Isaac Backus and the Second Reformation
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Whatever happened to the Christian Reformation which began under Martin Luther? When did it end? Or better yet, where did it end? Some would say in Puritan England. Others would argue that its terminus ad quem was in the failed Puritan experiment in Colonial New England. But the actual answer lies in the aftermath of the Great Awakening when the Congregational system gave up thousands of people to genuine conversion and a search for a biblical church and, ultimately, the exponential growth of the Baptist denomination.
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Top Highlights
“For some Baptists, tolerating infant baptism also reflected a latent desire for social standing among the Standing Order. After all, the presence of respected members of the local Congregational parish in one’s meetinghouse could prove socially beneficial, as it did with Baptist pastor, John Myles, in Swansea, Massachusetts.[32] Historically, prior to the nineteenth century, Colonial Baptists enjoyed little respect either socially or politically among the ruling classes.” (Pages 25–26)
“By 1740, with the advent of Whitefield’s new birth sermon, the idea of preparation for salvation was essentially dealt a death blow by the new-birth experience.” (Page 169)
“John Cotton. Nearly a century later, the Great Awakening preachers would heartily agree by saying that the new birth was an instantaneous event predicated upon nothing but the preaching of the gospel accompanied by the internal urgings of the Holy Spirit to receive the gift of salvation.” (Pages 162–163)
“Here, two critical aspects of doctrinal change are broached: the love of God and the desire for the salvation of souls. In the sterile environment of the Westminster Confession and the Old Calvinist system, these two ideas were seldom considered.” (Page 231)
“Fuller began to question whether Gill’s system was true to the biblical injunctions concerning world evangelism.[28] This was the initial breach in the door of the extreme Calvinist system.” (Page 222)