THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

ceived the first baptism: from whom else?). Thus the well-known Utrecht professor, Van Geuns, and also Adrian Houttuyn of Hoom used to baptize in Rhynsburg. Tersteegen fellows hipped with them also: it was an Alliance Church as we call it today. k ) We cannot help but point out here what we have already said above (#9c and 13n) that the English Baptists branched off from the Anabaptists of the Netherlands, and this in two lines. The first line: John Smyth (died 1611), formerly a priest in the Anglican Church, went to Holland because of persecution and joined the Mennonites in Amsterdam. He baptized Thomas Helwyth (-ysse, -ys). The latter formed an English Baptist church in Amsterdam which returned to London in Baptism by Immersion 295 1611 and published a confession of faith. Contrary to Smyth and to the Mennonites, they declared military service and the oath as permissible for the Christian. The controversial question whether J. Smyth “baptized himself” (which is hardly thinkable as "he had joined the Mennonites”), or whether “he was baptized by the Mennonites” (the most natural thing to do), and whether he baptized Thomas Helwyth by pouring or immersion remains undecided to this day. But before long this church baptized exclusively by immersion. This is the mother church of the English General Baptists, that is, of the anti-Calvinist Baptists. The second line: “The honor of having started the first organized Independent Church 95 in England belongs to the Minister Henry Jakob who, in 1616, returned to London from Holland where he had fled for a while because of persecution." From this strongly Calvinistic Inde- pendent Church (believing in predestination) a group of brethren and sisters separated and were released in love and peace in 1633 because they believed that baptism by immersion was the only biblical form of baptism upon faith. However, the newly-constituted church did not know of any “pure” church in England, i.e. pure in Calvinistic doctrine, that practiced this form of baptism. Its first minister was John Spillsbury. So Richard Blount (Blunt) was sent to Holland. He was received in a friendly manner in Rhynsburg and was baptized by Jan Batte. That was in 1640. (It should be noted that the Rhynsburgers were certainly not strongly Calvinistic! N.B. In Rhynsburg baptism was performed by laying the hands on the candidate’s head as he knelt in the water with arms crossed over his chest, and by slowly immersing him three times while the sacramental words were spoken. Ramseyer, p. 408.) In London, Richard Blount first of all baptized the Minister Samuel Blacklock; later fifty-three persons were baptized, including John Spillsbury. This is the parent church of the Particular Baptists, i.e., the strictly Calvinistic Baptists. The larger parts of these two denominations in England have long ago united in the extremely tolerant Baptist Union. Therefore the “Organized Independent Church,” as w