ON Tuesday, the 24th of March, Mr. Thomas Harris, late student at Bristol, was ordained pastor over the Baptist church at Pennel, in the county of Monmouth. Mr. Lewis, of Chepstow, introduced the service, by reading and prayer; Mr. Jones, of Cardiff, explained the nature and order of a gospel church; Mr. Edmunds, of Trosnant, prayed the ordination prayer, and gave the charge to the minister, from Rev. ii. 10; Mr. James, of Pontrhydyrun, preached to the people, from 1 Cor. iv. 1; and Mr. Morgan, of Bethany, concluded in prayer. KIDDERMINSTER. In the year 1809, a small Baptist interest was formed in this ancient and once highly honoured town, which has since considerably increased. The late excellent minister, the Rev. T. Griffin, having removed to America, Mr. S. R. Allen was called to the pastorate; to which office he was solemnly ordained on Wednesday, July the 29th, 1818. The Rev. B. H. Draper, of Coseley, delivered the introductory discourse. The usual questions_being put, and replied to, the Rev. T. Waters, of Pershore, offered the ordination prayer; the Rev. H. Page, of Worcester, gave the charge, from Colos, iv. 17; the Rev. T. Morgan, of Birmingham, preached to the people, from 3 John, 8; and the Rev. M. Thomas, of Abergavenny, preached at the Independent meeting-house in the evening. The devotional services were conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Helmore, Thodey, and Redford, (Independent.) Kidderminster is a most important station, containing a population of ten thousand souls. It has been honoured with the labours of a Baxter, and the distinguished piety of a Joseph Williams. The prospect of usefulness is highly encouraging. HORHAM. ON Thursday, August 7, 1817, Mr. Matthew Harvey, (of Hadleigh, Es sex,) was ordained pastor over the Baptist church at Horham, Suffolk, Mr. Tidd commenced the service, by reading the 4th chapter of Ephesians, and praying; Mr. Cowel, of Ipswich, stated the nature of a gospel church, asked the usual questions, and received the confession of faith; Mr. Simpson, of Diss, offered the ordination prayer; Mr. Ward, of Diss, gave the charge, from 1 Tim. iv. 6, and concluded the morning service, Afternoon. Mr. Hickman, (Independent,) of Denton, prayed; Mr. Payne, of Ipswich, addressed the church, from 1 Tim. iv. 12; also Mr. Tidd preached, from Heb. xii. 22; and Mr. Smith, of Carlton, concluded the pleasing services of the day. STRADBROOK. Mr. Thomas Goldsmith was ordained pas Ox Thursday September 25, 1817, tor over the Baptist church, at Stradbrook, Suffolk. Mr. Harvey, of Horham, commenced the solemn service of the day by reading and prayer; Mr. Ward, of Diss, stated the nature of a gospel church, asked the usual questions, and received the confession of faith; Mr. Simpson, of Eye, offered the ordination prayer, Mr. William Shenston, of London, (Mr. Goldsmith's late pastor) gave the charge from Deut. xxxi. 23, and concluded the morning service. In the afternoon, Mr. Payne, of Ipswich, began the service by prayer; Mr. Cowell, of Walton, addressed the church from 1 Cor. i. 10; Mr. Cooper, of Stoke Ash, concluded in prayer. Met again in the evening, Mr Farley, of Wattisham, commenced the service by prayer; Mr. Francis, of Colchester, preached from Psalın cxviii. 25; Mr. Goldsmith concluded the important services of the day in prayer. N. B. The church in this populous village is a branch from the church at Horham, and was formed February 20, 1817, of nineteen persons; since that period it has increased to fifty-three: twenty-six have been added by baptism, and eight by letter. There has been no dissenting interest in the village for more than a century past. There is a large population, and the church enjoys a pleasing prospect of an increase: a Sunday-school is established of more than one hundred children. SPALDICK. ON Tuesday, April 21, 1818, the Rev. Enoch Manning, (SOR of the Rev. Joseph Manning,many years the respectable pastor of the church at Spaldick, Huntingdon,) was ordained to the pastoral office over the church assembling at Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire. Mr. Clark, of Biggleswade, began the service, by reading and prayer; Mr. Geard, of Hitchin, asked the usual questions, and received the confession of faith; Mr. Manning, senior, prayed the ordination prayer; Mr. Morell, (Independent minister,) of St. Neots, addressed the minister; and Mr. Ragsdell, of Thrapston, addressed the church: Mr. Brown, of Keysoe, concluded with prayer. In the evening, Mr. Hemming, of Kimbolton, preached, and closed the interesting services of the day with prayer. MELBOURNE. ON Thursday, August 20, 1818, Mr. W. Pepper, (a student from Stepney,) was publicly set apart to the pastoral office, in the Baptist church at Melbourne, in Cambridgeshire. Mr. Brown, of Buntingford, read appropriate portions of scripture, and prayed. The introductory address was delivered by Mr. Wilkinson, of Saffron Walden, who also asked the usual questions, and received Mr. Pepper's confession of faith; Mr. Towne, of Royston, presented the ordination prayer; Dr. Newman delivered the Poetry. HYMN II. "Hallowed be thy Name." And whilst in songs the lips express H. I.. charge, from Titus, ii. 15; Mr. Edmonds, of Cambridge, addressed the church, from Phil. ii. 16; and Mr. Pyne, of Duxford, concluded with prayer. Mr. Carver's place of worship was kindly lent for this occasion. In the evening, Messrs. Green and Reynolds, (students from Stepney,) prayed; and Dr. Newman preached, from 1 Tim. iii. 14-16. NOTICES. THE members of the Baptist congre gation at Leeds, in consequence of the great number of applications that have lately been made to them for assistance in building and enlarging places of worship, have resolved, "That a Committee be appointed, who shall meet on the second Monday in February, and the second Monday in August, to examine such cases as may be presented, and to fix the time of their being attended to; and that it is their intention to encourage such cases only as shall be approved and recommended by the Committee." Thos. LANGDON. Leeds, Sept. 3. 1818. THE next Meeting of the Wilts and Somerset Association, will be holden at Mr. Saunders, of Frome, is expected te Melksham, on Tuesday, October 13. preach. ROBERT EDMINSON, Secretary. HYMN III. Hail the glorious Prince eternal, Quell the rebel heart of pride! Open throw each massy gate; Man's Redeemer he's appointed, Welcome him with regal state, Oh! what rapture fills the story, Of thy mild paternal reign; All is joy, and peace, and glory, Free from sorrow, doubt, and pain. May our hearts, as King, receive thee, All thy righteous precepts love; Oh! that we might never grieve thee, But our deeds our faith approve. Let the earth, let all creation, Gifts and presents to thee bring; Lordly realm, and mighty nation, Bow before him, CHRIST the KING.. Lord! may we the train be swelling, Of the ransom'd, hallow'd throng; May we, in the heavenly dwelling, Sing of Thee, th' eternal song. H. La THE Baptist Magazine. NOVEMBER, 1818. MEMOIR OF MENNO SIMON. (Continued from page 368.) their possession. These persons THE learned Cassander, a Ca-land), "although they are very Of the amiableness of the sect with which Menno was united, Erasmus bore the following honourable testimony, in the year 1529, five years before the insurrection at Munster, in a letter to Alphonsus Fonseca, archbishop of Toledo, dated from Basle: "The Anabaptists" (in Switzer VOL. X. In a letter to some friends in the Netherlands, Erasmus, speaking of the Zurichers, says, "They are very strenuous that heretics should not be put to death, although they themselves have thus punished the Anabaptists, who were condemned on very inferior points, and who, it is said, have among them a great number of persons that have been converted from lives of the greatest impiety to pre-eminent holiness. Zurichers, however, think them to be in an error. They have no churches allowed them, although they have never entered any town by force, nor sought to strengthen their party by clandestine and secret conspiracies, and by opposition to the secular powers, nor in a single instance despoiled any one of his property." The Menno agreed with the other Reformers, respecting the great and leading doctrines of Christia 3 F nity, as appears from his writ- wash the feet of their brethren who ings. To this also Heyden, visit them from foreign parts, Hoornbeck, and Cocceius, bore and of messengers from churches. the following testimony, in a let-Others of them perform this cereter to Huldrick, minister at Zu-mony after the celebration of the rich :-"Many of the disciples of Lord's Supper. They quote in Menno live among us, who are favour of this practice Gen. xviii. esteemed as good citizens. They 4. John xiii. 14. and 1 Tim. v, confess the grace of Christ, and 10. defend it; and strongly oppose the Socinians, who mingle among them." All of them practise sprinkling instead of immersion. They acknowledge that immersion was the practice of the church, from the age immediately succeeding that of the apostles, down to a very late period. But they say, that it was an early corruption, and that either pouring or sprink His Works were published in folio, in 1681. The following are the titles of a few of them. I. "An evident Demonstration of the Saving Doctrine of Jesus Christ." In this work, he treats on the following subjects: 1. The time of grace. 2. Repentance. 3. Faith, which he defines to be, An embracing of the gospel, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. He shows that the believer relies upon Christ and his grace; that he embraces his pro The distinguishing tenets of his party are the same with those of the ancient Waldenses, not only, as they believe, respecting baptism, but also with respect to oaths, war, and civil offices. Some time, however, after his renunci-ling was the apostolic mode. ation of Popery, he fell into an error, somewhat resembling that of some of the ancient Christians, concerning the incarnation of Christ, but which is now maintained by very few of the Mennonites. From a desire to keep the human nature of Christ as remote as possible from being implicated in that original corruption which proceeds from the fall, he held that, at the incarnation, his human body was not derived, but created. "It must, however," says Mosheim, "be ac-mises; and that he is justified, knowledged, that Menno does not seem to have been unchangeably wedded to this opinion; for in several places he expresses himself ambiguously on this head, and even sometimes falls into inconsistencies. From hence, perhaps, it might not be unreasona-16, &c. and by the arguments ble to conclude, that he renounc- which are usually adduced ed indeed the common opinion that side of the question; and concerning the origin of Christ's replies to the arguments in favour human nature; but was pretty of Pædobaptism. In this chapmuch undetermined with respect ter, he uses a severity of style to the hypothesis which, among which the subject does not. remany that were proposed, it was quire, but which was common proper to substitute in its place." with the Reformers in general, when they disputed against adversaries who had set them the exam Some of the Mennonites, likewise, esteem it to be their duty to not by works, but by faith, which is not of men, but the gift of God; and that this faith is not without fruits, but worketh by love. 4. Baptism. He defends the confining of baptism to believers, from Matt. xxviii. 12. Mark xvi. on nister spiritual things, it is but reasonable they should receive temporal ones. He makes this clear from the case of the priests and Levites under the legal dispensation, who, ministering in holy things, had a provision made for them. And lastly, from the constitution and appointment of Christ himself, whose ordinance it is, that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Vol. III. book ii. chap. 4. Again, It is the business of deacons to serve, "2. The minister's table; to take care that a proper provision is made for the subsist ple. 5. The Lord's Supper. 6. Secession from the church of Rome. 7. The calling of ministers in the church. 8. The doctrines to be preached by ministers; showing that the scripture is the only rule of faith. 9. The life of ministers, and their support. He denies the lawfulness of ministerial stipends: this opinion is, however, rejected by many of the modern Mennonites. The following quotations, from Dr. Gill's Body of Divinity, will convey our sentiments upon this subject:-"The duty of churchmembers to their pastors is held forth in various passages, respect-ence of himself and family. ing their maintenance, or a pro- Whereas Christ has ordained that vision for the subsistence of them- those who preach the gospel selves and families, which is part should live of it, and that he that of that double honour a ruling is taught in the word shall comelder and a laborious minister is municate to him that teacheth in worthy of, since the labourer is all good things; the business of worthy of his reward, 1 Tim. v. deacons is to see to it that every 17, 18; and he that is taught in member contributes according to the word, and instructed by it to his ability, and that there be an his comfort and edification, should equality, that some are not eased communicate to him that teacheth and others burdened. And it lies in all good things, temporal good upon them to collect what the things, he stands in need of, Gal. members give; for it is not provi. 6. This duty the apostle urges per the minister should collect and presses, with a variety of ar- for himself; this would be to preguments, in 1 Cor. ix. 7-14. He vent the design of the institution, argues from the law of nature which was, that those who are and nations, exemplified in the employed in the sacred office of cases of soldiers, planters of vine- the ministry of the word should yards, and keepers of flocks, who, not be hindered in it. Besides, by virtue of their calling and ser- such a practice would not comvice, have a right to a livelihood; port with the case and character between whom and ministers of of a minister, who would be the gospel there is a resemblance. obliged to receive what the peoHe also argues from the law of ple gave him, without making any Moses, particularly the law re-remonstrance against it as failing specting the ox not to be muzzled when it treads out the corn, which he interprets of ministers of the word, and applies to them. He argues the right of the mainte-able to judge whether their pasnance of the ministers of the gospel from the justice and equity of the thing; that since they mi in their duty to him. He might also be exposed to the charge of avarice. To which may be added, that a church would not be tor was sufficiently provided for or not." Vol. III. book ii. chap. 5. In addition to these weighty and |