RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Baptists
the languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew." The question of open or restricted communion was left to the churches, each to act in the matter " as they have received from the Lord." The assembly of 1691 was made up of representatives of a hundred churches belonging to twelve associations. In 1692 it was decided to divide the assembly, one portion to meet in London and the other in Bristol, at different seasons of the year, these assemblies not to be accountable to each other and each to send messengers to the other. At this time a grievous controversy was raging on the question " whether the praises of God should be sung in public assemblies," Kiffin, Keach, Cox, Steed, and other leading brethren being involved. It was decided to refer the matter to seven brethren appointed by the assembly, who administered a scathing rebuke to the offenders, which was taken in good part. The Bristol meeting prospered, but the London meeting declined. The Broadmead church, Bristol, was one of the earliest and strongest of the Particular Baptist Churches outside of London and the importance of Bristol as a Baptist center was greatly enhanced by the endowment left by Edward Terrill (d. 1686) with the Broadmead church for ministerial education, which became available in 1717 Out of this foundation grew the theological college that from its inception has been one of the chief factors in the progress of the denomination.
In 1717 the London ministers inaugurated another missionary fund. The great leaders of the past century had all passed away, and there had been a marked decline in the Baptist cause. The older assembly with its fund seems to have become extinct. Benjamin Stinton, pastor of one of the wealthier churches, and the Hollis brothers, wealthy business men, who while contributing liberally for the support of Baptist work regularly attended Presbyterian services, urged that General Baptists be invited to cooperate in the raising and administration of the fund and to participate in its use. This cooperation was refused, but there was in London at this time a strong sentiment in favor of Baptist union. The fund was to be administered by representatives of the contributing churches,
to be appointed in numbers propor- 4. To 1775. tioned to their contributions, and
individual contributors not members of contributing churches participated in the management. John Hollis was for years treasurer of the fund and left it a large legacy. It may be observed that to the Hollis family Harvard University was indebted for endowment and equipment. In opposition to this unionistic movement, a " Society of Ministers of the Particular Baptist Persuasion " was formed 1723-24, which for many years exerted a powerful and wide-spread influence. By way of reaction against the Socinian teachings that were pervading the Established Church and all the dissenting bodies, Particular Baptist theologians like John Gill and John Brine promulgated a high type of Calvinistic teaching that in the minds of the uncultured easily degenerated into fatalism and antinomianism. Many Particular Baptist ministers went to the extreme of considering it an I.— 30
impertinence to preach to the unregenerate or to pray for them,"and many churches excluded from fellowship any who dissented from their fatalistic views. By 1753 there had been such a decline that JohnRyland, who made a careful inquiry, could find only 4,930 Particular Baptists in England and Wales. They opposed the evangelical revival with almost fanatical zeal. In the London and Bristol centers there remained a number of more moderate pastors and churches. In general it may be said that pastors educated at Bristol rarely carried their doctrine and practise to the fatalistic and antinomian extreme.
The conversion of Andrew Fuller (q.v.) to evangelical views, chiefly through the reading of a pamphlet by Jonathan Edwards on the importance of a general union of Christians in prayer for a revival of religion, and through the influence of the evangelical revival in England, marks an epoch in the history of the Particular Baptists. For a few years before 1792 ministers of the Northamptonshire Association, under Fuller's leadership, held monthly prayer-meetings for the extension of the gospel. In May, 1792, William Carey (q.v.) having become deeply impressed with the destitution of the heathen and the duty of Christians to carry out the
great commission, preached a sermon
5- Andrew on the topic: " Expect great things
u. er" from God; attempt great things for
Enter- Cod," which made a profound im-
prise. pression and led to the organization,
a few months later (Oct. 2), at Kettering (Fuller's church) of the Baptist Missionary Society. From this time onward Fuller devoted much of his time and effort to the diffusion of the missionary spirit throughout his denomination and among dissenters and churchmen. He visited from time to time all parts of Britain in the interest of Carey's mission. His popular but profound publications disseminated moderate Calvinistic views suffused with missionary enthusiasm. Not since the Cromwellian age were Baptist principles brought to the attention of the religious public in so acceptable a manner. Closely associated with Fuller was John Ryland (q.v.), who in 1783 became pastor of the Broadmead church, Bristol, and Principal of the Baptist College. For thirty years he exerted a wide-spread influence as pastor and teacher. Among the students that went forth from the college were John Foster and Robert Hall (qq.v.). Fuller's cuief Baptist opponents were Abraham Booth, who from being a General Baptist became a Particular Baptist of the more rigorous type and wrote largely in defense of believers' baptism, restricted communion, and high Calvinism (" Reign of Grace "), and Alexander Maclean, leader of the Scotch Baptists. The! successful inauguration of missionary work _ in India and Carey's achievements in the acquisition of Oriental languages and in Bible translation gave the denomination a prestige and popular acceptance that it had not before enjoyed. By 1801 the Particular Baptists had increased to 29,000.
The work of the denomination in Foreign Missions was greatly prospered, and commanded enthusiastic support. India, Ceylon, China, Pales-
Baptists