The Christian index. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1892-current, October 15, 1896, Page 2, Image 2

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2 chose to leave himself and his kingdom to vindicate their claims and press their power and win this world by the moral force of his doctrine and the democratic aggression of his churches. Any other system of church organization and operation is in the teeth of the Scriptures, and whatever good these extra and anti scriptural systems have accomplished,has been under the overruling power of God, who permitted these innovations as in the case of Saul and the king dom chosen by Israel in the place of the judges, under God’s protest and yet permission for some wise and inscrutable pur pose. Alas! whatever their good, they have done much evil in di viding and opposing God’s peo ple in their unholy union with the State and use of the secular arm, and in the persecutions and bloodshed by which they have stained the pages of history and blackened the name of Christian ity. Such organizations are al ways dangerous as they grow powerful. They court the world and grow strong with uncon verted material, and they have seized, and will seize again, upon any opportunity to combine with and control the secular power for purposes cf position and influ ence. These organizations are still dangerous, even in a free country like this, and there is not one of them but has a proto type in the old world as a State Church, and there is not one of them, if they ever have the power, but will gravitate back to the normal union of Church and State in this country. The form of this organization is an imita tion of human government, and it is perfectly natural that they, by assimilation and power, should coalesce with their kin dred organization when both or ganizations shall be composed of the majority of the same people in any nation, under favorable conditions. But it will be remarked that Baptists have similar organiza tions—that Baptists are united and confederated under general organic bodies, and the question is often asked, “What is the dif ference, when the effect is the same by influence if not author! ty?” I answer, The difference is radical, not only in the nature but in the effect of our general organ izations. A Baptist Association or State Convention or Gene ral Convention is a purely advisory or benevolent body, without any legislative or judi cial power whatever over the in dependent churches which may or may not be their representa tive constituency. In other words, our general organizations are only methods of co operation and work in order to the general spread of the Gospel, the unity o’ God's people and the mainte nance of a common faith and prac tice. The Council at Jerusalem is the precedent for the advisory conference of one church with another, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspired apostles, and what was decided then under the Council of God’s Church at Jerusalem in conjunc tion with the inspired apostles and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, may be done now under the inspired Bible and the leadings of the same Holy Spirit. So in matters of benevolence and missions, it is apparent that the churches of Macedonia co-op erated with Paul, and so to day, under these precedents, Bap tists and Baptist churches confer and co operate with each other under general organizations. 1. Baptists are utterly opposed to the moss back or hard shell literature which denies the use of methods for which there is not a Thus saith the Lord. The very people among us who often object to conventions and boards, or who are advocating what they call Gospel missions or methods, forget that they are compelled to use methods in other directions for which there is no express Scripture precept or practice. Nine tenths of our country churches, and some of our city and town churches, are without an ordained elder, and have once a-month preaching at the hands of a missionary supply, when the Scripture rule is that every church shall have ordained elders to rule over it and should wor ship and serve God in collective capacity on every Lord’s day. These people forget, too, that the Sunday-school, the religious newspaper, the denominational college or school, are all un revealed methods which are left to our sanctified judgment as the ages develop in the furtherance of God’s cause and kingdom in the earth. Where is there a word in the. New Testament for a house of worship, a hymn book, or a printed Bible, or a church clerk, or any one of a hundred unwrit ten methods by which we carry forward the business of God’s house? Where is there any fixed plan for sending the Gospel to the heathen, or for raising money for the purpose? Paul and Bar nabas went from under the con secration of the prophets and teachers at Antioch by the com mand of the Holy Spirit to the heathen; Timothy and Titus went under Paul’s direction to Ephesus and Crete; Philip, the evangelist, went without special instructions to Samaria; the dispersed church, which left Jerusalem, “went everywhere preaching the word;’’ the “twelve” and the “seventy ’ went out two by two, as sent of Christ; our Baptist fathers and pioneers in every generation went as they could and made con verts in every nation; Carey organized a missionary society and went to India; Judson was converted to the Baptists while going to India from another de nomination,and upon the strength of these movements the Baptists of the United States organized a convention and a board to carry on the great work of missions to the uttermost parts of the earth. Who will say that any and all of these methods are not scriptural according to the spirit and vari ant forms in which the Gospel illustrates the work of God? The only question with a Baptist should be, “Which is the best method, and which, under God, will be the most comprehensive and efficient for the salvation of a lost world for which Jesus Christ died?” 2. Baptists abhor all conven tional interference with the polity of an independent church. The churches are originally separate from and independent of each other in all matters of faith and practice, and the churches can delegate no authority to gen eral bodies to legislate oradjudi cate in matters of faith and prac tice. Nevertheless, there is a moral dependence which exists between God’s churches, and they have a moral right to con fer and co operate in delegative association for counsel, advice, benevolence, education, missions and any purpose which will further the unity in the faith and spirit of God and advance Christ’s kingdom in the earth. The poorest, smallest and most insigniticent little Baptist church on earth is equally the peer of the greatest in sovereign authori ty and independence as a body of Christ, and Christ holds the least as the greatest as precious as the apple of his eye The local ecclesia in every place is the sov ereign representative of Christ on earth—the pillar and ground of his truth, and in the moral unity, independence and co oper ation of the bodies of Christ con sists the harmony, peace, de velopment and prosperity of Christs organic kingdom, of which he is the sole head in all the world. He who organized these independent and sovereign representative, in every locality, and set them in operation, is able to guide and care for them as he established and left them, and it is but the presumption of men to differ from Christ’s plan and. to set up organizations wholly copied after the systems of men. Dr. Whitsitt vs. Baptist History. BY W. A. JARREL. D. 1)., AUTHOR BAP TIST HISTORY. Dr. Whitsitt’s book is made up chiefly of what he has taken from other writers. Likewise will be my reply. Bat I will be very careful that my citations be re liable and that they be from only relia ble authorities. THE ORIGINAL MENNONITES OR DUTCH BAPTIST 1M M ERSIONISTS. Dr. Whitsitt’s attempt to impeach what he so charitably calls “ the Ep worth, Crowle and Butter wick fraud,” is a failure. Dr. Clifford will, to say the least, suffer nothing in comparison with Dr. Whitsitt, as a historian. By proof 1 cannot here stop to give, he demon strates the Epworth and Crowle record reliable. An antiquarian, F. Chapman, says of these records: “ As keeper of the Manor Charts of North Lincolnshire, I have examined the old Baptist Records and believe them to refer to the last days of Queeu Elizabeth and James the First, and recommend the friends con nected with the Baptist cause, to quick ly copy them or they will vanish away. ” Being unable to reconcile this well cer tified-to Baptist record with the Mosheim impeached veracity of Men nonite authorities. Dr. Whitsitt does not hesitate to denounce them as “frauds." But admitting the Mennon ites reliable, who knows that historical discoveries will not yet reveal things that will show the two seemingly irre concilable accounts in harmony with each other. Surely, to await this rec onciliation is far more in harmony with reason, charity,and denominational loy alty than to say as Dr. Whitsitt says: “Theonly English production in Bap tist history that has come to the atten tion of the general public has been the fraud at Epworth, Crowle and West Butterwick, that brings blushes to the cheeks of intelligent Baptists in all parts of the world," p. 15. This old church record says: “On the 24th of March, 1606, at midnight, to avoid the satellites of the persecuting church, and under the glare of the torch light, John Smith was baptized by elder John Morton, in the river Don. "—Church Perpetuity, p. 852. Thus we have immersion before 1641. But, again, admitting the Mennon ite authorities correct as to Smith bap tizing himself and then renouncing his baptism, their statement that Smith was not immersed and that the original Mennonites did not immerse, is certainly a false statement to reflect on Baptists and to prop up affusion for baptism. Armitage well says: ‘ ‘ There is not a S article of evidence that he affused imself and it is a cheap caricature to imagine that he disrobed himself, walked into a stream, then lifted hand fuls of water, pouring them liberally upon his own head, shoulders and chest. We have the same reason for believ ing that he immersed Helwys.as that he dipped himself.” Masson writes that, " Heluissies' folks differed from the In dependents generally on the subject of infant baptism and dipping.” Armi tage’s Baptist Hist ,p. 459. Says a la mented scholar, J. A. Smith D D., formerly lecturer on Church T (story to the Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago: “ Whether Menno Simon was strictly a Baptist has been lately called in question. Pertinent to the matter is a quotation from his writings—Men nonis Simoni Opera, p. 24, by a writer THE CHRISTIAN INDEX: THURSDAY. OCTOBER 15. 1896. in the Konconformint and Independent. At the place noted Simon Menno says. “ After we have searched ever so dili gently we shall find no other baptism besides dipping that is acceptable to God and maintained in his Word.’ Says Dr. Smith: “We can from personal knowl edge testify to the accuracy of this quo tation." The same writer goes on to say: “It is true that the followers in Holland departed from the practice." Vindicating the translation of Menno's words doopsel in den water, Dr Howard Osgood tnan whom there can be no bet ter authority, says, “The words in doopenege, onderdoopenege, onderdom pelinge,, are employed in Dutch to ex Sress immersion Doop and oopen in Dutch exactly correspond to taut and tanfen in German All these words come from the same root and ety ontologically signify dipping and dip.” Says Dr Armitage: “That many ”of Menno's followers, “clung to immersion is evinced by the fact that some of the followers of Menno pleaded that they could not immerse in -prison, nor al ways in their own houses, and so prac ticed pouring. . . Dr Angus, a critic in Mennonite lore, says that he always laid great stress on immersion Menno's words imply this" —Armitage's Bap Hist. p. 421. Robinson, whom Dr. Whitsitt quotes as authority, quotes Menno as I have just quoted him, and adds: “ Menno was dipped himself, and he baptized others by dipping, but some of his followers introduced pouring, as they imagined through necessity, in prison, and now the practice generally prevails.”—Robin son's Hist'of Bap., p 694. Prof. How ard Osgood says. “In 1666 and '6B, Arents, a Mennonite author,published a treatise in favor of immersion.” “In 1740 an anonymous Mennonite author defends immersion.” “Bchyn,the histo rian of the Mennonites, certainly leans in favor of immersion. Dr. 8. H. Ford, who has made this subject a specialty, says: “In the Dutch Martyrology, trans lated by that eminent Dutchscholar, Rev. Benjamin Millard, of Wigan, the name given to the Anabaptists or Mennonites, is that of Dippers. Thus on page 34 are found these words: ' Some of the principal Dippers, that is Baptist peo ple, were seized ' ” We read in the Dutch Martyrology that one Herz Lowrys, in 1528, persecuting the Bap tists, addressed the council in strong terms inquiring what they intended to do with the dipping heretics (Marty ology. vol. 1, p 71). Several such instances might be cited. But these are surely sufficient to show that the use of such expressions and epithets can be accounted for only on the ground that they immersed all candi dates for baptism. But Dr. Whitsitt, of Menno's words: “After we have searched ever so dili gently we shall find no other baptism besides dipping that is acceptable to God and maintained in his Word, "says, “But," adds Dr. Burrage. ‘the passage is not thus correctly rendered. What Menno has in view is the representa tion that Christ and the apostles taught two kinds of baptism, that of believers and that of infants;’ and ( with respect to that point) says, 'However diligently we seek night and day, yet we find no more than one baptism in water that is pleasing to God, expressed and con tained in his Word —namely, this bap tism on faith.’” The “last clause” is relied on to prove that Menno did not here teach immersion. But, in the fore going, from the highest authority on this point, I have already proved that Menno’s words must be rendered, “no other baptism besides dipping.” The English reader may see from Burrage’s translation that his objection is not well made; for with all immersionists, “ baptism in water” means only immefl sion The expression, “namely, thio baptism on faith,” as Dr. Burrage says, is against infant baptism; but it is that baptism Menno here says is “dipping.” "We shall find no other baptism besides dipping.” But, evading what Menno really says on the action of baptism, Dr. Whitsitt says: "Menno’s most definite expression touching the act of baptism is found in the folio edition of his works (1681), p. 22. where he says “I certainly think that these and similar commands (to love one’s enemies, to crucify the flesh and lusts thereof), are more painful and burdensome to per verted flesh, which-is everywhere so prone to walk in its own way. than it is to receive a handful of water.” Dr. Whitsitt adopts, as the meaning of this passage, the quibbling of his great af fusionist teacher, Scheffer: “A handful of water, that is to say, simple pouring with water, was in use with Anabaptists during the first half of the sixteenth century, both in Switzerland, where they first arose, and also in the countries where they first extended themselves.” Saying nothing of Scheffer’s contra 'diction of history, in stating that the Anabaptists arose in the 16th century, to make the phrase, “a handful of wa ter,” commit Menno to affusion is to make him contradict himself—“ After we have searched ever so diligently, we shall find no other baptism besides dip ping that is acceptable to God and maintained in his Word," and to make him contradict his words as rendered by Burrage and Whitsitt—“baptism in water.” Like the words of Christ, “Whycallest thou me good ?there is none good but one, that is God,” Men no, in the passage under considera tion, without saying anything as to what is the act of baptism, says a hand ful of water is useless. In truth, the expression, “handful of water," is an ex pression by whictx Baptists have often ridiculed affusion as baptism lam therefore inclined to take the phrase, on which these perverters of history build up their imagined mighty anti-Baptist historical argument, as positively against them. I, therefore, conclude that there is not so much as a shadow of ground for believing that the original Mennonites were other than immersionists From the close relation of the English Baptists to the original Mennonites as Anabap •tists we are certain they were exclusive immersionists. Thus we see that Dr. Whitsitt has, in his anxiety to sustain his deplorable blunder, blindly swallowed affusionist, Mennonite, anti Baptist perversions of history. The English and Dutch Bap tists having been so closely related that their history is almost inseparable, Dr. Whitsitt found that to sustain his blun der he must swallow Mennonite affu sion -Mosheim-impeached authorities. As Dr. Whitsitt makes this Mennonite perversion one of his main forts, I now in the name of the great Baptist host and its great Captain hold it, in spite of Dexter, Mennonites, Whitsitt ana com pany. The Dutch Baptists, Mennonites, having been immersionists, the English Baptists must have been immersionists. THE GERMAN AND SWISS ANABAPTISTS immersionists. That some so-called German and Swiss Anabaptists were affusionists is not questioned. That some who be came leaders of the true Anabaptists practiced affusion just before they be came members of any Baptist church is not questioned. By Dr. Whitsitt and some others their practice, in leaving the Romish church, is used to prove Baptists were once affusionists. The la mented scholar, Dr. E. T. Winkler, has so well replied to this that an answer has never been attempted. Here is his answer: “Neither do 'he cases of pour ing decide anythingVFor the adminis trators who acted on their own author ity, were members of the Reformed Party, and would etill, if permitted, re tain connection with it. The pourings were administered bl those who were associates or disciples of Zwingli and Luther. , . . who began their pub lic labor at Wittenburg and Zurich. Except that they insisted on a converted membership, they agreed in doctrine and ordinances with the Reformers. Nay, some of them, a'i we are expressly tola, held aloof from the general body of the Anabaptists; so it was with the Anabaptists of Munster, who were sepa ratists, and considered all others bear ing the name as dunned. ( Luther’s tier. Works, vol. 2, quoted by Michel et's Luther, p. 54.) These cases of pour ing were due to these advanced reform ers. . . and at the very chaos of the Reformation. The jiractice of these dissenters, under sncti circumstances, can afford no satisfactory evidence of the customs that prevailed among the general body of the Anabaptists, as the opinion a year or ,two after he broke from Rome cannqß le identified with the established cr&ei; of Lutheranism The inchoate Anat*V f,H t H advanced ac cording to the light they had. Thus Grebel, who in 1525 baptized Wolfgang Uliman, afterwardwiinmersed him in the Rhine ” —(Cht Jih Perpetuity by W. A Jarrel), p 205 Inasmuch as the Anabaptists, in the language of Mo sheim “before the rise ot Luther and Calvin. . . lay concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia and Switzerland,” Dr. Winkler's reply Is conclusive. I now come to Dr. Whitsitt’s treat ment of Huomeir’s explanation of bap tism. Dr. Whitsitt translates his state ment : “To baptize in water is to pour water over the confessor of his sins in accordance with the divine command, and to inscribe him- in the number of sinners upon his own confession and ac knowledgement. So has John baptized.” Dr. Whitsitt did not give the original. This is: “ Taufen im-wasser ist dem be kennenden verjeher seiner sunden auss Gotlichen -beneleh mit eusserlichem wasser übergeissen un in die zal der sundern auss eygner erkant uss und be willigung einschreioen ” This Dr. Howard Osgood has correctly rendered: “To baptize in water is to cover the confessor of his sins in external water, according to the divine command, and to inscribe him in the number of the separate upon his own confession and desire” Dr. Osgood says: “I have translated übergiessen to cover; we can not translate here ‘ to pour the confes sor’ . . . with external water, for which signification see Sander’s Lexi con under giessen." With only an English education it is easy to see that the translation, “to baptize in water is to pour’ and that “to inscribe him in tie number of x'nnerx” is, t« say the least, a very unnatural translation. Says a scholar who had a very large number of old Anabaptist documents, when I saw them, “Dr. Sear's inference from their alleged failure to magnify immersion, and from their apparent agreement with the reformers as to the mode, falls to the ground when we learn from an authority like Holing, that at the time immersion was as common as sprinkling, that the Roman ritual, Lu ther’s books on baptism and almost all the Lutheran rituals instruct the ad ministrator to immerse the candidate, and that the word sprinkle is hardly to be found in the early regulations. It is well known that the Church of England put immersion first, sprink ling only in micld would be that Wey . Gastins was wont to say with ghastly sarcasm, as he ordered the Anabaptists to be drowned. ‘They like immersion so much let us immerse them,’ and his word, became a proverb. Zwingli used to call them 'bath fellows.’ Hubmeyer destroyed the font as well as the altar at W aidshut, denounced them both as nests of evil. ... He says 'the soul must be sprinkled with the blood of Christ and the body washed through pure water.’ The subjoined tract of this scholar and martyr, is unmistaka ble on this point. Bullinger admits all the spiritual significance of immersion in his controversy with the Anabaptists Finally, the English Baptiste practiced immersion and the first of them came from the continent. From a form for baptizing in water, Nicolsburg, 1527, Dr. Everts quotes: “Do you upon this faith and duty desire to be baptized in water.” Says Dr. Howard Osgood: “ Again Kessler, in his Sabatta, vol. 1, p. 266, says that Wolfang Uliman, of St- Gall, went to Schaffhausen and met Con rad Grebel, the most prominent leader, preacher and scholar among the Ana baptists, ‘who instructed him in the knowledge of Anabaptlsm so that he would not be sprinkled out of a dish, but was drawn under and covered over with water of the Rhine by Conrad Grebel.’ On p. 268 Kessler adds that Grebel came to St. Gall, Kessler’s home, where bis preaching was attended by hundreds from the town and surround ing country and the longing desire many had nourished for a year, was accomplished by following Grebel to the Sitter river and being baptized by him there. When I was at St. Gall, in 1867, I made special investigation upon this point. A mountain stream, suffi cient for all sprinkling purposes, flows through the city, but no place is deep enough for the immersion of a person, while the Sitter river is between two and three miles aw-ay and is gained by a different road. The only explanation of this choice was that Grebel sought the river in order to immerse the candi dates. August Naef, secretary of the council of St. Gall, in a work published in 1850, on p. 1021, speaking of the prac tices of the Anabaptists in 1525. says: ‘They baptized those who belived with them in rivers and lakes, and in a great wooden caek and the butcher's square before a great crowd. These im mersions were in Switzerland from 1524- 30. An old historian of Augsburg, Sender, says: ‘The hated sect in 1527, met in the gardens of houses men and women, rich and poor, more than 100 in all, who were rebaptized. They put on peculiar clothes in which to be baptized, for in the houses where their baptistries were they wore a number of garments always prepared.’ A later historian of Augsburg, Wagenseil, says: ‘ In 1527 the Anabaptists baptized none who did not believe with them; and the candidates were not merely sprinkled with water, but were wholly submerged." Zwingli entitles his great work against the Anabaptists, ’Elen chus contra Catabaptist” using a word of post classical Greek, which according to Passow and Liddell and Scott, means one who dips or drowns,'and that Z wingli used the word in this signification, is shown by his repeated endeavor in this work to make all sorts of fun of the baptism of the Anabaptists, ‘immersion, dying people, redying them, plunging them Into the darkness of water to unite them to a church of darkness, ‘they mersed.' ” At the side of these scholarly words I now quote the pedo baptist quibbling which, in his zeal to prop up his blunder, Dr. Whitsitt has blindly followed —I mean the shameful quibbling of his unscrupulous authority, Scheffer. “It need to be said that the word Katabaptist so often applied to the Anabaptists, by their opponents during the Reformation period, con tained indisputable proof that they were immersionists. The preposition kata, in its primary local usage, means down, and so, it was argued. Katabap tist must have been one who baptized downwards, that is immersed. But just as ana, meaning primarily up, came to be used in the sense of again, so kata, in several technical terms, means against, and Prof. Scheffer shows that in the usage of contemporary authors this was its meaning in the word under consid eration, and that Zwingli and others, in styling them Katabaptists, meant only that they were against the corn monly accepted baptism.”—Whitsitt’s book, p. 37. On page 140, Dr. Whit sitt confutes this pedobaptist quib bling, when he indorsingly quotes Goodwin, thus: “Catabaptism . . . after the new mode of dipping," thus showing that Baptist enemies then called them Catabaptists. “The fact that a baptistry was built at St. Gall, and that John Stamps, a Lutheran pastor, who lived in Znrich from 1522 to 1544, and wrote of them from personal knowledge of their prac tices, says they ‘re-baptized in rivers and streams’ is good evidence that they immersed.” Sicher, a Roman Catholic, gives the account of their baptisms at St Gall: “The number of the convert ed increased so that the baptistry could not hold the crowd and they were com pelled to use the streams and the Sitter river.” Simler says that many came to St. Gall, inquired for the Taufhaus (baptistry) and were baptized.” Dr. Rule, who speaks contemptuously of them, says that they took their converts “and plunged them in the nearest streams.” —Armitage, p 552, 553. Mo sheim says the Socinian Catech'sm, of 1574, says: “Baptismus est hominis Evangelio credentis et penitentiam ajentis in nomine Jesn Christi in aquam immerso et emersio" —Baptism is an im mersion and the emersion of a man who believes and is truly penitent, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, or in the name of Jesus Christ in water. The Socian ians being surrounded by Baptists nat urally copied their baptism from them. Any how, the Socinian practice ex plodes all the idle talk, that immersion was a "lost art” in the period and countries under consideration Dr. Burrage, who is paraded as being on the side of Dr. Whitsitt in this war, re plying to the statement that “the only instance in which immersion occurred during the sixteenth century, is the im mersion of Wolang Uliman, at Schaaf - hausen, in 1525,” says; “Well, let us see. In the Bekenntniss von beiden Sacramenten which at Munster, Oct. 22, 1533, was subscribed by . Rockham. Straprade, Vienne, and Stralen. and was made public on the eighth of No vember following, occurs this statement: “Baptism is an immersion (eintauchung) in water, which the candidate requests and receives as a true sign that dead to sin, buried with Christ, he rises to new ness of life henceforth to walk not in the lusts of the flesh but obedient to God.” Barnas Sears quotes Trecksel. a modern writer of great weight. “The Anabap tists baptized in running streams and in barns.” Turretine, called the theo logical Blackstone says: “The Ana baptists are so called from their repeti tion of baptism of those who have been already baptized, whether in respect to infants or adults, who pass from one sect of this people to another, whom they again baptize (tingunt) that they may receive them into their commun ion.” Samuel H. Schmuker says; “The held to the baptism -of be- ? "liters by immersion. ' See Chnrch Per petuity. But (pp 42, 43) Dr. Whitsitt rehearses the old, many-years-agoexploded argu ment, that the Anabaptists having bap tized “out of a large bucket” and “in Rothman’s house,” proves they poured as baptism In having to reply to a president of a great Baptist Theologi :al Seminary for his adopting the old pedo baptist argument, that the jailer could not have been immersed in the jail and to prove that the 16th century Baptists were affusionists, I must ask pardon if I manifest some impatience. I will re ply to this Whitsitt argument in the language of that lamented scholar, whom I believe once declined the offer of a chair in the Seminary in which Dr. Whitsitt is a teacher (Dr Winkler): “W&can prove from ecclesiology and from the testimony of Luther himself that the tub or pail, such as Hoffman used at Emden (a large pail), was the baptismal fontof the Western churches. There was even a certain sacredness connected with it.” We find in Luther’s Table Talk (Bohn's Ed p. 165) the fol lowing incident: Dr. Menius asked Dr. Luther in what manner a Jew should be baptized? The Doctor re plied: ‘You must fill a large tub with water, and having divested the Jew of his clothes, cover him with w’hite gar ments. He must then sit in the tub and then you must baptize him, quite under the water, 'This garb,’ added Lu ther, ‘was rendered the more suitable from the circumstances that it was then, as now, the custom to bury people in a white shroud, and baptism, you know, is an emblem of our death. ’ ” Here Luther alludes to these immersions which are very familiar to ecclesiologists. There is reason to believe that the baptismal fonts in early Europe were tubs. The ecclesiologist, Pool, (Structure of Churches, p. 45)jsays: "The first shape which the font assumed in England is that a circular tub-shaped vessel, some probably of Saxon, many of them of Norman date, as the antique font of St. Martin’s church, at Canterbury.” Knight says (Land We Live In, p. 261): “It is even been supposed to have been built by Christians in the Roman army, A D. 187. It was certainly one of the first ever made in England. It was about three feet high and capacious within. It has no stand; but rests upon the ground. The sculptures upon it are a sort of ornamental interlacings in low relief. It closely resembles the font de lineated by the old illuminators in rep resenting the baptism of King Ethel bert; and it is believed to be the very font in which the first of our Christian kings were baptized.” Under this divi sion, the tub fonts, Poole, an Episcopa lian antiquarian, groups the font of Castle Frotne, Herfordshire, that at Bride Kirk, in Cumberland, that at West Hadden, and that at Thorpe Em ald, in Leicestershire. And in regard to all the ancient fonts of England, he says: “The rule of the Church of Eng land, however many the exceptions, and however accounted for, is to baptize by immersion; and for this all the ancient fonts are sufficiently capacious. ” (Struc ture, p. 59, note.) We learn from Bou rasse, a Catholic archeologist, that the leaden font in »the Cathedral of Stras bourg has a tub shape, and so has the baptismal font at Espanburg, Diocese of Beauvais. Both these baptismal tubs are represented on the plates of Bouras se’s Dictionaire D’Archaologic Sacree. At Notre Dame, in Rouen, the font was made in the form of a coffin, six feet long, with a covering of black wood. This sculptural figure was the symbolic translation of the words of Paul: ‘We are buried with him by baptism into death.” (Bourasse, p 493) In Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities th:s is confirmed. The lamented Prof. He man Lincoln. D. D., many years profes sor of Church History in Newton Theo logical Seminary, wrote me, just a little while before hie death, of the Anabap tists: “My own impression is that the majority of them accepted both immer sion ana baptism upon a profession of faith.” Prof. W. W Everts, once the occupant of the chair of Church History in the Chicago Baptist Theological Sem inary, replying to Dr. Sears, says: “He would have been nearer right if he had made pouring the exception and immer sion the rule among the Anabaptists. See my Church Perpetuityjp. 206 207.” Notwithstanding Dr. Whitsitt and his pedibaptist assailant, Scheffer, with the foregoing proof I feel perfectly safe in closing this part of the discussion, with the statement that the true Ger man and Swiss Anabaptists were cer tainly exclusive immersionists. and that Dr- Whitsitt’s book, therefore, does them and their successors of to-day a great injustice and sore injury. This being made out, the very close relation of the English to the German and Swiss Baptists renders very strong proof necessary to prove the English Baptists were untrue to the faith—that they were affusionists. In his assault on the history of German and Swiss Baptists, Dr Whitsitt has shown he recognized this. Hot Springs, Ark. th* Any publication mentioned in this de partment may be obtained of the American Baptist Publication So ciety. 93 Whitehall St., Atlanta, Ga. When prices are named they include postage. The Editors of the Christian Index desire to make this column of service to their readers. They will gladly answer, or have answered, any ques tions regarding books. . If you desire books for certain lines ff reading, or desire to find out the worth or pub lisher of any book, write to them. The Presbyterian and Reformed Review. October Mac Calla & Co, Philadelphia, Pa. Price $3 00. 80c. a copy. We are constantly bemoaning our own lack of a Baptist Review as we read those of other denominations. A certain class of questions can receive adequate treatment nowhere else. While we are hoping, we must rejoice in the excellencies of others. This is exceptionally able. We do not think it is excelled anywhere in the special line of book reviews. These are most thorough and discriminating. In the present number attention is given to Dr. Watson’s (“lan Maclaren") “Mind of the Master ” The criticisms passed are most just and very searching The great worth of Dr. Watson's “Bonnie Brier Bush” and other books bid fair to give undue currency to his theological teachings. We commend the stories but must condemn much in the theol ogy. Dr. Talbot W. Chambers and A. D. F. Randolph are remembered in ap preciative biographical sketches. The Jerusalem Church, the historic room in Westminster, is described, and the striking events of which it has been the scene are described. The effect of the Fall ot Man on Nature, and Wanted, a Definition of Conscience, deal with more abstruse themes, but are of interest and value There are other interesting arti cles, and, as we have already said, the noth « of books are specially valuable. The North American Review. Oc tober. North American Review Co., New York Price $5 00 a year. 50c. a copy. Five of the articles in this review re late to the present financial discussion. That by ex Speaker Reed will be first read. It is entitled, “The Safe Path- akms Tß ok o? mo«i.vt WW r HY IS IT that practical painters bcymer wy everywhere use and recommend davis Pure White Lead and Pure Linseed r ■ ! ‘ NEST °c < i-i(ubur K h. oi]? Simply because they know their busi eckstein ness, have a reputation to maintain, and Atlantic j cannot afford to use or recommend anything BRADLEY- else. r f o gure BROOKLYN I . O O > New York. ■™ Pure W hite Lead SOUTHERN . v Chicago. ‘ examine the brand (see list genuine brands). CJ—..IER | o uissocßi Any shade or color is readily obtained by red seal using National Lead Co.’s brands of Pure southern White Lead Tinting Colors. JOHN T LEWIS A BROS CO Philadelphia Pamphlet giving valuable information and card showing samples MORLEY cievelanl co^ors ree • also cards showing pictures of twelve houses of different SALEM designs painted in various styles or combinations of shades forwarded Salem, Mast.. upon application to those intending to paint. CORNELL KENTUCKY NATIONAL LEAD CO., Louisville. 1 Broadw«y, New York- COAL! COAL!! The Best on Earth. THE VIRGINIA & ALABAMA COAL CO. Miners and shippers of beet domestic and steam coals at lowest prices. From our Atlanta yard we deliver best coal, correct weights and give prompt attention. Send in your orders. .7. W. WILLS. Manager. PHONE3S6. It 1$ Prt-tnjiotot io The Everett Is the onl, Artistic Toot Quality. trophone? V by g which 'all I 1 the pleasing effects of th. If not for sale by your Guitar and Mandolin, or local dealers write us for Harp are produced at Will Catalogue and Prices. - R.MMEM9, of performer. .... r CHICAGO, 1893 Augusta, Ga.., 1889 and 1891 Received HiOest Award G a„ i 8 s 9 . ———- Montgomery, Ala., 1889. l ATLANTA. 1895. And numerous other'Fairs and Expositions. J3F° The Plectrophone is a simple deviee, cannot get out of order and actually preserves the hammer felts and adds to durability of the Piano. THE JOHN CHURCH CO., CINCINNATI, or CHICAGO Atlanta Offlce-99 PEACHTREE STREET. J. C. & I. daniel, DEALERS IN jsoots, feather, . . . . . . findings, Qtc, Boot and Shoe Uppers a Speeialtjj. Smouldering fires of old disease : lurk in the blood of many a ] man, who fancies himself in j good health. Let a slight ! sickness seize him, and the old enemy breaks out anew. The fault is the taking of medicines that suppress, in stead of curing disease. You can eradicate disease and purify your blood, if you use the standard remedy of the world, Ayer’s Sarsaparilla. way of Experience.” Secretary Her bert, of Alabama, has one entitled. “Why American Industry Languishes ’’ This ascribes our ills to a lack of confi dence, and agitation. Andrew Carnegie contributes a second paper on “The Ship of State Adrift. ” Os the most real value, however, are: “If Silver Wins, The Shrinkage of Wages." by Louis Windmuller, and “Meritable Constitu tional Changes," by Judge Clark of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. This latter has something of authority, as its author stands high in silver circles. Other articles are on Hypnotism, Our .Shipping, Our Electoral System, and Madagascar. From this it will be seen that the standard of this pioneer review is fully maintained, and its timeliness is most pronounced, St. Nicholas. October. The Cent ury Co., New York. $3.00 a year, 25c a month. A bright poem stands at the begin ning of an excellent number. “George O'Green and Robin Hood” is a tale of that ever interesting character, Robin Hood “A Vegetable Ogre” proves to be a great fig tree, a native of Jamaica. A good lesson on the mistakes of hasty judgment of each other is found in “The Horses of the Castle.” “Historical Mil itary Powder Horns” introduces inter esting relics of a day that is far re moved from this day of Man: ur rifles and gatling-guns. “The Swordmak er’s Son” and “Sinbad, Smith and Co,” are concluded, and "The Story of Marco Polo” continued. Many other attrac tions for the young reader are in this fall number. Scribner’s Magazine. October. Chas. Scribner’s Sons, New York. $3.00, a year, 25c a copy. Scribner’s is never dull or lacking in genuine value. Its illustrations are of the best. The indefinable thing called good taste prevails throughout, and month in and month out nothing oc curs to offend it Sentimental Tommy, by Barrie, continues with unabated in terest. It promises to be the chief work of fiction for the year. It has not been surpassed in recent years. From Light to Light is an account of the trip of the supply ships to the various lighthouses. The Expenditures of Rich Men, by E L. Godkin, is also full of interest. Un usually bright is the article on The New York Working Girl. It will be a new glimpse for most of us. The usual stories are found and they are all good, s The Pocket M agazine. October. F. A. Stokes Co., New York. slooayear, 10c a copy. This magazine deals with bright, clear fiction exclussively. The best writers of short stories contribute to it. For a ride on the train it will be found of great interest.