The Great Commission Credentials
by
Mark W. Fenison
Table of Contents
Chapter
One – The Great Commission Credentials or
Chapter
Two – The Practice of the Great Commission in the Book of Acts
Chapter
Three – The Constitution of Churches Among Early Particular English
Baptists –
1640-1707
Chapter
Four – The Constitution of Churches Among
Association - 1707-1807
Chapter
Five – The Constitution of Churches Among Landmarkers – 1807 - 1900
Appendix #1 – Church Authority or Ministerial Authority?
Appendix #2 – The
Biblical Approach to
Appendix #3 – The Origin of Particular
English Baptists
Appendix #4
– The Constitution of
Appendix #5
- Does Matthew
Note of Appreciation
I
want to thank Elders Bob Myers and William Stang for their help in proofing and
correcting grammatical errors in the many rough drafts. I want to thank Pastor Al Gormley and Bryan
Station Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky for their faithfulness to the
truth and their willingness to take on the printing expenses and publishing. I also want to thank Pastor Jerry Asberry of
Paducah, Kentucky for his encouragement and support during this process.
I want to especially thank my wife and
daughters for their support in giving me up to my study for long hours after
long hours away from home due to my secular job plus the work of the ministry.
This book
is dedicated to the memory of a great defender of the faith who was passionate
for the truth. The Lord equipped Elder
Milburn Cockrell with tremendous ability to communicate the truth both in the
pulpit and with the pen. Even his
enemies considered him well read and a worthy advocate.
For many years Elder Cockrell was the editor
of The Berea Baptist Banner,
published by the Berea Baptist Church of Mantachie, Mississippi.
The doctrine of the New Testament Church and
the doctrine of Grace were possibly the two greatest loves of Elder Cockrell
for which he ardently taught and defended with all of his passion, learning and
ability. One of his last great written
works was the revised edition entitled, Scriptural Church Organization. After his departure, his book came under
attack by those who opposed him. His
book should be consulted and read along with my book as he covered materials I
have not. He will be sorely missed by
the friends of truth.
Who has
authority to administer the Great Commission upon earth? Some embrace the position that Christ directly
and repeatedly redelivers this commission to believers in every
generation. According to this position,
the Bible is the only authority necessary for any true believers to take up
this commission at any time in any generation. This is the foundation for the
Reformation and all who originate their own denominations.
On the other
hand, there are those who embrace the position that the great commission has
been “once delivered” (Jude 3) directly by Christ to His Church at
The thesis
of this book is to demonstrate the following five points about the Great
Commission:
First, to prove by sound principles of exegesis
that Matthew 28:19-20 designates an
earthly administrator (“ye”), that stands between Christ and all recipients
(“them”) as the authorized administrator of this commission.
Second,
this book is designed to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that Matthew
28:19-20 is an orderly and due process,
an explicit prescription, for
reproducing disciples of like faith and order that concludes with membership in
a New Testament Church. As such, it is
authority to bring such disciples into church membership by one of two ways. Newly baptized believers were brought into
church membership by directly adding them to an existing church (Acts
Third, it is to demonstrate from credible
sources of history that both English and American Particular Baptists
understood the Great Commission as belonging exclusively to the visible gospel
Fourth,
this book is written to demonstrate that “old Landmarkism” in the days of J.R.
Graves practiced this same church order and fully believed that the great
commission was given solely to the churches of Jesus Christ. Indeed, when William Cathcart defined old
Landmarkism in regard to “scriptural authority”
and the Great Commission, he worded it as follows; “scriptural authority UNDER God FROM a gospel church.” Old Landmarkism saw no conflict between the
authority of the scriptures and church authority, as they recognized church authority
to be authorized by the scriptures.
Lastly,
this book was written to demonstrate conclusively that there is no Biblical
authority for baptized believers to constitute themselves into a
Those who oppose church authority in the
constitution of a new church primarily defend their position by falsely
attributing church characteristics to a yet unconstituted entity; and then by
circular reasoning, claim that “church” rights are being violated if an
existing church authorizes and supervises this constitution. Hence, according to this circular reasoning,
the unconstituted entity supposedly has its “church” autonomy and authority
violated when in fact they are NOT even a
There is no state of limbo where baptized
believers exist outside the authority of an existing church while still
unconstituted. The so-called doctrine of “direct authority” demands this kind
of ecclesiastical state of limbo and denies the horizontal and instrumental
administrator identified as “ye” in the Great Commission.
New Churches do not evolve out of thin
air. Church authority is exercised by an
existing church in regard to constituting new churches in two distinct ways. One way is to call a church business meeting
and by vote dismiss members for the express purpose to pursue constitution of a
new church under the direction of a church ordained man. Another way is to call a church business
meeting, and by vote, recommend a brother for ordination; and then send that
man on the mission field to preach, baptize and gather the baptized believers
into a church. Behind both methods of
church constitution are the vote of a church and thus “church authority”; and
the result is that everything is done decently and in order without confusion.
Indeed, those who embrace the “direct
authority” position admit that church authority is essential to the
constitution of a church. They admit
that without church authorized baptism there can be no scriptural materials out
of which to constitute a church. This is
admission that churches cannot be constituted apart from direct linkage through
baptism authorized and administered by a previous existing church. This is
organic link by link church succession in its historical sense, having church
authority as its basis and baptism as its linkage between a preceding church
and the newly constituted church.
The direct authority movement is in
essence usurping church authority, rebelling against the authority of
Scriptures and providing the foundation for every form of ecclesiastical
disorder and confusion imaginable. It is
the recipe for schism within churches that provides the schismatic a way around
church discipline by simply self-organizing.
The outlined procedure this book follows
is; (1) to examine Matthew 28:19-20 in order to discover who are those referred
to as “ye” by their contextual characteristics; (2) to demonstrate this
commission was observed in the book of Acts; (3) to show that early English and
American Baptists designated the proper observance by such phrases as “gospel
order” or “due binding order” or “regular church order” etc.; (4) to
demonstrate that historical “Landmark” Baptists thoroughly refuted the idea of
“direct” authority as they believed the Great Commission was (a) not given to
the ministry, much less merely baptized believers; (b) but was given solely to
the church and (c) included authority to constitute baptized believers into
churches.
Mark W. Fenison
The Great Commission Credentials
Or
Binding Gospel Order
> And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
– Mt. 28:18-20.
When
someone asks “what are your credentials”, they are asking about your
qualifications, authority, or credibility to support your claim to be or do
something. This question should not
anger anyone if they are properly qualified/authorized. For example, the Scribes and Pharisees asked
this very question of Jesus:
Mt. 21:23
“And when he was come into the
temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was
teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave
thee this authority?”
If Jesus
did not get angry and did not deny this was a valid question, why should those
who claim to follow him get angry and deny it is a valid question? This is especially true since Christ predicts
that “many” He never knew will claim to do things in His name (Mt.
Jeremiah
The
question before us is “whom did Christ
send to carry out the Great Commission?”
Many believe the Great Commission is nothing more than a command to
evangelize, and therefore anyone who is saved is authorized to administer it. It is certainly true that anyone who has
experienced salvation is qualified to be a witness of the gospel. However, does the Great Commission go beyond
a mere gospel witness and thus require more than a mere salvation experience to
be a qualified administer of it? The
following study will examine the immediate context of the Great Commission to
see if there are any inherent qualifications demanded by the context that will
define exactly who is and who is not authorized by Christ to administer it.
Who is being authorized - “Ye”
Versus “Them”?
“Go
YE…..baptizing THEM….” – Mt. 28:19.
Who is being commissioned? There
are two classes of people found in the Great Commission context. The identity of these two classes of people
are represented by the pronouns “ye”
and “them.” It is the “ye” who are being authorized to do certain things (go…baptizing….teaching) and it is the “them” who are the recipients (receivers)
of those actions. Obviously, those who
are the recipients of such actions are not the ones being authorized to carry
out such actions, are they? If they
were, then Christ would have omitted the “ye”
and simply instructed “them” to “go” to themselves, baptize themselves and
teach themselves. However, that is not
the case is it?
Significantly, notice that Christ never
authorizes those who are identified as “them”
to be administrators of this commission at any stage of this commission. The Great Commission is presented in three
stages; (1) “go” (2) “baptizing
them” (3) “teaching them to observe.” In Mark 16:15 the “go” stage is further defined as going to “them” with the gospel. Hence, even after they have received the
gospel and become believers, these believers are not authorized to baptize but
are still to be the recipients of baptism by those identified as “ye”, and so we read: “baptizing THEM.” Even after the “ye” baptizes “them”
they are still under the teaching authority of the “ye” in verse 20 and so we read: “teaching THEM.” In all three stages (go, baptize, teach) it is
the “ye” who are authorized to
administer it. At no stage in this
commission does Jesus give authority to “them”
to take over and administer any stage of this commission.
Do you see
the difference here between “ye” and
“them” in this commission and which
one is being authorized and which is not?
This text absolutely denies that Christ gives vertical or direct
authority to “them” at any stage of
this commission at any day in this age. At the second stage those designated as “them” are baptized disciples but yet are
without authority to constitute themselves into a teaching assembly as
described in the third stage of this commission. Christ has established the “ye” as the horizontal or instrumental
authority for the administration of this commission in all three stages. The “ye”
is placed between Christ and “them”
at every point in this commission. This
means those designated as “them” must
come to those designated as “ye” in
order to be discipled. The Great
Commission gives absolutely no authority for “them” to gospelize themselves or others, baptize themselves or
others, teach themselves or others, any more than the Scriptures give authority
for the unordained to ordain themselves or others or the unchurched to church
themselves or others. Jesus explicitly
appoints a qualified INSTRUMENTAL authority, or administrator that others must
come to in order to be disciplined in His kingdom. This distinction is very
important for many reasons yet to be discussed.
“And so in regard to this commission of
Christ, it was addressed, to somebody. It supposes that there will be somebody
to be baptized, and it authorizes somebody to baptize them. If by commanding
some to baptize, it commands others by implication to be baptized, it by the
same implication commands them to be baptized by those, and only those whom it
commands to baptize.” William M. Nevins, Alien Baptism and the Baptists, The Challenge Press,
Review
Questions
4. Does
this text establish those defined as “ye” as the administrative authority in
carrying
out
the Great Commission? (yes)
The Grammatical Implications that establish due process and
order
In order to understand the Great Commission
better, one must understand some simple but significant grammatical implications
of this commission. Grammar is not the
favorite subject of many but a simple understanding of the grammar in this
passage is essential to clearly understand both what this commission really is
and to whom Christ authorized to administer it.
We want to examine the primary verb in this
context which is translated “teach” in verse 19 along with its three modifying
participles in verses 19 & 20 (“go”, “baptizing” and “teaching”). The primary verb tells us WHAT TO DO whereas
the three participles tell us HOW TO DO IT.
Let’s begin with the primary verb.
The word “teach” in verse 19 is the
translation of a Greek verb that literally means “make disciples.” The idea behind this term demands that the
teaching involved is far beyond communicating mere information. The making of a disciple involves the
transformation of one’s beliefs so that their life and practice conforms to
that of the teacher. Therefore, this
very command implies that the administrator must be one already discipled
before they are qualified to disciple others.
Notice
another necessary implication of the command “make disciples.” This command implies both a beginning point
where one BECOMES a disciple as well as the ongoing action from that beginning
point of continuing to BE a disciple.
At this
point it may be helpful to understand that the term “disciple” means one who is
a “follower.” The very term demands on going action of following. However, to
make disciples also implies a specific point in time when they were not
followers but became one. Hence, at a certain point in time one BECOMES what he
formally was not – a disciple, and then from that point forward continues BEING
what he is, a follower.
The
grammar actually supports both aspects of becoming what one was formally not
and then continuing to be what you became at a given point in time.
The
tense of this verb manifests the point in time where one became what he
formerly was not. It is an aorist tense verb which refers to a point in time
that action was completed. Hence, in regard to the tense of the verb “make
disciples” it demonstrates this occurred at a specific point in time as a
completed or finished action. The inherent action in the meaning of the verb or
what grammarians call its acktionsart
(sort of action) is continous action. That is the very word “follower”
denotes motion in action rather than static position. To “follow” is to move in
a direction.
Therefore, the tense tell us that something occurred in a point of time
in the past that is complete. At a point of time in the past we were not
disciples but at a certain definitive point in the past we became what we were
formally not – a follower of Christ. On the other hand, the idea of continuous
motion is found inherent in the meaning of the term “disciple”. Therefore, the inherent action found in the
very meaning of the verb “make disciples” (“to follow”) denotes a continuation
in being a disciple but the tense of the verb points to a time when one became
a disciple. This two-fold action found in the words “make disciples” is very
important when we look at it in relationship to the participles that modify
this primary verb.
Also, this
primary verb is found in what grammarians call the imperative mode, which is
the mode of command. Therefore, this is
not an option or a mere suggestion, but is a direct command given by Christ to
be obeyed. Remember the job of the verb
is to tell us WHAT TO DO. What are we to
do? We are to make disciples; and it is a command, not an option and it occurs
at a given point in time and then continues forward from that point.
Now let’s
consider the three participles and how they modify this main verb. The KJV translates the three participles as
“go”, “baptizing” and “teaching”. Remember, the verb tells us WHAT TO DO: “make disciples”, but it is the participles
that explain HOW TO DO IT. In other
words Christ is defining His recipe for making disciples and it involves these
three participles. These are not
dangling participles but they are logically and grammatically connected to the
main verb. For example, you cannot make
disciples without first “GOING” to them with the gospel (Mk. 16;15 defines this
as going with the gospel). Therefore the
first participle is logically connected to the main verb and is descriptive of
the first step in the making of a disciple. This chronological and logical order is
spelled out by the tenses used for these participles.
Let’s consider the tenses of these three
participles and how they grammatically relate to the tense of the main verb
(make disciples). In this grammatical
construction the “tense” reveals the chronological order in which these actions
occur in relationship to the main verb. For example, the first participle translated
“go” is found in what grammarians call the Aorist tense. This tense is commonly used to describe a
completed action in the past. In other
words, this action of “going” is considered as already accomplished before the
act of baptizing and/or teaching (both of which are found in the present
tense). What does this mean? It means that one must go with the gospel
before one can become a disciple:
“And he said
unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mk. 16:15.
Thus the Aorist tense in the first participle
“go” tells us that it must be a completed action before they can be baptized.
In other words, they must first become believers in the gospel before they are
qualified to be baptized. Is this
important? Yes, it is. This teaches us that baptism is only for those
who have already believed in the gospel of Christ. This is the consistent teaching throughout
the New Testament where repentance and faith in Christ always occur prior to
the administration of baptism and church membership (e.g. Acts
Now
remember the lesson above about the aktionsart or sort of action inherent in
the main verb (“make disciples”) and its tense (Aorist)? The tense of the main verb demands a point of
action where one BECOMES a disciple as a finished act. The first participle “go” and its aorist tense
of completed action is that point where one BECOMES a disciple by becoming a
believer in the gospel. However, the
inherent continuous action found in the words “make disciples” is BEING a
follower from that point forward. The
next two participles are found in the present tense which indicates this CONTINOUS
ACTION of following Christ is characterized by baptism and being taught to
observe all things Christ commanded.
Therefore,
discipleship does not stop with conversion to the gospel but it is just the
beginning point and the prerequisite for baptism and church membership. The ongoing action that follows conversion to
the gospel is defined as submission to baptism followed by habitual assembling
together to learn how to observe the all things of Christ. A perfect example of this principle in
practice occurred on the day of Pentecost. (1) They “received the word” and
then (2) “were baptized” and then (3) added to the church at
Now let’s
summarize what we have learned in this grammatical lesson. Making disciples involves more than evangelism
by the gospel but must begin at that point. One becomes a disciple at the point
of faith in the gospel as a completed action previous to baptism. However, once
being made a disciple we are to continue following Christ in baptism and in
observing all things whatsoever He has commanded. Hence, the Great Commission gives
a logical and chronological order to be followed: (1) gospelization; (2)
baptization; (3) congregationlization for indoctrinization
We are
first SAVED by faith in the gospel in order to SERVE the Lord by submission to
baptism and church membership. It is
important to keep these two aspects of the Great Commission distinctly apart (salvation
versus service) and yet at the same time remember that those who are saved by
the gospel are saved to serve Christ by following Him in baptism and in church
membership. True Discipleship includes
both the proper beginning “point” as well as following the proper “process” but
does not confuse one with the other. This is the message of the three participles
in their relationship to the primary verb. This is the true meaning of “make disciples.” Hence, mere gospelizing someone after the
Billy Graham fashion is not carrying out the Great Commission.
Review
Questions
observe all things, are they obedient to this command? (no)
associations to administer this commission? (no)
The Pre-Qualified
- “whatsoever
I have commanded you” – v. 20.
We have
established by the immediate context that it is the “ye” who are given authority to carry out this commission. We have also established the meaning of “make disciples” as both an event that
began with the gospel as well as an on going process that continues with
baptism and habitual assembling together in observing the commandments of the
Lord. Let’s probe this text further. What kind of person is being commissioned to
begin this event and to carry out this process?
What did Jesus say about the blind leading the blind? They would both fall into the ditch. It takes one who can see to lead those who
cannot. How does this apply to the
administrator of the Great Commission?
Take a look at the word “have” in verse 20. The word “have” demands that those who are
authorized to administer this commission “HAVE” already been through this same
three fold process BEFORE they are authorized to administer it to others. In other words, Christ never commissioned the
blind to lead the blind. That is, those
being authorized had already been gospelized, baptized and assembled together
and instructed how to observe all things BEFORE they were authorized to
administer this to others. Not only is
this demanded by the word “have” in our text but it is elsewhere explicitly
spelled out in no uncertain terms:
“Wherefore
of these men which have companied with us all
the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning
from the baptism of John, unto that
same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness
with us of his resurrection.” – Acts
Notice the
explicit language in the above text. They are described as a traveling assembly
that one may go “in and out” among them. This traveling assembly began with the baptism
of John, and was still continuing right up to the time after the resurrection
in Acts chapter one when they were all assembled together in a called church meeting
to select another church officer – an apostle. They continued to habitually assemble together
right up to the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1).
They had already been gospelized and baptized by John the Baptists (The
gospel had already been preached to them, Mk. 1:15; Jn. 3:36); and then they assembled
together around Christ for nearly three and half years for instruction BEFORE
being authorized to carry out this commission.
What does
this prove about those being commissioned?
It proves He never authorized anyone to administer this commission that
had not first been through it themselves. What does that mean? It means that the Bible gives absolutely no
authority for self-administration of the Great Commission. Jesus never commissioned the blind to lead the
blind or the ignorant to teach the ignorant.
Hence, the
first contextual credential of those authorized to carry out the Great
Commission is that they are distinguished as “ye” from “them.” The second contextual credential of this “ye” is that they “have” already been saved by the gospel, baptized and assembled
together for instructions and therefore know how to OBSERVE all things Christ
commanded. Therefore they are a
prequalified “ye”.
Review
Questions
regular assembling together for
instruction, are they disobedient to this commission, or is obedience to this
commission a personal option? (it is not
an option but a command)
A “ye” of like faith and order
- “whatsoever I have commanded you”
Thus
far we have seen that those authorized to carry out this commission are (1) not
those referred to as “them” but rather those referred to as “ye”, (2) and it is
those who have been through all three processes of this commission rather than those
who have not. Therefore, the authorized
administrators of the commission are qualified to do so by the very fact they
have been gospelized already, they have been baptized already, and they have already
been instructed to observe all things.
They already know all three aspects of the Great Commission by first
hand experience.
However, is this all the credentials the
context demands? For example, does this
commission permit/authorize anyone to make just ANY KIND of disciple or does
Christ have in mind a CERTAIN KIND of disciple?
To ask this question in another way, did Christ commission anyone to go
preach ANOTHER KIND of gospel other than what Christ preached and commanded (Jn.
Before you react to this negatively, is
not this the very meaning of “disciple”?
A disciple is not someone who invents a new system or order but one who
“follows after” or is a “learner” of a system or order designed by the master
teacher. You cannot be a disciple of
another person if you do not follow them in their teaching and practice. Christ is here authorizing and establishing them
to reproduce those who are LIKE FAITH AND ORDER with Him. When Jude looked back at the event of giving
this commission, he understood and summarized that event in the following words:
“contending for the faith once delivered” (Jude 3). The apostles instructed the churches to defend
the faith and order given them, as many scriptures clearly indicate (Acts
What
is the aim of such a commission then? It
is to reproduce disciples that are united by the very same doctrine and
practice. Is that not exactly what is
seen in the book of Acts and in the epistles?
Is not that in keeping with the high priestly prayer of Christ in John
17:17: that unity among His disciples be based upon the truth of God’s Word?
What does this mean in practical
terms? It means at least the following: (1) It means that Christ is not authorizing
anyone to make a DIFFERENT KIND of disciple. If anyone preached another kind of gospel,
administered another kind of baptism and instructed them in another kind of
faith and order they would produce ANOTHER kind of disciple. (2) Therefore, it means that Christ is not
giving this commission to just any kind of professed Christian. (3) It means that Christ is not authorizing
the administration of just any kind of baptism. (4) It means that Christ is not authorizing
the teaching of just any kind of faith and order.
Instead, the words “whatsoever I have commanded” limits disciple making for Christ
within the boundaries of LIKE FAITH AND ORDER in all three areas of the Great
Commission. To say the same thing in
another way, it means He is commissioning only those who preach the SAME gospel
that He preached to them (John the Baptist preached what is found in Jn.
What are practical consequences of
reproducing after their own kind? It
means all of the churches found in the pages of the New Testament were of like
faith and order and all the churches that would be brought into existence by
their obedience to this commission would be churches of like faith and
order. What do we call a bunch of
churches today that are united in the same faith and order? We call them a “denomination.” Jesus limited the commission to
administrators who were of like faith and order with Him and designed the
commission to only reproduce those of like faith and order with Him.
This is why true New Testament Churches
refuse to accept baptism administered by churches that are not of like faith
and order with them. Christ never
authorized the administration of anything other than LIKE FAITH AND ORDER and
therefore true churches of Christ cannot accept anything but LIKE FAITH AND
ORDER. Furthermore, the apostles openly
corrected any departure by the churches from this same faith and order and
commanded them to separate themselves from those who departed from this same
faith and order, treating them as apostates and heretics rather than “brethren” of new denominations (Acts
20:29-30; I Tim. 4:1; 2 Thes. 3:6; Rom. 16:17; etc.). This is why true New Testament Churches will
not fellowship or work with churches that are not LIKE FAITH AND ORDER because
such are condemned as apostates by the scriptures and are to be separated from
(2 Thes. 3:6) rather than supported and fellowshipped with.
This
means that God is not the author of confusion or the author of multitudes of
conflicting Christian denominations existing today. Satan is (I Tim. 4:1). God has only ONE WAY of salvation and only ONE
WAY of service and that way is restricted to the faith and order found in the
Great Commission.
Can those
faithful to the Commission be identified today amongst all the various kinds of
“faiths and orders” under the umbrella term “Christianity”? Can it be known which are true and which are
not true to His commission? Yes! Compare their gospel, baptism and essential
doctrines with that of Christ and the churches of the New Testament. If they are significantly different they
cannot possibly be a true New Testament church. Compare their practice with the limitations of
the Great Commission and the explicit commands of Scripture to separate
themselves from those who depart from the faith once delivered. Any church that is ecumenical in practice or
receives the ordinances and ordinations from any other kind of faith and order
cannot possibly be a true
“To say this commission was left to any believer, or to some group of
men who hold every heresy under the sun, is to accuse the Lord of great
carelessness.” – Milburn Cockrell, Scriptural Church Organization, 2nd
Ed. p. 29.
Review Questions
1. What kind of disciples
did Christ command the disciples to make? His kind or some other
kind? (his kind)
2. Does the commission
give authority to make disciples by another gospel, another baptism,
or another faith and order than Christ
commanded? (no)
3. Are all denominations
in unity with the faith and order established by Christ? (no, see Acts
20:29-30)
4. Is God the author of
denominational confusion or is this commission designed to prevent
multiple kinds of faith and order as His
kind of churches?? (designed to prevent it)
5. Do the scriptures
predict a Christianity that will depart from the faith and order established by
Christ? ( yes, see 2 Thess. 3:6; Rom.
6. Does this commission
authorize or even condone joint ecumenical evangelistic crusades in
the name of the Great Commission? For example, the Billy Graham crusades, where
all
denominations of diverse doctrine and
practice (Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists,
Reformed Churches, sacramental churches,
etc.) are invited to work together in order to
accomplish the Great Commission for Christ? (no)
7. Name two ways you can
use the Great Commission principle of LIKE FAITH AND ORDER to
identify a true New Testament Church.
(doctrinal likeness, deny ecumenical practices)
The Church Membership Conclusion
“Teaching them to observe all things”
Thus far,
we have seen that authority to carry out the Great Commission is given to “ye”
and not to “them.” We have also established the meaning of “make disciples” as both an event that
began with the gospel as well as an on going process that continues with
baptism and habitual assembling together in observing the commandments of the
Lord. We have seen that it was given to those who have been through this
three-fold process rather than those who have not. Last, we have seen that the commission has
been given to those who are of like faith and order with Jesus Christ rather
than those who are not.
Let’s
continue to investigate the inherent qualifications found in this commission. For example, how can anyone be taught to
observe anything Christ commanded without habitually assembling with the
teacher?
The third aspect of the Great Commission is
the command to bring baptized believers into church membership. The leaders of the church at
The
practice of the third aspect of the commission either brought the newly
baptized into an existing church as in Acts 2:41-42, or church authorized representatives
(Acts 13:1-3) organized newly baptized believers into a new church as in Acts
14:22-23. Whenever the third aspect is
obeyed in the book of Acts there is no exception to this rule. The third aspect of the Great Commission is
authority to bring baptized believers into the membership of the Church of
Christ.
If the
above arguments don’t convince you, then consider this. Can you think of any other possible way in
those days that the third aspect could be observed apart from the “ye” assembling
together with the “them” in an organized and orderly fashion? The Great Commission requires “them” to be
taught how to observe all things Christ commanded. Specifically, how could they be taught to
observe what Christ commanded them in Matthew 18:15-18 apart from membership in
the same church?
Matt.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with
thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he
neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a
publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.”
Proper observation
of the above command is according to a due process of orderly steps which
culminates with “tell it unto the church.”
No unchurched persons can observe this
command since no unchurched person is under the authority of a church, or has a
church to “tell it to.” This command in
Matthew 18:17 assumes that all observing parties involved are members of the
church they tell it to. This procedure
is part of the “all things” that the
contextual “ye” is to teach “them” to observe, and it cannot be done
apart from actual assembling together.
In the
above instructions, notice that those “two or three” in verse 16 do not
constitute a church. Instead, those “two or three” are directed by Christ to
“go tell it to the church” in verse 17.
Some
suppose that just two verses later (v. 20) Christ teaches that wherever “two or
three” are gathered in His name that a church is thereby constituted. That is,
some believe this verse gives authority for believers to “gather themselves
together” into a church.
Such a conclusion
simply ignores the context. Notice that Matthew
The bottom line is that Matthew 18:15-20
cannot be observed by “two or three” baptized believers in an unchurched status
as it requires membership in the church in order to “go tell the church.”
In
addition to the command to church members in Matthew 18:15-17, the observance
of the Lord’s Supper as instituted in Matthew 26 requires the actual assembling
together for observance. The “ye” cannot teach “them” how to observe the Lord’s Supper apart from actually
assembling together with them at the same time and in the same place. In I Corinthians
Finally,
remember that those who are being addressed as “ye” were pre-qualified in that they “have” already been through this same process before being
authorized to administer it to others. If that is true, then, they too had to be incorporated
as members in the Church at
“Wherefore of these men which have
COMPANIED with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went IN and OUT among us,
Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up
from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.” – Acts
Note the language of continual assembling
where Jesus “went IN and OUT among us.” The event described here is the selection of
another man to fill the “church” office of apostle along with the eleven. Paul says that apostles were “set in the church” first (I Cor.
Acts 1:21-22 proves that more than the
twelve had been habitually assembling together with Christ over the past three
and half years, because if not, there would be no other persons qualified to
fill this office.
Therefore,
those being addressed in the Great Commission were already in a churched
condition just as they were already in a saved and baptized condition previous
to being commissioned. He is addressing
the New Testament church in Matthew 28:19-20.
It is not
possible for this aspect of the commission to be administered or observed by
unchurched persons even if they are baptized believers. This aspect of the commission is the command
to bring them into a churched state and it provides the authority to do so. The church institution is not only inseparable
from obedience to the Great Commission but it is always the direct product of
the third aspect of the Great Commission in the book of Acts – always.
Review
Questions
1. Is it possible to obey the commission without both
the “ye” and “them” being brought
together in
a regular habitual assembly in order to observe all things commanded? (no)
2. Is it possible to obey the third aspect of the
commission outside of membership in a church of
like faith
and order with Christ? (no)
3. Is it possible to qualify as an administrator of
this commission apart from being already saved,
baptized,
and a member of such a New Testament Church? (no)
4. Should you or anyone else submit to anyone for
discipleship training who is not a member of
a church of
like faith and order with Christ? If so, by what authority from God’s Word?
(no, as
there is no
such scriptural authority for it)
An Age Long “Ye”
- “and, lo, I
am with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen”
Thus far,
we have seen that authority to carry out the Great Commission is given to “ye”
and not to “them.” We have also
established the meaning of “make
disciples” as both an event that began with the gospel as well as an on
going process that continues with baptism and habitual assembling together in
observing the commandments of the Lord. We have seen that it was given to those who
have been through this three-fold process rather than those who have not. We have seen it has been given to those who
are like faith and order with Jesus Christ rather than those who are not. Last, we have seen it is given to those in a
churched state rather than those who are not.
However, now the text demands they are an AGE
LONG existing “ye”. Christ promises that He will be with this “you” until the end of the age. If this “you” is considered as individuals,
most died before the end of that century, much less the end of the world. Christ could not have given this commission to
them as individuals. Christ could only
have given them this as representatives of something that could and would
continue until the end of the age.
Whatever “you” represents, it must
be in keeping with the inherent characteristics thus far established by the
context. Thus “you” must be
representative of saved, baptized, churched disciples of like faith and order
with Christ.
Therefore, the inherent characteristics of
this “ye” leaves only two possible
options as to their age long identity. Either Christ is giving the commission to the
New Testament church to be administered by its ordained members or He is
addressing only the ordained members within the New Testament Church. Is He giving it to His church, or to the
ordained elders?
Many believe He gave the commission to the
ordained class within the churches of Christ. To support this position, they argue that only
the ordained class is capable of performing all three aspects of this
commission; whereas the ordinary church member is not, and if given to the
church it would authorize women and children as well to administer it. They argue that in the book of Acts in every
case of baptism it is performed by the ordained membership and silent passages
cannot be used to contradict this conclusion. All of these things are true.
However, we believe that the same evidence
supports the conclusion that the Great Commission was given to the church to be
administered by its ordained membership.
Indeed, the overall Biblical evidence demands this conclusion. For example, we can find explicit cases where
the church is the one sending out its ordained membership to carry out this
commission (Acts 11:22; 13:1-3; 15:1-3); and the one sending is superior in
authority to the one being sent. We can
find an explicit and clear command of Christ that appoints the church as the
final authority in kingdom affairs when he instructs individual church members
to “tell it to the church” rather than to its ordained membership. We can find scriptures that indicate it is the
church that chooses and determines the qualifications of those to be set apart
to be ordained (Acts 6:5). Don’t those
who select and choose always have greater authority than those being examined
and chosen? We can find scriptures where
such ordained men are “set in” the church and are said to be “gifts” for the
church and thus are subservient in the final analysis to the Church (Eph. 4:11;
I Cor. 12:28).
However, most importantly, we can find no
scriptures that promise age long continuance to the ordained ministry per se,
but we do find scriptures that promise age long continuance to the church (Mt.
16:18; Eph. 3:21) in perfect harmony with the age long promise in Matthew 28:20.
Finally, we can find examples where Christ
directly addresses the ordained leadership but is speaking through him to the
church (“unto the angel of the church
which is at….he that hath an ear let him ear what the Spirit saith UNTO THE
CHURCHES”- Rev. 2-3). In Appendix I
there is a detailed contextual analysis of Matthew 28:10-20 that demonstrates
the whole church was present with its ordained representatives. It is a very common thing to address an
organization or institution by addressing their appointed leadership. In Matthew 28:19-20 we believe the contextual
“ye” is the Church of Christ
including its ordained membership.
Review
Questions
4. Do the
scriptures give examples of churches sending out qualified members to perform
the
tasks listed in the Great Commission?
(yes, see Acts 11:22; 13:3; 15:2-3)
5. Does
this commission authorize self-gospelization, self-baptism, self-instruction or
self-
constitution of churches? (no)
New
- “and, lo, I am
with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen.”
We have
demonstrated that there is an AGE LONG promise of continuity given to the
Church as it carries out this commission. What kind of continuity is it? Does the Great Commission text define
it? Yes, it does. It defines it in three ways. (1) Organic link to link contact; (2) Natural
cycle of succession; (3) Supernatural promise of day in and day out organic
link to link succession.
A. Organic
Link to Link Contact:
The Great
Commission “ye” and “them” are described in terms of direct
organic link to link relationship to each other in this commission. The first link is “ye” and the second link in direct relationship to this “ye” is “them.”
The “them” are the direct
objects in direct contact in both time and space with the “ye” of this commission. It
is impossible for the Great Commission to be administered without direct “hands
on” contact in time and space with ‘them.” For example, preaching the gospel to “them” requires that the “ye” physically “go” to them. Remember, there
were no TV’s and modern electronic means of communication when this commission
was given. Likewise, the second and
third aspects of the commission require actual physical contact between “ye” and “them” in carrying out this commission. Baptism was a physical “hands on” connection
between “ye” and “them.”
Furthermore, teaching “them”
required actual assembling together with “them”
over a period of time in order to accomplish the goal of “teaching them to observe all things….commanded.” Organic link to link contact cannot be
successfully repudiated if we take the commission at face value. In fact there is no other possible way that
such a commission could be administered but by organic link to link contact in
time and space.
To deny this is to attempt to alter the text
by removing “ye” from it and making “them” authorized and capable of
SELF-administration in every aspect. No
one has the right to alter the scripture or edit from the commission this “ye”
or any other word provided by divine inspiration.
B. Natural
Cycle of Succession:
Does the
third aspect of this commission command “them”
to observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded? Obviously!
Does this include observing this commission as a New Testament
Church? Who would deny that? Notice that the very nature of this
commission is a NATURAL CYCLE of reproduction after its own kind:
“GO….baptizing….teaching”
which demands them to “GO…..baptizing….teaching” which demands them to
“GO…baptizing…teaching them…etc.etc.
So the very nature of this commission is a natural
historical cycle of succession by reproduction after its own kind in organic
link to link fashion.
Look at
all denominations today and you will see this is exactly how they NATURALLY
reproduce after their own kind. Luther
started the Lutheran church and every Lutheran church was a product of previous
Lutherans in doctrine and practice. Calvin started the Presbyterian church and
every Presbyterian church afterwards was a product of previous Presbyterians of
like faith and order. When a split
occurred in a denomination, at that split a new kind of church was formed, and
all following churches are products of a previous one of like faith and order.
All present denominations operate according to this natural cycle.
However,
it is Christ that started the very first church in
C.
Supernatural Promise of Day in and Day out Succession until the end of the Age:
“and,
lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen.”
Literally, the Greek says “all the days until the end of the age.” Greek scholars say this is an idiom which
means “day in and day out” until the
end of the age (William Hendriksen, New
Testament Commentary, Matthew, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich. p.
1003). Christ is promising His day in
and day out presence until the end of the world for the very purpose of carrying
out this kind of successive historical link by link organic cycle of like faith
and order. The gates of hell shall never
prevail against His church simply because He remains with it providentially
making sure that this “ye” continues
“day in and day out” reproducing like
faith and order until the end of the world. This is why Jude says the faith was “ONCE delivered” – Jude 3. This means that the KIND of churches found in
the New Testament not only continued to reproduce after their own kind in the
apostolic age but did so also after the
apostolic age into every generation up to the present generation. To deny this is to demand that Christ lied and
in addition to lying, He failed to be with them “always, even unto the end of the age.” To deny this is to claim the gates of hell
did prevail against His church. To deny
this is to edit from the commission the prequalified “ye” at some point in time between the apostolic age and the present
and demand that “them” is authorized
to self-administer this commission in order to restart it. No one has the authority to edit the “ye” from this commission at ANY TIME. If this “ye”
at some point in history ceased to exist, died out, then this leaves only one
option: God had to violate His own Word and directly authorize those identified
as “them” to resume the Great
Commission. However, the promise of AGE
LONG CONTINUITY found in the Great Commission denies that possibility
altogether, as the object of this promise is the prequalfied “ye” rather than the unqualified “them” found in the Great Commission. To say that it did cease to exist is to say that
Christ did not keep His promise to His kind of church.
Therefore,
it is impossible to deny organic link to link church succession without editing
out and denying what Matthew 28:19-20 clearly states and promises. It
provides for no authority at any time between the first and second
coming for “them” to administer any
aspect of this commission, nor does it allow for the possibility of complete
cessation of the pre-qualified “ye” at
any time between the first and second coming.
They must be here throughout this age to carry out the Great
Commission.
Remember,
the “ye” has been contextually defined to be those who have been through this
threefold process already, thus they are members of an existing church and
acting under the authority of that existing church.
Many will
reject this conclusion due to their view of secular church history. However, this objection will be dealt with
later (Appendix II). For the present it
must be remembered that unlike the Scriptures, secular church history is (1)
uninspired, (2) incomplete, and (3) often inaccurate.
The very
structure and nature of this commission demands organic link to link contact
that concludes in the reproduction of churches of like faith and order until
Jesus comes again.
“Baptists
have generally held that a church is both an organization and an organism. As
an organism (a living being, or as the Bible calls the church ‘lively stones’
in I Peter 2:5) a church can bring forth after her kind (Gen. 1:24). We mean by this that a church may dismiss some
of her members to form a new and separate church, or by sending forth a
missionary with authority to organize a new and separate church. We do not believe in the spontaneous
generation of churches any more than we believe in spontaneous generation of
animal or human life. We hold, as the
Scriptures teach, that all life comes from antecedent life.” Milburn
Cockrell, Scriptural Church Organization,
2nd ed. back cover.
Review
Questions
contact between the “ye” and “them” of the Great Commission? (no)
6. Do
churches evolve out of nothing/out of self-constitution or are they “made” through
the
obedience
of a previously existing church, obedient to the Great Commission by sending
out
qualified men to gospelize, baptize, and gather into churches? (by obedience of
a
pre-existing church to the Great Commission)
Summary Conclusion
Usurping authority is a grievous sin. It is stealing what does not belong to you. It is doing what you are not authorized to do.
The Great Commission context defines
precisely who is and who is not authorized to administer the Great Commission. The proper authorized administrator is
characterized by seven factors. The
administer is (1) the contextual “ye”
not “them”; (2) the qualified
experienced “ye” not the unqualified
inexperienced “them; (3) the “ye” of like faith and order with Christ
not those who are not; (4) the “ye”
that are in a church of like faith and order not the unchurched; (5) the “ye” that represent the Church of Jesus
Christ and those being sent out by that church, not anyone else; (6) the “ye” that are reproduced as the direct
historical product of link to link organic succession between the first and
second coming of Christ not any church unrelated to this historical link succession;
and (7) The kind of churches found in the pages of the New Testament.
These seven characteristics can be summarized
under three headings: (1) In regard to doctrine and practice they are churches
of like faith and order with Christ. (2)
In regard to origin they are the product of a preceding church of like faith
and order. (3) In regard to history they
are those churches that did not begin as a denomination outside of Palestine,
outside the earthly ministry of Christ and outside the city of Jerusalem
outside the first century.
Find churches
which are doctrinally and historically like faith and order with these three
summarized characteristics and you have found the churches of the New
Testament. All others are usurpers and have no authority whatsoever to
administer the Great Commission. All
others are not churches of like faith and order with Christ. All others do not originate with a previous
church that is like faith and order beginning with the church Jesus built in
Jerusalem during His earthly ministry.
All others are self-originated at some other point in time, some other
place by some other way than authorized by Christ in the Great Commission.
In 1810
Jesse Mercer wrote the following circular letter to the churches of the Georgia
Baptist Association:
“From these
proposition, thus established, we draw the following inferences, as clear and
certain truths,
I. That all churches and ministers, who originated
since the apostles, and not successively to them, are not in gospel order; and
therefore cannot be acknowledged as such.
II. That
all, who have been ordained to the work of the ministry without the knowledge
and call of the church, by popes, councils, &c. are the creatures of those
who constituted them, and not the servants of Christ, or his church, and therefore
have no right to administer for them.
III. That
those who have set aside the discipline of the gospel, and have given law to,
and exercised dominion over the church, are usurpers over the place and office
of Christ, are against him; and therefore may not be accepted in their offices.
IV. That
they, who administer contrary to their own, or the faith of the gospel, cannot
administer for God; since without the gospel faith he has nothing to minister;
and without their own he accepts no service; therefore the administrations of
such are unwarrantable impositions in any way.
Our reasons,
therefore for rejecting baptism by immersion when administered by Pedobaptist
ministers, are,
I. That they are
connected with churches clearly out of the apostolic succession, and therefore clearly
out of the apostolic commission.
II. That
they have derived their authority, by ordination, from the bishops of Rome, or
from individuals, who have taken it on themselves to give it.
III. That
they hold a higher rank in the churches than the apostles did, are not accountable
to, and of consequence not triable by the church; but are amenable only to, or
among themselves.
IV. That
they all, as we think, administer contrary to the pattern of the Gospel, and
some, when occasion requires, will act contrary to their own professed faith.
Now as we know of none implicated in this case, but are in some or all of the
above defects, either of which we deem sufficient to disqualify for meet gospel
administration, therefore we hold their administrations invalid.
But if it
should be said, that the apostolic succession cannot be ascertained, and then
it is proper to act without it; we say, that the loss of the succession can
never prove it futile, nor justify any one out of it. The Pedobaptists, by their own histories,
admit they are not of it; but we do not, and shall think ourselves entitled to
the claim, until the reverse be clearly shown. And should any think authority derived from
the MOTHER HARLOTS, sufficient to qualify to administer a gospel ordinance,
they will be so charitable as not to condemn us for preferring that derived
from Christ. And should any still more
absurdly plead that ordination, received from an individual, is sufficient; we
leave them to shew what is the use of ordination, and why it exists. If any
think an administration will suffice which has no pattern in the gospel; they
will suffer us to act according to the divine order with impunity. And if it should be said that faith in the
subject is all that is necessary, we beg leave to require it where the
scriptures do, that is every where. But we must close: we beseech you brethren
while you hold fast the form of your profession, be ready to unite with those
from whom you differ, as far as the principles of eternal truth will justify. And while you firmly oppose that shadowy
union, so often urged, be instant in prayer and exert yourselves to bring about
that which is in heart, and after godliness. Which the Lord hasten in its
season. Amen and Amen.”
A. M. MARSHALL,
Moderator. JESSE MERCER, Clerk.” – Jesse Mercer, History
of the
Before the rise of J.R. Graves, Jesse
Mercer spelled it out that the Great Commission reproduced churches of like
faith and order in succession and would until the end of the world. He regarded
the Great Commission as “the pattern” and “gospel order” for all to
follow. Early English Baptists as well
as the Philadelphia Baptists Association consistently referred to the Great
Commission pattern as “regular church order.”
The Practice of the Great Commission
in the book of Acts
Did the
Church at
We
believe: (1) It should be no surprise
that Apostolic Churches obeyed what Christ commanded in the commission and that
it is clearly and unambiguously spelled out in no uncertain terms right at the
beginning. (2) If a departure from this commission is found it should be
no surprise that it is due to some kind of clearly stated disruption and such a
departure is the exception to the rule rather than the rule. (3) It
should be no surprise that such a clearly stated disruption that gives rise to
an exception is addressed by the Apostolic churches and an attempt is made to
correct that departure and return to the Great Commission rule.
In this chapter we will
address these issues by answering three questions: First, we will ask, “Did Apostolic
Christianity Obey the Commission as a Rule?" Secondly, "Is there any exceptions to
this rule and are they clearly stated?” And lastly, "How did the Church Respond
to such Exceptions?"
A. Did
Apostolic Christianity Obey the Commission As a Rule?
The book of Acts opens
with Christ commanding them to wait in Jerusalem until they were empowered by
the coming of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of carrying out the Great Commission
(Acts 1:5-8). Immediately, upon being
empowered by the Holy Spirit, Luke shows by no uncertain terms that the
commission was obeyed step by step from the beginning.
“Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand
souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers….added to the church.”
– Acts
Now compare the above with the logical procedure and aspects of the Great
Commission:
1. “go” (with the gospel) - ”RECEIVED HIS WORD”
2. “baptizing them” - “WERE BAPTIZED”
3. Gathered for instruction - “ADDED UNTO THEM”
4. “Teaching them” - “CONTINUED
STEADFASTLY IN THE APOSTLES DOCTRINE “
Right from the very start, Luke very clearly
and very carefully spells out in no uncertain terms that the church at
Secondly,
Luke summarizes this on going pattern of practice from this point forward by
simply using the term “added” (Acts 2:47; 5:14) and when the numbers become too
large to count he replaces the term “added” with “multiplied” and “greatly multiplied.” In every case they first “received the word”
and then secondly were “baptized” and then “added” to the teaching assembly in
full fellowship with the membership of the church at Jerusalem.
Acts
same day there were ADDED unto them about three thousand souls.”
Acts
Lord ADDED to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Acts
of men and women.”
Notice that “added to
them” is synonymous with the words “added to the church” as well as “added to
the Lord.” When the numbers got too large to count or to be “ADDED” up he
changes from addition to multiplication ( “they were multiplied”).
Acts 6:1 “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.”
Acts 6:7 “And the word of God
increased; and the number of the disciples
multiplied in
obedient to the faith.”
That such additions and
multiplications were not to be thought of as something separate and distinct
from church membership is clearly demonstrated by Luke when he brings both the
mathematical terms and church together in one passage:
Acts
and
in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were
multiplied.”
Acts
faith: and much people was added
unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to
to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people.”
This “added” or “multiplied” not only
contextually refers back to the procedure spelled out in Acts 2:41-42
but always concludes with church membership. This same pattern of obedience to the
Commission can be seen clearly by the practice of the second great
church found in the book of Acts – the church at
1. The Church at
2. These ordained missionaries are sent out to preach
the gospel – Acts 14:3-19
3. They Baptize the gospelized – Acts
4. They organize them into churches – Acts 14:20-23
5. They continue steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine –
Acts 14:20-23; 16:1-4
The church at
Therefore, the Great Commission pattern
is the ordinary and normal RULE of practice by the two great Churches in the
book of Acts. Should we expect any other RULE of practice other than what
Christ commissioned?
B. Are there Exceptions to this Rule and
if so, are there Clearly Stated Reasons given?
Some object to such a RULE of practice because of certain things
recorded in Acts 8-11. What about the Samaritans, the Ethiopian Eunuch, Ananais
and those believers in
The book of Acts makes three things very clear. First, the normal and standard practice of
the Jerusalem church as well as the church at Antioch was to obey the Great
Commission as given by Christ which includes gospelization, baptism and
habitual assembling of the baptized
together as an observing church. Second, the writer of Acts 8-11
indicates clearly that the departure from the normal observance of all the
Great Commission particulars was due to a clearly spelled out DISRUPTION in the
church at
Acts 8:1 “And
Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there
was a great persecution against the church which was at
they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of
Acts
that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and
There can be no doubt that Luke spells
out clearly that this was a disruption of the normal condition and practice at
the Church in
C. How did the Church Respond to Such
Exceptions?
Luke makes it
clear that the church at Jerusalem was monitoring its missionaries and
responded to any abnormality. Whenever
such abnormal cases came to the ears of the church at Jerusalem they dispatched
authorized representatives to investigate and oversee such believers:
Acts
Acts
which was in
as far as
Antioch.”
The
term “sent” translates a Greek term that means “a sent authorized
representative.” This is the verbal form for the term translated
“apostle” and an apostle was an ordained representative of Christ. This verb form was used for those “sent” out
under the authority
of the Church. Notice that the church is the one sending Barnabas out and limiting
the extent of his mission (“that he should go as far as….”)
Luke clearly shows in the Book of
Acts that departures from normal Great Commission procedures were not left
undone, but that the Church at
Hence,
the church at Jerusalem was committed to the Great Commission pattern and
monitored any deviance from that pattern by sending out authorized
representatives to ensure Christ’s commission was obeyed in every particular.
Whenever questionable news came
back to the ears of the church, they authorized and sent someone to investigate
it; and what followed in each case was the mention of “churches” or a “church”
as the result.
Acts
and
in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”
Acts 11:23-26 “Who, when he came,
and had seen the grace of God, was glad,
and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto
the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy
Ghost and of faith: and
much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas toTarsus, for to seek
Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto
And when he had found him, he brought him unto
to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and
taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in
Hence, the disruption from
completing the Great Commission is rectified and Acts 11-18 returns to the
normal preaching, baptizing, gathering into churches. What else should one expect other than
attempted compliance with the Great Commission??? Therefore, Acts 1-8 and
13-18 demonstrate clearly that the rule of action was obedience to the Great
Commission in all of its aspects.
The
question to those who would argue contrary to what Luke spells out in Acts
2:41-42 is “why would you think the early
Christians would want to disobey any particular of the Great Commission?”
Why take an obvious EXCEPTION to the
RULE in the book of Acts and attempt to make it the rule? Shouldn’t it be
expected that the early Christians would obey the Great Commission in all of
its particulars? Shouldn’t it be expected during a time of obvious
disruption that the first church would attempt to follow up and confirm the due
gospel order among such disciples? Does
not the case of the Ethiopian Eunuch and baptism demonstrate that “silence”
should not be used to prove disobedience to the commission but rather
obedience? There is nothing recorded
concerning Philip telling the Ethiopian Eunuch anything about baptism and yet
we find him wanting to be baptized. Does silence constitute a rule
here? And why would Philip tell him
about his need to obey baptism but not the final aspect of the commission as
well? You say the text does not say so!
Neither does it say that Philip instructed him previously about baptism
either! Why wouldn’t the church at
The book of Acts demonstrates
clearly that under normal uninterrupted circumstances that membership into a church
is the direct and immediate result of obedience to the Great Commission. The book of Acts demonstrates clearly that
under abnormal and interrupted conditions it was the practice of the church to
follow up any case of which they were uncertain, cases that did not seem to conform
to all aspects of the commission. Whatever
abnormalities came to their ears (Acts 8:14; 11:20), they followed it
up. And churches were always the result
of such follow ups (Acts
In conclusion, the RULE of Apostolic
Christianity was to obey the Great Commission in all of its particulars, so
that church membership completes the discipleship program; and wherever there
occurs EXCEPTIONS to this rule, those exceptions are dealt with by New
Testament Churches, so that they eventually conform to that end, with the
result of
membership in a church of Christ.
Those who
interpret cases in Acts 8-11 to be contrary to the explicit command of the
commission and contrary to church authority do so on the basis of assumption
and silence alone. Assumption and
silence are never a good basis for drawing conclusions completely contradictory
to carefully explicit preceding precepts and examples.
Dr. T.G.
Jones was the vice president of the board of trustees of the Louisville
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at the time when William H. Whitsitt was
its president. Jones was also chosen as the president of
“In
this simple analysis of the commission is presented the very process by which
Baptists are now made, constituted into churches, and governed. That it was the process by which the first
preachers made converts, and constituted churches, is beyond question.” T.
G. Jones, The Baptists, their Origin,
Continuity, Principles, Spirit, Policy, Position, and Influence, a Vindication.
(
Review
Questions
The Constitution of Churches by Early Particular English
Baptists – 1640-1707
“I say that I know by mine own experience
(having walked with them), that they
were thus gathered; Viz., Some godly and learned men of approved gifts and abilities for the
Ministry” – Hensard Knollys: A
Moderate Answer Unto Dr. Bastwick's Book Called Independency not God's Ordinance;
“It
is well known to many and especially to ourselves, that our congregations as
they are now, were erected and framed
according to the rule of Christ” – William Kiffin: A Brief
Remonstrance of the Reasons of those People Called Anabaptists for their
Separation; London, 1645; page 6.
The prime
movers among the seven particular Baptist Churches in
These
early English and Welsh Particular Baptists believed there were Biblical
essentials necessary for proper church constitution. They clearly distinguished between properly
constituted churches and improperly constituted churches. Their basis for this distinction was found in
the authority and order presented in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. They firmly believed that authority to
constitute churches was found in Matthew 28:19-20 and it was given only to the
church to be exercised through its ordained ministry according to the
particular order established by the Matthew 28:19-20 text. They coined phrases to describe and
distinguish the proper constitution of a church from churches which were not
properly constituted according to this established order. That phrase was variously stated in such
words as “gospel order” “regular church order” “rule of Christ” or “binding gospel order” etc. These phrases were passed down to American
Baptists and are still used today to describe the doctrine and practice
concerning the true manner in which churches are constituted.
In 1654
Thomas Patient interpreted Matthew 28:19-20 to be the binding “order” given by
Christ to the church and inclusive in this commission was the authority to
gather baptized believers into a constituted church. In the following article this fact is
explicitly summarized in the very first paragraph below:
“It
is clear that the Ordinance of the Supper is committed to a Church, yea, to A
MINISTERIAL ASSEMBLY GATHERED ACCORDING
TO CHRIST’S COMMISSION, Matt. 28:19,20.” (emphasis mine).
“Here
I understand THE ORDER binding is this:
First
the ministers should teach the Nations, or make them disciples by teaching;
Then
the command is, baptizing them, what them? such that are made disciples by
teaching.
Thirdly,
the Command is to teach them to observe "whatsoever I have commanded
you."
And,
I will be with you to the end of the world, that is, He will be with a people,
first converted, secondly baptized, thirdly walking in the practical
observation of all other administrations of
God's house, as these eleven did, and those they converted. I say His promise
is to be with His people to the end of the world.”
“This
Is The BINDING GOSPEL ORDER Which Involves The Lord's Supper
THIS
ORDER IS BINDING, as a minister is commanded to baptize one who is made a
disciple and not any other, so he is commanded to put them upon the practical
observation of all Christ's Laws and His only. Until they are baptized,
they are not, nor cannot be admitted into a visible Church, to partake of
the Supper of the Lord.
The Apostles Followed
This BINDING GOSPEL ORDER
That
this is the true meaning of Christ in the commission appears by His Apostles'
ministry and practice, who, by the infallible gifts of the Holy Ghost were
guided unfailingly thus to preach and practice, Acts 2:37, 38 with verses 41 and
42.
First,
he teaches them the doctrine of Jesus Christ, they, upon hearing that, were
pricked at the heart, and inquiring of Peter and the rest of the Apostles what
they should do, he says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you."
See how he presses the SAME ORDER here as Christ does in the Commission, and
afterwards in the 41 verse where it is said, "So many as gladly received
the word of God, were baptized, and the same day there was added to the Church about three thousand souls," by faith and
baptism, "and they continued in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in
breaking of bread and prayer." - The
Doctrine of Baptism by Thomas Patient, 1654. (emphasis mine).
By
necessary inference this means that Thomas Patient believed that the third aspect
of the Great Commission involved the constitution of the church out of the
previously baptized believers. However,
necessary inference is not needed to draw this conclusion as Patient explicitly
states this to be true when he says, It is clear that the Ordinance of the Supper
is committed to a Church, yea, to ministerial assembly gathered according to Christ’s commission – Mt. 28:19-20” and then he follows that by saying the very same
order was followed by the Apostles in Acts 2:41-42 where the third aspect of
the Great Commission explicitly includes membership into the church, “and the same day there was added to the Church.” Notice the placement of this phrase
following baptism but preceding “continued stedfastly in the apostle’s
doctrine…” There can be no question in
the minds of the apostles that the third aspect of the Great Commission
demanded church membership as the conclusion of the Great Commission and there
was no question of this in the mind of early English Baptists.
It is this threefold order in the Great
Commission that these old Baptists referred to when they used the terms “gospel
order” or “regular church order” or “the rule of Christ” or “the binding gospel
order.” Matthew 28:19-20 was viewed by
the early Baptists in
Church Authorized and Sent Ministers?
Did these early Particular
Baptists of England and
A. Who is authorized?
The Church or the Ministry in the Church?
In the Associational records of the early
English Particular Baptists in 1655 it was asked if the authority symbolized by
the giving of the keys was given to the ministry or to the church.
“Query 1.
Whether the power of the keys spoken of in Mat.
Answer: the exercise of the
power of Christ in a church having officers, in opening, and shutting, in
receiving in, and casting out, belongs to the church with its eldership, Mat.
18:17f., I Cor. 5:4., III John 9ff., Acts 15:4,22” – B.R. White, ed.,Association
Records of the Particular Baptists of England, Wales and Ireland to 1660. (Association
Records of the West Country, 1655), p. 60.
When
they were asked about whether it was proper for ministers to go forth under
some authority other than the church they replied:
“Answer: it is
unlawful. 1. Because our Lord Christ sendeth forth his ministers by his power
alone, Mt. 28:19, and hee is the head of the body the Church that in all things
hee might have the preheminence, Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22
2. Because Christ hath left ALL POWER IN
HIS CHURCH both to call and send forth ministers, Mt. 28:19-20, saying, I am
with you to the ende of the worlde, and I. Tim. 3; Titus 1; Acts 14; Mt. 18 and
16:18f.
3. Because wee finde the Church ONLY
exercising that power both in chusing and sending forth ministers as appeareth
by these Scriptures, Acts 1:23,26; 8:14; 13:2f and 11.22. Wee think fitt to
adde that wee taking this question intire consider it fully answered.” – B.R. White, ed., Association
Records of the Particular Baptists of
When
asked if an ordained member of the church could just go out on his own accord
to preach the gospel without being church sent they responded:
“Answer: we answere that
such a brother soe judged of by the church ought wholly to be at its disposing.
First, because that all those gifted are the church’s, I Cor.
Edward Drapes in 1649 in his treatise
entitled “Gospel Glory” addressed the issue directly when he said:
“The Power is in the Church, not the Elders
Solution:
To this I
briefly answer, that the Church, viz.:
the whole Church has this power, as is evident in the casting forth of
the incestuous person. Paul writes to
the Church, bids them, Purge out the old leaven. He does not write to the officers of the
Church only, but to the whole Church. So
Acts 15, when the whole Church at
Some anti-successionist today point to
Article 41 (LXI) in the 1646 London Confession of Faith to prove that baptismal
administrators did not have to be church ordained members. However in the very same year that the London
Confession of Faith was printed the enemies of the Baptists pointed out this
“obscure” language in their own confession to them. In
Response, one of the framers that very year of this Confession said:
‘We
do not affirm, that every common Disciple may Baptize, there was some mistake in laying down our Opinion, page 14. Where it is conceived, that we hold,
Whatsoever Disciple can teach the word, can make out Christ, may Baptize, and
administer other Ordinances. We do not
so. For though believing Women being
baptized are Disciples, Acts 9:36, and can make out Christ; yea, and some of
them (by their experimental knowledge and spiritual understanding of the way,
order, & Faith of the Gospel) may be able to instruct their Teachers, Acts
18:26; Rom. 16:3, yet we do not hold, that a woman may preach, baptize, nor
administer other Ordinances. Nor do we
judge it meet, for any Brother to baptize or to administer other Ordinances;
unless he have received such gifts of the Spirit, as fitteth, or enables him to
preach the Gospel. And those gifts being
first tried by and known to the Church, such a Brother is chosen and appointed
thereunto by the Sufferage of the Church.”
Hensard Knollys: The Shining of a Flaming Fire in
Significantly, they made it very clear
that they believed that it was the church that authorized and sent out ordained
men for the purpose to gather churches:
“Query 1. Whether the
setting apart of any to administer officially in the Church is not to be done
by that church of which person set apart is a member?
Answer: 1. That it is in
the power of the church to ordain and send forth a minister to the world, Acts
13:2f. Secondly, that this person sent forth to the world and GATHERING
CHURCHES, he ought with them and they with him to ordain fit persons to
officiate among them, Acts 14.23, Tit. 1.5” - B.R. White, ed., Association Records of the
Particular Baptists of
Notice that in their response they
understood “gathering churches” as inclusive in the Great Commission in Matthew
28:19-20. They make it abundantly clear
throughout their minutes that Christ gave sole authority to His church to
choose out from among themselves and qualify men for ordination and sends them
forth and that this sending forth included the authority to gather
churches. Also, once a church is
constituted under the authority of a church sent, church authorized, and church
ordained man of God that the new church ought to follow the same procedure.
B. Can baptized
believers Constitute a Church by themselves
They
were explicitly asked if a group of properly baptized believers living far away
from any New Testament Church could organize themselves into a church having no
church ordained man among them. They
replied that such must first seek out the assistance of the church and/or the
ordained men that were instrumental in their baptism before being constituted
into a church:
“…yet they may
be established a church of Christ having the assistance of others whom God hath
inabled to carry on the work of God among them and to take such care for them
as their necessity shall require; and that it is the duty of that church and
ministry to take care that they be so provided for that was instrumental in
their gathering, Acts 14:21ff, Tit. 1.5, II Tim. 2:2, Acts 11:21ff.” – B.R.
White, ed., Association Records of the Particular Baptists of
If you question what they meant exactly,
take a look at the scriptures they gave to support their answer. The first church in the Philadelphia Baptist
Association existed two years from 1686 to 1688 as baptized believers in an
unchurched condition because they did not believe they could organize
themselves into a church apart from a church ordained and sent man to gather
churches. They did not organize until
Elias Keach came into their midst and gathered them into a church.
Also,
they did not believe that a baptized believer who was not ordained could
administer the ordinances:
“Query 6.
Whether a baptized person, walking in fellowship with unbaptized persons, may
administer any ordinance in the
Answer: we know no rule in
scripture for such a practice. And, farther, we judge the ministring brethren
should walk most exactly to the rule, that they might be exemplary to others in
drawing them to, and keeping them in, the truth. II Cor. 6:3; I Tim. 4:12;
Philip. 3:17.” - B.R. White, ed., Association Records of the Particular Baptists
of
C. Did they believe just
any church of immersed believers was a true church?
They
did not believe that the churches of John Bunyan, Mr. Tombs and several other
professed Baptists where properly constituted churches of Christ. They carefully considered whether a church was
constituted according to the Great Commission rule before receiving it into
fellowship. For example, we read:
“It was
debated whether the church at Leominister and
Some
of their queries and answers contained expressions that indicated that a church
must be rightly constituted and those who were not were not true churches:
“Query. Whether a member of a TRUE and RIGHTLY
CONSTITUTED church may, without the consent of the church to which he
belongs, joyne himself as a member of another church?” – B.R. White, ed., Association
Records of the Particular Baptists of
“We also
desire and are perswaded that our gracious God will so helpe and guide you in
entering into a solemne association with other churches that are RIGHTLY
CONSTITUTED and principled…..” – B.R. White, ed., Association
Records of the Particular Baptists of
D. They Believed that
members who wanted to leave and join another church must first seek approval of
their church:
“Query 2, Whether a member
of a true and rightly constituted church, may without the consent of the church
to which he belongs, joyne himself as a member of another church?
Answer: We judge that he
may not; no more then a church may require a member to joyne himselfe to
another church against his owne mind and will; considering that such a breaking
off of a member from a church, as it hath no warrant at all in the word so also
it is contrarie to that engagement which a church member makes, or ought to
make, at least implicitely, at the time of joining. And if one church member
may so at his owne pleasure leave the church to which he belongs, then may
others also doe the like and so a church shall have no power to retaine her
members. But this would overthrow all church [rule] and order and set up
confusion of which God is not the author, I Cor. 14.33.” – B.R. White, ed., Association
Records of the Particular Baptists of
E. The Influence of
Welsh and British Baptists of this Period on American Baptists:
"The Welsh Baptists began to emigrate to this
country in very early times, and by them some of our oldest and WELL ORGANIZED
churches were planted; order, intelligence, and stability marked their
operations; and the number of Baptist communities which have branched out from these
Welsh foundations - the number of ministers and members who have sprung from
Cambro-British ancestors, and the sound, salutary, and efficient principles
which by them have been diffused among the Baptist population in this country,
is beyond the conception of most of our people. We shall see, when we come to
the history of the American Baptists, that settlements were formed in very
early times by this people, which became the center of Baptist operations in Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South
Carolina." David Benedict, History of the Baptists, p. 346.
Again:
"The foregoing facts show that the Baptists
of Rhode Island had their origin from the English and Welsh Baptists, through
the ministry of John Clarke, Thomas Griffith, Gregory Dexter, and others, that
the early Baptists of Massachusetts had their origin, also, from the Welsh and
English Baptists, through the ministry of John Miles, John Emblem, and others;
that the Pennsylvania Baptists had their origin from Wales and England, through
the ministry of Morgan Edwards, Samuel Jones, Abel Morgan, Hugh Davis, and
others; that the Virginia Baptists had their origin mainly from the English
Baptists, through the ministry of Robert Nordin, Richard Jones, Casper Mintz
and others; and that the North and Sough Carolina Baptists had their origin
from the English and Welsh Baptists, through the ministry of Caleb Evans, from
Wales, and missionaries from the Philadelphia Association, with emigrants from
the Virginia Baptists. From these early centers of Baptist operations in the
Atlantic States, the tide of Baptist emigration has flowed westward, till the
voice of the Baptist ministry is heard among the savages of the far West, and
even on the shores of the Pacific ocean. Especially in Kentucky, do we find the
descendants of the Virginia Baptists." - D.B. Ray, Baptist Succession, pp. 128-129.
CONCLUSION: The English Particular Baptists denied that
great commission authority was given to the ordained men in the church. They explicitly taught that it was given to
the church alone and that the choosing, ordaining and sending forth of such
ordained men for the purpose to gather churches was under church authority. They denied that “direct authority” was given
by God to baptized believers to constitute themselves into a church. Instead, as the 1800 Landmarkers would say,
“scriptural authority” to send forth ministers to do the work of the Great
Commission was “under God FROM a gospel
church.” They were every bit
concerned about church authority over their members, over their ordained men,
over their missionaries and in the constitution of new churches as much as
modern Sovereign Grace Landmark Churches are today. They were as much concerned about investigating
and proving a church was properly constituted before fellowshipping with it, or
exchanging members by letter, as Landmark Baptists are today.
It
must be remembered that the Philadelphia Baptist Association in
Review Questions
The
Constitution of Churches:
The
“The Philadelphia Association originated with churches planted by members
from Wales…This Association has maintained, from its origin, a prominent
standing in the denomination…In every period of its existence the Association
has firmly maintained the soundest form of Scripture doctrine; nor could any
church have been admitted, at any period, which denied or concealed any of the
doctrines of grace.”” – The
Minutes of the
“Our Welsh
brethren were great advocates for the ancient order of things” – J. Davis, Welsh
Baptists, p. 31.
It
must ever be kept in mind that the original churches established in the
Philadelphia Baptist Association in
There
is a footnote by the editor of The Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist
Association that is very important to our study but overlooked by most
historians. That footnote reads as
follows:
“As the
churches that joined this Association since the year 1750 were erected and
constituted after the same form and order of the Gospel with those whose
constitutions are MORE AT LARGE HEREIN before related, it is thought needless
to give a copious account of every particular, and to relate the time of their
admission to the Association only.” The Minutes of the Philadelphia
Association from 1707 to 1807, p. 24, (emphasis mine).
He
is clearly saying that all churches erected and constituted after the year 1750
were done precisely after the same manner as those churches previously
considered and it is in the accounts that are “more at large herein related” where that precise pattern is spelled
out. His point, is that they had a
regular pattern they adhered to in constituting churches and this pattern is
more pronounced in the expanded accounts. Significantly, he is also saying that the
readers of the Minutes should not interpret summarized descriptions of church
constitutions after that date to be contrary to the fuller accounts that are
earlier spelled out in great detail.
These fuller accounts provide a specific order and include explicit
authority of a preceding church. We will
also see they designated this constitutional process as “gospel order” or
“regular church order” in keeping with the doctrine spelled out in the
associational minutes of the English and Welsh Baptists. Remember, according to the editor of these
minutes, the shorter summarized accounts are not to be interpreted as
contradictive to the accounts that are “more at large herein related.”
When
one compares two or more of the larger accounts, all the essential details are
immediately clear in their constitution of Churches according to what they
called “regular church order.”
A.
Below
there are two fuller accounts given and by comparison a total picture emerges
that shows us what regular order they followed when constituting a church. To demonstrate their consistency in following
one pattern, we will provide two instances of church constitution among the
Philadelphia Association over 40 years apart from each other:
“Whereas, a
number of persons resided near Dividing Creek, in the county of Cumberland, in
the western division of the province of New Jersey; some of whom, members of
Cohansie church, some of Cap May church, and some not of any particular church;
and whereas these lived at a great distance from the said churches; and at the
same time our Rev. brother Samuel Heaton providentially settled at the said
creek; therefore, the above said persons made applications to their
respective churches for dismission, and leave to form
themselves into a distinct church, both which they obtained. Accordingly,
we whose names are under written, being sent by the church of Cohansie,
did meet the said people at their meeting house on the day above mentioned; and
after sermon, laid hands on such persons as had been baptized, but had not
joined themselves to any church; then all gave themselves to the Lord; and to
each other by a solemn covenant which they signed; and were declared by us
to be a regular gospel church; and as such we recommend them to our
Association.” - Minutes of the
Again
earlier:
“Their conclusion being approved by Mr.
Morgan, a day was set apart for the solemnizing of this great work, being the
20th day of June 1719; and Mr. Abel Morgan, and Mr. Samuel Jones,
being present to assist and direct in the work of the day, the first
part being spent in fasting and prayer, with a sermon preached by Mr. Morgan,
suitable to the occasion, they proceeded. Being asked whether they were
desirous and freely willing to be settle together as a church of Jesus Christ,
they all answered in the affirmative; and being asked whether they were
acquainted with one another’s principles, and satisfied with one another’s
graces and conversation, it was also answered in the affirmative; and then for
a demonstration of their giving of themselves up, severally and jointly, to the
Lord, as a people of God and a church of Jesus Christ, they all lifted up their
right hand. Then they were directed to
take one another by the hand, in token of their union, declaring, at the same
time, that as they had given themselves to God, so they did give themselves
also to one another by the will of God, 2 Cor. Viii. 5, to be a
“….they requested the
church of Pennepek to dismiss them, and to assist them to be a distinct church;
which request was granted AT A CHURCH MEETING, held April 5th…..they
requested dismission from that church…their request being granted…p. 21” – Ibid., pp. 20-21 – (emphasis mine)
When these fuller accounts are considered
together, the following gospel order in constituting churches is made
clear.
This
procedure was repeatedly called “regular church order” throughout the accounts
of church constitution:
“…church order (p.
16)…..settled in Gospel church, ordered (p. 18)….to be settled in Gospel order
(p. 20)…..settle themselves in church order (p. 21)….they were regularly
incorporated in the usual manner (p. 22)….were incorporated after the same
manner (p. 23)….settle themselves in regular church order (p. 23)……Ibid. Minutes.
B. The first Church at
Some imagine that the constitution of the church at
“The history
of this company or church, says Edwards, will lead us back to the year 1686,
when one John Eaton, George Eaton, and Jane his wife, Sarah Eaton, and Samuel
Jones, members of a Baptist church, residing in Llanddewi and Nautmel, in Radnorshire,
whereof Rev. Henry Gregory was pastor; also John Baker, member of a church in Kilkenny, in Ireland, under
the pastoral care of Rev. Christopher Blackwell, and one Samuel Vans, from
England, arrived and settled on the banks of Pennepeck, formally written
Pemmapeka.” – David Benedict, The History of the Baptists, p.596.
The Church at
“Answer: 1. That it is in
the power of the church to ordain and send forth a minister to the world, Acts
13:2f. Secondly, that this person sent forth to the world and GATHERING
CHURCHES, he ought with them and they with him to ordain fit persons to
officiate among them, Acts 14.23, Tit. 1.5” - Association Records of the West Country,
1654. – (emphasis mine)
Therefore
they waited until God sent them a church ordained man. The writer simply summarizes the constitution service
in the following brief manner;
“set a
day apart, and by fasting and prayer to settle themselves in a church state;
which when they had solemnly accomplished, they made choice of the said Keach
to be their pastor.” – The Minutes of the
Remember, the compiler has already told us
that such summarizations are not to be interpreted to be at odds with those
“more in large” but in keeping with what the compiler repeatedly asserts was
their only manner of constituting churches. Notice his repetitive words that affirm this
normal and consistent procedure for church constitution:
“they were
regularly incorporated in the usual manner……and after the usual solemnity…
– ibid. p. 22……they were constituted
after the same manner as other churches” p. 23 – Ibid., The
Minutes, pp. 22, 23.
Since, the Philadelphia Association
required that all churches joining it must have been constituted after regular
church order, to assume that Lower Dublin was not would be contradictory to all
available data and would be nothing but an assumption based on silence. Proof that they were constituted after the
“regular order” is: (1) Although they
consisted of far more than two or three baptized believers, they waited two
years; (2) They were not gathered into a church until an ordained man came
among them; (3) the writer of the associational records claims that all later
churches were organized in keeping with the former churches and the fuller
accounts provide how they organized the former churches; (4) The same
summarized statement that is later used and called “church order” in other
accounts is used to summarize the organization of this church; (5) Elias Keach was very well familiar with
“church order” as he was raised up in the household of Benjamin Keach in
England who was a leader among those Baptists; (7) The Philadelphia Baptist
Association was well known for refusing to accept churches into the association
who were not constituted after due “church order” and required them to be
reconstituted in keeping with regular “church order.”
C.
There
is the more direct means where the church in a called business meeting votes to
dismiss members for the purpose of constitution and sends ordained men to
“assist and direct” them.
“…when the
brethren residing in Philadelphia requested a dismission from the church at
Pennepeck, in order to incorporate a distinct church; which being granted, Mr.
Jones was dismissed with the other city members…..p. 12…….requested a
dismission from the church at Hopewell; which, being obtained, they
appointed…p. 20…they requested the church of Pennepek to dismiss them, and to
assist them to be a distinct church; which request was granted AT A CHURCH
MEETING, held April 5th…..they requested dismission from that
church…their request being granted…p. 21……did make their request….for a
dismission, in order to be settled a distinct church by themselves, which was
accordingly granted….” p. 21, Ibid, The Minutes, pp. 12,20,21.
There is the indirect means whereby a church
ordains and sends out a man authorized by the church to preach the gospel,
baptize the converts and then gather them into church membership. Thomas Patient summarized this method up in
these words:
-
“ministerial assembly gathered according to the Great
Commission.”
The fuller expression found in the
associational minutes in the old country clearly states:
“Answer: 1. That it is in
the power of the church to ordain and send forth a minister to the world, Acts
13:2f. Secondly, that this person sent forth to the world and GATHERING
CHURCHES, he ought with them and they with him to ordain fit persons to
officiate among them, Acts 14.23, Tit. 1.5” - Association Records of the West Country,
1654. – (emphasis mine)
This is far more the most frequent means
used by Baptists in
For example, the church at Brandywine,
when it was gathered, there were no ordained men among its members; and so it
requested the aide of the churches where many of its members had resided to assist
it by sending their ordained men to gather them into a church.
“having for
their assistance and direction the Rev. Mr. Abel Morgan, of Philadelphia, and
some brethren from the church at the Welsh Tract, were constituted and settled
in Gospel church, ordered, and owned, and declared as a sister church…” Ibid.,
p. 18.
They
were far more than two or three baptized believers, why didn’t they just
organize themselves and then ordain one of their members? Because self-constitution (separate from any existing
church) was contrary to their practice and what they called regular church
order. Because gospel order as practiced
in the old country forbid them to self-organize without ordained men directing
the constitution:
“…yet they may
be established a church of Christ having the assistance of others whom God hath
inabled to carry on the work of God among them and to take such care for them
as their necessity shall require; and that it is the duty of that church and
ministry to take care that they be so provided for that was instrumental
in their gathering, Acts 14:21ff, Tit. 1.5, II Tim. 2:2, Acts 11:21ff.”
– Association Records of the West Country, 1657. – (emphasis mine)
Some have thought that when Baptist
historians or writers claim that a group of baptized believers “gathered
themselves” into a church that this means they did it without any connection
whatsoever with a previous existing church or church authority. However, notice that they regarded the role
of ordained men to be “instrumental in their
gathering.” In other accounts the
whole constitution of a church is attributed to an ordained man. The Philadelphia Baptist Association did not
see any conflict between such statements as “settled themselves into a church” and a “minister by himself
undertaking to constitute a church” (Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist
Association, from 1707 to 1807, p. 218) or “that
our reverend brethren, Nathaniel Jenkins and Jenkin Jones…be at Cranberry, in
order to settle the members there in church order” Ibid. 49). The historical records are in abundance where
it simply attributes the constitution of a church to some ordained man. There was no conflict of such statements in
the mind of historical Baptists because they believed that the authority to
gather churches was contained in the Great Commission which was given to the
church to be administered through church ordained, church authorized, church
sent men. These parallel statements are
a clear denial of the doctrine of direct authority or spontaneous constitution.
All of the churches mentioned in the
opening pages of the Philadelphia Baptist Association minutes were constituted
under the direction and authority of a preexistent church or churches and yet
at the same time are said to have “gathered themselves”. For example we read:
“In the year
1711, they were advised to PUT THEMSELVES IN CHURCH ORDER BY THEMSELVES…..(p.
16)….to meet and SETTLE THEMSELVES in
church order…” Ibid., p. 16. – (emphasis mine)
There
was no contradiction in their minds between church authority and the act of
self-constitution by covenant vote. It
was somewhat parallel to baptism. There is the action of baptism but there is
church authority giving validity to that action. The same is true with church constitution. There is the action of self-constitution by
covenant vote but there is church authority giving validity to that action. All church constitutions within the
Philadelphia Association first sought Church authority to constitute themselves
and obtained it either by letters of dismissal for that stated purpose and/or
submitting to the direction of church ordained representatives.
D. Church Authorized men
sent to gather Churches
The Philadelphia Baptist Association churches
ordained their own men and sent them out in cooperation with the Association
but the Association itself never ordained men and only sent them out with
church approval:
“As to the
request from Piscataqua, for the help of
our ministering brethren…we not knowing who, nor how to bind any of them, we
think it necessary that the church, where they are held, send to them, that, if
possible, they may be certain of some help” – Minutes of the Philadelphia
Baptist Association, 1730, p. 31.
And
again:
“The
The Philadelphia Baptist Association
believed that authority to ordain and to baptize as well as to gather churches
was given to the churches in keeping with “gospel order’ handed down to them
from the practice of the old country Baptists.
In other words, they believed the Great Commission was a Church
commission exercised by the church through its ordained representatives just
like their English counterparts. They
rejected baptismal administrators not ordained by the church (Ibid., pp. 28,
29,104, 229). They rejected baptisms not
administered by church ordained men (Ibid. p. 49). They rejected church constitutions performed
without church ordained men (Ibid. pp. 49, 81,82,108, 281). They rejected ministers and churches not of
like faith and order. (ibid., pp. 35, 56, 317).
In
“they were newly organized and formed into new
churches, according to the plan of the Philadelphia Association, or rather
according to the Baptist Confession of faith, published in London 1689, in
conformity with which it seems the Philadelphia and Charleston Associations
were organized” – Robert Baylor Semple, History of Virginia Baptists, p. 448.
The
compiler of “The History of Grassy Creek Baptist Church” confirms what
Semple says in regard to preachers sent out of the Philadelphia Association to
reorganize churches that were not organized after “church order” when he says:
“All the
Baptists in the province were included in the two Associations –
Some
have mistakenly claimed that the Sandy Creek Baptist Church was
self-constituted without church authority either by an existing church or by
the presence of a church ordained representative. This is simply not true. Semple only says that
two (Joseph Breed, Daniel Marshall) of the three preachers were unordained. The third man, Shubal Stearns, who was
selected as the Pastor was a formerly church ordained man (Robert Semple, History
of the Virginia Baptists, p. 14).
Throughout this history of the
The Philadelphia Baptist association
practiced “regular church order’ in keeping with how it was defined in the old
country. They believed authority to
carry out the commission was given only to the church and therefore they
rejected the doctrine of direct authority. They never practiced church constitutions
apart from the authorized approval of a preexisting church either in the form
of letters of dismissal and/or direction under its authorized representatives.
In addition, it is necessary to correct a
popular misconception of some about the Philadelphia Baptist Association. Some believe that the Association usurped the
local church, and ordained men or sent out men themselves to constitute
churches apart from the authority of the church wherein that ordained man was a
member. These are false accusations. Some examples over a long period of time will
demonstrate they did not usurp the authority of individual churches:
“As to the request from Piscataqua, for the
help of our ministering brethren at their general meeting, we judge it
necessary that our ministering brethren do supply such general meetings;
nevertheless, we not knowing who, nor
how to bind any of them, we think it necessary that the church, WHERE SUCH ARE
HELD, send to them, that, if possible, they may be certain of some help"
– Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, 1730. pg. 31.
In other words, they
acknowledged that the authority to send such brethren was in the church in
which that minister resided.
"The
church of Newtown desired the Association to appoint time and ministers to
ordain Mr. Nichoas Cox; the Association reply, that the appointment of both PROPERLY BELONGS TO HIS CHURCH."
Ibid., 1771 – emphasis mine.
And again:
"...the
second was expressive of their great satisfaction in Brother Ebenezer Ward's
visits, and edification under his ministry, which concludes by desiring this
Association to ordain him as an itinerate. Agreed,
That this Association claim no such right, and, therefore, resolved to encourage Mr. Ward to
assist said church in all that he
consistently can, until either the
church, WHEREOF HE IS A MEMBER, choose
to have him ordained, or he first becoming a member at Coram..." Ibid., 1775 – emphasis mine.
And again:
"Resolved,
That this Association cannot take up a question that relates to an individual member of any church
without interfering with the independence of such church"
– 1805 - emphasis mine.
Such illustrates a solid
century of doctrine and practice.
Review Questions
The
Constitution of Churches
Among
Early Landmark Baptists – 1807-1900
"The
"The ministers, who organized ALL the first
Baptist Churches in
“If the church
alone was commissioned to preserve and to preach the gospel, then it is
certain that no other organization has the right to preach it – to trench upon
the divine rights of the church. A
Masonic Lodge, no more than a young Men’s Christian Association…have the least
right to take the gospel in hand, select and commission ministers to go forth
and preach it, administer its ordinances and organize churches.” –
J. R. Graves, Old Landmarkism, What is it? p. 36 (emphasis mine – mwf).
As you can plainly see, Dr. Graves
believed that the vast majority of American Baptists were directly influenced
by the beliefs and practices of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. In the previous chapter, we demonstrated that
the Philadelphia Association was permeated by the beliefs and practices of the
Welsh and English Particular Baptists. Among
these Baptists, regular church order was
not only their practice but their doctrinal belief. Church authority in the Great Commission was
their doctrinal basis behind regular church order in the constitution of
churches.
Today
there is intense debate over this next period of Baptist history and in
particular, the Landmark Baptist movement.
The question is, “did the old Landmarkers constitute churches under the
authority of a preexistent church”? Did
they practice “regular church order”?
There
are among Landmarkers today those who vigorously deny that these old
Landmarkers constituted churches either directly or indirectly under the
authority of a “mother” church.
We will attempt to prove the following
points in regard to these Old Landmarkers: (1) Old Landmarkers believed that
scriptural authority under God to carry out the Great Commission was from a
gospel church alone. (2) They believed
that baptism must be administered by a New Testament Church through its
authorized representative, and without church authority there was no valid
baptism. (3) In regard to their
practice, they organized churches just as their forefathers did according to
regular church order. (4) Some, were
inconsistent between their stated belief and their practice.
A. Old Landmarkism believed in church authority
There are some in the ranks of Landmark
Baptists today who believe in what they call “direct” authority or “vertical”
authority. They believe that authority
to carry out the Great Commission comes directly from God through His Word
APART FROM any gospel church. However, did the Old Landmarkers believe in
“direct” authority to carry out the Great Commission?
William Cathcart lived at this time and
knew these men personally and he himself was part of the Landmark movement. He
wrote a Baptist Encyclopedia and included an article in it devoted to defining
the essentials of Landmarkism. Many
believe that Dr. J.M. Pendleton provided this written definition of Landmarkism
as several phrases are word for word to be found in Dr. Pendleton’s books
wherein he defended Landmarkism.
Cathcart’s definition of Landmarkism is as follows:
“The doctrine
of Landmarkism is that baptism and church membership precede the preaching of
the gospel, even as they precede communion at the Lord’s Table. The
argument is that SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY to preach emanates, UNDER GOD, FROM A
GOSPEL CHURCH; that as ‘a visible church is a congregation of baptized
believers,’ etc., it follows that no Pedobaptist organization is a church
in the Scriptural sense of the term, and that therefore SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY
to preach cannot proceed from such an organization. Hence the
non-recognition of Pedobaptist ministers, who are not interfered with, but simply let alone. At the time the “Old Landmark
Reset’ was written, the topic of non-ministerial intercourse was the chief
subject of discussion. Inseparable, however from the landmark view of this
matter, is a denial that Pedobaptist societies are Scriptural churches,
that Pedobaptist ordinations are valid, and that immersions administered by
Pedobaptists ministers can be consistently accepted by any Baptist. All these
things are denied, and the intelligent reader will see why.” – William
Cathcart, The Baptist Encyclopedia, p. 867-868 (emphasis mine – MF).
Cathcart narrowly defined Landmarkism when
he says, “the argument is that
scriptural AUTHORITY….emanates, under God FROM a gospel Church.” This is the very reverse of what some modern
Landmarkers teach today. According to
some modern Landmarkers Cathcart ought to have defined Landmarkism by saying, “the argument is that scriptural authority
emanates DIRECTLY from God APART from a gospel church.”
According to Cathcart’s definition,
Landmarkism revolves around church authority.
According to Cathcart, Landmarkism involves a circle of reasoning. The reason that Pedobaptists are not true
churches, is not due to sprinkling or pouring but due to the lack of
authority. They have no authority to
exist and therefore they cannot ordain, and therefore all and any kind of
baptism they administer are invalid. Is
not this what he says?
“it follows that no
Pedobaptist organization is a church in the Scriptural sense of the term, and
that therefore SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY to preach cannot proceed from such
an organization” – Ibid.,
Since there is no church authority, there
can be no valid ordinations, no valid baptism and therefore no valid
constitution of a church. According to
Cathcart, everything revolved around church authority.
“Inseparable, however from the landmark view of this
matter, is a denial that Pedobaptist societies are Scriptural churches, that Pedobaptist ordinations are valid, and that immersions
administered by Pedobaptists ministers can be consistently accepted by any
Baptist.” – Ibid.
Dr. J. R. Graves and
Church Authority
When
“A church is alone authorized to receive,
to discipline, and to exclude her own members. This power, with all her
other prerogatives, is delegated to her, and it is her bounden duty to exercise
it; she can not delegate her
prerogatives. . . . She can not authorize her ministers to examine and baptize members into her fellowship
without her personal presence and action upon each case. A minister,
therefore, has no right, because ordained, to decide who are qualified to
receive baptism and to administer it. Their ordination only qualified
them to administer the ordinances for a church when that church called upon
them to do so.”—J.R. Graves, Old
Landmarkism, pp. 37, 38. – (emphasis mine)
“It is the inalienable and sole right and duty of
a Christian church to administer the ordinances, Baptism, and the
Supper. That these ordinances were designed to be of perpetual
observance, commemorating specific and important events or acts in the work of
Christ, no intelligent Christian will deny. The rites and ordinances of an institution belong, unquestionably, to
that institution, and may rightly said to be in it. I mean by these
expressions that they are under the sole control of the organization; they can
be administered only by the organization as such, and when duly assembled,
and by its own officers or those she may appoint, pro tempore. A number
of its members, not even a majority in an unorganized capacity, is competent to
administer its rites, and certainly another and different body can not perform
them.”—J.R. Graves Old
Landmarkism, p. 39. – (emphasis mine)
“Christian
baptism . . . it is a specific
act, instituted for the expression of specific
truths; to be administered by a specific body, to persons
possessing specific
qualifications. When one of these properties is wanting the transaction
is null. . . a scriptural church is the
only organization He has authorized to administer the act.”—J.R. Graves, Old
Landmarkism, chapter VI, p. 48. – (emphasis mine)
In another work
“….it is the church that administers the rite
and not the officer, per se, - he is but the hand, the servant of the Church.
The ordinances of baptism and the Supper were not intrusted to the ministry to
administer to whomsoever they deem qualified, but to the churches……Therefore
the immersions of all those societies, not scriptural churches, are as null and
void as their sprinklings would be….” Dr. J.R. Graves, The Act of Christian Baptism, pp. 52, 56.
Dr. J.M. Pendleton said:
“My position is that, according to the gospel, authority to preach [and do other ecclesiastical duties] must, under God, emanate from a visible
James E. Tull in his doctoral thesis
entitled, A Study of Southern Baptist
Landmarkism in the Light of Historical Baptist Ecclesiology, concluded that
the very heart of Old Landmarkism centered around local church authority over ordained men and over the
administration of baptism. (James E.
Tull, A Study of Southern Baptist Landmarkism in the Light of Historical
Baptist Ecclesiology, p. 322).
B. They
believed that without church authorized Administrators there was no valid
baptism.
Dr. J.R. Graves:
“Christian
baptism is not the celebration of a religious rite by modes indifferent; but it
is a specific act, instituted
for the expression of specific
truths; to be administered by a specific body, to persons
possessing specific
qualifications. When one of these properties is wanting the transaction is
null--since, unless the ordinances are observed as Christ commanded, they are
not obeyed, but perverted.”
J.R. Graves, Old Landmarkism, What is It,
p. 64. – (emphasis mine)
Many of the primary leaders of Old
Landmarkism stated clearly that baptism along with the rest of the Great
Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 was given explicitly to the church alone and not
to anyone else.
D.B. Ray stated:
“None
except John himself was authorized to administer John’s baptism. The same honor
and authority to administer baptism,
which was conferred upon John, since the resurrection of Christ has been
conferred upon his church, in the
great commission, and upon no other
organization or individual. The
authority to administer baptism was not conferred upon the apostles
or first church members as individuals, but
upon the church to administer baptism, through
her official servants.” D.B.
Ray, Baptist Succession, pp. 46-47.
– (emphasis mine)
A.C. Dayton
said:
“The administration of baptism is an official
act, done by authority of the Church…….They
were addressed as the representatives of the Churches which they should establish, and the successors of those churches
‘to the end of the world.’ To the
Churches therefore, the commission
says, Go ye and preach my gospel to all nations, baptizing them &c.…..”
A.C.
J.B. Jeter stated:
"To
his church, Christ has committed the ordinances, baptism with the rest. I Corinthians 11:2, 'Now I praise you, that you
remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions - ordinances - as I
delivered them to you' If baptism is to be kept as it was delivered to
the church, then it can not be properly
administered but by her authority.”
J.B. Jeter - (emphasis mine)
(J.B.
Jeter [1802-1880] was a great Baptist leader of the nineteenth century.
He edited the "Religious Herald" Baptist paper in
Long before the rise of the term “Landmarkism” in 1848 the
"Resolved, That in the opinion of this Association, a properly qualified
administrator is essential to Scriptural baptism.
Resolved,
That the authority of an orderly Baptist
church is an essential qualification to authorize one to administer baptism.
Resolved,
That immersions performed by administrators not authorized by such a church
should not be received by Baptists." From Paxton’s History of
1850
“Resolved, That the churches be
advised to receive none but those who have been baptized on a profession of
their faith in Christ, by a legal administrator; and that we esteem legal only
such as act under the authority of the
regular Baptist church as organized after the model of the gospel.”
- The minutes of the
J.J. Burnett
said,
“As to the "validity" of ordinances
the Baptists of the South and Southwest stand almost solidly for four necessary things: A proper subject (a
believer), a proper act in baptism (immersion), a proper design (to show
forth), and the proper authority (a New Testament church) -- all these being
held as Scriptural requirements conditioning the valid administration of
baptism and the Lord's supper alike.” J. J. Burnett, J.R. Graves, Sketch of
Cathcart draws the proper conclusions
to the two principles considered above.
The authority to ordain ministers is derived from a
“it follows that no Pedobaptist organization is a church in the
Scriptural sense of the term, and that therefore SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY to
preach cannot proceed from such an organization…” – Ibid., Cathcart.
(emphasis
mine)
Since SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY
cannot proceed from such an organization then her ordinations are invalid as
well as her baptisms and this is exactly what Carthcart goes on to conclude:
“… Inseparable, however from the landmark view of this matter, is a
denial that Pedobaptist societies are Scriptural churches, that Pedobaptist
ordinations are valid, and that immersions administered by Pedobaptists
ministers can be consistently accepted by any Baptist.” – Ibid., Cathcart. – (emphasis mine)
CONCLUSION: Old Landmarkism refutes “direct
authority” and demands “mother” church
authority in carrying out the Great Commission.
It demands the previous existence of church authority in the
administration of baptism without which there can be no church constitutions. According to Old Landmarkism, constitution of
Churches cannot occur apart from being linked organically to the authority of a
previous existent gospel church. However,
some may still say this does not prove “mother” church authority in the actual
constitution service. Perhaps not, but
it does demand “mother church authority” in organic linkage between a preceding
church and the newly constituted church through baptism. It also demands organic church succession
whereby all churches are linked together through baptism.
C. Some, but not all Old
Landmarkers were inconsistent concerning what
they believed about church constitution
and how they practiced it.
Many will complain about this proposition
and say it is not true. However, come
let us reason together. Let’s say you
reject “mother church authority.” Let’s
say you reject it upon the following bases: (1) You say that the historic definition of
what a church is -- is properly baptized believers joined together by covenant
agreement; (2) You say, that the historic definition of what church
constitution is -- is self constitution; (3) You say, that church succession
violates the independency and authority of any church being constituted; (4)
You say you could list many more reasons. Therefore, you conclude that a group of
properly baptized persons can constitute themselves into a church apart from
any other church, and apart from any kind of ordained ministry, any place and
any time they wish.
Now, you have made your case, you have
stated what you believed to be true have you not? Now, to be consistent, would it not be
reasonable that you practice exactly what you stated you believed? Well, this is exactly what Dr. T.T. Eaton told
those people who rejected organic church succession:
“If Baptist succession be
the bad thing some brethren say, then certainly if ought to be given up.
There should be no more of it.”
However, if they were to be CONSISTENT and
give it up, what would that include and how would that have to occur among the
Baptists of Dr. Eaton’s day? What would
it take to make an end of it according to Eaton? He goes on to explain:
“When a new church is organized, it should have no
sort of connection with other churches, or relations to them. Let churches be organized anywhere, anyhow, by anybody. Just let people
be believers, and let them baptize each other and start a church. This does
away with Baptist succession. And if it
be the bad thing that is charged, it ought to be done away with at the earliest
moment. Those
who oppose Baptist Succession have no logical ground to stand on in organizing
a church out of material furnished by other churches, and with those baptized
by regularly ordained Baptist ministers.” Dr. T. T. Eaton. (Quoted by Milburn Cockrell, Scriptural
Church Organization, Second Edition, pp. 57-58).
Eaton understood that the actual mechanics
of Baptist Church Succession was inherent not only in the Great Commission but
in their actual PRACTICE of it, in how they constituted new churches. According to Eaton, the first thing they had
to do was to deny any kind of “connection” between newly constituted churches
and previous existent ones. Of course,
this statement has no bearing on those who believe in “direct authority” does
it? When Eaton said, “Let churches be organized anywhere, anyhow,
by anybody” he was asserting what he knew none of them practiced. When he said, “just let people be believers, and let them baptize each other and start
a church” he was asserting the very opposite of what he knew they all
practiced. He did this to show the
INCONSISTENCY between what they were denying and what they were actually
practicing. By saying, “when a new church is organized, it should
have NO SORT OF CONNECTION with other churches” he was saying that the only
way to deny Baptist Church Succession is to take the church completely out of
the Great Commission and therefore completely out of the work of constituting
churches. In other words, Eaton is
telling them they must change the general practice among Baptists in order to
be consistent with this denial of succession.
However, today there are those among us
who deny that “regular church order’ was the general practice in Eaton’s time
or during the times of J.R. Graves until W. A. Jarrell (1860-1900). However, what do Baptist Church Manuals
written during this time say the common practice was? What do Associational records confirm as the
common practice?
1. The Testimony of
Church Manuals as to the Common Practice:
Add to the above testimony of Eaton, the testimonies
of those who wrote “Church Manual’s” during this time in history. James Pendleton, E.T. Hiscox and E.C. Dargin all wrote such manuals.
All of them admit the ancient Baptist
practice of “regular church order” continued to be the customary procedure for
constitution of new churches at that time.
a. A
“When the interest of Christ’s kingdom requires the formation of a new
church the CUSTOMARY mode of procedure is about this: Brethren and sisters
obtain letters of dismission from the church or churches to which they belong,
FOR THE PURPOSE of entering into the new organization. It is well for this
purpose to be stated in the letters”
- J.M. Pendleton, A Baptist Church Manual, p. 15. –
(emphasis mine)
The next most popular church manual in
existence today also was produced by one living in the time of
b. A New Directory for Baptist
Churches by E.T. Hiscox:
“Before the organization actually takes place, however, such persons as
propose to constitute the body, should procure letters from the churches of
which they are members, GIVEN FOR THE PURPOSE OF FORMING A NEW CHURCH.” –
E.T. Hiscox, A New Directory for Baptist
Churches, pp. 53-53. – (emphasis mine)
In the fuller context of both Pendleton and Hiscox they spell out almost
exactly the order followed by the early English Particular and Philadelphia
Baptists. There is no historical
evidence to demonstrate that Landmarkers baptized anyone into an unchurched
state. They baptized believers into some
church body. Therefore, there was always
a letter of dismissal to be sought by every baptized believer when seeking to
be formed into a church. The only ones
not seeking a letter of dismissal would be those gathered on the mission field
by an ordained man.
c. Dargin’s Church Manual
Edwin Charles Dargin was one of the most ardent foes of Landmarkers
living at that time and yet he knew what the common practice among Baptists,
both Landmarkers and non-Landmarkers was in the constitution of churches. He said:
“Taking all this for granted, the next step will be for the persons
interested in forming the church to obtain letters of dismission from the churches
of which they are members. In such cases it is desirable that the letters
should specify the purpose for which they are granted. Now, where a number of
persons go out from one church for the purpose of organizing a new one, their
names may all be included in a joint letter – that is, THE MOTHER CHURCH grants
to the brethren and sisters named in this letter with a view of their uniting
with each other, and with others of like mind for the constituting a new
church; or something to this effect.” – E.C. Dargin, Ecclesiology, p. 195. – (emphasis mine)
Of course, “the mother church” Dargin
refers to is the church that “grants…this
letter with a view of their uniting with each other…for the constituting of a
new church”. Granting letters is an
act of church authority approved by church vote in a regular called business
meeting.
d. Brown’s
J. Newton Brown, who published the New
Hampshire Confession of Faith, also published “A Baptist Church Manual in 1853.
This would place it right at the time
when
“V. LETTER OF
DISMISSION TO FORM A NEW CHURCH
The_________________Baptist
Church, in regular church meeting__________19____. On request of the following
brethren and sisters, now in regular standing with us, viz. (Here follow the
names), to be dismissed from us for the purpose of uniting in the formation of
a new church at _______________________.
It was voted, that we cordially grant them letters of dismission for
that purpose, and when regularly constituted as a church, shall cease to regard
them as under our watchcare.” – J. Newton Brown, A Baptist Church Manual,
Judson Press, thirty-sixth printing, 1981.
Brown establishes the fact that a church
vote was involved – thus church authority. That these members were still under
the authority of the mother church until the new church was “regularly
constituted as a church.”
2. Examples of Church
Constitution In Baptist Associational Records
The
following quotations are taken from Associational Minutes, Baptist Historians
and church records during the period immediately before and after the time of
J.R. Graves. These quotes do not reflect
the personal opinion of the author but do reflect the historical practices
during the time being recorded:
Ketocton Baptist Association – 1766-1808
“THE CONSTITUTION AND ORDER OF CHURCHES
BELONGING TO THIS ASSOCIATION.
FOR the convenience of public worship and direction of discipline of
the Lord's house, it is thought
necessary that independent
congregational churches should be constituted, being consistent
with, and founded upon apostolic custom in primitive times. When a
number of persons having been baptized according to the institution
of Christ, upon profession of their faith in Christ, who lie remote
from, and inconveniences preventing their assembling with or forming
in with a church of Christ, it makes it necessary that they should
form into a distinct and separate society, for the purposes
aforesaid.
It has been customary where
individual baptized persons have labored
under inconveniences as before stated, to propose a constitution, if
their number be sufficient. Should they have joined any church, a
regular dismission is necessary; when that is obtained, a day is
then appointed, which is observed as a day of fasting and prayer,
ministers being called upon to attend.
On meeting together for this
very solemn and important purpose, on the day and place appointed,
enquiry is generally made by the
preachers present respecting their
religious sentiments — whether an agreement in sentiment, (as it
appears necessary they should be agreed in order to walk together;)
whether each of them do purpose in his heart to live in obedience to
the word of God, and aim to fill his place in the church of Christ. —
Sometimes there is a short written covenant, expressive of the
principles on which they unite, which they severally subscribe.
This being done, they are publicly
acknowledged and declared by the
minister or ministers present, to be a church of Christ, and the
right hand of fellowship given to each of them, accompanied with
prayer to God for the prosperity and growth of his Zion, and that
his dwelling may be in this temple, raised up for his name.
A church being thus formed, has certain rights granted her by the
great Lawgiver and Head of the church, which no power civil of
ecclesiastic has a right to deprive her of, without a gross insult
offered to the bride, the Lamb's wife; she hath a right to search
and peruse the holy scriptures, as the unerring rule of faith and
practice, and sufficient in every instance to furnish Zion's
citizens with every good work. The several members have a right to
assemble and meet together for the purpose of divine worship, and go
up to the Lord's house to be taught of His ways, and that they may
walk in His paths, seeing the law goeth forth of Zion, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem: That she hath a right to the choice of
her own officers, as was the case of the first officers chosen in
the church by the direction of the apostles: That she hath a right
to judge of the qualification of such as sue for admission
into her communion; if qualified according to scripture, she
receives such — if not so qualified, she rejects them:
That she has a right to look into and make diligent search among the
members of her body, lest any thing erroneous in doctrine or immoral
in practice should be imbibed by any of them, and to reprove such,
and endeavor to reclaim them if possible; but if such offending
members cannot be reclaimed, then to exclude them from the church,
that in so doing she may purge out the old leaven of wickedness, and
so be a new lump. Her privileges are many, her dignity is great; she
is the ground and pillar of truth, the object of Christ's
complacency, and all ministers of the Gospel and other officers in
the church, are nothing more than her servants”. – William Fritoe, A
Concise History of the Ketocton Baptist Association – 1766-1808 - (emphasis mine).
“II. The Apostolic Church, continued
through all ages to the end of the world, is the only
The
truth of this proposition is not only frequently intimated, but strongly
affirmed by the prophets. They speak of a glorious state of religious affairs
to take place at the coming of the Messiah, which they say, shall continue or
endure, as the sun, or days of heaven, Psalms lxxxix. 29, 36, 37 - Shall never
be cut off, Isa. lv. 14 - And shall stand forever, Dan. ii. 44. Christ affirms
nothing shall prevail against His church, no, not the gates of hell, Matt.
xiv.18. But John puts this point beyond all contradiction in his prophetic
history of the church, in which, tho’ he admits of various outward
modifications, he maintains an
uninterrupted succession from the Apostolic Age, till the world shall end…..
III. Gospel ministers are servants in the church, are all equal, and have no
power to lord it over the heritage of the Lord.
By the examples of a little child in the midst, and the exercise of dominion
over the Gentiles by their principles, our Lord teaches humility, and denies to
His apostles the exercise of lordship over His church, Matt. xviii. 2, 6 - xx.
25, 26. He calls them brethren, and directs that they should not be called
masters, but servants, Matt. xxii. 8, 11. The acts and epistles of the apostles
shew their observance of their Lord's commands. Here we see them the MESSENGERS
AND SERVANTS of the churches, which
proves the power to be in the churches, and not in them. - Acts vi. 5, xv.
4, 22, II Cor. viii. 23, Phil. ii. 25, II Cor. iv. 5……..
From
these propositions, thus established, we draw the following inferences, as clear and certain truths.
I.
That all churches and ministers, who originated since the apostles, and
not successively to them, are NOT IN GOSPEL ORDER; and therefore cannot be
acknowledged as such
II. That all, who have been
ordained to the work of the ministry without
the knowledge and call of the church, by popes, councils, &c., are the
creatures of those who constituted them, and not the servants of Christ, or His
church, and therefore have no right to administer for them.
III.
That those who have set aside the
discipline of the gospel, and have given law to, and exercised dominion over
the church, are usurpers over the place and office of Christ, are against Him;
and therefore may not be accepted in their offices. …….”. (Circular
Letter By Jesse Mercer Georgia
Baptist Association, 1811).
Again, the
Jesse Mercer {1769-1841} is called the
father of Georgia Baptists. Besides pastoring churches there for 52
years, he was president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 19 years, and
helped to found
"Our
reasons therefore for rejecting baptism by immersion, when administered by
Pedobaptist ministers is that they are connected with churches clearly out
of the Apostolic succession, and therefore clearly out of the apostolic commission.”
Jesse Mercer, A History of the
Notice that Mercer connected
apostolic succession and apostolic commission
“with churches.” He flatly denies that institutions can be
called churches if they are “clearly out
of the apostolic succession”. In
essence, he is claiming what English Baptists and the Baptists of the
Philadelphia Association defined as “regular
church order” or “gospel order”
in regard to the great commission. This
was the basis for taking a stand against the ecumenical practices that were
invading the practice of Baptists in his day. Even earlier than this Jesse Mercer stated in
1811:
“That all churches and ministers, who
originated since the apostles, and not successively to them, are NOT IN GOSPEL
ORDER; and therefore cannot be acknowledged as such”
Here Mercer uses the old phrase “gospel
order” to define his position on church succession and church authority in
regard to the Great Commission.
Middle
Among the Middle Tennessee Baptist were such
men as J.B. Moody, T.T. Eaton and J.H. Grime.
J. H. Grime, in his History of Middle Tennessee Baptists, demonstrates
that church authority in establishing churches was practiced during this time
frame:
“On
And
again, of another church:
“
J. H. Grime reports again, at another
time, in the minutes of 1844 A.D. among Middle Tennessee Baptists:
“WHEREAS, The
Freedom Association has proposed a correspondence with us;
In
another place he says:
“In the minutes of 1850 we have the
following: ‘Resolved, That the churches be advised to receive none but those
who have been Baptized on a profession of their faith in Christ, by a legal
administrator; and that we esteem legal only such as act under the authority of the regular Baptist Church, as organized after
the model of the gospel.” – A
History of Middle
The minutes of the Middle Tennessee
Baptist Association repeatedly use the term “mother” to describe the church
under whose authority a mission was constituted. The church being constituted is repeatedly
called an “offspring” of that mother church, and the authority exercised over
it before its constitution is expressed by the term “arm.”
“This church is an offspring of the
J.H. Grime describes these churches in the
following words, “In the main her
ministers are strong Calvinists, and are strictly
Landmark Baptists” – Ibid. p. 32. – (emphasis mine)
Significantly, it is among these Tennessee
Baptists that J.R. Graves preached. Grime gives the background of the churches
that were planted in
“This old
I have in detail given the origin of Baptists in
these States, because from these sources have come the Baptists of Tennessee.” J. H. Grimes, A History of the Middle
Grimes gives the mechanics of how churches
were constituted during the time of J.R. Graves in
“The church was constituted in the seventies (1870’s) by Elder James
Barrett, J.W. Bowen. T.A. Hudson and D. N. Jarrard….This church is an offspring
of
3.
Autobiography of a Regular Baptist Preacher 1812-1816
The Autobiography of Elder Wilson Thompson
shows the concept well established before
"A considerable congregation had gathered,
and I delivered as plain and pointed a discourse, and as definite as I could. I
then explained the circumstances which had led to that appointment, and that I was authorized by the Bethel Church,
of which I was a member, and which was located in the district of Cape
Girardeau, to give an invitation to any persons wishing to be baptized and
become members of the Bethel Regular Baptist Church. I added that if they could
give full and satisfactory evidence of the hope that was in them, I was ready and
willing to baptize. But I would wish all to understand, that the Baptists alone were by us considered a gospel church, and
therefore they received none into their fellowship or communion, except on
public profession of their faith in Christ, according to the doctrine of His
grace.
"No
probationers of six months, no infants who were sprinkled on the profession of
their parents, nor any others but believers in Jesus Christ were received.
Therefore, all who joined this church must renounce alliance with all other
denominations. They should treat all men friendly as men, but have no communion
or fellowship with any but the
The
next account relates Thompson's comments to a young Lutheran:
“The young man related his experience and
desired to join the church, but had been told by his mother "'Cursed is he
that is baptized over again'. 'Sprinkling is not baptism,' said I, 'and even
the immersion of an unconscious infant is no gospel baptism; nor can any man
administer gospel baptism without the legal authority of Christ. This authority He has vested in the true
church, as the executive authority
of His kingdom, to see to the proper
execution of all His laws and ordinances. The proper authority, therefore, is
indispensable to gospel baptism, and this no Lutheran has. so you need have
no more trouble on that account.''' p. 194.
The date of the second incident is not as
clear, but probably occurred circa 1816. It happened before Thompson first met the missionary
to the Indians, Isaac McCoy (cf. p. 196). Both took place 35 years and more before many
historians date the inauguration of the Landmark movement (ca. 1851). Both incidents show that at least some of the
Regular Baptists in the Midwest believed only the Baptists were valid churches.
Perhaps the fact that Thompson
identified with the Primitive Baptists after the missions controversy (circa
1830) has caused missionary Baptist historians to miss this source (Elder Ben
Stratton provided this source).
4. Baptist Historians
David Benedict – author of “History of
the Baptists”
“August,
1805, the church was formed of members dismissed for the purpose, from the
mother church at Providence.”
Benedicts History of the Baptists, p. 471.
J. M. Carroll – author of “A History of
Texas Baptist”
Dr.
J. M. Carroll the author of “The Trail of Blood” and author of “A History of
Texas Baptists” records the minutes of the first church in
August 1836:
However, in the report of the August meeting is found
this record:
“3rd.
Agreed, That as the scatured situation of the members of Regular Baptist Faith
and order in Texas, are such, that in the Common and more proper corse of
order, cannot reasonably be attended to in constituting Churches, etc., and believing that Church authority is indispensable
in all such work Therefore, Elders Daniel Parker, and Garrison Greenwood, are
hereby authorized by authority of this Church Either or both of them, to
constitute Churches under or on the regular Baptist Faith and order, ordain
Preachers and deacons to their
several works, calling to their assistance all the helps in counsel, in their reach, acting particularly cautious in
all their works, and Report to this Church,
all and whatever work, they may perform, under
this authority, from time to time,
as Circumstances may permit and require.”
“Saturday
Sep-30-1837.”
“Elder Daniel
Parker, Reported, That on the seventeenth day of September
1837, He
exercised the authority vested in him by
this Church in Constituting a Church. Said Church is Constituted on the
East side of the Angeleney river in Brother
Cook’s settlement — On eight members five mailes and three feemailes, one deacon Wm. Sparks and on the same articals of Faith
that this church is constituted,
acknowledging her relationship to and with said Pilgrim Church of Regular Predistinaran Baptist.” – J. M. Carroll, A History of Texas Baptists, pp. 64,65,66.
– (emphasis mine)
No question that Parker, the father of the
hardshells, was involved in some serious doctrinal errors but his practice of
church authority was in keeping with that generally practiced by Baptists of
his day as can be seen by the quotations before and after the above date among
other Baptists.
W.A. Jarrell, author of “Baptist Perpetuity”
In
1894 Dr. W. A. Jarrell writing much later than the time of Dr. J.R. Graves
admits that mother church authority in constitutions was the practice of many
Baptists in his own time:
“The first
church instead of building up several small churches in one locality,
W. A. Jarrell, Baptist
Perpetuity, p. 198. – (emphasis mine)
Thomas Armitage – author of “A History
of Baptists”
In
1890 Dr. Thomas Armitage had these kind of Baptists in mind when he wrote this
polemical denial of Baptist church succession:
“On this ground
it follows, that those who hold to a
tangible succession of Baptist Churches down from the Apostolic Age, must
prove from the Scriptures that something besides holiness and truth is an
essential sign of the Church of God.” – Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists, Vol. I. p.
29. – (emphasis mine)
D. The Final Systematic Presentation of
“Old Landmarkism” by Dr. J.R. Graves
Dr. J.R. Graves close to the end of his
life wrote one last great work where he tried to systematically present what he
believed was essential to “old Landmarkism.”
In it he stated:
“I put forth
this publication now, thirty years after inaugurating the reform, to correct
the manifold misrepresentations of those who oppose what they are pleased to
call our principles and teachings, and to place before the Baptists of America
what ‘Old Landmarkism’ really is.” – J.R. Graves, Old Landmarkism, What is it? p. 15.
Just twice in this book does he refer
directly to how churches are constituted, and in both instances he attributes
it to a previous existing church rather than by “direct authority.” In the
first instance he explicitly claims that authority to constitute a church is
given in the Great Commission to the church:
“If the church
alone was commissioned to preserve and to preach the gospel, then it is certain
that no other organization has the right to preach it – to trench upon the
divine rights of the church. A Masonic Lodge, no more than a Young Men’s
Christian Association…..have the least right to take the gospel in hand, select
and commission ministers to go forth and preach it, administer its ordinances
and ORGANIZE CHURCHES.” – Ibid., p. 36. – (emphasis mine)
In the second instance, Dr. Graves is
referring to the origin of the Waldenses. Concerning the Waldenses,
“I believe are
the successors of the apostolic churches, and from them received their constitution, their baptisms, and
ordinances….” – Ibid., p. 112. – (emphasis mine)
It is undeniable that Dr. Graves, along
with all major leaders among the Landmark movement, believed three essentials
that separates them from those today which Elder Milburn Cockrell identifies as “apostate Landmarkers”.
In addition,
they all practiced regular church order in the constitution of churches just as
Dr. T.T. Eaton said. Remember what Eaton
said? In order to deny
“When a new church is organized, it should have no
sort of connection with other churches, or relations to them. Let churches be organized anywhere, anyhow, by anybody. Just let people
be believers, and let them baptize each other and start a church. This does
away with Baptist succession. And if it be the bad thing that is charged, it
ought to be done away with at the earliest moment. Those
who oppose Baptist Succession have no logical ground to stand on in organizing
a church out of material furnished by other churches, and with those baptized by
regularly ordained Baptist ministers.”
T. T. Eaton. (Quoted by Milburn
Cockrell, Scriptural Church Organization, Second Edition, pp. 57-58). –
(emphasis mine)
Certainly, some gave their opinion of how
a church COULD be organized, but they
all with one united voice stated clearly what Baptists actually DID as a matter
of practice, and what they SHOULD DO in
keeping with that practice. There can be
no logical escape from Baptist church succession if you hold to the above three
essentials in regard to the Great Commission. There can be no escape from the practice of
regular church order if you hold to the above three essentials. You cannot possibly believe that the Great
Commission is given to the church alone and at the same time believe the Great
Commission teaches “direct” or “vertical” authority. You cannot possibly believe that the Great
Commission is given to the church alone and at the same time believe the
commission is given to the ministry. You
cannot possibly believe that the Great Commission is given to the church alone
and includes authority to constitute churches and yet deny regular church
order. The fact that old Landmarkers
believed these three essentials confirm Elder Cockrell’s correct analysis that those
today who call themselves “Landmarkers” but yet oppose these essentials are
indeed “apostate Landmarkers.”
E. It was the Enemies of Old Landmarkism that
believed in Direct Authority in Church Constitution
It is the opponents of Landmarkism within
the ranks of Southern Baptists that believed in spontaneous church constitution
by direct authority from God, and today it is the opponents of Landmarkism that
still believe in such a theory.
Dr. William H. Whitsitt was the president
of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Was Whitsitt’s “direct authority” origin
of Baptists received by Baptists in
Who sided with William H. Whitsitt among
Baptists? Non-Baptists sided with him
and the vast majority of Baptists who embraced the “universal invisible church”
theory. Dr. Albert Newman was one who
sided with Whitsitt. Newman recognized
the majority view opposed Whitsitt when he said:
“Some if not all, of Dr. Whitsitt’s opponents
have committed themselves to the theory that the fulfillment of Christ’s
promise involves an unbroken succession
of organized Baptist Churches…. George A. Lofton, Albert H. Newman,
Henry C. Vedder, A Review of the
Question, p. 148, 1897. – (emphasis mine)
The Whitsitt theory vehemently argued that
the Landmark doctrine of church succession could not be validated by
uninspired, incomplete, and often inaccurate secular history at any point in history. He insisted that Baptists did not owe their
existence to any previous existing church but solely to Christ apart from no
other authority but the Scriptures. This
position permitted them to accept a 1641 origin of English Baptists or any
other such origin in
“The anti-Pedobaptists of the Reformation had
no hesitation about introducing believers’ baptism anew. John Smyth and Thomas
Helwys in 1609 introduced believers baptism (or what they considered baptism)
anew…..The English Particular Baptists (1633 onward) were at first content to
introduce believers baptism…anew” Ibid., pp. 150-151.
However, research by Dr. John T. Christian
and others thoroughly refuted this theory and demonstrated that Baptists in
England practiced immersion before 1641 and that the early Baptists claimed to
be ancient in origin and that they denied starting up baptism among themselves.
Old Landmarkism consistently and
continuously and vigorously denied that church constitution could occur without
the pre-existence of church authority in baptism. Old Landmarkism denied “direct” authority and
demanded that the Great Commission established an earthly authority that would
continue until the end of the age. Dr.
A.C. Dayton makes this clear when he referred to Matthew 28:19-20 in these
words:
“And so in regard to this commission of
Christ, it was addressed, to somebody. It supposes that there will be somebody
to be baptized, and it authorizes somebody to baptize them. If by commanding
some to baptize, it commands others by implication to be baptized, it by the same implication commands them to
be baptized by those, and only those whom it commands to baptize.” A. C. Dayton, quoted by William M. Nevins, Alien Baptism and the Baptists, p. 156.
– (emphasis mine)
In
response to what Dayton said above, William M. Nevins goes on to say, “If one says, ‘Dr. Dayton is here reasoning
in a circle,’ our answer is, that is just what the great commission is, a
closed circle for the baptizers and the baptized, and all outside this closed
circle are alien, that is foreign, without Christ’s authority” Ibid., p.
156. Both Nevins and
Old Landmarkers, together with early
English Baptists and the Philadephia Baptist Association (PBA) saw no conflict
between “scriptural authority UNDER God FROM a gospel church.” They understood perfectly that Christ had
intentionally placed “ye” in Matthew 28:19-20 in an INSTRUMENTAL position
between Him and those who would be recipients of the Great Commission. The Great Commission totally repudiates the
doctrine of “direct authority” for in any aspect of the Great Commission. As long as the inspired “ye” is found in that
commission there can be no other authority established by God in administrating
this commission – “until the end of the
world. Amen.”
F. Did
Landmarkers believe in
There can be no question that the opponents of
Landmarkism both within the ranks and outside the ranks of Baptists understood
Landmarkism to teach church succession. There
can be no question that all the early leaders of Landmarkism used the terms
“church succession” and used examples that necessarily inferred church
succession. There can be no question
that the common practice in constitution of churches included direct connection
with the authority of a previous existent church during this time frame.
Dr.
J.L. Waller, who took somewhat the position as our opponents, understood Old
Landmarkism to teach that no baptism was valid apart from a valid administrator
and no church could be constituted apart from valid baptism. In response to this Landmark position he
argued exactly like Landmark opponents do today. He argued that if baptism required a church
authorized administrator, then, it would require it every time. Such a requirement would demand link by link administrator’s back to John the
Baptist. He argued that the only way a
person could know they had authorized baptism was to be able to trace it back
to Christ from administrator to administrator. Since there is not, nor ever can be sufficient
secular historical data to prove link by link administrators, then, he
concluded that no one could know if they were properly baptized according to
Landmarkism. Dr. A.C. Dayton quotes
Waller as saying:
“And the
first consequence claiming our attention is, that if the administrator be
necessary to the validity of baptism now, he was always necessary…..If at any
time since the introduction of baptism into the world, an individual received
baptism in a manner contrary to the divine enactments, it was invalid to all
intents and purposes…The proposition of the affirmative is, that those who have
been baptized by an improper administrator, are not baptized at all. If that be
true now, it is always true….If any LINK IN THE SUCCESSION BE BROKEN, the most
skilful spiritual smith under the whole heaven cannot mend THE CHAIN……”
(A.C. Dayton, Alien Immersion, pp.
110-111). – (emphasis mine)
A.C.
“First, therefore, I remark that this
difficulty grows out of a mistaken view of our position, which is not that the
want of baptism invalidates the act, but the want or authority from him who
commanded it…It follows that unless baptism administered without Christ’s
authority, and against his authority is legal and valid baptism, no baptism can be legal and valid unless it
was thus authorized BY A TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST….What, then, is the real
difficulty in the case? It is not to ascertain whether my baptizer was himself
baptized, but whether he had authority
from a true church to baptize me. …To know if I have been baptized,
therefore, it is only necessary for me to know that I have been immersed in the
manner required by the commission, and by the authority of a true
“But some one may say: ‘This is not getting
rid of the difficulty. It simply transfers
it from the minister to the church. You do not indeed have to trace the
baptismal pedigree of the administrator, but you do have to trace that of the
church, for which he officiates. For if this church has been
constituted of unbaptized members, or if it be the off-shoot of one that was so
constituted, it cannot be a true church, since a true church must consist of
baptized believers. AND AN UNBAPTIZED
CHURCH COULD NEVER GIVE ORIGIN TO A BAPTIZED ONE. Nor is it any easier for
churches to trace their pedigree, than for individuals.’” – Ibid., p. 124 –
(emphasis mine).
Dr.
Dayton makes several things clear in this response to Waller. First, it is not a matter of proving the
administrator was baptized himself but rather proving he was authorized to baptize
by a
“So when we find a church holding the
doctrines of Christ, and ‘walking in all the statutes and ordinances of the
Lord, blameless,’ constituted to all
appearance upon a heavenly model, we are justified in taking it for granted
that it is a true church, UNTIL SOME ONE CAN, AND DOES SHOW EVIDENCES TO THE
CONTRARY. We are under no necessity of going back to ask by whom it was
constituted, much less to trace its pedigree in all past ages. IF IT LOOKS LIKE
A
He would
probably knock me down for my insolence, and yet I would have quite as good
ground for my dishonorable imputations as those have who say that there is now
no Baptist church that can be sure that it is a true church by regular descent from Christ and the
apostles. I say again, when we find a body of professed believers which has
the ordinances and the doctrines of Christ, we are justified in the absence of
proof to the contrary in taking it for granted that it came honestly by them.
IF IT LOOKS LIKE A TRUE CHURCH, BELIEVES LIKE A TRUE CHURCH, AND ACTS LIKE A
TRUE CHURCH, TO ME, IT IS, AND MUST BE A TRUE CHURCH, UNTIL THE CONTRARY HAS
BEEN ESTABLISHED. The burden of proof falls upon the adversaries. We do not
need to establish our pedigree. It is for them to invalidate it; and that, not
by suppositions, but by facts, not by suggesting what was possible, or even
probable, but by showing what most certainly was true. Whenever this is done, in regard to any
particular church, it will become its duty at once to correct any wrong by
seeking a NEW ORGANIZATION at the hands of those against whom no deficiency has
been established.” (Dayton, Ibid., pp. 126-127).- (emphasis mine).
In other words, if you can absolutely
prove that one link is deficient or missing then rather than denounce
chain link succession it becomes your
responsibility to seek out authority from another church where it is yet to be
proven that one of its links are invalid.
This is how Dr. Dayton answered the “what if” argument of those who are
enemies to “old Landmarkism.” However,
Dr. Dayton’s response assumes he believes in chain link church succession.
Drs. William H. Whitsitt, Albert H.
Newman, Henry C. Vedder, Albert Newman (Presbyterian) attempted to present
historical evidence to demonstrate that all historical groups that Dr. J.R.
Graves and Orchard claimed to be Baptist forefathers, held doctrines that could
not harmonize with modern day Baptists. All of these men argued that for Landmarkism
to be true there would have to be some kind of link by link succession between
modern Landmarkers and the churches in the New Testament. Why? Because
they realized the “Landmark” principle of church authority behind the Great
Commission required chain link succession; and according to Landmarkism, where
there is no church authority there is no valid baptism and where there is no
valid baptism there can be no church constitution. That there were adversaries of this position
proves that Baptists held this position.
Dr. J.R. Graves admits this was the
conclusion of his adversaries when he said:
“Nor do we
admit the claims of the "Liberals" upon us, to prove the continuous
existence of the church, of which we are a member, or which baptized us, in
order to prove our doctrine of church succession, and that we have been
scripturally baptized or ordained.” –
J.R. Graves, Old Landmarkism, What is
it? p. 85.
However,
Dr. Graves did not concede that link by link succession was wrong or contrary
to history but rather defended it as did A.C. Dayton when he went on to say:
“As well might the infidel call upon me to prove
every link of my descent from Adam, before I am allowed to claim an interest in
the redemptive work of Christ, which was confined to the family of Adam!. In like
manner, we point to the Word of God, and, until the infidel can destroy its
authenticity, our hope is unshaken. In like manner, we point the “liberal”
Baptist to the words of Christ, and will he say they are not sufficient? When
the infidel can prove, by incontestable historical facts, that His kingdom has
been broken and removed one year, one day, or one hour from the earth, then we surrender our Bible with our
position.” – Old Landmarkism, What is it? p. 85.
Those who hold direct authority would
NEVER use these kinds of examples to prove their view of Baptist
perpetuity. J. R. Graves further quoted
J. W. Smith’s response to Dr. Albert Barnes the famous Presbyterian divine, who
apparently raised the same objection to Landmarkism. Smith told Barnes:
“But our
history is not thus lost. That work is in progress, which will LINK the
Baptists of today with the Baptists of Jerusalem.” Ibid., p. 86. – (emphasis mine)
After quoting Smith above,
“Nor have I, or any Landmarker known to me,
ever advocated the succession of any particular church or churches; but my
position is that Christ, in the very ‘days of John the Baptist,’ did establish
a visible kingdom on earth, and that this kingdom has never yet been “broken in
pieces,’ nor given to another class of subjects – has never for a day
‘been moved,’ nor ceased from the earth, and never will until Christ returns
….that the organization He first set up, which John called ‘the Bride,’ and
which Christ called His church, constituted that visible kingdom, and to-day
all His true churches on earth constitute it; and, therefore, if His kingdom
has stood unchanged, and will to the end, He must always have had true and uncorrupted churches, since His kingdom cannot exist without true
churches.” –
However,
it is clear that Graves believed in a continuous cycle of reproduction after
its own kind in some kind of link by link church succession, as he denied that
even for “one hour” has there ever been a time in history where there was ever
the need to originate baptism or constitute a church by unbaptized persons.
“…it has had a continuous
existence, or the words of Christ have failed: and, therefore, there has been no need of originating it,
de nova, and no unbaptized man ever had any authority to originate baptism,
or a church, de nova.” –
Since
all Landmarkers believed that baptism was not valid apart from church authority
and that no new church could be constituted except with baptized materials this
demanded some kind of organic link by link succession just as W.L. Waller had
pointed out and as
“Secondly, the ordinance of baptism instituted by
Christ is so essential
to the constitution of the Church under the New Testament that none can be true
in her constitution without it….. So that where there is not a true constituted Church, there is no true
constituted Church-ordinance: and where there is a true Church ordinance in
its constitution, there is at least presupposed a true Church also.”
–John Spilsbury, A
Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism,
Dr. D.B. Ray was a contemporary of men
like W. A. Jarrell and Dr. T. T. Eaton and other Landmarkers. Ray wrote a book entitled “Baptist Succession”
and in that book he defended chain link succession using such terms over and
over again:
“They point to Roger Williams with an air of
triumph, and say, ‘Here your CHAIN OF SUCCESSION IS BROKEN…(p. 118)…..In
following up the Baptist succession, it has been fully shown that their
historic CHAIN has neither been disturbed by the succession of the ‘Hard Shell’
Baptists, nor the apostasy of the Campbellites; and it has been abundantly
shown that the Roger Williams affair has not even produced a ripple upon the
FLOWING STREAM of Baptist SUCCESSION.
The Atlantic CABLE OF SUCCESSION connecting the Baptists of
Would “direct authority” Landmarkers today
defend “chain of succession” as did Ray above?
Notice that Ray uses the very same analogy used by Dr. J. R. Graves of
“the Atlantic Cable” as found on page 85 of Graves book (“Old Landmarkism, What
is it?”) with one notable exception, he intentionally adds the word
“succession” –
“The Atlantic
CABLE OF SUCCESSION connecting the
Baptists of
Ray’s intentional addition in this analogy
demonstrates he believed that J. R. Graves was teaching
J. N. Hall {1849-1905} was a noted Southern Baptist pastor and editor at
the turn of the last century. He edited such Baptist papers as The
Baptist Gleaner, The Western Recorder, and The Baptist Flag.
Hall said in regard to “succession”:
“Baptists do not believe in
‘Apostolic Succession,’ for that means a succession of apostles; but we
believe in the succession of churches. Christ did not promise a
perpetuity to men, nor to their office, but He did promise perpetuity to His
churches.” J.N. Hall, The Peerless Defender of the Baptist Faith,
page 131. (emphasis mine)
Another prominent Landmarker that some
deny practiced regular church order in the constitution of churches was Dr.
J.B. Moody. Joseph Burnley Moody {1838-1931}
was one of the greatest 'unknown' Southern Baptist theologians. He
pastored numerous churches, edited several Baptist papers, authored a number of
books, and taught at
“’Continuity’
is not far from the true idea, as these churches were a continuation and
extension of the first church. So out of continuity there came perpetuity, AS IN HUMAN HISTORY. These other churches did not spring out of the ground, but came from
the first church….This is true of our
own species. I know I am in the succession, not because I can trace it, but
because God originated the race with this law of self-propagation – a law we
see in operation now, and so far as history testifies, it has thus ever
operated; hence the proof and conclusion are irresistible. You may tell me I
can’t trace it. You may urge variety of complexion and countenance, and
customs, as unfavorable to one origin…I CLAIM TO BE IN THE SUCCESSION. Men may
challenge the historical proof, and it may never be furnished, yet the proof,
the right kind of proof, is abundant, and the succession is sure” - J.B. Moody, My Church, pp. 133, 160,161. – (emphasis mine)
When Moody’s quote is considered along side
of a modern day Landmarker notice the resemblance:
“neither can an individual go out and
establish another church out of thin air.
Men may not create churches by individual or corporate action apart from a
previously existing church. A new church is to originate by the authority of
another church.” –William C. Hawkins and Willard A. Ramsay, The
House of God, p. 74.
However, spontaneous constitution is
consistent with the phrase “spring out of the ground” and “out of thin air” but
not consistent with what Moody and other Landmarkers believed about church
constitution. He is explicitly denying
spontaneous church constitutions apart from some kind of organic contact with preexisting
churches. Moody made
himself clear when he said:
“If Christ
left his churches in charge of his earthly affairs, and if his mind, underwent
a change in regard to church order, or ordinances, or doctrines, of course he
would have affected the change through the churches instead of individuals like
Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Campbell, Fox, Joe Smith, etc….These words were
intended for all generations, and especially for the seventh, tenth, sixteenth,
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when so many presumed to assume authority
to set up churches of their own inventions. If these came from the
Moody used many analogies from nature to
prove link by link church succession (Ibid., pp. 159-191). One analogy he used in common by
Dr. W.A. Jarrell directly responded to the
historical arguments that Henry C. Vedder, Thomas Armitage, Albert H. Newman,
William H. Whitsitt and George A. Lofton had placed in print to disprove ANY
KIND of Baptist succession, whether it be a succession of baptism or church
succession. Unlike,
However, the enemies of Landmarkism saw
the “perpetuity” answer as only a buffer argument for church succession. If one can prove that Baptist churches
existed in every generation then this would provide the basis to defend a
system which at its heart required some kind of link by link
successionism. There can be no escape
from successionism as long as one takes the position that the Great Commission
is given to the church alone and is restricted to church authority.
The truth is that the majority of
Landmarkers not only believed in an historical succession of Baptists Churches
but their practice of “regular church order” provided the actual mechanics for
such Successionism to be practiced among them.
Dr. T.T. Eaton made it evident that not all Landmarkers denied
“If Baptist succession be
the bad thing some brethren say, then certainly it ought to be
given up. There should be no more of it. The churches now in existence ought
to have no succession. When a new church is organized, it should have no
sort of connection with other churches, or relations to them. Let
churches be organized anywhere, anyhow, by anybody. Just let people be
believers, and let them baptize each other and start a church. This does
away with Baptist succession. And if it be the bad thing that is charged, it ought
to be done away with at the earliest moment. Those
who oppose Baptist Succession have no logical ground to stand on in organizing
a church out of material furnished by other churches, and with those baptized
by regularly ordained Baptist ministers.”
(Quoted by Milburn Cockrell, Scriptural Church Organization,
Second Edition, pp. 57-58). – (emphasis mine)
This was designed by Dr. Eaton to be a
rebuke to those denying church succession.
It cannot be successfully denied that the greater part of Baptists
believed in Baptist church succession.
This alone can account for the attacks upon this doctrine that can be
found in such works as Thomas Armitage’s History of the Baptists and other
rebuttals to Landmarkism.
CONCLUSION:
The essence of Old Landmarkism requires organic church succession. According to Old Landmarkism, where there is
no church exercising church authority there can be no valid baptism and where
there is no valid baptism there can be no true constitution of a church. Baptist churches before, during and after
the times of J.R. Graves clearly practiced the mechanics of church succession
in their constitution of churches. The
most that opponents can claim is that some Landmarkers were INCONSISTENT with
their own practice of church constitution and demand for church authority
behind baptism.
G. False Inferences and Conclusions by Apostate
Landmarkers
Erring
Landmarkers have made a number of false conclusions based upon invalid
inferences and faulty reasoning.
1. They have concluded that since Baptist
confessions, articles of faith and associational minutes define a church as
independent and self-autonomous under Christ, that this contradicts the concept
of mother church authority. It does not.
Apparently, the objectors have never
considered that a group of baptized believers are not yet a church until they
have been organized and therefore they are independent and autonomous only AFTER
becoming a church, not before. Before
constitution they are still members of a New Testament Church and are acting in
keeping with what that church has authorized and under the authority of church
ordained representatives.
2.
They have concluded that because all Baptists define the act of constitution to
be the covenant vote by the prospective members that this is contrary to mother
church authority. It is not! It is a failure to distinguish between the
authority that validates the action and the action itself. For example, the act of baptism is immersion
of a believer in water; however, the authority validating that act is the New
Testament Church. Likewise, this is the
case in gathering churches. The authority
denoted by letters of dismissal, gathering under the direction of church
authorized, church ordained men, validates the action of covenanting themselves
to be a New Testament Church. The
overwhelming account of church constitutions among Baptists is that such and
such ordained man of God “gathered” such and such into a church, OR such and
such a church dismissed members to be gathered into a church under the
direction of church ordained men. This
is the overwhelming RULE among Baptists. No one denies that deviations can be found
among Baptists in regard to anything you would like to talk about but
deviations are exception to the rule rather than the rule.
3. They have attempted to pit statements
that describe two or more churches and their ordained representatives
cooperating together in an orderly manner in the constitution of a church as
contrary to mother church authority. It
is not! Most of these cooperative
constitutions involve members dismissed from the churches involved. All that mother church authority demands is
that church vote is behind the dismissals of those forming a church and behind
the ordinations of those directing that formation.
4.
They have attempted to deny mother church authority by insisting that splits in
a church where one side leaves and reorganizes into a church without another
church assisting it contradict mother church authority. As long as there are church ordained men
among them that direct the constitution there is no contradiction at all. Reconstitution by such a splinter group is
admission that either the other group is correctly constituted or that neither
are and reconstitution is necessary.
Often churches gathered in conference with one another to settle such a
matter, but Baptists never approved of unnecessary splits.
5.
They have attempted to deny mother church authority because many Landmarkers
defended only Baptist Church Perpetuity rather than Church Succession. The reason that many took that position was
because it is the only position that can be successfully defended by secular
history. These Baptists openly debated
what they believed among themselves and with non-Baptists and were forced to
take the position of perpetuity rather than succession when dealing with
historical data. However, in practice,
they observed “regular church order’ as the rule of practice. On the other hand, there are those who
defended Church Perpetuity but also believed in Church succession and merely
admitted that history does not provide sufficient evidence to prove the
succession of any living thing. On the
other hand, the enemies of Landmarkers believed in Baptist church Perpetuity
defined by direct authority.
6.
They have attempted to invalidate the impact and influence of such men as Dr.
Roy Mason and John Gilpin and even Milburn Cockrell for the position of mother
church authority by pointing out that they did not always believe what they
believe now. Wow! What a discovery? I wonder if these same objectors once believed
in mother church authority before what they believe now??? According to this argument erring Landmarkers
should repent and return to mother church authority???? This shows you how desperate anti-Landmarkers
are and to what extreme measures they will go to support an unbiblical, illogical
and self-destructive position.
Review Questions
Summary of the Previous Five Chapters
In our first chapter, we learned that the
proper authorized administrator is characterized by seven factors. The administrator is (1) the contextual “ye”
not “them”; (2) it is the qualified experienced “ye” not the unqualified
inexperienced “them; (3) it is the “ye” of like faith and order with Christ not
those who are not; (4) it is the “ye” that is assembled as a N.T. Church not
the unchurched; (5) it is the “ye” administer it through church authorized and
church sent representatives not anyone else; (6) it is the “ye” that are
reproduced as the direct historical product of link to link organic succession,
not any church unrelated to this historical succession; and (7) it is the kind
of churches found in the pages of the New Testament. The Great Commission “ye” stands forever as a
denial to the so-called doctrine of direct authority and spontaneous church
constitution
These
seven characteristics can be summarized under three headings. (1) In regard to doctrine and practice they
are churches of like faith and order with Christ. (2) In regard to origin they are the product
of a preceding church of like faith and order.
(3) In regard to history they are those churches that began as a
denomination inside of
In the second chapter, we learned that New Testament
churches as a rule practiced all three aspects of the Great Commission and that
this practice is laid down explicitly in Acts 2:41-42 as their pattern. We learned that when this pattern was departed
from it was due to disruptions and/or incomplete obedience to the commission
(Acts 8:1;
In the third Chapter, we learned from the
writings and associational minutes of the early Particular English Baptists
that they believed the Great Commission was given to the church alone. They believed there was a necessary and binding
order contained in the Great commission which included authority to gather
baptized believers into church membership.
They denied that ordained ministers could carry out this commission
without being authorized and sent by the church. They rejected the doctrine of direct
authority and spontaneous church constitutions.
In the
fourth chapter, we learned the Philadelphia Baptist Association was formed by
these same early English Particular Baptist and that they followed the same pattern
identified as “regular church order” in the constitution of their churches. This pattern included church authority by vote
to dismiss members with letters for this express purpose and/or constitution by
ordained men sent out to gather such churches. In addition, this binding order included
ordained supervision, which directed the constitution and declared them to be a
church. They believed such members remained under church authority until they
were declared to be a
In the
fifth chapter we learned that historical Landmarkism: (1) Denied “vertical” or
“direct” authority in the Great Commission but unanimously believed it was
given to the church alone. (2) Denied
preacher or ministerial authority in the Great Commission but unanimously was
under church authority alone. (3)
Believed the Great Commission included authority to constitute churches. That the confessed general practice among
Landmark Baptists and all other Baptists at the time was “regular church order”
in the constitution of churches. We
learned that although chain link succession was denied in theory among some
Landmarkers (not all) it was observed in practice and defended by Landmarkers
in general. We learned that objections
to mother church authority is not based upon any real facts.
The great
commission is given to the church alone and it includes authority to gather
baptized believers into church membership. This is exactly the historical practice of
Baptists, founded upon what they recognized as
“regular church order” or the “binding order’ found in the Great
Commission.
Appendix #1 - Church
Authority or Ministerial Authority?
In
Matthew 28:7 the angel of the Lord said to the women who came to see the tomb:
Matt. 28:7 “…go
quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he
goeth before you into
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre
with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9 And as
they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And
they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go
tell my brethren that they go into
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into
17 And
when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18 And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth.
19 Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
A. The
Commissioned on the Mountain in
Many argue that Matthew 28:17
identifies the “ye” as “the eleven disciples” as a technical expression for the
Apostles. Thus, it is argued that the
commission is given to the ordained
ministry and not to the general membership of the church. Secondly, it is argued that the very characteristics
of the commission restrict it to the ministry because general church members
are not qualified to “teach them to observe all things.” Thirdly, it is argued that it is only given
to those who are able to preach the gospel as each successive aspect is
directed only toward those who were first sent to preach the gospel.
Let’s
begin with the foundation of this three-fold argument. It is true that the subject identified as “ye”
at the very minimum must refer to “the eleven disciples” in verse 17. It is true that the phrase “the eleven” or
“the eleven disciples” is a technical designation for the apostolic office. However, it is also true that such a phrase
(“the eleven”) is never used for the ordained ministry in general but only for
the apostolic office. Hence, if this
argument is to be followed in a technical manner, then technically the Great
Commission was given ONLY to the Apostles not to the GENERAL ordained ministry.
In keeping with this conclusion, it must be determined in what capacity it
was given to the Apostles? If it were given to the apostles in any personal capacity then it ceased when
the persons of the apostles died. If it was given to the apostolic office then it must be proven that this office continues today in order for this
commission to continue today. However, the qualifications and evidences
for the office of Apostle set forth in the Scriptures deny it is a continuing
office in the church, but was only
foundational during what most consider to be the “apostolic age” (Acts 1:21-22;
2 Cor. 12:12; I Cor. 15:8), and that it concluded with the death of John.
This
leaves only one other option if it is demanded that it was given to the
apostles. It was given to the apostles
as official REPRESENTATIVES of the
This would
be also consistent with the use of the verbal form of the noun “apostle” as used
in the book of Acts. The verbal form is
used to describe those sent out under the authority of the local church
(Acts 11:22: 13:3 “sent” translates the verbal form of “apostolos” and means
one sent out under authority or an authorized representative). In that sense both Paul and Barnabas are
called “apostles” on their missionary journeys (Acts 14:4,14); and therefore,
Paul was both an Apostle by Jesus Christ in the same technical sense as the
twelve were, and in addition, he was a
church ordained, church sent authorized missionary as was Barnabas (Acts
13:1-3). Both are called “apostles” in
the latter non-technical sense. Hence,
the non-technical definition of “apostle” involves the idea of an AUTHORIZED
REPRESENTATIVE. The twelve Apostles were
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES of Christ but also established as the first officers
of His Church. All succeeding church
officers have been chosen, qualified, and ordained by the church. Such church ordained men are non-technical
“apostles” in the sense they are AUTHORIZED CHURCH REPRESENTATIVES. It is in this representative capacity that
the Great Commission was given to them by Christ.
In addition this would harmonize
Matthew 16:19 with
B. The
All four Gospels record the same life of
Christ but from different points of view with different emphases. Matthew is unlike any other gospel account of
the resurrected appearances of Christ.
Matthew has but one focus and that is on the predicted meeting in
Matthew 28:
7 “And go quickly, and tell his disciples that
he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into
10 “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go
tell my brethren that they go into
16 “Then the
eleven disciples went away into
The focus of Matthew climaxes with the
meeting on the mountain in
Furthermore, Matthew is quite explicit as
to who would be present at that meeting.
In verse 7 the angels tell the women to inform “his disciples” and that they shall see him in
Do the terms “his disciples” and “my brethren”
refer only to the “eleven disciples”? Or, does verse 16 merely inform us that among
“his disciples” and “my brethren” who would be there, that “the eleven disciples” also came to this
appointed meeting place? Are the words, “some
doubted” indicative of more there than the eleven?
What about those who “doubted”? Jesus had intentionally appeared to the
apostles three times previous to this mountain meeting in
However, most, if not all harmonies of
the gospel place the “five hundred
brethren” mentioned by Paul in I Corinthians 15:6 among those who assembled
at this mountain meeting. Most of these
were seeing the resurrected Christ for the very first time.
In the previous instructions given by
Christ to the women, they were to go tell “my
brethren” and “his disciples”
which are terms that covered much more than the mere eleven apostles. It is implied by the angel that the women
would also be among them there (v. 7).
The very same designations used in Matthew 28-7-16 (“disciples”
“brethren” “women” “the eleven”) are the very same terms used in Acts 1:13-16
to describe those who are identified as the “church” in Acts 2:1,41,47. Hence, there were more at that
C. The Kingdom Authority Focus
Another unique focus of Matthew is on the
“keys of the kingdom” in relationship
to the
Matt.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matt.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you
shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
The symbol of “the keys” is a common symbol of authority. It is found in the plural (“keys”) designating several areas of
authority. It has to do with the
administrative authority in God’s kingdom on earth. Matthew never mentions the keys apart from
the
One aspect of these “keys” is seen by
direct application to the church in Matthew 18:15-18. Here the keys are found in direct connection
with authority given to the church to confront, rebuke, and correct, and apply
discipline to members of the church. The
church is clearly declared to be the last court of appeals, the final authority
in behalf of God’s people on earth in matters of discipline. After clearly defining the church as the
final authority [“tell it to the
church….if he neglect to hear the church, let him be…..”] it would be
peculiar and highly unlikely that in the very next verse this symbol of
authority would be applied to something or someone else besides the final
authority just established in verse 17 (“the
church”). The plural “you” in verse 18 has for its nearest
antecedent the noun “church” in verse
17. Furthermore, this is the common use
of the plural pronoun “you” in reference to the church as by definition the “church” is a plurality of members that
assemble together. The plural “you” is found in church epistles where
its antecedent is the term “church”
(I Cor. 1:2,4). Furthermore, in other
passages dealing with discipline of members, only the church is addressed (I
Cor. 5).
Another example of the symbol “key” is
used by Christ in Luke 11:52 where it involves an authorized teacher of the
scriptures. The church is called “the pillar and ground of truth” and is
to qualify those who are capable of teaching in the church (I Tim. 3:1-15).
Many believe that this same authority is
inferred in John 20:23 as a consequence of preaching the gospel. Those who meet the terms of the gospel are
forgiven whereas those who reject it are not forgiven.
Hence, the “keys” have to do with the position of administrative authority
whereby gospelization, instruction, correction and discipline is administered
within the
Matthew has already established the church
as the final authority in kingdom affairs before he comes to Matthew 28 (“tell it to the church…if he neglect the
church” – Mt.
D. The
Historical Baptist Position
This is also the primary historical interpretation in
Baptist history. The Particular Baptists
in England were asked if the Great Commission was given to the church or to the
ministers within the church and they answered:
‘Query 1. Whether the power of the keys spoken
of in Mat. 16.19, John
20.23, Mat. 18.18, be given to the church or to the eldership in the
church?
Answer: the exercise of the power of Christ in a church having officers,
in opening and shutting, in receiving in and casting out belongs to the
church with its eldership, Mat. 18.17f., I Cor. 4.4f., III John 9ff.,
Acts 15.4,22.” –
Association Records of the Particular Baptists of England,
Wales and Ireland to 1660, “Association Records of the West Country” –
1665, p. 60.
When asked if such
ministerial brethren could go out on their own accord or be sent by some other
power than the church they replied:
“Answer: it is unlawful:
1. Because
our Lord Christ sendeth forth his
ministers by his power alone, Mt. 28:19, and hee is the head of the body
the Church that in all things hee might have the preheminence, Col. 1:18;
Eph. 1:22.
2. Because Christ hath left all power in his Church both to call and
sende froth ministers, Mt.28:20, saying, I am with you to the ende of the
worlde, and I Tim. 3; Titus 1; Acts 14; Mt. 18 and 16.18f.
3. Because wee finde the Church only exercising that power both in
chusing and sending forth ministers as appeareth by these Scriptures,
Acts 1.23,26;
Association Records of the
The Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association (PBA)
consistently teach the very same thing. Every church that initially formed and later
joined the PBA was organized by a church ordained and church sent
representative (see Chapter four).
It is historically undeniable that J. R.
Graves and all leaders in the Landmark movement believed the Great Commission
was given to the church alone and not to its ordained members (see chapter five
for historical proof). Hence, one cannot
identify themselves with historical Landmarkism and deny the Great Commission
was given exclusively to the church.
Neither can one identify themselves with historical Landmarkism and
believe in “direct” authority.
E. Summary
The immediate context strongly infers more
than merely the eleven would be there at this mountain meeting in
Bible chronologists can find no other
recorded appearance of Christ where “five hundred brethren” could all be there
to see Him together at once except at this Mount in
Those who demand that it is only given to the
apostles are caught in a dilemma. The
same ones addressed in this commission, are those that Christ promised to be
with “until the end of the world.” The apostles died as individuals and the
office ceased due to its peculiar qualifications long ago. The Commission which is inclusive of (1)
gospelizing; (2) baptizing and (3) congregationalizing is also “until the end of the world” not until
the end of the apostles. Hence, it could
not possibly have been given to them as individuals or be given to the
apostolic office. This is one horn of
their dilemma.
On the other hand, they are forced to the
conclusion that it was given to the apostles as representatives of some kind of
continuing entity such as “ordained men.”
However, in applying it to “ordained men” they are confronted by the
very same problem they have used to deny it was given to the church through its
ordained representatives. They have no
explicit statement of Scripture to make the leap from “the eleven disciples” to
“ordained men.” They must rely on the
very same kind of inferences which they have already denied are sufficient to
make that connection with the church.
Therefore, the very same methods of Biblical interpretation they must
rely on to make that leap are the very same methods of Biblical interpretation
they have denied can be used to prove the apostles were acting as
representatives of the church.
However, there are more than mere
inferences that support Christ was commissioning the church through its first officers.
Such authority had already been given to the Church in Matthew
18:17-18. Such authority is seen in
practice in the book of Acts by the Church (Acts
The Biblical Approach to
The Biblical Key to
finding and Identifying Apostolic Christianity in Secular History
As demonstrated in chapter one, the Great
Commission promises the reproduction of churches of like faith and order until
Jesus comes again. In chapter two, we
can see this promise being fulfilled throughout the book of Acts right up to
the end of the apostolic age in the book of Revelation. However, when one picks up a modern secular
“church history” book there is nothing recorded for at least fifteen hundred
years after the close of the apostolic era that even comes close to resembling
churches in the pages of the New Testament. The only kind of church that stands out on the
pages of history during that period is the Roman Catholic Church and the
heretics condemned by her.
Even though there is a radical and
profound difference between the contents of the epistle to the original church
at
However,
the writing of church history and the preservation of historical records for
the first 1200 years after the apostolic era has been in the control of the
Roman Catholic Church. She has preserved
only what she determined to preserve and destroyed everything else.
There have been historians who realize
that secular history is; (1) uninspired, thus subject to personal bias; (2)
incomplete; and (3) often inaccurate. These historians view the data completely
differently. Instead, they view it from
the perspective of what the Scriptures predict will distinguish false Christianity
from apostolic Christianity between the end of the apostolic age and the second
coming of Christ.
When
the inspired predictive prophecies of the future state of Christendom is
considered as the basis for interpreting the secular history of Christianity,
then a whole different picture emerges to the student of the Bible. The Bible clearly predicts the rise of an apostate
and dominating kind of
A. Don’t look among Churches who
Persecute
Jn.
16:1 “These things have I spoken unto
you, that ye should not be offended.
2 They shall
put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor
me.” (emphasis mine)
Rev.
17:6 “And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I
saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
During
the first 1500 years after the New Testament age the Roman Catholic Church has
a history written in the blood of those it killed and persecuted and distorted
in the name of Christ. The Reformed
Roman Catholic Church (The Reformers, Protestants) persecuted and killed Roman
Catholics and visa versa, and both killed and persecuted the evangelical
Anabaptists. Hence, neither Rome nor
Reformed Rome can be the Church of Christ, nor is their history the history of
true Christianity.
Where do you look for His true churches then? You look among the persecuted, the defamed,
those called “heretics” by the persecuting churches of
B. Don’t look among State Churches
Rev. 17:1 “And there came one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will
shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk
with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the
wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and
scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY,
Many
attempt to interpret this woman as merely secular
Neither
is this woman the secular city of
Rev. 17:5 “And upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY,
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of
the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I
wondered with great admiration.”
In
direct contrast to her is the bride of Christ mentioned in Revelation 19 and
21. This contextual contrast is too
clear and too explicit to miss the connection.
The false church of secular history is described in Revelation 17-18 in
direct contrast to the true apostolic church in Revelation 19 and 21. The religion at
We are not to look for apostolic
Christianity among any state kind of religion. Where are we to look then? We are to look among those condemned as
“heretics” by state church unions.
C. Don’t look among those churches
which embrace predicted apostate doctrines:
I Tim. 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to
abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth.”
Gal. 1:8-9 “But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed. As we said before, so
say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed.”
The
clerical order of the church at Rome is well known for the peculiar doctrine of
forbidding its priests and nuns to marry as well as its fish on Friday ritual. Seventh Day Adventism and other cultic
Christianity are characterized by the same apostate doctrines. All of these churches are characterized by
their opposition to the gospel of grace and justification without works. What the apostate church called truth and
orthodoxy the Bible and apostolic Christianity calls heresy and what the Roman
and Reformed Churches called “heretics” are what the Bible and apostolic
Christianity believed were those contending for the “faith once delivered to
the saints.”
During the time of secular church history,
the period of great apostasy, we are explicitly warned not to look for the
churches of Christ among those who hold to such explicitly condemned heresies. We are to look for them among those who opposed
these heresies and yet were labeled as “heretics” by those embracing such
heresies.
D. Don’t Look among those who Perverted
and distorted the beliefs of others:
Matthew
Luke
Luke 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking;
and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans
and sinners!”
Luke 6:22 “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and
when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and
cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.”
The fabrications and slanders brought
against the historical Anabaptists by Rome and her Reformed daughters are
legion. Such intentional slanders were
brought against them in order to condemn them to death under secularly enforced
ecclesiastical laws for heresies. The
ancient Anabaptists called “Paulicians” by their enemies were accused of
embracing the heresy of Manicheaism even though they openly denied it and
openly condemned Manicheaism as heresy themselves. The ancient Anabaptists were
accused of denying marriage, denying the Lord ’s Day, denying observances of
the ordinances, denying Christ, etc. simply because they denied the Roman
Catholic version of these things. The
radical pedobaptists (baby baptizers) led by Thomas Munster in Germany were
labeled as Anabaptists and thus all Anabaptists were hunted down and killed by
the thousands even though Munsterites were pedobaptists and the Anabaptists
were not. Anabaptists condemned the
Munsterites as heretics and denied such were ever part of the true Anabaptist
movement.
It is this kind of distortion, false
accusations by the ruling State Churches that defined the Anabaptists as
“heretics” and led modern historians to view them through the eyes of their
enemies instead of by the glimmers of truth that survived within the
testimonies of inquisitors about them.
E. Don’t Look Among The So-called
Church Fathers
Few if any evangelical scholars recognize
the Nicene and Post-Nicene as true representatives of New Testament
Christianity. Rather, they see these
preserved documents to accurately reflect the doctrinal evolution of Roman
Catholicism. However, most cannot see
that the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers are but the logical historical foundations
for the Nicene and Post-Nicene. The Ante-Nicene
Fathers records the beginning of apostasy that gradually developed into the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Pagan Christianity. In the Ante-Nicene Fathers we find the explicit
errors of baptismal regeneration and the gradual development of various orders
of ecclesiastical offices that are found explicitly in the Nicene and
Post-Nicene Roman Catholic Church Fathers.
The
Ante-Nicene Roman Catholic Church Fathers are the history of apostasy at its
very root, which laid the foundation for the Nicene and Post-Nicene
development.
What is the value of the Ante-Nicene
Fathers? When compared to the
Post-Nicene Fathers it reveals clearly how far the Post-Nicene Fathers have departed
from what they used to believe and practice.
The Ante-Nicene fathers provide some insights upon the apostolic truths
that were not quite so blurred and destroyed when coming to the Post-Nicene
condition of
F. The True History of New Testament
Christianity after the Apostolic era:
If
the Roman Catholic Church is not the true representative of New Testament
Christianity then who is? We do find
them distorted but preserved in the pages of
However, at times, Roman persecutors
preserved what these Anabaptists actually believed because their faith was so
obviously contrasted to that of Rome’s and so clearly violated the
ecclesiastical laws established by Rome that it was clear evidence for their conviction and condemnation by a state
controlled church. Sometimes it was kept
as legal documentation against them. Such
glimmers of light revealed that true apostolic Christianity was still alive and
thriving in spite of the horrid and bloody persecution by
Unfortunately, the vast majority of
G. The Evangelical Dilemma:
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean? not one.” – Job 14:4. Modern evangelical Christianity has a
historical dilemma. If Evangelical
Christianity accepts the secular record of Christianity as dictated by
On
the other hand, if they reject
H. The Presbyterian Trilemma - “Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.”
– Job 14:4.
In 1855 J. R. Graves wrote an
essay addressing an issue which faced the Presbyterian General Assembly that
met in 1854. The following is taken from that essay:
by Elder J.
R. Graves
A little history connected with the
last N. S. Presbyterian General Assembly, which held its session in
A query was introduced into that
body to this effect:—Are Romish baptisms and ordinations valid? A Committee of
junior and senior patriarchs was sent out to report an answer. They failed to
agree. The majority reported negatively. But there were sundry gray-haired
doctors who saw the logical conclusions behind such a decision, and indeed any
decision they as Pedobaptists could make; and those consequences would
certainly be precipitated upon them by their Baptist friends and Catholic foes.
The reports were read in the assembly, and a warm discussion ensued.
Unfortunately, very little of that discussion has been given to the public; but
the positions taken by the two parties were substantially these:
The majority reported that all
ordinances at the hands of Romish priests were invalid, because the Romish
Catholic Church was no Church of Christ, and no part or branch of Christ's
Church; but manifest Anti- Christ—the scarlet harlot riding on the beast with
seven heads and ten horns, drunk with the blood of saints; the baptism and
ordinations of such an apostate body are null and void; and to pronounce them
valid, is to pronounce the Romish Church the Church of Christ; and more, to
involve Presbyterians and all Protestant sects in the guilt of schism, since
they rent the body of Christ when they came out of Rome!
But the party who sustained the
minority report, or were unfavorable to a decision, urged on the other hand:—If
you deny the Church of Rome to be a true Church, and decide that her baptisms
and ordinations are invalid, then do we to all intents and purposes unchurch
ourselves, unless we can baptize the ashes of Luther and Calvin, from whom we
have received our baptisms and ordinations! If the baptisms and ordinations of
Antichrist, of the Man of Sin, and Son of Perdition are invalid, then Luther
and Calvin were unbaptized as were all the members that composed the first
churches of the Reformation! then were they unordained, and consequently had no
authority to baptize their followers, or ordain other ministers to follow them;
in a word, all Protestant societies are unbaptized bodies, and consequently no
Churches of Christ, since a body of unbaptized persons, however pious, cannot
be considered a Church; all Protestant ministers are both unbaptized and
unordained, and consequently unauthorized to preach officially and administer
the ordinances.
Thus we see the trilemma into which the
query precipitated them.
1. To decide that
"Antichrist," "the Man of Sin," "the Mother of
Harlots" is a true
2. To decide that the Romish apostasy
is not the true Church of Christ is to decide that all her ordinances are
invalid, and consequently that all Protestant societies are bodies of
unbaptized persons, and therefore not churches of Christ, and all Protestant ministers
are both unbaptized and unordained, and consequently unauthorized either to
preach or administer the ordinances.
3. To say that we cannot decide a
question so manifest, will arouse the attention of the people, and awaken their
suspicion, at once, that there is a great wrong and a great failure about
Protestant churches somewhere. Finding that they could not extricate themselves
from this labyrinth of fatal consequences, they moved an indefinite
postponement of the question! Their membership which they have led into their
societies, and the world which they are now using every possible effort to
entice into their societies, should loudly and constantly demand of them to
decide whether the Romish apostasy is a true Church of Christ or not, for let Protestant
societies decide it affirmatively or negatively, according to their own
admissions, they equally cut off all their own claims to be considered
Christian Churches!
This is the continuing trilemma of ALL protestants, including the
so-called Reformed "Baptists" of our day.
The similarity of this Protestant Trilemma, with that faced by the
opponents of the Lord in regards to John’s baptism will not be lost to the
Bible student:
(Mat 21:23-27) And when he was come
into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him
as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and
who gave thee this authority? {24} And Jesus answered and said unto them, I
also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you
by what authority I do these things. {25} The baptism of John, whence was it?
from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall
say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? {26}
But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a
prophet. {27} And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said
unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” – J.R.
Graves, The Protestant Trilemma.
This is the same trilemma faced by all Protestants
today. The only alternative to this trilemma is to “come out of her my people”
(Rev. 18:4).
I. The Baptismal Dilemma
There
is another dilemma based upon common ground embraced by both pedobaptists and
Baptists alike. It is agreed that where
there is no scriptural baptism there can be no scriptural church. One Pedobaptist scholar openly admits that if
the practice of baptism by Baptists is correct then all Pedobaptist churches
are not churches of Christ but nothing more than false churches and religious
societies. If Baptists are right this
would unchurch all churches that practice sprinkling or pouring. Consider these words:
”All
parties are agreed, that baptism is the initiatory rite which gives membership
in the visible church of Christ. . .baptism recognizes and constitutes the
outward discipleship. Now if all other form of baptism than immersion are not
only irregular, but null and void, all unimmersed persons are out of the visible
church. But if each and every member of a pedobaptist visible church is thus unchurched:
of course the whole body is unchurched. All pedobaptist societies, then, are
guilty of an intrusive error, where they pretend to the character of a visible
(Robert L. Dabney [1820-1898] was considered the greatest Southern Presbyterian
theologian in
in 1870).
Such is the baptismal dilemma not only for
the Presbyterians but for all pedobaptist churches including
CONCLUSION: Therefore,
according to the New Testament prophecy, apostolic Christianity will not be
found among any type of Christianity that (1) persecutes, slanders, and kills
other professing Christians; or among (2) state church types of Christianity;
or among (3) those who embrace explicitly predicted false doctrines condemned
by the New Testament.
Hence, in reverse the New Testament
predicts that apostolic Christianity will be found among (1) those persecuted,
slandered and killed by a professed Christianity; and (2) will be found among those who oppose
state churches; and (3) among those who oppose explicit heresies predicted by
the New Testament.
Only
the Evangelical historical Anabaptists fit the predictive prophecies concerning
the future of the New Testament churches after the apostolic age. These prophecies should be the guide for every
historian looking for traces of apostolic Christianity. Every historian should remember that secular
history is (1) uninspired, (2) incomplete, and often (3) inaccurate; but the
Bible is inspired, complete, and always accurate. When secular history is used
to either undermine what the Bible clearly predicts or used to reinterpret the
Bible to fit secular history, the end is false doctrine.
Finally, modern evangelical Christianity
has several dilemmas facing it. Job
asked, “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing”? His answer was “NOT ONE” (Job 14:4), and yet
this is exactly what modern evangelical Christianity must do in order to
justify its existence apart from historical Baptists.
Review Questions
The
Origin of Particular English Baptists
“The origins of the Particular Baptists
are unclear. Some have contended that they developed from Continental
Calvinistic congregations who migrated to
Another theory is that the Particular
Baptist's developed directly from dissident radical congregations in
There were early Independent
congregations with Baptist leanings. Among these were: Mr. Hubbard ca. 1621 at
Deadman's Place (
A number of small quasi-Baptist or
primitive Baptist congregations developed in
John Spilsbury has often been cited as
the first of the Particular Baptist congregations…… This congregation may have
been a possible splinter group that defected from the depleted Lathrop
congregation between 1632-37 or may be a off shoot of the earlier Duppa congregation (1630). Its
relationship to the Jacob-Lathrop congregation is unclear.” – ExLibras.com
Although
modern historians speculate that the English Particular Baptists may have
originated with the Separatist movement in
“I say that I know by mine own experience (having
walked with them), that they were thus gathered; Viz., Some godly and learned
men of approved gifts and abilities for the Ministry, being driven out of the
Countries where they lived by the persecution of the Prelates
[Episcopalians-R.E.P] came to sojourn in this great City, and
preached from house to house, and daily
in the Temple, and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach
Jesus Christ; and some of them having dwelt in their own hired houses, and
received all that came unto them, preached the Kingdom of God, and teaching
those things which concerns the Lord Jesus Christ. And when many sinners were converted by the
preaching of the Gospel, some of them believers consorted with them, and of
professors a great many, and of the chief women not a few. And the condition which these Preachers,
both publicly and privately, propounded to the people, unto whom they preached
upon which they were to be admitted into the church was by Faith, Repentance
and Baptism. And whosoever. . . .did
make a profession of their Faith in Jesus Christ, and would be baptized with
water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were admitted Members
of the church; but such as did not believe, and would not be baptized, they
would not admit into Church communion.” -
Hensard Knollys - A Moderate Answer Unto
Dr. Bastwick's Book Called Independency not God's Ordinance;
Hensard Knollys could not have said this
if John Spilsbury and the church at
“It is well
known to many and especially to ourselves, that our congregations as they are
now, were erected and framed according to the rule of Christ BEFORE WE HEARD OF
ANY REFORMATION EVEN AT THE TIME WHEN
EPISCOPACY WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS VANISHING GLORY.” Wm. Kiffin:
A Brief Remonstrance of the Reasons of
those People Called Anabaptists for their Separation;
Albert H. Newman supposed that Kiffin had
intended the Presbyterian reformation begun in 1640. However, Dr. John T.
Christian researched this quotation and found out that it had been written to a
Mr. Joseph Richart who understood Kiffin to refer to the Episcopal Reformation
in the time of Henry VIII:
“Mr.
Joseph Richart, who says he wrote the queries to which Kiffin replied, affirmed
that he understood the Episcopal and not the Presbyterian Reformation. ‘You allege,’
he says, ‘your practice, that your congregations were erected and framed in the
time of the Episcopacy, and before you heard of any Reformation’ (Richart, A
Looking Glass for Anabaptists, p,7.
Here
were Baptists churches, according to Kiffin, before the times of Henry VIII.
And this fact was well known to the
Baptists. Further on Kiffin makes the
claim that the Baptists outdated the Presbyterians.” - John T. Christian, A History of the Baptists, Vol. II, p. 255.
Moreover, all of these Baptists commonly
used the same texts that later Landmark Baptists would use to prove the
continued succession of Baptist Churches from the Apostles. As early as 1649 Edward Drapes said:
“I shall now
in the last place show you, how long the Ordinance of baptism was, and is to
continue; wherein I shall also show, the continuance of Churches, and other
Ordinances of Christ, which is, Till Christ come again the second time, without
sin to salvation. Till he comes to raise
up our vile natural bodies, and make them like his own glorious body, which I
shall first evidence to you from the Scriptures, and then answer those
objections that seem to have weight in them against it…..
Again,
consider what says the Scriptures, Matt. 16:18.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now
the Church of Christ were a company of Disciples baptized, professing the
doctrine of the Gospel, as I shall show more clearly afterwards. Now against this Church the gates of hell should not prevail, because it was
built upon a Rock…….
And though
we cannot see a Church successively from the Apostles, yet I shall prove there
has been a Church in all ages, Eph. 3:21.
Unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages,
world without end, Amen. Behold here a
Church, in all ages. The Churches, and
so the Ordinances of the Churches were not to abide only in the Apostles days,
but to the end of the world, in all ages” – Edward Drapes, Gospel Glory,
pp. 33, 35, 1649. – (emphasis mine)
Albert Garner as early as 1645 defended
the doctrine of church succession and claimed that any teaching that denied it
was Satanic:
“The Scriptures do Not Teach the
Cessation of the Church or Her Ordinances
Sixthly, the Holy
Spirit makes no mention in this Scripture of the not appearing of the Church, nor the loss of
her Ordinances; neither will it agree to the condition of the Church
of Israel in the wilderness, from whence (as I said) I conceive the allusion to
be chiefly taken.
Because the Church and Her Ordinances
Have Not Been Lost - We Can Know and Do the Things of Christ
Wherefore I see no reason why such a
conclusion should be received: to
wit, that the Church is lost, and her ordinances are lost, and therefore that
we can neither know, nor do any thing until the consummation of that time of
the churches being in the wilderness.
Cessation of the Church and Ordinances
is a Policy of Satan
Surely such an opinion does arise,
and is maintained from the policy
of Satan, and not from the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Other
things might have been spoken by way of answer to that objection, but what I
have said (I conceive) may suffice.” – Albert Garner, A Treatise on
Baptism, 1645. – (emphasis mine)
Throughout
the 1650’s there were printed defenses of Baptist Church Succession:
John
Spittlehouse, A Vindication of the
Continual Succession of the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ, now scandesly
called Anabaptists, London; 1652
Daniel
King,
Samuel
Fisher, "Christianismus Redivium,
"
John Spilsbury and other Particular
Baptist’s accused their opponents (Quakers, Separatists, Presbyterians, Church
of England, etc.) of originating their
ordinances and ordination from the Great Whore and thus were polluted and
invalid. John Spilsbury said:
“All which grounds being well considered, I cannot
see by any rule of truth to approve of the baptism administered in a false
Antichristian church to be God's ordinance, instituted by Christ in his New
Testament. That being there administered under a false power, by a false
Ministry upon a wrong subject, in a false body, and yet the same God's
ordinance, this is more than I can find by the Word of God from which rule I
dare not go…” John Spilsbury, A Treatise
Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism,
“Again, Secondly, God is said in the Scriptures to
give or to send the vessels of His House to Babylon, as 2 Chron. 36:17, 18, 21;
Jer. 27:21, 22; Dan. 1:2. Now let the like be showed, wherever God is said
to give or send His ordinance of baptism unto Antichrist, until then the
vessels of God's house remaining His ordinance in Babylon, shall make nothing
for them to prove Antichrist's sprinkling of water on the face of an infant,
to be God's ordinance of Baptism, and for her being the MOTHER OF
HARLOTS IS TRUE, Rev. 17.5 WHO HAS ALL
FOR HER DAUGHTERS THAT DERIVE HER BAPTISM FROM HER, AS DO ALL THAT UPHOLD HER
DOCTRINE OF INFANT-BAPTISM…”
John
Spilsbury, A Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism,
“I speak in subjection, I think THE LAST CHURCH OR
CHURCHES, THAT IS, ALL THE REFORMED CHURCHES, STILL RETAINING INFANT'S BAPTISM,
ARE AS MUCH AGAINST THE RULES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AS THE FORMER…” – John Spilsbury, A
Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism, London, 1652, pg. 62. – (emphasis mine)
Their
opponents seized upon this statement believing the Baptists had furnished
evidence for their own demise. They
challenged the Baptists to prove historically that they could bridge the gap
between themselves and the Apostles without going through the church at
In regard
to the charge of being “new” they denied it and responded as described above in
much the same way as do modern Landmarkers today. John Spilsbury and others approached this
dilemma from a unique point of view.
They conceded that they did not have historical evidence to connect them
to the Apostles but denied they needed anything other than the Bible to support
their claims. Using the Bible, they
denied that the New Testament church went out of existence during the dark
ages. They denied it apostatized, and
interpreted Revelation 12 and the woman hid in the wilderness for 1260 days
(which they interpreted as years) to furnish them support in lieu of historical
evidences.
However, at this period in history,
Baptists had no written history to support their Biblical claim to
perpetuity. Since they had no historical
data to support their position, by way of concession, they approached the
problem as though their opponents (especially the Seekers) were correct in
affirming the true churches had been lost in the dark ages. Although they denied this was true, they
conceded it and then went to demonstrate how the church and ordinances could be
restored based upon the Biblical example of John the Baptist. Prior to John the Baptist there was no church
and no ordinances. God used an
unbaptized man to originate them in the world.
Spilsbury and others responded to their opponents that this is exactly
how God COULD restore the church and ordinances IF they ever died out, without
going through the old Harlot. Spilsbury developed this unique response in great
detail but perhaps the best presentation of this argument by concession was
given by Daniel King in his published work entitled “A Way to Sion.” In this
treatise, King made it clear that this was an argument by way of concession
only and that in reality they never believed the churches ever completely died
out.
“SOME CARP AND CAVIL AT THIS WORD LOST, BUT I
WOULD HAVE IT NOTED, I MEAN, AS TO THE PURITY OF PRACTICE IN RESPECT OF THE
SUBJECT, NOT IN RESPECT OF THE RULE; AND I SPEAK IN THE NOTIONIST'S SENSE, GRANTING IT BY WAY OF CONCESSION ONLY.” – Daniel King, a pamphlet: “A Way to Sion” Sought Out and Found for Believers to Walk in, Printed in
King made it clear that he used the term
“lost” only by way of concession. None
of the Baptists believed true churches had ever been “lost” during the dark
ages and quoted scriptural promises concerning the perpetuity of the
church. However, by way of concession,
he demonstrated how the true ordinances and the church could be regained IF
they had become lost in regard to practice.
Just as God used an unbaptized man to originate baptism and then furnish
baptized believers to form a church, so likewise, God could do it again without
going through the Old Harlot IF the
churches ever went out of existence.
Their point was that the Scriptures were completely sufficient. They were sufficient as divine authority to
repudiate the idea that the Lord’s churches went out of existence. They were sufficient to explain how God could
restart the ordinances and churches apart from going through the Great Harlot IF true churches ever did go out of
existence. Notice that these two
propositions were contradictory to each other.
They believed the former (church perpetuity), but being without
historical confirmation to support the continued perpetuity of Baptists from
the Apostles, they resorted to the latter in polemical debate by way of
concession only. Either way, they
contended that the Scriptures were sufficient and there was no excuse to trace
the Lord’s churches through the Great Harlot of Rome.
However, there were some among them that
wanted to put to silence the historical charge of their enemies by going to the
continent and get authority from those who were well recognized by all to have
historical succession back to the Apostles. On the other hand, John Spilsbury and others
rejected this believing they needed no other proof than the Bible.
A. John
Spilsbury’s view on Church Succession
There is no question that Spilsbury
believed in the historical continuance of New Testament Churches as he
explicitly used Revelation 12 and the woman hid in the wilderness for 1260 days
(he interpreted to be years) in regard to the church during the time of the
dark ages. In principle, he could not
envision the existence of baptism without the previous existence of a New
Testament Church nor could he envision the constitution of a New Testament
church without the previous existence of baptism:
“Secondly,
the ordinance of baptism instituted by Christ is so essential to the constitution of the Church under the New Testament
that none can be true in her constitution without it… For the ground
and pillar that bears up the truth, and that truth so born up, stands and falls
together, as I Tim. 3:15. So that where there is not a true constituted
Church, there is no true constituted Church-ordinance: and where there is a
true Church ordinance in its constitution, there is at least presupposed a true
Church also.” –John
Spilsbury, A Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism,
He also made it clear that Particular
Baptists did not believe that one could start up baptism among themselves by
self-baptism when he said:
“
When John Spilsbury spoke of the Great Commission as
given by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20 he regarded it as the “rule and order which Christ left…for the constituting of His church.” In other words, Matthew 28:19-20 was designed
and given by Christ for the purpose of
constituting churches according to a given “rule and order.” He said:
“Christ
Left His Rule and Order For The Constitution of His Church, Faith and Baptism. And lastly, I dare not go from that RULE
AND ORDER WHICH CHRIST LEFT IN HIS LAST TESTAMENT, FOR THE CONSTITUTING OF HIS
CHURCH, AND TAKING MEMBERS INTO THE SAME, WHICH IS BY FAITH AND BAPTISM.”
– John Spilsbury, A Treatise
Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism,
Moreover, it is just as clear, that
Spilsbury did not need historical evidence to sustain his belief in the
perpetuity of New Testament Churches. He
believed the Bible alone was sufficient evidence for that and IF EVER true
churches did go out of existence God could raise them up again apart from any
harlot Christianity as he did by John the Baptist.
B. The First Baptist History was written in 1674
In 1674 Henry D’Anvers wrote a
book entitled “Treatise of Baptism” wherein he provided historical evidence to
trace Baptists back through the dark ages to the apostolic age. In that book he
said:
“By all
which you see by plentiful Evidence, that Christ hath not been without His
Witnesses in every age, not only to defend and assert the true, but to impugn,
and to reject (yes, even to death itself) the false Baptism. In so much that we are not left without good
testimony of a SERIES OF SUCCESSION,
THAT BY GOD'S PROVIDENCE HATH EVEN KEPT AFOOT, OF THIS GREAT ORDINANCE OF
BELIEVER'S BAPTISM EVER SINCE THE FIRST TIMES.” Treatise of Baptism, 1674; pp. 321-322. – (emphasis mine)
And,
when speaking of other historians such as John Fox and Twisk, D’Anvers makes it
plain that it is Baptists that had existed in all ages when he says:
“who have especially recorded the Doctrines
and Suffering of the Baptists in all ages since our Savior's time, brought down
to the year 1660;....” Ibid., last page of appendix.
As soon as this book was
published, the Baptists dropped the argument of concession (John the Baptist
argument) altogether, and from that point on defended their Biblical position
with Bible and history supplied by their first historian. This should demonstrate clearly that the John
the Baptist argument was simply a polemical means to answer their enemies
rather than reflective of either their practice or belief.
The
book by Henry D’Anvers enraged the enemies of Baptists insomuch as they had
D’Anvers falsely charged and then exiled where he died in exile.
C. The Whitsitt Controversy
With
this kind of evidence, why then do most modern historians claim they originated
around 1640 and from pedobaptists (Separatists)? No one made such a claim until nearly two
centuries later in the 1880’s. This
theory began with a man named William H. Whitsitt, who was the president of The
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
In addition
to these things, the defenders of Whitsitt pointed out that the English
Baptists seemed to be split over “succession” as some denied that it was
necessary to be organically connected to previous churches or even have a
succession.
Whitsitt
speculated that Particular, as well as, General English Baptists were former
pedobaptists among the Separatists. He
speculated that through personal Bible Study these former pedobaptists came to
the conclusion of believer’s immersion around 1640. He first published his views in a Methodist
paper and then later published them in a book entitled “A Question in Baptist
History.”
However,
the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists and Baptist scholarship opposed
his view insomuch that he had to resign from office at the Seminary. A written debate pursued primarily between
George A. Lofton and Dr. John T. Christian.
Lofton and a few others defended the position of Whitsitt while Dr. John
T. Christian, Dr. B.H. Carroll, Dr. T.T. Eaton, Dr. W.A. Jarrell and scores of
others, including the then current professor of Church History at Southern
seminary opposed the views of Whitsitt.
By the
time that Dr. John T. Christian wrote his comprehensive two volume work on “A History of the Baptists”, the Southern Baptists as a whole, including their leading scholars, no longer regarded Whitsitt’s theory as
valid. However, the professor’s at Southern
Seminary kept his views alive until all seven Southern Baptist Seminaries today
embrace the views of Whitsitt either in part or in whole.
D. The Problems with the Whitsitt Theory
Dr. John T. Christian
methodically exposed the weaknesses of the Whitsitt theory. First, Whitsitt overlooked the political
factors that surround the date of 1640.
In that year toleration was granted and dissenters from the state church
were for the first time permitted to publish their views. Formerly, it was not only illegal to print
anything contrary to the state church but it was illegal to even assemble apart
from the state church. From 1640 up to
1660, the Baptists took full advantage of this liberty and expressed their
views in print. Of course, such views
had been formerly hidden from the public eye and they were “new” to the public
media and thus to much of the populace of
“John
Spilsbury, William Kiffin, and Hensard Knollys presented to the
seventeenth-century English Christianity a mature ecclesiology….Not only did
they argue clearly for the distinctive Baptist views of church membership,
ordinances, officers, and liberty of conscience, their view of the church stood
firmly on a platform of resolutely articulated theological ideas.” – Tom
Nettles, “The Baptists” Vol. I, p.
111, “Mature from the Start”.
As for the document Whitsitt
found in
Significantly, this supposed
letter by Kiffin is in direct contradiction to what we know Kiffin stated about
the origin of the London Baptist Churches:
“It is well
known to many and especially to ourselves, that our congregations as they are
now, were erected and framed according to the rule of Christ BEFORE WE HEARD OF
ANY REFORMATION EVEN AT THE TIME WHEN
EPISCOPACY WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS VANISHING GLORY.” Wm. Kiffin:
A Brief Remonstrance of the Reasons of
those People Called Anabaptists for their Separation;
In regard to the difference
over succession among early Particular Baptists, this debate occurred during
that period when they possessed no secular historical data to demonstrate what
they all believed the Scriptures taught.
As soon as Henry D’Anvers supplied them with historical data in 1674
this difference was immediately dropped along with the argument of concession
using John the Baptist. Neither side
denied Baptist church succession. One
side wanted to go to the continent and get authority from those recognized with
such historical documentation in order to shut the mouths of their
opponents. The other side refused to do
so because they believed that the Scriptures alone were sufficient then and at
all times to support
Spilsbury argued that even if
his opponents were right and true churches with their ordinances had been lost
during the dark ages, that God could restart both the ordinances and church and
gave the example of John the Baptist as an unbaptized administrator of baptism
to prove it. Significantly, they never
claimed that this is how they started, nor did they claim that true churches
and the ordinances had ever been lost.
They simply argued that if such did happen this is how they could be
restarted at any time without going through polluted churches. This argument was effective because their
opponents could not deny it without denying their own basis for leaving the
Catholic Church. In practice, the
Protestants not only believed this but put it into practice to originate their
separate existence from
Finally, it should be noted
that those who took the side of Whitsitt had certain things in common. They all without exception embraced the
What is known to few today is
the fact that William H. Whitsitt believed in Baptist Church Perpetuity on the
basis of “direct” or “vertical” authority.
Unlike Spilsbury, Whitsitt actually believed Baptists disappeared in
England altogether and regenerate Separatist baby baptizers came to see the
truth of immersion of believers only, and thus by “direct” authority from the
scriptures, originated baptism and the church among themselves. Whitsitt’s view is consistent with the idea
of “direct authority”. It is
inconsistent to believe the scriptures cannot authorize self-baptism but can
authorize self-constitution. If one, why
not the other?
However, Particular English
Baptists rejected the idea of “direct” authority in the Great Commission as
they believed the Great Commission was given solely to the Church and it was
administered by church authority.
William Cathcart says of these Baptists:
“The English Baptists will not grant that John Smyth
or Thomas Helwysse was their founder. The Welsh Baptists strenuously contend
that they received their creed in the first century, from those who obtained
it, direct, from the apostles themselves." (pp. 34-35
- The Testimony of the Baptists, by
Curtis A. Pugh quoting William Cathcart, the
Baptist Encyclopedia, 1881, pp. 620-621.)
Every
English Baptist Historian (Evans, Crosby) claims that Baptists can be traced
back to the apostolic era. The Welsh
Baptist historians (Davis, Thomas) claim this. In addition there are church records of
distinct churches that claim that their existence can be traced as far back as
to the 14th century (
While
the leaders of the Particular Baptists were engaged in public debates and
polemical writings sometimes involving theoretical responses to their
adversaries, the exact belief and practice of Baptists were being spelled out
in the Associational Meetings and Minutes. In these associational meetings they answered
all questions in regard to their actual beliefs and practices. They especially made it clear what they
believed in regard to proper church constitution and church authority, and it
was not apart from the existence and authority of a previous New Testament
church.
Review Questions
1.
When did English Particular Baptist leaders believe
they originated? (before the reformation)
2.
What was William H. Whitsitt’s major flaw in forming
his 1641 theory of the origin of Baptists? (he did not understand the change of
public printing law that occurred in 1640)
3.
Did any of the Particular Baptists deny Baptist
Succession or only deny the necessity to prove it? (denied the necessity to
demonstrate it from secular uninspired, incomplete and often inaccurate church
history)
4.
Why did the Particular Baptists use the John the
Baptist argument for baptism? (as a concessionary argument only)
5.
When did they drop this argument altogether? (after
secular historical evidence was produced to substantiate their beliefs and
interpretation of the Scriptures concerning the perpetuity of the Lord’s
churches)
6.
Who was the first Baptist Historian who attempted to
document Baptist Succession to the apostles? (Henry D’Anvers)
Appendix IV – The
Constitution of
Examples where pure “direct authority” is involved in the constitution
of a church are extremely rare in American Baptist History. So rare that Elder Milburn Cockrell in his
book entitled “Church Constitution”
challenged his opponents to find cases where no ordained minister, or letters
of dismission, or mother church was connected to a constitution. Bro. Cockrell was not denying it could be
done, but it would be difficult to find.
After the decease of Elder Cockrell, Bro. J. C. Settlemoir wrote a book
entitled, “Landmarkism Under Fire”
and in that book attempted to meet this challenge by Bro. Cockrell. However,
Settlemoir could only produce two examples, after scouring the pages of Baptist
history, proving how rare indeed it was among Baptists. But one of the examples furnished by Bro.
Settlemoir does not support “direct” authority or self-organization at all,
apart from any existing church or church authority. The example has to do with the constitution of
Salem Baptist church in Mississippi as recorded by Elder John Bond. Bro. Settlemoir says:
“Let the reader bear in mind that Elder John Bond the author of this
history referred to by Christian was a noted Baptist and a co-laborer with J. R.
Graves and other leading men of that day.. And this opinion of Bond was not an
isolated opinion” – J.C. Settlemoir, Landmarkism
Under Fire, p. 60.
Bro. Settlemoir goes on to quote Dr. J. T. Christian in “A History of the Baptists” where Dr.
Christian quotes Elder John Bond in regard to this constitution where Bond
says:
“This community was called the
However, Bro. Settlemoir simply picks and chooses what source material
he wants in order to prove his point. There are two sources that record this church
constitution and both of them admit to a “parent church” authorizing and
directing the actions that resulted in the constitution of this church:
“The matter was postponed until by letter
they could consult the parent church
in Carolina.” (John. T. Christian, A History of the Baptists, Vol. 2, p.
334).
“They prudently postponed the matter until
they could correspond with the parent
church in
Bro. Settlemoir has grossly misrepresented
this case. The whole truth of the
constitution of this church is obtained only when both histories are considered
together. Curtis and some other baptized
persons were already members of this “parent
church” before constituting Salem
Baptist church. Settlemoir must have
read and knew this since he quoted both sources! The history cited by Christian clearly
demonstrates that this constitution did not occur apart from seeking the
authority and direction of the parent church and only after obtaining it. In the mean time while they waited upon the
“parent church” for authority to act, the unbaptized converts were recognized
as candidates for membership “in the church” – referring to the parent church as no other church was
yet constituted. Here is another thing,
anti-landmarkers oppose: they do not
believe that unbaptized and unconstituted believers can be “candidates for
membership in the” parent church!
However, Settlemoir argues that this example ought to be recognized as
the general rule among Landmark Baptists in that day. I agree with him!
“’That
there was no law against necessity, and under the present stress of
circumstances the members ought
to assemble and formally appoint one of their number, by election, to baptize
the converts.’ This advice was acted upon and Richard Curtis baptized the
converts. Thus the first church in
They were not constituted apart from
church authority but the very reverse. They
did not act before contacting their “parent church” and they did not constitute
themselves into a church without being authorized by the parent church in
writing. However, was this kind of
constitution the norm among Baptists? The
absolute uniqueness of this constitution is clearly inferred in the wording of
the church letter which views it as a “necessity…under
the present stress of circumstances.” What this church is loudly saying is that this
is an unusual case, implying that normally churches were constituted or
gathered more directly by the church during that time. This example proves that church constitution
in the days of J.R. Graves was normally according to “regular church order”
just as Pendleton, Hiscox and Dargin all admit.
Appendix V - Does Matthew
Mt.
16 But if he
will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of
two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear
the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I
say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if
two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it
shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
The proponents of “New Whitsittism”
(direct authority advocates) argue that Matthew
It is not sufficient to simply state that
some Baptists believed Matthew
On the other hand, the “direct authority”
interpretation of this verse is exactly how proponents of the
Bakewell, Thomas, An Answer of Divine Errors broached and
maintained by the
Seven
Churches of Anabaptists Contained in their Articles of Confession
of Faith Presented to the Parliament, and
other gross Opinions held by
them Against the Clear Light of the Gospel, Imprinter John Downham,
Benedict, David, A General History of the Baptist
Denomination in
parts of the World, Printed by Lincoln & Edmands, No. 53, Cornhill,
Cathcart, William, The Baptist Encyclopedia, Louis H.
Everts,
Christian, John T., A History of the Baptists, Bogard Press,
Cockrell, Milburn, Scriptural Church Organization, Instant
Publishing.com,
2003, 2nd Ed.
Dabney, R. L., Lectures
in Systematic Theology; Zondervan Publishing House; Grand
Rapids, 1972.
D’Anvers, Henry, A Treatise of Baptism, Printed for Fran. Smith, at the Elephant and Castle
Near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill,
Devin,
Printers and Binders, Raleigh, 1880.
Drapes, Edward, Gospel Glory,
Gillette, A.D., Minutes of the
Baptist Book Trust,
Graves, J. R. The Act of Christian Baptism, Baptist
Sunday School Committee,
1928.
Hall, J. N., A Peerless Defender of the Baptist Faith, Baptist
Flag Print,
Hawkins, William C., Ramsay,
Williard, The House of God,
Hendriksen, William, New Testament Commentary, Matthew, Baker Book House, Grand
Rapids, Mich: 1973.
Hiscox, E. T., A New
Directory for Baptists Churches, Grand Rapids, MI, Kregel Pub., 1978.
T. G. Jones, The Baptists, their Origin, Continuity,
Principles, Spirit, Policy, Position, and
Influence, a Vindication. American Baptist Publication Society,
Fisher, Samuel,
“Chritianismus Redivium, London, 1655.
Kiffin, William, A Brief Remonstrance of the Reasons of
those People Called
Anabaptists for their Separation,
King, Daniel, A Way to Sion Sought Out and Found for
Believers to Walk in,
Knollys, Hanserd, The Shining of a Flaming Fire in
A
Moderate Answer Unto Dr. Bastwick's Book Called Independency not God's
Ordinance;
Lofton, George A., Newman,
Albert, H., Vedder, Henry, C., A Review
of the Question
Louisville:
Charles T. Dearing, 1899.
Mercer, John, A History of the
Inc. Version 1.0, 2005.
Moody, J. B., My Church, The Attic press,
Nevins, William, M. Alien Baptism and the Baptists, The
Challenge Press,
1877.
Nettles, Tom, The Baptists, Vol. I & II,
Patient, Thomas, The Doctrine of Baptism and the Distinction of the Covenants, Printed by
Henry Hills, and are to be sold at his house at Sir John Oldcastles in Py-corner,
Pendleton, J. M., An Old Landmark Reset in Ben Bogard, ed., Pillars of Orthodoxy,
or
Defenders of the Faith, Fulton, Kentucky:
Pendleton, J. M., Landmarkism,
Truth Publications,
Ray, D.B. Baptist Succession, Foley Railway
Printing Co., Parsons, KS, 1912.
Semple, Baylor, Robert, History of
Lafayette, TN, 1976.
Settlemoir, J. C., Landmarkism Under Fire, printed by J.C. Settlemoir, Lizton, IN. 2005.
Spilsbury, John, A Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of
Baptism, London, Printed and
are to be sold by
Spittlehouse, John, A Vindication of the Continual Succession
of the
Jesus Christ, now scandesly called
Anabaptists,
Printed by Gartrude Dawson
Tull, James E. A Study
of Southern Baptist Landmarkism in the Light of
Historical Baptist Ecclesiology.
White, B. R., Association Records of the Particular
Baptists of England, Wales
and
Note: Some
of the above historical references are quoted from “The Baptist History
Collection” Version 1.0 © 2005 The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc.. Page numbers
as given on this CD are referenced.
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