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Subscriptions and Donations thankfully received by the Secretary, Rev. SAMUEL GREEN, 59, Queen's Row, Walworth; by the Rev. JOSEPH ANGUS, at the Baptist Mission Rooms, 6, Fen Court, Fenchurch-street; and the Rev. STEPHEN DAVIS, 92, St. John-street-road, Islington; by ROBERT STOCK, Esq., 1, Maddox-street, Regent-street, Treasurer; Mr. J. SANDERS, 104, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury; at the Union Bank, Argyle Place; by the Rev. C. ANDERSON, Edinburgh; the Rev. Mr. INNES, Frederick-street, Edinburgh; by the Rev. C. HARDCASTLE, Waterford; Rev. F. TRESTRAIL, Rock Grove Terrace, Strand-road, Cork; by Mr. J. HOPKINS, Cambridge Crescent, Birmingham; Rev. GEORGE GOULD, 1, Seville Place, Dublin; Rev. W. S. ECCLES, Coleraine; Rev. R. WILSON, Belfast; Rev. G. NEWENHAM WATSON, Limerick; and by any Baptist Minister, in any of our principal towns.

J. Haddon, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury

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CHRISTIAN

ORDINATION ADDRESS.*

FRIENDS, -It is customary on such interesting occasions as the present to say little in explanation and defence of our leading principles as Protestant Dissenters, and to specify some of the reasons why we do not and cannot conform to the Church of England as by law established.

This custom, we conceive, is judicious and commendable, since it may materially tend, with the blessing of God, to fortify the minds of our friends-to rectify the mistakes and repel the accusations of our enemies to display the rocky firmness of that foundation on which our cause is erected, and from which we have no apprehension of it ever being removed by all the force, whether legitimate or unlawful, which can by any means be brought to bear against it.

Our principles as Protestant Dissenters are directly derived, we verily believe, from "the Oracles of God;' they were dearer to many of our

MR. EDITOR,-This was delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. C. Mills over the General Baptist Church, Bourne, Lincolnshire; September 19th, 1843. Several who heard it thought it might be advantageously circulated through the medium of the Repository. VOL. 6.-N.S.

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have said we are dissenters, some of them seem to imagine that scarcely anything more need be added to vilify our character, to display our ignorance and contumacy, or to prove our identity with infidels, libertines, and almost every class of persons who deserve to be avoided and abhorred. Many others, who know us better, have a higher opinion of us by far, and entertain more charitable and appropriate feelings toward us. We have no objection whatever to the above appellation, provided it be rightly understood. We rather rejoice in it as creditable to our discrimination, complimentary to our conscientiousness, and as connecting us in honorable association with multitudes of the wisest and best of men in ages that are past. The term dissenter simply signifies one who disagrees with others in opinion or in practice; one who takes views of any subject different from those which some of his fellow-creatures have taken, and consequently pursues a different line of conduct. It is easy to perceive, then, that while this appellation may be extremely reproachful in some cases, it may be equally honorable and praiseworthy in others, according to the nature and claims of the subject concerning which the division of opinion takes place, and according to the degrees of conscientious care which the parties have exercised in making up their minds on the matter. Suppose, for example, that any of us should disagree with the general sentiments and practices of the Redeemer's apostles; men who were filled with divine inspiration, and invested with the attribute of infallibility for the very purpose of promulgating the holy will of Jehovah! In such a case, dissent would be exceedingly discreditable and reprehensible; it would display a measure of ignorance and carelessness, or a spirit of pride and presumption, which could not be justified, but must be peremptorily condemned. But suppose, on the other hand, after a course of serious and prayerful inves

tigation, we differed in some religious opinions and practices from a number of our fellow-men, whose capacities and circumstances were in nowise superior to our own; who never had any better means for ascertaining what was true and proper than those which were also vouchsafed to us,Where would be the sin and disgrace of dissent then? We should only differ from them in the same way and to the same extent as they differed from us; consequently it would be a question for grave consideration, whether they were in the right or we, and whether all the guilt and ignominy of dissent did not belong to them rather than to ourselves? Well: Is not this precisely the position in which we are actually placed? With whom do we disagree as Protestant Dissenters ? With the inspired and infallible apostles of Jesus Christ? By no means! We admire their character; we reverence their office; we believe in their competency; we espouse their doctrines; and we conform to their directions. With whom, then, do we disagree? Why, simply with a number of our fellow-mortals, whose natural ignorance and depravity are as complete as our own, who have no other means for acquiring spiritual illumination or conformity to the will of God than those which are equally available for ourselves, and who have no more authority for calling us to their tribunal than we have for calling them to ours. To disagree, then, with such persons, cannot surely be so very presumptuous, while it may be, as we confidently believe it is, the part of wisdom, of integrity, and of peace. Taking the apostles as the thorized expounders and promulgators of the will of God, we conceive it can be easily made to appear, that those are in fact the dissenters who sanction and advocate the national establishment of religion; while those who uphold and promote congregational nonconformity are so far at least conservators of the primitive

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ORDINATION ADDRESS.

faith, and true conformists to the original standard of ecclesiastical Christianity.

Not to dwell longer upon the name by which we are called, let us now proceed to specify a few of our reasons for disapproving of national religious establishments in general, and then a few additional reasons for not conforming to the Church of England in particular.

We entirely disapprove of national religious establishments in general, without regard to their name or their nature, whether they be Popish or Protestant, Lutheran or Arminian, Episcopalian or Presbyterian; we utterly disapprove of them all. But on what is our disapprobation founded? Have we any sufficient reasons for it? We have such reasons as satisfy ourselves, and such as must, we feel assured, command the respect at least of all who fully understand and candidly consider them.

1st, Then, Not a single sentence is to be found in the Scriptures in favor of the national establishment of our holy religion. Such an institution is nowhere acknowledged in this sacred book as legitimate and useful. We make these assertions in the most unhesitating manner, and we respectfully call upon our opponents to prove them incorrect. We do not deny that Judaism was established among the ancient people of God; but Judaism was not Christianity; it was a local and temporary system, a system of types and shadows, and was utterly abolished "when the fulness of the time was come." Until it can be shown, then, that the establishment of Christianity derives some direct and decisive sanction from the New Testament writings, our objections to it will continue, and will be exemplified in our habitual conduct.

2nd. We are fully persuaded that Christianity can be supported and propagated quite as well, to say the least, without being connected with the secular government. It was not

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connected with the secular government in the first age of its existence, most certainly. The Redeemer and his apostles received not the sanction and support of earthly princes and parliaments. On the contrary, "The kings of the earth did set themselves, and the rulers took council together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."" But the Gospel bade defiance to their opposition, and gloriously triumphed, despite all their combined and strenuous endeavours to obstruct and destroy it. And was there ever a period when its doctrines were more pure, or its spirit more lovely; when its progress was more rapid, or its conquests more complete ? But we need not take you back to the first age of Christianity to justify our conviction in this particular; you need only cross the Atlantic, and see what is going forward there at the present moment. Religion is not incorporated with the state in America; the civil government of that country wisely leaves it to itself to prove its own divinity, to display its own importance, to achieve its own conquests, and to diffuse its own blessings. And what is the result? Is not America, in proportion to its age and its advantages, at least as religious a nation as our own? Yea, is it not very likely ere long to outvie us completely in every thing that is noble, and charitable, and divine? We are aware of its slavery, and we abhor it; we are aware of its fanaticism, and we deplore it; but, notwithstanding every drawback, we are decidedly of opinion that America is as religious a nation as our own. Now it has been affirmed, that "if there were no religious establishments, there would soon be no religion at all;" but we regard such assertions as impeaching the intrinsic excellence and the paramount utility of "the glorious Gospel;" as reflecting most unwarrantably upon Jesus Christ, the "Head over all things to the Church;"

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