unto you, that he or they were the first.”108 Helwys rejected succession on the grounds that it was historically untenable and that the validity of biblical faith did not depend upon it. John Spilsbury, a Particular Baptist pastor who signed the confession of 1644, also wrote against the idea of historical succession. In A Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subjects of Baptism, he stated, “There is no succession under the New Testament, but what is spiritually by faith and the Word of God.” Spilsbury’s