To Follow the Lambe Wheresoever He Goeth: The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1640-1660

by Ian Birch

This book explores the doctrine of the church among English Calvinistic Baptists between 1640 and 1660. It examines the emergence of Calvinistic Baptists against the background of the demise of the Episcopal Church of England, the establishment by Act of Parliament of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the attempted foundation of a Presbyterian Church of England. Ecclesiology was one of the most important doctrines under consideration in this phase of English history and this book is a contribution to understanding alternative forms of ecclesiology outside of the mainstream National Church settlement.
It argues that the development of Calvinistic Baptist ecclesiology was a natural development of one stream of Puritan theology, the tradition associated with Robert Brown, and the English separatist movement. This tradition was refined and made experimental in the work of Henry Jacob who founded a congregation in London in 1616 from which Calvinistic Baptists emerged. Central to Jacob’s ideology was the belief that a rightly ordered church acknowledged Christ as King over his people. The Christological priority of early Calvinistic Baptist ecclesiology will constitute the primary contribution of this study to the investigation of dissenting theology in the period.

Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword by Stephen Holmes
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. “Casting Balls of Wildfire into the bosom of the Church”: The
Emergence of English Particular Baptist Churches to 1660
1.1. From Jacob to Jessey
1.2 Particular Baptist Expansion, 1644–1660
1.2.1. Publishing
1.2.2. Preaching
1.2.3. Disputations
1.2.4. Missionary Evangelism
Summary
2. “A True Visible Church of Christ”: The Contours of
Calvinistic Baptist Ecclesiology
2.1 The Rule of Christ
2.2 A Believer’s Church
2.3 B aptism, Infant Baptism, and Church Membership
2.4 A Gathered Church
2.5 A Visible Church
2.6 A Separate Church
Summary
3. “To follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth”: The Church of King Jesus
3.1. The Forerunner, Henry Jacob
3.2. “Christology” in Early Particular Baptist Confessions
3.3. Munus Triplex Christi and Ecclesiology in Thomas Collier
3.3.1. Collier on Christ’s Priesthood
3.3.2. Collier on Christ as Prophet
3.3.3. Collier on Christ’s Kingship
Summary
4. “A Holy and Orderly Communion”: Theology and Practice
of Discipline among Early Particular Baptists
4.1 The Purity of the Saints in Particular Baptist Confessions
4.2 Church Discipline in Hermeneutical Perspective
4.3 Church Discipline in Early Particular Baptist Records
4.3.1. Occasions of Discipline in Baptist Records
4.3.2. Pastoral Procedure in Discipline
4.4 Theology of Discipline among Particular Baptists
4.4.1. The Authority of the Church
4.4.2. The Glory of Christ
4.4.3. Purity of the Body of Christ
Summary
5. “An Intolerable Usurpation”: Theology and Practice of
Ministry among Early Particular Baptists
5.1 The Choosing of “Meet Persons”: Baptist Lay Ministry
5.2 Offices of Ministry in Particular Baptist Churches
5.3 The Calling of Ministers in Baptist Congregations
5.4 Ordination among Early Calvinistic Baptists
Summary
6. “The Counsel and Help of One Another”: Independency and
Particular Baptists in Association
6.1 The Origins of Particular Baptist Associations to 1660
6.1.1 The Origins of Associations in the Association Records of
the English Particular Baptists
6.2 Theology of Particular Baptist Associations
6.3 Associational Authority and Local Ecclesiology
Summary
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index

250 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2018