Hello Greg: You will probably get a flood of responses and opinions, but I will add my own personal perspectives, for what they are worth. 1. The English Baptists began in Spitalfields, London in1612 by Thomas Helwys and his friends as an essentially and "Arminian" movement, as opposed to the "Calvinistic" movement that sprang up a few years later. In other words, they favored the views of Jacobus Arminius of Holland who believed in "general redemption" namely, that Jesus Christ died to make possible redemption and salvation for everyone. All that was necessary to secure that salvation was personal faith. They became known as "General Baptists." The "Particular Baptists" followed the teaching of John Calvin of Geneva and accepted what was known as "particular redemption." This meant that they believed that Jesus Christ had died to secure the redemption of only the "elect" - only those who would ultimately be saved. He would not have died for those who would not be saved because that would mean that Jesus, being God, would have attempted something that failed and since that would be impossible for God to do, it was regarded as a false belief. The Particular Baptists became the stronger, more vigorous and more popular view during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 2. As time progressed, the more fervent "Particular Baptists" limited the celebration of Holy Communion only to those who were baptized believers. In other words, you had to have declared your personal faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, and acknowledged publicly your faith by Believer's Baptism, usually administered by total immersion. This became known as "Strict Communion." Hence, the name of this group of Churches was "Strict and Particular" Baptists. It appears that the Nash Church decided to practice "Open Communion" where any believer, regardless of his or her baptism or denominational affiliation, could participate. 3. In 1832, after about 20 years of discussions, the two groups in the UK (General Baptists and Particular Baptists) amalgamated into the "Baptist Union." This body still exists and thrives today. However, some Particular Baptists remained apart from the amalgamation and continued under the name of Strict and Particular Baptists. 4. It was the thinking that led to this amalgamation that was clearly behind the evolution of the Nash Baptist Church. Because it seems likely that they were originally a Particular Baptist Church and were becoming more flexible, that the term "Arminian" was being thrown at them by their more rigid brethren, which they clearly resented. On the other hand, it appears that the General Baptists were not enamored with them either, hence the term "Antinomianism." Historically, some of the Particular Baptists felt so confident of their salvation, that they were saying, "If we are the elect, and we are going to be saved anyway, why bother to keep any of God's laws? We can live as we like and it will make no difference." While this was true of a small minority of Particular Baptists it was by no means a common trend, but the term was used nevertheless by some General Baptist as an epithet of derision. "Antinominism" means neglecting the law. So the poor folk at Nash had it coming from both sides! 5. On another subject: "ARP" (Air Raid Precautions) was a term in very, very common usage throughout WW2. ARP Wardens (local volunteers appointed for the task) would patrol the streets at night to make sure that not one chink of light was visible from any building, lest it provide help to the enemy aircraft. There were endless jokes about the poor ARP wardens trying to do their job. Norman K Archer Victoria, BC, Canada Greg Davies wrote: > Hello, > > I have recently been given a part transcription of the Nash Strict Baptist Chapel Minute Book and it makes very interesting reading although it has raised its own set of questions that I'm hoping someone can answer. > > The chapel was apparently established in 1798 for the "open and free communion for Independents and Baptists as fellow members", so my first question is, was this in any way unusual for Independents and Baptists to share the same building? > > The Minute Book is dated May 1839, having "lost our former memoirs and Articles through an enemy, we make the attempt on our best remembrance" and shortly afterwards there are comments "for remember how many are watching for our halting and how many Callamys have been thrown at us by protesters around us terming us Arminians and others Antinomians". To me this suggests a vicious split between the Independents and Baptists for there are no more references to Independents in the book, but my second question is what are Arminians and Antinomians? > > The entries between 1892 and 1944 used the terms Brother and Sister as in this July 1939 entry "in respect to windows being darkened is agreed that the lady Sisters present join together to find the material and carry out the work necessary for the darkening of the chapel windows, to meet the request of the A R P." These terms were not used before 1892 or after 1944, so my third question is how common was this term day to day, or was it reserved for official documents? > > I am happy to e-mail the document to anyone who would like a copy, it's a small Word document. > > Greg Davies > Nash, Bucks, UK > _____________________________________________ > > Have you considered adding "postems" to "your" events on www.freebmd.org.uk , giving your contact details? Other researchers will then be able to make contact. Click on the info button to add your postem. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-BUCKINGHAMSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >