The Pentecostal Experience of Robert Baxter

By Nita Brainard and Lee W Brainard

Modern Pentecostalism generally traces its roots to the Azusa Street Revival of the early twentieth century. The same spirit, however, which was poured out in Azusa Street had been at work nearly a century earlier in London and Scotland. Amazing spiritual manifestations, including tongues and supernatural prophecy, were experienced in nineteenth century Great Britain among the followers of Edward Irving. When the Irvingite Movement was at its strongest, Robert Baxter was drawn into it by intriguing reports of supernatural happenings and by the godly lives of its members. He soon became an influential prophet and a leader among them. Though he was an intimate part of the group for less than a year, his teaching influenced the doctrine and character of the movement, and his defection was a stunning blow. The honest story of how he was deceived into the movement and how he found his way back out of it is recorded in Robert Baxter's thrilling "Narrative of Facts." For the benefit of today's readers, this fascinating experience is retold in modern English.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nita Brainard
• Release date: Jan 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463163702

Nita Brainard

I'm a grandma. Displaced in the middle of North Dakota with children and grandchildren far away, I cried out to God for something to do. Writing and publishing books is one of the things my hands have found to do. Supporting my husband, Lee W. Brainard, to do the same is another.

Book preview

The Pentecostal Experience

of

Robert Baxter:

NARRATIVE OF FACTS

CHARACTERIZING THE

SUPERNATURAL MANIFESTATIONS

IN

Members of Mr. Irving’s Congregation

And Other Individuals in England and Scotland

And formerly in the writer himself

by Robert Baxter

Published In London 1833

Retold in modern English

By Nita and Lee Brainard

Smashwords Edition

2019

Cover Photo: Simeon Muller at Unsplash

Scripture quotations by the authors are from the King James Version. Those included in quotations from Baxter’s narrative are from an unknown version or his own translation.

Table of Contents

Preface

Member of the Church of England

Introduction to the Spiritual Gifts

Babylon

Confirmation of the Work

Believers Surrendering Judgment

Becoming Actively Involved

Warning Ignored

Samson’s Locks

Failed Prophecy

Views on Church Policy

Religious Organizations

Rebukes against Worldliness

Commission to Leave His Family

Ministering in the Church of England

Prophecy Concerning the King

Revelation Retracted

Quenching the Power

Reinterpretation of Baxter’s Revelation

Baxter’s Wife

Angel of Light

The Rapture

The National Fast

Novel Interpretation of Prophecy

Reform Bill

The Baptism of Fire

Called to be an Apostle

Striking Incidents

The Presence of Evil

The Spiritual Ministry

The Ten Lost Tribes

Segregated Meetings

Waiting

Flattering Explanation

Another Failure

Unexplainable Contradictions

Verbal Confession of Christ

Irving’s Error on Christ

Irving’s Companion Errors

Growing Doubts

Irving’s Response

The Precious and the Vile

Characteristics of the Movement

Character of Irving

Character of Irvingites

Testing the Spirits

Speaking in Tongues

Discernment of Thoughts

Satan Casts Out Satan

Effects of Delusion

Root Causes of Deception

The Place of Prophecy in Deception

Closing Exhortations

Appendices

A. The Prophetic Teaching of the Irvingites

B. Doctrinal Errors of the Irvingites

C. Observations on the Supernatural Gifts

D. The Rapture Doctrine of the Irvingites

E. The Impeccability of Christ

F. Authority of Scripture

G. My Experience with Tongues and Inspirations

Endnotes

Bibliography

Preface

Distorted expressions of Christianity dominate today’s pulpits and media to such an extent that even devoted believers can find themselves easily confused and sidetracked. In this muddled atmosphere, Pentecostalism often appeals to hungry souls who seek deeper, truer Christianity. The Pentecostal claim to take the Scriptures more seriously than others and to have the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit in an exclusive measure holds a fascinating attraction to anyone desiring more of God. This attraction is even more pronounced when a hungry seeker meets Pentecostals whose lives manifest moral purity and devotion to Christ. When godly people propagate the doctrines of Pentecostalism, their testimony is greatly enhanced and the deceptiveness of their doctrines increased. So it was for Robert Baxter.¹ He was impressed with the devotion, purity, and love for the Scriptures that he witnessed among a proto-Pentecostal group of the nineteenth century.

Modern Pentecostalism generally traces its roots to the Azusa Street Revival of the early twentieth century. The same spirit, however, which was poured out in Azusa Street had been at work nearly a century earlier in London and Scotland. The manifestations that made Azusa Street famous were also experienced in Great Britain among the followers of Edward Irving, and many of the same doctrines taught by modern Pentecostals were taught among the Irvingites. The Irvingite movement, however, failed to flourish like the current Pentecostals have. Though it caused quite a stir in the eighteen thirties, by the end of the century, the movement had dwindled to insignificance. The last of its apostles died in 1901, a few years prior to Azusa Street.

When the Irvingite Movement was at its strongest, Robert Baxter was drawn into it by intriguing reports of supernatural happenings and by the godly lives of its members. He soon became an influential prophet and a leader among them. Though he was an intimate part of the group for less than a year, his teaching influenced the doctrine and character of the movement, and his defection was a stunning blow. The honest story of how he was deceived into the movement and how he found his way back out of it ought to be better known than it is. The story is recorded in Robert Baxter’s Narrative of Facts, which is a thrilling book and well worth reading. His language, however, is archaic and complicated. For those who might benefit from his story but don’t want to read the older English, we have attempted to retell it.

We present Baxter’s history with the prayer that our readers may be provoked to thought and come to wise, scripturally based conclusions concerning the gifts of the Spirit and the person of Christ. For those interested in doctrinal discussion inspired by Baxter’s narrative, Lee Brainard has provided doctrinal appendices. We have also included the story of Lee’s fascinating experience with tongues in the nineteen eighties.

Nita Brainard

August 1, 2019

Member of the Church of England

²

Robert Baxter was a devoted member of the Church of England at a time in history when many of its adherents were true, evangelical Christians. He taught Sunday school and pointed his students to the Lord Jesus Christ. Prior to his involvement with the Irvingites, he wrote a paper called The Layman’s Appeal, the purpose of which was to defend the Church of England. Whatever errors he may have embraced in his devotion to this church or advanced in his defense of it, his departure from the Church of England was the result of far more significant error. It is not surprising that he returned to his church with increased attachment after he had seen through the pretensions and errors of the Irvingites.

Both before and after his entanglement in this Pentecostal movement, Baxter firmly believed that the Scriptures did not limit supernatural manifestation of the Spirit to apostolic times. He was grieved by the unbelief and formality that filled his church, and he longed for an outpouring of the Spirit that would stem the tide of unbelief. Before his involvement with Edward Irving and his followers, he had heard accounts of healings and speaking in tongues in Port Glasgow, Scotland, and he had been interested. When he learned that those who claimed to have the supernatural gifts lived upright lives and bore verbal testimony to Christ come in the flesh, he welcomed the movement as the work of God.

Introduction to the Supernatural Gifts

³

In late summer of 1831, Baxter went to London on business connected with his practice of law. While there he attended a private prayer meeting associated with the Scottish church. He had heard that the gifts of the Spirit were manifested there, and he was predisposed to believe in them. One of the speakers in the meeting spoke in tongues with extraordinary energy and depth of tone. The words struck Baxter as a supernatural utterance which he ascribed to the power of God. A few minutes later, a woman broke out in utterance in English. It was a cutting rebuke for not boldly teaching the soon coming of the Lord. It was delivered in such a commanding manner, with such an unusual tone of voice, and with such a gripping power of expression that Baxter immediately bowed to it as the utterance of the Spirit of God. He wrote in his narrative: In the midst of the feeling of awe and reverence which this produced, I was myself seized upon by this power; and in much struggling against it, was made to cry out.⁴ He spoke, led not of himself, but by the power which came upon him, and he confessed his sin of not preaching the near coming of Christ. After this he prophesied that the messengers of the Lord should go forth, publishing to the ends of the earth in the mighty power of God, the testimony of the near coming of the Lord Jesus.⁵

Baxter had desired the gift of prophecy and rejoiced to have received it. He knew his speaking was not merely due to the excitement of the crowd. He was distinctly conscious of a power acting upon him from the outside. Yet he also had many questions and fears and was for many weeks weighed down in spirit, afraid that he would misread the will of God. He spent the next day in prayer and fasting. In the midst of his earnest prayer for direction, the promise in Malachi 4:5: regarding Elijah was powerfully brought to his attention:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The declaration in Luke 1:7: regarding John the Baptist was also pressed upon his mind, And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. He then had the interpretation written on his mind, The Lord is now pouring out upon the church this spirit and power of Elias, to prepare for the second coming of Jesus.⁶ This view of these passages was new to Baxter and failed to fully clear up his doubts and questions concerning the Pentecostal work. The unusual and unlooked-for communication, however, did persuade him that it was the Lord’s answer to his prayers, and that though he did not yet understand what it meant, his understanding would be opened in due time, and he would see the truth.

Babylon

⁷

In the early days of the Irvingite work, the prophecies were relatively benign. As a general rule, they enforced the gospel of Christ, humbled the proud, and encouraged men to live a life of devotion and patient waiting upon God. The few changes in doctrinal views and prophetic expectations advanced in the utterances were trifling and almost indistinct from the views of the churches the seekers belonged to.

One doctrinal revelation, however, startled Baxter. The Spirit had unveiled a new spiritual view of the church and spoken strongly against the formally structured Churches of England and Scotland, applying to them the name Babylon. This challenged the High Church view which he held in common with those who attended the meetings. But nobody seemed to understand the ramifications of the new doctrine. None of them applied Babylon any further than denouncing the worldly spirit that had crept into the churches.

The new views of the spiritual church circulating among the Irvingites, yet in embryonic form, appeared to Baxter to have some merit, so he decided to take another look at the view of the church he had expressed in the Layman’s Appeal, which was ready for the press. He expected that he may have to change a few things. But upon returning home and reviewing what he had written, he saw no reason to change anything, and the pamphlet was published.

Confirmation of the Work

⁸

For five months after this time, Baxter had no public manifestations of prophetic utterances. When praying privately, however, the power would come over him and cause him to pray for the state of the church with strong crying and tears.

About a month after he had received the power, while he was in his study attempting to pray, he found his mind wandering over and over again to worldly concerns. He had a difficult time staying focused for even one minute. Frustrated over his failure to concentrate, he sent up a brief, fervent plea to God for deliverance. Immediately the power came upon him, lifting up his soul to God, reigning in his wandering thoughts, and giving him calmness of mind. The power then forced him in a way he could not describe to pray in utterance that the Lord would deliver him from fleshly weakness; bestow on him the gifts of the Spirit, including miracles, healing, prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues; and give him the strength to open his mouth and declare his glory. This brief utterance was so loud that he put his handkerchief to his mouth to muffle the sound so that it might not startle the others in the house. When he finished, the power immediately faded and he was himself again, but with a profound sense of astonishment and gratitude over what had just happened—an experience he regarded as a token of God’s great love.

While he was praying, the power had impressed upon him the strong conviction, This is the Spirit of God: What you are now praying is of the Spirit of God, and must, therefore, be the mind of God, and what you are asking will surely be given to you.⁹ From this time forward, Baxter acted in full assurance that in God’s time all the gifts would be bestowed upon him. This conviction was not shaken until Baxter finally saw through the movement.

In Baxter’s day, supernatural power of any kind, whether of God or of the devil, was almost entirely denied. Apparent instances of the supernatural were explained away on naturalistic grounds or attributed to tricks of the human mind. Nonetheless, Robert Baxter was fully persuaded that the things that had happened to him and his associates were not merely the workings of imagination and crowd psychology, but were based on supernatural power. At first he believed this power to be of God, but he later realized his mistake. He wrote,

But if facts have any force in proof, the facts which have lately occurred have been broad enough to show the active workings of a spirit; and to show also, that though a supernatural power is with us, we are not therefore, of necessity, receiving it of God.¹⁰

The power that came upon Baxter was accompanied by strong spiritual feelings that