine, feeling and action, in the high exercise of a well propor- tioned symmetry, is the human realization of the great Idea developed in the religion of Jesus Christ. All religion grows out of a sense of human want ; and man is therefore disposed to be a religious being. The object for which we have assembled to- day, is connected with religion. To its sacred purposes we have now convened to dedicate this Building, as a tribute of grateful homage to Almighty God, and of adoring love to our Saviour, Jesus Christ. The declaration of the objects implied in this design, would be an appropriate theme for our j)resent discourse. The Doctrines we believe, the Feelings we cherish, and the Ends we pro- HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. IJ pose to accomplish, might naturally be exhibited in connexion with this solemn occasion. But the statement of our Religious Faith, and the illustration of our cherished Designs, could not be satisfactorily compressed within the limits of time assigned for this exercise. It is therefore fitting and necessary that we should restrict our views to a smaller compass, and confine our attention to the facts that be- long to our present position. But the Present is connected with the Past, by the ties of religious as well as of civil relation- ships. The current of time is rapidly sweep- ing by, and we stand on a spot where we can look back upon the stream as it rushes up to the present, and down its course as it glides away in its onward progress to the ocean of eternity. The memories of the past come rush- ing up before us, and the dim visions of the fu- ture rise unbidden to our view. We stand on a spot hallowed by many ai> association of ^Qcrcd and thriUing iniQrtst, 12 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE! It is well for us, now that we have retired for a while from the hum of business, and the common interests of secular life, to lift the vail that hides the Past, and trace the line of events, which, as human causes, have produced the re-' suits of the Present. " God lives in history," and History is no less '' Philosophy teaching by example," than the voice of God teaching by his Providence. I have said that we are assembled here in contemplation of Religion in its relations to former times; and these relations, as they af- fect us personally and socially, are found in- termixed v/ith all the details of the civil and religious History of the generations that hav-e preceded us. It was the love of Religion, and of Religious Liberty, that put in motion the train of events which led to the formation of our social insti- tutions and brought us together on the spot of ground, and the point of time, we now occupy. There can be no proper apprehension of our past history, whether we consider ourselves as a religious Society, as a part of this Town or State, or of the New-England Community, HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. !•'> without investigating those religious causes, which led to the formation of civil and religious society on this Western Continent. While the history of this Church and^Town, partakes of much that is common to the gene- ral characteristics of New-England, it is more signally distinguished by the history of peculiar principles, in which our social existence origi- nated, and with which we have always been identified. To trace the history of these pe-f culiar principles, and the events with which they were connected, is therefore the particular object of the present Discourse. The Principles which I design to illustrate historically, may be reduced to three : 1. Liberty of Conscience in Religious con' cerns. 2. The Independence of each Christian Church and its separate existence from Civil Government, 3. The admission of only such persons into the Church as profess experimental Christian Faith^ by the ordinance of Baptism y in the form of Immersion. B 14 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. These three religious principles were identi- fied with the origin of this community, and were so combined in the belief of the ancestors of this Church and Town, that in their estima- tion, the presence of one of them implied the necessary union of the others, and the rejection of one, in its logical and natural tendency, ■vitiated or excluded the whole : — all standing or falling together. These views of Faith were considered by the forefathers of this Church, as they are believed by us, their representatives and successors, to 'be identical with the Doctrine and Worship of the Apostolic Churches. It should be distinctly understood, as it is fully admitted, that these principles do not con- stitute the Summary, nor even the most consid- erable part, of the Christian System. Nor is it pretended that each and every one of them, or all of them together, are peculiar alone to the Religious Communion with which we stand connected, in distinction from all other names and orders of Christian people ; and it is the peculiar glory of Evangelical Christianity in the present age, that the lines of distinctive differ- ence between the various orders of Protestants, mSTORICAL DISCOURSE. 15 are less visible than in most preceding period* since the Reformation of Luther. At no time probably, since the first two centuries of the Christian Church, has there been so deep and general a disposition among earnest-minded Christians to derive their'entire faith and practice from the New-Testament alone, as at the pres- ent. All Evangelical denominations seem dis- posed to act upon the principle, that the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants. The claims of Tradition and Custom are sifted and reduced to their true merits ; and the authority of the Inspired Scriptures is ele- vated above the ordinances of men. And hence there is less to distinguish the leading evangel- ical denominations from each other, than in former ages. It is an occasion of thanksgiving on this auspicious day, that there are so many doctrines of fundamental importance in Religion, which we hold in common with the whole fraternity of Evangelical Protestants. And we trust that holding the unity of the Spirit, in the bonds of peace, we are still drawing closer together, disposed to act upon the apostolic precept, " Whereto we have already attained, let us 16 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." These considerations being premised and understood, we shall be free from the charge of intending offence to any Christian sensibility, if we proceed to trace out the progress of the peculiar principles which characterized the ori- gin and history of this church ; even if, in such illustrations there may be any occasion by way of contrast to point out the errors of other forms of Faith. But it is not the history of a Sect, or the prevalence of a name, that we are in quest of, so much as the history oi principles. It should be a matter of small concern to any of us, as to the antiquity of our denominational appella- tives ; — which in the case of almost every per- suasion of Christians, have not been of their own selection, but most frequently bestowed on them in a way of reproach, by those who were their enemies. Such was the case with the Puritans, whose name was applied in con- tempt to a class of men of whom the world was not worthy ; — of the Methodists, whose zealous piety provoked the invention of a term by which HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 17 (he operations of religion on the passions, should be rendered opprobrious to the formal worldling or the proud hypocrite ; — of the Quakers, whose modest piety was charged upon them as a mark of servile fear; — and of the Baptists, whose primitive ordinance has characterized them with a name, they never preferred or selected, but which they are yet perfectly willing to bear. The distinguishing principles to which I have adverted, as characterizing this Church in its origin and formation, are believed by us to be identical with the faith and practice of the Primitive Christians. Though they are not summed up in so many terms in the language of the Text, they are implied and embodied in those words of our Saviour, ** One is your Mas- ter even Christ : and all ye are brethren ;" — > words which are an appropriate motto for a Baptist Church. There can be no relighn, without authority to enjoin it : and the doctrines of religion, to have any influence, must rest on authority of the highest order ; and the religion that is from God, has such authority. Jesus Christ pro^ claimed himself a's the only Mediator between li^^ HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. God and man, and the only Lord of the hinnau conscience. When his disciples professed his name, they declared their allegiance to him, and their internal Faith, by public Baptism. This was the order in which Christ himself connected the conditions of obedience ; — '' He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." And his inspired Apostles observed the same principles, in the same order. They always regarded Baptism as the outv/ard act of Inter- nal Faith ; as the test-oath and naturalization act, by which a stranger and alien declared his allegiance to Christ his King, and became a naturalized citizen of the visible church. Thus the apostle Paul declares it, as the act of a soldier who has put on the regimentals of the army, into which he has been sworn : or as the act of a servant assuming the livery of the mas- ter, whom he has bound himself to serve : " For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Nay, the very method by which Baptism was administered, declared its significance and its binding obligation. It wavS a solemn act of burial in water, by which a man declared his belief of the burial and resur- rection of Christ : his own deadness to the HISTORICAL DISCOLUSi:. Jl> world, and his rising again to newness of life. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.'"' Thus, each believer declared his own disci- pleship, to his own Master. What was required of one, was necessary for all. All therefore were received into the community of Brethren, on equal conditions.* There were no char- *The church was in the beginning, a community of Brethren. All its members were taught of God ; and each possessed the liberty of drawing for him- self from the Divine Fountain of life. (John vi. 45.) The Epistles, which then settled the great questions of doctrine, did not bear the pompous title of any single man, or ruler. We find from the holy Scriptures, that they began simply with these words : " The apostles, ciders and brethren, to our brethren." Acts xv. 123." — D\luhignr's Rc- fonnafinrr, vol. 1, p. 17. ^!U HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. tered or hereditary rights, attaching to any clasft or order. Each Christian Society was consti- tuted on the basis of the social and moral equal- ity of all its members, upon the professed Faith of each. There being no divinely appointed model of church constitution and government, given by Christ or his apostles, the disciples were left to their own discretion in arranging the details of each separate community, accord- ing to the customs of their particular age, or country. But the great fundamental principles of their Faith contained all the general outlines,. within which the particular arrangements of each Society must be necessarily embraced. Each church inherently possessed the authori- ty to elect its own officers, who should act as the pastors, and official representatives of the body; to determine the regulations by which their affiiirs were to be governed, and the particular conditions of admitting, or rejecting members; — all subject however to the general outline-laws laid down by Christ and his inspired apostles. The churches, accordingly, which were formed during the life time of the apostles,, seem to have been nothing more than convert- ed, or Christianized Synagogues, which in each case had been a separate and independent re-- IIISTOUICAL DISCOURSE. 'il ligious society by itself.* So that when the whole, or the majority of the members of any particular Synagogue had become converted, they still continued the same organized body as before ; and they continued to use their for- mer privilege of electing their own overseer, bishop, or pastor, and to choose deacons, stew- ards, or whatever other officers were necessary, for the executive management of their own in=-. ternal affairs. Each Christian Church, therefore, became, or continued to be, a society or popular assem- bly, formed on the model of the previously ex- isting Synagogue, having a free, voluntary and elective government, in the choice of its own officers, and inheriting within itself, all the ele- ments of religious liberty. The pastor was simply the elected teacher, and moderator in their assemblies, holding no hereditary rights, but only primus inter pares, — the principal elected by his peers. * See Lightfoot's Harmony of the New Test. Vol, III. p. 257. Also, Coleman's Primitive Church, pp. '.^3 — 47. Also, \Vhatolevs Kingdom of Christ, pji 78—83. Q'2 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. The standard of all authority, was the re- corded teachings of Christ himself, or the in- spired epistles of the apostles, who alone held a higher rank, from their position as the wit- nesses of Christ's ministry and resurrection ; and they exercised a paramount authority as the infallible interpreters of the Divine Will. But the apostles themselves, disclaimed any- thing like the hereditary aristocracy of the Le- vitical priesthood ; and by their own sanction, they legalized the popular form of government in the Synagogue worship, as the mode of or- ganization in the newly formed Christian Churches. They made not the slightest claims to an order of the Christian ministry, parallel or analagous, to the Levitical priesthood : nor did they incorporate into their worship, the ele- ments of their national temple service, such as a sacrificing priest, the altar for sacrifice, the sacred vessels, or any of the glittering regalia of their ritual service. The only Priest they recognized was Jesus Christ, their ever-living intercessor ; the only sacrifices they olfered, were their own bodies and souls, a living sacri- Oce, as a voluntary and spiritual service, — the sacrifices of a pure heart and a benevolent life j X jury q£ wat— tbe last of tile vnc^es. Sot igaigt ammdnr ^oAiBssgiKeA^BstiexSj, liie^ ipos&es CLiiioir> 24 Historical discourse. ren, as independent, yet separate branches oi the one Spiritual Community, of which the Lord Jesus Christ, was the Invisible and Heavenly Head. Still with all this outward diversity in organization, they were all one in the fellow- ship of love and faith, holding the communion of the saints, united in spirit as different mem- bers of one body, or as brethren of the same great family. But with all their diversity of endowments, there was the unity of Religion. '' There were diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit : diversities of administrations, but the same Lord : diversities of operations, but it is the same God who worketh all in all. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are call- ed in one hope of your calling : one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all : one Lord, one faith, one Baptism." There was no visible representative, as the earthly head of each of these churches, or of all of them together : but Christ himself was the invisible Head of the universal, invisible church. His kingdom was indeed within the world, but it was not of the world. Though jHistorical discourse. 2^ each community possessed the organized form of a human society, it was yet not of the nature of an earthly kingdom ; as it was not originat- ed for any earthly purpose, nor conducted on the principles of worldly policy. Those who were members of this spiritual society, formed for spiritual purposes, might yet in another capacity, be members of a secular society, formed for secular purposes : if they were schol- ars, they might belong to an Academy : if farm- ers, they might belong to an Agricultural Soci- ety : if they w^ere citizens of any particular country, they were to retain their citizenship^ *' rendering unto Caesar, the things that are Cae- sar's ; but rendering to God, the things that are God's ;" — but the authority of Caesar vras never to bind their conscience, nor their privi- leges as Christians ever to exempt them from the lawful claims of human government, within its own proper capacity. Christ Vv'as the Mas-* ter of all, as believers ; and to his own Master, every one was to stand or fall. Such, in outline, were the simple principles which characterized the organization cf lh6 Christian church in its best and earliest days< tC HISTORICAL DISCOURSB, This is not the time, nor the place to show how these distinguishing principles were grad- ually obscured and neutralized, and became intermixed with forms of doctrine and worship foreign to those of the original church. The faithful pen of History could easily trace the rise and progress of insidious errors, which insensibly stole in upon the unguarded church, and at length brought on the spiritual despot- ism, which in later times, reduced her to a ser- vile allegiance to secular power. But without detailing the incidents of History, it is sufficient to show the progress of those three distinctive principles to which I have adverted, and which entered elementarily into the formation of the apostolic church, — the corruption of which paved the way for the subsequent admission of every form of error. All the events of history, reduced to a simple analysis, show how insidious, but yet how oper- ative, is the influence of a false principle, or of a true one, misapprehended. And as a general fact, perhaps it is true, that for want of candid and attentive reflection, the mass of men do jiol see the unsoundness of any false principle, till its working is fully developed in practice. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 27 and they see the baleful results to which it actually and legitimately leads. Thus in the latter part of the second cen- tury, a misconception of the supposed efficacy of Baptism, led to the conviction that it was essential to salvation ; and hence infants, and others who were in danger of dying without the benefit of the sacramental grace of Bap- tism, received the application of that crdmance, and were thus supposed to be absolved from the guilt of original sin. And those whose critical state of health would endanger their lives, by immersion, received the application of water in their s'.ck chamber, or on a dying bed : and thus was introduced Clinical Baptism,^ which, in time, prepared the way for a general substitution of the form of its administration. By thus admitting Infants to Baptism, the wall of partition between tho church and the wcrld was gradually taken down, and Christ's visible kingdom became a kingdom of this world. By exalting the efficacy of Baptism to a Sacra- ' So called from being administered onnhcd — from .a G;eek word, signifylnor couch . ^8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. mental Grace, the great doctrine of Justification by Faith, insensibly merged into the notion of a covenant ofworhs : and thence were entailed the devices of Popery, and the belief in works of Supererogation. Henceforward the Doc- trine and Worship of ^the church declined to- gether. In the "same manner, the gradual elevation of the Bishop of Rome, led to a commanding supremacy over all the other churches in those territories that were lawfully subjected to the civil government of the Roman Empire : and the supremacy which the neighboring churches had at first voluntarily yielded to the enlight- ened oversight of the Roman Bishop, at length led to the usurpation of power, which by the unhappy concurrence of political events, re-^ suited in a Diocesan government, which super- induced the greater concentration of a 3Iefro- politan bishopric, and this was at last matured into the still higher pretensions o^di Patriarchal supervision, and the unlimited despotism of a universal Papal Hierarchy. Henceforward, Christianity which was in- tended for the heart of man, became the ser- vile creature of the State, and the instrument HISTORICAL DISCOUESE. 29 of her own undoing. Having ascended the throne of the Cassars, she assumed the purple and the diadem, and enrolled the legions of Rome among the hosts cf the faithful. Then the cross was lifted in the van of conquering armies, and was made the sanction of inquisi- torial injustice. When the sword was once drawn in defence cf the cross, its scabbard Was thrown away, and for more than ten cen- turies it continued the scandal of religion, and the plague cf the w^orld. But though the name of Christianity was applied by the temporal powders to the worst of purposes, and became the w^atchword for war tliroughout Europe, her pure spirit still lived in the hearts of thousands, and her enlighten- incr influence was never lost, in any acre. Her conservative power may be clearly traced a- mong some smaller or larger communities in every age and country cf nominal Christendom. The v^'itnesses for the truth, and the dissenters from the reigning apostasy of Antichrist, were always found among thousands of sequestered r!:roups of Christians, who loved the Gospel, Hud held it in its purity of Doctrine and of Worship : who arc known in liistorv by the 30 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. name of Novatians at Rome, the Donatists in Africa, the Faulicians in Greece, the Cathari or Puritans in Italy : in all the south of Eu- rope, in Germany and Holland, these Christ- ians were knov/n as the Albigenses, Montenses, Waldenses and Anabaptists, — names not as- sumed by themselves, but applied in contempt by the dominant power of the papal church. It would be easy to show, that while the long night of spiritual despotism brooded over Eu- rope for so many centuries, the pure worship and simple doctrine of the Gospel were always preserved by a band of faithful witnesses : and its light can be clearly traced, sometimes in brighter, sometimes in feebler lines, from the very hrst dav.n of the star which guided the men of the East to the cradle of the Messiah. Though her light was smothered and con- cealed in her prison house at Rome, — though, her sanctity was defiled and her authority de- secrated, by those " who were at hate with prayer and studied curses," her living Spirit could not be quenched, and her dungeon was broken open by the strong arm of Luther, and she again stood forth in the immortal freshness pf youth and beauty. Its influence stopped HISTORICAL DISCOLRSE. 31 not at the place or the time, that gave it birth. It restored man to mental independence and moral dignity, while at the same time it fitted him to retain this supremacy. We can trace its great principles henceforth animating and governing the events of all subsequent history. It would be an easy and delightful task to trace the history of the principles of the apos- tolic and primitive churches, through various channels and by various names, in an unbroken line of succession, from the first communities of Brethren, down through the long; night of papal despotism, till they re-appear in ail their brightness and beauty, in modern times. But the particular connexion which this Bap- tist Church sustains to the church of Christ in former ages, even back to the apostles' times, will enable us to delineate the progress of Christian principles, apart from all the churches on the Continent of Europe. It is a fact generally known, that many of the Baptist churches in this country derived their origin from the Baptist churches in Wales, a country which has always been a nursery for their peculiar principles. In the earlier settlements in this countrv, multitude^ 32 HISTORICAL DISC'OIRSE. of Welsh emigrants, who left their fatherland, brought with them the seeds of Baptist princi- ples, and their ministers and members laid the foundation of many Baptist churches in New- England, and especially in the Middle States. It is not pretended, and it is distinctly dis- claimed, that our churches in this country lay claim to any literal cr lineal order of succes- sion from the apostles. If literal succession were worth anything, we have as Baptists, a much clearer and a much cleaner pedigree than those advocates for prelacy who trace their ministry through the turbid channel of the pa- pal apostasy, and who are forced to acknow- ledge the Pope as a true Christian Bishop, and the Romish communion as the true Catholic Christian Church. But the very nature of our peculiar principles leads us to place no confi- dence in the doctrine of a regular and literal apostolic succession, even if it could be clearly made out in favor of our own genealogical descent ; a theory, however, which is utterly untenable, whether viewed in the light of his- torical evidence, or the dictates of common sense : a theory which has been exploded by the ablest divines in every evangelical commu- HISTORICAL DIStOLRSL. 3S nity, and is now abandoned by the most candid and independent advocates of prelacy itself.* While we speak therefore, of the clear iden- tity and unbroken succession of the pure prin- ciples of the Gospel doctrine and worship^ through the several ages of the past, we speak of no such succession as implies a priesthood of regular descent, or of such religious ordi- nances as depend for their sacramental efficacy upon the authority of priest, council or pope. The valid administration of the Christian or- dinances is derived from the nature of a church, and the end for which it is organized. In nature, each Christian Church, is an or- ganized Society, based upon a mutual covenant of all its members, having the inherent right, like every other Society, to elect its own officers, form its own particular rules and by-laws, to admit or dismiss its individual constituents, — all subject hovv^ever to the general outline con- ditions of obedience laid down by the authority of the Great Head of the Church. The ends for which the church and its ordinances are * See Whateley's Kingdom of Christ, pp. 182-«-- 189. Appendix A. 34 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. appointed, are the spiritual improvement of all its members, the advancement of truth, and the direct promotion of peace and righteousness on the earth. The duties of ail Christian converts are plainly laid down in the Scriptures ; and among these duties, it is enjoined that they should assemble together in a social capacity, to pray, to instruct and exhort each other, to observe mutual watchfulness, to bear each other's 1 ur- dens, and to enjoy the ordinances of religion. Any body of Christian converts, brought to- gether in a heathen, or in a Christian land, are perfectly competent to organize themselves into a church, and appoint one of their number, having suitable gifts, to the office of the minis- try. A person thus elected and ordained, is as much an authorized minister cf the Gospel, and possesses as high, commanding sanction, to preach and to administer the ordinances of re- ligion, as if an unbroken line cf elections and ordinations should connect his ministry with the chair cf St. Peter, On these principles each cf the independen Christian Churches of our forefatheri was form" td. And hence fro.n the nature of the case, pa HifiTORtcAL Discotns*. 5^ literal or lineal descent is of any value, even if it could be ascertained to be historically un- broken. But the Holy Spirit, acting by the Divine Word, can create a church and ministry, " ex re nata," without any pedigree than that of Adam ** who was a son of God" — a church fresh from heaven, by the free ill apse of the Divine Spirit. Such was the principle on which the First Baptist Chuich in this State, and the first on this continent was formed. Roger Williams and eleven cssociates, feeling the inward power of Divine Truth, and dissatisfied with what they considered the abuses of the doctrines and or^ dinances in surrounding churches, agreed to form themselves into a Christian Church. Taking the Bible for their only guide, they saw it was their duty, first of all, to profess their inward faithj in the name of Christ, by the or- dinance of baptism-^which symbolized his burial and resurrection, and declared their own spiritual separation from the world, by their dy- ing to sin, an4 their arising to newness of life. There was then no properly baptized minister en the continent ; and yielding to the necessity of the case, they appointed Mr. Ezekiel Holli- 36 HISTORICAL DISCOURSK; man to baptize Mr. Williams, who then in turii baptized all ihe rest. If the validity of Baptism depended on any sacramental virtue or episco- pal ordination, there could be no question as to its regularity in the case of those bap- tized by Mr. Williams himself He was first a regularly ordained clergyman of the church of England, and as that church both before and after its separation from the papacy, had re- cognized immersion as a valid and primitive form of baptism, the act of Mr. Williams in baptizing his eleven associates, must be recog- nised as Christian baptism, even by the advo- cates of prelatical succession.* But though the persons thus baptized, might justly consider their baptism, and all descend- ing from them, as valid, according to the episcopal theory^ they did not for a moment rest the authority of the ordinance upon any connection with prelatical ordination. They seem to have acted, as Backus suggests,! on the * See Knowles' Memoirs of Roger Williams, pp. 165—169. t There is a case proposed by Zanehius, Professor of Theology at Heidelberg, in 1568, in his commentary HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. ^7 Simple principle of Scripture and common sense, that although it is the province of a reg- ularly ordained Christian minister to dispense the ordinances of religion, — and that in ordinary cases it is disorderly and inexpedient to depart from this general principle, yet, that in cases of necessity, where ministers could not be found, it was perfectly proper for a layman to admin- ister the ordinances, and thus commence a regularly established ministry, dc novo. Such is the testimony of the earliest Fathers in the Christian Church, and of the ablest Eclesiastical Historians.* on the fifth chapter of Ephesians, in treating of Bap- tism, in which " he propounds a question of a Turk coming to the knowledge of Christ and to faith, by reading the New-Testament, and withal teaching his family and converting it and others to Christ, and being in a country where he cannot easily come to Christian countries, whether he may baptize them whom he hath converted to Christ, he himself being unbaptized ? He answers, I doubt not of it, but that he may, and withal provide that he himself be bap- tized of one of the three converted by himself. The " Knowles' Memoirs of Roger Williams, pp. 166, 7. n S8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. In consequence of a misapprehension of the facts connected with Roger ¥/illiams' baptism, it has been often and heedlessly repeated, after that it has been so often contradicted, that all the baptisms and ordinations of American Baptists, are traceable to Roger Williams, and that his were irregid ar ; — and thus the origin of our Denomination in this country has been unjustly imputed to him. Now, although all those who were baptized by Mr. Williams, must, by the admission of Pedobaptists themselves, have been baptized, the fact is, that very few of the Baptists in this country have sprung from the church in Pro- vidence. From the earliest periods of our col- onial settlements, multitudes of Baptist minis^ ters and members came from Europe, and set- tled in diiTerent parts of this continent, each becoming the centre of an independent circle, reason he gives is, because he is a minister of the word, extraordinarily stirred up by Christ; and so as such a minister may with the consent of that small church, appoint one of the communicants, and pro- ride that he be baptized by him." Backus, Vcl. 1. pp. 105. 6. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 89 wherever they planted themselves. There are at present over 700,000 regular Baptist com- municants in this country, and of these, proba- bly not one hundredth part have ever had any connection with the venerable church in Pro- vidence ; *' though her members have been numerous, and she has been honored as the mother of many ministers."* A very largo proportion of the earliest Bap- tist churches on this Continent, were directly of Welsh descent. The first Baptist church in Massachusetts wis established in Swanzea in 1663, when the Rev. John Miles, with a number of Baptist members, came from Wales, and tradition says, brought with them their church records, and thus re-established, or per- petuated the church which had previously ex- isted in Swanzea, in the Principality of Wales. The Warren Baptist church, is a branch, or rather a reproduction of the Welsh Baptist church first established in Swanzea. As it is our object to sketch the history of our peculiar Christian principles, as they gov- ■ Knowle*, p, 169 40 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, em the events of human society, and are in- volved m all the relations of the past, it is im- portant to trace the connection between the Christianity of Wales and the particular Baptist church from which this Body originated. The Welsh race, from which the ancestors of this church sprung, are the only pure de- scendants of the ancient Britons. The earliest inhabitants of the British Islands were the Celts, a general name, descriptive of the nations in the north-west of Europe, in the times of Julius Caesar. But that particular part of this race who settled in Britain, bore the still more an- cient name of Cimbri, (or Cymry,) a tribe of Calmuc or Tartaric origin, who soon after the Trojan war, sallied forth from the regions around the Caspian sea, and traversed their fearless way across the Continent of Europe, and colonized on the borders of the German Ocean. Passing thence into the north of France, in the province of Britanny, they crossed the English channel, and found a final resting place in the Islands of Britain. They were a wild aboriginal race, probably the descendants of Gomer, the eldest son of HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 41 Japlieth, who was the youngest son of Noah ; partaking of all the stern qualities of the ori- ginal Tartaric race, large in size, of great bodily strength, impetuous in war, impatient of labor, and gorerned by the strong impulses of heroic passion. Such was the original stock of that wild and vigorous race of men subse- quently called the British, whose existence be. came authentically known to the civilized world, about the time of Caesar's invasion, 55 years before the Christian era. The exact period, and the particular means, of the introduction of Christianity into Britain, are not certainly known. We know, authen- tically, that the Gospel was early and widely diffused in Gaul and all the surrounding coasts on the Continent, in the first and second cen- turies ; and on this account it is reasonable to suppose that it should early have reached the neighboring Island of Britain, particularly whea we consider the maritime habits of the people. While the apostle Paul was imprisoned, for two years at Rome, about the year of our Lord (33, many Welsh soldiers, who had joined the Roman army, and many families from Wales, who had visited the imperial city, became con- 42 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, verted to Christianity. Among these, were Pomponia, Grecina and Claudia Ruffina, the saints in Caesar's household ; the first of whom was the wife of Aulus Plautus, the first Roman governor in Britain, and the last of whom was a native Briton, the daughter of Caractacus, the Welsh king, and whose husband, Pudence, was a believer in Christ. There is, therefore, every reason to believe, that many native Welshmen, converted under Paul's ministry at Rome, or by the instrumen- tality of Christian soldiers in the Roman army, carried home the precious seed of the gospel, and scattered it among the hills and valli^s of Wales, From this period, till about the end of the second century, we have no very authentic in- formation concerning the spread of the gospel among the Welsh, who at that time were the same, not only in origin, but in name, as the unmixed race of the ancient Britons. About the year A. D. 190, we find Tertullian boasting that the Gospel had subdued the savage tribes of Britons, who were yet unconquered by the Roman arms. At about the same time, Lucius, a 'British king, sent to Gaul or to RomC; or HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 43 more probably to both, for Christian teachers to carry on the missionary work among his own people. Lucius was evidently not the original founder, but the restorer and second father of the British churches. It is much more probable, however, that Lucius sent to Gaul for Christian teachers ; — from the fact, among other reasons, that the Welsh or British churches, had already varied from the Romish, in many ritual matters ; the British churches also maintaining their inde- pendence against the already growing assump- tions of authority by the Roman bishops : while they observed the same rites with the Gallic churches, which were planted directly from Asia Minor : thus proving that the British in the second century principally received their Christianity either immediately, or by means of Gaul, from Asia Minor, which may have easily taken place through their commer- cial intercourse.* During the Third, Fourth and Fifth cen- * See Neander's Church History, p. 50 : also, Mo- sheim's Eccl. History, pp. 99, 100: also, Mosheim'f. De Rebus Chri&tianorum, pp. S13— 15, 44 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. turies, Christianity seems gradually to have taken root among the British race, and not a few of the royal blood, as well as multitudes of inferior birth, became converts to the Christian faith. About the year A. D. 325, the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, a native Welshman, made a public profession of Christ- ianity, at the same time abolishing all the per- secuting edicts of his predecessors, and prepar- ing the way for the dissolution of the whol& system of paganism throughout the Roman empire. His conversion is ascribed by Theo- doret,* to the influence of his mother, Helena, who was a Welsh lady, the daughter of Coel- godebog. Earl of Gloucester. After residing for a time in Britain, with her husband, who was a Roman, they removed with their son Constantine to Rome, where he subsequently achieved a brilliant career, and became the first Christian Emperor in the world, as Lucius, another Welsh Prince, 135 years before him, had been the first Christian king, since the earthly ministry of him who is King in Zion. * Theodoret Eccl. Hist. Liber I. cap. 17 : also, »ee Milner's Eccl. Hist. Vol. 1. p. 318 and Vol. II. p. 39. IllSTORiCAI- Discouitsi:. 45 During the interval between tlie conversion ;' Constantine, A. D. 325, and the Saxon In- vasion, in 449, the process of gradual corrup- tion was working out the results of Papacy among most of the churches in the Roman Empire, on the Continent of Europe. But a- mong the Welsh, or native Britons, the love and practice of primitive Christianity still pre- vailed, and but little disposition was felt to ad- mit the innovations and superstitions of the rising reign of Antichrist. Their faith in the essential doctrines of the gospel, was, however, severely tried by the pre- valence of an insidious heresy, which began to agitate the public mind, about the year A. D. 405, and which originated in the philosophical speculations of one of their own countrymen. It was the system of Pelagianism, a heresy the most deeply rooted, and the most difficult effec- tually to combat, that ever found a lodgment in the Christian church ; which tasked to the utmost the profound talents of St. Augustine, at the time of its origin, which taxed all the energies of Luther and Calvin, at the Reform- ation in the IGth century; — which employed the acutest powers of our American Edwards 46 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. and which has tried the faith of multitudes of Christians in every age since its origin. The author of this system was Pelagius, a native Welshman, whose real name was Blorgan, or Tilarigena, translated by the contemporary Greek writers into Pelagius, the corres- ponding word in their language; and it is by this name he is generally known in history.* Combined with the origin of Pelagianism and the religious agitation which ensued among the British, a series of political events now began to change their social destiny. Owing to the declining state of the Roman Empire at its centre, the last of her protecting legions were withdrawn from Britain about the year 446. Immediately the Picts and the Scots from the North poured their desolating bands of robbers upon the British territory, while the Angles, Jutes and Frisians, bands of piratical adventurers, invaded the island by sea. Thence- forward the original homogeneous character ct the British people in England, became greatly changed. Wave after wave of foreign popula- tion poured in upon the native race, and be- ^ Moehcim's Eccl. Hist Vol. I. pp. 370—374. HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 47 came intermixed with the British stock. The most numerous and successful of these invading hordes, were the Angles, a valiant race of Ger- manic origin from the vallies of the Elbe, who, rapidly combining with the original British, impressed upon them the strong features of their own character, and gave their name to the principal part of the island, which thencefor- ward has borne the name of Angland, and in modern times its present name o^ England. But a large portion of the native British, and especially of their young men who had been trained in the Roman army, valiantly resisted the approaches of these invading foreigners, and more than once drove back the barbarous tribes from their island. The mercenary bands still continuing to return and desolate their country, the British people who were still un- mixed with the foreign tribes, called in to their aid and defence the powerful arms of the Ger- man Saxons, who by stratagem and treachery combined with the Angles themselves, whom they had been engaged to resist, and after many bloody and desperate battles, drove the remain- ing British before them into the mountains of Walo?, and took complete possession of the en- 48 HISTORICAL I>I>irOUR.SE. lire country of England. By tliis juncture of the Angles with the Saxons, and both together being grafted on what remained of the original British in England, was laid the foundation of modern English institutions, and the basis of the Anoflo-Saxon character. The unconquered remnants of the ancient British were crowded step by step, by each successive wave of foreign immigration that swept over from the Continent, till they were entirely driven out of England, and took a final refuge in the sequestered vallies and mountain fastnesses of Wales, a district on the West of England, about 180 miles in length, by 80 in breadth. Here these relics of the original Cambrian race, the only pure descendants of the British stock, known by the more modern name of Welsh, have lived for 1400 years, an unmixed and homogeneous people, leaving behind them among the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of their former territory, but a small portion of their blood, and but few distinct traces of their national character.* The disappearance of the British from the soil of England, was followed by an almost ^ Appendix B, HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 49 entire e5:tinction of Christianity among the compound relics, wliich formed the Anglo-Saxon race ; and the barbarous religion of these hea- then invaders, sharpened their ferocity in their conflicts with the British Christians. When at the end of 150 years from the Saxon invasion, Austin, with forty other missionary monks, was sent by Gregory the Great to convert the Sax- ons, they found both the Christian religion and the British language extinct in the English territory; an avv^ful proof of the ferocity of the warfare which had raged between the heathen invaders and the exiled British Christ- ians, the only remains of whom had become entirely shut up among the mountains of Wales and Cornwall, except a few in Cumberland, en the borders of Scotland, or those who had been driven into Britanny, beyond the English Channel. Over all the rest of Eng- land, paganism had again established itself triumphantly : the churches were demolished, or converted into idolatraus temples, and the public worship of the true God had ceased,* " Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Vol. I. p. 3«4. E 50 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. During the interval of 150 years betwcer^i the banishment of the British, and the arrival in 596, of Austin, to convert the Anglo-Saxons, who had now become entirely pagans, the rem- nants of the old British race had found a safe retreat in the sequestered regions of Wales. Here, unlike their English conquerors, they continued to be simple-minded, well-informed and zealous Christians, retaining the primi- tive ordinances of religion, the independence of their churches, and fanning the flame of patriotism and the love of religious liberty. They remained in quiet obscurity, experienc- ing, so far as is known, but few changes of prosperity or adversity, till about the beginning of the seventh century, when, at the re- introduction of nominal Christianity into Eng- land, the Welsh Christians again appear on the page of history, holding forth their pecul- iar principles, in bright contrast with the cor- ruptions of the times. Gregory the Great, having ascended the pontifical chair in 590, he sent Austin, with forty monks, in 596, to convert the Saxon pagans to papal Christian- ity. In a short time nearly all the Anglo Sax- HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 51 ons became nominally Christians. The way was led by Ethelbert, the most distinguished of the Saxon kings, among whom England was then divided, who had married a christ- ian wife, named Bertha, the daughter of Char- ibert, king of Paris ; and being converted, by her influence,