The Bratton Association 1771

BREVIATES

TUESDAY afternoon the Ministers and Messengers being met our Brother ;Nathaniel] Rawlings began in prayer. Brother [John] Tommas was chosen Moderator, the letters from the churches were read. Brother [Robert] Day was desired to draw up the general letter and the meeting was closed in prayer by our Brother Philips. On Wednesday morning at six o clock the Ministers and Messengers being again met some time was improved in prayer by our Brethren [A?] Crisp, [William?] Wykes, [Samuel] Rowles and Wood. At ten the public Meeting was opened in prayer by our Brother [Benjamin] Francis. Brother [John] Tommas then preached from Ps 44 4 Thou king O God command deliverances for Jacob and the meeting was closed in prayer by our Brother [Robert] Day.

After the public service a letter was read signed by eight persons in the name and on the behalf of the Baptist Church without Southgate Exon and desiring to be continued in the number of the associated Churches but as in another letter from the Baptist Church in Exon signed by the late Minister of the Baptist Church without Southgate Exon and by the Minister of the Baptist Church within Southgate and divers others it was intimated that a reunion had taken place betwixt these two churches it was thought prudent to defer the consideration of this matter to another year when we may be better able to judge of it.

At three o'clock in the afternoon the public service was opened in prayer by our Brother [Joseph] Sprague. Brother [James] Newton then preached from 2 Cor iv 1 Therefore seeing we have this Ministry as we have received mercy we faint not and the Meeting was closed in prayer by our Brother [Thomas] Ferrabee.

After the public service the general letter to the churches was read approved and signed by the Moderator on the behalf of the assembly.

The case of the church at Melksham, Wilts was then read setting forth the necessity they were under to rebuild and enlarge their place of worship and their incapacity to defray the expence of such an undertaking without the generous assistance of their fellow Christians in other places and it was unanimously Agreed to recommend the said case as highly deserving encouragement. It was also Agreed to recommend to the churches days of prayer and fasting as usual.

Agreed to desire that the churches in this association would by no means countenance any Minister by asking him to preach or in any other way whose character they are unacquainted with as in many instances for want of such caution great reproach has been brought upon religion and the professors of it and the peace of churches has been greatly interrupted. Agreed to hold the next association at [Chipping] Sodbury Glocestershirc. Brother [Robert] Day and Brother Sprague to preach the sermons.

NB Those churches that are in want of Beddome's Baptist Catechism which has long been out of print are desired forthwith to send orders for any number of them they are willing to take to the Rev Hugh Evans Bristol that another edition of that useful work may be speedily obtained should there be a sufficient number subscribed for to defray the expence there were

In the circle of this association the last year

Baptized 44 Restored 2 = 46

Deceased 43 Excluded 3 = 46

The association was then closed in prayer by the Moderator.

The New Sarum Association 1769

BREVIATES

Tuesday afternoon the Ministers and Messengers being assembled, Brother Lewellin began in prayer, Brother Hugh Evans was chosen moderator, the letters from the churches were read. Brother Caleb Evans was desired to draw up the general letter, and the meeting was closed in prayer by Brother Ferrabee.

In the evening Brother Day preach'd from Gal. iv. 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.

Early the next morning several of our Brethren improv'd time in prayer. The public meeting was introduced by Brother Kingdon, Brother Francis succeeded in prayer, after which a sermon was preached by our Brother Hugh Evans from 2 Cor xii.13 For I seek not yours but you. In the afternoon Brother Caleb Evans began in prayer and Brother Tommas preached from Heb v.9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him. The following things were then agreed to, and thea ssembly was dismissed with prayer by the Moderator.

Agreed, earnestly to recommend days of solemn fasting and prayer.

Agreed, to hold the next association at the Pithay in Bristol, on the Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday in the Whitesun week, Brother Day and Brother Francis to preach the sermons.

In the circle of this association the last year, there were

Baptiz'd 69

Received by Letter 7

Deceas'd 42

Increase 29

Excluded 1

Dismiss'd 4

Increase 29

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.

Francis and Samuel Pearce according to John Ryland

John Ryland reckoned that Francis and the silver tongued Samuel Pearce, for whom Francis wrote an elegy on his early death, were the best preachers he knew. He once wrote, beginning with Pearce,  that

Much as that seraphic young man was esteemed by many, I know not that anyone thought more highly of him than myself. I was used to think that Benjamin Francis, as an aged man, and Samuel Pearce, as a young man, were the two most popular preachers I had personally known, who, without rising to sublime eloquence, owed no part of their popularity to eccentricity. A peculiar fluency of delivery, and a most serious and affectionate address, would have made them acceptable to all classes of hearers, in any part of the kingdom.

10 Eighteenth Century Baptist Hymn Writers

1. Anne Steele
2. Benjamin Beddome
3. Benjamin Francis
4. Benjamin Wallin
5. Daniel Turner
6. John Fawcett
7. John Rippon
8. John Ryland Jr
9. Robert Robinson
10. Samuel Medley

Glory to the King Eternal

Glory to the Eternal King,

Clad in majesty supreme!

Let all heaven his praises sing,

Let all worlds his power proclaim.

Through eternity he reigns

In unbounded realms of light;

He the universe sustains,

As an atom in his sight.

Suns on suns through boundless space,

With their systems, move or stand,

Or to occupy their place,

New orbs rise at his command.

Kingdoms flourish - empires fall,

Nations live, and nations die,

All forms nothing, nothing all - 

At the movement of his eye.

O let our transported souls

Ever on his glories gaze:

Ever yield to his control,

Ever sound his lofty praise!

The Baptist Magazine Volume 29 1837

CHAPEL OPENED

Shortwood, Gloucestershire. On Monday, August the 7th, 1837, the foundation-stone of a new meetinghouse, for the use of the church and congregation was laid. On which occasion, the audience, consisting of 1,200 or 1,500 persons, was addressed by Mr. John Heskins, a deacon of the church, and great grandson of William Harding, who, in the year 1707, opened his house for prayer to the individuals who, with others, thirteen persons in all, formed the church on this spot in the year 1715; by Mr. S. E. Francis, also a deacon, and son of the venerable Benjamin Francis, pastor of the church during a period of forty-one years; by Mr. Abraham Marsh Flint, a grandson of Benjamin Francis, and son of Mr. Thomas Flint, who succeeded Mr. Francis in the pastorate, and died at Weymouth, October 31, 1819; and by Mr. T. F. Newman, the present pastor.

Prayer was offered by Mr. Dunn, pastor of the church at Minchinhampton, and by Mr. Newman. The new place, the walls of which entirely enclose the old house, will be ninety-two feet by fifty; about sixteen feet at one end fitted up as vestries, which, by sliding partitions, may be available during public service, when circumstances require it. It is thought right to state, that the large majority of the people are very poor, so that the amount of subscriptions already promised is the result of a great but cheerful effort. There has been a general and hearty co-operation; all classes, according to their means, having simultaneously come forward to aid the undertaking. Many, who are in circumstances too depressed to allow them the gratification of furnishing pecuniary help, have given, or are prepared to give, their labour gratuitously, and add their prayers to their exertions.

Such a beginning supplies the promise of a successful and happy termination to the work. But it is certain, that the outlay will exceed our means; so that if the friends of Sion, not connected with ourselves, should feel disposed to assist us, such aid will be most acceptable. It will not be possible for our minister extensively to solicit subscriptions in person; nor do we conceive that such a step would be approved by those friends whose love to the cause of the Redeemer, and whose sympathy with a poor and numerous body of their fellow-Christians, may dispose them to aid and cheer us onward in our work. To the operation of sacred heaven-born principle we confidently appeal, only observing that while the generosity of our friends will’lay us under a welcome obligation, the promptitude of their generosity will add o the weight of that obligation.

N.B. Those friends who are disposed to assist us, may address their letters to J. Heskins, Nailsworth, near Chalford, Gloucestershire.