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CHAPTER XVIII.

BAPTISTS IN BRITISH AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA.

N tracing the progress of Baptist principles through the provinces which now form the Dominion of Canada, we may begin with NOVA SCOTIA, which came under the British flag in 1713. English settlers, mostly Episcopalians, founded Halifax about 1749; Lunenburg was settled, principally by French and Germans, in 1753; and in 1759, after the expulsion of the Acadians, the influx from the New England colonies began. In a quarter of a century after that, Horton, Cornwallis, Yarmouth, Truro, Granville, Annapolis, Pictou and many other towns were settled by New Englanders. Many Lutherans settled in Lunenburg, and many Presbyterians from Scotland and the North of Ireland in Londonderry, Truro and Pictou, while the great body of emigrants from the American colonies were Congregationalists. The first House of Assembly, 1758, passed an act which made the Church of England the Established Church, but granting liberty of conscience to all other denominations, Roman Catholics excepted; marriage, however, could be celebrated only by the ministers of the Established Church. Many years and struggles were passed before this distinction was wiped from the statute-book.

Shubael Dimock, of Mansfield, Conn., had become a 'Separatist,' and held religious meetings apart from the Standing Order, for which he was whipped and thrown into prison; his son Daniel had renounced infant baptism. They settled in Newport, N. S., in 1760, where Daniel was immersed by Mr. Sutton in 1763, and he immersed his own father some years later. Several other converts to Baptist views resided in Newport, but they did not organize a Baptist Church there at that time. Rev. John Sutton was from New Jersey, and soon returned thither. In 1761 Rev. Ebenezer Moulton, of South Brimfield, Mass., settled in Yarmouth with other emigrants. After preaching there for two years, he visited Horton and labored in that vicinity, but seems to have formed no Church. These are the first Baptists of whom we have any records in Nova Scotia. So far as can be ascertained, the first Baptist Church in British America was planted in New Brunswick in 1763, and was an offshoot of the Second Church in Swansea, Mass., and of two or three neighboring Churches. A company of thirteen Baptists formed themselves into a Church, with Nathan Mason as their pastor, and, leaving Swansea, settled in what is now Sackville, where they continued to reside for nearly eight years, during which time their Church increased to about sixty members. But, owing to some dissatisfaction with their new location, the pastor and the original founders of the

Church returned to Massachusetts in 1771, and, so far as appears, the Church at Sackville was scattered. Some think that Mr. Moulton formed a Church at Horton, but Dr. Cramp says: There was no Baptist Church till after the appearance of Henry Alline. . . . While Mr. Sutton remained here he preached and baptized; the Dimocks and Mr. Moulton did the same, but separate action as Baptists was deferred till a more favorable conjunction of circumstances.' The Congregationalists had established Churches in various places, and the Baptists seem to have united with these, for, about the year 1776, there were two or three Churches in Nova Scotia made up of Baptists and Congregationalists, while a number of unorganized Baptists were found in various localities.

At this juncture Henry Alline, a 'New Light' preacher of extraordinary power, appeared in the province and left a lasting impression upon its religions institutions. He was born at Newport, R. I., in 1748, and removed to Falmouth, N. S., in 1760. He was converted when twenty-seven years of age, and after some unsuccessful attempts at securing an education he began to preach. He was very successful, traveling from place to place for nearly eight years, until New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were astir with religious revivals, the souls of the people being thrilled by his homely but pungent eloquence. He was a Congregationalist, but held the questions of Church order and ordinances as secondary matters. He seldom adininistered baptism, yet was willing that his converts should be immersed, if they chose, after thorough conversion. In fervency, power and doctrine he seems to have been of the Whitefield stamp. At the age of thirty-six years he died in Northampton, 1784. The ministry of this New Light apostle affected the progress of Baptist doctrines in two diverse ways. It infused a new and spiritual life into the languishing Churches, and his lax views on Church order and discipline told powerfully against all rigid and tyrannical organization. His couverts were generally formed into Congregational Churches, some being baptized and others not, until in due time numbers of them appear to have seen the need of greater conformity to Gospel faith and practice, and at first resolved themselves into Baptist Churches, naturally enough of the open-communion order. Most of the Canadian Churches practiced open communion till the commencement of this century, and many of them till a later period. Some of the strongest Churches of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia came out of this Alline movement, all of them observing strict communion to-day. The Horton Church was one of these. It seems to have oscillated for a few years, but in 1809 it took the full Baptist ground. In this respect the Cornwallis, Chester, Argyle, First Halifax and other Churches differ little from the Horton Church, having gradually made their way to their present stand.

The first Association of Baptist Churches in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was projected in 1797 and was fully organized in 1800, at Granville, Annapolis County. In the main its work differed slightly from that of present associations.

It threw strong guards around the fundamental independence of the individual Church, stating that it 'pretends to no other powers than those of an advisory council, utterly disclaiming all superiority, jurisdiction, coercion, right or infallibility.' For more than a quarter of a century, however, it examined and ordained candidates for the ministry. But, gradually, its leading minds became convinced that the New Testament rested the power of ordination in the independent and self-governing Church. Father Manning' stated the principle quaintly in an address to the Association thus: 'I have observed that representative bodies, the world over, are very much inclined to take to themselves horns, and to so use them as to destroy the liberties of the people. An Association, therefore, must not put on horns.' After 1827 the Association ceased to ordain pastors, missionaries and evangelists, leaving that matter where it belongs, in the hands of the individual churches. The question of communion was also much debated, and in 1809 the Association resolved that in the future no open-communion Church should belong to that body. Four Churches withdrew on this account, and from that time restricted communion has been the rule.

In 1821 the Association, for convenience, divided into the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Associations, one for each province, and in 1850 the Nova Scotia portion subdivided into the Eastern, Central and Western Associations, as at this time. The New Brunswick Association also divided into the Eastern and Western in 1847, but in 1868 there was yet another new departure. Up to this time the Prince Edward Island Churches had been in the Eastern Nova Scotia Association, but they now organized one of their own, with thirteen Churches. The Southern Baptist Association of New Brunswick was formed in 1850, and in 1885 these seven Associations, from these small beginnings, numbered 352 Churches, with 40,984 members. Some of the fathers who laid these broad foundations were most remarkable men. As pioneers they were marked by breadth of view, singleness and steadfastness of purpose and a Christ-like self-denial. The names of Thomas H. Chipman, Theodore and Harris Harding, Edward and James Manning and Joseph Dimock will ever be worthy of the highest honor. These and many more were all of one spirit and endowed with a great diversity of gifts, but, by universal consent, probably Edward Manning would rank amongst the first.

He was converted under the preaching of Henry Alline, and in coming to the light passed through a horror of great darkness.' He traveled through these provinces in evangelistic labors, often on snow shoes in the depth of winter, to preach Jesus and the resurrection. His first pastorate, 1795, was over the mixed Church in Cornwallis, and for three years after his ordination he was greatly agitated on the subject of baptism, but at last he went to Annapolis and was immersed by T. II. Chipman. Soon after he renounced open communion, and with seven members of his Church separated from the main body. He continued in his pastorate till his death in 1851, and amongst his last words were these: Oh! the infinite greatness

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and grandeur of God.' He was imbued with deep piety and fervency of spirit; he was a champion of religious liberty, and possibly surpassed all his brethren in profundity and logical power. As a 'dissenting' preacher, he met with stern opposition and persecution from those of the Established Church, meeting the harsher intolerance of New Brunswick with the firmness of a man born to rule his own spirit.

Theodore Seth Harding was another Gospel warrior of those days. His first religious impressions were received under the ministry of Mr. Alline, when at the age of eight, but he was converted under the powerful preaching of Rev. Freeborn Garretson, a Methodist missionary from the United States, who was sent to Nova Scotia in 1787. Mr. Harding was ordained as pastor of the Horton Baptist Church in 1796, and remained its pastor until his death, in 1855. But like Manning and others, he extended his labors in every direction, even to the United States. In intellect he was not the peer of Manning, but far surpassed him in fluency and other elements of oratorical power, so that as a preacher he had few equals anywhere.

Joseph Dimock was the son of Daniel, who baptized his father when he fled for refuge from Connecticut. Joseph was ordained as pastor at Chester, in 1793, and although he made long missionary tours in all directions, he remained its pastor till his death, in 1847. He met with great opposition in his work. At Lunenberg infuriated mobs, maddened with liquor, determined to inflict personal violence upon him, but his firmness awed them and his gentleness disarmed their wrath. These are selected as types out of a large body of powerful and self-denying men, who have left the marvelous record of their work in these provinces.

The Baptist press of Canada had its inception in the Nova Scotia Association, in 1825, which voted to Request the Baptist Association of New Brunswick to unite with us in the publication of a Religious Periodical Magazine.' From this. action sprang the Baptist Missionary Magazine,' of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in 1827. It was a quarterly, published at St. John, N. B., and edited by Rev. Charles Tupper, and was continued until January, 1837, when it gave place to the Christian Messenger,' a weekly, published at Halifax, N. S. From that time it has rendered noble service to all our denominational interests, and still exists in combination with the Christian Visitor,' at St. John, N. B. The Christian Visitor' was established in 1848, and was conducted by Rev. E. D. Very, who was drowned in the Bay of Minas, in 1852, when returning from a geological excursion, in company with Professor Chipman and four students of Acadia College, all of whom perished. For a time the paper was conducted by Messrs. Samuel Robinson and I. E. Bill. After a time, Rev. Dr. Bill assumed full charge as proprietor and editor, and conducted this journal with marked ability, but in 1885 the two papers were purchased by a company, and united under the editorship of Rev. Calvin Goodspeed as the 'Messenger and Visitor,' published at St. John, N. B.

The first regular Missionary Society of the Nova Scotia Baptists began in 1815,

DR. TUPPER AND MISSIONS.

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when the Association, meeting at Cornwallis, Voted, that the Association is considered a Missionary Society, and with them is left the whole management of the mission business.' A contribution of $118, 60 was made at this session for sending a missionary eastward of Halifax. From time to time the Association sent out missionaries, and in 1820 the first Home Mission Board was appointed in New Brunswick. Mite Societies' were formed in the Churches which were of great utility. The Female Mite Society of the Germain Street Church, in St. John, contributed $60, that year, a degree of liberality which, if attained by all the Churches at this time, would fill the mission treasury to repletion. The first Nova Scotia 'Society for the maintainance of Foreign Missions' was formed at the Chester meeting of the Association, 1838, and a Foreign Mission Board was appointed soon after in New Brunswick. Burma was chosen as the field of labor, and the first missionary sent out was Rev. R. E. Burpee, in 1845; he died in 1850, and was succeeded by Rev. A. R. R. Crawley, who went to Henthada, in 1854, but his health broke in 1876 and he died on his passage homeward. Dr. Tupper was for many years the Secretary of the Foreign Board. His life was a wonderful triumph of energy and industry. His schooling was limited to ten weeks after he was ten years of age, and yet by dint of self-education he became proficient in many languages: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, English, German, Italian, Syriac and one or two others, and it is said that he read the New Testament in the first three of these at least one hundred times. At the Jubilee of his ordination Dr. Tupper stated, that as a minister he had traveled in fifty years 146,000 miles, principally on horseback, had preached 6,750 sermons, attended and generally taken part in 3,430 other meetings, had made 11,520 family visits, married 238 couples, had conducted 542 funerals, and baptized 522 converts. Surely, if works save men, Brother Tupper's chance should be better than that of some Canadian brethren, however it may be with those of the United States. Dr. S. T. Rand's name forms an important leaf in the Indian missionary history of the Maritime Provinces, especially amongst the Micmacs. He has pursued this work during the greater part of his life, with indomitable perseverance and chiefly at his own charges.

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Our brethren have also done an immense work in these Provinces by their educational institutions. Their fathers, generally, knew nothing of the learning of the schools, yet their interest in laying the foundations of these schools was unique rather than remarkable. They early saw that if the denomination was to do its Master's work in the most efficient manner, they must make early provision for the Christian education of the Churches, especially for an educated ministry. The venerable Father Munro' gave this terse expression to their common conviction: The man who successfully succeeds me in the pastoral office must stand on my shoulders.' It is probable that the first suggestion of a Baptist institution of learning for these Provinces was made by Edward Manning, and when the subject came up for discussion he pondered every point, and corresponded largely with the brethren in the United

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