{"1": {"fulltext": "THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY", "height": "4565", "width": "2976", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4741", "width": "3009", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "A X\u00c2\u00b1", "height": "4741", "width": "3009", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2793", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2793", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4696", "width": "2812", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4696", "width": "2812", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4697", "width": "2820", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "THE\\nBAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nFIVE LECTURES\\nBY\\nREV. H- Cr JVIOSHER, A. JVL,\\nPASTOR FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,\\nAlbert Lea, Minn.\\n1900.\\nSimonson Whitcomb, Printers,\\nAlbert Lea, Minn.", "height": "4697", "width": "2820", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "TWO COPIES MECElVE\\nLibrary of Congr\u00c2\u00ab\u00c2\u00ab% J\\nOffice of tka \u00c2\u00ab\u00c2\u00a3)T J\\\\V\\nAPR 8 1900\\nKegttfor of Copyrights*\\n60064\\nCOPYRIGHT, 1900,\\nBY\\nR. C. MOSHER.\\nSECOND COPY,\\no v", "height": "4753", "width": "3009", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS.\\nLECTURE I.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Distinctive Principle of page.\\nBaptists, 8\\nImportance of Foundation Principles, 9\\nNecessity of Obedience, 18\\nNeedless Divisions Wrong. 14\\nHow Baptists are Regarded, 16\\nBaptist Growth and Solidity, IT\\nThe Distinctive Principle. 19\\nThe New Testament as Authority. 20\\nReason of Baptist Unity, 21\\nProofs of Baptist Position, 21\\nHistorical Genesis of Other Churches, 27\\nIllustrations in Germany, Africa and Cuba, 29\\nConclusion, 31\\nLECTURE II\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The History of Baptists, 36\\nDifferent from Other Church History, 36\\nAn Apostolic Succession, 37\\nMisnamed Church History. 39\\nAncient Origin of Baptists, 41\\nTheir Aims Compared with Others, 42\\nMisrepresentations of Baptist History. 44\\nThe Munster Kingdom, 45\\nThe Peasants War./ 47\\nThe Historical Line. Apostolic Churches, 49", "height": "4753", "width": "3009", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS.\\nBaptist ic Movements.\\nSt. Patrick and His Work,\\nPatrick Not a Baptist,\\nWelsh Claims,\\nThe Petrobrusians,\\nThe Waldenses,\\nThe Anabaptists,\\nAnabaptists Not Immersionists,\\nAnabaptists the Real Reformers,\\nEnglish Baptists,\\nAmerican\\nPresent Baptist Strength,\\n51\\n52\\n55\\n57\\n58\\n59\\n61\\n63\\n65\\n65\\n67\\n68\\nLECTURE III.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Sufferings of Baptists, 72\\nNovatian and Donatist Sufferings, 73\\nPersecutions Not for Immersion, 74\\nImmersion the Universal Practice, 75\\nImmersion in the Westminster Assembly, 78\\nJohn Wesley an Immersionist, 79\\nInfant Baptism the Cause of Persecution, 81\\nInfant Baptism Itself Persecution, 85\\nBaptists Never Persecuting, 86\\nNumber of Christians Murdered, 88\\nAwful Sufferings of Baptists, 89\\nDecree of the Inquisition, 94\\nNumbers Put to Death, 96\\nReasons for Persecutions. 98\\nComplicity of the Reformers, 100\\nInfamous Character of Procedure, 101\\nSufferings in England, 102\\nAmerica, 104", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS. O\\nSufferings in Massachusetts, 105\\nVirginia, Etc., 107\\nWtiy they Endured Such Things, 109\\nLECTUEE IV.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Baptist Influence on Civil\\nGovernment, 115\\nInfluence of Church on Government, 116\\nLeadership of Baptists in Religions Liberty, 119\\nTestimonies of Writers, 120\\nBaptist Confessions of Faith, 122\\nTreatises on Religious Liberty, 124\\nThe First Baptist Government, 126\\nThe First Baptist College, 127\\nLiberty versus Toleration, 129\\nClaims of Others as to Leadership, 130\\nInfluence in Holland, 136\\nEngland, 137\\nof Rhode Island, 138\\nBaptist Efforts in New England, 140\\nSevere New England Laws, 141\\nBaptist Efforts in Virginia, 143\\nBaptists in the Revolution, 146\\nAdoption of the Constitution. John Leland, 147\\nThe First Amendment, 148\\nInfluence through Thomas Jefferson, 149\\nTestimony of Mrs. Madison, 150\\nLeadership in present Struggle, 152\\nLECTURE V.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Baptist Influence on The\\nSpiritual Life of Other Religious Bodies, 157\\nContrast of Past and Present, 157\\nCauses of Change, 161", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "4 CONTENTS.\\nAnabaptists and the Reformation. 16)\\nFailure of the Reformation, 165\\nProgress Towards Spiritual Church Membership, 168\\nGrowing Supremacy of the Bible, 171\\nPeter s Primacy 172\\nDefense of Infant Baptism, 173\\nBible Versions and Translations. 171\\nIncreasing Number of Immersions. 176\\nDecline of Infant Baptism, 177\\nAdmissions of Pedobaptists, 177\\nIncrease of Adult Baptisms, 181\\nDecrease of Infant Baptisms, 183\\nPresbyterian Figures. 181\\nCongregational 186\\nMethodist 188\\nEpiscopal i; 189\\nReformed Church Figures, 189\\nSummary of Figures, 190\\nConclusion, 191\\nTable of Membership and Baptisms. Appendix.", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "INTRODUCTORY,\\nThe origin of these lectures was as follows: It was\\nyears ago, while reading Baptist history, that there\\ncame to me, like a revelation, a vivid sense of the grand\\nachievements of our spiritual ancestors and the vital\\nnecessity to Christendom at large of the preservation\\nand enforcement of the principles which they held and\\nwhich we hold. It seemed to me also that there ought\\nto be more of a systematic teaching of these principles\\nand a setting forth of our history so as to show what\\nreason we have for self respect in view of the past and\\nfor steadfast loyalty in view of the future. Such\\nstudy of our history as has been possible since that\\ntime has only confirmed my former convictions. In\\nother churches there is no hesitancy in teaching de-\\nnominational loyalty, but among us it is mostly left to\\nthe self evidence of the truths we teach, and it is no\\nexaggeration to say that scarcely one in a hundred of\\nour church members realizes either the importance of\\nour principles, our present power, or our past attain-\\nments. I resolved at the time referred to that, if I\\nshould ever be pastor of another church, that church\\nshould have a course of addresses along these lines.\\nTwice was this course of lectures attempted, but a\\nperiod of physical prostration prevented their com-", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "6 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\npletion. The third attempt was successful to the extent\\nwhich may be shown in the following pages. My effort\\nhas been not to present a full view of Baptist history,\\nbut only to gather up and present facts in such a way\\nthat all Baptists to whom these presents may come\\nmay feel that they may stand a little straighter because\\nof a better self respect as Baptists, and must be a little\\nmore loyal to those principles which thus far have been\\nthe preservation of Christianity from corruption and\\nfailure, and which shall hereafter lead to a purer\\nchurch, a mightier spiritual force, and a speedier com-\\ning of the kingdom of our Lord Christ.\\nThese lectures make no large claim to originality,\\nexcept in the plan and manner of presentation, and\\nthere is not much in them which could not be found,\\nprobably, in some other book; but inasmuch as few\\nhave opportunity to examine many books, this summary\\nmay be useful. It should be said also, that although\\nmuch has been published of late upon Baptist princi-\\nples and history, nothing has yet appeared which pre-\\nsents the subject in the same way or with the same\\npurpose as these lectures. They are now published as\\nthey were delivered, except that in a few parts they\\nhave been made more full than was possible in the time\\nallotted to a public address. The interest shown by\\nthose who have listened to them has encouraged the\\nhope that they may be more widely useful by their\\npublication. To our host of Baptist young people\\nespecially they are now presented.\\nR. C. M.", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "Ye call me, Master, and, Lord: and ye say well;\\nfor so I am.\\nIf ye know these things, Messed are ye if ye do\\nthem.\\nI testify unto every man that heareth the words\\nof the prophecy of this book, If any man shall\\nadd unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues\\nthat are ivritten in this book; and if any man\\nshall take away from the words of the book of this\\nprophecy, God shall take away his part from the\\ntree of life, and out of the holy city, which are\\nwritten in this book", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "I.\\nTHE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE OF BAPTISTS\\nIn these addresses we shall attempt an answer to\\nthe following questions: First, What is a Baptist?\\nthen, Where in the records of the past do we find Bap-\\ntists? next, What has it cost them to be Baptists? and\\nfinally, What did they do for civil liberty? and what\\nhave they done for the religious life of other bodies?\\nThe full answer to these questions would fill volumes;\\nnay, the full answer can never be written, for the\\ngreater part of the record of their faith, their heroism,\\ntheir endurance, their triumphs, and their weaknesses\\nand failures, has perished from the earth; but we hope\\nso much of an answer may be given as will inspire us\\nto a loftier faith and a stronger fidelity to the truth of\\nthe Gospel, and to greater emulation of the heroism of\\nthe past.\\nLet it be understood throughout the whole of this\\ndiscussion, that while we speak only of Baptists, there\\nare and have been other and smaller bodies which have\\nshared in our beliefs and principles, and sometimes\\nsuffered for them, although we cannot stop in our dis-", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 9\\ncussion to give proper credit to each by name. There\\nare and have been many who, though not known by that\\nname, should nevertheless be included under the broad\\ndefinition of a Baptist. As far, therefore, as these other\\nbodies have been in accord with us in the maintenance\\nof these principles, what shall be said applies also to\\nthem.\\nThere are some questions which, apparently, do\\nnot seem to most people to be of much practical\\nmoment in christian life, and yet they are really funda-\\nmental to it. They are like the substructures of a\\nmighty bridge, down out of sight and not well under-\\nstood, and indeed, scarcely thought of by the thousands\\nwho pass over it, and yet upon them the whole struc-\\nture rests, and without them it would not stand at all.\\nYou all know that in the erection of any great building\\nthe utmost pains is taken to secure a good foundation.\\nA few years ago, in the capital city of this state, a great\\ntwelve story printing house was built. The land on\\nwhich it stands was originally a swampy place, called\\nin the West a slew (slough), but had been filled\\nin and so changed that the city dwellers of\\nmy day would never have guessed what was\\nthe original appearance of the ground. But in\\ndigging out for the basement, it was found that\\nthe foundation must be begun in the soft clay mud of\\nwhat had been a swamp, and to those who watched the\\nprogress of affairs, it seemed impossible that any con-\\nsiderable building could ever stand on such a basis.\\nHowever, the contractor went on with his work. He", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "10 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ndug out the mud to the depth of several feet, then he\\nfilled in the space with long piles driven down almost\\ntheir whole length, putting them close together; then\\nhe made a mixture of concrete and filled the whole\\nspace with it to the top of the piles, so that when it set\\nand became hard it would be almost like one great,\\nsolid stone. Still further, upon this concrete he placed\\ngreat, broad stones, much broader than the thickness of\\nthe walls, upon these another layer of stones not quite\\nso broad, and upon these still another, and then, and\\nnot until then, did he begin to build the walls of the\\nstructure. Many thousands of dollars spent before he\\nbegan to build, but did the owners complain? Not at\\nall; they knew the value of a good foundation.\\nJust so in spiritual building, and in building of\\nchurches as well as in building of individual character.\\nThe foundation principles are of the utmost importance,\\nand to have them right should be the very first object,\\nthough with most individuals it is, in point of fact, the\\nlast. Not one in twenty (and perhaps it would be safe\\nto say not one in fifty) of the members of churches can\\ntell what is the real fundamental principle on which\\ntheir own church is built, because not one in twenty\\nmakes any careful study of principles or comparison of\\nmethods, and so decides for himself before uniting with\\na church. They come in from all sorts of reasons;\\nbecause their parents belong to that church; because\\nthey were brought up in that way; because their friends\\nbelong to that church or intend to join it; because that\\nchurch has the best house of worship or the most social\\nadvantages; or because they like the minister, or from", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 11\\nsome other such reason, but very seldom because they\\nhave read their bibles and examined the principles of\\nchurch life and find that in that church the two best\\nagree.\\nThere are certain underlying principles which give\\ntone and color and distinctive character to every reli-\\ngious body, and these different principles will work\\nthemselves out into different styles of activity and ex-\\nperience with unerring certainty. Each denomination\\nof christians has its characteristic type which differs\\nfrom all the rest, and this type is what it is because the\\nfundamental principles of church life and organization\\nare what they are. A Baptist christian is quite differ-\\nent from a Methodist christian, and the Methodist is\\ndifferent from the Presbyterian; a Disciple christian\\ndiffers from either of them, and again a real christian\\nin the Episcopal or Lutheran church differs from them\\nall. A man who has had forty years experience and\\ntraining in the Methodist ministry is a very different\\nman in his thought, his bearing and his general air, his\\nstyle of prayer and his religious experience, from a\\nman who has had a like period of training and service\\nin the Baptist ministry. One who has been familiar\\nwith the different denominations can tell without\\ninquiry and with very considerable certainty, to what\\ndenomination a minister belongs, upon hearing him\\npreach. Each of these, of course, thinks that his own\\nparticular type is the highest, but that cannot possibly\\nbe true. Some must be better and some worse.\\nBut, moreover, the fundamental principles of church\\nlife are a matter of great importance, not only to the\\n_^_^__", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "12 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nchurch itself, but to society at large, for society and gov-\\nernment are very profoundly influenced by the churches.\\nThink, for instance, of the vast difference between\\nsocial life in Roman Catholic and in Protestant coun-\\ntries, which is familiar to us all. But think further\\nabout this. If it were possible to have one nation filled\\nwith Methodist churches and admitting no other,\\nanother nation likewise filled with Baptist churches,\\nanother with Presbyterian, and another with Episcopal\\nand still another with Roman Catholic, not only would\\nthese different nations, in the course of a few genera-\\ntions, develop different types of Christianity, but also\\nof social life and of government, where would be seen all\\nthe gradations from the absolute freedom and equality\\nof a model republic in the Baptist nation to the despot-\\nism of an irresponsible monarchy, with its caste dis-\\ntinctions and divisions into privileged classes and tax\\npaying classes in the Roman Catholic nation. We\\nshall see by and by how profoundly the ruling idea of\\na church has influenced civil government.\\nThere is, therefore, a better and a worse, a right\\nand a wrong starting point, and it becomes a matter of\\nthe utmost importance that our foundation principles\\nbe right. It is, moreover, my profound conviction that\\nthe foundation principles of our Baptist churches are the\\nright ones, and the more I study them the more I think\\nso; and it is still further my conviction, just as pro-\\nfound, that we have a sacred obligation laid upon us to\\ndefend them and to teach them. If we believe thai we\\nhold truth which others do not, we are certainly bound to\\ngive it to them. Away then, with this false modesty", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. IB\\nwhich lets others go on their way in error because we\\nmight be thought sectarian if we told them the truth.\\nWhy should so many of us be apparently anxious to\\npersuade others of our own insignificance? And why\\nshould a Baptist be the only one among all the religious\\nbodies\\nWho scarcely dare, with a malicious frown,\\nAssert the nose upon his face his own\\nBut let us note, first, that New Testament religion\\nis not a matter of feeling, but of principle; a question\\nof loyal obedience to Christ. We are not to judge of\\nthe amount of religion or of the piety we may pos-\\nsess by the frequency of states of blissful and ecstatic\\nfeeling, but by the readiness with which we obey the\\ncommands of Christ and the completeness of our sub-\\nmission to His will. Christ never said Ye are my\\nfriends if ye feel ffood, but if ye do whatsoever I\\ncommand you. Love and sentiment and gush are\\nnot piety, although there is no true piety without love.\\nObedience to Christ is piety, and an ounce of obedience\\nis worth more than a ton of gush.\\nLet us note again, the inconsistency of professed\\nlove and persistent disobedience. Jesus says, (Revised\\nVersion) If ye love me ye will keep my command-\\nments. That was a hard question Jesus once asked\\nof the Jews, And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do\\nnot the things that I say To this question they gave\\nhim no answer. Indeed, how could they give an\\nanswer? There was nothing they could say; not a\\nword. Call him master and yet refuse to obey him!\\nCall him Lord and yet deny his authority The absurd-", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "14 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nity and the sin of it is too plain to admit of any-\\npossible defence.\\nAnd let us note again, that a needless division\\namong christians is a misfortune and a sin; and let us\\njoin heartily with those who cry out for christian\\nunity, although we may differ radically from most of\\nthem as to the means by which it is to be secured.\\nJesus prayed for his disciples that they all might be\\none. Four times is that thought repeated in that one\\nprayer in the seventeenth chapter of John, and in spite\\nof all that may be said as to its advantages, I believe\\nthat the present division of christians into discordant\\nand antagonistic sects is something which our Lord\\nnever contemplated and w T ith which he is not well\\npleased. It is the product of insufficient intelligence\\nand incomplete consecration. It was not so in the\\nbeginning and will not be so in the end, for we can not\\nbelieve his prayer will go unanswered. There are not\\nfive New Jerusalems shown us in the Apocalypse nor\\nforty, neither are there a dozen brides of the Lamb, and\\nall at variance with each other, but only one. That\\nthey all may be one, even as we are one is the prayer\\nof Jesus. That we may be one with each other, even\\nas Jesus was one with the Father and as we claim to be\\none with Him; this is the ideal and this ideal is to be.\\nWhose sin is it then, this discord and division, and\\nwhence did it come? It did not come from those who\\nfollow the divinely appointed way and it will only\\ncease when christians everywhere return to that way.\\nBut if needless division is a sin, then it is evident that\\na body of christians ought not to separate itself, or", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 15\\nremain separated, from others except for very serious\\ncause. There must be some vital thing which they\\nfeel they must have, and yet cannot find in other bodies\\nor churches, A denomination which has no distinctive\\nprinciple\u00e2\u0080\u0094 nothing which can not be found also to a\\ngood degree in some other denomination, has no suffi-\\ncient reason for its existence. It is needlessly multi-\\nplying divisions. It should disband, and so make one\\nless among conflicting names, and one less occasion of\\nsneers to the scoffer. But we must take our own\\nmedicine. Can we show such a distinctive principle?\\nWould any vital thing be lost if we should cease to\\nexist? If not, then let us disband.\\nNow how many know whether anything w T ould be\\nlost or not? Probably our people are better posted as\\nto the reasons for their beliefs and practices than those\\nof many other churches, because we have always met so\\nmuch scorn and opposition as to compel examination,\\nyet among Baptists there is still a lamentable ignorance\\non these matters. Every Baptist pastor is obliged to\\nmeet it and the questions asked by his own members\\nshow that many vital things are not well understood,\\nand this is much more true as to our history than as to\\nour beliefs. Baptists themselves do not understand as\\nthey should their own position, their own strength,\\ntheir own history, or the vital importance of their prin-\\nciples to the world at large. To the great majority of\\nus an examination into these things would bring a most\\nsurprising revelation. We have never properly appre-\\nciated ourselves, and as to the opinion held of us by\\nothers w r e know very well what that is. We know", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "16 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nwhat others think of us. There never was a people\\nmore misunderstood and misrepresented, and it is high\\ntime we ceased to be so timid about declaring our\\nprinciples, and defending them.\\nIn the minds of very many (and otherwise intelli-\\ngent people too) the Baptists are a stubborn, narrow-\\nminded set of people, exclusive, self-righteous and\\nbigoted, who are forever harping about immersion and\\nmaking it a hobby of more importance than anything\\nelse; who refuse to commune 1 with anybody but\\nthemselves because they do not recognize anybody else\\nas christians, or at least, as being as good as them-\\nselves, and so forth. It is all sufficiently familiar to\\nus; we have heard it until we could almost say it back-\\nwards. It avails nothing to say in reply that Baptist\\nrequirements for the communion are exactly the\\nsame as those of every other church, namely, a christian\\nexperience, an orderly walk, and baptism, and that\\ntheir baptism is only that which the best scholarship\\nof the world declares to be the baptism of the New\\nTestament, or that no one is more ready than they to\\nfellowship christians of every name and no name in\\nevery labor of love, in prayer, in cordial sympathy, and\\neven at the table of our Lord when his own require-\\nments concerning it have been met. But it is not\\nworth while to spend time in pointing out the utter\\nuntruthfulness of this conception. Those who believe\\nthese things are largely those who wish to believe\\nthem or those who have had no practical acquaintance\\nwith us. I must say, however, that many years experi-\\nence has convinced me that there is to be found among", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 17\\nBaptists fully as much of broad minded liberality and\\nchristian charity as among any christians on earth,\\nand much more than among those who are foremost in\\ndenouncing our bigotry and narrow-mindedness.\\nHowever, there must be something to these Baptist\\npeople, for see how they prosper and how they are\\ncoming up in every way in spite of the most strenuous\\nopposition. They are more rigid in their discipline\\nthan other churches; it is a harder matter to get into\\ntheir churches than into almost any other, and they\\nrefuse many whom others accept. They are unpopular\\neverywhere and always have been, yet what a sweeping\\ngrowth they have made and what a power they have\\nattained to, and their growth, moreover, has always\\nbeen just in proportion to the strictness with which\\nthey have held to their peculiar principles. They have\\ngrown in this country, from a half dozen poor, op-\\npressed, outcast, and despised, to number more than\\nfour millions, and they have wealth and culture and\\nlearning of the highest rank. They have now (in the\\nyear 1899) more than forty-six million dollars invested\\nin schools of learning, of which they have a hundred\\nand seventy-nine, a larger amount than has any other\\ndenomination in America. In these schools are more\\nthan thirty-five thousand students. Their Foreign\\nMission Society expends more than six hundred thou-\\nsand dollars annually and reports more converts from\\namong the heathen than any other American missionary\\nsociety. Taking the Baptists, Congregationalists, Meth-\\nodists and Presbyterians together for eight years past,\\nthe Baptists have, with less than one-fifth the total", "height": "4835", "width": "2796", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "18 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nexpenditure of money, sustained nearly one-third the\\nentire working force and have received more than one-\\nthird of all the converts. Their Home Mission Society\\nexpends more than half a million dollars annually. Their\\nPublication Society has the finest and most complete\\nprinting establishment of any religious body in America,\\nif not in the world, and one of the most complete of any\\nkind, and also carries on extensive missionary operations\\nin connection with its printing business; or rather, its\\nprinting business is the basis of its missionary operations,\\nas its w r hole work is missionary. As to men, they can\\nname a long list of those who take first place as schol-\\nars, educators, preachers, governors, statesmen, etc.,\\namong whom are many who are known the world over.\\nThere is among them no central authority as in other\\nchurches, whose influence might hold them together,\\nbut their organization is apparently a rope of sand\\nand yet they are as harmonious a body as any. Divi-\\nsions over creed questions and heresy trials that rack\\nother denominations do not seem to trouble them at all.\\nA heretic whether in high place or low, just seems to\\ndrop out by some natural process of elimination, and\\nthat is the last of him, while the church goes on just the\\nsame as before. Occasionally an individual does come\\nto the front, with a great flourish of trumpets, declar-\\ning that the whole denomination is honey-combed by\\nunbelief in the old doctrines; that the progressive spir-\\nits of to-day have altogether abandoned the standing\\nground of the fathers, and that the rising generation of\\nministers is full of unrest a\\\\id dissatisfaction, unwilling\\nany longer to have their minds fettered by old creeds", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 19\\nand longing for a larger liberty that it only needs\\na leader to precipitate a universal stampede, and that\\nthe whole denominational edifice is about to collapse.\\nAnd then this enterprising individual leads off, but\\nthere is no stampede; this uneasy brick comes out of the\\nwall, but when, instead of the deafening crash of the\\nwhole falling denominational edifice, there is heard only\\na gentle plurik, it is discovered that only a single brick\\nhas fallen and as we look to see the hole it came from,\\nlo, there is no hole there. Its place is already filled and\\nthe wall remains perfectly solid. And when the good\\nbrother himself thinks he heard something drop and\\nlooks around to see what it was, he finds it s him.\\nNow there must be some reason for all this, and if they\\nhave been made thus solid and vigorous because of their\\nfoundation principles, then let us study them.\\nWell, our distinctive principle is the explanation\\nof it, though the declaration of that principle will create\\nsurprise in the minds of very many and call forth con-\\ntradiction in the minds of not a few. It is simply this:\\nTHE ABSOLUTE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST IN\\nHIS CHURCH.\\nNotice that we speak of a distinctive principle, not\\nprinciples, for we have but one. All other things that\\nmay seem distinctive come directly from that. We\\ninsist that Jesus the Christ shall be king in his own\\nkingdom, Lord in his own domain, with no rival claim-\\nant either in church authority, traditional practice, or\\nindividual opinion, to dispute his sway, nullify his\\ncommands, or change the things which He has ap-\\npointed. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it and", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "20 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ndo it without question or delay. Ye call me Master,\\nand, Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. We deny\\nto the church any authority whatever to legislate in\\nmatters pertaining to the kingdom. Her place is to\\nfollow and obey. In this position we stand alone; it is,\\ntherefore, our distinctive principle. This may seem like\\na sweeping statement and like a condemnation of every-\\nbody but ourselves; but the question is not whether\\nit is sweeping or whether it is condemning, but whether\\nit is true.\\nFurthermore, we regard the New Testament as a\\nperfect and complete revelation of the will of Christ in\\nall necessary things and to be, therefore, implicitly\\nobeyed. If we may deviate in one point we may in\\nanother, and the principle of obedience to Christ is lost.\\nIt is the worst possible training for a convert, to teach\\nhim in reference to baptism or anything else, that it\\nmakes no difference whether he does what he thinks\\nJesus wants him to do or some other thing. We have seen\\nnjany a convert ruined in the beginning by some older\\nperson telling him that it makes no difference. It\\ncuts the nerve of his christian life and often in the end\\ndestroys it altogether; for human depravity is such\\ntint he will be all too apt to follow out for himself the\\nlogic of this teaching. He will say, consciously or un-\\nconsciously, If I am not bound to obey Christ in this\\nmatter why should I be in that, and in that, and again\\nin that? until he is really held to nothing and his own\\nsweet will becomes his only rule of action. We are\\nno more bound to obedience in repentance and faith\\nthan we are in baptism and church order, and if I can", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 21\\nbreak one of the Lord s commands with impunity, I can\\nsafely break them all.\\nAgain, we believe that the Word of God was written\\nfor men, for all men, and not for ministers and priests\\nonly, and that every man, woman and child is at full\\nliberty and under solemn obligation to read it and to\\ninterpret it, each for himself. The word of God is plain\\nenough, so that any one who really wants to know what\\nthe will of God is can find out with but little trouble,\\nand it will be no excuse for misbelief or misconduct that\\nwe have followed the interpretation of another, no matter\\nhow great a personage that other may have been.\\nIt is sometimes said that Doctor So and So teaches\\nthis or that, and he is a great deal smarter than you or\\nI, and therefore must know what it is right to do; but\\nour reply to that should be that there is such a thing as\\nbeing too smart, and that when one gets to the point\\nwhere he knows more about what is commanded than\\nJesus himself, who gave the command, he is altogether\\ntoo smart for us to follow with safety.\\nAnd here, by the way, we have come upon the reason\\nof our so substantia] unity. We are united because we\\nall believe the same thing, and believe it too, not\\nbecause some one told us we must, but because we\\nfound it in the Word of God and in our heart of hearts\\naccept it as the truth of God; and this is the only\\nsubstantial basis of christian unity. Can two walk\\ntogether except they be agreed? or can you fully sepa-\\nrate them if they are agreed? Close proximity is not\\nunity. The intimate association of people of discordant\\nviews and conflicting wishes is not harmony, as is", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "22 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nshown sometimes in political conventions; neither can\\ndistance separate those whose hopes, whose fears, whose\\naims are one, whose convictions of truth are identical,\\nand the ground of whose convictions is the sure word of\\nGod. Put the breadth of the earth between them and\\nthey are still in harmony with each other and no force\\ncan really separate them. That is the reason that this\\nrope of sand has proven so strong. It is the strong-\\nest possible bond. And this, too, is the only possible\\nbasis of christian unity. Let churches and christians\\neverywhere throw away their human traditions, rules\\nand creeds, and come at once to the inspired Word of\\nGod, and the present discord and division will presently\\ncease.\\nWe have, therefore, no confession, discipline, cate-\\nchism or creed, save a simple statement of what we\\nbelieve the Bible to teach on some main points, and\\nthat was first published for the information of outsiders\\nand to save ourselves from being misunderstood, and is\\nstill used as a convenient summary of our belief, but\\nnot as a church standard to which all must subscribe.\\nTo us, councils and synods and church fathers were\\nonly human and uninspired, and we base no article of\\nour faith upon their findings. We are just as infallible\\nas they, and indeed more so, for we have much light\\nwhich they did not have and a better knowledge of the\\nWord of God than was possible to them. The opinions\\nof the Very Reverend Theophrastus Nonesuch, D. D.,\\nLL. D., have for us no authority and his threats no\\nterror. The teachings of the church is an expression\\nwe never use, a sentiment we repudiate, and the", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PKINCIPLE. 23\\nauthority of Doctor So and So 1 is to us an absurdity.\\nTo the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not\\naccording to this word it is because there is no light in\\nthem.\\nWe stand at one end of a logical line, the Koman\\nCatholic church is at the other, and all other churches\\nare between the two, although some are nearer to us\\nand some are nearer to them. We regard the Bible as\\nsupreme authority and admit only what it requires; they\\nregard the church as supreme authority and admit what\\nthey please. Either position is consistent with itself,\\nalthough one or the other must be wrong. But all other\\nchurches are between the two, and in a position conse-\\nquently, which is neither logical nor consistent. More-\\nover, they differ much among themselves. Some have\\nmore Bible and less church and some have more church\\nand less Bible, but among these there can never be\\nagreement, for who shall arise with authority to declare\\njust what proportion of each makes the right mixture?\\nThe attempts at christian union which have been made\\nwithin the last few years are quite instructive on this\\npoint. To be consistent, one must go to one extreme\\nor the other. As a Catholic priest once said to one of\\nour pastors, In the end they must either come over to\\nus or else go over to you.\\nBut now, this is a bold stand to take, and we may\\nproperly be expected to furnish proofs. We think that\\na candid investigation into facts will reveal sufficient\\nproofs, and we cordially invite the fullest investigation.\\nLet us indicate some of the proofs.\\nWe mention first, the organization of our churches,", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "24 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ntheir ordinances, doctrines and life. They will be found\\nto be patterned exclusively after the New Testament\\nmodel. We have no doctrines or ordinances that are\\nnot clearly taught in the New Testament, and we follow 7\\nthose ordinances and doctrines without expanding,\\ncurtailing or changing them. We do not believe in\\ndeveloping a practice until it becomes just the oppo-\\nsite of what it was intended to be, as has been the case\\nwith both the ordinances; the one having been devel-\\noped (to borrow a word from Dean Stanley) from a\\nsimple memorial by the believer of the sufferings of his\\nLord into a mysterious and miraculous sacrament, by\\npartaking of which one may be helped to become a\\nbeliever, or have some mysterious spiritual grace min-\\nistered to his soul; and the other, from a symbol of the\\ndeath of the believer with Christ and his resurrection\\nto a newness of life, the sign of a regeneration\\nalready accomplished, to a rite by which the infant,\\nincapable of faith or regenerating grace, becomes re-\\ngenerate and grafted into the body of Christ s church\\nas is declared in the Episcopal formula for the baptism\\nof infants. It is our constant challenge thrown out to\\nall the world to show us anything in our practice or\\nbelief which does not come directly from the New\\nTestament; or to show us anything in the New Testa-\\nment which we have left out.\\nWe mention next our standard of discipline, which\\nis the Bible alone. That is to say, in every so-called\\nheresy trial, or in any delinquency of morals the\\nreference is alw r ays directly to the Word of God. If a\\nmoral delinquency is involved, the charge is always that", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 25\\nof immoral or unchristian conduct, and if heresy,\\nit is always that of unscriptural teaching. The specifi-\\ncation is not that this is contrary to article so and so\\nof om* articles of faith, or to page so and so of our\\nbook of discipline, 1 but that it is contrary to the teach-\\nings of the Scriptures, and by this standard is the\\nmatter settled.\\nWe mention again, the position always taken by a\\nBaptist in any matter of controversy concerning religion,\\nHis appeal is always directly to the Bible. He may\\nknow little and certainly cares less what the commen-\\ntators and church fathers have said about it, unless it\\nbe some matter of history or of fact which is to be\\nsettled by evidence outside of the Bible; neither does\\nhe quote the authority of some great man, living or\\ndead, to substantiate his position. He has been taught\\nto refer all religious questions directly to the Bible for\\nsolution and accept its voice as final.\\nAgain, we mention the advice always given to young\\nconverts when they ask for information on such matters\\nas baptism and church membership, which is simply\\nthat they should read the New Testament on those\\npoints. It is the old question of Christ to that other\\nyoung man who was seeking spiritual guidance, How\\nreadest thou? This is so well known that it is some-\\ntimes called a Baptist trick. There are no others who\\ndare to put the New Testament into the hands of their\\nconverts and tell them this: Now read that book care-\\nfully, candidly, prayerfully; then follow it. Listen to\\nthe voice of no man, no church, no book but that, and\\nthen go where it leads you, do the things therein laid", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "26 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ndown and unite with that church which seems to you\\nto be the most like the one therein described. Other\\ndenominations dare not tell their converts this, for they\\nknow too well where they would go. It is too often\\ntheir effort to persuade the young convert that he need\\nnot do the things therein laid down, and that he may\\nfollow men and books that teach things which are at\\nvariance with this book.\\nA story from out West illustrates this so well that I\\nmay be pai doned for repeating it. A missionary, who\\nwas not a Baptist, found an Indian out there who could\\nread and gave him a Testament. After several weeks\\nthe Indian came to him declaring his belief in Christ\\nand asking for baptism. The missionary questioned\\nhim, and finding that he was indeed converted, consented\\nto baptize him. He therefore procured a bowl of water\\nand was about to proceed when the Indian asked him\\nwhat he was going to do with that. He replied that he\\nwas going to baptize him. Ugh! no big enough said\\nhe, take Indian to river. The missionary then pro-\\nceeded to explain that that isn t the way we do, that\\nthe amount of water isn t essential, that the great\\nmajority of christians do not baptize in that way, and\\nthat it made no difference if only his conscience were\\nsatisfied, c, c. The Indian listened patiently until\\nhe had finished, and then handed him back the Testa-\\nment with the remark, You give Indian wrong book\\nthen\\\\ me read um all through.\\nBut some one will say: Do you mean to say that you\\nare the only ones who receive the Bible as the Word of\\nGod! O no, not by any means. No, indeed! What I", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 27\\nmean to say is that we are the only ones who receive as\\nauthoritative nothing but the Bible. We receive the\\nBible and the Bible only others receive the Bible and\\nsomething else, and it is just exactly that something\\nelse that makes all the mischief. It is that something\\nelse that has made all the corruption in church life, all\\nthe discord of to-day, and all the persecutions and\\natrocities of the days past. It was that something else\\nthat made the awful history of the Roman Catholic\\nchurch and brought upon Europe the dark ages. It is\\nthat something else that makes all the false Christianity\\nof to-day with its resulting scepticism and infidelity. It\\nis that something else that is eating the life out of great\\nchristian churches and keeping them from being the\\nstrong spiritual forces they ought to be. Therefore we\\nare afraid of it and will have none of it. What is in the\\nbook we are sure of, but what is not in the book we do\\nnot know what it may lead to. We dare not take the\\nrisk; we will stick to the book. Why do we not have\\nthe things that others have, then? They are not in the\\nbook. Why no presiding elders or ruling elders? It is\\nnot in the book. Why no bishops, or baptism of babes,\\nor consecration of altars, or vestments, or candles, or\\nprayers for the dead, or any one of a hundred things\\nthat others have? They are not in the book, and that\\nis the end of it.\\nWe mention as a further proof, the historical genesis\\nof our churches as compared with that of others. They\\nare not the product of the thinking of any uninspired\\nman, but are built on the model of the New Testament.\\nLuther in the progress of the Reformation found it", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "28\\nTHE BAPTIST IN HISTOBY.\\nnecessary to establish a new church, and the Lutheran\\nchurch of to-day is the result of his efforts at church\\nbuilding. He sought to throw off the Romish yoke and\\nRomish corruptions; to make the gospel free to rich\\nand poor alike and to bring the church back, in short,\\nto what he considered to have been the true catholic\\nstandard before Romish corruptions crept in. The\\nchurch in his mind was never anything but a universal\\norganization under the protection of and co-extensive\\nwith the state; and Lutherans are the followers of Luther\\nand his ideas. Calvin sought for a form of church\\ngovernment which should be strong and effective and\\nyet Protestant. His plan was wrought out by a com-\\nmission of six men appointed by the city government\\nof Geneva and was modeled upon that government. Out\\nof that Genevan church grew the whole Presbyterian\\nsystem, with some necessary modifications and so the\\nPresbyterian church is what it is, in its form, because\\nthe government of Geneva was what it was. Their\\nclaim of Apostolic origin and precedent is without\\nfoundation. Wesley did not at first intend to form any\\nnew church, but only to infuse new piety into the old\\nchurch, and he himself lived and died in the Church of\\nEngland; and so it came to pass that the founder of\\nMethodism was himself never a Methodist. His aim\\nwas to work a reformation in the Established Church,\\nbut it resulted in forming a new church. And so every\\none of these churches, as well as almost every other\\nexisting church, can be traced as an historical move-\\nment back to some one man whose life and influence\\nwas its beginning. And these men, moreover, built", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 29\\nmostly upon models of their own, not supposing, appar-\\nently, that the Lord himself had given any pattern of a\\nchurch; it seems never to have occurred to them to\\nsearch the New Testament for the model of a church\\norganization. Having been always accustomed to\\necclesiastical and episcopal or hierarchical forms, they\\ndid not think of anything different.\\nBut Baptist churches had no founder save the Founder\\nof Christianity itself. They have had leaders, but no\\nman ever stood to Baptist churches in the relation of\\nLuther to the Lutheran, Calvin to the Presbyterian, or\\nWesley to the Methodist church. Their origin was\\ndifferent. The churches of the Apostles day were such\\nas are now called Baptist. They disappeared amid the\\ncorruptions of the early centuries. They sprang up\\nagain before the Reformation in scattered congregations\\nhere and there with different leaders and somewhat\\ndifferent practices. Becoming numerous, they again\\nalmost disappear before the fiery deluge of persecution\\nby Catholic and Protestant alike. But again they\\nre-appear in a company here and there who have read\\ntheir Bibles and can not be satisfied with any of the\\nforms of church life which they see around them, and\\nfrom this point on they grow and multiply. Baptist\\nchurches are the result of a spontaneous gathering\\ntogether of people of the same mind, actuated by\\nBible principles, but established by no man as their\\nfounder.\\nThis spontaneous origin is well illustrated by the\\nhistory of the first modern Baptist churches in Germany,\\norganized by Dr. J. G. Oncken in 1834 and onwards,", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "30 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nby the history of the African Native Church, as given\\nin the Baptist Missionary Magazine for December, 1899,\\nand especially by the first Baptist church organized in\\nthe Island of Cuba, which was gathered by Dr. Alberto\\nDiaz. This body of believers were desirous of forming\\na church organization yet could not adopt that of the\\nchurches by which they were surrounded, or of which\\nthey had knowledge. They therefore betook themselves\\nto a prayerful study of the New Testament to see if\\nthey could find the pattern of a church therein. As a\\nresult of such study they agreed upon a simple organ-\\nization, electing a pastor and deacons and adopting the\\nordinances as they are given in the New Testament,\\nwithout knowing that they were forming a Baptist church\\nand were afterwards much surprised and delighted to find\\nthat they w T ere in entire accord and fellowship with a\\ngreat body of christians in America and England called\\nBaptists. The Cuban brethren had been organized\\ninto a Baptist church two years before they knew that\\nthey were Baptists. It is worth something to hear Dr.\\nDiaz tell the story of their origin.\\nNow, in contrasting the simplicity of Baptist organ-\\nization with that of other churches, the question is\\nirresistibly suggested, have any of these things in\\nwhich they differ from us been an improvement? Are\\nthey any stronger, any more harmonious, any more\\nspiritual, any more efficient than we by reason of these\\nthings? Does their baptism of unconscious babes add\\nanything to their strength? Is the wearing of gowns\\nand the burning of candles any aid to the effective\\npreaching of the gospel? Are bishops and presiding", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 31\\nelders any aid to an independent manliness in the\\nministry? Does the following of church tradition\\nrather than New Testament teaching deepen the spirit-\\nuality of their members? Is the wisdom of synods and\\nconferences and the laws of catechisms and books of\\ndiscipline a better guide than the written Word and\\nthe independent leading. of the Holy Spirit? Are they\\nbetter off with these things or are we better off with-\\nout them? To us this is simply to ask whether man s\\nway is wiser than God s way; to ask if the Holy Spirit\\ndid or did not really know what w 7 as best for all times\\nand all places; and if he really did direct the Apostles\\nin their establishing the visible forms of church life as\\nwell as in teaching them the truths of repentance, faith\\nand sanctification. The question, it seems to us, needs\\nno answer.\\nThe problem of the Baptist is, therefore, very simple.\\nJesus and his Apostles preached that men should trust\\nin the Christ for their salvation; so therefore do we.\\nWhen men trusted, then they baptized them, and what\\nthey did in baptizing them is very plain; they led them\\ndown into the water, they immersed them in the water,\\ninto the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy\\nSpirit, they led them up out of the water, and that was\\nthe only way of baptizing they had. The modern\\nway has been introduced without authority and retained\\nwithout blessing. Then the believers, (who had been\\nbaptized, every one of them), commemorated the Lord s\\nsuffering in the Lord s Supper 1 and these were their\\nonly ordinances; all this therefore we do also. Further-\\nmore we find that these baptized believers were gathered", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "32 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ninto bodies called churches, each with a pastor, or\\npastors, and deacons as their only officers, and that\\nevery church conducted its own affairs. Thus, there-\\nfore, we form our churches. Then we find that they\\nwere taught to live godly in Christ Jesus, and this is\\nall; all there is of it.\\nAll this, thus far, has come directly out of our\\ndistinctive principle as stated, namely: that Christ shall\\nbe supreme in his own church -and that we shall simply\\ndo what he requires. You will readily see that there\\nare involved in this the following things, each of\\nwhich is a cardinal doctrine of Baptist faith, and has\\nbeen largely accepted by others also, namely: a spirit-\\nual church membership, that is, a membership made up\\nof converted persons only, those who are actually born\\nagain; the baptism of believers only, and that baptism\\nimmersion; the Lord s supper for the baptized only;\\nthe freedom of every one to interpret the Bible for\\nhimself; the entire separation of church and state as\\noccupying two distinct spheres; each church indepen-\\ndent of every other; the equal right of every one in the\\nchurch to a voice in its affairs; and the Word of God\\novershadowing and dominating all. This combination\\nmakes a Baptist church, and it is found in no other.\\nNow, If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye\\ndo them. When the will of Christ has been expressed\\nin all these matters, are we under no obligation to\\nregard that will? They tell us that there are Christians\\nin all the churches, which is very true, as we are glad\\nto know, but has nothing whatever to do with the case.\\nThey tell us it is of no consequence, just as if anything", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE. 33\\nthat our Lord commands could be of no consequence.\\nThey tell us that it makes no difference as long as\\nour consciences are satisfied. But that would have\\njustified Saul of Tarsus in his fierce hatred of the first\\nchristians, or the King of Moab in offering up his own\\nson as a burnt offering, or the modern votary in the\\nsenseless mummeries of the Papal church. To us it\\ndoes make a difference. When we consider the obliga-\\ntion of obediently following our Lord, it does make a\\ndifference. When we see the fearful consequences of\\nadmitting the traditions of men, it does make a difference.\\nWhen we consider that the tendency of men is always\\ntoward sin and that the danger is always that we shall\\ndrift away from Christ, it does make a difference, and we\\ndare not depart from the Word.\\nThen let others depart if they must and will; let them\\nreject what is commanded and adopt what is not com-\\nmanded if they are bound so to do, and reap the\\ninevitable fruit of it. Let them dispute and distress\\nthemselves if they must, over questions of human creeds\\nand matters of man s invention; as for us, the way is\\neasy and plain, for we hear a voice behind us, saying:\\nThis is the way, walk ye in it. So have we ever aimed\\nto do, so are we determined now to do, and that so we\\nmay ever do, help us Almighty God.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "Lift up thine eyes round about and behold: ^.11\\nthese gather themselves together, and come to thee.\\ntIs I live, saith the Lord, thou shall surely clothe\\nthee icith them all as icith an ornament, and gird\\nthyself icith them, like a bride. For, as for thy\\nwaste and thy desolate places and the land that\\nhath been destroyed, surely note shalt thou be too\\nstrait for the inhabitants, and they that sic alloiced\\nthee up shall be far away. The children of thy\\nbereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place\\nis too strait for me: give place to me that I may\\ndwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who\\nhath begotten me these, seeing I have been be-\\nreaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile,\\nand wandering to and fro? and who hath brought\\nup these? Behold I was left alone: these, where\\nwere they?", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "II.\\nTHE HISTORY OF BAPTISTS,\\nHaving described the Baptist, the question now to be\\nanswered is, Where in the records of the past do we\\nfind him? We cannot, however, attempt to give even\\na full outline of Baptist history for it is too long a tale.\\nTo give the story of eighteen centuries in an hour s\\ndiscourse is altogether too large a task. Let me give\\nonly the merest sketch, together with some necessary\\ncautions concerning it.\\nI. We need to keep in mind from the beginning that\\nBaptist history is not to be written upon the same plan\\nas any other church history, for the reason that Baptist\\nchurches are not like any other church. It is not the\\nhistory of an organization which can be traced from a\\ndefinite beginning by definite steps to its present con-\\ndition, neither is it the tracing of a name which has had\\nat all times a definite meaning; for the name is compar-\\natively modern and has been applied on the one hand\\nto those who were not Baptists, and on the other hand,\\nmany who were really such were not known by that\\nname. It is the tracing of a principle which has been", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "THE HISTOBICAL LINE. 37\\nheld by various bodies, sometimes with completeness\\nand sometimes not, and sometimes in close association\\nwith other like bodies and sometimes by those who were\\nisolated and widely scattered.\\nThe history of Presbyterianism, for example, is the\\nhistory of a definite form of church government, always\\nvisible and easily traced, an organization beginning at\\na definite time and place, the origin and developement\\nof which is fully recorded, and all the parts of which\\nhave an historical connection with all the rest. The\\nsame may be said of Episcopacy, Methodism, or Luth-\\neranism, as well as of smaller bodies, but it can not\\nbe said at all of us. These churches have come down\\nto us like a lengthening chain, every link fast welded\\ninto the preceeding link, but Baptist churches are more\\nlike a load of bricks which have been picked up along\\nthe way, all alike because made in the same mold but\\neach complete in itself and independent of all the rest.\\nThe effort to make out a Baptist succession is a failure.\\nThat is, to find a succession of churches, each descending\\nfrom the preceding and reaching back to the days of\\nthe Apostles, so that a continuous line of them oan be\\naffirmed to have existed from that time to this. Bearing\\nin mind that in the early days few records were made,\\nand the wholesale destruction of those that were made,\\nit seems to me that to deny positively the existence of\\nsuch a succession is going too far; but to assert it\\npositively is to assert what can not be proved. The\\nrecords of primitive times are very meager, and later\\npersecutions were abundant, so that for generations\\nBaptist movements were made mostly in secret and", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "38 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nnothing was committed to paper which might betray\\nthem, and as has already been said, a full history of them\\ncan never be written; yet there are facts which seem to\\nimply that the Baptist principle was much more\\nextensively and tenaciously held and consistently\\ncarried out in those obscure periods than is generally\\nsupposed. There are enticing hints and suggestions of\\npossibilities which one longs to follow out, but the\\nmaterials are wanting. It is certain that there was a\\nsuccession of christian bodies, known under different\\nnames and stretching down from the Apostles day to\\nthis, who kept alive the truth of the gospel in its\\nessential purity. They bore strong resemblance to\\nthose who were afterwards called by our name and\\nemphasized now this and now that fundamental article\\nof our faith; but we cannot find in them, at this late\\nday and with the incompleteness of their record, a\\ncomplete harmony with our beliefs. The stream of\\npure truth continued to flow, taking the name of now\\nthis and now that able leader and gospel worker. They\\nwere always persecuted and always therefore, in obscur-\\nity. If quiet and opportunity had been given to them\\nto organize and develop a formal life, doubtless they\\nwould have shown a close likeness to the New Testament\\npattern. All we can say is that we cannot clearly trace\\nthis pattern from the beginning in the records that\\nare now left to us. There may have been a Baptist\\nsuccession but no man can now prove it; and it is but\\nfair to say that the more investigation brings to light\\nnew facts, the less likely it seems that such succession\\nin the strict sense can be found.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 39\\nBut we do not depend for our authority upon an\\necclesiastical pedigree, nor upon grace that seems to\\nreside in the clothes, being put on and off with priestly\\ngarments, but upon the authority of the Word of God\\nand upon grace that is ministered directly to the\\nbelieving soul, the Holy Spirit making valid that which\\nis done in his name and for his glory independently of\\nordaining hands and priestly vestments. He is in the\\ntrue apostolic succession who has the apostolic spirit\\nand teaches apostolic principles and truths, and that\\nis an apostolic church which is built upon the New\\nTestament model, even though it have had no prede-\\ncessor for a thousand years. Indeed, the church that\\ncan trace its history back through visible organizations\\nto the days of the Apostles proves thereby that it is\\nnot n apostolic church; for these visible organizations\\nhave been full of apostacy, unspirituality, false doctrine\\nand all uncleanness. And why need any one be anxious\\nto claim an apostolic succession that must needs run\\nback through such monsters of iniquity as Pope Alex-\\nander VI, or such a murderer of heretics as Innocent\\nIII, or even such a political schemer as Gregory VII,\\nor one of such grasping ambition as Gregory the Great?\\nKather let us glory that our spiritual ancestors were\\ntoo pure and true to be the companions of such as\\nthese, and were among those who by reason of their\\nreal godliness were driven into the wilderness.\\nAnd right here I wish to protest most emphatically\\nagainst the misnaming of much that is called church\\nhistory, and insist that it is not the history of the church\\nof Christ at all. For a thousand years it is the history", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "40 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nof a corrupt, oppressive, and sometimes unspeakably\\nvile religio-political organization, which never had for\\nits real aim the teaching of the true principles of\\nChrist s gospel and the uplifting and saving of men s\\nsouls. It is the history of a hierarchy oppressing and\\ndeluding the people, of the teaching of superstition\\ncontinually made worse and worse, of liberty destroyed,\\nof ignorance made more dense, of tyranny both civil\\nand spiritual made more tyrannical, and a blasphemous\\nusurpation by men of prerogatives that belong only to\\nGod. To call this church history is surely keen\\nsarcasm, careless handling of names, or utter ignorance.\\nLet it be frankly admitted that in this organization\\nwere many holy men at various times and that out of\\nit have come men whose names will be glorious for all\\ntime, yet it remains true that they did not shape its\\npolicy nor control its course, and that they themselves\\nwere much blinded and hindered in their struggles for\\npurity and usefulness by its influence. The real church\\nhistory is to be found in the largely unrecorded struggles\\nof those who never recognized this institution, and the\\nheroes of the church are to be found in the appalling\\nlist of those who suffered from its fury.\\nYet, even if there be no Baptist succession in the\\nsense of a lineal descent of churches, it is quite possible\\nthat there never was a time when there were not some-\\nwhere Baptist churches; not exact counterparts of\\nthose of to-day, but in all essential principles the same.\\nWhen they failed in one place they had sprung up in\\nanother, and so the various movements overlap each\\nother in point of time, though widely separated in", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 41\\npoint of locality and not, as far as can be discovered,\\nvitally connected with each other.\\nII. It is supposed by many that Baptists have no\\nhistory; that they are a modern sect founded by Roger\\nWilliams, or perhaps originating in England about the\\nyear 1600 with one Smythe who is said to have baptized\\nhimself, or at the farthest running back to the fanatical\\nso-called Anabaptists of Munster. But this is an\\nentire mistake. They are really the most venerable\\nbody of christians, as to age, in existence, for their\\ncontinuous traceable history runs back for centuries\\nbeyond that of any other existing church, (except the\\nRoman Catholic, and that is not in any proper sense a\\nchurch), and in their detached and independent history\\nthey run back to the very beginnings of churches. In\\nthe face of so much glorifying of antiquity and vaunting\\nof the history of other bodies, let me say it again, that\\nthe Baptists are several hundred years older than any\\nother existing christian body. There were thousands\\nof Baptist churches before ever there was an Episcopal,\\na Lutheran, a Congregational, a Methodist, or a Pres-\\nbyterian church. Not that we are any the purer or\\nmore spiritual today for that, but if antiquity is the\\ntest of respectability, let us understand that we can be\\nvery respectable. And more than that, their leaders,\\nfor breadth of mind, clearness of insight, and purity of\\nlife, have been second to none; their principles have\\nbeen broader, their aims truer, and their final achieve-\\nments grander than any. While others have been\\nhampered by narrow views or selfish considerations,\\nthey have wrought for all men and for all times, and in", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "42 THE BAPTIST IN HlSTOttt.\\nthe great struggle for human right and human liberty\\nthey have led the van which others have followed and\\nhave been in the fore front of that conflict of w T hich\\nothers have enjoyed the results.\\nCompare this with other movements. The Presby-\\nterian movement has perhaps been as wide in its\\ndevelopment and influence as any other modern\\nreligious movement, but it carried within itself the\\nseeds of oligarchy, developing into narrow intolerance\\nwhen it gained the predominance, and as a religious\\nforce, seeking intellectual rather than spiritual power,\\nculture rather than conversion, and so seeking flowers\\nfrom a seed not yet planted, the culture of a plant not\\nyet produced. The Methodist movement w T as a revival\\nof religious force and was greatly useful in emphasizing\\nthe value of practical godliness, preaching the doctrines\\nof repentance with great power; but it came compara-\\ntively late in the day, it was monarchical in form and\\nspirit and it has largely lost its primitive force and\\npower by the working out of principles within itself.\\nIt is strong in numbers and as an aggressive organization\\nbut weakened and weakening in its genuine spiritual\\nforce. Congregationalism has never developed such a\\nforce and power as other movements have and its\\ninfluence has been mostly confined to England and\\nAmerica. It is a striking fact that while it was the\\nfirst church to be well established in America, it now\\nnumbers only about 630,000, while the Presbyterians\\nnumber one and a half millions, the Baptists more than\\nfour millions and the Methodists of various sorts more\\nthan five millions. Episcopacy simply meant a division", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "TtlE HISTORICAL LINE. 43\\nof the Papacy and the formation of an independent and\\nreformed wing of it into a separate church. Luther-\\nanism was a reformation of the Papacy and has resulted\\nin a system which, practically, is but little nearer the\\nsaving gospel truth than is the Papacy itself, although\\nnot by any means so gross in its doctrines and influence.\\nEach of these was, in itself and in its time, a grand\\nmovement and a great advance upon what had gone\\nbefore it, and it is not at all my purpose to belittle them,\\nbut only to say that Baptists have wrought for a grander\\nprinciple and have toiled in a more universal struggle\\nthan they all. They have contended for the complete\\nsupremacy of Christ over all men and all things in his\\nchurch; for a spiritual church which should be a\\nspiritual power; for the absolute right of every man to\\nabsolute liberty of conscience in all things, and for\\nfreedom for him, not only from outside oppression but\\nfrom domination even by his own church. These may\\nseem like idle words of denominational glorification but\\nthey are not so intended; they are the result of long\\nthought and study upon the fundamental principles of\\nchurch life and their practical working out, as seen not\\nonly in the history, but also in the every day life and\\nwork of the various religious bodies around us. They\\nare the statement of a deliberate judgment of the facts.\\nWhile others glorify themselves and thank God because\\nthey are this or that, let me speak out my honest\\nconvictions and say that I am proud of my spiritual\\nancestry, that as I read their history I am thrilled by\\ntheir deeds, and that I am more than ever determined\\nto stand by their principles.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "44 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nIII. A word needs to be said also about the misrepre-\\nsentations of our history, although it is a topic we\\nmight well wish to omit, and it requires some grace to\\nspeak of it calmly. What a mess of stuff indeed, has\\nthe world received for Baptist history, and for how long!\\nIt is but within comparatively few years that the truth\\nhas become known, and not yet with any fulness.\\nThere is a plain reason for this misrepresentation; the\\ntruth is hard to get at and those who have written have\\nnot cared to take the trouble to get at it. The works\\nof our Baptist authors, except the more modern ones,\\nhave perished, and we have for our guidance for the\\nmost part only the story of their enemies. Even in the\\nworks of such great historians as Mosheim there is\\nevident the spirit of bitterness and unfairness. The\\ndescriptions of their lives, beliefs and deeds were\\nwritten by men who both could not and would not\\nunderstand them; could not, because too narrow and\\nunspiritual to understand them or their teachings, and\\nwould not because too bitter in their hatred and\\nantagonism. Their history was written by the men who\\ndrowned them and tortured them and burned them, and\\ndid it because of a jealous hatred of them; and this is\\ntaken for Baptist history! Of how much credence is it\\nworthy? Their own records are gone burned with\\ntheir bodies and only hidden remnants remain. Their\\nbooks were everywhere sought out and destroyed. No\\npublic library would receive and preserve them and\\nwhat few copies were hidden and thus preserved perished\\nin various ways. Of most of their works we know but\\nthe titles and these are preserved to us only in the", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 45\\nwritings of their enemies. Their record is to be found\\nonly in stray notices here and there, in the records of\\nthe Inquisition, in the written files of courts of judg-\\nment where they were examined and condemned, in\\nmusty local registers, and in the attacks of their opposers;\\nand to write their history and write it truly requires\\ngreat patience, wide research and much study. Of\\nhow much value would be the history of the abolition\\nof slavery written by some angry, disappointed slave-\\nholder? or a history of Prohibition written by John\\nGund, or the editor of the Wine and Spirit Gazette?\\nor a life of General Thomas J. Morgan, late United\\nStates Indian Commissioner, written by Monseigneur\\nSatolli or Father Cleary the Catholic priest of Minne-\\napolis, who has publicly called him a fool and a knave\\nand a liar and several other not very pretty things?\\nWould you expect an honest appreciation of motives or\\nan unbiased judgment as to results from such writers\\nas these? Hardly. Of how much value as American\\nhistory would be a rehearsal of the lies and mud-slinging\\nof successive political campaigns? Of just as much\\nvalue as some of the representations of the Baptists.\\nThus it is believed by many that they have always been\\nan ignorant and bigoted people, and Baptists because\\nthey were ignorant and bigoted; that the early Baptists\\nof our own country were men of no intelligence or\\npower, and that all the intellectual force and broad-\\nminded intelligence was in the other denominations;\\nthat the madmen of Munster were Baptists, and the\\ncharacteristic type of Baptists of their day, and that\\ntheir abominations of fanaticism, nakedness, polygamy", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "46 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nand riot were the result of Baptist teaching. Thomas\\nMuntzer and Balthazer Hubmeyer are supposed to have\\nbeen the leaders of these fanatics, the similarity of\\nMunster and Muntzer perhaps, having confused the\\ntwo. But Muntzer never was a Baptist. Although he\\nheld some doctrines similar to theirs he opposed them\\nin more. He was sometimes a Lutheran and sometimes\\na Catholic and he had been dead for several years when\\nthese things happened. He did, indeed, deny the\\nscripturalness of infant baptism, but continued to\\npractice it to the day of his death. Hubmeyer never had\\nany connection with the Munsterites either, for he\\nlikewise had been dead several years. The wildest\\nexcesses of Munster were due to Rothman, a Lutheran\\npastor. The strongest protest was made against these\\nfanatics by the two hundred Baptists who dwelt there,\\nuntil by their opposition one fourth of them lost their\\nlives and the rest were driven from the city.* Likewise\\nthe principles and teachings of these fanatics were\\nrepudiated both before and after the Munster uproar,\\nby the great majority of Anabaptists throughout\\nEurope. Often in their examinations under arrest we\\nread the question whether they were not the people\\nwho were engaged in these things and who, if they should\\ncome to power, would murder the rulers and revolution-\\nize society, and always the reply that they were not of\\nthose people and that they considered their teaching and\\ntheir doings wicked and wrong and not according to the\\nteachings of the gospel.\\nThe real cause of the Munster kingdom was this:\\nIn the cruel oppression which they suffered, these\\nArmitage, Hist. Bap. p. 375.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 47\\npeople saw no hope of relief from any earthly source,\\nand believing themselves to be the people of God, and\\nfired with the example of old Testament worthies, they\\nturned to a belief in the interposition of heaven. The\\ndoctrine of the immediate coming of Christ to put down\\nhis enemies and exalt his people strongly appealed to\\ntheir hope and their imagination. It needed only the\\nfiery eloquence of misguided leaders, who misinterpreted\\nprophecy, to persuade them to set up a heavenly king-\\ndom in preparation for Christ s immediate coming, and\\nthe natural passions of men, which always come to the\\nfront in times of religious fanaticism, did the rest. The\\nwhole movement can be traced directly to the wrong\\nteaching of certain leaders as to the nature of the\\nkingdom of God and the immediate advent of Christ.\\nThe peasants 1 war has also been laid at the door of\\nthe Anabaptists, but surely if ever a people had righteous\\ncause for rebellion these peasants had, and in the begin-\\nning they were upheld by all the reformers, including\\nLuther himself, although afterwards he reviled them\\nand called for their butchery in terms most heartless\\nand brutal. That they sympathized in this struggle for\\nliberty is very true, as they have always sympathized in\\nevery such struggle, and that some of them were engaged\\nin it is also true, and that it took on a semi-religious\\ncharacter; but it was occasioned by the cruelty and op-\\npression of the lords and nobles and not by religious\\nteaching. It was the struggle of a down trodden people\\nfor their natural rights, and a brutal struggle because\\nthey had been brutalized and degraded by their oppres-\\nsion.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "48 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nThe truth is, that every movement hostile to the ruling\\npower and every one who by any difference of belief\\nbecame obnoxious to the ruling church was dubbed\\nindiscriminately Anabaptist, so that the name came\\nto include both those sober, pious folk who were really\\nBaptists on the one hand, and the wildest, most visionary\\nfanatics on the other, and the good suffered for the bad.\\nThe effect of the Munster uproar was to arouse such a\\nhatred of everything that was called Anabaptist that\\ntheir persecution was renewed with redoubled violence,\\nand they were hunted to the death indiscriminately;\\nand to this day Baptists are despised because of Munster.\\nProfessor Vedder says, Many w T ho were called by this\\ntitle were never Anabaptists but practiced pedobaptism\\nas consistently as any Lutheran or Romanist of them\\nall. He further says: The Anabaptists were de-\\nnounced by their contemporaries, Romanist and Protes-\\ntant alike, with a rhetoric so sulphurous that an evil\\nodor has clung to the name ever since. If one were to\\nbelieve half he reads about these heretics, he would be\\ncompelled to think them the most depraved of mankind.\\nNothing was too vile to be ascribed to them, nothing\\nwas too wicked to be believed about them, nothing in\\nfact, was incredible except one had described them as\\nGod-fearing, pious folk, studious of the scriptures and\\nobedient to the will of their Lord as that will was made\\nknown.\\nIs it any wonder that one should boil over with\\nindignation to find himself in sympathy with a people\\nwhom he admires, whose principles are also dear to him,\\nwho are his own spiritual ancestors, and to find them\\nShort History, p. 86.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 49\\nso traduced, misrepresented, belittled and despised by\\nthose who never had their nobility of character, and\\ntheir achievements calmly appropriated by those who\\nhave no word of sympathy for their sufferings But the\\ntruth of their history is beginning to appear and the\\nworld will at last do them justice.\\nIV. To trace the history of Baptists, we are to look\\nfor those who held to the supreme authority of the\\nBible and discarded the authority of the church, to a\\nspiritual church membership, the baptism of believers\\nonly, the absolute freedom of conscience, and therefore\\nentire freedom from the control of the civil government\\nin religious matters; in short, for those who believed\\nwhat we believe and did what we do in all essential\\nparticulars.\\nFirst, then, it is not an assumption of bigotry but\\nthe statement of a simple fact to say that the apostolic\\nchurches were Baptist churches. It is not mere denom-\\ninational buncomb to speak of the first organized church\\nas the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem, as is\\nsometimes done by way of pleasantry, for if it were\\nexactly reproduced in Jerusalem today it would certainly\\nby common consent be called a Baptist church. It\\nsurely would not be called Methodist or Episcopal or\\nPresbyterian. Certainly those first churches were\\nimmersed churches, and converted churches, and they\\nhad pastors and deacons as their only officers, and their\\ngovernment was democratic, and they had no other law\\nthan the will of Christ made known to them by the\\nteaching of the Apostles, directly and by inspiration,\\nwhich teaching, afterwards written down, became our", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "50 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nNew Testament. They baptized no infants, they wore\\nno gowns, they burned no candles, they worshipped no\\neucharist, they confessed to no priest, they held no\\nsynods for the government of the churches.\\nBut these churches became gradually corrupted, and\\nmore rapidly than we would think possible. Those\\nwere days of ignorance, of strongly intrenched heathen\\nnotions on the one hand, and Jewish notions on the\\nother. Foolish and conceited heathen philosophy\\nsought to explain all things and it was inevitable that\\nthe churches should soon become corrupted by these\\nthings when the Apostles were dead. The only wonder\\nis that Christianity ever survived at all. It would have\\nbeen different perhaps, if then as now general intelli-\\ngence had been high and if every one had been able to\\nhave and read a printed Bible, and so by constant com-\\nparison with the recognized standard constantly to\\ncorrect himself in his thought and his practice. But\\nwhen the New Testament was written it was only to be\\nfound in single gospels and epistles here and there, and\\nwhen gathered up in one volume was only reproduced by\\nthe manual labor of writing, and copies of it were so\\ncostly that the scriptures were not possessed by the\\nmajority of christians. In that case, people were mostly,\\ndependent on their pastors for their knowledge of the\\nBible and the interpretation of it. The weight of great\\nnames gave currency to wrong interpretations. Sad\\nerrors in regard to almost every important doctrine\\ncrept into the early church and men of influence gave\\nthem currency. We see what is the influence of promi-\\nnent men in the spread of error in our enlightened days.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 51\\nThese leading men, too, were not free from worldly ambi-\\ntions and very soon were contending with each other as\\nto relative influence, which contentions finally crystal-\\nlized into claims of authority. As the doctrines of the\\nnew birth and baptism were perverted, both churches\\nand leaders grew less spiritual and more ambitious, less\\ngenuine and more formal, the contention for supremacy\\ngrew sharper, until finally a few, then two, and at last\\none gained recognition as chief; and so began and so\\ngrew up the Papacy.\\nBut no corruption was ever fastened upon the churches\\nwithout a protest from some pure minds and a struggle,\\nand there were various attempts to preserve the\\nprimitive purity which resulted in bodies of various\\nnames and holding more or less of Baptist principles,\\nbut often less. Such were the Montanists, the Novatians,\\nthe Donatists, and many others of various names, of\\nwhom it has been claimed by some that they were\\nBaptists altogether and by others that they were Bap-\\ntists not at all. The truth lies between the two, but\\nmost of them held errors that set them outside the\\nfellowship of Baptist churches. There is a gap of nearly\\na thousand years in the traceable Baptist succession on\\nthe continent of Europe, until we come to the Petro-\\nbrusians about the year 1125. Here, four hundred years\\nbefore the Reformation, we come upon those who were\\nclearly Baptists. During this period of a thousand years\\nthere are traces and probabilities or possibilities only\\nof pure churches, but no definite record. That a\\nprimitive and pure Christianity was preserved in central\\nEurope all this time, hidden away in the forests and", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "52 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nmountains, is almost positively certain, but that it was\\nin all respects Baptistic we cannot show. This region\\nwas the rendezvous for the remnants of persecuted\\nrighteousness from many quarters, and as an abundant\\nharvest presupposes a broad seed sowing, so the great\\ncrop of Anabaptists that sprang up all over central\\nEurope just before and during the Reformation leads\\nto the very strong presumption that there must have\\nbeen many antecedent teachers and preachers of their\\ndoctrines of whom we know nothing. The truth is that all\\nChristendom seems to have gone off, during this period,\\ninto such corruptions of life and doctrine as left little\\nsemblance of true Christianity in it. The records of\\nthe early centuries are astounding in their revelations\\nand if the primitive faith was anywhere preserved, it\\nmust have been in some out of the way place where\\ncurrent opinions and practices had little influence.\\nVery much of Christianity was only a baptized paganism,\\nand the reports of the conversion of nations and the\\nbaptism of whole tribes at once show the spuriousness\\nof it. About all there was of their conversion was\\ntheir baptism.\\nThis gap is spanned according to a recent book, The\\nAncient British and Irish Churches, by the work of\\nSaint Patrick and his followers, whom the author\\nmakes out to be substantially Baptist. We might\\nsincerely wish the claim made in this book could be\\nverified but an impartial investigation shows that it is\\ngroundless. The early British and Irish history is very\\ninteresting and contains many names which are famous\\nfor missionary work. Among these are Patrick, Co-", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "THE HISTOBICAL LINE. 53\\nlumba, Ninian, Kentigern, Columbanus, Caedmon, the\\nfirst Anglo-Saxon poet, Aidan, and finally that long\\nsuffering young Irish woman, Brigit. The gospel seems\\nto have been first preached in Great Britain about the\\nyear 63, or at least during the first century, but by\\nwhom we do not know. It has been credited in turn to\\nJoseph of Arimathea, Simon Zelotes, Paul, Philip the\\nApostle, Peter, James the- son of Zebedee, Aristobulus,\\nand I do not know how many more, none of whom\\nprobably ever saw the country. It is more likely that\\nsome earnest trader or christian soldier first gave the\\ngospel to the island. The one thing clear from the\\nvarious traditions and also from subsequent history, is\\nthat the origin of British Christianity was from the far\\nEast and not from Borne. There had been more than\\none mighty christian movement in Britain and Ireland\\nbefore the first Bomish emisaries were sent there, and\\nthe primitive character of its Christianity is attested by\\nthe cool reception they met when they did come and by\\nthe struggle maintained for several hundred years before\\nBorne gained full control. The gospel took a strong\\nhold upon Britain and spread rapidly, and during the\\npersecutions of the Boman emperors Britain furnished\\nits martyrs and christian heroes in common with other\\nlands, although less in number because more remote.\\nOut of this vigorous British Christianity was raised up\\nthe great apostle to Ireland, Patrick.\\nPatrick was a Briton whose father Calpurnius was a\\ndeacon, and he was born near Dumbarton, now in\\nScotland, probably about the year 360. Thus this early\\nBritish Christianity furnished an evangelist for Ireland,", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "54 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nwhich in turn evangelized much of Scotland and part\\nof England and wrought a great work upon the conti-\\nnent. So. curiously enough, the great patron saint of\\nall the Irish, the saint by whom every Irishman swears,\\n(and he would swear harder yet if he knew it), was an\\nEnglishman. And still further, the Irish of his day\\nwere Scotchmen, being the original Scots, and the\\noriginal Scotchmen were Irishmen, for they came from\\nIreland and cpnquered the native Picts, giving their\\nname to the country now called Scotland. Again,\\nPatrick has been sainted by the Roman Catholic\\nchurch, but in all his life he never heard of it nor ever\\nacknowledged any Pope; and indeed, the records call\\nMm papa Patrick; i. e. Pope Patrick. For along time\\nhe and his work were ignored by the Papacy because\\nhe was not a Romanist, but finally all was claimed and\\nPatrick himself canonized as a Romish Saint.\\nAt the age of sixteen he was captured by a band of\\nmarauding Irish and for six years experienced the\\nhardships of slavery, herding swine and exposed to all\\nweathers. After his escape and return home he had a\\nvision of a man from Ireland and heard a voice of the\\nIrish people calling him to come and dwell with them,\\nand after the most strenuous opposition from relatives\\nand friends, about the year 396, (though some give the\\ndate as late as 430), he began to preach the gospel in\\nIreland. He was a man of apostolic zeal, untiring\\nenergy and magnetic power, brave, unselfish and loving.\\nHe aimed to give the gospel to the whole island and his\\nwonderful success was such that a large part of the\\nisland was evangelized. There were a few christian", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 55\\nchurches already established before his time, but in\\ncomparison with the work he did they receive but little\\nattention. He is said to have erected seven hundred\\nchurches and ordained the same number of bishops;\\nanother account says three hundred and sixty-five\\nchurches; the facts of his life are not all clear and\\naccounts differ. Twelve thousand are said to have been\\nbaptized at one time and other great baptisms are\\ncredited to him.\\nThis was a truly missionary work, and the missionary\\nspirit remained with it after Patricks death. There\\ngrew up great schools or monasteries such as at Durrow,\\nBangor, Derry, and Iona, some of which were attended\\nby as many as three thousand students at one time.\\nIn these monasteries teachers and preachers were\\ntrained, and from them Southern Scotland was evan-\\ngelized and many missionaries were sent into England,\\nFrance and Germany. By the middle of the eighth\\ncentury these missionary churches were predominant\\nthroughout the whole Rhine valley and the entire\\nSouth and West of Germany. As we look at the Ireland\\nof our day, it does not seem possible that it should have\\nbeen, and for centuries, the center of christian influence\\nand missionary activity for all northern Europe, but so\\nit was.-\\nNow as to the practice and teaching of Patrick and\\nhis followers, it is not easy to get at the exact truth.\\nHe was not himself well educated and left but two short\\nwritings which have come down to us, one, his con-\\nfession or self defense, and the other an epistle to\\nCaroticus, a marauding Welsh chief who had carried", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "56 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\noff many of Patrick s baptized christians. His only\\nbaptism was immersion, but that counts for nothing\\nbecause no other was known in his day, sprinkling and\\npouring not having yet come into use except for sick\\npeople. He recognized three orders in the clergy,\\nnamely, deacons, presbyters and bishops, which last\\nseem not to have been bishops in the New Testament\\nsense of the term nor yet in the modern sense of it.\\nHis schools were of a monastic type and seem to have\\ndeveloped later into genuine monasteries. There is no\\ntrace of infant baptism but that delusion had not yet\\nbecome general. He seems to have made everything of\\nbaptism after the fashion of those days, to the extent\\nthat baptism and conversion were practically the same.\\nIn his day baptism was Christianity and Christianity\\nwas baptism, and it was profoundly venerated as a holy\\nmystery. Emphasis was laid on this rather than on the\\nlove of Grod to sinners and the necessity of anew birth.\\nHis wholesale baptisms look very suspicious. His\\nmethod of work seems to have been to convert a chief\\nand then baptize his whole tribe, or as many as would\\nsubmit to the ordinance. The warlike character of\\nthese christian Irish shows the spuriousness of their\\nconversion, for their history for centuries is the history\\nof tribal jealousies, treacheries and massacres. Patrick\\nseems to have had monks and virgins and after his\\nday Ireland was full of them. There still exist plain\\nproofs of hermit monks who lived in small cells from\\nwhich they could see nothing but the sky and out of\\nwhich they never came.\\nThe earliest accounts of Patrick extant were written\\nSee Ireland and the Celtic Church by Dr. G. T. Stokes.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "THE HISTOBICAL LINE. 57\\nmore than two hundred years after his death although\\nembodying perhaps an earlier account, and they are so\\nfull of the absurdly miraculous as to discredit their\\nfacts. All sorts of miracles are ascribed to this holy\\nsaint, 1 such as kindling a fire by blowing upon a heap\\nof ice which he had gathered when they had no wood;\\nkilling a heathen magician a la Ananias and Saphira;\\nraising a dead man whom he heard groaning under\\nground, (the grave was a hundred and twenty feet long),\\nand finding he was suffering in hell, he preached to him,\\nbaptized him and sent him back to heaven. He gathered\\nall the reptiles in Ireland upon the top of a hill and\\ndrove them all down through a ravine into the sea with\\nthe staff of Jesus which had been given him by the\\nLord on some island in the Mediterranean Sea; one\\nof the most remarkable round-ups on record. Reluc-\\ntantly we withdraw our claim, but facts compel us to\\nadmit that Patrick was not a Baptist. If his work and\\nthat of his successors had been genuine gospel work\\nand true to gospel principles, Ireland, largely free from\\ninfluences which elsewhere corrupted the truth, and\\nunder better conditions than other lands for preserving\\nNew Testament Christianity, would surely have had a\\ndifferent religious history than is written of her.\\nThere remains, however, an interesting branch of\\nBritish history which may show more Baptistic charac-\\nteristics. By the invasion of the Saxons, primitive\\nChristianity was early driven into the fastnesses of\\nWales where, it is claimed, it has existed to the present\\ntime in its purity. If this is true it will go far to\\nestablish a Baptist succession but we fear that thorough", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "58 THE BAPTIST IN HlSTOEY.\\ninvestigation will show that this too was vitiated by the\\nerrors of priestly ordination and baptismal regeneration\\nwhich were nearly or quite universal in the early\\ncenturies. Welsh Baptists have always claimed for\\nthemselves an apostolic origin, and it will gratify our\\ndenominational pride if they can prove it. It is certain\\nthat primitive Christianity continued there for centuries\\nfrom the beginning and also we can trace our churches\\nback from the present for centuries; but will the records\\nspan the gap?\\nBut now we return to the continent of Europe, where\\nwe begin to hear the rumble of the Reformation, to find\\nin France another Baptistic people called Petrobrusians\\nfrom their leader, Peter of Bruys, who was burned\\nalive in 1126. The Petrobrusians were unmistakably\\nBaptists in their doctrines, their practices and their\\nspirit. They were democratic in their organization,\\nthey baptized believers only, rejecting infant baptism\\nas folly because an infant could exercise no faith, their\\nonly authority was the Bible and their great doctrine\\nwas salvation through faith in Christ alone. Their\\nimmersion excited no comment because the whole\\nCatholic church at that time practiced it, but they were\\nimmersionists. Peter of Bruys was no more learned\\nthan Peter the apostle, but like him was full of the\\nHoly Spirit and through him much people turned to\\nthe Lord, 1 burning their images and crosses and\\nforsaking the Romish priests and places of worship.\\nThus the stream of Baptist influence begins again, to\\nrun with increasing breadth and power until checked\\nand dried up by the fires of persecution which raged", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "THE HISTOEICAL LINE. 59\\nfiercely during and after the Beformation times.\\nFollowing the Petrobrusians were the Waldenses.\\nPeter Waldo was converted to Christ in 1160 and began\\nhis work in the modern Baptist fashion of preaching\\nand translating the Bible into the language of the\\ncommon people. Persecution soon scattered the Wald-\\nensians into numberless sects, scarcely any two of\\nwhich were alike, some of whom held quite closely to\\nBaptist principles, but the most agreed more closely\\nwith Roman Catholic doctrines during the early part of\\ntheir history at least. Afterwards they came to hold\\nmore scriptural views. But they were preachers of the\\ngospel and colporters of the Bible. They went every-\\nwhere as peddlers of fabrics and gems and thus found\\nopportunity to distribute bibles. Whittier has pictured\\nthe Waldensian peddler as he went about on his mis-\\nsionary work, in his beautiful poem The Vaudois\\nTeacher, a poem so beautiful that I quote it all:\\n4t O lady fair, these silks of mine are beautiful and rare,\\nThe richest web of the Indian loom, which beauty s queen might\\nwear;\\nAnd my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose radiant\\nlight they vie;\\nI have brought them with me a weary way,\u00e2\u0080\u0094 will my gentle lady\\nbuy?\\nAnd the lady smiled on the worn old man through the dark and\\nclustering curls\\nWhich veiled her brow as she bent to view his silks and glittering\\npearls;\\nAnd she placed their price in the old man s hand, and lightly turned\\naway,\\nBut she paused at the wanderer s earnest call,\u00e2\u0080\u0094 My gentle lady,\\nstay!", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "60 THE BAPTIST IN HlSTOKY.\\nO lady fair I have yet a gem which a purer luster flings,\\nThan the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on the lofty brow of\\nkings,\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nA wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue shall not decay,\\nWhose light shall be a spell to thee and a blessing on thy way!\\nThe lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her form of grace was\\nseen,\\nWhere her eye shone clear, and her dark locks waved their clasping\\npearls between;\\nBring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou traveller gray and\\nold;\\nAnd name the price of thy precious gem, and my page shall count\\nthy gold.\\nThe cloud went off from the pilgrim s brow, as a small and meagre\\nbook,\\nUnchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding robe he took.\\nHere, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove as such to thee!\\nNay keep thy gold I ask it not, for the Word of God is free!\\nThe hoary traveller went his way, but the gift he left behind\\nHath had its pure and perfect work on that high born maiden s mind,\\nAnd she hath turned from the pride of sin to the lowliness of truth,\\nAnd given her human heart to God in its beautiful hour of youth!\\nAnd she hath left the gray old halls, where an evil faith had power,\\nAnd courtly knights of her father s train, and the maidens of her\\nbower;\\nAnd she hath gone to the Vaudois vales, by lordly feet untrod,\\nWhere the poor and needy of earth are rich in the perfect love of God\\nIt is no wonder that the preaching of the gospel was\\nso joyfully received by the people, for it was to them\\na new story entirely. They knew only forms and\\nceremonies, tithes and penances, and the offer of a full\\nand free salvation through simple trust in Christ was as\\nnew and blessed truth to them as to the veriest heathen.\\nIt was to them as the preaching of the gospel has lately", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 61\\nbeen to the people of Cuba and Puerto Rico, so lately\\nfreed from Spanish and priestly oppression, and we have\\nseen how eagerly it is accepted there.\\nThe Petrobrusians and Waldenses seem to have been\\nthe immediate ancestors of the Anabaptists, who soon\\nsprang up over Europe and thickest where they had\\nbeen thickest. No definite origin can be assigned to\\nthe Anabaptists nor can we tell by whom the name was\\nfirst given. They were not a new kind of people but\\nthe old kind under a new name, and they were doubtless\\nonly the spiritual descendants of those who before them\\nhad taught the pure gospel; but they multiplied exceed-\\ningly until the country was filled with them. In\\nnorthern Switzerland they increased marvellously in\\nthe few years following 1520, as indeed also in Germany\\nand Holland, and developed leaders who were worthy\\nto rank with the martyrs of the past. Such were the\\nnoble Hubmeyer who was burned alive March 10, 1528;\\nBlaurock, burned at the stake in the year following;\\nHetzer, beheaded in the same year; Felix Mantz,\\ndrowned in 1527; Sattler, torn with red hot pincers and\\nburned in the same year; and Grebel, who, for a wonder,\\ndied a natural death.\\nZwingli himself began his career with a declaration\\nof the fundamental Baptist principle that demands\\nobedience to the word of God in all matters of faith and\\nrejects what is not therein contained, but when he began\\nto see where this principle would lead him he refused\\nto follow it. He soon saw that in following this princi-\\nple he must reject infant baptism, baptize only believers,\\nhave a church composed of those only who had personal", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "62 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nfaith in Christ, and cut loose entirely from the powers\\nof the world as to the support of his work, Luther\\nalso came to the same place and in like manner turned\\nback. Both these reformers wished to return to Bible\\nChristianity, but both depended upon the civil power\\nto bring it to pass. They had not enough faith in God,\\nin the simple power of the truth and in the conscientious\\nhonesty of the people to cut loose from the world and\\ngo forth, as did the Apostles, in the power of the Holy\\nSpirit. The Anabaptists did have, and they wrought\\ngrandly even unto death, while these reformers turned\\nback to lean upon the unsanctified arm of human power\\nand spoiled their work; and Europe is what it is\\nto-day, spiritually formal and dead, because the Ref-\\normers prevailed and the Anabaptists were destroyed.\\nFrom Switzerland we follow this movement into Ger-\\nmany where also mightily grew the word of God and\\nprevailed. They spread over Bavaria; in Silesia infant\\nbaptism became almost extinct; in Augsburg their\\nchurch numbered eight hundred members in 1527, and\\neleven hundred a few years later when they had for\\ntheir leader the noble and distinguished John Denck.\\nWe can not follow their growth in detail, but suffice\\nit to say that they were found in almost every province\\nand city and often in great numbers, until their rapid\\nincrease seemed likely to overturn the state church, and\\nled to their bitter persecution and final extinction.\\nThe story of their horrible persecution and cold blooded\\nmurder is too sickening to follow in detail but we shall\\nsee something of it in our next lecture; a people godly\\nand true, peaceable and honest, harried and hunted like", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 63\\nwild beasts until there was nothing of them remaining.\\nThe remant that escaped from Germany took refuge\\nin Holland where they were known as Mennonites f rom\\nthe name of their leader, Menno Simon, and where,\\npartly from their change of name and partly from their\\nobscurity, they were suffered for a time to dwell more\\nsecurely, though afterwards they suffered more fear-\\nfully than ever. The Mennonites continue to this day\\nboth in Holland and in America.\\nBut you will be much surprised to learn that most of\\nthe Anabaptists of the sixteenth century did not bap-\\ntize; they were not immersionists. Apparently they\\ngenerally practiced sprinkling or pouring, though im-\\nmersion was practiced by those of St. Gall, Augsburg,\\nStrassburg and by the Anti-Trinitarian Anabaptists of\\nPoland. Even the noble Hubmeyer is said to have\\nbaptized three hundred out of a milk pail. But\\nthen, you say, they were not Baptists! 1 O yes they\\nwere, in every principle except this, but of course\\ninconsistent. For immersion alone does not by any\\nmeans make a Baptist, although of course, it is necessary\\nto make a complete one. We forget that immersion\\nis not and never was, the fundamental article of our\\nfaith, but only a necessary deduction from our funda-\\nmental principle. It is one of the two things that is\\nmost prominent in the minds of other people when they\\nthink of us, but let us not be ourselves beguiled into\\nthinking that all the difference between us and other\\nchristians is that we immerse and they sprinkle. The\\nreal difference lies far deeper than this. The truth in\\nregard to immersion is that for twelve centuries it was", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "64 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthe universal practice, by Roman Catholics, the Greek\\nChurch, dissenters of every kind, and by the British\\nand Irish churches. Then there is a gap of three hun-\\ndred years or more when it was largely supplanted by\\nsprinkling and pouring, until it was again revived by\\nthe English and Dutch Baptists and has continued to\\nthe present time. The Greek church has never practiced\\nanything else and does not to-day. The great conten-\\ntion of these Anabaptists was for a converted churcJi,\\nand that has been the contention of Baptists always;\\nthat baptism and church membership were and are only\\nfor personal believers in Christ. This, rather than the\\nnecessity of immersion, is and always has been the con-\\ntrolling idea of a Baptist church, and this has separated\\nthem from all others. Their opposition and protest\\nwas against a church which included both godly and\\ngodless, ministered to by priests who were extortionate\\nand unchaste, a church controlled by princes that were\\noften wicked and immoral, knowing nothing of Christ,\\na church that only robbed the people and left them to\\ngo down to perdition in their ignorance of gospel truth;\\nand it seems not to have occurred to them with any force\\nthat they themselves were violating scripture in a very\\nimportant particular. The controversy of their day was\\nnot on this point and it was not until later that the\\ninconsistency was seen, although it seems strange that\\nit was not seen from the first.\\nIt is not too much to say that this fundamental idea\\nof a converted church, which had persisted through all\\nthese centuries, kept alive by the various influences\\nmentioned, was what made the Reformation possible.", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 65\\nThese were they that preached the real gospel and the\\ncontrast of their pure lives and doctrine made the Papacy\\nmore odious than ever and prepared the people to turn\\nfrom it. Indeed, as the learned Dr. Kellar says, the\\nAnabaptist movement was tlie real Reformatio?! move-\\nment. It was the truest gospel movement of the age,\\n(notwithstanding it developed, in some of its aspects,\\ninto fanaticism), not simply lopping off some of the\\nabuses of a corrupt church and leaving the seeds of\\ncorruption still in their vigor to produce another like\\nharvest, but bringing the people back to a pure New\\nTestament Christianity as Christ and his Apostles taught\\nit. If they could have had their way the modern religious\\nhistory of Europe would have been entirely changed,\\nand it would not have lapsed into that kind of a false\\nand dead Christianity which it is today, the hot-bed of\\nrationalism and infidelity, and needing missionaries of\\nthe gospel for its conversion as well as any heathen land.\\nEurope is, religiously, four hundred years behind what\\nit would have been but for the extermination of this\\npeople. But the fear and jealousy and even hatred of\\nCatholic and Lutheran alike followed them until their\\nleaders were slain and their organizations annihilated,\\nand Baptist history disappears from Germany and\\nSouthern Europe until the appearance of Dr. Oncken\\nin 1834. Baptists in Germany now number about\\ntwenty-eight thousand.\\nSo the line runs from Germany to Holland, and now\\nfrom Holland to England and from England to America.\\nThe exact connection of English with Dutch Baptists\\nis not clear. Certain it is that early in the sixteenth", "height": "4710", "width": "2759", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "66 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ncentury some Dutch Baptists fled to England, but only\\nto meet the same sorrows from which they had fled.\\nSome of the first English Baptists also sent to Holland\\nfor their baptism, as no immersed person was found\\namong them. There are evidences of many migrations\\nof German and Dutch Baptists into England even as\\nearly as 1160 and from that onwards. Orchard says\\nthat there was a Baptist church at Chesterton in 1457,\\nand gives his reasons for believing that such churches\\nhad existed there from the time of William the Con-\\nquerer. But however they originated, their history\\nbecomes clear about 1612 when the first modern Bap-\\ntist church was formed in London. In 1626 this had\\nincreased to eleven churches, and in 1644, to forty-seven.\\nThe Welsh Baptists in connection with Vavasor Powell\\nwere reckoned in 1654 at twenty thousand.* Their con-\\nfession of faith in 1660 is said to have been approved\\nby more than twenty thousand. Indeed, before this\\ntime their influence had become so marked and the\\nopposition to infant baptism so strong that not only\\nwere many treatises published against it and rational\\narguments used by godly men, but it was openly\\ncaricatured by the ungodly, so that cats and colts were\\nderisively christened in ridicule of it. f Their number\\nin England is now about two hundred and thirty-one\\nthousand, and in all of Great Britain about three hun-\\ndred and seventy-five thousand. Their history there\\nwas a long struggle for toleration, (for England has not\\nyet secured full religious liberty, but only toleration,)\\nwhich was refused them first by the Episcopal body and\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Orchard, Hist. Eng. Bap. p 284. fOrchard, p 272.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "THE HISTOEICAL LINE. 67\\nthen by the Presbyterian, until the Act of Toleration\\nin 1689, since which time active persecution in England\\nhas ceased.\\nBut Baptists have had their fullest and freest devel-\\nopment in the land of the free and this development\\nis enough familiar to us so that I do not need to trace\\nit. The first church organized by them in this country\\nand still existing was formed in Providence, Bhode\\nIsland, in 1639, (though Newport claims that the\\npresent Providence church is not the original church\\nand that the Newport branch of it is, and is therefore\\nthe oldest,) and the growth has been rapid. In 1700\\nthey had but twelve churches in the American colonies.\\nIn 1804 Backus estimated them as having twelve hun-\\ndred churches and one hundred thousand members. In\\n1812 they numbered one hundred and seventy-three\\nthousand, in 1873 they had grown to one and a half\\nmillions, and in 1899 they number four millions, one\\nhundred and forty-two thousand, and if we include those\\nbodies that are really Baptist though not given in our\\nown reports, they number four millions, three hundred\\nand seventy thousand in the United States, not includ-\\ning a hundred and twenty-four thousand Christians\\nand a million and eighty-five thousand Disciples.\\nThe period of struggle, as far as this country is con-\\ncerned, is past and our position is one of respectability\\nand power. The directly evangelistic character of our\\nwork gives promise of still more rapid growth, and the\\nprominence given to christian education will lead to a\\nstill more stable church and a more powerful influence\\non others. The net increase this year (1899) over last", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "68 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nin the United States is eighty-six thousand, one hundred\\nand eighty-nine.\\nOur statistics are never complete because we have no\\nway of requiring official reports, as in other bodies, and\\nthe various clerks never do their whole duty; but as\\nnearly as the facts can be ascertained they are given in\\nour Year Book, (though certainly not up to the actual\\ntotals,) and are as follows for the beginning of the year\\n1899:\\nNumber of Baptists in the United States, 4,141,995\\nin the rest of N. America, 143,098\\nin South America, 1,389\\nin Europe, 478,268\\nin Asia, 119,745\\nin Africa, 6,700\\nin Australasia, 19,261\\nMaking a grand total of 4,910,456\\nThe total net gain over last year being 131,332\\nTo these figures ought properly to be added those of\\nsuch bodies as the Free Baptists, the Dunkards, the\\nSeventh Day Baptists, (notthe Seventh Day Adventists,)\\nthe Stundists, etc., of whose numbers we have no\\naccount, for they are also Baptists as judged by the\\nbroad definition we have given.\\nWe are therefore, in fellowship with a grand com-\\npany both present and past. Our brethren have not\\nbeen, for the most part, famous in the world, not\\nprinces nor millionaires, but they have been true and\\nthey have been known of God and blessed. To such", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORICAL LINE. 69\\nprosperity and strength as this have we grown and our\\nprinciples have been accepted far and wide. Let us\\nremember that the days of prosperity are the days of\\ndanger, and let us fear lest liberty and prosperity shall\\ndo for us what the dungeon and the stake were not able\\nto do, turn us from a faithful witnessing for God, and\\na steadfast and unworldly life. Let us hold fast the\\nconfession of our hope that it waver not; and let us\\nconsider one another to provoke unto love and good\\nworks.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "dnd others were tortured, not accepting their\\ndeliverance that they might obtain a better resur-\\nrection: and others had trial of mockings and\\nscourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison-\\nment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder,\\nthey were tempted, they were slain with the sword:\\nthey went about in sheepskins, in goat skins; being\\ndestitute, afflicted, evil entreated, {of whom the\\nworld was not worthy), wandering in deserts and\\nmountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.\\n$Lnd these all, having had witness borne to them\\nthrough their faith, received not the promise, God\\nhaving provided some better thing concerning us,\\nthat apart from us they should not be made per-\\nfect", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "III.\\nTHE SUFFERINGS OF BAPTISTS,\\nIn considering this part of our subject we need to\\nmake a clear distinction between the sufferings of\\nchristians as christians and the sufferings of christians\\nas Baptists: for persecution of christians by pagans\\nand because they are christians is one thing, and per-\\nsecution of one sort of christians by another sort of\\nchristians and because they are of another sort, is quite\\nanother thing. The very early christians were Baptists\\nas we have seen, and they suffered; but they suffered,\\nnot because they were Baptists and differed from other\\nchristians, but because they were christians and differed\\nfrom Jew and pagan. What we are to consider is the\\nsufferings that came upon our spiritual ancestors on\\naccount of those doctrines and practices which marked\\nthem as a distinct people among christians, and which\\nform the substance of our faith today.\\nIt is evident that there would be no persecution\\namong christians (or those who were called such) until\\nthe church had become powerful enough to control the\\nsecular power to a large degree, and unspiritual enough\\nto be intolerant of those who might oppose its interests;", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 73\\nand that did not come to pass until the rise of the\\nPapacy and its establishment in temporal power so that\\nprinces and potentates would do its bidding. And\\nagain, there would be no persecution until a considera-\\nble body arose to call in question the doctrines or\\npractices of this dominating body and refuse obedience\\nto it. As long as no one protested against the perver-\\nsion of baptism by administering it to unconscious\\nbabes, and the consequent ignoring of the fundamental\\ndoctrine of Christianity, that salvation is through a\\npersonal faith in Jesus Christ, no one would be burned\\nalive for their protest. But the true gospel had practi-\\ncally died out of continental Europe and it was not\\nuntil the twelfth century that a people arose to protest\\nand suffer. The main story of Baptist sufferings, then,\\nbegins with the twelfth century.\\nBut this was not the first of persecution for holding\\nour principles, which began, indeed, very early. The\\nNovatians, who arose in the latter half of the third\\ncentury, were ana-baptists, for they re-baptized those\\nwho came to them, though for a somewhat different\\nreason than those who were later called Anabaptists.\\nThey were separatists and considered that all ordinances\\nof the body from which they had separated were null\\nand void because the body itself was corrupt in life and\\nlax in discipline. The Donatists, beginning in the\\nfourth century, were also ana-baptists, and held much\\nin common with us, as they refused to baptize children,\\nre-baptized those who came to them from the Catholics,\\ntheir churches were independent and they repudiated\\nthe union of church and state. Their questions: What", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "74 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nhas the Emperor to do with the church? 1 and What\\nhave christians to do with kings, or what have bishops\\nto do with a court? sound very pertinent and refresh-\\ning even now. Their influence became so strong that\\nHonorius and Theodosius, the emperors of the East\\nand West, were prevailed upon to issue a decree in the\\nyear 413 that both persons who re-baptized and persons\\nwho were re-baptized should suffer death; and two years\\nlater the council of Mela in Numidia, with Augustine\\nat its head, decreed We will that whoever denies that\\nchildren by baptism are freed from perdition and\\neternally saved, that they be accursed. Many martyr-\\ndoms and much suffering were the results of these\\nmeasures.* The Donatists continued for more than four\\nhundred years amid constant suffering. Their per-\\nsecution ended with their extinction and infant\\nbaptism was for centuries triumphant.\\nBut let it be fully understood that the persecution of\\nBaptists was never for their immersion, (although\\nindividuals have often been harassed for that in modern\\ntimes) but for their insistence upon a converted cTiurcli\\nmembership and for their denial of infant baptism,\\nwhich two things are practically one. That that was a\\nchurch of Christ which was composed of unregenerated\\nand unspiritual persons, and that one could be made a\\nchristian by the sprinkling of water with due ceremo-\\nnial form even in unconscious infancy, is what Baptists\\n*In the space of fifteen years Theodosius promulgated at least fifteen\\nsevere edicts against heretics. Heretical teachers were exposed to exile\\nand confiscation. Religious meetings, by day or night, in cities or in the\\ncountry, were proscribed, and the building or ground where the assem-\\nbly was held was forfeited. The office of Inquisitor of the Faith, a name\\nso deservedly abhorred, was first instituted under the reign of Theodo-\\nsius. Dutch Martyrology II, p. 187, note. London, 1853.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 75\\nhave always and everywhere denied. And that is just\\nwhat was believed in those days and is believed by\\nmultitudes still that baptism made their babies\\nchristians and believing it they, of course, had them\\nbaptized. It is hard for us now to realize that any-\\nbody ever really believed that simply the performance\\nof such a ceremony could save a child, without choice\\nor faith or any action whatever on the part of the child,\\nbut they actually did, and believing it, consistently\\nbaptized their children. And that is the only possi-\\nble ground or justification of infant baptism. If you\\nbelieve that baptism will save your child of course you\\nwill have it baptized; but if you do not, there is no\\nreasonable reason to be given why you should do so.\\nThey, therefore, practiced infant baptism consistently\\nbut many of those who now practice it do so inconsis-\\nently, for they deny the doctrine of baptismal regener-\\nation while they continue the practice which originated\\nfrom and has its only justification in that doctrine.\\nAs the German woman said to the amazed Congrega-\\ntional minister who asked her if she really thought he\\ncould regenerate her babies and give them a title to\\neternal life by merely putting a little water on their\\nheads, To pe sure you can; and if you can t, vot s de\\ngood of it? Who can answer her question?\\nNobody ever quarreled with us on account of our\\nimmersion or denied its validity, except that quite\\nrecently a few have been driven by stress of argument\\nto deny that it is scriptural at all. The evidence is\\nabundant that for thirteen hundred years immersion\\nwas universally practiced and that any other form of", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "76 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nbaptism, if admitted at all, was admitted only as excep-\\ntional, and valid only in cases where immersion could\\nnot be performed. There was never any dispute about\\nthis. There was a dispute for a thousand years as to\\nwhether the candidate should be dipped three times or\\nonly once, but there was never any dispute as to\\nwhether he should be dipped at all. It was the apostolic\\nbaptism, as is now admitted by candid scholars of every\\nbelief, and no man with any reputation for learning\\nwould wish to risk his reputation as a scholar by a\\npublished statement to the contrary. If one of the\\npillars of that old first church in Jerusalem could\\nappear on earth to-day, and happen in to the services\\nof one of these paedobaptist churches in time to see an\\ninfant baptized or an adult sprinkled, he would not\\nin the least comprehend the ceremony nor understand\\nwhat it meant, for in all his life he never saw anything\\nlike it. It certainly never would enter his mind that\\nit was meant for a baptism. It was clearly the baptism\\nof the early churches succeeding the apostolic times.\\nIt was the baptism of the British and Irish churches.\\nIt was the baptism of the Eastern or Greek church,\\nand still is, and it always seemed to me that those\\nGreeks ought to be able to understand their own lan-\\nguage in which the Apostles wrote. They baptize\\ninfants, but they always immerse them.* It was also\\nthe baptism of the Western church. Clovis, king of\\nthe Franks, was immersed with three thousand of his\\nwarriors in the year 476, and the font or baptistery in\\n*A very interesting description of a Greek baptism is given in the\\nBaptist Quarterly Review, 1870, p 80.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 77\\nwhich tradition says it was done is still to be seen in\\nParis. On Easter day in the year 627 bishop Paulinus\\nimmersed three thousand Northumbrians in a pool\\nabout two miles from Harbottle, England, and a monu-\\nment in the shape of a cross stands in the middle of\\nthe pool, bearing an inscription which declares that\\nfact. The pool is about twenty-four by twenty feet in size\\nand two feet deep at present, and by closing the outlet\\ncould be made much deeper. Mosaics and paintings from\\nthe fourth century to the thirteenth set forth baptism as\\nan immersion. Venerable Bede the historian, who died\\nabout the year 735, after describing various immersions\\nand baptisteries, says: For he truly who is baptized\\nis seen to descend into the fountain; he is seen to be\\ndipped in the waters; he is seen to ascend from the\\nwaters. Cardinal Pulis, who lectured at both Oxford\\nand Paris, and was a very learned man, writes in the\\nyear 1150: Whilst the candidate for baptism in water\\nis immersed, the death of Christ is suggested; whilst\\nimmersed and covered with water, the burial of Christ\\nis shown forth; whilst he is raised from the waters, the\\nresurrection of Christ is proclaimed. The immersion\\nis repeated three times.\\nThere was no definite time when the change from\\nimmersion to sprinkling can be said to have been made,\\nor the practice of sprinkling to have originated. Pour-\\ning can be traced to a definite beginning but sprinkling\\ncan not; like Topsy, it jest growed. We find the\\nCouncil of London in the year 1200 enjoining immersion\\nThat of Sarum in 1217 and that of Oxford in 1222 did\\nthe same. In 1240 the SyQod of Worcester decreed;", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "78 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nIn every church where baptism is performed there\\nshall be a font of stone of sufficient size and depth for\\nthe baptism of children, and let the candidate for\\nbaptism be always immersed. These decrees might\\nseem to show that an innovation upon the ancient\\nmethod had already begun. In 1311 the council at\\nRavenna permits sprinkling as exceptional, and\\nbefore this it had no formal sanction. Immersion\\ncontinued the rule in England until after 1450. The\\ncatechism of 1604 makes sprinkling valid, and within a\\nhundred years from that date that which had been the\\nexception became the rule and the ancient immersion\\nwas superseded.\\nDean Stanley says in his famous essay on baptism:\\nIn the Church of England, immersion is still observed\\nin theory. The rubric in the public baptism for infants\\nenjoins that unless for special causes they are to be\\ndipped, not sprinkled. Edward the Sixth and Elizabeth\\nwere both immersed. But since the beginning of the\\nseventeenth century the practice has become exceed-\\ningly rare.\\nEven as late as August 7th, 1664, the noted West-\\nminster Assembly, which framed the great confession\\nof faith known as the Westminster Confession, fell\\ninto a great heat over the question of immersion.\\nThe matter is worth giving in the quaint language of\\nDr. Lightfoot, who kept a journal of the proceedings.\\nThen fell we upon the work of the day, which was\\nabout the baptism of the child, whether to dip or\\nsprinkle him; and this proposition, It is lawful and\\nsufficient to besprinkle the child, had been canvassed", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 79\\nbefore our adjournment and was ready now to vote.\\nBut I spoke against it as being very unfit to vote that\\nit is lawful to sprinkle when everyone grants it.\\nWhereupon it was fallen upon, sprinkling being\\ngranted, whether dipping should be tolerated with it.\\nAnd here fell we upon a large and long discourse\\nwhether dipping were essential or used in the first in-\\nstitution or in the Jews custom After a long dispute\\nit was at last put to the question whether the Directory\\nshould run, The minister shall take water and sprinkle\\nor pour it with his hand upon the face or forehead of\\nthe child; and it was voted so indifferently that we\\nwere glad to count names twice; for so many were\\nunwilling to have dipping excluded that the vote came\\nto an equality within one; for the one side was twenty-\\nfour, the other twenty-five, the twenty-four for the\\nreserving of dipping and the twenty-five against it.\\nAnd then grew a great heat upon it; and when we had\\ndone all we concluded upon nothing in it, but the\\nbusiness was recommitted. The next day it was voted\\nthat the Directory should read, He is to baptize the\\nchild with water, which, for the manner of doing it, is\\nno t only lawful but also sufficient and most expedient\\nto be by pouring or sprinkling water upon the face of\\nthe child without any other ceremony. Note in this\\naccount that immersion was not excluded but sprink-\\nling was permitted; and note, also, the narrow majority\\nby which it was carried on the first vote.\\nThe following from the dairy of John Wesley, written\\nin Savannah, Georgia, ought to be of interest, at least\\nto our Methodist brethren, Saturday, 21st, February,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "80 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\n(1736). Mary Welch, aged eleven days, was baptized\\naccording to the custom of the first church and the rule\\nof the church of England, by immersion. The child\\nwas ill then but recovered from that hour. And\\nagain, Wednesday, May 5th. I was asked to baptize\\na child of Mr. Parker, second bailiff of Savannah. But\\nMrs. Parker told me, Neither Mr. Parker nor I will\\nconsent to its being dipped. I answered, If you will\\ncertify that your child is weak it will suffice, the rubric\\nsays, to pour water upon it. She replied, Nay, the\\nchild is not weak but I am resolved it shall not be\\ndipped. This argument I could not confute. So I\\nwent home and the child was baptized by another per-\\nson.\\nI could easily spend the whole hour in reading you\\ntestimonies gathered from various writers living in\\ndifferent countries and all the way down from the first\\ncentury to the thirteenth, showing that during all this\\ntime immersion was the universal practice throughout\\nall Christendom, but will add on]y the following words\\nof Dean Stanley who sums up the whole matter thus:\\nFor the first thirteen centuries the almost universal\\npractice of baptism was that of which we read in the\\nNew Testament, and such is the very meaning of the\\nword baptize that those who were baptized were\\nplunged, submerged, immersed into water. He adds,\\nBaptism by sprinkling was rejected by the whole\\nancient church (except in the rare case of death-beds\\nor extreme necessity) as no baptism at all.\\nNobody, therefore, ever had any quarrel with us on\\naccount^bf our immersion. The creat matter of con-", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 81\\ntroversy was first as to the subjects of baptism, and\\nlater, both as to subjects and form. The whole horrid\\nhistory of Baptist persecutions has been on account of\\ninfant baptism. We can hardly comprehend what an\\nawful hold the idea that infant baptism saves the child\\nhas had on Christendom, so that for centuries all\\nChristendom iived and died in the full and complacent\\nbelief of it. R was not strange, then, that men were\\nthrown into consternation when this foundation stone\\nof salvation was threatened with removal, nor that their\\nwrath was stirred against those w T ho denied the reality\\nof that salvation in which they so implicitly believed.\\nTo save that beautiful and impressive rite, that\\ntriumph of christian charity as some call it; to save\\nthat masterpiece of Satan s ingenuity, as it really is; by\\nwhich more has been done to block the progress of the\\nkingdom of God than by any other thing that ever was;\\nby which more corruption has been brought into the\\nchristian church; by which more people have been put\\nbeyond the reach of converting influences than by any\\nother; by which untold millions of imregenerated, un-\\nsaved sinners have been made to go down to perdition\\nin the full belief that they were christians and heirs of\\neternal life; to save this, fires have been kindled, racks\\nhave been stretched, swords have been sharpened, and\\noceans of innocent blood have been shed. Rightly does\\nthe Presbyterian Dr. John Robertson of Glasgow call\\nit a sinful addition to and reversal of the Word of\\nGod, a traditional lie, a devil s delusion. He says,\\nYou may like it or dislike it, baby sprinkling, as a\\nsimple addendum to the Word of God, and as such", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "82 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ninheriting the curse in the 19th verse of the 23rd Rev-\\nelation on all such human or diabolical addenda, is an\\ninfernal lie. By this devil s door of baby-sprinkling\\nthe great heresy of the church, the ex opere operato\\ndelusion, the Roman and the Anglican semi-Roman\\nerror of errors, baptismal regeneration, stalked in to\\ntread its grim march of death over the graves of the\\nmultitudes of souls it has slain and damned forever! 1\\nThis is from a sermon preached in his own church, the\\nCity Temple Presbyterian Church of Glasgow, to a\\ncongregation of four thousand people. The whole ser-\\nmon is very interesting reading and I heartily commend\\nit to our Presbyterian brethren. If a Baptist should\\nuse such language as this there would be an uproar, but\\nwhen a Presbyterian says it perhaps we may be permit-\\nted to say Amen.\\nInfant baptism means baptismal regeneration; it\\nmeans sacramental efficacy, that is, salvation by the\\nmagical influence of rites and ceremonies instead of by\\npersonal faith; it means the perversion of the scriptures\\nand the setting up*of man s authority above Christ s; it\\nmeans an unconverted church; it means spiritual things\\nadministered by unspiritual men; it means the church\\na human institution and run on human principles; and\\nthis is shown by actual experience as well as by logical\\ndeduction. Against this Baptists have always protested,\\nand for their protest have been hated and imprisoned\\nand tortured and murdered. Let me repeat it again;\\nthe great reason for the persecution of Baptists in times\\npast and the hostility shown them in time present is\\nand has always been their rejection of infant baptism.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 83\\nThis is shown in many ways; by the charges of their\\nopponents, by the topics in disputations held and\\nby the question always and everywhere asked, if they\\nbelieved infants should be baptized or could be saved\\nwithout baptism, and especially in the language of the\\ndecrees by which they were condemned. The phrase\\nconstantly recurring in the decrees of their condemna-\\ntion is because he held that the baptism of infants did\\nnot profit, or that the baptism of infants is unlawful,\\nand for the error of ana-baptism, i. e. re-baptism, and\\nfor re-baptizing. But why condemn for r^-baptizing?\\nWhat harm in two baptisms? Evidently this, that a\\nre-baptism is a declaration that the former baptism was\\nnot valid. There is no other reason for a second one,\\nand this reason is clearly stated in some of their\\ndecrees. It is the same thing that compels a Metho-\\ndist or Congregational pastor of to-day to refuse to\\nimmerse one who is dissatisfied with his infant or other\\nsprinkling, (and their name is legion). For him to do\\nso would be to contradict his own teaching, admit the\\ninvalidity of his own practices and endorse the position\\nof the Baptist. In the last Methodist General Confer-\\nence the statement was made that they are losing to the\\nBaptists more than five thousand members every year\\non account of dissatisfaction with their baptism received\\nin infancy, or sprinkling received in later years, and to\\nremedy this it was proposed to allow their ministers to\\nimmerse those whose consciences were thus troubled.\\nBut the proposition was wisely smothered, for that\\nwould have been a practical concession of our whole\\ncontention as to this subject.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "84 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nThis denial of infant baptism and not peculiarities in\\nregard to the communion is the real ground of oppo-\\nsition to Baptists today. This is why we are by some\\nactually hated, by others shunned, and by many more\\nregarded with suspicion. But to make so called close\\ncommunion the ground of opposition is an entire mis-\\ntake. So are the Presbyterians close communionists,\\nfor they will not commune with the nnbaptized, and\\nthere are more than a hundred and fifteen thousand of\\nthem in this country who will not even commune with\\nother Presbyterians.* So are the Episcopalians close\\ncommunionists for the same reason. So are the Luth-\\nerans and so at least in theory, is every other church.f\\nNone of these, except as moved by the loose modern\\nliberalism, will commune with the unbaptized. No,\\nit is not that they are shut out from our christian\\nfellowship, for they have it in airpractical ways and\\nhave it heartily. It is not that they desire with us\\nto commemorate the Lord s sufferings and are grieved\\nbecause they cannot. They do not mingle largely with\\neach other in this observance, and if we should throw\\ndown all bars and freely invite them in they would not\\ncome after the novelty had worn off. They want their\\nbaptism endorsed, and that is the whole controversy.\\nThe only ground on which we refuse to sit at the Lord s\\ntable with them is their lack of christian baptism, and\\nour practice continually says to them, You are not\\nbaptized, you are not baptized, you are not baptized,\\nand that is the whole offense.\\nBut further; infant baptism itself is of the nature of\\n*The United Presbyterians and the Reformed (Covenanter) Presby-\\nterians. fExcept, perhaps, the Disciples.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "PEESECUTIONS AND SUFFEKINGS. 85\\npersecution. It is the performance of a very impor-\\ntant religious act for the individual without his knowl-\\nedge or consent, depriving him of the privilege of\\nconscious obedience in the matter. It is doing for him\\na thing of which his own conscience may not afterwards\\napprove, and when in mature years he wishes to be\\nbaptized, the privilege is denied him on the ground that\\nhe has been baptized. It thus denies the right of\\nindividual choice, which is the very essence and\\nunderlying principle of persecution. An incident in\\nmy own pastorate a few years ago will illustrate this.\\nA very lovely young christian woman of my congrega-\\ntion, who had longed for the privilege of following\\nChrist in baptism but had been hindered by opposing\\nparents and relatives, was dying of quick consumption\\nand was already too weak to argue any matter or even\\nto converse. She was visited by the Rector of her\\nmother s church, who took her severely to task for\\nwishing to leave the bosom of The Church and\\nridiculed the people of her choice unsparingly. He\\ntold her that she had no right to unite with a Baptist\\nchurch, (she was of full age,) that she belonged to them\\nby reason of her infant baptism and training and that\\nnothing she could do would change that relation, and\\nthat even if she should unite with another church\\nsuch action would be null and void, and much more of\\nthe same sort. Had she been strong enough she would\\nhave given him some information that would have done\\nhim good, but under the circumstances it was an outrage.\\nHere was an explicit denial of her right of choice or the\\nexercise of her own conscience concerning her christian", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "86 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nduty, on the ground that it had all been settled for her\\nbefore she was old enough to know anything about it.\\nHe needed but one thing more to make it full fledged\\npersecution, and that was the power to tell her And if\\nyou do go into that church we will burn you for it.\\nAnd furthermore, the only body that has persistently\\nrepudiated infant baptism is the only body that has\\nnever persecuted any one or advocated principles that\\nlead to persecution; except, of course, those who\\nrepudiate all external ordinances, as the Quakers and\\nsome heretical sects, and except also those churches\\nwhose origin was since the days of gross persecution\\npassed away. Baptists have never anywhere persecuted\\nothers nor sought or accepted such an alliance with the\\nsecular power as would have made such persecution\\npossible. This statement has seemed to some like\\nvaunting ourselves above others and has been denied,\\nbut consider the following facts:\\n1. Their fundamental doctrine of personal faith and\\npersonal responsibility; that religion is a matter between\\nthe individual soul and God alone, and that for the\\nperformance of any and every religious duty whatever\\nthe individual is responsible only to God. This is\\nthe doctrine of soul liberty; that inasmuch as the\\nsoul is responsible directly and only to God, no man\\nhas any right either to force or forbid any one as to any\\nmatter of religious belief or practice. That doctrine\\nmade it impossible for them to persecute.\\n2. The wide spread doctrine, held for centuries by\\nthem, that a christian ought not to bear the sword, that\\nis, be a magistrate; without which of course there could", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 87\\nbe no compulsion of others. This teaching was clearly\\na mistake, for if any man should be a christian and act\\nin the fear of God, surely he should whose duty it is to\\nrule and to judge. It was a christian doctrine as they\\nmeant it, but it seemed to their enemies to be dangerous\\nsocialism and it added much to their sufferings.\\n3. The first government ever formed by Baptists\\nand on Baptist principles specifically forbade any\\ninterference by any one with the conscience of another,\\nand decreed that No person within the said colony, at\\nany time hereafter, shall be in any w r ise molested,\\npunished, disquieted or called in question for any differ-\\nence of opinion in matters of religion. I shall refer\\nto this again.\\nIf the matter is still disputed however, I demand an\\ninstance, and challenge any one to show where and when\\nBaptists have persecuted in any wise. Dr. J. L. M.\\nCurry truly says, No Baptist church can be found [in\\nhistory J which has ever favored an alliance with govern-\\nment, and no Baptist author can be adduced who has\\nadvocated the use of civil authority to control or regu-\\nlate religious belief. One single Baptist church has\\nbeen found however, the South Brimfield church in\\nMassachusetts, which did for a single year accept money\\nraised by taxation for the support of their pastor. They\\nhad been persuaded to this by some dissatisfied Congre-\\ngational brethren, but they saw their mistake, unani-\\nmously voted to publish a confession of it, asked\\nforgiveness of God and their brethren, and, let us hope,\\nwere forgiven. f\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Struggles and Triumphs of Virginia Baptists, p. 25.\\nfLife and Times of Isaac Backus, p. 277,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "88 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nBut you say, they never had a chance; they never\\nhad control. Yes, but they have. They had control\\nin Rhode Island and they made religion abso-\\nlutely free. They had opportunity when offered\\nstate support and adoption as the state church in\\nHolland in 1819, and refused it. They had opportunity\\nin Georgia in 1785 when the legislature voted a state\\ntax for the support of churches, and they secured the\\nrepeal of the measure. They were in the majority in a\\nlarge part of the state and would have received much\\nmoney by it, but they opposed it unanimously. They\\nhave control in some of the states of the Union today\\nbut there is no disposition to take advantage of it.\\nThose who insist that every applicant shall give evidence\\nof the possession of the spirit of Christ before admission\\nto the church at all are not the ones to violate that spirit\\nby the persecution of their fellow christians. The great\\nheresy of the ages and the prolific root of every sort of\\ncruelty has been infant baptism.\\nThe days of persecution seem like the memory of\\nsome frightful dream. What a nightmare of horrors\\nhistory has been! It seems almost incredible that a\\ntime could ever have been when such things were\\npossible, and we are almost persuaded that their story\\nis the product of some one s diseased imagination. It\\nseems incredible that at least three millions of christians\\nshould have been murdered for their faith before the\\nyear 312, yet that estimate has been made and it seems\\nnot improbable, and certainly more than that number\\nhave been murdered for their faith since that time. We\\nwere exceedingly shocked by the horrors of Bulgaria in", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 89\\n1876 and of Armenia in 1896, and the cold chills ran\\nover us as we read the description by an eye-witness of\\na ghastly pile of three hundred human bodies thrown\\ntogether by the unspeakable Turk; but what shall we\\nsay when sober historians tell us of thirty thousand\\nWaldensians butchered for their faith and thrown into\\na single heap at the instigation of the Holy Catholic\\nChurch, of sixty thousand murdered in that single\\ncampaign, of two hundred thousand destroyed in a few\\nmonths, and this followed by other and still other\\nbutcheries until the heart grows sick and the head faint\\nat the recital!\\nWhat Baptists have suffered is too sickening to read\\nand too horrible to tell: in Germany, in Switzerland, in\\nHolland, in Moravia, in Austria, in Italy, in France, in\\nEngland. Even in America they suffered; in Massa-\\nchusetts, in Connecticut, in Virginia, in New York, in\\nSouth Carolina, and so lately that those now living have\\nheard their fathers and grandfathers tell the story. It\\ndoes not appear however, that any Baptist suffered\\ndeath for his faith in America except indirectly as the\\nresult of imprisonment etc., although four Quakers were\\nhung in Boston, two in 1659, one in 1660 and one in\\n1661, for the crime of being Quakers. The story of\\nthese sufferings can not now be given in detail for that\\nwould require many volumes to be written, and we can\\nonly gather up some samples and indications of the\\nwhole.\\nTo get some idea of the awf ulness of the persecutions\\nof Baptists, consider how wfide spread and numerous\\nthey were and then remember that except in Holland,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "90 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthey were utterly exterminated. In the year 1530 there\\nwas scarcely a village in the Netherlands where they\\nwere not found, and in many localities they were the\\nleading influence. In Friesland one out of every four\\nwas a Baptist, and they are not more numerous in any\\nplace in the world today. The state of Georgia gives\\nus the same proportion, one out of four. As to Ger-\\nmany, Dr. Kellar, the archivist of Munster, who probably\\nknows more about the Anabaptists than any other living\\nman, says; The more I examine the documents at my\\ncommand the more I am astonished at the extent of the\\ndiffusion of Anabaptist views; an extent no other\\ninvestigator has any knowledge of. 1 He speaks of\\ntheir churches in city after city and province after\\nprovince all over the German empire and from the\\nNorth Sea to the Alps. They must have been numbered\\nby the hundreds of thousands, and yet they were\\nexterminated. So numerous were they that in many\\nplaces Catholic and Lutheran priests could find no\\noccupation, and they complain that their churches are\\ndeserted, their teachings held in contempt, and the\\ninfants withheld from baptism; although they may\\npossibly have exaggerated their grievances.\\nIn Moravia there were estimated to be seventy thous-\\nand Baptists, which would make them about as numerous\\nas in Massachusetts at the present time. They must\\nhave been more numerous in many provinces than they\\nnow are in most of the United States, for, taking the\\nwhole Union together, Baptists number about one in\\nseventeen of the population. In Minnesota they number\\nonly one in eighty-four; in Wisconsin, one in seventy-", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 91\\nfour; in Michigan, one in thirty-eight; in New York,\\none in thirty- four; and so on down to Virginia with its\\nthree hundred and thirty-three thousand Baptists, or\\none in four and two-thirds, and Georgia with its three\\nhundred and seventy-seven thousand, or one in four.\\nConsider what a task it would be to exterminate the\\nBaptists of even a single state of the Union, and yet all\\nthose hosts of central Europe were utterly annihilated.\\nThey were systematically hunted out, as men hunt\\nwolves, with the set purpose of their complete extinction,\\nand that extinction was accomplished, so that for nearly\\ntwo hundred years not a Baptist was known in the\\ngreater part of Europe.\\nFor generation after generation it was as much a\\ncrime to be a Baptist as to be a murderer. Nay, more\\na crime; for there was often mercy for the murderer or\\nthe lecherous villain, but for the Baptist, none. They\\nhad no protection for life or property. It was a crime\\nfor them to meet and pray together; a crime to preach\\nthe gospel; a crime to instruct any one in the way of\\nlife; a crime even to believe the teachings of Jesus. It\\nwas a crime to deny any of the monstrous teachings of\\nthe Roman Catholic church or the less mistaken teach-\\nings of the Reformed churches. It was a crime to teach\\nany one of those truths which we hold most precious,\\nand above ail was it a crime to do that which is the\\nmost precious privilege of a Baptist minister, baptize a\\nbelieving convert.\\nFor these things they were beheaded, they were\\ndrowned, they were sent to the galleys, they were burned\\nalive, they were buried alive, yes, some were actually", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "92 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nboiled alive! Not to speak of the slow torture of death\\nby starvation and in foul prisons where they died in a\\nmanner worthy of Libby prison or Andersonville. Says\\nthe chronicler, speaking of Moravia; Some were torn\\nto pieces on the rack; some were burned to ashes and\\npowder; some were roasted on pillars; some were torn\\nwith red hot tongs; some were shut up in houses and\\nburned in masses; some were hanged on trees; some\\nwere executed with the sword; some were plunged into\\nthe water; many had gags put into their mouths so that\\nthey could not speak and so were led away to death.\\nLike sheep and lambs, crowds of them were led away to\\nbe butchered and slaughtered. Others were starved or\\nallowed to rot in noisome prisons. Many had holes\\nburned in their backs and were left in this condition.\\nLike owls and bitterns they dared not go abroad by day\\nbut lived and crouched in rocks and caverns, in wild for-\\nests, in caves and pits. Many were hunted down with\\nhounds and catchpoles, and so the horrid recital goes on.\\nIn Switzerland they were often tied at intervals to a long\\nrope made fast to the neck, and then made to stand\\ntogether upon some overhanging rock or platform, so\\nthat when the foremost was pushed off into the water,\\neach in falling would drag the next one after him, and\\nso all would drown together both men and women.\\nThey were systematically robbed of all they had for\\nthe benefit of their persecutors. Their wills and con-\\ntracts were rendered void and their business ruined.\\nThey were driven from their homes in winter to freeze\\nto death or to starve. Men were imprisoned for shelter-\\ning them, for giving them food, or even for failing to", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 93\\nreport them. Men were tortured to make them tell if\\nthey knew where any poor Baptist was in hiding. The\\ninfamous edict of the Zwinglian authorities at Zurich\\nin 1530 and the still more infamous edict of Charles V\\nin 1535 not only decreed death to the Anabaptist with-\\nout mercy, but severe punishments upon any who should\\nfail or hesitate in their zeal in hunting them out. The\\neven more atrocious edict of Philip II, who succeded\\nCharles V in 1535, demands that the men be punished\\nwith the sword; and the women by being buried alive,\\nif they do not maintain or defend their errors. But in\\ncase they persist in their errors, opinions or heresies,\\nthey shall be executed by fire; and declares that if any\\nfail to make them known or shall harbor them in any\\nway they shall be punished with the same punishment\\nas the heretic or criminal would be, if he were taken\\nand imprisoned. Many engaged in the wicked work\\nthrough fear for themselves, whose feelings of humanity\\nwould otherwise have kept them from it. Every form\\nof meanest treachery was devised to trap them, and\\nspies were even hired to profess conversion with hypo-\\ncritical tears, in order that they might be admitted to\\ntheir secrets and so betray their hiding places to those\\nwho sought their lives. Their tongues were often\\nbored or burned, or even cut out, in order that they\\nmight not be able to speak to the multitudes assembled\\nat their execution and infect them with their heresy.\\nTheir leaders were not only butchered but tortured\\nwith a cruelty that would shame an American savage;\\nmen with whom, for sweetness of spirit, for nobility\\nof character and spiritual culture as well as scholarship", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "94 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nand learning, such a one as Luther, much as he is\\npraised, is not to be compared. For example Jacob\\nHuter, a godly man and a wondrously successful\\npreacher of the gospel, was seized and gagged and led\\naway to Innsbruck, where he was first thrown into cold\\nwater and then into hot water, his flesh was torn with\\nred hot pincers and the wounds were filled with brandy,\\nand then the brandy was set on fire, and in this\\nawful torture he perished. Devils fresh from hell could\\nnot invent worse torments than these gentle representa-\\ntives of a holy church, every one of whom had been\\nbaptized in his infancy and thereby had become\\nregenerate and grafted into the church of Jesus Christ.\\nBut the story is too horrible to tell. If I were simply to\\ndetail the list of horrors visited upon our poor Baptist\\nbrethren, the women of this audience would faint in\\ntheir seats and the men would drive me from the plat-\\nform. And all this, mind you, was done in the name of\\nGod and of his Christ and with the utmost sanctimon-\\niousness conceivable. Let me give you a sample decree\\ntaken from the records of the Inquisition in Switzer-\\nland in 1430:\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nIn the name of God, Amen. We, Br. Ulrich of\\nTorrente of the Dominican order of Lausanne, and with\\nfull Apostolic authority Inquisitor of heretical iniquity\\nin the diocese of Lausanne; and John de Columpnis,\\nLicentiate and specially appointed to this work by the\\nvenerable father in Christ, Lord William of Challant,\\nBishop of Lausanne, have directed by the pure process\\nof the Inquisition that you, Peter Sager, now 60 years\\nold, born at Montrich, thirty years and more ago fore-", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 95\\nswore the Waldensian heresy in the city of Berne, but\\nsince that tinie have returned to that preyerse faith like\\na dog to his vomit and held and done many things\\ndetestable and vile against the most holy and venerable\\nRoman church. You have stubbornly asserted that\\nthere is no purgatory but only heaven and hell;\\nthat masses and intercessions and alms for the souls\\nof the departed are of no avail; and there are many\\nother things proven against you in your trial that show\\nthat you have fallen back into heresy. O grief!\\nTherefore after consideration and investigation and\\nmature consideration and weighing of evidence; and\\nafter consulting the statutes both of human and divine\\nlaw and arming ourselves with the revered sign of the\\nHoly Cross, we declare; In the name of the Father, Son\\nand Holy Ghost, Amen; that our decision may proceed\\nfrom the presence of God and our eyes behold justice,\\nturning neither to the right nor left but fixed on God\\nand the holy scriptures, we make known as our final\\nsentence that you Peter Sager are and have been a\\nheretic, treacherously recreant to your oath of recanta-\\ntion. As a relapsed heretic we commit you to the arm\\nof the secular power. However we entreat the secular\\nauthorities to execute the sentence of death more mildly\\nthan the canonical statutes require, particularly as to\\nthe mutilation of the members of the body. We further\\ndecree that all and every property that belongs to you\\nPeter, is confiscated and after being divided into three\\nparts, the first part shall go to the government, the\\nsecond to the officers of the Inquisition and the third to\\npay the expenses of the trial,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "96 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nAnd the following is found upon the town record as\\nto the expenses of the execution:\\nPaid to Master Garnaucie for burning Peter\\nSager, 20 shillings.\\nFor cords and stake, 10 u\\nFor the pains of the executioner, .28\\nSpecial watchman during the execution\\nin the city, 17. shillings, 6 pfennings.\\nSpecial watchmen in the citadel, 9 sols.\\nFor the beadles, 14 shillings.\\nAnd twelve wagon loads of fuel were used in the burn-\\ning.* This record speaks for itself; I cannot find\\nlanguage adequately to comment upon it.\\nHow many were thus put to death can never be told.\\nThere is much doubtless, yet to be revealed from the\\nstudy of old records in Europe which w 7 ill make the his-\\ntory more complete. In the small province of the Tyrol\\none thousand were put to death in four years. This is\\nat the rate of two hundred and fifty per year in one little\\nprovince, whereas, during the whole reign of her who is\\ncalled bloody Mary, 1 and in all England, only tw T o\\nhundred and sixty-four suffered death. Six hundred\\nwere slain at Ensisheim;six hundred at Brixen; seventy-\\nthree at Lintz; twenty at Rothenburg; sixty-eight at\\nKatzbuhel; thirty-nine at Salzburg; seventy-two within\\nfive years at Antwerp; three hundred and fifty at Alzey,\\nbetween a hundred and fifty and two hundred in the\\nPalatinate, another small province, etc., etc. The records\\nspeak of thousands upon thousands all over Germany,\\nAustria, Holland, Prussia, Switzerland and other coun-\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Armitage, Hist, of Bap., p. 312.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 97\\ntries. The official report of the Venetian embassador\\nto the court of Charles V in 1546 says that In Holland\\nand Friesland more than thirty thousand persons have\\nsuffered death at the hands of justice for Anabaptist\\nerrors. This is the language of a-sRoman Catholic of\\ncourse, and so he calls their martyrdom for repudiation\\nof Papal abominations suffering death at the hands of\\njustice. Of the seventy thousand already mentioned\\nin Moravia we can not tell how many were put to death\\nand how many were driven out, but, ruined by foreign\\ninvasions, hunted by the Jesuits, they were pursued\\nuntil there were none remaining.\\nCatholics persecuted Lutherans and Lutherans per-\\nsecuted Catholics in turn, but both together wreaked\\ntheir vengeance on the poor Baptists; and when at any\\nlull in the tempest the hand of persecution was lifted\\nand favors were granted to dissenting bodies, those\\nwho denied the validity of infant baptism were specific-\\nally excepted.\\nHow shall we explain this persistent persecution,\\nespecially when we know by many indications that they\\nwere a peaceable, pure, God-fearing people? So true\\nwas this that their very piety was a means of pointing\\nthem out to their persecutors. Was anyone observed\\nat prayer? He was an Anabaptist. Did anyone offer\\nthanks before eating? He must be an Anabaptist.\\nDid he refuse to curse and swear and even to become\\nangry? He was surely an Anabaptist. A letter written\\nin these times says: If anyone will speak for God,\\nfor a christian life, against the ungodliness of the times,\\nhe must be regarded as a most wicked Anabaptist, and", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "98 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nmany think they cannot otherwise escape this brand\\nthan by frequent revellings. For to this pass has your\\nevangelic freedom brought the world, that every one\\nearnestly striving to reform their lives, who will not\\nwallow with the drunken swine, that is, live unchastely,\\nmust be an Anabaptist.\\nThe persecutions were due to several things, and\\nchiefly to the fear that the existing order of things\\nwould be overturned by the new doctrines. As of old\\nand ever, these chief priests and Pharisees feared the\\nloss of their prestige and power and desired to continue\\ntheir monopoly of religious prerogatives. But many\\ndoubtless were sincere in their alarm. Knowing nothing\\nof the experience of a real spiritual regeneration, they\\nbelieved the church in which they had been trained to\\nbe the only true church and to offer the only salvation,\\nand it seemed to them that the church of God was\\nbeing torn to pieces by these heretics. And again, the\\nAnabaptist doctrine that a christian should not bear\\nthe sword, that is, be a magistrate to rule and judge\\nhis brethren, seemed to them to be a wild and danger-\\nous socialism, subversive of all law and order. The\\nAnabaptists looked upon the magistrates around them\\nand saw only those who were cruel and unjust and\\nused their power for oppression and persecution.\\nMagistracy was to them synonomous with wickedness\\nand oppression and they said, the christian ought not\\nto be a magistrate; the christian should suffer wrong\\nrather than do wrong. But to those who could not\\nappreciate this truly Christ^like acceptance of the\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Quoted in Dollinger s Reformation, I. 65.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 99\\ngospel teaching, their position seemed like a denial of\\nall properly constituted authority, and they looked upon\\nthem as anarchists and charged them with all the wild\\nand wicked schemes with which we charge the anarch-\\nists of today.\\nBut all this does not by any means fully explain it.\\nIt does not explain the vindictive meanness of their\\ntreatment, the intentional and shameless exposure of\\nwomen during torture or at their death, the tortures of\\nthe pincers and the rack before their execution, the\\nmean vilification of them both living and dead, the\\ncalloused obtuseness to the force of their arguments\\nand their uniform condemnation in spite of reason-\\nings, protests and denials; for there was never but one\\nending in their trials. They were hated, simply hated\\nfor their purity of life and for the necessary exposure\\nby contrast of the false religious life and teaching of\\ntheir persecutors. Their life and teaching was of\\nnecessity a continual condemnation of the false Christi-\\nanity of Catholic and Lutheran and condemnation of\\nself, whether just or not, is the last thing a man will\\nsubmit to. If they were right others were wrong and\\ntheir very existence as Baptists contained a logical\\nforce which was resented just as it is today. If they\\nwere simply regarded as dangerous people whose exter-\\nmination was a necessity, why not kill them off as\\nquickly and painlessly as possible, and so let them go\\nwithout the abominable tortures which only hate could\\ninvent or permit No the circumstances of their taking\\noff showed a vindictive hatred which was felt and voiced\\neven by as good a man as Zwingli in that famous cold-\\nly tf u.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "100 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nblooded sentence of his, more terse in the Latin than it\\ncan be made in English, Qui iterum mergit, merga-\\ntur; He who a second time immerses, let him be\\nimmersed, that is, drowned.\\nThere was not a Reformer of any prominence who did\\nnot stain his hands with the blood of his Baptist\\nbrethren; Luther, Melancthon, Zwingli, Bucer, Bullin-\\nger, Calvin, Knox, Cramner, Latimer, Ridley, and many\\nothers, who endorsed these cruelties and in the face of\\nwhose opposition they would not have been committed.\\nSome of these in turn were burned at the stake them-\\nselves, in the carrying out by the Romanists against\\nthem of the same line of argument which themselves\\nemployed against the Baptists. When defending them-\\nselves they claimed the rights of conscience and denied\\nthe right of others to persecute, but w T hen opposing\\nBaptists, urged the necessity of the extinction of heresy\\neven by putting heretics to death. They could not see\\nthat they themselves were also heretics, and that others\\nhad just as good a right to differ from them as they had\\nto differ from the Catholics.\\nBut this brief recital has given us only the merest\\nscraps and hints of suffering. Fill out for yourself the\\nparticulars and consider how much suffering of every\\nkind was involved; homes broken up and fathers mur-\\ndered; the tears and fears of orphaned children left to\\nthe tender mercies of their enemies; the struggles of\\nwidowed mothers to find bread for their fatherless\\nchildren; the hardships of families driven out from\\ntheir homes and despoiled of all their possessions to\\nfind food among strangers or starve; and with all this", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 101\\nthe constant thought of the galling injustice of it all\\nand of the ill will and contempt which they must bear,\\nwhich was only the product of prejudice and supersti-\\ntion and ignorance. The cool calculation of cruelty\\nwhich they suffered was infamous. Communities were\\ndriven out just before the harvest time, when there\\nwould be no possible chance to raise another crop with\\nwhich to feed themselves, and when the fruits of their\\nyear of toil would fall into the hands of their persecutors.\\nNor were they even suffered to depart voluntarily in\\npeace though empty handed. Witness this instance\\namong many: In a mountainous district of Switzer-\\nland a numerous body of Baptists were visited by a\\nfriend from Moravia who persuaded them to migrate to\\nhis country, where means of living were more abundant\\nand they would be beyond the reach of their persegutors.\\nThey disposed of their possessions and set forth upon\\ntheir long journey. But in a strange land on the way\\ntheir enemies overtook them. All the men were\\nbeheaded, the women drowned, their property and their\\nlittle ones carried off. They were even forbidden by\\nPhilip II to change their place of abode lest they should\\nseek another habitation and so escape with their lives.\\nWhat a world of pathos there is in the words of Menno\\nSimon: What misery and anxiety have I felt in the\\ndeadly perils of persecution for my poor sick wife and\\nlittle children. While others lie on soft beds and\\ncushions, we must often creep away into secret corners.\\nWhile others engage in festivities to the music of the\\nfife and of the trumpet, we must look around whenever\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Heroes and Hierarchs, p. 103.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "102 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\na dog barks, fearing the spies are on our track. What\\na revelation of heartache in these words of Bunyan:\\nThe parting from my wife and poor children hath\\noften been to me in this place as the pulling of my\\nflesh off my bones especially my poor blind child,\\nwho lay nearer my heart than all I had beside. I was\\nas a man who was pulling down his house upon the\\nhead of his wife and children. Yet, thought I, I must\\ndo it, I must do it. Very truly and tersely says Dr.\\nBitting, Through long centuries of anguish and conflict\\nBaptists have toiled, at every tread detailing their\\nmartyrs to dungeon and to death, and faltering not\\nuntil victory dawned. With a welcome to every living\\nsoul to share the sweet results of their conflicts, they\\nreturned to build their waste places and to enlarge their\\nborders, only to find their deeds denied or forgotten,\\ntheir history calumniated, their very name a target for\\nreproach and they only called bigots.\\nIn England and America the story is less awful; yet\\nin England in 1535 fourteen Dutch Anabaptists were\\nburned alive, two of them in London, the others being\\nscattered in various towns, doubtless as a warning to\\nothers. In 1538 six more were burned at the stake.\\nIn 1539 a body of thirty-one w T ere driven out and fled\\nto Holland where they were beheaded. In 1575 two\\nwere burned alive. Twenty-six were thus martyred in\\na few years in different places, but this is only the\\nbeginning of the list of English Baptist martyrs. We\\nhave no records of an Inquisition in England to fur-\\nnish information as to those who were put to death\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Religious Liberty and the Baptists, p. 17.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "PEKSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 103\\nor died in prison, else the list would be very much\\nextended. Of this the statement of Orchard may be\\ntaken as an indication, who says, that the computation\\nof those who suffered for non-conformity between the\\nrestoration and the revolution amounted to seventy\\nthousand families ruined and eight thousand persons\\ndestroyed, though the calculation was not finished.\\nThe property of which they were plundered, consisting\\nof money and estates, is said to have amounted to twelve\\nor fourteen millions 1 of pounds, which would be from\\nsixty to seventy millions of dollars. A large part of\\nthese were Baptists. On the eleventh of April, 1611,\\nEdward Wightman gave up his life at the stake, and\\nthus was closed by a Baptist the long list of English\\nmartyrs which had been begun two hundred and eleven\\nyears before by the burning of another Baptist, William\\nSawtry. But fines, disabilities and imprisonment\\nfollowed them, however, until the Act of Toleration in\\n1689 when active persecution ceased.\\nYet not even now are Baptists or other dissenters on\\nan equality with those who belong to the state church,\\nas they are still shut out from various positions and\\nadvantages and are still taxed for the support of a clergy\\nwhich knows little of the gospel and is often of the\\nsporting class if not positively immoral. So great a\\nBaptist as Charles Spurgeon was obliged to the day of\\nhis death to pay taxes for the support of Episcopal\\nministers, and the younger brother of our own Dr.\\nWilliams,* a Baptist deacon in Wales, and whose father\\nwas also a Baptist deacon, is compelled to pay more\\n*Dr. O. A. Williams, District Secretary of the American Baptist Home\\nMission Society.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "104 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthan one hundred dollars every year for the same\\npurpose, while after doing this he can not pay one\\nquarter of that sum for the support of his own pastor.\\nIf he did not pay it the officers would seize his cattle\\nand his teams and his crops and sell them from him.\\nThe records of English Baptist history are meager and\\nwe are not able to give with any fulness either the story\\nof their successes or their sufferings.\\nAt the time of the settlement of America the age of\\nbloody religious persecutions was passing away, and we\\nfind no record that any Baptist in America was put to\\ndeath for his opinions, except it may be as a result of\\nexposure in imprisonment in cold jails and other like\\nhardships. Jails and prisons in those days were\\nmiserable affairs and from this exposure some did die,\\nas really martyrs as if they had been beheaded. Yet\\nthey were banished, they were whipped, they were\\nstoned, they were hunted with dogs, they were dis-\\nfranchised, they were robbed of their homes and their\\nliving, for preaching, for baptizing, for observing\\ntogether the Lord s Supper, for refusing to have their\\nbabies sprinkled, for going out of church when other\\npeople had their babies sprinkled, for refusing to attend\\nthe preaching of unconverted ministers, and even for\\nmeeting together privately to pray. Everywhere they\\nwere taxed for the support of the state churches or\\nstanding order, and when they refused to pay such\\ntaxes on the ground that it was recognizing man s\\nauthority to dictate in matters which pertain only to\\nGod, their property was taken by force and sold, often\\nfor a mere fraction of its value. This, of course, was", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0114.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 105\\nless grievous than to be beheaded or burned at the stake,\\nyet in those days of poverty it was sufficiently galling\\nand the cause of much hardship and suffering. Men\\nsometimes rave and swear even now when compelled to\\npay assessments upon their property for improvements\\nwhich they do not desire and for which they can not\\nafford to pay, and it is no matter for complacency even\\nfor a christian man to have his lasi cow or his team or\\nhis home sold perforce by the sheriff, and the money\\ngiven to a man in whom he has no confidence either as\\na man or as a christian minister, and who is moreover,\\nthe representative of a hateful religious oppression.\\nThe story of the banishment of Roger Williams in\\nOctober, 1635, and his consequent sufferings is one with\\nwhich we may all be supposed to be familiar, and there\\nis not time to recount it here save to say that the main\\nopinion for which he was banished, namely, that the\\nmagistrate has no right to punish men for a breach of\\nthose commandments which concern the duties of men\\nto Grod only, is now a cardinal principle in the creed of\\nevery true American.\\nThe shameful whipping of Obadiah Holmes in Boston\\nin 1651, for quiet worship in a private house and because\\nhe did baptize such as were baptized before, is well\\nknown; but it is not so well known that John Spur and\\nJohn Hazle were each sentenced to ten lashes or the\\npayment of forty shillings for simply taking Holmes by\\nthe hand with a Blessed be God, as he was led from\\nthe whipping post. Friends paid their fine without\\ntheir consent. Hazle was sixty years old and quite\\ninfirm, and had come more than fifty miles to comfort", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0115.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "106 THE BAPTIST IN HISTOBY.\\nhis old friend in prison. He died on the way before\\nreaching home again. Thirteen persons suffered in one\\nway or another for expressing sympathy with Holmes.\\nIn Boston May 7th, 1668, brethren Thomas Gould,\\nWilliam Turner and John Farnum were banished for\\nholding Baptist views, but they refused to go and\\nwere therefore imprisoned. After four months a petition\\nsigned by sixty-five persons of standing was received\\nby the court for their relief, but so far was it from\\naccomplishing its object that the signers were severely\\nreprimanded by the court and fined for their humanity.\\nMarch 6th, 1680, the Baptist meeting house in Boston\\nwas nailed up by the marshall and the people held their\\nservice in the yard, Itt being a cold wind yt day butt\\nthrough grace none received any harm. 1 The church\\nrecord says, Butt to returne our Dores being nayled up\\nwe provided A shedd which we made Against ye howse\\nwith bords, butt coming ye next lords day expecting to\\nmeete under our shedd, we found our dores sett open\\nconsulting by ourselves whether to goe in, we considered\\nthe Court had not donn itt legally Acting by noe law,\\nso they went in and worshipped.\\nNot alone in Massachusetts was there persecution but\\nin some of the other colonies as well, and the severest\\nof all and the longest continued struggle was in Virginia.\\nHere the culmination of oppressive laws was reached\\nin 1611, when it was required that every one go to an\\nEpiscopal minister and give an account of his views.\\nIf he refused to go he was to be whipped. If he then\\nrefused to go he was to be whipped twice, and if he\\nstill refused, he was to be whipped every day until he", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0116.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 107\\ndid go. How galling such a provision was and how\\nbelittling to one s self respect, perhaps an independent\\nand self respecting Baptist can understand better than\\nany one else. Many ministers in Virginia were arrested\\nand imprisoned, the manner of it adding indignity to\\nthe arrest itself. They were sometimes dragged from\\nthe platform while preaching or even wdiile praying and\\ntaken away to be imprisoned or fined or publicly\\nwhipped. There appear among those thus treated the\\nnames of the three Craigs, Waller, Webber, Childs,\\nAnthony, Eastin, Weatherford, Tanner, Walker, Ware,\\nMaxfield, Loval, Greenwood, Young and a host of others.\\nJoseph Ware was hunted w T ith dogs. James Ware and\\nJames Pitman were imprisoned for having preaching\\nin their houses. John Koons, Thomas Wafford and\\nothers carried the scars of their whippings to their\\ngraves. James Ireland was imprisoned in Culpepper\\njail where powder was put under him to blow him up,\\nbrimstone was burned to suffocate him and poison\\nadministered to kill him; but he lived to preach the\\ngospel a number of years more and win many souls.\\nOn the very site of that Culpepper jail stands today a\\nBaptist church wherein more than two hundred mem-\\nbers regularly worship.\\nIn New York, in Connecticut, in South Carolina and\\nin other colonies Baptists were harassed to a less degree.\\nThey were taxed as others for the support of Episcopal\\nor Congregational ministers and for these taxes their\\nproperty and their homesteads were taken away. They\\nwere also imprisoned on various charges and fined, for\\nthere were many ways of harassing Baptists even when", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0117.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "108 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthey could not be directly persecuted for their opinions.\\nThese arrests were so timed in many cases as to work\\nthe most discomfort possible. The mother of Isaac\\nBackus, the first American Baptist historian, for exam-\\nple, a widow fifty-four years old, was arrested at nine\\no clock at night, October 15th, 1752, and with several\\nothers taken seventeen miles to jail in a cold October\\nrain, where she was kept thirteen days until her fine\\nwas paid by some person unknown. There is in my\\nown church a very intelligent and faithful old lady\\nwhose grandfather s grandfather, an old man of eighty\\nyears, was arrested at the same time of night and while\\npreparing for bed. He was taken away without being\\nallowed to resume the clothing he had laid off, and kept\\nfor some time in a cold jail without fire or bed-clothes.\\nIt was evidently the hope of his captors that the expos-\\nure would kill him but his physical system, like his\\nfaith, was of too rugged a nature to be easily destroyed.\\nThe charges against him were of a trumped up character\\nwhile his real crime was that he was too outspoken a\\nBaptist.*\\nBut when we have given the record of the imprison-\\nments and martyrdoms of our ancestors in the faith we\\nhave not by any means told all the story of indignities\\nand sufferings. There was much that can not be put\\non record and yet, perhaps, was not less hard to bear\\nsometimes than actual suffering: the contemptuous\\ntreatment of their appeals and petitions, while others\\nwere respectfully listened to; the mean spitefulness\\n*It is a matter of interest to me that in every audience that has heard\\nthese lectures someone has afterwards come to me with a relation of\\nsimilar experiences in their own family or family line.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0118.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. 109\\nwhich was shown them by officers, courts and people\\nalike; the way in which laws were devised to harass\\nthem and the unfairness with which other laws were\\ninterpreted when applied to them; the bitter prejudice\\nthey met and the misconstructions put upon their\\nmotives; the scorn of those who were far beneath them\\nin integrity of character and spiritual strength; all these\\nthings and many more made their lives a daily trial.\\nTo bear all this and go right on, doing that which was\\nright in the sight of God and trusting Him to vindicate\\ntheir cause in his own time, bearing patiently what\\nthey must and not answering scorn with hatred that\\nis heroism; a heroism we cannot afford, for our own\\nbenefit, to overlook or forget.\\nAs we read this long and distressing story of how an\\ninnocent and faithful people have been hounded and\\nmurdered, harassed and hated because they had firm\\nconvictions as to the truth of Christ and faithfully\\nfollowed them, is it any wonder to us that Baptists have\\nstruggled and plead, always and everwhere, for religious\\nliberty, and that they have been the foremost opposers\\nof every form of church oppression and of that union\\nof church and state which makes such oppression\\npossible?\\nThe question cannot fail to present itself, was it\\nworth while to suffer thus for these religious opinions?\\nWhy be so stubborn for a principle? Would it not\\nhave been better to lay aside their convictions and save\\nthemselves this distress? Why did they endure such\\nthings? They suffered these things because they had\\nconsciences, and we cannot too much honor those who", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0119.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "110 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nhold to principle rather than policy. Because their\\nopinions were not opinions merely, but convictions as\\nto God s own truth which no man is at liberty to dis-\\nregard. Because they knew that God had spoken and\\nthey dare not disobey his word. They suffered for the\\nsame reason that so many now stand apart from other\\nprofessed christians to be misjudged and sneered at as\\nself-righteous and narrow minded; because they would\\nhave no fellowship with what they knew was contrary\\nto God s word and subversive of the vital principles of\\nChristianity.\\nThey suffered because they were converted men and\\nwomen. They knew what spiritual experience of\\nsalvation is and valued the presence of Jesus in their\\nsouls more than life itself. They could not go back or\\ndeny the truth. They suffered because they loved their\\nfamilies and longed for their salvation. The prohibition\\nof their activities was a prohibition of salvation to their\\nloved ones, for they knew that they were mistaughtand\\ndeluded by their own ministers blind leaders of the\\nblind and they must preach to them and they must pray\\nfor them, and for this multitudes suffered and multitudes\\ndied. Mark this well, that the opposition to the Baptists\\nwas an opposition to the preaching of the true principles\\nof the gospel, by which alone man can be saved. They\\nknew that men had no right to deny them the right to\\nobey God and teach others to obey him, and do it, too,\\nin the name of religion; had no right to kill and plunder\\nand force and tax for matters in which it is the right of\\nGod alone to judge, and they would not give up a true\\nprinciple for a false one. They were not cranks or", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0120.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "PERSECUTIONS AND SUFFERINGS. Ill\\nfanatics, nor were they merely stubborn. They were\\nthe best and purest of the men and women of their time\\nand we need not sneer at them, especially when we\\nremember that if they had not resisted the corrupted\\nChristianity of their day and taught a better, no other\\nwould have been known. Men in their day drowned\\nand burned heretics and thought that they offered\\nservice unto God, 1 and but for their sufferings and\\nteaching would be doing it yet, and we ourselves, instead\\nof rejoicing in the free grace and presence of Jesus\\nChrist, would have been still under the blighting and\\ndamning influence of a priestly church.\\nBut why did men inflict such things upon their\\nfellow men, pure minded people too, and innocent of\\nany crime? Why should christians persecute christ-\\nians? Because they were not christians. They were\\nof a church which was no true church and recipients\\nof a salvation which saves nobody, and yet regarded\\nthemselves as the true and only church of Christ. The\\ncruelty of their work, the treachery and injustice to\\nwhich they descended to gain their ends is witness\\nagainst them that they knew nothing of Christ. Their\\nsalvation was only one of rites and ceremonies and they\\nhad no comprehension of personal faith, personal obedi-\\nence and personal responsibility to a personal Saviour.\\nA late writer well says, To say the church did it is\\nblasphemy. It was the work of fiends incarnate. There\\nwere some, however, whose noble service and pure lives\\nmake us hesitate to affirm that they were not christians,\\nwho yet endorsed and encouraged these persecutions and\\nwithout whose consenting influence they would not have", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0121.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "112 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nbeen carried on. Of such we can only say that they could\\nnot trust the power of the truth but must try to bolster\\nit tip by force. They could not trust the consciences of\\nmen to make them accept the truth when it was seen, nor\\ncould they trust God to watch over his own work and\\nvindicate his own way. But more than all, they did not\\ncomprehend that there might be realms of truth where\\nthey had not traveled nor admit the possibility that\\ntheir victims might be right and they themselves mis-\\ntaken; and yet we know that they were mistaken\\nawfullv mistaken.\\nThere was yet another motive which worked mightily\\nin this direction, and that was the priestly instinct that\\never seeks to thrust itself into power and influence and\\nis exceedingly jealous of whatever interferes; that same\\npower which brought Jesus himself to the cross. It\\nwas the ambition for church power, which is still such\\na mighty motive in the world and leads to many sadly\\nunchristian things. It w T as not a conviction that the\\ngospel would not be taught and souls w T ould not be\\nsaved, if these heretics had their way, that led to their\\npersecution, but an alarm lest the church should be\\nshorn of her power and her priests be left without a\\nfollowing and so without influence and glory.\\nBut does not this record give us more of an appreci-\\nation of our christian liberty, and does it not inspire us\\nto more of a spirit of loyalty to the truth and resistance\\nto error, and to a determination that we will be worthy\\nsuccessors of those who fought the good fight and kept\\nthe faith, until we also shall receive the crown Let us\\nnever be known as degenerate children of a noble\\nancestry.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0122.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0123.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted,\\nto proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening\\nof the prison to them that are bound.\\nFor freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast,\\ntherefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of\\nbondage", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0124.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "IV.\\nBAPTIST INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT,\\nThe natural condition of barbarism and heathenism\\nis tyranny; we see that illustrated everywhere in the\\nheathen world of today as in the days past. Barbarism\\nis the reign of brute force unguided by right moral\\nprinciples or rules of justice, and barbarism and heath-\\nenism go together. The rule of heathenism has always\\nbeen an irresponsible monarchy, which is tyranny, and\\neven when in brilliant periods as in Greece and Rome\\nthere has been something like popular government, it\\nhas sunken back again into monarchy. The history of\\nChristianity has been a history of civilization; and the\\nhistory of civilization has been the history of peoples\\nstruggling for their natural rights against ancient\\noppressions, hereditary privileges and the time honored\\nusurpation by a few or by an individual of the prerog-\\natives that belong to all alike; and so through this\\nstruggle have grown up governments by the people and\\nfor the people, instead of for the few and by the few.\\nThe people have won their rights only after a long\\nconflict and many defeats, as witness the growth of", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0125.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "116 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nliberty and constitutional government in England and\\nin France, and the struggle now going on in Germany\\nand Russia.\\nAgain, the gospel has always been the great agent\\nand basis of liberty wherever the gospel has been\\npreached in its truth and purity. A study of modern\\nmissions in connection with this thought is most inter-\\nesting; to see how the entrance of the gospel into\\nheathen nations has broken up ancient and cruel\\ndespotisms and lifted the people up into civil liberty.\\nThe gospel emphasizes the dignity of man as an indi-\\nvidual, a redeemed soul, of infinite worth in the sight of\\nGod, of dignity and importance because capable of\\nbecoming a child of God, and therefore possessing\\nindividual responsibility and individual rights. Thus\\nthe man is brought into a consciousness of himself and\\ninto rebellion against the usurpation of unjust authority,\\nand in the end, out from under the dominion of tyranny\\ninto the enjoyment of popular rights. So wherever the\\ngospel goes liberty and a just government follow.\\nIt might be expected therefore, that that church\\nwhich has best preserved the purity of the New Testa-\\nment teaching would not be without its influence on\\ncivil government; that its influence would be on the\\nside of the largest and truest liberty, and just so we find\\nit. A state church has never been a pure church, and\\na state church has never been the friend of liberty. In\\nthe nature of the case it cannot be. It derives its\\nprestige and power from the favor of government, and\\nits privileged priests have the same motive for preserv-\\ning their authority over the people that the privileged", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0126.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 117\\nruler has, and their sympathies in every struggle will\\nbe with him. Always the dissenting churches have\\nbeen those that have been friendly to the people and\\nforemost in the struggle for popular rights; and among\\nthese, that church which has been the farthest from the\\nestablished form and nearest to the Apostolic pattern\\nhas been the very foremost.\\nMoreover the church is always behind the govern-\\nment and profoundly influencing it, in spirit as well as\\nform, and has been from the days of Nebuchadnezzar\\nto the present. Whether in England or America, in\\nSpain, Mexico or Switzerland, the influence of prevail-\\ning religious ideas is seen in government. For the\\nreligious feeling is deepest of all feelings and religious\\nideas run through all a man s activities and their tone\\nand color are seen in all his life. Men are first moved\\nin their religious nature and the ideas thus received\\nwork out into their due fruitage in social life and civil\\nlife. A revolution in church therefore, means, sooner\\nor later, a revolution in state; a revolution in religion\\nmeans a revolution in government.\\nThe struggle for religious liberty therefore, has had\\na large part in history and has been at the bottom of\\nmany a political movement. Keligious liberty has\\ncarried with it civil liberty, and while men have been\\nstruggling for liberty to worship God they have also,\\nthough perhaps unwittingly, been working out a larger\\nliberty for all mankind. To whom then, is due the\\npresent victory and largeness of liberty in which we\\nstand? Whose are the slain who fell in the battle and\\nwhose were the wounds and the groans, the toil and the", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0127.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "118 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nweariness and whose should be the crown\\nThere is a very natural disposition to think that what\\nwe ourselves believe we and our fathers have always\\nbelieved, and that the things we now hold are the things\\nthat our fathers fought for. Every kind of a belief\\nseeks to prove for itself an antiquity, and every kind\\nof a society seeks to show that the benefits men enjoy\\nare the result of its ancient influence; and so those in\\nthese days who were not in the battle are claiming the\\nvictory, nay, even those who fought against the now\\ntriumphant truth. Hence it comes to pass that those\\nprinciples which for centuries were peculiar to the\\nBaptists, and which in the early days no others contended\\nfor, are now largely adopted by those who are scarcely\\nwilling to admit that they have not always held them,\\nand what is due to their long and painful struggle is\\nnow claimed by others as their own victory. I do not\\nwish in the least to disparage others nor to glorify\\nourselves, and have no sympathy at all with the feeling\\nthat because we are we therefore we are, and of right\\nought to be, the people; but we have been so often\\ndisparaged and our achievements so often appropriated\\nby others that it is due to ourselves that a just state-\\nment be made.\\nWe are not now alone in our insistence that the state\\nand the church are separate and distinct, and that neither\\nthe church should interfere in political matters nor the\\nstate seek to prescribe rules for the church. We are\\nnow, in other words, no more loyal to the idea of com-\\nplete religious liberty than those of other denominations\\nwhose spiritual ancestors did not see these things thus.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0128.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 119\\nAn attempt by court or government to establish one\\nchurch above another or to hinder anyone from adopting\\nsuch forms of religious belief or practice as he might\\nchoose would raise a universal outcry and would be no\\nmore quickly resented by Baptists than by Episcopa-\\nlians, Presbyterians or Congregationalists. But it was\\nnot always so.\\nLet it not be thought that we claim for ourselves the\\nentire credit of human freedom, or claim that Baptists\\nhave been the sole cause of the liberties we enjoy.\\nEvery movement of religious revival and reform has\\nbeen a movement towards at least partial liberty, and\\nbesides the religious influence that has been at work,\\nthere is in the heart of every man a feeling of natural\\nright which has sought to gain its own. Some things,\\nhowever, are true, and some things are due to Baptist\\nprinciples in the past and in the present, and these\\nthings we will try to indicate.\\nFirst then, Baptists were the first to declare the\\ndoctrine of complete religious liberty and have always\\nbeen the leaders in the struggle for its attainment, and\\nto them more than to any other body is due the credit\\nof its final attainment. Perhaps there was a reason for\\nthis. They were more persecuted than any others and\\ntherefore more longed for peace and liberty. They\\nwere still oppressed when others had rest and therefore\\nstrove for it still when others were satisfied. But more\\nthan all, they had a principle of liberty which did not\\nfind satisfaction in anything less than complete freedom,\\nand which would not rest until the last possible weapon of\\noppression was destroyed, namely, that man, in matters", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0129.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "120 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nof religion, is responsible only to God. This thought\\nwas fundamental with them and would not let them\\nrest under any compromise or mere toleration. There\\nwere others who joined in the struggle, such as the\\nQuakers, and there were those who at different times\\nsought and obtained a partial freedom for themselves,\\nbut they were the first and the chief and the only body\\nwho always and everywhere have stood for complete\\nliberty for all men. This spirit of liberty they have\\nalso carried out among themselves, and there is no\\ndenomination where there is more complete liberty of\\nthought and action, limited only by the requirements of\\nthe divine Word, than among them.\\nThat Baptists were the first to plead for equal rights\\nand full religious liberty for all men there is universal\\ntestimony among candid writers. These are the words\\nof Bancroft the historian: The Baptist party, whose\\ntrophy from the first was freedom of conscience, un-\\nlimited freedom of mind, was trodden under foot with\\nfoul reproaches and most arrogant scorn, and its history\\nis written in the blood of the German peasantry; but\\nits principles, safe in their immortality, escaped with\\nRoger Williams to Providence, and his colony is the\\nwitness that naturally the paths of the Baptists are the\\npaths of freedom. Macaulay remarks that Bossuet\\nwas able to say we fear with too much truth, that on\\none point all christians had long been unanimous the\\nright of the civil government to propagate the truth by\\nthe sword: that even heretics had been orthodox as to\\nthis right, and that the Anabaptists and Socinians were\\n*Hist. U. S\u00e2\u0080\u009e Boston, 1855, II, 66-7.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0130.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 121\\nthe first who called it in question. 1 Schaff, in his\\nProgress of Religious Freedom, says: Baptists and\\nQuakers alone were consistent advocates of universal\\ntoleration and put it into their creeds. Judge Durfee,\\nwriting of Roger Williams, says: The future of Rhode\\nIsland, and to some extent the future of the world,\\nhung suspended on the issue of the struggle. It was a\\npivotal transaction in universal history. His doctrine\\nwas that every man has a natural right to follow the\\ndictates of his conscience as long as he keeps the civil\\npeace; a right which the state can neither give nor take\\naway nor control, even with the consent of the individ-\\nual, since no man can absolve himself from fealty to his\\nown conscience. The right has never been expressed\\nwith more completeness. This is his glory, that he,\\nfirst among men, made it a living element of the state,\\nturning it from thought to fact, giving it a corporate\\nexistence in which it could perpetuate and practically\\napprove itself. 1 Pastors of other denominations some-\\ntimes give the same testimony, as when Rev. Dr.\\nLeonard Swain, pastor of the Central Congregational\\nchurch of Providence, Rhode Island, said at the centen-\\nnial of the Warren Association in September, 1867,\\nYou Baptists fought the battle of religious liberty and\\nwe all enjoy the fruits of the victory.\\nEvery Baptist martyr has died proclaiming this\\ndoctrine; every Baptist preacher and writer has set it\\nforth; many confessions of faith have specifically\\ndeclared it and denied to the civil power any authority\\nwhatever to compel, restrain or punish in matters of\\n*See Bossuet, Vol. X, p. 356", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0131.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "122 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nreligion. The treatises, discussions, remonstrances and\\nappeals upon this topic have been innumerable.\\nThe first confession of faith to declare the doctrine\\nof full religious liberty was that of the Swiss Anabap-\\ntists in the year 1527. This confession makes a clear\\ndistinction between the temporal authority and the\\nspiritual and entirely disclaims the use of the temporal\\nin the church. It says: In law the sword is ordained\\nover the wicked for punishment and death, and the civil\\npower is ordained to use it. But in the perfection of\\nChrist, excommunication is pronounced only for warn-\\ning and for exclusion of him who has sinned, without\\ndeath of the flesh, only by warning and the command\\nnot to sin again. It has been generally supposed that\\nits author was Michael Sattler, who was burned at the\\nstake three months later. The Confession of certain\\nEnglish Anabaptists of 1611 says: We believe that the\\nmagistrate is not by virtue of his office to meddle with\\nreligion or matters of conscience, to force or compel\\nmen to this or that form of religion or doctrine, but to\\nleave the christian religion free to every man s con-\\nscience, and to handle only civil trangressions, injuries\\nand wrongs of man against man, in murder, adultery,\\ntheft etc., for Christ only is the King and Lawgiver of\\nthe church and conscience. The confessions of 1643\\nand 1660 and others declare at great length the duty\\nof obedience to civil magistrates in civil things, but, In\\ncase the civil power do, or shall at any time impose things\\nabout matters of religion, which we, through conscience\\nto God, cannot actually obey; then we will not yield,\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6History Anti-Pedobaptism, p. 392.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0132.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 123\\nnor in such cases in the least actually obey them; yet\\nhumbly purposing, in the Lord s strength, patiently to\\nsuffer whatsoever shall be inflicted upon us for our\\nconscionable forbearance. Compare with this the\\nlanguage of other confessions of about the same date\\nas, for example, the Westminster Confession, Chapter\\nXX: And for their publishing of such opinions, or\\nmaintaining of such practices as are contrary to the\\nlight of nature or to the known principles of Christianity,\\nwhether concerning faith, worship or conversation; or\\nto the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions\\nas, either in their own nature, or in the manner of\\npublishing or maintaining them are destructive to the\\nexternal peace and order which Christ hath established\\nin the church; they may be lawfully called to account\\nand proceeded against by the censures of the church,\\nand by the power of the civil magistrate Underbill,\\nin his Struggles and Triumphs of Religious Liberty,\\nsays: There is not a confession nor a creed framed\\nby any of the Reformers which does not give to the\\nmagistrate a coercive power in religion, and almost every\\none at the same time curses the resisting Baptists.\\nLecky says in his History of Rationalism, 1 Persecu-\\ntion in the sixteenth century was a distinct and definite\\ndoctrine, digested into elaborate treatises, indissolubly\\nconnected with a large portion of the received theology,\\ndeveloped by most enlightened theologians and enforced\\nagainst most inoffensive sects. We have already seen\\nthat there was not a reformer of any eminence who did\\nnot uphold the persecution of those whom they called\\n*Conf essiori of 1660. f The Confession now in use omits the last clause.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0133.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "124 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nheretics and make himself responsible for it.\\nThe first modern treatises on religious liberty were\\nwritten by Baptists. Hubmeyer had written a powerful\\nplea for religious liberty in Heretics and their Burn-\\ners about the year 1525, but the work has perished.\\nThe first treatise in English was by Leonard Busher in\\n1614, entitled Religion s Peace, or a Plea for Liberty\\nof Conscience. It pleads that it may be lawful for\\nevery person or persons, yea, Je\\\\ts, Turks, Pagans and\\nPapists, to write, dispute, confer and reason, print and\\npublish any matter touching any religion either for or\\nagainst whomsoever; language which for breadth of\\nliberality cannot be surpassed even in these days. In\\n1615 appeared another: Persecution for Religion\\nJudged and condemned, by Christ s Unworthy Wit-\\nnesses, His Majesty s Faithful Subjects, Commonly,\\nbut most Falsely called Anabaptists. It says: Earth-\\nly authority belongeth to earthly kings, but spiritual\\nauthority belongeth to that one spiritual King who is\\nKing of Kings. In 1620 appeared A most humble\\nSupplication of Many of the King s Majesty s Loyal\\nSubjects, etc., which was written by a prisoner in\\nNewgate prison. It was written in milk upon the\\npaper stoppers of the bottles in which the milk was\\nfurnished and these fragments of writing were then\\narranged by the friends of the prisoners and published,\\nand they show no small ability on the part of their\\nauthor. Indeed, considering the circumstances of the\\nwriter the language used and the quotations made are\\nvery remarkable. It is a direct and pointed argument,\\nquoting from the king s own words, the spirit of which", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0134.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVEKNMENT. 125\\ncan be judged from the following words in the conclu-\\nsion: You may make and mend your own laws and be\\njudge and punisher of the transgressors thereof; but\\nyou cannot make or mend God s laws, they are perfect\\nalready. You may not add nor diminish, nor be judge\\nor monarch of his church, that is Christ s right, he left\\nneither you nor any mortal man his deputy, but only\\nthe Holy Ghost, as your highness acknowledged.\\nThis treatise, as Koger Williams said, was written in\\nmilk and answered in blood. In 1642 Busher s treatise\\nwas reprinted. In 1647 appeared one by Thomas Richard-\\nson; in 1660, one by prisoners in Maidstone jail; in 1662\\nZion s Groans for her Distressed, by a committee of\\nLondon Baptists; and in 1659 had appeared Milton s\\nTreatise of the Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes,\\nshowing that it is not lawful for any human power on\\nearth to compel in matters of religion. In those days\\nno others taught the doctrine of full religious liberty.\\nNo writings can be adduced from that early time, except\\nfrom Baptist authors, which taught that the right to\\nworship God according to the dictates of one s own\\nconscience was a natural right, belonging to every man.\\nThe first treatise on religious liberty by an American\\nauthor was by Roger Williams in 1644. Mr. Hall, a\\ncongregational minister at Roxbury, had sent the treat-\\nise written in Newgate to Mr. John Cotton, famous in\\nNew England history, and his reply to that was by some\\none published and a copy of it came to Mr. Williams,\\nwho answered it in a famous treatise entitled The\\nBloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience\\nDiscussed. Cotton replied in a treatise entitled The", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0135.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "126 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nBloudy Tenent Washed and made White in the blood\\nof the Lambe. Williams again answered in The\\nBloody Tenent yet more Bloody by Mr. Cotton s En-\\ndevour to wash it white in the blood of the Lambe etc.\\nThis discussion created great interest, and the argu-\\nments of Mr. Williams in contrast with the rather\\ncholeric utterances of Mr. Cotton were of telling effect.\\nThus was the gauntlet thrown down and the controversy\\nbegun which was only to end with the complete vindi-\\ncation of these principles and the destruction of\\nreligious tyranny in America.\\nThe first government ever organized on the basis of\\ncomplete religious liberty, and the first in which that\\nprinciple was ever fully recognized, was the Baptist\\ngovernment of Rhode Island. Here in their funda-\\nmental law it was declared that No person within the\\nsaid colony, at any time hereafter, shall be in any way\\nmolested, punished, disquieted, or called in question\\nfor any difference of opinion in matters of religion\\nwhich do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said\\ncolony; but that all and every person or persons, from\\ntime to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully\\nhave and enjoy his and their judgment and consciences\\nin matters of religious concernment, they behaving\\nthemselves peaceably and quietly and not using this\\nliberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the\\ncivil injury or outward disturbance of others. This was\\nno mere matter of form, for we find that a man was\\nactually punished, for the first time in the history of\\nthe world perhaps, for interfering with another in\\nreligious matters. One Joshua Verin attempted to", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0136.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 127\\ncompel his wife to give up her religion and keep away\\nfrom religious meetings, using abusive violence for this\\nend, and the court decreed that he for breach of\\ncovenant in restraining liberty of conscience shall be\\nwithheld from voting till he declare the contrary!\\nMoreover it was here in Rhode Island that, long before\\nthe days of Abraham Lincoln, his famous declaration\\na government of the people, by the people and for the\\npeople was for the first time made a reality. It was\\nRoger Williams who first declared the principle of\\ndemocracy which is the very foundation of our American\\ngovernment, that the sovereign power of government\\nis in the people and in all the people. This principle\\nwas brought out in his opposition to those laws of\\nMassachusetts which denied the franchise and the\\nprivileges of office to all who were not members of the\\nchurch, and to the giving away by kings and rulers,\\nthrough patents and monopolies, of lands and privileges\\nwhich did not belong to them but to the people. Thus\\nin thje first Baptist state was embodied that idea which\\nwas to rule the nation and is yet to rule the world.\\nThe first college to open its doors to all alike and\\noffer its privileges and honors to every person without\\nany religious test or requirement was the first college\\nfounded by Baptists, namely, Rhode Island College,\\nnow called Brown University, at Providence. All the\\nuniversities of the old world were founded and controlled\\nby state churches down to the middle of the last century\\nand from them all dissenters were of course, excluded.\\nNot all of them even yet are open to all alike. The\\nfirst college to be foimded in this country was Harvard", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0137.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "128 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nand its first President, Henry Dunster, after years of\\nmost distinguished service, during which he brought it\\nup from an academy of uncertain prospects to a recog-\\nnized college, was driven from the presidency because\\nhe had declared against infant baptism in a public\\nsermon (for which he was indicted by the grand jury\\nand convicted), and for refusing to have his own infant\\nchild baptized, for which he was second time indicted\\nand punished. A hundred years after this Tale College\\nexpelled students for choosing to worship with Separa-\\ntists. In contrast to this, note the language of the\\ncharter of the first Baptist college in this country: Into\\nthis liberal and catholic institution shall never be\\nadmitted any religious tests. But on the contrary all\\nthe members hereof shall enjoy free, absolute, and\\nuninterrupted liberty of conscience, and the places of\\nprofessors, tutors and all other officers, the President\\nalone excepted, shall be free and open for all denom-\\ninations of Protestants, and the youth of all religious\\ndenominations shall and may be admitted to the equal\\nadvantages, emoluments and honors of the college or\\nuniversity and the sectarian differences shall not\\nmake any part of the public and classical instruction.\\nThe early Baptist ministers of this country were sneered\\nat as illiterate ignoramuses, but they were shut out from\\nschools of higher learning by religious tests to which\\nthey could not subscribe, and it was only with great\\ndifficulty that they secured one of their own. In no\\ncolony except Rhode Island could Baptists at that time\\nhave secured a charter for a college or a school of any\\nkind.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0138.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 129\\nSecondly: Baptists were the first, and for centuries\\nthe only ones who grasped the idea of full religious\\nliberty that is, not mere toleration but actual liberty,\\nfor toleration is one thing and liberty is quite another.\\nThis distinction is not always clearly made and there-\\nfore much confusion on this point has resulted and\\nmany false claims have been made. Toleration is per-\\nmission but liberty is exercise of absolute right, which\\nasks no permission and refuses to receive any. Religious\\ntoleration says, I grant you the privilege of worship-\\ning as you may choose; but the very bestowment of\\na privilege implies the right to revoke that action and\\nwithdraw what has been bestowed, and liberty which is\\nheld only at the will of a master is no liberty at all.\\nReligious liberty says, Your choice of worship is no\\nmatter of mine; it is a thing which belongs to you by\\nnatural right; a privilege which I can neither give nor\\ntake away. Baptists would not be tolerated, would\\nnot accept as a privilege what they claimed as a natural\\nright, and just upon their making of this distinction\\nhangs all that religious freedom which is so precious to\\nus.\\nAnd again a distinction is to be made in that while\\nothers demanded liberty for themselves, Baptists de-\\nmanded it for all and w^ere willing to grant to others\\nalso what they desired for themselves. We have\\nalready seen how the Reformers urged their right to\\nthink for themselves when contending with the Papal\\npower, and argued nobly for immunity from persecu-\\ntion, and yet when they came into power, these very\\nsame men turned to persecute those who differed from", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0139.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "130 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthem. The Puritans and Pilgrims likewise exiled\\nthemselves from home and native land in order to find\\nfreedom to worship God, and yet they, having come\\npart way out of Papal corruptions and old world tyranny,\\nwere not willing to tolerate those who were minded to\\ncome all the way out. Baptists, on the other hand,\\nboth in theory and in practice, have granted to other\\nmen the right to hold and exercise whatever opinions\\nthey might choose, even though those opinions might\\nseen to them infidel and destructive, and have defended\\nthem in that liberty, allowing only reasoning and per-\\nsuasion as the weapons to be used against them.\\nThe claim of leadership in the struggle for religious\\nliberty has been made for almost every denomination,\\npartly, perhaps, from a confusion of ideas, partly from\\na desire to make the best showing possible for one s\\nown people. Episcopacy has made the claim, in spite\\nof Laud and Smithfield, and put forward the treatise\\non The Liberty of Prophesying by Jeremy Taylor in\\n1647 as being the pioneer in the discussion. It was\\nindeed a noble plea for a churchman in his times to\\nmake, but this was not the first by nearly the life time\\nof its author, for Pusher s treatise w r as published when\\nTaylor was only a year old, and a number of others had\\nalso preceeded it. Moreover, when examined carefully,\\nit comes far short of the positions taken in them; for\\nTaylor excepts from his toleration those who deny\\nfundamental articles, declares heresy against an article\\nof the creed 1 (i. e. an essential), to be a very grievous\\ncrime and worse than adultery or murder. He\\ndeclares that God hath made religion to grow up with", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0140.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 131\\nempire and lean upon the arm of kings and it cannot\\nwell go alone; and that the religion of the Anabap-\\ntists is as much to be rooted out as anything that is\\nthe greatest pest and nuisance to the public interest.\\nAt the best it is only a plea for toleration, not for full\\nliberty, and besides it was written when he himself was\\nunder condemnation by the dominant party; but when\\nhe came to power again he found his liberal views some-\\nwhat difficult of explanation in view of his practice and\\nthe fact that he deposed more than thirty Presbyterian\\npastors who refused to be episcopally ordained. The\\nscenes of many a martyrdom in the old country and of\\nNew York and Virginia in the new, refute this claim.\\nIt has been claimed for Congregationalism, and with\\nmore plausibility than for some others, but Obadiah\\nHolmes and Roger Williams and the multitude of\\nsuffering Baptists of Massachusetts refute this claim.\\nIt has been claimed for Presbyterianism; and indeed,\\nPresbyterian writings make large claim for Presbyter-\\nianism that it has always been the great bulwark of\\nliberty, and that to it the liberties of our own land are\\nmost largely due. As far as this country is concerned\\nit is true that Presbyterians have been found, for the\\nmost part, on the side of liberty; but it is not true that\\nthey were the first to teach these doctrines or that they\\nhave taught liberty in its broadest, truest sense. Their\\nhistory in England and Scotland and on the continent\\nquite refutes their claims. Appeal has been made to\\ntheir great documents, such as the Scotch League and\\nCovenant, as being milestones on the road to liberty;\\nbut this Covenant, which was adopted by the General", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0141.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "132 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nAssembly of Scotland, the Westminster Assembly and\\nboth houses of Parliament in 1643, was made, not for\\nthe securing of complete liberty to all men, but for the\\nunifying and strengthening and enforcement of Pres-\\nbyterianism. Under it no minister but a Presbyterian\\ncould preach, and it bound its signers that we shall in\\nlike manner without respect of persons, endeavor the\\nextirpation of Popery, Prelacy, superstition, heresie,\\nschisme, profaneness and whatever shall be found to be\\ncontrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness,\\nthemselves, of course, being the sole judges of what was\\ncontrary to sound doctrine, which is the vice of all\\nsuch efforts. Because such large claims have been made\\nfor them, let me quote somewhat at length from various\\nPresbyterian writings:\\nArticle XXIV of the first Scotch Confession, 1560:\\nMairover, to Kings, Princes, Rulers and Magistrates,\\nwee affirme that chieflie and most principallie the\\nconservation and purgation of the Religiouns apper-\\nteinis; so that not onlie they are appointed for civill\\npolicie bot also for maintenance of the trew Religioun,\\nand for suppressing of Idolatrie and Superstitioun what-\\nsoever, etc.\\nSecond Book of Discipline of the church of Scotland,\\n1578: It perteinis to the office of a Christian magistrat\\nto assist and manteine the discipline of the Kirk: and\\npunish them civilly, that will not obey the censure of\\nthe same, etc.\\nJohn Knox, History of the Reformation in Scotland,\\npp. 264-5. In such places I say, it is not only lawful\\nto punish to the death such as labor to subvert the true", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0142.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 133\\nreligion, but the magistrates and the people are bound\\nto do so unless they will provoke the wrath of God\\nagainst themselves.\\nRichard Baxter, Plain Scripture Proof of Infant\\nChurch Membership, and Baptism, 1 p. 246, London,\\n1650: My judgment in that much disputed point of\\nliberty of Religion I have always freely made known.\\nI abhor unlimited liberty and toleration of all and think\\nmyself easily able to prove the wickedness of it.\\nProfessor A. H. Newman says, From 1674 onward\\nthe Reformed (Calvinistic) church sought persistently\\nto destroy the Mennonites, but they enjoyed the pro-\\ntection of William the Silent and afterwards of Maurice\\nof Nassau. The Synod of Dort in 1574 decided to\\nexhort the government to tolerate no one who would\\nnot swear obedience to it, to compel the Mennonites to\\nhave their infants baptized, and in case of their refusal\\nto turn them over to the Reformed ministers to be dealt\\nwith Though their membership constituted as yet\\nonly a small fraction of the population, (one tenth\\naccording to some authorities), they sought to secure\\nrecognition as the established church of the land with\\npower to coerce dissent. (And in the published report\\nof a disputation), The preface concludes with an\\nimpassioned appeal to the authorities to withdraw all\\nprotection from the Anabaptists, whose principles are\\ndeclared to strike at the root of saving truth and of\\ncivil and religious order, and whose doctrine, founded\\nin lying hypocrisy, eats as doth a gangrene. 1 And\\nagain, The most determined efforts on the part of the\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Appendix to Vedder s Shor History of Baptists.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0143.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "134 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nOalvinists to crush out the Mennonites by the use of\\nthe civil power were continued almost without inter-\\nmission throughout the seventeenth century. If the\\nMennonites were not destroyed root and branch\\nit was due to no lack of zeal on the part of the Reformed\\nministers but rather to their powers of endurance and\\nthe restraining influence of the government.\\nBut, strangest of all, the leadership in the struggle\\nfor religious liberty has been claimed by the Roman\\nCatholics! That church at whose doors lie the crimes\\nof the Waldensian murders, of St. Bartholomew s day\\nand of the inquisition! That church which for ages\\nhas been drunk with the blood of the saints, and which\\nin our own land today is seeking to undermine our\\nliberties and destroy the bulwarks of our free institu-\\ntions! Archbishop Hughes wrote in 1852, The palm\\nof having been the first to practice it (i. e. religious\\nliberty), is due beyond all controversy to the Catholic\\ncolony of Maryland. But the Maryland act of Tolera-\\ntion was not passed until 1649, when Rhode Island was\\nalready established, and it provided that blasphemy or\\ndenial of the divinity of Christ or the doctrine of the\\nTrinity should be punished with death, and persons\\nusing any reproachful word or speeches concerning the\\nBlessed Virgin Mary or the Holy Apostles should be\\nfined, whipped or imprisoned and if obstinate, banished.\\nLater oppressive laws were also passed, as in 1663 when\\na fine of a ton of tobacco was decreed upon any who\\nshould refuse the baptism of their children.\\nPope Gregory XVI in his encyclical letter of 1832\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6History of Anti-Pedobaptism, pp. 318-20.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0144.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 135\\ndeclares the opinion that for every one whatever is to\\nbe claimed and defended the liberty of conscience\\nto be a most pestilent error, the ravings of delirium, 1\\nand that pest of all others most to be dreaded in a\\nstate, 1 and speaks of that worst and never enough to\\nbe execrated and detestable liberty of the press. 11 Pius\\nIX in his encyclical of 1864 utters similar sentiments.\\nHis language is very involved and verbose, but it clearly\\nmeans that it is impious and absurd to maintain that\\nthe civil government ought not to make it a part of its\\nduty to compel its subjects by penalties to observe the\\ntrue religion; and in his accompanying Syllabus of\\nErrors declares it a damnable error that the church\\nhas not the power of availing herself of force or any\\ndirect or indirect temporal power.\\nOne of the principal Roman Catholic organs has said,\\nReligious liberty, in the sense of liberty possessed by\\nevery man to choose his own religion, is one of the most\\nwicked delusions ever foisted upon this age by the\\nfather of all deceit. Shall I hold out hopes to my\\nerring Protestant brother that I will not meddle with\\nhis creed if he will not meddle with mine? Shall I\\ntempt him to forget that he has no more right to his\\nreligious views than he has to my house or my purse\\nor my life blood? No, Catholicism is the most intol-\\nerant of creeds. f With this last statement we shall\\nmost certainly agree.\\nBesides the broad promulgation of principles and the\\ninnumerable testimonies through their sufferings in so\\nmany places, there are some direct influences of Baptists\\n*The full text is given in Littel s Living- Age, 18th March, 1865.\\nfRelig. Lib. and Baptists, Dr. C. C. Bitting, p. 36.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0145.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "136 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nupon the struggle for religious liberty which we do well\\nto note. Amid the general intolerance of the sixteenth\\ncentury, Holland under William of Orange gives the\\nonly instance of broad-mindedness in religious matters.\\nIn 1572 the continent was ablaze with persecution and\\nthe soil of Holland was soaked with the blood of more\\nthan fifty thousand martyrs. Henry II of France and\\nPhilip II of Spain had compacted to make the Eoman\\nCatholic church completely triumphant by put-ting to\\ndeath every Protestant in the Netherlands and William\\nhad determined to arouse the Protestant population to\\nthrow off the Spanish yoke. He had spent his own\\nmoney, had sold his plate and mortgaged his estates to\\ncarry on the war against Spain and was nearly obliged\\nto give up the contest, when an apparently trivial\\ncircumstance gave him new courage. He was walking\\none day near his headquarters in discouragement and\\nanxiety when two strangers approached him and en-\\nquired for the Prince. Making himself known, he found\\nthat they were two Baptist preachers, John Friedericks\\nand Dick Jans Cortenbosch, who had come to offer\\ntheir services and enquire what they might do. They\\nexplained to him their principles and he told them\\nhis need, upon which they promised to solicit money\\nfor the cause among their friends and were heartily\\nthanked by the Prince. Many years of persecution\\nhad left to the Baptists very little of the world s goods,\\nyet by strenuous exertion and after one collector had\\nlost his life in the effort, they raised and sent in a\\nthousand florins. When nobles and wealthy men were\\nproving selfish and false this material help was of far", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0146.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 137\\nmore value than it might have seemed, and afterwards\\nwhen rebuking the authorities at Middleburg for at-\\ntempted oppression, the Prince praises the Baptists who\\nhad brought their contributions at the peril of their\\nlives, and commands that they be let alone. The\\nMennonites who were a branch of the Anabaptists,\\ncontributed liberally to the materials of war although it\\nwas against their principles to fight, and often furnished\\nsubstitutes.\\nIn England under Cromwell the Baptists came grandly\\nto the front to strike for liberty, and they loyally sup-\\nported him until it was evident that he was going wrong\\nand usurping powers that would only end in irrespon-\\nsible rule again. Some of his most trusted officers and\\ncounselors like General Harrison and Colonel Hutch-\\nison were Baptists, and so were very many of the\\ncommon soldiers of his army.\\nThe American Encyclopedia, Article, Baptists, says\\nIn England, from the time of Henry VIII to William\\nIII, a full century and a half, the Baptists struggled to\\ngain their footing and to secure liberty of conscience to\\nall. From 1611 they issued appeal after appeal,\\naddressed to the king, the parliament and the people,\\nin behalf of soul liberty, written with a breadth of view\\nand force of argument hardly since exceeded. Yet until\\nthe Quakers arose in 1660, the Baptists stood alone in\\nits defense amid universal opposition. In the time of\\nCromwell they first gained a fair hearing, and under\\nthe lead of Milton and Vane would have changed the\\nwhole system of church and state but for the treason of\\nMonk. In the time of Charles II the prisons were", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0147.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "138 THE BAPTIST IN HISTOBY.\\nfilled with their confessors and martyrs, yet their\\nprinciples gradually gained ground in the public mind\\nand prepared the way for the revolution of 1688. The\\nshare which the Baptists took says Dr. Williams, in\\nshoring up the fallen liberties of England, and in\\ninfusing new vigor and liberality into the constitution\\nof that country is not generally known. Yet to this\\nbody English liberty owes a debt it can never acknow-\\nledge. Among the Baptists christian freedom found\\nits earliest, its stanchest, its most consistent and its\\nmost disinterested champions.\\nBut as the most marked development of Baptist\\nstrength has been here in America, so here also has\\nbeen their most marked influence on the civil govern-\\nment. This influence began with Roger Williams and\\nthat discussion of principles which led to his exile and\\nthe founding of Rhode Island Colony upon principles\\nof absolute soul liberty. This small territory was\\nsettled under circumstances new and peculiar, and here\\nwere planted principles as to religious freedom, which\\nat the time, in the fullest and most literal sense of the\\nstatement, all the world opposed as visionary in theory,\\ndangerous, disorganizing and impractible. The system\\nadopted by the founder of this state, on the principles\\nof an unlimited toleration of all the varying creeds of\\ntheology, and of the unfettered and unobstructed exer-\\ncise of all the rites and forms of religion which erring\\nand imperfect mortals might choose to adopt, was\\ntreated with ridicule and contempt, with banter and\\nabuse, not only by a pampered priesthood and lordly\\nprelates, but also by the very men who had long been", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0150.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 139\\nthe victims of ecclesiastical oppression, and who. by the\\nintolerant laws of the old country, had been driven to\\nseek an asylum in these then Western wilds.* But the\\ninfluence of this little government has been tremendous.\\nJudge Story says, In the code of laws established by\\nthem, we read for the first time since Christianity\\nascended the throne of the Caesars the declaration that\\nconscience should be free, and that men should not be\\npunished for worshipping God in the way they were\\npersuaded he requires. Senator Anthony said, in a\\nspeech delivered upon the occasion of the unveiling of\\nthe monument to Roger Williams in the National Cap-\\nitol, January 9th, 1872, Religious freedom, which now\\nby general consent underlies the foundation principle\\nof ^civilized government, was at that time looked upon\\nas a wilder theory than any proposition, moral, political,\\nor religious, that has since engaged the serious attention\\nof mankind. It was regarded as impracticable, disor-\\nganizing, impious, and if not utterly subversive of\\nsocial order, it was not so only because its manifest\\nabsurdity would prevent any serious effort to enforce\\nit. And yet Gervinus the German philosophical\\nwriter says of Roger Williams in the introduction to\\nhis history of the civilization of the nineteenth century,\\nHe formed in Rhode Island a small and new society\\nin which perfect freedom in matters of faith was allow r ed\\nand in which the majority ruled in all civil affairs.\\nHere in a little state the fundamental principles of\\npolitical and ecclesiastical liberty practically prevailed\\nbefore they were even taught in any of the schools of\\n*Benedict, Hist. Bap., p. 423.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0151.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "140 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nphilosophy in Europe But not only have these\\nideas and these forms of government maintained them-\\nselves here, but precisely from this little state have they\\nextended themselves throughout the United States.\\nThey have conquered the aristocratic tendencies in\\nCarolina and New York, the high church in Virginia,\\nthe theocracy in Massachusetts and the monarchy in\\nall America. They have given laws to a continent and,\\nformidable through their moral influence they lie at the\\nbottom of all the democratic movements which are now\\nshaking the nations of Europe.\\nPerhaps the direct influence of Baptists upon the\\nspirit and form of the American government can best\\nbe understood by considering several different particu-\\nlars, such as their organized effort in Massachusetts and\\nVirginia to secure liberty by law, their share in the\\nRevolution, their influence through Jefferson and\\nMadison, and their influence in the adoption of the\\nConstitution of the United States and in securing the\\nFirst Amendment.\\nI. The Baptists in New England had suffered much\\nfrom the tyrannical oppressions of the Standing Order 11\\nas it was called, or in other words the Congregational\\nchurch, which was established and upheld by law. A\\nvery brief perusal of the history of that time is sufficient\\nto show how determined the authorities were that their\\nown doctrines and practices should be preserved intact,\\nas if they were entirely without error, and every\\nother doctrine or opinion absolutely prohibited. Such\\nindeed, was their intolerance that they were more\\nthan once rebuked by the king and even by their", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0152.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 141\\nCongregational brethren of intolerant England. A\\nsketch of the laws passed for a hundred years from\\n1631 shows this determination very clearly. In that\\nyear citizenship was refused to all but members of the\\nchurches; then one uniform (Congregational) order for\\nthe churches was established and any other kind of a\\nchurch forbidden; then excommunicated members were\\nfined for not seeking to get back into the church and\\nthreatened with imprisonment and banishment while\\nevery one was compelled to voluntarily contribute\\nfor upholding the ordinances on pain of being sold\\nout by the constable. Banishment was decreed for\\nopposition to infant baptism or. if one should purposely\\ndepart the congregation at the administration of this\\nordinance. 11 If any staid away from church they were\\nto pay five shillings fine. If one renounced his member-\\nship in the Standing Order (by turning Baptist for\\ninstance), he was fined forty shillings a month until he\\ncame back. If he scoffed at the gospel or at the minister\\nhe was to be pilloried. Quakers were to be whipped and\\nimprisoned immediately upon their arrival in the colony\\nand banished; if they came back, one ear was to be cut\\noff; upon the second return the other ear was to be cut off;\\nthe third time their tongue was to be bored through with\\na red hot iron and the fourth time they were to suffer\\ndeath. These laws against the Quakers however, were\\nnot long in force. No one could build a church without\\nlicense from the (Congregational) court and every one\\nmust pay tax for the support of the regular minister. No\\none could preach within the parish of a regular minister\\nwithout his consent, and of course he would consent to", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0153.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "142 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nnone but his own kind. In 1728 a law was passed (to\\nbe in force only five years) ostensibly to relieve Baptists\\nfrom taxation for the support of other ministers and\\nthis was followed by others; but they required them\\nto acknowledge themselves as #;z#-baptists, r^-bap-\\ntizers, which was an intentional slur, they were hedged\\nabout with requirements of registration, certificates and\\nso forth, and so defective that they could not be enforced,\\nso that they were an added source of aggravation and\\nexpense instead of being a relief. Finally the Baptists\\ndetermined to make a firm and united stand against all\\nthis and secure their liberties and their rights, and after\\ndue consultation a systematic and determined effort was\\nbegun for the repeal of unjust laws and the securing to\\nall full liberty of conscience. At a meeting of the\\nWarren Association in 1769, (which then practically\\nincluded all New England Baptists), a committee was\\nappointed to secure full information of particular cases\\nof injustice, formulate petitions and present them to the\\nauthorities, prepare appeals to the people, and in every\\nway agitate for religious liberty. This committee on\\ngrievances was continued for thirty-six years. The\\nnext year Bev. John Davis was appointed the official\\nagent of the churches for this purpose and upon\\nhis death two years later Bev. Isaac Backus was\\nappointed in his stead and held the position for fifteen\\nyears, and in fact was a leader until his death in 1806.\\nHere then, was a Baptist organization with a paid agent\\nthe sole purpose and effort of which was to break the\\nyoke of religious oppression and secure equal rights of\\nconscience for all. That their cause was just would", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0154.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 143\\nabundantly appear if we had time for the relation of\\ntheir losses of money and property, homesteads and\\neven church and burial place, by reason of the unjust\\ntaxation, to say nothing of endless aggravation and\\npersonal suffering and loss in imprisonments and fruit-\\nless processes of law.\\nFor a long time their efforts were laughed at and\\nthemselves ignored. As Dr. Hovey says, Their prin-\\nciples were carricatured, their purposes maligned, their\\nintegrity questioned, their petitions slighted and their\\nhopes deferred but finally they gained a hearing and\\nthe justice of their case was seen. The Great Awakening\\nin 1741 and succeeding years added many to their\\nnumbers and increased their influence; for the Separates\\nand New Lights, as they were called, were Baptists in\\nprinciple and in large numbers became such in name,\\nsometimes a whole church with its pastor avowing\\nthemselves as Baptists and being received as such.\\nThey could no longer be ignored nor their rights denied,\\nand these rights were at length granted, although it was\\nnot until 1833 that the establishment was finally broken\\nand the last law against full religious liberty swept from\\nthe statute books of Massachusetts.\\nII. A like systematic attempt was made also in\\nVirginia, where Baptists were even more bitterly\\npersecuted than in Massachusetts and where the conflict\\nwas more fierce and the victory more quickly won. The\\ncharter of Virginia made Episcopacy the exclusive\\nreligion of the state, and under this charter many\\noppressive laws were passed at different times. The\\n*Lifeand Times of Isaac Backus, p. 157,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0155.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "144 THE BAPTIST IN HISTOKY.\\nlaw of 1611 already noticed required every one to go to\\nan Episcopal minister and give an account of himself,\\nand for the first refusal he was to be whipped, for the\\nsecond to be whipped twice and to make public confes-\\nsion, and for the third to be whipped every day until he\\nwould go. Episcopal ministers were supported and\\nfarms were bought for them by taxes laid upon every\\none. Fifty pounds of tobacco was the fine for staying\\naway from Episcopal church service, and two thousand\\npounds for refusing to have a child sprinkled. Mar-\\nriages and funerals could only be conducted by Episco-\\npal ministers. Every one but an Episcopal minister\\nwas forbidden to preach,, but the Baptists did preach,\\nin private houses, in farm yards, in forests and even\\nfrom jail windows, and thousands were converted. It\\nseems to have been the need of concerted action against\\nthese oppressions which first brought about a state\\norganization of the Baptists called the General Associ-\\nation, and this body went immediately to work. Their\\nfirst victory was in 1775, when they secured the\\nadmission of Baptist chaplains to the army. This was\\na great step, for it implied their recognition as a\\ndenomination. One movement followed another in\\nwhich they were ably supported by Thomas Jefferson\\nand James Madison and Patrick Henry, whose political\\nprominence made them invaluable allies, until in 1779\\nthe laws authorizing taxation for the support of the\\nclergy were abolished, religious freedom was established,\\nand the establishment entirely done away. A proposi-\\ntion was afterwards made to tax all alike for the support\\nof religion but allowing each one to designate his money", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0156.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 145\\nto whichever church he chose. Episcopalians, Metho-\\ndists, and some Presbyterians petitioned for the passage\\nof this measure, but the influence against it was too\\nstrong and it was dropped. The work was finally\\nfinished in 1802, when the parish farms, paid for by\\ntaxation, were ordered to be sold and the money applied\\nto public uses. We may probably accept the testimony\\nof (Episcopal) Bishop Hawkes when he says, The\\nBaptists were the principle promoters of this work, and\\nin truth, aided more than any other denomination in its\\naccomplishment; and the testimony of Bishop Meade,\\nwhen he says of what he calls the Baptist church in\\nVirginia that it took the lead in dissent and was the\\nchief object of persecution by the magistrates, and the\\nmost violent and persevering afterwards in seeking the\\ndownfall of the establishment; and again when he\\nwails thus: The warfare begun by the Baptists seven\\nand twenty years before was now finished. The Church\\nwas in ruins and the triumph of her enemies was\\ncomplete. 1 For says Dr. Carry: In this grand struggle,\\nwhile individuals of all parties joined in the opposition,\\nthe Baptists as a denomination stood alone, except so\\nfar as they were aided by the few Quakers.\\nIII. But these movements in Virginia and Massa-\\nchusetts were only part of a more general struggle for\\nreligious liberty for the whole Union. When the first\\nContinental Congress assembled the Baptists were there\\nand well represented by a strong committee headed by\\nsuch men as Isaac Backus, President Manning, Hezekiah\\nSmith and Morgan Edwards, who came with strong\\narguments in support of their demand for justice. This", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0157.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "146 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\naction bore large fruit though not immediately, but\\nthey were grossly misrepresented for it as disloyal to\\nthe cause of the colonies against the mother country,\\nand as if they had presented claims and threatened to\\nprevent the union of the colonies if their claims were\\nnot allowed. But no people more heartily and loyally\\nsupported the revolutionary movement than the Bap-\\ntists, and from the whole history of the war there is not\\nleft to us the name of so .much as one Baptist Tory.\\nJudge Ourwen, who was a Loyalist and in his Journal\\nand Letters gives much valuable information concern-\\ning Loyalist exiles, gives the names of nine hundred\\nand twenty-six persons of note who sympathized with\\nthe British and a still larger list of those who as Tories\\nwere exiled by colonial law, but there is not one known\\nBaptist among them. Three hundred were prohibited\\nfrom coming back into Massachusetts. Of the twenty-\\none chaplains in the revolutionary army whose names\\nare known six were Baptists, which is much more than\\ntheir proportion. Bhode Island was about two-thirds\\nBaptist and Rhode Island furnished a larger number of\\nsoldiers proportionately than any other colony and a like\\nthing was true of Virginia and other and smaller districts\\nwhere Baptists were numerous. The loyalty of Baptists\\nto the revolution was so well known to the British that\\nthey were special objects of vengeance, and a far larger\\nproportion of their churches were destroyed in the war\\nthan of any other denomination. Washington also\\nwrote to the General Committee of Virginia Baptists in\\nreply to an address upon the new Federal Constitution,\\nWhile I recollect with satisfaction that the religious", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0158.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 147\\nsociety of which you are members have been throughout\\nAmerica uniformly and almost unanimously the firm\\nfriends of civil liberty and the persevering promoters\\nof our glorious Revolution. I cannot hesitate to believe\\nthat they will be the faithful supporters of a free yet\\nefficient general government.\\nWhen the Constitution of the United States had been\\nadopted by the convention gathered to frame it, it was\\nsubmitted to the various states to be ratified. Immed-\\niately the Baptists gathered to consider whether it\\nsufficiently secured their religious liberties, and con-\\ncluded that it did not. The only provision it made as\\nto religion was that No religious test shall ever be\\nrequired as a qualification to any office or public trust\\nunder the United States. Nevertheless they advised\\nits adoption, as they were not willing to imperil the\\ngovernment by its defeat. The favorable action of nine\\nstates was necessary for its adoption and its fate seemed\\nto hang upon the vote of Virginia. It was the action\\nof Rev. John Leland, famous in Baptist annals, which\\nturned the scale for its adoption in Virginia.. He was\\nnominated as the anti-federalist candidate to the con-\\nvention which was to decide the issue for the state, Mr.\\nMadison being the opposing federalist candidate. His\\npopularity was so great that his election was deemed\\nsure notwithstanding the eminence of his opponent.\\nAccording to the custom of those days, the citizens\\nassembled to hear the opposing candidates set forth\\ntheir views and argue their case one after the other.\\nMr. Madison spoke first and Mr. Leland listened with\\ncareful attention, and after his conclusion, ascended the", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0159.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "148 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nplatform and, instead of opposing him, declared him-\\nself convinced by the arguments of Mr. Madison that\\nthey ought to vote for the new constitution, and with-\\ndrew his candidacy. This action of Mr. Leland secured\\nMr. Madison s return to the convention, when his\\nopposition would surely have prevented it. As it was\\nMadison s influence in the convention that carried the\\nnew constitution through it, and as without Virginia\\nthe nine states necessary for its adoption could not have\\nbeen secured, a Virginia statesman, in his eulogy on\\nJames Madison, publicly declared that the credit of\\nthe adoption of the Constitution of the United States\\nbelonged to a Baptist clergyman, formerly of Virginia,\\nby the name of Leland.\\nBut the Virginia Baptists immediately began an\\nagitation to make freedom in religious matters more\\nsecure, and by the advice of Madison they addressed\\nWashington upon the subject, and received from him\\nstrong assurance of his sympathy with them in the\\nmatter of securing religious freedom. It was through\\ntheir efforts that, a month after this, the famous First\\nAmendment to the Constitution was proposed under\\nthe leadership of Madison and Jefferson, and though\\nearnestly opposed in Congress was finally passed and\\nratified by the states; and thus came into the Constitu-\\ntion those words so often quoted, Congress shall make\\nno law respecting an establishment of religion or\\nprohibiting the free exercise thereof. As Dr. Gambrell\\nsaid at the Young People s Convention in Baltimore,\\nIf there had been no Baptists there would have been\\n*See Bap. Quar. Review, 1871, p. 250.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0160.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 149\\nno First Amendment to the Constitution. 1 This did\\nnot, of course, do away with the existing establishments\\nof churches in the various states nor forbid oppressive\\nstate laws, but it threw the influence of the national\\ngovernment against them, and since 1787 no attempt\\nhas been made towards the establishment of a church\\nin any state.\\nV. Another influence often mentioned and some-\\ntimes disputed is that which came through a Baptist\\nchurch upon Mr. Jefferson in furnishing him with ideas\\nof government which he afterwards embodied in the\\nDeclaration of Independence and the Constitution of\\nthe United States. At the basis of every great move-\\nment and at the turning point in every crisis stands a\\nman, and in the mind of that man there is a thought.\\nHe may or may not be conscious of the origin of that\\nthought. It may have come to him at the suggestion of\\nsome other, himself obscure, but in his mind it takes root\\nand through him becomes the power to move a nation.\\nSo the world may or may not know the real origin of\\nits best things. In this way, through Thomas Jefferson,\\nis the Baptist principle in church government said to\\nhave given shape to this government. And indeed, in\\nthose familiar words, We hold these truths to be self\\nevident that all men are created equal; that they are\\nendowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;\\nthat among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of\\nhappiness, we seem to hear the far away voice of the\\nearly Anabaptists; and in the words that to secure these\\nrights governments are instituted among men deriving\\ntheir just powers from the consent of the governed, to", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0161.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "150 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nsee only the broader gleam of that principle long before\\nestablished by Roger Williams and practically exhibited\\nin every Baptist church. There was a Baptist church\\nnot far from Mr. Jefferson s home in Monticello whose\\nmeetings for business he sometimes attended, (Curtis\\nsays, for months in succession), and with whose pastor\\nhe was well acquainted. It is said that this pastor, Rev.\\nAndrew Tribble, once asked him how he liked their\\nchurch government and that he replied that it struck\\nhim with great force and interested him much; that he\\nconsidered it the only form of true democracy then\\nexisting in the world, and that he had concluded that\\nit would be the best plan of government for the\\nAmerican colonies. This was several years before the\\nDeclaration of Independence.\\nI see no reason to doubt the truth of this statement,\\nand indeed, if we must doubt it then we are uncertain\\nof very much that is taken for history, for it is better\\nattested than many things that are received. Mr.\\nTribble made this statement himself to Dr. Fishback\\nand by him it was written down. Mr. Curtis in his\\nProgress of Baptist principles states that a gentle-\\nman of the highest respectability and well known in\\nNorth Carolina 1 told him personally that his attention\\nhad been called to the subject and he, knowing that the\\nvenerable Mrs. Madison had some recollections on the\\nsubject, asked her in regard to them. She expressed a\\ndistinct recollection of Mr. Jefferson speaking on the\\nsubject, and always declaring that it was a Baptist\\nchurch from which these views were gathered. It is\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Page 357,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0162.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 151\\ncertainly true that both Jefferson and Madison and\\ntheir families were well acquainted with the struggles\\nof the Baptists .and deeply interested in them, and it is\\nnot possible that they, being the men they were and\\nworking with them so long for the same ends in Virginia,\\nshould not have known and thoroughly understood the\\nprinciples which they advocated and upon which their\\nchurches were conducted. Jefferson s mother was an\\nEpiscopalian but her sister, his favorite Aunt, was a\\nBaptist, as was also a brother of Madison. Jefferson\\nalso writes To the members of the Baptist Church of\\nBuck Mountain, calling them his friends and neighbors\\nand thanking them for congratulations, We have acted\\ntogether from the origin to the end of a memorable\\nrevolution and we have contributed, each in the line\\nallotted to us, our endeavors to render its issues a per-\\nmanent blessing to oar country. He understood their\\naims and worked with them for their accomplishment.\\nMrs. Madison was a remarkable woman, was intimately\\nacquainted with Mr. Jefferson and certainly had ample\\nopportunity to know his views and their origin, and her\\ntestimony should be decisive. To be sure he was not\\nignorant of the history of other republics, and to be\\nsure he could not be conscious of the ultimate source\\nof all his thoughts; but certainly we ought to receive\\nhis own statement, repeatedly made, as to the origin of\\nhis ideas of government and Mrs. Madison testifies that\\nhe always declared that it was from a Baptist church\\nthat he derived them. There seems no room to doubt\\ntherefore, that it was the practical working of Baptist\\nprinciples in a Baptist church that, through Mr. Jeffer-", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0163.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "152 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nson, largely gave form and spirit to the government of\\nthis Union, and that it was the working out of Baptist\\nprinciples in a Baptist government, influencing the\\nnation in an ever widening circle, that worked mightily\\nto the same end.\\nAnd again, the Baptists are the leaders in the struggle\\nwhich is now going on for the extension of this principle\\nof religious liberty throughout the world. They were\\nthe original agitators for the separation of church and\\nstate in England, and are still leaders although others\\nhave adopted their principles and are working side by\\nside with them; and although bitterly opposed by\\ninterested Lords and clergy, we can clearly see that\\ndisestablishment in England is bound to come at no\\ndistant day.\\nThrough the struggles of Baptist missionaries the\\nentering wedge has been inserted in Sweden and\\nNorway and Denmark and is being driven home. The\\nstruggle begun again in Germany with Dr. Oncken is\\nbeing bravely carried on by our brethren of today. In\\nMexico Baptists and Presbyterians are teaching prin-\\nciples of liberty and the nobility of regenerated man to\\nthose who have known only the superstition and\\ndespotism of a vile and tyrannical church. And in our\\nown land the more than four millions of Baptists are\\nlifting up their voice in the demand that the last vestige\\nof the unholy alliance shall be swept away and all forms\\nof state aid to any church be forbidden. The contest\\nover government appropriations for Indian schools is\\nstill fresh in our minds, and we remember with pleasure\\nthat it was General Thomas J. Morgan, a Baptist min-", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0164.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 153\\nister and teacher and now Secretary of our Home\\nMission Society, who, when Indian Commissioner of\\nthe United States, gave the death blow to the system by\\nwhich millions of dollars have been given by the gov-\\nernment for the teaching of Roman Catholicism and\\nthe making disciples to this and other forms of religion.\\nCongregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episco-\\npalians, Friends, Mennonites, Unitarians and Lutherans\\nwere all receiving government aid for their denomina-\\ntional schools, while the Roman Catholics were receiving\\nfar more than all the rest together and the Baptists\\nalone consistently supported their own schools, never\\nasking or receiving aid from the government. To the\\nhonor of these other denominations be it said that as\\nthe agitation of the question brought out the inconsis-\\ntency and wrong of their position, one after another\\nvoluntarily relinquished such aid, first the Methodists,\\nthen the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and then\\nthe rest, until now the Roman Catholics stand alone\\nin opposition to all others in the matter. As the years\\ngo by and the final outcome of the matter is more fully\\nseen, the importance of this action will be more apparent\\nand the influence of Dr. Morgan in it more fully\\nappreciated.\\nThus the struggle goes on, and thus through the\\ncenturies victory follows victory, and thus it will go on\\nuntil the principle of man s right to his own conscience\\nis established, not only in this country but throughout\\nthe world, and the anomalous spectacle of a church\\nclaiming to be the church of Christ upheld, patronized\\nand forced upon unwilling souls by the power of a", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0165.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "154 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nworldly government, will be a thing of the past. When\\nthat time comes and the influence of what has been\\ngained has gone round the world; when the work has\\nbeen accomplished and the sum of human liberty is\\ncomplete, then it will be seen that Baptists from the\\nbeginning have held the right principle, that their\\nstruggles and their sufferings have been a priceless gift\\nto the world, and that they have been the strongest\\nsingle force which has contributed to the grand result.\\nLet me now close with an extract from Dr. Bitting:\\nHere and now, except Romanists, all christians and\\nthe unconnected masses defend the doctrine of religious\\nliberty. Just here it is that, on review, Baptists claim\\ntheir noblest moral victory in the contest. Not only in\\ncodes but in hearts have they lodged those sublime\\nprinciples for which their blood was profusely shed in\\nthe past; for which they once and long stood up alone,\\nand by which any man of any faith may find immunity\\nfrom the fierceness and relentlessness of religious hate,\\npersecution and vengeance. Baptists do not cite the\\nfacts in any mere love of boasting or with any wish to\\nwound, but simply to defend their history; to repel the\\nmis-statements of malice or ignorance; to remind them-\\nselves and their children of the cost of our heritage of\\nfreedom and to warn them to preserve it from the\\nbigotry which would proscribe any man s religious\\nprivileges.\\nWith a great sum did Baptists buy that liberty\\nwherein we were born free. Let no Baptist stain or\\ndisgrace it with either infidelity or intolerance.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0166.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0167.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and\\nsee, and ask for the old paths, where is the good-\\nway, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for\\nyour souls\\nThat which was from the beginning, that which\\nwe have heard, that which we have seen with our\\neyes, that which we beheld, and our hands han-\\ndled, concerning the Word of life that which\\nwe have seen and heard declare we unto you also,\\nthat ye also may have fellow ship with us: yea and\\nour fellowship is uith the Father, and with his Son\\nJesus Christ: and these things we write that our\\njoy may be fulfilled.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0168.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "BAPTIST INFLUENCE ON THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF\\nOTHER RELIGIOUS BODIES.\\nLooking back beyond the beginning of the present\\ncentury, or perhaps to the middle of the last century,\\nwe can see that a very great change has taken place in\\nthe beliefs and practices of religion. At that time were\\nfound everywhere state churches; religion enforced by\\nlaw; churches only formal and religion only a matter\\nof ceremonies; the mass of the people unreached; spir-\\nituality dead or too feeble to utter any effective protest;\\nvital piety preserved only in a few proscribed sects;\\nevangelical and missionary enterprise unknown; infant\\nbaptism almost universal and church membership only\\nby infant baptism and subsequent confirmation; the\\ngreat body of the church membership unconverted and\\na considerable part of it actually licentious, drunken and\\nvile and sometimes even atheistic; the ministry no better\\nthan the people; sacred things commonly ministered\\nby men destitute of spiritual knowledge and often\\nimmoral and profligate; sermons and religious teaching\\nonly dogmatic or philosophic essays, giving stones", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0169.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "158 THE BAPTIST IN HISTOKY.\\ninstead of bread and serpents instead of fish; the minis-\\ntry not a ministry but a priesthood, for which education\\nwithout spiritual qualifications was considered sufficient\\npreparation. But now we find everywhere in what we\\ncall the evangelical denominations a genuine, spiritual\\nChristianity, and much of it even in those churches\\nwhich have been state churches; conversion is a requi-\\nsite to church membership generally, even though\\nconversion be loosely defined; missionary enterprise is\\neverywhere exhibited; the Bible is honored more than\\nat any other period of history; churches are active in\\nevery social and moral reform; irreligious life in church\\nmembers is a matter of popular remark and general\\ncondemnation; revivals are frequent and sought for;\\nministers for the most part are spiritual men and an\\nunconverted ministry is condemned; immorality in the\\nministry is sufficient ground for deposition from office;\\nand the preaching of the pulpit is for the most part\\ngospel and efficient. Truly the change has been great.\\nAgain as we look at the state churches, the Lutheran,\\nthe Episcopal, the Presbyterian and the Boman Cath-\\nolic, we see a great change even in them and especially\\nin this country. The Presbyterian church has dropped\\nits character as a state church altogether and become\\nopenly evangelical. The Episcopal has taken on a\\ncharacter of religious zeal and activity altogether foreign\\nto it in earlier days. The dead formalism of England\\nhas been improved in America into something very like\\nto spiritual life. The Lutheran church is quite changed\\nas to its influence and teaching and from some at least\\nof its pulpits the saving truths of the gospel are declared", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0170.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 159\\nwith clearness and power. In many Lutheran churches\\nprayer meetings are held and Sunday Schools conducted,\\nwhich is a thing unknown in the old country; Sunday\\nSchools there being only to prepare for confirmation.\\nTheir churches are for the most part thronged and their\\nministers of a character to command respect. In\\ncontrast to this, note the statements of a recent lecturer,\\nfor more than four years a student in German univer-\\nsities, concerning the churches in Germany. The\\nProtestant churches, he says, are mammoth organiza-\\ntions having a membership ranging all the way up to\\nseventy-five thousand in a church, but the great\\nmajority pay little or no attention to church services.\\nSeven years ago there were six hundred and sixty-six\\nthousand members of state Protestant churches in\\nBerlin and only fifty thousand seats in all the Protes-\\ntant churches of the city. At morning preaching\\nservices on Sunday in a church having forty thousand\\nmembers, he counted only eighteen present, and at\\nanother with twelve thousand members, a hundred\\nand fifty present. There are in all Germany with\\nfifty-three millions of population, only thirty thousand,\\ntwo hundred and fifty preachers, Protestant and Cath-\\nolic, while in America among the four millions of our\\nfaith and practice alone there are about thirty-three\\nthousand ordained preachers.\\nThe changes in the Roman Catholic Church are not\\nas marked, for it is the boast of Rome that she never\\nchanges. Yet evangelical influences have greatly\\nmodified even Rome, and there is noticeable a better\\nintelligence and a naore independent spirit among the", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0171.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "160 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\npeople and a less arrogant attitude of the priests to-\\nwards the people, especially in this country. The occa-\\nsional uprisings of a parish against the church\\nauthorities which are reported in the newspapers when\\nsome unwelcome priest is forced upon them or some\\nfavorite, but too liberal, priest is taken from them, are\\nvery significant of a growing spirit of freedom and a\\nrestlessness under domination, -even among the Roman\\nCatholics.\\nIn another respect also tKere has been a great change.\\nAt the middle of the last century not only was there an\\nestablished church upheld by persecuting laws in all\\nthe countries of Europe, but also in every one of the\\nAmerican colonies except Rhode Island and Pennsyl-\\nvania. The Papacy ruled in France and other parts of\\nEurope and Protestants were few and feeble. Luther-\\nanism ruled in Germany and had driven the Baptists\\nout. Episcopacy collected its money tax in England\\nand its tobacco tax in Virginia, and while Presbyteri-\\nanism was established by law in Scotland, Congrega-\\ntionalism sustained itself by taxes and fines in New\\nEngland. While here and there individuals were for\\nfreedom in religion, not a single religious body save\\nthe Baptists and Quakers had lifted up their voice for\\nit, but all in turn had claimed, and as far as possible\\nhad exercised, the right to define and promote religion\\nby law and to pursue and punish those who disputed\\ntheir definition. Now it is different. In no part of\\nthese United States is there a church upheld by law to\\nthe exclusion of others, nor is there to be found more\\nthan two bodies (Catholics and Mormons) who would", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0172.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 161\\neither favor or permit it. Court after court has decided\\nthat it knows nothing of any church save as a body of\\npeople claiming protection in their natural rights, and\\nthat before its bar every church has the same privileges\\nand may claim the same protection. In France, Catholic\\nFrance, Protestant missions are conducted openly and\\nwith safety. In Italy Baptist and Methodist preachers\\nlift up their voices within sound of the Vatican and the\\nPope growls harmlessly. In most of Germany and in\\nDenmark, Norway and Sweden, Baptists may live and\\nwork without molestation save as it may arise from the\\njealousy of the priests and the prejudices of the people.\\nIn Scotland the Free Kirk stands side by side with the\\nEstablished Kirk, equal to it in numbers and influence,\\nand disputes its authority. In Ireland the Establish-\\nment has disappeared. In England full half the people\\nare dissenters, and the Establishment is upheld only\\nby the selfish interest of the House of Lords and the\\npower of a conservatism which bows low before prece-\\ndent and venerates antiquity; and in Wales the main\\nhindrance to its overthrow is the certainty on the part\\nof its supporters that if it were lost in Wales it could\\nnot be saved in England. Truly these changes have\\nbeen great.\\nWhat has produced them? Several things. Un-\\nscriptural religion and unchristian Christianity has\\ndemonstrated its own impotence even as did ancient\\nheathenism. The natural humanity of man has revolted\\nfrom the scenes of cruelty and suffering it has witnessed\\nand has lost faith in a principle which could produce\\nsuch scenes, and so there has been a revulsion in favor", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0173.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "162 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nof liberty. Better bible facilities have made the people\\nbetter acquainted with the word of God wherein they\\nread of the loving spirit of Jesus, of the liberty where-\\nwith he makes men free, and of a church of spiritual\\nmembership, baptized upon profession of personal faith\\nand regeneration. The personal work of the Spirit of\\nGod has brought great revivals among men, leading\\nthem to a truer knowledge of real religion and a better\\nspirit in religious things, a more spiritual life and a\\ncloser obedience to Christ s will. But while the law of\\nthe race under a gospel dispensation is progress and\\nmany things work together for the same end, it is\\nalways true that there are leaders in this progress, some\\nwhose privilege it is to be specially marked as instru-\\nments of good in producing such great changes. And\\nas to these changes, we can but notice that they have\\nbeen just along the line of Baptist teaching and are, in\\nfact, but a fuller acceptance of those truths which have\\nbeen our principles from the beginning; and therein\\ndo we rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. We remember\\nthat in the beginning Baptists were the only agitators\\nof these questions and that they have been the most\\npersistent agitators of them all the way through. We\\nremember the great amount of their writings and dis-\\nputations upon these subjects, their confessions pub-\\nlished to the world or given before magistrates and\\ntribunals, their testimonies given under torture and\\ntheir sublime deaths, which have called attention to\\ntheir principles. We remember the very large infusion\\nof Baptist blood into other churches, at least in this\\ncountry; the thousands upon thousands converted", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0174.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 163\\nunder Baptist influences and for various reasons uniting\\nwith other churches, and the multitude of Baptist\\ndaughters who have married Pedobaptist sons and\\ngone with them into Pedobaptist churches, and the\\nother thousands who have accepted Baptist principles\\nand yet remain in other churches, all these to be a\\nleaven and an influence of no small importance. We\\nremember all these things, I say, and think it not too\\nmuch to claim that these changes have been very large-\\nly due to Baptist influence. They have been made in\\nresponse to a call back to the true spirituality and sim-\\nplicity of the New Testament, and in just so much as\\nthey have been a return to a true gospel may every one\\nof us be grateful and glad.\\nBut before discussing these more modern influences\\nlet us go back for a little while to the times of the\\nReformation. The name of Martin Luther has been\\nvastly praised and lauded, and multitudes bowing down\\nbefore his utterances have worshiped him as other\\nmultitudes have worshiped John Calvin and John\\nWesley, and the impression often made upon the young\\nstudent is that the great Reformation was almost\\nentirely his work, just as it is often called Luther s\\nReformation. But nothing could be more of a mistake\\nthan that. One man cannot make a reformation, and\\nhad he not had many predecessors and many helpers,\\nLuther himself would never have been heard of. We\\nhear most of the great commanders, but a commander\\nalone can not carry on a campaign or win a battle.\\nBack of him there is a great army of common men,\\nand to win his fame many a heroic deed is done by the", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0175.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "164 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nsoldier in the ranks whose name, even, the world never\\nknows. So, had there not been a long period of prepa-^\\nration and a large background of gospel teaching and\\nbelieving among the people, and many lesser movements\\npreceeding, the great Reformation had never been. A\\nreformation in religion, like a reformation in govern-\\nment, implies a wide spread movement among the\\npeople. This preparation was plainly the work of the\\nolder and evangelical forces of an Anabaptist character,\\nknown at various times under different names as Wal-\\ndensians, Arnoldists, Hussites, Anabaptists, etc., terms\\nwhich are not exclusive of each other, as these various\\nbodies run into each other in a way which makes clear\\ndistinction between them often impossible. Of the\\nforces of the Reformation itself the truest and the\\npurest was the great Anabaptist movement, which\\nsought not to re-form but to re-create, bringing the\\npeople back to the true gospel and the right way of\\nsalvation through faith in Christ and cutting loose\\nfrom unspiritual princes and worldly powers as well as\\nfrom the slavery of dead forms; and bitter indeed was\\nthe disappointment of these gospel workers when they\\nfound that some of the worst features of the old corrupt\\nestablishment were to be preserved; that the new\\nchurches, instead of being spiritual bodies, were to be\\ncomposed of a motley mixture of materials and to be\\ncontrolled, directed and supported by the secular\\npower.\\nWhat Europe would have been today if the despised\\nAnabaptists had been allowed their liberty is not\\ndifficult to imagine. The continent would have been", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0176.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 165\\nfilled with evangelical churches, living pure lives and\\npreaching a pure gospel. The Reformation would have\\ngone as far beyond Lulheranism as Lutheranism did\\nbeyond the Papacy. The Papacy itself would have\\nbeen honeycombed with gospel truth and well nigh de-\\nstroyed. The enterprise of modern missions would have\\nbeen begun two hundred years sooner than it was, and\\nthe world today would have been fully evangelized.\\nPopular liberty would have taken the place of imperi-\\nalism, and old world monarchy would have been a thing\\nof the past, even though the form of it were still main-\\ntained. State churches would have been long ago\\nabandoned with their oppressive priesthood, and a long\\nand awful story of religious bigotry and hate would\\nhave remained untold. And, what to the christian is a\\nthought of infinite sadness, untold millions who have\\nlived and died would have learned the way of life and\\nchosen it, instead of being left in delusion to follow a\\npath of darkness and go out into deeper darkness at\\nthe end. When we consider a hundred years of our own\\nhistory and see what a free church in a free state has\\ndone, this picture does not seem overdrawn.\\nWhat the condition of the reformed church is today\\nhas been already told. State churches with their\\nunconverted ministers, christian members few and far\\nbetween just in proportion as they have not been\\ninfluenced by dissenting bodies; that is the picture.\\nAll the rationalism and infidelity of the day is the\\nproduct of these false churches, and all the wild schemes\\nof men to break down the authority of God and uproot\\nhis Word among men have been hatched by their", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0177.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "166 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\naccredited Professors of Theology and Doctors of\\nDivinity. Dr. Samuel Haskell says that some years\\nago he heard it publicly stated by a Presbyterian\\nclergyman who had studied abroad in his young man-\\nhood, that when Robert Haldane, the Scotch Baptist,\\nentered Geneva in the year 1816 tltere was not known\\nto he a converted person in that historic center of\\nReformation Christianity, and the surprise awakened by\\nthe statement was only increased by the investigation\\nwhich verified it. He says, Under this spiritual death\\nthe creed of Calvinism was but a skeleton, nor even\\nthat without the loss of its principal parts. Pastors\\nand theological teachers, students and people at large\\nhad gone over to formalism and rationalism. Arian,\\nUnitarian and rationalistic essays had usurped the\\nplace of preaching and teaching the Lord Jesus. Bible\\ninstruction was unknown. Worldly life and dissipating\\npleasures overran the sabbath and vitiated common\\nmorality. It had even come to pass that the fundamen-\\ntal doctrines in our religion were prohibited themes of\\ndiscussion. Candidates for the ministry were required\\nto sign a pledge not to agitate such subjects as the\\ninnate sinfulness of man, the God-head of Jesus, the\\nTrinity, spiritual regeneration and the election of\\ngrace; and as Haldane began to discuss these prohib-\\nited themes, efforts were made to banish him from the\\ncity. And this in Geneva, the city of John Calvin,\\nwhere his main work was done and where he supposed\\nthe best triumphs of his life were wrought! Such was\\nthe outcome of the work of one of the greatest of the\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Heroes and Hierarchs, p. 240.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0178.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON KELlGlOUS LIFE. 167\\nReformers and of the church formed under his own\\nhand! It only shows again how a wrong principle\\nadopted in the beginning will in the end bring to\\nnaught the work of the greatest men, and that a church\\nmade up of unregenerate people, brought in through\\ninfant baptism is not the church against which the\\ngates of hell shall not prevail.\\nThe Reformation was a mighty movement; towards\\na purer doctrine, for the most of Lutheran theology is\\ngood; towards learning, to which a great impulse was\\ngiven; towards liberty, for the power that was enslaving\\nmen was broken, and although not destroyed, it never\\nregained its hold and never will. And yet the Refor-\\nmation viewed as a spiritual force, a spiritual movement\\nresulting in a true church and leading men to Christ,\\nwas a failure, (how much a failure those can best under-\\nstand who have lived and tried to do christian work\\nfully under the blighting and deadening influence of\\nthe Lutheran church); and the Reformation churches\\nhave found their true prosperity and success only in\\nproportion as they have abandoned Reformation prin-\\nciples of church life and come over upon Anabaptist\\nground; and in proportion as they have adopted the\\nprinciples of those whom, in that time, they persecuted.\\nUpon the very ground and among the same peoples\\nwhere the Reformers taught, the work of the Reform-\\nation has now to be done over again, and a large part\\nof the Reformation church is as truly missionary ground\\nas is the Papacy or heathenism. Reformation princi-\\nples have proved themselves defective and Anabaptist\\nprinciples have proved themselves true. I would like", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0179.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "168 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nto suggest as the subject of a most interesting and\\ninstructive treatise which some well qualified person\\nought to write, The failure of the Beformation.\\nBut what became of that which we have described as\\nthe best element of the Beformation, those thousands\\nupon thousands of Anabaptists? Have they left any-\\npermanent influence upon Europe, and if not, why not?\\nIt is a fair question but the answer is not far away;\\nindeed we have already had the answer. Their princi-\\nples were scorned, their writings were destroyed, their\\nteachings proscribed, and they themselves perished\\namid the fires of persecution. Only a remnant escaped,\\nfoot sore, weary, poverty stricken and haunted, to meet\\nanew those same fires in England and America until\\nthey were finally quenched by the spirit of freedom.\\nEurope has waited to feel again in this century the reflex\\ninfluence of that which there began, and her princes\\nand priests again are trembling before those principles,\\nnow grown strong, which she then sought to destroy;\\nand the twenty-eight thousand German and the forty-\\nsix thousand Scandinavian Baptists are seeking to do\\nfor Europe under better conditions, what they were not\\nallowed to do in the days of the Beformation. The day\\nwill yet come when the Anabaptist influence in Europe\\nwill be powerfully revived to the blessing of the whole\\ncontinent.\\nBeturning now to more modern movements, the\\nchief progress in religion has been mainly in two\\ndirections, namely, towards a spiritual cliurcli member-\\nship, and towards a fuller recognition of the supreme\\nand sole authority of the Bible. These are specifically", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0180.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON KELIGIOUS LIFE. 169\\nBaptist doctrines, for they were not in the constitution\\nand have not, until late years, been in the practice of\\nother churches. To be sure, every church claims bible\\nauthority for its principles, but why then, such princi-\\nples as are not to be found in the gospel and are con-\\ntrary to it? And why. the presence, and as far as they\\nare concerned the omnipresence, of a little book which\\nsupersedes and contradicts the Bible in giving rules\\nfor the church? And to be sure, every church claims\\na christian membership, and in these days the member-\\nship of evangelical churches is mainly made up of\\nconverted persons, but that is a departure from the\\noriginal idea, and some of them are very loose in their\\ndefinition of conversion and make very small demands\\nupon candidates for membership. The fundamental\\nidea of a Baptist church is convei^sion, by which we\\nmean regeneration; the idea of the other churches is a\\nprofession, a training in religiousness, and a standing\\nin church connection. This fundamental idea of con-\\naversion is not in the Presbyterian standards, though it\\nis largely in their practice, but the church is made to\\nconsist of believers and their children, a phrase which\\noccurs over and over in Presbyterian writings, and the\\nunbelieving children are held to be proper subjects of\\na church ordinance and, after certain teaching, of\\nmembership in the church. Their theory of a church\\nis that of a training school wherein unbelievers are\\neducated into holiness, rather than a company of those\\nwho have been regenerated into holiness. It is not in\\nthe Methodist Discipline, which provides that any per-\\nson having the desire for a godly life may become a", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0181.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "170 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nmember of the Class on probation, and at the end of six\\nmonths, if he still have the same desire and is striving\\nfor righteousness and has lived a correct life, he may\\nbe received into full connection; and yet he may know\\nfull well and his minister may know that he has never\\nexperienced a change of heart and is not a child of\\nGod. It requires only a desire and a struggle, not a\\nregeneration. It is not in tha early Congregational\\ntheory or practice, for they admitted to membership\\nthe unconverted who had been sprinkled in infancy, at\\nfirst not to the communion, but afterwards, fully.\\nBackus says that they never demanded conversion,\\neven in their ministers, until after the Great Awaken-\\ning in 1741. When Princeton Theological Seminary\\nwas being founded by the Presbyterians in 1812 it was\\na matter of formal and sober discussion whether it was\\nnecessary that a minister be a converted man, and con-\\nsidered that it was not* The doctrine of the Baptists\\nwas that a minister must be himself taught by the\\nSpirit and so qualified by his own inward experience;\\nthat he must even be conscious of a. personal and special\\ncall of God to that work, and they emphasized these\\nqualifications in contrast to those who required only a\\nfull course of scholastic training. And yet now all\\nthese churches are seeking conversions and rejoicing\\nin revivals which once were considered improper and\\nunauthorized and inadmissable. A hundred years ago\\nthe Baptists were the only body who held conversion\\nto be an indispensible requisite to church membership,\\nbut this has now come to be generally recognized.\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6Curtis 1 Rise and Prog., Etc., p. 66.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0182.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 171\\nThe other line of progress is not less marked, namely,\\na growing acknowledgement of the supreme authority\\nof the Bible; and this is really what has produced the\\nimprovement of which we have just spoken. This, you\\nwill remember, is what we gave as our fundamental\\nprinciple; the absolute authority of Christ in his\\nchurch, and therefore the absolute authority of the\\nNew Testament which is His will revealed. It has been\\nthe custom of others to run back to creeds and councils\\nand church fathers for their authority, but the hold of\\nthe too much revered fathers on the conscience of the\\nchurch is being broken, and the bible is coming to take\\na much larger place. The devil has noted this change\\nwith his accustomed shrewdness, and has therefore\\nmustered all his available forces of scholarship on the\\none hand and liberalism on the other, in a desperate\\nattempt to discredit the bible and break its hold on\\nmen, or at least, to weaken it as much as possible. But\\nthe effort already begins to fail.\\nThis increased influence is due partly to the constant\\nappeal of Baptists to the inspired authority as against\\nthe uninspired, and partly to the wide spread distribu-\\ntion of the Bible itself; for the common people read it,\\nand their common sense tells them that if it is the word\\nof God they ought to follow it instead of the word of\\nman. As long as there are bibles there will be Baptists,\\nand the more those bibles are studied the more will\\ntheir tribe increase; for no matter what men may teach\\nas ancient or venerable, or as to what is convenient or\\ninconvenient, or as to what makes no difference 11 and\\nwhat does, there will always be some honest and hard", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0183.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "172 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nheaded individuals to stand up and say, But the bible\\ndoes not teach it that way, and to insist that the bible\\nway should be followed.\\nThis drift bible-ward is shown in several ways. For\\nexample, it used to be sufficient to quote the fathers\\nand the doctors, and the opinion of a learned man was\\ncounted as sufficient defense of any given practice; but\\nnow men have begun to feel that their positions must\\nbe sustained by arguments from the Bible. This has\\ngiven rise to all sorts of absurd and ridiculous things, to\\nbe sure, since men have invented all sorts of institutions\\nand practices of their own without any command of\\nGod, and now are trying to defend thern by appealing\\nto his commands, and defend human institutions as if\\nthey were set up by divine authority. So we are asked\\nto accept the infallibility of the Pope on the ground of\\nthe primacy of Peter whose successor he claims to be,\\nwhen Peter was never a leader of the Apostles in any\\nother sense than as the one of a company who is the\\nquickest to think and act naturally comes into promi-\\nnence and leadership, when his leadership was soon\\nsuperseded by Paul s, who rebuked him to his face,\\nand in comparison with whose permanent influence\\nupon the church of Christ Peter s is very small indeed.\\nBesides there is no evidence that Peter was ever in\\nEome until the very last of his life if even then, and\\nnever as its bishop, while we know that Paul was.\\nThe Papacy committed a great blunder in not claiming\\ndescent and heritage of office from Paul instead of\\nPeter. Again, Peter s supposed successors have insisted\\non the celibacy of the clergy, while he is the only one", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0184.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 173\\nof the Apostles of whom we positively know that he\\nwas a married man; for we read that Peter s mother-in-\\nlaw was sick.\\nIn like manner infant baptism is defended by the\\nclaim that it takes the place of circumcision, a claim\\nthat involves contradictions and absurdities, and of\\nwhich not the least mention is made in the New Testa-\\nment, although there were many occasions which\\ncertainly required its mention if it had been true.\\nCircumcision was fundamental in their faith, as infant\\nbaptism has been in that of Pedobaptist churches, and\\nPaul was constantly assailed for his insistence that it\\nwas no longer necessary. You remember how vehe-\\nmently he declares to the Galatians Behold I Paul say\\nunto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will\\nprofit you nothing. And again he alludes to his con-\\ntinual persecution as proof positive that he was not (as\\nsome seem to have represented him as doing) preaching\\ncircumcision. How easily he could have let himself\\nout of the continual trouble with the Judaizers by\\nsimply saying Why yes, brethren, I still uphold our\\nancient rite of circumcision, only now, you know, it has\\nbeen changed and we baptize the children instead of\\ncircumcising thein. It is not conceivable that he\\nwould not have said some such thing if it had been\\ntrue, for the occasion demanded it. It is also defended\\nby the assertion that in the New Testament household\\nbaptisms there must of necessity have been infants\\nincluded; an assertion which rests purely upon the\\nimagination. A good reply was made by a Baptist\\nbrother once when a Methodist brother insisted that", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0185.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "174 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nthere must have been infants in the household of Lydia,\\nand that therefore they were baptized. Why no, my\\ndear sir, said he, you are mistaken. Lydia was a\\nwidow, and the only children she ever had were two\\ndaughters, one of whom was at this time seventeen\\nyears old and the other twenty. Indeed! replied the\\nMethodist, and where did you get such astonishing\\ninformation as that? Why, s id the Baptist, I got\\nmy information just where you got yours; I guessed at\\nit, and my guess is just as good as your guess.\\nThe drift is seen again in the disposition to revise or\\ndiscard or disregard the old creeds and doctrinal state-\\nments of the churches, and to set aside the decisions of\\ncouncils which for ages have been venerated as much\\nas the Bible itself. We remember, for instance, the\\nlate discussion concerning the revision of the West-\\nminster Catechism, in which such revision was openly\\ncalled for by many prominent ministers and upon the\\nground that its statements are not according to bible\\nteaching and are not believed by the Presbyterians of\\ntoday.\\nIt was a growing sense of the importance of the Bible\\nand of having its every word an exact and true repre-\\nsentation of the original that led to the Revised Ver-\\nsion of of 1881, to produce which the best scholarship\\nof England and America gave its best etfort; though\\neven here an ancient conservatism and church influence\\nwas too much felt, and it stops short of the whole\\ntruth. The wonderful impulse given to bible study in\\nthese late years, showing itself in bible conferences,\\nclasses for study and published helps innumerable,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0186.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 175\\nneeds no remark, and in this the Revision was largely\\ninstrumental. But to the Revision itself a great im-\\npulse was given by Baptist influence, for they were\\nthe beginners in the work, agitating the subject through\\nmillions of pamphlets, tracts and other documents, and\\na copy of our own Bible Union version of 1865 was in\\nthe hands of each one of the revisers a version which\\nfor faithfulness and clearness has never been surpassed.\\nBaptists have always been foremost in bible translations\\nand revisions. The great British and Foreign Bible So-\\nciety owes its origin to the interest aroused by the\\ntranslation and publication of the scriptures in India by\\nDr. Carey, one of our ministers, and to the energetic\\nefforts of Rev. Joseph Hughes, another of our ministers.\\nThough thus founded by a Baptist, his brethren were\\nafterwards driven out of it for their insistence upon a\\nfaithful version for the heathen, as they were soon after\\nfrom the American Bible Society for the same reason.*\\nThe first notable translations into heathen tongues\\nwere made by William Carey, and with the help of\\nMarshman and Ward the Bible was translated into\\nthirty-one different languages in ten years. The first\\ncomplete Chinese bible was translated by Dr. Marsh-\\nman, and the Chinese New Testament now in universal\\nuse by Dr. Josiah Goddard, the Assamese and the\\nJapanese bibles by Nathan Brown, the Burmese by\\nJudson, the Siamese by John Taylor Jones, the Shan\\nby Dr. J. N. Cushing, the Karen by Drs. Mason and\\nCushing, the Telugu by Dr. Jewett, all Baptists; and\\nbesides these there have been many others. The first\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6This action is fully discussed in Bible Societies and the Baptists\\nby Dr. C. C. Bitting-, a little book which every Baptist oughtlJto read. It\\nis issued by the Publication Society,", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0187.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "176 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ntranslation into the language of the American Indians\\nwas made by Roger Williams twenty years before\\nElliott s famous Indian bible. And the only revision\\nof the English bible ever undertaken by a single\\ndenomination was the Bible Union version already\\nreferred to.\\nAgain, this drift is seen in the increasing number of\\nimmersions in other denominations and in the increas-\\ning number coming from other denominations to us on\\naccount of dissatisfaction with their baptism. I know\\nof a large Methodist church not far away of which\\nthree fourths the members were immersed after con-\\nversion. I have seen a Methodist church in which a\\nbaptistery was built and nearly all of whose members\\nare immersed, and have been told of two others. It is\\nworthy of remark that nearly all the famous evangelists\\nof the day have felt themselves obliged to receive\\nimmersion in order to be themselves obedient to the\\ngospel they teach, although they think it expedient not\\nto say much about it, and still hold their membership\\nin Pedobaptist churches. The baptism of such noted\\nmen as Dr. A. T. Pierson of Philadelphia, and Dr. John\\nRobertson of Glasgow, from whose sermon on believer s\\nbaptism and baby sprinkling I have already quoted, is\\nnoteworthy also, both being Presbyterians, and likewise\\nthe remark of Dr. Philip Schaff, probably the most\\nnoted Presbyterian scholar in the country, made before\\nthe Saratoga Bible Convention, that he believed in\\nimmersion and that, were it not for lifelong Presbyter-\\nian associations, he should be himself immersed and\\njoin with the Baptists.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0188.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON KELIGIOUS LIFE. 177\\nBut an especially interesting evidence of a return to\\nNew Testament principles is found in the decline of\\ninfant baptism. For myself, I am glad it has gone\\ninto a decline; may its sickness be without suffering;\\nmay its decline be rapid; may its demise be speedy and\\nwithout regret, and may the world never look upon its\\nlike again. This change of feeling in regard to infant\\nbaptism means not only a difference but a revolution in\\nchurch life, which is slowly working itself out; for this\\npractice is not incidental in the churches which use it,\\nbut fundamental. It stands for a whole system of doc-\\ntrines, and when it goes they go with it. It means\\nbaptismal salvation; it means the efficacy of sacraments;\\nit means the authority of tradition as opposed to the\\nauthority of the Bible; it means a preaching of rites\\nand ceremonies and forms instead of repentance and\\nfaith, and there are many other things that belong with\\nit. Its discarding means the coming over of the\\nchurches upon the ground of personal faith and a\\nregenerated life and personal obedience to our Master\\nand Lord. It is beyond question that this practice does\\nnot have the hold upon the churches which it once had.\\nSome Pedobaptist pastors are candid enough to admit\\nthat it is entirely without scriptural foundation, as does\\nDr. Lyman Abbott, in an editorial in the Outlook! 1 of\\nNovember 27th, 1897. In discussing the recent Baptist\\nCongress he says, They (the Baptists) all hold, and\\nhold as strongly as ever, the doctrine that Apostolic\\nbaptism was a symbolic expression of repentance and\\nfaith, and that to baptize infants who can neither repent\\nnor exercise faith is a change of the original ceremony", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0189.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "178 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nfrom its original purpose. Historical scholarship abun-\\ndantly confirms this contention. Infant baptism was\\nunknown in the Apostolic church. It was introduced\\ninto the church at a post-Apostolic date. It has com-\\npletely changed the significance of the rite. The change\\ncan be justified only on the ground that no rite is of\\nthe essence of Christianity, and that the same spirit of\\nchristian liberty which allowed -the christian church to\\ndispense with circumcision allows it to change baptism\\nfrom a symbolic act of faith by a penitent to a symbolic\\nact of consecration by a parent. We may perhaps, be\\nallowed our own opinion about the christian quality\\nof such liberty, and be allowed also to remark that,\\nas circumcision never had any place in the christian\\nchurch it never was dispensed with. So it is now\\ndefended upon different grounds, and many Pedobaptist\\nministers do not care to defend it at all. Indeed the\\nmost of them do not care to talk about it and in a long\\nconversation with a Methodist minister some time ago\\non this and kindred topics, all he would say was, We\\ndon t make as much of that as w r e used to. It is not\\nspoken of now as a necessary ordinance but as a matter\\nof preference; not as a baptism at all, indeed, but only\\nas a consecration or dedication of the child, or a pre-\\nsentation before the Lord. These things are significant\\nbut the figures on the subject are more significant, for\\nthey show that actually less infants in proportion year\\nby year are thus baptized or dedicated or conse-\\ncrated or presented. There are several lines of\\nevidence of this fact; first, the admissions of those who\\npractice infant baptism, then the increase in the number", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0190.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 179\\nof adult baptisms and their proportion to infant bap-\\ntisms, then the actually decreasing proportion of infant\\nbaptisms to membership.\\nThe writings of Pedobaptists themselves show that\\nin their opinion the practice is falling behind. Thus\\nas to England, a writer in the London Spectator, F.\\nSimcox Lea, stated, July 10th, 1880, as a well known\\nfact that a comparison of the birth registers of London\\nwith the parish registers showed that less than half the\\nchildren were baptized. In a report of one of the\\nClasses, or Presbyteries, of the Dutch Reformed Church\\nheld in 1879, we find that In view of the great neglect\\nof infant baptism the Classis at its Spring session\\nrequested Rev. F. H. Van Derveer D. D., to prepare a\\npaper on this subject. An exceedingly able and instruc-\\ntive paper was presented by Dr. Van Derveer and a copy\\nof the same was requested for publication/ Note the\\nphrase in view of the great neglect of infant baptism.\\nThe Christian at Work, some years ago, gave some\\nfigures on infant baptism and then said, But one con-\\nclusion is deducible from these statistics; the adherence\\nto infant baptism is not only practiced by less than one\\nhalf the Presbyterian church membership but there is\\na decided falling off in the practice; i. e. among those\\nwho still do practice it. A Chicago correspondent of\\nThe Presbyterian notes that In our German churches\\nduring the last year, the baptisms of infants were one to\\nevery seven and one-half members, while in our Amer-\\nican churches for the same time they were only one to\\nthirty members/ Records of Methodist Conferences\\ncontain references to the same sort of falling off, such", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0191.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "180 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nas this from the North Carolina Conference of 1880;\\nDuring the progress of the twentieth question the\\nmatter of infant baptism came up, owing to the small\\nnumber reported baptized in some of the districts. Rev.\\nA. W. Mangum spoke in reference to the injury done\\nto the cause of infant baptism by a prominent Metho-\\ndist publication. After some further remarks, the\\nBishop enjoined strict attention-to the matter and they\\nwent on with their business. The Boston Congrega-\\ntionalist says under date of January 18th, 1882, The\\nsimple fact appears to be that the doctrine of the\\nevangelical churches as to infant baptism is in a trans-\\nition state, and has at present a materially loosened\\nhold upon the popular conviction Congregation-\\nalists under the attrition of Baptist friction on the one\\nside, and the force of their own principles of individu-\\nalism on the other have become a good deal demoral-\\nized in this particular. The attrition of Baptist\\nfriction is good, very good.\\nI have taken great pains to gather full and official\\nfigures of the five leading Pedobaptist denominations in\\nAmerica, giving the membership and the number of in-\\nfant and of adult baptisms for each and every year as\\nfar back as the records have been preserved, and have\\ncarefully figured out also the ratio of baptisms both\\ninfant and adult to membership each year. The\\nrecords of the (Dutch) Reformed church go back to the\\nyear 1825, of the Presbyterian to 1827, of the Methodist\\nto 1857, of the Congregationalist to 1859, and of the\\nEpiscopal to 1868, with partial reports back to 1850.\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6The above references are taken from Prof. H. C. Vedder s pamphlet\\non The Decline of Infant Baptism, published in 1890.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0192.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON HELlGIOUS LIFE. 181\\nThese figures I have either copied myself from the\\nofficial published reports or obtained from the publica-\\ntion headquarters through the favor of those in the\\nemploy of the various Boards.* A study of them is\\nvery interesting for many reasons. Having them all\\nbefore us we can readily settle the question of the\\ndecline of infant baptism and its present status. There\\nare variations and sometimes quite notable varia-\\ntions in the figures from year to year of course, but\\ntaking a long series of years together the steady increase\\nin some columns and the steady decrease in others is\\nvery striking.\\nTaking first the adult baptisms; if we find them in-\\ncreasing year by year, the inference would naturally\\nbe that infant baptisms are decreasing, else these\\nadults or many of them, would have been already bap-\\ntized in infancy. If we find them proportionately\\nincreasing, the inference is plain; and if we find them\\nproportionately increasing while the infant baptisms\\nare proportionately decreasing, the conclusion is beyond\\nquestion. In all the denominations we find, as we should\\nexpect as the denomination grows larger, an increase in\\nthe actual number of adults baptized. In three of these\\ndenominations there has been a decided increase in the\\nproportion of adults baptized to membership, in another\\na slight increase, while in the other one there has been\\na decrease in the proportion both of adult and infant\\nbaptisms, which would seem to show that this denomi-\\nnation is not holding its own in the matter of growth.\\nTaking an average of the first ten years of the record\\n*See full table of figures at the end.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0193.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "it\\n26.8\\nU\\na\\nu\\n19.4\\nil\\n128.6\\na\\na\\na\\n35.\\na\\n78.2\\na\\na\\na\\n77.2\\n182 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nin each case and comparing it with the average of the\\nlast ten years, we have the following proportions of\\nadult baptisms to members:\\nINCREASE.\\nPresbyterians, from one in 50.2 members to one in 41.1\\nMethodists,\\nCongregationalists,\\nReformed,\\nDECREASE.\\nEpiscopalians, from one in 32.3 members to one in 51.2\\nLooking at it another way, we find that the Presby-\\nterians, during the first twenty years, when their\\nmembership ran from a hundred and thirty-five thou-\\nsand to two hundred and twenty thousand, baptized\\nabout seven thousand, three hundred and fifty less\\nadults than infants each year on an average, but during\\nthe last twenty years, when their membership has been\\nmore than four times as large, and the difference there-\\nfore should be four times as great, they have averaged\\nonly about five thousand and nine hundred less each\\nyear. The Congregationalists in the first ten years\\nfrom 1859 baptized four thousand, six hundred and\\nfifty-five more adults than infants, but in the last ten\\nyears, while the membership is two and a half times as\\nlarge, the excess of adult over infant baptisms is about\\nseven times as large. Among the Methodists the\\nratio of infant baptisms is very regular, but in the\\ncolumn of adult baptisms there is great variation. In\\nonly four years have the infant outnumbered the adult\\nbaptisms, namely, in 1857, 1861, 1865 and 1881, while", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0194.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 183\\nin other years the adult baptisms have outnumbered\\nthe infant from a few hundred in 1880 and 1882 to one\\nhundred and twelve thousand and five hundred in 1892;\\nand in the ten years ending with 1897 they baptized\\nthree hundred and fifty-three thousand and eight hun-\\ndred more adults than infants. In the Episcopal church\\nthe ratio of adult to infant baptisms remains about the\\nsame. In the Reformed church, while the proportion\\nof adult baptisms to membership has increased very\\nslightly, the proportion of infant^ baptisms has fallen\\ndecidedly, so that whereas they did in the first ten years\\nbaptize five and a half times as many infants as adults,\\nin the last ten years they have baptized only four and\\nthree-tenths times as many. We find, therefore, that\\nthe adult baptisms have increased both actually and\\nproportionately in all the denominations but one.\\nComing now to the infant baptisms we find that in\\neach case there has been a decrease in the proportion\\nof baptisms to membership, and in all except the Metho-\\ndist figures the decrease is a decided one. There is an\\nincrease, of course in the number of infants baptized,\\nbut their number has not grown nearly as fast as the\\nnumber of members. We notice too, that this decrease\\nhas been very regular, showing that an educational\\nprocess is going on and that a change of sentiment is\\nbeing produced in regard to the matter. We notice too,\\nthat while there are great variations in the adult bap-\\ntisms, showing years of revival and years of coldness,\\nthese years have affected the infant baptisms but\\nslightly. The columns of ratios show very plainly that\\nthe feeling of obligation in regard to infant baptism is", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0195.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "184 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\ngradually dying out and a belief in believers baptism\\ntaking its place.\\nTaking up the denominations separately, we find the\\nPresbyterians baptizing one infant to each thirteen\\nand two-tenths members in 1827, and that they have\\nnever reached as high an average since. In 1837 the\\nratio is one in eighteen and eight-tenths; in 1847 one in\\nnineteen; in 1857 the same as twenty years earlier, but\\nfrom that point on there is a marked decrease, so that\\n1867 gives us one in twenty-three and nine-tenths, 1877\\none in twenty-nine and eight-tenths, and in 1899 it\\nreaches its lowest point, one in thirty-nine and three-\\ntenths, just about one-third as many infants in propor-\\ntion to members as in 1827.\\nBut taking up one of their official records and the\\none at hand happens to be for the year 1897 and ex-\\namining the list of churches in detail, some very\\ninteresting things come to light. Thus it appears that\\nthe larger churches are very generally allowing the\\npractice to fall into disuse, (and these, of course, are\\nsupposably led by their ablest pastors), and that the\\naverage is kept up by the smaller churches. Many\\nchurches of from one hundred to five hundred members\\nreport only a few, less than half a dozen, and in a\\nmajority of the churches of four hundred members\\nand upwards, (a class of churches in which fifteen years\\nago, the average was from one in fifty to one in eighty),\\nthe average is only from one in seventy to one in a\\nhundred, and a number of very large churches report\\nnone at all. For example, the Westminster church of\\nMinneapolis, with sixteen hundred members, reports no", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0196.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON KELIGIOUS LIFE. 185\\ninfant baptisms; the Cincinnati Second, with four\\nhundred and eighty-four members, the Albany Second,\\nwith three hundred and thirty, the LaPorte, with three\\nhundred and forty-four, and the Logansport, with five\\nhundred and thirty-five, all report none. The Oakland\\nFirst, California, with thirteen hundred and twelve\\nmembers reports five; the Chicago First, with seven\\nhundred and nine members, reports one; Newark, New T\\nJersey, Third, with five hundred and seventy members,\\nreports three; Albany Fourth, with eight hundred\\nmembers, reports four; Ithaca, New York, with six\\nhundred and sixty-five members, reports two; Fifth\\nAvenue, New York City, Dr. John Hall pastor, with\\ntwo thousand six hundred and fifty members, reports\\nseven; (in 1880 they reported seventeen hundred and\\nthirty members and twenty-one infant baptisms). The\\nMadison Square, New York City, reports eight hundred\\nand one members and three infant baptisms, and the\\nWestminster, four hundred members and one infant\\nbaptism. The Pennsylvania churches of all kinds seem\\nto average higher in infant baptisms than those of any\\nother state, yet Germantown First, with nineteen hun-\\ndred and ninety-one members reports no infant bap-\\ntisms. But to show what a church can do when it really\\nsets out to do something, we have the Madison Street\\nChurch of Baltimore, which with two hundred and\\ntwelve members baptized two hundred and fifteen\\nbabies! This beats the record of any church that has\\nyet been discovered. But they must have gathered up\\nnearly all the babies in Baltimore, for the La Fayette\\nSquare church with three hundred and seventy-four", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0197.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "186 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nmembers could only find two to baptize and the West-\\nminster, with three hundred and forty-three members\\ndid not find any.\\nThe Congregationalists show some surprising things\\nin their statistics. Their ratio nowhere runs as high\\nas either of the other denominations, yet they are the\\nonly ones that anywhere show any actual gain in the\\nproportion of infants to membership. Beginning with\\none in forty-nine and four-tenths in 1859, they reach\\nthe lowest point in 1881 at one in eighty-nine and a\\nhalf, and since then have come back to the same figure\\nin 1897 as at the beginning. Yet over against this fact\\nis to be set the fact that their Triennial Council, held\\nin Portland in 1893, revised and recommended to the\\nindividual churches for adoption a confession of faith\\nin which all reference to infant baptism was intention-\\nally left out. Inasmuch as the Western churches show\\na higher average than the Eastern, and the smaller\\nones than the larger ones, I attribute their increase in\\ninfant baptisms to their growth in the newer communi-\\nties of the West, where the effort to gather in and the\\ncontact with families of every faith would naturally\\nlead to the baptism of everybody s babies. If a Con-\\ngregational pastor can get a foothold in the family of\\none brought up in Lutheran or Methodist faith, and to\\nsome degree attach them to his church by baptizing\\ntheir baby, he will naturally do it, especially in a\\nsmall community where several struggling churches\\nare striving for members. They are the only body that\\nare not now baptizing less infants than ever before,\\nand their last ten years compared with the first ten\\ni", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0198.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 187\\nshows an increase from one in fifty-nine to one in fifty-\\none and a half.\\nBat here are some interesting things and some sur-\\nprising variations: The Congregational Year Book for\\n1897 shows that the Western states averaged from one\\ninfant baptism in forty-two members to one in fifty-\\nthree; but Massachusetts, the home of Congregational-\\nism, shows only one in sixty-nine; New Hampshire, one\\nin a hundred and sixteen; and Maine one in a hundred\\nand fifty-one, and in 1898, one in a hundred and eighty-\\ntwo! Wisconsin, with almost twenty-two thousand\\nmembers reports five hundred and eighty-three, and\\nVermont, with not two hundred less members, only two\\nhundred and seventy-three. Ohio with more than three\\ntimes the membership of Pennsylvania, reports only\\nthirty-three more infant baptisms, and in 1898 reports\\nsix less. Minnesota, with a little more than eighteen\\nthousand members reports four hundred and one, and\\nNew Hampshire, with a little more than twenty thous-\\nand reports a hundred and seventy one. The whole\\nnumber of churches reporting in 1896 was five thousand\\nfive hundred and forty-six, and of these two thousand,\\nsix hundred and twenty-five or nearly half, reported no\\ninfant baptisms, though many of, these were small\\nchurches. Churches of from four hundred to a thousand\\nmembers are not very plenty in any denomination, yet\\nin the Year Book for 1898 we notice twenty-four such\\nchurches that report no infant baptisms and fifteen more\\nthat report not more than three, besides many others\\nthat only report half a dozen or less. The other denom-\\ninations show the same sort of variations.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0199.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "188 THE BAPTIST IN HISTOKY.\\nThese curious variations can mean but one thing,\\nnamely, that the doctrine of infant baptism is not held\\nby many churches with any strictness and that churches\\nin the same denomination vary much in the regard they\\nhave for it. It should be remembered too, that any-\\nthing below the very highest averages shows a falling\\noff in the practice; for the highest averages are the nor-\\nmal ones if the doctrine is strictly held, because of course\\nno one baptizes more babies than they have, and when\\nthe average falls, it must be that not all have been bap-\\ntized. The census reports show about one birth in\\ntwenty of the population each year, but we find the\\nPresbyterians baptizing one to every twelve or thirteen\\nof the membership, the Episcopalians one to five or six,\\nand the Reformed even as many, in 1823, as one to\\nthree. Difference in conditions is also to be taken into\\naccount, and the fact that in the older states there has\\nbeen much emigration and in the cities families are not\\nas large, but that does not by any means explain it all.\\nThe only conclusion is that the doctrine is loosening its\\nhold upon the churches.\\nThe Methodists nowhere show as high an average as\\ndo the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians or the Re-\\nformed, nor is theje a marked difference shown from\\nyear to year; yet, taking the first ten years and compar-\\ning them with the last ten, we find a decrease from one\\nin twenty-four and six-tenths to one in twenty-six and\\nseven-tenths, and in the last two years for which I have\\nfull figures the ratio is one in twenty-nine and six-tenths\\nand one in thirty. Their highest ratio is one in twenty\\nand one-half and their lowest one in thirty.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0200.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 189\\nThe Episcopal records previous to 1868 are only\\npartial but serve well enough for purposes of compar-\\nison, as it is assumed that fuller records would not\\nmaterially change the ratio of baptisms to membership.\\nTheir reports are given only once in three years and\\nthe membership given is that for the year of the report,\\nwhile the baptisms given are the total for three years.\\nThe ratio therefore, is obtained by taking the average\\nof baptisms and dividing the membership by it. This\\ndoes not give a perfectly accurate result for any one\\nyear but does give accurate results for purposes of com-\\nparison during a series of years. The twenty-eight\\ndioceses reporting in 1850 show a membership of a few\\nless than eighty thousand, and one infant baptized to\\nevery six and three-tenths members. In 1859 it increases\\nto one in five and six-tenths, and from that point stead-\\nily and evenly decreases to one in thirteen in 1898,\\nwhen their last report was given. We should expect\\nthat here, if anywhere, the proportion would be main-\\ntained, but they are baptizing only about half as many\\nas they did.\\nThe Eeformed church has preserved its records\\nfarther back than any of the others and I have complete\\nfigures back to 1815 except two years. But beginning\\nin 1825, we find them baptizing one infant to every six\\nmembers. In fourteen years they have fallen off one-\\nhalf. In 1845 the ratio is one to fourteen and nine-\\ntenths; in 1865 it is one to seventeen and six-tenths; in\\n1881 it drops off to one in twenty-one and three-tenths,\\nwhich is exceptional, and comes up in 1899 to one in\\neighteen and six-tenths.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0201.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "190 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nGathering up these figures now, we have the highest\\nand the lowest proportions as follows:\\nPresbyterians, highest, one in 13.2, lowest, one in 39.3\\nMethodists, 20.5, 30.\\nCongregationalists, 47. 89.5\\nEpiscopalians, 5.6, 13.\\nReformed, 6. 21.3\\nComparing the first year of the record used with the\\nlast, (and looking over the whole table of figures, this\\nseems to give a very fair representation), we have the\\nfollowing:\\nPresbyterians, in 1827, one in 13.2, in 1899, one in 39.3\\nMethodists, 1857, 25.4, 1897, 30.\\nCongregatTts, 1859, 49.4, 1898, 54.6\\nEpiscopalians, 1850, 6.3, 1898, 13.\\nReformed, 1825, 6. 1899, 18.6\\nAnd finally, averaging now this last table, we find that\\nthe decrease in the five denominations taken together\\nand during the various periods given is from one in\\ntwenty to one in thirty-one and one-tenth; a falling off\\nof a little more than one-third.\\nWhat has made this falling off in the matter of\\ninfant baptism? When we consider that Baptists are\\nthe only ones who do not, and have not always, taught\\nthat it is a beautiful and holy thing, a duty and an\\nobligation; that by it great blessings are brought to the\\ndear children and safeguards thrown around their lives;\\nbut that they have always denied it and fought it, have\\nshown its absurdity in reason and its utter lack of\\nfoundation in scripture, while they have taught the\\ntrue significance of believers baptism; and when we", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0202.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON EELIGIOUS LIFE. 191\\nconsider the great increase in numbers and influence\\nof these same Baptists, there seems but one answer;\\nthey did it.\\nThus the Baptists have been a restraining influence\\nto keep other denominations from suffering to the full\\nthe evil results of their own principles, and a leavening\\ninfluence to permeate them with better principles.\\nWere it not for the Baptists and the printed Bible,\\nwhich is continually making Baptists, what is to hinder\\nother denominations from speedily falling back to the\\nlow level of two hundred years ago? Their principles\\nand doctrinal standards are the same now as then.\\nThey have preserved within themselves the seeds out of\\nwhich the state church and dead formalism grew, and\\nwhat would hinder the same sort of seed from produc-\\ning a second time the same sort of a crop? Nay, they\\nhave within them the very roots out of which grew the\\nPapacy itself with its awful history; namely sacerdo-\\ntalism, which shows itself in ministerial rule and\\ngovernment by the Synod and Conference, and sacra-\\nmentarianism, which shows itself in infant baptism and\\nfalse views of the Lord s Supper. But for the Baptists,\\nwould not infant baptism soon be universally practiced\\nas it was in the middle ages? For do not the creeds of\\nthese other churches call for its observance, and do not\\ntheir pastors teach it as a sacred thing? And would\\nnot the infants, when grown, come into the churches as\\nthey used to do, by virtue of their baptism and not by\\nvirtue of their being born again? Would not these un-\\nconverted infants become teachers and preachers,\\nfilling the churches with worlcUiness and false doctrine", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0203.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "192 THE BAPTIST IN HISTORY.\\nand sin? And would not these false churches thus\\nproduced become again oppressors and persecutors of\\nGod s true children, filling the land with the groans of\\nof the saints and pursuing true godliness even unto\\ndeath? I verily believe that the Baptist force is that\\nwhich upholds and preserves Christendom, and that if\\nthey were suddenly annihilated a consummation which\\nis devoutly to be wished by some narrow minded souls\\nit would be the greatest calamity that could happen\\nin the religious world as it was in Europe in the\\nsixteenth century.\\nWe have seen now, what Baptists have held as\\nguiding principles, what they have suffered for those\\nprinciples and what those principles have done for the\\nworld; how they have been vital to purity of religion\\nand freedom in government, and how they have brought\\na spiritual Christianity and the broadest liberty where\\nthey have come. Surely our holding faithfully to these\\nprinciples, and in their fulness, is not merely a question\\nof courtesy to other denominations or a matter.of mere\\nindifference, but a matter of vital necessity to the purity\\nof Christendom and the coming of the kingdom of God\\nin this world. In view of our history we can lift up\\nour heads in the face of anyone and say in the language\\nof Luther, Here I stand. God help me! I can no\\nother, and feel that we are in the company of those\\nof whom in all the ages we have no need to be ashamed.\\nHere in this land of ours, whose freedom we did so much\\nto secure, we may feel that we have a heritage and a\\nright, for with a great price bought we this freedom.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0204.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS LIFE. 193\\nWe need not labor for the triumph of our name but for\\nthe triumph of the truth, and we may hope for the\\ntime when the name will be no longer distinctive. A\\nsolemn obligation is upon us forever to insist upon the\\ndivine origin of our principles and their entire correct-\\nness; to declare them fully and fearlessly in the spirit\\nof love and of a sound mind; to practice them faithfully\\nand honestly until they shall prevail, for prevail they\\nsurely will; until everywhere only the regenerate shall\\nbe admitted to Christ s church; until complete and\\nwilling obedience to Him and Him alone shall be the\\nrecognized test of discipleship; until everywhere God s\\nWord is supreme and the fundamental article of our\\nBaptist faith shall be the foundation of the creed of\\nevery christian, and CHRIST SHALL BE ABSO-\\nLUTELY SUPREME IN HIS OWN CHURCH.", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0205.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0206.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0207.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0208.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0209.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": ".0\\nV\\ny-\\nx 0o\\nA*\\nV\\n*V\\ny\\nr^", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0210.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0211.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0212.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "vv V", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0213.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX.-Table of Membership and Baptisms.\\nPRESBYTERIAN.\\nMETHODIST (North).\\nCONGREGATIONAL.\\nEPISCOPAL.\\nREFORMED.\\nm\\nso\\ns\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a05 3-\\np a.\\np\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2si\\nso\\n3\\nCO\\nSO\\n50\\ns\\n1\\nCO\\n_!\\np 3.\\n50\\ns\\nII\\nII\\nB-S\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0s 1\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0x\\ns\\ni: i\\nII\\n_.\\n\u00e2\u0080\u009eg\\nm\\nO\\n3\\nI 9\\n1\\nO\\nO\\n7\\n3\\ni 7\\ni\\n9\\n1825\\n10,076\\n11,260\\n10,039\\n13,683\\n11,703\\n14,122\\n14,316\\n20,214\\n22,469\\n21,984\\n21,054\\n22,604\\n19.441\\n21,923\\n22,212\\n23,783\\n23.962\\n23,758\\n211,322\\n31,214\\n32,883\\n32,200\\n32.840\\n34,100\\n33.980\\n33,553\\n34,586\\n35,616\\n36,597\\n37,020\\n38.927\\n40,413\\n105\\n136\\n97\\n125\\n110\\n190\\n310\\n589\\n478\\n265\\n187\\n135\\n109\\n277\\n319\\n197\\n277\\n253\\n682\\n523\\n217\\n150\\n169\\n169\\n219\\n259\\n238\\n224\\n350\\n262\\n290\\n369\\n05.0\\n82.8\\n103.4\\n109.4\\n106.3\\n74.3\\n34.3\\n47\\n112..\\n167.4\\n178.3\\n79\\n69.6\\n120.7\\n86.5\\n93.1\\n43\\n59.\\n214! 7\\n194.3\\n201.7\\n155\\n120.5\\n145\\n104.5\\n141.3\\n134.2\\n109..-\\n1.626\\n1.607\\n2.2ll\\n1.379\\n1.760\\n1.764\\n2(101\\nL944\\n1 .585\\n1.860\\n2.025\\n1 .853\\n1,860\\n1.983\\n1 ,858\\n2.211\\n2.185\\n2.195\\n2.152\\n2.074\\n2.015\\n2.395\\n1.995\\n2.075\\n2.570\\n2 59 1\\n2 188\\n2,754\\n7\\n8\\n6\\n8.4\\n8\\n8\\n10\\n10\\n8\\n10,8\\n11.9\\n10.4\\n10.8\\n12\\n12.7\\n12\\n12.2\\n15.2\\n11.2\\n14.9\\n15\\n15.S\\n16.9\\n14.2\\n16.8\\n16.6\\n15\\n15.2\\n15.9\\n11,6\\n1826\\n135,285\\n14(1.308\\n162,816\\n182.017\\n217,318\\n233,580\\n247,964\\n2,01,5\\n3.380\\n3,082\\n3,255\\n4,390\\n0.050\\n0.050\\n5,738\\n43\\n41\\n22.5\\n33.6\\n43.2\\n10.220\\n10700\\n12,171\\n12,202\\n12,108\\n13.286\\n14,035\\n13,004\\n13^2\\n13.6\\n13.3\\n15-0\\n1HW\\n1828\\n1829\\n1830\\n1831\\n15\\n16.3\\n16.6\\n19\\n1832\\n1833\\n1834\\n18H5\\n183fi\\n219,126\\n220.557\\n177,605*-\\n128.043\\n120,583\\n134,433\\n140,433\\n159,137\\n100,487\\n171,879\\n174,714\\n1711.453\\n1 .12.022\\n200.830\\n207,254\\n210.300\\n210,414\\n210,203\\n225,401\\n231.40-1\\n2,729\\n3,031\\n2,002\\n1,044\\n1,741\\n1 ,8 12\\n2,748\\n4,303\\n3.287\\n1,020\\n2,050\\n1,704\\n-II.\\n2,772\\n2,918\\n2,5 10\\n2.042\\n3.507\\n3,433\\n3,189\\n89\\n72.7\\n66\\n77.9\\n73\\n72.9\\n36.4\\n50.6\\n85.8\\n100\\n82\\n82.2\\n74.8\\n72\\n82\\n74.5\\n62.6\\n67.4\\n70\\n11,089\\nIO.10I\\n7,714\\n7,844\\n8,305\\n10,025\\n9^608\\n9,677\\n9,342\\n0,837\\n0,805\\n10,372\\n10.001\\n11,000\\n11,1,44\\n12,041\\n11,734\\n11,021\\n19.7\\n18.8\\n17.3\\n16.5\\n16\\n16\\n14.9\\n15\\n17.9\\n18\\n19\\n19.5\\n20.3\\n20\\n19\\n19\\n18.8\\n18\\n10 7\\nIS 6\\n1856\\n1837\\n1838\\n1839\\n1840\\n1810\\n1841\\n1841\\n184\\n1842\\nIS 13\\n1843\\n1844\\n1814\\n1845\\n1815\\n1S4f\\n1846\\n1847\\n1847\\n1S4S\\n1848\\nIs 19\\n1849\\n18.-.0\\n79,987\\n210\\n34.5\\n12,679\\n6.3\\n1850\\n1851\\nIS5I\\n1852\\nIS52\\nis;,::\\nIS55\\nis:, j\\n1851\\nIS\\n1855\\n1856\\n1859 279,630\\n3.370\\n5,170\\n0,072\\n72.2\\n50\\n13,007\\n13,084\\n16,104\\n18.8\\n18.5\\n17.2\\n709,968\\n27,583,\\n25.7\\n27.957\\n2., 1\\n44,443\\n46,197\\n50.304\\n407\\n847\\n978\\n109\\n54.4\\n51.4\\n5.162\\n3,172\\n3,814\\n14\\n13.3\\n13\\n1557\\n185S\\n1859\\n832,657\\n40,101\\n10.0\\n21.8\\n250,152\\n10.52;\\n23\\n5.001\\n49 4\\n139,611}\\n4,907\\n28.4\\n24,851\\n5.6\\ni860\\n._)!). ,|J,\\n5.150\\n56.8\\n15.031\\n8 7\\n855,726\\n39.464\\n21.6\\n32.902\\n26\\n253,765\\n35(\\n50.295\\n463\\n108.\\n3,506\\n14.3\\n1860\\n1861\\n3,070\\n81.7\\n15,130\\n12.3\\n865,446\\n32.347\\n36\\n34.411\\n25\\n255,034\\n2,151\\n118\\n4.54-\\n56\\n50.427\\n470\\n107.2\\n1.050\\n12.4\\n1861\\nlso-l\\n303.280\\n2.282\\n124,370\\n3,694\\n33,\\n20.141\\n6.1\\n51.528\\n387\\n133\\n5.0S0\\n16.6\\nIS62\\nlsr,:i\\n2 7 575\\n2,105\\n105\\n.0,104\\n12 3\\n822,845\\n24.138\\n34\\n52.24 1\\n2.) 2\\n260,284\\n3,321\\n78\\n4.123\\n63\\n53.007\\n399\\n132.5\\n3.155\\n16.7\\n1865\\n1SI ,4\\n231.01 ;o\\n2.380\\n97.4\\n0.801\\n1\\n829,379\\n21.809\\n33.4\\n32.190\\n25.6\\n202.649\\n4.02\u00c2\u00b0\\n53.833\\n585\\n91 A\\n3.215\\n17\\n1864\\nI SI if,\\n232,450\\n2.821\\nS2.4\\n0,002\\n13\\n822,711\\n20.150\\n28\\n:5i soi\\n25\\n263,296\\n4,97,\\n53\\n4,133\\n63 5\\n148,068\u00c2\u00a7\\n4,384\\n33 r\\n22,31b\\n6.6\\n54 286\\n540\\n100.6\\n3.004\\n17.6\\nIS05\\ni860\\n230,300\\n5.003\\n47.8\\ni 0.000,\\n5\\n871,113\\n47,419\\n18.3\\n55.551\\n24.4\\n267.453\\n5,22]\\n55.917\\n605\\n92.4\\n3.507\\n16.9\\n1866\\niso7\\n246,350\\n5.200\\n46.7\\n10,209\\n13\\n971,866\\n50,083\\n16.4\\n42.65,-\\n22 5,\\n278,708\\n8,720\\n32\\n5,012\\n55\\n57,846\\n937\\n61.7\\n3.229 17.9\\n186,\\nISliS\\n252,555 5,191\\n48.6\\n1 1 ,212\\n22.5\\n1,060,265\\n67.065\\n15.8\\n10.207\\n22.9\\n291.012\\n7.861\\n195,183\\n6,419\\n34\\n20,85:\\n7.2\\n49,508\\n919\\n53.8i 5,155 1 14.4\\n1,808\\nI 809\\n258,003 4,236\\n60.8\\n1 1 33,3\\n8\\n1,114,712\\n61,147\\n18,2\\n17.501\\n23.4\\n300,362\\n7,094\\n42.3\\n5,022\\n59.8\\n58,796\\n797\\n7.) 3,585 10.4\\n1S70\\n446,561 10.122\\n44\\n10.170\\n28\\n1,173,000\\n00.481\\n17 6\\n5(1 155\\n25,2\\n306.515\\n6,335\\n61,144\\n974\\n02.7\\n5,121\\n17.8\\n1870\\nLR71\\n455,378\\nS.585\\n53.6\\n17.420\\n26\\n1,231,008\\n65,770\\n18 7\\n54 517\\n22.5\\n312,054\\n5,797\\n53.8\\n265\\n59.4\\n235,006\\n7,297\\n32.;\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0-0 ,s:\\n7.6\\n69 7\\n3.877\\n10,1\\n1871\\n1872\\n408,164\\nS.S25\\n53\\n16,781\\nm\\n1,272,496\\n61,311\\n7\\n53,45;\\n23.8\\n318,916\\n6,57:\\n1.106\\n.,.8\\n1.190\\n1872\\n1873\\n472,023\\n8.450\\n55.8\\n16 088\\n25 2\\n1,288,704\\n50.103\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a012\\n53.287\\n24\\n323,679\\n5.871\\n55\\n4.57C\\n70.8\\n745\\n90\\n1874\\n405,03 t\\n11.082\\n42.5\\n18,838\\n20 3\\n1,345,089\\n71.015\\n18 7\\n58.011\\n22.5\\n330,391\\n6.89S\\n282,359\\n7,373\\n38.2\\n31,721\\n951\\n75 8\\n1875\\n1876\\n500.034\\n535,210\\n1(1. 10\\n15,753\\n47.5\\n33.9\\n17,004\\n18.087\\n28\\n1,384,152\\n1.-124,994\\n66.718\\n80.234\\n20.7\\n17 7\\n52.218\\n56 308\\n26...\\n25.2\\n338,313\\n350,658\\n8,745\\n10,466\\n38.6\\n5,184\\n65\\n74.600\\n1 ,95 1\\n38 4.230\\n17.4\\n1876\\n1877\\n1878\\n1879\\n1880\\n1881\\n1882\\n1885\\n1877\\n557.071\\n15. 63\\n36.5\\n18,(102\\n30 8\\n1,471,777\\n76.248\\n19 3\\n55.851\\n26.3\\n505,505\\n12.318\\n29.6\\n5 -1\\n68.2\\n297,387\\n8,434\\n35.2\\n8.7\\nIS\\nIK7N\\n567,855\\n11.010\\n48.9\\n19,220\\n29 5\\n1,505,577\\n7O.S90\\n21 2\\n50.725\\n26.0\\n375,654\\n10.686\\n80,228\\n80.208\\n80,591\\n75.3 .,.si4\\nJ),,\\n574,480 10,018\\n57.3\\n18,501\\n31\\n1,523,306\\n24\\n50.557\\n26.9\\n352.510\\n8.37C\\n45.7\\n5.371\\n71\\n1.-.S 1\\n62.4 1.148\\n11,,\\n1880\\n578,071 I 0.232\\n02.0\\n18,960\\n30\\n1,564,105\\n59.330\\n58.555\\n26 51\\n384,332\\n5,893\\n344,034\\n7,732\\n44.4\\n9.5\\n(38\\nj\u00c2\u00b0; 1 *sg\\ni\\n1881\\n581,401 8,174 7]\\n17.480\\n33.2\\n1,553,540\\n50,972\\n30 1\\n55.957\\n25.7\\n555. 655\\n5,560\\n69.3\\n4,309\\n89.5\\nBRQ\\n107\\n1882\\n1SS3\\n000,005 10397\\n61\\n57.7\\n19,026\\n17,728\\n31\\n1,572,177\\n1,601,072\\n57.241\\n01.802\\n27.1\\n25 8\\n50.8115\\n55,876\\n27.0\\n387,610\\n590.209\\n5.99!\\n6.374\\n62\\n5,366\\n73.8\\n364,367\\n6,997\\n02\\n36.25-1\\ni(J 80.156\\n940 St. Si 5.989\\n20\\nISSI\\n015,042 11,942\\n51.5\\n10,483\\n31.6\\n1,047,719\\n09,1-15\\n22, 8\\n02.025\\n26.6\\n401,549\\n8,290\\ns- o- 1 0(9 OS J I\\n19,5 IS85\\n17.0 I8S0\\n1885\\n1886\\n044,025 16,191\\n001,800 18,471\\n42.3\\n35.8\\n21.012\\n21.010\\n30\\n30.6\\n1.000,010\\n1,765,228\\n78.417\\n98,814\\n21.5\\n17 8\\n04.01.\\n07.075\\n26.3\\n26\\n418,564\\n436,379\\n13,075\\n9,882\\n10.357\\n12.560\\n11.655\\n12.664\\n11,494\\n57\\n51 2\\n52\\n47\\n52.8\\n49.4\\n54.6\\n423,280\\n8,608\\n49.1\\n41,534\\n10.1 85.057 1.001 75. s 1.70S\\n1SS7\\n007,835 20,114\\n34.6\\n25.100\\n295/\\n1.800,501\\n101.520\\n18 4\\n74,638\\n25\\n457,584\\n12,039\\nISjSO\\nlsss\\n1889\\n753,740 lo ,547\\n38.6\\n23,869\\n21,501\\n30.3\\n30.6\\n1. 931, 002\\n1.998,293\\n91.500\\nloi.m;-,\\n21\\n10 7\\n72.305\\n74,01\\n26.9\\n491.085\\n33\\n41.4\\n48\\n56\\n486,866\\n10.512\\n46.1\\n46.073\\n10.5\\n5,8,812\\n1.268\\n70.5\\n5.258\\n16.0\\n17\\nIS81I\\nis; it)\\n775 0O3\\n17,471\\n44.4\\n25.487\\n30.8\\n2,064,437\\n80.15-\\n25 6\\n77.5 I\\n21 4\\n,00 .5\\n91.32:!\\n95.965\\n1.6111\\n5,666\\n1891\\n800,700\\n21.570\\n37\\n20,121\\n30\\n2.157.915\\n112.6112\\n18 7\\n81.441\\n14,040\\n15.247\\n17.70.1\\n15,943\\n14,881\\n13.055\\n11,202\\n11.351\\n49.5\\n49.137\\n11.4\\n1.211\\n79\\n5.776\\n16.fi\\n1.892\\nIHHi\\n830,170\\n2(1.830\\n2,201. OS 1\\n197,505\\n11\\n84.739 20.^\\n97.520\\n1.191\\n81.6\\n5.597\\n17 1\\n1,895\\nisn:\\n855,080\\n21.758\\n39.3\\n26,247\\n52.0\\n2,260,196\\n113.028\\n19.8\\n87,806 25.8\\n555 550\\n615.195\\n625.-04\\n625,254\\n10l|8||\\n1.501\\n07\\n6. 178\\n16\\n1894\\n1S .)4\\nL89E\\nIS II\\n1891\\nis; is\\n895,997\\n022,004\\n013,710\\n000.1111\\n075,877\\n2S.2I2\\n25.720\\n24,1.81\\n21 .500\\n21.571\\n31.8\\n36\\n38\\n44\\n15.2\\n28,051\\n2V 15;\\n33.3\\n2,366,374\\n2,454.645\\n2.522.112\\n2,558.210\\n2,608,694*\\nll 2\\n1 I9052\\n100 205\\n16.3 93.107, 20. J\\n17.6! OS. 121,\\n21.2 88.45S l.1.0\\n21 4 84 I 1 !C\\n618,500\\n678.999\\n11,844\\nii.867\\n52\\nhl.2,\\n50.968\\n:1\\n12\\nill\\n103.54s\\n101.701\\n107.900\\n110.713\\n111.665\\n1.580\\n1,181\\n1.315\\n1.117\\n1 III\\n71.1\\n7(50\\n82\\n97.0\\n5.917\\n6.155\\n155\\n5.987\\n17.1\\n17\\n17\\n18 6\\n1895\\n1896\\n1897\\n1898\\nIS99\\n189!\\n17.0S2\\n55.5\\n24,008 395\\n2,616,238*: si) -vi\\n*From IS17 b IS7U tin- tiuuus ^iven are tor the\\nThese nWeToTeT\\ntSdiScSJepSrt ii f ISdiocls Srlp\\nlid School onlv. 1 his table includes only the\\nlf ,hc presb terlans\\nthe comparisons made\\npage IS. home fract.o,,. .re dropped. 1|", "height": "3146", "width": "3115", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0214.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0215.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4698", "width": "2897", "jp2-path": "baptistinhistory00mosh_0216.jp2"}}