“Draw Nigh unto My Soul”: English Baptist Piety and the Means of Grace in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Michael A. G. Haykin

Michael A. G. Haykin is Principal Among the foremost examples of vital ily men and women intensely passionate of Toronto Baptist Seminary in Toronto, Christianity found in the history of the about piety and Christian experience, Ontario, Canada, and a Senior Fellow of church are the Puritans, those godly so spirituality lies at the very core of the The Andrew Fuller Centre for Reformed Christians who lived in Great Britain and English Baptist movement during the Evangelicalism. He also serves as Visit- New England between the 1560s and the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ing Professor of Church History at The end of the seventeenth century. Skilled For example, Baptists in this era were Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. navigators on the ocean of Christian liv- adamant that keeping in step with the Dr. Haykin is the author of One Heart ing, the Puritans rightly discerned that, in Spirit was the vital matter when it came and One Soul (Evangelical Press, 1994), the words of Elizabethan Puritan Richard to the nourishment of the soul of the Spirit of God: The Exegesis of 1 and 2 Greenham (1540-1594), “we drawe neere believer or the sustenance of the inner life Corinthians in the Pneumatomachian to God by meanes.”1 By this Greenham, of a congregation. As the late eighteenth- Controversy of the Fourth Century (Brill, speaking for his fellow Puritans, meant century English Baptist John Sutcliff 1994), and Jonathan Edwards: The that there are various “means of godli- (1752-1814) of Olney, Buckinghamshire, Holy Spirit and Revival (Evangelical ness” or spiritual disciplines by which rightly observed, Press, 2005). God enables Christians to grow in Christ [T]he outpouring of the divine till they reach the haven of heaven. The Spirit…is the grand promise of the Puritans could refer to a number of such new testament… . His infl uences are means of piety, but there were three that the soul, the great animating soul of all religion. These withheld, divine were especially regarded as central by ordinances are empty cisterns, and this tradition of piety: prayer, the Scrip- spiritual graces are withering fl ow- ers. These suspended, the greatest tures, and the sacraments or ordinances human abilities labour in vain, and of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Thus the noblest efforts fail of success.3 Richard Greenham could state, “The fi rst meanes [of grace] is prayer… . The second Yet, these Baptists were also certain that meanes is hearing of his word… . The to seek the Spirit’s strength apart from third meanes whereby we draw neere, is various means through which the Spirit by the Sacraments.”2 worked was both unbiblical and foolish. Now Baptists are the children of Benjamin Keach (1640-1704), the most Puritanism, and the family connection signifi cant Baptist theologian of the late between the two is nowhere seen more seventeenth century, put it this way in clearly than in Baptist thinking about 1681 when, in a direct allusion to the piety. Just as the Puritans were primar- Quakers, who dispensed with the ordi-

54 nances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, been characterized by a spirituality of he declared, the Word. To use a description coined by Alister McGrath, Baptists have been Many are confi dent they have the 6 Spirit, Light, and Power, when ’tis “Word-centred evangelicals.” This spiri- all meer [sic] Delusion. …Some Men tuality was based on the affi rmation of boast of the Spirit, and conclude they the infallibility of the Scriptures. As a have the Spirit, and none but they, and yet at the same time cry down 1651 Baptist tract against the Quakers and villify his blessed Ordinances has it, the Bible is “the infallible word and Institutions, which he hath left of God…declaring his mind, making in his Word, carefully to be observed and kept, till he comes the second known his counsel, being able to make time without Sin unto Salvation. the people of God wise unto salvation.”7 …The Spirit hath its proper Bounds, and always runs in its spiritual Thus, because this was the nature of the Chanel [sic], viz. The Word and Scriptures, they were to be central to the Ordinances, God’s publick [sic] and piety of the believer. A statement by the private Worship.4 prominent London Baptist William Kiffi n Keach here mentions two central spiritual (1616-1701) well captures this fact when he disciplines or means of piety: the Word states about a fellow Baptist, John Norcott and the ordinances of baptism and the (1621-1676), Lord’s Supper. He steered his whole course by the In the following century, Benjamin compass of the word, making Scrip- Beddome (1717-1795), the pastor of the ture precept or example his constant rule in matters of religion. Other Baptist cause in Bourton-on-the-Water, men’s opinions or interpretations Gloucestershire for fi fty-fi ve years, dis- were not the standard by which he cerned in the phrase “Draw nigh unto my went; but, through the assistance of the Holy Spirit, he laboured to fi nd soul” (Ps 69:18) four ways in which God out what the Lord himself had said 8 draws near to his people, the fi rst three in his word. of which are what can be called means Given this prominence of the Scrip- of grace and are identical to the means tures in the life of Baptists, it is not sur- of grace listed by the Puritan Richard prising that hearing the Word preached Greenham and which have been noted was regarded by them as a vital spiritual above. God draws near to us and we to discipline and the pre-eminent aspect of him in prayer, Beddome says, in “hearing worship. For instance, in the association the Word,” in the ordinances and also, records of the Northern Baptist Asso- he added, in “the time of affl iction” and ciation, which was composed of Baptist death.5 While these Baptists knew of other churches in the old English counties of means of grace—for example, Christian Northumberland, Cumberland, West- friendship and the making of personal moreland, and Durham, we read the and corporate covenants—the fi rst three following answer to a question raised in were undoubtedly central. Let us look at 1701 as to who may administer the ordi- each of them in turn. nances of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism: “Those Persons that the Church approves “The Compass of the Word” of to Preach the Gospel we think it safe Shaped by their Reformation and to Approve likewise for ye Administer- Puritan roots, Baptists have historically ing other Ordinances Preaching being the 55 greater work.” In 1703, when a similar ques- Repair’d (1702) that “he doth the best Work tion was asked, it was stated that “those and the most Work, that labours most in whom the Church Approves to preach his Study, with a dependance upon God the Gospel may also Administer the for a Blessing.”14 While Collins was well Ordinances of Baptism and the Lords Sup- aware that ultimately it was the Spirit that per Preaching being the main and principall made men preachers of the gospel—“tho [sic] Work of the Gospel.”9 English Baptist it be granted,” he wrote in the same work, scholar Christopher J. Ellis thus rightly “that human Literature is very useful for speaks of the “dominance of preaching a Minister, yet it is not essentially neces- in Baptist worship.”10 sary; but to have the Spirit of Christ to The architecture of early English Baptist open the Word of Christ is essentially churches also bespoke this emphasis on necessary”15—yet study was still vital. the preached word in worship: the central There were some, he noted, that “think it feature of these simple structures was the unlawful to study to declare God’s Mind, pulpit. In the words of D. Mervyn Him- and will contemptuously speak against it, bury, early Baptist chapels were “meeting as if we were to preach by Inspiration, as houses designed for preaching.”11 These the Prophets and Apostles of old did.” In meeting-houses were generally square response to such reasoning, Collins cited 2 or rectangular structures, some of them Tim 2:15 and asked “What can be a better from the outside even resembling barns.12 Confutation of those Men than [this] Text? Inside the meeting-house the pulpit was which commands Ministers to study to made prominent and was well within the shew themselves good Workmen.”16 sight and sound of the entire congrega- Many of the better preachers of that tion. Sometimes a sounding board was day were, of course, able to preach with placed behind the pulpit so as to help little preparation, if the need arose. Benja- project the preacher’s voice throughout min Beddome was once asked to preach at the building. There was a noticeable lack Fairford in the Coswolds, where a Thomas of adornment in Baptist meeting-houses, Davis was the pastor. Beddome, who was with nothing to distract the attention of a very powerful preacher but naturally the worshippers. During the eighteenth quite timid, completely forgot his sermon century, large clear windows were pro- as it came time to preach. Having no vided so that light was available to all to notes, he understandably became some- read the Scriptures as the Word of God what agitated. Leaning over Davis on was expounded.13 the way to the pulpit from where he had Given the prominence attached to been sitting, he asked anxiously, “Brother preaching by verbal and architectural Davis, what must I preach from?” Davis, statement, it should occasion no surprise thinking that Beddome was not in earnest to fi nd leading English Baptist preachers and actually joking, curtly replied, “Ask of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- no foolish questions.” Davis’ reply gave turies emphasizing that good preaching Beddome great relief. When he came to required hard work and preparation. Her- the pulpit he turned the congregation to cules Collins (d.1702), the pastor of Wap- Titus 3:9, and proceeded to preach upon ping Baptist Church, London, from 1676 the clause found there, “Avoid foolish till his death, could state in his The Temple questions.” It was a sermon that hearers 56 said was “remarkably methodical, correct, not “profi t the many.” And here Fuller and useful”!17 has in mind those from the poorer classes In A Temple Repair’d Collins also gave who did not have the benefi t of a literary instructions regarding the best way in education and who made up the bulk of which to shape the sermon. Attention Baptist congregations throughout the era fi rst had to be given to the context of the we are considering.20 verse or verses being preached upon and Coxe Feary (1759-1822), who pastored diffi cult terms in the passage explained. a Baptist work in an obscure little village Then what the passage taught in terms of called Bluntisham, then in Huntingdon- doctrine had to be made fully clear and shire, held similar convictions. Writing in established by reference to parallel texts the autumn of 1802 to a friend who was of Scripture. Finally how the doctrinal studying at the Bristol Baptist Academy, teaching applied to the hearers’ lives was the sole Baptist seminary in England at to be set forth.18 the time for training men for pastoral Among the various additional direc- ministry, Feary counseled him, “I hope tions that the London pastor gave regard- you make a point of studying two ser- ing preaching, Collins emphasized that mons every week, that you disuse your the preacher’s speech must be notes as much as possible in the pulpit, and that you constantly aim to be the plain, as Paul’s was. Not with entic- ing Words of Man’s Wisdom, but in useful, more than the refi ned, preacher.” demonstration of the Spirit, and of Feary went on to explain that in giving Power [1 Corinthians 2:4]. Use sound this advice, he certainly did not want his Words that cannot be condemned. Rhetorical Flashes are like painted friend to stoop to using “vulgar” speech Glass in a Window, that makes a in his sermons, that is, common slang. great show, but darkens the Light… Rather, he wanted him “to commend The Prophets and Apostles generally spoke in the vulgar and common [himself] to every man’s conscience in the Languages which the ordinary sight of God, and to the understanding of People understood: They did not only speak to the Understanding [his] hearers.” In other words, his sermons of a King upon the Throne, but to should be easily understood by all of his the Understanding of the meanest hearers. In this way, he would be a “use- Subject.19 ful” preacher and “an able minister of the 21 This emphasis on plainness and simplicity New Testament.” in preaching continued throughout the This type of preaching was not only century. Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), the advocated because it was in line with that renowned Baptist theologian and pastor of the Apostolic era, but also because the of the Baptist cause in Kettering, insisted English Baptists generally believed that it in his Thoughts on Preaching, written was through the mind that God appealed towards the end of the eighteenth century, to the hearts and wills of human beings. that while “sound speech” and “good Benjamin Beddome brings this out most sense” ought to characterize preaching, clearly in a sermon that he preached on 2 the preacher should never aspire after Cor 5:11a (“Knowing therefore the terror “fi ne composition” and “great elegance of the Lord, we persuade men”). Beddome of expression.” The latter might “amuse was convinced that the word “persuade” and please the ears of a few,” but it will lay at the heart of preaching. Since men 57 and women are “endowed with reason preachers in England during the fi nal and understanding,” they are “capable couple of decades of the “long” eighteenth of being persuaded” and reasoned with. century. At the annual meeting of the Thus, we fi nd the Apostle Paul reason- Northamptonshire Association in 1813 ing “with the Jews out of the Scriptures,” Robert Hall had agreed to write the fol- that is, laying before them “the evidences lowing year’s circular letter for the Asso- of truth” and endeavouring to “remove ciation which was to be on the subject of their prejudices against it by solid argu- Hearing the Word. ment.” Consequently, a “minister is not Hall began the circular letter by to address himself to the passions, but to observing that preaching is “an ordinance the understanding of his hearers.” Bed- of God.” What he meant by this phrase is dome, of course, did not disapprove of explained later in the letter, when Hall the presence of emotions. Sermons must stated that preaching has been especially be delivered, he argued, with “warmth appointed by God to bring spiritual of affection, earnestness of expression, blessings to God’s people.24 The Baptist and unwearied assiduity.” As such, they author can also describe preaching as a will undoubtedly kindle the affections “means of grace,” that is, a “consecrated of the hearers. But, it must be recognized channel” through which God’s spiritual that emotion is also quite fi ckle, and can mercies fl ow. In other words, preaching “quickly vanish away, and leave no per- is one of the means by which the Holy manent effect.”22 It simply cannot form Spirit extends the kingdom of God. Thus, the foundation of a Christian lifestyle, “where the gospel is not preached,” the let alone serve as the basis for believers’ effects of the Spirit’s work are “rarely “life together.” to be discerned.” This was not only a It should be noted that the English theological conviction held by Hall, but Baptists of this era never lost sight of the also one that he believed could be readily fact that, just as it is the Spirit alone who discerned from a perusal of the history makes preachers, so it is the Spirit who of God’s dealing with humanity: “in all alone can empower the words of the ages, it appears that the Spirit is accus- preacher and make them effi cacious to the tomed to follow in the footsteps of his winning of the lost and the building up revealed Word.”25 Christian spirituality of God’s people. In the words of Benjamin and biblical spiritual experience are thus Beddome: vitally dependent on the preaching of the Word. Where preaching is absent, Hall is Ministers lift up their voice, and God makes bare his arm; ministers convinced that the former is unlikely to persuade, and God enables, nay, be found. constrains, men to comply.… Min- Further on in the letter, Hall likens the isters stand at the door and knock; the Spirit comes with his key, and person who hears the Word preached and 23 opens the door. refuses to apply it to his or her life to an individual who goes to a feast, spends Finally, an excellent vantage-point from his or her time refl ecting on how the food which to view English Baptist thought has been prepared and how it is ideally on hearing the Word of God as a means suited for the other guests, but tastes not of grace is a text written by Robert Hall, a morsel. It is not fortuitous that Hall Jr. (1764-1831), one of the most renowned 58 should choose such an illustration. It well House Bridge” and the celebrated reveals the very high regard in which Carn Brea Hill. Owing to the exca- vations occasioned by the search- preaching was held by him and his fel- ing for ore, a large amphitheatre low Baptists. The opportunity to hear the was formed. On this spot stood Word preached was nothing less than a an immense concourse of people. The general impression was their feast that God provided for the soul. As number consisted of 15,000. No one Hall went on to say, “the Word of God is but an eye-witness can conceive the pleasure derived from the sight of the food of souls,” giving them “strength four believers in Christ taking up and refreshment.”26 the easy yoke of their Master in the presence of so many.28 “A Garden Enclosed”: Not surprisingly Andrew Fuller The Spirituality of Baptism observed that public baptisms had often Up until the beginning of the twentieth been a vehicle for impressing upon many century the various types of Baptists— individuals “their fi rst convictions of the Calvinistic, General (that is, Arminian), reality of religion.”29 However, the public and Seventh-day—were the only major nature of the rite also exposed Baptists to denominations in Great Britain that ridicule and censure. James Butterworth, insisted upon believer’s baptism. The who pastored at Bromsgrove near Bir- Anglicans, Congregationalists, Presby- mingham from 1755 to 1794, could state terians, and the Methodists all upheld at a baptismal service in 1774, “Baptism infant baptism, while the Quakers dis- is a thing so universally despised, that pensed with the rite altogether. Moreover, few can submit to it, without apparent since few Baptist churches prior to 1800 danger to their temporal interest; either possessed an indoor baptistery, baptism from relations, friends, masters, or others was usually done outdoors in a pond, with whom they have worldly connec- stream, or river where all and sundry tions.”30 A couple of days after Andrew could come and watch.27 The Baptists Fuller had been baptized in the spring of were thus provided with excellent oppor- 1770 he met a group of young men while tunities to bear witness to their distinct he was riding through the fi elds near his convictions and their commitment to home in Soham. “One of them,” he later Christ. For example, at the formation of recorded, “called after me, in very abusive a small Calvinistic Baptist congregation language, and cursed me for having been in Redruth, Cornwall, in August 1802, ‘dipped’.”31 four individuals were publicly baptized. In 1778 Joseph Jenkins (1743-1819), who According to an account written in the served as the pastor of Baptist causes in church records by the fi rst pastor, F. H. Wrexham, Wales, and in London, refuted Rowe, the day a series of unfounded charges against the was one of those enchanting days Baptists, including the assertions that when the sun clears the atmosphere they conducted baptisms in the nude, of every cloud, not a leaf appeared to vibrate on the trees, or the small- that they baptized “women apparelled est undulations be formed on the in a single garment,” and that they even pool. We had selected a spot well immersed women in the fi nal stages of suited for the purpose. It was the vale that lies between the bridge pregnancy.32 This accusation that the known by the name of “Blowing Baptist practice of immersion involved 59 immodesty was one that had been com- served as the fi rst principal of Canada mon since the emergence of the English Baptist College in Montreal, though Fuller Baptists in the mid-seventeenth century. “began to preach when very unlearned,” For instance, their fi rst doctrinal standard, he “was so sensible of his disadvantages the First London Confession of Faith (1644), that he used great diligence to acquire was issued in part to rebut the charge that that knowledge, without which he could the Baptists of that time were involved never be, what he at length became, one in “doing acts unseemly in the dispens- of the most valuable men of his time, and ing the Ordinance of Baptism, not to be decidedly the most useful minister in named amongst Christians.”33 our religious community.”37 Not without Baptist works responding to these reason did another Welsh Baptist call him attacks on believer’s baptism invariably “the Elephant of Kettering.”38 devoted large sections to proving that Fuller began The Practical Uses of believers, never infants, are the proper Christian Baptism by maintaining that subjects of baptism and that they should the principal reason why God instituted be baptized by immersion, and not by this ordinance is that it might serve as a any other mode. The equally important “solemn and practical profession of the subject of the meaning of baptism was Christian religion.” As an “open profes- consequently often overlooked.34 A sion” of the name of Christ, baptism is notable exception in this regard was a nothing less than an “oath of allegiance circular letter written by Andrew Fuller to the King of Zion.” Baptism is a “sign” for the Northamptonshire Association in to believers that they have “solemnly sur- 1802. Entitled The Practical Uses of Christian rendered [themselves] up to Christ, taking Baptism, it took for granted the standard him to be [their] Prophet, Priest, and King; Baptist position on the right subjects of engaging to receive his doctrine, to rely on baptism and the proper mode in which it his atonement, and to obey his laws.”39 In a is to be administered, and concentrated letter that he had written a couple of years on outlining the meaning and signifi cance earlier to William Ward (1769-1823), the of the rite. In Fuller’s words, he desired to Serampore missionary, Fuller developed focus his readers’ attention on “the infl u- this idea of baptism as the place of openly ence of this ordinance, where it produces professing submission to Christ. its proper effects, in promoting piety in The importance of this ordinance 35 individuals, and purity in the church.” [of baptism]…arises from its being At the time when Fuller wrote this the distinguishing sign of Chris- tianity—that by which they [i.e., tract he was the pastor of the Baptist Christians] were to be known, cause in Kettering, Northamptonshire, acknowledged, and treated as mem- where he had been since 1782. Raised in a bers of Christ’s visible kingdom: “As many of you as have been baptized household of farmers, he was a big, broad- into Christ have put on Christ,” Gal. shouldered man who had little formal iii.27. It is analogous to a soldier on education and looked, to William Wil- his enlisting into his Majesty’s ser- vice putting on the military dress. berforce (1759-1833) at least, as “the very The Scriptures lay great stress upon picture of a village blacksmith.”36 Yet, in “confessing Christ’s name before the words of Benjamin Davies (1814-1875), men” (Matt. x.32); and baptism is one of the most distinguished ways the Welsh Old Testament scholar who of doing this. When a man becomes 60 a believer in Christ, he confesses it in the Lord’s supper: the sign, when usually in words to other believers: rightly used leads to the thing signi- but the appointed way of confessing fi ed. Remission of sins is ascribed by it openly to the world is by being Peter not properly to baptism, but to baptized in his name.40 the name in which the parties were to be baptized. Thus also Saul was Christianity, Fuller went on to observe in directed to wash away his sins, call- ing on the name of the Lord.43 the circular letter, contains both “truths to be believed” and “precepts to be obeyed.” Fuller here points out that in itself the act And in a marvellous way, the rite of bap- of immersion possesses no salvifi c value. tism provides encouragement for believ- But it “contains a sign” or illustration of ers to be faithful in adhering to both. the way of salvation and “the sign, when First, since baptism is to be carried out, rightly used”—that is, when accompanied according to Matthew 28:19, “in the name by sincere faith—“leads to the thing sig- of the Father, and of the Son, and of the nifi ed.” The statement “leads to the thing Holy Spirit,” submission to the ordinance signifi ed” must then mean that when the entails an avowal of the fact that God is person being baptized has such a faith, a triune Being. Well acquainted with the then baptism in some way confi rms this history of the early Church, Fuller rightly faith and the individual’s share in the ben- stated that this baptismal formula was efi ts of the gospel. Fuller does not develop widely used in that era to argue for the this thought. But if he had, he might well 41 doctrine of the Trinity. As Fuller noted, have developed it along the lines of his to relinquish the doctrine of the Trinity is earlier statement to William Ward which tantamount to the virtual renunciation of has been cited above: “When a man 42 one’s baptism. becomes a believer in Christ, he confesses Baptism into the Triune name also it usually in words to other believers: but entails a commitment to the belief that the appointed way of confessing it openly salvation is the joint work of all three to the world is by being baptized in his members of the Godhead: the Father’s name.” In other words, baptism is the sovereign election, the Son’s “all-suf- place where conversion to Christ is rati- fi cient atonement,” and the sanctifying fi ed and, to borrow a phrase from another work wrought by the Spirit. In particular, great English Baptist theologian of the though, it points to Christ’s saving work. eighteenth century, John Gill (1697-1771), In Fuller’s words, “faith discovers itself.”44 The immersion of the body in Fuller proceeded to explain that Christ water, which is a purifying element experienced “the deluge of [God’s] wrath” contains a profession of our faith due the sins of fallen men and women, in Christ, through the shedding of whose blood we are cleansed from but rose “triumphantly from the dead.” all sin. Hence, baptism in the name Fallen men and women are saved solely of Christ is said to be for the remission on the basis of his death and resurrection. of sins. Not that there is any virtue in the element, whatever be the quan- Baptism, which involves both immersion tity; nor in the ceremony, though of and emersion, is thus an extremely apt Divine appointment: but it contains “sign” or “outward and formal expres- a sign of the way in which we must be saved. Sin is washed away in bap- sion of genuine personal faith” in Christ’s tism in the same sense as Christ’s saving work.45 fl esh is eaten, and his blood drank, 61 Not only does baptism speak of car- a fountain sealed.” Enclosed gardens, dinal “truths to be believed,” but it also though, were also a feature common to teaches disciples of Christ how to live in the landscape of seventeenth- and early a God-honoring way. On the basis of Rom eighteenth-century England. While some 6:3-4 Fuller argued that baptism is a sign of these gardens were developed for aes- to the baptized disciple that he or she has thetic reasons and consisted primarily of been baptized into Christ’s death and thus fl owers and shrubs, many of them were united with him in his death. There is, of kitchen gardens, designed to produce course, a difference between the death of small fruits, herbs, salad greens and Christ and that of the disciple: Christ died other vegetables. Generally rectangular for sin, the disciple is to die to sin. When in shape, they were enclosed by walls, he or she is baptized, therefore, there is fences or hedges that might reach as high a commitment made to die to sin and to as sixteen feet. These walls provided both the world.46 protection from the cooling effects of the Baptism thus serves as a “hedge” that wind and privacy for the owner.49 God sets around his people, which “tends Two examples must suffi ce to illus- more than a little to preserve [them] from trate the way in which this image was temptation.”47 This comparison of bap- employed in the seventeenth- and eigh- tism to a hedge brings to mind a favored teenth-century English Baptist tradition. image for the church in seventeenth Benjamin Keach used this image to argue and eighteenth century English Baptist that circles, namely, the enclosed garden. It is God hath out of the people of this not surprising, therefore, to fi nd Fuller world, taken his churches and explicitly employing this image a little walled them about, that none of further on in this circular letter. He has the evil beasts can hurt them: all mankind naturally were alike dry been arguing that believer’s baptism was and barren, as a wilderness, and originally designed to be “the boundary brought forth no good fruit. But God hath separated some of this barren of visible Christianity,” the line of distinc- ground, to make lovely gardens tion between “the kingdom of Christ and for himself to walk and delight in. the kingdom of Satan.” Where the original …the church of Christ, is a garden inclosed, or a community of chris- design of this distinguishing ordinance is tians distinct from the world: ‘A ignored, and “persons admitted to bap- garden inclosed is my sister, my 50 tism without any profession of personal spouse.’ Cant. iv.12. religion, or upon the profession of others As an “enclosed garden” of God’s creation, on their behalf,” then “the church will be the church is to be a fruitful haven set no longer a garden enclosed, but an open apart and distinct from the wilderness wilderness, where every beast of prey can of the world. range at large.”48 My second example comes from the This description of the church as “a gar- early years of the Evangelical Revival den enclosed” has roots both in Scripture when many English and Welsh Baptists and English horticulture. First of all, the were anything but receptive to the revival. phrase is drawn directly from the Song of William Herbert (1697-1745), a Welsh Bap- Solomon 4:12 (KJV): “A garden inclosed tist pastor and a friend of the Calvinistic is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, Methodist preacher Howel Harris (1714- 62 1773), was critical of the latter’s decision ceremony.” It is a meaning-laden ordi- to stay in the Church of England. In a nance, which bears witness to the most letter that he wrote to Harris early in 1737, radical transformation a human being can a couple of years after the Evangelical undergo in this world.53 Revival had begun in England and Wales, As Fuller concluded the letter, he Herbert likened the Church of England wisely reminded his readers that obe- to a pub “which is open to all comers,” dience to this ordinance is never to be and to a “common field where every regarded as “a substitute for a life of noisesome beast may come.” Surely Har- holiness and universal righteousness.” ris realized, Herbert continued, that the He referred them to the pointed reminder Scriptures—and he has in mind the Song that the Apostle Paul gave to the church of Solomon 4:12—describe God’s church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians. When “they as “a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a trifl ed with idolatry and worldly lusts,” fountain sealed,” in other words, a body they could not look to their participation of believers “separate from the profane in the privileges of baptism and the Lord’s world”?51 Supper to secure them from God’s anger. Thus, in using this description of the Thus, to hope that believer’s baptism can church as “a garden enclosed” and linking guarantee a life of spiritual fruitfulness baptism with it, Fuller was re-affi rming is to deceive oneself. “It is the presence of the fact that at the heart of the Baptist Christ only that can keep us alive, either as tradition was a radical Nonconformity. individuals or as churches.”54 Ultimately, And it was a Nonconformity that was the disciple is called to cling to Christ, not much more than a protest with regard to to a set of rites or even doctrines. what was perceived as the unscriptural nature of some of the rites of the Church The “Sweet Repast” of the of England. “Nonconformity to the cer- Lord’s Table emonies of the church [of England] is of Another place that Baptists have his- no account,” Fuller said on another occa- torically regarded as being rich in spiri- sion, “if it be attended with conformity to tual nourishment is the ordinance of the the world.”52 For Fuller, believer’s baptism Lord’s Table. This may come as a surprise spoke of a fundamental break with the to many Baptists, who in recent times do forces that sought to press the heart and not appear to have seen participation at mind into the mould of this present age. the Table as an important spiritual disci- Fuller was careful to stress in his cir- pline. Any talk about the Lord’s Supper cular letter, though, that the “religion of nourishing the soul they have tended to Jesus does not consist in mere negatives.” write off as Roman Catholic. But it was Baptism signifi es not only death, but also not always so. resurrection. The “emersion of the body Ernest A. Payne, the doyen of English from the waters of baptism is a sign” of Baptist historical studies for much of the entrance into “a new state of being” where twentieth century, has maintained that the baptized believer should now be “alive from the beginning of Baptist testimony to God.” Consequently, baptism is never in the seventeenth century there has never to be regarded as “merely a sign” and been unanimity with respect to the nature nothing more or simply “an unmeaning of the Lord’s Supper and that no one per- 63 spective can justly claim to have been the lens of this text, the Lord’s Supper dominant tradition.55 If Payne’s statement is a standing memorial of Christ. has in view the entire history of Baptist When you see the table spread and witness in all of its breadth and depth, are about to partake of the bread it may be regarded as roughly accurate. and wine, think you hear Christ saying, “Remember me.” Remem- However, as soon as specific periods ber who he is… Again: Remember and eras are examined, the evidence what he has done… Once more: Remember where he is, and what demands that this statement be seriously 58 he is doing. qualifi ed. The late Michael J. Walker has shown, The fact that Christ instructed us to for instance, that when it comes to nine- remember him, Sutcliff continued, clearly teenth century English Baptist history, “implies his absence.” Moreover, if a “Zwinglianism emerges as the chief friend, who has gone away, left us with a contender for a blanket description of small present prior to his departure and Baptist attitudes to the Lord’s Supper.”56 asked us to “keep it as a memorial of his The Swiss Reformer Huldreich Zwingli friendship,” then, even if the present has (1484-1531) regarded the bread and the “little intrinsic worth, we set a high value wine as mainly signs of what God has on it, for his sake.” Gazing upon this pres- accomplished through the death of ent aids in the “recollection of our absent Christ and the Supper therefore as chiefl y friend.” So it is with the ordinance of the a memorial. In recent discussions of Lord’s Supper. It is designed “to draw our Zwingli’s perspective on the Lord’s Sup- attention to, and assist our meditations per it is often maintained that Zwingli upon an unseen Jesus.”59 was not really a Zwinglian, that is, he saw In the fi rst two centuries of Baptist wit- more in the Lord’s Supper than simply a ness, however, there had prevailed quite memorial.57 Be this as it may, a tradition a different view, namely, that associated did take its start from those aspects of with the name of John Calvin (1509-1564). his thought that stressed primarily the In Calvin’s perspective on the nature of memorial nature of the Lord’s Supper. It the Lord’s Supper, the bread and wine was this tradition that would dominate are signs and guarantees of a present Baptist thinking in the nineteenth and reality. To the one who eats the bread twentieth centuries. and drinks the wine with faith there is A most striking advocacy of the Zwing- conveyed what they symbolize, namely lian perspective on the Lord’s Supper is Christ. The channel, as it were, through found in a tract written by John Sutcliff. which Christ is conveyed to the believer Entitled The Ordinance of the Lord’s Sup- is none other than the Holy Spirit. The per considered and drawn up in 1803 as Spirit acts as a kind of link or bridge a circular letter for the Baptist churches between believers and the ascended belonging to the Northamptonshire Asso- Christ. Christ is received by believers in ciation, this text abounds in memorialist the Supper, “not because Christ inheres language. Sutcliff took for his guiding the elements, but because the Holy Spirit verse throughout this letter the state- binds believers” to him. But without faith, ment of Christ in Luke 22:19: “This do in only the bare elements are received.60 remembrance of me.” Seen through the Like Calvin, Baptists up until the time of 64 Sutcliff regarded the Supper as a vehicle of the eighteenth century—among oth- that the Spirit employed as an effi cacious ers, Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), Howel means of grace for the believer, and thus Harris (1714-1773), George Whitefield they opposed the Zwinglian perspective (1714-1770), and John Wesley (1703-1791)— on the Lord’s Supper.61 encouraging them, giving them advice, A random sampling of seventeenth and sometimes chiding them. On one and eighteenth century Baptist reflec- occasion Whitefi eld confessed that “her tions on the Lord’s Supper bears out this conversation is as weighty as her letters.” point. Consider, for instance, William And Harris once wrote to her that he was Mitchel (1662-1705), an indefatigable convinced that “our Lord has entrusted Baptist evangelist in east Lancashire and you with a Talent of writing for him.”64 the West Riding of Yorkshire, who could Dutton devotes the fi rst section of her declare that, in the Lord’s Supper, Christ’s sixty-page treatise on the Lord’s Supper “Death and Blood is shewed forth; and the to outlining its nature. In this section worthy receivers are, not after a corporal Dutton argues that the Supper is, among and carnal manner, but by the Spirit and other things, a “communication.” “As Faith, made Partakers of his Body and our Lord is spiritually present in his own Blood, with all his Benefi ts, to their spiri- ordinance,” she writes, “so he therein and tual Nourishment and Growth in Grace.”62 thereby doth actually communicate, or Mitchel explicitly repudiates the Roman give himself, his body broken, and his Catholic doctrine of the Mass, and avers, blood shed, with all the benefi ts of his in words drawn from the doctrinal stan- death, to the worthy receivers.”65 Here dard of the Baptists of this era, the Second Dutton is affi rming that Christ is indeed London Confession of Faith (1677/1689), that present at the celebration of his supper the Supper is “only a Memorial of that one and makes it a means of grace for those Offering up of himself, by himself, upon who partake of it with faith. As she states the Cross, once for all.”63 Mitchel was thus later on in this treatise: in the Lord’s Sup- quite happy to talk about the celebration per “the King is pleas’d to sit with us, at his of the Lord’s Supper in memorialist terms, Table.”66 In fact, so highly does she prize but his earlier statement shows that he this means of grace that she can state, was unwilling to regard it solely as an with what other Baptists of her era might act of remembrance. Following Calvin describe as some exaggeration, that the and his Baptist forebears, he asserts that celebration of the Lord’s Supper “admits” the Lord’s Supper is defi nitely a means believers “into the nearest Approach to of spiritual nourishment and that at the his glorious Self, that we can make in an Table believers, by the Spirit, do meet Ordinance-Way on the Earth, on this Side with Christ. the Presence of his Glory in Heaven.”67 Another Calvinistic perspective on the Eighteenth century Baptist hymnology Supper is found in Thoughts on the Lord’s is also a good guide to Baptist eucharistic Supper, Relating to the Nature, Subjects, and piety. Some of the richest texts that dis- right Partaking of this Solemn Ordinance play this piety can be found in Hymns In (1748) by Anne Dutton (1692-1765). A Commemoration Of the Sufferings Of Our prolifi c author, Dutton corresponded with Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, Compos’d For many of the leading evangelical fi gures the Celebration of his Holy Supper by Joseph 65 Stennett I (1663-1713), the pastor of a Sev- Will to the saints afford. enth-Day Baptist Church that met in Pin- . . .May I behold him in the wine,

ners’ Hall, London. Stennett can describe And see him in the bread.73 the Church’s celebration at the Table as a “perpetual memorial” of Christ’s death, In another, the invitation is given: a death that is to be commemorated.68 Come then, my soul, partake, And the bread and wine he calls “proper The banquet is divine: Symbols” and “Figures.”69 Yet, Stennett His body is the choicest food, His blood the richest wine. can also say of these symbols, Ye hungry starving poor Thy Flesh is Meat indeed, Join in the sweet repast; Thy Blood the richest wine; View Jesus in these symbols given, How blest are they who often feed 74 And his salvation taste. On this Repast of thine!70 Beddome did not hold to a Roman Catho- And he can urge his fellow believers, lic or Lutheran view of the “real presence.” Sing Hallelujah to our King, The bread and the wine, he asserted, are Who nobly entertains “symbols.” Nevertheless, he did expect His Friends with Bread of Life, and Wine the Lord’s Supper to be a place where the That fl ow’d from all his Veins. “sweet repast” of salvation is savoured His Body pierc’d with numerous and Christ himself seen. Wounds, Did as a Victim bleed; Prayer That we might drink his sacred Blood, Baptist piety and spirituality has also And on his Flesh might feed.71 never doubted the centrality of prayer in the Christian life.75 For example, in Stennett does make it clear that the feed- a sermon on 1 Cor 14:15 (“I will pray 72 ing involved at the Table is one of faith, with the spirit, and I will pray with the but this is realistic language utterly for- understanding also”) Benjamin Beddome eign to the later Zwinglian perspective. declared, Finally, two hymns of Benjamin Bed- dome can be cited as evidence for what is [Prayer] is…a constant duty; never out of season, never to be neglected, clearly the most prevalent belief about the till faith is turned into vision, and nature of the Lord’s Supper among eigh- prayer into praise. There is no duty teenth-century Baptists. Beddome was we are more apt to omit, no duty which it is more our interest to a prolifi c hymn-writer and many of his perform, no duty which Satan more hymns were still in use at the beginning opposes, or with which God is bet- of the twentieth century. Although Bed- ter pleased. As a man cannot live without breathing, so it is certain dome wrote only a few hymns that dealt that the Christian cannot thrive 76 specifi cally with the subject of the Lord’s without praying. Supper, they are fairly explicit as to his An excellent window on the Baptist at view of its nature. In one he prays, prayer can be found in an unpublished Oh for a glimmering sight manuscript in the archives of Bristol Bap- Of my expiring Lord! tist College, Bristol. Entitled “Queries and Sure pledge of what yon worlds of light solutions,” the manuscript records a pre- 66 cious friendship, that of Benjamin Francis extremely instructive as to the areas (1734-1799), an indefatigable Welsh pastor of personal theological interest among and evangelist whose ministry centered mid-eighteenth century Calvinists. For on Horlsey, Gloucestershire, in the south- instance, the question is asked, “When west Cotswolds, and a fellow Welshman may a Minister conclude that he is infl u- Joshua Thomas (1719-1797), who for forty- enced and assisted by the Spirit of God in three years was the pastor of the Baptist studying and ministring [sic] the word?”79 cause in Leominster.77 The manuscript Queries are raised about the eternal state is actually a transcript, drawn up by of dead infants,80 how best to understand Thomas, of letters that passed between the remarks in Revelation 20 about the him and Francis from 1758 to 1770.78 millennium,81 and about whether or not The practice of Francis and Thomas inoculation against that dreaded killer appears to have been for one of them to of the eighteenth century, smallpox, mail two or three queries periodically was right or wrong.82 Let’s look closer at to the other. Then, some months later those questions and answers that relate the recipient mailed back his answers, to prayer. together with fresh questions of his own. “How often should a Christian pray?” These answers were commented on, the Francis asked his friend on one occasion.83 new questions answered and both the To this very vital question posed by Fran- comments and answers mailed back cis, Thomas has an extensive answer. He along with new queries, and so forth. All deals fi rst with what he calls the “ejacula- in all, there are sixty-eight questions and tory kind” of prayer—prayers that arise answers in two volumes—fi fty-eight in spontaneously during the course of a the fi rst volume, the remaining ten in the day’s activities—and then the prayers second volume. On only one occasion offered during times set apart specifi cally during these years from 1758 to 1770 was for prayer, what a later generation of Evan- there a noticeable gap in correspondence. gelicals would call “the quiet time.” That was in 1765 when Francis lost his In response to Thomas’ answer, Francis wife and his three youngest children. confesses to his friend, It is noteworthy that at the beginning I wish all our Brethren of the Tribe of the correspondence the two friends of Levi were so free from lukewarm- sign their letters simply with their names ness, on the one hand, and enthusi- or initials. However, as time passes, their asm, formality & superstition on the other, as my Jonathan appears to be. mutual confi dence and intimacy deepens, I am too barren in all my Prayers, but and they begin to write “yours endear- I think mostly so in Closet prayer (except at some seasons) which ingly” or “yours unfeignedly” and even tempts me in some measure to prefer “yours indefatigably” or “yours inexpress- a more constant ejaculatory Prayer ibly.” It was in October, 1762, Thomas above a more statedly Closet prayer, tho I am persuaded neither should fi rst signed himself “your cordial Brother be neglected. Ejaculatory prayer is Jonathan,” and in the following February generally warm, free, and pure, tho Francis replied with “your most affection- short: but I fi nd Closet prayer to be often cold, stiff or artifi ciall [sic], as ate David.” From this point on this is the it were, and mixt [sic] with strange way the two friends refer to each other. impertinences & wandrings [sic] of The questions and their answers are heart. Lord teach me to pray! O that I could perform the Duty always, as a 67 duty and a privilege & not as a Task time for prayer. But he did not try to 84 and a Burden! excuse such failings.89 Though much has changed since In another of Francis’ comments we fi nd Francis’ day, yet this struggle with sin the same honesty and humility: “How and poor habits that hinder prayer and languid my faith, my hope, my love! devotion remains the same. And yet, there how cold and formal am I in secret Devo- must have been times when Francis knew tions!”85 These remarks surely stem from the joys of experientially fellowship with deep-seated convictions about the vital God in prayer. For instance, answering importance of prayer. a question by Thomas—“Wherein doth Francis’ frank remarks about his own communion and fellowship with God struggles with prayer also have their root consist?”—Francis replies in part, in Francis’ belief that because the Lord had led him to seek Christ at a very young In a nearness to God that is inex- age—and, in his words, “overwhelmed pressible, thro the Mediator, and in the enjoyment of God’s favour and me with Joy by a sense of his Love”—he perfections, yielding nourishing should be more eager to pray out of a sense satisfactions in God, as the souls full, everlasting portion and felic- of gratitude. Instead, he confessed, “A ity. This enjoyment overwhelms stupid, indolent, sensual or legal Temper the soul with wonder, glory, joy and sadly clog the Wings of my Prayers.”86 He triumph: it enfl ames it with vehe- ment love to God and ardent wishes well knew the “Opposition, or at least Dis- after his blisfful [sic] presence in the inclination I fi nd in my wicked Heart too heavenly world.90 often unto Prayer, as if it were to perform some very painful service.”87 Yet, as Francis well knew, these foretastes Thomas sought to encourage Francis of glory given to the believer in prayer are by reminding him that not a resting place in this world. Christ, not the believer’s experience of communing closet prayer [is like] the smoke on with him in prayer, is ever to be the focus a windy day. When it is very calm the smoke will ascend and resemble of prayer. Thus, Francis could pray—and an erect pillar, but when windy, as this text well reveals the Christ-centered soon as it is out it is scattered to and nature of historic Baptist spirituality, a fro, sometimes ’tis beaten down the chimney again and fi lls the house. topic for another article!—only a year Shall I not thus give over? Satan before his death: would have it so, and fl esh would have it so, but I should be more 88 O that every sacrifi ce I offer were earnest in it. consumed with the fi re of ardent love to Jesus. Reading, praying, Francis told his friend that he sought to studying and preaching are to me very cold exercises, if not warmed pray to God twice daily, but he confessed with the love of Christ. This, this that his diffi culties with following a dis- is the quintessence of holiness, of cipline of a set time for prayer stemmed happiness, of heaven. While many professors desire to know that from his being away from his home a lot Christ loves them, may it ever be of the time. He also admitted that he had my desire to know that I love him, taken up “an unhappy Habit of Sleeping by feeling his love mortifying in me the love of self, animating my whole in the Morning much longer” than he soul to serve him, and, if called by should have. And this cut into valuable his providence, to suffer even death for his sake.91 68 Conclusion in many ways. Important among these Central to the study of and refl ection means for stimulation of the spiritual on the history of the church is the fact that life were reading, attendance at sermons, earlier generations of believers did things conferring with the spiritually mature, differently than we in the present do. This partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s does not automatically make them right Supper, prayer, and meditation.” and us wrong—which is the mistake of 3John Sutcliff, Jealousy for the Lord of exalting tradition to the level of Scripture. Hosts illustrated (London: W. Button, Nor should it be a matter of no import for 1791), 12. See also his The Authority and us—the mistake of making present-day Sanctifi cation of the Lord’s-Day, Explained thought the plumb-line of all our thinking and Enforced (Circular Letter of the and doing. But such study and refl ection Northamptonshire Association, 1786), should help us to gauge what we consider 8: “Be earnest with God for the gift of to be orthopraxy. his Holy Spirit, in an abundant measure. Our Baptist forebears whom we have Seek his divine infl uences, to furnish considered in this essay sought to be, in all you with spiritual ability, in order that things, men and women of the Word, as you may be found in the discharge of we hopefully do. As such, their interpreta- that which is your indispensible [sic] tion of that Word in thought and deed is duty. Highly prize his sacred operations. truly worthy of consideration. Pondering These are the real excellency of all reli- their lives and thinking should awaken us gious duties.” to the vital realization that we are not the 4Tropologia: A Key to Open Scripture-Meta- fi rst to whom God’s Holy Word has spo- phors (3 vols.; trans. and ed. Thomas De ken. And if we fi nd a difference between Laune; London: Enoch Prosser, 1681), their thinking and ours may it drive us 2:312, 314. back to that Word, as the Apostle’s teach- 5Benjamin Beddome, Communion with God ing did to the noble Bereans of old (Acts our Security and Bliss, in Sermons printed 17:11). from the manuscripts of the late Rev. Ben- jamin Beddome, A.M. (London: William ENDNOTES Ball, 1835), 399-401. 1Cited in Simon K. H. Chan, “The Puritan 6Alister McGrath, Evangelicalism and the Meditative Tradition, 1599-1691: A Study Future of Christianity (London: Hodder of Ascetical Piety” (Unpublished D.Phil. & Stoughton, 1993), 66. thesis, Magdalene College, Cambridge 7Heart Bleedings for Professor Abominations, University, 1986), 11. I am indebted to in Confessions of Faith, and Other Public Randall Pederson of Grand Rapids for Documents, Illustrative of the History of access to this thesis. the Baptist Churches of England in the 2Cited in Chan, “Puritan Meditative seventeenth Century (ed. Edward Bean Tradition,” 11. Dewey D. Wallace, Jr. Underhill; London: Hanserd Knollys (The Spirituality of the Later English Puri- Society, 1854), 304. tans: An Anthology [Macon, GA: Mercer 8Cited by Joseph Ivimey, A History of the University, 1987], xxv) has noted that English Baptists (4 vols., London: B. J. the “major themes of late Puritan spiri- Holdsworth, 1823), 3:300. tuality were expressed and cultivated 9 S. L. Copson, Association Life of the Particu- 69 lar Baptists of Northern England 1699- many Anglican churches. Oxfordshire [Ante 1481-1935] and its 1732 (London: Baptist Historical 20Andrew Fuller, Thoughts on Preach- Ministers [London: The Kingsgate Society, 1991), 89, 95 (italics added). ing, in The Complete Works of the Rev. Press, 1935], 138-139). 10Christopher J. Ellis, Gathering: A Andrew Fuller (2 vols.; rev. Joseph 28“The Harvest of 100 Years. Ebenezer Theology and Spirituality of Worship Belcher; 3rd London ed.; repr., Har- Baptist Chapel 1877-1977” (Type- in Free Church Tradition (London: risonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Pub- script, 1977), 1. I am indebted to Mr. SCM Press, 2004), 134. See also Ellis’ lications, 1988), 1:717. Chris Curry, formerly of St. Cathe- whole chapter on the role of preach- 21Cited in R. W. Dixon, A Century of rine’s, Ontario, for this reference. ing in Baptist worship (124-49). Village Nonconformity at Bluntisham, For a more well-known account of 11D. Mervyn Himbury, British Baptists. Hunts. 1787 to 1887 (Cambridge: a public baptism, see that recorded A Short History (London: The Carey Cambridge University, 1887), 195. by Robert Robinson, The History of Kingsgate Press, 1962), 141. 22Benjamin Beddome, “Sermon V,” Baptism (London: Thomas Knott, 12One critic of the Baptists and in Short Discourses adapted to Village 1790), 541-43. Detailed accounts of their fellow Dissenters in the early Worship, or The Devotions of the Fam- outdoor baptisms like this one by nineteenth century could actually ily (8 vols.; London: Burton, Smith Robinson are rare. See also Roger describe their faith as “the religion and Co., 1820), 8:49-50. Hayden, English Baptist History and of barns”! See John Greene, Remi- 23Benjamin Beddome, “The Heavenly Heritage (London: The Baptist Union niscences of the Rev. Robert Hall, A.M. Calling” in Sermons printed from the of Great Britain, 1990), 98-99. (London: Frederick Westley/A. H. manuscripts of the late Rev. Benjamin 29Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian Davis, 1834), 25. Beddome, 111, 116. The fi nal sentence Baptism, in Works of the Rev. Andrew 13Helpful in this discussion of early of this quotation is taken directly Fuller, 3:343. Baptist architecture has been John from the Puritan author Thomas 30James Butterworth, Repentance and Davison, “The Architecture of Watson (d. c.1686). See his A Body Baptism considered (Coventry, 1774), the Local Church” in Local Church of Divinity (1890; repr., London: The 36. I owe this reference to Olin C. Practice (Haywards Heath, Sussex: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 221. Robison, “The Particular Baptists in Carey Publications, 1978), 179-90. 24Robert Hall, Jr., On Hearing the Word, England 1760-1820” (Unpublished 14Hercules Collins, The Temple Repair’d in The Works of the Rev. Robert Hall, A. D. Phil. Thesis, Regent’s Park Col- (London: William and Joseph Mar- M. (4 vol.; ed. Olinthus Gregory and lege, Oxford University, 1963), 287. shal, 1702), 22. Also see the extract Joseph Belcher; New York: Harper 31John Ryland, The Work of Faith, the from this work in H. Leon McBeth, & Brothers, 1852), 1:249, 250. Labour of Love, and the Patience of A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage 25Ibid., 1:250-51. Hope, illustrated; in the Life and Death (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1990), 26Ibid., 1:255-56. of the Rev. Andrew Fuller (2nd ed.; 111-15. 27In London there were two specially London: Button & Son, 1818), 22. 15Ibid., 19. constructed buildings that served 32Robison, “Particular Baptists in 16Ibid., 24. during this era as baptisteries for England”, 288. On Jenkins, see 17Joseph Ivimey, A History of the Eng- the numerous Baptist congrega- R. Philip Roberts, Continuity and lish Baptists (4 vols.; London: Isaac tions in the capital. According to Change: London Calvinistic Baptists Taylor Hinton, 1830), 4:462. one account, they were “splendid and The Evangelical Revival 1760- 18Collins, Temple Repair’d, 25-26. structures, with handsome marble 1820 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen 19Ibid., 28. The remark about “painted fronts, elaborate suites of rooms, Roberts, 1989), 115-16. Glass in a Window, that makes a and well equipped” (John Stanley, 33William L. Lumpkin, Baptist Con- great show, but darkens the Light” The Church in the Hop Garden. A fessions of Faith (rev. ed.; Valley says much about Baptist thoughts Chatty Account of the Longworth- Forge: Judson Press, 1969), 154-55. about the ornamentation found in Coate Baptist Meeting: Berks and Typical of those who attacked the 70 Baptists in this regard was Daniel Churches,” in Works of the Rev. Baptism,” in The Life and Thought Featley (1582-1645), an infl uential, Andrew Fuller, 3:481). For the life of of John Gill (1697-1771). A Tercenten- outspoken minister devoted to Fuller, the classic study is that of nial Appreciation (ed. Michael A. G. the Church of England and criti- John Ryland (see note 31 above). Haykin; Leiden: Brill, 1997), 69-91. cal of Puritanism. Featley penned For more recent studies, see Phil 45Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian a scurrilous attack on the Baptists Roberts, “Andrew Fuller,” in Baptist Baptism, 3:341. entitled The Dippers dipt. Or, The Theologians (ed. Timothy George 46Ibid. Anabaptists duck’d and plunged Over and David S. Dockery; Nashville: 47Ibid., 3:342. Head and Eares (1645). In it he main- Broadman, 1990), 121-39, and Peter 48Ibid., 3:342-43. tained that the Baptists were in the J. Morden, Offering Christ to the 49Helen M. Leach, “Kitchen Garden,” habit of stripping “stark naked, not World: Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) in The Oxford Companion to Gardens onely [sic] when they fl ocke [sic] in and the Revival of Eighteenth-Cen- (ed. Geoffrey Jellicoe, et al.; Oxford/ great multitudes, men and women tury Particular Baptist Life (Carlisle, New York: Oxford University, 1986), together, to their Jordans to be Cumbria, U.K./Waynesboro, GA: 314-15; Geoffrey Jellicoe, “Walled dipt; but also upon other occasions, Paternoster, 2003). Garden” in ibid., 592-93; David C. when the season permits”! (cited in On his thought, see also Michael Stuart, Georgian Gardens (London: Gordon Kingsley, “Opposition to A. G. Haykin, ed., ‘At the Pure Foun- Robert Hale, 1979), 142-43. Early Baptists (1638-1645),” Baptist tain of Thy Word’: Andrew Fuller as 50Benjamin Keach, Gospel Mysteries History and Heritage 4, no.1 [January, an Apologist (Carlisle, Cumbria, Unveiled (4 vols.; repr., London: L. 1969]: 29). U.K./Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, I. Higham, 1815), 2:332, 339. See For this charge of sexual immo- 2004). also his The Glory of a True Church, rality, see also J. F. McGregor, “The 37Benjamin Davies, “Ministerial Edu- and its Discipline display’d (London, Baptists: Fount of All Heresy” in his cation,” The Canada Baptist Magazine 1697), 50-51. and B. Reay, eds., Radical Religion 3, no. 9 (March, 1840), 194-95. 51Dafydd Densil James Morgan, “The in the English Revolution (Oxford: 38David Philips, Memoir of the Life, Development of the Baptist Move- Oxford University Press, 1984), 41- Labors, and Extensive Usefulness of the ment in Wales between 1714 and 42; James Barry Vaughn, “Public Rev. Christmas Evans (New York: M. 1815 with particular reference to the Worship and Practical Theology W. Dodd, 1843), 74. Evangelical Revival” (Unpublished in the Work of Benjamin Keach 39Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian D. Phil. Thesis, Regent’s Park Col- (1640-1704)” (Unpublished Ph.D. Baptism, 3:339-40. lege, University of Oxford, 1986), Thesis, University of St. Andrews, 40Andrew Fuller, “Thoughts on Open 39-40. 1989), 60. Communion,” in Works of the Rev. 52Andrew Fuller, “Evil Things which 34J. M. Ross, “The Theology of Bap- Andrew Fuller, 3:504-05. See also Pass under Specious Names,” in tism in Baptist History,” The Baptist 3:512. Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller, Quarterly 15 (1953-1954): 100. 41Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian 3:800. 35Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian Baptism, 3:340. 53Fuller, The Practical Uses of Christian Baptism, 3:339. 42Ibid. Baptism, 3:343. 36Cited in Ford K. Brown, Fathers of the 43Ibid., 3:341. 54Ibid., 3:344-45. Victorians (New York: Cambridge 44John Gill, An Exposition of the New 55Ernest A. Payne, The Fellowship of University, 1961), 505. For a brief Testament (3 vols.; 1809; repr., Paris, Believers. Baptist Thought and Practice statement by Fuller himself about AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, Yesterday and Today (2nd ed.; London: his upbringing and lack of formal 1989), 1:495. On Gill’s theology of Carey Kingsgate, 1952), 61. education, see his “Discipline of baptism, see Stanley K. Fowler, 56Michael J. Walker, Baptists at the the English and Scottish Baptist “John Gill’s Doctrine of Believer Table. The Theology of the Lord’s Sup- 71 per amongst English Baptists in the Life of Some Eighteenth-Century For the Celebration of his Holy Supper Nineteenth Century (Didcot, Oxford- Calvinistic Baptists in Hampshire (London: N. Cliff and D. Jackson, shire: Baptist Historical Society, and Wiltshire,” in Pilgrim Pathways: 1713), iii, 4. 1992), 3. Essays in Baptist History in Honour of 69Ibid., 29, 20. 57See Derek R. Moore-Crispin, “‘The B.R. White (ed. William H. Brackney 70Ibid., 35. Real Absence’: Ulrich Zwingli’s and Paul S. Fiddes with John H.Y. 71Ibid., 23. View of the Lord’s Supper,” in Union Briggs; Macon, GA: Mercer Univer- 72Thus, in one of his hymns Stennett and Communion, 1529-1979 (London: sity, 1999), 178-82. Ellis (Gathering, can state (Ibid., 19): The Westminster Conference, 1979), 176-199, passim) is also helpful in Here may our Faith still on 22-34. this regard. Thee feed 58John Sutcliff, The Ordinance of the 62“William Mitchill’s ‘Jachin & Boaz’– The only Food Divine; Lord’s Supper considered (Circular 1707,” Transactions of the Baptist His- To Faith thy Flesh is Meat indeed, Letter of the Northamptonshire torical Society 3 (1912-1913): 161. Thy Blood the Noblest wine. Association; Dunstable, 1803), 2, 3. 63Ibid. 59Ibid., 3-4. 64Cited in Stephen J. Stein, “A Note 73Benjamin Beddome, Hymns adapted 60Victor A. Shepherd, The Nature and on Anne Dutton, Eighteenth-Cen- to Public Worship, or Family Devotion Function of Faith in the Theology of tury Evangelical,” Church History (London, 1818), Hymn no. 672. John Calvin (Macon, GA: Mercer 44 (1975): 488, 489. Stein’s article is 74Ibid., Hymn no. 669. University, 1983), 220. Other help- an excellent, concise study of Dut- 75See the helpful overview by Ellis, ful studies on Calvin’s theology ton. See also Anne Dutton, Selected Gathering, 103-124. of the Lord’s Supper include B. A. Spiritual Writings of Anne Dutton. 76Benjamin Beddome, The Nature Gerrish, “The Lord’s Supper in the Eighteenth-Century, British-Baptist, and Importance of Prayer, in Sermons Reformed Confessions,” Theology Woman Theologian (4 vols.; comp. printed from the manuscripts of the late Today 13 (1966-1967): 224-43; John JoAnn Ford Watson; Macon, GA: Rev. Benjamin Beddome, 366. D. Nicholls, “‘Union with Christ’: Mercer University, 2003-2006), Vol. 77For the life and ministry of Francis, John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper,” 1, Letters, and Vol. 2, Discourses, see Thomas Flint, “A Brief Narrative in Union and Communion, 35-54; Poetry, Hymns, Memoir. of the Life and Death of the Rev. John Yates, “Role of the Holy Spirit For two other, earlier studies Benjamin Francis, A.M.,” annexed in the Lord’s Supper,” Churchman which fail to do her justice, see J. C. to John Ryland, Jr., The Presence of 105 (1991): 355-356; B. A. Gerrish, Whitebrook, “The Life and Works Christ the Source of eternal Bliss. A Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic of Mrs. Ann Dutton”, Transactions of Funeral Discourse,… occasioned by the Theology of John Calvin (Minneapolis: the Baptist Historical Society, 7 (1921): Death of the Rev. Benjamin Francis, A. Fortress, 1993). 129-46; H. Wheeler Robinson, The M. (Bristol, 1800), 33-76; Geoffrey F. 61For a good overview of the high Life and Faith of the Baptists (London: Nuttall, “Letters by Benjamin Fran- regard in which the Lord’s Supper The Kingsgate Press, 1946), 50-56. cis,” Trafodion (1983): 4-8; Michael was viewed by late seventeenth- 65Anne Dutton, Thoughts on the Lord’s A. G. Haykin, “Benjamin Francis and early eighteenth-century Dis- Supper, Relating to the Nature, Sub- (1734-1799),” in The British Particu- senters, see Margaret Spufford, jects, and right Partaking of this Solemn lar Baptists, 1638-1910 (2 vols.; ed. “The Importance of the Lord’s Ordinance (London, 1748), 3-4. Michael A. G. Haykin; Springfi eld, Supper to Dissenters,” in The World 66Ibid., 21. MO: Particular Baptist Press, 2000), of Rural Dissenters, 1520-1725 (ed. 67Ibid., 25. 2:16-29. Margaret Spufford; Cambridge: 68Joseph Stennett I, Hymns In Com- For Joshua Thomas, see Eric W. Cambridge University, 1995), 86-102; memoration Of the Sufferings Of Our Hayden, Joshua Thomas: A Biography, and Karen Smith, “The Covenant Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, Compos’d in The American Baptist Heritage in 72 Wales (ed. Carroll C. and Willard A. Ramsey; Lafayette, Tennessee: Church History Research and Archives Affiliation, 1976), part two. 78“Queries and solutions” (MS G.98.5; Bristol Baptist College Library, Bristol, England). For permission to quote from this manuscript I am indebted to the National Library of Wales. On this correspondence, see Geoffrey F. Nuttall, “Questions and Answers: An Eighteenth-Century Correspondence,” The Baptist Quar- terly 27 (1977-1978): 83-90. 79“Queries and solutions,” vol. 1, Query 5. 80Ibid., Queries 17 and 22. 81Ibid., Query 18 82Ibid., Query 45. 83Ibid., Query 44. 84Ibid., Remarks on [Thomas’] answer to Query 43, 44. 85Ibid., Remarks on [Thomas’] answer to Query 48. 86Ibid., vol. 2, Remarks on Queries 7-8. 87Ibid., Remarks on Queries 7-8. 88Cited Eric W. Hayden, “Eighteenth- Century Pulpit Preparation [2],” The Banner of Truth 104 (May 1972): 17. 89“Queries and solutions,” vol. 2, Remarks on Queries 7-8. 90Ibid., vol. 1, Query 55. 91Benjamin Francis, Letter to a friend, November 6, 1798 (Flint, “Brief Narrative of the Life and Death of the Rev. Benjamin Francis, A.M.,” 58-59).

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