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English Baptists in the Eighteenth Century: 

Decline and RevivalThe Baptist historian Ivimey, writing in 1823 of the period around 1750, observed that the General Baptists at that time “were but few in number, and their congregations small and languishing” and that “there is no reason to doubt that our churches [that is, the Particular Baptists] were far more prosperous and numerous at the Revolution in 1688, than at this period, sixty-five years afterwards; so that prosperity had indeed slain more than the sword” (quoted in Torbet, History, p. 71). 

When external pressure ceases, decline and internal disputes often begin. This is the sad truth about Baptists in the eighteenth century. There were theological tensions not only between General and Particular Baptists, but also within both groups. General Baptists were progressively infected with extreme Arminianism and Socinian ideas (that is, a denial of the trinity, including a denial of the deity of Christ). Particular Baptists, on the other hand, varied in the extent to which they embraced Calvinism, many of them becoming hyper-Calvinists who were opposed to any evangelism, since Christ died for the elect only and that the elect would be saved by God’s irresistible grace. 

This trend can be seen in the comment of an older man to William Carey (“the father of modern missions”) late in the 1700s when Carey was trying to raise support to go to India as a missionary: “Young man, if God wants to save the heathen, He’ll do it without your help or mine.” In this view the preaching of the Gospel becomes unnecessary. These tensions sapped Baptists’ vitality and contributed to their stagnation and decline. A survey of Baptist ministers in London in 1731 reveals 7 Antinomian/Hyper-Calvinist, 7 Calvinist, 6 Arminian, 3 Unitarian and 2 Seventh Day (Torbet, History, p. 63). 

Preaching was often polemical and abstract, certainly not evangelistic. In addition to these theological tensions, less attention was given to evangelism than to buildings and organisational structure. After the Toleration Act of 1689, Baptists began erecting church buildings, but many grew weary of the constant begging of money for building programmes. Generally such buildings were situated in the town centre, and ministry tended to focus on the immediate neighbourhood with very few evangelistic outreaches to the wider population. 

Also, attention was given, especially in the case of the General Baptists, to organisational structures such as the General Assembly. Evangelism was generally neglected. A further reason for decline was that Baptists failed to adapt themselves to the Industrial Revolution. Little if any account was taken of the enormous changes in demography and social conditions brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Finally, the training and care of Baptist ministers was poor. Ministerial training was lacking in any formal sense  it was done largely through being “apprenticed” to a senior pastor. Some Baptist pastors had been through university training as Anglicans before their conversion to Baptist views, but university training was denied to Baptists. 

Furthermore, ministers were woefully poorly paid. Most of them were bivocational. Many, even if they felt called, did not enter the ministry because they knew they would be unable to care for their families on the meagre stipends provided. In 1717, the Particular Baptists established the “London Fund” to assist needy ministers. The General Baptists followed suit in 1725, but even so, financial provision was extremely meagre.When the spiritual revival so desperately needed by England did come, it was sparked not by Baptists but by Anglicans such as George Whitefield and the Wesleys. 

But Baptists were touched by these revivals in significant ways. Wesley’s preachers had a particular impact on the General Baptists, since they shared a common Arminian theology, and this impact was felt both in converts from the revivals becoming members of General Baptist churches, and many General Baptist churches themselves being revived. John Wesley didn’t particularly like his converts becoming Baptists with their doctrine of believers’ baptism by immersion, complaining that many of his Methodist chickens had become Baptist ducks!One of Wesley’s converts was Dan Taylor (1738-1816) from North England.

 After his conversion he became a Methodist preacher, but as a result of his study of the New Testament he became convinced of his need for believers’ baptism by immersion. On one occasion he walked fifty miles to ask baptism of the Particular Baptists, but he was refused owing to his “general” (Arminian/Wesleyan) view on the atonement! He was, however, referred to the General Baptists, was baptised by them, and ultimately became a General Baptist minister in 1763. With his ability, energy and convictions, Taylor soon became a leader among the General Baptists. He was greatly concerned about the decline of the General Baptist churches and about the defective Christology held by many of them. T

aylor’s assessment of the General Baptist decline was that “They degraded Christ, and He degraded them.” Taylor continued to try to renew the General Baptists from within, but in this he was largely unsuccessful. Eventually, in 1770, he called for a meeting of all “orthodox” (that is, Christologically sound) General Baptist ministers in London. Eighteen of them were present, and they decided to resign from the General Baptists and establish what they called “The New Connection of General Baptists formed in 1770; with a design to revive Experimental Religion or Primitive Christianity in Faith and Practice.” (For obvious reasons, they soon became known simply as “The New Connection”). By “experimental” in their name we should understand “experienced” – they wanted their Christian faith to be a living relationship with Christ because that is what they saw in the New Testament, not just a set of abstract ideas. 

The New Connection was characterised by evangelistic zeal, and under the untiring leadership of Dan Taylor it grew steadily.So by the end of the eighteenth century there were three main groups of Baptists in England. The Particular Baptists were of a Calvinistic or Hyper-Calvinistic persuasion, and their resistance to centralisation had resulted in no more than a loose association between their respective churches. 

The General Baptists were Arminian and often Unitarian in theology, and because they had much stronger associational tendencies, they had formed the General Assembly of General Baptists as far back as 1654. And now there were also the New Connection General Baptists, founded by Dan Taylor and his associates in 1770 as an evangelical breakaway from the General Baptists.

 In time, the “Old Connection” General Baptists who had remained orthodox in their theology (especially their Christology) joined the New Connection; the less orthodox General Baptists dissipated into unitarianism and thus the old “General Baptist” grouping ceased to exist. A variety of other smaller Baptist groups also came into being in the eighteenth century, such as the “Sabbatarian (Seventh Day) Baptists”, and the “Strict Baptists” (who were anti-organisation, anti-mission and anti-education). 

Thus was laid the foundation for the staggering diversity among Baptists which has characterised the movement pretty much from the beginning. English Baptists in the 19th Century The nineteenth century in English Baptist history was characterised by the denominational consolidation of Baptists, outstanding Baptist pulpiteers, and internal controversy – all of which have left their mark on Queensland Baptists, their step-children.

Attempts to bring English Baptists together into some kind of organisational unity was not an easy task. They were theologically diverse, including the Calvinistic, often Hyper-Calvinistic views of the Particular Baptists, and the Arminian theology and evangelical vitality of the New Connection. They also disagreed about the shape such unity should take and the powers of a central body. Another point of dissension was open versus closed communion (open communion meaning that all believers were welcome at the Lord’s table; closed that only baptised believers should be admitted). The story of the formation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland is a long and complex one, but as early as 1813, some Particular Baptists began to meet together annually with a view to bringing a “Union” into being. 

The Particular Baptists were becoming less Calvinistic owing to the enormous spread of Arminian theology through the Evangelical Revivals and their own increasing interest in missions and thus renunciation of Hyper-Calvinism.By 1831 this “Union” also voted to welcome into its fellowship New Connection churches, although the New Connection as a body remained separate. However, support for the venture of “Union” remained very weak. It was only in 1891 that the New Connection voted by an overwhelming majority to “accept the invitation offered.” Thus the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland was finally established.Baptists also produced some outstanding preachers during the nineteenth century. Among these was Robert Hall (1764-1831), who became one of the most eloquent and best-known Baptist preachers of his day. 

Although a moderate Calvinist, he was a vigorous opponent of Hyper-Calvinism. The famous Welsh preacher Christmas Evans once told Hall how much he wished that the works of John Gill, the Hyper-Calvinist, had been written in the expressive Welsh language, to which Hall replied, “I wish they had, sir; I wish they had, with all my heart, sir, for then I should never have read them! They are a continent of mud, sir! ”On another occasion, an influential member of Hall’s congregation took him to task for not preaching more frequently on predestination. 

Looking him steadily in the face and speaking slowly, Hall said, “Sir, I perceive that nature predestined you to be an ass, and what is more, I see that you are determined to make your calling and election sure.”Another famous Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century was Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910). Son of a Glasgow businessman, he was converted at - 6 –