Chapter IV
In England
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In Protestant England the Baptist people naturally enjoyed more favorable conditions for growth. We therefore leave the continent and follow them in England.
I. Baptists in England from Early Times Charles H. Spurgeon says concerning the Baptist people in England:1 "It would not be impossible to show that the first Christians who dwelt in this land were of the same faith and order as the churches now called Baptist. . . . All along our history from Henry II to Henry VIII there are traces of the Anabaptists, who are usually mentioned either in connection with the Lollards or as coming from Holland. There must have been a great hive on the Continent of these 'Reformers before the Reformation'; for despite their being doomed to die, almost as soon as they landed, they continued to invade this country to the annoyance of the priesthood and hierarchy."
The reader will observe that Mr. Spurgeon says that the Christians who first dwelt in England "were of the same faith and order as the churches now called Baptist." He makes no claim as regards organized Baptist churches. Baptists insist upon the direct access of every soul to God. Ministers are not primary. Neither are churches primary. Believers are primary. Believers gathered and edified one another.
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1 Metropolitan Tabernacle History, pages 10, 11.
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II. Some Representative Baptists Some conception of the Baptist life in this century may be gleaned from a brief mention of a few of their ministers.
1. William Kiffin was pastor of the Baptist Church, Devonshire Square, London, from 1639 to 1701. It was not customary in those days for the Baptist churches to offer their pastors a supporting salary, and about the time Mr. Kiffin accepted this pastorate he also became a merchant. He was as successful in business as in his pastoral ministry. After the fashion then much in vogue in England, Mr. Kiffin joined with others in sending merchant ships to distant lands, and through these enterprises he became wealthy. When on one occasion the king, after his usual autocratic and free-booting method, asked Mr. Kiffin for the "loan" of 40,000 pounds, he replied with great tact and dignity that he could not possibly make so great a loan, but if his majesty would do him the honor to accept it he would gladly give him 10,000 pounds. The modified offer was accepted, and Kiffin afterwards confided to his friends that he was happy to save 30,000 pounds by his presence of mind. We are told that in face and bearing "he resembled a gentleman Cavalier rather than any popular ideal of a sour-visaged and discontented Anabaptist."
Macaulay, the English historian, pays Kiffin high tribute, declaring that great as was the influence of Bunyan among the Baptists, that of Kiffin was greater.
2. Hanserd Knollys (1599-1691) left an impress deep and lasting upon the England of his day. Even after the lapse of two and a half centuries, his name retains a holy flavor and his memory is cherished by those who delight to honor the achievements of the great and good of other days. Born into the Church of England, he was educated at the University of Cambridge, and at an early age entered the service of the Church. Being highly gifted, he received rapid promotion until he held a high position as presbyter in Humberstone. When he
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was thirty-five years of age he became disturbed about his connection with the Church of England, and at great sacrifice he resigned his charge and became a Baptist. Two years later he was arrested for preaching the gospel, and was thrown into prison. Moved by the gentle bearing of his prisoner, and conscience-smitten for the persecution in which he had part, his jailer permitted his escape. In order to avoid the indignities which were then being visited upon Baptists and other dissenters, Mr. Knollys came for a season to America, but later, in response to the need of his aged father, he returned to England, where he lived through the remainder of his long life in the midst of ferment and agitation. Besides other books, he published, in 1672, his autobiography, which was later brought down to date by his friend William Kiffin.
3. John Bunyan, "the immortal tinker," was according to his own testimony a profane and dissolute youth. At twenty-five he experienced an inward work of grace which completely changed his whole life. Two years later, he became a Baptist and entered the ministry. For preaching the gospel in Bedford, he was arrested and imprisoned. A little more than twelve years (1660-1672) he remained behind prison bars. As often happens, God made the wrath of man to praise him, and later on, out of that long and cruel imprisonment, came the Pilgrim's Progress, which next to the Bible has been the guide and solace of troubled souls in every country of the world. It has gone into more than fifty editions, and has been translated into every language of Europe and many other tongues as well. Macaulay (History, Chapter VII) pays Bunyan high tribute: Bunyan is as decidedly the first of allegorists as Demosthenes is the first of orators or Shakespeare the first of dramatists. Other allegorists have shown great ingenuity, but no other allegorist has been able so to touch the heart, and to make abstractions objects of terror, of pity and of love.
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After his release from prison, Bunyan continued his ministry to the Baptist church in Bedford, and by his spoken messages there and in many parts of England, deeply stirred the hearts of the people.
Under William III in 1689, the Act of Toleration gave to the Baptists and other Protestant Dissenters toleration, though it was perhaps too much to expect that full religious liberty should be bestowed. Strangely enough, the Baptists, who had prospered and multiplied during the days of fiery trial, made no special gain in numbers during the decades of larger freedom which followed, and they actually declined in zeal and spirituality. It seems ever to have been thus. People who in times of trial live close to God and give themselves whole-heartedly to his service, are all too often unable to bear the more difficult test of ease and prosperity. As early as 1644, the Baptist people, in a Confession which long served as a bond of union, declared the principle of religious liberty. We quote in part:
A civil magistracy is an ordinance of God, set up by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well; and that in all lawful things, commanded by them, subjection ought to be given by us in the Lord, not only for the wrath, but for conscience' sake; and that we are to make supplications and prayers for kings, and all that are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. . . . And as we cannot do anything contrary to our understandings and consciences, so neither can we forbear the doing of that which our understandings and consciences bind us to do. And if the magistrates should require us to do otherwise, we are to yield our persons in, a passive way to their power, as the saints of old have done.4. The outstanding Baptist in England during the eighteenth century was Dr. John Gill. His books were widely influential in his day, and long after he himself had passed. The praise accorded to Doctor Gill by
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Toplady well indicates the esteem in which he was held by those who followed him in his theological thinking:If any man can be supposed to have trod the whole circle of human learning, it was Doctor Gill. . . . It would perhaps try the constitutions of half the literati in England, only to read with care and attention the whole of what he said. As deeply as human sagacity, enlightened by grace, could penetrate, he went to the bottom of everything he engaged in.Spurgeon bears testimony concerning John Gill. He says: "The system of theology with which many identify his name has chilled many churches to their very soul, for it has led them to omit the free invitations of the gospel, and to deny that it is the duty of sinners to believe in Jesus: but for this Doctor Gill must not be altogether responsible, for a candid reader of his commentary will soon perceive in it expressions altogether out of accord with such a narrow system; and it is well known that when he was dealing with practical godliness he was so bold in his utterances that the devotees of hyper-Calvinism could not endure him. 'Well, Sir,' said one of these, 'if I had not been told that it was the great Doctor Gill who preached, I should have said I had heard an Arminian.'"
Dr. W. T. Whitley declares that Baptist laymen of this period were most useful. He tells of Thomas Guy who made a fortune by printing and selling Bibles; spent it endowing Christ's Hospital, St. Thomas' Hospital, and founding Guy's Hospital. He further tells of Sir Gregory Page of Kiffin's church, who became chairman of the East India Company, and sent out Joseph Collet, who soon became Governor of Madras, built schools for orphans to win them to Christ, backed the German missionaries; all before 1720. Doctor Whitley also reminds us that Thomas Hollis endowed Harvard, and sent books to Philadelphia.
For Baptists and all other Christians in England during the eighteenth century, the most vital and significant
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development was the evangelistic ministry of John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. Under the preaching and inspiration of these men, revival fires began to burn which affected not England only but the whole Christian world.
In the nineteenth century, English Baptists produced preachers of great power and influence. Andrew Fuller was, quite as much as Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement, of which we will have occasion to think in a later chapter. William Carey, by reason of his early leadership in the missionary enterprise, must always hold a place of primacy among foreign missionaries.
5. Robert Hall and Charles H. Spurgeon deserve to rank with the mighty preachers of the ages. Alexander Maclaren and John Clifford charmed with their eloquence, and won for themselves enduring fame. It is not too much to say that the pre-eminent preachers of the nineteenth century were produced by the English Baptists.
III. Interesting Seventeenth Centurey Customs Among the English Baptists of the seventeenth century some interesting customs prevailed, which were likewise to be found in America in the eighteenth and even the nineteenth centuries. The men sat on one side of the meeting house, while the women sat on the other side. The pastors were not accorded a stipulated salary, and a "paid ministry" was not favored. The laying on of hands was customary, not only in the ordination of ministers and deacons, as it continues to be to the present time, but in many instances hands were also laid upon those who had been baptized. As late as the middle of the nineteenth century, in our American churches, there was earnest insistence that the laying on of hands was a required church function, Hebrews, sixth chapter and second verse, being cited to support the contention: "Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." The
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washing of feet was frequently, though by no means generally, practiced. Church discipline extended to the less important details of family and community life; both men and women were called to answer for "scolding" and for "gossiping"; disputes between members of families and quarrels in the community came up for adjustment.
IV. Have Made Substantial Progress The Baptist people in the British Isles have made substantial progress, and their testimony has been fruitful far beyond their own lands. In the early colonial period, and indeed through all of the years, the English Baptists especially have maintained close and helpful contacts with their brethren in America. At present, there are 415,000 Baptists in England and Ireland. The Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland comprises some 3,000 churches. Of the 271 churches in the London Baptist Association, we are told that only 18 have a membership of 500, while only two have 1,000 members. Mr. Spurgeon's old church, the Metropolitan Baptist Church, reports 2,200 members. Our brethren across the waters have not grown in numbers as have the Baptist people in America; they have not grown the very large churches which are now to be commonly found among us. They claim, with some show of reason, to have laid primary stress on quality rather than quantity. They have not developed the Sunday school nor the organizations for young people and for women as they have been developed in this country. These organizations in their power and efficiency largely account for the successful evangelism and the steady growth of the Baptist churches in America. We must regret, therefore, that they are not more largely emphasized by our brethren in England and Ireland.
V. Notable Contributions Notably along four lines, English Baptists have made contribution to the Baptists of America, and thus to the Baptists of the world.
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1. The English Baptists Early Developed (1650) and Utilized the Association It is difficult to state adequately the place of the association as a factor in the growth and usefulness of the Baptist denomination. It has served well in England where it first originated; in America it was for 150 years, before the coming of the state conventions, the chief dependence of the Baptist people for fellowship and mutual edification. Even to the present time it holds its place of primacy as a powerful influence among the churches.
The earliest associations in the colonies were the Philadelphia, the Warren and the Charleston. The Philadelphia association comprised churches in an extended territory, and wielded always a savory influence. The Warren association embraced churches about Providence, while the Charleston association was vastly influential in the Carolinas and Georgia.
2. The Singing of Hymns Early Developed in England The custom made its way gradually in America, and has vastly affected the development of the Baptist people along with other denominations. Isaac Watts (1674-1748), minister and hymn writer, contributed largely to the encouragement of sacred music in public worship. Watts himself wrote many hymns, some of which are still in use, and issued several valuable books, such as Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), and Psalms of David in the Language of the New Testament (1719). Later the Wesleys, especially Charles Wesley, set the English-speaking people of the world to singing, and enriched their worship with songs, many of which bid fair to live until Jesus comes again.
3. English Baptists Made a Contribution of Immeasurable Meaning to the Development of a Sane Biblical Theology The prevailing theological tendency in England during the eighteenth century was Calvinism, of a somewhat
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rigid type. The Baptists fell into two classes, the Particular Baptists holding to a limited or particular atonement, while the General Baptists believed in a general atonement provided for the whole human race. Dr. John Gill in the eighteenth century was the proponent of a vigorous Calvinism which held that Christ made atonement only for the elect, and that God will in any event save all whom he has chosen. Andrew Fuller, Carey's colleague in the mission cause, advocated a milder Calvinism, declaring that the atonement was general and inclusive in its potential effects, and that our obligation is to offer Christ's salvation to all men alike. Followers of Doctor Gill had read John 3:16 thus: "God so loved the (elect) world," and so forth. His type of theology lingered in England and persisted in America, producing the Primitives. Andrew Fuller's views, later somewhat modified, have been generally adopted by the Baptists in England and America.
4. English Baptists Inaugurated the Modern Foreign Mission Movement While they were preceded in foreign mission effort by Zinzendorf, the Moravian brethren, and by various other special efforts, we may properly say that the modern foreign mission movement began among the Baptists of England under the leadership of Carey and Fuller. The story is more fully traced in a later chapter, and this contribution is mentioned here only because American Baptists and all evangelical Christians are thereby indebted to the Baptists of England. __________ Teaching Suggestions
Question-Answer Study
Tell briefly of certain English Baptists of the seventeenth century. Discuss the English Baptists of the eighteenth century. What of English Baptists in the nineteenth century? Indicate contributions which English Baptists have made to the Baptists of America.
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Blackboard-Outline DiscussionI. Baptists in England from Early Times
II. Some Representative Baptists 1. William Kiffin 2. Hanserd Knollys 3. John Bunyan 4. John Gill 5. Hall and Spurgeon
III. Interesting Seventeenth Century Customs
IV. Have Made Substantial Progress
V. Notable Contributions 1. The association 2. Psalms and hymns 3. Biblical theology 4. Foreign mission movement ============ [From P. E. Burroughs, The Baptist People, SSB of SBC, 1934. This document provided by Pastor Tom Byrd. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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