Hot Water: The Baptismal Controversy of the 1690s and its Relevance for Today

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Hot Water: The Baptismal Controversy of the 1690s and it Relevance for Today

In this book, Austin Walker gives us an insight into the conflict between the Particular Baptist Ministers and their Church of England counterparts in the 1690s, and uncovers arguments fundamental to the debate over the nature of the church, even to this day!

1692, Lavenham. A rector named William Burkitt burst into a Baptist meeting uninvited and preached a sermon, delivering to them the grounds for infant Baptism, warning them of their sin and calling them to repentance. Provoked to action, Benjamin Keach, a Particular Baptist Minister, responded with a point by point defence of the Baptist position – outlining the necessity of immersion and believer’s Baptism.

The purpose of this book is to examine this controversy and consider some crucial issues it raised, principally the nature of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It involved three men, William Burkitt (1650–1703), John Tredwell, and Benjamin Keach (1640–1704). It is the hope of the author that these events in the 1690s and their thoughtful consideration found within these pages will help Christians think through issues of church membership, Baptism, church discipline and other issue pertaining to the theology and practice of ecclesiology.

Austin Walker well describes the controversy. By consulting and summarizing the primary sources, he provides the modern reader with useful guidance to understand and evaluate the dispute. We read of Burkitt’s objections, Keach’s reply, and are reminded that even today, the same issues continue to bubble to the surface.” From the Foreword, James M. Renihan

Author

Austin Walker is a retired Pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church, Crawley, UK and is currently a member at Castlefields Church, Derby. With a degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, he continues to exercise a preaching ministry and has been studying history, with a particular interest in Baptist Non-Conformity and Benjamin Keach, for many years. He is the author of several books, including “Robert Hall Jr: The Undermining of Calvinism Among the English Particular Baptists“, which is sold by Broken Wharfe.

Contents

Introduction

Part I: William Burkitt’s Defence of Infant Baptism

Part II: The Response of Benjamin Keach

Conclusion: Do the Differences Between Burkitt and Keach Matter?

Appendices:

Keach’s Books on Baptism

Quotations from Keach’s Works on Baptism and the Church