264 Presbyterians reproached....closing Observations. Why this partiality in cases so exactly alike? The an swer is plain, the Independents held to infant baptism, which the Anabaptists rejected. The respectable body of Presbyterians have at different times been loaded with the foulest aspersions. A certain writer observes, that "the Presbyterians in England, in the meridian of their strength, differed from popery only as a musket differs from a cannon, or as a kept mistress from a street-walking prostitute." Millot, in speaking of the Parliament army, says " it breathed only the fervour of Presbyterianism and the rage of battle; and knew no pleasures but prayer and military duty." We forbear to select examples of the kind, and these we have related with no other view, than to show the reader the impropriety of judging of the character of a sect or party from the accounts of its adversaries. We shall now close our observations on the affair of Munster. The sum and substance of the matter as represented by the adversaries of the Baptists, is, that they had no existence in the christian world until the beginning of the sixteenth century; that then they originated all at once, in a stormy, seditious period, out of the scum of the reformation, and increased so rapidly, that in a very short time, they led about a quarter of a million into the field to defend and propagate their opinions, and that a hundred thousand of them were slain !!! The sum and substance of the matter as understood and conceded by the Baptists, we have already stated. We have shown before, that our denomination did not originate with the tumults of Germany, but with John the Baptist, in the land of Palestine, fifteen hundred years before they happened. It is hoped that no Pedobaptist will in future follow us with the riot of Munster, or the seditions of Germany; but if they do, we can only inform them, that we shall consider, as we always have done, that for the want of argument they resort to slander. We have thus endeavoured to give a general view of our Baptist brethren in countries abroad and in times of old, and we have seen that they have generally been described by all historians, as a dangerous set of men, whose principles lead to rebellion and sedition, and that for this reason they have been proscribed in some governments, The Cause of the Sufferings of Baptists. 265 banished from others, and in others burnt and drowned, and allowed to live no where only as a matter of favour and indulgence. Why should they thus be universally abhorred and persecuted? Baptism is a thing so inoffensive in itself, that if it were repeated every month, no serious consequences could follow to any one, except to the person baptized. There must be something more than water in this affair; and that something is, that the Baptists have held from time immemorial that the civil magistrate hath no right to give or enforce law in matters of religion and conscience. This principle has been at the botton of all their sufferings in every age. And this principle hath subjected the Quakers and Independents, properly so called, to the terrible persecutions, which they have at different times endured. The Baptists, Independents and Quakers have each their peculiarities, but they are the best qualified to live together of any three sects in christendom; for, they all separate religion from civil patronage, they are each willing that every one should be his own judge in matters of conscience, and all that either of them has ever asked of civil government is to be let alone. This article has been extended to a much greater length than was first intended; but it is hoped that it will not, on that account, be the less acceptable to the reader. We shall now turn our attention to the American shore. CHAP. VII. A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN EPOCH FIRST. IN the Proposals for this work, it was suggested that the history of the American Baptists would be preceded by four Epochs or General Divisions, in which their progress and circumstances would be comprehensively related in a chronological order. These Epochs were intended to be nothing more than brief compendiums of the history of our brethren from time to time. The preparation of them has been deferred until the history of each State has been made out, and as most historical facts of importance have been already related, they will be shorter than it was at first expected. The first Epoch was to begin with the banishment of Roger Williams, and to end with 1707, when the Philadelphia Association was formed. But it has been thought best under this head to go back to the discovery of America, to give a brief account of the settlement of its different parts, and to take a general view as we go along of its religious affairs. In the year 1492, October the 12th, this part of the world, since called America, was discovered by Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, in the service of the king of Spain. The first land made by this adventurer, was one. of the Bahama Islands, to which he gave the name of San Salvador. Thus a new world was discovered, in which much cruelty and oppression has been practised, especially by the merciless Spaniards; in which much liberty and happiness has been enjoyed; and in which there have been many signal displays of the grace of God. Settlements were made in many parts of the American continent before any were effected in that portion of it which is now included in the United States. Discovery of America. 267 The following table, taken from Morse's Geography, exhibits in one view the settlements of the different States, and the names of those by whom they were effected. Maryland, 1633 Connecticut, 1635 Rhode-Island, 1635 New-Jersey, 1664 South-Carolina, 1669 Pennsylvania, North-Carolina, about 1728 1682 By Capt. John Endicot and com pany. By Lord Baltimore, with a colony of Roman Catholicks. By Mr. Fenwick, at Saybrook, By Mr. Roger Williams and his Erected into a separate govern- 1732 By General Oglethorp. baout 1764 1787 1789 By emigrants from Connecticut and other parts of N. England, By the Ohio and other companies. Became a distinct government, settled many years before. The above dates are mostly from the periods when the first permanent settlements were made." By this table it appears that a permanent settlement was effected in Virginia, ten years before the fathers of New 268 Religious Character of the Settlers of each State. England landed at Plymouth. Some temporary settlements had been made in the country about twenty years before. Most of the first settlers of America were merely worldly adventurers, who were induced to encounter the dangers of a distant voyage, and the hardships of a wilderness from the prospects of temporal advantages. Those who came from England, which was by far the greatest number, were for the most part Episcopalians. There were however, intermixed in almost all the different companies of emi grants, dissenters of different names, and among them we have reason to believe there were of the Baptists a few. It does not appear that there were in any of the colonies, any religious establishments, which acquired much perma. nency, or that carried their acts of intolerance to any consid erable degree, except in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Con necticut. The Episcopal church was the established religion of the Carolinas, but it had neither the spirit nor power of persecuting dissenters, to any great extent. Maryland was founded by Roman Catholicks, but they, different from their brethren in the old world, were always tolerant and mild. Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers, who, like the Baptists in Rhode-Island, would never establish any religious laws, and of course there could be no religious persecutions. New-York and New-Jersey were settled by a mixture of people of many nations and religions, but it is probable a majority of the settlers were Episcopalians. I do not find that there ever was any religious establishment in New-Jersey; but I am inclined to think that Epis copacy was for a time the established religion of NewYork. Mr. Wichenden of Providence, Rhode-Island, was imprisoned there four months for preaching the gos pel, sometime before the year 1669; and in the year 1728, the Baptist meeting-house, then newly built, was licensed and entered as the toleration act required. These things scent of Babylon, and indicate an ecclesiastical establishment, but I do not find that it was prosecuted with much rigour, and it has now been so long done away, that there are probably but few who know that it ever existed. Episcopacy took deep root in the strong soil of Virginia, and an account of its spirit, its measures, and end, will be given in the history of the Baptists in that State. Rhode. |