no other way, no other name. It is God's last decision. It is the final resolve of the everlasting God. So that he who rejects it, rejects the only way of salvation, and shall inevitably perish. Considering these things, you feel, I trust, the peculiar propriety of denominating it the word of God. We proceed, It heart of God. Words are, or But the curse of the Saviour Is, should be, expressive of the heart. to him that persists in unbelief, This word is expressive of God's rejecting the only name given. heart. There is not any ex- under heaven among men wherepression of his heart equal to it. by he can be saved. The gospel, There are many things pertaining therefore, runs in this language: to the works of God which mani- Go and preach the gospel to fest his perfections. The hea- every creature. He that believ vens declare his power and good-eth and is baptized shall be saved, ness. The firmament showeth but he that believeth not shall be his handy works. The provi- damned. There is no more hope, dence of God and the judgments of God, which have been abroad in all ages, have been expressive of his faithfulness and righteousness. In fact there are many things which express a part of the divine character. But it is the gospel, and the gospel only, that is expressive of his whole heart, of his whole character. Here all the rays of divinity meet Secondly, to notice what is together, and concentrate in a said respecting its progress. focus. Here they form one ge- is said to grow and multiplyneral blaze. There is not an at- these terms may be said to be tribute in the divine nature, or a near akin, and indeed they are feature in his character, but what so; yet they do not convey preis expressed in the gospel of sal- cisely the same ideas. They both vation, in the gospel of the Son denote increase; but the first of God. This is in a peculiar is increase in size; the last, in sense called his word, because it number. For instance, A corn is expressive of his whole heart. of wheat, or of any other grain, And I might say, it is expressive cast into the earth, springs up of his final decision. It is God's and grows. You perceive first last mind. There are many things the blade, then the stem, then that are expressive of the mind the ear, and at last the full corn of God, but not of his final de- in the ear. This is growth. But cision. For instance, the holy when it is arrived at maturity, it law of God is expressive of his scatters its seeds around; and inholiness, and of his mind in part; stead of one, a hundred spring and the curses of that law are up. This is multiplying. expressive of his displeasure short; growth is expressive of against sin, and so far they ex- the progress of the gospel in the press the mind or heart of God.minds of believers; multiplying, But they do not express his final of an increase of the number of decision; because a sinner may believers. The first is expressive be under the curse of the law, of the kingdom of God in the and yet that curse, by his fleeing mind of an individual; the last, to the hope set before him in the of its spreading in the world. In gospel, may be removed, and both senses it might be truly said, turned into a blessing. The curse the word of the Lord grew and of God's law is not irrevocable. multiplied. It grew in the minds In of those who had imbibed it, and was received by thousands who had lived before in unbelief. When may it be said that the word of the Lord grows in us? That is a serious question, and a question which deeply concerns you and me, and all that have professedly embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well; I may say then that the word of the Lord may be said to grow in us, when there is increasing evidence in the mind of its truth, increasing attachment to its excellence, and increasing conform ity to its spirit. The word of the Lord in itself is immutable; it is the same as it always was, and cannot be said to grow. The gospel is, like its divine Author, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. But viewed as taking root in the mind of a believer, it is capable of growth, and must continue to grow. The word that Jesus Christ imparts must be in us as a well of living water, springing up to everlasting life. There is such a thing as increasing evidence of the truth of it. I need only appeal to the experience of every advanced Christian; of every one that has walked in the way of God for a series of years. Perhaps you believe the same truths you did thirty years ago; but you believe them on very different grounds. You feel the ground on which you stand much more solid. You little more than said you believed at the outset; but now you feel a variety of different evidences; so that you can truly say, the more you read, and the more you think, the more you feel the ground on which you stand, and are enabled to say, O my God, my heart is fixed! The Christian gets more acquainted with the depravity of human na ture, as he advances in the divine life. He might years ago believe in the depravity of human nature; but though he may now express the same words he did then, he will mean very differently. It may mean seven times more than it did. This is the growth of the word in the mind. It may moreover be said to grow, when there is a growing attachment to its excellence. There is an excellency in the gospel that is to be found in nothing else; and the more a Christian drinks into it, the more will he be of the apostle's mind, who says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul was a man of extensive knowledge. The words would have had little meaning from a man who knew but little else; but Paul was a man of extensive knowledge in every department, and yet says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now this is for the word of the Lord to grow. Is it not thus, Christians, that the more you know of Christ, the better you love him? that the more you know of the gospel, the more you love it, and the more it appears to excel all other knowledge? He that believeth it not, the more he knows of it, the more he hates it. It was so among the Jews: But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. An unbeliever, who by Providence is called under the preaching of the gospel, the more he knows of it, the more he feels his heart rising against it: the more he is obliged to have to do with it, the more he feels his enmity excited. But he that believes the gospel, the more he knows of it, the more he loves it, and counts all things but loss for the excellency of that knowledge. Finally, the word of the Lord may be said to grow in us, when we are gradually conformed to the spirit of it. What is true religion? It is to be of God's mind. It is for our thoughts to be as God's thoughts; our mind to be as God's mind; our heart to be as God's heart. If God's heart is manifested by the gospel of his Son, it is for us to embrace that gospel, and to be of that mind; and in proportion as our minds are assimilated into the mind of God, to love what he loves, to hate what he hates, to pursue what he pursues, and the more we become of this spirit, the more the word of the Lord may be said to grow in us. Judge ye whether the word of the Lord has grown in you. Whenever God has been determined to bless any part of mankind, and to succeed the gospe! in any remarkable way, it has always been by raising up men of distinguished personal godliness. When he was pleased to accomplish a great work in the Jewish church, it was by raising up Nehemiah, a man that laboured for the public good without receiving any reward for it. When God had a mind to extend his gospel among the heathen, it was by raising up a Paul; a man so disinterested, that though he was qualified to fill one of the first stations in his day, and might have raised himself to the highest pitch of worldly honour and eminence, as we may conclude from the zeal and ability which he displayed, and his feeling so much at home, when pleading before Agrippa, yet he said I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; and, so far from repenting, I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him. Would you see a man that God had raised up in order to spread the gospel in the earth, you would see a man that had a heart full of spirituality. The word grows in the mind, before it can be expected to grow much in the world. Similar remarks might be made of all the great revivals that have taken place in the world. Witness Luther, and a number of the reformers, to say nothing of characters that are now living. The And this is the way God generally causes it to multiply. We do not expect wheat, or any other grain, to multiply, till it has grown to individual maturity. We do not expect the word of God to multiply, till Christians are brought in a great degree into a likeness with God. There is an important connexion, I apprehend, between the growth and the multiplying of the word of God. I do not mean to say every minister is successful in proportion to his own spirituality. No; there is sovereignty enough in the success, to keep any of us from boasting; to keep those who are most successful from boasting, and from saying, I am holier than he who is less suc-greatest works of God are carried cessful. And yet there is such a connexion between the progress of true religion in the soul and in the world, as to furnish abundant encouragement for us to promote religion in the heart, as the means of promoting public religion. on by men in whom the word of God first grows: nor is it confined to ministers; but when the Lord was pleased to spread the gospel in the Jewish and heathen world, it was by men among whom the grace of God grew. There is, my brethren, but little expectation of the gospel's spreading, unless there be a spirit of prayer, PARTICULAR BAPTIST CHURCH, of holy zeal, of disinterestedness; At Hawkshead-Hill, Lancashire. a willingness in us to lay ourselves out to the uttermost. Whenever we see this, we may hope that the word of the Lord will grow and multiply. It is remarkable David viewed things in this order. Personating the church, he says, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon the earth." So that God's ordinary way of blessing the word, of diffusing the gospel, is, by beginning to bless the church that now is; by beginning, as it were, at home: and we have no reason to expect the progress of the gospel among us, or in foreign nations, but as it grows in Our own minds. Considering things in this connection, what encouragement is there to be conversant with the scriptures; to make religion a business; to be concerned that the word of God may not only have place in us, but grow in us, that there may be growing attachment to its excellence, and increasing conformity to its spirit! It was thus that the word of God grew and multiplied in that day; and it will be thus that it will grow through the earth in our days, or in the days of our posterity. FORMED, June 15, 1678. Then present, 1. Mr. Robert Blenkinship, minister at Great Broughton, Cumberland. 2. Mr. John Ward, teaching elder of the church meeting at Hexham, Cold Rowley, and Hamsterley. It is supposed that he was the successor of Mr. Tillam, who had been sent in 1651, by the church in Coleman-street, under the care of Hansard Knollys, to preach the gospel in the north, and who laboured with great success in the vicinity of Hexham. Mr. Ward, being a skilful mineralogist, was employed by a mining company as their steward. He visited the copper mines in Lancashire once in eight weeks, and then preached in the neighbourhood of Hawkshead-hill, Conistone, and Tarvor. After his removal, Mr. William Carr and Mr. Michael Warton, co-pastors of Hamsterley church, preached at Hawkshead-hill, till 1707, from which year till 1711 the Rev. George Braithwaite was their stated minister. Mr. B. was born in that neighbourhood in 1681; was educated at Hawkshead-hill Grammar-school, went from thence to an Academy in Yorkshire, and after that to I will close with only one word. Oxford. He was baptized in It must be planted there, before London, A. D. 1706, by the Rev. it can either grow or multiply.- David Crossley, then pastor of Brethren, this is the origin; this the church in Cripplegate. Being is the root. The word of God set apart to the ministry by that must have place in our minds, church, he went to Hawksheadmust have place in our hearts, hill, where he purchased, and else it can neither grow nor mul-confirmed to the church, the pretiply. Be it your concern then, sent meeting-house and burialif you have hitherto treated it ground, with two small fields with levity, to repent, and believe adjoining. the gospel. From 1711, when Mr. B. ac cepted an invitation from the church at Bridlington, till 1726, the church at Hawkshead received occasional assistance from the churches at Hamsterley, Knaresdale, and White-hill. From 1726 to 1771 the Rev. Richard Coulthread, a member of the church at Knaresdale, was pastor. After his death the church was supplied for some years by the Rev. John Hindle, John Sandys, -Townsend, &c. The Rev. Thomas Harbottle, from the church at Hamsterley, was pastor from 1778 to 1780, when he removed to Tottlebank, where he still resides. After his removal the church was supplied by the Rev. Messrs. Ross, Dawson, Rigby, Blacket, Boice, and Abraham Greenwood, Junior, the last of whom left it in 1819. The Rev. Abraham Greenwood, Junior, was baptized at Okeham; set apart to the ministry 1799 by his father's church in Lincolnshire; ordained 1801 at Bingley, when Dr. Fawcett gave the charge; and recommended, 1810, to Hawkshead-hill by Dr. Steadman. Sharnbrook. Southill Toddington .. T. Tay. W. Ramsey. The meeting-house at Toddington was built in 1812, for the Rev. R. Morris, pastor of the Independent church at Hockliffe, and was opened July 7. The the Baptist connexion in 1816, a church same meeting-house was re-opened in formed, and the Rev. W. Ramsey chosen pastor. His ordination was conducted by the Rev. G. Keely, T. Wake, Daniels, &c. G. Dance. Westoning lected chiefly by Mr. D. himself, whose This small church was, I believe, colordination was conducted by the Baptist ministers of Potton and Southill. May, 1820. ASTROP. EARLY ENGLISH PRINTED TRANSLATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURE: In answer to W. P.'s Question, Page 16 of Volume XI. W. TINDALE'S Translation of the New Testament, in which he was assisted by the learned John Fry, and a friar named William Roye, (which last-mentioned person wrote for him, and helped him to compare the texts together, and was afterwards burned in Portugal,) was printed at Antwerp in 1526, in octavo, without |