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PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION
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From "A Confession of Faith of Seven Congregations or Churches of Christ in London, Which are commonly (But Unjustly) Called Anabaptists." Published by Backus Book Publishers. P.O. Box 8274. Rochester, New York 14617. 1981. Pages i - ix. http://www.backusbooks.com
It is our pleasure, in the providence of God, to have a part in the republication of the "First London Confession, 2nd Edition, 1646" with "An Appendix" to it, also written in 1646. Our conviction at Backus Book Publishers is that these statements of faith represent two of the most Christ-exalting expressions of Baptist faith and practice that have ever been penned in confessional form. Therefore, we offer these works to those interested in brief expressions of Biblical doctrine that are faithful to the Word of God. At the same time they show historical continuity between us and these respected forefathers. Further, these documents captured the simplicity of the gospel, and preceded the doctrinal aberrations that were brought into later Baptist confessions.
The cover to this publication is taken from a facsimile of the title page to the 2nd Edition found in a volume of the Hanserd Knollys Society series that deals with Baptist confessions. The only changes we have made in these documents are the updating of some of the Old English and the making (without changing the original text) of a minimal number of clarifying annotations, each identified by either an asterisk or words in brackets.
We wish to thank Dr. Gary Long, the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Ministries in San Antonio, Texas, for supplying the clarifying annotations to the Confession and Appendix, and for providing a contemporary preface for this work which includes a brief compilation of historical background valuable in understanding the present worth of this document.
For those who desire a confessional expression of faith for their church which exalts the Lord Jesus Christ in its faithfulness to the infallible Scriptures, we submit the "First London Confession, 2nd Edition, 1646," with "Appendix by Benjamin Cox," for their consideration.
Don Moffitt, Psalm 73:25-26. Backus Book Publishers.
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CONTEMPORARY PREFACE
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It has been well stated by a saint of old that "all people, whether professors of religion or not, have some kind of religious belief — that is, some kind of creed either written or unwritten. A creed is a convenient summary of the religious belief of a particular people at a particular time; and it may be useful as a bond of union between those who profess to believe it, as an aid to the understanding of the Scriptures, and as a safeguard against false doctrine and practice. But let it never be forgotten that . . . the Bible is the only authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, and that each individual has the inalienable right, necessitated by his inalienable personal responsibility, to interpret the Bible for himself."
Why republish the 1646 edition of the First London Confession of Faith — the London Baptist Confession of 1644 — with an Appendix to it also written in 1646? Why not use the Second London Confession — the London Baptist Confession of 1689 — a Baptistic modification of the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1646? Both of these latter Confessions are currently in print and readily available. The principal reason lies in the following explanation. In examining the Westminster Confession of 1646 (including its Larger Catechism) and the Second London Confession of 1689, one will find stress placed upon the law of God summarily comprehended in the Mosaic decalogue as a rule of life for the believer. Conversely, the stress of the First London Confession of 1644, and its second edition in 1646, is upon the New Covenant commands, or law of Christ. In sum, although all of these confessions are in basic agreement concerning the abiding nature of God's eternal moral law, there is a distinctive New Covenant emphasis concerning biblical law in the 1644 and 1646 editions of the First London Confession that is distinctly lacking in the Old Covenant emphasis of the Westminster and Second London Confessions. This distinction in the Confessions has important theological implications in understanding both the role of biblical law as God's ethical standard or rule for the believer's life under the New Covenant, and for understanding the relationship of the law of God to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hence, the contemporary reason for the republishing of the First London Confession.
The question immediately arises, then, "What was the historical reason for Particular Baptist churches adopting the Second London Confession rather than the First?" "Why did the Second London Confession come into being if it was not an improvement over that of the First London Confession?" The answer lies in the circumstances surrounding the decease of the Cromwellian Commonwealth in England after 1658. As the Baptist historian, William Lumpkin, has written, "the Episcopalians had recaptured the machinery and endowments of the Church of England, and they were bent upon achieving uniformity in religion." To suppress dissenting religious groups (namely, the Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists), the Clarendon Code was put into effect in 1661, and the Conventicle Act of 1664 in order to coerce these groups to submit to the religion of the state — the State-Church under the King of England. It was through these suppressive acts that the Bedford Tinker, John Bunyan, was imprisoned. Under the reign of King Charles II, Lumpkin continues,
“the renewal of persecution brought dissenting groups nearer to one another and especially brought Baptists and Congregationalists nearer to Presbyterians. Defiance of the Conventicle Act by the large Presbyterian party, which had been the dominant ecclesiastical group under the Commonwealth, made enforcement of that Act all but impossible. Observing the success of the Presbyterians, other Dissenters were emboldened. Moreover, it was important that Dissenters form a united front, which might be demonstrated by a show of doctrinal agreement among themselves. The very document which would be best proof of this agreement on essential matters was at hand, the Westminster Confession. The Congregationalists had adopted it as their Confession, after making some changes in conformity with their views of the Church, at the Savoy Conference in 1658.
The Particular Baptists of London determined, therefore, to show their agreement with Presbyterians and Congregationalists by making the Westminster Confession the basis of a new confession of their own. A circular letter was sent to the Particular Baptist churches in England and Wales asking that representatives be sent to a general meeting in 1677. By the time this meeting was held, it appears that Elder William Collins of the Petty France Church in London had worked over the Westminster document, altering it as he saw fit.... Essential agreement with the London Confession of 1644 was claimed in the introductory note, but scarcity of copies and general ignorance of that Confession, as well as the need for more full and distinct expression of views than that Confession offered, were given as reasons for preparing the new Confession.
As a matter of fact, there are numerous and marked differences between this Confession and that of 1644 [including the second edition of this first Confession published in 1646]. To be sure, certain phrases were taken from the former confession, and there are evidences that other reminiscences from it were included, but, nevertheless, a number of significant and far-reaching changes were made. Among the innovations were the treatment of such subjects as the Scriptures, the Sabbath, and marriage. Moreover, the views of the church and of the ordinances were altered” [William Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions of Faith, rev. ed. (Valley Forge, Pa: Judson Press, 1969), pp.235-237].
The significance of Lumpkin's observation lies in the fact that the Second London Confession — the London Confession adopted in 1689 — was tailored to the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1646 under the conditions of persecution from the State-Church of England — circumstances which caused it to read almost identical to the Westminster Confession on the law of God and most other areas, except on church government and civil magistrates. Hence, the historical reason for republishing the First London Baptist Confession, namely, to restate the Particular Baptist confessional position, especially on the law of God, before being heavily influenced by the Westminster Confession which was formulated at an Assembly summoned by the state, and in which Particular Baptists were not permitted to attend.
What follows provides a brief historical background to the writing of the 1646 edition of the First London Baptist Confession. Like the first edition of 1644, the second edition was signed by fifteen representatives of seven Particular Baptist churches in London, and by two ministers of a French Huguenot congregation of London. Changes in the second edition not present in the first edition, writes Lumpkin,
“included statements denying free will, communalism, and falling from grace, a stronger declaration in favor of election, and a statement of the doctrine of original sin. This strengthening of the Calvinism of the Confession was due probably to the efforts of two ex-pastors, Benjamin Cox and Hanserd Knollys, who had recently become identified with the London Baptists .... Shortly after the publication of the Second Edition, on November 30, 1646, Benjamin Cox published twenty-two articles in elaboration on some points of the Confession, or, as he called it, "An Appendix to a Confession of Faith." These articles are characterized by an even higher Calvinism than the Second Edition. These articles may never have been published with the Confession, but they found some immediate use .... Before a third and fourth edition of the Confession appeared in 1651 and 1652, respectively, the position of the Baptists as compared with that of 1646, was greatly altered .... The Calvinism of Articles III and XXI was somewhat softened and the article on ministerial support was omitted, in deference to Quaker criticism .... Perhaps no Confession of Faith has had so formative an influence on Baptist life as this one [1644] .... By 1688, however, it had fallen into disuse, the Assembly of that year reporting that copies of it were exceedingly rare” (Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions, pp.148, 150-52).”
Benjamin Cox, a son of a Church of England Bishop, who later ministered at Bedford and came to strong Particular Baptist convictions, disputed with the Puritan divine, Richard Baxter, over infant baptism. A man of reputation and great learning, he became, writes Crosby, "a model of his religion from the Scriptures only" [Thomas Crosby, The History of the English Baptists, 4 vols. (London: 1738-40; reprint ed., 4 vols. in two, Lafayette, Indiana: Church History Research and Archives, n.d.), 1:353]. But his rejection of infant baptism hindered him from promoting reformation in the established church "and prejudiced those divines against him who were at the head of ecclesiastical affairs" (Crosby, Ibid., 1:353). After disputing with Baxter — a disputation initiated by Baxter — he came as an elderly minister to London in 1645 to preach, and there his writing against the baptism of infants and other writings were published. In 1646 he presented the second edition of the London Baptist Confession to Parliament, subscribing his name to it on behalf of one of the seven churches in London. In the same year, on November 30th, he published twenty-two articles as an appendix to that Confession.
It is a privilege to have a part in seeing these two ancient and, until recently, difficult to obtain, Particular Baptist documents republished. Faithfulness to the original texts has been sought with modifications only in modern English spelling, capitalization, and uniformity in abbreviations of books of the Bible. The text of the Second Edition of the First London Confession is found in Appendix II to Volume I of Crosby's History of the English Baptists. The text of the 1646 Appendix by Cox is that of a copy of the original Appendix located in the microfilm archives at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
So devotedly do these two creedal statements exude the fragrance of Christ that they have been adopted with minimal annotations by the church which the writer of this preface serves as pastor as a fair, brief expression of its finite confessional understanding of the Holy Bible. At the same time it is affirmed that the Holy Bible, and it alone, has infallible authority for faith and practice. The few annotations to the Confession and the Appendix are identified by words or phrases contained in brackets or by asterisk footnotes, also in brackets. They are made to prevent misunderstanding in doctrinal areas that need clarifying for the church today. It is the prayer of this writer that the republishing of these two documents will be used to help the Christian and the Church to walk in godliness and peace according to the New Covenant rule of Christ (Gal.6:14-16).
Gary D. Long
San Antonio, Texas
October, 1980
"A Confession of Faith of Seven Congregations or Churches of Christ in London, Which are commonly (But Unjustly) Called Anabaptists." Published by Backus Book Publishers. P.O. Box 8274. Rochester, New York 14617. 1981. Pages i - ix. http://www.backusbooks.com