DISCOVERY.
After the party broke up after their last discussion Mr. Page
complimented the Baptists on their democratic principles of church
government. "But, daughter," he said, "it will be impossible for you to
mingle with that class of people. I am glad for you to know about the
different denominations, but joining one of them is a horse of a very
different color, and I am sure you could never be happy tied up with
these Baptist people. They may be good folks, but they are evidently a
poor and obscure folk. I guess they have sprung up mostly in country
districts. I remember in the valley of Virginia where I was reared there
was a little Baptist church in the country five or six miles from us.
The Presbyterian church, I think, was the strongest and the Baptists cut
very little figure in that section, though I confess I did not pay much
attention to any of them."
A large part of the day was spent by Dorothy at the public library
ransacking the encyclopedias searching for something about the Baptists.
To her surprise she found a great deal. She was amazed as she read of
the part that the Baptists had played in history. Knowing that the
people at her home would be interested, she made copious notes during
her reading.
She hurried through her lunch that day and informed her mother that she
was getting some very important information about the Baptists, and that
by dinner time she hoped to have it in shape to lay it before the
family.
The mother thought that of course she was unearthing unfavorable
information about the Baptists that would show Dorothy that she could
never identify herself with them.
That evening Mr. Page, when he reached home, was greeted with the words
from Dorothy: "Oh, father, I have made a discovery!"
"Is it a gold mine under the front porch?"
"It is a discovery about these Baptist people. But wait until Mr. Walton
and Mr. Sterling come and I will tell you."
Soon after dinner the two visitors were gathered in the parlor and
ready.
"Dorothy announces a big discovery," said Mr. Page. "Let us have it,
daughter."
"I don't know that any others will be interested in it, but it greatly
surprised and interested me. I have learned that these Baptists have had
a remarkable history."
"Remarkable for what, daughter? For obscurity?"
"No. They have played an illustrious part in this world's history."
The father's face darkened. The thought of his daughter falling in love
with the Baptists struck him in an unpleasant point of his anatomy. The
little Baptist chapel with its plain-looking people and pastor put the
denomination in a sorry light before the public.
"Father, I have been in the library hunting for facts about the
Baptists. I have read their doctrines and they surely seem to believe
exactly what the Bible teaches, and their history is a noble and
inspiring one."
"What did you find out about these Baptists? Where did they come from?"
"That is the interesting part. Do you know they are next to the largest
denomination in the world except the Catholics?"
"What is that, daughter? You evidently got into some fairy tales in the
library. Why, the Methodists are as large as all the other denominations
put together, and as for the Baptists, they are but a drop in the
bucket. Look at them in this town, and I guess the bunch here is a
pretty good sample of them everywhere."
"Oh, father, either those books in the library are wrong or else you and
lots of other folks are terribly mistaken. The Baptists and the
Methodists are the two largest denominations in the world, except the
Catholics."
The father wore an incredulous and bewildered look.
"There may possibly be a lot of Baptists scattered over the earth,"
admitted Sterling, "but you must have quality as well as quantity, and
quality is what the Baptists have not."
"You are prodigiously mistaken," replied Dorothy in a vehement manner.
"I could hardly believe it myself as I read it; but it is a fact that
the Baptists hold a high place in history. One writer says that the
Baptists are in the front ranks in the matter of education. Two writers
say that the great Foreign Mission movement of the present and the past
century was started by the Baptists of England. Another book says they
have led in founding and perfecting Sunday schools."
"England?" said the father. "I didn't know that any Baptists had ever
found their way across the seas to England."
"Why, father, England owes much of her present greatness to the
Baptists. In the Puritan movement that saved England from Catholicism
and kept her Protestant the Baptists are said to have played a large
part."
"When did they come into existence?"
"They claim that they have always been in existence since the days of
the apostles."
"Well, well, that is a clincher sure."
"Father, it does look as if the truths which the Baptists hold are the
truths which Christ taught and which the first Christians practiced; and
if so, then the first churches were in that sense Baptist churches."
"All of the other churches knocked out at the first blow," said the
father with a laugh, "and Christianity starting off with only Baptist
churches."
"This history which I read also said that all through the centuries
since Christ there seem to have been bands of Christian people
believing substantially what the Baptists of today believe. This was not
proved with absolute certainty, but all the evidence points that way.
The great Roman church came into power and ruled the religious world,
but there were always bands of Christians protesting against Catholicism
and standing up for those truths and practices which they believed the
Bible taught. Baptist historians say that these persecuted churches held
very largely what the Baptists of today believe."
"Exactly," said Sterling. "You say that the Baptist historians claim
that these Christian sects who in every century protested against
Catholicism and stood up for Christianity were Baptists. Of course
Baptist historians claim that these Christians were Baptists. Suppose,
however, you had read Presbyterian histories; who knows but that you
would have read that there were in every century Presbyterian churches?"
"But how could this be? I read in two or three places that the
Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians and many of the other
denominations were the fruit of the Reformation, and came after the
sixteenth century."
"Daughter, you seem to have these histories at your finger ends."
"I do not know very much about them, but I have read everything in the
library that would throw light upon the matters that we have been
discussing, and I have made full notes from my reading."
"Your statements sound strange, Miss Dorothy," said Mr. Sterling, "for
the Baptists evidently were one of those numerous sects that sprang out
of and were a part of the Protestant Reformation."
"Two or three of the books that I examined said that the Baptists
existed before the Reformation and helped to bring about the
Reformation, and that they did much to shape the Reformation both in
Holland and in England and in other places."
"Miss Dorothy," said Mr. Sterling, "the idea seems preposterous to me
that the Baptists existed before the Reformation."
"Here is a statement that I read in 'Mosheim's History of Antiquity', in
which he says 'the origin of the Baptists is lost in the depths of
antiquity'."
"Does Mosheim say that?" asked Mr. Sterling. "Why, he was a noted
writer."
"I found that three or four hundred years ago the Baptists were called
Anabaptists, and that they gradually dropped the first part of their
name."
"What does the word Anabaptist mean?"
"It means a rebaptizer. It seems that they insisted when a person who
had been baptized in infancy was converted in later life that he should
be baptized on profession of faith. They claimed that his infant baptism
was not Bible baptism, and so the people called them rebaptizers or
Anabaptists. And here is one statement that I read: 'It is said that two
of the presidents of Harvard College were Anabaptists'."
"What is that!" exclaimed the father, almost bouncing out of his chair.
"Two of Harvard's presidents Baptists? Where did you find that
statement?"
"On page 338 of Gregory's 'Puritanism in the Old World and the New'."
"And you say the Baptists and the Anabaptists are the same?"
"Yes, indeed. I find that the names are used interchangeably in the
histories, and gradually the shorter name took the place of the longer."
"Two presidents of Harvard? Well! Well! If that Gregory knows what he is
talking about, then that is a stunner. I would never have thought it.
But go ahead and give us some more."
"Here is something about the Baptist soldiers in Oliver Cromwell's army:
'The men who made up the new army of Ironsides, which won the victories
of Naseby and Dunbar, the men who smiled only as they went into battle
and never counted the odds against them, were not Presbyterians, * * * *
they were Independents, the Baptists forming the largest element, men
who believed in self-government in the church as well as in the state'."
"Where do you find that?" asked Sterling with an interested expression.
"It is on pages 394 and 395 of Campbell's 'The Puritan in His Three
Homes, Holland, England and America'. And listen to this from the same
author: 'Thus it came about that the persecuted Anabaptists of Holland,
taking their doctrines from the early Christians, gave birth to the
powerful denomination of Baptists, which has played so important a part
in the history of England and America'."
"Miss Dorothy, you amaze me," said Sterling.
"I learn from my reading that the religious liberty which the Christian
world is enjoying today is largely due to the Baptists."
"Julius Caesar!" exclaimed the father. "What do you think of that,
Sterling?"
"Do you mean to say, Miss Dorothy," asked Sterling, "that you found in
your reading that the great blessings of religious liberty that are
enjoyed in this country, and to a certain extent in Europe, are due to
the Baptist denomination?"
"I find that fact positively stated in many places. Here is something
from the same book of Campbell, 'The Puritan in His Three Homes,
Holland, England and America', which I mentioned just now. It is on
pages 202 and 203: 'But no words of praise can be too strong for the
services which the English Baptists rendered to the cause of religious
liberty. They went down with Cromwell and suffered a relentless
persecution after the restoration of the Stuarts, but they have never
lost their influence as a leaven in the land. In purity of life and
substantial Christian work they have been surpassed by the members of no
other religious body. Having been the first British denomination of
Christians to proclaim the principle of religious liberty, they were
also the first to send out missionaries to the heathen.'"
"Just listen to that!" exclaimed Mr. Page.
Dorothy continued: "'In fact, if the Anabaptists had done nothing more
for the world than to beget such offspring they would have repaid a
thousand-fold the care shown for their liberties by the Prince of
Orange in his contest with some of the narrow-minded Calvinists among
his associates.'"
"Hold on there, you take my breath away," said the father.
"Please note what that says," remarked Mr. Walton. "Those words call
attention to the purity and high Christian character of the Baptists,
and to the fact that they were the first in these centuries to send out
missionaries to the heathen. It is a fact that the great Foreign Mission
movement now encircling the world was first started by the Baptists a
little over a hundred years ago under the lead of William Carey, a
Baptist. Notice it gives to the Baptists the honor of being the author
of religious liberty for the world."
"But who is that Campbell?" asked Sterling.
"His book is one of the great books of the day."
"Of course," said Sterling with a smile.
Dorothy read on. "Here is another statement from Gregory. He is writing
concerning the Anabaptists: 'The history of that remarkable people is
yet to be written, and when it shall have been written an heroic chapter
shall have been added to the history of the world. The Dutch Anabaptists
were Puritans before Puritanism had sprung into recognized existence and
held all that Puritanism afterwards contended for.'"
"Think of that," said Mr. Walton. "We all know one of the greatest
religious movements of the past was Puritanism. It saved England from
the blight of Catholicism and made and kept her Protestant. But there
were two wings of the Puritan movement; one wing stayed in the English
church and sought to work reforms within the church, and the other wing
fought the battle on the outside of that church, and of this party the
Baptists were the foremost fighters. They sounded clear and strong the
demand for absolute religious liberty."
"Here is something from Masson's Life of Milton," said Dorothy.
"Let us have it," said Sterling. "That is a standard book."
"On page 90, Vol. III., find this: 'Not to the Church of England,
however, nor to Scotch Presbyterianism, nor to English Puritanism at
large does the honor of the first perception of the full liberty of
conscience and its first assertion in English speech belong. That honor
has to be assigned, I believe, to the Independents in general and to the
Baptists in particular.'"
"Well, well," said Mr. Page. "Sterling, this daughter of mine has indeed
made a discovery. I think it is an eye-opener for both of us. But go
ahead, daughter. You seem to have yet other surprises up your sleeve."
"Here is something very interesting."
"And where does it come from this time?" asked the father.
"It is also from Masson's Life of Milton, and it is on page 101, Vol.
III.: 'In a confession of faith or declaration of faith, put forth in
1611 by the English Baptists of Amsterdam, just after the death of
Smith, this article occurs: "The magistrate is not to meddle with
religion or matters of conscience, nor compel men to this or that form
of religion; because Christ is the King and the Lawgiver of the church
and conscience." It is believed,' continues Masson, 'that this is the
first expression of the absolute principle of liberty of conscience in
the published articles of any body of Christians'."
"Just think of that publication by the little Baptist church in
Amsterdam," said Mr. Walton. "Consider the circumstances. The religious
world was at that time under the domination of the Catholic hierarchy.
The church and the government locked arms in absolute control of men's
forms of worship as well as of every phase of human action. The king and
pope prescribed the prayers, the Scripture readings and the forms of
worship of every citizen; and in the face of it all this little band
drew up its declaration of faith to the effect that the government had
no right to meddle with a man's religion nor to compel men to any form
of worship because Christ was the King and Lawgiver. Think of the
boldness of such an announcement. It was an ultimatum hurled by that
little flock at the king, the pope and the civil government and the
hierarchy."
"That explains all the horrible persecutions of the Baptists in Holland
that I read about this morning,' said Dorothy.
"Very true," said Mr. Walton. "Of course the thunderbolts of the higher
powers fell upon the heads of the rebellious Baptists, but persecution
only fanned the flame of their faith and zeal. They grew and spread.
They planted the seeds of their faith on English soil, and we read that
after 1660 the English prisons were full of Baptists, and Miss Dorothy
has already read of the brave Baptists who formed the flower of
Cromwell's Ironsides."
"What do you mean exactly by saying that the Baptists have given
religious liberty to the world?" asked Mr. Page.
"I mean this," said Mr. Walton. "Up to the sixteenth century the
Catholic Church held the so-called Christian world in its grip,
controlled men's consciences and decided how every man was to worship.
The Baptists rebelled against any interference with the religious life."
"I thought it was Martin Luther with his Reformation who broke the power
of the Catholic Church and thus gave birth to religious liberty," said
Sterling.
"The Reformation under Luther did strike a prodigious blow at
Catholicism, but it was not a fight for absolute religious liberty.
Never forget that. Lutheranism simply threw off Catholicism to
substitute a state church of its own. In the Reformation in England the
church broke from Catholicism, but it sought to set up a state Episcopal
church. In Scotland a Presbyterian state church was set up, but during
all this time the Baptists were ever sounding their demand for absolute
religious liberty without any interference or help from the government
and for complete separation of church and state."
"Did not the Baptists bring these principles to this country?" asked
Dorothy. "I think I read that they did."
"You are right, Miss Dorothy. Roger Williams, who was a Baptist--"
"What is that!" exclaimed Sterling. "Roger Williams a Baptist?"
"He surely was, and he was the apostle of religious liberty for America.
And how did the clause in the Constitution of the United States granting
religious liberty get in there? It was brought about by the Baptists of
Virginia, who pleaded for it and fought for it and suffered for it.
Bancroft, the historian, states that the Baptists gave religious liberty
to America, and John Locke states that the Baptists were the authors of
religious liberty. And, gentlemen, it is a fact to be borne in mind
that, while all Protestant denominations in America today practically
believe in religious liberty, yet it was not always so. The Baptists in
this country, single-handed, took up the cause and fought it through to
a finish, and now all denominations are enjoying the benefits of it."
"By the way, Mr. Sterling," said Dorothy, "I read today that John Milton
and John Bunyan were Baptists."
"Hold on, Miss Dorothy," said Mr. Sterling.
"It is a fact," said Mr. Walton. "They agreed with the Baptists in their
fundamental doctrines. You must remember another thing, and that is that
the principles of democracy that are sweeping over the world are largely
the trophies of the Baptists."
Mr. Page, with a laugh: "There he goes gathering up some more of our
treasures and claiming them for the Baptists."
"Come, let us vary the exercises with some ice cream," said the mother.
"You think the discussion is getting too warm, do you, mother?" asked
Dorothy.
They adjourned to the dining room and a recess was taken.