We often use the phrase, “now and then” to mean a general time. It’s like “more or less” suggesting that it could be more of this and less of that. When we think about history and unless one is a serious historian, I would say, “Now and then this may have taken place!”
In the latter part of March, a band of Baptist pilgrims from San Francisco decided that just understanding our Baptist heritage now and then was not enough. We found ourselves far away geographically, culturally and chronologically that discovering our Baptist earliest beginnings in England and Scotland became our passion.
While visiting Anglican cathedrals in Salisbury, Wells, York, Cambridge and Oxford, we traveled off the beaten path to Loughwood Meeting House in Axminster where non-conforming Baptists found refuge to worship, to Wainsgate Chapel that was so high up and away from Hebden Bridge that no state official would bother to climb to persecute and here was where John Fawcett wrote the Baptist anthem, Blest Be the Tie That Binds, to Winslow where we found hidden behind today’s homes a little chapel pastored by Benjamin Keach and whose son Elias Keach after a sudden conversion from a deceiving prank (puts on clerical clothes and passes for a minister) eventually became ordained and helped found the Philadelphia Baptist Association. After the Toleration Act of 1689 and more religious freedom granted, in Bedford we saw how John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress became a best-seller and in London where famous preacher/evangelist Charles Haddon Spurgeon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle is situated in a busy intersection. Baptists who were once seen as dissenters were arrested, imprisoned and martyred are now recognized and given a prominent place in the town square.
Baptist Then can teach Baptist Now the courage and faithfulness to the principles of soul liberty and the priesthood of all believers to keep our witness strong and vital. The Psalmist said, “Things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (78:3-4). We have a history that is worthy of telling!
When early Baptists Then resisted the state church, we Baptists Now resist any powers that deny religious freedom for all groups including those who don’t necessarily share our beliefs. When Baptists Then insisted for believers’ baptism, we Baptists Now insist for quality public education for all students so that they may learn and believe. When Baptists Then persisted over many years to worship as a regenerate church, we Baptists Now must continue to persist against all challenges of apathy and consumerism in this post-modern time.
Today’s Baptists can’t be casual about our faith. It’s just not “now and then.” We have an invaluable role and a strong voice in the making of a peaceful, compassionate, tolerate and inclusive world.