BRITISH BAPTISTS—THEIR DIVERSITIES—THE REGULAR BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND.
BY EDWARD PARKER, D. D., MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.
Their Number and Divisions—The Regular Baptists—Their Movements and
Progress.
BRITISH Baptists are not one body in the sense, or to the same extent,
that American Baptists are. If a man in America says he is a Baptist,
it is known exactly what he means. But if a man in England says he
is a Baptist, you need further to know what sort of a Baptist he is
before you can form a definite opinion of his belief or practice.
All British Baptists are alike in three things. They are, of course,
all Immersionists; they believe that the immersion of believers on a
profession of their faith is the only baptism of Scripture. They are
all Congregationalists; they believe that every separate congregation
of believers is a church in itself, apart from any other congregation,
and competent to manage its own affairs. They are all Voluntaries;
that is, they are opposed to all connection between Church and State,
and all endowments for the support of the clergy secured or allotted
to them by the law of the land. They neither accept the patronage,
nor allow of the interference, of the civil magistrate in matters of
religion and conscience. But, while agreed on these things, there are
others on which they differ.
The first principal difference between them is indicated by the terms
Particular and General Baptists. These terms express a difference, not
of practice in regard to communion, but of creed. Particular Baptists
are professedly Calvinistic in their creed; General Baptists are
professedly Arminian. Particular Baptists have existed in England for
a much longer period than General Baptists. The first General Baptist
church in England was founded in about the year 1612, and had its
location in Newgate, London. After a time, an Association of General
Baptist churches was formed; and still later, in 1770, the Association
was re-organized under the title of the General Baptist Association
of the New Connection. The occasion for this new departure was the
doctrinal degeneracy of the churches of the old association. “From
general redemption,” says Dr. Ryland, “they had gone to no redemption;
from Arminianism to Arianism and Socinianism.” This re-organized
Association still exists, and it still bears the same name. The
churches belonging to it are all Arminian in doctrine. On the question
of Communion, they are divided. Some of them practice Close Communion,
and some Open. Formerly, the churches were nearly all Close, but Open
Communionism has made considerable advances amongst them during recent
years. They have a College at Nottingham for the education of young men
for the ministry. They have, also, their own Missionary Societies.
[Illustration: EDWARD PARKER, D. D.]
The Particular, or Calvinistic, Baptists of England differ in some
respects from each other. Professedly, they are all alike, Calvinists,
but they are not all Calvinists alike. Some of them are hyper, and some
of them moderate, Calvinists. At the beginning of this century, nearly
all the Particular Baptists in the country were Hyper-Calvinists. This
resulted from the teaching of such men as John Brine and Doctor John
Gill. The teaching of and influence of Andrew Fuller inaugurated a
change: and the change thus inaugurated has continued and developed
ever since, so that to-day the vast majority of Particular Baptists in
Great Britain are moderate Calvinists. The Hyper-Calvinists, however,
are by no means extinct. In some parts of England they are rather
numerous, while in almost all parts a few of them may be found. There
are amongst them some very excellent people. They adhere firmly to
their principles. They maintain a separateness from the world that
other Christians might profitably emulate. But, speaking generally,
they are not very aggressive in their spirit; at any rate in the
direction of efforts to spread the truth. There is not much of the
missionary spirit amongst them. They have, however, one Missionary
Society called, with an emphasis, the _Strict_ Baptist Mission. This
Mission has two centres of evangelical work—in India and Ceylon. In
India, there are sixteen stations, and twenty-eight workers; in Ceylon,
there are six stations and seven workers. The income last year was
nearly £700, and the expenditure about £590.
The Particular Baptists of Britain that are in doctrine Moderate
Calvinists are divided into Close and Open Communionists. All the
Hyper-Calvinistic Baptists are Close Communionists. The object of
their Missionary Society, to which reference has just been made,
is stated to be “the diffusion of the Gospel in heathen lands,
and the formation of churches in accordance with the principles
of Strict Communion Baptists.” And the churches at home are, in
respect to communion, of the same type as those which they aim to
form abroad. Vast numbers of the Moderate Calvinistic Baptists are
Open Communionists. But this is not universally the case. There are
British Baptists that are neither extreme in doctrine, nor loose in
practice. In regard alike to doctrine and practice, they may justly be
designated, as their American brethren are designated Regular Baptists.
The question may naturally be asked: “What is the relative numerical
strength of these different descriptions of British Baptists?” That
question it is difficult, if not impossible, to answer exactly to its
full extent. It is not difficult to determine the relative numerical
strength of the General and the Particular Baptists. Baptists of all
sorts in Britain, according to the Baptist Hand Book of 1890, number,
churches 2,786; members 329,126. Of these, the “General Baptist
Association” contains, churches 206; members 26,782. These figures
indicate pretty accurately the numerical strength of the General and
Particular Baptists, respectively. But, when we come to the different
sections of the Particular Baptists, accurate information is not
so easily obtainable. There are no means of ascertaining how many
Hyper-Calvinists there are amongst the Particular Baptists. They have
an Association in London with fifty-six churches, and another in
Suffolk and Norfolk with twenty-seven churches; but outside the limits
of these Associations the churches are, for the most part, isolated
from each other, and from their brethren generally. Then again, of the
Moderate Calvinists it is not easy to determine how many are Close,
and how many are Open, Communionists. For, while maintaining their
distinctive principles, the two often co-exist in the same Association,
and to a large extent cooperate in general denominational work. It
must be admitted that the majority, and a considerable majority, of
the Baptists in Britain who are Moderate Calvinists are also Open
Communionists. And this considerable majority includes most of the
largest, and nearly all of the wealthiest, churches, together with a
large proportion of the ablest and best known ministers. Still there
are Regular Baptists in existence; nor are they, though sometimes
ignored and often reproached, insignificant in respect to either
numbers or influence. If the whole of the United Kingdom be taken into
account, the Regular Baptists compose a somewhat large army. They
include in their ranks most of the Baptists in Scotland. The Scotch
Baptists are strong Calvinists but not Hyper-Calvinists, and they are
Close Communionists. They include all the Welsh Baptists. There are in
Wales 625 churches, with a total of 77,126 members; not one of these
is Hyper and they are all Close Communion. There are a few English
Baptists in Wales that are Open Communion, but all the Welsh Baptists
are Close, whether in Wales or out of it. There are some districts
in England where Regular Baptists are decidedly strong. In not a few
districts, to meet with a Regular Baptist church is an exception; while
in other districts it is an exception to meet with anything else. The
Rossendale district, in the County of Lancaster, is about ten miles in
length, and five or six in breadth. It contains sixteen Regular Baptist
churches. In the Huddersfield district, Yorkshire, which covers an area
of only a few miles, there are thirteen Baptist churches, and eleven of
them are Regular Baptist.
The Regular Baptists of England proper, though not obtrusive in their
character, are sturdy and robust. They know what they believe, and why
they believe it; and they are prepared in all circumstances, and at
all hazards, to stand by their faith. They are not a people that the
bewitchings of flattery can delude, or the terrors of opposition daunt.
Though often condemned because of their narrowness, they are respected
by those who condemn them, because of their firmness and consistency.
They are men that can be relied upon. In important crises, both
religious and political, they have proved themselves the very backbone
of the Baptist denomination. To those around them, their ability has
been strength and their courage inspiration.
The denominational work of the Regular Baptists is done, to a very
large extent, through the existing denominational Societies. Their work
in foreign missions is done through the Baptist Foreign Missionary
Society. The first secretary of that Society was a sturdy Regular
Baptist—Andrew Fuller. And Regular Baptists still love the Society,
and are generous and hearty in their support of it. Their Home
Missionary work is done partly through the Baptist Union, but to a
greater extent through the county Associations. In most of the counties
of England, there is an Association of Baptist churches, distinct from
the Baptist Union, though often affiliated with it; and in connection
with these Associations there is generally a Home Missionary Society;
and, through these different Home Missionary Societies, Regular
Baptists work with others to plant Baptist churches and spread Baptist
principles through the land. Years ago, the Regular Baptists sustained
a separate Missionary Society for the Continent of Europe; but the
growth and development of the missionary work in Germany, under the
late Mr. Oncken, led them to transfer their operations to the German
Baptist Mission, which mission they continue to support. A prominent
Regular Baptist layman, Martin H. Wilkin, Esq., of London, is the
English treasurer of it.
In addition to the work they do through the agencies that have been
named, the Regular Baptists of England have two Societies that are
distinctively their own—”The Baptist Tract and Book Society,” and
“The Manchester Baptist College.” _The Baptist Tract and Book Society_
came into existence nearly fifty years ago. Previously to that time,
there had existed in England no Society, or agency, for the printing
and disseminating of Baptist literature. This was much regretted by
some good men, who met together and formed a Society whose object
should be “to make known” the glorious gospel of the blessed God,
“by the publication of small treatises and tracts; and especially
to disseminate the views of Baptists relative to the doctrines and
ordinances of the New Testament.” The Society in its very beginning,
was condemned and opposed by some, by some Baptists even; and, strange
to say, because it was Baptist. With the Religious Tract Society in
existence, they contended, a denominational organization was, to say
the least, uncalled for. There are some amongst Baptists still who, if
they do not oppose the Society, look askance at it, and stand aloof
from it, not ostensibly because it is Baptist, but because as Baptist,
it is not sufficiently “broad.” Nevertheless, the Society has held on
its way. Originated by Regular Baptists, and formed on Regular Baptist
principles, it is still under the control of Regular Baptists, and
worked on Regular Baptist lines. It is the same Society to-day that
it was at first, except that it is larger and stronger, and fills a
more extended sphere of usefulness. Its tracts have been circulated,
not only in Britain, but also in almost every part of the world. And
the committee report that “encouraging communications are constantly
being received, containing testimonials to the value of the Society’s
publications, and the signal blessings attending their circulation.”
_The Manchester Baptist College_ grew out of an old society, first
called the Strict Baptist Society, and afterwards the Baptist
Evangelical Society. This Society was formed in the year 1844. One
of its principal objects was the education of young men for the
ministry. All the denominational colleges in England at that time were
practically Open Communion. Professedly, they were neutral on the
Communion question; but, as a matter of fact, all their neutrality
was on one side. All the professors and tutors were Open Communion,
and so, with few exceptions, were the ministers sent out from them.
If the young were Close Communion when they entered college, they,
in most cases, became Open before they left. The Regular Baptists
were therefore made to feel it incumbent upon them to establish an
educational institution of their own: first, that they might protect
their young men who devoted themselves to the work of the ministry from
influences unfriendly to their stability in the faith in which they had
been taught; and, secondly, that their churches might be relieved from
the necessity of choosing either an uneducated man for their pastor, or
a man whose views were not in harmony with their own. Hence the action
they took in the formation of the Society just referred to. The plan
adopted by this Society was that of placing students who had given
satisfactory evidence that they possessed grace and gifts suitable
for the ministry of the gospel, and for pastoral work, separately,
or in twos or threes, for a period of two or three years, under the
tuitional care and guidance of some able and experienced pastor. Joseph
Harbottle, of Accrington, uncle of Dr. Joseph Angus, of Regent’s Park
College, London; John Shearer, of Glasgow; Dr. John Stock, of Salendine
Nook, Huddersfield; and, pre-eminently, Thomas Dawson, of Liverpool,
were amongst the pastors chosen for this purpose. By their personal
influence, and by their devoted labors, all these good men laid the
students of the Baptist Evangelical Society, and the Society itself,
and the Regular Baptist cause in England generally, under deep and
lasting obligation.
But, excellently as this plan worked for a while, a new departure was
eventually found to be necessary, and steps were taken to establish a
college. After much thought and prayer, Chamber Hall, Bury, Lancashire
(the birthplace of the _great_ Sir Robert Peel) was secured as the
home of the college, and it was opened in October, 1866, with the Rev.
Henry Dawson, who had been for more than thirty years the devoted and
successful pastor of the Regular Baptist church, Westgate, Bradford,
Yorkshire, as its president and theological tutor. Soon afterwards, the
Rev. Dr. Evans was engaged as lecturer in Ecclesiastical History, and
the Rev. James Webb as classical tutor. In Chamber Hall, the college
was conducted successfully, though with some disadvantages, for more
than seven years, when it was removed to handsome premises, which had
in the meantime been erected in Brighton Grove, Rusholme, Manchester.
The building in Brighton Grove, where the college has had its home
for the last seventeen years, is the property of the college. It cost
more than 11,000 pounds. Previously to the removal of the college from
Bury, Dr. Evans died; and, about four years after the removal, in the
year 1877, Mr. Dawson and Mr. Webb both resigned their respective
posts, owing to the infirmities of age. Dr. Edward Parker was appointed
president and theological tutor in place of Mr. Dawson, and the Rev.
John Turner Marshall, M. A. (London) was appointed classical tutor in
succession to Mr. Webb, positions which they both still hold.
This college is the only one in England on Close Communion lines.
It has had to struggle for its existence. Regular Baptists are
comparatively poor, and Open Communionist friends have not looked
kindly upon it. They have hindered it in more instances than they have
helped it. Still all its needs have been supplied. It has gained for
itself a respectable position among other colleges for the thoroughness
of its educational training and the scholarship of its students.
In the competitive examinations, last May, of the Non-conformist
colleges of England and Wales a student of Manchester Baptist College
came off first with honors, and another student stood fifth in the
first division. What is more important, the College has fulfilled
the expectations of its founders in conserving and advancing Regular
Baptist principles. It has arrested the progress of Open Communionism
in Regular Baptist churches. It has filled the pulpits of more than
seventy churches, a large proportion of which were formerly filled
by ministers of Open Communion sentiments. The College is, in a very
eminent sense, the hope of the Regular Baptist cause in England. It has
done a great work for that cause already. If it is still encouraged, as
there is every reason to believe that it will be, by the same devoted
generosity that its friends have extended to it hitherto, it will yet
do still greater things.