Article No. 3

The first two articles in this series described the origin and initial 

development of the people called Baptists in the early 1600s. 

Although they did not initially call themselves “Baptists” (a designation given them by their opponents), they had already settled on important distinctives we now recognise as Baptist, such as the baptism of believers, regenerate church membership, the autonomy of the local church, and freedom of conscience. 

These earliest Baptists came to be known as “General Baptists” because they held to the theology that Christ died for all people “generally” (a theology which is also called Arminian after the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius). By 1650 there were 47 General Baptist churches in England.At roughly the same time, a movement referred to as “Particular Baptists” was coming into existence. 

They emerged from an independent church of Puritan sympathies and reformed theology, including the view that Christ’s death was for a restricted or “particular” number of people, namely, the elect (thus their name “Particular Baptists”). By the late 1630s a small group became convinced that the subjects of baptism should not be infants but rather professed believers. 

A certain Richard Blunt became convinced that baptism “ought to be by dipping the Body into the Water, resembling Burial and rising again.” Since there was no one in England who was practising believers’ baptism by immersion at the time and because Blunt could speak Dutch, he was sent to Holland to research the matter. 

On his return in 1642, “Mr Blunt Baptized Mr Blacklock that was teacher amongst them, & Mr Blunt being baptized, he and Mr Blacklock Baptized the rest of their friends that ware so minded, & many being added to them they increased much.”By 1644 the number of “Particular Baptist” churches in the London area had grown to seven, and together they drew up The London Confession, a statement of faith that includes the following:XXXIX. 

That Baptisme is an Ordinance of the new Testament, given by Christ, to be dispensed onely upon persons professing faith, or that are Disciples, or taught, who upon a profession of faith, ought to be baptized.XL. The way and manner of the dispensing of this Ordinance the Scripture holds out to be dipping or plunging the whole body under water: it being a signe, must answer the thing signified, which are these: first, the washing the whole soule in the bloud of Christ: Secondly, that interest the Saints have in the death, burial and resurrection; thirdly, together with a confirmation of our faith, that as certainly as the body is buried under water, and riseth againe, so certainly shall the bodies of the saints be raised by the power of Christ, in the day of the resurrection, to reign with Christ.

 [A quaint note in the margin adds, “The word Baptizo, signifying to dip under water, yet so as with convenient garments both upon the administrator and subject, with all modestie.” XLI. The persons designed by Christ, to dispense this Ordinance, the Scriptures hold forth to be a preaching Disciple, it being no where tyed to a particular Church, Officer, or person extraordinarily sent, the Commision injoyning the administration, being given to them under no other consideration, but as considered Disciples.

This makes The London Confession the first English confession of faith to contain an article on immersion as the scriptural mode of baptism. Ever since about 1644 therefore, Baptists have been the same in all essential features as they are today. At this early stage there was very little contact  if any  between General and Particular Baptists (mainly because of the climate of persecution and the need for secrecy), and they may not even have known of each other’s existence.In 1677 Particular Baptists drew up The Second London Confession (reissued in 1689 after the cessation of persecution which came about after the Act of Toleration in 1688, and since then often referred to simply as The 1689).

 It was written primarily to demonstrate the substantial agreement of Particular Baptists with the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith (and was largely based upon it). The only significant points of departure from the Westminster Confession of Faith in The Second London Confession are the Baptist understanding of the ordinances (especially baptism), church government, and the relation between church and state. 

It is therefore predominantly reformed in its theology. It was signed by 107 Particular Baptist churches from England and Wales, meeting in London. It has assumed a massive importance in Baptist history in the English-speaking world, and is still deeply respected today by Baptists of a reformed persuasion.