Hassell On Strict Baptists

In concluding this short series on the "Strict" or "Gospel Standard" Baptists and their belief regarding means in regeneration or rebirth, the predestination of all things, and perseverance, I want to give citations from a leading PB minister.

In "Hassell's Church History" we read this about William Huntington:

"In 1813 died William Huntington (born in 1744). He was of low origin, and very poor, ignorant and dissipated; his occupation was that of a coal-heaver. He was converted suddenly and wonderfully, and became a Calvinistic Methodist preacher—a large chapel in London being built for his use. He had an extraordinary tact for spiritualizing everything; and seemed to obtain nearly all the bodily necessities and comforts for which he prayed. His numerous writings are esteemed by many sound English and American Baptists as the most deeply experimental and spiritual of any since the days of the Apostles. He appended S. S. (Sinner Saved) to his name, as a contrast to the unscriptural ecclesiastical title D. D. (Doctor of Divinity)." (chapter 19)

First of all, Huntington was never a Methodist! He was accused at first of being such, before he became a preacher or a Christian, of being such (because of his enthusiasm) in seeking the Lord, but he was not. Huntington actually preached against the Methodists, believing them all to be lost! Further, one wonders how so many Hardshells could enjoy his "deeply experimental and spiritual" writings and yet reject what he taught about effectual calling, predestination, and perseverance of saints.

Wrote Hassell:

"There are three classes of Strict Baptists in England, represented respectively by the “Gospel Herald,” established in 1833; the “Gospel Standard,” established in 1835; and the “Earthen Vessel,” established in 1843. They are all Calvinists and Close Communionists; they do not exact rebaptism on the part of members that join them from other “churches,” though they require a relation of Christian experience; they do not practice feet-washing as a literal observance in the churches; they all have Sunday Schools, in which they teach how to read, and explain the Scriptures, but they reject the idea that the Sunday School is “a nursery of the church” or a substitute for the Holy Spirit (isn't Hassell here feeling reluctant to condemn the Sunday School practice of the Strict Baptists?); they all have Relief Societies for the Christian poor; and all contribute to the “Trinitarian Bible Society.” The “Gospel Herald” class of Strict Baptists also have Associations, and Tract and Missionary Societies. The “Gospel Standard” Strict Baptists most nearly of all the people in England resemble the Old School or Primitive Baptists in the United States. Their Articles of Faith are substantially the same as ours—are thoroughly sound, spiritual, and experimental, insisting, in the strongest language, upon the doctrine of salvation by sovereign, discriminating and almighty grace from beginning to end, and upon the necessity of adorning the doctrine of God our Savior with a godly walk and conversation, humility and brotherly love, and closing with these words: “And for every blessing and favor, both temporal and spiritual, we, who are as deserving of hell as the vilest of the vile, desire to ascribe all the praise to the glory of the grace of a Triune God.” They open their pulpits to all who subscribe to all their Articles of Faith, whether they are Baptists or not. They utterly condemn Theological Seminaries. They have, and sustain by voluntary contributions, the “Gospel Standard Aid Society” for the relief of aged and infirm Strict Baptist ministers and their widows; and the “Gospel Standard Poor Relief Society,” for the relief of afflicted and needy Strict Baptist ministers of any age, and of needy Strict Baptist members over sixty years of age. (Again, is Hassell not sympathetic with this practice? If an "Arminian" or "Missionary" Baptist practice the same thing, Hassell would no doubt condemn it thoroughly) One of their leading members writes me: “We do not profess to have religious Associations, as the Duty-Faith Baptists have. Neither do we send out missionaries, as we cannot afford to do so; and we do not unite with the Baptist Missionary Society, as the ministers are Duty-Faith men [that is, such as declare faith to be a duty, instead of a gift]. We have no Society for the distribution of tracts, though individuals amongst us often issue tracts or leaflets in onr letters.” Among the leading ministers of the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists have been William Gadsby, John Warburton, John Kershaw, John M’Kensie and J. C. Philpot. From the Memoirs of Gadsby and Philpot I will present a few interesting facts."

Does he mention the fact that they believed in 1) means in rebirth? 2) perseverance in faith assured for all the elect? 3) The predestination of all things? No, he does not. Why not mention these things? He speaks of how "like" one faction of the Strict Baptists are to the Hardshells, and yet, really, there is much more that is "unlike."

Wrote Hassell about Gadsby:

"William Gadsby (1773-1844) was a member of a family containing fourteen children, and, when young, he was very poor, illiterate, and mischievous. He was first apprenticed to a ribbon-weaver and then to a stocking-weaver. He was converted in his eighteenth year, baptized when twenty-one, married when twenty-three, and began preaching when twenty-five years of age. He had an original and powerful mind, and was a bold and uncompromising defender of the doctrine of the Trinity and of predestination and election; though he maintained with James (James 1:13) that God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man, and he declared that making God the author of sin was a diabolical doctrine. He considered and often publicly declared Andrew Fuller the greatest enemy that the church of God ever had, as Fuller’s sentiments were so much cloaked with sheep’s clothing. When informed that a meeting of dissenting ministers had decided that the best method to further the gospel was to preach in such a way that the people could not discern whether they preached free-will or free grace, he declared that Satan was the president of that meeting. He was pastor of the Strict Particular Baptist Church in Manchester from 1803 till his death. He planted forty Baptist Churches in four counties, preached from six to eight times a week, and during his life traveled more than 60,000 miles, a great deal of the distance on foot, for the purpose of preaching. He received from five to twelve hundred dollars a year, besides numerous presents; and he gave away four or five hundred dollars a year to the poor and afflicted, who have seldom had so active and devoted a friend; and yet one of his troubles in his last days was that he had done so little for the poor. In 1805 he wrote the “Everlasting Task for Arminians.” He was editor of the “Gospel Standard” from its foundation in 1835 till his death; and he wrote twenty-two works, some of which have been widely circulated. His character was irreproachable. Like Huntington, he maintained that the Gospel, and not the Law, is the rule of life for the believer; and for this he was stigmatized and persecuted as an Antinomian."

Gadsby has been claimed by the Hardshells as "one of them." Many churches have used "Gadsby's Hymnal" for many years. But, do they not know that he believed in means in rebirth, the predestination of all things, and the perseverance of the saints?

Wrote Hassell about Philpot:

"Joseph Charles Philpot (1802-69) was descended by both parents from Huguenot or French Calvinistic Protestant families. His health was always delicate. He was a distinguished graduate and fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University. In 1827, while acting as the private tutor of the sons of a wealthy gentleman in Ireland, the Lord sent upon him grievous affliction, and poured upon him the Spirit of grace and supplications, taught him his sinfulness, and blessed him with a sweet hope in Christ. Returning to Oxford, he met, though still an Episcopalian, with contempt and persecution because of his inward, spiritual religion; so he left the University, and from 1828 to 1835 he was curate of Chislehampton and Stadhampton near Oxford. At this time “it was his custom on Sunday before the morning service to spend some time in the Sunday School, teaching the children the word of God, and then walk with them to meeting, where he preached extemporaneously about an hour; after the afternoon service he again went to the school and had the children assembled all around him to hear what they remembered of the sermon, and to explain to them what they could not understand of it, and then dismissed them with prayer." 

What in the world is wrong with teaching the Bible to children on Sunday?

Hassell continued:

"But becoming satisfied of the great errors of the Establishment, he seceded from the “Church of England” in 1835, and left his income from the “Church,” and resigned his University fellowship, giving up every worldly advantage for conscience’s sake. “Like Abraham, he went forth, not knowing whither he went, but counting, with Moses, the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, and little foreseeing either what the Lord in His providence would do for him, or in His grace do by him.” About six months afterward he was baptized by Mr. John Warburton into the fellowship of the Strict Baptist Church at Allington. From 1838 to 1864 he was pastor of the two Strict Baptist Churches at Stamford and Oakham; and from 1849 to 1869 editor of the “Gospel Standard,” a very laborious and responsible position, that monthly magazine having a circulation of about 10,000 copies. He spent an hour every morning reading his Hebrew Bible, and an hour every evening reading his Greek Testament, greatly enjoying these moments; and he appreciated the writings of John Owen (especially his voluminous Commentary on the Hebrews) and of William Huntington, particularly the latter, as the most spiritual and profitable since the close of the canon of inspiration."

 Hassell continued:

"He was more of an experimental than a doctrinal preacher. Viewing religion as a human body, he considered “the doctrines of the gospel the bones, experience the flesh, and the Holy Spirit the life of both bones and flesh. The dead Calvinists,” said he, “have the bones without the flesh—a dry skeleton; the Arminians have the flesh without the bones—a shapeless and unsupported mass; and the daily experimentalists have the bones and flesh without life—a corpse. But the living family of God have bones and flesh and life; for they have truth in doctrine, truth in experience, and truth in life and power; and thus religion with them is a living body.” 

It seems that Philpot, like many of the English Particular Baptists, and like most of the first generation Hardshells, believed that all the elect and called would be kept from serious doctrinal error. Notice that he says that "the living family of God," meaning all of them as a class, have these characteristics - "they have truth in doctrine."

Hassell continued:

"He was a strong and scriptural advocate of the eternal Sonship of Christ and of the Three-Oneness of Jehovah, and of the doctrine of predestination. “I fully believe,” says he, “that the entrance of sin into the world, and of death by sin, was according to the permissive will of God, for without it it could not have entered; but not appointed by Him in the same way as what is good, for such an assertion, reason how we may, would make God the author of sin. Sin is not a creature. Two things are very evident; first, that sin is a most dreadful evil, hateful to God, and calling down His displeasure and righteous punishment; and secondly, that there is no remedy for this dreadful evil, except through the incarnation and blood shedding of the Son of God.” 

Notice how Philpot believes that all has been predestinated or decreed by God, though some of the things foreordained are by "the permissive will of God" (a truth we also believe here at the Old Baptist Test blog). Further, like Philpot, we have insisted that this permissive will of God is required in order that the thing permitted may come to pass. Thus, though it is his permissive will, it is still his will. Without that permision the thing cannot occur. Hassell the younger is sympathetic to this view. Hassell the elder, like nearly all the first generation Hardshells, all confessed belief that nothing comes to pass but what God wills to come to pass. This is the view of the Strict Baptists.

Hassell continued:

In November, 1869, he was taken severely ill with bronchitis, and suffered greatly with shortness of breath and sleeplessness. All remedies failed. As he was sinking fast, his children were called round his bed about midnight, Dec. 8th. He was perfectly conscious, knowing them all, and calmly bidding them good-by. To them he said, “Love one another. Be kind to your mother; she’s been a good wife to me, and a good mother to you all. Follow on to know the Lord. Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life. Better to die than to live. Mighty to save! Mighty to save!” This he repeated several times. “I die in the faith I have preached and felt. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. O, if I could depart, and be with Christ, which is far better. Praise the Lord: bless His holy name.” Just before he departed, he looked up earnestly, then closed his eyes, and said, “Beautiful!” His wife, who was close beside him, asked, “What’s beautiful?” He made no direct answer; but presently said, with his failing voice, “Praise the Lord, 0 my soul!” These were his last words; and soon after this he gently passed away at half-past three on the morning of Dec. 9, 1869."

Oh what a way to die! That is what I want to say to all my children and family! "Follow on to know the Lord"!