1.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
2.
Baptists
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Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency, salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, elders and deacons, Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity. Historians trace the earliest church labeled Baptist back to 1609 in Amsterdam, in accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christs atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. Thomas Helwys formulated a distinctively Baptist request that the church and the state be kept separate in matters of law, Helwys died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of English dissenters under King James I. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies, in the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening contributed to Baptist growth in both New England and the South. Baptist missionaries have spread their church to every continent, the largest Baptist denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention, with the membership of associated churches totaling more than 15 million. Modern Baptist churches trace their history to the English Separatist movement in the century after the rise of the original Protestant denominations and this view of Baptist origins has the most historical support and is the most widely accepted. Adherents to this position consider the influence of Anabaptists upon early Baptists to be minimal and it was a time of considerable political and religious turmoil. Both individuals and churches were willing to give up their theological roots if they became convinced that a more biblical truth had been discovered, during the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church. There were some Christians who were not content with the achievements of the mainstream Protestant Reformation, there also were Christians who were disappointed that the Church of England had not made corrections of what some considered to be errors and abuses. Of those most critical of the Churchs direction, some chose to stay and they became known as Puritans and are described by Gourley as cousins of the English Separatists. Others decided they must leave the Church because of their dissatisfaction, historians trace the earliest Baptist church back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with John Smyth as its pastor. Three years earlier, while a Fellow of Christs College, Cambridge, reared in the Church of England, he became Puritan, English Separatist, and then a Baptist Separatist, and ended his days working with the Mennonites. He began meeting in England with 60–70 English Separatists, in the face of great danger, Smyth and his lay supporter, Thomas Helwys, together with those they led, broke with the other English exiles because Smyth and Helwys were convinced they should be baptized as believers. In 1609 Smyth first baptized himself and then baptized the others, in 1609, while still there, Smyth wrote a tract titled The Character of the Beast, or The False Constitution of the Church. In it he expressed two propositions, first, infants are not to be baptized, and second, Antichristians converted are to be admitted into the true Church by baptism. Hence, his conviction was that a church should consist only of regenerate believers who have been baptized on a personal confession of faith
3.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
4.
Minister (Christianity)
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The term is taken from Latin minister, which itself was derived from minus. In Catholic churches, the concept of a priesthood is emphasised, many ministers are styled as The Reverend, however some use Pastor as a title, and others do not use any specific form of address. The Church of England defines the ministry of priests as follows, Priests are called to be servants, with their Bishop and fellow ministers, they are to proclaim the word of the Lord and to watch for the signs of Gods new creation. Formed by the word, they are to call their hearers to repentance and to declare in Christs name the absolution, with all Gods people, they are to tell the story of Gods love. They are to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and they are to unfold the Scriptures, to preach the word in season and out of season, and to declare the mighty acts of God. They are to preside at the Lords table and lead his people in worship, offering them a spiritual sacrifice of praise. They are to bless the people in Gods name and they are to resist evil, support the weak, defend the poor, and intercede for all in need. They are to minister to the sick and prepare the dying for their death, guided by the Spirit, they are to discern and foster the gifts of all Gods people, that the whole Church may be built up in unity and faith. All denominations require that the minister has a sense of calling. One of the clearest references is found in 1 Timothy 3, 1-16, moreover he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. And let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children, the churches have three orders of ordained clergy, Bishops are the primary clergy, administering all sacraments and governing the church. Priests administer the sacraments and lead local congregations, they cannot ordain other clergy, however, in some denominations, deacons play a non-sacramental and assisting role in the liturgy. Until the Reformation, the clergy were the first estate but were relegated to the estate in Protestant Northern Europe. After compulsory celibacy was abolished during the Reformation, the formation of an hereditary priestly class became possible, whereby wealth. Higher positioned clergy formed this clerical educated upper class, High Church Anglicanism and High Church Lutheranism tend to emphasise the role of the clergy in dispensing the Christian Sacrament. Bishops, priests and deacons have traditionally officiated over of acts worship, reverence, rituals, among these central traditions have been baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, marriage, the Mass or the Divine Service, and coronations
5.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
6.
Puritans
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Puritanism in this sense was founded as an activist movement within the Church of England. The founders, clergy exiled under Mary I, returned to England shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, Puritanism played a significant role in English history during the first half of the 17th century. One of the most effective stokers of anti-Catholic feeling was John Pym, Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within and were severely restricted in England by laws controlling the practice of religion. They took on distinctive beliefs about clerical dress and in opposition to the episcopal system and they largely adopted Sabbatarianism in the 17th century, and were influenced by millennialism. Consequently, they became a political force in England and came to power as a result of the First English Civil War. Almost all Puritan clergy left the Church of England after the Restoration of 1660, the nature of the movement in England changed radically, although it retained its character for a much longer period in New England. Puritans by definition were dissatisfied with the extent of the English Reformation. They formed and identified with various groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal. Puritans adopted a Reformed theology and, in sense, were Calvinists. In church polity, some advocated separation from all other established Christian denominations in favor of autonomous gathered churches. The Puritans were never a formally defined sect or religious division within Protestantism, the Congregationalist tradition, widely considered to be a part of the Reformed tradition, claims descent from the Puritans. Historically, the word Puritan was considered a term that characterized Protestant groups as extremists. According to Thomas Fuller in his Church History, the dates to 1564. Archbishop Matthew Parker of that used it and precisian with the sense of the modern stickler. In modern times, the word puritan is often used to mean against pleasure, in this sense, the term Puritan was coined in the 1560s, when it first appeared as a term of abuse for those who found the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559 inadequate. The term Puritan, therefore, was not intended to refer to strict morality, a common modern misunderstanding, the word Puritan was applied unevenly to a number of Protestant churches from the late 16th century onwards. Puritans did not originally use the term for themselves, the practitioners knew themselves as members of particular churches or movements, and not by a single term. Precise men and Precisians were other early derogatory terms for Puritans, seventeenth century English Puritan preacher Thomas Watson used the godly to describe Puritans in the title of one of his more famous works The Godly Mans Picture
7.
Anabaptism
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Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in Europe. Traditionally this movement is seen as an offshoot of European Protestantism, Anabaptists are Christians who believe that baptism is only valid when the candidate confesses his or her faith in Christ and wants to be baptized. This believers baptism is opposed to baptism of infants, who are not able to make a decision to be baptized. Anabaptists are those who are in a line with the early Anabaptists of the 16th century. Other Christian groups, like Baptists, who practice believers baptism but have different roots, are not seen as Anabaptist. The Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites are direct descendants of the early Anabaptist movement, schwarzenau Brethren, Bruderhof, and the Apostolic Christian Church are considered later developments among the Anabaptists. The name Anabaptist means one who baptizes again and their persecutors named them this, referring to the practice of baptizing persons when they converted or declared their faith in Christ, even if they had been baptized as infants. Anabaptists required that baptismal candidates be able to make a confession of faith that is freely chosen, the early members of this movement did not accept the name Anabaptist, claiming that infant baptism was not part of scripture and was therefore null and void. They said that baptizing self-confessed believers was their first true baptism, but the right baptism of Christ, which is preceded by teaching and oral confession of faith, I teach, and say that infant baptism is a robbery of the right baptism of Christ. Anabaptists were persecuted largely because of their interpretation of scripture that put them at odds with official state church interpretations, most Anabaptists adhered to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, which precluded taking oaths, participating in military actions, and participating in civil government. Some groups that are now extinct, who practised rebaptism, however, felt otherwise and they were thus technically Anabaptists, even though conservative Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites and some historians tend to consider them as being outside of true Anabaptism. Conrad Grebel wrote in a letter to Thomas Müntzer in 1524, True Christian believers are sheep among wolves, Neither do they use worldly sword or war, since all killing has ceased with them. For instance, Petr Chelčický, a 15th-century Bohemian reformer, taught most of the beliefs considered integral to Anabaptist theology, medieval antecedents may include the Brethren of the Common Life, the Hussites, Dutch Sacramentists, and some forms of monasticism. The Waldensians also represent a similar to the Anabaptists. The believer must not bear arms or offer forcible resistance to wrongdoers, no Christian has the jus gladii. Matthew 5,39 Civil government belongs to the world, the believer belongs to Gods kingdom, so must not fill any office nor hold any rank under government, which is to be passively obeyed. But no force is to be used towards them, on December 27,1521, three prophets appeared in Wittenberg from Zwickau who were influenced by Thomas Müntzer—Thomas Dreschel, Nicholas Storch, and Mark Thomas Stübner. They preached an apocalyptic, radical alternative to Lutheranism and their preaching helped to stir the feelings concerning the social crisis which erupted in the German Peasants War in southern Germany in 1525 as a revolt against feudal oppression
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Universal priesthood
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The exact meaning of this belief and its implications vary widely among denominations. The universal priesthood is a concept of Protestantism. In this way we are all priests, as many of us as are Christians, there are indeed priests whom we call ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name and that is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry. Thus 1 Corinthians 4,1, No one should regard us as anything else than ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God. The Bible passage considered to be the basis of belief is the First Epistle of Peter,2,9, But you are not like that. You are royal priests, a nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, other relevant Scripture passages include Exodus 19, 5–6, First Peter 2, 4–8, Book of Revelation 1, 4–6,5, 6–10, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. In ancient Israel, priests acted as mediators between God and people and they ministered according to Gods instruction and they offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Once a year, the high priest would enter the holiest part of the temple and offer a sacrifice for the sins of all the people, including all the priests. Although many religions use priests, most Protestant faiths reject the idea of a priesthood as a group that is distinct from lay people. They typically employ professional clergy who perform many of the functions as priests such as clarifying doctrine, administering communion, performing baptisms, marriages. In many instances, Protestants see professional clergy as servants acting on behalf of the local believers and this is in contrast to the priest, whom some Protestants see as having a distinct authority and spiritual role different from that of ordinary believers. Most Protestants today recognize only Christ as a mediator between themselves and God, the Epistle to the Hebrews calls Jesus the supreme high priest, who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice. Protestants believe that through Christ they have given direct access to God, just like a priest. God is equally accessible to all the faithful, and every Christian has equal potential to minister for God and this doctrine stands in opposition to the concept of a spiritual aristocracy or hierarchy within Christianity. The belief in the priesthood of all believers does not preclude order, for example, Lutheranism maintains the biblical doctrine of the preaching office or the office of the holy ministry established by God in the Christian Church. To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel, through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel
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Sola scriptura
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Sola scriptura is a Christian theological doctrine which holds that the Christian Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith and practice. However, sola scriptura rejects any original infallible authority other than the Bible, in this view, all secondary authority is derived from the authority of the Scriptures and is therefore subject to reform when compared to the teaching of the Bible. Sola scriptura is a principle of many Protestant Christian denominations. The Catholic Church regards the Apostolic preaching and writing as equal since both came from the Apostles, the Catholic Church describe this as one common source. With two distinct modes of transmission, while some Protestant authors call it a source of revelation. Sola scriptura is one of the five solas, considered by some Protestant groups to be the pillars of the Reformation. Luther said, a simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it, the intention of the Reformation was to correct what he asserted to be the errors of the Catholic Church by appeal to the uniqueness of the Bibles textual authority. Catholic doctrine is based in Church tradition, as well as Scripture, Sola scriptura meant rejecting the infallible authority given to the Magisterium to interpret both Scripture and Church tradition. Sola scriptura, however, does not ignore Christian history, tradition, rather, it sees the church as the Bibles interpreter, the regula fidei as the interpretive context, and Scripture as the only final authority in matters of faith and practice. As Luther said, The true rule is this, Gods Word shall establish articles of faith, Lutheranism teaches that the Bible of the Old and New Testaments is the only divinely inspired book and the only source of divinely revealed knowledge. Scripture alone is the principle of the faith in Lutheranism, the final authority for all matters of faith and morals because of its inspiration, authority, clarity, efficacy. Lutheranism teaches that the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but every word of it is, because of verbal inspiration, as Lutherans confess in the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession identifies Holy Scripture with the Word of God, a mistranslation is not Gods word, and no human authority can invest it with divine authority. Holy Scripture, the Word of God, carries the authority of God in Lutheranism, every single statement of the Bible calls for instant. Every doctrine of the Bible is the teaching of God and therefore requires full agreement, every promise of the Bible calls for unshakable trust in its fulfillment, every command of the Bible is the directive of God himself and therefore demands willing observance. It also teaches that readers must understand the language Gods Word is presented in and it teaches that, consequently, no one needs to wait for any clergy, and pope, scholar, or ecumenical council to explain the real meaning of any part of the Bible. Lutheranism teaches that Scripture is united with the power of the Holy Spirit and with it, not only demands and this teaching produces faith and obedience. Holy Scripture is not a letter, but rather, the power of the Holy Spirit is inherent in it
10.
John Smyth (Baptist minister)
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John Smyth was an early Baptist minister of England and a defender of the principle of religious liberty. Historians consider John Smyth a founder of the Baptist churches, Smyth is thought to have been the son of John Smyth, a yeoman of Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire. He was educated locally at the school in Gainsborough and in Christs College, Cambridge. Smyth was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1594 in England and he preached in the city of Lincoln in 1600 to 1602. Soon after his ordination, he broke with the Church of England and left for Holland where he, in 1609, Smyth, along with a group in Holland, came to believe in believers baptism and they came together to form one of the earliest Baptist churches. Baptists believe that baptism is a sign of obedience to God, likewise, baptism according to the Bible does not save one from sin, but is a believers identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why Baptists reject the notion of infant baptism, because baptism follows, in the beginning, Smyth was closely aligned with his Anglican heritage. As time passed, his views evolved, first, Smyth insisted that true worship was from the heart and that any form of reading from a book in worship was an invention of sinful man. This rejection of liturgy remains strong among many Baptists still today, prayer, singing and preaching had to be completely spontaneous. This idea stemmed from the belief that worship should be ordered by the Spirit, second, Smyth introduced a twofold church leadership, that of pastor and deacon. This was in contrast to the Anglican traditional hierarchy of bishop, priest, and deacon, and the Reformed Protestant trifold leadership of Pastor-Elder, Lay-Elders, third, with his newfound position on baptism, a whole new concern arose for these Baptists. Having been baptized as infants, like the Anabaptists of the Radical Reformation they came to believe they would need to be re-baptized, since there was no other minister to administer baptism, Smyth baptized himself and then proceeded to baptize his flock. It was so dark we were obliged to have torch lights, elder Brewster prayed, Mister Smith made a good confession, walked to Epworth in his cold clothes, but received no harm. The distance was two miles. All of our friends were present, to the triune God be praise. However this account was revealed to have been a forgery connected with the rebuilding of the Baptist Church at Crowle. Before his death, Smyth regretted the fact that he baptized himself, due to some shared views, including the Christology, he began a rapprochement with the Mennonite church. This resulted in his excommunication from the church by Thomas Helwys, Smyth and part of the church joined a Mennonite church, while Helwys and another part of the church returned to England to found the first permanent Baptist church in 1611
11.
Thomas Helwys
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Thomas Helwys, an Englishman, was one of the joint founders, with John Smyth, of the General Baptist denomination. Thomas Helwys was an advocate of liberty at a time when to hold to such views could be dangerous. He died in prison as a consequence of the persecution of Protestant dissenters under King James I. Not a great deal of detail is known about Thomas Helwys early life and he was the second son of Edmund and Margaret Helwys who were descendants of an old Norman family which had significant holdings in Lincoln, Northampton, Nottingham, and York. Edmund had sold his land in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and had taken a lease on Broxtowe Hall in Bilborough parish, Helwys family was on the rise in London. Geoffrey Helwys, his uncle, was a merchant, an alderman. His cousin, Gervase, was knighted by King James before becoming lieutenant of the Tower of London, after completing his studies at Grays Inn in 1593, Thomas himself spent some time in the capital. Thomas married Joan Ashmore at St, Martins Church, Bilborough and they had seven children over the next twelve years and lived at Broxtowe Hall. At some point, Thomas Helwys developed a bond with dissenter John Smyth and he and his wife became committed members of Smyths separatist congregation in Gainsborough. The sixty or seventy Separatists in Gainsborough were allowed to meet in secret in Gainsborough Old Hall by the Halls sympathetic owner Sir William Hickman, inevitably, the Church authorities were unable to tolerate any significant degree of puritan independence. In 1607, the High Court of Ecclesiastical Commission resolved to clamp down on the Gainsborough and Scrooby dissenters. Sometime later in the winter of 1607/08, Helwys, John Smyth, Protestant dissenters in England still faced being burnt at the stake for Heresy. On 11 April 1611 Anabaptist Edward Wightman became the last religious martyr to be burnt, assuming their safety, Helwys allowed his family to remain in England. Unfortunately, his wife was arrested and, after refusing to take the oath in court. It is likely that she was banished after three months in prison and it was in the Dutch Republic that a distinctive Baptist faith first emerged amongst the English émigrés. John Smyth became convinced that baptism should be for Christian believers only, however, at the same time as Smyth started to embrace Mennonite doctrines, Helwys and a dozen or so others began to formulate the earliest Baptist confessions of faith. This confession became the articles in A Declaration of Faith of English People Remaining at Amsterdam in Holland. For Helwys, religious liberty was a right for everyone, even for those he disagreed with, despite the obvious risks involved, Helwys and twelve Baptist émigrés returned to England to speak out against religious persecution
12.
Roger Williams
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Williams was the 1638 founder of the First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Church of Providence. He is best remembered as the originator of the principle of separation of church and his father James Williams was a merchant tailor in Smithfield, his mother was Alice Pemberton. At an early age, Williams had a conversion of which his father disapproved. As a teen, Williams was apprenticed under Sir Edward Coke, under Cokes patronage, Williams was educated at Charterhouse and also at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He seemed to have a gift for languages and early acquired familiarity with Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, years later, Williams tutored John Milton in Dutch in exchange for refresher lessons in Hebrew. Williams took holy orders in the Church of England in connection with his studies, after graduating from Cambridge, Williams became the chaplain to Puritan gentleman Sir William Masham. Williams married Mary Barnard on December 15,1629 at the Church of High Laver, Essex and they ultimately had six children, all born in America, Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. Williams knew that Puritan leaders planned to migrate to the New World and he did not join the first wave, but he decided before the year ended that he could not remain in England under Archbishop William Lauds rigorous administration. Williams regarded the Church of England as corrupt and false, by the time that he and his wife boarded the Lyon in early December, however, Williams declined the position on grounds that it was an unseparated church. In addition, Williams asserted that civil magistrates must not punish any sort of breach of the first table, and these three principles became central to Williams subsequent career, separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of state and church. As a separatist, Williams considered the Church of England irredeemably corrupt and his search for the true church eventually carried him out of Congregationalism, the Baptists, and any visible church. From 1639 forward, Williams waited for Christ to send a new apostle to reestablish the church, years later in 1802, Thomas Jefferson used the wall of separation phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, echoing Roger Williams. Meanwhile, the Salem church was more inclined to Separatism. When the leaders in Boston learned of this, they vigorously protested, as the summer of 1631 ended, Williams moved to Plymouth colony where he was welcomed, and informally assisted the minister there. He regularly preached and, according to Governor Bradford, his teachings were well approved, after a time, Williams decided that the Plymouth church was not sufficiently separated from the Church of England. Furthermore, his contact with Native Americans had caused him to doubt the validity of the colonial charters, Governor Bradford later wrote that Williams fell into some strange opinions which caused some controversy between the church and him. In December 1632, Williams wrote a tract that openly condemned the Kings charters. He even charged that King James had uttered a lie in claiming that he was the first Christian monarch to have discovered the land
13.
John Clarke (Baptist minister)
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Clarke was born in Westhorpe, Suffolk, England. He received an education, including a masters degree in England followed by medical training in Leiden. He arrived in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 during the Antinomian Controversy and he became a co-founder of Portsmouth and Newport, Rhode Island, and he established the second Baptist Church in America in Newport. Baptists were considered heretics and were banned from Massachusetts, but Clarke wanted to make inroads there, following his poor treatment in prison, he went to England where he published a book on the persecutions of the Baptists in Massachusetts and on his theological beliefs. The fledgling Rhode Island colony needed an agent in England, so he remained there for more than a decade handling the colonys interests, all of the other New England colonies were hostile to Rhode Island, and both Massachusetts and Connecticut had made incursions into Rhode Island territory. After the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, it was imperative that Rhode Island receive a charter to protect its territorial integrity. It was Clarkes role to obtain such a document, and he saw this as an opportunity to include religious freedoms never seen before in any constitutional charter and he wrote ten petitions and letters to King Charles II and negotiated for months with Connecticut over territorial boundaries. Finally, he drafted the Rhode Island Royal Charter and presented it to the king and this charter granted unprecedented freedom and religious liberty to Rhode Islanders and remained in effect for 180 years, making it the longest-lasting constitutional charter in history. Clarke returned to Rhode Island following his success at procuring a charter, he became active in civil affairs there. He left an extensive will, setting up the first educational trust in America and he was an avid proponent of the notion of soul-liberty that was included in the Rhode Island charter—and later in the United States Constitution. John Clarke was born at Westhorpe in the county of Suffolk, England and baptized there on 8 October 1609 and he was one of seven children, six of whom left England and settled in New England. No definitive record has been found concerning his life in England, other than the records of his baptism. Clarke was apparently highly educated, judging from the fact that he arrived in New England at the age of 28 qualified as both a physician and a Baptist minister, the difficulty with tracing Clarkes existence in England stems largely from his very common name. Another clue to his education comes from a catalog of students from Leiden University in Holland, the schools ledger of graduates includes, in Latin, Johannes Clarcq, Anglus,17 July 1635-273. It is apparent that Clarke earned a degree from the concordance that he wrote. Clarke arrived in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in November 1637, when he arrived, the colony was in the midst of a major theological and political crisis, usually referred to as the Antinomian Controversy. Members of the Boston Church could sense a difference in the preaching between the original pastor, John Wilson, and that of their second pastor, John Cotton. Anne Hutchinson, a theologically astute midwife who had the ear of many of the women, became outspoken during gatherings, or conventicles
14.
John Bunyan
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John Bunyan was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory The Pilgrims Progress. In addition to The Pilgrims Progress, Bunyan wrote nearly sixty titles, Bunyan came from the village of Elstow, near Bedford. He had some schooling and at the age of sixteen joined the Parliamentary army during the first stage of the English Civil War, after three years in the army he returned to Elstow and took up the trade of tinker, which he had learned from his father. He became interested in religion after his marriage, attending first the church and then joining the Bedford Meeting, a nonconformist group in Bedford. After the restoration of the monarch, when the freedom of nonconformists was curtailed, Bunyan was arrested, Bunyans later years, in spite of another shorter term of imprisonment, were spent in relative comfort as a popular author and preacher, and pastor of the Bedford Meeting. He died aged 59 after falling ill on a journey to London and is buried in Bunhill Fields, the Pilgrims Progress became one of the most published books in the English language,1,300 editions having been printed by 1938,250 years after the authors death. He is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, Some other churches of the Anglican Communion, such as the Anglican Church of Australia, honour him on the day of his death. John Bunyan was born in 1628 to Thomas and Margaret Bunyan at Bunyans End in the parish of Elstow, Bunyans End is located about halfway between the hamlet of Harrowden and Elstow High Street. Bunyans date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 30 November 1628, the name Bunyan was spelt in many different ways and had its origins in the Norman-French name Buignon. There had been Bunyans in north Bedfordshire since at least 1199, Bunyans father was a brazier or tinker who travelled around the area mending pots and pans, and his grandfather had been a chapman or small trader. As a child Bunyan learned his fathers trade of tinker and was given some rudimentary schooling, in the summer of 1644 Bunyan lost both his mother and his sister Margaret. That autumn, shortly before or after his birthday, Bunyan enlisted in the Parliamentary army when an edict demanded 225 recruits from the town of Bedford. There are few details available about his service, which took place during the first stage of the English Civil War. A muster roll for the garrison of Newport Pagnell shows him as private John Bunnian, Bunyan spent nearly three years in the army, leaving in 1647 to return to Elstow and his trade as a tinker. His father had remarried and had children and Bunyan moved from Bunyans End to a cottage in Elstow High Street. Within two years of leaving the army, Bunyan married and he also recalled that, apart from these two books, the newly-weds possessed little, not having so much household-stuff as a Dish or a Spoon betwixt us both. The couples first daughter, Mary, was born in 1650 and they would have three more children, Elizabeth, Thomas and John. By his own account, Bunyan had as a youth enjoyed bell-ringing, dancing and playing games including on Sunday, thought by many to be the Sabbath, one Sunday the vicar of Elstow preached a sermon against Sabbath breaking, and Bunyan took this sermon to heart
15.
Shubal Stearns
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Shubal Stearns, was a colonial evangelist and preacher during the Great Awakening. He converted after hearing George Whitefield and planted a Baptist Church in Sandy Creek, Guilford County, Stearns highly successful ministry was related to the rise and expansion of the Separate Baptists — especially in much the American South. The Baptist faith today is held by the majority of people in the South. His family were members of the Congregational church in Tolland, Connecticut, Whitefield preached that, instead of trying to reform the Congregational church over doctrinal issues, members needed to separate from it, hence his followers were called the New-Lights. Stearns was converted, became a preacher, and adopted the Great Awakenings view of revival and conversion. The New Lights also came to be called the Separates, in part because they pointed to 2 Cor.6,17 be ye separate, ie, Stearns church became involved in the controversy over the proper subjects of baptism in 1751. Soon, Stearns rejected infant baptism and sought baptism at the hands of Wait Palmer, Baptist minister of Stonington, by March, Shubal Stearns was ordained into the Baptist ministry by Palmer and Joshua Morse, the pastor of New London, Connecticut. His church of Separates, by becoming Baptists, were then on to be known as the Separate Baptists. In 1754, Stearns and some of his followers moved south to Opequon, Virginia, here he joined Daniel Marshall and wife Martha, who were already active in a Baptist church there. On November 22,1755, Stearns and his party moved south to Sandy Creek, in Guilford County. This party consisted of eight men and their wives, mostly relatives of Stearns and he pastored at Sandy Creek until his death. From there, Separate Baptists spread in the South, the church quickly grew from 16 members to 606. Church members moved to areas and started other churches. The Sandy Creek Association was formed in 1758, based on the testimony of those who remembered him, Edwards described Stearns as fervent and charismatic preacher who was capable of inspiring the most powerful emotions in his congregation. None of Stearns sermons has survived in writing and his central theme was recounted as discussing the need for followers of Christ to be born again from within. At first churchgoers in North Carolina found this a difficult concept, who never thought of their religion as anything more than external. But, Stearns style of preaching and emphasis on internal conversion were highly important to Southern religion and he became the model for many other preachers who sought to copy his example, down to the least gesture or inflection of voice. Stearns was married to Sarah Johnson, but they never had children, john Sparks, The Roots of Appalachian Christianity, the Life and Legacy of Elder Shubal Stearns
16.
Andrew Fuller
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Andrew Fuller was an English Particular Baptist minister and theologian. Known as a promoter of missionary work, he took part in theological controversy. Fuller was born in Wicken, Cambridgeshire, and settled at Kettering, during his life, Fuller pastored two congregations — Soham and Kettering, which is now the Fuller Baptist Church, He died on 7 May 1815 at Kettering. Fuller is best known in connection with the foundation of the Baptist Missionary Society and his work in promoting the missionary enterprises of the Baptist church began about 1784. The Baptist Missionary Society was formed at Kettering in 1792, William Carey, impressed by Fullers work The Gospel Worthy of all Acceptation, became the first missionary. Fuller took on the work at home, Fuller, a Particular Baptist, was a controversialist in defence of the governmental theory of the atonement against hyper-Calvinism on the one hand and Socinianism and Sandemanianism on the other. Abraham Booth accused him of giving up true Calvinism, Fuller debated theology with the General Baptist Dan Taylor, but they remained on good terms. His book The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation,1785, restated Calvinist theology for Baptists influenced by the Evangelical Revival and his Doctorate of Divinity was bestowed by Brown University, Rhode Island. Fuller wrote, The Gospel worthy of all acceptation, or the Obligations of Men fully to credit, the Calvinistic and Socinian Systems examined and compared as to their Moral Tendency,1794,1796,1802. The Gospel its own Witness, or the Holy Nature and Divine Harmony of the Christian Religion contrasted with the Immorality and Absurdity of Deism, an Apology for the late Christian Missions to India. Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Pearce, A. M. of Birmingham,1800, expository Discourses on Genesis,2 vols. Expository Discourses on the Apocalypse,1815, Fuller also wrote pamphlets, sermons, and essays. John Ryland, in his Life of Fuller, enumerated 167 articles that Fuller had contributed, editions of his Complete Works appeared in 1838,1840,1845,1852, and 1853. Joseph Belcher edited an edition in three volumes for the Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia, and his publications were issued with a memoir by his son in Bohns Standard Library,1852. Deathless Sermon Strict Baptist Reformed Baptist Brackney, William H, a Genetic History of Baptist Thought, With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America. Macon, GA, Mercer University Press,2004, oliver, Robert, History of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1771 -1892, Banner of Truth, ISBN 0-85151-920-2 Piper, John. Andrew Fuller, Holy faith, worthy Gospel, world mission and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Wood, James, ed. Fuller, Andrew. London and New York, Frederick Warne, Andrew Fuller Project — is preparing a modern critical edition of The Works of Andrew Fuller
17.
Charles Spurgeon
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the Prince of Preachers and he also famously denied being a Protestant, and held to the view of Baptist Successionism. Spurgeon was the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38 years and he was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later he left the denomination over doctrinal convictions. In 1867, he started a charity organisation which is now called Spurgeons and he also founded Spurgeons College, which was named after him posthumously. Spurgeon was an author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, hymns. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime, Spurgeon produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills held his listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, born in Kelvedon, Essex, Spurgeons conversion from nominal Anglicanism came on 6 January 1850, at age 15. The text that moved him was Isaiah 45,22 – Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, later that year on 4 April 1850, he was admitted to the church at Newmarket. His baptism followed on 3 May in the river Lark, at Isleham, later that same year he moved to Cambridge, where he later became a Sunday school teacher. He preached his first sermon in the winter of 1850–51 in a cottage at Teversham while filling in for a friend, from the beginning of his ministry his style and ability were considered to be far above average. In the same year, he was installed as pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, where he published his first literary work and this was the largest Baptist congregation in London at the time, although it had dwindled in numbers for several years. Within a few months of Spurgeons arrival at Park Street, his ability as a preacher made him famous, the following year the first of his sermons in the New Park Street Pulpit was published. Spurgeons sermons were published in printed form every week and had a high circulation, by the time of his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions. Immediately following his fame was criticism, the first attack in the press appeared in the Earthen Vessel in January 1855. His preaching, although not revolutionary in substance, was a plain-spoken and direct appeal to the people, critical attacks from the media persisted throughout his life. The congregation quickly outgrew their building, and moved to Exeter Hall, in these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000. At 22, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the day, on 8 January 1856, Spurgeon married Susannah, daughter of Robert Thompson of Falcon Square, London, by whom he had twin sons, Charles and Thomas born on 20 September 1856. At the end of year, tragedy struck on 19 October 1856
18.
James Robinson Graves
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James Robinson Graves was an American Baptist preacher, publisher, evangelist, debater, author, and editor. He was born in Chester, Vermont, the son of Z. C, Graves, and died in Memphis, Tennessee. His remains are interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, though raised in a Congregationalist family, Graves joined a Baptist church at age 15. Contemporary fellow ministers in the Southern Baptist Convention praised his preaching abilities, thomas Treadwell Eaton wrote, We have seen him hold a congregation packed uncomfortably, for three hours and a half without any sign of weariness on their part. This was not done once or twice, but scores of times, denominational leader J. B. Gambrell described one of Graves sermons at a small church in Mississippi as The Greatest Sermon I Ever Heard. Scholars have recognized Graves as an early and chief promulgator of the Landmark movement, the subjects Nashville publishing house, Graves, Marks, & Co, which later became South-Western Publishing, published all of fellow Landmarker Amos Cooper Daytons books. Both were expelled as schismatics between 1858 and 1859 from the Nashville First Baptist Church due to their theological perspectives on their apostolic connection, the Work of Christ in Seven Dispensations Intercommunion Inconsistent, Unscriptural, and Productive of Evil What Is It To Eat and Drink Unworthily. Johns Baptism, Was It From Moses or Christ, sketches of Tennessees Pioneer Baptist Preachers George, Timothy, Baptist theologians Hailey, O. L. J. R. Graves, life, times and teachings Patterson, James A.2012. James Robinson Graves, Staking the Boundaries of Baptist Identity, works by or about James Robinson Graves at Internet Archive
19.
William Bullein Johnson
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William Bullein Johnson was one of the founders of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention in 1821, and later was the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1845 to 1851. Johnson was born on 13 June 1782 on Johns Island, South Carolina, near Charleston and was educated at home in Georgetown, South Carolina by his mother and by private tutors. His mother was of the Particular Baptist faith, believing that the work of Christ only applied to those who were saved. As a child he met President George Washington and Dr. Richard Furman, pastor of the First Baptist Church Charleston and he attended Brown University, receiving a degree in 1804. He had intended to become a lawyer, but was converted during a Baptist revival in 1804 and he married Henrietta Hornby in 1803. One of their eight children who reached maturity, Francis C, Johnson, became a Southern Baptist missionary to China in 1846. After preaching in churches from 1804 to 1806, Johnson was appointed pastor of the Baptist church at Euhaw near Beaufort. In October 1809 he baptized five new converts in the Congaree River in Columbia, in 1810 he was invited to become chaplain of South Carolina College, Columbia. In 1811 he accepted an offer to pastor of the Baptist church in Savannah. He was one of the framers of the constitution of this convention, Johnson was one of nine men who formed the South Carolina State Baptist Convention in 1821. He succeeded Richard Furman as president of the convention and served from 1825 to 1852, in 1830 he moved to Edgefield to become principal of Edgefield Female Academy and pastor of Edgefield Baptist Church. Johnson became the last southern president of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions between 1841 and 1844. In this role he helped found the Furman University, which became Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1859, based in Greenville, towards the end of his life he was chancellor of Johnson University, Anderson, South Carolina. The period between the American Revolution and the Civil War marks a period of increase in the number of institutions providing higher education. In noting the part Baptists played in the movement, historian J. Bradley Creed called it an industry due to the number of Baptist institutions established during the period. W. B. Johnson was among the Baptist leaders in the expansion and his vision for Baptist higher education went further than the more conventional schools of the time, his dream was such a school for women. The earliest schools for women were called seminaries and were places where they were trained as teachers, few of these schools existed when Johnson Female Seminary was founded in Anderson, South Carolina in 1848. Later known as Johnson University, the institution did not survive Johnsons death, the legacy of Johnson University continued, however
20.
William Carey (missionary)
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William Carey was a British Christian missionary, Particular Baptist minister, translator, social reformer and cultural anthropologist. He went to Kolkata in 1793, but was forced to leave the British Indian territory by non-Baptist Christian missionaries and he joined the Baptist missionaries in the Danish colony of Frederiksnagar in India. One of his first contributions was to start schools for impoverished children where they were reading, writing, accounting. He opened the first theological university in Serampore offering divinity degrees, Carey is known as the father of modern missions. His essay, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, led to the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society. ”He translated the Hindu classic the Ramayana into English, and the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Arabic, Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. William Carey has been called a reformer and illustrious Christian missionary, as well as an ideologue with prejudice, hyperbole. William Carey, the oldest of five children, was born to Edmund and Elizabeth Carey, William was raised in the Church of England, when he was six, his father was appointed the parish clerk and village schoolmaster. As a child he was naturally inquisitive and keenly interested in the natural sciences and he possessed a natural gift for language, teaching himself Latin. At the age of 14, Careys father apprenticed him to a cordwainer in the village of Piddington. His master, Clarke Nichols, was a churchman like himself, through his influence Carey would eventually leave the Church of England and join with other Dissenters to form a small Congregational church in nearby Hackleton. While apprenticed to Nichols, he taught himself Greek with the help of a local villager who had a college education. When Nichols died in 1779, Carey went to work for the local shoemaker, Thomas Old, he married Olds sister-in-law Dorothy Plackett in 1781 in the Church of St. John the Baptist, Piddington. Unlike William, Dorothy was illiterate, her signature in the register is a crude cross. William and Dorothy Carey had seven children, five sons and two daughters, both died in infancy, as well as son Peter, who died at the age of 5. Thomas Old himself died soon afterward, and Carey took over his business, during which time he taught himself Hebrew, Italian, Dutch, Carey acknowledged his humble origins and referred to himself as a cobbler. However, the community often knew him by the higher status of a shoemaker. John Brown Myers entitled his biography of Carey William Carey the Shoemaker Who Became the Father and Founder of Modern Missions and they invited him to preach in their church in the nearby village of Earls Barton every other Sunday. On 5 October 1783, William Carey was baptised by Ryland, in 1785, Carey was appointed the schoolmaster for the village of Moulton
21.
Luther Rice
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He also raised funds to establish The Columbian College in Washington, DC. Luther Rice was born March 25,1783 in Northborough, Massachusetts to Amos Rice and Sarah Rice. As a young man at Williams College he became part of a group of young ministers and he sailed to Calcutta, India on 18 February 1812 with Adoniram Judson as a Congregationalist missionary and met with English Baptist missionary William Carey. However, after both Rice and Judson became Baptists, Rice returned to America to break ties with the Congregationalists and he spent the rest of his life garnering support for missionaries and Baptist work, traveling across America by horseback to raise funds and awareness for Baptist missions. Rice also founded Columbian College in 1821, the unit of The George Washington University in Washington. He served as the treasurer of Columbian College from 1826 until his death, the main administration building at GW, Luther Rice Hall, is named in his honor. He died September 25,1836 at Edgefield, South Carolina while traveling through the Southern United States raising funds for the missions and he was interred at Pine Pleasant Cemetery, Saluda County, South Carolina. Although his life was not without controversy, Rices contribution to the support of work was invaluable in the early years of the Triennial Convention. During Rices lifetime, the Triennial Conventions membership grew from 8,000 to 600,000, by the time of his death,15 Baptist universities and colleges had been formed. Luther Rice University founded in 1962 and located in Lithonia, Georgia, USA, was named after Luther Rice in recognition of his work in the Baptist missions and seminary education. Schmeltekopf and Dianna M. Vitanza Guide to the Luther Rice Papers, 1812-1832, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University
22.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, with the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech, on October 14,1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, in the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled Beyond Vietnam. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D. C. to be called the Poor Peoples Campaign, Kings death was followed by riots in many U. S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport, King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, hundreds of streets in the U. S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, King was born on January 15,1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. It was during this time he chose to be called Martin Luther King in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther, King had Irish ancestry through his paternal great-grandfather, as well as African ancestry. King was a child, between an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. King sang with his choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind. His mother was an accomplished organist and choir leader, and she took him to various churches to sing and he received attention for singing I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus. King later became a member of the choir in his church. King said that his father regularly whipped him until he was fifteen, King saw his fathers proud and fearless protests against segregation, such as King Sr. When King was a child, he befriended a boy whose father owned a business near his familys home. When the boys were six, they started school, King had to attend a school for African Americans, King lost his friend because the childs father no longer wanted the boys to play together. King suffered from depression throughout much of his life, in his adolescent years, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the racial humiliation that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure in the segregated South
23.
Billy Graham
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He held large indoor and outdoor rallies, sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today. In his six decades of television, Graham is principally known for hosting the annual Billy Graham Crusades and he also hosted the popular radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954. Graham was an adviser to American presidents, he was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson. He insisted on integration for his revivals and crusades in 1953 and invited Martin Luther King, Graham bailed King out of jail in the 1960s when King was arrested in demonstrations. He was also friends with another televangelist, Robert H. Schuller. Graham operates a variety of media and publishing outlets, according to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. As of 2008, Grahams estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, because of his crusades, Graham has preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone in the history of Christianity. Graham has repeatedly been on Gallups list of most admired men and women and he has appeared on the list 60 times since 1955, more than any other individual in the world. William Franklin Graham, Jr. was born on November 7,1918, in 1927, when he was eight years old, the family moved about 75 yards from their white frame house to a newly built red brick home. He was raised in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church by his parents and is of Scotch-Irish descent, before this, in 1924, when Graham was only five, he focused on the outdoors, but rarely did he walk, as he was running and zooming, constantly. At the same time, he started as a student at the Sharon Grammar School, starting to read books from an early age, Graham loved to read novels for boys, especially Tarzan. Like Tarzan, he would hang on the trees, and gave the popular Tarzan yell, according to his father, that yelling had led him to become a minister. In 1933, when he was fourteen, as Prohibition in the United States ended, Grahams father forced him and this created such an aversion that both avoided alcohol and drugs for the rest of their lives. After Graham was turned down for membership in a youth group because he was too worldly, Albert McMakin. According to his autobiography, Graham was converted in 1934, at age 16 during a series of meetings in Charlotte led by Ham. After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, Graham attended Bob Jones College, then located in Cleveland, after one semester, he found it too legalistic in both coursework and rules. At this time, he was influenced and inspired by Pastor Charley Young from Eastport Bible Church. He was almost expelled, but Bob Jones, Sr. warned him not to throw his life away, At best and you have a voice that pulls
24.
Oliver Cromwell
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Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Cromwell was born into the gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIIIs minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a conversion in the 1630s. He was a religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short and he entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles Is death warrant in 1649 and he was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. Cromwells forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, during this period, a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics, and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651, as a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell, sponsored by military historian Richard Holmes was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Katherine married Morgan ap William, son of William ap Yevan of Wales, Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he use Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. They had ten children, but Oliver, the child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII and great uncle of Henry VIII, Cromwells paternal grandfather Sir Henry Williams was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire. Cromwells father Robert was of modest means but still a part of the gentry class, as a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes, Cromwell himself in 1654 said, I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity. He was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St Johns Church and he went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos
25.
Leith
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Leith /ˈliːθ/, Scottish Gaelic, Lìte, is a district to the north of the city of Edinburgh at the mouth of the Water of Leith. The earliest surviving references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. The medieval settlements of Leith had grown into a burgh by 1833, historically part of Midlothian, Leith is sited on the coast of the Firth of Forth and lies within the council area of the City of Edinburgh. The port remains one of its most valuable enterprises, handling over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo a year in 2003, previous to the bridge being built in the late 15th century, Leith had settlements on either side of the river, lacking an easy crossing. South Leith was larger and was controlled by the lairds of Restalrig and it was based on trade and had many merchants houses and warehouses. This was where ships offloaded their cargoes at The Shore where they were collected by Edinburgh merchants, leithers were explicitly forbidden by statute to participate directly in the trade at the port, to ensure that landed goods were not sold elsewhere. North Leith was smaller but proportionately richer, coming under the jurisdiction of Holyrood Abbey and it was effectively a fishing village consisting of one street, now Sandport Street and Quayside Lane. Burgage plots ran down to the river from each house and this has traditionally been the shipbuilding side of Leith with several wet and dry docks built over time. The first dry dock in Scotland was built here in 1720, a small peninsula of land on the east bank also came under the same jurisdiction on what is now Sheriff Brae/Sheriff Bank. The first bridge to both banks of the river was built in 1493 by Abbot Bellenden, who controlled the church at North Leith. The bridge was a bridge, the revenue supplementing the churchs income. Reputedly Leiths oldest building, it was demolished in 1780 to allow ships to sail further upstream, the earliest evidence of settlement in Leith comes from several archaeological digs undertaken in the Shore area in the late 20th century. Amongst the finds were medieval wharf edges from the 12th century and this date fits with the earliest documentary evidence of settlement in Leith - the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey. Leith has played a long and prominent role in Scottish history, as the major port serving Edinburgh, it has been the stage on which many significant events in Scottish history have taken place. Mary of Guise ruled Scotland from Leith in 1560 as Regent while her daughter, Mary, Mary of Guise moved the Scottish Court to Leith, to a site that is now Parliament Street, off Coalhill. According to the 18th-century historian William Maitland, her palace was situated on Rotten Row, now Water Street. Artifacts from the residence are held by the National Museum of Scotland. In June 1560, Mary of Guise died, and the Siege of Leith ended with the departure of the French troops in accordance with the Treaty of Leith, also known as the Treaty of Edinburgh
26.
Perth, Scotland
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Perth is a city in central Scotland, located on the banks of the River Tay. It is the centre of Perth and Kinross council area. According to the preliminary 2011 census results Perth, including its suburbs, has a population of 50,000. Perth has been known as The Fair City since the publication of the story Fair Maid of Perth by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott in 1828. During the later period the city was also called St Johns Toun or Saint Johnstoun by its inhabitants in reference to the main church dedicated to St John the Baptist. This name is preserved by the football team, St Johnstone F. C. The name Perth comes from a Pictish word for wood or copse, there has been a settlement at Perth since prehistoric times, on a natural mound raised slightly above the flood plain of the Tay, where the river could be crossed at low tide. The area surrounding the city is known to have been occupied since Mesolithic hunter-gatherers arrived more than 8000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles also exist, dating from about 4000 BC, the presence of Scone Abbey, home of the Stone of Destiny where the King of Scots was crowned, enhanced the early importance of the city. Perth became known as a capital of Scotland, due to the frequent residence of the royal court, Royal Burgh status was soon given to the city by King William the Lion in the early 12th century. The city became one of the richest burghs in the country, doing trade with France, the Low Countries and Baltic Countries for goods such as Spanish silk and French wine. The Scottish Reformation also played a big role in the city with the sacking of the Houses of the Greyfriars and Blackfriars, the Act of Settlement later brought about Jacobite uprisings. The city was occupied by Jacobite supporters on three occasions, the founding of Perth Academy in 1760 helped to bring major industries, such as linen, leather, bleach and whisky, to the city. Given its location, Perth was perfectly placed to become a key transport centre with the coming of the railways, today, Perth serves as a retail centre for the surrounding area. Following the decline of the industry locally, the citys economy has now diversified to include insurance. Due to its location, the city is referred to as the Gateway to the Highlands. The Australian metropolis Perth took its name from the Scottish city, Perth is also twinned with Aschaffenburg in the German state of Bavaria. The name Perth derives from a Pictish-Gaelic word for wood or copse, Perth was referred to as St Johns ton up until the mid-1600s with the name Perthia being reserved for the wider area
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Cupar
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Cupar is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes, according to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth largest settlement in Fife, and the civil parish a population of 11,183. It is the county town of Fife, before the council moved to Glenrothes. The town is believed to have grown around the site of Cupar Castle, the area became a centre for judiciary as the county of Fife and as a market town catering for both cattle and sheep. Although written information of a charter for the town was lost. During the middle of the 14th century, the burgh started to pay customs on taxable incomes, which probably meant that royal burgh status was granted sometime between 1294 and 1328. The oldest document, referring to the burgh, was a grant by Robert II in 1381 to give a port at Guardbridge on the River Eden to help boost trade with Flanders. This grant was officially recognised by James II in 1428, Cupar is represented by several tiers of elected government. Cupar Community Council is the lowest and its statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government. Fife Council, the local authority for Cupar based in Glenrothes, is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. The Scottish Parliament is responsible for devolved matters such as education, health, the Cupar area supports three multi-member wards with eleven councillors sitting on the committee of Fife Council. County Buildings on Catherine Street are the headquarters for the east region of Fife Council. Cupar forms part of the North East Fife, electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system, the constituency is represented by Stephen Gethins, MP of the Scottish National Party. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Cupar forms part of the North East Fife constituency, the North East Fife Scottish Parliament constituency created in 1999 is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament and the region elects seven members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency is represented by Rod Campbell for the SNP, currently, Scotland returns two SNP MEPs, two Labour MEPs, only one Conservative and Unionist MEP, and no Liberal Democrat MEPs, to the European Parliament. The 2001 census reported a population of 8,506, which increased slightly to around 8,980 in 2008, the demographic make-up resembles the rest of Scotland. The 30–44 age group formed the largest portion of the population, the median age of males and females was 39 and 43 years respectively, compared to 37 and 39 years for the whole of Scotland
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Ayr
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Ayr is a large town and former Royal Burgh situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is the centre of the South Ayrshire Council area. Ayr is currently the most populated settlement in Ayrshire and is the 12th most populous settlement in Scotland, the town adjoins the smaller town of Prestwick to the north, forming a single continuous urban area with the town. Ayr was established as a Royal Burgh in 1205, serving as Ayrshires central marketplace and harbour throughout the Medieval Period, on the southern bank of the River Ayr sits the ramparts of a Citadel constructed by Oliver Cromwell during the mid-17th Century. Towards the south of the town is the birthplace of Scottish poet Robert Burns in the suburb of Alloway, with the expansion of the railway during the 19th Century Ayr soon developed into a seaside resort. Politically, Ayr is considerably more Conservative-voting than the remainder of Scotland, the town is now marginally contested between the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party. In the UK Parliament Ayr is situated within the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency which is represented by SNP MP Corri Wilson. Ayr is one of the largest retail centres along the south of Scotland and was recognised as the second healthiest town centre in the United Kingdom by the Royal Society for Public Health in 2014, Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horse-racing steeplechase annually since 1965. The town also accommodates the headquarters of the Ayr Advertiser and Ayrshire Post newspapers, the name Ayr can be traced back to a pre-Celtic word meaning watercourse. The name was used before the establishment of the Julian calendar as a name for the River Ayr, Ayr was founded as a market burgh town in 1205 by King William the Lion. It was formerly named Inverair or Inverayr, meaning mouth of the river Ayr, elements of the former name remain present within the Scottish Gaelic name for Ayr – Inbhir Air. Since 1261 annual fairs were held in the town, at this time the town had a recorded population of 1,500 and served as a major port on the west coast. The town was occupied by England from 1301 until 1312 as part of the Scottish Wars of Independence, on 26 April 1315, a Parliament of Scotland was held in Ayr by Robert The Bruce at St. Johns Tower by the sea. Later, in 1652, the town was used as a base, Cromwell established a large fortress along the mouth of the River Ayr and erected walls around the area just south of the Rivers mouth - most of these walls remain present to this day. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Ayr Barracks on the site in 1795. Ayr forms part of the Westminster constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and this constituency includes Carrick in South Ayrshire in addition to Doon Valley, Cumnock and New Cumnock in southern East Ayrshire. The seat is held by the Scottish National Partys Corri Wilson. The Central Ayrshire constituency runs north of the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency and it takes in the towns of Irvine, Kilwinning, Prestwick, Troon and rural Kyle, running into Annbank
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Aberdeen
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Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeens buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of the World or the Energy Capital of the World. The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, the city has a long, sandy coastline and a marine climate, the latter resulting in chilly summers and mild winters. Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from David I of Scotland, transforming the city economically, the traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeens seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world, in 2015, Mercer named Aberdeen the 57th most liveable city in the world, as well as the fourth most liveable city in Britain. In 2012, HSBC named Aberdeen as a business hub and one of eight super cities spearheading the UKs economy. The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years. The city began as two separate burghs, Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don, and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement, the earliest charter was granted by William the Lion in 1179 and confirmed the corporate rights granted by David I. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning, granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the citys Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians. The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was rebuilt and extended, the city was strongly fortified to prevent attacks by neighbouring lords, but the gates were removed by 1770. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644–1647 the city was plundered by both sides, in 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years later it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of Marquis of Huntly. In 1647 an outbreak of plague killed a quarter of the population. In the 18th century, a new Town Hall was built and the first social services appeared with the Infirmary at Woolmanhill in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The council began major road improvements at the end of the 18th century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street, gas street lighting arrived in 1824 and an enhanced water supply appeared in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewer system replaced open sewers in 1865, the city was incorporated in 1891. Although Old Aberdeen has a history and still holds its ancient charter. It is an part of the city, as is Woodside. Old Aberdeen is the location of Aberdon, the first settlement of Aberdeen
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Church of Scotland
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The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. Protestant and Presbyterian, its decision to respect liberty of opinion in points which do not enter into the substance of the Faith. Means it is tolerant of a variety of theological positions, including those who would term themselves conservative and liberal in their doctrine, ethics. The Church of Scotland traces its roots back to the beginnings of Christianity in Scotland, while the Church of Scotland traces its roots back to the earliest Christians in Scotland, its identity was principally shaped by the Scottish Reformation of 1560. At that point, many in the church in Scotland broke with Rome, in a process of Protestant reform led, among others. It reformed its doctrines and government, drawing on the principles of John Calvin which Knox had been exposed to living in Geneva. The 1560 Reformation Settlement was not ratified by the crown, as the monarch, Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, refused to do so, and the question of church government also remained unresolved. In 1572 the acts of 1560 were finally approved by the young King James VI, the son of Queen Mary, melville and his supporters enjoyed some temporary successes—most notably in the Golden Act of 1592, which gave parliamentary approval to Presbyterian courts. By the time he died in 1625, the Church of Scotland had a panel of bishops and archbishops. General Assemblies met only at times and places approved by the Crown, Charles I inherited a settlement in Scotland based on a balanced compromise between Calvinist doctrine and episcopal practice. Lacking the political judgement of his father, he began to upset this by moving into dangerous areas. Disapproving of the plainness of the Scottish service he, together with his Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, the centrepiece of this new strategy was the Prayer Book of 1637, a slightly modified version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Although this was devised by a panel of Scottish bishops, Charles insistence that it be drawn up in secret, when the Prayer Book was finally introduced at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in mid-1637 it caused an outbreak of rioting, which spread across Scotland. In November 1638, the General Assembly in Glasgow, the first to meet for twenty years, not only declared the Prayer Book unlawful, the Church of Scotland was then established on a Presbyterian basis. Charles attempt at resistance to these developments led to the outbreak of the Bishops Wars, in the ensuing civil wars, the Scots Covenanters at one point made common cause with the English parliamentarians—resulting in the Westminster Confession of Faith being agreed by both. This document remains the standard of the Church of Scotland. Episcopacy was reintroduced to Scotland after the Restoration, the cause of discontent, especially in the south-west of the country. To reduce their influence the Scots Parliament guaranteed Presbyterian governance of the Church by law, controversy still surrounded the relationship between the Church of Scotlands independence and the civil law of Scotland
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Parliament of Scotland
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The Parliament of Scotland, or Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The parliament, like other such institutions, evolved during the Middle Ages from the council of bishops. It is first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II, by the early fourteenth century, the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and from 1326 commissioners from the burghs attended. Parliamentary business was carried out by sister institutions, such as General Councils or Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making –, the Parliament of Scotland met for more than four centuries, until it was prorogued sine die at the time of the Acts of Union in 1707. Thereafter the Parliament of Great Britain operated for both England and Scotland, thus creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain, when the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its former members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Later, the bishops themselves were removed from the Church of Scotland during the Glorious Revolution, the Second Estate was then split into two to retain the division into three. From the 16th century, the estate was reorganised by the selection of Shire Commissioners. During the 17th century, after the Union of the Crowns and these latter identifications remain highly controversial among parliamentary historians. Regardless, the used for the assembled members continued to be the Three Estates. A Shire Commissioner was the closest equivalent of the English office of Member of Parliament, because the parliament of Scotland was unicameral, all members sat in the same chamber, as opposed to the separate English House of Lords and House of Commons. The Scottish parliament evolved during the Middle Ages from the Kings Council and it is perhaps first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, described as a colloquium and already with a political and judicial role. In 1296 we have the first mention of burgh representatives taking part in decision making, by the early 14th century, the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and Robert the Bruce began regularly calling burgh commissioners to his Parliament. Consisting of The Three Estates – of clerics, lay Tenants-in-chief and burgh commissioners – sitting in a single chamber, parliamentary business was also carried out by sister institutions, before c.1500 by General Council and thereafter by the Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making –, the Scottish parliament met in a number of different locations throughout its history. In addition to Edinburgh, meetings were held in Perth, Stirling, St Andrews, Dundee, Linlithgow, Dunfermline, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Berwick-upon-Tweed. From the early 1450s until 1690, a deal of the legislative business of the Scottish Parliament was usually carried out by a parliamentary committee known as the Lords of the Articles. This was a chosen by the three estates to draft legislation which was then presented to the full assembly to be confirmed
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Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
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Archibald McLean (Baptist)
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Archibald McLean was a Scotch Baptist minister. Born 1 May 1733, at East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, McLean was the son of a Highlander, as a chilsd he spent time on Mull, where he learned Scottish Gaelic. Sent to school at Cathcart, and then at Cucaddins, he was apprenticed to a printer in Glasgow in 1746, marriage allowed McLean to set up as a bookseller and printer in Glasgow, on a matter of conscience he gave up the business seven years later. After a short time in London he acted from 1767 to 1786 as overseer of the establishment of Messrs. Brought up a Presbyterian, McLean in 1762 joined the Glasites, in 1765 he left them for the Baptists, and in June 1768 he was chosen for pastoral office as Robert. He then toured Scotland and England, set up Scotch Baptist associations, a standard annual journey into England took him to London, Hull, Beverley, Chester, Nottingham, and Liverpool. McLean died at Edinburgh on 21 December 1812, McLeans works included, Letters to Mr. Glas in answer to his Dissertation on Infant Baptism,1767. A Defence of Believers Baptism,1777, the Nature and Import of Baptism, with its Indispensable Obligation. To which is added a Short Sketch of the Church Order and Religious Practices of the Baptists in Scotland, the Commission given by Jesus Christ to His Apostles Illustrated,1786, translated into Welsh by E. Francis, Carnarvon. Essay on the Calls and Invitations of the Gospel, originally published in the Missionary Magazine, a Letter on the Sonship of Christ. To which is added a Review of Dr. Walkers Defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Belief of the Gospel-saving Faith,1791. A Reply to Mr. Fullers Appendix to his book on The Gospel worthy of all Acceptation, particularly to his Doctrine of Antecedent Holiness, the Christian Doctrine of Disconformity to the World illustrated and enforced, Liverpool,1802, first printed in the New Theological Repository. Review of Mr. Wardlaws Lectures on The Abrahamic Covenant and its Supposed Connection with Infant Baptism,1807, a Paraphrase and Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,2 vols. Edinburgh, 1811–17, 2nd edit. revised,2 vols, a collected edition of McLeans works, with a biographical memoir by William Jones, appeared in six volumes, London,1823. The tenth edition of his Miscellaneous Works was published in seven volumes, Elgin, in 1759 McLean married Isabella, youngest daughter of William More, a merchant, with whom he obtained a small property. A Genetic History of Baptist Thought, With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain, macon, GA, Mercer University Press,2004. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Lee, Sidney, ed. McLean
34.
Calvinism
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Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. The term Calvinism can be misleading, because the tradition which it denotes has always been diverse. The movement was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who opposed it, early influential Reformed theologians include Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer, William Farel, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Theodore Beza, and John Knox. In the twentieth century, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B. B, Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, Karl Barth, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Cornelius Van Til, and Gordon Clark were influential. Contemporary Reformed theologians include J. I, sproul, Timothy J. Keller, John Piper, David Wells, and Michael Horton. Reformed churches may exercise several forms of polity, most are presbyterian or congregationalist. Calvinism is largely represented by Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist traditions, the biggest Reformed association is the World Communion of Reformed Churches with more than 80 million members in 211 member denominations around the world. There are more conservative Reformed federations such as the World Reformed Fellowship, Calvinism is named after John Calvin. It was first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552 and it was a common practice of the Catholic Church to name what they perceived to be heresy after its founder. Nevertheless, the term first came out of Lutheran circles, Calvin denounced the designation himself, They could attach us no greater insult than this word, Calvinism. It is not hard to guess where such a deadly hatred comes from that they hold against me, despite its negative connotation, this designation became increasingly popular in order to distinguish Calvinists from Lutherans and from newer Protestant branches that emerged later. Moreover, these churches claim to be—in accordance with John Calvins own words—renewed accordingly with the order of gospel. Since the Arminian controversy, the Reformed tradition—as a branch of Protestantism distinguished from Lutheranism—divided into two groups, Arminians and Calvinists. However, it is now rare to call Arminians a part of the Reformed tradition, some have also argued that Calvinism as a whole stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things including salvation. First-generation Reformed theologians include Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, John Oecolampadius, scripture was also viewed as a unified whole, which led to a covenantal theology of the sacraments of baptism and the Lords Supper as visible signs of the covenant of grace. Another Reformed distinctive present in these theologians was their denial of the presence of Christ in the Lords supper. Each of these also understood salvation to be by grace alone. Martin Luther and his successor Philipp Melanchthon were undoubtedly significant influences on these theologians, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was a direct inheritance from Luther
35.
James Haldane
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The Rev Cpt James Alexander Haldane was a Scottish independent church leader. The youngest son of Captain James Haldane of Airthrey Castle, in Stirlingshire and he was educated first at Dundee Grammar School and afterwards at the High School in Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh. At the age of seventeen he joined the Honorable East India Company as a midshipman on board the ship, after four voyages to India, in the summer of 1793, he was promoted to the commander of the Melville Castle. He started a study of the Bible during his voyages. In May 1797 he preached his first sermon, at Gilmerton near Edinburgh, in the same year he established a non-sectarian organization for tract distribution and lay preaching called the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home. During the next few years he made repeated missionary journeys, preaching wherever he could obtain hearers, originally loyal to the Church of Scotland, his studies of the New Testament led him to leave that denomination behind and work in an independent church movement. Along with his brother, Robert Haldane, and others, James established 85 churches in Scotland and Ireland, churches planted by the Haldanes practised baptism by immersion, weekly communion, and congregational polity. The Haldanes also operated a seminary and were influenced in their principles by other thinkers such as John Glas. In later years he adopted Baptist views and he died on 8 February 1851 aged 82, and is buried in the Haldane family plot in St Cuthberts Churchyard at the west end of Princes Street in Edinburgh. He married twice and had 13 children and he married first Mary Joass on 18 September 1793. Believed to have born on 27 October 1771, she died on 27 February 1819. In 1822 he married for a time to Margaret Rutherford. They had the children, Isabella Mitchelson Haldane, married Richard Burdon-Sanderson in 1853 Daniel Rutherford Haldane. His Observations on Universal Pardon, etc. was a contribution to the controversy regarding the views of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, mans Responsibility is a reply to Howard Hinton on the nature and extent of the Atonement. The Wisdom of God Displayed in the Mystery of the Redemption Clan Haldane James Haldane Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Haldane, James Alexander
36.
Baptists Together
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Baptists Together is the association of Baptist churches in England and Wales. The Baptist Union of Great Britain was formed when the General Baptists, the Particular Baptist Missionary Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen was organised in 1792, under the leadership of Andrew Fuller, John Sutcliff, and William Carey. When the Baptist Union was founded in 1813, it was a Particular Baptist organisation, in 1833, it was restructured to allow for membership of General Baptists. General and Particular Baptist work was united in the Baptist Union in 1891, the Baptist Historical Society was founded in 1908. The basis of fellowship in the Baptist Union is a three-part Declaration of Principle stating belief in Jesus, Christian baptism, the national resource and offices are in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England, having moved from Baptist Church House 2–6 Southampton Row, London in 1989. In 2013 Lynn Green was elected, with no votes against and she was received at the vote by a standing ovation and her inaugural message included I believe that our union is ready for generational change. It is time to cast off the institutional mindset that has served us well in the past, also in 2013, the Union publicly rebranded itself as Baptists Together and introduced a new logo to reflect the change. The Baptist Union of Great Britain consists of about 2,150 churches with a membership of almost 140,000 individuals. Baptists in the organisation are also part of the wider Fellowship of British Baptists, the European Baptist Federation, and it is itself a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services because of its work to promote young peoples personal and social development. This led to controversy, and some charged him with denying the Deity of Christ, payne, Ernest Alexander, The Baptist Union, A Short History. Brown, Raymond, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century, briggs, JHY, The English Baptists of the Nineteenth Century. Clements, Keith, Baptists in the Twentieth Century
37.
Baptist Union of Wales
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The Baptist Union of Wales is a fellowship of Baptist churches in Wales. In 1649 John Myles and Thomas Proud led in the formation of a congregation at Ilston, before Myles emigrated to Swansea, Myles and Proud were connected to the Particular Baptists in London. In 1650 three Baptist congregations held the first general meeting of Baptists in Wales, the national union was organized in 1866. One of the most notable Welsh Baptist ministers was Christmas Evans, the Baptist Union of Wales is a member of the Free Church Council, Cytûn, the European Baptist Federation, and the Baptist World Alliance. Baptist Union headquarters is located at Y Llwyfan at Trinity University College in Carmarthen, in 1995 the Union had 544 congregations with 25,384 members. 146 of these churches held dual membership in the Baptist Union of Great Britain, though English is spoken by most citizens of Wales, many churches hold their services in their native Welsh language. The Baptist Union of Wales is housed at Y Llwyfan, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, College Road, Carmarthen, nonconformism Religion in Wales Albert W. Wardin, Jr. ed. Baptists Around the World. Broadman & Holman,1995 T. M. Bassett The Welsh Baptists, Swansea, Ilston House,1977 Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru/Baptist Union of Wales - official Web Site Shropshire Baptist History Introduction
38.
BMS World Mission
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BMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, the current name was adopted in 2000. The BMS was formed in 1792, at a meeting in Kettering and they were, Thomas Blundel, Joshua Burton, John Eayres, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Greenwood, William Heighton, Reynold Hogg, Samuel Pearce, John Ryland, Edward Sherman, John Sutcliff, Joseph Timms. William Staughton, present at the meeting, did not sign since he was not a minister, the first missionaries, William Carey and John Thomas, were sent to Bengal, India in 1793. They were followed by many co-workers, firstly to India, and subsequently to other countries in Asia, timothy Richard is perhaps one of the most well-known Baptist missionaries to China. Francis Augustus Cox wrote a history of the Baptist Missionary Society from its formation until 1842, BMS World Mission supports over 350 workers in 40 countries. Few missionaries are sent who do not have practical skills to enable positive social, obvious examples of such skills are medical workers and teachers. BMS works in many ways around the world, including planting, development, disaster relief, education, health. Mission personnel can go long-term, mid-term, short-term or as part of a team, bMSs main base of operations is in Baptist House, which it shares with the headquarters of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, in Didcot, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. Protestant missionary societies in China during the 19th Century List of Protestant missionaries in China William Ward Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China BMS World Mission
