General Baptist Confessions PDF Download

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. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... Postscript. that we do own a Magistratical power for the governing of this our English Nation, to be determined in a just Parlia-mentary way; and that we ought to pray for good Governors, and good Govern-ment; that we may live a peaceable and godly life in all honesty; standing ready at all times, as necessity may require, to vindi-cate such a Magistracy or Magistrates, not only with arguments of sound reason, but also with our Estates and Lives; that Righteousness may reigne, and Vice may be overthrown, without respect of persons. finis. 2. The Standard Confession of 1660 The standard Confession of the English General Baptists was drawn up in March, 1660, in the midst of the calumnies and persecutions of the Restoration. It is supposed to have been composed by Thos. Grantham (Taylor, "His. Eng. General Baptists," I, 466), and was subscribed by certain elders, deacons, and brethren from various parts of the kingdom, met in London and composing the General Assembly of the General Baptists and representing, they claim, upwards of twenty thousand members. It was formally presented to King Charles ii July 26, 1660, along with an address (Crosby, ii, igl; Taylor, I, 186f). It was at once published and was often reprinted. It was also "printed on a sheet to be hung up in a frame," and in this form adorned many homes. It was reaffirmed by the General Assembly, 1663, edited by Thos. Grantham in 1678, with " a few explanatory supplements, and the testimony of many ancient writers of Christianity," "to shew, that though the composition of these articles be new, yet the doctrine contained therein is truly ancient." The changes were numerous but unimportant. In 1691 the General Assembly approved its republication "with Brother Grantham's explication...