Baptists
BAPTISTS
A denomination of Christians who maintain that baptism is to be administered by immersion, and not by sprinkling.
See BAPTISM. Although there were several Baptists among the Albigenses, Waldenses, and the followers of Wickliffe, it does not appear that they were formed into any stability until the time of Menno, about the year 1536.
See ANABAPTISTS and MENNONITES. About 1644 they began to make a considerable figure in England, and spread themselves into several separate congregations. They separated from the Independents about the year 1638, and set up for themselves under the pastoral care of Mr. Jesse; and, having renounced their former baptism, they sent over one of their number to be immersed by one of the Dutch Anabaptists of Amsterdam, that he might be qualified to baptize his friends in England after the same manner. The Baptists subsist under two denominations, viz. the Particular or Calvinistical, and the General or Arminian. Their modes of church government and worship are the same as the Independents; in the exercise of which they are protected, in common with other dissenters, by the act of toleration.
Some of both denominations allow of mixed communion; by which it is understood that those who have not been baptized by immersion, on the profession of their faith, may sit down at the Lord’s table with those who have been thus baptized. Others, however, disallow it, supposing that such have not been actually baptized at all.
See FREE COMMUNION. Some of them observe the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, apprehending the law that enjoined it not to have been repealed by Christ. Some of the General Baptists have, it is said, gone into Socinianism, or Arianism; on account of which, several of their ministers and churches who disapprove of these principles, have within the last forty years formed themselves into a distinct connection, called the New Association. The churches in this union keep up a friendly acquaintance, in some outward things, with those from whom they have separated; but in things more essential disclaim any connection with them, particularly as to changing ministers, and the admission of members.
The General Baptists have, in some of their churches, three distinct orders separately ordained, viz. messengers, elders, and deacons. Their general assembly is held annually in Worship Street, London, of the Tuesday in the Whitsun week. The Baptists have two exhibitions for students to be educated at one of the universities of Scotland, given them by Dr. Ward, of Gresham College. There is likewise an academy at Bristol for students, generally known by the name of the Bristol Education Society. The Baptists in America and in the East and West Indies are chiefly Calvinists, and hold occasional fellowship with the Particular Baptist churches in England. Those in Scotland, having imbibed a considerable part of the principles of Messrs. Glass and Sandeman, have no communion with the other. They have liberally contributed, however, towards the translation of the Scriptures into the Bengalee language, which some of the Baptist brethren are now accomplishing in the East.
See Rippon’s Baptist Register, vol. 1: p. 172-175; Adams’s View of Religions, article Baptists; Evans’s Sketch of Religious Denominations.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Baptists
(Greek: baptizo, dip in water)
A Protestant religious denomination which originated, c.1600 , in England . It holds that immersion is necessary for valid baptism and that the Scriptures are the sole rule of faith and conduct. There were two main bodies among the English Baptists, those who accepted the theology of Arminius, maintaining redemption for all, and those who followed Calvin , admitting redemption for the elect alone. The General or Arminian Baptists were founded, c.1606 , when a congregation of separatists established themselves in Holland under the leadership of John Smyth. Later there were many divisions of this group. The Calvinistic or Particular Baptists, a branch of the separatists, were founded in London in 1633 , and also had many subdivisions. The Baptists became prominent under Cromwell, flourishing especially in Wales. The Baptist Home Missionary Society was founded, 1779 , and work among the heathen was begun by the Baptist Missionary Society under William Carey (1761 -1854 ).
The first Baptist church in the United States was independently established in Providence by Roger Williams, c.1635 . Organized mission work began c.1755 , and in 1814 the General Missionary Convention was formed. In 1845 it split into the American Baptist Missionary Union for the North, and the Southern Baptist Convention. In that year the slavery question divided Baptists into Northern, Southern, and Colored. In 1911 the Baptists joined the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and in 1925 were organized into fourteen national groups. In Canada the first church was founded, 1763 , at Horton, Nova Scotia, by Reverend Ebenezer Moulton of New England, and membership increased with immigration. In 1889 was formed the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, a consolidation of previously-existing societies for home and foreign missions, publications, and the like. On the continent of Europe, aside from the above-mentioned foundation in Holland, Baptists were established in Germany by Johann Gerhard Oncken, and from there spread to Denmark , Sweden, Switzerland, Austria , and Russia. India, China, and Japan are the favorite missionary fields in Asia. Among the first churches in Africa was that in Liberia, founded by the Negro Baptists of the United States, 1821 .
In general the doctrines and polity of the English Baptists are in accord with those of the Mennonites and the more moderate and evangelical groups of Anabaptists . They hold:
That the churches are independent in their local affairs;
that there should be an entire separation of church and state;
that religious liberty or freedom in matters of religion is an inherent right of the human soul;
that a church is a body of regenerated people who have been baptized on profession of personal faith in Christ, and have associated themselves in the fellowship of the gospel;
that infant baptism is not only not taught in the Scriptures, but is fatal to the spirituality of the church;
that from the meaning of the word used in the Greek text of the Scriptures, the symbolism of the ordinance, and the practise of the early Church, immersion in water is the only proper mode of baptism;
that the scriptural officers of a church are pastors and deacons ; and
that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Church observed in commemoration of the sufferings and death of Christ.
All Baptist churches hold these tenets, whatever their differences of opinion on other points. The beliefs of the Baptists have been incorporated in confessions of faith, of which the most important in the United States are: the Philailelphia Confession issued by the Baptist churches in London in 1689, and adopted with additions by the Philadelphia Association in 1742 ; and the New Hampshire Confession adopted by the New Hampshire State Convention, 1832 . The former is intensely Calvinistic , and the latter moderately so. However, these confessions are not binding, as the Word of God is considered the final court of appeal. The polity of the Baptist Church is congregational, each church being independent of control regarding discipline and worship, appointment of pastor, and election of deacons and other officers. In 1926 the Baptists numbered 10,276,179: America , 8,254,778; Europe, 1,626,188; Asia, 312,260; Africa , 50,888; Australasia, 32,065. In 1928 the Baptists were the third largest denomination in the United States with 9,008,449 members. The following are the more important Baptist sects:
Baptist Union
Colored Free Will Baptists
Duck River and Kindred Associations of Baptists
Free Will Baptists
Free Will Baptists (Bullockites)
General or Arminian Baptists
National Baptist Convention
Northern Baptist Convention
Primitive Baptist
Primitive Colored Baptists
Regular Baptists
Separate Baptists
Seventh-day Baptists
Seventh-day Baptists (German )
Six-Principle Baptists
Southern Baptist Convention
Strict and Particular Baptists
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
United Baptists
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Baptists
(Greek, baptizein, to baptize).
A Protestant denomination which exists chiefly in English speaking countries and owes its name to its characteristic doctrine and practice regarding baptism.
I. DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES
The Baptists consider the Scriptures to be the sufficient and exclusive rule of faith and practice. In the interpretation of them, every individual enjoys unrestricted freedom. No non-Scriptural scheme of doctrines and duty is recognized as authoritative.
General creeds are mere declarations of prevalent doctrinal views, to which no assent beyond one’s personal conviction need be given. The two principal Baptist confessions of faith are the Confession of 1688, or Philadelphia Confession, and the New Hampshire Confession. The Philadelphia Confession is the Westminster (Presbyterian) Confession (1646) revised in a Baptist sense. It first appeared in 1677, was reprinted in 1688, approved by the English Baptist Assembly of 1689, and adopted by the Baptist Association at Philadelphia in 1742, a circumstance which accounts for its usual name. It is generally accepted by the Baptists of England and the Southern States of the Union, whereas the Northern States are more attached to the New Hampshire Confession. The latter was adopted by the New Hampshire State Convention in 1833. Its slight doctrinal difference from the Philadelphia Confession consists in a milder presentation of the Calvinistic system.
Baptists hold that those only are members of the Church of Christ who have been baptized upon making a personal profession of faith.
They agree in the rejection of infant baptism as contrary to the Scriptures, and in the acceptance of immersion as the sole valid mode of baptism. All children who die before the age of responsibility will nevertheless be saved. Baptism and the Eucharist, the only two sacraments, or ordinances as they call them, which Baptists generally admit, are not productive of grace, but are mere symbols. Baptism does not bestow, but symbolizes, regeneration, which has already taken place.
In the Eucharist Jesus Christ is not really present; the Lord’s Supper merely sets forth the death of Christ as the sustaining power of the believer’s life. It was instituted for the followers of Christ alone; hence Baptists, in theory, commonly admit to it only their own church members and exclude outsiders (closed communion). Open communion, however, has been practised extensively in England and is gaining ground today among American Baptists.
In church polity, the Baptists are congregational; i.e. each church enjoys absolute autonomy. Its officers are the elders or bishops and the deacons. The elder exercises the different pastoral functions and the deacon is his assistant in both spiritual and temporal concerns. These officers are chosen by common suffrage and ordained by councils consisting of ministers and representatives of neighbouring churches. A church may, in case of need, appeal for help to another church; it may, in difficulty, consult other churches; but never, even in such cases, can members of one congregation acquire authority over another congregation. Much less can a secular power interfere in spiritual affairs; a state church is an absurdity.
II. HISTORY
(1) The Baptists in the British Isles
Persons rejecting infant baptism are frequently mentioned in English history in the sixteenth century. We learn of their presence in the island through the persecutions they endured. As early as 1535 ten Anabaptists were put to death, and the persecution continued throughout that century. The victims seem to have been mostly Dutch and German refugees. What influence they exerted in spreading their views is not known; but, as a necessary result, Baptist principles became, through them, less of an unacceptable novelty in the eyes of Englishmen. The first Baptist congregations were organized in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Almost at the very start, the denomination was divided into “Arminian”, or “General” Baptists, so named because of their belief in the universal character of Christ’s redemption, and “Calvinistic” or “Particular” Baptists, who maintained that Christ’s redemption was intended for the elect alone. The origin of the General Baptists is connected with the name of John Smyth (d. 1612), pastor of a church at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, which had separated from the Church of England. About 1606, pastor and flock, to escape persecution, emigrated to Amsterdam, where they formed the second English congregation. In 1609, Smyth, owing possibly in some measure to Mennonite influence, rejected infant baptism, although he retained affusion. In this he was supported by his church. Some members of the congregation returned to England (1611 or 1612) under the leadership of Helwys (c. 1550-1616) and formed in London the nucleus of the first Baptist community. Persecution had abated, and they do not seem to have been molested. By 1626 there were in different parts of England five General Baptist churches; by 1644, they had increased, it is said, to forty-seven; and by 1660 the membership of the body had reached about 20,000. It was between 1640 and 1660 that the General Baptists began to claim that immersion was the only valid mode of baptism. They were persecuted by Charles II (1660-85); but the Act of Toleration (1689) brought relief and recognized the Baptists as the third dissenting denomination (Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists). In the eighteenth century, Anti-Trinitarian ideas spread among the General Baptists, and by 1750, many, perhaps the majority of them, had become Unitarians. As a result of the great Wesleyan revival of the second half of the eighteenth century, new religious activity manifested itself among the General Baptists.
Dan Taylor (1738-1816) organized the orthodox portion of them into the New Connection of the General Baptists. The latter appellative soon disappeared, as the “Old Connection”, or unorthodox party, gradually merged into the Unitarian denomination. In 1816, the General Baptists established a missionary society. Their doctrinal differences with the Particular Baptists gradually disappeared in the course of the nineteenth century, and the two bodies united in 1891.
The Particular Baptists originated shortly after the General Baptists. Their first congregation was organized in 1633 by former members of a London “Separatist Church”, who seceded and were re-baptized. Mr. John Spillsbury became their minister. In 1638 a second secession from the original church occurred, and in 1640 another Particular Congregation was formed. The opinion now began to be held that immersion alone was real Baptism. Richard Blunt was sent to the Netherlands to be duly immersed. On his return he baptized the others, and thus the first Baptist church in the full meaning of the term was constituted in 1641. In 1644 there were seven Particular Baptist churches in London. They drew up a confession of faith (1644), which was republished in 1646. The Particular Baptists now rapidly increased in numbers and influence. Some of them held prominent positions under Cromwell. With the latter’s army Baptists came to Ireland, where the denomination never flourished, and to Scotland, where it took firm root only after 1750 and adopted some peculiar practices. Wales proved a more fruitful soil. A church was founded at or near Swansea in 1649. In the time of the Commonwealth (1649-60), churches multiplied owing to the successful preaching of Vavasour Powell (1617-70); and the number of Baptists, all Calvinistic, is today comparatively large in Wales and Monmouthshire. One of the prominent men who suffered persecution for the Baptist cause under Charles II was John Bunyan (1628-88), the author of “The Pilgrim’s Progress”. In the first part of the eighteenth century the Particular Baptists injured their own cause by their excessive emphasis of the Calvinistic element in their teaching, which made them condemn missionary activity and bordered on fatalism. The Wesleyan revival brought about a reaction against the deadening influence of ultra-Calvinism. Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) and Robert Hall (1764-1831) propounded milder theological views. The Baptist Home Mission Society was formed in 1779. In 1792 the foundation of the Baptist Missionary Society at Kettering, Northamptonshire, inaugurated the work of missions to the heathen. In this undertaking William Carey (1761-1834) was the prime mover. Perhaps the most eminent Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century in England was C. H. Spurgeon (1834-92), whose sermons were published weekly and had a large circulation. In recent years, the Baptists created a “Twentieth Century Fund,” to be expended in furthering the interests of the denomination.
(2) The Baptists in the United States
The first Baptist Church in the United States did not spring historically from the English Baptist churches, but had an independent origin. It was established by Roger Williams (c. 1600-83). Williams was a minister of the Church of England, who, owing to his separatist views, fled to America in search of religious freedom. He landed at Boston (February, 1631), and shortly after his arrival was called to be minister at Salem. Certain opinions, e.g. his denial of the right of the secular power to publish purely religious offences and his denunciation of the charter of the Massachusetts Colony as worthless, brought him into conflict with the civil authorities. He was summoned before the General Court in Boston and refusing to retract, was banished (October, 1635). He left the colony and purchased from the Narrangansett Indians a tract of land. Other colonists soon joined him, and the settlement, which was one of the first in the United States to be established on the principle of complete religious liberty, became the city of Providence. In 1639 Williams repudiated the value of the baptism he had received in infancy, and was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman, a former member of the Salem church. Williams then baptized Holliman with ten others, thus constituting the first Baptist church in the New World. A second church was founded shortly after (c. 1644) at Newport, Rhode Island, of which John Clarke (1609-76) became the pastor. In the Massachusetts Colony, from 1642 onward, Baptists, because of their religious views, came into conflict with the local authorities. A law was passed against them in 1644. In spite of this, we find at Rehoboth, in 1649, Baptists who began to hold regular meetings. In 1663, John Myles, who had emigrated with his Baptist church from Swansea, Wales, settled in the same place and most writers date the establishment of the first Baptist church in Massachusetts from the time of his arrival. The community removed in 1667 to a new site near the Rhode Island frontier, which they called Swansea. The first Baptist church in Boston was established in 1665, and the organization of the first one in Maine, then part of Massachusetts, was completed in 1682. The members of the latter, on account of the persecution to which they were still subjected, removed in 1684 to Charleston, South Carolina, and founded the first Baptist church in the South. The church of Groton (1705) was the first in Connecticut, where there were four in existence at the beginning of the religious revival known as the Great Awakening (1740).
During the period of these foundations in New England, Baptists appeared also in New York State, at least as early as 1656. The exact date of the establishment of the first church there is not ascertainable, but it was very probably at the beginning of the eighteenth century. From 1684 on, churches also appeared in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Cold Spring, Bucks Co., had the first one in Pennsylvania (1684); and Middletown heads the list in New Jersey (1688). A congregation was organized also in 1688 at Pennepek, or Lower Dublin, now part of Philadelphia. The latter churches were to exert very considerable influence in shaping the doctrinal system of the largest part of American Baptists. Philadelphia became a centre of Baptist activity and organization. Down to about the year 1700 it seemed as if the majority of American Baptists would belong to the General or Arminian branch. Many of the earliest churches were of that type. But only Particular Baptist congregations were established in and about Philadelphia, and these through the foundation of the Philadelphia Association in 1707, which fostered mutual intercourse among them, became a strong central organization about which other Baptist churches rallied. As a result, we see today the large number of Particular (Regular) Baptists. Until the Great Awakening, however, which gave new impetus to their activity, they increased but slowly. Since that time their progress has not been seriously checked, not even by the Revolution. True, the academy of Hopewell, New Jersey, their first educational institution, established in 1756, disappeared during the war; but Rhode Island College, chartered in 1764, survived it and became Brown University in 1804. Other educational institutions, to mention only the earlier ones, were founded at the beginning of the nineteenth century: Waterville (now Colby) College, Maine, in 1818; Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, in 1820; and in 1821, Columbian College at Washington (now the undenominational George Washington University).
Organized mission work was also undertaken at about the same time. In 1814 “The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions” was established at Philadelphia. It split in 1845 and formed the “American Baptist Missionary Union” for the North, with present head-quarters at Boston, and the “Southern Baptist Convention”, with head-quarters at Richmond (Virginia), and Atlanta (Georgia), for foreign and home missions respectively. In 1832, the “American Baptist Home Mission Society”, intended primarily for the Western States, was organized in New York where it still has its headquarters. In 1824, the “Baptist General Tract Society” was formed at Washington, removed to Philadelphia in 1826, and in 1840 became the “American Baptist Publication Society”. The Regular Baptists divided in 1845, not indeed doctrinally, but organically, on the question of slavery. Since that time, attempts at reunion having remained fruitless; they exist in three bodies: Northern, Southern, and Coloured. The Northern Baptists constituted, 17 May, 1907, at Washington, a representative body, called the “Northern Baptist Convention”, whose object is “to give expression to the sentiment of its constituency upon matters of denominational importance and of general religious and moral interest.” Governor Hughes of New York was elected president of the new organization.
(3) The Baptists in Other Countries
(a) America
The earliest Baptist church in the Dominion of Canada was organized at Horton, Nova Scotia, in 1763, by the Rev. Ebenezer Moulton of New England. This church, like many of the earlier ones, was composed of Baptists and Congregationalists. The influx of settlers from New England and Scotland and the work of zealous evangelists, such as Theodore Seth Harding, who laboured in the Maritime Provinces from 1795 to 1855, soon increased the number of Baptists in the country. The end of the eighteenth century was marked by a period of revivals, which prepared the formation of the “Association of the Baptist churches of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick” in 1800. In 1815, a missionary society was formed, and the work of organization in every line was continued throughout the nineteenth century, growing apace with Baptist influence and numbers. In 1889 some previously existing societies were consolidated in the “Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec”, whose various departments of work are: home missions, foreign missions, publications, church edifices, etc. Among the educational institutions of the Canadian Baptists may be mentioned Acadia College (founded 1838), Woodstock College (founded 1860), and McMaster University at Toronto (chartered 1887). Moulton College for women (opened 1888) is affiliated to the last mentioned institution. In other parts of America the Baptists are chiefly represented in the countries colonized by England. Thus we find a Baptist church in Jamaica as early as 1816. In Latin America the Baptist churches are not numerous and are of missionary origin. Recently, the Northern Baptists have taken Porto Rico as their special field, while the Southern Baptist Convention has chosen Cuba.
(b) European Continent
The founder of the Baptist churches in Germany was Johann Gerhard Oncken, whose independent study of the Scriptures led him to adopt Baptist views several years before he had an opportunity of receiving “believers’ baptism”. Having incidentally heard that an American Baptist, B. Sears, was pursuing his studies at Berlin, he communicated with him and was with six others baptized by him at Hamburg in 1834. His activity as an evangelist drew new adherents to the movement. The number of the Baptists increased, in spite of the opposition of the German state churches. In Prussia alone relative toleration was extended to them until the foundation of the Empire brought to them almost everywhere freedom in the exercise of their religion. A Baptist theological school was founded in 1881 at Hamburg-Horn. From Germany the Baptists spread to the neighbouring countries, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Russia. Nowhere on the Continent of Europe has the success of the Baptists been so marked as in Sweden, where their number is larger today than even in Germany. The Swedish Baptists date from the year 1848, when five persons were baptized near Gothenburg by a Baptist minister from Denmark. Andreas Wiberg became their great leader (1855-87). They have had a seminary at Stockholm since 1866. Among the Latin nations the Baptists never gained a firm foothold, although a Particular Baptist church seems to have existed in France by 1646, and a theological school was established in that country in 1879.
(c) Asia, Australasia, and Africa
William Carey first preached the Baptist doctrine in India in 1793. India and the neighbouring countries have ever since remained a favourite field for Baptist missionary work and have flourishing missions. Missions exist also in China, Japan, and several other Asiatic countries. The first Baptist churches in Australasia were organized between 1830 and 1840 in different places. Immigration from England, whence the leading Baptist ministers were until very recently drawn, increased, though not rapidly, the numbers of the denomination. During the period which elapsed between 1860 and 1870, a new impulse was given to Baptist activity. Churches were organized in rapid succession in Australia, and missionary work was taken up in India. The two chief hindrances complained of by Baptists in that part of the world, are State Socialism, i.e. excessive concentration of power in the executive, and want of loyalty to strictly denominational principles and practices. The Baptist churches of the African continent are, if we except South Africa, of missionary origin. The Negro Baptists of the United States had at an early date missionaries in this field. Two coloured men, Lott Carey, a former slave, and Colin Teague, set sail in 1820 for Liberia; where the first church was organized in 1821. Today we find Baptist missions in various parts of Africa.
III. MINOR BAPTIST BODIES
Side by side with the larger body of Baptists, several sects exist. They are found chiefly in the United States.
(1) The Baptist Church of Christ originated in Tennessee, about 1808, and spread to several other Southern States. Its doctrine is a mild form of Calvinism, with belief in a general atonement and admission of feet-washing as religious ordinance. [Communicants, 8,254 according to Dr. H. K. Carroll, the acknowledged authority, whose statistics, published in “The Christian Advocate” (New York, 17 January 1907, p. 98), we shall quote for these sects.]
(2) The Campbellites, Disciples of Christ, or Christians, date back as a distinct religious body to the early part of the nineteenth century. They are the outgrowth of that movement which manifested itself simultaneously in some of the religious denominations in the United States in favour of the Bible alone without creeds. Thomas Campbell (1763-1854) and Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), father and son, became the leaders of the movement. (Communicants, 1,264,758).
(3) The Dunkards (from the German tunken, to dip), German Baptists, or Brethren, were founded about 1708 in Germany by Alexander Mack. Between 1719 and 1729 they all emigrated to the United States and settled mostly in Pennsylvania. They are found today in many parts of the Union, but divisions have taken place among them. They practise threefold immersion, hold their communion service, which is preceded by the agape, in the evening, and seek to be excessively simple and unostentatious in their social intercourse, dress, etc. (Membership 121,194.)
(4) The Freewill Baptists correspond in doctrine and practice to the English General Baptists, but originated in the United States. They exist in two distinct bodies. The older was founded in North Carolina and constituted an association in 1729. Many of its members subsequently joined the Regular Baptists. Those who did not unite became known as the “Free Willers” and later as the “Original Freewill Baptists”, and are found in the two Carolinas. The larger body of the “Freewill Baptists” was founded in New Hampshire. Benjamin Randall organized the first church at New Durham in 1780. The denomination spread throughout New England and the West, and was joined in 1841 by the “Free-Communion Baptists” of New York (increase, 55 churches and 2500 members). It maintains several colleges and academies, and has changed its official name to “Free Baptists”. The American General Baptists are in substantial doctrinal agreement with the Freewill Baptists. (Membership: Original Freewill Baptists, 12000; Freewill Baptists, 82,303; General Baptists, 29,347.)
(5) The Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists are Manichaean in doctrine, holding that there are two seeds, one of good and one of evil. The doctrine is credited to Daniel Parker, who laboured in different parts of the Union in the first half of the nineteenth century (12,851 communicants).
(6) The Primitive Baptists, also called Old-School, Anti-Mission, and Hard-Shell, Baptists constitute a sect which is opposed to missions, Sunday schools, and in general to human religious institutions. They arose about 1835 (126,000 communicants).
(7) The foundation of the Separate and of the United Baptists was the result, either immediate or mediate, of the attitude taken by some Baptists toward the Whitefield revival movement of the eighteenth century (Separate Baptist, 6,479; United Baptists, 13,209).
(8) The Seventh-Day Baptists differ from the tenets of the Baptists generally only in their observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord. They appeared in England in the latter part of the sixteenth century under the name of “Sabbatarian Baptists”. Their first church in this country was organized at Newport, R. I. in 1671. In 1818 the name Seventh Day Baptists was adopted (Communicants, 8493).
(9) The Six-principle Baptists are a small body and date from the seventeenth century. They are so called from the six doctrines of their creed, contained in Heb., vi, 1-2: (a) Repentance from dead works; (b) Faith toward God; (c) The doctrine of Baptism; (d) The imposition of hands; (e) The resurrection of the dead; (f) Eternal judgment. (858 communicants).
(10) The Winebrennerians or Church of God were founded by John Winebrenner (1797-1860) in Pennsylvania, where their chief strength still lies. The first congregation was established in 1829. The Winebrennerians admit three Divine ordinances: baptism, feet-washing, and the Lord’s Supper (41,475 communicants).
IV. STATISTICS
According to the American Baptist Year-Book, published annually at Philadelphia, there were in 1907, not including the minor Baptist sects, 5,736,263 Baptists in the world. They had 55,505 churches and 38,216 ordained ministers. The denomination counted 4,974,014 members in North America; 4,812,653 in the United States, with church property worth $109,960,610; and 117,842 in Canada. South America has but 4,465 Baptists; Europe 564,670 (434,751 in Great Britain, 44,656 in Sweden 33,790 in Germany, 24,132 in Russia); Asia, 155,969; Australasia, 24,402; and Africa, 12,743. The statistic statement of Dr. H. K. Carroll, already referred to above, credits the Regular Baptists together with eleven branch denominations in the United States for 1906 with a membership of 5,140,770, 54,566 churches and, 38,010 ministers; Regular Baptists, North, 1,113,222; South, 1,939,563; Coloured, 1,779,969. The divisions in the bibliography correspond to the divisions of the article.
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I. STRONG, Systematic Theology (3d ed., New York, 1890); SCHAFF, The Creeds of Christendom (New York, 1877), I, 845-859; III, 738-756; MCCLINTOCK AND STRONG, Cyclopedia of Bibl., Theol., and Eccl. Lit. (New York, 1871), I, 653-660; CATHCART. The Baptist Encyclopedia (Philadelphia, 1881). II.–(1) CROSBY, The History of the English Baptists (London, 1738-40); IVIMEY, A History of the English Baptists (London, 1811-30); TAYLOR, The History of the English General Baptists (London, 1818); ARMITAGE, A History of the Baptists (New York, 1887); VEDDER, The Baptists (New York, 1903) in the Story of the Churches Series. (2) NEWMAN, A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States (4th ed., New York, 1902) in Am. Church Hist. Ser., II, bibliog., xi-xv; BURRAGE, A History of the Baptists in New England (Philadelphia, 1894); VEDDER, History of the Baptists in the Middle States (Philadelphia, 1898); SMITH, A History of the Baptists in the Western States (Philadelphia, 1900); RILEY, A History of the Baptists in the Southern States (Philadelphia, 1899). (3) NEWMAN, A century of Baptist Achievement (Philadelphia, 1901); LEHMAN, Geschichte der deutsch. Baptisten (Hamburg, 1896); SCHROEDER, History of the Swedish Baptists, (New York, 1898). III. CARROLL, The Religious Forces of the United States (New York, 1893) in Amer. Church Hist. Series, I; TYLER, The Disciples of Christ (New York, 1894) in same Series, XII, 1-162; STEWART, History of the Freewill Baptists (Dover, New Hampshire, 1862).
N.A. WEBER Transcribed by Robert H. Sarkissian
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Baptists
a name given to those Christian denominations which reject the validity of infant baptism, and hold that the ordinance of baptism can be administered only to those who have made a personal profession of faith in Christ. The Baptist churches also, in general, maintain that the entire immersion of the body is the only scriptural mode of baptism; yet the Mennonites, who are generally regarded as Baptists, use sprinkling. The name Baptist, as assumed by the Baptist denominations, of course implies that they alone maintain the Christian doctrine and practice of baptism; and in this sense their right to this distinctive name is denied by all other Christian denominations, as well as the similar claims of the Unitarians and (Roman) Catholics to their respective names. But, as established by usage, without having regard to its original signification, it is now generally adopted. The name Anabaptist is rejected by the Baptists as a term of reproach, because they protest against being identified with the Anabaptists of Munster, and as also incorrect, because most of their members receive the rite for the first time on their admission to a Baptist church. I. History.
1. Before the sixteenth Century. All Baptists, of course, claim that the apostolic church was essentially Baptist, and that infant baptism is an innovation. But Baptist writers differ concerning the time of the introduction of infant baptism, and also as to the question whether it is possible to trace an uninterrupted succession of Baptist churches from the apostles’ time down to the present. Some Baptist writers have attempted to trace this succession, as Orchard (History of Foreign Baptists, Lond. 1838), who gives, as the summing up of his researches, that all Christian communities during the first three centuries were of the Baptist. denomination in constitution and practice. In the middle of the third century the Novatian Baptists established separate and independent societies, which continued until the end of the sixth age, when these communities were succeeded by the Paterines, which continued until the Reformation (1517). The Oriental Baptist churches, with their successors, the Paulicians, continued in their purity until the tenth century, when they visited France, resuscitating and extending the Christian profession in Languedoc, where they flourished till the crusading army scattered, or drowned in blood, one million of unoffending professors. The Baptists in Piedmont and Germany are exhibited as existing under different names down to the Reformation. These churches, with their genuine successors, the Mennonites of Holland, are connectedly and chronologically detailed to the present period.
This view is, however, far from being shared by all Baptists. The leading Baptist Quarterly of America, The Christian Review (Jan. 1855, p. 23), remarks as follows: We know of no assumption more arrogant, and more destitute of proper historic support, than that which claims to be able to trace the distinct and unbroken existence of a church substantially Baptist from the time of the apostles down to our own. Thus also Cutting (Historic Vindications, Boston, 1859, p. 14) remarks on such attempts: I have little confidence in the results of any attempt of that kind which have met my notice, and I attach little value to inquiries pursued for the predetermined purpose of such a demonstration.
The non-Baptist historians of the Christian Church almost unanimously assert that infant baptism was practiced from the beginning of Christianity, SEE BAPTISM, and generally maintain that no organized body holding Baptist principles can be found before the rise of the Anabaptists (q.v.), about 1520. SEE PAULICIANS: SEE LOLLARDS; SEE WALDENSES. Soon after the Anabaptists, Menno (q.v.) renounced the doctrines of the Roman church, and organized (after 1536) a Baptist denomination, which spread widely, especially in Germany and Holland, and still exists. SEE MENNONITES.
2. Great Britain. Whether and to what extent Baptist principles were held in Great Britain before the sixteenth century is still a matter of historic controversy. In 1535 Henry VIII ordered sixteen Dutchmen to be put to death for being Anabaptists, and in 1539, 30 persons were exiled because they rejected infant baptism. The general pardon of 1550 excepted the Baptists. Elizabeth commanded all Anabaptists to depart out of the’ kingdom within 21 days. King James refused all concessions to Baptists, as well as to Nonconformists in general. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Mr. Smyth (1610), a leading minister among the Baptists, published a work against persecution, but it called forth a new proclamation against the Baptists and their books, and in 1611, another Baptist, Mr. Wightman, was burned. Cromwell protected the Baptists, but they were again persecuted under Charles II and James II. The Toleration Act of William III, 1689, recognised them as the third dissenting denomination. The first Baptist churches were Arminian; a Calvinistic Baptist church was established about 1633. In 1640 there were 7 Baptist congregations in London, and about 40 more in the country. Those who held Arminian views received the name General, those who held Calvinistic views, the name Particular Baptists. Many General Baptists adopted Arianism and Socinianism; and in 1770, the orthodox portion seceded, and formed what is known as the New Connection of General Baptists. In 1792 William Carey prevailed on the Nottingham Association to found the Baptist Missionary Society, an event of the utmost importance in the history of the Christian church in general, for from it dates the awakening of a new zeal in the European and American churches for the conversion of the pagan world. In 1842 the Baptist Missionary Society reported at its Jubilee that it had translated the Scriptures, wholly or in part, into forty-four languages or dialects of India, and printed, of the Scriptures alone, in foreign languages nearly half a million.
Among the earliest writers of the Baptist denomination in England were Edward Barker, Samuel Richardson, Christopher Blackwood, Hansard Knollys, Francis Cornwell, and in the latter half of the seventeenth century, Jeremiah Ives, John Tombes, John Norcott, Henry D’Anvers, Benjamin and Elias Keach, Edward Hutchinson, Thomas Grantham, Nehemiah Cox, D.D., Thomas de Launne, and Dr. Russell Collins. But by far the most celebrated of all Baptist writers is John Bunyan. John Milton also is claimed by the Baptists, though not as a member of their denomination, at least as a professor of their distinctive principles; for they say he composed his two most elaborate, painstaking volumes to prove from the Scriptures the divine origin and authority of the distinguishing principles of Baptists. Among the Baptist writers in the early part of the eighteenth century were Samuel Ewen, John Brine, Benjamin Beddoma, the three Stennetts (Joseph Stennett, Joseph Stennett, jun., D.D., Samuel Stennett, D.D.), John Evans, LL.D., J. H. Evans, Dr. Gale, the famous Dr. Gill, Joseph Burroughs, William Zoat, Caleb Evans, D.D., Abraham Booth, and Joseph Jenkins. Toward the close of the last and the beginning of the present century, the Baptist denomination had a large number of writers, among whom were William Jones, Thomas Llewellyn, William Richards, Robert Hall, John Foster, Andrew Fuller, Christopher Anderson, and Joseph Ivimey. The Rev. F. A. Cox (a Baptist writer) states (Encyc. Metrop.), however, that, till of late years, Baptist literature must be regarded as, on the whole, somewhat inferior. Cox enumerates among the great men of the English Baptists, Gale and Carson for Greek scholarship; Gill for Hebrew knowledge and rabbinical lore; Carey for Oriental research; Fuller for theological wisdom and controversial acuteness; Hughes for the union of elegant taste and public zeal in the formation of the Bible and Tract Societies; Foster for the reach and profundity of his mind; and Hall as the most chaste and beautiful of writers, and, perhaps, the greatest of English preachers. More recently, the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon acquired the reputation of being one of the most popular preachers of the nineteenth century. Sir Morton Peto has become a prominent member of the House of Commons. See Crowell, Literature of American Baptists in Missionary Jubilee (p. 400, 405).
3. United States. The Baptist churches in the United States owe their origin to Roger Williams (q.v.), who, before his immersion, was an Episcopalian minister. He was persecuted for opposing the authority of the state in ecclesiastical affairs and for principles which tended to Anabaptism. In 1639 he was immersed by Ezekiel Holliman, and in turn immersed Holliman and ten others, who with him organized a Baptist Church at Providence, Rhode Island. A few years before (1635), though unknown to Williams, a Baptist preacher of England, Hansard Knollys, had settled in New Hampshire and taken charge of a church in Dover; but he resigned in 1639 and returned to England. Williams obtained in 1644 a charter for the colony which he and his associates had founded in Rhode Island, with full and entire freedom of conscience. Rhode Island thus became the first Christian state which ever granted full religious liberty. In the other British colonies the persecution against the Baptists continued a long time. Massachusetts issued laws against them in 1644, imprisoned several Baptists in 1651, and banished others in 1669. In 1680 the doors of a Baptist meeting-house were nailed up. In New York laws: were issued against Ithem in 1662, in Virginia in 1664. With the beginning of the eighteenth century the persecution greatly abated. They were released from tithes in 1727 in Massachusetts, in 1729 in New Hampshire and Connecticut, but not before 1785 in Virginia. The spread of their principles was greatly hindered by these persecutions, especially in the South, where in 1776 they counted about 100 societies. After the Revolution they spread with extraordinary rapidity, especially in the South and Southwest, and were inferior in this respect only to the Methodists. In 1817 a triennial general convention was organized, which, however, has since been discontinued. In 1845 the discussion of the slavery question caused alienation between the, Northern and Southern Baptists.
The destruction of slavery, in consequence of the failure of the Great Rebellion and the adoption of the constitutional amendment in 1865, led to efforts to reunite the societies of the Northern and the Southern States. The Northern associations generally expressed a desire to co-operate again with their Southern brethren in the fellowship of Christian labor, but they demanded from the Southern associations a profession of loyalty to the United States government, and they themselves deemed it necessary to repeat the testimony which, during the war, they had, at each annual meeting, borne against slavery. The Southern associations that met during the year 1865 were unanimous in favor of continuing their former separate societies, and against fraternization with the Northern societies. They censured the American Baptist Home Missionary Society for proposing, without consultation or co-operation with the churches, associations, conventions, or organized boards of the Southern States, to appoint ministers and missionaries to preach and raise churches within the bounds of the Southern associations. Some of the Southern associations, like that of Virginia, consequently advised the churches to decline any co-operation or fellowship with any of the missionaries, ministers, or agents of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. A number of negro Baptist churches in the Southern States separated from the Southern associations, and either connected themselves with those of the North, or organized, with the co-operation of the Northern missionaries, independent associations. Divisions among the American Baptists commenced early to take place; SEE SIX-PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS; SEE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS; SEE SEVENTH-DAY GERMAN BAPTISTS; SEE OLD- SCHOOL BAPTISTS; SEE FREE-WILL BAPTISTS; SEE DISCIPLES; SEE CHURCH OF GOD. Some divisions have become extinct, as the Roqerenes, organized in 1680 in Connecticut, and called after Jonathan Rogers. They observed the seventh day instead of Sunday, and believed in spiritual marriages. The Free or Open Communion Baptists, who were organized about 1810, united in 1841 with the Free-will Baptists.
The Baptist literature of the United States begins in the seventeenth century with the pleas of Roger Williams and his companion, John Clarke, for religious liberty. Contributions to the denominational literature were also made by the Wightmans, of Connecticut (Valentine, Timothy, and John Gano), the two Abel Morgans, John Callender, and Benjamin Griffith. The first Baptist book on Systematic Theology was published in 1700 by the Rev. John Watts. About the middle of the eighteenth century the Rev. Isaac Backus commenced his literary career. He was followed by the Rev. Dr. Stillman, Rev. Morgan Edwards, Samuel Shepard, Rev. William Rogers, Rev. Richard Furman, and the eccentric John Leland. Fruitful authors at the beginning of the present century were Thomas Baldwin, D.D., Rev. Henry Holcombe, James Manning, D.D., Rev. Dr. Stanford, Rev. Dr. Mercer, Rev. A. Broaddus, Rev. Jonathan Maxey, D.D., and Rev. William Staughton, D.D. The literature of the last fifty years is very numerous. We give below (from Crowell, Literature of the American Baptists during the last fifty years, in Missionary Jubilee, N. Y. 1865, p. 405-465) a list of the most important denominational works of Baptist authors, and of the most important contributions of Baptist authors to religious and general literature.
A. Denominational Literature.
a. Didactic. Jesse Mercer, of Georgia (on Ordination; Church Authority; Lord’s Supper); Andrew Broaddus, Va. (Church Discipline); W. Crowell, Ill. (Church Members’ Manual); Warham Walker, N. Y. (Church Discipline); E. Savage (Church Discipline); J. L. Reynolds (Church Order); Th. F. Curtis (Progress of Baptist Principles; Communion); Fr. Wayland (Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches); D. C. Haynes (The Baptist Denomination); E. T. Hiscox (Church Directory); W. Jewell, S. W. Lynd, Mill, R. Fuller, T. L. Davidson, N. M. Crawford, E. Turney, W. C. Duncan, M. G. Clarke (Baptism); A. N. Arnold (Communion); J. I. Dagg (Church Order).
b. Historical. Benedict (Hist. of Baptists, the standard American work); Duncan (Early Baptists); W. Gammell (American Baptist Missions); W. Hague (Baptist Church transplanted from the Old to the New World); J. Newton Brown (Hist. of Bapt. Publication Society; Baptist Martyrs; Simon Menno); F. Dennison (Baptists and their Principles); S. S. Cutting (Provinces and Uses of Baptist History).
c. Polemic (against other denominations). S. Wilcox, D. Hascall, Th. Baldwin, G. Foote, J. T. Hinton, W. Hague, J. Richards, J. J. Woolsey, C. H. Hosken, R. B. C. Howell, E. Turney, G.W. Anderson, J. T. Smith, T. G. Jones, S. Henderson, A. C. Dayton (the latter two specially against Methodism). d. Apologetic (in defense of Baptist principles). Among those who wrote in defense of the Baptists respecting the Lord’s Supper were T. Baldwin, J. Mercer, D. Sharp, Spencer C. Cone, A. Broaddus, D. Merrill, G. F. Davis, H. J. Ripley, Barnas Sears, J. B. Taylor, T. F. Curtis, J. Knapp, A. N. Arnold, W. Crowell, H. Harvey, John L. Waller, A. Hovey, C. H. Pendleton, M. V. Kitz Miller, Willard Judd, James Pyper, J. M. C. Breaher, M. G. Clarke, J. Wheaton Smith. Among the writers defending the denominational view of Baptism are D. Merrill, H. Holcomb, Irah Chase, H. . Ripley, Adoniram Judson; W. Judd, A. Bronson, J. T. Smith, W. Hague, T. G. Jones, Richard Fuller, J. Bates, J. Dowling. e. Hymn-books. The principal writers of lyric poetry are S. F. Smith, S. Dyer, S. D. Phelps, S. P. Hill, H. S. Washburn, James D. Knowlee, J. R. Scott, Miss M. A. Collier, Mill, L. H. Hill, J. N. Brown, R. Turnbull.
B. Contributions of Baptist Authors to Religious Literature. a. Didactic. Broaddus (Hist. of the Bible); W. Collier (Gospel Treasury); H. Holcombe (Primitive Theology); J. Newton Brown (Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge; Obligations of the Sabbath); Howard Malcom (Bible Dictionary; Extent of Atonement); Francis Wayland (The Ministry; Human Responsibility); W. R. Williams (The Lord’s Prayer; Religious Progress); H. C. Fish (History of Pulpit Eloquence). b. Critical and Exegetical. Irah Chase (Constitutions and Canons of the Apostles; Daniel); H. J. Ripley (Four Gospels; Acts; Romans); H. B. Hackett (Chaldee and Hebrew Grammars; Acts; Philemon); A. C. Kendrick (Olshausen’s Commentary); Th. C. Conant (Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar; Job; the word); Mrs. H. C. Conant (Neander’s Commentaries); R. E. Pattison (Ephesians); J. T. Hinton (Daniel); A. Hovey (Miracles of Christ); E. Hutchinson (Syriac Grammar); A. Sherwood (Notes on New Testament). c. Polemical. Against Universalism, by E. Andrews, J. Tripp, J. Russell, W. C. Rider, R. R. Coon; against Roman Catholicism, by J. Dowling and R. Fuller. d. Historical. Benedict (Hist. of all Religions); J. C. Choules (Hist. of Missions); Mrs. H. C. Conant (Popular Hist. of the Bible).
4. Continent of Europe. After the extirpation of the Anabaptists, the Baptist principles were represented on the European continent almost exclusively by the Mennonites (q.v.). In 1834 a Baptist society was organized in Hamburg by Oncken, a native German, who was immersed in the Elbe in 1833 by Dr. Sears, since which time the Baptists have spread rapidly in Northern Europe. In several states, as Sweden and Mecklenburg, they met with cruel persecution, but in Hamburg they were recognised by the state in 1859. Besides the independent churches organized by them, Baptist doctrine, or at least the rejection of paedobaptism, has found some adherents in several other churches, e.g. some pastors in the Free Evangelical churches of France, in the Reformed State Church of France, and in the Free Apostolic Church, founded in 1856 in Norway. Among the missions established by the Baptists in Asia, Africa, and Australasia, those in India, especially those among: the Karens in Burmah (q.v.), have been the most successful. The Karen mission not only counts numerous congregations, but is already the nucleus of a Christian nation.
II. Doctrines and Government. The Baptists have no standard Confession of Faith. As their churches are independent, each adopts its own articles of religion. In England, as has been stated above, the Old Connection are chiefly Socinians; the New Connection, evangelical Arminians; the Particular Baptists, Calvinists of various shades. In the United States, the regular Baptists are for the most part Calvinists, perhaps of a stricter order than their British brethren. The Baptists generally form Associations, which, however, exercise no jurisdiction over the churches. They recognize no higher church officers than pastors and deacons. Elders are sometimes. ordained as evangelists and missionaries. Between clergy and laity they recognize no other distinction but that of office. Though Regular Baptists accept of no authority other than the Bible for their faith and practice, yet nearly all of the societies have a confession of faith, in pamphlet form for distribution among its members. The following form, generally known as the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, is perhaps in more general use among the societies in the North and East, while the Philadelphia Confession of Faith is that generally adopted in the South. We give both:
Confession of Faith of Regular Baptists (Northern).
1. The Scripture. We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.
2. The True God. We believe the Scriptures teach that there is one, and only one living and true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, whose name is JEHOVAH, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son,and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
3. The Fall of Man. We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created in holiness, under the law of his Maker; but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and happy state; in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse.
4. The Way of Salvation. We believe the Scriptures teach that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace, through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who, by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon him our nature, yet without sin; honored the divine law by his personal obedience, and by his death made a full atonement for our sins; that, having risen from the dead, he is now enthroned in heaven; and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfections, he is every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Savior.
5. Justification. We believe the Scriptures teach that the great Gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in him is justification; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life on principles of righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, by virtue of which faith his prefect righteousness is freely imputed to us of God; that it brings us into a state of most blessed peace and favor with God, and secures every other blessing needful for time and eternity.
6. Salvation. We believe the Scriptures teach that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel; that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith; and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth but his own determined depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel, which rejection involves him in an aggravated condemnation.
7. Regeneration. We believe the Scriptures teach that in order to be saved sinners must be regenerated, or born again; that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind; that it is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the power of the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; and that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, and faith, and newness of life.
8. Repentance and Faith. We believe the Scriptures teach that repentance and faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God, whereby, being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our prophet, priest, and king, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient Savior.
9. God’s Purpose of Grace. We believe the Scriptures teach that election is the eternal purpose of God, according to which he graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners; that, being perfectly consistent with the free agency of man, it comprehends all the means in connection with the end; that; is a most glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, being infinitely free, wise, holy, and unchangeable; that it utterly excludes boasting, and promotes humility, love, prayer, praise, trust in God, and active imitation of his free mercy, that it encourages the use of means in the highest degree; that it may be ascertained by its effects in all who truly believe the Gospel; that it is the foundation of Christian assurance; and that to ascertain it with regard to ourselves demands and deserves the utmost diligence.
10. Sanctification. We believe the Scriptures teach that sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means-especially the word of God, self- examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.
11. Perseverance of Saints. We believe the Scriptures teach that such only are real believers as endure unto the end; that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors; that a special Providence watches over their welfare; and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
12. The Law and Gospel. We believe the Scriptures teach that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of his moral government; that it is holy, just, and good; and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen man to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love of sin; to deliver them from which, and to restore them through a Mediator to unfeigned obedience to the holy law, is one great end of the Gospel, and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the visible church.
13. A Gospel Church. We believe the Scriptures teach that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by his laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His word; that its only scriptural officers are bishops, or pastors, and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus.
14. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer, into the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost; to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation, and to the Lord’s Supper, in which the members of the church, by the sacred use of bread and wine, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ, preceded always by solemn self-examination.
15. The Christian Sabbath. We believe the Scriptures teach that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day, or Christian Sabbath; and it is to be kept sacred to religious purposes by abstaining from all secular labor and sinful recreation, by the devout observance of all the means of grace, both private and public, and by preparation for that rest which remaineth for the people of God.
16. Civil Government. We believe the Scriptures teach that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interest and good order of human society; and that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except only ill things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.
17. Righteous and Wicked. We believe the Scriptures teach that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the spirit of our God, are truly righteous in his esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are, in his sight, wicked and under the curse; and this distinction holds among men both in and after death.
18. The World to Come. We believe the Scriptures teach that the end of the world is approaching; that at the last day Christ will descend from heaven, and raise the dead from the grave for final retribution; that a solemn separation will then take place; that the wicked will be adjudged to endless punishment, and the righteous to endless joy; and that this judgment will fix forever the final state of men in heaven or hell, on principles of righteousness.
19. Covenant. Having been, as we trust, brought by divine grace to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and to give ourselves wholly to him, we do now solemnly and joyfully covenant with each other TO WALK TOGETHER IN HIM, WITH BROTHERLY LOVE, to his glory as our common Lord. We do therefore, in his strength, engage
That we will exercise a Christian care and watchfulness over each other, and faithfully warn, exhort, and admonish each other as occasion may require:
That we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but will uphold the public worship of God and the ordinances of his house That we will not omit closet and family religion at home, nor neglect the great duty of religiously training our children and those under our care for the service of Christ and the enjoyment of heaven:
That, as we are the light of the world and salt of the earth, we will seek divine aid to enable us to deny ungodliness, and even worldly lust, and to walk circumspectly in the world, that we may win the souls of men:
That we will cheerfully contribute of our property, according as God has prospered us, for the maintenance of a faithful and evangelical ministry among us, for the support of the poor, and to spread the Gospel over the earth:
That we will in all conditions, even till death, strive to live to the glory of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN.
Confession of Faith of Baptist Churches (Southern).
1. Holy Scripture. The holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience; the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest.
2. God the Trinity. The Lord our God is but one only living and true God, infinite in being and perfection. In this divine and infinite being there are three subsistencies, the Father, the Word (or Son), and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity. 3. God’s Decree. Those of mankind that are predestinated to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chose in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so he hath, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto; wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith by Christ, by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power through faith unto salvation.
4. The Fall of Man and Sin. Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave to him a righteous law, yet he did not long abide in this honor, but did wilfully transgress the command given unto him in eating the forbidden fruit; which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, whereby death came upon all; all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. They being the root, corrupted nature was conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath.
5. God’s Covenant. Man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to reveal the Covenant of Grace, wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him that they might be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.
6. Christ the Mediator. The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance, and equal with him, who made the world, who upholdeth and governeth all things he hath made, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and Man 1:7. Redemption. The Lord Jesus. by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.
To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same; making intercession for them; uniting them to himself by his Spirit; revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mystery of salvation; persuading them to believe and obey; governing their hearts by his word and Spirit, and overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation, and all of free and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen in them to procure it.
8. The Will. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into a state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good.
9. Effectual Calling. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call by his word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace of salvation by Jesus Christ.
10. Justification. Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth, accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone.
11. Adoption. All those that are justified, God vouchsafed, in and for the Fake of his only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privilege of children of God.
12. Sanctification. They who are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, are also further sanctified, really and personally, through the same virtue, by his word and Spirit dwelling in them.
13. Saving Faith. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word.
14. Repentance. Saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it, with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency.
15. Good Works. Good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith.
16. Perseverance. Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
17. Moral Law. The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it; neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.
18. The Sabbath. God, by his word, in a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which he called the Lord’s day.
19. The Church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the church is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner. In the execution of this power, the Lord Jesus calleth out of the world unto himself, through the ministry of his word, by his Spirit, those that are given unto him by his Father, that they may walk before him in all the ways of obedience, which he prescribeth to them in his word. 20. Church Officers. A particular church gathered, and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church are bishops, or elders, and deacons.
21. Ministers, their Duty and Support. The work of pastors being constantly to attend the service of Christ, in his churches, in the ministry of the word, and prayer, with watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to him, it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister not only to give them all due respect, but to communicate to them of all their good things, according to their ability.
22. Baptism. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection; of his being ingrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life. Those who do actually profess repentance toward God, and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance. The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be immersed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
23. Lord’s Supper. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him, the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches unto the end of the word, for the perpetual remembrance and showing forth the sacrifice of himself in his death.
24. The Resurrection. The bodies of men after death return to dust, but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them; the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day.
25. The Judgment. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father, then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive the fullness of joy and glory, with everlasting reward, in the presence of the Lord: but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
The American Baptists differ also from the British in a more general adoption of close communion. SEE COMMUNION.
III. Statistics:
1. United States. According to the American Baptist Year-book for 1890, there were, in 1889, 1294 associations, 33,588 churches, 21,175 ordained ministers, and 3,070,047 members. The number of Baptist theological institutions was, in 1889, 7; universities and colleges, 31; seminaries for female education exclusively, 32; seminaries and academies, male and co-educating, 46; institutions for the colored race and Indians, 17. The Baptists, in 1889, published 54 weekly papers, 2 bi-weeklies, 33 monthlies, 4 semi-monthlies, 1 bi-monthly, 9 quarterlies, and 1 yearly publication. Six periodicals are published in foreign languages.
The general benevolent associations are
(1.) the American Baptist Missionary Union, organized in 1814. The receipts in 1889 were $415,144. There are under the charge of the Board 62 stations, 1179 out-stations, in the work among the heathen. In all the mission-fields there are 279 missionaries employed, 173 of whom are female helpers. There are 2076 preachers, 1316 churches, 134,413 members. 10,308 were baptized in 1888. Its fields of labor, in addition to general Bible work, are Burmah, Assam, Telugu, China, Japan, Africa, and Europe (France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden).
(2.) American Baptist Publication Society, organized in 1824; office located at 1420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, with branch houses in various cities of the United States. In 1889 its receipts amounted to $626,360 24. Ninety-eight new publications were issued during the year. 661,582,811 pages 16mo were printed; total number of pages issued since the society’s organization is 7,840,079,755 pages 16mo. The Reaper has a circulation of 2,835,000 copies; Sunlight, 2,117,000 copies.
128 persons are employed by the society as its agents in the states and foreign countries. (3.) American Baptist Home Missionary Society, organized in 1832. Total receipts in 1889, $375,254 93. Missionaries and agents employed during the year, 790; churches and out-stations supplied, 1795. It maintains not only missions in various states of the Union, but also aids in the erection of churches and in educational work.
(4.) American and Foreign Bible Society. SEE BIBLE SOCIETIES.
(5.) Southern Baptist Convention, organized in 1845. Its Foreign Mission Board is located at Richmond, Va., and reported in 1889, receipts,
$149,584 64; expenditures, $102,119 77; Its Home Mission Board is located at Atlanta, Ga. Receipts, $159,985; expenditures, $159,156 05. There have been under commission during the year 328 missionaries:
among foreign populations, 12; in Cuba, 20, among the colored people, 41; among the native population, 255.
(6.) American Baptist Historical Society, organized in 1853, has a library of 7468 volumes and 2806 pamphlets.
(7.) Women’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, organized in 1871; located in Boston. Receipts in 1889, $76,193 88. It is auxiliary to the Missionary Union, and operates chiefly by establishing schools, medical work, and Bible women.
(8.) Women’s Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the West, organized in 1871; located in Chicago. Receipts, $30,793 12, in 1889. It employed 30 workers in the foreign field during the year.
(9.) Women’s Baptist Home Mission Society, organized in 1877; located in Chicago. Receipts in 1889, $39,774 71. 71 missionaries were employed during the year.
(10.) Women’s American Baptist Home Mission Society, organized in 1877. Receipts in 1880, $28,935 72.
(11.) Baptist Ministers’ Aid Society, organized in 1885, in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, maintains a home at Fenton, Mich., having 11 inmates.
(12.) American Baptist Education Society, organized in 1888. Receipts during 1889, $2596; expenditures, $3342. 2. Great Britain. According to the English Baptist Hand-book for 1890, there were in Great Britain and Ireland 46 associations of General and Particular Baptists. 2786 churches, 3781 chapels, 299,126 members, 448,796 pupils of Sunday-schools. In 1889 a scheme was proposed for the amalgamation of the General Baptists and Particular Baptists, and carried into effect, the names General and Particular being dropped, and the word Baptist used only. In Scotland there were, in 1889, 103 Baptist churches, 94 ministers, and 11,773 members. In Ireland, 20 churches, 14 ministers, and 1602 members. The Particular Baptists have 9 colleges: Bristol (founded in 1770); Rawdon, Leeds (1804); Regent’s Park, London (1810); Pontypool (1807); Haverford West (1841); Pastor’s, London. (1856); Manchester (1866); North Wales. Llangollen (1862); Scotland, Glasgow (1869). The first five had together, in 1890, 111 pupils. The General Baptists have a college at Nottingham (since 1798), with 9 students.
The religious and benevolent societies are many: the Baptist Hand-book for 1890 names 26. The Baptist Missionary Society had in 1889 an income of 80,818, and has missions in India, Ceylon, China, Japan Palestine, Africa, the West Indies, and France. The General Baptists have a mission in India. The Baptist Union strives to be a bond of union for the independent churches to obtain statistical information on Baptist churches and institutions throughout the world, and to prepare an annual report on the state of the denomination.
According to the Baptist Hand-book, the periodicals of the English Baptists are 5 yearly, 15 monthly, 1 bimonthly, and 3 weeklies.
3. In other Countries. The British Possessions in America had, in 1889, 23 associations, 756 churches, 475 pastors, 74,781 members, 9 periodicals, and 5 educational institutions. Germany had, in 1889, 104 churches and 19,743 members; Switzerland, 4 churches and 507 members; Denmark, 21 churches and 2572 members, Sweden, 497 churches and 32,305 members; France, 13 pastors and 1123 members; Italy, 53 churches and 910 members; Austria-Hungary, 6 churches and 1472 members; Romania and Bulgaria, 3 churches and 231 members; Russia, 44 churches and 11,293 members; Holland, 19 churches and 1218 members. In Asia the American Baptist Missionary Union (in India, Burmah, and Ceylon) reported, in 1889, 63,233 members; those of the English Baptist Missionary Society (India, Ceylon, China, Japan), 6761 members; those of the General Baptist Missionary Society of England (India), 1401 members; the Baptist Missionary Society of England (North China), 1178 members, Canadian Baptist Missions (India), 1852 members; American Southern Baptists in China, 727 members. In Africa the English Baptist Missionary Society had, in 1889, 1098 members; the American Baptist Missionary Union in Congo, 246 members; the Southern Baptists in Liberia, 149 members. There are 200 Baptists in St. Helena, and 186 churches and 15,196 members in Australasia. See Benedict, History of the Baptists; Cox, The Baptists (in the Enc. Metr.); Missionary Jubilee (N. Y. 1865); Smith, Tables of Church History; Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, s.v. Schem, Ecclesiastical Year-book; Cutting, Historical Vindications. For a fuller account of works on the history of American Baptists, compare above, Baptist Literature.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Baptists
or ANTIPAEDOBAPTISTS, so called from their rejecting the baptism of infants. The Baptists in England form one of the three denominations of Protestant Dissenters. The constitution of their churches, and their modes of worship, are congregational, or independent. They bore a considerable share in the sufferings of the seventeenth and preceding centuries: for there were many among the Lollards and Wickliffites who disapproved of infant baptism. There were also many of this faith among the Protestants and Reformers abroad. In Holland, Germany, and the north, they went by the names of Anabaptists and Mennonites; and in Piedmont and the south, they were found among the Albisenses and Waldenses. The Baptists subsist chiefly under two denominations,the Particular or Calvinistical, and the General or Arminian. The former is by far the most numerous. Some of both denominations, General and Particular, allow of free or mixed communion; admitting to the Lord’s table pious persons who have not been immersed, while others consider that as an essential requisite to communion. These are sometimes called Strict Baptists. Other societies of this denomination observe the seventh day of the week as their Sabbath, apprehending the original law of the Sabbath to remain in force, unaltered and unrepealed. These are called Seventh-day Baptists. A considerable number of the General Baptists have gone into Unitarianism; in consequence of which, those who maintained the doctrines of the Trinity and atonement, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, formed themselves into what is called The New Connection, or Association. These preserve a friendly correspondence with their other brethren in things which concern the general interests of the denomination, but hold no religious communion with them. Some congregations of General Baptists admit three distinct orders of church officers: messengers or ministers, elders, and deacons. The Baptists in America, and in the East and West Indies, are chiefly Calvinists; but many of them admit of free communion. The Scottish Baptists form a distinct denomination, and are distinguished by several peculiarities of church government. No trace can be found of a Baptist church in Scotland, says Mr. Jones, excepting one which appears to have been formed out of Cromwell’s army, previous to 1765, when a church was settled at Edinburgh, under the pastoral care of Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Archibald M’Lean. Others have since been formed at Dundee, Glasgow, and in most of the principal towns of Scotland: also at London, and in various parts of England. They think that the order of public worship, which uniformly obtained in the Apostolic churches, is clearly set forth in Act 2:42-47; and therefore they endeavour to follow it out to the utmost of their power. They require a plurality of elders in every church, administer the Lord’s Supper, and make contributions for the poor every first day of the week. The prayers and exhortations of the brethren form a part of their church order, under the direction and control of the elders, to whom it exclusively belongs to preside in conducting the worship, to rule in cases of discipline, and to labour in the word and doctrine, in distinction from the brethren exhorting one another. The elders are all laymen, generally chosen from among the brethren; but, when circumstances require, are supported by their contributions. They approve also of persons who are properly qualified for it, being appointed by the church to preach the Gospel and baptize, though not vested with any pastoral charge. The discipline and government of the Scottish Baptists are strictly congregational.