Francis Wayland’s Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches is an extensive anthology of papers, essays, and instructions on Baptist faith and practice. The subjects of the work sprawl from specifically Baptist theological, ethical, and political commitments—i.e., principles—to concrete issues of polity, preaching, ordination, membership, theological curriculum, and sermon preparation—i.e., practices. What unites these essays, of course, is their Baptist distinctiveness, which, for Wayland, might be more particularly rendered as a commitment to the New Testament as the “only rule of faith and practice” (92). Rather than attempting to comment on all the papers assembled here, I will focus on a few select discussions that detail…