BAPTISTS (sometimes called Antipcdoluiptists, as opposed to Pcdobaptists, or those who advocate infant baptism*). This denomination of Christians refuse to acknowledge any great name as founder of their sect. They trace their origin to the primitive church itself, and refer to the Acts of the Apostles and their epistles as affording,• in their opinion, incontestible evidence that their leading tenets had the sanction of inspiration. When Christianity became corrupted by the rise of Antichrist, they point to the main tenance of their scripture practice among the Cathari and Albigenses and other sects of the middle .ages, who, in the midst of surrounding darkness,• continued to hold fast the apostolic testimony, They sprung into notice in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. They were persecuted under both reigns, but they received freedom to meet for worship from James IL, and complete religious liberty under William III. Ever since, they have diffused their principles extensively iu Great Britain and North America; many of their ministers have doit good service to the cause of science awl literature, and, both as preachers and writers, have taken a position of eminence in society.
The B. hold the plenary inspiration and supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures as a revelation from God; the equal deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the unity of the over blessed Trinity. But, as a condensed view of opinions cannot be expected in this work, it may be as well to state that the denomination are distinguished by almost all the shades of belief which exist in other bodies. They have among them Calvinists both hyper and moderate, also high and low Arminians, diverging off in every variety of shade from a common center. The great body of them in Britain and America hold the doctrine of Calvinism in a modified form; that is to say, they maintain the sufficiency of the atonement for all men: the limitation for which some have pleaded, they consider, in its application. to the shiner by the sovereign grace of God through faith. They maintain the necessity of regeneration and holiness of life as essential to true religion, and that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" and their conduct, in general, will bear a comparison with any class of their co-reli!rionists.
Particular B., so called because holding that Christ died for an elect number, and General B.. who maintain that he died for all men, constitute the two leading sects into the body is divided. English B., in their church order and government, are the
same as Congregationalists, the rite of baptism excepted. Scotch B., properly so called, insist on a plurality of pastors in every church, and the exercise of mutual exhortation by the members in their public assemblies. There arc Baptist churches in England, however, who are Sentch in their order, and English B. in Scotland who are English in theirs. Seventh-day B., we believe, are to he found almost wholly in America, who observe not the first day of the week, but the seventh, as a day of rest. There are. s these divisions, various small associations of B. scattered over Great Britain, Amerdca, and the continent of Europe, whose opinions cannot be gathered up into systematic arrangement, and who would not approve of being identified with any of the sectarian designationg here set down.
The particular tenet which characterizes B. among their fellow-Christians is, that baptism is an ordinance the validity of which depends on an intelligent faith on the part of the recipient. Their views on the matter of baptism may be reduced to twO heads—the subjects and mode of baptism. The subjects of the baptismal rite they hold to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They ground their faith in this matter on the following positions—namely: lit, The Lord in his commission to his apostles associates teaching with baptism, mill limits the administration of the rite to the taught. 2d, The Acts of the Apostles shows how they understood their Master, for they baptized none but believers, or such as appeared to be so. 3d, That the kingdom of Christ as it appears in this world is restricted to credibly converted persons, as is shown in lib discourse with Nicodemus: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and his subsequent statements on to the hour when he emitted his memorable confession before Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world," uniformly proves that its subjects and institutes form a distinct and separate community from theJewish theocracy, which embraced parents and children in nonage in one commonwealth. 4th, They maintain that the ordinance, as explained in the New Testament, always points to a moral and spiritual change, apart from which it were indeed a meaningless ceremony.