Early Baptists of Philadelphia, 1877

by David Spencer

PREFACE.
This work, on the Early Baptists of Philadelphia, does not claim to exhaust all that might be said about them, nor does it profess to be infallible on every point. The material for it has been collected and prepared amidst the pressing duties of pastoral and other denominational work, and it is presented to the public in this form, in the hope that, at no very distant day, an abler pen may do more ample justice to the memory and work of the men who in the past have rendered such valuable service to the cause of truth in these parts of our great and growing country.

In publishing a few of the earlier chapters in the NATIONAL BAPTIST the following incident was given:—

In an old Welsh Bible belonging to the Lower Dublin Baptist Church of this city (now in the collection of the American Baptist Historical Society), printed in London, in 1678, is the following record:—

Sarah, daughter of Peter Davies, Baptist minister, Dolau, Radnorshire, South Wales, came over and settled in Penepec, in the year 1680, and through her letters, induced to follow her, George Eaton, John Eaton and Jane Eaton, together with Samuel Jones, a preacher in Dolau, and they were amongst those who founded the church in Penepec, in 1688. This Bible was brought over by them and has been preserved ever since in the Penepec Church, now called Lower Dublin. May God continue to bless and prosper this dear old church.

October 12th, 1869.
THOMAS PRICE, Aberdare, Wales.

Dr. Price made the above entry, while on a visit to this country in 1869. Meeting with it at Lower Dublin, and wishing to determine the correctness of it, Dr. Price was written to for his authority. He replied promptly, and sent very full notes from a lecture prepared with great care for the Welsh in America. He says,

“I was then (1869) assisted as to dates by the late Rev. William Roberts, L.L.D., the first pastor of Rev. P. L. Davies, of New York. Dr. Roberts had spent a life-time in gathering together material for a Baptist History, but I regret that he is now dead, and I fear that his great labors, to a large extent, will be lost. I am not able now to give you documentary proof of any date, but I had implicit confidence in him.”

A thorough examination into the above, warrants the statement, that it is entirely without foundation, and therefore it is expunged from the body of this work.

Pray the blessing of heaven upon this humble contribution to the historical literature of our honored denomination, it is sent forth upon its mission to those who may peruse its pages.

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