Transcript The Rise of the General Baptists & the Particular Baptists

The Rise of the General Baptists
& the Particular Baptists
Copyright 2007 NOBTS, Rex D. Butler and Lloyd A. Harsch
General Baptists
John Smyth
(c.1560-1612)
Religious Wanderer
John Smyth
 Cambridge graduate; Anglican who
became a Puritan at school
 Began preaching in his home town of
Gainsborough, where he formed a
Separatist congregation in 1606
 A second branch was formed at
Scrooby Manor with William Brewster,
William Bradford, and Pastor John
Robinson
John Smyth
 1608, congregation moved to Amsterdam
 Lived in bakery owned by Mennonites
 Congregation still based on OT model of covenant
 1609, reformed under New Testament model of
believer's baptism
 Separatists had felt uneasy about validity of
baptism in apostate Church of England
 Bible study led to desire to follow NT model
 Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:37-38; Acts 16:30-33
 No record of infant baptism in NT
 Possible influence of Mennonites in Amsterdam
John Smyth
 Recovery of believer’s baptism
 Smyth baptized himself (by pouring), then
others
 A few weeks later, he doubted validity of
se-baptism & wanted to join Waterlander
Mennonites; wrote “Short Confession”
 1612, died without having been accepted
himself, but many followers joined in 1615
 Smyth’s congregation is considered the
first Baptist church in modern times
Thomas Helwys (1550-1616)
Thomas Helwys
 From wealthy family, Helwys financed trip to
Amsterdam
 Left wife & children in England
 Helwys disagreed with Smyth’s decision to
become a Mennonite
 Became pastor of the few who remained
 1611, Wrote A Declaration of Faith of English
People
 First Baptist confession of faith in English
 Response to Smyth’s “Short Confession” (1610)
Declaration of Faith
• Believer’s baptism and closed
communion – only for members
(articles 13-15)
• Free will aided by God’s grace (art. 4)
• General atonement (art. 5); falling
from grace (art. 7)
– General Baptists take their name from
their doctrine that Jesus died
“generally” for all people
Declaration of Faith
• Church established by confession of
faith and baptism – not covenant
(art. 10)
• Church is autonomous, yet
connected to the whole (art. 11-12)
• Church members can do ordinances
without pastor (art. 11)
• Church is not to get too big (art. 16)
Declaration of Faith
• Congregational rule and authority
extends only to that congregation
(art. 21-22)
• Officers: elders and deacons – both
men & women (art. 20)
• Participation in government & oaths
not forbidden (art. 24-25)
Thomas Helwys
 Returned to England in 1611, to Spitalfield
(London)
 His wife Joan was imprisoned in England
 First Baptist church on English soil
 Wrote Mistery of Iniquity (1612)
 First plea for religious liberty in English
 Christ is the head of the church, not the king
 King has no power over conscience
 Religious freedom for all – Jews, Turks, heretics
Thomas Helwys
 Sent inscribed copy to James I
 “For men’s religion to God is betwixt God &
themselves; the king shall not answer for it,
neither may the king be judge between God
& man. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews or
whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly
power to punish them in the least measure”
 Arrested 2 weeks later and died in prison
(1616)
John Murton
 Became pastor after Helwys’ arrest
 Wrote Humble Supplication (1620)
 From prison: wrote in milk on paper
stoppers; heat revealed writing
 Submit to king in civil matters, not spiritual
 Priesthood of believers
gives competency in
spiritual matters
 Died in Newgate Prison
Leonard Busher
• Spitalsfield layman
• 1614, wrote Religion’s Peace, or a plea
for liberty of conscience
– Compared forced religion to spiritual rape
Thomas Grantham (1634-92)
• Converted by age 15; baptized at 19;
became pastor at 22
• Endured persecution under
Presbyterian state-church
• 1666, ordained & then organized
several churches
• Wrote Christianus Primitivus
– Covers Baptist theology & worship
– Considered hymn singing a human
invention & listed restrictions to singing
Growth of General Baptists
• By 1624, there were 5 congregations
• By 1647, there were at least 47
congregations
Particular Baptists
• The first Particular Baptist church also
emerged out of English Separatism
• This congregation came out of a
congregation known by historians as
the “JLJ” Church, named for its first
three pastors: Jacob, Lathrop, Jessey
Henry Jacob (pastor 1616-22)
• Signed “Millenary Petition” as a Puritan
• Wrote treatises for church reform;
1605, went into exile; 1616, returned to
England
• Formed Independent Puritan
congregation in Southwark (London)
– Composed of Separatists & Semi-separatists
(who occasionally took communion in
Anglican Church)
• 1622, Jacob left for Virginia; 1624, died
there
John Lathrop (pastor 1624-34)
• 1630 Schism
– Some objected to those who practiced occasional
conformity
– Led by Mr. Dupper
• 1633 Schism
– Two factors
• Congregation became too large to meet without risk
• Objection to worshipping with occasional conformists
– Led by Samuel Eaton
– Eaton & others received “further baptism”
• Probably because they considered their baptism in corrupt
Anglican church to be invalid
• Possibly because they rejected infant baptism
Henry Jessey (pastor 1637-39)
• Church was without pastor for 3 years
• 1638 Schism
– 6 more split off “for the purpose of re-baptism”
– Joined Eaton’s congregation, now led by John
Spilsbury (Eaton was in jail)
– This merged group agreed to doctrine of
believer’s baptism
– 1638, Spilsbury’s congregation forms first
Particular Baptist church
• 1639, Jessey left JLJ Church to form
Baptist congregation
(See JLJ Church Chart)
Recovery of Immersion
• Individual advocates
– 1610, Henry Jacob spoke of it
• “Dipping” is biblical mode of baptism, but did
not restore practice
– 1614, Leonard Busher supported it in
Religion’s Peace
• Christ “hath commanded to be baptized in
water, that is, dipped for dead in the water”
– 1630s, Mark Luker of Eaton’s church
advocated it
Recovery of Immersion
• Jessey’s congregation
– Sent Richard Blunt to Netherlands to
confer with Waterlanders about immersion
– Blunt returned, either having been
baptized by the Waterlanders or having
received instructions (probably the former)
– 1641, Blunt baptized Mr. Blacklock & they
baptized about 53 others
• Not all of Jessey’s church agreed with
necessity of re-re-baptism by immersion
• Some questioned wisdom of consulting with
Anabaptists & expressed doubts about
successionism
Recovery of Immersion
• Spilsbury’s congregation
– 1644, began practice of immersion by
claiming authority from the Bible to do so
– Rejected any attempt to establish historic
successionism, as Jessey’s church did
• Occasionally early baptisms were done
naked
First London Confession
• 1644, seven Particular Baptist
congregations issued confession of
faith
– Four of these congregations came out of
JLJ Church
• Refuted accusations that Particular
Baptists were radical Anabaptists like
those of Münster
• Antagonistic to Parliament
First London Confession
– Particular atonement (art. 3, 21-23);
perseverance of the saints
• Human depravity implied, not
pronounced like Dort
• Faith is gift of God
• Omitted teaching on reprobation
• Gospel to be preached to all (art. 24)
• No mention of covenant theology
– Strong Christology
First London Confession
– Church composed of visible saints
(art. 33)
– Baptism by immersion (art. 39-40)
• First official statement of believer’s
baptism by immersion
– Congregational polity (art. 37-38)
– Four-fold ministry (art. 36) as in
Calvinism
• Pastor, teacher, elder, deacon
– Disestablishment of State Church
(art. 48-51)
Particular Baptist Leaders
• William Kiffin (1616-1701)
– Wealthy merchant
– Baptist pastor for 60 years
• 1642, debated Daniel Featley
– Author of “The Dippers Dipt or the
Anabaptists Ducked & Plung’d over Head
& Ears at a Disputation at Southwark”
• Publicized Baptist doctrines &
practices
–
–
–
–
Local church as visible body
Believer’s baptism by immersion
Ministry of all believers
Authority of Scripture
Particular Baptist Leaders
• Hanserd Knollys
(1598-1691)
– Former Anglican priest
– Baptist pastor for 50 years
– Wrote grammars on Greek &
Hebrew
Particular Baptist Leaders
• Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
– Tailor by trade; saved in General Baptist church &
called as pastor at age 18
– Fined & pilloried for his Baptist faith; persecution
drove him to London
– After his first wife died, he married a
Particular Baptist & converted to
that faith in 1672
– Pastor for 36 years of Baptist church
that was ancestor or Spurgeon’s
New Park Street Church
– 1689, became deathly ill; Hanserd
Knollys prayed for 15 more years of life
Particular Baptist Leaders
• Benjamin Keach (1640-1704)
– Wrote in defense of Baptist beliefs but without using
personal attacks
• Baptism: circumcision was sign of legal covenant; baptism,
of spiritual covenant
– Laying on of hands
• Held to six principles of Heb. 6:1-2
• General Baptists practiced it; Particular Baptists divided on
the issue
– Wrote in favor of pastoral pay
– 1673, introduced hymn singing
• Baptists were first English group to sing hymns that were
not Psalms
• Acceptance took 20 years
Particular Baptist Leaders
• John Bunyan (1628-88)
– Blasphemous, profane
tinker & soldier in
Parliamentary Army
– 1653, converted & baptized
by Andrew Gifford in
Particular Baptist church in
Bedford
– Imprisoned for 12 years
under persecution by
Charles II
– When released, he
succeeded Gifford as pastor
of Baptist church in Bedford
Particular Baptist Leaders
• John Bunyan
– Grace Abounding to the
Chiefest of Sinners
– Differences in Judgement
about Water Baptism No Bar
to Communion
– The Pilgrims Progress
• Classic allegory about journey
of “Christian” through Slough
of Despond, Valley of Shadow of
Death & Vanity Fair to Celestial
City
• Christian encounters Worldly
Wiseman, Talkative, Facingboth-Ways, Turn-away &
Evangelist