Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-16

SIdleS Ol IiIc 0IlCn, fACN. lJt JOSl ID
 1 Slocum preached a sermon on Sunday
 l at the Central Baptist church upon the
 l subject Baptist Principles in History, 1 which had the close attention of the
 1 large congregation at the morning ser
 vice at the church.
 1 What BaPtists Stand For.
 l Rev. DT. Slocum summed up his able discourse by giving the nine points for which the Baptists still ] authority of the Book; for the spir- l duality. independence and democracy of the local church; for personal faith ! in and acceptance of Jesus Christ as ! Saviour and King: for freedom of con l science; for liberty of speech; for the
 right of private Judgment in the in- l depreciation of scriptures; for the di- | rect accession of the individual to 1 God; for separation of church and state; for the maintenance of the pur-
 ity of the two ordinances of the ! church.
 l President Emeritus Eliot has said that the chief gain of three centuries l has been freedom of thought; and ! almost as though replying to the same
 sentiment Bancroft said, Freedom of l conscience, unlimited freedom of mind,
 was from the first the trophy of the l Baptists.''
 1 The first amendment to the consti-
 tuition of the United States was in spired by the Baptists. It stands there a worthy tribute to their pioneer ef-
 forts in the field of civil and religious 1 liberty; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re- ligion or prohibiting the free exercise 1 thereof
 Vast Field and Mighty Obligation. 1 The question of the hour is, have
 we any further use for the principles
 to whose perpetuation long line of l h E11,1e full s,e-1Ira .0f their devotion? My own answer is an
 emphatic yes. If America is to be a real democracy, then the Bautists are | face to face with vast field and a
 mighty obligation.
 Historical Review.
 In his historical review of the de- velopment of Baptist principles, Rev. l speaking they cannot claim an
 unbroken apostolic line of Bap- 1 lists fro-n the beginning of our 1 era until now. With considerable his | torical confidence, however. we can claim an apostolic succession of Bap- I tist principles. More important than l the name, which at various stages has attached itself to groups of people
 who have avowed these principles, are the things which they believed and for which thousands of them surren- 1 dered their very lives
 1 That long series of heroic souls were protestants centuries before the word came to be especially devoted to 1 it's present use. They protested against i the established order, because they saw the danger within the hierarchy | that threatened the purity of the Cos
 pei as first taught by Jesus. To main i tain the doctrines and ordinances of | Christ as He originally delivered them
 to the disciples. was the aim and eff l fort of these early antecedents of our I Qo FTr.+ T1O~1 -frrI1f 4r
 worship God according to the dictates of the individual conscience was to them, as to us, fundamental
 Earliest Successful Protest The earliest protest that largely succeeded was that of Montanaism. About the middle of the second cen tury, Montanum, a Phrygian, gathered about him a number of enthusiastic adherents, among whom was the able ton of the Roman church to accom- modate herself too generously to the worldly spirit of the times, the Mon tanists strongly opposed worldly ten dencies and vigorously advocated a return to the New Testament idea of confining church membership to those giving clear evidence of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. They baptized, therefore. only believers and practiced the one form that was employed dur ing the second century, namely, inn
 mersion. They finally enjoyed the dis tinction of being driven out of the Catholic communion. Some writers 1 have asserted that the Montanists were Baptists in every thing save the name. This does not appear to be a well substantiated claim, although it is true that the great outstanding doc trines which they advocated are the very ones which, in course of time, came to be the distinguishing program of our denominational fathers.
 The next to take up the propaganda of these principles were the Nova tians, organized about the middle of the third century by Novatianus, a presbyter of Rome. The name Nova tians,'' by which this sect was most widely known, was applied to them 1 preferred the name Cathari (the pure) 1 Novatianus and his followers were 1 communicated by a Roman synod lin 257 A D. Thenceforward they
 claimed to be the only true church. Meanwhile persecution was relentless ly employed for their extermination, l but with the only effect of deepening I their convictions and extending their influence. The Novatians can be clearly traced onward to the sixth or seventh century.
 In the Fourth Century.
 Following these, were the DonatistS 50 called from their leader Donatus Of North Africa in the fourth cen tury. The occasion of their organiza- tion was a scf1ism that divided the | church into two factions. The con 1 troVersy arose over the character of 1 the Christian church On the one hand there were those who believed that l the church Is a school for learning l goodness. On the other hand, there were those who contended that the [ church Is already @ graduate body of holy beings. These latter were the Donatists. Unfortunately they sub mitted this highly spiritual question 1 to the civil powers for decision. Then when the case went against them, they came out strongly for religious liberty with no interference from the state. But they had already established an 1 unpleasant precedent against them selves. Like the Novatians, the Dona- 1 lists rebaptized all those who entered their fellowship from the Catholic ! church chiefly. however, because they were not willing to admit the valid 1 ity of the orders of the Catholic 1 clergy. Novatians and Donatists were alike in placing strong emphasis upon I the prerequisite of regeneration and a godly life to membership therein. ! It is because of their vigorous insist 1 ence upon these fundamentals that we 1 have placed the donatists in the line ! of our Baptist genealogy.
 1 X fourth sect in this semi Exquisite ! succession was the Pauiicians, who
 began with the fourth century. They were dualistic in philosophy, accept ling the teaching of Manichaelism that there are two great irreconcilable f,1~ t1lA vr;I