Baptist Confessions

This essay allow for consider the English Baptist-Separatist apology of 1609 and the Mennonite-Dordrecht Confession of 1633. (M) and (B) are used to distinguish the two docu workforcets. These two confessions, or statements of legal opinion, are separated by only 24 years in time, and a relatively footling distance geographically, unrivalled in Holland and peerless in England, yet there are a number of differences. It was antic Smyth, a former Angli toilet minister, who drew up the Separatist confession. He later sought to align his church more with the Mennonites and after his death many of his congregation did be interpose Mennonites.Despite this he is considered to be a foundation garment father of the Baptist denomination. During the reign of Elizabeth I death was the penalty in England for those retention Anabaptist beliefs according to the Reformed Reader blade site. The other document tells us in its heading that it came discover of the Dutch Mennonite conference held at Dordrecht . The Mennonites were Anabaptist pursual of Menno Simons, a Dutch religious reformer and former Catholic non-Christian priest who had died roughly 72 years earlier in 1561. Between 1530 and the1590s some 2,000 believers died for their credence in Holland according to the Continental European Protestantism web page.They were officially tolerated from then on, nevertheless many refused to fight in wars on Hollands part, and p matchred to flee elsewhere, some to Poland and the Ukraine and other to America. So some(prenominal) these confessions came at a time when official persecution was lessening. First of all wizard is much briefer than the other. Although it has some 20 sections the Separatist confession has only short dis divisions under each heading and runs to less than 2 pages of foolscap, whereas the Mennonite document, although it has only 19 sections is very much longer and more detailed.It is one of many Mennonite statements of corporate trust. A muc h shorter version can be found on new day Mennonite web sites. The first 6 of its denominations are concerned with things more often than non believed. Then come words concerned with the life of the church and includes the sacraments of baptism and communion. articles 13 (M) frontwards are concerned more with legal matters much(prenominal) as the family between believers and the unsanctified authorities. The final section consists of a declaration of 1659 do by London based Anabaptists and is a refutation of accusations that had been made against them.Rather than a statement of belief it emphasises what they dont believe e. g. that though they do not themselves practise infant baptism they believe that others should be allowed to follow their get consciences as they would wish to. They state very strongly that they are impertinent to the Quakers, but at the same time wish to be big and allow them to practice freely as they believe. They do come out strongly against pope ry, whom they blame for many deaths. Although concerned with freedom of conscience they are anxious to let it be known that they will not support miscarriages of justice.This is in response to the fact that at the time of compose it Mennonites could be imprisoned apparently for belonging to the group according to Cornelius Dyck in An Introduction to Mennonite History, pages 133 and 134. The Mennonites, although sticking to what they believe, are anxious to get on with rest of society. They pass on a section (13) (M) stating that God has allowed secular pack to be in authority. In practice this means that though Mennonites will not go to war they will work under secular authorities in much(prenominal) bailiwicks as disaster relief and issues of neighborly justice.Baptists too are concerned with such matters as in such organisations as the Baptist Missionary Society. The English Baptist statement spends a larger coincidence of its text upon matters of faith and these are tend ing(p) priority. Only three articles, song 16-18, (B) are concerned with church bu ill-doingess, i. e. who may dispense the word and the sacraments, how to trade in with persistent sinners and how to interact with them in civil matters. The Mennonites also make statements of faith of course, but these are intermixed to some extent with such matters as the resource of officers and dealing with sinners.On the last mentioned subject the Mennonites are quite strict , referring to the insularism from and the total shunning of reprobates, though they do put this in a positive light as being a way of do the person make amends and not in order to driving their destruction ( articles 16 and17 (M)). The Baptists are more pragmatic in their approach. They hunt in article 17 (B) how to deal with those who persevere in their sins, but go on to say in the next article that such people are not to be avoided in worldly business.Regarding church practices an obvious difference is the inclusi on of foot washing by the Mennonites, article 11,(M) which they felt was commanded by Christ in John 13 v 1- 15. They are one of several Christian groups throughout history who have practised this symbolic act, although it seems unlikely that it was included among the practices of the early church. The Baptists make no mention of marriage, despite the fact that many branches of the church consider it to be a sacrament. The Mennonites on the other hand state that it is God enact and that St Paul allowed it within the church.(Article 12 (M)) They do state though that it should be between Christians who share common doctrine. In practice this means of course fellow Mennonites. Regarding Baptism the English Baptists make it very clear that it cannot be given to infants ( Article 14 (B)). The Mennonites in their confession ( Article 7 (M)) do not directly mention infants, but make it clear that it is for those who hear what they are doing and confess to faith, whereas this Baptist conf ession merely says that it is an external sign of the remit of sins, but makes no mention of public confession of faith.The Baptist confession describes its ministers as bishops and also mentions deacons and widows. (Article 16 (B)) It describes the church simply as a guild of the faithful,( Article 12(B)) and gives the whole body authority to make decisions. ( article 13 (B)). The Mennonites refer to the church in much more rarify language as the bride of Christ and the inhabitation of God in the Spirit. The Mennonites refer to the church leaders in slightly unalike terms as teachers, deacons and deaconesses, though they do make it clear further on that the latter term refers to widows.They refer to Jesus as the Bishop ( Article 9 (M)) and it is men who will do the teaching. There are of course many areas in which the two documents are in agreement. E. g. both refer to God as a trinity and as creator and that good works come out of faith kind of than the other way round. In A rticle 5 (B) the Separatist states that there is no original sin i. e. one is not a sinner by descent. This is in total credit line to Article 2 (M) of the Mennonite confession which states that because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve sin came into the world and has descended to all mankind, though both agree that man can be redeemed through Christ.The Mennonites are very concerned that faith is up to the individual, which explains their tolerance to the state and willingness to pay taxes etc. ( Article 13 (M)) Regarding communion, Menno left the Catholic church in part because of his lack of belief in the actual presence of Christ in the elements. The Mennonite document speaks rather of a holy supper,(Article 10 (M)), as commanded by Christ and in memory of what he had done.Smyth describes it on the other hand as an external sign of the communion of Christ and of the faithful Article 15 (B) and makes no mention of it being either a command or a memorial. Mennonites do not tak e oaths and quote scripture to back this up. They gather up that others will understand and just take them at their word. Another area mentioned by the Mennonites and not by the Baptists is what they refer to as revenge, but which perhaps their fellow countrymen saw as justified war fare. The Mennonite statement in article 14 (M) explains their scriptural reasoning for this stand.Baptists would agree with them, but for some reason it is not mentioned. Many of the differences in these two documents are simply due to the type of authorship one man as against a committee, the later being careful to check with each other before committing themselves to final wording, not omitting any point considered valid, hence the more mazy language and greater length. Ye both groups would agree about many things the imply for faith and understanding before baptism, the greatness of God and the unique record of Christ and his redeeming action.Both share a belief in the resurrection and in lif e eternal, even though they express this in slightly different ways, the Mennonites backing up their statements with scripture and the Baptists seemingly taking this as understood. These two groups came into being because of the Reformation and new ideas that were around at that time, especially with get word to the onus on an individual to come to faith, rather than being automatically part of the church, because he had been baptised as an infant, without either faith or understanding on his part.The biggest difference between the two seems to be with turn over to mans sinful nature and how he acquired it.. Baptists and Mennonites continue to idolise and live according to their conscience. Not every Christian would agree with every word written in these confessions, but it is to be hoped, that like the writers and following they would be tolerant in Christian love. Biblography Dyck, Cornelius J. An Introduction to Mennonite History, Herald Press, Pennsylvania,1993Electronic Sou rces rudimentary European Protestantism, Mennonites found at http//philtar. ucsm. ac. uk/encyclopedia/christ/cep/menn. html retrieved twenty-eighth folk 2007 Mennonites found at http//mb-soft. com/believe/text/mennonit. htm retrieved 28th September 2007. English Baptist Separatist Confessions found at The Reformed Reader http//www. reformedreader. org/ccc/esbc. htm retrieved 28th September 2007