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The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptists, 1640-1660

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The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptists, 1640-1660 THE ECCLESIAL POLITY OF THE ENGLISH CALVINISTIC BAPTISTS, 1640-1660 Ian Birch A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2014 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6362 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1640-1660 Ian Birch This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2014 Abstract The subject treated in this thesis is the doctrine of the church among the English Calvinistic Baptists in the period, circa 1640-1660. This timeframe covers the significant phase of early Calvinistic Baptist emergence in society and literary output. The thesis seeks to explore the development of theological commitments regarding the nature of the church within the turbulent historical context of the time. The background to the emergence of the Calvinistic Baptists was the demise of the Anglican Church of England, the establishment by Act of Parliament of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the establishment of a Presbyterian Church of England. The English experiment with Presbyterianism began and ended in the years covered in this work. Ecclesiology was thus one of the most important doctrines under consideration in the phase of English history. This thesis is a contribution to understanding alternative forms of ecclesiology outside of the mainstream National Church settlement. It will be argued in this thesis that the emergence and development of Calvinistic Baptist ecclesiology was a natural development of one stream of Puritan theology of the church. This was the tradition associated with Robert Brown, and the English separatist movement dating from the 1570s. This tradition was refined and made experimental in the work of Henry Jacob. Having developed his ecclesiology in the Netherlands, in 1616 Jacob founded a congregation in Southwark, London from which Calvinistic Baptists would emerge with distinct baptismal convictions by 1638. Central to Jacob’s ideology was the belief that a rightly ordered church acknowledged Christ as King over his people. The Christological priority of early Calvinistic Baptist ecclesiology will constitute the primary contribution of this thesis to investigation of dissenting theology in the period. 1 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Ian Birch hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 87 000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September, 2009 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September, 2010; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2009 and 2014. Date 7th April 2014 signature of candidate ……… 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date ………….. signature of supervisor ……………………….. 3. Permission for publication: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: PRINTED COPY Embargo on all or part of print copy for a period of 3 years on the following ground(s): lly damaging to the researcher. ELECTRONIC COPY Embargo on all or part of electronic copy for a period of 3 years on the following ground(s): lly damaging to the researcher. Date 7th April 2014 signature of candidate …… signature of supervisor ……… 2 Acknowledgements I would like to place on record my gratitude to the many people who have helped make the research and writing of this thesis possible. In particular I am indebted to the guidance and wise comments of my supervisor Revd Dr Stephen Holmes of the divinity department of the University of St Andrews. His own interest and writing in early Baptist theology has made for a stimulating partnership throughout the course of my studies. Advice and suggestions for reading have also been sought and given by Professor John Coffey, and Dr Larry Kreitzer, and for these I am most grateful. In my pursuit of sources and original documents the library staff at my home institution, the University of the West of Scotland, have been of considerable help. In the initial stages of the work a profitable week was spent at the Angus library at Regents Park College, Oxford. Parts of the work were read by my colleague Revd Dr James Gordon, whose sharp eye for grammar and punctuation has enabled me to avoid numerous errors. The remaining faults are of course my own. Financial help for my work has come from the Scottish Baptist College, the Baptist Union of Scotland, my parents and friends. I hope that seeing the work completed is an appropriate reward for their support. My wife and children have been patient, supportive, encouraging throughout, and without them, especially Elizabeth, this work would not have been possible. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Declaration 3 Acknowledgements 5 Table of Contents 7 List of Abbreviations 9 Introduction: 11 Chapter 1 ‘Casting Balls of Wildfire into the bosom of the Church’ The Emergence of English Particular Baptist Churches to 1660 19 1.1. From Jacob to Jessey 20 1.2 Particular Baptist Expansion, 1644 – 1660 34 1.2.1. Geographical Expansion 34 1.2.2. Publishing 38 1.2.3. Preaching 40 1.2.4. Disputations 43 1.2.5. Missionary Evangelism 47 Summary 51 Chapter 2 ‘A True Visible Church of Christ’ The Principles of Calvinistic Baptist Ecclesiology 53 2.1 A Believer’s Church 54 2.2 Baptism, Infant Baptism, and Church Membership 57 2.3 A Gathered Church 66 2.4 A Visible Church 72 2.5 A Separate Church 78 2.6 The Rule of Christ 82 Summary 86 Chapter 3 ‘To follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth’: The Church of King Jesus. 89 3.1. The Forerunner, Henry Jacob 91 3.2. Christology of Early Particular Baptists 95 4 3.3 Thomas Collier on the ‘Exaltation of Christ.’ 101 3.3.1. Collier on Christ’s Priesthood 103 3.3.2. Collier on Christ as Prophet 105 3.3.3. Collier on Christ’s Kingship 107 Summary 120 Chapter 4 ‘A Holy and Orderly Communion’. Theology and Practice of Discipline among Early Particular Baptists. 123 4.1 The Purity of the Saints in Particular Baptist Confessions. 124 4.2 Church Discipline in Hermeneutical Perspective. 129 4.3 The Practice Church Discipline among Early Particular Baptists 136 4.3.1. Occasions of Discipline in Baptist Records 137 4.3.2. Pastoral Procedure in Discipline 140 4.4 Theology of Discipline among Particular Baptists 150 4.4.1. The authority of the church 151 4.4.2. The Glory of Christ 152 4.4.3. Purity of the Body of Christ 153 Summary 156 Chapter 5 ‘An Intolerable Usurpation’. Theology and Practice of Ministry among Early Particular Baptists. 157 5.1 Particular Baptist Lay Ministry 157 5.2 Offices of Ministry in Particular Baptist Churches 172 5.3 Calling of Ministers in Baptist Congregations 178 5.4 Ordination of Ministers in Baptist Congregations 182 Summary 187 Chapter 6 ‘The Counsel and Help of One Another’. Independency and Interdependency, Particular Baptists in Association. 189 6.1 The Origins of Particular Baptist Associations to 1660 189 6.1.1 Associational Origins in the ARPB 191 6.2 Theology of Particular Baptist Associations 204 6.3 Associational Authority and local Ecclesiology 214 Summary 218 Conclusions: 221 Bibliography: General and Reference 235 5 Abbreviations ARPB Association Records of the Particular Baptists BQ The Baptist Quarterly EEB Stephen Wright, The Early English Baptists, 1603-1649. EED C. Burrage, The Early English Dissenters in the Light of Recent Research (1550-1641) 2 vols. HBB W.T. Whitley, A History of the British Baptists2nd. HEB A.C. Underwood, A History of the English Baptists. JEH The Journal of Ecclesiastical History JTS The Journal of Theological Studies TBHS Transactions of the Baptist Historical Society 6 Introduction In 1641, Thomas Edwards wrote to members of the Long Parliament to alert them to what he considered the major issue of the time: Tis not unknown to You, Right Noble and Worthy Senators, that the Great and Present Controversie of these Times is about the Church, and Church Government.1 Edwards, an Anglican clergyman at the time but soon to become a virulent Presbyterian, recognised that the political instability of the early 1640s had provided an opportunity for religious sects, notably ‘Anabaptism, Brownisme, &c.’,2 to flourish.
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