the congregation, there were some of those brethren, who, in a day of temptation, broke forth into schismatical practices that were justly offensive unto all the churches in this wilderness. "Our Anabaptists, when somewhat of exasperation was begun, formed a church at Boston, on May 28, 1665, besides one which they had before at Swansey. Now they declared our infant baptism to be a mere nullity; and they arrogate unto themselves the title of Baptists, as if none were bap. tized but themselves. "The General Court," continues Mr. Mather, "were so afraid lest matters might at last, from small beginnings, grow into a new Munster tragedy, that they enacted some laws for the restraint of Anabaptistical exorbitances." Can we wonder, after reading these short extracts, that exercising the right of private judgment should, in all preceding periods, have called down on the heads of the Baptists the severest punishment, and on their memories the greatest odium, from those who possessed less light and knowledge than the New-England settlers? In the year 1631, the 6th of Charles I., Roger Williams arrived in New England, and was invited to become an assistant preacher at Salem, near Boston; but the Governor and council of the Massechusetts interposed their authority against the appointment. Mr. Williams had "refused to join the Church at Boston, because they would not make a public declaration of their repentance for holding communion with the Church of England while they lived there." This was one of their objections to him; but another was probably the more weighty-" because he declared it as his opinion, that the civil magistrate might not punish any breach of the first table. This denial of the magistrate's right to a control over religion, they forbore to punish for the present; and Mr. Williams became the minister of a congregation at Plymouth. Here he preached between two and three years, till finding a difference of opinion between himself and the leading members of his con *Hist, of New England, B. vii. p. 27. gregation, he "requested a dismission to Salem," whither he was again invited. He had now embraced the opinion of the Baptists, and was probably one of the first public opposers of infant baptism in the New World. The distinguished figure he afterwards made, will, I hope, be a sufficient apology for these prefatory remarks. I feel happy in bringing him forward to your notice, for, in the judgment of Dr. Gordon, who, as an Independent, was perhaps a more competent judge than a member of any other denomination could be, "Roger Williams justly claims the honour of having being the first legislator in the world, in its latter ages, that fully and effectually provided for and established a free, full and absolute liberty of conscience.” His denial of the magistrate's right to interfere in religious matters, having at length procured his banishment, he sought and found an asylum among the Indians in Rhode Island. His kind, pacific and benevolent conduct won their hearts, and two of their distinguished Sachems made him a considerable grant of land." It was not price nor money (said he twenty years afterwards) that could have purchased Rhode Island. Rhode Island was obtained by love; by the love and favour which that honourable gentleman Sir Henry Vane and myself had with that great Sachem Miantinomu," &c. He subsequently remarks, "I having made covenant of peaceable neighbourhood with all the sachems and natives round about us, and having, in a sense of God's merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place PROVIDENCE, I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience." In the full spirit of this desire, he admitted such as were seeking a place in which to worship God agreeably to the dictates of their consciences, to a share in his lands. Those who were thus received signed a covenant, in which they promise obedience to laws, made by the consent of the major part of the inhabitants for the good of the body, only in civil things. He obtained a charter for the colony, at a great expense to himself, which he was never wholly repaid; and experienced the greatest ingratitude from those whom he laboured to protect, enrich and make happy. He was, however, at times the President of the colony, and the ability and impartiality with which he managed its affairs, gave satisfaction to all but the bigoted and ungrateful. His impartiality, indeed, with regard to religious matters, excited the rage of intolerants so highly, that he had repeatedly to write in defence of his conduct. I might give many examples of the masterly style in which he wrote in defence of complete civil and religious liberty, but must content myself with only the following: colonists, he made the Indians acquainted with Christianity, and suc ceeded in bringing a considerable number of them to profess its truths and practise its virtues. Indeed, 30 beloved was he by them, that his memory was fondly cherished by their descendants down to the year 1787. But to return to England. Charles I. was perhaps as much disposed to persecute Dissenters from the national church and faith, as any of his predecessors, and Charles II. still more so: whose reign, during which it is said nearly 8000 Protestant Dissenters perished in prison, would furnish more than sufficient materials for this essay, already too long. I shall, therefore, add but one more testimony to the heretical and dangerous tendency of Baptist principles. "There goes many a ship to sea, with many hundred souls in one ship, whose weal and woe is common; and is a true picture of a commonwealth, or a human combination, or society. It has fallen out sometimes that both Papists and Protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked into one ship. Upon which supposal I affirm, Thomas de Laune, the author of that all the liberty of conscience that A Plea for the Nonconformists, a book ever I pleaded for, turns upon these which ought to be known to every two hinges-that none of the Papists, Dissenter, is the individual from whom Protestants, Jews or Turks, be forced I shall quote a passage in favour of to come to the ship's prayers or wor- religious liberty. This truly excellent ship; nor compelled from their own man, whom Neal, probably with a particular prayers or worship, if they little Presbyterian contempt, calls “an practise any. I further add, that I Anabaptist schoolmaster," was suf never denied, that, notwithstanding fered to perish in prison, as well as this liberty, the commander of this his wife and two children, for writing ship ought to command the ship's his Plea. Defoe, in page 11 of the course; yea, and also command that Preface to the edition of 1720, objustice, peace and sobriety be kept serves, "I cannot refrain saying, such and practised, both among the seamen a champion of such a cause, deserved and all the passengers. If any of the better usage; and it was very hard, seamen refuse to perform their service, such a man, such a Christian, such a or passengers to pay their freight; if scholar, and on such an occasion, any refuse to help, in person or purse, should starve in a dungeon, and the towards the common charges or de- whole body of Dissenters in England, fence; if any refuse to obey the com- whose cause he died for defending, mon laws and orders of the ship, should not raise him 66l. 13s. 4d. to concerning their common peace or save his life. I could go on here, to preservation; if any shall mutiny and exclaim against the cruelty of one rise up against their commanders and party, and the ingratitude of the officers, if any should preach or write other; but the man is dead; he lies that there ought to be no commanders a monument of English tyranny on nor officers, because all are equal in one hand, and selfish principles on the Christ, therefore no masters nor offi- other, both which make nations blind cers, no laws nor orders, no correc- to men of merit." tions nor punishments; I say I never denied but in such cases, whatever is pretended, the commander or commanders may judge, resist, compel and punish such transgressors, according to their deserts and merits" Not content with promoting the temporal and religious welfare of the ☛ Backus's Hist. of New England, I. pp. 297, 298. It will be recollected that Dr. Calamy in his sermon, entitled Scrupulous Consciences, had given an invi Respecting this enlightened friend of Civil and Religious Liberty, some interesting particulars are expected to appear shortly, in an Appendix to the Memoirs of the late Rev. Wm. Richards, of Lynn, which Mr. Evans, of Islington, is preparing for the press. tation to the Nonconformists to come forward and state what they had to say in justification of their secession from the church; this invitation De Laune accepted, and wrote his Pleu in answer. I shall, however, give an extract from another of his worksThe present State of London, printed in 1681, now very scarce, and not generally known to have been his. In pages 219, 220, he says, "A thing may be clear to one man that would fain impose it, but it may be doubtful to him on whom it is imposed, which no one can help; must he therefore be persecuted? If the point be clear in Scripture, what needs any new article of faith to impose it? If only deduced, what one thinks clearly deduced, another, as learned and able as he, may think not to be so. "Men's understandings are as various as their speech or faces; and is it just for one man to quarrel with another, because different from him in either of these; or to put him upon a rack in order to stretch him to his own dimensions, if not so tall as he? -Certainly that man is defective in charity, that thinks all Dissenters either maliciously or wilfully blind. No man can be forced to believe; he may be compelled to say this or that, but not to believe it. His brains may sooner be knocked out than made clear, and able to see or perform an action morally beyond his power. A man may as easily make a man stark blind read Greek, or distinguish colours, as an unbeliever to believe, for that is God's gift. Arguments are good inducements, but force has no countenance in the gospel, much less a command. Force may make one blind, but never to see clearer; it may make a hypocrite, but no true convert. "The magistrate is (and ought) to punish evil-doers, but not evil-believers -God reserves that to himself: and man can never have a right cognizance of evil thoughts in another, for the greatest professor may be the greatest atheist. Nothing is more derogatory to the honour of God, than for men to think he wants their help to defend him: nor can any thing more affront him, than for any one to intrude into his tribunal, and "John xx. 31; v. 39; 2 Tim. iii. usurp his sovereignty. Christ conquered his enemies by preaching and suffering. "In a word, what to me seems clear, (which I humbly submit to the consideration of others, is-1. That none ought to be persecuted for religion, whose principles are consistent with human society, and behave themselves according to the established laws of the land quietly and peaceably; but are to be won by the mild ways of the gospel. "2. That, if under pretence of reli. gion they disturb the common peace, or wrong any other, or be seditious and unquiet, they ought to be punished by the magistrate; because religion teaches no such things, but the contrary," &c. &c. This extract, with very trifling exceptions, contains so nearly the leading principles of the Baptist deuomination, as far as I have been able to ascertain them, on the right of free inquiry and private judgment, that I think it must be evident to every impartial mind, that they have been a grossly calumniated people. They appear to have perceived, amidst the darkness by which nearly all other Christian sects were surrounded, that as man is endued with the faculty of reason, he ought to exercise it; and they were determined to exercise it whatever might be the result as to themselves. Priests who feared to bring their opinions or arbitrary authority to the test of reason and Scripture, thought, pronounced, and persecuted them as their worst enemies; and where they had not the power of persecuting them themselves,instigated princes to imprison, torture and destroy them as enemies of regal authority and the well-being of civil society. I shall conclude with a short quotation from Whiston. Having bestowed justly-merited praise on those ministers who were against subscription in reference to the Exeter affair, he adds, "The General Baptists had also a very great meeting in London about 1780, where the numbers were about 120, who also came in a manner universally into the same determination, of not making any human explications necessary to Christian communion.”* * Whiston's Life by himself, 1753, p. 190. SIR, THO HOUGH I am sure the answer I received from a friend to some inquiries of mine, was not written with any view to its publication, yet as it appears to me to contain some useful hints, and presuming that the writer will not be offended at its appearance in your valuable Miscellany, I send it for your insertion, if you think it worth a place there. "MY DEAR FRIEND, “You ask me what I think of the strange doctrines, the fluctuating opinions, the secessions, the retrocessions, which agitate the religious world at this time? I am at a loss for a reply; they are so numerous, so rapid and so contradictory that the mind is bewildered and confounded by such contrariety of opinions. "Yet from this seeming evil' some good may arise; the attention which is excited by it may ultimately prove favourable to the cause of real religion. The concussions of jarring elements may have their use by rousing men's minds from a state of indifference aud lukewarmness. Here are Unitarianism and Trinitarianism, the baptism of adults by immersion, and of infants by sprinkling, engaged in war offensive and defensive, each ap. pealing to Scripture in justification of its hostility to its opponent. This may lead many seriously to search the Scriptures, and, imbibing the spirit of the gospel, the Unitarian may cease to treat his irrational brother contemptuously; the Trinitarian may discover that he has no authority for pronouncing a sentence of damnation upon those who cannot adopt his creed; the Calvinist may see the tendency of his system as leading to Antinomianism, which he abhors as an encouragement to sin; the Baptist may learn that the answer of a good conscience toward God can alone render the observance of the ordinance acceptable to God, or become to himself the washing of regeneration. "To your question whether I am an Arian or a Socinian? I answer, neither. I do not think that believing in the pre-existence of Christ constitutes an Arian, or disbelieving it, a Socinian. St. Paul rebuked those who would have distinguished themselves by his name. Neither Arius, Socinus, Calvin, nor any of the host VOL. XIV. P from whom Christians have been denominated, are more worthy to be called master than St. Paul; and therefore I do not acknowledge either of them as the founder of my faith. I desire to derive it from higher authority and a purer source. "The simple Scripture representation of faith in Christ, appears to me to consist in an assured reliance upon the truth of the declaration, that he was sent of God, his Father, to save his people from, not in, their sins: and saving faith must be that which produces obedience to the precepts of Christ, influencing the temper and regulating the conduct. Give me leave, Sir, to remark upon that part of my friend's letter which speaks of Unitarians as treating those with contempt who do not adopt their creed: if it means a general charge, I think it uncharitable and untrue; at the same time, I fear some individuals have given occasion for it, particularly among new converts; they feel as some have expressed it, that they stand upon high ground, and, priding themselves upon their elevation, they "look disdain on little folks below." The wiser and better sort see and lament this silly self-conceit, but it should be charged only on the individuals who are possessed by it: it belongs not to the body of Unitarians, or to their doctrine. ANON. A Letter Written to a friend, in reply to an earnest request that no steps might be taken to place a young man in the neighbourhood of a Unitarian minister, by whom it was apprehended that his religious opinions might be influenced. FEEL it my duty to take the very earliest opportunity of replying to yours, written in the anxiety of a truly maternal heart, and under the powerful influence of strong religious principles. Wherever we discover these to be in exercise, they claim from us our esteem; and even where they may appear to warp an otherwise well-informed understanding, they demand, and from me will I trust always obtain, indulgence. I have not lived through half a century, my good friend, without having well observed the force of those convictions which rise from religion-whether it be a religion formed upon just or upon unjust grounds. I will imagine your views to be correct, and your fears arising from them to be legitimate; and when I compare them with similar ones which I have met with in a Catholic's breast, equally warm with friendship and compassion with your own, I perceive that the influence of both is alike. "Oh! my dear friend," said one of them once to me, "I wish you were a Catholic; I would give any thing if you were a Catholic." What could I do but thank him for his love, and esteem the man who I was convinced was in error? If I could once bring myself to consider the party to which I belong as the only favourites of the Almighty, and alone destined to share his eternal mercy and benevolence, what should I think of Him who was the object of my adoration? A very small proportion of his intelligent offspring has heard of salvation by Christ; therefore, if to believe in him be needful, a very small part can be partakers in his redemption: but, of this small part, in itself not a tenth of the earth's population, how very few have been led, by the dispensations of Providence under which they have lived, to believe in Christ as I believe in him? Not one in fifty of these holds the faith that I hold: out of five hundred, therefore, of the souls that breathe the breath of life, but one can come to salvation by Christ! To whose charge shall I lay the final perdition of the forty and nine? To a God of mercy and love? To a God who will have all men to be saved? I am here lost in a maze of my own creation! I find myself" quite out at sea, nor see the shore"! Surely he who came to save a lost and sinful world must have expected a greater good to arise from the sacrifice that he made; for I, too, believe he offered a rich and an acceptable sacrifice to the Being, whose messenger and whose beloved son he was! I assure you, my dear-I think little of those errors of the understanding which have made one party worship a bit of bread, another a wooden idol, and a third a compounded deity, like that of the Samaritans, "they know not what." I think little of these, compared with the more dreadful results of every monstrous faith, which have robbed the Divine Being of his loveliness, and made him a monster in the eyes of all who have a fellow-feeling for fellowsinners. If to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God, be acceptable to him; if to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, be more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices; if true religion before God, even the Father, be to visit the fatherless and widows, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world; if this be the character of the disciple of Jesus Christ, then, my friend, it cannot be blinduess as to an article of faith in which I am permitted by God to remain, that will sink me into perdition; nor will it be the adopting of a metaphysical nicety as to the person of God, which is your lot, that will exalt you to the glories of eternity. Surely God will hear his humble worshiper! Surely the prayer of the upright will still be his delight! Many a cloud encircles the vision of man. At best feeble, the arrogance of some of his fellows, and the supineness and the timidity of others, keep the world of worshipers in a state of mental delusion and woful degradation. But we shall see yet brighter, we shall know God and his worshipers better, when the veil of humanity shall drop, and light burst in upon us from the throne of the Almighty. In the mean time, give yourself no concern as to any steps I shall take to pluck down any whose salvation is peculiarly dear to you from that envied height at which your faith has placed them. May you always, and may you long, enjoy all the happiness that your wish to think and to do rightly deserves. It cannot be greater than they enjoy, who regard the great object of their worship arrayed in a more lovely attire; and, while they know him to be the God of the whole earth, believe him to be the friend of all that live, and to have given to all under various dispensations, varied, but equally sure, means of doing his will and obtaining his everlasting love. |