A group of Baptist churches, generally Calvinist in theology, which denies that saving faith is the duty of unbelievers. Saving faith is “not a legal duty, but the sovereign and gracious gift of God.” Communion is restricted to “baptized believers” in the NT sense of those words, and the rule of life for believers is the Gospel, not the moral law. Early emphasis was placed on itinerant preaching, and recent efforts have failed to establish a more settled type of ministry. [[Strict Baptists]] withdrew their support, on theological grounds, from the Baptist Missionary Society, and founded in 1861 the Strict Baptist Mission. They maintain an aloofness from public affairs and show little interest in the social implications of the Christian faith.