One of the joys in reading the diaries of Isaac Backus is finding jewels in his personal reflections. On September 4-5, 1800, Backus recorded of the legendary John Leland preaching at Backus’s church in Middleborough, MA. Leland gained fame for his evangelistic spirit and fight for religious liberty among Virginia Baptists before relocating to pastor in Cheshire, MA. Backus recorded that Leland “came here and preacht at our meetinghouse from John 10.10 with much power.”1 There were some converted in Middleborough by way of Leland’s preaching. Two thing stood out to me from Backus’s narration. First, the immediacy of the baptism of these individuals. It is a reminder that for anyone in Massachusetts to identify with the Baptists was still a costly matter socially. This might explain why the baptism took place quickly. Second, Leland baptized these individuals on behalf of Backus. Backus recorded that he was “poorly” in health.2 Backus held firmly to a high view of ecclesiology and gospel ministry. His invitation to Leland to preach and to then administer baptism on his behalf testified to Backus’s regard of the Cheshire pastor.
Leland also recorded this event in his autobiography. Recalling this occasion, Leland wrote that he saw “eight old preachers” during this four month preaching tour through Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. He pointed out that “the venerable Backus was one of them.” He shared that revival took place in Middleborough and that Backus requested that Leland baptize these new converts.3 Leland enjoyed a powerful ministry in these days. Backus documented that 215 members were added to Leland’s church in Cheshire in the previous year.4 Backus and Leland possessed different styles and personalities. Yet, they held in common a love for Christ, for gospel evangelism, and for religious liberty.
The differences in style and personalities can lead to some concluding that Backus and Leland opposed one another in their concept of religious liberty and political theology. Backus stood as more of an institutionalist committed with an appreciation for missions societies, publications, and ministerial education. Leland embodied a distinct populism that detested any notion of centralization. Despite these differences, it seems to pit the two against one another is inconsistent with their own personal interactions and philosophies. Tom Nettles summarizes that “Leland operated as a fervent Christian, intensely zealous for the glory of God, the power of the gospel, the Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the purity of the church. His foundations for argument conform well to the [Roger] Williams, [John] Clarke, Backus tradition.”5 Both Backus and Leland formulated a distinct Baptist political vision rooted in the new covenant church that was leery of state interference or oversight.
Nettles points out that the two men shared a common foundation while at times advocating for different applications. Those differences were small in totality when one views the Baptist consensus they operated from. As Nettles lays out, “The Baptist witness through the years has been remarkably consistent. They have been willing to suffer while remonstrating for equal freedom for all.”6 Backus and Leland were two different men who ministered at different times and in different areas. Backus was more than thirty years older than Leland. Leland’s ministry in Virginia profoundly impacted his trajectory. Though their emphases and outlook were not identical, they shared a common purpose that reflected their Baptist principles. Nettles summarizes that men like Backus and Leland believed that “true faith always is voluntary, uncoerced, the result of the triumph of truth and argument, not sword and fire. The church should be composed only of those who are born again, a principle that militates not only against infant baptism but against any sort of government intrusion and force.”7 That is the common Baptist purpose and consensus when it comes to church and state.
Baptists are engaged in discussions on politics. Different applications can arise based on different convictions and viewpoints. However, if we are to learn anything from our Baptist forefathers, it is that our political vision is not semi-Presbyterian or semi-Congregationalist. Backus and Leland demonstrated a common emphasis on the lordship of Christ along with a distinct Baptist covenant theology. When Baptists venture away from our covenant convictions, we lose sight of the confessional consensus that shaped Baptist political theology. Backus and Leland did not see themselves as part of two distinct camps. Instead, they were a part of a common Baptist brotherhood that always returned to the primacy of the gospel and a high view of a regenerate church. That common purpose still carries veracity and power in the twenty-first century.
Isaac Backus, The Diary of Isaac Backus, ed. William G. McLoughlin, vol. 3, 1786–1806 (Providence, RI: Brown University Press, 1979), 1459.
Backus, Diary, 3:1459.
John Leland, “Events in the Life of John Leland,” in The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland: Including Some Events in His Life, Written by Himself, ed. L. F. Greene (New York: G. W. Wood, 1845), 32.
Backus, Diary, 3:1459.
Tom J. Nettles, The Baptists, vol. 2, Beginnings in America (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), 65.
Nettles, Baptists, 2:71.
Nettles, Baptists, 2:71.
Great and interesting work brother! Baptists and politics should be something written more about! So interesting that after 100 years of persecution, Baptists advocated for Romans 11 to be interpreted correctly.