tional or independent form of church (for the mercy of our Lord Jesus order? Nay, though it refers to Christ unto eternal life." baptism, does it tell a stranger, or The true General Baptist is very bear on its face anything definite, much "a man of one book." He about that ordinance? He knows looks to the Bible for his instruction, what Baptist means (?), but the term and authority in all things pertain"General," he inquires, "to what ing to religion. He is often consedoes it refer? Do these people bap-quently somewhat too neglectful of tize mankind generally-i.e., all who the theological writings of men. ask?" And he requires to be told Conceiving that Christ and his aposthat it refers to the extent of the tles have left sufficient instruction atonement; that whereas the Cal- for his guidance, in the New Testavinistic or Particular Baptists believe ment, and that no doctrine or practhis extended only to the elect, the tice has any authority except as it General Baptists believe that it had accords with "this word," he often a general regard to all mankind; lives in happy ignorance of the subthat "the Lamb of God taketh tle controversies which agitate poaway the sin of the world"; and is lemics of every name. The author"the propitiation for the sins of the ity of great names is nothing to whole world." So inapt is our favor- him. He is, however, often "mighty ite name! And more than this, as it in the scriptures," having its preis held by a number of communities cepts, examples, texts, and promises, that, during the early part of the ready for every occasion. He lives eighteenth century, sunk into Soci- on these promises, by "faith in the nian errors, and are dying of inanition, Son of God, who loved" him, "and some who know them will suppose gave himself" for him. The dewe hold or sympathise with such crees of councils, the laws of senates, doctrines, and hence we have to add and the opinions of university docthe words, "of the New Connexion." tors, are in his estimation as the Far be it from us to cast any reflec- chaff of the summer thrashing-floor, tion on the wisdom or piety of our in the presence of a single text of venerable forefathers of 1770, or on Scripture or a precept of Christ or the good men who sometime in the his apostles. Extended theological earlier part of the previous century, reading is not therefore his chaapparently as a mark of difference racteristic; though it would be from their Calvinistic brethren, sub- doing injustice to many bearing this mitted to this as their distinctive name, both of the present and past title, but we have often wished that generations, to represent them as a more intelligible and perfect name being insensible to the value of had been adopted. profound learning, or unacquainted with the accumulated treasures which exist in the walks of literature and science, and in the works of the wise and good of ancient and modern times. The General Baptist is not necessarily a bigot; he says We do, however, bear the name; and while on many accounts we love it, let us not be insensible to its deficiencies, nor be unprepared to give a full explanation of its meaning to all who may enquire of us, nor be surprised at the dulness of such as need an explanation. Especially let us be ready to show them how firmly we embrace evangelical and apostolical doctrine, and how truly we "look 66 grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," but he cherishes a warm regard for "his own people," and can scarcely conceive how any man, having once sincerely received the doctrines of the body, can turn away from them, and become either a high Calvinist or a Socinian. If any become "infant sprinklers," (the name he usually gives to all pædo-baptists,) or diverges either to Episcopacy or Popery, he at once feels assured there must be some moral as well as some intellectual obliquity present in the process : the duty of believer's baptism, the baptism of immersion, being in his estimation too plain to be ever misunderstood by an unbiassed mind. The General Baptist, of the Midland Counties especially, looks back with conscious satisfaction on the early churches from which he derived his instruction. They originated in plain men who were awakened by a zealous preacher (David Taylor), employed by the Countess of Huntingdon to preach the doctrines of the Gospel. After being driven from the Establishment by persecution, and compelled by their love to religion and the Gospel to form a church order and polity, as they might be guided by the sacred oracles, they were gradually led by prayer, and the reading of the word, and mutual consultation, to adopt the sentiments and the order now recognized by the body. He rejoices in these apostolic plain men. He sees them appealing "to the law and the testimony, following its guidance, and at length, without the direction of learned divines, either of the Jerusalem Chamber, Geneva, Germany, or Rome, founding their churches on the Apostolical model; and then in 1770, uniting with other churches which they discovered of the same faith and order, in Lincolnshire and London. As a lover of the Scriptures, and an advocate of their supreme authority, he feels that he has no occasion to be ashamed of his origin. Though this " Assembly of Free Grace General Baptists, formed in the year of our Lord, 1770, with a design to revive Experimental Religion, or Primitive Christianity, in Faith and Practice," consisted only of some five midland churches, one from Yorkshire, two from Lincolnshire, three from Kent, three from Essex, and two from the Metropolis, (the last ten separating themselves from the Old General Baptists, who were sunk into the cold region of Socinianism,) and numbered only about 1630 members in all; and though the present number of the General Baptists in England includes some 150 churches, and short of 20,000 members, yet he enjoys a good measure of confidence that, small as may be his tribe among the thousands of Israel, it is not without its antecedents and consequents, in "the general assembly and church of the firstborn." He is accustomed to argue, and conclude, that after the council held at Jerusalem, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, (c. xv.) all the Apostles were General Baptists, as they decided that the Gospel was for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews, receiving by baptism all believers; that so were the primitive churches; that so in corrupter times were multitudes who separated themselves from the degenerated clergy, and church patronized by the State-as the Novatians, the Donatists, the various classes of puritans, the Waldensians, and innumerable communities of sincere christians, who, in various lands, though persecuted and maligned by the papal and dominant hierarchy, have from the earliest times to the present borne testimony to the truth, and suffered for its sake. He feels that it is not to Luther, to Knox, or to Wickliffe, that he is indebted for his light, but to the inspired men at whose feet these men themselves were wont to sit; that the opinions of the Westminister Assembly, the dictum and laws of John Wesley, nor the authors of the 39 articles, are not his guide, but the writings of the Apostles themselves. He considers, too, that the sentiments he entertains as to the work of Christ, its extent and efficacy, the operation of the Holy Spirit, its graciousness and power, and as to the ordinance of believers' baptism, prevail far beyond the limits of his own pale. In England, the Particular Baptists, many of them at least, are become in their preaching as General as bis own. The almost antinomian Calvinism formerly so rife among their churches, has given place to a broader, healthier, more liberal, and in his estimation, more scriptural doctrine; so that he may at times see General Baptists readily uniting with their churches, and even bearing office in them. So amongst the Congregationalists, and Wesleyans, there are to be found many "of this way," who have been baptized on a profession of their faith, or who hold the propriety of being so; but who from local circumstances, family ties, or other causes, and perhaps an idea of the mere ceremonial and nonessential character of the distinction, are not separated from them. He is not insensible, too, to the concurrent testimony of the learned, both of the Episcopalian and papal communities, to the scripturalness and antiquity of the immersion of believers. He looks across the wide atlantic, and sees there myriads of Baptists, who hold his favourite doctrines, and are such as he can recognize as "the elect of God." In the bold anticipations of his heart, he sometimes sees in the distant future a time when all the world will be of his faith. With the fall of popery he anticipates that all its inventions will be abolished; and then, when all are christians, voluntary professors, and followers of the apostolic rule and order, this will be the issue. His strong faith in God's word leads his happy thoughts to this time. Then the name General Baptist will surely be given up, and the name "christian will predominate once more, and Names, and sects, and parties fall, And God in Christ be all in all; but not till then. The General Baptist Churches, though clustering round the points indicated at the formation of the New Connexion, and consequently considerably scattered, maintain by an annual meeting, called the Association, (an assembly composed of ministers and delegates,) a visible and subtantial union. They have also local organizations called Conferences, which meet more frequently. Of these the Midland, including the Leicester, Derby, and Nottinghamshire churches, comprises about fifty churches; the Lincolnshire, including also Cambridgeshire, about half that number; the London Conference contains about a score churches; the Warwickshire about a dozen; the Yorkshire about a score; the Lancashire and Cheshire and North Derbyshire together, about the same number. By means of these assemblies the spirit of union and sympathy, and co-operation, is sustained. There are, perhaps, few religious bodies, amongst whom the feeling of oneness prevails to a greater extent than among the General Baptists. In relation to doctrinal agreement, it is presumed that this prevails to an equal extent. Some approach nearer to what is called moderate Calvinism in their theory than others, and a few deviate considerably from it; but the mass are very much of one mind. They hold firmly the cardinal doctrine that the death of Christ was an atonement offered for the sins of all mankind; that justification is by faith alone; and sanctification by the Holy Spirit. There is little fear of any tendencies towards Socinianism amongst them. There are no ministers of any community who more frequently insist on the dignity of Christ's person, and more constantly expatiate on the efficacy of his atoning work than theirs, and few people who en joy these truths more. There may be isolated cases, where self-sufficient persons go off from them to extreme errors, but not in a proportion larger than from other evangelical communities. In earnest evangelical preaching their ministers vie with those of the other section of the Baptists; and they have in their Annual Association become nominally connected with the Baptist Union; but a perfect amalgamation seems undesirable, as the amount of strong and high-toned Calvinism which obtains in various parts of that body, would occasion debates and alienation. The assimilation in spirit and purpose, and the approximation in doctrine, which exists already, should, however, and we believe does to a great extent, teach us to " love as brethren." As a body, the General Baptists have often had to complain of the neglect or misrepresentation of others. Ignored as to their proceedings sometimes by their brethren of other denominations, and represented as "low," "not sound," &c., when they are not present to defend their views, they have at times had much to try their spirit of forbearance and charity. They have never represented themselves as THE people, nor their institutions as the Christian Institutions, &c., nor arrogated to themselves the successes of others they are too truthful and modest for that. But according to their numbers they are as orderly and as respectable, as christian and as useful, for anything we know, as any other class of nonconformists; and as to soundness in the faith, if that means a firm hold on the great doctrines of the New Testament, and a disregard for the authority of men in matters of faith, they are among the soundest believers. There is less of mere philosophizing and speculation among their preachers than is to be found in any community of which we have any knowledge. con We had purposed to expatiate a little on our public institutions. Our interesting and prosperous foreign mission, our home efforts, our academy, our Sabbath-schools, Tract and Benevolent Societies, and to urge their claims on our readers, but we fear we have already exhausted their patience, and must therefore clude. We have at times feared for the prosperity of our body; we have feared lest the inadequate support given to the ministry should effectually repel our rising youth who have gifts and qualifications for the work from entering the ministry among us, and thus leave our churches to inferior or doubtful ministrations; we are happy, however, to see for several years past, the prevalence of improved and more liberal views on this subject. We have feared, too, lest the removal of many who have been "pillars" in our temple, and the growing spirit of worldliness and scepticism of the age, should leave us feeble and unprepared for conflict, but we have joy in the thought that God has been better to us than our fears, and in our rising ministry promises "from this time to bless" us. In conclusion, while we would exhort our brethren and friends to cherish a catholic spirit of christian love to all who "hold the head," we would counsel and urge them to hold fast the simple and great truths of the gospel of Christ, to cultivate the spirit of union and co-operation, and to "stand fast, in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." "Should all the forms that men devise Assault my faith with treacherous art, I'd call them vanity and lies, And bind the gospel to my heart." THE REVIVAL CONVENTION AT LOUGHBOROUGH. IN our closing number for last year we gave a brief sketch of the proceedings at this gathering, intimating at the time that a more extended report would appear in the present number. We made this promise in consequence of the anxious desire expressed by many at that convention that a full report of the proceedings should appear in our pages, and from being aware that copious notes of the observations then made had been taken, which would be forthcoming for our use. Indeed, the meetings then held were so extraordinary, so salutary in their immediate influence on the minds of all who were present, so full of promise and hope of future beneficial results, that we feel as if we should not be discharging our duty to the great cause of religion generally, and to the Connexion of which this publication is the recognized organ more especially, were we not to attempt to publish some report of what was seen and said, felt and enjoyed, on that hallowed day. The weather had been unfavourable, but the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 9th, opened with a clear sky, and ushered in one of the finest autumnal days of the season, affording an inviting encouragement to the friends from the country to set out on the journey. Many came by rail from Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby, and the villages along the lines, but more, we believe, came on foot, or in their own conveyances. The place of meeting was favourable to a good gathering, Loughborough being nearly in the centre of the three county towns just mentioned, with many village churches in the neighbourhood. The time fixed for opening the morning meeting at Wood Gate chapel was 11 o'clock; a few friends having gathered in the place at nearly half-past, brother Wallis was requested to conduct a prayer service until twelve o'clock, which he did by giving out suitable verses of hymns, and calling upon five of the students under his care in the college to engage; and it would not be right were we to omit to state that this brief devotional exercise of little more than half an hour was conducted with so much propriety of expression and feeling on the part of the beloved young friends who engaged in it, that it seemed to give a tone to the solemn and interesting proceedings of the day. One confession which rose from the heart of one of the supplicants expressed the feelings of many,-"We are nothing, and we can do nothing without Thee." It was now 12 o'clock, and a considerable number had entered the chapel during the intervals of singing. Brother Wallis introduced brother Goadby, the minister of the place, to preside; who proceeded to read suitable portions of the PropheIcies of Isaiah and the Acts of the Apostles, and then offered a lengthened and comprehensive prayer, in which special reference was made to the care of God for his churches, and the blessings which he had promised in answer to prayer. After giving out a hymn, the chairman briefly stated the object of the meeting as being to confer and pray together on the present comparatively depressed state of religion in our churches, that we might, if possible, realize some improvement. He expressed his satisfaction in the aspect and number of the present meeting, and his hope that every brother would feel himself at liberty to utter any thoughts which might occur to him as useful, with the same ease, confidence, and freedom, as if he was sitting in the social circle, in the presence of only a few. confidential friends. He intimated |