Baptist Church History. BACK STREET, TROWBRIDGE. By John Cooper. In 1736, differences arose in the church, on certain points of doctrine, which reAr the beginning of the last century sulted in a separation, but an amicable there were many baptist churches in one, as appears from the fact that the Wiltshire. The church then worshipping separatists were allowed the use of the at Southwick and in the Conigree, Trow-baptistry and burial ground as long as bridge, is one of the oldest in the kingdom. Although they had meeting-houses and separate congregations in each of those places, they had a community of pastors, ministers, and deacons. This church was formed several years before the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, and is the mother church of all the baptist churches around. year It is not known when the meeting house in Southwick was erected, but the one in the Conigree, connected with it, was built in or about 1680. In the 1689, Mr. Joseph Houlton, one of the ministers of this church, bequeathed a hundred pounds to the baptist church in Bradford. He was of the Farleigh family, and a minister from 1660 to 1689. The two pillars that support the roof of the meeting house, in the Conigree, are the trunks of two oak trees that grew in the castle grounds at Farleigh. One of their church books, bearing date 1714, commences with the following memorandum, "We the church of Christ, baptized on the personal profession of our faith, usually meeting in Trowbridge and Southwick, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do agree that this be our church book, or our book to register the proceedings of our church meetings, and to be kept by one of our pastors for that purpose." Sigued by two pastors, three ministers, four deacons, and upwards of a hundred members.* ⚫ I had, in common with many others, always un lerstood that the church now under the pastoral care of Mr. Eacott, at Southwick, was the one formerly in connection with the Conigree, and consequently the mother church, but I find this is a mistake. Their church book only dates from 1700, as appears by the following memorandum. "This church first worshipped under the preaching of Mr. Andrew Gifford, at Witchpit Wood, in 1700, and removed to Pighill Barn, in 1701." In 1709 they built a meeting-house, 30 feet by 16, in which they worshipped 106 years, until 1815, when they built their present place. The original meeting house in connection with the Conigree being in a very dilapidated state, was sold by the Trustees in 1800, and the proceeds applied to the use of the ministry. There was a small sum of money bequeathed to each church, by a Mr. Keats, of Bradley, I have endeavoured, but in vain, to trace the origin of the church at Witchpit Wood; whether it was a separation from the original church at Southwick, or a new interest, does not appear. they chose, a concession of which they frequently availed themselves. It appears from the church book, that the friends who had left the Conigree first worshipped at Studley, most likely in the house of one of their number, and continued to do so up to October, 1743, when they removed to Trowbridge, and occupied, until Oct. 1755, a house of one Mrs. Thrasher, at the annual rent of four pounds, which during the whole period was paid by Mrs. Temple.t I believe, from what I have heard from friends now no more, and the living testimony of Mr. William Webb, that this house was in the yard now belonging to Mrs. Stancomb, in Silver-street. At this period the affairs of the church were under the management of Mr. John Ledyard, if I mistake not, one of the family for so many years residing at Road, and continued, it appears, to be so until his death in 1768. He was buried in the vestry of the newly erected meeting-house, called then, and for many years afterwards, the Little Meeting. By the enlargement in 1784, this vestry was taken into the chapel, so as to leave his grave just within the entrance of the left aisle, where a blue slab in the pavement marks the spot. At the time of the removal of the church from Studley to Trowbridge, they had no settled minister, but from 1743 till June 1746, Mr. Thomas principally supplied the pulpit; and thence till October, 1747, Mr. Williams did so. In September, of the same year, Mr. George Wickenden, who afterwards became their pastor, preached to them for the first time. He was ordained in May, 1752, by Mr. Stennet and others. In December, 1759, + Mr. and Mrs. Temple appear to have been great friends to the new interest. Mr. Temple remained with the Conigree e' urch, but I believe Mrs. T. was among the separatis.s. Mr. T. left £77 6s. 6d. for the use of the church, # This Mr. Stennett, was no doubt Dr. Samuel Stennett, of Little Wild street, London. In their correspondence with him they address him as Mr. Stennett, until 1764. They then address him as Doctor he had that degree conferred upon him in 1763. after a few days' illness, he died, at the the pastor, and remained until 1814, early age of thirty-five; he was buried in when he left for Devonport. Not long the table pew of the then meeting-house, after his coming, the congregation so and now lies about the middle of the pre- much increased, that it was found again sent. In 1754, they undertook the build- necessary to enlarge the place, which was ing of their chapel, in Back-street, and done at an expense of seven or eight began to worship there in October, 1755; hundred pounds. In this case an appeal but they had been collecting for this ob- was made to the public for assistance, ject as far back as the year 1752. In and a very considerable sum was collected that and the following year, Mr. Wick- by the exertions of Mr. Davis, in London, enden collected the sum of £146, clear of and other places. Mr. Macfarlane sucall expenses, in London, Bristol, Frome, ceeded Mr Davis, in 1816, and continued Devizes, Portsmouth, &c. The cost in the pastorate until 1821, when he of this undertaking is found to have withdrew; and in 1823, Mr. Walton, been as follows: ground, £8; writings, from Cheltenham, accepted the office, £7 18s.; building, £218 17s.; altogether, and continued in it until 1843, when he £234 15s. 11d. In 1766, a vestry was removed to Lockwood, in Yorkshire. His added, at an outlay of £46 15s. 3d., sub-place was soon supplied by your present scribed by the friends themselves. In 1784, the chapel was enlarged at an expense of £264 12s. 6d., also obtained by local contributions. After the death of Mr. Wickenden, in 1759, the pulpit was supplied by various ministers until 1765. Among the number, there appear the names of Hugh and Caleb Evans, Benjamin Francis, Thomas, and Kingdon. In 1763, Mr. N. Rawlings supplied the pulpit, and continued to do so, at intervals, until December, 1765, when he became the stated minister, and was ordained in 1769. Owing to some unpleasant circumstances, Mr. Rawlings left in 1771; but resumed his office in 1778, and held it until his death, 1809, at the venerable age of seventy-five. Mr. Rawlings came from the church of Mr. Benjamin Beddome, Bourton-on the-Water, Gloucestershire, and was a faithful and successful minister of the gospel, having personally baptized about one hundred and seventy-five persons. As a man, a christian, and a minister, I think I may say, he was respected by all who knew him. During the absence of Mr. Rawlings, from 1771, to 1778, the pulpit was supplied by various ministers, including Messrs. Hugh and Caleb Evans, Rippon, (afterwards D.D.), B. Francis, Bicheno, Sutcliffe, and Cooper. Mr. Cooper supplied for sixty-one sabbaths, and received from the church a call, four times repeated, to become their pastor, but there being a want of unauimity on one or two occasions, he declined it, and accepted a unanimous one from the church at Bratton, where he remained until 1797. Soon after the death of Mr. Rawlings, Mr. Richard Davis, of Liverpool, became pastor, Mr. Barnes, from Brompton, near London, under whose ministry, not only has your number as a church greatly increased, but, the congregation too, so that the recent and third enlargement became necessary.* This increase from about six members to the present number of three hundred and forty-four, fulfils in a good degree the promise, that the little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong people. The above appeared in the form of a small pamphlet addressed to the members of the church. The enlarged school-room was reopened on Tuesday, November 17, 1846, by a member's tea meeting, provided by S. Salter, Esq., senior deacon of the church. The enlarged chapel was re-opened on Wednesday, December 2, when a prayer meeting was held in the morning at seven o'clock, and three sermons were preached, that in the morning by the Rev. William Jay, of Bath; that in the afternoon by the Rev. C. J. Middleditch, of Frome (Mr. Probert being ill); and that in the evening by the Rev. T. Winter, of Bristol. There was no collection at either service; a circumstance which Mr. Jay said was new in his experience of chapel-opening. The place was thronged all day, and in the evening, hundreds of persons could not find admittance. This enlargement, the whole expence of which will be met by the kindness and liberality of your senior deacon, Mr. Salter, calls loudly for your thanksgivings, not only to him as the instrument, but to God, who thus disposes his servants to devote their property to his glory and the cause of religion in the world. Christian Experience. AN OLD FASHIONED RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. I was born at Tarsus, a city of Cilicia. My parents were both Hebrews, they devoted me to the religion of their fathers, and they conscientiously dedicated me to the work of studying and expounding the Jewish code of laws. I led a life of rigid morality, and in utter ignorance of the deep depravity of my heart, supposing I was well pleasing in the sight of God. My delusion was dissipated by a vision of Jesus Christ, who met me in the way, as I was drawing nigh to Damascus, with a commission to put to death his followers. I was overpowered by a sense of his majesty, of his holiness, and of his love. My opposition was disarmed, and I fell at his feet and cried, "What wilt thou have me to do!" The more I studied his character, the more completely was my soul filled with admiration of him, and from that day the uppermost desire of my heart was to know more of him, to live in him and for him. My love for him led me to delight in toil and suffering for his sake. Indeed, no honour seemed to me so high as to be "counted worthy to suffer for his sake." My own happiness seemed a minor object, compared with the salvation of men and the glory of Christ. I could say with sincerity of my Jewish friends, "I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my kinsman according to the flesh;" and honestly could I testify to the Thessalonian church that I was ready to have " imparted to them not the gospel of God only, but also of my own soul." My labours at Philippi well nigh cost me my life; yet I could but rejoice in the idea of being offered upon the sacrifice of the faith of Christ. My feelings underwent no important change from the day of my conversion, except that as I saw more and more of myself and of Christ, I learned to walk by faith and not by sight. I had many desperate conflicts with wicked men and devils, and many not less severe with my own heart, and when I exhorted the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God, I wrote from the teachings of my own thorough experience. I had then been a follower of Christ about twentyfive years, and though I preached the gospel amid most fearful perils, and suf fered everything short of death itself, yet these trials were nothing compared with the "body of death" I carried, and the desperate attacks of "the god of this world-the prince of the power of the air." But my confidence of final victory never I knew that I for a moment failed me. did not fight alone; and oh! no one can tell, who has not felt it, how animating and cheering was the thought that deliverance was at hand-with what unutterable joy I returned thanks to God that "through Christ strengthening me, I could do all things." No truth was more deeply written in the history of my own struggles, and in my own consciousness, than that I was indebted to the grace of God for every step of progress in Christian knowledge and holiness. I always felt as if saying, "by the grace of God I am what I am." As to attempting to do the work of a Christian alone, I never thought of it. I was too thoroughly cured of all confidence in the flesh by my first interview with Christ, ever to go back to a reliance upon my own works—having begun in the spirit," I did not attempt to "make myself perfect by the flesh." Perfect, I never fancied myself to be. As I contemplated the spotless excellence of Christ, all my attainments seemed as nothing-they were not worthy of remembrance; and “ forgetting the things that were behind," and with my eye constantly fixed on that glorious mark, I was stimulated to press forward towards it, "that I might apprehend that for which also I was apprehended of Christ Jesus.” During my whole Christian life, I often felt almost irrepressible longings to have fuller visions of Christ than my body of clay would permit. Once I was taken to the third heavens, and saw things unutterable; and many times before and after that, my "desire to depart and be with Christ," in conflict with my desire to toil on for the welfare of the church, left me "in a strait betwixt two, hardly knowing which to choose." And when in the power of the merciless Nero, I knew that of Christ, I was ready to be offered. my departure was at hand, by the grace "Oh, grave where is thy victory, oh, death where is thy sting?" Brethren, be ye followers of me-even PAUL. as I am of Christ. DAVID NASMITH. We have thought it would be interesting to those of our readers who are unacquainted with the fact, to be informed that this distinguished christian philanthropist was a baptized believer. His life, by Dr. Campbell, of London, ranks high as a valuable and very interesting biography. From that volume we now give an extract of a letter to his wife, describing the exercises of his mind on the important subject of believers' baptism, the circumstances of his own immersion, and his subsequent reflections. We only observe previously, that "David Nasmith was born in the city of Glasgow, March the 21st, 1799, of parents respectable in circuinstances, and eminent for piety. They were, at the time of his birth, members of the college church, so long the sphere of the labours of the celebrated Dr. Gillies, the friend and biographer of Whitefield. There David was baptized (?) by Dr. Love, one of the original secretaries of the London Missionary Society, who happened to occupy the pulpit when, according to the Scottish custom, the child was publicly presented for baptism." David became a member of the church in Nile-street, Glasgow, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Greville Ewing, when sixteen years of age. On settling in London, in 1835, with a view to establish the London City Mission, Mr. and Mrs. N. connected themselves with the church assembling in Maberley chapel, Rev. R. Phillip pastor. Mr. N. died the 17th Nov., 1839, and was interred in Bunhill Fields on the 25th. He was eminently successful in the formation of City Missions, for visiting the poor at their own habitations, both in the metropolis and in the provinces, and multitudes bless his memory as the instrument under God of their salvation. His biographer introduces the letter thus:-Towards the end of July, an event occurred in the history of David which demands special notice, from the truly christian spirit in which he narrates it to his excellent companion. Writing her on the 3rd of August, 1834, he says "I have not forgotten what you said to me one evening not long since, and which, at the time, gave me real joy, bursting, as it did, a bond by which I had long bound myself, when you said, referring to yourself, 'If I saw it to be my duty to be baptized, I would without delay submit to the ordinance.' You know that for many years my mind has been occupied with this subject, although neither man nor woman has been annoyed with my thoughts upon it. I have for some time past sought, and last Thursday morning, betwen five and six o'clock, found an opportunity of satisfying my own conscience before God in reference to this ordinance of divine appointment. On the day previous I had had some intercourse with a minister of the gospel who was himself lately baptized, whom, before we parted, I found willing to administer the ordinance in my case. We met, accordingly, at five o'clock in the morning, and proceeded to the river, where, with God as our witness, David was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I trust I felt the presence of Him who set me the example. and whose loving command it has been my privilege to obey. Oh that I may have, in its fullest extent, the thing signified in this ordinance! May I indeed be buried with Christ; may I be wholly washed; may I rise with him and in newness of life live to his glory! I slept little, as you may suppose, during the night previous,-holding, I trust, sweet communion with my God, and, with shame, confessing my sin in so long delaying the performance of what I believed to be a duty. My mind has since been freed from a load which had long pressed heavily upon me, and I have felt more joy and simple trust in God since, than I had done for some time before. precious opportunity given me of comThe evening of the same day I had a mending Jesus to a number of young people in a boarding-school, and urging on them the duty of immediately coming to him. Next day I also enjoyed considerable liberty in addressing a meeting in behalf of the souls ready to perish on the continent. To-day I have had two opportunities of testifying of Jesus' love, first to the young, and afterwards to the aged. Since I came to Ireland I have had many precious opportunities of speaking of the Lord to Roman Catholics, who have listened to me with marked attention, and approval of the simple truth set before them. Pray with me, my dear, that we may meet with many of them in heaven. As touching the ordinance above referred to, I have read the published sentiments of Mr. Ewing upon the subject, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. and often heard them from the pulpit; I also attended some lectures of Dr. Wardlaw's on the subject a number of years ago: but with all deference to their judgment, and of the many christians, whom I love and esteem, who are differently minded from me in this matter, I claim to myself what I have pleasure in allow ing to all-the right of private judgment, and of acting not as pleasing men but God. I have no wish to join a baptist church, nor to leave my present fellowship, on the ground of the step I have just taken. I shall continue to hold fellowship with disciples, simply on the ground of discipleship, (and than this I know no other ground in scripture,) as long as they will allow me to do so. I hope to be preserved from getting into the very narrow and contracted spirit of many who have been baptized, who make baptism discipleship. May the Lord keep me from it! Knowing the horror which many of my christian friends have of those called baptists, I am prepared to expect a considerable change in the feelings of many towards me on account of this step; but I hope I shall be preserved from change as to them, and be prepared to take up my cross in following the Lord. We have one Master: we shall not, I trust, quarrel, but agree to differ. I hope we may be allowed still to speak and act together as christians in those things in which we are agreed; and as touching those things in which we are not agreed, may the Lord reveal to us his will, by causing his Spirit to enlighten our minds in the knowledge of his truth as revealed in scripture! Should any one ask me, 'Why were you baptized?' my simple answer is, The Lord Jesus Christ was baptized. He told his apostles to go and preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Those who believed were baptized." [Often have we thought we would give, and as often have we drawn back from giving, a little narrative. But on reading the above we were reminded of it, and perhaps it will be more fitting here than in any other place. David Nasmith thought, it appears, and conscientiously no doubt, that he could be more useful in his work if he did not become an openly-avowed baptist. But were all to act on this principle what 19 Besides, a would become of truth? man may be consistent and yet be respected and extensively useful. About twenty-two years ago a young man, living in a town where there was only one baptist, and she an aged and infirm woman, yielding to conviction, arising chiefly from reading the New Testament, was baptized. He had long been active in forming sabbath schools for children, and had lately opened several for adults. Anxious to form schools for adults generally throughout the kingdom, he wrote and printed a history of them, and soon after resigned a respectable situation in his native town, to go out on this errand, though at the time without any certain income. On one of his first journeys he visited a destitute baptist church in a secluded district of his native county. At their request he settled among them, preaching to them as well as he knew how, and forming sabbath schools in all the villages around, in both churches and chapels. Three sermons in three villages, overlooking the schools in them, and walking eleven miles through rough clay roads, was his every sabbath work. During the week he taught a day school for his own support, and usually preached two or three times. For several years he had watched the proceedings of the religious world. He had given special attention to the movements of the Sunday School Union and the Religious Tract Society; and had put many of their valuable publications into extensive circulation, although he conceived that, in some of them, there was rather an unfair leaning towards the established church and pædobaptism. He was anxious to obtain similar cheap publications, descriptive of the baptists, of whose doctrines and discipline he knew that vast numbers of people in this country were in entire ignorance; but he knew not where to find them. Occasionally, here and there, he could pick up an old tract on believers' baptism; but such things were more scarce than gold, and valued more by him. He often thought on this subject; his mind perpetually turned to it; and many a time did he sit, when wearied with his journey, on a stile, and say to himself" Oh that I had a Press! I would let the world know who and what the baptists are." Some rather remarkable coincidences placed him in another position, as minister of a considerable baptist church in a midland |