Baptists, British and American
While I walked I reflected on a conversation a while ago with a Baptist brother from America. He said that generally in the churches from which he came that Baptists do not consider themselves protestant, feeling that they predate the reformation, had little to do with it, were persecuted by it and owe little to it. They believe that there have always been baptists.
I was thinking about the history of British baptists, partly because of a friend who has to compare the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith with the Westminster Confession. The Baptist Confession owes a great deal to the Westminster Confession - it is a partial reworking of it, thus expressing the Baptists' identification with their protestant brothers and their reformation heritage. Most Welsh Baptists came from this line, I think, and many English Baptists. Errol Hulse wrote a History of the Baptists - it's in a box somewhere.
That set me thinking about creeds. I had read some stuff on Reformation 21, and I thought of how from my youth I can recite the Nicene Creed (especially if I am allowed to sing it), and that this creed serves not only to distinguish trinitarians from unitarians, Arians, etc., but also serves to unite us with all those who have believed, and who now believe in the one who "was begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven..."
I was thinking about the history of British baptists, partly because of a friend who has to compare the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith with the Westminster Confession. The Baptist Confession owes a great deal to the Westminster Confession - it is a partial reworking of it, thus expressing the Baptists' identification with their protestant brothers and their reformation heritage. Most Welsh Baptists came from this line, I think, and many English Baptists. Errol Hulse wrote a History of the Baptists - it's in a box somewhere.
That set me thinking about creeds. I had read some stuff on Reformation 21, and I thought of how from my youth I can recite the Nicene Creed (especially if I am allowed to sing it), and that this creed serves not only to distinguish trinitarians from unitarians, Arians, etc., but also serves to unite us with all those who have believed, and who now believe in the one who "was begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven..."
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