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in North America met in general Congress in Phila-
delphia:
"Honorable Gentlemen: As the Antipaedobaptist
churches in New England are mostly concerned for the
preservation and defense of the rights and privileges
of this country, and are deeply affected by the en-
croachments upon the same which have lately been
made by the British Parliament, and are willing to
unite with our dear countrymen vigorously to pursue
every prudent measure for relief; so we would beg
leave to say that as a distinct denomination of Protes-
tants, we conceive that we have an equal claim to char-
ter rights with the rest of our fellow subjects, and yet
have long been denied the full and free enjoyment of
those rights, as to the support of religious worship.
Therefore we, the elders and brethren in twenty Bap-
tist churches met in Association at Medfield, twenty
miles from Boston, September 14th, 1174, have unani-
mously chosen Mr. Isaac Backus as our agent to lay
our case in these respects before you, or otherwise to
use all prudent means he can for our relief."
Signed "John Gano, Moderator, and Hezekiah
Smith, Clerk."
Mr. Backus went to Philadelphia and was joined by
delegates of the Philadelphia Association. The gen-
eral result of the deliberations of the Congress all the
world knows; the petition sent to Parliament was
ignored and scoffed--and the war of the Revolution
came on.
When it was all over, and the great decision had been
made at Yorktown, the country was ready for better
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government than Britain had ever afforded. The con-
stitution was adopted; Baptists urged that an amend-
ment be made absolutely guaranteeing religious liberty
to all. The amendment was adopted, as was suggested
in the sketch of Virginia.
After all this suffering and protest of a century, is
it not certain that those Baptists who came into the
Mississippi valley, whether from New England or Vir-
ginia or other states, would come with clear-cut and
deep-bedded convictions as to religion?
And we are at a stage in our survey where we may
with confidence state what the main principles were
for which our people suffered and contended for a
century and more. They were:
I. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
II. REGENERATION THE CONDITION OF CHURCH
MEMBERSHIP.
III. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD.
IV. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT.
V. IMMERSION THE ONLY SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM.
A hasty inference might be that there was great
unity, almost uniformity, in all things among these
early Baptists; but it was not so. Agreeing in the
essentials mentioned above, they yet were far apart as
to incidental matters. Most persons at all acquainted
with the religious history of this country know that
there are many schools of Baptists. A partial classifica-
tion would include at least these--Regular, Separate,
United, General, Particular, Primitive and Freewill. It
may be satisfactory to many to know something of the
origin and distinctive features of these various schools.
