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Adam, under the sentence of the thorns and the thistles, and at last of death itself, as of some strange thing that has fallen upon their original nature; and wherever you sojourn, does not that word reach you regarding the "Seed of the woman "who will "bruise the serpent's head?" '

"When on one occasion I gave expression to some fears, in view of the efforts of critics to undermine all faith in the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, this valued friend said to me with a smile, which mirrored forth to my view the unclouded clearness and unshaken stability of his faith: 'Let not yourself be moved! All these destructive operations shall and must serve, according to the will of God, only to make evident the absolute immovableness of the foundation on which our faith rests. But though our adversaries—supposing that which is impossible to be possible-were to succeed in bringing suspicion on the authenticity of all the apostolic writings-yea, to prove that our four gospels were composed in the third or some other later century-what matters it? Christ yet remains: He is the Lord! The evidences of His divinity, as well as of His mediatorial reign, and of His power to save, are now indelibly recorded in the history of the world, and engraven on the souls of millions of men whom He has redeemed and sanctified, and brought to the possession of heavenly glory.'

"But of incomparably greater value to me than were these apologetical hints, to which I might add many more, with which he came to the help of my weaknesses, was the glance which he thus afforded me into the innermost realm of his heart, as well as the familiar communications which he made to me from the world of his own spiritual experience, and which were so strangthening to my faith, He was a mystic in the noblest sense of the word, and a man of prayer such as few then were. How often did the Lord seem near to him in most remarkable answers to prayer, and in gracious help which He vouchsafed! Hence the peculiar, gentle sunshine which seemed to irradiate his brow. Often when I looked upon him, the words once written of Moses came to my remembrance, 'When he came down from the mount, he knew not that the skin of his face shone when the Lord talked with him,'

"It was greatly to my encouragement that, on one occasion, after he had condescended to hear me preach a sermon, he said to me: I am glad from my heart to observe your growth in the knowledge of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God help you to go on still further!' My joy at this testimony might indeed have given place to shame, for my whole knowledge of Christianity was at that time by no means great. Yet that word of his comforted me somewhat, and spurred me on to greater endeavours.

"When I now review the sermons I then preached at Frankfurt, I cannot but see however greatly in them fancy prevailed over experience—that there was in them something, as it were, of the cock-crowing heralding in me the dawn of a new morning of life. As Christ had been long since recognised by me as a God-man, who had come down from heaven, and is

now highly exalted above the whole race of Adam, so I felt already also, in a very lively and increasingly profound manner, that I, a sinful creature, estranged from the Creator, could not be without Him, in order to my sanctification and salvation. That this belief made itself evident in my public ministrations, accompanied by the breath of thorough truthfulness, is testified by the circumstance that on one occasion, a Würtemburg pietist, a believer of great experience and of tried fidelity, who had come to Frankfurt on business as a merchant, when he heard me preach, came to me with the earnest request not only that I would give him the sketch of the sermon, but that I would also grant him permission to have it printed. Moreover, I remarked, and in an increasing measure among my regular hearers, a not inconsiderable number of true Christians, whom to this day I ought to thank that they were so patiently contented with the stinted provisions which then in my youth I had to offer to them. But, above all, I thank the Lord for the rich blessings which, unconsciously to themselves, they were the instruments of conveying to me. Yea, the name Frankfurt stands as the name of the true cradle of my life of faith, and is written, in letters that are indelible, in the very centre of my heart. And also for another reason I bless Frankfurt: It gave to me from one of its excellent families belonging to the city, my dear wife, the faithful companion of my earthly pilgrimage, the most precious blessing which next to God Himself, I possess in this world."

EARLY NONCONFORMIST ORDINATIONS.

By the Reb. James Browne, B.A.

MR. WALTER WILSON states, in his "History of Dissenting Churches," that "the first public ordination held by the Nonconformists, after the Bartholomew Act, was performed at the meeting-house in Little St. Helen's, June 22, 1694," Messrs. Bogue and Bennett also affirm, in their "History of Dissenters," that "from the Act of Uniformity to the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-four, it is not known that there was a public ordination among the Dissenters in England." These historians have been generally credited and followed by writers on the subject, and the ordination service held at Little St. Helen's, has come to be regarded as the commencement of a series of public ordinations which has continued from that day to the present.

Dr. Halley, in his recent work on Lancashire Nonconformity, takes exception to the statement in question, and adduces an instance of such a service that was held many years before the one in London. The statement of Dr. Halley is thus given: "On October 29, 1672, in the house of Mr. Robert Eaton, of Deansgate, in Manchester, was conducted what I have no doubt was the first ordination in England of Nonconforming ministers." The Manchester service was held twenty-two years before the one in

London, and several similar services which Dr. Halley mentions, were all of a prior date to the one which has been almost universally held to be the first of the kind. These instances are amply sufficient to shew the mistake which Mr. W. Wilson, and those who concur with him, have made. But it is possible to find an instance of a Nonconformist ordination which was held before the one which Dr. Halley "has no doubt was the first in England of Nonconforming ministers." The case in question is one with which Dr. Halley must be familiar, as it occurred in his own loved Lancashire, but as it has somehow escaped his memory, he will not be displeased at being reminded of it. In vol. ii. p. 80, Dr. Halley speaks of an "Independent Church at Walmesley, under the pastorate of Michael Briscoe," existing in 1651, and he elsewhere (p. 325) classes Walmesley Chapel among a number of others which in the early part of last century were frequented by more than five hundred persons." For a Nonconforming ordination at Walmesley we claim an antiquity which places it before the one to which Dr. Halley gives the pre-eminence in point of time. Michael Briscoe, the first minister of Walmesley, having removed to the neighbourhood of Liverpool, was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Key. The certificate of Mr. Key's ordination is still in existence, and it reads thus :-"10th day of the 7th month, 1671." "We do certify whom it may concern, that our dear brother Mr. Thomas Key, in our judgment is competently qualified for the ministry, as hath also been certified according to the judgment of diverse reverend ministers of several persuasions. We do also certify that he is unanimously chosen by the brethren of Walmesley to be their teacher, and also he hath humbly accepted of that call. We do lastly certify, that he is ordained to that office in the name of Christ, and therefore he should be so received. THOMAS JOLLIE (Pastor of the Church which formerly met at Althum in Lancashire). RICHARD PRIESTLEY (Pastor of the Church of Christ in and about Kingston-upon-Hull)."

In the account of the Walmesley ordination, there is nothing to suggest the fact of its being the first of its kind, but the style of its expresssion, and the incidents that it avouches, would rather seem to indicate it to be a case that is following precedent. There may or there may not have been such precedents; we have not the materials that will help us to decide the question. All we are able to gather from this certificate, is, that it proves the Manchester ordination in 1672, not to have been the first of the kind between 1662 and 1672.

The old Church book of the Church that was under Mr. Jollie's care shows how early this subject of ordination was considered and discussed. In the year 1652, the minutes refer to a meeting of several members of Mr. Jollie's Church and of that at Walmesley, when the subjects discussed were: (1.) The proper subjects for Church membership. (2.) The pastoral office. It was agreed, that the pastoral office and relation were founded on the choice of the people. Discussion respecting ordination waived." A minute in 1658 asserts, that "Mr. Jollie met other ministers of the

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Congregational way at Chesterfield and Wakefield, to concert means for promoting peace and communion in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottingham. Discoursed on the communion of Churches; several propositions concerning ordination discussed." The minutes of this old Church book almost warrant the conclusion that Mr. Jollie had been engaged in ordination services before 1671; undoubtedly the Conventicle Act made such services very difficult, but Mr. Jollie and his associates held on their way in spite of such obstructions. The Churches both of Altham and Walmesley were known to keep their assemblies even in the most perilous times; the former "Church met in an alehouse, and were preserved;" the latter one "used to assemble under cover of night, in a wild and lonely spot named Yearnsdale Holme, and there amidst the solitude of the place and the stillness of the night, offered up their prayers and praises to the great Lord of all, and encouraged one another in the glorious cause in which they were engaged. But even in this secluded spot they did not regard themselves as safe, and they had almost invariably to appoint one of their party as a watchman upon one of the surrounding eminences, to apprise them of the approach of any hostile party." Notwithstanding there were such formidable difficulties in the way of the very existence of this Church, yet in its midst that ordination was celebrated in July, 1671; and if a Church so persecuted as this was, recognised and practised the duty of ordination, who can deny that other Churches, less exposed, may have practised it as the necessity for such service arose ?

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The certificate shows that the minister ordained was "chosen by the brethren at Walmesley," an indispensable thing in the judgment of Mr. Jollie.* It likewise exhibits the custom at that time of submitting candidates for ordination to the examination of diverse reverend ministers, before they were ordained on this point, too, the proceeding is in harmony with Mr. Jollie's custom, as is shown by another minute: "1696, John Jollie, examined September 29, at Whittingham, and approved. Ordained Nov. 11." It also gave the absolute and affectionate testimony of the ministers who ordained, to the candidate, his Church, and all about him; such a testimony indeed as Mr. Jollie would not give unless he could do so with a good conscience, for the minute-book informs us that in "1688 at Mr. J. J.'s ordination, Mr. Jollie and Mr. Sagar did not lay on hands, not being satisfied with some things in the confession." One other point is of great interest in this document, and it is the proof that it supplies that the ordination was performed by the pastors or presbyters of other Churches. Mr.

*The terms of the certificate seem also to indicate that the ordination was conducted in the midst of the Church. "The brethren of Walmesley chose him to be their teacher;" he accepted their call, and the officiating ministers then certified, "that he is ordained to that office," and gave him their commendation. “The brethren of Walmesley" were the principal agents in the transaction, and there is everything to justify the supposition that the ministers who officiated and signed the certificate, acted concurrently with them and at their request.

Jollie was indeed a presbyter in the immediate neighbourhood of Walmesley, but he was the presbyter of a Church from which that at Walmesley was entirely distinct, whilst Mr. Priestley was a presbyter from a very long distance.

This ordination in 1671, conducted in a well-known Independent Church, has more of the peculiarities of modern services of the kind, than of such as may be believed to have been performed at or about its own date. According to the old formula of Independent ordinations, as given in the Savoy Confession, the mode of " calling of any person fitted and gifted by the Holy Ghost unto the office of pastor, teacher or elder in a Church, is, that he be chosen thereunto by the common suffrage of the Church itself, and solemnly set apart by fasting and prayer, with imposition of hands of the eldership of that Church, if there be any before constituted therein." In strict accordance with this declaration, most of the early ordinations among the Independents were conducted: the service was celebrated in and by the Church itself, no ministers or members of any other Churches taking any other part than that of spectators or devout visitors on the occasion. An instance of such ordination by the Church itself is supplied in the records of the Church at Wellingborough. "The third of September, in the year 1691, we held a Church meeting with fasting and prayer, for the choosing of elders and setting them apart. We chose brother John Osborn to the office of rule with brother Henseman.

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"We chose brother Robert Bettson to be our pastor; this was also with the joint consent of the Church. The brethren testified their choice by word; and afterwards the whole Church, brethren and sisters, testified their choice by standing up, and lifting up their hands to the Lord. We sent for brother Bettson in, and acquainted him with the Church's choice, which the Lord helped him to accept. Then we proceeded to ordain brother Bettson, in which our elders, brother Henseman and brother Osborn laid their hands on brother Bettson, and prayed setting him before the Lord, testifying to the Lord, that that was the man they had chosen to the office of a pastor. And after prayer laid their hands on him again, and declared to the people that he was their pastor. And the ruling elders gave him authority, entering into covenant with him as to write them in those transactions. There were several pastors of other Churches by, as Mr. Davis, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Beds, besides brothers of other Churches."

This ordination, like that at Walmesley, was an Independent ordination. Like it too, it was antecedent to the celebrated service at Little St. Helen's, but unlike it, it was entirely conducted by the eldership of the Church itself; other pastors were present, but they were merely "by," and took no part in the duties of the day. It will be asked how it happened that this Church in Lancashire differed so widely from its sister Church in Northamptonshire, in regard to the persons who officially conducted their respective ordinations ?-why the Northamptonshire Church kept strictly to the order of the Savoy Confession in ordaining by its own eldership,

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