Better Felt Than Telt

By the mid-nineteenth century some of New Brunswick Free Christian Baptists were convinced that a uniform theology was important if they were to gain public acceptance and respectability. Furthermore, they viewed the more radical aspects of their Allinite legacy both as an embarrassment and a deterrent to achieving their goals. By the 1870s, three distinct groups emerged: those who believed in a return to earlier Allinite tradition, those who advocated "entire instantaneous sanctification" and those who believed that more could be achieved by distancing themselves from holiness theology and the Allinite legacy. The latter group succeeded in achieving public acceptance and respectability by pushing out the other groups but, in the process, lost much of the passion and excitement of their spiritual heritage.... Mehr