Lesson 14The Story of Baptists in Early America

I. THE PROTESTANT SPIRIT

•John Wycliff translated the Bible into English in 1382.•John Huss in about 1415 declared that Jesus was the only true head of the church•William Tyndale 1450 (approx) also translated the Bible into English but a more common form

I. THE PROTESTANT SPIRIT•Martin Luther (Germany) challenged the Catholic Church in 1517, an act which is considered the beginning of the Reformation and which eventually led to the founding of the Lutheran Church.•John Calvin (from France but his work was in Geneva, Switzerland) broke from the Catholic Church in 1530 founding what became the Presbyterian Church•King Henry the VIII broke from Roman Catholicism in 1534

I. THE PROTESTANT SPIRIT

Some were called:•Seekers•Separatists •Independents•Nonconformists•Dissenters•Puritans

II. THE LIBERTY TO PREACH

• That salvation is by faith alone and not of works

• That every man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience

• That there ought to be a separation between the church and the laws of the state

III. THE BAPTIST STORY IN EARLY AMERICA

•Henry Dunster -Harvard•Knollys- Dover, Long Island, andNew Jersey•1639 six men were arrested for trying to found a church in the town of Weymouth - just outside of Boston•Governor Winthrop arrested a Lady Moody for believing Baptist conviction.

III. THE BAPTIST STORY IN EARLY AMERICA

•1644 a man by the name of Mr. Painter embraced Baptist convictions and was publicly beaten

•1651 Obadiah Holmes, John Clarke and John Crandall were arrested, fined and whipped for preaching Baptist doctrine to an elderly man