Based on original publication of artwork and handbook called “A World View of Baptist History” by  Author Rev Samuel James Ford. Only one copy of the booklet known to exist - which has been digitized and republished here for the benefit of all who are interested. The booklet was written as an explanation by Rev S J Ford to accompany the picture. For those who would like a hard copy of the booklet - Contact Peter for more information.

Digitized and Republished for this web page 2024 by © Peter N Millward. All Rights Reserved.

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A WORLD VIEW OF BAPTIST HISTORY 

BY REV. S. J. FORD 

WITH FOREWORD BY REV. W. T. WHITLEY, M.A., LL.D., F.R.Hist.S. 

1928 

The Tercentenary of John Bunyan 

The Baptist Dreamer.

INTRODUCTION 

In order to meet the wishes of those who have heard my lectures on Baptist History, I have ventured to put forward this little booklet with a folded copy of my picture " The World View of Baptist History," that it might serve to refresh their memories and also to create, in the minds of others unacquainted with our Baptist History, an interest in the Rise, Decline, and Resurrection of the Baptist Church. I am greatly indebted to the historical works of Dr. W. T. Whitley, Dr. J. H. Shakespeare, Dr. J. C. Carlile, Dr. J. H. Rushbrooke, and Dr. Wheeler Robinson, as well as to the authors of older Baptist histories, from whose pages I have gathered the facts that are recorded here. I am also very much indebted to many correspondents, both in England, the United States, Canada and Belgium, for very valuable information concerning the origin of some of our more recent Churches and Associations. I should like especially to acknowledge the assistance so readily given me by Mr. W. B. Lipphard, of. New York City, U.S.A., the Rev. H. E. Stillwell, of Toronto, Canada, and Dr. W. T. Whitley, of Droitwich, England. I am also grateful for the privilege of incorporating into the Diagram the well-known and familiar pictures, viz. The Saviour's Baptism, Bedford Jail, Benjamin Keach in the Pillory at Aylesbury, and the two Waldeneian symbols of persecution. The rest are my own imperfect attempts at a pictorial representation of our wonderful Baptist history. I should like also gratefully to acknowledge the service (a real labour of love) of my friend Mr. Arthur Gay, a young Bristol artist, who improved upon and gave the beautiful artistic finish to all my own original drawings ; the valuable assistance of Mr. H. C. Godfrey, and of my old fellow-student the Rev. Thomas Davies, of Bristol, After very much hesitation I send the booklet forth with the prayer that it will help someone, and especially the young people in our Baptist Churches, to acquaint themselves with the way along which their spiritual benefits have come to them. 

Bristol., ENGLAND. 

1928

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FOREWORD BY REV, W. T. WHITLEY, M.A. LL.D., F. R .HisT.S. Droitwich, 1928.

THE HOLY LAND. 

There is no land like it in all the world. Nature made it a land of beauty, and the pious heart makes it a joy for ever. Very early in its history it is spoken of as a " land flowing with milk and honey." And though the intervening centuries have witnessed much deterioration in its natural attractiveness, yet in many parts its rolling plains and fertile valleys still retain their original charm and beauty. It is a land of great crises. Great battles have been fought in if. Great issues have sprung from it. And great visions have been seen there. It was the meeting place of two vast empires, Egypt and Assyria, which have forever passed away. It became the meeting-place between God and man, and on its plains, and in its valleys, and on its hills and mountains, as well as in its magnificent Temple, God endeavoured to draw the human soul unto Himself. It was also the meeting-place between God and Satan, the Great Adversary, and in the desert, and by the wayside and upon the Cross of Calvary, tangible evidences were given of God's all-prevailing power and ultimate victory. To the Christian heart every inch of the land is Holy, because Jesus was born there, lived there, suffered there, and there triumphed over death and the grave. In loving fondness the memory lingers over Bethlehem, and Nazareth ; the Jordan and Gennesaret ; Gethsemane and Calvary ; Bethany and Olivet, and every other spot touched by the Holy feet of the Son of God. In many ways the River Jordan is a remarkable river. It divides a habitable land from the barren desert. It flows from a sea that is teeming with life, and empties itself into a sea of death. It rises amongst the exalted and snow-clad peaks of Lebanon, and descends into the depths far below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. It was by this river, midway between the Sea of Life and the Sea of Death, that Jesus met the crowds which came to John's baptism. And walking through the avenue of men, readily made by John's announcement, " Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," surprised John by requesting baptism for Himself. At first John declined, and " then suffered Him." " And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water ; and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon Him ; and lo, a voice from heaven saying, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' " (Matt. 3. 13-17.) That was the never-to-be-forgotten scene. That was the genesis of the Baptist Church. Like the ever-descending Jordan, the Lord of the Jordan, and of John too, not only descended into its waters, but descended into the pitiful depths of sinful human nature, that He might so etherealise the soul, as to lift it once again into the heavenly places to have fellowship with God. The land that cradled the Christ, also cradled the infant Church And from henceforth and forever, will be enshrined in every Christian heart, as the Holy Land, and the joy of the whole earth. 

We must not suppose that every Church was spotless. " There were spots in their feasts of charity." The Epistles indicate these spots in various Churches. But' not withstanding all their imperfections, these New Testament Baptist Churches shone forth with a new light, which told the world that the " Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace." 

The promise of the dawn is often falsified before noon. The clouds appear, the sunshine retires, and instead of a glorious day there is a dismal deluge of drenching rain. Not long after the last of the Apostles had entered into rest, clouds began to appear in the ecclesiastical sky. The emphasis which the New Testament placed upon the spiritual experience of a new birth or conversion " accompanying baptism was transferred to the outer act, with the result that the Sacrament could plausibly be interpreted in a manner foreign to the New Testament " (Principal H. Wheeler Robinson). The transfer of emphasis from the inward experience of the baptised believer to the outer act must have been evident at many baptismal services which otherwise appeared to be perfectly apostolic in character. But as time wore on, the outer act became the principal thing, and the sacrament of baptism was made the means, and not the evidence, of salvation. When towards the close of his life Constantine the Great received Christian baptism, as a means of purging his soul from sin, sacramentarianism was fully established, the priest had triumphed over the pastor, and the outward ceremonial over the New Testament change of heart. The doctrine of original sin that was propounded by Cyprian in the Third Century, and elaborated by Augustine in the Fifth Century, gave parents frightful visions of the contagion of Adam's transgression, and the consequences of that contagion in the spiritual death of their children. If, as it was said, by Adam's sin, we all die, then it seemed reasonable, that by some act of the Church, little children coming into the world should be saved from the evils of Adam's transgression, and given a fair start in life. The baptism of infants was said to be such an act, that would neutralise Adam's sin, and make the children inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. It is quite clear the Church was now off the track. There is no " original sin " in the Bible that condemns innocent children to eternal perdition. There is no baptism in the New Testament for anyone who is not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no evidence in the New Testament that Baptism was ever administered to anyone but believers. Like Baptism, the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper underwent radical changes. Instead of being a simple memorial feast, it became a sacramental rite conferring saving grace upon the participants, and then a sacrificial act by which the priest reenacted the crucifixion and made atonement for the sins of the worshippers. By the magic of the priest the bread and wine were turned into the actual body and blood of Christ, and worshipped. Here again the Church was clearly off the track. In many other things the Church at Rome was different to the New Testament Baptist Churches. The star which shone so brightly in apostolic days had become a cloud, which grew darker and darker, as the centuries rolled on their weary way. Its love of power, and pre-eminence and self-magnification, shown in the Diagram by a cloud of expanding circles, had become so dominating by the end of the Fourth Century, that it is very doubtful if even one of the New Testament Baptist Churches was then anywhere to be found. The eclipse of the Baptist Church was complete. The shining star of Rome had become the great black cloud of Roman Catholicism that spread itself over Christendom, sending its withering shadows into every little sunny corner, where devout disciples of Jesus Christ were endeavouring ' by the Spirit, to obey the truth, and to love one another with a pure heart fervently." 

The darkness disclosed these stars. The darkness called them into being. They would have passed by like ordinary men, had not the condition of the Church called and forced them into conspicuous action. They feared as they entered the cloud, but they feared more the continuance of the cloud, and so they strove hard to dissipate it. They loved their Lord, and were jealous for the honour and simplicity of His Church. Its declensions vexed their zealous souls, and they sought to bring it back into the right path. If the martyr's crown did not adorn the heads of all these men, they were none the less martyrs. They counted not their lives dear unto them. They endured the " slings and arrows of outrageous fortune " as seeing Him who is invisible. The life story of each of these men, that are seen shining in the long dark ages of the Church, would make a thrilling epic. It was a noble struggle against great odds, and though neither was able to disperse the darkness, yet he was able to light up the darkness, and gather around him those kindred spirits that would continue to shine for many following years. 

A.D. 240. Tertullian of Carthage fought splendidly against the beginnings of error, when error looked so much like truth that broadminded men were easily ensnared. 

A.D. 251. Novatian of Rome strove against duplicity and the claims of the Church to administer absolution to the impenitent. 

A.D. 660.The Paulicians strove to restore to the world the pure Christianity of the Apostle Paul. They were cruelly persecuted. 

A.D. 1100.The Albigenses contended vigorously against the corruption of the Church of Rome, and called for a return to the purity and simplicity of the apostolic days. They suffered greatly. 

A.D. 1126. Peter of Bruys fought strenuously against the low moral standard of the Church, and its appal-ling lack of spiritual life. He suffered martyrdom. 

A.D. 1150. Henry of Lausanne, deploring the corruption of the Church, accepted the literal interpretation of our Lord's words in Matt. 10. 5-14, and wandered forth from place to place, carrying a cross in his hand, and preaching penitence with passionate earnestness.

A.D. 1150. The Waldenses, led by Peter Waldo, also accepted the literal teaching of Jesus in Matt. a. 5-14, and went forth denouncing the corruption of the Church and the impious conduct of the clergy. They suffered bitter persecution. But they survived, and to-day they are the oldest Protestant Church in the world. 

A.D. 1226. Francis of Assisi took the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, and endeavoured to bring back the Church to simple faith in the Son of God. So zealous and sincere was he, that he is said to have received miraculously the stigmata of Christ in his hands, and henceforth carried the marks of the Saviour's crucifixion. 

A.D. 1527. Felix Mantz, of Switzerland, endeavoured to effect the resurrection of the Baptist Church from its age-long entombment, and to recover the right of every Believer to act according to the Word of God. His reward was the martyr's crown. 

A.D. 1528. Balthazar Hiibmaier, of Austria, saw the Baptist Church in the grave-clothes of mediaeval customs and superstition, and sought to call it back to life and set it free. He, too, was given the martyr's crown. 

A.D. 1529. George Jacob Blaurock, of Switzerland, like Mantz and Hiibmaier, was the victim of a bigoted Protestantism that appealed to the Bible for its own right to resist the claims of the Church of Rome, but refused a similar appeal to the Bible by those who desired to act more scripturally than they in regard to the ordinance of baptism. The Protestants of Switzerland were intolerant of Anabaptists, and so Blaurock was arrested and burnt at the stake. 

A.D. 1559. Menno Simon, of Friesland, was a great Anabaptist. He saw the Baptist Church as it was and as it should be. He saw it pulsating with its new resurrection life, but he uttered no com-mand to loose it and set it free from the grave-clothes of Medievalism. And as he left it, so it remains in Germany, a mediaeval Church, practising Believers' Baptism, but refusing to call itself a Baptist Church. It is the nearest approach to the Baptist Church which as yet had emerged from the long dark age. These Baptist-like stars were not Baptists in the modern sense of the term, but, changing the figure, they were truly the hidden foundations of the modern Baptist Church. 

From the death of John Wycliffe to the resurrection or rebirth of the Baptist Church, there lapsed a period of 225 years. Separation from the Church of Rome became more and more marked as Wycliffe's Bible was read and seekers after the truth found their way back to Christ. Tyndale and others translated the Scriptures into newer English, and the introduction of printing multiplied both the copies and the readers too. The successive translations that marked the 16th Century fed the fires of Puritanism and led to the formation of Separatist Churches. Separatist movements began as early as the days of Queen Mary, but they were of a negative character, and disappeared on the accession of Queen Elizabeth. Later during Elizabeth's reign Separatist movements began again, but now from the positive point of view, in the endeavour to restore the primitive, individual and self-governing Church, whose members were avowed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and whose supreme Head was Christ Himself. The first of these Separatist Churches was founded by Robert Browne, at Norwich, in 1580 or 1581, and others quickly followed, with Separatist ministers as their pastors. One of these Separatist ministers was John Smyth, of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire. He came out from the Church of England and became the pastor of an independent Church at Gainsborough in 1602. At this time he had not come into the Baptist light. But the following statement by one of his members concerning the basis of this Separatist Church indicates that Smyth was expectant of further development :- " As the Lord's free people they joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the Gospel, to walk in all His ways made known, or to be made known unto them." Soon after the accession of James I, persecution broke out afresh in England, and in the summer of 1608 there was a wholesale exodus of Separatists to Amsterdam and Leyden, in Holland. Smyth and his Church emigrated to Amsterdam. Here the further study of the Bible led him to declare that " infants are not to be baptized," and " Anti-Christians converted are to be admitted into the true Church by baptism." Having arrived at that conclusion, he dissolved the Church of which he was pastor, baptized himself, and then baptized all the members, and with these baptized believers he formed the first modern Baptist Church. That was in the year 1609. This is the beginning of days in modern Baptist history. The distinguishing features of a Baptist Church are very definite. The members are repentant and believing people, who in their baptism give evidence of their salvation by Jesus Christ ; who observe the Lord's Supper in memory of their Lord ; who regard all men as brethren who by repentance and faith accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour ; and who claim absolute freedom in Church matters from State interference, control and support. Smythe died in 1612, and in that or the following year Thomas Helwys, one of the members, led a section of the Church to London, and there formed the first Baptist Church in England. Smyth was a strenuous champion of his religious beliefs, but was most magnanimous in his regard for those who differed from him. He stands conspicuous as the first Englishman who in matters of religion claimed entire freedom from State control and interference. And amongst Baptists he is venerated as their pioneer, who, by the study of God's Word, was led to roll away the stone from the long-entombed Baptist Church, and call it back once again into active life. In the Diagram, Smyth is seen in prayer preparatory to his self-baptism, and the water that fills the baptismal pool is seen coming from the Rock, Christ Jesus. The long, dark night of centuries is passed, the morning has dawned. To God's people with new meaning comes the prophetic word : " Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." 

" There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." (Ps. 46. 4.) 

In India there are 947 Churches, 163,257 Members, 83,008 Sunday School Scholars, 594 Missionaries, and 5,101 Native Helpers. 

In China there are 490 Churches, 49,166 Members, 33,667 Sunday School Scholars, 603 Missionaries, and 2,515 Native Helpers.

In Africa there are 865 Churches, 67,636 Members, 38,161 Sunday School Scholars, 332 Missionaries, and 2,499 Native Helpers. 

The figures of Burma are indicative of strength and prosperity. There are 1,204 Churches, 97,002 Members, 37,000 Sunday School Scholars, 217 Missionaries, and 3,063 Native Helpers. 

This is a special field of the A.B.F.M.S. In this field the Churches have been gathered together into the Burma Baptist Convention, and are now supporting Mission Work in China and Siam. 

The figures of Japan tell their own story of faith and progress. There are 54 Churches, 6,416 Members, 10,533 Sunday School Scholars, 87 Missionaries, and 293 Native Helpers.

Other Missionary fields have yielded most encouraging results. Palestine-Syria has 4 Churches, 77 Members, 479 Sunday School Scholars, 2 Missionaries, and 4 Native Helpers. This is the special field of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and was commenced in 1920. 

In the Philippine Islands there are 117 Churches, 10,093 Members, 10,328 Sunday School Scholars, 34 Missionaries, and 203 Native Helpers. This is the special field of the A.B.F.M.S., and was commenced in 1900. 

Siam has got 4 Churches, 222 Members, 170 Sunday School Scholars, 1 Missionary, and 6 Native Helpers. It is gratifying to all the Missionary Societies when Mission Fields become self-supporting Mission centres. During 1927, Bengal resolved to act independently of the B.M.S., and it is a prayerful hope that other Mission Fields will likewise become strong enough to take over the responsibilities of their own religious life.

The substance of the Mission Crown are the regal trophies of redeeming grace. Choice souls from many lands have entered the Redeemer's Kingdom in succession to Krishnu Pal. They were as hidden treasures in a field. They were ignorant of the truth of God. They were oppressed by the religious customs of the nations and the cruel tyrannies of ages. They groaned as they sat in their spiritual darkness ; they groaned as those who had no hope. Sin was their vexation, and death was their blank despair. But to them the Gospel came as the Light of Life, and they received it gladly. Not only have choice souls found salvation and peace in Jesus. Christ, but hard, cruel, callous, depraved souls have been completely transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and have entered the Kingdom to shine as lights in the world. The miracles of conversion have been wonderful. The raw materials have been turned into fabrics of loveliness, and fashioned into the Mission Crown. But if the substance of the Mission Crown is regal, its decorations consist of the costliest treasures in the Church of the Redeemer. The Crown sparkles with the glittering diamonds of faith, the deep ruby stones of sacrifice, the sapphire of love, the agate of patience, the topaz of devotion, the adamant of perseverance, and the emerald of consecration. These have been the offerings of the Church for the making of the Mission Crown. She has given her best sons and daughters to the work of the Lord. And they have gone forth not counting their lives dear unto them. They have left their homes, and kindred and friends, and all the joys of life, in loving obedience to the Lord's command. Some have succumbed to the deadly malarias almost as soon as their feet have touched the Mission soil. Others have been treacherously done to death by those whom they had gone to save. Others have been worn-out with endless toil and hardships. Others have worked amidst the nerve-wracking alarms of hostile tribes. Others have suffered great privations and want. None have found the work an easy task, for even when they have been well received by the natives, the abject condition of the people, their ignorance, superstition, the putrid running wounds of heathenism, have smitten them with nameless horror from which they would fain fly away, but which they bravely face. And with a courage that knows no hesitation, and a love that never fails, they speak the words of heavenly consolation, they lift the veil of ignorance and superstition, and reveal the Christ of God ; they reach forth loving hands to bathe the open wounds of sin, and with tenderness and sympathy they pour in the oil of Christ's salvation. Such as these will ever be the sparkling jewels of the Missionary Crown. They heard the call, and saw the beckoning hand of Christ, and looking up into their Saviour's face, they softly whispered 

" How can I, Lord. withhold

Life's brightest hour 

From Thee; or gathered gold, 

Or any power ? 

Why should I keep one precious thing from Thee, 

When Thou has given Thine own dear Self to me ? "

They made the great adventure of faith, and though they knew it 'not, have become the polished jewels in the Missionary Crown. 

“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,

Leads to the land, where sorrow is unknown.”   

                                                      —Cowper. 

Scene I. THOMAS HELWYS. Thomas Helwys, who brought the first Baptist Church to England from Amsterdam, was a disciple of John Smyth. He was well connected socially, and could trace his descent back to 1243, through good county families in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. His uncle, Geoffrey, was a merchant tailor, and Alderman of London. His cousin, Gervase, had been knighted, and was soon after made Lieutenant of the Tower. But his high family connections did not save him from the penalties of being pronounced Baptist. Having written expositions of Smyth's doctrines of soul-liberty, he addressed invitations to his fellow Baptists in Amsterdam to " come and lay down their lives in their own country, for Christ and the truth." Helwys, and the members who came with him, settled in Spitalfields, just outside the walls of London, and it was there, in his own house probably, that the first Baptist Church in England worshipped in 1613. Helwys was a man of great force of character, dauntless spirit, and full of religious fervour. As an inscription, in a volume of his last exposition, which he presented to King James I, he wrote :

" The King is a mortal man and not God, therefore hath no power over ye immortal souls of his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them and to set spiritual Lords over them." 

It was a true and fearless utterance. The response of James was to have him arrested and lodged in Newgate Prison. With his arrest the curtain falls upon his life. How he suffered, or how he died, none can say. His wife is described as a widow in 1616. The Martyr's Crown came very early to Helwys. But the Church he brought to London found other leaders, and the doctrine of soul liberty he so fearlessly advocated became the fundamental Baptist principle throughout the world. 

Scene II. ROGER WILLIAMS. Roger Williams, an English lad born in London about the year 1600, was adopted by Sir Edward Coke, and given a most liberal education in Law and Theology. Preferring the Church to the Bar, Williams was admitted to Holy Orders in the Church of England, and apparently given the charge of a parish not far from Chelmsford, in Essex. Very early he developed ideas that put him " out of harmony with the Established Church." What these ideas must have been, his life in New England sufficiently indicates. Amongst the immigrants who arrived at Boston, on the ship Lyon, February 5, 1631, was Roger Williams. He declined the invitation to become the minister of the Church at Boston, because it was connected with the Church of England, but he accepted the pastorate of the Church at Salem because of its " principles of perfect and entire independence of any other ecclesiastical body." Here he began to develop his ideas of soul-liberty, and freedom of conscience in all matters of religion. The authorities were alarmed, and fearing that Williams might follow John Smyth, and become a Baptist, the General Court of Boston, on October 19, 1635, ordered the expulsion of Roger Williams from the Colony of Massachusetts. Williams left the Colony, and after buying a strip of land from the Indians, became the principal founder of the State of Rhode Island. Bible study led Wiliams to the full Baptist position in 1639. In that year, he was baptized at Providence by Ezekial Holliman, and then he himself baptized Holliman and ten others, and formed at Providence the first Baptist Church in America. Williams paid a visit to England, and secured a Charter of Liberty for Rhode Island in 1644. After this he devoted much of his life in preaching to the Indians and defending their interests against unlawful encroachments. Though in 1676 the Council of Massachusetts revoked the order of expulsion, in consideration of the services rendered by Roger Williams to the Indians and to their own State, yet the Apostle of Freedom never returned. He remained loyal to Rhode Island and to the Indians until 1683, when, at the ripe age of 84, he passed into his eternal rest. 

Scene IV. HANHAM WOODS. The first recorded meeting in Hanham Woods dates back to 1658. Though Cromwell was tolerant he did not profess to repeal the laws that bore no heavily on Non-conformists when they were enforced. They were held in abeyance during the time of his Protectorate. And it is very significant that in the very year of his death, the Baptists of Bristol were troubled and driven from their Churches by the old Conventicle Act of Elizabeth. The High Church party in Bristol were ever ready to seize any opportunity to oppress the Non-conformists. The restoration of Charles II, in 1660, gave them the opportunity they desired to persecute their brethren. And the religious history of Bristol for the next twenty-eight years shows how relentlessly they used the power that was put into their hands. There were many secluded spots all round Bristol at that time in which the hunted Baptists met for worship. But the clearing in Hanham Woods was their first and favourite retreat. It was a charming spot, about four miles from Bristol, on the fringe of the old Kingswood Forest, near to the main road to Bath, and not far from the valley and the River Avon, which in times of pursuit they often attempted to swim, in order to avoid arrest. The pastor of Broadmead in 1658 was Mr. Ewins, and the pastor of Pithay Baptist Church was Henry Hynam. Which of these conducted the first service, or whether both participated, we are not told. That must have been a memorable service. It was to this sacred spot they frequently resorted when the meeting places in Bristol were closed. It was here that George Fownes was arrested in 1683, and judging from the description of the place of his last arrest, it was here that Andrew Gifford in all probability was arrested, in January, 1684. And it was this spot that was secured by Andrew Gifford in 1690 as a site for a permanent meeting house, when the long-drawn-out battle for religious freedom was fought and won. And though an impoverished treasury prevented the Church at Pithay erecting a building for many years, they eventually did so under the leadership of Andrew Gifford, and in 1714 the meeting place was opened by the grand old warrior, whose heart must have been overflowing with joy that God had spared him to see that happy day. The old chapel still remains to remind the present generation of those stormy days, and of the first meeting in Hanham Woods. 

Scene V. BEDFORD JAIL. This picture of Bedford Jail is very familiar, and it will ever be sacred to the Christian heart, because it was here, in 1675, that John Bunyan wrote his immortal allegory, " The Pilgrim's Progress." It was a jail upon the bridge, but it was by no means " The bridge of sighs " to this saint of God. There he saw visions, and dreamed dreams, and there the people of his imagination came leaping forth from his pen, evermore to live and walk upon the earth. His was a most triumphant mastery over self and tribulation. The pull of the home-life, with his little blind daughter Mary, must have been very strong to an emotional nature like his, but like the Apostle Paul, Bunyan could say:

" The world is crucified unto me, And I unto the world." 

Bunyan also could have echoed the thought of blind Fanny Crosby, when, at the tender age of twelve, she wrote : 

Oh, what a happy child on I, Although I cannot see ; 

I am resolved that in this world Contented will I be. 

" What lots of mercies I enjoy That other people don't, 

To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot and I won't." 

Scene VI. BENJAMIN KEACH. Benjamin Keach was a Buckinghamshire lad, who was born at Stoke Hammond in 1640, and died at Horseley Down, Southwark, London, in 1704. He was converted at the age of 15, and very early developed a passion for preaching, for which he was imprisoned before he was 20 years of age. At the age of 21 he became the minister of the General Baptist Church at Winslow. While pastor of this Church, and when only 24 years of age, he wrote the " Child's Instructor," a manual for the religious instruction of the young. This brought him into collision with the law, which forbade such publications. He was sent to prison for 14 days. Made to stand in the Pillory at Aylesbury in the open market until one o'clock, and in like manner in the market place at Winslow, wearing a kind of paper cap, with the inscription, " For writing, printing and publishing a schismatical book." The book was then burnt by the public hangman in the marketplace. In addition, he was fined £20, and ordered to renounce his doctrines. This last he never did, and when he was able, he rewrote and republished the condemned book. In 1668 he came under Particular Baptist influence, founded and became the pastor of the P.B. Church at Horseley Down, where he remained 36 years, until he was translated to the Church triumphant. Through the ministry of C. H. Spurgeon, Horseley Down is now better known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Benjamin Keach was the first Baptist to introduce singing into a London Baptist Church. Hitherto Churches had refrained from singing. After this, singing gradually became customary in all the Baptist Churches. Keach was a voluminous writer of the allegorical type, whose books went into many editions, and for more than a hundred years vied with the allegorical works of his contemporary, John Bunyan. " The war with the Devil " went into twenty-two editions within a hundred years, and " The Travels of True Godliness " was revised and reprinted for one hundred and fifty years. But gradually the works of Bunyan obtained the supremacy, and they are the only works in circulation to-day. 

Scene VII. JOHN KNOTT. " John Knott, Blacksmith, by the Grace of God," was the description, the first of four generations of Knotts, gave himself. He was the faithful and courageous champion of Baptist principles in Eythorne, Kent. As member and lay pastor, he served the Church from 1590 to 1660. He was frequently put into the stocks for preaching, but, undeterred by such penalties, he continued to preach the Gospel. He was greatly esteemed for his piety and earnest Christian life. Even the officers who were sent to arrest him would sometimes allow themselves to be diverted from the unpleasant task by accepting the generous hospitality of Mrs. Knott, who would then send them off on a " wild-goose chase " for her husband. And when his furniture was seized to pay the Court fines, the neighbours resolutely refused to buy his goods. The last of the Knott family removed to Chatham in 1780. The Church at Eythorne dates its origin as far back as 1550, but Dr. Whitley says there is no certain evidence of a Church before 1653, when Henry Deane went there as a Baptist evangelist. It is probable that Eythorne was an old Anabaptist centre that came fully into the Baptist line through Henry Deane's evangelistic services. The first Baptist Chapel was a part of the blacksmith's smithy. In 1900 a tablet was erected in the present chapel to the memory of these four generations of Knotts by Lady George Russell, of Liverpool, who is one of their descendants. 

Scene VIII. BROADMEAD CLOSED, 1682-1687. The early years of Broadmead were very stormy. Many times the pastors were thrown into prison, and even elders and members, too, were not . always spared, for many of these likewise suffered imprisonment. The meetings were frequently interrupted by officers, who came to arrest the preachers. Various devices were resorted to in Bristol to frustrate these undesirable visitors. At Broadmead the preacher, elders, and confidential members of the Church were curtained off from others in the Sleeting House, so that if strangers or suspected officers came to the meetings they could not see the preacher, who, hidden among the elders on the other side of the curtain, preached to the whole congregation. Females were stationed at the bottom of the stairway leading to the Assembly Room, and sentinels at the outer doors, who, on the approach of officers, would sign to the females, and they to the leaders, behind the curtain, who would then draw back the curtain, sit down, and commence singing a psalm. So that when the officers arrived, they could not tell who the preacher was. But with all their devices, they did not always elude the vigilance of the officers, and many times the pastors were discovered and taken to prison. Several times, Broadmead, like other Churches in Bristol, was closed. The longest period was that which began on January 1st, 1682, and lasted until April, 1687. The doors were fastened up, and the " window-leaves " were demolished by the rabble. During this long, weary period the Baptist Church in Bristol was kept alive in Conham House, Hanham. For, when writing from Gloucester Prison, the imprisoned pastors of Broadmead, and the Pithay Churches, always addressed their letters to " The Baptist Church in Conham House." Andrew Gifford very cleverly secured his liberty from the prison, but George Fownes, the pastor of Broadmead, was not so successful. He was arrested April 25, 1683, while conducting a service in the woods at Hanham, was committed to Gloucester Jail for six months, and then, on one pretext or another, was detained until he died, on November 29, 1685, after an imprisonment of two years and nine months. The text of his last sermon in the Hanham Woods was, " I suffer trouble as an evil doer, but the Word of God is not bound " (2 Tim. 2. 9). In prison, many of the felons gladly heard the Word, and were reformed by the earliest preaching of Gifford and Fownes. 

Scene IX. ANDREW GIFFORD. Andrew Gifford was the John Clifford of the 17th Century. He was one of the most eloquent and versatile preachers of his day. He was a Bristolian by birth, and very early joined the Church in the Pithay, which is the oldest Baptist Church in Bristol. He was called to the pastorate in 1677, and endured through the stormy time that preceded the passing of the Toleration Act, in 1688, and then during the period of calm that followed. In addition to his pastoral work at the Pithay and at Hanham, he travelled far and near, strengthening the Churches and confirming the members in their holy faith. In 1714 he was instrumental in erecting a Chapel on the site of the old meeting place in Hanham Woods. He died in 1721, beloved by all who knew him. Andrew Gifford was the Scarlet Pimpernel of his time, and resorted to many clever disguises so as to prevent arrest when going from place to place to preach the Gospel . But with all his careful disguises, he did not always escape the vigilant eye of the informer. He was arrested and sent to prison four times in all. The last time he was arrested, he was conducting services apparently in the Hanham Woods. He was convicted and sent to Gloucester Jail for six months, and entered the grim old castle at midnight just as the bells were chiming the hour. At the expiration of his six months, he called the Governor of the prison to his cell at midnight, and asked to be released. " Oh," said the Governor, " we do not open the prison gates at midnight to let prisoners out." " Oh," rejoined Gifford, " you opened the prison gates at midnight to let me in, and you have no authority to keep me a minute after the expiration of six months." There was only one answer to that forceful argument. The gates were opened at midnight, and Andrew Gifford left the prison while the bells were chiming the hour. And it was providential that he did. For within six hours of his release, a post-haste messenger arrived at the prison, with a message from the Duke of York, afterwards King James II, commanding the Governor to keep Andrew Gifford in prison for life. Andrew Gifford was a most successful pastor. The Church was very few in numbers when he accepted the pastorate, but at his death there were between four and five hundred members, notwithstanding all the losses by persecution. 

Scene X. AN ENGLISH REVENUE OFFICE IN 1682. The Conventicle Act of Queen Elizabeth made it illegal for anyone above the age of 16 to absent himself from his parish church or to conduct worship in private houses. Fines of £20 a month were imposed for not attending the parish church. Anyone declining to conform could be sent to prison, and kept there until he gave a written promise to conform, or he might be banished or even put to death. This law was not always enforced, and during Cromwell's Protectorate it was held in abeyance. But with the return of Charles the Second, the law was revived. Fines were imposed, and twelve General Baptists in Buckinghamshire were actually sentenced to death. They were pardoned by Charles II, and the death sentence was never again passed upon any offender under this law. But fines and imprisonment for not attending the parish churches were continually vexing the Baptists during the reign of Charles II. By an Act of 1670, fines of £20 were imposed for preaching in any Conventicle, and persons allowing worship to be held in their houses were also fined £20. The Diagram shows an English Revenue Office in 1682, with its bags of fines. 

Scene XI. FRANCIS BAMPFIELD. Francis Bampfield was a clergyman who resigned his living at Sherborne, Dorset, in 1662, because he could not accept the New Prayer Book. In 1663 he was convicted for taking part in an unlawful assembly at Shaftesbury, and imprisoned in Dorchester Jail for nine years. In prison he met with some Baptists, and accepted the Baptist position, and more, for he became an advocate of the Seventh Day as a Sabbath. On his release from prison he baptized himself at midday in the Avon, at Salisbury, and then proceeded to London, where he organised a Seventh-day Baptist Church in his own home. This was not the first Seventh-day Baptist Church in London, for one had already been organised by a bricklayer named Belcher, and another by a doctor named Chamberlain. But Bampfield's Church soon took the lead, and attracted men from the higher ranks of life. By the second, temporary Conventicle Act, men were compelled to go to the parish church, and, failing to do so, were fined £20 a month, or sent to prison, and could have been banished or even put to death. In 1670, a third, and permanent Conventicle Act made preaching in a Conventicle a punishable offence. The preacher was to pay £20 for the first offence, and £40 for the second offence. And anyone permitting worship in his house was fined £20. It was under this law that Baptists suffered so heavily. Francis Bampfield was one of 8,000 Nonconformists who died in prison during the reign of Charles II. He died in a loathsome cell in Newgate Jail, in 1684. Thomas Delaune and his wife and two children died in the same prison in 1685. They are seen praying with the dying Bampfield. Delaune, who was a Baptist schoolmaster, had been challenged by Benjamin Calamy, a High Church clergyman, to state his convictions, which he did in his " Plea for the Nonconformists." For this he was fined, his goods sold, and he and his family cast into Newgate Jail, where, in 1685, they all died from the ill-effects of their hardships in prison. 

Scene XII. THE EMIGRATION OF THE GERMAN BAPTISTS. In. 1708 a number of German Christians living at Schwarzenan, in Westphalia, were led to become Baptists through the study of God's Word. As elsewhere, the State Church in Germany would not tolerate them. Their position was made very uncomfortable, and when an invitation came from William Penn, offering them a piece of land in Pennsylvania on which to settle, they gladly accepted the offer, and in 1719 they emigrated as a body from Westphalia to America.  They built Germantown, and for a long time spoke and wrote the German language, and though their descendants now use the English language, they still retain many of their old German customs. They call themselves German Baptist Brethren, but do not associate with the other Baptists of America. They have the honour of being the pioneers of Sunday Schools. Fifty years before Robert Raikes started schools in England, these German Baptists had founded Sunday Schools in America. Child labour was being exploited by the Colonists, so that the children had no chance of learning, either secular or sacred things. These Germans gathered the children together on Sundays, and taught them singing, reading, writing, arithmetic, and lessons from the Word of God. As there were Seventh-day Baptists amongst them, this section gathered children in their schools on the Saturday, so that on two days of the week instruction was given to the young. Had these Germans adopted the English language in 1719, it is probable their pioneer Sunday-school work would have been known to the world. But it was lost sight of in the German tongue, and so Robert Raikes is regarded to-day as the pioneer. 

As the first New Testament Church was a Baptist Church, so we may suppose the last, and all the Churches, will become Baptist Churches too. That must be the goal. The whole wide world for Christ, and the whole wide world following our Saviour's example in the waters of believer's baptism. " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9. 23.) This is not to be attempted by force, but by example, and persuasive teaching. This is not to be the triumph of the Baptist Church over other Churches, but the voluntary entrance of all believers into the full practice and fellowship of the Church of Jesus Christ. Christ must have had some divine and solemn purpose in recognising this ordinance, and in incorporating it into His commission to His disciples. One lingers lovingly around the words " Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd." It was the Founder of the Baptist Church who spoke those words. And he was speaking to disciples who had all been baptized. " If there is to be but one fold," we naturally think it will be like the one in which the Great Shepherd was then standing. But we will not argue. We will, with lowly minds, and trustful hearts, take up the Lord's command, and go out to win the world for Jesus. " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28. 19-20.) 

The Temple of Peace is not a Temple made by hands. It is God's Temple. It is the Universal Temple. Swords have been beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks. Nations have ceased to lift up sword against nations. They do not learn the art of war. As there is no one to fear, " every man sits under his own vine and fig-tree," nothing making him afraid. It is a beautiful prophetic picture. No strife, no contention, no competition. The trees of the earth yield their fruits, and their shade for the nourishment and comfort of man. Labour there is, and plenty ; for the land has to be ploughed, and the trees have to be pruned, and many other activities follow in their wake. But the labour is sweet, and the burdens are light, and the days are joyous, because everyone has taken up the yoke of the Lord. In this Temple, the heart sings its songs, indites its prayers, and offers itself in homage to its sovereign Lord, and the Lord, sitting upon His exalted throne, hears the universal chorus, as song blends with song ; listens to the wordless prayers ; and accepting the consecrated offerings, returns them enriched with the glory and beauty of the Lord. The Lord reigns, and the whole earth rejoices. He has dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. The earth is at peace, and it is the " peace that passeth all understanding." 

As Christianity was an illicit religion in the Roman Empire, and its adherents liable to suffer imprisonment and death:, Christians were led to conceal their new religion from strangers and any likely to inform upon them. Very early they adopted a method by which they could recognise one another when they met for the first time as strangers. As the letters of the Greek word for Fish, IXOYM, were the initial letters of " Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour," a fish was therefore adopted as a symbol of discipleship. A Christian meeting a stranger, would casually describe a fish in the dust of the road, or on the wall of a building, and if the stranger was a Christian he would say, " IXOYAION," meaning by it, " I am only a little disciple." But if he was not a Christian, he would not know what the symbol signified, and therefore could not discover the Christian, nor betray him. 

The Pelican sucking blood from her own breast, in order to feed her young, has long been a symbol of self-sacrifice amongst Missionaries. There is no self-sacrifice comparable to those who give up the joys of home and suffer their children to be separated from them, while they continue their ministry in the unhealthy climate, or amongst the untutored savage, which would be fraught with many dangers to their children, if they remained with their parents. The Waldensian is the oldest Protestant Church in the world, and has survived the bitterest persecutions that troubled her members for several centuries. The survival of this Church gives great significance to the symbols of Endurance which the Waldensian Church adopted. The Church of God, like the burning bush, may be in the fire of persecution, but it cannot be consumed. And the Truth of the Church, like an Anvil, will outlast all the hammers of Pope, King, or Mammon, which must inevitably perish on such divine and enduring substance. 

Born at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, August 17, 1761. Apprenticed to a shoemaker, 1777. Led to the Saviour, 1779. and baptized by Rev. John Ryland, October 5, 1783. Ordained to the Baptist Ministry at Moulton, Northamptonshire, August 1, 1787. Wrote his great treatise " An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to use means for the Conversion of the Heathen," 1787-89. Preached his memorable Association sermon on Isaiah 42, 3, May 31, 1792. Subject : " Expect Great Things from God. Attempt Great Things for God." The result was the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society, October 2, 1792. Andrew Fuller was completely persuaded and it was as if he then said to Carey " There is a gold-mine in India, but it seems almost as deep as the centre of the earth." And as if William Carey replied " I will venture to go down, but remember that you must hold the ropes." Carey sailed for India in the Kron Princessa Maria, June 13, 1793. For forty years he delved in the missionary mine of India, and never once returned to England. The first convert, Krishnu Pal, was baptized December 28, 1800. With the help of Marshman and Ward, Carey translated and printed the Scriptures into forty different languages. Appointed Professor of Oriental languages in Fort William College, Calcutta, 1804, and held the position for thirty years. Generously devoted most of his salary to mission and educational work in India. Founded the Serampore College for the higher education of Indians. Carey's work was colossal, versatile, and immensely practicable. Carey's life was earnest, devout, and intensely Christian. He died as he had lived, a humble follower of Jesus Christ. According to the directions in his will, his tombstone bears the simple inscription :-  " William Carey. Born August 17, 1761. Died June 9, 1834. " A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall.’ " 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Immortal Preacher, was born at Kelvenden, Essex, June 19, 1834. Was converted at Colchester, in a Primitive Methodist Chapel, January, 1850. The text of Robert Englen was " Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth " (Isaiah 45:22). Baptised May 3, 1850. First sermon preached in a cottage at Feversham, 1850. Text : " Unto you therefore that believe He is precious " (1 Peter 2. 7). Pastor of Waterbeach, 1851. Pastor of New Park Street, London, April, 1854. Metropolitan Tabernacle opened March 18, 1861. First sermon preached in the Tabernacle, March 25, 1861. Text : " And daily in the Temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ " (Acts 5. 42). Last sermon preached in the Tabernacle, June 7, 1891. Dying Testimony, at Mentone, December 31, 1891 : " ` This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' On that blessed fact I rest my soul. 

" The sun is gone, but round the heavens 

The crimson hues are cast, 

So sweet the memory left behind

When good men breathe their last." 

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Baptist Ministers and Missionaries 57,000 

Members   9,750,000

Sunday School Scholars   6,500,000

Churches   72,750 

And spread over the world there are hundreds of Educational Institutions, such as: Theological Seminaries, Universities, Colleges, Training Schools, and Academies, to equip the young and rising generation of Baptists for their various avocations in life.