THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
set forth Baptist views of baptism and the Supper (the " dipping or plunging of the body " of the believer " under water," the Supper 2. Confes- to be partaken of after baptism), sion of magistracy, oaths, etc., and a vigor- 1 ous statement of the doctrine of
liberty of conscience. " But if any man shall impose upon us anything that we see not to be commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ, we should in his strength rather embrace all reproaches and tortures of men, to be stripped of all outward comforts, and, if it were possible, to die a thousand deaths, rather than do anything against the least tittle of the truth of God, or against the light of our own consciences." This confession was signed by fifteen brethren representing the seven churches. The name of Kiffin stands first, those of Spilsbury, Skippard, Gunne, Webb, Hobson, and Phelps, are first in the other groups. In the second edition (1646) a French church represented by Le Barbier and Le Duret is added, and the names of Hanserd Knollys, Benjamin Cox, and Thomas Holms appear for the first time.
The following record, written apparently by Jessey, dates from 1644: " After that H. Jessey was convinced also, the next morning early after that which had been a day of solemn seeking the Lord in fasting and prayer (That if infant baptism were unlawful and if we should be further baptized, etc., the Lord would not hide it from us, but cause us to know it). First H. Jessey was convinced against pedobaptism and then that himself should be baptized (notwithstanding many conferences with his honored and beloved brethren Mr. Nye, Mr. Th. Goodwin, Mr. Burroughs, Mr. Greenhill, Mr. Cradock, Mr. Carter, etc., etc. .), and was baptized by Mr. Knollys, and then by degrees he baptized many of the church, when convinced they desired it." Several who had left the church to become Baptists now returned. Jessey long continued to minister to a mixed congregation, Baptists and pedobaptists mutually tolerating each other. In the general religious ferment which set in with the opening of the Long Parliament (Nov. 3, 1640) and the greater freedom which was then allowed, many who had doubted the propriety of infant baptism felt free to avow and propagate their principles.
3. General Baptists from 1641 Onward: It is probable that most or all of the antipedobaptist churches of the Helwys-Murton connection survived the Laudian persecutions and others may have arisen after 1632. Thomas Lamb was arrested at Colchester for disseminating heresy some time before 1640. After his release he resumed his ministry in London and is said to have become familiar with nearly every prison in London and its vicinity. At the beginning of this period he was pastor of a congregation in Bell-alley, which became a fruitful mother of churches. In 1643 he was reenforced by Henry Denne, who had been educated at Cambridge and was instrumental, with Lamb and several other zealous evangelists, in the conversion of multitudes in Huntingtonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Kent, and elsewhere. Lamb's church became a missionary society which
sent forth evangelists into various parts of England and into Wales. Between 1641 and 1649 about ten associations are supposed to have been established, with quarterly, half-yearly, or annual meetings, for edificatory, disciplinary, and missionary purposes. Possibly from early connection with the Mennonites, the General Baptists emphasized connectional church government rather than church independency. Several years before 1671 a General Assembly of the churches of the entire connection had been formed, which 1. Org-an- usually met in London. The General ization and Baptist churches exercised a rigorous Polity. discipline over their membership in matters of doctrine and life. Persistence in Calvinistic teaching (as in denial of the universality of the atonement) was a ground of excommunication. Divisive controversies on church singing and on the imposition of hands occupied a large share of attention. Quakers and Ranters invaded the congregations and in some cases were responsible for decimating their membership. Divided congregations, churches at variance with neighboring churches, and even aggrieved individuals could appeal to the associations. The General Assembly became virtually a court of appeal from churches and associations. An aggrieved member of a church might appeal to two or more neighboring churches, which were under obligation to hear and judge the case. From such a judgment, appeal might be made to the association and from this to the General Assembly. Thus every local difficulty was likely to pervade the entire connection. Thus equipped with a system of graduated courts of appeal, the connection came to feel the need of general executive officers, and found the New Testament prototype of what they wanted in the apostolate. These officials were called " messengers " or " bishops." According to the Orthodox Creed (1678), " The bishops have the government of those churches that had suffrage in their election, ordinarily, as also to preach the word to the world." Thomas Grantham (in Christianismus Primitivus, London, 1678), a chief defender of Baptist episcopacy, thus defined the office: "1. To plant churches where there are none; 2. To set in order such churches as want officers to order their affairs; and 3. To assist faithful pastors or churches against usurpers and those that trouble the peace of particular churches by false doctrines." Grantham expressed the wish that representatives of all the baptized churches in the world might meet occasionally in a great consistory to consider matters of difference among them. The Lincolnshire Association in 1775 gave still more ample powers to the " messenger," who is said to have " full liberty and authority, according to the Gospel, to freely inquire into the state of the churches respecting both the pastor and people, to see that the pastors do their duty in their places, and the people theirs; he is to exhort, admonish, and reprove both the one and the other, as occasion calls for. In virtue of his office, he is to watch over the several flocks committed to his care and charge, to labor to keep out innovations in