The Horsley Association 1778

BREVIATES

WEDNESDAY afternoon at three o'clock Ministers Messcngers &c met according to appointment. Brother [James] Pyne of Devizes prayed she preliminaries of the association were read. Brother C[aleb] Evans was chosen MODERATOR - the letters from the churches were read - minutes of their contents taken. Brother B[enjamin] Francis desired to draw up the General letter. Brother [Henry] Philips of Sarum prayed. The assembly then adjourned to HALF PAST SIX. The service was opened by singing a suitable hymn. Brother Enoch Francis prayed, Brother [Robert] Day preached from Isaiah 64:8 But now O Lord Thou art our Father After singing Brother J Stephens closed the service in prayer.

THURSDAY MORNING SEVEN O CLOCK our Brethren Taylor, M Harris, [Thomas] Ferrabee and S Duncombe succeeded each other in prayer. The General letter was then read, unanimously approved and at the request of the assembly signed by the Moderator. This service was concluded in prayer by our Brother Allsop.

AT TEN opened the public service by singing as before. Brother Satteridge prayed, Brother [Joseph] Sprague prayed. Our Brother C[aleb] Evans preached from Matt 5:47 What do ye more than others Brother [Robert] Day prayed, Brother [John] Kingdon [Frome] preached from 2 Cor 4.6 For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Sang at the usual intervals of worship and closed the PUBLIC SERVICE in prayer by our Brother H[ugh] Evans.

AT FOUR the Ministers and Messengers assembled again. The state of the small but increasing Association Fund was laid before them by the Moderator. It appeared that the balance in hand exclusive of this year's collections was FIFTY pounds and four pence. That there had been upwards of thirty pounds expended out of this fund including the profts arising from the sale of the annual letter that the above balance of fifty pounds was for the present locked up in an edition of Catechisms for the use of the churches and that the amount of the collections this year was 22£ 14s.

Brother Day reported that he had it in charge from our deceased Brother [Isaac] Hann when on his dying bed to return the Association his most affectionate thanks for the kind assistance they had afforded him out of this fund and for all their acts of liberality and brotherly love towards him. The assembly in return unanimously expressed their grateful joy that it had been in their power to relieve and comfort in his declining years so venerable a Brother who had long been an ornament to his character in general and to the Baptist denomination and this assembly in particular.

Several applications were then made from different churches for some assistance from this fund towards repairing their places of worship and TWENTY ONE GUINEAS were voted for that purpose. The Moderator was also desired out of fund to purchase 250 of the Nonconformist's Catechism by Palmer of Hackney and to distribute them amongst the churches. And it was further agreed to assist in a mission to Cornwall and to defray any expence our Brethren might be at on account of VILLAGE PREACHING which it is the earnest wish of this association to encourage as much as possible.

Agreed cordially to unite in any respectful application that may be made to parliament to repeal the penal statutes Protestant Dissenters and to enlarge the terms of the act of toleration; the present time being in the opinion of this association proper for that purpose.

Agreed to recommend the church at Falmouth in Cornwall as highly worthy encouragement. The interest there, if properly supported, it appears to this association, is likely to be considerable. Their present large and commodious place of worship has brought them into debt upwards of eighty pounds as they want assistance to discharge as also the assistance of funds to enable them comfortably to support a minister. - The church al Melksham, Wilts, finding it necessary to add galleries to their new place of worship agreed to recommend their case to such of the churches to whom they have not already for assistance.

Agreed That we are obliged to our Brethren who constituted the several other associations in this kingdom for their ready compliance with our request of opening a friendly correspondence with them; that we hope for the continuance of correspondence and humbly recommend it to their consideration whether their associations might not be improved by establishment of a similar fund with that which has been formed by this association the plan of which the Secretary desired to lay before them/

Agreed Earnestly to request the churches in this association to endeavour to be peculiarly serious and solemn in their of days of humiliation and prayer as the Lord appears so to have a controversy with this guilty nation and circumstances are so truly alarming. 

Agreed To hold the next Association at Exon. To begin WEDNESDAY afternoon THREE o'clock in the week after the Whitsun week, it being inconvenient to our friends to have the meeting in the Whitsun week on account of a great fair at that time.

Our Brethren B Francis and C Evans to preach the sermons or in case of failure our Brother Day.

he Association was then finally closed in prayer by the Moderator.

Since the last Assfociation the accounts sent from the Churches are as follows

Baptized 131

Received by letter from other churches 8 (= 139)

Dead 64

Dismissed to other Churches 10

Excluded 5 (= 79)

Increase 60

NB The increase in this association in the year 1777 was 21. In the Leicestershire association 17. In the Welch 119. In the Midland 24. Total 18. The Eastern association does not mention the increase. And in several parts of the country the sister Churches hold fellowship by a circular double lecture during the summer half year but have no annual Association so that an exact account of their state could not be procured. In the general we have the happiness to learn that they are upon the increase.

Wilson's Scripture Manual at 7s 6d per hundred Baptist Catechism ditto with the Scripture Proofs 155 per hundred. Scripture Exposition of the Catechism by our Brother Beddome is in canvas 15 3d in sheep and is 6d in calf. To be had by applying to our Brother C Evans, No 3 Montague Street, Bristol. As also the new Collection of Hymns with a Supplement the third edition 3s in sheep, 6d in calf. To those who take six together a seventh will be allowed gratis.

The Horsley Association Letter 1778

DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN,

We esteem it our highest honour to serve you in the Lord and our peculiar joy to hear of your prosperity. We are glad to find by your letters, that all the associating churches continue steadfast in the faith; that, excepting a few they enjoy the stated means of grace, and that some have received considerable . additions: We wish we could inform you that peace and prosperity abound in all.

Brother Isaac HANN*, after having comfortably, associated with us for more than half a century, has at length quitted our society for that of the general assembly, and his grey hairs, for a crown of glory. We are all, both ministers and people, whether aged or young, ever hastening to the eternal world, where we must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, where every character, and every heart must appear in its proper light, and where we must either suffer the just and awful indignation of a sin-avenging God, or enjoy the blissful smiles of our adorable Saviour, world without end. Permit us therefore, Brethren, as your dying ministers, to address you as our 'dying people, with God and eternity full in view! O thou great Master of assemblies, hasten the advice of thy servants in every heart, as a nail in a sure place! It is with your spiritual and eternal interests, which we trust are dearer to us than our lives, that we are particularly concerned: to promote your spiritual welfare we pray,  we study, we preach among you, we watch over you, and now most solemnly God - the holiness and perpetuity of his law - the adorable glories of Christ - the truths and promises of the gospel- the dreadful malignity of sin - the nature and importance of holiness - the several precepts of Christianity - the misery of impenitent sinners and the permanent happiness of real Christians? The Searcher of hearts, and your own consciences, are best acquainted with the manner in which our former letters have been received and improved. You indeed attend the worship of God; you embrace evangelical truths; you profess the religion of Jesus; you appear concerned for its credit and support: All this affords us pleasure, attracts our esteem, and induces us to hope that you are heirs of salvation. But alas! How many are there who satisfy, and thereby deceive themselves with the bare externals of religion, while they are utter strangers to vital godliness! Permit us, Brethren, to entertain a godly jealousy over you: For though the lamps of many burn so bright, that we have no just reason to doubt of their being wise virgins; yet the lamps of others are so dim and languid, that we greatly fear lest they should appear at last to be foolish virgins.

We are grieved at heart to behold signs of declension among you. Are not some unstable and wavering? Some lukewarm and inactive? Some light and trifling in their discourse? Some too much attached to the profits, pleasures, and honors of the world? Others rash and opinionative, of a censorious unforgiving spirit, directly opposite to the Christian temper? The great truths which you profess to believe, are of a holy and heavenly nature, and calculated to mortify the body of sin in its various members, like our Lord's sentence on the barren fig-tree that withered in all its roots and branches, and to make you grow in grace, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. We wish you not only clearly to understand the glorious truths of the gospel, but likewise experimentally and powerfully to feel their renewing energy, that you may be pure in heart, lowly in mind, heavenly in affection's, savoury in conversation, holy in life, useful in the world, and divinely happy in your own souls.

That you may abound in the exercise of grace, in divine peace, in good works, and in holy thankfulness to the God of your salvation, we earnestly beseech you carefully-do guard against all pernicious errors in doctrine experience and practice, and to bring all your religious sentiments, feelings, and actions, into the unerring test of God's word, our only infallible rule in s matters of religion: Buy the truth cost what it will, and sell it not for all the world. Draw no conclusions from the secret decrees of God, that are dishonourable to any of his attributes, inconsistent with the sacred scriptures or in the least degree, productive of presumption on the one hand; or of despair on the other. Let the divine threatenings guard you against the former; and the divine intimacy preserve you from the latter: The moral law, which is as immutable as its author the King eternal, forbids and condemns every sin, while the everlasting gospel promises pardon and salvation to every one that repents and believes; so that presumption and despair, which are equally destructive, are by the word of God equally forbidden. We wish you therefore, to have a clear, distinct, and operative knowledge of the precepts and sanction of the law, and of the fulness and freeness of the grace of the gospel, that you may carefully obey the command, and cheerfully confide in the promise, and so be kept at an equal distance from abominable libertinism and self-righteousness, from delusive hopes and slavish fears.

Content yourselves with no religion but that of the heart; which is founded in a divinely enlightened understanding, and consists in affections correspondent to the word and perfections of God. Be careful that you do not mistake some favourite notion for evangelical truth, natural passion for the work of the spirit, transient conviction for true repentance, a partial reformation for a thorough conversion, an orthodox creed for a living faith, a party spirit for Christian zeal, and a warm-imagination for spiritual joy. True grace illuminates the understanding, humbles the mind, purifies the heart, spiritualizes the affections, regulates the temper, determines the conduct, diffuses its influence thro' the whole man, is active, prevailing, immortal.

Carefully distinguish between faith and assurance, which some have injudiciously blended together, Faith is a humble confidence in the Son of God for eternal life, founded upon the declaration of the gospel, accompanied with a cordial approbation of the law of God, and may subsist with perplexing doubts respecting its truth and reality: Faith, which is the eye of the believing foul; may, like that of the body, clearly discern the object of its trust and delight, and not be able to behold itself, Place then your entire confidence in Christ for salvation: Let the declarations and promises of the gospel be your only warrant for believing in him 1 and consider your purest principles, happier frames, and holiest duties, not as the foundation, but the superstructure of faith : Let not your sweetest experiences, which are at best but hollow cisterns, but Christ alone be the source of your comfort, and constantly live upon that inexhaustible fountain. Assurance is a personal application of the promise of eternal life to every one that believeth, applied by the operation of the holy Spirit, and enjoyed in the exercise of faith, love, and ałl the other graces; which constitute the Christian temper: It has for its evidence an active faith and prevailing holiness and is liable to be interrupted by innumerable imperfections, temptations and jealousies; and therefore its degrees must be exceedingly various in different believers, and in the same believer at different times. A Christian spirit, the fruits of righteousness, and the continued exercise of grace,  are .... Earnestly desire these.

*Isaac Hann 1690-1778 pastor at Loughwood (between Honiton and Axminster) 1743-1763 and nearby Upottery.