Revealed anew to a whole new generation of Baptists, this book reveals the true history of the Baptist Church in Virginia. Baptism in order to be right with God. Rejection of Calvinism. In other words, the Baptist Church in Virginia was built by the labors of many men who loved God, and sought to follow His commandments, but many of whom would be labeled as heretics by today's Baptists. The question now stands: Is today's Baptist Church descended from heretics, or were their spiritual ancestors right, and today's Baptists heretics? Don't let modern-day revisionist historians fool you. Read the true story for yourself, written by a man with personal acquaintance with the Baptist pioneers.

The premiere history of the Virginia Baptists, as told by one who was there. R.B. Semple describes the struggles--both physical and doctrinal--of the early Baptist preachers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And what he states may come as a shock to the die-hard Virginia Baptists of today.

In attempting to write a history of the Baptists no one is more aware of the embarrassments surrounding the subject than the author. These embarrassments arise from many sources. We are far removed from many of the circumstances under survey; the representations of the Baptists were often made by enemies who did not scruple, when such a course suited their purpose, to blacken character; and hence the testimony from such sources must be received with discrimination and much allowance made for many statements; in some instances vigilant and sustained attempts were made to destroy every document relating to these people; the material that remains is scattered through many libraries and archives, in many lands and not always readily accessible; often, on account of persecutions, the Baptists were far more interested in hiding than they were in giving an account of themselves or their whereabouts; they were scattered through many countries, in city and cave, as they could find a place of concealment; and frequently they were called by different names by their enemies, which is confusing. Yet it is a right royal history they have. It is well worth the telling and the preserving.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1810 edition. Excerpt: ... ry thing therein contained, nor do we mean to make it, in any refpeft, fuperiour or equal to the fcriptures, in matters of faith and practice; although we think it the beft human oompofition of the kind now extant; yet it mall be liable to alterations, whenever the General Committee, in behalf of the aflt: iations, mall think fit." Reuben Ford and John Waller, were appointed delegates to wait on the General AfTembly, with a memorial. Then diilolved. CHAPTER VI. Containing a History of the General Committee, from their first session, until tfieir dissolution in 1799. Circumstanced as the Baptifts were at this period, it would have been the height of folly, to have diflblved the general aflbciation, without fubftituting fome other aflembly, capable of confulting and deviling meafures, for the benefit of the whole connexion. In moft refpe&s a meeting compofed of reprefentatives from the different aflbciations, was preferable to the general aflbciation. Being a fmall number, they could act more promptly; they would have fewer local matters, and could therefore devote their attention more intently to thofe of general concern; and laftly, there being three other aflbciations now in the ftate, befides the one called the General Aflbciation; thefe could unite in a General Committee, and contribute their aid, in meafures interefting to all. The General Committee accordingly met, for the nrft time on Saturday, October pth, 1784. Delec gates from four afjbciations aflembled. Wm. Webber was appointed Moderator; and Reuben Ford, Clerk. Of the plan of government, the following are the only articles oroper to be noticed. 1. The general committee mall be compofed cflf delegates, lent from all the district aflbciations, that defire to...

A brief, narrative survey of the Baptists in North America over the last three and a half centuries, from their roots in Europe to their present manifestations in contemporary America and the world. The six chapters are organized around five distinctives historically important to Baptists: the Bible, the Church, the ordinances/sacraments, voluntarism, and religious liberty. Concluding with a Chronology and extensive Bibliographic Essay, this is an ideal text for courses in Church History, North American Religious History, or American social and cultural history.

"This book examines the ecclesiological and political networks that John Leland (1754-1833) and other Baptist leaders-among them, Jonathan Going, Luther Rice, Isaac Backus, and Samuel Stilman-created to attempt political disestablishment in Massachusetts during Leland's lifetime. The author contends that historiography that focuses narrowly on Leland tends to distort the very important role he played in the development of religious freedom in the revolutionary and Early Republic period"--

In an astonishing history, a work of strikingly original research and interpretation, Heyrman shows how the evangelical Protestants of the late-18th century affronted the Southern Baptist majority of the day, not only by their opposition to slaveholding, war, and class privilege, but also by their espousal of the rights of the poor and their encouragement of women's public involvement in the church.

Presenting America's slaveholders as men and women who were intelligent, honourable, and pious, this text asks how people who were admirable in so many ways could have presided over a social system that proved itself and enormity and inflicted horrors on their slaves.

Drawing upon the religious writings of southern evangelicals, John Boles asserts that the extraordinary crowds and miraculous transformations that distinguished the South's First Great Awakening were not simply instances of emotional excess but the expression of widespread and complex attitudes toward God. Converted southerners were starkly individualistic, interested more in gaining personal salvation in a hopelessly evil world than in improving society. As Boles shows in this landmark study, the effect of the Revival was to throw over the region a conservative cast that remains dominant in contemporary southern thought and life.