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 BAPTISTS

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BAPTISTS

of the eighteenth century. From 16S4 on, churches also appeared in Permsylvania, New Jersey, and Dela- ware. Cold Spring, Bucks Co., had the first one in Pennsylvania (1684); and Middletown heads the list in Niw Jersey (1688). A congregation was organ- ized also in 1688 at Permepek, or Lower Dublin, now part of Philadelpliia. The latter churches were to exert very considerable influence in shaping the doc- trinal system of the largest part of American Bap- tists. Philadelphia became a centre of Baptist ac- tivity and organization. Down to about the year 1700 it seemed as if the majority of American Bap- tists would belong to the General or Arminian branch. Many of the earliest churches were of that type. But only Particular Baptist congregations were es- tablished in and about Philadelphia, and these, through the foundation of the Philadelphia Associa- tion in 1707, which fostered mutual intercourse among them, became a strong central organization about which other Baptist churches rallied. As a result, we see to-day the large number of Particular (Reg- ular) Baptists. Until the Great Awakening, however, which gave new impetus to their activity, they in- creased but slowly. Since that time their progress has not been seriously checked, not even by the Revolution. True, the academy of Hopewell, New Jersey, their first educational institution, established in 1756, disappeared during the war; but Rhode Island College, chartered in 1764, sur\nved it and became Brown University in 1804. Other educa- tional institutions, to mention only the earlier ones, were founded at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury: Waterville (now Colby) College, Maine, in 1818; Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, in 1820; and in 1821, Columbian College at Washington (now the undenominational George Washington Univer- sity).

Organized mission work was also undertaken at about the same time. In 1814 "The General Mis- sionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions'' was established at Philadelphia. It split in 1845 and formed the "American Baptist Missionary Union" for the North, with present head-quarters at Boston, and the "Southern Baptist Convention", with head- quarters at Richmond (Virginia), and Atlanta (Geor- gia), for foreign and home missions respectively. In 1832, the "American Baptist Home Mission Society", intended primarily for the Western States, was or- ganized in New York where it still has its head- quarters. In 1824, the "Baptist General Tract So- ciety" was formed at Washington, removed to Philadelphia in 1826, and in 1S40 became the "Amer- ican Baptist Pubhcation Society". The Regular Baptists divided in 1845, not indeed doctrinally, but organically, on the question of slavery. Since that time, attempts at reunion ha^ang remained fruitless; they exist in tliree bodies: Northern, Southern, and Coloured. The Northern Baptists constitutetl, 17 May, 1907, at Washington, a representative body, called the " Northern Baptist Convention ", whose object is " to give expression to the sentiment of its constituency upon matters of denominational im- portance and of general religious and moral interest." Governor Hughes of New York was elected president of the new organization.

(3) The Baptists in Other Countries. — (a) America. The earliest Baptist church in the Dominion of Canada was organized at Horton, Nova Scotia, in 1763, by the Rev. Ebenezer Moulton of New England. This church, like many of the earlier ones, was com- po.sed of Baptists and Congregationalists. The influx of settler.s from New England and Scotland and the work of zealous evangelists, such as Theodore Seth Harding, who laboured in the Maritime Pro\'inccs from 1795 to 1855, soon increased the number of Baptists in the country. The end of the eighteenth

century was marked by a period of re^^vals, which prepared the formation of the "Association of the Baptist churches of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick" in 1800. In 1815, a missionary society was formed, and the work of organization in every line was continued throughout the nineteenth century, growing apace with Baptist influence and numbers. In 1889 some previously existing societies were con- solidated in the "Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec", whose various departments of work are: home missions, foreign missions, publications, church edifices, etc. Among the educational institutions of the Canadian Baptists may be mentioned Acadia Col- lege (founded 1838), Woodstock College (founded 1860), and McMaster University at Toronto (char- tered 1887). MoiJton College for women (opened 1888) is affiliated to the last mentioned institution. In other parts of America the Baptists are chiefly represented in the countries colonized by England. Thus we find a Baptist church in Jamaica as early as 1816. In Latin America the Baptist churches are not numerous and are of missionary origin. Re- cently, the Northern Baptists have taken Porto Rico as their special field, wliile the Southern Baptist Convention has chosen Cuba.

(b) European Continent. The founder of the Bap- tist churches in Germany was Johann Gerhard Oncken, whose independent study of the Scriptures led him to adopt Baptist views several years before he had an opportunity of receiving "believers' baptism". Hav- ing incidentally heard that an American Baptist, B. Sears, was pursuing his studies at Berlin, he com- municated \\-ith him and was with six others bap- tized by him at Hamburg in 1834. His activity as an evangelist drew new adherents to the movement. The number of the Baptists increased, in spite of the opposition of the German state churches. In Prussia alone relative toleration was extended to them until the foundation of the Empire brought to them almost every^vhere freedom in the exercise of their religion. A Baptist theological school was founded in 1881 at Hamburg-Horn. From Germany the Baptists spread to the neighboiu-ing countries, Denmark, Sweden, Smtzerland, Austria, Russia. No- where on the Continent of Europe has the success of the Baptists been so marked as in Sweden, where their number is larger to-day than even in Germany. The Swedish Baptists date from the year 1848, when five persons were baptized near Gothenburg by a Baptist minister from Denmark. Andreas Wiberg became their great leader (1855-87). They have had a seminary at Stockliolm since 1866. Among the Latin nations the Baptists never gained a firm foot- hold, although a Particular Baptist church seems to have existed in France by 1646, and a theological school was established in that country in 1879.

(c) Asia, Australasia, and Africa. William Carey first preached the Baptist doctrine in India in 1793. India and the neighbouring countries have ever since remained a favourite field for Baptist missionary work and have flourishing missions. Missions exist also in China, Japan, and several other Asiatic coun- tries. The first Baptist chm-ches in Australasia were organized between 1830 and 1840 in different places. Immigration from England, whence the leading Bap- tist ministers were until very recently drawn, in- creased, though not rapidly, the numbers of the denomination. During the period which elapsed be- tween 1860 and 1870, a new impulse was given to Baptist activity. Churches were organized in rapid succession in Australia, and mi-ssionary work was taken up in India. The two chief hindrances complained of by Baptists in that part of the world, are State Socialism, i. e. excessive concentration of power in the executive, and want of loyalty to strictly denomi- national principles and practices. The Baptist churches of the African continent are, if we except