Amidst Us Our Belovèd Stands

Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition

Michael A. G. Haykin

Amidst Us Our Belovèd Stands: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition

Copyright 2022 Michael A. G. Haykin

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are the author’s own translation or are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are from The Christian Standard Bible, copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Portions of chapter 2 appear in Michael A. G. Haykin, One Heart and One Soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, His Friends and His Times (Darlington, UK: Evangelical Press, 1994), 294–300. Used with permission.

Portions of chapter 3 appear in Michael A. G. Haykin, “Baptists, the Lord’s Supper, and the Christian Tradition,” in Baptists and the Christian Tradition, 205–27. Used with permission.

Print ISBN 9781683595854

Digital ISBN 9781683595861

Library of Congress Control Number 2021941980

Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Amy Elliot, Danielle Thevenaz, Jessi Strong

Cover Design: Lydia Dahl, Brittany Schrock

To Roy Paul,

“my coworker for the kingdom of God”

(Colossians 4:11),

a valued friend and colleague

Contents

Preface

I Blessed Food

Baptism as a means of grace in the Particular Baptist movement

II This Sweet Repast

The Lord’s Supper in Baptist life and thought during the long eighteenth century

III The Right Way of Worship

Baptist controversy over open and closed Communion

IV The Nearest Approach to His Glorious Self

The eucharistic piety of Joseph Stennett, Anne Dutton, and Thomas Steevens

V Six Theses

On Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the Baptist Tradition

Prayers

Glossary of Names

Preface

In 1866, C. H. Spurgeon (1834–1892), well on his way to becoming something of a Dissenting icon, published a hymnal for his growing congregation in south London. Entitled Our Own Hymn-book. A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public, Social, and Private Worship, it contained a cornucopia of Evangelical hymnody, including a few of Spurgeon’s own creation.1 Among the latter is what has proven to be Spurgeon’s most enduring hymn, a Communion piece titled “Jesu’s Presence Delightful”:

Amidst us our Belovèd stands,

And bids us view His piercèd hands;

Points to His wounded feet and side,

Blest emblems of the Crucified.

What food luxurious loads the board,

When at His table sits the Lord!

The wine how rich, the bread how sweet,

When Jesus deigns the guests to meet!

If now with eyes defiled and dim,

We see the signs, but see not Him,

O may his love the scales displace,

And bid us see Him face to face!

Our former transports we recount,...