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No study of the doctrines
of grace would be complete without briefly considering their
history since the times of Christ and the Apostles.
Generally speaking, most Baptists historically believed and
preached the doctrines of grace. In the Twentieth Century we
have witnessed a major departure from the "faith once
delivered" with reference to the doctrines of grace, which
has subsequently led to doctrinal departures in other vital
areas as well. Arminianism is the common bond which holds
the Ecumenical and Charismatic Movements together, and which
eventually will lead its adherents back to the "Mother of
Harlots", the Roman Catholic Church.
Any person who reads the
New Testament apart from a preconceived prejudice will
undoubtedly come to the conclusion that Jesus and the
Apostles believed, preached, and wrote about the doctrines
of grace. These precious truths are exalted throughout the
entire New Testament. In fact, the theme of the New
Testament is grace. The very essence of the Gospel itself,
is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, laid down His life,
and shed his precious blood for helpless and unworthy
sinners. Sinners, who in time are brought to spiritual life
by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the
Word of God and drawn to saving faith in the finished work
of Jesus Christ, and who are kept by the power of God. The
very first reference to the saving work of Christ in the
Gospel of Matthew comes by way of announcement when the
angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream; "And she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:
for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt.
1:21). The New Testament opens with a declaration that Jesus
would actually secure salvation for His people, the elect
whom the Father gave Him before the world began. The
doctrine that Arminians hate the most, Particular
Redemption, is set forth in the very first chapter of the
New Testament!
Jesus believed that
distinguishing grace was a sovereign act of God. In Matthew
11:25-27 we find him praising the Father for sovereign
grace; "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my
Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
Perhaps the strongest
testimony to the fact that Jesus believed the doctrines of
grace is found in John chapter six after Jesus had just fed
the 5000. The multitudes were following him because he had
fed them, not because they had been spiritually attracted to
Him. In response, Jesus tells them that He is the true bread
from heaven, sent by the Father to give life to those who
believe. He then explains exactly why He came in verses
37-40; "All that the Father giveth me (election) shall
come to me (effectual calling); and him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me
(cf. Job 23:13,14 and Dan. 4:35). And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing (preservation of the
saints), but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day".
Jesus then explains that the natural man is incapable of
coming to Him apart from the distinguishing, drawing power
of God; "No man can come to me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last
day" (John 6:44).
A brief sampling of
excerpts from the Book of Acts and the Epistles will suffice
to prove that the followers of Christ believed in the
Sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace. The salvation
account of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus furnishes
us with a striking illustration of God's grace in the
effectual call. Saul hated the followers of the Lamb, and
was on his way to persecute them. He was not seeking the
Lord, he was seeking the destruction of the Lord's people
when Jesus apprehended him, humbled him, and called him to
salvation. It was not Saul who sought God and laid hold on
Christ, it was God who sought Saul and Christ who laid hold
on him, making him "willing in the day of his power"
(Psalms 110:3).
In Acts 13, Paul preached
Christ to the Jews and Gentiles at Antioch. When the Jews
rejected the message Paul turned to Gentiles and Luke
records their reaction in verse 48; "And when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word
of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed". In no uncertain terms, saving faith is
expressed as the result of God's election or ordination to
eternal life.
Paul the Apostle, who
wrote 14 books of the New Testament under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, is often found expounding the doctrines of
grace. Who can deny that Paul believed in the five points of
sovereign grace in light of Romans chapter nine or Ephesians
chapter one? Even a casual reading of these two chapters
reveal that Paul did not attribute salvation to the free
will or cooperation of the natural man, but to the immutable
will of God and His eternal purpose of grace.
James refers to election
in his epistle; "Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not
God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs
of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him"
(James 2:5).
Peter opens his first
epistle by addressing the; "Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father...", and later refers to
believers in the following way; "But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"
(2:9).
John's first epistle is
very practical in nature as he writes about the
characteristics that should be evident in life of one who
has been born of God. Yet, in the midst of the most
practical epistle of the New Testament, John declares;
"We love him, because he first loved us" (4:19). John
believed that the New Birth was a work of God alone, and
that God was the first cause in our salvation.
From a brief sampling of
the New Testament it is quite evident that Jesus Christ and
the Apostles believed in what we refer to today as the
doctrines of grace.
Proving that the New
Testament writers believed in the doctrines of grace was
relatively simple because the proof came from an infallible,
authoritative source. Whenever we begin to read history that
has been written by uninspired men our task becomes more
difficult because we must rely on men who were tainted with
certain prejudices. Yet, history as a secondary source can
be used to show that the doctrines which we now preach and
defend are not new-fangled inventions. Most of what we today
refer to as Systematic Theology has been formulated in
response to error that was prevalent in any given period of
time. The formulation of the system we today call the
doctrines of grace is no exception.
In the fifth century a
man named Pelagius vehemently opposed the doctrines of God's
sovereign grace. David Steele wrote:
"Pelagius denied that human nature had been corrupted by
sin. He maintained that the only ill effects which the race
had suffered as the result of Adams's transgression was the
bad example which he had set for mankind. According to
Pelagius, every infant comes into the world in the same
condition as Adam was before the fall. His leading principle
was that Man's will is absolutely free. Hence every one has
the power, within himself, to believe the gospel as well as
to perfectly keep the law of God."
1
Augustine, the Catholic
theologian of the fifth century, responded to the heresy of
Pelagius and declared that man was totally depraved, and
that the act of faith resulted, not from the sinner's free
will, but from God's free grace which is given to the elect
only. Augustine, who would today be scorned by Catholics,
and who was no friend to Baptists obviously believed some
truth concerning the doctrines of grace.
After Augustine soundly
refuted the errors of Pelagius, a new form of heresy arose
within the Catholic Church, promoted by a man named Cassian.
His system of theology is today referred to as
Semi-Pelagianism because he mixed what Augustine taught with
what Pelagius taught. He acknowledged that Adam's sin
extended to all mankind, and that his nature was corrupted
by sin. But he also taught a system of universal grace for
all men by teaching that the Holy Spirit worked on all men
alike and that salvation was dependent upon the decision and
response of man's free will. In reality, most of the people
whom we would today label as Arminians are in actuality
Semi-Pelagians.
The Protestant Reformers
rejected the theories of Pelagius and Cassian, attributing
salvation to the sovereign grace of God alone. J.I. Packer
wrote:
"All the leading Protestant theologians of the first
epoch of the Reformation, stood on precisely the same ground
here. On other points, they had their differences; but in
asserting the helplessness of man in sin, and the
sovereignty of God in grace, they were entirely at
one...Here was the crucial issue: whether God is the author,
not merely of justification, but also of faith; whether, in
the last analysis, Christianity is a religion of utter
reliance on God for salvation and all things necessary to
it, or of self-reliance and self-effort."
2
Luther, Calvin, Zwingli,
Farel, and Wycliff all believed what we would today identify
as the doctrines of grace. I believe that there were Baptist
groups who believed the doctrines of grace before any of the
Reformers as I shall later prove. The thing that has often
puzzled me about the Protestant Reformers is their
insistence on defending what John Gill referred to as the
"pillar of Popery", infant baptism. All the Protestant
reformers viewed baptism as a sacrament or a means of grace,
which logically denies real sovereign grace by making it
depend in some way upon an individual's baptism.
The systematic forms of
the five points of Arminianism and Calvinism did not come
into being until the early 1600"s. James Arminius was a
Dutch seminary professor. In 1610, one year after his death
his followers issued five articles of faith based upon
Arminius' teachings, which are today referred to as
Arminianism. They presented the teachings as a formal
protest to the State of Holland, insisting that the Belgic
Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism both needed
to be changed. In 1618 the Synod of Dort assembled to
examine the protests of the Arminians in the light of the
Scriptures. In May of 1619 they came to the conclusion that
the five points of Arminianism did not reconcile with the
Holy Scriptures. They also issued a five point response
refuting each of the five errors of Arminius. These five
points are commonly referred to today as the Five Points of
Calvinism or the Doctrines of Grace.
From the Protestant
Reformation of the sixteenth century until the latter part
of the nineteenth century the doctrines of grace were
commonly held by all Protestants except for the Methodists.
All the noted Protestant preachers were thorough Calvinists.
In the Puritan era, John Owen, Steven Charnock, John Flavel,
Thomas Brooks, Thomas Manton, and Thomas Boston, to name
only a few, proclaimed these precious truths upon the
housetops. In America, Cotton and Increase Mather, Jonathan
Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge, B.B.
Warfield, and John Murray were all Protestants who loved and
cherished the precious truths of the doctrines of grace.
Bancroft, the American historian pronounced the Pilgrim
Fathers as; "Calvinists in their faith according to the
straightest system."
3
It is sad, but true, that
most Protestant denominations in our day have a Calvinistic
creed and an Arminian clergy. To most the doctrines of grace
are unimportant and Arminianism is not even questioned. The
mainline denominations have sold the truth for a mess of
Ecumenical pottage. Protestants have always had the
birthmarks of Rome, because they were conceived and have
their origin by way of the Mother of Harlots. In our day we
see the daughters resembling more and more their Mother, the
Roman Catholic Church.
I would like to quote
from the learned John Gill, a Baptist theologian of the
1700's who linked Arminianism and Popery together, in his
book Cause of God and Truth:
"This work was published at a time when the nation was
greatly alarmed with the growth of Popery, and several
learned gentlemen were employed in preaching against some
particular points of it; but the author of this work was of
opinion, that the increase of Popery was greatly owing to
the Pelagianism, Arminianism, and other supposed rational
schemes men run into, contrary to divine revelation. This
was the sense of our fathers in the last century, and
therefore joined these and Popery together in their
religious grievances they were desirous of having redressed;
and indeed, instead of lopping of the branches of Popery,
the ax should be laid to the root of the tree, ARMINIANISM
AND PELAGIANISM, THE VERY LIFE AND SOUL OF POPERY."
4
BACK TO THE TOP
It is my firm conviction
that the scriptures teach that Jesus Christ established a
New Testament Church during His earthly ministry consisting
of saved people who were scripturally baptized. He promised
that His kind of church would be perpetuated until the end
of the age. I believe the scriptures teach that the kind of
church Jesus organized and authorized to carry out the Great
Commission was in doctrine and practice what we would today
identify as a Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. Until the
latter part of the eighteenth century Baptist history was
written mainly by our enemies. Up until the nineteenth
century it was rare to see Baptist works published because,
as a general rule, they were poor and persecuted by
Catholics and Protestants alike. Yet believing that Jesus
meant what he said; "... I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it"; "...and lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world", it is
the firm conviction of the writer that the Lord's churches
have never identified with Rome, and have upheld and
supported the doctrines of grace, as the "pillar and ground
of the truth" through the centuries.
Much of the history of
the ancient Baptists revolved around their opposition to the
traditions and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, long
before the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
The Novations of Italy, the Donatists of North Africa, the
Bogomils and Paterines of Europe, the Albigenses and
Waldenses of France, and the Anabaptists of Germany
historically rejected infant baptism, sprinkling as a mode
of baptism, the validity of Romish ordinances, baptismal
regeneration, the priestcraft, purgatory, worship of saints
and idols, Mariolatry, and salvation by human merits.
Consequently, historical accounts of their beliefs and
practices have been recorded by their Romish persecutors. It
is generally accepted by historians that these ancient
Baptists accepted the scriptures as their final authority
for all faith and practice, and that salvation was the free
gift of God. Because the five points of the doctrines of
grace were not put into a concrete, systematic form until
the sixteenth century, little is written prior to that time
concerning those who believed the doctrines.
The renowned Catholic
theologian, Augustine of Hippo, believed the doctrines of
grace and fought fiercely against the errors of Pelagius in
the fifth century. However, this same Augustine opposed the
Donatists of North Africa because of their rejection of
infant baptism and the idea of a pure local church being
made up only of true believers. We read nowhere in the
annals of history that Augustine opposed them concerning
their views on depravity and election which implies that
they were orthodox concerning their views on sovereign
grace.
The ancient Albigenses of
Southern France are recorded as believing in sovereign grace
as far back as the tenth century. Peter Allix, in his book
entitled; Remarks Upon the Ecclesiastical History of the
Ancient Churches of the Albigenses, quotes a Friar
Inquisitor who wrote concerning the heresies of the
Albigenses in 1461:
"First, They say it is clear, that when God pardons sin,
he doth it not with any respect to the merit of any man, but
of mere grace; whence it follows evidently, that the
remission of sins cannot be attributed to a man's confession
of them; for if it were so, we must own that the remission
is no longer of free gift, but that it is a recompense given
by God to the merit of him that confesseth. Secondly, they
say, if it be confession that procures a man the pardon of
his sins, what will become of that passage in the third
chapter of the Epistle to Titus, where it is expressly
declared, that God hath saved us of his mercy, and not
according to the works of righteousness that we have done?
Or how shall we explain that in the ninth of the Romans,
that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy: We know, that the first grace
that God works in us is the remission of sins: now if this
grace be absolutely the effect of the mercy of God, it
cannot be the effect of confession, which by consequence is
not necessary to salvation."
5 (The
confession he refers to is the Romish practice of auricular
confession.)
The Paterines, who
flourished in Italy and France from the eleventh to the
thirteenth century believed the doctrines of grace. W.A.
Jarrell wrote concerning the Paterines;
"They were Baptists on the doctrine of election and
appealed to the texts in the ninth chapter of the Epistle to
the Romans, employed by others also in proof of the doctrine
of unconditional predestination."
6
The Waldenses of France
wrote the "Noble Lesson" in 1100 AD Two portions of
the document are of great interest to Baptists. The
following quotes are in S. Moreland's book, The Churches
of the Valley of Piedmont:
"Now after the Apostles, were certain Teachers, who
taught the way of Jesus Christ our Savior. And these are
found even at this present day (referring to church
perpetuity), But they are known to very few, who have a
great desire to teach the way of Jesus Christ, But they are
so persecuted, that they are able to do but little, so much
are the false Christians blinded with error, and more than
the rest they that are Pastors, for they persecute and hate
those who are better than themselves, and let those live
quietly who are false deceivers... 'And give us to hear that
which he shall say to his Elect without delay; Come hither
ye blessed of my Father, Inherit the Kingdom prepared for
you from the beginning of the World, Where you shall have
Pleasure, Riches, and Honor. May it please the Lord which
formed the World, that we may be of the number of his Elect
to dwell in his Court for ever. Praised be God. Amen."
7
From these two quotes it
appears that the ancient Waldenses believed in church
perpetuity as well as the doctrine of election.
A Waldensian Confession
dated 1120 AD states:
"God saves from corruption and damnation those whom he
has chosen from the foundations of the world, not for any
disposition, faith or holiness he foresaw in them, but of
his mere mercy in Christ Jesus, his Son, passing by all the
rest according to the irreprehensible reason of his own will
and justice."
8
A Waldensian confession
dated 1655 AD states:
"God saved from corruption and damnation those whom he
has chosen from the foundations of the world, not for any
disposition, faith or holiness he foresaw in them, but of
his mere mercy in Christ Jesus, his Son, passing by all the
rest according to the irreprehensible reason of his own will
and justice."
9
The German and Dutch
Anabaptists believed in the doctrine of election as I shall
prove from three quotes from their most influential leaders.
Denck wrote;
"Christ, the Lamb of God, has been from the beginning of
the world a mediator between God and men, and will remain a
mediator to the end. Of what men? Of you and me alone? Not
so, but of all men who God has given to him for a
possession."
10
John Muller in 1525
wrote;
"Since faith in the free gift of God and not in every
man's possession, as the Scriptures show, do not burden my
conscience. It is born not of the will of the flesh, but of
the will of God...No man cometh unto me except the Father
draw him. The secret of God is like a treasure concealed in
a field which no man can find unless the Spirit of the Lord
reveal it to him."
11
Menno Simons the Dutch
Anabaptist wrote;
"O Lord God, thou hast loved us with an eternal love.
Thou hast chosen us before the foundation of the world, that
we should be unblamable and holy before thee in love, not
regarding what we find written by the faithful Paul
concerning Esau, Pharaoh, and Israel. He has done all this
on our behalf in order that we should give the honor to thy
name, and not to ourselves. What do we miserable sinners
have of which we may boast? What do we have that we have not
received of thee?"
12
After the invention of
the printing press, the Protestant Reformation, and the
translation of the Scriptures into English, the Baptists are
shown historically to be staunch defenders of the doctrines
of grace. The Particular Baptists in England were strong in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They derived the
name Particular from their strong stand on the doctrine of
particular redemption, to distinguish them from those who
believed in a general atonement. The London Confession of
1644 which was signed by William Kiffin and John Spilsbery
was decidedly Calvinistic. The third article reads;
"That God hath decreed in himself touching all things,
effectually to work and dispose them according to the
counsel of his own will, to the glory of his Name...And
touching his creature man, God had in Christ before the
foundation of the world, according to the good pleasure of
his will, foreordained some men to eternal life through
Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of his grace, leaving
the rest in their sin to their just condemnation to the
praise of his Justice."
13
The Second London
Confession printed in 1677 is even more Calvinistic. The
ninth article on Free Will reads;
"Man by his fall into a state of sin hath wholly lost all
ability of Will, to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from
that good, and dead in Sin is not able, by his own strength,
to convert himself; or to prepare himself thereunto."
14
The majority of Baptist
writers and theologians in England were staunch proponents
of sovereign grace. Benjamin Keach, Hanserd Knollys, John
Bunyan, John Gill, John Brine, Abraham Booth, John Rippon,
J.C. Philpot, and C.H. Spurgeon all held unashamedly to the
five points of the doctrines of grace.
Because most Baptists in
our day freely quote the writings of C.H. Spurgeon, I have
taken the liberty to insert two quotes which are taken from
his autobiography under the chapter heading A Defense of
Calvinism:
"What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of
something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ--the
bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our
justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the
addition of something to the work of the Redeemer? Every
heresy, if brought to the touchstone, will discover itself
here. I have my own private opinion that there is no such
thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we
preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname
to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing
else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do
not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless
we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of
grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable,
eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I
think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the
special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen
people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I
comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they
are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in
the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus.
Such a gospel I abhor."
15
Spurgeon concludes his
chapter on A Defense of Calvinism, by saying;
"I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a
licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of
Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages
were the great exponents of the system of grace; or what
will he say of the Puritans, whose works are full of them?
Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he would have been
accounted the vilest heretic breathing, but now we are
looked upon as the heretics, and they as the orthodox. We
have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent
from the apostles. It is that vein of free-grace, running
through the sermonizing of Baptists, which has saved us as a
denomination. Were it not for that, we should not stand
where we are to-day. We can run a golden line up to Jesus
Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers,
who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask
concerning them, 'Where will you find holier and better men
in the world?
16
It amazes me that
gentlemen like the late John R. Rice who was editor of
The Sword of the Lord print edited sermons by Spurgeon
in his Arminian periodical! It would do Baptist preachers in
our day well to read some of the Baptist writers of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who were strong
sovereign grace men.
In America the doctrines
of grace had almost universal acceptance among Baptists
until the latter part of the 1800's. In Asplund's
Register of Baptist Churches1792, he records that 92%
of all American Baptists believed in the doctrines of Grace.
I believe the reason for the dismal descent into the pit of
Arminianism came gradually as a result of the influences of
John Wesley, Charles G. Finney, and Dwight L. Moody. These
three men, who were not even Baptists, conducted several
evangelistic campaigns in America which produced massive
outward results. Their success, however, was tainted with
unorthodox theology which continues to be a detriment to
Baptists to this day. Because results were produced, the
idea that the end justifying the means began to be more
important to Baptists than right doctrine.
The doctrinal stance of
Baptists has shifted so dramatically in the 1900's, to the
extent that if you believe and preach the doctrines of
grace, you are considered a heretic rather than an earnest
contender for the faith once delivered. In our day the
Arminian influence of men like John R. Rice, Jack Hyles and
Curtis Hudson is rampant. As a result Baptist churches have
become doctrinally weak which always leads to the easy
reception of error.
To illustrate what I am
saying in many Bible colleges and institutes, the writings
and methods of Charles G. Finney are promoted as being sound
and scriptural. Noel Smith, an influential preacher in the
Bible Baptist Fellowship, and teacher at the Bible Baptist
College in Springfield, Missouri once made the following
statement:
"Knowing God as I do through the revelation He has given
me of Himself in His Word, when I am told that God is not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance, I know it means that the Triune God has done, is
doing, always will do, all that the Triune God can do to
save every man, woman, and child on this earth. if it
doesn't mean that, then tell me I pray you, what does it
mean? What is hell? It is an infinite negation. It is
infinite chaos. And it is more than that. I tell you, and I
say it with profound reverence, hell is a ghastly monument
to the failure of the Triune God to save the multitudes who
are there. I say it reverently, I say it with every nerve in
my body tense; sinners go to hell because God Almighty
Himself cannot save them! He did all He could. He failed."
17
When you consider that
young preachers are being influenced by this type of
teaching, it is little wonder why the Baptists are no longer
distinguished for having a strong doctrinal foundation.
American Baptist history
is filled with testimonies proving that the doctrines of
grace were considered scriptural and orthodox. The first
Baptist church in America was started in 1638 in Newport,
R.I. by John Clark who stated:
"Election is the decree of God, of His free love, grace,
and mercy, choosing some men to faith, holiness and eternal
life, for the praise of His glorious mercy."
18
Obadiah Holmes, a
contemporary of John Clark, who lived from 1607 to 1682,
said:
"Those destined to be saved are, to be sure, those whom
God chooses to save, His elect, for He knows who are His...,
and because man does not save himself, he cannot cause
himself to be lost. All that are in the covenant of grace
shall never fall away or perish."
19
The Philadelphia
Confession of Faith (1742) states;
"Although God knoweth whatsoever may, or can come to pass
upon all supposed conditions; yet hath He not decreed
anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which
would come to pass on certain conditions. By the decree of
God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels
are predestinated, or foreordained to Eternal Life through
Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace; others
being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation,
to the praise of His glorious justice."
20
Adoniram Judson, the
first American missionary to Burma wrote the following in
his Burman creed:
"God, who pitied the sinful race of man, sent His only
beloved Son into the world to save from sin and hell, who
also sends the Holy Spirit to enable those to become
disciples who were chosen before the world was and given to
the Son, we worship."
21
Francis Wayland
(1796-1865) was a distinguished Baptist pastor, writer, and
educator wrote the following:
"My mind at one time rebelled against the doctrine of
election. It seemed to me like partiality. I now perceived
that I had no claim whatever on God, but that if I were lost
it was altogether my own fault, and that if I was saved, it
must be purely a deed of unmerited grace. I saw that this
very doctrine was my only hope of salvation, for if God had
not sought me, I should never have sought him."
22
W.B. Johnson, the first
president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1845-1850
said:
"The denomination to which I have the honor to belong
holds...the sovereignty of God in the provision and
application of the plan of salvation."
23
J.R. Graves, the staunch
Landmark Baptist of the last century made the following
remarks in the Great Carrollton Debate:
"He (Christ) did not contract for the lost angels, nor
for all men. He only took hold of the seed of Abraham, not
of Adam...If He had taken hold of the nature of the lost
angels, they would all have been saved. If of the seed of
Adam, all men would have been saved, and Universalism would
have been the true doctrine. But he contracted as surety,
Mediator, only for the seed of Abraham--the elect of
mankind...I know this is death to Arminianism, the natural
religion of all natural men. They want to believe that they
elect themselves, and then Christ takes them into his
Covenant...Infidels may wrest this hard doctrine, more fully
developed by Paul than any other Apostle, to their own
destruction, but a host of the best and clearest minds that
have ever lived on earth have advocated it--as Augustine,
Calvin, etc., and Knox, Henry--and it is crystallized in the
creeds of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, as well as Baptists.
We see here no universal Atonement or Redemption."
24
I have just given a
sampling of the voices in American Baptist history who
proclaimed the doctrines of grace. Time does not permit me
to quote Issac Backus, Basil Manly, J.P. Boyce, R.B.C.
Howell, Richard Fuller, J.L. Dagg, J.M. Pendleton, A.H.
Strong, B.H. Carroll, J.B. Moody, and J.B. Gambrell, men who
were firm defenders of the doctrines of grace. I have proven
that opposition to the doctrines of grace is in reality an
opposition to scripture, reason, and historical orthodoxy.
BACK TO THE TOP
END NOTES
Click On The Highlighted Area To Resume Your Reading
-
Steele,
David N. & Thomas, Curtis C., The Five Points
of Calvinism (Philadelphia, PA: the Presbyterian
and Reformed Publishing Co., 1979) p. 20.
-
Ibid, p. 21.
-
Boettner, Lorrain,
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
(Phillipsburg, Nj: The Presbyterian and Reformed
Publishing Co., 1932) p. 382.
-
Gill, John,
Cause of God and Truth (Streamwood, Ill:
Primitive Baptist Library, 1978) Preface, p. iv
-
Allix, Peter,
Remarks Upon the Ecclesiastical History of
Ancient Churches of the Albigenses (Gallatin, TN:
Church History Research and Archives, 1989) pp. 265-266.
-
Jarrell, W.A.,
Baptist Church Perpetuity (Dallas TX: 1894) p.
139.
-
Moreland, Samuel,
The Churches of the Valley of Piemont
(Fort Smith, AR: Franklin Printing Co., 1955) pp.
113-114; 120.
-
Ibid., p.
40.
-
Ibid.,
p. 64.
-
Jarrell, W.A.,
Baptist Church Perpetuity (Dallas TX: 1894) p.
188.
-
Ibid., p.
188.
-
Simons, Menno,
The Complete Writings of Menno Simons
(Scottsdale, AZ: Herald Press, 1956), p. 76
-
Lumpkin, W.L.,
Baptist Confessions of Faith,
(Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1974) p. 157.
-
Ibid., p.
264.
-
Spurgeon, C.H.,
The Early Years, (London: The Banner of
Truth and Trust, 1962) p. 168
-
Ibid.,
p. 174.
-
Reisinger, John,
The Sound of Grace, February, 1990 p. 9
-
Simmons, T.P.,
A Systematic Study of Bible Doctrine,
(Clarksville, TN: Bible Baptist Publications, 1979) p.
229
-
Selph, Robert B.,
Southern Baptists and the Doctrine of
Election, (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications,
1988) p. 21
-
Philadelphia
Confession of Faith,
(Sterling, VA: Abounding Ministries, 1981) p. 13
-
Selph, Robert B.,
Southern Baptists and the Doctrine of
Election, (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications,
1988) p. 31
-
Ibid., p.
32.
-
Ibid., p.
36.
-
Baptist
Examiner,
The, The Biblical and Historical Faith of
Baptists on God's Sovereignty, (Ashland, KY), p. 37.
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