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DID THEY DIP?
An Examination into the Act of Baptism as Practiced by the English and
American Baptists Before the Year 1641

By John T. Christian, D. D.,

Louisville, Kentucky: Baptist Book Concern, 1896

[Note from the publisher. This valuable out-of-print book was carefully prepared for electronic publication by Way of Life Literature. For a catalog of other books, both current and old, in print and electronic format, contact us at P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail), http://www.wayoflife.org (web site).]

[Table of Contents for "Did They Dip" by John Christian]

Life of John Christian (1854-1925)

John Taylor Christian was born in 1854. He was a pastor in Kentucky for many years, and for the last part of his life he was professor of Christian History at the Baptist Bible Institute, New Orleans, Louisiana.

In 1896, he published Did They Dip? An Examination into the Act of Baptism as Practiced by the English and American Baptists Before the Years 1641. This was in refutation of articles and books by Henry M. Dexter and William H. Whitsitt, which claimed that the Baptists of England did not practice believer's baptism by immersion until 1641. Dexter made the claim in his 1881 book The True Story of John Smyth. Whitsitt took the same position in a series of articles which appeared in the 1880s and in his 1896 book A Question in Baptist History: Whether the Anabaptists in England Practiced Immersion before the Year 1641? Whitsitt was a professor at Southern Baptist Seminary, and his book caused quite a stir. John Christian's lengthy examination of this theory was devastating, and he proved beyond a doubt that the British and American Baptists practiced immersion or dipping prior to 1641. In the "Introduction" to John Christian's Did They Dip, T. T. Eaton gives the following testimony to the diligence of caution of John Christian's scholarship:

"J. Christian has shown a remarkable talent for gathering and arraying authorities. For more than twenty years he has been studying the history of immersion and has spared no time nor expense to supply himself with original documents. I do not suppose there is a Baptist in the land who has anything like such an array of original documents on this subject as has Dr. Christian. In many cases he has the original editions, while in others he has official copies made at the British museum and elsewhere. He has examined more than forty books which Dr. Dexter does not mention in his bibliography of the subject, and which, it is reasonable to believe, Dr. Dexter never saw. Dr. Christian is also singularly accurate in his use of authorities. I have read this book through and have not detected a single inaccuracy. Many of the quotations I have personally verified and have found them correct, and though I have not verified them all, yet I have no doubt of the absolute correctness of every one. He courts investigation, however, and he will gladly welcome the detection of any mistake in the book" (T.T. Eaton, "Introduction," Did They Dip by John Christian, 1896).

T.T. Eaton was a Southern Baptist leader of the caliber of John Broadus and B.H. Carroll.

In 1922 Christian published the first volume of A History of the Baptists. This volume covers church history from the days of the Apostles to the founding of the United States in the 18th century. The author completed volume 2 of his Baptist history at the very end of his life, and it was published in 1926, several months after he died. John L. Hill accomplished the proofing and editing. Volume 2 covers American church history from the first settlement of the country to the year 1845. Hill described Christian as "gentle, reflective, and genial" and summarized his life as that of a "patient scholar and gracious Christian gentleman."

Christian's volumes are filled with extensive citations from rare and important historial documents.