List of members in each volume.

List of members in each volume.

England in the mid-seventeenth-century saw the emergence of numerous religious sects, one of which were the Calvinistic Baptists. During this revolutionary era this group was often accused of heresy by their Reformed contemporaries. At that time Hanserd Knollys, one of the key spokesmen for this body, was personally charged with holding heterodox beliefs, in particular, Antinomianism, Anabaptism and Fifth Monarchism. In addition, subsequent historians have been compelled to defend Knollys against the charge of hyper-Calvinism. All of these charges are serious, and consequently bring into question Knollys' basic orthodoxy. This book systematically examines each of these charges against Knollys by looking at them in their broader historical context, and then comprehensively examining them from Knollys' writings to determine if they are indeed valid. Along the way Knollys' soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology receive vital and needed elucidation.

Hanserd Knollys was an important and leading figure of the early Calvinistic Baptist movement in Great Britain in the seventeenth century. His spiritual and pastoral journey began with the Church of England, followed by a brief time in Congregationalism, and finally landing with the Particular Baptists. Knollys was an educated Baptist clergyman, having graduated from Cambridge University, who published over twenty-five works in his lifetime. Zealous for the Lord, previously published by Barry Howson and Dennis Bustin, allows the reader to get a glimpse of the man and his thought. This book, Christ Exalted, allows the reader to penetrate deeper into his thought by reading some of his more pastoral works. In addition, Knollys was taken up with the signs of the times and eschatology. Consequently, the final chapter of this book includes a chapter on his eschatological thought taken from six of his works that address this subject.

Hanserd Knollys (1609–91) was a godly pastor/leader and prolific writer among the early Calvinistic Baptists of the seventeenth century. His life and ministry demonstrated a heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite imprisonment and persecution, he preached the gospel continuously and asked nonbelievers to “open the door” of their hearts to Christ. As for believers, he exhorted them to worship God “in spirit and truth,” live holy lives in both “the form and power of godliness,” and prepare and watch for the imminent second coming of Christ. As his friend Thomas Harrison said, “He was a Preacher out of the Pulpit as well as in it.” It is hoped that this summary of his life and timeless message will spur believers to reach the world with the gospel.

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.

The reintegration of the religious and political aspects of their thought reveals the Baptist movements to have been capable of generating support for both radical groups.".

Protestant Nonconformity, the umbrella term for Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Unitarians, belongs specifically to the religious history of England and Wales. Initially the result of both unwillingness to submit to the State's interference in Christian life and a dissatisfaction with the progress of reform in the English Church, Nonconformity has been primarily motivated by theological concern, ecclesial polity, devotion and the nurture of godliness among the members of the church. Alongside such churchly interests, Nonconformity has also made a profound contribution to debates about the role of the State, to family life and education, culture in general, trade and industry, the development of philanthropy and charity, and the development of pacifism. In this volume, for the first time, Nonconformity and the breadth of its activity come under the expert scrutiny of a host of recognised scholars. The result is a detailed and fascinating account of a movement in church history that, while currently in decline, has made an indelible mark on social, political, economic and religious life of the two nations.