Since the emergence of the Baptist movement in England, many have accused Baptist ministers of being unlearned, “dunces, and ignorant [of] both tongues and arts.” With the establishment of dissenting academies, such Bristol, Stepney, and Northern, learned ministry was advocated among English Particular Baptists since the beginning of the long eighteenth century. Despite recent scholarly interest in Baptist education, little has been done on the Baptist reception of the church fathers in the long eighteenth century. Among Baptist scholars, John Gill (1697–1771), Abraham Booth (1734–1806), and Joseph Kinghorn (1766–1832) read, quoted, and referenced to the early church. By using Joseph Kinghorn, one of the most learned English Baptists in the eighteenth century, as an example, this paper engages sources, such as Kinghorn’s letters, published works, and library catalogue, to reconstruct Particular Baptists’ interpretation of the patristic sources in the long eighteenth century. This paper also recognises the significance of Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1693–1755) and Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), whose historiography indistinctly shaped how Baptists understood the “primitive” church.