Back to History Reports

THE IMPOSITION OF HANDS was practiced in the election of deacons, and quite generally in connection with baptism, especially amongst the General Baptists, this question being a disturbing element in many congregations. Fasting also was esteemed a religions duty, but no set times were appointed for its performance. The question of feet-washing was a dividing question, and for a time this usage was practiced in some of the Churches, generally meeting stout resistance; it soon disappeared. The anointing of the sick was quite common, being approved by the example of Kiffin and Knollys, but physicians were not pushed aside, while prayer and oil were used for the recovery of the sick.

As with the Friends, ‘marrying out of the Society’ was strictly forbidden, and was followed by excommunication. The AMUSEMENTS OF CHURCH MEMBERS were carefully supervised. The old records give numerous instances of discipline for card-playing, dancing, cock-fighting and playing at foot-ball. A ‘flounting apparel’ was condemned, and what is now known as the Quaker costume was worn by the Baptists, and borrowed by the Friends. Some matters in domestic life, as between husbands and wives, servants and masters, were subjects of discipline. Borrowing and lending, ‘idleness in their calling,’ ‘covetousness,’ ‘lying and slandering,’ ‘obstinacy of temper,’ ‘negligence and extravagance,’ came under disciplinary offenses.

They also fell into other customs of doubtful Bible authority. We learn from several sources that it was not uncommon to choose deacons and even pastors by the CASTING OF LOTS. The Warboys Church elected both a deacon and elder in this way in the year 1647. But a more curious instance occurred in 1682, when Bampfield and his people wished to select a site for a chapel. They could not agree which to take out of three places. Therefore they laid aside their own prudential determinings, and after they had sought the Lord to choose for them, did refer the determining of it wholly unto him. Lots were prepared, one for each place, ‘and that they might not limit the sovereign will of the All-wise, a fourth blank. Having agreed upon one to draw the lot, they all looked up to the God of heaven, expecting his allotment. The lot, being opened, spoke Pinner’s Hall.’ This custom was common amongst various Puritan sects in the seventeenth century.

Many of the Churches observed LOVE-FEASTS before the Lord’s Supper, but as this early practice was not held to be obligatory and perpetual, it never became general, nor was it recognized in their Confessions. But great stress was laid upon the CARE OF THE POOR in the Churches, and for this there was especial need in consequence of persecution. Heavy fines and long imprisonments despoiled their substance, tore husbands and wives apart, and brought starvation to their children, besides disinheriting them for their father’s religious views when he was dead. This drove them to consider themselves as one great family, in which the strong should help the weak, and created a sort of voluntary communism amongst them. It was a standing rule in some Churches for each member to make his contribution to the treasury every Sunday, and so by plainness and economy each lived for the other, and in times of calamity all gave a willing response to the needy.

MINISTERIAL CLUBS became a curious feature amongst the Baptists. One, composed of Calvinistic ministers, was organized as early as 1714, and met weekly at a London coffee-house. The rent of a room in which one club had been held was four guineas a year, but it was raised sixteen shillings ‘in consideration of the rise of tobacco,’ a side-light on the doings of the club. Their weekly meetings were more than social gatherings, for they carried through so many local plans that at one time there was danger that one club would arrogate to itself and exercise the authority of a synod of elders. Country Churches, seeking pecuniary aid, must first appeal to this club for its sanction. It gave advice concerning the establishment of new Churches and the relations of pastors to their flocks, settled Church difficulties, kept close watch over the lives and opinions of its own members, and exclusions were frequent for heresy and ill-conduct. The London Baptist Board is the lineal descendant and survivor of one of these clubs, though the character of its meetings and the nature of its functions are so changed as scarcely to be recognizable.

The Six-Principle Baptists established a General Assembly in March, 1690, but part of them dissented from all the Confessions of their brethren, as savoring of human creeds. Some of them were Calvinistic and some Arminian, but all accepted and laid special stress upon the six principles enumerated in Heb. 6:1,2; namely, Repentance, faith, baptism, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life. John Griffeth was their principal writer, and many of the Welsh Churches practiced the laying on of hands in receiving members. At their best estate they numbered but eleven ‘Churches in England, which gradually united with the other Baptists, and vanished as a distinct people. A few of them, however, are still found in Rhode Island.

ABRAHAM BOOTH wielded great influence amongst the Baptists at this time. He was born in Derbyshire, 1734, and at twenty-one united with the General Baptists, and soon became pastor of a Church at Kirby-Woodhouse. His doctrinal views were stoutly Arminian, and he wrote a ‘Poem on Absolute Predestination,’ in which he handled the doctrines of Calvinism with such great severity as to excite doubt in his own mind; so that, on a fuller investigation, he ‘renounced’ his poem as ‘detestable’ in his own sight. He wrote his most able work on ‘The Reign of Grace,’ and submitted it to the saintly Venn, who not only persuaded him to publish it, but took enough copies of it himself to pay for the printing. It passed through many editions, and made its author famous. He left the General Baptists about 1765, and became pastor of the Little Prescott Street, Particular Baptist Church, London, where he remained for thirty-seven years. Here he was very active and useful, being the author of eight distinct works, amongst them his ‘Pedobaptism Examined,’ which is characterized by great research, and has never been fairly answered. He had much to do with founding Stepney College; and for his candor, purity and consecration to Christ became one of the brightest lights in London. He died in 1806, in his seventy-third year.

A few words about THE IRISH BAPTISTS may properly close this chapter. We have already seen that, in the introduction of Christianity, Ireland abounded in those large baptismal occasions wherein many thousands were baptized in a day. For hundreds of years this practice was continued, as Irish ecclesiastical history shows, and as is attested by the ruins of several elaborate baptisteries still extant, amongst which is that of Mellifont. In the early Middle Ages the Irish Christians were amongst the first scholars in Europe, but the Danish and English conquests reduced that fair land to gross ignorance. It was then, as now, largely Catholic, but Protestantism grew under Henry and Edward, his son. Mary attempted to frustrate it by persecution but Elizabeth protected it, and under James I the province of Ulster was filled with colonists from Scotland, who laid the foundations of Irish Presbyterianism. Under the treachery of Charles I, who hoped for the support of Catholics, the vile insurrection of Catholics and massacre of Protestants took place in 1641. As the strength of Cromwell’s army consisted of Baptists and Independents; when he overran Ireland, 1649, Baptists abounded in his forces, and they organized Churches as opportunity served. It is reported by Thomas Harrison, in writing to Thurloe, 1655, that there were twelve governors of towns and cities who were Baptists, with ten colonels, three or four lieutenant-colonels, ten majors, nineteen or twenty captains, and twenty-three officers, on the civil list. Fleetwood, the governor, Colonel Jones and a majority of the Council which governed Ireland, are said to have been Baptists. Both the Independents and the Presbyterians complained of their preponderance in official places, and Richard Baxter bluntly said, ‘In Ireland the Anabaptists are grown so high that many of the soldiers were rebaptized as the way to preferment.’

Probably the first Irish Baptist Church since the Reformation was formed in Dublin by Thomas Patience, assistant pastor to Kiffin in London. The date is not clear, but in 1653 a Church was found there, with others in Waterford, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, Wexford, Carrickfergus and Kerry. It is most likely that these were largely English, and their republican principles were so stanch that they opposed Cromwell’s Lord Protectorate, and he sent over his son, Henry, to watch and influence them. After the Restoration, 1660, their feeble Churches began to decline, though a few of them continued; and after a hard struggle, we have but 23 Churches and 1,639 communicants in Ireland at this day. They deserved to decline, for, as they came in with the conquering army, they so far forgot their principles as to accept State pay with the Independents and Presbyterians. Their course was severely condemned by the Welsh and English Baptists as a sacrifice of their principles, but in 1660, by a special inquiry, they were deprived of this State support, to the gratitude of their British brethren.

The most illustrious of the Irish Baptists is Dr. ALEXANDER CARSON. Born in the north of Ireland in 1776, he became, perhaps, the first scholar in the University of Glasgow, and settled, as a Presbyterian pastor, at Tubbermore, 1798, where he received £100 per year from the government. He was a Greek scholar of the first order, and might have become Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow on signing the ‘Standards’ of the Church of Scotland. But he gradually adopted Baptist views, gave up his living, and gathered a little band of Baptists about him in a Church without a meeting-house, and, with himself, enduring deep poverty. In his day he was probably the leading scholar in the Baptist ranks in Britain, and was a voluminous writer and profound reasoner. His work on Baptism has no superior and few equals. Some have called him the ‘Jonathan Edwards of Ireland,’ and with reason; for it is doubtful whether Ireland has produced his equal since the death of Archbishop Usher. He died in 1844, after nearly half a century spent in the ministry; but his name is fragrant wherever his works are known.

Back to History Reports

Back to the Way of Life Home Page

Way of Life Literature Online Catalog

A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS

By Thomas Armitage

1890

[Note from the publisher. This valuable out-of-print book was scanned from an original printing and carefully formatted for electronic publication by Way of Life Literature. We extend a special thanks to our friend Brian Snider for his labor of love in diligently scanning the material so that it might be available to God's people in these days. For a catalog of other books, both current and old, in print and electronic format, contact us at P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, [e-mail] (e-mail), http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud (web site).]

[Table of Contents for "A History of the Baptists" by Thomas Armitage]

BAPTISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN

THE SCOTCH AND ENGLISH BAPTISTS--MISSIONS--MEN OF NOTE

There are distinct pre-Reformation traces of Baptist principles and practices in Scotland. Councils were held at Perth in the years 1242 and 1296, the canons of which require that in baptism, ‘Before the immersion the aforesaid words should be pronounced.’ In Holyrood Chapel was a brazen font in which the children of the Scotch monarchs were ‘dipped,’ which was removed by the English in 1544, and destroyed in the time of Cromwell. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia states, that sprinkling was never practiced in Scotland in ordinary cases till 1559, when it was introduced from Geneva. Many of Cromwell’s army, which went to Scotland in 1650 under command of Monk, were Baptists, who kept up religious worship in their camps and immersed the converted soldiers. When Monk left the army, in the beginning of 1653, to command the fleet against the Dutch, he left Major-General Robert Lilburn in command of the troops in Scotland. Monk had been opposed to the Baptists, but Lilburn, being a stout Baptist himself, afforded his soldiery every facility for the spread of their principles. He was anxious to employ Baptist chaplains, for he said that there ‘were divers honest Scotch people that longed to be gathered into the same gospel order with themselves.’ When some of the troops were garrisoned at Leith and Edinburgh, they formed Baptist Churches; and we are told that many persons were immersed in the water of Leith, which passes Edinburgh on the north and falls into the Frith of Forth at the town of Leith. Amongst these was Lady Wallace of Craigie. Troops were stationed also at Cupar in Fife, where a Mr. Brown preached, and immersed several persons in the river Eden. In 1653 the fourth edition of the Confession of Faith, framed by the London Churches, was published in Edinburgh. It was accompanied by a Preface, signed by Thomas Spencer, Abraham Holmes, Thomas Powell and John Brady, by appointment of the Churches in Leith and Edinburgh. The army remained in Scotland from 1650 to 1659, but Lilburn was in command only about a year, when Monk resumed command.

Baptist principles spread so rapidly in Scotland, that Presbyterians became alarmed, and at a meeting held in Edinburgh, October 1651, some of the elders expressed the opinion that children should not receive baptism until they made confession of faith. Some ministers also were complained of, as Alexander Cornnell, of Linlithgow, and Thomas Charteris, of Stenhouse, because they ‘baptized old people, maintained Anabaptism and would not baptize infants.’ Whitlock writes, that, in 1652, Parliament issued a declaration against the Scotch Dippers; and in 1653, George Fox complains of the firm resistance which he met from the Baptists of Carlisle, Leith and ‘Edenbro,’ but claims a great victory over them. John Knox, afraid of ‘their poison,’ plied his powerful pen to write them down. They were also bitterly persecuted, for on January 24th, 1654, they presented to Monk, the ‘commander-in-chief of all the forces in Scotland, the humble address of the baptized Churches, consisting of officers, soldiers and others, walking together in gospel order, at St. Johnston’s, Leith and Edinburgh, for toleration or freedom quietly to worship God; which freedom we conceive is a fruit of the purchase of our dear Redeemer.’ But when Heath reached Leith, 1659, he shut up Colonel Holmes and all the other Baptist officers there, first in Timptallan Castle, and then on Basse Island. The fact, that Baptists had become so numerous, both in the army and navy, and were taking such high ground against the assumptions of Cromwell. excited the fear of the rulers that they would rise, seize the government and proclaim freedom of conscience for all. Guizot writes: ‘The king’s interest is also supported by the Presbyterians, although they are republicans in principle; and it is only the fear that the Anabaptists and other sectaries may obtain the government, which leads them to oppose the present authorities.’

Baptist opposition to Cromwell’s aggressions cost him much trouble, and, broad as he was, he began to persecute them, as is clearly shown in a letter sent to him and preserved by Thurloe, his secretary, which puts some very troublesome questions to him. After saying that Baptists had ‘filled’ his ‘towns, cities, provinces, castles, navies, tents and armies,’ the writer asks him whether, ‘1. You had come to that height you are now in if the Anabaptists had been as much your enemies as they were your friends? 2. Whether the Anabaptists were ever unfaithful either to the Commonwealth, etc., in general, or to your highness in particular? 3. Whether Anabaptists are not to be commended for their integrity, which had rather kept good faith and a good conscience, although it may lose them their employment, than to keep their employment with the loss of both?’ Then the writer asks: ‘Whether one hundred of the old Anabaptists, such as marched under your command in 1648, 1649, and 1650, etc., be not as good as two hundred of your new courtiers, if you were in such a condition as you were at Dunbar?’ This last allusion is to the battle which Cromwell won near Edinburgh, with ten thousand troops, many of whom were Baptists, over thirty thousand Scotch soldiers.

All record of Baptists, however, in Scotland, is lost, from 1660 to something beyond 1700. Sir William Sinclair, of Keiss, Caithness, was immersed in England, and returned to Scotland to preach there; he immersed his candidates, and formed a Baptist Church upon his own estate, but suffered much. The Baptist Church at Keiss was formed about 1750, and is now the oldest in Scotland. The next, in point of age, is the Bristo Place Church, Edinburgh, which came into existence on this wise: Rev. ROBERT CARMICHAEL, who had been pastor of a Glassite Church in Glasgow, and of a Scots Independent Church in Edinburgh, came to reject infant baptism, and went to London, where he was immersed by Dr. Gill, October 9th, 1765. On returning to Edinburgh, he baptized five members of his former Church, and formed a Baptist Church, which met in St. Cecilia’s Hall, Niddry Street. Archibald McLean, had been a member of Carmichael’s Church in Glasgow, and came to Edinburgh, where he was also baptized. He organized what is now the John Street Baptist Church in Glasgow, baptizing its first members in the Clyde, near Glasgow Green. In about a year, McLean became colleague to Carmichael, who removed to Dundee in 1769, when Mclean was left as pastor proper, with Dr. Robert Walker, a well-known surgeon, as joint elder. McLean was born at East Kilbride, 1733, but early in life resided in the Island of Mull, where he acquired the Gaelic language. At school he became a fair Latin scholar, and afterward studied Greek and Hebrew. When young, he heard Whitefield preach and was largely influenced thereby. In 1746, he became a successful printer at Glasgow, where he remained till 1767, when he removed to Edinburgh. While pastor in Edinburgh he wrote much; as, a work on Christ’s Commission, a ‘Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ and a ‘Review of Wardlaw’s Abrahamic Covenant.’ His works were collected and published in seven volumes, 1805; he died December 21st, 1812, at the age of about eighty, his life having been wonderfully blessed of God. Although not the first Scotch Baptist in point of time, yet his labors and writings exerted so much influence, that in this respect he may be called their founder.

ROBERT HALDANE was born in London, 1764, being a babe there when Gill baptized Carmichael. He studied at the High School and University of Edinburgh and removed to Airthrey in 1786, where he inherited a large estate. He became a great writer and philanthropist, giving $350,000 for charitable purposes within fifteen years, and during his life educating three hundred ministers of the Gospel at an expense of $100,000. Amongst these was Dr. Bogue, of Gosport, and Mr. Ewing, of Edinburgh. At Geneva he lectured to the students on the Epistle to the Romans, who, with D’Aubigne, Malan, and Gaussen, were delighted listeners. He published his ‘Exposition of Romans,’ also his ‘Evidence and Authority of Revelation,’ and his work on ‘The Inspiration of Scripture.’ He died in Edinburgh in 1842.

JAMES ALEXANDEER HALDANE, his brother, was born at Dundee, 1768. He entered the navy, as Robert had also. But early in life he became a devout Christian, and traveled all through Scotland and the Orkney Islands, preaching to great multitudes. In 1799 he was ordained pastor of an Independent congregation in Edinburgh, where he labored for nearly fifty years, with great success. His brother, Robert, built for him a large Tabernacle in 1801, and in 1808 the brothers became Baptists. Wilson gives an interesting account of their conversion. After speaking of their ‘zeal in behalf of primitive Christianity,’ and of the erection by them of many ‘meeting-houses of large dimensions,’ he relates that several persons from Scotland, in connection with them, settled in London, 1806, and formed a Church in Cateaton Street. William Ballantine, formerly of the University of Edinburgh, a man of good classical and theological attainments, was their leader. He says that ‘the Messrs. Haldane, and the societies in their connection, were hitherto Pedo-baptist.’ ‘But after about two years . . . several persons, suspecting that they were in an error upon this point, began to study the controversy, were convinced of their mistake, and received baptism by immersion. This put the Messrs. Haldane themselves upon an examination of the subject, and the result was that they also became convinced, and were baptized, though at some interval from each other. The report of these changes reaching London, Mr. Ballantine was necessarily put upon a more careful examination of the subject, and the result was that he also renounced his former sentiments, and was baptized by immersion. But this occasioned a convulsion in the society. Mr. Ballantine relinquished his station and joined the Scotch Baptists in Redcross Street. Most of the members of this Church gradually renounced their former notions, and, we believe, they are now (1808) entirely Baptists. But they allow of mixed communion, and in this respect differ from all the other Particular Baptist Churches of London.’

During the first half of the present century REV. CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON was the foremost man among the Baptists of Scotland. He was a native of Edinburgh, born in 1782. He was converted in 1799, under the ministry of the Rev. James Haldane, when he was still a Congregationalist. Intercourse with English Baptist students at the University reawakened his interest in the subject of baptism. He had previously held that believers only should be baptized, but, not agreeing with the Scotch Baptists in their views of the ministry and church government, had not regarded the matter as a personal duty. He was immersed by one of the English students, and was promptly excluded from Mr. Haldane’s Church. A few years after this Mr. Haldane himself, and his distinguished brother, Robert, committed the same offense and became Baptists. A visit of Andrew Fuller to Edinburgh awakened a desire in young Anderson to give himself to the work of the ministry amongst the heathen, and Mr. Fuller encouraged him. He entered the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently continued his studies with Rev. John Sutcliff, of Olney, one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society, and the originator of the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions. Much to the disappointment of Mr. Anderson, he found that his feeble health would not permit him to live in India. His great ability as a preacher had been already recognized, and he declined numerous calls from London and other cities, that he might found a regular Baptist Church in his native city. He began his work in 1806, and in a few years his Church had erected a spacious house of worship, which was thronged with worshipers for more than thirty years, the doors being generally besieged long before the hour of opening. Rev. Dr. Cheever, who visited Scotland in 1840, gave some vivid sketches of his character and discourses in letters to the New York Observer, which he concluded by saying: ‘Mr. Anderson is one of the most interesting expository preachers I ever heard. His sermons are most simple, affectionate, conversational, but rich with thought and Christian feeling, and dropped from the lips of the preacher like the droppings of a full honey-comb.’

Mr. Anderson was the intimate and confidential friend of Andrew Fuller, and the chief helper in Scotland to the support of Carey, Marshman and Ward in India. After Fuller’s death, and the unfortunate disagreement between the Serampore brethren and the Missionary Society, he succeeded Fuller, serving gratuitously as secretary of the Serampore Mission until the reunion, a period of twenty years. He was the leader in the Home Mission work in the north of Scotland and in Ireland, especially in the work of giving the Bible in the original native dialect. Abundant as were his pulpit and other labors; he was a diligent student and an author of great distinction. His work on ‘The Domestic Constitution; or, The Family Circle the Source of rational Stability,’ had a wide circulation in Europe, and several editions of it have appeared in America. But the crowning work of his life was ‘The Annals of the English Bible.’ It cost him fourteen years of toil, involving repeated journeys to the Continent, and to the homes of Tyndale and Coverdale in England, in order that the work might be trustworthy in the utmost degree. The story of the suffering fathers, who sought to give the people the word of God in their mother-tongue, is simply and eloquently told, and the work is a monument of erudition. Mr. Anderson was one of the most popular of Scottish preachers, ranking with Wardlaw, Chalmers, Guthrie and Candlish, until his voice became impaired by sickness. His Church was called an English Baptist Church, to distinguish it from those Churches which had a plurality of elders. It was composed entirely of believers immersed upon confession of Christ, and practiced restricted communion. Mr. Anderson died in 1852. His funeral sermon was preached by his friend for more than fifty years, Dr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow. Dr. Cheever says of him: ‘Mr. Anderson’s conversation in private was in the same interesting familiar, rich and instructive style as his preaching in public. Altogether he was one of the most heavenly minded and delightful men with whom I became acquainted in Great Britain.’

The Baptists have never been numerous in Scotland, but at this time they number 96 churches, 10,905 communicants and 86 pastors. They flourish chiefly in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Montrose and Dundee. They are decidedly Calvinistic, are marked for the purity of their lives and their great missionary zeal. Their Church organizations are purely Congregational, with a plurality of elders in each Church. They observe the Supper weekly, but have been somewhat divided as to whether it should be administered when a minister is not present. In discipline they are very strict, use great plainness of apparel, and aim honestly in all things to keep the apostolic injunction to the letter: ‘Stand fast in the faith.’ In view of their warm discussions and many divisions on minor subjects, the question will fairly arise in inquiring minds, whether or not they understand as well the secret of keeping ‘the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.’ Past divisions have been the fruitful source of their present weakness, but generally they have now adopted a wiser course in tins respect, and their prospects are much more inviting for the future. Their ministry has been marked by many men of rare ability, notably amongst them the late Dr. James Paterson, for forty-six years pastor of the Hope Street Church, in Glasgow; Dr. Landels, late of London, now of Edinburgh; and Dr. Culross, President of the Baptist College, Bristol, England.