On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    right of all to associate for religious ¦ fvorshi p as they themselves thought proper , anclso on , ran through all ages and all countries among people who practised Ibaptism as we do , I determined to

    pursue this subject independently of aH our church records . The Calvinist Baptists are the youngest children of our . family , and nothing shocks me so much- as to see them sing psalms round the tomb of that bloody Calvin , who burnt vServetus , the learned , the benevolent , the

    pious , the generous Servetus . I cannot forgive the rascal for this barbarous deed . Forgive my warmth . I have made an excursion , and I return to my tale . Through favour , I have had free access to , the noble library of thi- > University , furnished with whatever the most

    luxurious heart can wish on all branches of literature . I have been often asked by gentlemen of this University , who are you Baptists ? where is your history ? You may guess ho w I looked andfelt , when I was forced softly to mutter , it is contained in Crosly . I see we want a standard library book , Which might contain , if

    not a deposit of our history , yet an index to point out where it may be studied . 1 thought , no man of our denomination except myself could come at a pubiick . library of authentic books , ancient and modern , in the best editions . I resolved to try whether I could not extract some materials that might hereafter in the

    hands of more capable judges be arranged and serve the common cause . I say the ( ommon cause , for the primitive gospel vus nothing but the doctrine and precepts of Jc ^ us , the bond of union was virtue and not fairh ; piety and virtue wjre essential , the understanding was

    left open and unawed by any human . standards , and improvement went on at a great rate ; every tiling was tried in the fire of criticism , the Mani hean gospel was reasoned against the Greek gospel , the nature of Je . sus was investigated , and no harm was done till the

    Alexandrian school personified the Logos , and < lreamt John the fisherman used the word in their sense , which sense they set lip as a standard , and « ent it rolling down to posterity in the tears and the blood of

    pious and virtuous believers in Christ . Church history seems to me one iorg He , and no brunch of history needs so much « i reform . J was not aware that baptism connected it-elf with all church history : tut 1 find it docs by connecting itself wiih b ^ tism ;;! creeds and of course with

    Untitled Article

    all the concomitants of these instrument ^ of mental oppression . Having buried rnyself alive two years in this pursuit ' for I have . done nothing * elge , eicept the services of our own church , I have at length digested my materials into a sort ! of form . Thus then is -what 1 have done

    My plan comprises about four thin ^ quarto volumes , of which I have written about three . The first is an history , of Bap / Z 5 j » divided into essays , and they again into sections . The whole is in- > tended to exonerate the other volumes of Baptism , which otherwise wonld often

    perplex the history of the people , for the other three volumes contain an history of " Baptists , beginning with the Apostolical churches , proceeding through the four eastern Patriarchates , then going on to Greece , Africa , Rome , and the Go ~ thick kingdroms of S pain , Italy , and so oh , and ending with America .

    Abingdon , Bristol , and some of the general baptists have offered me more money than is necessary to print the first volume , for on the one hand , I neither can nor will do any thing more than compile the work , which in my conscience I think enough for one man . Nor will I , on the other , print on tobacco paper , nor lead the friends of the work into any secrets blindfold . I want nothing from it , except to do good . At the same time I ought not to torment myself with subscription , and , 1 never will . In brief , it remains only for me to resolve to print , and for them to hit on a mode , which 1

    presume they have done . In Order to make up my own answer concerning printing or not printing , I have dipped my hand promiscuously into the middle of the copy of the first volume , and struck off twenty or thirty copies to send to a

    few wise and good men , by whose ad-\ 'ice I shall regulate my determination . One of these I presume to lay at your feet , humbly hoping you will tell me whether such a kind of work , as far as can be judged by this specimen , be likely to serve the cause ol freedom , truth ,

    and virtue . According to my notions the various parties of Baptists are capable of being placed in various lights of general utility . For example : Ronemberg the druggist went once along with a small company from Cracow to Moravia , when the Poles were at the lowest ebb , in Order to form a union with the Mo * ravian Baptists . They were mutually delighted with each other , till the M <>~

    Untitled Article

    10 Original Letter of Mr * Robinson ' s to Dr . Toulmin .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 310, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/8/