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i(j TH
Contributed
BAPTIST HISTORY AS EXHIBITED
IN THEIR RECENT WRITINGS.
IV.
We pass now to consider the history
of the doctrinal teachings of the Baptist
Church. Dr. McGlothlin is very full in
his statement of the "Religious Views"
of the Aoabaptists: (1) "In general, the
Anabaptists accepted the common CathnllP
nnrl Prntoutont Hnnt rino r?f flnH *
* * . A few like Denck and Hatzer,
doubted, or denied the essential Deity of
Christ; and, on the other hand, Melchoir
Hofmann and his followers denied the
humanity of Christ * * *. (2) They
opposed the Augustinian theology of the
Reformers, insisting vehemently on the
freedom of the will and complete moral
responsibility. The theology of Luther,
Zwingli and Calvin appeared to them to
be contrary to the Scriptures, dishonoring
to God, and dangerous to morality.
In these views they anticipated Arminius
by almost a century. tSt The Ann.
baptists maintained the right of the individual
to interpret Scripture for himself:
and some of them, at least, asserted the
superior authority and sanctity of the N.
T. over the O. T. * * * . (4) The true
church was composed of believers only?
'saints' infant baptism was regarded
as without warrant in Scripture.
* *. The mode of baptism was never
a matter of discussion . (5)
The ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's
Supper had no sacramental significance.
Baptism was rather a declaration of
faith and forgiveness than a sacrament
of cleansing or regeneration. (6) Not
much is known of the officers and organization
of the Anabaptists. * * * .
(7) On eschatology there were great
differences of opinion. The majority,
perhaps, held sane and Biblical views;
hut expectation of the early return of
Christ bred the wildest fanaticism in
others. Thomas Munzer also
had believed in the use of the sword * *
* (See Ency. Relig. Eth. Vol. I, pp.
410-411) Dr. WhitBitt writes: "The tenet
by which they became most widely
known was the rejection of infant baptism
their general type
of doctrine is understood to be Arminlan.
So far as is known the brethren all opposed
Luther's doctrine of justification
by faith, insisted upon the freedom of
the will and denounced predestination"
(Johnson's Univ. Ency. vol. I, p. 170).
Dr. Newman writes on this subject:
"All Anabaptists * * * were antl-Augustinian
in their anthopology, many
were chiliastlc, many anti-trlnitarian,
some were pantheistic and antinomian,
many were communistic, and none (so
far as is known) insisted on immersion
as the exclusively valid act of baptism."
(New Schaff-Herzog, Vol. I, p. 457) of
Mr. Smyth and his followers the first of
the English to adopt the antipedo-baptist
views, and the "declaration of their
faith" "in 1615" Dr. Newman says: "Arminian
views are clearly and moderately
set forth with respect to God's relation
E PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU!
to the fall and to human sin." Of Thomas
Helwys he has this, "he held to a
moderate type of Arminianism." (N. S.Herzog,
Vol. I, pp. 458, 459). Of the
founders of the American Baptist Church
or churches Dr. Newman informs us that
"most of those" in Massachusetts were
Arminian (Hist. Bapt. p. 81), that among
"the first Baptist Churches of America"
"Arminianism * * proved far more popular"
(p. 239). that among "the New England
Baptists" "the great majority of
their churches were Arminian" (p. 243),
the First Church in Providence, R. I.,
which was at first Calvinistic (p. 85) became
"Arminian" (p. 253), the First
Church of Boston was under Arminian
influence (p. 256), that "Arminianism of
the Wesleyan type appeared among the
Baptists of Maine, New Hampshire, and
' Vermont," "in 1778" (p. 269), that of the
Baptist Churches in Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut in 1740
"all but four or five seem to have been
Arminian" (p. 271), and that in 1775 in
Virginia Arminianism had grown so
strong among the Separate Baptists?
who united with the Regular Baptists in
1787?as to divide the church almost half
uiiu nan. i pp. z?o-?suu;. i ne great majority
of the Baptists of today hold to
what may be called moderate Calvinism"
(p. 6).
Of Roger Williams and his views of
baptism Dr. Newman tells us that "as
regards the manner of the baptism it is
probable that he thought strict adherence
to primitive practice required true immersion
by pressing the head forward."
(p. 81). Of those who succeeded Williams
he writes, "they laid much stress
on the ceremonial imposition of hands
after baptism as an indispensable qualification
for church-fellowship." (p. 85).
"By 1712 all the ministers in the Jerseys
Ho/1 on Km 11 r\
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laying on of hands." "In the early history
of the denomination in Pennsylvania
differences of opinion appeared with
respect to the laying on of hands. By
' 1729 practical unanimity seems to have
been reached in favor of the rite." (pp.
208, 214).
Of the polity of the anti-pedobaptists
we notice the general belief in the independence
of-each organization, but oftentimes
in their Associations they border
on to what has been termed "Presbyterianized
Congregationalism," but in 1774
we find "in the Virginia Separate bod/,"
?which thirteen vears later united with
the Regular Baptists, and became the
Baptist Church of Virginia which >ve
know today?"a query was raised: 'ought
all the ministerial gifts recorded in the
4th of Bphesians, 11th, 12th, and 13th
verses to be in use at the present time"?
A majority favored the affirmative; "it
was "brought up again" and "it was decided
almost unanimously "that the said
offices are now in Christ's Church.' It
was further resolved 'that the said offices
te immediately established'" and "Sam
uel Harris was chosen apostle by unanimous
consent" "for the Southern district,
of the Association," "John Waller and
Elijah Craig" being "constituted apostles"
"for the Northern district." ' The
PH. July 28, 1909.
apostolate" continues Dr. Newman, "was
simply episcopacy or general superintendency
under another name" and was
"evidence of the close relationship of
the Separate Baptist movement to 'he
Methodist." (pp. 298-299). This polity
only stood for a very short time, and
just one year later this same Baptist Association
adopted the Philadelphia Confession,
which was Calvinistic.
With reference to an educated ministry
Dr. Newman writes of the Baptists in
Virginia in 1793?which was 154 yeais
after Roger Williams had begun the
movement in this country:?"it does not
appear that they had enjoyed the services
of a single collegebred man." "It
was a common thing among them for a
recent convert with an ordinary educu- ,
tion, or none at all, to begin at once to
preach." "The early Baptists of Kentucky
were as a rule thoroughly imbued
with prejudice against the educated and
salaried ministers." Again coinmont'ng
on the Baptists of the beginning of the
19th century Dr. Newman says: "The
mass of the Bautlsts were indifferent or
hostile to ministerial education." ' Many
who favored * * * literary education
would have looked upon a modern theological
seminary as a human effort to ac-"
complish that which is God's sole prerogative."
(pp. 304, 336, 380, 381). ^
From these quotations we gather (1)
that the early Anabaptists, or the antipedobaptists
of 350 years ago were thoroughly
Arrainian, even rejecting "justification
by faith," that some of them
denied the essential Deity of Christ, '
some His essential humanity, that baptism
was simply an outward form of
"declaration of faith" not a sacrament of
cleansing," that the mode of baptism
was "affusion," that they were for the
most part an ignorant mass bound together
by the!r opposition to Infant baptism
and their chiliastic ideas: 2. That
the early Baptists of England were for the
most part Arminian, though some as
early as 1679 adopted a confession that
was thoroughly Calvinistic: (3) That
the early Baptists of the United States
were predominantly for the first 150
years Arminian, though many were Calvinistic.
that thev in manv States, as
Massachusetts, New Jersey, etc., for 75
years made the laying on of hands after
baptism a part of their belief, even "a
condition of communion," that they usually
practiced the independent Congrega- ,
tional government, but in one instance introduced
episcopacy, that for 200 years
of their history they not only had no
educated ministry?save occasional individals,
but were actually "hostile to ministerial
education"; (4) That in all the
375 years of the modern movement which
had its rise in Anabaptism and is today
represented by the Baptists, there is but
one thing in which the. identity ot the
whole movement can be traced; not in
their polity?for this has varied from extreme
independence to PresbyterianlzedCongregationalism
and episcopacy, not
in their theology?for this has varied
from Armlnianism and antl-nomianism to
the rankest type of hyper-Calvinism,
from the denials of the essential Deity,