Presented to the LIBRARY of the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by r A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. BY HENRY C. VEDDER. PHILADELPHIA : AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 1420 Chestnut Street, Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by the AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Vy TO THE MEMORY OF R. J. W. BUCKLAND, SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF HIS BROAD SCHOLARSHIP AND KINDLING ENTHUSIASM THAT FIRST INSPIRED ME TO STUDY BAPTIST HISTORY. PREFACE. T A history of the Baptists, written in an interesting st3 le, yet with scholarly accuracy, not so voluminous as to repel readers, and cheap enough to be owned by the poorest, has long seemed to be a greatly needed book. The Baptist brotherhood will decide whether this is the book needed. The chapters compos ing it were published about a year ago in the Standard, of Chi cago. Before, during, and after their publication the author had the benefit of suggestions and criticisms from valued friends as well as from strangers, who were kind enough to take an interest in the work. To one and all of these, he returns his hearty thanks. He has tried to avail himself of every sugges tion or criticism. Slavishly adopting them all would have deprived the book of any value it might otherwise possess, as the expression of an independent judgment regarding facts and principles; while it would also have made the book ridiculous, since many of the things suggested were reconcilable neither with the author s general plan, nor with each other. Each sug gestion, each criticism, has been separately and candidly weighed, with the one purpose of making the book as perfect as possible. "Where a statement has been called in question, the facts have been investigated again, and the text has been modi fied wherever such investigation failed fully to sustain the original statement. Every chapter has been thus revised more or less, and several chapters have been entirely rewritten. It would be too much to hope that entire accuracy has been attained, but failure is at least not chargeable to lack of pains taking. In cases not a few the author has not been able to adopt certain views that his critics have pressed. Even in those cases, however, the criticism has been helpful, since it has led to re- examination and the confirmation of opinions already expressed. Particularly is this the case regarding that feature of the history that has been most sharply condemned its treatment, as lack ing historical proof, of the hypothesis that there is an unbroken line of Baptist churches from the present time back to the A.postlcs. It would have been a great pleasure to make this hypothesis one s own, and to construct the book along these 5 6 PREFACE. or the as the reader lines. It is, however, the misfortune fault, inveterate ten pleases, of the author to have been born with an dency to look at both sides of a question, and weigh the facts well before deciding. His mind is so constituted that it refuses to reason after this fashion : The eternal fitness of things demands facts thus and so are thus and that the should be ; therefore, they not and we will so so; but if, unfortunately, they are thus so, distort them by concealing this, and magnifying that, as to make them appear to be thus and so. This may do for romance; it will possibly pass muster for polemics; it is not the way to \yrite history. This history, being written in the hope that it might prove adapted to a Avide circulation among plain folk, who wish the results of scholarship without its machinery, has not been encumbered with foot notes. In the Hints to Readers pre fixed to each part will be found means of verifying nearly every statement of importance, and of following up any special topic in which the reader may be interested. The lists of books might have been largely extended, but it seemed best to mention only those volumes that are of the .highest authority and easiest to be found. It is hoped that this feature will prove a valuable one to those who desire a further acquaintance with Baptist history than can be gained from a volume of this size. In an Appendix will be found a fuller discussion of some controverted questions than was possible in the text, with the addition, in some cases, of original authorities. In conclusion, the author wishes to express his specially grate ful acknowledgments to his former instructor and present friend, the Rev. Howard Osgood, D. D., of the Rochester Theological Seminary, for the gift of a set of Crosby s History of the English Baptists, for the loan of much valuable manuscript material, and for encouragement in historical study, but for which this book would never have been written. And now, as it goes forth on its mission, may this Short History of the Baptists help young Baptists, for whom more especially it has been prepared, in their work of the building up of the body of Christ: "till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," NEW YORK, November 26, 1891. CONTENTS. PART I. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. PAGE CHAPTER I. THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH, 13 CHAPTER II. 27 MARKS OF DEGENERACY AND CORRUPTION, . CHAPTER III. THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS; 40 PART II. THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. CHAPTER IV. THE CHURCH REAPPEARS, 57 CHAPTER V. THE ANABAPTISTS OF SWITZERLAND, 72 CHAPTER VI. THE GERMAN ANABAPTISTS, 86 CHAPTER VII. THE ANABAPTISTS OF GERMANY AND HOLLAND, . 97 7 8 CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER VIII. THE ENGLISH BAPTISTS ORIGIN AND DOCTRINES, . 108 PART III. THE EVANGELIZING CHURCH. CHAPTER IX. ENGLISH BAPTISTS THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY, . 125 CHAPTER X. ENGLISH BAPTISTS FREEDOM AND GROWTH, . 137 CHAPTER XI. BAPTISTS IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES, 150 CHAPTER XII. BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES THE PERIOD OF EXPANSION, ]66 CHAPTER XIII. BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES THE PERIOD OF EVANGELISM AND EDUCATION, 182 CHAPTER XIV. BAPTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES IRREGULAR BAP TIST BODIES, 191 CHAPTER XV. BAPTISTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES, -.197 CHAPTER XVI. PROGRESS OF BAPTIST PRINCIPLES, 211 APPENDIX, 225 PART I. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH HINTS TO READERS. The best general work is Armitage s History of the Baptists (New York, 1887). The sections on the early and mediaeval church least from the Reformation down it con are valuable ; tains the best narrative accessible. Cramp s Baptist History (Philadelphia, no date) is still a useful book, though needing a thorough re-writing. For additional details regarding the early church, consult especially the excellent handbook of Kurtz, and for special points the voluminous works of Neander 1 and Gieseler. The latter is especially valuable for his copious quotations from the original sources. Volumes I. and II. of Schaft s History of the Christian Church (New York, 1882-8) are indispensable, and are a valuable guide to further study of the literature. In connection with chapter one, consult also Jacob, Ecclesiastical Polity of the New Testament (London, and The Act 1871) ; Conant, Baptizein, Burrage, of Baptism (American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia); Schaff, the Twelve Dean Stan Teaching of Apostles (New York, 1885) ; ley, Christian Institutions (New York, 1881). On chapter two., see Northcote and Brownlow, Roma Sotteranea (London, 1879); and the Bennett, Christian Archaeology (New York, 1888) ; Ante-Nicene Fathers, (New York, 1886), the original sources for the history cf this age. In connection with chapter three, and the theory there criticised and rejected, read for the opposite view Pvay s Baptist Succession (St. Louis, 1890). 11 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. CHAPTER I. THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCHES. The Great Commission faithfulness, thereto, of the early church. The ingathering of Pentecost. Baptism following conversion. Confession the basis of church membership. Passages emphasizing new birth. Views of Baptists and others on the relations of the Old and New Dispensations. The Scriptures silent as to infant baptism. Church membership means its privileges. The ordinances and their order. Church organization and officers. Church independency. The authority of the Council at Jeru salem moral. The interdependence of the churches. The first day of the week and worship. Worship patterned after that of the synagogue and simple in form. Christian communism. Not a fundamental principle of the church. The church s external history one of missionary activity. O ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the and of the and of the Ghost Father, Son, Holy ; teaching them to observe all whatsoever I commanded things you ; and lo, I am with you ulway, even unto the end of the world." In this parting injunction of the risen Lord to his disciples, which the Duke of Wellington aptly called the marching orders of the ministry, we have the office of the Christian Church for the first time defined. In obedience to this command the early Christians preached 13 14 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS. the gospel, founded churches, and taught obedience to Christ as the fundamental principle of the Christian life. And though many of them could say with Paul that they spent their days in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness," they found it a faithful saying that their Lord was with them alway.