Smyrna times., 1869-06-16
For the Smyrna " Times."I
The Baptist Question.

NORFOLK, Va, June 9th, 1869.
Mr.. Hofecker Visiting friend in this land
Of negroes and modern phila1nthropistts, |
chanced to pick up copies of the Smyrna Times
and was amused at the war of words between
'Argus" and "A Baptist" | do not know
whether the writers are clergymen, but take it
for granted they are. | am neither preacher
nor layman, and therefore do not care which
gets the better But do like to see men
wearing the white neck tie show some regard
for honesty. have never yet heard it, either
in the pulpit or the press, on this subject. Your
Baptist, to sustain his point, resorts to petty
caviling upon the meaning of lCOrdS that have
been translated from a Hebrew text that he
knows nothing about while your Protestant
attempts to meet him with no better success.
Both rely upon King James version" ofthe
Blble-a Protestant versOn.
In the discussion of such a subject, some
thing is due to tradition as we'll as to history
This the Protestant declines, because in doing
SO he must give praise and credit to the WOther
| ChWch, which he hates with relish and thus
| gives his Baptist friend the vantage.
| What does history and tradition teach?
1t matters not how John the Baptist adE2in-
istered the rite his was not the Christian bap-
! tism. lie was Jew; he baptised according
to the Jewish faith he baptised into the Jew.
ish Church; our Saviour was baptised by j ohm;
but then Christ came to His people; He came
to OtMH the law-the JeiriSh law, but His peo-
ple-the Jews-refused to receive Him; and
in His final triumph over death He cast them
off 1odh all their rights and ceremonies, and
commanded His disciples to Baptise both Jew
and Gentle IN His name John the Baptist
did not Bdptise an the name Of Christ. John
the Baptist, therefore, as .Jet0 BdptiSeT, was
cast off, though as a follower of Christ he may
have been Christian and beloved.
Christs' apostles went vigorously to work,
preaching, baptising and making proselytes,
and in eight years succeeded against great op
2 position in forming Church organization in
Rome. They had no caviling about the form
Of Baptism and it is but reasonable to sup
pose that, fresh from the Master, they were
strict constructonists. Follow the disciples
and the Church for thirteen hundred years
until the days of Constantine, and we hear o.
no dissension in the Church on the subject o.
) Baptism. Then it became the established
Church--that Isl it was made the government
Church. Then cOrruptiOns commenced, bu
they were POLITICAL not baptismal. From tha
date to the rebellion of Martin Luther, in thu
sixteenth century, there was no dispute or cav
ling in the Church ON the subject of baptism
and it is reasonable to suppose that if there haC
i been any Just grounds, Luther would hav
= availed himself Of it as a strong point; but h
!, rebeed only against certain edicts of poltic
character, promulgated by the Diet Of Seers.
1t is remarkable, sir, that the rite of baptism
and the ceremonies thereof have been preser
: we'd with such close fidelity for eighteen hun
). dred years, and that even now all Protestan
u Churches-Episcopalea Lutherans, Presby
terans, MethOdists, etc.-use the same word
e and form. nearly, that are used now, and hav
u been for near nineteen centuries, by the Mothe
Church.
e And now, what of the Baptists2 We hea
: tell of them for the first, as few scatterin
|, agitators among the Waldenses, in Germany
II about the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
10 without followers or church organization. Whe
9 Luther instituted his rebellion, few of no fait
y went to them from England, to get s1cceSstC
y from them as from j ohm the Baptist and the
~ commenced the foundation of the Bapti
ie Church. They were called Anabaptists, ar
Is professed to believe in multiplicity of wive
pc or Mormonism, because, they claimed, IL
New Testament did not directly forbid in th
respect the practices refuted in the Bible.
of The conclusion which | come to, from ca
IN did inquiry, is, that the Baptism of John,
Id of the followers of John, or of the Baptists,
o. not the Christian Baptism, in so far as Il
H. mode is said or claimed to have been derive
a. from John the Baptist. Second, that the Ba
he tist Church is not Protestant Church, in
e: much as it never had any identity with the o.
re ginal Christian Church. Understand me; &
10 Baptists claim succession from John the la
m tist the Mother Church and all PIotesta
no Churches from the Apostles Peter and Pa'
of who established the first Church in Rome.
n there is virtue in succession and the laying
lie of hands, then this point remains good; !.
". W Recolect, do not claim that the Bapti
ire are not Christians. | would hardly deny t
mo- MorInons. | would not ostracise any fait
"e That is their matter. My point is, that Joh
~. baptism was not strictly the Christian baptis
no and that the Baptists are not Protestan
hns v,roner -" 49, D. ~. ~. ...-. H.