Constitutional America

1. Constitutional America Its Dem Baptists, I tell Ya!!

2. Constitutional America • America, According to G K Chesterson, “is a nation with the soul of a church” and “ the only country founded on a creed.” • We are a religious people and that influenced the Constitution. • John Adams: Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other

3. Constitutional America • Gouverneur Morris: “therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.” • James Wilson: Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. • The idea of government and law was founded in their religious heritage. • The idea of federalism was because they were Congregational.

4. Constitutional America • The Congregational idea meant • Local church autonomy • Association rather than denomination. • This became the Baptist Creed. • Baptists in the Colonies and the US • Most people claim Roger Williams. • He did believe as we do. • He was a bit free in his approach to Scripture • I think he was a Congregationalist but he liked Baptist Ideas.

5. Constitutional America • So, how did we get here? • John Smyth (Not John Smith), one of the Puritans who fled England with the Puritans, went to Holland and joined a congregation of Mennonites. • He and his followers became Anabaptists (rebaptizing believers on confession of faith) • And eventually Baptists. He never made it to the New World, but his followers did. • He was Arminian– Christ died for all, but salvation comes from confession. Generalist doctrine

6. Constitutional America • John Spilsbury (1633) established the Particularist Baptist sect in England. • They held to traditional Baptist doctrine, but believed as Calvin did in limited atonement. • The Particularists were true Baptists– baptizing on confession of faith by immersion. • The Generalists followed Mennonite tradition of pouring water over a believer.

7. Constitutional America • Baptist Influence on America • Divided Government • Separation of Church and State • Federalism • Local Autonomy and “Home Rule” • Baptists faced persecution even in America, but • Found a home in Rhode Island.

8. Constitutional America • Baptist doctrine became standardized in two confessions: • The Philadelphia Confession in 1742, which is the most common, is what we believe today. • It has 34 Articles of Faith. • It asserts that the Church has a duty to Sing Praises. • It asserts a doctrine of Election rather than Free Will

9. Constitutional America • Our Doctrine has led current historians to say that early Baptists were Deists. • www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/phila.htm • This is a good text of the original creed. • Baptists spread south into New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, where they found a home. • We eventually spread South.

10. Constitutional America • The American Baptist Convention was mission minded, with • The Home Mission Society • Foreign Mission Society • Baptist Publication Society • Baptists were generally users of the King James Bible.

11. Constitutional America • Baptists, unlike other denominations, moved away from the Apocrypha fairly early in our history. • We could listen to Roger Williams with only mild discomfort: Christians are most spiritually healthy when they walk aware of their insufficiencies (Psalm 143)– Roger Williams, 1643

12. Constitutional America • Baptists split into American and Southern Baptists in the 1850s. Two Issues • Slavery • Local Autonomy. • This division led to the split, which led to the SBC and its organization, • The RBC grew out of this, because even the ABC had rules that limited local autonomy • We are an association, not a convention.

13. Constitutional America • If you go into Fairmont, you will see a sign: • “No New Taxes: Oppose Home Rule” • That is a consequence of us Baptists on American Politics. • The right to vote by all citizens. Baptists. • The Priesthood of the Believer led Baptists to push for expanded voting rights. • We helped create the nation as we know it. • But we also fought against secularization. John Leland (1789) made this case best.