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Baptist History in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754-1787 by William L. Lumpkin
Baptists are the most misunderstood and hated Christian denomination. We always have been. For example, most people believe we're protestants. We're not. Protestant churches [Anglican (including Methodists), Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc.] came out of the Catholic Church. Baptists didn't. I admit that we didn't exists as a "recognized" denomination until the Protestant Reformation, but we didn't rise out of it. Besides, even then we were considered a threat and persecuted terribly, a persecution going back a dozen centuries.
As far back as the 2nd Century AD, there were churches practicing what are essentially Baptists beliefs [i.e., authority of the Scriptures, priesthood of believers but no office of priest, local church autonomy, etc.]. The thing that distinguished us most from the larger Catholic Church back then and now is that which gave us our name. Back then, we were called anabaptist or re-baptizers. We got that name because we believe baptism is a biblical ordinance, not a sacrament. The idea of baptizing infants was then and is now foolish to us. The church should be made up of believers who are baptized on their personal profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Babies can't do that. For this reason, we require all members to be baptized "scripturally," even if they had been "sprinkled" by their previous church clergy, especially if it was done while a child. That doctrine prompted our supposed fellow Christians to persecute us then and now.
Lumpkin's book skips over the horrible persecution Baptists endured in the Old Country and begins with our history here in America. The Great Awakening, which brought new life to the Congegationalists churches in New England sparked yet another revival, one that was to last over a century -- the Sandy Creek Revival.
Jonathan Edwards started it all in his Connecticut Congregationalist church with his "Sinners in the Hands of Angry God" sermon, which struck fear in the hearts of otherwise "dead" Christians. Then when George Whitefield came over from England, the revival really kicked off. The "revivalists" were not well-liked by those who tended to prefer things the way they were. These "New Lights" were soon forced to leave their churches. Some started churches of their own, which eventually died out due to tremendous pressure from the state-church authorities. Others found their way into the camp of the Baptists, who were barely tolerated so long as we didn't preach too loudly. Some of these new, "Separatists" Baptists were strongly encouraged to head south, including Shubal Stearns and Daniel Marshall. It's here where Lumpkin's book really begins.
I strongly encourage anyone intersted in Baptist history to read this book. Although the author sometimes mistakenly refers to Baptists as Protestants, and although the hundreds of names, dates and places can be somewhat hard to follow at times, it's good reading, if only for its inspirational value. The men who planted the thousands of Baptists churches that created what became known as the "Bible Belt" were sincere men of God. Their story must be preserved! Please don't let modern historical revisers or apathy keep you from reading it.
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