Crismon and the library staff at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have provided valuable assistance in locating materials. The members of First Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where I pastor, have been patient and most.
Baptism A Fundamental Practice of
TEACHINGS ON BAPTISM SEEN IN THE BAPTIST CONFESSIONS OF FAITH AND OTHER WRITINGS
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 225
- BAPTISM A FUNDAMENTAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY
- THE BAPTIST PRINCIPLE OF BAPTISM
- THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM AMONG OTHER GROUPS AROUND 1600
- BAPTIST SUCCESSION: TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
- IMMERSION
- THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF OTHER GROUPS AROUND 1600
At the beginning of the seventeenth century there were many customs concerning baptism which did not conform to the Baptist principle. This is clear from the following discussion of the doctrinal statements of other groups.
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS
These words are, TTI baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and. It is often called the decree of the Council of Florence, (1439)• The negative definition of baptism is seen in the Council of Trent, whose.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Schaff, in The Creeds of Christianity, has the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of. The Catechism of the Church of England was part of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI.
THE LUTHERANS
From the references that will be given below, it is clear that there have been some changes in the doctrinal position of the Lutherans. Titus, third chapter, (iii. 5-7) 'With the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out abundantly on us through Jesus.
THE ANABAPTISTS
Then the following formula says: I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy One. Thus it appears that Hubmaier believed that baptism was the door to the external organization of the church. The authority to baptize belongs to the congregation, and the ordinance is to be administered only in the presence of the congregation and by men called of God and set apart from the church.
But none of the Anabaptists of Holland or of the neighboring parts of Germany were divers. Therefore, as Burgess asserted, TT we find that the Anabaptists of the Reformation period and related bodies, as. The Anabaptists were the spiritual ancestors of the Baptists, although no definite historical connection can be traced between them and the English Baptists.
THE MENNONITES
A good which the Lord Jesus graciously grants and increases in the hearts of those who through true faith become partakers of the sacraments. 92. Baptism was an outward and visible act through which Christ placed before the eyes the inward renewal of the soul. The blood of Jesus Christ washed away the sins of the soul, and baptism was a symbol of that washing.
De Hoop Scheffer, in A History of the Free Church Men, states that "The Mennonites baptize only adults. In The History of the Modes of Christian Baptism, Chrystal asserts that the Mennonites practiced charity and did. Evidence is also given by Newman that " The most competent Mennonite scholar of today.
THE CALVINISTS OR PRESBYTERIANS
The position of the Reformed or Calvinist Church is further seen in the Belgian Confession of 1561. Another statement of the Calvinist position on baptism is seen in the Second Helvetic Confession, published in 1566. One of the clearest and most significant statements of the Calvinist doctrine of baptism is found in the Saxon Visitation Articles,.
Submerging the person in the water is not necessary; but baptism is rightly performed by pouring or sprinkling water. Answer: Baptism is a sacrament, whereby washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, does that. By the time of the Westminster Assembly in 1647 there was much debate over the mode of baptism.
THE PURITANS AND SEPARATISTS
- A BRIEF HISTORY" OF THE RISE OF THE GENERAL BAPTISTS
Therefore, after much deliberation, Browne, Harrison and part of the Norwich company emigrated to the town of Middleburg in the Dutch province of Zeland, probably in . The children of the believers, even if they are babies, must be sacrificed to God. and the church, that they may be baptized. Receiving no reply from the king, they sent a second document summarizing the fourteen disagreements between themselves and the Church of England.
All the Puritan and Separatist leaders, and most of their adherents, were at one time members of the Church of England. Hubmaier and all other Anabaptist leaders of every note during the first half of the sixteenth century were. 97 Baptists, or whether they had an independent beginning as Baptists in the early seventeenth century.
The Church of England and the Puritan movement
The desire of the Separatists
Early life and education of John Smyth
Smyth's withdrawal from the Church of England
The persecution under James I. and removal of the congregation to Amsterdam
Smyth's connection with the Mennonites and his change of views on baptism
The division between Smyth and Helwys
- THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF JOHN SMYTH ON BAPTISM
As A Separatist
As a Baptist
As A Seeker
- THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OF THOMAS HELWYS AND JOHN MURTON ON BAPTISM
A brief account of the life of Helwys
His confession of faith
The first Book by Baptists
A statement concerning John Murton-
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RISE OF GENERAL BAPTISTS
It is, however, necessary to briefly relate the beginnings of the first English General Baptist Church. He received his M.A. from Cambridge in lp93> and was ordained a clergyman in the Church of England by Bishop Wickham of Lincoln, becoming a lecturer or preacher in that city about 1600. He was dismissed by vote of the Church of England congregation at Lincoln in 1602, but seems to have held the office.
Because of his close contact with the separatists in Lincoln, he quickly became convinced of the correctness of their position. Before l600 it was agreed that in case of weakness a child could be baptized. Bernard had been critical of the king and the Church of England, but would not go as far as Smyth and others went in separation.
That infants are not to bee baptized
- Bicause ther is neyther precept nor example in the New Testament of any infants that were baptized,
- Bicause if infants be baptized, the carnal seed is baptized 8c so the seale of the covenant is ad-
Because there is no precept or example in the New Testament of any infants baptized, the New Testament of any infants baptized by John or Christ's disciples: Only those who did confess their sins and confessed their payment are baptised. Because if babies are baptized, the fleshly seed is baptized 8c so the seal of the covenant is baptized 8c so that the seal of the covenant is administered to those for whom the covenant does not apply. All these statements by Smyth make it very clear that he saw that infant baptism had no basis in the New Testament Scriptures.
28:19, 20 to mean that only those who had become disciples of Christ by personal faith and confessed their sins had any right to receive baptism.
That Antichristians converted are to be admitted into the true church by baptisme
- Bicause churches are so to be constituted now after the defection of Antichrist as they were first erect-
- Bicause true baptism is but one: but the baptisme of Antichrist is not true baptisme, 8c so not that
- Bicause as the false church is rejected and the
According to him, baptism was not the seal of the Spirit, but only its revelation. The circumcision of children was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham. For Smyth, baptism meant death to sin and the burial of the old man of sin.
On the other hand, one of the best arguments for believers' baptism is its clear description in the New Testament. For as the confession and confession of Fayth shall entitle every man to all the ordinances of the church. He referred to the form of baptism as a "voluntary surrender of the party baptized in the name of the Father."
There are two sacraments appointed by Christ, in his holy church, the administration whereof he
Holy Baptism is given to these in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Baptism is given unto these in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
The whole dealing in the outward visible bap- tism of water, setteth before the eyes, witnesseth
In the thirty-ninth article it is said that !, all dead persons are also buried with Christ, by baptism, which is until His death". The fifty-fifth article says "that John taught the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. water baptism for the change of life (Matt. iii. Article seventy-one continues, that in baptism for the penitent and the believer, there is pre-.
And finally, article seventy-five says "that the preaching of the word and the ministry of the sacraments, represented the ministry of Christ in the spirit; who teaches, baptizes and feeds the reborn, by means of the Saint. .
92 Spirit inwardly and invisibly"
THE TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES OP THOMAS HELWYS AND JOHN MURTON ON BAPTISM
This Confession of 27 articles was published in Amsterdam in 1611 and was sent to the Mennonites. In the confession article ten he says that "the church in CHRIST is a company of faithful people I. Cor. Article thirteen says "that every church shall receive in all their members by baptism after the confession of their faith and sin. by preaching the gospel".
Article fourteen states that “baptism or washing with water is the outward manifestation of dying to sin and walking into a new life. It will thus be observed that, so far from these brief statements of Helwys, he differed little, if at all, from Smyth's views on baptism. He held to renewed church membership, he believed the church should be separated from the world, he believed only those who did.
THE RISE OP THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS
The beginning of the Henry Jacob Church in l6l6
The division of 1633
The Spilsbury church
- THE BEGINNING OP IMMERSION AMONG THE ENGLISH BAPTISTS
Crosby's treatment of the English Baptists
The Jessey Church Records and the Kiffin Manuscript
Christian's rejection of this theory
Statements of other historians on the validity of the Jessey Church Records, and on Whitsitt's
Some authors who reject the Jessey Church Records
John T. Christian's objections stated
The development of the Particular Baptists to the belief in immersion
- Immersion restored in two ways
Henry Jessey's progressive development to the belief in immersion
A statement about Roger Williams and immersion
Whitsitt 1 s reasons for believing that immersion was introduced into England in 161^.1
Lofton's summary of the theory"
- THE RISE OP THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS•
- THE BEGINNING OF IMMERSION AMONG THE ENGLISH BAPTISTS
The origin of this group was entirely separate from that of the General Baptists, and. Some of the members thought that the baptism by the Parish Clergyman was invalid, not because it was infant baptism, but because it was received in the Church of England". John Spilsbury soon became pastor of this church, but the exact date of commencement.
The learned and zealous Henry Jessey had become pastor of the Jacob-Lathrop church in 1637. The growth of the Particular Baptists was very rapid after l6i[l|_> but until then progress was slow. All of these, however, are parts of the larger story of the beginnings of immersion among the English Baptists; therefore, the rest of this chapter will deal with the relationship between the history of the revival of immersion as a form of baptism among the Baptists in England.
Much of the Baptist history of this period is based on what are known as the Jessey Records. He rejects it mainly on the basis that Batte, Blount and Blacklock are mentioned in the Manuscript, and no record. Statements from other historians on the validity of the Jessey church records and on Whitsitt's theory.
Crosby gives the material found in the Jessey Church Records and the Kiffin manuscript in The History Of The English Bapti sts, therefore he believed in its validity. De Hoop Scheffer, The History of the Free Churchmen Called Brunists, Pilgrim Fathers and Baptized in the Dutch. John Spilsbury had become pastor of this branch of the church, along with another group of.
32 church
Blacklock, who was a teacher among them, and both Blunt and Blacklock baptized all others who were of the same faith. Indeed, some were of the opinion that the first administrator should baptize himself and then proceed to baptize others. Lofton, in Defense Of the Jessey Records and the Kiffin Manuscript, agrees that Spilsbury1's group did not apply.
Henry Jessey, who led the other half of the Jacob-Lathrop church, disagreed with BluntTs mission to Holland. Hanserd Knollys evidently had a great influence over Jessey, for in I6J4.3 Knollys, who was a member of Jessey's church, had a controversy with the pastor about the baptism of his child. Underwood, A History of The English Bapti sts (London: The Baptist Union Publication Dept., The Kingsgate Press, 19^7), P.
