A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible LandsWhittle, Walter Andrew
Religion
A Baptist Abroad: Travels and Adventures of Europe and all Bible Lands
Whittle, Walter Andrew
Europe -- Description and travel; Middle East -- Description and travel
The Particular, or Calvinistic, Baptists of England differ in some
respects from each other. Professedly, they are all alike, Calvinists,
but they are not all Calvinists alike. Some of them are hyper, and some
of them moderate, Calvinists. At the beginning of this century, nearly
all the Particular Baptists in the country were Hyper-Calvinists. This
resulted from the teaching of such men as John Brine and Doctor John
Gill. The teaching of and influence of Andrew Fuller inaugurated a
change: and the change thus inaugurated has continued and developed
ever since, so that to-day the vast majority of Particular Baptists in
Great Britain are moderate Calvinists. The Hyper-Calvinists, however,
are by no means extinct. In some parts of England they are rather
numerous, while in almost all parts a few of them may be found. There
are amongst them some very excellent people. They adhere firmly to
their principles. They maintain a separateness from the world that
other Christians might profitably emulate. But, speaking generally,
they are not very aggressive in their spirit; at any rate in the
direction of efforts to spread the truth. There is not much of the
missionary spirit amongst them. They have, however, one Missionary
Society called, with an emphasis, the _Strict_ Baptist Mission. This
Mission has two centres of evangelical work—in India and Ceylon. In
India, there are sixteen stations, and twenty-eight workers; in Ceylon,
there are six stations and seven workers. The income last year was
nearly £700, and the expenditure about £590.
The Particular Baptists of Britain that are in doctrine Moderate
Calvinists are divided into Close and Open Communionists. All the
Hyper-Calvinistic Baptists are Close Communionists. The object of
their Missionary Society, to which reference has just been made,
is stated to be “the diffusion of the Gospel in heathen lands,
and the formation of churches in accordance with the principles
of Strict Communion Baptists.” And the churches at home are, in
respect to communion, of the same type as those which they aim to
form abroad. Vast numbers of the Moderate Calvinistic Baptists are
Open Communionists. But this is not universally the case. There are
British Baptists that are neither extreme in doctrine, nor loose in
practice. In regard alike to doctrine and practice, they may justly be
designated, as their American brethren are designated Regular Baptists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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