CHAPTER 17

A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION IN AMERICA, AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
By David Benedict

1813
London: Printed by Lincoln & Edmands, No. 53, Cornhill, for the Author

[Table of Contents for "A Generation History of the Baptists" by David Benedict]

BAPTISTS IN AMERICA

BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNTS OF A NUMBER OF CHARACTERS, WHOSE HISTORY COULD NOT BE WITH CONVENIENCE INSERTED ELSEWHERE.

This singular man is, on account of his extensive travels, very generally known throughout the United States. According to information received from Mr. John Leland, he was born in the interior of Sweden. He was bred to the mercantile business, went to England about the beginning of the American war, where he acted some time as clerk in a store. He was either pressed or entered voluntarily into the British naval service, which he deserted on the American coast, and made his way into North-Carolina. There, about 1782, he embraced religion, and was baptized by David Walsh. Soon after, he joined the South-Hampton church in Virginia, then under the care of David Barrow. About 1782, he went back to his native country, visited England, Denmark, Finland, Lapland, Germany, and returned to Virginia. Not long after his return, he began to make preparations for his Register of the Baptist churches in America, which he published in a small quarto pamphlet in 1791. This work cost him about seven thousand miles travel, chiefly on foot, which mode of traveling he seems to have preferred. After this, Mr. Asplund traveled ten thousand miles more, and published a second Register in 1794. By this time he had become personally acquainted with seven hundred ministers of the Baptist denomination. Mr. Asplund was a preacher of no great gifts, but was generally respected for a number of years. But at length he got entangled with land speculation, for which he was altogether unqualified. Some other things of an unfavorable nature exposed him to the censures of his brethren. The latter part of his life was spent on the eastern shore of Maryland, and there he was drowned from a canoe, in Fishing Creek, in 1807. He left a wife and one child. The Baptist churches in America have reason to respect the memory of this diligent inquirer into their number, origin, character, etc. His Register has been of peculiar service in the preparation of this work.

It is much to be lamented, that he who took such unwearied pains to record the lives of others, has found no one among all his friends to write his own. Mr. Backus was one of the most useful ministers, that has ever appeared among the American Baptists. For about fifty years he was a laborious servant of their churches, and a considerable part of about thirty of the last of them, was devoted to historical pursuits. This excellent man still lives in the memory of thousands of his brethren; but scarcely any biographical sketches of his life are preserved, except what are found in his own writings. The author of this work never saw him but once, of course he knows but little about him, except from report. He has solicited those, who were well acquainted with this renowned father for many years, to draw a characteristic portrait, which should set in a proper light his distinguished merit. But as no one has been found to pay this tribute of respect, all that can be now done is to collect a few incidents of his life from his public writings and his voluminous journals and diaries.

Mr. Backus was born at Norwich, Connecticut, Jan. 9, 1724. His parents were pious and respectable members of the Pedobaptist church in that town, by whom he was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His mother was a descendant of the family of Winslows, who came over to Plymouth in 1620; his father sprung from one of the first Planters in Norwich. In the New-Light Stir, in Whitefield’s time, some of Mr. Backus’s connections united with the Separates, for which they were harassed and persecuted by the ruling party. His mother, when a widow, and some more of his relatives, were cast into prison for adopting religious principles contrary to law. It was in the midst of the New. Light Stir, that the subject of this memoir was brought to the knowledge of the truth, in the 18th year of his age. He united with a Pedobaptist church in his native town, and began in the ministry in 1746. About two years after, he was ordained pastor of a church in Middleborough of the same persuasion. In this town, he spent sixty years of his useful life. In 1749, he was married to Susanna Mason of Rehoboth, with whom he lived in the greatest harmony about fifty-one years. She, according to his own words, "was the greatest earthly blessing which God ever gave him." As yet Mr. Backus was a Pedobaptist of the Separate order, and the church, of which he was pastor, was of the same character. They experienced blessings from the Lord, but persecutions from men. The publicans of the parish soon began to distress them for the support of their worship. Mr. Backus, among the rest, was taxed, seized, and imprisoned a short time, and then released without paying the tax, or coming to any compromise.

Disputes respecting baptism were agitated in this church about this time, which were continued a number of years, and some of the members were constrained from time to time to go into the water. In 1751, Mr. B. was himself baptized, with six of his members, by Elder Pierce, of Warwick, Rhode-Island. From this period until 1756, this church practiced open communion, but in that year those who had become Baptists came out and formed a church upon the gospel plan, and Mr. Backus became its pastor. This was the nineteenth Baptist church in the three States of Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Vermont. From this date to the death of this venerable man was a period of about fifty years, Nothing remarkable appears to have occurred in the discharge of his pastoral duties; but the part which he took in the general welfare of the Baptist churches, furnishes a number of incidents which ought to be recorded.

Mr. Backus early imbibed a settled aversion to civil coercion in religious concerns; he was taught its iniquity both by experience and observation; and few men have exerted themselves more than he in the support of the equal rights of Christians. In 1772, he was chosen an agent for the Baptist churches in Massachusetts, in the room of Mr. Davis, formerly pastor of the second church in Boston, then lately deceased. This agency was merely in civil affairs, and was executed by him, who was entrusted it, with much ability, and to some effect. Our brethren in this government were then so continually harassed for the support of the established clergy, that they found it necessary to have some one upon the watch, to advise on sudden emergencies, and to afford assistance to those who were in trouble. Their great object was to obtain the establishment of equal religious liberty in the land, which the predominant party were determined to prevent. About a year before Mr. Backus accepted the agency of the churches, he was requested to write their history, which he accordingly set about, and published his first volume in 1777.

When the disputes came on, which terminated in the Revolutionary War and the Independence of the United States, the Baptists united with the rest of the American people in resisting the arbitrary claims of Great-Britain; but it seemed to them unreasonable that they should be called upon to contend for civil liberty, if after it was gained, they should still be exposed to oppression in religious concerns. When, therefore, the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, the Warren Association, viewing it as the highest civil resort, agreed to send Mr. Backus as their agent to that convention, "there to follow the best advice he could obtain, to procure some influence from thence in their favor." When he arrived in Philadelphia, the Association there appointed a large committee, of whom Dr. Samuel Jones was one, to assist their New-England brethren. "But our endeavors," says Dr. Jones, "availed us nothing. One of them told us, that if we meant to effect a change in their measures respecting religion, we might as well attempt to change the course of the sun in the heavens" [Century Sermon, etc. p. 14. Whether this strong expression was made seriously by a Massachusetts member, or ironically by one from some other State, I am not sure. But it is certain from Mr. Backus’s account, that the Massachusetts Delegates were peculiarly insensible to the complaints of the oppressed Baptists.] Mr. Backus, failing of success at Philadelphia, on his return met the Baptist committee at Boston, by whose advice a memorial of their grievances was drawn up, and laid before the next Congress at Cambridge, near Boston, to which the following answer was returned:

Such an Assembly as is here mentioned, convened at Watertown, July 1775, to which our brethren presented another memorial, in which they said,

This memorial was read in the Assembly, and after laying a week on the table, was read again, debated upon, and referred to a committee, who reported favourably. A bill was finally brought in, in favor of the petitions, read once, and a time set for its second reading; but their other business crowded in, and nothing more was done about it. In this manner have the Baptists always been shuffled out of their rights. After this, they made a number of attempts to get some security for their freedom from religious oppression, but none was ever formally given them. They had many fair promises, which were never fulfilled; and when the State Constitution was formed, the Bill of Rights was made to look one way, but priests and constables have gone another. The first article of the Bill of Rights declares "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights," etc. The second declares, "No subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience," etc.

But notwithstanding all these declarations, many have been molested and restrained in their persons, liberties, and estates, on religious accounts. These things we have thought proper to insert in Mr. Backus’s biography. He was undoubtedly the draftsman of some of the memorials of his brethren, and he was certainly the able and undaunted expositor of them all. His whole soul was engaged in the prosecution of his agency; insomuch that he became the champion of non-conformity in England, and was, on that account, much vilified and abused by the established party. When he waited on the Congress at Philadelphia, he was accused of going there on purpose to attempt to break the union of the colonies. The newspapers abounded with pieces against him, some of which he answered, and others he treated as beneath his notice. In one, he was threatened with a halter and the gallows; but he had been too long inured to the war, to be terrified by such impotent threats.

In 1789, Mr. Backus took a journey into Virginia and North-Carolina, in which he was gone about six months, preached a hundred and twenty-six sermons, and traveled by land and water going and coming over three thousand miles. This journey was undertaken in consequence of a request from the southern brethren, for some one of the ministers of the Warren Association to come and assist them, in the great field of labor which was then opened before them.

These sketches give us some view of Mr. Backus’s labors abroad; the following list of his writings will inform the reader how he employed his time at home. This list was made out by himself, and was found among his papers.

His first publication was a Discourse on the Internal Call to preach the Gospel, in 1754.

2d. A Sermon on Galatians, 4:31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free. 1756.
3d. A Sermon on Acts 18:27. 1763.
4th. A Letter to Mr. Lord. 1764.
5th. A Sermon on Prayer. 1766.
6th. A Discourse on Faith. 1767.
7th. An Answer to Mr. Fish. 1768.
8th. A Sermon on his Mother’s Death. 1769.
9th. A second edition of his Sermon on Galatians 4:31, with an Answer to Mr. Frothingham. 1770.
10th. A Plea for Liberty of Conscience. 1770.
11th. Sovereign Grace vindicated. 1771.
12th. A Letter concerning Taxes to support Religious Worship. 1771.
13th. A Sermon at the ordination of Mr. Hunt. 1772.
14th. A Reply to Mr. Holly. 1772.
15th. A Reply to Mr. Fish. 1773.
16th. An Appeal to the Public in Defence of Religious Liberty. 1773.
17th. A Letter on the Decrees. 1773.
18th. A History of the Baptists, Vol. 1. 1777.
19th. Government and Liberty described. 1778. 251
20th. A Piece upon Baptism. 1779.
21st. True Policy requires Equal Religious Liberty. 1779.
22d. An Appeal to the People of Massachusetts against Arbitrary Power. 1780.
23d. Truth is great and will prevail. 1781.
24th. The Doctrine of Universal Salvation examined and refuted. 1782.
25th. A Door opened for Christian Liberty. 1783.
26th. A History of the Baptists, vol. II 1784.
27th. Godliness excludes slavery, in Answer to John Cleaveland. 1785.
28th. The Testimony of the Two Witnesses. 1786.
29th. An Address to New-England. 1787.
30th. An Answer to Remmele on the Atonement. 1787.
31st. A Piece on Discipline. 1787.
32d. An Answer to Wesley on Election and Perseverance. 1789.
33d. On the Support of Gospel Ministers, 1790.
34th. An Essay on the Kingdom of God. 1792.
35th. A history of the Baptists, Vol. III. 1796.
36th. A second edition of his Sermon on the Death of his Mother; to which was added a Short Account of his Wife, who died in 1800. Published 1803.

Most of the pieces in the foregoing list were small but a number of them, besides his History, were considerably large.

In 1800, our historian published in a small octavo volume, An Abridgment of his History of the Baptists; and in 1805, the year before his death, he published a discourse under the title of A Great Faith described. After this he wrote a Sermon on the Kingdom of Christ, which has not yet been published. Besides these publications, Mr. Backus wrote a number of Circular Letters, and inserted a large number of pieces in different public prints. These newspaper communications were not upon the common political topics but were designed to expose ecclesiastical oppressions, and to defend his noble maxims of religious freedom.

This distinguished man finished his earthly course with great composure, November 20, 1806, in the 83d year of his age, and 60th of his ministry. He had been laid by from his public labors a few months previous to his death, by a paralytic stroke, which deprived him of his speech and the use of his limbs. But his reason was continued to the last, and in his expiring moments, he manifested an entire resignation to the will of Heaven. He left behind him a number of children, all of whom are respectable members of society. He never received much from his people; but by the blessing of Providence, he had accumulated an estate of considerable value. It is presumed that but a few Baptists of the present day are sufficiently sensible how much they are indebted to the labors of this departed champion of their cause.

"As a preacher, he was evangelical and plain. His discourses, though not ornamented with the rhetoric of language, were richly stored with Scripture truth." His historical works contain a vast fund of materials of the utmost importance towards a history of our denomination, which must have sunk into oblivion, had it not been for his unwearied care.

Mr. Backus’s personal appearance was very grave and venerable. He was not far from six feet in stature, and in the latter part of life considerably corpulent. He was naturally modest and diffident; which probably led him into a habit, which he continued to the day of his death, of shutting his eyes, when conversing or preaching on important subjects. His voice was clear and distinct, but rather sharp than pleasant. In both praying and preaching, he often appeared to be favored with such a degree of divine unction, as to render it manifest to all that God was with him. Few men have more uniformly lived and acted up to their profession than Mr. Backus. It may be truly said of him, that he was a burning and shining light; and, though dead, he left behind him the good name which is better than precious ointment.

[This biography is taken almost verbatim from Semple’s History of the Virginia Baptists, as are most of those which follow of the Virginia brethren.]

Elijah Baker was born in 1742, in the county of Lunenburg, of honest and reputable, but not opulent parents. When grown to the years of maturity, he was much addicted to frolics and sports of all sorts. Going to hear Mr. Jeremiah Walker preach, he became thoroughly convinced of the necessity of vital religion. His volatile disposition, nevertheless, kept him from seeking for it. However resolved when under preaching, all his resolutions would fail at the sound of a fiddle, or the cordial invitation of his pleasant, but carnal companions. He at last came to a determination to give his old companions one more frolic, and then forsake them forever. This resolution he kept, and was no more to be found among the sons of carnal pleasure. He listened now, not to the music of the violin, but to sublimer music, the faithful preaching of the gospel. Thus, giving up the world, after many previous ineffectual efforts, his convictions soon became exceedingly sharp and pungent. Sometimes he was so convulsed as not to be able to stand. Heaven ultimately smiled; and Mr. Baker was constrained by the love of God, now shed abroad in his heart, to make profession of grace, and was baptized, anno 1769, by Mr. Samuel Harris. Illiterate as he was, he immediately commenced public speaking. When he first made a profession, he was remarked for being often cast down with doubts respecting the reality of his conversion. This, however, did not hinder him from making great exertions, first as an exhorter and singer, and then as a preacher. Having exhorted about twelve months, his first labors were laid out chiefly in the county of his nativity, and the adjacent ones, where he was happily instrumental in planting and watering several churches. After about three years, he gave up all worldly cares, and devoted his whole time to preaching and other ministerial duties. About 1775, he began to stretch his lines, and to travel more extensively. Coming down into the lower end of Henrico, he, in conjunction with one or two others, planted Boar Swamp church, then, as his way would be opened, he extended his labors gradually downwards, and was the chief instrument in planting all the churches in the counties of James City, Charles City, York, etc. Then crossing over York river into Gloucester, preached in the lower end of that county with considerable success. There he formed acquaintance with Mr. Thomas Elliot, then a resident of Gloucester, but who had not long before moved from the eastern shore. Mr. Elliot, discovering a beauty in religion, felt his heart’s desire that his brethren in the flesh might be saved. Accordingly in the spring of 1776, they set sail, and arrived on the eastern shore of Virginia, on Easter Sunday, and went immediately to church, where an established clergy-man was that day to preach and administer the sacrament. After waiting for some time, and finding the minister did not come, Mr. Baker told the people that he would preach for them, if they would go down to the road. The novelty of the scene excited their attention, and the people went. Mr. B. had no other pulpit than the end of a large tree; which having mounted, he began one of the most successful ministerial labors that has fallen to the lot of any man in Virginia. Many wondered; some mocked; and a few were seriously wrought upon. He continued his ministrations from house to house, for several days; and when he left them he appointed to return again at Whitsuntide. At his second visit, he was accompanied by his brother Leonard, who was at that time only an exhorter. When they arrived, they were informed that the minister of the parish had appointed to preach against the Baptists, and to prove them to be in an error. Mr. Baker and his company went to hear him; but his arguments proved ineffectual, and the people followed Baker. His brother continued with him about a week. They had meetings both day and night. The effects were not remarkable at first, but at every meeting there were good appearances. This encouraged Mr. Baker so much, that he resolved to remain there for some time: his brother left him laboring in the vineyard. His labors were greatly blessed. He became at once almost a resident; for, indeed, filled as he was with increasing solicitude for the prosperity of the gospel, he could not be found elsewhere than at the places where he had evidences that God called him. After he married, he settled in Northampton county.

In doing so much good, it fell to Mr. Baker’s portion, as it generally happens, to give offense to the enemy of souls and his subordinate agents. They put him into Accomack prison, and kept him there many days. The most atrocious attempt upon this harmless man, was that of seizing him by a lawless power and carrying him on board of a vessel in the adjacent waters, where they left him, having contracted with the Captain to make him work his passage over the seas, and then leave him in some of the countries in Europe; alleging that he was a disturber of the peace. This took place on Saturday night. He was immediately put to work, and kept at it until late at night. The next day being the Lord’s day, he asked and obtained leave of the Captain to sing and pray among the crew. The Captain attended, and was convinced that he was a good man. Without delay, he set him on shore. In the meantime, his friends had dispatched a messenger to the Governor, to obtain authority to prevent his being carried forcibly away. This they obtained; but Mr. B. was discharged before his return. [This story respecting Mr. Baker, I find differently related. Some parts of the narrative, as some have given it, partake considerably of the marvellous; but the above relation is the most simple, and probably the most correct.] He met with various kinds of persecution, which only served to confirm his faith, and inflame his zeal in his Redeemer’s cause.

Mr. B. was a man of low parentage, small learning, and confined abilities. But with one talent he did more than many do with five. He is said to have planted ten churches on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake bay. At the last Salisbury Association, which he attended when nearly worn out with disease, at the close of the meeting, he addressed the audience in a most melting and powerful manner; then returning to Doctor Lemon’s, soon died.

He had declined in health a considerable time before his death; and having a wish to see his brother Leonard, of Halifax, Virginia, to whom he was fondly attached, he wrote him a letter dated September 21, 1798, of which the following is an extract:

It seems his brother could not go immediately; but started in a few weeks, and arrived just time enough to see him die: which took place, November 6th, 1798.

As he died at Doctor Lemon’s, it will be most suitable to quote the Doctor’s own words respecting him.

He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Copeland, a lady of respectable connections, by whom he had one son, now living. She died, and he then married a widow lady on the eastern shore, who had no child by him.

Robert Carter, Esq. once a member of the Virginia Executive Council, and on that account, commonly called Counsellor Carter, was baptized by Mr. Lunsford, shortly after he began to preach in these parts. He was one of the richest men in the State of Virginia, having, as some say, seven or eight hundred negroes, besides immense bodies of land, etc. After being baptized some years, he became conscientious about the lawfulness of hereditary slavery. In a letter to Mr. Rippon of London, he says, "the toleration of slavery indicates very great depravity of mind." In conformity to this sentiment, he gradually emancipated the whole that he possessed.

["It is said that Mr. Robert Carter of Nominy, Virginia has emancipated slaves. This is a sacrifice on the altar of humanity of perhaps an hundred thousand dollars. If this be true, vote him a triumph, crown him with laurels, and let the million listen while he sings

‘I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought and sold have ever earn’d.
No, dear as freedom is, and in my heart’s
Just estimation prized above all price,
I had much rather be MYSELF the slave,
And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him.’" Rippon’s Register]

This was a noble and disinterested sacrifice. For fourteen or fifteen years he continued an orderly Baptist. But being a man naturally of an unstable disposition, and falling in with certain Arminian writings, he fully embraced their doctrines. Had he stopped here, he might still have continued in the Baptist society, though not so happily as before. But, alas! there are so many wrong roads in religious pursuits, that when a man once gets wrong, it is impossible to foresee where he will stop. From the Arminian errors, Mr. Carter fell into the chimerical whims of Swedenborg. When he first heard of the books of that singular author, he made very light of them; but upon reading them, having a mind naturally fond of specious novelty, he fully embraced the whole of that absurd system, and was, of course, excluded from the Baptists. He was now as zealous for the New-Jerusalem church, as he had been formerly for the Baptists. He moved to Baltimore, in order to find a preacher and a society of his own sentiments, and expended large sums of money to have Swedenborg’s writings republished. He continued orderly in his moral conduct, and died a few years since, after having lived to a considerable age.

James Chiles appears to have been a Virginian. Before he embraced religion, having a sturdy set of limbs and a resolute spirit, he often employed them in bruising his countrymen’s faces. Gambling was also with him a favorite employment. But God, who is rich in mercy, plucked him as a brand from the burning. He gave evidence to his friends that his heart was changed, but from his oddities he was never converted. He was a member of the first Separate Baptist church north of James River. He was always wrapped up in visions, and pretended to be taught of God how any matter was to eventuate. It happened, however, with him, as with the Trojan prophetess, that if he had the gift of prophecy, his contemporaries had not the gift of faith. But notwithstanding all his imperfections, his success as a preacher was great. He was the first instrument of planting the gospel upon Blue Run. He also broke the way into Albemarle, where many were converted by his means. In various other places, God set seals to his ministry. After a few years, he moved to South-Carolina, where he planted a large church. He retained his notions about visions to his last. Report says, that after meeting with misfortunes, and being reduced in his property and health, he went to the house of a woman, and told her that his God said, he must die there that day. She said, "I hope not, Mr. Chiles." "Yes," said he, "my God says so: but, however, I will return a while, and consult my God again!" He retired for the consultation, and returning said, "Yes, madam, my God says, I must die today." The woman again expressed doubts. She said, "You look too well, Mr. Chiles, to die so soon." He said, "I will try my God once more." After retiring for some time in prayer, he came back and said, "It is fixed; the decree is irrevocable; today I must die in your house." Having so said, he stretched himself upon the bed, and yielded up the ghost.

Mr. Cook was born of pious parents in the city of Bath, Somersetshire, England, and called by divine grace in the early part of life, under the ministry of the late celebrated and much-esteemed Reverend George Whitefield, at the chapel of the late Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, at Bath. Mr. Whitefield was exceedingly kind to him, and often took him out with him in his carriage, to converse with him about divine things. As he very soon gave clear evidence, not only of a sound conversion, but also that he had ministerial gifts, Lady Huntingdon, who had a great regard for him, which continued to her dying day, sent him, in the 19th year of his age, to her college at Trevecka, in Brecknockshire, South Wales. Here he applied himself closely to his studies, and made considerable improvement. He was much esteemed by his tutors and fellow-students, being of a good, obliging temper; but what most endeared him was his lively, spiritual turn of mind, and his readiness to help and comfort any who were in trouble of soul. His very first excursions in the villages, to exercise his gifts, the Lord owned, so that he preached with acceptance and success.

In September 1771, Lady Huntingdon received a sensible anonymous letter, requesting her to send a minister to Margate, in the Isle of Thanet, describing it as a licentious place, particularly at the watering season. She made known the contents of it to one of her senior students, Mr. William Aldridge, and gave him the liberty of choosing any student he pleased in the college to accompany and assist him in this important work. He fixed upon Mr. Cook, who cordially approved of the design. Preparations, therefore, were made for the journey, and after taking an affectionate leave of all at college, attended with many hearty prayers for their safety and prosperity, they proceeded to the place of action. Being utterly unknown to any person at Margate, they began to preach out of doors. Many attended, and not in vain. Several were savingly wrought upon, and turned from the error of their ways, while old professors were stirred up, who seemed to have been settled upon their lees; and now these itinerants preached not only at Margate, but at many other places in the Isle of Thanet.

About this time, many persons in Dover, not satisfied with Mr. Wesley’s ministers and doctrine, having left his meeting, and assembled in a private room for exhortation and prayer, sent a very pressing invitation to Messrs. Aldridge and Cook, which they accepted. The former preached at Dover for the first time, in the market-place, on a Sabbath day, but met with great opposition. A Presbyterian meeting-house, which had been shut up for a considerable time, was therefore procured by the persons who had given them the invitation, in which Mr. Aldridge and his colleague ever afterwards preached, while they continued at Dover. It was now agreed on by all parties, that Messrs. Aldridge and Cook should supply Margate and Dover constantly, and change every week; accordingly, Mr. Cook came to Dover, and preached on the next Tuesday evening. His first text was Hebrews 2:3, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation."

Many attended, and were much struck at the sight of such a youth, who delivered his discourse extempore, which was a new thing to most of them. This sermon was, he believes, peculiarly blessed to Mr. Atwood, now one of the Baptist ministers, at Falkstone, in Kent, so that he was obliged to say, "Here is a man that has told me all things that ever I did: surely he is a servant of Christ." Mr. Cook continued to supply Dover, in his turn, for some time, and was remarkably useful in winning souls to Christ. Mr. Cook and Mr. Aldridge occasionally preached also at Deal; and at Falkstone their word was signally blessed: to many, several of whom afterwards joined the Baptist interest, and one of them became a Deacon in Mr. Atwood’s church.

Two years after, the students were called in from all parts of the country to the college in Wales, to form a mission for North-America, as very pleasing and encouraging letters had been received by Lady Huntingdon, desiring her to send faithful and zealous ministers thither. She therefore willingly entered into the plan, laying the whole of it before the students, with her earnest request that they would take the same into mature consideration, and especially make it matter of prayer; and that then, those who saw their way clear to go, would declare it. At length, Mr. Cook, with others, freely offered themselves for this service, came up to London, and related their views of this work before many thousands in the Tabernacle, Moorfields, and elsewhere; an account of which was printed. After taking a very affecting farewell, they embarked for America, with the Reverend Mr. Percy, who afterwards returned, and had a meeting-house, at Woolwich, in Kent. However, the ship was detained in the Downs by a contrary wind. Mr. Cook, being so near, wished to see his friends at Dover once more. He went therefore unexpectedly, and preached a lecture, which was remarkably owned. Several of his fellow-students also went the next Sabbath to Dover to preach. A fair and brisk gale sprung up in the night; the ship sailed, and they were all left behind. Two of them remained in England, Mr. Henry Mead, a minister now belonging to the establishment, in London, and Mr. William White, since deceased. Mr. Cook, with the rest, were yet determined on the voyage, and prosecuted the plan. On their arrival in America, as they had all preached in England, and considered themselves authorized to do so on their general plan, they traveled about the country, and preached with much acceptance among serious Christians of different denominations, but particularly among the Baptists, whom they found in a lively state of religion at that time. Though these students, were commonly considered as belonging to the Episcopal church, then the established religion of the Southern colonies, and seemed fond to keep up this idea among the populace, yet they generally appeared pleased with the company and conversation of the Baptists; and the most of them gave it to be understood, that they had received convictions respecting the justice and propriety of the Baptists’ distinguishing sentiments, which, by one or two of the students, was represented to have arisen from the introduction of a young man of Baptist principles into the Countess’s Seminary at Wales, whose arguments had made so great an impression on the minds of the students, that her Ladyship thought proper to discard him. Mr. Cook, however, kept himself considerably reserved, and more at a distance from the Baptist churches than the rest. Messrs. Hill and Cosson, after fully professing Baptist sentiments, in their conversation among the Baptists, joined the Presbyterians. Mr. Roberts, who had professed the same in a letter to one of the Baptist ministers, united himself with a respectable congregation of Independents in Georgia, and, on some misunderstanding arising, left off preaching, took a commission in the army, rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and died. Mr. Lewis Richards for a while suppressed his convictions, and engaged in a parish, as candidate for the rectorship, but some time after united himself to the Baptist church at the High Hills of Santee, was baptized by the Reverend Mr. Furman, and is now pastor of the Baptist church in Baltimore, Maryland.

Mr. Cook had obtained the office of a parish, but on his marriage with a young lady, Miss Elizabeth Bulline, of Baptist parents, then dead, at the village of Dorchester, about eighteen miles from Charleston, he determined to settle there, and preach to a mixed people: in respect of religious profession, a great part of them were, and are Episcopalians; a number, the posterity of a Baptist church, which has become extinct, that once flourished under the ministry of the Reverend Isaac Chanler, a pious and eminent divine; and the remains of an Independent congregation, removed to Georgia, the same mentioned above, to which Mr. Roberts had united. With the latter, Mr. Cook formed his closest connection, preaching ordinarily in the place of worship belonging to them.

The dispute between Britain and the Colonies was now become very serious; the sword was drawn; blood had begun to deluge the field of battle, and a general concern for religious as well as civil liberty, possessed the breasts of the Americans. A temporary form of government, agreed on by South-Carolina, while a reconciliation to Britain on equitable principles was hoped for, had continued the partial establishment, and legal support of the Church of England. This convinced the Dissenters of the necessity of uniting and making vigorous exertions for obtaining the equal enjoyment of all the privileges proper to a free people. For they now saw, that the Episcopalians, who generally possessed the most conspicuous stations, with their usual appendages of wealth and influence, while they declaimed against the unconstitutional claims of Britain, and were very fond of receiving the assistance of their dissenting brethren in the national struggle, were determined to secure to themselves every exclusive and partial advantage in their power. An invitation was now given to ministers and churches of various denominations, but principally to the Baptists, among whom the business originated, to meet at the High Hills of Santee, at the seat of the Baptist church there, which is nearly the center of the State, to consult their general interests. To this meeting, which was held early in 1776, came Mr. Cook, with two other of the young gentlemen mentioned above, and continued there to the next Sabbath, after the business was concluded, which being the season for the administration of the Lord’s supper in that church, divine worship was publicly attended on the two preceding days. On Saturday, Mr. Cook had all invitation to preach; and a little before service began, he took aside Mr. Hart, the minister of the Baptist church in Charleston, who had staid to assist at the solemnity, and Mr. Furman, the pastor of the church at Santee, who was then very young in the ministry, and has since succeeded Mr. Hart in Charleston, requesting their advice on a matter under which his mind labored. They were informed by him, that he had, for a considerable time, felt strong convictions respecting the propriety of believers’ baptism, and its necessity in order to a universal obedience of Christ, in a becoming manner. That he had endeavored to silence his conscience, and avoid the means of conviction, during a great part of the time; but that of late he had felt such guilt and shame in reflecting on his past conduct, as compelled him to a serious consideration of the subject, with a full determination of heart to do whatever appeared to be the will of God; and that the result of this investigation was the most satisfactory evidence in favor of what he had so long thought his duty. This, with the forcible application to his mind, of Ananias’s address to Paul, "And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord," made him anxious to comply with his duty without delay, especially as a favorable opportunity then offered. "I have only to add, gentlemen," concluded he, "that I should be glad of your advice, whether to embrace the ordinance immediately, or defer it to be administered among the people where I live; and if I submit to it immediately, seeing my sentiments and intention have been hitherto unknown to the public, whether it would be proper to make Ananias’s address to St. Paul, just now mentioned, and from which I have felt so much conviction, the subject of the discourse I am about to deliver, and just in the light I now behold it, as it applies to myself? This, I confess, is the dictate of my own mind, and I would not wish to act unadvisedly."

The ministers were both of opinion, that it would be best not to delay the administration, and that it was proper he should follow the dictate of his mind respecting the subject, and method of preaching proposed. He preached accordingly to the surprise and conviction of many, and was the next day baptized by the pastor of that church, the Reverend Mr. Furman, after satisfying the church respecting his acquaintance with experimental religion; and on farther consideration, having enjoyed his visits before, and being fully satisfied with his ministerial qualifications, they began to contemplate his ordination. He was accordingly ordained a few days after by Mr. Hart and Mr. Furman. A vacancy having taken place in the church of Euhaw, by the death of an excellent divine, the Reverend Francis Pelot, Mr. Cook soon received a call to take the pastoral care of it, which he accepted, and preached there without interruption for some time; but the invasion of the State taking place, and his exposed situation, near the sea-coast, having already subjected him to losses and distress, he removed to an interior part of the country, where he continued to the conclusion of the war, but suffered anew in the ravages of the State by the troops under Lord Cornwallis and other commanders; so that when he returned to the Euhaw, on the commencement of the peace, he was reduced to a state of poverty. Previous to his leaving Euhaw, he had lost his first wife, and married a second; some circumstances attending this marriage, gave displeasure to a number of his friends, and himself acknowledged he was chargeable with imprudence in the transaction, for which he was sorry. Hitherto nothing very considerable had appeared in Mr. Cook’s ministry in America, towards promoting the kingdom of Christ; but on his return to his church, having passed through some humbling scenes, and entering more fully into the gospel spirit, he labored with much success. The church had been greatly reduced before he took charge of it, and at his return was almost become extinct; yet it pleased God, by his ministry to add a pleasing number to it in a few years. The account of additions, by baptism, presented to the Association, for the five last years of his life, was 78; many of these are persons of real worth and respectability. In the September of 1790, he wrote a letter to Mr. Rippon, of London, in which he gave a pleasing account of the believing Negro church at Savannah, and then added, "My sphere of action is great, having two congregations to regard, at a considerable distance from each other, exclusive of this where I reside; as, also, friendly visits to pay to sister churches, and societies of other denominations, who are destitute of ministers, frequently riding under a scorching sun, with a fever, twenty miles in a morning, and then preach afterwards. Our brethren in England, have scarcely an idea of what hardship we struggle with, who travel to propagate the gospel. I have been in a very poor state of health for two months, but it has not prevented an attention to the duties of my station. O, what a blessing is health! We cannot be too thankful for it."

This good man had now almost finished his course. The circumstances of his dissolution may be collected from a letter, written by one of his dear friends, of which the following is an extract:

This account of Mr. Cook is found in Rippon’s Register, from which it has been copied, with little variation. Some expressions which regard affairs in America have been altered, to make the narrative conform to the present time. What changes have taken place in the persons and events described in England, I’m not able to state, only that Mr. Percy, who went back to England, is I conclude the same person who is now an Episcopal minister in Charleston, South-Carolina.

Lemuel Covel was, it is believed, a native of the State of New-York; he was sent out into the ministry by the church in Providence, Saratoga county, thirty or forty miles above Albany. He commenced his ministerial labors under great disadvantages, being both poor and illiterate; and most of his life was spent under the pressure of poverty and worldly embarrassments. But notwithstanding he was obliged to labor almost constantly for his support, such were the astonishing powers of his mind, that he became one of the most distinguished preachers in the Baptist connection. His talents were far above mediocrity, his voice was clear and majestic, and his address was manly and engaging. The doctrine of salvation by the cross, was the grand theme on which he dwelt with peculiar pleasure; and his preaching was of the most solid, perspicuous, and interesting kind. He lived the religion he professed, and exemplified by his conduct the rules he laid down for others. As an itinerant preacher, his zeal and success were equalled by few; and perhaps exceeded by none among the American preachers. Missionary concerns lay near his heart; and in every thing pertaining to them, he seems to have been a kindred spirit to the famous Pearce of Birmingham. He traveled much among the churches in New-York and New-England, and had often explored new and destitute regions. A little while before his death, the church in Cheshire, with which John Leland is connected, had settled him as their pastor, had assumed the debts in which misfortunes had involved him, and his prospects for comfort and usefulness were never greater. As he was much inclined to travel, the church had settled him under the expectation, that he would be with them but a part of the time, and the Missionary Society of Boston most gladly afforded him their patronage what time he wished to itinerate. Dark and mysterious indeed was that providence, which cut off, in the meridian of life, and in the midst of usefulness, this worthy man. His constitution, naturally slender, had been much impaired by frequent attacks of disease, and by his too extensive labors of various kinds; and while traveling as a missionary in upper Canada, in October, 1806, he, after a short illness, finished his earthly course. Elders Elkanah Hohnes and David Irish were, at that time, engaged in the same field of missionary labors; the last of whom thus describes the mournful event of Mr. Covel’s death.

Mr. Covel left a widow and five children to mourn his loss. ELIJAH CRAIG was one of the first converts to the Baptist preaching in Virginia. When Mr. Samuel Harris came and preached an experience of grace in Pittsylvania, he found his heart could testify to the truth of it, having some time previously experienced a change, which he had not viewed as conversion, but only the encouragement of Heaven to go on to seek. He was now so strengthened, that, in conjunction with certain young converts in his neighborhood, who were of the Regular Baptists, he undertook to exhort, etc. and to hold little meetings in the neighborhood. His tobacco-house was their chapel. Being most of them laboring men, they used to labor all day, and hold meetings almost every night, at each other’s houses, and on Sundays at the above-mentioned tobacco-house. By these little prayer and exhortation meetings, great numbers were awakened and several converted.

Mr. Craig was one of the constituents of the Upper Spottsylvania church; he was also one of those who were afterwards dismissed from it, to form the church on Blue Run, over which he was soon afterwards ordained pastor. He was certainly a great blessing to Blue Run church, for under his care they flourished. He was accounted a preacher of considerable talents for that day; which, united to his zeal, honored him with the attention of his persecutors. They sent the sheriff and posse after him, when at his plough. He was taken and carried before three magistrates of Culpepper. They, without hearing arguments, pro or con, ordered him to jail. At court, he, with others, was arraigned. One of the lawyers told the Court, they had better discharge them; for that oppressing them, would rather advance than retard them, He said, they were like a bed of camomile; the more they were trod, the more they would spread. The Court thought otherwise, and were determined to imprison them. Some of the Court were of opinion, that they ought to be confined in a close dungeon; but the majority were for giving them the bounds. After staying there one month, preaching to all who came, he gave bond for good behavior, and came out. He was also confined in Orange jail, at another time. He was a preacher of usefulness for many years after he commenced; but finally falling too much into land speculations, his ministry was greatly hindered. In 1786, he moved to Kentucky, where, continuing his land speculations, that bewildering pursuit, which has ruined the reputation and usefullness of so many in Kentucky and elsewhere, he became obnoxious to the church, and was excommunicated 1791. How long he stayed out, is not known. He was, however, restored; and continued in the church until the year 1808, when he died.

He was naturally of a censorious temper; and always seemed better pleased to find out the faults than the virtues of mankind. This, however, so long as he was warm in religion, was checked by a superior principle; but after he declined in his religious exercises, and became a land speculator, he could seldom be pleased. As good a proof as any that can be named, of this peevish temper, may be gathered from two pamphlets, his only writings that have ever been published. In the one, he undertakes to prove that stationed preachers or pastors of churches, are precluded, by the Scriptures, from receiving any compensation for their services. In this pamphlet, he takes so many opportunities to condemn preachers for being money-seekers, that it would seem the main design of the publication was, to indulge a fault-finding temper. The maintaining of such a sentiment was censurable, because it is contrary to Scripture and reason and it was certainly ridiculous to advance it in Kentucky, where preachers are so much and so generally neglected by the churches. A person, acquainted with the negligent spirit and parsimonious maxims of the Kentucky Baptists, in viewing the title-page of this pamphlet, would be led to think that the author intended ironically to reprove the churches, rather than to censure the avarice of their ministers. His other pamphlet was a personal philippic against Jacob Creath, on account of some private dispute between Creath and a Mr. Lewis; the former the pastor, and the latter one of the principal members of the Town-Fork church, in the neighborhood of Lexington. Without saying any thing about the merits of the case, or the provocation given by Mr. Creath, candor compels us to say, that no provocation can justify the style of this pamphlet. It is written with a pen dipt in poison. The Baptists are a free people; and every one in these matters, says and does that which seemeth right in his own eyes: but it is to be hoped, that the present, nor any other generation, will ever witness another publication, written in the style or temper of the above pamphlet; and that, too, by one Baptist preacher against another.

Samuel Eccles was a native of Roscoramon, in Ireland, and began professional life in the capacity of a merchant in his own country; but proving unfortunate in trade, soon after his engaging in it, he went to France, and as a friend to liberty, took an active part in the revolutionary war, in which that country was then engaged. But the enormities practiced there, under the name of liberty, both by the government and army, induced him, in a little time, to resign his commission, and come to America. He landed in South-Carolina; and here it pleased God, shortly after his arrival, to impress his mind with the importance and excellence of religion; and, from being a man of the world and a soldier, he became eminent for piety and devotion. Having made a serious profession of religion, his attention was turned to the ministry; and that he might be qualified to perform the duties of this important station to advantage, he availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the establishment of the Baptist Education Fund, belonging to the Charleston Association, and engaged in the course of classical and theological studies, which he pursued about four years, with close application, under the Reverend Mr. Roberts, near Stateburg. He had been for some time pastor of a church in the upper part of this State; and though living at a distance, preached at stated times in Orangeburg, where he was solicited to settle; but having, about two months before his death, married a daughter of the late Reverend Timothy Durgan, of Jeffer’s Creek, he had just changed his residence to that place, and was entered on an apparently extensive field of usefulness, when it pleased God, who is infinitely wise and sovereign in his counsels and dispensations, by a short but sharp illness, to remove him to the world of spirits, August 12, 1808. Mr. Eccles’ age is not mentioned, but he was, probably, about 40 years old.

His natural and acquired abilities were respectable; his character fair; his disposition amiable, and his usefulness conspicuous. As a preacher he was zealous and active, and manifested an extensive acquaintance with the heart and conscience, which he addressed with great seriousness. In his preaching, he insisted much on the great peculiarities of the gospel, considered as a dispensation of free, sovereign, and glorious grace, extended through a Redeemer to guilty, dying men, and strongly enforced the necessity of experimental, practical godliness. One who knew him well and felt as a friend, in giving information of his death, writes, "He bore his last affliction with placid resignation and unrepining patience."

The following biographical sketch of this truly eminent man, and distinguished promoter of the Baptist cause in America, was drawn by Dr. William Rogers of Philadelphia, in a sermon preached at his funeral, and by him communicated to Dr. Rippon, of London, who published it in the 12th No. of his Annual Register, from which it is now extracted. The sermon, which for some cause was not printed, was preached in the 1st Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1795, on 2 Corinthians 6:8, "By honor and dishonor; by evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true." The Doctor, after a general and pertinent illustration of his text, thus proceeds:

"My highly esteemed friend and father, the Reverend Mr. Morgan Edwards, requested, as you have already been informed, that these words should be preached from, as soon as convenient after his decease. I presume he found them descriptive of what he met with in the course of his ministry.

"Honour, Mr. Edwards certainly had, both in Europe and America. The College and Academy of Philadelphia, at a very early period, honored him as a man of learning, and a popular preacher, with a diploma, constituting him Master of Arts; this was followed by a degree ad eudem in the year 1769, from the College of Rhode-Island, being the first commencement in that institution. In this seminary he held a Fellowship, and filled it with reputation, till he voluntarily resigned it in 1789; age and distance having rendered him incapable of attending the meetings of the Corporation any longer.

"He also met with dishonor; but he complained not much of this, as it was occasioned by his strong attachment to the Royal Family of Great Britain, in the beginning of the American war, which fixed on him the name of a Tory: this I should have omitted mentioning, had not the deceased expressly enjoined it upon me. For any person to have been so marked out in those days, was enough to bring on political opposition and destruction of property; all of which took place with respect to Mr. Edwards, though he never harbored the thought of doing the least injury to the United States, by abetting the cause of our enemies.

"A good report our departed brother also had. The numerous letters brought with him across the Atlantic, from the Reverend Dr. John Gill and others, reported handsome things of him; and so did, in return, the letters that went from America to the then parent country.

"Evil reports also fell to his share; but most of these were false reports, and therefore he gave credit for them as a species of persecution. And even the title of deceiver did not escape him. Often has he been told that he was an Arminian, though he professed to be a Calvinist; that he was a Universalist in disguise, etc. Yet he was true to his principles. These may be seen in our confession of faith, agreeing with that republished by the Baptist churches assembled at London, in the year 1689. He seldom meddled with the five polemical points; but when he did, he always avoided abusive language. The charge of Universalism brought against him was not altogether groundless; for though he was not a Universalist himself, he professed a great regard for many who were, and he would sometimes take their part against violent opposers, in order to inculcate moderation.

"Mr. Edwards was born in Trevethin parish, Monmouthshire, in the principality of Wales, on May 9th, 1722, old style; and had his grammar learning in the same parish, at a village called Trosnat; afterwards he was placed in the Baptist seminary at Bristol, in Old-England, at the time the president’s chair was filled by the Reverend Mr. Foskett. He entered on the ministry in the sixteenth year of his age. After he had finished his academical studies, he went to Boston in Lincolnshire, where he continued seven years, preaching the gospel to a small congregation in that town. From Boston, he removed to Cork, in Ireland, where he was ordained, June 1, 1757, and resided nine years. From Cork he returned to Great-Britain, and preached about twelve months at Rye, in Sussex. While at Rye, the Reverend Dr. Gill,* and other London ministers, in pursuance of letters which they received from this church (Philadelphia) urged him to pay you a visit. He complied, took his passage for America, arrived here May 23, 1761, and shortly afterwards became your pastor. He had the oversight of this church for many years; voluntarily resigned his office, when he found the cause, which was so near and dear to his heart, sinking under his hands; but continued preaching to the people, till they obtained another minister, the person who now addresses you, in the procuring of whom he was not inactive. [* It is said, that the church in Philadelphia sent to Dr. Gill of London to assist them in obtaining a pastor; but that they required so many accomplishments to be united in him, that the Dr. wrote them back, that he did not know as he could find a man in England who would answer their description; informing them, at the same time, that Mr. Morgan Edwards, who was then preaching in Rye, in the county of Sussex, came the nearest of any one who could be obtained.]

"After this, Mr. Edwards purchased a plantation in Newark, New-Castle county, State of Delaware, and moved thither with his family in the year 1772; he continued preaching the word of life and salvation in a number of vacant churches, till the commencement of the American war. He then desisted, and remained silent, till after the termination of our revolutionary troubles, and a consequent reconciliation with this church. He then occasionally read lectures in divinity in this city, and other parts of Pennsylvania; also in New Jersey, Delaware, and New-England; but for very particular and affecting reasons could never be prevailed upon to resume the sacred character of a minister. [The delicate circumstances in which Dr. Rogers was placed, at the time he delivered this discourse, was probably the reason why he was not more explicit on the subject here referred to. It is said that Mr. Edwards, in the midst of his troubles, was guilty, in a few instances at least, of using intemperately an antidote, too often resorted to in the time of trouble [apparently referring to liquor]. And as he had always maintained the sentiment, that it was improper for a minister of the gospel, after what may be called a capital fall, ever again to resume his minsterial office, he, for the remainder of his days, carried his belief into practical operation. It is painful to have occasion to relate an affair, so much against the reputation of a man so good and great as Mr. Edwards, his slips and mistakes notwithstanding: but it is hoped the Baptists generally will profit by the unpleasant story; and that those ministers, (and some it must be acknowledged there are) who are so unhappy as to be left to similar falls, would imitate his example, instead of crowding themselves forward, with their bespattered garments, to the grief of their brethren, and to the injury of the cause which they endeavor to promote. A preacher, whose reputation is sullied, either by women or wine, (his greatest foes) is like a broken looking-glass. which may be mended, it is true, so as to do its former service; but it will always be a broken thing.]

"Our worthy friend departed this life, at Pencader, New-Castle county, Delaware State, on Wednesday the 28th of January, 1795, in the 73d year of his age; and was buried, agreeable to his own desire, in the aisle of this meeting-house, with his first wife and their children; her maiden name was Mary Nunn, originally of Cork, in Ireland, by whom he had several children, all of whom are dead, excepting two sons, William and Joshua; the first, if alive, is a military officer in the British service; the other is now present with us, paying this last public tribute of filial affection to the memory of a fond and pious parent. Mr. Edwards’s second wife was a Mrs. Singleton, of the State of Delaware, who is also dead, by whom he had no issue.

"Several of Mr. Edwards’s pieces have appeared in print, viz. 1. A Farewell Discourse, delivered at the Baptist meeting-house in Rye, Feb. 8, 1761, on Acts 20:25,26. ‘And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more: wherefore, I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.’ This passed through two editions, 8vo. 2d. A Sermon preached in the College of Philadelphia, at the ordination of the Reverend Samuel Jones, (now D.D.) with a narrative of the manner in which the ordination was conducted, 8vo. 3d. The Customs of Primitive Churches, or a set of Propositions relative to the Name, Materials, Constitution, Powers, Officers, Ordinances, etc. of a Church; to which are added, their proofs from Scripture, and historical narratives of the manner in which most of them have been reduced to practice, 4th. This book was intended for the Philadelphia Association, in hopes they would have improved on the plan, so that their joint productions might have introduced a full and unexceptionable treatise of church discipline. 4th. A New-Year’s Gift; a Sermon preached in this house, Jan. 1, 1770, from these words, ‘This year thou shalt die’; which passed through four editions. What gave rise to this discourse will probably be recollected for many years to come.* 5th. Materials towards a History of the Baptists in Pennsylvania, both British and German, distinguished into First-day, Keithian, Seventh-day, Tunker, and Rogerene Baptists, 12mo. 1792. The motto of both volumes is, ‘Lo! a people that dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.’ 7th. A Treatise on the Millennium. 8th. A Treatise on the New Heaven and New Earth: this was reprinted in London. 9th. Res Sacra, a Translation from the Latin. The subject of this piece is an enumeration of all the acts of public worship, which the New-Testament styles offerings and sacrifices; among which, giving money for religious uses is one; and therefore, according to Mr. Edwards’s opinion, is to be done in the places of public worship, and with equal devotion.

[* "It has often been said, that when great men err, they err egregiously. So did Mr. Edwards in the instance to which his biographer here refers. Led by a mere foolish impulse, and not by Scripture, the good man persuaded himself, that he should die on a certain day, and accordingly preached his own funeral sermon; but the event did not answer to the prediction: he could not die for his life. Wisdom was learnt from folly, and many said, we have the Scripture to walk by; a more sure word than voices, new revelations and impulses, to which we do well to take heed, as to a light that shineth in a dark place. This was a teaching lesson. The late excellent Mr. George Whitefield was, in his earlier days, under a similar delusion. His wife was with child; he conjectured she would bring forth a son; she did -- they called his name John; in all this there was no harm; but Mr. Whitefield believed that the child was not only to be continued to him, but to be a preacher of the everlasting gospel. ‘Satan was permitted,’ says he, ‘to give me some wrong impressions, whereby, as I now find, I misapplied several texts of Scripture.’ About a week after the birth of the child, his father baptized him in the Tabernacle. Thousands went away big with hopes, that the child would hereafter be employed in the work of the ministry, and Mr. Whitefield as much so as any of them; but little John died when he was about four months old, without being great in the sight of the Lord, as his father had promised himself. This mistake was over-ruled in mercy, and the great and good man himself thus concludes the narrative of this affair, (Letter 547th, vol. 2d of his works:) ‘I hope what happened before his birth, and since at his death, has taught me such lessons, as, if duly improved, may render his mistaken parent more sober minded, more experienced in Satan’s devices, and consequently more useful, in his future labors, to the church of God.’ How proper, that ministers and Christians should learn from these instances, to avoid all enthusiastic impulses, and be concerned to put God’s meaning on God’s word!" Rippon’s Register. I find that some of Mr. Edwards’s friends are unwilling to admit that he intended the discourse above mentioned for his funeral sermon. But I have been assured by one of his most confidential friends, that the story is literally true, and that he did actually request one of the senior ministers in the Philadelphia Association to preach a sermon at his interment. Although Mr. Edwards lived twenty-five years after this event, yet he did actually die, at the time, in a figurative sense. And it is reported of him, that he said to a friend, some time after this unpleasant affair happened, that he was mistaken in his impulses; for he thought it was the man, and not the minister, that should die.]

"Besides what he gave to his intimate friends as tokens of personal regard, he has left behind him 42 volumes of sermons, 12 sermons to a volume, all written in a large print hand; also about a dozen volumes in quarto, on special subjects, in some of which he was respondent, and therefore they may not contain his own real sentiments. These, with many other things, unite to show that he was no idler.

"He used to recommend it to ministers to write their sermons at large, but not to read them in the pulpit; if he did, he advised the preacher to write a large, fair hand, and make himself so much master of his subject, that a glance might take in a whole page. Being a good classic, and a man of refinement, he was vexed with such discourses from the pulpit as deserved no attention, and much more to hear barbarisms; because, as he used to say, ‘They were arguments either of vanity or indolence, or both; for an American, with an English grammar in his hand, a learned friend at his elbow, and close application for six months, might make himself master of his mother tongue.’

"The Baptist churches are much indebted to Mr. Edwards. They will long remember the time and talents he devoted to their best interests both in Europe and America. Very far was he from a selfish person. When the arrears of his salary, as pastor of this church, amounted to upwards of 372 pounds, and he was put in possession of a house, by the church, till the principal and interest should be paid, he resigned the house, and relinquished a great part of the debt, lest the church should be distressed.

"The College of Rhode-Island is also greatly beholden to him for his vigorous exertions at home and abroad, in raising money for that institution, and for his particular activity in procuring its charter. This he deemed the greatest service he ever did for the honor of the Baptist name. As one of its first sons, I cheerfully make this public testimony of his laudable and well-timed zeal.

"In the first volume of his Materials, he proposed a plan for uniting all the Baptists on the continent in one body politic, by having the Association of Philadelphia (the center) incorporated by charter, and by taking one delegate out of each Association into the corporation; but finding this impracticable at that time, he visited the churches from New-Hampshire to Georgia, gathering materials towards the history of the whole. Permit me to add, that this plan of union, as yet, has not succeeded.

"Mr. Edwards was the moving cause of having the minutes of the Philadelphia Association printed, which he could not bring to bear for some years; and therefore, at his own expense, he printed tables, exhibiting the original and annual state of the associating churches.

"There was nothing uncommon in Mr. Edwards’s person; but he possessed an original genius. By his travels in England, Ireland and America, commixing with all sorts of people, and by close application to reading, he had attained a remarkable ease of behavior in company, and was furnished with something pleasant or informing to say on all occasions. His Greek Testament was his favourite companion, of which he was a complete master; his Hebrew Bible next, but he was not so well versed in the Hebrew as in the Greek language; however, he knew so much of both as authorized him to say, as he often did, that the Greek and Hebrew are the two eyes of a minister, and the translations are but commentaries; because they vary in sense as commentators do. He preferred the ancient British version above any other version that he had read; observing that the idioms of the Welsh fitted those of the Hebrew and Greek, like hand and glove.

"Our aged and respectable friend is gone the way of all the earth; but he lived to a good old age, and with the utmost composure closed his eyes on all the things of time. Though he is gone, this is not gone with him; it remains with us, that the Baptist interest was ever uppermost with him, and that he labored more to promote it, than to promote his own; and this he did, because he believed it to be the interest of Christ above any in Christendom. His becoming a Baptist was the effect of previous examination and conviction, having been brought up in the Episcopal church, for which church he retained a particular regard during his whole life."

Benjamin Foster, D. D. late pastor of the first Baptist church in the city of New-York, descended from respectable parents of the Congregational church, and was born at Danvers, in the county of Essex, Massachusetts, June 12, 1750.

Agreeably to the custom of his native State, he received the early part of his education at the town school; and as he evinced, from his tender years, a remarkably devout and pious disposition, his parents devoted his whole time to academical pursuits in that seminary, in order to fit him for the University, where they intended to fix him, as soon as his age would admit of his removal from under their immediate care. At the age of eighteen, he was placed at Yale College, in Connecticut, at that time under the direction of the learned and pious President Dagget, where he soon distinguished himself, no less by his religious and exemplary life, than by his assiduity and success in classical literature.

About this time, several tracts relative to the proper subjects of baptism, and also to the scriptural mode of administering that divine ordinance having made their appearance, the matter was considerably agitated in college, and fixed on as a proper subject for discussion. Mr. Foster was appointed to defend infant sprinkling. To prepare himself for the dispute, he used the utmost exertion: he endeavored to view the question in every light in which he could possibly place it: he carefully searched the Holy Scriptures, and examined the history of the church from the times of the Apostles. The result however was very different from what had been expected; for when the day appointed for discussion arrived, he was so far from being prepared to defend infant sprinkling, that, to the great astonishment of the officers of the college, he avowed himself a decided convert to the doctrine, that only those who profess faith in Christ are the subjects, and that immersion only is the mode of Christian baptism; and of which he continued, ever after, a steady, zealous and powerful advocate.

His mind was impressed with serious concern at an early period, but he had nearly arrived at manhood before he obtained a satisfactory evidence of his having passed from death unto life. While a youth, his temptations to blaspheme were often so strong, that, as he related to some pious friends, he has laid fast hold of his lips, to prevent himself from sinning against his Creator.

He graduated about the year 1772, soon after which he was baptized, and joined the church in Boston, of which Samuel Stillman, D. D. was pastor, under whose fostering care he applied himself to the study of divinity, and took upon himself the charge of the Baptist church in Leicester, Massachusetts, over which he was the same year regularly ordained as pastor. During his residence in that place, he published a tract, entitled, "The Washing of Regeneration, or the Divine Rite of Immersion," in answer to a treatise on the subject of baptism, written by the Reverend Mr. Fish. And soon after he published his "Primitive Baptism defended, in a letter to the Reverend Mr. John Cleaveland;" in both of which he discovered considerable erudition, great depth of argument, and much Christian charity. After having continued at Leicester for several years, his connection with that church was dissolved, and he preached a short time in his native town of Danvers; but as neither Danvers nor Leicester afforded him the use of such books as were necessary for a person of his studious turn, he accepted of an invitation to take upon him the pastoral care of a church in Newport, Rhode-Island, where he soon had the satisfaction to find, that his sphere of usefulness was considerably enlarged, and his means of study greatly improved.

On an invitation from the first Baptist church in New-York, he paid them a visit in 1788, and after having preached there for a short time, received an unanimous call to settle amongst them as their pastor. Upon his return to Newport, he consulted with his church, who, though highly pleased with the eminent services of their learned and faithful teacher, were unwilling to throw any obstacle in the way, which might impede his removal to a place, where his ministerial labors might still be more extensively useful. He therefore accepted the call to New-York; and having taken upon him the pastoral charge of that church in the autumn of the same year, continued in that station till the time of his death.

In September 1792, the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the college of Rhode-Island, in consequence of a learned publication of his, entitled, "A Dissertation on the seventy weeks of Daniel; the particular and exact fulfillment of which prophecy is considered and proved."

From the time Dr. Foster set out as a gospel minister, he was uniformly assiduous in the discharge of all the duties of his office; nor did his zeal in the service of his Master abate, as he advanced in life; for during his last twelve or fourteen years, it was his constant practice to preach from four to six sermons every week. But the yellow fever, which committed so great havoc in New-York, during the autumn of 1798, put a period to the usefulness of this worthy man. This dreadful malady had begun to prevail, and several of his friends had sunk under its malignity. In their last illness, Dr. Foster was frequent in his visits, when he prayed with them and administered the soothing consolations of religion. As he was one of those whom no appearance of danger could intimidate from persevering in what he considered to be the path of duty, he was not unwilling to visit those scenes of affliction, from which, at that time, many of the best of men shrunk back with terror. He was, however, seized with the disorder, and after an illness of a very few days, expired, August 26, 1798, to the great and almost irreparable loss of his church, aged 49 years.

Dr. Foster, as a scholar, particularly in the Greek, Hebrew and Chaldean languages, has left few superiors. As a divine, he was strictly Calvinistic, and full on the doctrine of salvation by free grace. As a preacher, he was indefatigable. In private life, he was innocent as a child and harmless as a dove, fulfilling all the duties of life with the greatest punctuality. The following inscription on a handsome marble over his grave, in the Baptist burying-ground in New-York, written by an eminent Presbyterian clergyman of that city, is an encomium justly due to his memory: "As a scholar and divine he excelled; as a preacher he was eminent; as a Christian he shone conspicuously; in his piety he was fervent; the church was comforted by his life, and it now laments his death."

Dr. Foster was twice married, and in both instances was blest with a pious and excellent companion. His first wife, who was Elizabeth Green, daughter of Reverend Thomas Green of Leicester, died August 19, 1793; and his second was Martha, daughter of Mr. James Bingham of New-York, whom he survived but a very short time. She died July 27, 1798.

Daniel Fristoe was born at Chappawomsick, Stafford county, Virginia, December 7, 1739. He was bred an Episcopalian, but embraced the Baptist sentiments soon after they began to prevail in Virginia, and was baptized by his spiritual father, David Thomas. When young, he received a liberal English education, and though fond of fashionable amusements, was not addicted to the grosser vices of the times.

His conversion was brought about on this wise. When about 23 years of age, his curiosity led him to go a considerable distance to hear a Baptist preacher, whose name is not known. While at the meeting, his horse strayed away, which obliged him to tarry all night at the place. In the course of the evening, many came in, who had lately been converted, and who, by entering freely into religious conversation, brought strange things to his ears, and a wakened his attention to eternal things. He returned home with much seriousness and solicitude, and after laboring a while under great distress of mind, was brought into the liberty of the gospel. He now began exhorting, but was soon called by his brethren to the ministry. His course was short but rapid, and the success which attended his labors, appears to have been unusually great. About the year 1774, he was sent as a messenger from the Ketockton to the Philadelphia Association. There he caught the small-pox, and after a short tour of preaching in New-Jersey, returned to Philadelphia, and began his journey homeward, but was laid by at Marcus-Hook, a small town, a few miles below the city, where he died in the 35th year of his age. His remains were carried back to Philadelphia, and buried in the Baptist ground.

The following extract from Mr. Fristoe’s journal, which has been preserved by Mr. Edwards, contains the most interesting account of his ministry, which I have been able to obtain; for his biography has been almost altogether neglected.

John Gano was one of the most eminent ministers in his day; in point of talents he was exceeded by few, and as an itinerant he was inferior to none, who ever traveled the United States, unless it were the renowned Whitefield. He was born at Hopewell, in New-Jersey, July 22, 1727, was converted soon after he arrived at manhood, and was ordained in the place of his nativity, in 1754. His progenitors, on his father’s side, were from France, on his mother’s from England. His great-grandfather, Francis Gano, fled from Guernsey, in the time of a bloody persecution; one of his neighbours had been martyred in the day, and in the evening he was fixed on as the victim for the next day; information of which he received in the dead of night. In this perilous situation he made all haste to escape the sanguinary storm which hung over his head: he chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and in the morning was out of sight of the harbour. On his arrival in America, he settled in New-Rochelle, a few miles above the city of New-York, where he lived to the age of a hundred and three. Of the number or names of the family of this religious refugee, we know no more, than that he had one son named Stephen, who married Ann Walton, by whom he had many children, some of whom died young; those who lived to marry, were Daniel, Francis, James, John, Lewis, Isaac, and three daughters, Sarah, Catharine, and Susannah; the last of whom lived to the age of eighty-seven. Daniel married Sarah Britton of Staten-Island, near the city of New-York, by whom he had Daniel, Jane, Stephen, Susannah, John, Nathaniel, David, and Sarah. The two first were born on Staten-Island, the others at Hopewell, in New Jersey. Some of these died young; but a number of them founded families, and their posterity is scattered in many parts of America; most of them, however, are in the middle and western States.

The subject of this memoir had the happiness of being born of parents eminent for piety, by whom he was early taught the necessity of religion, and a correct view of the gospel system. His maternal grandmother was about seventy-six years a pious member of a Baptist church; she lived to the age of ninety-six. His mother was of the same persuasion, but his father was a Presbyterian. But every thing attending his making a religious profession among the Baptists, was conducted with prudence on his part, and with tenderness on that of his friends. He was at first much inclined to join the Presbyterians, but having some scruples on the subject of infant baptism, he determined to give it a thorough investigation. He not only read books, but had frequent conversation with Presbyterian friends; but the more he studied the Pedobaptist arguments, the less he was inclined to believe them. The famous Mr. Tennant [it is not known by the writer whether William or Gilbert is the minister intended, but it is probable it was the latter], and some other Presbyterian ministers, were among the circle of his Pedobaptist friends. With Mr. Tennant he conversed often and freely; at the close of a lengthy discussion of the subject of baptism, that candid divine addressed him in the following manner: "Dear young man, if the devil cannot destroy your soul, he will endeavor to destroy your comfort and usefulness; and therefore do not be always doubting in this matter. If you cannot think as I do, think for yourself." After a suspense of some time, he became firmly established in those principles, which he through life maintained with so much ability and moderation. Having resolved to be buried in baptism on a profession of his faith, he made his father acquainted with his design, who treated him with much indulgence and tenderness. He stated that what he did for him in his infancy, he then thought was right, and the discharge of an incumbent duty, but if he felt conscientious in his present undertaking, he had his full and free consent. He moreover proposed that when he should offer himself to the Baptist church, he would go with him and give his consent there, and answer any inquiries they might wish to make respecting his life, etc. and also that he would go and see him baptized. All these promises his catholic father fulfilled.

Soon after Mr. Gano was joined to the Hopewell church, his mind was led to the ministry, but with many anxieties and fears. He was so much absorbed in his thoughts of the great work, that he was often lost to every other object. One morning after he began ploughing in his field, this passage, "Warn the people, or their blood will I require at your hands," came with such weight upon his mind, that he drove on until 11 o’clock, utterly insensible of his employment. When he came to himself he found he was wet through with the rain, his horses were excessively fatigued, and the labor he had performed was astonishingly great.

After becoming satisfied that preaching would be his employment, he applied himself with much assiduity to studies preparatory for it, which he continued, with some interruptions however, for two or three years. Before he had been approbated to preach, he took a journey into Virginia, with Messrs. Miller and Thomas, two eminent ministers of that day, who had been appointed by the Philadelphia Association to go and assist in settling some difficulties in two infant churches there, which had applied to them for help. Some account of this journey has been given in the first part of the history of the Baptists in Virginia. Before Mr. Gano had returned home, a report had reached Hopewell, that he had got to preaching in Virginia; and some of his brethren were tried with him, for engaging in the ministry without the approbation of the church. A meeting was called on his arrival, and he was arraigned as being guilty of disorder. He wished them to exhibit their proofs. They informed him that they had none, only what travellers from Virginia had reported, but desired that he would give them a relation of the matter. He replied that it was the first time he had known the accused called on to give evidence against himself, but he was willing, notwithstanding, to give them an impartial relation of his conduct, which he did. The church then asked him what he thought of his proceedings, and whether he did not think he had been disorderly. He replied again, that he considered this question more extraordinary than the other. He had not only given evidence in his own case which would operate against him, but he was now called upon to adjudge himself guilty. This is a specimen of that ingenuity and presence of mind, which shone so conspicuously through all the transactions of this sagacious character. He at length informed the church that he did not mean to act disorderly, nor contrary to their wishes; that his conscience acquitted him for what he had done; that he had no disposition to repent his having sounded the gospel to perishing souls in Virginia, whose importunities to hear it he could not resist; that the case was extraordinary, and would not probably happen again; if it should, he should probably do again as he had already done. The church now appointed him a time to preach, which he did to their acceptance; and after a thorough examination of his gifts and call, he was regularly set apart for the ministry.

Soon after this, he went to reside at Morristown; and calls for preaching pressed upon him so much, that his studies, in which he had considerably advanced, were in a great measure relinquished.

At the next meeting of the Philadelphia Association, that body was again petitioned to appoint some one to travel to the south. Messengers had also come on from Virginia, for the purpose of procuring a preacher to labor and administer ordinances among them. As no ordained minister could conveniently go, Mr. Gano was urged to accept ordination, and undertake the journey. He pleaded against it his youth and inexperience; but the messengers from Virginia, and his brethren at home, united their importunities, and he engaged in the mission. He was ordained in May 1754, and set out in a short time after. In this journey he went as far as Charleston, South-Carolina, and traveled extensively throughout the southern States. Some extracts from his journal will give the reader some view of the turn of the man, and of the manner in which he prosecuted his mission. His journal, which was printed in his life, has but few dates, but it will be understood that the following scenes transpired in the summer and autumn of 1754.

In the back parts of Virginia, this zealous missionary, while conversing with some people where he lodged, in an affectionate manner, respecting their religious concerns, overheard one of the company say to another, "This man talks like one of the Jones’s!" On inquiring who the Jones’s were, he was informed that they were distracted people, who did nothing but pray and talk about Jesus Christ; and that they lived between twenty and thirty miles distant on his route. "I determined," said he," to make it my next day’s ride, and see my own likeness." When he arrived at the house, he found there a plain obscure family, which had formerly lived in a very careless manner, but a number of them had lately been changed by grace, and were much engaged in devotional exercises. As he entered the house, he saw the father of the family lying before the fire, groaning with rheumatic pains. He inquired how he did? "O," said he, "I am in great distress." "I am glad of it," replied the stranger. The old gentleman, astonished at this singular reply, raised himself up, and inquired what he meant? "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," answered Mr. Gano. From this they proceeded to religious conversation, and he soon found this pious family, whom the world accounted mad, had been taught the words of truth and soberness. They asked him many questions, and were much pleased to find one, who was acquainted with the things they had experienced.

From this place he proceeded on towards North-Carolina, having a young man with him, who chose to bear him company on his way. "We arrived at a house just at dusk, the master of which gave us liberty to tarry. After we had conveyed our things into the house, he asked me if I was a trader; which I answered in the affirmative. He asked me if I found it to answer; to which I answered, "Not so well as I could wish." He replied, "Probably the goods did not suit." I told him, "No one had complained of that." He said I held them too high. I answered," Any one might have them below their own price." He said he would trade on these terms; which, I said, I would cheerfully comply with. I then asked him, "If gold tried in the fire, yea, that which was better than the fine gold, wine and milk, durable riches and righteousness, without money and without price, would not suit him?" "O," said he, "I believe you are a minister." I told him I was, and had a right to proclaim free grace wherever I went. This laid the foundation for the evening’s conversation; and I must acknowledge his kindness, though he was not very desirous of trading, after he discovered who I was."

Our itinerant continued southward until he arrived at Charleston; and there, and in its vicinity, he preached to good acceptance. His account of his first sermon for Mr. Hart, in Charleston, is as follows: "When I arose to speak, the sight of so brilliant an audience, among whom were twelve ministers, and one of whom was Mr. Whitefield, for a moment, brought the fear of man upon me; but blessed be the Lord, I was soon relieved from this embarrassment; the thought passed my mind, I had none to fear and obey, but the Lord."

On his return from Charleston to the northward, he visited an island where he was informed there never had been but two sermons preached. The people soon collected together, and he preached to them from these words, ‘Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you.’

When he arrived at Tar River, in North-Carolina, he found a report had gone forth, that some of the principal men in the county had agreed, that if he came within their reach, they would apprehend him as a spy; for by his name he was judged to be a Frenchman, and this was in the time of the French war. Some of these people lived on the road he was to travel the next day. His friends urged him to take a different route; but he replied that God had so far conducted him on his way in safety, and he should trust him for the future. When he got near the place where the principal men, who had threatened him lived, he was advised to go through it as secretly as possible; but that by no means accorded with his views: he replied, he should stop and refresh himself in the place. He stopped at one of the most publick houses, and asked the landlord if he thought the people would come out to hear a sermon on a week day. He informed him he thought they would; but observed, that on the next Monday, there was to be a general muster for that county. He therefore concluded to defer the meeting till that time, and requested the landlord to inform the Colonel of the regiment, (who, he had learnt, was one of those who had threatened him) of his name, etc. and desire of him the favor of preaching a short sermon before military duty. The landlord promised to comply with his request. "On Monday I had twenty miles to ride to the muster, and by 10 o’clock there was a numerous crowd of men and women; they had erected a stage in the woods for me, and I preached from Paul’s Christian armor. They all paid the most profound attention, except one man who behaved amiss. I spoke and told him, I was ashamed to see a soldier so awkward in duty, and wondered his officer could bear with him. The Colonel, as I afterwards understood, brought him to order. After service, I desired a person to inform the commander that I wanted to speak with him. He immediately came, and I told him, that although I professed loyalty to King George, and did not wish to infringe upon the laudable design of the day, yet, I thought, the King of kings ought to be served first; and I presumed what I had said did not tend to make them worse soldiers, but better Christians. He complaisantly thanked me, and said, if I could wait, he would make the exercise as short as possible, and give an opportunity for another sermon, for which he should be much obliged to me. I told him I had an appointment some miles off to preach the next day. Thus ended my chastisement, and the fears of my friends."

"From hence I returned by the way of Ketockton, on Blu-Ridge, where the inhabitants are scattered. On my road, I observed a thunder-storm arising, and rode speedily for the first house. When I arrived, the man came running into the house, and seeing me, appeared much alarmed; there being at that time great demands for men and horses for Braddock’s army. He said to me, "Sir, are you a press-master?" I told him I was. "But," said he, "you do not take married men?" I told him surely I did; and that the Master I wished him to serve, was good, his character unimpeachable, the wages great, and that it would be for the benefit of his wife and children, if he enlisted. He made many excuses, but I endeavored to answer them, and begged him to turn out a volunteer in the service of Christ. This calmed his fears, and I left him, and proceeded on my way to Ketockton, where I spent some time, and baptized Mr. Hail."

From Ketockton, Mr. Gano proceeded immediately homeward. Soon after his arrival, he was married to Sarah, daughter of John Stites, Esq. mayor of Elizabeth-Town, in New Jersey, by whom he had many children, most of whom are yet living. Two sons and two daughters are in Kentucky, one son is in Ohio, one daughter is at Hillsdale, New-York, and his second son Stephen is pastor of the church in Providence, Rhode-lsland. Mrs. Gano was sister to Mrs. Manning, the wife of the President, who is yet living at Providence.

It was not long after Mr. Gano had returned from this journey, before he was again induced, by repeated solicitations, to set out on another, to the southward, in which he was gone about eight months, and was happy to find, in many places, the fruits of his labors in his former visits. Soon after he returned from this excursion, he was invited by an infant church in North-Carolina, which he had raised up in a place called the Jersey Settlement, to remove and become its pastor. Messengers came to Morristown, a distance of about eight hundred miles, for the purpose of soliciting that church to give him up. They at first refused, but afterwards concluded to leave the matter to his own choice. He therefore concluded to go; but at the same time informed the Morristown church, it was not for want of attachment to them. The church in North-Carolina, he considered, was wholly destitute, and there was besides a wide field for gospel labor. At the Jersey Settlement he continued about two years; the church became large, and his labors were abundantly useful throughout a wide and destitute region. But a war breaking out with the Cherokee Indians, he was obliged to leave the country, and returned to New-Jersey. About this time the foundation for the first church in New-York was laid by Mr. Miller of Scotch Plains; the church in Philadelphia had also been lately deprived of its pastor, and continued in that office about twenty-five years, excepting the time he was obliged to be absent on account of the war. Some account of his ministry here, and of the progress of the church while under his care, may be found in its history under the head of New-York.

During most of the revolutionary war, Mr. Gano was a chaplain in the army; and by his counsels and prayers, encouraged the American hosts in their struggles for freedom from the dominion of a foreign, oppressive yoke.

On the return of peace, he returned to his pastoral station, and began to collect the church which had been scattered to many different places. Out of upwards of two hundred members, of which it consisted at the time of its dispersion, he collected at first but thirty-seven; but his congregation soon became large, others of the scattered flock came in, a revival commenced, which prevailed extensively, and at one communion season, near forty young persons were added to their number. In this prosperous manner this successful minister recommenced his labors in New-York, and every thing appeared promising even to the time he projected his removal to Kentucky. This removal was as unexpected to the church, as it was surprising to his friends. His reasons for it are thus stated by himself’ "One William Wood, a Baptist minister, came from Kentucky, and give a very exalted character of the state of it. He made several encouraging proposals to me to go there, said there was a prospect of usefulness in the ministry, the necessity of an old experienced minister to take care of a young church there, and flattering temporal prospects for the support of my family. For those reasons I concluded to remove. Besides, I was considerably in debt, and saw no way of being released, but by selling my house and lot. This I concluded would clear me, and enable me to purchase wagons and horses to carry me to Kentucky. I called a church-meeting, and informed them of my intention. They treated it as a chimera, and thought they could stop me by raising my salary. They, with all possible coolness, left me to determine for myself. I immediately determined to go, and desired them to look out for a supply. This aroused them, and they very affectionately urged me to tarry. I told them, if they had desired me to stay before I had put it out of my own power, I should have given it up." [This with the preceding extracts, is made from Gano’s Life, a 12mo. vol. of 150 pages.]

Having resolved on removing, he sold his estate, commenced his journey, and on June 17, 1787, landed at Limestone, and immediately repaired to Washington, where he tarried a while; he then went to Lexington, and finally settled near Frankfort, where he died in 1804, in the 78th year of his age. The labors of this aged minister were owned of God for good in Kentucky; but there is reason to believe, that neither his usefulness nor worldly comforts were so great as he expected. His changes were frequent, and some of them peculiarly trying. The encouraging proposals made by Mr. Wood, appear not to have been released. His wife was first made a cripple by a fall from a horse, and soon after removed from him by death.

By most of the Kentucky brethren he was honored and esteemed, and by all of them his death was much lamented. In 1793, he made a visit to North-Carolina, where he married, for his second wife, the widow of Captain Thomas Bryant, and daughter of Colonel Jonathan Hunt, formerly of New-Jersey, one of his old neighbours, and unchanging friends. In her he found an amiable help-meet for his declining years. She had been baptized by his son Stephen, three years before, that is, in 1790, when they visited North-Carolina together. She still survives him, and resides at his late dwelling, near Frankfort, Kentucky. While he was waiting for this new companion to arrange her affairs for a removal, he visited Charleston, South-Carolina, and also as far northward as his son Stephen’s, in Providence.

Mr. Gano, though now somewhat impaired, by age, was still actively engaged in his Master’s service; but in 1798, he had the misfortune to fall from a horse, and fractured his shoulder-blade, which deprived him of the use of one of his arms for some time. As he was recovering from this affliction, he was very suddenly seized in his bed, with a paralytic shock, which rendered him almost speechless for nearly a year. From this shock he never fully recovered; but his speech was restored, and he had the use of his limbs so far, that he was able to be carried out to meetings, and preached frequently, especially in the time of the great revival, in an astonishing manner. While the Arian affair, mentioned in the history of the Elkhorn Association, was agitating the minds of many of the Kentucky brethren, this able advocate for gospel truth was carried to Lexington, assisted into the pulpit, where he preached a masterly discourse in defense of the proper Deity of the Savior, which was thought to have had a considerable influence in checking the prevalence of that erroneous system, which many were previously inclined to embrace.

We shall now take a review of the history of this distinguished man, and exhibit some of those peculiar traits in his character, which qualified him for such abundant usefulness, and rendered him so famous amongst the American Baptists. Mr. Gano was peculiarly qualified for an itinerant preacher. He possessed, to a singular degree, the wisdom of the serpent, with the harmlessness of the dove. He had a sagacity and quickness of perception, which but few men possess; he had also a happy facility in improving every passing occurrence to some useful purpose. He could abash and confound the opposer, without exciting his resentment; and administer reproof and instruction where others would be embarrassed or silent. His memory was retentive; his judgement was good; his wit was sprightly, and always at command; his zeal was ardent, but well regulated; his courage undaunted; his knowledge of men was extensive: and to all these accomplishments were added a heart glowing with love to God and men, and a character fair and unimpeachable.

It is said that Hervey’s servant declared his master could make a sermon out of a pair of tongs; and probably not much inferior to his, were the inventive powers of Mr. Gano. He did not, however, descend to the absurd custom adopted by some, of choosing adverbs and prepositions for his texts; but he had a happy talent of selecting passages of Scripture descriptive of peculiar circumstances and passing events. We have a specimen of this in his preaching on the island in South-Carolina. His friends relate many instances of the same kind, a few only of which we shall notice. In one of his journies at the southward, he traveled in company with a young preacher, who has since become an eminent character in that region. They took different routes in the day, but were to meet in the evening, and Mr. Gano was to preach. The meeting was at a private house, and he did not arrive at the place until late. The young man with reluctance began the meeting, and was in prayer when he came in. He entered the assembly without being discovered, and took his place among the hearers; and just as it was time to commence the sermon, he arose and said with emphasis, I am come! Then with a common tone, "I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," John 10:10, and immediately proceeded on in his discourse.

In going down the Ohio river, on his removal to Kentucky, he and his companions met with much trouble on their passage; one of his boats was overset, and some valuable things were lost. Soon after they landed in Kentucky, he preached from these words, "So they all got safe to land."

While in the army, he was informed by the General on Saturday that they should march the next Monday, but was requested not to mention the matter until after sermon the next day. This circumstance suggested to his mind these words, "Being ready to depart on the morrow," from which he preached, and as soon as he had done, the orders were given.

The funeral of General M’Dougal, a famous character in New-York, was appointed on a Lord’s-day at so early an hour, that there was but little time for the afternoon service. The people generally, out of respect to their illustrious citizen, were preparing to attend his funeral. Some congregations did not meet, but Mr. Gano’s did; and he addressed them hastily from these words, "Brethren, the time is short." Having respect to the General’s death, he from this short passage, preached a short but well-adapted discourse, and dismissed the assembly soon enough to join the procession.

He had an art peculiar to himself of accommodating such passages to particular events. His inventive powers were adequate to forming profitable discourses from almost any passage of Scripture at the shortest notice, and through the whole of his ministry, he frequently indulged this inimitable faculty. The first sermon he preached after his son Stephen visited him in Kentucky, was from these words, "I am glad of the coming of Stephanas," etc.

Mr. Gano was personally known almost throughout the United States; and a multitude of anecdotes are told respecting him, a f