Spiritual Declension: Lessons from Early 18th Century Particular Baptists, Part I—An Excessively Inward Focus

Posted by jsmitheasley on January 9, 2009
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In a previous post, we noted a decline in the early 18th century Particular Baptist churches. In this post, we’ll begin to examine some of the factors that contributed to that decline. Traditionally, writers on Baptist history have fixed the blame for this on the influence of Hyper-Calvinism among the Baptists. But as Tom Nettles and others point out this is an oversimplification.[1] The influence of Hyper-Calvinism was one of the factors but there were other factors at work in the declension of Particular Baptists. Factors, some of which, were not limited to those who were Hyper-Calvinists.[2] I will come back to the influence of Hyper-Calvinism later. The first factor we’ll consider is an excessively inward focus upon the maintenance of their congregational life. It appears that a good number of these Baptist churches were characterized by an excessively inward focus upon the maintenance of their congregational life. The reader will recall that the Act of Toleration gave great freedom to Baptists. But there was still a certain stigma that was placed upon them. Michael Haykin notes that though the Act of Toleration gave Baptists,

The freedom to organize and to gather congregations, only those buildings registered as meeting-houses with the bishop of the diocese or the local Justice of the Peace could serve as places of evangelism and worship. And while the act permitted them freedom of worship, it did not give them full civil rights.[3]

That didn’t come until the 19th century. “Significant obstacles, for example, continued to lie in the path of those Dissenters who sought to study at either Oxford or Cambridge University, or who wanted to pursue a career in the government at either the national or civic level.”[4] Consequently, Baptists, and other Nonconformist churches, were in a place of social inferiority throughout the 18th century. They weren’t experiencing the kind of overt physical persecution they had endured before. It was now a more subtle kind of pressure.

We might say that to be a Baptist was to be looked at by many as an oddball; as a kind of second-class citizen. Baptists tended to be viewed in a bad light in English society. They were out of step; they were out of the mainstream. This kind of subtle social pressure can be more dangerous for the church than out-and-out persecution. We all know what can happen when a person(s) feels marginalized or ostracized. The tendency is to become defensive and self-protecting. A kind of “us against the world” mentality can develop in which we huddle together with our own kind, people who understand us, with our cannons aimed at everyone else.

This is what happened. For much of the eighteenth century Baptists limited their horizons to the maintenance of their congregational life in order to preserve their distinctive beliefs and their mode of worship.[5] In the words of Haykin, “They closed ranks and delighted in describing themselves (in the language of Song of Solomon ch. 4:12) as ‘a garden enclosed.’”[6] He goes on to quote from a prominent Baptist pastor of that time:

As an enclosed garden, the church … is protected and “encompassed with the power of God, as a wall about it,” and is, “so closely surrounded, that it is not to be seen nor known by the world; and indeed is not accessible to any but believers in Christ.”[7]

Haykin says that, this “language well reflects the inward-looking attitudes of many Calvinistic Baptists during the early years of the 18th century.”[8]

Apparently, many Baptists responded to the unfair discrimination (social and sometimes legal) by remaining behind the walls of their meeting houses and focusing on the maintenance of their own congregational life, church order, and the preservation of their distinctives. It’s interesting, and perhaps a bit embarrassing, to read the impression that some good men had of Nonconformist churches at that time. For example, Howell Harris, the Welsh preacher who was mightily used in the revivals that began in the 1730’s, made this comparison between the Nonconformists and his good friend George Whitefield, “Whilst they are in their warm rooms, he ventures his life for God.”[9]

It’s true that in England at that time Nonconformist ministers were required by law to proclaim the Word of God only within their meeting houses. However, one familiar with the history of the time knows that the Anglican authorities tried to make things difficult for Whitefield and the Methodist preachers as well. Yet such challenges did not stop or confine them. The same is true of many of the other great preachers that God used during the Awakening. For the most part, on the other hand, Baptists were content to enjoy the fruits of toleration, which allowed them to meet together and worship. There was a kind of “settleness” about them.[10] There were exceptions, like Benjamin Beddome. Moreover, men like William Mitchel and David Crosley evangelized towns and villages throughout parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire.[11] There were others. But on the whole there was this excessively inward focus upon the maintenance of congregational life.

I’m not asserting that Reformed Baptists are characterized by this tendency today. But this is a danger that we need to guard against. I wonder if perhaps there is this tendency to be inwardly focused in some of us or in some of our churches; the tendency to focus most of our energies upon reforming, establishing and maintaining biblical order in our churches and preserving our distinctives as Reformed Baptists. We should be concerned about these things. Our distinctives are very important. But in the context of a culture that often views us as oddballs; that often views us as churches that are out of step with the spirit of the times and out of step with mainstream evangelicalism, it can be easy for us to develop a fortress mentality. We can become content maintaining our own congregational life and preserving our distinctives. We can even become quite proud of our distinctives, have a sense of self-satisfaction about them, and become excessively defensive about them. We can, in fact, become more focused on our distinctives than upon the gospel. Thus, while preserving our congregational life, a terrible deadness can come over us. We no longer seek to take the gospel to sinners outside of the four walls of our meeting places.

Let us learn from our early 18th century forebears to be on guard against this danger. In the posts that follow I hope to address other factors that contributed to spiritual declension among early 18th century Particular Baptists and highlight important lessons we can learn from them.

Jeffery Smith
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church
Easley SC

[1] Tom Nettles, By His Grace and For His Glory (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House Company, 1986), 73-107.
[2] Robert Oliver, History of the English Calvinistic Baptists; from John Gill to C.H. Spurgeon (Carlisle, PA, Banner of Truth Trust, 2006), 97.
[3] Michael Haykin, One Heart and One Soul: John Sutcliffe of Olney, his Friends and his Times (Durham, U.K.: Evangelical Press, 1994), 20.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid. The pastor quoted is John Gill.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid., 21.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.