A Short History of the Baptists by Henry Vedder and published by Classics Publishing.
The word ‘Baptists’, as the descriptive name of a body of Christians, was first used in English literature, so far as is now known, in the year 1644. The name was not chosen by themselves, but was applied to them by their opponents. In the first Confession of Faith issued by the Particular Baptists in 1644, the churches that published the document described themselves “as commonly (but unjustly) called Anabaptists.” While they repudiated the name Anabaptist, they did not for some time claim the new name of Baptists, seeming to prefer “Baptized believers,” or, as in the Assembly’s Confession of 1654, stated: “Christians baptized upon profession of their faith.”
Part of the story of this book recalls of the gradual suppression of evangelical Christianity having thus been told, the next step is to show the reverse process – the gradual renaissance of evangelical Christianity. This is the sum of Part I., the history of Baptist principles. The second Part is devoted to the history of actual visible Baptist churches, and every statement of fact made is carefully based on documentary sources. For the important question is, not how much may be guessed or surmised or hoped about our history as Baptists, but how much may be known.
