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Baptist Teachings and Practices on Baptism in England 1600-1639 Baptist Teachings and Practices on Baptism in England

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Baptist Teachings and Practices on Baptism in England 1600-1639 Baptist Teachings and Practices on Baptism in England BAPTIST TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM IN ENGLAND 1600-1639 BAPTIST TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM IN ENGLAND 1600-1639 A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor in Theology by Walter Levon Moore March 1950 SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY LIIRARY 2825 LEXINGTON ROAD LOUISVILLE. KY. TO PAULINE "We covenant with God and with one another to walk in all his ways made known or to be made known unto us according to our best endeavours whatsoever it shall cost us." Covenant of Smyth's Separatist Congregation At Gainsborough, c. 1602. 15 b585 THZSES K.D- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One man alone does not write a thesis. The writing of this dissertation would have been impossible without the help and encouragement of many friends• I want to express my deep appreciation for all the help I received. Dr. S. L. Stealey, my Major Professor, has given guidance, criticism and suggestions that have been in- valuable. Dr. Theron D. Price, Dr. E. A. McDowell and Dr. 0. T. Binkley have made many helpful suggestions• Dr. Leo T. Crismon and the Library Staff of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have rendered valuable assistance in the location of materials. The members of the First Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where I am Pastor, have been patient and most considerate in allowing time for this work. Many friends in Lawrenceburg and at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville have read parts of the manuscript and have offered helpful criticisms. Mrs. Floyd Gritton, Jr., Mrs. Leon Carey, and Mrs. Harry Stratton have helped immensely with the typing of the thesis. My wife, Pauline Rone Moore, has aided and encouraged vi in innumerable ways to make the accomplishment of this task possible. To all these, I express deepest gratitude. Lawrenceburg, Kentucky Walter Levon Moore March 1950 PREFACE PREFACE According to the doctrines of my forefathers I will spend eternity in hell, for I do not belong to the church to which they belonged. Being brought up in a Primitive Baptist background, I learned early in life that the doctrine of election was very real to those about me. So real that in their thinking only their group would be saved. As a child I began early to worry about my friends who were not of that persuasion, and I wondered why they also could not go to heaven. As I grew older, I discovered that I could not accept the tenets of my "Hardshell" ancestors, and upon accepting Christ as my Saviour I joined the despised Missionary Baptist Church in my community. In these early years I learned something of the prejudice, bigotry and intolerance which one religious group can have for another. It is now evident that those attitudes arose from a lack of knowledge of the facts of Christian history and were nourished by the con- tinual fanning of the flames of intolerance by ignorant men. Thus my interest in the history of the Christian Church came early in life and has been kept alive by my desire to know the truth concerning the movements of the major denominations. It was not difficult to persuade myself to study Church History when I entered the Seminary, for in this study I saw an opportunity to find many of the answers to some of my life-long questions. This study of the general history of Christianity, under the guidance of Dr. S. L. Stealey, increased my interest in the history of Baptists. I came to see more clearly that Baptists have a rich heritage of which they may be justly proud. Their principles seemed to me to be clearly supported by New Testament teachings. The subject for this thesis was chosen because there seemed to be a need for tracing the development of the Baptist principle of baptism through its formative period of history. The Baptist principle of baptism has been tersely stated as the "belief in baptism by immersion only for believers only". The period of time selected for the study was 1600-1639, and it was chosen for at least two distinct reasons: first, because this is the period of modern Baptist beginnings, and second, because there is so much confusion in the minds of most Baptists as to what was actually taught during these years. The work had to be limited also as to geographical territory, so naturally the choice was England, the seed-bed of early Baptist thought. Therefore the subject chosen was BAPTIST TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM IN ENGLAND: 1600-1639• X In the persuance of this study it was necessary to touch on several controversial matters. It has not been my purpose to renew the old arguments or open the wounds of former controversies. However, I have not hesitated to place in this record the facts discovered even when they were contrary to the beliefs of many of my Baptist brethren. Much of the Baptist history which has been written was written in the heat of controversy, and is for that reason prejudiced and biased. In seeking to prove a point, men have used historical facts in strange ways. In the Whitsitt Controversy and in other debates on Baptist doctrine or Baptist history men have bitterly opposed each other, and have quoted the same sources to prove their variant theories. I have tried to use all the sources at my disposal, not in order to prove a certain belief or practice, but simply to state what the beliefs and practices of certain groups were, and their arguments for them. I determined in the beginning to discover the facts first, then form my conclusions, rather than draw up my conclusions and seek facts to bear them out. The first chapter of the thesis sets forth more fully the problem, and the manner in which it has been approached. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE BAPTIST DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM SEEN IN ITS BIBLICAL, HISTORICAL AND ECCLESIOLOGICAL CONTEXT 1 Baptism A Fundamental Practice of Christianity ...•••oo.*«5 The Baptist Principle of Baptism 6 The Baptist Principle Seen in Relation to the Teachings and Practices Relative to Baptism Among Other Groups Around 1600 • .... 7 The Roman Catholics • • 9 The Greek Catholics 24 The Church of England. ....... 23 The Lutherans 42 The Anabaptists 52 The Mennonites 62 The Calvinists or Presbyterians . 69 The Puritans and Separatists S5 Baptist Succession: Two Schools of Thought . 95 Immersion » . • 99 A Preview of Remaining Chapters . • .100 II. TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM AMONG THE GENERAL BAPTISTS IN ENGLAND UP TO 1644 . .103 CHAPTER PAGE A Brief History of the Rise of the General Baptists 105 The Teachings and Practices of John Smyth on Baptism Ill The Teachings and Practices of Thomas Helwys and John Murton on Baptism . 152 III. TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM AMONG THE PARTICULAR BAPTISTS UP TO 1644 157 The Rise of the Particular Baptists .... 160 The Beginning of Immersion Among the English Baptists ••••• 164 IV. TEACHINGS ON BAPTISM SEEN IN THE BAPTIST CONFESSIONS OF FAITH AND OTHER WRITINGS FROM 1644 TO 1639 191 A Brief Statement of the Political Situation • 193 Teachings on Baptism as Seen in the Confessions of Faith 196 Baptist Teachings on Baptism as Seen in Other Writings From 1644 to 16S9 213 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 225 BIBLIOGRAPHY 236 CHAPTER I THE BAPTIST DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM IN ITS BIBLICAL, HISTORICAL AND ECCLESIOLOGICAL CONTEXT OUTLINE OF CHAPTER I THE BAPTIST DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM IN ITS BIBLICAL, HISTORICAL AND ECCLESIOLOGICAL CONTEXT 1. BAPTISM A FUNDAMENTAL PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY. A. Practiced by John the Baptist. B. Submitted to by Jesus Christ. C. Commanded by Jesus Christ. D. Practiced in Some Form by All Christians. 2. THE BAPTIST PRINCIPLE OF BAPTISM. A. Based on The New Testament. B. Baptism by Immersion Only for Believers Only. C. A Development to This Position. 3. THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES ON BAPTISM AMONG OTHER GROUPS AROUND 1600. A. The Roman Catholics. Their teachings on baptism seen in: (1) The Council of Trent. (2) The Catechism of the Council of Trent. (3) The Catholic Encyclopaedia. (4) The Ritual of Pope Paul V. in 1614. (5) A summary of Roman Catholic teachings on baptism. B. The Greek Catholic or Eastern Church. (1) Differences between the Greek and Roman Catholics. (2) The Catechism of the Eastern Church. (3) Summary of Greek Catholic Teachings on baptism. C. The Church of England. (1) Relation of the Rulers of England to the church of Rome. a. Henry VIII. Break with Rome. b. Edward VI. Protestant ism—The Prayer Book. c. Mary. Catholicism Persecution. d. Elizabeth. The Elizabethan Settlement. (2) Teachings on baptism seen in: a. The Thirty-Nine Articles. b. The Prayer Books. c. Cranmerfs Catechism. d. The Catechism of the Church of England. (3) Summary of the teachings on baptism in the Church of England. The Lutherans. Teachings on baptism seen in: (1) Lutherfs early writings. (2) The Augsburg Confession. (3) Luther!s Small Catechism. (4) The Heidelberg Catechism. (5) The Formula of Concord. (6) The Saxon Visitation Articles. (7) A Summary of the teachings on baptism among the Lutherans. The Anabaptists. (1) A brief statement about the rise of the Anabaptists. (2) Types of Anabaptists. (3) The Miinster affair and its effect on the Anabaptists. (4) Balthasar Hubmaierfs writings. (5) The Strassburg Order of Baptism. (0) The VII Articles from Schlatten Am Randen. (7) Peter Riedemannfs Rechenschaft Unserer Religion. (S) Summary of Anabaptist teachings on baptism. The Mennonites. (1) Their relation to the Anabaptists. (2) The Miinster affair. (3) Menno Simons1 teachings on baptism. (4) The first Mennonite Confession of Faith.
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