With the Revolution of 1688, and the passing of the Act of Toleration in 1689, the history of the persecution of Baptists, as well as of other Protestant dissenters, ends. The removal of the remaining disabilities such as those imposed by the Test and Corporation Acts repealed in 1828, has no special bearing on Baptists more than on other nonconformists. The ministers of the “three denominations of dissenters,”—Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists,—resident in London and the neighbourhood, had the privilege accorded to them of presenting on proper occasions an address to the sovereign in state, a privilege which they still enjoy under the name of “the General Body of Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the three Denominations.” The “General Body” was not organized until 1727.
The Baptists, having had a double origin, continued for many years in two sections—those who in accordance with Arminian views held the doctrine of “General Redemption,” and those who, agreeing with the Calvinistic theory, held the doctrine of “Particular Redemption”; and hence they were known respectively as General Baptists and Particular Baptists. In the 18th century many of the General Baptists gradually adopted the Arian, or, perhaps, the Socinian theory; whilst, on the other hand, the Calvinism of the Particular Baptists in many of the churches became more rigid, and approached or actually became Antinomianism. In 1770 the orthodox portion of the General Baptists, mainly under the influence of Dan Taylor (b. 1738), formed themselves into a separate association, under the name of the General Baptist New Connection, since which time the “Old Connection” has gradually merged into the Unitarian denomination. By the beginning of the 19th century the New Connection numbered 40 churches and 3400 members. The old General Baptists “still keep up a shadowy legal existence.” Towards the end of the 18th century many of the Particular Baptist churches became more moderate in their Calvinism, a result largely attributable to the writings of Andrew Fuller. Up to this time a great majority of the Baptists admitted none either to membership or communion who were not baptized, the principal exception being the churches in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, founded or influenced by Bunyan, who maintained that difference of opinion in respect to water baptism was no bar to communion. At the beginning of the 19th century this question was the occasion of great and long-continued discussion, in which the celebrated Robert Hall (1764–1831) took a principal part. The practice of mixed communion gradually spread in the denomination. Still more recently many Baptist churches have considered it right to admit to full membership persons professing faith in Christ, who do not agree with them respecting the ordinance of baptism. Such churches justify their practice on the ground that they ought to grant to all their fellow-Christians the same right of private judgment as they claim for themselves. It may not be out of place here to correct the mistake, which is by no means uncommon, that the terms Particular and General as applied to Baptist congregations were intended to express this difference in their practice, whereas these terms related, as has been already said, to the difference in their doctrinal views. The difference now under consideration is expressed by the terms “strict” and “open,” according as communion (or membership) is or is not confined to persons who, according to their view, are baptized.
In 1891, largely under the influence of Dr John Clifford, a leading General Baptist, the two denominations, General and Particular, were united, there being now but one body called “The Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.” This Union, however, is purely voluntary, and some Baptist churches, a few of them prosperous and powerful, hold aloof from their sister churches so far as organization is concerned.
There are other Baptist bodies outside the Baptist Union beside certain isolated churches. Throughout England there are many “Strict” Baptist churches which really form a separate denomination. For the most part they are linked together according to geographical distribution in associations, such as the “Metropolitan Association of Strict Baptist Churches,” and the “Suffolk and Norfolk Association of Particular Baptist Churches.” In the latter case the name “Particular” is preferred, but the association holds aloof from other Baptist churches because its principles are “strict.” There is, however, no national Union. Indeed, the Strict Baptists are themselves divided into the “Standard” and “Vessel” parties—names derived from the “Gospel Standard” and “Earthen Vessel,” the organs of the rival groups.
The general characteristic of the Strict Baptists is their rigorous adherence to a type of Calvinistic theology now generally obsolete, and their insistence upon baptism as the condition of Christian communion. Their loose organization makes it impossible to obtain accurate statistics, but the number of their adherents is small. There is a strict Baptist Missionary Society (founded 1860, refounded 1897) which conducts mission work in South India. The income of this society was £1146 in 1905. It comprises 730 church members and 72 pastors and workers.
The Baptists early felt the necessity of providing an educated ministry for their congregations. Some of their leading pastors had been educated in one or other of the English universities. Others had by their own efforts obtained a large amount of learning, amongst whom Dr John Gill was eminent for his knowledge of Hebrew, as shown in his Exposition of the Holy Scriptures, a work in 9 vols. folio, 1746–1766. Edward Terrill, who died in 1685, left a considerable part of his estate for the instruction of young men desiring to be trained for the ministry, under the superintendence of the pastor of the Broadmead Church, Bristol, of which he was a member. Other bequests for the same purpose were made, and from the year 1720 the Baptist Academy, as it was then called, received young men as students for the ministry among the Baptists. In 1770 the Bristol Education Society was formed to enlarge this academy; and about the year 1811 the present Bristol Baptist College was erected. In the north of England a similar education society was formed in 1804 at Bradford, Yorkshire, which has since been removed to Rawdon, near Leeds. In London another college was formed in 1810 at Stepney; it was removed to Regent’s Park in 1856. The Pastors’ College in connexion with the Metropolitan Tabernacle was instituted in 1856, and in 1866 the present Baptist College at Manchester was instituted at Bury in the interests of the “Strict” Baptist views. Besides these, which were voluntary colleges not under denominational control, the General Baptists maintained a college since 1797, which, since the amalgamation of the two Baptist bodies, has become also a voluntary institution, though previously supported by the General Baptist Association. It is called the “Midland Baptist College,” and is situated in Nottingham. There is also a Baptist theological college in Glasgow, and there are two colleges in Wales and one in Ireland. The total number of students in these institutions is about 210.
The Baptists were the first denomination of British Christians to undertake in a systematic way that work of missions to the heathen, which became so prominent a feature in the religious activity of the 19th century. As early as the year 1784 the Northamptonshire Association of Baptist churches resolved to recommend that the first Monday of every month should be set apart for prayer for the spread of the gospel. Shortly after, in 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed at Kettering in Northamptonshire, after a sermon on Isaiah lii. 2, 3, preached by William Carey (1761–1834), the prime mover in the work, in which he urged two points: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” In the course of the following year Carey sailed for India, where he was joined a few years later by Marshman and Ward, and the mission was established at Serampore. The great work of Dr Carey’s life was the translation of the Bible into the various languages and dialects of India. The society’s operations are now carried on, not only in the East, but in the West Indies, China, Africa (chiefly on the Congo river), and Europe.
In regard to church government, the Baptists agree with the Congregationalists that each separate church is complete in itself, and has, therefore, power to choose its own ministers and to make such regulations as it deems to be most in accordance with the purpose of its existence, that is, the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. A comparatively small section of the denomination maintain that a “plurality of elders” or pastors is required for the complete organization of every separate church. This is the distinctive peculiarity of those churches in Scotland and the north of England which are known as Scotch Baptists. The largest church of this section, consisting of approximately 500 members, originated in Edinburgh in 1765, before which date only one Baptist church—that of Keiss in Caithness, formed about 1750—appears to have existed in Scotland. The greater number of the churches are united in association voluntarily formed, all of them determined by geographical limits. The associations, as well as the churches not in connexion with them, are united together in the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, formed in 1813 by the Particular Baptists. This union, however, exerts no authoritative action over the separate churches. One important part of the work of the union is the collection of information in which all the churches are interested. In 1909 there were in the United Kingdom: Baptist churches, 3046; chapels, 4124; sittings, 1,450,352; members, 424,008; Sunday school teachers, 58,687; Sunday scholars, 578,344; local preachers, 5615; and pastors in charge, 2078.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Baptist Union collected a “Twentieth Century Fund” of £250,000, which has largely assisted the formation of new churches, and gives an indication of