Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

dered as belonging, though they objected to many of the forms, yet remained in a connexion with the establishment; but Mr. Bradford soon united with them who separated altogether from her communion. His procedure with regard to this point would have honoured a maturer age; "he set himself, by reading, by discourse, by prayer, to learn whether it was not his duty to withdraw from the communion of the parish assemblies, and engage with some society of the faithful, that shall keep close unto the written word of God, as the rule of their worship?" The results were a determination in the affirmative, and a practice agreeable to his decisions.

It may be readily supposed, that such a step procured him the scoffs of some, and the indignation of others; but he bore persecution with the united firmness and humility of a Christian confessor. To his friends, who remonstrated with him, he replied, "were I likely to endanger my life, or consume my estate by any ungodly courses, your counsels to me were very seasonable; but you know I have been diligent and provident in my calling, and not only desirous to augment what I have, but also to enjoy it in your company; to part with which will be as great a cross as can befal me; nevertheless, to keep a good conscience, and walk in such a way as God has prescribed in his word, is a thing which I must prefer before you all, and above life itself; wherefore, since it is for a good cause that I am like to suffer the disasters which you lay before me, you have no cause to be angry with me or sorry for me; yea, I am not only willing to part with every thing that is dear to me in this world for this cause, but I am also thankful that God has given me a heart so to do, and will accept me, so to suffer for him :" a noble testimony for a youth of eighteen.

Mr. Bradford alludes, in the reply, which has been quoted, to a resolution, which had been taken by some religious persons belonging to the congregational churches, which had then been recently formed in the North of England, to remove with their families to Holland, for the purpose of the unmolested enjoyment of the ordinances of religion in their primitive purity. With a number of his brethren who had entered on this design, Mr. Bradford associated himself; but the master of the vessel which was to have conveyed the party from their native land, betrayed them to their enemies, and these suffering Christians were lodged in Boston gaol. The youth of Mr. Bradford procured him a speedy dismissal, and he was soon on board another vessel, with a view to transport himself to Holland.

The case of the pious people who were associated in this second enterprise was exceedingly distressing. They had engaged with the master of a Dutch vessel to take them on board at a retired spot, in the vicinity of Hull; but, going to the place before the time appointed, they were discovered by the officers of a neighbouring parish, who, accompanied by a body of soldiers, came to apprehend them. At the period of the arrival of this hostile force, several of the men, among whom was Mr. Bradford, were on board; while the women were in a bark, which lay a-ground in a creek, at low water. The captain, in order to secure himself from annoyance, adopted the expedient of immediately setting sail; and thus brutally deprived many of the women of their husbands, and many of the children of their fathers. In the mean time; the vessel proceeded on its course; but it had not gone far before a violent storm arose, which continued, with but little intermission, for fourteen days, and at length drove them on

the coast of Norway. The sailors were in despair; but the pious passengers maintained a cheerful reliance on the good providence of God-a reliance which was honoured by their attaining ultimately "their desired haven." While the good men were thus encountering the perils of the sea, the defenceless women, whom they had left on their native shore, were carried from one magistrate to another; but their sex, their innocence, their exemplary behaviour, pleaded effectually for their release, and, after a short period, they found the means of joining their connections in Holland.

As soon as Mr. Bradford had arrived on the continent, he was accused by an Englishman of having fled from Britain; but when the magistrates became acquainted with the nature of his crime, they immediately dismissed him, and he soon united himself to his exiled countrymen.

Industry being requisite to his support, he learned the art of silkweaving; but this unaccustomed labour was amply rewarded by the delight which he found in the social ordinances of the Gospel, conducted in all their purity, and undisturbed by the secular power, Having attained his majority about two years after his settlement in Holland, he sold his estate, and entered into business; but he was disappointed in his projects, and lost a considerable part of his property. These distressing events he attributed to a decay in his personal piety, a decay too often found in young men when entering on the cares of life; and he piously concluded that God had permitted the consumption of his substance to prevent the consumption of his religion.

When Mr. Bradford had resided for a few years in Holland, various circumstances led the English church at Leyden to think of a removal to North America.

"They felt," says the historian of New England," that they were neither for health, nor purse, nor language, well accommodated; but the concern they most of all had, was for their posterity. They saw that whatever banks the Dutch had against the inroads of the sea, they had not sufficient ones against the flood of manifold profaneness. They could not, with ten years' endeavour, bring their neighbours to any suitable observation of the Lord's day; without which they knew that all practical religion must wither miserably."*" Moreover, they were very loth to lose their interest in the English nation; but were desirous rather to enlarge their king's dominions. They found themselves also under a very strong disposition of zeal to attempt the establishment of Congregational churches in the remote parts of the world." It was, at length, determined that the younger stronger part of the church should first encounter the hardships of colonization, and that the remaining part, attended by their pastor, should remain at Leyden, till the eligibleness of a removal to the new world could be ascertained. In pursuance of this resolution, the brethren who had determined on a departure, of which number was the subject of this paper, em-barked at Delft Harbour, on July 2, 1620. Previously to the embarkation, the excellent pastor, Mr. Robinson, knelt down on the sea shore, and commended them

and

* The moral and religious pre-eminence of Britain over most of the Protestant countries is, in a considerable degree, to be attributed to the greater deference she yields to the Lord's day; and for this greater deference she is indebted to the labours and sufferings of our Puritan ancestors. The duty of religiously observing the whole of the Lord's day was once regarded as a tenet of Puritanism. Happily this sentiment is not now regarded as a peculiarity of dissent. The Church of England may be considered as having, in this instance, embraced a distinguishing sentiment of the Nonconformists.

to the divine keeping. So affecting was the scene, that even the Dutch spectators were drowned in tears. The colonizers first sailed to Southampton, where they were

joined by a number of their friends, and from thence, in two vessels, proceeded to the point of their destination.

(To be concluded in our next.)

ORIGINAL ESSAYS, COMMUNICATIONS, &c.

ON THE BAPTISM OF ROMAN proceed from the character of the

CATHOLICS.

We have received the following important communication from an esteemed Missionary in India, which we readily insert, as it will answer the queries of our friend Investigator, which we published among our minor correspondence in April last.

WHAT is the original and avowed character of the Church of Rome, and is that proved to be a fixed character?

How far does the character of the Romish Church correspond with the Scriptural delineations of Antichrist?

In what light do the principles of the Protestant Reformers present the Church of Rome? Do these principles recognize her as separated as excommunicated from the Christian Church?

Would ordinances administered by an excommunicated person possess Christian validity?

Do the clergy and other officers of the Church of Rome in that capacity sustain any relation to the spiritual Church of Christ?

Is an ordinance administered by one, proved to be a servant of Antichrist, in the correct sense of the word, a Christian ordinance?

Would any one be authorized to administer Christian ordinances without an immediate and accredited appointment? What constitutes such an appointment in the present day, and can it be obtained in the Romish Church?

Does the validity of an ordinance administered by any one, arise from individual character merely, or does it also, and mainly

community by which he is designated?

Were an ordinance administered by an unauthorized person, would its administration be considered valid? And if not, would it not be thought necessary that it should be re-administered?

If a principal object of Christian baptism be to introduce the subject of it into the visible Church of Christ, does Roman Catholic baptism accomplish this, or does it not rather introduce him into the communion of Antichrist, and into the worship of others besides God?

Would not the recognition of the validity of ordinances, as administered by the Romish church, be an act of communion with Antichrist, and is this consistent with the principles of the Protestant Reformation?

Admitting that the first reformers were baptized in the Romish Church, and were not rebaptized when they separated, is this necessarily an argument from the leading principles of Protestantism against the propriety of re-baptizing Roman Catholics now? May it not rather be admitted that ordinances administered in the Church of Rome, previous to the Reformation, should be considered valid till that time, in the same manner as we would judge the administration of ordinances by an excommunicated pastor of any orthodox church valid till the period of his excommunicationbut no longer? If in their prac

tices the great reformers did not follow out their principles, no one should exculpate the deficiency!

Is there not as much reason for re-baptizing the Papists as there would be for re-baptizing one, who had received baptism in a Socinian, or any other antichristian church, but had now renounced its heresy? The Socinians deny the divinity of Christ, and consequently his work as a full-atoning Mediator. The papists refuse to him the kingly office and his priesthood in their Scriptural meaning, consequently they rebel against his divine authority, and deny the fulness of his mediatorial work. This is proved by their admission of other mediators as necessary, and their views of the saving nature of human performances.

Are not the extremely degraded and depraved state of Roman Catholics in all, but especially in heathen countries, and the odious stigma brought upon the Christian name by their being recognized as a part of the Christian church, sufficient arguments that the line of separation should be clearly and publicly defined to themselves and the heathen around? how can Missionaries otherwise so distinctly exhibit to pagans the decided contrariety and insuperable hostility of christian doctrine to idolatry, since they would appear to hold communion with those whom the heathen know to be worshippers of idols? And how can they otherwise convince the Catholic that they really consider him in most fatal errors?

Various causes have contributed to render this subject of very decided importance at the present juncture. And some of them are of that peculiar nature which speaks loudly to all who profess to admire and adopt the principles of the Reformation. It is on the broad but well defined character of Protestantism that those who make this appeal have ventured to

call the attention of all, Missionaries especially, to consider what is here, as briefly as possible, submitted.

The state of ecclesiastical affairs throughout the world exhibits features which have been very uncommon to the church of Christ. The reviving influence and unchanging character of the Church of Rome, her extended and unceasing exertions, and the variety of means she can employ, are calculated to arrest the attention of the philanthropist. The re-establishment of the Jesuits is a loud call for increased vigilance. They may well be denominated a band of consecrated swindlers. They hold the consciences and the ear of many great ones of the earth. They are mingling themselves with the general mass of the people, and worming themselves into every nook and privacy of society. The children of this world-they are wise in their generation. Cold as gunpowder to the touch, they yet possess a vast portion of latent caloric, and are ready by every friction to fire and blow up communities: although they will not now find the intensity of moral darkness aiding them as in former days; yet as an integral limb-as the very wisdom of the beast, their existence ought to exact decision of principle in opposing the whole system of iniquity, especially from those who are as the light of the world.

There is great danger of a specious charity and liberality of sentiment prevailing in present times; resting satisfied with what our predecessors have accomplished in the cause of truth, is more generally practised than is always apprehended. We are too ready to sit down seeking our own ease, and indulging the hope that all which our fathers did in renouncing the Romish communion, and publishing to the world their reasons for such a course of conduct, is suffi

cient; and that the line of demarcation is so obviously and distinctly traced that we see no reason for reviving a controversy with that church; particularly since many of her abominations, against which the reformers and their immediate successors so strongly and justly inveighed, have now disappeared, and the spirit of toleration is better understood and practised among the Papists than in the days of the Reformation.

However this reasoning might suit the convenience of such as live in purified Christian countries, and satisfy such as please to bask in the quiet sunshine of personal enjoyment, it would have a most injurious influence were it to operate in popish and heathen countries. The Church of Rome did make the experiment, and attempted to disciple heathen nations to her creed. She has left the dark vestiges of her bloody course in these countries, she has left too the symptoms of a perfect failure. To strengthen her centre, like her earthly prototype in its decline, she has withdrawn her distant agents and emissaries. In the mean time a new impetus has been received by the Protestant church. Her servants have gone forth under other auspices; guided by nobler principles, they have adopted other but bolder plans; success begins to dawn upon them, and some portion of this success has been obtained among the subjects of the Pope.

On the one hand jealousy has been created, and with a malicious and wishful look does the Romish church regard the fields she has possessed and the captives she had led. On the other hand the different principles of the reformed church demand of her servants, that they be jealous for the glory of the Lord their God, that they wash away the stigma which has fallen upon his cause by popish assumption, and that they show to the world what are the statutes

and ordinances of their king. In the reception of Roman Catholic converts an opportunity is afforded. The way of principle-of Scripture, should be followed. A question has gone forth very generally among Missionaries, and it appears of great moment-What is the course now to be pursued? Whilst some have proposed one way, and some have adopted another, the writer of this paper would submit whether re-baptism is not the only legal and Scriptural mode. As by baptizing them we openly and decidedly avow the important truth of our principles, that the Church of Rome is like that Amalek of old with which we should consider ourselves solemnly bound not to live a moment in peace, because our God has determined and threatened to blot out her name from under heaven. "The Church of Rome, (says Flavel,) is like nettles-handle them slightly and they sting you severely-hold them firmly and they cannot injure."

All Protestants believe that the Church of Rome is Antichristian, that she is exclusively defined by the "mystery of iniquity," perfected, and that "wicked one," to be revealed, "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming," (2 Thess. ii. 7-10.) and spoken of as the

66

woman arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls; having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication, and upon whose forehead a name is written, Mystery,, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth, who is

drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev. xvii. 4-6.) That system, according to the Scripture representation, is incurably corrupt and inevitable de

« AnteriorContinuar »