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PUBLISHER’S<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
What has come to be known as The <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
<strong>Catechism</strong> finds its origins among the English<br />
Particular <strong>Baptist</strong>s who lived during the<br />
Seventeenth Century. <strong>Baptist</strong> minister and<br />
historian Joseph Ivimey (1773-1834) informs us that<br />
in June of 1693 the London General Assembly of<br />
Particular <strong>Baptist</strong> Churches determined<br />
"That a <strong>Catechism</strong> be drawn up, containing the<br />
substance of the Christian religion, for the instruction of<br />
children and servants, and that brother William Collins<br />
be desired to draw it up." 1<br />
Who was this "brother William Collins"and why was<br />
he entrusted with such an important task? William<br />
Collins (c.1644-1702) was an ordained <strong>Baptist</strong><br />
minister who along with Rev. Nehemiah Coxe<br />
(c.1650-1689) served as co-elders at the Petty France<br />
Church in London. Evidence indicates that<br />
Collins, who himself was "a graduate of the famous<br />
1<br />
Joseph Ivimey, A History of the English <strong>Baptist</strong>s<br />
(London: B.J. Holdsworth, 1811), 1:533<br />
v
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