The Washington herald., 1907-02-08
0LD-SCH00L BAPTISTS.
Correspondent Haskin Taken TO
Task for Recent Statement.

Editor The Washington Herald;
In the Herald OF January % is pub
lished an article from the pen of
/ Frederick J. Haskin. I'm which aIlusion is
made to what he terms Primitive or
Hardshell Baptist" Of such a character,
and coming from such a source. that I
deem the article deserving a reply. Had
ID been written by man OF less note, and
given less prominence. my feelings would
be different. But claiming 70 be in the
nature of a truthful description Of the
people. and appearing in a paper recog-
nized as one Of the ablest in Washington,
the article requires notice.
Mr.. Haskin's article is a tissue OF mis-
/ representation. not to say falsehood. and
fancy, combined with few grains of fact
He calls these people "Hardsheu Baptist"
/ using a name given them in derision by
their enemies and ignoring the name odd
School Baptist" assumed by themselves
in the division Of 1882. He then starts out
in "A wild hit or miss" style in describing
their peculiar characteristics He says.
''Their ministers give their services free,
and, on account Of being unpaid volun-
I
Gated as the clergymen of the other
branches" / assert positively that there
is not the slightest foundation I'm fact for
this statement Old School Baptist min
listers are not volunteers at all. but come
I into their work as Paul describes I'm I
Corinthians N.l6. For though I preach
the gospel I have nothing TO glory of.
for necessity is laid upon me. yea. woe
is unto me, if l preach not the gospel"
Nor do Old School Baptist ministers claim
TO give their services free. Our order of
people hold with the Scriptures. Even
SO hath the Lord ordained that they
which preach the gospel should live OF
the gospel ] Corinthians. iX.14 At The
same time they do not believe in stated
salaries. nor neglecting their labor
whether the churches under their care
e disposed TO thus assist them or not.
So far as their education IS concerned.
II Mr. HaskinS is disposed 20 put this up
as a bar against them he must put il up
also against the apostles (see Acts, iv:l8.
But the browning point in Mr.. Haskin's
burlesque of Old School Baptist comes
next He tells US: In preaching il IS the
custom 10 adopt a sing-sOng voice end
ing each sentence with an indrawn breath
that becomes an or cr a text I'm one of
the churches in this creed would sound
like this; And the Lord said unto Peter
sh. feed-ah, my sheep-er-ah-" Now, were
this statement to have come from some
comic writer, and not meant to be taken
seriously, there would be no objection
to IL; but, appearing as II does in an az
ticle purporting 10 be true. it is worse
than ridiculous; it is absolutely false.
That there may be some preachers among
the Old School Baptist who adopt such
a style Of speaking may be true. but GER
tainly not more than among other de-
nominations prevalent in localities where
this style Of elOquence IS customary. Such
a statement is an insult 10 the intelli-
gence much less the religion, of this order
Of people.
other items in Mr.. Haskin's article are
equally absurd. He has ignored the dis
tinguishing characteristics Of this people
in doctrine and order. the faithful serv-
ices of their ministers. the venerable age
Of their churches. many Of which ante
date the Revolutionary war, and that il
was these same Virginia churches, repre-
scented by John Leland, 90 whom he re-
fers, but does not claim that Leland did
his preaching and singing at the same
time. like the rest of their ministers.
On the face OF Mr. Haskins article
candid mind would judge that the people
whom he misrepresents have aroused his
prejudices from some cause, and he is
disposed to ignore them entirely. or to
dismiss them with few lines of sarcasm.
l write this because his articles gen
orally are well written and show knowl-
edge of his subject. And if this Is not a
correct view. I viii take the only remain
ing position, and suggest TO Mr.. Haskin
/ that hereafter he had better confne his
pen to subjects with which ne is better
America.
" NJ SHOOT.
Oeeoquan, Va, Feb. J, 1907.