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They go on to speak of the breathing time which they have had of late, and their hope that God would, as they say, &quot; incline the magistrates hearts so for to tender our con sciences as that we might be protected by them from wrong, injury, oppression, and molestation;&quot; and then they proceed : &quot;But if God withhold the magistrates allowance and further ance herein, yet we must, notwithstanding, proceed together in Christian communion, not daring to give place to suspend our practice, but to walk in obedience to Christ in the pro fession and holding forth this faith before mentioned, even in the midst of all trials and afflictions, not accounting our goods, lands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brethren, sisters, yea, and our own lives, dear unto us, so that we may finish our course with joy ; remembering always that we ought to obey God rather than men.&quot; They end their confession thus : &quot; If any take this that we have said to be heresy, then do we with the apostle freely confess, that after the way which they call heresy worship we the God of our fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets and Apostles, desiring from our souls to disclaim all heresies and opinions which are not after Christ, and to .be stedfast, unmovable, always abound ing in the work of the Lord, as knowing our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.&quot; The breathing time of which they speak was not of long continuance. Soon after the Restoration (1660) the meetings of Nonconformists were continually disturbed by the constables, and their preachers were carried before the magistrates and fined or imprisoned. One instance of these persecutions will, perhaps, be more impressive than any general statements. In the records, of one of the churches at Bristol still existing, and having, now and for perhaps nearly two centuries, their place of meeting in Broadmead, but at this time meeting in divers places, we find this remark : &quot; On the 29th of November 1685 our pastor, Brother Fownes, died in Gloucester jail, having been kept there for two years and about nine months a prisoner, unjustly and maliciously, for the testimony of Jesus and preaching the gospel. He was a man of great learning, of a sound judgment, an able preacher, having great knowledge in divinity, law, physic, &amp;lt;fcc. ; a bold and patient sufferer for the Lord Jesus and the gospel he preached.&quot; From the same records we learn that on the 25th March 1683, whilst Mr Fownes was preaching in the wood where they were accustomed secretly to meet, they were surrounded by horse and foot. Mr Fownes was taken and committed &quot; to Gloucester jail for six months on the Oxford Act.&quot; The record adds, &quot;the text Brother Fownes had been preaching from was 2 Tim. ii 9.&quot; There could scarcely have been found a more appropriate text for his last sermon to the congregation, &quot; Wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds ; but the word of God is not bound.&quot; With the Revolution of 1688, and the passing of the Act of Toleration in 1689, the history of the persecution of Baptists, as well as of other Protestant dissenters, ends. The removal of the remaining disabilities, such as those imposed by the Test and Corporation Acts repealed in 1828, has no special bearing on Baptists more than on other Nonconformists The ministers of the &quot; three de nominations of dissenters,&quot; Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, resident in London and the neighbour hood, had the privilege accorded to them of presenting on proper occasions an address to the sovereign in state, a privilege which they still enjoy. The Baptists were early divided into two sections, those who in accordance with Arminian views held the doctrine of &quot; General Redemption,&quot; and those who, agreeing with the Calvinistic theory, held the doctrine of &quot; Particular Redemption ; &quot; and hence they assumed respectively the names of General Baptists and Particular Baptists. In the last century many of the General Baptists had gradually adopted the Arian, or, perhaps the Socinian theory ; whilst, on the other hand, the Calvinism of the Particular Baptists had in many of the churches become more rigid, and approached or actually became Antinomianism. In 1770 the orthodox portion of the General Baptists formed themselves into a separate association, under the name of the General Baptist New Connection, since which time the &quot; Old Connection&quot; has gradually merged into the Unitarian denomination. Somewhat later many of the Particular Baptist churches became more moderate in their Calvinism, a result largely attributable to the writings of Andrew Fuller. Up to this time the great majority of the Baptists admitted none either to membership or communion who were not baptized, the principal exception .being the churches in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, founded or influenced by Bunyan, who maintained that difference of opinion in respect to water baptism was no bar to com munion. At the beginning of the present century this question was the occasion of- great and long-continued discussion, in which the celebrated Robert Hall took a principal part. The practice of mixed communion gradually spread in the denomination. Still more recently many Baptist churches have considered it right to admit to full membership persons professing faith in Christ, who do not agree with them respecting the ordinance of baptism. Such churches justify their practice on the ground that they ought to grant to all their fellow Christians the same right of private judgment as they claim for themselves. It may not be out of place here to correct the mistake, which is by no means uncommon, that the terms Particular and General as applied to Baptist congregations are intended to express this differ ence in their practice, whereas these terms relate, as has been already said, to the difference^in their doctrinal views. The difference now under consideration is expressed by the terms &quot; strict &quot; and &quot; open/ according as communion (or membership) is or is not confined to persons who, accord ing to their view, are baptized. The Baptists early felt the necessity of providing an educated ministry for their congregations. Some of their leading pastors had been educated in one or other of the English universities. Others had by their own efforts obtained a large amount of learning, amongst whom Dr John Gill was eminent for his knowledge of Hebrew. He is said to have assisted Bishop Walton in the preparation of his Polyglot. Mr Edward Terrill, from whose Records we have already quoted, and who died in 1685, left a considerable part of his estate for the instruction of young men for the ministry, under the superintendence of the pastor of the church now meeting in Broadmead, Bristol, of which he was a member. Other^bequests for the same purpose were made, and from the year 1720 the Baptist Academy, as it was then called, received young men as students for the ministry amongst the Baptists. Fifty years later, in 1770, a society, called the Bristol Education Society, was formed to enlarge this academy ; and it wa? still further enlarged by the erection of the present Bristol Baptist College about the year 1811. In the North of England a similar Education Society was formed in 1804 at Bradford, Yorkshire, which has since been removed to Rawdon near Leeds. In the metropolis a college was formed in 1810 at Stepney, and was removed to Regent s Parkin 1856. The Pastors College in connection with the Metropolitan Tabernacle vras instituted in 1856. Besides these, the General Baptists have maintained a college since 1797 which at present is carried on at Chil- 