John's baptism. Was it from Moses or Christ?

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

JOHN'S BAPT

Dedication

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To

All the Young Ministers now composing^ or who have composed^ *^The J. R. Graves Society of Religious Inquiry^'

Preface

The Baptism of John, whence was it ?

— Christ.

And they answered, we can not tell

— The Jews.

Why could they not tell ?

Foi three centuries the ReHgious world has been divided between three Theories touching the place of John's Ministry in the Development of the Redemptive Economy,

I. It belonged to the Jewish Dispensation. II. It was an Intermediate Dispensation. III. It belonged to the Christian Dispensation.

It must of necessity have belonged to one of these, for we can not conceive of a fourth Theory.

Why I am a Baptist 240

Appendix A 24.2

IISTTEODUOTOEY.

Chapter I. Why Have I Written This Book?

From the rise of the Papacy/'^ in the seventh century, of Protestanism^f in the sixteenth, and that of Campbellism I in the nineteenth century, " John^s baptism/^ which includes his ministry, Avhat he taught and practiced, has suffered violence, and these sects have unitedly and separately sought to destroy its Christian character in the faith of all men ; and to-day, after a lapse of a thousand years, there is no cessation in their assaults. It is noticeable that all Pedobaptists and Campbellites unite in teaching that it belonged exclusively to the Jewish Dispensation, or that it was an Intermediate and Independent Dispensation, which Avill be shov/n further on. The Campbellites rashly assert that not a Gospel or Christian utterance ever fell from the lips of John the Baptist or any man before the days of Pentecost: thus, with one fell blow, striking four of the books from the

* No Catholic will claim that Papacy existed before the Roman Catholic Church, and thus independent of a Pope. It is an indisputable fact of history that the Emperor Phocus ordained Boniface, the first Pope, " Bishop of bishops," and invested him with supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction, A. D. 610.

t Protestanism had its origin at the Diet of the Spires, A. D. 1529.

t Campbellism was originated by Alexander Campbell in the years 1835-40.

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New Testament, and sealing the lips of Jesus Christ and the four Evangelists as Gospel teachers — liaving taught the way a sinner ma}' be saved ! Thus teaching, if the four Gospels, as they are called, were eliminated from the New Testament, that no vital truth would be lost to a dying world !

Baptists alone,* in all these centuries, as Christ's faithful and true witnesses against all these sects, have unanimously maintained the Christian character of John's ministry, that it was the beginning of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ (Mark i, 1), and that from it both the act of Christian baptism and the material of His churches and Kingdom are undoubtedly determined. They do believe that the act Christ himself received for baptism is the act He commanded His churches to observe, and the self-same subjects He commanded John to baptize are those, and none other, He commanded His churches to baptize for evermore. Baptists believe that His divine example comes to them with the force of a command.

The reader will not think it so strange a thing that Pedobaptists and Campbellites so bitterly oppose John^& ministry when he sees that his teachings radically de-

* Baptists are not Protestants, for they never once belonged to, or came out of the Roman Catholic Church, since they existed seven hundred years before the Papacy and one hundred and sixty-two before the Protestants, and as clearly designates and sanctifies John xiv, 15, the only Christian act of baptism to the end of the age (John xiv, 15). Baptists feel the force of his words: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you;" "If ye love me ye will keep my commandments." And of these also: "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments [tnulitions] of men" (Matt, xv, 9).

stroy the very ground on which these sects rest their faith and practice.

There are eight significant facts worthy of consideration here :

1. That Pedobaptists never refer to John^s baptism in support of their baptisms — i. e., sprinklings and pourings.

2. Baptists always do, for the act they administer for baptism.

3 Pedobaptists never refer to the example of Christ to sustain either of their modes of baptism.

4. Baptists always do, in support of the one act they observe.

5. Pedobaptists never refer to John's preaching and baptism in support of the baptisms of non-believers or infants.

6. Baptists always do, in support of the immersion of believers.

7. Campbellites never refer to John's baptism in support of their practice of baptizing the unregenerate to regenerate the subject.

8. Baptists always do, in support of their invariable practice of requiring a profession of faith and a satisfactory evidence — '^ fruits meet for repentance '' and regeneration before baptism.

The reason for these facts must be apparent to all. Pedobaptists and Campbellites do not believe that the ministry of John is favorable to their faith and practice ;. and Baptists are confident that John's ministry and baptism fully sustain their faith and practice. It is natural, then, that the former parties would oppose and the latter indorse John's baptism as authority — it being the beginning of the Gospels.

But to return to the reasons for the appearance of this book. While the most vigorous and persistent assaults upon the Christian character of John's ministry and teachinsTS have been going on for two centuries past, and are still being waged, notwithstanding the wealth of the learning and polemical talent possessed by our denomination, as is evinced by the multitude of books, pamphlets and tracts issued and issuing upon the act and subjects of Christian baptism, not a pen has volunteered to defend the evangelical character of John's ministry in the last half century. My personal memory covers this period. I have written to the American Baptist Publication Society, in Philadelphia, and to the National Publishing Society, in St. Louis, and no intelligence of such a publication could I hear of.*

Another and influential reason : It was in the hope that it might assist those of our ministry and lay brethren who have not the time for study, the more effectual ly to vindicate the Christian character of John's ministry, and the more readily answer the plausible objections so constantly and confidently urged against it.

What tlie form and design of the ordinances were ivhen Christ first instituted them we must believe He intended them to remain until He comes again, for His last words were, " Teaching them to observe all things as I have delivered them unto you."

When I remember how greatly needed was just such a vindication forty and even thirty years ago, when I was defiantly faced almost weekly with many of these arguments and objections ; and when I remember what disastrous overthrows I administered, by them, to some of the most learned opponents of that age, my enemies them-

* In 1843, Rev. Robert Fleming, of Georgia, read an essay on the subject, which was requested for publication, and was published.

selves, being judges, can but feel confident that the young ministers of to-day and " their successors in office/' to whom this book is dedicated, and its fortune committed, will find in these pages needed help for which they will thank me when I am in my grave.

It may be pronounced a weak and imperfect vindication, but still I can truthfully say it is the very ablest and best that has appeared in this century. But when the reader is informed that these pages have been written by the author when pillo wed-up in an arm-chair, and in the intervals between the spasms of sciatic pains, it is believed that the Christian reader, since he is expected to read for profit, will make all due allowance.

Why write the book in these so unpropitious circumstances? Because the author feared that, after waiting half a century for some abler pen to do the work so much needed by the denomination, it might not be done in another half century, if at all.

CHAPTEE II.

Before entering upon my subject — John's Ministry and its Proper Place in Christ's Redemptive Work — it seems quite proper to form a just idea of him as he is presented to us in the Scriptures.

John the Baptist — In Prophecy — In His Nativity — In His Preparation for His Work — His Characteristics — His Message — His Audience,

Seven hundred years before the advent of the Messiah, the person who was to herald Him is foretold in these words : " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ' prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God' " (Isaiah xl, 3).

A silence of more than three hundred years was broken by another prophet speaking for the Coming One in these words :

" Behold, I will ^nd my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord [the Messiah] whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in : behold. He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." . ^' And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." (Mai. iv, 5.)

Again thus clearly stating the mission of His herald or fore-runner : ^' Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful

INTKODUCTORY. 13

day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Mai. iv, 5).

Let the reader notice that it was not Christ who was to be purified by His messenger, John, but the sons of Levi by Christ himself.

Another silence of over three centuries followed, unbroken by a single communication to Israel, when the people of Judea and the inhabitants of the wilderness* were startled by the voice of this messenger of the coming Lord of Hosts, in the wilderness, proclaiming the fulfillment of these prophecies, and saying : " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The inspiring spirit leaves us in no doubt as to the fact that Jolin was " the voice," this ^' messenger of Christ," foretold by Isaiah and Malachi so many centuries before his birth. His birth and his name were pre-announced as was Christ's, His Lord, who was to come after him.

This is the history of his nativity and parentage as given by Luke :

" There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, t^iat while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the

*The wilderness of Judea was comparatively an uninhabited waste — a grazing country — more sparsely peopled than the cities .and towns, as we speak of the country in contrast with the towns.

priest^s office, liis lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

^^ And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him, but the angel said unto him, ^ Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink ; and he shall be lilled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'

'^ And Zacharias said unto the angel, ^ ¥/hereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.' And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.' And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them : and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple : for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, ^ Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.' And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. '' ....

" And now Elisabeth's fall time came that she should be delivered ; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child ; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, ^ Not so ; but he shall be called John.' And they said unto her, ^ There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.' And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying. His name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them : and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ^ What manner of child shall this be !' And the hand of the Lord was with him.

'^And his father Zachari as was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ^ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David : As he spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began : That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us ; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath that he sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt go t)efore the face of the Lord to prepare His ways ; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the w^ay of peace. ^ And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel/^

John was not Elijah the Tishbite, here promised, for, asked if he was that prophet, he answered expressly he was not ; and yet Christ said if he was, if they had so received him, his appearance, character and mission was an inceptive fulfillment of that prophet and his work — it was like unto Elijah's mission, as the scenes of Pentecost were not that, but like unto that prophesied by Joel.

But that he was called and qualified to be a type of •of Elijah, who is to herald the second advent of Christ the Lord, and to prepare His people to receive Him, for he came in the spirit and the power, and to fulfill a like mission of Elijah the prophet. Christ is authority for this.

^^ And His disciples asked Him saying. Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias shall first truly come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baplist.'^ (Matt, xvii, 10-14.)