Mr. Mumford, when he arrived in this country, was in the middle of life; a period when the energy of youth remains without its rashness, and the mind is prepared to act with steadiness without exhibiting the timidity and pertinacity of old age.
It has been observed, with more beauty of expression than either truth or consistency, that great circumstances make great men. It is certain that extraordinary trials, new situations, and difficult exigencies may and will develope unexpected powers, and give prominence to certain traits of character; nevertheless, the mind, in its essential qualities, generally remains unchanged. Horace, whose knowledge of human nature no one has ever distrusted, very pertinently remarks, that those who cross the ocean pass under a new sky, but do not change their disposition. This was undoubtedly true of Mr. Mumford; and could we trace his early history, we should doubtless find an exhibition of the same principles and conduct which marked his subsequent career. But the actions of Mumford speak loudly in his behalf. He was evidently a lover of the truth, and one neither ashamed nor afraid to advocate unpopular tenets if they agreed with the Word of God. He cannot be accused of bigotry or intolerant feelings towards those who differed from him in sentiments, for he united with, and continued in the communion of the First-day Baptist Church in Newport for a considerable time. Neither does it appear that he attempted to make proselytes by any violent or injudicious methods, but simply showed the way of right by expounding the Scriptures in friendly conversation. It is evident that he had no ambition to be considered as a partisan leader, for he never aspired to become an elder even in the church which he had been instrumental in gathering. While a conclusive testimony of his generally irreproachable character, and the piety of his little band of followers, is evinced by the fact that they were not excluded from the First-day community, but voluntarily withdrew from it, in consequence of the "hard things" which were spoken against them by their brethren.
It is probable that Mr. Mumford was one of those amiable and worthy characters, who, possessing an humble and unaspiring disposition, never dream of worldly distinction or popular applause, or that their actions, or the perpetuation of their memories, can be beneficial or grateful to posterity. At this time, too, the founder of a poor and despised sect must have had other subjects of greater moment in mind, and must have been too busy to record his own fortunes, and too pious to feel any pride in recounting his ancestry, his adventures, and his sufferings.
In the colony of Rhode Island liberty of conscience was professedly established, and the friends of Roger Williams have chanted his praise in no measured terms upon that account; but how do their eulogies agree with the fact that even here the Sabbatarians were subjected to peculiar troubles, and suffered much inconvenience, being exposed to insults and annoyances upon their Sabbaths, and likewise driven from their fields of labour upon the first day of the week by the magistrate, although peaceably at work in a manner that precluded any disturbance. Of the manner of Mr. Mumford's death I have no account; but "mark the perfect, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Doubtless it was so with him.
NEWPORT CHURCH.
The Sabbatarian church at Newport was instituted in 1641. It then contained seven members, who had withdrawn from the communion of the First-day church on account of the differences subsisting between them with respect to the Sabbatical ordinance. Their names were Stephen Mumford, William Hiscox, Samuel Hubbard, Roger Baster, and three sisters; William Hiscox became their first pastor.
The early history of Elder Hiscox, like that of most of his contemporaries, is wrapped in obscurity. He appears, however, to have held an eminent place in the First-day Baptist Church of Newport, then under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Clark, as we find that he was appointed by that body, in conjunction with Joseph Torrey and Samuel Hubbard, to assist the Baptists at Boston, in a public dispute concerning infant baptism, to which they were challenged by the Puritan persecutors. This dispute was actually held and continued for two days, though to little purpose, for all turned out a farce so far as the Baptists were concerned, who, as it appeared, were only invited there to be tantalized and abused.
It is very probable that Mr. Hiscox had acquired a reputation for public speaking before he was chosen or ordained to the ministerial office by the infant church at Newport. Be that as it may, his faithfulness, the prosperity of the church under his ministry, and the successful manner in which he vindicated the Scriptural tenets which he had espoused, evinced the wisdom of their choice. He fell asleep in Jesus in 1704, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.
Rev. William Gibson, from London, where he received his ordination, was his successor. Elder Gibson is said to have descended from an ancient and highly respectable family in Warwickshire. From his youth he was destined for the church, and consequently he received a classical education in Oxford, that nursery of ecclesiastics. While prosecuting his preparatory studies, he accompanied his fellow-students to see what they denominated "sport," which was, in reality, the public whipping of a poor woman for nonconformity as it respected infant baptism, and the religious observance of the first day. The great patience and apparent piety of the victim, together with the brutality of the sentence, wrought powerfully upon his sympathetic mind, and finally he abandoned the study of logic for that of the Bible, in order to discover what part of the sacred volume authorized such proceedings. This inquiry, to the inexpressible grief of his parents, who saw the prostration of their worldly hopes, terminated in his conversion to Baptist sentiments, and his emigration to America. He filled the office of pastor to the church at Newport until his death, which occurred in 1717, in the 79th year of his age. Joseph Crandall, who had been his colleague for two years, succeeded him. He was an able and worthy minister, although illiterate, and the church prospered under his administration. He died in 1737.
Rev. Joseph Maxson, another father in Israel, followed, who died in 1743. Mr. Maxson is said to have been extremely apt and pointed in argument, but he was mainly distinguished for judicious adaptation of means to ends in all his intercourse with the unconverted. This will be illustrated by the following anecdote. He had a neighbour notorious for infidel principles and unchristian conduct, but as such characters generally are, he was entirely ignorant of the Bible, nor could he be prevailed on to read or accept one. Mr. Maxson did not press the matter, but manifested as much unconcern as he could assume. Some time after, our infidel friend was returning home, when near his gate, he discovered a book presenting the appearance of having been accidentally dropped. He took it up; it was a Bible. Upon the blank leaf was written—