THE ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTSDEVOTED TO BIBLE MELIQION, EDUCATION, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Volume 68.
RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1&9 2.
Number. 13.
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The Baptists and the Bible.
The following address was delivered by
Dr. A. E. Dickinson of Richmond, Va., at
the Centennial meeting of the Goshen Bap
tist Association, recently held at County
Line Baptist church, Caroline county, Va. :
Baptists have always and every where been
the champions of an open Bible. Others
have maintained the supreme authority of
the Bible, but-Baptists have always and ev
erywhere stood for something more than
that. They are satisfied with nothing short
of the sole authority of the sacred Scrip
tures. Our beliefs concerning God and duty
must come from the Bible since there is
nothing else to give us any light worth hav
ing on these great themes. And right here
lies the fundamental principle upon which
are based the doctrines that separate us
from all other Christian communities. We
put the Bible before everything else because
it is what it claims to be, a fall and sure
revelation - from God. . Whatever ..may. . be
one's theory of inspiration, if he believes
that holyvmen of old spake as they were
; moved by the Holy Ghost, he will wish to
hear and heed what the Holy Ghost says.
Right here is the starting point for every
true Baptist. He has no pet ideas of his own
about church organization. The ordinances
of the gospel are nothing to him, except as
they constitute a part of the only revelation
God has given to man. It is because it is
the Lord's baptism and the Lord's supper
that we let them stand just as the Lord gave
them in his own revealed word. We love
our own children and all the dear little ones
around us and seek for them the largest pos
sible good. It is from no lack of prayerful
interest in them that we withhold church
membership from them until they give evi
dence of a new heart. The revealed word
makes faith and repentance and a new heart
prerequisites to baptism, and we dare not
teach otherwise. We have no right to do it.
'And, besides the inspired , volume closes
with denunciations upon all who add to or
lake from its teachings. "For I testify unto
every man that heareth the words .of the
prophecyof this book, if any man shall add
unto these things, God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book,
and if any man shall take away from tbo
words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of
. life, and out of the holy city and from the
things which are written in this book."
Thus speaks God to us in the last chapter of
the last volume of the books which go to
make up our Holy Bible.
THE APPARENT INCONVENIENCE OF THE BAP
',; v TI8T IDEA.
In many particulars, the Baptist Idea of
church polity seems to fall short of what is
moat needed, when we come to" the actual
test with the material God has given us to
work upon, . From a human standpoint the
most convenient arrangement for governing
our churches would seem to be that used
with such marvellous results by the Roman
Catholicsjust a9 from a human standpoint
the most effective form of civil government
would be a despotism. Instead of ail the
. trials and tribulations we now Java in nonu
inating and electing the man we would have
to serve us, how much easier to let some one
man and his children after him rule over
os. .That would, save us from manifold in
conveniences.especially about election times.
And so, too, in administering the affairs of
the churches of Jesus Christ. Instead of
putting the care and responsibility of the
government of. the churches upon superior
officers as they are called Presiding Elders,
Bishops, and the like, and leaving them to
direct and control, Baptists leave every local
l church to control its own affairs, because,
when we tarn to the New Testament, we
Bee nothing more plainly taught there than
. that such ought to be the case. -whatever may
, be the real or apparent evils of our Baptist
. church polity, the churches founded by the
inspired apostles seem to have been of the
asms kind. Then the power to govern was
lodged in each little local church. You will
, March the Divine record in tain for great
' officials and privileged classes with special
rights for interpreting the word of God and
for ruling over God's elect. The great ec
clesiastics who rule and reign in splendor
and power, hold a high place in their re
spective 6ects and denominations, but they
have no place in the New Testament church
polity after which our Baptist way of doing
things is modelled.
BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.
If the tree is to be judged by its fruit, we
are not afraid of that test as to our church
polity and that of others. Without any such
human appliances as they have for unifying
and directing their forces, the Baptists hold
together very closely, and they are growing
every day into more loving accord, as they
work together for common interests affect
ing the glory of their great King.
To many this is a great mystery. They do
not see how it is possible for a denomina
tion numbering millions to be so solid and
compact, without any authoritative stand
ards or any ecclesiastical powers. " Instead
of falling to pieces like a rope of sand, these
thousands of little republics, each separate
and distinct and independent of every other,
are as wide awake and effective in diffusing
the gospel at home and abroad as are any of
the great Pedobaptist denominations, with
their strong Episcopal or Presbyterial gov
ernments. How is this? Why is this?
The secret of it all is to be found in the
theme now under consideration.
THE BAPTISTS AND THE BIBLE.
If others have a book, so have we, and it
is our confession of faith, our discipline,
our creed, our standard and that book is
the Bible. That book holds us together
and makes us one people, one in faith and
one in practice; and the more closely we
follow its word of command the more we
regard it as our supreme and sole authority
in all matters of faith and practice, the more
we shall be drawn together and the more
we shall be led of God in all the great work
committed to us.
So far from looking to great ecclesiastics
for guidance, Baptists have ever recognized
the fact that hereby is most likely to de
velop its rankest forms among religious
leaders, and they have ever sought to guard
such tendencies by giving people an open
Bible, and by encouraging them to form
their own views of its teachings by sedu
lously searching for themselves its sacred
pages. .
Baptists allow no doctrine which cannot
be sustained from God's word ; they coun
tenance no custom contrary to its teachings.
With them the word of God is not only
supreme, but -sole and alone in matters of
faith and doctrine.
Here and there you may find a Baptist
church with its articles of faith, but these
are simply declarations of what such a
church believes the Bible to teach, and no
one claims for them any ecclesiastical au
thority whatever.
To the Bible the Baptist points as the sole
and efficient source from which he draws
his creed. He will not only point to the
book, but he will give you the chapter and
verse, and many chapters and verses, all of
which unmistakably tell what he believes
and why he believes it.
THE LOGIC OF OUR POSITION.
As illustrating the logic of our denomina
tional positions, let me say that it is not a
mere accident that Baptists have always
been the promoters and champions of relig
ious liberty. Believing as they do they
were of necessity compelled to be the advo
cates of soul freedom. We might say they
could not help it. That doctrine was
wrapped up in the Baptist idea; that every
man must repent for himself, believe for
himself, and be baptized for himself, and
that no man or devil or angel no power on
earth, in hell or in heaven has any right to
interfere with our own personal obligation
to do what God in his word enjoins upon
us. As effect follows cause, so the logio of
the Baptist position compels us to be as we
ever have been, the unwavering advocates
of soul freedom.
. And, right here, let me add that to refuse
baptism to the infant and leave it to follow
its own convictions, as it grows to years of
accountability, fallows as logically from our
position in regard to soul freedom. To take
an infant out of its mother's arms, and by
mere physical force baptize it, without its
knowledge or consent, is as antagonistic to
our views of eoul freedom as to inflict phys
ical punishment upon the same infant after
he has grown to years of maturity because
he refuses to believe as we do.
. Baptists believe that one must be called
but of darkness into light by the power of
God must be born againand that prior to
this mighty Jife giving change no one has
anv richt to assume the name of a disciple.
They believe that the blood comes before the 1
water, and tnat faun ana repentance ana a
new heart are essential to a proper observ
ance of the ordinances. The Baptists be
lieve this, and they are the only people on
As to what is baptism, and where it be
longs in the christian system, and the Lord's
supper an4 its place, we point to or Lord's
commission and to tne practice of his apos
tles. If they made faitn ana baptism pre
cede the supper we dare not invert the di
vine order, or ifi any way deviate from it. t
A PEDOBAPTIST' REMARK. , , ,
A Pedobaptist clersrvman said to a Baptist
brother, with whom he was having a very
pleasant talk J wonder very muchjhat
you isaplista nave not a rar greater ioiiow
Ing. I know yon have millions of adherents,
but it is a wonder to me that yon have not
many more millions. Your denominational
platform is unique and one of the most
striking that was ever put before any peo
ple. Your preacheis, vrben they , baptize,"
rarely dd more than read fromthe New
Testament a collection of verses bearing
upon that subject, after which they give in
the baptism of the candidate what seems to
be an object lesson upon all they have read.
And then, when yon are asked about infant
baptism, you generally content yourselves
by challenging your Pedobaptist brother to
produce in all the New Testament a single
passage which either directly or indirectly
teaches infant baptism a challengo which
has never been successfully met. Then', as
to your church government, what can be
more in keeping with our democratic way
of doing things than is your way of leaving
every church free and untrammelled to do
Jnst as it pleases ? I repeat, it is a wender
to me that millions morj have not given in
their allegiance to this Baptist platform.
In reply to that very apt and striking re
mark of an honored Pedobaptist brother, it
may be said that the explanation of our fail
ure to grow and multiply as we should have
done, is to be found in the fact that Baptists
have not supported the Bible as strongly as
the Bible has supported the Baptists. Our
theory is right, and that is a great point
f gained. Theory underlies practice, and as
ong as the theory is good, we may hope
that it will work its way into the life and
character of those who maintain it. Bap
tists were a very feeble band when Neander,
the great church historian, said of them,
"There is a great future for the Baptists.''
How wonderfully they have grown since the
day upon which Neander uttered that pre
diction, and yet we have scarcely begun to
reach up to the great things which the God
of the Bible has placed before us. But thank
God if our principles are in accord with his
divine word, they will yet get a mightier
hold upon us, who too feebly champion
them, and upon the multitudes who now re
ject them. Like leaven they will leaven the
whole lump, sending their quickeTring power
into all sects and sections, the world over.
LEAVENING THE LUMP.
I do not say that all: good people will, in
the coming ages, leave their respective de
nominations and come .to us and wear the
Baptist name. That may never come to
pass, but a thing almost as desirable will, I
doubt not, take place. Whatever is scrip
tural in our teachings will, in God's good:
time, be appropriated "by others and be in
corporated into their systems. Something,
like this has been going on for generations,
and the good work has by no means ceased.
Doctrines for which, in by-gone ages, Bap
tists endured stripes and imprisonment and
death have become the possession of the
christian world. They are not only held by.
others now, but believed so firmly that the
bare suggestion that there ever was a. time
when they did not hold to these truths is
repelled with more or legs of feeling. This
process will go on in the coming years, until
the happy day shall dawn, when there will
be no Baptist peculiar views, since such
views will belong equally to all God's dear
people
And yet there may be then as now many
denominational names. It is not the name
Baptist for which we are contending, (that
name you know was given us' by our ene
mies), but for the things for which th it
name stands, and if others accept our doc
trines we will not quarrel with them as to
the name.
In politics, if a man votes as you do, you
do not care very much whether he wears
your party name or not. It is the vote you
wish. The influence he may exert over
others with whom, for the time being? he is
associated may be more potential than if he
were to come right over and wear the name
of the party with which he casts his vote.
He may do the better 44 missionary worki"
as the politicians sometimes designate, such
services, by lingering nominally at least
with his old associates. v ;
And thus, while Baptists would of course
greatly prefer that all who take their doc
trine should also take their name, and stand
shoulder to shoulder with them; bearing the
heat and burden of the day, still they must
look with profound gratitude upon the great
and ever growing multitudesln other com
munions who really are Baptists in every
thing except the name. They believe as we
do as to immersion being the only Bible bap
tism. They reject a we do infant baptism,
and hold as we do that no one has a right to
the ordinances unless he comes as a peni
tent believer, and they are holding too with
more or less tenacity other things which the
worldcalls "Baptist peculiarities, as it
once counted us heretics and schismatics for.
our peculiar views as to religious Lberty. :
.-, ,, THEORY AND PRACTICE, .
While good comes from a true theory, evil
and only evil is likely to flow from a falsa
theory. It has been well said that no one
can point out the precise period when the
Roman Catholic corruptions began. They
crept in very slyly one by one, and often
grew out of natural, if not praiseworthy im
pulses, but with this came the widespread
ruin which the Roman hierarchy has brought
upon the human family. It was all wrapped
up in the false theory with which it started,
that the church had the right to change and
modify the ordinances and teachings of the
word of God,--' hv v3V';: j 7
- And what better thing can we no wi hope
from PedobaptlBt denominations except as
we influence them? If they have a right to
substitute sprinkling for : baptism, and in
fants for penitent believers, and hierarchies
for the New Testament form of church gov
ernment, they have the right to make other
sweeping changes until the blessed book it
self is swept away, . Whefe once yon begin
to deviate from the strict teachings of the
inspired word, who can tell what the end
will be f How often even go6d people deceive
themselves or are deceived by others with
such declarations as these : -4 It does not
matter so you are sincere," or that one thing
is more convenient than something else or
that the strict observance of a Scriptural
command is not essential to salvation and
the like. And vet whrfwould apply the same
kind of reasoning toother things? We know
well enough that sincerity in the man who
takes the wrong medicine does not save him
from'its effects, and no loving child will be
found obeying his parents simply from the
fear of being disinherited.
HOPEFUL' INDICATION .
One of the most encouraging Indications'
of the progress of Baptist principles Is to be
found in the fact that our, adversaries sub
stantially concede almost all that we claim,
only they think that we err in holding too
firmly to the strict letter of God's word, and
that we make it too much a matter of con-'
science to follow it literally and fully. Dr.
Lyman Beecher wrote to his son Edward,,
whose conscience seems to have been a lit-,
tie troubled as to baptism, saying : 44 1 have
reason to believe that through excess of con
science many a man has been worried till
he becamea Baptist." " :;M f. 5
Some time since a tired Baptist preacher
went off on a steamboat seek ing rest and re
freshment for body and mind. ,IIe. met
among the passengers an old Pedobaptist
friend who was constantly worrying the
tired preacher by attempts to draw him into
discussing the baptismal question, but pres
ently , the Baptist turned upon him and
with no little emphasis asked; "If this very
moment it were revealed to you from heaven
that you1 could never' enter there ' without
Scripture baptism, what would you dot"'
The Pedobaptist brother paused a moment
and then replied : "I would beg the captain
to haul in the boat that you might immerse
me here and now.rt Of course that carried
the whole point and made further discus-'
siori of the subject unnecessary. ; There are'
multitudes like him in Pedobaptist denomi
nations who cannot rid themselves of the
conviction that the baptism of the Baptists
is the baptism of the' New Testament. -
f - Baptists stand foathe-oidioaBeeaa they
were delivered, and attach to them no more
importance than is given them by the in
spired writers. If we emphasize them, it is
because Christ and' his apostles did the
same thing. We follow in their footsteps.
And besides,, as we look over the history of
the church, we find that wherever and when
ever Baptists have failed of doing this, thej
most serious evils have come to the cause of
God. . .
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM TUB GOSHEN. .
Of the truth of what I am saying, this old
Goshen Association, whose Centennial we are
now celebrating,, affords many illustrations.
We stand ; to day upon the very soil over
which the Craigs and Waller and Webber
and many more were, hurried to gloomy
dungeons, and in almost every instance the
men who were foremost in those diabolical
persecu tions were , the 4 4 Pariah, parsons".
Often when the hearts of the sheriffs and,
other civil officers were moved with pity at
the beautiful martyr Spirit with which those
old Baptist preachers went to jail and lin
gered there naif starved, the parish preach-
era would be clamoripg for yat other and
severer punishment, and why? You know
why. It was because for long years Pedo
baptism had enjoyed undisputed sway in all
the counties covered by this Goshen Asso
ciation, and it had worked out the same re
sults here that it has wrought, everywhere
else under the same conditions. Almost the
entire population bad been brought into the
church-r brought in without the least regard
to what the Bible teaches, about such great
matters. The church and the world had
come to be one, and New Testament religion
had disappeared from the land. v v, 4
Then it was that God sent these brave;
Baptists, who rejoiced to, suffer with their
Lord. Much of the good that our Pedobap
tist brethren are how doing is due largely to
the faithful and persistent protest which we
make to the evils inherent in their respective
systems. We hold them back from the log
ical results of their teachings. We keep
their errors from running to seed, and thus
save them from the untold calamities which
always and everywhere follow where such
views are not thus antagonized. If to day
Baptists were to abandon the field and give
op the struggle, in a generation or two Pe
dobaptists would have ' brought into the
church every child in the land, and once Id,
there they would remain," and ; soon the
church and the State would be as much one
here in America, as they are to day in other
lands where Baptist principles are unknown,
as much One as they were when the pioneers
of this Association, sentenced to close con
finement, passed through the streets of
Fredericksburg on their way to jail singing:
; Broad is the road that fcada to death, - " J
: ' And thousand walk together there;.. ' ; ; .
S ; But wiudom shows a narrow path, '. "
...With here and there a tiveilw:j'1
1
A FEW INQUIRIES.
f 'A few Inquiries suggested by the subject
in hand, may fitly close this address. .. I
.Are Baptists doing their part in printing
and circulating. the Bible fi Freely we have
received, freely we should give. The Bible
has donej everything for the Baptists, and
yet it maybe a question whether others,
who believe in courts and councils and stan
dards of one sort and another, along with
the Scriptures, are not Outstripping us in
giving the gospel to the people f '
Are Baptists adhering as strictly to scrip
tural order,, in their denominational ' work,
as the logic of their position demands ? Are
there not tendencies to distrust and abandon
the primitive church and its polity ? Are
we not taken u p too much with mere tem
porary expedients without caring much
whether they conform to Scripture principle
and precept? While our theory, that bap
tism and church membership are only for
the regenerated, is all right, is not our prac
tice of hurrying masses of those who after
wards prove to be not regenerated, through
the forms of church membership, all wrong ?
Every such addition from the world lowers
the standard of piety just as the placing of
a block or ice in this room would lower tne
temperature. ' When loaded down with un-;
converted material, there is nothing for a
Baptist church to do but to die, and the
sooner it dies the better.. Others may and
do grow without spiritual - power; Their
ecclesiastical machinery is so elaborate and
so well adjusted' that it will run about as
well' without:' vital godliness as with it.
That is, so far as apparent growth and
wprldly influence are concerned. Rome and
State churches everywhere are proving the
same thing as are other sects which have
virtually set aside the Bible.
Again, are Baptists who owe their exis
tence to the Bible and who are shorn of
their power when it loses its authority, any
more reverent in their interpretation of the
sacred word than others, or anv more earn"
est in studying its truths and in imparting
them in the home and in the school, and to
all over . whom their- influence reaches ?
Lewis Craig, and others of your old Goshen
Baptist brethren, were once arrested by the
sheriff of Spotsylvania county, and when
they came before the court the prosecuting
attorney said: May it please your worship,
these men cannot meet a man upon the
road, but they must ram a text of Scripture'
down his throat.? That's the way the men
who laid the foundations of this Association
felt about the Bible. ' But I fear that not
many of their descendants Jay themselves
liable to the charge brought against Lewis
Craig and his colaborers- . I ? ,
Are Baptists more than others expressing-
Are they more' loyal friends of righteous
ness, or sturdier foes of evil? Do the sweet
humanities and charities of religion, of Bible
. religion, flourish more among Baptists than
elsewhere i ( 5 -
As Baptists grow in numberp, in wealth,
in social bower, are thev not in ereat dan
ger of forgetting the secret of their strength f
Alas for us that so often our children turn
away from the old faith, carrying all the
treasures won for them by their Baptist fa
thers to others, where they may be used with
the most telling effect against us.. With the
increase of culture and wealth, if we are
wise, we shall strive more than ever for the
humble zeal ; and quenchless fervor and
abundant labors which characterized our
IJaptist fathers. , , . ; , ' .
, NEED OF WISE LEADERS. ,
If what has been claimed in this address
is true, the Baptists ought to be the most
wide-awake, pushing, enterprising people
in the world. We ought to prepare for the
great multitudes that are cure to flow into
our ranks., We shall, need larger church
buildings, and more of them. We shall
' need ten dollars for denominational schools
and colleges where we how have ten cents.
And our mission work at home and abroad
should bo enormously extended. To do all
this we must have God given leaders. No
peoplo need leaders as the Baptists do.
Never since Christ ascended to heaven has
any Baptist cause failed of great prosperity
which wat in charge of wise and energetic
leaders.! But the God of the Bible is not
likely to come down and work miracles for
the Baptists. ;
;-, If we put the wrong men in charge of our
churches and schools and ; colleges and
boards and papers, and then wait for them
to die that we may fill their places with men
better suited to lead in such matters, if we
are too cowardly to assume our share of the
responsibility needed to bring about desired
changes and modifications, then there can
be no Baptist progress. There is a man for
every position, a God-made man. When ho
and the place, meet, the victory is assured.
No loriger then can there be any question as
to men and means for carrying forward, tho
work. No people follow more magnificent
ly than the Baptists if they have a sure
enough leader, and no people hold .back
more stubbornly than they if they lack fait Ii
in those who undertake to lead them.
Finally, in this Centennial year of Fort i;;n
Missions as we tell over and over tha story
Of Carey and Judsoa and Ilice, let us tear
In mind that they and many more of t' ?
brightest lights among our IS.ipti t vrcrt1 '
were won to our faith by the B.l'.. '
Bible has made more Baptists th m if I
books ever printed. As certain 5 v I
upon 44 the impregnable rock,!' s c
shall this doctrine of ours win i 1 1
fights 1 We need only to to f '
great trust to secure full i.- !
umph for the DaptisU an 1 tl ; v
. 1 In the sorest trials Go
sweetest discoveries cf t
1