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THE

GENERAL BAPTIST

MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1863.

OUR ANNUAL ASSOCIATION.

THERE is quite enough interest felt in the business and public services of an ordinary Association held in the Midland Counties to ensure a large attendance. But this year there were various collateral and special sources of attraction in our Feast of Tabernacles. These were certain to draw together from the different cantons of our Israel an unusual number of representatives and visitors. Among the collateral attractions we may mention the picturesqueness of the town and neighbourhood of Nottingham, a town which in its situation a certain old divine declares 'runneth parallel with Jerusalem; the proverbial cheerfulness and generous hospitality of its inhabitants; and the splendid weather, the more exhilarating from the cold and showery summers which have recently visited our shores. The special attractions were threefold: the Chilwell College, in the success of which all General Baptists unfeignedly rejoice; the Orissa Mission, with whose present difficulties it was soon evident its subscribers VOL. IV.-NEW SERIES, No. 8.

were by no means disheartened and were at once prepared to cope; and the collective celebration of the Lord's Supper, long and anxiously waited for, and now at length to take place. To many visitors busy meddling memory brought back the image of the foremost men in a similar gathering at Nottingham eight years ago, and the recollection shaded with sacred sadness their present joy. They looked round in vain for the chairman of that gathering--Rev. Joseph Goadby, of Loughborough; for the writer of the letter and one of the moderators, Rev John Jones, of March; and for the energetic speaker at one of the public meetings, the tutor for fourteen years of our College-Rev. Joseph Wallis, of Leicester. fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

Your

The preliminary devotional meeting of the ninety-fourth annual Association was held in Broad-street chapel, on Monday evening, June 22nd, and was presided over by Rev. W. Orton, of Louth, Lincolnshire. Brethren Wood, of Bradford;

move along. The important purposes for which we are met together forbid us more than a momentary pause even at the grave of the holiest. We rejoice that there is at least one object on which even the sepulchral hand of mortality does not write the inscription of vanity, and that He who is our precursor to the skies, invites us to be followers of them who though faith and patience are now inheriting the promises. Numerous topics of deep and significant interest thrust themselves upon our notice, on most of which we can but give the passing glance.'

In all fair

Batey, of London; Towler of Bar- | however, paying this tribute of rowden; Hester, of Loughborough; respect to the departed, we must Harrison, of Birmingham; Hunter, of Nottingham; and Gill, of Shore; took part in the devotional exercises. On Tuesday morning the states of the churches' were read till ten o'clock, when Rev. J. Salisbury, of Hugglescote, was unanimously appointed vice-chairman, and W. Newman, Esq., of Louth, assistant secretary, and Rev. J. C. Jones, M. A., of Spalding, took the chair and delivered the annual address. 'Our position,' said the chairman, is like that of soldiers shaking hands with each other after a toughly contested campaign. The sturdy but almost superannuated veteran, the manly and athletic standard-bearer, and the raw recruit with his armour only just tried, are talking together of how each faired in the conflict, and of this or that comrade that has fallen in the field. Blessed be God, our fathers and brethren died in harness, and we intend to do the same. Perhaps could they interrogate us, we should have to say that time has passed but roughly with us since we saw them last; but no small satisfaction indeed is it to know that they are safe and, brethren, ours is a poor and feeble faith, if we do not believe that they still serve the same Master, though in a higher and holier sphere; that they have entered upon a service in which the pure incense of perfect devotion rises uncontaminated by the noxious ingredients of earth; where the melody of the lip is undisturbed by the ruffles of an anxious heart; and where, in substitution for the lights and shadows of fleeting life, they enjoy the light without a shadow, day without night, happiness without alloy, and the pure river of the water of life without a sediment. How inferior are even the excellent of earth to the excellent of heaven. Here, the purest gold has its alloy, the most precious stone its flaw, the most glistening crystal is dimmed with impurity-but there all are without fault before the throne. While,

The chairman then adverted in his own forceful way to the Bicentenary Celebration of last year, and to the stigma which was sought to be cast upon Nonconformists as if banded in an unholy confederacy composed of Jews, Socinians, infidels, atheists, and noisy demagogues to overturn and destroy Christ's holy church. ness,' said the chairman, 'a distinction ought to be made between the motives and feelings which actuate different individuals. Let it, then, go forth throughout Christendom, and let it be uttered from a thousand voices, that we have no common ground with such persons; that our dissent is not a passion but a principle; that it arises from no desire for supremacy, from no political disaffection, from no dogged obstinacy, from no revoluntary spirit; that we are not dissenters because even of the injustice of church rates or tithes (for if it were a matter of bare injustice we would submit); but we are dissenters, because, loyal and loving as we are to the person and government of Her Majesty, we love Christ better than the purest sovereign that ever adorned the British throne, or the wisest assembly that ever composed the British senate; because we dare not form an alliance with any church at the expense of Christian feeling and individual piety; because we be

The Chairman's Address.

lieve (whether right or wrong is
another matter), but we believe that
over and above all the incidental
evils (and they are not small), every
state establishment of religion in-
volves a violation of the kingly pre-
rogative of Christ, interferes with
the rights of individual conscience,
hinders the progress of Christ's
kingdom by deluging it with world-
lings, quenching its spirituality,
and crippling its energies; and
lastly, because a combination is
presented more monstrous than
the Horatian blending of a human
head with a horse's neck-the union
of a living body chained to the
carcase of a dead slave, under the
loathsomeness of which many an
evangelical minister is saying, O
wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?
If our reasons for nonconformity
were feebler than they are, or in
other words, if they did not involve
fidelity to our conscience and our
God, then, in order to put an end to
this strife, to secure peace among
brethren, if not for a richer in-
cumbency, we would conform at
once; but, seeing that these reasons
are what they are, whatever may be
our status politically, however, dis-
advantageously we may be placed
by acts of Parliament, we have a
right to expect and to demand that
our convictions shall be honoured,
at least by every good man.
ought not to be scandalously libelled
as heretics and schismatics, to be
classed in a common category with
those who have no sympathy with
Christian sentiment, to be regarded
as innovators and disturbers of the
public peace, to be treated by a
Diotrephan class with an air of
patronage and scorn, to be met in
the street or on the platform with a
kind of apology for a recognition,
and to be tolerated as ministers of
Christ in proclaiming the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. So far
from wishing to uproot and destroy
the Church, we should mourn over
it as one of England's heaviest
calamities. Our deepest conviction
is, that by unrivetting her chains,

283

unmuffling her beautiful form, unfastening her bandages and setting her free, she would march along a career of Christian enterprise with a peacefulness and power such as the world has never seen, and which would astonish her most devoted adherents. And further, we may safely affirm that if these chains be not unrivetted, the time is not far distant when political convulsions, which we should all deprecate, will with a rough hand break them, and Christ himself will speak with a voice and an emphasis hitherto unknown, Loose her, and let her goMy kingdom is not of this world.'

The topics afterwards dwelt upon were, the marriage of the Prince of Wales, the American war, the cotton famine and the distress in the North, the Colenso controversy, and lastly, the true business of the Christian minister and the grand essential qualification for preaching the gospel.

The whole address rang like a trumpet-call, and produced a deep and powerful impression. It was unanimously ordered to be printed.

After the chairman's address the rules of the Association were read by the secretary, Rev. Thomas Goadby, B.A. A resolution welcoming the ministers and friends of other denominations to the sittings of the Association was passed by We acclamation. The first business related to the Baptist Union. It was agreed to commend this promising nucleus of some wider gathering, as it seems to us, to the liberality of the churches. Small committees were then appointed to consider various cases from churches, and to report during the sittings of the Association. At five o'clock, the annual meeting of the committee of the Orissa Mission was held in the vestry of the Mansfield-road schoolroom, J. Heard, Esq., in the chair. The attendance was very numerous, and the business more than ordinarily important. It was agreed that Mrs. J. O. Goadby should return to India in August, and that Rev. H. Wilkinson, returned mis

sionary from India, should be in- | studies with commendable diligence, vited to become the travelling agent and in several cases with marked of the Society. In our judgment success. The senior student has this last step will yet prove itself to already matriculated at the London be the wisest recently taken by the University, and is intending to procommittee. We have a certain ex- secute his studies in connection with pectation that it will gradually lead that University for several sessions. to the extinction of those periodic Another student has accepted a call to crises in our funds, as painful to the serve the church at White Friars, brethren at home as they are dis- Coventry. While there will be only heartening to the heroic band of one vacancy at the close of the missionaries abroad; and that it midsummer recess, there were four will issue in the much-needed in- applicants for the benefits of the crease of the annual income of the institution. It is gratifying to learn Orissa Mission. We most heartily from the treasurer of the College bespeak for our brother, wherever that notwithstanding his fears he is he goes, a cordial English and able to report that at the annual Christian welcome, and a zealous audit he had some £30 in hand. and willing co-operation.

On Tuesday evening, the annual meeting of the Home Mission was held in Mansfield-road chapel, Mr. Alderman Felkin, in the chair. The chapel was densely crowded and the meeting was regarded as every way the best yet held for the Society. Revs. C. Clark, of Halifax; W. Lees, of Walsall; J. Alcorn, of Burnley; and S. Allsop, of Whittlesea; were the speakers.

The annual committee meeting of the Chilwell College was held on Wednesday morning, at nine o'clock, in the Mansfield-road school-room, W. Crofts, Esq., of Wolvey, in the chair. The attendance was large, until the time of the public service, when the numbers were gradually thinned. It has long been felt that some change in the time of holding this committee meeting should be made, not only to afford the ministers who usually attend it an opportunity of being present at the public morning service without the unseemly interruption which their late appearance too commonly creates; but also to secure a fuller and less hurried attention to the increasing claims of our school of the prophets. It has therefore been determined to hold the annual committee meeting of the College next year on Monday evening. From the reports of the examiners in classics, literature, and theology, it appeared that the students had been pursuing their

At eleven o'clock on Wednesday morning the first public service was held in Mansfield-road chapel. Rev. J. Clifford, B.A., of Praed-street, London, read the Scriptures and prayed, and Rev. Thomas Watts, of Wisbech, preached from 1 Chron. xxix. 5. Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? The discourse was a practical and earnest discussion of the nature, need, and obligation of personal consecration to God. The audience was very large, and the attention well sustained throughout.

In the afternoon, at half-past two o'clock, the second public service was held in the Stoney-street chapel. Rev. W. Dyson, of Long Sutton, conducted the devotional part of the service, and Rev. Jabez Burns, D.D., of London, preached from Romans xii. 4, 5. The topics of this fervid and energetic discourse were, the church as the body of Christ, enshrining His spirit and presence, and working out His purposes; the church in its diversity and unity; the church holy and catholic.

The most deeply interesting meeting of the Association was held at the close of the sermon-the united celebration by the assembled brethren of the Lord's Supper. To relieve the consciences of some brethren and to keep within the letter of the resolution of the last Association-the church at Broad-street chapel invited to the Lord's table the

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The whole of Thursday was devoted to business. The College report was read and adopted. The treasurer announced that £1,000 was still needed to complete the purchase of the Chilwell property, that some brethren who had made promises two years ago had not yet fulfilled them, and that others had been called away to their reward. The College Bazaar, however, which was held in the Mechanics' Hall, and in which Nottingham abundantly showed its well-known good taste and skillhas yielded with its several days' sales, when all expences are paid, £380. The ladies of the town of Nottingham are deserving of the highest praise for the unwearied zeal with which they laboured to promote the success of this Bazaar.

brethren from the sister churches. The Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A., pastor of Broad-street, and classical and mathematical tutor of the Chilwell College, presided-assisted by Revs. H. Hunter, of Nottingham; and Thomas Stevenson, of Leicester. The chapel was densely packed, the seats, the aisles, and the pulpitstairs; the vestries and the organ recess were equally crowded. Upwards of 1,500 communicants were present. A deep and hallowed feeling pervaded the meeting. Some thought of friends far away in the missionary field, and some of those who through faith and patience now inherit the promises. Many a tear of joy trickled down the cheeks of strong and stalwart men, and all hearts burnt within them. The Redeemer was felt to be not simply a memory but a Presence, His promise a living word-there am I in the midst of them. If such joy is possible on earth-State aid to education in connection who shall measure the fulness of that joy which the saints shall have above? The service closed with part of the hymn,

At twelve o'clock the Association Letter was read, the subject being

with Nonconformist day-schools,' and the writer, Rev. W. Underwood, President of Chilwell College. The conclusion arrived at in this able and masterly letter was-that it 'Hail, sweetest dearest tie that binds, &c.' is not consistent with the highest

It was the first instance of such a service. It will certainly not be the last.

report

The Foreign Missionary meeting was held in the evening, J. Heard, Esq., in the chair. As a of this meeting will be given in the Observer, we may content ourselves by naming the speakers-Revs. J. J. Goadby, of Leicester; Dr. Burns, of London; H. Wilkinson, of Norwich; T. W. Mathews, of Boston. The proposition to get rid of the debt by inviting the aid of 300 ladies, each of whom was to give or collect £5 by next Christmas, was warmly received, and in a subsequent sitting of the Association, at once adopted. Several ladies have already volunteered their services, and we sincerely hope that those to whom the secretary, Mrs. Wilkinson, has forwarded a circular since the Association, will accede to her request.

patriotism and the soundest policy, still less with Nonconformist principles, either to apply for such grants, or to accept them when offered.' Some dissension was expressed from several of the positions maintained; but the letter was adopted, with a cordial vote of thanks to the writer, and ordered to be printed in the Minutes of the Association.'

In reference to the very kind and fraternal sympathy of the Baptist Lancashire Relief Committee in including the churches of our own Connexion in their distribution of assistance during the past winter, the following resolution was unanimously passed: That this Association has heard with great pleasure of the generous aid afforded by the Baptist Lancashire Relief Committee to the General Baptist churches of Lancashire and Cheshire during the recent severe distress; that it offers

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